I Don't Own Percy Jackson

It was over a nice cowl of ice cream the size of my head that had a straw sticking out of it, that I finally looked over my notices.

It was more than a little bit, which isn't exactly surprising. I got a lot of stuff just from the end of my training with Lupa, but at least during that I didn't have everything paused, so let's break this up a bit, the small parts first so the exciting parts are further down. The skills up first:

[Notice: Skill [Short Blade Mastery] has been leveled up 13 times: Total level: 41]

[Notice: Skill [Long Blade Mastery] has been leveled up 15 times: Total level: 46]

[Notice: Skill [Firearm Mastery] has been leveled up 18 times: Total level: 24]

[Notice: Skill [Trade Off] has been leveled up 7 times: Total level: 16]

[Notice: Skill [Pain Tolerance] has been leveled up 6 times: Total level: 24]

[Notice: Skill [Thrown Projectile Mastery] has been leveled up 11 time: Total level: 33]

[Notice: Skill [Umbrakinesis] has been leveled up 18 times: Total level: 23]

[Notice: Skill [Minor Wind Manipulation] has been leveled up 13 times: Total level: 27]

[Notice: Skill [Minor Illusion Creation] has been leveled up 9 times: Total level: 14]

[Notice: Skill [Awareness] has been leveled up 8 times: Total level: 29]

Wild right? It's almost like I fought for my life with everything I had in me for six months straight in a place where the danger started at a level I could handle, and then became challenging within the first few weeks. It was either get better or die, and according to this, I got a lot better.

It was pretty cool, and that's not the only thing I got apparently, next up the quest itself.

[Quest: The Fates and Me: Completed-
Congrats, you've survived a task that would have destroyed the mind of literally anyone else. Sure, you cheated a bit, but you still managed it, and you didn't even die in the process of not going mad, if you didn't also manage to complete an impossible task by a set of beings that control the fate of the world, that probably would have been the most impressive thing you did.

Rewards:
1. +100 Exp per every monster defeated
Total killed: 6,254
Total Monster Exp: 625,400]

2. Any time that has passed mentally has been added to your physical body to sync age.

3. +1 to all stats per ten days survived
Total Days Survived: 200
Total Stats Gained: 20

4. You're alive, good job]

[Notice: You have gained 14 levels]

[Notice: You have reached age [14] you have gained one level for the accomplishment]

[Notice: Perks [Son of Nike], [Legacy of Styx], [Legacy of Nyx], and Status Effect [Minor ADHD] has activated multiple times and increased your stats accordingly]

Yeah, that is quite the amount of exp isn't it?

Apparently going through an insane situation with an insanely difficult quest over the course of half a dozen months, killing literally thousands of monsters and not going mad in the mean time is something to give a ton of experience from. Who would have guessed?

I certainly wasn't going to be complaining about it that's for sure, it certainly explained just why I felt so much stronger, I think I was in that place way longer than the Fates expected me to be in there. I bet that they thought I wouldn't leave the first time around, but after the second I would bail on Silena, and by the time it was clear I was willing to go on for as long as I needed to, they finally just gave up, knowing it would just be a stalemate, and if they went for to long, then it would be clear bias against me for the test itself, and then they would not only have to spare me, but give me their own blessings on top of it.

Which given the situation, they clearly didn't want to do, so in the end, I out stubborned Fate itself.

And since I managed something like that, which I'm pretty sure no one in the history of ever has managed to accomplish, I might as well get something out of it, hence the massive rewards! Now then, onto the stats that I got from the quest finishing up that I had gotten during the quest itself.

[Notice: Strength has increased by 8: Total level: 195]

[Notice: Constitution has increased by 6: Total level: 147]

[Notice: Dexterity has increased by 4: Total level: 190]

[Notice: Power has increased by 9: Total level: 175]

[Notice: Control has increased by 7: Total level: 173]

[Notice: Luck has increased by 2: Total level: 122]

[Notice: Intelligence has increased by 7: Total level: 154]

[Notice: Wisdom has increased by 5: Total level: 146]

[Notice: Perception has increased by 3: Total level: 168]

Yeah, those numbers are accurate, I got sixteen levels in total, setting me at exactly level sixty, meaning I got all my big bonuses twice, that's thirty-six to Strength and Dexterity, thirty-eight to perception, and twenty-six to all the other stats. Then the plus twenty from the Fates trying to fuck me, and you get this result.

Cool huh?

Look at this shit.

Mana Points: 15,000/15,000
Spirit Points: 25,950/25,950
Stamina Points: 14,115/14,115

Wild isn't it? That's just the base level, I actually have more since my stats are boosted at the moment. Meaning I am brimming with the stuff it feels like, and yet I'm still not on par with the amount that Percy has, but now I simply just out class him in skill and versatility by a massive margin, still, just something to think about for later, that's wild to think about, having that much just rolling around in my chest. I was a year older as well, and who the hell knows just what that did to when my birthday is, but I can figure out through basic math about just when I was born later.

But past that, there is just two more things to look over, both Wisdom and Luck went over one hundred for the first time during that whole... thing, and this is the results.

[Tyche's Fortune]
You are bullshit lucky, you put your chips on black and Fate itself literally can't stop the ball from hitting black, it's frankly beyond ridiculous.
-The base modifier that makes your stat Luck, is increased by 50%.
Once per day, at the cost of 5,000 Stamina and 4,500 Mana you can increase this bonus to 100% for 1 minute.

[Wit of Socrates]
Your sense of mind and ability to rationally and quickly make decisions might not be the most known trait about you, but that doesn't change the fact that it's still certainly one of your strongest ones all the same. Your mind is incredibly trained and focused like a fine point to be able to always control and understand your situation
-You can once per day for one minute enter a state where you can analyze and think over something at 5x the normal time.
-You now gain 150 Spirit per point of Wisdom.
Once per day, at the cost of 5,000 Stamina and 4,500 Mana you can use this bonus with it increasing to 10x for 1 minute.

Pretty neat isn't it? I got a five times boost to my thinking noggin that I can just used whenever I want, and my luck is apparently even more bullshit than it was before, which I'm totally fine with.

In summary, I'm real strong now because the Fates didn't want to lose, I've had the growth equivalent of six months of constant unending combat, and because of that, my tits are bigger. Those were the most important parts that I've figured out so far. The first two parts were kind of cool, the last one was just annoying, they keep getting bigger and more of a hassle.

Still, that's all the important System stuff.

In other news, the ice cream was pretty damn awesome, so that was really nice. From there Silena and I headed out, finding a cool mall we went around to get some new clothes, which was good, I was chilly.

We spent a few hours chilling around in the mall, both of us just relaxing back into society

I also learned that Silena with unlimited access to money in any clothing store was a sight to be feared. She got a lot of stuff and then forced me to carry it all, that lasted about as long until I remembered I had a bag that care carry anything, but the point stands. Still, I didn't mind it, it was kind of fun to be honest, not something I would enjoy in my own time for sure, but with a friend, a shopping day was just fun.

Silena kind of treated me like a model, since she had a lot of clothes and just knew already what looked good on her, she focused on me. I kind of had to bargain her down from the really girly stuff, I didn't really mind wearing anything like that to be honest. It all just looked like clothing to me, but skirts just looked really hard to fight in, and leggings felt weird. Not to mention the make up, I seriously don't see the appeal in it.

She just pouted a bit but let the idea go quick enough, though I did explain it wasn't a dysmorphia thing so she wouldn't feel to bad. From there we went through the more simple stuff. I honestly would have been fine with a simple set of jeans and white shirts, but that's apparently because I have no sense of style, which was kind of rude... And accurate but still!

I ended up with a few sets of clothes, but ended up wearing a padded white jacket with a black inline with the same colored highlights on the jacket itself. The shirt I was wearing was black with an golden design on it. It was Nike's Swoosh, not the god, the company, but the names were the same, and I thought it was cool. Silena let it slide soon after seeing it with the jacket on. Apparently the colors went together, I just thought it would be nice to have, I don't really have anything from my mom.

On the same note, I got a pair of Nike shoes, they were real comfortable, I wasn't sure if it's just because I liked them or they were actually good quality, but I liked having them on. They were mostly yellow with the brand mark being black. My pants were just black jogger's pants with white strips down the sides. I got a new belt as well, because Silena said that was important, it was white with black marks along it.

I liked it, my last one was just barely holding on, so it was nice to have a strong and sturdy new belt to hold all my weapons and stuff off of it.

Silena got wind of my necklace with all my trinkets on it, with the Stygian Ice, Moon stone, and Sun Stone, and instantly took it apart and carted it off somewhere with my camp necklace, while I was changing into my new stuff, taking my card with her. Well, mostly taking everything, she asked me about them, and I answered her about them all. In the end, she tossed the Sun and Moon stones back at me and told me to make it into something else. I didn't really get why, but I just did it all the same.

I didn't even know if it would work, but in the end, I came out of it with a pair of golden earrings, both with gems in them, crystal gems, one that when it was moved around looked like a fire was rolling within the gem, and the other, looking like wisps of silvery light moved in it. Before long Silena came back, a golden chain that if I was in my thirties would make me look like a mobster, in her hands.

On it was a combined mix of my last two that she butchered in front of my eyes. In the middle was the pendent of Stygian Ice, on the right of it was the trident bead, and on the left of the pendent was the bread with the golden fleece.

I pointed out that it would be uneven by this time next year, Silena just rolled her eyes and then pulled out a torture device.

Ok, that might be a bit much, she actually went out and got one of those self-piercing kits, which explained why she wanted me to make earrings. I tried to say it really wasn't necessary, that didn't really work and somehow within a few minutes I had two new holes in my head and a pair of earrings filling them. I was pouting because of it, but even I had to admit, I looked almost good in the mirror.

I felt a lot better when I managed to find a binder not to long later, it wasn't exactly high quality but I didn't care, my pain tolerance was so high I didn't really notice, and it meant I liked my new look a lot more after I put it on in replace of the bra I had been wearing. I made sure to buy a few extra of them as well. Silena didn't say anything about it, but did get a look in her eyes about... something, so that's something.

Doesn't change the fact that this was the most color coordinated I've ever been. It looked like a bit... much in my opinion, but Silena said I looked good, so I believed her as we headed out of the store, Silena saying she'll work on my hair when we get back to camp since my hat hid the worse of it.

I just took that as a compliment for my hat, since I didn't really think my hair looked that bad, but then again, my undercut was grown up long enough that it was on my ears.

Past that, we had our stuff all sorted out, I felt nice just wearing new clothes, Silena seemed happy, and we spent the next few hours just wandering and talking and laughing. It was honestly really nice and what I really needed after everything I had just gone through.

We just existed, doing whatever we wanted on our day out, until it was getting close to night, as I finally decided it was time to take this seriously, as I lead Silena to the Empire State Building. She didn't say anything until we were literally on the building's doorstep.

"Why are we here?" I just hummed.

"It's the solstice, meaning there's a cool meeting happening right now. Good time to do some chatting. I need to have a talk with some gods. Hades, Hestia, my Mom, Zeus if I can manage it, Hermes if I'm lucky, and a few others depending"

"...Why would you want to talk to any of them? Especially after what just happened?"

"Don't worry about it, you don't have to come up with me if you don't want to" She gave me a smack on the shoulder as I glanced back at her, as she just rolled her eyes before saying.

"I'm not just going to leave you again alright? Come on, let's get this over with, and please don't piss anyone off"

"I'll do what I've always done, no god has killed me yet"

"You make that sound like you're immortal"

"Well, it would certainly explain some stuff, either that or I have one hell of a set of plot armor" Ain't that right people?

"What?"

"Don't worry about it" She clearly was about to say something when I leaned in to the side and smiled at the man manning the desk and said, "Hi, we're heading up to Olympus, sixth hundredth floor right?" The man just blinked before saying.

"I have no idea what you're talking about kid" I pouted, before saying.

"I can tell when you lie, don't do that again"

"I'm not-" I glared at him, as his voice froze as his entire body tensed, a look of overwhelming terror flittering onto his face. Like he was a deer frozen in front of the headlights of a semitruck. I told the guy simply.

"I said don't lie" He managed a short nod and pointed over to the elevator with a shaky hand, I just smiled and said in a much more cheerfully tone. "Thank you!" Silena just sighed as we moved over to the doors, as it opened up and we got in, as I punched the six hundred button.

"You didn't have to do that you know?"

"Yeah, I know, but it was funny"

"It... wasn't?"

"Oh... Well, I thought we were in agreement that I'm sadistic"

"I'll... Keep that in mind I guess. There is a difference between you doing some weird freak stuff in that Maze, and doing it in the outside world you know?" I just hummed.

"Yeah, they'd scream a lot louder out here... Hmm" She looked like she heavily regretted saying anything all of a sudden.

"Please do not get any ideas"

"To late!" She looked lightly ill, as I thought about it for another moment and said, "But... I won't do anything in front of you?" That managed a huff and a smile before she just gave me a long moment before shaking her head.

"Thanks... for trying?" I just beamed.

The elevator ride was cool, as we rocketed into the sky for a long moment. I loved it when we stepped out, as we hovered thousands of feet in the air as I looked down at the ground with a vested interest. It felt amazing to be this high up, watching the ants that were the cars moving around through the buildings, it was... I loved it, it was weird, but I think this was one of my favorite sights that I've ever seen. For as much of my roots were tied to the Underworld, I think I loved being up here more from just seeing this sight for a few seconds.

Then Silena placed a hand on my shoulder as I glanced back at her.

"Can we get moving? I'm not that big of a fan of standing on nothing" I just grinned and we moved, walking over the small steps up to the actual p[lace of Olympus, the entire place was beautiful, as we headed up to the court of Olympus, the sound of blasting music filling my ears as I just smirked. Right on time then, as Silena just frowned.

"What's happening?"

"The quest to save Artemis was a success and as such the Olympians are partying. The rest of our quest people should be up there, you can catch up with Percy and the others, I need to have some conversations" She gave me a look, but didn't say anything else, she wanted to see what the other's had been up to as well. No doubt the story of our own quest would be reaching their ears as well.

By the time we got back to the camp, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone knew by the end of the second day.

The gods knew we were there, I could feel the way as many wary eyes turned to look at me, before Zeus himself was the first to look away, giving the signal to all the others that I was to not be targeted. I was already under their protection, both Nyx and the Fate's now had my back, symbolically at least, neither would actually do a damn thing to help me, but the fact that both hadn't killed me when given the chance was enough to not want to pick a fight.

There was tons of beings here, demigods of old and not so old that were given some kind of position here on Olympus, like how the Hunter's were immortal, you could pledge yourself to a god and gain the same power. Hephaestus no doubt had the most up here, helping him out in his many open forges.

I just went looking for others. Hades, was predictably, in a corner, only he was speaking to Bianca, a sight I was very pleased to see. Though Hades himself looked sour, it was clear to me he was actually happy. His natural resting expression was just hard for most people to read, but I've made a habit of being able to understand this god. Heading over, I called out to the pair.

"Hello!" Both spun around to look at me, Hades giving me a sharp look, looking clearly surprised at my survival from literally everything, as I just gave him a smile while Bianca gave me a big smile and rushed over and hugged me.

"Nick! You're back! I'm so happy, Percy said something about you having a plan, and he was suppose to follow us, but then you didn't show up even when Lady Artemis was saved, we were worried" I just laughed and said with a massive amount of cheer in my voice, really happy to see her again myself.

"It's great to see you as well, it's been... ages, Silena is going around and letting everyone know we're back. Hey, not to throw you out, but mind if I talk with your dad for a moment?" She blinked, before realizing she just ghosted her dad, as she spun around, giving the man a small sheepish look. He just gave a wave of the hand, as Bianca bowed her head and headed off at the dismissal.

"King, you seem to have survived" I just grinned.

"Yep, I'm also the reason Bianca is still standing as well, I think we have a deal we need to get sorted out aye? Given that I just went through six months of hell from the Fates to get to happen, I figure law of exchange means I'm up a pretty big favor right?" Hade's jaw clenched, but he didn't say anything, we both knew he'd make the deal again if it meant that Bianca was alive. And he was way to good on his word to try and run from the deal now.

He was also to good on his word to try and weasel out by saying that because we never formally made a deal back when he sent me to Nyx, I wasn't owed anything.

"What is it that you want then mortal?" I could ask for a lot here, but not to much. I didn't exactly want to push this far enough that I would end up on his bad side. Full DNA work up fixing my chromosomes would be a bit much. And anything less would be the same as the issue Dionysus had.

"Nothing much... Just an insurance claim for the future" He raised an eyebrow at the wording as I told him exactly what I wanted, needless to say he was pretty shocked, a bit outraged, and more than a little pissed, but I just calmly informed him of the future, and even as the sky cracked in anger over the Fates, they had no power over me or my actions anymore, as Hades just stared at me in shock, before finally nodding his head, as I smirked and walked away.

That favor might not ever come up, but if it did, then it's not a bad idea to have back up plans.

I just smiled and left Hades to do his own thing, kind of glad he was here at all, he wasn't in the books from what I remember, but then again maybe he just showed up after the meeting... in which case, what the fuck? That's just mean to have the meeting start right before Hades could show up.

...Moving on, I headed forwards, to the center of the massive hall, as I found myself at a massive fire, as I just sat down next to it, humming happily to myself as I waited. I honestly loved the energy and excitement of all the sounds and music blasting around me, with the sounds of life from all sides filling my ears.

It was pretty amazing. Then a small girl dropped next to me, sitting herself down lightly, as I turned to look at her, she just looked back with a warm smile on her face. Her eyes were also warm, in the way that they literally had fire in them, it was kind of awesome.

"Nicolas King, a pleasure to meet you. You're the first to pray to me in a few thousand years, with quite the strange questions I must add" I just smiled, as I leaned back and looked at her better.

"Hestia, nice to meet you officially" She smiled back, and with that I looked back at the fire before asking. "Do you know what I'm going to ask?"

"You want to know about your own home" I just shrugged.

"It would be nice, Camp is nice, the Underworld holds most of my family, and my Mom lives up here... And I've spent most of my life living place to place without having anywhere really. It's confusing" Hestia just hummed, looking back to the fire before saying.

"There doesn't need to just be one place in which you feel at home. As long as you have a place to return to that you are safe, no matter where you are, you have a home"

"Damn, that sounds like a good greeting card" She let out a musical sounding laugh as I laughed as well, before looking away...That was kind of... comforting for as corny as it sounded. Like, crazy corny, but it was nice to hear all the same, made my chest all warm and fuzzy.

"Perhaps, but the greatest wisdoms are the ones that have lasted long enough to become the standard" She had a point.

"Fair... Wanna give me your blessing?" She laughed again before simply shaking her head.

"I'd rather not, you are quite the mortal, and you are quite fun to watch on occasion. However, I do not believe you are the right person to be granted my blessing. You are strong, and much wiser than most would give you credit for, buy you are not at peace with yourself, and a home on unsteady legs can not stand. Come to me again once you understand yourself both inside and out, and we shall talk again" Huh, she said no, but I kind of want to say thank you anyways. Wild.

"Well, thanks in advance then" She just laughed lightly as I tipped my hat to her as I got to my feet. "I'm going to go find Hermes"

"Good luck then Nicolas King" I just smiled back and walked away. I've been called by my formal name more times than I ever have before in the last few days, it's kind of nice.

I sort of just lost myself into the buzz about for a while as I moved through the crowds to look for the God that I was in search of. I had a lot of things I wanted to talk about with a lot of people, but being honest, I didn't really have any plans, I just wanted to talk to most of the Gods to see what they were like. I wasn't exactly planning on murdering any of them any time soon, and I wanted to keep them on their high horses until it suited me, but the chance for any new blessings wouldn't be a bad thing.

I didn't really need them, but I'm greedy like that.

I found the man himself soon enough, but he was on some kind of phone call, so I figured I'd wait, moving away from the God and headed around, looking about for a while. Mostly just vibing and enjoying it. I had plans, ages ago, about what I would do if I managed to have the time to be here on time, but honestly as it stands... I just didn't care, I was just happy to not be looking at grey at the moment.

So I went through the motions, partying around drinking in the sounds and sights as I found myself going through more than a few conversations with well over a dozen minor gods and a number of the Olympians, half of which just gave me a look of disgust while I talked at them, and the other half more seeing me as something interesting to interact with. In unrelated tones, I had a number of new gods I didn't like now, so that's something.

Still, I did have something I wanted to do, as I looked around for a long while, at least an hour, before finding her.

Nike... I've seen myself in the mirror, I didn't particularly like doing it, but I have done it before, recently even. It wasn't hard to see the similarities.

Our faces were the same round shape, her eyes were brown, the same shade mine used to be before my deal with Nyx, but both of ours still held the frantic energy that Silena had pointed out to me before. Our hair was the same shade, our skin the same as well, our features weren't identical, but it was very clear to anyone who looked that they'd see us as near twins, just one was older, a lot taller, more filled out with maturity and age.

Oh, and the massive pair of beautiful golden wings that were on my mother's back.

That was a pretty big difference, still, the two of us just stood there, as I looked at her, like she was a reflection of my possible future, before frowning. It wasn't that surprising that out of all my family members I've seen, she was the only one I didn't find attractive instantly.

"Fucking hell, I hope my tits don't get that big. Imagine the back pain!" She just continued to stare at me, before finally her lips quirked up.

"I've seen just how... little you seem to care about our shared gender" I just shrugged.

"You want to help fix that?"

"It is not within my power in the way you wish"

"I figured, want to help convince Zeus to give your son a sex change?"

"Why should I? From what I've seen, you're already on your way of getting that sorted out. Defeating a titan to get something as meager as a change in appearance" I just shrugged.

"Why not? I figured aim big to get what I want. Besides, we're at a war, I figure to the victor go to spoils applies to my situation. Plus, the higher the goal, the better you have to be to achieve it. I figured this would be the best way to get me as strong as possible. It's been working out so far" She tilted her head to the side, like she was looking for something, before grinning, it looked a bit crazy on her face. I decided I liked it as I mimicked the gesture at her.

"Yes, you certainly have gone past what any other would find acceptable to win in your own personal goals. I must say, you are the most powerful child I have ever had, it's why I chose to save you when you foolishly angered my mother's mother. You are truly unique among any other demigod that has come before. I expected more, but to beat the Fates themselves, at their own game as well? You do Victory a service" I preened a bit under the high praise, when I blinked as I felt a hand place itself on my shoulder as I looked up at my mother.

She looked... almost loving, but something was just barely missing to make it perfect, like she was still holding out hope before she could truly give all her affections.

"If or when you achieve your ultimate goal, when I have a whole, in mind and body, son, to be my pride, then I will give you something, to show the ultimate victory you gained through your challenges, from a meager and weak child, to a strong and powerful man. You have already proven yourself worthy of my pride and respect, show me you are worthy of the love that I have given you as well my son" And then she beat her wings and burst into a shower of gold as she vanished. I just blinked...

Then took in a long breath, getting the thundering pounding in my chest under control as well as the massive smile on my face, the giddy feeling in my chest welling up as I let out a short laugh before shaking my head.

My mom loved me... That... Fuck, that felt so nice, my eyes were already burning as I swiped at them as I moved away, heading to a wall so I could take a minute to truly just accept and just bask in that.

It was incredible, I let out another giddy laugh before shaking my head. So that's what having a loving family member feels like.

I liked it, I really, really, liked it.

I rode that high for the next few hours, and sure, there were a number of gods that really wanted to kill me there, Athena for example was not going to ever be a fan of me, and Aphrodite gave me a pout when she noticed me, which I have no idea what that meant, but I still had a lot of fun.

Eventually we all headed back, it took a while, but it was cool. The hunter's didn't come back with us, so Thalia and Bianca were staying behind. They had to have a talk with the rest of the hunter's anyways, about how two of them died, so that's something.

Anyways, we got back to camp in the early-ish morning, there wasn't a lot of people awake at the time, so everyone just huddled into the Big House and talked with Chiron for a while, discussing everything that happened, I let the other questers go first, it was only fair, as they spoke and discussed everything that happened to them from the start to when we got separated.

I mostly just tuned out, noting the sadness that was Zoe dying, blah, blah, blah, I didn't really care, it was all predictable. So when it came to my time to talk, I just smiled and said.

"Me and Silena got taken from the scrapyard place and placed in front of the Three Fates, I talked to them for a while, and then I was placed in a maze of the most dull and boring tone of grey you could imagine, of hell where I couldn't sleep or eat, where if I touched any of the walls I would combust into flames, and every other path lead to a group of monster or enemies. I stayed in there while Silena watched for two hundred days straight. Hence why I look a bit older, in the last half a week I've spent the last six months straight being to stubborn to die" Chiron gave me a look of mute horror along with the rest of the cabin heads that hadn't heard this yet, I just smiled as Silena just sighed before speaking up.

"I didn't actually spend all that time awake or watching, I think I'd be crazy if I did, the Fates sort of just... showed me everything he did without having to watch it playing out? I guess because it wasn't suppose to me being tested? I don't know, but I do know he's downplaying it, he had to fight... so many things, I couldn't hope to count them all" I just shrugged.

"A little over six thousand, well, six thousand two hundred fifty-four, so on average about thirty-one a day, but that's because I had a few outlier days. Day two hundred I killed about... five hundred I think at the end of it? Nearly killed myself doing it, that happened about... once every ten or so days?" Silena nudged me and gave me a look while everyone else was just stuck trying to process what I was saying. One of the Stolls finally spoke up, asking me.

"How do you even know that? How many you had to beat? How long...?"

"I counted, same with how many days, there wasn't any color or windows or anything, but I can still count the seconds"

"Holy-" Travis started it before Connor spoke up, "Shit!" Chiron gave them an admonishing look, but didn't have anything to be able to say against that, so he didn't. To in shock at my stuff I guess. I just hummed.

"Crazy right? Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I haven't slept in nearly five thousand hours, and I want to sleep for... ever basically. So you all have fun talking, but I'm going to embrace my bed" No one made a sound to try and refute the idea as I headed out of the big house before instantly appeared in the Hermes cabin as I dropped down into my bed.

I couldn't give less than a shit about my clothes as I just closed my eyes and accepted oblivion.

It was heavenly.

The next day I got swarmed with questions from just about everyone still in camp, it was fine, I just answered them. Apparently Silena had a talk and I was no longer on the shun list for conversation in the camp, which just goes to show how powerful Aphrodite's kids are in this camp, sure, they might not always be the strongest, but if you want to have anything close to a social life, then don't mess with them.

Silena carted me off to her cabin not to long later and my hair was assaulted, it was fine, I was used to it at this point. My hair ended up short, not super short, it was a new style though, Silena said it was made to be able to be grown out long since I had a habit of not getting it cut for months at a time. But it was fine, I didn't really mind it back when I had super long hair, when I was like... four days old, it was just a bad reminder on a raw wound and it was really annoying in a fight and in my face.

But apparently it was like clothes, I didn't really care what I had as long as it was comfortable and not getting in my way, cool factor was more seconadry. Plus Silena would drop kick me through a wall if I didn't at least pretend to act like I cared. Still, I didn't mind the style, it looked fine, and besides I wear a hat now, so it's not like it matters that much anyways.

Plus I like my hat, it's cool. Hence where we are now, as me and Silena walked out of her cabin as I placed my hat back onto my head as she just gave me a look up and down while my eyes moved out, as the stray few campers glanced over and stared at the pair of us. Silena noticed soon after and said back as she gave me a smirk.

"See what a real fashion style gets you?" I just glanced back at her before looking over at the group that where staring before shouting out at them.

"I HOPE I SEXUALLY CONFUSE ALL OF YOU!" Silena let out a sharp snort before trying to get herself under control as she smacked me on the shoulder as everyone that had been staring went beat red before quickly looking away and moving on, before she finally started laughing.

"You're not suppose to call them out! They're just boys enjoying the view, and we're suppose to blow them off to make them a bit self coconscious when they annoy us. Way of the world, well, the way which you just hit with a hammer" I just shrugged.

"I think my way works on an even deeper level"

"What? Make them confused about their sexuality? You realize even with the mind of the contrary, you're body is still a pretty good looking girl right?" I just gave her a look.

"You calling me hot?" She turned a bit red, but it was that kind of level of red you could just attribute to the cold around us as a wind buffered right at our faces. She still just gave me a flat look before shaking her head.

"Yes, you make a really good looking girl with looks like that, especially when you wear proper clothes to show it off"

"Aw, that makes me feel and warm and fuzzy!" It really did as I said right back without hesitation, "You're hot as wel- Well, you're real hot" Silena paused, from where we had been walking, glancing at me for a moment, before looking away as we continued to walk before finally saying.

"How, uh... How bad is the dysmorphia? I never asked, but I know it can suck, and even if you joke sometimes about it, you never actually... say anything about how you feel about what you look like. I know you hate it but..."

"Oof, serious talk already?" She gave me a look that I just sighed at, pouting for a moment before finally answering, quickly and to the point, knowing she probably wouldn't drop it otherwise, "I don't... mind enough to the point that it's too much, it's not that I even mind the body honestly. I mean, it's not nice, and I don't like mirrors, but it's not crippling or anything, it just could be better. Like, being promised chocolate which is your favorite but being given strawberry, which is like, sixth on the list, it's not terrible, but it is disappointing when you remember what you could have had"

"Alright" And just like that the conversation was over, which was cool, as we moved around and just... sort of fell back into our friendship like nothing was missing. It was kind of surprising, but it also wasn't, how easily we fell back into step.

Life just sort of moved on from there, I chatted and talked with a few people, Nico demanded to know everything that happened, he got contemplative over the story, but in the end just asked if I could teach him how to use his powers. I just smiled and nodded, saying we could go on a road trip, since the best way to learn was to do.

I also wanted to keep some things in place for the next book, but that's for later me to fully sort out. Percy was also around, just for a few more days, apparently his mom was getting lucky, he didn't say it like that, but that was the idea. She had a 'friend' over and that's all anyone really needed to know about the situation.

Oh, and I challenged said Percy to a fight, he gave me a look, but just accepted it, clearly looking to blow off some steam.

I kicked him into the lake, he got out, looking slightly annoyed... and then I did it again, it was a bit harder, but I still managed. He looked shocked about it, but in the end, I was stronger than him by a fair margin now, faster to. We fought properly after that, it was intense, but I won this time, hands down, I beat him. Not to say it was easy, but I still managed it, and it wasn't exactly something I needed my A-game for.

I had a smile on my face for the rest of the day. My stats were massively improved of course, I knew that, so it wasn't very shocking, my strength alone was double what it had been the last time I fought him, and that's not even factoring in my Strength Perk, which more put the number closer to three times. But the point stands, I'm officially the strongest Greek demigod alive, no contest from what I can see.

That was very, very cool.

As I said, I was still giddy even past dinner when I slinked off into the woods to uphold one of my promises, as I slipped into the shadows. After all, I was a bit behind schedule and I had to keep my word to make a certain titan regret being all rude to me.

Months ago, or, well, about a week ago, I had given Annabeth a Stygian Ice stick to break and leave wherever she was taken. In this case, where Atlas was being trapped currently, I doubt anyone remembered to pick that stick up, and since it played it's use since I gave the other set to Percy when we split up in the junkyard. It's played it's course out to everyone else, but for me? Well...

I just slipped into the shadows as they rushed around me before I found myself stepping out onto stone, as I just hummed and looked around, spinning around as I looked up at the massive titan, Atlas, as he held himself in a power squat, holding up the literal sky. It was pretty incredible to look at, as I just smiled up at him as my senses told me we were the only ones here at the moment.

How lucky right? I just smiled and called up to the titan.

"Hello!" He grunted, angling his head down as he stared at me for a moment before glaring down at me.

"You! I remember you!" I just smiled as I moved over closer, until I was standing right in front of one of his massive legs. "What are you doing here mortal! Come to gloat?" I laughed.

"Of course not, I'm just here to take what I want. Luke get's the power of a titan so why shouldn't I?" He squinted down at me.

"What do you think yourself worth? Asking for my favor again without a shred of loyalty? You are a laughable mortal if you think just because I am trapped that this means anything!" I just shrugged.

"Suit yourself, I did try to ask nicely" With that, I pulled out my sword, placing it over my shoulder so the hilt was in the air and the blade ran parallel to my back, as I took a deep breath before-

[Notice: Perk [Herculean Strength] has activated]

[Notice: Skill [Long Blade Mastery] has been boosted by Trade Off]

The notices just popped up as I arced the blade down with a swing holding every ounce of force I could muster, which was a lot, as my sword sliced through the skin of the Titan Atlas's leg, it looked like I gave the being one incredibly nasty paper cut, as he roared, while I just smirked as I watched as golden ichor, the blood of deities, pooled out like a shower of glitter, breaking into a mist into the air, I couldn't be having that, as I pulled out a particularly large bar of Stygian Iron, and with a faint grunt of effort, wedged the bar into the ten inch long cut. A wound that would be beyond fatal if he was anything else.

"You dare harm me mortal! I will skin you alive! I will destroy you!" Atlas's words were hurting my ears as his voice bounded off the mountain so hard I'm sure people in the cities around us thought there was an earthquake. I just grunted in annoyance, as I moved over a few feet to another part of unmarked skin and called up to the titan as I pulled my sword into the same position as before.

"Shut up, good farm stock doesn't yell curses!"

"You dare assume yourself above me in such a way! I will-" I got more annoyed, as I vanished in a puff of black mist, only to reappear on the titan's neck, my hand grabbing into his chin like it was a rock hold, as I pulled myself up to look him in his furious eyes as I said as I glared at him.

"Shut up, or the next cut I make will be through your tongue" His eyes trembled with hatred, but as I glared into his eyes with every ounce of rage I could put in the look, given I was filled with repressed anger, it was a lot.

We glared at least for a few seconds, before, eventually, Atlas was the one to look away first as I grinned, before speaking softly to him.

"Good, now if you try anything else, you'll be as much of a man below the waist as I am by the time I'm done with you" It was an incredible power trip to watch the way his entire body tensed. Ha, men. "Glad to see we're in an understanding"

I dropped off him after that, as in the next few minutes, I had sliced into the titan a few more times and shoved a few more long black poles into him... I could have phrased that better, but it was accurate.

I was just relaxing for the time being as I let Atlas become my personal generator as I hummed happily to myself as I waited to get as much out of the titan as possible, as the man himself just grunted with effort and pain from two sources, but he'll be fine. I might not want to stress this out though. Chances are his little temper tantrum was heard by someone important. I know my great Granddad, Krios, was suppose to be the one here guarding Atlas so something like this doesn't happen.

Or at least that's what will happen during the big fight at the end, but for the time being he might just be trapped up here with no one around. Still, I had a lot of luck to push, but it probably wouldn't go my way if I actually had to fight a titan. Given my stats, I might hold my own for a little while, but then I'd get my teeth kicked in if I didn't have some kind of trick.

The trick of which I was making right now actually, so, you know, wouldn't be good if this didn't work out for me. Past that, I did just hang around for another hour or so, before walking over and ripping the Stygian Iron from the titan, before I was on my way, giving Atlas a wave as I headed on out. My next stop, the Underworld, as I glanced down at one of the iron bars I had taken out of the titan.

[Hyper Infused Stygian Iron Ingot-

A ingot of Stygian Iron that has come in contact with a single type of essence, Divine Mana, and as sealed it into the ingot, as no other essence of any kind as been infused into this metal, the Mana is undiluted into the power in which it was using when sealed

Skill: [Titanic Force]
Available Mana for Skill: 78,560

Rank: A-]

I just smirked, I had half a dozen more of these things, each one was about three pounds, for the caliber of my gun, I could make about thirty per pound, so per bar, that's ninety bullets, each divided by the mana holding nearly nine hundred titan magic from the physically strongest titan ever. And since Atlas was using his strength at the same time I tapped him like a sap tree, it's not just a lot of bullets ready to fire, it's a lot of bullets infused with the force of one of Atlas's punches.

That means my gun will hit with the literal power of Atlas himself, and with seven bars in total, that means I can do that six hundred and thirty times. Assuming there is no complications in crafting, which I assume there will be, so the total amount until my people can figure it out properly, will be closer to five hundred, but... I think that's more than enough, what about you?

Time to get the process started, though I won't just be using my dead Hephaestus children friends, instead I'll be using Hades's own palace's craftsmen. After all, I saved his daughter's life, and I happened to get a lot from the God in our last conversation. Considering I'll have a rush order on it, I think I'll also be asking for something else as well, since... Well, there isn't much use of having six hundred bullets if I only have a six shooter.

Though while an assaults rifle would be cool, it would also be insanely wasteful, so I can't just ask for something like a mini gun... I mean, I could, but I'd need a lot more trips to Atlas to make that a viable idea in the long term.

Something to think about for the future I guess... Fuck, now I just want a minigun, imagine just how much I could get done with one?

No!

Focus, I can work on that idea later!

I was outside of an electronic shop, as I looked over my new phone, the old one I still couldn't find a charger for, so I just got a new one. The thing was weird, but it worked, as I hummed and typed in a number, before holding it up to my ear as I looked around the street corner I was on, wondering where the closest place was to eat, I was kind of hungry.

"Hello? This is police officer Mar-" I interrupted that as I said cheerfully down the line.

"Reese! My old buddy!" There was a long pause before-

"Who is this?" I pouted as I looked around before saying.

"It's Nick, are you saying you already forgot about me? I'm hurt" There was an even longer pause until-

"Nick? Like... The demigod?" He said it in a whisper as I just snickered at that.

"Yeah, same one, been a while. I just thought I'd call and see what you were up to. I was planning on stopping by to look into some stuff and figured it'd be rude to not call ahead"

"Uh, yeah, you can go to the... place, you can use whatever you find, but it's locked at the moment"

"Ha, it's funny you think that matters"

"Yeah... Uh, listen, it's been a while, over a year. Are you ok? You sound..." I snorted at that.

"I'm like, two years older, it's called puberty, pretty wild ain't it?"

"I meant... You sound... more serious, harder" I just hummed over the line, right, not what I was expecting, but not overly surprising he would notice as I said over the line.

"I'm... dealing with some shit. Life isn't easy yah know? Still, if you need anything, just ask. I should have some free time within the next few months before everything goes to hell and back. Not literally, that would complicate things, could be interesting though..."

"Right..." I just smiled as the line was disconnected as I pocketed my new phone before looking around.

I didn't really need anything from the warehouse, but I had nearly forty thousand points of Spirit as a baseline nowadays and that was a hell ton of points to just have around without getting as many spells as possible from it. I figured I'd swing around to that shop from before with that old man and get a few more books, might as well learn as many types of magic as possible right?

It's hardly like it could go wrong or anything right? I mean, it's shopping!

"So, any reason why there is an... demon? Outside trying to get in?" Rick spun around, half yelping, as a number of people's heads spun around to look at me, and in the moment after, everything from knives to guns were aimed at my head, I just smiled and waved, as I looked over the small crowd of five out to the front of the shop, where some big hulking red skinned being was bashing on the glass, every time it's fist made contact, a web of what must have been hundreds of runes spread out, blocking it from causing any damage.

It was pretty cool, both the warding and the monster.

"Who the hell are you!" The biggest of the group, some dark skinned guy who was leveling a massive gun at my head and seemed to think that would be threatening, as I just blinked before saying with a huff.

"I'm Nick. What is with you hunters and getting off on pointing guns at me? You're going to hurt yourself you know" I sighed before frowning as I scratched the side of my head before blinking as the itching got worse, as I looked around for a moment before asking.

"Hey, Rick, do you have some kind of divine blocker in here? Or, well, a better one?" A woman moved forwards, her hand up as I watched a small bead of what looked like black ink formed in her hand, as she said with a strained breath.

"Are you an angel?" That seemed to freak most of the people in the store out even more as I tilted my head to think about it, when the woman seemed to lose her grip on her own power as the inky thing shot at me. I just waved my hand as the thing stopped as I looked at it before glancing at the woman.

"Really? You tried to use some kind of shadow magic on me? Me? I mean, you don't know why that's ironic, but trust me when I say it is" The thing broke apart in the air, and I thought about showing off when Rick finally got between me and the group saying quickly.

"Stop! Get those guns down before the kid kills you all!" He seemed genuinely panicked, I wasn't sure if it was because of the demon thing outside, or me being in here. Either way it seemed to make everyone even less comfortable as they continued to aim their weapons at me, at least until a particularly loud bang from the front caused them to turn and aim in the other direction, or, well, about half turned, as I just sighed and spoke up.

"Hi! Since no one is answering my questions, my name is Nick, I'm the Son of Nike, speed running questions, yes son, you say anything else I'll feed you to a hellhound, yes Nike, the Goddess of Victory, and yes, I am a demigod, moving on, Rick! What is happening old man?" he just gave me a long look before looking out the window and winced before saying.

"I don't know, something... big has been happening, demons are more active than ever, more idiot teens are doing stupid stuff, things like this have been happening. That is a demon, a mild one, the wards will keep it out, but it wants someone or something from in here, and if I let it in to deal with it, then everything is going to go to hell. None of us can exorcise something that big, that quickly. We're just lucky no cops have come to get killed yet" I just hummed as I looked at the thing outside before saying.

"I'll go kill it then, or talk to it, I haven't spoken to many demons before"

"Wait! You can't just go out there kid!" I just rolled my eyes and moved out of the way of Rick, before blinking as the big black dude from before held his arms out, like that was going to do something as he looked down at me.

"You ain't going to go out there kid, I don't care what you are, we don't know what you're going to do"

"Ugh, this is why mortals are so annoying!" I reached up and just poked him on the chest as his eyes dimmed before he just moved to the side. Good old mind control, as I walked past him as the rest of the group shouted at me about what I was doing, as I headed to the door, moving out of the way when one of the women tried to shoot me, as I looked over my shoulder and just gave her a look that caused her to fall on her ass.

I think it was fair, being shot sucks! Probably.

As I got to the door, I just hummed as I pushed it open as I moved out and looked at the massive demon, as it just stopped, like, literally just pausing, as it turned to give me a look of mild shock, like even it couldn't understand why I just left the protective bubble. I just smiled at it.

"Hi there! I don't suppose you know how to chat in english?" It roared in my face, before lifting a bulking arm up and went to slam it down on my head. I just sighed, as I reached up and grabbed onto it. I had to bend my knees a bit as the concrete under my feet shattered like glass, as I just pouted and said. "Is that a yes or a no?" It just roared, pulling free from my block and reared back for another hit.

I just pouted again, this was way more boring than I thought it would be.

I just held my hand out and from it as the beast reared down, about to strike, divine fire rushed out from in front of me, covering the demon head to toe extend about a dozen feet forwards, as the monster dude let out a very loud screech before promptly being incinerated to ash. I just yawned, before turning back to the door, as I grabbed onto the handle and watched as the runes from before webbed out from where I was touching it, I just rolled my eyes as when I tried to open it, it didn't budge as the web of runs glowed and covered the entire front of the shop, well past the point that the demon got from banging on the place.

I thought about just yanking it open, but Rick would be pissy that I broke his stuff, so I just melted into the ground through the shadows of the overhang in front of the store and appeared back in side in front of the group, all of which were staring at me in shock as I turned to the old man.

"So, I'm thinking about getting a bunch of books this time around, do you have anything on potions?" He just sort of blinked before leaned back onto a shelf, like he was trying to not faint. I just sighed.

Mortals, am I right?

Nick is officially considered broken in terms of other demigods, this was the biggest power up he's ever gotten at once, I thought about underpowering it, but then I remembered that we are, like, nearing two hundred thousand words here, and it would be kind of fucked if I kept this not borderline overpowered thing going on for so much longer, so I figured I'd just full send this, and then work from there. Anyways, we'll be forcing the plot along soon, but the next few chapters are going to be interesting for a lot of reasons because of just what happened in the last two chapters. After all, Nick has pure free will, and in this world, that means he's just become the most dangerous thing ever. It'll be fun, I'll show off just what this means in the next chapter or so, but for right now we're just working on solidifying the fact that Nick is fucking broken and is going to have equally broken gear. It's about time for the mallet that I've taken to cannon be switched out with a semiautomatic. Fun right? I think so, anyways, See ya.