Authors note: For those unfamiliar with the term, Jumpchain is a story or CYOA format where one goes from the fictional world to fictional, having a certain amount of points to spend in each setting on perks and items. It originated on 4chan and now days has a massive presence on Reddit and Spacebattles. This version of the story is just for reading, but if you visit my Spacebattles profile Shadowsport, you can read the story there and leave feedback, which I will reply to.
I woke up in a dark expanse of space, there doesn't seem to be anything around me except endless darkness. "Hello" Came a booming voice seeming to be coming from every direction at once, "I am a being that would you call a R.O.B."
That is not a good thing, who knows what fucked up hell-world I could be shoved into for such a being's entertainment. Imagine being shoved into Warhammer 40K or Dragonball Z, such worlds are basically a death sentence. "Fear not," said the booming voice, "I have nothing to gain from shoving you into a world in which you won't survive a second. You will be going into a world that while dangerous is survivable with enough training and willpower." well that's a relief at least.
"And is there any way for me to return home once this is over," I asked, voicing my only real concern. he replies "If you die at any time, you will be returned to the point that you left from. However, if you can survive ten years in this world you will keep all of your powers and be given the ability to travel between the two worlds at will, as well any friends from either world."
That actually seemed like a pretty good deal, considering that most Isekai protagonists were trapped in whatever world they end up in permanently. "Where am I going, and am I going to be given anything to help me survive?"
The voice seemed to ponder this for a moment before a laptop appeared in front of me "You will be going to a world you know quite well… Percy Jackson. And since you could pretty much just ask for anything if I granted you boons, I'll instead let you fill in the standard Percy Jackson jumpchain. With 2000CP to spend considering this is your first and only jump, and it's a pretty dangerous jump for a baseline human, you will however not be given the warehouse, bodymod, or any other supplement." I take a moment to consider this, while not an easy universe by any means, it is still very much survivable as long as you had some good demigod powers and didn't directly challenge a god, plus there was a very real chance of becoming a god myself if I play my cards right.
Seeming to read my thoughts R.O.B speaks up again "Yes, you could become a god if you manage to impress the Olympians enough, however as soon as that occurs the Godly Restraint drawback would come into effect, and this would apply as long as you are in the Percy Jackson world and not your own, since the forces of the universe work very differently in your own world."
I take a look at the jump document, I role for location which ends up being Brooklyn, New York, Not a horrible location considering that I could make my way to Camp Half-blood pretty easily from there. I also role a d2 meaning an age of 13. For my godly parent, I'm very tempted to choose one of the big three, however, I release just how dangerous that would be. Especially since I would be forced to take the Godly scorn drawback, which would basically mean that one of the big three gods would want me dead, enough so that they would come in person to kill me if I proved annoying enough.
Thinking about the other 10 gods my choice becomes even easier, Artemis and Hera don't have any demigods and therefore, yet another Drawback would be forced on me taking that off the table as an option. Hermes and Athena children didn't really have any cool superpowers, while Dionysus, Hephaestus and Demeter kids do get some cool powers, they aren't very powerful. That leaves Apollo, Aphrodite and Ares. Ares kids are able to adapt to any weapon and are able to transfigure objects into weapons or cure enemies weapons. Apollo kids have to power to heal, are expert archers, skilled musicians and can control sound waves and music, limited precognition, and they can also rarely have full photokinesis. lastly, children of Aphrodite have control over love and desire, charm-speak, strong social abilities, and can make minor changes to their physical features.
While being a child of Aphrodite would be cool if I was going full harem/waifu collection mode, it wasn't too great for general survivability. And both Ares and his children tended to be assholes and bullies, so not the type of people I wanted to share a cabin with on a day to day basis. That left becoming a child of Apollo, selecting that option I went to the next part of the document. Taking the camper origin, because being I needed every advantage I could get, and having no past or memories of this world would be a major setback. And as for henchman, as far as I could recall not many of them survived the book series, and while the gods were kind of dicks the titans were so much worse. I took The olden ways, and Godly powers for free allowing me to speak ancient Greek and granting access to my demigod powers. Next was Camp training which came free with the camper origin, this means that I have at least a couple of years of training and am a known entity at camp half-blood. May you live in interesting times was next, meaning that I would be sent on a lot of minor quests, while this may be dangerous it can be toggled on/off, which means that I now have a source of growth and training. The gods are bros is a given, in a world where the gods could choose to smite you for the smallest offence, being the only person that the gods like is a pretty great superpower.
Now comes pretty much the most powerful perk in this document Chosen child considering that it makes me a more powerful example of one of Apollo's children I take this to assume that I now have full Photokinesis (light control) which is a rare power amongst his children. It also means I'm better at Archery, music, sound control, and healing than a normal child of Apollo. On top of that, the perk also makes it so that I will attain many blessings and gifts along my journey, including some from the gods themselves. I'm hoping that these boons could one day equal me being granted Godhood, but even if that's not the case I can at least hope for partial immortality or a god's blessing.
For items I take a celestial bronze cavalry blade as my Monster killer, some Nectar and Ambrosia and finally a Divine implement, for this, I decided to theme it around my godly heritage so it's less weird that I have it. It's a bow that's infused with the power of the sun and is able to shoot arrows made from pure sunlight, which change intensity and heat depending on my will, when not in use it turns into an arrow-shaped earring.
Now that I've gone through all the items and perks that I want from my origin, and still have 900CP I go back through the list seeing if anything else interests me. Unbound by thread while very expensive is also a really powerful perk, with it I can manipulate the events of prophecies, which means that I am now able to interfere in canon, without events correcting themselves to match whatever a prophecy says. It also means that I can now defeat beasts that only a prophesied hero could normally defeat, for example, the Lydian Drakon which showed up during the battle of Manhattan could only be defeated by a child of Ares, now however I could kill it just as easily. The most powerful boon from this skill was the gift of prophecy, I can now open myself up to the spirit of the oracle and give prophecies, which is actually not impossible for me to have considering that I am a very strong son of the God of Prophecy.
With my final 200CP I grab Managing the mist which means that I can now manipulate the way mortals perceive me and my actions, which is good if I'm going to be fighting monsters with godly weapons. And finally, Bag of Drachmas which means that I now have a refilling source of godly currency that I can spend at the camp store or use for Iris messaging.
Now finally having completed my choices I speak up once again "So ROB, how will I be inserted into this world, will I have a mortal family? Or am I just an orphan?" There is silence for a moment almost as if he is considering his answer.
"You already have a few years of training at camp, so it makes sense for you to have lived there for a while, so let's say that your mortal mother sent you to camp at the young age of 10 because your nature as a powerful demigod attracted to many monsters and she was worried about your family." He pauses again to let that sink in "The reason you are currently in Brooklyn is that you are returning from a quest your father gave for you to prove yourself, similar to the one Luke went on. You had to retrieve a bow that Hephaestus crafted for Apollo many years ago but never ended up giving to him due to an argument. This bow is the one from the divine implement item, and since you are the first one with a light affinity to touch it, it's now bonded to you, since you've chosen for it to take the form of an earring it will return to your ear after 10 minutes if it's lost or stolen, and you need only lightly tug on it to return it to bow form. The same applies to any item you've purchased since you don't have a warehouse, they will always reappear in a satchel or bag on your person. Good luck Zach, please try to be entertaining,"
Next thing I know I wake up in a Brooklyn alleyway, a sword sheathed at my Waist, a and a backpack on which, upon checking I found a bag filled with gold coins, a baggie of golden-coloured squares, and a canteen containing what looked like iced apple juice. It was very strange because while I could remember my life back home very clearly I also had another set of memories. Of being abandoned at a camp at the age of 10, of being trained by Chiron and older campers, years of sword fighting training and using a bow. I remember my three brothers Lee Fletcher, Michael Yew, and Will Solace. I remember there being at least two more children of Apollo that fought in the Battle of Manhattan, but that's still four years away so they likely haven't arrived at camp yet. At 13 years old I'm surprisingly not the youngest of my siblings, with Will being 10, and only attending camp during summer. And Michael being 12 and Lee also being 13 (The ages of Michael and Lee are never actually given in canon, all we know is that they are both older than Will since he was third in line for cabin leader, and Lee has to be the oldest since he is the leader. I went with these ages since Michael is a close friend of Percy and it would make sense for them to be the same age, and I really don't think Lee was older than 17 by the fourth book.) While Lee and I are the same age, he was made cabin leader due to being slightly older, now however since I've completed a quest and he hasn't that duty will now fall to me.
The quest for the bow was actually quite simple, if it had been a full quest party of three it wouldn't have even been a challenge. But since It was a solo quest I was forced to make my way to the Junkyard of the gods (the same one from The Titans Curse) in Arizona solo, fighting many small-time monsters such as cyclops and hellhounds that smelled a powerful demigod. Since I had permission to be there, the Talos prototype didn't activate as long as I didn't grab anything other than the bow that I was there for. It wasn't really what I imagine a quest to be, but I guess it was a fairly simple adventure for my father to send me on since he couldn't really give me a gift that powerful without issuing it as a quest.
And since it was gained that way, it officially cannot be taken from my by a god since it is classified as a quest reward, and them taking it from me would be seen by the fates as a god interfering in mortal affairs, and even if they did it would just come back to me. Considering it's CP backed by a being much for powerful than an Olympian God.
Checking my wallet, I found $50 which was all that was left of the $100 that had been lent to me by the camp store, for my quest. Considering that I had used the mist, to get onto trains and buses for free, by tricking mortals into thinking I was holding a valid ticket, I still had enough money left for a cab to Long Island, since It wasn't peak travel time.
While a cab driver would usually find it quite questionable dropping a 13-year-old off in what appeared to be a strawberry field in the middle of nowhere, the mist took care of that quite quickly. Seeing camp half-blood with my own eyes for the first time was amazing. The first thing I saw was a 4-story farmhouse usually referred to as the 'Big house', next twelve amazingly decorated cabins arranged in a U shape, there was also volleyball courts, an amphitheatre, and open roof dining area.
Upon entering camp I approached The Big House, knowing that I needed to report to Chiron and Mr D, the success of my Quest.
