(To all who read this chapter. I now have a beta reader, so present and future chapters will be improved and easier to read compared to previous chapters.)
(So thank you, Qwityboy for beta reading this chapter. qwityboy: No problem, man!)
(I have had some messages asking why Luke has almost the same amount of stats as Percy(other than health) even though Luke is level 51. The reason is that he does not have a bracelet that gives out quests or stat points as rewards or for leveling up.)
(This will not make Percy OP for the moment, he still has low-level skills and perks not to mention his water abilities which he has not learned to use. Although to be fair, he will be getting more powerful than other demigods, it's hard not too when you have a leveling system.)
I stood frozen, after reading the status window for Luke. I probably should not have been as shocked as I was, but seeing his health, and then his stats was just astonishing. How can he have over 4,000 health and not have all his stats in the hundreds!? I was brought out of that trail of thought, when I heard Reika growling in my head. Taking a look around, I saw most of the campers staring at me from there tables.
Ignoring them for the time being, I continued walking over and sat down in the seat next to Luke that a previous camper had changed seats from.
"Hi, I'm Percy." I said to him with a small smile on my face. I could almost see my acting level rising. My smile almost fell from my face after that thought, when had I needed to act just to smile? Pushing that thought for later, I listened to Luke, who seemed to be finishing what he had been telling me, or what I was supposed to have been listening too.
"-and then we have games or competitions if you prefer, like capture the flag, and death ball, that almost all the demigods participate in." he said with a grin on his face.
"You're going to be sleeping in the Hermes cabin." he said, while pointing at a large cabin that previously Chiron had told me about.
"Unfortunately, many demigods have to stay in the cabin, so just grab a sleeping bag, and pick a spot where you can see the floor." he said while smirking, taking a glance at all the demigods that made up the Hermes table.
I just nodded my head, grabbed a plate on the table, and started to eat. It may have been slightly rude, but at the moment I didn't care.
After eating some food, I walked over to the Hermes cabin, leaving the rest of the demigods to their meal. Going up the steps, I grabbed the doorknob and prepared to enter the room when I heard a [Ding!]. Pausing, I took my hand off the door and opened my new notification.
[You are about to enter the Hermes cabin]
[Any items left around have a 99% chance of being stolen, with a 99% chance of being pranked while in the cabin]
[Quest alert!]
[Stay the night at the Hermes cabin without being robbed or pranked]
[Duration 8 hours]
[Rewards]
[Stealth]
[With this skill, you can go undetected by most beings once leveled]
I read the window multiple times. This was a skill that I somehow, no matter how many hellhounds I killed, I couldn't gain. It makes sense that I could get this skill by entering the god of thieves cabin. Entering the cabin, I saw a timer in the top right corner of my eyes. Looking around I saw a large room with bunks lined up against the walls, and bedding covering the entire floor.
How am I possibly going to complete this quest? The possibility of me being pranked in this room, especially with me being the new guy, is extremely high. Just me taking a look around, I could tell that there was almost no place for me to sleep. Looking up, I saw strong rafters that looked like they could hold me up easily if I slept up there. Heading towards a bunk, I was about to attempt getting up there, when I realized that I couldn't possibly be the first person to think of doing this.
Opening the window I re-read the quest. Their had to be SOME way out of this! As I was reading the quest, I paused, the quest did not explicitly say I had to stay IN the cabin, just AT the cabin. Moving towards the door, I walked out of the cabin, and started to circle the building looking for a safe place to sleep.
Sighing to myself, I looked up and saw areas that I could sleep on the roof of the cabin. Spinning around I Searched for anyone looking at me or close to me. Seeing none, I climbed the side of the cabin, barely pulling myself up and scaling the wall to the top. After reaching the roof, I found a flat area to lay down and watch the stars. As I listened to the sound of demigods chattering, I fell into a peaceful sleep.
I woke up with a jump, as I heard the all-too-familiar sound in my mind.[Ding!], [Ding!], [Ding!]. Shaking my head, I steadied myself and opened my notifications.
[Quest Complete!]
[Rewards]
[hidden Requirements met]
[For having a companion that can control shadows you have gained a bonus to skill]
[+ 20% Stealth when in shadows]
Skill gained: Stealth Lv-1 (0%) + 20% stealth when in shadows
[You have escaped being pranked or robbed]
[Your demigod reputation has raised by 2%]
demigod reputation 4% [almost no demigods know who you are]
[For thinking outside the box] + 1 intelligence
I could feel my mouth pulling into a wide grin. This is a great quest reward, not only did I get a skill, I even got 20% extra stealth when in shadow, simply for having Reika as my companion! Of course, I had no delusions of capturing monsters, having them be my companions, and then gaining a bonus for everything I do. There was more than likely a limit on companions.
Activating my stealth skill, I moved off the roof and into the shadows of the trees. As I was moving, I noticed that my movements were smooth, as if I had been doing this for years, and not for the first time ever, which it was. Walking out of the shadows, I headed to the dining area where I could see demigods gathering. Stopping, I felt a light flash in my eyes. Glancing around I saw another flash, looking down I saw that it came from a gem on the bracelet.
It took me two seconds to think over before I pressed the flashing gem. A golden window with black lettering popped up.
[Congratulations!]
[You have now started your demigod journey]
[You will now get quests more often]
[You can now use demigod training grounds to raise your skills]
[Your skills can now evolve]
Closing the window, I sprinted to the training grounds that Chiron pointed out yesterday to raise my skill. The second I reached it, I got a couple more alerts. [Ding!]
[demigod training grounds]
[You can train skills 20% faster while in this area]
I may or may not have jumped for joy in the air with a huge smile after reading the window. I could raise my skills so much faster in these grounds! Who knows? maybe I would even be able to raise my levels faster here too! Opening more windows, I thought over what evolving my skills could mean and how I could do it.
[Quest alert!]
[Reach the rank of an Advanced beginner with any skill]
[Rewards]
+ 20,000 Exp
Accept quest
Yes/No
[Quest alert!]
[Reach the rank of Competent with any skill]
[Rewards]
+ 20 stat points
Accept quest
Yes/No
[Quest alert!]
[Reach the rank of Proficient with any skill]
[Rewards]
50,000 Exp
Accept quest
Yes/No
[Quest alert!]
[Reach the rank of Expert with any skill]
[Rewards]
+ 1 random perk
Accept quest
Yes/No
[Quest alert!]
[Choose your main weapon]
[You will gain a bonus when using your main chosen weapon]
[Rewards]
+ 1 skill book for chosen weapon
Accept quest
Yes/No
I, of course, accepted all the quests which I think is an excellent function. A window popped up after clicking yes to the main weapon quest. I stared at the long list of weapons. How was I going to choose only one? Not only would I need to buy a weapon, I would need to train and learn how to use an entirely new one. Scrolling through, I scratched the back of my head, with my hand brushing up against my ear.
Stopping I touched my ear again. There was my earing that held my daggers. That would solve most of my problems, not only do I already have a set of daggers, I have a maxed out skill for throwing knives! By choosing the daggers, I would gain a skill for them, and most likely do more damage when using them!
Scrolling to the top of the window I clicked the dagger option.
[Quest Complete!]
[Choose your main weapon]
[You deal 10% more damage when using daggers]
[Rewards]
+ 1 dagger skill book
Going to my items, I opened my new skill book
[You have learned a new skill]
Dagger Novice Lv-1 (0%)
[You deal 10% more damage when using daggers]
Tapping my earrings, I grabbed the daggers and swung a few times. I may be a novice, but I still felt as If I had been using them for years. Walking over to a training dummy, I swung the daggers at it. The slice of the dagger made a shallow cut in the dummy, but other than that, there was nothing. Trying again I kept swinging, and swinging, making some shallow cuts and some deeper cleaves.
After a while, I tried a variety of moves. Sometimes I would swing both daggers at the same time, other times I would try swinging them left to right, then up and down. As I was doing this, I felt the eyes of other demigods watching as I tore the dummy apart. An hour later the target was destroyed, and I opened my notifications that I had been ignoring.
[Your skill has leveled up!]
[Your skill has leveled up!]
[Your skill has leveled up!]
[Your skill has leveled up!]
[Your skill has leveled up!]
Dagger Novice Lv-6 (21%)
Seeing that I raised my dagger skill to Lv-6 was surprising and odd. Looking at the dummy, I watched as it somehow repaired itself. Using my observe skill, reading the dummy, my eyes widened and I realized I would most likely be living in these training grounds almost permanently in the near future.
[Self-repairing dummy]
[No matter how much this dummy is damaged, it will always repair itself when left alone for a minimum of 60 seconds]
[learn skills 10% faster]
[Creator unknown]
Closing the window, I opened the shop buying a sandwich, and pretended to pull the food from my pocket instead of out of thin air. As I was eating, I watched as other demigods practiced using their weapons, either swinging at air or just sparring against each other. [Ding!]
[Quest alert!]
[Spar against an opponent]
[Reward]
+ 5,000 Exp
+ 1% reputation
Accept quest
Yes/No
I accepted the quest and looked around at the other campers sparring. Most of them were using swords with some using a few spears. Looking at them I only saw a couple of people using a knife. Thinking it over, I started practicing using my daggers on the dummy. I may have accepted the quest, but that does not mean I have to do it RIGHT now.
Three hours later, I managed to raise my dagger skill to level 9. Unfortunately, my leveling has slowed down significantly. Putting my daggers away, I headed towards the shower area. All of this work has got me and my clothes covered in sweat. Throwing my clothes in the wash, I bought another pair of identical clothes. Black jeans and a white t-shirt but this time I bought a black jacket that had multiple pockets on the inside that could hold some of my throwing knives.
After my shower, I dressed in the new clothes and headed back to the roof of the Hermes cabin, making sure to use my stealth skill and practice avoiding the campers. Why would I do this? Well, I do not trust any of these demigods. Sure they are the same and have a parent that is a god, but first of all, I have this system which no one else seems to have. And second isn't it odd that we hear about our parents being gods of Olympus, never see them, and yet are told about them when we get to camp?
These overall may not seem like a good reason, but really why should I trust anyone in this camp because all of our parents are gods? That, in my opinion, is just stupid. Buying another sandwich from the shop, I ate while watching the stars, then I slowly drifted off to sleep under the warm night sky.
As I awoke the next morning, I immediately went to the item shop and decided to but a few pairs of shorts and a t-shirt that I could use when practicing with my daggers. After putting them on, I again used my stealth skill and headed towards the training grounds.
As I started another day of swinging daggers at the dummy, I started to wonder what was the use of stamina. Every swing of the dagger did deplete around five stamina, but the regeneration speed was just too quick. It seemed pointless to me to even have the stat. As I was thinking this over, I got a notification. [Ding!]
+ 1 Dexterity
+ 1 Dexterity
+ 1 Dexterity
+ 1 Dexterity
[Quest alert!]
[Discover the use of stamina]
[reward]
+ 2 strength
Accept quest
Yes/No
I did accept the quest. Finding the use of stamina would be helpful in the long run. The most surprising thing was the new dexterity stats. I have been focusing so much on skills that I forgot that by training, I could raise my stats. Finding that swinging my daggers at the dummy could raise my Dexterity was a nice surprise.
As I was training in the corner of my eye, I saw a girl wielding a spear sparring against Luke, who was using a sword. I paused my training and walked a little closer as I saw them both moving faster than I could and sparks falling to the ground when they clashed. The girl was good, that much was clear, but Luke always seemed to have the upper hand. Watching closer, I realized that If I tried to spar with either of them with my current dagger skill, I would be decimated instantly.
Turning around, not bothering to find out who the girl was, I slipped into a flurry of strikes at the dummy. How could I get better? Sure, I seemed to be raising my skill at a decent pace, but there were other stronger monsters that I haven't seen, let alone fought. What if I get attacked while going into the city? like with the Furies! It has happened before, it will more than likely happen again. Raising my arms, I hit the dummy with all my strength, and ignored everything else.
Falling to my knees, I panted as I tried to catch my breath. What was going on here!? I have not been this tired since I first started running, or when I was fighting hellhounds! Even then, that was more of mental fatigue than exhaustion. Catching my breath, I opened my notifications.
+ 1 Dexterity
[Quest Complete!]
[Discover the use of stamina]
[reward]
+ 2 strength
Seeing the text on the window, I sat there, staring. Normally I would be happy, or at the very least satisfied. Unfortunately, I HAVE NO CLUE ON HOW I COMPLETED THIS QUEST!
I sat there almost in a daze. I had always either completed the quest, or completed at the very least part of one. This was the first time I finished a quest not only on accident, but with no clue on how I did it. Sighing to myself, I lifted myself off the ground and went to the cabin to shower and change.
Coming out of the shower, I decided to take a walk around the camp, and see if there were any other interesting areas. As I was walking, I heard a growl in my mind and stopped. Taking a look around, I saw the Athena cabin. Taking a peek inside I listened to a [Ding!] and stepped back in surprise. The walls, floor, and even the rafters by the ceiling were covered with books. Quickly I opened the notification.
[You can not pass through the door unless given permission by Athena]
[Quest alert!]
[Learn new languages]
[Reward]
Unknown
After I closed the window, I took a step back off the porch and walked off to see if this "Camp" has a library. I figured if the Athena cabin has that many books, then there has to be SOMETHING around here. That, and I was trying not to think about how all those books were out of reach.
After a couple of hours of searching, or me may or may not giving up and asking a demigod, I discovered that there was no library in camp half-blood. I mean, come on my fellow demigods! Does NO ONE other than the Athena kids read around here!? Though it does explain their insane book collection. Laying down by the lake, I had discovered a couple of hours previously. I, bored to death and tears, opened up the item shop and started scrolling through items. As I was looking through the different foods, I saw a gold flashing light on one of the previously grayed out tabs.
Clicking the tab, I froze and stared at what was written in the window. Skills, hundreds of them! scrolling through the tab, I saw skills like cooking, sword mastery, baking, archery, swimming, gambling, singing, martial arts, different languages and that was only a few skills! There were hundreds in the list that I saw as I scrolled down! Clicking on one, I looked at what it would take to learn these skills.
I could felt my heart break when I saw the price to learn just the novice martial arts skill, 1,000 drachmae. Seeing the amount, I scrolled all the way to the bottom of the window to see if all the prices were a thousand. I felt my vision swim for a moment when I saw the price to learn master level skills, 100,000 drachmae. Seeing the price I knew immediately that this was plain robbery, it would be quicker to level up the skill itself than to pay THIS exorbitant amount! Then again, this was a master level skill. It would make sense to have to pay that much for no leveling.
Scrolling to the top, I chose the very first skill book, hoping that the skills were cheaper at the top, like how they were more expensive at the bottom. As the window showed 100 drachmae, I could almost feel my heart mending again. The skill in the window was a skill for languages. The languages on this list seem to be the cheapest in the shop. Unfortunately, if I did buy it at most, I could raise it to level two if the price does not change after the first purchase. With all of these changes that the system keeps bringing, it honestly would not surprise me...
Closing the window, I got up from my position on the beach and headed towards the cabins. As I was walking, I heard loud cheers coming from the pavilion. Heading there I saw a massive crowd of demigods some in circles talking, others running back and forth, but the one thing that they all had in common, was that almost all had armor, and everyone had weapons.
As I was heading on over to the crowd, I ran into a girl I had not met before. Which was not hard when I never went to eat with anyone and slept on the roof of a cabin. Taking a step back, I asked her what was going on.
"Hey, I'm Percy," I greeted the girl. "What is going on here?" I asked her.
"Right, Percy, I heard about you from Chiron." she said. "I'm Annabeth, and what is going on is that we are about to start a game of capture the flag." she said as she glanced at some demigods strapping on some armor.
"I think I may have heard Luke mention something like that.'' I said aloud, deep in thought. Taking a closer look at me, she walked around me sizing me up, then said.
"You know what? you are going to join blue," she said to me after a full circle around, and then she ran off to where all the other demigods in blue were.
And I apparently have no say in the matter. I sighed. As Annabeth was disappearing from my view, I managed to use my observe skill on her. Now let's see what this Annabeth girl has for stats.
[The demigod System]
[Character Status]
[Name: Percy Jackson] Lv.20 Exp 4,100/7,000
[Age: 15] [Race: demigod] [Title: Monster Hunter] [Companion: Reika]
[HP: 1,500/1,500] (Health Regen: 6.5 per min)
[Stamina: 850/850] (Stamina Regen 11.6 per min)
[Mana: 1,200/1,200] (Mana Regen 3.7 per min)
[Affinity - Water]
[Stats]
Strength - 39
Vitality - 59
Dexterity - 34
Intelligence - 61
Wisdom - 37
Charisma - 27
Luck - 75
Stat Points - 45
[Skills]
Stealth Lv-1 (0%) + 20% stealth when in shadows
Acting Lv-1 (14%)
Lying Lv-1 (11%)
Presence Lv-1 (73%)
Tracking Lv-4 (89%)
Dagger Novice Lv-9 (42%) [You deal 10% more damage when using daggers]
Knife throwing Lv-Max
Archery Lv-1 (0%)
Sword Novice Lv-1 (0%)
Eavesdrop Lv-1 (0%)
Observe Lv-9 (20%)
Running Lv-8 (52%)
Cooking Lv-5 (61%)
Languages: English Lv-Max, Latin Lv-2
Skill Points - 1
[Special Abilities]
Water manipulation Lv-1 (0%)
Proficiency level (16%)
Special Ability Points - 0
[Perks]
Knowledge Absorber Lv-1 [You can learn skills from books, the more advanced the book, the higher the skill you get is.] Can raise skill level by absorbing books for that skill.
Physical Endurance Lv-11 [You take 22% less damage from physical attacks]
[Resistance]
Fire resistance Lv-4 [You are 40% resistant to fire]
[Items]
Credit Card, 24 Celestial bronze knives,
[Item shop]
[Relationships]
Grover - 40/100
Chiron - 21/100
Reika - 70/100
[Reputation]
God reputation 1%
demigod reputation 4%
Monster reputation 10% [Monsters are now slightly cautious in your presence. Does not include companions.]
Titan reputation 0%
Primordial reputation 0%
Money: $342,021
Drachma: 225
(I did not add Reika's stats since her stats did not change.)
(Should I add dialogue from the books as I did in one of the previous chapters? I know my dialogue is not the best since I am trying to think of what that character would say. I apologize for those who like characters to have the same type of character they have in the book. It is hard coming up with dialogue.)
(Does it get easier the more you write?)
(Hope everyone enjoys the chapter.)