A/N: I'm not gonna lie. I felt proud about myself in that last chapter. The response from you guys are great. And while it does have some resistance, it looks like Pertemis is going to be how the story goes. There's still time. So don't worry about the pairing just right now.

As you've noticed in my writing, I tend to not name any real places in this story. This is because I don't have a good way of describing places. Also, I want it to be a bit more loose so you can imagine the scene the way you see it. I can just go write and tell that these things are happening in New York, but hell, I know nothing of New York. I'll trigger everyone.

LordAlces: Thanks! I do want to keep her close to how she originally is in the books with just a 'slight' change.

Guest: For items, I guess you'll just have to wait and see. And yeah, don't worry. I do sleep. I just have a lot of spare time in my hand. Plus, it's been a while since I've started writing and I'm just excited to write again. Thanks!

Dinklebersc3: Same for me, good sir.

Zayden StormVoid: I just have a lot of spare times. I also just limit the number of words I write in chapters. Usually I just write until I think it's appropriate to end it, which always seem to take 5k-7k words. It was tiring. So I just said, 3k per chapter would be enough and no need to rush it. And as for which he'll choose . . . *wink.

Percabeth 8531: You are confusing me.

Let's get on with it!

Chapter 5

After learning about the status effects, beating Thalia seemed to be easier than it was before. While it took a little effort, Percy wasted no time in making sure Thalia fell on the floor first.

Percy smirked at her. "I win." He said, looking down at Thalia who was sitting on the floor.

Thalia glared at him. "How can you be so good in such a short time?" Percy helped Thalia up.

"I'm a fast learner," Percy shrugged.

He was grateful for this little match between him and Thalia. It helped him get his mind off of the fact that Reyna was trying to force him into her team.

"Well, we're tied now on the score." Thalia admitted as she sat down on the couch. Percy followed next to her. Thalia, being the little girl she is, decided to put her legs across Percy's lap while she lay down on the armrest of the couch.

"Uh huh," Percy raised an eyebrow at her. He wasn't surprised. He knew Thalia was comfortable around Percy. Sometimes a bit too comfortable. Case in point, the legs.

"So, have you chosen any teams that you may have liked?" Thalia asked. "The showcase is in five days. There's still so much for you to learn."

She sounded genuinely concerned for him. "Haven't picked one," Percy admitted. "I don't know how I'm even supposed to decide."

"From what I've heard, the Rebellion and Minerva are keeping tabs on you." Thalia stretched her arms and yawned. "An international team is looking out for you too."

"International team?" Percy asked. "Who?"

"The Flamers,"

"That sounds like a hate group."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "It's an international team led by Frank Zhang. Along with Hazel Levesque and soon-to-be official member, Leo Valdez, they are the most powerful offensive team in the world." Thalia's eyes seem to be glinting up as she explained more. "While they don't have a very good defence, their offensive capabilities can make any defence crumble."

"Interesting," Percy muttered. "Hey, where is Jason anyway? I haven't seen him this morning."

Thalia shrugged. "He said he's going out with some of the kids and was going to grind for items in PvEs. He's trying so hard to beat me."

"Makes sense." Percy said. He looked at his watch to see it was almost time for school. "Well, I better get going."

Thalia pouted. "You're leaving already?" Percy nodded. He gestured for her to remove her legs from his lap. "At least fight me one more time?"

"Nope," Percy grinned as he lifted Thalia's legs and he moved out of the way. "You're just gonna lose on that."

"I won't."

"We'll see," Percy smirked. Thalia just stuck her tongue out at him as he left. Percy didn't really feel like going to school, since he'll just get bombarded with questions and friend requests, which was annoying.

As he walked down the sidewalk, Percy looked at a nearby parking lot, which was unbelievably empty. He saw some kids that were fighting, but they didn't seem like they were fighting each other. Percy put on his AR Glasses to see what was really going on.

It was a PvE. These kids were going against an enemy that Olympia had made. It was a monster that looked like a mix of a human and a bull that stood on two legs and was almost ten feet tall. From the shoulder down, he looked like an Olympic bodybuilder covered in brown fur. Above his shoulders, the head of a bull sprouted out with horns mean enough to gut you. He wore a bronze breastplate as an armour and held a large axe shaped like the Greek letter Omega.

From Percy's display, above the monster displayed his name – Minotaur – alongside his health bar.

Percy watched as the Minotaur swiped his axe sideways, sending all of the kids backwards. The monster roared before heading back and his health went back to full.

Percy went over to those kids who were sprawled on the floor. He didn't see it before from far away, but he noticed that one of them was Jason.

"Jason?" Percy called.

Jason looked up and grinned. "Oh hey Percy," Jason said. "What brings you here?"

"I was just passing by," He shrugged. "So, you guys are doing a raid, huh?"

"Yeah." Jason scratched the back of his head. "We've been trying since morning, but the monster's just too tough for us."

"Need some help?" Percy offered. This would make a great reason for not going to school.

"You sure? Aren't you going to be late for school?"

Percy shrugged. "Meh." He said simply as he put his backpack down.

Jason grinned. He turned towards the three other kids that were with him. Two of them Percy recognized were the Stoll brothers. Travis and Connor. As twins, both of them were real troublemakers at the Orphanage. They would always play pranks on other kids. They both have this mischievous glint in their eyes that made Percy be wary of his pockets around them.

The other kid was Katie Gardener. Her brown hair was tied into a ponytail and her jacket was tied around her waist. She's always like the 'boss' among the younger kids. She bosses younger kids around and tell them to behave. She also always helps Hestia with gardening all the time.

"So, what are your classes?" Percy asked.

Connor and Travis grinned. "Assassins,"

"I'm a Fencer," Jason said with a slight smug on his tone. A Fencer is one of the most mobile classes in Olympia, probably up there along with Assassins. They use a rapier – or two rapiers, depending on the player – to attack. Although they don't land big hits like Assassins do, they make up for it by doing quick attacks. These people attack you like fifteen times in five seconds. They don't do a lot of damage per hit, but they can hit you a lot of time to deal insane amount of total damage. Their defences only consists of parrying and dodging.

"And I'm a Druid." Katie said, blowing a strand of her hair away from her face. Druids are one of the Support classes. They do nature magic, which suits her perfectly. Similar to a Fencer, Druids don't have big burst heals that restores your health instantaneously. Instead, they apply a heal-over-time effect, which heals you per second in intervals. They also have some offensive abilities and spells to cripple the enemy.

Percy noticed to problem. "No tanks?" Percy asked.

Everyone shook their heads. "No one plays as a tank in the Orphanage except for Thalia, and I didn't want to bring her along."

Percy thought of a strategy for this. The hours he spend watching videos of Olympia tournaments are paying off. "Okay, I have a plan."

Line Break

When they were ready, they changed into their combat attire. Percy had never been in a party before, so it took a while to get used to. Where his health bar was shown at the upper right corner of the screen, below it was a list of people who was in the same party as he was which is Jason, the Stoll brothers, and Katie. Below their names were green and blue bars that displayed their current HP and MP respectively.

As soon as they got within ten meters of the Minotaur, his head perked up, noticing that he now have some company. He stood up and grabbed his axe which looked like it could slice a school bus as easy as Percy could slice butter.

"Remember the plan," Percy said. "Katie, stay at the back and use your magic to cripple him. If you see any of us with low HP, just use your heals."

Katie nodded. He turned towards the boys. "The rest of us are going to aggro the monster in turns, so we don't get hit a lot."

They all nodded as they charged forward.

'Aggro' is short for aggression. It is what draws enemies in Olympia to attack you. The more you attack it, the more aggro you will build for yourself. If you're in a team PvE, the player with the most aggro will be targeted by the enemy. This is why tanks are designed to be the easiest to draw in a monster's aggro. It is so they can absorb all the hits while the rest of their teammates can dish out damage.

Since they don't have a tank, Percy decided to make sure the Minotaur's aggro switches around between him, the Stoll brothers, and Jason so that none of them take too much damage.

It was Percy's turn first. Percy was just using one of his swords in this fight. They had made sure that Percy landed the first hit so he would draw the Minotaur's aggro. It worked as the Minotaur fixed his beady eyes at Percy. He roared loudly before he swung his axe in a downward motion. Percy rolled out of the way before stabbing the Minotaur in the gut.

The monster howled in pain as he grabbed Percy like an action figure. Percy struggled to break free, but the Minotaur's grip was like iron.

"Jason!" Percy called out. Jason understood as he did five thrusts at the Minotaur's leg followed with a swipe of his rapier. The Minotaur roared in pain and turned his attention towards Jason. He let Percy go and lumbered over towards Jason. Percy straightened himself up as he rushed towards the Minotaur. The Stoll brothers were no where in sight, but Percy noticed the wounds that were evident around the Minotaur's legs. Travis and Conner had went invisible and were striking at the Minotaur silently. The Minotaur swiped his axe sideways as Jason jumped over it. Percy used that brief moment after its attack to slash at the Minotaur's legs, right behind the knee. The monster buckled and dropped to one knee.

Then, out of nowhere, tendrils of roots sprouted out from the tarmac and wrapped itself around the Minotaur's arms and legs, rendering him immobile. Percy glanced at Katie briefly to see that he'd just cast one of her Druid spells.

"Now!" Percy commanded. All of them sprang into action, including Katie, to unleash their fury on the Minotaur. Percy took note of the Minotaur's HP bar that had turned from green to yellow after it went past the halfway mark. The Minotaur's body started to tremble as his brown fur turned reddish.

"Everybody back off!" Jason shouted, which was a good call since the Minotaur broke free of his bonds and now looked angrier than ever. He threw his axe away and started to charge towards Jason, horns first.

As big as the Minotaur was, he wasn't slow. Jason had no time to get out of the way as he was sent flying a few meters back and landed roughly on the tarmac. Percy looked at his HP bar and was worried of how low it was.

"Katie, heal him." Percy said. Katie understood as she casts a healing spell at Jason. A light green glow started to surround him as Jason's health was starting to regenerate bit by bit, but it wasn't quick enough.

The Minotaur was ready to charge again at Jason who was currently still down in a daze, but the Stoll Brothers came to the rescue as both Travis and Connor appeared in the Minotaur's line of sight and slashed at his snout.

The monster reared back and roared at the twins, preparing to charge them. As he did, the twins nimbly moved out of the way. Connor had managed to break one of his horns free as the Minotaur roared in pain. The trade off was that he'd managed to backhand Travis who was sent flying slightly.

Percy assessed the situation. The adrenaline was kicking in as his mind went to overdrive. Jason was still down, his health was dangerously low. Travis was also down and the Minotaur was now eyeing on Connor, who had one of the Minotaur's horn in his hand.

"Katie," Percy said. "Is your Root spell up yet?"

"In twenty seconds," Katie said. "But I'm still healing Jason."

Percy nodded. "As soon as it's up, use it."

"But what about Travis – " Percy was already on his way towards the monster. Connor was doing well, dodging about the Minotaur's swipes and punches, but it wouldn't last forever.

Percy yelled as he sunk his blade straight into the Minotaur's ribcage. While the monster roared in pain, he kept his eyes on Connor.

Percy cursed mentally. By breaking one of the Minotaur's horns, Connor had built up way too much aggro. Percy took his sword out of the Minotaur and his other sword on his back. He slashed and hacked at the Minotaur, trying to take it's aggro off of Connor.

The Minotaur noticed him as an annoyance as he just swiped his hand at Percy, on which he blocked, before continuing to attack Connor.

"Katie!" Percy grunted against the Minotaur's hand. "Is it up yet?"

"Seven seconds!" Katie said.

Percy slashed both of his swords at the monster's knee, causing him to buckle. Percy then stabbed one sword at the Minotaur's chest while the other he slashed at the snout.

The Minotaur's health bar had turned red. By the time, he was eyeing on Percy and his breath was steaming. He punched Percy square in the chest, which knocked the air out of him and sent him flying away. He'd lost his sword as it skittered across the tarmac. The Minotaur roared as he charged at Percy, getting closer by the second.

Percy closed his eyes, hoping that it wouldn't hurt, but the impact never came.

Percy opened his eyes nervously, only to see the Minotaur struggling against the same tendrils of roots that was holding him before.

The Minotaur's horn was literally inches away from Percy's face.

Percy let out a nervous laugh. "You really like cutting it close, don't you?" Percy said. He took one of his sword that was stuck in the Minotaur previously before finishing the fight.

Then, a notice popped up in all of their display saying:

Congratulations!

You have defeated the World Boss : The Minotaur!

"You're kidding," Percy said. "That was a World Boss?"

Katie grinned. "We like a challenge."

Line Break

They sat later in a diner to discuss about the item drops.

The item drops all went to the party leader, which is Jason, who's going to distribute them around equally. For himself, he took something that looked like an eyepatch.

"What's that?" Travis asked.

"The Bull's Eye," Jason wiggled his eyebrows. "It improves your accuracy reduces the effects of Blind."

Travis just shrugged as Katie waited for her share of the item drop. She got the a ring made out of some kind of black material. "Acceleration Ring," Jason explained. "It lowers the cooldown of all of your spells." Katie's face lit up as he thanked Jason.

For Connor, Jason gave him one of the rarer item drops. Since he had managed to break the Minotaur's horn, he got the Bullhorn Dagger, which Connor said was an improvement from his previous dagger. He smiled gleefully as he quickly tried it straight away. Travis got the Minotaur's armour, in which he replied, "Good enough."

"Now, for Percy," Jason gave him a metal ring with the head of the bull designed on it. "The Bull's Ring. It'll increase your speed by ten percent. So you'll be faster than ever before."

Percy grinned. "Nice. Well played, Jason." Percy stood up from his seat. "Well, that was fun guys. I had a really good time."

"We do as well," Jason smiled. "Next time if you're going to go against some enemies, just give us a call and we'll be right there."

"You can bet on it." Percy said. "See ya later!"

Line Break

Percy was on his way home when he had an email from Nico.

From: Nico

To: Percy

Heard you beat your first World Boss today. Nice one.

From: Percy

To: Nico

Honestly, I'm worried. Do you have people following me?

From: Nico

To: Percy

Like I said, I have my ways.*wink emoji

From: Percy

To: Nico

How was school? Was anyone looking for me?

From: Nico

To: Percy

Beckendorf showed up with his girlfriend Silena.

From: Percy

To: Nico

And?

From: Nico

To: Percy

Nothing. They just showed up.

From: Percy

To: Nico

I hate you.

Percy sighed. He was glad he wasn't at school since it would've been tiring. Plus, he'd managed to learn a few things about Raids and World Bosses, so that's always a plus.

Percy laid down on his bed, tired after his fight with the Minotaur. He opened up his inventory to check on the item that Jason gave him.

He was kind of elated to get an item drop from a monster that makes him more powerful. He really liked that feeling of being rewarded after a hard work.

He wanted more of it.

He searched up at the Olympia community forums to see if there were any raids that was going on tonight. Just his luck, there was one and it was just around the neighbourhood.

Percy looked at the details of the raid. It was a full on twenty player raid with random people. First come, first serve. They were going to fight the Hydra, a multi-headed dragon that could spit acid and was beyond the level of an average player.

He grinned at the challenged as he signed himself up for it.

He looked at the list of the other players who was joining this raid as well. He knew none of them . . . except one.

Shit.

Artemis is in it.

A/N: Dun dun dun!