By the time I got back to camp, the campfire was raging on.
Aphrodite and I teleported onto the coarse grass of Long Island, and I could hear the voices of the campers singing somewhere off into the distance.
I felt a twinge of homesickness. I wanted to be there, singing and joking around with my friends- but instead, I was here.
I found it a bit fascinating how I could feel such strong emotion and longing for something I'd only experienced a few times, but, well, the heart wants what it wants, after all!
Every part of Half-Blood Hill felt alive- the animals tittered above us, the insects buzzed in the warmth of the night, the trees swayed in a summer breeze- it was almost like the camp was yearning for me just like I was yearning for it.
Aphrodite walked me over to Thalia's tree, our feet crunching on branches and patches of dirt. We stopped as we reached the edge of the camp.
Almost as if reacting to the presence of Aphrodite, a small golden barrier came to life around the camp. A low hum reverberated throughout the forest, mimicking the sound of an electric generator that had just turned on.
She looked at it distastefully.
"Immortals are not allowed on the campgrounds without permission from a camper," Aphrodite explained at my look of confusion. Before I could offer to let her in, she continued talking. "Thank you for dinner tonight, Percy. Admittedly, that pizza wasn't the…worst delicacy I've had."
"Heh, I aim to please," I replied with a smile, looking at the shadows of the branches being cast on her face. Honestly speaking, the night hadn't been...bad. Just a little weird, at times. "Sorry if it wasn't what you're used to."
"It was delightful," Aphrodite waved off my concern. She caught my gaze. "We still have much to talk about."
I swallowed. "I know."
We stood for a few moments in comfortable silence. The combined voices of the campers echoed in the background.
I found myself looking at her again. I still didn't know what to think of her. On the one hand, she was incredibly beautiful- like, I can't even describe how attractive this woman was.
As shallow as this might sound, her appearance quite literally made me want to forget about all logic and just be with her. I could honestly imagine how nice and warm her lips might feel on mine…but no.
I knew nothing about her. And something still felt weird about her, the sequence of events around whatever our relationship was still felt...off. Off in a way I couldn't put into words, or even fully comprehend, but off. It was enough to keep me on my toes around her.
"I admit…I don't quite know what to do with myself," Aphrodite broke the silence. She exhaled slowly. "I have not had this much freedom in…well, a long time. There's so much I want to do."
"Like what?" I asked curiously. This was the first time Aphrodite had mentioned anything like that. Outside of our interactions, I knew little to nothing about her.
Favorite food? Nope.
Her hobbies? No idea.
Her favorite color? Come on now.
She was a stranger to me. This was a Grade-A opportunity to learn more about her, and by extension, learn what it was about me that she seemed to find so appealing.
"Travel," Aphrodite answered instantly. I raised an eyebrow at her quick reply, and a small smile graced her face. "Percy, I've been trapped on Olympus for centuries, afraid to leave my palace. I could barely manage to send out little portions of my essence to interact with mortals. Now, I have freedom. Choice. I can do what I'd like. I would like to see Rome again. France, too. You see, I'm drawn to places like that. Places with a history shrouded in love and intrigue."
"That sounds like fun," I said honestly. My family was poor growing up, so we didn't really get the chance to go on vacation much, but I saw the appeal. And if it made her happy, well it made her happy. I wasn't about to rain on her parade. "I'm really glad you're free now."
"Me too," She shifted on her feet. "If you weren't going to Atlantis this summer, would you have joined me?"
Whoa. I was not expecting that.
"I don't know," I answered. "Don't get me wrong- that sounds amazing. Going around the world with a pretty girl-"
Aphrodite smiled at me for that.
"-seems like something out of a dream. I'm pretty sure literally any guy would kill for an opportunity like that. I just don't know if I could. My fight with Ares showed me how truly outclassed I was. In a straight-up battle, I'd be demolished."
I didn't voice the entirety of my feelings. I assumed that telling her that I would feel pretty uncomfortable traveling around the world with a goddess at the age of twelve wouldn't do much good for either of us. I was still in the mind frame where even going to the movies with a girl was daunting. Going around the world with a goddess?
That's out of the question.
"Which is why you're going to Atlantis," Aphrodite finished for me. I nodded at her- she was right on the nose with that part of it, at least. "I see. Do you…do you mind if I go?"
That one threw me for a loop. It almost seemed like she was, well, asking permission. This just felt wrong on so many levels- no one asked me permission for anything.
Let alone a goddess.
The deities I'd met so far had always made it a point to show me the wide cavern that stands between us in terms of power- and yet, here stood Aphrodite, an Olympian, asking me for permission to do something,
I didn't even know what to think.
"Um, of course not. Why would I mind?" I stumbled out, my thoughts jumbled together like a spider's web.
"I- let me explain," Aphrodite was quiet for a few moments. From my point of view, it almost seemed like she was debating making a run from it. Luckily, she spoke again in a few moments. "In Ancient Greece, typically, after her marriage, a new bride would be taken back to her groom's parents' home, where she would be welcomed at the fire's hearth. Then, the young couple would be showered with fruit and nuts."
I tried to diffuse the conversation- it was rapidly speeding towards a bad place. "You want me to throw fruit at you?"
"Shush, you silly boy," Aphrodite said, another small smile forming on her face. The smile was wiped away a moment later. "Consummation of the wedding would produce a child from the union- that was necessary for the young bride to be accepted into the groom's family. Until the bride produced an heir for the man, she'd be able to be divorced by the man, rejected, or in some cases even outright beaten."
My face felt really hot. Like, uncomfortably hot. "Um…"
"I am your wife," Aphrodite reminded me, uncharacteristically straightforward. She usually liked to tiptoe around these things. "And as such, until I produce an eligible heir for you, you can do with me what you want. That's why I'm asking."
I rubbed the bridge of my nose, trying to collect my thoughts. I swear to Zeus, every time I'd get close to understanding her at all, she'd completely flip my world upside down.
She was un-understandable.
I tried to find the right words. Maybe this wasn't the best way to speak to a goddess, but listen- I've had a rough go of it.
I fought a god, went to Olympus, and went back home- and I did all of this in just a few hours. I'm tired. Cranky. I want a nice bed and maybe even a glass of chocolate milk.
Not whatever this is.
I kind of snapped. "How do you go from acting like a movie star one moment to…well, this, in the next?"
"It's hard to explain," Aphrodite said quietly. "As the goddess of love, I'm hardwired to be a wife similar to the old, Greek ones."
"You're hardwired?" I asked incredulously. Hardwired was a term used for stuff like, I don't even know, cars. Machines. Robots. Hearing a person say there were hardwired just felt wrong. "What do you mean you're hardwired?"
"Percy, I'm the goddess of love. I'm not the goddess of marriage but I play a part in it. As a result, my very being hinges on the idea of being a good wife. A good lover. Therefore, when the promise I made to you was realized, I was bonded to you as what my powers deemed 'a good wife'," Aphrodite explained patiently. Props to her for dealing with my pseudo-tantrum. "The world has changed, yes, but when I was created, this is what a wife was supposed to be. It's what I'm supposed to be."
My vision heated up as wisps of mana trailed up from her fingertips. They started churning and swirling, rotating together like the world's smallest whirlpool.
Pretty soon, there was a small ball of pink mana rotating in the palm of her hand, bathing the dark forest in a luminescent pink glow. It lifted into the air a few inches.
SHWOOM!
I started panicking as the ball sped towards me.
As it traveled, it grew in size. Doubling, tripling- I swore I heard the damn thing humming with pure energy, even when it was a few yards away. By the time it reached me, it was the size of a car.
I prepared my legs, tensing to jump as high as I could. I felt the heat of the attack on my face. I started counting down the ideal time to jump and maybe even activate one of my powers.
One…two…three!
Even though my legs tensed, I didn't have to move. Right before it got close to me, it veered to the left and shot off into the sky. I watched in fascination as it exploded somewhere toward the city in a display of pink, like a firework.
Only, I knew that firework would've caused me to go flying into camp, horribly burned, and within an inch of my life.
"This bond makes me subservient to you. In no situation could I attack you, or harm you. At any given time, without your permission, I can't even do certain things," Aphrodite continued as if she didn't almost just vaporize me. "One of those things includes going a certain distance away from you."
"I…" I didn't even have the words to properly describe the thoughts going through my brain. Bonds? Permission? What?
I couldn't understand much of this if any of this, but that wasn't even what pissed me off. She didn't tell me any of this. Even after she made that dumb promise.
If she'd told me that this would happen, I would've never made that promise. I wanted to help her, yeah, but I didn't want to be put into a situation like this!
You live and learn, I guess. If it's taught me anything, it's to be careful while dealing with the supernatural. That lesson came at a steep price, though.
"I understand it must be a little overwhelming," Aphrodite said gently. I wanted to say you think and stomp away like a petulant child. I settled for face-palming, instead. "Unfortunately, I can't explain the entirety of the bond or my powers until you learn more about mana and godly powers, which I know could be a while."
[SPECIAL] Quest Alert!
{The Bond of Matrimony!}
|| You're curious about the true nature of Aphrodite's powers! Convince her to try to explain them to you! ||
{Requirements:}
- 100 INT (18/100)
- 100 WIS (15/100)
- [PERK]: Eyes of Heaven (0/1)
{Rewards:}
- Control of [Aphrodite]'s stats and party privileges!
- 500,000 EXP!
- 10 PP!
[YES/NO]
I blinked as the quest notification swirled to life in front of me.
I'm pretty sure this is the first quest that's had some sort of restriction on it like that, but the rewards seemed insane!
I clicked yes.
"Yeah," I said awkwardly, still unsure of how to proceed with Aphrodite. Couldn't she have just left it at the nice time we were having? Did she have to go on and pile stuff on me like that?
"I see," Aphrodite nodded at me. I tried to ignore the sad look in her eyes. "Well, then. I will take my leave. You can IM me whenever you please…or just simply try to access the bond. Goodbye."
Just like that, I was alone, in front of Thalia's tree.
That woman…
She was just, ugh.
See, a part of me knew her conflicting personalities had to do more with the fact that she didn't know how to act in a normal setting after so long- and that was without this weird change to the bond thing that she mentioned. This new version of the bond made things even more complicated.
Not to mention, it opened up a whole other can of worms. Every question she answered for me just morphed into even more.
Okay. Great.
A part of me wondered if maybe I should've tried to be more understanding or something…but the other part of me was just annoyed.
Pushing the anomaly that was Aphrodite out of my head, I walked back into camp. Even though the campfire had ended long ago, I took a seat on one of the logs and stared into the dying embers of the fire.
I still felt like hitting my head on a wall. I thought the night with Aphrodite had gone well, but she just came back and completely messed up everything!
Now I was dealing with bonds, and split personalities- Zeus knows what would happen next. Maybe she'd tell me we'd have to have kids before this year, or she'd die.
That was a joke. I'm joking.
I really hope that doesn't happen.
Hm. What should I do? Well, I have a few minutes to myself right now, so I think I'm going to invest these allotted points, now.
Yeah. I nodded to myself slightly, pulling up my perk tree. My eyes widened at the sheer amount of perks that were available to me.
Those two major quests weren't playing around at all. Not only were there a ton of new perks, but there were also colors on some of the perks now.
Imagine a clear, translucent hexagon. That's what most of the perks on the tree looked like- but some of them now had color.
Like, this one, for example, had its right corner tinged light blue.
Curious, I zoomed in on it. It sort of looked like someone had dropped some food coloring on it but didn't let it fully disperse.
[ACTIVE][WIS]-[柔拳]-[LV: MAX]-[PROG: N/A]
柔拳 (Level 1): Conquer your enemies.
|| 柔拳 allows the user to surgically inject a certain amount of their mana into the opponent's mana pathway system upon contact, causing damage to surrounding organs due to their proximity to the circulatory system. ||
Holy fuck this one was brutal! I narrowed my eyes at the cost- two points. Why was the cost for this perk two points, as opposed to all of the other ones?
"Help?" I mumbled under my breath.
Ping!
The perk tree dropped into the background, and letters began to come to life in front of me.
|| Due to your level reaching [LVL 25], you have unlocked the first tier of skill-oriented perks! While more expensive than your base perks, skill-oriented perks often offer benefits in the skill they're related to! ||
Hm. That opened up some more questions for me. What sort of skills did I even want to boost?
I tried to forego all logic at the moment.
It was hard to look at yourself and think about your life as a game. Honestly, it made me feel a little weird at times.
Hmm…what if I was a Skyrim character?
I just finished my first real quest…so I guess that was like my version of the Bleak Falls Barrow quest. Alright, let's see. I'm there, I just got out of the cave, and I have to walk on over to Dragonsreach in the cold. It's probably the middle of the night, too.
Okay, think, Percy, think. What do I want?
A warm coat! Some food?
No, no. Perks. Skills. Where do I want to go next?
Well, let's see. I've never really enjoyed the whole Faendal subplot, so there's a high chance I haven't learned archery…I never liked to spend gold, so there's an even bigger chance I'm still rocking the first weapon I got.
So, my One-Handed skill is up there.
All things considered, I'd kind of want to pick up archery, to be honest. Or something ranged like that, anyway. Swords were nice and all, but I couldn't do damage until I got in real close, and that wasn't exactly advisable a lot of the time. And there was no way I had the shouts yet since I haven't fought a dragon…
Shoot, what was I talking about? Right. Archery.
Eh, damn it. Once again, I was getting tunnel vision. Don't get what I mean? That's fine- just think with me for a moment. I learned how to wield a sword two, maybe three weeks ago, correct? With that little bit of experience, I managed to not instantly die against the God of War.
By that logic, I would be wasting time focusing on just one weapon. If I took just the time I had before I went to Atlantis, not only could I master a bow and arrow, but a variety of other weapons as well!
Keeping that in mind, I managed to allocate all of my points without too much trouble.
[PERSEUS JACKSON]
[SON OF POSEIDON]
[HESTIA'S FAVORED]
[ECHIDNA'S BANE]
[GODSLAYER]
[LVL]: 29 (7000/18,000)
[HP]: 13,500/13,500
[SP]: 22,000/22,000
[MP]: 20,000/20,000
[FEALTY]- N/A
[STR]: 40 (+5)
[VIT]: 20
[DEX]: 40 (+5)
[INT]: 30
[CHA]: 31 (+5)
[WIS]: 25
[LUC]: 10
[SP]: 0
[PP]: 5
[$]: 46USD
|| Son of the legendary God of the Seas and Sally Jackson, Percy is the current [Child of Prophecy]. Despite his murky past, Percy is ready to take on his future with determination. ||
|| The title [SON OF POSEIDON] permanently grants 1000 [MP] and boosts the rate of mana regeneration. ||
|| The title [HESTIA'S FAVORED] permanently regenerates your health by 30% and increases by a factor of 5% for every 1000 [HP] below half! ||
|| The title [ECHIDNA'S BANE] allows the user to be immune to all poison! ||
|| The title [GODSLAYER] grants the user DOUBLE [EXP] while fighting a deity. This effect scales, doubling for every immortal opponent against you and tripling for each hostile Olympian and major Titan. ||
[REP] at [Half-Blood Hill]: Liked!
Yeah. My physicals were up there, but I figured I'd still need major boosts to my tactical thinking and mana capacity if I wanted to be a true warrior.
Anyway, perks time. I figure you guys want to know exactly how this one went- no worries, I got you.
I opened the perk tree up, and true to my hypothesis, there were dozens of multicolored perks there, just waiting for me to go through them.
Anyway, the boost to my [INT] was already becoming abundantly clear. Rather than rushing in, looking for the coolest ones, and spending my points on them, my brain worked on a more holistic level. Mastering a wide range of weapons was my new goal, right? That meant firstly, I'd have to put a huge emphasis on fine-tuning my muscles.
A huge aspect of swordsmanship was how lithe and graceful I was. [DEX] also played a huge part in my motor skills and reaction time, so it was only logical that I'd need to find a perk that could boost all of that.
My eyes roved through the branches of the lightly green [DEX] tree. It was a really weird sensation, but I could feel my brain absorbing the information and making decisions much faster.
There were some admittedly tempting ones.
[Opportunist] basically made it so that whenever I disarmed someone, my attacks became incrementally faster with each successful hit, capping at fifty percent increased speed. That sort of perk paired with [The Reaper] could do some damage in a hurry. I didn't want to sacrifice long-term success for short-term fun, though. Next!
[Lunar Lullaby] made it so that I could increase or decrease the amount of gravity being placed on my body at any given time. Again, tempting because it would make me incredibly fast if I kept up with it, but for now, I could use weights to help with that. Two points seemed like a hefty toll to pay for that, even if it did mean I'd be able to recreate Goku's training trip to Namek.
[Deadeye] improved my ranged accuracy by the number that my [DEX] skill was at any given moment. For example, my skill right now is 25. That means every time I threw a knife or shot an arrow, it would have a 25% boosted chance of hitting the target. Not bad at all, but eh. Not worth it to me.
The last one I really paid attention to was [Enhanced Counter]. If I hit what the game deemed a 'perfect' parry, it would slow down time until I decided what I wanted to do. Meh. I already have a time-slowing power…
The perk I decided on, of course, was [Eagle's Rally].
I'm guessing that it's probably some sort of reference to the Roman goddess Bellona, the ancient deity of war. That makes sense, to be honest because the perk itself is busted in all offensive aspects.
[PASSIVE][DEX]-[Eagle's Rally]-[LV: MAX]-[PROG: N/A]
|| Become a master of the craft… ||
|| For the first week in which you learn a [Battle Skill], your progress in that skill is raised exponentially for each consecutive day you train in it!
For example, if your progress in training a [Battle Skill] is 'X,' then on your second consecutive day of training, you will gain experience for the skill at the rate of X^2. ||
At first glance, it may not be as flashy as the other ones but think about it with me for a second.
Let's say, on the first day, it's a multiplier of 2. That means, the next day, I'd start to master it 4 times faster. The day after that? 8 times.
This was perfect. I was tempted to spend another set of points on another [DEX] perk, but at the same time, I was a bit curious about the other Tier 1 perks, as well.
I don't want to get an [INT] perk. Not right now, anyway. I'll get one of those in the next cycle. I turned my attention to the strength perks.
I didn't have to look too far for the one I ended up getting:
[PASSIVE][DEX]-[The Thousand Hand Technique]-[LV: MAX]-[PROG: N/A]
The Thousand Hand Technique is a technique that uses mana and concentration to enhance one's strength to monstrous levels. This is done by storing mana in one's hands or feet and releasing it onto the target with pinpoint timing. With this strength, the user can decimate the ground or even kill opponents with a single strike. The loss of concentration, however, can easily reverse the effects… ||
|| [BASE]: Gain power equal to your will!
[BASE][COST]: 100 MP EVERY SECOND!
[BASE][DMG]: (100 X MP) + (100 X STR)! ||
Pretty cool, huh? The real kicker here for me wasn't that it was a multiple of my [WIS] but instead, my [MP]. That meant that if I pumped in all of the mana I could muster at this very moment in time, I'd be able to deal 2,004,500 damage to someone.
Well, in theory.
I couldn't do something like that without training, or I'm pretty sure I'd crush my entire arm into fine dust. The amount of concentration needed for something like that could take a while to reach.
A part of me wondered: if these Tier 1 perks were this good, what would the Tier 2 perks look like? Eh, I'll find out sometime.
The mana perk was a little tougher to decide on, as they were some of the coolest and most creative ones around, but I decided on one pretty quickly.
[ACTIVE/PASSIVE][DEX]-[Accelerate]-[LV: MAX]-[PROG: N/A]
|| Boost your attack speed! While active, accelerate yourself over time, allowing your body to move faster initially and gain speed over time. Activation of this ability also stops the Wheel of Fate.
[BASE INCREASE]: +(10 X DEX) speed!
[COST]: 1000 [MP] per [MIN]!
[Wheel of Fate]:
[Section I]: Heal 1.5% Max Health Per Second!
[Section II]: 100% Mana Refund On Abilities!
[Section III]: +25% Attack Speed!
[Section IV]: +35% speed!
Now, before I move on, let me dive into that last part. As you guys know, towards the corner of my vision, I already have a bar like this:
[||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||]
That's the meter for my [Time Dilation]. Now, though, that isn't the only thing there. Right underneath, there's a small circular dial. Just like the perk description reads, there were four sections of it, with a small little arrow constantly moving around between them.
Here's where the fun part comes in.
I activated [Accelerate] and the corners of my vision blurred. It felt like my vision was boosted- zoomed out if you will. My peripheral vision was suddenly much wider.
The waves lapping against the shore of Camp, yards away, became easily visible. I saw some of the harpies in camp dive bomb a burrito a few yards away.
The little arrow stopped moving in the second quadrant, and it bounced up and down a few times, before glowing blue.
I lifted my hand, and a ball of flame erupted, curving around my palm. To my delight, not a single drop of mana was being used. The only drain on my mana was from [Accelerate] itself.
I deactivated it.
Now then. Time for the special perk.
This part was really tough. Special perks were always incredibly hard to choose from, but then again, I remembered that I was going to be going to Atlantis, and the decision was pretty clear.
[ACTIVE/PASSIVE][WIS]-[Sea's Pride]-[LV: MAX]-[PROG: 0%]
You're the son of Poseidon, through and through! While entering a body of water, your HP and MP regenerate 200% faster! Gain enhanced movement speed and the ability to shoot out of the water at incredible speeds! ||
Pretty easy. Five perk points, down the drain.
Welp. I pushed off of the log and walked toward my cabin- that bed was calling my name.
AN: Not much to say here! Thank you all for your continued support- I don't know what I'd do without you guys! Atlantis arc coming super soon!
There were so many reviews, I couldn't possibly fit them all into here; but thank you all, from the bottom of my heart. I can only hope to keep cranking these out for you guys! I honestly just posted the PSA to let you guys know what was up...but the support I got on it was truly amazing.
I never realized how much this story was taking off. Rest assured, I won't be letting anything like that get to me again. Hope some people get the Wheel of Fate reference.
-Maroon
EDIT 4/20/21: Huge changes here. Mostly, the visuals and numbers of the game, but also, Hestia doesn't know about the game so she doesn't help Percy. He does everything alone. And also, no interaction with Hestia means no condition...which means no deus ex machina for the eye- it's just a normal tool.
EDIT (11/16/22): Visual changes and grammar.