A/N: Hello everyone, Dany here writing this message just to make some clarifications about some comments I have been getting on previous chapters.
Yes, I am the original writer of the story that was posted in Ao3(Archives of Our Own) and Wattpad under the same username of DanyJ10 as here. Believe me when I say that I was pleasantly shocked to see people believe that I was stealing the story, which shows me how much you guys actually read my stories across platforms.
One last note: The reason I didn't post a note in the first chapter was that I sincerely got lazy and didn't write on it. I regret it later when I read the comment about stealing the story, so I apologize for my laziness and any confusion it may have caused.
Here is the next chapter, and I hope you guys are enjoying reading my story and will continue for future chapters.
Bye!
The following day Percy woke up feeling different from the previous day. Not only was the realization that he woke up in a completely new world for the second time a bit hard to come to terms with finally, but also the fact that he felt different. He could feel how his body was not cramped or heavy like he usually felt during the mornings. This time, he actually felt good, like he had taken a shower and got energized by the water.
"That's weird," Percy muttered as he got up from the bed and looked around his single bedroom.
The apartment they had rented had three single bedrooms and two bathrooms, with the two ladies sharing one and he had one for himself, which he was really glad for. So it was no surprise for him to enter the bathroom without knocking only to find himself being thrown out into the hallway with such a force that would've cracked any mortal's backbones.
"Agh!" Percy cried out as all the air was forced out of his lungs.
"Percy!" It was Lou's panicking voice that reached his ears and was the culprit of his sudden lack of air. "I'm so sorry!" She knelt down to him as she used her magic to try and help him knowing that she had used too much power behind her attack. "Why didn't you knock on the door!"
"Cause I thought you and Artemis were sharing the same bathroom," Percy wheezed out as he finally got some air back into his lungs. "Damn, you put a lot more force in that than you normally do even during training,"
"Yeah, 'cause I was panicking you moron," Lou chastised him before she frowned when she felt that her magic wasn't working. "Why isn't it working?"
"Maybe because I'm already fine?" Percy chuckled as he stood up from the floor but not before looking at where his back had impacted against the wall and noticing that it had an almost perfect impression of his back. "Thankfully we know magic to fix it,"
"Yeah," Lou muttered but her eyes were focused on Percy as she thought about the reason why her magic wasn't working. "Hey, are you feeling alright, Perce?"
Percy looked at her with a confused expression and answered nonetheless.
"Yeah, why?"
"It's just that with the amount of power I used on you, it should've been enough to at least leave you in some considerable amount of pain," Lou pointed out just as Artemis came into the hallways from the living room. "Maybe not break your bones, but enough to make you feel it for a while but my magic couldn't do anything to help since you are already healed up,"
"What is going on?" Artemis asked. "I just heard a loud crash and then you two speaking,"
They quickly explained what happened, though Percy was a bit red in the face from embarrassment while Lou just looked sheepishly. Artemis nodded as she heard the story with a few ideas being worked by her brain.
"I wanted to ask you two something," Percy suddenly said after catching their attention for a moment. "Have you two felt, I don't know, a lot more energetic? Like you just had a bit of ambrosia or a sip of nectar?"
Artemis shook her head negatively while Lou nodded.
"Yeah, I have been feeling like you said ever since I woke up in this world," Lou explained as she also thought about it a bit more. "Why do you think that is?"
Percy shrugged his shoulders but Artemis said she had an idea.
"The most probable reason is that your bodies are absorbing the extra divine energy around the world," Artemis eventually explained after they moved over to the living room after fixing the hole in the wall. "Since you two are demigods and the ones with the most direct relationship to the divine immortals in this world, the energy recognizes you as the closest beings to them, and thus why the divine energy is energizing you both,"
"So what does that mean?" Percy was the first to ask.
"No idea," Artemis shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not my sister Athena, but I have a basic idea that the longer you are energized by the divine energy around the world, the stronger and much 'divine' you will become, but not fully immortals,"
They were silent for a couple of minutes with each of them thinking about the situation.
Both Lou and Percy weren't sure how to feel about their bodies becoming more divine. They were already demigods and Percy's body was the closest to reaching divinity more than anyone before him. They both could see the appeal of becoming more divine and how it would affect them, but then again, they weren't sure what that would entail; becoming more divine without becoming fully immortal.
On the other hand, Artemis was feeling a bit better at knowing that the people she was with were becoming stronger. Their increase in strength, power, and all around their bodies would only mean that their chances of success would increase and make things easier for them. However, she also felt a bit jealous and a bit of a forlong feeling at seeing how the divine energy of this world was positively affecting them but had no effect on hers. It only cemented the fact that she was actually fully mortal with no possible way of summoning her divine powers.
"Another question," Percy broke the silence once again. "You explained how the gods and other immortal beings in this world faded, leaving all of their divine energy behind which is the way that the wizards and witches exist," The two women nodded before he continued. "Did they also leave behind anything else?"
Lou was confused while Artemis seemed to understand what he meant by that question.
"You mean like their weapons and other artifacts?"
"Kind of," Percy wasn't sure exactly what he was asking but he was getting there. "I mean, like is still Olympus, Atlantis, the Underworld, and other divine places still existing here?"
Artemis was about to answer him with a negative response but held herself. She was actually curious about Percy's response and got to think more in-depth about it. She could understand where his curiosity was coming from, after all, the gods had left behind their divine energy, and monsters and other supernatural creatures still existed in this world, it wasn't such a crazy idea that the gods also left behind some of their artifacts and maybe some of the most important divine places behind.
Lou was just surprised by Percy's question and how he had pointed out that places such as Olympus, Atlantis, and the Underworld could still exist in this world. If they did, a whole lot of different opportunities had just opened up for them, and they could take advantage of them if Percy's idea was right.
"It's a possibility," Artemis answered. "But remember that these places are powered by the gods and goddesses' powers. They left this realm of existence leaving their energy behind, which would mean that these places still exist and do make sense of existing,"
"And all of these places are still in ancient Greece, right?" Percy asked and Artemis slowly nodded. "So that means that if we were to go to Greece and search for them,"
"There is a really big chance that we will come across them," Lou finished with Percy nodding along. "Olympus would be filled with artifacts from the gods and Chaos only knows what else,"
"There could be," Artemis spoke in a very serious tone that caught their attention. "But remember this, even in this world, the ancient lands are very dangerous. Just the three of us going will be a major risk,"
"Yes, but are the mysteries in Olympus and other divine places not worth the risk?" Percy pointed out which made both women think. "We do not have weapons capable of killing monsters and we are bound to come across them,"
"Especially since we are the only two demigods in the world," Lou pointed out, her voice low and pensive from how grave their situation was. "I'm lowkey surprised that we haven't come across one by now,"
Artemis had to agree with her companions. They were the only remaining two full-blooded demigods in the world, that was without mentioning that Percy was the strongest demigod to ever exist and Lou was a pretty strong demigoddess too, so their combined scents were stronger than most demigods combined together, and Percy's took the majority of it.
"Right now, Lou is the only one with a dagger capable of killing monsters," Percy continued. "We can not only rely on wands and our powers to defend ourselves from monsters,"
"You are correct, I myself do not have any powers," Artemis sighed, annoyed at the fact that she was powerless. "But how are we supposed to get to Greece if we do not have near enough money to pay for mortal transportation halfway across Europe?"
Percy smirked as he snapped his fingers the familiar portal made out of mist appeared in the middle of the living room. It made Artemis and Lou remember Percy's newfound ability to create portals that could take him to any place he had already been before, which was the reason why he hadn't used one when they first arrived in the new world since he had never been to Britain.
"Easy, we just hope across to the Acropolis in Athens, which should give us a very good start of where to begin looking," Percy let the portal disappear as Lou and Artemis nodded with his reasoning. "I remember where most of the places in Greece are. I remember where Delos, Mount Olympus, and a very good idea of where ancient Atlantis are,"
"Those are already three of the major ones," Artemis nodded before she took a piece of paper and pen from the center table that they had been using the previous day. "We still need to find the entrance to the Underworld, Athena's sacred temple in Athens, Asclepius' private chambers in Athens, and the entrance to the Labyrinth in Messara,"
"One question," Lou spoke before Percy could speak. "I can understand getting to the Underworld and Athena's and Asclepius' temples, but why the Labyrinth?" Percy nodded in agreement with Lou's question.
Percy had personal experiences with the labyrinth and did not like the idea of going there once again. The entire time it was filled with darkness, uneasiness, and a lot of guessing. He did not want to experience it all once again and that was without saying the monsters and other immortal beings inside of it that could kill them.
"You may not know this, but the Labyrinth can give us access to a chamber where a lot of ancient and powerful artifacts had been lost to time and have been stored," Which caught Percy and Lou's attention. "There are many artifacts there that are thought to be myths but the gods stored them there for safety,"
"What type of artifacts?" Percy asked, curious himself about the possibilities of finding incredibly powerful and dangerous weapons.
"Perseus' harpe was given to him by Hermes to help him during his travels, his shield was given to him by Athena, and the helmet of invisibility was given to him by the nymphs. Another couple would be Achilles' armor and spear forged by Hephaestus during the Trojan War, and a lot more like those," Artemis' response made Percy seriously consider going back into the labyrinth once again. Such artifacts as the ones Artemis just told them were irreplaceable and very valuable, especially a complete set of armor made by the god of the forge himself and an adamantine sword gifted to Perseus by the god of messengers.
"Do you remember where the entrance to this chamber is in the labyrinth?" Lou hopefully asked even if Percy had an idea of what Artemis' response would be.
"No," Percy's guess was proved right by the former goddess. "If I were a goddess I could just flash in there, but no, the labyrinth is always changing and I have no idea how to get there now that I am a mortal," While Artemis tried to sound normal about the last part, both demigods could feel her annoyance and anger at being reminded that she was a mortal.
They spent another half-hour just discussing the possibilities of the places they could visit and what they could contain. They eventually settled for visiting Mount Olympus first followed by Atlantis and then finally the temples around Athens and Epirus to look for anything that could help them. Athens was a no-brainer as a lot of Athena's ancient temples resided there as well as of other ancient deities. They were also going to Epirus to see if they could find an entrance to the Underworld the way it was done in ancient times. They also added a new destination, Olympia, to the home of the Olympic games to see if they could find other artifacts from gods and goddesses like Nike, Ares, Athena, and other gods related to the sports festival.
"Alright, so we all agree to go to Greece tomorrow to see if the ancient palaces and cities of the gods still exist?" Percy asked and both Lou and Artemis nodded. "Good, then prepare clothes and some money for the next couple of days. Luckily, we know ancient and modern Greek, so there should be no trouble with talking with the locals,"
Lou nodded and took her leave to her room, most surely to get her stuff ready for tomorrow. Meanwhile, Percy and Artemis were left alone in the living room. The hero of Olympus was standing in front of the window looking out into the city of London, or more precisely, the district of Chelsea. It was still relatively early in the morning, just around 10 am, and the number of people walking up and down the streets was a lot fewer than he was used to seeing in New York almost at any hour of the day and night.
Percy was lost in the thoughts of what could possibly be in an abandoned Atlantis if there was one. He could think of a lot of different objects and weapons that he remembered from his time visiting the Atlantis from his homeworld. After all, it was a fully populated city governed by merman and other types of humanoid and creature beings, governed by his father and his divine side of the family. He had been there a couple of times but never had enough time to explore it from left to right properly. He had a good idea of just what he could find but the only thing complicating the situation was that he was the only capable of breathing underwater and taking Lou and/or Artemis down there and keeping an air bubble around them would take a lot of concentration. While he may not tired from it by the water reenergizing his body, it would just make the whole trip take longer and a lot dangerous. One mistake and both Lou and Artemis would be crushed by the immense pressure before they could blink. It was better if he went alone so that he didn't have to worry about keeping both of them safe besides himself.
Behind him sat Artemis on a single couch. She was looking at the back of his head, wondering what was keeping him to thoughtful when it was strange of him to be so calm. She couldn't even see him fidgeting or tapping his foot, clicking his fingers, nothing. It was strange for her to see a demigod, especially one as strong as Percy, not be affected by the usual ADHD that demigods suffer from. It could only mean that he was so deep in thought that he didn't even notice that he was standing there still for longer than was usual for a demigod.
"What are you thinking about?" Artemis eventually broke the silence between them.
"Nothing much," Percy shrugged his shoulders before sighing tiredly. "Just thinking about what we could possibly find in Atlantis,"
"I'm guessing you are more focused on that place since it is your father's city," Percy nodded at Artemis' guess which she understood. "I've never been to Atlantis before, so I can't be of any help there,"
Percy was honestly surprised to hear that the goddess of the hunt had never been to Atlantis. However, then again, Artemis was his father's niece and daughter of his brother Zeus, the one who had always butted heads and not very trusting of each other. So, putting all of that in perspective did make sense as to why Artemis had never been to Atlantis.
"I was thinking about how to proceed when we got to Atlantis," Percy said as he turned around to look at the former goddess who was paying attention to him. "I have decided that I will go alone,"
Artemis raised an eyebrow at his response. She was honestly intrigued and curious about her uncle's underwater city and having the opportunity of finally visiting it was very appealing. So, to hear that her only chance to see it by herself is being taken from her made her more than curious about Percy's decision.
"May I ask why?" Whilst she didn't like having to be so formal with mortals, she was one herself and in the service of the demigod in front of her, so being respectful was a must that she still needed to get used to, even if she was respectful by nature.
"Going down there would require me to keep you and Lou alive," Percy started explaining as he summoned water from the air and formed it into a ball with an air bubble inside. "It's more than just making you both able to breathe, but also keeping the tremendous water pressure from crushing your bodies into a blood and flesh paste. Having to keep my concentration on keeping you both alive and then on any possible threats would be too much of a risk,"
Artemis wanted to argue but held herself back as she thought about his words. Whilst she wasn't as smart as her older sister, Athena, she knew more than what a slightly smarter mortal knew about the world. She knew about the pressure of water increasing the further one would go down, making it impossible for any mortal to survive within the depths of the ocean after a certain point, well, that was if you weren't a child of Poseidon or any other water deity then you were able to do so without as much as minor discomfort.
It was a very reluctant Artemis who eventually agreed with his decision. She didn't want to have her chances at finally seeing Atlantis with the danger of dying within the blink of an eye by the water pressure crushing her body. However, the idea of Percy going by himself down there didn't sit well with her and she had a good idea that Lou wouldn't like it either.
"I do not like the idea of you going alone down there," Artemis stated after a minute of silence between them. "And I'm pretty sure that Lou wouldn't like that either," Just as Percy turned to argue with her, Lou suddenly came into the room.
"And she is correct, Percy," Lou stood at the entrance to the hallway with her hands on her hips giving Percy a serious look. "Letting you go down there by yourself is a big risk. Who knows what type of sea monsters are down there who would like to kill you just for the fact that you are intruding into their territory, even more so when they smell the divine blood in your veins,"
Percy opened his mouth to argue before stopping himself and closing it. He looked away but Artemis and Lou could see that he was reluctant to argue with them. They knew that whilst Percy was incredibly strong and had gone through things that nobody else could've, for instance, Tartarus, they both also knew that Percy couldn't always do everything by himself.
"Percy, hear me out," Lou eventually broke the silence that had fallen upon them catching Percy's attention. "How about we make a comprise?"
"Like what? You both can't breathe underwater naturally and me having to keep you both alive would be too risky," Percy pointed out which Lou nodded.
"I know, which is why I am coming up with an idea," Lou then took the book Hecate had given them that had been left at the coffee table the previous night when Lou was teaching the son of Poseidon the basic charms every professor must know. "I read earlier in the book about portkeys, which is a form of magical traveling that it's almost instant,"
"Oh, is that really a thing?" Percy asked though he felt like an idiot for asking that question after it came out of his mouth. They were in a world where magic could basically do almost anything, so it shouldn't be any surprise that they found ways of teleportation.
"Yes, they charm an object, usually something that a person could easily hold to and keep on themselves; like a piece of cloth, a watch, or even a piece of a rope," Lou then picked up her almost black wand from the table and pointed it at the mug that she had used that morning for coffee. "We can charm an object to keep on yourself at all times when you go down there and only activate it when you are in danger and can't physically escape or for a quick return; like this," She then did a couple of flicks with her wand with the point shinning a slight white before it died down. "It usually requires a safe word that isn't common in order to activate it. Here," she then tossed the mug to Percy who deftly caught it.
"What is the word?" Percy asked as he eyed the mug with some part of curiousness and hesitance.
"What is the name of your sword?"
Percy nodded as he ignored the pang of pain in his heart at the remembrance of his trusty sword being left behind.
"Riptide,"
Shortly after the son of Poseidon spoke that word, he felt how his entire body was yanked away by the mug. The entire feeling was like he was back in the Argo II flying across the Atlantic back to Long Island after Zeus basically bitch slapped the hell out of it to get them back on time. The uneasy feeling died as soon as it started. When his world stopped spinning he found himself in the kitchen of their rented apartment.
"Wow, that is very impressive," Artemis commented with wide eyes as she saw Percy coming back from the kitchen. "So one of these would immediately bring Percy back to the surface when he is in trouble?"
"Absolutely," Lou nodded before she looked down at the book. "Though there are some known ways to prevent portkeys from working, thankfully for us my mother left some enchantments in the book that could null almost all of them. I'll get to it so that Percy or anybody of us have any problem using one,"
Both Percy and Artemis agreed with Lou before they got to talking about their possible emergency strategies. They went over all possible known Greek monsters as well as the ones that existed in this world and habited Greece. Some of the most dangerous ones were dragons, basilisks, cockatrices, manticores, horned serpents, and even giants. The list of actual threats to them was longer as there were still the original Greek monsters and even those of other cultures, like the Persians, Egyptians, and other ancient Western civilizations of those times.
"Any ideas on how to confront a dragon?" Percy asked what was probably one of the most important questions of their day.
"No idea, never have ever read about them back in our world besides drakons and the one who guards the tree of golden apples," Lou responded, shrugging her shoulders at her lack of information.
"Yeah, Ladon," Percy muttered bitterly, his mind going back to that day when he encountered Ladon alongside Zoe, who took a bite from the dragon which eventually ended up killing her after Atlas struck her with his javelin. "But I'm with you on that page. My knowledge about dragons is very minimal besides maybe the Hydra, but that was defeated with a submarine torpedo. How about you Artemis?"
Artemis was quiet as her eyes were lost in thought. Neither of the two demigods could guess what she was thinking but most surely some memories of her time as a goddess.
"The most common thing among dragons to neutralize one is to get rid of the tail or prevent its movement," Artemis stated after a couple of seconds. "Without the tail, they have no way to steer, grounding them and a flightless dragon is already a half-dead dragon,"
Percy nodded as he thought that Artemis' response had some sense to it. Meanwhile, Lou started taking notes on a piece of paper she had summoned with her wand, which still amazed Percy to see the daughter of Hecate perform magic so easily compared to him who was just able to do the levitation, summoning, cleaning, and repairing charms the previous night.
"Also, their most dangerous attack; is fire. We need to get rid of it or close its mouth shut to prevent it from breathing fire at us," Lou nodded as she kept writing. "Then it's just a matter of the rest of the limbs to neutralize. If you try to get rid of the eyes then you will just end up angering the dragon and making an even greater mess,"
"Okay, so not going for the eyes is a major thing to take into mind," Percy noted and Artemis nodded at his comment. "But how are we supposed to neutralize a dragon's tail first if we have no way of..." Percy trailed off as a sudden thought and memory came to his mind making him sigh in disbelief.
"What? What is wrong, Perce?" Lou worriedly asked with Artemis nodding in agreement.
"I have an idea of how to prevent a dragon's tail from moving, but it would leave me vulnerable," Percy answered barely above a whisper which both women were able to hear due to how silent they were.
"How?" It was Artemis who asked both her and Lou's questions in mind.
"By controlling the blood around that part of the body and commanding it to not move," Percy reluctantly shared.
The son of Poseidon's response caused both of the women's eyes to widen in disbelief at hearing his response. Lou knew from their talks at the beach that he was solely against using such power, especially after he realized how devastating it could be. Artemis for her part just knew little about his actual extent of powers and hearing that he could control water to that extent of blood was a thought she never thought of, even less for it to be possible.
Percy was already venturing into territories that were always thought out of limits, even for the gods. Artemis had seen her uncle Poseidon do incredible things with his control over water, but never to the extent of what Percy was talking about. There were a few things that weren't designed for gods to control, and the actual liquid of life wasn't one of them. Sure, Prometheus shaped the mortals out of clay with Athena breathing life into them, but other than that, mortals weren't designed to be controlled, only guided. The idea of a demigod having control over the substance of the life of mortals was like if a Titan could control their ichor. It was just something that shouldn't be possible, but against all odds, here was Percy telling her that it was completely wrong and that it was possible.
"A-are you sure you can control a dragon's blood?" Lou shakily asked, the entire theme of controlling somebody's blood was still a bit too much for her to properly get used to.
"Not sure, but every time I start feeling stronger, I wouldn't doubt that I would be able to control a dragon's blood by the time we encounter one," Percy honestly responded, but his tone and facial expressions were guarded like he was waiting for a fallout because of his declaration.
"Good, then all we need is to finish our last preparations and we will leave tomorrow," Artemis spoke before the tension could grow thicker. "I'll make sure that we have the provisions for the tomorrow and some money to buy anything extra we may need,"
Without waiting for their response, Artemis walked out of the living room with her mind still trying to process the fact that a demigod was capable of achieving something thought impossible. However, the sudden reminder that Percy has shown to be able to do the impossible over and over again over the course of the years should've prevented her from being so shaken out by that revelation.
"You are something else, aren't you, Percy?" Artemis thought as she closed the door of her room. "I'll just have to figure out why you are so special. Maybe the Fates have some responsibility for that," Artemis couldn't help but feel some pity for her cousin.
"I hope you have a different ending from the rest of your brethren, Percy,"
Meanwhile, both Percy and Lou stood back in the living room.
Each of them was lost in their own thoughts.
Lou was just worried about Percy. Hecate's daughter knew just how much his secret weighed Percy. She could always tell that he had been scared of his own powers ever since he came out of Tartarus. While he didn't make a show whenever he used them, she could tell from how his facial muscles or arm muscles would tense every time he used them too much. It was like he was preparing to stop himself from going too far like he expected his powers to go out of control.
The son of Poseidon was just thinking that maybe it was the incorrect decision to tell Artemis about his extra power. However, the need for them to fully trust one another when they were in a world completely strange to them was critical. Telling Artemis some of his secrets would go far in earning her full trust in him.
"Are you sure you want to go down this route?" Lou broke the silence that had fallen upon them.
Percy turned to look out the window to the streets of Chelsea, which were less populated than before as the rush morning hour was over and most people were already at their jobs or wherever they wanted to go. There was something relaxing about living in a large city but there wasn't always the sound of rushing cars, people shouting, and car horns blasting every now and then to remind him that he was in a very populated city. He liked the environment, but wouldn't do anything to replace his own town of Manhattan.
"If we are going to succeed in this mission, then we need to have each other's trust entirely," Percy turned to look at Lou, his facial expression was as serious as he was when it came to giving orders during wars making a clear statement to the daughter of Hecate how serious he actually was. "Telling Artemis this secret will go far in achieving that with her. Whilst I may be her boss, she still has that hesitation and apprehension about me. I need her to get comfortable with me in order to properly do this mission with as little problems as possible,"
Lou nodded as she thought in silence about his words. The more she thought about them, the more they rang through in her head. They were three travelers from another world with no connections to the new world and had nothing and nobody to rely on other than themselves. Trust in each other was crucial for not only their success in the mission but primarily for their survival.
"I understand," Lou sighed before she turned to leave for her room but not before giving Percy one last glance. "Take it easy, Percy. You know I am with you every step of the way, just like in the old times,"
"Yeah, just like the old times," Percy smiled at Lou as he watched her leave for her room.
Line Break
"No, if you want to transfigure an animal into an object, you must push your energy out of the wand and into the animal while commanding it to change into your desired object," Lou instructed both Artemis and Percy during their afternoon lessons in transfiguration.
"But then why do they use chants when performing magic? Doesn't not doing the chant defeats the purpose of performing the spell?" Percy asked, curious about why Lou didn't want him nor Artemis using the chants written on the books they had bought in Diagon Alley the previous day.
"Because they do not work," Lou simply stated, which earned him confused looks from both of her students. "Let me rephrase that; chants in spells are used in order for students to learn them easier like training wheels on bicycles would be a good comparison,"
"So they do not matter," Artemis stated which Lou nodded.
"They do not, what really matters is the caster's will and energy output into their spells," Lou flicked her wand towards the small sleeping mouse Lou had summoned earlier and made it turn into a copper goblet. "Magic is easier for us because we have larger quantities of energy within ourselves and that is without mentioning that we get feed energy from our parents' domains. The only difficulty that we might have is just will and intention behind each of our spells,"
Lou tapped the goblet one time and both Percy and Artemis watched in slight awe at seeing it turn back into a small mouse still asleep.
The following half-hour was spent with both Percy and Artemis performing all types of transfiguration, from the simple match to silver needle and up to summoning things from the air. That last lesson had been a bit harder due to them having to literally transfigure the air into an object, which was amazing in their own opinion.
"Now, we are going to go over the attacking and defensive spells that all graduates must know," Lou started their speech as she stood in front of both the boss and server in the middle of the living room. The room had been empty by pushing all of the furniture into the kitchen and expanding it with a few of Lou's charms around the room. "The most obvious and known spells for combating are the disarming and stunning spells, with the magical shield spell following right behind them,"
"So everyone just knows these spells by default?" Percy asked, a bit confused as to why everybody would know those three spells.
"The wizarding world here decided that these three spells must be taught to all students and required to pass their exams since everyone having wands is a very big safety hazard," Percy nodded as he now understood why those three spells were required to be known by everyone. "Though there are much more darker and gruesome spells out there, the average wizard or witch wouldn't need to know further than those three in order to keep themselves alive or get themselves out of most dangerous situations,"
Then they first started with the three spells. Artemis and Percy were quick to get each of them within minutes. The shield spell came easier to Percy due to his usage of ice as a physical shield so concentrating on creating a shield around him wasn't that different from his usual form of ice shield. The stunning spells came easier to Artemis due to it being a projectile, even as a mortal she had almost perfect accuracy making her have almost full success with any projectile spells.
They even threw a few spells at each other but had to dial back on the power behind each one. Due to their great magical reserves within themselves, and that was without mentioning the fact that Percy was becoming exponentially stronger with every hour, they could end up causing major damage to the room and the building itself just with a simply stunning and/or disarming charm.
"Alright, now that you got a good handle of those couple of spells, we will mix things up a bit," Lou flicked her wand a portion of the floor tiles lifted up from the floor before it started spinning in front of her like a shield. "If you are not sure about the shield stopping a certain spell, the best thing to do is to just dodge the spell, but if you can't, the next best solution is to put something physical in front of it,"
"So something like a regular shield, then," Percy noted which Lou nodded to. "Wouldn't having an actual wrist shield on our supporting hand be better than summoning things from around you to create a shield?"
"Not really," Lou shook her head before she let the tiles go back to the floor and left them as they had never been moved from their spot. "Most spells are destructive or charring in nature when they strike something physical. A regular metal shield would just get blasted into pieces or melt it from how much energy each spell has behind,"
"How about a celestial bronze shield?" Percy pointed out.
Lou opened her mouth to respond before she stopped herself midway through. Her words were right when they involved mortal metals, but she had no idea how divine metals would react to spells. It was known that divine metals like celestial bronze, imperial gold, and stygian iron could easily cut through every mortal metal. So Percy's point on them being more resistant to spells than mortal metals wasn't illogical.
"It has some merit to it," Lou acknowledged while Artemis thought the same. "But none of us has enough celestial bronze metal to try it out,"
"Not exactly," Percy commented before he flicked his left wrist where his command silver watch expanded into a bronze shield with some carvings on it. "My father tasked my brother, Tyson, and Briares to forge me a custom shield like the one I got from Tyson when I was 14. It is much more resistant and slowly repairs over time with my own divine energy if it is damaged,"
To say that both women were surprised to see him casually show a magically expanding shield made out of celestial bronze was an understatement. Weapons and shields that extended from really small objects required a lot of divine energy, but to hear that the solely living one-hundred-handed ones and Poseidon were involved in it didn't make it as shockingly as it would've been otherwise.
"How long have you had it?" Artemis asked, curious to hear since when did the Hero of Olympus have such a special and legendary item.
"Since I turned 18 before I left for San Francisco," Percy shrugged his shoulders. "I almost never use it, not even during training nor sparring sessions as I believe it to be a bit of an overkill," Percy then stood in a guard stance with his shield in front of him, bracing for an attack. "Come on, shoot at me any spell,"
Lou nodded before standing opposite of him with Artemis standing by the sidelines, genuinely curious to see what would be the result of a spell hitting a divine metal.
"Alright, here it goes," Lou warned before she twirled her wand with the tip glowing red before a bolt of red energy sailed across their makeshift training room and towards Percy.
The red bolt of magic impacted Percy's shield right in the center. The collision produced a bright flash of red light that forced them to close their eyes or suffer the consequences of being temporarily blind, and a loud hollow gong for some reason.
When they were able to open their eyes once again, they noticed something incredibly curious and surprising about the shield. Percy's celestial bronze shield was glowing a shade of red similar to the spell's red color, it even pulsed for a couple of seconds before it died down, returning to its original state with no visual effects on it.
"Wow, what just happened?" Percy broke the shocked silence that had fallen upon them.
"Di-did it absorbed the magic?" Artemis asked, in complete awe and disbelief at what she just witness in from of her eyes.
"I-I think so," Percy muttered somewhat absentmindedly as his eyes were focused on his shield. "I could feel how my shield gathered the energy before it slowly died down,"
"It's like a magical absorbent," Lou's eyes were wide in disbelief and shock at what she just saw. "But how is that possible? No metal is capable of doing that, even celestial bronze or any other divine metal isn't capable of absorbing energy,"
"Maybe not exactly in that way," Artemis commented, catching the attention of both demigods.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that it doesn't just absorb any type of energy, but divine energy," Artemis walked up to Percy as her fingers brushed over the ancient Greek runes and letters carved on the shield. "I mean that this shield was designed to repair itself by slowly consuming Percy's divine energy, right?"
"Right," Percy carefully nodded as he still did not understand where Artemis was going with it. "But how does that explain my shield absorbing the spell?"
"It does explain it," Surprisingly, it was Lou was answered Percy's question before Artemis did. "Remember that magic here is basically all of the divine energy that the gods and other divine beings left behind when they left this realm. So what I basically shot your shield with was divine energy, which is the same as what your shield consumes in order to keep itself at full strength,"
Percy's eyes widened in understanding before he looked down at his shield. What used to be a really great birthday present from his father, brother, and Briares, ended up being what could possibly be an unbeatable shield for their mission. His shield was basically capable of absorbing any type of magic since it was divine energy and just kept itself brand new.
"You basically have an unbreakable and unbeatable shield, Percy," Lou put it into simpler terms. "Something like that is unlike anything ever heard of before. I could only imagine what we could do if we only had more celestial bronze or imperial gold,"
"A lot of things previously thought impossible, that's what you could do," Artemis answered as her eyes continued examining the shield and made a mental note to ask her uncle for the runes and blueprints behind the shield for when she was once again a goddess. It was never too careful to have her hunters have some form of self-repairing equipment.
"Okay, so now that we tested that theory with my shield, what is next?" Percy asked Lou as he flicked his wrist and his shield went back into his wrist watch.
"Well, you still need to get a handle on how to create a physical shield from things around you,"