Percy spoke in a low tone, "he was hurting mom. He was hurting her because of me. I-I couldn't take it. I got the power to kill monsters, to cut them into nothing, and yet I couldn't do anything to help mom. My emotions got the better of me and....and-"
Percy however was cut off by Poseidon who grabbed his son into a hug, "it's okay Percy. It's alright. You did the right thing."
"But dad I killed a man," Percy replied with his voice cracking.
"Percy compared to what kind of punishment I used to give out in ancient greece, death is nothing. Besides," Poseidon said breaking the huge with a smile on his face, "you did what any good son would. Now stop crying, it's your birthday after all. Crying on your birthday is a big no no."
Percy chuckled "I'm not crying dad."
"You were about to cry."
"No I wasn't!"
"Suuuuuure," Poseidon said with a grin.
"Oh gods! Now I know how annoying I am!" Percy said throwing his arms up in frustration. Poseidon smiled as slowly the two fell into a comfortable silence. Percy then spoke up, "this is a very strange birthday."
Poseidon chuckled, "not really. I spent my first 10 birthdays in my father's stomach, so I believe I have any story you might have beat."
Percy raised an eyebrow, "is that a challenge?"
Poseidon smirked, "and if it is?"
Ping!
Quest Alert!
Go on an awesome adventure on your birthday with your dad!
Reward;
2,000 Exp
?
Failure;
You will become depressed
YES/NO?
Percy blinked and simply stared at the box in front of him. Poseidon then spoke up, "is something wrong Percy?"
"Nothing I just-" Percy stopped mid sentence. He was getting ready to lie like he usually would have done, but his dad knows about his gaming powers so Percy could finally talk freely about them to someone, "actually, I just got a new quest."
Poseidon looked surprised, "really? And what does it say?"
"It's telling me to go on an adventure," Percy replied.
"I see....well? What are you waiting for?" Poseidon asked with a smile as he stood up straight.
"Are you serious?" Percy asked with happiness in his eyes.
"Well of course I am!" Poseidon replied, "now come on! I need to make up for 13 years of father son bonding time after all!"
Percy grinned and quickly pressed yes causing the screen to vanish. He got on his feet, "so where too?"
"Well this is your quest," his dad replied, "don't you have, ah, what's it called, an objective?"
Percy shrugged, "sometimes. This time however it just says to go on an adventure with you."
Poseidon rubbed his chin, "well I'm sure we can find something to do, after all this is New York, trouble will surely come to find us."
Percy smiled as the two began walking deeper into Central park. But just then a thought struck Percy, it was a memory, a reminder....about something. Percy's gut then told him to check his inventory and not one to question his instincts Percy did just that.
He stopped in his tracks causing Poseidon to raise an eyebrow but Percy didn't care. He checked his inventory from top to bottom looking for...something. And then he found it. Percy smiled and quickly pulled a sheet of paper out.
Scroll of hidden treasure,
A scroll that leads to a dungeon which is rumoured to have hidden treasure in it. Somewhere in Central Park
"What's that?" Poseidon asked taking the paper in Percy's hand.
"It's a treasure map I got from defeating my first Legion zombie," Poseidon looked confused before Percy respoke, "it's kind of like a giant zombie monster thing. One of the first things that actually managed to scare the shit out of me."
Poseidon nodded and began looking over the scroll before smiling, "I think I know where this is."
"Seriously?" Percy asked with eyes wide open to which Poseidon simply nodded with a grin. the father and son duo then set out walking deeper and deeper into the park.
Soon they reached the Harlem Meer which was a big water body towards the north of the park. It's waters were calm, but just below the surface was a ton of garbage. Poseidon sighed seeing this.
"Stupid humans," the god said snapping his fingers causing his trident to appear out of thin air, "always polluting the very things they need to live. Why if Pan wasn't missing right now he would be so very disappointed."
Percy then watched as Poseidon dipped the very end of his weapon into the lake causing a shockwave of energy to ripple out spreading all over the lake. Suddenly the water became clearer, the garbage underneath vanished into nothing leaving Percy speechless.
"What-how-who?! How did you do that?!" Percy yelled out as he put his hand into the now crystal clear water.
Ping!
You have entered a water body! Due to your parentage you have gained a boost!
+1000 HP
+1000 MP
All wounds are healed
All ailments cured
Water Breathing ability active
Percy however ignored the message and quickly brought a hand full of water to his mouth drinking it quickly. "This is like the water you get in water bottles!" Percy exclaimed tasting the water.
Poseidon frowned, "only that good?" he then took some himself and frowned, "I'm losing my touch."
"How did you do that dad?" Percy asked as they stood up straight.
"It's one of my powers Percy," Poseidon said as he lead them further north to the very edge of the small lake, "you see with my connection to the sea I can impose my will onto other things and forcefully change the water into whatever I wish it to be."
Percy raised an eyebrow, "so can any god do that?"
"Hmm, not really. Water is kind of my thing. I mean if they wanted to sure they could, but it would be nothing compared to the things I could do. Also it would take a lot of concentration for them to do so."
"So....can a god, I don't know, push their will onto others and transform them into animals?"
Poseidon chuckled, "I forget that you have meet Artemis before huh. Well yes, gods can do that. It's one of the basic things one can do with their will."
"So is it like magic?"
Poseidon shrugged, "kind of, if you think about it. It does mana, but....think of it like this. If a person wants to travel the ocean they use their ship, which is mana, but if they want they could do the same by simply swimming, which is what a person's will is."
"So a person's will is just another type of mana?"
"Yes and no. Agrh Athena would be so much better at this. But knowing that woman she would confuse you before actually answering your question. Well it's another type of energy sure, but it's many powerful than mana. Mana, like a real boat can do many things, but it does have limitations. Will power on the other hand doesn't have any limitations, all you need is enough concentration and time to do what needs to be done."
"So can a human learn this skill?" Percy asked with Argo in mind.
"Most definitely. But it is improbably difficult. Most human who do learn it often become recorded in time as legends. Achilles, Ulysses, Joan of Arc, King Arthur, even the original Perseus knew how to do so."
Percy blinked, "I-I see. So it can be learnt."
Poseidon nodded, "well for most humans it's range is far more limited, but yes, it can be learnt."
"Could you teach me?" Percy asked.
"Yes, and no," Poseidon said with a casual tone, "it can be learnt, but only by yourself. You see each person has a different way of finding their will power, for some, like me, it is their domain. My will is like a wave, crashing into all in it's path. Zeus on the other hand has a will which electrifies people, not literally, but it make them feel on edge."
"So....is it your aura?" Percy asked.
"Yes, in one form. An aura is what all will you can't control, the things that just run wild is your aura. When you can control it, is becomes your will power."
Percy nodded, "so....will power huh? It's kind of a mouthful."
Poseidon smiled, "indeed. But if you wish Apollo uses a different name for it."
"Really?" Percy asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yup, he discovered another word for it during his many travels across the world. In Rome it is called Autem, in India it is called Mantra. But what stuck out most to Apollo is what the Japanese called it, Haki."
Percy raised an eyebrow at the word before repeating it in his head, 'haki.' He opened his mouth to speak but Poseidon spoke up, "ah here we are!" Percy saw that they reached the northern edge of the lake, and right next to the water edge was a metal trap door. The trap door looked rusted and beat up, but the handle looked untouched. And right in the center of the metal door was a big blue delta symbol that glowed.
Ping!
You have spotted the entrance to the Labyrinth: Dungeon lv-25
Do you wish to enter?
YES/NO?
Or
Do you wish to travel to another Labyrinth location?
YES/NO?
"Well what do you know, an entrance to the Labyrinth," Poseidon said as he pulled the trap door up revealing a long dark drop down with a rusted ladder to the side covered with cobwebs.
Percy grimaced as he quickly pressed yes to enter the labyrinth, "after you dad." Poseidon grumbled at Percy before he slowly descended down using the rusted ladder which groaned under his weight, "you need to lose some weight old man."
"I'll show you old," Poseidon said as he summoned a large ball of water from the lake which crashed into Percy pushing him down the hole.
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-" Percy kept yelling as he fell faster and faster. 'Stupid old man!' Percy screamed as panic took over, but luckily Gamer's mind kicked in just in time for Percy to make a plan. He put half his mana into Marble skin and used the rest of his mana to collect all the water on his back and in the air to form a sphere of water in front of him.
Just as he was done he could see the bottom coming for him. Percy crossed his arms and braced for impact.
Crack!
Percy shattered the ground as the sphere of water in front of him collapsed instantly healing any wounds he would have gotten. He panted, his heart rate was still going a mile a minute. Percy looked up, "you fucking asshole!"
"Don't call me old!" a cry came back. Percy squinted and could see his dad quickly climbing down with a big grin on his face.
"Stupid old people, going senile in their old age," Percy muttered as he got up and slowly dried himself of the water on him.
"I heard that!"
"So you're not going deaf, good," Percy said as finally Poseidon reached the ground, "you know I could have died."
Poseidon waved the concern away, "neah. I know what you can do and a small fall like that won't kill you, heck it won't even kill a human."
"I fell nearly 50 feet!"
"That's nothing, Hephaestus once fell all the way down from Olympus itself."
"He is a god!"
"He did that when he was a baby."
"So? That just means he was a baby god!"
Poseidon smirked and ruffled Percy's hair, "relax kiddo I'm there right? I'll make sure nothing happens to you, promise."
Percy frowned before nodding, "yeah. Okay."
Poseidon's smile grew larger, "besides I just wanted to see how you would react in a situation like that."
"So what, is this kind of a test? And here I was thinking we were going to spend time bonding."
"We are bonding, unless of course you want to bond by talking, I can do that to you know. I have had plenty of daughters before I know how to do small talk."
"Ah....let's stick to the tests instead."
The god chuckled again making Percy smile. He couldn't help it, he just couldn't help it. His dad was with him, sure right now they were inside a giant maze inside of which are thousands upon thousands of monsters but who the hell cares? Percy got to spend some time with his dad, and that was all that matters.
"Want to make things interesting?" Poseidon asked Percy.
"What's the bet?"
"Impress me, and I'll give you something cool as a birthday gift."
Percy smiled, "you are so on." And with that the father son duo walked down the corridor in front of them.
Quickly Percy meet the first monster. It was a bipedal fish with a trident by it's side. The fish looked like it was tuna, with grey scales and red eyes.
Fish solider,
Lv-15
HP:800/800
MP:0/0
Str-21
Vit-22
Dex-14
Int-2
Wis-8
Luc-2
The grunt of the great fish army, this bipedal fish is a solider to the great fish emperor and is know to be very good with an iron trident.
Kill to gain— 100 Exp
Percy smiled, "this is going to be easy," he then took out Riptide and charged the fish from behind landing a critical strike on the fish causing 4,250 damage. Percy smirked and collected the 20$ left behind and a copper made trident left behind;
Celestial bronze Trident;
A trident made out of pure celestial bronze, very rare, and very effective.
Attack— 10 x Dex
+50% to all celestial beings.
Percy raised an eyebrow reading that. The thing he was holding was made out of pure celestial bronze, unlike the iron trident that the fish soilder was using. Something was off, it was almost like he got.....the best possible reward.
Percy put away the trident and opened his status page and there it was;
Luc-50(+50)=100
The lucky day perk he had effected his luck status, today was his birthday giving him more luck, meaning all loot he would get would be amazingly rare, and dead useful.
"That was to easy," Poseidon said crossing his hands, "doesn't count."
Percy frowned moving to his dad closing his status page, "you just don't want to admit how awesome I am."
"Nope, you just attacked an opponent who had their back turned, doesn't count."
Percy sighed, "fine." He then turned and the two walked further down the corridor which split in two. Above each tunnel was a board, 'Crab's Corner' and 'Shark Sink', no prizes if you guessed what was in the end of each tunnel.
"Which do you think is more dangerous?" Percy asked.
"Crabs most definitely," Poseidon said nodding his head.
"Really? Not sharks?"
"Sharks aren't really that vicious Percy. They just have a bad name, I swear if I ever get my hands on Steven Spielberg....anyway, yes, crabs are far more scarier than sharks. Especially with those black beady eyes....ergh!"
Percy shrugged, "crabs it is."
The turned left and walked down as slowly the smell of salt filled the air. The tunnel opened up to what looked like an inside beach, complete with a fake wall painted like the horizon, sand and a little bit of water. And sitting right next to the water and the sand was a huge cast of crabs. red, brown even some green ones. The all were soaking in the wet sand, and even from far away Percy could tell that these things were huge, almost 9 feet tall.
