Rob gulped, "s-sorry."
Percy rolled his eyes, "but to answer your question, yes. The way they fought was an amalgamation of Roman battle formations and tactics with Greek adaptability and strategy. I realise that it might not seem honorable to you all, to try and sneak up on enemies or use guerrilla tactics. But they get the job done and it keeps you alive. It doesn't matter if it is the Greek way of doing things or the Roman way, you do whatever that keeps you alive and brings you victory. Never forget that."
After that little pep talk Rob dismissed the cohorts and took Percy to the Greek Head counselors. It seemed that Julia had taken to personally teach them all the basics of Roman strategy and warfare. Percy still had a hard time believing Julia was the daughter of Venus. Every other daughter of Venus, or Aphrodite in this case, Percy meet had been a ditsy, flirty, girl that cared more about her nails and what to wear then war.
Julia however was nothing like that. She was more like a child of Athena, she was always calm and collected, knew lots of things, and most of all was extremely scary when she wants to be. In fact the only thing that made her out to be a child of Venus was her looks, which weren't boosted by any cosmetic additions.
The two demigods entered the Principia and sure enough there was Julia with the rest of the Greek demigods. They were all sitting down in chairs with arm rests in them like a classroom with Julia being the teacher.
But she wasn't alone as Carrie, the librarian of Rome, was also there along with someone who Percy remembered seeing at the meeting where Thalia and him were declared the Praetors of the Greek camp;
Jordan Cather, Professor of War in New Rome College
Lv— 24
Julia noticed them and turned to her class, "and I think that's enough for today, what do you think Professor Jordan?"
Julia turned to the man in question. The older man was fat and had a very hairy beard but no hair on top. He wore a three piece suit that fitted him surprisingly well considering her body size and he gave off this aura making him feel calm and knowledgeable.
"Yes Praetor, I do belive this is enough for today," the man smiled at his Greek students, "don't want them to be overworked."
"No! Come on! Things were just getting interesting!" Annabeth called out pouting. Thalia and the others rolled their eyes but said nothing as Jordan and Julia chuckled at her attitude.
"Yes, but I do believe that we have reached our time limit for the day," Julia said motioning to Percy and Rob who were standing in the back.
Percy and Rob then separated as Rob meet with his fellow Praetor and professor while Carrie stood away from the group. Percy walked up to his fellow Greek demigods and smiled, "so did you guys have fun?"
"Fun?" Travis Stoll raised an eyebrow, "we mostly stayed in a room and listened to a bunch of people talk about ar for hours on end. Do you think that was fun?"
"Yeah, what do you think we are? Children of Athena?" Conner asked crossing his arms, "no offence Annabeth."
The daughter of wisdom rolled her eyes, "none taken. Believe me, I am also glad you two aren't children of Athena. If you were, the cabin probably won't be left standing in three days."
Percy chuckled, "so you guys did nothing else?"
"Not really," Katie spoke up, "Julia showed us around a bit. But then we came back here.
"She mainly focused on war tactics and strategies employed during the Roman times," Annabeth supplied as her grey eyes practically sparkled in excitement, "she went into great details about historical wars, like the second Punic war and the Battle of Faesulae, and in so much detail! Historians haven't even learnt half of what really happened at that time!"
"Yeah it was a great history lesson," Castor said rolling his eyes, "bloody waste of time."
"This is something we need to learn Castor," Percy explained, "our military strategy is lacking, we are great fighters but lack co-ordination. We need to achieve a perfect balance of Roman and Greek fighting style, only then can we even imagine taking on the army of the Titans."
Castor sighed, "I know it's just....it's that just," he pointed at Carrie was busy reading a book, "I don't know what's with her. She keeps glaring at everyone!"
"Not everyone, just you boys," Clarisse clarified.
"Yeah that's Carrie," Percy nodded, "she's like that."
"Oh? And how do you know Carrie?" Thalia asked with a smile.
"I told you Thalia, she's the one who helped me research Alcyoneus," Percy told his girlfriend.
"Oh, right," Thalia scratching her head in embarrassment. Percy smiled, 'she get's so cute when she's jealous.'
And that was how the first set up between the Greeks and the Romans ended.
This happened every weekend and over time things started to progress further and further. The Cohorts took Percy's words to heart and soon became better and better. By the end of the month the fifth cohort had grown strong enough to defeat one leion zombie while the first managed to finally clear all the minor zombies.
The Greek campers also went through a revolution of sorts. After Julia's lessons, the head counselors realised the need to diversify all the talent of the demigods into small groups. After all if you had a squad of healers that would just make them the first target of the enemy,
So they had started a new systems of battle. They divided the camp fighters into squads. Each squad had 10 members, and with the camp filled with exactly 147 demigods that gave way to 14 10 man squads, one 6 man squad with Percy making up a squad of his own.
Each squad was given a number or a name related to Greek myth, like Beta, Gamma, Homer, Achilles and Odysseus. Percy found that last squad name particularly funny.
Percy himself was considered at the one man army and was given the designation of Alpha. The 6 man squad was Beta squad and contained Annabeth, Lee Fletcher, Thalia, Bianca, Clarisse and Charles Beckendorf.
Percy was considered their trump card in any battle and would always be sent out first. Beta squad was the tactical squad and would lead and assign missions to everyone else. And Chiron and the other tutors were given odd positions, filling in wherever they were needed most.
Other than that there was nothing much to say about the month that followed. Although there was this one incident that stuck out in Percy's mind;
Two Weeks Ago;
"ANNABETH!" Percy's voice tore through camp half-blood startling all who heard it.
Annabeth herself was sitting in the Amphitheater with her siblings when she heard her name called out. She looked up startled as people wondered why Percy was calling out for her.
Just then Percy walked in with a book in hand. His face was one of anger and sadness. Annabeth was surprised to see such a look on his face. Fear took her heart, 'did something happen to Thalia? Did something happen to his mother?'
Annabeth quickly ran to Percy, "what's wrong Percy?" she asked frantically, "are you okay?"
Percy looked at her as slowly the anger faded. Percy suddenly hugged Annabeth startling the girl. Tears slowly rolled down his face as he started to cry on her shoulder.
"Percy's are you okay?" Annabeth asked holding, "is everything alright?"
"H-he's dead," Percy stammered out, "they killed him."
"Who Percy?" Annabeth asked as panic rose inside of her, "is it Ed? Did someone target Ed? Is it Nico? Michael?" Suddenly a dangerous thought came to her mind. She lowered her voice to a whisper, "is it Luke?"
"What? NO!" Percy broke the hug, "it's NED!"
Annabeth blinked, "who?" The rest of the demigods whispered in confusion, none of them know of any Neds in camp or outside that Percy could have been talking about.
"Ned Annabeth! Ned!" Percy started shaking Annabeth, "that fucking cunt Joffrey killed Ned!"
Annabeth raised an eyebrow, "you mean Ned Stark the fictional character?"
"He was the only good one in the whole of King's Landing! And they killed him for it!" Percy started to cry again, "they killed NED!"
Annabeth groaned, "I knew I shouldn't have given you that book."
Later Thalia walked in and saw Percy crying while Annabeth comforted him over and over with words like, 'there are other Starks,' or 'the second book will be better.'
"Ah, what's going on?" Thalia asked walking up to them looking understandably confused.
"Ned's dead Thalia!" Percy cried out as he grabbed her in a hug pulling her close, "they killed him!"
Thalia looked from her boyfriend to Annabeth, "what is he talking about?"
Annabeth sighed, "his favorite character died in his book."
Thalia blinked, "you mean the one he's always been reading during training?"
Annabeth nodded, "yeah."
Percy sniffed, "it's not fair, why did Ned have to die? He was such a good man."
Thalia sighed as she patted Percy's back like a baby, "there there Percy, think of it this way, Ned is in a better place now."
Percy nodded, "yeah, with his best friend and sister. Sigh, you're right," Percy sniffed, "but I swear Ned will be avenged! He has a son! Robb Stark will avenge his father!"
Annabeth smiled but said nothing, she didn't have the heart to tell him that Rob would die before the end of the third book. So instead she silent letting Percy have his hopes and dreams for now, because Percy was yet to experience the soul crushing, dream tearing, hope sucking world that was Westroes.
Percy turned to Thalia, "hey Thalia would you by chance be open to the idea of naming our firstborn Ned?"
Thalia looked at him and started. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She calmed herself down and looked Percy right in the eyes, "Percy....no. Just no. I'm so not having this talk with you right now."
Present day;
Yeah, looking back now he might have overreacted just a little bit.
Percy finished his breakfast and started his day. Today was Mera's turn to train the demigods so he got a day off. Percy didn't really know what to do with this day off, he rarely ever had any these days.
Usually he spent any free time he had with Annabeth learning more about architecture and greek buildings in order to build the city he had in mind. This resulted in him obtaining another few subskills in Home construction;
Architecture, Lv— 4 (0%)
The ability to build buildings and other man made structure meant for housing.
All buildings you build have a 70% chance of falling over
All buildings you build have a 35% chance of looking good
24% of product wastage.
You know;
Roman construction— Lv MAX Can understand and skillfully create roman buildings
Construction of settlements— Lv— MAX
Greek Construction— Lv MAX Can understand and skilfully create Greek Buildings
Plumbing, Lv— 1/10 Can construct basic plumbing
Electric lining, Lv-1/10 The laying of electric lines
Basic building, Lv-3/10 The basic construction of a modern building.
Percy knew he wasn't anywhere close to being ready to actually build a city or anything like that, but he was getting closer. In all honestly Percy was glad he told Annabeth about his plans. The girl had so many ideas and suggestions it was mind boggling.
The more Percy learn't from her, the more he realised he knew nothing about construction. He knew how to make Roman buildings, and Greek buildings, but modern buildings? Yeah, no. There was so much to do and take in that Percy was sure he would go crazy, but luckily Annabeth was there to act as a buffer of sorts, explaining everything to him in careful detail.
Percy looked up at the sky, it really was a perfect day. Plus it was also a Friday meaning with his lucky day perk he would gain +25 extra Luc points.
Percy didn't really want to spend the day in camp. Lately all he ever had to deal with was camp this and camp that. This was the first time in a month that he had some free time, and maybe it was a little bit selfish of him, but he did not want to spend that time hanging out in camp.
'Hm....maybe I should go to the Collector and talk to him about that 'favour' he owes me.'
Percy had been putting that off for some time now. It was honestly not something he wanted to do. The Collector was an immortal with an unknown agenda. Percy knew he couldn't' trust him, and he wasn't going to. But he still needed his help.
Percy opened his inventory and found the Abyss card the Collector gave him, 'this thing still has a tracking signal on it....I can't take it out here or else he'll have the location of Camp, that is if he doesn't already.'
But Percy wasn't going to risk it. So he walked to the edge of camp, don't want to launch into near mach 1 speeds and cause a startle, that might turn out....messy.
Percy quickly passed by the barrier tree, which is formally known as Thalia's tree. They had finally come around to changing the name, and there was also a new addition to said tree.
Since the Golden Fleece was pretty much the only thing keeping them alive, a sort of safety net was needed to make sure not one tried to steal it. And that came in the form of Peleus, the baby dragon.
Let that sink in for a moment, they had a baby dragon, and they were using it for basically guarding duty.....yeah, needless to say the Greeks were a little crazy.
The baby dragon himself was very small, just big enough to wrap itself around one outgrown root of the tree. It had copper hued scales with golden eyes. It was very friendly towards all the campers and soon became a sort of mascot for them all. He was small now, but Percy was willing to beat he would grow up into a big monstrous guardian.
Percy left camp grounds and took out his goggles putting them on. He then ran near mach 1 speeds reaching New York in minutes. Percy circled the city a bit before settling down near Central park.
Percy put away the goggles and took out the Abyss card Observing it;
Abyss Card: The Collector,
Serving as a device to connect to the particular person it is bonded to.
Note: this card has a tracking device on it allowing the bonded individual to track user.
Percy formed, 'now how do I get you to work?' He looked the card over, it was pure black with a red border line. Percy remembered the Collector once mention it was like a mobile phone so maybe....
Percy put the card up to his ear, "hello?"
Suddenly the card started to give out the ringtone of a phone. Percy was surprised as slowly the card started to vibrate along with the ringing sound. Suddenly the ringing stopped as someone picked up the call. "Hello?"
Percy recognized that voice. It was the Collector, also known as the Wandering Jew. His real name was Joseph Ahasver, but only Percy knew that.
"Hello Joseph," Percy spoke like he would when holding a phone.
