Percy Jackson - The Record of The Journey of a Mortal Who Become a God

Here is the text translated into English without any alterations:

After Mr. D went back inside the house, Chiron tried to ease all of Percy's worries by saying.

"Don't worry, old Dionysus is like that. He's not really angry about your arrival or your disrespect. He just hates his job. He's been... ahn, confined to Earth, so to speak, and he can't stand having to wait another century before being allowed to return to Olympus..."

Ikki observed his friend, who was somewhat tense, start to relax a bit.

"The Mount Olympus..." Percy took a deep breath and asked, "Are you telling me there really is a palace there?..."

"Well, there is now Mount Olympus in Greece. And there is the home of the gods, the point of convergence of their powers, which indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It is still called Mount Olympus, out of respect for traditions, but the palace shifts places, Percy, just like the gods do," Chiron explained as he put away the deck of cards they used to play earlier in its box.

"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like... in the United States?"

"Well, certainly. The gods shift with the heart of the West."

"What?…" Percy said, confused.

Ikki sighed at his friend's lack of knowledge about such things. Well, he couldn't blame him, after living for several years in ignorance, knowing the whole truth must be very difficult, right?

Chiron let out a sigh and replied.

"Come on, Percy. What you call Western civilization. Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned brightly for thousands of years. The gods are a part of it. You could even say they are its source, or at least that they are so closely linked to it that they probably won't cease to exist unless all of Western civilization is destroyed."

"The flame started in Greece. Then, as you well know... or I hope you know, since you passed my course... the heart of the flame moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Ah, with different names, perhaps: Jupiter instead of Zeus, Venus instead of Aphrodite, and so on; but the same forces, the same gods."

"And then they died…" Percy concluded.

"Died?" Chiron repeated as if he had heard something absurd, he decided to illuminate the path of this young ignorant: "No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a time. Wherever the flame burned brightest, there the gods were."

"They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture. People don't forget the gods. Everywhere they ruled for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, in the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in the United States."

Percy wasn't very patriotic, but as he remembered the symbol of the country, the eagle of Zeus. From things like the statue of the Titan Prometheus at Rockefeller Center, to the facades of government buildings in Washington. He challenged anyone to find any American city where Greek deities were not prominently displayed in various places.

Like it or not - and believe me, a lot of people didn't like Rome very much either - the United States are now the heart of the flame. They are the great power of the West.

And so, Olympus is here?

If Ikki knew his thoughts, he would have punched him in the head for invoking Valentine and a tiny piece of his love for the United States from the best president of all this vast existence...

But back to Percy, all these thoughts were too much for him. He was so confused that he asked.

"Who are you, Chiron? Who... who am I?"

Chiron smiled. He shifted position as if to get up from the wheelchair, but Percy knew that would be impossible. Since he must be paralyzed from the waist down, right?

"Who are you?…" The centaur repeated thoughtfully, before saying, "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we have to get you a bunk in Cabin 11. There will be new friends to meet. And ample time for classes tomorrow. Also, there will be goodies around the campfire tonight, and I simply love chocolate."

And then he got up from the wheelchair. But there was something strange about the way he did it. The blanket fell off his legs, but they didn't move. The waist seemed to grow longer, rising above the belt. At first, one might think his lower garments were very long, but as he rose from the chair, taller than any man, it became clear that the velvet lower garments were not lower garments; they were the front part of an animal, muscles and tendons under a rough white fur.

And the wheelchair was not a chair. It was some kind of container, a huge box on wheels, and it must have been magic because there was no way it contained him whole.

One long leg came out, with a prominent knee, with a large polished hoof. Then another front leg, then the hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a shell of metal with a pair of human legs attached.

Percy looked at the horse that had just jumped out of the wheelchair: a huge white stallion. But where his neck should be, the upper body of his Latin teacher was smoothly grafted onto the horse's torso. He stood in shock seeing yet another myth come to life in front of him.

"What a relief," said the centaur, smiling as he spoke, "You don't know how bad it is to be trapped in there, my joints always fall asleep. Now I should introduce you to the camp, but I think this is a better job for Ikki here. I'll be busy sorting out some issues."

He looked over at the said boy and asked.

"Can you take care of this for me, Ikki?…"

"No problem, Chiron. I'm already familiar with the Half-Blood camp. I'll explain things to him along the way too!"

Ikki had been expecting this request from his teacher, it was almost time for archery practice, and considering he had been summoned to meet his best friend, it was easy to reach that conclusion; the centaur wanted someone Percy knew and trusted to explain everything to him.

It was just that he found it problematic for the camp activities director to throw this responsibility onto him, but that was fine. He needed some time to talk to his friend anyway.

"Great, but don't forget your archery lesson later. If you can't finish showing Percy around the camp, take him to Annabeth; she'll take care of the rest." His former teacher spoke calmly.

"Sure, I'm looking forward to practicing…" Ikki replied, nodding. Archery was really cool.

"Grover, I want you to do something for me. Follow me…" Finishing those words, the immortal centaur left the porch, and Grover stood up and quickly followed him.

Leaving only Ikki and Percy behind.

"Shall we go too?" Ikki stretched and spoke to his friend, who, confused, nodded.

Percy was still trying to assimilate the fact that his teacher was some kind of Greek myth in the real world, a centaur!

The two set off on a journey around the camp. While they talked about what had happened that day, Ikki explained everything that had occurred in detail and apologized for not having been able to kill the Fury that later was responsible for Sally's death...

"It wasn't your fault, you did the best you could…" Percy said with sad eyes, he hinted that he didn't want to touch that subject, but he smiled as best he could.

"But…"

Ikki wanted to say more; he wanted to apologize. From his perspective, it was his fault what happened; if he hadn't held back and killed all those monsters in one blow, one of them wouldn't have escaped and killed his best friend's mother.

Percy noticed his internal struggle and punched him on the arm.

"Don't blame yourself, Superman," he joked.

"Superman?…" Ikki questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, you're as strong as he is, right? That makes the best nickname for you," Percy explained, proud of that, his eyes lit up when he remembered something.

"Now that I remember, you muscle head. Didn't you call me Seaweed Brain before? Not afraid of death, are you?…" He stated categorically, looking at his best friend with a sharp gaze.

His friend had shown up before calling him directly by the most absurd and idiotic nickname someone had given him.

"Yes, yes. Failed Batman…" Ikki said, rolling his eyes.

"That nickname is better, but it's very offensive…"

"Do you want me to call you the golden boy of the gods?…"

"Why?…"

"You know how to annoy them, you have a good talent for that which has just been shown…"

Sure! Here is the translated text in English:

---

Percy puffed out his chest with pride as he walked alongside his friend.

"That's not something to be proud of..."

Ikki felt imaginary sweat trickle down the back of his head at this sight. He let out a sigh and mentally shook his head; this wasn't an anime where the protagonist was a beta who got beaten by women and had no hint of masculine aura.

The two continued their journey through the camp. He introduced his friend to all the locations while explaining about the "real" Greek world, making him understand that he was a demigod too, something his friend verbally denied, saying it was ridiculous, but in the end, he accepted it... Despite all this denial, the facts were too real to prove otherwise.

What was strange for Percy was the way the campers looked at the two; most of the campers who had not surrendered before the absolute offense and were still good soldiers looked at him with a gaze full of pity, and some filled with hate and bitterness.

On the other hand, the female campers looked at Percy as if he were their worst enemy, their eyes showing visible traces of envy. This left him even more confused; indeed, these demigods were crazier than he was...

As it was almost time for archery class, he left his friend with Annabeth in front of Hermes' Cabin and then headed to the archery field.

Along with the archer campers from Apollo's cabin and other unclaimed campers, they began to practice under Chiron's supervision.

Ikki stood next to Chiron, holding a common bow in his hands, with a quiver full of arrows on his back. He tested the bowstring and asked with a certain curiosity.

"Chiron, I think I never asked you about this. But... shouldn't you be dead according to the myths?"

Chiron, who had been observing him, paused as if the question intrigued him.

"Honestly, I don't know anything about what I should be. The truth is, I cannot be dead. Understand, many ages ago, the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a master to heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained a lot from that wish... and I renounced much. Yet I am still here, so I can only presume that I am still needed."

Ikki looked at the centaur and said ironically, "Percy would call being a teacher for three thousand years boring..."

"Certainly!" Chiron chuckled and replied, "It can be horrendously depressing at times, but never boring."

"I imagine, immortality isn't appealing when you can't share it with the people who come into your life and become important..." Ikki said, his eyes shining inexplicably.

Chiron merely smiled slightly, but beneath his smile lay centuries of cycles where he taught his students and saw them die due to prophecies or because of the randomness of a child's life among the Greek gods. It was a heavy burden that almost no one could understand, which is why it was so depressing at times. But he had gotten used to it.

No words were exchanged afterward. Ikki glanced around the archery field. The children of Apollo were teaching some of the younger kids how to handle a bow, a hundred paces away, there were many targets painted with red paint, and in a relatively safe corner of that area, there was a camper retrieving the arrows from the targets or nearby.

Ikki took a deep breath and got into position, took an arrow, and placed it on his bowstring. After that, he narrowed his eyes and aimed at the target. Then, he let the arrow fly without worry or tension.

It was as if he had done this his entire life.

The arrow sliced through the air like lightning before hitting the very top of the target, which was a painted circle. He had missed it badly...

This left the centaur very surprised, as did the other archer campers. His performance in recent days had been of high precision; he had never missed a shot on the target's center.

"Is the bow defective?" Chiron asked, looking at the bow in the boy's hands.

"Actually, no..." Ikki declared, glancing toward the camper who went to retrieve the arrow he had shot.

"Holy crap! Impossible!" When he pulled out the arrow, the camper shouted in disbelief. This drew everyone's attention.

The crowd quickly gathered to examine the arrow.

Everyone looked at the arrow.

At the tip of the arrow was a dead body the size of a pea, with traces of blood...

What is this!

"My God... This is a fly! A fly!"

One of the campers shouted, shocked.

What! - The eye globes of many archers almost popped out in shock.

"My God! To be a hundred paces away and kill a fly, how did he do that?"

"To see a fly from 100 paces is already so difficult. The fly also flies randomly..."

"How... how is this possible!?"

One of the most skilled archers in the camp turned pale and looked at Ikki with admiration. If he were lucky, he could shoot two rabbits with one arrow, but killing a fly from a hundred paces was impossible for him.

The fly was so small. Normal people couldn't even see a fly from a hundred paces away; even a demigod, who was far superior to an ordinary human in all respects, could hardly see such details from a hundred paces away.

Even Chiron was somewhat surprised at the way Ikki's skills with the bow had evolved. At this moment, he could be the most skilled in the camp...

"Your progress with archery is terrifying to say the least," he commented, awestruck.

The crowd around also looked at Ikki with a mix of various emotions; shock, a mix of admiration and fear of his talent, and primarily that thrill one feels when seeing the person they are in love with being amazing!

Ikki coughed lightly and lied.

"To be honest, I was surprised I hit it too..."

He was sure he could hit a fly from dozens of kilometers away. Sharp vision and control of his movements were the main factors for an archer's precision, and this was something he had plenty of, either from his training or the hacks he had gained in the past few years from his divine artifact.

Well, despite his words being an attempt to downplay his "feat" as luck, everyone thought he was merely being humble.

After everyone calmed down, they returned to practice until late afternoon, when rumors about Percy having dumped bleach on Clarisse from Ares' cabin began to spread.

Ikki sighed at the confusion his best friend caused and went to meet him. With his senses, it was easy to know where he was.