Thalia and Percy spoke for a little while longer before soon the daughter of Zeus fell asleep. It had been a long day, and she was understandably exhausted.
While she slept Percy's mind was running a 100 miles per hour. He kept wondering to himself whether this was real, whether she really cared about him the way he cared about her. Did he care about her? Was it just a spur of the moment thing?
Percy asked himself these questions over and over again, but eventually he realised the truth, he did like her, a lot. And these feelings, they had been growing since the first time he met her. Sure before it was purely physical, but now….now it was more than that.
Percy wanted to be with her, help her become stronger, protect her. Maybe it was because of the hero complex he slowly realised he had, but he wanted to make sure that nothing happened to Thalia.
Eventually Percy's thoughts turned to another terrifying thought, did she like him? He wondered that again and again and it kept him up all night by Thalia's bed side. Percy didn't need sleep, but even if he was tired he doubt his mind would allow him to take a break.
'If only I could feel what she felt,' Percy wondered to himself when suddenly it hit him. He could do that. Percy opened his skill menu and quickly looked through it. He found what he was looking for near the end of the list;
Empathy, Lv- MAX
You will understand the emotions of others. This is a skill you can only use consciously.
Percy closed his eyes, 'empathy activate.' Percy suddenly felt himself being opened up to the world around him.
Percy turned his scenes to Thalia herself. He looked at her through his mind's eye and felt her emotions. They were happy. She was asleep, but Percy was willing to bet anything she was having a happy dream.
Percy gently touched her skin and suddenly he felt a new emotion shoot into her. It was warm and fuzzy, like the emotional equivalent of feeling full after dinner.
"Thalia?" Percy asked and suddenly another shot of that warm feeling went through her body. She couldn't react to him, but she heard him speak. Percy focused on that feeling, he gently pressed his lips against her forehead and gave her a small peck.
Suddenly the war feeling exploded up mixing with the feeling of happiness she had. Soon Percy realised what this was. This was love. She loved him.
Percy opened his eyes and slowly let the emotional world he felt slip away deactivating his Empathic powers.
Percy smiled at the girl in the bed, 'she loves me. She really loves me.'
Percy closed his eyes and relaxed. He had nothing to worry about. He slowly let himself be taken into the realm of Morpheus.
The Next Day;
The next day Percy had woken up to Thalia still in bed and asleep. The sun still hadn't risen fully but Percy knew he couldn't stay here all day, plus it would be super weird to be at her bedside all night.
He had gone back to his cabin and immediately Leo had demanded for a plate of bacon and a walk. After taking out a plate of bacon from his inventory, courtesy of the Lotus hotel and casino, Percy took Leo into his ID world for a 'walk.'
The pair had slowly started from the Forest clearing it out of all the zombies. Leo had finally gotten better at attacking. His added mass made him a swift and deadly opponent. Eventually the Forest was cleared giving Leo two additional levels;
Leo
Lv-9
HP: 750/750
MP:110/110
Race- HellHound (1/2)+Wolf (1/2)
Exp- 200/1,700
Str-11
Vit-11
Dex-6
Int-5
Wis-3
Luc-4
Points-15
Percy put 5 points in Leo's Vit and 5 in Str. He also put 2 in his Wis and 3 in his Int;
Str-16
Vit-16
Dex-6
Int-8
Wis-5
Luc-4
Points-0
Percy however wasn't really certain now that the whole going slow approach was working. He wanted to wait before because he wanted Leo and him to grow closer, but he realised that fighting together was their way of growing closer. So with that in mind Percy decided to step it up a notch.
He took Leo for the first time out of the Forest to face the Greek Zombies. It took a while for Leo to get the hang of it, he usually constantly fell prey to the Greek Zombies blades. But eventually he learned how to avoid the weapons and bite of their heads.
After killing around 30 legion zombies Leo gained a total of 2,250 Exp. Resulting in another level up;
Leo
Lv-10
HP: 950/950
MP:135/135
Race- HellHound (1/2)+Wolf (1/2)
Exp- 550/1,900
Str-16
Vit-16
Dex-6
Int-8
Wis-5
Luc-4
Points-5
Ping!
Your companion has reached level 10! It has gained a new Perk!
Strength of the Hellhound- + 5 Str for every level gained.
Percy was seriously jealous of the perk Leo just got. Hell if he had that the first time he started this whole thing he would probably be stronger than Zed by now!
Percy turned to Leo, "Hey Leo, do you feel stronger?"
Leo turned his head to the side, "hm, a little master. Why?"
Percy looked at the hellhounds stats and saw that it was still the same. 'Hmm, maybe the boost only applies from the next level onwards.'
Percy nodded and began allotting the stat points for Leo. Since Str was no longer going to be a issue he figured why not focus on the important stuff. He put 2 points in Int and 3 in Dex;
Str-16
Vit-16
Dex-9
Int-10
Wis-5
Luc-4
Percy then closed the box and looked around. Leo had cleared all the Greek zombies, meaning…
"GRAA!" A roar exploded form behind Percy and Leo. The two turned to see a Legion zombie being formed.
Leo whined, "master I don't like this."
"Why are you so scared? You faced one just like this yesterday," Percy said with a smile.
Leo lowered his head, "it's still so big! And scary!"
Percy smiled, "okay how about this. You just go in there and scratch it. It's strong, but super slow. After that I'll take over, okay?"
Leo whined again, "do I have to?"
Percy rolled his eyes, "damn, I should have named you Cringer instead of Leo. And yeah, you have to, now move."
Leo whined again, but got ready. The Legion Zombie started to charge them and Leo pounched. He moved quickly for a dog, and quickly scratched the Legion zombie's ankle. Leo then went for it' other ankle and managed to cut into that as well. But as he was about to make his escape the Legion zombie's giant hand came down and grabbed the dog picking it up like nothing.
Leo squire in the monster's tight grip, "master! Help!"
The Legion zombie was about to squeeze the life out of the Hellhound hybrid's body when Percy spoke up, "HEY YOU! PUT MY FUCKING DOG DOWN!"
The zombie stopped as it slowly turned towards Percy. Percy could see the fear in it's eyes.
You have succeeded in using Enslavement! You can now scare it into fulling your request.
"Put my dog down," Percy said slowly pacing every word with anger.
The Legion zombie nodded and slowly put Leo down releasing it's grip on him. Leo walked back to Percy, but the demigod could see that the dog was hurt. Percy turned to the Legion zombie that looked scared beyond belief.
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