Alexander looked at the weapons and armor lying around. They were both divine and mortal in origin, knives, swords, even handguns. He took them all, stuffing them in his inventory for later. The broken ones, he would sell in the system shop, the regular ones… he would keep in his inventory for a rainy day. He was promptly shoved out of the dungeon, back to that forest. Looking around, nothing had changed except that it was later. It had been evening when he went in and now it was early morning, the sun just rising. He crept towards the Zeus cabin and took a shower, washing out all the blood and spores in his hair. It felt good, having the hot water on his skin.
When he was dressed again, he sat down on the couch and closed his eyes, thinking about what would happen next. He would have time until December, which was when the di angelo's would be found in their school. Which meant he had four months till the story began, 16 weeks, 16 dungeons to grow stronger.
"Where have you been?!" Thalia screeched, causing him to open his eyes.
"Just some training", he smiled.
"Training my ass, I waited for you till midnight, you didn't show. What did you really do?", Thalia crossed her arms, waiting for an explanation.
"*sigh*", Alexander hung his head low, "you remember when I visited you in your tree? It's kinda like that, I can slip into these 'dungeons', it is a way for me to grow stronger faster"
"Take me with you then"
"Huh?"
"Take me with you the next time you go into one of these dungeons", she stared at him with those piercing eyes.
"I- I'm not sure if that's possible…"
"Just… try, please?" The look in her eyes… it wasn't exactly puppy dog eyes but something just as irresistible. He couldn't decline her, he would feel bad.
"Fine, I'll try, I can't say no when you look at me like that"
"Great, when are we doing this?" Thalia smiled brightly.
"I can only enter a dungeon when I see one appear. I can create a dungeon but only once a week and I just created one, so you'll have to wait"
Thalia scanned his face, seeing no deception and nodded, "do you need to sleep, if you've been awake all night in this dungeon?"
"I'm fine, let's go to breakfast", Alexander turned around but Thalia grabbed his arm, "yes?"
"Even if I truly can't enter with you… the next time you go, just tell me beforehand, I was worried sick", she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Warmth spread through his body. The place where her lips had brushed against his skin were tingling. He felt no embarrassment, thanks to gamer's mind, just a subtle, nice warmth. He wouldn't mind feeling that more often. An easy smile spread across his face, "Let's go, princess"
"Princess?", she stopped in her tracks.
"Your father is the king of gods, doesn't that make you a princess?"
"I mean… I guess but I don't like it, doesn't fit me, being a 'princess'"
"Yeah, you have that whole punk look about you", he nodded thoughtfully, "Let's get going then, Thalia"
The two of them walked towards the dining pavilion, they were the first there, only eclipsed by Chiron, who was sipping coffee or maybe tea? He couldn't tell from the zeus table. Over the next twenty minutes, more and more campers filed in. Slowly but surely, the empty pavilion filled with people, chatting, joking, all in all, it was a great atmosphere. The nymphs brought in the food, a variety of toasted bread, normal bread, bagels, cheese, meat, jam, Apples, Bananas, strawberries and so much more.
Chiron cleared his throat. The pavilion fell silent immediately, "As you all have seemed to love the chariot racing that Tantalus re introduced and we haven't had an incident in the last race, We have decided to continue the chariot races. The cabin who wins gets freed from all chores for a month. We will hold a race every two months. This race replaces one capture the flag game. The next race will be this following friday, you have a week to design your chariots and figure out strategies"
Thalia and Alexander looked at each other, one grinning face to another grinning face, "We are gonna win this", Thalia whispered.
"Definitely", Alexander nodded, "the others don't stand a chance"
All the tables erupted in cheers, all but the Apollo cabin. They were the camp medics. The chariot races had proven to be quite deadly over the years. This just meant they had more campers to patch up.
"I advise you to use the weekend for preparations, as the regular activities will still be taking place", Chiron took another sip of his tea and looked content.