[Third Person's PoV]
The next day…
Lucian was seen sparring with Clarisse, or in other words, he was teaching her a lesson using a spear.
Lucian twirled his spear around before redirecting her moves and thrusting his spear towards her.
Clarisse tried to block it with the staff part, but Lucian kept hitting her with the ballpoint of the spear.
Clarisse attempted to kick him, but he turned his spear upward, causing her to only kick the staff.
As one of her legs was up, Lucian quickly dropped down and swept her leg, causing her to fall to the floor with a thud.
Clarisse gripped her spear in anger and stood up before she started thrusting her spear furiously.
However, due to Lucian's danger sense and intuition, he moved between her attacks with relative ease. As she thrust her spear, Lucian took hold of it, pulled her off balance, and thrust the ballpoint of his spear into her stomach, making her groan in pain.
"How are you so good? Your godly parent has nothing to do with weapons. I should be better than you," Clarisse grumbled.
Lucian rolled his eyes. "Because I don't let my godly parent dictate what I do or practice. Tell me, are you good with weapons because you are the daughter of the God of War, or are you good because you spend your time honing your skills and abilities? My skills with weapons don't come from any of my parents; they come purely from my years of hard work and dedication."
"Are you saying I don't work hard?" Clarisse glared.
"Did those words leave my mouth? All I'm telling you is to keep practicing. You're already great at wielding a spear; I just happen to be better. Also, you let your anger consume you, making you predictable. Don't let it consume you—use it to empower yourself instead. If you do that, you'll definitely be stronger."
Clarisse still looked unsatisfied but mumbled a thanks.
"So, are we done now?" Lucian asked.
Clarisse nodded, and they put away their sparring spears. Lucian walked towards Annabeth, who looked a bit bored.
"I still don't get why you would entertain her request for a spar against you. It seems pointless, especially from your perspective, knowing how strong you really are," Annabeth said, shaking her head.
Lucian just shrugged his shoulders. "All she did was ask for a sparring match. I didn't see a reason to decline," he said as they started walking towards his cabin.
But just before they went in, Thalia came running towards them. "I'm so glad I found you guys," Thalia said with a sigh of relief.
"What's wrong?" Annabeth asked.
Thalia turned towards Lucian. "Can you take us to the place you took me last time where we couldn't be heard?"
Annabeth looked at Lucian with a raised brow before they were all engulfed by Lucian's shadow and reappeared inside his secret underground chambers.
"So, what's wrong?" Lucian asked.
Thalia reached into her back pocket and pulled out a card, showing it to them. "This. I found it when I was practicing."
Annabeth and Lucian's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Son of a b—" Lucian started to say before stopping himself.
"I came to you since you're the magic expert. As soon as I touched it, weird information started floating in my head, like this is called a—"
"Card of Blasphemy," both Lucian and Annabeth sighed out at the same time.
"Yeah… a card of… wait, how did you guys know? Do you know what it truly is? It mentioned gathering the ingredients in this card and the acting method. Just so much information."
Annabeth reached into her purple pouch, while Lucian's shadow came to his hand. When they revealed their hands, they both had a Card of Blasphemy.
Thalia's eyes widened. "You two have one as well…"
Lucian let out another sigh. "You know what this means, don't you?"
They looked at him in confusion before Lucian thrust his hands sporadically and then thrust his card forward. "IT'S MORPHIN TIME!"
"..."
"..."
Lucian still held the pose as they started to look at him weirdly while he began to turn bright red from embarrassment.
"Tsk, you guys suck. Y'all don't understand my references."
"Now isn't the time for references no one will ever understand, Lucian. This is a serious matter. We need to find out how Thalia came into possession of this," Annabeth said, face-palming.
"I already know how," Lucian said, rolling his eyes.
"You do!?" They both asked at the same time.
Lucian let out an annoyed sigh and nodded his head. "As soon as Thalia took it out, my intuition told me everything I needed to know. Even more so now that it's been upgraded since turning into a treasure seeker."
"Can you two please tell me what's going on? I'm so lost," Thalia said with a sigh.
"For you to get the entire picture, you need everything from the beginning. Remember during Luke's quest how I said I had a goal I couldn't share before?"
Thalia nodded her head and listened, as she had always been curious about what Lucian had been planning. Even more so after they went to Russia together.
"Well, that goal just happens to be to become a Primordial Entity—a true God, in a sense."
"WHAT!? ARE YOU MENTALLY HANDICAPPED OR SOMETHING?" Thalia asked, looking at Lucian like he had just said the most absurd thing in the world.
"Anyways," Lucian said, rolling his eyes. "In order to do that, I started doing research. My gift of intuition led me to the route of potions, which led me to the direction of the sequences—"
Lucian went on to explain everything that went on, from Annabeth getting her own sequences to him getting the Cards of Blasphemy from his future self.
Thalia was in deep thought after learning about everything. "So, are you saying you're the creator of these?"
"Most likely, yes," Lucian confirmed.
"Is this the reason why you're so strong?"
"I was stronger than you before even taking my first sequences, so don't think about it."
They both heard Thalia click her tongue.
"If I follow this, does that mean I'll eventually be as strong as my father?" Thalia asked, her expression turning serious.
Lucian only smiled. "Even stronger."
Thalia grinned. "I'm liking the sound of that."
"So, what sequences are you guys currently at?"
"I just got my second one. Lucian is on his third," Annabeth answered.
Thalia then looked over their cards and noticed how they look when they're older. "Woah, you are hot," she said, staring at Lucian's image longer than necessary.
When she realized what she said, she turned red and looked away, unable to meet their teasing expressions.
Lucian then took Thalia's card from her hand and examined it. He flipped it over and began to read the sequences.
"The Tempest Pathway:
Sequence 9: Brawler
Sequence 8: Lancer
Sequence 7: Thunder Herald
Sequence 6: Cyclone Rider
Sequence 5: Cloud Shaper
Sequence 4: Wind Commander
Sequence 3: Sky Dominator
Sequence 2: Storm King
Sequence 1: Elemental Sovereign
Sequence 0: The Unforgiving Tempest"
As Lucian finished reading, he let out a low whistle, impressed with what he read, before handing her card back.
Lucian then narrowed his eyes. 'Knowing how I am and what I'm capable of, I didn't give this to Thalia just to give it to her. What other reason would there be? And what else did my future self change? He better not have changed much, as one of my main advantages is my meta-knowledge. But I can't say I don't like the mystery of what's to come,' he pondered to himself.
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[Third Person's PoV]
"So this is the reason why you go out and hunt down monsters," Thalia said as Lucian returned her card.
"Yup, and because it's fun."
"Wait, Lucian, we will need to add her to the story."
"Ughhhhh," Lucian groaned loudly, throwing his head back.
"Story? What story?" Thalia asked
Annabeth sighed.
"Hey, it's not my fault, alright—" Thalia started before Lucian interrupted.
"It's not towards you, it's towards the future me for being an annoyance."
"Anyways…" Lucian and Annabeth began sharing their idea for the story and their plans. After they finished, all Thalia could do was stare at them as if they'd lost their minds.
"So you're telling me the two of you want to start a cult?"
"If you don't want to turn into your dad… Yes," Lucian replied.
Annabeth nudged Lucian's side. "Lucian," she reprimanded.
"What, it's true," Lucian shrugged.
Thalia rolled her eyes, not offended by Lucian's bluntness. "So I would need to make a part 3 of whatever the two of you are creating?"
"We could, or you could be a continuous character that appears throughout both books so you'll be well-known," Lucian suggested.
"And you're lucky we haven't finished writing or designing 'Ruins,' which means we would most likely add you," Annabeth added.
Thalia sighed. "This is so much to process…" She rubbed her forehead.
"Let's focus on one thing at a time. What are the materials you'll need for the Boxer potion?" Lucian asked, noticing Thalia's growing overwhelm.
Thalia looked at her card and took a deep breath before reading it aloud. "Hellhound Claw and Tooth of Nemean Lion for the main ingredients."
"Woah, you are lucky," Lucian commented.
Thalia looked at him, puzzled.
"I have both of those things in stock." Lucian said motioning to the room around him.
"As for the supplementary: A drop of Nectar, a liter of blood from a Cyclops, Ambrosia fragment, and Bronze horn."
"What's a Bronze horn?" Thalia asked after finishing the list.
"You are so incredibly lucky," Lucian sighed. "A Bronze horn is a horn from an Automaton bull. Luckily for you, I have all of these with me."
"I can't just take them from you," Thalia said, feeling uncomfortable.
"Think of these as payment for the dragon blood you gave me. That blood is worth more than all the things I'm going to give you."
"Huh? I forgot about that," Thalia admitted, finally remembering.
"So you can go get the Ambrosia fragment and the drop of Nectar while I set everything up."
"Wait, I haven't even decided if I want to do this," Thalia interrupted Lucian.
Annabeth and Lucian stared at Thalia as if she were the crazy one. Thalia started to feel self-conscious under their gaze and blushed.
"What? Why are you guys staring at me like that?"
"This is an opportunity to gain unimaginable power, and you don't know if you want to take it?" Annabeth asked incredulously.
Thalia sighed. "I'm just thinking it through. If I go through with this, that means I would be an enemy of the gods."
"Stop being such a pussy," Lucian said matter-of-factly.
Annabeth didn't reprimand Lucian this time; she just facepalmed and sighed.
Thalia grew irritated. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"I mean what I just said. You can't keep living your whole life in fear. Sure, being scared of gods is natural and something you've been taught. But don't let fear guide your every decision. Sometimes you have to take risks, even if it could result in your death."
Annabeth stared at Lucian, surprised, then smiled and nodded.
Thalia and Lucian exchanged looks before turning around and walking away.
"Where are you going?" Annabeth asked.
"To get the Ambrosia and Nectar," Thalia replied as she left the room.
Lucian and Annabeth smiled at each other and high-fived. Lucian then started grabbing jars from the shelf in his room.
After a while, Thalia returned. "Chiron asked some questions, but I just said it was for something experimental. Was that alright?"
"Yeah, that's fine. He won't really bother with us, especially when it comes to one of the Big Three. We have more liberty than the others. Here, make it yourself. I'll guide you, so if you have the items and I'm not around, you can do it on your own."
Thalia nodded as Lucian took out the cauldron, and one by one, ingredient by ingredient, he started instructing her.
Thalia mixed everything with a concentrated expression, not once taking her eyes off the cauldron. She watched as it changed colors and finally stopped when it turned into a red and orange mix.
Once it was in a vial, Thalia prepared to drink it.
"Wait," Lucian and Annabeth said simultaneously.
"What? Am I missing something?" Thalia asked, looking at them in confusion.
"You're supposed to cheer towards us before drinking it," Lucian explained.
Thalia looked at them with an expression that asked if they were serious.
"It's a sort of tradition Annabeth and I developed."
Thalia rolled her eyes at their childishness and cheered towards them before drinking it all.
Almost immediately, Thalia started to feel the effects. She felt her muscles spasming inside her like she was having a full-body cramp.
"Ahhh! Why does this hurt so much?" she cried out through gritted teeth.
"As they say, strength doesn't come easily," Lucian retorted.
Despite the pain, Thalia glared at Lucian and chose to ignore him, focusing on what was happening to her body.
When it was finally over, she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, wiggling her fingers and rotating her shoulders while doing small stretches to regain control of her body.
"So, what abilities did you get?" Annabeth asked curiously.
"How do I check?" Thalia asked, confused.
"Look inside yourself, the information should be there. Just think about what you are able to do and the information should appear," Annabeth explained.
Thalia nodded and closed her eyes, focusing inward.
"Once you find it, just read them out," Lucian encouraged.
"I have 6 in total," Thalia said.
"6!" Both Lucian and Annabeth exclaimed in surprise. "That's more than what Lucian and I received, we only got 5 each."
Thalia then began to read out her abilities:
1. Enhanced Strength and Speed: Increased physical power and agility to deliver powerful punches and quick movements.
2. Preternatural Reflexes: Superhuman reaction times to anticipate and dodge attacks.
3. Endurance and Durability: Increased resistance to physical damage and greater stamina to withstand prolonged battles.
4. Combat Intuition: The ability to instinctively understand an opponent's weaknesses and predict their next moves.
5. Adrenaline Rush: Temporarily boosts all physical attributes in critical moments during a fight.
6. Aura of Intimidation: Projects a fearsome presence that can demoralize or intimidate opponents, making them less effective in combat.
"That's 8, not 6," Lucian said with a straight face.
"Oh come on, for my first one I gained Librarian, definitely not as cool as any of yours," Annabeth replied.
"Okay, Empress of Decay," Lucian said sarcastically.
"Oh come on, that's all the way to Sequence 1," Annabeth added with an eye roll.
Meanwhile, Thalia looked at her hand and then around the room. "Wait, you mentioned that no one could hear us down here, right?"
"Yeah?" Lucian replied, looking confused.
"You mentioned something about Luke that you weren't able to say before. What is it?" Thalia asked, growing more serious.
"Oh right, I forgot about that," Lucian said as he rubbed the back of his head.
"I think we all did. He seemed better after the party we had, so we didn't really question it. But after the two of you went on a mission, he seemed almost secretive and withdrawn. It was hard to notice unless you've known him for a long time. So, can you talk about it here? You said you knew what has been bothering him." Thalia said with a sigh.
Lucian sighed heavily, holding the bridge of his nose. "He's talking to our grandfather."
"Our grandfather?" Thalia asked in confusion, her eyes widening in shock.
Lucian saw their gears turning and their horrified expression. "WHAT!?" They both shouted simultaneously.
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