[Third Person’s PoV]

“Can we get started now?” Nico asked, looking hopefully at Lucian.

Lucian glanced at the cards and the ingredients before him. “We could, but I’ll be out of ingredients soon. I’ll need to hunt for more monsters,” he muttered, thoughtfully stroking his chin.

“Why not use your shadow soldiers?” Annabeth suggested.

“Hm?” Lucian raised an eyebrow, puzzled.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to hunt the monsters yourself. Send your shadow soldiers. You have plenty, and you haven’t been using them much lately. Put them to some use.”

“That’s… not a terrible idea,” Lucian admitted.

“Why haven’t you been using your shadow soldiers lately anyway?” Thalia asked curiously.

Lucian shrugged. “There hasn’t been much opportunity. If I were fighting an army, sure, but in one-on-one fights, I prefer to respect the duel.”

“It would still be a one-on-one, wouldn’t it?” Annabeth added. “They’re a part of you, your power. It’s not cheating to use them.”

“There’s truth in that, but it’s not how I feel. I like it to be just me and my opponent—a test of our abilities,” Lucian explained. His battle-hardened nature wouldn’t let him delegate his fights, even to parts of himself.

“Edna,” Lucian called out, closing his eyes.

Annabeth and Thalia exchanged confused looks. They knew most of Lucian’s shadows but had never heard of anyone named Edna.

Lucian’s shadow began to stir, and a long, serpentine body slithered up from the darkness. Black and red glowed faintly along its length. Long arms draped over Lucian’s shoulders, and a veiled, beautiful face appeared. The veil, dark as a funeral shroud, partially concealed her features, but her snake-like eyes gleamed through, framed by flowing black hair.

“Massster~,” she hissed affectionately, pouting. “Oh, how I’ve waited for you to call me~.”

“Who the hell is that?!” Thalia exclaimed in disbelief.

“Edna… Edna…” Annabeth murmured, her eyes widening in realization. “THAT’S ECHIDNA! THE MOTHER OF MONSTERS!”

“WHAT?!” Nico and Bianca exclaimed in unison. They didn’t know who Echidna truly was, but the title “Mother of Monsters” was terrifying enough.

“When did you make her your shadow?!” Thalia asked, eyes wide in disbelief.

“On the train! That’s right! During the quest, you managed to kill her off so quickly she barely crossed our minds again,” Annabeth said, slapping her forehead.

Edna pouted dramatically. “That’ssss right! I never got to sssshow off my worth, sssso you never called for me. I thought I wassss forgotten… Boohoo! Boohoo! Forgotten by my own masssster!” She slid off Lucian’s shoulders, crumpling to the ground in a pitiful display, looking up at him for sympathy.

Lucian, however, just sighed, his eyes half-lidded. “I have a job for you, Edna.”

“Yay~!” she called out excitedly, slithering back to Lucian and coiling around him again. “I promisssse to ssshow my worth! You can rely on me for your future tassssksss!” she exclaimed, determined.

“I haven’t even told you what it is yet…” Lucian retorted, raising an eyebrow.

“Doesssn’t matter! I’m yoursss to command whenever,” she said seductively, draping her arm over his shoulders again.

“I’m putting you in charge of half of my shadow soldiers,” Lucian began. “They’re mostly chimeras, hellhounds, and a few griffins—monsters you’re familiar with, you can even take the 3 drakons I have with me. Your task is to hunt down more monsters for me. Leave the big, important ones alone, like the Hydra. If you encounter any of them, try to gather some fangs and blood without killing them. I want to slay those myself.”

“Ssssuch an important tasssk from my massster! I couldn’t be happier,” Edna said emotionally, rubbing her chin against Lucian’s cheek before slithering back into his shadow.

Moments later, multiple shadows shot out from Lucian’s form.

“Why was she so enamored with you?” Annabeth asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Jealous?” Lucian teased faintly.

Annabeth stared at him silently, making Lucian scratch his cheek awkwardly. “I don’t know. They view me as their master,” he shrugged.

“Now then, shall we get started on making your potions? Who wants to go first?” Lucian asked, looking at the group.

Nico shifted nervously, still a bit shaken by what had happened with Thalia.

“I wouldn’t worry about what happened with Thalia happening to you guys,” Lucian said, amused by their hesitant looks.

“Why?” Bianca asked, suspicious.

“Because you’re not at Sequence 6. That’s when things get tougher. At Sequence 9, it’ll just be somewhat painful.”

“So we’re still going to experience pain?” Bianca asked exasperatedly. She glanced at Nico, closed her eyes briefly, then turned to look at Lucian with resolve.

“Since I’m the oldest, I’ll go first,” Bianca volunteered, giving Nico the push he needed.

Lucian nodded, then began rummaging through his collection of now-limited monster parts. “Eyes of a Harpy… Silk from the descendants of Arachne… Wood from a dryad…” he muttered as he gathered the ingredients.

Turning towards Annabeth, he asked, “Did you give Thalia all the pure water you created?”

“No, I made extra in case we needed more,” Annabeth replied, pulling out several flasks from her bag. “Here,” she said, handing them to Lucian.

“Thanks,” Lucian said, taking the flasks. He then beckoned Bianca over. “Come, I’ll guide you through making it yourself so you’ll know what you’re doing and won’t have to rely on me.”

Nico decided to pay close attention, knowing he would be next. He carefully observed every step Bianca took, noting what he would need to do when his turn came.

Following Lucian’s instructions, Bianca began crafting her first potion. “I feel like a witch doing this,” she joked.

“My mother would be proud,” Lucian said, puffing up his chest proudly. Bianca rolled her eyes.

With Lucian’s guidance, Bianca eventually poured the potion into a flask. She examined the purple liquid, her expression deadpan. “This looks like poison.”

“Remember, you have to toast it. It’s tradition,” Lucian reminded her, ignoring her comment.

With a half-hearted raise of her flask, Bianca gave Lucian a look that said, ‘Happy?’ before hesitantly bringing the potion to her lips. She took a deep breath, pinched her nose, and downed it in one go.

“AAAAAH!” Bianca cried out, making Nico flinch and almost rush to her side. She dropped to the ground, clutching her arms tightly.

“Bianca?!” Nico called out, worried.

“I’m fine!” Bianca bit down on her lip. “The pain just took me by surprise, that’s all…” she said through gritted teeth.

After a few minutes, she was sweating and breathing heavily. “Ow! Did it have to be so painful?! This better be worth it!” she groaned.

“How do I know what I received?” Bianca asked, looking confused.

Thalia stepped in, guiding her through the steps of discovering her new abilities.

“Don’t be too disappointed by what you receive. This is just the first sequence. The abilities become more powerful as you progress,” Annabeth advised.

“Well, I didn’t get anything too crazy…” Bianca said as she listed off her new abilities, sounding both relieved and a bit underwhelmed.

…

Enhanced Vision: Ability to see targets at great distances or in low light conditions.

2. Perfect Aim: Unerring accuracy, able to hit even the smallest targets with ease.

3. Enhanced Strength: Increased muscle power to draw heavier bows and shoot arrows with more force.

4. Heightened Reflexes: Lightning-fast reactions to dodge attacks and shoot quickly.

5. Steady Hand: Unwavering steadiness, even under extreme pressure.

6. Aura Detection: Ability to sense the presence and emotional state of beings within a certain range.

…

“Well they aren’t bad” Nico said sounding a bit impressed.

Bianca shrugged, “I’m not going to complain about them, they could have worse”

********************************************

+10 advance Chapters on: patreon.com/Shadow_D_Monarch3

I’ll update the axillary chapter when Nico drinks his.

Oh and Edna’s pics will be in the chapter comments below

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep