[Third Person’s PoV]

Lucian, Annabeth, and Thalia made their way through the thick, dew-drenched forest of Northern California—the very place where Lucian had spent the majority of his childhood. Towering redwoods loomed above them, their trunks cloaked in moss and their branches swaying gently in the wind. The earthy scent of wet bark and fresh rain lingered in the air.

Lucian wore a sleeveless black hoodie, his hands tucked into his pockets as he took a deep breath, savoring the forest’s damp aroma. The soft squelching of mud underfoot accompanied their steps. “Ahhh,” he sighed, a wistful smile tugging at his lips. “I remember running for my life through these woods, living off whatever I could catch—mostly birds. I had to survive on my own for a long time. Feels like ages ago when it was only a couple of years.”

Annabeth gave him a side-eye, her brow furrowed slightly, while Thalia, more understanding, nodded slowly. “Luke and I… we had it rough too. There was a time when we had to catch, cook, and eat mice just to survive. Not exactly the proudest chapter of our lives,” she said, grimacing at the memory.

“Lucian took me to hotels and made sure I was well-fed,” Annabeth added, pressing her index fingers together as a blush crept up her cheeks. She batted her eyes playfully at Lucian.

Thalia chuckled. “Honestly, after we met the two of you, our quality of life skyrocketed. Well, mostly thanks to Lucian.” She glanced at him, her expression softening with gratitude.

Lucian smirked and rolled his eyes dramatically as he stepped over a thick branch. “If you love me, just say so already.”

Before Thalia could fire back with a witty remark, Annabeth suddenly stopped in her tracks, eyes wide and distant. “Whoa…”

“What is it?” Lucian and Thalia asked in unison, turning their attention toward her.

Annabeth’s gaze remained fixed ahead, a shimmer of mystical light flickering across her irises as she activated her [Mystic Insight] ability. “The warding up ahead… It’s unbelievably strong. Lucian, I’ve said this once and I’ll say it again, your mother was incredible. This is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.”

In Annabeth’s enhanced vision, the area ahead was cloaked in a thick magenta veil, like a giant silk curtain interwoven entirely with ancient, resilient magic. It looked almost like a mystical circus tent—elegant, powerful, and imposing—a fortress made of shimmering enchantment.

“I thought my own wards were impressive, but your mother’s work? This is on another level,” Annabeth said, her voice filled with awe. “You were right to choose this place as the base for your Coven. Honestly, it’s more secure than even our underground bunker back at Camp Half-Blood.”

She turned to speak to Lucian—only to realize he had vanished. A moment later, his head appeared, floating comically in midair as if detached from his body, the rest of him still invisible.

“Well, are you two just going to stand there, or are you coming in?” he asked, grinning.

“It’s not that we don’t want to,” Annabeth replied, frowning slightly, “It’s that we can’t. The ward is bound to your bloodline. After your mother passed, the ownership must have transferred to you. That makes this place impenetrable to anyone who isn’t explicitly invited in. It’s like vampire folklore—we can’t enter without permission.”

“Phttt,” Lucian snorted. “In that case… Annabeth Chase and Thalia Grace, I formally invite you inside.” He paused, then smirked. “That kind of rhymed.”

Immediately, the shimmering veil parted like a stage curtain, revealing a clear path. Annabeth and Thalia stepped forward, Annabeth watched in awe as the magic granted them passage.

But what awaited them inside left them blinking in confusion. The inner space was completely barren—no signs of anything, it was a completely empty space.

They turned to Lucian, who now stood beside them with a sheepish smile, scratching the back of his neck. “Yeah, about that… I came back here a while ago and, uh, stored everything inside my shadow.”

They both gave Lucian a strange look before exchanging amused glances and shaking their heads. Lucian simply cracked his knuckles with a confident grin and asked, “Shall we get started?”

“I’m honestly just here to watch,” Thalia replied with a shrug. “And because I don’t want to be left by myself.”

Annabeth meanwhile nodded in confirmation to Lucian’s words.

Since both Annabeth and Lucian were geomancers, the pair instinctively began preparing the terrain. Annabeth took the lead, rolling up her sleeve and stepping into the clearing. She extended her hand, activating one of her ability—[Blueprint Projection]. Instantly, a glowing, full-scale architectural blueprint materialized in the center of the clearing, the holographic lines of the structure flickering slightly as it hovered above the ground.

Thalia blinked in astonishment. “Whoa. You never told me your projections could get that big.”

Annabeth gave a humble smile. “I never said they couldn’t.”

Meanwhile, Lucian stepped forward and spread his arms. Magical circles ignited on both of his palms, glowing with a deep dark-red hue. As he raised his hands, the earth in front of them trembled and began to rise—massive chunks of dirt and grass lifting into the air under his command. The ground was reshaped like soft clay in the hands of an expert potter.

With precision, Annabeth took over, guiding a floating pillar of soil and mud and shaping it meticulously into uniform bricks. The process was fluid, refined—like she’d done this a thousand times before. From within her pocket, Nebula emerged, first as a small, chibi version, then unfolding into her larger humanoid form. Morphing her appearance to match Lucian’s, she placed a hand over the bricks, transforming their composition into more durable materials.

Thalia stared, eyebrows furrowed. “Wait… why go through all this effort? Can’t you just conjure the whole building using the Mist or something?”

Lucian snorted, clearly amused. “What do you think the Mist is, some kind of omnipotent miracle vending machine?”

He focused ahead as continued, “There’s always a price for manipulating reality. Creating something from nothing takes a ridiculous amount of energy. Changing the properties of something that already exists is a lot more efficient.”

He didn’t turn to face her as he was focused at work and explained. “To put it in perspective: changing the properties of a single brick might cost me 0.001% of my magic. But creating that same brick from nothing? That would take 0.1%.”

Thalia gave him a deadpan stare. “That… doesn’t sound like a huge difference.”

Lucian smirked. “That’s where you’re wrong. You’re underestimating how fast that adds up. With that 0.1%, I could create 1,000 bricks. But with the same amount, if I’m just modifying materials, I could change 100,000.”

Thalia’s eyes widened. “Okay, whoa. Yeah, that’s a massive difference. I’ll leave the wizardry to the professionals then”

Lucian chuckled, pleased by her response, and focused back on the task at hand. The assembly line was growing more efficient by the second. The terrain shifted continuously as Lucian manipulated the ground from far and wide, making sure the area didn’t become uneven or riddled with empty patches. He carefully redistributed the displaced soil to keep the field level.

Then, with a mischievous grin and dramatic flair, he shouted, “Alright, come out boys! It’s time to get paid minimum wage! Put on your hard hats, kiss your wives and kids goodbye—I’m not covering safety hazards or medical insurance today, so don’t get injured on the job!”

Annabeth and Thalia both blinked in disbelief, staring at him as his shadow began to ripple and expand unnaturally. From the dark mass emerged Lucian’s cobblestone soldiers—hulking, humanoid constructs made of solid stone and magical shadow energy. They lined up with near-military precision, forming an eerily efficient assembly line of their own.

Each shadow soldier grabbed a brick, passed it down the line, and placed it carefully according to Annabeth’s projected blueprint. The coordination between the blueprint, the magic, and the soldiers created an impressive display of magical engineering—methodical and fast.

“I’m just saying,” Lucian said proudly, watching his troops work with a smug smile, “if we ever opened up Blackhearts Construction, we’d be making bags of gold!”

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep