Percy Jackson: The Forgotten Son of the Sky

Thanks to continuous training for so many years and his half-blood physiology, Leander had the maximum height a ten-year-old boy could reach, and his body was well-defined despite his small, childlike size. Compared to ordinary mortals who trained in gyms, they couldn't compare to the body of a demigod trained for battle.

To have his own separate money, Leander asked his mother for help to start an online candy shop and began making sweets at home to sell through online orders, which he shipped via regular mail so he wouldn't be tracked by a messenger.

From an early age, as a forbidden child who was never meant to be born, Leander learned from his mother never, ever, under any circumstance, to speak out loud or even think with focus about the names of gods or monsters. If he did, the former would hear him directly, and thinking of monster names—depending on the monster's power—was like activating a radar that would get him hunted even more than waving a giant white flag in the middle of the street.

At the moment, he was in the kitchen, standing on a large platform his stepfather had built for him, as Leander was the one who used the kitchen the most. His mother was usually at the hospital working, and his father, Franklin, worked occasionally as a mercenary or taught at the martial arts dojo.

As Leander was already considered a master, he could no longer learn anything new from his adoptive father. What he needed now was just more experience, which he had in abundance due to his strong scent that constantly attracted monsters wanting to eat him for dinner.

Looking at the website—which Leander had managed to change so that the software language was only in Greek—he sighed at being able to read it, unlike that cursed English. The order for a walnut and almond cake was from someone named Sally Jackson. Leander remembered this customer well, as a unique trait of hers was that all sweets had to be blue, no matter if on the inside or outside.

Most of his blue food coloring and fruits like blueberries were always reserved for Mrs. Jackson's orders. Another strange order was a vanilla cake, but with White House-style decoration and a requirement to be mathematically architectural—for a certain Mr. Chase. Leander occasionally had a lot of work with these eccentric customers.

One new thing Leander had been studying was whether he had any talent for magic. He tried to control the mist, the pinnacle of illusion magic. Somehow, he had talent. Even though it exhausted him, Leander kept training with his adoptive father, who had mastery over the mist, as it was useful for hiding from monsters, escaping, or dragging an enemy to their grave.

Beyond the mist, Leander became curious about magic in general. He knew he didn't have the power of lightning, so he tried to see if he could use magic instead. He tried, but he didn't seem to have much talent for lightning or thunder magic, managing only a small spark—just enough to recharge a phone battery.

So Leander gave up and tried alchemy, inspired by an anime called Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, where one had to understand the scientific principle of a phenomenon, create a transmutation circle using atomic numbers from the periodic table, and then transmute the alchemist's desire.

Unlike reading, Leander was good with numbers and math, and with half a year of study and experimentation, he managed to create his first transmutation circle by studying ancient books and offering one of his delicious sweets to Hecate, the goddess of magic and witchcraft. She accepted his offering and blessed him to understand transmutation magic more quickly.

Just like in the anime, Leander began studying physics, chemistry, mathematics, and material science to understand what he was transforming. When he turned eleven, Leander wore gloves with transmutation circles on them, and all he had to do was clap his hands and touch a solid surface to transmute what he wanted—whether weapons, objects, anything non-living. But depending on the atomic complexity, it consumed more energy and physical stamina.

Despite having so much to do and occupy his time, every night Leander would fall asleep gazing at the starry sky from his window. His time of relative peace and safety was coming to an end, as he had a feeling that the moment he arrived at camp, his lineage would be discovered—and he would live in constant danger.