Percy nodded, "yeah. I got it." Just then a flash of light overtook Percy's vision as he found himself back in his body and bed. Thalia was at his side sleeping soundly, he looked at he watch, not even a minute had passed.
The son of Poseidon groaned, there was going to be a lot of work for him to do over the coming month. He looked at his side and smiled, but at least it was going to be worth it.
Two weeks later;
Percy stood in the middle of Gardner island. He had cleared out 2 square kilometers in the island, this was where he was going to make his Haven. It was located right in the center of the island, a few miles away from the old Gardener mansion which he left untouched, after all it was a part of this island as well, it didn't feel right getting rid of the old place.
The two square miles Percy had cleared used to have trees and large boulders, but with a little bit of elbow grease, Super Strength, he managed to clear it all up, moving the trees and stones towards the edge of the city limits.
He used flags to mark the appropriate location on the land. He made sure to leave plenty of space for the defencive wall they were planning to build along with the various other watch towers and commercial buildings.
Percy now stood in the middle of the land. This was where he was planning to build 'The Hearth', the public heart of the entire city. He mainly wished to build this place in order to have some place for people to gather and talk, like the Senate of Rome.
Percy looked to the side and saw several huge blocks of marble stacked up. Ed's material supply company, Tekton, had come in last night and Percy had carried out all the material they brought with them to the island, obviously the huge supply ships they came in couldn't come anywhere near the island.
Percy had revicived what he had asked, water pipes along with waste disposal pipes. He also got several lengths of thick wires that would be used to conduct electricity. And the moment he did he got to work.
Annabeth gave him the exact details on where and what he had to do. She had marked down everything in the map and Percy had laid down the wire and pipes exactly as she specified. Hell he triple check his work by flying over head to gain a bird's eye view of it all.
Laying down the pipes and wires had been tricky. First Percy had marked each pipe with a different coat of paint, blue for water and green for waste disposal. He so did not want to ever imagine those two getting mixed up.
He then used his telekinetic power to lift up large amount of land and lay down the lines. It was hard at first, he wasn't used to holding something so heavy up while at the same time laying down the pipes. But as time went on it became easier and easier.
Percy had managed to lay down the pipes and wires for half of the city. They still didn't have an exact number on all the buildings and apartments they were planning on building, so for now Percy just layed down what he could.
Most of the wires went to the future location of the Power storage area in the Apollo district while the water pipes went to the Poseidon district to the location of the water purification place. The waste disposal pipe however went outside the city, where Annabeth planned for the fertilization facility to be, Percy still didn't like the idea, but it was necessary.
Now all of that was finished, and Percy was ready to build the first structure for the city, the Hearth.
He turned to the several cubic meters of marble he ordered. They stood up tall, at least 40 feet high, Percy was really happy he had super strength, or else this would be a pain in the ass to do.
Percy walked up to the first block of marble, they were all white, pure white. He flexed his arms and activated his Body Form;
Body Form Activated: Left and Right arms
Percy didn't need to release his strength seals for this;
STR— 1.64 (6 layered seal) (+20+60) = 81.64 X 10 = 816.4
Percy reached out with his mind and carefully lifted up the block of marble with his mind just long enough for him to slip his fingers down and lift it up manually. He still wasn't used to carrying such heavy objects with his telekinetic powers, but he was getting there.
He carried the block of marble and carefully laid it down on the center of the city, this would be the foundation of the Hearth.
Percy jumped up and stood on top of the marble structure, he pressed his hands on the surface of the stone and activated his molecular manipulation ability.
Ever since he realised how useful this skill could be he had been grinding it left and right. It became a sort of obsession for him, Thalia was a bit worried, but she knew this was something he had to do.
Molecule manipulation, Lv— 29 (78%)
You can manipulate the molecules of objects within your range. Your control over this ability is at the rank of the average practitioner, you can scan the object and manipulate it paying great attention to the fine details.
Ability;
Scan— Allows you to have a scanned mental image of the object you wish to manipulate. Also allows for a very detailed manipulation of said object. Rage— 40 feet
Cost— 400 MP per 12,000 pounds of mass
Needless to say Percy had reached the level of fine control he wished for. Now he could add great details to his manipulated works. He once changed the statue of Zeus in the Zeus cabin into that of Poseidon, and the fine detail was spot on. Sure he had to change it back, but it was the thought that counts.
Percy had used this skill continually, creating buildings in his ID grinding another skill of his;
Architecture, Lv— 17 (30%)
The ability to build buildings and other man made structure meant for housing.
All buildings you build have a 25% chance of falling over
All buildings you build have a 75% chance of looking good
0% of product wastage.
This of course only applied to any building he designed. Since Annabeth designed the building there was a 0% chance of it falling over and a 100% chance of it looking awesome.
Percy focused as a 3D images of the stone popped up in his head. He saw the marble in fine detail and he smiled, 'transform!'
The marble slowly started to change form. It almost looked like the solid rock had turned into water by the way it flowed outwards, spreading itself out reducing its height while increasing its length.
The marble laid flat down on the ground while a small portion of it drilled itself into the ground as a 30 foot marble rod form bellow the mirabel surface drilling itself into the ground. It would serve as the foundation of this place.
Percy opened his eyes and smiled, the marble block had been reduced in height and stretched out to around 100 meters wide in diameter in a circular shape. Honestly it felt like he was playing with clay, only he had a lot better control and it was so much cooler.
Percy then grabbed a second cube of marble as he put that in front of the marble foundation he created. He closed his eyes and focused, and slowly the marble started to move in a way similar to water as it started to wrap around the circular marble foundation below it.
It slowly encircled the entire area the marble fondation covered and transformed into a set of stairs that were present around the area evenly. Percy opened his eyes and sighed, 'nice. Now...' he closed his eyes again and focused, he fused the marble steps to the marble foundation making them one single piece.
Percy sighed as he stepped back, this had been a trick he picked up on accident. The train of thought was that if he could separate molecules of objects, he should also be able to fuse them. And then one thing led to another until, boom, molecular fusion.
Now he didn't get a sub skill in this, but maybe that was because it should have been obviously it was included in the skill mentioned.
Percy wasn't used to this skill, he had difficulty fusing things with different molecular compensation. He could fuse wood and wood, stone and stone, marble and marble, but that was it. Maybe he needed to level up the skill more in the future to do that, but for now this was enough.
Percy then got to work. He used the rest of the marble to build up the Hearth, the center of the Haven.
He designed the building exactly like he imagined. The steps lead up to a row of marble pillars that were 40 feet tall. On top of the tall pillars was a circular done with a hole in the center in order to let out all the fumes from the inside.
Inside the Heath had walls that went up halfway, this was in order to encourage proper ventilation while also keeping the heat from the central hearth from escaping.
There were seats going down from the top to the bottom spreading all around the building's inside. And in the center was a huge empty space with a raised marble walkway around it. The center was covered with woods and other burnable substance, it would serve as the Hearth.
Percy put torch holds along the walls and inscribed the names of Gods, minor and Olympian, on it as well. Soon he would also inscribe the name of fallen demigods, a way of honoring them all.
The inside of the building was dark, the only sunlight that came in was from the hole on the roof and the upper half of the wall. Percy walked up to the center and stood on the walkway looking down at the soon to be hearth. He snapped his fingers causing a fire ball to appear in the palm of his hand.
"Lady Hestia, I invite you to this island of mine," Percy spoke out loud hoping the estranged Olympian would hear him, "I wish this place to be one of family, love and above all, a home. I ask that you bless this place and watch over this Hearth, tend it to, make sure that it never goes out. I...I know that it is a lot to ask, but we are family, I hope I can ask that."
Percy launched the fire ball into the pit and instantly the wood caught on fire, lighting up the previously darkened building. The flames of the Hearth roared to life as it raged on and on. Percy looked at the flames and was assaulted by it's warmth.
"This is certainly an amazing place Percy," the demigod in question looked up and standing there on the other side of the Flames was the hooded form of Hestia herself.
Percy smiled, "I'm glad you came," he walked around the marble walkway and stood next to her, "and I'm happy you like it. I tried to make this place as best as I could but....well I'm still trying."
"It looks like it has been carved out of one single piece of marble," Hestia noted looking at the stone below her feet, "but that should be impossible."
Percy chuckled, "yeah, I'm awesome like that."
Hestia's 8 year old form smiled as she pulled the hood off her red cloak down revealing her brown hair and warm fiery eyes, "this place feels nice Percy, it has the potential to be a place for hope, for family. What you are trying to do is amazing.....well I must say I'm honoured you asked this of me."
"Does that mean you'll accept?" Percy asked as a feeling of happiness took hold in his heart. He had always feared the Goddess would say no, or even refuse to come, out of all the Gods Percy meet, she seemed the most reasonable. Well apart from his dad and Artemis....well maybe not Artemis, she did at one point turn him into a deer.
"I would never deny a request such as yours Percy," the Goddess kneeled down on the marble walkway and pulled a red poker out of her dress, "you are family, I would never deny family a home."
"Thank you Lady Hestia," Percy bowed, he seriously owed her, "it's nice to have the Goddess of the Hearth on my side."
The Goddess nodded, "tell me, what do you call this place?"
"Well I was thinking the Hearth," Percy said with a shrug, "not that original I know, but it's appropriate."
"I approve," Hestia chuckled, the very sound of her laughter made Percy happy, almost as happy as being with Thalia made him. Guess this as why all the other Olympians loved her so much, it was simply impossible to hate her.
"I'll give this place my blessing," Hestia snapped her fingers causing lite torches to appear on all the torch holds Percy ad carved into the walls. The inside of the building was doused with the orange hues of the flames as slowly the temperature became warm, pleasant even.
"As long as you call his place your home Percy Jackson, this flame will never go out," Hestia tended to the fire, "it will burn for as long as it can. You will never have to put wood to fuel it. And the more people that call this place home, the more joy that is felt here, the bigger the fire becomes, and the stronger it will roar."
Percy looked astonished, he never expected this, "t-thank you Lady Hestia," Percy bowed again. This was the first time he ever bowed to a God twice. He owed her a lot, she deserved it.
"You are welcome," Hestia then snapped her fingers again causing the walls to glow orange before returning to normal, "I have also put up a minor barrier around this place. Anyone who is considered your enemy will not be allowed inside, be it God or man."
"Holy shit, I didn't realised you could do that!" Percy eye's were wide opened as he used his mana sense to feel the barrier, and sure enough there it was;
Hestia's Protection,
Anyone you, Percy Jackson, call an enemy will be unable to enter this building.
Strength— strong enough to repel a human.
Percy was surprised, "Lady Hestia, you said it can push back a God, but-"
"-It's not strong enough to do that yet," Hestia explained, "very good Percy, your knowledge about magic has improved, not many would be able to sense that. You see this ward is similar to the flames, the more people who call this place home the stronger it becomes."
Percy nodded, "I see... so I suppose the barrier won't be unto full force until I finish building the rest of the place huh?"
"Not at all," Hestia smiled, "this place is amazing Percy, truly an accomplishment worth sharing with others. Bring the demigods here, have fun, break this place in, bring joy to this hall. That will increase the power of the barrier and give something for the demigods to believe in."
"Wait....are you telling me to have a party?" Peyc asked in surprise.
Hestia nodded, "well....yes. I heard about what happened on your birthday, it was supposed to be a day of relaxation, but it was spoiled. Maybe this could be a chance to give the demigods the break they so deserve. Plus while here you can never be attacked by monsters, so I doubt the same situation that happened on your birthday will occur here."
Percy grinned, "you know, I think you're quickly becoming my favourite aunt. But then again the only other people contending for that position is Hera and Demeter, so it's not saying much."
Hestia nodded, "well then, I suppose it's time I leave. If you ever need someone to talk to Percy, you will always find me in the closet hearth."
