The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 133: The Paintings

Chapter 133: The Paintings

Entering the lavish study, Victor sat at his chair and gestured to Alpha who followed him in to sit down on the opposing couch.

“What was that painting?” Alpha asked as soon as she sat down.

“We should wait for Theta for that. How was your work?” He asked.

“I got the girls from the brothel into an old base that belonged to my family. I plan to establish a spy network using them and some of the properties that my family left for me.” She answered.

“But I want some resources. Some money.” She added

“Didn’t you take the money I left in the storage?” He asked, he got a lot of money from Nick back then.

“Yeah, but I would need more.” She said,

“Give me a kiss, and I will give you more money.” He said.

“Is this an order?” She asked. As his blood slave, she can’t refuse his orders.

“No, it’s a trade.” He said with a smirk,

“Then forget it.” She answered looking to the side, with some embarrassment. When did Victor get this handsome? She asked herself.

“I don’t want your finances to have anything to do with the family. So you would have to search for some other way.” He said, seeing that she was not planning to kiss him. This girl needed some extra work to make her fall for him.

“Fine, Do you know Lily’s origin?” She asked, changing the subject.

“Yes, the woman in your memories should be her grandmother,” Victor explained.

“That’s why you make her wear a veil?” She asked,

“Yes, Don’t speak about this to anyone.” He answered.

Alpha wanted to know more, but at that moment, Theta entered the room with two rolled paintings. So she decided to say nothing and just watched as Victor took the paintings and gestured to Theta to sit down.

“Did you try to investigate those?” He asked Alpha.

“Lily was really stingy not allowing us to touch them fearing something bad would happen. But I managed to get my hands on them after some convincing. From my observation, The paint on the paintings seems to be covering some kind of a talisman that I didn’t recognize. I didn’t dare to look further.” She answered as Victor unrolled them and then inspected them. They were paintings of a Falcon and a centipede. They also had two symbols on the back. Appraising them, yielded no reaction. This must be the effect of the soul symbol.

Victor took out the bottle of the soul poison and using a needle he dropped one drop on each painting. Right on the symbol.

After a while, there was a hissing sound, And Alpha could swear she heard a muffled scream in it. What the hell is this?

Victor nodded then looked at the Talismans again with a smile.

AWAKENING TALISMAN S

He had just killed the souls hiding in those two. He could eat them, but he preferred not to destroy the Awakening talismans. Those things are more important.

Too bad the System didn’t recognize destroying souls as valid kills.

“They are safe now.” He said as he stored them in his ring. Those things are too precious.

Alpha wanted to ask what was that for, but fearing that he would make unreasonable demands, she decided to throw a curveball and ask about the incident first.

“Can you tell us now what happened back then?” Alpha asked Victor, as she gave Theta a worried look.

“The painting was just a front, what really mattered was something else they carried. The talisman and A symbol.” He said,

“A Symbol?” Alpha asked with uncertainty.

“Yes, it was a soul transfer rune. It contained a soul from the outer world. The thing that Theta saw was the soul trying to enter her body to occupy it.” He said, making Alpha gasp. Then look at Theta again, This is the first time she heard of something like that.

“But how can the soul enter from the outer worlds? Didn’t the world destroy it? And … was it the thing you swallowed?” She asked as she looked at him.

“Yes. Don’t worry, occupying a body does not work on Players as it would create a mismatched checksum in the system data, that might lead to the player’s ID being deleted if it succeeded.” Victor said. “I employed a soul defense technique, so I was the one who ate it.” He added,

“Ate?” She asked, Her family didn’t have soul techniques. So she had no idea what that meant.

“Yes, that thing wanted to occupy my body and eat my soul. So I ate it first and inherited all its knowledge. And that’s the reason I fell into a coma, digesting another soul is not easy. That one was too greasy.” He said. Making Theta swallow her saliva.

“Then…. What did it want? How was it able to infiltrate this world?” She asked.

“It was a really smart method. The paintings here are Awakening talismans that were sent from the other world.” He said, making Alpha look at him with interest. She heard of those, but her ancestor never saw one, as they were usually used as soon as they were found to avoid them being stolen. They were one-use items anyway.

“I am not sure about the rest, but from the memories of the soul, I ate I have some assumptions. You see. Those guys in the outer world wanted to send some of their disciples into this world to create some forces for the invasion.” He said, making Theta who was sitting silently by the side gasp.

“Invasion?” She asked,

Victor looked at Alpha who answered her little sister.

“Don’t tell anyone. But this world is suffering an attack from other worlds. It is still holding now, but the barrier would break eventually. We just don’t know when. At that time demons and creatures from other worlds would probably flood our world to occupy it.” She explained. Her family had some records about such things.

“Ahhh.” Theta opened her eyes wide in fear.

Victor knew well that her fear was justified. Those souls that crossed, had many goals in this world. But the most important one was to build a spy network and create a connection array that would open a gate to their world for the armies to start their attack once the world's defenses were broken after the Reckoning.

It happened in his past life, and the casualties were in the millions.

And the reason he chose to tell Alpha and Theta about them, was because he wanted to form a unit to hunt those guys. With Theta’s Luck, things might be a little easier.

“Don’t worry, as long as you stay by my side no one can hurt you,” Victor said reassuring Theta before continuing his story.

“Anyway, those guys in the other world were approached by a mysterious man who claimed that he found a way to make a soul survive in our world, and after they tried it, the forces began to pay him to send their agents here.” He said.

“The Talisman?” Alpha asked.

“Yes, They found a bug in the system. If the soul was able to occupy the body of a target during the awakening, the system would not be able to find it. So they packaged the souls of their agents in an awakening talismans and sent them here. The world does not reject Artifacts.” Victor explained.

“Oh.... So they sent the souls here…” Alpha said.

“Exactly, Those talismans would be painted a drawing representing the bloodline originator of the soul owner, so that they may attract mortals with similar bloodlines. And they would activate when they find a suitable target.” Victor said, making Alpha sigh in relief, Lily made the right decision to forbid anyone besides her from touching those things.

“But who was that artist?” She asked after thinking a little.

“I don’t know, but… I have a theory. The artist should be that mysterious man’s avatar. He should have wandered into this world and was stuck inside a dungeon where he was able to get a new body during an awakening.” He said, with a frown.

“An avatar?” Alpha asked,

“Yes, some bloodlines have such skill. It’s like a part of your soul that you can send to explore the world. It seemed like that guy belonged to some sort of a sect that specializes in soul techniques. And that was why he was able to send the souls of those guys here, by setting his avatar as a target. Or making him create a summoning array on this side.” Victor explained.

“Then why did he die?” Alpha asked.

“Well, this probably has something to do with me, as the soul I ate belonged to a princess. A very high-ranking one, with a lot of lovers. The guys on the other side must have realized that she died…. Someone must have taken the liberty to take revenge. But who knows, This might all be a coincidence.” Victor said.

“I see.” Alpha said, “ Those guys must have been sending agents here for a while now.” She said,

“Yes, and it is nearly impossible to discover them. So we must be careful, especially of people who have awakened during the last three years.” He said. “I will tell Kai to investigate this, Then It will be your mission to do the dirt work on the ground..” He added. Making Alpha frown a little then nod. This would be a good long-term mission for the brothel girls.

“I wanted to ask you about something else,” Alpha said.

“About?”

“What is wrong with Theta’s system? Why does it have so much extra stuff?” She asked.

“Ahh. About that...” Victor smiled as he looked at Theta who was a little worried.

“Well, the paintings contained an updated system. Where do you think the world got its system from? It copied it from other worlds.” He said, making Alpha frown.

“Is it dangerous?” She asked with concern.

“Not at all, on the contrary, this system has many features that make leveling up easier. For example, she doesn’t need to clear a dungeon to level up or learn skills.” Victor said, making the surprised Alpha, look at Theta with envy. What a lucky girl.

“I will find some time to write an explanation for those things later. And when I use the other two Talisman I want you to be there, as you might get a system upgrade, as I did.” He added making Alpha look at him with bright eyes. She was really tempted.

“Ah right, Theta… Did you regain your memories?” He asked as he stood up intending to leave the room, He already knew the answer.

“Yes….” Theta answered while lowering her head. After awakening, she remembered her past, the memories that Titus erased.

Alpha looked at Theta with shock, she never told her. What secrets does her little sister hold?

“Do you want to return to your family or remain with me? I might need you to dress like a guy to hide you if you stayed with me.” He asked, not intending to pressure her. After reading her name with his Appraisal skill, he had a clear idea about her true identity.

“I… I want to stay with the young master.” She said with determination. She was a little surprised that Victor seemed to know her true identity. But no matter what, she would never return there.

She liked it here, although she had to work as a maid. She had many loving sisters and a kind young master. She never felt mistreated. While there, she …… She would probably be killed sooner or later.

In her heart, she felt that no matter what, the young master would keep her safe. He knows everything after all. And he stood in the face of that thing that wanted to hurt her.

“Fine then. Go pester Alex and let him teach you how to act like a guy. I expect to see a handsome Theta warming my bed tomorrow.” Victor said, making her blush as he exited the room while wondering if meeting her was his or her lucky chance.

He must increase her blood purity. At 12% it was too low. She was probably some concubine’s daughter. And he would wait until she was ready to tell him to be herself. Maybe he could secure some benefits from her family.

...

After leaving the study, Victor quickly headed to the garage where Lily was alone waiting.

“The car is ready, young master. I already called George, and master Theodore is in his Villa in the suburbs.” She said in an aggrieved voice. Making Victor realize that he went too hard on her.

Looking at her sorry appearance, he suddenly pushed her to the wall then without speaking anything he planted his lips on hers. Making Her involuntarily hug his head and kiss back hard.

She was really worried that he would never wake up.

Victor's thoughts were different, he was thinking of how Lily was a lousy kisser. He needed to find some time to educate her well.

After a while, Victor stepped back and looked at the blushing Lily looking back at him with some anticipation.

“It has been hard on you.” He whispered in her ear softly, “Any further action would have to wait until we awaken our bloodlines.” He added making her lower her head in shame as she nodded, “Un...,”

Smiling slightly, he turned around and began to inspect the 20 luxurious cars parked there. Those vehicles ranged from sporty to professional. from small to big. No matter what he might need, they got it. They even got a big bus.

“Not bad,” He said as a black convertible sports car made its way loudly into the garage. Margaret had returned.

She jumped right out of the car into Victor’s arms. Then under Lily’s jealous eyes, she kissed his lips for no less than five minutes. Being a really good kisser comes with the slut package.

“I missed you, young master,” She said while catching her breath after her lips parted from his. She never expected him to be a better kisser than her. Was he really a virgin? And why did his lips have an extra flavor?

“I know. Now go grab Alex then scrub the dining room’s floor, I want it to be shining like a mirror when I return.” He said as he took the car she was driving then gestured to Lily to sit in the driver's seat,

“Why?” The shocked Margret asked.

“Do you think that the privilege of looking at this young master’s perfect body comes cheaply?” He answered as the car zipped out of the mansion.

Lily, who was driving, was glad to see Margret get punished. That slut was the one who instigated them.

“I will take a nap. Tell me when we arrive.” Victor softly told her, making her frown, wasn’t he just in a coma? Didn’t he finish sleeping?

Victor ignored her as he closed his eyes and began to look at what did his blood slaves do while he was asleep.

Oh. Rita was in a deep sh*t. This went beyond his wildest imagination. What to do?

Well… When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, of course.