The Young Master in the Shadows

“Here?” Mona, who descended from the camouflaged truck and looked around at the endless desert around her, asked.

“Yeah!” Mina replied as she put on her eye protection glasses. “Remember everything I told you about dungeons!”

“Yes…” Mona frowned, also putting on her glasses as she looked at the strange-looking boulder before them. It was like a crystal shard, poking random play in the sand in the middle of the desert. How the hell did they find this in the first place?

“I only need to stick it with my sword?” she asked.

“Not now, we need to prepare first!” Mina replied, turning to face a few of the masked girls who slowly descended from the back of the truck. “Nora… Are they ready?” she asked.

“Yeah…” the masked girl named Nora nodded as she moved to the side, revealing Opal and Donald who for some strange reason were wrapped in steel armor from head to toe. “This way they should survive no matter how jinxed they are…”

“What do you mean?” Donald, who felt like he was getting fried alive inside the metal armor asked. He was clearly regretting following Mona here.

“You will see! This is for your own good!” Mana replied. “Theta, Ruby… Are you two ready?”

“Yeah!” Theta who also put her glasses on and nervously held into a huge mace nodded.

"Alpha?" she turned to Alpha who was herself in the midst of another group of slutty looking girls who came here in another truck. The thick leather armor they wore failed to hide the slutty way they walked!

"We are ready…" Alpha sighed. She clearly had a lot on her mind.

“Good… Remember, inside there are two kinds of monsters… The Crystal Ravaging Hyenas and the Crystal But Striking Eagles, make sure to defend yourself well…. Try to stay in a safe zone if possible with your backs to the wall… And be always wary of shards of glass entering your eyes after you kill one of them!” Mina said.

“Be careful of the shards on the floor too, those steel-plated boots might not help you if you step into very sharp crystal shards!” Mana added.

“How do you know all that?” Donald asked. This was very suspicious, Mona agreed!

“Don’t underestimate our husband’s intelligence network!” Mina spat. The information about these undiscovered dungeons was given by Lily. It was a very easy dungeon, suitable for first-time explorers as long as they kept careful.

“Shouldn’t I wear armor too?” Mona asked nervously.

“No… You will be fine!” Mina said. “You are way stronger than you believe you are!”

“But I…”

“Now come on, everyone, come closer!" Mana commanded.

Everyone looked at each other and slowly made a circle surrounding the crystal.

"Do it…” Mina said as she pushed the hesitant Mona forward. “We don’t have much time! We have to return in two days or Mother will be very angry!”

“Ah…” Mona nodded. Her mother was acting very grumpy in the last couple of days, she had no idea why.

“DO IT!!” Mana engorged her.

Mona sighed… She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and struck the crystal.

BANG!

It shattered into a million tiny shards as the world shook and a huge vortex of light began to revolve around them… Moments later everyone vanished!

No, not everyone…

Alpha was left there alone, looking around with a frown not realizing what just happened.

"WAIT...WHAT? AGAIN!?" she finally exclaimed as the dust settled and in front of her a vortex gate that for some reason she could not enter appeared.

…

After going on a quick trip into the cauldron where he scammed Meril and placated Emira into sleeping peacefully, Victor returned outside and sat on the back of one of the dragons, next to the chained bedroll everybody thought was him. He watched as the world went by beneath him.

; ;

Those things were not full dragons per se, but some kinds of Wyvern. They were huge creatures covered in blackish-blue crystal scales.

Looking forward, he appraised the one Lyra was riding as despite having similar looks to the others, it had larger wings and four legs instead of two. its scales had something like electrical pulses going through them every once in a while.

; ;

This one was a real dragon.

Victor wondered what would happen if he were to release his bloodline and make them feel it, but going by his newly established rule of being VERY EXTRA ULTRA CAREFUL, he decided not to risk it.

Anyway, the heights at which this wyvern flew were higher than anything that he could do on his own without wasting all his energy. This allowed him to take the time to analyze the place he was in.

The Silver Empire was a vast medieval kingdom that was basically dependent on local lords to run things and manage serfs to farm the land. The merchants seemed to be concentrated in the major cities where culture and wealth were concentrated. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

Added on top of that were the knights who had the job of patrolling the empire and defending against the demons.

He sighed as he reached for his storage space and took a small bead-like object. One of the many things he found in the death of George. He had been using it ever since.

; ;

He activated it as he held it in his hand, allowing it to start recording the world around him.

Yes, this artifact was a recording device. Taking stupid videos was an essential part of tourism. He needed to brag in front of his wives after all! Victor was also collecting research material for his new movie…

As for what Lyra told the knight earlier, he decided to play along. He could escape at any moment after all.

So like that, his journey went on peacefully and the knights who traveled fast were able to finally reach a grand city by sunset.

Victor was shocked as he looked around. It was really magnificent.

The city that was surrounded by a very tall defensive wall was circular, divided into 9 distinct sections that surrounded a huge maze-like inner part that was extra defended with all kinds of towers that had magical orbs pulsating with electricity at the tip of their spiraling golden roofs.

Past them, there were a lot of random keeps with domed roofs. They circled a huge palace made up of something like glass. On top of it in the sky, as if compensating for the entire empire that had a clear sky, it had a huge dark cloud…No, it was more like a tornado in the sky that sucked the clouds from around, forming a huge black cloud funnel descending into the highest point of the crystal dome that covered the central part of the palace. Periodically, it threw huge bolts of lightning that got captured by the towers around the city, empowering them!

For some strange reason, Victor had one thought… A lord! The cloud gave him the same feeling he felt when he was near Zendo, the sun lord. That strange powerlessness in front of absolute might!

Shaking his head, Victor made sure to record everything as the dragon made a turn around the palace. He really wanted to build a castle like that too one day! It would be perfect to keep his harem!

“Amazing, Ha?” the knight who rode the dragon looked at the tied-up Victor and smirked wanting to watch the amazed look on his face.

Victor didn’t disappoint. “This is…” he asked in shock.

“The Storm Palace! Where the imperial family lives…” the knight said with a smirk… “You will get to see it up close pretty soon!” he added as the dragon made a second turn following the others as they finally landed in the training yards of one of the central keeps.

“Bring him here…” Lyra, who descended from her mount yelled and made the knight grab his prisoner and drag him to her as soon as the dragon’s feet touched the ground.

“What with the rough treatment!” Victor complained.

“You haven’t seen rough yet…” Lyra spat as she gave Victor a rough inspection. “Untie him and follow me…” she said, turning and going in one direction.

‘Victor’ whose chain was unlocked, slowly massaged his sore arms and then quickly followed as one of the knights pushed him.

They went into a series of passageways and corridors finally reaching a strange-looking door where an old man was sitting on a wooden chair reading an old book next to it.

; ;

Level: 179

AUTHORITY: 17

Bloodline: Dwarf 50% Human 50%

Fate: B

Looking at this old man, Victor was ultra-stunned. Despite him working as a librarian in his past life he never even came close to this man’s level… What does a librarian do in this world? What did they feed them?

Lyra just stood there until he looked up from the book in his hand.

“We need to check him!” Lyra demanded immediately as their eyes met.

“Another one?” the old man asked as he inspected Victor. He was not polite to her like the other knights.

“Yeah…” Lyra who seemed to both dislike him and fear him answered.

“They just keep coming, like moths into the flame!!” the old man sighed, shaking his head as he stood up, putting the pulp fiction novel in his hand on the chair before fumbling for a key from the key chains in his belt. He used it to unlock the wooden door and open it before turning to Victor.

“Follow me, lad!” he spat and walked in.

“This is?” Victor asked.

“Just a normal check-up… To make sure you are not a demon!” Lyra spat pushing him forward then stood her ground and watched as he followed the old man.

Inside, it was a large empty hall that was illuminated by very thin arrow slits like windows up high. It gave it an eerie atmosphere as it eliminated the only thing in it.

Erected in the center, right under the dome. An ominous-looking black obsidian menhir engraved with strange symbols. The symbols were similar to the ones he found on the oldest bodies in the Death Gorge.

; ;

CURRENT MASTER: TARMOS TINGLE

CAN ONLY BE USED ONCE PER PERSON!

WILL CAUSE A DEMON TO COMBUST INTO FLAMES.

THE APPRAISED WILL NOT BE ABLE TO USE ANY SYSTEM FUNCTIONS FOR THE NEXT <MASTER AUTHORITY> DAYS.

Shit… This thing was sinister. They were clearly abusing its curse to disable people’s powers.

HE REALLY WANTED TO DO THAT TOO! JUST IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES!

The old man walked until he was right beside it then turned to face Victor. “Touch it!” he spat.

“Look… I don’t know what this is about… But I am not into touching another man’s private parts!”

“...”

“I might be very handsome for a man, but I am very straight, you know...” Victor stated as he moved fast, setting a few things as he suppressed his demonic bloodline.

“Are you trying to be funny?” the old man spat.

“No?”

“THEN TOUCH THE FUCKING PILLAR!” the old man howled.

“Ah….” Victor shook in fear and hesitated.

“FUCKING DO IT ALREADY! ARE YOU A DEMON?” the old man flared, showing his broken teeth as he yelled.

“AH! NO!” Victor, who finished his preparations, flinched a little then hurriedly put his hand on the pillar… Almost immediately, he shook as a wisp of dark energy entered his body and exited before he could blink.

; ;

As usual, Victor pressed <Yes> after disguising his status to that of a merchant.

; ;

He pressed <No>.

; ;

THE ‘LOST DAYS CURSE’ IS TRYING TO AFFECT YOU WITH VARIABLE <17 DAYS>…

ACTIVATING DISPELLING SKILL…

CURSE HAD BEEN SUCCESSFULLY RESOLVED.

The curse was not a problem too, as usual.

“What was that… Why…” Victor began to wonder fearfully… Putting on an act.

“Just a side effect of the test, it will go in a few days,” the old man spat as he used a paper to trace the symbols the piller displayed to the side. “Come on!” he said as soon as he finished shoveling the ‘weakened’ Victor toward the door, falling to notice the smirk on his face.

“Come on!”

“AH! Don’t be so rough!” Victor complained, making the old man grab him harder as he dragged him.

“What?” Lyra asked as soon as they left the room.

“Nothing important… A lousy merchant!” the old man spat shoving Victor forward toward her.

“Oh… Typical…” she sighed. “Let’s go… I will take you to where you will sleep tonight!”

“What about meeting my family?” Victor complained.

“Tomorrow…” she spat, guiding Victor through the maze-like passageways between the keeps silently. She refused to answer any of his questions until they reached what looked like a dormitory guarded by two men dressed in black.

They opened the door and bowed as soon as Lyra approached.

“Get in… See you in the morning!” she said as she pushed him inside then left as the guards closed the door.

Victor frowned then looked inside, inspecting the cheaply constructed building where a fat man sitting behind a wooden counter was eyeing him.

; ;

Class: Cook

Level: 29

AUTHORITY 2

Bloodline: Ogre 11% Human 89%

Fate: E

“Ahhh… I think I should stay here tonight?” Victor asked as he looked around.

“Room 31 on the third floor… You arrived just in time, the test for this month was set for tomorrow!” the fat man said dismissively, throwing a key that he got from under the counter at Victor before laying back and relaxing on his chair.

“Ah…”

“Dinner will be served an hour later, any other questions you can ask your roommate…” the fat man dismissed him. “Go to your room now and stop making trouble…” he added as he waved his hand at him.

Victor sighed, shaking his head as he climbed the stairs, wondering what the fuck was going on.

Should he just force his way to see Rosette or his great-aunt? He could see that their threads were very close.

No… He shook his head. He promised himself to be careful after all, and he shouldn’t reveal anything yet just in case he ends up having to bring them back to Trilaria. If things went wrong, he could always make his mythical Master rescue him!