The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 3: The Reduction Rune

After leaving the study, Victor’s first action was to return to his room. He instructed the maids to pack the last of his luggage. And it will be shipped out after the ceremony.

Then after the maids left, Victor sat on his bed and waited while thinking about his next step. “this is going to be another gamble,” He thought.

He had a reason to wait. As there is an important item that he needs for his plan, and this item will be delivered to him at any moment now.

He did not have to wait for long, as a few minutes later, the room’s heavy door was pushed open.

“Ha ha, brother, I hope you get a good result tonight, I heard about it from my big brother, The ceremony is very dangerous and half of the candidates would die every year.”

A youth with curly purple hair swaggered into the room with an evil grin. And behind him, an exquisite maid followed in silence.

This was Luke Von Weise the youngest son of the first lady of the house and victor’s last step-brother, the maid behind him was his personal maid and bodyguard.

If outsiders saw her, they would presume she was Luke’s little lover, but Victor knew that the heirs of the Von Weise family were forbidden from getting laid before the coming of age ceremony as it is said to dilute their bloodline.

As for poor Victor, he was forbidden from recruiting a maid till his ceremony because he was almost seduced by one when he hit puberty a few years back. That accident ruined his reputation and he was punished very hard by his father and had to spend the rest of his middle school days in an all-boys aristocratic boarding school.

Victor looked at Luke and smiled, “ I am not afraid, I will make our father proud like my elder brother and sister, I heard that big brother Rex’s results were barely passable, and father was so angry with him that he sent him to be a part of the dark jungle expedition.” he said.

The first mother has three children, The eldest, Max is a player. While the second, Rex is just a semi-player and his father was very disappointed with him back then. And the youngest was Luke, who has yet to be an adult.

This lineup put Luke’s mother in a tight spot, Victor’s mother already has two full players offspring, and there were talks in the family for her to be the main wife.

Although his mothers and younger siblings have no knowledge about the hidden rules of the world and who is a player and who is not, they know that some heirs would be more valued than others after the ceremony, and it has to do with some secret test and bloodline purity.

Hearing Victor’s ridicule Luke’s face turned red with anger. But he was no fool and knew that he can only swallow this bad breath, he can’t screw up his brother’s plan. He knew that using the thing his bother gave him, he can ensure that Victor will disappear forever,

“Brother there is no need for such talk,” said Luke with a silly smile. “I just came here to wish you a good ceremony, and hope that you will succeed.”

With that Luke stepped forward and gave Victor a tight hug then backed away awkwardly and left the room in a hurry. If his father saw that right now, he would really believe that Luke cared about his brother.

Watching her master leave, the maid followed him quickly without forgetting to give a bow to Victor before closing the door on her way out.

Victor stared at the door for a moment, then burst into a laugh. “Ha ha, this stupid bother of mine can really act, in my past life I did truly fall for this stupid play of his.”

Reaching his hand into his jacket’s pocket he took out a pure black octagonal piece of Jade, this thing was put there by Luke when he hugged him.

‘‘At last, in my past life I was screwed by this rune, but now this will be the key to my success’’ thought Victor.

This jade is called ‘Reduction Rune’, and it was a very rare SSS item, it’s effect is the permanent reduction by 1 of any attribute defined by the user. However, it also has the passive effect of reducing all the attributes when equipped.

Of course, his brother did not know what was this thing nor how to activate it, but he seemed to have figured out that this stone will make the holder weaker, It was probably one of his elder stepbrother’s plans. He planned to use it to lower Victor’s chances of completing the ritual.

In his past life, His brother’s plan only half succeeded.

With his qualification and bloodline, Victor should have been able to be a full player with ease, but he fell short by just a few points because of the rune, and could only be a semi-player with a very weak position in the family.

Victor knew about this plan later, when Luke bragged in front of him on the night of his banishment, he still remembers the ugly smirk on his face to this day.

Looking at the jade Victor sighed, this thing was kept by him in his past life as a memento before discovering its real use, This rune will be the essential key to his next step.

Victor took a leather bag from his closet, then put the rune in it, before returning it to his pocket. Holding the rune in a bag will not be considered equipping. Then he adjusted his clothes, and gave his room one last look, then went downstairs.

His mother was waiting for him in the hallway, she gave him a tight hug, “Be careful, and no matter what, you have to return alive.” she said with tears in the corner of her eyes. She had to act strong.

“Yes mother”, he replied while feeling the warmth in his heart, his mother is the only one who has never lost hope in him.

His little sister Lara peeked from behind his mother and looked sadly at her brother, “goodbye brother.” she said and ran away. but victor noticed the tears in her eyes as well, likely she thought that she would never see her brother again. It’s probably Luke’s instigation. He will take his revenge on him back later.

“Are you ready, let’s go, we have a long trip.” His Father’s sound came from the back.

“Yes Father,” said Victor then after letting go of his mother, he walked out of the mansion’s door in silence. Not failing to notice the shadows of his step-brothers who were smirking while peaking at him from the windows upstairs.