The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 377: Theo

After leaving the study, Victor headed upstairs to his room for a long ‘goodbye session’. with his harem. After knowing that he would be leaving, they demanded it!

So after leaving the exhausted girls to wonder about the tornado that just wrecked their very existence, he took a shower and then headed downstairs toward the dining room where Hilda had already prepared dinner with the help of the little maids who bowed respectfully when they saw him.

“Where is father?” Victor asked Mona who was discussing something with Elise who shot him a glare and then looked away bashfully. She wanted to join the goodbye party upstairs but was kicked out by Margret.

“Ah… How the hell should I know? “ Mona snapped as she looked away at Mike who was sitting on the other side.

“He was here a moment ago…” Mike shrugged.

“Are you asking about me?” Theodore who was adjusting his suit said. “I was in the restroom…” he said as he took a seat at the table. “Will your wives be joining us?” he asked to change the subject.

“Probably not, they will rest until the morning…” Victor said, making Mona shoot him a glare as a few maids prepared the dishes.

“Sorry, I am late…” Vanessa, who seemed to be also adjusting her dress, suddenly entered the dining room and took a seat in a hurry before she stood up abruptly…

“Mom…Is there anything wrong?” Mona asked.

“Ah… No… I thought I saw a spider but I was mistaken…” she said as she sat down, slowly this time, not forgetting to glare at Theodore, blaming him for being too rough.

“Ehm… Let’s eat…” Victor said.

“Where is Mina and Mana?” Vanessa asked.

“They decided to rest early… We are saying our goodbyes you know…” Victor explained shamefully for the second time.

“Oh… Good… I need some rest myself…” Vanessa said fully knowing what he meant. “Do you really have to leave tonight... Master Theodore?” she asked.

“I told you to drop the titles... You can call me just Theo!” Theodore said. ” And yes, I have to leave! Family orders. I will make sure to come to visit you in Ring Cloud City later after I finish with my current assignment…” he said. Winking to her.

“Oh…Theo... I will be waiting…” she said bashfully, blushing a little, making her daughter who was watching her almost break the fork in her hand. Damn perverts!

…

The dinner finished quickly, and after an evening tea, Victor, who seemed to keep looking at his watch, invited Theodore who was wondering about the surprise his sons prepared to follow him.

“Are you planning to add Vanessa to your wives?” Victor asked directly. “Couldn’t you wait a bit before hitting a home run?”

“Ah… Well… You see, with both Luna and your mother pregnant, I was feeling a little…”

“Mom is pregnant?” Both Mike and Victor asked, interrupting their father.

“Ahh.. yes… After your wedding…” Theodore said, victoriously clearing his throat. He should take his wives to more weddings.

“I see…” Victor said as he frowned a little. This never happened in his previous life, so he had no idea… He really did change many things since returning.

“So, what is this about?” Theodore asked curiously as they reached their target after walking for 15 minutes.

They were standing in a field that, although inside the grounds of Victorʼs mansion, was a little far from the building, near the properties’ northern edge. In the original plan for the building, this place was cleared to be a golf field, but the project didn’t move on after Nick took over the building management and Theodore who was promoted to an elder back then didn’t care less as he began planning for a bigger mansion.

It was now lit brightly by an array of lights, revealing a strange setup of mirrors that one girl was preparing. If he remembered correctly, her name was Hana, according to the reports she was the girl bought at the Von Geldstadt auction a while back. That girl Victor called Theta was there too assisting her. Those two girls seemed to have become good friends.

He, Victor, Hana, Theta, Mike, and his slut twins were the only ones here.

“Ah…” Just relax! We will finish in a while,” Victor said as he guided Honey and Bunny to sit on a couch placed in between the mirrors.

Theodore frowned then watched as Victor kept looking at the sky and his watch then stepped back with Mike.

“Get in position!” Victor said, “In ten seconds…”

“9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2….”

Victor pressed a button to turn off all the lights, then grabbed a rope, and pulled to remove the cloth that covered one large mirror.

Theodore frowned, noticing that there was a heap of GEMs right under one of the mirrors. They were so neatly arranged, that Theodore didn’t discover them before. But now, after the lights were off, they began to give that unique faint light allowing him to notice them.

Before he could ask about those, the GEMs disintegrated, and the surface of the mirror above them began to shine before two beams of light shot from it to hit the twins right in their eyes.

It all took one second, making the twins lose their consciousness for a second before they regained the clarity in their eyes a moment later as Victor turned the lights back on again.

“Was it a success?” Mike, who seemed a little worried, asked as he hurried to check on them.

“AH… Yes… We have become players!” they said excitedly as they threw themselves at him. “I am a Healer..” “I am a Posionor!” they reported.

“WHAT JUST HAPPENED!” Theodore, who took a few minutes to realize what happened, asked in shock as he looked at the mirrors, at the twins then finally at Victor who was writing something.

“Ah… Well….” Victor hesitated.

“Father… Victor found this Awakening Artifact when he conquered the moon dungeon a week ago!” Mike quickly said.

“WHAT?” Theodore asked, then looked at the small mirror that shined earlier. “Is that it?” he asked again.

“Yes, it uses the power of the stars to awaken players… I tried it on Mira and then at Elise before and it worked... Didnʼt you see how Elise was healed!” Victor said as Theodore just glared at him. ”Today I decided to test if we can focus the stars in a way to allows more than one player to awaken, and it is a success!” he added.

Theodore kept looking at Victor and Mike, not knowing what to say. He was absolutely shocked.

“We plan to present this to the family…” Mike said.

“Mike will take all the credit!” Victor added as he looked at his father, waiting for him to grasp what they had just told him.

It took Theodore one whole minute to say anything.

“What are the conditions for its use?” he asked. If this thing had some crazy conditions it would be useless... He had heard of some artifacts that only worked on Virgins. Maybe this one required sluts…

Victor quickly brought up a piece of paper and presented it to his father, making the latter who was frowning gasp again. 100% activation rate? 3 days cooldown? High authority?

“What is the authority you two got?” Theodore looked up and asked the twins.

“Ahh… 7…” They replied nervously, making Victor nod. He was still not sure on what principle did this artifact allocate authority.

“How much did Mira get?” Theodore asked Victor. It was rude to ask another player about their Status, but Theodore was not a polite man… Not privately anyway.

“Ah…10…” Victor lied. Mira now had 11 Authority points after he buffed her up like the rest of his harem.

“Holy shit!” Theodore gasped again. “We can’t give this to the family!” he exclaimed right away.

“Why?” Mike asked.

“Because this will change everything! The existing power structure will be ruined!” Theodore scolded. “The elders will never agree to allow the new generation of heirs to be more powerful than them! The two of you might even lose your elite heir status!” he explained. In the world of players, authority was everything.

“Ah… I think this will take a few years to happen, and we are not sure if every contestant will really get high authority…” Victor said.

“Idiot!” Theodore scolded. “The family is already boiling due to the internal fighting! Even if 1 out of a hundred gets 10 Authority points, they will be the prime candidates!”

“We can’t simply hide it, our family is already in a mess!” Mike said. “We only need to secure some exclusive usage right to use it when we present it to the family!” he spoke as Victor told him. “We need to raise our own people!” he added.

“Oh…” Theodore pondered for a moment. He was contemplating hiding this mirror and using it to build his own army, but Mike was right. If they were to hide it for a while, it would be dangerous. If this were to be discovered by the family, and it surely would, they would surely not forgive them.

It would be far more beneficial just to give it to the family while keeping the right to use it!

It was an awkward silence.

“You plan to give this as a present to Mother on her birthday?” Theodore asked.

“Yes… If the Esteemed Grandmother were to be the one who owns it, the family elders would not be able to forcibly grab it, and I am sure she would give us the conditions we want!” Mike said.

“Exactly… Victor was the one who got it?” Theodore had to ask again as his head cooled down and turned to look at Victor.

“Yes…” Mike said.

“Yup, I found it in a hidden corner in the Moon dungeon, but I want Mike to take the credit… This will help him in his bid for the Patriarch position!” Victor quickly clarified.

“Indeed… With the Linda scheme, this will be perfect!” Theodore nodded. “Is the Moon dungeon really closed?” he asked. After going back in the records, the family had figured out the way of entrance and had been preparing to send a team there when it should open a week later.

“Yes! I was swimming under the moon with Lily and Lin when we were dragged inside!” Victor said. “Apparently, it was some ancient test zone or something… Later some crazy self-proclaimed Emperor conquered it, saying it was a demon Bastion or something as he killed a bunch of evil rabbits by flicking his fingers… ”

“What?” Theodore asked, frowning a bit. “Do you know what that means?” he asked Victor.

“No idea… Seemed dangerous… That guy even killed some people whom he claimed were demons in disguise!” Victor explained. “I bet he just didn’t like them…”

“Prepare a report about what happened, then give it to me when we…” he paused as Victor presented him with a stapled stack of papers “You already prepared it?” Theodore asked.

“Yes, “ Victor replied. “I always like to be ready!” he added, telling the truth for once.

…

“Thanks a lot, Alex!” the girl said, blushing a little as she hugged Alex from the back.

“Don’t worry about it…” Alex said as he carried the girl on her back. “Next time be careful when we hunt wolves, those beasts are very cunning and tend to attack in packs!” she said.

“Ah… I will..” she chuckled then turned to face the two other girls who were following and smiled victoriously, both of them look at her hatefully then look away. She had won this round!

“How long until we reach that inn?” Alex suddenly asked.

“An hour or so… Don’t worry, we will be able to reach it before dark!”

“Ah… Are you sure there is a phone in there?” Alex asked. Of all the places on the planet she was cast off to this wild location right after leaving the moon dungeon. She had been trying to find a way to contact Victor ever since. But this place is really too backward!

Thankfully he managed to meet those girls and helped save them when they were in trouble.

They have been traveling together ever since.

According to them, this place was a large Ruin forest under the jurisdiction of the Sword sect. They were here to hunt for the rare SilverBlood herb for one of their elders, but they were cornered by some wolves when Alex appeared and helped them.

“Yes… The other disciples who come from the outside usually go there to contact their parents…”

“Good… “ Alex said.

“Is there someone you really need to contact?” one of the girls behind suddenly asked.

“Yes… It is my… eh... Friend… He was with me at that dungeon and I wanted to check on his safety!” Alex said.

“Oh… Is that ‘Friend’ a male or a female?” the other girl asked.

“A male of course!” Alex replied, wondering why the girls kept asking her such stupid questions.