The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 469: Don’t Harm me!

“I am going to tell you a secret guys, you better listen carefully!…” Theodore, who sat on the armchair, holding his pipe, surrounded by his offspring, began to speak. “This world is not what you see, in fact, it has a system like that of Video games!.........................”

Max, who stood in the back and watched his stupid father speak, got bored almost immediately, so he could only look around and inspect his siblings who were listening with interest. The young master needed him to make a full report after all!

The first who caught his eyes were Lara who was gaping in shock at her father’s proclamations. This little bitch! Until now, he had no idea how she got this strong. Damn it, she was supposed to grow weak after he made Rex tamper with the family art she was practicing! Still, to this moment, he had no idea how his stupid father figured it all out and even found a way to cure her!

Maybe some old expert was helping him… This was the only explanation!

If not for the young master’s timely help, Rex would have been in some very deep shit!

As he thought about it, his eyes naturally drifted to the little maid beside Lara. She was glaring at someone hateful… He turned to follow her gaze… Ah, she was shooting death glares at Victor who was standing beside the stage, listening to his father with interest! Strange… Was there some kind of dispute between them?

Deciding to inquire about this later, he turned to inspect others, he needed to write a report about what happened today later, so he needed to collect info.

The first who caught his attention was naturally the one he feared most, Alice. She was standing with Mike’s two whore wives discussing something. The Young Master had told him to be careful around her as she might discover his plots, so he usually tried to not interact with her at all! He never liked her anyway with her bossy personality!

Giving her a dismissive look, he turned to eye Iris, the bitch legitimate sister he didn’t know existed. This one really came out of nowhere and ruined the plans that the Young master helped him formulate.

In the past, he was the second in line to inherit his father’s position in the lower elder’s council if Mike were to have an accident, as Alice was not eligible due to her belonging to the Heavenly Sect.
But now he had two extra rivals, the first was Iris, and the second was Victor who was supposed to fail his ritual. And with the current ceremony, John and Luke might also enter the fight.

Damn it, his master’s plan for him to rise up was in shambles! The last time they met the Young master, he was even told that the situation had changed and it was no longer needed for him to inherit his father and that they would secure a good position for him later!.

WHY?! It was not his fault! DAMN IT!

He squeezed his fist as he remembered the Young master’s latest command from yesterday. Telling him to try and secure the most talented individuals from between his half-siblings. The problem was that this command came a little too late after he antagonized most of them earlier. It was not his fault for not realizing that his father was doing an awakening ceremony until it was too late! At first, he really thought his father was going to try to rehabilitate those losers and he had no interest at all but to keep them in their place!

Damn it! His eyes slowly drifted toward the crowd of young men who couldn’t believe their ears hearing their father explain as he smoked his pipe.

He could already see that the most promising ones had already been bought up by Iris!

Shit!

He was extra angry. When the hell did everything start to go wrong?

Right, it was when he gave Luke that Rune stone that the young master gave him and told him to ruin Victor’s ceremony!

He slowly turned toward Luke…

The young man was not paying attention to his father at all. His eyes were glued to Mike’s twin wives who were standing with their perky buts aimed toward him!

WHEN THE FUCK DID HIS LITTLE BROTHER BECOME A PERVERT LOSER?

He quickly shook his head, time in captivity might really change a person… He needed to find some time and talk to him a bit after this!

Suddenly his eyes caught another familiar face, his cousin Morrice that pervert repist. Why was this guy here too? He could easily figure out that this must be a move by Ann to show her power to the poor guyʼs grandfather. What he really wanted to know was why was he also shooting Victor glares full of malice. Ah… He remembered hearing about it. It was about that filthy girl Aria.

He could only sigh again. Stupid perverts… All they knew was fighting about women!

“That’s it… Are there any further questions?” Theodore finally finished his speech and asked, switching Max’s attention.

“Will it be dangerous?” one guy asked. Max remembered his name was Roy and for some strange reason, he gave some special air that reminded him of the Young Master. No… Impossible, how could this illegitimate pauper compare to Young Master Sixth!

“There is always a certain danger, but as long as you don’t move around or try anything stupid it will be fine! Just remember that if you are presented with a choice, choose carefully and keep your ‘Authority’ as high as possible!” Theodore explained. “Anyone else?”

“Will we be as strong as Lara?” a slutty girl asked.

“Depends on your class…” Theodore replied with uncertainty. “Now, I want every single one of you to look at the plate you were given earlier and locate the spot on the ground that had the same number and then sit on it comfortably, once I give the signal, you must never move!”

Everyone looked at each other, then began walking toward the large mirror installment, quickly finding their designated spots.

“Everyone else, please gather here!” Theodore said, making Max notice that there were about 60 people left standing around the stage in addition to his siblings. They were all Players and Semi-players! And all of them were part of his father’s most trusted circle.

He slowly approached the stage.

“Listen up…” Theodore who stepped down said with a low voice. “As many of you have figured out by now, we have a new Awakening artifact!” Theodore explained. “And I have been authorized by the family to run this comprehensive test!” he explained as he gave everyone a quick look. “Now, this artifact will require some energy to function, so we have set up an energy-gathering array around the clearing, we will require each of you to cooperate!” he said.

Everyone nodded. The old artifact required something similar.

“How does it work, exactly?” Rex asked after Max pinched him. He didn’t want to ask that question himself.

“It uses the light of the stars by reflecting it into the head of the participants!” Theodore replied. “Usually we can only do one by one before having to wait for a while, but using the mirror’s installation you see here we will be able to do it for multiple people at once!” he explained.

“Oh…” Max frowned.

“Now, let me warn you, Although I sounded confident earlier, we are still not sure whether anything wrong will happen as some anomalies might appear…” he hesitated.

“Anomalies?” Alice asked with a frown. From her question, Max could presume that, unlike Mike, she had no idea about this artifact. So its source must have been someone else!

“Yes, some people, about 10%, will experience some delusions representing your greatest fears!” He said. “Especially those with weak self-discipline!”

“WHAT?”

“Don’t worry, it is nothing harmful! We already made it so each two of you would stand in the same spot to restrain each other if something wrong were to happen. Just make sure to keep mindful of your neighbors at all times. If you spot anything strange, restrain them immediately! We can’t afford to stop the ceremony at any cost or we will have to wait for another month!” Theodore said seriously, making Max take note of his words “Now, go on, fill the spots marked with blue around a perimeter, Semi Players to the far side, and Players toward the Artifact… There are shackles on the ground, make sure to tie them to your ankles to stop you from running and ruining everything!” he said. “ We will start shortly as soon as the men realigned the mirrors and did a test run!”

Max who got the premise of it frowned a little, he didn’t like this, and it felt weird. But again… Wasn’t everything about those awakening artifacts the same?

But after looking around for a moment and seeing that Mike and Alice found their own spots and tied themselves together, he found a random one to stand in before tying the steel shackle on the ground to his ankle. It didn’t have a lock, but removing it later would take some time.

Finishing with that. Looking to his right, he quickly recognized his partner… Victor!

***

“Young master… Aren’t you being too rough on them?” Yoss, one of the elven girls, asked Victor who lay on her lap as he watched the girls in the field fight 5 demonic wolves that, although weʼre tied up, were very dangerous.

“Don’t worry, they will be fine!” Victor said as he set the book he had been reading down. It was as if he was in deep thought. “How do people get their class in this world?” he asked.

“Ah… They just do…” Sini the other elf who was feeding him grapes earlier said. “The awakening usually happens on adulthood, but some before! ”

“Do you know why certain people get certain Classes?” he asked.

“Ah… The lord’s will?” Sini asked.

“No, it is mostly a matter of probability and concept concentration!” Victor explained, mostly to himself as he comprehended many things. “The more someone does something the more likely he will get a class related to it… Baby’s don’t get classes because they don’t have enough concepts…” he hypothesized.

“What does this have to do with the training?” Yoss asked as if she understood something.

“Those girls have no class as they are not from this world, I am presuming that once I let them leave this cauldron, they will immediately get a class!” he said, looking at Mavis. He was very curious about what would become of her Dark Scion fate.

“And you want them to be Demon slayers?” Sini asked. “Ah….”

“Yup!” he said as he slapped her butt. “That’s why I am making them go through all this!” He confirmed her guess.

“AH! Sorry for doubting you young master!” both of the elf girls said bowing down in their new skimpy secretary uniforms.

“It is ok! I will punish you later!” he chuckled as they blushed. “Now, I will close my eyes and take a little nap… Make sure not to disturb me, and if the girls need anything tell them the master went out to make more children!” he said as he got ready to watch his family’s awakening ceremony through Mike’s eyes.

***

Max, who stood in his spot beside Victor, watched as everyone got ready and many servants began to operate the Mirrors. Using a lantern as a light source they set them up to reflect a point of light into each participant’s forehead.

“Status?”

“Alpha, Set!”

“Bravo, Set!”

“Charlie, Set!”

“All Set!”

“Ready to go!”

“GO!” Theodore who stood in his spot gave the command, making one of the servants click a switch that forced the dome cover in the center of the structure to collapse and reveal a simple small Mirror.

Max didn’t get to inspect it as in the same instant he felt as if all of his energy began to be sucked up by the array that began to shine with pale blue light under his feet, someone began to scream…

Max began to look around, and quickly found the source, it was a female guard who was like him a part of the Array. She was on the ground, kneeling and screaming some incomprehensible words as the other guard who was beside her was grappling her.

Soon more and more people began to do the same. Some were speaking to themselves, others were just shouting like that Morrie who took off his pants and began to pee at the young guard who stood beside him!

Max frowned, then he heard it, someone was whispering by his side. Turning, he saw Victor standing there and talking to someone imaginary.

“PLEASE DON’T HARM ME, I am not the old Victor who was lost in the mines…” he whispered in a barely audible voice. “ I am the real Victor von Weise, the one who was switched at birth! I was raised in the Inverted flower sect, and a month ago the truth about my identity was revealed by Olaf who took me in, changed my looks to appear like Victor and fool everyone! PLEASE STOP… STOP…!” he began to scream again.

EH? WHAT? Before Max could fully comprehend what he heard a bright light flashed and Victor, who was scratching around, stood still and began to look around with a lost look.

“What… What just happened?” he asked.

Max didn’t respond. He just turned to look at the others who also suffered from the delusion effect. They were the same, looking around as if they had just woken up from some dream that they couldn’t remember.

“CONGRATULATIONS! THE CEREMONY IS OVER!” Theodore suddenly declared, making Max remember the artifact and look back toward it, but it was already covered up by that dome!

“Everyone, feel free to inspect your status, but make sure not to reveal anything or use any skills until you are allowed to!” someone declared again. It was George this time. “Please wait for a moment as the appraisal ceremony will start shortly!” he declared!