Barrack Dracyian was known to be one of the leading prodigies within the Dracyian Family. A person whose name would drill fear into an enemy who had crossed paths with him.
While Victor Dracyian, the son of Barrack, was well adverse in his sword arts, Barrack was an adventurer who was known to be a monster at magic.
Ranked as an SS+ class adventurer in his prime, his power was capable of creating tides of change within humanity.
"Ahhh yes... Barrack Dracyian. The man who was at the forefront of the Dracyian Family." I mused while placing my palm beneath my chin.
The Dracyian Family had an extremely powerful bloodline, raising people who would grow to be incredible talents and geniuses.
One of the prime examples of this would have to be my grandfather, as people could say that he was the one who brought the Dracyian Family to where it was now.
From what I could recall in my memories, Barrack should right now be fighting an army of bandits who were trying to take over the Southern Mountains, however, I don't think he will be visiting here anytime soon.
He had rarely come back to visit this house since I was born, and never took much of an interest in me and my siblings.
I think that after his wife had died, he never really felt attached to the family anymore.
This was but just an assumption.
Like everyone else in the family, he also had red eyes and black hair, however, with his old age, there were now strands of grey coming from his roots.
His hair somehow wasn't completely silver like mine, even though he was now something around the 100s.
"This damn awakening... making me look like some old man before a literal grandpa!"
[Host, you have received another message from the Akashic Records.]
"Ah fuck, not that guy again."
[Would you like to listen?]
Closing my laptop screen, I pushed back my chair and got ready for whatever this guy had to say to me.
"Play the message."
DING
{ Yoohoo~ It's me again! Didja miss me? }
No, not really.
{ Yeah? I thought so. Anyway, I have some special news for you. }
{ Since we have figured it has been too hard for you to work things out alone, we have come to the decision that we will implement something to give you that extra bit of motivation you need~ }
Motivation? The last time this guy talked to me, he gave me an existential crisis!
{ Now, the system will be giving you quests, to help you have a clearer mindset of what to do, and you can see an actual goal. Previously, we weren't planning to give you this, but you haven't really been showing the results we need yet. }
'Damn, it really do be calling me a failure huh.'
{ Furthermore, these quests will have rewards and penalties based on how well you do. These will change based on the impact it will have, and how big of a task it is to do. }
{ Now then, I hope you have a lovely time in this world. I will be contacting you if I ever need to say anything. Oh, and... don't die~ }
[The message has ended.]
I was currently left stunned, processing the abrupt show of information.
DING
[A new quest has been added.]
===QUESTS===
{SYSTEM BENEFIT COINS}: 0
-Join in, and listen to the family dinner
REWARD: { Added 1 System Benefit Coins }
FAILURE: { Decrease in AX balance by 1000AX, if there is no money available, you will be placed in debt with 50% interest included. }
======
'Damn, 1000AX? I don't know when the hell I will be able to pay that!'
And just like that, I had an extra reason as to why I needed to be at that family dinner.
'Hmmm... now that I look at this, what the heck is a system benefit?'
[A system benefit is a given reward for the Host. It allows the Host to ask the system to interfere with anything they want with reality, and the system will make sure that the request happens. Depending on the absurdity of the request, the amount of System benefits will be charged.]
'Hmmm... so if I ask the system to materialise a pencil for me, how many system benefit coins will it use?'
[I assume it will be 1 system benefit coin.]
'And how about the request for a new normal skill?'
[I assume it will be 30 system benefit coins.]
'And what about an innate skill?'
[I assume it will be 50 system benefit coins.]
'Hmmm... I guess I can think of ways to use it then.'
By using the answers from the system, I could roughly make out a baseline for how much I will need to pay in the future.
"Alright, I get what I need to do. I guess I should start preparing right now."
If Victor didn't want me to join the family dinner, I just need to make myself be there...
******
{Victor Dracyian's POV}
"Huaahhhh... I finally finished these..."
I was sitting in my office, filling out some of the paperwork regarding the opening of the Academy, where I was being asked to sponsor some of the school.
'I think that this is all a bit much to just train some kids to fight. I mean, look at my two kids, they were already raised as geniuses!'
As I had that thought, my mind began to become plagued with the image of my youngest offspring, namely Vincent.
"Ugghh... what did we even do wrong for him? He is just so incompetent, that it annoys me to even think of him now."
In my eyes, Vincent was no more than unnecessary flesh taking up space in our house. He was nothing compared to his siblings.
'I am only sending him to the Academy Trials to finally show him how much of a failure he is compared to others. I can only hope this would help him do something with his shitty life.'
BANG BANG BANG
Three sharp knocks came from my office door.
"What do you want? Come in."
Slightly irritated at the bad timing of the door, I called in a maid who worked for our family.
"Sir, there is some slightly bad news."
"What?"
"Albert, the butler, is calling in sick today."
"Oh, can't you call in another one then? You don't have to call me for that."
"The problem is, he was the only one who knew what to do to help sort out the dinner."
"Then tell him to give some orders to the other maids or something."
This was getting a bit annoying, so I tried to speed up the conversation. The dinner was in about 2 hours, so I needed to get ready.
"Yes, so, when we went to check on him again, he was knocked out unconscious before he could tell anything. And all of the spare maids are busy doing their own things."
"What!? So then what can we do?"
"You need to find and employ someone who is free, will not interfere with the dinner, and within short notice."
"Haaaa..."
Massaging my temples, and in my mind, the only person who came to mind was none other than...
Vincent Dracyian.