He called out to his family to snap out of their daze as he walked toward them.
His mother asked, "Son, did you bathe in the universe river? How can you be so handsome?"
He smiled and replied, "Mom, it's just the physique I awakened, it made me more handsome, sigh, you might have grandchildren tomorrow at this rate."
Everybody laughed at his joke, then the grandmother said, "Tell us about your awakening."
"I awakened the overlord Physique, which grants me overlord over the elements and swords. It passively enhances all physical attributes the more I train and the higher rank I achieve, increases handsomeness, and increases training in sword, magic, and cultivation by 500%, and it also amplifies spells I cast by 300% and amplifies sword skills and techniques by 300%," he lied, but he couldn't just tell them about his bloodline and physique outright.
When he listed these, everyone became speechless; they didn't know what to say. This was a little monster who had just awakened, then light flashed in their eyes—they wanted to see him grow and be on the battlefield, but they had to protect him until he grew, as he had never seen the outside world and didn't know its horrors. Killing intent leaked from Michael's body as he thought of those families and cults that might harm his precious son.
Little did Michael know that his precious little son knew the horrors of the world and was already making plans for it. Though he never interacted with other people outside his houses, he knew the horrors of the world; even when the butler drove him around when he was 5 years old, he only looked from inside the car and never came out to greet anybody.
Rumors spread that the son of the Sword Saint and the Mage of Destruction (his mother's title) was sick and had little to no intelligence.
He knew about these rumors from the maid and guards when gossiping with them, but he told them not to bother correcting them.
His grandfather said, "Let's go pick your cultivation technique, shall we?" He smiled as everyone followed along. They went into the library, and his grandfather activated a hidden door which led to the basement. Anthony had never been here before, so he was excited.
They walked down the stairs and arrived in front of a portal. Anthony was shocked, "Is this a dungeon?" he thought. He had already read about dungeons in this world; his mother's words, sounding like those of a fairy, entered his ears.
"This portal leads to a secret realm, where all our main family knowledge is kept, skills, techniques, hidden knowledge, forbidden spells—everything related to any profession is here, even blacksmithing or alchemy, they are all here."
He was truly shocked to the core, how much power one must have to possess knowledge of all professions and even store it in a secret realm; it seemed he had been looking down on his family.
They walked through the portal. He felt dizzy as he passed through; it was his first time moving through space, but the feeling only lasted less than a second because of his affinities, bloodline, and physique.
His family was shocked to see him regain composure so fast, expecting him to vomit or be dizzy for a while, but it seemed their baby was more freakish than they let on. They didn't speak of it and just looked at each other and smiled.
Anthony raised his head and saw row after row of shelves that seemed endless. They walked as he admired them and he was lost in their beauty, then realization struck him—he hadn't signed in for today and, that being his first time, he immediately said, "System, sign in."
[Ding...]
[Host has signed in.]
[As it's the host's first time signing in, the host will be given two rewards.]
[Congratulations to the host for winning a realm.]
[Divine realm: A realm created by ??? in its boredom, which he decided to gift to you since you are signing in from a realm.]
[Privileges of the realm, 1: Mana in the Divine realm is in its purest form called the primordial mana, which has been dormant since its inception, 2: Time dilation can be adjusted to be slower here, with 1:100 being its highest, the host can adjust according to his wishes, 3: Only those who are absolutely loyal to the host can enter this realm with the host, 4: Aging only occurs in real-world time and not realm time.]
[It is advised the host trains and cultivates in this realm in order to have higher mana quality than others.]
[Congratulations to the host for winning the ??? Cultivation technique created by ??? for the host.]
[The ??? Cultivation technique was created by ??? for the host since the host possesses a different physique and bloodline.]
[The host is required to name this cultivation technique in order to use it.]
Anthony thought for a second and named it "Nothingness Cultivation Technique."
[Host has named the technique.]
[Rank of Nothingness Cultivation Technique: Unknown]
Anthony was so happy, he wanted to bow to the being, but he couldn't since they were walking in the secret realm now. He was happy and smiling, and his family saw his happy mood and thought it was because he was picking a technique.
They arrived at a particular shelf that glowed with a rainbow hue.
The grandfather said, "Pick a cultivation technique from here."
Anthony walked around the shelf for a while and picked a book named "The Dawn," which sounded and looked simple but was far from it.
Michael said, "Pick a sword technique."
Anthony looked around then said with a hard face, "Father, my physique restricts me from using others' techniques; it only allows me to walk my own path."
His family was stunned for a second, but they thought of the outrageous perk of his physique alone; they came to understand that everything came with a cost, but they would still help in any way they could.
They just smiled and didn't ask anymore. He told his mother the same things about magic too, so they wouldn't waste their time teaching him when he has a bloodline and physique worthy of knowledge.
He just took the cultivation technique and left, though he wouldn't cultivate it; he only took it for show, as for the sword technique and magic—why waste time mastering the ones they created when he has something better?
He got back to his room and said, "System, where is the realm?"
[Host only needs to think about entering the realm and he will enter.]
Anthony nodded, then said, "System, where is the Nothingness Cultivation Technique?"
[Host only needs to affirm and the system will send it directly to the host's mind.]
He immediately affirmed and a vast amount of information flowed into his mind; he sat there for a good 9 hours in order to understand the technique, using his 2 million compartments.
He sighed, "Would I waste time each time I accept knowledge like this, ... well, the knowledge is too vast; this is real life, not those instant learning systems that take one click and a second to learn."
He picked his phone up and texted everyone in his contact list, basically the maids and his family, and told them that he would be in seclusion for a year, which was funny that a person who had just awakened and just got his cultivation technique a few hours ago was entering seclusion.
He made the maids prepare all the food he would need but told them to prepare it for 5 years, which shocked them; he only told them his appetite had increased.
Everyone was awakened, so food for 5 years was prepared in 2 days. He stuffed it all in his storage ring, which his father had given him the day he picked a cultivation technique that contained a sword, and all sorts of potions that would last him a year.
With that, everyone sent him off as he entered the seclusion room, which was then guarded by unknown-ranked guards.
In the two days it took to cook all the dishes, he signed in.
[Doppelganger: Host is able to create a perfect clone of himself, which is able to use all abilities and skills of the host, possessing all qualities of the host, even a soul, but a fragment of his.]
[Cool down: None]
[The host has gained True Immunity to Illusions.]
He was very happy when he saw the first reward the other day; he was already thinking of how to fool his parents when he left for the divine realm. If they lost their senses and didn't notice him, they would barge in immediately, even the guards would too.
With this, he was ready. He stood in the cultivation room, created the clone, which was basically his twin brother. The clone had a consciousness and possessed everything he did, even a soul, but a fragment of his.
The clone sat in a lotus position and pretended to cultivate.
With that, he notified the system and he disappeared from the room.
Anthony appeared in his seclusion room and looked at his clone, who simply slept, and he couldn't help but laugh.
He deactivated the skill and the clone disappeared, then he went straight and opened the seclusion door.
The guards at the door, guarding him, greeted, "Good afternoon, young master, how was your seclusion?" they asked.
"It was okay," he replied. With his All Seeing Eyes he could see more about the guards now than before; he could tell they were happy. Then he looked around and found the mana pattern of his parents, and then simply teleported to their door.
He knocked on the door and waited for a while, then the door opened on its own, and he entered.
"Anthony, you are back," his father said, smiling at his talented son, then frowned when he saw the mana rank of his son. Before he could say anything, his wife directly appeared in front of him and asked worriedly, "Anthony, what happened, your rank didn't improve, are you injured?" she was truly worried.
He smiled and replied, "I am fine, Mom. During my training I comprehended a magic skill that helps me conceal my rank, that's why you can't sense it." He immediately revealed a D+ rank aura and his parents sighed in relief.
"You really are my little monster, aren't you?" his father said. He replied, "I could have gone higher, but that would damage my foundation; also, I was practicing magic and sword, so I couldn't cultivate all the time." His father and mother were happy for their son's intelligence on balance.
But suddenly the atmosphere shifted.
"Since you have increased your rank, there are things you have to know as you will soon be sent out into the world," his father said with a stern face; his mother frowned too.
Then he started speaking, "I'm sure you already know the existence of demons and the monsters we fight daily, so I won't be speaking on it, but I will be talking about something else not in the library you read."
"Something else?" Anthony asked.
"The Forsaken Cult," his mother said.
Anthony didn't know what the Forsaken Cult was, so he just listened.
"They are people of a different race who have sided with the demons to help bring the world down. They have been around for 2 million years now; there were some cults before them, but we always managed to uproot them, but after you wipe them out, another group appears, they are just endless like the demons," his father said.
"They mainly do assassination, killing and stealing, and try to bring down powerhouses, killing growing and budding talents, trafficking, kidnapping, enslaving children, and adding them to their ranks," his mother said.
"Do you know why I'm telling you all this?" asked his father, who waited for his son's reply.
Anthony thought and said, "To be careful, never trust anyone, never drop my guard."
"Good! I'm happy to see my son understands. There is no mercy on the battlefield, Anthony; once you delay for a split second, you are dead, never pause your sword, never halt your magic, always push through."
"I once had a friend, well, a best friend at that, whom I trusted with my life. For 70 years we went through it all together, but we never bowed our heads; we came back alive and on top each time. But I was betrayed; it turns out that he was with the Forsaken Cult from the very beginning, and his job was to get close to me, build trust. The day he betrayed me, we both fought to death and died on the battlefield after I killed all his companions who came together to kill me. We all died that day."
Anthony's mind went blank; he thought, "Father died?" before he could speak.
His father continued, "But your grandmother saved me and brought me back to life. Father arrived on time and took my body to Mom, which she used a skill to bring me back to life. Father warned me, as I am here warning you, but I didn't listen and paid for it with my life."
"That's how the rumors of Mom possessing a skill that can bring back the dead began, but she denied it all. As time passed, people didn't believe it, but no one can truly answer."
"In essence, don't trust anyone who isn't bound by a mana contract that has no loophole or family; do not pay the price like me."
Anthony fell into deep thought; he already guessed that people would side with the demons, it was natural, as there was no way demons would invade for 7 million years and people didn't follow them, that was impossible, but he didn't expect his father's story. His best friend spent 70 years on a mission; he couldn't even understand this concept of time, as in his previous life 70 years was already an excessively long time.
At the end, he only looked at his father and said with a bow, "I will not disappoint the patriarch."
This was the first time he referred to his father as the patriarch, and that was because this was a serious moment; he had to answer on the occasion.
His parents smiled and asked him about his training, which he answered with all questions answered, and they still stuffed resources like potions into his storage ring, which he always transferred to his inventory.
He went back to his room, calmed his mind, and started thinking about his next course of action.
He planned to take it easy, but it seemed the game was set to abysmal mode right from the beginning; he knew that for the demons to survive 7 million years till now, they are more than just cockroaches. He sighed but looked determined.
Then he thought, "I am already A rank, I wonder if I can find who cursed me."
Then he sat down and activated his skill Omniscient, trying to see who cursed him. His eyes moved and looked down at the world from a bird's-eye view, then he went straight for the information he wanted. He saw a blurry existence in a coffin emitting a thick dark aura which seemed to surpass the SSS rank; he didn't know the rank, but it's surely above it. He knew what that dark aura was, "Chaos", attributes of the demons and those who sold their soul to them for more power.
He tried to see it clearly, but his mana rank was still too low to use the authority to its full usage, then he deactivated the skill; he sighed, already expecting this. Then it clicked in his mind to use the All Seeing Eyes.
He activated the All Seeing Eyes and gazed into the past, watching it from a third-person view, and saw it—the same person and coffin.
It was someone from the human race who was part of the Forsaken Cult; then the person's information entered his mind, and then he deactivated the skill.
It turns out the person who cursed him is suffering from the backlash and is in deep slumber; he sealed himself so it wouldn't affect him more.
But the question remains: why was he cursed? He can't just get cursed out of nowhere.
Then he activated the All Seeing Eyes again and looked further into the past, gazing back to when the man even had the idea to curse. There he saw it all: it was the same man who sent his father's best friend to his father's side to gain trust. After the mission failed and his father survived but the best friend died, the man wanted revenge. It turns out he raised his father's best friend like a son; he didn't make him sell his soul, so his so-called son could still use mana like a normal person and gain his father's trust.
(This is practically how the Forsaken do it, not all of them sell their soul so they can still use normal mana and be able to infiltrate places openly.)
So he cursed him a week after his birth, after the man got news; then 10 years later, he received a backlash from the curse, his lifespan was rapidly declining, so he used another ancient rank artifact like the curse to seal himself away, to preserve his life.
Anthony was bamboozled; it turns out the man behind the scenes of his father's death was still alive all these while and no one knew.
Anthony's gaze turned cold, 'You better stay in that coffin and wait for me, I will be there to collect what's mine' he said in his mind, then he slept off.