The dining hall was exactly as I remembered: sleek grey furniture, not a speck of dust, no unnecessary decor.
Clean and devoid of anything deemed useless.
In a way it was the perfect reflection of House Damocles.
As the three of us made our way to the table, I could feel the tension in the room raising.
My "family" was starring at me with disbelief. It seemed Yudher didn't tell them anything in advance.
Bothersome.
Walking to the table I saw that there was not a single chair in place for us.
"What's the meaning of this Yudher? If you're not going to feed us, why make us stay at the estate?"
The deafening silence that previously dominated the area was quickly destroyed by my brother.
"How dare you talk that way to father! And how the fuck are you alive?!"
I looked at him, and then back to Yudher, the bastard was smirking.
The hard way it is.
I approached my brother and stood in front of him.
"Aaron, you need to understand when to shut the fuck up. Especially when nobody asked your opinion."
"Who the fuck do you think you are? Just because you're alive it doesn't mean you'll be back in the family!"
I chuckled at his reaction. Aaron had always been overshadowed by me, even being the older brother he never stood a chance against me. I understood his resentment, but it meant nothing to me.
This bastard even threw a party when news about my cancer spread out.
Now that I think of it…
Both my sisters, who were sitting and glaring at me, also attended that party.
"You know Aaron, I know you threw a party for me when I was ill, but I didn't receive an invitation."
"Th-that.."
The stutter in his voice was a clear sign of his shock, after all I shouldn't have known about this party.
"You have to thank Sarah for telling me! She was so happy! Boasting how everyone in the estate was celebrating my sickness!"
The girls then widened their eyes, and Sarah, the eldest between us siblings, started shifting uncomfortably.
I started to enjoy the situation, these monsters wearing familiar clothes deserved a beating more than anyone else, but right now I needed the information I worked for.
"Aaron. Get your sisters and leave, I have business with your daddy."
"Why should we make space for you!? What are you going to do?! I have an A rank skill, if you try something I can easily overpower you!"
Oh?
Sure he claimed to have an A rank skill, but with the barely existing mana in his body I doubted he could fully operate it.
Another thing that caught my eye, was that everyone except for Juna, my mother, had the premises of a mage. Weren't mages rare?
I looked ad Odysseus who shrugged his shoulders and only said: "it must be your blood."
Well, that answered nothing.
I shifted my focus back to Aaron who mistook my action for hesitation and then looked at Yudher, who was still smirking for some reason.
"Haaa, very well. Use that oh so frightening skill on me."
Aaron didn't wait a second and as soon as I asked, he jumped up screaming at the top of his lungs.
"PLASMA WHIP!"
A whip entirely made of plasma materialised in his hand, but the mana was so erratic I was honestly surprised it was even holding up.
However, I was interested in the principal behind the skill, plasma was not something I could easily recreate even with magic.
It makes sense though, plasma is a state of matter at the end of the day.
"That's it?"
It didn't mean I would say any kind words to him.
Aaron launched his attack and I decided it was time to put my training in mana dissonance to fruit, the mana forming this skill was in shambles either way.
I quickly let out a thread of my Archana and focused on the flow of mana around the whip.
And then.
Snap.
With a simple gesture of my hand, the whip completely disintegrated.
But I wasn't done yet.
Flowery disperse.
In a fraction of a second, Aaron and his sisters found themselves at the other end of the room, far behind their parents.
"Odysseus, Hali, sit and enjoy the meal!"
I was smiling like the purest of saints and they started laughing wholeheartedly.
"I swear Klaus, with that mana sensitivity even elves might feel discouraged hahahah."
"Shut up Hali! Focus on your own training."
We started chatting our way to the table completely ignoring all the bewildered looks of the members of House Damocles.
It was not our business anyway.
"So, Klaus when did you study Greek? Don't you think you and your guests should be speaking English in our house?"
I glanced a Juna, the only aura user in the room beside Hali. The mother I thought I loved, but now, after meeting with my real mother, I only felt disgust.
"Courtesy comes with hospitality, Juna. Not only you and your husband called us for dinner to a table with no space for us. You also poisoned all our foods."
Hearing my words everyone stopped in their tracks, Odysseus finally remembered how House Damocles only ate poisoned food to improve poison resistance and looked my way.
I simply gestured for him to look at his plate, where a small flower was continuously emitting my Archana to heal my friends for every bite they took.
"Now, leaving all the bullshit aside, since I don't give a fuck about any of this. We cleared the dungeon at Willoughby marsh, but there are some worrying news I'd like to share, free of charge. Only after you keep your end of the deal of course."
I looked at Yudher, who was drinking vine leisurely as if none of this mattered to him anyway.
"Yellowknife, that's were all the rumours of the cult originate from."
I was speechless, Yellowknife was basically on the other side of the continent from here. Previously it would take at least 2 days of travel without stopping from Toronto to Yellowknife and I wasn't sure things changed since these idiots weren't even able to harness mana appropriately.
Then Yudher continued.
"It seems that during the advent of mana, a temple appeared in the forest surrounding Yellowknife, however these are just baseless rumors, nobody has found anything, but the voices around it are calling it the temple of time and the group spreading this news is similar to a religious cult."
This news was bad, let the distance alone, if we really had to get there, we would be wasting so much time, how did Basil even make us appear here?
Could it have been because of the dungeons and that akashic protection thing?
Odysseus sensing my tumultuous thoughts nudged me and asked in perfect English.
"What's wrong Klaus? These are useful information, why are you frowning?"
"You don't need to be respectful of these people… and the problem is distance. Yellowknife is at least 2 days away not stopping with the vehicle we used to come to the estate."
"Oh… isn't there a faster way?"
I shrugged, of course we could fly there with the family helicopter, but I doubted we could even hope to consider such a solution.
"As a matter of facts, there is a faster way."
Yet Yudher quickly shattered my previous negativity.
And although he was able to overcome our problem I was not naive enough to accept a favour from this family, there were always strings attached.
"Well, I won't say a single thing, but it's related to the accords previously taken for the third dungeon clear."
So it's related to a magical beast… does Odysseus know something I don't?
"Fuck. Let's go then. We don't have time to waste."
Odysseus and Hali quickly got up and were ready for action once again, but Yudher seemed to have a different opinion.
"Not so fast you ungrateful bastard. The circle and the core first, and the worrying information you said you wanted to give as a freebie."
He smirked probably thinking I was a fool for giving free imformation, but I didn't give a fuck, if they wanted this world to end, they could be my guests.
I started explaining how to check one's affinity to magic (Merlin wasn't a completely useless teacher) and how to form the mana circle around the heart. When I was done, with the help of Hali, since I never really formed an aura core, we cleared the air on that mystery as well.
Yudher and Juna, surrounded by my sibilings, had a ghastly expression, they were shocked by the information I was giving and how easily I displayed control over mana.
Aaron was the first to speak.
"How the fuck do you do it? I can't feel shit!"
I laughed a little and just shrugged.
"Well I do have a mana breathing technique I don't use anymore, but that was never in the picture, so… sucks to be you I guess."
"FATHER DO SOMETHING! WE CAN'T LET HIM GO WITH THAT BREATHING TECHNIQUE! WE NEED IT TO GROW STRONGER."
Yudher's face quickly darkened.
"And how the fuck am I supposed to do so? You saw how skills are useless against him."
Silence reigned supreme in the room once again. Everyone was looking at me expectant, but that was not a problem for me.
"Now, if you're done with your useless skirmish, let's get to the worrying matter."
Without waiting for them to interrupt me again, I started to report our findings about dungeons and other races, the threat levels and how this world was bound to face numerous invasions. How their strength was completely useless and how modern weapons wouldn't work against them. They had some possibilities with poison, but only against weak ass enemies.
My story destroyed their egos, and I was extremely pleased with that.
These creatures I once called family, were shivering in front of me.
After all I had been through I felt somewhat vindicated.
I focused on their faces, I wanted to engrave this moment in my memory, but when I zeroed on them I noticed something strange.
A barely visible smoke was clouding their eyes, and with the informations I recieved after the evolution of my trait, I knew very well what this was.
"Very well, the freebie has been given, arrange for our transport to the other dungeons, we'll take care of this swiftly and then depart for Yellowknife."
I then turned on my heels and gestured for Odysseus and Hali to follow me.
Robert offered to escor Hali to her room, but I needed both of then and we'd depart soon either way.
As soon as we reached my room, Hali and Odysseus understood immediately that something was wrong.
"Odysseus, sound barrier. Now."
Not wasting a second, he snapped his fingers and the wind entrapped us in a prefect sound barrier.
"What's wrong Dimitris? Everything was going fine? Did you notice something?"
Odysseus was now as alarmed as me, of course he would be.
"I think they are possessed."
"The whole family?"
"Yes, after awakening the new trait, all information regarding spirit magic was directly injected in me, it's completely different from regular magic, more ritualistic, more ancient and with it came knowledge about evil spirits, how they possess and what they do to the possessed."
"What do they do?"
It was Hali to ask this question, while Odysseus seemed shocked about something.
"They transform them in other spirits, that's how they reproduce. Odysseus, what the fuck is wrong with you now?"
He stayed silent for a little while, but eventually caved in.
"Dimitris, only 2 entities are known to harness spirit magic, many tried in Athene only to obtain poor results, and even those results where thanks to one of these entities."
"You mean?"
"Yes, one is The Father to whom all go, the other is the first King. King Solomon."
"Well, that's kind of funny…"
"What do you mean?"
"My trait, promise you won't tell nobody."
Then I turned towards Hali.
"Hali, not even your father. Or you can leave."
They looked at each other and nodded decisively.
"I, Odysseus."
"And I, Hali."
"We swear on the Styx to not reveal any information regarding Dimitris Klaus Damocles' trait, not to living, dead nor divine soul."
Previously, when Yudher swore on the Styx, I felt nothing, but this time I saw it clearly.
Obsidian chaines entered both of them and circled their hearts.
I gulped.
"Very well. Thank you."
"My trait is called: key of Solomon."
[Trait: key of Solomon.
The life of the first king had always been surrounded by magic and myth. All knowledge about spirit magic will be gradually revealed to you based on your progress.
Your understanding of demonic arts is facilitated, the 72 thrones of Ars Goetia are looking at you.]
Hali was shocked out of her wits, Odysseus as well was pale.
"Is it something bad?"
He mumbled something but eventually answered me.
"Not really something bad, it's just that king Solomon, was a demon… I know you don't care, and neither do I, but… oh well, fuck it. Do you need our help?"
I didn't know how to answer, spirit magic didn't seem like anything strong to me, it was more akin to a funeral rite, but I trusted Odysseus.
"Not yet, we'll probably be called to go to the next dungeon in a few minutes."
We dismissed the sound barrier and sat on the bed awaiting our call.
A call that soon after arrived.
Knock knock knock.
"Young master, your ride to Hamilton is ready."