RD 4 Ch 2

Simone was still pouting as we were ushered into Zeus's palace. She desperately wanted to understand more about the women in my past life.

It was… complicated for me so I chose to ignore it for now.

The grand structure of Zeus’ palace sat atop a seaside cliff, dwarfing all other buildings in the clan with its bright white columns and towering roofline.

The place was massive and grand to the extreme, but I was in my head, thinking about how to respond the next time Simone poked about my past relationships.

Servants bustled about the hall, carrying out various tasks. A steady stream of them brought items to the largest balcony I'd ever seen, where Hercules and Zeus were deep in conversation. Giant marble columns held up the ceiling above them, while the open-faced platform stretched out for at least 50 yards, offering a breathtaking view of the sea.

"Bran," Zeus greeted me, striding up as if he were a familiar grandfather. "So good to have you back." His smile was a touch too wide, but his gesture was interrupted by a heavy thump of Hercules's hand on my shoulder.

"Yes, so good to have you back. Perse has been talking our ear off about your… short trip." He pinched his eyes and tried to smile through his words, but they were incredibly forced.

I chuckled at both of them, grabbing them by the shoulder and leading them back to the balcony. Pleasant scenery always helped. "Yes, it's been just a little more chaotic than I expected, but I come bearing gifts." With a flick of my hands, two platters appeared before me, both heavily laden with fruits to increase their stats.

Hercules ignored the fruits, not realizing what they were. "Oh, thank you." He pulled them to the side.

However, Zeus inspected the items, and his eyes went wide before he snatched up one of the apples and crushed it into his mouth, quickly devouring it.

Hercules frowned at Zeus’ intensity, reassessing the fruits and then gobbling them up immediately after. Both of them were glancing into the air as they devoured the fruits to confirm they were real.

Even in a world of magic and the system, they doubted that someone so good could be delivered with such ease.

I stepped back with a chuckle. "Don't worry, I don't think anyone can steal them from you here. Just a small gift, knowing that I caused you some inconvenience."

Zeus seemed to recover from his greed quickly. After he finished the first fruit, dismissed the rest. "Yes, well, I had to check the veracity of those items," he said, looking around at all the servants who had stopped to stare at him. He pulled his shoulders back and stood up just a little more stately. "And it seems they're truly as the system says they are. Not that I had any reason to doubt the system, but such items are exceedingly rare. How did you obtain so many?"

"Well, where I went was full of them, and of course we had to split many of them with those who participated. What I offered you was from my portion." I answered with a solemn expression.

Zeus stroked his white beard. He always seemed to try and draw people's attention to his facial hair. "Well, that's very kind of you, Bran. Unfortunately, while a wonderful gift, your absence has cost us considerably."

I could see a little greed sparkle in his eyes. I made my best pained expression before pulling out the rest of the fruits that I planned to give them. "This is all that I was able to receive," I said, thinking that I was actually playing the part quite well considering.

It was never my intent to give them all at once, they’d be taken for granted. In situations like this, Zeus and Hercules wanted to punish me and I was happy to let them have that illusion if it meant I could keep the Heros Clan’s support.

Zeus smirked and snatched the remainder of the fruits. "It's good you know not to take all of the reward for yourself." Zeus bounced on the balls of his feet and put his hands behind his back as he fought a smile from stretching across his face.

To him, this was a victory. Too bad he didn’t realize how much I had kept for myself.

"Well, I figured they'd be more valuable to you," I said hurriedly, as if I was a youngster trying to appease the elder of the clan. "After all, the gold cost for you to improve this amount of stats must be astronomical."

Zeus grunted, and while he didn't admit it, his face said I was very clearly right. "Well, thankfully, you understood some of the complexities of being an Initiated. I know you have those memories of your other life. However, you are living in this one, and as a child of the Heros Clan, it is important that you play that role. Unfortunately," he hesitated, "despite the gifts, I do not think your absence can be so simply forgotten."

"Oh, what do you mean?" I feigned innocence.

"It was quite apparent that we were unable to awaken the bloodlines of the next generation. I'm afraid that even some rumors have spread outside the clan." His voice grew gruff.

I waved away his comment, "Simple enough. We'll awaken all of them that we've missed. And those rumors will disappear just as quickly as they came. I managed to grow stronger and that means they’ll be stronger for it." I had no idea how my stats factored into the ability, but it was clear that there was some room for improvement.

Zeus seemed slightly torn. "No, no, we can't do that," he said after a moment. "The losses that the Clan suffered and the doubt in our reputation are too great for something that simple. There will be people thinking, 'What if when it comes my turn, or my child's turn, they can't awaken his bloodline?'"

“Not a problem, the first step is restoring their confidence. I'll do it for everyone that's of age right now. And then in two days, everything's going to change." I started to lead them into the next part of the conversation. “They’ll not be too focused on the future.”

Zeus narrowed his eyes, watching me more closely. "Yes, that's right, you said demons are coming."

Hercules, who had been continuing to devour his fruits while Zeus and I spoke, looked up from them with his mouth stuffed. "If that's going to happen in two days," he said, some fruit coming out of his mouth as he talked, "then we should finish up awakening bloodlines before then."

"I completely agree. I think the first order of business should be getting everyone's bloodline awakened. Next, I will be investigating to see if I can't use my skill to create an enchantment to do it for us." I offered.

Zeus and Hercules looked between each other and then back at me. Then they looked over at Circe behind me, who was also looking at me strangely.

"There is one unfortunate flaw with me making it from an enchantment." Now I had everybody’s attention, even as Persephone appeared in a chunk of black smoke.

"And what would that be?" Hercules finally put down his fruit.

"If we used it I wouldn't be able to rank up the skill with all the practice of awakening their bloodlines myself. Thus, the enchantment will be at the skill rank that I have now. And I'll have to use other means to improve my skill like awakening bloodlines of others."

"Perhaps we can just save the enchantment as a stopgap," Zeus offered, "and keep you involved in all of the other times."

Even Circe suddenly seemed very interested in the idea, the blue haired woman furrowed her brows as she stared into the middle distance. Only Persephone was looking skeptical of an enchantment that could awaken bloodlines.

"Why do you only mention it now?" my great-great and a few other greats, Grandmother asked.

"Mostly because the cost is startlingly exorbitant. However, with the demons coming to Earth, they too bring a vast amount of wealth, enough to completely change the present scale of costs. Some of these demons will be level 300 and 400, especially during the First Demon War. The top end will reach level 800." I had all of their attention now. "And I can guarantee you, a level 800 demon does not just rely on levels for stats. He'll have high-ranked equipment, more system gold than you can imagine, and have buffed his stats through inexplicable means."

"So what you're saying," Persephone rubbed her chin, "is that you can build us an inscription, however you can't build it until these broader resources have been collected." Her words put a significant damper on the mood around the room.

"Correct." I flashed her a winning smile. "And those resources will come with many others.” The booklet I had been working on appeared in my hands. “It just so happens that I've written a small guide regarding events of interest. Both for the personal growth of everyone here, and the growth of the clan as a whole in this booklet."

Their eyes fixed on the booklet and I had to fight off a grin. They had wandered from one topic to the next just as I hoped and I continued to provide them with the answers they wanted before they could even voice them.

"I suppose you're offering all of this, and the next thing you're going to say is, you'll go get the supplies personally?" Hercules asked with a rough grin.

"Oh, no," I shook my head. "I'll leave it to the clan to collect the necessary supplies. There will be more system gold and levels to get that way. I mean, think of all the experience you could inject into the clan members.

"But, I assure you, there is information of interest to you personally within these booklets. For example, there is information on two SSS-ranked dungeons that will appear in the coming year. And you can have that plus other valuable information for the low price of not trying to shackle me to the clan, so I too can go out and flourish amongst these same opportunities.”

“And what happens if you don't come back?” Zeus pushed.

Obviously that was going to be their biggest hangup.

“My best option for you would be for the clan to build enough for the central part of the inscription." I opened up the booklet to the last few pages where a detailed inscription was drawn out across both pages. "This part here. I can also go over the resources, of course, if you wish. I'll inject my skill into that. The rest of this is about powering it, amplifying it, so you can do an entire group at once. So a couple extra flourishes here and there to try and stimulate some increase in skill success. After all, I spent quite a bit of time designing this and I know a lot about inscriptions." I then snapped the book closed before any of them could reach out their greedy hands. "Now, what do you say?"

They also needed to not look at this too closely. The Heros Clan had some level of inscription experts among them and perhaps if they spent enough time with this, they’d realize the fundamental flaw.

"I say, it looks like you came well enough prepared to buy our forgiveness." Zeus stepped forward and snatched the book out of my hands. "You'll build the central part of this inscription before you leave." He flipped the book sideways, squinting at the inscription drawings. However, I knew no one present could possibly understand enough to decipher how it worked. 

Before I built the central element, of course, the reality was that they were all being duped. Technically I could build something now to awaken their bloodlines. It would not be nearly as effective as my skill; it would be more on par with weak awakening potions. So, it would work, but I doubted that the clan would be happy with it in the long term. They wouldn’t be getting any S rank or above bloodlines with it.

However, I would figure something out for them in the future, rather than taking on the risk of being stuck in the Heros clan while the first demon war unfolded its bounty of opportunities.

Possibly by the time they actually got the thing up and running, I could make the necessary advancements in my skill to make it work more in line with their expectations.

Hercules took the booklet from Zeus and began flipping through it, looking at all of the notes of what would come in the next year. "Battle plans?" Hercules asked, getting to a spot that I knew everyone would find very interesting. 

"I know how the first war went, though I will admit this timeline is deviating in some ways. But where I have been all this time was working to ensure that those that fought valiantly in the first demon war did not get possessed by demons. That would have meant an absolute slaughter for humans in what is to come in a few days. I am sorry I missed awakening young Heros clan members. I had not believed it would take so long. But I promise the mission I carried forward was well worth that loss." I watched Zeus and Hercules' reaction, both of them having some bitter acknowledgement of what I had done. 

"The clan should come first. Of course, with this knowledge," Hercules tapped the book in his other hand, "even if we had lost a large number of others around the globe, the clan would be able to reap enough benefits to make up for that loss. Now, with all this information, I have to ask, what are you doing that you didn't put in here?"

"Oh, I'll be present at some of those opportunities," I said, pointing at the book. "You think I'm not coming to an SSS rank dungeon? Think again.” Though I’d need to prepare for it. “However, there are a few critical moves that I wish to do for the start of the demon war. And of course, even if I know what's going to happen, it's important that I set up a system to watch, making sure everything unfolds as I remember. For all I know, this time around, someone important could have died a year ago. Or someone that I saved gets a hero complex only to upset the events as I know them."

Hercules nodded and flipped the book. "It's good you're not relying entirely on your knowledge. It isn’t impossible that the information from your past life had been boisterous, or perhaps inaccurate. A few small changes could topple all of the plans you've made." Hercules tucked the book into his own spatial ring. "However, I will be holding on to this booklet, and the Heros Clan will be making their own plans based on this information."

"Of course," I said, nodding and taking a step back. "Now, if you don't mind, I would like to head into the instance and begin what work I can on the inscription, as well as prepare for what I assume are a large number of individuals that will be coming in to get their bloodline awakened soon." I flashed them all a smile and took another step back before turning around and leaving.