Meanwhile, within the main hall of House Astalon, Arian faced his parents: the head of household, Duke Luther di Astalon and his wife, Cassandra di Elektra.
As one of the four Ducal Houses of the Blood Smelting Kingdom, House Astalon carried an illustrious legacy that dated back to the founding of the kingdom. Their head, Luther, was a renowned great duke at the tenth level of Inner Accumulation, enough to become a respected figure of the Red Cloud Theocracy and a powerhouse of the Blood Smelting Kingdom.
But if before, Luther was the undisputable ruler of his house, in recent years, he had to take a backseat to his wife, Cassandra. For in nine years, Cassandra's templar rank went from the ninth level of Minor Expansion to the twelfth level of Inner Accumulation!
To reach the tenth level of Inner Accumulation, Luther had to go through over 350 years of body tempering. But Cassandra had barely crossed 120, and yet her templar rank had already surpassed his!
Luther didn't understand what kind of divine miracle his wife had obtained to progress this fast. Only Cassandra knew…that the one she owed her meteoric rise to…was none other than Mithras.
Templars needed external sources of Sid Flame to progress. With higher classes of Sid Flames, templars progressed much faster and got better results. But to say nothing of the measly Blood Smelting Kingdom. Throughout the Spiritual World, how many had access to a God-level Sid Flame?
This was the stuff of Higher Planes!
One can therefore understand why Cassandra had a hard time processing the recent news.
"You…did what?" Although she'd heard it already, although Mithras' shattered Slave Seal proved the facts, Cassandra asked again, hoping that Arian would retract his statement.
"Mom, I killed Mithras! I wanted him to beg for mercy. If he begged, I wouldn't have killed him! But he refused to beg, so I sliced him to death with over 100 knife slashes!" Arian said in a loud and piercing voice, looking proud and satisfied with his actions.
In that instant, Cassandra's eyes glazed over, and she staggered, struggling to remain on her feet.
"Mom…" confused by his mother's change, Arian reached out, but before he could finish his words, Cassandra's eyes turned red, and her fist jerked forth, smashing into Arian's face.
Unprepared and defenseless, the young noble flew back, crashing into a wall—his bones cracked instantly.
"Hateful…worthless and unfilial bastard! I will kill you!" Berserk waves of Sid erupted from Cassandra's body, and as she clenched her fists, killing intent flashed through her brown eyes.
"My lady…control yourself!" Alarmed, Luther put himself in Cassandra's path. The Astalon duke didn't care about Mithras. In his eyes, the boy was nothing more than a beautiful servant—pleasing to the eyes, but with no practical use.
His life and death had no bearing on House Astalon—or so the duke believed.
But Arian was different. Mutations, Genes and Flames traditionally split into six classes: Third class, Second class, First class, King class, Saint class, and Divine class.
Born with a first-class Blueflame Hawk Gene, if trained well Arian had the potential to temper his body to the Golden Palace rank at the very least, becoming a dominant powerhouse of the Purple Dawn Continent.
He was the hope of House Astalon. As his father and head of household, how could Luther allow him to be harmed because of an ordinary servant?
"Get…lost!" But little did Luther expect that, instead of cooling down, when he put himself in her path, Cassandra only got more heated. The might of her fleshly body erupted in full force, the ground cracking and windows bursting as the lady of House Astalon unleashed her fury.
Without a care for their marriage bonds, Cassandra kicked Luther's chest, directly sending him flying through the door.
Only two levels separated them, and yet the gap between Luther and his wife looked like the difference between an adult and a malnourished child.
A cool breeze blew across the scene, and Cassandra appeared before her son, grabbing him by the neck and hoisting him up in the air.
"Good for nothing piece of shit! From infancy to maturity, I provided you with food, shelter, wealth, freedom, glory, splendor and all the luxuries you desired! But what did you give me in return? Nothing! Nothing but problems and disappointments.
Your First-class Gene is the only good thing about you. Mithras is a hundred times the son you will ever be! So I hope for you that this is a joke, that my Mithras is still alive and well! Otherwise…all the deities in the divine planes combined will not be able to save you from what I will do to you!
And you better forget about Ishtar, because there is no chance in hell that I will allow you to lay your dirty fingers on Mithras' sister!" With her face twisted by mad, frenetic rage, Cassandra spoke words that she never thought could cross her lips—then tossed Arian out of the way, rushing through the door.
Denial was the first stage of grief. Despite Arian's admission and the shattered slave seal, Cassandra couldn't believe that Mithras was dead.
No…she refused to accept it, and like a bolt of lightning, raced towards Arian's courtyard—her heart pounding uncontrollably.
Arian stayed behind, trapped in debris and burning with hatred.
'Haha…you…forced my hand!'
---
The relationship between Mithras and Lady Cassandra was a convoluted mess. On the one hand, Mithras despised her for keeping his beloved sister imprisoned and away from him. But on the other hand, he always felt grateful towards Cassandra.
Had he never crossed Cassandra's path, Mithras would have starved to death alongside his sister. Of that, he had no doubt. Even Ishtar's ability to learn a trade relied on Cassandra's gifts—without which Mithras wouldn't have been able to pay his sister's apprenticeship fees.
But no debt could justify the things that Cassandra made him do.
As for Cassandra, at first, she only saw Mithras as a tool for self-fulfillment and personal growth. But as time progressed, she got more and more attached to the youth—feeling wronged by the silent hatred she felt from his eyes. Due to that attachment, Cassandra became increasingly more possessive, refusing to allow Mithras to develop bonds with others.
In the current Mithras' eyes, Cassandra was an opportunity—an opportunity he had to tame to save his sister and take control of House Astalon. As for how to tame her, wasn't that obvious? He just had to give her what she wanted:
The shlong!
The Wisdom of the Slithering Emperor kicked in, expanding Mithras' vision and feeding his ambitions.
'Unlock the Starter Pack.' Mithras ordered, prompting a spiral of golden light to take shape before him. Three boxes appeared, invisible to all besides Mithras.
As the system's words echoed in Mithras' brain, the boxes opened, revealing a set of three different items: a ring, a pouch, and a bone. Sweet descriptions followed each item, explaining their use.
In the Spiritual World, Genes, Sid Flames, skills, and various items all followed the same hierarchy of Third class, Second class, First class, King, Saint, and Divine—with the Third class being the lowest and Divine being the highest.
But there was one grade that didn't exist in the Spiritual World, currently only available in the system: the Tyrant class!
'Bruuh…what kind of gifts are these?
They are so…amazing!' Faced with the system's Starter Pack, Mithras was speechless. As expected from a creation of the Lord, this system was so wicked that a part of Mithras couldn't help but feel sorry for his future enemies.
"List all the ways to earn Ero Points."
<100 points for every social taboo broken—fornication and adultery count as well>
<300 points for every girl stolen from another man—one-sided crushes count as well—doubled for every stage of the man's Sid rank that is above the host's>
<50 points for each time the host humiliates a competitor—tripled for each cucking>
<50 points for each time a competitor begs the host to not fuck his love—tripled if the host fucks her anyway>
<6666 points for every new girl that pays the host for sex—then reduced to 69 points—also doubled for every stage of the girl's Sid rank above the host's>
<200 points for each girl that falls in love with the host—doubled for every stage of the girl's Sid rank above the host's>
<1,000 points whenever one of the host's cucked enemies tries to commit suicide>
"Dude…the fuck!" Mithras couldn't believe his eyes.
Evil…too evil! Never in his life had Mithras been exposed to such a corrupt and wicked list. The System wasn't forcing Mithras into the villain path. But to exploit all its perks and accumulate Ero Points as soon as possible, Mithras would have to engage in acts that'd make the hedonists in his past life look like harmless teddy bears.
But as Mithras' thoughts reached this point, Arian's face flashed through his mind, filling his chest with an overwhelming burst of killing intent.
What was so wrong with making a man who had sliced him to death on false charges pay a corresponding price?
What was so wrong with using his third chance at life to enjoy himself like a boss?!
The system might not have a main quest ready, but Mithras had one in mind, one that perfectly aligned with this lewd list!
'The Lord is merciful. Praise be his name! I do not know if I will one day turn into a villain. But I sure as hell do not want to be a hero…except for my cultured bros!' Mithras made an inward pledge.
There was nothing wrong with the system's offers. How and who Mithras used them on would determine whether he was still a respectable man or a shameless scoundrel.
As for the Starter Pack choice, Mithras directly gave up on the 300,000 Ero Points. Of the three, they were undoubtedly the least valuable and came with uncontrollable risks. It only took a glance to see that Divine class items such as the Priapic Dragon Bone cost over 100 million points in the System Shop. As for Tyrant-class items, their value exceeded the billion mark.
Giving up on items of such value for 300,000 Ero Points that'd drive him insane with lust didn't make any sense. But as Mithras hesitated between the Priapic Dragon Bone and the Green Emperor Seal…
"Mithras…" a tender voice came from his back. Immediately, Mithras recognized that voice. Purple light flashed through his eyes, and his lips curled up.