I stood there, letting the warm water flow to ease the tension in my muscles. I was thinking about how to better use my abilities. Like I've said before, the Panel is only there to provide direction; it gives very little information. It can accurately calculate F-rank to A-rank abilities, but S-rank is a different story. The system just identifies anything beyond A-rank as "S" because it can't measure any higher. When it comes to S-rankers, you can never underestimate anyone. If you think my abilities are overpowered, just wait until you see some of the freaks out there.
Ranking up is simple: you need to raise all your stats to 100. Once they hit the cap, you "breakthrough," the stats reset to 0, and you do it all again. I've read that the process changes once you reach the rank of Count, but that's a problem for future me. What concerns me right now is the vague description Chaos Monarch gave me:
S-Rank: Chaos Monarch
(The unordered state of the elements and laws of the universe. Chaos is the beginning and the end; it bends to your will.)
I know, right? Who writes this crap and expects it to be useful to anybody? So far, every time I rank up, I get a new element. At Rank 1, I had Fire; now, at Rank 4, I've unlocked Lightning. I don't know if this pattern will continue or shift. Man, why couldn't I be the Shadow Monarch? Who wouldn't want to walk around with their hands in their pockets, just saying "Arise" and erasing all their problems?
Well, no use thinking too much about it.
I walked out of the bathroom drying my hair and caught my reflection. Damn. The only good thing the old man gave me in this world was his genes, because I look beyond handsome. I don't think they've even invented a word for my looks yet. I can dress in simple clothes and it still looks like I'm doing the fabric a favor. I looked in the mirror again: silver hair and purple eyes that looked like precious gems.
As I was smiling at my reflection like a fool, I heard a sweet but cold voice behind me. "If you are done admiring yourself, Father wants all of us in the dining hall."
I turned to see my sister standing there. Man, the people in this world really lack manners. Who just walks into someone's room like that? Maybe it's just a noble thing. I walked past her without even acknowledging her presence. She followed me quietly until we reached the hall.
Everyone was already there. My father has seven children, including me. I am the seventh—the one he bred just to create a better bloodline, though he has no idea how to actually handle children afterward. I don't have a good relationship with my siblings. When I awakened, my father put all of his focus on me. Awakening two abilities is rare but possible; awakening two S-rank abilities was something no one had ever heard of.
My father personally "tortured"—um, I mean, trained—me himself, leaving my siblings to the tutors. He poured every resource into me and stopped visiting his wives or his other six children. My siblings, realizing that hating my father would only put them on his enemies' list, decided to throw all that hate toward me instead. They thought I was "taking all his love."
If only they knew there was no love to begin with. When that man first saw what an "Undying Body" could do, he broke almost every bone in my body so they would grow back stronger. He even fed me doses of different poisons to develop an immunity. He pushed me so hard that if I didn't have a strong will, I would have ended it all long ago. I wish they knew I actually wanted to share some of that "love" with them.
I sat down and we ate in silence. Once we finished, he finally spoke.
"Lucien has now reached the age to start at the Academy. He will spend three years there, and after he graduates, I will decide what to do with him. You will take first place in the entrance exam. The world will be watching, and I do not want you to do anything that stains the family name. You will depart with your sister, Hazel, tomorrow morning."
(Hazel was the one who entered my room. I've never really cared for the names of these idiots; I don't even remember some of them.)
"Do you understand?" he finished his long, boring speech. Man, this must have been how the Konoha kids felt listening to the Third Hokage drone on about the "Will of Fire."
"Yes," I replied, not even acknowledging him as my father.
"Okay then. Go and rest. I have to talk to your siblings."
I stood up and walked back to my room, laying down on a soft, massive bed that could fit a family of eight. Seriously, the Academy was more of a babysitting service. Monarchs—like my father—are always needed at various battlefields and can't leave their children alone. It might look like the races are united, but nasty things are happening in the shadows. So, they send the kids to the Buzvian Academy in Fier. The Headmistress there is a Monarch who never leaves the grounds, so all the talented children who aren't ready for war are sent there for protection.
I'm just glad to be getting away from my father and this suffocating house. As I drifted off to sleep, I thought about what kind of fun was about to unfold out in the world.