Alex fell silent as Odeseus threw his head back and began laughing uncontrollably, yet with every breath, the laughter twisted, shifting in nature.
At first, it rang with raw amusent, as though he had just heard the greatest joke in existence. But soon the sound deepened, heavier, edged with anger, until finally it slowed, carrying an echo of surprise.
Odeseus raised his left hand and pressed his open palm over his eyes and forehead. His laughter faltered, thinning into broken bursts.
A wide, unsettling smile lingered on his face, caught sowhere between mockery and amusent.
Alex was left stumped, not knowing what to make of this reaction. Did hearing about the battle between the Ancient powers remind him of so joke? Or did it stir thoughts of his own status in the wider universe?
Perhaps the fate of the great Hydra was sohow amusing, thrilling, but also equally infuriating and surprising.
"When I had this sa vision, it led to so long, arduous days," Odeseus finally said after nearly a minute had passed. His laughter was gone now, and the coldness had returned to his voice. "It just reminded of my younger years. You may continue."
The answer felt underwhelming. Alex had expected sothing more, sothing more significant, because what else could force such a reaction from soone as strong as Odeseus?
But then again, it was understandable that mories of his younger days carried weight. Even though he was a Hegemon, one of the strongest in the realm, Odeseus was still nothing more than a prisoner, destined to die in the Ancestral Realm.
Alex continued with the details of the dream, telling of Sera, the younger sister of Dark, and eventually how the dream had ended.
Odeseus listened with an expressionless mask, though Alex could not see the truth behind it. In reality, a wide smile still curved across his face, betraying his excitent.
"To think... that my old man was not delusional," Odeseus murmured, his voice a ragged breath. His fist clenched unconsciously, his emotions in visible turmoil.
Odeseus snickered, failing to contain his excitent. "His vision proves that the Primordials and Ancients are just different nas for the sa class of individuals."
"To think that old fairy tale my old man used to tell was not just so big lie made up by him." Odeseus could barely contain his laughter, his voice trembling at the edge of disbelief.
"Our entire race of Dark Dragons was butchered for carrying a Primordial’s bloodline, a claim I thought was nothing but a story for my entire life." As the words left him, his face twisted.
The laughter drained away as rage and sorrow broke through, raw and unmasked. "So it was not because my father was a criminal." His jaw clenched, eyes burning with a grief too old to fade. "It was because of his bloodline that the Star Celestials hunted him down... Hunted us down."
"Cosmorian, the Star Primordial, the Great King of Silver, the Keeper of Peace and Prosperity, and now also the Friend Killer and the butcher of entire races."
"HAHAHAHA!" Odeseus burst into uncontrollable laughter once more, the sound rolling through the darkness. Alex, hearing nothing of it, pressed on with his explanation.
"I carry the bloodline of a Primordial," Odeseus threw his head back and laughed again, a sound that tore between mockery and pride.
"My visions prove that my bloodline has grown weak and no longer pure, but it doesn’t matter." Odeseus’s voice carried a chilling certainty, each word deliberate. "Soon it will change."
He looked ahead, his smile twisting into sothing sharp and unsettling, a cold gleam resting in his eyes. "I couldn’t have found a better vessel."
For a heartbeat, silence stretched, the weight of his words lingering like a shadow. Then he added, almost to himself, "It appears fate is smiling upon , once more."
Alex spent the next hour explaining every major and minor change that had taken place with his physique and the gains it had offered, until at last there was nothing left to tell.
"As agreed, now it’s your turn to benefit," Odeseus said solemnly as Alex finished the last sentence. "So choose sothing you wish to know."
"Do you want to know about Zarach? Or would you like to know about my gains in physique? Or perhaps you want sothing completely different."
"For example...et my granddaughter, Zahra," he said, a faint smile tugging at his lips, the kind that seed more thoughtful than warm. "Vasticus told that you two know each other, and even Zahra admitted that she likes you."
"If I didn’t know any better, I would believe you went through all this trouble to gain entrance into the Drakaryx Clan in pursuit of my granddaughter."
"You have potential, but you still have much to prove before you can earn my blessing." Odeseus’s tone shifted, for once, it wasn’t indifference speaking, but conviction.
’What is with this clan?’ Alex thought. ’First, it was Asher, pushing to pursue his daughter. Now this man, saying I need to prove myself for his blessing.’
’I don’t want anything to do with them.’ Vlad almost said it aloud.
He kept his thoughts to himself and calmly answered. "Zahra and I barely know each other. Our only eting was a simple exchange in the Ancient World, purely for our own benefit, and that was the extent of it."
Odeseus did not feel a response was warranted, and seeing that, Alex turned his focus back to the real predicant at hand.
He was being given the opportunity to learn extrely valuable intel, but Odeseus had made it clear that he had to pick one.
The obvious choice was learning about Zarach. In eleven months, that man could very well beco the reason for his early exit from the Ancestral Realm, and Alex had yet to even learn his full na, let alone the powers he wielded.
But learning about the potential skills he could gain from his physique was also tempting. Alex understood that a single good skill could strengthen him trendously and beco a decisive factor in his victory against Zarach.
Alex was already confident that he could win, thanks to the Dragon Mask that granted him the brokenTi skill, and thanks to the strength he had gained.
But he also knew Zarach wouldn’t be the sa individual he had faced two years ago. If Alex had to put his chances of success into a percentage, it would be no more than 40%.
’I can always learn more about the physique in the coming months,’ Alex decided. But just as he was about to voice that thought, realization struck him.
’Didn’t he say that if I have to be unapologetic and shaless to gain a benefit, I should just ask for both?’ Alex wondered, the thought pressing sharper with each second. And since there was only one way to find out, he decided to act on it.
"I request to know about Zarach, as well as the gains I could expect from the Dark Ancient Physique," Alex said after a few seconds of contemplation.
Odeseus smiled, a faint curl of amusent tugging at his lips, not refuting the bold request. "Let’s begin with Zarach."
"Zarach is a mber of the Saelvar House, which ranks among the strongest houses in the universe. His exact status within the house is unknown, but seeing as he has entered the Ancestral Realm, it should not be any higher than a third-class."
"However, the fact that he is a direct descendant already makes him a very special individual, one as dangerous as any roaming the Ancestral Realm."
"He is currently under the protection of the True King, so not much, if anything, could be discovered about him." Odeseus paused briefly, as though giving Alex a mont to prepare for the next revelation.
"The Saelvar household is also known by another, more infamous title: the Spiders. They are given this title because of their mastery over Fate."
"There are many specialized classes among them. Zarach appears to be a Fate Weaver".
"Soone like him could change their fate so it wouldn’t reach a certain state, aning they can’t fall ill, can’t lose in a ga of luck, or can’t even die.
They could weave catastrophes on a world scale, or even worse, they could strip away another’s fate, beco that person, and then kill their fate, killing their victim in turn."
Odeseus’s voice lingered for a breath, steady and cold. "There are countless applications of Fate."
"Now, the big question," Odeseus said, pulling Alex back to the reality of the mont. "Can you defeat him as you are now?"
"Your chances are about thirty percent at best, and that’s assuming Zarach is a Marked, and not a Sire of Fate, because if it’s the latter, your chances just got cut in half."
Alex suddenly felt his breath grow heavy as he realized his opponent was far more troubleso than he had expected.
Still, he didn’t feel despair and even felt sowhat satisfied with the thirty percent chance of victory, because that estimate was based only on the skills he had shown, which were far from his true strength.
In reality, that thirty percent could be closer to fifty, maybe even higher, but if Zarach truly was a Sire of Fate, then his chances were reduced to twenty-five percent.
Perhaps Odysseus was being generous in his evaluation, but given how little he knew about the true extent of Zarach’s skills, it was only appropriate to overestimate rather than underestimate.
Zarach was also close to the True King, aning he enjoyed so, if not all, the benefits that ca from a Hegemon, one of the great powers of the realm.
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