Chapter 133: Chapter 133 : The Paintings

Entering the lavish study, Victor sat at his chair and gestured to Alpha who followed him in to sit down on the opposing couch.

“What was that painting?” Alpha asked as soon as she sat down.

“We should wait for Theta for that. How was your work?” He asked.

“I got the girls from the brothel into an old base that belonged to my family. I plan to establish a spy network using them and some of the properties that my family left for me.” She answered.
“But I want some resources. Some money.” She added

“Didn’t you take the money I left in the storage?” He asked, he got a lot of money from Nick back then.

“Yeah, but I would need more.” She said,

“Give me a kiss, and I will give you more money.” He said.

“Is this an order?” She asked. As his blood slave, she can’t refuse his orders.

“No, it’s a trade.” He said with a smirk,

“Then forget it.” She answered looking to the side, with some embarrassment. When did Victor get this handsome? She asked herself.

“I don’t want your finances to have anything to do with the family. So you would have to search for some other way.” He said, seeing that she was not planning to kiss him. This girl needed some extra work to make her fall for him.

“Fine, Do you know Lily’s origin?” She asked, changing the subject.

“Yes, the woman in your memories should be her grandmother,” Victor explained.
“That’s why you make her wear a veil?” She asked,

“Yes, Don’t speak about this to anyone.” He answered.

Alpha wanted to know more, but at that moment, Theta entered the room with two rolled paintings. So she decided to say nothing and just watched as Victor took the paintings and gestured to Theta to sit down.

“Did you try to investigate those?” He asked Alpha.

“Lily was really stingy not allowing us to touch them fearing something bad would happen. But I managed to get my hands on them after some convincing. From my observation, The paint on the paintings seems to be covering some kind of a talisman that I didn’t recognize. I didn’t dare to look further.” She answered as Victor unrolled them and then inspected them. They were paintings of a Falcon and a centipede. They also had two symbols on the back. Appraising them, yielded no reaction. This must be the effect of the soul symbol.

Victor took out the bottle of the soul poison and using a needle he dropped one drop on each painting. Right on the symbol.
After a while, there was a hissing sound, And Alpha could swear she heard a muffled scream in it. What the hell is this?

Victor nodded then looked at the Talismans again with a smile.
AWAKENING TALISMAN S

He had just killed the souls hiding in those two. He could eat them, but he preferred not to destroy the Awakening talismans. Those things are more important.
Too bad the System didn’t recognize destroying souls as valid kills.

“They are safe now.” He said as he stored them in his ring. Those things are too precious.

Alpha wanted to ask what was that for, but fearing that he would make unreasonable demands, she decided to throw a curveball and ask about the incident first.

“Can you tell us now what happened back then?” Alpha asked Victor, as she gave Theta a worried look.

“The painting was just a front, what really mattered was something else they carried. The talisman and A symbol.” He said,

“A Symbol?” Alpha asked with uncertainty.

“Yes, it was a soul transfer rune. It contained a soul from the outer world. The thing that Theta saw was the soul trying to enter her body to occupy it.” He said, making Alpha gasp. Then look at Theta again, This is the first time she heard of something like that.

“But how can the soul enter from the outer worlds? Didn’t the world destroy it? And … was it the thing you swallowed?” She asked as she looked at him.

“Yes. Don’t worry, occupying a body does not work on Players as it would create a mismatched checksum in the system data, that might lead to the player’s ID being deleted if it succeeded.” Victor said. “I employed a soul defense technique, so I was the one who ate it.” He added,

“Ate?” She asked, Her family didn’t have soul techniques. So she had no idea what that meant.

“Yes, that thing wanted to occupy my body and eat my soul. So I ate it first and inherited all its knowledge. And that’s the reason I fell into a coma, digesting another soul is not easy. That one was too greasy.” He said. Making Theta swallow her saliva.

“Then…. What did it want? How was it able to infiltrate this world?” She asked.

“It was a really smart method. The paintings here are Awakening talismans that were sent from the other world.” He said, making Alpha look at him with interest. She heard of those, but her ancestor never saw one, as they were usually used as soon as they were found to avoid them being stolen. They were one-use items anyway.

“I am not sure about the rest, but from the memories of the soul, I ate I have some assumptions. You see. Those guys in the outer world wanted to send some of their disciples into this world to create some forces for the invasion.” He said, making Theta who was sitting silently by the side gasp.

“Invasion?” She asked,

Victor looked at Alpha who answered her little sister.
“Don’t tell anyone. But this world is suffering an attack from other worlds. It is still holding now, but the barrier would break eventually. We just don’t know when. At that time demons and creatures from other worlds would probably flood our world to occupy it.” She explained. Her family had some records about such things.

“Ahhh.” Theta opened her eyes wide in fear.

Victor knew well that her fear was justified. Those souls that crossed, had many goals in this world. But the most important one was to build a spy network and create a connection array that would open a gate to their world for the armies to start their attack once the world's defenses were broken after the Reckoning.
It happened in his past life, and the casualties were in the millions.

And the reason he chose to tell Alpha and Theta about them, was because he wanted to form a unit to hunt those guys. With Theta’s Luck, things might be a little easier.

“Don’t worry, as long as you stay by my side no one can hurt you,” Victor said reassuring Theta before continuing his story.
“Anyway, those guys in the other world were approached by a mysterious man who claimed that he found a way to make a soul survive in our world, and after they tried it, the forces began to pay him to send their agents here.” He said.

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“The Talisman?” Alpha asked.

“Yes, They found a bug in the system. If the soul was able to occupy the body of a target during the awakening, the system would not be able to find it. So they packaged the souls of their agents in an awakening talismans and sent them here. The world does not reject Artifacts.” Victor explained.

“Oh.... So they sent the souls here…” Alpha said.

“Exactly, Those talismans would be painted a drawing representing the bloodline originator of the soul owner, so that they may attract mortals with similar bloodlines. And they would activate when they find a suitable target.” Victor said, making Alpha sigh in relief, Lily made the right decision to forbid anyone besides her from touching those things.

“But who was that artist?” She asked after thinking a little.

“I don’t know, but… I have a theory. The artist should be that mysterious man’s avatar. He should have wandered into this world and was stuck inside a dungeon where he was able to get a new body during an awakening.” He said, with a frown.

“An avatar?” Alpha asked,

“Yes, some bloodlines have such skill. It’s like a part of your soul that you can send to explore the world. It seemed like that guy belonged to some sort of a sect that specializes in soul techniques. And that was why he was able to send the souls of those guys here, by setting his avatar as a target. Or making him create a summoning array on this side.” Victor explained.

“Then why did he die?” Alpha asked.

“Well, this probably has something to do with me, as the soul I ate belonged to a princess. A very high-ranking one, with a lot of lovers. The guys on the other side must have realized that she died…. Someone must have taken the liberty to take revenge. But who knows, This might all be a coincidence.” Victor said.

“I see.” Alpha said, “ Those guys must have been sending agents here for a while now.” She said,

“Yes, and it is nearly impossible to discover them. So we must be careful, especially of people who have awakened during the last three years.” He said. “I will tell Kai to investigate this, Then It will be your mission to do the dirt work on the ground..” He added. Making Alpha frown a little then nod. This would be a good long-term mission for the brothel girls.

“I wanted to ask you about something else,” Alpha said.

“About?”

“What is wrong with Theta’s system? Why does it have so much extra stuff?” She asked.

“Ahh. About that...” Victor smiled as he looked at Theta who was a little worried.

“Well, the paintings contained an updated system. Where do you think the world got its system from? It copied it from other worlds.” He said, making Alpha frown.

“Is it dangerous?” She asked with concern.

“Not at all, on the contrary, this system has many features that make leveling up easier. For example, she doesn’t need to clear a dungeon to level up or learn skills.” Victor said, making the surprised Alpha, look at Theta with envy. What a lucky girl.

“I will find some time to write an explanation for those things later. And when I use the other two Talisman I want you to be there, as you might get a system upgrade, as I did.” He added making Alpha look at him with her eye shining. She was really tempted.

“Ah right, Theta… Did you regain your memories?” He asked as he stood up intending to leave the room, He already knew the answer.

“Yes….” Theta answered while lowering her head. After awakening, she remembered her past, the memories that Titus erased.

Alpha looked at Theta with shock, she never told her. What secrets does her little sister hold?

“Do you want to return to your family or remain with me? I might need you to dress like a guy to hide you if you stayed with me.” He asked, not intending to pressure her. After reading her name with his Appraisal skill, he had a clear idea about her true identity.

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