Chapter 334: Chapter 333 : The Scion’s Dilemma

“Rea!” Rain screamed as he looked around. Moments ago when they were exploring this old dungeon, Rea seemed to have touched something and there was a bright light shooting up through the ceiling.

When everything calmed down, Rea was nowhere to be found.

“Rea!” he yelled for her again. 

“Shut up! Your Vulgar sound is hurting my noble ears” Tulip scolded as she lightly approached the place Rea touched. There was a strange symbol there. “Let me concentrate…” she said as she examined everything around it.

“What is it? Where is Rea?” Rain asked. He knew that Tulip had some extraordinary background, she knew many things.

“This seems to be a teleportation array…. The same kind they use in my family…” she said as she took a compass and placed it next to the array and watched it for a while. “Strange… ” she said.

“What?”

“The Array target is more than 250,000 Miles away in a negative space… Oh… This must lead to some live dungeons!” she said, striking her palm with her fist.

“What?” he asked again, but as usual, she only treated him as some bug and ignored him as she took the compass and put it in her ring.

“Follow me!” Tulip said without looking back as she made some symbols with her hand then stepped into the array and disappeared.

“Arrogant bitch! Just you wait, one day I will...” Rain cursed as he jumped into the array… Nothing happened…. Oops, Tulip forgot to tell him how to activate it.

…

Lily used her fingers to tap at the table as she looked around. Everyone was waiting for her to speak.

“First, let me ask you this… Do you believe in fate?” she asked Elise.

“Um…” Elise nodded. All little girls believe in fate. If not for fate, how would they meet their prince charming?

“Good… Do you know what fate is?” Lily asked. Elise frowned, not knowing how to answer this. 

“Fate is the Maximum Entropy achievable in a certain set!” Lily said.

“Eh? What?” Margret asked, she was trying hard to understand what Lily meant. So was Elise.

Victor on the other hand frowned a little then nodded. Technically that was true.

“Let me phrase it in another way…  Imagine there are infinite timelines and infinite possibilities…” Lily said. “Now, imagine that one of those possibilities has a 90% or even 95% chance of occurring. We call this possibility fate, as no matter what changes it will happen!”

“Oh…” Elise nodded. So did Victor. Margret was still frowning.

“Now… every moment everyone makes many choices, and those choices affect the fates of everyone around us to some extent…” Lily said. “Some people’s choices have more effects than others!” 

“Oh…” the three listeners nodded.

“All creatures in this world have a hidden status called Fate Power. It is the one that determines how one will change the world! ” she began to explain. “Simply put, the more fate power you have, the easier it is for you to influence a certain fate and affect others' fates too!”

Elise nodded again, squinting her pretty eyes as she took a notebook and began to take notes. Did she carry that with her?

“Now, usually the strongest rank someone's fate can be is A ranked…” Lily said.

“They go from F to A?” Elise asked.

“Usually yes, but sometimes, very rarely, some people are born with an S, SS or SSS ranked fates!” Lily said, making Margret squint her eyes this time and glance at Victor who kept looking at Lily.

“Those are the scions?” Elise asked. 

“Close enough, but not exactly!” Lily shook her head. “Having an S-ranked fate means that your choices have a major effect on the world. This is as powerful as it sounds, so usually these people are really scary to go against…”

“But?” Elise asked as her eyes twinkled. There is no free lunch in this world.

“But having an S fate is not a good thing, although you would be able to influence the world to your will, it has one drawback… The world would put a mark up your ass!”

“The world?” Elise asked.

“Yes… We call it the world. It is the collective consciousness or the hidden mysterious force guiding this world to be balanced.” Lily said. “We don’t know exactly what it is, but when something threatens to affect this balance the world will eliminate it..”

“And S-ranked fates might affect this balance??” Margret asked.

“Yes! Now, a Scion is someone who has both, at least an S-ranked fate power, and a destiny to benefit the world. They are the ones the world approves of their actions!” Lily said, “So, being a scion is like a blessing as the world would make sure that a scion’s fate would be fulfilled!”

“Isn’t that what I told you guys that time?” Victor asked.

“No! You said that the world gives a scion his destiny, which is completely wrong. The Scion’s destiny is born with it following the laws of causality! The world just makes sure that it will be fulfilled!” Lily explained.

“Oh…” Victor said. "That's what I meant!" he lied.

“So they can’t be killed?” Elise asked.

“Not only that, they can’t even be harmed in a way that would ruin their fates!” Lily added. “So by any chance if you go against them you have three choices. The first is to run and hide, the second is to overpower them and make a deal, and the last is to find some other scions to fight them!”

“You can also scam them…” Victor pointed.

“What if someone has a fate that goes against the world?” Elise asked, ignoring him.

“Then the world will give them a curse that goes along with their destiny to hamper them…Sometimes it is deadly, but more often it can’t finish them off, so it would just turn them into a personified jinx to everyone and everything around them. We call those Dark scions.”

“Oh…”

“The third type is those guys whose destinies do not affect the world’s balance despite having an S rank. The world usually just ignores those guys, but that doesn’t make them any less dangerous!” she explained.

“How common are each of those three types?” Elise asked.

“Most normal people would only meet one or two scions in their lifetime!” Lily said. “Dark scions are far rarer, as for those who only have S destiny, there are no statistics. We can identify Scions and Dark scions by their effect on the world around them, but for the other, it is not an exact science as measuring fate power requires very rare skills or artifacts!”

“Wait… Victor, didn’t you tell us that you could see our fates before? You have that fate weaver or something class?” Margret turned to Victor who was smiling shyly. Lily didn’t tell him anything new. He already figured everything she spoke about out during the last month or so. He was wondering how he should tell her that.

“He was lying as usual!” Lily said. “He was just using his future knowledge to fool you guys!” she added, looking hatefully at him. He scammed her too!

“Oh…” Elise said, looking at Victor.

“Ah… Ehm…” Victor cleared his throat. “Well… Sorry to break it to you… Butt… I was not lying about that specific thing… My class is truly the X-ranked Fate Weaver. It really allows me to see people’s fates…” Victor said, scratching his nose.

“WHAT?” Lily asked in shock looking at him. "You are not lying? How the hell did you get that?"

“You don’t have to be so angry… You know how handsome your husband is, so in my ceremony, it just threw itself at me, wiggling its butt… I couldn't refuse…” he began to talk nonsense.

“What exactly can you see?” Lily asked, ignoring his ramblings. He was definitely keeping some more secrets... What the hell happened at the ceremony?

“Everything… I can see Fate's Power and the strongest destiny. And if I spend some order points I can see the entire destiny list…” he said.

“Hsssss…” Lily looked at him as if he was a monster. 

“Is this really big?” Margret asked.

“If any of the major powers knows about this, they will kidnap him and keep him in some dark cell for the rest of his life…” Lily said, “They might also eliminate him…” she added, glaring at Victor.

 The bastard knew about everything she talked about, and had been acting ignorant all the time! Why couldn’t she overpower him? Damn it!

“That’s why you should keep this a secret!” Victor said, winking at the nervous Elise. “Now that you know what a scion is, let us discuss them then!” he said with a sleazy smile, grabbing a silver-colored folder from under the table.

“You have a list of scions?” Margret asked. wondering how many other folders he has there, and whether it would be possible to try some under-the-desk 'action' after this meeting.

“Yes… The first is Tom, he has an SS fate power and a Berserker class. He is destined to defeat demons around the world and help take down Caspian!” Victor said, making Lily nod.

“He is a big Shot!” Margret said with surprise. She had no idea. But her intuition about him was right!

“Yes, in the future he will go on to build a grand harem and a porn business empire! Thankfully right now he is under my control, so no need to do anything about him!” Victor added. “The next one is Zoe… Fate power is SS+, she has a Hero class She is destined to be one of the world’s gate guardians.” Victor said, making Lily nod again.

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“They were a group of scions. They formed this small sect that had one goal, which was to stop the demons from entering this world… Later they got the approval of the emperor and were given the authority over the world’s gates!” Lily explained looking at Victor who was not really privy to this matter, he only knew some random info

“Oh… Good… We shall ignore her for now…” Victor said.

“Weren’t you planning on adding her to your harem?” Lily asked.

“On the waiting list…” he said too casually as he flipped to the next paper. “The next one is Oliver Goodman, he has a Gunslinger class and he is Zoe’s childhood friend. His fate’s power is S,” Victor said, making Lily frown and then sigh.

“The one I castrated…” she admitted. She was really lucky as she knew what it meant to be an enemy of a scion. Thankfully it seemed that Victor managed to repel him for her!

“Yes, the one you castrated…” Victor nodded. “Thankfully after I humiliated him he turned into a dark scion…”

“His anger must have changed something in his destiny…” Lily said, shaking her head. “I have never heard of him in my past life.”

“He escaped somewhere to join the army... I guess we can ignore him for now…” Victor said, flipping the page. “The next one is Sebastian Silver, Class is Battle Mage, and Fate power is S+.” 

“I never heard of him… “Lily interjected.

“Too bad!” Victor said, “I met this one more than once, and although I didn't really get to read his full destiny, I sure did screw him a lot…” Victor pondered not explaining, “But he has something to do with the Von Richter family.” he said finally.

“What? You mean Alpha?” Lily said.

“Yes… Hana too… They were destined to be his mistresses, but I stole them!” Victor said.

“Oh…” Lily frowned, not knowing how Victor did it. “This might have something to do with a sect called the Immortal abode. They got a guy who named himself the Eternal Lord. Alpha and Hana were working for him… But I didn’t really investigate him as he was in another continent and really kept to himself.”

“Oh…” Victor said, pondering. “I will just keep him on the watching list for now. He will surely find me again for Hana… I will just have to make her fall for me before he returns…” Victor said, making Lily look away angrily. Damn, pervert.

“Excuse me….” Elise suddenly asked. “How can you make her love you if a scion already had his eyes on her… By any chance, are you a scion too?” she asked, making Lily and Margret both look at Victor. The little girl had a point.

“Ah… No, my fate power is A ranked.” he shook his head. “I forgot to tell you, but my class makes me resistant to others’ destinies and my actions are usually free from other’s interference!!” he said. “How else do you think I managed to marry the twins? I just had to make Tom hate them!”

“Oh…” Lily looked at him squinting her eyes. Didn’t his class mean that he was the natural enemy of her stupid family? Cool!

“The next one is Alex!” Victor said.

“WHAT!” Both Lily and Margret were shocked this time. They should really stop getting shocked after everything Victor told them, but the idea of Alex being a scion was that absurd.

“Yes! Alexis Donner, a female, age 19, three sizes 34 23 35… Likes strawberry ice cream….” Victor paused.  “Sorry, wrong document…” he said as he quickly flipped the page. “Here it is, Alexis Donner, Fate power S” Victor said, ignoring the glares of the girls around him.

“Alex is a female?” Elise asked timidly.

“Yes!” Victor nodded, “Though she is acting like a male for some stupid reason, and I am not planning to tell her that I know anytime soon!”

“And she is a Scion?” Margret asked. “Didn’t you tell us that she was meant to marry some other scion before?”

“I lied…  In fact, she is a dark scion…” Victor corrected her.

“A dark scion?” Lily gasped, No wonder every time she was involved things went south. “You have been keeping her in the house knowing that?” Lily asked in disgust as if Alex was some dirty dog. It’s not her fault, but she has seen what dark scions are capable of.

“Yup… Don’t worry, as long as we keep her miserable no bad luck would hurt us!” he said as Margret finally got her answer. No wonder Victor kept torturing the poor girl. Lily thought that poor Alex was just some side project of his, or revenge from his previous lifetime.

"It seems like I need to up my game..." Margret nodded to herself.

“Why keep her in the first place?” Lily asked.

“A few reasons, I really feel sorry for her on one hand, and I want to test if I can change her fate!” Victor said.

“Does her being a beauty play any part in your decision?” Margret asked with a smile.

“Ah… I can’t deny that I like her…” Victor said. “She is also very strong! Without her, I couldn’t have really scammed Hana out of Sebastian’s hand! Only a scion might rival another!”

“You got a point there… “Lily said. “But what is her destiny? Why is she a dark scion?”

“The world hates her just because she does not belong here!” Victor said. “Alex is not human, but a phoenix!”

“What?” Lily asked with a frown. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, why would the celestial cock try to fuck her if she wasn’t!” Victor said. “When she awakened her bloodline another phoenix clone seemed to have been summoned and tried to kill her… If my guess is correct this must be some family feud…”

“Oh…” Lily frowned. “Do you know where she comes from?”

“The Thunder sect dungeon is my best guess… I plan to go investigate it, it might contain a gate to another world!” Victor said.

“Oh… “ Lily nodded, she didn’t know a lot about the thunder sect.

“I plan to take care of Alex by myself for now, so you don't need to worry… But just in case something were to happen to me, keep in mind to keep her unhappy, but not sad…” Victor said finally, “And if you ever feel that something is wrong around her, send her on some stupid mission somewhere…”

The girls nodded.

“Now… The next scion I met was Rain Cleaver…. SS ranked, Class is arcane knight” Victor said. “He was accompanying two girls. An unawakened Scion called Rea who has an S-ranked fate power, and an arrogant bitch called Tulip…” he added looking at Lily, “Your sister!”

Lily nodded, he already mentioned meeting Tulip before. “I know about those, they will form a team called the Ace Rangers who raid dungeons and hunt demons across the world…. What’s Tulip’s fate power and destiny?”

“Tulip’s Fate power is SSS ranked. I didn’t get to see her destiny as she attacked me immediately…”

“Oh… What were you doing?” Lily asked.

“Stealing an Edict shard…” he said casually.

“YOU GOT ONE OF THOSE?” Lily asked in shock as she leaned onto the table and looked at him.

“I got four… How do you think I managed to guarantee the wedding's safety?” he asked. "Do you know how much trouble we would have encountered if we didn't have those?"

“Oh…” Lily opened her eyes wide. She had no idea he went to that extent! To tell the truth, she was really amazed. No wonder he went adventuring before the wedding, he was collecting those! 

“What is an edict shard?” Margret asked.

“Just an overpowered artifact… I will tell you about what they do when I install them around the mansion,” Victor said. 

“I have a question… “ Elise asked again. “If Scions are as strong as you say they are, why aren’t they ruling the world?” she asked something that Victor was not really sure about.

“After the Reckoning, they will!” Lily said, “My family has a lot of scions after all!”

“But why not now?” Elise asked.

“Two reasons!” Lily said. “A scion who is destined to rule the world would turn dark the moment he decided to upset the balance… And the second reason is Scions are rare. Only recently as the world is preparing for reckoning are they beginning to be born!”

“Then are there old scions?” Elise asked.

“Yes…” Lily replied, looking at Victor who had no idea. “In fact, many scions who accomplish their destiny will sooner or later begin to feel that the world is rejecting them, so they will choose to leave this world!”

“Leave?” Margret asked.

“Gates to other worlds are very rare, but with a scion’s destiny, it is never hard to find one!” Lily said, looking at Victor who didn’t know about this.

“In fact, after the reckoning, many old Scions will return to this world. Some are to help, but many others to help the invading forces or build a fortune!”

“Wouldn’t the world reject them?” Elise asked.

“No… After the Reckoning, many rules will change, and as long as those guys keep their ambitions in check the world will tolerate them!” Lily replied.

“Yes…” Victor nodded. “This brings us to the real trouble and the most problematic bunch, first is the last one I met… “

Before Victor continued what he wanted to say he was interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Victor… You have to see this!” suddenly Lin called to him from outside. “The moon! There is a strange symbol on it!”