RD 2 Ch 32 (Patreon)

Chapter 32

“Son,” Thorin grunted through the stone, “Gloria said we needed to talk.” As usual the man didn’t mince words.

I leaned on the balcony while Simone ran interference. I’d slapped a talisman down that would make listening in from afar incredibly difficult. For this, I’d rather not have ears listening to me. “I got a bloodline. It’s a Titan.” My father couldn’t help me if he didn’t know all the details.

“Which. Not all Titans are the same,” Thorin grumbled. “My Steel Titan is very different from say a Fire Giant.”

“Is a giant a titan?” I asked.

“Pitifully weak one.” My father barked a laugh. “Which one?” He repeated the question impatiently.

I sighed. “It was originally a Golden Titan, then the ancestor of the Heros Clan did something, and it upgrades to Primordial Titan.”

There was a long pause over the rockie talkie… Shit, now I was calling them that name.

“Golden is triple S,” my father said.

“Yup,” I agreed, understanding his pause. “It was upgraded to Primordial which is… Mythical Rank.” I had to be honest if I wanted help from my father in this.

“Tell no one.” My father’s voice was cold. “How many stats?”

“Five thousand.” I leaned against the banister as if this was the most casual conversation in the world and made sure to look around and move the position of my head so that reading my lips would be impossible from just one angle.

This was far from the first time I had spies on me.

There was a slight wheeze from Thorin. “Never let the Borrson Clan know. They would take you, strap you to a bed, and drug you while the daughters of the clan used you for the rest of your life.”

I choked on the thought. “Yeah. Not the plan. Doing my best to keep it hidden. Some people need to know for me to do things, but I’ll keep it to those I think I can trust. My concern is on how big I’m about to get. I’d really rather not be stuck in Antarctica where there are no people.”

My father laughed. “Those are the rejects that failed to make physiques. You will not be a failure. My blood will not be a failure.” The last statement was said with a dark surety.

The kind that was typically followed by intense pain for those who failed. I had a slight fear of my father. Then again, he did rip my heart out of my chest in my past life. That leaves a mark.

“So, what do I have to do? Start jumping off tall cliffs?” I joked.

“No. Primordial… upgrade from Golden…” My father trailed off. “I do wonder if we could just use the Golden Physique, but I also know you use blood. Maybe mix a few and see if your blood will rise?” His voice trailed off, and I was mostly stunned at the number of words he had said. That was some of the longest I’d heard him talk at once. “We can start with a simple foundation and then forging.”

“Alright. How do I do that?” I asked.

“Pressure. Either find a deep cave and collapse it while holding up the earth above you, or throw yourself very deep into a sea. You are near the Ionian Sea. Not the deepest but good foundation. Foundation is easy… Forging will be harder. We must melt you down in the hottest fires we can, hot enough to melt system gold, hammer the weakness out of you, and then quench you… Perhaps in blood would be good or throw you in some deep ocean.” He continued, “No blood, we should make this as diverse as possible. Primordial is the beginning, the beginning is everything.”

A small sheen of sweat beaded along the back of my neck.

I wasn’t afraid of pain, but dropping myself into the depths of the ocean was in fact quite terrifying. Also, melting system gold was almost impossible. I’d only seen it done twice, both of which were utter extravagant wastes. But in both situations, the gold was being melted by the kind of people I didn't really want to offend to their faces.

Needless to say, melting system gold required extreme temperatures and ranked fire that would chew through me.

“I’m not sure who we’ll get to melt system gold,” I offered. Though the Heros Clan likely had some craftsmen who could.

“Gloria will eventually… otherwise… I will make some inquiries.” He seemed distant. “Sink yourself to the bottom of the Ionian Sea. Stay down there for at least a few days. When it stops bothering you is good.”

I snorted. When it stops bothering me. Yeah, oceanic depths were nothing to scoff at with just the human form.

My father continued. “Water, fire, metal, life. Just need wind to scour you and polish you. Could add sand for earth. The system is finicky about elements. Need to use all we can to see if it helps.”

“This isn’t a very fixed recipe, is it?” I asked my father.

“No. Every titan has their own, tested through time. But the steps are the same. Foundation, destruction, forging, quenching, and polishing. For me, they were all metal. I was buried in a mine, melted system swords and bathed in the molten metal—”

“I get it. You walked uphill both ways to school.” I sighed and rubbed my brow. Why did I have to get a father who was possibly more intense in his training than me? “Okay. I’ll see what I can do. Thanks for the help.”

“My blood will not fail.” He handed the rockie talkie back to Gloria, which I knew because I could hear her talking to someone else.

“One second, I have a more important call on the other line.” She hung up on someone. “Did it go well? How tall are the cliffs you have to fall from? Need me to come push you off?” She laughed, but it was clear she was a tad bitter from being left behind.

“Going to go for a very deep swim it seems instead.” I chuckled. Jumping off a cliff almost sounded pleasant in comparison. “I miss you, Gloria. Going to wrap this shit up and come steal you away for whatever’s next.”

“I’m fine.” She would never be the woman to admit she wasn’t. Still, we weren’t attached at the hip like Simone. “Just as soon as I find a man who might be able to handle me, he runs off and finds another.”

I smiled. She was a little jealous but not much. Jealousy was an ugly thing. No, she just missed me, but wasn’t the type to admit it.

“I haven’t found another. Simone’s the one pushing for Nyx,” I assured her.

“Yeah, well. I feel like you push everyone away at first. Maybe give her a chance?” Gloria nudged me. “Or is my big, broody man going to come up with a dozen excuses to get rid of a powerful ally? If Simone’s on board you usually trust her intuition.”

“You’re going to pay for that later,” I told her. “Love you. Don’t egg my father on too much. Now, he might be too focused on how to crush me to be bothered with throwing you off cliffs.”

“Love you, too. Not going to push more because I know you’re the type to push back just as hard, but give the snake a chance. Huh? What are you doing?! Not there.” With that, the stone went silent as Gloria rushed off to solve something.

I leaned back, peeling the talisman off the railing to hear Simone arguing with someone. “What’s wrong?” I raised my voice.

“She wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Simone crossed her arms and glared at one of the servants.

“Throw her off the balcony next time.” I shrugged. “There’s no use for a servant who can’t follow orders.” These women were mostly spies anyway. I haven’t quite decided what to do with them.

The woman’s face drained of color. “I was sent to fetch you by Hercules himself. He’s waiting at the entrance to the palace.”

“Great. You should have led with that.” I snorted. “Make sure he’s not bored waiting, and we’ll be down in a moment.” Rather than hurry down, I wanted a little more Simone, opening myself to her.

She came into my arms and pecked me on the cheek. “I love it when you’re brutal to people and then kind to me.”

“It’s been said before, by past… lovers.” I wasn’t quite sure what to call the ladies from the alternate timeline. “More than one realized that I have a small circle of those that I care about. Outside that circle, mercy is more likely than kindness.”

“You big softie.” She cuddled against me even as I started moving.

I squeezed her a little more, knowing it was a poor idea to keep Hercules waiting for too long. I needed him to have a good impression of me.

“Quite literally no one calls me a big softie.”

“I could start and see if it catches on.” Simone was just a fount of endless happiness today. I couldn’t say ‘no’ to her.

“Try and then they’ll be surprised when I cut someone in half. Might make for a good strategy.” I tried to find the good in being known as a ‘big softie’.

“You would immediately turn it into a war tactic.” Simone sighed. We were far enough down the stairs that Hercules became visible with his large frame. The man wasn’t as tall as my father, but he was broad shouldered enough to nearly be comical, if it wasn’t for the danger those muscles actually posed.

Circe was with him, smiling and talking to keep him occupied. “Oh, Bran’s here. Wonderful.”

“Circe, Hercules.” I dutifully nodded at both of them. “Pleasure to see you here.”

“It seems Circe is treating you well, but I’d have you come by my forges and get you measured up. I would also like to let you have a look around at what my branch has to offer.” He chuckled and slapped me on the back hard enough to nearly throw me into the wall.

“Thank you. Sorry for the delay. If Circe hasn’t told you, my bloodline is a titan type. I needed some privacy to talk to my father about how to handle some things.” Glancing at the servants, I nodded. “They did the best they could to get me promptly.”

“Ah.” Hercules rubbed his chin. “I guess the Borrson blood ran thick, but you had the Heros Bloodline, so it all works out. Some people aren’t going to like that, though.”

“Happy to hand them their asses if they make a problem out of it.” I grinned at him. He was someone who could appreciate violence. I just could tell.

In that way, we were kindred spirits.

Hercules laughed again and smacked my back. This time, my feet did skip off the floor for a second. “Alright. I’m going to borrow him, Circe, unless you want to come along?”

The woman shook her head, her loose blue hair danced about her shoulders.

“Ah. I have a request if I could. For the titan bloodline, I need to temper myself.” Rather than wait, I hooked Simone’s arm and headed out. “From my father, one of the things I’ll need to do will require someone with flames hot enough to melt system gold. Not that I’m going to do that. Figured if anyone in the clan could melt down system gold, it would be the master forgers of your branch.”

Hercules chuffed at that as he stepped down the palace steps with me. “Someone probably could. Don’t know if melting system gold is something many have tried. Feels like a damn waste.” He wasn’t someone to admit defeat especially after I complimented his branch.

“That’s exactly what it is, but I just need that level of heat. Happy to provide a few gold for testing it,” I offered.

“No need. We can manage.” Hercules turned and headed towards one of the bridges. He was too proud to even take a few gold.

Circe had stayed behind, as had my new servants.

It was only Simone and me with the famous Greek hero.

The Clan was more beautiful than I remembered. In my past life, there always seemed to be a dark line of soot that they couldn’t scrub off all the stone fast enough. As if the Clan was never quite able to rise above the struggles.

“So,” Hercules restarted the conversation as we got to the bridge over to his island, “that trick you did with my half-sister. You are able to see through or banish illusions?” Hercules asked casually as if he didn’t have a follow-up question ready.

“It’s my inspect skill. Well, it’s called Soul Gaze.” I decided giving out bits of my information here was required. It was important that these people trusted me and my abilities.

The big man’s eyes turned to the horizon. “I think there are records of that skill, interesting. We have our own people capable of detecting illusions; however, no one before you has seen through Pers. It has me concerned that we could have more that we have not noticed.”

“Easy enough.” I was happy to help clean up the clan. Especially if I was going to be using it in the future. No sense in trying to use a tool only to realize it had rotted from neglect. “I’m still quite curious about Tartarus.”

“I would be also if they took a family member. Unfortunately, my father and uncles were the only ones who knew where they set Persephone up. Since they passed, she has been rather isolated and secretive. Secrets can’t spill if no one knows them,” Hercules said.

“Really? So not even you, Circe, or Zeus know Tartarus’ location?” I found that almost impossible to believe, yet it made a certain amount of sense. If no one knew where they were, then no one could have forced them out during the last lifetime.

I wondered suddenly if the branch had stuck their heads in the sand and hidden through the demon wars. Then again, I had a rather dim view of the branch as it was. There could be more to it.

Hercules shrugged. “She’s supposed to be the seed for when the clan has no other options but to fight to the death. However she was set up, my father thought it the best place. Her using illusions against me has not made me happy. Perhaps you are right, and it is about time that she became accountable again to the rest of the clan.”