"Really…that’s what you took away from what he said, ghosts; why am I not even surprised?" Shaking my head, I noticed my Dad chuckle at Brenden’s antics, and I had to admit, if anyone was good at breaking the tension in the room, it was my little brother.
I don’t know if it was intentional or if he was truly that simple, but either way, it got me to crack a smile.
"As for your question, Taylor, I guess the only response I can give you is that I understand. I understand why you became who you did, and although I’m afraid I have to disagree with the way you went about things, I know that you had a purpose in doing it."
"Villain or Hero, you are still my son, no matter which mask you decide to put on, be it that of Xipher or any of the other names you use to achieve your goals." After saying this, Dad walked over and placed his hand on my shoulder.
"We do have to talk about the way you treat women at some point, but that is a conversation for another time; oh, before you ask, yes, I’ve seen what you did here in the past; good job with getting me straightened out."
"And thank you for everything: taking care of your brother, dealing with the divorce, and, more importantly, giving me a chance to spend more time with my parents." As he said the last part, I noticed his usual tough façade cracked slightly when I mentioned my Nanny and Grandpa, and the only thing I could do was nod.
"Now then, since some of us can’t read minds like you, how about you fill us in on your plan? I recognize the situation we are in from what you did in the Origin Timeline; you Manipulated the Instance into a similar version of what you made back then…and I assume it’s to give me a chance at evolving my Racial Classification." Wearing a smile and turning to face the pristine golden Gate leading to the depths of the Instance, my Father’s words hung in the air before I picked up the conversation.
"Sigh, honestly, I didn’t expect certain things to change, well for starters, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the caverns no longer have a bottom limit of Alpha-Rank no; instead, it seems that along with the classification of the Gate changing from Bronze to Gold, the particle Content of this dimension has drastically increased, making this a Beta(++) Instance."
"The plan is simple: all three of us charge through the Gate, pass the safezone, and start killing. Brenden and I will cripple the undead within the depths and allow you to deal the final blow."
"Is that it? We beat up the zombies, and Dad kills them…that’s not so sophisticated that you couldn’t explain it to me beforehand," Brenden complained, but a glare from me silenced him.
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"If it were that simple, I wouldn’t have bothered keeping things from you; first and foremost, we need Dad to Kill without Increasing his Level. The last thing I want is for him to have a naturally weaker starting line than us, and if he levels up during our session, it will be a waste of free Stat Points; thus, I picked up this for him." With a wave of my hand, a silver chain and amulet appeared in my palm.
"This necklace is a bit special because so long as a person is wearing it, they won’t gain any XP. Any other time, it would be considered useless, but for us, it is the perfect tool because if used in tandem with an XP booster, it will generate massive amounts of Racial Progress."
"…you…how many random one-off items do you have in your Inventory Tay…" Brenden muttered as he walked over and examined the necklace.
"More than I care to admit, I have a habit of buying random shit all the time; since Arkadia is extremely vague in the descriptions, it’s somewhat of a hobby to figure out what things do; this necklace is one of them. Here, Catch Dad," without using any force, I lightly tossed the amulet over to my Father, who immediately put it on and wore a sour expression.
"I feel like it’s sapping my strength," he complained before straightening his back and, tilting his head to the side, popping it.
"Don’t be stingy, son, hand over all that gear you made for me, oh, and a Particle potion too, so that I can Bind it." He said with a greedy smirk, not unlike what a merchant would wear.
"Tsk, fucking peeping tom,"
"How dare you insinuate I peeped on every little thing you did? I’ll have you both know any time you got intimate with anyone, I would cut off our connection and float in the infinite void until you finished." Placing his palm on his chest, my Father looked offended by my accusation, but I let it slide with an "Uh huh sure,"
Fifteen minutes later, with Dad fully kitted out and ready for battle, Brenden and I equipped our gear as well, and as I had designed the armor, it automatically took into consideration our new sizes and adjusted accordingly to them.
"Taylor, how bad is the situation going to be once we step out of the safe zone? You’ve been to the caverns enough to have a lay of the land," Brenden asked as he stood side by side with me on the lobby side of the Gate.
"No idea; for all I know, there will be droving packs of undead as far as the eye can see, but if my theory about how the process works is correct, we shouldn’t hit any big numbers until we make it deeper into the tunnels."
"I spent a lot of time clearing the Alpha and Even Beta Zones of the Caverns, so there shouldn’t be many resources to transform into undead for a few hundred miles, but that could have changed, just like our bodies, I assume it has something to do with sleeping or being unconscious after our rank up, Either way, let’s get a move on, we only have a few days to get Dad’s Racial Classification up, and with our resources and my plans, we should be able to get him to 3C no problem."