Chapter 278 Meeting With Ares (2)

"Second to last question… do you really think of me as your son?"

The man smiled maliciously before standing up from his chair, extending his height to a towering forty meters tall.

Although he just grew, his height suddenly began to condense into a man about seven-feet tall and stood proudly before me.

"Of course I do,"

"That's good… And final question. What was the point of the Ares System? Just a little advantage for me?"

"*sigh*... I believe I should explain the sight you saw when you were but a child… remember when your mother was chanting some strange words in the middle of a magic circle drawn with blood?"

Is that what it was? A magic circle…?

"Of course," I replied, but the man saw right through me whether I liked it or not.

"That was a technique that your mother came up with. By doing something like that, she can borrow the power of the gods, thus granting her the title of an archmage,"

"If you're going to tell me the obvious then-"

"Let me finish," His cold voice boomed through the palace, and as I furrowed my eyebrows, my muscles relaxed.

"My apologies… please continue,"

"So, your mother created that magic circle with her blood and connected it to my power as a way to reach out to me. She requested that I take care of you, but I was unable to interfere in the mortal world. Otherwise, a few other gods would've come for my neck,"

"Is that why you didn't save my mother? Because you were worried about your own existence? Was she but a tool for you?"

"If I said yes, then what would you do about it?" The man asked, and his piercing eyes nearly brought me to my knees with how much pressure he was exerting.

"Then I'd say you're lying… what was the benefit in becoming lovers with a mortal if you know there was a guaranteed failure for a child,"

The man stayed silent before cracking open those dry lips of his… ignoring my previous statement.

"Since I couldn't come down to help you, I instead granted you this system. It drew the attention of many gods, but under my guidance and system, they wouldn't be able to harm you. I've even granted you a teacher from the past about a weapon you were interested in… everything was to guide you in the correct path, but your intelligence exceeded my expectations,"

"What do you mean by that?"

"The path you carved was exponentially different than anything else I anticipated. I expected you to become the sangria-eyed king but getting sent to Tartarus… under the guidance of Satan himself… what an incredible feat,"

"That wasn't intentional, though,"

"Is that a lie or the truth?"

"I guess I'm the boy who cried wolf… well, you answered my questions, so what do we do now?"

"I help you reach the full potential of your throne world. It is not a throne world made for the sangria-eyed king but a throne world crafted and molded for your very being. Every throne world is a piece of your soul and the true nature and potential of the power you may harness. And not only is it strong from the start, but it grows with you,"

"Wait… what are these runes for?"

"Ah… show me your back," Ares ordered, and so I removed the top part of my robes and let it hang at my sides as I turned around.

I had seven runes as of now, but only three of them were awakened.

The first one was my speech rune which allowed me to bend the world at the cost of hurting my own throat or possibly getting internal damage.

It really depended on how much I affected the world around me with my speaking skill.

Second, I had [Influence of Battle], which seemed to be more for generals or commanders than anything else since it allowed me to see an entire battlefield from the top down.

It was also useful in some other fights, but when I get too absorbed in a battle, I tend to lose myself every so slightly, making this skill completely useless because I lose my focus.

And then, finally, we have my throne world.

"These runes are sloppy… so fucking sloppy… who the hell dared to carve such dreadful-looking runes on the back of my son…." Ares gritted through enraged teeth, audibly grinding against each other.

Seems the god of war has anger issues… that's… not as unexpected as I first thought.

"Geez… Let me fix them up," Ares muttered before flicking my back with a single finger, sending me flying across the room and slamming into a dark pillar.

I hadn't even made a dent in it, yet it felt like all the bones in my body were now broken.

"You son of a bitch!" I shouted, rolling off of the pillar and landing limp on the cold stone floor, gritting my teeth.

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This pain was nothing, but just like when I first had these runes engraved into me, a hot feeling began to course through my nervous system, causing me to sweat profusely.

It was the same hot feeling that I got when I first had these runes engraved into my spine… and the pain only got worse.

"It's gonna hurt a bit. Just suck it up… it'll be done in a few seconds," Ares muttered, snapping his fingers.

This single snap caused my entire body to tense up.

Even my bones felt as if they had just been stretched by a magical force, allowing easy passage for a burning feeling to course in between my molecules.

I continued to grit my teeth for only just a few seconds, and just like that, the pain was gone, and I was left lying there, huffing and puffing, trying to regain my breath.

"You could've given me more of a warning," I snarled, slowly standing up and feeling a new sense of movement from my back.

After all of the runes had been placed on top of my spine and engraved into my skin, it felt like my back was constantly restricted by a metal pipe.

Bending it didn't hurt, but it just felt stiff.

No matter how much stretching I did, it never disappeared… until now.