The Idle System (A LitRPG series Book 7): Family, Pegaz [learn to read books txt] 📗

Knock! Knock!

A heavy pounding on the door caused the old man to open his eyes just in time to see his son walk into the room.

Silently making his way to his father’s bedside, the boy lit a lamp and sat at the edge of the bed.

“Father, sorry to wake you in the middle of the night, but Carola has sent a message by pigeon.” The son presented the letter while speaking.

After clearing his throat, his father groaned, “What is it this time? Your sister has already found numerous faults about her fiancé since getting engaged. Has she found out that he eats children this time? Send her a letter that she’s going to marry him even if he turns out to be a goblin in disguise.”

“Just read it.”

The boy was firm with his statement, leaving worry in his father’s eyes. The old man carefully took the letter with a steady hand and moved it in and out of focus in an attempt to read it.

I’ve found the golden badge.

The sleepiness in the old man disappeared instantly.

He began laughing hysterically for a minute straight, bringing about a squeaky wheeze followed by a coughing fit. “This changes everything.”

He climbed out of bed and got dressed as quickly as possible.

“How does this change things?” his son asked.

“I’ll explain later.” The old man made his way towards the door. “Send a pigeon to Carola and ask for the specifics. After that, meet me inside the vault.”

* * *

The king stepped inside the vault. Its square-tiled metal floor and smooth ceiling shone without imperfections. Shelves full of rolled ancient parchments, gold, and other precious items lined the outer edges, while the centre was stacked with cased jewellery and ancient armour.

The son stepped into the vault to see his father idling in front of a piece of chest armour on a stand. He remembered its story quite clearly. It was traded to the king for the golden eagle badge, and it was after the trade that the king warned his children to flee if they ever crossed paths with the owner of the badge.

The King of Bahan turned to his son and motioned for him to follow him deeper into the vault.

After a few minutes, they turned down a small corridor with a small room at the end. In front of them stood a chair and a large desk, clear of clutter, and on the eastern wall was a small, locked wall safe made from the strongest metal the kingdom’s blacksmiths could forge. Only the king could open this safe as not even his children had the combination.

To the surprise of the son, the father turned to his left and removed a fake metal floor tile. Underneath were books and other documents.

“What about the safe?” the prince asked.

His father picked up the largest book from inside the hole in the ground before putting the fake tile back over it. “There’s nothing in it. If ever a thief comes, a safe like that will draw their attention. They won’t notice a fake tile, at least not until finding nothing inside the safe anyway.”

The king placed the book on the desk and took a seat. His son stood close, hovering over his shoulder, ears perked with curiosity.

“This is the most guarded secret of our family,” his father stated. “Millions of years ago, this world didn’t have any kingdoms. There were only a few villages scattered about and whenever the people of opposite villages met, war would always break out.

“Then, our ancestor came along. He united the villages under his leadership and built the capital. After a few years, he created the kingdom.”

His son nodded. “That’s common knowledge. Everybody who goes to learn will find out about it.”

The old man chuckled. “True, but they don’t know that our ancestor was an immortal! That’s the secret!”

“Impossible! That’s just a fairy tale old men wish for.”

Shaking his head, the old king replied, “I’m not talking about a fairy tale. This is the truth. Our ancestor was an immortal who ran away from his sect because a war had just broken out. If he didn’t run, then he would’ve been forced to go to war.”

“So, our ancestor was a coward?”

“I prefer the term survivalist,” the king replied.

“Suppose I believe you,” the son scoffed. “What’s this got to do with the man who demanded the golden badge?”

The old man laughed again. “What he did was only something immortals could do! Inside this book is our ancestor’s guide about immortality. When that man made the entire room go cold, I remembered something from this book.”

He carefully turned the pages, trying to find what he was looking for. “Aha! Read this!”

His son turned the book towards him and read the section his father’s finger was pointing at.

A lot of the lower ranked immortals cannot control their powers properly. A red veil will cover their entire body and the temperature will drop when it goes out of control. Some immortals call it killing intent since it’ll only be active when the immortal wants to kill somebody, but any immortal who has this red veil is a failure.

I have seen a few people walk along the wrong path, trying to control when this veil appears so they can threaten weaker immortals or mortals at will.

However, using this veil will use up the Life Power they’ve painfully gathered for no real gain, making it a waste of time, effort, and ability.

His son stopped reading up to here and looked at his father. “What does this mean?”

The old man smiled and replied, “It means that man is a low-ranked immortal who went on the wrong path and can control the red veil our ancestors talked about.”

“But even a low rank immortal is an extremely dangerous person! I don’t know what you’re thinking of doing with the information from this book, but it could lead us to a disaster!” the son exclaimed, trying to convince his father from doing anything stupid.

“I know. I’m not going to give