Getting to my aforementioned location took just a couple minutes and entering I was met with an audience already there.
The king's court was a room that was warded against scrying attempts or spying, this was where my father would hold meetings with those in power in the kingdom, but for now it held only my family members.
My father sat at the end of a long rectangular table at the centre of the room, he sat in a throne like chair.
The other sides besides him were seated by my mothers, my fathers wives, 4 of them to be exact.
Then there were my siblings, 8 siblings, all woman.
Sighing i walked over to my chair which was at the end of the other side of the table, facing my father.
" Father." I started as I stared at my father with the most apathetic eyes I could muster, this came easily as this was the former Darius' attitude and personality for most of his life.
" Mother's." I greeted my mother's of which all nodded with varying degrees of cunning smiles, probably waiting for my eventual downfall which would pave the way for one of their daughters becoming the next coming Queen of this kingdom.
" Sister's." I finished not even staring at my siblings for this.
The former really didn't have a good relationship with his family, and this wasn't for lack of him trying but with his position as the only male heir in the family after 8 girls were born from the king, it was to be expected.
I was a threat to them all, except my father of course, but he too harbored ill intent for me.
Why would he do that you may ask?
Well it's because at my birth, my mother had died giving birth to me, the fifth wife and the most loved by the king, taken from his hands by me.
This caused him to harbour a modicum of resentment as he blamed me for his wife's death even though it was unfair as I didn't do shit.
My mother's simply just didn't like that I was expected to be the next king after my father when the time comes, as the sole male in the family I held first rights to the throne.
This caused my mothers who had been already at war with each other to put one of their daughters on the throne to put all their efforts into limiting my growth, this could have been stopped with a single word from my father but he at all corners simply looked away causing me to suffer even more.
Me and my sisters relationship on the other hand was complicated, they did hold a bit of dissatisfaction that I was expected to be the next king yes but they didn't go out of their way to cause me any trouble, they just didn't care for me as they simply sought to grow stronger.
They raced to be the strongest so that when my father eventually died the strongest could strong-arm the throne to submission as in this realm power was law.
So they disregarded me in order to grow stronger than their sister counterparts instead.
' Damnit, politics, I always hated those.' I thought with a sigh before focusing on my father who suddenly breathed in deeply.
" Darius." He spoke, his voice the deepest I've ever heard in both lives, magic probably having a hand in that.
" Let's not waste time." He continued before he waved a hand and a magic circle appeared infront of me, on the table.
A pedestal with a black orb rose from the magic circle.
The Awakening Orb.
This was an orb that contained the ability to forcefully awaken ones ability, abilities could be awakened naturally at random as long as one was 16 of age but this orb made things much more effective for those that wanted an early start.
" Touch the stone and tell us your abilities rating and description." He ordered which made me frown.
Telling other people of your ability was frowned upon as you'd be telling people your weakness in a way, but this was an order so I couldn't really snake my way out of it.
" Yes, father." I muttered before bringing my hand on the orb, before feeling a rush mana being absorbed by the thing before stopping.
And then the suction of my mana stopped.
And then infront of me a screen appeared, invisible to everybody else but me.
I immediately schooled my expression as I went through the screen trying really hard not to show any expression.
[—You have awakened the ability:
—True Insight[S+]: Allows the user to see through anything, allowing them the ability to peer into the statuses of others and other things while also granting one the ability to look through phenomenon and understand them.
—Parasite[S+]: Allows the user the ability to inject a portion of the users soul into anything, thus gaining complete and utter control of said being or item.
—Knowledge Devour[S+]: Allows the user to devour knowledge, allowing them to rapidly gain and comprehend any skill so long as they have a medium of learning.
—[]—
Three abilities.
I had awakened three abilities, and all of them of S+ rating.
That wasn't in any book I have read.
Nobody had more than 1 awakened ability, or atleast that's what I know.
Hiding my smile, I began thinking about what ability I would show to the others and which one I would hide.
True Insight needed to be hidden as an ability that could see through people's statuses would be frowned upon and likely get me kidnapped to do the bidding of the one who would control my chains.
Parasite too needed to be hidden, having the ability to split my soul and takeover the bodies of other beings could be a great fail-safe if I find myself dying, I could always transfer my conscious to something I have parasited, Voldemort type shit.
So all that was left was my knowledge devour ability.
I didn't mind sharing this one as this ability only concerned me, it had great potential as it would allow me to 'unlock' some skills that are normally hard to unlock and a rapid learning rate.
" So....what is it boy?" I was brought out of my musing by my father's harsh voice.
" Uhh— apologies, I got distracted by my ability." I made excuses making most of them frown.
" So tell us, what is your ability?" He said with a little bit more curiousity than he probably wanted to show.
So I told him of the Knowledge Devour Ability but downplayed it a bit.
" Oh so an utility skill that will allow you to level up skills faster." He muttered with a nod.
" Yes father." I replied.
" Show me, here." He said catching me off guard as infront of me rose three books and a basic skill stone.
Frowning I nodded before grabbing the three books.
They were books on earth magic.
So firstly I grabbed one and concentrated on my ability.
[—Ding! Earth Magic book devoured!]
And just like that I felt a torrent of knowledge rush into my head, but the book broke down and turned to nothing but ash.
Immediately the knowledge was broken down, assimilated and understood.
My Mind Stat going on overtime.
Then I grabbed the Skill Stone and with a little pressure the stone broke into motes of light, said light rushed into my body before a screen appeared before me showing me skills I could unlock.