9 Chapter 9 - Bottom Line

A few days later.

"Good morning!" Dolian stepped down the flight of stairs and greeted both of his parents. It was still summer break so his sleep has been great as of late, meaning he usually woke up after both of his parents were already wide awake and doing their own work.

"Good morning, sweety." His mother raised her hand from the book that she was reading and greeted Dolian with a gentle smile.

"How's your sleep?" Ayumu asked from a nearby table as he busily tapped away at his keyboard.

"It's great!" Dolian grinned.

"Good. Oh yes, me and your mother already ate so you should brush now and eat breakfast. I'm sure you would like what Allan prepared this morning." His father said and Dolian's eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Really? You should have said so earlier!" Dolian turned on the heels of his leg and rushed towards their bathroom, preparing to brush his teeth and eat to his fill.

Allan was the name of their family's head chef, a great cook that studied under numerous master chefs in his career. He takes great care of the family's health and designs their diet and nutrition with trained professionals, turning himself into one of the main pillars of the Tatori Family's longevity.

After brushing his teeth, Dolian stepped out of the bathroom and arrived at the kitchen where Allan, a tall blond man was seen instructing a few other chefs to cook along with him.

"Good morning, young master." Allan greeted with a smile as he wordlessly grabbed a plate from a table beside him and gave it to Dolian.

"Woah!" Dolian cheered, "It's beautiful!"

The dish was a simple one, consisting of a salad plated alongside well-seasoned meat cooked to perfection. The smell was subtle but clear, and the way it was plated made it all the more appetizing.

Grabbing a spoon and fork, Dolian took the plate from Allan's hands and said, "Thank you for the meal!"

He then turned around and hurriedly walked towards the dining room, ready to feast upon the scrumptious breakfast he was presented with.

'After my quirk manifested, my appetite has grown larger, meaning I have to eat more calories, protein, and other stuff. If I was born into a poor family, then even with this amazing quirk, I would have starved to death already…' Dolian laughed, 'If I was a goody-two-shoes, that is.'

'I can easily act as a poor orphan on the streets and get adopted by a rich married couple in a couple of days with how potent my quirk is.' Dolian confidently stated without any doubts in his mind and continued to walk.

After a long while, Dolian finished eating his breakfast and felt his mutated stomach already churning and turning active to digest the newfound nutrients. His cells seemed to roar with life as each and every one of them rushed to eat their fill and grow stronger.

Satisfied with his sumptuous breakfast, Dolian lets out a burp and patted his bloated belly. 'I might have to spend longer amounts of time as a teen eating tons of food to meet my daily required calories and protein if this keeps up.'

Imaging himself as a young adult in the far future eating multiple tables worth of food to accommodate his draconic stomach, Dolian chuckled softly before then hopping off his chair and dropping to the ground.

He then walked back to their manor's living room and saw his parents still working hard. They noticed Dolian's presence and greeted, "How's the breakfast?"

"It was great!" Dolian giggled and approached his father, "Papa…"

Ayumu turned his head to the side away from the floating hologram in front of him and said, "Yes?"

"I wanna train today too! So, can I go outside? I'll make sure to stay right beside Will's side, and I'll make sure to keep myself safe!" Dolian said with pleading eyes, causing Ayumu to sigh.

"You don't have to ask me that, in fact, I'm even surprised you're willing to train so much! I'll even be happy if you said you want to rest today instead of train." Ayumu shook his head in worry.

"I'm agreeing with your father, Dolian. Training too hard is sometimes counterproductive compared to resting." Hope said while pointing at her forehead, "A well-rested brain is better than a strong body, especially for the likes of us."

"But!" Dolian clenched his fist and had his eyes sparkle, "I wanna become number one, and number one works the hardest!"

Hearing his response, both parents just accepted Dolian's wishes and Ayumu said, "Okay. But be sure to be back by lunch."

"Really?" Dolian hopped in joy and said, "I will!"

Dolian hastily went up the stairs and put on the appropriate set of clothes for his daily training, and upon reaching the entrance to their family's house, he already saw their head butler, Will, was already standing there.

Will was a middle-aged man with graying hair and a fully gray mustache. Wrinkles can be seen all over his head and around his eyes, a clear sign of the stress and joy he had experienced all throughout his life.

'Even though he's the head butler, one can't underestimate his strength. His quirk—Living Shadow—allows him to control shadows, and even become a shadow. He's great at stealth, is fast, and has good offense. If one isn't careful, he can become a dangerous assassin that can kill someone without them noticing it.' Dolian assessed as his knowledge about Will unfurled.

'Even though it's not obvious as he can hide it well enough that an average person wouldn't notice it, I'm far from an average person.' Dolian had his eyes glimmer for a bit, 'He was definitely an assassin before he became our butler, and a skilled one at that. The way he walks and moves is efficient and precise, like a sheathed blade. He must have been quite the famous guy before he joined us.'

"Good morning, Will!" Dolian greeted with a smile and raised his palm, hoping for a high-five.

"Good morning, young master Dolian," Will said with a deep voice and clapped Dolian's hands as this was what the child wished.

Putting on a grin, Dolian puts on his shoes, and said, "Let's go!"

Will nodded his head, and like magic, he melded into the shadows and disappeared from Dolian's view.

Already accustomed to the way Will acted, Dolian got into a running position and took off into a fast sprint. Golden dragon-like scales protruded out from his skin as his strength was amplified, allowing him to run faster than a normal human athlete.

Passing through their garden and arriving at the outer periphery of their manor, Dolian stopped and found himself in a flat grassy plain with a few trees here and there and smiled. Dolian then stared at the shadow that hid in the shadow of a nearby tree, and his smile deepened.

Snap!

A crisp snap resounded throughout the silent plain, causing further silence to descend. Dolian then approached the unmoving shadow on the ground and whispered, "You won't find anything that I do starting from now strange."

"You'll protect me, and even risk your life if any sudden danger is to somehow fall upon me."

"You're previous loyalty towards me has once again increased, now reaching equal standing with both of my parents."

One by one, Dolian listed a series of cryptic orders as his golden vertical eyes turned darker like two dark vortexes sucking in the consciousness of whoever stared at it.

"Once I give the corresponding signal, you'll enter a hypnotized state once again."

"You'll forget all of this in 5 seconds."

Standing up with a smile, Dolian walked away from the tree and counted down, 'Five, four, three, two…'

'One.'

The stagnant shadow hiding inside the tree's shadow seemed to regain its life as it moved slightly, and remained standing still after that. Then, without a care in the world, Dolian watched as a woman appear from the distance while also holding a cage with a blue-feathered owl inside it.

As she stopped, Dolian grabbed the cage and turned to the woman, "Stay with Will for a bit."

She nodded her head without any resistance and walked to the shade of the tree, sat down, and like magic, she also seemed to blend into the shadows and would appear invisible to the eyes of normal people.

Next, he opened the cage and lets the blue-feathered owl out. The owl flapped its wings and ruffled its blue feathers before it then landed on Dolian's protected forearm, perching on it like it was a tree's branch.

"Hoo!" Dolian replicated the sound of an owl's sound, and the eyes of the owl suddenly turned darker.

As if the owl was now another limb of his, he could feel the deeply established mind link between him and the owl act as a bridge between their consciousness. If Dolian were to describe it, he'll say that he felt like he could now move the owl as if it was his own body.

'So it is possible to make another organism a complete puppet if I modify their brains and make the mind tether between us strong enough. But it only worked so fast with Stolas because he's an owl while doing that on humans would take a significantly longer time with my current skill level.'

'Not to mention how a small mistake might very well lead to the target dying on accident if I'm not careful enough. The human mind is way too complex compared to any other organisms on Earth, so achieving complete puppetry over them is harder than doing the same to an owl.'

As the blue-feathered owl flapped its wings and flew around in circles, Dolian could see, hear, and sense everything else the owl felt in the sky. He then thought in contemplation, 'The way this works is mostly through Mind Tether.'

'With the tether, I first managed to connect his senses with mine, then later on his mind. It's the same principle as mind-reading, but since Stolas is way too dumb to have any complex thoughts, I can dominate his consciousness and manipulate him into doing whatever I want by replacing his conscious actions with mine.'

'Replacing the thoughts and will of another entity is surely a terrifying ability to have, especially if I can train it to be undetectable with enough effort.' Dolian rubbed his chin while staring at the blue sky, 'Maybe in the future, I can have the ability to create mental personas, split consciousness or personalities within my mind so that I can multitask and remain undetected when doing this type of shit.'

'One persona can read their minds, another can control my body, another can invade their mind and establish a link, etc.' Dolian had his eyes sparkle as inspiration came pouring through, before he then calmed down and laughed, 'Calm down, that's unrealistic for the young Dolian right now. I'm way too inexperienced to do things like that… for now.'

'Hehe, I have the potential and talent to do that, so I just need enough time to bloom, and once that happens…' Dolian's grin turned deeper, 'Then there's no telling what I couldn't possibly do.'

'Let's just take it slow and do things step by step. 1% increments each passing day would lead to explosive changes in the future. Study more. Work harder, work smarter.' Dolian nodded his head and manipulated the owl flying in the sky to fly back into its cage before then promptly turning to look at the two humans hiding in the shadows with a smile.

'Of course, to work smart may sometimes be synonymous with having no morals, but who am I to care about good and evil in a world where gods roam.'

'Only the strong can do whatever they wish in a world like this, and I'm definitely not gonna stay weak and put my life at risk just because I didn't want to harm the innocents.'

And so, years passed.

"Are you ready for middle school, Dolian?"

AN: This chapter has 2024 words.

NOOO! IT'S OVER ALREADY!

I just finished LOTM and dare I say it's the best. Fuck Reverend Insanity, fuck Quickly Wear the Face of the Devil (recommend it btw), fuck Marvel, fuck anything else! LOTM'S THE GOAT!

Damn, such a satisfying end that brings a sense of sadness and joy. If only we had those satisfying ends to my novels too, right???

That's why you should give me power stones, comment, save this to your library and other bullcrap like that

(March 19, 2023 - 478th day of writing)