To avoid having to fabricate more lies to support the one he told to avoid returning to Janice's villa, Ace texted Mandy to inform her that he was heading back alone. Then, following Dame Wasp's directions, he made his way to the lake house, waving at the villa's security as he passed.
Arriving at the lake house, Ace noticed his uncle's boat at the dock, but there was no sign of his parents or relatives. Heading inside, he found Danny indulging in a lobster feast, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings. The aroma was tempting, but resisting the urge to join in, Ace began searching the house. When he couldn't find their parents, he asked, "Danny! Where is everybody?"
"Holy shit!" Danny yelped in fright, spilling lobster claw juice onto his pleated shorts. Glaring at Ace and pointing at his groin, he sighed heavily. "Ace, look what you did." He reached for a napkin, muttering as he dabbed at the stain, "This is definitely going to leave a mark. Ugh."
"Just soak it. Now, where is everybody?" Ace repeated, narrowing his eyes in irritation as Danny, instead of answering, took a seat on the couch and resumed eating his lobster claw. After sucking the meat out of a claw, Danny finally responded, "Your mom freaked out when she saw you leave with Mandy. To calm her down, your dad decided to take her to some couples' spa thing—on William's recommendation, no less.
"With you gone and your dad leaving, my dad snapped at my mom, blaming her: 'You always find a way to ruin my fishing trips, blah blah blah!' And, of course, my mom wasn't having it. She went ballistic, yelling back, 'You're never considerate of me like your brother is of Mary. Look at him—waiting on her hand and foot, blah blah blah!'
"Long story short, my dad had to take her to the spa with your parents. Alone and starving, I ordered room service for lunch. Want me to order something for you? Get the lobster—they're too good to miss. Don't worry about the cost. Old Greg is loaded."
"Well, I don't think he'll be so generous once Mandy is done with him," Ace revealed, hoping Danny wouldn't be stupid and go easy on the room service, especially since the lake house came with a complimentary three-course buffet.
Hearing Ace's comment, Danny, who had just picked up another lobster claw, froze mid-bite. He stared at the three empty platters of lobster, then at the two full ones still on the table, before exclaiming, "My dad is going to make me shovel cow shit until I graduate!"
"Mandy saved money on this deal," Ace said, trying to console him. "If you beg her, she might cover your bill."
Danny, however, sipped loudly on a Coke before wailing, "Then I'll be shoveling cow shit until I leave for college!" Knowing his father hated him taking advantage of Mandy's generous nature.
"If I were you, I'd savor the last two platters," Ace advised, shaking his head at Danny's melodrama as the latter stuffed himself with more lobster. Unable to fathom where Danny was putting all the food, Ace asked, "Do you know when our parents will be back?"
"They said not to wait up and to just have dinner. So, I'm guessing after dinner but before midnight," Danny replied, wiping his fingers on a napkin. Reaching for the phone, he turned to Ace and asked, "What do you want? I'm ordering two more lobster platters. By the time I'm done with these and made room for more, they should be here."
"I don't want anything. I'll go to the complimentary buffet if I'm hungry. You should too—" Ace stopped mid-sentence, processing Danny's statement. He stared at him, speechless.
Danny, undeterred, narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw. Patting his chest, he declared, "If I'm going down, I'm going down fighting."
"Your funeral. So, which room is mine?" Ace asked, deciding to leave Danny to his eccentricities and focus on his own plans.
"The one by the dining room and the last room upstairs are empty. Take your pick," Danny said, already dialing room service.
Ignoring his cousin, Ace chose the room downstairs.
Walking into the room, he was greeted by a beautiful master bedroom with a view of the pine trees and a glimpse of the lake. He headed straight to the luxurious bathroom, closing the doors and windows securely. He took out Presence Erasing talisman from his toybox, he activated them following Emi's instructions and stuck them on the four walls. They should last him till it was time for dinner.
With the arrangements complete Ace stripped naked and activated his Apex Persona. At once, his height shot up from 5'11" to 6'7". Turning from a athletic student to someone competing for Mr. Olympia. His apex physique appeared more muscular and toned than the last time he used Apex persona. He credited it to his recent fat loss. As he admired his Apex form, a notification from the Toybox system interrupted him.
-5 units of curse energy for using the Apex Earring (Apex Persona mode) for one hour. 59 minutes remaining.
i) The Apex Earring is only active when its skills are in use. Energy consumption occurs in Apex Persona mode (5 units/hour) or Energy-Saver mode (1 unit per 5 hours).]
Normally, Ace preferred using Energy-Saver mode, only activating the Apex Persona to deepen his understanding of Curse Arts or modifying them. However, the situation was urgent, and his current curse core reserves could handle the high curse energy demand.
He enabled sense-sharing with Emi, allowing her to teach him Curse Concealment Art and guide him as he practiced it. Through the shared senses, Emi monitored his curse energy circulation and provided corrections. With her guidance, Ace's in his Apex form minimized mistakes, accelerating his progress in learning it.
Within minutes, Ace memorized the Curse Concealment Art and began performing it flawlessly. After completing the energy circulation twice without assistance, he had the art committed to memory and achieved basic proficiency.
After about another half an hour of rigorous practice, the status screen updated him with his progress when he reached a milestone in the Curse Concealment Art proficiency level:
- Curse Concealment Art learned.
ii) Curse Concealment: Passively hide all signs of curse energy in your body unless you choose otherwise.
i) Continued practice will increase proficiency.
ii) Rigorous practice will enhance related stats.]
Encouraged by his success, Ace redoubled his efforts, determined to master the art to a satisfactory proficiency before dinner.