The Strongest Curse Master

"Master, are you really dropping out of high school?" DD asked as I released them all in the Wood Palace to stretch their legs and get back to whatever projects they were working on.

"Yep. Once I break through to the Knight-tier, we will head to the Roanoak Colony. So start the preparation and think of toys that I can use to help us with the Roanoak Heist," I informed everyone before beginning the cursed reinforcement arts.

However, Emi interrupted me, asking, "Then, what about the fasting pill industry? Are we scraping that? I made so many flavors of them for the presentation."

"No, the fasting pill industry will not be scrapped. It's just that I don't think we need to be present for that project. Mandy can handle it by herself with Rose's assistance," I assured Emi that her efforts wouldn't be wasted, it's just that we wouldn't be present to enjoy its yields.

"Oh! It's just that I modified the fasting pills to create a line of zero-fat candy pills. I thought we could produce and sell those too," Emi muttered under her breath, trying hard not to show her disappointment. After all, she fancied herself as the one-person R&D dept. of this venture. But now her master was sidelining her and handing it all to Mandy and Dame Wasp, the management/HR dept. and finance/legal dept. of this venture.

"That's a great idea, Emi. For your effort and dedication, you will name all the flavors we end up choosing to mass-produce for both Fasting pills and Zero-fat candy pills," I announced, clapping my hands. Soon, DD and Specroll clapped along.

"Thank you, master," Emi said gratefully. Her eyes beamed with joy. As a toy summons money and other material things did not matter to her. But the honor of naming the flavors of their products, not just anyone got to do that.

I shook my head, seeing Emi's reaction. My toy summons were easy to please. They don't ask for anything or complain, but knowing that I appreciate them and their work made a lot of difference to them. Instead of feeling like tools, they felt alive. I studied this by observing Dame Wasp. Surprisingly, it gave me a sense of satisfaction.

Speaking of Dame Wasp, I turn to check on her and the Speclimes helping her. They were still engrossed in creating Dame Wasp's new body. I wondered what was taking them so long, as Dame Wasp had said that all she needed was a few hours with Emi's help. The new changes she made to the design of her new body must be something, considering the hours and manpower she was putting into it. I was looking forward to what they would come up with.

"Any more questions?" I asked before returning to practicing body reinforcement curse art, not wanting to be interrupted again.

"Specroll says, your father is at the door, master," DD suddenly interpreted for Specroll, who has been monitoring my room using my pc through wifi.

"Since when did you start speaking in Hexadecimal?" I asked DD in surprise.

"I have a PhD. I'm very smart, Master," DD stressed in a complaining tone, feeling underestimated by her master.

"My bad, sorry." Apologizing to DD, I headed out of the Wood Palace to receive my father.

…

"It has been a while since I have been to your room," Alwin said, looking around his son's room, feeling a sense of nostalgia seeing neatly arranged action figures by the study table and the PC desk, along with the robot and superhero posters.

"Dad, get to the point. I have a lot of work," I hurried my father, getting a feeling he wasn't here because he wanted to, but because my mother sent him. Well, he has been her strongest and weakest weapon against us. I still remember back when the words, 'Wait till your dad gets back or Wait till your father hears about this,' used to give us goose bumps. Especially Lyra, she did not like to disappoint him. After all, she always tried to be his perfect little angel in front of him, but behind his back, it was a different story.

"Watch your tone, young man," Alwin warned his son before shaking his head, letting out a long sigh.

Then, locking his eyes with mine, he began, "Son, I know about the money you made in the stock market and the venture you are planning with Mandy."

I wasn't surprised. I was using his trading account after all. He could log in and check on it anytime without me knowing. I thought he would approach me back when Mandy deposited thirty thousand plus dollars, or when Danny deposited ten thousand dollars, but he was very patient. As for the venture Mandy and I were starting, I wonder if Danny blabbed about it to the adults. That was why his role in the venture was limited to being the face of our diet products.

"So, I know you were being serious about dropping out of high school." My father continued sitting on the bed. It seems he had thought a lot about this before approaching me, or was still shocked by the amount of money Dame Wasp had gathered in his trading account.

"That's a lot of money, son. How did you manage to do it? I haven't been able to sleep these past few days. Promise me you aren't doing anything illegal," Alwin suddenly demanded, revealing his fear of the SEC knocking on their door.

The only reason he wasn't wrapping his belt around his fist right now was because he triple checked every trade his son made and found that not only has his son been very busy, but all the trades appeared squeaky clean.

The only thing suspicious about those trades was the returns. They were just too high, and his son didn't make a loss on a single trade. He wondered if his son could see into the future, as he knew his son wasn't social enough to pull the good old insider trading.

"Dad, relax. You have taught me better than to rely on shortcuts. I just designed the trading program, and next thing I know, we are rich. I was planning to talk to you guys about this at the end of the month when I gave Mandy and Uncle Dan their share of the money, but you know…" I trailed my words, not wanting to talk about my little disagreement with my mother.

"Don't worry about your mother. I will handle her. But I, too, think you dropping out of high school is not one of your best decisions," Alwin tried to persuade his son, but seeing him roll his eyes, he hurried, "Hey, hear me out. How about I help you apply for early graduation? Is that something you are willing to consider?"

"That's a great idea. Sign me up. I'm prepared to take the tests anytime," I agreed, since that would only take a few hours of my time and get my parents off my back without escalating the fight.

"I knew it. The public school isn't challenging enough for you," Alwin sprang to his feet, happier about the fact that his son was a hidden genius than the eight-figure balance in his trading account. He regretted that he did not earn enough to send his children to the private school.

"Dad," I uttered, feeling embarrassed. I was confident about graduating early because of my curse abilities and not because I'm some hidden genius.

"Say no more, son. You prepare for the tests and leave the rest to me," Alwin said with a confident tone and his chest puffed out. However, his tone soon turned helpless as he muttered, "But you still need to apologize to your mother if you want breakfast. Hey, don't give me that look, you know how your mother can get when someone tries to correct her."

"Fine, but I am still going on that road trip across the country, alone—" I stressed, deciding to take a knee to my mother's ego, after all, I did raise my tone and was a little rude. And just when I tried to make sure my father knew I was being serious about going on the long road trip, alone, he cut in, reminding me, "Only if you manage to graduate early."

"Of course, but you need to talk to Mom about that and convince her to let me do this alone. I don't want any of you tagging along. Especially, not Lyra. Dad, I am serious." I stressed, seeing my dad leave the room while I was still not done talking.

"Son, let us pin that conversation for when you manage to graduate early."

"Dad!"