"Ambiguous concept?" said Angus.
"Yeah, Ancient Power's origin is imparting one's 'knowledge' to the young generation to preserve the 'knowledge'. It is sort of a legacy. As this knowledge gets passed from one generation to others, it somehow evolved to what we call Ancient Power."
"The 'knowledge' may have evolved into a unique skill, but it also retained its origin as 'knowledge'. Some scholars and experts prefer to call this 'knowledge' a concept. As time passes, some concepts become more blurred and ambiguous, leading to many problems."
"For example, the vampire has an Ancient Power called Bloodthirst. It is a mighty Ancient Power that is capable of manipulating blood to a frightening degree. Although it seems simple, the implication is not." explained Darren.
"To have absolute control of blood, there are many things to master. Bloodthirst's ancient power only works properly if the user masters it. We refer to this as the ambiguous concept as we never know the true requirement for the Bloodthirst."
"The problem is when the user fails to achieve these criteria, they will receive a backlash, be it in their psyche or physiology. In the worst case, the Ancient Power will corrupt the user until it only becomes an empty husk." explained Darren.
"I see… So, in short, if we fail to understand or master the Ancient Power concept, we will get a sort of backlash from the Ancient Power. But Jayna and I never receive this backlash?" asked Angus.
"Tell me, Young Baron Angus. Is Ancient Power the only one you two received when you bestowed those Ancient Powers?" asked Darren.
"Wait… Don't tell me those blessings?" guessed Angus.
"Correct. As the Ancient Power's concept becomes more ambiguous and blurred each time it gets passed on, some people begin to create a failsafe to protect younger ones."
"This failsafe could be anything like runes, items, potions, magic, etc. In your case, it is a blessing." said Darren.
"Make sense. Then, did you mean that this goblin didn't receive this failsafe when he inherited the Ancient Power?" asked Angus.
"Well, I am not sure either. But his Ancient Power is certainly corrupting his mind and making him unstable. It is already a commendable effort for him to stay sane. Maybe this is also why he could reach the fifth grade." said Darren.
"Since the Ancient Power's origin is knowledge, he also couldn't pass it on to others, right?" asked Angus.
"True. Even if you lose all the memory, the Ancient Power will still be attached to you. It is not something you could just throw away." added Darren.
"Huft… We really get a very troublesome power. Anyway, is it alright for me to know all of this? You even reveal this Bloodthirst Ancient Power." said Angus.
"No problem. This is just a brief history of Ancient Power. If you delve deeper into it, I believe you will know more about it. As for Bloodthirst, it is not actually not secret. Any vampire could practically claim this power. But, if they could handle it." said Darren.
"Did Young Baron Angus interested in it?" asked Darren with a smirk.
"Okay. I believe I still want to retain my humanity and didn't interested in another troublesome legacy." said Angus casually.
While Angus and Darren are chatting with each other, Jayna and Aunt Extalia continue their training using the snow terrain. Jayna tries to maintain her fire with minimal power while practicing sword skills.
With the help of cold weather, she will know her limit and increase her endurance. One of the essential factors of the high-grade fight is not only strong skills or high circle spells but their energy repertoire. Jayna may be able to beat some high-grade combatants, but it also left her exhausted.
Therefore, she needs to know the limit of her strength and increase it. Although her regeneration and stamina as Fire Phoenix are off the chart, she still needs time to recover. In a deadly battle, her opponent will definitely not let her have time to rest and recover.
While the girls are busy themself, Angus examines the goblin thief's belongings with the help of Darren. To their surprise, the goblin thief is truly mad. They could find ten or more storage devices in many shapes and filled with many things.
Gold, Ingot, rare materials, Potions, books, scrolls, stone runes, and many others could be found in these storage devices. They even find a few sealed artifacts in it. According to their estimate, the entire fortune could even buy a small country.
"Is this guy okay? He is like carrying an entire treasure vault on his own. Why doesn't he store this somewhere before trying to hit us?" asked Angus in confusion.
"Hmm… I am not sure either. Maybe it is related to his Ancient Power." replied Darren as he inspected some of the items.
Darren didn't really care about fortune, but as a researcher and scholar, it is his habit to find and learn new things. Angus himself didn't mind too much about it.
Darren already helped them a lot during all this time. This little fortune is nothing compared to befriending a Vampire Ancestor.
Soon, the sky turns dark as the snow keeps falling down nonstop. The girls keep doing their activity except for Mira. The taciturn silver-haired girl lazes around in the camp while leaving Anna to play with Onyx and Magen.
Ever since Mira got her flying pillow, she has become so lazy that if Anna didn't ask her to join the meal, she would just skip it and lay on her flying pillow. When it is time for dinner, everyone returns to the camp and eats.
"Angus.. Angus.. *Munch* Who is *Munch* that green bubble?" asked Anna as she realized the unconscious thief.
"Anna, don't talk while you are still full." lectured Jayna as she wiped the leftover from Anna's cheek.
Anna didn't fight and let Jayna wipe it.
"Gezzz… You should eat slowly. No one will take your food." said Jayna while stroking Anna's head.
"Mmhm" nodded Anna with a smile before stuffing the food at the table as fast as she could again.
Seeing this, Jayna only shook her head but didn't complain as she knew the little gluttony liked to be spoiled by her.
'She really became her mother.' thought Aunt Extalia while observing their interaction.
"Well, he is the thief everyone searches for." replied Angus.
"Hmm… He is like the weak green bubble but stronger." said Anna.
"Did you mean Ilgor?" asked Angus.
"Yup. Weak green bubble or maybe a super weak green bubble. No, wait, super is for strong. But a weak green bubble is weaker. Urgh… Whatever." replied Anna while eating again.
"Okay… Anyway, you could say they are somehow related. I hear that orcs, goblins, gremlins, and a few other green skin races have the same ancestry. Though I don't know if it is true or not." said Angus.
"Ehhh… what is ancestry? Is it tasty?" asked Anna innocently.
"No, Anna. Ancestry is…" explained Angus to the little troublemaker.
After hearing a simplified explanation about ancestry, "Urgh… Anna is confused. Anna will just call him a green bubble." said Anna while giving up trying to understand Angus' words.
"So, Angus… Could Anna burst green bubble?" asked Anna.
"I am not sure. We need to wait for him to wake up. Since his mind is unstable, we can't forcefully wake him. Otherwise, he may go berserk with his Ancient Power." said Angus.
"Ummm… But, Anna didn't like the Green Bubble?" asked Anna.
"Hee… Why are you not like him?" asked Angus back.
"He had bad intentions towards Angus, Big sis, and Mira before. Ohh… He also had a bad intention to Nice Flashy Red and Silver Corpse." replied Anna.
Hearing this, Angus begins to smile and stroke Anna's small head. Then, he begins to talk to Anna about many things, like his worldview about the good and bad.
"Emm… If it is Angus' rule, should Anna follow it?" asked Anna.
"Nope. You could choose to believe it or not. You are free to do whatever you want, Anna. Even if you want to burst into tears right now, no one will judge or blame you. But, you must remember every action…" said Angus.
Before Angus finished his sentence, "Has their consequence, right? Angus always said that to Anna. So, Anna remembered it. Anna is smart." said Anna happily.
"Yup. Anna is smart and brilliant." said Angus kissing her forehead with Jayna.
Being suddenly kissed by the couple, Anna immediately hugs them and smiles happily. While the three people were having their family moment, the others could only smile, except for the lazy silver-haired girl.
The silver-haired girl finds a new interest by reading story books that Darren finds in the goblin's belongings. Since getting the storybooks, Mira has been completely absorbed in them while lying on her flying pillow.
Soon, everyone goes to sleep in their respective tent. In the middle of the night, Anna who is sleeping between Angus and Jayna suddenly opens her black eyes widely. A thin black mist emerges from her body and covers everyone in the tent.
Usually, Angus will immediately detect this phenomenon. But, as soon as the black mist touched him, he immediately fell into a deep sleep. After ensuring everyone had completely slept, Anna stood up and walked out of the tent.
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