Chapter 818 Four Pillars: Atavism
"Atavism…" With his thoughts confirmed by Sellifer's words once more, Valyr flashed a faint smile as he began to rummage through his treasure trove of memories regarding the concept.
In simple terms, atavism was the act of returning to one's origin. It was an act of retracing the path one's ancestors had taken in order to obtain greater power.
However, even though successfully achieving atavism would grant one access to power that would be impossible for one to originally wield, only a small number of beings would be able to achieve atavism.
For most, one would only either fail in their attempt at atavism, or only become partially successful in atavism.
And in most cases, becoming partially successful in atavism meant that their power would reduce rather than increase thanks to the deviations in the paths that they've retraced.
Then again, it's not like atavism was a nigh-impossible endeavor.
If anything, it needed two things that would allow one to have a high chance in successfully achieving atavism.
The first one was a method that would smoothly guide them on the path to atavism.
And the second one was a strong enough bloodline that would allow one to achieve atavism in the first place.
Recalling these two things, Valyr was reminded of a small group of players in the past that had discovered that they could also undergo atavism thanks to the species evolutions they've chosen.
In the end, only a small portion of that group had successfully reached atavism in their first attempt.
Fortunately, with the many unique perks players had in Greater Beyond, those that were unsuccessful in their first time had a chance to try again, allowing them to reach atavism as well.
Because of that, they were eventually known as the Atavists of Alkadran, their strengths more than enough to put them alongside rankers as achieving atavism allowed them to obtain far better species evolutions.
Inwardly shaking his head as he returned to the matter at hand, Valyr listened as Sellifer began to explain what atavism was.
"In essence, atavism is basically the act of trying to awaken the ancestral version of one's bloodline," said Sellifer in a calm tone.
"For example, say a Shadow Serpent has a bloodline that has traces of a Five-tailed Shadow Serpent. They could undergo through atavism and become an actual Five-tailed Shadow Serpent, transforming their bloodline into its ancestral version."
"Within the Shadow Plane, going through atavism not only increases one's strength, but also gives one the ability to switch between human and serpent form."
"And unlike the first and second methods, it could be said that the strength one could unleash in humanoid form gained through atavism is equal to what one could unleash their original form."
"In fact, with enough training, one could even get their human form to be stronger than their original form, though that's rarely to be the case."
Finishing her explanation on atavism there, Sellifer then told Valyr to return his attention to the sight before them, watching as the young Sellifer entered an academy for Shadow Serpents.
Once there, the young Sellifer showed the superb potential that her parents had discovered throughout her school life, eventually allowing her to become known by many as a prodigy among Shadow Serpents.
Of course, there were those who were jealous of the treatment she was getting, prompting them to challenge her to a duel.
But with the help of her great innate talents and potential, it was more often than not that she won the duel, intentionally losing on some of them to give them face.
Nevertheless, with how she became stronger through the years, Sellifer eventually discovered the weird affinity she had by the time she had graduated from the academy.
Asking her parents more about it, she soon found out from them that the weird affinity was none other than her affinity to mana, a forbidden energy within the Shadow Plane.
With that, Sellifer asked why mana was a forbidden energy in the Shadow Plane, to which her parents responded that she would eventually find out on her own in the future.
Seeing as her parents decided to be tight-lipped on the matter, Sellifer decided to focus on getting stronger for the meantime, knowing that might made right within the Shadow Plane.
And so, she quickly threw herself into the world of warfare, starting off as a private that somewhat had difficulty grasping the notion of killing fellow Shadow Serpents.
Fortunately, she slowly began to come to terms with the act of killing, being reminded that the Shadow Plane in essence followed the law of the jungle.
Then again, it was in a Shadow Serpent's inherent nature to kill.
"I was around 25 years old when I entered the military world," said Sellifer as she watched the sight before them fast forward through the multiple years of carnage she'd done.
"By the time I left the military world for good, I was already around 75 years old."
Hearing that the woman beside her spent 50 years of her life continuously fighting against what was basically her fellow kin, Valyr was left at a slight loss for words as he wrapped his head around the situation.
"Wait a minute…" Returning his attention to the Sellifer that was fighting down below, the young man noticed that the woman was mainly in her humanoid form, only using her original form if she was left with no choice.
"What method were you using to take on a human form during your time in the military?" asked the young man, recalling that he had not seen any instance of the woman making use of the second or third method through the past 50 years that passed.
Of course, that thought only gave him more shock when he heard the words that came out of Sellifer's mouth.
"The first one," she replied with a hint of pride. "Throughout the past 50 years I was in the military, I refined the skill I used to turn into a human to the best of my abilities, reducing the amount of Shadow Energy needed to maintain it while raising the amount of power I could unleash with it."
"Of course, comprehending an Intent in the battlefield helped out a lot in improving the skill along the way, even more so after I had upgraded my Intent into a bona fide Force."
"In any case, I only came to know of the third method after being told by a superior that I could head that route with the innate talent I had."
"And so, leaving as a high-ranking military official after spending 50 years in the battlefield, I returned to my parents with a longing smile on my face as I told them of my plans to undergo atavism."
As she said those words, she let out a low sigh.
"Unsurprisingly, they said no."
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