Chapter 60: Feeling Alive
Everyone was led back to the clan’s main building on the surface.
It was still night.
And for all of those youths, it would be a long and dark night.
The Grand Elder explained to them:
"Outside that underground hall, you must never say the name of that race or directly mention the Beasts of Primordial Chaos. You may only refer vaguely to the six of us who were present there. If you break this rule... the contract you signed will activate, and it can truly kill you."
The four nodded in understanding.
Seeing the look in Priam’s eyes, the Clan Leader gestured and brought him to an inner chamber, while the others were dismissed and returned to their rooms.
Inside, Priam looked at Orlaith, full of questions.
But he knew she would not answer the things he truly wanted to know.
"Can I at least know what treasure my father was searching for?" Priam asked calmly.
Orlaith nodded.
"It wasn’t just one. Over the years, he asked me to help search for two things. There may have been more than that. Six months ago, I received news that he had already obtained one of them. But the other... is not only difficult to acquire, but it’s also absurdly dangerous."
She took a deep breath.
"You heard that ’they’ are descendants of the Pristine Wild-Spirits. Technically, that Bloodline makes them partially humanoid, though that’s not important right now. What your father is searching for is the Pristine Core that only that race possesses."
Priam narrowed his eyes.
"That race still exists?"
"Indeed. They are the last known pure Spiritual Race still in existence. Finding one is practically a miracle. Furthermore, the heralds of the Six Sovereigns declared that killing members of that race was forbidden, in order to preserve them as the last of their kind. But... as you can imagine, many dark things happen in the shadows, and that race is hunted without mercy."
"Their Pristine Core is an incomparable treasure capable of generating pure natural energy. It can be used to create miraculous healing pills. Depending on the state of the core when it is harvested, it can also be absorbed by cultivators and become a second core."
She paused briefly.
"That second use is legendary. It has only been recorded a handful of times throughout history. To achieve it, the Pristine Wild-Spirit must willingly remove its own core and hand it over intact, accepting death as the consequence. Obviously, none of them would do such a thing."
Priam fell into thought.
Did his father want to create some miraculous healing pill?
Was that it?
At that moment, Priam remembered something important.
The demonic side of Flaris’s family were merchants within their universe.
But they were not ordinary merchants.
They dealt in goods that were only traded in secret.
Demons were neutral, which allowed them to acquire items from both humanoids and the Beasts of Primordial Chaos. They served as intermediaries, allowing the three great species to conduct hidden transactions.
What were the chances that Priam could ask them and actually find something like that?
Probably close to zero.
But he had to try.
If he could find it, he might be able to bring his father back and discover what he had truly wanted all along.
Priam looked at Orlaith seriously.
"About that Divine Fetus. Is that child really going to be that incredible when it’s born?"
Orlaith sighed and nodded.
"The legends say that every member of the Abyss Soul Eater race born through that method was able to become a Sage. Some even became terrifying figures beyond that level. However, creating one was extremely difficult, and only one appeared every several generations. Even with that technique, they still eventually became extinct."
"Most likely, because ’they’ had to adapt the method and spent one hundred thousand years preparing it, the result won’t be quite that extraordinary. But it will certainly still possess the potential to become the most powerful figure in the history of the race. Honestly, becoming a follower of that figure is not a complete disaster."
Priam took a deep breath.
Who would have thought that his clan and race were actually traitors to the humanoid races of the universe?
Of course, the Clan Leader did not want to say it directly, but every member of the clan likely worked in some capacity for the Beasts of Primordial Chaos.
They probably gathered information and carried out all sorts of tasks so the clan could continue receiving rewards and prospering.
However, only the Clan Leader and the Grand Elder knew the whole truth.
The clan’s soldiers and Elders merely followed orders and enjoyed the benefits.
As for the talented ones, they were selected to become slaves and taken away from this universe.
Her husband, the father of Shione and Lumiere, had been one of those people.
He became a slave, endured it, managed to marry, and had three children.
But unfortunately, nothing lasts forever.
Eventually, the constant draining of his soul took its toll.
It was a cruel fate.
Yet that man had managed to leave his mark on the world.
Orlaith still loved him deeply, and his death had devastated her beyond words.
Priam did not particularly mind playing this game.
He would benefit from it.
But he needed to find a solution for the problem waiting fifty years in the future.
"All four of you will now receive our race’s Ancestral Art to study," Orlaith added. "It’s somewhat complicated, so you’ll need to study it over the years until the final day. It has absolutely no use in combat. Also, obviously, even if you master it beforehand, you are forbidden from forming a contract with anyone."
Priam nodded.
He had no other questions that she could actually answer.
...
Priam said goodbye to Flora and entered his room.
He lay down on the bed calmly and closed his eyes. Of course, he couldn’t sleep, but the reason was very different from the other three young people.
He was excited. Every day, his life became more chaotic.
’I’m living intensely!’
He felt alive and full of energy.
’I need to focus on training. In four years, I’ll be able to enter a sect!’
After a long time, Priam decided to stop trying to sleep. He sat up on the bed and focused on his Nexus Seed.
Inside it was all the power he had absorbed from Gangrel during that battle. There was a large amount of wind element, lightning, and pure Yin still stored there.
Not only that! He had also stolen a huge amount of soul power from that Sorcerer when she tried to take over his body. He was definitely loaded with treasures.
Priam took out the crystals he had gathered on that mountain.
Then he focused and began thinking about the possibilities for creating another power rune. That was his greatest trump card for defeating enemies.
After many hours, sleep finally came.
[Total: 2710 Germination Points]
He looked at the green screen and nodded slightly. Three months had passed since the end of the coming-of-age ceremony, and every day he completed the daily missions, earning +15 points.
[2500 GP] [Training Amplifier]
[Use?] [Yes / No]
’Yes.’
He accepted and closed his eyes, lying comfortably on the bed.
Besides knowledge, power runes, and Bloodlines, he had this other major cheat at his disposal.
***
The days passed in the blink of an eye.
Then an entire year went by, and Priam turned sixteen.
In a single year, he accumulated more than four thousand points again and used the Training Amplifier once more.
Fortunately, it wasn’t just the points that increased each time he used it.
The amplification itself became stronger. A single night using it was now equivalent to two months of daily training.
Priam was excited, imagining the day when he would simply go to sleep peacefully and wake up with an improved physique, as if he had spent an entire year training or even more.
At the same time, though... the number of points required for that would be terrifying.
He couldn’t rely only on daily points.
The best way to obtain more at the moment was by earning people’s loyalty.
For him, that was rather complicated.
He could talk reasonably well with some women now, but he still felt very uncomfortable around them. On top of that, he had that condition that made him hate being touched by them.
As for men, making friends with them was even harder.
His hopes were placed on when he finally reached the divine plane.
During this time, he had indeed received the clan’s Central Technique, along with a practically endless supply of resources.
Those resources were high-level Ether crystals, far superior to the ones he used to buy on the planet.
With them, he could increase his levels much more easily.
On top of that, he now had access to all the knowledge of his clan, as well as any knowledge he wanted from those Beasts of Primordial Chaos.
Unfortunately, the Magical Arts of that race couldn’t be used by him.
As for the best Magical Art of the Ylisse Clan, it was only considered a half-Earth Class technique, the same one Gangrel had used against him during their final battle.
Magical Arts were divided into classes.
The weakest ones, which the clan possessed in large numbers, didn’t even have a proper classification. They were simply Magical Arts.
Above those were Earth Class Arts.
They were incredibly difficult to find in the mortal plane.
The clan’s technique wasn’t even considered a true Earth Class Art, only something close to one.
Then there were the legendary Heaven Class Magical Arts.
Those existed only within the greatest sects of the divine plane.
Since Priam would be entering a divine sect in a few years and would then have access to many Earth Class Magical Arts to learn, he only gave the clan’s low-level arts a quick read for study purposes.
Besides that, Priam requested the clan’s best instructors to teach him.
It came as no surprise when Litan, the soldier who had been Shione and Lumiere’s instructor, was sent to teach him.
She was the most powerful and knowledgeable figure in the clan below the Elders and the Clan Leader.
Thus, Priam truly dedicated himself to learning how to fight.
He didn’t limit himself to unarmed combat. It was important to understand how to use every kind of weapon so he could face any opponent in the future.
During this time, Flora was promoted to a Central Maid of the clan.
She was assigned to take care of Priam and his mother, and even after the four years were over, when Priam left, she would keep that prestigious status.
---
The days continued to pass.
Until...
Suddenly, one morning.
When Priam woke up, he didn’t see his mother in the dining hall.
"Sir Priam!"
Flora came running in and shouted, her face full of panic.
"Madam Seien!"
Priam’s eyes widened as a chill ran down his spine.
He shot forward like a bolt of lightning toward his mother’s room.
