Dyon narrowed his eyes at Elder Flyleaf’s words. He had been ready for a moment like this, but it seemed that it would come sooner than he expected.
The very same day Elder Flyleaf tried to use a suggestion technique during his lecture, Dyon felt that there was something more to the story. The reason was simple. A suggestion technique doesn’t help you learn better, it only makes you revere the words you’re listening to. Which was exactly why Zaltarish used the technique during their debate.
Originally, Dyon brushed it off. For all he knew, Acacia Academy had a reward system for teachers who gained the most respect from their students… a system used in the human mortal world. But, he had always kept a secondary possibility in his mind… the possibility that a kingdom drenched in unrest would be a hotbed for rebellion… a rebellion that would need supporters… supporters that had to be procured by someone.
And it now seemed, that that secondary possibility was the correct one.
Dyon sighed, “don’t you think it’s a bit ridiculous that the princess of a kingdom needs to find followers this way?”
Elder Flyleaf laughed bitterly, “being the princess of the Elvin Kingdom, at least these days, is nothing more than an empty title. We have no precedent for nepotism, nor is the throne inherited in the conventional way…”
Elder Flyleaf took out an array plate and covered them both in a concealment array before walking towards the outskirts of the city.
“I know. True Empath, correct? Are you going to explain to me what that is?”
Although Elder Flyleaf was a bit surprised that Dyon knew about this, he could only brush it off. This kid had surprised him so many times, why wouldn’t he have the means of knowing this?
“The True Empath isn’t something we have a definition for in the strictest of senses… It’s a title given to a person that elicits a specific reaction in the ranking tome. The only definition we have is something left by our ancestors: ‘the one who sees all things’. That is all.”
Dyon frowned. He was aware that the ranking tome was assumed to be destroyed by the members of the Elvin Kingdom… so didn’t that mean that they could no longer name their next True Empath?
Although Dyon had the tome… it wasn’t something he was willing to part with, and it was definitely not something he was willing to allow others to know about just yet. Although Jade had seen the tome, he had discretely placed an array in her just this morning to stop her from ever talking about it. Why else would he bend to her whims like he did? He may be feeling an incomparable anger right now, but he still had Madeleine in his heart.
The sad part was that Dyon was telling himself a lie. If he had done it just to place the array within Jade without her knowing, 10 minutes would have been enough… there was no need to go for hours. It was clear that his judgement was still cloudy to anyone who watched his actions. But to Dyon, there was a method to his madness. He just knew he would never cross a line he couldn’t come back from.
Despite all this, Dyon pushed these thoughts away, “and how does this connect to being a human lie detector?”
Elder Flyleaf chuckled, “I notice that you’re close with Jade Eostre, you’re not a bad match. But, it’s clear the fact she can read you is weighing on your mind.”
Dyon said nothing to this. Him and Jade a match? He had never thought of her that way, and he doubted he ever would. To him, how could she compare to Madeleine? She had done nothing but try and seduce him. If she insisted on that type of relationship, his essence blood wouldn’t object. But if she expected him to cross a line, it wouldn’t happen.
Elder Flyleaf seemed to notice Dyon’s reaction and sighed, “you’ve probably already guessed, but it’s in our best interest that you fall for an Elvin girl and marry her. In fact, anyone within our alliance is free for you to choose from except for the princess and her cousin, Ri. King Acacia and his brother are quite selfish in this regard… I’m sorry to tell you.”
Dyon found Elder Flyleaf’s words odd. They cared about his talent enough to invite him to join them, but then place restrictions like this? Did they think Dyon had an inability to woo Ri and her cousin if he wanted to? Did they really think he could only obtain their affections by forcing them to marry him? He felt his blood boiling.
Watching Dyon, Elder Flyleaf found it hard to contain his smirk, but he managed to do so, ‘you may be smart… but you’re still too young to be playing mind games with someone as old as me. I bet you’re feeling mighty competitive now, hm? Well have at it. Go on and woo our little princesses.’
The truth was that Elder Flyleaf had said this on purpose. Headmaster Acacia and King Acacia would of course have no problems marrying their daughters to Dyon should Dyon gain their favor. But, the elders were also clear on Dyon’s personality after keeping a keen eye on him for so long.
When Dyon was focused on something, despite his love of women, it was as though they didn’t exist. With Dyon’s anger as it was now, if Jade hadn’t been so persistent, he wouldn’t have even spoken to her until he got his revenge. In fact, he hadn’t even read messages from Madeleine in more than a week. If they allowed this to continue, wouldn’t their plan of roping Dyon in with their daughters fall on its face?
And the worst part was that Dyon had stated he already had a fiancée. But, when they checked through their special channels for the movement of the Sapientia God Clans, there was nothing about their only first in line genius being betrothed. But, at the same time, they had members of the Eostre family on their side… namely Jade. So, they were fully aware that Dyon wasn’t lying. Which meant… Dyon had yet another focus: the acknowledgement of his relationship with Madeleine. And that brought them right back to square one: how to get Dyon to stop focusing on other things and start solidifying his relationship with the Elvin Kingdom.
“I see you love to bully the younger generation… hm Elder Flyleaf? You haven’t answered my question you know,” Dyon said knowingly.
Elder Flyleaf sighed, pretending to be defeated. But, he knew fully well he had lit a fire in Dyon, “the Eostre family has a complex lineage… Their manifestation allows them the highest compatibility with the True Empath lineage, and yet, they’re also the furthest away…”
Dyon raised his eyebrow as Flyleaf continued.
“The Eostre Singularity technique is a sort of trade off. On one hand, you gain portions of the abilities of a True Empath… but you trade away life force and the ability to ever produce a True Empath in your lineage.”
“Then why do they continue to practice their Singularity Type Technique? And why did they begin to use it in the first place?”
Elder Flyleaf sighed, “The Eostre family is in many ways exactly like their manifestation the moon… always seeking the glory of the sun, and yet only able to reflect its light…
Many years ago, before the elves even came to this universe, we were in great crisis. Our ruling clans, the Acacia, Mathilde and Florence families, were also experiencing inner turmoil. As a result, we experienced a True Empath drought…
Back then, the Eostre major family used to be a mere sub-family. But, due to their ancestor, they picked themselves up and pushed forward to where they are today much like the rest of us new major families.
As a genius like you has probably guessed, a singularity type technique isn’t only about the soul, it’s also about the bloodline. This is the reason why geniuses of major families have no need for the singularity type technique, because their manifestations will end up being close relatives, or even the peak mutation of the original manifestation regardless…’
Elder Flyleaf paused as they left the outskirt villages, entering the forest.
“Usually, it takes millions of years of lineage building to create a singularity type technique that can be passed on for millennia… however, the ancestor of the Eostre family stumbled upon an incomplete technique within the Elvin Legacy realm: ‘Dead Kings Valley’.
This realm, because its incomparably dangerous, would only be entered by the elites of the ancient families of that time. However, due to the drought of True Empaths, those families had no choice but to put the survival of our race first and send as many people in as possible…
The reason was simple… True Empaths were the perfect guides to our legacy realm, and without them, we needed as many chances as possible… or else we’d decline rapidly and succumb to our enemies.
In the end, the Eostre ancestor found a technique that allowed a bloodline to permanently manifest portions of the abilities of a True Empath, and despite knowing its flaws, practiced it and allowed his family members to do the same all for the greater good. As long as the younger generation had decent enough guides, the Elvin clans wouldn’t disappear.
However, despite their best efforts, the fake empaths formed by the Eostre family were just not good enough. But, could this really be blamed on the Eostre family? They had given their everything, even the lives of their next generations for the sake of their race.”
Dyon frowned. He was tired of hearing such sad stories.
“Despite this, the famous words of that ancestor are still etched into the Eostre holy land on this very island: ‘Elves usually live 10x the lives of humans. The Eostre live 5x the lives of humans. So, are you really so pitiful? At least you aren’t human!’”
Dyon didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at this. Were these really the last words someone wanted to be remembered for? Did he really just think this was a sad story?
Elder Flyleaf laughed uproariously at Dyon’s reaction, “don’t feel too bad, he was right. The Eostre family paid a penalty, and we’ll always respect them for it, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s really a pebble in an endless ocean.
An elf will live 1000 years without any cultivating, while an Eostre would live 500. But, if they both cultivate, the life provided via cultivation isn’t halved. So, what is 500 years to a celestial stage expert? Nothing, right?”
Dyon nodded. He finally understood. What was 500 years to someone who might live 50 000 years? If their technique didn’t affect years gained via cultivation, you really could say it was a good sacrifice to make.
“Anyway… the Eostre family is unable to break out of this cycle because the bloodline of the singularity type technique would always be passed down anyway. So, even though the True Empath drought has technically ended, they continue to practice it.”
Dyon pondered something, “if everything technically worked out, why are you all here instead of your original universe?”
Elder Flyleaf sighed, “it was only after we came to this universe that the True Empath drought ended… and like I said, the Eostre empaths weren’t perfect. So, we steadily got weaker, and even our ancient clans went into decline.
In the last trip to the Dead Kings Valley we made before relocating, we were able to find a foretelling technique, one that foretold our destruction should we stay. As such, we packed up and moved everything of relevance.
Unfortunately, this is where the story deviates depending on who is telling it…”
Dyon thought about this for a bit, “meaning this is why many of the current major families don’t like the fact the most recent True Empath was a member of the Acacia family of old… and now that I think about it, that hate probably has to do with the fact I’ve met plenty of members of the Acacia family, well… only 2 about to be 3, and yet I’ve met no members of the Mathilde or Florence families…”
“sometimes you’re too sharp for your own good,” Elder Flyleaf shook his head, “yes. The fact the Acacia family survived, and the other ancient families didn’t, is a major point of contention. To the point where when we got here to this universe, the new major families suppressed the Acacia Ancient clan to the point it’s at now. It was only after the recent King Acacia that they managed to make a small comeback.
It all boils down to the fact that some think the Acacia family betrayed the other ancient families. While some think their actions were necessary. It all comes back to this foretelling technique… a technique that costs one their life…”
Suddenly Dyon froze. A technique that costs someone their life? He had heard of something like this before… back during his very first visit at Heaven’s Wine was the first time he heard of a Ragnor Auxiliary clan called the Saeclum clan. Back then, Saeclum had teased Ipsum due to the fact her nose was witch-like because of the Ipsum clan techniques… but Ipsum fired back by reminding Saeclum that ‘at least her clan’s ultimate technique didn’t cost them their lives’. This was something Dyon obviously heard clearly. For one, he had already upgraded his body with two blood essences. And, how could he not pay attention to a table Iaachus, a person he had just had a confrontation with, went to?
All Dyon knew was that there couldn’t be such a coincidence in the world.
Dyon clenched his fists… it was the Ragnor Clan yet again. Just what were they doing? And how did this connect to the elves?
But, there was one thing Dyon was clear on. The Ragnor Clan was using the Saeclum clan. Just like their scar-faced slaves… the Saeclum Auxiliary clan was just yet another pawn… There had to be a reason such a twisted character like Baal was born into the world.
Flyleaf was too lost in his thoughts to pay attention to Dyon’s reaction this time, “according to that technique, our destruction was coming… but, it also foretold of the fact that if members of the ancient Elvin clans didn’t make it to this universe, they would never again produce a True Empath. But, the problem was which clan would get to come.”
Dyon’s brows furrowed, “why would they need to pick?”
Flyleaf sighed, “prophecies are always vague… even ones that cost lives unfortunately. The problem was that some interpreted the prophecy as meaning that any members of the ancient families could go, while some interpreted it as only one ancient family could send their members.
The Mathilde family believed that only one family should send members. But, the Florence family believed that all 3 families should go. The split decision was left to the Acacia family.
However, no one knows what they discussed in their meeting. We only know that afterwards, only the Acacia family younger generation came with us… everyone else inexplicably didn’t fight for it. What made it worse was that the younger generation of the Acacia family that became fugitives like we did, had no idea what happened. As such, they were scapegoated.
To the many of the new major families, it was the ancient clans that messed everything up. It was their turmoil that led to the True Empath drought which then led to their once prosperous kingdom being annihilated.”
Elder Flyleaf took a deep breath, “so, in the end we had no choice but to pay a hefty price to who you may know as the Ragnor Clan in order to hitch to their migration to this universe. At the time, the main Ragnor clan in a universe near to us had just conquered this universe’s gate and were negotiating with our current Royal God Clan. We were allowed to sneak in as members of their clan by paying a price.
That price included the foretelling technique I mentioned. I’m not sure why, but they wanted nothing but that and an exorbitant amount of transcendent stones. Thankfully, we elves excel at space type structures, as you’ve seen, so we were able to package all of our most important things to take with us.”
Dyon nodded. It seemed that he was right about the Ragnor Clan… but their ask was indeed odd. Sure, transcendent stones were great and all, but to jeopardize a negotiation just for that? When it could lead to a falling out with the Royal God Clan and result in your established colony getting wiped out? It didn’t add up.
And what was even weirder was the fact that the Elvin Clan was still here, and they clearly weren’t hiding. So, at some point the Royal God Clan learned of their existence yet did nothing. Did they just not care? Were they that scared of offending Ragnor main family? Or did the elves give them some benefits too?
Dyon felt a headache coming on. Even for him, the web of families, histories and lore was getting to be too much. He felt like he had taken a trip to a history class rather than the martial world. Where was all the glory he wanted? Where was all the fighting? All he’d done was expose the big sects as frauds just for them to be barely punished… then he ran to the Elvin Kingdom and all he’d done was smack down a trash young mater, just him to retaliate by hurting children. And now what? Was he supposed to be the savior of this Acacia family?
This Acacia family was but a corner of a small island, that was but a corner of the continent, that was but a corner of this planet, that was but a corner of this universe. Where was the glory in this?
Dyon sighed and had his second human-like thought in weeks, ‘these campaigns better live up to the hype. I’m tired of this.’
Dyon could only ask another question, hoping it wouldn’t be too complicated, he hadn’t slept in a week and he had had enough, “just who are the Ragnor family?”
A serious look surfaced on Elder Flyleaf’s face, “the Ragnor main family is very powerful. I’m sure you’ve heard of the concept of religions and how they’re among the most powerful of wills… well, the Ragnor family is part of a massive religion that spans across universes. The Norse religion.”
Dyon’s eyes widened. He had always thought that the Norse religion originated from the olden European lands of the human mortal realm… but for the Ragnor clan’s religion to be so strong that it reached the human world, instead of the human world projecting it outwards to the martial world… Dyon couldn’t fathom how powerful it would have to be.
The religious wills Bai Meiying used were different… those ancient Chinese religions really did originate from the human mortal realm. It was just that some of the martial world took interest in it and expanded it. But, Norse religion was clearly very different.
Suddenly he thought of something else, “so… when the Storm family broke off from the Ragnor family…”
Flyleaf looked at Dyon with interest, “so you know about this too? Yes. The reason they had the gall to break off from the Ragnor family was because an unprecedented genius was born. A genius so powerful that they will without a doubt one day be among the main heads of the Ragnor main family.
In families built around such strong religions, there appears a next level of bodily constitution… a bodily constitution based on their very own religious figures… the bodily constitution of a True Deity.
That first in line genius of what used to the Storm family now shares that title with another genius of the Ragnor clan… together, they stand tall amongst the younger generation of this universe. They’ve long since thrown away their original names to become the embodiment of their True Deity constitutions.”
Dyon listened with rapt attention.
“They’re known as Thor and Vidar Ragnor.”
“oh, for fuck’s sake.”
Elder Flyleaf laughed, “I guess you’ve heard these names from the human world, hm? Must be odd hearing them here.”
“that’s an understatement.”
Dyon thought he had done pretty well adjusting to the martial world. He didn’t bat an eye when killing. He accepted that a soul really did exist. He accepted that you could somehow live thousands of years if you cultivated well. He accepted that people could move earth, manipulate time, cause the waves of an ocean…. But now he was supposed to go from watching movies about Thor to fighting him? He suddenly felt the urge to start looking around for cameras.
But, putting the jokes aside, what really pissed Dyon off was here he was, listening to how great everyone else had been or was or would be. The campaigns couldn’t come fast enough for him. But first, a few people had to pay. –> <img src=’https://st.moonquill.com/avatar/129′ alt=”…” class=”avatar-img rounded-circle border border-4 border-body”> <h6 class=”header-pretitle”> Author’s Note </h6> <h1 class=”header-title”> Awespec </h1> <h3 class=”header-subtitle text-white”>I guess our boy Dyon is tired of listening to how great everyone else is and is itching to get out there, lmao. He’s probably been in denial all this time if this is what finally made him start looking for the cameras… Imagine coming from the human mortal realm, and hearing, months after the fact, how you almost fought Thor… talk about a culture shock, yikes. (and yes, I know it isn’t clear here which is which, but Tammy’s brother is Thor. While Elof’s brother is Vidar. Both are very powerful gods in Norse mythology although Thor edges out Vidar). Also… now we know how the Ragnor clan got a hold of that technique… but how did the Pakal clan get a hold of the demon sage’s technique originally? 😉</h3>