Heir of Synthesis: The World Mage

Orlaith’s words left the four youths shocked and alarmed. What exactly was she implying?

However, the figure merely snorted in obvious disdain.

”Hmph... he’s only acceptable,” Ladomi replied coldly. ”He alone isn’t even close to being enough. We can’t spare anything. We’ll be taking all four.”

Hearing that demand, a flash of anger and deep pain crossed Orlaith’s eyes. Her hands clenched, but she quickly suppressed the emotion, taking a deep breath to maintain the composure expected of a leader.

She turned toward the four youths and looked each of them in the eyes.

”I’ll be brief and direct. All of you have probably wondered at some point: why doesn’t the Ylisse Clan have an Ancestral Art that every member can use? If the clan is so powerful, then what is the natural power of the Vanculari race? Why have you never heard anything about it?”

The Clan Leader’s words caused all four expressions to change.

Priam had never thought much about those questions before because he assumed he would learn the answers once he arrived at the main clan. But now that he had been here for several months, he realized he truly had not heard anything about them.

Even the Eyes of the Wind race, whose Bloodline he had stolen before, possessed their own wind technique and a clearly defined Bloodline power. He had also heard that every race had something similar.

The only clue he had received was that the Vanculari possessed an affinity for the extremely rare power of the Soul. Yet not even the clan library contained Magical Arts of that type. At first, he had simply assumed it was because such techniques were incredibly difficult to obtain.

”The reason none of you know anything about this is because the Vanculari ability is quite unique. Our Bloodline power and core technique...” Orlaith spoke slowly. At the end, she paused and sighed.

The figure beside her smiled and finished the sentence.

”Your power makes you the best slaves.”

The four youths were completely stunned.

Orlaith snorted.

”To be more precise, the Vanculari Bloodline survived thanks to its ability to form a spiritual contract through our Ancestral Art. Most races possess something average that doesn’t fully unlock their potential. We, on the other hand, truly have a perfect and incredible ability that allows us to make full use of our Bloodline. That’s because... in the distant past, we worshipped another Sovereign who helped us develop it. Yes... there was a seventh Sovereign in the distant past. This isn’t a secret, but so much time has passed that very few people still know this information.”

The four were greatly surprised.

”She wasn’t called a Sovereign, but rather a ’Goddess.’ The reason is unknown. Unfortunately, this Goddess mysteriously disappeared. After that, we became completely useless, and our race nearly went extinct.”

”Fortunately, our Ancestral Art was preserved. In short, we can create a spiritual contract that allows us to share all of our energies and power. It’s truly unique, but it doesn’t grant us any power when we’re alone.”

”Without a powerful contractor, we gain no additional individual strength whatsoever. Also... we don’t have much to offer in order to attract a powerful contractor. Our only use in that contract is to become accumulators of Ether and other forms of power, allowing us to transfer them to the contractor as if we were a reserve Jade Core. But that reserve has to be protected and remain nearby at all times. The chances of us being killed in battle before accomplishing anything are very high. In other words, we aren’t worth the investment.”

”In the divine plane, individual power is what matters. Finding a trustworthy contractor willing to accept a relationship that mostly benefits us is nearly impossible. Our race was reduced to something pathetic from the mortal plane, and as I said, we almost vanished after the Goddess left us. But everything changed when the Aether-Wood Deer discovered us.”

She turned toward the imposing figure called Ladomi.

He let out a light chuckle, then looked at the four youths and spoke slowly.

”Unlike humanoids and demons, who mix their Bloodlines and keep one or several of them within their bodies at the same time, the Bloodlines of the Beasts of Primordial Chaos neither submit to nor coexist with another. For us, there can only be one tiger on the mountain. When one of our hybrids is born, one side of the Bloodline permanently destroys the other. Because of this, we possess races that are more powerful than all humanoids and demons.”

Priam listened and understood.

Indeed, mixing several Bloodlines inside one individual sounded amazing in theory. In reality, however, it weakened the individual power of each one.

It was like trying to fly and run at the same time, only to end up doing neither properly.

On the mortal plane, this kind of mixture was actually beneficial. After all, everyone was still a Mage in the lower Ranks, and having many abilities while weak gave you more ways to kill your enemies.

But at higher Ranks, it should become almost impossible to excel at multiple things. Having a single powerful Bloodline and specializing in it was likely the only path forward.

Of course, that applied to other people.

Priam had never felt any great difficulty studying the wind element. With the help of the system and the Nexus Seed, he felt that if he had access to every element and energy type, he could learn to use them quickly without any problems.

He was clearly destined to have endless options.

And he liked that very much.

”My race originated in the distant past. Our ancestral founder was an anomaly born from the union of two races: the Blighted Earth-Deer and the Pristine Wild-Spirits,” the figure continued.

”The first is a race of ordinary Beasts. The second is one of the few spiritual races that survived in our world.”

Priam had already heard a little about this from Flaris.

There existed a group of humanoid and demonic races known as Spiritual Races.

They were unusual because they did not possess true physical bodies. Instead, when they became Mages, they created a false solid body called a metamorphosis. That body could be destroyed without killing them.

In the current age, those races were almost extinct.

The most famous among them was precisely the Pristine Wild-Spirits.

”Our ancestor managed to become a Mage and later ascended to a position above even a Sage. His beastly side also shattered all limits, underwent a transmutation, and became a true Beast of Primordial Chaos. Thus, he gave birth to the Aether-Wood Deer.”

The figure’s explanation shocked the youths, especially the mention of a realm that stood above even a Sage.

”We inherited some of the characteristics of the Spiritual Races. That is why we are not born with physical bodies like yours. Now that you understand the two most important factors, it should be easy to understand why our two races are together.”

He noticed the understanding dawning on their faces and nodded.

”When you Vancularis become our contracted slaves, we Aether-Wood Deer can benefit a thousand times more than other races. After all, you can also provide us with your soul energy. Thanks to the contract created by your Ancestral Art, we can absorb it without suffering any imbalance or rejection. This greatly increases our potential and our chances of ascending as Mages.”

At that moment, the expressions of all four youths darkened.

Any Mage with even basic knowledge knew that soul energy was absurdly difficult to control. Once burned, it was even harder to recover.

In other words, using soul energy was almost the same as slowly killing yourself.

It was similar to burning away your life force.

”Hehe... yes, that’s true. When you form slave contracts with us, your lives don’t tend to last very long. But we compensate you very well.”

He spoke slowly, accompanied by a laugh that now sounded far more sinister and malicious.

”Well, now that you understand, everything becomes much simpler. The four of you have been chosen for something much greater. From this moment onward, your lives belong to us.”

To the four youths, hearing those words felt like being trapped inside a horrifying nightmare they could not wake up from.

They...

Were destined to become slaves of this race?

All of their dreams and ambitions...

Their own lives and destinies...

Had never belonged to them?

How could that possibly be fair?