Chapter 215: The Child Who Should Have Been Protected

The Child Who Should Have Been Protected

But something deep within his golden eyes changed.

Looking into that clear gaze, Victor felt an inexplicable fury rise within him.

The anger came so suddenly that even he had to suppress it.

[Ding!! Investable Black-Quality Heavenly Mandate clansman detected!]

[Legacy Investment: Primordial Great Medicine: World Genesis Rebirth Lotus. Reward: Primordial Blood Sovereign Pill!]

[Legacy Investment: Reincarnation Creation Art. Reward: Ultimate Freedom Art!]

[Legacy Investment: Personal Guidance. Reward: Hundred Years of Cultivation!]

[Legacy Investment: Abyssal Styx Sovereign Blood Scripture. Reward: Abyssal Styx Great Laws of World Scripture!]

The Eternal Legacy System’s notifications chimed inside Victor’s mind.

No one else could hear them.

No one else even knew the system existed.

But Victor barely paid attention to the notifications.

His gaze remained on Lucas.

He stepped forward.

Then he gently lifted the little boy from Jacob’s arms.

Lucas was frighteningly light.

Far too light for a child.

Victor’s fingers brushed carefully against the boy’s back.

A flicker of pity crossed his golden eyes.

Moments ago, he had held another child of similar age.

Oliver.

A child who had been laughing and asking innocent questions while surrounded by his family.

And now...

This child had been carved open.

His Sovereign Bone had been stolen.

His own family had treated him like an object.

Yet Lucas still looked at Victor with nothing but trust.

Both were children of the Salvatore bloodline.

Both should have been protected by the same family.

How could Victor, who had once declared that the Salvatore Family stood above all others, accept something like this?

How could he not be furious?

Still, his face revealed none of it.

Instead, Victor smiled gently.

"Yes, I am your family."

His voice was soft.

"I am the Patriarch of the Salvatore clan."

He carefully adjusted Lucas in his arms.

"Every member of the Salvatore Family is your family."

Lucas’s eyes brightened.

For the first time, he looked genuinely happy.

Then a small worry appeared on his face.

"Patriarch Grandpa..."

He swallowed.

"I... I don’t have my Sovereign Bone anymore..."

His little fingers curled against Victor’s robe.

"Am I still your family?"

Victor’s brow furrowed slightly.

It was barely noticeable.

But Lucas noticed.

Seeing the slight frown, the child immediately became anxious.

He hurriedly added, "Patriarch Grandpa, Lucas will eat well and sleep well!"

His voice became more urgent.

"The bone will grow back soon!"

Victor’s eyes softened.

Lucas continued, completely serious.

"Then you can take it and give it to other little cousins."

He hesitated.

"Lucas... is useful..."

His voice became quieter.

"Lucas wants... family..."

The final words were almost a whisper.

The journey had been too long.

The suffering had been too much.

Lucas was not even five years old.

His small body could no longer endure it.

His eyelids slowly closed.

And in Victor’s arms, for the first time in a very long while, the child finally felt safe.

He fell asleep.

Victor looked down at him silently.

A translucent panel appeared before his eyes.

[Name: Lucas]

[Heavenly Mandate: Black]

[Comprehension: Era-Suppressing]

[Talent: Heaven-Grasping]

[Cultivation: None]

[Constitution: Born Sovereign, Child of Fortune, Great Laws of World Comprehension, Invincible Heart]

[Born Sovereign: Possesses the Born Sovereign Bone, inscribed with the Sovereign Divine Art!]

[Child of Fortune: Bears the fortune of heaven and earth!]

[Great Laws of World Comprehension: Innately comprehends the Great Laws of World!]

[Invincible Heart: Born with an invincible heart, second to none among prodigies across all realms!]

[Fortune: Sovereign Bone harvested yet survives; meets the Patriarch; Sovereign Bone restored; walks the Great Laws of World alone; all he touches becomes treasure; he alone can illuminate past and present!]

[Quality Ranking: Commoner < Ordinary < Superior < Genius < Prodigy < Peerless < Freak < Era-Suppressing < Heaven-Grasping]

Black-quality Heavenly Mandate.

The most powerful tier within the Eternal Legacy System’s evaluation.

Four terrifying aptitudes.

And that final description...

He alone could illuminate past and present.

Even Victor’s eyes narrowed slightly.

This child was extraordinary.

No.

Extraordinary was not enough.

Lucas possessed a destiny that could shake entire eras.

Yet Victor did not look at him as a peerless prodigy.

Not now.

To Victor, he was simply a child.

A child whose chest had been carved open by his own family.

Victor slowly channeled the Great Laws of World into Lucas’s body.

The energy flowed gently.

There was no force.

No pain.

It carefully nourished the child’s organs, meridians, blood, and damaged bones.

Only after Lucas’s breathing became more stable did Victor finally look toward Jacob.

Jacob was still kneeling.

His shoulders shook.

Tears continued falling.

Victor’s voice broke the silence.

"Tell me."

He paused.

"Everything."

There was barely any emotion in his voice.

But Jacob’s body stiffened.

To him, those two words sounded like an ocean of blood churning beneath a calm surface.

Jacob understood.

The Patriarch wanted the truth.

And Jacob would give him all of it.

He held nothing back.

Their branch had separated from the main family a thousand years ago.

Unlike the other branches, theirs had not left voluntarily.

They had been exiled because of a grave offense.

Afterward, they had wandered across multiple domains.

Eventually, they settled in the Everdawn Domain, adjacent to the Celestial Capital Domain.

There, they put down roots.

For a long time, their lives had been peaceful.

The Everdawn Salvatore Family was small in number, but their relationships with the surrounding clans had been good.

Among those clans was the Brightwell Family.

The Brightwell Family was a prominent clan within the Everdawn Domain.

And Lucas’s mother had been born into the Brightwell Family.

Lucas’s father and grandfather had both served the Brightwell Family.

Three years ago, they had left to fight for the inheritance of an ancient grotto.

Everything had been peaceful.

Lucas had simply been lonely.

Then his Sovereign Bone was discovered.

His cousin saw it.

And that cousin told his mother.

Greed took hold.

She had lured little Lucas into a secret chamber.

Then she had carved the bone from his chest.

And transplanted it into her own son.