Chapter 313: Family Trait

"Please tell them to come to my residence," Priam said calmly to the Elder.

The Elder frowned, surprised by the request, but didn’t question it. He simply nodded and left.

Priam returned inside the building. Feeling his family’s curious gazes on him, he smiled reassuringly and called the twins over.

Suien and Meien ran to his side and accompanied him to the entrance, waiting silently.

In less than three minutes, the fabric of space ahead distorted, and three figures emerged from the void. Mishnar was accompanied by Validar and an unfamiliar woman.

The woman looked quite young. She was short and slender, with subtly pointed ears, gleaming golden hair, and striking blue eyes.

Faced with the overwhelming presence of three absurdly powerful Sages, the suffocating aura made Suien and Meien tremble from head to toe. Instinctively, they grabbed Priam’s hands tightly, seeking shelter.

Upon noticing Priam, the woman gave him a friendly smile and inclined her head. "Hello, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m the new Elder Leader of the 8th branch. My name is Janna."

Priam nodded politely. She seemed genuinely cordial.

Besides that, Priam noticed the complete absence of the fire element in her aura. She definitely wasn’t an Alchemist, which meant that, given the specialties of the 8th branch, she was a Master Inscriptionist of the highest caliber.

"Priam, I know you have every reason to hate my branch, but I assure you that I had no direct involvement in the conspiracy," Validar declared solemnly. "I’ve fought against the Sorcerers my entire life and hate them with all my strength. I came here personally to make that clear, although that doesn’t absolve me of blame. Dioma was like a son to me, but I now understand that I was nothing more than a blind, foolish old man who allowed himself to be manipulated."

Priam let out a restrained sigh.

He knew Validar was telling the truth—the memories extracted from Dioma confirmed it. Validar was merely an old man with a broken mind who had been manipulated. Even so, he couldn’t be considered innocent.

"You will certainly become a legendary figure within the sect," Janna said warmly. "To make amends for our conflict, we want to compensate you and the 11th branch in an exemplary manner."

Beside them, Mishnar let out a disdainful snort.

Compensate? Thousands of promising disciples from the 11th branch had been slaughtered. No treasure or mountain of resources could bring back the time and effort invested in those young Mages that had been lost.

In the next recruitment, the 11th branch wouldn’t even be able to fill 30% of the numbers recruited by the 8th branch; besides, all the Mages would be merely average. Throwing resources at mediocre newcomers wouldn’t solve the shortage of manpower for future missions and battles. The damage to the branch would last for a long time.

"Answer me one thing," Priam said, staring intently at Validar. "Among the Jade Slips you brought, is there the pill body absorption technique that only you and Dioma had mastered?"

Validar blinked, surprised by the sudden question, but promptly nodded. "Yes. It’s one of the most valuable Jade Slips we possess. I made a complete copy for you."

Priam smiled faintly, feeling Meien squeeze his hand even tighter.

"Great. Then pay close attention to this," Priam said, turning toward his sister.

"Meien... show him what you’ve created."

Meien swallowed hard. Cold sweat appeared on her forehead under the attentive gazes of the three Sages. She was absurdly nervous.

However, seeing Priam’s confident gaze and feeling the reassuring grip of his hand, she nodded.

As she closed her eyes and drew a deep breath, her entire posture changed.

Without letting go of Priam’s hand, a bluish aura erupted around her, flowing at a frantic pace.

With her free hand, she pulled a pill from her spatial ring and swallowed it in one go.

The next instant, her eyes opened, glowing with a dense, terrifying flame-red hue.

"!"

Validar’s eyes widened in absolute shock, and his mouth fell open, unable to form a single word.

Meien slowly exhaled, and the aura around her instantly transformed. The power of the Yang Pill wasn’t merely absorbed—it was integrated with such purity, fluidity, and perfection that the magical density emanating from the young woman made the very air around her crackle.

Priam turned toward Validar, taking in the old Sage’s stunned expression.

"So? Is it similar to yours or not?"

Validar stammered, dazed. "Y-yes... But how is this possible? Where did she get a Magic Art of this level? I only heard rumors that something like this existed in an elite Alchemist sect somewhere in a universe!"

Meien held his gaze, with restrained pride on her face.

Priam let out a light laugh. "This isn’t a Magic Art. My sister studied hard and developed this method on her own."

"WHAT?!" Validar exclaimed instantly, his voice faltering in shock. "That’s impossible! The creator of my branch’s technique was a legendary Central Elder who only managed to complete the formula during the final years of his life! Creating something like this requires infinite magical scholarship and centuries of experience!"

"So what?" Priam retorted disdainfully before looking at Meien. "Show him the structure of the Magic Rune you created."

Meien nodded. She closed her eyes and allowed the pill’s energy to gradually disperse.

For any Magic Art to be executed, the formation of a Magic Rune is necessary. Meien had created her own Magic Rune, but even something as simple as that was absurdly difficult.

Even with perfect Magic Arts, the slightest mistake could result in a bloody death. Creating one from scratch? That was like playing with your own life. Especially for a mere Mage from the mortal plane.

Of course, all of that only applied to ordinary Mages. With their absurd natural talent, combined with the astonishing knowledge Priam had given his sisters, the two hadn’t faced nearly as much danger.

The air left Meien’s lungs. With a gentle motion of her free hand, an intricate set of bluish runes emerged from her palm, floating like a miniature constellation.

Validar fixed his eyes on the structure. His senses analyzed every vector, every runic circuit.

With every passing second, his expression fell apart into a mixture of disbelief and reverence.

While the old Sage processed the shock, Priam turned to the other side.

Suien watched everything in silence, her eyes sparkling with anxiety. When she noticed her brother looking at her, she straightened her posture, overflowing with anticipation.

Priam smiled faintly. "This Elder Leader is a Master Inscriptionist. Why don’t you show her what you’ve created?"

"Yes!" Suien exclaimed, a radiant and audacious smile blossoming across her face.

Janna narrowed her eyes, curious and slightly skeptical.

The next second, Suien raised her right hand. The Ether around her began to stir frantically.

Dozens of inscription runes sprouted from her fingers, intertwining in a hypnotic dance.

"GO!" she ordered in a vibrant tone.

The floating runes violently condensed into three translucent runic spears. They hovered in the air, emitting a deep hum and vibrating with a destructive power density that made space tremble.

Priam looked at Janna and saw the Master Inscriptionist standing there dumbfounded, her eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

It wasn’t just her. Beside her, Mishnar, who had been watching everything in silence, wore an expression of pure astonishment. What kind of monstrous prodigies were these two twins?

"Show the Elder Leader the internal structure of your runes as well," Priam said softly. "I’m sure she’s eager to confirm your creation."

Suien nodded enthusiastically and made the spears dissolve. Then, she excitedly displayed the Magic Runes.

Several minutes of absolute silence passed as the two visitors examined the structures created by the two young women.

But there was no room for doubt: the runes were authentic, perfectly functional, and frighteningly ingenious. They weren’t Magic Arts created by someone else, because they carried the girls’ own life force imprinted within them, besides the obvious flaws caused by their lack of power.

They had bypassed centuries of conventional magical theory through their own willpower and innovation.

How had two Mages from the mortal plane managed to create such advanced methods?

Janna and Validar looked at Priam simultaneously.

Remembering Priam’s own impossible feats... and now his sisters... this could only be a family trait.

"So?" Priam smiled naturally. "You said you wanted to compensate me, right? My sisters are specialists in exactly the disciplines your branches excel at. I just received the Jade Slips from the 8th branch, but raw knowledge without qualified masters to guide them isn’t enough..."

Priam paused when he noticed Mishnar’s gaze becoming as cold as a sharpened blade.

"Of course, they’ll both remain disciples of my 11th branch and live here, under my protection," he quickly added.

The tension on Mishnar’s face disappeared instantly.

Janna and Validar swallowed hard, perfectly understanding what Priam wanted.

The two Sages exchanged a quick glance. As the new Elder Leader, Janna took the initiative and nodded.

"If that’s what you want, we’ll be honored to polish these two rough diamonds for the future of our sect. I myself will accept Suien as my nominal disciple. And Validar will do the same for Meien."

Priam turned toward Mishnar with a questioning look. She understood the message immediately and gave a gesture of approval.

"I authorize it," Mishnar declared. "The two of you will have free passage to move through the 11th branch regularly and spend as much time as necessary instructing the two of them."

Meien and Suien blinked, somewhat stunned by how quickly their futures had just been decided.

Priam looked at his sisters with an extremely satisfied smile. "There. Now you have two of the best teachers in your respective fields. Squeeze every bit of knowledge you can out of them. But don’t forget that this is only one aspect of your abilities; you’ll still need to train hard in the other disciplines."

"YES!"

The two answered in a perfectly synchronized roar, their eyes shining with determination.