Chapter 417: Everything Was Connected

"I don’t have many requests. All I want is for you to wear sexy maid clothes and seduce my teacher. Just kidding, we both can’t do any housework because we suck. If you accept, you can get enough money and even learn from Go—mmphh!"

Gran covered the young man’s mouth and said, "It’s nothing. Someone really needs to shut your mouth. You really talk too much. I’m starting to regret that you’re going to spill every little thing..."

"Well, I can also offer to teach the kid to learn how to shut his mouth," added Natalia.

"..." Both of them were speechless.

Gran chuckled when he recalled the past. He turned to Auric and said, "Can you believe what happened?"

"King of Hearts? Joker? Wait. You are not Joker?"

"I am not Joker. Joker is the kid I used to teach." He shook his head.

"Then, who are you?"

Gran paused for a moment before continuing his story. "After that, we ended up hiring your mother. It was also good to keep the brat’s mouth in check by giving her the authority of an older sister. I’m sure you’ve heard about the hunting event in the Alps.

"It might be true that for academies, only students could do it. However, the age limit was 28 years old or under Rank 4, so she also accompanied him in that place. You ended up shattering their records, though."

Auric looked down, contemplating.

"Well, it was a very short time, but your mother took her job very seriously. She was the second person who managed to make me open up, aside from that brat who just couldn’t stop talking.

"We ended up marrying not long after. She got pregnant, and everything looked like it was on track. I thought I could have a peaceful life, but... my own recklessness ended up costing me that very life..."

...

18 years ago.

Gran looked at Natalia, who was just too happy with the news that she couldn’t stop rubbing her belly.

Gran smiled and sat next to her.

"This child might be the hope you’re waiting for."

"Hope?"

"Didn’t you tell me back then that humanity was hopeless and a calamity was about to befall us? So, you needed someone who could win this race... someone out of the system." Natalia smiled.

"Ah, that..." He froze.

"You said that if humans followed the conventional system, they would be fine, but it would only be for the future. There was a need for someone outside the system to protect them first."

"That’s..." Gran scratched the back of his head.

"Come on, honey. You’re the only one who can do it. Don’t you have the ability to use that power?"

"Well, I do. I mean, not exactly. I can trick the system, but not truly escape from it. In other words, he will have to awaken, but instead of an avatar, he will awaken something else. When he evolves, the thing he awakens will be the one evolving."

"That’s it. Then, let’s do it. We can do it."

"I don’t know. I haven’t tried that on other people."

"I know. That’s why you can do it right now. You will be with me all the time, monitoring everything step by step."

"This..."

He was still hesitant, but in the end he accepted.

Gran let out a long sigh and said to Auric, "That’s the biggest mistake I made. I trusted my power too much without realizing that doing so was a mistake."

"Well, Lindwurm said I was a mistake. He didn’t want me to learn your element without having the ability to control it. Was that your instruction?"

Gran grabbed Lindwurm’s head as though he could see him and touch him.

"Let me fix this mouth of his. You were never a mistake. The mistake was my decision to go along with that plan."

"Sowwy." Lindwurm apologized with his head squeezed.

Gran continued, "Your body is fundamentally different because I used my ability on you when you were just an embryo. However, that decision cost your mother her life.

"Because you were born from a different system, your mother’s body couldn’t endure it. Just like a mother and daughter with different Rh factors, your mother couldn’t recover from her condition."

Auric froze. His voice started shaking. "Wait. You have that ability. Why can’t you use it?"

"That’s the problem. It’s precisely because I used my own power that I couldn’t treat her. My powers ended up conflicting with each other. Your mother was also trying to use her own power to heal herself, but because of the different systems, it was ineffective."

Auric fell silent. He finally understood why his father was so wary of him using that power.

He believed that his father’s element carried almost infinite possibilities, but for that very reason, if he used it without having the ability to control it, he might end up drowning in his own power.

He could easily misuse it. His father might not have the courage to fix him or do something about it. As he said, he was a coward.

"You survived. When I saw you, I was afraid that you would find out about this and end up resenting me and your mother. So, I tried to cover it up. I thought you should also live with both of your parents.

"So, I recreated your mother. After a few years, I realized one thing. I didn’t know if I did this right. Would recreating your mother be considered as disrespecting your mother?

"I thought that, no matter what, you needed to find the truth. Unfortunately, it was too late. You had grown so attached to your mother that I didn’t have the heart to take her away from you again.

"When you failed to awaken your avatar, I was reminded of that decision from eighteen years ago. I was afraid of your judgment, so I ended up running away. Your mother ended up in charge of that task.

"And that happened. With your mother gone, there was no one else left to do that. You needed to hear the truth."

Auric didn’t know how to feel. It had been a rollercoaster of emotions. His father’s power was used to change him, but his mother was the one who suggested it. Then, his second mother was created to care for him in the memory of his real mother, but before Gran could erase her, he realized how attached Auric was to his second mother.

He thought that he was ready to hear everything and would end it with a punch to his father’s face before things went back to normal.

After hearing the truth, he became unsure. Was this the right choice?

"To be honest, there is another reason I chose to do it."

"Another reason?" Auric frowned.

"When you are Rank 3, your senses become heightened. After reaching Rank 4, you are able to use your avatar to undergo a transformation on the outside. What can you do after reaching Rank 5?"

"Manifest my avatar." Auric answered without hesitation.

"Then, how about Rank 6?"

"I can fuse with my avatar."

"That’s called Fusion. Take a look at the progress. An avatar is originally nothing but an image. After continuous evolution, your power is enhanced, your senses are heightened, you are able to integrate that avatar into your body, then manifest that ’image,’ and finally fuse with that image. When you reach Rank 7, what will happen to your body?"

Auric fell silent for a moment. He had seen this on the internet. "Those who have reached Rank 7 have their bodies begin to turn into that avatar. Not completely, of course."

"Exactly. Now that the avatar is real and you can fuse with it, the next thing is to make that fusion permanent. That’s why it’s called ’Mutation.’ After fusion, it’s mutation."

"Mutation..." Auric looked down, contemplating. He had never heard of this term before. "You don’t want me to undergo Mutation or something?"

He smiled. "What do you think will happen after you reach Rank 8?"

"What? Rank 8?" Auric was stupefied. "I... don’t know?"

"After that fusion is made permanent, what do you think will happen next?"

"Something that would change my... body from its very foundation?" Auric answered, not very sure whether it was the correct answer.

"Indeed. It will alter you from the very foundation. If that’s the case, what will happen if you have a child in that condition?"

"!!!" Auric widened his eyes in shock. "Wait. Don’t tell me your child will inherit your traits? But isn’t the avatar random?"

"Avatars are random, depending on their characteristics as well as the traits of their parents. But what if those parents aren’t random anymore?"

"Then the child will no longer be random."

Gran smiled. "That is bloodline."

"Rank 8... bloodline." Auric looked down, contemplating. He gasped and looked at his father. "You..."

"No." Gran shook his head. "We are currently in a race with the beasts... a very unfair race.

"The seven calamity beasts will come and create a new god. Once it appears, humanity will perish.

"How do you think we are getting stronger? How do the beasts get stronger?"

"We are eating materials or artifacts. As for the beasts..." Auric fell silent and figured out what he was talking about. "The Gathering Technique! The beasts aren’t eating their own kin to get stronger. That’s why the Gathering Technique is necessary.

"You made Lindwurm teach me about it!" Auric remembered the first time Lindwurm taught about the gathering technique.

"I created it, but you mastered the craft." Gran smiled.

"Rank 8, bloodline, calamity beasts, a beast surpassing everything in this world... all of them are connected. Humans are too busy fighting each other that they don’t even realize the danger they’re currently in.

"If we tell them about it, they will think we’re crazy. Only when it’s too late will they realize the mistake they’ve made.

"What about the ruins? That’ll be your next clue. Soon, you will receive a unique patient. Figure out everything about her and find out the reasons. Don’t look at what’s on the surface, but look at what’s beneath it. If you can do that, you will figure out where you should go next.

"But let me tell you this one thing. Everything is connected, including the reason your avatars exist. That includes why some of them are using the model that is supposed to be mythical.

"Son..."

"The Age of Gods is coming."

(Vol. 3 End)