Chapter 114: Chance to Change Everything
After dinner that night, Orlaith revealed something important to Priam and the others.
"The Supreme General sent an urgent request for help to the largest demon merchant planets of the Mortal Plane, the ones his race has contact with. He wants to find a demon specialized in meridians. And he promised to pay any price to whoever could cure his son."
Priam took a deep breath. He had finally received the information he wanted the most.
Among the demon races, there were more common types and talents. One of them was demons specialized in Magic Arts of nurturing and refinement. This type of Magic Art could convert practically any energy to nourish the body... even the life and soul of a living person.
At the same time, all races of this type possessed extremely deep knowledge about meridians and the physical body. So, they were indeed the best doctors possible to try to cure Hahho.
The ethereal body of the Aether-Wood Deer race wasn’t completely spiritual. Because of that, it also had meridians. But they weren’t exactly the same as those of physical races. Therefore, even the best demon in this field wouldn’t necessarily be able to save him.
Priam snorted softly. Hahho’s injuries were extremely severe, but everything indicated that they weren’t impossible to cure, as long as he was very lucky.
If Hahho really couldn’t be saved, Priam didn’t want the Ylisse clan to suffer consequences because of him after he left for the Divine Plane.
Therefore, he needed to do something.
Create chaos.
He needed to create the biggest and loudest chaos possible.
He needed to involve the Supreme General in this, dragging his entire race along with him. That way, that old bastard wouldn’t have the strength or influence to attack his clan anytime soon, giving Priam enough time to grow stronger.
Of course, Priam only dared to think about doing this because the Great Elder of the race was on his side. He would definitely love the trouble Priam caused. That way, he would have a chance to consolidate his position if the Supreme General became the center of the problems.
Priam’s mind worked quickly, and some ideas he’d had during the day now seemed far more viable.
...
When the four youths were already back in Priam’s room, he turned to Flaris.
Her race was the key to making everything work.
"I want information on all the greatest registered demons of the Mortal Plane who have any chance of curing that bastard Young Master. I want to know if any Sorcerer... or the equivalent of that among them."
He stopped in the middle of the sentence because Sorcerers could only be humanoids, not demons.
He had studied this in the clan. The reason was that, for demons, the evil actions of a Sorcerer were considered something natural; they simply lived by the Law of the Strongest.
The humanoids in this world rejected such acts because everyone from this group of races was very weak when born. Among the three great races, humanoids were the most fragile at first.
The Primordial Chaos Beasts, if properly nurtured with many resources, had bodies that developed explosively. In less than two years, they already became adults and terrifyingly powerful.
Pure demons weren’t that exaggerated, but their children could already manipulate the power of their demon bloodline, and they weren’t fragile or defenseless. A group of demon children together had enough strength to kill even a Mage.
Therefore, only humanoids needed at least ten years of peace and protection after birth.
Because of that, the existence of murderous and bloodthirsty figures like Sorcerers among them was extremely problematic. If they were allowed to act freely, the humanoid population would plummet to a critical and irreversible point.
As a result, the struggle against the other great races would be lost due to a lack of people.
Returning to the present.
Flaris nodded and wasted no time. She took a red emblem from her spatial ring and sent the message to her demon race.
A little later, she turned around.
All three focused on Priam at the same time, staring at him anxiously, because he had promised to give them something incredible to study tonight.
Priam smiled faintly and nodded.
"First: you absolutely cannot reveal any of this to anyone. I repeat: no one, not even the clan Leader. Second: I won’t tell you where I got this, so don’t waste time asking me."
The three swallowed hard and nodded with exaggerated movements, in strange synchronization.
’This will be a good test for them,’ Priam thought, then waved his hand toward them.
In seconds, three small points glowing with an intense emerald-green light appeared floating.
Priam had learned from his mother how to use the power of nature to transfer knowledge directly. Using this was very practical and useful.
The glowing points went to the three of them, entering their foreheads and disappearing.
In mere seconds.
"!"
The three’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
Priam smiled. The complete Ancestral Art of the Vanculari had been delivered to them.
This Ancestral Art had 21 stages. However, an ordinary Mage could only use the first seven.
The remaining stages? He couldn’t even understand what was written. The text described the use of an unknown energy, expressed in absurdly mystical terms.
It would be like trying to read, on Earth, an extremely complex and detailed scientific article. Advanced technical language about something he didn’t even know existed.
It was impossible to get any clue about that for now.
But that only applied to the later stages. In the first seven, everything was easy to understand. Of course, it could only be used by those with the Vanculari bloodline.
When the three read the introduction, their hearts echoed like drums inside the room.
Priam stared at them and spoke slowly.
"Yes, in truth, the Vanculari aren’t weak at all. Our main power lies in forming spiritual contracts with non-physical lifeforms. The name of the first stage already sums us up well: Spirit Tamer."
"After mastering the first stage of the Ancestral Art, we can form a contract where both sides benefit from each other. In the other six stages, there are joint attack methods, or methods to nurture the partner."
He watched the three’s expressions change drastically: first surprise, then excitement, and finally pure euphoria.
In the Divine Plane, it was common knowledge that Elemental Spirits — or strange spiritual creatures without a specific element — could easily be found in the forests of the planets.
Their power varied a lot. Some were completely useless; others, terrifyingly powerful.
Alchemists, for example, hunted the best fire Elemental Spirits to help refine pills.
These entities had almost no intelligence, moving purely by instinct. Because of that, most ended up dead and refined into treasures.
But... with the power of a Spirit Tamer, everything changed.
After forming the contract, already in the second stage, the tamer learned to transmit his orders spiritually. The contracted one, which could be an Elemental Spirit or not, could understand everything with absolute precision, directly in its soul.
From there, the bond only grew stronger.
The two could attack together, combining the pure power of the soul with the creature’s natural strength.
As time passed, the creature’s soul and the tamer’s soul evolved in perfect sync, allowing both of them to become stronger and stronger.
In other words...
...the Vanculari race possessed unbelievable and infinite potential.
Facing a Spirit Tamer accompanied by his creatures was the same as fighting several enemies at the same time — and all of them extremely dangerous.
"No wonder we were hunted down and expelled from the Divine Plane. The goal was to bury us forever, making our rise impossible again. After all, how could we grow without being able to use our Ancestral Art?" Priam said to the three in a serious tone.
"There’s no way to know. But maybe our Ancestral Art was deliberately destroyed to guarantee that. Not even the others of our race, who separated from the current clan a long time ago, should still have this. But now..."
He looked directly at the three of them.
Their eyes trembled.
Only now did it truly sink in. They clearly understood how important — and terrifying — the knowledge they had just received was.
With this Ancestral Art... they would be like dragons rising into the heavens in the Divine Plane. Not only that, the fate of their entire race would change forever.
But...
They stared at Priam, tense and sunk in confusion.
Why didn’t he want to spread this?
"The nail that sticks out is the one hammered first," Priam said and sighed, understanding their doubt.
"If all the young people of the race learned this, when they went to the Divine Plane, once they entered the sects, they would definitely become monsters in no time. But... would the other powers that certainly knew about the past accept our race coming back with everything?"
"We can’t draw too much attention. The four of us need to use this secretly and become powerful enough to protect our clan first. Or..."
Everyone swallowed hard. The point was undeniable.
If ants like them were discovered... an inevitable disaster would happen.
In silence, the three knew they held the chance to change everything.
After saying that, Priam turned to the corner of the bed.
"I’ll meditate and study a little before sleeping. Don’t get too excited, and study everything calmly."
He closed his eyes and began to reflect on that Ancestral Art, as well as the other rewards he had gained.