Chapter 121: Karmic Title
Priam crossed the final boundary of the barrier. The instant his body moved forward, the opening in the barrier inscription closed, sealing the space and completely isolating him from the rest.
The place was only a few meters wide and was almost completely empty.
The reddish darkness was dense. Looking around, Priam realized that the walls, ceiling, and floor of that secret chamber were completely covered by a grotesque network of pulsing red veins.
They came from every direction, slithering like living roots through an absurdly humid and cold environment.
At the center of that entire macabre web, where the vital flow of each branch converged, rested an egg almost one meter tall. Its crimson shell was thick, cut through by winding black lines.
The air was soaked with the nauseating smell of fresh blood, but what truly shocked him was the density of the soul energy inside. It was absurd. Just by breathing, Priam felt that invasive force forcing its way into his body.
’It’s like... feeling the lives of everyone in the clan who sacrificed themselves...’
He murmured, his gaze fixed on the egg at the center.
[Name: ???]
[Race: Aether-Wood Deer]
[Magic Title: Null]
[Karmic Title: Savior of a Verdant World]
[Bloodline: 87]
[Anima: 95]
[Wheel of Fate: 83]
[Loyalty: Null]
Reading the status, Priam forgot to breathe.
That life inside the egg... was definitely incredible.
Besides that...
’Savior of a Verdant World... wait? From what I understood when I was captured by the Sovereigns, a soul can only reincarnate inside its own world. If this figure saved another world... then she can only be an invader!’
Priam became excited, believing he had found an invader who hadn’t been identified by the Sovereigns.
He moved, stopping only a few centimeters away. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and extended his senses into the egg.
There was no defense at all, and using a trace of his Ether, he could sense everything inside, almost as if he had eyes there.
Floating in the core of that egg was a small ethereal figure without a defined form, resembling a living flame of pure energy.
’Is this a Wisp? It looks a little like one, doesn’t it?’
On the surface of the flame, Priam felt a very familiar bloodline aura.
’Pristine Wild-Spirit...’
It wasn’t identical to their bloodline aura. But it was definitely very similar. It was like differentiating Crimson from Scarlet. Most people wouldn’t even know how to tell one from the other if they didn’t have the knowledge.
That was normal, after all, the Aether-Wood Deer were born from the union of the races: the Blighted Earth-Deer and the Pristine Wild-Spirits.
Even before birth, their natural aura was much more similar to their origins from the Pristine Wild-Spirits.
Priam focused even more. Going beyond the surface... he felt her 3 life energies, still very weak.
Possibly, that was the reason she hadn’t been born yet. As he had heard before, it should take around 50 years for her to become complete.
He also noticed another detail. There was almost no Yang, but the Yin was quite strong.
’It’s a girl.’
Priam sighed lightly. He hadn’t planned this invasion, much less what he would do now.
The first thing that appeared in his mind, even before crossing the barrier, was to find a way to kill or prevent this creature from being born.
But that thought evaporated from his mind in the next second.
Killing a defenseless life? That was something he simply would never do.
Now, knowing that this girl was a possible invader of this world like him...
Priam stared at the trembling flame through the reddish shell, and a bitter clarity took over his thoughts.
That creature no longer had her parents. To the race guarding her, she was nothing more than a luxury investment, a catalyst of prestige. They would spoil her, cover her with every resource they could buy, but only while thinking of the profits and return that her overwhelming power would bring in the future.
No one there would care about truly educating her, about shaping her character so she would become someone reasonable or fair. If she were born and raised by those proud beasts... she would become one more arrogant and bloodthirsty idiot in the world. A monster with too much power and too little empathy.
Priam had only been inside that race for a short time, but he wasn’t an innocent and foolish young man. The Great Elder was a greedy, bloodthirsty bastard; the Supreme General was an aggressive bastard, along with his son and wife.
The Leader of the race? A good leader doesn’t have mediocre soldiers. If he were better than them, he wouldn’t even have honored that new Great Elder.
Obviously, that entire race of Primordial Chaos Beasts thought in a similar and chaotic way. Possibly some good ones existed, but they definitely wouldn’t be at the top of power.
He was sure that the young girl didn’t deserve the family she had, even knowing they would give her everything money could buy in the Mortal Plane. Because, in the end, the most important thing would be missing. Real affection would be missing. Truth would be missing.
Priam knew that emptiness with painful intimacy. In his past life, when he was still James Wube, the diagnosis in childhood cruelly sealed his fate; his own parents, unable to carry the burden of a broken son, practically abandoned him to his own luck within the cold and sterile walls of a hospital.
Later, in his life as a slave, that rejection was taken to the absolute extreme, turning him into a mere disposable object.
Of course, it wasn’t the same as that young girl’s situation. But the emptiness she would face would be similar.
A dry snort escaped his lips as a strange and overwhelming desire began to burn in his chest.
That little girl had been the savior of an entire world. She should have a good essence, and she possessed absurd potential. Faced with that, it was impossible to repress the impulse to extend his hand and intervene for her.
’What can I do?’ he murmured, thinking for a bit.
...
...
...
"!"
Suddenly, his mind clicked.
’Spirit Tamer...’
Priam had spent some time studying the Ancestral Art of the Vanculari race. Although he still hadn’t gone deep into the more complex levels, the first stage was perfectly engraved in his understanding.
Through it, it was already possible to shape a contract with spiritual entities and create a small refuge, a sacred space inside one’s own soul where the contracted partner could reside.
The Aether-Wood Deer were a rare spiritual race in the world. So... it should be possible to make this contract. That little girl, being an ethereal flame with life energies still minimal because she hadn’t been born yet, fit perfectly into the initial requirements to become his first partner.
’Can I... really do this with her?’
The technical and moral dilemma immediately rose up.
To seal the contract, both parties needed to consent. But how could he obtain a "yes" from a consciousness that hadn’t even awakened to the world yet, trapped in a spiritual coma that had already lasted millennia?
And that wasn’t even the main problem.
The instant he pulled her out of the egg, the inscriptions would certainly detect the abrupt absence of its core. In less than a second, a maximum-level alarm would echo throughout the entire race, bringing the army straight down on his head.
’Hmm... there’s a way around everything... let’s take it step by step.’
He forced the air out of his lungs, emptying his mind of distractions and focusing as much as possible.
Closing his eyes, he began guiding the energy of his soul directly to the center of his forehead. Along with the flow of spiritual energy, he also moved his Vanculari bloodline.
Slowly, with the precision of a sculptor, he began weaving the lines of an Ancestral Rune. The process held similarities to creating the runes of an ordinary Magic Art, but it seemed infinitely more fluid, almost instinctive.
It was the blood of his race responding to his command; any Vanculari, even the weakest among them, if they dedicated a little time to understanding the concept, would be able to create this.
In a few minutes, the flow of energy stabilized, and Priam opened his eyes.
At the center of his forehead, a white and immaculate mark pulsed with a soft light.
’The contract is created. Now...’
He extended his right hand with extreme delicacy toward the egg’s shell, stopping his fingers just a few millimeters from the surface.
The glow of the mark on his forehead intensified, and a current of warm white light flowed through his fingers, subtly infiltrating through the egg’s defenses until it touched the ’flame’ inside.
’The choice is yours...’
He transmitted his words through the spiritual link of the mark.
He knew that, logically, she wouldn’t be able to hear or process his words. Even so, Priam insisted on speaking with the greatest honesty of his soul.
’I’m not from your race...’
’And, to be honest, at the beginning, I can’t offer you the riches and material treasures your people would pour at your feet. Besides... I myself am not someone with a healthy mind...’
’I carry scars, trauma, and a darkness that often scares even me. But... I’m not an idiot. And I have a potential that will tear through the heavens in the long run. The only thing I can promise you, from the bottom of my heart, is that I’ll treat you well. I’ll truly care about you, and I’ll dedicate myself to teaching you how to walk through this universe the right way.’
Along with the message, Priam released his purest fluctuations of sincerity and determination.
He wasn’t trying to seduce her with false promises. And although her mind was asleep, that little girl’s Anima was absurdly high. The deepest instincts of her soul could assimilate his sincerity.
All she needed to do was react, and then connect to the contract mark of her own will.
Silence.
The environment seemed to have frozen. Priam kept his hand extended, cold sweat running down his face under the hood, waiting for any sign, no matter how small.
The minutes dragged on like centuries. Nothing happened. The pulsing of the egg continued the same, indifferent to his appeal.
Priam let out a long sigh, his chest tight with disappointment, but already accepting that he had done what was within his reach.
When his fingers began to slowly withdraw, giving up on the effort...
’!’
It was like an electric snap running through his nervous system. A subtle touch, incredibly fragile and timid, like the brush of a butterfly’s wing, connected directly to the white mark on his forehead.
The ethereal flame inside the egg trembled, subtly leaning toward his hand.
’She really... accepted?’
He swallowed hard, his heart racing in his chest. Then, without hesitating for even a single millisecond, Priam released all the energy of the contract mark, sending a river of white light directly into the core of the egg.
...
One minute later.
[Karmic Title Acquired!]
[First Tamer of Primordial Chaos Beasts]
[+5,000 GP]
Reading that, Priam forgot to breathe.
Yes, a Primordial Chaos Beast couldn’t be tamed. That could never happen.
Not even crossbreeding with other bloodlines happened with them. The power of a Primordial Chaos Beast refused to submit.
But... there had also never been a situation like that, with a semi-spiritual race that had managed to successfully use a demonic incubation technique.
Besides that, only a Vanculari could make this type of contract, and he had to reach the egg at a perfect moment, while her life energies were still fragile. Finally, the consciousness, almost without intelligence or thoughts, had to accept the contract connection.
How could so many things come together like this?
The mark on Priam’s forehead disappeared completely. Now, it was with his first partner.
At that moment, the realization hit him.
’And now? How do I get her out of here safely?’