Chapter 139
Lily’s Chosen Path Trait
After Eivass selected his traits, the other two options shattered.
He felt his body become light and airy… Looking down, his physical form had turned into a gray, empty shell, intertwined with the Shadow Demon, before reforming and reappearing.
Power from the Shadow Demon flowed into him continuously through the contract. What was once a trickle, like a faucet, had now become a roaring drainpipe, and his Mana Pool had finally expanded to accommodate the additional dark-attribute mana!
When Eivass awoke from his dream, the sun had not yet risen, and the outside was still pitch black.
The robe he was wearing, coated in chicken blood, had dried and was emitting an unpleasant odor. Lily had not yet woken up and was likely still selecting her own traits.
His attribute panel changed accordingly:
Demon Scholar LV10: [Demonology – Level 2 (97%)], [Basic Rituals – Level 2 (0%)], [Demonic Contracts – Level 4 (0%)], [Shepherding (Essence) – Level 2 (0%)]
Mana Pool: 27/27 (Light), 24/24 (Dark), 47/47 (Fire)
Path Trait—
Transcendence – Shadow Incarnation (Balanced): You are both vessel and avatar. Shadows are no longer your enemy. Your “Shadow Affinity” and “Dark Vessel” levels increase by one.
Transcendence – Shadow Affinity LV2: You have forged a life-bound contract with the Shadow Demon, enabling you to freely use second-tier shadowy abilities.
Transcendence – Dark Vessel LV1: Upon contact with the Feather of the Serpent Father, your Mana Pool (Dark) maximum capacity increases by 14.
—It was done.
Eivass was now a Level 15 Priest and a Level 10 Demon Scholar, with most of his experience points still unused.
This meant he could advance twice again next month!
And this time, Eivass finally confirmed one thing: traits could indeed be controlled through actions!
“But how will I obtain the vessel traits for wind, earth, and water attributes?”
Eivass fell into contemplation.
He shook his head, deciding to think about such matters later.
Eivass changed his clothes and then began cleaning up the ritualistic traces.
He waited for another ten minutes before Lily, who had been sleeping on the sofa, let out a nonsensical murmur and a soft sigh, then slowly woke up.
Eivass, who was tidying up the ritual, looked up and saw Lily silently widening her clear gray eyes as she looked at him.
After this ritual, their relationship had also become much closer.
If it were in the past, she would likely have scrambled up the moment she woke up to start working for Eivass. Outside of her duties, she rarely chatted or talked with Eivass.
She simply habitually maintained a distance from the Master she served—this was the poise and professional ethics of a personal maid. Unless the Master required it, she was not to express opinions.
She usually preferred to remain silent, not because she disliked speaking. In fact, she could chat for a long time and happily with Princess Isabel… provided Eivass was not nearby.
Because Lily knew her humble status and that she was living under someone else’s roof, to protect herself, she always kept her distance from others. For her, knowing too much brought no good. So she usually pretended not to see or hear anything, ideally making herself invisible to everyone.
But now, as Lily looked at Eivass, she only felt a sense of peace.
It was not a silence chosen out of principles of “prudence and caution.”
Rather, it was a sense of safe security, desiring to think of nothing, quiet and warm.
It was like when she was very young, sometimes held in the arms of her mother, who was rarely quiet.
Lily would feel this sense of peace then.
Lily’s mother had a bad temper, or rather, was somewhat neurotic. Under most circumstances, she was extremely irritable and unreasonable, but occasionally she would calm down and become very gentle.
But Lily did not dislike her. Because her mother, unlike other women in her profession, did not decide to make her daughter walk the same path as herself—her mother’s only wish was for Lily to study well and ultimately change her fate. For this reason alone, she held no resentment towards her mother.
Lily knew she had no other path, so she studied very hard. Her grades were consistently at the top until middle school.
Until the year Lily turned thirteen. Because Lily was beautiful, quiet, and dignified, many classmates wanted to pursue her.
This was actually one direction for changing her fate.
As long as she could find a suitable husband, she could also escape the constraints of her birth.
But Lily was from the Lloyd District, understood things early, and had broad knowledge. She knew this possibility was slim.
The greater likelihood was being played with and casually discarded, wasting her youth and time. Therefore, Lily did not harbor such wishful thinking and focused on her studies. Thus, she rejected their advances.
However, Lily did not know that being unable to obtain something would instead pique people’s interest. So, those boys who pursued her began to investigate her background, preferences, and interests… and accidentally discovered her mother’s profession, and also learned that Lily was an illegitimate child, her surname being her mother’s.
The news spread from someone, and in an instant, it spread throughout the school. Lily’s pursuers immediately turned away from her, while more hateful flies swarmed around. Rumors circulated everywhere, and Lily could no longer concentrate on her studies. She could only go home and hide in the attic to study.
Lily’s mother believed this would only corrupt her, and that the household could not provide a learning environment. Moreover, there was no teacher who could instruct her. Therefore, she sought out Lily’s biological father… hoping he would provide Lily with resources befitting the Dross Family, and give her a surname.
It was also at this time that Lily learned she possessed the noble bloodline of the founding family flowing within her.
But at that time, she did not know why she was born. She still fantasized that she was the crystallization of a forbidden love, and imagined all sorts of romantic stories full of girlish dreams.
This was not an unfounded guess.
Because the first time she met that Minister Dross, he was very friendly.
He even had a heartfelt conversation with Lily, meticulously inquiring about her grades, hobbies, relationships, and future ideals. He also explained his current situation, the various rules the Knight lineage possessed, what being an illegitimate child meant, and why he could not give Lily a surname, all while apologizing to her in an equal and humorous manner.
Lily accepted this outcome.
She learned from Minister Dross that if her background was poor, even with excellent grades, she would not be allowed to attend university—she was the unacknowledged child of a prostitute, an unregistered resident of the Lloyd District since birth, and also an illegitimate child of the Dross Family. This combination was practically equivalent to the offspring of a convicted felon.
Neither the military, the courts, nor the Inspection Bureau would recruit her. The best profession she could find would be a governess.
So, Lily followed Minister Dross’s arrangements and was sent to the Moriarty Family, also part of the founding families. As a personal maid, she was to care for their newly adopted young Master, Eivass.
As a personal maid of a founding family, Lily’s status was actually higher than that of most governesses—because in most cases, personal maids began caring for direct heirs at a very young age, and their ages were not too far apart. If they were of opposite genders, they often had intimate relationships and were the closest peers encountered during adolescence.
In a sense, personal maids were the absolutely loyal lovers, confidantes, and accomplices of these future influential figures.
Unlike other maids who did chores, they did not wear maid uniforms but rather old clothes passed down from the mistress or clothes given by the master. Apart from the principle of not wearing jewelry, their attire was no different from that of young ladies in the capital.
And because the master usually required them to accompany him when traveling, they did not eat servant meals, but rather the leftovers from the master’s meals, and often dined at the same table as the master outside of formal banquets.
They also had their own private rooms, unlike other servants who lived together in dormitories. Personal maids were usually not dismissed and would typically accompany their masters until death.
And the salary income of personal maids was second only to that of the housekeeper, with paid leave for visiting relatives each year.
Even for girls of common birth, this was an unattainable career opportunity.
Let alone Lily’s already lowly birth… So, at that time, although Lily felt helpless and sad that she could no longer study. She also knew she had reached an end that many people could not reach even after studying. And she had found safety and respect within the Moriarty Family, so she was very grateful for Dross’s arrangement.
The only thing that made Lily sad was that after she had settled down, her mother soon passed away.
It was only during this ritual that she understood the secret behind all of this.
Her mother was murdered by assassins hired by her father.
Perhaps because her current Master, Eivass, was involved in the incident of the secretary’s death, he incurred the wrath of Minister Dross; or perhaps because Dross already knew Moriarty was dead and had become bolder… or even simply because Lily went to school against his wishes, he felt offended.
He was now even planning to hire assassins to kill Lily!
Only then did Lily realize that Minister Dross’s arrangement was not for her benefit. She had already attended school and had never heard that “prostitutes’ offspring could not attend school.” She had also seen students in the seminary who were descendants of sinners.
So Minister Dross simply did not want her to show her face.
He sent Lily to the Moriarty Family, hoping to keep her under house arrest. To ensure she would never have the chance to obtain the Dross surname in her lifetime.
—That kind of thing, not having it is fine.
Lily thought.
“The truly valuable things have now been obtained. My greatest treasure, the direction of my life…”
She specifically chose the trait “Shadow Affinity” this time to better cooperate with Eivass, who possessed the Shadow Demon, in the future. Combined with the “Shadow Affinity” she obtained upon entering the Path Adaptation, she now had two levels of Shadow Affinity.
This was her plan for her future self. Eivass would eventually leave his wheelchair, and what kind of identity would she follow Eivass with then?
She would have to find a way to make herself useful. She already knew who she wanted to live for, and she didn’t want to be abandoned again.
Thanks to Tianze Lu for feeding three Alliance Leaders, and thanks to Bobosha Chongya for feeding the Alliance Leader Meow~
