Detection Ritual

Detection Ritual

Erica carefully lifted the newborn and placed him within the array. The mage overseeing the ritual waved his staff, and invisible detection waves instantly spread from the magic array, slowly sweeping over the newborn's body.

But when they entered the newborn's spiritual space, they encountered an unusual obstruction—the strange energy that had carried Xia Yuan across worlds.

The detection waves slid directly off the surface of the energy layer, as if they existed in two different times and spaces. As a result, they failed to notice Xia Yuan's consciousness within it as well.

Meanwhile, the two Rune Rings in the magic array changed instantly. Of the ten special runes within each ring, starting from the top, they gradually turned blood-red one after another.

The Duke could not help holding his breath slightly. His gaze followed the runes' slow movement, his azure eyes unblinking.

As time passed, the changes gradually stopped. The number of blood-red runes in both small rings finally settled at nine, while the last rune continued to flicker with a faint blue glow.

"Both Bloodline Concentrations have reached Level Nine, Your Grace!"

The Ritual Mage stared at the changes in the array and spoke with some amazement.

"Mm—"

The Duke responded simply. His voice revealed neither joy nor anger, but an almost imperceptible smile spread across his lips.

At this moment, he was staring without blinking at the rune on the other side of the magic array, the one with a strange three-dimensional appearance.

The bloodline test results had already appeared, yet this rune remained completely unchanged.

Seeing that the rune still showed no reaction, the Duke could not help frowning.

This made the mage beside him, who had been watching the Duke's reaction, break into a cold sweat. He secretly worried that he might have drawn one of the lines incorrectly.

Within Xia Yuan's mind, the strange energy seemed to sense something. Its surface rippled like water.

A somewhat illusory mental fragment gradually pushed aside the surrounding energy and "floated" out of the energy layer.

When the detection waves touched the mental fragment, that rune immediately emitted a dazzling white radiance. Seeing this, the Duke let out a long breath, and the smile he could no longer conceal finally spread across his face.

"Soul Synchronization Rate: one hundred percent, esteemed Duke."

The Spellcaster presiding over the ritual finally relaxed as well and hurriedly reported the result.

"Ha ha ha ha—Good! Very good!"

The Duke laughed loudly, his joyful mood raising his tone by half a note.

"Leonard! Inform the Chief of the Mage Corps to prepare the Naming Ceremony. Send invitations to the imperial family and all the great families, inviting them to attend on the next night of the full moon! Also, convey my order: prepare a festival celebration! Starting from the day of the Naming Ceremony, all mines, farms, and estates are to be given leave. All taxes for Carlras citizens will be halved this year! I want the entire Carlas Province to celebrate for three days!"

"As you command, Your Grace!"

Butler Leonard bowed to accept the order, then faced the Duke and backed out of the room.

Unlike ordinary people, the higher a Professional's rank, the lower their chance of producing descendants.

If the difficulty for an ordinary married couple to have a child was set at one, then for a pair of First Rank Professionals, it was two; for a pair of Second Rank Professionals, four; Third Rank, eight; Fourth Rank, sixteen... and so on.

Moreover, if there was a large Gap between the spouses' ranks, the difficulty of having descendants doubled again.

As a Ninth Rank Bloodline Warlock rarely seen on the continent, the difficulty Grand Duke of Carlas faced in producing descendants was easy to imagine.

Under such circumstances, high-ranking Professionals who wished to have descendants either used certain rare treasures capable of increasing the Probability, or... increased the number of attempts.

Energetic and wealthier than a nation, Grand Duke of Carlas chose both methods at once.

Therefore, whenever he gained another descendant, the Duke held a grand celebration. During the celebration, all slaves received three days of leave.

During those three days, the City Lord's Mansion and the major merchant guilds supplied unlimited free bread and ale. Most importantly, that year's taxes were halved.

For commoners, halved taxes meant new clothes for their children and smiles on their weary wives' faces.

For the poorer folk, halved taxes meant that the cold Harsh Winter could be safely endured, with the entire family together.

Thus, when news spread that the lord had been blessed with a son, an atmosphere of celebration instantly filled Carlras City.

With the aid of Magic, that atmosphere soon spread across the entire Carlas Province.

"Praise the Duke!"

People sang his praises.

"The generous and benevolent Duke and his kind wife have once again received Heaven's blessing! May the Gods bless them."

A year in Uniwal was likewise divided into twelve months, its length determined by the phases of Silver Moon Sevien. Radiant Era 2442, May 15th.

Breathing in air scented with the faint fragrance of Calming Flowers, Xia Yuan lay in the arms of a pink-haired Girl, quietly staring at the magnificent White-Gold carriage ceiling, half of which was blocked by something, and questioning his life.

About a month had passed since his transmigration. During that time, he had acquired more memory Fragments.

He had been born in this world's Yar Continent, whose lands were divided among three superpowers. From largest to smallest, they were the Saint Messiah Empire, the Gloria Empire, and the Iter Kingdom Federation.

Just as the game's introduction had described, this world was a medieval setting of swords and Magic.

Those powerful Professionals could form an army by themselves, easily level mountains that towered into the clouds, overturn bottomless seas, and even make the Stars in the sky fall.

The owner of the memory Fragments was a noble Youth named Anvis. To distinguish him more conveniently, Xia Yuan called him Little Anvis.

The scenes in those memories ranged from childhood to adolescence. Put simply, he was a direct descendant of the Olyvendi Family, one of the Gloria Empire's Four Great Duke Families.

A noble child who had inherited a Legendary Bloodline and possessed extraordinary talent.

Unfortunately, he was an unlucky child born at the wrong time.

At this turning point between old and new eras, that noble and glamorous background was not a protective umbrella, but a death warrant.

In the decades after Little Anvis's birth, the Old Nobles gradually declined while the New Nobles rose to power with unstoppable momentum.

As one of the representatives of the Old Nobles, the Olyvendi Family had been thoroughly branded as villains and suffered nearly ruinous blows.

By the second Expansion Pack of the game in his previous life, Era's Transition, it existed in name only and could only form an alliance with the other three families to barely survive.

When he had been a Player, he had even accepted missions to purge the alliance's forces...

But where exactly had these memory Fragments come from?

Closing his eyes gently, Xia Yuan sank into thought.

It was not as if he had never read novels. He knew of the idea that reincarnation came with the original owner's memories, but he had been reborn as a newborn. Where could any original owner's memories have come from? After a long while, Xia Yuan gave up thinking.

Even something like transmigration had happened. One more set of memories from an unknown source did not seem like such a big deal.

He could just treat them as a story—

More than that, he was interested in a new discovery:

In one particular memory scene, figures suspected to be Players had clearly appeared!

Indeed, aside from being able to resurrect, Players were basically indistinguishable from NPCs in appearance.

But it was hard for two people hopping as they walked not to catch Xia Yuan's attention.