Lily's Chosen Path Trait

After Iver selected the term, the other two options were immediately broken.

He felt his body become light and airy... Looking down, he saw that his body had turned into a gray shell, intertwined with the Shadow Demon, before it solidified and reappeared.

The power from the Shadow Fiend flowed continuously into his body through the contract. What was once a trickle from a tap now became a roaring drainpipe, and his mana pool finally expanded to accommodate the extra Dark Attribute Mana!

When Iver woke up from his dream, the sun had not yet risen, and it was still pitch black outside.

The robe he wore, smeared with Chicken Blood, had dried and was faintly emitting an unpleasant smell. Lily was still asleep, probably still choosing her entry.

His attribute panel also changed accordingly:

Demon Scholar LV10: [Demon Knowledge- Level 2 (97%)], [Basic Ritual - Level 2 (0%)], [Demon Contract- Level 4 (0%)], [Shepherding) - Level 2 (0%)

Mana Pool: 27/27 (Light), 24/24 (Dark), 47/47 (Fire)

Path Trait —

Beyond - Shadow Avatar (Balance): You are both the vessel and the avatar. Shadows are no longer your enemy. Your "Shadow Affinity" and "Darkness Vessel" levels increase by one.

Beyond - Shadow Affinity LV2: You sign a life-bound contract with the Shadow Demon, allowing you to freely use the Second Level Shadow Ability.

Beyond - Darkness Vessel LV1: When you come into contact with the Serpent Father's Feather, the maximum capacity of your Mana Pool (Dark) is increased by 14.

—It's done.

Iver currently has a level 15 priest and a level 10 Demon Scholar, and his experience is basically still unused.

In other words, he can advance twice more next month!

And this time, Iver finally confirmed one thing: the attributes can indeed be controlled by actions! "But how do I obtain the Container Entry for the three elements of wind, earth, and water?"

Iver fell into deep thought.

He shook his head, deciding to think about such things later.

Iver changed his clothes and then began to clean up the traces of the ritual.

He waited for another ten minutes or so before Lily, who was sleeping on the sofa, suddenly made a muffled, incomprehensible sound, hummed in response, and then slowly woke up.

As Iver was tidying up for the ceremony, he looked up and saw Lily staring at him silently with her clear gray eyes wide open.

After this ceremony, their relationship became much closer.

In the past, she would probably have scrambled to her feet in a panic the moment she woke up and started doing chores for Iver. Outside of work, she almost never chatted or talked to Iver.

She simply maintained a distance from the master she served out of habit—a matter of propriety and professional ethics for a personal maid. She refrained from expressing her opinions unless required by her master.

She usually prefers to remain silent, not because she dislikes talking. In fact, she can even chat for a long time and have a pleasant conversation with Princess Isabel... provided that Iver isn't nearby.

Because Lily knew her lowly status and dependence on others, she always kept her distance from others to protect herself. For her, knowing too much was never a good thing. Therefore, she would usually pretend not to see or hear, ideally making herself invisible to everyone.

But now, when Lily looks at Iver again, she only feels a sense of tranquility.

The silence was not chosen based on the principle of "being cautious in speech and action".

It's about not wanting to think about anything, a quiet and warm sense of security.

It's like when I was a very young child, sometimes I would be held in my mother's arms when she was unusually quiet.

That's when Lily will feel that sense of peace.

Lily's mother had a bad temper, or rather, she was somewhat neurotic. Most of the time, she was very irritable and unreasonable, but occasionally she would calm down and become very gentle.

But Lily didn't hate her. Unlike her colleagues, her mother didn't decide to let her daughter suffer the same fate—her mother's only wish was for Lily to study hard and eventually change her destiny. For this reason alone, she felt no hatred towards her mother.

Lily knew she had no way out, so she studied extremely hard. Until middle school, she consistently ranked at the top of her class.

Until Lily turned thirteen. Because of Lily good looks, quiet and dignified demeanor, many classmates wanted to pursue her.

This is actually one way to change one's destiny.

As long as she can find a suitable husband, she can also break free from the constraints imposed by her background.

But Lily, who came from Lloyd District's, was mature at a young age, and had a wide range of knowledge, knew that the possibility was not high.

More likely, she would be used and discarded, wasting her youth and time. Therefore, Lily didn't harbor such wishful thinking but focused on her studies. She rejected these suitors.

But Lily didn't know that her unrequited love would only pique people's interest. So the Children who were pursuing her began to investigate her background, hobbies, interests... and unexpectedly discovered her mother's profession and that Lily was an unmarried woman whose surname was her mother's.

The news spread like wildfire through the school in an instant, its source unknown. Lily's suitors immediately turned their backs on her, while even more annoying flies swarmed around her. Rumors spread like wildfire, and Lily could no longer concentrate on her studies, so she could only go home and hide in the attic to read.

Lily's mother believed this would only corrupt her, as the home couldn't provide a suitable learning environment. Furthermore, there were no teachers to educate her. Therefore, she approached Lily's biological father... hoping he could provide Lily with resources befitting the Drost Family and give her a surname.

It was only then that Lily learned that the blood of the noble Founding Family flowed through her veins.

But at that time, she didn't know why she was born. She still fantasized that she was the product of a forbidden love, and imagined all sorts of love stories overflowing with girlish dreams.

This is not a baseless conjecture.

Because when she first met the Minister Drost, he was very friendly.

He even had a serious, heart-to-heart talk with Lily, carefully inquiring about her grades, hobbies, interpersonal relationships, and future aspirations. He also explained his current situation to her in a very equal and humorous way, the various rules of the knightly family, what being a bastard meant, and why he couldn't give Lily a surname, and he apologized to her.

Lily accepted the result.

She learned from Minister Drost that if she came from a bad background, she would not be allowed to attend university, no matter how good her grades were—she was the unmarried child of a prostitute, an unregistered resident of Lloyd District, and also the illegitimate child of a knightly family. All of this combined made her essentially the offspring of a serious criminal.

Neither the military, the courts, nor the Bureau of Supervision would hire her. The best job she could find was as a private tutor.

So Lily followed Minister Drost's arrangement and was sent to the Moriarty Family, which also belonged to the Founding Family. As their personal maid, she took care of their newly adopted young master Iver.

As the personal maid of the Founding Family, Lily's status was actually higher than that of most tutors—because in most cases, personal maids began caring for the direct heirs at a very young age, and their ages were not too different. If the heir was of the opposite sex, they usually had intimate relationships with each other and were the peers they had the most contact with and were closest to during their adolescence.

In a sense, personal maids are the absolutely loyal lovers, confidantes, and accomplices of these future big shots.

Unlike the other maids who did the work, they didn't usually wear maid outfits. Instead, they wore old clothes that their mistress had taken off or clothes that their master had given them. Apart from the rule that they couldn't wear jeweled jewelry, their clothing and appearance were no different from those of the young ladies of the capital.

Furthermore, since they usually accompanied their masters on their travels, they did not eat servants' meals, but rather the masters' leftovers, and they often ate at the same table with their masters outside of formal banquets.

They also had their own private rooms, unlike other servants who lived in dormitories. Personal maids were usually not dismissed and would typically stay with their masters until death.

Furthermore, the salary of a personal maid is second only to that of a housekeeper, and she also has paid leave every year to visit her family.

Even for girls from ordinary backgrounds, this is a highly desirable career that is hard to come by.

Not to mention Lily's humble origins... So at that time, although Lily felt helpless and saddened that she could no longer study, she also knew that she had reached an end that many people find difficult to reach even after they have studied. Furthermore, she had found safety and respect within the Moriarty Family, and therefore was very grateful for Drost's arrangements.

The only thing that saddened Lily was that her mother died soon after she had settled in.

It wasn't until this ceremony that she understood the secret behind it all.

Her mother was murdered by an assassin hired by her father.

Perhaps it was because her current master, Iver, was involved in the Death of the Secretary and was thus angered by Minister Drost; or perhaps it was because Drost already knew Moriarty was dead and had become bolder... or even simply because Lily went to school against his wishes, he felt offended.

He's even now considering hiring an assassin to kill Lily!

Lily then realized that Drost's arrangement wasn't for her own good. She was already in school and had never heard of any saying that "the offspring of prostitutes can't go to school," and she had even seen descendants of sinners among the seminary students.

So Minister Drost simply didn't want her to be in the public eye.

He sent Lily to the Moriarty Family hoping to keep her under house arrest and prevent her from ever having the Drost name.

—That kind of thing is better left unsaid.

Lily thought to herself.

"What truly matters, I have now obtained. My most precious treasure, the direction of my life..."

She specifically chose the "Shadow Affinity" trait this time so that she could better synergize with Iver, who wields Shadow Fiend, in the future. Combined with the "Shadow Affinity" she gained when she first entered the Path of Adaptation, she now has two levels of Shadow Affinity.

This was her plan for her future. One day, Iver would be out of his wheelchair, and what role would she play alongside Iver then? She needed 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.

Thank you to the three alliance leaders for the donation from Tian Ze Lu, and thank you to the alliance leader Meow for the donation from Boboshachongya~