This was a truth Iver had never expected.
But he suddenly understood why his grandfather, despite having come into contact with so many extraordinary beings and having such an extensive network, had gone to a remote countryside village to become an obscure, impoverished poet who earned no money...
Grandpa had gone there to hide from trouble!
Iver also suddenly understood why, despite his biological father and mother belonging to the Dedication Path and Path of Beauty respectively, and his adoptive father not belonging to the Path of Transcendence... he had developed such an inexplicable obsession with Demon Studies back then.
It was a Path inclination carved into his bloodline.
Children of talented extraordinary beings would usually become extraordinary beings of the same Path as well—but in truth, what they inherited was not talent, but desire, or rather, "debt."
If their talent was insufficient, that might be a blessing.
But if their level had already reached its limit and they still did not undergo an advancement ritual... the call from the Path would grow increasingly intense. If they had descendants during that time, the overflowing "call" would be passed on to their children, while the parents would gain relief as a result.
This was also why ancient nobles tended to leave behind more offspring.
Nobles were usually high-level extraordinary beings. But they did not want to—or did not dare to—advance further, so they needed to keep having children to restore themselves from the Path Power's erosion of their souls. However, if they suppressed it for too long, their first child was often prone to developing mental illnesses.
During the era of the Herasul Empire, this phenomenon was called the "Firstborn Disaster" by royal scholars who had yet to understand its principles.
Imperial scholars regarded it as a curse imposed by an