GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

In the living room.

Ghoto had finished inspecting the book. It was what it looked like. A simple engraved and enchanted object with audio, video records, and tactile feedback. Just a simple book with information about child care. Nothing out of the ordinary as far as he could tell.

'Maybe it contains some code or some other thing. I should read the letter first'

He mused before turning to pick up the letter. He had been dreading reading the letter, his fear of its unknown content getting the better of him. Why would she send a letter? Why would anyone use a letter in this time and age? It was an archaic method of communication and just plain weird. First the book, now the letter, his wife was acting strange.

He was so deep in thought that he only grunted in agreement when Kayla asked if she could get a child's safety mana lock formation. Her request seemed okay so he agreed to it.

Then he returned to thinking about the letter but that led to nowhere so he stopped doing that and moved on. He opened the letter gently with a grim look on his face, he was ready to face whatever crisis might pop out. The contents of the letter looked short.

'Who would go through the effort of writing such a scanty letter and send it by hand?' He was totally confused. It might be code for something, so he read it to find out.

"I was right, wasn't I? I said they were undergoing atavism but you didn't believe me. I want to gloat so bad and look at that dumb look on your stupid face, your very stupid face. I sent the letter and the instructions for help when I was pregnant. I had an inkling that I might be made unavailable because of my breakthrough. That's right, I planned for my absence when you were still moping about our unborn children. Read the book and remember, no matter what, you're a great father."

Ghoto sighed and smiled. He smiled because he was happy. It seemed he had been sighing a lot lately but the letter made him relax and uplifted his emotions. "But what's this about me being a good father?" He muttered while his spiritual sense entered the book and activated its runes. The book opened with a shining glow before dimming and flipping to the required page. He selected the full option for information retrieval so the book created a series of 3D holographic images in quick succession accompanied by sound. The topic of discussion in the first chapter was titled Bloodlines and the Society. He could speed up the delivery by 10 times but he didn't want to miss anything, which would be difficult to achieve. The mind of a king of law is too powerful to be stumped by a mere book.

In summary, he learned that the society of high-order beings is held together by bloodlines. Unlike low-level lifeforms which are those beneath transcendent who can only transfer a superficial level of inheritance to the next generation through childbirth, those above that level can transfer part of their very soul and essence to their offspring. This process is called true inheritance or the creation of a bloodline. The basic difference between those with a bloodline and those without one is the presence of familiar bonds. This familiar bond is not based on superficial and unreliable things such as emotions. It is considered an instruction that is woven into the very fabric of their existence to care for those of similar bloodlines. Those without this so-called familiar bond are capable of killing their immediate and closest family member because of jealousy. This is due to the lack of a familial bond that ought to restrain them from acting on such emotion. That is why other forms of organization are filled with strife and will eventually break up.

In the case of a royal bloodline with an origin god as the source, the familiar bond becomes everlasting, it becomes capable of acting on individuals across generations. The effects of a royal bloodline are eternal unlike other forms of inheritance.

The familiar bond is why origin bloodlines can form a clan or family that will last across multiple origin cycles without breaking up. Such families will become bigger because of the inclusion of other sources of familiar bonds. Like so, society is held together and prevented from imploding, because the odds are with enough time, the familiar bond will spread around.

While this was all enlightening to Ghoto and he could admit to having learned a few new things today. He had always thought that bloodlines only gave strength and an edge above others. So a mortal father might pass on some physical traits but a transcendent will be able to pass on spiritual traits. This process was termed true inheritance and because of it, the source of a bloodline is the true father of the offspring in a lineage. According to this information, he was not the true father of his kids and it may be why his children weren't particularly attached to him.

"I am truly just their Caretaker aren't I?" He sighed.

What got to him the most was the disadvantages of familiar bonds. While two people with similar and most importantly evident familiar bonds will look favorably upon one another. It must be evident because bloodlines do get diluted with others and only the one that has been awakened will be recognized. Those without similar bloodlines tend to be cold towards each other and in cases where the source of the bloodlines are enemies, the two descendants will be enemies. This hatred might extend to killing on sight and lead to centuries-long wars. While familiar bonds are strong, it will not stop people of different sources from liking each other, it will not stop people of similar familiar bonds from killing each other either. It will only make sure the death is warranted which hardly happens in the first place because they usually take good care of each other. They might hate each other or be jealous, but they will never sabotage the interest of the family.

It was only at this moment that he knew why his father never loved him. He always thought it was because he hadn't awoken any bloodlines as a child, his father didn't see any reason to stick around. Now he knew his father could have stayed anyways, he just didn't want to. His wife was wrong about something for the first time in a while, he didn't feel like he was a bad father but he felt like a disappointing son instead. He wasn't happy about the realization but he was a grown man, he had dealt with his father issues a long time ago. It was important to fix all emotional issues or it might become an issue during the mind tribulation needed to become an origin god.

He decided to disregard the new information. It only increased his resolve to become a better father. He would do that by soaking in the knowledge available in the book and becoming a better father. The thought of Soverick's grinning face also spurred him on. He had to get back at that little disrespectful brat.

Meanwhile, in the children's room. Ghaster tried to move the energy within him but he found it too difficult to do. The energy within his body was trying to bond with his cells and energize them. It was a subconscious reaction due to his bloodline. While others without one would try to achieve this manually, he had the advantage of his bloodline. But even his bloodline cannot assist him in his current endeavor to gain control over mana. It was just impossible or at least supposed to be impossible for him to do at this stage. The fact that the eldest had thought of something like this filled him with dread.

If you ask Ghaster, the eldest was just weird. If he put aside the tingling sensation of danger he felt when he examined the eldest, the way the eldest can engage in intelligent banter with their father proved he was above him in more ways than one.

His eldest had suggested a method by which he could finally slap that teasing smile off of his sister's face. It was like she was egging him on.

He was suspicious of such an act of kindness, from the eldest at first, he had considered it a trick but his instincts told him that that was how stronger beings fight. His instincts were also telling him that he would not be able to control worldly energy without it forming the basest of a singularity, what is referred to as a vitality Core. The other option was to awaken his spirit, but that needed him to nourish it. His instincts are also telling him he was not doing anything wrong, he was making progress every day. It was just impossible to achieve such a thing right now, he didn't have the requirements to. So how come his eldest was talking about the active usage of mana. The eldest was either bluffing them to make them fear him or the eldest was truly terrifying. There was only one way to find out.