Chapter 161 – Ancestor [1]

Sighing a thick plume of grayish air, Cassius rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, feeling the new increase in his overall strength spread through his entire body.

He flickered his attention to his current attributes and let out a faint smile.

[STR: 135; AGL: 120; CONS: 150; PER: 118; CHA: 130; Essence: 180]

[Remaining Stat Points: 0]

’Well, this is actually not bad at all.’ He thought, quite satisfied with himself. ’I doubt anyone who awakened barely a month ago would have this level of strength.’

Well, not that he was comparing himself to them anyway.

His attention was already far ahead to be satisfied with just his current generation. Still, Cassius admitted it felt good to know that none of his peers could match him — none but one.

After examining his attributes for a few more seconds, Cassius discarded the panel and felt the urge to use the Ancestral Call Ticket immediately and finally meet one of them.

No one could understand how eager he was. After all, in a family where ancestors left no trace behind after death — no legend, no record, as if completely deleted from the world’s memory — this was something enormous.

’I am sure father and mother would have been thrilled to have this opportunity. They would certainly have used it better than me.’

He smiled. Unfortunately, he could not tell them.

And so, after more thought, Cassius decided not to activate the Ticket immediately. Before doing so, he needed to know what questions he actually wanted answered.

And that was precisely the problem.

’I know so little — to the point it can almost be said I know nothing at all — that it is genuinely difficult to even guess what I want to know.’ He grumbled, pacing slowly around his room, his thoughts churning restlessly. ’I know there are 333 ancestors of the Desdemona, and I know they have been prepared for something all this time. Something I am clearly involved in, based on that Vision. Now...what in the Queen’s name is that something?’

The Snake Loop from that vision had been incomplete, he remembered clearly.

And Cassius was not fool enough to miss that he was most likely the one meant to complete it.

That was an easy guess.

The more important question was how...and why.

At that thought, Cassius stopped pacing, cocking his head with a subtle crooked smile. "I suppose I have my first question. Now let’s try to find a second and third."

[Why three questions?] Ananke asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Hm? Why three?" He shrugged carelessly. "I don’t know. I just like doing things in threes."

The Queen of Fate looked at her Blessed with a peculiar expression, then parted her lips once more.

[Suit yourself. And if I were you, Cassius, I would ask one important question...one I am curious about as well.]

"Which one?"

[The reason why their bodies disappear when they die.] She said. [Do not think of it as insignificant. Knowing the ’why’ behind that can help you better understand the situation and the true scale of your goal.]

"My goal? Protecting my family?"

[Aye.]

"Do you know something I don’t, Queen?"

[Of course I do.] She replied flatly. Cassius opened his lips to ask immediately, only to be cut off by Ananke’s faster voice. [I am a goddess, Cassius, I know things you do not. That is a given. But that does not mean I hold some veiled truth about your family. I know only what every god knows.]

"And what do they know?"

[Nothing except that your family deserves to be eradicated.]

Cassius paused. His heart skipped a dangerous beat at the direct yet lifeless tone of her voice. Yet it was not her tone that stopped him, it was the words themselves.

"What do you mean...eradicate us?" He asked, frowning heavily. "What could we possibly have done to deserve that from the gods? No, wait. The more important question is: why are they not acting on it if that is what they want?"

Something felt terribly wrong. His stomach knotted cold and still.

[And that is where your third question lies.] Ananke replied. [Why are the gods not attacking you despite wanting to? I have been away from them far too long to know the full reason, but I have heard there is some kind of restriction on it. In any case, Cassius, you now have your three questions.]

Cassius said nothing. He could not say anything. His mind was submerged under waves of thought that had no beginning and no visible end.

All of this forced him to confront the dreadful realisation that he was entangled in something far too large and complicated for his taste.

All he had wanted was to save his family from the Chosen Ones. Yet as time passed, Cassius was beginning to understand that the Chosen Ones might not be the true threat.

It was those behind them.

The gods themselves.

But why? Why were they going to such lengths to destroy them? What had his family done to deserve that kind of attention?

’Wait, is that why we were killed in the game? Not only because of Isolde seeking vengeance? Now that I think about it clearly... how did Isolde manage to successfully frame a Tier Two family? I know Isolde better than I ever did in the game. Without underestimating her, she could not do that on her own. Something is wrong.’

Did she receive help from the Fangs? Given her relationship with Constantine, that seemed unlikely.

Then how?

Questions kept piling up inside his mind, and the worst part was that the answers continued to elude him entirely.

’I need strength. And fast.’

He arrived at the obvious conclusion.

And yet Cassius doubted he could move any faster than the pace he was already maintaining.

Being too hasty would cause more damage than good in the long run.

However, there was a way to gain power outside the conventional path. With that thought, he turned his attention to his goddess again.

’Alright, let’s just say I accept all of this even though I don’t fully understand it yet.’ He said. ’I will have my answers soon enough, hopefully. But I must ask...do you have someone in mind for the Blessing?’

He smiled awkwardly.

’I kind of need every kind of power I can gather right now.’

[Bury that type of thinking immediately, Cassius.] Ananke replied sternly, her eyes narrowing with dissatisfaction. [The moment you begin thinking that way is the moment you will start chasing power above everything else. And that is when mistakes will pile up, regrets will grow and fester inside you until they eventually destroy you. That is not the right path.]

’I know.’ He rubbed the bridge of his nose. ’But look at my situation, Ananke. Just look at it and tell me whether I have a choice. I can’t help this hunger for more and faster power given what I am up against.’

Ananke shook her head slowly in silence.

This was precisely why she kept most secrets sealed within herself — not out of distrust, but simply because no matter how resilient Cassius was, he remained a human with real limits to his mental fortitude.

This small fragment of information alone, and he was already beginning to panic, risking actions that would cause more harm than good.

She stifled a sigh and lectured him at length, with Cassius groaning and eventually nodding in acceptance, realising, with some discomfort, the deep flaw that had crept into his thinking.

’Fine.’ He relented. ’I agree and I will not let doubt and fear lead me by the nose. The more worrying thing is that I did not even recognise it as fear. I was looking at it as being cautious.’

[That is a trick of the mind. They look and feel so similar it is genuinely difficult to distinguish one from the other without a clear head.]

’So I must remain calm.’

[Now more than ever.]

’Do you think I am ready to meet the Ancestor?’

[You are not. But do it anyway. Learn as much as you can in the exchange, and use it to prepare for the Academy and everything your goal demands.] The Queen whispered with quiet encouragement. [I am with you at all times, Cassius. And I will bring you back to your senses every time you begin to foolishly lose them.]

Cassius smiled genuinely and warmly. ’I can count on you for that, without question.’

After everything had been settled, only one thing remained. Use the Ticket, learn whatever he could, and train for the future with that knowledge in mind.

Knowledge was a burden, but more information meant better preparation. And that was what he needed.

And as the word ’needed’ passed through his mind...

His thoughts were forcefully pulled toward Isolde, his wife x making him, for just a moment, deliberately forget the weight of everything to find a small echo of peace in wondering how she was doing.

He missed her already. He wanted the comfort of her body and the quiet reassurance of her voice. But he knew he needed to focus on the task ahead.

’Still, the official wedding. I wonder when we should do it. There is no chance we have time before the Academy. Three weeks is far too short. So when—!’

He paused, something suddenly occurring to him. A smile pulled at his lips. He took out his phone and checked the date.

In five days they would enter the month of August.

And if he remembered correctly...

’Wasn’t Isolde’s birthday the first of September?’

They would be inside the Academy by then. But who cared, it should still be possible.

’Hahah.’ He laughed quietly, some of the fear and apprehension easing from his chest. ’I can’t wait to see her face.’

With that, Cassius turned and walked out of his room. He would not use the Ticket inside it.

He was not a fool.

A training ground would be better, somewhere no one could peek or interfere.

’Well, shall we?’

And as Cassius walked away, lost inside his own thoughts, inside her Gate of Fate and Secrecy, Ananke was no different.

She looked out across the wide, silver, flattened landscape stretching before her, made entirely of living threads, each one the fate and destiny of some being living somewhere in Sunu Gaal.

She watched them, noticing how, in rare cases, the fate of an entire life was overwritten because of a single overwhelming and Lucky encounter.

Ananke let out a dry, reluctant smile.

’I suppose the time has come to reunite with her.’

—End of Chapter 161—