Eldritch Horror Theatre

When a situation defied intuition, the process of elimination was a standard approach—but had Cass just eliminated everything across the board?

The discussion had been progressing smoothly, but Cass’s sudden conclusion practically dismantled their entire research topic.

”Are you saying that in the end, absolutely nothing can explain that special inheritance?”

Even so, Fu Qian wasn’t in a hurry to refute him.

He had just noted how counterintuitive the situation was. Even if this development was a bit extreme, didn’t it fit that premise perfectly?

”It looks that way. I can’t seem to isolate a single element that holds up to scrutiny.”

Cass shook his head. His doubts seemed to have been building up for quite some time.

”Numerous cases prove that basic bloodline genetics indeed carry significance, but they only seem to be a necessary prerequisite.

”And within every bloodline chain of supernatural inheritance, you can find counterexamples for almost any element... to the point where, if you truly want to explain it, you practically have to introduce concepts like destiny or providence.”

The analogy might be inappropriate, but Cass’s added remarks truly gave off the distinct impression of a scientist discovering theology at the end of his field—a man who had searched bitterly for half his life without answers, only to convert to God in his twilight years.”It can’t be that even now, higher entities are still handpicking lucky individuals and bestowing supernatural boons upon them, can it?”

But one couldn’t forget that this world truly had gods. Once the cause was attributed to that realm, it meant much more than simply giving up on intellectual inquiry.

For a moment, following Cass’s logic, Fu Qian deduced an even more horrifying conclusion.

That supernatural power possessed its own will and was arbitrarily selecting the lucky ones.

...

”It certainly contradicts conventional understanding. It might have seemed a bit more reasonable back before the Long Night... but if it weren’t so contradictory, it wouldn’t be one of the greatest mysteries in occultism.”

As a pillar of Apocalypse, Cass’s composure was fully on display. Even as the subject matter grew increasingly outlandish, their exchange remained perfectly peaceful.

As for his reasoning, Fu Qian found no flaws with it.

The supernatural system centered around faith before the Long Night made it seem like boons—such as those from Annalise—were indeed the mainstream. Under the rules established by higher entities, a devout heart received feedback, and so on.

Of course, the sheer scale of the Progenitor of the Blood Clan was truly a bit too massive.

”Actually, regarding this question, I have a case of my own we can use as a reference. It even involves my research assistant.”

Rather than just blindly reading other people’s papers, he proceeded to share his own data.

”It’s a known fact that she completely failed to inherit the power within her family bloodline and is instead walking the sword path. However, through a chance encounter, I confirmed that this failure didn’t affect a certain Imprint within the supernatural domain.”

Fu Qian was naturally referring to the matter of the Brass Crown.

”The path to gods is severed, ashes form the ladder.” This short message seemed highly likely to have been left by that senior, Ji Feng.

And Classmate Liushuang, who had helped decipher it, truly seemed to have no connection to Ash Descent.

Didn’t this suggest that a certain supernatural element—the one used to identify and activate the Circlet—was relatively independent of the gifts passed down in the family bloodline?

”An element even more fundamental than a supernatural boon? ...What do you think it is?”

Clearly intrigued by the case, Cass quickly grasped the main point. At the same time, he seemed to sense some hidden depths behind this particular employment relationship.

”Offspring?”

Fu Qian blinked and directly spat out a single word.

...

Wasn’t that way too basic? ...Hadn’t they been discussing this the whole time?

For a split second, Cass was visibly stunned.

However, out of trust for the Lifetime Professor, he immediately fell into deep thought, trying to parse out the profound meaning behind it.

”Are you trying to say that the most literal meaning of the word ’offspring’ is actually the essence of the supernatural within a bloodline?

”That there’s no need to consider anything else—that just the label of ’someone’s offspring’ is enough? That under the right circumstances, it can cause a resonance on the supernatural level?”

He didn’t make Fu Qian wait too long. Cass soon looked up and slowly shared his insights.

”Yes. I was actually inspired by the phrasing Professor Lisa relayed—it’s a much more abstract concept.”

Fu Qian confirmed it quite readily.

As for the inspiration, it wasn’t just nonsense. As early as when Classmate Liushuang put on the Circlet and found that it actually worked, Fu Qian had pondered the implications.

He had even extrapolated it to blood ties, offspring, the meaning of life, and so on.

As for the conclusion, it was exactly that label he had just mentioned: ’offspring’.

That was right. Gender, physique, and talent didn’t matter. As long as this single element was present—namely, being ’someone’s descendant’—that alone was enough. This was the fundamental basis of Bloodline Power.

As for whether this was too extreme?

As a professional researcher in this field, the fact that Cass reached the exact same conclusion immediately after pondering it was already a form of validation.

Of course, prior to today’s exchange, Fu Qian had merely treated it as one possibility among many.

But as a result of the Dean’s rather pessimistic conclusion earlier, many other possibilities had suddenly been eliminated, paradoxically making this explanation stand out.

This was the importance of discussion and communication—the value of standing on the shoulders of giants.

”If we think about it from this angle... it actually makes logical sense. But if that’s the case, the essence of the supernatural becomes even harder to grasp...”

Naturally, the giant himself still looked somewhat shell-shocked, and his words clearly held a lot of truth.

It didn’t rely on the fertilized egg, the level of development, the consumption of heavenly treasures... and so on and so forth.

’So-and-so’s offspring’—why should a mere label like that cause a resonance on the supernatural level, allowing one to win the supernatural lottery?

”Actually, I have another case.”

Sensing the Old Man’s swirling thoughts, Fu Qian wasn’t in a rush to comment, nor did he worry about overloading the Old Man’s brain. He simply continued speaking.

...

There was more?

As expected, Cass’s surprise quickly gave way to a look of deep anticipation.

”Over in Shangjing, I recently came into contact with a cultivator family, and I discovered that there seems to be no blood relationship between their current members and the ancestor who once reached the High-Tier Transcendent level.”

Fu Qian didn’t disappoint. He immediately shared his latest findings regarding the Chen Clan.

He could only say that maintaining a constant thirst for knowledge was still highly necessary. If he hadn’t asked Nepheli in passing this time, he wouldn’t have been able to present this case right now.

”...But they still possess a certain level of cultivation talent?”

Listening to this, Cass furrowed his brow tightly and immediately tried to confirm it.

”Yes. They have talent—even a similar kind of talent—but not much.”

Fu Qian nodded.

”So it’s not just the concept of ’someone’s offspring’ that holds supernatural significance, but even ’someone’s fake offspring’ does?”

Cass had clearly grasped the implication, taking a deep breath.