Void Evolution System

It was mostly as August expected.

The emblems were indeed involved in a scheme. It wasn't that hard to figure it out just by knowing how the noble dragons felt about commoners.

Every single emblem would be and could be bound with mana. The matter about dropping blood into it was only mentioned to the common geniuses who entered the heir wars through the elimination around.

As for what it was for?

It would provide the noble clans with all of the information on the emblem. The genius' blood lineage, power, talent, laws, techniques, and bodily constitution would all be transmitted to those who had access to it.

With that kind of information, the noble clan geniuses wouldn't struggle against any of them. It was already enough to remove the chance for a common genius to win the heir wars.

However, that wasn't all.

Those who dropped blood onto the emblem would be signing their lives away. Their blood would activate a contract that allowed the noble clans to control their emblems. It forced them to promise that they would exit the heir wars if they were ever asked by a noble.

In a situation where a common genius was able to get past the nobles and prevail, they would be forced to forfeit the heir wars if they didn't want to die.

It practically turned them into slaves.

Though the noble clans had to act normal and make it seem like there was no corruption in the competition, they could easily blackmail a genius or two to betray others and create space for noble geniuses to win in any situation.

There was only one real issue.

"The noble clans?"

August was curious about it.

"From what I've heard, the heir wars are controlled by the Dragon Emperor's people. How did the noble clans get so much influence in it?"

Damien shrugged.

"That's a little too much for you to know right now. Just remember that there's a whole lot of corruption in the entire process that you guys will have to overcome with your talents alone."

The crux of the situation had already been revealed. Damien was also willing to provide the names of those involved and far more specific details, but would be far too lengthy a conversation.

Instead, Damien had put it all on a jade slip for August to read when he wanted to.

He gave it to him as he spoke. August took it while nodding.

"Okay. I knew it would be like that. I was just hoping for something better," he said, somewhat dejected.

Damien smiled softly.

"Well, it's like that now, but you're working to fix it, aren't you? By the time you're done here, it'll be a completely different Arulion."

"That's right. When I'm the Dragon Emperor, it won't be like this."

It was the first time he'd said it in front of Valerie and Melania.

Neither of them was competing in the heir wars to actually win, so neither felt provoked by his words.

They were mostly bewildered.

August had said it with such confidence that, for a second, they even thought that he could do it without a problem.

There were plenty of struggles in his path to that place. Even if he was able to overcome them, he would still face people who would do everything to stop his rise.

Still, August as a Dragon Emperor…?

They had to wonder what that would look like.

"Ah, you didn't put your blood into it, did you?" Damien said, continuing his conversation with August as his son remained unaware of the thoughts of those he brought with him.

"Of course not! I didn't trust it, so I waited," August replied.

"Good."

Damien put his hand out, beckoning for August to give it to him.

"I'll trick it so you don't have to worry."

August nodded happily.

"Ah, can you do theirs too?"

He motioned towards Valerie and Melania while looking at Damien with pleading eyes.

"You don't have to look at me like that, brat. Of course I'll help your friends."

August's smile widened. He didn't say anything to the girls, but they'd been following the conversation, so they didn't need to be told anything.

They took their emblems out and gave them to Damien. He held all three and put his blood into them as the three young geniuses watched curiously.

Damien's blood changed, mimicking theirs as it entered the emblems.

None of them had put their blood into the emblems in the first place. Melania had followed August, while Valerie had just gotten lucky.

She had gone to find August while deciding to put blood into the emblem later. That decision ended up dragging her into the father-son hide-and-seek game that he was about to play, and she lost her chance to do it at all.

It was a real lucky moment, because without forged qualifications, Valerie would've been one of the first people targeted by the noble clans.

She might have even been killed or blackmailed to turn traitor.

Nevertheless, since her luck did indeed save her, it was as easy to forge her specifications as it was to do August's or Melania's.

August became a regular water dragon who was only special in that he had a little bit more talent than the rest.

Valerie was the same. Damien had to give her some peculiarities to make her strength understandable, but the information was still a lie that would throw off the enemy.

As for Melania…

Damien passed their emblems back to them casually.

"Just put your mana in and it'll start working," he said.

They did as they were told.

The emblems changed, becoming circular devices that were mostly just screens.

Their faces appeared on them before shrinking and turning into square avatars in the top right corners of the screens.

The rest was soon filled with information about like a leaderboard, a page that mapped their individual statistics, and pretty much everything else that the man who distributed the emblems told them they would have.

The only one confused was Melania.

They could see the information that Damien had inputted for them.

While August and Valerie turned into completely different people, Melania's profile was just…her?

It was everything about her from just a day ago, as if she'd actually put blood in the emblem before they arrived here.

The information was saddening to see for any genius. It was a mathematical measure of just how useless they were.

But…

For Melania, the problem was that she wasn't like that anymore.

She had gained talent and potential. With Mountain God Draga's blood lineage, she no longer had the same stats as what was displayed on the screen.

That was normal.

That was how it should've been.

In fact, that was the entire purpose of Damien manipulating their emblems.

The thing that confused Melania was…

How did he know?

How did he know what her stats were like before she'd changed, and how did he know that she'd changed at all?

Her intuition allowed her to deduce that Damien was involved with the crow-masked man somehow long ago.

All of the trials were created by him, so clearly, he knew what she'd gone through and who helped her get to this point.

However, Damien knew more than she expected. He knew more than someone who was just acquainted with her benefactor.

It really made her wonder.

'Was he the crow-masked man?'

If he was, then she owed a great debt to both father and son, but that wasn't her concern.

That man was her savior. In a sense, he was the teacher that allowed her to become powerful.

A teacher…that was something she desperately needed.

And the crow-masked man was the only person she was willing to kneel to.

If Damien really was the crow-masked man, then this couldn't be the end of their encounter.

She had to find a chance to ask him.