Chapter 17: Tremble, Extraordinary Traits

The Wolf Demon Clan truly lives up to its reputation as one of the most frenzied and primal extraordinary races, rivaling even the Demon Clan. It was no wonder that Amanisis, living within the Wolf Demon Kingdom, harbored such aversion toward the wolf demons.

“So insane…” Helmaeani couldn’t help but grin, “With all this bloodshed and evil, can’t your so-called ‘king’ just shatter and separate those mixed traits?”

Mentioning the shattering of traits caused Helmaeani to pause. Suddenly, she realized that for gods, the fusion of two traits shouldn’t be a major issue. Gods possess the ability to shatter extraordinary traits. In the later era of the alchemical system, not only gods but even angels of rank two or higher have such an ability.

Could it be… that the ancient gods lack this power to shatter extraordinary traits?

That seemed unlikely. The ancient gods were mad, yes, but in terms of ability, they were no weaker than the true gods. Helmaeani entertained another possibility—perhaps the ancient gods simply never conceived the idea of shattering extraordinary traits? Much like how technological civilizations sometimes have all the conditions but lack the crucial spark of inspiration.

“Shatter and separate?” Amanisis, hearing this term, looked puzzled. “I know traits can be separated through inheritance, but… can traits really be shattered and separated?”

It seemed the ancient gods truly had no awareness of shattering traits!

Faced with Amanisis’s confusion, Helmaeani gathered her thoughts and explained this concept of “shattering traits” based on human research findings:

“This is a possibility explored by human scholars. Many extraordinary beings, upon death, release traits containing multiple abilities. The root cause is the fusion of various traits within their bodies. When traits are too fused, madness accumulates…”

“We hypothesize that sufficiently powerful entities can further shatter and separate these fused traits into purer, more singular extraordinary traits.”

“Take the example of the two-headed wolf demon you mentioned. Its residual traits could at least be shattered into one extraordinary trait containing ‘calamity’ and ‘secrecy’ abilities, and another containing ‘alteration’ and ‘resurrection’ abilities.”

To Helmaeani, these fused trait artifacts seemed less like extraordinary traits and more akin to sealed relics from a later age. In that era, fusion of traits from various sequences created bizarre and extremely dangerous sealed objects. Ordinary people would never consume such fused sealed relics.

But during the Second Era, most extraordinary beings lacked the awareness to avoid accumulating madness; they instinctively consumed indiscriminately.

“Human research, huh…” Upon hearing the concept of shattering traits, Amanisis’s eyes brightened. Many things were just a thin veil away from understanding, and he believed human hypotheses held considerable potential.

Though Amanisis, having once been human before “crossing over,” felt some affinity for the human race of the arcane world, in his heart he did not see the frail humans as reliable. He preferred to strengthen himself and, when possible, help humans escape their tragic circumstances.

Yet the research Helmaeani brought caused Amanisis to reconsider humanity. Although weak, humans might be the future of this world, especially compared to other extraordinary races burdened with indelible madness.

Moreover, since taking Helmaeani in, Amanisis found himself more attuned to human habits, maintaining his sanity better. The cognition of being human seemed to counterbalance the coldness of divinity and the madness of fused traits.

Of course, these thoughts merely circled in Amanisis’s mind; his primary focus was still on the feasibility of “shattering traits.”

“I’ll try,” Amanisis said simply, then vanished from Helmaeani’s sight as if erased by an invisible eraser.

Try? How could he try?

Soon, Helmaeani understood.

Amanisis returned carrying the corpse of a half-wooden wolf demon. The massive body had a hollowed-out abdomen dripping with foul blood, yet parts of the exposed flesh had turned wooden. Even the head no longer resembled flesh and blood but looked more like a marionette.

Dressed neatly in black, Amanisis explained, “This is a mist wolf demon that devoured a different species. Recently it mutated and has been attacking other wolf demons within its territory…”

Such a frenzied wolf demon, threatening the survival of the race with indiscriminate attacks, would be hunted down by the wolf demon kingdom’s lesser gods.

Though these powerful wolves often lost control of their bloodlust, they understood that a massive decline in their numbers would weaken their survival competition against other extraordinary races.

In plain terms, while these high-ranking beings did not need to restrain their bloodlust, the lower wolf demons could not afford to go berserk and kill their own kind at will.

However, Amanisis rarely dealt with such matters; typically, those bloodthirsty lesser gods competed to handle them.

On the wolf demon’s corpse, a cluster of wooden, worm-like crystalline formations had begun to coalesce, blending the traits of the mist wolf demon and the puppet species.

This cluster contained at least a fusion of extraordinary traits from the “Fool” pathway’s certain sequences and the “Bound” pathway’s certain sequences.

Amanisis held this cluster in his hand and attempted to shatter it violently, but the seemingly wooden mass was extraordinarily tough.

Shattering traits relied not on brute force… or at least not solely on force.

Seeing Amanisis’s failed attempts, Helmaeani pondered why only those of sequence two or higher could shatter traits.

“What is the difference between sequence two and sequence three?”

Holding this question, she recalled clues from a video she had seen. In the alchemical system, extraordinary beings began their transformation from humans or other creatures into mythological entities starting at sequence four!

Hence, sequence four was known as the realm of the demigod.

This process concluded only at sequence two.

Sequence two represented the maturation of divinity, the completion of mythological form!

In the video, the powerful beings of sequence two or higher did not need to reveal their mythological forms when shattering traits.

This must be connected to mature divinity!

Helmaeani voiced her speculation: “Perhaps it has something to do with divinity.”

As one without divinity, she naturally did not know how to manipulate it.

But Amanisis, possessing complete divinity, took the hint and infused the fused trait cluster with divine aura.

Before long, he felt the cluster come alive once more!

And it was not a single consciousness that awoke.

The cluster split into many distinct wills.

Within the full divine aura, these wills trembled with fear! They quaked in terror!