Naturally after listening to such words, it was impossible for the Valas Princess to not react in a positive way, as the light that flashed on her pretty blue eyes, suggested, however, as young as Daphne is, she isn't naïve.
Or at least, she isn't as sheltered as she used to be, since she experienced betrayal by the guys that were assigned to her team back at the beast hunt, which wasn't her neither the Duchess having a bad eye for people.
Those guys were probably prepared behind the scenes by Arlion through Triten, and one has to give it to that old cunning bastard, after discovering the betrayal of the young masters and misses of those vassal families, Annete did a throughout investigation on her own and found that the old generation wasn't aware of them being brought over to Arlion's side.
So, the old bastard simply swayed those delusional idiots by promising them power and the chance to break off their vassal status to start their own independent noble families, as to why he chose the members of the young generation, they were perfect disposable pawns since they needed less resources to be bribed and they didn't hold real power in terms of the politics of their families, so they successfully escaped the radar of the Duchess.
Anyway, the important here is that Daphne didn't accept right away, despite the sensation of "familiarity" that she was feeling from that sphere of light, which of course didn't scape the eyes of the latter.
"Ahem, I guess I can't expect you to accept right away, though any other member of the young generation would have been laughing even in their sleep… oh well, I can at least have a small face to face talk with you", said the sphere of light.
The next second the light expanded and dazzled before everything returned to normal, in time to reveal a tall woman with long blue hair who was wearing an elegant long dark blue dress.
Daphne was surprised for two things, first the woman in front of her was quite beautiful to say the least, and that is a lot coming from the Valas princess who is a beauty by all means, second there was a certain resemblance between that woman and… her own mother.
It's not like they were exactly lookalike, but if someone said that they belonged to the same family branch, it wouldn't be questioned by others, there was a huge difference in terms of presence though, and this woman was above Grace in beauty terms too, but that could be explained by the simple fact, that based on the feeling the gave off, she was a pure blooded magic beast descendant, her aura even surpassed that of Thea and the other rulers from the Maelstrom Sea.
"First princess of the Northern Sea, Ophelia Vallmery, it's a pleasure", said the woman as she raised the sides of her dress.
Daimon's eyes frowned behind his mask, he has seen the term "Son of the Northern Sea" and "Daughter of the Northern Sky" before, they showed up every time he looked at the oath that Adam was supposed to obtain as a way to tie him to Jasmine, but Ophelia used "princess" instead of "daughter", which got his attention.
"Are you curious about my origin kid, unfortunately the information I have is limited, since this is only a sliver of my soul that remained, but if you want to ask something, I wouldn't mind, I don't even remember when was the last time I talked with someone after all", said Ophelia.
'She can see physical layer of the Hollow Suit…', thought Daimon, it would be a lie to say he wasn't surprised; however, the important part is that Ophelia clearly couldn't see through his lineages and the other stuff he was hiding, based on how she was wary of him earlier and tried to use the arrays of the challenge to attack him, she probably guessed he is a system user.
But if Thea's ancestor managed to learn how to identify them, it's not weird that what probably is a being on a level Daimon can't even begin to fathom as of current, it was normal, in fact based on what he knew so far after listening to story of Freya's hosts, system users shouldn't be that rare at higher ranked places, a theory which was "indirectly" confirmed by Evangeline a second later.
'Don't worry, she couldn't see through the system, but she has probably met a fair amount of system users before, she can see your face though but that's understandable, since even her shattered existence is way above what you know as of current', she said.
'Oh, higher than that of Freya, Karla and that little angel?', asked Daimon just for Evangeline to giggle in response.
'Your usual tricks won't work on me, you'll have to think on better conquering lines… also administrators and other beings in similar situations don't count, since their existences are tied to something, anyway I can confirm that she doesn't have any ill intentions towards you, courtesy of the system~', she said.
Daimon inwardly nodded, taking note of that for later before directly asking.
"What is the Star Lord realm".
"Wait, you don't have Star Lords in your galaxy of origin!", exclaimed Ophelia in surprise, she flashed and the next second she was standing next to Daimon, she then floated around him a couple of times as if she was evaluating him.
Up-close, Daimon couldn't help but notice that she was really "big", in all the meaning of the word, she was actually taller than Erin, and had a figure that went perfectly along with that, as the delight to the eye curves that were reflecting on his eyes, suggested, it's not that Daimon is that fixated on such things, but it's the first time he sees someone that surpasses Erin in that aspect, so he couldn't help but think about it for a second.
'Are most beast race women supposed to be this "dotted", or…', wondered Daimon before he returned to reality, since Evangeline herself said that Ophelia wasn't an enemy, he took off the mask, it was useless in the sense that she could see his real appearance anyway.
After observing Daimon for a couple of seconds, Ophelia frowned as if she couldn't reach a proper conclusion, before saying.
"Kid, your physique is strange, are you perhaps a magic knight… no it feels different, can you show me your mana or battle aura?".
Daimon didn't use any energy in the second part of the challenge, he only used Disaster to kill those two and break through the barrier that separated the different areas for the participants, so Ophelia apparently couldn't tell whether he was a knight or a mage, still she somehow made a not so far from the spot supposition calling him a magic knight.
Now imagine her surprise when he manifested battle aura on his right hand and mana on his left hand, at the same time.
"What!!!", exclaimed Ophelia with disbelief.
'And of course, you aren't showing off, because she is quite a beauty, right~', jokingly said Evangeline, with an almost unnoticeable tinge of jealousy, to which Daimon cleared his throat to then say.
'Ahem, you personally stated that she is way above anything I know, without taking into account administrators, I should make the most out of this encounter, it was probably prepared for Adam anyway', he wasn't going to admit it, but his Apex Predator instincts were "agitated" ever since Ophelia got close to him.
'I feel a bit angry for some reason, Daimon', cutely said Narasha.
'Dear mana, if we have someone like him back then, let alone ending like this, we could have…', wondered Ophelia before she slightly shook her head, there was no point in thinking about that.
"That's enough, certainly I don't have a lot of my memories, but I do remember what "genius" would mean at my place, and considering your mana purity, you are still far from it, however you come from a galaxy without even a Star Lord and having such a monstrous mana purity and dense vitality at such a low realm and age, in terms of potential... you surpass anyone I remember or have heard off", she mumbled before turning to see Daphne to then add.
"I guess that would explain why that little girl got such a good result, despite the diluted blood concentration and the damaged mana circuits, a lot of that vitality has been "injected" into her".
"…", Daphne was confused for a second, before she understood the meaning behind those words, her face exploded in red on the spot, while Daimon chuckled to then say.
"We haven't done anything like that, Daphne modified that ability to adapt to her current status, I'm sure that if she was in a better condition, she could have obliterated more than two of those mana crystals".
"Oh?", the confidence behind Daimon's words, left a good impression in Ophelia, and also made the blush on Daphne's face increase one more time, the ability that her mother used was called "Chaos Stream", while hers was "Storm Stream", the latter was a degraded version yes, but Daphne created it herself, well to be honest both were degraded versions in Daimon's eyes, since he has seen the real thing back at the trial of the Bloodline Temple.
"I see, answering to your question, a Star Lord is the lowest ranked being that has surpassed the moral realms, gaining the power to rule over a planet, don't ask how to reach it or what comes after that, for the first, what I know is only safe for my race and for the second… you'll be stricken by regulation lightning", she said.
Daimon nodded, he has seen that thing killing someone before his eyes, and it was no joke, so he didn't push the matter.
"What happened between your group and the Nethereals, why is Neptune in such a state?", he asked, to which Ophelie bitterly smiled.
"From what I remember, they are our enemies, beings that live in the Netherworld a place that exists in a different dimension to ours, apparently they targeted us because we are royalty, or at least that's what I remember".
"We were ambushed by them when we were just passing by this area, for some reason we ended up trapped with them in this galaxy, it was probably a trap they set up, so a war broke out".
"Unfortunately, they had the ability to corrupt other beings to transform them into their lackeys, and so they used the local lifeforms as cannon fodder, so while we had the quality, they had the quantity not to mention they came prepared for a war with a lot of magic treasures".
"We were also betrayed by one of the members of our inner circle, I don't know about the others but I detonated my heart to take down one of their leader bastards, but I was tricked due to the traitor and only destroyed that idiot's flagship and around a third of his army… after that I just woke up in this place and I was supposed to supervise those who came and granted them rewards and things like that".
"I'm also trapped here, the only way to leave is pass my lineage to someone and then die, which I was ready to do, but honestly I didn't find anyone worthy until now, also this place will disappear if Neptune is destroyed anyway", said Ophelia with a calm expression.
Daimon followed to ask a couple more of things, but unfortunately, she didn't know about them or couldn't speak of others, she has been isolated in this place so whatever happened outside after she died remained a mystery to her too, however Daimon did get to know the name of her race "Azure Galaxy Whale", a race on par with the Black Prison Megalodon which the old merman mentioned, apparently.
She also remembered the name of the so called traitors, the one who was on par with her race was called "White Disaster Shark" and there were other races she remembered, namely "Icelock Black Turtle" and "Alabaster Horned Dolphin" which were one notch lower than the previous ones, and then she also remembered a bunch of other lower ranked ones, which Daimon have no interest on, but they aligned with some of the low and middle ranked noble families of the Clear Water kingdom.
And for the last question Daimon had in stock for her, a vertical yellow line appeared on his pupils, as he said.
"What is a Dracolevia?".
A sepulchral silence fell on the room, Daimon had to look up to see Ophelia's face, due to the difference in height, since he barely reached the upper part of her abdomen, just to see her eyes glowing like lamps in the dark.
"Y-You have a royal lineage like me, wait I didn't know that until now!", she exclaimed in both disbelief and happiness, apparently, she actually recovered a memory thanks to Daimon.
"But you are a mortal and the Dracolevia Throne has never been occupied, so there shouldn't be anyone with that lineage…", mumbled Ophelia with a lost expression on her pretty face, her eyes shone with a happy light before she intensely stared at Daimon.
"What is your name little brother?", she asked with a much warmer voice, as if she was talking to a member of her family, perhaps because he had a lineage related to hers.
"Daimon Licht", said Daimon.
"If what you told me was true, then that little girl and her mother were cursed, a specialty of the White Disaster Shark race and their subordinates, do you happen to have the items used for the ritual?".
Daimon nodded and then took out the coin which had lost its red color after Ryan used it, and the handbell, from his inventory and then handed them to Ophelia, who inspected them for a moment to then gaze at Daimon.
"It's faint, but there is a remnant of the aura of those traitor bastards, I won't forget it even if I die, I can heal both the little girl and her mother…", Ophelia stopped for a moment, she seemed to be considering quite a bit whether to continue or not, but ultimately, she did.
"I'll use my remaining energy to give her a new set of mana circuits, as for what her mother lost, it should be the memories stored in her bloodline, I'll prepare a copy of my own for her, normally that would mean I will die, but you have the "Ruler of the Sea", right?", she asked to confirm, to which Daimon nodded.
"In that case, will you take me with you?", Ophelie saw Daimon raising an eyebrow and the light in her eyes attenuated, but she understood she was misunderstanding the next second when he said.
"I do have the "Ruler of the Sea", but besides controlling a certain number of sea type magic beasts under some conditions and helping them evolve faster, I can't do anything else".
"Oh that, let me help you with it…", she said, the next thing Daimon knew was that a warm current was coursing through his body, as Ophelia leaned down and kissed his forehead, which made the three "present" girls pout for a second.
[Ding]
[A new title has been awarded due to a specific action]
[New tittle unlocked: Blessing of the Northern Sea]
[The host has gained the trust and recognition of a titled representative of the Northern Sea, "Royal Link" has been granted by the first Princess of the Northern Sea]
[Royal Link: An ability from the first princess of the Northern Sea will be taught to the host, (if the tittle is unequipped or lost, the ability will disappear, the ability will be decided by the first princess of the Northern Sea)]
[Ding]
[A new skill has been unlocked due to a specific action]
[Royal Grace lv1: Once per a thousand years, the host can prevent the death of any being whose lineage is related to the Northern Sea (The target must be at most three major realms above the host and be in the same planet as the host at the moment of death, the target will be in suspension for a fixed amount of time, based on the difference between the strength of the host and the target)]
[Cooldown: 1,000 years]
Daimon's eyes glowed as he read the notifications that appeared before him, he also felt a faint connection with Ophelia, but right now he could only think about the fact that he finally got a lifesaving skill, something he has been wanting to obtain for a really long time, it had some really harsh conditions, but it was the next better option after a resurrection skill, so how could he not be happy.
Now, this one only worked for those whose lineages were related to the Northern Sea, but the harder part was to get an ability with a specific function, after that, he could study it and learn how to create his own that will adjust to his needs, just like how he obtained "Switch" based on "Blink", of course it wasn't as simple as that, it took him eight years and that was with him being able to use blink as much as he needed, but this ability will only activate once before going into cooldown, but it was better than nothing.
Of course, there was another option he had before, he could have gotten something similar if he would have let Jasmine become a spare pair of lives for him, but that never crossed his mind, so now it was a win-win situation.
"Wait, I don't know what realm you thought I have, but I'm still below the Lord… the middle level of the Mortal realm", said Daimon, to which Ophelia smiled before saying.
"No problem, after giving that little girl new mana circuits and creating the copy of my lineage memories, I'll at most be at the Stellar rank, it should be enough~".
'You already have three administrators, a sword and a ghost on you, what does another one amounts for… that doesn't mean you can keep adding others, but she'll be beneficial for you at both short and long term', mumbled Evangeline with a cutely unconvinced voice.
Daimon's eyes glowed, as he got the hint hidden in Evangeline's words, though she chose a weird way to communicate her message.
"In that case… let's do it", said Daimon as he nodded at Ophelie who warmly smiled at him, the link that formed between them was similar to the oath that originally assured Jasmin that Daimon wasn't going to harm her, it was similar to a contract, of course Daimon wasn't really tied by it, but they could feel that he didn't have ill intentions towards them, so the result was the same.
"I'll be in your care, give those bastards a nice beating in my stead, little brother~", said Ophelia, her body dissolved into countless particles of light, some entered the hand bell, another portion went to the coin and the last part which took Ophelias's form one last time, landed on Daimon's palm to then transform into a ring with a small blue gem on it.
