Chapter 34: Progenitor (REWRITTEN)

"So you say I can influence causality?

That son of a bitch law?"

"Yeah, the son of a bitch law."

Alexia chuckled a bit as she replied to Arthur's words. She then took a sip from her drink before asking.

"You know how the law of causality works?"

"Not really. My mum just gave me a quick rundown on some of the things it does. It apparently helped in protecting her when she was pregnant for me."

"Hmm...That was because of you. I said that progenitors influence causality a lot. You have high causality indexes even before birth.

It protected her because if she died, you would not be born. There's also the prophecy that came before your birth, anyone with a brain can figure out that your race has to do with the reason the prophecy called you the child of destruction."

Arthur thought pondered on her words and saw some sense in them. This made him slightly believe her claim of him being a progenitor; after all, he did read that progenitors had high causality indexes.

As for the term 'causality index', it was simply how much a being could influence the law of causality with their words, actions, or just by existing.

"My earlier statement is more believable, right?

I have one more way for you to tell that you are a progenitor. All you have to do is say 'I'm a Progenitor' three times."

"Why?"

"Because if you, a progenitor, declare that you are one, the law of causality would confirm it for you."

Alexia shrugged her shoulders as she replied before going back to her ice cream and calling the waiter to refrigerate some of the tubs that were melting.

"Hmm...I'm a progenitor.

I'm a progenitor..."

Arthur stopped after the second time, causing Alexia to look up at him and ask.

"Why'd you stop?"

She scrutinized Arthur all over and found that he was not shaking or showing any signs of fear before continuing.

"One more and you'd get your confirmation."

"...I'm a Progenitor."

**THRUMMM!!!!!!

The moment he said that phrase the third time, the ambient energies thrummed wildly as Alexia released a burst of magic to distract everyone, mostly the demigods and transcendents in the restaurant, from the swirling essence of causality that gathered around Arthur for a short moment.

Arthur on the other hand, was staring at her in shock. For a split second, he felt his blood run cold as if his life was at risk, the next, he felt his body being warmly embraced by some sort of familiar yet unfamiliar energy.

"What the fuck was that?"

"The law of causality, it just checked to see if the one declaring themselves as a progenitor was really one."

Alexia replied after apologizing to the restaurant manager who sensed the commotion caused by the sudden burst of energy she released and came down to check on it.

Continuing, she said.

"The law of causality does not take too kindly to those who impersonate progenitors. If you actually weren't one, you'd be dead by now."

Her words shocked Arthur to his core as he thought about the chill he felt right before the law's energy embraced him. Alexia ignored this, alongside the budding anger in him, and continued.

"You may already know this but, a progenitor is the first of his or her race. They are also the lifeline of that race, as, upon the death of the progenitor, it is impossible for new members of that race to be born.

That's how important progenitors are.

As I said before, the law of causality does not take kindly to impostors. If one were to claim to be a progenitor when not actually being one, they would receive a warning of some sort.

If they did it a second time, the warning would be fiercer. They'd instinctively know that if they were to claim such again, it would spell their death.

Naturally, the third time's the charm. At that point, it doesn't matter how strong you are, the law of causality would act to end your life."

She casually revealed important information to Arthur, information about progenitors that dwarfed his previous knowledge of them. His anger was totally forgotten as he stared at her gobsmacked.

"Progenitors have various bonuses, one of which is that they have all the possible racial traits their race could have.

Another is that they do not need to be transcendents to comprehend a law, that's why I gave you that crystal."

At this point, Arthur had to stop her from speaking so he could digest the incredible information he had just received.

It all sounded absurd but he had no choice but to believe it, the law of casualty acting was proof enough for him.

"Is there any other mind-blowing information you have to give?"

"Nope, anything else is restricted area. You should find out on your own."

Upon hearing this, he sighed in relief as he was not ready to hear acquire any more mind-blowing knowledge.

"Is this common knowledge?"

"Where I'm from, it is. I suppose the masters and other bigshots over here know, but they're keeping a tight lid on that information."

"I see, do you think they know I'm a progenitor?"

"I doubt that. Unless you tell them yourself, they can't know. However, one can figure it out from the prophecies that came before your birth. It's obviously a race related to gods."

Alexia replied before ordering various wines and mixing them together while Arthur downed a cold drink in an attempt to cool his head.

"So, because I'm a progenitor, I can gain an authority even though I'm not a transcendent?"

"Nope, you'd be stuck right before the point where you get an authority. You'd only get the authority when you become a transcendent, not immediately though.

The only authority progenitors can have before reaching the transcendent realm is the 'Authority of a Progenitor'."

"What abilities does it give?"

"Find out yourself, it differs depending on the race."

After arranging all this information in his head, he finally decided to ask the main question that had been on his mind since.

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"Quite straightforward huh? Oh well, it's good for me. The reason is simple; I want you to help me in the future when you're stronger so I'm helping you now."

"Help you with what?"

"I have a problem that needs solving, the kind your ancestor wanted to help me solve but died before he could."

Arthur looked at her with a skeptical gaze, she noticed this and addressed his suspicion before he could even tell her what it is.

"It wasn't my problem that killed him. Something else did. He did leave some things behind for you, like whatever is in Varona and the other crystals in that bag."

She pointed at the black bag Arthur pulled out the crystal from. He looked into it and saw a few memory crystals and a bunch of other stuff inside.

Holding up the memory crystal, he asked her what was inside, however, she claimed not to know it as only those who met certain requirements could view the information within.

"As for that law crystal, I advise you to begin using it the moment your energy flow resumes. Just pour energy into it and you'd gain the knowledge within, I configured it that way."

Her words stunned him once more. There were many ways for law crystals to be created, one was when the energy of that law naturally condensed and crystallized.

Another was when a person who had comprehended the law in question, used their energy to create a crystal. This way, they could add conditions for the crystal to be used like making it so that only a certain number of people could use it or only a certain bloodline could use it.

Adding these special conditions required one to have an unbelievably high comprehension of the law in question. If she was able to configure that crystal, then her comprehension of the law of time must be at a high rank.

"Ah, come closer, I wanna check something."

She stretched out her hand as she said that, beckoning him over. Arthur, however, was slightly reluctant to move his head closer to her. Seeing this, she laughed and spoke.

"If I wanted to do anything to you, this place would be a battlefield already. Your guards that have covered half the restaurant won't let me."

As she said this, she gestured to the various men and women in the restaurant who had been staring at them for quite a while.

They were a dozen in number and each of them was a transcendent with a demigod as the leader of the team.

They were also the source of the hostility directed at her earlier. Arthur waved them off and they nodded respectfully before acting like normal customers again.

Arthur then leaned over, allowing Alexia to touch his head. Her eyes then began glowing as she activated an authority.

[Authority of Time : Memories of the Future]

A series of images flashed through Arthur's mind. He saw himself fighting against three people using some sort of golden energy. The area around them looked like the ruins of a destroyed city.

The scene then shifted to him looking at two of these people, one was with a spear and the other was barehanded with golden lightning crackling around his fingers.

Then his vision blurred out as if he was dizzy and then he blacked out.

Opening his eyes, he saw Alexia nod to herself before taking her hands off his head.

"Did you see anything?"

"Yes, very disturbing images."

"Hmm. That means your affinity is already high enough for you to unconsciously read the parts I discarded."

"Huh?"

Taking a sip of her drink, she explained what happened.

"I read parts of your future, however, I couldn't see much because of your stupidly high causality index. Well, it's not much to me but it's a lot to any normal user of time.

Let's equate it to me skimming through a book for a particular page, naturally, I would skip the pages I don't want.

You were able to unconsciously take slight peeks at those pages I skipped."

Arthur understood what she said after she gave him that explanation. She then decided to give him a bit of good news.

"Something would happen to you in about two years, it would fix an issue you have completely. Can't tell you what it is though, if I told you, it won't happen."

Before he could ask anything, she continued.

"Try not to catch the attention of too many powerhouses, I won't be able to shield you from them for quite a while."

"I caught the attention of too many powerhouses?"

"Yep. That stunt you pulled, disclosing the fact you cannot use energy made many of the ancient ones to take note of you. I just stopped an existence on my level from peeking at your destiny minutes before I spoke to you at the park.

I won't be able to do so for a while, a long while, maybe a few years or decades."

"Huh? Why?"

As he asked her this, she seemed troubled about how to answer. After fidgeting for a while, she sighed in resignation and spoke.

"So I kinda beat up someone important and left them permanently disabled back at home, so I'm currently wanted.

I also can't let myself get caught so I can't stay in one place for too long otherwise I'd risk being found.

I've been here for way too long so my pursuers are starting to notice."

Arthur nodded, understanding most of her plight but he still had one question,

"Why can't you just beat up your pursuers too?"

"I can't, they're people I'm close to. They're being forced to come after me, and unfortunately, the one sending them knows that.

Also due to certain reasons, I'm not allowed to fight the person sending them. That's why I need your help, that's also why I told you to go to Varona.

The damn bastard is stronger than me and even if we weren't prohibited from fighting each other. Lastly, I can't increase my strength because that would end up causing another problem entirely."

"Your life seems quite, miserable?"

"Unfortunately, you should be happy your dad isn't tryna use you as a breeding horse to get him a kid so he can possess a new body before dying of old age."

The more she spoke, the more depressed she became. Hearing a part of the predicament Alexia was facing, Arthur patted her on the back while saying words of encouragement to her.

After parting and promising to meet again sometime in the future, Arthur returned to the castle with the black bag containing the crystals in tow.