Seeing that Barbara refused to answer, Eros could only let it go. He continued to observe the eight-year-old boy through the protective barrier, curious about what this "Holy Spirit" would do next.

  To his disappointment, the boy merely hovered there, his brow furrowed as he stared at Eros in silence.

  Finally, the boy spoke. "A dense elven aura... It is indeed the elven bloodline, but this lineage..." He hesitated, seemingly at a loss for words. As the Spirit of the mirror, he found that when he tried to trace the source of this student’s bloodline, he was met with an impenetrable fog.

  The moment a thought of peering deeper into that mist arose, a primal sense of dread clawed at his heart—as if doing so would trigger some unspeakable catastrophe.

  He composed himself and asked, "Boy, do you know the name of the ancestor who passed this elven bloodline to you?"

  Eros wavered. Should he mention that gentle, white-haired elven lady he had met?

  But Barbara’s voice rang in his mind: "This isn't the Shadow Realm or your soul world. If you speak Her name here, She will sense it and cast Her gaze upon this place. That would inevitably alert the high-ranking members of the Nine Great Churches. While they might not see through everything, drawing their direct attention is never a good idea."

  "So I should say I don't know?" Eros asked mentally.

  Barbara rolled her eyes within his soul space. "I’ve just checked; lie detection is a basic ability for that little brat in front of you. If I were at my peak or even just at the level of a Holy Artifact, I could shield you from his detection. But right now, I’m too weak."

  "I can't tell the truth, and I can't lie. What then?"

  Barbara pondered for a moment. "Say it was a 'Holy One' whose name cannot be spoken. Let them guess whether it was a god or a saint. My bet is they won't dare dream of it being a deity, so their conclusion will be safely incorrect. It will draw the interest of the higher-ups, but at least it won't alert those 'Betrayers' yet." She let out a mischievous little laugh.

  Outside, the three deans and the artifact spirit watched Eros with curiosity as he appeared to be gathering his thoughts.

  "An elder of my clan once told me," Eros finally said, "that the source was a Holy One whose name cannot be spoken."

  The three deans and the spirit stiffened. What kind of existence possessed a name that could not be uttered? The Great Ones, obviously, but also those Saints walking upon the Path of Greatness. A Saint who was but a single step away from divinity?

  The deans inhaled sharply. The artifact spirit looked enlightened. No wonder I couldn't see through it, he thought. I am but a Holy Artifact, while the one who bestowed this bloodline is a Saint on the verge of greatness. That is far, far beyond my former master. In fact, my master wouldn't even be worthy of comparison.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Reaching this conclusion, the spirit nodded slightly to Eros. "That will suffice."

  With a shimmer of light, the boy vanished, and the spirit returned to the form of the plain circular mirror. Seeing their reaction, Eros breathed a sigh of relief. Barbara was right—they hadn't even dared to think of a "God."

  It took a long while for the deans to snap out of their shock. Finally, the grey-robed dean, Dean Como, spoke. "Since the result is confirmed, let us go." He turned to Eros. "Even though you are now technically a Holy Son, you must still undergo the Placement Assessment unless you wish to start from the first year with children who have never touched the occult."

  Eros nodded. He knew this; Undine had told him. The assessment determined which grade a student belonged in based on their existing knowledge of mysticism. Most noble children had private tutors and wouldn't start from zero like commoners.

  "Dean, what do I need to do to test directly into the fifth year?" Eros asked. (Undine was currently in the fifth year, and he wanted to be close to her.)

  "Correctly answer eighty percent of the assessment material," Dean Como replied with a smile.

  They stepped out of the chapel, where a massive, expectant crowd had gathered. Seeing Eros exit unharmed, Undine let out a long-held breath.

  The faculty priests were practically buzzing with impatience. "Dean Como! What was the judgment? Is it truly the elven bloodline?"

  Dean Como looked at Eros and whispered, "Since your lineage is special and involves a high-level existence, I suggest we keep your status as a 'Holy Son' confidential for now. We should report this to the main Cathedral and wait for their reply."

  He added quickly, as if afraid Eros would misunderstand: "This is for your safety. Your current strength is too low. Exposing a high-level bloodline prematurely will attract the greed of many. Unless you plan to never leave the academy or the church, those who covet your blood will never stop hounding you."

  Eros agreed without a second's hesitation. Before he had sufficient strength, caution was his best friend. He didn't want to wake up in a burlap sack, being sacrificed to some evil god because he was the "perfect sacrifice."

  Satisfied, Dean Como turned to the waiting priests and nodded. "Indeed, it is the elven bloodline. The Holy Spirit has personally confirmed it."

  The crowd erupted. A legendary race’s bloodline had actually reappeared in the world!

  Immediately, several priests who taught alchemy shouted out: "Student Eros! I’ll give you a hundred gold pounds—no, two hundred!—for just one small cup of your blood!" "Two hundred and five!" "Two hundred and eight!"

  Eros watched the professors bid on his blood and asked Barbara, "Is elven blood really that valuable?"

  Barbara went silent for a moment. "To be precise, an elf is valuable from head to toe. Every part of them can be used as alchemical material for potions or mystical items. Part of the reason the elves left the continent was because of this. Even the powerful Elven Goddess couldn't protect every clansman from the greed of humans, and elven reproduction is incredibly difficult."

  "Then... am I in danger?" Eros felt a headache coming on.

  Barbara sounded almost gleeful. "Yes. Many will target you. Elven blood can be used to brew longevity potions, and there is nothing humans fear more than death."

  Eros fell silent, feeling grateful for the Dean’s suggestion to hide his status. While common elven blood was valuable, high-level elven blood was a treasure even high-sequence existences would kill for.

  Barbara smirked within his mind. "The North family are currently loyal believers of the Church of Reincarnation. To the Deans, you are one of their own, so they will naturally protect you. This is why I didn't hide your bloodline entirely. The more talent you reveal, the more resources the Church will pour into you, and the safer your family will be."

  Eros felt a wave of realization. It was like having the grades for a top-tier university—if you hid your talent and went to a community college, no major corporation would scout you. In this world, resources were a monopoly held by large organizations. Going it alone as a "rogue cultivator" usually meant staying at the bottom of the sequences forever.