Demon Legacy

When Burcham came back he was stopped by the guards outside the door. They worried as they saw the midwife leaving, followed by Burcham who only came back after 40 minutes. They couldn't contain their anxiety or curiosity any longer.

"Is the Young Master alright?" One of the guards asked.

Burcham understood that these guards were merely worried. Having stood guard for so long with no news, they probably feared that the mother and her son hadn't made it through the birth.

"Ah, both the Third Miss and the child are fine. The patriarch just wanted some alone time with his wife and son." Burcham explained, settling the guards' worries.

"Oh so that was it. Of course of course. Sorry about the disturbance, please go ahead." Both of the guards looked relieved and continued their duty of standing guard after letting Burcham go inside.

In the same way the guards had been relieved from the good news, the sight Burcham saw also settled his inner conflicts. Like Lynwood he was worried about the consequences of raising a noble demon. But when he looked at the family that seemed so close, it just made him think of a normal family. Like any other.

The family was stuck in their own world and hadn't noticed him come in. He cleared his throat to catch their attention.

"Oh Burcham, you're back." Lynwood looked towards the entrance and saw Burcham there.

"Yes Master, I brought the contacts." Burcham stepped forward and pulled out a small black box, "It took a while because I went to the black market to get the advanced ones."

"It's good that you brought the advanced contacts. But doing it in such a hurry, you didn't take any unnecessary risks right?"

"I was discreet. And this way, we won't risk anyone seeing the outline of the lenses. It was too big a risk to take. Any average cultivator would've seen through us at first glance."

"You're right. You did good Burcham." Lynwood nodded in approval. He'd also been worried about the same thing. Besides, Burcham was the one he trusted the most. If he said he did it discreetly there was no reason to doubt him.

"Thank you master. We should put them in now. Please hold his eyes open Third Miss." Burcham said as he opened the black box, revealing two lenses inside.

Avery hesitated before bringing her thumb and index finger to hold open his eyelid. She paused and looked quite uncomfortable at the thought.

"I'll do it. Here, you hold him." Lynwood said before handing Kaden over to Avery.

With two fingers he held the bottom and top part of the eyelid open.

Kaden woke and squirmed a bit. Luckily his mother was there to coax him before he began crying or whining.

Burcham touched one of the lenses with his finger. In the instant it was touched, it transformed into a liquid drop and stuck to the tip of his digit. It hung off of his finger like a water drop about to drip from a faucet. With great care, he moved the same finger up to Kaden's right eye, the current one being held open.

Lowering his finger the drop touched touched the eyeball and separated. The drop rippled as it spread all over the eyeball.

Kaden squirmed and tried to blink. It didn't look like the process was painful, just uncomfortable. It was natural to react when something foreign entered your eye.

When the ripples settled, an electric blue color had replaced the previous red iris. It looked just the same as any blue eye. No lens or anything of the sort was visible. It was perfectly natural, like the color of his right eye had always been blue.

"Good, let's do the other one." Burcham nodded and extracted the other lens from the box.

Like before, Lynwood held the eyelid open while Burcham dropped the liquid lens into the eye. The ripples were quick to settle and both of Kaden's eyes were now an electric blue. Not quite as eye catching as his natural red eyes, but everyone considered that a good thing.

After finishing up both of the men seemed satisfied with the results.

"It looks normal, there shouldn't be any issues." Lynwood was in a much better mood. Now that he could calm down, his mind was reminded of other matters. He still hadn't checked his son's potential. A very important matter. "Now that that's done, it's about time we test his potential."

He took the Evaluator that had been lying on a stand this whole time. It was a small rectangular touch screen device. To get the sample it used two rigid tubes that carried disposable needles. They were commonly referred to as a lancing instrument.

Bringing the tubes to Kaden's arm, he pressed a button on the screen and the two needles were injected, each drawing a sample of blood.

The device began emitting a light whirring sound and in less than a minute the screen popped up with the results.

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Kaden Arkatal Evaluation

Genetic Potential: SS-Tier

Aether Essence: S-Tier

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"God…" Lynwood's jaw fell when he saw the results that came up on the screen.

"Master?" Burcham questioned, but he was soon in the same state of disbelief as a genderless robotic voice began announcing the results.

Avery came from a poor part of society and wasn't a cultivator herself. With the least experience, she was also the least surprised.

"I know demons are known for having higher Genetic Potential but this is unworldly!" Lynwood couldn't contain his shock, "Even the Aether Essence evaluation is incredible."

Genetic Potential affected the limits of one's Body Fitness. Most demons had a high Genetic Potential but low Aether Essence. Regular humans were the reverse. Of course there were always exceptions for both of them.

"This… I've never seen anything like it. Is this the power of the noble demons?" Burcham doubted the results for a second, but quickly shook away that thought. Maybe there was something wrong with the machine? But that was hardly possible. This was what the Federation used to test all the newborns. With the new model that was put in use 50 years ago, there hadn't been a single case of an error. The family even had their own brand new one, bought just for this occasion. The ones used in hospitals went through thousands of uses without failing.

Lynwood was excited, but also felt some regret. If only this child hadn't been born a demon, then the Arkatal family would've been truly blessed.

Avery sat on the bed, not quite aware of the implications. She was just happy she'd gotten to keep her child. Demon or not, it didn't matter to her.

…

The successful birth and the Young Master's potential was soon announced, lifting the entire mansion into a celebratory mood.

Allies of the family came to see the newborn and give their congratulations, bearing gifts in hand. Heads of other families were envious of the Arkatal family's luck. The political struggle went deep in the New World Federation. The prestigious families that stood on top were in a constant battle for power, even if they didn't show it on the surface. Since Lynwood had such a prodigious successor, the family would certainly stay strong in it's position, or perhaps soar even higher.

While none of the families would go directly against each other, there was no doubt that if one of them faced adversity the others would take advantage of it.

Internal struggle could also take place if a family's successor was too weak. Stronger branch descendants would be discontent with their position as part of the branch family.