The Warden of The Witches

Chapter 169:

The Inheritance of Authority

"This feels somewhat similar to the 'wisdom' ability, except the effects are exactly the opposite," Aiden nodded.

Aiden understood better than anyone the effect of the 'wisdom' ability, which could take over and inherit the knowledge and memories of others, as he had experienced it firsthand.

However, the 'proliferation' ability was the exact opposite, passing on everything to the offspring—it sounds quite selfless.

It's like a beehive, where the queen bee can control the worker bees with pheromones. Once the queen bee dies, the worker bees select new larvae to nurture into a new queen bee. In some species of bees, the worker bees can even transform into reproductive queen bees after the death of the original queen.

But Melissa shook her head, "Not exactly. Objectively speaking, the effects of both, to some extent, are actually the same."

"Why is that?" Aiden was surprised.

"Didn't I mention before? Through the 'proliferation' ability, the individual offspring created will have its will influenced, even controlled, by the mother entity. With this effect in mind, if the offspring inherits everything from the mother entity... what do you think will happen?" Melissa guided.

Aiden pondered, "The inherited offspring... their consciousness will become like that of the mother entity?"

"Exactly," Melissa nodded approvingly at Aiden—this gesture inexplicably reminded Aiden of mephilia, "Because of the existence of the 'proliferation' ability, the consciousness of the mother entity has a significant advantage over the offspring produced. The closer to authority, the stronger this effect becomes. Under such circumstances, when the offspring inherits the memories of the mother entity, their consciousness will be completely overridden by the mother entity. After inheriting the divinity of the mother entity, the offspring will also be able to manipulate other offspring just like the mother entity."

Aiden finally fully understood. This ability is actually quite similar to a major antagonist he once read about in a certain manga, who could summon a parallel version of himself to inherit his abilities and memories whenever he died, achieving a form of pseudo-immortality.

And with the ability of "proliferation," it not only achieves immortality but also eternal life...

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"So, does that mean unless we eliminate all the offspring of this saint, we won't be able to defeat him at all?" Aiden furrowed his brow.

"Not necessarily. After all, there are limitations for mortals who use this ability. Firstly, to make the inheritance effective immediately upon death, one must designate the inheritor beforehand. Secondly, even for a saint, they cannot use the inheritance ability continuously in a short period of time."

"So, after the opponent uses the inheritance ability, if we immediately locate and eliminate the inheritor, they'll be done for?" Aiden pondered.

"Yes, and the inheritance won't change the physical condition of the offspring," Melissa smiled, "Do you understand what I mean?"

"Under normal circumstances, they would choose the most outstanding offspring... especially those produced through norma reproduction, right?"

Aiden remembered what Mephilia had told him before, about how mortals using the "proliferation" ability to speed up offspring production would have various defects similar to those of alchemy-created homunculi.

The faster the reproduction process, the greater the defects in the offspring. And if they continue reproducing from those offspring, the defects will only amplify, leading to absurdly short lifespans for the final offspring—something even the "evolution" ability couldn't change.

So, selecting offspring with defects as inheritors undoubtedly weakens oneself significantly. The wielder of the "proliferation" divine power would likely choose normally conceived offspring as inheritors whenever possible.

Therefore, in reality, as long as we quickly locate and eliminate the opponent's most outstanding descendant after they use the "inheritance" ability, we should be able to successfully deal with this saint.

"The current leader of the Bountiful Mother cult is..." Aiden looked at Melissa.

"Benedict Bales, a priest who is also a descendant of the old Kingdom of Reiss," Melissa replied.

"How many children does he have... I mean, the normally conceived ones?"

"It seems, only one," Melissa pondered, "She's a nun named Navi Bales, serving as Father Benedict's right-hand woman in the cult. There are many nuns in the Bountiful Mother cult, the Gray Robe nuns are mostly expendables used for battle, and the White Robe nuns are used for entertainment and fundraising, they all bred from Sister Navi."

"Well, the target is quite straightforward indeed," Aiden nodded.

"But for you, simultaneously defeating them is quite difficult," Melissa shrugged, "According to my divination, without joining forces with the Witches' Gathering, your chances of winning are only about twenty percent."

"What about joining forces with the Witches' Gathering?"

"About seventy percent," Melissa replied.

"So, there's still thirty percent chance of failure," Aiden sighed.

"You're being too pessimistic. With a seventy percent chance of winning, it's the other side who should be sighing," Melissa looked at him somewhat helplessly.

"Alright, I'll gratefully accept the information and advice you've provided," Aiden felt he had asked enough and stood up to take his leave.

Melissa stared at him for a moment and suddenly remarked, "It seems you still don't intend to take the initiative, huh."

Aiden paused for a moment, realizing that the other party had read his thoughts.

His recent thoughts were actually to stay in prison for a while, to observe whether the Bountiful Mother cult really had any actions as Melissa claimed, and then decide whether to follow her advice and join forces with the Witches' Gathering.

"You still don't fully trust me, but it's okay. You'll soon find out that what I said is true," Melissa smiled, "And I'll give you another piece of advice: becoming a dominator isn't easy. If you keep acting passively, others will seize the opportunity before you."

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind," Aiden nodded.

Passive... It's true, Aiden thought. After all, he had pursued authority in the first place out of passive reasons. If he hadn't known that his life was being targeted by a saint wielding the "hatred" authority, he would have been content just to manage his prison dutifully.

"I can see you haven't really taken it in," Melissa chuckled helplessly after reading his thoughts, "I'll walk you out."

Melissa stood up and escorted Aiden from the room to the front door of the shop, opening it for him.

"As the pawn chosen by my mistress, you need to live a little longer. Don't disappoint her," she stood by the door, looking up at Aiden.

"I'm not living for her," Aiden felt a bit uncomfortable with that notion. He glanced at Melissa before stepping over the threshold and out.