Dimensional Keeper: All My Skills Are at Level 100 Chapter 1950 Bloodline Legacy Battle!

Rose didn't notice anything unusual. Or maybe she did and simply didn't show it. She looked at the statue with a complicated expression.

"The Four Sacred Clans worship him as the First Progenitor. His name isn't spoken casually, and his true bloodline is even more restricted. Most people in the Divine Realm only know the Four Sacred Clans as ancient human pillars, but very few know that our bloodline doesn't come from Primordials like ordinary humans. It comes from him."

Max asked calmly, "And this bloodline is why the Four Sacred Clans can rival the Primordials?"

Rose nodded. "Yes. Anyone who awakens even a trace of the forbidden bloodline becomes different. Their body, soul, laws, and inheritance all change. Every sacred clan carries the bloodline in a different way, and each branch expresses that power differently. Evercrest specializes in space, life, and sealed domains, but that's only the outer form. The source is still the same forbidden bloodline."

Max looked at the statue again. His blood gave another faint tremor, and he suppressed it once more.

"Then why did you bring me here?"

Rose went quiet for a moment. The question seemed simple, but her expression shifted in a way that made it clear the answer wasn't easy for her. She looked away from the statue and turned toward one of the silver chains stretching across the hall. The chain shimmered faintly with spatial light, reflecting her face in broken fragments.

"I'm a direct descendant of the Evercrest Clan," she said quietly.

Max looked at her. "I figured as much."

Rose smiled faintly, though there was no real amusement in it. "Direct descendant in blood, but not in value."

Max didn't interrupt.

Rose continued, "I was born without the forbidden bloodline."

The hall went quiet. The silver chains hummed softly around them.

Rose's voice stayed calm, but Max could hear the weight underneath it. "In the Evercrest Clan, bloodline decides everything. Talent matters. Cultivation matters. Intelligence matters. But all of that comes after the forbidden bloodline. Those who awaken it get treated as true heirs. Those who don't get treated as incomplete descendants."

Max's gaze deepened slightly.

Rose looked at the statue again. "Children born without the forbidden bloodline aren't allowed to live on the main premises of the Evercrest Clan. Some get sent to branch territories. Some get placed on distant planets. Some get handed minor resources and told to survive on their own. In name, they still belong to Evercrest. In reality, they're as good as abandoned."

Max remembered where he'd first met her. Planet Orion. A place far from the heart of the Evercrest Clan.

"So that's why you were living on Orion," Max said.

Rose nodded. "Yes. Of all places, the direct descendant of one of the Four Sacred Clans was living on Planet Orion like someone with no background at all. Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?"

Max said calmly, "It sounds like something old clans would do."

Rose glanced at him. For a moment she smiled, and this time there was a trace of real amusement in it.

"You're not wrong."

Then her expression turned serious again.

"I wasn't completely abandoned because I had no talent. Even without the forbidden bloodline, my talent was good enough that some elders thought it was a shame. But pity doesn't change clan rules. Without the bloodline, I had no right to stay in the sacred territory, no right to compete for true inheritance, and no right to be treated as an heir."

Max looked toward the statue. "And now?"

"Now, an opportunity has come up."

Rose turned fully toward him.

"In a few days, the Four Sacred Clans will hold the Bloodline Legacy Battle."

Max raised an eyebrow slightly. "The Four Sacred Clans?"

Rose nodded. "Yes. This isn't a ceremony held by the Evercrest Clan alone. Valerius, Ashbourne, Ravenhart, and Evercrest will all take part. The Bloodline Legacy Battle is one of the few ancient events shared by all four sacred clans, since the forbidden bloodline carried by all four comes from the same source."

Max's gaze shifted slightly toward the statue at the center of the hall.

"The First Progenitor."

"Yes," Rose said softly. "All four sacred clans descend from him. Even though each clan developed a different branch of the forbidden bloodline, the root is the same. Because of that, the Bloodline Legacy Battle isn't run by just one clan. It's held jointly by all four, and every sacred clan sends descendants, heirs, representatives, and challengers to compete for legacy merit."

Max looked at her. "So this is much bigger than an internal Evercrest matter."

"It is," Rose replied. "That's why I needed someone like you."

Her expression grew more solemn.

"In the Evercrest Clan, a castaway direct descendant like me would normally never get close to the true inheritance. But during the Bloodline Legacy Battle, there's an old rule left over from the age of the Four Sacred Ancestors.

Any direct descendant of one of the Four Sacred Clans, even one born without the forbidden bloodline, can request one chance to participate through a chosen representative. If that representative wins enough battles and gathers enough legacy merit, the descendant who chose him gets a chance to inherit or awaken the forbidden bloodline."

Max understood the weight of it right away.

"So I won't only be fighting Evercrest representatives."

Rose nodded. "You may end up fighting representatives from all four sacred clans."

The hall grew quieter.

Rose continued, "Some will be direct heirs of Valerius. Some will come from Ashbourne. Some will represent Ravenhart. Some will belong to Evercrest. And some will be outsiders hired by sacred clan descendants trying to boost their chances. Everyone there will be dangerous, because no one brings a weak representative to the Bloodline Legacy Battle."

Max smiled faintly. "That sounds better."

Rose looked at him with a complicated expression. "Only you would call that better."

"If the stage belongs to all Four Sacred Clans, then winning there matters more."

Rose's eyes trembled slightly. For her, this wasn't just a competition. It was her one chance to return to the bloodline that had rejected her since birth.

If Max won enough battles for her, she wouldn't just gain some resources or status. She'd gain the chance to enter the Bloodline Inheritance Pool shared by the sacred clans, a place where even someone born without the forbidden bloodline might still awaken it.

She looked toward the statue of the First Progenitor.

"The Bloodline Legacy Battle was created because even the Four Sacred Clans couldn't fully control the forbidden bloodline. Some direct descendants are born with it. Some aren't. Some awaken it later. Some die without ever touching it. The ancient ancestors left this ceremony behind so that those rejected by birth could still fight for one chance."

Max looked at her. "And you want that chance."

Rose nodded. "Yes. I want that chance."

She turned back to him and said quietly, "When I joined Crown, I told you I'd need your help one day. This is that help. Represent me in the Bloodline Legacy Battle. Win enough battles to gather legacy merit for me. If you do, I can enter the inheritance trial and try to awaken the forbidden bloodline of the Four Sacred Clans."

Max looked at her for a few breaths.

Then he said, "I'll represent you."

Rose's expression softened. "Thank you."

Max glanced once more at the statue of the First Progenitor. The strange reaction inside his blood had finally settled, but the mystery hadn't.