Dyon raised his eyebrow as Flyleaf continued.
“The Eostre Singularity technique is a sort of trade off. On one hand, you gain portions of the abilities of a True Empath… but you trade away life force and the ability to ever produce a True Empath in your lineage.”
“Then why do they continue to practice their Singularity Type Technique? And why did they begin to use it in the first place?”
Elder Flyleaf sighed, “The Eostre family is in many ways exactly like their manifestation the moon… always seeking the glory of the sun, and yet only able to reflect its light…
“Many years ago, before the elves even came to this universe, we were in great crisis. Our ruling clans, the Acacia, Mathilde and Florence families, were also experiencing inner turmoil. As a result, we experienced a True Empath drought…
“Back then, the Eostre major family used to be a mere sub-family. But, due to their ancestor, they picked themselves up and pushed forward to where they are today much like the rest of us new major families.
“As a genius like you has probably guessed, a singularity type technique isn’t only about the soul, it’s also about the bloodline. This is the reason why geniuses of major families have no need for the singularity type technique, because their manifestations will end up being close relatives, or even the peak mutation of the original manifestation regardless…”
Elder Flyleaf paused as they left the outskirt villages, entering the forest.
“Usually, it takes millions of years of lineage building to create a singularity type technique that can be passed on for millennia… however, the ancestor of the Eostre family stumbled upon an incomplete technique within the Elvin Legacy realm: ‘Dead Kings Valley’.
“This realm, because it’s incomparably dangerous, would only be entered by the elites of the ancient families of that time. However, due to the drought of True Empaths, those families had no choice but to put the survival of our race first and send as many people in as possible…
“The reason was simple… True Empaths were the perfect guides to our legacy realm, and without them, we needed as many chances as possible… or else we’d decline rapidly and succumb to our enemies.
“In the end, the Eostre ancestor found a technique that allowed a bloodline to permanently manifest portions of the abilities of a True Empath, and despite knowing its flaws, practiced it and allowed his family members to do the same all for the greater good. As long as the younger generation had decent enough guides, the Elvin clans wouldn’t disappear.
“However, despite their best efforts, the fake empaths formed by the Eostre family were just not good enough. But, could this really be blamed on the Eostre family? They had given their everything, even the lives of their next generations for the sake of their race.”
Dyon frowned. He was tired of hearing such sad stories.
“Despite this, the famous words of that ancestor are still etched into the Eostre holy land on this very island: ‘Elves usually live 10x the lives of humans. The Eostre live 5x the lives of humans. So, are you really so pitiful? At least you aren’t human!'”
Dyon didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at this. Were these really the last words someone wanted to be remembered for? Did he really just think this was a sad story?
Elder Flyleaf laughed uproariously at Dyon’s reaction.
“Don’t feel too bad, he was right. The Eostre family paid a penalty, and we’ll always respect them for it, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s really a pebble in an endless ocean.
“An elf will live 1000 years without any cultivating, while an Eostre would live 500. But, if they both cultivate, the life provided via cultivation isn’t halved. So, what is 500 years to a celestial stage expert? Nothing, right?”
Dyon nodded. He finally understood. What was 500 years to someone who might live 50 000 years? If their technique didn’t affect years gained via cultivation, you really could say it was a good sacrifice to make.
“Anyway… the Eostre family is unable to break out of this cycle because the bloodline of the singularity type technique would always be passed down anyway. So, even though the True Empath drought has technically ended, they continue to practice it.”
Dyon pondered something. “If everything technically worked out, why are you all here instead of your original universe?”
Elder Flyleaf sighed. “It was only after we came to this universe that the True Empath drought ended… and like I said, the Eostre empaths weren’t perfect. So, we steadily got weaker, and even our ancient clans went into decline.
“In the last trip to the Dead Kings Valley we made before relocating, we were able to find a foretelling technique, one that foretold our destruction should we stay. As such, we packed up and moved everything of relevance.
“Unfortunately, this is where the story deviates depending on who is telling it…”
Dyon thought about this for a bit.
“Meaning this is why many of the current major families don’t like the fact the most recent True Empath was a member of the Acacia family of old… and now that I think about it, that hate probably has to do with the fact I’ve met plenty of members of the Acacia family, well… only two about to be three, and yet I’ve met no members of the Mathilde or Florence families…”
“Sometimes you’re too sharp for your own good,” Elder Flyleaf shook his head, “yes. The fact the Acacia family survived, and the other ancient families didn’t, is a major point of contention. To the point where when we got here to this universe, the new major families suppressed the Acacia Ancient clan to the point it’s at now. It was only after the recent King Acacia that they managed to make a small comeback.
“It all boils down to the fact that some think the Acacia family betrayed the other ancient families. While some think their actions were necessary. It all comes back to this foretelling technique… a technique that costs one their life…”