"This is it."
Carlos's eyes showed a hint of joy.
The first half of the sacred oak legend was correct—it really was the manifestation of residual power from some fallen demigod of the Jungle pathway.
But the second half was pure exaggeration. This white oak didn't contain a legacy leading directly to demigod status.
However, it still held a trace of the demigod's source power.
Even though it was just a trace, it was incredibly precious.
No demigod would give away their source power to others, because source power involved the demigod's strength and life. Any damage would definitely reduce their power.
As for how to extract this trace of demigod source power, it was simple—just perform the ritual dance of this demigod in front of the sacred oak to create resonance.
In the original timeline, about twenty years later, a descendant of a priest who served this demigod would travel here.
They would perform the ritual dance again, gaining this trace of demigod source power and obtaining a powerful initial constitution.
"Good thing a player recorded the ritual dance and uploaded it online back then.
I remember it even made the trending topics."
Carlos closed his eyes, and the video of the ritual dance played continuously in his mind.
After being reborn, Carlos had the talent of extraordinary memory—photographic recall, and he could even clearly access his past life memories.
Carlos opened his eyes. His body followed his heart, and he began dancing according to the ritual dance in the video.
His movements were stiff and looked strange, without any grace.
This attracted curious onlookers from the roadside to see what he was doing.
Many people recognized Carlos's identity, and some kind-hearted folks left to report to Iris.
Carlos paid no attention to the people watching the excitement around him. He focused on the ritual dance, repeating it over and over.
Gradually, his movements became more accurate and fluid, until he perfectly recreated the ritual dance from his memory.
The moment he recreated it, Carlos's soul resonated with the sacred oak.
He clearly "saw" a deep green light fly down from the top of the white oak tree, slowly landing on his forehead before disappearing instantly.
All this happened in just a moment, and no one noticed.
Carlos felt a surge of abundant energy in his body, nourishing his physical form, making him incredibly energetic.
"Success!"
The joy of his successful plan made Carlos jump up excitedly. After all, his young body affected his mindset.
Only at times like this did Carlos show the pure, innocent smile that matched his age.
Just as excited Carlos jumped into mid-air, someone grabbed his collar from behind.
"Carlos, you skipped class again!"
Carlos looked resigned—he had already expected someone would secretly tell Iris.
Iris, wearing white silver armor, turned Carlos around to face her.
A breeze lifted the hair on Carlos's forehead, and Iris happened to notice that trace of emerald green. Her pupils contracted.
She immediately pulled Carlos into her arms, pressing his little head against her right shoulder to hide the mark on his forehead.
"Ow!"
His forehead collided with the armor, and Carlos cried out in pain. He instinctively wanted to lift his head, but Iris's arm holding him down didn't budge.
He realized something had happened and obediently stayed still.
Iris maintained her usual fierce expression on the surface, scolding as always:
"Come home with me. I'll give you a proper education later!"
She naturally walked out of the crowd, heading toward the Valois mansion.
The people watching the excitement laughed good-naturedly, then dispersed.
...
Inside the Valois mansion, Iris put Carlos down and said seriously:
"Carlos, what's this demigod mark on your forehead about?"
"Demigod mark?"
Iris took out a crystal mirror and let Carlos see for himself.
In the crystal mirror, Carlos saw an emerald green mark shaped like an oak leaf on his forehead, radiating a rich life force.
Carlos was puzzled. In his memory, the person who obtained this trace of demigod source energy twenty years later didn't get any mark.
What was going on?
After thinking briefly, Carlos understood. It must be because he was twenty years early.
The trace of source energy remaining in the sacred oak was much richer than it would be twenty years later, enough to form a demigod mark.
In the original timeline, twenty years later, the remaining source power would have dissipated further, naturally leaving no special phenomena.
Forming a demigod mark wasn't a bad thing—quite the opposite, it was great news.
This meant that on Carlos's spiritual awakening day, he would definitely be able to enter the Jungle pathway and become a psionic.
If Carlos's spirituality was more suited to other pathways, he could even choose to additionally awaken a Jungle pathway legacy skill.
"Sister, I don't know...
What's a demigod mark?"
Carlos pretended to look completely confused, because according to the current curriculum, he wouldn't have access to demigod-related knowledge.
Iris didn't think Carlos was lying—she hadn't taught him about this stuff.
"A demigod mark is bestowed by demigods at the peak of their sequences on those they favor.
With this mark, you'll definitely be able to become a psionic!"
Saying this, Iris felt very happy inside, her face beaming with smiles.
She had always worried that Carlos wouldn't be able to awaken, but couldn't bring herself to make her brother train hard. Now with the demigod mark, a huge weight was lifted from her heart.
However, this demigod mark seemed like a pie falling from the sky, giving Iris an unreal feeling.
"Has anything strange happened recently?"
Carlos pretended to think hard, then said uncertainly:
"Today a voice guided me to dance in front of the sacred oak, and I think the demigod mark appeared then."
The process of obtaining the demigod mark didn't need to be hidden from Iris. In this world where humans struggled desperately, lucky individuals were countless.
Moreover, demigod marks couldn't be taken away, and they symbolized having a demigod backing you up. Even if that demigod had perished, psionics wouldn't dare offend easily.
"The sacred oak... could the legend actually be true?"
Iris looked thoughtful, then took a white headband from her soul space, bent down and personally put it on Carlos's head, covering the emerald demigod mark.
She seriously instructed:
"Carlos, from today on, you're not allowed to take off this headband, and you can't mention the demigod mark to anyone!
Remember those human traitors I told you about recently?
Once they find out, they'll definitely try everything to kill you!"
Human traitors were humans who had joined the dark mist.
They believed that only by merging with the dark mist could humanity continue to exist.
So they tried every means to sabotage humanity's revival plans and accelerate the dark mist's consumption of the world.
Among their priorities was assassinating human geniuses.
Iris looked serious as she spoke.
"I'll remember!"
Carlos nodded vigorously, showing his determination.
Iris patted Carlos's little head.
"Good that you remember. Now go back to class!"
Carlos knew he'd gotten past his sister's scrutiny and ran out happily.
What he didn't know was that several more guards had been added to secretly protect him.
After strengthening Carlos's protection measures, Iris immediately went to visit one of Ember City's top officials—Iris's supreme boss, the half-elf Guard Captain-General Constance.