Listening to the howling wind beating against the windows, complexity and regret flashed in Dorian Gray's eyes.
Abraham bloodline should be noble. As an angel family from the Fourth Epoch, the Abrahams should be existence standing at the pinnacle of the Southern and Northern Continents, enjoying all glory and others' envious gazes.
However, all decline began with ancestor Bethel Abraham's disappearance. That nightmare hidden deep in their bloodline, entangling the Abrahams for thousands of years, was born from that moment.
In the War of Four Emperors, with Mr. Door's disappearance, the Abraham's high-sequence powerhouses were liquidated by other forces, suffering heavy casualties without even leaving behind a single demigod.
Family members were all wanted by major churches and pursued by secret forces. The Abraham family no longer possessed their former glory, becoming a group of rats living in the shadows.
Over the years, Dorian's children, father, and relatives had all died under this terrible curse, while fate seemed to play a joke on him, letting him survive by chance.
What he found most unacceptable was the rebellion led by Butis in collusion with the Aurora Order among students carefully cultivated by the family years ago. This directly led to the loss of a Level 0 sealed artifact and the deaths of numerous family members. His student, former recorder Louis Wayne, was also one of the chief culprits of that rebellion.
That night, seeing his carefully cultivated student Louis Wayne's mad smile, Dorian's heart had shattered. Although he broke through the encirclement relying on the powerful sealed artifact he mastered, he still couldn't prevent the harm rebels inflicted on family members.
Broad-shouldered and thick-armed, Dorian Gray Abraham unconsciously paced back and forth in the room, thinking about the family's future survival issues.
"Boom!" Silver lightning split the cloudy sky, shining through the window to illuminate this Abraham's gloomy expression.
Sighing and temporarily clearing his thoughts, Dorian withdrew his gaze from outside and prepared to finish processing the remaining documents.
Just as he turned around, about to return to his seat, his movement suddenly stopped, and his not-too-aged face showed a grave expression.
In his line of sight, in front of the office desk chair, a figure had somehow appeared—a young man wearing a hooded classical robe with a handsome face.
"Who are you, sir?"
Looking at the stranger before him, Dorian Gray's heart filled with terror. As an Astrologer, his spiritual intuition hadn't even detected someone entering his room, which meant the young man before him was at least a mid-sequence Beyonder.
Hearing the inquiry, Nimrod put down the book about harbor fish species in his hand and smiled: "After years of separation, Uncle Dorian doesn't recognize me?"
"You are?" Hearing the response and looking at that handsome face, Dorian Gray seemed to remember something and asked uncertainly: "Are you Nord's child, Nimrod?"
"It seems I haven't been forgotten by Uncle Dorian. Don't be so tense. I came here hoping you could help me with something."
Smiling and nodding, Nimrod raised his hand, directly severing this room's connection with reality, turning it into an independent sealed space.
"Space has been divided. This... this is a Mysticologist's ability!"
As an Astrologer who had used sealed artifacts formed from Mysticologist characteristics and survived to this day, Dorian took only five seconds to perceive the anomaly around him. Looking at the smiling young man before him, he felt his scalp tingle.
This family junior before him was actually a demigod? Abraham bloodline had actually produced a high-sequence being, and he was right before his eyes!
Dorian Gray Abraham's body began trembling. After thousands of years, he finally saw the dawn of the family's glorious revival.
Suddenly he seemed to think of something. His trembling body immediately stiffened, and he looked at Nimrod before him, questioning in a voice almost twisted with anger: "No, you're not him! Who exactly are you?"
Hearing Dorian Gray directly expose his identity, Nimrod wasn't angry but smiled: "Interesting. As an Beyonder who just stepped into the mid-sequence threshold, with your abilities you shouldn't be able to discover problems with my identity."
Hearing the other party not deny it, Dorian's heart suddenly surged with sadness, as if the flame of hope that had just ignited was half extinguished. He replied in a heavy voice: "I've lived for decades and been tormented by this curse for decades. My children, my wife, my brothers all died because of it. I consider that in the family, no one should understand the curse hidden deep in the bloodline better than I do."
"Oh?" Nimrod smiled, tilted his head and asked: "So what?"
Seeing that smile, that handsome face overlapping with blurry memories, Dorian Gray closed his eyes and sighed: "For thousands of years, the Abraham family hasn't produced high-sequence beings—not even many Travelers. Anyone with Abraham bloodline who steps onto the Door pathway cannot become high-sequence! This is a curse from the bloodline."
"Besides this, you forgot one thing. Nimrod became an Apprentice during his coming-of-age ceremony. Although I don't know what sequence he's advanced to these years, even with the help of acting methods and family members providing potions and formulas without my knowledge, he couldn't possibly enter high-sequence so quickly."
"You—who exactly are you? Why do you wear his face?"
Looking at the youth before him, Dorian questioned word by word: "You mastered a sealed artifact formed from Mysticologist characteristics. Are you a Trickmaster? Are you from the Secret Order? Or are you a member of the Antigonus family?"
Based on the other's space-dividing performance just now, it was undoubtedly a Mysticologist's ability. Being able to use demigod-level Beyonder artifacts while having strength to spare meant the other party was definitely a high-sequence powerhouse.
With his mystical knowledge, among the 22 Beyonder pathways, only one pathway had the ability to change appearance and completely imitate others—the "Seer" pathway that could interchange with "Apprentice" and "Thief" at high sequences. So he initially guessed the opposite was a "Trickmaster."
In his understanding and family-inherited texts, the "Seer" pathway was controlled by the Secret Order and Antigonus family respectively, and reportedly the Church of Night also possessed some "Seer" pathway formulas.
"Good guess, but unfortunately I'm not a subordinate of Zaratul or Antigonus. I am indeed Nimrod, and Abraham's noble blood also flows in my body, it's just that..."
Nimrod smiled and applauded, praising the other's reasoning. Under Dorian Gray's grave expression, he continued: "It's just that I am the reborn Nimrod. Last night I received our ancestor's favor, obtained new life, possessed divinity, and became an angel!"