Grand Ancestral Bloodlines
chapter-979

Ryu was quite speechless by this point.

One of the reasons he had such a favorable impression of Selheira was because of her calm mind and gentle temperament. Logically, it should have taken quite a lot for such a person to break down like this. Individuals with her demeanor were exceptionally rare, so much so that the only one Ryu knew who even came close was his own mother.

However, even Himari Tatsuya was still several steps beneath Selheira in this regard, and that was because the killing edge Ryu's mother had was simply too sharp. Although she could display gentleness even greater than what Selheira had displayed when she was before her husband and her son, when it came to her interactions with others, it might even be more accurate to label her as bloodthirsty and violent.

Selheira, though, regardless of friend or foe, always seemed to maintain the same gentleness. Regardless of how she might be feeling internally, it all displayed outwardly as calm and peaceful.

It was hard to put into words just how rare someone like Selheira was. Someone with such an unmoved and consistent temperament was bound to have an extremely firm heart and would be able to overcome tribulations of the soul and mind with incomparable ease.

These were all the things that Ryu had learned about Selheira in just the short time they had been together, but it was enough for him to not quite know how to react when she became like this. It was to the point that for a while, he could only watch silently as she continued to cry.

Selheira wiped at her tears, shaking her head lightly.

"I'm sorry, I've shown you something quite unsightly. I'm embarrassed."

Selheira's voice was still just as gentle. Despite her tears, her cadence didn't seem to have wavered in the slightest. It only went to show that these tears truly came from the depths of her soul, so much so that she wasn't even able to stop them before they flooded outward.

These weren't normal tears, these were her deepest subconscious thoughts resurfacing after so many years of suppression. Yet even so, it seemed to only take her a few moments to calm down, her heaving chest and reddened eyes slowly softening.

"I… Really cannot bring myself to take 70% of all of this, it really is too much. I've barely contributed to this adventure."

Ryu didn't respond, but his lack of response had nothing to do with his pondering her words. He had already made his decision long ago and he had no plans on wasting time considering it again. When he made a choice, he wouldn't change it.

Plus, Selheira was mostly speaking nonsense. These matters had been simple for her to help him with, but to Ryu, it was as good as allowing him to get here without having to put his life on the line. If he hadn't had Selheira, it was impossible for him to have made it so far unscathed.

In fact, it wasn't that simple either. It had to be remembered that Ryu hadn't had a Ruin Master's Matrix to begin with, it was only because of Selheira that he managed to get his hands on one.

The only way he would have had even the slightest chance at making it here without Selheira was if he had a Matrix on that level by his side. But, without Selheira, he would have never had such a Matrix to begin with.

While these matters had been simple to Selheira, as far as Ryu was concerned, this would have been impossible without her. He didn't do things casually and he would never give up treasures just for the sake of a woman with a pretty face—not that he could see Selheira's face anyway. In fact, he would much quicker slaughter ten equivalent beauties before he gave up treasures that would help ease his future path of protecting Sacrum and his family.

He said he would give Selheira 70% only after he decided he could trust her and realized that it would be impossible for him to do these things alone. It was always as simple as that to him.

Selheira looked back toward Ryu. Seeing his unmoved gaze and the fact that he didn't even seem to care to argue with her at all, she sighed lightly.

"Then I will take this."

Selheira reached forward and picked up the [Swallowing Darkness Mantra]. As the only Chaos Grade technique here, even though it lacked the supporting techniques and Dao Charm, it was easily worth 70% of what was here.

Although it was shocking to say, it was the truth. Despite all this wealth, everything else combined couldn't even be used to trade for this piece of a technique.

Ryu shook his head, it seemed that this woman was quite stubborn. With her strength, she should be able to tell that Ryu's soul had undergone great changes, so she could likely already guess that he had looked through the technique.

However, it was hard to refute her at the same time. After all, she had no idea that Ryu could easily train this technique or that Ryu was able to memorize such complexities thanks to a combination of his synergy with the technique and his Origin Flame.

Usually, Ryu's current Origin Flame would be far too lacking to memorize such a highly advanced technique. But, not only had it greatly advanced after Ryu recultivated to the Spiritual Severing Realm, but this technique was also very compatible with his Perfect Blackbody Soul.

In addition, losing this technique was quite the loss as well. Without it, Ryu couldn't pass it down to others, but Selheira would be able to since she alone held the physical copy.

It felt like a compromise that was also not a compromise. Although there was a hint of a sour taste in Ryu's mouth because this wasn't the result he had been expecting, he also couldn't say much either.

Selheira looked back toward Ryu after making her choice. Seeing the somewhat helpless look in his eye, her veil moved to accommodate what could only be a sweet smile beneath.

Her radiant blue eyes sparkled and her gaze was even somewhat teasing.