“So, how do we activate these genes?” Asked Ryder, he was beginning to look up now that he had some way to become stronger.

“There are many ways to do so, but the most effective methods would be drinking bloodline enhancement elixirs or devouring the flesh and blood of demons.” The girl said casually, as if her words were of typical advice.

“Demons?” Ryder was stunned.

“Yes, in case you didn’t read it in the book, we are descendants of Vesper the vampire lord.”

This was a bit much for Ryder to take in. First, he found out that he could activate all 20,000 genes to get stronger. Now he was told that his ancestor was some kind of vampire. Would activating all 20,000 genes make him a vampire too?

“So like, are we still considered humans?”

The girl looked at Ryder and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Vesper decided to betray the demons and get together with a human. That’s the reason why our bloodline thinned after every generation.”

‘That’s weird…’ Ryder thought, he knew it couldn’t be as simple as that.

But he wasn’t done with his questions just yet. After a moment of silence to digest his newly gained knowledge, Ryder asked: “How do we know how many bloodline genes we have activated?”

“It’s intuition, you’ll know once you activate them.” She responded, then said “every 1,000 genes is like a minor breakthrough, just remember that.”

Satisfied, Ryder tried to think of more questions to ask. But suddenly, the girl checked her watch and let out a gasp of horror.

“Shoot, I’ll be late for my magic class.” She quickly stood up and started to head out.

“Wait!” Ryder called out.

The girl turned around and stared at him in annoyance.

“What’s your name?” Ryder asked embarrassingly, he knew that he should’ve asked sooner but was distracted by more important matters.

The girl stared at him for a moment, then simply shook her head.

“It’s Valerie, don’t you dare forget it.” And with that, she ran off.

Staring at her departing figure, Ryder thought to himself: ‘Now, how am I supposed to acquire those elixirs?’ Demons were out of the question since there was too little information about them.

Currently, he was stuck in this large, unfamiliar castle with no way to get out. Actually, he didn’t even want to go out since he didn’t know what dangers were out there. Since he didn’t have the ability to do anything, Ryder decided to go back to his room.

A couple of weeks passed, and Ryder came out of the bathroom freshly washed after exercising. Compared to his initial build, it wasn’t much better but there were still some noticeable differences, especially in his abdominal area. Since he was stuck in the castle, Ryder decided to start training his body to get more in shape. He was bored most of the time, so exercising helped his mind stay sharp. He had also hoped that training his body would somehow activate his genes, but whether it did so or not, he had no idea.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Furthermore, in the couple of weeks that went by, Ryder overheard more pieces of information from Layla. Apparently, two of his older brothers had betrayed the family and sided with Tamsa in the conflict. Ryder strongly suspected these brothers to be the ones who had abused him. After they defected to Tamsa, the conflict had reached an all time high and even the castle itself was not safe anymore.

He had tried to look for Valerie, but she no longer visited the library. Helpless, he could only explore the castle for more escape routes in case of emergencies.

As the days passed by, Ryder could feel the tension in the air increase. He could no longer see any guards patrolling the castle, which made him think that they were all outside fighting. Layla also visited him less frequently, only stopping by to pass him the occasional meal.

One day, after finishing his daily exercise routine, he walked to the courtyard to take freshen up his mind. As a biotechnologist in his previous life, he wasn’t used to this amount of stress piling up in his head. He was more of an inventor, someone who researched and made things for his own entertainment.

As he walked around enjoying the scenery, a sudden premonition filled his heart. Something was off. While he was used to the castle being silent, there were usually still insects chirping and the rustle of leaves made by animals. But now there was an eerie silence that filled him with nervousness.

With his nerves on edge, Ryder decided that it would be a good time to head back to his room. But right when he turned around, he was met with a hooded figure that seemed like a reaper in Ryder’s eyes.

He froze in fear and his mind raced with thoughts about what to do next. His instincts screamed at him to run, but Ryder knew that he could not outrun this individual. Everything about the figure just oozed danger.

Suddenly, without warning, the figure quickly set off towards him. Closing the distance between them in an instant, the figure struck out towards Ryder’s stomach with his bare fists. Ryder had barely enough time to react, let alone raise his hands to guard himself before he was struck into the air.

Thankfully, he crashed into a bush behind him, which helped cushion his landing. However, Ryder could feel the impact of the blow reverberating throughout his abdomen, which made him cough up some blood.

‘Thank god I trained my abs’

In the midst of the fight, Ryder was grateful that he had exercised previously. Gasping for air, he struggled to stand up with the pain in his stomach intensifying every second. It occurred to him that he could have several damaged internal organs. Through his peripheral vision, he noticed the figure only standing there, without making another move.

Taking this moment to speak, Ryder asked the figure: “Why are you doing this?”

Taking Ryder’s question as a trigger, the figure broke out of his stance and started to slowly walk towards him. Each step brought Ryder chills as the leaves crumpled underneath his feet. As he walked, he suddenly spoke out in a voice filled with contempt. “I expected more from a descendant of the Bloodsworthe family.” He then stood before Ryder. “But I guess trash really is just trash after all.”

Although he couldn’t see the figure's face, Ryder could imagine his sneer and the disdain in his eyes. It sort of reminded him of Kyle, but the figure was far too big to be his brother.

Gritting his teeth, Ryder felt a surge of rage as he initiated the first move. He struck out with his left fist in an attempt to deliver a hook. The figure was momentarily caught off guard as he hadn’t expected Ryder to make the first move, but he quickly sidestepped and kneed Ryder in the stomach again. The impact, coupled with the injury previous, was too much and Ryder immediately blacked out.

Looking at the unconscious boy in front of him, the figure picked him up and threw him over his shoulder. To him, Ryder movement’s felt way too slow, and he couldn’t bother to deal with such a weakling.

Taking one last look at the castle, the figure grinned and quickly teleported out of there. And thus, the castle was once again launched into silence.