Whilst Ace and his group were making haste to leave the territory of the Dark Alliance, Linley had just returned to Wushan Town for the first time in almost four years.

After finishing his training exercise in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, he first returned to the Ernst Institute to inform them of his successful return before officially asking for some leave to return home.

As it was right in the middle of a school term, the institute wasn’t in the habit of granting such requests unless it was for an emergency, but as it was their rising star whose strength had long since surpassed his peers, they decided to make an exception.

There were three reasons for his wanting to return home. One was to tell his dad to get Wharton to stop pursuing Ace for a rematch. The second was to speak to his father about his mother’s ‘condition’, and the church’s apparent part in it, and last but not least was to finally activate his Dragonblood Warrior bloodline.

The thought of finally living up to his parent’s expectations filled him with so much excitement. The only reason he hadn’t done it already was because he felt that this was something that should be done with his father, the man who passed down the bloodline to him in the first place.

As he made his way through the streets of Wushan Town, no one was able to recognise him due to the length of time he’d been away from home. But even with his drastic changes over the last few years, the guards of his family manor were able to recognise him almost immediately. After all, other than his actual family, they were the ones who probably saw him most.

“Youn…

Young master Linley?” One of the guards asked, unable to believe that the strapping, handsome teen in front of him was really his young master.

“Felicrin, it’s been a while,” Linley greeted amiably. “Is my father inside?”

“Yes, young master, he is.” Guard Felicrin answered respectfully.

“I’ll head in then. Take care,” Linley said back before entering the back of the house, where he saw his father practising his swordsmanship with a large war blade.

Linley didn’t rush to interrupt his father’s training. Instead, he just watched patiently.

After his trip in the wild these last few months of training in the wild, especially getting to see Ace in action, his eyes had become a lot more discerning. He could tell just by looking at the way his father’s blade danced through the air that his father had reached the boundary of ‘wielding heavy as though it were light’.

An impressive feat for a man at the seventh rank, but it made him sigh helplessly as he remembered that Ace had managed to not only fuse both states of wielding but also touch the boundary of impose.

Linley had never experienced any setbacks when comparing himself to anyone of his generation, but Ace was just a different breed. The most frustrating part about it was that it wasn’t just Ace.

Each and every single student in the Pavilion was a monster who, purely in terms of comprehension, was ahead of Linley himself. But he wasn’t too disheartened. After awakening his bloodline, he’d make sure to catch up with and surpass each and every one of them.

“Linley? Is that you?” Hogg asked as he turned around to see his son absentmindedly staring off into the distance. “I didn’t know you were coming back today, son. If you had let me know, I would’ve had the cooks prepare a feast for your return.”

Hogg had never been much of an emotional man, so when his father took the initiative to take him into his arms, he could imagine how lonely he must’ve been over the last few years.

He knew that after he left for the Ernst Institute, both his parents had been arguing more, so when Wharton was accepted into the War God’s Academy, they had both degreed that Lina would go with him.

Hearing that his parents were having marital problems was difficult for just about any child, and knowing that the church was ultimately the reason behind his mother’s tainted pure soul only served to anger him further.

“What is it, son?” Hogg asked when he noticed the abnormal change in Linley’s demeanour. “Is everything alright?”

Taking a deep breath, Linley steeled his nerves as he met his father’s gaze. As hard as it would be, he couldn’t keep the truth about his mother’s condition from him. “Dad, you should sit down. There’s something you need to know…”

Hogg was at a complete loss for words as he listened to everything his son had to say, each revelation more shocking than the last, but whilst he was surprised about Linley’s assessment of Ace, a boy he would’ve all but forgotten about had it not been for him hearing about his other son’s very public challenge announcement, the thing he was most taken aback by was, of course, the news of his wife’s condition.

He grit his teeth in anger and frustration.

As an experienced warrior and also a descendant of one of the former most prominent clans on the continent, he obviously understood the power of the church, but as a husband, how could he not be angry that the kidnapping attempt of them, or someone who wished to get in their good graces, led to his wife’s negative spiral. Things may be tense between them, but he still loved her.

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He was now at a loss. Even though Linley said there was a way to save her, he still wanted revenge, but he also knew he wasn’t capable of opposing the behemoth that was the Radiant Church.

“Dad, don’t worry,” Linley reassured. “We may not be capable of paying the church back now, but in the future, after we rebuild the Baruch Clan back to its former heights, the Church will be begging for our forgiveness!”

“Son, I need you to promise me you won’t go looking for revenge!” Hogg said sombrely when he sensed the killing intent his son was emitting.

In Hogg’s eyes, though Linley wasn’t able to awaken his bloodline like his younger brother, his talent as a mage made him no less critical to the future of the clan. He wouldn’t be able to bear it if anything happened to either of his boys.

“Dad, what do you think these are?” Linley asked as he withdrew a handful of deep green blades of grass that emanated a faint blue light and a large gourd.

“Isn’t that blueheart grass?” Hogg asked in shock.

His clan’s records had written that those who couldn’t awaken their bloodlines naturally could use blueheart grass to counteract the violent nature of the dragon blood. Using both together, a Baruch can successfully stimulate their bloodline.

Though he was surprised by the blueheart grass and could faintly guess what Linley was thinking, as it was something that had crossed his mind several times over the years, he knew better than anyone how hard it was to get your hands on Dragonblood as virtually all dragons live in the dragon pit in the forest of darkness where there were even several saints.

He was about to explain the problem to his son when suddenly he felt his slumbering bloodline thrum with excitement.

Looking at Linley’s other hand, he realised that he had just opened the gourd revealing a thick crimson liquid that emitted a slight azure hue.

Though he didn’t know which dragon it came from exactly, he knew that it must’ve come from an extremely pure-blooded dragon to elicit such a reaction from his bloodline.

“Dad, this blood came from a genuine Divine Dragon,” Linley explained with a hint of excitement. “And there should be enough for both of us to awak-”

“No!” Hogg stated directly, interrupting his son mid-sentence. “Linley, you may not know this, but when awakening your bloodline, there are two factors that are important. First is the potency of the dragon’s blood, and the second is the amount you’re able to drink.

Splitting that blood between both of us would be a waste of such an incredible treasure.”

Linley looked down at the bottle unwillingly. Though he wanted to drink it and awaken his bloodline, the most important thing was avenging his mother. As his father was much stronger than him already, the best thing for their family would be if he took it, but when he heard his father’s following statement, he couldn’t help but be shocked.

“You need to take it all yourself!” Hogg stated unhesitantly. “Linley, even though you weren’t able to awaken your bloodline, your speed when training as a warrior isn’t much slower than your brothers, and that’s whilst balancing it with your mage training.

Although my drinking it would make our clan more powerful in the short term, if we’re going to get revenge for what happened to your mother, we need to be thinking more long-term.

Not only do you have more potential as a warrior than your old man, the fact that you’re such a talented mage as well makes this choice even easier.

I can already see you ushering in a new era for our Baruch Clan!”

“Dad…” Linley replied, feeling a little choked up.

After his time in the wilderness these last few months, he had seen how easy it was for humans to get corrupted by greed, but his father was able to decline something so precious with such ease. How could it not make him feel emotional?

“Enough of your snivelling,” Hogg scolded as he turned to head back into the manor. “Follow me into the basement; you can do the awakening there. I’ll stand guard for you.”

“You’ve read the clan’s records,” Hogg said as he stood opposite his son in the dimly lit basement. “Begin whenever you’re ready, and remember to drink every drop before using only this single blade of grass.

The less blueheart grass you use, the less diluted your awakening will be. It’ll be a painful process, but it’ll be worth it in the long run.”

“Yes, father. I understand!” Linley said solemnly as he picked up the gourd and began downing the contents.

As soon as the blood entered his throat, he was overwhelmed by an intense burning, but he forced himself to continue.

The burning only got worse as the blood reached his intestines, the burning became almost unbearable, but when he thought about his mother, he was able to continue. But, unfortunately, the pain only got worse.

Thankfully, he was able to finish it all, but that was just the beginning. He quickly bit down on the blueheart grass, but the alleviation of pain was minimal.

Watching their son in so much pain would be hard on any father, but Hogg knew this was best for his son’s future, so he clenched his teeth and watched patiently, praying it would come to an end sooner rather than later.

Cowart, who had silently watched from inside the coiling dragon ring, was suddenly caught by surprise when he noticed the spiritual essence suddenly surge forth and enter Linley’s body.

Linley was in too much pain to realise that anything was amiss. Still, when the spiritual energy in the ring sensed the familiar blood entering the body of its host, it acted on instinct to make the fusion as thorough as possible.

With the assistance of the coiling dragon ring, Linley’s body continuously got stronger and stronger. It was only when he broke through from the fourth to the fifth rank that the pain of the awakening finally began to fade, only to be replaced by the pain of his skin being torn apart as glowing azure scales formed above his skin, tearing his clothes apart.

Even though his son was screaming in pain, a tear of pure joy fell down Hogg’s face as he understood that the awakening was coming to an end.

As the pain finally receded, Linley released a bestial roar that caught the attention of just about every person in their little village, but Hogg didn’t care one bit as he looked at his son’s glorious transformation.

Those who awakened their bloodline with external stimulus would adopt some of the characteristics of the dragon whose blood they used to awaken with, meaning their scales could be of just about colour, but only those who awakened naturally would have Azure scales, like his youngest son – Wharton.

But Linley’s azure scales made his younger brothers look almost dull in comparison. Not only that, but instead of the singular horn protruding from the centre of their foreheads, Linley had two milky white curved horns sticking out from either side of his forehead, but the most shocking change was the difference in strength.

Normally, those who had awakened unnaturally would only experience an increase of a single rank when transformed, whilst those who awakened naturally would experience an increase of two ranks after mastering their transformation.

Linley had just experienced a breakthrough during the awakening entering the fifth rank, but after transforming, Cowart and Baruch could sense Linley had directly entered the eighth rank, giving him an increase of not two but three ranks!

“This power is incredible!” Linley muttered to himself as he clenched and unclenched his fist. ‘With this, no one will be able to stop me from achieving everything I want to!’