There are five main categories of bloodlines: common, uncommon, rare, epic, and blessed. But there is a sixth category called unique bloodlines, also known as blank slates. These bloodlines are only as powerful as the spirit they are absorbed into, and they grow alongside it.
Research study on the power of bloodlines.
Hakeem Daily.
Calodan, sector 4.
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Aodhán regained consciousness a few hours later and opened his eyes to find himself on his bed, with Varéc’s head only a few inches away from his. Varéc was curled around his bed in a protective manner, but he opened his eyes when he felt Aodhán’s attention.
Twin pools of liquid electricity stared at him as he caressed Varéc’s rough muzzle, and a feeling of concern flowed into his mind.
“I’m fine, in fact —” Aodhán paused as his voice rumbled out like the boom of thunder. Varéc cocked his head in curiosity and amusement, but Aodhán felt horrified. The more he tried to run away from Az’s legacy, the closer fate seemed to be pulling him.
He rushed into the bathroom to view himself in the mirror and check out what other changes the bloodline had made. The first thing that caught his attention was his hair, which had changed from black to a white so bright that it was almost blinding, streaked with jagged lines of gold.
Aodhán ran his hands through it, and electricity crackled around his fingers. It was too weak to do any harm, not even to sleepers, but it was beautiful. His gaze turned to his pupils, but asides a slightly more intense glow of the golden band, they remained unchanged, so he turned his gaze to the last visible change on his body.
His skin had taken on a darker tone that reminded him of storm clouds, and golden lines streaked across his skin like jagged arcs of lightning. The lines glowed faintly against the darkness of his skin and covered his neck down to the right side of his abdomen.
The bloodline manifestations gave him an otherworldly appearance that significantly enhanced his looks, though Aodhán was far from pleased.
“Pretty great, right?”
Aodhán turned to see Rahim leaning against the wall of the bathroom with a smirk, and he scowled. “I can’t speak.” Thunder boomed once again, and Rahim winced.
“Whoa, okay, we have to get that under control.”
Before he could ask how, Rahim raised a hand to ward off his question. “You can speak; we just have to reduce the volume significantly, which means you have to focus on whispering.”
Half an hour later, they had managed to bring his voice down to an acceptable degree, and Aodhán shook his head. Why was it always different for him?
“So what are your bloodline perks?” Rahim asked, and Aodhán sighed. “I haven’t checked it.”
“You should.” Rahim replied as they walked out of the bathroom. “Familiarize yourself with it as much as you can, it—"
A growl cut him off as they walked into his bedroom and found Varéc crouched on his bed with his tail raised several feet in the air and his wings slightly unfolded as if ready to attack at a moment's notice.
"Easy, Varéc,” Aodhán said in an assuring tone as he walked towards Varéc and caressed his scaly hide. “Rahim is a friend.”
Varéc calmed down immediately, although his tail remained raised, and his gaze never left Rahim, who stared back at the familiar with wide eyes and seemed hesitant to make any sudden moves.
“Beautiful.” Rahim breathed as he observed the fury, but shook his head a moment later and sighed. “Anyway, you have about three hours before the general assembly. I suggest you use it to choose your courses for the semester and familiarize yourself with the changes in your status.”
“I will.” Aodhán nodded sincerely. “Thank you for everything.”
Rahim smiled in response and teleported out of the room, leaving Aodhán to himself for the first time in hours. Aodhán crawled into bed a moment later, and Varéc snuggled up to him, coiling his body around the bed before placing his head on Aodhán’s lap.
Aodhán chuckled as he adjusted himself to fit better in Varéc’s embrace before reviewing his status. There were no changes in his status except for his bloodline.
Bloodline: Origin Storm supremacy. {Unique}
• Amplifies storm abilities by 3%
• Grants major resistance to lightning
• Aura of Origin supremacy.
Aodhán read through his bloodline perks, and although they were great, they felt underwhelming compared to all the other things that had happened in the last few hours.
The second perk was interesting, though; major resistance to lightning was a great boon, especially if he was fighting against another storm, awakened, or found himself in another tribulation.
What interested him the most was his aura, and with a modicum of will, he activated it. Pressure billowed out of him like a tidal wave, and Varéc perked up, staring around in curiosity before snuggling closer to him with a growl of contentment.
Contrary to what he’d expected, storm clouds didn’t suddenly manifest around him, nor did lightning strike out from nowhere; instead, a field of intense pressure several meters in diameter pressed down on his surroundings, and with growing excitement, he imbued the aura with an energized strand of willpower. The pressure spiked instantly, causing his furniture to creak in protest while his lamp shattered and everything not hooked to the wall tumbled to the floor.
It was an understatement to say he was amazed. He’d severely underestimated the perk, as his aura alone was enough to kill or even brutally injure a low-tiered individual, and with his imbuement technique increasing with each level, he couldn’t even imagine how powerful he would become when he reached the advanced class.
Aodhán grinned widely before dismissing the aura and turning his attention to the course outline icon available in his academy chip. Immediately after he clicked on it, a list of courses, about three dozen, appeared before him.
He scrolled down curiously, reading the information provided for each course. After a few minutes of reading, he realized that light, blood, and darkness magic were classified separately instead of falling under elemental or conceptual magic.
A few topics caught his attention, like Awakened Arithmetics and Numerology, but it was listed as a second-year course and was unavailable to him. He dismissed Awakened History and Lore, not because it wasn’t important, but because he’d always hated history and wouldn’t sign himself up for such torture, even if it was magical.
Half an hour later, he’d selected about a dozen courses he was interested in, and although he could take them all, it would be extremely time-consuming and stressful. Besides, he was only required to take 5 courses.
He scrolled through the dozen courses he was interested in, and after half an hour of contemplation, he grudgingly decided on four courses, not including the compulsory ones, which made a total of six courses.
Immediately he submitted the list, a schedule was sent to him and he instantly reviewed it. His entire week was filled up, with two classes on the 2nd day, and one each on the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th.
He had gym every morning and meditation every evening, which left very little time for rift delving or any other extracurricular activities. He sighed and reviewed the list of courses he’d selected once again.
Course outline.
• Awakened Advancement Theory (c)
• Awakened combat (c)
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• Herbology and awakened plants
• Understanding elemental affinities
• Beginner Runic Theory
• Forge mastery and magical imbuement.
When he finally dismissed his status screen, it was almost dawn, and he had only a little more than an hour left before the general assembly commenced. Quickly, he lifted Varéc’s head off his lap and rushed towards the bathroom to freshen up.
Fifteen minutes later, he stood before the mirror, dressed in his uniform. A single white line was drawn on his uniform pocket, identifying him as a first-year student. The uniform fit him like a glove, but even with the high collar, the golden lines on his neck peeked out, giving him an otherworldly appearance.
With a wave of his hands, he recreated his storm scarf and draped it around his neck. Varéc growled, and he chuckled. “You’re beautiful too, Varéc; you just have a different kind of beauty.”
Varéc flared his muzzle in anger, and Aodhán sighed. “Okay then, I apologize for calling you beautiful. What word would you like?"
Varéc cocked his head and growled again.
“Well, that would be magnificent.” Aodhán replied as he parsed through the images and emotions Varéc sent to him. “You do look—oh, majestic? Well Varéc You look absolutely regal coiled around my bed like that.”
Varéc sniffed in contentment, and a moment later, he returned to Aodhán’s spirit, and with a determined sigh, Aodhán stepped out of his room and made his way downstairs, where he found his four housemates waiting for him.
Immediately they saw him, and their eyes widened in surprise. Imani looked like she’d eaten a bowl of sour grapes, while Eren stood unusually still, his face a mask of neutrality that made it impossible to read his thoughts.
Marcellus, on the other hand, glared at him with an expression filled with contempt. None of their expressions or actions surprised him; that was until Meredith fell.
She immediately untangled herself from the floor with the grace of a cat and smiled at him in that coy and seductive manner that made him hot under his collar.
“Raol’s breath, you look absolutely ravishing.” She complimented him as she placed her tiny palms on his chest.
Aodhán’s breath hitched, but he hid it well and smiled. “Thank you, Meredith.”
“Oh, there are other ways to thank me, Aodhán.” She leaned closer, and in a whisper, she added. “There are many pleasurable ways to thank me.”
Aodhán swallowed nervously, as he was unused to such shameless seduction or any form of seduction at all. The monks hadn’t prepared him for this at all.
“Perfect!” Marcellus sneered. “The slut finally found her prince charming; now can we go?"
“You don’t get to take out your frustrations on me, Marcellus; I am not responsible for your failure!” Meredith shot back in anger, and Aodhán tried to untangle himself from her, but no matter what he did, she still managed to keep a body part firmly pressed against him.
Eren congratulated him next, but from his expression, Aodhán doubted it was voluntary as the words seemed to have clawed their way out of his throat, but immediately he finished speaking, Imani hurriedly followed suit, her words tumbling over each other in an anxious manner.
Aodhán accepted both apologies with a simple nod. He wasn’t entirely sure why Imani was so anxious or why she wouldn’t even look him in the eye, but he suspected she was terrified and envious of him.
Unlike Marcellus, whose envy stemmed from contempt, or perhaps it was the other way around; he couldn’t really tell with the illusionist, Imani’s envy stemmed from a feeling of insecurity; she was terrified of his abilities and the strength the other contestants had displayed during the tournament, and maybe she had come to realize just how tough the competition truly was.
Eren was much harder to read, but Meredith was the worst. He had no idea what Meredith wanted from him aside from sex; surely that couldn’t be all. Granted, she had chased him even when she had no idea how powerful he was, but he had no idea if this was simply fun for her or if she had ulterior motives.
“We should go; otherwise, we’ll be late for the assembly.” Eren muttered, and Imani immediately rushed towards the door, with Marcellus only a second behind her. Meredith smiled and turned to say something to him, but he forcefully untangled himself from her and rushed out of the house before she could sink her claws into him.
…..
Daruk lay on the bus bed, wide awake, as he processed the events of the previous day. After Rahim had teleported him and Andrew to their respective houses, Daruk immediately rushed to his room and sealed himself within.
Now, five hours later, he was still awake, unable to sleep, as a single thought repeated itself in his mind.
He’ll leave you behind.
Daruk wasn’t sure when getting stronger had become so important to him; all he’d wanted was to escape the war currently raging at the border. He’d wanted to become a renown scholar, to amass so much wealth that he could one day buy himself a barony or a whole county and become a noble, but somewhere along the line, his goals had shifted.
Now he wanted to be strong; he craved the admiration that Yurin had; he wanted the awe that Aodhán inspired; but mostly, he was scared of being left behind.
“It won’t be intentional, of course,” he mumbled quietly in the darkness of his room. There was already a great difference in power between them, and at the rate Aodhán was accumulating strength, it was only a matter of time before he couldn’t keep up any longer.
He sighed, releasing a cloud of vapor into the frozen room as he focused his mind on his core and simultaneously imbued eight strands of willpower with energy. His control had grown by leaps and bounds. Compared to many of the other students, he was strong, especially now that he could imbue his skills with the energized strands of will, but it wasn’t enough.
Aodhán’s innate control over his element was already astounding, but now that he had gained both a bloodline and a familiar, the gap between them was bound to increase.
The infernal thought repeated itself in his mind, and Daruk sighed once more as he turned his gaze to the clock in one corner of the room and realized it was almost dawn.
He groaned as he rolled off his frozen sheets and made his way to the bathroom. He filled his bathtub with water and instantly lowered the temperature of the water until it was almost completely frozen.
He let out a blissful sigh as he sank into the bathtub, and all his worries were instantly pushed to a far corner of his mind. He took his time, enjoying the cold bite of ice on his skin for almost half an hour before finally stepping out.
His chip pinged with a message from Andrew as he pulled out his uniform, asking if he was ready, and Daruk replied. "Almost done; give me ten minutes.”
It only took him about five minutes to get ready, and without checking himself in the mirror, he rushed out of his room and collided face-first into his neighbor.
His very male and very handsome neighbor, who looked even more beautiful now with the manifestation of his bloodline, Bright golden hair spilled down his head like a sea of light, and his smile lit up the entire hallway.
“Raol’s breath. I’m sorry, I was in a rush.” He apologized, but Yurin waved away his concerns with a kind smile. “It's fine; also, you’ve got icicles hanging in your hair.”
This day isn’t going as well as I imagined. He thought as he ran his hand through his hair, and with a modicum of effort, manipulated the icicles from his hair and gathered them in his palms.
“Nice.” Yurin muttered. “Do you mind if I walk with you?”
“Not at all,” Daruk replied, ignoring the flutter of nerves in his belly as they walked into the living room.
“So, are you nervous?” Daruk asked, and Yurin shrugged. “A part of me is, while the other part is just shocked; I can’t believe I made it this far.”
Daruk chuckled, understanding the feeling. “I get it; I feel like that too.”
“What?" Yurin scoffed. “You feel like that? The brother of the Almighty Aodhán Ashoka—Brystion can’t believe he made it this farr."
Daruk shook his head in amusement. “Believe it or not, I’m nowhere as powerful as my brother, yet.” In a lower tone, he added. “I just need a little more time.”
“Time for what? Are you conspiring against us?” Yurin asked in mock outrage, and Daruk laughed. “Very much so; in fact, I intend to destroy the entire leaderboard and forge it anew with my name on top.”
“Oh, ambitious, I like that.” Yurin replied as he opened the door. “You do realize that you’ll have to go through me, though?”
“Naturally.” Daruk replied as he stepped out of the house and found Aodhán walking towards them. in a whisper, he added. “And my brother too.”
Most bloodlines had no physical manifestations, and the ones that did usually just changed the color of one’s hair or pupils. Aodhán’s manifestation, though, was the severe kind. His skin had darkened significantly, which only highlighted the color of his hair and eyes. tiny arcs of electricity crackled from his hair as he moved, and faint golden lines peeked above his storm scarf.
He looked impressive in the uniform, and although Daruk couldn’t feel an aura from him, he could feel Varéc’s roiling within him like a poorly restrained dam on the edge of collapse, giving him a predatory demeanor that contrasted greatly with the wide smile that bloomed on his face immediately after he saw them.
“By ascendants!” Yurin gasped beside him, and Daruk nodded in agreement. Aodhán’s bloodline manifestation made him so unnaturally beautiful that it was mind-boggling.
Aodhán struck a pose and asked. “So how do I look?” A slight rumbling of thunder accompanied his voice, and Daruk shook his head in amazement. “You look absolutely amazing. I can’t believe it.”
Aodhán shrugged. “I don’t know; I think it’s a little too much.”
“Well, it’s a pretty severe manifestation, but you look great.” Yurin replied, and Aodhán gave a mock bow. “Thank you.”
“This is Yurin Lahey.” Daruk gestured towards Aodhán and continued. “Yurin, this is my brother.”
The introduction was unnecessary, but it was customary, and it was only polite to adhere to it.
“Nice to meet you, Aodhán.” Yurin extended a hand out for a handshake, and when Aodhán clasped it, he continued. “You don’t know how much of an inspiration you were to me during the tournament. I knew you would succeed.”
“Thank you, Yurin, and you inspired me too; I had to give it my all because I was scared of you.” Aodhán replied with a smile.
Before the conversation could go any further, Daruk spoke. “Okay, we can walk and talk at the same time; besides, we’ve gathered an audience.”
They turned to see a group of first-year students, roughly a dozen in number, who were openly staring at them. The group averted their gazes immediately, some squealing in embarrassment while others simply continued on their way to the assembly hall.
“I’m not sure which is worse, the glares of envy and contempt or the phony smiles and compliments in a bid to get closer to me.” Aodhán murmured with a frown.
They met up with Andrew a moment later, and after another round of introductions and compliments, they finally made their way to the hall. Daruk and Andrew pulled back slightly, walking behind the other two boys, and Andrew whispered to him.
“I increased my number of imbued threads to 6 this morning; how many do you think Aodhán can make?”
“I don’t know, fifty?” Daruk whispered back sullenly, and Andrew frowned at him. “You’re not giving up, are you?”
Daruk sighed. “No, I’m not giving up; I just feel weak walking next to them.”
Andrew scoffed. “How do you think I feel? I’m the weakest one here, and I’m the noble.” He chuckled and added. “But it doesn’t matter because we won’t stay weak for long.”
Daruk chuckled as Andrew’s words motivated him. “You’re right, we can do it.”
“Damn right, all we need to do is guilt them into helping us. Good job recruiting the lamphead.” Andrew replied with an evil smile, and Daruk raised an eyebrow. “You mean Yurin?”
“Lamp head, Yurin. Same difference.”
Daruk laughed. He hadn’t planned to recruit Yurin or anything, but it wouldn’t hurt to learn from him, and as ideas began to form in his mind, he grinned. “Have I ever told you I love the way you think?”