In the outskirts of Bridgeport City, several miles away, below a mountain in a remote corner, Ian opened a large cave and covered the entrance with a large stone.
For as important a thing as Bloodline Awakening, he wasn't going to take any risks. It was better to be alone away from disturbance.
"This should be enough."
After looking at the dimly lit cave with enough space around, Ian was satisfied.
Once he was ready, he took out a futon from his ring, placed it at the center of the cave, and sat cross-legged.
[Do you want to use your chance?]
With his thoughts, the same prompt appeared again.
"Yes!"
As soon as Ian agreed, suddenly, he felt his body getting visibly lighter and lighter.
No, it was simply disintegrating into a mass of blood and flesh and was strangely disappearing into the void as if it were sucked into a weird dimension.
However, while all of this was happening, Ian didn't feel any pain besides feeling lighter than ever.
Gradually, the feeling of his own body also disappeared as his consciousness became blurred.
The large cave he had just opened on the outskirts of Bridgeport City once again became empty as Ian's body was nowhere to be found.
...
As Ian drifted into the void, he didn't know where he was, nor did he know how much time had passed. He just suddenly awoke from his slumber.
"Where did this person come from?"
"Man, too weak."
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"Hey, pipsqueak. You are too weak, but you still have the guts to stand ahead of me?"
Before Ian could come out of his confusion and account for his surroundings, he heard someone scolding directly in his mind.
The conversation made him irritated, and he was about to scold, but no voice came out of his mouth.
In fact, he had no mouth, hands, or legs. Even his body was just a mass of blood and meat covered by fog with no distinct structures.
'What the?'
Besides his eyes that could still see, there was nothing he could do. However, what he saw was a world of blood, as there was nothing but red everywhere.
Seeing such a bizarre occurrence, Ian got agitated but tucked again since that voice appeared again.
"Heh! Are you a newbie? Haha, look at you getting afraid."
Ian was so irritated by this constant voice from behind that he wanted to turn around when another voice reminded him in a timely manner.
"Don't look behind. He is just trapping you. If you don't want to hear his voice, just use your mental power."
This time, it was the sweet voice of a girl that reminded him from behind.
Ian stopped his motion, feeling grateful, and looked ahead while using his mental power. Just like she said, he could still use his mental power in this place.
However, there was nothing to look at except for the blood river, blood ponds, and the similar fog-covered blood and meat paste in front of him.
After Ian calmed down his emotions, he used his mental power, thanking the voice behind him.
"Thank you!"
"No need. He was just pissed off that you appeared out of nowhere and occupied the seat in front. Just don't turn over, otherwise, he will occupy your seat instead."
"I'm new here. Thank you very much for your help."
"No need to thank me. I just don't want to attract weirdness, that's all."
After saying that, the voice disappeared, seemingly not wanting to talk with him.
Ian also looked straight ahead to nowhere, waiting for his turn while guarding his mind with mental power.
Since this was a reward from the System, he had nothing to fear. As long as he followed the rule, he should be fine.
'I appeared inexplicably taking their place?'
From the information he found out, this place must be some sort of inheritance grotto that could help awaken the bloodline, though he didn't know where he was. The System seemed to have directly smuggled him inside without their knowledge.
"System is also a cheater!"
Ian wanted to laugh but couldn't, making him feel constipated.
Just as he was drifting in his bizarre thoughts, suddenly a strong pulling force came and dragged his body towards a large blood pool, stuffing him directly into it.
'Fuck, hot, hot, hot!'
As soon as his body touched the blood in the pond, Ian felt unbearably hot as he began to writhe in pain, caught completely off guard.
Fortunately, his mental power was stronger, and he gradually calmed down his agitated mood, paying attention to his minced body and blood.
As his mental power looked into his body, he found that his blood was absorbing something from the pond slowly.
He then looked at his surroundings and saw that many figures were silently resting at the center of their spots, seemingly in meditation.
'It is too slow.'
After observing for a while, Ian realized that although his blood was absorbing that strange substance, it was too slow.
'What happens if I use the meditation method?'
Ian suddenly thought of this since if he didn't do anything, his bloodline awakening would most likely fail.
'Let's do it.'
He wasn't someone who would dawdle. So, he immediately began to use the Veilstrider Mind Meditation method.
Suddenly, Ian began to visualize the complex pattern recorded in the meditation method.
As he immersed himself in this wonderful sensation, he once again saw the cocoon sitting silently in his consciousness.
However, this time, he didn't lose his emotions but tried to use meditation to absorb the strange substance from the blood pool, just like he would absorb mana.
"Whoosh!"
Suddenly, just like he thought, his blood began to absorb those substances faster.
"Haha, it works," he thought in a good mood.
However, suddenly, he quickly found out that the speed of absorption wasn't stopping at a certain rate but was getting higher and higher.
'What is happening?'
After finding the anomaly, Ian stopped the meditation immediately, but the absorption didn't stop; instead, it accelerated.
Even with the high absorption, there was already an eye-catching whirlpool around him converging towards him.
"Ah... Damn it!"