"Huaa..." Raelis let out an exhausted breath and collapsed onto the ground.
The past week had drained him, and he hadn’t even stepped out to eat.
I can drink healing potions and feel full enough... though I did get pretty skinny, he thought, glancing at his frail arms. But that’s fine. After all, my attributes and mastery increased more than enough.
—Bloodline: Cinder Phoenix
Purity: 3% → 9% (Ash)
Next Rank: 10% (Ember)
Magic Control: 1 → 12
Lesser Ember Manifestation (☆ — Mastery: 3% → 34%) free.webn\ove(l)(.)c(o)m
Lesser Heat Control (☆ — Mastery: 7% → 81%)
It felt like he’d hit a wall. No matter how hard he trained, that last percent of bloodline purity just wouldn’t budge.
I’m so close to becoming Ember-Blooded. When I do, I’d finally be able to use basic fire spells, Raelis thought with a hum and stretched his body.
There wasn’t much he could do about it right now. Might as well head home and figure things out there.
He looked around, spotting the countless empty vials on the ground. Walking past them, he approached the eight levers.
Five of them were flicked down, so he swiftly flicked them back up. The heat in the room immediately plummeted, and for the first time in over a week, he didn’t feel like he was being toasted alive.
He took in a deep breath, and without cleaning up the mess he had made, Raelis stepped out of the room.
A cold breeze hit him, causing a shiver to run down his spine. Once again, he found himself staring at an empty training center.
I remember it being livelier... maybe I just came out at the wrong time? he thought, heading toward the nearby showers.
He cleaned up quickly, changed into whatever clothes he could find, and left the training center.
Raelis wandered through the deserted halls with a puzzled look until he finally reached his room. Yet for some reason, it was locked.
"You’ve come out, it seems," a cold voice resounded from behind him, and as Raelis turned around, he was met with a very familiar face.
It was a tall, fierce-looking, muscular man whose stature resembled even the emperor himself. But despite his size, he carried a very thin rapier on his waist.
"Sir Asterion," Raelis nodded politely. "What’s the commander of the imperial guard doing in front of a modest room like mine? Don’t you have more important matters to attend to?"
"Obviously," Asterion scoffed, tapping the hilt of his rapier. "The emperor wants to see you. Now."
Raelis’s brow twitched, but he didn’t panic. He expected the emperor to throw him out not-so-gracefully.
But just as Raelis was prepared to head toward the throne room, Asterion spoke up.
"Your shirt is hideous, and it’s also ripped. Go change."
"..." Raelis looked down with a poker face, then glanced back at Asterion.
Without uttering a word, Asterion stepped forward, grabbed the doorknob, and gave it a gentle twist.
It broke off in his hand. Then he turned to Raelis with the same blank look he was used to seeing in both his lives.
Asterion pointed to the door with his chin. "Five minutes."
Hearing that, Raelis didn’t hesitate anymore and ran inside, got dressed, and just as he was about to leave, he noticed something peculiar.
On the wall right above his bed was a pair of scorch marks, almost as if someone had gone inside, and...
"Sir Asterion, did someone try to get me killed while I was gone?" Raelis asked, glancing at his door.
Now that he took a closer look, he noticed there was an extremely small crack right in the frame.
And upon not getting a response from Asterion, Raelis concluded that this was just one of the many changes that would happen moving forward.
With me getting 1% bloodline purity instead of 0%, it means the future has already changed. But it’s fine, I can still try to deduce the main events, Raelis thought, and with that, began walking toward the throne room.
The walk was quiet, as one would expect, since Asterion wasn’t really a talker. But he was also someone who treated everyone fairly.
I remember he once offered to train me out of pity... but I was young back then, so I refused, Raelis thought with regret. Maybe if I accepted, my fate would’ve turned out differently?
Before he knew it, they were in front of the throne room.
Asterion opened the grand doors and stepped aside, motioning for Raelis to head in.
So Raelis did exactly that.
He walked into the cold throne room and held eye contact with the person on the throne.
His presence alone was oppressive.
Raelis stepped forward, stopped at the proper distance, and bent the knee.
"Greetings, Your Majesty, the shining sun of our empire—"
"You can stop that," Emperor Kaelith cut him off. "Do you know why I called you here?"
Raelis shook his head. "I do not, Your Majesty."
Emperor Kaelith tapped the throne rhythmically, as if he were mimicking Raelis’s heartbeat.
"An attempt was made on your life," Emperor Kaelith said calmly. "That’s why I’ve decided to assign you a personal guard for the time being."
Raelis’s brows twitched slightly, but he kept his expression neutral.
He raised his head, meeting the emperor’s crimson eyes.
"Excuse me for asking, but am I not going to be returning to my mother?"
Emperor Kaelith chuckled. "You are. I’m merely giving you insurance so you don’t get killed by your siblings before you can turn sixteen."
Raelis nodded. "May I choose the guard?"
"Of course not," Emperor Kaelith replied. "Lizbeth Valencia has been assigned to you. She’s a competent fifth-circle swordswoman. But she’s only being assigned to you because of a penalty. So don’t expect any loyalty aside from what’s necessary."
"Got it..." Raelis sighed, stood up, and bowed once again. "May I take my leave, Your Majesty?"
"Hmm... not yet," Emperor Kaelith muttered coldly.
He rose from the throne and walked behind it, retrieving a marble orb Raelis knew all too well.
The bloodline testing device.
Emperor Kaelith slowly approached and stopped right in front of Raelis before putting the marble device on the same table that held a dagger.
Then he turned to Raelis and gave him a faint smile.
"I want you to take another bloodline test, Raelis Varekan."