Chương 3: BloodForged Lord

When the pain stopped, Zander sat on the ground. This is getting— His thoughts stopped abruptly. In him, astonishment competed with disbelief. Indeed, for the first time in his life, Zander's pain had completely disappeared. Not only was it gone, but Zander felt great. It was like he was discovering his body for the first time. With each breath, he could feel the energy flowing through his body, and oddly enough, he could feel the blood flowing through his veins. Now, that's intriguing.

You are a most interesting specimen, Zander Edwards. Zander suddenly came to his senses. In his euphoria, he had forgotten where he was and in what context. He immediately noticed the change: the voices no longer came from everywhere around him, but from a single point, right in front of him. The place appeared to be unoccupied, but he clearly felt a presence, much larger than before his latest attack. Guess the System has decided to devote more than a tiny part of its attention to me. Is that a good or bad thing?

He turned his attention to the screen that had been in front of him for a while, and which he had ignored, full of his joy at finally being rid of his pain. System Log System Action: Applying the chosen class to initiate Info: Failure Info: Initiate's bloodline is taking over Query: Intervene? Answer: Can't. Info: Bloodline fully awakened System Action: Updating the initiate's status to reflect changes made by his bloodline.

Info: Success"So my bloodline went against the starter class, and gave me another one instead?" Yes.

"And you couldn't do anything to stop it?" The only way to stop that was by killing you.

"Well, thanks for not offing me then. That's very swell of you." He pulled up his status to see exactly what changes his bloodline made. Name: Zander Edwards Race: Human Bloodline: BloodForged Class: BloodForged Lord (Rare) Level: 1 Alignment: Earth-7 System Coins: 0 Unspent Stat points: 0 Stats Might: 14 Resilience: 20 Will: 15 Health: 200/200 Blood Well: 0/150 Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

Traits BloodForged (Transcendent): Your blood reigns supreme in your body. It will not allow any foreign influences. You are immune to all poisons, curses, mental effects... However, your body rejects all external magical enhancements, rendering health potions, mana potions, and other beneficial elixirs inert for you. Zander could see significant changes in his status. The first thing he noticed was that the screen was blood-red instead of sky-blue. I kind of dig the blood theme going on.

Then, his stats that were related to each other had all been merged, so that he now had three stats instead of the original six. Strength and Dexterity were merged into Might, Endurance and Vitality into Resilience, Intelligence and Wisdom into Will. These changes had serious consequences. He remembered that his colleagues were animatedly discussing the links between certain stats and that a huge gap between Strength and Dexterity, for example, would cause problems for their characters.

He wouldn't have to worry about such things, thanks to his Bloodline. The second consequence was that each point put into one of his new stats had the effect of two points, one point in each of the old stats that were merged. Furthermore, the Titles section was replaced with Traits. His one and only trait explained many things: why no medication had ever had any effect on him, for example. However, the last part of the description left a sour taste in his mouth. No health and mana potions for me then.

He would have to experiment in the future to see if he can circumvent that limitation somehow. Also, Mana was transformed into Blood Well. Would a mana potion work on my blood well anyway? Guess it doesn't matter now. By closing his eyes and concentrating, Zander could visualize the Blood Well. It was a blood-red sphere of gas at the level of his heart. It was barely 10 centimeters in diameter and rotated slowly. He could feel that it was empty at the moment, but how? He had 150 mana before his class assignment.

Another thing to add to my bloodline's weirdness, I guess. Thank God it did not empty my health; that would be a sad and hilariously tragic way to go. Still, with potions off the table, he had to wonder: did this well regenerate on its own like standard mana, or was the blood theme literal enough that he'd have to actively absorb it from other sources? Zander opened his eyes and stared at the empty space in front of him.

I will not answer any questions related to your Bloodline, the System replied as if it could read his thoughts.

"Alright, I guess the Transcendent thing is the rank of my trait, just like Common and Rare. What are the other ranks?" From lowest to highest, they are: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Mythical, and Transcendent.

"Wow. Holy moly!" He's got a trait of the highest rarity at level 1! He was liking his bloodline more and more. Opening his status again, Zander focused on his class, and a new screen appeared in front of him: Class: BloodForged Lord (Rare) Stat Bonuses per Level-Up: +5 Will, +1 Free Point for every 4 Will points gained. Class Skills Scarlet Gauntlet: Your blood is your most deadly weapon.

Your hands and forearms are covered in a layer of hardened blood, granting them improved resistance to any type of attack while significantly increasing your offensive power. Mind's Dominion: Your will is a cornerstone of your power. You can transfer points from your Will to any other stat. Conversion rate: 0. 5 point increase for every 1 Will point transferred. You can transfer no more than 10 Will points. Blood Infusion: You can use blood from your well to restore your health.

Every 1 unit from your Blood Well will restore 0. 5 points of health. Can be continuously channeled. System Assisted Skill Identify: This skill is freely offered and managed by the system. It allows you to try to identify any object or creature that is the subject of your focus. Zander was still thinking about the content of his status when the System interrupted his thoughts. You have five minutes to familiarize yourself with your new class.

At the end of that period, you will be returned to your position on Earth-7 at the time of initialization. Keep in mind that your planet has been greatly changed by the process.

"Changed in what sense?" Zander asked. But the only response he received was a 5-minute countdown. He heard The System's voice one last time, though: Your bloodline brings with it very dangerous enemies. Beware. * Somewhere, far, far away from planet Earth-7. The planet was dying. It was a very slow death that had been happening for eons. It was not the kind of death one would expect, though. Nature was abundant: plants were numerous and vibrant, and streams were clear.

One could see some faint traces of an old civilization here and there. The only moon was out, and a very pale red color, so faded that it bordered on orange. In the very center of the planet, though, there was a small part untouched by nature. The land was enclosed by a red barrier that looked like it could fade anytime. It looked like a piece of history frozen in time, untouched and preserved.

On that night, when a little someone on planet Earth-7 got their bloodline class, a single pulse went through the dying planet. And then the world went on as if nothing happened.