Seeing the amount of aura the tier 1 magic circles held along with how much Jules was able to use, Freya found herself shocked and pressured momentarily.
"The bloodline…?" She inquired.
As the sister and daughter of former Clan Leaders, she wielded the Ancient blood that made their family special, and was aware of its traits.
Breaking down the spells, Jules shrugged.
"Indeed. Ah, but what I did just now was merely a show-off. The bloodline didn't awaken that much. I think it reacted to me obtaining the artifact."
"Do you know what it means for your bloodline to awaken now?" Freya asked, her voice laden with worry.
Jules replied to her, matter-of-factly.
"I do know what it means. If I can enhance it further, I should acquire more bloodline traits."
Shaking her head, Freya said:
"No, kid. It's more than that. You're just increasing the size of the target on your back if people find out because…"
"...I'm more worthy to become the heir now," Jules completed. "I know that too.
"And for those greedy farts that are trying to take over, they'll do worse than they've already done, possibly even targeting our family if they know about this…"
At that moment, Freya seemed to understand as she muttered, "Which is why your plan might work…"
"I see you understand me now."
"I do… My mind has been rattled by this incident, I didn't notice that immediately." Freya asked, her voice raising slightly. "But can you even pull this off? It's not just difficult—it's deadly."
With a sigh, she added, "Here's my suggestion.
"Before we move on with what you say, you follow me to the edge and I teach you. I'll find a way to get you skills or a Heart even and I could look for a beast you can tame."
Jules listened to her with a subtle smile, commenting in his mind.
This is what Jules did after his survival, he went to the Edge to battle against beasts, but that didn't end well.
His sister died, his mother broke down, the clan was destroyed and Jules eventually ran mad, leaving Freya and a few others alone.
Jules sighed, shaking his head a bit.
"I'm afraid I can't do that. I'd rather go with my plans and believe me, I'd rather not do this, but I have no choice.
"Our clan's problems aren't as simple as you think. The fact that they tried to capture me shows they have something intricate planned. We don't have time anymore, and in a way it helps me too."
Freya looked at Jules, speechless for a moment. His words were making sense to her.
"Hmm, well, if I look at it from one direction, our plans aren't too different… so I'll go with your plan," She said. "I expect you will carry out your part to the end too. Oh, and also, you'll have to get someone to support you."
"Well, that works too," Jules said. Standing up, he extended his hand to her, ""Our end is as we will it to be. For Noctharis."
Extending her rough hand to his, Freya repeated, slightly confused, "For Noctharis."
Before Freya turned to leave, Jules said, "How is Ryan? And Cid?"
Furrowing her brows, Freya answered,
"Ryan used mana overload so his body is in a weakened state, but since it wasn't for long, he'll recover soon, his mana circuits are slightly damaged permanently though.
"And Cid, he actually burnt his vitality to use his skills true abilities to survive, so he's also weak, and he'll take a longer time to recover."
Jules turned somber for a moment.
Did he really wanted to risk his life for me? Ryan almost did the same too.
"Don't worry, Jules. Cid knew his possible fate the moment he asked to be assigned to that mission, and this fate is less worse. If anything, I should be the one to blame. He's my subordinate and he suffered due to my lack of strength."
Jules remained silent, finding it hard to reply.
"All right then," Freya stated, "I'll gather the Council Elders and the Elites based on your summon tomorrow."
"Okay, Captain."
With that, Freya walked out of the room, leaving Jules alone.
Jules sighed as he brushed his hand through his hair, thinking of how he was going to conclude his night.
"Ah, I can go through the status now."
Jules turned his chair to face the table positioned beneath the window and sat down.
Then he willed his status to appear.
- - -
[Status]
Name: Jules Evanava
Mana Core: Solid Orange [31%]
Affinity: Water [Mid-grade]
Bloodline: Noctharis [9%]
Bond: Warforged
Heart: Archangel of War [Grade 1 • ]
[Quests]
- - -
"As I thought, I already broke into the next sub-stage and my affinity increased. Heh, increasing affinity is considered a hard thing, yet I did that on my first day here."
Jules mused as he looked at his new gains.
- - -
Noctharis Bloodline: You have the bloodline of the Ancient Creature, Noctharis, harbinger of tides of calamity.
[Traits]
~ Affinity to water is increased.
[Awakened Progress: 9%]
- - -
Reading this, Jules recalled his discussion with Freya.
This…I told the Captain I had an idea how to increase this when I explained my plan to her, but that's a lie. I'm probably not going to go beyond this awakened rate.
"The traits' passive ability are already beneficial so that's okay." Jules pondered a bit, "If I can awaken more of the bloodline, though, my chances of wielding the clan's artifact will increase."
For a moment, he thought of items mentioned in the novel that could help him.
"I don't think there's anything, so onto the next."
Jules moved to checking the status of his newfound sword.
- - -
Warforged: The Archangel of War needed a trust weapon by his side to channel his abilities better, and that led to the birth of a sword forged for war.
The sword has a level of sentience and depending on how it feels, you can channel power better.
[Artifact Skills]
⤷ Blood Glutton: It drinks blood to fill its wielder.
[Unlock more skills after crossing into higher core stages.]
- - -
'A sentient weapon…they can be stressful but I feel like War actually likes me.'
Yes, Jules preferred to call the sword War rather than its full name, because he found that naming… poor, to say the least.
"But why does its ability feed me blood?" He blurted out. "Was the Archangel of War a vampire? Well, their race was apparently one of the first to fall so I'm not inclined to believe that…"
Jules shrugged. "Whatever, I'll understand after I use the ability eventually."
Reading the details of the Heart he obtained, Jules figured out what that ability was actually for.