"Huh? When did he give me a Chaos Spirit?" Alvin asked in confusion.
"It's that red egg he gave you. Forget about it for now. Let me show you my true form first," the turtle said excitedly as it jumped up from the ground.
"Don't bother. I prefer your short form rather than seeing a giant turtle..." Alvin said dismissively, thinking the turtle was going to revert back to its original size.
Swoosh!
But the next second, he froze. In the place where the golden turtle stood previously, a golden book was hovering in mid-air.
The book floated slowly and stopped in front of Alvin's eyes.
On the cover, there was an illustration of a golden turtle, exactly like the one he had been talking to.
"How is it? This is my true form. I am an artifact called the Book of Dreams," the golden turtle's voice rang in Alvin's ears from nowhere.
Alvin tried to grab the book, but his hands went right through it, as though the book was an illusion.
Swoosh!
The book opened on its own, and the first page revealed itself before Alvin:
Name: Draven Everheart
Bloodline 1 (Rank: Legendary):
Faceless Dragon God (0.01%)
Void Dragon God (95%)
Black Dragon God (1%)
Others (3.99%)
Bloodline 2 (Rank: Common):
Mountain Simian (Sealed)
Magic Cultivation:
Chaos – 9 Star Demi-God [Sealed]
Fire – Master
Wind – Master
Others (Water, Earth, Lightning, Space, Light, Darkness, Time) – Beginner
Stats:
Strength: 7
Speed: 6
Endurance: 7
Defense: 5
....
Alvin's eyes lit up , "So you're my godly system, right? My dear baby turtle?"
The golden turtle's voice echoed again, "I am a primordial artifact, not some system or anything."
Alvin waved his hand dismissively, "Yeah, yeah, same thing." He then looked curiously at the page in front of him.
"So, Draven is my name in this life, that's fine. But what's the deal with these two bloodlines? The first one lists multiple names, but the second one is marked as sealed?"
Swoosh!
The golden turtle returned to its turtle form and stood on Alvin's shoulder.
"Bloodlines in Celestia are divided into five ranks: Common, Bronze, Gold, Epic, and Legendary," it explained.
"Their quality increases the closer they are to the Legendary rank, whereas the Common rank is the weakest."
"Usually, a person has a mix of different bloodlines, but only the most dominant one is visible. The others remain dormant."
"In rare cases, people can possess two bloodlines due to their unique meridian structure. They are called dual-bloodline wielders. You are one such person. The black dragon tattoo on your right arm corresponds to the Void Dragon God bloodline, while the monkey tattoo on your left corresponds to the Mountain Simian bloodline."
"As for why your second bloodline is sealed, Asura used that bloodline to fuse the Chaos Spirit into your body. Until the spirit is born, it will remain sealed. I'll explain more about that later."
Alvin nodded thoughtfully.
The turtle continued, "Now, about your cultivation. As I already mentioned, your Chaos cultivation is sealed. Aside from that, you've only cultivated Fire and Wind elements."
"As for your stats... without Chaos, they're quite pathetic. Someone who has broken through to the Master realm should have base stats of at least 100. But thanks to your defective divine bone, you're stuck below 10."
Alvin looked at the turtle seriously. "So you're saying even if I look like Hulk, I'm actually just an air-filled balloon as long as my Chaos cultivation remains sealed?"
The golden turtle, having read Alvin's memories, knew what the Hulk was. It shook its head and said, "Your large frame was a result of Chaos mana continuously running through your blood. Now that it's sealed, your appearance will gradually revert back to normal in a few days."
Alvin looked at his bulging muscles and sighed. "So my muscles are also temporary. Why don't you just say I was doomed from the start?"
Cough... "You don't have to worry about your defective divine bone. I have a way to reverse the situation," the golden turtle said, placing one of its arms behind its back and coughing like a seasoned expert.
Alvin's eyes lit up with hope. He quickly asked, "Tell me...what mission should I complete to obtain rewards from the system?"
The turtle's mouth twitched. "I told you, I am not some system. Aside from the ability to create dreams and the vast knowledge I've collected over eons, I can't even kill a mosquito, let alone give out rewards."
Alvin leaned back against the cave wall. "So even the system I got is a useless, defective system..."
Graaawl...
His stomach rumbled. He looked at the turtle. "I'm hungry. Do you have anything to eat?"
The golden turtle shook its head. "The previous you preferred fresh food, so you'd usually hunt wild beasts around mealtime."
Alvin stood up. "Then let's go. You can guide me on how to hunt. Though I'm pretty good at it myself, I used to go poaching back in my world."
"Poaching?" the turtle scoffed. "If you go hunting with your pathetic strength out there, it'll be the beasts partying with your juicy body instead of the other way around."
Alvin sighed. "I can't live without food. Let's go hunt small animals with no cultivation. At least they'll fill my stomach."
The turtle thought for a moment and nodded. "Alright. We can continue talking about your cultivation later."
Alvin walked to the corner of the cave and tried to pick up a dagger lying on the ground. But his expression changed when he tried to lift it.
"What the heck is this? Is it something like Thor's hammer that can't be lifted?" No matter how hard he tried, the dagger didn't even budge, as if glued to the floor.
"Don't bother. That's a sage-level weapon. Its weight alone is more than 10 tons," the turtle said lazily from Alvin's shoulder.
"What kind of logic is that?! Why isn't the floor sinking if the dagger is that heavy?" Alvin asked, clearly frustrated.
The turtle chuckled. "Young man, this is not Earth. Here, the land is also ranked. Right now, we're in a Sage-level forest. For a Sage-level expert, this forest feels normal. Which means even if you use 10,000 times your current strength to stomp the ground, it'll feel like a regular person stepping down."
Alvin stood there panting after trying hard to move the dagger. He asked, "So what would happen if the previous me stomped down with all my might?"
The turtle thought for a moment. "With each level, a magician's strength increases tenfold. So if you had stomped the ground at full force, it would've caused an explosion similar to a grenade back on Earth, since a Demi-God is 100 times stronger than a Sage."
"But if you did the same in a Beginner-level land, the result would be terrifying, the force would be comparable to a large nuclear explosion."