Sea Of Consciousness

Sol slowly opened his eyes and found himself at the center of a never-ending ocean. The ocean was calm, and the world was seemingly quiet and lonely. 

"So this is the sea of consciousness." Sol muttered. 

He read about this a lot of time, but he didn't expect the sea of consciousness to be an actual sea.

Sol pushed aside their thoughts and glanced around only to see three altars. His eyes scanned each altar with a mix of apprehension and fascination. 

The altar of fire stood tall and imposing, its flames danced in a mesmerizing rhythm. The heat radiating from it was palpable, casting flickering shadows across the expanse of the ocean. Molten lava flowed around its base, casting an eerie glow upon the surroundings.

The altar overflowing with blood appeared almost grotesque in its abundance. Crimson liquid cascaded down its sides in thick rivulets, pooling at its base and staining the surrounding water a deep, murky red. The air was heavy with the metallic scent of blood, and Sol could feel a primal instinct stirring within him, urging caution.

The third altar, shrouded in darkness, seemed to emanate an aura of foreboding. Its form was obscured by shadow, making it difficult for Sol to discern its exact shape. Yet, he could sense a palpable sense of malevolence emanating from it, like a sinister presence lurking just beyond the veil of darkness.

Swoosh!

Sol quickly noticed blood chains shooting out of the sea of consciousness as they bound the blood altar. 

"What the hell?" Sol was shocked by the sudden change.

Buzz!

The entire sea of consciousness trembled violently and shook due to his presence of the blood chains latching onto the altar.

Loud inhuman cries could be heard from the blood altar as it slowly began getting dragged into the ocean water below. Sol was frozen at the spot and was unsure of how to react to this.

At that moment, Sol's sea of consciousness began to turn blood-red. The sky above was dyed with blood and the clouds turned dark, leaving Sol in a state of turmoil. This was greatly different from what he read about the sea of consciousness, and so he couldn't understand what was going on.

[The blood altar represents your witch's bloodline power and the chains are the immortal blood-shattering seal placed to suppress it. The struggle between your bloodline power and the seal damages your sea of consciousness which in turn, harms the host]

Sol read the message from the system and his eyes shone with realization. His gaze instinctively shifted to the fire altar which he knew represented his ark family powers, but then he shifted his gaze to the altar shrouded in darkness and felt lost.

"I know that is my Ark bloodline power." Sol said pointing at the fire altar.

 "But what is this?" He asked as he pointed in the direction of the shadow altar.

[This altar represents the power of shadow inheritance your mother sealed within you on the day of her death.]

"What?!" Sol was stunned and confused at the same time.

He gazed at the altar in silence unsure of how to react to this. He clearly remembered that his mother was blessed with shadow magic and was considered extremely terrifying amongst the witches. 

From the little he heard, she had made it to the third tier and was on par with Lady Zephyra. The seal placed on him was designed to target his witch bloodline power which turns out to be blood magic, but failed to notice the foreign power hidden in him.

"How does one consolidate his power in the sea of consciousness?" Sol asked.

[Right now, the host's powers are mere altars. To consolidate your power the host must improve them and force these altars to grow into Territories. Since the host has three bloodline powers to rise in cultivation compared to his peers]

"Huh?" 

The last line made Sol raise an eyebrow as a look of shock stretched across his face.

"I thought my blood power was sealed, and I'm meant to strengthen it?" He felt confused and wronged.

What is the point of strengthening the blood power if he can't even use it?

It's like working and not getting paid for your services.

[Suppressed, not sealed. The host can always utilize his blood magic, but this comes at a price]

Seeing this, Sol couldn't help but remember the tightening feeling on his chest which made him frown deeply. Instinctively, he rubbed his hands around his chest as he remembered the tightening feeling he always got just by using his fire abilities.

He didn't dare imagine the pain he would have to endure if he decided to use his blood magic.

"So what you are saying is that I cannot advance to the second tier until I'm able to consolidate the powers of every altar?" Sol asked with a raised eyebrow.

[Yes.]

"Fuck!" Sol groaned.

This meant he would have to work thrice as hard as everyone else but on the good side, no one on his level would be able to win against him, especially since he has three powers unless it's the prime shifter, Lukas, or his sister Lyra.

It was then that Sol thought of something. During his fight with Lukas, he never took the form of an Ark family member or used the Ark powers. 

He could have easily overpowered Sol by doing that and tapping into the Sol family's demonic bloodline.

[A prime shifter cannot imitate the Sol family powers]

The system responded, but its response only left Sol even more confused.

"Why?" Sol couldn't help but ask.

[The Ark family has the blood of one of the five-finger demon generals of the nether race flowing in them. Such a powerful being cannot be imitated by a lowly prime shifter. An attempt to attain such power through laughable methods will only end in their untimely demise!]

Reading the message, Sol wondered why it felt like the system was a bit emotional on this subject. It spared no effort to insult the prime shifter and talk down on them at any opportunity.