Bloodlines
Evan sat in the middle of his bed, meditating. He seemed like he was relaxed on the surface, but inside his body it was anything but. He had started to circulate his own energy, and noticed that it was easier to control, it took less mental strain to control the pathways that the spirit took. This was really just creating shortcuts so that Evan wouldn't have to wait as long for a full circulation. This was the same process he used during Alchemy. It reduced his circulation time from 5 minutes to a little over 10 seconds. Less energy was gathered but because the rate of gathering was so much higher, it actually amounted to much more energy in a shorter time.
After Evan had built up a large amount of energy, he spread his energy out through all of his pathways and started running it in a counter-flow direction. He wanted his energy to be in a static position all around his body in order to evenly distribute it. After successfully holding his energy in place, Evan started pushing the energy through his pathways, into his body. Once again after about 10% of his energy was pushed in, he hit a wall and couldn't easily let the energy seep in.
This is where the mental strain, the pain in the body, and the difficulty of keeping constant pressure in the body starts. This process was less of refinement, and more of a tempering technique, but had the potential to evolve as Evan's knowledge of the process increases.
Evan started forcing his spirit into his body as hard as he could. 11%, 14%, 18%. When he had pushed 18% power in that burning sensation in his chest had started seeping out into his body. The energy slowly seeped in as he continued to raise the amount of spirit that he was pushing in. 20%, he had pushed in 20% of his total spirit energy, and the pain became immense. This pain was nothing compared to the transmigration process, but it was dumb to compare past pain with current pain. Regardless of which was worse, pain is pain, and this hurt.
Evan was holding at 20%, and the strain put on him was incredible. His face was calm yet covered in sweat. The longer he held on the more he was sweating, it started with his brow, and eventually covered every inch of his body in glistening water.
He wasn't sure how long he had been holding the spirit in, when he felt the pain start to subside. It was still extremely painful, but less intense than when he first started. Now he was wondering if he was getting used to the pain, or if it was actually getting to be less.
Time no longer existed to Evan, he just wanted to push through this pain to achieve his goal. He needed to be strong enough to protect himself. If this could make him stronger, he would do whatever it takes. Over the last few days with Feldman, Evan had learned a lot about the world listening to his stories. The biggest thing he learned was that Fortis is terrifying. Magical beasts everywhere, men walking around that would have been considered Gods back on Earth. Hell, one of the first stories that Feldman had told him was how his sons strength ability, gave him the power to chop trees down with his hands. His son was 12 when he ascended and activated his ability. A 12-year-old who could crush trees with his bare hands. Horrifying.
Evan was getting lost in his thoughts, trying to distract himself from the pain that was spread throughout his entire body. The pain was definitely subsiding, he knew it at this point. The pain was less than half as intense now than when it started and was now lessening even faster. It lasted just a few minutes more, gradually lessening to nothing.
Evan tried to extract the energy that he had just placed into his body but found nothing there. It seemed as if his body forcibly absorbed it all.
*Body refinement stage 1 success.
Unlocked new stat: Defense
10 attributes for Defense have been allocated.
10 attribute points have been added for host distribution.
Tempering of body has awakened hidden bloodline.
Would host like to activate bloodline of the Black Dragon?
Yes/no *
'What?!' Evan expected to receive a few attribute points to place into his stats, but a bloodline? A dragon bloodline at that. Dragons on Earth are mythological creatures who are gigantic, powerful, magical, and literally spit fire out of their mouths.
*Host's body has very faint blood of the Black Dragon clan. Blood is extremely thin. Tempering body has brought out the spirit energy in the blood, activating the latent abilities of the Black Dragon.
Host also has received Refinement Fire from blood of Black Dragon. I analyzed the blood upon initial integration and was able to extract the spiritual blueprint for the flame through blood. *
'Activate Bloodline.' Evan was convinced that it had to be a good thing. The Refinement Fire he had already gained was amazing.
*Bloodline activation progress. *
A bar was located above Evan's head with the number 1% in the center. This clearly meant that it was going to take some time to activate. Evan decided to get some sleep. He was sore and exhausted after cultivating 2 different techniques.
Evan had dreams of slaying dragons that night. He dreamt of killing red ones, blue ones, even golden dragons, and stealing all of the treasures they hoarded.
Evan awoke before it was even light out.
*Bloodline activation progress. Complete. *
Evan woke up to the notification going off in his head, and the next moment was filled with warmth. The heat in his body was rising from his hips and spreading out throughout his body. The heat was definitely hot but did not hurt at all. He could see steam rising from his skin, as if there was a fire just below. Then his skin started crawling, it felt as if bugs were crawling out from underneath his skin, flipping small pieces in order to escape.
When Evan looked down at his skin, he noticed that his skin was shifting from smooth normal skin, to stacked layers. These stacked layers were the same color as the skin of any Fortisian, a pale blueish tan color. They looked exactly like humans just with a blueish tint to the skin. His skin now looked like dragon skin. It was layered plates over one another, creating no gaps between each flake, or scale.
*Full activation of Black Dragon Bloodline Complete
Gained ability: Dragon Skin- Doubles Defense when active.
All stats are doubled due to innate power of dragon.
New technique added: Dragons Breath- Allows user to shoot Refinement Fire from any orifice. *
'KIS, show me my stats.'
Name: Evan Freeman
Level: 0
Experience: Locked (Full Integration Needed)
Bloodline: Black Dragon (Level 1)
Stats: Strength: 14
Speed: 12
Stamina: 10
Agility: 10
Defense: 20
Intelligence: 76
Spirit Pool: 140/200
Soul: 20
Technique: Spirit Search (Level 2), Spirit Bullet (Unranked), Dragons Breath (Omega Rank)
Refinement Technique: Unkillable Body (Warrior Level Body Refinement), Speedforce (Warrior Level Spirit Refinement.
Arts: Alchemy (Apprentice)
Art Tools: Refinement Fire (Alchemy)
Innate Ability: Infinite Paragon, Dragons Talent, Dragon Skin
Gained Ability: Locked (Level 11 Needed)
Attribute Points: 20
Evan wants his stats to be as even as possible and they are far from that at this point.
'KIS, I need to allocate some attribute points. I would like to place 3 into strength, 5 into speed, and 6 into both stamina and agility, please.' Evan asked KIS to do this as he wanted to feel the incredible power he would gain.
*Points allocated to host's specifications. *
Name: Evan Freeman
Level: 0
Experience: Locked (Full Integration Needed)
Bloodline: Black Dragon (Level 1)
Stats: Strength: 17
Speed: 17
Stamina: 16
Agility: 16
Defense: 20
Intelligence: 76
Spirit Pool: 142/200
Soul: 20
Technique: Spirit Search (Level 2), Spirit Bullet (Unranked), Dragons Breath (Omega Rank)
Refinement Technique: Unkillable Body (Warrior Level Body Refinement), Speedforce (Warrior Level Spirit Refinement.
Arts: Alchemy (Apprentice)
Art Tools: Refinement Fire (Alchemy)
Innate Ability: Infinite Paragon, Dragons Talent,
Gained Ability: Locked (Level 11 Needed)
Attribute Points:
Evan finished reviewing his stats, and realized the sun was starting to come up. Time to go back to Feldman's.