Chapter 1: The Bloodless and the System
The air in the Grand Courtyard of the Valerius Academy was thick with the scent of burning sage and raw, crackling mana. Today was the Awakening Ceremony, the single most important day in the life of any sixteen-year-old in the sweeping empire of Aethelgard.
Jack stood near the back of the sprawling crowd, his rough, calloused hands clenched into tight fists. While the other nobles and wealthy merchants' children wore silks woven with protective runes, Jack wore a simple, faded tunic. His muscles, however, were coiled like springs. What he lacked in noble heritage, he had compensated for with bone-breaking, agonizing physical labor. For ten years, he had trained his mortal body to the absolute limit, swinging a wooden sword until his palms bled and running until his lungs felt like they were filled with glass.
All of that hard work was supposed to culminate today.
"Next! Elara Vance!" a booming voice echoed from the marble platform. An elder in deep crimson robes stood beside a massive, floating obsidian crystal—the Awakening Stone.
A silver-haired girl stepped forward. She placed her delicate hand on the cold stone. A heartbeat later, a blinding azure light erupted, spiraling into the sky in the shape of a roaring serpent.
"Rank 1: Aquamarine Initiate — High Stage!" the Elder announced, his eyes widening slightly. "A mid-tier Leviathan Bloodline!"
The courtyard erupted into cheers. Elara stepped down, a proud smirk on her face. Jack watched her, feeling a familiar pang of envy. Rank 1, and she skipped the Low and Mid stages entirely, he thought. In this world, there were 12 distinct Ranks of power, each divided into Low, Mid, and High stages. To skip stages upon awakening was the mark of a true genius.
"Next! Jack!"
The murmurs in the crowd instantly died down, replaced by a chorus of muffled snickers and sneers. Jack was infamous in the Academy. The orphan who trained like a madman but possessed absolutely zero innate mana fluctuations.
Jack swallowed hard, ignoring the stabbing stares as he walked up the marble steps. The air around the Awakening Stone was heavy, pressing down on his shoulders like a physical weight. He reached out, his scarred hand trembling slightly, and pressed his palm flat against the jagged obsidian.
Please, he prayed to whatever gods were listening. I've bled for this. I've broken my bones for this. Just give me a chance.
Seconds ticked by. The courtyard was dead silent.
One second. Five seconds. Ten seconds.
The stone remained pitch black. Not a single spark. Not a whisper of mana.
The Elder's expression hardened into a look of sheer disgust. He pulled his hand away from the ceremonial staff. "Rank 0: Mortal. No bloodline detected. A complete... null."
Laughter exploded across the courtyard. It was sharp, cruel, and merciless.
"A null? He doesn't even have a trash-tier goblin bloodline?" one of the noble heirs sneered loudly. "All that swinging a stick in the mud for nothing!"
"He shouldn't even be allowed in the Academy. He's polluting the air," another spat.
Jack stood frozen, his world shattering into a million jagged pieces. Rank 0. Even the lowest beggars in the slums usually awakened a weak, diluted bloodline that allowed them to light a candle or lift a heavy rock. To be a true null was a statistical impossibility. It meant he was lower than dirt in a world where bloodline was law.
"Step down, boy," the Elder commanded coldly. "You are holding up the line of true warriors."
Jack didn't remember walking down the steps. His vision was blurred, his ears ringing. The mocking faces of his peers blurred into a sickening canvas of elite privilege. He wandered blindly out of the courtyard, escaping into the shadowed, labyrinthine alleys behind the Academy.
He didn't stop until he reached a dead-end alleyway, brick walls towering over him, shutting out the afternoon sun. The unfairness of it all crashed over him like a tidal wave. He punched the solid brick wall with his bare fist.
Crack.
His knuckles split open, warm blood trailing down his fingers, but he didn't care. He punched it again. And again.
"Why?!" Jack roared, his voice cracking with raw, unadulterated anguish. "I worked harder than all of them! I endured the pain! WHY?!"
He sank to his knees, leaning his bleeding head against the cold, rough bricks. In a dark, brutal world where monsters roamed the wilds and nobles slaughtered commoners for sport, being a Rank 0 Mortal was a delayed death sentence. His dreams of reaching the peak, of seeing the world, of just mattering... were gone.
His blood dripped from his knuckles, pooling on the dirty cobblestone below, slowly seeping into a strange, barely visible groove in the stone.
Suddenly, the air in the alleyway stopped moving. The distant cheers from the Academy vanished. The world went terrifyingly silent, as if time itself had frozen.
Jack gasped, clutching his chest. His heart began to beat at a terrifying, rhythmic pace. Thump. Thump. Thump.
A searing, unimaginable pain shot through his veins, starting from the blood on his hands and rushing straight to his brain. It felt as though his very soul was being ripped apart and stitched back together with molten iron. He screamed, but no sound escaped his lips.
Then, a voice—cold, mechanical, and ringing with an ancient, god-like authority—echoed within his mind.
[Ding!]
[Anomaly Detected. Host possesses zero innate bloodline.]
[Condition met: Absolute Zero. Extreme physical endurance verified.]
[Binding... 10%... 50%... 100%.]
[Welcome, Host.]
[The OP Bloodlines System has been successfully integrated.]
Jack lay on his back, gasping for air, his vision swimming with a translucent blue screen hovering in the air before him.
[Host Status]
Name: Jack
Rank: 0 (Mortal)
Current Bloodline: None.
System Level: 1
[Notice: The System will upgrade alongside the Host's Rank. Every Rank Up will unlock a new System Function.]
[Initial Binding Reward Available: Extract First Bloodline?]
[ Y / N ]
Jack stared at the glowing blue letters, his breath hitching. The darkness of the alley suddenly didn't feel so suffocating anymore. His lips, bruised and trembling, slowly curled into a fierce, predatory smile.
He raised his bloody hand toward the screen.
"Yes."