Inside the crimson void of his sea of consciousness, Leylin laid atop the blood altar, his naked form a stark contrast to the pulsing, vein-like runes that glowed with a sickly red light beneath him.
The altar thrummed with an ancient, primal energy, its surface slick with an unseen ichor, the air heavy with smell of blood and the chilling bite of ancient magic.
The Cursed Bloodline Codex hovered before him, its grey pages open, tendrils writhing like living serpents, its surface radiating a dark, seductive promise that had awakened when he licked the Black Horrall Snake's blood crystal, stirring the Great Kemoyin Serpent's lineage within its ancient script.
"By blood, I weave my fate anew." Leylin recited the incantation, his cracked weak voice a low, fervent chant, alive with a desperate hunger, the Cursed Bloodline Codex pulsed with an ethereal force, its tendrils quivering as if touched by a divine will.
An ember flame flickered into existence, hovering above his withered body, its glow casting eerie shadows across the altar, the air shimmering with a heat that carried the scent of molten iron and ancient magic, the void humming with a power that felt alive, sentient, ready to reshape reality itself.
Leylin's eyes were lusterless, his body a shriveled husk, a corpse-like figure drained of vitality, his skin pale as bone, his hair white as ash, his lips a sickly blue, only his lips moving with the incantation's rhythm, his voice a rasping whisper, heavy with the weight of his sacrifice. "O Serpent Queen, remake my soul."
In the real world, his shrivel sat in a dimly lit inn room, its wooden walls creaking under a stormy night's assault, the air thick with the scent of damp wood and melted wax, a single candle flickering on a scarred table, his torn grey robe draped over a chair, the Book of Giant Serpent and Void White-Eyed Snake tucked safely in his pack.
Inside the ember flame above the blood altar, a layer of purple-red fluid materialized, viscous and alive, effervescing with tiny bubbles that popped with a faint hiss, each one a spark of life drawn from the Black Horrall Snake's essence, absorbed by the codex after Leylin's taste of its blood crystal.
"The Kemoyin's heritage," Leylin voice trembled with awe, a soft, incredulous murmur as he watched the fluid, though Essence Transmutation, codex had purified the blood, retracing it to the Giant Kemoyin Serpent, an ancient creature of legend, five thousand meters long in its adult phase, its body a fortress, its spellcasting a mystery, capable of challenging Rank 4 Magi, a destroyer of cities in tales whispered across the South Coast.
The Kemoyin Serpent's primary element was Darkness, its secondary Fire, a legacy born when the Mother of Ten Thousand Snakes, failing to conquer the Shadow World, led her children to the Purgatory World.
"From shadows deep, my form ignite," Leylin continued the incantation.
His words echoing through the void, the ember's fluid turning to smoke, thick and purple-red, coiling like serpents, attaching to his shriveled body, seeping into his marrow, the air thick with the scent of burning blood and molten stone, the altar's runes flaring brighter, a deep pulse reverberating through his core, shaking the void like a heartbeat of creation.
"Bone Marrow Regeneration!" Leylin's voice was a sharp, exultant cry, raw with triumph as his body shivered, an icy chill charging through his nerves, his heart lurching with the shock of pluripotent stem cells awakening, genetic mutations sparking as blast cells divided rapidly, reperfusing his lost blood.
The sensation was a blaze, every cell igniting with a burning agony, his voice a tortured scream, heavy with pain as he seized, his muscles contorting, his face twisting into a ghostly mask, his eyes bulging, his vision blurring, the void a kaleidoscope of crimson and black, his mind fraying under the onslaught.
"Arghhh!" Leylin's scream echoed, his face etched with anguish as the pain grated his nerves, his heart pounding with the fear of breaking, his mind clinging to the codex's power, his body a battlefield where mortality and divinity clashed.
The Cursed Bloodline Codex had rewritten his bloodline, forcing him into a Warlock heir without the Kemoyin's Pupil meditation technique, his blood now pure, as if inherited from the Kemoyin Serpent itself, a feat that defied the laws of the Magus World, his heart trembling with awe.
His body transformed, the burning sensation fueling a rebirth, his spiritual force surging at a frenzied pace, his voice a soft, incredulous gasp, thick with wonder as he felt the power return, his heart steadying with the clarity of his ascent.
His white hair darkened to raven-black, lustrous and wild, his hollow eyes morphing into amber slits, snake-like and piercing, his shriveled frame bulging with explosive muscles, his strength climbing from a mortal's frailty to Level 1 acolyte, then Level 2, and finally Level 3, each surge a pulse of raw power, his skin blazing anew, the air humming with the scent of fire and shadow, the void a crucible where Leylin was forged anew.
The power drew near the boundary of an official Magus, a Rank 1 Warlock, but Leylin's voice was a sharp, resolute command, heavy with caution as he halted the breakthrough. "Not yet."
Without the Kemoyin's Pupil meditation technique, a forced breakthrough risked high chances of failure, and without the unity of bloodline purity and meditation technique, he couldn't form an innate spell.
A Warlock's cornerstone is innate spells, which depend on various factors including meditation technique, bloodline purity, magi aptitude, and elemental affinity, all combined together with luck, sometimes yielding weak spells, while sometimes strong. There is even precedent of awakening two innate spells at Rank 1.
The complete process is still rather obscure to Leylin, and since he's lacking a cornerstone for advancement, which is meditation technique, trying to breakthrough was a gamble Leylin wasn't ready to take yet, especially with his Branded Swordsman strength a foundation to lean on.
"Actually, there's another way," Leylin murmured, his voice a low, cunning drawl, alive with possibility as he felt the pull of Darkness and Fire elements swirling around him, his heart quickening with the thrill of change. "I can force a Rank 1 Warlock breakthrough, use bloodline extraction to absorb an innate spell model, but further process would be harder. My bloodline would lean closer to Great Kemoyin Serpent than a warlock, if i lose control I might also turn into a serpent myself even losing my spell casting powers, I need more research..…"
His words trailed off, his mind locked on the elements, his voice a soft, smug chuckle, thick with satisfaction as he realized his affinity had shifted seamlessly, as if born with Darkness as his strongest, Fire a close second, his once-dominant Blood affinity erased from this form.
The Cursed Bloodline Codex had stripped his body of its old identity, rewriting his fate, his affinity merging perfectly with the Kemoyin's lineage, avoiding the natural resistance that weakened others' bloodlines.
Although he already had darkness element affinity but his strongest was blood and he didn't have much affinity with fire but now his strongest was darkness closely followed by fire.
When one mutates to a warlock through the bloodline ritual, their affinity also changes but if a person has a different, or worse opposing elemental affinity, the merging results in a weaker bloodline because of natural resistance but in Leylin case, the Cursed Bloodline Codex stripped his body of all his identity and rewritten his fate.
"Unbelievable.. " Leylin grasped the magnitude of his transformation.
His eyes flicking to the blood clone, its crimson form radiating his acolyte strength and Branded Swordsman powers, its runes blazing, a perfect Leylin forged from blood, his heart trembling with the codex's might, his mind reeling with its implications.
"This power… even Morning Star Magi would wage war against each other to get it." Leylin glanced at the Cursed Bloodline Codex, his voice a soft, reverent murmur, tinged with a flicker of fear as he studied its writhing tendrils.
Leylin opened his eyes in the real world, his appearance utterly changed—raven-black hair, amber slit eyes, a muscular frame, a new soul signature, a stranger's face, as if Leylin Farlier had never existed.
"With Essence Transmutation, I can be bold," he declared, his voice a fierce, exultant cry, heavy with resolve as he paced the room, his heart ablaze with possibility, "I can make mistakes, rewrite my fate, erase my failures."
"For now I should relocate. Bosain should be free from the spell by now, and the Lilytell family will send the Academy's Enforcement Squad soon. I'll keep this form until Dorotte contacts me, then reclaim my first bloodline and return to academy."