A sharp pain yanked Velin from a deep sleep.
The strong stench of alcohol and perfume filled his nostrils.
'Wasn't I in the lab? What's going on?'
He found himself resting his head on a pair of soft, full thighs. The hem of a dark red velvet dress was bunched up between his legs, barely concealing a few bite marks.
His gaze traveled upward to a girl staring at him with panicked, helpless eyes. Her eyes were like those of a startled fawn, her lashes trembling anxiously.
She wore a daringly cut waitress uniform with a name tag pinned to the collar, but as she breathed rapidly, the taut fabric rose and fell, obscuring the name written on it.
The risqué scene didn't make Velin lose his head. He tried to analyze his situation, but his memories were fragmented, and he couldn't recall anything.
"Where... where am I?" Velin subconsciously spoke, the words coming out in a language he couldn't place.
"Master Velin, you're awake?" The girl's voice was almost too faint to hear. "You... you're bleeding a lot."
BANG!
With a sudden crash, the door was thrown open from the outside.
"Velin Klein!"
The newcomer was a young girl. Her gaze swept across the chaotic room, her eyes revealing disappointment and pain.
"Not again... How long are you going to keep sinking this low!" she said through gritted teeth, her voice trembling slightly.
Velin found the turn of events difficult to comprehend.
The young girl looked familiar, but he couldn't remember anything more.
To avoid saying the wrong thing, he simply fell silent and pointed to the back of his bleeding head.
Only when he pointed it out did the girl notice the large patch of blood. Her anger vanished instantly as she anxiously checked his wound.
"Quick! Take my brother home for treatment!"
The two guards behind her immediately stepped forward, supported Velin, and escorted him out of the building.
In the carriage returning to Baron Kaman's mansion, Velin closed his eyes and endured the collision of his soul with the body's memories.
His name was Velin Klein, and he had failed the bloodline awakening ritual twice.
This usually meant he was a pitiful "Bloodless." When it came to bloodlines, you either had one or you didn't. Failing to awaken one twice in a row had essentially sealed Velin's fate for life.
In this world where bloodlines decided everything, a Bloodless couldn't even be considered a true noble, making for an awkward existence between the aristocracy and the common folk.
The body's original owner had been exceptionally intelligent, once the hope of his family's younger generation. Even after consecutive failures, he hadn't lost his drive, acquiring ancient tomes and records to search for a clue to break through his bloodline limitations.
But last month, rumors spread that his engagement to his childhood sweetheart, Countess Diana Dawn, was about to be broken. Feeling utterly betrayed and alone, the original Velin had gotten drunk, suffered an accident, and cracked his head open, ending his life.
Velin sighed to himself. 'To think transmigration would actually happen to me, and into the body of such a fragile kid.' From his perspective, the original owner's troubles were just a few setbacks on the road to success, far from an insurmountable dead end.
'The greatest regret, though, was his paper that was about to revolutionize the field of gene editing. It would now remain forever unpublished.'
Back at the mansion, his sister Lilia brought a basin of hot water and carefully cleaned his wound.
Her touch was gentle, full of worry.
Just then, a series of mechanical prompts echoed in his mind:
[Host Soul Fusion Complete]
[Life Origin System Activated!]
Velin's eyes lit up. 'A transmigrator's cheat system?' He focused his attention inward.
[Velin Klein]
[Level: None]
[Bloodlines: Song of the Forest (Silver Tier) 23%, Primeval Furnace Heart (Silver Tier) 10%, Lifeweb (Golden Tier) 7%, Mixed Bloodline 60%]
[Abilities: None]
[Overall Assessment: Bloodlines are mixed and mutually repellent. Soul Power is abnormal. Current soul strength is sufficient to attempt bloodline purification.]
[Purification Potion: Main Ingredient: Original Blood Crystal Powder (5g). Secondary Ingredients: Three-year-old Calming Flower (3 stalks), Tail Needle Poison (10ml), Purified Water (200ml).]
[Preparation Method: ...]
Lines of translucent text floated before his eyes.
'Bloodlines... an Otherworld version of a genetic sequence?'
'This could be an interesting research topic,' Velin thought.
'Isn't the nobles' fanatical worship of bloodlines just the primitive fear of an unknown power, typical of an unenlightened age?'
'But Original Blood Crystal powder...'
According to the original owner's memories, Original Blood Crystals were the hard currency among this world's nobility. They contained pure Ether Energy and were exceptionally valuable.
Five grams was an astronomical amount for him.
A knock came at the door, and his father, Kaman Klein, walked in with his mother.
Kaman was Count Laine's younger brother, a noble from a branch family who had barely managed to awaken his own bloodline. Looking at the bandage on Velin's forehead, he sighed heavily. "Velin, the gift of a bloodline is the will of the gods. It's not something you can force. You should just accept the family's arrangements."
His mother, her eyes red, silently nodded in agreement.
After his parents left, Lilia brought in a bowl of medicinal soup and watched him drink it.
"The Countess of Dawn will be visiting personally in three days." Lilia lowered her voice, her expression grave. "Several of our uncles are in favor of breaking the engagement. Someone even suggested that since securing an engagement is so difficult, it would be better to have our cousin Leonard replace you. He has the highest bloodline talent of the younger generation. They say *he* is the one who's a 'proper match' for the Countess of Dawn."
Leonard was the Count's third son. Four years younger than Velin, he had competed with him over everything since childhood. But ever since Velin failed to awaken his bloodline twice, the contest had been decisively won. For the past two years, Leonard hadn't missed an opportunity to put him down.
After Lilia left, Velin sat alone under the lamp. He unconsciously raised his index finger to the bridge of his nose, as if to adjust a pair of glasses that were no longer there.
'Bloodline purification, Diana, the broken engagement, Leonard.'
'I have to concoct the purification potion as soon as possible, awaken my bloodline, and shed this "Bloodless" identity!'
'This isn't just about saving face; it's about survival.'
'The system has already given me the most direct solution, but those five grams of Original Blood Crystal powder are a mountain in my path.'
'The original Velin had spent the last few months wallowing in self-pity, so his savings were nearly depleted. He had enough to buy common herbs, but compared to the cost of Original Blood Crystals, it was a drop in the bucket.'
"I have to find the materials, or... get enough Golden Suns," he muttered to himself. "The data doesn't lie, but acquiring that data is a real-world problem."
In the dead of night, Velin rummaged through the original owner's room, which was piled high with all sorts of notes. Although he had fused with the memories, it didn't mean he had perfect recall of every single detail.
Though the body's previous owner had failed his awakening twice, he had an almost paranoid obsession with bloodline lore. He dreamed of changing his fate through knowledge. And while he didn't live to see a miracle, he had left Velin a glimmer of hope.
Finally, tucked within the pages of a thick tome titled *Exotic Bloodline Research*, Velin found a small booklet. He opened it to the first page, where a scrawled note read: "Sting-tail Scorpion, Low Tier Magical Beast. Can its Tail Needle Poison stimulate a dormant bloodline? To be verified."
Velin was surprised. 'The original owner's research had actually brought him to the very threshold of changing his fate!'
Velin quickly flipped through the booklet, the memories in his mind growing clearer.
"Interesting," he muttered. "Everything has to start from scratch."