Seeing the amount of aura the tier 1 magic circles held along with how much Lain was able to use, Kaida found herself shocked and pressured momentarily.
"The bloodline…?" she inquired.
As the sister and daughter of former Clan Leaders, she wielded the Ancient blood that made their family special and was aware of its traits.
Breaking down the spells, Lain shrugged.
"Indeed. Ah, but what I did just now was merely a show-off. The bloodline didn't awaken that much. I think it reacted to me obtaining the artifact and was enhanced."
"Do you know what it means for your bloodline to awaken at this moment?" Kaida asked, her voice laden with worry.
Lain replied to her, matter-of-factly.
"I do know what it means. If I can enhance it further, I should acquire more bloodline traits."
Shaking her head, Kaida said:
"No, kid. It's more than that. You're just increasing the size of the target on your back if people find out because…"
"...I'm more worthy to become the heir now," Lain completed. "I know that too.
"And for those greedy farts that are trying to take over, they'll do worse than they've already done, possibly even targeting our family if they know about this."
Lain gave Kaida a brief explanation of a plan he had formed based on his knowledge of the novel.
At that moment, Kaida seemed to understand as she muttered, "Your plan is likely to work…"
"I see you understand me—"
"That's not the problem," Kaida asked, her voice raising slightly. "But can you even pull this off? It's not just difficult—it's deadly. We don't know why they tried to kidnap you!"
With a sigh, she added, "Here's my suggestion.
"Before we move on with what you say, you follow me to the edge and I teach you. I'll find a way to get you skills or a Heart even and I could look for a beast you can tame.
"Then, I'll let you go."
Lain listened to her with a subtle smile, commenting in his mind.
'This is what Lain did after his survival, he went to the Edge to battle against beasts, but that didn't end well.
'His sister died, his mother broke down, the clan was destroyed and Lain eventually ran mad, leaving Kaida and a few others alone.'
Lain sighed, shaking his head a bit.
"I'm afraid I can't do that. I'd rather go with my plans." He paused and continued grimly, "Believe me, I'd rather not do this, but I have no choice.
"Our clan's problems aren't as simple as you think. The fact that they tried to capture me shows they have something intricate planned. We don't have time anymore, and in a way it helps me too."
Kaida looked at Lain, speechless for a moment. His words were making sense to her.
After a while, she spoke.
"I will carry out my end and I expect you will carry out your part to the end too, flawlessly. Oh, and also, you'll have to get someone to support you."
"Well, that works too," Lain said. Standing up, he extended his hand to her, "Our end is as we will it to be. For Nalmere."
Extending her rough hand to his, Kaida repeated, slightly confused, "For Nalmere."
Before Kaida turned to leave, Lain said, "How is Thea? And Cid?"
Furrowing her brows, Kaida answered,
"Thea used mana overload so her body is in a weakened state, but since it wasn't for long, she'll recover soon. Her mana circuits are slightly damaged permanently though.
"And Cid, he actually burnt his vitality to use his skill's true ability to survive, so he's also weak, and he'll take a longer time to recover."
Lain turned somber for a moment.
'Did she really want to risk her life for me? Thea almost did the same too.'
"Don't worry, Lain. Cid knew his possible fate the moment he asked to be assigned to that mission, and this fate is less worse. If anything, I should be the one to blame. He's my subordinate and he suffered due to my lack of strength."
Lain remained silent, finding it hard to reply.
"All right then," Kaida stated, "I'll gather the Council Elders and the Elites based on your summon tomorrow."
"Okay, Captain."
With that, Kaida walked out of the room, leaving Lain alone.
Lain sighed as he brushed his hand through his hair, thinking of how he was going to conclude his night.
"Ah, I can go through the status now."
Lain turned his chair to face the table positioned beneath the window and sat down.
Then he willed his status to appear.
---
[Status]
Name: Lain Solmere
Mana Core: Solid Orange [31%]
Affinity: Water [Mid-grade]
Bloodline: Nalmere [9%]
Bond: Warforged
Heart: Archangel of War [Grade 1 • ]
[Quests]
---
"As I thought, I already broke into the next sub-stage and my affinity increased. Heh, increasing affinity is considered a hard thing, yet I did that on my first day here."
Lain mused as he looked at his new gains.
---
Nalmere Bloodline: You have the bloodline of the Ancient Creature, Nalmere, harbinger of tides of calamity.
[Traits]
~ Affinity to water is increased.
[Awakened Progress: 9%]
---
Reading this, Lain recalled his discussion with Kaida.
'This…I told the Captain I had an idea how to increase the Bloodline through the artifact when I explained my plan to her, but that's a lie. I'm probably not going to go beyond this progress.'
"The traits' passive ability are already beneficial so that's okay." Lain pondered a bit, "If I can awaken more of the bloodline, though, my chances of wielding the clan's artifact will increase."
For a moment, he thought of items mentioned in the novel that could help him.
"I don't think there's anything, so onto the next."
Lain moved to checking the status of his newfound sword.
---
Warforged: The Archangel of War needed a trusted weapon by his side to channel his abilities better, and that led to the birth of a sword forged for war.
The sword has a level of sentience and depending on how it feels, you can channel power better.
[Artifact Skills]
⤷ Blood Glutton: It drinks blood to fill its wielder.
[Unlock more skills after crossing into higher core stages.]
---
'A sentient weapon…they can be stressful but I feel like War actually likes me.'
Yes, Lain preferred to call the sword War rather than its full name, because he found that naming… poor, to say the least.
"But why does its ability feed me blood?" He blurted out. "Was the Archangel of War a vampire? Well, their race was apparently one of the first to fall so I'm not inclined to believe that…"
Lain shrugged. "Whatever, I'll understand after I use the ability eventually."
Reading the details of the Heart he obtained, Lain figured out what that ability was actually for.