Bloodlines

As Lucius reached the Arena, Delilah and Orion were sparring. She had spent most of these 5 days sparring with Orion, consolidating her cultivation realm through becoming accustomed to her newfound strength and power. She started testing out the tier 2 techniques she had previously learnt and began improving on her skills with Orion's guidance. When Lucius arrived, the duo stopped sparring and turned to look at him. Delilah was out of breath and sweating so she sat down to cool off and drink some water while Orion went to talk to Lucius.

"You're back! Delilah said you've been asleep for 5 days after your battle right? Hmmm, judging by your body I can tell you've broken through to the Gold stage huh. Congratulations!"

"Thanks dad, but 5 days? I felt like I was only asleep for 5 hours instead!"

"Hahaha, that's how it is with breakthroughs! You feel like only a fraction of time has passed by but in reality it takes a lot longer to re-forge a body. It's a difficult and delicate process, it's good you were asleep or you would've been in a lot of pain."

"Dad, I needed to ask you something."

"Is it about that Johnny boy? Yes, I agree to train him along with you and Delilah!"

"No actually, although I was going to ask that later, I wanted to ask something else first. During my fight recently I felt like I wasn't fully in control of my body and when I saw my reflection my eyes were red and my silver hair had turned grey!"

"Ahh, I see. You've awoken your first bloodline ability already. It is a bit early but I guess it was normal for it to awaken from what happened."

"Bloodline ability? Right, dad, you've never told me what my bloodline means yet. Like even though you've said I have the highest level of both the Basil and Lazarus bloodlines you haven't told me what that means yet."

"Okay, okay. Now is as good as ever. I should teach this to Delilah too since she also has a bloodline. Delilah come over here."

Orion called over Delilah and then the trio sat down in a triangle. Orion set down a table and arranged a tea set. He brewed some tea which was done in an instant with his cultivation techniques and then he poured it out for each of them. They all took a sip of the tea and felt the refreshing and soothing effects of the tea. The tea leaves were a tier 4 delicacy that could calm the mind and help purify ones qi.

"To explain bloodline abilities I first must explain what bloodlines are in the first place. You both know how there are ten tiers of cultivation right? Well the tenth tier is called the Emperor Stage. The Emperor stage is a mile stone in cultivation. A milestone happens every fifth stage. The fifth stage of cultivation is called the Soul Ascension stage but Acacia will explain that to you later. The 10th tier is even more important than the 5th as it is when a cultivator ascends there mortality. Up to the 9th tier the body's vitality and resilience increases exponentially, so a cultivators life span also increases. A tier 9 expert is able to live up to 5 million years before dying of old age, but a tier 10 expert is an immortal! They can live indefinitely!

Tier 10 is also important because it is when the cultivator extends beyond their racial limit, creating a new race if you will. In other words, tier 10 experts create a new bloodline! The 6 great animal clans were made this way too. A fire elemental bird beast had reached the tenth tier 10 and evolved into a phoenix, establishing the phoenix bloodline. Same for the other 4 elemental beasts, including Delilah's ancestor that became a divine elephant and established her bloodline. The dragons are slightly different as two tier 10 experts evolved into dragons, they are similar but also completely different. One of them evolved from a salamander and became the sun emperor, while the other evolved from a serpent and became the moon emperor. The Basil and Lazarus too were established this same way. We had an ancestor that was once human but when he reached the tenth stage he created the Basils. Our ancestor had focused mainly on body refinement and thus the Basilian bloodline abilities are mainly body refinement related. The Lazarus ancestor on the other hand, was an emperor grade alchemist who reached tier 10 in alchemy and established the Lazarus clan that excels in mind cultivation and the various creation arts. Any questions then?"

"Then what about Grandpa and Grandma, didn't you say they both reached tier 10 and left this universe?"

"Ah yes, basically, the Basil and Lazarus bloodlines mean that we start off at a greater starting point and the journey is a lot more smoother for us than it is for regular humans but in the end it is still possible for us and humans to reach tier 10. If we do reach tier 10 then we can establish and develop our own bloodlines. Your maternal grandmother, was an expert in formations and reached tier 10 in formations instead of alchemy, so maybe she would establish a formations bloodline. Your grandfather also has his own unique points. In other words, once you reach tier 10 you have to develop your own skills and affinities and create your own bloodline. Or of course, you can simply choose to continue on and enhance your Basilian or Lazarite bloodlines. Another example is Delilah's grandmother. The divine elephant clan trains in the primordial earth rune but also in the primordial gravity rune which is its higher energy rune. Delilah's grandmother though, had found the primordial sound rune while adventuring so when she reached tier 10 she would have probably continued down that avenue."

"My grandma reached tier 10? I never even knew I had a grandma, I thought she was dead!"

"Ah, I guess Melissa never told you. It's probably worth saying then that your father is alive too, though telling you who he is will get me a beating from Melissa and Acacia Hahaha!"

"My dad...? So mother isn't the last of the divine elephants elders?"

"No no no, she is the last of the elders, I should have clarified more. Your dad isn't a divine elephant. That's as much as I can tell you though, I'm sorry little one."

"It's okay uncle, at least you've told me he exists. I can find him right? It'll probably be hard but I'm gonna find him for sure!"

"Good, good. It's good to have a goal to focus on. It will help push you to exceed your limits and get stronger even quicker. Now then I should explain the bloodline ability that Lucius awoke in the first place right? Haha! However, first I must say that I can't tell you your abilities Delilah, and I also can't tell you your Lazarus bloodline abilities Lucius. It's important for you to awaken your baseline abilities by yourselves. Now that you've unlocked [Rage] though, I can explain it to you.

To begin with, all bloodlines have a baseline ability. This ability is universal throughout all who have the bloodline, going even far as those that only have a tenth of the bloodline in them. The baseline ability is a special one as no matter how bad ones talent is, they can still enhance it to its greatest extent with enough time and training. Some bloodline abilities can't be upgraded no matter how much one tries though! The baseline ability for us Basil is [Rage]. There are 5 levels to [Rage] ; entry rage, controlled rage, enhanced rage, super rage and EX rage. You have just awoken you [Rage] so it is at the first layer of entry rage. You can tell the level of the [Rage] based on the eye colour and hair colour. The entry rage level is grey hair and red eyes, controlled rage is dark grey hair and scarlet red eyes, enhanced rage is light black hair and purple eyes, super rage is dark black hair and dark purplish-black eyes, EX rage is vantablack hair and eyes."

After explaining, Orion stood up and told them to watch as he closed his eyes and concentrated. Slowly his hair began to float upwards while slowly darkening. His body bulged as his muscles swelled and he began to grow from 6'4 to around 6'7. His shoulders became bigger and his thighs became monstrous. After a minute, his hair turned a black so deep and dark that it felt like it could suck in someone's soul and drag them down to hell. He opened his eyes and they were the same hollow black colour, as if there were two miniature black holes in his eyes, sucking in all the light around him.

The duo watched him transform and felt a pressure greater than they had ever felt before. Usually Orion and Acacia withdrew their aura in front of the kids but in the process of inducing [Rage] Orion couldn't control his aura. However, once it was fully induced he was able to suck in his aura. To the duo watching it felt like all of the pressure was sucked into the two deep blackholes in Orion's eye sockets.

This was EX rage!

This was a bloodline ability!