Ancestral-line. Ancestry Races.

The next day...

Ethan had returned to the real world after finding a way to communicate with his new partner. It was fairly easy for him and he conversed with it till the time was up. He had completed the quest and the bonus surprise was the Heavenly Tortoise who was still figuring out a name for.

The only thing left was the Race Unlock reward which he was now looking at.

...

[Race Unlock: It's nothing special. Just a title the system gave to your evolution. You must fulfill certain requirements to gain your first evolution. Your level will remain stagnant until you evolve. Here are the requirements:

1. Learn about the Vampire and Dwarf Races.

2. Train your Spirit Beast to attain Sync.

3. You must complete these before you go back to school.

Good Luck.]

Ethan good only sigh in dejection. He had less than 6 days to complete the requirements. The first would be easier but the second... he didn't know where to start from. It wasn't like Angitia was a human or something humanoid. How was he supposed to train a beast? Besides, he was too poor to afford a Beast Trainer and even of he could, where would he find one that was a master in training serpents and Psychic beasts. He thought of seeking help from Miss Carmen but the system doused his expectations in water, telling him to do it all on his own. The only assurance was that Zark would help him with that.

Getting up from his bed, he went to shower. He didn't do it after he returned from the Beast Plane as he was too exhausted and fell asleep the instant he was teleported back to his room. After washing, he looked himself up in the mirror and saw a few changes. He had grown taller and his body had become a bit toned. He didn't become muscular but rather had an athletic build with finely shaped chest and chiseled abs and muscles. It wasn't perfect like those celebrity mages but rather crude as they were now forming. His eyes had become a lot brighter but sharp. That was to be expected considering what he was experiencing almost every night. He was becoming an experienced fighter bit by bit. He already achieved level 15 but as the system said, he needed to fulfill some requirements to pass the evolution threshold that was level 15 otherwise he would be stuck there for a long time. No matter how much he trains, he would be at his limit which was level 15 and he wasn't ready for that.

He quickly finishes his mission in the washroom, dressed up and went downstairs to get breakfast. He met the Avluvs with his mom already seated around the dining table waiting for him. He greeted them and they had their breakfast. Afterwards, the Avluvs left for work, Harley left for school and Ethan followed his mom to her room. He deduced that if had an ancestry related to Dwarves and Vampires, then his mom should be one of these races or even a hybrid of both.

"Ethan what's wrong? You look a bit worried." Madeleine asked her son.

"It's nothing much mom. It's just that we haven't had a time together after you woke up. I feel like a bad son." Ethan said. He truly felt that.

"Awwn. My baby boy is all grown up. It's not a problem. You've been busy so it's alright. Seeing you smile confidently is enough for me." Madeleine said while helping Ethan to sit in a single double seat sofa in her room. She sat beside him.

"So how's cultivation?"

"It's going well and steadily. I'm at the peak of the Novice Rank."

"Awesome! You truly are talented. It hasn't even been three months and you are close to breaking through to the Advanced Rank. I had to take almost 5 months to advance to the next rank."

"I was just lucky. You are the true talented one to break through after 5 months considering how life was in your era. By the way, what's your level mom?"

"Hmm... Because of the illness, I regressed a bit in my ranks so I'm not really strong or powerful. I would've loved to tell you my rank but I can't. I'm sorry."

"Is it related to my dad?"

"Partly. Forgetting that, I'm sure you feel that you are close to breaking through but you just can't find the right opportunity."

"I actually feel that." Ethan really felt that sensation and he could tell that it was related to the evolution.

"That is because of where we are from or more precisely what we are." "I wanted to ask about that because since I awakened, I've been feeling a bit different from the others." "I guess I can tell you that much. Our ancestry started from the union of a very powerful dwarf and a strong vampire. Unfortunately or fortunately, we've never seen a hybrid of the two races for a 1000+ years, which is very strange. It's either your dwarf genes are stronger making you a dwarf or vice versa. The good thing about though is that you get a special ability related to the weaker race in your bloodline. I for instance, I'm a dwarf and a dwarf noble breed with the ability to grow stronger the more I spill the blood of my enemies. That ability is related to my Vampire bloodline. There's a limit though. With this, I can be considered a hybrid but I'm not. I'm just having an ability outside of my affinity arsenal which related to my bloodline. Instead, I'm a full-fledged dwarf noble with all the specs of a dwarf noble. I have vampire family members. They got the vampire side of our bloodline. There are other families like this in the world. You can be considered a mixed race human until you evolve to your rightful race, a Dwarf or a Vampire."

"This is new. I know about the mixed race humans and a bit about the races, but I didn't know it was this special and complex." Ethan was visibly shocked at this revelation. His ancestry was that deep and he had the feeling his mom was hiding something from him but he trusted his mom as she wouldn't hide anything from unless it was that necessary and could affect him. Even on her sick bed, she tried her best to make him feel her love and protection. No good and loving mother would want to put her child in pain or danger. She would rather sacrifice her happiness and all just to make her child happy and his mother had been doing it continuously in different ways.

"This is nothing. There's something deeper but you are not ready for the truth. I will tell you about it when you are ready."

"Thanks mom. Can you tell me about the two races?"

"Okay. Let's start with the most common one, Vampires. Almost everyone knows that vampires need blood to survive and they can't walk in the sun. But what if I tell that is not the truth?"

"What do you mean?"

"Vampires really need blood but not to survive. Their main food is blood but they can eat other foods just that it won't be as delicious as blood is to them. With the sun issue, the won't really die when exposed to sunlight. Quite the opposite. They are more lively when exposed to sunlight. The liveliness is as a result of bloodlust. You see, they grow weaker in the sun. It's like the sun dehydrates them of blood and they would need blood to survive the dehydration of blood. What do you think would happen if they are around non-vampires?"

"They would attack them for blood."

"Correct. But there's a way for vampires to prevent that and that's their choice of clothes. Those black clothes are made with special materials to prevent the dehydration of blood from the sun, allowing them to walk among us like normal people. Vampires are no different than humans in appearance when they are in their basic forms except for their pale skin and blood red eye colors. If they access their actual vampire forms, they become at least twice as tall as their base forms. They grow slender claws, skin becomes paler almost white, eyes glow, hair grows longer and their ears grow as long as elf ears. Their teeth become sharp and the canines become fangs. In the end they turn into humanoid beasts but with a more human appearance. Their strength increase two, three, four hold based on their ranks and their vampire breed. They can also grow huge bat-like wings but that comes with the advanced vampire form which only a few have reached as it changes them completely into new beings.

Also, all vampires can manipulate blood at a basic level without awakening the affinity itself. Something like blood clotting, regeneration, causing bloodlust in other beings is simple for them not forgetting the special abilities of vampires. I'm not a vampire so I wouldn't know all but this should be more than summary of the traits of vampires."

"Damn! That's almost overpowered. At least I have a chance to evolve as a vampire."

"I would be glad if you evolve into a vampire. Dwarves are too complex and I don't even understand everything about dwarves. The only known person to reach the peak of the dwarf race and decipher all our secrets is the ancestor and no one knows what he found. All we know is that he disappeared after he discovered the secret."

"This is more interesting than I thought!" Ethan exclaimed when he saw the progress bar for the 1st requirement reach 48%. It was easier with his mom around and his love for his mom skyrocketed.