***A/N: Heyyy, so a lot of life is happening, but this story is so interesting that I had to get this out for you all. Hope you enjoy, like, comment, gimme stones yadayada. Also, this is a long ass chapter so lmk if you like this or would rather smaller more consistent updates. Primal signing out***
While Jaime was going over his improved status sheet and familiarizing himself with his newfound powers, the rest of humanity was scrambling to share as much information with one another as they could. With everyone around the world isolated in their spaces, people had the time they needed to come to grips with the sudden shift in their reality.
What Jaime hadn't noticed due to all the changes he was going through was the fact that the regional and subregional chats were full of people trying to get in contact with him. It wasn't just him either, both the 3rd and 1st placers were getting bombarded by billions of humans trying to find out what made them so special.
*** System Channels***
*Regional Chat: (+1080 unread messages)
*Subregional Chat: (+1080 unread messages)
*Local Chat: (+1080 unread messages)
*Party Chat: (No messages)
*Subjects Chat: (No messages)
Throughout the rest of day 2, Jaime ignored the disco ball his chat notification had become in favor of checking out all his new abilities. Thankfully, the system had provided Jaime with a 'Well Dives For Dummies' book that gave Jaime an overview of the greater system, his new reality, and the common sense it ran on.
It still drove Jaime nearly mad hearing a constant *DING* in his head for almost 10 minutes straight. His bloodline turned out to be both more and less complicated than he thought.
Bloodlines were more than just lineages that gave the individual certain abilities and traits. They transformed someone from the soul outwards. This was a major difference from every other part of a stat chart.
Stats and Skills worked by physically changing or fine tuning an individual's body to use them. With enough repetition over time, the individual will engrave these things into their soul.
A bloodline, contrary to how its name sounds is much closer to a spiritual inheritance or awakening. It transforms your soul and through an unknown process the body soon follows suit.
The plus side of this is that the skills and traits received this way are almost always stronger and better suited to the individual. The problem is that without intense testing and introspection it can be easy to miss out on hidden abilities that aren't readily apparent in the status.
It turns out, the bloodline that Jaime had awakened was of too high a grade for his current body to handle, even after being strengthened by the advent of the system and his increased stats. His soul had essentially outgrown his body and was working overtime to bring his body up to par.
Over the course of a single hour Jaime had figured out that his body was slowly changing and getting stronger as his new bloodline continued to catalyze his evolution into a superior life form.
Jaime could feel the power growing inside him as his body grew and filled out with muscles in places, he was certain didn't exist in a normal human body.
On top of that, Jaime could feel a new organ growing in his body, currently as small as a grape, resting right above his stomach and continuing to grow imperceptibly every moment as it pulsed with a mesmerizing array of scarlet, viridian, and amethyst colors.
Jaime had felt more than a little put out when he suddenly realized that he could somehow see the inside of his own body. He could tell it wasn't a passive effect of any of his skills or titles, but for the life of him he couldn't tell what was allowing him to do things straight out of a cultivation novel.
Jaime was almost embarrassed by how much time he spent in vain trying to figure out the source of his new ability. After finally giving up on figuring anything out for the moment, Jaime had moved on to testing what he could DO, with his abilities. His Blood Control skill was probably his favorite ability. It gave him a level of control over blood that he couldn't believe.
He'd had his space create many copies of enhanced humans that would have all the skills they should for their class and a power level of G- up until F+. As he fought the copies, he found that he could essentially instakill anyone at or below his level of strength.
With a single thought from him he could make all the blood in a person's body explode. It didn't even end there; he could force someone's heart to stop beating by making the blood in the person's body too heavy to move.
He tried any idea that came to him and was astonished to discover that he could make his opponent's, and his own blood do whatever he could imagine. If he wanted the blood to harden, it would. If he wanted the blood to become corrosive enough to melt through metal, it would happen.
His blood control skill seemed to have given his blood a level of spirituality that Jay knew would have to be carefully explored. But even as he practiced and felt his body becoming less and less human, Jaime could feel his heart thrumming in anticipation for the violence to come.
-----
It had been an eventful week for Jai, as he found himself changing in ways he hadn't expected. His powers had continued to blossom until day 3 when his body and soul finally reached equilibrium.
Not long after that Jai's bloodline flooded his mind with a god damn cultivation method that made Jai stop and seriously consider all the things the system didn't show him about his new powers and how exactly they worked.
He took the rest of Day 3 all the way thru to the end of Day 6 doing a full deep dive into each of his abilities and figuring out what he could do with them as of now.
He had then spent the next 20 hours of his final day running his cultivation method and figuring out how the real thing was different from the fictional shit he had grown up reading.
He had found his cultivation helped him better understand his body's changes and made everything feel smoother and more efficient. There was more, but he was much too weak to even view that information without hurting himself and making him feel like his mind was getting put through a blender.
Now, he sat crossed legged on a floating platform of blood contemplating the latest ability to awaken from his new bloodline. It was hard to put into words what his new ability did without using it at least once.
Something about his body and mind not being properly synced with the ability until it was fully manifested, or at least that was the feeling he got from his King's Instinct.
His hands were in his lap, palms facing upward and covered in energy. His left hand glowed a piercing scarlet that was so intense it literally dyed the system generated ground around his left side a bloody red.
His right hand looked almost normal, the only observable difference seemed to be some unknown symbols that flickered in and out of sight around his hand. A brief amethyst light flickering into existence alongside the symbols of power as Jai had come to call them.
Bringing both hands together, Jai consciously pressed his spirit onto both powers forcing them to mix with his will. He forced the mixture into the shape of a rose with a purplish crimson color.
Pitch black symbols, each smaller than a grain of rice and shaped like a crown adorned the unworldly rose. Feeling his instincts guide him, Jaime opened his hands slowly, then without a word, the rose disappeared.
A few tense seconds passed, Jaime hoping he hadn't screwed up or wasted so much energy on an ability that wouldn't work while in this system space. He would have enough time to recover if so, but that would throw off his plans in a major way.
Right when he was about to chalk up the new ability as a failure, Jaime felt something change, he was no longer alone. Lifting his head, floating a few feet above was a little girl.
No, upon closer inspection Jaime realized that this was no girl. She was some sort of spirit, her form made up of some shadowy substance that sucked in all light around her leaving a child shaped outline. Her eyes glowed with a purple black light that shone like two lanterns in the night.
Before he could regather his wits, the girl shaped spirit raised a rippling appendage, revealing the rose of energy that Jaime had recently created and apparently offered to beings like her.
Feeling some information unlock in his mind, Jaime realized he had just done his first Familiar Summoning. This was a very big deal for beings like himself, he intuitively knew that the beings he made contracts with would affect his whole lineage moving forwards.
As complicated as his thoughts were about being a king, Jai knew he would never allow his own blood to have anything less than the best he could provide, especially in a place as crazy as this Well place promised to be.
Keeping that in mind, Jai hesitated to acknowledge the floating girl. She had apparently been sizing him up as well and took that moment to decide he was worth her time.
Her voice echoed in his ears, giving him goosebumps at the echoes of power and authority her young, yet ageless voice held. 'Young King, you have drawn my attention with your offering.' She gestured to the rose held securely in her shadowy grasp.
'You know not the turmoil you caused offering a Familiars Bond with a bloodline of such potency and potential.' Though her voice had no fluctuation, Jaime had the nagging sense that the shadow chick was complaining about him and calling him an idiot.
Jaime decided he should at least see where this lead, "Yo, the name's Jaime Fareway, and I would appreciate it if you could break all this shit down for me. I been doing what I could, but this shit be killing a nigga for real."
If the shadow chick was surprised, she didn't let it show in her form or response. 'I could tell before I was invited in that you have no understanding of the Well before this.
I must admit I am surprised by how little experience you seem to have with the 'supernatural' as you seem to view it. To give you an answer you would understand, they basically see you as a walking piggy bank of power and evolution and all your asking for is for them to be your friends in return for almost unlimited access to your familiar space.
In fact, if the system weren't protecting you right now, you trying to give such an open invitation while still so weak would have caused a calamity for your whole region with the fights that would have erupted around you.'
Jaime could feel a bead of sweat going down his back at the thought of what he could have done by accident. Pushing aside all his other thoughts for now, he focused back on the obviously eldritch creature in front of him.
His hands trembled for a moment as he brought them up to run through his hair, trying to maintain his image in front of his guest. "So, given all that shit about fucking me over and getting bank in terms of potential stealing, why didn't you do the same? Also do you have a name? I don't fuck with most weirdos or sneaky bitches so let's not start off on the wrong foot here."
The way Jaime saw it, this shadow girl whether from his rose or some ability she had knew way more than him about both this Familiar Ritual and him personally. The only way he could shake her up and regain some momentum was by acting in ways that she wouldn't expect.
Now that he was calming down and coming up with a game plan, he could tell that this shadow chick probably wasn't a real eldritch monster, but she was by far the strongest being Jaime had ever personally met.
It had thrown him off with how strongly his instincts were telling him that she was the inescable death of him and everything he had ever known, while simultaneously being the strongest shield he could ever ask for that would never hurt him.
The being seemed to look over him for a moment, then the area under her lantern-like eyes seemed to spread open and reveal an abyss like smile that seemed impossibly darker than the blackness surrounding it,
'You are an innocent fool, yet you are also much smarter than you let on. Both traits are commendable, even useful in the right circumstances. As for me, my name is Revira Nightrun and I am too strong for the you of right now to be that useful for me.
I would have ignored you if it weren't for the fact that you are a progenitor of our great blood origin and happen to have a set of abilities that would partner perfectly with me and allow me to go further than my current form.'
Jaime felt confused about her words, but his instincts were practically screaming in his head telling him that he needed to get Revira on his side. It took all his willpower not to just scream out he'd agree to anything, but he needed to get a bit more info regardless of what his instincts said.
"So, what exactly are you asking for from me in this contract, and what happens to me and you when we complete it?" Jaime struggled to question, not even noticing that he was speaking as if their contract was a foregone conclusion.
'Well, I simply want you to take a part of my bloodline and make it into one of the noble houses in your kingdom in the future. They won't need special treatment beyond that, just the opportunity to prove themselves.
My problems right now are of too high a level for you to know about and after completing this contract all my energy will be used to remake my body and bloodline while mixing it with yours to let me start over as one of your familiars.
I will lose a lot of knowledge and most of my memories, but I will be able to evolve again into a better version of myself with time and my memories and previous knowledge will return as we get stronger.
If all that sounds good to you, then I welcome this contract.' Revira held up her free hand and a black and purple rose with similar, yet distinctly golden runes appeared in front of Jaime.
"A couple questions. What powers do you have? And how strong is your bloodline and will it cause problems for me to have it in my territory?" Jaime almost lunged for the energy rose as soon as it appeared. He held back with great difficulty, his mind struggling to get all his thoughts out with his instincts growing louder and louder in his head.
'You really are quite interesting, not many could ignore such strong traits influence for so long in situations like this. In any case, my bloodline won't be recognizable after it mixes with yours, so the beings turned by the new me won't draw unwanted attention.
As for my powers, I have control over some aspects of Death and Curses. I do believe my shadow control abilities are too weak to be maintained once the contract forms, so I won't go into those and other weaker powers I have collected over my life.'
Hearing that Jaime finally allowed his instincts to take over and reached out for the devilish rose in front of him. Once his hand closed around it, he jolted as a spark of electricity danced through his very soul.
His mind blanked, his vision swam with swirling mists and countless symbols of power flashing in scarlet, amethyst, black, and golden lights danced across his eyes. He felt like a piece of himself he never knew was missing had finally returned to him.
He felt bloody tears come to his eyes at the sheer breadth of emotions that coursed through him. He somehow knew a bunch more about who and what he was. He was an earthling yes, but he was also a Primogenitor of the Blood Origin.
He was divine, yet not. He was infernal, yet not. He was merciless, and mercy both, yet he was also neither. He was a living contradiction, a being who could bring ruin to everything with but a thought, yet he would build an Empire that brought salvation to all.
When Jaime finally came back to his senses, the first thing he noticed was the system alert that hovered in front of his eyes.
*Congrats User, Bloodline has advanced from Ghoul King (SS-) --> Bloody Ghoul Primogenitor (SSS-)*
*Kings Instinct (SS+) has advanced to Primogenitors Wisdom (SSS-)*
Feeling much calmer than he thought he would, probably a result of his new Talent already paying back dividends, Jaime finally took in the rest of his surroundings as he shot a quick glance towards the timer at the corner of his vision.
At the beginning of the whole fiasco that led to Revira Nightrun Jaime had 12 hours left until the protection ended. He was now down to the last 90 minutes, and he wanted to feel upset about that but the gains he'd received more than made up for it in his mind.
Looking inside his body, he examined his bloodline core. It now sparkled with a multicolored light that dazzled the senses and was the size of an apple. Peering inside the core, he found the familiar space in its own pocket dimension of sorts.
There, the world was one continuous ocean of blood, flowing with a multicolored hue and full of various drifting islands of all shapes, sizes and compositions. At the center of the space was a giant chain of mountains that floated steadily in a perfect circle separating the realm into 4 sections.
Multiple islands also floated in the enclosed center area of the familiar space with the biggest of which was once again dead in the center of the enclosed area. Jaime cast his vision there and was shocked at what he saw.
Revira was a young woman with alabaster white skin that was covered in black shaded and gold accented symbols of power. Her hair was living black fire, trailing down her back with audible cracks and hisses that brought to mind campfires crackling in the deep dark of unknown woods.
It swayed and moved with her gestures and seemed to shift between solid and energy states. Her eyes drew his attention the most. Blacker than the void with pupils of a brilliant reddish gold color that shone like the brightest stars.
To put it bluntly, Revira had become a total Empress Babe. She wore what looked like army pants except colored black and gold with a plain black shirt. She completed the look with a gold and black leather jacket with a giant scythe entwined with vines full of black, red, gold and amethyst roses.
It wasn't her new style, which he had to admit looked pretty badass to him that surprised him. It also wasn't the fact that Revira looked like she was his age now, no Jaime was already expecting something like that.
Jaime genuinely couldn't believe his luck. He was looking at the island that Revira had taken over. She had a black sun floating above her island and casting its light onto her land. A black sun that had a FACE.
The sun seemed to notice his presence, turning to where his presence was viewing everything and giving him a giant friendly smile. Revira seemed to notice him then and motioned for him to descend.
Manifesting an avatar to get a more personal feel, Jaime appeared in front of his first familiar. "Before you say anything, yes this is real, no this was not a power I had previously, but I do know how to best use it to grow and help us."
Jaime nodded as he took in the answers before he continued. "What can this sun do? Also how are your memories and new abilities settling?" Revira tilted her head seeming in thought, flames flickering and dropping sparks to the ground that seemed harmless.
"I seem to have the ability to create unique weapons based on things I have killed, curses and infections I have created or eaten, or energy in general if given enough of it.
These weapons are essentially my army, but they can grow and live here in your familiar space and become one of the exclusive lines of familiars for your lineage in the future. I can summon them while battling without you needing to pay the cost for them to manifest which will be especially helpful.
The black sun increases the potential of all the spirits formed under its light and helps them to develop faster. The more advanced the familiars become the stronger the sun will become until it covers your entire familiar space.
At that time there may be more, but I don't know the details from there." Revira finished her explanation, leaving Jaime feeling deeply shocked. The ideas rolling around in his head for the future were astonishing.
"So, what about your changes, my bloodline has evolved into the Bloody Ghoul Primogenitor (SSS-) and I had some crazy ass skill advances." Revira smiled, looking excited as her hair flared up in response a shower of sparks bursting behind her to give her a halo effect momentarily.
"While I don't have a lot of my previous memories or knowledge right now, I know that the fact I am at SSS- rank already proves how compatible out powers are. I am now a Black Sun Soul Reaper Princess (SSS-). I can do so much now but I think it's most important we practice the basics first."
With that Revira transformed, her body being overtaken by her fiery hair and exploding in a giant gout of black and gold flames that would have burned diamond into molten slag in seconds, yet Jaime just grinned maniacally.
In front of him was Revira's new form. A giant Scythe pitch black with glowing red and golden runes shaped into roses running along the shaft. From top to bottom it was 8ft long (2.4m) with a 2ft (61cm) blade made of solidified fire that sat pitch black with hints of purple.
Jaime squealed like a little girl. His body shooting forwards to take in his familiar's new tricks. He would later deny ever doing such a thing, but for the moment he unashamedly worshipped his familiar and begged her to give him a cool cloak too.
The fact that he ended up 'finding' a 'really fucking cool' cloak later has no bearing on the truth of his words. Almost 90 minutes later and Jaime was back on the outside with a red and black cloak with an emblem of a red rose covered in black flame sitting inside a black sun on the back of the cloak.
He wasn't wearing a shirt, leaving the symbols engraved into his skin with his bloodline to pulse with a faint red light. He wore black combat pants with black and red combat shoes.
His Blood Control and Infect powers were truly a crazy combo if they could even help him create clothes like these with his level of training. Watching the final seconds tick away, Jaime felt strangely calm.
'Are you ready for this Revira?' Jaime asked in his mind, already feeling like he knew what answer he would get. 'Of course, these inferior beings will soon learn to fear us, and then we will be one step closer to building our Empire.' Revira answered in a confident, almost dismissive tone.
'I love that youthful confidence, but I am sure you know there are many things that can still kill us. Besides even with you and our combined growth I am still only ranked 2nd on Earth.' Jaime reasoned while leaning into his Primogenitor's Wisdom talent to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything critical.
The reminder brought Revira back to reality as well, her emotions cooling off, and her thoughts taking a more serious edge to them showing that the Reaper Princess was still just as sharp, if not as experienced as she used to be.
'I don't mean to make light of our situation. You are correct Jai, but I do believe that these initial objectives will be nothing more than an extended tutorial for us.' Jaime nodded along absentmindedly.
'I agree with you, but all that means is that we should hopefully be able to help more of my people out and maximize the survival and gathering of people, talents, and resources. After all, it is kinda hard to build an Empire with no subjects,' Jaime reasoned.
'Hmm, you do have a good point, I suppose I can use this time to see if anyone amongst them is worthy of joining my lineage,' Revira's tone became lighter and more thoughtful. Though her emotions showed little excitement currently.
Jaime pulled up his stat chart one final time to give himself a quick overview of his current growth.
Location: Layer 1 [Subspace]
Name: Jaime Fareway
Bloodline: Bloody Ghoul Primogenitor
Titles: [Earth Pioneer II] [Subregional Lord (USA)]
Health: 10,000/10,000
Strength: 70 (15 is average for a F- Human)
Dexterity: 70 (12 is average for a F- Human)
Durability: 70 (12 is average for a F- Human)
Intelligence: 70 (16 is average for a F- Human)
Spirit: 75 (16 is average for a F- Human)
Stat Points: 0
Rank: F+
Talents: Primogenitor's Wisdom (SSS-), Energy Genius (SS+)
Skills: Blood Control (SS+), Lord of Air (S+), Weapon Master (SS), Infect (SS+)
His stat growth had stopped, and he felt more in control of all his skills, some of which had changed or advanced. With the clock reaching zero Jaime felt his surroundings shuddering, and with a blink he was somewhere else.
Towering walls that gleamed with an obsidian glow fueled by magical runes that pulsed with a dull blue light that buzzed in the air all around him. He was in what appeared to be a central district of sorts in what he could only describe as a mix between High Fantasy and Sci-Fi.
There were Elves walking around with hologram watches that displayed media that Jaime had never seen before. A 6ft (2m) Treant made of twisting vines and what looked like an Oak Tree sat to the side of the bustling street on a regular park bench and smoked some sort of magical weed that caused real life glitches to appear around the area he breathed out the smoke.
Jaime took all this in for about 30 seconds before a giant spotlight fell directly on him. All around him and in the sky, screens popped up everywhere that showed him. He heard Revira sigh inside his head.
'What's wrong? Is there something I need to watch out for?' Revira sighed again before she responded, sounding both annoyed and slightly excited. 'A part of my memory has returned upon seeing this and I know what type of environment we have fallen into.
The good news is that you should have an even easier time recruiting talent and getting resources. The bad news is that we are in the range of the Technomancy of the first layer. They are a group that has its roots spread throughout the whole Well and beyond.
Truly they are an Empire to admire and be very cautious dealing with. Thankfully they shouldn't be too much of a problem themselves. The corrupted from the Technomancy will be a much bigger issue.
What the corrupted are can be talked about later, but you need to know that most of them won't have blood and will be very resistant to a lot of normal infections and curses.'
While Revira filled him in on what to expect, Jaime felt randomly glad that the speed of thought also increased with his stats as they discussed all the important info he needed in the span of a single blink.
After taking a few microseconds to think and plan Jaime went forward to address the public that was apparently waiting to hear from their new leader.
He knew his countryman had been mixed into this new subregion and he would have to take control quickly and thoroughly to ensure that he was prepared for everything to come.
With a large step Jaime turned in a slow circle, playing up the theatrics. All around him and high in the sky across the whole subregion people of all shapes and sizes watched the young Jaime as he addressed the public for the first time.
"Hello people, my name is Jaime, and I am the new Lord of this subregion. Shit is going to get crazy but best believe imma handle that shit. We going to be learning more about each other in the future, but for now just know this little saying my old world used to say.
Fuck Around And Find Out." With his piece said, Jaime had Revira open a portal for him, her black fire spreading out beneath him and spiriting him away from the public's watchful eyes, for now.