Chapter 188: Bloodlines
There was either something wrong with magic, or it was just something that aura had over it. But it wasn"t going to affect him since that was a problem that he couldn"t see in the near future. 100 years was already a lot to him. He hadn"t even expected to survive more than 15 since he had been in the slums. freewebnov(e)l
"Now that you are all recovered and we are free, can you answer the question I had before?" He asked her after remembering the discussion they had during the fight. "What are bloodlines?"
"I was waiting for you to ask me that question. Seeing that you don"t know what they are, I doubt that your empire properly trains their Aura Knights properly," she said.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Well, to understand bloodlines, we have to take a step back. Everybody has certain affinities with nature. Elemental affinities. That means that I could be better at handling Water Elemental Aura Techniques compared to something like Light," she started explaining to him.
"So we can rank people based on these affinities. In my time, we could use Aura Treasures to measure those affinities. We defined the affinity as Low, Medium, High, and Peak. I had a Peak-Level affinity with the Soul Element.
As for you, based on what I felt from your aura, you have a Peak-Affinity with the Shadow Element. Both the Shadow and the Soul Elements are very rare compared to the natural ones of Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, Lightning, and Metal."
"So I am talented?" He asked her.
"Yes, very. The reason why you need to know your affinity is to pick the right aura techniques to train in. If you picked the wrong element, then you would never be able to become as strong as you should have been.
Now this is where bloodlines come in. Anything above Medium Affinity is considered very talented. Less than 1% of Aura Knights have High-Affinity to their element. As for Peak, less than 10 people are seen every generation with that level of talent. Anyway, these affinities that you have weren"t natural. At least, most of the time they aren"t.
They are most likely inherited. If a person who was naturally born with a High-Affinity toward an Element reached the 9th Circle, then their blood turns special. Their descendants also inherit that affinity. That is how we judge bloodlines," she said.
"So that means that bloodlines can help you use elements better?" He asked.
"It sounds simple, but think about what the elements are. Elements are parts of nature that Aura Knights are channeling. There are countless of them, but only 6 are prominent. Every other element is more likely than not a product of inheritance.
So even bloodlines are judged based on the element they grant as well as the affinity. She has a faint amount of a Royal Bloodline. A Royal Bloodline grants the person a High-Affinity to a rare element. But since her blood is very impure, she has a Medium-Affinity at best.
Below the Royal Bloodline is the Duke Bloodline. It gives a High-Affinity to a common element. These elements are typically weaker than rare elements, so they are valued a little less. Above these Bloodlines are Emperor Bloodlines. I belonged to the Emperor Bloodline.
You might belong to one too since you have a Peak-Affinity to the Shadow Element. Which means that you might be a very important person in your world," she said.
He laughed at her statement. "That"s funny. I am an orphan so I don"t even know where I got the bloodline from," he said.
"It might not be funny. If you have a Peak-Affinity to any element, training will be a breeze. You will easily get to the 8th Circle. Even the 9th. The reason is that the only person who can give birth to an Emperor Bloodline is an 11th Circle Aura Knight," she said.
"An Aura Knight can go beyond the 9th Circle?" He asked her with surprise.
"Of course. The limits that I know of are the 12th Circle, but that level is only heard of in legend. Anyone who reached that level disappeared long ago and were only rumored to reach that stage. For example, the Blood G.o.d was rumored to have reached the 12th Circle, but the only way to know is to go into the temple and look for proof," she said.
"Wait. If the Blood G.o.d was a 12th Circle Aura Knight, then he also disappeared, right? Then who was it that imprisoned you?" He asked her.
"Well, the remnant power of him was enough. I was being very greedy and that just transported me into the prison," she said.
"What?" He asked with confusion.
"I will explain when we get inside the temple. You will understand better there too. Now that you know what bloodlines are, can we start sacrificing this one?" She asked him. .
"Yes. What do I do?" He asked her.
"Well, the first thing you need to do is get down from the air and place her on the ground."
He followed her instructions.
"Then, cut her finger to let it start dripping some blood," she said. "And gather that blood with your aura."
"How?" He asked her.
"Just give me control of your hand," she said.
She took over his right hand and did what she needed. The finger of the unconscious n.o.ble was in Leo"s right hand when it got cut by Nefrati. She then controlled the aura to contain the blood without letting it spill anywhere. Even though there was a very minimal amount of aura left in his body, it seemed to be enough for her.
After a liter of blood was slowly siphoned away, she sealed the cut with a little bit of aura. Then she spread the blood around the girl in a circle, as if she was drawing an Aura Circle with blood. The circle had runes just like the ones that he had around his aura circle.
When she was finished, Leo realized that it was almost that. Almost an Aura Circle. It looked a little different because of the runes between the two concentric circles. How was this supposed to activate the temple, though? Would he need to do something?
"Now, I need to give you a warning. When I activate the circle, something will happen. Do not panic. Nothing will hurt you until I tell you that it will hurt you. Until then, stay calm," she said.
"Fine," he acknowledged her warning.
Just as they were about to finish, Elise woke up. She immediately noticed that something was wrong because she was very dizzy and couldn"t see properly.
"What is wrong?" She asked herself as she looked around. The world around her was spinning, but she could make out a figure in front of her.
"Who are you? Did my father send you? Take me out of here. And also get rid of the two men that were with me. Both of them are-"
"Start. Ignore her words," She was rambling on but Leo didn"t want to waste time.
"Fine. Get ready," Nefrati said as she controlled the aura to draw the last rune.