"Emery Ambrose"
The loud and firm voice of Grand Magus Esbern echoed through the hall as the man called out Emery's name. Emery, couldn't help but recall the first time he entered the academy, when his measly B aptitude was announced to the whole class.
Now, looking at the somewhat similar situation, Emery couldn't hold himself from sighing inwardly. He truly hoped the situation would be better and this time would not be as cruel. However, considering what fate had saved and provided for him all this time, Emery could only prepare himself for the worst.
Walking towards the fountain, Emery received the knife from the grand magus, who looked at him expressionless. Nodding his head in appreciation, Emery went ahead and cut his palm, doing the same procedure just like those before him. With his palm dripped fresh warm blood, Emery slowly put his hand above the fountain.
At this moment, Emery didn't realize his heart was beating faster than usual and his breathing had become irregular. He felt like time was running slowly, as he could see the drop of blood slowly falling into the fountain. The blood finally entered the fountain dyeing it red, Emery turned his head towards the wall where the insignia banners were placed.
On the wall, Emery and the others could clearly see the wolf symbol on the banner was slowly shining brightly. Grand Magus Esbern, who was standing next to him immediately announced his bloodline.
"The Wolf Bloodline!"
Emery's face couldn't help but fall when he heard that. Sighing deeply again, Emery had already turned his body to walk away, when he heard something that stopped him on his track.
"...Wait!"
Emery stood there frozen, the sudden word had baffled him, as the others who were confused as to why the overseer suddenly said that. Turning around and looking at the overseer, Emery realized the grand magus was seeing something. Curiosity got the better of him and Emery immediately followed the grand magus' line of sight.
It turned out that the wolf symbol still had not stopped shining. The light continued to grow brighter until it gave off a silvery glow. A wide smile immediately appeared on Emery's face when he saw the silvery light. And then, a shocked expression flashed on his face as he saw the silvery light begin to turn into gold.
"Myth…? No. It's a Legendary Wolf Bloodline!"
The almost golden light was fading into silver again and stayed the same. Even though the experience where his feelings were being mocked by the light was unpleasant for him, Emery was still happy. This was more than he could hope for, at least he was better than normal.
Unexpectedly, an information came out of his palm.
[Your bloodline has been analyzed]
[Species - Wolf]
[Bloodline Genes - Fey Wolf]
[Genes Classification - Legendary Bloodline]
[Bloodline Limit : Rank 6]
[Current Rank]
[Rank 2 -The Fey Beast ]
[Innate Skill - Wild Hunt, Transformation]
[You are eligible to join the Bloodline Institute, do you accept?]
"Accept"
[Congratulations, you are now the member of the Bloodline Institute]
This amount of information was enough to take Emery by surprise. He then turned and walked towards where Silva was, while his mind was still processing the information he had received. When Silva saw Emery absentminded, she waved her hand in front of his face.
"What's your bloodline limit? Tell me!" Silva curiously asked.
"It's rank 6." Emery replied softly.
"Rank 6?" Silva asked, surprised. "That is pretty amazing, Emery. It means your ancestor was a very powerful being. After all, there are not many people, who had an ancestor just one level under the mythical-class bloodline."
"As matter of fact, this also applies to me. My rank 6 Kimoyin Serpent bloodline is enough to make my Oroboros clan the ruler of our world." Silva said in a proud tone.
Glancing at Emery, Silva continued, "However, even though your potential is quite good, you need to remember that you are still at rank 2 of your bloodline. Hence, the reason for you being so weak. I hope you don't waste that precious bloodline of yours. Because currently, there are not that many legendary wolf bloodlines around."
Time continued to pass as the acolytes inside the hall were summoned. After a while, all acolytes finally had their turn and got their bloodlines tested, thus signaling the end of the acceptance ceremony. Seeing that, the grand magus clapped his hand as the loud sound caught everyone's attention.
"Congratulations! The acceptance ceremony is over and all of you are now part of the Bloodline Institute!" the grand magus said, and was greeted with another thunderous applause. "There are also representatives from each of your bloodline species that will contact you later."
Grand Magus Esbern then looked at the acolytes, especially the promising ones. "Before you all do your own thing, let me say a few words about the upcoming Magus Game which excites all of you. As I always say every year, I hope all of you hall-blood will refrain from fighting against your half-blood brothers and sisters. But of course, that's just a hope of mine and you should always put your own interests first."
The grand magus then took out a small vial and displayed it to the acolytes. "In order to motivate all of you half-bloods to win the game and bring honor to the institute, we have prepared this as a reward."
Eyeing the acolytes who realized what inside the vial, the grand magus smiled faintly and said, "Those who manage to make it to the top 500 will be given one vial of the [Legendary Blood Elixir]. Therefore, you all should give your very best and bring honor to our institute. We will be waiting for your wonderful performance." After finishing his speech, Grand Magus Esbern left the hall, his departure was followed by the acolytes' gazes.
Emery realized the acolytes' eyes around him were shining, as they stared passionately at the small vial in the grand magus' hand. Emery turned to his side and found Silva also stared at the vial with desire.
Sensing Emery's gaze, Silva said, "That elixir will help your bloodline to evolve faster. Hence, the desire in everyone's eyes."
With the ceremony over and the grand magus leaving the hall, the people who were watching from upstairs started to walk down and approach the acolytes they were interested in. It didn't need a genius to guess who they were talking to first.
While the other acolytes were busy talking with those people or leaving the place, Emery just stood there, as he was still a little bit overwhelmed with all the things he had just experienced. And then, Emery accidentally bumped into a guy with pale skin. Even though it wasn't Emery's fault, as he was standing there unmoving, the guy immediately turned angry and showed off the two sharp fangs on his teeth.
"Dogs! Don't you ever get close to me." the pale guy said.
Before Emery could say anything, another guy approached them and snarled at the pale guy.
"Back off, you bloodsucker! Go find somewhere else if you want to create trouble!"
The pale guy turned his head and was about to snap. But then, the pale-looking guy hastily left when he saw the big, hairy guy towering over him. The hairy guy walked towards Emery with a friendly smile on his face.
"Emery, isn't it? My name is Brutus. I expect more great things from you. Good luck in the next game." Brutus said. The guy immediately left after saying that.
Looking at the guy's back, Emery somehow felt some sort of familiarity with him. When he was trying to figure out the reason why, Silva suddenly snapped her finger breaking Emery's thought.
"Hello! You there?"
"Uh?! Oh! Yeah, I'm here. What's up?" Emery asked.
Realizing Emery was thinking about the guy, Silva explained, "Don't read too much into it. That guy named Brutus is also a wolf-species bloodline like you, I think he is also a legendary wolf, the Dire wolf genes if I am not wrong. So It's normal for you to feel some connection, the two of you have the same lineage after all. As for the pale guy's hostility to you, that's another long story."
Emery smiled at Silva, impressed by her knowledge. "How do you know all these things?"
"Hello, moron. That's called studying. Have you heard of it?" Silva said, as she ridiculed Emery. "Don't underestimate me. I have spent my entire life preparing for this academy."
"I see… Well, I hope you can do well in the game then, Silva."
"Of course, I will. I must..." Silva said firmly, the last part as a whisper. Emery not only could feel the determination and confidence in her voice, but also the burden in her tone. Emery was sure everyone came to the academy with an expectation, a responsibility, and a dream, just like him.
Apparently, there was not much the institute could help for Emery at the moment. The duo then decided to bid goodbye and go back to their own training.
Looking back at what he had experienced since he joined the academy, Emery couldn't help but smile. And then, maybe because he was around Silva or because of all the bloodline acolytes, Emery suddenly started thinking of Morgana.
13 days had passed since her capture. Not knowing what happened to her all this time was killing him. When he walked back to the portal, Emery decided to not return to Lord's Izta palace and made his way to the institute of Darkness.