Chapter10

[ Bloodline status: Active ]

[ Surviving direct carriers: 1 ]

[ Host designation: Last of the bloodline ]

"Wait," he said, the word leaving him before he could stop it. "Last?"

The system responded immediately, more lines sliding into place under the first set.

[ The Goddess of Reincarnation is the source tied to this system. ]

[ Your soul resonated with the fragment because your bloodline carries her mark. ]

[ The bloodline remained dormant until bond initiation. ]

[ Rank manifestation can now be corrected to its proper path. ]

He looked back at the status window when it returned, and the old line was still there waiting for him.

[ Rank: 1 shard (Wrong Rank Path) ]

[ Correct to: 1 Ring ]

For a few seconds he just sat there listening to the fire crackle, because none of this made sense and all of it somehow felt too direct to be a lie.

'If this is real, then there was something about me all along and I never even knew it,' he thought, remembering the elder's cold face, 'either way, I am not leaving it wrong just because I don't understand it yet.'

"Fine," he muttered, reaching out. "Change it."

[ Applying destined path... ]

At first nothing happened, and then it felt like something grabbed every bone in his body at once and twisted.

"Ghhk-" The sound tore out of him before he could stop it, and the strip of deer meat fell from his hand while his whole body locked up so hard he rolled sideways off the log, hitting the ground.