Seeing the amount of aura the tier 1 magic circles held along with how much Jules was able to use, Freya found herself shocked and pressured momentarily.
"The bloodline…?" She inquired.
Breaking down the spells, Jules shrugged.
"Indeed. Ah, but what I did just now was merely a show-off. The bloodline didn't awaken that much."
"Do you know what it means for your bloodline to awaken now?" Freya asked, her voice laden with worry. "Very few people have awakened their bloodline prior to the Trial."
Jules replied to her, matter-of-factly.
"I do know what it means. If I can enhance it further, I should acquire more bloodline traits."
Shaking her head, Freya said:
"No, kid. It's more than that. You're just increasing the size of the target on your back if people find out…"
"...is to reduce the difficulty of the trial required to access our clan's artifact," Jules completed. "I know that too."
"And for those greedy farts that are trying to take over, they'll do worse than they've already done, possibly even targeting your family…"
At that moment, Freya seemed to understand as she muttered, "Which is why your plan might be the way…"
"I see you understand me now."
"I do… My mind has been rattled by this incident, I didn't notice that immediately." Freya asked, "But will you be able to fulfill your part?"
Raising her voice a bit, she added:
"It's not only difficult but also dangerous. If you follow me to the edge, I can teach you. I'll find a way to get you skills or a Heart even. I'll look for a beast you can tame."
Jules listened to her with a subtle smile, commenting in his mind.
'This is what Jules did after his survival, he went to the Edge to battle against beasts, but that didn't end well.
'His sister died, his mother broke down, the clan was destroyed and Jules eventually ran mad, leaving Freya and a few others alone.'
Jules sighed, shaking his head a bit.
"I'm afraid I can't do that. I'd rather go with my plans and believe me, I'd rather not do this, but I have no choice.
"Our clan's problems aren't as simple as you think. The fact that they tried to capture shows they have some intricate planned."
The last statement caught Freya, and Jules's following statement only added to her tornado of thoughts.
"I… wouldn't be surprised if my father's death ten years ago was part of all their schemes," Jules said, his face turning serious.
"What?" Freya looked up at Jules, anger crossing her features.
She glared at Jules, a subtle amount of killing intent boring down on him.
Jules remained calm, but with his body shivering a bit, Freya calmed herself down.
"What's your reason behind this?"
"A hunch? A feeling that hit me when I was on death's door."
Freya looked at Jules, speechless for a moment.
Jules had always avoided any topic related to his father because it was the very incident that caused his decline.
Some people too reacted similarly albeit on a smaller scale to the topic, Freya included.
So for him to talk about it now… she wanted to believe in him.
"Hmm, well, if I look at it from one direction, our plans aren't too different… so I'll go with your plan," She said. "I expect you will carry out your part to the end too."
"Most definitely." Jules said. Standing up, he extended his hand to her, "For Noctharis."
Extending her rough hand to his, Freya repeated. "For Noctharis."
Before Freya turned to leave, Jules said, "I'd like you to help Ryan's family too…and Cid's if he has any."
"I will," Freya replied with a smile. "And Cid does have a family, a blood brother and the Leviathan Squad."
Jules turned somber for a moment.
"Don't worry, Ju–young master. Cid knew his possible fate the moment he asked to be assigned to that mission. He was a warrior of Noctharis to the end."
Jules remained silent.
"All right then," Freya stated, "The council will summon you for a hearing tomorrow, prepare for that. We'll talk after."
"Okay, Captain."
With that, Freya walked out of the room, leaving Jules alone.
Jules sighed as he brushed his hand through his hair.
"Ah, I can go through the status now."
Jules turned his chair to face the table positioned beneath the window and sat down.
Then he willed his status to appear.
- - -
[Status]
Name: Jules Evanava
Mana Core: Solid Orange [31%]
Affinity: Water [Mid-grade]
Bloodline: Noctharis [9%]
Bond: Warforged
Heart: Archangel of War [Grade 1 • ]
[Quests]
- - -
"As I thought, I already broke into the next sub-stage and my affinity increased. Heh, increasing affinity is considered a hard thing, yet I did that on my first day here."
Jules mused as he looked at his new gains.
- - -
Noctharis Bloodline: You have the bloodline of the Ancient Creature, Noctharis, harbinger of tides of calamity.
[Traits]
~ Affinity to water is increased.
[Awakened Progress: 9%]
- - -
Reading this, Jules recalled his discussion with Freya.
'This…I told the Captain I had an idea how to increase this when I explained my plan to her, but that's a lie. I'm probably not going to go beyond this awakened rate.'
"The traits' passive ability are already beneficial so that's okay." Jules pondered a bit, "If I can awaken more of the bloodline, though, my chances of wielding the clan's artifact will increase."
For a moment, he thought of items mentioned in the novel that could help him.
"I don't think there's anything, so onto the next."
Jules moved to checking the status of his newfound sword.
- - -
Warforged: The Archangel of War needed a trust weapon by his side to channel his abilities better, and that led to the birth of a sword forged for war.
The sword has a level of sentience and depending on how it feels, you can channel power better.
[Artifact Skills]
⤷ Blood Glutton: It drinks blood to fill its wielder.
[Unlock more skills after crossing into higher core stages.]
- - -
'A sentient weapon…they can be stressful but I feel like War actually likes me.'
Yes, Jules preferred to call the sword War rather than its full name, because he found that naming… poor, to say the least.
"But why does its ability feed me blood?" He blurted out. "Was the Archangel of War a vampire? Well, their race was apparently one of the first to fall so I'm not inclined to believe that…"
Jules shrugged. "Whatever, I'll understand after I use the ability eventually."
Reading the details of the Heart he obtained, Jules figured out what that ability was actually for.