[Ding! Dear Host, Congratulations on completing the trial!]

[You have gained ownership of the Devil’s System!]

Ownership of the Devil’s System? He did expect this to happen after he completed the trial, but it still felt surreal. This was a turn of events that could potentially change his destiny in this world!

[Because of your exceptional performance in the trial, you have gained an additional reward.]

[Please choose the type of devil you would like to become.]

[Option 1: Shadow Devil.]

[Option 2: Blood Devil.]

A semi-transparent screen displayed the message, and Val’s lips curled into a smirk.

“Seems like my efforts paid off.”

A short description of each devil was also provided.

Shadow Devils were quite skilled at dodging or avoiding attacks. They’re better at this than Blood Devils. However, when it comes to attacking or causing damage, Shadow Devils aren’t as good as Blood Devils. They’re somewhat weaker in their offensive abilities compared to other devils. So, in a nutshell, while Shadow Devils are great at not getting hit, they’re not as great at hitting back as Blood Devils.

Furthermore, Shadow Devils were weak to getting spiked. Blood devils also had a weakness. But it won’t manifest itself unless the blood bar drops to zero.

Val scratched his chin, looking to be deep in thought. After taking his time to weigh the pros and cons, Val went for the second choice.

Val chose option B because the side effects of becoming a Blood Devil would only occur if his blood bar dropped to zero, unlike the constant side effects that came with becoming a Shadow Devil.

[The bloodline implantation process has started!]

The air around Val seemed to grow a few degrees hotter as heat waves rolled off him. With his temperature soaring beyond what was endurable, his body felt as if it were aflame, mimicking the symptoms of a raging fever, but Val stayed calm and composed.

Most people in his place would be shedding tears of blood or begging for an end to the pain, or even pleading for salvation. Val, however, did none of that.

The reason was simple.

He wasn’t experiencing the excruciating agony usually associated with bloodline implantation!

After a few minutes, when a puddle of his sweat formed beneath him, his temperature returned to normal, and then a notification popped up in his vision.

[Congratulations! You’ve acquired the Bloodline of the Blood Devil!]

[New skill acquired: Blood Absorption!]

[New skill acquired: Blood Manipulation!]

[New Trait Acquired: Nocturnal Vision!]

Val’s eyes narrowed slightly as he read the notifications.

‘Blood Absorption Skill and Blood Manipulation Skill? I wonder what their limitations are.’

Almost as if in response to his thoughts, a semi-transparent screen materialized in his field of vision, presenting detailed descriptions of his newly acquired skills.

[Blood Absorption Skill: Can be used to absorb blood from others. If there’s any kind of resistance, the process will be stopped. The absorbed blood can be used to restore the Host’s HP bar or the Blood bar!]

‘It’s useful.’

Next, he delved into the information about the Blood Manipulation Skill.

[Blood Manipulation skill: Can be used to gain control over blood whether yours or the spilled blood of your enemies. And allow you to shape, move, and solidify the controlled blood at your will. Provided that there’s no resistance, you can control anyone’s blood, even your own. Every droplet of the controlled blood will bend to your will instantly.]

Val thought: ‘The potential applications of this skill are limitless. But I can only use it in moderation. If my blood bar drops to zero, I’ll enter a bloodthirsty frenzy! And I don’t know what that would do to me, but it couldn’t possibly be anything good.’

He didn’t bother checking the trait. What it did was evident in its name.

It enabled him to see in the dark!

After a moment, he thought about inspecting himself.

‘Since this is a system, there should be a way to inspect my stats too, right?’

‘What was the magic word?’

‘Ah, yes! I remember.’

“Character screen,” Val uttered.

Name: Val V. Whitemore

Race: Half-Human, Half-Devil

Age: 16

Class: Blood Devil

Level: 1 (0/10 EXP)

Unawakened Bloodlines: Whitemore Bloodline 𝑶𝓋𝔩xt.𝑐𝒪𝑚

Hidden Ailments: Whitemore Bloodline Suppression Poison

Trait: Unfeeling (You’re unable to feel fear or pain), Emotional Impairment (It’s harder for you to feel emotions compared to the average human), Nocturnal Vision (You can see in the dark)

Stats:

Health Points (HP): 10

Strength (STR): 10

Agility (AGT): 10

Stamina (STA): 10

Reflexes (REF): 10

Blood Bar: 100 units of blood

Stat Points: 0

Mad Points: 0

100 MP=1 SP!

Bloodline Skills:

1) Blood Absorption

2) Blood Manipulation

In this strange world called Eldrich, the stats of normies typically hovered around five or so. However, individuals who were unfit or overweight had lower stats, usually below 5. Furthermore, it was generally noticed that women had lower stats compared to men.

Despite the stark differences between this world and Earth, there was at least one aspect that remained unchanged — Women being inherently weaker than men.

For someone so young, Val’s stats were really high, but it wasn’t without reason. He had undergone rigorous training and pushed himself to his limits for more than a decade in order to achieve such impressive attributes. He had started training using the methods of his previous life as soon as he gained some privacy.

There was no detail mentioned about the Mad Points except for the fact that a 100 MP could be converted into 1 SP. Val had to figure out how to get them through tests and trials.

“What the…”

When Val’s gaze fell upon the status screen, he was filled with shock.

He was poisoned!

Who could be behind such a malicious act?

Val’s mind raced as he started to narrow down the suspect.

Since Val couldn’t feel pain, he wouldn’t have noticed if he had been poisoned. Consequently, his father had taken precautions. Before it was revealed that he was a normie, the bloodline users of his clan had safeguarded him. It seemed impossible for him to be poisoned, considering that even his meals were tested by someone to ensure their safety.

The only opportunity for him to have been poisoned was during the distribution of the witch’s potions. To increase the chances of awakening the desired powers, one had to consume the entire potion alone, eliminating the possibility of poison checks, after all. So if anyone had ill intentions against him, they could take advantage of that opportunity to poison him. But getting poisoned was painful. That was common sense. However, because of Val’s innate trait, he couldn’t feel poison. So that common sense didn’t apply to him.

This meant that whoever poisoned him knew that he couldn’t feel pain!

Suddenly, everything started to fall into place for Val.

Although he had consumed the witch’s potion, he hadn’t experienced any effects.

Why?

Well, simply because he hadn’t been given the real witch’s potion. Instead, he had been administered something resembling it in looks but not effects.

To dare to poison him in a public setting, the perpetrator must have known about Val’s inability to feel pain.

Only a select few were aware of this secret. Among them were his father, mother, brother, and the family priest.

His older brother was preoccupied with expanding his mercenary business outside the IronSpire stronghold. The last time he was seen at home was 2 years ago. As for his mother, his mother had escaped from this place a decade ago!

‘Those two can’t be behind it.’

‘And although Father is greedy, he wouldn’t risk harming a valuable resource like me. He shouldn’t be behind it either.’

One more suspect was eliminated.

The only remaining suspect was the accursed priest who had been hired by his father to “fix” his supposed defects when he was 6 years old. Of course, even he had failed in his attempts to “fix” Val!

Val was certain that the person responsible for poisoning him must undoubtedly be the damned priest as he was also the one who conducted the bloodline awakening ritual and personally passed the fake “Witch’s potion” to Val and urged him to drink it with a smile.

That daring bastard had poisoned him under the eyes of countless onlookers with a gentle smile on his face!

‘I’ll kill him.’ Val raged.