Chapter 120: Evolution, New Specie
Lucian’s consciousness arrived in a mysterious plane.
Darkness.
Not the darkness of a closed room or a moonless night. Something deeper. Older. A void so complete that it had weight. Pressure. Presence. Like standing at the bottom of an ocean made of nothing.
Lucian’s consciousness floated in it.
He looked around slowly. There was no ground beneath his feet and no sky above. No left or right. No up or down. Just infinite darkness in every direction, stretching beyond comprehension.
Then he looked forward.
A throne.
It sat in the middle of the void like it had always been there. Carved from something that wasn’t stone or metal — something darker than the darkness itself. The armrests were shaped like claws. The back rose into tendrils that spiraled upward into the black nothing.
And on the throne sat a figure.
Shrouded in darkness. Completely. Lucian couldn’t see a face, hands, or even a silhouette. Just a shape that suggested a person sitting with their head resting on one hand. The darkness around the figure moved slowly, like smoke given purpose.
Lucian looked at the figure.
And his knees buckled.
Pressure crashed down on him — not mana, not aura, not anything he’d ever encountered. It was simpler than that. It was authority. The sheer weight of existence from something that had existed for so long that reality itself bent around it.
"Cough—"
Blood sprayed from Lucian’s lips. His consciousness — not his physical body, his actual soul — trembled. His knees hit a ground that didn’t exist. His hands pressed against a floor that wasn’t there.
"What the fuck?" he choked out between coughs. "How powerful is this dude? Just looking at him is— cough — crushing me—"
The figure didn’t move.
"It seems you’ve reached your second evolution." The voice was calm and ancient. It didn’t echo in the void — it simply was, existing in every point of space simultaneously. "Quite impressive in just under a year since you awakened the bloodline."
The pressure shifted.
"Now return. It’s not yet time."
Lucian opened his mouth to speak—
—
He was back.
His lungs seized. He sucked in a breath — gasp — and started coughing violently. His body convulsed on the hotel room floor.
Crack.
The blood crystal cocoon around him shattered. Fragments of crimson crystal exploded outward like shrapnel, embedding in the walls, the furniture, the floor.
He lay on the ruined floor, chest heaving, staring at the ceiling.
Who the fuck was that? And where the fuck was that?
Notifications flooded his vision.
╔═══════════════════╗
║ BLOODLINE EVOLUTION COMPLETE ║
║ Seal: 79% → 75% ║
╚═══════════════════╝
More notifications stacked behind it. But before Lucian could read them—
"Lucian!"
Rose’s voice. Panicked.
He snapped his head toward the bed.
Clara was lying on the mattress — the only piece of furniture still intact in the destroyed room. Her body was trembling. Her eyes were squeezed shut. Her face was contorted in pain. Small whimpers escaped her lips — nngh, ahh, nnngh — as her muscles spasmed beneath her skin.
Lucian scrambled to his feet. Crystal fragments crunched beneath his bare feet. He was naked — the evolution had dissolved his clothes along with the cocoon — but he didn’t care.
He reached Clara’s side and activated Eyes of the Eternals.
A notification replaced his vision.
╔════════════════════╗
║ ABILITY EVOLUTION ║
║ Eyes of the Eternals → Primordial Sight ║
║ Functions: ║
║ ├─ All previous functions ║
║ ├─ See through illusions, barriers, and disguises ║
║ ├─ Identify bloodline grade ║
║ ├─ Identify hidden potentials ║
║ ├─ See mana flow at cellular level within 100 meters giving Microscopic Perception of the surrounding ║
║ ├─ Identify dormant abilities ║
║ ├─ Acts as a high-speed radar system that lets him perceive his surroundings completely, even while blindfolded. ║
║ └─ Penetrate up to 3 meters of physical matter ║
╚═════════════════════╝
He decided to test it out later as he focused on Clara.
╔═════════════════════╗
║ Name: Clara Duncan ║
║ Age: 20 ║
║ Race: Moon Vampire (Evolving) ║
║ Cultivation: Mid Core Realm → Late Core Realm ║
║ Bloodline: Moon Goddess (Unawakened — NOW AWAKENING) ║
║ Grade: Sovereign Grade ║
║ Current State: Bloodline interacting with Origin Vampire bloodline from turning process. Host’s biology reconstructing into new species. ║
║ New Abilities (Pending): ║
║ ├─ SS-Rank Gravity Manipulation ║
║ └─ SS-Rank Lunar Authority ║
║ Note: Moon Vampire is a new subspecies with great potential ║
╚═══════════════════════════╝
Lucian stared at the data as he immediately deactivated the eyes as his eyes were hurting just from 2 seconds of activating it as he thought.
Moon Goddess bloodline? Sovereign grade?
He remembered — every time he’d scanned Clara or Ryan with Eyes of the Eternals, their bloodline had always shown as "???" He’d assumed they didn’t possess any.
"System," he said quietly, keeping his voice low so Rose wouldn’t hear. "Why couldn’t I see her bloodline before?"
The system responded.
╔═════════════════════╗
║ QUERY: DORMANT BLOODLINE ║
║ The Moon Goddess Bloodline was present but fully dormant. ║
║ Dormant bloodlines do not register on standard scans. ║
║ The bloodline was activated by exposure to Origin Vampire blood during the turning process. ║
║ This is a rare interaction documented in fewer than 0.01% of vampire turnings in recorded history. Afterall, evolutions like this are extremely rare. ║
╚═════════════════════╝
"So it was just dormant. A high grade bloodline that was asleep. Sovereign grade, are there like gradings too to bloodlines?"
╔═════════════════════╗
║ BLOODLINE GRADING SYSTEM ║
║ Common Grade ║
║ Earth Grade ║
║ Sky Grade ║
║ Heaven Grade ║
║ King Grade ║
║ Emperor Grade ║
║ Sovereign Grade ║
║ Ancestral Grade ║
║ Origin Grade ║
║ Note: Your Ancient Vampire bloodline is one of the few Origin Grade bloodlines in the universe. ║
║ Currently comparable to Emperor Grade due to seal. ║
What about bloodlines on earth?, Lucian asked.
║ Most bloodlines on Earth are between Common and Heaven Grade. ║
║ The highest vampire bloodlines on Earth are Heaven Grade. ║
║ The Moon Goddess Bloodline is Sovereign Grade. ║
║If Clara completes evolution with the Origin Vampire interaction, her bloodline will rival Ancestral Grade and carries potential to reach Origin Grade without external assistance in the future.║
╚═══════════════════════╝
"Wow," he murmured. "That’s so broken."
Clara whimpered on the bed. Her body arched slightly, then relaxed. The spasms were becoming less frequent. Her breathing was steadying.
She’s stabilizing. The worst of the evolution is passing.
Rose appeared beside him, wringing her hands. "Lucian, is Clara okay?"
Lucian smiled softly. He reached out and touched Clara’s hair.
"Yeah," he said. "She’s gonna be alright. Her bloodline is just evolving. In fact, she’ll come back stronger. She just needs a little rest."
Rose stood behind him, her green eyes fixed on Clara’s trembling form. She bit her lip.
They’re already leaving me behind. I can’t even keep up.
Lucian looked around the destroyed hotel room. The bed was the only intact piece of furniture. The floor was gouged with deep scratches. Blood crystal fragments were embedded in every wall. The windows were cracked. The door hung off one hinge. The ceiling had a spiderweb fracture from the cocoon’s formation.
He sighed.
"I better clean this up."