"Wait, after you successfully assimilate the bloodline, won't that make you not human anymore?" Ash curiously questioned.
Ray frowned but soon shrugged, "I don't know but we'll find out soon enough."
"Go now and do it." Bryan urged him to hurry up.
"We'll wait for you." Ash smiled and gave him a thumbs up.
Ray took a deep breath and positioned himself a few metres away from Bryan and Ash.
'System, please do the honours.'
[Request Received. Starting the assimilation process of the Eternal Lightning Bloodline…]
[In 3, 2, 1…]
Immediately, Ray could feel a burning sensation spreading throughout his body, especially his blood. If one looked closely, his skin turned bright red and wisps of steam started leaking out of his body.
Ray felt uncomfortable and looked at the other two staring at him with wonderment, "Um…"
As the burning sensation increased in severity, his consciousness started to forcefully fade away. Ray was bewildered but he had no choice and could not stop it.
Soon, he blacked out and his body floated several metres into the sky. Dark clouds began to gather and an ominous wind surged with ferocity.
The golden robed old man frowned in confusion as he could not understand how they could awaken such godly physiques. He looked at Ray's floating body and held back his confusion.
"Another Godly Physique or…?" The old man muttered.
*RUMBLE*
The dark clouds expanded wildly, covering the planet's entire sky. The sound of thunder roared furiously amongst the dark clouds and countless lightning of different colours descended onto the world.
The cultivators around the world reeled in shock from the continuous stupefying events. Everyone looked up at the sky, astonished and mesmerized by the colourful dark clouds marred with the sounds of thunder and lightning.
Somewhere on a lone hill in a decent sized wooden cabin, there is a small pond next to the cabin. An old man sat at the edge of the pond, occasionally throwing seeds into the water.
The old man looked up with his eyes closed and spoke as if he witnessed the phenomena with his eyes open, "Fire, Ice and now, Lightning. The Great Age is going to be in turmoil but…it is for the best."
*Sigh*
"It is time for me to make a move."
Under the endless dazzling lightning, Ray's body shone brightly as if to make itself a beacon. And as intended, the endless lightning collided into his body, continuously striking it.
A dark cloudy mist covered Ray's body, blocking anyone from peering into it. Even the golden robed old man couldn't see through it.
As the countless lightning struck his body, a heavenly aura abruptly cascaded all over the world and a wild pressure hit the surrounding area with Ray's body at the centre.
"Damn!" Ash witnessed everything with incredulity.
"It's a good thing that he's unconscious." Bryan said while watching the constant bombardment of the lightning strikes.
From the dark cloudy mist, a huge apparition as high as the sky appeared whose figure could not be clearly seen. A pair of bright purple eyes suddenly appeared from within the apparition and the never-ending lightning intensified in ferocity.
The huge apparition lifted its right hand and a black lightning bolt conjured on its hand. As soon as the black lightning bolt appeared, the space around it slightly twisted and the heavenly aura magnified, basking the land with purple rays of light. With the intention of aiming at Ray's unconscious body, the veiled figure hurled the black lightning bolt at Ray.
*BOOM*
The black lightning bolt accurately hit at Ray's torso and multiple shockwaves were sent out as a result. The heavenly aura coalesced into his body and the apparition slowly faded away with its purple eyes staring menacingly into the void.
The lightning subsided and the heavenly aura disappeared, eliminating the surrounding pressure as well. The dark clouds slowly dissipated and let the bright sun cover the land.
The dark cloudy mist covering Ray disappeared and his body gently descended onto the ground.
"It's finally done…" Bryan said with excited eyes.
After their transformation, Bryan gained a pair of scarlet eyes and his hair grew a bit longer with a red shade. Ash gained a frosty gentle look with an enchanting pair of ice-blue eyes and a single strand of ice-blue hair frizzled across his forehead.
Ray's body no longer looked the same from his previous average slim figure. Muscles brimming with intensity scaped across his slim figure. A tint of purple shadowed across his curly hair and there was a small crown-shaped rune etched onto the left side of his chest.
[Detected that Ray has fallen unconscious. Initiating an action to awaken the user.]
Bryan and Ash walked over and saw his eyes slowly trembling. Sure enough, they opened and the same pair of purple eyes that appeared within the apparition were now displayed by Ray.
'Holy…' Ash was surprised.
"You're finally awake!" Bryan smiled.
"Huh…" Ray groaned loudly and sat up straight.
[Assimilation of the Eternal Lightning Bloodline has been successfully completed. Congratulations Ray on your road to success.]
Ray looked back and forth between his hands and joyfully said, "It's done."
Taking their hands, Ray was pulled up. The three had their own distinct and unique looks. Each of them unconsciously displayed a pressure that was well deserved of their now unique talent.
"Quick, check your status!" Ash urged Ray.
"Yeah yeah, give me a sec." Ray calmed him down and sent a thought to the system. 'System, display my status.'
[Name: Ray
Age: 17
Race: Eternal Human
Title: None
Cultivation Realm: Mortal Cleansing Realm (9th Stage)
Energy Points: 0/100
Bloodline: Eternal Lightning Bloodline
Physique: None
Element Affinities: None
Passive Skills: Eternal Body (1st Level)
Skills: Eternal Speed (1st Stage), Bloodline Transformation (1st Stage)]
'I'm at the 9th stage already? Hot shit indeed!' Ray naturally formed a smile on his face.
'System, explain the skills and anything left out for me please.'
[Eternal Body: Birthed from the beginning of time, the Eternal Body grants an incomparable increase in the user's cultivation speed and lifespan.]
[Eternal Speed (1st Stage): Utilize the power of lightning and gain an incredible speed by 10%. Further stages will be unlocked as the user increases his cultivation realm.]
[Bloodline Transformation (1st Stage): Using the power of the Eternal Lightning Bloodline, the user can transform his body to gain an astronomical advantage. Attack power is increased by 20%, Defense power is increased by 5%, and Speed power is increased by 10%. Additionally, bloodline skills gain an increase of 10% in power. Take notice, the energy consumption is heavy and once the transformation wears off, the user will be in a weakened state. Further stages will be unlocked as the user increases his cultivation realm.]
[The Eternal Lightning Bloodline grants you an innate bloodline suppression. More skills will be unlocked after the user successfully reaches every major cultivation realm.]
After joyfully reading the descriptions, Ray looked at the other two and asked, "Do you guys feel any kind of suppression in your body?"
"Nope." Ash instantly denied.
"I don't feel anything." Bryan shook his head.
Ray frowned and asked the system, 'Why is my bloodline not suppressing them?'
[Because Bryan and Ash have divine physiques that are ranked around the top, they naturally negate the bloodline suppression effect. The bloodline suppression effect will only affect lower ranked physiques and bloodlines.]
'Ohh…!' Ray understood now.
"So, what stage are you at now, Ray?" Bryan curiously inquired.
Ray smiled and answered, "I'm at the 9th stage."
"What the fuck…" Ash did not expect that.
"But I assume your physiques should give you an amazing advantage of fighting cultivators with higher cultivation realms. So, who knows." Ray shrugged.
Ash smirked and uttered lightly, "Maybe."
"I got a few nutty skills though and they all seem intricately linked." Ray mentioned.
"So, are they lightning based?" Ash curiously asked.
"Yeah, they are. Well, they must be assuming from the name of the bloodline." Ray nodded.
"Well, I gotta focus on ice-related skills. My passive gives me a huge advantage if I use ice-related skills." Ash said.
"Same for me but in terms of fire. Apparently, I can handle all kinds of fire, but what other types of fire are there?" Bryan was curious.
"We'll find out once we start exploring the world, I guess." Ray shrugged.
*Sigh*
"What a crazy few hours!" Bryan suddenly sighed in amazement.
"Yeah…" Ray nodded.
"From our normal lives of fucking around to suddenly being in a cultivation world and gaining some insane ass power ups. What is life eh…" Ash clenched his fist with a smile.
"How interesting!" A wizened old voice floated over in the ears of the three.
Their eyes widened and instantly huddled up together with their backs against each other, looking everywhere for the person who spoke just now. Their hearts sped up slightly in panic because they did not expect anyone else to be in the vicinity.
"Who and where are you?" Bryan questioned with a warning tone.
"Relax, kids."
The three witnessed something unusual and saw the unknown speaker, who turned out to be an old man, appear in the sky from out of nowhere. It was as if he was here the entire time. The golden robed old man slowly descended on a clear patch in front of the three young men.
The three instantly compared him to an otherworldly being. The old man naturally exuded a grand presence signifying that he is above all.
"Holy moly…" Ash was fascinated with the old man's aura.
"Damn…" Ray narrowed his eyes alarmingly.
"Snap out of it, Ash. Don't get sucked into his presence or aura or some shit!" Bryan snapped Ash from his fascination.
"Relax, my guard was up the entire time." Ash smiled.
The old man smiled and said, "I'm not here to bring you any harm."
"Then what are you here for, Misterrr…?" Ray probed.
"Since I'm the oldest here, why don't you three tell me your names and then I will reply with mine." The old man caressed his droopy beard.
"Well, isn't he trying to be smart?" Bryan whispered grumpily.
"Haha! I'm not trying to be smart; I am smart." The old man chuckled.
*Cough*
Ray and Ash snickered albeit in a low tone.
"…" Bryan was rendered speechless.
"I don't the old man is hostile so might as well introduce ourselves.", Ray introduced himself, "Hello, Mr. Old man, my name is Ray and I'm the youngest amongst us."
"I'm Ash and I'm the eldest." Ash followed up with a smile.
"My name's Bryan and I'm the second eldest. Also, we're all best friends." Bryan responded reluctantly.
"I'll keep them in mind. As for me, my name is Xavier and I'm the Ancient Elder of the Celestial Nirvana Sect." The Ancient Elder revealed his identity.
"The Celestial Nirvana Sect?" Ray and the others showed puzzled expressions.
Xavier's expression faltered for a moment before he muttered, "There are people who actually don't know the Celestial Nirvana Sect? Interesting…"
"So, what brings you here, Mr. Xavier?" Ray questioned the Ancient Elder.
"From the world-shaking events you three have caused, did you think I wouldn't notice it? Also, I am quite certain that I'm not the only one." Xavier casually answered.
"Oh…"
"To be honest, we're confused. We suddenly woke up in the middle of the forest and have no recollection of anything." Ray spoke up.
"We don't know who we are and why we woke up here.", Bryan continued, "All we know is that we have somehow awakened a special power."
"Yeah, it would be cool if you could help us, old man." Ash said with a cheeky smile.
The Ancient Elder closed his eyes in contemplation, 'Interesting! They sound suspicious but the fact they need my help seems to be genuine. Anyways, I would be a fool to not bring in these kids to the sect.'
Xavier opened his eyes with a smile and asked, "I can help you but before that, what do you three think about joining the Celestial Nirvana Sect?"