Startled, Ryder turned around to be met with the most beautiful girl he had seen in both this life and past life, granted he hadn't lived this life for very long. With top tier facial features along with a curvy body, she could put any model to shame. The only problem with Ryder was the fact that her eyes seemed off putting as if her glare could kill him itself, and she was also too young for his taste.
'Must be one of my sisters, too bad I can't even remember her name.'
Cursing the former body's owner for not even remembering his beautiful sister's name, Ryder was at a loss for what to do.
Seeing that Ryder didn't respond, the girl sighed and spoke in an annoyed tone, "whatever you do, just stay away from me." She took one more look at Ryder and then walked off into a different section of the library, presumably trying to read as well.
"Jeez, what was the point of even approaching me then…" Ryder muttered with a frustrated heart. But his anger quickly died down when he saw a book that caught his eye. On the cover of the book, written in black ink, were the words "Magic Genes".
"Interesting…" Picking it up, Ryder noticed that the book was particularly dusty as if it hadn't been touched in ages.
However, the contents of the book made his eyes widen. Inside the world of Krynn, the human genome could contain a maximum of 30,000 protein-coding genes, which is at least 10,000 more than the average human back on Earth.
What made Ryder surprised was the fact that most of these extra 10,000 special gene sequences were made for the specific use of superpowers, such as magic or superhuman strength.
Furthermore, these extra genes were solely unique to the individual, meaning they couldn't be transformed from one person to the other. These special genes determine an individual's magic type, their aptitude for magic, and their affinity with it.
Similarly, if an individual didn't want to walk the path of magic, they could turn their special gene sequences into conductors for superhuman strength through the use of Oaths. Oaths allow an individual to convert their genes to produce "aura" instead of mana. Thus, by following this path, powerful guards would be born.
But not everyone could unleash all 10,000 of their special gene sequences, and in fact, it was rare to even unleash 50-75% of it. Let's say, for example, if a person only had 1,000 genes of the 10,000 special gene sequences unlocked, then that means he could only unleash 10% of his potential. At most, he would amount to an adept mage or a novice guard. No one has ever unleashed all 10,000 of their special gene sequences before in history.
After finishing the book, a stunned Ryder closed it and began contemplating in silence.
'So it seems like I won't be able to become a guard after all, what can I do?'
Right now, he is in an urgent situation where he has nothing to use to defend himself. Ryder concluded that since his body was magicless, where he couldn't exert even the tiniest amount of mana, then he assumed that his body contained 0 special gene sequences. Furthermore, it would be impossible to transfer other people's special gene sequences to him as these genes are exclusive to the individual.
Facing a roadblock, all he could do for now was to continue looking for more information he could use to help his crisis.
. . .
It had already been two weeks since Ryder had been thrown into this world, and all he had been doing was waking up, eating, visiting the library, and sleeping.
There wasn't much he could do in the castle, and reading books helped ease his boredom.
Furthermore, learning an entirely new history and the fact that otherworldly powers such as mana existed helped Ryder accept the fact that he was truly in a different world.
The more he learned from the books, the more he realized just how dangerous of a situation he was in.
There was no one to protect him here, and he didn't even feel safe with his own family. Only power could help him survive, which is something that he lacked.
As Ryder mulled over his situation, he was unaware of a watchful pair of eyes observing his actions.
It was his sister from before, who became intrigued after seeing Ryder visit the library every day.
It was understandable since Ryder had never done so in the past. Coming to the library all of a sudden would raise some suspicion, especially if it was the boy who always locked himself up in his room.
Unable to withstand her curiosity, the girl placed down her book and approached the thinking Ryder.
"Hey, what are you reading?"
The voice made Ryder jump and he looked up to see his sister from before staring at him. Questioning if he was seeing things, he rubbed his eyes and blinked again, but she was still standing there.
'Huh, what's she doing here?'
Wondering why the cold sister of his from before approached him again, Ryder scratched the back of his head before showing her the book he was reading.
"Nothing much, just a book about genes." He replied to her, still wary about her intentions.
The girl, on the other hand, had a sparkle in her eyes which she quickly hid and crossed her arms. She then looked at Ryder with contempt and ridicule.
"Don't you have no magic in your body, what's the point in even learning about magic," she snorted, seemingly unimpressed with Ryder's futile attempt. "Might as well be rot in your room forever."
Ryder now understood her true intentions. She was just like Kyle, someone who bullied the weak. Tired of being ridiculed over and over again, he lashed out at her.
"Stop this, seriously, who do you think you are?" Ryder snapped, he didn't care anymore. "I might be magicless, but at least I'm trying to do something!"
His sister widened her eyes in shock, she hadn't expected such a response from her loner of a sibling. Out of anger, she raised her arm and was about to strike him but stopped after seeing he hadn't even flinched.
Ryder stood his ground, his eyes locked onto hers. Contrary to her expectations, he didn't feel scared at all. They might have physical disparities, but the mental disparity was on his side, as he was mentally much older than her. To him, it felt like facing an irritating teenager.
Her hand trembled slightly, and for a moment, there was a flicker of uncertainty in the girl's eyes. It was as if Ryder's sudden change had shocked her.
Then, all of a sudden, she turned and walked away quickly. Ryder was surprised to see this, but he still had a sense of frustration in his chest.
After another week, Ryder was still sitting in the library, looking for new books to read. Most of the books were for people with magic, something that he didn't have. Thus, he couldn't read most of the books here.
As he was looking for a new book, a series of footsteps were heard behind him. Ryder turned around to be met with his sister that he encountered last week, which caught him off guard.
"Hey," She said while crossing her arms.
"Hi?" Ryder responded, raising his guard. He was confused as to why she would approach him again after the last confrontation.
"You want to get stronger?" His sister offered out of the blue.
"Huh?" He was stunned. Never would he have expected her to say that.
"I said, I can help you get stronger."
Ryder was bewildered by her change in attitude, but he didn't drop his guard yet.
"How? And why should I trust you?"
"Because I'm your only choice." She retorted. "You also keep reading these books on genes and technology that aren't helpful to you at all.
"At this point, Ryder could feel his frustration building up rapidly again. Did this girl come here to berate him again? To come here and deem his efforts useless?
But before he could say anything, she pulled out an extremely old book from within her coat.
"Here, read this." She said while handing the book to Ryder.
Confused, but still wary of her, Ryder picked up the book and read the cover. In an eerily fashion, the title "Bloodsworthe Bloodline" was written in dark, red ink.
Looking back at the girl, she beckoned him to read it, so he cautiously flipped the book open and dove into its contents.
"Wh-what is this…" Ryder couldn't believe what he was reading. The contents of the book stated that individuals who possessed the Bloodsworthe bloodline had a different genome compared with the average human. It didn't affect the extra 10,000 special gene sequences, but the other normal 20,000 genes. These 20,000 "normal" genes were actually disguised as bloodline genes. Descendants of the Bloodsworthe bloodline were capable of exerting their bloodline power if they had enough bloodline genes activated.
"Do you get it now?" The girl asked, unsurprised by Ryder's shocked state.
"Get what?" Confused by her question, Ryder tilted his head and looked at her.The girl sighed and facepalmed.
"We're special, dumbass."
"Ohhhhhhhh…" Ryder's face lit up, then immediately tilted his head. "What?"
The girl stared at Ryder as if he was stupid.
"If you train hard enough to activate these genes, you can become strong as well."
Now Ryder was even more confused. "How, I thought genes were predetermined by birth?"
"That's true, but only for special gene sequences. For our bloodline genes, we can activate them until we hit our limit." She responded.
"So what's our limit?"The girl looked at Ryder and grinned, "Well, that depends on you now, doesn't it?"