The milky-white spiritual essence blocks were condensed forms of spirit energy, the power source necessary to activate the ritual array.
The more spirit energy consumed, the farther the participant advanced on the path of bloodline awakening. And the farther one walked, the closer they came to the origin of their bloodline.
At that moment, another white-haired elder's eyes brimmed with tears, his lips trembling as he exclaimed:
"The amount of spirit consumed has already surpassed what I used in my time by more than a hundredfold! It's as I suspected—a mythological bloodline! Excellent! Excellent! Excellent!"
Meanwhile, Eros was wandering through the gray mist of the strange world, utterly bewildered.
He had walked a considerable distance yet still hadn't seen the so-called path his father mentioned.
Where's my path? My path! Wasn't there supposed to be a path appearing before me?
Is this a glitch? What am I supposed to do now? Just keep going forward?
After a moment of hesitation, he shrugged. Forget it. Father said to walk as far as possible anyway. Even if there's no visible path, I'll just keep going.
And so, he picked a random direction and kept moving forward through the fog.
Whenever he got tired, he would stop to rest before continuing his trek.
Time slipped by, though he had no idea how long he'd been walking. He also couldn't tell how far he'd gone—this damned place lacked any reference points.
Everywhere he looked, the surroundings were exactly the same, a never-ending gray fog.
At this point, he wasn't even sure if he was walking in a straight line anymore.
At that moment, Eros noticed a small light appearing ahead of him.
A thrill of excitement surged through him—finally, something other than the endless gray mist!
Without hesitation, he picked up his pace and ran toward the light.
As he got closer, he saw that it was a small, pale green orb of light, floating mid-air and radiating a gentle glow. It was only about the size of a fist.
What surprised him even more was that the moment the green orb's glow enveloped him, he felt completely rejuvenated. The fatigue from running vanished instantly, leaving him feeling refreshed and invigorated.
"Could this be the bloodline mark Father mentioned?" Eros muttered as he extended a finger toward the orb, intending to poke it.
The moment his fingertip touched the orb, everything went blurry.
When his vision cleared again, he found himself plummeting through the air, free-falling toward an expansive ocean below.
"Ahhhh!" he screamed instinctively, panic overtaking him.
Just as he thought he was doomed, a vine suddenly appeared out of nowhere, wrapping around his waist and pulling him sideways.
After regaining his bearings, Eros found himself face-to-face with a woman.
She wore a delicate green dress that exuded a natural elegance, and a floral wreath rested atop her head.
Eros stared at her in a daze, his heart pounding wildly in his chest.
Oh, no. She's too much. She's exactly my type.
In an instant, a line from his previous life surfaced in his mind: "Charming like the peach blossoms of spring, pure like the chrysanthemums of autumn."
If this didn't describe her, what would? And that wasn't even the best part—she had long, flowing white hair. White hair! It was perfect. Absolutely perfect.
The stunning woman, seemingly a goddess, looked at the boy before her with a trace of confusion on her face.
She couldn't fathom how this child had suddenly appeared in her domain, nor could she understand how, as a mere mortal, he could gaze directly at her without being affected.
The woman, or perhaps the goddess, gazed intently at the boy, her eyes narrowing slightly as a faint realization seemed to dawn within her.
So that's how it is…
Meanwhile, Eros, still dazed by her beauty, was abruptly pulled back to reality by an eerie, chilling laugh that echoed through the space.
He instinctively turned toward the source of the sound, and what he saw made him jump back in shock.
"Woc!" The expletive slipped from his mouth before he could stop himself.
The sight before him was nothing short of horrifying—a massive, indescribable lump of flesh with a single enormous eye in the center. Around the eye squirmed countless writhing tentacles, creating a grotesque and unsettling sight.
The creature seemed to notice him, and its massive pupil locked onto him.
Then, as if amused, numerous smaller eyes began to surface on its exposed skin, tentacles, and even the central eye itself.
Soon, its entire body was covered with countless unblinking eyes, all staring directly at him.
The creature emitted a constant, eerie laugh: "Hee-hee, hee-hee, hee-hee…"
Eros felt his scalp tingle, his whole body crawling with discomfort. The sheer density of eyes was nauseating, triggering a visceral reaction deep in his gut.
If someone with a fear of clusters saw this, they'd probably drop dead on the spot.
Unable to bear the sight any longer, he quickly turned away, refusing to look at the thing any further.
This is too much. I don't know how I ended up here, but it seems like these two are in some kind of standoff. And me? I've just barged right into the middle of it.
Thankfully, he had appeared closer to the beautiful woman. If he had landed near that grotesque creature, he might not have lived to tell the tale.
Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind. Wait… isn't this supposed to be the bloodline baptism ritual?
According to what his father had explained, the bloodline baptism was about tracing back to the origin of the bloodline. Along the way, he would encounter marks left by various ancestors within the bloodline.
His task was to select the strongest ancestor possible and awaken their bloodline within himself.
Which brought him to the pressing question: Is this woman in front of me my ancestor?
I finally fall for someone, and you're telling me I'm losing this hard?
Having understood the child's identity and purpose, Cecilia no longer had the patience to deal with the grotesque and twisted entity before her.
She gave it a final glance before vanishing from sight, taking Eros with her, still supported by the vine.
The vast, desolate sea was left with only the horrifying, twisted creature.
As Eros disappeared, the entity's gaze shifted to the spot where he had abruptly appeared.
Without any discernible movement, the space where he had stood sprouted countless writhing tentacles.
Eyes began to emerge one after another from the seams of the fleshy appendages, overflowing and filling the area entirely, only to abruptly vanish moments later.
Accompanied by the sound of unsettling, low laughter, the creature slowly submerged beneath the ocean's surface, disappearing into the depths.
Elsewhere
Eros blinked as his vision blurred again, and the next thing he knew, he was standing in another unfamiliar place.
Sigh! Another sudden scene change. I'm getting used to these by now.
Suddenly, a melodious laugh interrupted Eros's train of thought.
"I didn't expect you to choose to awaken the bloodline of the Elves! Since that's the case, I shall personally conduct the baptism for you. Be ready, little Alicia."
Eros froze for a moment, only now noticing the peculiar, otherworldly ears partially hidden beneath the flower crown of the gentle white-haired woman before him.
Unlike normal human ears, hers were slightly pointed and elongated.
"She's… an Elf?"
Eros's mind raced as he remembered what his father had told him in the library—that their ancestors had once intermarried with the Elves.
So, this woman in front of him really was a mark left in the bloodline by one of his ancestors?
But then… what about that tentacle monster? Could it be an ancestor too?
Wait… are bloodline marks supposed to look like this?
And… who the hell is Alicia?
She called him Alicia, but why? Did she mistake him for someone else?
Sure, he was quite handsome in this life, but not to the point where people would mistake his gender!