The Anomaly Beyond The System

When dropping his blood onto the gemstone, Lucian hadn’t tried using the Restriction skill on his bloodline.

There were a few reasons for that.

First, he himself wanted to know what rarity his bloodline had, especially his Devourer Bloodline.

It was his main origin, the bloodline that had been with him from the very start, and the one that possessed perhaps the most overpowered ability among all the powers he currently had.

So, naturally, he wanted to know just how highly it would be classified.

As for the other reason...

Lucian didn’t really have a good understanding of the Restriction skill yet, and despite being a genius, he wasn’t someone who could simply obtain a new skill and immediately understand it with extreme ease the instant he got it.

And of course, he was curious about how the artifact would actually work.

But it seemed...

He had made a mistake.

Crack.

A faint, almost minute sound of cracking resounded from the gemstone.

It was so quiet that none of them heard it, except Lucian.

With his heightened senses, hearing something as delicate as the sound of a tiny crack was easy.

’It cannot be, right?’

Lucian thought, cold sweat forming on his forehead, almost wanting to believe that he had heard wrong.

Perhaps it was merely the sound of the artifact activating, or maybe—

Crack.

Nope!

He definitely hadn’t heard anything wrong...!

The Bloodline Compass—which had been spinning nonstop like a compass trapped inside an enormous magnetic field—suddenly came to an abrupt stop.

The thin golden needle froze in place, becoming completely still.

A heavy silence immediately fell over the chamber.

Every one of them stared at the artifact, each carrying a completely different expression.

"Something is wrong," Cedric muttered in a grim voice as he looked at the screen beneath the compass.

Leonardo, Lucian, and Seraphina frowned slightly, and Leonardo immediately stepped closer, attempting to see what was displayed on the artifact, curiosity clearly flickering within his eyes.

"What is it? What is written over there?" Lucian asked in a low voice, though his voice trembled ever so slightly.

"There’s nothing."

"There’s nothing."

Leonardo and Cedric spoke almost simultaneously, their voices echoing together within the chamber.

"Hm?" Seraphina let out a confused sound, while Lucian’s frown deepened.

Nothing...?

Getting no proper answer from either of them, Lucian clicked his tongue and stepped forward.

Leonardo was still standing directly beside the artifact, so Lucian shoved him aside without any hesitation, trying to take a proper look.

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"What the fuck?"

Lucian practically cursed the moment he saw the completely distorted screen before him.

"Did it glitch?" he couldn’t help but ask, his voice carrying genuine confusion.

Yet the moment he turned toward Cedric and Leonardo...

Both of them seemed to be staring at him with rather solemn gazes.

"Lad," Cedric spoke in a low, serious voice.

"I don’t mean to blame you... but either the artifact is broken—which is next to impossible..."

Cedric’s eyes narrowed.

"...or it is because of your bloodline."

Instead of reacting rashly or lashing out in anger—which he certainly felt like doing—Lucian simply frowned in response, not even reacting despite having potentially caused the mess himself.

"You’re saying I broke it?" he asked, feeling wronged.

"..."

Cedric didn’t say anything, his gaze locked onto the young man.

Lucian stared back with the same intensity.

"Just what kind of bloodline do you have?"

Lucian didn’t answer.

He had no intention of revealing anything, and that lack of an answer only made Cedric even more curious—and perhaps even a little cautious.

A bloodline capable of destroying the artifact...

’Wait...’

Cedric’s expression instantly changed, and his eyes widened slightly.

Something in his gaze shifted as he looked at Lucian, causing both Lucian and Seraphina to frown slightly.

"It seems you are really unique, lad."

The Director shook his head slightly, and a faint, almost unbelievable smile appeared on his face.

There was something different in his expression now, as if he had encountered something he hadn’t expected to see.

"Already two people have broken our Bloodline Compass once, and now there’s you."

"What...?"

Lucian’s brows furrowed.

Two people?

What did he mean by that?

"You don’t know about the Saintess and the Cho—"

"Director."

Before Cedric could complete his sentence, Leonardo suddenly interjected, causing all of them to turn toward him.

Leonardo was still examining the Bloodline Compass, his attention focused entirely on the seemingly damaged artifact.

And seeing the odd look on his face—

"What is it? Did it break?" Cedric asked.

Lucian gulped slightly, hoping the answer would be no.

But—

Leonardo silently nodded.

Both men turned toward Lucian once again, and he couldn’t help but take a small step backwards.

"Nope... Nope...! I don’t have any money to give you."

He immediately grabbed Seraphina’s wrist, almost as if preparing to escape with her the moment either of them asked him to pay for the artifact.

He was already poor!

He had no time, and more importantly, no money to give to these old government fools!

Fuck them!!!

Seeing him behaving like this, Cedric shook his head slightly.

"...We aren’t asking for money."

"Oh..."

Lucian paused, his grip on Seraphina’s wrist loosening slightly.

"Oh...!"

He nodded, then smiled brightly, his confidence returning at full speed as though nothing had happened.

"Good. I don’t have any money to give you anyway, old man."

Cedric’s lips twitched violently, and for a brief moment, he genuinely had the urge to reach forward and slap that disgustingly handsome face, especially that irritating smile of his.

After looking at the Bloodline Compass one last time, Leonardo tried to confirm its functionality with his own blood.

But unfortunately...

Nothing happened.

The gemstone didn’t even absorb the blood, as if something inside it had already been completely broken.

Both of them glanced at Lucian one last time before the Director eventually let out a frustrated sigh.

The Bloodline Compass was worth more than a million dollars.

And now... it was broken.

’Don’t tell me... was my bloodline really enough to break it?’

Lucian couldn’t help but wonder.

There was no way his bloodline alone would’ve been enough to break an entire B-rank artifact...

Right?

He didn’t even know if that was possible.

Seraphina watched all of this from the side, remaining silent, not knowing what to say about her son’s behaviour.

Though honestly...

She wanted to pull his cheeks right now, seeing him behaving so rashly in front of people who worked directly for the Government.

Throughout all of this...

There was something about the Director’s previous words that had caught Lucian’s attention.

’Saintess.’

He tilted his head slightly, wondering who exactly the old man had been talking about.

He hadn’t heard that name even in his fleeting past life.

’There’s something like a Saintess as well? This is becoming more and more of a fantasy world.’

But it seemed this... Saintess could be from the Church.

Even he wasn’t entirely sure, and he didn’t feel like asking these people. Still, hearing about a Saintess made it obvious that someone like that might belong to some sacred place... perhaps.

’Perhaps Kanna will know.’

The moment he thought about the Saintess again... almost unconsciously, a woman’s face appeared within his mind.

Bright, soft golden hair, a cute yet beautiful face, and those emerald eyes of hers that seemed to sparkle whenever she spoke.

Stella.

Lucian’s expression subtly changed, and a soft smile appeared on his face, only for it to turn downcast within a few seconds.

’I... haven’t even tried contacting her.’

He had been so occupied with everything happening around him that he hadn’t even considered reaching out to her.

’What is she doing right now?’

It had been a couple of months since the last time he had seen her—the last time she had picked up his call.

Worry flickered within his eyes for a long moment as he thought about her.

But eventually, he pushed those thoughts aside and shifted his gaze toward the next device placed beside the Bloodline Compass.

"Another crystal," he murmured quietly, his voice laced with a faint hint of apprehension.

"Don’t worry... it will simply tell us your affinity." The Director spoke calmly.

"It won’t break... perhaps."

Lucian stared at him, his expression slowly turning blank.

"Make up your mind, old man."

The Director’s eyes twitched again upon hearing himself being called an ’old man’.

This boy was really getting on his nerves, and yet Cedric couldn’t help but feel somewhat amused by him.

Perhaps it was his natural charm, but there was simply something about the boy that made it difficult to remain genuinely angry at him, no matter how irritating his words could be.

But still—

"If this breaks, you are paying."

Lucian’s hand almost stilled for a few seconds.

Then, with considerably more care than before, he placed his hand over the crystal, almost gently.

After a few seconds, the crystal glowed a fiery orange, and words appeared beneath the pedestal.

"Fire Affinity."

Leonardo immediately noted it down, writing it beneath the previous entry.

Bloodline: Unknown.

They could’ve simply asked Lucian for the name of his bloodline.

However, that wasn’t exactly a surefire or accurate method of determining someone’s bloodline, since anyone could simply lie.

So, just like they had done with the other two unusual individuals—Stella Lorien and Arthur Brown—they left his bloodline as Unknown.

The Saintess and the Chosen One had also possessed bloodlines that the Association couldn’t properly identify through their ordinary methods.

And now...

This lad had joined that small list.

Lucian simply nodded upon seeing the result.

He wasn’t particularly surprised, but internally—

’Why isn’t it showing my Blood Affinity and Soul Affinity?’

He was slightly confused, but after checking the description of the Affinity Crystal with his Analysis skill, he understood.

[It can only be used to check basic affinities—not truly unique ones like yours.]

’Hm, yeah, I read that.’

Moving onward to the other tests...

Lucian briefly closed his eyes, focusing on something inside him before opening them.

Instantly—

[Attempting to put restrictions on the host’s rank... Complete.]

[Your rank has been temporarily restricted to E rank.]

[Restriction will be removed within one minute due to your lower mastery over the skill.]

[00:59]

The moment Cedric and Leonardo looked toward the rank displayed on the crystal, however—

"You are E rank currently," Cedric spoke in an unusual tone, almost as if...

"Why do you sound surprised?" Lucian asked.

Cedric paused.

"Well... you don’t really seem to be that strong."

He wasn’t talking about Lucian’s body, since Lucian was already taller than him and even seemed to pack some muscles beneath that suit.

But when he sensed the mana exuding from the man’s body, the result felt strange.

He couldn’t even feel an F-ranker’s mana from him.

Seraphina stared at the man with a faint deadpan expression beneath her mask, as if she couldn’t understand how he had come to such a ridiculous conclusion.

Lucian was giving him almost the exact same look.

Even though Seraphina had no idea about his actual combat prowess, she was sure he was more powerful than they were...

Or perhaps she was simply believing too much in her son.

A blind belief of a mother.

Meanwhile, within the shadows, Kanna stared at the results in silence, not understanding how he had done that.

Rank wasn’t simply determined by mana, which Lucian could easily reduce without much effort, especially when dealing with an artifact specifically designed to measure it.

Even she didn’t know whether there was a way to completely bypass the artifact’s detection.

Yet here he was... being recognised as an E-ranker despite being a C-rank Vampire.

’How...?’

The question inside her mind remained unanswered.

And at last, it was time to check the talent.

The words displayed on the tablet suddenly began glowing brightly before revealing Lucian’s talent.

And the moment they saw it—

A ripple of shock passed through everyone present.

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