RD 2 Ch 7 (Patreon)

Chapter 7

I let out a breath as I stepped onto the coliseum floor. The morning had gone rather smoothly. My grandparents had been overbearing, which had ultimately stopped my mother from getting a word in to tell me not to pursue Odyssey.

The coliseum seemed particularly big from down below. People crowded into the stands while a group of eighteen year olds gathered in the center of the pit. Sand covered the floor in a layer thin enough to show bare stone in patches.

Simone along with the rest of my family were up in the stands somewhere.

Down in the sand of the fighting pit were about three dozen of us.

“Welcome.” A man who looked older because of the white beard, but otherwise seemed rather young, stepped up to the edge of the pit. This was Zeus, second of the name for the clan. “Those of you who officially join the Heros clan today, we welcome you with open arms. Our Clan holds a powerful tradition of initiation followed by awakening of your bloodline. With that, you become official members of the Heros Clan, blessed by our great ancestor. If you would.” He gestured to the side and two big men carried a stone altar. Atop it was chained a winged, golden ram.

It was not just the color gold, but I could have sworn its coat was real gold wire.

“Today, we sacrifice another of our flock to honor our ancestors and provide power to those who will join us.” The man intoned.

I noticed underneath the ram there was a blood red shield that was an artifact.

[Artifact of Honor - Produces a wave of initiation when a Golden Ram is killed nearby.]

Ah. That made enough sense, I never got to see it in my past life. Artifacts to kick off initiation often had a very specific requirement. It also meant that if anyone were to steal it, not only did they need the artifact, but a supply of the rams. The rams were also in short supply leading to more periodic use of the artifact.

I imagined someone had the unfortunate job of secretly raising golden rams all year round in some isolated area.

While I was busy staring at it, the leader of Olympus continued a wonderful speech that meant absolutely nothing to me. I was just here to make out like a bandit.

“With this sacrifice. Join us!” He raised his hands and the two who had brought out the beast killed it.

All of the other people in the pit made noises of surprise as no doubt their windows were popping up.

I opened my own status menu, gasping as I thumbed the talisman and swiped in the air to play my part.

Out of the crowd, Circe caught my eyes and gave me a finger wave before mouthing ‘Double S’.

Part of me wanted to screw it up just because I didn’t like being told what to do. Yet, I would stick to the plan.

“If anyone would like help with their class selections, please go seek your trusted advisers in the stands.” The man said, staring down at one in particular.

I inspected him as his status changed and his class revealed itself.

[Name: Zane Heros

Level: 1

Class: Dragon Knight SSS

…]

Just like in my past life, the next leader of the Heros clan has been born. If he got the Black Dragon bloodline as well, he’d be well on his way.

I stabbed at the menu in front of me and reached through my pocket to peel off the talisman keeping my status basic.

[Name: Bran Heros

Level: 1

Class: Vampire Lord SS

…]

It had felt appropriate to add ‘lord’ for the SS rank class. As an added bonus, the one talisman that removed my eyes should have reverted to the red they had been taking on.

Circe smiled at me from the stands and pointed at her own red eyes.

Everyone in the stands was looking around and I felt dozens of inspections crawl across my skin. I had to try and resist from pushing them all away.

“Wow, congratulations.” One of the guys near me said. “This year seems to be a good one from what my parents have told me.”

[Name: Rylan Heros

Level: 1

Class: Giant Slayer S

…]

Everywhere I looked down in the sands people were getting quality classes. The lowest I saw was a B rank. They were despondent at their luck. Though in the general populace they’d still be above average.

A girl argued with her father over her selection while several S rank ladies appeared in the pits as well.

Finally there was another SSS. I didn’t recognize the name though. Galen Heros must have died in my past timeline.

But the Galen Heros in front of me was ecstatic. He seemed on cloud nine, hands on his hips and head thrown back as he pronounced to the world. “I will rule this clan one day and the Hercules faction will rise with me!” His class was Reaper SSS.

Ah, well it seemed he had already chosen his side. It would stand opposite of Zane. I had an idea of what might happen to him.

Many of the participants were being congratulated.

Simone stood in the stands jumping on the balls of her feet, giving me a thumbs up while my mother had a light smile on her face, probably not even surprised at the shift in my class.

“Everyone calm down. Make your selections. This is just the beginning of a long journey and your starting point. You can make the best of it in the long run.” The white bearded man stroked his beard with a giant smile on his face. His branch’s child had done fantastically.

The young woman who was arguing with her mother and father seemed to finally sag in defeat. She was the classic Heros beauty with thick tresses of black hair and a cute oval face. She tapped on her screen and dragged herself back to the pit.

I expected to see something weak as a response, but that was far from the issue.

[Name: Nyx Heros

Level: 1

Class: Medusaic Archer SSS]

Oh. Oh fuck. That’s why she was throwing such a fit. This was the Mesuda, from what I remembered people saying she got a full head of snake hair and her legs turned into a serpent’s tail. I’m guessing it was her only SSS ranked option, thus of course her family would want her to pick it, but chances were she wasn’t thrilled about the changes she knew were likely coming.

Nyx’s head hung and her shoulders slumped amid the group at the bottom of the pit.

It didn’t last long before her head and everyone else’s started looking around.

Stone ground on stone and the pit vibrated.

“Everyone, please hold up your right hand.” The man led us in an oath. “I…”

“I Bran Heros.” I joined the chant with everyone else.

“Plan to give myself to the ancestor of the Heros Clan and allow him to bestow upon me a worthy bloodline.”

We all echoed the leader, and the two that had slaughtered the ram had bowls as they started at the front and moved through us.

“Now everyone two lines please.”

It was quickly apparent that they were dipping their fingers in a red paste and marking each person’s forehead.

They went down the line and I used Soul Gaze on the paste.

[Soul Opening Paste SS]

My brow went up at that one. This was something that would make our souls permeable. I wasn’t able to resist an SS rank medicine, and it would be poor form to refuse. By that I mean I’d probably get a spear to the gut.

Every Heros went through this; it couldn’t be a big deal.

My turn came and went as the two moved through the line dabbing their fingers in the paste and marking each of our foreheads with a few strokes.

Just as they finished, the ground of the pit opened up and the vibrating changed pitch as an instance portal appeared, lifted on a slab of stone.

I’d never seen a mobile instance portal before.

Then again, this was a special case of an instance that had been forcibly held open.

[The Blood Dragon’s World Level 1 S 1/1]

“Through this portal that you should all see now, lies our ancestor. He hosts all of you for a trip into his instance. There you’ll have a once in a lifetime opportunity to hunt and kill S rank monsters at level one. It would be impossible without a powerful bloodline though. Please make your way through and then meditate for our ancestor to grace you. Once you have your bloodline, you may venture out.”

“Don’t we have to kill the boss?” One of the participants raised his hand. “Does that mean we have to kill the ancestor?”

“No. He is not the boss, merely living in the instance. This world cannot support him.” The leader of Olympus explained, reciting the lines like he’d said them a thousand times. When he finished, he waved the lines of initiates to start moving.

None of them seemed to need much encouragement as they rushed through.

I took my time, walking behind my row, keeping an eye on everyone.

In particular, I watched the three SSS rank classes. Only one of them had survived in the clan for any appreciable amount of time.

Zane and Galen coming to blows was pretty much expected. As for Nyx, with the way she was acting, she was monster food. At least the legend of the medusa in the clan lived on for a while after her death.

I shook my head at the waste of talent that was about to occur.

Stepping through the instance portal, the scent of blood hit me like a punch to the face.

On the other side of the instance, the scene was nothing like the island we’d just been on, breaking several rules already. Instead, I found myself on a platform between two pools of blood.

“Everyone, get in a pool and meditate.” Zane instructed us all. “When the ancestor descends from the mountain, you need to be in one or it’ll be too late.” He pointed at a mountain in the distance. It was the central figure of the island we were now on.

The blood pools were on a little peninsula away from the main body of the island.

My gaze turned back to the mountain.

I was beyond curious.

The blood dragon was supposed to be the spirit of an ancient beast that remained on earth after defending it from the demons during the world’s birth. All the five clans had one serving as their guardian. The blood dragon never showed during the demon invasions.

Galen started laughing. “Everyone, come join me in this pool.” He stepped to the other pool. “For those of you who don’t know, the ancestor can feel which branch you are in and have associated yourself with. It favors the Hercules Branch by far.”

“Don’t listen to him.” Zane ignored the man and went to the other pool.

As for myself and the rest of the thirty some participants, we paused.

Galen was asking us to make a decision as for which side to pick.

I shook off my worry. There was no need to hesitate. “I’ve already joined Odyssey. Don’t make it out like picking it is making some enemy of you Galen.” Already being right next to Zane’s blood pool, I slipped into it while taking a critical look at Galen.

The young man narrowed his eyes at me dangerously. “Odyssey doesn’t take members until after you're initiated and she can assess your combat.”

“Take it up with Circe. She took a liking to me yesterday and gave me a personal tour. Now stop making me shout across this distance. I’m worried that if I open my mouth so wide I’m going to drink this blood.” I made a face and swished my arms in it.

I realized what I sat in was not blood at all. I had been covered in blood before and this was too fluid and not nearly sticky enough. Yet, it had a metallic tang and was decently thick, enough to fool a bunch of inexperienced eighteen year olds.

Instead there was a faint hint of herbal scent to it that I couldn’t quite parse.

The other participants quickly found themselves in a pool.

Zane wade through the blood towards me. “Come closer to the center. It’s a superstition from the old man, but who knows if it doesn’t help?”

“Can’t hurt, right?” I gave him a light smile.

“No it can’t.” Zane nodded. “I feel like I’m cheating using inspect. The name’s Zane.” He extended his hand.

“Bran.” I shook his hand. “Seems like you and Gale are bound to butt heads.”

“Shame that they can’t seem to find unity within the clan.” He shook his head sadly. “If it happens, it happens.”

Rylan smirked and came up to the two of us. “A really strong year for the clan. It’s an honor to share the pool with you Zane.” He did a small bow.

Zane scratched the back of his head. “Don’t worry about it. I hope we all get good bloodlines out of this.”

I looked around as more of the people in this blood pool introduced themselves while the same thing happened in the other one.

One person was left out.

Nyx still stood outside of either of them.

“Come on.” I held my hand out to her. “Get in the blood before it’s too late.” Now that I was shifting my plans to use the Heros Clan, it would be a shame to lose a SSS rank class to moping.

She had a sort of ritzy British accent. “It is already too late.” She looked on the verge of tears.

“Because you’re going to change?” I asked.

“I’m going to become a fucking monster.” She grabbed at her hair like she wanted to pull it out.

“Do you know in the myth of Medusa that she was so beautiful that even Poseidon couldn’t help but look at her and turn to stone.” I said.

“You got it wrong. Her seduction of Poseidon was why she was punished.” Nyx rolled her eyes and stepped into the pool. “You’re a vampire.”

“Yeah. Someone said my eyes have already changed. What do you think?” I asked.

“Not bad.” She suddenly blushed, looking into my eyes. “I think I’m going to have it worse.”

“Well, let’s hope I just get red eyes and perhaps some fangs. If I get that whole ugly face that they do on TV shows, I think I’m going to spend a little time crying in the corner myself. Do me a favor and let’s have a monster class pity party when this is done.” I tried to make light of the situation, and my statement earned an eye roll from her.

But she stopped looking like she was on the verge of crying.

“I’m going to turn a little strange myself.” Zane joined the conversation smiling at Nyx. “The name’s Zane and Dragon Knight isn’t a dragon rider. It’s a knight that’s turned half dragon. Going to get some horns and scales.”

“Really?” Nyx opened up.

“Yup.” Zane nodded. “So, don’t worry. You’ll be in good company among the Heros Clan.” I had to give the guy credit. He was very personable even at his age.

From what I remembered, he was a little broodier, but still considered a rather good man by most.

As for Nyx, someone who transformed into a gorgon should have left a larger impact. She’d left a few stories behind, mostly about her transformation.

My thoughts were interrupted as a giant pressure weighed down on me and everyone else in the pool.

Those of us who were standing were crushed down to our knees, trying to sit as the pressure increased.

The move positioned me to where the fake blood went up to my chest and my mind felt fuzzy around the edges, as something was trying to render me unconscious.

I had no doubt that all the other participants were already out like a light. My eyelids refused to lift under the pressure, so all I could do was open Soul Gaze and peer out with my soul.

A massive crimson shape unwound itself from the mountain and flew through the sky.

Given the pressure it was emitting, I had to believe this was an ancient beast.