Free Web NovelChapter 2: Fiona
Cole stopped right in front of an ancient-looking metallic box. Looking at it, a tight frown appeared on his face.
"Blood-Calming Potion should be in this box...?"
He hesitated for a brief moment. However, the next moment he felt a foreign force tugging at his soul. He had a feeling that if he wasted another moment, he might end up losing control over his own body.
Without thinking, Cole extended his hand outward and forcefully opened the box, revealing a clean glass bottle filled with a green, minty liquid neatly placed inside.
"This is the potion..."
Just one look and Cole knew this was it. However, just as he extended his hand to grab the bottle, his body froze. He suddenly felt a strong impulse to crush the glass bottle with his bare hands.
At first it was just an impulse, but in mere minutes the feeling intensified.
"I don’t care who you are — just get away from me..."
[Warning! A forceful attempt to control the host body detected. Taking emergency measures. Activating firewall. Invasion successfully prevented.]
Cole didn’t know what Saint did, but somehow he felt himself regaining control of his body. Taking this chance, he grabbed the potion bottle and uncorked it. Once the cork was removed, a strong medicinal smell from the potion filled the entire hall. Just one breath, and Cole felt immensely better. Not willing to waste any more time, he hurriedly chugged down the green liquid.
Immediately, a bitter taste assaulted his taste buds. It was as if he had taken a bite out of bitter melon. However, contrary to the taste, Cole felt a warm and relaxing sensation spread all over his body. The effect of the potion was immediate — the flaring golden veins thinned, and a sense of calm returned to his head.
[Bloodline Fusion — 10 → 15%]
Cole was busy examining the current state of his body when this sudden notification caught him off guard.
"This so-called bloodline fusion actually went up...!"
As the former Cole had begun the experiment in haste, he had already taken into consideration many things that could go wrong.
The only thing that can explain the sudden increase in bloodline fusion is the Blood-Calming Potion. Refined from eight magical herbs found in the region where the Lightning Worm is usually found, that potion has the tendency to calm the Lightning Worm’s potent blood, allowing it to fuse with my human bloodline perfectly.
Cole muttered in a cold tone. That meant if he had enough Blood-Calming Potion, he could perfectly fuse with the Lightning Worm bloodline without any danger. The reason why his body had been inflating like a balloon was because of the resistance put up by his body. If he could get rid of that...
Thinking up to this point, he could only shake his head as he remembered one crucial detail.
It had taken months of preparation and years of information gathering by the former Cole just to refine this one Blood-Calming Potion. Moreover, to refine this single bottle, he had burned through multiple precious ingredients. Before even thinking of refining another potion, I need to get my hands on another batch of ingredients.
After pushing that out of his mind, Cole’s focus turned to examining his current state. The white robe he wore was completely torn to shreds, leaving behind a sorry patch of cloth that barely covered his dignity. Cole, however, didn’t care about that — his focus was on something else entirely.
Looking at his thick arms rippling with muscles, Cole couldn’t help but sigh in amazement.
From the memories, the former Cole had no talent in either of the two most popular paths of humanity. He could neither refine his body like the Body Refinement path warriors, nor follow the path of mages. His arms were as scrawny as a child’s. To achieve such a transformation with just ten percent bloodline fusion... The bloodline of the Lightning Worm is simply incredible.
Just then, he shook his head as he realized something even more important.
The Lightning Worm bloodline must be incredible, but there is something equally incredible about the former Cole.
The admiration in Cole’s heart deepened as he dove deeper into the memories.
"Many warriors had tried to infuse the blood of magical creatures into their veins, but none had succeeded. The fact that I am alive even after injecting the blood of one of the weakest magical creatures is nothing but a miracle..."
Humans didn’t have the magical affinity of the elves, nor the mighty power of the dragons, yet such a member from this puny race had managed to infuse the blood of a monster feared by all races.
The Lightning Worm was not a simple creature, but a magical monster from the Abyss — capable of devouring the souls of the living to grow stronger.
Nobody knew how or when, but one thousand years ago a dark force invaded the world, killing everything in its path. These creatures had a magical affinity ten times greater than that of elves, and mana reserves that could make even a dragon cry in shame.
This force was the Abyss, and its inhabitants were called the magical creatures.
Humanity, as the weakest race, was the first to be pushed to the brink of extinction. It was in this precarious situation that the race gave birth to a new saint — the Alchemical Saint — who created a new way for humanity to store mana in their veins and cast miraculous spells to defend themselves.
So amazing...
Suddenly, Cole felt a sense of deep admiration develop for the original in his heart. Growing up, the original had been unable to walk either of the two most popular paths of humanity, and as such was labeled as trash by the entire city. Even within his own family, he was not respected by anyone.
Forever alone and lonely — yet the former Cole never cried or complained, because one person believed in him. It was Cole’s father who never gave up on his son, no matter what others said.
It was the appreciation and confidence shown by his father that pushed the former Cole to work hard day and night.
As Cole went through the sweet father-and-son memories, his face couldn’t help but turn wistful, and even slightly envious. Since his own parents had passed away early, Cole had never had such moments with his father.
Just as he was thinking, the sound of footsteps came from outside.
Knock! Knock!
The sound of hard metal striking against the hall’s wooden surface echoed from outside.
The sound pulled Cole out of his trail of memories. His eyebrows couldn’t help but rise.
Who...?
As far as he remembered, the former Cole was a true loner. The number of people that visited him could not be more than the fingers on one hand.
Even among them, the only person who would visit him regularly was his father.
Did father return early? No, that’s not possible. Last time he said something about going to the Ancient Netherwood Forest and would return at least a month later. It has only been one week.
Just as he was thinking, a soft voice came from outside.
"Young master, it is me — Trisha. Please forgive me for disturbing you, but it is something important."
Outside, a young woman barely twenty years old, with skin as pale as snow and hair as dark as the night, dressed in formal servant attire, stood with her hands hung low and a slightly panicked expression on her face.
Trisha’s mind went into full panic mode. Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead, and she couldn’t stop herself from muttering uncontrollably.
Why did Madam Fiona suddenly return...?
Her figure was completely shaking as she waited for her young master to respond. The fact that Madam Fiona had returned didn’t cause her panic — it was the person she had returned with.
Moments passed, but her young master did not respond. Trisha didn’t react and waited patiently. Given how Cole acted most of the time, it was completely normal for her to wait not just minutes but for hours before he would respond.
Sometimes Cole would get so lost in his own experiments that he would forget about the outside world entirely.
Just as Trisha was waiting, the large wooden gate of the hall suddenly swung wide open, revealing a completely naked figure.
Trisha was not expecting Cole to respond so quickly. When the gate suddenly opened, she was caught off guard. And when she saw Cole’s naked figure, her jaw almost hit the floor.
"Y-Young master — what happened? Why are you naked...?"
By the end of her words, Trisha was practically stuttering, her face turning as red as a tomato.
Cole looked at the young woman, then at himself, before shaking his head. Why he was naked — that was not what was important. What was really important was why she was here, knocking on his door at this hour.
Thinking of this, his gaze moved upward. In a clear, cloudless sky, a lone silver moon hung overhead, bathed in its own serene light.
Indeed, it was only now that he realized it was actually nighttime.
This only made him more curious to know exactly what important matter could force her to come knocking at his door so late.
Perhaps the matter was really serious, because after a breath of time, Trisha forced the shock down and said with a serious expression on her face:
"Young master, it is the young miss — Fiona. She is here and wants to meet you urgently."
Fiona...
Hearing that unfamiliar name, Cole looked at her with a puzzled expression. Just then, Saint AI took the cue and prompted him.
[According to the memories, Fiona Burnmoon is the host’s childhood friend and fiancée.]
The notification caused Cole to almost fall flat on his back.
What kind of cliché situation is this?
Childhood friend and fiancée. And now, don’t tell him she was here to annul the marriage agreement.
Cole had a sense of foreboding in his heart. Upon thinking about it, it wasn’t that surprising — given his trashy talent, the fact that the marriage agreement had remained intact until this very day was itself a huge surprise.
Hmm... last I remember, she was accepted into one of the most prestigious academies in the nation. What suddenly changed to cause her to finally take this step?
Cole’s thoughts moved like lightning as he considered all the possibilities, but none could explain the current situation.
Thinking of this, he turned to his trusted assistant for help and mentally asked:
Saint AI, what do you think?
[There is not enough data to give a concrete answer.]
[However, here is a list of possibilities:]
[Possibility One — A change in the power structure of the city.]
[Possibility Two — She has found another marriage partner, and to begin the formalities, she needs to dissolve the earlier agreement.]
[...]
Just like that, multiple possibilities were listed. Cole went through them one by one, but only the second one made sense at the moment.
It was then that his gaze stopped at the last possibility, and his expression couldn’t help but darken slightly.
This should not be possible.
