As the bright morning light began to filter through the window, Rain opened his eyes and stared melancholically at the ceiling. The first thought that came to him as soon as he woke up wasn't about the upcoming meeting with the hero of this world, or even about the power he'd gained yesterday.
'How long has it been since I woke up without Liliana's warm embrace?'
Though he had originally viewed the hero's mother only as a tool to crush the hero himself, Rain couldn't deny that the days spent with her and her playfully kind nature had made him grow attached to her.
Even if his body was completely destroyed and he no longer existed in her world, he would surely find a way to kill anyone who dared to get close to her. Because thanks to his extremely possessive nature, he already considered every bit of her body and soul his own and would not give it to anyone.
'Once I've solved all the problems here, I need to deal with this.'
Letting go of those thoughts, Rain got out of bed and headed for the full-length mirror.
Thanks to his training with Astrid yesterday, his body looked even better than when he first saw it. Even though the system said that visible external changes from the evolution of the bloodline would only be visible once he reached level 2, Rain noticed that after absorbing the evolution elixirs yesterday, there was a new blood-red glow to his eyes.
Aside from his greatly increased strength, under the influence of the bloodline, the biggest change underwent his senses, which became much sharper.
With a sense of newfound strength, Rain looked at his progress.
[Bloodline: Eternal Sky Dragon - Level I (40%)]
"Indeed, strong bloodlines are difficult to develop."
Even with the help of the system, he had to spend all day yesterday to reach a rate of 40 percent. Such a rate of development could be considered terrifyingly fast by the standards of this world and surpassed the greatest geniuses, but Rain was still not completely satisfied with it.
"However, that should be enough for now."
Rain got dressed and left his room, heading for the exit of the mansion. He met a butler in a perfectly pressed suit, who said respectfully.
"Young master, Lady Eliana and Lady Liana didn't wait for you and have already left for the academy."
Hearing this Rain was about to ignore him and just walk away, but the butler continued in a slightly embarrassed voice.
"Lady Eliana asked me to give you this."
With these words, a note appeared in Rain's hands, which he read at once.
-----------------
Just in case you've already forgotten.
Before you go to the academy, take my winnings with you, the elixir of evolution.
Without much love, Eliana.
-----------------
It seemed every word was imbued with her unbreakable certainty that he was bound to lose tonight's battle with the supposed hero of this world.
Without much emotion, Rain put the note in his pocket.
[Initiate system self-destruct...]
[10]
[9]
So she wasn't kidding...
"Okay, then let it be Nari."
The countdown stopped, but it didn't disappear.
[What brothel does that name belong to?]
"That name belonged to my favorite sword."
[...]
Seeing the lack of response from the system, Rain decided to clarify.
"This is not just a sword. This is Narintiang, one of the strongest weapons in history, which after one lucky accident Hiro, the hero of my world, was able to obtain."
Rain was silent for a second, as if remembering something, before a smile appeared on his face.
"But later his mother secretly took it away and gave it to me, saying that it was too early for her son to use such dangerous things and I'd be better able to handle such a responsibility~ I'll never forget the look on his face when he realized that his best weapon was gone.
It was at that moment that I became convinced that I was on the right path and not even the hero's incredible luck would stop me from crushing him."
[But still, comparing me to a sword seems a bit much...]
"But you are also my weapon for crushing heroes and conquering women, so that should fit quite well, shouldn't it?"
This time the system had nothing to reply and after a short silence the countdown to self-destruct disappeared.
[Okay, you can call me that.]
With a slight smile of triumph, Rain continued on his way to the academy until his attention was drawn to a group of girls chatting casually.
They stood out for their exceptional beauty, but he was attracted to something else. They all had pointy ears, several times the length of a human's.
Who's that?
Rain tried to find some information about it in the memories of the body's past owner, but after a while he still found nothing and gave up on it.
Looking at them again, he had an idea.
Are they a mutated species?
***
Thanks for reading, everyone!