Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Chapter 2075 No Longer

When Ryu saw the woman's Fate Star, it was like he was staring at an eyeball looking right back at him. It carried a cold, heart-shuddering sort of blueness to it that felt both royal and lofty at the same time.

It was clear at a glance that the woman's Fate had been toyed with as well, but that would only benefit him.

Much the same way Flood Dragons couldn't compare to a True Dragon...

Imperfect Pupils could never compare to the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth Pupils.

The process was even smoother this time. Ryu's soul was too powerful now, and he almost felt silly taking the risk before. But you live and you learn.

The true problems came when he came face to face with her Ancestors.

They were, rightfully, infuriated. Using Bloodline Refinement on their descendant was a huge no.

Quite quickly, Ryu realized why it was that this woman was so special. Her

Three-Pupiled Clan had a very unique Bloodline... in that it was hard to say that they had a Bloodline at all.

Their Bloodline was practically a blank slate, only capable of doing two things: increasing the folds of their brain so that they could take in information from six pupils at once, and strengthening their eyes akin to how you might strengthen a muscle, and even bone depending on how far you went, using their unique Meridian tracts.

The unique Meridian system of the Three-Pupiled Clan was a large part of the reason their Bloodline worked the way it did.

The network of Meridians in their eyes was even more complicated than the one in their bodies, and it seemed prepped and primed for any one of the directions they might try to take their eyes in.

This was why Ryu called it a blank slate.

However, there were still some foundational abilities, mostly techniques and talents that could be passed down.

For example, their eye-stealing Talent, the [Severing Heaven's Eye] method,

This was probably the most shocking of their methods and the one the woman had likely wanted to use on him.

Using this, they could snatch the ocular abilities of others without changing the foundation of what they were.

Usually, if one wanted to steal Heavenly Pupils, it was necessary to transplant the entire eye. But if a Three-Pupil Clan member unlocked this Talent, they could snatch an ability and incorporate it into just one of their Pupils.

Originally, Ryu thought that this meant they could have three total ocular abilities at once. But in practice... they could have six if their Talent was on a high enough level.

Ryu realized that this Clan was even more shocking than he knew, and their Bloodline reflected that.

Relatively speaking, the three-pupiled woman's Bloodline was quite weak among her lineage. But her Fate was oddly strong.

She seemed destined to overturn the cards she was dealt at the start, but never got the chance because Iam found her first.

Ryu wasn't sure what methods lam had used, but he managed to overturn things in her mind so thoroughly that she ended up barely less cowardly than Kira himself.

It was an odd mix of things that couldn't be understood at face value.

Ryu found himself more and more curious about Iam and his intentions.

Unfortunately, he had already killed Adlael, or he would have checked to see what other curious matters he had.

What Ryu didn't know was that Iam was only interested in Adlael because the tweak of his Fate caused by ending up with the crystalline sword.

It wasn't until Iam saw Ryu with the weapon in his hands that he realized that the one with the odd Fate Star that he was looking for wasn't Adlael... but rather Ryu.

As for how these things would play out...

Only time would tell.

BOOM!

A heart-shuddering aura erupted from both the woman and Kira.

Soon, their eyes snapped open. Kira's eyes had been replaced by orbs of polished bronze. As for the woman's, her entire eyeball was blue, shimmering like an exploding nebula. But within, three pupils floated, weaving through the pattern.

They both fell somewhat limply to the ground.

It wasn't until Ryu took control of them that they stiffened up, their strength

blooming.

Ryu could feel exactly how strong they were, and though he felt it wasn't bad, it wasn't enough. Not nearly enough.

Bringing them out wasn't even worth his time right now even with the current sturdiness of their bodies.

He would need to find some more resources for them. Namely, blood for Kira, and presumably strong Pupils for the woman.

"I should probably name you. We'll just call you Blue from now on."

Ryu controlled them and had them jump into the river of Embryonic Qi. This would refine out any impurities that remained from their last lives, and it would also set the perfect foundation for their improvement into the future.

Pop.

The sound caught Ryu's attention and he looked above his head to find Little Gem waving her little paw around.

Ryu caught something out of the corner of his eye and was speechless to find that it was a jar with a pair of eyeballs inside of it.

"This can't be?"

On Sacrum, they were the 13th Ranked Heavenly Pupils, also known as the Heavenly Reflection Pupils and probably one of if not the strongest defensive Heavenly Pupils in

existence.

Its foundational ability was [Reflect]. 20% of an enemy's attack strength, no matter what, would be reflected so long as the user had eyes on it.

However, it also had far more powerful abilities, such as [Absolute Reflect], which allowed the full reflection of an attack that was completely understood by the user, or [Reflective State] which allowed the user to enter a battle form that allowed the power of the enemy's attack to be gathered and used in their own attack, or [Mind of Aegis] which summoned a shield for the mind and made a user of these pupils immune to all mental attacks and assaults on the soul.

And these were just the directly defensive abilities. It still also had some auxiliary and attacking abilities.

Ryu was stunned that Little Gem would just directly give him such a thing...

Before, that is, a large amount of Ancient Beast Corpses began to appear... including

Griffins.

Looking at the sight that was before him, Ryu suddenly realized he wouldn't need long to upgrade them at all.