"Orion."
I turned my head toward her to listen to what she had to say. My mother continued in her marble-like voice.
"To truly become my son, you must inherit my blood."
Oh. Has the moment finally arrived?
I had expected this and prepared for it, yet I couldn't stop my heart from fluttering with tension.
It seemed my mother sensed my anxiety, as she laughed softly while patting my hair tenderly.
"There is no need to worry. You don't have to do anything difficult to obtain it. You only need to drink a little of my blood."
Well, I had anticipated something like this to some extent. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but feel surprised when I saw her bringing her index finger close to my mouth.
What is this? What am I supposed to do?
"What should I do?" I asked.
I said this knowing full well she was up to something. That smile was all too familiar—it was the same smile Eunbin wore before every wicked plan.
"Oh, it doesn't take much," she replied. "Just bite my finger and drink the blood that comes from it."
Tsk. Can't you just give it to me in a cup? Or at least cut yourself?
Of course, I didn't dare say that out loud. Instead, I asked with feigned innocence, "Won't it hurt you, mother?"
"Don't worry about me. It's impossible for a wound like this to hurt me. But I want to see the extent of your resolve."
Resolve my ass!
As if a five-year-old's teeth could scratch the skin of a Sovereign.
But at the same time, this meant she would weaken her defenses at that spot to allow me to succeed.
Fine then.
I raised my small hands and gripped her hand firmly. I closed my eyes and opened my mouth, then clamped down on her finger with all the strength I could muster.
.
.
.
Damn you! Nothing happened to her finger at all.
When I heard her faint laughter, I tried again, and again. In that moment, I didn't care about anything except tearing that finger apart and drinking her blood like a true vampire.
Her finger had been soaked in my saliva for a long time, yet it remained unchanged, as if I were chewing on a piece of solid steel.
After minutes of futile resistance, my mother seemed satisfied, as I suddenly felt a slight change in the texture of her skin.
I immediately seized the opportunity and bit down with everything I had.
Soon, the taste of metal and salt spread through my mouth. Despite its sharpness, there was something else.
My mother's blood was, quite unexpectedly... delicious.
But the pleasure didn't last. Heat began to surge through my body, rising slowly like a raging storm.
It wasn't that my body was resisting the blood; on the contrary, my body showed no resistance at all. The blood itself was the source of that storm.
It invaded my body and began to assert absolute control, as if it were rewriting my genetic code.
For brief moments, I felt every atom of my being. From my internal organs to the depths of my soul, everything began to pulse and synchronize in a strange, singular rhythm.
The heat was not an ordinary warmth; it was suffocating, cruel, and savage.
I felt my blood turning into lava, trying to shatter the constraints of my weak human body.
There was no "call" or "voice," only an instinctive sense of dominance and the desire to tear apart anything that stood in my way.
Such was the nature of the Beast God lineage—it knew no mercy and accepted nothing less than absolute supremacy.
My mother's voice reached me like a whisper amidst the storm striking my soul.
"Rest now. When you wake up, everything will be alright."
One last thought drifted through my mind before the darkness swallowed me and I lost consciousness.
"Will I enjoy hurting and annoying others once I inherit the Beast God lineage?"
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Deep within a vast hall carved from blue ice and shrouded in darkness, a towering throne stood illuminated by the faint light of dancing flames.
There, Ki Song sat on her throne, the body of a woman of transcendent beauty in a royal red gown that draped over the steps like a river of blood.
Ki Song was listening absent-mindedly to the report of her maid, who knelt at the base of the throne.
"The schedule for the prince's education has been completed. The program will start tomorrow and will cover everything: from survival methods to swordsmanship and the language of the ancient dream world."
"However, we won't be able to set a specific plan until we test his basic educational level, so we will start with him from scratch."
Ki Song didn't focus on the details. She asked calmly, "Where is he now?"
"The prince is still in his room in the inner section of the palace," the maid replied.
"He has been asleep for six hours since dinner ended. Two shadow guards have been placed to protect him, and several maids are standing by near his room."
"Good work. You may leave."
The maid stood and bowed deeply before departing in total silence.
Strange, Ki Song thought as she stared at her finger.
The wound had healed the moment she pulled her finger from Orion's mouth, yet she couldn't help but recall that feeling.
He had drunk twice the amount of blood she had given to her daughters, until she felt the lineage was complete within him.
It seemed as though he was born with a body instinctively compatible with the Beast God lineage in a suspicious way.
She didn't know how much time had passed; for her, time had long since lost its meaning.
She was managing thousands of bodies and Pilgrims across the dream world, all handled by her consciousness without effort.
She had reached a state of total detachment between her main body and the rest of the Pilgrims.
She only snapped out of her wandering thoughts when she heard the sound of faint footsteps approaching her across the icy hall.
"Orion?"