Max sat on the hard bed, looking at the system screen and studying it carefully.
"So if I click here, it shows my statistics? It's like a game, but in real life. Fascinating." Despite still feeling weak from barely escaping death, he surprisingly had a lot of energy for things that sparked his interest.
His finger tapped the dark surface of the screen. The air rippled in response with a gentle wave, expanding the darkness and forming a list of bluish words.
[System Interface:]
[Supreme Bloodline Evolution System — Active]
[User: Max Hollow]
[Age: 18]
[Bloodline: Human (Simple)]
[Magic Soul: {In Development — 23 hours 43 minutes remaining}]
[Magic Affinity: None Present]
[Mana Container: {In Development — 23 hours 43 minutes remaining}]
[System Skills:]
[Bloodline Absorption — Absorb and evolve bloodlines through compatible mates.]
[Bloodline Search — Scan the area for potential rare and ancient bloodlines.]
[Magic Skills:]
[None]
Max's eyes gleamed as he read the skills, his heart pounding like thunder in his chest.
"I wonder if there's more information about Bloodline Absorption..." He held his chin in thought. His finger trembled with excitement and anticipation as he tapped on the [Bloodline Absorption] skill. As if responding to his command, the screen expanded, filling with a larger block of text and a detailed explanation that left him speechless.
[By mating with the opposite sex, the user is able to absorb part of their bloodline, turning it into their own and greatly enhancing it. In the case of a successful heir produced with the same partner, both the user and the partner will upgrade their bloodline to an ancestral bloodline, while the clan gains the bloodline at its highest purity...]
[...The heir shall inherit the ancestral bloodline as well. If the heir later produces offspring within the bloodline, the entire bloodline will be upgraded to the ancestral level, while the user and his partner ascend even further. The user has no limit to the number of potential bloodlines and partners. All bloodlines can coexist with one another.]
His finger traced each line carefully, not daring to miss even a single detail. The thought of having children at his age scared him a little, but the desire for power and glory quickly overshadowed that fear. In his mind, he could already picture himself surrounded by a hundred women. A strand of drool even slipped from the corner of his mouth. All of his sexual fantasies suddenly felt possible in this world.
What excited him even more was the possibility of magic. Every second leading up to the next day felt like sand slipping through an hourglass, and he was nothing more than an observer, counting every single grain as it fell through the narrow glass.
A creak of the door almost made him jump. It happened so suddenly that he had completely forgotten someone was supposed to bring him food. Thinking he was about to be exposed, Max desperately tried to get rid of the screen, waving his hands in the air, but no matter what he did, the black panel refused to move.
A frail boy stepped inside, carefully eyeing Max as he flailed his hands in the air like a complete idiot.
"H-hello, I-I came to give you this... Miss Rosalia asked me to..." The boy didn't look older than fifteen. His clothes were shabby, barely fit to be called clothes at all. His cheekbones were hollow, and there was barely any fat on his body. He looked like a walking skeleton, holding a piece of bread in one hand and a mug of water in the other.
His confidence wavered after seeing the rumored stranger. Now more than ever, Max looked like a madman.
Max's heart nearly jumped out of his chest, thinking he had been caught. But when he noticed that the boy hadn't glanced at the screen even once, he let out a heavy sigh of relief. Luckily for him, he was the only one who could see it.
"Oh, yeah... thank you." He held out his hands, waiting for his meal. Inwardly, he cursed under his breath. Just bread and water? What was this? Even in his hardest times, he had eaten ramen, and that had already felt like rock bottom.
Noticing the stranger's displeasure, the boy's eyes turned cold. He tightened his grip on the bread and mug and took a step back. His expression grew ugly, his own stomach twisting from the immense hunger that had tormented him for days. His face darkened even more when Max tapped the stale bread a few times, complaining that it was long past edible and too hard to eat.
"You outsider have no idea what that bread is worth." A harsh tone echoed through the room. "That piece of bread is worth a week of food for someone in this village, and yet you complain that it's too hard? You must have noble blood, always stuffing your face like a pig, your belly never empty. Disgusting..." His eyes were as cold and sharp as daggers, stabbing into Max's soul.
"No, I didn't mean that—" Max tried to explain himself.
"Shut up. I don't want to hear it from you. Either eat that and thank Miss Rosalia for her kindness, or get the hell out of our village!" The boy's voice rose sharply, drawing attention from outside. Max tried to calm him with his hands, but that only fanned the flames even more. "You outsider are no better than a slug. Even one would show more respect and gratitude."
Voices spread outside. People gathered around the hut, shaking their heads, their expressions ugly as they stared toward where Max was resting. Even if they couldn't see him well through the cracks in the wooden wall, they had already decided that he was not welcome here, and that his character was rotten.
Max lowered his gaze to the stale bread in his hands. For the first time, he truly understood. This village was not poor. It was dying. And if nothing changed soon, everyone in Stonehollow would starve.