Cold.
Why is everything so cold?
His mind was sluggish, crawling back like it was walking through thick mud. His head was ringing, as if something heavy had struck it again and again, leaving behind a dull echo that refused to fade.
Where... am I?
He tried to move his body, but nothing happened. It felt as if he had no body at all, like his existence was just floating in an empty void.
Right, I am in the state of consciousness and unconsciousness, somewhere between them. I haven’t regained my consciousness yet.....
Ash had experienced this strange, suspended state more times than he could count. Having been rendered unconscious repeatedly in his life, he had grown somewhat familiar with this weightless, detached sensation.
There was nothing around him but stillness. The silence was so deep it almost felt alive, pressing against his thoughts.
Then suddenly, a faint light appeared in the endless darkness ahead. It shimmered softly at first, then began to expand, pulling him toward it with irresistible force.
In the next instant, before he could even think, his whole consciousness was drawn into the light.
And then, his eyes slowly fluttered open.
He lay there motionless, staring blankly at the dark ceiling above. The air was cool and strangely calm. Somehow, he felt that the darkness around him had lessened a little, like it had retreated just beyond reach. Yet there was no visible light source nearby.
I remember... it was painful... damn!!
The memory of that unbearable pain flashed through his mind, but even as he recalled it, he couldn’t help but think that it was still an unfair trade.
After all, how could one compare the power of runes with the pain they caused? There was no comparison at all. Perhaps, the rune was simply testing his resolve, measuring whether his will was strong enough to contain its power.
He moved his body slightly, and it felt different—lighter, sharper, more refined. There was an odd, almost divine sense of being... perfect. It was hard to describe, but the feeling was intoxicating, as though every cell in his body had reached complete harmony.
He exhaled softly, and a thin white mist escaped his lips for the first time before his breathing steadied again. His body felt pure, free from all impurities. His clothes were clean, his skin clear; only faint traces of dried blood remained from the scratches he had made during the process.
This...
Ash clenched his fists slowly, and he could feel it—the power surging within him was far greater than before. It moved naturally through his veins, resonating with every part of him.
This did not happen when Ray absorbed this rune...
In the novel, Ray had not received any sort of physical enhancement from the Rune of Harmony. That difference left Ash deeply confused. He needed answers, so he opened his status window.
The moment he did, countless new message windows appeared before his eyes, overlapping and flooding his vision with information. The glowing texts floated in front of him like ethereal symbols, each one explaining what had happened while he was unconscious. The more he read, the more his expression stiffened, until he almost cursed aloud.
Why does something like this always happen when I am unconscious...
Still, even though it frustrated him, those messages revealed something he had long suspected but could never confirm.
My genes are too weak to handle the power of the bloodlines, and that was the reason my bloodlines were not awakening...
But still, something about it felt off. He remembered the exact moment when his bloodlines had reacted.
No, wait... I remember the bloodlines trying to dominate each other, trying to gain dominance over each other. But in the end, they reached some kind of equilibrium, falling dormant once again...
But after I absorbed the Rune of Harmony, the bloodlines started to react. They began to merge together instead of fighting, slowly blending into one, and that’s when they started to awaken. If not for the Rune of Harmony, they would still be dormant even now...
And the reason my bloodline failed to awaken even now was that they tried to override my genes. Since my base is human, the three powerful bloodlines couldn’t overwrite them completely without destroying my existence itself....
That was the whole thing.
Finally, it all made sense, yet the truth left behind a quiet unease inside him.
Ash had read about genes in many medical books related to human anatomy. He had also observed in detail how the Rune of Life healed his body every time he was injured or pushed past his limits.
The Rune of Life increased the formation and division of cells to an extremely high degree, resulting in an unbelievable speed of regeneration.
That was why, as long as there was even one drop of blood left, Ash could regenerate with the combined help of both the Rune of Life and the Rune of Death. The Rune of Death denied death itself, allowing resurrection from a single drop of blood, while the Rune of Life acted as the conduit that restored the body rapidly, repairing what was broken and recreating what was lost.
It didn’t mean that any random cell in his body could grant him perfect resurrection. After all, even while walking, a human body constantly sheds countless cells—skin flakes, dead tissue, even strands of hair—all of which were technically a part of him.
But if resurrection worked that way, even a single fallen hair could bring him back to life, which was simply absurd.
Maybe such a thing could become possible one day, once he fully awakens the true power of the runes and gains full control over it. But right now, something like that was far beyond his reach.
Only the True Genetic Cells within his body held the potential for resurrection—those that carried his original genetic code, the very essence of his being.
However, even hair or dead skin cells contain fragments of genetic code, but those are lifeless—devoid of the active biological structure needed to recreate his body. They are, in essence, just traces of what once lived.
That was why his blood, which contained those pure vital genetic sequences, served as the perfect conduit for both resurrection and regeneration.
However, there was one condition that could never be ignored.
If the base structure of his genes collapsed, if the cells themselves broke down beyond repair, then there would be nothing left to regenerate from. No cells would remain to heal, no structure to build upon. That collapse would mean true death, without any chance of resurrection.
At least until Ash unlocks the true power of the Runes.
Even so, Ash could think of many possible ways to avoid such a fate. He could store some blood separately in advance, ensuring that even if his body and cells were destroyed, he could use that preserved blood to resurrect later.
But even this plan carried its own risk.
This was a fantasy world, where logic and science often bowed to the laws of magic. What if the collapse of his body was absolute, powerful enough to affect everything connected to it, even the stored blood? What if the changes that happened in one body spread through his existence completely, rewriting every part of him that ever existed?
In a world filled with mysterious laws, mana, and powers beyond human understanding, nothing could be taken for granted.
Sigh... what a headache...
He let out a long breath, rubbing the side of his head as his thoughts swirled. But even through that tiredness, a certain realization settled clearly in his mind.
"This body was a normal human even before my transmigration," he murmured quietly, his eyes half-open as memories surfaced. "I gained the Dragon bloodline when I was in the Dragon Continent, and that was when I discovered the presence of two other dormant bloodlines hidden within me."
But the question of how they appeared in his body still lingered like an unanswered riddle.
Ash had his suspicions, faint ideas that brushed against his mind, but at the end of the day, suspicion was still only suspicion. Without solid proof, it could never become truth.
Even so, one thing was clear beyond doubt. The biological parents of this body had been human. If they weren’t, then the basic genetic structure of this body would have belonged to another race entirely, not to humans.
Realizing this, Ash felt a strange sense of lightness spread through his chest, as if some invisible burden he hadn’t even noticed was finally gone. His shoulders relaxed, and for the first time in a while, his thoughts felt calm.
He let out a soft sigh and shifted his focus once again, eyes narrowing as he brought up the glowing screen in front of him—his status window.
***
[Status]
Name – Ash Burn
Race – Human
Age – 16
Class – Magic Swordsman (Unique)
Rank – Adept (D- Rank) – (39%)
Affinity – Lightning, Life, Death, Space
---
[Attributes]
Strength – 415 -> 450
Agility – 415 -> 450
Vitality – 415 -> 450
Intelligence – 415 -> 450
Stamina – 415 -> 450
Charm – 415 -> 450
Mana – 415 -> 450 (X 2)
---
[Traits]
- Codex of Creation (Adept)
- Primordial Core (Completion: 36%) (Rank- Immeasurable)
[Skills]
- Omni Thought
- Hundred Poison Immunity
- Absolute Concealment
- Transcendent Step
- Soul Vault
- Soul Library
---
[Runes]
- Rune of Stability
- Rune of Knowledge
- Rune of Life
- Rune of Balance
- Rune of Concealment
- Rune of Death
- Rune of Space
- Rune of Harmony
***
[Soul Bound]
-Eclipse
-Primordial Serpent
****
The first thing that caught his eye was the sudden increase in his stats, something that instantly brought a faint smile to his face. His stats had been stagnant for so long, increasing at a snail’s pace no matter how much effort he put into training. So seeing them rise this much all at once felt deeply satisfying, like the sky finally opening after a long drought.
But even as he stared at the glowing numbers, a quiet question lingered in his mind—why had they increased so suddenly?
The reason, though, was simple. When the dormant power of his bloodlines briefly surfaced during the absorption, it had flooded his body with an overwhelming surge of energy. Even though that burst lasted only for a moment, it was powerful enough to push his stats to a completely new level. It clearly showed just how absolute the might of his bloodlines was, the kind of strength that even a fleeting awakening could unleash.
However, since Ash didn’t know the reason behind it, he assumed that the Rune of Harmony was somehow responsible for the sudden improvement.
Aside from that, there was another change in his status window—the completion rate and rank of his Primordial Core had become available for him to see.
I need to keep absorbing runes if I want my core to become complete. I can’t wait to see what happens when the percentage finally reaches one hundred...
He scrolled through the status window again, scanning every detail, but no other major changes appeared. His gaze then fell upon the new rune’s description.
**
Rune : Rune of Harmony
Description :
All within you aligns. All beyond you adapts.
**
It was another cryptic message, much like the one that came with the Rune of Death.
"All within you aligns. All beyond you adapts."
The description spoke of the Rune of Harmony’s passive effect. Everything within his body—mana, blood, and energy—would now exist in perfect harmony, merging and flowing together instead of opposing each other. The opposites within him would no longer remain opposite but instead blend naturally, amplifying his strength in the process.
That wasn’t all. The rune also enhanced the body’s adaptability, almost as if it sought to synchronize him with the rhythm of the world itself.
And even then, the rune’s effects didn’t stop there.
"Let’s try this..."
Ash raised his right hand slowly, gathering his mana as faint arcs of lightning began to dance around his palm. The light flickered sharply, bright blue sparks hissing in the air. Focusing deeper, he started to merge the lightning with the mana of death.
In a single instant, the color of the lightning darkened, turning pitch black.
The air grew heavy and trembled around him. The deep rumble of thunder echoed through the cave, causing the stone walls to quiver. The destructive power radiating from his hand multiplied, and for a moment, he could feel its weight pressing against his skin.
"Yes!!!"
A grin spread across his face. Under the influence of the Rune of Harmony, he could now fuse two entirely different elements without resistance. The process was smooth and effortless. There was no imbalance, no pain, and no sign of rejection. His body accepted both energies as if they had always belonged together.
Feeling a surge of excitement, Ash decided to take it further. He began to weave space mana into the mix.
The thunder deepened, rolling through the cave like a storm trapped within its walls. The black lightning grew in size, shifting to a blackish-violet hue that pulsed with an otherworldly glow. The power within it was so dense that the air distorted, sending faint ripples of pressure through the cave floor. Tiny cracks spread beneath him as the energy continued to build.
Let’s add one more...
Taking a steady breath, Ash added the mana of Life into the fusion.
And the next moment—
-BAAAM!!!!
A violent explosion burst out, shaking the entire cave.
Ash’s hands exploded into a shower of blood, scattering crimson mist into the air. For a second, he could only sit there in stunned silence, staring at the space where his hands used to be. The pain came rushing a moment later, sharp and burning, yet what followed wasn’t a scream—it was laughter.
"Haha... hahaha..."
It wasn’t that the elements failed to fuse; in fact, they had merged perfectly. But the resulting power was too overwhelming for his current body to contain. His hands had simply been unable to endure that level of force. Three-element fusion was his limit, for now.
Yet despite the pain, Ash wasn’t disappointed at all. If anything, excitement flickered brightly in his eyes. He could now perform a three-element fusion whenever he wished. It consumed a terrifying amount of mana, true, but with his Primordial Core’s increasing ability to absorb the surrounding mana at a faster rate, he could maintain it for several hours without much trouble.
And with that, Ash had gained another powerful weapon to add to his growing arsenal.
****