A sinister orchestra of storm clouds began to assemble in the moonlit sky above the Evernight Forest.
The moons were gradually shrouded, their luminescent glow dimmed, swallowed by the insatiable darkness of the impending tempest.
The mirthful dance of the moonbeams through the forest’s canopy was abruptly silenced, replaced by an ominous shroud that draped the landscape in a foreboding gloom.
With the appearance of the heavenly tribulation, the creatures who called the outskirt of the Evernight their home retreated to their dens.
Val looked at the sky and said, “It’s here.”
[Blood Rush Bloodline skill has been activated!]
Since the tribulation was about to begin, Val immediately activated his Blood Rush skill, doubling his agility to a whopping 50 points.
[Titan’s Reinforcement Bloodline skill has been activated!]
At the same time, he triggered his Titan’s Reinforcement, the power of his Whitemore bloodline surging through his veins, amplifying his strength, stamina, and agility by an additional 20%.
His strength and stamina increased to 30 and 24 points respectively.
His agility increased to a whopping 60 points!
Maybe he was now faster than level 3 bloodline users!
After giving himself all the buffs he could, he braced himself for the heavenly ordeal. 𝞸𝔳𝓛xt.𝑪𝗈𝐌
“Descend oh tribulation!” he exclaimed fearlessly.
Boom!
Suddenly, a lightning bolt, black as the night itself, rendered the sky apart, aiming for Val. Bolstered by the sudden spike in his physical stats, Val exhibited unprecedented speed, his silhouette flickering to evade the descent of the heavenly punishment. The lightning bolt seared the ground where he once stood, charring the earth and leaving a tangible testament of its deadly force, but it failed to even brush past him.
Boom!
Even as the first bolt’s reverberations were still echoing through the forest, another one followed – bigger, faster, and far more potent, its girth and speed putting its predecessor to shame.
Despite the enhanced agility bestowed by his bloodline skill, Val barely managed to escape its wrath by a hair’s breadth.
The bolt missed him but struck the ground with thunderous force, causing a massive explosion. The shockwave that followed was a tidal force, washing over Val with an indomitable might.
As a result, he was like a helpless leaf caught in the storm as he was flung backwards with incredible speed.
His body tore through several trees before he finally came to a halt, the impact leaving him dazed and disoriented.
[-3 HP!]
[Remaining HP: 7/10]
The concussion hit him like a sledgehammer. His vision swam, the world tilted and spun, and for a moment, Val was in the throes of a disconcerting vertigo.
While he was out of it, the gathering storm clouds above pulsed ominously, the vibrant darkness of the stormy mass a clear premonition of the imminent threat.
A lightning bolt, its size dwarfing the previous two combined, began to take form in the heart of the roiling tempest in the sky, its radiance slicing through the brooding darkness.
By the time Val regained his senses, it had already taken form. Val, laying on top of a pile of broken trees, looked at it with an unwavering gaze and curled his fingers into a fist.
“I am not going to go down without a fight!”
With an abrupt motion, he crossed his arms before his chest. A torrent of blood surged from within him, swirling out in rivulets, forming a protective dome around his figure. It danced and coalesced into a hardened shield of blood standing between him and certain doom.
Boom!
In a moment too swift for mortal eyes to perceive, the colossal bolt struck. It rammed into Val’s blood shield with an unfathomable fury.
Bam!
An ear-splitting echoed across the forest.
His dome shield, while formidable, wasn’t invincible. It bore the brunt of the titanic assault, cracks spiderwebbing across its hardened surface before it disintegrated into a mist of blood under the relentless onslaught.
The remnants of the lightning attack, unchecked, crashed into Val. His body, subjected to the raw, unfettered power of heavenly lightning, was buried under the pile of broken trees he was laying on top of a moment ago.
Struck by the heavenly lightning, his skin was charred, his muscles screamed in protest, and his senses were enveloped by an all-consuming white light.
But his spirit remained unbroken.
I am Val the unfeeling!
I am the Master of Life, the Harbinger of Doom!!
Heavenly tribulation doesn’t have what it takes to claim my life!!!
A bestial and prideful growl rippled from his throat as he bore the tribulation’s wrath.
[-4 HP!]
[Remaining HP: 3/10]
Although he withstood the onslaught of the heavenly thunder, he was severely injured. He burst out of the rubble, standing proudly under the sky. His figure stood battered, blood seeping from countless wounds, his clothes no more than tattered rags. His features were marred by the fury of the tribulation, but the spark in his inky black eyes with bottomless depth remained undying.
Rumble!
No sooner had he caught his breath, the heavens growled once more. Another bolt of lightning began to coalesce in the storm-riddled sky, crackling with malicious intent.
This was the Fourth bolt! An occurrence unheard of, even for the prestigious Whitemore bloodline, which was one of the 100 Ruling Families of the Outer Region of the Kingdom.
The general consensus was that the purity of one’s bloodline dictated the severity of the heavenly tribulation they experienced during an upgrade.
A low-purity Whitemore would experience a single bolt, while those with medium purity faced two to three.
Only someone with a high-purity Whitemore bloodline, akin to Joshua’s, would have to brave four bolts to upgrade their bloodline to level 2.
Astonishingly, Val’s tribulation was the high-purity type.
This fact invalidated the popular misconception that Val’s bloodline was of lesser purity than Joshua’s.
It was just as pure, if not purer!
The fourth bolt was considerably smaller than its predecessors and it lingered ominously in the sky. But Val, empowered by his ‘Detect’ Trait, was able to tell it was more dangerous than the previous three.