'I can't believe I actually cried myself to sleep; how embarrassing. In any other situation, I'd be busy setting as many mana traps as possible—ugh, this really sucks.'
A small baby with white hair, pale skin, and wearing nothing but a comfortable-looking diaper, squirmed inside a crib literally made of gold. The room held several other infants in equally expensive cribs.
'I'll probably be labeled a Grade 1 experiment and given the family surname; everything should follow the same path as the first time. I must prepare for the Grand Council. I spent so much time thinking about how to deal with that damned troublesome trio and those pulling their strings that I completely forgot I'm 40 years ahead of their birth. This should give me more than enough time to reach the rank of Pawn or Knight. It would be easier if they used the same system as other worlds—just Level 1, Level 2—but no, the Grand Council must have had too much free time to decide to completely overhaul the classification system.'
The door to the pitch-black room suddenly creaked open. A short, white-haired woman in a maid's uniform appeared, holding a small glass vial.
'Bitch! Because of you, my body became even weaker than usual, and my lineage—which was already hard to awaken—became even more complicated, diluted by Wyrm blood.'
Azeyr grew still in his crib, appearing to be in a deep sleep.
'In any other moment, I could simply scream and alert the guards, but they've been hexed. However, the Wyrm blood might be useful. I could finish off the other babies now to ensure those traitors never grow up, but that would raise suspicions and make me a massive target. Besides, it's always good to have allies. Even though they don't remember me, I'll still have some room to maneuver if I wait a few days and let them get infected, weakening their pure lineage.'
The maid had already begun to tip drops of blood into the babies' mouths. There were nine infants in the room; three had already received the drops.
'Regardless, of the eight born with me, if I recall correctly, six became traitors, and two others—like me—ended up weakened. I'll be merciful; I'll give those two a chance to remain loyal to the family. But if they prove to be a threat, they will die.'
The young woman finally reached Azeyr's crib and stood dazed for a few seconds, struck by the baby's beauty.
"What the hell?" She pinched herself to snap out of it, turned her face away, and let the drop of blood fall into his mouth.
Azeyr waited several minutes after she finished and left before sitting up, breaking into a cold sweat.
'That damn crazy woman… I forgot how beautiful I was. When I was old and nameless, few women even looked at me. Having spent so much time like that, I didn't even remember I could be considered the most beautiful being. And that's not even narcissism… well, maybe a little. Why am I justifying this to myself?'
It's worth noting that lineage awakening amplifies every aspect of a being: beauty, physique, strength, intelligence—everything their ancestor improved, the descendant inherits.
'That woman is going to be a problem, but I don't think she'll do anything to a baby, right? I really hope she's dedicated to the job of hindering us and that her loyalty to Kalon's first wife is high—otherwise, I'll have to find a way to kill her. If the records I found weren't doctored by the first wife, this maid should be at the Greater Core and capable of casting Pawn-level spells.'
Since Azeyr had only investigated the family after certain events, he had rudimentary knowledge of them and his own world, having spent most of his time in others.
'Time to help some and hinder others.' With a jolt, he tumbled out of the crib—which wasn't very high—and landed silently on the floor, intact.
'I should thank the Herald of Time every day for allowing me to return with my lineage already awakened, or I probably would have broken something.'
He guided himself by feeling the floor, crawling toward the furthest cribs. Even in the darkness, he had a slight sense of perception, though it was minimal.
'I imagine he won't blame me for disrupting his lineage if he has no memories, right? I hope that old fox's technique really works with dragon lineage.'
Placing his hand on the stomach of a baby who looked like him but lacked anything distinguishing, he began to move his mana into the infant's spleen. Flowing it through the organs and maintaining intense concentration to avoid mistakes, his mana wandered through several spots and got lost a few times. When he finally found the target, he established a constant stream of mana. With intent, Azeyr began to influence cell production, enormously accelerating the lineage flow and diluting it with the Wyrm blood present in the system.
'You were lucky in the previous timeline that the blood mixed correctly, but now that I'm here, you'll experience what I felt. By the end of this week, before the Elders come to see us, you'll already be mere impure-blooded Wyrms. I won't bother remembering you, but know that I will definitely end up executing you at some point.'
Azeyr repeated the process with all six—two of whom were twins, all boys. He wasn't surprised they were twins, but rather by how different they looked, with black hair. This led him to wonder if their mother had betrayed the family with some knight. Though it was strange that no action was taken, he attributed it to the fact that Kalon was an imperfect dragon and not the most possessive or protective of his kind.
'I guess for him, as long as they stay under his wing and aren't too blatant about it, it's fine? He's truly pathetic; my grandfather must have destroyed so much of his soul for him to be this apathetic.'
When Azeyr finished, he turned to the remaining two. He performed the reverse process, stimulating the Wyrm blood to spread rapidly through the bloodstream and dilute itself. Since it was an inferior species, he simply cleared the path for the dragon lineage to take over. It would take time, but by the end of the week, he would likely have slightly boosted the lineage and bodies of the two baby girls.
'It makes sense; their developing bodies consumed more of the lineage, causing it to dilute. I never saw them before, as I was too weak and only allowed to leave my mother's area as a teenager. These two must have worsened significantly and been offered to others as gifts. Well, I hope they don't disappoint me in the future.'
He soon returned to his bed and fell asleep. Carrying the dragon lineage required them to sleep much longer during their first days of life, which is why the room was designed for total darkness—so they could sleep undisturbed.
The days passed, with the maid arriving to pour drops into the Everegium babies' mouths before spending several minutes staring at Azeyr. Although he found it uncomfortable, as long as she didn't do anything extreme, he wouldn't worry.
Every day, when he wasn't sleeping, he cast sealing spells to exhaust his mana. Despite the fatigue, he repeated the cycle, while also diluting the blood of the six traitors and increasing the flow of the two girls.
A week passed in this routine, and the results surprised even Azeyr himself.
Thursday, November 9, 2000
'Yesterday was that damn maid's sixth visit. I'm actually starting to get scared of what she might do to me. Luckily today is the last visit; after this, these babies are going to wake up starving. Especially the six idiots—I overdid it, and now they are almost entirely Wyrms. When they wake up, the lineage will be forcibly awakened, and they'll go out of control, but that's not my problem.'
Azeyr sat in his crib, hand on his chin, looking adorable to anyone watching. It was a pity no one was there to record his face—well, actually, two were. Four eyes stared at his face, their tiny eyes squinted.
'They've been in this state of suspension for a few hours. Soon I'll have to use a mana pulse to put them to sleep, but for now, it's fine. Their brains must be developing faster since I helped stabilize the lineage over the mortal blood. They'll likely awaken at 10 or 12—they'll probably be stars. But I intend to do it when I'm two. Although exposing myself is a risk, it's something I can handle. I'll need the family's resources for what I want to do, and those greedy old men will have their eyes light up at the sight of the second child to awaken so young.'
He snapped his fingers and put the two to sleep, then lay down and let himself be carried into the world of dreams.
'I'm going to sleep. I don't even need to worry about the drops, since the idiots will only reinforce their defective lineage and the two girls will eliminate it now that their bodies have been sufficiently exposed and transformed by the draconic lineage. It's a pity my alarm clock will be the screams of hungry babies, but it's an acceptable trade-off for having eclipsed their futures.'
Azeyr was definitely a narcissist, but he could back his claims with his beauty. Few could claim to be more beautiful than him—and that's speaking of adults, as his beauty grew every day. That was why the maid spent every day admiring him, though by a stroke of fate, she never touched him. One couldn't say the same for her thoughts.
However, that was the last day she saw him. After leaving and walking toward the first wife's quarters, she was intercepted by her lady's personal guard and silenced quickly. Without pain, only eternal rest. That was the reward for her years of loyalty.