Upon hearing the question that Gunnar posed, a split of grudging approval passed over Narrick's face. But just as quickly, the smile faded and Narrick began to speak.
"The core is know as a bloodline core, it is part of a seal your greatest ancestor put our bloodline, along with the rest of our clans and their elders. It is a seal that holds the power of our bloodline, until such a time as it's requirements are met."
"Requirements?" Gunnar interrupted and asked.
"Yes, boy. Requirements. They vary from person to person as well as from clan to clan. I cannot tell you specifics about what requirements for what clan, but one of the base requirements is in cultivation. You must be able to sense and to some extent move mana. Another requirement that has been placed on the entire bloodline by the royals of my kind, is approval or help of a beast or Titan beast."
As Narrick spoke those words a flash of inspiration came to Gunnar. "The two young great bears?"
Narrick nodded solemnly. "When the two cubs gave you their mana of their own free will, it did two things. The first is it started an awakening process known as natural awakening. You were able to sense mana, in its purer form, for the first time right?"
Gunnar nodded briefly explaining how he has felt the pressure that mana puts off when used by someone older than he, but that he wasn't able to actually sense the movement or type of mana until that moment.
Narrick continued his explanation. "That type of awakening is one of the most painful. But yours, done on this planet with raw chaotic mana in it's unprocessed form from the cubs, was among the most painful. Most on the forgeworlds do not use the natural awakening while on the on the planets because of the pain being too great and leading to too much distraction can cause the mana to explode."
"The second thing it did was begin the full awakening of your bloodline core, years before one of the other requirements should have allowed. Your age should be at least 14 before the core awakened, so that your mind would be mature enough to guide some of the energy. But the demon opened a possiblity though an exception clause put into the bloodline seal. When an unawakened of our blood is threatened by one of those corrupted beings, the blood will lend its strength to give a boost to survive the brush of corrupted mana."
Gunnar noticed that Narrick had pulled a red crystal from his pocket. The demon heart from the vampire. Gunnar knew that an unawakened couldn't handle one because there was no internal mana to hold of the corrupted mana and it could drive them berserk. By breaking into the Tin rank, Gunnar could probably hold this crystal but wouldn't chance it. The reason he had left it on the ground at the clearing was that he was too injured and didn't have mana to hold off the corruption.
Narrick put the crystal away and spoke again. "By those two lending strength, the bloodline seal, well, cracked. It is allowing, from what I am senseing, a drop of bloodline energy through just ever so often to strengthen your body. It has not fully awakened which is why I can tell you more. The bloodline did the first refinement for you, making you a Tin rank level one, probably because you impressed it in some way."
"You make the blood sound intelligent, or rather sentient. That's not possible right?"
"Bloodlines are really strange things." Narrick shrugged. "I have fully awakened my blood and I still don't have an answer to that question."
Gunnar sat with this new information and thought about what it could mean for his cultivation. If it was going to passively strengthen his body, then would it be progressing his body by refining the mana he would be passively absorbing? Or would it be improving his strength within his level until it would become a multiplier when be broke through to the next level.
"Teacher Narrick?"
"Just Narrick boy. What is it."
"You said I would be strengthened by the drops of blood energy, right?"
A light flashed in Narrick's eyes. "You are wondering in what way it will improve your body, in quality or in level of body. Well it varies, some have gotten an improvement within their level, and others got an improvement in body level. It will be up to your luck."
"Am I allowed to talk about any of this? Teacher Jarsa mentioned she could feel bloodline energy in me but I didn't know what I could talk about."
Narrick thought for a moment and then spoke with a decisive nod. "For now you can answer about your good luck leveling up into Tin rank, but anyone asks about your bloodline energy, send them to me. If they can feel it, they should have a bloodline of their own. Now walk me through your two weeks and the whole demonic incident."
When he had finished explaining the course of their two weeks and the demon's pursuit, Gunnar thanked Narrick and settled back to rest before watching Narrick get up and sit beside Cassie and shroud them in mana.
As the minutes began to tick by his eyes began to droop until he slowly fell into a much needed sleep.
It was a two and a half hour trip at regular on world regulation speed and Gunnar had no idea how much of it he spent with Narrick and how much he slept. But he was awakened when they began to slow and maneuver into one of the flight pods used to house the transports on schoolgrounds. These pods were replicated to be sized like a pod on the transport ships, of massive size, that these smaller transports would normally be deployed from.
As soon as they landed Gunnar noticed a tall man with slightly greying hair standing at the marked off distance that was considered safe in these pods. Besides Narrick, the other teachers all gave the man a salute or a bow, based off of whether they had served in a military element or were of a civilian persuasion. Narrick though simply nodded and then spoke a greeting.
"Dean Baldur."
At those words, a streak of electricity flashed down Gunnar's spine. His eyes shot upwards as he looked for any similarity to his biological father's family.