Leonard stood in the middle of the arena, his heart pounding violently. Cold sweat ran down his back despite the cool air. He glanced toward Alice and Emma, who seed to be discussing sothing with several other male beastkin.
"They’re choosing an opponent for ," he muttered. "God, please... not soone too strong."
Emma suddenly turned to face the crowd. Her voice rang out loudly, clear enough to reach every corner of the arena. "Since the first person to et this intruder was Lily, then Lily will be the one to fight him!"
Instantly, the crowd erupted.
Most of them laughed. Not friendly laughter, but mocking laughter. Leonard could hear the comnts around him.
"Lily? That weak one?"
"She’s going to fight?"
"Look at her opponent, he’s skinny as a stick! Perfect match!"
"A fight between weaklings! This’ll be hilarious!"
Leonard ignored the jeers. His eyes were fixed on a figure slowly stepping into the arena.
Lily.
The rabbit girl with long, ssy white hair walked forward with her head slightly lowered. Her long ears drooped limply, as if she didn’t want to be here. She wore the sa simple, revealing leather outfit as before. There was no weapon in her hands.
Leonard looked at her and thought, ’Barbarians. How can all of you make such an innocent, naïve girl fight? Look at her, she can’t even et my eyes. A girl like this probably wouldn’t even have the heart to kill an ant, let alone hurt soone.’
As a modern man raised with traditional values by his family, hitting a woman for no reason, just because of so ridiculous match, felt wrong.
But on the other hand, he rembered what he had seen a few hours ago. Lily carrying a pile of firewood the size of a refrigerator. Lily walking without panting under that weight. Even if Emma and Alice called her foolish, she still possessed abnormal strength.
Leonard took a deep breath.
’Okay. Here’s the plan. Simple. I’ll walk up to her, whisper, tell her to punch and knock down. Then I’ll pretend to be in pain and unable to get up. Fight over. I lose, but at least I won’t get seriously hurt. And she won’t have to feel guilty.’
A perfect plan.
Lily stopped in front of him. Only about three steps separated them. The rabbit girl still kept her head lowered, not daring to et his gaze.
From the edge of the arena, Emma’s voice cut through the noise.
"BEGIN!"
Leonard raised both hands, showing he was unard and non-aggressive. He carefully stepped closer to Lily.
"Hey," he whispered softly, just loud enough for Lily to hear but not the crowd. "Thanks for helping earlier. At the Chief’s house..."
Lily’s ears twitched slightly. She still didn’t look up.
Leonard continued, "Listen, I don’t want to hurt you. So how about—"
Lily looked up.
"Lily... won’t hold back," she said.
Before Leonard could react, Lily moved.
Too fast. One of her legs shot upward at impossible speed. Leonard only saw a blur, and then—
Thud!
An overwhelming pain exploded across his face. Right in his mouth. Leonard felt his lip split, his teeth loosen, and sothing hard slam into him with strength completely disproportionate to her small fra.
The world spun.
Leonard was sent flying backward. His body rolled across the ground, past the arena’s boundary, past the legs of spectators scrambling out of the way. He finally stopped after crashing into sothing hard—maybe a rock, maybe a tree stump.
So of his teeth... were gone. He could feel them inside his mouth. Blood poured from his torn lip.
Then everything went dark.
.
.
.
Leonard woke up in darkness.
Absolute darkness, not like a moonless night. More like his eyes were covered with thick cloth, or as if he had no eyes at all. Reflexively, his hands groped at his face.
There was no pain at all. But that wasn’t important right now. What mattered was—where was he?
Leonard tried to look around. But there was only darkness. He couldn’t see anything. No ground beneath him, no sky above him. Just... emptiness.
"What is this... did I log out?"
His mind raced. Maybe this was a virtual world. Maybe he just needed to pass out to exit. Maybe—
[ You must be confused and have many questions in your head right now. ]
The voice ca from everywhere and nowhere. Directly inside his mind, yet also echoing around him. It sounded robotic.
At the sa ti, a massive holographic screen appeared before him. Glowing white text floated in the darkness.
Leonard was startled, then imdiately shouted, "WHO ARE YOU?! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ?! WHAT DO YOU WANT?! WHERE AM I?! SEND BACK HO! SEND —"
[ You must be shouting and questioning right now, ] the voice cut him off flatly as the text on the screen changed. [ But unfortunately, I cannot answer because this is only a recorded ssage. ]
Leonard stopped. His eyes widened.
"What? A ssage? Nonsense! Send back ho! GET OUT OF HERE!"
The screen remained silent for a mont. Then new text appeared.
[ You are already dead. ]
Silence.
Leonard froze. The words echoed in his mind.
You are already dead.
His mouth opened, but no sound ca out.
Dead.
He rembered. The holess n beating him in that filthy alley. Lulu being grabbed, kicked. The hard blow to his head until it bled. The cold spreading through his body. Lulu... the last thing he saw, licking him.
Dead.
But...
"If I’m dead," he muttered weakly, half whispering, "then why am I alive again? Why am I here? This doesn’t make sense."
He shook his head and thought hard.
Maybe this system was lying. Maybe this was part of so experint. Maybe—
"So... that’s how it is," he murmured. "I really did die back then."
For now, let’s assu that.
He looked at the screen with dull eyes.
The screen changed again.
[ You must be very shocked. And I cannot explain at length because my ti is limited. This ssage will only appear once. ]
Leonard listened carefully to every word.
[ First, everything happening to you now is real. You have awakened in a primitive world filled with Beastkin and monsters that can evolve. Think of it like a video ga. ]
Another world, Leonard thought. So this really is isekai.
The screen disappeared, replaced by a familiar interface.
[ Leonard Harrington ]
[ Stage: 1 ]
[ Evolution Progress: 0/1000 ]
[ Bloodline: — ]
[ Conquered: 0 ]
[ List: — ]
[ Stage is the sa as level. The higher your stage, the stronger you are. Stage 1 is the beginning. To advance to Stage 2, you must fill your Evolution Progress to 1000. ]
Leonard nodded. "Understood. And how do I fill Evolution Progress?"
As if answering his question, new text appeared.
[ Evolution Progress increases by absorbing Essence Beast Cores. Beast Cores are energy crystals obtained by killing monsters. The stronger the monster, the greater the Essence it contains. ]
So it’s like EXP in a ga, Leonard thought. Kill monsters, gain EXP, level up.
The screen then highlighted the Bloodline section.
[ Bloodline determines your lineage. It defines your special abilities, elental power, and even your evolutionary form. Every beastkin is born with one bloodline according to their species. But you are different. ]
The text paused briefly, then continued.
[ You are essentially an ordinary human. You possess no bloodline. That is your weakness and your strength. ]
Leonard frowned. What does that an?
[ Because you have no bloodline, you can obtain bloodlines from other sources. How? By conquering beastkin won. ]
Leonard’s eyes widened. "What?"
[ Conquering is the process of making them fall in love with you. Loyal. Obsessed. Deeply connected to you—emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Once that bond is ford, their bloodline will begin to flow within you. ]
The screen highlighted the "Conquered" and "List" sections.
[ Conquered is the number of won you have successfully conquered. List is their nas. Each woman recorded in the List grants you access to her bloodline. ]
Leonard read everything with wide eyes. He couldn’t believe it.
"Wait, wait, wait," he raised both hands. "You an... I have to... seduce won? Lots of won? To gain power?"
The text did not answer. It remained silent.
"Do you think I’m so kind of smut novel protagonist?!" Leonard nearly shouted. "How is that even possible?! Are you going to give a skill or sothing to seduce won? Is life just about won now?! Why ?! You could’ve chosen soone else for this! Just send to a normal dieval world! Or a world to fight a demon king! Anything! Not this!"
The screen remained indifferent.
Then new text appeared.
[ If you successfully gather bloodlines, you can rge them. Two bloodlines can fuse into a new, stronger bloodline. Then you can add a third, a fourth, a fifth—continuously, without limit. ]
[ Limitless evolution...]
[That is what is offered to you. Gather many bloodlines. Conquer many won. Fuse them. Beco the supre being of this world. ]
Leonard furrowed his brow.
Limitless evolution... that sounded... incredible.
But—
"But is that all?" he asked. "Won’t you give any skills or sothing to make it easier? Maybe a charm spell? Or a seductive aura?"
Silence.
Then new text appeared, almost mockingly.
[ Note: You can only rely on yourself to seduce won. Only yourself. ]
Leonard opened his mouth to protest, but—
The world spun. The surrounding darkness began to lt and swirl like a vortex. Leonard felt his body being pulled sowhere.
"WAIT—ARE YOU SERIOUS?! HOW CAN—"
But no one heard him.
Leonard’s consciousness drifted.
Then vanished.
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