"You now have the option to take contracts in other provinces," Colin explained to Asher. "If you progress to A rank, this option will expand to our neighboring nation of Aetheria."
Aetheria was a place Asher would have only ever dreamed of going. It had advanced technology and plentiful wealth. They also had some of the strongest monsters on the continent, as well as a large collection of greater dragons.
Colin looked at the rank C board and he felt somewhat somber, staring at it. Leah had not been promoted with him. Colin distracted him from his thoughts with, "If you're worried about her, she's right behind you. That said, you appear to be outpacing Leah quite rapidly."
Asher nodded as Colin continued, "You have more options now that you're at rank C. You can use the guild halls in other locations to spend the night. In addition to that, you'll find your payout has increased significantly from what you're used to on average."
Asher nodded with excitement as Colin explained everything. "Is there anything else?" Asher asked. Colin smirked. "Follow me," he ordered. Asher tailed Colin through the guild towards the armory.
Colin said, "Pick something from the leather area." Asher's eyes practically glowed as he stared at a rack full of Minotaur leather armor. He grabbed a set of greaves to protect his legs. He was still amazed at how supple the leather was, yet it could still deflect steel. It was a truly amazing substance.
Asher had no doubt that with the newest addition to his armor he would have much greater chances at his new rank with more difficult challenges ahead of him. Colin motioned for Asher to follow him towards the weaponry. There was a section for Aetherian steel where Colin had led him. It was expensive. Not quite to the same extent as mythril, but it was quickly closing in. Asher knew it would have taken him months of saving before to be able to afford just a used Aetherian steel sword, let alone a brand new one like the guild was just gifting him.
Asher grabbed a short sword almost identical to his steel sword and whipped it through the air a couple of times. It was lighter than his old one and much better balanced, yet was as easy as swinging a feather in his hand. "Thank you," Asher said.
"No, thank you for proving everyone else wrong," Colin said. "You don't seem to understand, I have been rooting for you since you started here. Now that you are promoted to this level, you have more resources than ever and wealth to match that. You can potentially retire within a year or two if you wanted to, but I somehow doubt that's on your mind. If you see my brother up north, say hi to him for me."
Asher smirked in response. He had plans that he could finally afford to put into action. He wanted to find out why he could absorb strength from fallen monsters. Usually a power like that would come from a higher bloodline, yet he came from rags and thievery. There had to be history behind it. He just had to find a trail to follow.
Asher spent the next week traveling north to Winterhaven. He shivered constantly as he marched onwards. The landscape changed rapidly as he went through the mountains that made up the province. It had gone from beautiful greenery and forests to ice, snow and rock.
Asher saw the glow of the city in the distance. There were multiple villages he had passed through on his way, but he knew for a fact, this was Winterhaven itself. Grand gothic architecture loomed high above the city with cathedrals and battlements. It was a vast difference from Imperia with their almost open settlement. Other than the castle in the center of Imperia. Asher had never set foot there in his entire time working with the guild, however.
Asher knew he had to be careful around Winterhaven, there was more to be wary of in this place than ever before for him. The eerie silence of the winter wastelands was spooky to say the least. The only sound was the whistling of the wind. Asher shuddered before he continued onwards.
He took a contract and went out to fight a frost elemental. The being made of crystalline ice put up a hard fight against Asher, constantly sending out blizzards of ice against him. He had frostbite across every finger on his hand.
As he struck down the frost elemental, he felt the same familiar warm sensation running through his body. His hands had healed as quickly as they had been damaged. A new feeling ran through him after that. He had a frigid cold run through his body.
Asher stood there for several moments after the feeling had passed, wondering what happened to him. Shortly after that, there was a rumbling from beneath him. He dove to the side and from below the ice, he could see a creature of magma arising.
It was at least nine feet tall and it had magma falling down in droplets. It was a golem. Asher had no idea how something like this was out in the wastelands. It was truly incredible. He tightened his grip on his blade, wondering how he would even begin to hurt the creature made of solid rock and magma.
He felt the cold sensation once again and it flowed through his fingers into his blade. His sword glowed a light blue as it cooled down even farther than the surroundings.
Asher muttered, "Curious." He had no time to wonder how he did it, as the golem swung at him. He rolled out of the way and slashed at its arm on his way by. The magma shrunk and recoiled from the touch of the frozen blade. Asher continued to roll past the lumbering strikes as he whittled down the massive creature.
It was beginning to shrink over time, where it had started as a gargantuan foe, it was shrinking down towards Asher's size. Soon enough, Asher had taken it down enough to give one last mighty swing to the center of the creatures body, watching it fall to the ground. The same warm sensation had gone through him, proceeded by a blistering hot feeling causing him to sweat even in the freezing cold. It ended as quickly as it had began. Asher mused on it. It seemed as though he was absorbing the special abilities of the enemies he slayed. He was absolutely desperate to find out why this was happening to him and what it meant.
As he walked back through the city, he made a beeline, not for the guild but for the local library. He spent hours pouring through tomes about higher bloodlines and even divine bloodlines. He found nothing that matched what he was experiencing. He knew it wasn't in his head, he had gotten progressively stronger with each mission he did at an accelerated rate. It wasn't just skill, he was getting faster and more powerful. He was concerned there may be a drawback to this power. He had asked the librarian if he had heard anything about the power and the man's eyes lit up.
"Do you know someone who has this power?" the librarian asked.
"I met someone who had talked about it at one point, I was curious and came here," Asher lied cooly.
"It's an ancient bloodline," the librarian explained. "It predates almost every other bloodline in recorded history. It is the power of domination. There's not much explaining what it truly is, but it is said to be the bloodline that can truly subjugate the world if it fell into the wrong hands."
Asher had never expected something like this. "So why is it in none of the books?"
"It's so rare, most historians don't even know about it. In addition to that, we don't truly know where it originated. The few of us that know about it have theories, but nothing concrete," the librarian explained.
"Do you care to share those theories?" Asher asked impatiently.
"Some say the bloodline was started by monster hunters, divine warriors who would hunt creatures to protect the land."
"And the others say what exactly?"
"The others say it's a divine bloodline, originating from an elder god. One that is terrible and malicious, one sealed away long ago. It could be even a combination of the two, as all legends have some truth rooted in them."
Asher left shortly after that and collected his money at the Winterhaven guild. He paid off the rest of his bounties in the province and went to his room. He laid in his bed, fast asleep. He had no idea that he would be meeting with two people that would shape his future, the very next day.