Chapter 36: A Breakthrough and A Bounty

After entering Cole Manor, he unloaded the mountain of daily necessities, placing most of them in the main hall on the first floor while keeping a small portion inside his spatial ring for convenience.

Only then did he call his family together.

"I’ll be very busy for the next few days," Ryan warned them seriously. "So, try not to leave the manor unless absolutely necessary. And if you do have to go out, you must not leave Winters Manor under any circumstances."

His family members nodded solemnly.

Seeing that everyone understood, Ryan didn’t say anything more.

He quickly headed upstairs and went directly to the third floor.

The large training room was spacious and quiet.

Ryan entered, closed the door behind him, and walked toward the center of the room.

After taking a deep breath, he slowly calmed his mind and sat down cross-legged.

He had been busy from morning until night.

The intense battle, followed by his frantic shopping spree, had left both his body and mind exhausted. More importantly, he could clearly feel that the Origin Energy within his body had become somewhat chaotic.

He needed to meditate and regulate his breathing.

Ryan closed his eyes.

"Hiss..."

The pure-white Origin Sea slowly circulated within his body.

Almost instantly, the surrounding free Origin Energy, resembling countless specks of starlight, began flowing toward him.

It gathered first within his Origin Energy Sea before slowly spreading through his limbs and bones.

After circulating through his body, the Origin Energy gradually returned to the Origin Energy Sea.

One cycle.

Then another.

The process continued endlessly, each cycle gradually stabilizing and refining the Origin Energy within his body.

As he meditated, Ryan suddenly remembered something.

During his battle with the Sterling Family members earlier that day, he had felt a strange warmth spreading through his meridians.

At the time, he hadn’t paid much attention to it.

Now, he realized what had happened.

It was most likely the remaining medicinal power of the Burning Blood Pill.

The intense battle had forced him to circulate his Origin Sea Bloodline at full power, inadvertently stimulating the medicinal energy that had remained hidden within his body.

Now that Ryan had entered a deep meditative state, that residual medicinal power began to awaken completely.

A warm current slowly spread through his meridians.

The medicinal energy flowed along his pathways, nourishing and strengthening them as it was gradually absorbed into his body.

Ryan’s breathing became increasingly steady.

The exhaustion he had felt moments earlier slowly began to fade.

And as the final traces of the Burning Blood Pill’s medicinal power were absorbed, an invisible barrier within his body began to loosen.

At the same time, far from Cole Manor, Ryan remained completely unaware that trouble was already closing in on him.

Deep in the heart of Ashfall City’s slums, a stern-looking young man in his twenties had spent the entire night turning the surrounding district upside down.

The slender young man was none other than Owen Sterling.

Owen was an adopted son of Gareth Sterling.

Years ago, Gareth had discovered him in a poor family and taken him in, changing his surname to Sterling.

Although Owen had been born into poverty, his Bloodline aptitude was quite impressive.

Not long ago, he had broken through the shackles of the Origin Sea Convergence Realm and officially entered the Initial Stage of the Origin Spirit Realm.

Gareth had very few direct descendants, which was why he had adopted Owen as a potential successor and a backup for the future.

Who would have thought that this backup plan would be needed so soon?

"Cole Family... Ryan?"

Owen stared thoughtfully at the intelligence report in his hands.

Behind him stood more than twenty black-clad elite guards, all at the Origin Sea Convergence Realm. They stood in neat rows, their expressions solemn.

After receiving Gareth Sterling’s order, Owen had immediately mobilized this group of elite guards and rushed to the slums overnight.

Using a combination of threats and inducements, they had interrogated numerous residents in the surrounding area.

After several hours of investigation, they had finally pieced together the truth behind Wesley Sterling’s death and compiled a detailed report on the murderer and his family.

Owen lowered his eyes and read through the information once again.

"Ryan Cole. Lives in the slums and makes a living scavenging through discarded materials."

"Both parents are construction workers. He has two younger brothers, one still young and the other disabled."

"At sixteen, he was certified by the Welfare Institute as an ordinary commoner with no Bloodline."

"Born prematurely, resulting in congenital deficiencies and a weak constitution. Twenty years old."

"Yet, at some unknown point, he suddenly awakened a D-Grade Ordinary Bloodline—Spider..."

Owen’s brows furrowed deeply.

"Is this some kind of joke?"

His expression gradually turned cold.

"How dare a low-born commoner who only awakened his Bloodline through sheer luck, with nothing more than a D-Grade Ordinary Bloodline, raise his hand against the Sterling Family?"

Owen knew very well that if someone failed to awaken their Bloodline before the age of sixteen, the chances of awakening later were extremely slim.

Slim, however, did not mean impossible.

There had occasionally been cases of late Bloodline awakenings.

Still, he couldn’t understand what had given Ryan the courage to attack a member of the Sterling Family.

A commoner from the slums.

No powerful background.

No remarkable Bloodline.

No known connections.

Yet, after somehow awakening a D-Grade Ordinary Bloodline, instead of keeping his head down and living quietly, he had actually dared to provoke the Sterling Family.

He truly didn’t know his place.

And because of that, Owen had been forced to stand in the freezing night wind, running around the slums and wasting precious time investigating a nobody.

The thought alone irritated him.

Although Owen himself had once come from a poor family, he had long since abandoned any attachment to his former life.

With his current strength and status within the Sterling Family, he considered those impoverished days nothing more than an unpleasant Chapter of his past.

Naturally, he felt little sympathy for Ryan simply because they shared similar origins.

As far as Owen was concerned, Ryan was nothing more than a target.

His only goal was to complete Gareth’s orders as quickly as possible.

"The house is empty."

Owen glanced toward the abandoned residence and sneered.

"So he ran quickly, did he?"

His eyes narrowed.

"Hmph. Let’s see how long you can hide."

He turned toward the black-clad guards behind him and issued a cold command.

"Sterling elite guards, listen carefully. Divide into two teams immediately."

"One team will take Ryan’s portrait and search throughout the city. Question passersby and anyone who may have seen him. Find out where he went."

"The other team will investigate the places Ryan frequently visited. Keep watch over them and report immediately if you discover anything."

"Yes!"

The more than twenty black-clad elite guards bowed in unison.

Without wasting another moment, they divided into two groups and swiftly dispersed into the night, heading toward different parts of Ashfall City.

Owen watched them disappear before turning his gaze toward the darkened streets.

He had no idea that the person he was searching for had already entered Winters Manor—a place where even the Sterling Family could not casually extend its reach.

For now, however, Owen knew nothing of this.

The search for Ryan had officially begun.

And beneath the seemingly peaceful surface of Ashfall City, hidden currents began to surge.

Meanwhile, inside Cole Manor, Ryan remained completely unaware of the danger gathering outside.

Time continued to pass.

The night grew deeper, and the world fell into a peaceful silence.

Moonlight poured over the balcony like flowing water, casting a cool silver glow across the mortal world.

Then—

"Bang!"

A subtle, muffled sound suddenly echoed from deep within Ryan’s body.

In the next instant, an endless stream of pure-white Origin Sea surged violently through his meridians.

Ryan’s eyes snapped open.

His face was filled with pleasant surprise.

"Excellent! I’ve actually broken through to the Second Stage of the Origin Sea Convergence Realm!"

He had never expected his strength to improve so quickly.

The medicinal power of the Second-Tier Top-Grade Burning Blood Pill was truly astonishing.

Even after the intense battle earlier, a considerable amount of its medicinal power had remained hidden within his body.

Now, after the battle and prolonged meditation, that remaining medicinal power had finally been completely absorbed.

Ryan immediately performed an internal inspection.

Sure enough, a second stream of Origin Sea had successfully condensed within his Origin Energy Sea.

The two streams of Origin Sea slowly revolved around each other, continuously circulating within his body.

His physical strength had improved once again, and his five senses had become noticeably sharper.

However, his Mental Awareness had only increased slightly.

The difference was obvious compared with the improvement in his physical strength and Origin Sea.

It seems Mental Awareness is much more difficult to improve.

Ryan couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

When he had first awakened his Bloodline, he had already discovered that some of the Burning Blood Pill’s medicinal power remained hidden within his meridians and had yet to be fully absorbed.

He hadn’t expected that today’s intense battle, followed by his meditation, would completely refine the remaining medicinal power and push him directly to the Second Stage of the Origin Sea Convergence Realm.

No wonder he had often heard people say that combat experience could also contribute to one’s growth.

Constant fighting and repeatedly pushing one’s Origin Sea Bloodline to its limits could gradually strengthen and widen the meridians throughout the body, allowing them to accommodate more Origin Energy.

As the capacity of the Origin Energy Sea increased, one’s strength would naturally rise as well.

Ryan slowly clenched his fists.

A surge of power immediately filled his body.

"Now, let’s see what I got today."

A trace of anticipation appeared in his eyes.

He had been exhausted earlier, but after breaking through to the Second Stage of the Origin Sea Convergence Realm, he suddenly felt energized again.

With a flash of white light, Ryan’s spatial ring appeared in his palm.

He reached inside and retrieved another spatial ring.

This was one of the spoils he had obtained after killing Wesley Sterling.

Ryan quickly performed a blood-binding recognition ritual. Then, holding the ring in his palm, he injected a trace of Origin Sea Bloodline into it.

A faint white light flashed.

The next moment, Ryan’s eyes widened.

"This..."

He stared at the spatial ring in disbelief.

He had never expected its internal space to be so enormous.

A full 1,000 cubic meters!

It was essentially a cube measuring ten meters in length, width, and height.

"The Sterling Family really is wealthy."

Ryan couldn’t help but sigh.

Even a seemingly ordinary family member possessed such a luxurious spatial ring.

However, Ryan didn’t know that Wesley Sterling was far from an ordinary member of the Sterling Family.

Although Wesley came from a collateral branch, he was Gareth Sterling’s only biological son.

For someone in Wesley’s position, a 1,000-cubic-meter spatial ring was merely a basic standard.

There was another reason Ryan had been able to use the ring so easily.

Bloodline Fighters who possessed an Origin Sea could leave a unique imprint on their spatial rings, establishing ownership and preventing others from freely accessing the items inside.

Wesley, however, had never awakened his Bloodline.

He had no Origin Sea and therefore couldn’t establish such a soul imprint on the spatial ring.

Strictly speaking, the spatial ring had effectively been ownerless.

Therefore, Ryan didn’t need to waste time removing an existing soul imprint. After completing a simple blood-binding recognition, he could immediately use it.

Ordinary people who had never awakened their Bloodline could also make limited use of spatial rings.

By placing an Origin Stone against the ring and guiding it with their minds, they could barely activate its spatial function.

This was precisely why Wesley had been able to carry a spatial ring despite never awakening his Bloodline.

Ryan’s attention returned to the ring’s enormous internal space.

If a one-cubic-meter spatial ring was valued at roughly three to five Low-Grade Origin Stones, then a 1,000-cubic-meter ring would have a basic value of around 3,000 to 5,000 Low-Grade Origin Stones.

But that was only the theoretical value based on storage capacity.

In reality, 1,000-cubic-meter spatial rings were considerably rarer.

Different Spaces were inherently scarce, and refining stable spatial coordinates capable of linking such a vast internal space to a tiny ring was far more difficult.

As a result, a spatial ring of this size could generally be worth anywhere from 5,000 to 8,000 Low-Grade Origin Stones.

This was an enormous gain.

And beyond its value, the sheer amount of storage space was incredibly convenient.

With a space measuring 1,000 cubic meters, Ryan could store a massive amount of supplies without ever having to worry about running out of room.

He immediately extended his Mental Awareness into the spatial ring.

Apart from the ring itself, he quickly discovered that Wesley had left quite a few valuable items inside.

Ryan’s eyes lit up. ’Looks like today’s harvest is going to be quite impressive.’