Back in real life...

Felix was lying on the bed while browsing through Goati's shop website for new bloodlines to buy. He was eager to reach 15% and unlock the first passives of the Sphinx.

​​

However, he was a bit lazy as he decided to check online instead of going out in person.

In a while, Felix picked two eagle species bottles and three bottles each from a different species. He then called Goati informing him about the purchase.

After paying for them upfront, he straightway received the serial codes.

However, he didn't send them to Bodidi since tomorrow he would be heading to the venue with the team for the gathering.

After tomorrow they would be transported to the wildness and left there for 7 days without UVR or the Queen's assistance.

Felix preferred waiting until he gets back from the competition.

Just as Felix planned to shake off the laziness by carrying on his inner manipulation training, he received a message from George.

The message entailed that the team will gather tomorrow at 09:00 AM for breakfast at the Hotel's restaurant.

"You better behave tomorrow." Felix gave a threatening glare at his playful tail.

Knowing that a single harmless swing could cause internal bleeding to Olivia and rest, Felix was planning to keep his distance as far as possible from them until he gets full control of his tail.

...

Tomorrow at 09:00 AM...

Felix was already up and currently taking a morning shower.

"Ah, that's refreshing." Felix exhaled in pleasure as he rolled a towel on his nether region.

He got outside of the bathroom and went to get dressed. Obviously, he wore the main team's outfit.

Soon, he went to his VR Pod and unplugged it. Then, he beamed it inside his spatial card before leaving his room.

...

Ti-ring

After stepping outside of the elevator, Felix walked with a straight back and nonchalant expression towards the restaurant.

However, with his new high-profiled mutations, he didn't escape getting pointed at by the other bloodliners and the hotel's staff crew on his way here.

Unbothered by their murmurs, Felix entered the noisy restaurant, packed to the brim with juniors wearing different colored uniforms.

Most of them were sitting as a full team with their instructor by their side, just like the national team, sitting at the restaurant's center.

The white and blue US uniform was pretty easy to spot.

Noticing how crowded it was, Felix smiled bitterly while glancing at his lethal weapon, waving left and right.

He knew that he couldn't pass through without smacking someone into the wall or a window.

He didn't want to return to his room after already making it here.

Hence, he was left with no other choice but to hold into his tail with one hand and walk forward, appearing like he was walking his kid to school.

The moment he reached Olivia and the rest, who were sitting on a long family table, their chatter died down as they kept looking at Felix in daze and bewilderment.

They weren't the only ones staring at Felix like that as he was standing in the center of the restaurant under the public eyes of everyone.

His unique new appearance was already an eyeopener, don't even mention him holding his tail like that.

"Good morning." Uncaring by the attention he was receiving, Felix found himself an empty chair and sat on it. He took the menu off the table and asked calmly, "What did you guys get?"

Hearing his voice, Olivia and the rest broke off their daze as they realized that he was truly Felix!

This made it even more difficult to believe it as his entire appearance was changed!

If someone came up to them and told them that Felix wasn't a native earthling, they would believe it in a heartbeat!

That's how big of a change Felix received after his advancement. Incomparable to his awakening.

"Did you replace your bloodline?" Somewhat shocked, Walton asked what was on everyone's mind.

"No, I dyed my hair and wore new eye contacts. Heck, even this tail is a plush that I stuck to my back." Felix replied sarcastically while giving Walton a look meant for retards.

"It's Felix, alright."

"Damn, had me doubting my eyes for a second."

Seeing his asshole attitude in play, everyone let go of the last bit of doubt they had.

Agitated, George immediately started barraging Felix with questions, "When did you replace it? Why did you do it without anyone's supervision?! What percentage did you integrate with?! Which beast and rank did..."

"Can you relax?" Felix glanced in his direction and gestured with his head at the bloodliners watching their interaction, "Private matters should be discussed in private spaces."

George took a deep breath to calm down his agitation after realizing that Felix was right.

This wasn't the place to talk about the team's matters.

Olivia and the rest, who were planning to ask the same, closed their mouth shut as well.

"Here I thought that my mutations and Noah's are high profiled enough." Adam smiled in self-mockery while touching his ruby red scales, which covered both of his arms.

Felix ignored him and looked at Noah, who had a single long icy horn protruding from his forehead. The horn was pointy and kept emitting a bit of cold air.

After Noah saw Felix staring at him, he nodded his head in greeting and carried on eating his breakfast in silence.

'Hopefully, he picked a bloodline that fits him.' Felix still didn't know the name of Adam and Noah's two epic bloodlines which were used to replace their previous ones.

He didn't give a shit about Adam's one, but he was a bit curious about Noah's pick.

Due to Felix's interferences in the time-line, Noah didn't replace his bloodline with the known rare rank beast, which Felix had a slight idea about.

After all, the family was doing alright now due to Felix's hidden donations and Robert's effort in the UVR. This meant, they could afford to get Noah a tier 2 epic bloodline without needing the country's assistance.

"I gotta say that your eyes are truly the next level of edginess." Dale said enviously while inspecting Felix's triangle-like golden pupil.

"Right? I am dying to know which beast he used to get those breathtaking mutations." Sarah said in eagerness.

"Hurry up and finish your breakfast then." George rushed them while chewing faster, "We will carry on the subject in the bus."

Upon hearing so, no one brought the matter anymore as they started focusing on their breakfast.

The details shouldn't be spoken out loud when their rivals were surrounding them.

...

Meanwhile, at the far end of the restaurant, two dark-haired juniors were conversing with each other while focusing on the US team's table.

"Brother Vladimir, did you inform the captain about this?"

"Yes, she told me that it doesn't matter if the captain of the US advanced or not." Vladimir scoffed as he spoke out loud, "Our team has six 1st stage bloodliners while they had only three now. If we fought them, they wouldn't amount to anything."

His voice traveled quite far, but it didn't reach Felix and the rest. However, the tables next to him heard him loud and clear.

Some of them smirked in ridicule at his claim. They knew that his team Russia might possess the largest number of 1st stage bloodliners in the competition, but they also knew that most of them didn't advance with 10%!

There was even a rumor that had been going around, entailing that the Russians had forced them into replacing their bloodlines and etching an ability before the competition to get the enhancements!

This would make the team stronger which translates into providing higher chances for Russia to get representatives slots.

Still, those juniors' future would be affected pretty heavily as they might have missed out on getting a mutation that could remain permanently.

This was the perfect example of seeking short-term gains while giving up on their future.

That being said, this was merely based on a rumor that might be right or utterly false.

...

10 minutes later, inside a white minibus, Felix was sitting at the backseat while holding his tail with one hand and using the other to push Olivia's face from getting closer to it.

"Stop being stingy and let me touch it. It looks fluffy!" Olivia said, pouting.

"No is a no!" Felix clarified for the 2nd time to the stubborn Olivia, "I still can't control it. You can get hurt."

"Drop it Olivia, we still have many concerns to deal with." George said sternly.

"Fine!" Olivia slapped Felix's hand away from her face and went back to her seat.

"So Felix, mind telling us the bloodline rank and name this time?" George asked.

"Sure, I used Toxic Bale Lion bloodline." Felix replied casually like lying was a daily occurrence to him.

Well, he already knew what he would say and do to hide the fact that he was using a sand element bloodline instead of poison.

Poison Manipulation was playing a huge role in his plan.

George typed the beast's name in the network's search bar. He wanted to check its details. In his eyes, there was no reason for Felix to lie.

Sure enough, he soon found positive results about the bloodline.

He read them out loud, "Epic tier 2 bloodline, known best for having venomous fangs, toxic breaths, and superstrength."

George lifted his head and glanced at Felix's mutations before comparing them with the golden lion stripped with blue lines.

He could excuse the difference in color scheme, but their eyes were completely different!

The lion had normal human-like eyes while Felix had those peculiar looking eyes. George was somewhat confused by this massive difference as he never heard of it happening before.

Felix didn't wait until he asks him about it as he shrugged his shoulders while mentioning, "Don't ask me about my eyes; I am just as confused as you are."

Upon hearing him say so, George frowned his eyebrows and asked, "Didn't you research the matter in the UVR?"

"Of course I did." Felix scratched his chin as he added, "But I only found bits and pieces suggesting that bloodliners had a minuscule chance of getting mutations from the beast's older generation."

Felix wasn't bullshiting this time as what he mentioned was indeed written in some research articles.

If George wanted to check on its validity, he could totally do so.

However, George wasn't planning on interrogating Felix but simply get a clearer view of his new bloodline.

Thus, after receiving his answer, he could only nod his head in understanding and move on to other issues.

Such as the percentage Felix used for replacing the bloodline and if he had yet to etch an ability in his 1% bloodline.

Felix didn't lie this time as he came clean and told him that he used only 10% to advance. As for etching ability? He informed him that he etched his poison bombs so he wouldn't lose his other inducements.

"That's good; I was worrying for a second that you might have rushed it and used less than 10%." George nodded his head in satisfaction.

Felix didn't mind telling the truth as he knew that George wouldn't be on his back at the notion of using 10% instead of 15% like Noah and Adam.

After all, the only reason bloodliners keep daring to increase the percentage higher and higher in their awakening or replacement was due to mutations.

It was clear that Felix didn't get the short stick even while using only 10%.

That being said, George still had to ask if those mutations weren't just cosmetics and not viable in fights.

Felix held his tail before him and smiled, "If you want to volunteer for a demonstration, I can show you what my mutation can do."

"Cough, no need." George dropped the matter immediately after noticing Felix's trouble-making smile.