-----
Vlad glanced at the corpses of these strange jackal-headed creatures, quickly pointing his hands at them and equipping his Skill that allowed him to drink large quantities of blood and assimilate bloodlines.
The moment he did, streams of black, miasmic blood emerged from the monster’s corpses, intimidating him slightly towards the idea of drinking it… However, he ultimately took the risk, detecting that despite how black the blood was, it was still considered edible for Vampires.
“Gulp, gulp… Ugh.”
It had a terribly bitter taste, making Vlad almost gag out of disgust. Chris panicked as he saw him trying to drink that nasty water.
"Hey, why are you trying to drink the sewage water of these things?! You’re going to die before you get anything out of them! Don’t be a nasty rat!”
“N-Nasty rat?! I just need power, Chris!” Paul complained. “There’s no other way for me to get more blood of this quality; even if it tastes like shit, I need to—Ugh!!”
Suddenly, Vlad felt an agonizing pain course through his entire body, suddenly falling to his knees, as he felt the power of a Curse rapidly trying to take over his entire being.
An aura of darkness and shadows emerged, and two sharp red eyes appeared.
[The {Desecrated Shadow King} presence slightly manifests.]
[Their curse is now flowing through your body.]
[If you resist, it’ll kill you.]
[If you embrace it, you will be given great power.]
“A curse?! Dammit, maybe you were a bit right…”
“See! See?! I was right, idiot!”
Chris quickly conjured a flash of bright holy light, shooting Vlad with it.
FLAAASH!
“Ugh…!”
Vlad felt his skin burn before the holy light, but it quickly healed back; the curse coursing through his body, however, instantly was burned to ashes, purified.
“Hahh… Hahh… Yeah, it works well.”
“What do you mean it works well?! You almost got possessed by that thing…”
"Yeah, but it works well; you just exorcise me.” Vlad smiled. “I’ll also use Gluttony to devour the curse. Like this, I can drink all the miasmic blood I want without issues.”
“Y-You’re insane! There’s no way that’ll work forever…” said Chris.
“But Chris, this is the only way; we need to get stronger. I really don’t want the damn city to be destroyed,” sighed Vlad. “Look, I know it’s a game and everything, but come on. Don’t tell me you want our entire city destroyed too?”
“I-I don’t…” Chris sighed. “But do we really need to… Agh, fuck it. You’re right, it’s a game, right? So I’ll just burn you with my holy light, and you better resist it!”
“Thank you, Chris,” Paul smiled, nodding.
He quickly pointed his hands at the corpses, and as several rivers of black miasmic blood flowed towards him, using Gluttony as well, he absorbed them directly into mouths that grew into his hands.
"Wow, that’s disgusting,” Chris noted.
“Shut up,” Paul sighed.
FLUOSH!
He continued rapidly drinking the black blood as the curse emerged once more every time; however, with Chris purifying it and Gluttony devouring the curse, he was able to manage to drink all the fresh, miasmic blood of every corpse he found.
“Hahhh… Hahhh… Hahh… Ugh, I’m beat…”
Vlad dropped over the wooden floor, almost dead due to the exhaustion he felt. It was like he was constantly drinking horrendous poison and letting it fester inside of him.
Although Chris and his Gluttony destroyed the curse, the pain he felt went nowhere; it remained right there, making each blood-drinking session a living torture.
Did he really have to go through all that pain? Was it even worth it?!
Well…
FLASH!
His body was overflowing with Blood Energy now; having absorbed so much high-quality cursed blood, his Blood Core was resonating happily with him, growing stronger and refining itself into a greater, tougher, and more high-quality form.
“I feel even stronger now, so it worked wonders,” he smiled, the pain already fading away with his regeneration. “Let’s eat the rest.”
He ate the wolf’s corpse after drinking his blood, which wasn’t infected thankfully, and also a few dozen of the monsters, including their equipment, to see if anything else popped up, until he no longer gained any more power from it.
Thanks to the powers of Gluttony, Vlad was able to devour corpses and gain additional Blood Energy, however, this was limited to a certain amount of Blood Energy per target, meaning that he had to find new prey as the same thing wouldn’t work after a few dozen meals.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Because of this, he was still left with dozens more of these monster corpses, and he had little idea what he could do with them… Their flesh and blood were definitely high-quality curse-type materials, and their bones, fangs, and claws, could be used to make stronger equipment, perhaps.
For now, however, he glanced at his gains as he felt more powerful.
Ding!
[You have satiated your bloodthirst, drinking a large quantity of Cursed, Miasmic Blood which you’ve purified and devoured.]
[You gained +620.000 Blood Energy.]
[Your [Blood Core]: [Blood Awakening Realm (Tier 5: Rank 5)] has Ranked Up to Tier 6: Rank 1 and has ascended into the Blood Evolution Realm!]
[Your Blood Power has increased by +4.050.]
[Your Strength, Vitality, and Dexterity have increased by +3.700.]
[Your Arcana has increased by +3.700.]
[You have reached Tier 6, and you can Rank Up your Class and Subclass whenever you are close to a Divine Class Change Stone.]
“Ah, that’s a lot of stats… Tier 6, that was quick. I should be able to get my second Class Rank Up now.”
[You have used the power of Gluttony to devour dozens of other corpses, gaining additional power and assimilating their properties while devouring lingering soul fragments, further empowering your Soul.]
[Your [Soul]: [Spiritual Golden Red Sea Psyche (Tier 3: Rank 10)] has Ranked Up to Tier 4: Rank 3!]
[You gained +1.500 Soul Ether]
[You gained +1.350 Arcana.]
[Your Soul has become strong enough, and you can access the Heavenly Treasury with more freedom than before.]
[The retrieval of Treasures up to the Spiritual Treasure Rank has become possible.]
“Wait, huh? I can retrieve more things now! Most of the things I could take were small, almost ordinary items within Murim,” thought Vlad. “Although the Soul Pills had helped strengthen my soul, they barely do anything now. And the other useful items? I’m already using them all, like the Alchemy Cauldron, the Spirit Fire Smithy, and more… But this should help me get more useful items.”
What Vlad was allowed to retrieve from the Heavenly Treasure imbued into his Soul from the Heavenly Demon were only Ordinary Treasures and Earth Treasures, but now, with Spiritual Treasures, things might become more interesting.
[You have absorbed the Bloodline Fragments of your targets, further strengthening your own Bloodline’s growth.]
[Your [Bloodline]: [Lesser Vampire Chimera Bloodline (Tier 3: Rank 7)] has Ranked Up to Tier 4: Rank 1!]
[You gained +1.400 Blood Power]
[You gained +1.200 Arcana.]
[You learned the Bloodline Skill: [Binding Blood Vow (A): Lv1]!]
-----
[Binding Blood Vow (A): Lv1]
[Skill EXP]: [0/10.000]
By using your own Bloodline and Blood, you can create a binding vow with someone else or even yourself, sacrificing something in return or putting conditions towards the creation of new rules or what can be done or gained.
The higher the level of this Skill, the stronger the effects of the Binding Blood Vow become, and the mightier your Bloodline must be to keep its effects at full power. This Skill is common among Vampires, used to create contracts with familiars or arrangements between individuals.
As long as the rules and requirements are followed, the user or both parties can be greatly benefited, but if they are broken, a backlash could occur, even provoking someone’s death, or a great wound in the soul, based on how strong the Blood Binding Vow user is.
-----
“Oh, this is amazing… I had no idea Vampires had such a unique power. Is this also the origin of their ridiculous strength?”
Vlad quickly realized that this might be one of the reasons his brother and his aunt had gained so much power from the curse.
It wasn’t just because they were cursed, but there might have been a strong contract, a blood vow between themselves, each other, or even the Desecrated Shadow King himself.
Ding!
[From devouring several foes through Gluttony, you have gained new Skills.]
[You acquired the [Protection of the Underworld (A): Lv1] Skill!]
[You acquired the [Death-Cleaving Underworld Scythes (A): Lv1] Skill!]
“Two skills, that’s good for now.”
Vlad nodded, looking at his Status after everything.
-----
[Player Name]: [Vlad Von Sange VII]
[Titles]: [Iron Blood Empire’s Seventh Prince]
[Blood Core]: [Blood Evolution Realm (Tier 6: Rank 1)] (Blood Energy: 0/200.000)
[Bloodline]: [Lesser Vampire Chimera Bloodline (Tier 4: Rank 1)]
[Soul]: [Spiritual Golden Red Sea Psyche (Tier 4: Rank 3)]
[Race]: [Dhampir (Weak Bloodline)]
[Class]: [Arcane Vampire Prince of the Crimson Moon: ★★]
[Subclass]: [Spirit Ki Farmer: ★★]
[Blood Power]: [43.850]
[Soul Ether]: [19.350]
[Strength]: [23.200]
[Arcana]: [33.300]
[Vitality]: [31.500]
[Dexterity]: [23.650]
[Credits]: [10.250.000]
[Character Background Traits]: [Insatiable Gluttony (Legendary Grade)] [Heavenly Demon’s Soul (Legendary Grade)] [Blessing of Achlys, the Goddess of the Crimson Moon (Epic Grade)]
[Character Background Flaws]: [Triple Shattered Meridian Physique (Legendary Grade)] [The Lonely Demon’s Last Wish (Legendary Grade)]
[Racial Skills (6/6)]
[Blood Demon’s Immortal Chimera Body (SS): Lv2] [Blood Bending (A): Lv4] [Moonlight Boost (C): Lv4] [Blazing Soul (A): Lv3] [Blazing Doppelganger (A): Lv3] [Blood Fever (C): Lv2] [Mist Form (B): Lv1] [Blood Bomb (A): Lv2]
[Class Skills (7/7)]
[Soul-Eating Fist Technique (S): Lv5] [Treacherous (D): Lv5] [Beast Hunter (D): Lv5] [Dual Blazing Blade Arts (S): Lv4] [Crimson Moon Arcane Arts (B): Lv2] [Flames And Thunder Of Judgement (S): Lv2] [Cursed Obsidian Insectoid Exoskeleton Creation (A): Lv2] [Magnetism Manipulation (S): Lv2]
[Subclass Skills (7/7)]
[Alchemy (C): Lv7] [Crafting (D): Lv5] [Runic Engravement (B): Lv5] [Sewing (D): Lv5] [Echolocation (D): Lv4] [Spiritual Ki Farmer Agricultural Arts (A): Lv2] [Blessing of the Martial Spirits of Harvest (A): Lv2]
-----
“Good enough… If I can Rank Up my Class and Subclass, then I can get more strength, and probably more Skill Slots.” He said it out loud. “I’m done; what about you?”
“A while ago, I absorbed a lot of Life Energy,” Chris said. “I guess I’ll be logging out for now; I need to go pee, and then I’ll probably have dinner with my family.”
"Oh, that’s fine; see you tomorrow then,” nodded Paul.
“Yep, come here,” Chris called Paul as he sat by his side and kissed his lips. “Thanks for helping me study today.”
“E-Eh? Ah, that…” Paul suddenly acted more like himself when Chris started talking about IRL things. “It’s nothing; I was worried about you and your future…”
“Well, even if I failed, it’s not like it would affect my future… I’m already good as I am, but yeah, making a game is like a dumb passion project,” Chris sighed. “But I appreciate it.”
“Maybe we could one day make a game together...” Paul said. “I don’t know, just a dumb thought I had.”
“Ooh! Really? Maybe that would work!” Chris said, getting excited. “But what kind of game anyway? It’s not like we got budget to make something big.”
“Yeah, I guess we’ll use some cheap engine and use bought assets,” nodded Paul. “Whatever the case, I just thought it would be nice.”
“Hahah, you really made me think about it more in depth now…” giggled Chris. “Anyways, I’m going; see ya!”
Chris kissed his lips a second time and then logged out, just as Paul was about to hug him a bit…
“Ah… oh well.”
He was indeed quite clingy, wanting to hug Chris for hours if the little imp allowed him to.
“I should probably try to improve the territory with the Raid Points I got,” he nodded. “Then I’ll log out too.”
Opening the Raid Shop, Vlad glanced at the available items attentively… He needed more materials to build a Nest so he could incubate the Guardian Beast Egg, so he might as well aim for that now.
-----