Arlo left the building late evening.
He couldn't use his full allotted time because he still had to get some rest. Classes resume tomorrow after all.
When Arlo entered his dorm room, he found Joe already fast asleep.
Falling on the bed, Arlo gazed at the ceiling of his room and became lost in his thoughts.
He thought about all the information he gained today.
First of all, he confirmed that vampires were a race that appeared less than a century ago.
What blew his mind was that vampires were originally human. While he did find out how they were turned, the books on the first and second floors didn't detail how the events transpired.
For some reason, Arlo felt such information would be on the third floor.
Feeling the slight itching in his heart, Arlo focused on the information he gained to suppress his curiosity.
He found out that vampires were generally divided into two major classes: Nobles and Plebians.
Vampires, when classified in order of hierarchy are as follows:
Scarlett who is the Vampire Progenitor.
The Royals include Nathan the king, Ariel the queen, and their children, Stefan and Arianne.
The Nine Great Clans were founded by the nine protectors.
Because the protectors do not partake in mundane matters(at least by mouth) and their only goal is the protection of the royal family, each great clan has a head.
The head of each clan is granted the title 'Count'.
They were the strongest vampires aside from the protectors; that is if we don't count Scarlett and certain anomalies like Evangeline.
Each clan comprises nobles who are further divided into higher-class, middle-class, and lower-class nobles.
The Plebians are the common vampires and they are discriminated against.
Why?
To create a Plebian, all a vampire needs to do is feed their blood to a human and kill the human within a time limit.
Once the person dies with the blood still in their system, he or she becomes a vampire, a plebian vampire to be exact.
For a noble to be created, a human must be fed the origin blood of a noble vampire.
But this is the catch.
The origin blood of nobles which contains a unique ability of Scarlett isn't easy to recover and could take many years just to recover a small portion of it.
Which is why vampires with pure dark hair are discriminated against.
That is because when a human turns into a vampire, the hair takes a dark color.
As for the reason why, nobody truly knows, although some theorized that it was because of the vampire's natural affinity to darkness laws.
Only those who possess origin blood, that is the nobles, have snow-white streaks among their hair.
The higher the concentration of their origin blood, the more the white streaks.
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The origin blood of every noble of a great clan contains a unique ability of Scarlett.
It granted them the supernatural analytical ability, formidable defense, or the ability to transform their hands and legs to enhance hand strength and leg speed respectively.
Arlo remembered the different emblems on the students' uniforms.
Sigh!
Arlo sighed as he thought about what would happen on Thursday of this week.
"The awakening ritual..." he whispered.
Or awakening ceremony as the Principal had called it. It was a ritual where noble vampire children awaken the dormant origin blood that runs within their veins.
Once they do that will they be able to use the full power of their bloodline.
One of the prerequisites for the ritual is for the child not to exceed the beginner realm in cultivation.
'That explains why they are stuck at the peak-level beginner mage.'
The same went for Arianne.
When Arlo thought of her, a choking feeling engulfed his heart.
Arianne was already stronger than him currently and if she were to awaken her origin blood, wouldn't the gap between them become unbridgeable?
While Arianne was his friend, for some reason Arlo felt competitive when it came to her.
'I must ask Moose about what I need to become a one-star warrior truly.' Since he had yet to awaken his mana core, the only way Arlo could think of to increase his strength was by making a breakthrough in his Ki cultivation.
As he continued to ponder on his next steps, Arlo slowly drifted asleep.
Arlo thought Arianne would be undergoing a regular ritual like the others.
What he didn't know was that Arianne's case was special, as she possessed a bloodline that was different from Scarlett's. She was a variant never seen before.
In other words, she was a potential Progenitor for a new race of vampires.
.....
Next morning.
The class was already packed full of first-year students.
But a strange situation played out in the class.
All the students looked at a corner of the class as a myriad of emotions flashed on their faces.
Respect.
Admiration.
Fear.
Anger.
And many more.
Even the usual arrogant Ric sat quietly and glared at Arlo from a distance.
But Arlo ignored him and listened carefully to the spiritual message Arianne was sending him.
'The second year's ranking war is on Wednesdays and Sundays. The top ten second-years do not partake in the war on Sundays and only have to worry about defending their ranks on Wednesdays. Challenges could be issued to them from the top ten winners in Saturday's ranking war.'
Arlo suddenly noticed something and couldn't help but ask:
"So the top ten second years cannot change rank?" Of course, since he could not send a spiritual message, Arlo had no choice but to speak normally but he made sure to lower his voice.
Arianne looked at him and seeing the sly look on her face, Arlo could not help but sigh:
"I can't summon her now. I already explained to you that I would like to keep her existence a secret."
Arianne harrumphed in displeasure.
Arlo slightly rubbed the side of his upper arm, 'I'm sorry, Anita.'
Before entering the Academy, Old Bro had warned him to be careful when he summoned Anita because they couldn't tell how the vampires would react to a creature that could devour and steal their abilities.
Only Dean, Scarlett, and Arianne were aware of Anita's existence.
And those three were very close to him especially Scarlett, so while they were interested in what Anita was, they still respected his privacy.
But the same couldn't be said of other vampires.
Especially if they find out that they could be devoured and have their entire existence stolen.
In fact, the same could be said for any other race if they were to find out about Anita.
Arlo didn't know it but Old bro was fully aware that the universal devouring slime was supposed to be extinct, as they were even feared in the realm of the gods, not to mention the mortal realm.
Arianne had pestered him many times to summon her when they were alone, but Arlo didn't want to take the risk.
Besides, since Anita couldn't see what was happening outside unlike Old Bro, she had no choice but to sleep.
So Arlo didn't want to wake her only to have her sleep soon after.
*Whoosh!*
The class door suddenly opened before a man covered entirely in a black cloak with a hood entered the class.
An hour later.
The first years stood in front of the massive gate found on the south side of the Darkblood Academy.
They still couldn't help but marvel at the massive walls that stretched into the distance to protect the Academy.
With a metallic sound, the massive gate opened.
Grim, their hunting class teacher slowly walked out of the gate.
The students soon followed.
Standing on the clearing just outside the academy the students couldn't help but gulp at the sight of the terrifying forest before them.
The trees were massive and tall, standing at a height of tens of meters.
Even the tree branches were about four times bigger than their normal sizes.
What truly brought terror into the hearts of the students were the occasional roars of beasts that echoed from seemingly everywhere in the forest.
Grim whose features could not be seen because of the black cloak covering him stood before the students and spoke in a hoarse voice:
*****
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