“Just let me explain, Flint,” These were the first words that Vlad said to the mage who continued to cower against the white wall of the laboratory.

As he slowly approached Flint, the young man hastily crawled away, keeping a firm distance between the two of them. Witnessing this firsthand, Vlad decided to stop trying to get close to Flint. At least until he cleared the air between them, so, he stood in place before attempting to explain the situation.

“I understand that you’re afraid…”

“You dug your teeth into that monster…” Flint fearfully muttered. “Y-you were drinking its blood.”

Vlad couldn’t come up with an excuse for his actions, so he simply nodded in acknowledgment of his statement. “Yes. I did.”

“Y-your wounds…they were healing when you did that.”

“Yeah,” he nervously scratched his head. “My body can heal if I…consume blood.”

Flint anxiously stared at Vlad for a moment, a hint of confusion mixed in as he tried to comprehend his words. “B-but…why do you need to drink blood? D-doesn’t that only happen with-“

“Vampires?” Vlad finished his sentence, saying exactly what the mage was hinting at.

As Flint looked back at him, the blood hunter opened his mouth and revealed his fangs. They were still covered in blood from when he was consuming the lizardman. Seeing this, Flint grew paler than snow, pressing his back against the wall and hyperventilating.

“Y-you…you’re a vampire? W-why? H-how did you even…?”

“Look,” Vlad interrupted. “I understand that you have a lot of questions, but I’m afraid that I can’t answer all of them. Mainly because I barely understand how I became a Vampire either. All you need to know right now is that I’m on your side, and I’m not going to hurt you.”

“…Are you serious?” Flint questioned, his eyes locking onto Vlad’s.

The vampire hesitated for a moment, remembering how he was planning on sacrificing Flint’s life by going into a Blood Frenzy state, turning him from an ally into his meal. However, he ignored the guilt welling up within him and answered.

“Yes, I’m serious,” He stated firmly, not an ounce of doubt or guilt in his tone.

This seemed to have done the job since Flint slowly got up from the ground and walked over to Vlad. He then raised his hand over to the vampire, waiting for a handshake. Vlad returned the gesture, firmly grasping the mage’s hand without breaking it. As the pair shook and came to an agreement, Vlad suddenly got a couple of message panels manifest before him, startling him in the process.

[Conditions have been met! You have met the requirements to choose a skill from the Vampiric Legacy Set! Please select one skill from the following list:

* [Vampiric Claws] (F-Rank)

* [Paralytic Fangs] (F-Rank)

* [Hemophagia] (F-Rank)

* [Night Vision] (F-Rank)

[Conditions have been met! You have met the requirements to choose a skill from the Blood Hunter Class Set! Please select one skill from the following list:

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* [Blood Dash] (F-Rank)

* [Blood Blitz] (F-Rank)

* [Hemorrhage] (F-Rank)

* [Blood Reading] (F-Rank)

“Whoa…” Vlad muttered, entranced by the panels. It seemed like he was able to learn some new skills.

“W-what’s wrong…?” Flint asked, hastily pulling his hand away out of fear.

“I’m able to get new skills. There’s a list displayed in front of me, showing me my options.”

The mage’s eyes widened in shock. “You can obtain new skills? That’s incredible! What are they?”

“Hold on…”

Vlad observed his options, trying to see which one he should choose. He was able to gain two skills from different skill sets; the Vampiric Legacy Set and the Blood Hunter Class set. The first set sounded familiar, instantly reminding Vlad that he obtained his Blood Hunter Class from the Vampiric Legacy Class Pack. Could they possibly be related?

Regardless, he continued to scan the list until he finally managed to see their description.

[Skill [Vampiric Claws] (Rank F) – User is able to morph their hands into vicious, sharp claws that can tear through their enemies with ease. Costs 10 Blood Points per activation.]

[Skill [Paralytic Fangs] (Rank F) – User can paralyze their prey/enemies by digging their fangs into the body, spreading a paralytic substance in their bloodstream, rendering them immobile. Costs 10 Blood Points per activation.]

[Skill [Hemophagia] (Rank F) – User is able to obtain more Blood Points from their enemies with this skill. Other features are currently locked until certain Ranks have been reached.]

[Skill [Night Vision] (Rank F) – User can see in the dark, allowing them to maneuver around easier under the cover of darkness. Costs 5 Blood Points per second.]

For the Vampiric Legacy Skills, he had some pretty nice options to choose from. Though, what really caught his attention was the [Hemophagia] skill. Not only does this skill allow him to gain more Blood Points after consuming his enemy's blood, but there seemed to be hidden features that it possessed, but he couldn’t access them until his Rank was higher. There was also the fact that this skill out of the other three didn’t cost Blood Points, which would actually be counterproductive since he also gains Blood Points from it as well.

As for the Blood Hunter Skills…

[Skill [Blood Dash] (F-Rank) – User is able to move around in the form of blood. Costs 25 Blood Points per use.]

[Skill [Blood Blitz] (E-Rank) – An advanced form of [Blood Strike], which allows the user to summon a volley of blood blades to launch at their targets. Able to summon five blood blades at once for 20 Blood Points. Additional Blood points will increase by five with each Blood Blade added to the arsenal.]

[Skill [Hemorrhage] (F-Rank) – User is able to induce more bleeding on the enemy’s wound, damaging them even further. Costs 20 Blood Points per use.]

[Skill [Blood Bind] (F-Rank) – User can call upon blood binds to restrict their enemy’s movements. Costs 20 Blood Points per four bindings.]

“Hmm…”

Unlike the vampiric Legacy skills, none of Blood Hunter’s abilities had any special features, though that didn’t mean that they were useless. If anything, every single skill was incredibly powerful and useful in combat. Vlad was especially interested in [Blood Dash] and [Blood Bind]. He already had a combat skill that was more than enough for him to use in combat. What he really needed was a skill to assist him in restricting his enemies or making him fast enough to move away from them. And he currently had two abilities that could give him that.

He pondered over his two options for a moment, pensively deciding which one he should choose. It didn’t take long before he made his decision, along with his Vampiric Legacy Skill.

[Skill [Hemophagia] has been selected!]

[Skill [Hemophagia] (F) has been added into Skill Slot!]

[Skill [Blood Dash] has been selected!]

[Skill [Blood Dash] (F) has been added into Skill Slot!]

Vlad nodded; a slight smile formed on his face as he looked over at his new skills getting registered into his status window. He then turned his attention back to Flint, who was staring at him blankly as he did this.

“Alright, then,” He started. “It’s time we came up with a plan on what to do right now.”

Hearing this, Flint’s blank expression shifted to a serious one, as the pair started the conversation as to what their next move was.