Oh God… why have you stopped showing thyself? Where am I to find you if not in the forest? To the West, where the land is barren, to the North, where imbeciles lurk, or all the way East, where unknowns await?

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Kai let out a low growl as he watched the fresh blood trickling down onto the bucket, and the burning sensation on his skin where it had splashed almost drove him mad. The sweet, intoxicating aroma inundated his nostrils, and his mouth started drooling as he tried to contain himself.

His pupils constricted, then elongated, resembling those of a cat or lizard, and two sets of sharp fangs forced their way outside. Two long, thin ones at the top and two shorter, sharper, and wider ones at the bottom. Alongside those, his nails and hand turned into claws, which dug into the chair, however they were unable to damage it further. He glared at Barhm, who stood mere centimeters away from him with a smug expression decorating his face.

“What is the meaning…of… thi-this…” Kai struggled to say through gritted teeth, barely able to retain his clear-mindedness over his overpowering instincts. Barhm remained silent and watched Kai struggle, his heart beating wildly. Blood rushed through his veins like a river down a mountain. His claws grew even bigger and sharper, firmly digging into the hardwood, however, no matter how much he squirmed and moved, the restraints wouldn’t break or come loose.

“B-Barhm…” A weak voice barely escaped his body, his foggy, fading vision allowing him to see Barhm take out a pinkish stone, which glowed with a faint light. However, he had no time to see what it did, as he lost consciousness, the world turning black.

…

The next time he awoke, his hideous, predator-like appearance disappeared, returning to his old self. He gasped for air and took a whiff. It’s gone… Kai thought, letting out a light sigh of relief. However, a sweet, satisfying aroma lingered on his tongue for some unknown reason. Looking around, he only found Onyx napping on the couch, his paws spasming as he whimpered gently. Must be having a bad dream…

Taking a closer look at his body, he noticed several needle-like holes covering his left arm, and he growled in displeasure. How much does he need?

“Finally awake, it only took you five hours to come back to it after I removed the blood. I wonder if that’s normal, then again you’re a special case.”

“Bastard!” Kai cursed as he glared at Barhm, who spoke with a nonchalant voice.

“Easy with the language.” A harsh voice escaped his lips, its tone sounding like one would use against a small child to discipline them. He then sat down on the couch, startling Onyx awake from his nightmares. “I have a question for you, it’s quite a simple one.”

Kai didn’t say anything, however, he needn’t do so, as Barhm had already taken the metaphorical stick. “Why do you refuse to drink blood?”

Upon hearing that, Kai’s pupils constricted, and his heart rate rose slightly. Truly, he had never asked himself such a question, however, Isn’t it obvious? He thought, glancing at Barhm, then at himself. No… not to anyone but me. Hesitating to answer, he bit down on his lower lip and thought about it deeply before replying.

“It just doesn’t feel… right.”

The answer made Barhm pause for a second, and a chuckle escaped his body, which turned into light laughter as his shoulders shook. “It doesn’t feel right…” He repeated as he got up, approaching Kai and entering his personal space. The two locked eyes, and Barhm’s shone with a glimmer of understanding. “It’s almost as if you were… human.”

Kai’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing those words. His palms broke into cold sweat, and a pit seemingly formed in his stomach as the two came to a silent agreement. “Either way, that was just my curiosity. You can choose to feed or you can… well, I assume you already know the answer.”

Closing his eyes, the chair-bound vampire let out a heavy sigh. “I can endure.”

“Endure or not, I don’t care. However, I decided to keep you sane until you’ve served my purposes.” Barm said, a cold glint in his eyes. He pulled out a piece of paper from his ring and read it to Kai.

<

Analyzing the blood samples of the subject whilst in a feral state, I have concluded that his blood cells are even more aggressive than before, devouring each other, which in turn caused a deeper lust for blood.

Upon feeding the subject a small amount of fresh blood->>

“You did WHAT?” Kai interrupted, his pupils trembling in anger, and his stomach almost turning upside down.

“Calm down, it was a small amount and I consented to it. You should be lucky, I’m probably one of the few humans that would allow such a thing. Although it felt… disgusting. Not doing it again.

The young vampire piped down upon hearing his words, however he couldn’t shake this uncomfortable feeling that overtook his soul. On the other hand, his body seemed content, almost as if the two were a separate entity rather than one being.

<> Barhm began once again. <>

Kai paid close attention to whatever Barhm said, shutting down the wretched feeling he felt deep inside his soul. Unknown substance… Thinking about it, he wasn’t sure what it could be, despite inhabiting this body for around twelve years already.

“Now,” Barhm interrupted Kai’s thoughts. “I want to test something else. Drink this.” He said in an almost commanding tone, as he pulled out a vial filled with a watery red liquid. Kai gulped and squinted at the thing, and asked with apprehension.

“What is that?”

“Hmm… I guess you could call it synthetic blood.” He rubbed his chin as he walked closer to Kai. “I made it by combining a few… dozen herbs and a tiny amount of my blood. I want to see how it affects you.”

“Wai-” Kai tried to protest, however, it was far too late as Barhm already opened the vial. Much to his surprise, it didn’t exude any particular smell or enticing aroma, quite on the contrary, he found it repulsive. Despite that, the moment it touched his lips and glided down his throat, all such thoughts disappeared. A pleasant, warm feeling spread out within his body, and some redness seemed to have returned to his pale face.

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However, it was only momentary, as its bone-like, white color quickly resurfaced. “Hmm…” A seemingly disappointed grunt left Barhm’s body, however he quickly pulled out a syringe and carefully stabbed Kai’s arm.

“Ouch!”

Barhm rolled his eyes and ran toward the microscope. He swiftly returned, however, and shook his head. “Same as before looks like it’s not going to make much of a difference. Could it be because the blood isn’t fresh or because it’s so heavily diluted?”

He talked to himself and quickly walked over to Kai’s side, and pulled out another vial. Then, with a swift motion, he pulled out a knife and cut himself once again. This time, however, only a small amount of blood dripped down, just enough to make Kai’s body reply with a toned-down ferocity. Without waiting for a second more, he opened the vial and quickly poured it down Kai’s throat.

Almost instantly, his fangs and claws retracted, and light returned to his dilated pupils. Barhm quickly pulled out a pink stone, which closed the wound as it shone, then swiftly wiped the blood off his arm. “Interesting.” That is all he said as he walked into the research room, leaving Kai by himself with a bitter-sweet taste in his mouth.

Onyx cautiously made his way to Kai, whose face was dark with disgust, yet at the same time an unparalleled pleasure that could not be explained with words alone. The Obborik rose on his hind legs and balanced himself against Kai’s shoulder and chair, and brought his snout closer to the boy. He gave him a quick sniff and whimpered sharply.

He licked Kai with his wet, warm tongue, his stinky breath causing the boy to cough lightly as he grimaced. “You really gotta brush your teeth,” he chuckled, as his expression turned to a more gentle one. I can’t believe that bastard did that but… my bloodlust faded as soon as he gave me that semi-fake blood… Fuck, that was so…

“Alright,” the boy’s voice broke his train of thought, and his head quickly snapped toward him. “Next I want to test a couple more things related to your biology, so I hope you can survive. After that, I think I’ll have enough data for a fair trade.”

Fairtrade… Kai scoffed at the idea, however, he didn’t let it show on his face. As long as I can figure out a way to get stronger… he can have as much data as he wants. He thought, unaware of what the young boy would put him through the few following days.

Starting from that point on, Kai had not seen a drop of water, or liquid for that matter, and neither did he see food or any sort of nutrient. The only thing he was allowed to drink was his sweat, which rarely came to be. Barhm extracted blood every five to seven hours, each time doing several tests to determine the amount of white and red blood cells, as well as mana and other substances, which would serve to deepen his knowledge about a vampire’s regeneration and endurance.

Even though there may be a margin of error between the theory and practice, Barhm nonetheless did all these tests with a light smile on his face.

…

By the end of the third day, Kai looked like nothing more than a corpse, his face devoid of color or plumpness. Needle holes riddled his body, each one of them had healed to a certain degree. However, one could count his ribs after so many days of malnutrition and dehydration. That, combined with the irregular consumption of minuscule amounts of blood, and constant triggering of his feral side, drove him towards being nothing more than skin and bones.

He groaned as he looked up, the faint light of the light and fire crystals shining upon his ghastly face. “Well, I think that’s enough,” Barhm said with a voice that cared not for Kai or the harm he had done. After stacking the large amounts of data and research he collected, Barhm undid Kai’s bindings, then caught him as he fell forward.

“Woah there, can’t have you hurt yourself right now.” He muttered, however judging by the tone of his voice, Barhm held little concern for Kai. After laying him down on the couch, Kai’s eyes blinked slowly, his foggy vision turning black as he fell asleep.

A couple of hours later, he awoke once again. Some color had returned to his face, and he took a small, involuntary whiff of the air. Almost instantly, his stomach growled with hunger, which resulted in him jumping up despite his weakened body. A large meal covered the table next to the couch, with skewers, soups, salads, and even what seemed to be grilled meat emanating a mouth-watering smell.

He didn’t wait for an invitation, leaping toward the food with the viciousness of a predator that hadn’t eaten for days. A bite of bread here, a part of the skewer here, accompanied by a fresh onion and lettuce. Kai devoured more than half of the entire meal in less than fifteen minutes, and he downed one water glass after the other.

By the time Barhm entered the living room, nothing more than the empty plates remained as proof of the feast that had once been laid there. “Hmm, still slower than Darky. Then again, it ate everything almost instantly.” He commented before returning to his research room. “Come find me when you’re done, I think you mentioned something about a weird core.”

Kai gulped, swallowing the last of his bites before wiping his mouth and hands with a rag he found on the floor.

Inside the research room, Kai sat down on his usual chair, wearing a light set of black clothes. He looked at Barhm, a cacophony of emotions, mostly negative, fusing together into a glare that could cut through flesh if such a thing were possible. However, he didn’t say anything, as he knew it was time to finally get his part of the deal. I have faith in him that he can help, and if he can’t… He shivered at the thought of having endured that for nothing, however, if Barhm accepted that meant he thought himself capable.

“Stop looking at me like that,” his annoyed voice rang in Kai’s ears. “I need you to tell me what this whole core thing is about.”

Kai took in a deep breath, softened his gaze and blinked a few times, then began telling the story of his Fusioned Core. Ignoring the personal detail, he explained how his Mana Core became useless, how his Mana Veins shattered, and the little amount of magic he was able to do.

Then he brought up the Hippocratic Healing Technique, named after a great medic from his old world, thus the process of healing his mana veins. Brushing over the pills, he then explained how he had risked his life a couple of times in order to heal and restore his ability to cast magic, which originally began with a desire to create a Body Core.

As Kai recounted the most difficult periods of his life, Barhm listened attentively. The previous smug expression and creepy smile disappeared, replaced by a solemn look. He even seemed to gasp a couple of times, at the moments when Kai’s life was in peril, however, the actual storyteller couldn’t see any of that.

Kai’s pupils dilated, as images of the past flashed within his mind, and his mouth seemingly moved without his accord. By the time he finished, Barhm had turned around, scribbling something on a piece of paper.

He paused upon noticing Kai’s gaze and said. “I see, you didn’t have it easy.” Goosebumps spread through Kai’s body, almost all of his hair standing on end as Barhm’s genuinely caring tone landed in his ears. Clearing his throat, he turned his attention toward the desk piled full of papers he had yet to read.

“Yeah.” He mustered the strength to say, clearing his throat in the process.

A moment of silence befell the two, broken by Barhm’s heavy exhale, followed by his voice. “You should head back, there’s still thirty minutes until morning. I’ll need to clean up around here. Now that I understand your circumstances better, I believe I can help you. Here,” He said while handing Kai an empty sheet of paper. “Write both techniques you used down so I can analyze them, and come back in two days. I’ll study the way mana flows through your body, then start the process of creating a new technique.”

“Alright,” Kai nodded and fully turned to his desk, seemingly forgetting all the pain he went through during the past few days. Parents’ technique or not… it is useless to me now, and to Barhm as well… He thought, throwing caution to the wind and writing both the Mana Core technique imprinted into his brain and the Body Core technique he studied. I’m sure Aina would understand.

After finishing, he got up and took a last glance at Barhm, who remained focused on his own findings. “Goodbye,” Kai said with a half mouth, however, was quickly stopped before he could walk out of the room.

“Take this,” Barhm threw a paper bag toward him, within which a couple dozen vials of red liquid jingled as they clashed against one another. “Who knows, they might prove useful.”

Kai nodded, albeit begrudgingly, stored the bag within his ring, and then left. Onyx’s happy paws and wiggling tail echoed and slowly faded away as the two-phased through the wall, leaving Barhm alone once again.

He sighed and got up, taking a quick look at the piece of paper before walking into the living room. On the paper on his desk, written in a language only he, and partly Kai understood, a title policed in bold letters, read; «Fusioned Core Technique Experiment»