After the blood was emptied from the glass, the purple tendrils crawled back to their original position. Keith felt a cool feeling throughout his body. He looked at the notifications and calculated that he absorbed about 10 blood essence.
From this, he had an idea about how much blood essence he can get from vampire blood. So if the vampire is at the 5th blood condensing stage, then he will get one blood essence per 25 milliliters of their blood. Vampires generally have thicker blood, so the total blood amount was around 3 to 4 liters. So if he completely absorbed the 5th blood condensing stage vampire, then he will get around 160 blood essence at best.
Every unit of blood essence increased his level by one-thousandth point. So he needed to consume 6 to 7 grown vampires, with each of them at the 5th stage of blood condensing stage or above. Keith knew it was very hard to achieve, as the vampires on that level are usually heirs of families or at some important position. The old vampires who are stuck at this stage were his best option, as they tend to be the ones with less recognition.
He knew that it was illegal to kill vampires, without a proper cause. The royal council will hunt down the vampires who go against the law. But, if there was no death, then there is no punishment because the vampires can heal almost any wound with proper rest. The only thing the assaulter has to pay is the compensation.
He heard from his grandpa that the blood pool had the blood of countless humans over time. He never heard vampire blood being to increase blood qi. Oftentimes vampire blood could cause blood-qi poisoning for other vampires. So, it was forbidden and considered taboo to drink vampire blood. But, there were twisted people everywhere, as with the case with any society, there were vampires that liked to drink vampire blood even though it might become detrimental to their health.
These vampires were designated as cannibals, just like any other species that consume their own kind.
‘So the manager thought I was a cannibal ?’
The good thing was that the purple tendrils helped him purify blood essence from even the vampire blood. From what he could deduce, Once he absorbed blood essence from the blood, the blood loses its energy. He tried it with the blood pool after he reached baron rank. There was no response from the blood pool after he entered it again.
He heard from his grandfather that the pool was used to break through bottlenecks, and the blood is changed every year. From this, he figured that they collect blood from humans on a daily basis and fill the blood pool after it was used once. That required a huge blood reserve. Collecting it once was not possible, as it would require killing hundreds or even thousands of humans, which was not productive at all.
The best way was to collect a certain amount of blood from the humans every day and collect that blood for a year. This way with even a hundred healthy humans, you can fill up the blood pool. The vampire population was relatively lower than the humans, as the vampires were not so fertile as humans. This was also a reason why it was not allowed to kill vampires without a reason. And it has to be approved by the local court.
So if Keith wants to absorb vampire blood, he has to either buy it like in this blood shop or secretly hunt vampires. But, if he gets caught, then that would be the end of his freedom in this continent. He will be branded as a cannibal and traitor and executed, or worse become a test subject for the royal council.
He looked at his level which had increased slightly. If he wanted to increase his power then he had to either slowly accumulate blood qi and condense it inside his blood core. In this process, it will take years, if not decades to reach the next stage.
‘I can’t wait that long.’ As a human in his mind, he was not used to the time perception of vampires. What might be a small passage in time for vampires, it was more than his entire life.
After thinking about it a lot, he thought of continuing the purchase of blood for now. He didn’t want to risk his position in the vampire society until he was strong enough to defend himself from anyone. He could become stronger quickly this way, but if a more powerful vampire tried to hunt him down, then he would have nowhere to go. Even his grandfather won’t be able to save him.
After all this, his head started to heat up from all the thoughts. He put the glass down and rang the bell. After a couple of seconds, the waitress entered the room. Keith assumed that she was on the outside waiting for his call.
” Bring me some human blood,” Keith ordered the waitress.
” Right away, sir.” The waitress came near the table, took the empty glass, and left the room.
Keith looked at his status in the meantime.
[ Keith Ennes ]
[ Blood Core: Baron ]
[ Body detected: Vampire ??? Hybrid ]
[ Level 1.022 ]
[ Path: Blood condense ]
His level was increased by a little, but still, he felt the sensation. He put all the thoughts to the back of his head and waited for the next order to come.
A little over three minutes had passed, and the waitress came back with two glasses of blood. She placed the two glasses on the table.
Keith picked up a glass and sipped the blood little by little.
” How is it, sir? Do you like the flavor?” The waitress asked smilingly.
” What flavor? It tastes the same as always.” Keith responded nonchalantly.
” Sir, this is the exclusive blood of beautiful women. We specially raised them, so they are really beautiful and healthy. If you want, you can get these girls. You can do whatever with them.” The waitress spoke provocatively.
Keith choked on the blood he was drinking. He tried his best not to vomit all the blood he just drank.
” No thank you, you can take them back. Don’t worry, I will pay for them. It would have been better if you didn’t tell me that.”
” What happened, sir? Didn’t you like the blood ?”
” No, it’s not that. Just, I am not into that.” Keith replied awkwardly.
” Sir, if you want I can serve you.” The waitress seductively said while bending over towards him.
” Enough! I don’t want this kind of service.” Keith pushed her away and firmly rejected the offer.
” Oh my… Maybe you swing in the other direction. No matter..”
Before the waitress could finish her words, Keith cut him short.
” GET OUT” Keith was annoyed by her constant provocations.
” And don’t come back. Notify the manager that I will be leaving, so he can collect the payment.”
Keith said in a serious voice.