The cold, biting wind of the forest swept through the ruined goblin camp, carrying the heavy, metallic stench of fresh blood and the foul odor of unwashed monster bodies.
The roaring campfire had completely died down, leaving only a bed of glowing red embers that cast long, ominous shadows across the damp earth.
Lucious stood in the absolute center of the carnage.
His boots were buried deep in the blood-soaked mud, surrounded entirely by the broken, lifeless bodies of the F-rank forest goblins he had slaughtered with his bare hands.
He raised his pale hand, his glowing crimson eyes locking onto the massive, broken corpse of the scarred goblin leader resting near the fire pit.
’Proceed,’ Lucius commanded in his mind, his voice carrying a cold, absolute authority.
The ethereal blue system flared to life, casting a brilliant light over the clearing.
Instantly, the temperature in the forest plummeted. Ten individual streams of pitch-black, oozing mana erupted from the shadows beneath Lucious’s boots.
The dark magical substance slithered across the wet grass like living snakes, seeking out the ten heavily muscled goblin corpses scattered around the perimeter.
The dark mana plunged violently into their fatal wounds.
The sounds that followed were sickening.
The loud, sharp snaps of shattered bones forcing themselves back into place echoed through the quiet woods.
The scarred leader’s caved-in spine violently straightened out. The smaller goblins whose necks Lucious had twisted suddenly jerked upright, their heads snapping back to a natural position with wet crunches.
One by one, the ten heavily muscled green creatures rose from the mud. Their rotting yellow teeth were bared, and deep within their hollowed eye sockets, piercing, vibrant red lights ignited in the darkness. The dark, bubbling mana entirely replaced their missing flesh and crushed organs, beating rhythmically inside their chests like artificial hearts.
[System Alert: Mindless Blood Conversion successful.]
[Capacity reached: 10 / 10.]
Lucious lowered his hand, staring at his newly formed undead squad. They stood perfectly still in a tight circle around him, completely devoid of the chaotic, screeching energy they possessed in life.
They were waiting for his absolute command.
Then, the blue interface hovering in his line of sight began to aggressively flash and expand.
[System Evolution Triggered: Capacity Milestone Reached.]
[The Supreme System has absorbed sufficient necrotic data to upgrade the Mindless Blood class.]
[New abilities unlocked.]
[Advanced Directives: Host may now issue multiple, complex commands to Mindless Bloods, overriding the previous single-command limitation.]
[Shadow Storage: Host may now summon and store Mindless Bloods at will within their own shadow.]
[Shared Sight: Host may temporarily link their vision to any active Mindless Blood.]
Lucious stared at the floating brackets of text, a slow, highly calculated smile seizing the side of his pale lips. The sheer kingdom-building utility of this sudden evolution was astronomical.
He decided to test the boundaries immediately. He focused his mind on the massive, scarred goblin leader standing directly in front of him, willing the Shared Sight ability to activate.
A sudden, dizzying wave washed over Lucious’s senses. His perspective violently shifted. He was no longer looking at the goblin. Instead, he was looking out from a much lower angle, directly at himself. Through the goblin’s glowing red eyes, Lucious saw his own tall, imposing figure standing in the center of the camp, his ruined clothes soaked in dark blood, radiating an aura of absolute, terrifying death.
He broke the visual link with a sharp exhale, his mind snapping back into his own body.
’Incredible,’ Lucious thought, rubbing his temples to ease the slight disorientation. ’I can use them as perfect scouts without ever putting myself in direct danger.’
He looked up at the sky through the thick canopy of leaves. The pitch-black darkness of the night was slowly beginning to fade into a deep purple. Dawn was approaching rapidly.
Lucious clearly remembered the fatal flaw of his creations.
When he had turned the dead witch into a servant back in the dungeon, she had been instantly reduced to smoking ash the absolute moment the morning sun touched her unnatural flesh. His mindless bloods were completely defenseless against the daylight.
Interestingly, he noted a massive discrepancy in the world’s lore. According to his system knowledge, normal vampires in this world were supposed to grow violently sick and incredibly weak under the sun. Yet, when he had laid in the swamp outside the castle, the bright morning sun had touched his pale face and caused absolutely no negative effects whatsoever.
He was completely immune, but his servants were not.
’Return,’ Lucious commanded out loud.
Instantly, the ten undead goblins lost their physical forms. They melted down into thick puddles of dark, bubbling mana and rapidly slithered across the wet grass, sinking directly into the long shadow cast by Lucious’s boots.
The moment the last goblin merged into his shadow, a strange, unexpected sensation flooded his nervous system.
It was not an increase in his raw stats, but rather an influx of crude, heavy muscle memory.
He suddenly felt the instinctual knowledge of how to swing a heavy wooden club with maximum kinetic force, how to launch a low, sweeping kick to shatter an opponent’s knee, and how to fight aggressively in a tight, uncoordinated group.
Because he had converted them, their basic, primitive fighting techniques had been directly absorbed into his own combat repertoire.
Lucious clenched his pale fists, feeling the phantom weight of a jagged spear in his grip.
He bent down, quickly using a rusted dagger he scavenged from the mud to sever the pointed ears off the goblin corpses that had not been fully consumed by the conversion. He stuffed the gruesome trophies into a small leather pouch.
He needed absolute proof to claim the forty gold pieces from the terrified villagers.
With his new army safely stored in his shadow and the quest items secured, Lucious relied on his high agility stat to sprint back through the dense forest, leaving the ruined camp behind.
He arrived at the dirt outskirts of the Rando village just as the first golden rays of the morning sun began to pierce the horizon. The unpaved streets were completely empty, the cowardly militia still locked safely inside their homes.
Lucious moved silently toward the modest wooden house of the elderly healer. As he turned the corner, his enhanced senses picked up the sound of rapid, anxious pacing.
Dori was standing right outside the heavy wooden door of the guest room. She was pacing back and forth across the narrow floorboards, her fingers nervously twisting the fabric of her ruined clothes. Her wild red hair was messy, and her glowing crimson eyes were wide with a frantic, deeply ingrained worry.
The moment she heard the soft creak of the floorboards, she spun around.
"Master!" Dori gasped, her raspy voice breaking with sheer, unadulterated relief.
She abandoned all pretense of space and launched herself forward, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist and pressing her face directly into his chest. She trembled slightly, her hands frantically patting his back and his sides, actively searching for the jagged wound that had been leaking dark green goblin poison just a few hours ago.
"I am perfectly fine, Dori," Lucious reassured her gently, placing a pale hand on the top of her head to calm her erratic movements. "The poison is completely flushed out. My body handled it."
Dori pulled back slightly, looking up at his flawless, pale skin where the deep puncture wound used to be. A profound, adoring smile stretched across her face. The heavy burden of fear that she had been carrying all night instantly evaporated.
"You left the bed," she mumbled, her tone carrying a tiny hint of a pout, proving just how comfortable she was becoming with him. "I woke up and you were gone. I thought the humans had tried to take you away."
"I had to return to the forest to secure our assets," Lucious explained vaguely, not wanting to reveal the ten monsters currently resting inside his shadow. He gently nudged her toward the main living area. "Come. It is time we leave this place."
The elderly woman was already awake, stirring a small iron pot of boiling water over the stone hearth. When she saw Lucious walk into the room, standing tall and completely devoid of the sickly, feverish heat that had been killing him last night, she dropped her wooden spoon entirely.
"By the high gods," the old woman whispered, her weathered hands trembling as she made a quick, religious gesture across her chest. "You are truly touched by the divine. To survive such a potent monster venom without a single drop of an antidote... it is a miracle."
Lucious maintained a cold, stoic expression. He did not bother correcting her assumptions about him being a Grand Healer. Let the humans believe whatever they wanted, as long as it kept his true vampire origin a secret.
"We appreciate your hospitality and the shelter you provided us," Lucious stated formally, offering a slight, respectful nod to the old woman. It was a rare display of gratitude, but the healer had taken them in when the rest of the village had demanded heavy coin. "But we must be on our way."
The old woman simply nodded, still staring at him in absolute awe as he guided Dori out the front door.
The morning air was crisp and cold. Dori stepped out into the direct sunlight without a single ounce of hesitation.
The potent blood Lucious had forcefully fed her the previous night was still actively protecting her newly acquired S-rank physiology, completely shielding her from the solar degradation that had crippled her before.