"Arugh!"
The fierce battle cry tore from Dori’s throat, echoing sharply against the dense, damp canopy of the forest.
High above the mossy floor, she kicked off a thick oak branch with explosive force, her lithe figure blurring through the shadowed air as she charged downward.
Gravity and her newly awakened vampire agility worked in tandem, propelling her straight toward the center of the clearing where the last of their prey was thrashing in the dirt.
She landed squarely on top of the monster’s broad, scaled skull, her leather boots slamming hard against the rough hide between its horns.
Beneath her weight, the giant lizard monster, a hulking reptile several sizes bigger than a full-grown warhorse—let out a panicked, guttural hiss.
It stumbled clumsily backward, its heavy tail whipping through the underbrush in blind terror as Dori did not hesitate for a fraction of a second. Gripping the hilt of her newly forged steel short sword with both hands, she drove the sharp point downward, plunging the blade deep into the creature’s right eye socket.
Thick, dark green ichor spurted from the wound like a ruptured geyser, spraying across her dark tunic as the beast reared up in blinding agony.
Dori did not back off. With her glowing crimson eyes locked mercilessly onto the thrashing reptile, she let out yet another roar of pure power. Raising her free hand, the pale skin of her palm split open on command.
Bright, concentrated crimson blood whipped outward from her fingers in razor-thin, crystallized lines.
With a single, violent swipe of her arm, the glowing blood threads lashed downward like a guillotine, slicing through the thick, armored scales of the lizard’s neck clean to the bone.
The massive head slid cleanly off the stump of its shoulders, crashing into the wet leaves with a heavy, wet thud before the headless body finally collapsed beside it.
Only after she was completely certain the monster had stopped twitching did Dori kick off the carcass. She leaped gracefully down to the forest floor, landing in a silent crouch before standing upright.
With a practiced, sharp flick of her wrist, she slashed her blade to the side, sending a clean arc of monster blood splattering across the dirt to clear the steel before smoothly sliding the weapon back into the leather scabbard at her hip.
"Phew, that was the last one," she uttered, letting out a long breath as the lethal tension melted away from her shoulders.
A bright, genuine smile formed across her pale face as she immediately turned her head to the right, her glowing red eyes searching the shaded edge of the clearing until they locked onto Lucious.
"Master, how was that? Did I do good?" she asked eagerly.
She practically skipped across the blood-soaked grass as she moved close to him, her entire posture radiating pure adoration. If she still had the feral instincts of a forest beast, she would have been wagging an invisible tail like an excited hound begging for praise.
Lucious was seated comfortably on a smooth, moss-covered rock not too far away from the carnage, his chin resting lightly on his knuckles as he observed her form. A somewhat proud look softened his usual cold, stoic features before he uncrossed his legs and stood up to his full height.
"Yes, you did well," Lucious uttered smoothly, his deep voice carrying a rare warmth as he reached out and gently patted the top of her wild red hair. "You have gotten completely used to your new powers, I see."
Dori leaned into the warmth of his palm, her cheeks flushing slightly as she closed her eyes to savor the contact. "Yes I have, heheh."
In truth, ever since their desperate, near-fatal first quest slaughtering the goblin camp outside Rando village, Lucious had been relentlessly training her out in the wilds.
Every single day, he had pushed her to understand how her blood manipulation worked, teaching her how to mold her vitality into weapons and move with the terrifying grace of what it truly meant to be a vampire.
For the past week, the two of them had taken on a relentless string of extermination quests from the Uranik guild board. Because they did not need rest like ordinary humans and possessed stats that far exceeded their initial registration, they had cleared every single contract with brutal efficiency, allowing them to rank up all the way to C-rank rather quickly.
And because of that rapid promotion, the coin had finally started flowing in.
The ruined, swamp-stained rags they had worn when first entering the capital were long gone.
Lucious now wore a fitted, dark reinforced leather coat over a black linen shirt that accentuated his broad, muscular frame, while Dori was dressed in a sleek, midnight-blue tunic that allowed for maximum mobility—and even the finely balanced steel blade at her hip had been bought with the heavy gold they had earned over the week.
After giving her head one last lingering pat, Lucious withdrew his hand and walked right past her, his heavy boots crunching softly against the twigs as he stepped into the center of the clearing.
Five giant lizard corpses lay scattered across the torn earth, the metallic stench of their warm blood hanging thick in the humid air.
Since Dori already understood exactly what was going to happen next, she immediately turned her gaze around to face the outer perimeter of the trees.
She rested a hand on the pommel of her sword, standing guard and allowing her master the privacy to do what only he could do.
Lucious stopped amidst the slaughtered beasts and stretched his pale hand forward, his fingers splaying over the carnage.
[Command identified.]
[Would you like to turn five dead monster lizards into Mindless Bloods?]
’Proceed,’ Lucious commanded in the silence of his mind.
[50 blood points have been deducted.]
[90 blood points remaining.]
Instantly, the temperature in the clearing plummeted. Thick plumes of dark, necrotic mana erupted from the ground, wrapping around the five massive reptiles that had been lying completely dead just a few moments ago.
With the sickening sound of snapping tendons and shifting scales, the severed heads and fatal wounds were violently stitched back together by writhing black energy as the monsters slowly began to rise from the dead.
They pushed themselves up onto their hind legs, standing in a towering, unnatural bipedal form that defied their living biology. Each reanimated beast stood a full eight feet tall, their hollowed eyes glowing crimson while oozing with a dense, dark energy that seemed to swallow their whole scaled forms.
One by one, the five hulking lizards lumbered forward and stood in a rigid, straight line directly before Lucious, who simply stood with his hands tucked casually into his pockets, watching the whole gruesome resurrection unfold without a shred of emotion.
[You have obtained your 27th Mindless Blood.]
[The system has deemed you worthy of a milestone reward.]
Lucious focused his glowing red gaze on the ethereal blue brackets floating in the air before him, a spark of genuine intrigue flickering across his pale face.
’Oh?’ he mused internally.
Over the course of the past week, as they hunted through the forests surrounding the capital, he had been given plenty of chances to fight a wide variety of local monsters. Some of the weaker beasts were barely worth the blood points required to turn them, while others possessed the raw physical bulk he needed for his growing shadow army.
But to think he had already accumulated twenty-seven undead soldiers under his command in just seven days was truly outstanding.
More importantly, along the way, he had realized a massive hidden benefit to his Mindless Blood Conversion skill.
The more creatures he turned, the stronger he personally became—not just in raw stats, but in combat instinct. Every time a corpse was bound to his Faction Grid, its muscle memory and biological instincts were etched into his mind, allowing him to automatically learn their fighting styles and understand the anatomy of the creature down to the very last letter.
And now, the system was offering him a direct reward on top of that.
[Power Capsule has been activated.]
[Choose one of three Power Capsules to unlock and gain new abilities.]
[Elemental Capsule - 5 Tiers.]
[Inhuman Capsule - 4 Tiers.]
[Undead Capsule - 3 Tiers.]
’I see,’ Lucious thought, his analytical mind rapidly weighing the options presented before him.
He did not need the system to waste time explaining what each of the three capsules entailed; the names alone were self-explanatory, and he had already figured out that much by himself. His undead physiology and physical strength were already covered by his base stats and his growing legion of monsters. What he lacked right now was versatile, ranged destructive power that could pass as normal human magic if he ever needed to fight in the open.
Thus, he made his choice without hesitation.
’Unlock the Elemental Capsule.’
[Elemental Capsule has been chosen.]
[All five tiers are now available for unlock.]
A slow, calculated smile curved the corner of Lucious’s pale lips as the first bracket expanded, listing out a cascading tree of elemental affinities waiting to be purchased.
[Fire Manipulation (Unlock with 50 blood points.)]
[Water Manipulation (Unlock with 50 blood points.)]
[Lightning Manipulation (Unlock with 50 blood points.)]
[Air Manipulation (Unlock with 50 blood points.)]
[Elemental Mastery (Unlock with 100 blood points.)]
Normally, from the conversations he had overheard in the guild tavern and what he had learned of this world’s laws, humans and demi-humans gained their magical powers strictly based on the innate talents they were born with.
Just as Dori’s awakened talent was fundamentally linked with blood, almost all of her combat abilities manifested through the manipulation of her own vital fluid. A fire mage could never suddenly wake up and cast water spells.
But for Lucious, bound to the Supreme System of the Vampire God, the rigid laws of this world simply did not apply.
As long as he had the blood points to pay the toll, he could master every single element in existence.
’I have ninety points left, which is enough for one element right now, but I will look through this properly later,’ he decided, wanting to save a buffer of points in case of an emergency on the road back.
He casually swiped his pale hand to the side to dismiss the glowing system prompt, while simultaneously willing the five towering lizard corpses to sink down into the pitch-black pool of his Shadow Storage. Within seconds, the clearing was completely empty of undead mana once more.
Then, he fully turned around to look at Dori, who was patiently waiting for him by the trees.
"We are done here," Lucious announced, his voice steady as he gestured toward the dirt trail leading back toward the capital gates. "Let’s head back home."
Dori spun around on her heel, her crimson eyes lighting up with warmth as a bright, devoted smile graced her lips.
"As you command, Master."