Lucius suddenly opened his eyes and found himself lying comfortable on the floor.
The absolute darkness of the dungeon room should have been blinding, yet his vision pierced right through the shadows as if the space was illuminated by daylight.
Other than the rock hard surface pressing against his back, he was very certain that he could not tell the difference between where he laid and a royal bed.
The cold stone felt strangely soothing against his skin, devoid of the freezing bite he had expected.
Slowly, his eyes opened wider, and he caught a glimpse of the chandelier hanging on the ceiling, along with the numerous other red throne cloths that were glued to the surface as well.
The remnants of whatever grand room this used to be hung above him in tatters, painted in shades of deep gray and vibrant crimson by his newly adjusted sight.
Following that sudden visual clarity was a somewhat sharp ache in his head, a localized, throbbing pain that he could not quickly decipher.
’What happened?’ he wondered, finding the strength to sit upright.
His muscles responded with a terrifying, fluid grace that felt entirely foreign to his usually sluggish human body.
Just as he sat up, he noticed the closed hard metal door right before him. The heavy iron and steel barricade dominated the exit.
It was so thick, that even if he had to run with all his might, he still wouldn’t be able to break the door down.
Then it hit him.
He remembered.
Moments before the princess threw him into the cell, abandoning him to rot in the dark, he had desperately tried to catch up to her, and in that frantic attempt, he slipped and slapped his head heavy on the ground.
The phantom sensation of the wet slime beneath his boots and the crushing impact against his skull rushed back to his consciousness.
If it was anything like the last time he suffered such an injury back in his world, then he for sure was a goner.
Clenching the side of his face where the impact had occurred, feeling perfectly smooth skin where a cracked skull should have been, he whispered to himself a bit.
’What the hell? I died...again? Dont tell me i reincarnated into another world of some sort.’
[System awakening has begun.]
Lucius paused as the ethereal, glowing blue system notification flashed directly before his eyes, cutting through the gloom of the cell.
For some inexplicable reason, he wasn’t really surprised by the floating text; something about the system felt very familiar to him, as if it was a part of his soul that had merely been asleep.
[All senses have been linked to the system.]
[Stat update.]
[Host: Lucious moonwalker.
Origin (s): True Vampire.
Level: 1.
Blood points: 0.]
[Strength: 10
Agility: 25.
Vitality: 25 (Undead army)
Blood purity: 100%.]
[ Faction Grid ]
[Mindless blood: 0 / 10 (Capacity increases with Level.)]
[Willing Blood Kin: 0 / 1 (Capacity increases with level.)]
[Active Clan Milestone: ’The Foundation’ (Requirement: Convert 1 Willing Blood Kin. Reward: Unlocks Faction Telepathy & Base Stat Multiplier.)]
Lucius stared at the glowing blue screen for a good minute, his glowing red eyes a bit dull in the dimness, but yet, despite it being the first time he was seeing it, he could pretty much understand it completely.
The numbers and categories slotted into his mind perfectly.
At the very least, looking at the origin classification, he understood what he was.
’I am a vampire,’ he chuckled painfully, the sound echoing softly against the damp walls. ’I don’t even know how it happens, but somehow i am. Otherwise...how do i explain to anyone i am sitting in a dark room right now, yet i can see every detail.’
And it was the absolute truth.
Every single thing in the suffocatingly dark room was perfectly clear for him to see, from the color of the weeping stone walls, to the little, dried blood trails that led to where he currently sat.
His vision mapped the dungeon with terrifying precision.
Which also brought his newly enhanced attention to something else in the room that did not move him in anyway, despite the gruesome sight.
Not too far from where he was, slumped very close to the far wall, was a half eaten body of a woman, dressed in a ruined red dress, completely dead on the ground.
Lucius sighed a bit, the metallic, cloying scent of decay washing over his palate. He remembered the cruel princess had mentioned something about a witch being locked in the room with him before she sealed the door.
Without so much as a second look of disgust, Lucius stood up effortlessly from the ground, his joints popping, and headed towards the heavy metal door.
At first, as his hands hovered near the rusted iron handle, he felt he could pull the doors off from its hinges without strength, because in that exact moment, an overwhelming, intoxicating surge of raw power filled his soul.
His muscles practically hummed with dormant, violent energy.
Then, he stopped and wondered. If he were to violently escape the cell right now, there was absolutely no doubt in his mind that the kingdom’s knights would hunt him down the second he stepped out of the room.
From where he stood, leaning slightly toward the thick metal barrier, his enhanced hearing picked up a rhythmic, deafening sound.
He could hear the heavy, steady heartbeat of two other individuals standing guard just right outside the door. The rushing of their blood sounded like a rushing river in his ears.
’I really don’t have time for this,’ he concluded.
For someone who was supposed to be panicking over his monstrous transformation and imprisonment, he felt awfully calm in such a high-stakes moment.
The next moment, he turned his full attention towards the dead woman’s body lying not too far away from him.
Slowly, his footsteps making absolutely no sound on the wet stone, he walked towards her, and intensely focused his glowing gaze on the mangled flesh.
[Target locked.]
[Would you like to transform this prey into a blood servant?]
[Yes or no?]
Lucius’s eyes widened a bit in genuine fascination. He wasn’t entirely sure how he intuitively knew he could do that, but everything was working exactly as his brain predicted it to.
’Yes.’
[ SYSTEM ALERT: Viable biomass detected. ]
[Target Status: Deceased. ]
[Willing Conversion unavailable.]
[Available Action: Forceful Conversion.]
[Cost: 10 Blood Points. ]
[ Proceed? ]
’Proceed.’
[Prey has been transformed into a mindless blood.]
The air in the dungeon instantly dropped to a freezing temperature. Before his very eyes, the dead being who died slowly began to rise up from the ground.
Her bones cracked and snapped back into place with sickening crunches.
Just as she stood, her rotten, peeling skin tightened, and two piercing, red glowing eyes ignited within her hollowed sockets. The stench of old decay was violently replaced by the sharp scent of raw, crackling magic.
[Congratulations on getting your first blood servant.]
[You have leveled up.]
[10 blood points has been gained.]
[Blood servant: A former witch who was jailed for years, refusing to die until the one who comes to devour her.]
Lucius stared at the supposed mindless blood servant of his for a good second, analyzing the grotesque yet fascinating creature before him.
Since most of her upper body and side was completely gone, heavily ravaged by whatever had killed her, it was entirely replaced with dark, oozing mana. The shadowy magical substance writhed and beat inside her chest cavity like a human’s heart, pulsing brightly as though it was alive.
[The system would like to note that mindless bloods are incapable of making their own decisions without a push from their master. Also, you can only issue a single command to a mindless blood for the rest of their existence.]
’Interesting,’ Lucius thought, absorbing the severe limitation of the skill.
With the exact same breath, Lucius uttered a command to the mindless blood, his own crimson eyes glowing a bit brighter in the darkness.
"Remove yourself from the shackles of this place and cause as much havoc when you leave here, but...kill no one," he ordered.
The moment Lucius uttered those precise words, the reanimated mindless blood grunted heavily, a guttural, rattling sound tearing from its ruined throat, showing it had fully registered the order given to it.
Then, without further ado, the undead witch turned her terrifying gaze towards the metal door. She walked over with heavy, lumbering steps, tightly clenched her rotting fist, and brutally punched the thick door right off its heavy iron hinges. The sheer physical and magical force behind the blow was astronomical.
The heavy steel groaned before snapping violently. The two royal soldiers that were standing guard right behind the door were immediately blown back as the heavy, deformed door slammed against them, shoving them hard to the stone ground amidst a cloud of dust and debris.
Following right behind the flying door was the mindless blood, staggering forward into the hallway, its dark, ominous aura heavily leaking everywhere and suffocating the torchlight. The screams of the panicked, injured guards echoed down the corridor as the undead witch began her commanded rampage.
Lucius watched from the shadows of his cell with mild surprise clearly written on his face.
’Okay...that works as well,’ he mused quietly.
Slowly, brushing a bit of stone dust from his damp clothes, he stepped out of the ruined prison cell, and gradually began to make his way out into the chaotic castle.