The rain had been falling since evening.
It wasn’t heavy enough to flood the streets, but it never seemed to stop. It tapped against the window in a steady rhythm, mixing with the faint hum of cars outside.
Inside the apartment, the only light came from a computer screen.
The room wasn’t large.
A single desk stood beside the window. Bookshelves filled one wall, packed with novels until there was almost no space left. More books were stacked on the floor in neat piles, as though their owner had long since given up trying to organise them.
Fantasy.
Cultivation.
Magic.
Kingdom building.
Vampires.
Especially vampires.
A young man leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes.
His name was Ethan Vale.
He looked to be in his mid-twenties. Black hair that had grown a little too long. Sharp but gentle eyes. The kind of face that wouldn’t stand out in a crowd, yet carried a calmness that made people remember him after meeting him once.
He let out a long sigh.
"Another one finished."
The words on his monitor changed as the final Chapter of another web novel ended.
He stared at the screen for a while before closing it. For a few seconds, he simply sat there.
Then he smiled helplessly.
"That ending could’ve been better."
He wasn’t saying it to insult the author. It was just what he honestly thought. He had been reading web novels for years. Some were amazing. Some started well and slowly fell apart. Some had brilliant ideas but rushed everything. Others buried good stories under endless explanations.
As someone who loved reading, Ethan always found himself imagining how he might have written certain scenes differently.
His eyes drifted towards another pile of books. Cultivation novels. He had lost count of how many he’d read.
What fascinated him wasn’t the fighting. It wasn’t the treasures, it wasn’t becoming invincible. It was...
Time.
A cultivator who spent a thousand years perfecting one sword strike. A hidden clan that quietly waited through generations before making its move.
An old monster who appeared once every few centuries and changed the fate of an entire region.
That kind of patience.
That kind of long-term thinking.
He loved it.
His phone buzzed on the desk.
Manager.
He looked at the screen for a moment before turning it over.
"Tomorrow."
Whatever it was, it could wait until tomorrow. Tonight belonged to him. He opened another website.
A vampire novel.
After reading only a few paragraphs, he closed it again.
"No."
He shook his head.
"Not this again."
Almost every vampire story followed the same path.
Drink blood.
Lose control.
Fight.
Drink more blood.
Become stronger.
Repeat.
It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t what he wanted.
He stood up and walked towards the kitchen.The apartment was quiet, only the rain accompanied him.
He filled a glass with water and returned to his chair.Before drinking, he looked out through the window. Countless lights stretched across the city. Each one belonged to someone living their own life.
Busy.
Rushing.
Always chasing tomorrow.
A thought suddenly crossed his mind.
"If someone could live forever"
"would they still rush?"
He didn’t think so.That was why vampires interested him. Not because they were powerful, not because they were handsome,
but because they could wait.
A human feared time, a true immortal used time. Imagine making an enemy today, only to watch that enemy grow old while you remained the same. Why risk your life in a desperate battle when patience could achieve the same result?
To Ethan, that was far more frightening. He took a sip of water.
"If vampires existed in a cultivation world"
He laughed to himself.
"They wouldn’t survive by running around drinking human blood."
That would be stupid.
In a world filled with powerful cultivators, anyone behaving like that would be hunted down within days.
"No"
"They’d hide."
"They’d build."
"They’d wait."
"They’d become part of history without anyone realising it."
The more he thought about it...
The more interesting it became. Instead of living off ordinary blood, what if they cultivated their own blood? Refined it, strengthened it, turned it into something alive.
Then blood wouldn’t be food anymore.
It would become...
Power.
A race hidden from the world, not because they were weak. Because they chose to remain unseen.
Ethan smiled.
"That sounds much better."
He returned to the blank document he had opened earlier. His fingers rested on the keyboard, he typed.
Vampire Progenitor of the...
He frowned.
"No."
Delete.
Again.
The First Vampire Immortal...
Delete.
Still wrong.
Finding a title was harder than coming up with ideas. He leaned back in his chair. Maybe he was thinking too much. Maybe someone else had already written something similar.
Maybe.
Maybe it was simply one of those ideas that would stay inside his head forever.
The room became strangely quiet.
He blinked.
The rain.
Had stopped.
No.
Not stopped.
He looked towards the window, the raindrops were still there. Hanging in the air.
His eyes narrowed.
"What?"
One drop floated just outside the glass, it didn’t fall. It didn’t move.
Everything outside had become completely still. A car stood frozen halfway through an intersection. Tree branches no longer swayed.Even the flashing traffic lights had stopped changing.
A chill ran down his spine.
"This..."
He slowly stood up.His heartbeat became louder.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Without warning, the lights went out, darkness swallowed the room.Only the faint glow from outside remained.
Ethan instinctively reached for his phone. The moment his fingers touched it
A silver light burst from nowhere, it wasn’t bright enough to hurt his eyes.
Instead, it gently filled the room, everything around him faded. The desk disappeared, the bookshelves disappeared, the apartment disappeared. The city disappeared.
There was no falling sensation.
No pain.
No sound.
Only silence.
An endless silence.
Ethan tried to move, he couldn’t tell if he had a body anymore, he couldn’t even feel the ground beneath his feet. Then, a voice echoed through the emptiness.
Cold.
Calm.
Without emotion.
"Soul compatibility confirmed."
Ethan’s eyes widened. Before he could react, the voice spoke again.
"Inheritance Protocol initiated."
"What inheritance?"
No answer.
Instead
"Biological host confirmed deceased."
His breathing stopped.
"Deceased?"
His voice sounded strangely distant.
"What do you mean, deceased?"
The same cold voice answered.
"Original body has ceased all biological function."
"Soul preservation successful."
Ethan stood there in silence, he should have panicked, he should have been terrified.
Instead, his mind forced itself to stay calm, panic wouldn’t change anything. If he was truly dead.
Then shouting at whatever this thing was wouldn’t help.
The voice continued.
"Immortal Ring activated."
The words echoed through the endless void.
Immortal Ring.
So.
That was its name, not a person. Not a spirit, not a living creature.
At least, it didn’t sound like one.
Ethan took a slow breath.
He organised the little information he had, his soul had been preserved, his body was gone.Something called the Immortal Ring had activated.
Whoever or whatever it was.
Its existence had already surpassed anything he understood.After a long silence, he finally asked,
"What are you?"
The answer came instantly.
Not fast.
Not slow.
Simply as though it had already been prepared countless ages ago.
"Insufficient Authority."
Ethan frowned.
Authority?
Not permission.
Not access.
Authority.That single word carried a different meaning, it wasn’t refusing to answer. It was saying, he had not yet earned the right to know. Before he could ask another question, the silver light around him began to move, countless threads of light gathered in the distance.
Slowly...
A lone silver ring appeared before him.
Ancient.
Simple.
Covered in patterns too deep for his eyes to understand.The moment he looked at it He felt something impossible to describe, not pressure, not fear, it was like standing before endless years.
As if the ring had silently watched worlds rise...
Worlds fall.
Lives begin.
Lives end.
And through all of it, It remained.
Waiting.
Watching.
For someone.
The silver light suddenly expanded, everything disappeared once more.Darkness swallowed his vision.And then
Nothing.