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nAs he was absorbing the blood-qi, he walked towards where the cocoons were supposed to be. With the dense blood-qi, his senses couldn’t see more than ten meters.

nGrrrr!

nHe heard a sound as he walked forward.

n‘Ghouls? Are they from Jovan’s mercenary group?’

nHe walked closer to the sound and found several ghouls circling the cocoons. They turned their heads to see him as he approached them.

nGrrr! Grrr!

nThey jumped straight at him with their mouths wide open.

n‘Come on. Give me your blood-qi.’

nKeith enveloped his body with blood-qi as his eyes shined red, in the darkness. The mist started to disperse and as the ghouls reached in front of him, he had both of his hands through their hearts.

n“Now, rest easy.”

nThe purple tendrils expanded and sucked the blood-qi inside the ghouls.

nBlood essence absorbed : 1

n Blood essence absorbed: 1

n…

n…

nAfter finishing off the ghouls, he walked towards the cocoons. They were glowing slightly and a faint beat was coming off from the inside.

nHe got closer and placed his hands on one of the cocoons. The tendrils dug inside the soft jelly-like membrane and spread like a wild vine.

nBlood essence absorbed : 1

nBlood essence absorbed : 1

n‘ Man, I’m going to be full at this rate. Hope I don’t blow up.’

nHis level went up as he absorbed more and more blood-qi. He moved to the next cocoon and then another.

nAfter dozens of red cocoons later, he noticed his level reaching almost the limit.

n Blood essence absorbed : 1

n…

n Level 1.999

n…

nHe looked at the status screen and sighed.

n“Let’s do this. There is a possibility I might blow up, but I will take the chance.”

nWith unwavering resolve, he pressed on the next cocoon.

n Blood essence absorbed : 1

n The level of blood-qi has been reached for the next evolution.

n Evolution in progress

n?

nOptions

n=> Evolve blood core

n=> Increase the rank of the warrior frame

n=>Increase the level of the system.

n‘What the hell? I never heard of something like this before.’

nHe looked at the options carefully and read the details.

n Evolve blood core

n=> By choosing this option, all of the blood-qi that you’ve just absorbed will be used to evolve the blood core. This is non-reversible. Your power will be concentrated on the blood core.

n Increase the rank of the warrior frame

n=> By choosing this option, your warrior frame will absorb the blood-qi and evolve to the next stage. This is non-reversible. Your power will be concentrated on the blood core.

nIncrease the level of the system

n=> System has noticed enough amount of life essence that can be converted from the blood essence available in this place. By upgrading the system you will gain additional features and skills. A new interface and scanning will be available to you. This will help you notice and record other skills easily. All the blood essence will be converted into life essence and used for the upgrade.

n“Fuck! That’s tough.” Keith was bulging his eyes out, paranoid.

nMillions of thoughts ran through his head as he tried to justify his desires. More choices gave him more anxiety. He wanted to evolve into a viscount, and now this happened.

n‘Can’t I have a single option for ancestor’s sake?’ He cursed.

nThinking about the various implications, his brain was getting fried. He plopped down and looked at the status window, ruminating about what to do. He knew he had to get stronger. But he didn’t know which of these options was the best for him.

nThe first option was pretty straightforward. His blood core will evolve and he will reach the viscount level. All of the blood essences will be absorbed and converted into his very own blood-qi that condensed inside the blood core.

nThe second option was also tempting. It was his first time seeing something like this. In theory, it was possible to use the warrior frame as the secondary blood core, but in practice, no one could do it.

nStoring and condensing blood-qi inside the warrior frame was impossible due to the overwhelming blood-qi demand for both the frame and core. Not a single warrior has ever done it.

nIf it was done forcibly It might drain all of the blood-qi from the blood core and worse dissipate out in the atmosphere instead of being condensed inside the frame.

n‘Looks like the system could channel and direct the blood-qi inside the warrior frame and safely evolve it. It had the blueprints for it after all.’

nBut that begged the question, why the third option? He didn’t even know if it was worth it.

n‘Extra skills? New interface?’

nHe was a little skeptical about it and never really interacted much with him. It was silent like an old statue. But he couldn’t deny that, it helped him grow stronger. Nevertheless, he had to make a decision. The tournament was just around the corner.

nHe looked around and scanned the whole cavern. There were still hundreds of red cocoons still alive or dead, depending on the interpretation.

n‘There is enough juice to cover one more I suppose. I can give it a try. Let’s hope it’s not a waste.’

nWith a heavy sigh, he looked at the status window. He extended his hands and clicked the last option.

n‘Increase the level of the system’

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