n

n

n

nWhen Keith first arrived at the cave, it was filled with red cocoons. Inside them were humans. The humans were being turned by the corrupted blood-qi, which was the same as the ghouls.

nAlso, the blood runes around the cave were feeding the red cocoons with corrupted blood-qi. Whoever was behind this was also responsible for creating those blood runes and the blood ritual. That meant, a high-level blood ritualist was involved in this scheme.

nKeith’s eyes flickered as he was thinking rapidly, trying to remember more details. The blood runes were not old, and the cave was inspected before. So the blood ritual must have happened recently.

nAs he recalled his grandfather’s words, a sudden realization struck him. Lex sent a baron-level vampire to investigate the missing humans, but he went missing. Keith also encountered a ghoul baron not too far from the city gates. He had a faint suspicion that the baron Lex sent and the ghoul baron might’ve been the same.

nBut he didn’t jump to conclusions. He couldn’t just assume based on his instinct. This matter was more complicated than he thought. If he wanted to get to the bottom of this, more information was needed.

nHe took out the bat corpse and placed it on the ground.

n“What is that?” Lex turned around looking at Keith’s actions.

n“Grandpa, do you know what it is?” Keith asked with a serious face.

n“Hmm… a bat with no life force and organ, completely devoid of any inner life energy.”

nLex squinted his eyes and examined the corpse with his senses.

n“It is a summon. Where did you find this summon?” Lex looked at Keith with suspicious eyes.

n“When I went to the blood forest, I was suddenly attacked by this bat. At first, I thought it was some wild beast. But after fighting for a while, I discovered it was a baron-level beast. What surprised me more was that this beast didn’t have any internal organs or life energy.”

n“I only sensed blood-qi equivalent to a baron. I killed it and all of its blood-qi disappeared.”

n“That should be it. After exhausting all of its blood-qi its functions stopped. The connection with its summoner must’ve been cut off.” Lex nodded his head.

n“From your description, it looks like this bat was controlled remotely, from a faraway place. If the summoner was near, the blood-qi wouldn’t have dissipated so early.”

n“Grandpa, do you know any summoners living in our territory?” Keith asked.

n“There are a few, but none of them could remotely control such a high-level summon. They are all below baron level and only could summon blood condensing stage summons. As for the one behind this summon, it has to be someone above the baron. Looking at the proficiency and control, and doing this from a faraway place, my guess is,

n“A viscount level summoner,” Lex said with a heavy voice.

n“Why would such a high-level summoner come here? Do you know anyone who might have had grievances with us?” Keith asked.

nMany high-level vampires were involved in this. As Keith recalled the blood rituals inside the cave, his expression turned dark. He kept it secret from everyone else so he could have access to the corrupted blood-qi. If he reported it to his grandpa, it would’ve been swarmed by vampires by now and monitored all day.

n“What are we going to do now? The shortage in the human population will decrease our blood supply.”

n“At this moment, we can only increase our security around the city. I will send another team to investigate the missing humans. Meanwhile, you should focus on improving your blood-qi manipulation.”

n“I’ve grasped the fundamentals thanks to uncle Brad. Now, I have to practice hard in order to increase the level of my techniques.” Keith looked determined as he said this.

n“Good. I’m counting on you. Everything else is irrelevant as long as you can increase your strength. I hope you keep the same enthusiasm and drive to reach the pinnacle. The path ahead of you is hard, especially after you join the academy.”

n“I understand, grandpa.” Keith nodded his head.

n“You don’t have to worry about this. I will handle this mess. You just focus on improving yourself.”

nKeith nodded and turned around to leave, a glint appeared in his eyes as he left the room.

n