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n“Hmph! This old man has given you so much, you better pay me back in equal amounts.”

n“If it was not on equal terms, why did you agree?” Keith laughed.

n“Because you haven’t given me any value, yet. Think of it as an investment. Now get out of my sight. I will call you when it’s time.”

nMr. Visit turned around and headed for the exit.

n“Can I stay here for some time?” Keith asked reluctantly.

n“Do as you wish, just don’t enter the higher training chambers. If you die too early, I can’t collect any data.”

nHis figure disappeared outside the open doors. Keith looked around the training chamber and felt the rich blood-qi surrounding him. Then he gripped his hand. The bloodstone was shining faintly as the blood-qi reacted to it.

n“Should I absorb this now? Keith seemed to be talking to himself, but he was asking the system.

nAre you really asking that question? It will greatly benefit you and increase your blood-qi. You know other vampires can’t absorb blood-qi from other vampires, but this is something they can use.

nThe top geniuses must be using these bloodstones to increase their blood-qi. Looking at the rich blood essence present within it, it will boost your blood-qi to the viscount level. But I will advise you against that.

n“Oh, then what do you suggest?”

n You should use this bloodstone to upgrade your warrior frame. If you level up your blood core, you can’t harness the full potential of the warrior frame. Only relying on your blood core to fuel the warrior frame will hold you back.

nIf you do this instead, you can keep the warrior frame independent and also make it act as another blood core. You don’t have to use your own blood-qi to power it. This will allow you to use your complete blood-qi reserve and won’t burden the blood core.

n“I have to say, this is… a good plan.” Keith reluctantly nodded.

n What are you waiting for? Activate the mark and absorb that bloodstone.

n“Not yet, I can do this inside my room. Here, there is an abundance of pure blood-qi. I will absorb as much as I can from here.”

nKeith put the bloodstone inside his pocket and activated his mark to start absorbing the ambient blood-qi.

nThe surrounding air turned heavy as the purple tendrils started sucking the blood-qi. The area surrounding Keith was covered with a thick red gas. The blood-qi of the whole room gathered around him because of the suction.

nHe sat down cross-legged in the middle and closed his eyes. Silently absorbing the blood-qi, he immersed himself in contending the blood-qi into his warrior frame.

nSeveral hours passed and he collected a lot of blood-qi, His warrior frame reached halfway to the peak of early-stage viscount. It didn’t sound much, but considering the amount of blood-qi required to level up, this was really impressive.

nAfter reaching the viscount level warrior frame, he noticed that the effectiveness of normal blood didn’t help him at all. He could barely tell the difference after weeks. He couldn’t tell how much he was growing.

nOnly the system gave him an accurate measurement of the increase in level. After acquiring sentience, the system was able to calculate and observe the warrior and came to a conclusion.

nThe levels after baron required many times more blood-qi in order to breakthrough. And following this rule, the higher the blood core, the more blood-qi was required to breakthrough.

nViscount, according to the system’s calculation, consisted of three levels. Level 2 to 5. The first level, which was level 2 to 3 corresponds to the early-stage viscount. Level 3 to 4 middle stage viscount and level 4 to 5 is the final stage viscount.

nThis was a steep jump from the one-level baron stage. Now that he was aware of his insignificance in the vast continent, and how little baron-level vampires mattered, his entire worldview changed.

nKeith opened his eyes wide and stared at the blood runes that kept changing and producing blood-qi. Countless humans must have been sacrificed to power these blood runes. Now they used more efficient methods, but this academy was here for countless years.

nEarlier, humans were slaughtered young and used for the replenishments for these types of arrays. It was especially brutal in the wars when the vampires needed a constant source of blood. They would slaughter several settlements when they marched and devoured everything that came across. Even animals weren’t spared.

nBut it was fifty thousand years ago, when the great war broke out, that almost wiped out life from the continent. It was a cold environment, so there was not much life, to begin with. Most of the humans stayed in the southern part of the continent.

nBecause of the war, the vampires slaughtered countless humans and animals alike. If not for the desperate attempt of some brave vampires who convinced both sides and formed a truce, the war would have consumed all life present on the continent.

nThe leaders then established the council to oversee the whole continent and the entirety of vampires. The laws passed by them became the chains that kept the five countries together. This was really a great feat.

nThey also had the strength to back it up. The council’s hunters were elites of each country working independently for the council and didn’t associate with any other country. When it was needed, they would even purge their own country’s vampires.

nAfter several thousand years, they became the most powerful organization on the continent. Even countries couldn’t act independently without their approval. Sure, there was tension between countries, but they didn’t act on it.

nThinking about his own country which was rather peaceful, he silently thanked his great luck. If he were to be in northern countries which were in turmoil, maybe he would have perished long ago.

nHe got up from his spot and followed the path he took to come inside. After reaching the entry door, he looked at the ever-changing runes. He stretched his hands to open the door. He only needed to touch it and the card would do the rest.

nBefore he could open the door, it opened from the other side. Two figures entered the corridor and looked at Keith.

n“Hey! I haven’t seen you here. Are you new to this place? Did you finally break through to the final stage baron?” A smug-looking boy asked Keith.

n“I made a breakthrough to the final stage baron recently, but this is my first time visiting the training facility,” Keith replied with a smile.

n“Wait! So you were not a blood warrior originally. Which department are you from then?” Asked the boy.

n“I haven’t joined any department as I just got enrolled into the academy.”

n“No way. You mean to say that you were a final stage baron before coming here. Where are you from, kid? Your family must be very powerful and resourceful.” Said the man.

n“Unfortunately that is not the case. My grandpa is the only count in our family and we have only two viscounts.” Keith replied.

n“Huh! How come you could rise to such a high level? Does your family own a bloodstone mine or something?” A surprised expression appeared on his face.

n“I wish that were the case…” Keith said.

n“Enough!”

nAs Keith was talking to the boy, the man beside him silently examined Keith. He also sensed his final stage blood core level, and from his first statement, he thought Keith was from a prominent family.

nBut now that he heard that the kid in front of him was from a no-name family, he was rather irritated by his demeanor. Everyone who attended the Crimson academy came from noble families.

nAll the five countries sent their best vampires and leaders of the next generation to this academy. He was also a son of a count and his family had a very high standing in Clecia, which was famous for its trade.

nBeing the richest family in their entire duchy, even comparable to the Duke of their region, he was quite proud of his heritage. His family owned several businesses but the most significant was a small bloodstone mine.

nEven though it was small, the output was by no means small. The value of bloodstones was pretty high because this was the only resource that could help the vampires grow stronger without any repercussions.

nHe himself absorbed many bloodstones to reach baron level at the age of twenty-three. He knew his lack of talent held him back. But the wealth of his family made up for it.

nWhen he heard this boy in front of him could reach the final stage baron without any external resources, he felt immense jealousy. If only he had this much good luck.

nHe looked at Keith with an angry face.

n“Did you not see my presence here?” He shouted at Keith.

n“My bad, My bad. I was just talking to him.”

n“You are disrespectful to your seniors. I will punish you for it. You coming here without being registered in the facility is a severe breach of campus law. The dean will be happy if I punished you in his stead.”

nSaying this, he threw a punch imbued with blood-qi straight towards Keith.

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