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n”Are you scared? There is no running away now.”

nThe ripped man closed his distance and approached Keith while activating his warrior frame.

n“If I wanted to run away, I would’ve done it by now. Besides, I also want to test my combat strength, so thank you for proving yourself to me.” Keith looked calmly at the approaching enemy.

n“You are funny Kid, Let me show you..”

nWhack!

n“You talk too much” Keith’s hand clashed with the vampire’s aura and almost penetrated his barrier.

nLais was not expecting such incredible speed for a blood warrior. He was just mocking Keith to mess up his mind and find an opening to attack. But Keith was not the patient one and jumped at him the first chance he got.

nHaaah!

nBecause of the sudden attack, he was caught off guard. But it was mostly due to the speed that he was having trouble blocking Keith’s attack. Both of his hands blocked Keith’s attack in the nick of time.

nKeith noticed his attacks did break through the barrier the viscount had put up. After coming closer, he could analyze his better and with the help of the recently upgraded system, he could scan the blood core and the amount of blood-qi the opponent had.

n‘Wow! My blood-qi is significantly higher. I only lack better control and more blood-qi techniques. Having more blood-qi and not any blood-qi techniques is frustrating.

nHe kept throwing punches and kicks to not let the opponent breathe for a moment, which was working. Lais was so occupied with blocking the attacks that he couldn’t take the offensive stance.

nKeith’s attacks were also not light and with every move, the speed and accuracy of those attacks increased.

n‘The blood core is around the peak of the middle stage viscount, very close to reaching the final stage baron. But that’s not the most terrifying aspect of his power.’ Keith thought as he analyzed Lais’s warrior frame.

nLooking closer, he could tell that the warrior frame aura was not from a normal warrior frame. It was more solidified and the points were further enforced by an unknown blood-qi technique. He didn’t know what this was and how he integrated it with his warrior frame.

n“You are not bad. If it were any other middle stage viscount, things would’ve been much easier, definitely not fun.” Keith smirked.

nHe used his martial arts and tried to penetrate the aura and hit a vital spot. Lias on the other hand used all of his blood-qi to defend the barrage of attacks launched by Keith.

n‘How does he seem to have more blood-qi than me?’

nWith no time to take a break, Lias was occupied with the fight. He noticed after a while that Keith was not getting tired even after all those powerful attacks. From the power of those attacks, they contained the same power as a middle stage viscount. And maintaining the warrior frame at the same time to match his aura, Lias was having doubts about his senses.

n‘Is he really a baron? Or is he a viscount who is good at hiding his blood core? I see no artifacts on him either.’

nWith a lot of questions popping up in his mind, he was having doubts about the true nature of Keith.

n‘No. I can’t let myself get deluded. Whatever he is, I need to defeat him fair and square.’

nActivating his blood-qi technique, which was one of his trump cards, a sudden surge of blood-qi propelled his hands. The outer layer of the blood-qi turned harder and resembled a ruby.

n‘What technique is that? Is it related to the unique warrior frame or a different blood-qi technique?’ Keith noticed the changes right away and analyzed the attack with his system.

n‘System wake up! I need you to monitor all his moves and try to understand the blood-qi technique.’

nKeith focused his mind on the purple mark on his forehead.

nI was just napping for an hour and you already got yourself in deep **. What are you? A trouble magnet?

nThe system said with an annoyed tone. Scanning the surroundings it realized that they were in a different place outside the central hall.

nHmmm… it looks like we are in the southern courtyard. Several viscount level vampires lying on the floor… wait did you do all this?

n‘Did you think I can’t beat up a bunch of early-stage viscounts without you? Out of everyone, I think you know my capabilities the most. Now, help me study this guy. He has a unique warrior frame, can you copy his blood-qi technique.’

nKeith was busy exchanging blows with Lais, who was evenly matching his own strength with the recent power boost.

nWith the help of his advanced blood-qi technique, he was gaining an advantage against Keith’s clumsy moves. Keith was able to handle all that only due to his insane amount of blood-qi.

nIt seems like he applied some additional blood-qi technique to the warrior frame to make it even stronger. The coating around the warrior frame is made out of solidified blood-qi. It also extends to his hands which are equally strong. From the application of the blood-qi, it looks complicated to copy it right away. I need more time to analyze his blood-qi and warrior frame.

n‘How much time are we talking about?’ Keith asked impatiently.

nA month or so. That should do it. Can you hold him still for a month please? The system said with a plain voice.

n‘You gotta be **ing kidding me! A month, I thought you’d say 10 to 15 minutes. I am in the middle of a fight and we are evenly matched. And do you think the academy will let me keep him for a month even if I defeat him?’ Keith was having a difficult time handling the vampire in front of him.

nLais was in a focused state and his power increased significantly and matched with Keith’s level. Despite having a lower blood-qi, he was holding his ground against Keith.

n‘Damn! Blood-qi techniques are so powerful. I need more blood-qi techniques to stack on top of my warrior frame. And who knows how powerful dual disciplined blood-qi manipulators are?’

nHe remembered his uncle was a dual disciplined blood-qi manipulator, having mastered the warrior frame and the blood-esper disciplines. He was a blood warrior and also a blood esper. Now he realized how much of a monster his uncle was.

n‘He was definitely holding back his strength significantly. Maybe because he used only his warrior frame and not his blood esper techniques. He never drew his sword during our fights.’

n“Now you see the gap between our levels. You can fake your strength all you want, but you can’t fool me with your measly baron-level blood core.” Lais shouted as he sped up his attacks.

nKeith was already using his full force of the blood warrior frame but the other side was producing more explosiveness with his attacks.

nLike in the test area, use your blood core. It is idle now. Use it simultaneously with your warrior frame.

n‘Ugh! If possible I wanted to hide this trump card for a stronger opponent, but it looks like I need to use it anyway.’

nYou’ve been holding back all this time, knowing fully you could’ve defeated him earlier.

n‘I was not entirely certain, hence I tried my warrior frame first to test the waters.’

nHurry up and apprehend him, I think you can use it to make a deal with him.

n‘What kind of deal?’

nKeith listened to the system’s voice and a smile appeared on his face.

n“That’s not bad.”

nKeith activated his blood core without wasting any time. His aura expanded several times and Lais staggered back after getting hit by Keith’s aura.

n“How?”

nLais looked at Keith with an incredulous expression.

n“What? You can show your trump card and I can’t.”

nSaying this, Keith appeared in front of him in a flash.

nSlash!

nHe slashed forward with his right hand and the barrier broke. Ths skin made contact with Keith’s blood-qi and blood started dripping from the wound that opened up as the red aura pierced Lais’s skin.

nKeith immediately activated his tendrils and tried to absorb the blood-qi.

n“What is happening?”

nLais panicked after noticing his blood-qi drop by the moment. He looked at Keith in horror and slumped on the floor.

n“What are you doing? Please stop. My blood-qi, it’s fading away.”

nKeith stopped before too much blood-qi was absorbed and let Lais breathe for a moment.

n“You don’t want to fight me anymore,” Keith asked sarcastically.

n“I dare not. From the aura you were emanating, I thought for a second, I was fighting a count-level vampire.”

n“Count level! So you thought my blood-qi level was equivalent to count level.” Keith asked with surprise.

n“Yes!”

n“I see.”

nNow he got an idea about his strength combined with the blood warrior frame and the blood core combined.

n“You want me to let you go after you tried to kill me?” Keith glared at Lais.

n“What? No. Killing you was never my objective. I was just following my orders. He said not to hurt you too much.” He turned around and looked at his boss.

n“What was his name again?” Keith asked.

n“Lord Jerim.” Lais replied.

n“Ah! Jeremy. He owes me a lot of blood. Hmm… Coming back to you, do you want all your powers to disappear or you could do me a favour?” Keith looked at him with a grin.

n“What favour? I certainly don’t want to lose my blood-qi.”

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