Chapter 19: Sustenance

The two siblings ran through the forest, crossing countless trees and bushes for hours until darkness finally arrived and covered the area.

Estimating that he had probably been running for more than a hundred miles, Tristan decided that it was time to take a break and rest. He could still continue for another hour or so, but the reason he stopped was mainly because of Layla. Tristan was worried about her as she still hadn't returned to her optimal condition.

Completely oblivious to her brother's caring intention, Layla nonchalantly commented when she noticed Tristan was coming into a stop, "Are we stopping already? Aaah... That's disappointing.. I was just getting used to the breezy wind, you know…"

Tristan was speechless, and not knowing how to react to his sister's words. After a while, he finally spoke, "... You are annoyingly talkative for a free rider."

Not wanting to lose to her brother's snarky comment, Layla retorted, "Huh! I am your sister. Everything from you is free for me!" While saying so, she also didn't forget to wink and smirk.

Tristan was extremely glad that his sister had somehow back to her usual self.

Afterward, he decided to hunt some wild game for dinner. With his enhanced hearing and extraordinary speed as well as strength, one could say it was quite easy, or even extremely, for Tristan to capture an animal that looked like a boar from Earth.

Layla, on the other hand, could only look around for some plants that might be useful as the ingredients.

Half an hour later, a campfire had been set up and they began cooking dinner.

Even though Tristan and Layla grew up in a foster family, with how inattentive and uncaring their step parents were, the two of them pretty much raised themselves, or more accurately, each other.

Layla took out the dozens of plants that she collected previously and forced her brother to give them a taste. When Tristan asked why, she just casually told him because his body was stronger than her's.

"Eat this and see if your super elf body can possibly have a super tummy ache." said Layla with a straight face, but Tristan could swear he saw her lips slightly curled upwards.

"..." Feeling helpless, Tristan could only accept her suggestion.

Layla had absolutely no qualm in forcing her brother to eat all kinds of things she collected, and Tristan wasn't afraid of poison. After all, even his previously broken nearly dead body was able to rise again. What could a few unknown plants actually do to him?

That night, the two siblings who had not seen each other for a long time had so much fun teasing and playing with each other that they almost forgot about the situation they were currently in. Due to Tristan being locked up in prison, it had been four years since they were able to spend time together like this.

Late at night, the two siblings were startled by unexpected occurrence around them. Just like burning torch, the forest was abruptly filled with countless specks of blue glowing lights.

The previously plain, ordinary-looking forest was actually turned into such a beautiful place at night. Honestly, it was quite a magical scene.

Tristan and Layla were watching the marvelous sight before them. Accompanied by the crackling campfire, the atmosphere had turned extremely warm, as if there were only the two of them in the world.

Not long after, Layla fell asleep next to Tristan with her head on his shoulder. Tristan was revealing a soft smile while looking at his sleeping sister. Seeing the peaceful expression on his sister's face was one of the best joys in Tristan's life.

While slowly putting the sleeping Layla on top of the bed he had made earlier by stacking countless grasses, Tristan still kept his vigilance as he would naturally be on guard through the night.

Tristan looked at the night sky and the gleaming stars in it, thinking that Earth could be somewhere far within those stars. But thinking about Earth, he honestly didn't miss it even one bit. There was really nothing for him there. The best thing about Earth was the girl sleeping quietly beside him.

Tristan unconsciously let out a smile when he thought of starting a new life in this strange, unknown, yet wonderful planet with his sister. But then, he was not sure if Layla would agree with his thought.

While Tristan was lost in his thought, he suddenly felt something strange in his body. A strange feeling was churning inside, causing extreme displeasure across his entire being.

"Could it actually be those plants?" Tristan thought.

Tristan felt the uncomfortable feeling slowly turn into pain, gradually increasing pain that spreaded all over his body.

"Oh my god! I could survive being pummeled by a massive electric hammer and dozens of those crazy green monsters, but will die because of a few small plants??"

Stunned expression seen on Tristan's face.

"The hell?!! This isn't funny at all!"

When Tristan was having his crazy fit inwardly, he suddenly received a notification.

[Your body requires daily sustenance]

"..."

Tristan facepalmed himself.

"Does it mean food? I nearly ate the entire boar by myself! What?! Wasnt it enough?"

For a second, Tristan wondered if his new body had the appetite of an elephant.

The same notification repeated one more time before it finally showed something that really shocked him.

[Current Blood Essence : 0]

[Host require Blood Essence for sustenance]

"What. The. Hell?! Blood?! I need daily blood to live? Fuck!"

Tristan had enough intelligence to quickly understand what the words meant. Blood elf, blood extraction, blood consumption.. It all connected.

"Damn! Does this mean that I'm some kind of vampire?"

"..."

[Warning! Your body will suffer a drawback due to the lack of Blood Essence]

[Battle power decreased by 50 points]

[Current battle power 100]

Seeing the massive downgrade on his prowess, Tristan couldn't help but curse, "Shit! This is crazy!"

The notification was followed by a torrent coursing through his body. Then, Tristan felt extreme weakness all over.

"Well... It could be worse" Tristan said inwardly, trying to offset the mental pain he felt when he saw his strength decreased by a big margin.

At least, besides his decreasing battle power, there were no other side effects that Tristan received.

However, Tristan could not help but frown when he realized he had become something like a blood sucking monster that needed to be fed every day. He could only let out a sigh.

If he knew that this would happen, Tristan would have not spent all of his Blood Essence for the [Blood Seal] on the tiger.

Anyway, with him not having any Blood Essence right now, and the only blood source available around was his sister, Tristan was undoubtedly in a predicament. There was no way he would suck blood out of his sister. Tristan would rather kill himself than hurt Layla.

"I guess I will need to start finding blood soon. Somehow.."

"Yeah.."

A long deep sigh resounded through the forest that night.