Chapter 8: Blood Shop

*Creak*

As he opened the thick metal door, with the logo of the shop on it, he heard a blipping sound. A man wearing a black tuxedo approached him. He looked like he was in his thirties, but with vampires, age can be deceptive. So he didn't take his appearance at face value.

" How may I help you ?" The man said after giving a small bow.

Keith looked around the shop, there were not many customers there. The interior was decorated in a gothic style, with tables prepared for guests. There was nothing off about the place upon first look.

"There was a board saying that you sell fresh blood, is that true ?" Keith asked the man.

Hearing Keith, the man's face lit up.

" Yes, sir. We provide the best delicacies among vampires in this place. You can get any type of blood you want. "

"Can you bring me fifty glasses of blood, all from different sources ?"

" Well, it can be done, but you have to wait for a while." The man said while stroking his chin.

" It's alright. I can wait. "

" Then, please follow me, I will arrange a table for you."

The man led Keith to an empty table in the hall and took out the chair to let him sit.

" I will be back with the order. It will take about an hour." The man gave a small bow and left the hall.

Keith looked around the hall and many tables were already pre-occupied. Many vampires were enjoying their glass of blood while chatting among themselves. While he was looking around, he spotted a young vampire sitting alone on a table. He looked to be in his late teens. Looking at the attire, he was wearing quite a luxurious outfit, with golden accents all over his suit. It was not too flashy, but the subtlety made it even more alluring. When he was looking at him, the young vampire noticed his gaze. He looked at him while sipping his glass, but looked away after a moment. Keith also retracted his gaze, as it would seem awkward.

He waited for an hour while circulating his blood qi. He didn't want to waste his time sitting still and doing nothing, so he practiced blood-qi channeling instead. After an hour, the man came back with five other vampires holding five trays, each containing ten glasses of blood. The waiters placed the glasses on his table one after another, and by the time the last one was placed, the table was full.

" Enjoy your meal, sir," The man said while smiling at him.

Keith found the smile quite uncanny, but he didn't waste time thinking about that. He picked up a glass and dipped his index finger in the blood. As he expected the purple tendrils slithered down and extended from his fingertip. The blood level on the glass started to decrease. And eventually the purple tendrils absorbed all blood in that glass.

'Still, no response.'

Keith picked up another glass, doing the same thing over and over again. After absorbing about half of the glasses, there was still no response. He continued the process until the 45th glass was finished. He heard a notification.

[ Blood essence absorbed: 1 ]

Keith sighed in relief. He calculated the blood amount, which was about 11 litres from his estimates. The glasses could hold 250 millilitres of blood each. This meant that he needed atlas two adult humans to absorb 1 blood essence. And he has to drain every last drop from their body at once. He can't drink the blood to absorb the blood essence, as it would be digested by his body and turned into blood qi.

He was not ready to kill humans just to get a slight increase in blood essence. He remembered that

When he absorbed the blood of Marvin, he also got one blood essence, even though it was just a drop.

He turned his head and noticed that the young vampire was looking at him in a peculiar way.

He didn't mind him and signaled the waiter. The waiter came to him and bowed.

" Do you need anything else, sir?" The waiter asked.

" Do you have the blood of another species, other than humans ?" Keith asked in a careful manner.

The waiter took a second to register the question and replied aptly.

" I will call the manager, please wait a moment." The waiter left the table in a hurry.

After some time, the man in the black suit came to his table. Keith guessed that he was the manager of this shop.

" Sir, I heard that you need special delicacies. I am more than happy to serve you the exotic blood, but first, you need to pay the remuneration for the first order." The manager gave a faint smile.

' Oh, so that's why he didn't stop me even when I ordered fifty glasses.'

" How much for all these ?" Keith asked.

" 5 gold-blood coins." The manager replied.

Keith raised his eyebrows. He has seen many shops, that sold blood only for a couple of silver-blood coins. But there was no sign or menu showing the price of the blood.

' So, this was his plan all along. To make me consume more blood, and charge as much as he wanted.'

Even though the blood was fresh, it would have cost more than two gold-blood coins. So charging double was their own upscaling. Still, Keith didn't mind the extra, because he had enough to buy as many glasses as he wanted.

He took out five gold-blood coins from his pocket and placed them on the left side of the table. Looking at the five coins, the manager had an amused expression. He picked up the five coins and bowed to him.

" We are honored to receive you, sir. I would like to personally guide you to the VIP chambers."

The manager bowed his head while speaking. He snapped his fingers and the waiter came and took all the empty glasses.

" Come this way, sir." The manager then led Keith through the corridor. An extravagantly decorated corridor entered his vision, There were thirteen doors on each side of the large corridor.

He walked as the manager led him to the door, numbered 'IX'. The manager opened the door and let him enter first. After Keith entered the VIP room, he saw the entire room was decorated with exotic paintings of women, sceneries, and different types of exotic places. The walls were painted in maroon color, but Keith had a guess that it was made from some kind of blood. The carpet was finely carved with many inscriptions. There were three wide couches around a huge table in the center. There was a shelf where many types of glasses were placed, with different designs.

" Please, have a seat." The manager asked him politely while showing his hands towards the middle couch.

Keith walked up to the center and sat on the couch, which was made from special leather. The softness was really comparable to the ones they had in the castle. The manager walked to the shelf and brought a leather pamphlet and handed it to Keith.

Keith looked at the menu, and his eyebrows twitched. There were so many different types of blood and some were questionable, to say the least. He looked for vampire blood, which was the most expensive on the list. The cost of a single glass of vampire blood was hundred gold-blood coins. And there were no details about, which type of vampire they got it from.

From what he could deduce, the higher the level of vampire blood, the more blood essence he got.

But if the glass of blood is from a lower level vampire, like the third level of blood condensing stage. Then the price was not worth it. He would rather fight with Marvin again to get his blood than give 100 gold-blood coins for low-level blood.

" I have a question. What level are the vampires that are providing the blood ?" Keith looked at the manager.

" Sir, I have to agree that you have a rare taste in blood. But rest assured, this place is very discreet and nobody will know what transpires here. As for the vampire blood, it is extracted from vampires at the fifth level of the blood condensing stage, so you will find it to your liking." The manager replied with a confident smile.

" Alright, bring me a glass." Keith put the pamphlet down and ordered the manager.

" Right away sir." The manager left the room.

After ten minutes, he returned with a beautiful waitress wearing a revealing outfit. The waitress was holding a tray with a single glass of blood. She walked to the table and placed the glass on the table while revealing her cleavage.

Keith's face turned red from the actions of the waitress. He was a man after all, and this type of blatant provocations was bound to make him tickle. Still, he was a resolute person, even before he came to this world. He was never swayed by his desires, as he was a smart kid from a young age. He befriended girls but didn't fawn over them.

He calmed his mind and cleared his throat. He didn't look at the waitress anymore and focused his eyes on the glass.

'Time to find out how much blood essence this will give me.'

He picked up the glass without averting his gaze. He felt that the waitress was still standing in front of the table.

" Can I have some privacy ?" He said without looking at them.

" … Yes, I will excuse myself." The waitress left the room after bowing her head again, but Keith didn't notice that.

" If you need anything, just tap the bell on the table." The manager said while pointing his hand to the corner of the table.

" Sure.." Keith didn't want to waste any more time.

The manager gave Keith a last glance and left the room. After the door was closed, he picked the glass and dipped his finger in the blood. The purple tendrils quickly stretched out and started absorbing the blood.

[ Blood essence absorbed: 1 ]

[ Blood essence absorbed: 1]

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