Chapter 17: Little Stronger

The glasses got emptied one by one, as the purple tendrils sucked the blood dry. Keith noticed that his body started to react, as the blood essence poured inside his blood core.

'So this is what it feels like to get power. ' he thought to himself.

After finishing every glass, he looked at his status window.

[ Keith Ennes ]

[ Blood Core: Baron ]

[ Body detected: Vampire ??? Hybrid ]

[ Level 1.242 ]

[ Path: Blood condense ]

His body felt hot like he just ran a marathon while sprinting. His blood core started to expand; the radius increased a little and the blood qi circulation hastened. His pale white face was red as if he was blushing but his eyes gave it away. He had a serious look on his face.

He closed his eyes and focused his mind on the blood qi circulation. The sudden rise in blood essence enhanced his blood core, but it was too potent. Unlike human blood, which didn't contain so much concentrated blood essence, vampire blood was essentially a distilled blood essence.

After he focused his mind and gave his full concentration, he directed the blood qi that kept leaking out of the blood core throughout his body. The blood qi dissipated and started moving back towards the blood core. Now that the blood essence was diluted and turned into blood qi, it spread throughout the body.

The function of the blood core was to condense blood qi and solidify them in the core. Basically, the blood core was condensed blood qi, but there was more to that. Just like emergence, it was more than the sum of its parts. While the blood essence was just blood-attribute energy.

When the purple tendrils suck the blood, they clean the blood from its mark, or the unique attribute of vampires. That is why vampires can't drink other vampires' blood, as the other's blood qi will interfere with their own. They didn't have a way to separate the pure blood-attribute energy as blood essence from vampire blood.

That's where his purple tendrils come into play. They separate the individual attribute and give him pure blood essence. Which he then can turn into his very own blood qi. Then the blood qi will be condensed inside his blood core to strengthen it even more as well as increase its level.

After some time his body cooled down as he diluted the blood qi and circulated it throughout the body. He felt as if his strength had increased twofold. He could feel his body brimming with energy and lighter than ever before.

He opened his eyes and looked at his hand. After opening and closing it a couple of times, he could feel the surge of blood qi inside his vessels. Keith was very satisfied with this. All the blood coins spent were worth it if he could increase his strength like that.

He rang the bell and the waitress entered the room. When she looked at the empty glasses, she had a surprised look on her face. It was common knowledge that vampire blood was potent and could poison another vampire if it was used carelessly.

In this establishment, they served vampire blood to the cannibals who were willing to pay, but they didn't care what happened to the clients. There were several occasions where some cannibals corrupted their blood qi and lost their power. But none of that mattered to them, they were selling this for profit, and that was all there was to it.

And if some cannibals died while drinking too much vampire blood, the establishment would draw their blood to compensate for the loss. Usually, they got more blood in return as the blood the clients consumed was nothing compared to the several liters of blood in their bodies.

When Keith ordered twenty glasses of blood, the waitress was skeptical about his survival. She thought he might drink it slowly and take a long time savoring the taste. But barely an hour had passed and he finished all the blood inside twenty glasses. It was a big shock for her.

" Call the manager. I'm done with my business here, so I will take my leave." Keith said in a serious voice.

" Yes... I will let him know right away." She left the room hastily and after a couple of minutes, the manager entered the VIP room.

" Sir, I heard you are leaving so early. Wouldn't you like to taste more delicacies?" The manager asked him.

" I was only here for the vampire blood, so now that I've got what I wanted, I don't want to stay here for long." Keith got up from his seat and placed the large pouch that contained two thousand gold blood coins.

" I'm glad that we were able to satisfy you. We will be looking forward to your next visit." The manager bowed his head.

" I also like this place, where I can get vampire blood without raising suspicions." Keith smiled as he walked out of the room.

The manager walked along with him to see him off. After Keith exited the shop, the manager called the waitress.

" Did you notice anything different with him? Any sign of erratic behavior?" The manager asked the waitress.

" None, he was calm like always. I also wondered what he did with the vampire blood. He didn't even look like he drank it. Should we send someone to follow him?" The waitress said to the manager.

" No, he is already a baron. And from the wealth he spent here, he must be a noble for sure. Investigating him will be dangerous. We should leave him alone. And also don't tell the other staff about his large order. We should keep it between us, you understand." The manager ordered the waitress.

" Yes sir."

***

After getting out of the shop, Keith went back to the castle by climbing the cliff. He entered his room through the window and looked around the room to see if Rena was there. After confirming that there was no one in the room, he sighed in relief. As he turned around to close the window, he saw Rena staring back at him.