Chapter 33: Creating A Warrior Frame

"Tell me, why do you want to know about Rena? Why are you stalking her? If I don't like your answer, the consequences won't be good." Keith expanded his aura and directed his killing intent.

"I was her superior, so I was wondering what happened to her. There is nothing you should be concerned about." the lady vampire mumbled.

'What is this aura? He was supposed to be at the early stages of Baron. How did he get so powerful?' She thought.

"Supervisor, you say? She belongs to me, how can anyone else think they control her? Now she works directly under me, so you should keep your distance away from her." Keith said.

"Yes, young master. I will remember that." The lady replied with a broken voice.

" Now go back to your place. Unless it's grandpa and Uncle Brad, no one is allowed to come to this side of the castle, you got that?" Keith withdrew his aura and turned back.

" Yes, young master." She immediately ran away in the opposite direction from the corridor,

Sigh!

"I can't be with her all the time. With all the people eyeing me it will be difficult for her too. They may not try anything against me, but she is an easy target. I can't let anyone harm her. I won't." He clenched his fist with resolve.

She was the only friend and the closest person he had in this world. He didn't want her to suffer, more so because of him. He wanted to protect her, not because she was his maid. But her presence in his life kept him sane from all the craziness from the world. Her warmth, compassion, and love, even though he didn't reciprocate, filled his heart with some happiness.

The world was cruel and no one really stood for one another. He was incredibly lucky that he got someone who deeply cared for him. He didn't want her to get hurt because of him.

Taking a stroll in the garden just outside the corridor, he imagined the warrior frame. He accumulated almost double the blood-qi after absorbing the ghoul blood. The level showed the increment in points, but it was not the correct measurement for the volume of blood-qi.

He could feel his blood-qi brimming with more than twice the energy he had yesterday. He checked his status window to see if he met the requirements for building the warrior frame. The viscount threshold was 66% so he had a hunch it was above 90% for a baron.

[ Blood warrior frame recorded: unnamed frame ]

[ Grade : Count ]

[ Blood-qi usage : Count(25%),Viscount(66%),Baron(97%)]

And he was right on the money. The blood-qi usage for this warrior frame was 97% of his entire blood-qi. This didn't mean it was easy to create after this mark. This was merely the minimum requirement for attempting its creation.

The warrior frame was a type of enhancement blood-qi technique that allowed the vampires to create a spirit skeleton within them. It was a type of ethereal and physical construct that switched among several forms.

The blood-qi was used to shape the warrior frame in its inception. It was the building block for the warrior frame. When the user imagines a warrior frame, it manifests inside the accurate points inside the body where the user envisioned them. Then, slowly, it solidifies the points and the connection between them.

With continuous concentration and practice, the users build the warrior frame according to their conceptualization. Keith focused his mind on the purple mark, activating the warrior frame stored inside the system.

The joints acted as the central points of the frame and blood-qi spread according to the pattern. The points connected themselves and created a hazy structure inside his body.

[ Blood warrior frame initiated]

[ Strengthening the connections]

..

..

[ Blood warrior frame completed]

[ Grade : Count ]

Due to the support of the system, the initiation went without any hiccup. The frame was still in its early stages. As he was a baron, it took almost all of his blood-qi to create the blood frame and maintain it.

Even though the frame was of count grade, he couldn't use it to its fullest with his lower blood-qi. It used up all of his blood-qi just to maintain the frame. To use it to the fullest, he needed to lower the blood-qi requirement to keep the frame activated at all times without getting overwhelmed.

As he examined the warrior frame, he noticed that it drew most of his blood-qi to stabilize itself. The frame itself resembled his skeleton, but it was more polished and refined. The points were joined through strings of blood-qi and created something akin to an exoskeleton for his bones.

He moved around his hands, threw some kicks in the air.

'My body feels a little heavy.'

When the warrior frame properly consolidated, the density of his body increased a little. It wasn't too much as to completely immobilize him, but it was enough to slow down his reflexes.

'I need to practice with the warrior frame activated, so I can get the hang of it.' He thought.

Moving his hand and legs, he practiced the martial arts while keeping the blood warrior frame activated.

Swish! Swish!

He slowly got used to the warrior frame despite its heaviness. The smoothness of the movements increased after some time. But this also required his utmost concentration. His eyes were focused as he punched and swung his arms. and did the complicated leg movements.

After an hour or so, he was comfortable with the warrior frame and felt that he could keep it activated unless he was injured severely to the degree that he had to withdraw the blood-qi from his warrior frame to heal his wounds.

The system had provided him with the accurate warrior frame and helped him establish the points and consolidate them with complete accuracy. He only had to focus his blood-qi to flow inside the model that was provided by the system.

The frame itself was at its early stages and needed more blood-qi to strengthen and solidify the structure. As Keith was still a baron, the lack of sufficient blood-qi resulted in a stagnation of the output of the warrior frame. Still, Keith wasn't too worried about it. After all, getting more blood-qi wasn't a problem for him. As long as he absorbed all the blood essence, he could get more.

The only thing he needed to do was wait. He also predicted that he will reach the viscount stage before entering the academy. The blood-qi eruption was the reason he increased the time frame. He wanted to take it slow, even though it was in no way comparable to normal vampires.