Chapter 77: Compensation

Annica was expecting a huge group of vampires surrounding Keith, but when she arrived near the southern courtyard she was shocked to see the scene.

In the middle, Keith was standing alone while all the vampires were either unconscious on the floor or injured severely. Jerim was also standing in the side with a surprised face. 

Her sight focused on the vampire sitting in front of Keith who was begging Keith to let him go.

'He is a middle stage viscount. Did he  defeat them just like that?' Annica squinted her eyes and stood in the side of the courtyard.

She didn't want to interrupt the fight and get involved in this mess. Besides, Keith was doing just fine without her help so she saw no need to lend him her power. 

In Front of Keith, Lais was thinking rapidly and his senses were in shambles. When he felt his blood-qi getting sapped away instantly he panicked and admitted defeat. It was not because he feared Keith so much so his powers were getting taken. 

The amount of blood-qi that was being absorbed from him was equivalent to several years of blood condensation. He worked really hard to reach this level of blood core. He didn't want to lose all his blood-qi so he aptly gave up fighting him.

With a strange ability to drain someone's power, Keith was way out of his understanding. He didn't know from which family or country he came from. He even feared that he was a descendant of the top ten families disguised as a normal boy.

"Tell me what favour you want from me? If it isn't going to affect me negatively too much, I am willing to do it." Lais replied.

"You are not going to lose anything and no harm will come to your blood core. I just want to learn the blood-qi technique that you used just now with your warrior frame. Care to teach me the secrets of that technique?'' Keith whispered into Lais's ear.

Lais's eyes went wide as he heard Keith's demand. It was not something he could decide on his own. It was his family technique and giving it to a stranger was breaching his family's sacred vow. 

"I can… not do that…." He said with a fumbled voice.

"Listen here, buddy. You are not in a situation where you can bargain. I will break it down for you. Either give me the technique or lose the blood-qi that you cultivated for decades. I will get that technique regardless of whether you want it or not. If you don't accept, I might have to resort to violence." Keith glared at him while increasing his aura.

Seeing Keith's serious face Lais was out of options.  He really didn't want to give his technique to a stranger but his life was on the line. Being stripped apart from his blood-qi was a death sentence for him as it was really hard to do anything without it. 

He couldn't attend classes and might get expelled from the academy once they figured out that he lost his blood-qi. Realizing that there was no other way, he reluctantly nodded his head.

"Is that a yes?" Keith asked with a frown.

"Yes… I will teach you the blood-qi technique." Lais said defeatedly.

"Glad that you chose the right option, or else I would've had to kidnap you for a month to study your technique," Keith replied.

Now that this matter was settled, his sights turned to the main reason he got into all this. Jerim, the vampire he met at the training facility who attacked him for ignoring his presence. 

He was staring at the scene in front of him with a dazed face. He didn't know what to do, now that his underlings were defeated and his best warrior Lais was kneeling in front of Keith, he was out of his wits.

"We meet again senior." Keith appeared in front of him in an instant.

"HAH! You! What are you going to do to me?" Jerim asked in a panicked tone.

"Nothing much, if you give proper compensation to me, I will let you go unharmed," Keith said with a grin.

"What kind of compensation do you want? Blood coins? I have thousands of blood cons on me. You can take them all." Jerim said while putting his hand in his pocket.

"No, I'm not interested in your blood coins. I want something more valuable, like advanced blood-qi techniques for example.  If you can provide me with your blood-qi technique that would be good." 

"Absolutely impossible. My family's technique is the sacred technique passed down from generations. I can't give it away to a stranger without the approval of our elders. You might as well kill me." Jerim shouted out loud.

"If you insist, I have no choice." Keith extended his arm trying to attack Jerim.

"STOP!" A voice shouted from the other end of the courtyard.

Keith turned his head towards the location the voice was coming from. He recognized the vampire upon close look. It was the companion of the vampire in front of him. He felt that he was more powerful than Jerim.

"What do you want? I must tell you, they tried to attack me first, so I won't let them go so easily. I might have to keep them for a month as slaves for compensation." Keith said to the figure standing on the other side.

"You dare do that to a noble. Do you think the student council will tolerate such behavior?" The young vampire said.

"What about the council, why would they interfere with my problem? I am merely taking compensation from these vampires. And they gave their consent too, so it's not like I'm kidnapping them. Isn't that right?" Keith looked at Lais who was silently looking at the ruckus.

"Ye…Yes," He admitted reluctantly.

"See, I am not forcing anyone against their will. So if you could just leave us alone, that would be much appreciated." Keith said.

"Kid, Your courage is not small. Maybe you don't know who you are offending. His father is the vice president of the Clecia chamber of commerce. If you hurt him, you will see the full wrath of the entire Chamber of commerce." The young vampire said with a threatening voice.

"And I am supposed to brush off the things they did and forgive them. Not happening. I have a family too, so don't threaten me with the background bullshit. Besides, his father won't come here just to take care of a simple scuffle." Keith said with a nonchalant voice.

"Hmmph! If I say that you attacked us first, no one would believe you. I am a member of the student council, so your words hold no weight inside the academy." 

"I don't fear about the council. I have a good relationship with Miss. Valencia so I doubt she will punish me for something I didn't do." Keith replied with an innocent voice.

"What?! How do you know the president? When did you meet her?" A surprised expression appeared on the young vampire's face.

Then suddenly, he had a realization and he laughed out loud.

"Don't try to trick me, I know you just attended the orientation so you have seen her and might've learned her name through someone else. There is no way she would meet with a first-year." The young vampire said with a snort.

"If you don't believe me, why don't you ask her yourself?" Keith said with a smile.

"I can't believe I'm listening to a first year's ramblings. I am telling this for your own good. Leave this place and never show yourself in front of me. I will let you go this one time for your behavior,  but don't expect me to forgive you next time." 

"There won't be a next time. I am not leaving without the compensation we're agreed on." Keith stared at Jerim greedily.

"You can have ten thousand gold blood coins. Now scram!" The young vampire said with disdain.

"I am not short of gold blood coins at the moment, but if you really insist on giving me compensation with blood coins, I want 1 million gold blood coins or I will take them with me." Keith looked straight at the young vampire's eyes.

The young vampire's expressions turned ugly and he shot forward towards Keith with a tremendous force.

"I tried to reason with you, but you still refuse to listen. I will have to punish you for assaulting your senior. Then I will take you to the president, who will punish you even further." 

With a huge aura resembling a middle stage viscount, the young vampire pounced at Keith.

Keith's eyes turned cold and he activated his warrior frame and blood core simultaneously. 

Boom! Wham! Wham!

The entire courtyard shook as the two figures clashed in the middle.

"What? how can you match with my strength?" The young vampire was flabbergasted.

'I'm using a marquis level artifact to boost my aura, but he has no such artifact. What is more unbelievable is that he has a baron stage blood core. Is he hiding his artifact inside? his body? I can't sense a single artifact.' The vampire was surprised by the turn of events.