Chapter 100: A Name?

[ The life energy is completely replaced. Now I need to make a blood-qi barrier around the brain, so it doesn't get contaminated with other life energy.]

'Finally!' Keith sighed with relief and opened his eyes.

The room was silent and Miss Cryel haven't returned. He was the only one inside the room in addition to the beast. Keith held the beast in his hands and it silently sat there.

"It doesn't even know I'm taking over his mind." 

[Well, his mind will stay intact. It's just that the energy it will be running on will be your blood-qi. You're essentially its source of power. So in a sense, it's bound to you.] 

'This is just the first phase, I need to take it with me and circulate my blood-qi throughout the beast's body.' Kieth said with an exhausted voice.

[The complete integration of the brain will take some time. Then you can proceed to inject more blood-qi into its body. I will monitor the changes and tell you when it's time.] 

The system copied the technique from Miss Cryel, so it easily followed the steps and safely created a blood-qi barrier covering the brain that was now running on Keith's blood-qi.

The beast didn't feel any different from before, only a slight change in color in the eyes that looked a light shade of red. It stood up and circled around Keith. 

"I am your master now," Keith said to the beast.

Because of the bond carried by blood-qi, the beast could understand the underlying meaning and intention of Keith. It showed reluctance but the process was complete and it felt as if Keith smelled familiar. 

"Let's test out how much control I have over you. Attack me with everything you've got." Kieth ordered the beast.

The beast understood the intention and looked at Keith nervously. It knew Keith was powerful and how he didn't use any effort to restrain him. So it couldn't understand why he wanted to be attacked when the beast was weaker. The beast thought Kieth would use him as a punching bag.

"You may be a decent summon, but you are very timid. I won't beat you up, I'm just testing your strength." Keith gestured his hands to the beast.

The beast made a growling sound and jumped at Keith. Its sharp claws came out and directed towards him. When it was sure Keith wouldn't beat him up, the beast showed its incredible ferocity.

Kieth stood there analyzing the changes brought by the swap of life energy. The beast's overall strength increased slightly due to the blood-qi and the speed was a little bit faster. Overall, the beast experienced decent growth. 

"The strength is near the middle stage of baron, and if I replace the entire life energy with my blood-qi and circulate it throughout its body, It's strength will reach the viscount level." Keith pondered.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"You are worthy of all the praise you've been receiving. From the orientation, every faculty was curious about your performance, but now seeing you learn so fast, I can't wait to see the faces of the other department faculty… Hahaha!"  A male voice was heard from the entrance.

Miss Cryel entered the room with Kyrel. 

"Miss Cryel, Mr. Heave.  I finished the first stage and the beast has no side effects. It's completely healthy and the strength also increased by a decent amount." Keith said after seeing both of them.

"Yeah, we can see that. The beast has indeed gotten stronger. Congratulations on your first successful summon. I think we should wrap it up for today. You look exhausted and for a second class, you did exceptionally well."

"Thank you Miss Cryel. If it wasn't for you, I couldn't have done it." 

'Literally.' Kieth thought to himself.

"Oh, stop with the flattery. I know you have great talent and fortitude to learn complicated concepts, so I am counting on you to keep up with my pace." Miss Cryel said with an amused voice. She dismissed Kieth's praise with a gesture.

"You can leave now. We have to go attend to the other students as well. Even though you are a genius, we need to give time to other students as well. Also, take the beast with you. There will be some prying eyes, which is good. It will be a good show off for the blood summoning department." 

"Then, I will take my leave." Keith sent the beast a message with his mind and it instantly came back to him. As he left the room, the beast followed him as well.

"Let's go. After handling the other students, we will brief dean Jesper about today's events. He will surely like it." 

Miss Cryel and Mr. Heave left the room as well and headed to the classroom.

Keith was happy that he acquired the blood summoning technique's first phase, and was able to bond with a beast. He was making progress in terms of learning blood-qi techniques and it complemented him.

The summon was great for support against multiple enemies and even on a one-on-one fight. It could help him restrain someone from the other side and when it is properly integrated to him, it will be quite a surprise to the enemies.

He was primarily a warrior frame user and enemies will never think he will release a summon. Only the students who know that he had joined the blood summoning department will be aware of his arsenal.

Even then, they couldn't estimate the level of power the summon had. From their perspective, the blood-qi of Kieth was limited, and he couldn't divide it between two blood-qi techniques.

'Maybe it's a good thing if they underestimate my strength.' Keith thought.

As he walked out of the blood summoning department building, it was already evening. He spent more than six hours in that chamber trying to bond with the beast.

'Should I go to the training facility or go back to my room?'

[You should return to your room, and keep the summon there. The blood-qi just settled in. We don't want other blood-qi to interfere with it.  Keep the beast in your room until it is fully bonded with you.] The system replied.

'I think I'll go with that. Rena could use some security. This beast is plenty strong and can handle final stage barons as well if the situation is dire.' Keith nodded in agreement.

Many students gazed curiously at Keith as he strolled across the corridor. The beast's height was around his shoulder and the large frame and long body gave an intimidating feeling. 

It also had the strength to back it up and the energy coming off of it was similar to a middle stage baron. So all the students looked at the beast curiously. They guessed that Keith was a student of the blood summoning department.

As the first-year students joined recently, they thought he was not a first-year as he already bonded with the beast. They didn't bother him and walked out of his way.

Keith reached his residential building with no issues. Some students asked him about the beast and were surprised after sensing its strength. First-year students could recognize him and kept their distance as they felt intimidated by the beast. Keith had a fun time scaring the early-stage barons. 

"I want to complete the next phase already. When the beast reaches the viscount level, I want to take it for a stroll in the campus." Keith thought with a smirk.

"Young master! Kyaahh!" 

Rena who saw Keith enter through the main door, staggered back as she saw the big tiger-like beast enter from behind.

"What? What is that?" Rena shouted after pointing to the beast.

"Oh! I forgot about him. He's my new summon." Keith said nonchalantly.

"A…summon…" Rena looked confused.

"I have to tell you all about the vampire disciplines it seems. Or you will be surprised every other day I return." 

The beast looked at Rena curiously and it could see that it was a harmless human. In his eyes, she was just meat.

"Hey! If you think about eating her, I will skin you alive, understand." Keith looked at the beast angrily.

"You will stay here for quite some time, so remember her well. You will protect her from now on. If anything happens to her…" Keith imagined all the gruesome things he could think of and the beast shivered in horror.

"Rena, meet… Well, I haven't thought of a name for him yet. I intended for it to be my temporary summon, but I might use it for some time. So it's better to give it a name." 

"Young master, where did you find it? Is it like your pet or something?" Rena asked while shifting her gaze from Keith to the beast.

"It was a wild beast and kept inside the blood summoning department. I tamed it and now bonded with the beast's mind. Now it follows all my commands." Keith said with a smile.

"I see… What you said about protecting me, will the beast stay here?" Rena asked while gulping.

" Don't worry. It won't dare to harm you. I trained it very well, didn't I?" Keith glared at the beast.

The beast nodded its head rapidly.