Chapter 128: New Problems

"That's what happened." Keith smiled after the memory ended.

[… That explains why you shared the memory with me.] The system said with a bitter tone.

"Anyway, how is everything going? I see you've stabilized the blood core. You absorbed blood-qi from ghouls?" Keith asked.

[Yes, after you disappeared, I took control of your body and defeated the ghouls in that cave. Especially that viscount ghoul, it was really tough. But the corrupted blood-qi it had was worth it.] 

"What about the pool where the demon was, how did you get out of there?" 

[There was a rune formation that connected the pool with the inner cave that the demon called the sacrificial chamber. I think he was referring to the ghouls as a sacrifice. All of them were humans before turning into ghouls. I killed three baron-level ghouls and one viscount-level ghoul. The low-level ghouls were not worth killing so I left them there. Maybe the summon will need them later on.] The system said suggestively.

"How is he doing?" Keith asked about Kenny.

[ He's fine. His assimilation with the blood-qi is almost complete. I think you can take him outside.]

"Good, I will train him properly from now on." Keith nodded his head.

[Are you alright… do you need more time to rest? I can control your body for a little more if you want.] The system said with expectation.

"No thanks… After getting tortured in darkness, this feels like a breath of fresh air. I think I need to vent." Keith replied grimly.

[About that. You missed a great opportunity.] The system laughed.

"Why do you say so?" Keith asked.

[ The three vampires that attacked you that day filed a case against you in the hunter office. The receptionist told me to resolve the issue and I might've gone overboard.] 

"Did you kill one of them?" Keith asked, surprised.

[ No, but I used my aura to suppress them and some rough punches… nothing extreme.]

"That's my aura and you let them too easy"

[If that bitch didn't interfere, I would've beaten them to a pulp.]

"Miss. Shaw? I don't think anyone except her can stop me." Keith wondered.

[Yeah, she interfered right when I was about to punch that girl's face.]

"Too bad… what happened after that?"

[ I did get the compensation and cleared things between you and those three, but that was to drop their guards. There will be another chance to catch them outside the academy. If they are too scared of you, they won't approach…]

"That sounds just like you… I was about to ask why you would sort things out with them, so this was the reason." 

[You want to take control right now or?]

"Haha" 

Keith's eyes opened and he looked around the training chamber. The blood-qi level here was higher than the training chamber for barons.

"I am inside the viscount training chamber, aren't I?" Keith asked the system.

[Yes..you should've replied before taking over]

"I don't need to inform you of anything, so shut up. Are you forgetting your place? It's my body now, so why do I need to consult you before taking control of it, huh?" 

[ That's not it. I was just having a good time. It's been too long since I could interact with the real world.]

"… Well it's been too long since I played my favorite video game, read my favorite manga, and ugh… Now stop complaining."

Keith stood up and tried to calm himself down by taking deep breaths. Around that time, another vampire inside the chamber opened his eyes too and said in a calm voice.

"This is no place for amateurs to shout. If you want to train and condense and blood-qi do so, but don't shout."

"Well, now I own this place so you should shut up." Keith snapped back.

'Ugh! It slipped. I shouldn't have said that. I was so angry that I forgot I'm back in my body. Hope they don't engage further or I won't be able to control myself.'

Keith didn't say anything further and sat down in his spot. Not a minute went by and three viscount-level vampires rounded him up.

"Oh great! Looks like my wish will come true after all." Keith opened his eyes to check the three vampires that surrounded him.

"What did you say, you little shit! You own this place." One of the vampires said, spitting on the ground.

"I need to teach you some manners!" Another one said, expanding his aura.

"Your blood core fluctuations are really faint, you're good with controlling your blood-qi but all of us can see that you're just an early stage viscount. Care to tell us how you own this place? The last time I checked, this was the property of the blood warrior department. Are you claiming to be the dean?" The third vampire who first spoke to Kieth stood in the middle.

He looked at Keith with ice-cold eyes and expanded his final stage viscount aura to suppress him. With the three vampires pressuring Keith simultaneously, Kieth didn't slouch down. His eyes squinted and he looked directly at the middle vampire who was the strongest.

"You don't know how to differentiate between a normal statement and sarcasm? I will give you proper training." Keith stood up abruptly.

"Sarcas..!" 

Boom!

Keith didn't spend any more time explaining to them about his weird way of speech as they were not aware of such terms. He was pissed off and needed an outlet to let his frustrations go. Looking at the other two vampires who were getting ready to attack, Keith grabbed the head of the other one and gave him a solid knee kick.

Crack!

His chin was split in two and blood started flowing from the gap. Keith didn't use the full power of his warrior frame so that he doesn't kill someone by accident. Still, it was enough to beat these three.

"You asshole!" The last vampire used this chance to attack Keith from his left side which was wide open.

Keith didn't panic and turned the vampire's body to become a shield for him, and it worked magnificently. The punch struck straight into the face and his nose flattened.

"Nice! Now you get the same treatment." Keith punched the last vampire who tried to dodge after realizing his mistake, but it was too late.

"Ahh!"

Wham!

He was sent flying with that powerful punch and only Keith stood there wiping his hands off. The other two vampires were lying on the floor. One was completely unconscious after getting hit twice on his head. 

The supposed leader of the group and the strongest one was holding his broken nose and trying to stand up. He didn't look like he suffered too much, but his face was twisted, apparent by a fist mark with a red border. 

Still, the wound was nothing to him and it was healing faster each second. In a couple of seconds, the nose was also reattached and he let go of it.

"You! How do you possess so much power?" He expanded his aura again and asked Keith with caution.

He didn't even see the punch coming at him. It was so fast that he thought he was facing a count. But he clearly sensed Keith's aura and blood core and it was nowhere near count level.

"Again! I don't need to explain it to everyone I happen to beat up. Do you want to fight one more time? I can break your nose again if you want." Keith provoked him further.

"Your blood-qi level increased. You were hiding your powers, didn't you? I can sense that your blood-qi is equal to me. But your warrior frame, why can't I sense it?" He said while taking a good look at Keith's physique.

"You are not worthy enough to look at my warrior frame. I was having a bad day so I spoke without thinking but you guys came to harass me just like that. Well, I also wanted to beat someone up so no complaints there." 

Keith saw that the vampire had lost his will to fight and he didn't want to beat them up meaninglessly so he sat back and continued to circulate his blood-qi.

The vampire stood there looking at Keith and clenching his teeth. He didn't want to fight someone who was unpredictable. At first, he thought Keith was just a newly promoted viscount who entered the training chamber, so he confidently came here to teach him the rules.

It was not uncommon for seniors to bully the juniors for small and petty reasons, everyone was guilty of it. But it wasn't that serious for them to get involved, still, they did. And it turned out they couldn't be more wrong.

Keith absorbed the ambient blood-qi quietly. It was not enough to increase his blood-qi substantially, but it was like a snack that he needed to stimulate the blood-qi once in a while. He kept his senses sharp amidst all of this and didn't drop his guard. Not that he needed to, as he could easily dodge or block their attacks. He did it because he wanted to beat them up again if they tried anything funny.