Chapter 247 - East Sea Metropolis, Blood Race

After the Black Lava Dukedom won the war with the Iron Dukedom, Diablo had disappeared for a period of time. He only reappeared when the Darkness Invasion came and had picked his weapon up to protect his nation.

However, in the few months that he had disappeared.

After following the clues he had collected over the years and relying on a few memory fragments from when he was young, he had finally found his hometown.

It was the East Sea Metropolis!

It wasn’t a nation, but a neutral territory located west of the Emerald Grand Duchy and east of the sea. It occupied an area comparable to that of a nation, but their real power wasn’t weaker than that of a Grand Duchy. It was just that there were fewer residents in the East Sea Metropolis.

Other than the largest East Sea Metropolis, there were many other cities of various sizes, all of which were his private territory.

Diablo’s family was considered as a powerful one in the East Sea Metropolis.

They once worked for Bernard, the Lord of the East Sea Metropolis. Bernard was half-Elven, and he had been alive for a long time. Not only was he strong in terms of individual power, but he also had many loyal confidantes.

However, on that fateful night 19 years ago, with the arrival of a group of bats, Diablo’s life had completely changed. His whole family had died, and only he was able to escape. He wandered to the Black Lava Dukedom and became a feral child in the forest.

[Prompt: You have obtained information about a mission named ‘The Past of Diablo’s Family’. He wants to know the truth behind the massacre of his family. However, he is not strong enough and is unfamiliar with the East Sea Metropolis. Thus, he is seeking your help.)

[Prompt: ‘The Past of Diablo’s Family’ is an A+ mission. After you complete this mission, you will gain Diablo’s eternal loyalty.]

(Prompt: Do you accept this mission?]

William looked at Diablo’s hopeful eyes and seemed to remember something.

He readily accepted the mission.

“Thank you, your Highness, for your support and love. Your Highness, may I know when will you set off for the East Sea Metropolis?” Diablo was rather anxious.

William shook his head and comforted him. “The East Sea Metropolis isn’t as simple as you think it is. This matter needs to be discussed at length. I have acquired many magical stones, you should use them to level up your combat power first.

“After all, even if we uncover the truth, you will need to seek revenge for your family. You’re not thinking of asking me to exact revenge on your behalf, right?”

Diablo looked at the handsome and kind face in front of him. He shook his head. He got engrossed in looking at Lord William’s handsome face again. “Your Highness is right. It would be best if I can exact revenge personally. I’m too anxious. I will go back and train now.” Diablo lowered his head.

[Prompt: The time limit for this mission is two years. If you exceed the time limit, Diablo will complete the mission alone. His loyalty towards you will be lowered to the minimum limit.)

William glanced at his affinity points with Diablo. It rose again just now, reaching 730 points. He patted the latter’s shoulder. “We’ll talk about this at a later date. You may go first.”

“Okay.” Diablo clenched his fist and left.

“Bernard, the Lord of the East Sea Metropolis? The Past of Diablo’s Family?” William narrowed his eyes. He had visited the East Sea Metropolis before in his previous life, but he hadn’t encountered this mission.

In his previous life, Diablo had died in the battle between the Black Lava Dukedom and the Iron Dukedom.

However, based on the mission information from Diablo, William deduced that his family must have been attacked by the vampires!

As for why Bernard, the Lord of the East Sea Metropolis, didn’t seek revenge and even turned a blind eye to Diablo’s family being wiped out, it was because Bernard wasn’t half-Elven. He was a vampire! The immortality of a half-Elven was just his disguise!

It was important to note that although the Blood Race was a race that lived on the continent, they weren’t considered to be dark creatures. However, they were still terrifying creatures to humans.

Fresh blood was their main source of food.

It was true that they could survive on any creature’s blood. However, the Blood Race consuming blood was the same as humans consuming food. Though one could be full by just eating plain and simple food, weren’t exotic delicacies tastier?

The Blood Race’s exotic delicacy wasn’t animal blood or magical beast blood. It was human blood.

The ranking of a vampire’s preferred diet followed an order which went: the most preferred Dragon blood, followed by Elven blood, then the Seraphkin blood, then came the human blood, and lastly, magical beast blood.

It was a pity that the Seraphkin and elves were low in numbers to begin with, and even then, they were exceptionally strong. Hence, even if the Blood Race wanted to attack them, they could only do so secretly for fear of being annihilated.

Thus, they could only settle for humans. That was why Blood Race vampires who were of high status often kept many humans as blood slaves in their homes.

Human blood slaves were divided according to their gender, age, and so on. The Blood Race was very particular with their diet. They even did their research on which body part of a human had the best-tasting blood…

However, the poor Blood Race vampires could only consume wild animals to relieve their hunger.

After William accepted the mission, he more or less understood how Diablo’s family was wiped out.

It was simple.

Diablo’s family had discovered the truth. The man, Bernard, they were pledging their loyalty to, he was a vampire. And even though they didn’t necessarily want to rebel against him, Bernard wouldn’t allow them to leave the East Sea Metropolis.

After all, although vampires weren’t listed as an enemy of the Temple of Light, there were many higher-ups in the Palace of Darkness that belonged to the Blood Race.

As of now, they mostly kept to themselves.

However, Blood Race vampires that didn’t know how to control themselves and crossed the line were still targets of demon hunters, Temple Knights, Clerics, and even rangers.

“Otherwise, it’s also possible that Diablo’s family knew about Bernard’s identity a long time ago. But they participated in the ‘blood essence of the Blood Dragon’ event, which led to the Blood Race vampires from the Emerald Grand Duchy exacting revenge on them.”

William scratched his head. “There’s no way that the Blood Race can reproduce, so they can only use their ‘First Embrace’ skill to expand the population of their race. This is also why the Blood Race population isn’t too large.

“Their power and bloodline potential depend entirely on how strong was the Blood Race vampire that used ‘First Embrace’ on them.

“Normally, after a Blood Race vampire with Legendary bloodline used ‘First Embrace’ on a human, the human would become a vampire with Epic bloodline.”

“However, every time a vampire uses ‘First Embrace’, a large amount of their blood essence is expended.

“That is why they rarely use ‘First Embrace’, and save it unless they see a target they really like.

“However, the most lethal thing about them is that a vampire’s bloodline potential could be elevated through other means. If a vampire consumes another vampire, they could slowly increase their own bloodline potential and gain more power.

“This is also why there were constant internal strifes in the Blood Race.”

William gradually understood how the Blood Race operated. Diablo’s family was probably wiped out because they were involved in the internal strife of the Blood Race.

He had to go to the East Sea Metropolis to determine the true reason behind the massacre of Diablo’s family.

As for now, the most likely theory was the ‘blood essence of the Blood Dragon’ event!

From Diablo’s bloodline potential, it was evident that his family was extremely powerful. How could they be wiped out so easily?

“This matter cannot be rushed. I must reach Grandmaster first or be close to it.” William was only at level 86 now, which was tens of millions of experience points away from level 100.

In the previous two versions of the game, the players could upgrade to the next position level in the timespan of one version.

However, in the upcoming versions.

It would take the players at least the timespan of two versions before they could upgrade to the next position level.

The difference between an Advanced and a Grandmaster player was way too vast. Hm, it was probably similar to that of a Battle Emperor and a Battle Master?

“Knock knock knock.”

William heard knocking on the door again.

“Come in!”

Sorimas walked in, rubbing his hands together with a smile on his face. “Prince William, do you think that the Druid occupation needs to be expanded extensively?”

“Er… I’m afraid that it would be too much for the players and that they will quit the game.”

“What?” Sorimas asked, not understanding what he meant.

“Nothing. You can spread some Druid-related teachings. I’ll help you arrange that.” William nonchalantly nodded. Since he wanted to extort the players anyway, it didn’t matter which occupation helped him gain more profit as long as he obtained more manuals.

William looked at Sorimas leave excitedly. He suddenly remembered that Sorimas was a Grandmaster Druid and a magic user too. He could bring Sorimas along for the trip to the East Sea Metropolis.

After all, although this dude was a magic user, when turned into a silver-backed monkey, he was a superb shield. How many smelly bats could get past him?

In other words, he could take on an endless number of bats!

All of a sudden, Prince William had a lot of splendid ideas. He would go to the East Sea Metropolis soon.

Sorimas felt a chill down his spine. He knew that his proposal to spread some Druid-related teachings would cause William to include him in one of his weird plans again!