As Lucien walked further in the Vampire Path, the abilities that involved creating and using minions improved.
Previously when Lucien made the bandit branch leader Roy into his follower, it was ready quite strong as it make him see Lucien as his greatest savior and true leader that he would follow with his life.
But true slaves to the Vampires were only possible after the Count level, only there the Vampire Particles could completely erase or rewrite the memories of the recipient, turning him into a first class blood slave.
Even when the master died the blood slaves would live only with the purpose of reviving their master no matter how small the chance.
Back at the Myriad Beast Mountain, the trio Lucien was leading were already in a heated fight with the monstrous Rank 1 Python and they were at complete disadvantage, they couldn't even crack a scale on the Beast.
But no matter how desperate the situation was looking, their Captain didn't look like he was about to help them at all.
Every time they had a chance they would plead and beg for help.
"Please, I have children, I can give you everything I have, just help up."
"And I am going to marry after the war, I wanted to make some money so I can buy us a house to start our family."
No matter what they said, the Captain completely ignored their remarks. It was not long after, when the Python suddenly changed its method of attacking. It saw this was taking too long and instead of lunging forward like normally, it spat out a glob of poison towards the slowest member of the squad.
It was not expected by anyone and the attack connected.
Looming at him, the next sight was out of horror stories, starting from the shoulder where he was hit, his whole body dissolved in seconds, with just smoke coming from the remains.
One of the two survivors finally cracked and looked towards Lucien with intense will to live.
"I'll give it, whatever it is that you want, you can have it, just save me."
Lucien looked towards the other survivor who also repeated the same sentence.
"Heheh, good, good."
Looking towards the buff Python, that was hissing and getting ready to spit again, Lucien just formed a Soul Blade at an incredible speed and took the life of the Beast in one go, the difference in Rank was completely disproportional, not to mention the Souls of Beasts were the stat that grew the slowest.
Seeing that the Captain just shot out a materialized Particle Attack of some kind, the duo gave up any resistance, they were beings that lived on different planes of existence.
"Come over here."
Lucien randomly pointed towards one of them.
Once he was close enough, Lucien bit him on the neck, and started transferring Vampire Particles towards the brain. He didn't try to plant complex memories or anything like that, he wiped everything except the fighting memories and common knowledge, and planted one simple idea – Lucien is your everything, your father, your God, it's your honor to live for him and die for him.
The idea was so deep-rooted that it was part of their whole lives, it was like Lucien was present everywhere, helping them in their hardest times and through their whole lives for exchange for their loyalty and devotion, but this is their first time really meeting him.
After everything was finished he let go and looked at the first true follower that would follow him even if he dies.
"You are now called Number 1 in my presence."
"Yes, Master Lucien."
The second and last survivor looked on shocked and speechless, the change was too big and drastic, but he couldn't resist and the process repeated itself, thus Number 2 born shortly after Number 1.
"For now all you have to do is wait here and bring all the Beast heads that I bring to the temporary camp.
"Yes, Master Lucien."
Lucien just left after telling them what to do, he didn't need burdens that would only slow him down.
'The limit is Rank 2, I'll try to get a couple of them unprepared and turn them, for the rest of the time Rank 0 humans are on the menu and the Beast heads they carry are the bonus.
'Rank 1s are something worth more alive as subordinates, Elena could probably use a few to expand, Rank 2 Vitality based slaves are going to be needed for the Vampire Path and they are expensive.'
'Rank 2 meat is also something to think about, I'll need a lot of slaves.'
For the next couple of days Lucien got used to the mountain terrain and studies some advantageous locations that could be used as a safe location and he also kept track of the movements of the Rank 2 Humans.
It was much easier than looking and tracking them one by one. The badge every captain was given was like the communication device Lucien had, but it was only one way and it could hold only one imprint, so it was the mass production cheap version of the advanced communication device.
Every time they send a news update, they would include a bunch of places that were clear of monsters, which was their trail if one looked closer.
Looking at the map that was projected in his eyes from the Crimson World and the lines crisscrossing, Lucien could predict the route they were going to take for the next day or two.
'Now I can avoid them, no need for confrontation in the open, when I have enough information about any of them, I'll try to turn one or two into blood slaves, it would be a big help towards the income of the business.'
'For the time being I'll start following the trail of the Rank 2 humans, if any team is injured or worse that is the safest place they can find, only if it was true.'