After my kills it was time to head home, the sun would rise in three hours and I had no wish to continue my nightly adventure. I arrived just as Collin was grabbing a bag from the rover, I handed him my own bag before putting the speeder back onto the rack.
When we arrived at the penthouse I took a look in the bag Collin had brought me, he had tracked down four targets, which was roughly 20 liters of blood. I took one canister for each target and took a few mouthfuls just to get my points worth.
While I enjoyed the snack I read over the system messages.
Defeated an enemy +10 exp x3 (+30 exp)
Fed from defeated enemy +5 exp x2 (+10 exp)
Bonus 20 exp for drinking from new source x6 (120 exp)
+160 EXP
EXP 315/400
With my increase in exp handled I was nearly there to my next goal. I had fed on six new sources all of which were AB+ blood types, I had gained 12 free stat points to spend as I wished but I didn't rush into a decision quite yet on how to spend them.
WhenI had used my ability I had been drained physically and I had a feeling that my stamina stat was what gave me the strength to wield my shadows. Though without proof it would be hard to tell if it was practise that had full influence or if it was completely on the stat points.
I decided to try testing it out before my stats were assigned. I manipulated my shadow to stretch and five feet was still my limit, I got used to the feeling of moving my shadow until I was comfortable, though I was still restricted to stiff jerky movements.
I wanted to test my theory but to do it would require me sacrificing most of the stats I had gained, otherwise it may not influence it enough to notice any changes. I decided to give five points to stamina and split the seven remaining points for the rest of my stats.
As soon as all five were assigned I felt a rush of energy within my body, my heart beat pounded in my ears for a few moments before I returned to a calm state. I tested my shadow ability first just to make sure I didn't need more points, I stretched my shadow and reached five feet and I kept going. I finally stopped at 10 feet, I wasn't strained like I was before, though Icould tell I couldn't go much further.
With my suspicions confirmed I assigned the rest of my points and examined my stats page to get a look at all the changes.
Name: Ezra Serpentis
Level: 0.4
Race: Bloodling
Thralls: 3/8
HP: 115/115
Agility: 22
Stamina: 25
Strength: 22
Vitality: 23
Charm: 23
Exp: 315/400
FSP: 0
STATUS: Quickening: you gain an additional stat point when feeding on your own blood type. Your hunger has grown.
[Weekly Missions]
Level up once more within 2 days. Reward: +200 exp
[Daily Missions]
Drink 15 liters of AB+ blood every 24 hours. Reward: 15 exp. Bonus 15 exp if Terran blood or sentient life form. Bonus 20 exp if it is from a new source. Failure to complete: -10 to all stats
Defeat an enemy. Reward: 10 exp.
Feed on a defeated enemy: Reward 5 exp.
{Bloodline Mission} Evolve from a bloodling. Reward: +3 to all stats.
{Bloodline Mission} Summon a Familiar. Reward: A familiar that does your bidding. Warning! Recommended to wait until after evolution.
{Bloodline Mission} Consume AB+ blood to finish the quickening. Reward: +5 to all stats (Quickening ends in 6 days)
[Abilities]
{Passive}-Minor Regeneration: heals minor wounds, accelerated healing during/after consuming blood.
{Active)-Minor Blood Manipulation: By using your own or your victims' blood to create weapons and armor.
{Active/Passive} Grasping Shadows:[Active]-Your shadow latches onto your enemies and restricts their movements. [Passive]- Enemies that die bound leave behind Shadow Grain.
-Neophyte of the Abyss-
Mission: Absorb 10 portions of Shadow Grain: 1/10
Reward: Acolyte of the Abyss
I was closing in on my next level, though I realized that by the time I reached the end of my bloodling rank I would require 50,400 exp just to become a vampire. The quickening I suspected was built for getting new bloodlings to become a vampire sooner but I wasn't prepared for it.
Knowledge is power as they say and my ignorance might cost me quite a bit of time. I gave Collin the order that tomorrow he was to abduct the female from Star breaker and bring her to me. I couldn't wait for the best timing, I had blood arriving any day now but only 100 liters and if that wasn't enough then I would be regressing from all my hard work.
The next day arrived rather quickly, I used my system as an alarm clock since my last one had fallen from the bedside table. Uniforms had arrived for both Nia and Collin though Nia had to wait to wear hers until after her meeting with the academy later that day. She would be proposing the merger with Kirene as they had managed to purchase the building I had wanted.
Surprisingly they had placed the building under my name and put me as a partner for the blood donation center as well. Collin left after lunch as he was going to be stalking my next thralls, two clones went for the girl while the other two went to find more AB+ victims during daylight hours.
A new shipment of canisters had been ordered and would later that evening before I went out, I needed to hunt my other thrall and seeing as he was surrounded by gang members most of the day I needed to stalk him until he was alone.
I practiced my new shadow ability on Collin throughout the day while sipping on blood, the strain I had felt while restricting a resisting target had lessened but was still noticeable. The more stamina I had the more I could hold them down, yet I needed my stat points for other stats just as much.
Once I had gotten used to playing with my shadow I began to practice with my blood manipulation. Getting the blood to my elbow wasn't an issue anymore, I could achieve it rather quickly but my next goal was to get it up to my shoulder.
My right arm was my first test dummy and I inched my way from my elbow to the middle of my bicep, this was when I started to feel the strain and I had to push myself to continue. Over the next three hours I had gotten to the top of my shoulder but it wasn't a success. There were parts of my arm that were not fully coated and I would have to go back and fix them. As evening drew near, so did my time limit, I popped the top off of a canister and chugged it down. When I had finished my meal I heard the system messages arrive.
Mission complete!
Consume 15 liters of blood every 24 hours +15 exp. Bonus +15 exp for drinking blood of a sentient race: +30 EXP.
EXP 345
After finishing my mission I checked the changes to the mission and what I saw was complete madness.
[Daily Missions]
Drink 20 liters of AB+ blood every 12 hours. Reward: 35 exp. Bonus 35 exp if Terran blood or sentient life form. Bonus 20 exp if it is from a new source. Failure to complete: -25 to all stats.
I hadn't been struggling with the mission before, and I had enough to go for the next 12 hours, but 40 liters a day was going to be hard to get. If I hunted four targets at night and three during the day I should be able to continue my streak, though I hoped this was the end of the changes to my mission.
My thralls arrived home while I was contemplating my next few targets, luckily they had returned with good news. Nia had 100 liters of blood that was being moved over tonight, while my blood would be arriving in the morning, Kirene had changed the blood she requested as well to AB+ and would be transferred from the academy's storage. The merger they had presented was quickly accepted by the academy and was willing to promote it as soon as it was operational.
That meant I had 323 liters of stocked blood to hold me over, until I could raid the police station's blood supply. Collin had succeeded in his missions and brought in an additional 21 liters of blood. The female worker from Star breaker was in transit to our home and would soon become our next family member.
While we waited I savored four new sources of blood while I watched the evening news, another tragic event had happened on a frontier planet about 9 light years away. At the edge of our solar system, to be specific it was a relay outpost on a large moon of a gas giant. The outpost was destroyed by "terrorists" or so said the protectorates representative.
There was good news that followed up the tragic events and it turned out that the first level 6 ability user had been achieved back on Terra. This report was confirmed by the military that they had been successful in creating a special liquid that would increase the rate at which your genes were refined. Other than that small piece of information they answered no more questions about the mystery liquid.
While we watched the news Nia and Kirene showed me the blueprints for the clinic, the three buildings would go under large scale renovations. Each building would be connected and expand into one another, we would be using Nia's families business as they were a major player in construction and real estate and this would help her assert power over the board of directors.
The full time of the construction would take two months but we couldn't connect the building we lived in till last, we needed to open up the smaller clinic for a while before we launched the rest. This way we could get our blood supply now while the construction was ongoing.
We didn't have to wait too long before Collin hauled in a large duffel bag, upon opening the bag was the woman that worked for star breaker, she was quite tall with black hair and glasses. Of course her body proportions were ridiculous, she made the two young women beside me look like middle schoolers.
I lifted the woman up and brought her to the couch, I sat with her on my lap and bit into her neck. Her blood was cool and sweet yet it had a touch of salt in the flavor. Like a caramel covered apple, I enjoyed the sweet treat before I willed her to become my next thrall.
I pulled away a few moments later and checked the wound, it had been filled with my venom and soon we would have another member in our family.