"System notification: The host has broken through 10 points of Strength and the first critical point. Strength Attribute additional ability: HP Resistance—When HP drops to 10%, all negative effects will be forcefully removed!"
Chen Gou's eyes lit up as he carefully walked under the eaves along the street.
Although HP Resistance did not provide any additional increase in Strength, HP, or Combat Power, it could still be a life-saver at critical moments!
For example, if an enemy had skills to stun or confuse him, this ability could help Chen Gou avoid the danger of being "stunned to death".
Being able to forcefully regain consciousness with only 10% HP left gave him a slight chance to turn the tables around.
All in all, this was very much to Chen Gou's liking.
As a Summoning Master with powerful summons, his own survival was critical.
In the 21st century, New York had been a megalopolis with a population of nearly 10 million, but Red Hook, where Chen Gou was located, had almost fallen.
From time to time, groups of Strigoi would come out of houses and sewers, attacking any living person in sight.
Chen Gou was desperate to find a safe place to spend the first night, but it was not easy for him because he was in an unfamiliar place.
Fortunately, after being awakened by the magical power, he had a sharper perception than ordinary people. Most of the time, he could hear the distinct footsteps of Strigoi in advance and thus was able to avoid them.
Even though he could obtain Awakening Points after killing the Strigoi and increase his Awakened Level, now was clearly not the time to rashly level up.
The Vampire Race's social system was similar to that of the Zergs in Starcraft. All the Strigoi could establish a direct connection with the Master behind them.
If Chen Gou was too arrogant and killed too many Strigoi in a short time, he would attract the Master's attention eventually, which would bring about a more ferocious pursuit.
More than ten minutes later, the signboard of a jewelry shop entered his line of sight. After a brief thought, Chen Gou decided to spend the night there.
What did the jewelry shop have in abundance?
Pieces of jewelry, of course.
Silver was also included. Despite its low value, there should be a few pieces of silver jewelry.
Besides fearing sunlight, the Strigoi also feared silver.
Based on their habits, the Strigoi would avoid such a place and certainly would not gather there.
Besides, Chen Gou could obtain some silver inside and make it into weapons in the future.
In the Blue Wave World, silver was a very precious strategic material that exceeded gold by far.
The jewelry shop's door was closed tightly and locked with a high-tech combination lock.
By using his 11-point Strength, Chen Gou wielded the stainless steel longsword and broke the door by force.
He slashed dozens of times until the door lock shattered and the door finally opened.
Thankfully, due to the destruction of the zombies, the jewelry shop's alarm system was out of order. Otherwise, it would have rang and drawn a large number of zombies over. Then, he would only have given up the place he had chosen with a lot of difficulty and would have fled in defeat.
Through the moonlight shining through the glass window, he saw that most of the display windows were empty.
Apparently, the shop owner had moved all the pieces of jewelry that were considered valuable, leaving behind only very few invaluable ones that were inconvenient to move.
Chen Gou had lucked out, for silver was the least valuable of all materials.
He immediately saw a conspicuous silver mask.
It seemed to be a king's costume that a guest had custom-made for a Halloween party, and it looked like the one worn by legendary and leprous Emperor Baldwin IV of Jerusalem in the movie Kingdom of Heaven.
The cold mask couldn't speak, but after he wore it, a sense of calmness, mystery, and perseverance appeared under the expressionless mask in the mirror.
It perfectly concealed the youth on Chen Gou's face, making him fall in love with the mask at first sight.
The world outside was still decadent and terrifying, while it was quiet and peaceful inside.
Chen Gou sat in front of the mirror with the silver mask on and looked at his unfamiliar self in the mirror. Only then did he have the time to sort out his thoughts.
Now that he had come to this world, where he was familiar with the plot, just completing the Abyssal Assessment that lasted ten days was clearly not enough to satisfy him.
He had to gain more from this world!
"At the very least, I need to raise my Awakened Level as much as possible and reach Level 5 to unlock the second skill slot."
"Only then will I be able to show my worth after going back, get better treatment in the Abyssal Knight Team, and avoid being cannon fodder again."
However, it wouldn't be easy to raise his level just yet.
400 Awakening Points were necessary to go from Level 3 to Level 4, and 1,000 Awakening Points were necessary to go from Level 4 to Level 5.
Killing a Level-5 Feeler would give him 100 Awakening Points, so he could more or less level up after killing 14 of them.
However, it would be unrealistic of him to think he could do it alone.
If he were to be surrounded by three or more mutated Strigoi, he might not necessarily have a favorable location like the bakery or be as lucky as he had been earlier.
Moreover, he still had to prevent being targeted by the Master.
Therefore, I have to get help from the plot characters!
The male lead is just an ordinary doctor that's just a little bit stronger than an ordinary person, but Abraham has lived for almost 70 to 80 years, has impressive combat strength, and knows quite a few ancient secrets.
There's also Quinlan, the one with the top fighting skills, who has always been hunting down the Master. With his help, leveling up would be effortless…
Chen Gou sank into contemplation as he wondered how he could gain the trust of Abraham and Quinlan.
Speaking of these two, the origin of vampires had to be explained.
5,000 years ago, the two sinful cities Sodom and Gomorrah had been beside the Dead Sea. God had sent three archangels—Ozryel, Gabriel, and Michael—to destroy them.
Ozryel had been enticed by the sins and emotions of humans in these sinful cities and had fallen from grace. After completing the mission, he had attacked Michael and drunk the silver blood of an angel in a futile attempt to supersede God and become king on Earth.
However, he had then been impaled on the ground by the other angels with a beam of divine light and had ended up having his body ripped into seven parts and scattered across Earth. These remnant pieces had been buried by Mother Earth and had later given birth to some worms, which were the seven progenitors of vampires.
The head of Ozryel, which was the most sinful part, had floated in the sea for a very long time before finally giving birth to the seventh progenitor, which was the Master that was now plaguing New York.
Due to this origin, sunlight and silver were the nemeses of vampires.
Even though the first six progenitors of vampires had caused disaster on Earth in the past, they had eventually ended up living in seclusion, hidden from the world.
Only the seventh progenitor was much younger than the other six and had greater ambitions. He wanted to rule the world and turn Earth into a paradise for vampires.
The Master's body was inhabited by a red bloodworm and was extremely weak, but he had a memory and could choose which host to parasitize.
Hence, all those who were parasitized by him would become much more powerful.
He could also constantly change his host body just like changing clothes.
Abraham had been imprisoned in a Nazi Jewish concentration camp during World War II when he had met and fought the Master.
His wife had been killed by the Master, and he had sealed the Master until he had been released by someone decades later.
In short, he was an authentic local demon hunter in this world.
Quinlan had been born in the Roman Period and was a hybrid born by a pregnant woman infected by the Master. He was a half-human and half-Strigoi with white blood.
The Master had parasitized a 10-year-old girl during the Roman Period who had been a popular girl serving the Emperor. He only sucked the blood of virgins.
Due to an oversight, he had sucked the blood of a pregnant woman and hadn't managed to kill the fetus before it was born, thus leading to the existence of Quinlan.
Quinlan did not have bloodworms in him, nor did he take orders from the Master. However, the white blood of a vampire flowed in him.
He had once been a gladiator in the ancient Roman Colosseum. Later on, the Master had transformed his wife and adopted daughter, so he had embarked on a journey of revenge that had lasted 2,000 years as he'd hunted the Master unceasingly.
Thanks to his special physique and experience, Quinlan had superior fighting abilities and calm judgment.
He had basically been invincible in the original plot and had never been defeated.
To a certain extent, he was even better than the Master because of his half-human and half-Strigoi blood. He was more resistant to ultraviolet rays than the Master and he did not fear silver.
He hardly had any weaknesses.
With the help of these two, it would be much easier for Chen Gou to move around in this world.
The key would be finding a way to get them to cooperate with him.
As Chen Gou thought about it, he had a grasp on the key point that would connect everyone.
Three words gradually floated in his mind—the Fallen Light!