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Now that Noah had increased his stats, it was time for him to get some Skill Points.
By using the Ability Cores dropped by monsters (or humans), he can acquire Skill Points instead of a random Skill within the Ability Core Skill Pool, and be able to select Skills related to his Blood Core through the Skill Tree he possesses.
He now had 4 Ability Cores on his hands, enough for at least a few Skill Points.
However, because they were all F-Rank instead of the higher-ranked Ability Cores he acquired from Edmond and his harem, the Skill Points he would acquire were lower.
Ability Cores separated themselves in Ranks, but the Ranks themselves were not related to the being they originated from Attribute Values, it was related to their strongest Skill.
Edmond had a D-Rank Skill, so his Ability Core was D-Rank, the Lizardmen were all F-Rank and only had F-Rank Skills, so their Ability Cores were also F-Rank.
Noah knew this very well and did not expect to get such a big boost in power, but honestly, anything that he could get for now was good enough, especially because he was finally getting to the level of strength of Fernand Firebrand and his lackeys, the ones he desired to kill the most.
There were also several E-Rank Students in his class, and some were even close to D-Rank, however, Fernand Firebrand was high E-Rank, however, there could be the possibility of him growing stronger in these days, so there was not any guarantee that at the time that Noah reached E-Rank, Fernand would not be D-Rank already…
This was why he needed to grow stronger as much fast as possible!
"Absorb," said Noah, as he used the System command to absorb the Ability Cores into Skill Points.
Ding!
[Do you wish to exchange [Ability Core (F)] X4, for 20 Skill Points?]
[>YES NO]
"Only 20 Skill Points for four Ability Cores… Well, that should give me at least two new Abilities," said Noah, as he accepted the exchange.
Ding!
[You acquired 20 Skill Points!]
"Open Skill Tree…" said Noah, as a holographic window emerged in front of his sight.
[Blood Progenitor] [Innate]
[Level: I]
[Blood Progenitor Successor (50/50)]
Additional Abilities (I): [Blood Flow Acceleration (5/5)], [Blood Sacrifice (5/5)], [Blood Retribution: (10/10)]
Additional Abilities (II): [Vampiric Eyes of Hypnosis (0/10)], [Poisonous Blood (0/10)], [Blood Curse (0/20)]
Additional Abilities (III): [Blood Armor: (0/25)], [Blood Potion (0/30)], [Blood Combustion (0/40)]
"I see, I can spend 20 for two Skills, perfect," said Noah.
Ding!
[You have spent 10 Skill Points!]
[You unlocked the [Vampiric Eyes of Hypnosis: 1 (C)] Skill!]
Ding!
[You have spent 10 Skill Points!]
[You unlocked the [Poisonous Blood: 1 (C)] Skill!]
Suddenly, a bit of the power of the large Blood Core within Noah's chest was unlocked, as new power rushed into his entire body, alongside new information about how to use this new type of power.
Vampiric Eyes of Hypnosis could let Noah hypnotize weakened foes, making them subdue or paralyzed for a few seconds, which could be intensified as more Mana was poured into the intensity of the Skill.
However, those that had strong wills and were experienced could be able to break through his hypnosis, so he needed to use it with caution, and not treat such power as an ace, as it was not completely reliable. Nonetheless, it was a useful Skill.
And lastly, Poisonous Blood was simpler, it was a Skill that could let Noah convert his own blood into a poisonous black ooze, which he could spray on foes or coat his claws with, however, to activate it, he needed to spend his own blood, which was not always favorable.
However, he began to come with interesting ways to use this Skill in convergence with others such as Blood Sacrifice and Blood Retribution… or even use this Poisonous Blood and convert them into crystalized Poisonous Blood Projectiles in the form of needles… There were a lot of interesting uses.
"Interesting, with these Skills my capacity of battle has increased a lot, and now I have more tools to play around with… Hm, it's already 6 AM… I will go take a bath and perhaps fill myself with food to use Blood Flow Acceleration whenever I might need it," thought Noah, quickly getting into the bathroom and taking a warm bath, washing his teeth and then eating several sandwiches in less than five minutes, alongside a lot of greasy food and sugary drinks.
This was because Noah needed to accumulate as many calories as he could, which he spent monstrously through his buffing Skills, and his metabolism was so fast that his stomach would not even bulge a tiny bit even after eating so much.
However, blood was still needed for complete nourishment, and he made sure to drink a liter of it, which he had saved inside of his Blood Sphere.
Finally finishing his unconventional breakfast, Noah walked out of his room and right to his Classroom.
On the way back to the classes, Noah sensed Fernand Firebrand and his lackeys reaching him.
"Should I hurry up and get inside the classroom? No, this will only make them follow me after classes, it would be better to please their lowly minds with some amusement, so they don't annoy me after class… it will also be a nice way to detect how strong has Fernand become…" thought Noah, as he pretended to be as slow as ever, and was quickly caught by Fernand, who kicked him in the back.
The amount of pain he felt was absolutely nothing, compared to the Lizardman King's grasp, this was like a gentle pat.
However, for their sake, he pretended to be weak, falling to the ground.
"So there you are! You shithead! I have been looking for this damn Blood Core everywhere! Have you really not seen it?!" asked Fernand, kicking Noah's face, which felt like a dull pat to him.
"I… N-No… Please… I told you that I didn't have it…" said Noah rather weakly, his acting skills were quite good.
"I told you that he didn't do it, look at him, he's just a piece of shit, what could he even do?" asked one of Fernand's lackeys.
"Hmm… You are right I guess! Well, let's use these minutes to show him his place. I hope that getting a perfect score on the test did not get into your head! Trash will always be trash after all!" laughed Fernand, kicking Noah alongside his two lackeys.
To Noah', such dull insults felt like the words said by a toddler, they didn't even affect him anymore.
And now that his stats were quite high, even if not an E-Rank yet, their kicks and punches that were not charged with Abilities were incredibly dull, and could only make Noah train his resistance a bit.
"What with this shithead?" asked one of Fernand's lackeys.
"What?" asked the other.
"He feels… like he's a rock or something," said the lackey.
"EH? You're imagining things, look how much he's bleeding," laughed Fernand, as he kicked for the last time Noah and walked away.
Of course, the blood was just part of Noah's façade and quickly went back inside of his blood, which had come out through his nose.
"Oh, he seems to not have grown as strong as I thought… Well, I still need to prepare well…" laughed Noah, quickly getting up as if nothing, and walking back to classes.
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If you are enjoying this novel please make sure to check my other novel: "My World Traveling System: The Harbinger of Death"!
It has similar genres than Vampire Overlord but it is more about personal growth, the main character changes a lot over time until becoming a ruthless anti-hero! Check it out!