Miles had done quite a bit of work already. He had examined the entirety of Lykaon property #8 finally judging it sufficient. He had made sure Irina made it to the garage, armed the defense system, and even double-checked the security perimeters.
But that was when he remembered them. Jimmy and Luther, still trapped in the trunk. He had almost forgotten about them but thankfully had remembered before it was too late.
The Light Ray was fast, but really only comfortable inside. Without the reduction of the reaction forces, he didn't even want to consider how the trip had been for those two poor souls in the trunk. Hopefully, they had remained unconscious and not felt any of it.
Either way, it was Zhan Shen's decision to lock them up in the trunk, and much to the old butler's chagrin, Miles had made him take responsibility. At the moment, he was arranging the accommodations for the two thieves.
With all that taken care of, Miles could finally get to the most important work.
But before he began, he realized it had been quite some time since he last examined his status. He willed it to appear before him.
[User: Miles Lykaon]
[Current Form: Kindred.]
[Kindred Class: Newborn Lvl. 2 || (1/10) Varying Blood Sources Consumed. Assimilation used. Please evolve first.]
[Disciplines: |Haemomancy Lvl. 1|- Meager Understanding(?)]
[Kindred Generation: Too sparse to detect. Please evolve first.]
[HP: 10/10] | [Conditional Undeath] | [BP: 14/110]
{Blood Points(BP) in detail: (Personal) 10/10 + (Ripae Sanguine) BP: 4/100}
[Strength: 18] {+}
[Endurance: 16] {+}
[Agility: 19] {+}
[Intelligence: 75] {+}
[Wisdom: 81] {+}
[Influence: 1005] {+}
[Free Points: 1 (1 General)]
[Skills: General- (Magicae Aspectus-Inferior)
Haemomancy- (Ripae Sanguine I), (Sanguine Aspectus I), (Clavam Sanguine Ferrum I)]
[Titles: Discredited Heir of Lykaon Industries (+1000 to Influence)
Newborn Kindred (+5 to all stats but Wisdom, Kindred Senses.)
Cursed {First: Minor Thirst, Second: The Beast Within, Third: Sol's Hatred}
Conditionally Undead (Granted by the Ankh, the Key of Life. As long as the user is not burned alive or decapitated, any injury will heal, given time. It is still possible to become comatose due to total blood loss.)
Balanced Path of Life
Vessel of The Beast Within (Sealed)
Last Son of Lykaon (Inactive)]
'I still have a free point left. But I'm not in a hurry. So I'll decide where to invest it later on.'
Releasing a breath of excitement, Miles looked around the room he was in. It was wide and open, with plenty of room to train and spar.
The best part was, Zhan Shen had actually equipped the place with training equipment. Not just the ordinary, but those tailored specifically for Fae humans. Apparently, this place had not been chosen at random.
But for now, Miles ignored them, his attention on the table before him. Upon the wooden surface was a small black bag.
The bag would've seemed quite ordinary, had it not been for the clouds of cold vapor wafting out of its metallic interior. This was a type of portable refrigerator, designed to keep items cool. And at the moment, the bag was filled with bags of red liquid, blood bags.
First of all, Miles would be testing the limits on his blood consumption. Specifically, if he could consume blood without sucking it from another.
The blood bags before him were classified based on varying degrees of freshness, and blood type.
Miles reached for the most recent, directly obtained from Butler Zhan Shen mere minutes ago, of blood type A+.
Without wasting too much time, he gulped it down. It tasted as mind-numbingly delicious as usual, but what made it even better was the notification.
Ding!
[1 BP gained.]
[Stored in Blood Bank: 5/100]
'Hmm, an average blood bag contains about 500 ml, which is once again a pint, so getting a single blood point is quite reasonable.'
Miles had felt the first attempt would work. But what would happen, if the blood was not as recent? What happened if the blood had expired?
Miles reached for a bag obtained only one or two days ago, of blood type A-.
Ding!
[1 BP gained.]
[Stored in Blood Bank: 6/100]
It still worked. One or two days seemed fine.
Miles continued, gradually choosing older blood bags while varying the type.
[1 BP gained.]
[Stored in Blood Bank: 7/100]
This continued for the next five attempts without event, his blood points continuing to rise.
[Stored in Blood Bank: 12/100]
By now Miles had already tested all eight blood types. And so far, it hadn't made any visible difference.
So he continued, now ignoring the blood type and only considering the date. But the moment he tasted a blood bag exceeding the 20th day, he felt a change.
Ding!
[1 BP gained.]
[Stored in Blood Bank: 15/100]
The change was in the taste. Miles could almost feel the age in the blood. Old, rusty, unappetizing, but not so much that he couldn't drink it.
'Interesting. Isn't it on the 21st day that the red blood cells become less effective at delivering oxygen? Could that affect the taste? Possibly.'
With only a moment's pause, he continued.
The taste continued to worsen, but at least the blood point gain continued.
Ding!
[1 BP gained.]
[Stored in Blood Bank: 27/100]
Miles was appalled by the horrible taste, but still pleased with the blood point gain.
He shifted his gaze towards the next blood bag, this one was exactly 44 days old.
'That's beyond the average shelf life of a blood bag maintained under proper conditions. Which means this one should be different...'
But just as he prepared to drink it, an appalling smell hit his nostrils. It smelled quite bad, like a rotten corpse or something. This was the first time there had been a difference in the smell.
Miles really didn't want to drink it, but for the sake of science, he somehow managed to gulp it down.
Ding!
[Toxic blood(lesser) consumed.]
[-1 BP gained.]
[Stored in Blood Bank: 26/100]
It tasted absolutely horrible, even setting his throat on fire, and it took Miles quite a while to get over the dreadful taste.
Making things worse he could feel that he had lost a blood point.
'At least I learned something…'
Still reeling from the toxic blood, he grabbed another blood bag to wash down the awful taste, simultaneously replenishing the lost blood point.
[Stored in Blood Bank: 27/100]
'Without proper storage conditions, a blood bag won't last longer than a day. It looks like I'll have to carry this bag around with me if I intend to maintain a stable blood point value.'
Well, he didn't have to leave just yet, so he set it aside for the moment.
By now, Miles had consumed about 20 blood bags, roughly about 10 liters of blood. But he didn't feel the slightest feeling of being stuffed. It's almost as if he was a black hole for blood.
Well, at least by judging (Ripae Sanguine) he could handle 73 more.
Feeling that 27 wasn't really a good number to end on, Miles continued to guzzle some more blood. Entirely for the sake of gaining blood points, and definitely not because it tasted delicious.
Ding!
[+1 BP gained.]
[Stored in Blood Bank: 50/100]
It took him almost an entire half an hour to finish feasting on another 23 blood bags, and the only reason he stopped was because he began to feel a vague feeling of fullness. And following this, the moment Miles realized he had wasted so much time feasting on blood like an addict, he had forced himself to stop.
Of course, he hadn't just consumed blood, he had done some testing as well. Specifically, he had consumed Fae human blood. Unfortunately, it hadn't done anything special. It affected the taste slightly, but nothing besides that.
Miles was interested in what actual Fae blood may do, but no one kept Fae blood bags in stock. He would have to look into that later on.
His eyes fell on the next blood bag. It wouldn't hurt to just fill up the blood points to 100, right? It's not he wanted to feast. It just for the blood points, right...?
'Nope, nope, no way. I obviously want to, really want to, but if I want to practice self-control, this won't work. I'll drink the blood at intervals, without going on a non-stop binge like that.'
Miles had already realized that the Self-Control skill he had gained from Zhan Shen was the reason for gaining Haemomancy. And if he wanted to improve in that discipline, or at least improve fast, practicing self-control was essential.
On that topic, Miles felt it was time to experiment on the Discipline of Blood Magic.
With a lift of his hand and a single thought, Miles activated (Clavam Sanguine Ferrum). He felt the blood within him reduce, as scarlet red globules manifested before him, slowly crystallizing into a blood spike.
He felt something telling him to shoot, to launch the spike. The first time, he had followed this instinct, but this time he ignored it. Instead, he tried to maintain the blood spike as it was. With sufficient concentration, it seemed to work, but a notification flashed at the same time.
[-2 BP]
Ignoring it for now, Miles examined the blood spike. It was almost the same size and shape as the original. About half a meter in length, and shaped like a gnarled thin cone.
'Could I cancel the skill? Make the blood spike disappear and maybe get back the blood points?'
Inspired by that sudden thought, he tried to cancel the skill, to bring back the lost blood.
Boom!
Unfortunately, all it did was make him lose his concentration, causing the blood spike to launch forwards and crash into a wall.
Thankfully this was property under the Lykaon network, and the walls were very well enforced. The blood spike wasn't enough to even scratch the reinforced walls.
That made Miles wonder.
'Then what about Lykaon Mansion? Its defenses would make this place look like a sandcastle! Not even delta fae humans could break through the roof! So how did that Vampire and Werewolf enter?'
Either Miles had grossly underestimated their power, which was entirely possible. The more he learned the more he realized how powerful the Kindred were. As for the Wurkan, he had no idea.
Or, maybe something else was afoot.
Zhan Shen had revealed there had been no damage to the mansion itself. With his powers as Kindred, this was impossible. Extremely strange.
So did they actually break through the Lykaon Mansion walls, or what?
Miles didn't know.
Shaking his head free of mysteries he could not figure out the answer to, Miles returned back to the present. He focused his mind on the matter at hand.
'Maybe trying to cancel the blood spike is too advanced? Maybe I should begin with changing its shape or size?'
With another thought, he activated the skill. Once again he felt the blood points get used up as the blood within him decreased, but this time, he grabbed hold of the blood, trying to pull it back towards himself.
He couldn't really decide the shape or size by his thoughts, that was not how the skill worked. It just ran by itself, once he thought of activating it. But… he had always felt the sensation of blood points being used up, and that feeling of fulfillment when he gained some.
So all he did was follow this familiar sensation, and try to keep the blood points for himself.
It kind of worked, but not exactly.
The skill seemed adamant about taking exactly 2 Blood Points, so all this did was slow the formation of the blood spike.
Realizing the blood spike wouldn't form without any blood, Miles allowed some move forwards, keeping a single point for himself.
The globules of blood manifested before him, slowly crystallizing into another Ironblood spike, this time about half the size of the original.
But just before it finished forming, a line cracked through the blood spike, quickly spreading and widening like a spider web.
Kacha!
Instantly it shattered into shards of blood crystal.
[-1 BP.]
Miles couldn't help but frown. Not only had he failed, he had even lost a blood point.
'Is this something that can even be done? The skill obviously runs by itself, and I'm sure the system knows better than me. What am I even trying to do here?'
Even though a part of him thought this, intending to give up, another didn't. Miles could remember how Xavier had trained his sister, slowly improving her power, bringing her to a level that average fae humans could only dream of.
The inspiration behind Marionette Core was genius. And Xavier had obviously ignored the burned hand and continued further until he made a workable skill out of it.
He was sure the Knight had continued on, testing the limits of his Telekinesis, finally even using it to fly.
Miles felt his unconventional training had played a large role in his final attack when he almost brought down the entire safe house.
Besides, how could Miles ignore the reality before him? He had attempted to manipulate the skills and while it hadn't yielded any usable results, it had still done something!
He just had to make it better.
As powerful as Ironblood Spike was, it was only as powerful as an enhanced bullet. He would need much more to do the things he wished to do.
It appeared that despite being former enemies, Sir Xavier had motivated him.
'It's truly a pity such a man had to pass away. Wait! What happened to his corpse after the bomb exploded?'
Suddenly remembering the fleshless corpse, Miles fell into thought. He had observed the interior of the safe house, and he hadn't really seen anything. Then again, he hadn't been looking for a corpse in the black and burned floor either.
But there was no way a corpse could've made it through a plasma explosion, even if it was a fake.
Besides, the man was dead. What did his corpse matter for?
Confident that there was nothing to worry about, Miles got to work, not forgetting to send a prayer of gratitude to the dead Knight.