"You want to join the Crimson Clan, huh?", Janna said in a titled voice, "I am not sure this is the place for a kid like you"
Janna was an observant woman. It was one of the many qualities she possessed, one that allowed her to maintain order in a faction with strong egos and evil individuals. Besides her strength, she possessed an eye for people, a hunch that allowed her to see through others.
Lewis possessed average spirit as he lost his cultivation upon regressing. However, stats are only numbers at the end of the day. This is why few people actually bought analysis stones to visualise their numberized stats, even though it was very practical to check one's progress. It did not really reflect one's overall battle prowess.
Janna did not need an analysis stone to assess Lewis. He was a fifteen-years-old boy with silver hair, blue eyes, and a premium-grade gear. .He possessed a cross sword with ornemental emeralds on it representing the House Steelguard. Although it was just a Count Household in the Dalian Empire, it was proof of his noble origins.
Those with such backgrounds possessed a lot of backing usually. Though magic crystals were hard to come by, Lewis received a yearly stipend of 30 magic crystals, which was the equivalent of a dozen one-star missions, the lowest-ranked missions available in the mission hall. Although they were the least dangerous, they were killing dozens of acolytes on a monthly basis.
It told a lot about Lewis' background, and thus, the crimson clan, a faction made of outlaw acolytes and controversial minds, was not the most appropriate for Lewis. With his family name, the [Noble Order] was the one with the most benefits for sure, as it was exclusive to those with a noble bloodline. It came with duties to protect the families of those who were part of the order, but they all received rather advantageous missions from kingdoms and fellow nobles. The parties were extravagant too in this circle.
If not for research purpose, Lewis would have joined the Noble Order in his past life. In this life, however, knowing that Janna would reach the advanced rank acolyte realm after retrieving a rare meteorite stone in a ruin changed everything. Being in a growing faction gave many advantages, one of them being access to power, responsibilities and resources that would otherwise be given to elders who had seniority.
Lewis did not avert his gaze, however. He stared at Janna's eyes.
"I want to join the crimson clan. Believe me, I know more about the crimson clan than you can possibly fathom. I am a blood elemental acolyte"
Janna titled her head and nodded. Blood elemental acolytes were walking the elemental magus path. But because the blood element spells were few and scarce, it was difficult to grow stronger compared to the more common elements like fire, water, thunder, earth and wind. It could even be considered a rare branch of the water element path. Furthermore, blood rituals to improve their strength were prohibited. There were two other blood elemental acolyte in the crimson clan, but none of them were worthy of note.
"I can't take someone who cannot defend himself. Come back when you learn your first spell and I might consider your application", Janna sighed, intrigued by the boy who just stared at her despite her ferocious nature.
Still, fifteen years old acolytes were usually a burden for a faction. They could be groomed in major factions, but even if it was slightly wealthier, the crimson clan at the present day was just a small-sized faction.
Lewis did not have any reason not to show off his strength. In fact, the more reputed he became, the more resources would be given to him.
"I already learned a spell", Lewis said knowingly.
In fact, he still retained the 10 spells he had learned in his previous life. His love for the analysis spell made him spend 3 years in theorical training just to master it. The other 9 were blood-type spells.
[Name - Lewis Steelguard | Age - 15 years old
Attributes:
Strength - 1.2 | Agility - 1.2 | Vitality - 1.3 | Spirit - 4.8
Perk: Crimson Pact [Sealed]
Spells: Blood drain (156), Analysis (132), Blood Enchant (90) , Blood Shield (80), Sanguine Tracking (75), Blood Arrow (50), Blood Essence Gathering (36)
Sealed spells (not enough spirit): Blood Golem Summon (60), Blood wolf Summon (50), Tides of blood (40), Blood Curse (10)]
The reason why he managed to go toe to toe with the strongest old foxes from other major factions and even kill two of them was not thanks to his vampire constitution, but his mastery over some spells. One of them was especially powerful, and he even completed research to make it more lethal. The analysis spell could eaily infer one's mastery of a spell. The higher the proficiency, the faster you would be able to cast it, and the more potent it would become.
The spell that made him near-invincible was called [Blood Drain]. It allowed him to drain blood from a wound, or even pores of the skin. A regular human would be killed in a fraction of a second. Even if acolytes possessed resistance and made the skill harder to use, unless they knew a defensive spell to disrupt the blood drain, Lewis would win all wars of attrition. The spell not only dealt damage, but also regenerated his own wounds and mana, making him the most feared opponent in faction wars.
Of course, there were also weaknesses to this spell. Someone with high mastery of magic could easily resist the spell by analysing the spell matrice and counter it, especially fast if they already knew it. However, Lewis enhanced and changed the spell matrice, making him the only one who knew the spell matrice.
Another weakness is that without wounds, the spell's effectiveness was much more limited. Worse still, if he were to encounter a golem, without blood, then the spell would have no effect.
That's why he learned so many spells. Before regressing, he was by far the second strongest acolyte in the tower, second only to the [Noble Faction] leader, Henri Demacia, a warlock with immense strength.
Janna smiled, not expecting Lewis to have already learned a spell: "Seems like you are more talented than you show. If you learned a spell, you would not have any problem defeating a knight, right?"
Lewis nodded, knowing that the basic requirement to join the Crimson Clan was not resource, knowing a spell or even being knowledgeable. The only requirement was strength. Some of the least talented acolytes joined the crimson clan as a last resort, using their family knight techniques and training to pass the tests, and later grew to become key elements of the clan, even though they had yet to know a spell at the moment they joined the clan.
A bulky man called Jack stood up and knelt to Janna: "Please let me prove my strength, my lady"
On his armour, there was no emblem, meaning that he came from a commoner's background. Knights were individuals who ignited their life force and exceeded the realm of human physiques. All body refinement acolytes would, at the start, use knight training methods to refine their bodies to their very limits, before turning towards toxins and more advanced training methods.
Lewis instantly used the analysis spell on his opponent and grinned. It would have been a rather difficult test, if it weren't for his strength and experience. But for the current Lewis? It would be extremely easy.
"Fine, follow me in the basement. We have our own arena surrounded with runic formations"