"Young Master!"
A middle aged man welcomed Dracs when he arrived in the small cave. The man rushed to the ground to kowtow, almost crashing his head onto the bare rock soaking it in blood.
Furthermore, visible changes can be seen on the man, his hand had grown sharp claws, his air had also grown a bit longer and were shining with a silver lush and his muscles were more developed.
Dracs was calm but couldn't help feeling curious about these changes.
However, he didn't miss in which state the man was in, he seemed to have gone through a lot of difficulties, he was just the incarnate concept of a bloody mess.
The sight was definitely gore, his right arm was nowhere to be seen, in fact that wasn't only his arms but all the right side of his body that seemed to have been torn off by a wild and powerful monster.
"Will you survive?" Dracs asked out of concern.
"I will need some time to recover, at least I'm not entirely criplled, my cultivation is still there."
Dracs nodded slightly in understanding, but he knew that things weren't as simple.
"Why did you leave in the middle of the night? When I woke up in the morning the entrance of the cave was open and you were nowhere to be seen. I was so angry at that time. But when I see the pitiful state you are in right now I just want to hear what has happened."
The poor man didn't ask permission and sat on the ground with his head held down.
"It's not a secret that I'm a body cultivator, the only one in the Clan. Do you know why people other than me don't go on the path of body cultivation? It's because of the curse of the bloodline, it's alright to consume magical beast meat but there is a method to refine the heart and blood of a magical beast in order to gain their bloodline."
Dracs still nodded and started recording and analysing these pieces of information at the same time.
"Please continue, Captain."
"In fact the method is well known and you can freely access it in the archives of the Clan, it's then easy to become a body cultivator with bloodline power."
Dracs was a little impatient and couldn't wait to ask abruptly.
"Tell me about the bloodline curse!"
~sight~
"Yes young master. I'll give you my own as an exemple. Many years ago I did the ritual to obtain the bloodline of the Two Heads Grey Wolf, after this I started to eat mainly wolf meat and drink refined wolf blood when I can. Now, let me explain to you what happened last night. I was cultivating when I sensed the call of my bloodline, like an order of a king. My bloodline reacted so my body and I transformed into half a monster."
Dracs was a bit startled but he knew that wasn't all so he let the man continue when he had shown him that he was following what he was explaining to him.
"I felt the imperial urge to follow that call and I almost lost my mind. I know that I was with a pack of wolves of all kinds, fighting like a madman and an army of monsters. And I'm pretty sure that they were indeed monsters and not magical beasts. I'm sorry but I can't be more clear because I don't remember everything, it was like a nightmare."
Dracs was skeptical by the veracity of the story but he wasn't as stubborn as an old fogie. His high analyzing ability calculated that the probability that the core of the story was true was almost a hundred percent.
So even if many parts could have been omitted or modified, he got the major point. So he said.
"Indeed, if what you are telling is true, it's a problem beyond the Clan powers, maybe only the Ancestor could have the answers, I should probably ask him about that." He said out loud what he had analyzed.
When he heard the young master speak about the old monster of the Akran Clan so casually the captain almost choked to death!
~cough, cough, COUGH!~
"Young master… the Ancestor is an existence that can't be bothered with my lowly problems, but thank you for your care."
Of course Dracs has said it on purpose because he needed to start his plan so the captain would be the perfect witness.
"Oh, of course, you're not the only one that has experienced something unnatural." he said grinning.
Then he took the Ancestor jade token out of his sleeve and showed it proudly to the bloody captain.
The latter had almost his jaws dropped on the spot, the carvings on the jaded token was easy to read, it was the name of Jikoudian Akran, the true head of the Akran Clan, someone who has lived for more than a thousand years!
This time it was the captain that couldn't help asking the questions!
"Young master! Just… How? What happened?! He almost shouted.
Then Dracs told him the story but it was of course one that he had made off. During the whole story the captain had a serious expression, nodding here and then he understood that the young man had forced his luck and met with the Ancestor of the Akran Clan like a fateful encounter.
Now the status of this young master would certainly reach the sky in a matter of years, with a powerful backing as strong as the Ancestor, nothing could stop him from becoming a rising star, at least in the Akran Clan.
What he did not know was that the young master was currently trapped in his own mind and body and that a whole other entity had taken possession of him.
And that this same one other entity was thinking if he should or not plant a seed of corruption in him at this very moment.
The captain was so engrossed in this news that he almost forgot to tell the young master that it was time for them to return to the Clan. So he took a linen bag that was behind him and exposed what was inside.
"He was already dead when I found him. It didn't take long for me to find his remains when I recovered my mind and came back here. The 'pig' should have been dead for a day or two but his corpse was already half eaten away by the beasts. At least we can take this to the Clan, young master."
During this time Dracs thought about what to do with this man, of course it was also the right occasion to test his skills so he said.
"Captain, I shouldn't tell you this but my Ancestor has fully acknowledged me and has transmitted me a life saving skill, I don't know if I would be able to help you but I want to try. It's a powerful healing skill after all."
Dracs put a lot of effort to hide his smile but he didn't fully lie, at least he really had an ability that could purify many kinds of things.
Also it would be the occasion to calculate if a seed of corruption could be planted. He started to understand that these seeds had many wonders because of the one planted in Taidian.
He could feel that the seed in the young man's heart had already become part of him and Dracs could sense it and take action whenever he wanted to explode it and end the life of the poor lad.
So he thought that he could maybe make use of this ability to create loyal companions in order to increase his chances of survival in this weird world.
The captain gave a mere thought about his situation but in the end he could only nod to the young master's suggestion. He was in dire need of elixir after all.
"Alright Young Master but don't over exhaust yourself, this lowly servant can only humbly accept your help." He said his head bowed.
"Don't resist, Captain, your cultivation is way higher than mine so it could interfere with my skill and I would probably face a huge backlash." He said seriously.
"In this case, Young Master, it would be more reasonable not to do it, I wouldn't dare make things difficult for you!"
But Dracs dismissed the thought with a wave of his hand.
"I think it's a test from my Ancestor, I can't dishonor him so easily! So are you ready?"
The captain wasn't entirely convinced but he couldn't reject his young master choice so he could only accept.
Without a second though, he extended his hand toward the captain and put his finger right in the middle of the eyebrows and instantly use the seed of corruption to contaminate the man.
He then made full use of the scanner to understand what injuries the captain was suffering and analyze each part of him.
At this moment, the man had a strange feeling, like if someone was trying to pry at his intimacy and felt the urge to erect his mental barrier but didn't want to risk arming the young man or the consequences would be unbearable.
On the contrary, it was like a walk in the park for Dracs, it was the third time in a row using the seed of corruption so things were easier now.
In the meantime he found two severe injuries that the system estimated life threatening so he started calculating if he could heal them and how much it would cost him.
After several minutes, he finally acted and casted the spell.
"Purify!" He whispered.
More than two thousand corruption's points were thrown in the process but the effect was noticeable with naked eye!
A warm aura spread in and out of the injured man and slowly cracked ribs healed and the hemoragia stopped.
Dracs wasn't even slightly tired, but the captain was sweating profusely and he looked incredulously at the young man in front of him.
But before he could react or say anything, Dracs activated the full power of the seed of corruption inside the captain.
But right at this moment, all became dark around him and he saw a huge pair of yellow eyes like two full moons looking at him furiously and the presence made a howling defying sound before everything returned to normal!
The vision didn't last more than two seconds but it was really frightening!
[DING]
[Seed of corruption has been successfully planted]
[+2,500cp]
[Success : seed of corruption has taken roots, +40cp/d...]
[Seed of corruption : 3/5, +165cp/d...]
[Current cp : 9,600]
At this moment the captain sensed that something was amiss and as an experienced warrior he would be a joke to be tricked by something so cheap so he displayed his full power and roared at the young master and pushed him away with a wave of energy!
"What did you do to me?!" The captain roared furiously!