After Lucius finished his dinner, he looked around this room. In addition to an extra corpse, one person was missing. That male high school student named Sun Qi. He probably saw the scene and fled in fear.
For now, Lucius had no intention to reveal his identity. In the silence of the night, his despair point had risen by another 10.000 points by now. In other words, 10,000 humans couldn't survive the first night of the Doomsday and died in despair. This was good news. Although Lucius couldn't figure out whether Sun Qi was included amidst the 10.000 despair points. However, Lucius hated uncertainty as the kid knew his true identity.
"Wait until I evolve, and then I'll hunt you down slowly, human." Lucius guessed that when Sun Qi tried to escape, he might have fallen and hit the threshold.
His mistake was leaving a trace of blood. Vampires could recognize people by their blood, their blood scent sensitivity was better than their sight.
"System, how much despair points I need to upgrade my current bloodline?"
[The current host's vampire bloodline is a low-rank vampire bloodline. It cost 50.000 points of despair to evolve into a mid-rank bloodline.]
"What are the benefits I have after evolving?"
Other than status upgrade, of course. Vampires weren't werewolves. At any rate, he should have some magic-based skills.
[Mid-rank vampire bloodline had the ability to manipulate blood. Also, it increases the host' status to 5.]
"In other words, I can use skills like Heart Squeeze?"
Since the first time Lucius used the 'Heart Squeeze' skill, he liked the feeling of holding someone else's heart in his own hand.
[The host needs to exchange the Blood Manipulation skill with despair points.]
"You stinky traitor…"
Sometimes, Lucius felt this System was really stingy. 10.000 lives exchanged for one skill, and 50.000 lives for a bloodline upgrade. But as long as he gained power, Lucius didn't feel the System was traitorous. So with this in thought, Lucius cautiously inquired.
"Then... how much despair points needed to resurrect a person?"
The System is supposed to be almighty, right? After all, it could know such things as how many humans had died, so it should be easy to resurrect a person. Lucius had some tangled emotions inside for the whole time. This was something he wanted to know the most.
The System that always answered quickly was now suddenly silent for a moment, then told Lucius the answer.
[The items and skills available in this World Extinction system were theoretically items that had a tendency to destroy. Resurrection is against the System's principles. So, to resurrect a life form, 10 billion despair points needed to be exchanged.]
10 billion? His heart stopped when he heard the number. Although a vampire's heart didn't really beat in the first place.
But...10 billion! What is the world population now? If he remembered it correctly, it was only 8 billion, right?
In other words, even if he succeeded in killing every human in despair, he still can't exchange the points to resurrect one person. The price was outrageous.
Lucius touched his neck and took out a pendant hanging from his neck. It was a clear glass vial pendant. Lucius walked by the window, letting the pale moonlight illuminate the crystal vial. Inside, the vial was a cloud of glowing dust.
"System… If I remember correctly, we have to destroy more than just this world, right?" Lucius asked the System as he gazed at the starry dust in the glass vial.
[The number of worlds that the host destroys is theoretically infinite.]
"In other words, the amount of despair I can obtain is also infinite?"
[Correct.]
Lucius smiled happily once again after hearing the System's affirmative reply. So what if it cost him 10 billion despair points? So what if you can't get it all by only destroying this world? He just needed to keep going on destroying. And the despair point would accumulate as time goes by. Those despair will turn into hope for Lucius! That day will come!
Thinking of this, Lucius felt relieved. After that, Lucius gazed at the starry dust inside the vial. His gaze softened as he murmured.
"Good night."
Spoken with his most gentle tone. Compared to how ruthlessly he treated humans. He was sincere this time. After carefully hanging the pendant around his neck again, Lucius made up his mind.
"System, exchange for Mid-rank Vampire Bloodline and Heart Squeeze!"
Lucius needs to get stronger! Strong enough to make 10 billion living beings despair under his own power.
[Currently, the host has 70,500 despair points. The Mid-rank Vampire Bloodline Upgrade requires 50.000 despair points, and the Basic Heart Squeeze requires 10.000 despair points. A total of 60.000 despair points would be consumed. Are you sure? Yes/No]
"Yes!"
Under his will, the lives of 60.000 people surged into his body. A large amount of scarlet blood emerged in the room, enveloping him and as it seeped through his body. The whole process would strengthen his physical power to 5 as pain filled his body, causing him to grasped his arms and let out a low grunt.
"Argh…"
He felt his strength gradually rose while he endured the pain. Finally, after 3 minutes, the blood surrounding him was completely absorbed by Lucius. Indicating that the strengthening process had come to an end.
"This… Is this how it feels to be a mid-rank vampire?"
Lucius inspected his pale and slender arms, couldn't notice a physical change. But inside, his energy rose, and his perception power sharply rose, making him aware of the change inside him. And the fact that he can now manipulate something.
Lucius stretched out his left hand. A scarlet light glowed in Lucius's left hand, aiming at the man who had turned into a headless dead body lying on the ground, his hand closing in an instant.
Bang!
A dull explosion sounded within the man's chest. Obviously, the man was already dead. But Lucius used the skill to burst the man's heart. The control range was around 5 meters from him. What surprised him the most was the fact that he could manipulate blood now.
"So, this is what the called magic?" Lucius' fingers sway, a small ball of blood was lifted from within the man's chest by an unknown force. Briefly shook in front of him only to turn into splashed liquid and spill on the ground.
"Tch… I still have to train this control."
The mid-rank vampire bloodline only had the basics understanding of blood manipulation power. If he remembered correctly, the reason why vampires called themselves kindred was because they can drain blood from all life within their sight with a wave of their hands. Blood was a plaything for the kindred. That means all living things were their playthings. He wasn't sure when he would be able to call himself a kindred. But with the System's assistance, it wouldn't take long. Noble vampires and low-rank vampires. These two titles represented the difference between the two ranks.
"Hmm.. kindred?" Lucius looked at the grotesque scene in the room. He wasn't going to take the assault rifle with him. For some reason, the System offers all firearms from this world for a cheap price.
A tactical knife required 10 despair points, which means 10 human lives. But in contrast to his recent tens thousands of points of the exchange transaction, it was relatively cheap. Guns were probably all ranged from a hundred to a thousand. So Lucius couldn't care less about the damn gun.
But now, he had something he wanted to try for a long time. It was food. Not blood, but human food. Vampire's sense of taste differs from a human. They could only taste blood, every other human food feels like they were chewing a candle wax. But it seemed high-rank vampires had the same palates as humans.
'Big brother, those things look delicious? Can I try it?'
This was a desire that Lucius shared with his own sister when he was a child. The human foods outside looked delicious. But it was a luxury for both of them. Even if they ate it, they wouldn't be able to taste it.
"Does the system have a food exchange?"
[Theoretically, the host can exchange all the items within the host's imagination.]
"...."
Lucius sniffed the smell of fresh virgin blood in the room. It was Xia Ying's blood. Although he wasn't full, he would like a dessert after a meal. Now wasn't the right time to have dessert. Sun Qi might have escaped far if he's still alive. The blood on the door would be hard to track if it dried. But even so…
"Exchange one kilogram of red dates."
These red fruits were the thing his late sister pretended to like. Why did she have to pretend? Although she couldn't enjoy the taste, she knew the 14 years old Lucius was almost killed by an orchard owner just to get them. He wanted to know about the taste so he could continue his hunt in ease.
The food was also surprisingly cheap. His sister had great persistence. Lucius picked up a red date and chewed it in his mouth. But he couldn't taste it at all, as if he was eating a rotten mud. Truly, what a persistent child. That time, she clearly couldn't taste them, but she still ate all of it.
"Damnit!" After spitting out the mud-like dates from his mouth, Lucius exchanged a kilogram of compressed biscuit and a box of mineral water. He threw them onto the table, crushing the red dates.
"Crush that goddamn trash."
Lucius vented his frustration in this manner, then walked directly to the door of the room and crouched down to touch the blood on the threshold.
Fear, collapsing fear!
The emotions of the blood's owner that left the trace behind instantly reached his brain.
"I can't believe he actually survived." Lucius stood up and walked out of the room. Locking the door and walking to the window of the hallway, glanced at the city shrouded in darkness.
"The hunt begins, humans."