The two left the hotel, walking along Theodosius Avenue in Constantinople.
"I don't quite understand," Peggy said, "Aske, you wanted to recruit her, right? Then why did you discourage her from becoming a Transcendent?"
"No, I didn't discourage her," Aske shook his head. "I only reminded her of the risks involved in becoming a Transcendent. You've heard of the threshold effect, right? First, you inform the customer that they can try it out for one silver coin, and once they've paid, you persuade them to pay nine more silver coins to buy it. That's easier than trying to sell it for ten silver coins straight away."
"In plain terms, becoming non-human is merely a conflict of self-perception, which is the most trivial negative impact faced by Transcendents. I haven't even mentioned the loss of control over the flesh and the collapse of reason yet. Those are the major dangers that can lead to a Transcendent's downfall. If I had said that directly, I'm afraid they would have run away on the spot."
"Loss of control over the flesh and the collapse of reason, what are those?" Peggy immediately became a bit nervous.
"To walk the Bloodline Path to its end, you need to ascend to level ten, which means consuming a total of ten Magic Potions," Aske explained. "There are many Magic Potion Sequences, and most of them conflict with each other, so the more you progress, the more likely you are to collapse. The loss of Physical Power can irreversibly turn you into a monster, and the collapse of Spiritual Power can make you go mad."
"Those two Vampire paths you mentioned..."
"That's from an ancient secret organization (player forum). After multiple experiments, they screened out Magic Potion combinations that carry the least risk and offer the greatest benefits," Aske sighed. "Those two Blood Clan paths are almost unknown today and are secret knowledge; don't talk about it to others."
"You already told them," Peggy said somewhat helplessly.
"It's fine, they will join us," Aske confidently stated.
Golden Nightingale Tavern.
Today, as location becomes more crucial for business, the Golden Nightingale Tavern, situated near the city wall, is as desolate as ever; only nearby old residents occasionally come for a drink, lamenting when the tavern might close for good.
Unknown to anyone, as a secret intelligence outpost of the Seljuk Empire in the East Solomon Empire, this tavern will never close due to "poor management"—unless it gets discovered by the Imperial Army.
The Vampire, Molius, with a mournful expression, walked along the corridor on the third floor, came to a room at the end of the corridor, and knocked on the door in a specific rhythm.
The door opened.
She immediately pushed the door and entered. Closing the door, the Vampire kneeled on the ground and pleaded in a trembling voice:
"My Lord, the stronghold of the Achilles family has been eradicated by the Church; it is indeed my fault..."
"You have no right to justify, Molius," said a cold voice from behind the curtain. "You will have your limbs broken, your Spirituality imprisoned, and be thrown into the Duel Arena surrounded by the River of Sulfur, to leave your fate to the Devil Lord—if I hadn't pleaded with His Majesty on your behalf."
"My merciful Lord, I thank you, I thank you," the Vampire hurriedly kissed the ground, expressing her submission and loyalty.
"My mercy is not without cost, Molius." As a feminine voice sounded, a wheeled round table was pushed out, bearing a bottle of Magic Potion with a narrow neck.
The Magic Potion was a thick, cloudy liquid containing white mixed with vivid red streaks and even showed some orange and red swirls; it gave one an irresistible itching sensation, as if all the flesh in one's body was rebelling.
"Is this... Flesh II Magic Potion?" the Vampire Molius said in a trembling voice. Her voice indicated a hint of longing but was more dominated by fear. "My Lord, but I applied for Mind Control I Magic Potion..."
"You think you have the right to bargain with me under these circumstances?" said the woman coldly, "Take it, or die."
Most Magic Potion Sequences come with a I and II. Sequence II's Extraordinary Ability is far superior to Sequence I, but also poses a greater risk of conflict with different Sequences. Like most beginner Transcendents, Vampire Molius hadn't intended to take a Sequence II so soon as it would greatly increase the chance of losing control when consuming new Sequences in the future.
However, there's a saying, "Circumstances are stronger than man." Her level 1 Magic Potion's Extraordinary Power hadn't yet been fully assimilated, while the person behind the curtain had already become a level 2 Transcendent.
She couldn't possibly fight and win. Not taking the Flesh II meant only death. For the person behind the scenes, a Vampire who had ascended to Flesh II could better execute tasks in Constantinople; as for her personal wishes, who cared?
At this moment, she had no choice.
Trembling, she picked up the narrow-necked bottle, opened the cap with a resolute, despairing expression, and poured it down.
The first mutation occurred in her head, which turned bright red as if scorched by fire, and the redness spread downwards to her neck.
The Extraordinary Power trait of Flesh II could be described in two words: "savage." Like a nomadic tribe from the steppes, the domineering Extraordinary Power instantly invaded every cell in her.
Instantly, it felt as if all the flesh in her body was rebelling, screaming, wailing; she painfully scratched her skin, some areas sprouting fine, disgusting granulations, others showing dry, pocked necrotic tissue.
The Extraordinary Power continued to penetrate deeper into her body—muscles, connective tissue, mucous membranes, and internal organs—intense pain spread like a virus, rapidly proliferating. She felt like her body had become a volcano about to erupt, already corroding into a pit-riddled mess before the explosion!
It was only when two-thirds of her skin had been scratched or rotted did the mutations caused by Flesh II gradually subside. The Vampire Molius convulsed on the ground, nearly passing out.
From start to finish, the person behind the curtain never made a sound, merely watching her struggle as if it were none of their business. Exhausted, the vampire Molius managed to stand up and shakily bowed toward the curtain.
Then, she turned around to open the door and stumbled out.
While Flesh I was still digesting, forcefully consuming Flesh II had caused her immense damage. She urgently needed to find a place to digest the magic potion and stabilize her spirituality; otherwise, a mutation might erupt again.
And once she lost control, she had no doubt that the person behind the curtain would immediately kill her.
"Damn it, old spinster!" As she descended the stairs, the vampire Molius thought furiously, "If I could have reached Level 3 earlier…"
"… I would lock her in a coffin, insert blood-draw needles into her most tender spots and allow the lowliest of blood servants to ravage her…"
Descending the stairs, she lifted her gaze and saw Aske and Peggy standing at the doorway.
The instant their eyes met, the vampire Molius showed surprise and joy, Peggy showed hatred and fury, and Aske…
Aske was expressionless, as if finally encountering the hidden boss according to the strategy guide; his mind was utterly calm.
"I'll kill you!" Driven by raging fury, Peggy had completely abandoned her sanity and charged like lightning. The vampire Molius merely flicked her hand—her arm suddenly transformed into a massive whip of flesh and pinned the charging Peggy to the ground.
Countless bone spikes burst from the end of the whip and instantly nailed Peggy to the spot. Accompanied by Peggy's cries of pain, Molius also screamed.
Her right eye had been blown out, leaving behind a pitch-black cavity.
The bullet came from Aske's rapid-fire handgun, Aphrodite; he swiftly shifted his arm, targeted the left eye, and pulled the trigger once again. Although Flesh II prevented fatal injuries, being blinded still caused temporary loss of sight. The vampire Molius quickly activated her ability.
Flesh Transfer! The Transcendent of Flesh II could freely move their organs, and her eyeballs suddenly recessed, emerging on the flesh whip as they were shot through where they originally were.
Peggy was now gasping more than breathing due to the bone spikes. Once again, the vampire Molius whipped up her flesh whip and lashed it at high speed toward him.
If there had been a professional present, they would have scoffed at the vampire Molius's foolishness. For fear of being hit in the eye, she had moved her eyeballs to the high-speed-moving flesh whip, which caused frequent changes in her own point of view, leading to numerous brief blind spots.
As a professional himself, Aske certainly wouldn't miss such a mistake. Calmly, he side-stepped, narrowly dodging the strike with precision while rapidly switching guns and reloading.
Since the whip, carrying her eyeballs, missed and ended behind Aske, the vampire Molius could not see Aske's movements in front of her.
The next second, a gunshot thundered, filling Aske's and Peggy's ears with a tremendous buzzing sound, and the vampire Molius fared worse—her entire head exploded like a watermelon under the impact of the 15.2mm elephant hunting bullet.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Aske methodically continued to reload and fire, reducing the vampire Molius to almost mush with four elephant hunting bullets. Despite this, Molius's body still stubbornly writhed, trying to heal, showing the formidable nature of Flesh II.
Aske's handling was even smoother. He drew his longsword and swiftly quartered the vampire's flesh, placing it in four corners of the room and pinning it down with tables and chairs.
Even Flesh II's robustness was helpless now, and soon, amidst faint groans of reluctance, the vampire Molius finally died, her deep red extraordinary trait emerging from the four piles of flesh.
Lying on the ground, Peggy stopped struggling and just stared blankly at the piles of flesh. Aske approached slowly and began to collect the extraordinary traits from the flesh.
Each time he picked one up, he squeezed it in his palm, absorbing the extraordinary power within (the extraordinary trait itself needed to be made into a magic potion for absorption; thus, squeezing by hand only absorbed the power, causing the original trait to disperse). A long-missed feeling spread through his body, like a starving person suddenly fed, distinctly refreshing and sweet.
Picking up the last extraordinary trait, he didn't crush it in his hand but instead turned and shoved it into Peggy's mouth.
Chewing it as if it were the flesh of her enemy, Peggy bit down hard, filled with hatred, and the extraordinary power soaked her nearly dried-out spirituality like rain on parched land.
Then, she burst into loud crying.
"Hurry up and finish crying," Aske said, resting his hand on his sword, "We still have things to do."
Peggy rose from the ground, harshly wiped her tears away, and her wounds had mostly healed.
"Let's go," she said briefly.
The two of them walked up the stairs to the third floor.
"Guard the stairway entrance; wait for my return," Aske ordered.
"Okay," Peggy replied.