With the Devoured skill out of the way, it was time to unveil what treasures lurked in the lootbox obtained from defeating the Hidden Boss, Azakiel. Zane breezily walked past the fallen Angel's smoldering body, and stopped before the large crucifix near the front of the room—one of the only objects left in here that wasn't either broken or missing.
There, right in front of the cross, was a well-decorated rectangular coffin with gold borders and gemstone ornaments. It looked just like the one Zane had found inside the room where he fought Dahrka, the Fallen Paladin, except even more grandiose and elegantly designed.
'Of course, that should mean what's inside will be better as well.'
With that in mind, Zane bent down and gently opened up the coffin through the latches on the side. Inside, as expected, was a plethora of shiny golden coins and ornaments. Jewel-embedded crowns, jade rings—all sorts of treasure and jewelry, just waiting to be taken.
But… apart from that, there was something else as well.
In the center of the large pile was what seemed to be a ring different from the rest. Zane could feel mana coming from it, which was odd for a normal piece of treasure.
'Hm… could it be an artifact?'
It was hard to discern by this point, but Zane knew exactly how to find out. Taking the ring out of the stash, he slid it onto his fingers, and opened up his System's [Equipment] screen.
"… As expected."
The ring was listed as an equipment under the [Accessory] category, meaning it was recognized by the System as an artifact rather than a normal treasure. It was an item that provided combat-related benefits to the wielder, not just something that could be sold off for money. Curious to see its effects, Zane tapped on its icon to view detailed information.
[Holy Ring]
[Rarity: B-Rank]
[Type: Accessory]
[Description: A drop from an Elite-rank or higher Ascended enemy. Attacks and skills with this artifact equipped do 200% damage to Undead and Taken enemies, but 50% to Ascended enemies.]
[ATK: +10]
'Hm… not bad,' Zane mused, glossing over the description. 'At the very least, it'll be useful in this Dungeon. The only enemy type in the catacombs archetype should be Undead, and the chances of me running into another Ascended-type Hidden Boss is incredibly slim. Might as well keep this equipped.'
Worst comes to worst, once he got out of this place, he could take it off or replace it for something better. Money wasn't going to be a problem for him for the time being, so getting his hands on stronger artifacts or weapons wasn't out of the question.
'That reminds me, though… those Bloodrunes I received earlier… just what are they?'
Switching the System tab, Zane noticed that a new one had appeared right after he made this realization, and had a red exclamation mark beside it as if prompting him to check it out. The title read 'Shop', which was quite odd. He'd never heard of a System having a built-in shop before.
After finally navigating to the tab, however, everything became clear.
There, listed was a bunch of items—from artifacts to weapons, to even consumables like health potions or mana elixirs. The offerings varied in rarity, with some being common D-Rank items while some were even S-Rank, the rarest of them all.
And the currency used to purchase things?
Bloodrunes.
At first, Zane was shocked. No way this was a real marketplace—where would the System get the actual items from? Eventually, though, he decided to give up on thinking about it—it's not like he was going to get any answers anyway. Instead, he focused on what he could buy with the 50 Bloodrunes he currently had.
It really wasn't much.
Even a basic health potion cost 5 Bloodrunes, and the only non-consumable items he could really afford were D-Rank weapons. Needless to say, those were worse than what he currently had, and [Twin Shade] has been serving him quite well thus far. The fact that it ignores some of the target's DEF is pretty nice, so he didn't see a need to replace it anytime soon unless he came across a truly incredible weapon.
It was a tough decision, but Zane ultimately decided to save up for a bit, and use the Bloodrunes when he actually needed them. To do that, though, he'd need to do more Quests—and he didn't exactly know how to activate or 'trigger' them. The first one kind of just happened randomly, to be honest.
Exiting his System, Zane pulled out his last resizable duffel bag from his jean pocket, and charged it up to full length. Then, he reached into the coffin and began transferring the treasure, so that he could take it all away with him when he got out of this place. As soon as he was finished and got up to his feet, however, he suddenly heard the sound of a mechanism coming from behind him.
"… Hm?"
It sounded like something shifting, transforming. And when he turned back around to see what it was, he found that his guess had been correct.
The coffin, which he had just looted, now turned upside-down to go underneath the ground. What emerged in its place was a beautiful fountain—that is, if not for the fluid coursing through it. Unlike normal fountains, this one did not spout water. Instead, it spout deep, crimson blood, and the fact that the source seemed to be the mouth of an angel carving made it all the more unsettling.
Strangely, however, Zane could feel himself being attracted towards it. The faint innate feeling he had earlier of going towards the middle of the Dungeon must've been caused by this—and now that he was standing right in front of it, he couldn't help but want to try. The only problem was if this liquid was actually poisonous, but his body had automatically cleansed poison and all debuffs in the past upon drinking Leo's blood, so following that logic, as long as this fluid really was blood… it should be alright.
The question was… why was his body compelled to drink it? Sure, he was a vampire, but he didn't feel a compulsion like this when drinking Leo or Little Dan's blood.
Deciding that this had something to do with his special physique, Zane narrowed his eyes and slowly dipped a finger into the fountain of blood. The liquid felt cool rather than warm, and brought a relaxing feeling to Zane's fingertips.
Slowly, he brought it close to his nose, and gave it a sniff. It smelled like rusted copper—without a doubt, this was genuine blood. A vampire's senses were very accurate when it came to this, and Zane was certain he was right. The only concern was what kind of blood it was.
Hesitantly, he placed his finger into his mouth, and tasted the crimson liquid. As soon as he did so, horrible pain suddenly attacked him in the chest, and his eyes bulged wide.
"Ngh…? What the…!"
Immediately, his muscles tensed up as the duffel bag of treasure dropped to the ground, and so did Zane. In his head, several voices echoed, but he had no time to worry about that as a pool of crimson liquid formed beneath his body, and from the fluid came several red chains that wrapped around his arms and legs.
"Not… this… again…!"
He'd just experienced something similar during the class selection. Why again now?!
Through blurred vision, Zane could just barely make out what the glitched out holograms that appeared before his eyes read.
[Vampire Blood: Consumed.]
[Hidden Requirement: Met.]
[Second Awakening: Initiating…]
'Second… Awakening…? What the…'
A person's 'Awakening' referred to when a Hunter first unlocked their true potential. For Zane, that happened when he drank Leo's blood. But rarely, in some cases, a Hunter may go through a Second Awakening, where they break through their limits and gain newfound powers. But usually, this only happened years after their initial Awakening… Zane had never heard of a Second Awakening happening mere hours after their first.
[Congratulations, Progenitor. By drinking the blood of a vampire, your
[Immortal Blood Body — Awakened.]
[Blood Mark — Skill Obtained.]
[Sovereign's Rebirth — Prologue — Quest Complete.]
[Welcome back, Sovereign. Have you rested well?]