"Ah~~~~"
Little Selena tilted her head back, closed her eyes, and opened her mouth wide, eagerly waiting for Chen Mo to give her a piece of candy.
Unfortunately, she guessed wrong.
A drop of bright red blood dripped from Chen Mo's fingertip into Selena's open mouth. Selena felt something enter her mouth and quickly closed it, licking her tongue. However, the familiar taste in her mouth told her that it was not candy, but blood.
She opened her eyes in confusion and saw Chen Mo retracting his hand, with a trace of bright red blood still on the tip of one of his fingers.
Feeling deceived, little Selena pouted and looked at Chen Mo angrily.
Chen Mo, who was being stared at by Selena's big eyes, didn't pay attention to her displeasure. Instead, he lowered his head and carefully observed her changes.
After drinking a drop of Chen Mo's blood, Selena's angry little face visibly changed from its original pale color to a rosy hue, gradually returning to the natural state she had when Chen Mo first met her in the workshop.
Obviously, Chen Mo's 'perfect blood' had already taken effect.
For little Selena, Chen Mo didn't dare let her test the sunlight first. Instead, he extended his freshly pricked finger, still with a trace of blood, to her mouth.
'Open your mouth.'
This time, little Selena wasn't buying into Chen Mo's authority as a lord. She pouted and turned her head away, ignoring him.
'A piece of candy.'
The temptation of her favorite candy made little Selena lick her lips lightly, but the still somewhat angry little girl stubbornly snorted and turned her head away, refusing to pay attention to Chen Mo.
Seeing this, Chen Mo couldn't help but laugh.
'Two pieces.'
This made little Selena a bit conflicted. She turned her head and hesitantly looked at the finger in front of her, but still refused to open her mouth.
'Ten pieces.'
Chen Mo's voice carried a confident tone, knowing that with his understanding of the little one, she absolutely couldn't resist the temptation of so many candies.
As expected, upon hearing Chen Mo's offer of ten pieces of candy, little Selena swallowed hard and, without hesitation, tilted her head back and opened her mouth. Her crescent-shaped eyes were filled with joy.
Ten pieces of candy! Should she eat one piece a day, or all at once? So many! How wonderful!
Amelia, watching this scene from the side, couldn't help but smile. This little glutton!
Chen Mo squeezed another drop of blood into Selena's mouth. This time, Selena frowned and quickly closed her mouth. If it weren't for the promise of ten pieces of candy, she would have spat out the blood immediately.
Chen Mo looked at her furrowed brows and asked with a hint of a smile, 'How does it taste?'
Little Selena responded with a look of disgust.
'Salty and fishy, not tasty at all!'
After saying this, she was a bit puzzled herself. The first drop of blood she drank earlier had tasted sweet, so why did this one taste bad?
Hearing Selena's response, Chen Mo finally felt relieved. It was clear that she had now regained her normal taste for blood and was no longer dependent on it. His 'perfect blood' had really worked.
With this proof, along with the change in Selena's complexion, Chen Mo was no longer worried about the upcoming sunlight exposure test.
Chen Mo led little Selena to the window and gently pulled back the curtain a bit, letting a small beam of sunlight shine in.
Seeing the golden beam of sunlight, little Selena was very happy. She hadn't seen sunlight for a long, long time. The adults usually didn't let her go outside, and there was never any sunlight in the castle. She had almost forgotten what it felt like to have sunlight on her skin.
Selena couldn't help but take two steps closer to the bright beam of sunlight, carefully observing how it slanted onto the floor.
Seeing that neither Chen Mo nor Amelia stopped her, Selena gently extended her small hand into the sunlight.
There was none of the intense, burning pain that the adults had told her about. The sunlight on her fair little hand was just warm and bright.
Standing behind her, Chen Mo finally felt completely at ease. It seemed that his perfect blood was no different from Alexander Corvinus's. His feeling was correct.
His body had been completely transformed by the perfect blood, becoming an immortal body. The blood his body produced was the purest perfect blood.
'Lord, you lied! Sunbathing doesn't hurt at all!'
Little Selena shook her hand vigorously in the sunlight and looked up at Chen Mo angrily.
Chen Mo smiled slightly at her words and pulled the curtain open, letting the sunlight flood through the window.
The originally dark and cold study was instantly filled with sunlight, becoming bright and clear, with a touch of warmth.
The sudden brightness made little Selena a bit uncomfortable, and she quickly covered her eyes with her hands. After a while, as she got used to it, she tentatively lowered her hands and squinted, standing on tiptoe to look outside.
But she was simply too short. No matter how hard she stood on tiptoe, her head was always a bit lower than the windowsill, and she couldn't see outside.
Seeing her little face turn red with frustration, Chen Mo smiled slightly and stepped forward to pick her up.
Little Selena sat on Chen Mo's bent arm, one hand around his neck, excitedly craning her neck to look outside.
Chen Mo's study was in the main building of Blackstone Castle. Through the window, one could see the sturdy castle, the tall walls, and the vast plains in the distance.
The green grass and trees, the vast blue sky, and the floating white clouds made Selena very happy.
Having spent several years in the castle without seeing sunlight, the nearly ten-year-old Selena had long forgotten what the outside world looked like. Seeing it now, she was as excited and happy as if she were seeing it for the first time.
'The sun used to burn you, but it won't anymore. You can play in the sunlight as much as you want.'
'And you don't have to drink blood anymore. You can eat whatever you want, just like before.'
Hearing this, Selena clapped her hands in joy, wriggling to be put down by Chen Mo. She then excitedly rushed out of the study and ran towards the stairs, eager to go outside and play.
Amelia, a bit worried, bowed to Chen Mo and quickly followed her.
With a smile on his lips, Chen Mo returned to his desk and sat down.
The remaining bottle of perfect blood on the table glowed crimson in the sunlight.
...
Alexander Corvinus's body recovered quickly. When Chen Mo drew blood, he carefully controlled the amount, so losing that blood would only make him temporarily weak and not put his life in danger. With his strong physical constitution, he would recover quickly.
The large amount of blood previously drawn from him was more than enough to complete Chen Mo's own evolution, leaving some surplus. Chen Mo used it to enhance all the remaining members of the knight order and the craftsmen in the workshop, completely eliminating the original weaknesses of vampires.
After drinking a drop of blood bestowed by Chen Mo, the knights cheered, took off their helmets, and enjoyed basking in the warm sunlight, silently chanting Chen Mo's name in their hearts.
The craftsmen and their families also happily walked out of the cave, kneeling devoutly in the direction of the castle, thanking Chen Mo for granting them strength and immortality, and for helping them regain the lost light.
It must be said that Alexander Corvinus was quite lucky. If the previously drawn blood had not been enough to support Chen Mo's evolution, Chen Mo would have continued to draw perfect blood from him until the evolution was complete.
Now that Chen Mo has successfully evolved, his vampires have all overcome their fear of sunlight and dependence on blood. He has finally ended his fate of being constantly drained of blood and no longer needs to be a 'blood cow.'
Having obtained the perfect blood and successfully evolved into an immortal body, Chen Mo has more than achieved his ultimate goal in this world. However, he is not in a hurry to leave.
Now that Chen Mo possesses true eternal life, time has lost its meaning for him. Whether it's a year, ten years, or a hundred years, it's just a number to him, so there's no need to rush.
Moreover, he still has many things left to do.
At this moment, the entire European continent is completely under Chen Mo's rule. From the Atlantic coast in the west to the Ural Mountains in the east, all this vast land has become his territory, and all the common people on this land have become his subjects.
At this point, calling him a lord seems somewhat inappropriate.
Three months later, Chen Mo, the ruler of the European continent, officially ascended the throne at Blackstone Castle, establishing a powerful empire that spanned all of Europe.
Andrew, Amelia, Victor, and Marcus were awarded the highest rank of Golden Knights in the Temple Knights and were made dukes, each granted a vast territory as their fiefdom.
Of course, this was just their public identity. In the vampire empire created by Chen Mo, unknown to ordinary humans, the four of them would serve as the four elders of the vampire race, managing the entire vampire race for Chen Mo.
Due to the transformation by the perfect blood, vampires no longer needed to enter a mummified state to enhance their strength, as depicted in movies.
Like Alexander Corvinus, their strength would naturally increase over time. However, this growth was very slow.
Alexander Corvinus, the earliest immortal, lived for hundreds of years, and his strength only reached six times that of an ordinary human, just twice as strong as a regular vampire with three times the physical strength of a normal human. Of course, this was enough for him to crush ordinary vampires.
In fact, after being transformed by the perfect blood and freed from their dependence on blood, they could no longer be called vampires. However, since they still retained bat-like echolocation abilities, Chen Mo thought it was more appropriate to call them 'Batmen.'