"Should you have considered your unnatural growth carefully, then you wouldn't be standing here this early." Looking at his opponent, Argon spoke just as the tendrils shot through his body in an offensive display while the Crimson Armor constructed around his body, transforming him into a Bloodfiend.
Defending against the relentless attacks coming from the tendrils, Kang was barely able to keep track of Argon who was now approaching him leisurely with a great sword resting on his shoulder.
"Even though this attempt is a failure, you shouldn't let it discourage you as your main quest will be much, much harder."
"Always keep in mind that the evolution conditions are nothing more than the threshold set by the previous knights for their successors." Approaching Kang, Argon lifted his sword up before casually swinging it at Kang, who seemed to be busy with the tendrils.
Frustrated by the relentless offenses, Kang found himself forced to ignore the tendrils to focus on the sword swing that could cut him in half.
Unable to figure out what's happening, Kang watched as Argon's sword lost its solid state, turning into a crimson wave of blood before separating his body along with his sword into two parts that fell into the blood sea before being absorbed by it.
[-500 Blood | Remaining Blood: 1600]
'Ah, fuck off.' Standing up from his place, Kang pushed the system's notifications aside as the constant reminder that he was losing didn't help but frustrate him further.
"What was that now, and how is that possible?" Curious about the attack he saw, Kang didn't hesitate to ask right away.
"This?" Raising his sword high, Argon proceeded to cast his technique once again, sending a violent wave of blood toward Kang before continuing, "It's a technique called alteration; you start with an ability and switch to another during the attack. I guess you can already tell its purpose."
"Not really... does it even matter if I know or not? The only thing that matters to me is its effectiveness." Curious if he could block the incoming threat, Kang used his armor and sword in an attempt to deflect the wave, knowing he'd die if he ended up failing. His Blood being too low compared to Argon didn't encourage him; he acknowledged his shortcomings and considered this trial a failure.
[-500 Blood | Remaining Blood: 1030]
"Alteration, huh?" Remembering Argon's words, Kang attempted to replicate the technique he just saw. Raising his sword high, Kang swung vertically as he activated his telekinesis ability midway, intending to cut the distance and sever Argon's head. However, his attack failed as he found the sword pulled him forward before stopping a couple of steps later.
"Too weak. I will need a higher-ranked ability to cast the attack the way I want to." Looking at Argon, who closed in the moment he failed, Kang spoke while actively ignoring Argon since he didn't care much about his actions anymore.
[-500 Blood | Remaining Blood: 500]
'This is also half right and half wrong; I could have released the sword and controlled it completely through telekinesis.' Although Kang guessed the alternative method, he guessed the skill was too weak to work as intended.
'I need to test my abilities the next time to get a better idea of the limitations I could potentially face.' Lost in his thoughts, Kang found his vision spinning as the system's message echoed through his head.
[-500 Blood | Remaining Blood: 0]
[Ding!]
[Trial Quest Failed: Defeat the 1st Blood Knight]
[Reward: Transcendence and full mastery of the blood] [Failure: -5000 Blood]
[-500 Blood | Remaining Blood: 2435]
[Insufficient Blood to attempt another trial, exiting the blood memories]
"It seems that our meeting has come to an end. I hope you will hold your ground like a proper knight the next time we meet." Hearing Argon's distant voice echoing inside his head, Kang opened his eyes before dismissing the system's messages.
"Although it wouldn't be exactly the same, I wonder if the blood would heed my command in battle." Wondering about the possibility of mobilizing his blood in combat, Kang grinned internally due to the fact it didn't consume blood like the rest of his abilities.
"Anyway, time to get rid of those abilities." Making up his mind, Kang decided to merge what's possible before entering the rift.
[Absorbed Abilities (5\10)]
[Overdrive(C): Consume 1 Blood per second to increase your {Strength} by 20%] [BloodAcid(D): Consume 100 Blood to fire a ball of highly effective acidic blood] [Flare(D): Consume 300 Blood to create a harmless crimson light to blind your enemy.]
[Devour(D): Steal 5% of a single stat from those you kill]
[Telekinesis(F): Consume 1 Blood per second to influence any physical objects under the weight of 30 KG]
"Merge all possible abilities with the Blood Weapon."
[Affirmative, merging Devour(D), Telekinesis(F), and Blood Weapon(C)...]
[Merging Progress…15%...31%...51%…78%...100%]
[Merging successful…Blood Weapon(C) upgraded to Blood Weapon(B)]
"Merge Blood Acid with Flare."
[Affirmative, merging BloodAcid(D) and Flare(D)...]
[Merging Progress…8%...12%...21%...31%...46%]
[Merging successful…Flare(D) and BloodAcid(D) combined into Blinding AcidBomb(C)]
Once done with what he wanted, Kang proceeded to take a look at his status window to see the description of his new abilities.
{Blood Warlock System}
[Class Abilities (2\5)]
[Blood Weapon(B): Consume 3 blood per second to form and maintain a blood weapon. Steal 5% of a single stat from those you kill with the weapon.]
[Absorbed Abilities (2\10)]
[Overdrive(C): Consume 1 Blood per second to increase your {Strength} by 20%]
[Blinding AcidBomb(C): Consume 500 Blood to fire a massive and bright ball of highly effective acidic blood]
"Uh, I suppose I could have merged Devour with Lifesteal and gotten a better result than this." Having checked his new abilities, Kang regretted his action because merging the ability with Lifesteal could allow him to devour the stats without having to kill them using the weapons created by the ability itself.
Preparing for the rift, Kang started testing his new abilities. Creating a couple of different blood weapons, he started testing what worked and what didn't. As far as he could tell, heavy weapons like greatswords were difficult to manipulate through telekinesis.
Blood depletion was a major problem, but it didn't bother him much knowing that he could get Blood easily as long as he went on big hunts like the ones that he did before. At the end of the day, he was glad that he didn't have to transform his limbs anymore.
"It's a pity that this one here was completely ruined. It makes me wonder if there is a possible way for me to get an artifact to store my stuff in." Looking at the remaining part of the sword he looted and used to fight Argon, Kang wondered if the city ruins he was in had any sort of artifacts similar to the spatial rings.
"Regardless, time to hunt for more abilities." Not willing to dwell on it further, Kang entered the rift right away. He didn't know if technology was advanced enough back then to create such a thing before the destruction this city suffered. Still, he planned to search the city later after he's done, since he had plenty of time.
"Are humans the only race that suffers from corrupt mana?" Entering the rift, Kang was met by the sight of the vast plains before him as he witnessed the incredible number of different beasts roaming in the distance. It made him think of a way to help humans adapt to the corruption like the other races.
Using his detection ability, Kang found that weakest of these beasts he could see was D ranked. And while he couldn't see every beast, it gave him a good idea of what he could expect.