Born in Blood



After concluding his explanation, his crew had left, but not before giving him suspicious looks. 

Having made their plan, they would set out in a moment, but not before Liam had concluded a few things.

With a sigh, Liam took out his shortsword made from the Rank 3 hedgehog spikes. 

It was streamlined and resembled his own shortsword to a sense, but without the intricate details that Rogan had cared to put.

'I can make one much better but I'll have to hold off as of now.'

The beast will hadn't left his mind for the entirety of the two and a half weeks. 

Though the pain eventually simmered down to a tolerable amount, he had to hold off any forgings or inscriptions. 

Now that they were ready to engage the enemy, Liam decided to use it to be in peak condition.

Entering his sea of consciousness, Liam inspected the beast will. 

To his surprise, it was a lot more… tamed. 

The enraged remnants of the beast had dimmed subdued, while it didn't look as volatile and unstable as before.

'Wait, if I keep it in my mind long enough, it'll make the wills easier to forge with?' 

Liam cursed himself for not realizing that sooner.

Exposing those energies to his mental sphere was bound to have some sort of effect.

Maybe the same could even be true for refined blood…

The only downside was the cruel pain he was to bear with, but then again, he had gotten quite good at that feat.

Done with his musings, Liam gently pulled out the beast will and began to force it through the shortsword. 

Like he thought, it was much less difficult to control!

Though, unlike his previous forgings, he was using a Rank 3 beast will. 

Naturally, using higher ranked materials was more challenging, but Liam had the basics down enough to dip his toe in a bigger pool. 

That, and his advance to the solid-stage helped massively.

The beast will slowly seeped into the blade's center, then, by Liam's command, spread like a slow moving liquid to the opposite ends. 

Even with Liam's experience and advancement, the process made sweat dribble down his pale face.

By the end of it, more than one-fifth of the beast will had entered through his blade! 

Although that sounded like less, his usual forgings with the Rank 2 beast will worked only with one-eighth, even as a lower form of material. 

Even that was extraordinary, as his experience with forging was diminutive compared to others his age. 

The King's Eye was an instrumental help, helping him direct both his inscription writings and forging.

Before he could do more, the rest of the will withered away. Liam smiled nonetheless.

He picked up the shortsword, cutting the air with it. 

As he did so with precise moves, Liam imbued it with 'Ora'. 

Jagged spikes of different lengths burst unevenly through the blade's edge.

Liam nodded in approval. The blade lost a bit of its sharpness, but he didn't mind. 

'We should leave now.'

Besides his forging, he had experimented a bit with Niveh's blood and Blood Arts, but his studies hadn't bore too much fruit. 

He wanted to know if there was a way for his own blood to imitate the wondrous effects of a vampire's, both in capability and regeneration… but anyone would rightly call him a lunatic for it. 

There was a reason vampires had an entire center of power for that exact purpose. For humans, there was no such organ. 

Liam didn't go as far to think he could miraculously make another center of power… but he didn't think it required him to. There had to be a middle ground.

'Cultivation is endless. It's possible, I just need to find a way.'

He stored the blade and left the room, where the rest of the group were huddled around the entrance door.

Everyone had bags under their eyes from their respective specializations and training except Niveh.

Liam's plan to pass through the Blooder's territory was absolutely reckless and maniacal. Gerald, Nessa and Niveh made sure he knew it too.

From the ten upper vampires that held the border walls, the Red Hammer, Zvehm, was the weakest according to Niveh's assessment.

The other nine had glamorous nicknames like Death Fang, Blood Claw, Vicious Bite, and so on. 

With their numbers and strengths, Niveh mentioned that it was impossible for Liam's group to kill them all together.

Also, it wasn't going to be easy to pass by without triggering special traps that the vampires had set all around the base. 

Vampires weren't exactly primitive in terms of magical items or techniques. They had their own ways to create formations and inscriptions, but Niveh didn't know any methods herself. 

All she knew was that if you passed the border without express authority, the Blooder would know of your location instantly.

…Thus, Liam decided to discreetly assassinate every one of the upper vampires one by one, starting with Red Hammer, before singling out the Blooder as the 'final boss.'

They called him a madman.

"You don't think he'll alert his superiors if we pass by without killing him? Then, it won't be just eleven against six, we'll get slaughtered by everyone in the city."

His words were inarguable. 

As such, they silently made their way towards the spire with intent to kill.

///

Getting there wasn't difficult. A few corrupted 'snakes' had attacked them in packs, but Niveh managed to kill those out using her Blood Arts. 

Four days passed as they followed a narrow route towards the Red Hammers section of the border, attacked by different kinds of corrupted magical beasts.

According to Niveh, the Red Hammer, Zvehm, would regularly hunt wild beasts for amusement and to practice his Blood Arts on. 

Thus, the group hid themselves and patiently waited for the man to come out. 

After another two days, he finally did. Gerald almost yelped when he saw the Red Hammer's hulking stature, which resembled a towering bear's.