Born in Blood



Covertly buying the necessary materials for his project, Liam returned to the Temple. 

A few people there gave him strange looks now and again, and Liam made sure he wasn't followed on the way back.

Entering his quarters, he took out the bought materials and made the necessary preparations.

The Dusk Rhino had extraordinary defense. 

In fact, it had a unique way of fighting that wasn't found in any other beast. 

Or was… Liam's knowledge of magical creatures wasn't infinite.

Simply put, the Dusk Rhino's thick hide simply absorbed attacks and stored them, similar to Liams' Throes of Anguish technique. 

Then, once it reached the maximum capacity, it discharged all the damage accumulated in its body through its horn. 

That one, overcharged attack could ruthlessly obliterate a Rank 4 body in a single instant. 

That was pretty much the only thing it was good at, though. 

The Rhino was irreparably slow, and its charges were easily counterable.

Still, it was no wonder Liam wanted to imitate its special ability.

The only issue that might surface from that would be his explanation of where his chaos would come from, if Liam could make such a thing.

'It's not like I can keep it hidden for long. If not for the Temple's backing, I wouldn't be able to make most of my inventions in peace anyway.'

'I doubt they could throw me away at this point.'

All Liam could do was make the most out of his circumstances.

Taking out his preservation containers, Liam took off his upper clothing.

With his Rank 2 upper-tier katana, he stabbed right between his shoulder and chest, then leaned over his vessel.

Blood poured into the container, but as the wound prepared to regenerate, Liam twisted the blade to the sides, refreshing the gruesome cut over and over.

For half an hour, there was a gentle pouring noise in his quarters.

After three containers were filled to the brim with pure crimson, Liam divided his Rhino horn, tusks and skin between them.

His complexion hadn't paled except an unnoticeable amount despite bleeding so much in such a short time.

'And now, we wait.'

With so much to do, Liam began to cultivate his core, Shadow and mental sphere, before working on the String Blood Art.

Now that he didn't need to nourish his body, it freed up several hours of his day that he put into strengthening his Shadow specifically.

It was the most versatile power he currently had, after all.

///

Months passed.

Like Liam thought, there were several raids planned on the small-sized Sects near the newly claimed mountain. 

Obviously, Liam planned to join them on those invasions, since there were massive rewards that came with it.

To him, the bodies of fully Rank 3 cultivators were the biggest motivator.

There was no other way for Liam to advance his body, after all, besides raising his other centers of power, which he did anyway.

Liam checked up on the Rhino parts now and again.

They were slowly gaining a red hue.

But it did so at a snail's pace.

It would be at least a month or maybe two at least for it to fully soak.

The Shifter was a gluttonous creature as usual, but now that Liam could suppress it to an extent, it was much more docile.

Under the Temple's command, Liam also made several weapons.

Axes, bows, spears and daos.

Liam was getting better at inventing. 

Having hours free out of his schedule allowed him to focus in areas that mattered the most.

Some of the weapons he made were barely an inch away from the second Rank. 

Even his understanding of how to stack the Meanings atop each other was steadily improving. 

Liam was practicing for the forging of a Rank 3 weapon.

Meanings that went into something like that weren't simple in the least, and Liam didn't overestimate himself.

'I could probably improve the Abyssal Needle too… but that's a separate project.'

Making a Rank 3 weapon capable of containing his chaos was becoming more and more plausible.

But only if Liam continued to refine his knowledge of the process.

Eventually, the raids took place.

The Temple's targets were, as usual, rundown, small-sized Sects that nobody would really care too much about. 

They didn't own large plots of land, were isolated from other Clans, and had too many enemies to boot.

At the end of every raid, Liam was tasked with taking care of the bodies.

Liam did exactly that, by way of consumption.

Nevertheless, the Temple had to ration their invasions carefully.

Too many raids could cause the Ravenous Leash to grow restless, increase surveillance, and send hunting parties to sniff out the issue.

No one needed that.

Eventually, after nearly a month, Liam made his advance to the liquid stage.

The usual process ensued, where his gaseous core contents were transformed into liquid.

As was the case when he advanced, Liam felt his body swirling with energy and new power.

His darkness grew a leap more deadly. 

Enough to now corrode the sturdy bones of a Rank 3 beast. 

However, the gap between the liquid stage and solid stage had now grown as deep as a year. 

And for Liam, it was higher, since his cultivation was slower than most.

At the same time, Liam took another jab at Niveh's Blood Arts, tinkering with its Links.

It was like trying to form a sentence in a foreign language, using only vague cognates to rearrange the jumbled pieces.

Nonetheless, Liam carefully added a few Links of his own without changing the overall Meanings that came with the Blood Art.

It took him another two weeks.

And it was a semi-success!

Liam could now manipulate the strings that came out of the blood-red tattoos on his fingertips.

The strings could tense, shift and multiply on his command.

Their sharpness matched a Rank 2 weapon.

It was his crystalized blood, after all.

The only reason it was a semi-success, was because of how long it took Liam to multiply the strings. 

In a real battle, nobody would be insane enough to wait until their opponent prepares an attack.

Currently, all Liam could do was form two to three quick Strings that could take someone by surprise.

Soon enough, though, he would be able to combine both speed and sharpness.

After all of that, Liam checked in on the Rhino parts again.

There weren't any grey or black spots remaining. 

They were fully crimson.

It was time to start the project.