Chapter 120: Nope, No Way in Hell Am I a Masochist?!

Chapter 120: Chapter 120: Nope, No Way in Hell Am I a Masochist?!

Closing his eyes, Lucien sank his awareness inward, past the physical layer of his skin and bone, straight to the radiant, sphere of his mana core inside of him.

As he focused on the ball of mana inside of him that was the hard earned power of a cultivator, that most would never dare to do what he was going to do, but most wasn’t him.

And without a trace of hesitation, he initiated the Foundation Severance Technique while at the same time splitting his focus three ways, all equal thanks to his Eight Point Focus trait.

One to run the Foundation Severance Technique, one to gather mana and shape the mana and another to supervise and make sure everything was running smoothly.

’Yeah definitely not overkill, it’s better being safe now than crying in some ditch later.’ He shook his head, even if he knew he didn’t have to do this.

’But seriously this was one of the best traits of those spiders gave me, I should check out the momma spider boss layer, maybe it has a better version of it.’ He thought smiling already planning his next bloody feast for the Bloodmoon Ruins.

His mind split three ways and operated with superhuman precision while he reached into the deepest recesses of his mana core with his mind, he seized control of a fraction of his internal mana.

And with practiced ease, thanks to his mastery of the technique due to the system’s auto learning and because he had already used it three times for the girl’s as they all dual cultivated. He then shaped the mana inside his core into hundreds then thousands of tiny structures, forming an army of hyper sharp mana needles inside the core.

Simultaneously, he pushed his perception outward as the ambient mana of inside the bedroom, and then in the estate began to gather towards him, and then as if the mana itself was eager to flow into him, it rushed and flooded his mana conductive body.

’Damn, my mana affinity isn’t for nothing, just the speed of gathering mana is more than one thousand times than before and I still can’t believe I got my only epic trait from a Slime of all things.’

’Earth was right, slimes are really OP.’ He thought as he remembered a certain blue Slime who made his own kingdom.

Then he moved to guiding the almost eager mana straight toward the exterior walls of his mana core, very quickly as he didn’t have to guide it through any mana veins and just pulled it straight towards his core through his body.

Lucien then molded the mana into an identical set of external needles, though it was not as easy to shape as his own mana.

But compared to before when his mana affinity was only B Rank, the difference was night and day, with it only requiring some thought as the mana perfectly mirrored the ones inside his core.

Dual mana control, the very hurdle that would drive other cultivators to madness and take them years of training grounds to learn and even more to master was just a thought away for him now, thanks to his new mana affinity.

His mental gaze swept across the surface of his mana core, instantly locking onto the points of resonance or in normal words the week points in and on the mana core.

He didn’t need to hunt for them as he had the complete knowledge of the technique in his head, along with the knowledge on how to identify them with pin point accuracy and this being his own core making it easier than when he did it for the girl’s.

’Now, its time.’ He breathed and unlike when he did it for the girl’s, slowly and carefully stabbing their cores so they wouldn’t feel any pain, he decided to do it all at once for himself.

’I am sure it won’t be as painful as evolving my bloodline.’ He thought.

And with the speed of a lightning strike, Lucien drove the needles home. The internal needles stabbed outward as the external needles pierced inward, meeting at the exact same microscopic coordinates with perfect and flawless timing.

Prik. Prik. Prik.

The structural integrity of the core collapsed instantly as a wave of sharp, burning pain rippled through his body as the tightly packed mana began to violently hemorrhage outward, but he didn’t so much as twitch. He simply breathed through it, his expression completely neutral.

’Yep, I can handle this much.’ He thought breathing out, feeling his cultivation rank fall.

[Cultivation Rank: B Rank → C Rank]

[Cultivation Rank: C Rank → D Rank]

[Cultivation Rank: D Rank → E Rank]

As the torrent of escaping energy tore through his body, Lucien allowed his physical flesh and bones to absorb a portion of the rushing tide as he mentally forced the mana into his muscles, bones and tissues.

The refined and concentrated mana saturated his cells, burning away any hidden impurities he had while tempering his muscles and building a physical base that vastly outpaced any ordinary F rank and making one way better than his previous self ever had.

The remaining majority of the flood was the most important part. Gritting his teeth slightly against the pressure, Lucien seamlessly corralled the escaping energy, dragging it balls toward where his now shrunken mana core was located.

Amd with a mental push, the massive volume of mana compressed, condensed, and folded into itself.

Slowly, the escaping mana calmed, locking into place as it formed a small core of his refined mana that could be used for cultivation.

Lucien opened his crimson blood red eyes, letting out a long, measured breath. He exhaled a small cloud of vapor, but his posture remained perfectly upright.

Inside him, the mana core of his previous rank was gone and in its place floated a tiny shrunken mana core, beside it was an incredibly dense ball of the remaining mana that escaped his core and the seed for his recultivation.

He was back at F rank but with a base that was now entirely in its own distinct league compared to his past self.

’Phew, that was easier than expected, it wasn’t even as painful as the technique described.’ He breathed out and thought.

’Or maybe my sense of pain has been distorted from the bloodline evolutions, especially Carmilla’s one.’ He thought a bit scared that he was somehow becoming a maschocist, as his first thought was to compare the pain of both experiences.

’Nope, no way in hell I’m a maschocist.’ He shook his head.

’Now the only thing left is to learn the Blood Sovereign Scripture that Carmilla gave me.’ He thought as a grin took over his face.

’But first, let’s check the updated system status and see what’s different.’ He thought wanting to view the full picture.

He pulled up his status screen next as the system’s blue interface bloomed in front of his eyes.

[ Wife Investment System ]

[Lucien Dracul Aethernis]

[Race: Vampire]

[Age: 18]

[Bloodline: Crimson Sovereign (Divine Rank), Hollow Abyss (Mythical Rank)]

[Talent: Sanguine Genesis Crucible (Divine Rank)]

[Cultivation Rank: B Rank (High) → F Rank]

[Stats: — <anno data-annotation-id="97ba531f-388b-46c2-8ea2-979c3927810a" data-title="]">]¹</anno>

[Strength: 1225 → 1525 → 425]

[Agility: 1360 → 1360 → 506]

[Constitution: 1425 → 1625 → 685]

[Intelligence: 920 → 1050 → 395]

[Vitality: 2000 → 2300 → 990]

[Mana: 1115 → 1150 → 1000]

[Blood: 3000 → 1000]

[Energy Affinities: Mana Affinity (Divine+ Rank).]

[Elemental/Conceptual Affinities: : Blood Affinity (Divine+ Rank), Space Affinity (SSS Rank), Void Affinity (SSS Rank), Nothingness Affinity (SSS Rank), Shadow Affinity (B Rank), Fire Affinity (D Rank) ]

[Traits:]

[Mana Conductive Body (Epic Rank), .... <anno data-annotation-id="1314fda3-5621-43f3-a3fc-b5059dc64b41" data-title="<strong>&lt;em&gt;]&lt;/em&gt;</strong>">]¹</anno>

[Skills:]

[Mana Vision (Epic), Phantom Veil (Epic), True Appraisal (Divine), Mana Shield (Uncommon), Blood Pulse Sense (Uncommon).]

[Technique’s:]

[Heavenly Yin-Yang Scripture Volume 1 (Divine), Mana Devouring Art (Epic), Blood Sovereign Scripture (Mythical), Foundation Severance Scripture (Mythical+), Healing Massage Manual (Common), Culinary Manual — Feast of the Mana Chef (Rare), Reaper’s Crescent (Rare), Various Weapon Technique’s (Sword, Axe, Spear, etc) (Common to Rare), Various Combat Technique’s (Footsteps, Body, etc) (Common to Rare)]

[Cultivation Progress: 36 months ]

[Technique Comprehension: 8 months ]

’I’ve got 36 months of Cultivation Progression, 24 from Aurelia’s investment and 12 from Seraphina’s, along with 8 months Technique Comprehension, 2 from Aurelia and 6 from Seraphina’s.’

’This is the most I’ve ever had.’ He smiled at his wealth as he sat with it for a second.

’F Rank, same rank I started this whole mess of a life at.’

He remembered that version of himself, no talent worth mentioning, a bloodline slot that might as well have been empty to his family and finally standing in a wedding hall while entire noble houses laughed at him like dinner theater.

He then recalled the first time he saw ever his status screen after unlocking the system during their first marriage night and compared it with the him of now.

[Bloodline: Bloodburn Bloodline (Uncommon Rank)]

[Talent: None]

[ Cultivation Rank: F Rank (Middle)]

[Stats: —]

[ Strength: 12 ]

[ Agility: 15 ]

[ Vitality: 31 ]

[ Intelligence: 24 ]

[ Mana: 23 ]

’The difference is mad, even though both states are me at F Rank, and even with the previous me being at the middle of F Rank.’

Two crazy bloodlines, seven affinities, four of them SSS or higher. A Mythical technique most cultivators would never even glimpse in their lifetimes. An absurd amount of traits and various other things.

And stats that, numerically, dwarfed anything his old F Rank self had carried even at his supposed peak.

’Technically I’m back at square one.’ He closed the interface, smiling faintly to himself.

’Well, old me, we did it.’ He thought smiling as although he was still the same Lucien, he was one that had evolved and grown past his limits.

’Old Lucien wouldn’t have ever seen this coming, me having three loving and amazing wives, being so strong, having having Goddess living in my head who is also my master, etc. It’s like one of those animes I used to watch qay back when.’ He thought funnily recalling all the time he spent on them.

’But seriously the stat difference is just crazy, it’s like that of a newborn and that of an adult, and I’m still just a Vampire, what about Dragons, Phoenixes, and other Mythical and legendary races?’

’Just how high do they even start at?’

’And how high would I go, if I gain their monstrous traits and bloodlines?’ As these thoughts flowed and unknown to him a wide fully teethed smile formed on his face.

’Now, only one task left to do before we move on to the fun stuff.’

[Technique Comprehension: 8 Months.]

Eight months, banked up between Aurelia’s earlier reward and Seraphina’s freshly claimed one, plenty to work with the real question was where to spend it first.

’Blood Sovereign Scripture, no contest what so ever.’

It was the cultivation technique Carmilla had made for him personally, Mythical Rank, and the entire backbone of his new blood cultivation path going forward.

’Learn it properly now, and every cultivation rank afterwards would run way smoother and better.’

’And if I’m climbing back up the ranks, I’m obviously going to start with the technique made by my dear Goddess and master, and built exactly for what I now am.’

’Now system, use the technique comprehension!’