Chapter 56: "I’ve Tasted Everything Else, So What’s a Little Blood?" (bonus - )

Chapter 56: Chapter 56: "I’ve Tasted Everything Else, So What’s a Little Blood?" (bonus Chapter)

Lucien’s eyes slowly opened after a night of cultivating as the morning sunlight streamed through the master bedrooms curtains.

As various thoughts ran through his mind. The system suddenly chimed.

[Ding!]

[12 Months Cultivation Progress Fully Consumed.]

[Cultivation Rank Increased!]

[Cultivation Rank: Beginner C-Rank → Peak C-Rank]

He grinned and slowly rose from the bed, stretching muscles that felt sharper, denser, more alive than they had the night before.

Lucien flexed his fingers before sitting on the edge of the bed.

’Peak C-Rank, and this time it’s not temporary like when I fought Vane.’

He compared it mentally to the Vane fight. ’If he came at me again right now, I wouldn’t need to drain almost all my blood reserves just to keep up with him. This increase is genuine, permanent and mine.’

He pulled up his system status to check the difference between his Beginner and Peak C Rank self.

[Lucien Dracul Aethernis]

[Race: Vampire]

[Bloodline: Crimson Origin Bloodline — Mythical]

[Talent: Sanguine Genesis Crucible — Divine]

[Cultivation Rank: C (Peak)]

[Stats: —<anno data-annotation-id="0bc3d0be-fcdd-4c13-916d-ca2662b25063" data-title="<strong>&lt;em&gt;]&lt;/em&gt;</strong>">]¹</anno>

[ Strength: 515

Agility: 550

Constitution: 525

Intelligence: 520

Vitality: 600

Mana: 555 ]

[Traits: Keen Smell (Uncommon, Lv.5), Enhanced Musculature (Uncommon, Lv.5), Predator’s Reflex (Rare, Lv.2), Shadow Sense (Rare, Lv.3), Night Vision (Uncommon, Lv.4), Shadow Affinity (Rare, Lv.3), Suspiciously Bendy (Uncommon, Lv.5)]

’Oh that is a big difference, stacking this with Crucible Overdrive, I would clap Vane and he wouldn’t even know.’ He smiled and thought, before realizing what he thought.

"No, not clap, but pummel, damn phrasing is important." He shook his head and laughed a little.

He checked his stats one more time, satisfied, then rolled off the bed and headed out the room and for the stairs.

---

Voices drifted up from the kitchen before he even reached the bottom step.

He paused in the doorway.

Evelisse stood at the counter, actually stirring something with flour dusted across one cheek.

Lucien looked at her, looked at Seraphina and then looked back at Evelisse.

"...Are you feeling okay Eve?"

She puffed her cheeks. "What’s that supposed to mean?"

"You voluntarily entered the kitchen and not to eat but to cook?"

"What? Ypu think I can’t cook or something? If so you’re right hence I’m helping."

"Eve’s actually been quite useful, husband though she has also been quite expensive. " Seraphina said, smiling.

Lucien narrowed his eyes at Evelisse. "What did you do?"

"Nothing!"

"You ate half the ingredients, didn’t you."

"...Only the ones that were already prepared."

He laughed and headed for the master bathroom, leaving her to defend her honor against a bowl of half-eaten cookie dough.

---

The shower and mirror ritual had become routine enough that he barely thought about it anymore, though reaching Peak C-Rank and gaining more traits had left its own subtle mark, his muscle definition sharper, leaner, more efficient than before.

’Am I good looking or what?’ He thought glowing a little in front of the full body sized mirror, smiling like an idiot.

He traced the three marriage tattoos along his spine, still faintly warm to the touch.

’And these are quite cool, adding to my looks even more, wonder how the girls like theirs?’ he thought, a small smile forming.

He quickly dressed ypnin a comfortable shorts and black t-shirt before heading back down to the kitchen.

---

The moment he stepped into the kitchen, Aurelia’s gaze fixed on him, not on his handsome and charming face, he realized unfortunately, but somewhere just past it, like she was reading something in the air itself.

"Your cuktivation rank," she said.

Lucien froze mid-stretch. "...Good morning to you too, wifey"

"Good morning, husband but don’t try think you can change the topic of your rank changing."

Seraphina looked between them. "Changing how?"

"Significantly increasing in a single night," Aurelia said.

Evelisse squinted at him, concentrating hard, brow furrowed with effort.

Nothing happened.

"...I can’t see anything," she admitted, disappointed.

"That’s because you don’t have a Mana Sensing skill or ability and I’m way higher ranked than you, Eve." Lucien said.

She looked offended. "Tch, who needs mana sense without I can sense other things."

"Whats sense? You sensing breakfast from two floors up."

"That’s a valid sense."

---

"I reached Peak C-Rank last night," Lucien admitted, sitting down.

Seraphina’s eyes widened. "That’s incredible."

"How?" Aurelia asked, though her tone suggested she already suspected the answer.

He explained it plainly, his Talent’s ability to refine blood into different forms of power, the leftover portion of Vane’s blood he’d consumed after extracting its traits, the mana crystals and cores he’d burned through overnight to fuel the rest.

"So your Talent can just... accelerate cultivation," Seraphina said slowly, clearly fascinated. "Can you extract anything from blood?"

"Not anything," Lucien said. "Depends on blood quality, race, bloodline, cultivation, talent, traits, maybe compatibility, and how much I actually consume."

Aurelia’s eyes sharpened immediately. "Then stronger enemies could give you stronger traits."

"That’s the hope."

Her expression turned serious. "Then don’t become reckless."

"I wasn’t planning to."

"You drank unknown blood mid-fight yesterday."

"...That’s technically accurate, but I had to, couldn’t exactly leave my beautiful wives all alone with vultures circling them, could I?" He said smirking a bit.

"As happy as I am to hear that, you don’t know if your Talent can extract something harmful or something that is not compatible with you and brings you consumed than positives."

Lucien went quiet, the point landing harder than he expected.

’Fair. Haven’t gotten anything bad yet. Doesn’t mean I won’t eventually.’

"Got it, my beautiful wife." he said. "I’ll be more careful, don’t want to worry you, now do I?" He said smiling at her.

"You better otherwise don’t expect leniency during out spars." She said smiling back at him.

---

Evelisse suddenly stopped eating entirely.

"...Wait, I suddenly thought of something."

Everyone looked at her.

"What are you guys looking at me like that for? I can think of things besides food too, you know."

She pointed at herself. "You can extract traits from blood, right?"

"...Yes," Lucien said slowly, sensing where this was headed.

She touched her own neck protectively. "My blood is inside me, but it should be possible for you to get traits from it?"

Silence.

"Technically—" Lucien started.

"NO."

Seraphina clapped a hand over her mouth, shoulders shaking.

Lucien raised both hands. "I wasn’t even going to ask!"

"You thought about it!"

"...Maybe, but you’re the one who brought it up."

Evelisse scooted her chair a full foot away from him. "I’m locking my door tonight."

"You’re being dramatic, Eve."

"You’re a vampire who now drinks blood for gaining power!"

"Yes and you’re married to me, and I’ve tasted everything else of you, which was quite tasty, so what’s a little blood?" He said while fake chuckling evily and pushing himself closer, making Seraphina laugh at the show.

"That’s making this worse!" Evelisse said loudly while her face started turning red at his shamelessness.

Aurelia’s mouth twitched dangerously, clearly fighting a losing battle against laughter.

---

Then Seraphina spoke up, quieter. "What about my blood?"

The tone shifted instantly.

Lucien looked at her, something soft settling behind his eyes. "I don’t know."

She waited.

"And that’s exactly why I’m not going to experiment with it," he continued. "Your bloodline’s already unstable. Your condition is different from everyone else’s. If Trait Extraction pulled something related to that instability and made it more unstable, or interfered with your recovery somehow," he shook his head. "I’m not gambling with your body to find out."

Seraphina’s expression softened into something warm. "Oh, OK but once I’m healed you better drink my blood, I want to see what traits you get." She said her expression looking at him like a scientist at something fascinating before they experiment on it.

Aurelia said nothing, but the small nod she gave carried its own quiet approval.

---

"Leys eat before everything gets cold," Seraphina said, gesturing at the table, mana-infused herb omelets made from some type of bird beast, crystal-grain bread, pan-seared Moonleaf mushrooms, roasted Manafruit, honeyed ember berries, and warm mana tea steaming gently in each cup.

They settled in properly, and conversation drifted toward the day’s plans.

"I’ll be continuing with my vein recovery," Aurelia said. "Morning training, then working with Evelisse this afternoon."

"Testing the Epic furnace," Seraphina said, practically glowing at the thought. "I want to try a few higher-grade potions with it as well and research some stuff regarding bloodline instability online."

Evelisse mumbled something into her tea.

"What was that?" Lucien asked.

"...I’m going to cultivate," she said, louder and clearly pained by the admission.

Everyone stared.

"...What?" she demanded.

Lucien smiled. "Nothing. I’m proud of you."

"Don’t make it weird."

"She also needs to train without leaning entirely on her domain," Aurelia added. "Her Talent’s powerful, but it’s not a substitute for actual combat skill."

Evelisse groaned. "Why does everyone keep attacking me today?"

"Because you’re lazy," Aurelia said.

"Traitor."

---

While they talked, Lucien ran through his own mental checklist.

’Got to get a proper scythe, current one doesn’t perfectly match Reaper’s Crescent. Need blood stockpiled, since my reserves are basically empty after Vane. Defensive gear for the girls, especially Seraphina. More formations around the estate, given some people already know where we live. Some kind of concealment skill for my cultivation rank, before Kael or anyone else starts asking uncomfortable questions. Potions, healing supplies, dungeon gear. All before tomorrow.’

’Ive got a busy day ahead of me.’

---

Once breakfast wound down, Lucien pulled out a fresh batch of C-Rank mana crystals and slid them toward Evelisse.

"For me?" she asked.

"For cultivation."

Her face fell instantly. "...Do I really have to?"

"Yes."

"What if I cultivate tomorrow instead?"

"Then you cultivate today and tomorrow."

"...I don’t like this family."

She accepted them anyway, grumbling, and the chime rang the moment her fingers closed around the crystals.

[Ding!]

[Investment Detected: C-Rank Mana Crystals → Evelisse Noctis]

[Multiplier: ×11]

[Reward: 5× Rare Mana Recovery Elixir]

’The system really likes her, this is the first time she gotten a multiplier this low compared to her max.’ Lucien thought, amused.

"Do I get anything else?" Evelisse asked hopefully.

"Yes."

"Good stuff?"

"...Depends."

"Why’d you say it like that?"

He pulled out a small container of stored dessert instead of answering directly, and her entire complaint evaporated on contact.

---

Far across the continent, Dravik Astrax reclined against silk cushions on a large bed, multiple female demons and half demons of various types laying next to him.

Asura, Oni, Tieflings, Succubi, all laying naked around him on the bed, a few still serving him, sweat glistening on their various colors of skin ranging from purple to deep black, the room itself smelled of obscenity with maid clothing scattered everywhere.

A knock resounded on the door as his servant entered upon his approval, clearing their throat seeing the scene in front of them, though they paid no mind, already used to such scenes.

"My Lord. Lucien has confirmed participation in the Bloodmoon Ruins expedition."

Dravik’s eyes opened lazily. "The new A-Rank dungeon? Wasn’t it limited for C Rank and above parties?"

"Yes my lord, he has recently been registered as C Rank and has joined a party with other C ranks."

"With whom?"

"A female Oni called Rika and her party."

A slow smile spread across his face. "Excellent."

The servant hesitated. "Young Master?"

"What better place," Dravik said, "for an unfortunate death?"

"Send word to Malrith."

He waved a hand dismissing the servant, as the woman kneeling below while sucking him stopped as he commanded without a second glance, another woman, a tiefling this time, replaced her getting on his lap and bouncing atop him with his length inside her, moaning resounding through the room.

---

Back at the estate, Lucien stood by the front door, scrolling through his supply list one final time.

’Blood, potions, weapons, etc.’

’The dungeon run is tomorrow, so I’ve got to get everything today.’

Behind him, Evelisse’s voice carried from the living room, still complaining about cultivation, Aurelia’s flat response cutting through it, Seraphina’s laughter following close behind.

Lucien smiled, tucking the phone away.

’An A-Rank dungeon.’

His hand drifted to the scythe resting against the wall.

’Let’s see how far Peak C-Rank can actually take me.’

<annotations style="display: none;">For those wondering average Peak C Rank stats are around 500 give or take, depending on their race, bloodline, talent, type of Cultivation technique, what they specialize in, etc.</annotations>