Chapter 60: Sucking Ten Liters in One Night!

Chapter 60: Chapter 60: Sucking Ten Liters in One Night!

He gathered some of the Ironback Boar Blood next and turned it into a blood candy and popped it into his mouth.

’Hm, tastes kinda like what I expect dirg to tast like, but gotta do it for the traits.’

[Ding!]

[Blood Trait Activated.]

[Blood Detected.]

[Race: Ironback Boar.]

[Trait Extraction Beginning...]

[Trait Acquired: Impact Resistance (Common) — Lv.3]

[Description: Slight resistance to impacts and blunt damage.]

’Damn man, I’m slowly becoming a walking checklist of monster traits.’

---

The Hell Hound blood yielded two traits.

[Ding!]

[Blood Trait Activated.]

[Blood Detected.]

[Race: Hell Hound.]

[Trait Extraction Beginning...]

[Trait Acquired: Heat Resistance (Uncommon) — Lv.3]

[Trait Acquired: Fire Affinity (Uncommon) — Lv.1]

"...Not bad at all, now I have Fire Affinity too, wonder if I can get all types of affinities?" he murmured.

He consumed the Shadow Panthers blood next as it brought some familiar results.

[Predator’s Reflex (Rare, Lv.2 → Lv.3)]

[Shadow Affinity (Rare, Lv.3 → Lv.4)]

’Existing traits leveling up instead of getting any new ones,’ he thought. ’Interesting, do they not have other traits, or maybe I need blood from stronger shadow panthers?’

The Venomfang Serpent gave two more traits.

[Ding!]

[Blood Trait Activated.]

[Blood Detected.]

[Race: Venomfang Serpent.]

[Trait Extraction Beginning...]

[Trait Acquired: Venom Resistance (Uncommon) — Lv.3]

[Trait Acquired: Flexible Musculature (Uncommon) — Lv.2]

He stared at that second one for a long moment.

"...Why do I even need this I already have Vens weird Trait, how much more flexible do I need to be and for what?" He said jokingly.

’Suspiciously Bendy, now paired with Flexible Musculature. At this point I could probably fold myself into a suitcase.’

Next was the Storm Hawk Blood which synergized beautifully with what he already had.

[Trait Acquired: Keen Eyes (Rare) — Lv.3]

Distance, movement, positioning all suddenly sharper, layered on top of everything else already stacking in his awareness.

’My perception and senses are becoming genuinely terrifying,’ he thought, equal parts proud and unsettled.

The Minotaur blood cused something new he hadn’t seen before to occur to an already familiar Trait he got from those stinky wolves.

[Enhanced Musculature (Uncommon, Lv.5 ) ] upgraded to [Dense Musculature (Rare, Lv.2)]

’Enhanced Musculature actually upgraded to Dense Musculature, it didn’t become a new traits?’ he realized. *So its not just leveling, traits can actually evolve or rank up, but how?’

’It’s good to know that it’s possible, but I gotta figure out how before I get too many traits to keep track of.’

’Only thing I can think of, is maybe Dense Musculature is the Rare rank Trait for Enhanced Musculature, so since I Acquired Dense Musculature from the Minotaur, it absorbed Enhanced Musculature.’ He thought trying to reason what happened, though not entirely sure.

The Minotaur blood candy also gave him one more Trait and quite a good one at that.

[Trait Acquired: Battle Endurance (Uncommon) — Lv.3]

’My body’s basically built for marathons of violence now,’ he thought. ’Or maybe marathons of another kind of battle.’ He thought looking at one specific Trait, which he was uncertain if he should be happy or sad about.

---

He looked at the two remaining types of blood he had left.

Orc (A-Rank, Uncommon), and beside it, the Crimson Bear (A-Rank, Rare),to bad he couldn’t get the one he’d nearly had a heart attack checking it’s pricing earlier.

"Next time, for sure,just want for me Wyrm Blood." He said dramatically before laughing a bit.

He picked up the Crimson Bear first, turning it slowly between his fingers as a looked at it.

"Already drowned myself in nine liters of lesser blood tonight so what’s a few more."

Even sealed, the vial radiated something a small and low pressure that pressed faintly against his senses, unlike anything the lower-rank bloods had carried.

’A-Rank blood,’ he thought, pulse quickening slightly. ’I got real traits from D and C-Rank stuff. B-Rank gave me upgrades, combinations and some new traits though not anything over the top. So what will this give me?’

"Well," he murmured, opening a few before compressing them together to form a large drop of blood before sucking it in.

The scent hit him immediately thick and wild, before the taste hit making him wince at its funky flavor with a bit of heat.

[Ding!]

[Blood Trait Activated.]

[Blood Detected.]

[Race: Crimson Bear.]

[Trait Extraction Beginning...]

He quickly swallowed it before it escaped through his mouth.

[Ding!]

[Traits Extracted.]

[Trait Acquired: Ursine Bulk (Rare — Lv.3)]

[Description: Permanently increases density and resilience of muscles, tendons, bones, and connective tissue. Greatly improves physical strength and resistance to blunt-force trauma.]

He flexed his arm experimentally to see if there was any difference as it was not any bigger. ’But definitely more denser.’

Like his muscles had been quietly expanded and then compressed into something heavier without changing his shape or size.

’Okay, I’m definitely stronger.’

[Trait Acquired: Bear’s Grace (Rare — Lv.2)]

[Description: Greatly accelerates physical recovery during rest or sleep. Effect intensifies during deep, uninterrupted sleep. Minor injuries may heal faster while resting.]

Lucien stared at that one.

"...A healing ability that only works while I sleep?"

He glanced toward the massive bed under him, it’s soft mattress calling out, yearning for his body.

"Finally, a talent that actually understands me."

---

"One more to go," he said aloud and picked up the last blood, Orc blood, A-Rank, uncommon rank and drank it without much ceremony at this point not before compressing it like the others.

[Ding!]

[Blood Trait Activated.]

[Blood Detected.]

[Race: Orc.]

[Trait Extraction Beginning...]

[Trait Acquired: Brute Efficiency (Uncommon — Lv.3)]

[Description: Increases muscular power and explosive force. Muscle fibers become denser and more efficient, granting greater strength without proportional mass increase.]

[Trait Acquired: Thick Skin (Uncommon — Lv.3)]

[Description: Permanently increases skin and tissue durability, reducing damage from physical attacks and improving resistance to cuts and abrasions.]

He touched his own forearm, half expecting to feel something visibly different maybe thicker skin atleast.

"Now, I can officially say I have thick skin, hahaha." He said laughing.

"...I’m turning into Frankenstein’s monster, except made entirely out of useful racial traits." A pause.

"Actually, that’s pretty cool, now that I say it out loud."

---

He looked at the graveyard of empty vials scattered across the bed.

"Ten liters , give or take. Ten liters of blood, consumed in a single sitting."

"...That’s disgusting, am I going to become a bloodaholic or someting similar?" he said to the empty room.

"And how am I not currently a walking blood balloon?" He said looking at his stomach expecring to see it bulging out like he was 9 months pregnant but only saw abs and muscles.

Then he remembered, belatedly, that he was in fact a vampire and not a human, and his Talent existed specifically to prevent that exact outcome.

"Right, Bloodline and Talent perks, lucky I can’t get fat by drinking blood, unlike some other Vampires." He said thinking about the other poor vampires who unlike him, couldn’t drink how they liked as blood was quite nutritious and expending on the blood even more, hence making it quite filling and easy to gain weight with.

He fell backward onto the bed, arms spread wide, and closed his eyes.

"No more blood tonight, I mean it, especially after so many, lets say unique tastes I would rather have never tasted before." He said before going quiet.

---

After a few minutes of blessed stillness, he sat back up and pulled his full trait list.

"Almost fell asleep there, didn’t know drinking could be such a chore." He murmured yawning a bit.

"Gotta catch some sleep before heading out for the dungeon, but first," he said opening his full list of traits to see his hardwork.

[Traits:

Keen Smell (Uncommon Lv.5), Predator’s Reflex — (Rare Lv.3), Shadow Sense — (Rare Lv.3), Night Vision — (Rare Lv.4), Shadow Affinity — (Rare Lv.4), Suspiciously Bendy — (Uncommon Lv.5), Relentless Pounding — (Common Lv.2), Keen Hearing — (Common Lv.2), Impact Resistance — (Common Lv.3), Heat Resistance — (Uncommon Lv.2), Fire Affinity — (Uncommon Lv.1), Venom Resistance — (Uncommon Lv.3), Flexible Musculature — (Uncommon Lv.2), Keen Eyes — (Rare Lv.3), Dense Musculature — (Rare Lv.2), Battle Endurance — (Uncommon Lv.3), Ursine Bulk — (Rare Lv.3), Bear’s Grace — (Rare Lv.2), Brute Efficiency — (Uncommon Lv.3), Thick Skin — (Uncommon Lv.3)]

He scrolled through it slowly.

"Damn, I have a lot."

Then he noticed the overlap between some traits.

’Dense Musculature, Ursine Bulk, Brute Efficiency, all doing roughly the same job in slightly different flavors.’

*Impact Resistance, Thick Skin and even Ursine Bulk income way, are the same deal.’

He rubbed his chin. ’Can these things combine somehow?’

He tried interacting with two of them mentally.

And as he expected nothing happened.

He checked his Talent’s full description. Nothing about fusion. He checked Blood Trait specifically, still nothing.

"...Of course," he muttered. "No fusion option, no deletion option, not that I would delete any, I would rather just accumulate forever, I guess."

’Maybe there’s a function I haven’t unlocked yet,’ he thought, setting the frustration aside. ’They say as your Cultivation Rank grow, you can awaken new talent and bloodline abilities, though I don’t know when, wonder if I can force one through some magical item, must be some way to do it, right?’

’Filing that under ’future problems’ for now.’

---

He checked his phone.

12:47 AM.

He froze. "...Shit."

’Bloodmoon Ruins, the departure’s in less than ten hours and I haven’t slept at all.’

He started to lie back properly, then remembered the pile of rewards still sitting untouched in his inventory.

’The Underplate, elixirs and even the Deathscape, as they would have more use for it, gotta give it to them in the morning before leaving, though how would I explain it?’

’I’ll see in the Morning,’ he decided pushing his problems for his future self.

Then Borin’s voice surfaced in his memory, unbidden.

’Could’ve sworn someone was watching from the forest.’

Lucien sat up straight.

’Someone had already sent an assassin after Aurelia once. Then Vane after me. And now possibly another unknown variable sitting in the treeline, watching my house, while my wives sleep inside it, like some creep.

His joking exhaustion drained away entirely.

’I’m leaving for a dungeon in a few hours and I am not leaving a threat camped outside while I’m gone.’

He activated Veiled Aura, masking his actual Peak C-Rank presence down and layering a false rank over it.

[Veiled Aura Skill Activated.]

[-5 Mana/hour]

[Displayed Rank: Beginner C-Rank]

’Good enough,’ he thought. ’If someone really is out there, no reason to advertise how far I’ve actually come.’