Chapter 38: Blood Demon
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Vlad decided to gamble everything and combine several Skills related to his body, perhaps as a way to get slightly stronger.
He was, perhaps, hoping for a change—something that could help him.
[You have chosen the Skills: [Obsidian Bones (D): Lv1] [Ogre's Muscles (C): Lv3] [Chimeric Body (A): Lv1] [Bat Transformation (C): Lv2] and [False Immortality (S): Lv3] to Fuse.]
[Do you wish to Fuse these Five Skills for 150.000 Credits?]
[Yes] [No]
150k was a lot, and he hesitated initially.
But after considering everything else, he decided to just do it.
He pressed [Yes] without hesitating too much.
[You have exchanged 150.000 Credits.]
[Initiating Skill Fusion…]
FLASH!
Vlad felt several parts of his own body's strength unify as one.
Before, it was as if they were separate parts, chimeric forms, which he took and absorbed.
The Obsidian Bones of the Obsidian Skeleton Monsters, the Ogre's Muscles of the Orcs, the Chimeric Body of His Bloodline, the Bat Transformation of Vampires...
Despite all belonging to his body, they felt very much apart from one another, but once the skills representing them converged as one.
Everything changed; threads of blood-colored energy connected them together and then slowly fused them; his body, which once felt separated, began to rapidly feel...
Whole.
"T-This is…?!"
His eyes widened as he felt a rush of pain across his body, of his bones beginning to crack and heal back, of his muscles to tear apart and then recover, and of his blood veins to burst and then reconnect.
"Ugh…!"
He fell to his knees and tried to resist the pain. It came quickly, but it also faded away rather fast. And what remained was a sensation of tranquility and relaxation.
"Hahhh… What was that?"
He looked at his own hands, feeling nothing had exactly changed.
Yet…
BA DUM!
His heart started beating faster, and faster, and faster.
His bloodstream began to rapidly let his blood flow through his head, heating it abnormally for a vampire.
He felt more alive than ever before, compared to other vampires.
Although vampires were often called undead, they were truly something in between a living being and an undead.
Their hearts beat only once a week, if anything, and their bloodstream was incredibly slow too, making their bodies cold as they couldn't retain heat.
Their metabolism was slow, making them rather lazy at times, but when they grew hungry, they would rapidly become like rabid beasts.
Their incredible regeneration was also because of their ability to accumulate energy and keep their bodies in a seemingly perpetual state of hibernation.
Because of this, they had very long lifespans, although they weren't complete immortals, as they did age, but over thousands of years.
Hence, their Skill [False Immortality] was called like that…
"Hahhh… Hahhh…"
And Vlad right now felt like the complete opposite of vampires; his body had regained its vitality and warmth, and his heart was beating rather quickly.
"T-This is strange… But I guess it's nice, this warmth."
Slowly, his body cooled down, yet his heart was still beating faster than any vampire, yet still slower than any other living being.
There was a glimpse of warmth within him now, something that other vampires, who enjoyed the cold, would find strange.
"Huh?"
FLASH!
And that wasn't everything, as he noticed several crimson runes glowing across his body, overflowing with blood energy; they glowed brightly but then disappeared.
It felt like his Blood Energy could now be imbued into these runes, to enhance his physical power even more.
It wasn't a Physique yet, but it was the closest thing to it he could get with his crippled Meridians…
["I have no idea what the hell you did… But you've managed to enhance your body despite not being capable of obtaining a physique! Interesting approach…"]
Even the Heavenly Demon had to admit that this was a bit crazy.
"Hahah… It was a risk worth taking."
Vlad smiled, his vampiric red eyes glowing brightly as they released a bit of his new powers. All of his senses felt enhanced even more, including his hearing sense, vision, touch, perception of his surroundings, and more.
Ding!
[Congratulations! The Skill Fusion between the Skills: [Obsidian Bones (D): Lv1] [Ogre's Muscles (C): Lv3] [Chimeric Body (A): Lv1] [Bat Transformation (C): Lv2] and [False Immortality (S): Lv3] has been a success!]
[You have created the Fusion Skill: [Blood Demon's Immortal Chimera Body (SS): Lv1]!]
"Blood Demon?"
It was as if he had become another Race now, even though it still said he was just a Dhampir in his Status. Usually the description of Skills would be simple enough for him to not need to read them in detail, but this Fusion Skill was clearly more complex, so he checked it.
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[Blood Demon's Immortal Chimera Body (SS): Lv1]
[Skill EXP]: [0/10.000]
A Fusion Skill created by fusing the [Obsidian Bones (D)] [Ogre's Muscles (C)] [Chimeric Body (A)] [Bat Transformation (C)] and [False Immortality (S)] Skills.
Your body has awakened an Ancient Bloodline Strand that brings you to the Primordial Blood Demons that birthed the Vampire Race.
Although at your current Level, it is merely a small fragment of this ancient Primordial Blood Demon Power, it is enough to greatly enhance your crippled body to its limits, without needing to fuse with the Meridians to create a Physique.
Your Bones Durability, Muscles Strength and Flexibility, Blood Flow Speed, Physical Abilities, and your Senses increase by 300% (+20% x Skill Level).
Your Body Regeneration Speed, Recovery from Exhaustion and Arcana Recovery Speed increase by 400% (+25% x Skill Level)
All of your Chimeric Shapeshifting Abilities, such as Transformation Duration, Cooldown Between Transformations, the Transformation Abilities Power and Effects increases by 350% (+20% x Skill Level), and you can now Select two Forms at the same time to take upon, creating Hybrid forms; however, their individual power is reduced by 50%.
Your body is covered by {Blood Demon Runes} that can accumulate up to 2.000 Blood Energy per Rune (+500 x Skill Level), which you can use as emergency savings, or to unleash the power of the Runes, activating the {Lesser Blood Demon Transformation}, taking upon the form of an Ancient Blood Demon of your Lineage for 10 Minutes (+5 x Skill Level) and Increasing All Stats and Vampiric and Chimeric Abilities Power and Effects by 300% (+30% x Skill Level).
While in your {Lesser Blood Demon Form}, you are Immune to any Status Effect, and your Stats cannot be lowered or increased any further. You can also use the following Abilities without any cost: {Blood Asura's Rampage} {Blood Domain}, {Blood Curse}, […]. More Abilities are unlocked as the Skill Level increases.
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The description was sure long compared to any other Skill he had, almost comparable to the Traits or Flaws of his character! However, Vlad had to admit that he felt much better now.
"This is just what I wanted—another transformation that can help me…" he smiled. "Oh right, it is also passively enhancing my body too? I really hit the jackpot there… Should I risk fusing more Skills?"
Now that he had his body covered, he could perhaps aim for an offensive skill, but the thing is, it would be activation based, and if he creates something very strong, then it would drain all his Arcana with just a couple uses.
"I'll leave it at that for now," he thought. "I'll equip the other Skills I have now that I have more free space… If I ever need it, I might take a risk and fuse Skills in a battle or in another situation where I absolutely need something strong. For now, I'm good."
Ding!
[You have equipped the Skills: [Blazing Soul (A): Lv1] [Dual Blazing Blade Arts (S): Lv1] [Blazing Doppelganger (A): Lv1]!]
FLASH!
"Ugh?!"
Although the last two Skills created no problems for him, he clearly felt a burning sensation within him when he equipped Blazing Soul. His soul, which was of a golden color, quickly gained a slightly orange color, blazing like flames; it seemed to grow stronger.
[Because of enhancing the power of your Soul by equipping [Blazing Soul (A): Lv1], your Soul Ether has increased by +1.000!]
[Your Soul can now unleash {Soul Flames} which can easily target another foe's souls and burn them, absorbing some of their power and weakening them.]
"Not bad…" Vlad seemed satisfied for now. "Now that I am finally done with this…"
He still had the Skill Evolution Ticket that would apparently evolve a Skill and imbue it with the power of the Raid Bosses Souls; it had the potential to be amazing.
However, for now, he decided to think about which Skill he wanted to Evolve. He had considered doing it with his fused skill right away, but that would end up being a waste, in his opinion, after some consideration.
"Hmm…"
After that, he looked at all his materials and assessed their information, qualities, and so on. He wanted to improve his armor and cane, and perhaps even his accessories, while also making some new equipment for himself.
"These pre-made equipment pieces are really good, though, of good quality, but feel somewhat mechanical, like factory-made." He thought. "If I could melt this sword and merge it with my Staff… or perhaps my armor? Hm, why not both?"
Then he moved to the earrings and the rings, which were fairly good as well, so he might equip them as they were.
However, what was most important to him were the materials from the raid bosses: the giant wolf and bat's bones, fur, fangs, claws, and so on.
All of that could make some incredible equipment!
"If I really want to make a gun, I will need some internal mechanism that could shoot something at high levels of pressure, only with a click," he thought. "Also gunpowder; I suppose this is where the Pyrocrystals enter the scene. I have to process them without them blowing up on me first."
His idea of making a gun or something similar to it had not been forgotten yet, and Vlad had just begun with his preparations for what was to come.
"I might take another day making what I am envisioning, upgrading my armor, then Chris equipment... But once all of that is over, I think we'll become much stronger than I could have ever hoped."
Like that, Vlad spent the rest of the night, mostly four more hours, processing the Pyrocrystals into powder through Alchemy and also processing it into smaller chunks and combining them with metals to create deadly, explosive bullets.
It was easy to do with the amazing cauldron of the Heavenly Demon, and now that his Soul had grown very strong, he could access more of the Heavenly Treasury, taking several of Murim's unique materials with him to experiment with.
However, after realizing it would get too late if he continued working for more, he decided to quickly melt and dismantle the heroic sword and combine its components through Synthesis and Blacksmith Skills into his armor and his staff.
He modified his staff to become similar to a sword, with the metallic stick in the middle, while the two blades emerge from the left and right. It had a slightly larger form, though, making it heavier. However, with Float, it was easy to wield, even if it was too heavy anyway.
As for his armor, it now has a shiny golden color, and with a few jewels made of processed Pyro Crystal specifically made to boost magical powers and grant defensive magical abilities, even if it was hit in a battle, it wouldn't explode.
He had also used the bones, fangs, and claws of the two monsters and small fragments of their crystalized beast cores, which, as he had read online, often appeared within monsters of high tiers.
"Phew… At least the armor's fixing and upgrading is done!" he nodded. "Also, this new Staff-Sword is sure something weird I made... But it works for me."
Although he had finished in just over an hour, Vlad had once again made ridiculous pieces of equipment that no player in the game had made yet.
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Can't wait to see what's next? You can join my Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/pancakeswitch
and gain access to all these Advanced Chapters:
55 Advanced Chapters of
The Protagonist's Sister Is Actually The Strongest
34 Advanced Chapters of
The Heavenly Martial Empress Returns
17 Advanced Chapters of
Fantasy Story Online: The Crippled Vampire Prince Walks The Heavenly Demon Path