Thrain Bloodfang

After the day's lessons ended, Jarek left the academy through its gates.

Throughout the course of the week, this had become routine to him.

When his lessons were finished, he would leave and then return in the evening.

He now stood in front of a huge house which can only be described as extravagant.

As he opened the door, a familiar voice reached Jarek's ears. "Oh, you are finally here. What took you so long?"

"It was because of the sword instructor. He didn't want to let me go."

The person he was speaking to was naturally Eira, and the house he had just entered could be said to belong to her.

They originally shared the house, sleeping in separate rooms in this five-bedroom house.

When Jarek had recently transmigrated, he even wondered why nothing had happened between the past him and Eira.

Behind the past Jarek's normal, emotionless exterior, hid a surprisingly pure side.

But ever since Jarek joined the academy, it became Eira's house since she was the only one who slept in it anymore.

It is also one of the reasons she enjoys Jarek's company when he usually comes after his classes.

Both of them were seated, eating some snacks with some tea as they talked about the day's events.

"You said the reason you couldn't come on time today was because of the sword instructor?" Eira curiously asked.

"Yes, Instructor Arnulf is a real sword fanatic who is obsessed with developing talents. He is a bit strange, but I can tell that he is a rare, good person. I even wonder how he ended up in such a place." *sigh* When Eira heard Jarek's words, she had a puzzled expression, to which Jarek realized his careless and unintentional slip.

He hadn't told Eira about the academy's dark side just yet and didn't intend to for the time being.

So he cleared his throat before continuing, "When he sees a talented student, he wants to develop their talent. As soon as he saw me wield my sword and my sword qi, he immediately came over and started praising me, even offering to tutor me privately after lessons."

"I tried to decline, saying I had plans, but he wouldn't let me go, insisting that it was for my own good and should be grateful for this chance. It took a while to convince him to let me go, at least for today." *sigh* Jarek ended his narration of today's events with a sigh, to which Eira lightly giggled.

He then turned to Eira and asked, "So how is work? Is everything going smoothly?"

"Yes, progress is being made, but I think it would take some time to get everything ready," Eira replied before taking a bite out of a snack.

Jarek then responded reassuringly, "Don't worry about it. We have a few months. I am sure all will be ready by then."

Their conversation continued until Jarek shifted the topic once they had finished munching on the snacks. "So, how is your cultivation?"

"My shadow laws have reached the sixth level, Elementary Intent and my cultivation has already been solidified, and I am ready to advance to the next stage. That ability of yours is really terrifying."

The ability she was referring to was Jarek's brand-new skill—Cultivation Bestowal.

Just like its name suggests, it allows Jarek to improve others' cultivation using his energy.

It was a truly heaven-defying ability.

It has been proven time and time again that it is impossible for the qi produced from a person's energy core to fuse with another person's core.

But because Jarek's qi contains some of the characteristics of Genesis qi, he can make the impossible possible.

Eira's cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds with this new ability.

And with her rapidly increasing cultivation, her laws were also improving considerably.

Jarek, now seated behind Eira, channeled his qi from his energy center into hers.

Her energy center, which looked like a glowing blue sphere, sharply contrasted with Jarek's, which was as dark as the void at a glance.

A few minutes later, her energy core expanded slightly and appeared a bit more solid than before.

She had finally broken through to the Master stage.

But Jarek didn't stop feeding Eira's core with more of his energy.

Eira was also hard at work as she digested this energy, and used it to strengthen her energy core.

When one cultivates unattributed qi, they feed the core with qi from spirit stones or their surroundings into their cores.

The cultivator then works hard to digest this energy to develop their core, and once it has been developed continuously, it will result in a breakthrough.

The core can also store energy, which the cultivator draws to manipulate into any form he wants.

If one wants to create fire, they use that stored energy to accomplish that.

Jarek continued pouring his qi into Eira, who absorbed all of it, and she soon stood at the edge of another advancement.

When she sensed this, she stopped strengthening her core and kept Jarek's supply of qi stored inside her core.

When her energy capacity was finally full, she signaled for Jarek to stop.

Now, all she needed was to stabilize and solidify her cultivation so she could advance again.

This would take some time, as she needed to ensure her foundation was as solid as possible, and rushing to make continuous breakthroughs would ruin her foundation.

This was why she could only advance one level at a time, allowing her to gain the most she could at her current level.

And Jarek was satisfied with Eira's progress. In just a few months, she would become a powerful companion. He would ensure that.

This was, of course, in preparation for the future.

As they say, an extra pair of hands is better than one.

---

In the town of Belmora, in a luxurious mansion, in an office room, one man sat on a fancy chair with a calm yet unsettling look, and the other stood silent, his expression betraying the nervousness he felt at the moment.

"So, you are saying that when you went to the town of Arvenca, you found that kid you let escape all those years ago with some of my treasures. And instead of capturing him, he even injured you with one of the cage treasures he stole that day, and he was able to escape again. Now we can't even touch a single hair on him because he found refuge in that academy. Mir, have I understood everything correctly?" The seated man, who appeared to be the boss, spoke through gritted teeth, incensed at Mir's failure.

Mir lowered his head out of shame when the boss pointed out everything so clearly, and he wanted to dig a hole to hide under.

His first mistake all those years ago was being too overconfident, giving the boy a chance to sneak attack him before he could retaliate.

And his second mistake was almost the same as his first one, but this time his actions led to the birth of a formidable enemy.

But to his defense, the methods the boy used against him were too unexpected and were something they hadn't considered ever since they began their first abduction ages ago.

The metal was extremely hard, but at the same time, light enough for a normal person to carry.

He wasn't prepared for the boy to use the cage as a weapon. That cage was made with a rank 2 Medium grade treasure.

Safe to say that even his boss would be helpless if he found himself inside that cage.

What about him, who was smacked with it?

But his boss wouldn't hear any excuses, and if it wasn't for his past with Mir, he would have strangled him right then and there.

Controlling his emotions, he then took a deep breath and directed, "I will give you another chance to redeem yourself. By the end of next month, I want that kid's head on my desk."

"But boss, he..." Mir was about to point out how hard the task would be. He could even lose his life if he wasn't careful.

But the boss wasn't having it and interrupted him.

"I don't care how you do it. I want that brat dead. Am I clear on that?"

"Y-yes... boss." Mir could only agree and soon turned to leave, appearing dejected.

Once he was out, he couldn't help but sigh and wonder, "How did things change so much?"

If only things had stayed the same, if only that bastard hadn't betrayed the boss.

Otherwise, would he have turned out this way? But he knew that they all bore some responsibility for his change.

But he couldn't help but reminisce about that time—a time before they came and settled in this town after fleeing from Vothrun, the Vampire Continent.

---

On the continent of Vothrun, inside the Thornsvale kingdom, there was a particularly strong House, second only to the royal family, the Bloodfang House.

It stood strong for thousands of years under the Archduke of the kingdom.

Such a family even birthed one of the greatest talents, who was married into the royal family.

The other siblings were also nothing to scoff at, as they were all very talented.

All except the one and only illegitimate child, Thrain Bloodfang.

His mother was once the family's maid, whom the Archduke forced himself on, and Thrain was soon born months later.

But it seemed as if fate was completely set against him.

Unlike his siblings, who were at the very least medium grade talents, he was only a low grade talent and of the worst kind, a rank 1.

With his low status and talent, life became especially difficult for him.

He faced constant bullying from his brothers and sisters and was constantly shamed by their mothers.

His mother soon died at the hands of the other wives' schemes, and he was left alone.

Surrounded by people who didn't want the best for him and having no support at all in the House made his life hell.

When his mother was still alive, they at least somewhat restrained themselves, but after she was gone, their actions escalated.

His father, his blood, just watched it all happen with no intention to stop these incidents from happening.

To him, Thrain was worth nothing and didn't even care about his life or death. He was a stain to their glorious family name.

He had more important matters to deal with.

Despite all of this, he endured all the humiliation and pain caused by his own family.

In such an environment, the only thing that kept him going were the only good people around him, his maid and three servants.

They had served both him and his mother in the past and chose to stay with him to repay their former master's kindness.

Thrain's mother, a former maid, didn't mistreat them, and they were even quite close to her.

However, just like his father, he found himself drawn to his cheerful and considerate maid.

But unlike his father, who used his position to force himself on his mother, he won her over.

They got together when they were in their thirties, and she soon became the most important person in his life.

Sooner or later, their relationship became known to the rest of the group, who were happy for them and supported their relationship.

However, fate can be both beautiful and tragic.

Somehow, this news spread beyond the group of five, and his brothers caught wind of it.

It wasn't long before they conspired to kill the maid just to antagonize their little illegitimate brother.

When they succeeded, just as they had expected, Thrain didn't raise a fuss and endured, just as he always did.

But little did they know, he wasn't enduring just because of his helplessness, but because he had plans of his own.

Similar to a certain young white haired boy he would be fated to encounter in the future, he made a solemn vow in his heart—not to survive, not to protect, but to exterminate every single person who had wronged him and his loved ones.

"I, Thrain Bloodfang, swear that I will make all of you pay. Father, mothers, brothers, sisters, ALL OF YOU WILL PAY! I will make sure of it, even if it is the last thing I do in this life!"