Chapter 155 : Chapter 155

Chapter 155 - Dracul

Kapus smiled warmly.

“You said you were looking for two types of high-grade curses. One with a wide range. One with strong power, like this.”

“Yes. I've shown my most recently acquired card. I hope you will show a corresponding card.”

“Of course.”

He brought his wrinkled, pale hands together.

The clasped hands soon separated, creating two curses on each palm.

They were very familiar things.

“Aren't those the curse of slowing and the curse of slashing? They don't look like high-grade curses.”

“Even a pebble can become a hidden weapon in the hands of an assassin. To become the source, one must know the mainstream, and also know how to become a tributary.”

“Did you face the Blood Stream Sorcery with only these for this moment?”

“I wanted to let you know. Not to get drunk on new power and ignore the talent you already have. Also, what you said is correct, Your Highness.”

Deudeudeudeudeuk─

Red blood vessels bulged on Kapus's revealed skin.

The abnormally protruding blood vessels didn't stop at the back of his hands and arms but spread throughout his entire body.

The blood vessels, branching out like tree branches, seemed to be a prelude to something I knew.

“Vampire blood magic.”

Kapus nodded.

“You are a direct descendant of the Queen, Your Highness. It is something you must learn someday, and it is not strange for you to learn it at any time.”

“I was also waiting to learn it.”

The racial trait and privilege of vampires, nobles of blood.

Werewolves gained senses and physical abilities unimaginable to ordinary people through lycanthropy.

Vampires also had extrasensory perception, but their true privilege lay in this blood magic.

However, vampires didn't appear much in the story, and thus blood magic was also a secretive technique.

“This form is a preparatory state for using blood magic. It is called ‘Dracul’.”

“The blood is circulating through the body at an astonishing speed. It seems to be three times faster than usual.”

“The faster the blood circulates, the more sensitive our senses for blood become. It is a suitable state for using blood magic, you see.”

Kapus placed his veiny hand on the Youngest Son's upper chest.

“Guidance is needed at first. As another vampire moves the blood in your body and rotates it, you will naturally learn the sense.”

“Let's start right away.”

“There's no need to be hasty. It takes an average of half a day to get the hang of it.”

“Is that so?”

The Youngest Son, answering listlessly, looked at Kapus.

He had the expression of an old man whose mouth was itching to say something.

I thought I knew what he wanted to say and wanted to stubbornly pretend I didn't, but I asked, thinking of it as the price for the curses.

“How long did it take you?”

“Ahem. It's not a brag, but I got the hang of it in an hour. The blood noble who helped me was also surprised by that speed. A speed like this is the first in a century─”

“I get it, I get it. I'll gratefully accept the guidance from the talent seen for the first time in a century, so let's get started.”

“Of course.”

Kukung─

A sound like a foot stomp rang in my ears.

Starting with a single loud beat of my heart, I felt my body warming up.

It was a different kind of heat from magic power overheating.

‘Is this the feeling of blood moving?’

My body was accustomed to heat, and I was accustomed to handling it.

As I followed the residual heat spreading through my body, I became able to follow the blood flowing through countless blood vessels.

The blood, which was gradually increasing in speed due to Kapus, also gradually shortened the time it took to enter and leave the heart.

And after one lap, two laps, three laps.

“I get it.”

“…?”

Kapus unknowingly took his hand away.

He was so startled by the blood vessels sprouting from the chest where the heart was that he reflexively removed it.

That sensation was not a mistake.

The blood vessels that had climbed up to the Youngest Son's neck soon stopped advancing and became complete.

I opened my closed eyes.

“So this is Dracul.”

The bloodshot eyes, now darker than before, were brimming with a blood-red light.

──「Dracul」──

[Description]

: Only nobles among vampires can use blood magic. Dracul is the optimal state for using blood magic, and it is both the foundation and the advanced form.

-Constant maintenance of Dracul is regulated as a taboo among the vampire race.-

This is because even nobles feel an unbearable thirst for blood in the Dracul state.

Therefore, the Vampire Queen said.

“The difference between us and ghouls is knowing when and how to drink blood. The moment one can no longer distinguish that, they are not a noble. They are a monster that must be killed.”

[Effect]

: Can use Blood Magic

: Blood Attribute attack speed in this state [+15%]

: Blood Attribute attack power in this state [+15%]

────────

I could feel what the system was saying to my fingertips.

The thirst for blood, which I had never felt before becoming the Youngest Son, began to stimulate my throat.

“……”

My throat felt dry and I felt like I was sweating. Even though my forehead was completely dry.

Feeling like I was gradually becoming not myself, I broke the concentration that was focused on my body.

“…What a strange feeling. My throat just got unnecessarily dry.”

“Y-Youngest Son-nim….”

“Can I get used to this thirst? How long can I endure it if I try?”

“Th-that's not the problem…!”

Kapus quickly took out a pocket watch from his breast pocket.

Exactly 3 minutes. The Youngest Son had understood and perfectly executed Dracul in just 3 minutes of blood guidance.

“It-it doesn't make sense. No noble has ever succeeded in Dracul within 10 minutes…. No, is it possible because he is a direct descendant of the Queen…?”

“Hey. Get a grip and answer my question.”

“Ye-yes? What did you say to me?”

The Youngest Son let out a faint sigh and repeated the question.

“The thirst for blood. What's the solution?”

“Drinking blood.”

“……”

“There is no other way.”

Kapus said firmly.

“Blood is the source of our power. When we enter Dracul, we feel our power becoming full, but at the same time, we feel thirst.”

However, this thirst was not simply a thirst for blood.

“The noble who taught me said this. Dracul is not a craving for blood, but a craving for power.”

“…Meaning that you get drunk on the power Dracul gives you, and you seek blood to gain more power.”

“Exactly. That is why the Queen also forbade the constant use of Dracul.”

“So the thirst can't be solved even by drinking blood?”

Kapus nodded heavily.

“That's right. Because craving and greed are like a bottomless abyss, they can't be filled even if you try.”

“So the answer is just to endure it.”

“The one among the nobles who endured the longest was one day.”

One might think it was short, but having felt the thirst just now, I acknowledged it.

“He must have bitten his tongue while enduring it.”

“Was it just his tongue? Anyway, I congratulate you on mastering Dracul.”

“The goal is the high-grade curses. It seems that through the Dracul state, you can reduce the long construction time of high-grade curses.”

Kapus fell silent again. His mouth hung open, and he froze stiff.

The Youngest Son wondered where he had seen this before and quickly remembered.

His first teacher, Ransis. Although their expressions were different, she also had the same impression on her face throughout teaching him.

“…Youngest Son-nim. Would you be my disciple for just about 50 years?”

“Fuck off. What's next?”

Asking someone who was trying to get out of this tedious world as soon as possible to live as a disciple for 50 years.

The lesson resumed with the profanity I blurted out without thinking.

“The one with a wide range and the one with outstanding power that you requested both stem from the curses I showed you as examples.”

The curse of slowing and the curse of slashing.

Kapus had actually faced the Blood Stream Sorcery with only these two curses.

As a curse sorcerer who had lived for three centuries, the depth of his thoughts was on another level.

“As you've seen, I have used the curse of slowing and the curse of slashing the longest and have developed them the most.”

Once again, two different curses appeared on his hands.

Around his palms, blood vessels bulged.

The curse in the Dracul state added another characteristic of Blood Stream Sorcery.

“The smell of blood….”

A scent of blood that wasn't there before brushed my nose.

The curse was originally a formless, gloomy light that stayed on the palm.

If it had a shape, it was like a sea urchin with sharp, thorn-like radiance extending around it.

But that sea urchin now smelled of blood. What was this change?

Looking closely at the curse, the change hadn't happened in the curse itself.

“You've added blood magic to the curse.”

“It's closer to a technique than a specific blood magic. If you added the Blood Attribute to the curse with Blood Stream Sorcery, Your Highness, I added the Blood Attribute through Dracul and my blood.”

The process was different, but the result was the same.

The Youngest Son also entered the Dracul state again to reach that result.

At the same time, an unpleasant thirst struck his throat. I ignored it for now and created two curses in both hands.

When I overlaid the blood stream, a magic circle bloomed, scattering a blood-red light.

However, the Youngest Son, who had already added the Blood Attribute with Blood Stream Sorcery, was more sensitive to Dracul.

“Look at this.”

The Youngest Son's lips curled up.

The two blood-red magic circles on his hands. They were practically no different from blood.

But with Dracul added, the magic circles felt like his own limbs.

Just as pulling the trigger fired a bullet, the original sorcery was something I had only recognized as a skill as a player.

But now I could see something.

“…I think I get it. What I'm doing now, I think I understand everything from one to ten.”

“You've moved from the realm of instinct to the realm of understanding. Congratulations once again.”

Kapus smiled with pride.

The expression of a sorcerer who had realized something was always a pleasure to see.

“Until now, I've only been able to load and shoot. But now, I feel like I can not only disassemble and reassemble, but also modify it.”

“You are gradually approaching the source. The moment you can freely disassemble, reassemble, and modify, you will become a sorcery founder.”

Kapus's shoulders flinched even as he spoke.

Because he himself knew best what his words meant.

If things continued like this, Millesdusk would soon welcome a new source of sorcery.

When that time came, the Four Sorcery Orders would end. It would be newly called the Five Sorcery Orders.

Kapus's hands trembled with the realization that he was standing at that historic moment.

“What are you doing? Next.”

“Ye-yes.”

Though the man himself was just crazy about clearing the game.

***

Enad was finally free from the librarian.

After a long six hours, he walked away from the lanky ghost.

The feeling of moving around on his own will was always good.

But now, that feeling was mixed with anger.

“…That crazy bastard. He sold me out to that ghost?”

The librarian had blocked his path like an iron wall until he answered all the quizzes.

Seeing as she was clearly the master of this space, he couldn't overpower her or run away.

“Today, I'll be able to beat him up properly.”

This guy was always in a life-threatening situation, so a rash Battle for Dominance was a risk.

But in a special situation like this space, a fistfight didn't matter.

Even if the two minds that were in one body were split into two bodies, the connection was still there.

He walked through the archives following that thread.

“What the hell is he reading that he's been holed up for 6 hours?”

If he hadn't been sharing the Youngest Son's memories, he wouldn't have been able to solve the librarian's problems.

But it was even stranger that he hadn't seen his face once during the 6 hours it took to solve those problems.

“He's really holed up in a corner.”

He passed between the winding, tangled bookshelves.

As he did, he began to feel something else besides the Youngest Son.

“…A vampire?”

The energy was similar to the Youngest Son's, so it wasn't hard to figure out the identity.

Tak─

At a certain bookshelf, there were no more books beyond it.

Only two blood nobles were facing each other with the same things floating in their hands.

That too for a moment, the Youngest Son smiled slightly.

“Not bad.”

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