Born in Blood



As everyone entered the ship, Jack didn't waste a second and exited the cliff cavity, making a beeline towards Echoria. 

Unrelentingly, the tumultuous waves were chaotic as ever, smashing against the darkwood ship and swaying it unstably.

Liam stayed out for a while with his eye keenly stuck to the Korsan lands, just in case an unexpected enemy appeared.

Everyone else had entered their cabins, desperate for rest.

Gradually, the sounds of lightning striking the ground faded in the background.

Half an hour passed, and there was no attacker on sight. The lands grew further and further apart, and Liam lost the interest to keep looking at it.

Overall, a decent experience, all things considered.

Liam had gotten the chance to finally advance to a Rank 2 Magus, while making massive improvements to his Blood Weaving and understanding of the vampiric language.

Not to mention, the blood manipulation he was itching to test out, and the remaining hearts he needed to eat...

"You can give me the fill now. I'm sorry about Gerald, by the way… he was a good kid," Jack kept his voice low, pity visible in his eyes. A moment prior, the sailor had awkwardly communicated to Niveh and gave her an empty room in the cabin.

Liam gave a terse hum in response, before telling Jack the events of what happened during the past half a year.

The man's expression changed like the colors of a rainbow, but his shock at Liam's thinking and planning was the most prominent.

After an hour passed, Jack was at a loss for words.

Concluding his explanation, Liam began to head towards the ship cabin. "I'll be in my room."

Alone again, Liam grinned.

He instantly took out Vxich's body, but not before concealing his presence to any unwanted snooping.

Rin was especially guilty of that, and he caught her stalking him more than once.

The Blooder's body – at least, what remained of it – was still in okay condition. He could still juice out the remaining blood left in his body, and that's exactly what Liam started to do.

For the next week, Liam drained, diluted, then absorbed the vampire's blood. 

He even paused his cultivation in order to rest, seeing as his body begged for respite.

Time passed.

Liam's body had now absorbed all of Vxich's remaining blood.

His eye was always bloodshot, and he was in a constant state of agony.

Yet his body's connection with his ichor was steadily growing stronger. So was his manipulation of it, and Liam hadn't even consumed the Witch's Nexus yet.

Testing out his control, he found that he could mildly harden the blood to create little spheres of blood, barely the size of his finger.

'This is just the start. I can push myself more.'

Thus, Liam took out the Sanguine Witch's corpse.

Madam Ursul's body was missing a few chunks here and there, but other than that, was in pristine condition.

Liam didn't doubt that he would get a hefty reward if he simply gave the academy the Legionnaire's body.

But why would he?

'Money won't make me more powerful.'

With that thought, Liam bit down on the Witch's heart.

Liam could instantly tell that Ursul's heart was much more refined and purified, judging by the dense waves of lifeforce that melted into his boiling stomach and nourished his body.

It took another week to digest the center of power, but when it fully dissolved in his belly, Liam felt like his manipulation ability had doubled.

With an eager and hopeful gaze, Liam tested out his control once more.

Manipulating his blood no longer needed much effort, and he had plenty of practice to get used to how it worked.

The cut on his arm secreted large amounts of blood that gathered into the shape of a small liquid needle.

Under Liam's command, the blood-made needle slowly hardened, turning solid… but it slowly melted as his control over it waned.

'Not enough. I need to strengthen it even more!'

Liam began to absorb the Witch's blood. This time, he lessened the dilution of the mixture. 

He made sure to avoid going overboard, but that didn't stop him from testing out his limits.

After an entire week and a half of cruel, terrifying pain that almost made him pass out, Liam absorbed more than one-third of the Witch's blood.

'I need to finish draining the entire corpse before we arrive in Echoria. There's only a few more days left.'

Again, he reattempted forming a blood needle, making a cut on his palm and repeating the process.

This time, as it slowly transitioned from liquid to solid, the needle remained rigid and didn't fall apart. 

Exerting a bit of force on it, the needle shattered after Liam used a bit more strength.

Liam heaved an exhausted sigh, but his determination didn't dare wane. 

With no Psionic Rune training to undergo, he had much more time to work on other aspects of his strength. 

Despite that, Liam paused his bodily and core cultivation, only doing so when his body was sapped of its strength, and pairing it with at least two hours of rest per day. He even suppressed the urge to forge and inscribe.

Because of this, he was able to absorb what remained of Madam Ursul's blood.

The result was extremely promising. Liam's regeneration capabilities had improved to an amazing level, halving the time required for a deep wound to reform!

He could even feel his body naturally revitalizing itself as the blood circulated through his veins. 

Taking a one day break, Liam nursed himself back to health, just enough to continue gorging down the remaining vampire hearts. 

By the end of it, Liam was finally done with the cycle of absorbing and eating. 

Dark bags were under his bloodshot eye, and his face was whiter than milk. His bare body was covered with dried off blood stains he couldn't be bothered to wash off.

In a twisted way, he resembled a reverse vampire, except he didn't consider vampire flesh a delicacy.

Fixing himself, Liam tested out his blood manipulation for the final time. 

This time, he didn't form any cut, simply "willing" the blood to seep from the pores of his hands. 

It did just that. 

Blood gathered and coagulated around his palms, gradually taking the form of a shortsword and wakizashi. 

In an instant, it crystalized.

As soon as it did, Liam swung once against the darkwood floorboard.

To his satisfied delight, it cut off the steel-like material with ease.