Born in Blood



Liam completed his morning training and headed to his spare specialization classes – ones given to him by the Oracle. 

Race Studies by Roland Herk, Magical Beast Studies by Warh Qwim, Magical Beast specialized forging by Jordan Klop, Basic Inscription by Richard Nesht, among World History, Language and… Realm Studies? 

That was a particular one. Liam searched up the teacher's name in the academic index and the results were slightly… concerning. The man had half a star, and not a single positive review. 

The Oracle somewhat saw fit for Liam to take that class, so he didn't question it.

He started with Roland, the race studies teacher. Liam had already forgotten their last names, but he couldn't care less about that.

There were just a few students that picked this particular class. None that Liam recognized. 

Roland had an unkempt appearance that made him look slightly drunk – a short stubble covered his chin, gray hair curly that fell to his shoulders, deep set amber eyes and a short stature.

The first study was about the foreign race everyone was familiar with – vampires. 

There were multiple drawings and illustrations the professor had displayed on the reflective board, which had much more detail and clarity compared to Liam's childhood book.

From the class, he learned more about the vampiric centers of power – Roland even promised to bring a vampire's Nexus for a close-up study one day. 

That would prove extremely useful for Liam, who could see the ins and outs of everything with his eye. 

From the illustrations, the heart of a vampire looked nothing like that of a human's – it was spherical in shape, nearly the size of a small bowling ball. 

Tendril-like veins hung from the crimson, fleshy, almost glowing surface, which would transform, refine and purify the blood. 

Magical beast studies was another field Liam was interested in, which was the very next class.

He'd already gained a hefty amount of experience from fighting, killing and being attacked by so many of them.

The class provided answers for some of the questions Liam had. 

Warh was a burly, intimidating man with a dark, thick, well trimmed beard. He had a natural frown on his face, but had a soft tone when he spoke.

Strangely enough, Rin was there too – an unusually focused look on her pale face.

The class was mainly about what strength someone needed to be to fight against a Rank 4 magical beasts, as well as different species and capabilities of each of the Ranks, starting with the Mortal ones.

Fighting Zenith level humans was a different matter entirely. 

Magical beasts had only two centers of power, the body and core, with the former being the main prowess they fought with.

Human Zeniths on the other hand had 3 centers of power, each one extremely deadly on their own.

To put it simply, to kill a Rank 4 beast, you'd need one center of power in the same level as them. 

The most common of these was the body, since it was relatively the easiest to advance, followed by the core and sea of consciousness.

…For Liam, though, it was the other way around. 

He awakened his mental sphere before his core, and was already ranked 3 body-wise when he finally did. 

Of course, killing with just a Rank 4 body was not enough. 

At least an experienced group of 5 people with a Zenith ranked body was required for a sure-to-kill chance, but that example was considering their other centers of power being weak.

The next class was the one Liam was most excited about, besides basic Inscriptions.

Jordan was a tall, lanky man with no hair on his head. He had dark bags under his black eyes, and his voice sounded like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing against each other.

There were just a handful of students in this class, but strangely enough, Rin was there too. 

Unlike the other lecture halls, this one had a large inscribed forging table, one with differently shaped tools. There were similar forging tables in front of each student's desks, but it was way too early for them to start.

"Alright, before we begin, if there's anyone with a forging method related to magical beasts, meet me after class ends."

Jordan began explaining how to mend, purify and strengthen magical beast-made items with various forging techniques – he brought out Rank 3 beast parts to work with, and displayed examples as he taught his methods.

Some Rogan had taught Liam already (a reminder of the eccentric blacksmith's skill), but most of the others were unknown techniques extremely useful for Liam's needs. 

Especially the endurance aspect of it, which could solve his blades' quick deterioration.

"With forging, one has to trade one aspect of strength for another. For example, if you want to increase the sharpness of your blades, you have to lessen the endurance and overall strength," Jordan explained, cleaning up his table by rubbing it with a white cloth. "Of course, this tradeoff would lessen once you get better with forging in general, but that's how it is. "

"Oh, and the academy offers materials for a cheap price if you're looking for them. That's all for today."

Liam waited until the class was somewhat empty before approaching Jordan. 

Rin lingered back as well, which made Liam think she might have some sort of forging method related to magical beasts as well.

"Professor, if I tell you about my forging method, will you be able to tell it to any others here?" Liam asked with a low voice. He cupped a hand over his mouth so the distant Rin couldn't read his lips.

Primordial Forging was an incomplete, unorthodox and deadly forging method… but it had massive potential. He didn't want to risk putting a target on his back.

"The Binding Oath doesn't let me tell even the Royals about your special abilities. You're free to do so, lad."

Liam nodded firmly, then explained.

Jordan's eyes slowly widened as he listened.

"S-Such a forging method exists?!" 

Liam remarked a slight frown growing on Rin's face, but didn't expect Jordan's overreaction.