Born in Blood



"Are you gonna take all of those?" Niveh asked as Liam rummaged through the chest and started to store them one by one. "You can't even use any of them…"

Liam didn't really consider if Rin, Nord or Nessa wanted any of the Arts. Nonetheless, he only needed two of them – Niveh and Vxich's, while the rest were useful for studying.

The other Arts mostly focused on biting, clawing, shooting blood spikes and strengthening the body, but he didn't have any interest in those. Those vampires were killed relatively easily, after all.

However, that sleek, knight-like armor looked perfect for Liam's fighting style. It wouldn't hold back his speed or movements, and it provided excellent defense, which Liam currently lacked. 

There were also those spherical blood spheres that Vxich made with a simple gesture, plus the javelin and claw attacks. 

Niveh mentioned that his particular Blood Arts were much more advanced compared to hers, and contained some sort of blood manipulation that came with a Rank 3 Nexus.

Liam pulled himself out of his cocky line of thought as he looked at each parchment greedily.

'I'm getting ahead of myself. I still need to somehow attune it to my body and find a way to make it work.' 

He found an empty but spacious chamber within the tower to use, then got to work.

///

Throughout the next two months, Liam divided his time between forging with magical beasts, corrupted magical beasts, studying Blood Arts, inscribing, and testing out the Nexus'. 

A mouthful, and Liam barely had enough time for rest. He ended up stretching out his schedule to its limits, spending time with each specialization in intervals.

Using Primordial Forging with a Rank 3 magical beast was no longer necessary, as the pressure from those specializations was enough to help expand his mental sphere walls.

The pain from the Psionic Rune was slowly diminishing. 

The average age for awakening to a Rank 2 sea of consciousness was 18 to 23, depending on how heavily someone trained with it, and a few more external factors like using pills.

Meanwhile, Liam was merely a stone's throw away from becoming a Rank 2 Magus, a feat nobody at his age could boast or even dream about, which was just a little over thirteen.

On the other hand, Liam's tests with the Nexus had been moving slowly. He dissected them one by one, starting with the weaker Rank 2's. 

Inside, there were special organic tubes and arteries that interweaved and interconnected, forming a complicated network that transported blood and purified it.

Those tubes connected to the surface of the Nexus and then narrowed down into tendrils that gave the vampire precise manipulation over his blood and healing.

Honestly, Liam had no idea where to begin. 

He wasn't discouraged, but it was just too complicated for his understanding. 

It was clear that his goal of mimicking a vampire's regeneration and blood purity was the most challenging, and he couldn't accomplish it with his current level of strength and comprehension.

Liam narrowed his goal to working on a purer ink to inscribe with, which was much easier to work toward.

On the other hand, his forgings had been progressing steadily. 

Liam had fully transitioned into forging complete shortswords. He had gotten quite good at them too. 5 out of 10 of his inventions functioned properly, thanks to his new method of letting the beast will 'cook' in his head. 

Inscribed items had their own rankings and tiers in between. 

Generally, a Rank 1 Magus with a Rank 1 solid-stage core couldn't make something better than a Rank 2 Magus with a gaseous-stage core. The disparity was too great between centers of power. 

Similarly, the opposite could be true.

Of course, these factors varied depending on how knowledgeable and talented a person was in forging, and the method they used. 

Unorthodox methods helped forge items that were beyond the standard capability of a cultivator. Primordial Forging was one of those methods. 

'Most of my items are in the lower tier of Rank 1. The more beast will I add, the better the blade.' 

His forgings were a lot sharper and more pleasing to look at due to Liam's advancement to the solid-stage. He found that purifying and shaping the magical beast parts were significantly easier to do as well.

Out of all his progress, his inscriptions were doing the best. Mainly his linking capabilities. 

Learning the tiny intricacies of the vampiric tongue by studying the Blood Arts gave Liam ways to express his meanings much more fluently. 

Through that, Liam was able to successfully perform a sharpness inscription on his blade after one and a half weeks. 

Had Richard seen him do so, he would have coughed blood.

It wasn't the best, and he still had a long way to go, but it bolstered his silver blade's sharpness considerably.

As time passed, Liam improved in all of his aspects, physical and mental. 

As the months came to a close, Rin experienced a breakthrough in her core, giving her the status of a liquid-stage cultivator. She seemed to be in an uplifted mood 

Nord was the same, followly just a bit further behind. The boy didn't look too proud seeing that he was beaten to the punch by Rin, but that only strengthened his drive to cultivate. 

Nessa kept to herself throughout the two month period, silently creating potions and other alchemic products. Gerald's death seemed to make her more mature and less childlike, but took away her enthusiasm and cheerful personality.

///

Liam was sitting cross-legged with the Psionic Rune on his forehead. Cold sweat trickled down his face and drenched his black-clad clothes, but nothing he wasn't already used to.

His hair grew long enough to reach his knees, but he didn't bother to take care of his unkempt appearance.

…Suddenly, something started to change!

Slowly, the Psionic Rune lost its ability to harm and pressure Liam's mental sphere. 

Within his sea of consciousness, his golden barrier started to rumble and shake, while the mental energy within started to deepen in shade.