VRMMORPG: Rise Of The Blood Paragon

"Okay, I'll agree with what you say on this, then. If my fate is damned, I'll die, and if it's good, I'll live."

"You seriously don't have to worry about that, Your Highness," Karvin said, his tone urging as he added, "Also, I'm not sure why you would doubt my loyalty, because it hurts. You know me best—or do you suffer from a little bit of amnesia? I'm sorry to assume, but you once called me your friend. I'm not only your guard but like a brother to you. I would put my life on the line to save you if it comes to that."

"You would put your life on the line to save me? It's as deep as that…" Lionel muttered as he looked Karvin up and down.

What relationship could they have had? And also, I'm guessing I'll need to play amnesia a bit to Karvin too. I've already done that with Cedric—what more of Karvin? he thought, then straightened his back properly.

"I might have amnesia, then, though I remember your name, my name, and the seething hatred in my heart for my uncle," he laughed faintly, adding, "That is not something I'll forget."

He turned to the maid's corpse, bile rushing to his throat, but he had already been tempered to not be affected again. Sighing to clear his airway, he asked Karvin, "What do we do about her, then?"

Urgently, he asked again, "How can we make sure that the king doesn't hear about this?"

Karvin moved away from his spot, closer to Lionel, standing with his legs beside the corpse. He snickered as he said, "Your Highness, though this rarely happens, it's not totally unheard of."

"Sometimes, when you are so down and just want to feel like a normal vampire, want to be able to have your own meals without having to drink from bowls, I help you."

"What do you mean?" Lionel asked, confused as he listened to Karvin.

"Pardon my manners, Your Highness. I don't mean that you are not a vampire—I…"

"No, not that," Lionel said, cutting in. "What do you do to make me feel included? Make me have my meal directly from the blood slaves?"

"Oh…that's easy," Karvin said, bending over the corpse. His hand moved to trace the strand of hair that had strayed to her face, and he worked his palm over her face, closing her widely opened eyes.

He raised her hair, which he had swept together to the side, revealing her bite mark. "This here, master, is my fangs, not yours. I simply bite deep into the blood slaves, and you feast on them to your heart's content."

Then, as if normal, he twisted the neck of the dead maid, and Lionel gasped, his eyes widening in horror. His mind raced to question what he had come here to do and how he was to live in the days ahead. Why does Karvin even bother to still inflict pain on a corpse—if that could even be called pain?

But he didn't need to say this out loud, as Karvin rose just as quickly as he had done it, his hands rubbing together as he cleaned them. "What you did just now has some abnormalities, which I've fixed."

"When I bite and you feast on them, you don't finish the meal. Don't drink them till they die because it's impossible for you to do so. You didn't make the cut, so you can't have the last meal. A feast among vampires ends with the blood slave dying and breathing her last at the hands of the first person who bit into her. And that would be the flaw of this corpse you bit into."

"Is that why you twisted her neck? To fake that she didn't die from me draining her but from something else? I'm not understanding this, but I still get some parts…"

"So, that's it, Your Highness. You don't need to worry about this mess. I'll clear it for you, just like I've always done."

"Okay," Lionel found himself saying. He stood there and watched Karvin drape the maid's body over his shoulder and walk out of the room.

He stood there, his eyes raking over the room. It looked as if nothing had happened there. The corpse that told of his heinous act was gone, and no traces were left.

His bum met the soft foam of his bed, and he purred lightly.

"Comfy but cold," he said, touching the bed.

But then, as he was about to lie down, he remembered something and rose straight away.

"How could I forget about that?!" he exclaimed, berating himself. "I need to check my status. My powers might be back, and I might've gained more."

He requested to see his profile in his mind, and it displayed before him.

[Name: Lionel]

[Race: Vampire|Human]

[Cultivation Status: Opened]

[Cultivation stage: First Stage of Blood Initiate

[Blood Essence: -

[Abilities: Health Regeneration

Bloodshifter]

[Skills: Blood Evolution

Appraisal]

[Bonded Weapons: Bloodsiphon Blade

Silver Dagger

WeaponShadowflame Blade]

"Huh?" Lionel was surprised as he looked over the details. "I thought I had drunk her blood till she died. Why isn't that recorded as blood essence? Is there a bug in the system? Should I click on the blood essence? How does this even work?"

He pondered hard, looking at the amount of blood essence he had, his null cultivation stage, and his abilities.

"So, when I awoke, I had none. But then I drank blood from an animal I saw on the floor, on the verge of death, and opened up all of my potential. I got skills, abilities, and even unlocked my meridians and dantian. And best of all, I got the unique Crimson Bloodline, which was part of the previous ten generations of vampires' bloodlines. What comes with it is the ability to cultivate blood to the purest stage. Blood being my affinity as a vampire."

"So now, how does this work? What determines how I get blood essence?" Lionel pondered, trying to piece things together.

Then, after much brooding, he tried to connect the dots. "So, the blood I drank that gave me blood essence was from a rare beast. After getting that, the rest of the blood I absorbed was just normal for consumption."

"Argh…this is messing with my brain. So, first, blood essence is equal to mana for vampires. They kill, absorb the blood essence—which could also be termed the vital essence of a cultivator, either human, beast, or creature who has reached at least the first stage. And to get this blood essence, the creature must die. And the reason I didn't get any blood essence from the maid is because she hadn't even started cultivating at all—hasn't built her vital core, which defines her as a cultivator. Or is it that she has no affinity?"

"Fuck! This is seriously driving me crazy!"

"I should get Allison to explain this to me—or what should I do?" he muttered, then resorted to the latter.

"Allison," he called out the first time and got no response. Then he called again. "Allison."

Then louder: "Allison! Allison!! Allison!!!"

But he got no response every time he called. It dawned on him that he might truly be alone in this world, with just Karvin.

Because…

"Where the fuck did Allison disappear to?!"