Born in Blood

Liam spent a good minute calming down the raging blob of blood in his mental sphere.

If he had to guess, inserting 'Ora' into his sea of consciousness helped settle the pain (or nourish the blood), but in turn had negative effects on the mind.

Nonetheless, Liam had been subjected to much worse – mainly his head boiling from having the King's Eye assimilated into it.

Panting heavily, he opened his bloodshot eye to reality, just to find Revel laying on the ground… devoid of any aura or life.

Liam's face turned solemn with pity. He sympathized with the man. Having your dreams and goals torn apart because of factors out of your control was dreadful.

"Blood Demon… eh? I'll hold this name for you, old man."

He shifted his attention to the red blob in his mind once again.

With a fixed thought, he willed it to appear on his finger – then proceeded to run his finger across a blank parchment he grabbed from Revel's stack.

The droplet lasted for much longer than Liam thought, and he nearly covered 1/6 of the page with his random writing.

'I've got the ink down… shame he's not here to teach me the rest.'

Liam's eyes fell on the inscribed odachi lying beside Revel's body.

'A memento wouldn't be bad,' he thought, storing the weapon.

He inspected his surroundings, looking for anything of value – books, 'Ora' Stones, etc.

'I'm sure he wouldn't mind.'

As Liam was looting the mountain cavity, his gaze fell on the book that Revel was writing on before he arrived.

He began reading the first page, rubbing away the splats of blood dried on it.

'I figured I'd write a parting message in case you're alive and come across this place… never thought I'd cling to hope. Desperation does that to you, I suppose.'

'I've left my spells and techniques for you under the drawer this book is on, so study them. There's also a sum of 'Ora' Stones I've accumulated over the years, so take those as well… bloody rascal.'

'A humble request from your dearly-departed teacher. If you ever go to Erivol, make sure to kill any of my family members you can.'

'This one's a bit of a long shot, but if you ever reach the peaks of the cultivation ranks, perfect Blood Weaving. Make it the best inscription method ever to exist.'

'On a side note, I have a small-scale organization towards the borders of Echoria. If you ever decide to take leadership of them, just flash them the token included in my ring. I've marked it for you.'

'May your blood perforate terror into Alucard's nexus.'

—Revel Ovlar.

Liam raised his brows at that last line, but the rest of the letter was filled with gifts and solemn words.

'I'll do my best,' he thought, looking towards the motionless Revel.

On the other hand, Liam had been eyeing the blood-sucking technique for some time, which looked like a neat spell to play around and test with.

Also, the organization thing was huge. Liam had a 'plan b' if things ever went sour in Echoria. Though, he lacked any knowledge about neighboring countries and continents.

'That's bound to change soon. If I get into the academy, that is.'

He pulled open the drawer and took out the space-ring inside a small box.

Inside were all the spells Revel had made by Blood Weaving, including his large sum of 'Ora' Stones – which amounted to roughly 3000, making Liam smile.

'Money won't be a problem for a while.'

On the other hand, only two of the spells worked, the rest were prototypes and failures.

Still, those would be good to study for when he gained some knowledge of how diagrams worked.

Unfortunately, Liam wasn't of the fire element, and the other spell Revel made – including all others – were attuned to it.

Nonetheless, Liam took out 'blood absorb' – a Rank 2 spell – and memorized it.

As soon as he was done, Liam tensed his right hand.

Thick veins bulged on his fingers – his newly reformed nails grew black and multiple inches longer.

'This'll come in handy,' he thought, before organizing his new items, including the blood-red token with a fang's insignia on it.

When he was done, he took one last look around the surroundings, then his eye fell on Revel's body.

'I'll give him a proper farewell.' he thought, before burning all the useless documents within the cavity and bringing Revel's corpse out.

He made his way to the ravine, walking over the serene river that continued endlessly.

Shutting Revel's eyelids, he placed his body within the river. The current pulled him along, a look of peace on his face.

The man drifted until Liam could no longer see him. 𝘣𝘦𝑑𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝑙．𝑐𝑜𝘮

'Farewell.'

///

It took some time for Lloyd to bring Liam his merit points, but it was much more than he imagined.

Of course, it contained Emma and Yannis' share too.

Without wasting a minute, Liam entered the underground assassin's guild.

There were a few more faces, but Liam didn't pay them any heed and entered the armory.

Ava's eyes widened as Liam appeared. Everyone thought he was dead, but the boy looked matured and stronger than ever.

After a casual greeting, Liam asked for spells of the darkness element, including Rank 3 martial arts. Not only that, but he took out the slip David gave him – redeeming a free Rank 2 cultivation technique.

"..." Ava blinked.

"Do you need me to explain?" Liam asked, annoyed.

Ava raised a hand. A moment later, she began to gather all spells and techniques attuned with darkness – which appeared in Liam's sea of consciousness.

After thirty minutes, Liam decided on what to spend his points on.

'Midnight Solace. Darkness cultivation technique. Rank 2.'

'Absorbs 'Ora' into the Core at a slightly faster pace after midnight. However, there is weaker absorption during the day.'

'Purgatory Night martial arts. Rank 3.'

'Lethality and speed focused dual wielding art. Cuts and slashes cause internal damage. If imbued with 'Ora', it will add a slightly corrosive property to the blades. 3 Forms.'

'Corroding Touch. Mental attack spell. Rank 1.'

'Can corrode the mental energy of a victim as long as the user is close enough. Causes disorientation and head pain, but only fatal if the victim has a weak mental sphere.'

As Liam left to test out his new abilities, Ava instantly called David, who then informed the Royce family.

A meeting was to be arranged.