Almost instantly, pangs of agony forced Liam on his knees.
The blood felt like it was digging into his skin and viciously gnawing his flesh, paired with magma flowing through his veins.
Normally, Liam was used to such pain. Yet even with his added status as a Rank 2 Magus, it wasn’t ignorable.
Thick veins bulged all over his body as he suppressed the urge to shout. ．
However, he didn’t stay idle as his body readily rejected the purified blood.
Amidst the burning, piercing and paralyzing feelings, he began to guide the blood and spread it throughout his circulatory system using his mental waves.
It dimmed the pain to a bearable amount, since it wasn’t concentrated on one spot.
At the same time, it eased his body in accepting the vampire’s blood.
Liam let out a shaky breath.
It wasn’t done there.
He took out the Rank 3 Nexus from his ring. The majority of lifeforce inside the organ was preserved, but it looked less bright than before.
As a safety measure, Liam waited until he saw signs of his body getting attuned to the blood.
It took an hour, but he felt his skin getting colder, albeit the pain lingered.
‘Starting instantly with the Blooder’s heart wouldn’t be ideal… but a Rank 3 Nexus has blood manipulation abilities.’
Gritting his teeth, Liam clamped his teeth on the heart and bit off a large chunk.
The urge to vomit had never been stronger. Even raw magical beast meat wasn’t as foul as a vampire’s heart.
Liam retched and gagged, but held back the nauseating taste and forced it down his throat, not sparing even the fleshy tendrils.
Like so, after four bites, the Nexus was fully consumed.
Instantly, his body protested with an even greater burst of pain.
His stomach acids began to boil, as though it was going to melt through his organs.
Still, his body held on.
All Liam could do was slightly lessen the cruel backlash of consuming a Rank 3 center of power.
As the excruciating hours flew by, the Blooder’s organ started to melt into Liam’s body, fusing together with him.
There was no magical ‘awakening’ of any kind. At least, not instantly.
However, Liam could feel a difference with the refined blood he absorbed. It was like he formed an extremely faint connection with it.
Despite the pain, an ear-to-ear smile formed on Liam’s face.
It worked!
…Somewhat. The connection was too faint for Liam to control or know what to do with.
‘…I have to strengthen it.’
A moment later, he diluted another mixture of Vxich’s blood with his own, then absorbed it through his nails.
The same horrible pain ensued, forcing Liam to lay flat against the stony floor, grunting and groaning.
As it subsided, Liam felt the connection ever so slightly strengthen.
A moment later, he took out another Nexus. With a heavy breath, he bit down and hurriedly chewed like a wild animal.
Again, besides boiling inside, the connection between his blood and body grew, like weaving one string to another.
Another hour passed.
‘I should stop,’ Liam thought, feeling like he was thrown into an incinerator then stabbed all over.
‘I can feel it naturally growing, but too much stress could shatter it all together and ruin my body.’
Taking a moment to revitalize himself and cultivate, Liam got up and headed back to the inn they stayed in.
His eye was a bit bloodshot, but that wouldn’t look strange to his crew.
As he passed by, his gaze couldn’t help but fall on the plateau, enshrouded by the mist.
‘Alucard… from what I’ve heard, nobody has seen him for thousands of years. Is he even in there?’
Revel seemed to think Liam could ‘perforate fear’ into his Nexus, but Liam let out a weak laugh remembering that. He smiled.
One day.
Soon enough, he arrived, entering through the single back window of the space.
“Why were you gone for so long? We were getting worried,” Nessa said, irked.
“Rin was gonna begin forging and burn the entire place to the ground. The other two idiots wanted to run out and check out the fighting arenas.”
Liam gave the three a stern glare, but they conveniently avoided his gaze. The wall was an interesting thing to look at, apparently.
“Three more days. After that, we’re leaving for good,” Liam planned, then laid down on the free side of the room.
An entire district was mapped out in the span of two days, while another was halfway done. As soon as that was complete, they would leave once and for all.
“I have to say,” Nessa voiced with a meek tone. “Despite working with you guys for nearly a year…we barely know each other. Why don’t we share a bit about how we got here?”
Liam hummed noncommittally, Rin raised a brow, Nord scoffed derisively.
“Now you ask?” Nord questioned. Although the boy kept a stern face, Liam could tell he wanted to know more.
“It’s not like you have anything to do except cultivate,” Nessa responded snidely. “Besides, you already know all about my origins, why can’t I know yours?”
A long silence followed.
Surprisingly, Nord was the first to break the ice.
“There’s not much to say, really. I was born in a middle-of-nowhere village, to a mother that died after giving birth, and a father that disappeared right after.”
Nord’s voice was solemn and cold at the same time.
“Most of my people regarded me as a bad omen because of my eye color… calling me “cursed” or whatnot. Even my brothers and sisters avoided me,” his tone grew colder. “They were right, though.”
“The first thing I did when I got a tempering method was butcher every villager in that place.”
Nessa flinched, looking at Nord’s indifferent eyes with a trembling gaze. Liam still had his back to the wall, and Rin gave the boy a probing look.
“Pretty much it. I enjoyed fighting them enough that I wanted to do it again and again until my death,” Nord gestured to Rin, concluding the explanation. “You next.”
The deaf girl said nothing for a solid minute, before sighing as she shook her head. With no particular expression on her face, she gestured:
‘I was a sacrifice.’