In front of a massive and luxurious coffin, a raspy voice called out, “Step forward.”
Of the nine people ahead, either they had completed the initial embrace or had been thrown into the dungeon, leaving only him.
Mike stepped forward, standing in front of the Count.
The Count’s aged face bore a terrifying scar.
Starting from the upper right, the scar stretched to the left corner of his mouth, brutally dissecting his once handsome features.
It was clear who had done this.
“Stretch out your hand.”
The Count spoke again, and only then did Mike notice—this guy had flat teeth!
Not like in the movies, with four sharp fangs for sucking blood. Instead, they looked like they had been ground down by an angle grinder, perfectly flat, without any sharp edges.
With teeth like that, he could only drink vegetable juice, even eating an apple would be tough.
Following the instructions, Mike extended his palm, which was pitch black.
The Count frowned, not immediately taking out the essence blood but instead retorted, “Why so black, didn’t you wash your hands?”
“It’s a birthmark, this is a birthmark!” Mike declared confidently.
Old Count’s skeptical gaze swept back and forth across Mike’s face.
He couldn’t understand why such a poor lie could be told!
Old Count said irritably, “Switch hands.”
Mike extended his left hand, even darker.
“Pretty symmetrical, huh?”
Old Count gave Mike a cold look and suddenly asked, “Do you think you’re funny?”
Was he caught? It seemed that force might be necessary! Should he smash with a hammer or turn him to ashes with lightning?
Before Mike could react violently, Old Count dropped a drop of bright red blood, muttering, “If it weren’t for that guy’s fault, just a bite would have been so simple…”
The blood dropped onto the shadow, falling into a small bottle Mike had prepared in advance, and disappeared instantly.
A drop of vampire Count’s essence blood, obtained!
Old Count stared intently at Mike, waiting for his transformation.
One second… two seconds… five seconds…
About half a minute later, Old Count spoke again,
“Why haven’t you completed the embrace yet?”
“Maybe my constitution is special, one drop of essence blood isn’t enough?”
“Indeed, among your human race, there are some special beings.”
Old Count accepted this explanation, bleeding again while reminiscing,
“Back then, there was someone who always used ‘boring’ as his catchphrase…”
Boring?!
Mike focused intently, waiting for what came next.
“Damn it, I’ve already used 18 drops of essence blood, why haven’t you completed the embrace yet!”
Old Count screamed, his complexion paler than before, his eyes sunken, staring fixedly at Mike.
“Cough, is that so, I hadn’t noticed.”
Mike sheepishly touched his nose, pretending nothing had happened, and casually hid the bottle containing 19 drops of Count’s essence blood.
Old Count withdrew his hand, ominously saying,
“Kid, you have two paths to choose from, be thrown into the stinking dungeon, to keep company with those dog-like creatures.”
“Or…”
Old Count glanced behind him and looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping on their conversation. Lowering his voice, he said, “I’ll introduce you to the Duke, and he will grant you the essence blood to complete your embrace…”
“I don’t know what kind of trick you’re pulling, but whatever essence blood you get from the Duke, we split it 90-10.”
Mike couldn’t help but exclaim, “Nice try, buddy! Trying to skim off the top, huh? Vampires really live up to their name, but it looks like you’ve picked the wrong guy.”
“70-30.”
“80-20!”
“70-30!”
“Fine, 70-30…” Before Count could finish, Mike interrupted again, “Seventy percent is mine.”
“Kid, don’t push your luck!”
“Then I’m out?”
“Fine, thirty percent then!” Old Count’s eyes flashed with greed. Even a single drop of the Duke’s essence blood was a valuable tonic for him.
The two quickly struck a deal, and Mike spoke up again, “That guy you mentioned earlier who always says ‘boring’?”
“When you bring back the Duke’s essence blood, I’ll finish the story,” Old Count wasn’t a fool; their deal had no guarantees. Since Mike was interested in the story about that man, Old Count still had some leverage.
Old Count pressed down on the armrest, and immediately someone entered the hall, leading Mike deeper inside.
“Kid, remember, even if you die, make sure you come back!”
“No problem, but you better hang in there. Don’t kick the bucket before I return.”
The two exchanged their ‘friendly’ farewells. To an outsider, it might seem like they were good friends.
As he walked out of the coffin hall, Mike took one last look at Old Count.
[The former vampire prince, the owner of Mistveil Castle, once the most powerful being in the entire castle…]
[Until one day, he met a man and a sword.]
“Wow—Ares really cool, huh?”
The drama on the tenth level of the Tower of Truth was actually an infinite loop of a certain day. Traces left by participants in one cycle would be reset in the next!
Only a few could truly change and impact the entire Instance! Clearly, Ares was one of those people.
Mike shifted his gaze, having gathered enough information. The seemingly ordinary Old Count had such a background.
The Eye of Truth also informed Mike: [Eliminating Old Count, Human Exploration Rate +50%]
According to this calculation, Mike only needed to eliminate the leaders of both the [Vampire] and [Werewolf] factions to achieve a 100% Exploration Rate for the human faction.
There was just one small problem. “Why does it show three factions’ Exploration Rates?”
Mike glanced at the prompt in the lower right corner and fell into thought,
“After collecting 19 drops of Count’s essence blood, the vampire faction’s Exploration Rate increased by 19%!”
“And the other two factions’ Exploration Rates haven’t disappeared; it even shows how to obtain the human faction’s Exploration Rate.”
So, there’s only one truth.
“All three factions can achieve a 100% Exploration Rate!”
Thinking of this, Mike couldn’t help but get a bit excited.
Achieving a 100% Exploration Rate for one faction is an SSS rating.
Ares and Morpheus had already demonstrated this for Mike.
If all three factions simultaneously achieve a 100% Exploration Rate, could the rating be… SSSS?!
“Stack on the [Blessing of Truth], and the rating goes up another notch.”
Mike was startled by his own thoughts.
An SSSSS rating?!
Is there such a rating?
Well, there’s plenty of time, might as well give it a shot!
Led by a maid, Mike walked into an even more luxurious hall.
Like the previous hall, this one also had marks of being slashed by a sword.
Mike shifted his gaze away, deliberately ignoring the cracks, pretending nothing had happened.
Duke, dressed extravagantly, his face hidden behind a golden mask, was unrecognizable.
Following the previous procedure, Duke dropped essence blood into Mike’s palm, attempting to complete his embrace.
Unsurprisingly, it failed again.
After collecting nine drops of Duke’s essence blood, Mike was ready to switch bottles and continue collecting.
Duke, however, withdrew his hand, coldly stating,
“There’s none left, not a single drop.”
9 drops of Duke’s essence blood increased Mike’s vampire faction Exploration Rate by 27%.
[Vampire faction Exploration Rate: 46%]
Unwilling to give up, Mike pressed on, “Is there a stronger vampire here, like a prince?”
“I really want to undergo the embrace, really, I’m not here to steal essence blood!”
Duke snorted coldly, “Yes, do you want to be sent as blood food?”
“That’s not out of the question, just curious, his blood volume isn’t over 10 billion, right?”
Mike looked at his own 30-level Charge Up, feeling somewhat reassured.
If he really met the vampire prince, Mike would definitely strike first.
“With so much essence blood and you still haven’t completed the embrace, your lineage must be very powerful.”
Under the golden mask, Duke muttered to himself, “I’m willing to give you a chance, infiltrate those slaves, and find out what they really plan to do tonight…”
“Accept the mission [Dance with Wolves], upon completion, vampire faction Exploration Rate +50%.”
“Accepted!”
Mike already had a 46% Exploration Rate, adding 50% from the undercover mission.
The remaining 4%, he could squeeze out from Old Count.
“Adding it all up, achieving 100% Exploration Rate for all three factions seems really possible!”
After accepting the mission, someone immediately approached, intending to put shackles on Mike.
“No need, he has the scent of a dog on him, it will make those slaves think he’s one of them.”
“Take him to the deepest part of the dungeon…”
…
Mistveil Castle.
The deepest part of the dungeon.
Thud, thud, thud—
Heavy footsteps echoed as Mike appeared at the end of the corridor.
A group of ragged, disheveled prisoners, shackled and confined, were held here.
“Get in!”
Mike stepped into the dungeon, and many eyes, glowing green, turned towards him.
“Keep it down, after tonight, you’re all dead meat!”
The guard dropped the menacing words and turned to leave.
In the dark dungeon, soft sobs could be heard.
Mike looked around, still unable to spot the werewolf leader.
Suddenly, a shadow burst out of the darkness.
Mike almost unleashed his Thunderclap Strike.
The sound of countless chains clashing filled the air as the shadow knelt at Mike’s feet, looking up, staring intently at Mike’s cloak, the voice trembling non-stop, “I knew you would keep your promise, you had to come! For three hundred years, we’ve been quietly waiting for your arrival!”
“Uh?”
Mike really wanted to ask, do we know each other?
But the next words from the shadow made Mike’s eyes widen.
“You, you were sent by Lord Morpheus, weren’t you!”