Damon could barely hold himself back. But in the end, he failed. A raw, guttural scream tore from his throat as the blood surged deeper into his core, boiling his insides and ripping apart every nerve with invisible claws.
He writhed in the crimson pool, veins bulging, eyes wide with agony. The pain was beyond anything he had ever imagined, sharp, relentless, primal. It felt like dying over and over again.
He had laughed off Varnyx’s warnings earlier, thinking the old vampire was just being dramatic, throwing in a bit of cultish flair to make the ritual sound grander than it was. But now? Now he knew. This bloody thing was seriously trying to kill him!
His screams echoed through the ritual chamber, but no one ca. Varnyx stood at the edge, silent and watchful, the sa way one might observe tal in a forge, impassive, waiting to see if it would crack or hold.
Visions slamd into his mind, mories that weren’t his. A vampire king draining an army on a battlefield of ash. A queen with hair like fire whispering to a lake of blood. A child being buried alive in a coffin of bone, laughing as darkness embraced him.
Through it all, Damon scread.
However, all of a sudden, sothing unexpected happened. Sothing even more ancient and primal stirred awake. The chaos and storm in the blood pool abruptly quieted down, leaving both Damon and Varnyx completely dumbfounded.
One second, it was tornt incarnate. The next, eerie silence. The blood that had monts ago boiled and surged like a sentient tide went unnaturally still. Damon’s body floated motionless at the center of the pool, breath shallow, skin pale, eyes open but unfocused.
Varnyx narrowed his eyes. "What...?" he muttered, stepping closer, his instincts prickling with unease. The blood didn’t reject Damon. Nor did it finish absorbing him. Instead, it yielded. It completely submitted. That wasn’t how this was supposed to go.
Then ca the sound. Thump. A deep, resonant heartbeat. Damon’s heartbeat. The blood pool instantly surged into action. All the blood gathered in the blood pool rushed into his body as if they were afraid to be left out.
The blood that had once threatened to unmake him now surged into his body with the desperation of a starving tide eting its master.
Varnyx staggered back, nearly tripping. "Impossible..." he whispered, his voice dry with awe and fear. "That much blood essence... no vessel can withstand that."
But Damon wasn’t just enduring it, he was devouring it. His skin darkened to an obsidian crimson for a breath, then faded back to pale; his muscles trembled, then stilled; even his fangs elongated slightly, only to settle into sothing more refined. The blood wasn’t just empowering him, it was rewriting him.
Seconds turned into minutes, and finally, every single drop of blood was completely licked clean.
And then... Damon opened his eyes.
They weren’t red. Not anymore.
They glowed with a swirling black-gold hue, like twin eclipses ringed in bleeding starlight.
A tremor ran through the chamber. Varnyx dropped to one knee instinctively, head bowed. "Blood God," he whispered. "No... Blood Primordial... you’ve returned."
Damon stood, naked and unbothered, crimson steam rising from his body in wisps. "I guess the ritual was successful."
Blood Reign chid in happily. "Damon, you did it!" The weapon spirit seed extrely joyous and happy. Considering everything that happened, Damon couldn’t help but think of the obvious. Wait. Did he actually do it? Did he get rid of the damned curse?
He hurriedly opened his status screen, but the next second, a wry smile ford on his lips. This damned bloodline hadn’t stabilized just yet. At least not completely.
The guillotine above his head had rely moved from 30 days to 300 days. Damon stared at it for a mont and then let out a sigh. Though the danger wasn’t completely gone, at least now it gave him a lot more breathing room.
With these many days, he might actually be able to figure sothing out. Sothing more permanent.
Damon put the thought away and decided to check out how much he and his body had changed from this encounter.
[Ding! You have gained additional stat points in all attributes.]
"Huh? That’s it?" It felt a bit anti-climactic. Sure, additional stat points in all attributes could actually be considered a big bonus, but it was nothing he couldn’t farm by himself. Besides, for all the pain he felt, he really thought that sothing else would have changed.
"Damon, try circulating your mana." Bloodreign reminded him.
Damon tried doing it, and imdiately his eyes widened in shock. His mana flow was completely transford.
It didn’t just circulate, it howled.
What once felt like a steady river now surged like a wrathful ocean, crashing through his ridians with terrifying montum yet perfect control. His circuits weren’t just wider, they were reinforced, almost crystalline in nature.
Damon staggered back a step, his breath catching. He quickly pulled up his status screen.
[Blood God]
Class: Primordial Awakening - Class Path Unavailable
Species: Bloodborn
Race: Blood Initiate (Variant)
Bloodline: Fragnted Ancestral Bloodline???
Status Effect: Bloodline Instability (300 days)
Soul Weapon: Bloodreign (Locked)
Titles: Rabbit killer, Banana Reaper, First Awakener, Bromund Slayer, Solo Reaper, Founding Pillar of Blood, Bound by Fire and Blood
Level: 40
Faction: Dark
Health: 30000
Mana: 30000
Vitality: 150
Stamina: 150
Strength: 150 ( 10)
Intelligence: 150
Agility: 150 ( 10)
Constitution: 150
Luck: 10
Available Stat points: 20
***
Damon couldn’t believe it. His entire stat sheet had exploded to perfection. Combined with the bonus stats he had gained through the fire temple dungeon runs and this body tempering ritual, his stats had actually reached the peak limit for a Blood Initiate while he was only level 40. No, in fact, he had gone above and beyond it.
These were typical stats of a level 75 player. That too, his bonus stat points were still available for him. Not to ntion his health and his mana reserves had actually straight up doubled!
In fact, he had the mana reserves of a level 100 player, and he hadn’t even ford a mana core yet. This was absolutely broken!
***
Bonus Chapter sponsored by Syphatrol~
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