The night had almost ended as the moon had reached a corner of the sky, dragging clouds in its wake.
In the camp stationed outside the Daze's forest entrance, more than fifty men gathered round and stood in silence as they watched their liege, injured but standing valiantly, step into a tub filled with blood.
It was the blood of the Four-Horned Chameleon Marcus had killed earlier that night.
Because of the noise their battle caused and the blood spilled, they had to drag the big and heavy corpses of the chameleons.
Marcus was injured and exhausted, but he didn't let it show until they got out of the forest.
It took them almost half the night to be able to drag these corpses out. And when they did, the camp was stirred awake.
Mostly by the residual aura of the Prowler Beasts.
When the rest of the knights found out what had happened from Joshua and the other two knights who were present, they were left speechless and in awe of their young lord.
At the same time, their blood boiled as many dreamed of achieving similar feats.
And when they saw that Marcus had no plans to rest; rather, he was about to begin cultivating Blood Bane Arts, all of them gathered around out of curiosity.
Seeing the crowd around, Marcus sighed.
He couldn't be bothered by them as his shoulders were still stinging with residual pain. Even his ribs sent sharp strokes of pain through his body whenever he bent.
Seated in the tub of blood, mixed with blood essence from one of the chameleon's hearts, the stench of blood was thick, but that didn't do much to him.
What caught his attention more was the tingling sensation the blood made on his skin, as though it was trying to invade his body.
Marcus adjusted his state of mind and closed his eyes.
After exiting the forest, one of the first things he did was allow his body to absorb the surrounding Mana.
Although his recovery wasn't fast per se, Marcus had recovered enough to be able to cast a good spell if needed.
He would have preferred to wait a bit longer, but the energy within the Beast's blood essence would dissipate over time.
If that's allowed to happen, where would he find another Low-rank Prowler to hunt?
Marcus wasn't going to deceive himself by thinking that he was powerful enough to stand his own ground against a Prowler.
No.
Rather, he was smart enough to exploit the weaknesses of the Beasts he encountered, and crazy enough to carry out his plans.
If he met a Prowler Beast whose weakness he could exploit, then fighting it was no different from suicide.
Just taking a hit from the chameleon's tongue made it glaringly clear to Marcus that their strengths were different.
If it wasn't for his strong physique, the first attack from its tongue would have been enough to kill him.
Circumstances had turned the tide in his favor, and Marcus didn't want to gamble on whether the energy in the Beast's blood essence would last until he was fully healed.
Marcus then recalled a time in the past when he had attempted to awaken his Blood Force for the first time.
His father was still alive and was even present for this event. But the young lord had failed miserably, even giving himself an internal injury.
The emotional and mental spiral this caused him then was so much that Marcus refused to eat for days.
His elder siblings had naturally awakened their Blood Force at a much younger age, then.
And he didn't want to fall behind them. He didn't want them to look down on him any further than they already did.
In a way, Marcus could relate to Eddy.
He could understand why the young man did everything he could to obtain power.
It was all to attain his family's recognition.
And this was where both of them differed.
Even after finding out that he couldn't awaken his Blood Force, Marcus's father didn't treat his son any differently.
If anything, he treated him even better, as though he was his father's favorite child.
"Power is many things, Marcus. There's power in the tongue, where your words could bring about destruction. There's power in the edges of the sword, but if there's no wielder, the sword remains as good as nothing. If you want to be powerful, then do not be hung up on what you never had."
Daemon Sirdi–his father–said this with a smile on his face.
Marcus sighed once again, and his gaze fell on the blood in the tub once again, and he thought: I wonder how far this would punish my body.
As for the pain he would face, Marcus was mentally preparing for it, hence the delay.
After a minute of silence passed, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.
Marcus held his breath for two seconds before exhaling loudly.
He resisted this action a few more times until he felt his muscles relax.
And that was the cue he needed.
Then he began chanting the Blood Bane mantra slowly.
From the first word he uttered, ripples spread across the surface of the blood.
And then, when he finished reciting the first stanza, the blood began to bubble.
By the time Marcus was done chanting the entire thing, the temperature in the tub had increased to an unbearable level.
His skin immediately turned red, and veins bulged across his body.
"Ugh," Marcus grunted loudly.
The energy from the blood immediately went into his body, and a battle between energies took place.
Mana and Aspect were already one and the same thing. With the latter only being sub-characteristics of Mana.
Now that there was another energy rampaging in his body, his Mana moved like a hurricane, rushing to rid his body of this foreign energy.
Marcus was quick to try to restrain his Mana. However, it was like trying to hold air.
The Prowler's blood, also sensing the Mana, stood up to the challenge.
It gushed forward.
At that moment, Marcus coughed out a few mouthfuls of blood.
"Lord Marcus!"
"Lord Viscount!"
His knights around cried in worry.
"Brown, should we interfere?" Asad asked.
They too were aware of just how brutal the energy from the beast's blood was.
After all, they had interfered many times over the past few days when the apprentice knights were attempting to awaken their Blood Force too.
Brown frowned.
This wasn't a knight apprentice; it was their liege. Although Marcus hadn't given them any orders not to interfere, Brown didn't want to overstep or ruin his lord's plans.
After hearing of how Marcus had killed the chameleons, Brown became certain of one thing.
This lord of theirs was as fierce as any warrior out there. He didn't cower in the face of greater powers, and would do anything to achieve his goals.
Someone like this wasn't to be taken lightly.
They don't do things without thinking about it or considering the repercussions.
Had Marcus known that this would happen?
Maybe.
Hence Brown's hesitance…
Within Marcus's body.
Just before the two energies could clash, a force field separated them.
An intangible but powerful form of energy.
It was his [Lord With A Will] title.
Not only did this title help to stop the energies from clashing, but it began pushing them towards different paths.
Furthermore, it forced these energies into submission, easing Marcus's pain.
From the outside, the frown on his face slowly turned into a calm expression.
Easing the worry in the hearts of knights.
However, his skin remained red, and he was sweating bullets nonstop.
Time passed slowly, and everything seemed to be going fine.
Dawn was at the corner, as it had begun to etch its face on the edge of the sky.
Marcus continued to absorb the energy within the blood, and despite how much he had taken in, he still hadn't awakened his Blood Force.
He began worrying, and that was when it happened.
Within his mind and heart, Marcus heard and felt an explosion that rocked his world.
And then he saw a vision of more than a dozen men, standing upon mountains far above the clouds.
Each separated by vast distances that seemed insurmountable.
Their faces were hard to discern; however, their energies were colossal.
All of them opened their soulless eyes at the same time and looked at Marcus.
The young lord felt his soul shake, and the feeling of death approached him faster than ever.
And just when he thought he was going to die, he seemed to hear a "Hmm" in his ears.
At that moment, one of the faces on the far mountains became clear, but only for a second.
"Father?"
Marcus whispered, and the vision vanished like smoke in the air. Leaving a bitter taste and lingering fear in Marcus's heart.
…
[Name: Marcus Sirdi.]
[Age: 24.]
[Level: 2 (Mage), (Sage), (Warrior).]
[Race: Human.]
[Bloodline: Predator.]
[Mana: 3500.]
[Titles: Lord With A Will (Lv2). Unprecedented Oddity (Lv0).]
[Pathfinder: Will 55/55. Strength 41/100. Dexterity 60/120.]
[Achievement Points: 29885.]
[Arcane Knowledge Learned (Lv2). Advanced Technological Knowledge Learned (Lv2). Body Modification Knowledge Learned (Lv2). Futuristic technological Knowledge Locked.]
[Redo: 2.]
[Days Left: 50 months (1496 days)]
…