Chapter 120: The Blood That Obeys II
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He simply thought the command inside his mind, the way one signs a contract without trusting the ink.
"System, Upgrade Blood Puppet."
A soft chime answered.
This upgrade did not feel like sharpening a blade.
It felt like opening a locked room in his chest and finding a chair already waiting inside it. An empty chair meant for someone else’s will.
He felt a subtle expansion in his mind, like space being carved out. Not physical space. Authority space. Capacity. A cold kind of capacity.
As if his blood had grown new hooks.
New chains.
New leashes.
He hated the sensation. He hated how natural it felt. He hated that some part of him, the part shaped by hunger and survival, recognized it as comfort.
Control meant safety.
Control meant no surprises.
Control meant nobody could drag him into a dark room again and laugh while he bled.
Sekhmet’s hands curled into fists on the table. He forced himself to breathe slowly, evenly, refusing to let the memory of helplessness hijack his upgrade.
The system chimed again, clearer now, almost cheerful, as if it believed it had done him a favor.
[Ding! Skill Upgrade Successful. Blood Puppet: Lv1 → Lv2
Slot Capacity Increased: Slots: 1 → 3
Effect Update: Host may now maintain up to 3 bonded subordinates under blood oath control. Conversion stability increased. Control range and mental command clarity improved.
Additional Reward: New Skill Unlocked: Vampire Creation Lv1
Vampire Creation Lv1: Host may convert eligible female targets into vampire kin. Converted kin are loyal and cannot betray the host. Converted kin may grow stronger by consuming blood. Converted kin cannot create new vampires at current skill level. Slot Usage: Shared with Blood Puppet slots. Current Slots: 1/3 used.]
Sekhmet froze.
For a moment he simply stared, not blinking, as if blinking might make the words rearrange into something less ridiculous.
Then he slowly exhaled.
His mind did not scream. It went quiet in the way a person goes quiet when someone walks into the room and says something so insane that you need a full minute just to confirm you heard it correctly.
Vampire Creation, he thought.
Female only.
Loyal.
Cannot betray.
Shared slots.
His fingers flexed unconsciously on the table.
He had expected Blood Puppet to become stronger. He had expected the slot increase. That was logical. That was a clean system progression. One puppet slot was too fragile. If Raka died, the slot would be wasted. If Raka betrayed him somehow, he would need another option. The system giving him more capacity made sense.
But this new skill?
This sounded like the kind of story drunk men told in underground taverns, the kind of story that ended with someone laughing and saying the gods cried because a man collected women like coins.
Sekhmet’s jaw tightened.
Why would the system give me this, he thought, suspicion sharpening immediately.
He tried to categorize it.
Not a puppet.
Not a ghoul.
A vampire like him.
A kin.
A true subordinate that grew by blood, meaning she could become stronger without needing constant upgrades.
And loyal.
His stomach tightened slightly, not with hunger this time, but with unease.
Because loyalty forced by blood was a sharp thing.
It was useful.
And it was dangerous.
A loyal creature was convenient. A loyal creature was also a responsibility. If he created such beings, he would become something in their world. A master. A god. A source.
He did not like the weight of that.
He sat very still, and only after several breaths did he notice the other subtle changes spreading through his body.
His blood felt warmer, like something had been ignited inside it.
His heartbeat sounded heavier in his ears.
Ba - dum. Ba - dum.
His chaos energy pulsed under his skin like a deeper reservoir had been poured into him. It did not explode. It settled, thick and steady, like a lake becoming a sea.
His bones felt denser.
His muscles felt tighter.
His breath felt easier, as if the air itself had decided to stop resisting him.
Then the system chimed again, as if it had politely waited for him to finish being shocked.
[Ding! Upgrade Bonus Applied. Chaos Energy: +500 Chaos Body: +500 Chaos Energy Purity: +1% Blood Awakening: +1% Overall Battle Power Increased.]
Sekhmet’s eyes narrowed.
He did not trust "bonus" language. Nothing was truly a bonus in Null. Still, he could not deny the sensation in his body.
He thought one word.
"Status."
Then the window shifted, and the updated version appeared.
[Status Window-
Host: Sekhmet Dawn
Race: Human
Location: Slik City (Null Territory)
Overall Battle Power: 17000
System Note: Host has removed training suppression. The host’s combat power is active.
Chaos Energy: 8500
Chaos Body: 8500
Chaos Energy Purity: 13%
Blood Awakening: 4%
Blood Proficiency: 00/100
Skills Blood Control Lv2 Blood Sword Lv1 (Can transform blood into a sword for now).
Blood Eye Lv1 (Appraise items and beings).
Blood Summon Lv2 (Summon blood minions using blood. Stronger blood = stronger summon. Minimum summon battle power: 1,000. Rare summons can evolve into Harpies.)
Blood Puppet Lv2 (Slots 1/3) Cannot betray master. Forced conversion if target battle power is not more than 2x host. Stronger targets require willing acceptance.
Vampire Creation Lv1 (Shared Slots 1/3) Eligible Targets: Female only.
Loyalty: Absolute.
Growth: Blood feeding. Creation ability locked at Lv3.]
Sekhmet stared at the updated window for a long time.
Seventeen thousand.
His purity had risen again.
His blood awakening had reached four percent.
His blood proficiency remained complete.
It should have felt like triumph. It should have felt like he had climbed a mountain and finally reached a stable ledge.
Instead, Sekhmet felt the familiar pressure of consequences.
Because whenever his power increased, something else changed with it. His hunger deepened. His instincts sharpened.
His humanity thinned, not because he wanted it to, but because blood did not care about morality. Blood cared about survival and dominance.
He rubbed his forehead slowly, pressing thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose as if he could pinch away the weight in his skull.