( Max, during Time-Skip)
For Max, the past 12 years were probably the most definitive years of his life as a warrior.
Whether it was his fighting style, or his combat prowess, both changed drastically as he embraced his Bloodline nature.
After grinding himself through constant battles, whether it was inside the levelling pagoda against hundreds of thousands of beasts or against himself in the mirror world, Max realised that his fighting style which utilised his Bloodline ability and the power of Sanguis was the form where he was the strongest.
It started off as a tingling sensation, a hunch that if he centred himself around a pool of blood, he could create additional layers of offence and defence that would make it more difficult for enemies to approach or ambush him.
It later evolved into the ultimate tool that did not take any damage, did not consume much mana and could deal lethal blows to the enemy.
Until ultimately Max realised that the blood was a part of him! It wasn't a tool to be controlled, it wasn't an ability, it was an extension of his very being!
The blood was his sensory organ, alerting him where an attack might come from— the blood was his limbs that could take the form of chains or ropes to bind or immobilise opponents.
The blood was his gun, one that could shoot hundreds of thousands of bullets but it was also his shield that could block and help recover from enemy attacks.
Through repeated fighting within the levelling pagoda, Max realised that as long as he was within the Sanguis, as long as he was able to wield massive quantities of blood, he was an unstoppable force in a battlefield with bottomless stamina and uncountable means of dealing with multiple opponents.
The sort of freedom that he experienced when combining his elemental mastery with blood manipulation felt so surreal that Max wondered how he ever lived his life under the chains of restrictions.
He acknowledged the fact that his initial choice to be a support fighter, to have a staff and summon beasts to do his bidding as a Shaman was the right option for him at the time and he did not regret it, however, Max understood that now, he was 100 times more lethal with a sword than he was with a staff.
Had he not taken up the staff, he wouldn't have been able to maintain his dual identity and his summons, the giants and the netherbeasts did have their useful moments in battle, as when he was a tier2 and tier3 warrior, he did rely on them often, so it wasn't that his past choices were for nothing, however, when Max realised how fast he was wielding the sword and the natural advantages he held in close-combat as a result of his primal instincts and superior reflexes, he felt like— had he taken up swordsmanship as his primary weapon a long while back, he would be even more lethal as a warrior now.
Nonetheless, every single day Max sharpened his skill with the sword, every single day he increased his level and every single day he awakened some of his lethal primal instincts as he embraced his true nature.
This process repeated day in and day out for 12 years straight turned Max into a true Draconic Primordial Vampire as the glowing red eyes and the claws which were once only activated subconsciously, were now an active zone that Max could command.
His fighting style having undergone a chrysalis meant that he was thrice the stronger warrior even at the same tier that he was a few years ago.
His mastery of his moves, including his divine moves increased substantially after him using them often, so much so that the qualitative change in their activation times and Max's usage of them saw a markee shift.
Yes, he still focused on family and friends and government, however, his biggest focus was self improvement and he was completely absorbed within the attempt to become the best version of himself possible.
The more he encouraged his primal nature, the more it reflected in his behaviour as his sex-drive and appetite for blood skyrocketed.
Naturally, his wives had no complaints whatsoever to this increased desires as they were the happiest to comply, however, for Max this became a topic of concern when he realised that alongside all the powers, the madness went hand in hand.
As a tier1 warrior he was not mentally strong enough to control the madness, however, as a tier6 warrior he could ignore it like it was a stubbed toe.
It was slightly painful, but it wasn't crippling.
On an intellectual level, he completed reading the remaining pages of the Book of the Primal God Of War and discovered several key secrets about Dracula and tier9.
Secrets that might become his Trump card once he reached the fabled realm of monarchs.
At year10 of Kremeth Junior's birth, Max had reached the level cap for tier6 after using the levelling pagoda to skyrocket in strength, however, he did not take the promotion test despite hitting the level cap as he did not wish to give up on stat maximisation.
Stat maximisation was going to be brutal at tier6.
He recalled the training that he underwent within the time chamber to undergo stat maximisation for tier5 and understood that if he attempted to do this the traditional way he would need at least 3-400 years to accomplish his goal.
Since time was of the essence and he needed to get strong and fast, Max knew he could not attempt a traditional promotion which meant that he needed to somehow find a faster alternative.
His encounter with Seraphiel within the ice dungeon gave him that very faster alternative, however, that method was as risky as it could be.
For 12 years Max had suppressed his rage against Angakok for attempting to assassinate his wife and child while also having killed his master.
If anyone deserved to have their soul absorbed it could undoubtedly only be that bastard, however, was Max ready to take him on?
Alone? Maybe not…..
However, he had assembled just the right crew for this task!
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/// A/N - Today is the book's 1 year anniversary and what an insane journey we've been through in this past year!
To those of you who've been around since day one.I couldn't have done it without your support! ///