Rise of the Blood Sovereign

97  Drinking the Blood of the Infernal Bear

"What … is that?" Olman asked as he gulped.

He, Adam, and Wan were all drawn toward the jar immediately and found it hard to resist moving toward it. They slowly moved toward the jar as Lyle opened it and a strong smell of blood permeated through the living room.

Each of the three know knew what the jar contained, blood.

But only Adam and Lyle knew just whose blood it was.

"This blood was collected by me from a Golden Core Infernal Bear, the blood is quite potent, and drinking it will give us all great benefits, including raising our overall stats and there is even a chance to gain a skill, or perhaps even an ability," Lyle said as he poured the blood from the jar in four small glasses.

He gave each of the three a small amount and poured a bit more for himself.

"You three are still not powerful enough to drink more of the blood, otherwise you will not only not gain any benefits, but can get injured."

"I can drink about 50% more of the blood thanks to having a more powerful race and class than you guys, but even I can't take in too much, otherwise I will get injured as well," Lyle explained why he got more of the blood immediately, even though there was no reason to as they could all see that there was still plenty of blood inside the jar.

All three immediately knew that the blood would be beneficial to them, but just like Lyle had said, drinking too much would be dangerous since the blood came from a Golden Core monster and they were still only Bronze Knights.

Two whole realms divided them and the bear, something that would result in even normal vampires being unable to drink the blood. Even amongst the true vampires, only some could actually do what they were going to do now, but none of them was normal.

They were vampires that had been turned by a vampire lord, a being that stood at the very peak of the race, only below the empress that ruled them all.

The three all stared at the blood before grabbing the cups. Each one had different thoughts swirling through their heads, they were after all human once, and even Adam, who had been a vampire for much longer than any of the two, was also having conflicting thoughts about drinking the blood.

They each knew that the blood came from a monster, which made it much easier for them to process the whole thing, but Olman and Wan had only been turned today and drinking blood was still something that they were slightly grossed out by, even though their body craved it right after seeing it.

The three lifted the cups, took a deep breath, and drank it. Lyle on the other hand just watched the three, smiled, and then left with his cup. The three suddenly groaned and grabbed their stomachs before collapsing down on the ground.

Even though the blood was beneficial to them, the process of getting everything out of it was not pleasant and all three were assaulted by great pain.

Lyle went up to his room and drank his cup before going down to the ground as well. This was not his first time doing something like this, but it was the first time he was drinking the blood of a Golden Core monster whilst only being a Bronze Knight.

Even before, when he was a perfect hybrid, he couldn't pull something like this off without repercussion and he only drank the blood of a monster one realm above him a few times, gaining some big benefits each time. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

He didn't know exactly how painful the process of getting all benefits from the blood would be, nor how long it would take, but he was excited to see just how powerful he would become after drinking the blood.

Hours slowly passed as all four were in incredible pain and were pretty much paralyzed, having to slowly take in the power from the blood they had drank in order to get all the benefits it could bring them.

Lyle was more efficient in doing so, but since he drank a larger amount, which was his current limit, it took him as long as the others before he was able to breathe normally and finally even move.

Upon seeing the benefits, however, all of them were beyond ecstatic. Even Lyle was shocked by just how much he had gained from drinking the blood.

[ The host has drunk the blood of a Tier III being ]

Ding!

[ The benefits the host has gained are the following ]

Ding!

[ Strength + 13, Endurance + 20, Vitality + 20, Spirit + 10 ]

Ding!

[ Thanks to the host's ability to drink the blood of a monster much more powerful than himself, the host has successfully acquired two skills from the monster. ]

[ Passive Skill, 'Tough Skin' has been acquired. ]

[ Active Skill, 'Infernal Flames' has been acquired ]

Lyle's eyes opened even wider as he had actually gained not one, but two skills from drinking the bear's blood.

[ Tough Skin ] – The host's skin will become tougher the more powerful he becomes and it will take much more force to penetrate it, thanks to the current stats of the host, the skin currently is three times tougher than normal, without losing any of its flexibility.

Even though it seemed like it was nothing special, the passive skill was actually quite an amazing one. It was one that Lyle would continue getting benefits from as he grew stronger. His skin right now was thrice as tough as before, which meant that he could tank attacks that would have previously injured him.

Thrice an increase was not low as the skin continued being flexible, which allowed it to soften blows from enemies easily. The biggest increase here would be against blunt-type weapons as those that would cut or pierce wouldn't be that weakened by Lyle's skin, but if he was to go against someone that fought using his fists, or weapons such as the hammer, it would be much easier for him to block the attacks as his skin would be able to absorb the shock much easier than before.

But the biggest gain from this whole thing was undoubtedly the 'Infernal Flames' skill that Lyle had received.

It wasn't the same as getting the ability, but Lyle could still use the flames the bear had used against Ulon, only with a high cost of mana and with less power than the bear.

He was excited because it was yet another power he had in his arsenal, and he could surprise an enemy by using it, not to mention that there was a small chance that he could gain insight from using the skill and actually gain the ability as well, but it was a longshot and would take a lot of time and practice.

The same went for the art of poison, even though Lyle did not have an ability like Ilya had, if he was to study poisons and even use some of the weaker ones on himself in order to gain immunity toward it, he could potentially gain the poison element or a similar ability.

The main difference between abilities that one learns or gains later in life compared to those a person had from birth was the fact that innate abilities were much more powerful and cost less mana to use.

Even if Lyle was to gain the poison element and follow the footsteps of Ilya, he would actually never be as powerful as the magister was with poison as the latter was born with the ability to use it and it was the one that was best suited for him.

Lyle went down to the living room in order to check the three.

They were all incredibly happy after seeing the notification from the system and upon learning just what the blood had given them.

Wan had gained a passive skill that made his bones tougher, which was on the same level as Lyle's passive. He also gained an active skill that allowed for three sharp bones to come out of his knuckles, although it was a skill that was painful to be used, it could serve him well in the future.

If an enemy was successful at disarming him and thought he could simply get close and kill him, Wan could use the skill to surprise the enemy and potentially kill him right there and then.

Olman gained a passive skill that made his muscles stronger, which meant that his physical strength would continue growing more with each level he gained.

He also gained an active skill that allowed him to suddenly grow tough fur on parts of his body. The fur was quite thick and durable, which could defend him against attacks.

As for Adam, even though he had gained fewer stats compared to all of them, he was the biggest winner as he had actually gained the 'Infernal Flames' ability.