The early morning sunlight bled softly through the curtains. Dust motes drifted in the air lazily. A man was sprawled on the bed loudly snoring. He was so out of it as if this was the first time in years he was sleeping so well.

But someone did not understand that. Bang bang bang. There was a loud knock at the door.

Damon flinched awake, and groggily sat up. Another knock followed, louder this time, almost furious. The door shook like it was about to be kicked it off its hinges. 

Damon stumbled to his feet. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and cursed under his breath, dragging himself to the accursed door. "If this is another delivery I didn't order..."

He swung it open, ready to tear a new one apart. Instead, he froze.

Staring at him was a goddess. A woman who looked like she had just stepped out of a modeling catalog.

She was stunning in every way. Her long blonde hair fell in lazy waves over a crimson jacket that clung to her body. Her legs were long and sculpted, and her figure was effortlessly perfect. It should be criminal for someone to have curves like this and walk among normal people. 

Everything about her was hot, but her blue eyes… Her eyes were cold and indifferent. They lacked even an ounce of emotion, making anyone looked at her feel very uncomfortable.

Damon's mouth hung open. Not that he did not know her. He knew her very well but he was still shocked to his core. How was she here? Why was she here? He stood like a statue and gawked at her, his brain completely short-circuiting.

A look of disgust flashed past the beautiful face as she looked at Damon especially his lower half which was clearly pitching a tent but Damon did not care. He was not staring because she was beautiful. He was staring because this woman should not be here right now!

"Your mail." The ice-cold beauty extended her hand.

When Damon did not respond, she shoved a small envelope into his hands and turned away to walk to the apartment in front of his. She opened the door, went inside, and shut the door on his face.

Yup, this was none other than his ridiculously hot girl next door. When he first moved into the apartment, he was over the moon for having hit such a jackpot situation but that was a long time ago. A lot had happened after that.

Damon stood there for a long time completely dumbfounded before he scrambled back into his studio apartment. He crashed onto the bed, his chest heaving up and down. He was having a panic attack.

Why was she here? What was happening? He knew her a long time ago, so why was she here now?

He frantically looked around when he noticed that his entire apartment looked different. It looked like she was in the right place and he was in the wrong place.

This was the old apartment he had moved into straight from his parent's house. He should no longer be here. He had already moved out a while ago.

How could he still be here? He closed his eyes as pain and frustration overwhelmed him. This place had seen both the best of him and the worst of him.

"No," he whispered. "No, no, no… it can't be possible." How could he be here? Was he going crazy? Was he hallucinating?

He rushed to the closet and yanked it open. His old hoodie was there. He turned to the desk and flipped open the laptop. His old login wallpaper flashed across the screen, a half-naked Nicole Kidman. Damn it, he was definitely going crazy!

Damon took a deep breath. His trembling fingers then opened the calendar widget on the right bottom corner of his laptop. An impossible date stared back at him.

March 3rd, 2042.

Damon staggered backward, dropping into his chair like his knees had given out. That was three years ago. The exact day Earth Online launched.

The blood drained from his face. Somehow, some way, he was back. Before the betrayal. Before the fall. Before Aiden stabbed him in the back and stole everything.

Damon clutched his head, cradling it in between his palms. How did this happen? The last thing he remembered was standing in the resurrection lake to reset his character and begin all over again. He was going to create a new character and claw his way back one more time.

This was not something other players would choose to do because when a character was reset, there was a penalty associated with it.

They inherently would only be able to receive less stats every level and needed more experience points to level up. There were also a couple more penalties here and there which would basically make the character a dud at best.

However, Damon was already at rock bottom. Thanks to his guild mate and his so-called best friend, everything he had worked for had been crushed and laid waste in a single day.

Bloodreign.

The legendary artifact he was first in line to claim. The item that would've cemented his name across the leaderboards. He had done everything right. He had worked tirelessly for days on end for the hidden quest.

But none of it mattered. Aiden had shown his true colors just before the final phase and stabbed him through the back right when the boss was about to drop dead. He snatched the fucking legendary item right from under him!

Without the drop, he failed the quest and the backlash was simply too high. Not only did he lose the legendary item but the quest failure also gave a heavy penalty.

Damon was left paralyzed inside the game. His character was trashed beyond recovery. He was essentially crippled with no way out. His guild which he had helped build from scratch disowned him.

All his friends pretended as if he did not exist. Everyone he knew laughed at him and turned their backs on him. Not one person supported him. Instead only painful messages popped up.

"It's just a video game. Don't make a big deal out of it."

"You were stupid to let that shit happen to you."

"You are shit at playing this game. It's just a dumb game. Why don't you quit and go to an actual job like the rest of us?"

Damon's chest tightened as the memories flooded back to him. He had poured everything into Earth Online, every sleepless night, every ounce of hope, every scrap of determination, only to have it all torn away from him at the very last moment.

Without this game, he had nothing. He had no degree. Heck, he did not want to do any other job. He had worked day and night to become good at this game and he was just on the verge of making it big when everything came crumbling down.

Damon slowly exhaled. The truth was, even after all of this, even knowing the reset would basically make him a dud, he never planned to give up.

He returned to Earth Online last night despite everything. He wanted to bury what was left of himself and start over as a new low-level player. He stripped everything, deleted his gear, walked into the Resurrection Lake and confirmed the irreversible reset.

Right. That was when he kind of lost his consciousness and when he woke up again... He was here. Back in his old apartment, back in his old body, and somehow, against all logic, back in time.

Three years ago on the same morning it all began.

...

When 2042 rolled in, the entire gaming world had its eyes on one name, Earth Online. It wasn't just the next big release, it was a revolution. Tornado Games had promised something no one had done before, a fully immersive VR experience so real, so responsive, it would make you question where the game ended and your life began.

Damon had been hooked from the start.

He had spent weeks reading every leak, every interview, every conspiracy theory on shady forums. Against his parents' wishes, he dropped most of his savings on the gaming gear the moment pre-orders went live. He just knew this wasn't going to be an ordinary game.

And it wasn't.

It turned out to be meta-breaking and game changing!

Now, standing in his old apartment, the same one he had moved into right out of his parent's house, he found himself staring at the past as it had never left. His eyes drifted to the shelf, where the VR helmet rested exactly where he used to keep it.

He walked over, slowly, and picked it up. Questions flooded his mind. Was he hallucinating? Dreaming? How the hell could he be back here? His brain scrambled for logic, but none of it made sense. The date, the room, even the woman from earlier, it all screamed impossible.

But deep down, he felt it. This was real.

Somehow, some way, he was back in time.

And honestly? He didn't care why. Not right now. If this was real, if this was truly happening, then he wasn't going to waste a second. Not this time. He had been cheated once. He wasn't going to let it happen again.

He looked down at the helmet in his hands and took a slow, steady breath.

"Let's do it right this time," he muttered.

He placed the helmet back down on the shelf and took a step back. First, he needed a moment. A reset.

Damon made his way to the bathroom, letting the familiar hiss of the shower fill the space. The water was hot but he didn't care. He stood under the hot water, letting it wash off everything. All the confusion, the fear, and the grief that still lingered somewhere deep inside.

Today was the first day he didn't feel like a failure. The first time in months he hadn't woken up already exhausted. There was still fear, sure and doubt. But underneath all of that was something stronger. A madness to take back what was his and then some more. 

He stared at his reflection in the fogged-up mirror. His face looked younger. Less tired. Like the world hadn't beaten him down yet.

Depression was no joke. It crept up on you, wore you down slowly, like rust on metal and Damon had spent months corroding. There were days when simply getting out of bed felt unbearable. He couldn't face his parents. He couldn't face his friends or even walk outside without getting ridiculed.

He did not want to let it all get to him but eventually, it did.

But this time, everything was going to be different. This time he knew exactly what was coming.

Damon got dressed in fresh clothes, cleaner than he remembered. No more stains. No more weeks-old pizza boxes stacked in the corner. Everything about this apartment looked like it had been reset right alongside him. Had he really been this clean once?

He let out a sigh and ordered some food. Good food from his favorite Indian restaurant. He added extra naan and a mango lassi, just because he could. When it arrived, he devoured the meal like a hungry raccoon.

After he finished eating, he cleared the table, actually cleared it, and wiped it down. Then he took another look around the apartment and pinched himself in the hand. He half-expected everything to go back to the way it was but nope. He was still here and still breathing.

Damon shook off the nervousness and the unsettling feeling. He needed to make plans now. He could not afford to waste time and think about what was real and what was not. This was happening and he was going to go along with it.

He did not know how or why but he did not care. He was handed a second chance and he was going to grab it by the tits. That was that.

He calmed himself and took a notepad and pen. He sat down at the table and then began writing. So many things had happened and it was so difficult to remember everything. But he jogged his mind back to the very first day and slowly one by one everything came back to him.

He tried to note down as much as he could. He had four hours left before the game launch officially began. Only four hours. It felt like both too much time and not nearly enough.

Damon tapped the pen nervously against the notepad, flipping through scraps of memory. Dates. Events. Hidden triggers. Patch exploits that hadn't been discovered yet. Where the secret vendors spawned. What time the first major world event would crash the servers.

He wrote everything he could remember with his messy and chaotic handwriting.

So many players would waste their first few hours experimenting, gawking at the graphics, or wandering around aimlessly. But not him. Not this time. He had a plan.

He kept writing. Exploit stacking methods. Dialogue trees with NPCs that unlocked secret affinity levels. Early-game bosses with loot tables no one would expect. It felt surreal, remembering things that technically hadn't even happened yet.

He paused for a moment, tapping the pen lightly against the page.

Aiden.

The name alone felt like a knife. His former best friend. The one person he trusted most. And the one who stabbed him in the back at the most crucial moment.

Damon clenched his jaw, the pen nearly snapping in his fingers. He took a deep breath and forced himself to keep writing. He didn't have time for revenge fantasies. Not yet.

First, power.

Then, everything else.

By the time he finished, two pages were filled with scribbled notes and a crude roadmap of the next 48 hours. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than anything he'd ever had before. He folded the paper neatly and tucked it under the keyboard. Just in case.

He glanced at the clock. Fifteen minutes left.

Damon stood, stretched, and walked back to the shelf.

He picked up the helmet again and held it in both hands. The surface shimmered faintly under the light. He was ready. He sat down on his bed and lowered the helmet onto his head before lying down in a relaxed pose.

The screen lit up.

[EARTH ONLINE SYSTEM BOOTING…]

Damon closed his eyes as the world around him faded into nothingness.

...

Five, Four, Three, Two, One

Ding!

Damon opened his eyes and the darkness around him dissipated, replaced with a bright and sunny world. He was standing in front of a solemn monolithe.

A beautiful angel flew towards him and flashed a cute smile. She had a halo floating gently above her head, and soft, feathery wings that shimmered in the light like spun silver. Her golden hair danced with the breeze, and her eyes sparkled with kindness and innocence.

"Welcome to Earth Online!" she chirped, voice light and musical. "By the grace of the Skyfather and the blessings of the Seven Realms, you have been chosen to walk the path of destiny!"

Damon blinked against the sudden brightness. His senses were still adjusting. 

"I am your guiding angel, Moonshine. I will be introducing you to the world and show you all the-"

The introduction was an hour long one and Damon had no plans of wasting his time on something like this. "Skip." He interrupted the angel.

She did not seem offended in the least and instead extended a hand to him. "Would you like to begin the tutorial?"

Damon would have preferred to skip this one as well but he knew a little secret about this tutorial and had no plans on missing out on that title this time around.

Damon took her hand. "Ya. Let's begin."

The moment their hands touched, the scenery shimmered. The bright fields and gentle breeze melted away, replaced by the tutorial zone, a small cave.

The cave was cozy and there was moss everywhere. A second after he arrived, the first rabbit spawned. Then two more popped up. They were round, fluffy things with big glossy eyes and twitching noses. White, brown, a few black-spotted ones. Their ears flopped as they hopped around cutely.

They were completely harmless. They didn't drop loot. Didn't grant experience. Barely nibbled for one point of damage. They existed solely for one reason: to let new players learn the basics of movement and timing without fear of death. Most people spent five minutes here, tops, before moving on to the "real" part of the game.

But not Damon. He reached down, grabbed a medium-sized rock and then, without hesitation, he slammed the rock down onto the first rabbit.

Thud. The rock came down hard, and the rabbit didn't even have time to squeak. Its body crumpled beneath the blow, soft fur torn apart, bones shattered. Blood pooled under it, seeping into the cracks of the cave floor.

Damon stared down at the mess for a second. The game prided itself on realism and that included the way a rabbit's skull caved in under a rock. He was already used to things like this. This was not his first time after all.

He quickly moved on to the next one and soon the corpses started piling up. But he was only in the dozens and he needed hundreds. He sucked in a big breath and got to work. He kept his movements simple and his actions small. A couple of hours quickly passed and his stamina was close to bottoming out. Finally, the notification chimed in.

[Ding! You have completed the tutorial]

[Ding! Title Unlocked: Rabbit killer - I hate cute little bunnies]

Damon's figure disappeared from the small cave and appeared in the middle of the newbie small town. He was wearing a simple linen cloth shirt and pants. 

He was back in the Gryphon town, a small town on the outskirts of the Nieta Falls city. This was his starting town in his last life and he had arrived at the same place this time as well.

Damon let out a breath of relief. The starting point was usually random and he did not want a big portion of his plan to get messed up because of this randomness. But it turns out even randomness cannot escape fate. He spawned in the same place as before.

All around him, players continued to materialize out of thin air. Gasps and shocked shrieks could be heard everywhere as the crowd experienced the realistic aspect of the game.

"Wow, I cannot believe this. How is this real man? Where was this technology all my life?"

"Oh my god. I can walk. Run. Jump."

"Hey, hey. Do you think we can do that inside the game? Should be realistic right? Fuck it. Where are the brothels at? Today is the day this big daddy is finally going to lose his virginity!"

"You perverted piece of shit! By the way, where are the brothers? Asking for a friend..."

"What the fuck? What is this fat-ass character profile? Shit! I cannot change my image?"

"Yes, bitch. If you are ugly in the real world, your ass will be ugly here too."

"Wait, we can't even change the gender? What sort of a stupid game makes catfishing impossible?"

The entire atmosphere was extremely lively and people were still trying to make sense of the game and enjoying the simple experience of living in a different world. A couple of women turned towards Damon to look at him.

"What the fuck? Rabbit killer? Did he kill a lot of those rabbits?"

"What a freak?! Who would kill those little things?"

"Ah, fuck. If I knew there was a title associated with it, I would have spent more time in the damned tutorial!"

Some gave him a stink eye and some looked jealous but Damon did not care. He walked away, quietly pulling up his status screen and tampering with it. The first thing he did was turn off his title display. He then adjusted the rest of his character profile.

Actually, there wasn't much to adjust. The in-game character was pretty much a copy of the real-life physical body. One's in-game name was also locked to the government-registered name. The only thing anyone could change was their nickname. Everything else was fixed.

Damon flinched a little as he typed in his nickname. Unfortunately, he had to pick a nickname that he absolutely hated. The same cringe nickname he had in his previous life because that was important and could potentially determine the rest of his path going forward.

...

"Blood God? Ewwww."

"This guy is even worse than me in naming."

"If you are blood god, then I am your big daddy bitch!"

Unfortunately, nicknames cannot be turned off. Not that it mattered. Damon did not look bothered in the least. He indifferently walked away not paying attention to the jeers in the crowd.

Damon ignored the lively crowd which practically chewed up anyone who popped in new and left the town square. Blinking in front of him was the next status screen, the more important one.

[Ding! Please choose a class before you proceed]

Damon ignored the system prompt and waved it off. Many would be inclined to think that the class choice was compulsory but it was actually not. There were some special classes that could be unlocked if one was a little patient and knew which door to knock on.

Damon right now headed straight to one such door. He walked to one of the smaller shops in the market square, the place where all the town's main shops were located. 

This particular shop looked unremarkable on the outside, just a large wooden structure with a slanted roof and a faded sign that read: "Ellora's Wares – Potions, Charms, and Curios." Most players never bothered going in during their first few hours. It didn't sell anything useful for beginners, and the owner, Ellora, was notoriously unhelpful unless you followed a specific dialogue path.

But Damon knew better.

He pushed the door open and stepped inside, the bell above the frame chiming softly. Behind the counter stood Ellora, an NPC with sharp eyes, deep wrinkles, and silver hair tied into a long braid. She barely looked up.

"No starter discounts, no freebies, and I don't haggle. If you don't have any silver, show yourself out," she said automatically, not even sparing him a glance.

Damon didn't respond. Instead, he walked straight up to the counter and flashed a small smile. "Hello, do you happen to have any Invisibility charms?"

Hmmm? The old hag looked up and immediately her attitude did a 180. Naturally, Damon had his newly earned title proudly displayed atop his head.

[Rabbit killer - I hate cute little bunnies]

The old hag laughed. "You are an interesting brat, aren't you? I don't have any invisibility potions but you can borrow my old charm for a day. Only for a day. You better return it back before sundown."

Ellora reached beneath the counter, her movements surprisingly nimble for someone who looked half-mummified. She pulled out a small, bone-white pendant strung on a frayed cord.

Damon's heart froze for a moment and only when the woman handed him the charm he sighed in relief. Finally! The first part of his plan was complete!

"Thank you, Miss Ellora. I will definitely bring back your charm soon." Damon gave a small bow and then quickly turned to leave.

"Hey, Rabbit Killer." Damon stopped and glanced over his shoulder. "Be careful. If the wrong people see my charm then you will be flayed alive."

"I will be very careful, Miss Ellora." Damon gave the old hag a nod before getting the hell out of there. His heart was beating wildly as he practically ran from the spot and only relaxed when he was almost outside of the small town.

In the fields surrounding the small town, many players were farming chickens, goats, and pigs. There were a bunch of starter quests that provided food and experience points at the same time. These were pretty famous and most people spent the first few hours here.

Damon could already see fireballs flying, swords swinging and daggers flying around. The chaos was the same as he remembered, newbies yelling over voice chat, confused players running in circles, and a bunch of serious players trying to speedrun their first five levels.

But Damon didn't spare the chickens a glance, nor did he pick up any of the glowing quest markers that blinked temptingly above NPCs' heads. That was the path for regular players. He had no intention of walking it the second time around.

He ducked behind one of the worn fences bordering the village and cut across a dirt path that led toward the far west end of the fields, a quiet place away from the small town. Some curious players wondered what he was upto and followed him and Damon did little to deter them.

"Where are you going?"

"Did you get some good quest?"

"Come on man, we can party up."

Damon did not do anything but a couple of level 5 wolves who wandered their way took care of his stalkers on his behalf. The level 1 players did not even know what hit them. They shrieked in agony as the wolves tore them apart and made a quick work of them.

"Bastard, you trapped us!" One of them shouted but Damon simply waved his hand at the guy without turning back. The wolves completely ignored him and he walked away without any care.

Soon he arrived at an old well in the middle of the acres and acres of paddy fields. An old, moss-covered thing with no bucket, no rope, just a dark, silent hole. Most assumed it was decorative. It wasn't.

Damon carefully climbed down the well, slipping and falling halfway down. "Fuck!" He grunted as he landed hard on his side, dust, and damp earth flying up around him. He rolled onto his back for a moment, catching his breath, then pushed himself up to his feet.

"Where is that door supposed to be?" He couldn't remember this little detail and looked around when a bunch of bricks started moving automatically. Soon a tunnel opened up in front of him.

Damon grinned. The second part of his plan was coming along wonderfully. He only had to wait for a moment before a pale man emerged from the shadows.

A tall pale dude with red eyes and two fangs.

"You are not Lady Ellora?"

[Hidden NPC Encountered: Varnyx the Hollow]

[Warning: This questline is irreversible. Proceed with caution.]

...

"No," Damon said simply. "I'm not Ellora. She sent me."

Varnyx's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Damon fished out the charm from his pocket and showed it to the vampire.

After a long silence, Varnyx finally nodded. "She must believe you're worthy."

'Nope. I just knew what tickled that freak.' Damon silently thought.

Changing race from human being to vampire was actually not that uncommon in the game. Many people decided to go this route and within the vampire race, there were many classes to choose from.

It was a very popular choice right alongside becoming a demon, an undead or a beastkin. There were many ways to get these race changes and they all involved reaching level 25 first and then doing a long and annoying chain quest.

That was until one player stumbled into the old bat Ellora's shop with his Rabbit Killer title.

He got the instant shortcut to change into a vampire. The key was to show up at the well entrance with Ellora's personal charm.

The location of the well was not exactly a secret. In fact all the players knew about this well. It was the hideout base for all vampire players in this started zone. Many players had already tried to sneak into the well without the charm but they were all one-shotted by the grouch Varnyx over here. Only those with the charm can successfully take the shortcut.

By the time these things were established it was already 3 months into the game. But now, Damon was here on day one.

Varnyx turned and began walking into the dark tunnel and Damon silently followed him. "Come," he said without looking back. "Your blood is still warm, but that won't last long."

It was dark inside the tunnel but Damon already knew this place like the back of his hand.

Eventually, the narrow tunnel opened into a vast underground chamber. The ceiling was lost in shadow, but rows of bone-carved pillars stretched into the darkness like fangs. At the center stood a stone altar etched with crimson runes that pulsed like a heartbeat. Pools of stagnant blood shimmered around it, and above, a floating sigil of the vampire crest turned slowly in the air like a crown.

A golden blood crown.

Varnyx turned to face Damon, his eyes now glowing with intensity. "You are about to forsake your mortality," He spoke slowly, raising both hands. "You shall no longer remain weak. Your heart will beat slower. Your hunger will grow. Your strength will awaken."

The room vibrated as the runes lit up brighter.

[Warning: You are about to change your race to Vampire. This change is permanent.]

[Do you wish to proceed? Y/N]

Damon didn't blink. "Yes"

He knew this was the right choice. He had become a vampire in his last life as soon as that option became available. Maybe back then he did not make this choice for the right reasons but now he was used to this race.

He knew the ins and outs of it and more importantly, he knew how to trigger the quest for the legendary artifact. He would be a fool to chase after some other race and class and let this advantage go to waste.

Varnyx nodded in approval at this resolute answer. The vampire's fangs gleamed as he smiled. "Bleed."

A shadowy dagger appeared in his hand, and without ceremony, he plunged it into Damon's chest.

Pain exploded through him but Damon's face was still the same. He had faced much worse in his life and this small bit of pain no longer fazed him. The blood on the altar shot towards him and coiled around him. His vision darkened. His heart slowed.

[Race Change Complete: You are now a Vampiric creature – Bloodborn Path Unlocked.]

[Passive Unlocked: Heightened Senses, Eternal Hunger]

Heightened Senses: You see better in the dark, hear farther than most, and notice things others miss. Faint footsteps, whispered voices, the smell of fresh blood, nothing escapes you.

Eternal Hunger: A gnawing void anchors itself in your soul, demanding blood. The longer you go without feeding, the stronger the craving becomes. Ignore it too long, and you may lose yourself. Satisfy it, and you'll feel unstoppable.

Damon's eyes snapped open, and they were burning red. He was now able to see much better in the darkness. He stared at his reflection in the blood pool and he could see that his skin had taken on a paler, smoother tone. His fangs were barely visible unless he smiled, but he could feel them pressing lightly against the inside of his lip.

[Ding! Congratulations. You are the first player to unlock a hidden race]

[Ding! Achievement Unlocked. Discoverer of Vampires. As the first player to discover the hidden race, you gain +500 reputation with Vampires and +500 notoreity]

Damon grinned. He hadn't expected this nice sweet bonus for changing his race. This made his next plan a lot easier to put in motion. Reputation points were a bitch to grind and especially so with arrogant vampires. They don't give it away so easily.

Notoriety was also a nice add-on. As a dark faction player, one needed high notoriety to interact with any decent NPC. Otherwise, they simply wouldn't respect you.

Both Reputation and Notoreity were something he planned on grinding this week and now his time had been freed up to do other better things.

With a three-month head start and prior life knowledge about the vampire race and the vampire classes, he was now free to plunder all of the hidden resources in the vampire world.

This time Bloodreign was going to be his.

Damon mentally adjusted his plans when a new notification popped in front of him.

[Ding! Please choose a class before you proceed]

Damon smiled. He swiped the notification away without a second thought. Nope. It was still not time to select a class.

Then the next notification popped up. It was his status screen.

***

[Blood God]

Class: N/A (Requires Awakening)

Species: Vampire

Race: Bloodling

Bloodline: N/A (Requires Awakening)

Level: 1

Faction: Dark

Experience: 0/100

Health: 50

Mana: 50

Stamina: 8

Strength: 6

Intelligence: 8

Agility: 6

Physical Defense: 2

Magical Defense: 2

General Skills: Heightened Senses, Eternal Hunger

...

Varnyx nodded in approval. "Not bad for a bloodling."

Damon smiled. His starting stats were slightly better than average thanks to his old habit of paying a visit to the gym regularly.

Heightened Senses was the passive buff all vampires received and similarly Eternal Hunger was the passive debuff all the vampires received. Nothing new here.

Eternal Hunger did sound very overwhelming but in reality as long as one consumed good amount of beast blood once a day, it was more than enough to handle the debuff. In some ways, the debuff was also a kind of buff because the vampires seldom needed health potions. Drinking blood would suffice. It saved some money in the long run.

The buff was also good. It helped the players see in the darkness which was a huge deal at least in the beginning stage. Same thing goes for the other senses.

What they don't mention in the fine print but a nice sweet surprise is the fact that vampires can sometime sniff out low level stealth players. Other than that the passive buff didn't do much and couldn't really considered overpowered.

For that matter, most of the classes in the game were kind of balanced. Just choosing a specific class didn't automatically make someone overpowered. Special hidden classes though were an entiredly different ball game.

There were also some rumored legendary classes in the game but even after three years no one with a legendary class was officially confirmed. All the top players had opted to keep their class details a secret for good measure. There were forum threads, unverifiable claims, a few wild tales of one-shot wipes in PvP zones, but nothing concrete.

After exchanging a few polite words with the vampire and giving the excuse of returning the charm to the old hag, he quickly made his way out of the well.

Thanks to the long nails and the way the bricks of the well were arranged, the upward climb wasn't a big deal. He was back in the fields in no time.

As for the change in his appearance and others noticing it, it did not matter because the old hag's charm took care of it. Dark faction players had many ways to hide their identity and blend in with the Light faction players and similarly vice versa. Unless he did something stupid like show up in front of a temple high priestess, the chances of getting caught were slim.

Within a few minutes, Damon was back in the outskirts of the small town in the newbies farming area. Many heads turned toward him inquisitively but he barely paid them any mind.

He walked fast and blended in quickly. The charm worked very well, masking his aura and concealing any hint of his new identity. To everyone else, he was just another nobody who still hadn't managed to cross level 1.

Damon smiled. He still had a long way to go before he actually started leveling up. He was going to use all the exploits he knew right from the foundation and by the time he got to that first level up, he would already be far ahead of the others in the game.

Next stop, Ellora's shop. Time for some more haggling.

"You are back so soon?" Ellora raised a brow as the door of her shop chimed open. A nasty, wrinkled smile appeared on her face as soon as she saw Damon's new appearance. "Welcome, my little bloodling."

'I guess she already knows.' Damon thought inwardly, shuddering a little at her creepy smile. It did not come as a surprise because the old hag was a high-level NPC, and everyone knew it. She was essentially a wolf in a sheep's cloth spending her days happily swindling every newbie who came her way.

"Yes, Miss Ellora. I cannot thank you enough for opening my eyes to the truth of the world," Damon replied smoothly, offering a respectful nod as he stepped into the shop's musty warmth. He took out the charm and handed it to her, his appearance immediately reverting to the pale figure.

In all honesty, it wasn't all that different from a normal human appearance, except for the red eyes and the fangs, which a good mask could potentially hide. But as he leveled up, a weak aura would leak from his body, exposing everything about him. He would simply reek of blood. To hide that, he needed something else.

"Ah." Damon acted surprised. "My eyes. Miss Ellora, please. Help me. Everyone can see me. I am exposed. How do I hide myself and blend in among the cattle?" he finished, throwing just enough drama into his voice to make Ellora scoff.

The old woman let out a croaky laugh. "Look at you, already talking like one of us. 'The cattle,' is it? Hah." She eyed him for a moment, then reached beneath her counter, fingers dancing over a row of small, intricately carved boxes. 

She pulled one out and cracked it open. Inside lay a thin silver chain with a black gemstone pendant, barely bigger than a fingernail. The gem shimmered with a faint red glow that pulsed like a heartbeat.

[Item: Bloodveil Sigil – Uncommon ]

Disguises vampiric aura, fangs, and red eyes. The user can pass as human unless directly examined by high-level detection.

Durability: 100/100. Wears down slowly when exposed to sunlight or divine auras.

She slid it across the counter. "Wearing that won't make you invisible, but it'll stop the cattle from having a stroke when you walk past. Just don't push your luck around temples."

Damon took the pendant, looping it around his neck. His reflection in the shop's dusty window immediately morphed; his eyes dulled to brown, his fangs retracted, and his pallor faded.

"Perfect," he murmured while cursing the stingy old hag inwardly. He already had such a high reputation, and yet she only took out an uncommon grade item.

"Brat, I am giving it to you for free. Take what you get." Ellora snorted. "What? I don't need to read minds to know when someone's mouthing off in their head," she replied coolly.

Damon just smiled and politely nodded. "Thank you for helping me out."

"Then, what are you still hanging around here for? Get lost." Ellora studied him for a moment before letting out an annoyed sigh. "Don't tell me. Are you going to stand here and ask me for more freebies?"

"I wouldn't dream of it, Miss Ellora." Damon quickly shook his head. "I do need a small loan." He added after a moment.

"A loan, is it?" She gave him a glare.

Damon held up both hands, placating. "Temporary! Strictly business. I'll pay it back with interest."

Ellora stared at him, fingers drumming on the counter. Then she snorted finally relenting. "Fine. Tell me what you need."

Damon smiled. "A couple of bristle net, a couple of redleaf weed, a few stalks of bogthorn and one drop of big wasp honey."

Ellora's brows instantly shot up. "Bloodling, who the hell are you? How do you know the exact ingredients of body tempering liquid?"

...

Damon smiled, awkwardly ruffling his head and putting up an act. "I just got lucky. I happened to hear a drunk alchemist bragging about his creation.

Ellora stared at him, one eye squinting as if she were trying to x-ray straight through his skull. "Lucky, huh?" she muttered. "Next thing you'll tell me is you overheard a goblin chieftain whispering the formula for soulsteel in his sleep."

Damon chuckled, playing the part of an innocent newbie with dumb luck. "I mean, if he talks loud enough…"

The old hag grumbled but turned around and began rummaging through her cluttered shelves anyway. Damon inwardly sighed in relief. He knew he was pushing it. He was not sure that this part of the plan was going to work. Thankfully, it did.

A second later, Ellora turned around and slammed a small potion bottle on the counter. "Here. take this and use. I don't want you blowing yourself up out of stupidity!"

[Item: Body Tempering Potion – Uncommon]

Damon's eyes shot up. Fuck. Is she giving me the actual potion?! The reputation points were no joke!

Ellora noticed his wide-eyed reaction and smirked. "What? You thought I'd hand over those ingredients to a brat like you and expect you not to mess it up? One wrong stir, and you'll melt your organs before your strength even begins to awaken."

Damon quickly composed himself, bowing his head in gratitude. "Thank you, Miss Ellora. I won't forget this."

"You'd better not," she snapped. "And don't go thinking I'm doing this out of kindness. You owe me now. 10 gold coins."

Damon's face twitched. This was bullshit! This was daylight robbery! She was charging him ten times the best market price! In just a single month, this potion would become quite common in the game. She was not handing him some game-changing treasure, it was just an uncommon rarity, basic use potion.

"Are you sure, Miss Ellora? I thought the potion was 1 gold coin?" He hesitantly asked but the old hag pretended not to hear him and simply turned to the side and whistled a tune. "Were you saying something bloodling?"

"Ah. Nothing. I was just thanking you for the loan. Thank you so much. I will repay this favor." Damon smiled. His heart ached at the thought of 10 gold coins hanging over his head this early in the game, but what the hell. Fuck it. It was an investment for the future. It was worth it.

He was just about to thank her and leave when he noticed something on the shelves. Five beautiful rings, which were obviously storage rings.

"Miss Ellora, I am afraid I am in a terrible position." Damon immediately stopped in his tracks. "In order to repay the 10 gold coins to you as fast as possible, I need to collect and carry a lot of materials. Heavy ones. Precious ones. Time-sensitive ones," he said, turning around with the most innocent, pitiful expression he could muster. "But as you can see, my carrying capacity is tragically limited."

Ellora didn't even look up. "Just out with it, bloodling. You want one of the rings."

Damon winced, hands clasped together like a man begging for his last meal. "Just a small one! Even a broken one would do. I'll bring it back. Think of it as… enabling me to earn your money back faster."

Ellora snorted. "And if I don't?"

"I'll be stuck for weeks. Penniless. No potions. No materials. You might not see a return on your investment for months." He laid it on thick, letting just a sliver of desperation slip into his voice. "I'd hate to be a disappointment."

The old woman sighed dramatically and finally looked up, peering at him with narrowed eyes. "One ring. You lose it, I'll skin you and sell your blood to necromancers."

"I accept those terms," Damon said quickly, trying not to sound too happy. Two minutes later, he walked out of the shop with a rare grade storage ring, the vampire charm, the body tempering potion, and two talismans, one for minor teleportation and one for a mana barrier.

In the end, the entire package came to a cost of 12 gold coins, and the old hag ended up charging only 10 gold coins. More importantly, Damon had received these items with minimal effort and that too on the first day of the game launch which made them worth at least 25 gold coins.

Damon left the shop with a smile and the old hag watched him leave as if she was really glad that he finally left the shop. What a monster! She sighed in relief.

Happy with his haul, Damon quickly walked out of the small town once again. This time, he did not head toward the old well, instead, he took the shortcut to reach the nearest city, the city of Nieta Falls, a sprawling riverside stronghold nestled against a jagged mountain range.

It wasn't considered a capital city by any means, but it was bustling, rich in quests, and, most importantly, had what he needed: a special awakening pool reserved for the awakening ceremony.

If one asked what determined the future path of a player in Earth Online, everyone would unanimously say the same thing. The awakening process.

The Awakening process was everything.

In Earth Online, levels and loot could only carry a player so far. In fact, their future was decided in just a couple of days after playing the game, their first awakening. 

An awakening didn't just boost stats or give skills. It decided their class tree, affinities, growth scaling, and most importantly, there was a chance it could unlock hidden evolutions and even bloodlines if done under the right conditions.

The process by which one awakened was extremely important. The extremely precious awakening resources were always saved for the nobility. This was one of the reasons why noble titles were highly sought after in his last life.

Even if most of the players missed the ideal condition for the first awakening, they could always make sure that their second, third, and all the awakenings so forth could be as ideal as possible.

But the first one, the very first awakening, was special. It laid the foundation for everything that came after. It was like setting the mold before pouring the cast. If you botched it, no matter how much you polished later, you'd always be playing catch-up.

In his past life, Damon had awakened like everyone else. Some random place. Some standard process. He didn't even think twice about it. He had no noble bloodline, no connections, and no resources.

Now? He wasn't going to make the same mistake.

This time, he was prepared. He had already changed into the vampire race, had the Body Tempering Potion in his bag, and was about to enter the most potent early-game awakening site in the region.

The Awakening Pool in the Nieta Falls city.

The pool in Nieta Falls was hidden deep inside the Cathedral of Silent Waters, and later on, it had become an extremely coveted place for the players to undergo their awakening.

Only those who had an S-rank affinity and high reputation with various factions, along with a nobility title, were allowed inside. Even then, they charged an obscene amount just to use it. Most players could only dream of using such a resource to awaken.

But Damon wasn't most players. Even though he did not possess any of the above requirements, he still knew a loophole to get into the place. He only hoped to get there soon enough before his advantage became drunk and disoriented.

...

Damon arrived at the city gates in under an hour as he ran non-stop using the very well known shortcut between the small town and the city.

Nieta Falls was one of the smaller cities, and the place wasn't crowded especially because players were yet to descend into the city en masse. 

There were several level 5 to 10 beasts littered in the forest surrounding the city and if one did not know a safe path, they would be doomed unless they could handle a few of the beasts. In general, a player at least needed to be at level 10 to get here safely.

This was why Damon was a little surprised when he did not get the first achievement for arriving at the city. But then again, he had already spent two hours with the rabbits and another hour or so finishing up his race change quest. This was plenty of time for someone else to discover the city.

He could spot about a dozen players exploring the city streets as he walked in. Not too many but not too few either. There was one good quest that he wanted to do in this city, which might get snatched up by these players, but the awakening process was still his number one priority.

Damon hurriedly walked straight to the Cathedral of Silent Waters when an arrogant voice sounded behind him. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"Hmmm?" Damon turned to see the same three guys who had tried to follow him back in the starting town.

They were easy to recognize, loud, cocky, and wearing the exact same mismatched starter gear as before. The one in front had his nickname proudly displayed over his head in glaring red text: [DaddyBrutal].

"Well, well, if it isn't the Blood God," DaddyBrutal sneered, arms crossed. "You left in a real hurry back there. Got a nice juicy quest? How about you not be a stingy little bitch and share it with the rest of us? This Daddy will reward you well. Look at this." He pulled a woman to his side and winked.

Damon could tell in a single glance that she was a prostitute and the guy was acting as if he was a big deal just because he managed to pay for a prostitute. He gave a flat stare and turned to leave. "I don't talk to idiots."

That got a reaction. The guy's face twisted into an angry scowl, and his buddies behind him [Sniper] and [SirShankzAlot] started muttering "oooohs" like they were still in middle school.

Damon didn't stop walking. He had no time for idiots. Not today. "If you're looking for a fight," he added, not even turning around, "try the forest. Maybe a rabbit will take you seriously."

"Bitch, you are going to regret this. I have connections in this place, I am telling you. Look. I have the first discoverer title.

Damon didn't stop. "Congratulations," he called over his shoulder. "Must've been hard, finding your way here without a GPS and adult supervision."

DaddyBrutal's shout of rage echoed behind him, but Damon was already gone, slipping around the corner and then through a couple of alleyways. He had no interest in indulging these idiots, even though he was mildly curious how they managed to get the first discoverer title for the city.

But then again, it was not a big deal. It gave a single stat point boost, and unless one went about solely discovering all the cities one after the other which was near impossible, the achievement didn't really matter.

As for the nonsense they were spouting, he was way too mature to care about that. Or maybe he was not.

Damon could sense a player following behind him. The trio must have had a fourth stealth player among them who was tailing him now and trying to catch with him. Probably hoping to spy on his movements and steal whatever secrets they thought he had.

PVP was not allowed inside the city, and from the looks of it these guys knew it. They were pretty brazenly following him without worrying about any repercussions. But they missed a key piece of information.

The charm Damon wore around his neck took care of this little detail for him.

Damon slowed down and acted as if he was looking around. Then, just as the player caught up with him, he decisively made his move. 

He aimed for the man's throat and swiped his long nails, and in a single second, the guy was sent flying back with a loud, wet crack, slamming against the alley wall like a ragdoll. A gasp escaped from his lips, blood spurting as he dropped dead to the ground.

[Ding! You have killed player [Lurking Panda]. You have gained +1 notoriety.]

Damon exhaled slowly and looked up toward the spire of the cathedral in the distance. He needed to get there fast. Thankfully, there were no other disturbances, and he reached the Cathedral entrance in a few minutes.

However, he did not enter it from the main gate. He entered it from a side gate, and just like he had hoped, a familiar figure was guarding the entrance. A young man in his twenties who was also a lousy drunkard. 

As soon as the young man saw Damon's face, his attitude changed. "My Lord Blood God, I am here to serve you. Are you here for the awakening pool? Please come this way."

Damon smiled and put up a confident pose. Yup, the guy had seen his nickname and mistook him for someone high in the vampire nobility rank. Maybe there were a few vampire npcs named blood god or something similar, but both in this life and last life, this drunkard fell for the exact same thing.

It was thanks to him that he was able to use this Awakening pool for his second awakening and third awakening, which played a big part in cementing his progress.

And now, thanks to him, he was going to use the Awakening pool for his very first Awakening. Damon clenched his fists in excitement as he followed the drunkard into the Cathedral.

The interior of the Cathedral of Silent Waters was exactly as Damon remembered it. Ancient stained-glass windows filtered in narrow beams of colored light, illuminating various statues.

The drunkard led him through a narrow corridor that twisted and spiraled downward. The Cathedral was pretty much deserted with no one around. Nieta Falls was a small city, so it wasn't that popular for awakening ceremonies.

After a couple of minutes, they reached a dead end with a door. The guard took his time fishing out his key and then opened the door clumsily all the while apologizing to Damon. 

"I will be fine on my own now." Damon nodded at him in a prideful manner. The drunkard respectfully bowed and closed the door behind him.

Damon stepped inside alone. The Awakening Pool sat in the center of a cavernous chamber. One would think from the name that there was a big pool under the Cathedral, but the actual Awakening Pool was just a small puddle. 

A perfect circle of still, silver water, surrounded by some runes. Damon had no idea what these runes meant. He quickly stepped inside the pool, shaking off his worn-out boots. The water came only up to his ankle, which was a little surprising because the last time around, it had reached all the way up to his knee.

But there was little he could do about it. So, he silently observed the small puddle.

The moment his foot touched the water, it responded, glowing red as if infused with molten blood. The charm he was wearing was ineffective, and his vampire form was completely exposed. Sure, this was a huge risk, but the rewards were worth it.

Besides, Damon knew that this place was almost always deserted. Only children of high nobility were allowed here, and Nieta Falls was a small city. Besides, he was already in it now. There was no point in worrying if someone was going to burst in mid-awakening.

Worst case scenario, he was ready to commit suicide. It wouldn't affect his awakening. As long as the process got done, he was all set. He quickly pulled out his body tempering liquid and drank it all in like a shot to make the awakening process even more effective.

He had done everything he could do. Now, the rest was up to the Awakening Pool.

"Come on. Come on. Faster." Damon anxiously murmured, but the water was taking its sweet time.

[Ding! Awakening Initiated] 

[Your Race: Vampire] 

[Affinity Detected: Blood | Darkness | ???] 

[Body Tempering Boost Applied – Potency +38%]

[Special Conditions Met – Initiating Bloodline Scan…]

Damon's face changed. What the hell? This was new.

...

Damon had expected some surprises to pop out because he was using a superior awakening resource, but he did not expect this. He had a bloodline? Two affinities, blood and darkness? What was the third one with the question mark? 

In his last life, he only had blood affinity and no bloodline. All of this was new. Before he could make sense of the system prompt, something even more shocking happened. Water exploded from the small puddle he was standing on.

Without giving him a chance to react, the water completely surrounded him on all sides, fully encasing him in a sphere of liquid that shimmered like mercury laced with blood. It moved like it had a mind of its own, swirling and tightening around him. He was now submerged in it.

[Ding! Fragmented Ancestral Bloodline Detected. Attempting Awakening]

The runes on the floor ignited, their glow no longer steady but wild and erratic. Tiny vortices started forming on Damn's body, millions and millions of them. These vortices started sucking the liquid inside. 

Pain rippled across his body. Whatever was happening, this was not heading anywhere good. "This is not good. There is not a lot of water. I am going to suffer a backlash." Damon screamed and shouted in pain. The runes glowed brighter, and water kept coming and coming.

The puddle beneath him, once shallow enough to barely wet his ankles, now seemed endless. The chamber trembled. The stone tiles cracked. From beneath the cathedral, from some water surged upward, as if summoned by the awakening ritual. Everything was spiraling out of control.

More liquid, more blood-tinged mercury flooded the chamber, yet none of it spilled outward. Everything obeyed the same silent command, drawn into the sphere that wrapped tighter around Damon. His body hung weightless inside it, but his mind was far from calm.

[Ding! Awakening Initiated]

"What the hell is this?" Damon gritted his teeth. He had never heard of anything like this happening during a first awakening. Most people sat in the pool for thirty seconds, watched a few runes flicker, and boom, class selection.

He had researched a lot about the awakening process in the city's library, and not one book mentioned anything like this. This was something else entirely.

Suddenly, pain shot through his spine, pure, white-hot agony that lanced into his skull like a branding iron. Damon bit his tongue and tasted blood. The water reacted instantly, glowing brighter as if excited by the presence of his blood.

[Ding! Bloodline Awakening in Progress...] 

[5%... 9%... 12%...]

His arms convulsed. His fingers curled inward. His eyes rolled back, and visions assaulted his mind. Fangs tearing through empires. Crimson thrones carved from bone. A king who drank the blood of stars. And then… a name.

Vael'Tharan.

The name echoed like a scream across eternity. He knew that name. Or rather, something inside him did.

[Ding! You are undergoing a Primordial Awakening.] 

[Ding! You are no longer eligible for the standard class path.]

More and more system prompts kept flashing in front of Damon, each one more ridiculous than the last. But his brain was still stuck on that single name he had heard.

Vael'Tharan… wasn't that a name that appeared in the bloodreign's quest?

Damon tried his best to remember and he just couldn't place it. Then it came to him. Vael'Tharan was the name of the blacksmith's son, the blood blacksmith who had forged Bloodreign. But how was that guy's son related to his awakening? What was happening?

[Ding! Bloodline Awakening Paused]

[Ding! Soul Fragment Required to Proceed]

[Ding! Soul Scan in process]

[Ding! Soul Fragment Obtained]

[Ding! Soul Fragment contaminated by soul weapon BloodReign's essence]

[Ding! Error]

[Ding! Error]

[Ding! Partial Awakening Initiated]

[Ding! Partial Awakening in Progress...] 

[11%... 29%...34%...]

Damon was going crazy. What the hell was happening? How could BloodReign's soul be present inside him? He did not understand anything that was happening.

During this chaos and confusion, a loud explosion sounded. Bang! Something hit the awakening pool water that had enclosed him. The barrier weakened a little, temporarily revealing what was outside.

It was only for a moment. The barrier quickly patched up once again, fully encasing Damon. But that one second was enough for Damon to see that he was surrounded now.

The entire chamber was flooded with a dozen figures cloaked in white and gold, the sacred vestments of Cathedral enforcers. Magic circles hovered around their palms, crackling with divine energy. At their center stood a stern-looking priest with eyes like molten silver and a staff shaped like a crucifix speared through a serpent.

"Shit," Damon muttered under his breath, his voice muffled within the liquid sphere. He could feel the pressure of their spells pounding against the water's surface now, each one probing, pushing, trying to break in. This wasn't just a routine awakening anymore. This was a holy fucking crisis.

On the other side, the system wasn't done with him yet. The percentages were slowly ticking by and stopped completely when it came to 53.

[Ding! Partial Awakening Successful] 

[Ding! 53% Bloodline Assimilated]

[Ding! Warning. Bloodline Extremely Unstable]

[Ding! Warning. 10 days before Bloodline collapses permanently. Seek stabilization immediately.]

Damon's heart skipped a beat. What the hell was this? A death sentence? He did not have time to think because the next second, the sphere of blood-mercury exploded under the combined assault of the Cathedral enforcers. Chaos erupted.

All the enforcers tried to block the backlash from the bloodsphere, and in the center of it all, stood Damon.

He was fully drenched, panting, and shirtless, with glowing red runes spiraling up his arms and chest like tattoos. His eyes glowed bright crimson, and his fangs were visible for everyone to see.

The priest took a step forward, staff raised. "You… whatever you are… are in violation of divine ordinance. Submit now, or be purged."

"How about no?" Damon didn't have to think twice before activating the teleportation talisman he had swindled from Ellora. This was exactly why he had asked for one, and now that same situation was playing out in front of him, though for an entirely different reason.

The teleportation talisman activated, and with that, Damon vanished in a blink, leaving all of the Cathedral enforcers staring wide-eyed and powerless as the crimson flare of teleportation shimmered and died.

...

"How did a mortal awakener come in possession of a high-grade talisman? How did he manage to escape right in front of us? This is completely unacceptable!"

The priest's voice echoed through the cathedral ruins like thunder, each word laced with divine fury. His staff slammed into the stone with a crack that sent spiderweb fractures racing across the marble floor.

None of the enforcers dared to respond. The scent of burning blood still lingered in the air. The altar stones were scorched black, and the sacred runes were flickering erratically as if the very magic in the cathedral had been violated. Because it had.

The priest's molten silver eyes swept across the room. "Do you even understand what that was? That wasn't a mortal awakening. That was a bloodline reclamation. An ancient one. Primordial, possibly cursed. And it happened in our pool."

One of the junior enforcers, pale and visibly shaking, stepped forward. "W-we couldn't trace the destination of the teleport, Sir. The signature was… masked. Someone cloaked it immediately. That man could be anywhere.

Before the priest could respond to that, another man came running. "Sir, something is terribly wrong with the Cathedral Waters."

The priest glared back at the idiot spouting the obvious.

The man hurriedly explained. "Not just our Cathedral. All the Cathedrals in the Kingdom have been drained completely. There is no blessed water left in the pools. Every single Awakening Pool has gone dry!"

Gasps spread like wildfire through the room. Even the stern-faced enforcers, trained for divine combat and unfazed by horrors, gasped at this news.

The priest froze, staff clutched tight in his hand. "What did you just say?"

"I've confirmed with the High Chapels of Vehrin, Altharos, and Dawnspire," the messenger continued breathlessly. "It happened at the exact same moment. Their pools were completely drained. Not evaporated, not corrupted. Just… emptied."

Shock and dread filled the eyes of the priest. "He drained them? He... that boy… drained all of them?"

Everyone stood silently not knowing what to do now.

"Find him." The priest finally spoke up, his voice bellowing. "I want every teleportation gate, every resurrection shrine, every rogue bloodmage circle within five hundred miles locked down. I want his name and his soul. If there's even a trace of that awakening energy left behind… track it."

He turned away and mumbled in a low voice that no one could hear. "Because if that bloodling is allowed to awaken completely… this entire continent will burn."

Meanwhile…

Damon tumbled through space and reappeared on a steep hill just outside the outer perimeter of Nieta Falls. He hit the ground hard, coughing as the last traces of teleportation light faded. Grass tickled his fingers, dirt caked his palms, and his skin still steamed faintly from residual magic burns. But he was alive.

"Holy shit," he breathed, chest heaving. "What the fuck was that?"

He rolled onto his back and stared up at the clear sky, letting the wind cool his overheated body. "Wait, they will come after me now. They know that minor teleportation couldn't have taken me far. Shit."

Damon groaned and forced himself to sit up, every muscle in his body aching as if he had just run a marathon while being electrocuted. His fingers curled into the grass as he steadied himself. "I've got maybe seconds, maybe a couple of minutes if I'm lucky, before they start combing this place."

He was just about to get up and run like hell back to the vampire base when suddenly a voice appeared in his head. "No need to run, little Bloodling," the woman's voice whispered, ancient and cold, slithering into his mind like smoke through a crack. 

Damon froze. His heart skipped a beat. That was not the system voice. And it wasn't his imagination either. "Who… who are you?" Damon asked aloud, glancing around the hillside. There was no one. Just wind, trees, and the distant growls of the beasts.

"Hmph. You think of me constantly, not in one life but two and yet you fail to recognize me when I am standing right in front of you?"

Damon's heart almost stopped when a foggy silhouette appeared in front of him out of thin air. The fog clung to her like a shroud, as though reality itself was trying to reject her presence. He couldn't see much of her except for the small insignia on her forehead.

It was the mark of the Golden Throne, except there was a sword piercing straight through it. He had seen this mark before. This was the same insignia that burned on the hilt of the Legendary weapon, Bloodreign.

"You are that… you are that…" From all the crazy system messages he had received during the awakening process, Damon was instantly able to piece together one puzzle after another, and in the end, only one explanation was possible.

"Yup, I am Bloodreign, fondly known as little red."

The wind stilled. Damon blinked. "What?" he croaked. The foggy silhouette laughed at his shocked expression. 

"I know you figured it out, so why are you acting all surprised now? You got me, little bloodling. Three of you came after me that night, and you were the one who was successful. You got me, and I made sure we both got a fair second chance to climb our way back to the top."

Damon gulped. Sure, he had guessed correctly. But guessing was one thing, and knowing the truth was an entirely different thing. How could all of this be happening? How could she be the legendary weapon's soul? That was something that happened in his last life. How could it have possibly followed him in this new life?

Was she really the one who sent him back in time? But how could something like that even be possible?

"I know you have a lot of questions, bloodling but I have already used all of my energy to aid in your awakening. I am feeling very sleepy now. Wake me up soon, okay? I am counting on you. Also, I made sure no one could track you or see your status. You will just be a normal vampire in their eyes," she whispered, her voice already fading like mist at dawn.

Damon reached out instinctively, but the fog had already begun unraveling, dissolving into threads of shimmering red that drifted into the wind and vanished without a trace. The hillside returned to its peaceful state, and just like that, she was gone.