As she was gone…
Gray couldn't help but give a wry smile.
He had just looked so domineering, hadn't he? He willed the power inside him to come out. The skin peeling. A dagger of blood coming out. Eerily scary and yet already so natural.
[SSS-Rank Blood Slime Stirs Inside You!]
[Successfully Used One of Its Abilities!]
[F-Rank Blood Dagger!]
…
Blood dagger, eh?
It was barely a dagger. As for why?
[Error! Error! Not Enough Soul Power!]
Merely a few seconds after spawning, the blood dagger disintegrated. It simply collapsed on itself, in the most ridiculous way. And as for its actual power? It was INCREDIBLY LOW.
Yet, he grinned. He had expected that much. The blood slime in his veins? It was technically a "Tamed Beast". He had merely turned his entire blood into a pet!
The farther a pet was, the most SP it consumed?
How about negative distance? Hehehehe.
How about inside his fucking veins!
…
"STATUS!"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Gray Bright (18)
Tamer (Unranked)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
BODY 57 (STR 18, DEX 19, CON 20)
SOUL 68 (CHA 24, INT 22, WIS 21)
Soul Power: -99999
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
GIFT: UNKNOWN
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Soul Power unchanged, still negative 99999. But so what? Instead of caring about that, he looked at his STATS. Both BODY and SOUL had almost doubled, a laugh threatening to escape.
So this is what it meant to have an SSS-Blood Slime in your veins eh? And as he looked deeper inward, he felt it. An ancient power. A primal power.
[????!!!!!] → [Passive: Primordial Hunger]
The blood was HUNGRY.
And not just a regular hunger. A hunger for power. A hunger for life. A hunger for blood. Even as the thought merely crossed his mind, he felt his blood flow accelerate crazily.
Amidst the lavish yet nicely lit room, he even took off his clothes. A body that seemed sculpted by the gods themselves. And blood vessels that glowed under the skin mesmerizingly.
"Hehe, let's not do that, shall we? Let's not be branded a monster….yet."
The blood finally calmed down, recalcitrantly.
And just as he stood naked…
"Sir, Lord, I got what you asked for! But are you sure about this? As soon as the Duke hears of this he might— GASP!" Her eyes appeared more ravenous than the blood.
Gray didn't even bother acting shy. He just grabbed the clothes she had for him. Purple ones, the purple of lightning, the purple of Stormveil. Ones only a madman would wear.
Wearing that without the blessing of the Duke? A death sentence!
Yet, he didn't care one bit. He simply couldn't.
If two months had really elapsed….
…
"Sophie, right?"
"Y-Yes?!"
"When I'm gone, I need you to go see the Duke. Can you do that for me?"
She wanted to hesitate, yet she couldn't. Why was it that his pitch black eyes seemed like he already saw through all possible objections?! She stayed quiet as he spoke.
"Tell him his son-in-law sends his regards. Also tell him we'll meet again VERY soon! Ah, and one last thing. Flying pigs are annoying AF, eh? Don't forget the last part."
He gave her a wink as her entire worldview crumbled.
Son-in-law?! Wearing the crest of Stormveil without authorization. Was he trying to get them both killed?! And what was even the part about flying pigs? What was the link?
Yet, before she could even finish processing, he was already gone.
A black onyx-like floor with streaks of purple Mana.
A palace carved straight out of the Dungeon.
A new young master absolutely owning it.
…
Gray positively swaggered out.
Stormveil guards suddenly tensing as they saw him. Not because of him alone, because of the clothes. The gorgeous silver Stormveil crest, one reserved solely for the Duke's own blood.
He dismissed them all with a wave. And as he did, they inevitably shared delightfully confused looks.
'Is he fucking allowed to do that?!' 'Who fucking knows?!' 'That's the young mistress' boyfriend, right?' And at that moment they were all reminded of the rumors.
| Stormveil Commodities |
The place the young miss's boyfriend worked.
The man who had inexplicably shown up the day the Neverdie Elixir had been found. And then there had been the ragings of the Duke. That the ENTIRE CITY had heard!
And at the middle of it all was him. A single being that used to be nothing but a nondescript NPC at one of their branches. Yet, why did he seem so different now?!
Gray kept walking, none daring to stand in his way, or almost.
"HALT! You can't get out… not at this moment!"
"Go back to your room and wait!"
"This is the only warning!"
….
Two guards at the gates, their swords of lightning already pointing his way. As he saw their eyes, he knew they weren't bluffing either. They would absolutely skewer him.
Or rather, they would now. He smiled. Then he laughed. He even moved a hand towards their swords, as if a young master rejoicing at having found a new toy.
[ZAP! Now Affected by Lightning Energy!]
[Warning! Incredible Pain Incoming!]
[Warning! Stun Inc— Negated?!]
…
They couldn't see.
But right at the moment before his hand touched the energy, he used the blood slime inside him to coat the inside of himself, to create the perfect blockage, to isolate it all.
And that would change it all. The guards were waiting for the shock. They were waiting to see him convulse on the ground in pain. They were bound to be fucking disappointed.
In their eyes he now saw confusion and almost terror.
'H-How?!! He didn't even fucking budge?!!!'
'This guy is supposed to be a nobody!'
'A nobody can't do THAT!'
…
PERFECT MASTERY.
Did this mean the guy had perfect mastery of their House's secret technique?! How else could the energy have zero impact on him? It was either that or he was a freaking monster!
The first was clearly the obvious conclusion. They couldn't even fathom that he had simply accepted the pain, a pain akin to being stung like a million needles, without even reacting.
That's when Gray simply gave them a wide smile.
"Guys, how about a fun riddle?"
"S-Sure…"
"What do you think happens to a son-in-law who goes against his father's wishes? Now, what do you think happens to subordinates who go against their owners?"
He didn't even bother to fake that he was going against the Duke's wishes by leaving. No, his statement was more ballsy. He would defy him and be forgiven!
As to why? Because of Aura, of one poor girl.
One he'd steal everything from.
And just like that…
…
Gray came through the doors, the guards no longer daring to stop him. Yet, as he sensed their uneasiness he couldn't help but throw them a bone, or a lifeline perhaps.
"You guys. Are you scared? You should be, right?"
"When the Duke asks, and he will…"
"Flying pigs are annoying, eh?"
…
"…..?!!!!"
Amidst a peaceful Stormveil, a new 'Young Master' was decisively leaving the lavishest cage of them all. Now that he had gobbled the Neverdie Elixir he'd leave for a while.
After all, out of sight, out of mind— or almost.
He'd let a certain man of lightning cool down. And as for him? His eyes were already peeled on a large building in the distance, one that smelled of blood, rowdiness, and ADVENTURE!
[SSS-Blood Rank Slime Stirs!]
Soon, they would feed…