Chapter 23- Runes Of The Blood Man (Part 3)
"How do I know what kind of runes I got?" Elio asked. In his head, the word runes indicates some sort of stone or object with engravings on it. However, Elio didn't see anything of that kind throughout the entire process.
"The runes will always be located in one single place," Fiona explained as she pointed at her chest. "They're all engraved into your heart. That is the center of your body and the source of the Blood Energy. So, when you close your eyes and feel your own heart, you will be able to see those runes."
"Feel my heart? Wait, I can do that?" Elio asked with a confused look.
"Yeah, one of the many things Blood Energy grants you is the ability to individually sense every organ in your body. You would be able to assess damages on your own without the need for medical intervention to tell you what's wrong."
"That's so cool…"
'Weirdly morbid too. Being able to sense my organs…' He pursed his lips. "How do I do this exactly?"
"Just focus on your heart in your imagination and let the Blood Energy do the rest," Alex said.
"Ok. I will give it a try." He said as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The familiar sensation of the Blood Energy engulfed him again. He could immediately tell that the energy was still doing things passively to his body. Bit by bit, it was changing and morphing everything about him.
The feeling of sheer pleasure only increased every passing second. However, for now, he ignored all that and focused on what mattered. Imagining his own beating heart, Elio suddenly felt the Blood Energy accumulate around his chest. Then, magically, he started seeing things within his mind.
A very vivid and real image of his own heart, beating in the black void rhythmically. Each beat seemed to reverberate across his mind and spread the energy.
'That's… my heart…' Elio was completely fascinated. It was a very odd feeling seeing something like that. His most vital organ and the thing that keeps beating and giving him life.
For a second, he admired that scene before he realized something. On the surface layer of his heart, there were faint engravings he couldn't read. They were in a beautiful shade of red, so it was hard to see them, but with a closer look, they became visible. There were 5 of them, all lined up on top of each other.
"I guess those are the runes." He muttered.
"Are you seeing them?" Fiona asked.
"Yes. I can see 5 of them."
"Good. Now focus on the first one. You should be able to immediately know what it is."
"Hmmm…" Elio didn't reply as he focused his vision on the very first rune at the top. Immediately, the weird engraving started shining with a brighter light than the others. Then, instantly, Elio's mind was invaded with new information he didn't have before. It happened almost out of nowhere, taking him by surprise.
"The first rune… Mmm? This is interesting."
"What is it called, Elio?"
"This is amazing," Elio said, still quite focused on what he was reading in his head. "Oh? It's called 'Record Reader V'."
"Oh? A Record Reader rune? And a V tier at that?" Alex raised an eyebrow. "That's so damn useful."
"It says here that… This rune will make me able to quantify and read my own strength? What does that mean?" Elio asked as he opened his eyes.
"A Record Reader rune is one of the most important runes to have as a Vampire Hunter. The ways we can measure our powers are very complicated and scarce. This ability will turn your power into readable numbers and put them in a sheet that you can access in your head at all time. As for the 'V' part, it indicates the tier of the rune."
"The tier?"
"Yes, for example. A Record Reader rune of the first tier would only show you a few small details. The second tier will show more, and so on. The maximum tier is the fifth one, which grants you a full and detailed view of your own powers."
"Oh, that's very good."
'Knowing how much power I have at every moment is extremely useful. I don't even need to know much more to realize that. It is just like those video game characters.'
"You can access the sheet later. For now, let's move on to the next rune."
"O-Ok…" Elio nodded his head and closed his eyes again. He focused on the second rune, and the name popped into his head.
"Blood Cleanser V… It says."
"Blood Cleanser V?!" Alex blurted out as he almost choked. "Two 5th-tier runes back to back?! You have got to be kidding me."
Fiona and George simply stared in astonished silence. At this point, there were truly no words to describe Elio. They had to just accept the fact that he was a freak of nature, unlike anything they've seen or will ever see. This was merely another proof that he wasn't human whatsoever.
"Is it that rare to have two 5th-tier runes?"
"Extremely," Fiona said. "Any rune that reaches the 5th tier is extremely valuable and hard to come by. Having two or more makes you one of a few hundred people in the world who have that. I myself have 2 5th-tier runes."
"Oh…."
"And on top of that. For that second rune to be Blood Cleanser of all runes…" Fiona looked like she was struggling. "It is quite… something for sure. Remember when I explained yesterday how we are able to gain power, Elio?"
"Yeah, you said through killing and absorbing the blood of enemies?" He said.
"Indeed. But a detail I didn't mention was that. Absorbing blood is an incredibly flawed and hard process. Since you are absorbing foreign blood, your body will purify and extract what it can absorb and then leave the rest as waste. That cleansing process usually only absorbs around 5% of the target's blood. So, the Blood Cleanser rune increases that."
"Oh! So this is also a very good rune!"
"Yes. A first-tier Blood Cleanse rune increases the efficiency to 10%. The second tier pushes it to 15%. The third and fourth increase it to 20% and 25% respectively. However, the fifth tier, which is the rarest one… Increase it to 50%."
"50%? So I would be able to absorb half the blood of my dead enemy?" Elio asked.
"Yes. I don't think I need to explain how truly powerful that is. It means that you would always be ahead of anyone else, even if you killed way fewer enemies and absorbed way less blood."
"This is a sick joke." Alex smiled nervously.
"Anyway, let's move on, Elio. The third one."
The boy, still as clueless as ever to how truly ridiculous this was, focused on the third rune.
"The Sinful Scholar V. Oh, another fifth-tier rune. This must be so rare, too." Elio said innocently.
"..."
"..."
"..."
The entire lab was submerged in silence for a good 10 seconds before Alex finally broke the silence.
"Yeah, I think it's time for me to go home. This… This is too much for my sanity."