Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Blood-Fed Evolution
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Leyzon suddenly told her to drink his own blood.
Syria cried out in shock, nearly keeling over.
"H-how could I drink Leyzon-nim's blood? I can't do that!"
She then pointed at Hanok, who had been standing quietly beside her, and shouted.
"I'd rather drink that little kid's blood!"
Hanok, abruptly singled out, turned to look at her.
"Eek!"
He curled up his tail and freaked out.
It was the face of someone who'd just heard he was about to be killed.
"I-I don't taste good!"
With tears welling up, Hanok desperately proved his point that he was unpalatable.
Leyzon gave a wry smile as he watched Hanok trembling.
"Actually, drinking Hanok's blood wouldn't be a problem. But let's not. This is just a test, after all."
Leyzon convinced Syria thoroughly.
"What I really want to know is whether Pioneers' blood with high Ascension Levels affects evolution."
Leyzon currently had an immense amount of Ascension EXP stacked up.
Naturally, he planned to keep Ascending from here on out.
If the evolution rate sped up based on the Ascension Level of the Pioneer's blood consumed...
Syria could become his most optimal supplier.
In other words, even if she drank Hanok's blood right now...
If it worked, Leyzon intended to have her drink his own blood steadily going forward.
"Ah... um... ngh."
Syria seemed to grasp his intent, chewing on her lip.
To suck blood, she'd have to injure Leyzon in some way.
That's why she was thrashing her whole body in refusal.
"Syria, I'm giving you permission."
But this was no time to back down.
Leyzon would absolutely need Syria's power from now on.
If she could grow faster and stronger during her evolution...
He was determined to do whatever it took to raise her.
Perhaps sensing Leyzon's resolve...
Syria, who had been hesitating, finally nodded.
"...Got it. Since it's Leyzon-nim's order."
Leyzon smiled gently.
She'd stubbornly insisted on her own way, but this was just like the good girl Syria.
"Ugh... you're really making me do it."
"Yeah, hurry up."
Syria carefully wrapped her hands around the arm Leyzon extended.
Kneeling on both knees with a resolute expression, she looked like she was about to commit some sacrilege.
Leyzon, however, felt nothing special.
He felt like a patient waiting for a shot.
"Ah."
Soon, Syria let out a sound and chomped down on Leyzon's arm.
Her fangs touched his arm.
And right away, a ticklish sensation spread from his arm.
'Is this paralyzing poison?'
Just like a mosquito injects numbing venom so its target doesn't notice while sucking blood...
Syria's fangs apparently had something similar.
'The problem is...'
Leyzon was immune to poison.
No paralysis set in; instead, it just stung.
Like having two thick syringe needles jabbed in for blood draw.
Leyzon felt the blood draining from his arm.
And moments later...
Syria's tightly shut eyes began to quiver.
Rip!
At the same time, the back of her dress tore open.
Sprouting from there were blood-red bat wings.
Leyzon's eyes widened as he turned to Syria.
The color of Syria's hair had changed.
The tips of her once-silver hair were dyeing black.
"Syria."
At Leyzon's call, Syria pulled her fangs from his arm.
She checked her body, then stomped her foot on the ground.
In that instant, a red shadow surged up.
It was the shadow Syria often used, now rippling intensely.
At the same time, streams of blood vessels rose from Syria's body, racing across it in a flash.
Vampire's innate magic: Blood Vessel Magic.
Blood Vessel Magic and shadows flickered around Syria's body simultaneously.
Seeing this, Syria instinctively drew on both powers...
And gathered them at the center of her palm.
There, the Blood Vessel Magic and shadows intertwined.
Soon, a power so ominous just looking at it made one's heart race was born.
Leyzon's eyes widened.
He knew exactly what that skill was.
Attribute Fusion [Special].
A magic that merges innate attributes to draw out the strengths of both at once.
Syria had never been able to use Attribute Fusion before.
If the game logs had displayed normally...
A window like that would have popped up before his eyes right now.
"Wow... wowa... I never imagined I could do something like this."
Having instinctively awakened to it, Syria gazed at her fused Blood Vessel and shadow magic with wonder.
Leyzon was quite shocked too.
'The evolution effect is beyond imagination.'
She'd only gone from Infant Form to Growth Form—a single step up.
Yet now Syria wielded a new power she couldn't before.
This alone showed just how cheat-like evolution was.
"Syria, how's your power feel?"
"Y-yeah, it's surging! Feels like it's bubbling up even more."
Syria swung her arms around, brimming with accomplishment.
'Up to Growth Form seems straightforward.'
But intuitively, the stages after probably had harsh conditions.
'Using the Peerless Gem was the right call.'
For Auto-Growing Undead, once Leyzon caught up in Ascension Level, growth essentially stopped.
But now that it had evolved into this form...
The undead could grow several times—no, dozens of times—stronger than before.
A bright smile spread across Leyzon's face.
This lucky bastard.
He was thrilled beyond measure.
"...L-Leyzon-nim."
Leyzon looked up at Hanok's call.
Hanok was staring at Leyzon's arm with a shocked face.
It was the arm Syria had just drunk from.
The moment Leyzon followed Hanok's gaze questioningly...
His own face filled with bewilderment.
"Huh?"
And small wonder—Leyzon's arm right now...
Was oozing blood droplets that floated up into the air.
"...Sniff, magic?"
Hanok wrinkled his nose.
Just as Hanok said.
Leyzon's blood was rising as if using Blood Vessel Magic.
Leyzon met Syria's eyes.
She shook her head, denying it was her doing.
"No way..."
Leyzon quickly scanned his own body.
And soon realized.
'It's me.'
This Blood Vessel Magic had activated from his own body.
The foundational magic of Blood Vessel Mages: Bleeding Restoration [Special].
"...It's linked?"
He could now use some of the evolved Syria's skills.
The Blood Vessel Magic floating before his eyes.
Leyzon and Syria's gazes met as they beheld it.
The moment Leyzon pondered what to say to her...
"Leyzon-nim, you can use my magic without even merging! That's amazing!"
Syria launched herself at Leyzon in a full-body tackle.
Leyzon hurriedly caught the flying Syria.
Syria beamed ear to ear.
Who would've thought he could wield skills from the undead he'd created.
An enormous achievement.
Leyzon laughed along and spun Syria around in his arms.
"You're right—it's all thanks to you, Syria. You've helped me out big time. I made one hell of an undead!"
"Eee, I'm so happy! I could die happy!"
The two got along splendidly.
Only Hanok felt left out in this atmosphere.
After spinning with Syria for a good while, Leyzon finally set her down.
"Syria, mind telling me about the skills you can use now?"
"Ah, sure thing!"
Syria went over her skills one by one.
Including the fusion skill from earlier, Syria had twenty skills.
'Out of these, the ones I can use...'
In the game, windows would pop up, but now in reality, he knew intuitively.
'About three.'
A blood-red droplet formed in Leyzon's hand.
Blood Vessel Magic: Bleeding Restoration [Special].
Shadow Magic: Shadow Fortress [C].
'And...'
Leyzon looked at the blob of blood in his palm.
The blood moved freely at will.
Proof that his mana could freely wield Blood Vessel Magic.
'Attribute Fusion [Special].'
Leyzon activated the special skill, Attribute Fusion.
Green liquid began mixing into the blood.
This was Leyzon activating Fierce Poison Spread.
So his current skill setup looked like this.
Four new skills, including Undead Union.
'I was planning to clear the Poison Necromancer ending...'
Suddenly, his options had expanded massively.
Even if the skill levels were low...
More skills meant more varied applications.
'Thanks to Attribute Fusion, I can combine it with my poison skills.'
An absurd scene flashed in Leyzon's mind.
If he kept evolving Syria like this and grew himself...
He'd undoubtedly become a vile Necromancer wielding blood, shadows, and poison all at once.
'Beyond expectations.'
No matter how strong the undead were...
If their master didn't grow, it was meaningless.
Ultimately, reaching the ending was on Leyzon.
Leyzon clenched his fist.
Dozens of applications sprang to mind already.
Having enjoyed Dungeon Replay more than anyone...
The thought of skill combos excited him for the first time in ages.
'No need to stick to Poison Necromancer anymore.'
Leyzon felt the need to rebuild his setup.
'Just from one blood feed, and I get this...'
He wondered how strong she'd get at Expert Form, the third stage.
A gamer's instincts made his heart race.
On top of that, Leyzon had a few questions for Syria.
"Syria, do you know where the other undead are?"
There were four other undead besides Syria.
Each likely had their own evolution conditions.
Fulfilling those would link more skills.
Then Leyzon could wield an even broader array of skills.
Syria fidgeted stiffly.
"Uh... o-one of them, maybe?"
She didn't know much.
'The upside of Auto-Growing Undead is automatic growth...'
But conversely, he couldn't control them freely.
In the game, their locations showed on the map.
But this was reality.
Even Leyzon couldn't guess the other undeads' positions.
"Let's find that one first. They might know about the rest."
"Oh, right!"
Originally, Leyzon hadn't planned to seek them out immediately.
But now, he needed to find every last one.
"We'll clear the mid-tier dungeon on the way there too."
Ascension progress was important as well.
'So much to do.'
But thanks to his innate personality...
He didn't feel daunted.
Leyzon was confident he could pull it all off, even if it took time.
"Where's that one?"
"Pretty far. Probably in the Ged Mountains to the north."
Ged Mountains to the north.
A mountain range famous for housing countless heteromorphic races.
"Three months away by carriage from here."
Hanok chimed in, clearly familiar with it.
"Oh yeah, the Sword-Tooth Clan lives around there."
"That's right. It's my hometown."
Hanok wagged his tail in affirmation.
"We can have you guide us once we arrive, Hanok."
"Heh heh, leave it to me! I know every path in those mountains. I've traveled them plenty!"
Hanok had felt lonely being excluded from Leyzon and Syria's talk.
So he puffed up immediately at the chance to help.
"Then I'd like to find a carriage leaving today, but..."
Leyzon trailed off.
His butt was starting to ache again.
Wonder if there's a way to fix this.
'Wish there was teleportation like in other games.'
In Dungeon Replay, spatial transfer was archmage territory.
Rumor had it you could do it by gathering high-level mages en masse...
But that was theoretical, unconfirmed.
No players had ever used it.
Just then, Syria tugged at Leyzon's clothes.
"Leyzon-nim, the way to Ged Mountains is deserted anyway, right?"
The northern Ged Mountains were so rugged that few people passed through.
Few came out, and even fewer went in.
'Compared to the modern world, this one's population is way lower.'
No wonder countless heteromorphic races dwelled in the Ged Mountains.
"Guess so?"
"How about I use some power then?"
Confidence shone on Syria's face.
Did she have some convenient travel method?
"Sounds good. Let's do it."
Anything but a carriage would do.
At Leyzon's request, Syria flapped the wings sprouting from her back.
"I'll carry you all super comfortably!"
Still, they'd need to get away from the capital first.
'Farewell, my butt.'
Better say goodbye in advance.