Draconic Vampire: Curse of the Blood

Boom! Crack!

The wind was howling and the arena floor was cracked. Keith was standing in one corner with his hands bruised. A thin trail of blood was dripping from his mouth, his eyes focused on the figure in front of him.

Swish! Swish!

He used his blood-qi to its maximum and circulated it throughout his body. His own aura expanded in a crimson hue, repelling the other aura. He threw several punches and kicks at the figure, but it was easily blocked.

"Do you understand now? The difference between skills. Your blood-qi is not the issue here, you simply lack the high-level techniques." Brad said as the dust settled.

His figure became visible in the arena, which was broken in several areas. He looked at Keith with a smirk,

"You blocked that attack? I was expecting several broken bones, but you handled it well. Good."

"It looks like it will be a while until I can beat you." Keith relaxed his hand.

"Huh… I have to work hard, in order to keep you from humiliating me. Now, a promise is a promise. I will impart you the blood Esper techniques as I said."

An excited and expectant look appeared on Keith's face. He wiped the blood from his mouth and looked at Brad with a determined face. His eyes were sharp and he didn't want to miss a single thing from the explanation.

"I will tell you the basics of the technique, show you some examples. Then you are on your own."

Keith nodded his head.

"Alright. Listen carefully. Blood Esper technique is an outward projection of blood-qi. When you use blood-qi, the most you can expand is your skin and several inches from that. But you can't change its form and give it shape. It just outlines your body like a wrap.

When you exude your aura, it is a form of outward projection as well, but it is not considered blood-qi manipulation, as it occurs naturally and has a fixed form. Blood warriors can extend their aura to their weapons and the things they touch.

They can change the density and flow of the outward blood-qi projection that you call aura, but changing the properties and shape of the aura is beyond them. The highest level of blood warriors are top vampires of the continent, so they are more likely to learn other disciplines, so some can change their aura forms, but that can't be comparable to Blood Espers."

Brad created a red sphere above his palm and changed its shape to abstract structures.

"As you can see, a blood esper can project the blood-qi outwards and separate it from their own body. They can change its shape and form, also its properties according to their will."

"So, is there a secret technique to project the blood-qi outwards like that?" Keith looked at the red sphere.

"There isn't. This is not a secret technique. Secret techniques are the applications of blood-qi projection, which comes after you can do this. As for how you go about achieving that, it's entirely up to you." Brad smiled at Keith.

" The first step towards understanding blood-qi projection is to understand blood-qi itself. You may have used blood-qi your whole life, but never understood what it really is. You see, blood-qi is a type of life energy produced by our blood core.

It refines the life essence absorbed from blood, and combines with our own life energy."

Keith listened carefully, as he remembered the system notifications. He absorbed the blood essence, which was a type of life essence, derived specifically from blood. It could only be refined by vampires as they possessed the blood core.

He guessed that the life essence here meant blood essence, and the infusion of life energy within the blood core was the attribute given to the blood-qi. Then it becomes truly integrated with the body.

" Now, the typical blood-qi projection which is static occurs naturally as you accumulate more blood-qi, but it can not be separated from your body in normal conditions.

What you need is a medium to control the blood-qi. When you exert your full power your blood-qi expands outwards, but it stops after a couple of inches. This is because your blood-qi is limited within a certain area, which is your body.``

Brad changed the shape of the sphere to show what he was saying.

"This is the most crucial part, so listen carefully. The area around your body where blood-qi is restricted is called an aura domain. Every vampire has a limited amount of aura domain, mostly surrounding the user's body.

"But for Blood espers, they can create aura fields outside their own domain. This is what differentiates them from other blood-qi manipulators."

The sphere changed into a figure with a red transparent field surrounding it.

"This is where your talent will be tested, whether you are gifted enough to practice blood Esper techniques."

Keith looked at the scene with a determined face. He was taking in all the information that he just received and processed them carefully.

He understood now why Espers were so rare among the vampires. They were unique in manipulating aura domains. This was not something anyone could do. You have to be naturally gifted to be able to create aura domains outside your body.

This required talent and he had yet to figure out if he had any.