Draconic Vampire: Curse of the Blood

The barrage of weapons followed him all the way to the edge of the room. Keith used several pieces of furniture to avoid getting hit. Surprisingly the furniture didn't break after getting hit. 

The entire interior was filled with blood runes and protected all the things inside the room. The only target was Keith, who was not protected by the runes.

'This is getting annoying. I need to find a way to get closer to the central rune. The defense is very high and the versatility of these moving weapons make it harder to break.'

With a jump, he crashed into the ceiling and adjusted his trajectory to the center of the wall. The weapons arranged themselves in a defensive barrier by locking with each other. Their shape was melting away and filling up the empty space.

'Can't let you do that.' 

Keith used his blood-qi to amplify his two fist's power output and reduced the circulation on his back. As the blood-qi surged in both his fists, he punched his way through the barricade.

Wham! Wham! Wham!

The material was surprisingly very hard considering its malleable nature. They could change shape resembling a liquid, at the same time have incredible hardness. Mr. Visit must've used a lot of resources to make a material like this.

Even though the barrier was not budging, Keith didn't stop attacking as it was his only way in. If he withdrew now, he would be swarmed by countless weapons.

Wham! Wham! Wham!

'Come on! Break!' Keith gritted his teeth.

He used his last bit of strength and punched the barrier with his right hand. Shifting his blood-qi from his left hand to the right, he doubled the blood-qi quantity for a short time that increased his power output many folds for a brief time.

Boom! Crack! 

Faint cracks formed on the barrier and spread like spider webs. 

"This!" 

Mr. Visit stared at the scene with squinted eyes and there was a clear surprise on his face. But he immediately changed his expression to normal.

'This kid, I thought his warrior frame was early-stage viscount level. I even verified myself. His warrior frame is clearly at the early stage viscount, but he's somehow able to exert the strength of a regular final stage viscount. This is definitely not normal, even for a one in a million genius.'  The old ritualist contemplated as he locked his eyes with Keith's movements.

"Haa!"

Keith punched the barrier a couple more times and it shattered with a huge hole in the middle. 

'Finally, I can get to the center.'

Making his way through the runes Keith arrived at the inner circle of the central runes. As the wall was slanted in a steep curve that could only be climbed one way. 

He arrived at the center in a flash and attacked the rune, trying to break the formation.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

An invisible barrier covered the central rune and blocked Keith's attack.

"Enough! I think I got an idea about your strength. Your power almost reaches a count-level warrior frame. You are equally matched with the blood rune formation, even exceeding in certain scenarios. Now, come back." Mr. Visit said out loud.

Keith knew he couldn't break the barrier because the energy coming off of it was incredibly dense and was way above his level. From this, he guessed that this was already protected by the runes, even before he came here. The main purpose of this short battle was to gauge his strength.

In the end, Keith was able to break the outer defense and threaten the central rune which greatly surprised the old ritualist.

"This was a test from the beginning, wasn't it?" Keith asked with a frown.

"At first it was, but as you broke the barrier and entered the formation, I realized your strength is way higher than I anticipated. The energy barrier kicked in when you entered the central area of the formation." Mr. Visit replied.

"So now that I've finished your test, can I leave this place? I am feeling quite tired. 

"Just a little more. Then you can go. You don't need to fight, just answer my question honestly." 

Extending his hand he pointed to the wall.

"What do you think about the blood rune formation integrated with this material?" 

Keith was puzzled at first, but then he focused his mind on his question, trying to figure out his motive.

"It was very strong and flexible. If it were any other viscount, they would've been decimated long ago. This will become a good training approach for middle stage viscount and higher." Keith replied.

"Mhmm… That is just one use of this special formation. I used many types of metals and created the perfect alloy suitable for the blood runes. In normal conditions, they are extremely hard. But when the blood rune is carved into it, the property of the alloy changes, and it can change its shape and form according to the limit of the runes.

"I was preparing this rune formation to create weapons for non-esper vampires. You know how the blood espers are the only ones who can manipulate blood-qi outside their body. If you join the discipline, they will teach you the exact technique to achieve that, given you can acquire it and successfully practice it." Mr. Visit explained.

Keith knew this before thanks to the lessons from his uncle, but it was just the tip of the iceberg. There were countless procedures and techniques for the blood espers that existed. It needed unwavering discipline and focus as well as top-class talent to learn. He had to find out how he fared against all the other geniuses of the blood esper department.

There were only a handful of blood espers present in the academy and the students in that department were never seen in public. So nobody knew how powerful they were. Only the professors of that department, who were equally discreet, knew all the ins and out of the academy.

This was evident from the lack of presence of any professor in the orientation ceremony. Only the professors of the other three disciplines were present that day.

"So, this can mimic their blood-qi technique and change the form of blood-qi inside it with the help of the runes." Keith guessed.

"Spot on! But it is nowhere near the level of their strength. When you channel your blood-qi, it flows without a hitch within your body and its surroundings. But when you try to extend the blood-qi outside of your range, it will dissipate immediately.

"This happens to all the other vampires who are not blood-espers. Blood warriors can channel blood-qi to external objects but it requires a physical medium, which is not the case for the blood espers." Mr. Visit started explaining.

"This rune formation, carefully crafted with my custom-made alloy, can extend the range of the blood-qi projection and control objects remotely. It's not as fluid and doesn't work without this special material. All the other prototypes failed to maintain the runes."

Keith was really impressed by the ingenuity of the blood ritualist. They made a weapon for the other vampires to use. If this was successful, the vampires could use weapons from a distance and change their shape and form like blood espers.

"But it has a major drawback. It can't be hidden like blood-qi, which is practically invisible. The enemy could see the runes clearly and the material used. Still, it's better than nothing.

"I asked you to come here because I wanted to test out the new revision of my prototype. This can handle power output up to the count level. So you almost broke it. Thankfully, I installed a protective barrier beforehand, or else my months of research would've turned into scrap." Mr. Visit sighed after the long explanation.

"I thought it was some kind of training method for martial arts users. I saw a similar wall in the training chamber. It turned into weapons that attacked the blood warriors training there. That could only handle viscount level power. Compared to that, this feels way more advanced." Keith looked at the wall that was covered with runes.

"I made this available for the warriors to practice on and collect data. I use that to calibrate my next prototypes. This session was incredibly unique and I think the data is on point. I could upgrade the runes to tolerate marquis level power." Mr. Visit nodded his head with approval.

"Now, what's left is to fit the runes in a small enough space so that it could be transported with ease."

Keith paid attention to all his explanations and tried to take a mental note. This was extremely important information. The rune was very useful in certain scenarios. It was true that it was not as versatile and easy to carry. 

But it worked independently from the vampire's blood-qi and didn't burden their blood core. If it was made available in a small form factor, it could increase the combat power of the vampires greatly.

While thinking this, an image popped into his mind which he had seen countless times in his homeworld. A certain type of exoskeleton suit that changed shape according to the instructions of the wearer.