Draconic Vampire: Curse of the Blood

The exoskeletons could only function for a couple of hours due to their power-hungry nature. A power-efficient exoskeleton could last for days with minimal and optimized movements but for long-term use, they were basically useless.

The main purpose was to help the wearer lift heavy weights and run a little faster. It was incredibly useful in places like oil rigs and coal mines where the worker's life was always in danger. With the suits, they could work safely and more efficiently. In the case of any mishaps, the exoskeleton could provide them with additional protection.

This blood rune could be integrated with such an exoskeleton, at least he thought so. He had no idea how this could be achieved as he was not even remotely acquainted with the blood ritual techniques.

'If I could build something like this, wouldn't that be amazing? No, an open exoskeleton wouldn't cut it. With the flexibility of blood-qi that many openings will be deadly. Maybe an armor. '

"I know what you're thinking. This idea popped into my head as well, but the main purpose of this is to get detached from the body, so keeping it on wouldn't make sense. There are many high-grade static armors that provide excellent defense and attack power.

"I made it work remotely from the host with minimal intervention. The blood runes will take care of all the heavy work while you concentrate on fighting."

With a flick of his finger, the wall rearranged and turned into a cube twice the size of Keith. Its entire surface was covered with intricate runes. After the area decreased the runes became denser.

"This is the limit of the runes. I tried to minimize the size but it would affect the performance so I carved multiple layers to keep a dense rune formation. Any smaller the runes will collapse and the malleable property will disappear."

"So the runes are holding it together. I thought the material was bearing half the weight, but I was wrong. The limitation is the size of the runes." Keith said with a thoughtful expression.

"You have good observation skills. I really want to see how far you can go in the blood ritual path." The old man looked at Keith with interest.

"Is that an invitation to become your disciple?" 

Keith wanted to get into all four disciplines and if possible get the direct disciple position under the dean. As crazy as it sounded, he didn't want to give up. In the worst case, he would sneak in and copy the techniques from others.

"Boy, I haven't taken in a disciple for a century. I don't wish to break that streak, unless…"

"Unless…what?" Keith squinted his eyes.

"Unless you vow to be a blood ritualist to the end and not delve into other disciplines. YOu have to follow me for a decade and then I will let you go with all the necessary knowledge to carve your own future." The old man said, smiling ear to ear.

"I wish I could… but warrior frame is my family technique, I can't abandon it." Keith pretended to be in a dilemma.

"I know, giving up the warrior frame at this stage is not a wise decision, so I won't be taking you as a disciple."

"Then…"

"I will simply impart you some of my knowledge. Your talent is very unique as you can implement and evolve blood-qi techniques very quickly. Maybe that's why you could reach this stage so early.

"Maybe you can become a multi-disciplined blood-qi manipulator. " A grin appeared on Mr. Visit's face.

"I wanted to ask, how blood ritualists make runes?" Keith asked hesitantly.

"Oh! It's quite simple. I know the council wants to keep it a secret, but any smart person could come up with this method if he tried hard enough.

"Basically, the runes are a structure to hold the blood-qi. We carve the runes like circuits inside a body, but in this case, the non-living objects are used. It mimics the flow of blood-qi within vampires and that's how it powers the artifacts, rituals, and array formations."

"We use the bloodstone as the power source, but with direct contact, a vampire can use the runes."

"Then can humans use it too using bloodstones?" Keith asked.

"No, to use the runes the user must have some blood-qi no matter how low. Humans and other organisms have different types of life force which are incompatible with the blood runes. Coming up with a new rune system could help, but without power, humans can't operate them.

"Then there's the sustainability issue. The blood runes require blood-qi to function and aside from vampire's blood-qi, there are only bloodstones. And from the supply of bloodstones, I doubt any human will be able to get one in a thousand lifetimes."

Now Keith understood how many disadvantages the humans had. With basically no energy to power any runes, they didn't have any means to gain power apart from turning into a vampire.

With the superior physique, longevity, and life energy, vampires reigned high above the humans, even if their population was not that high compared to the humans. Most of the humans were kept inside special territories and monitored regularly.

They were well-fed and kept safe, only to collect blood from them. It was like a milk factory except in this case the blood was milk and it was mandatory for the survival of the vampires.

"If creating runes is so easy as you say, why are there only a handful of blood ritualists?" This question bothered him many times. 

"This has more to do with an innate talent to understand the underlying structure of reality. You see, the blood ritualists are not that special compared to other blood-qi manipulators. We don't have any special abilities. 

"What we do have is knowledge and creativity. An important thing to note is that, unlike other disciplines, blood ritualists don't rely on their own strength. They make use of the power of runes, which allows them to modify the fabric of reality."

"We can change everything, given we discover the structure of the thing and carve the proper rune structure to channel the blood-qi. This made us even more valuable than other disciplines. The things made possible with the power of runes, you could not even imagine."

A glint flashed across Mr. Visit's eyes as he looked at Keith.

"Hmm?" Keith couldn't get what he was referring to.

"Ah! Don't mind my ramblings. Today was a fruitful day. Thanks to you, I can improve the rune formation to yet another level." Scratching his chin, the old man looked to be immersed in something.

"Blood runes hold such power! Now I want to learn this discipline even more. I was fascinated by the artifacts but after understanding the possibilities, I am even more eager to enroll." Keith replied.

"So want to join the blood ritualist department. Let me tell you, the old fogeys there will make your life miserable. So many restrictions. And forget about joining any other department. They will directly expel you from the department." Mr. Visit said with a snort.

"How old are they for you to call them old? You are pretty old yourself."

"Several thousand years. Blood ritualists have the longest lifespan among vampires because we stay in our lab all the time and never go to a battle. We also don't practice unknown blood-qi techniques on ourselves. There are always exceptions to the rules, but for the majority it's accurate."

"Hmm… no risky blood-qi technique so there is a chance of a blood-qi eruption. I understand now. The blood ritualists are like the masterminds behind the vampire society. All the advancements in the artifacts, runes, and even techniques are made by blood ritualists."

"Precisely because of this, the blood rituals are valued the most even though they are physically the weakest. The most precious thing is our minds. If you think about it, the origin of blood-qi techniques was around 100 thousand years ago when the originals appeared.

"How do you think they made the blood-qi techniques?"

Keith's eyes almost popped out as he realized that the blood-qi techniques were a type of ritual.

"That… I never thought of it that way. Is this true?" Keith asked impatiently.

"That is not proven, merely a speculation among us ritualists, that is not accepted among the other disciplines. They think it's just a means to influence the other disciplines. And there hasn't been a single blood ritualist who successfully created blood-qi techniques from the runes."

"There are some blood ritualists who actively pursue this field but for centuries no progress has been made. Looks like it is just a stupid theory after all." 

Mr. Visit's expression turned solemn as he looked at the cube. The blood runes glowed and the shape of the cube changed again. 

"I will go for now. I need to do some revisions to the runes and try to make the cube more compact. You can leave. I will call you later." 

Keith left the lab with a thoughtful expression. It was an incredibly insightful conversation that answered many of his burning questions. At the same time, it presented even more unanswered questions.