Sanguine Paradise - Chapter 165 (Patreon)

∼ Day 131 ∼

Watching the dancing darkness flicker about as Mia attempted to do as she was instructed by her teacher, I couldn't help but let the words of Lord Nosferas bounce around in my head.

"I want you to kill a Promethean,"

Of course, Nosferas wasn't forcing me to do anything, but I still hadn't declined his request outright. After a lengthy talk with him afterward that continued long into the night, I had gotten a relatively good grasp on what I needed to know. I had also learned of some more disturbing information about this... 'Deiden Archia'.

Apparently a necromancer of the highest order and Promethean, he created, or rather 'transformed', Nosferas into a vampire multiple centuries ago. And although he clearly didn't didn't tell me everything, he told me of how his home country, clan, and family was all destroyed by this Nosferas. But not only that, he had taken thousands, upon thousands, of drow captive to experiment upon with his depraved magics.

Nosferas, his mate, and both his two daughters were among the captives; only Nosferas surviving all the torment that he and his family was put through.

The amount of deeply-rooted hatred in that man even after multiple centuries shook me to the core. But he didn't elaborate further on it as it was clearly something still plaguing him to this day.

Other than that, Nosferas had also discussed various matters with me to help me move everything along much smoother than they would otherwise have. From the recruitment of labor and master craftsman, I now not only had my recently gained fame for placing third as a dark horse in the tournament but the city lord of Ebongrave himself had also put in a good word for me. Then including some resources and funds to kickstart my settlement, Nosferas by House Menethil as a proxy had really helped me out.

Although he obviously wanted to do more for me considering how much he actually had to give, he himself had barriers that restricted him from acting freely. Those overlords of his...

Being an entity tied to the higher echelons of monster society, if certain individuals got wind of him assisting me as such, it could bring down an avalanche of trouble down on not only him but also on me. We had to act rather discreetly in our dealings, especially since there were those keeping a close eye on him and reporting back to unknown individuals.

"Sigh..."

We only had a few more days at the most here in Ebongrave as we couldn't stall the recruitment posting any longer and I still had a budding settlement waiting for us back home. Although this city had brought us brief enmity from how the nobles and how our situation was manipulated into joining the tournament, this city was a marvelous one and a place where I had made multiple allies.

I would've loved to stay longer and garner more influence, but my time could be better spent elsewhere. That thought reminded me of something I had to take care of, something I had been putting off until yesterday when Nosferas had helped me realize what my talent was.

Although I hadn't really gotten any levels out of the tournament, my skills had sky-rocketed from the intense fights against monsters much stronger than myself, training with the monster of a teacher that was Executrix Lana, and the revelations I've gotten during all the time I've spent in the city.

I would've wanted to advance these skills much earlier as I had been accruing them throughout the tournament, Lana had advised me not to. Until I understood my own capabilities and talent, I should not be rushing the skills that would ultimately define how my fighting style develops.

But now that I've realized the avenue of control through domination, I can work towards creating my legion.

While the massive level increases to my skills had been a great contributor to my joy, the fact that I had a whole three skills on the cusp of advancing into the fourth tier was most of the reason why I had been itching to disregard Lana's advice and simply advance them on the spot.

No longer though, it was time.

-Advance, Blood-Shadow Magic!-

Reading the available options, there wasn't a doubt in my mind from right out of the gate as to what advancement to take. While I did comb through the information multiple times to make sure that I wasn't overlooking anything, my choice was ultimately locked to that one advancement that spoke the truest to me.

Dominion Mastery.

I was honestly quite surprised by this skill advancement seeing as I had no real idea what this skill could possibly evolve into. Seeing as Blood, Shadow Magic was essentially just a skill signifying the power of and my access to using the two schools of magic, Shadow and Blood. so when I saw that it could be advanced rather than maxing out instead, I had just expected to be pretty much the same with just greater benefits.

But lo and behold, achieving actual competency in the two magics awarded me with a specialized type of fused magic that would greatly enhance a concept and utilization of the magics.

I didn't contemplate my choice further though, I had decided.

-Dominion Mastery!-

Noting the skill point reward, I smiled. Already extremely curious, I conjured my mana.

Instantly, I noticed there was a distinct difference when I attempted to conjure a formation or even to fuse the two different magics together as they worked seamlessly with each other. This was quite odd as before they had been rather unmixable.

Putting the mana away, I continued onto the next advancement.

-Advance, Blood Shaping!-

Surprised both by the fact that there was only one option and that the option seemed incredibly powerful, I didn't hesitate to advance the skill.

-Blood Lord!-

Although the change I felt in my body didn't seem alien or much too different, the potency of how well I felt like I could sense and was in control of my blood and that of others had risen explosively.

Wanting to test this out a soon as possible, I pulled up the next advancement, getting impatient to already try out my new two skills.

-Advance, Mana Mending!-

The rather... limited choices were unsurprising seeing as Mana Mending has already advance once, taking a divergent path rather than the greater option. Not that I really minded though. The skill was merely a 2nd-tier skill while it still was extremely valuable as if my other regeneration and defense skills failed me, it could bring me back from the brink of death, and already has before.

I went on.

-Greater Mana Mending!-

-Advance, Spell Formation!-

Now, this was where it got interesting...

All those skill advancements seemed incredibly useful, from Grand Formations's promise of much more powerful spells to that Formational Imbuement advancement that almost seemed like a large-scale enchanter of some sort.

Although each skill seemed intriguing and powerful, I quickly narrowed it down to the two first, Formation Constructs and Grand Formations.

While Spellnomicon seemed full of boundless utility, I had already had more than enough of that. Even enough to be harmful to myself as proven by the state my fighting style was in before Lana beat some sense into me of how I should properly utilize my skills, abilities, and so on.

As for the Formation Imbuement, it simply didn't seem to mesh all that well with Blood Magic and Shadow Magic. How exactly was I supposed to use those two schools of magic with what I could read from the description?

With those two scrapped, it was down to Grand Formations and Formation Constructs. Again, I quickly turned to one of them; Formation Constructs. Of course, Grand Formations was outright just good with bigger and better spells, but Formation Constructs, although rather vague in what it actually did, seemed to be exactly what I'm looking for now that I have discovered what I had a talent for.

-Formation Constructs!-

Rubbing my hands together with excitement, I muttered to myself.

"Let's see what we can do with these..."