Chapter 1402
[The new species, the vampire, is unlocked and a new system is added to the Blood King.]
[★ The Blood King can grant a quest ‘Blood King’s Order’ to all vampire players once a week.
* The quest content and difficulty are random. The maximum difficulty rating is A.
* Players who clear the quest will get certain rewards. The Blood King will get a point in the stat ‘command’ every time the quest clearance reaches a certain number. The higher the command stat, the higher the blood a.s.similation rate and the faster the casting speed, deployment speed, and the formation speed of blood magic. The duration of the blood formed will also increase.
* Players who failed to accept the quest for four consecutive weeks will be penalized and their relations.h.i.+p with the Blood King will change from friendly to hostile. Players who are hostile to the Blood King are considered traitors to the clan.
* Players who perform well in quests have a very rare probability of upgrading from ‘normal’ to ‘elite’ at a certain cycle. Elite ranked vampires have an even smaller chance of being promoted to ‘true blood’ every fewer cycles.]
“Hmm...”
It was a sudden situation where vampires were turned into a selectable species. Grid’s eyes that were fl.u.s.tered from causing this situation gradually calmed. The true value of Blood King was finally revealed and he was quite satisfied. Was this the reason why Marie Rose didn’t want power? She didn’t have absolute command power, but she could exert influence anyway.
As long as the Blood King’s Order system existed, the vampire wouldn’t be able to ignore the Blood King. They were likely to mistake themselves as dancing on the palm of the Blood King. The Blood King’s Orders were made by the Blood King himself, so there was a high possibility they would misunderstand.
Just like the orcs were in Grid’s grasp because Teruchan was loyal to Grid, the vampires were in Grid’s hands.
‘There is even a new stat.’
Command—it was currently at 0 points, but it would rise naturally as time pa.s.sed.
‘It will boast a pretty rapid growth rate.’
Vampires were a rare species with the basic ‘life-stealing’ characteristic in Satisfy. As they grew, turning to fog and a bat were possible so they weren’t bound by the concept of s.p.a.ce. They had a very high physical resistance. They could also create familiars. If they became a true blood vampire, they could produce more vampires.
They would even become more beautiful. It wasn’t to the extent of elves, but there was a decadent charm. Therefore, the fanaticism level was very high. Despite the weakness to the sun, Grid estimated that the number of players changing to a vampire would be much higher than the orcs. Imagine hundreds or tens of millions of vampire players completing the Blood King’s Order every week. The growth of the command stat would be enormous.
‘By the way, this...’
Wouldn’t the number of humans become too small if it proceeded this way? One day, elves and dwarves would also be released. He worried about it for a moment.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’He came to the conclusion that it wasn’t a problem to care about. It was a situation where the vampires and orcs, which were originally enemies of humanity, became players and able to coexist with humans. It was right to say that the forces of humanity were growing larger.
“I opened the blood wells, but it is only the next best thing.” Marie Rose opened her mouth as Grid was adapting to the new changes. “They won’t be much help in the war with the great demons unless they are a direct descendant rank vampire at the minimum. It is virtually meaningless to increase the population with blood wells. Grid, remember that if you break your promise and don’t help me, I have no choice but to force you.”
It was an obvious warning. It was rather close to a threat. Nevertheless, Grid didn’t shrink back.
“That won’t happen.” He was determined to fulfill his promise. “It is because I will definitely fight for you.”
Good. It was a perfect line. Grid was convinced that his remark would increase his affinity with Marie Rose. He wasn’t feeling expectant, he was confident. It was confidence given by the experience that captured even the heart of G.o.d Hexetia. However, the actual result was different from what Grid expected.
“......”
Marie Rose’s eyes formed an obviously displeased diagonal line. Her sharp expression was reminiscent of an uncomfortable cat.
“......?”
[Affinity with Marie Rose has lowered by 1.]
“......?!”
What? He said he was going to help her. Why did affinity go down instead of up?
‘Did I say something wrong?’
Grid’s face turned white as he reflected on what he just said. Meanwhile, Marie Rose kept staring at Grid with a sharp expression. Meanwhile, Mercedes looked between the two of them and seemed to be in a good mood for some reason.
***
“These paintings were done by Beriache.”
Grid’s relations.h.i.+p with Marie Rose was definitely sorted out. They were partners who would defeat h.e.l.l together one day. It was unlikely they would become enemies before Marie Rose’s revenge was over.
Braham’s pride might be hurt and it would be painful enough to want to die, but Marie Rose didn’t seem very aware of Braham. Would she kill him if she accidentally encountered him on the road? This was something he was concerned about, but at the very least, she didn’t intend to visit Braham and harm him. His existence was that trivial to her. He might be the legendary great magician, but to her...
Of course, that was just a story of the moment.
“Um... I see.”
Marie Rose described the paintings in the corridor as the ‘powerless revenge of a helpless mother.’ It depicted the world that had been destroyed and recreated many times, while also showing Rebecca as a dark evil, and Yatan as a pushover who couldn’t rebel against Rebecca. She had no intention of revealing it to the world. She didn’t want to announce the powerlessness of her mother, who could only express her hatred for both G.o.ds through paintings.
‘There won’t be any effect if I reveal it,’ Grid thought.
It was the work of a great demon. It was impossible for humans to believe in the content of a great demon’s work. Even if this work was released to the world, it was unlikely that people’s faith in Rebecca would be shaken. Rather, they would say it was a trick of the great demon. In this case, a voice would emerge saying that humanity should unite with one heart to pray to G.o.ddess Rebecca.
‘Did she say the green one is Amoract?’
As they walked through the corridor and viewed Beriache’s works in reverse order, Grid paused in front of the second painting. The red Beriache seemed to follow Yatan like he was her father, while the giant Baal seemed to be distancing himself from Yatan. Compared to them, the green Amoract respectfully supported Yatan.
‘Amoract is the one who created the Yatan Church.’
Amoract—Marie Rose said this was the 2nd great demon.
‘It is a completely different style of chaos from Baal.’
From what he had seen and experienced, Baal had no sense of purpose. There were so many variables that it was difficult to cope. He had to be good at adapting to the situation in order to fight against Baal.
On the other hand, Amoract was likely to have a clear purpose. For example, Amoract would’ve thoroughly prepared an insidious scheme to achieve a purpose such as bringing Yatan down to the human world. To fight Amoract, a systematic plan and high level strategy was required.
It happened as Grid’s worries were deepening...
Mercedes stopped walking and declared with a determined face, “I will support you no matter what ordeal stands in your way.”
“It is rea.s.suring.” A smile spread on Grid’s face. It felt like the fog in front of him had cleared.
Mercedes had given him an answer. No matter the enemy or the personality they had, he could break through them with force.
‘I have no choice but to get stronger.’
Grid left Marie Rose’s castle and used blood magic as a test. Red drops of blood created by magic power gathered at Grid’s fingertips and formed the shape of a sword. It was Blood Sword Shatter that exploded this sword within three seconds and inflicted wide area damage.
‘The higher my command stat, the faster I can make the sword and the longer I can keep it?’
Grid swung his arms. Then the blood sword floating quietly in front of him shot forward like an arrow and exploded.
“Hopefully, it can become a weapon...”
Out of the five blood magic he learned recently, none of the attack based blood magic could be used in actual combat. The power was reduced compared to the other attack skills he already acquired. However, the story changed once the power of the command stat rose. He would have more cards in his grasp.
Grid was feeling expectant only to suddenly be engulfed in an empty feeling.
‘Pagma"s Successor is weak.’
If discussing the overall value of the cla.s.s, then Pagma"s Successor was naturally the best. Not only could it produce the strongest battle gear by itself, but it could also handle all types of items without restrictions and increase their performance. This could be called a fraudulent level.
It was just that the higher the enemy’s level, the more obvious the limitations. Suppose that Grid didn’t gain the power of G.o.d"s Command, the evil eye, and the Undefeated King. He didn’t meet Braham and the tower members, and didn’t become the Hero King and Blood King.
How far could he reach with just Pagma’s Sword Dance? Far from becoming a G.o.d, he wouldn’t have even become the Magic Swordsman of the Epics. Objectively, Pagma"s Successor was clearly inferior in combat power compared to other legendary cla.s.ses.
‘Unexpectedly, I think it is amazing...’
He had grown to this point. How long had it been since he felt proud of himself?
“Now let’s go home.”
Her brief cheering encouraged him. Grid held Mercedes in his arms in the hope of conveying this grat.i.tude and used a return scroll.
***
Youngwoo got up from the capsule and approached the window. It was as expected. The front of his house was crowded for the first time in ages. Reporters from various countries formed a huge crowd.
“It will be noisy again.”
The vampire race was unlocked because of him who was the Blood King. The system described that the vampires would be under the control of the Blood King. It was obviously what the reporters would be concerned about and what they would ask questions about.
‘They are probably thinking that I’m taking it all myself.’
They wouldn’t be able to express their dissatisfaction openly but people would be upset. Still, it had already happened and he had to express his position at some point. They were a group that would chase after him like stalkers until he met them.
“Huh?”
Youngwoo wore a rough jersey and put on slippers to open the door, only to be shocked. Sehee stood at the door. “Gasp...Gasp... I knew it would be like this.”
Based on the way she gasped for breath, she seemed to have come over in a hurry.
“What is it? What happened?”
“The problem is Oppa’s behavior! You can’t go out in sportswear!”
“They are in front of the house so it is comfortable...”
“There are reporters from all over the world in front of your house! There must be tens of millions of people watching Oppa in real time. You have to maintain your image at least!”
“Y-Yes...”
After that, it took an hour. Sehee pushed him to take a shower, forced him to change clothes dozens of times, did his hair, and even applied sunscreen.
“...It is tiring.”
Dealing with the reporters consumed a lot of physical strength and it was accompanied by mental stress. He wanted to come out with a fighting mindset, but he was already exhausted before the fight. However, Youngwoo’s body was trained by exercise and his posture wasn’t disturbed.
Reporters attacked him as he walked out with his broad shoulders raised.
“Why? Why did you refuse to marry Marie Rose?”
“......?”
This was what they were curious about? Grid was stunned by the question that was different from what was expected, only to receive the next question.
“Do you know the ident.i.ty of the Blood King?!”
“Ah...”
Come to think of it, there wasn’t a world message when he became the Blood King?
‘Only some people know.’
Youngwoo felt at ease at the thought that there would be less trouble.