This was the first time Sophie had ever carved patterns into her own hand.
Squelch—
The sharp mithril carving knife sliced across her pale wrist.
Her artery was severed, and the warm red liquid sprayed out like a small fountain, landing precisely in the brass cauldron.
“This feels great,” Sophie couldn't help but mutter.
In her previous life, she had to use her own blood to condense Blood Essence, so she could never afford to bleed herself as much as she wanted like she could now.
The constant-temperature magic circle beneath the cauldron was pushed to its limit.
As the fresh blood mixed with the Fluxweed, lacewings, and other materials and heated up, a thick, almost tangible scent of blood, mixed with the pungent sourness of fermenting medicine, billowed up from the cauldron.
“Cough... Cough, cough!”
Sophie, who had been waiting expectantly for her medicine, was hit full in the face by a cloud of steam that rushed straight to her head.
A top-tier lung-hitter.
It was pure blood scent.
To a normal vampire, this would probably be a top-tier delicacy.
But Sophie had forgotten that she was a vampire who was repulsed by blood.
Clutching her chest, her stomach churned violently, and she stumbled back a few steps.
This was bad; she was going to vomit.
But she couldn't throw up here—one heave and this entire pot of maiden's brew would be ruined.
She suddenly threw open the heavy ironwood door of the alchemy room and dashed out into the shop's main hall.
Modi, who had been waiting behind the counter outside, was startled by the sudden movement.
He looked up to see that his big customer, who had entered not long ago, was no longer wearing that strange wooden mask. Her face was deathly pale, and blood was pulsing from her wrist.
Modi: ?
“Esteemed cus—”
“Holy water! Do you have holy water? Give me two bottles of the highest purity!”
“But the church here...”
“Hurry!”
Modi froze for half a second before his merchant instincts took over.
He immediately pulled two crystal bottles from a locked hidden compartment under the counter.
“Original import from the Mystery Church, personally blessed by a high-ranking priest. High-purity High-grade Holy Water, the perfect choice for warding off evil and impurities. Two Silver Moons per bottle.”
Sophie threw down four Silver Moons and grabbed the two bottles. She yanked the cork out of one and tilted her head back, chugging it down in one go.
【Log: You have consumed [New Moon Sect High-grade Holy Water].】
【Log: Due to being under the effect of [Light Sensitivity] (Reversed) and its derivative states, the holy water has restored a massive amount of your Health and removed the Nausea status.】
The cool, divine liquid flowed down her throat, washing away the taste of blood.
“Ha—I’m back from the dead.”
Sophie wiped her mouth with her sleeve and finally let out a long sigh of relief.
Modi: ?
That stuff was either an ingredient or used to deal with high-tier undead.
Drinking it directly... how did she do that?
It wasn't a mana supplement.
The pure divine mana in High-grade Holy Water should have burned her internal organs to a crisp.
Ignoring the stunned shopkeeper, Sophie took the remaining bottle of holy water and dashed back into the alchemy room, slamming the door shut behind her.
Sipping the holy water, she finally managed to stand her ground by the cauldron.
The brewing process lasted for an hour.
As the glow of the magic circle at the bottom of the cauldron gradually faded, a pot of thick medicine with a strange dark-red luster was finally finished.
Sophie picked up the empty glass bottles she had prepared and began to carefully bottle the liquid.
The system panel faithfully recorded the output of this alchemy session.
【Log: The High-tier Vampire Supplement refinement circle has been exhausted.】
【Obtained: Low-tier Vampire Supplement x50.】
【Obtained: Mid-tier Vampire Supplement x1.】
【Low-tier Vampire Supplement: A low-quality blood-replenishing potion. Quickly heals wounds and restores a small amount of Health.】
【Mid-tier Vampire Supplement: A purified blood-replenishing potion. Restores a moderate amount of Health and can heal physical disabilities.】
Looking at the rows of neatly arranged potion bottles on the workbench, Sophie felt a deep sense of accomplishment.
Anything related to magic was expensive.
This naturally included supplements, which were the typical red and blue potions in games.
In fact, in places where adventurers were active, red and blue potions were even more useful than gold coins.
By spending a little time each day bleeding herself, she could produce one mid-tier potion and fifty low-tier potions.
And this was only the beginning.
If her vampire rank increased, she would naturally be able to refine even higher-grade potions.
Even if Sophie did nothing else from now on but refine medicine every day...
Fifty-one bottles a day meant over eighteen thousand bottles a year.
In a hundred years, that would be 1.86 million bottles.
She could leave the starting area as the Sword God of the Starting Village.
As for how long a hundred years was...
To Sophie the human, that was a number her remaining life could never reach.
But for Sophie the vampire, a century was but a negligible corner of a long magical life.
Thinking of this, Sophie couldn't help but feel emotional.
The settings of a fantasy world were truly convenient; one could just casually start on the path to immortality.
In the xianxia web novels of her previous life, you'd have to reach the series finale to achieve immortality.
Conversely, if Sophie were really sent to one of those cultivation worlds where people went into seclusion for tens of thousands of years without even a phone, doing nothing but meditating and cultivating, she would have chosen to lie down and wait for death long ago.
Being from a powerful bloodline is truly great.
The ancestor of vampires is Cain.
Who was Cain? He was the son of Adam and Eve.
Adam and Eve gave birth to Cain and Abel in the mortal world, but God always favored Abel.
And so...
Cain: “Love you, bro, but the struggle for favor has always been like this.”
Cain was cursed by God for killing his kin and turned into a vampire.
She wondered what level of existence he would be in an Eastern worldview—could he be considered a Primordial Being?
Moreover, vampires didn't have any issues with reproduction; it was just a matter of the First Embrace.
The bloodline would gradually thin, and abilities and mana would be limited, but immortality was always there.
With such a powerful bloodline heritage, it was only natural for vampires to walk tall in a fantasy world.
The thinning of the bloodline also had benefits, such as making Sophie look very human.
Her wings could be retracted, her fangs were just sharp canines, and her eyes were a normal red.
Furthermore, her vampire template could be upgraded.
Although the creature transformation ritual produced the lowest-tier vampire, it was much freer than being turned by a real vampire and becoming a high-tier thrall bound to a master.
The method of promotion could be summed up in one sentence.
“I’ll just keep eating until I’ve eaten the boss.”
The professional term was Soul Devour, though it could also be called extraction.
The higher the bloodline concentration, the higher the rank.
Low-tier Vampire (Commoner) - Mid-tier Vampire (Commoner) - High-tier Vampire (Commoner) - 12th Generation Vampire (Baron) - 11th Generation (Viscount) - 10th Generation (Count) - 9th Generation (Marquis) - 8th Generation (Grand Duke) - 7th Generation (Duke) - 6th Generation (Elder) - 5th Generation (Emperor) - 4th Generation (Prince) - 3rd Generation (True Ancestor).
In her previous life, Hiso had chewed his way all the way to the 3rd Generation.
As for the 1st and 2nd Generations...
The 1st Generation was Cain, and the 2nd Generation consisted of the three people turned by Cain. Those guys had already disappeared in the legendary Great Flood; at least, Hiso had never been able to find any trace of them.
If Sophie wanted to rank up, she would have to eat her way up as well—provided she could solve the problem of her low attributes.
Otherwise, if a high-level vampire revived without the weakened state and her attributes didn't increase, she would be stun-locked to death.
Sophie stuffed the bottles filled with potions into her player inventory.
【Log: You have achieved [Alchemy Apprentice], obtaining 2 Free Attribute Points.】
【Log: You have achieved [Mass Production Expert], obtaining 2 Free Attribute Points.】
Counting the 4 points left from before, she now had 8 Free Attribute Points, making her feel wealthy again.
However, the immediate priority was to get out of this smelly room.
As soon as Sophie opened the door, she found the shopkeeper, Modi, standing there, quietly waiting for her.
What... what is it? Do you want to be my enemy too?
Sophie warily placed her finger on the edge of her human skin mask.
She heard Modi speak.
“Miss, could you spare a moment of your time? I would like to tell you about our Mother and Savior—”
“The New Moon Lady.”
Sophie: ?
Rate on N.U.
