Lorevil let out a sigh.
Afterward.
“Alright, let’s follow the standard procedure.”
Catherine took out a fist-sized, transparent energy ball and placed it on the table. “Lorevil, put your hand on it and inject your bloodline energy into it.”
Lorevil placed her hand on the surface of the energy ball.
As she injected her bloodline energy, the ball suddenly emitted a dazzling red light in the next second. Her energy quickly filled the entire ball, showing a faint tendency to overflow.
“Not bad, not bad.”
Vivian dropped her playful demeanor, her face showing a serious expression.
“Catherine, it seems your student is quite diligent. Her foundation is very solid and fully meets the Vampire awakening standards.”
“Of course,” Catherine snorted pridefully. “If she wasn’t good enough, I wouldn’t have recommended her to you.”
“Alright, let’s begin the bloodline awakening.”
Vivian stopped talking nonsense and held out her small, delicate palm, signaling for Lorevil to crouch down.
Lorevil crouched.
She felt Vivian’s hand on top of her head. A gentle yet irresistible energy gradually poured into Lorevil’s body, flowing according to Vivian’s will.
It skillfully bypassed Lorevil’s vital points, surging toward the depths of her bloodline like a tide.
In a place Lorevil could not see, her long-dormant bloodline energy was stimulated by Vivian. It began to grow restless, like a sleeping giant being awakened, racing and tumbling through her veins.
At the same time, Lorevil felt a stinging pain in her physical body. Impurities were being stripped away and expelled bit by bit as the bloodline energy circulated.
Soon, her entire being felt several degrees lighter.
“Concentrate, and feel the source of your bloodline.”
Vivian’s words caused Lorevil to close her eyes, and then darkness swallowed her consciousness.
When she opened her eyes again, the entire sky was a deep, dense red. A strange blood moon hung in the air, reflecting a bone-chilling red light.
The mist gradually dissipated, and the blood moon fell silent. Not far away, a calm lake reflected the moon’s shadow.
A young girl sat by the lakeside, her back turned to Lorevil, who had come from an unknown path.
She wore a red dress, her long hair falling over her shoulders like a waterfall. Her slender silhouette carried an air of infinite loneliness.
“Who are you?” Lorevil asked tentatively.
The girl slowly turned around.
As the mist cleared, the girl standing in this forbidden land of the world finally revealed her true face.
‘She’s so beautiful.’
Lorevil’s eyes widened.
It was an incredibly exquisite face, though so pale that it lacked any hint of color.
There was no expression on her face, only a pair of deep, blood-red eyes staring at Lorevil. They were as hollow as if they had no soul, looking into an abyss with no bottom.
The red dress clung to the girl’s snowy skin, perfectly outlining the two mounds of soft flesh on her chest, which were flawless in both shape and size. It cinched at her waist, creating a slender yet flexible curve.
The hem of the red dress stopped just at the back of her knees, revealing a portion of her white calves and a pair of pure, jade-like feet with rounded, full toes.
Lorevil could not look away.
A bone-chilling cold spread from the depths of Lorevil’s soul.
“It hurts…”
Soon after, Lorevil let out a tragic scream. Her eyeballs seemed to shatter, leaking fragments and blood, yet the stunning image of the girl turning around remained in her mind.
*Tap, tap, tap.*
The girl walked toward Lorevil one step at a time, her feet stepping onto the smooth surface of the lake.
The form-fitting red dress was as smooth as flowing water under the moon, alternating between touching and drifting away from the girl’s white skin.
The girl came to a stop in front of Lorevil.
The intense pain from losing her eyes made Lorevil want to move, but she found herself pinned in place, her limbs completely beyond her control.
The girl slowly leaned down, her warm breath hitting Lorevil’s delicate neck. Pressure surged in like a tide.
*Puchi!*
In the next second, sharp fangs pierced Lorevil’s skin. Like a deflating balloon, warm blood slowly seeped out of the wound and was taken into the girl’s mouth, turning into sweet nectar.
*Gulp, gulp.*
The girl’s throat moved as she swallowed.
Lorevil could feel the bloodline energy in her body rapidly draining, yet strangely, she felt no fear.
Instead, there was an inexplicable sense of familiarity, as if the Red-Dressed Girl devouring her blood was originally a part of her body.
Or rather, as if she were a part of the Red-Dressed Girl’s body.
She did not know how much time had passed.
Only when the stinging pain in her body gradually vanished did Lorevil feel her fingers regain sensation.
Lorevil wanted to escape the girl’s fangs. She subconsciously raised her hand, but accidentally placed it on the girl’s slender waist.
‘So soft…’
An amazing, soft sensation came from her fingertips, making her instantly forget the bursts of stinging pain on her skin. Her mind went blank.
The girl froze, her blood-sucking action coming to a halt.
A very faint ripple flashed through her blood-red eyes, like a stone being thrown into a calm lake.
*Crack, crack.*
Then, Lorevil’s hand was stained with a layer of red light as if it were being corroded, turning into dust.
A surging, continuous pain came from her hand. Lorevil panted heavily, her throat moving as she tried to speak, but she remained hoarse and unable to utter a single word, as if her vocal cords had been snatched away by some unknown existence.
This was even more terrifying than having her neck hacked by her wife, Noxia, with a cold kitchen knife.
Lorevil had to constantly use her will to resist this inhumane torture, not even knowing what was happening.
‘Is this the pain everyone must face when promoting to Tier 3?’
Lorevil could not help but ask this question. It circled repeatedly in her mind. Could a Tier 2 Vampire truly endure such pain?
The girl looked puzzled. A hint of naive charm appeared on her beautiful face. After remaining silent for a moment, the girl’s red lips shifted shapes continuously, as if she were trying to make a sound.
However, it was blocked by something.
This caused a hint of irritation to appear on the girl’s pale face. She bit her red lips, which were filled with sharp teeth, using her red fingernails, causing a string of crystal-clear blood droplets to splatter.
The girl kept trying.
Lorevil, who was enduring the unbearable pain, seemed somewhat desperate. Her body flickered like a phantom, her soul reaching the critical edge where it could no longer carry the pain.
“Tru…”
The girl’s lips moved, and a tiny sound rang in Lorevil’s ear.
*Boom!*
Immediately after, Lorevil’s memory felt as if it had been struck hard by a heavy hammer.
The word spoken by the girl’s red lips was actually torn away by force.
A pain that reached deep into her soul spread throughout Lorevil’s entire body.
In the blood-colored world, Lorevil’s body gradually shattered and disappeared in front of the Red-Dressed Girl.
—
“Phew—”
Lorevil snapped awake. Her forehead was covered in bean-sized sweat beads, and she wore a look of disbelief.
What kind of eerie place had she gone to?
“Lorevil, what did you see?”
Seeing this, Vivian, who had been giggling before, looked solemn. A faint blood mist radiated from her body, forming a special field around her. The terrifying aura even caused Catherine to faintly emit a red light to resist it.
Lorevil’s body and soul were very unstable, not looking like someone who had successfully promoted to Tier 3 at all.
If it weren’t for the fact that the awakening ritual must not be disturbed, Vivian would have almost stepped in just now to forcibly pull Lorevil out of that state.
The Tier 3 awakening of the Vampire race was almost the most important step in the entire cultivation process.
Any Vampire reaching this critical moment would be extremely cautious. Even though Vivian seemed to be joking, she was also focused intensely on Lorevil’s awakening.
There was no room for even a single error during the awakening.
“Teacher, I…”
Lorevil did not want to recall the pain from just now; it was practically no different from dying once.
Her head was still throbbing in bursts, so she changed the subject.
“Does this count as a successful awakening?”
“I’m not sure,” Vivian said, shaking her head.