Draconic Vampire : Curse of the Blood

Chapter 66: It’s my Turn

Valencia’s eyes squinted as she looked at the runes within the largest circle. It was several times larger than the other nine, revealing a complicated rune formation that represented the ancestry of the young boy.

“Half of the original genes! As I thought, you are not normal. I have some guesses as to who you might be, but it’s inappropriate to say here.” Valencia looked at the high stage and then towards the boy.

Within that time, the rankings on the metal plate changed and the first place changed to a unique-looking name. 

The girl with one-tenth of the original genes dropped to the second position. The third position was taken by the student who took the test later, with the young boy. His performance was certainly good, in the face of the awe-inspiring performance of the young boy, no one paid attention to him.

Looking at the scoreboard, Keith wondered where he would stand. He was fairly confident in his strength and combined with the warrior frame which was at the viscount level he was sure to break the viscount layer.

What concerned him was the original genes. He didn’t know how many original genes he possessed. For this was half of the evaluation metrics. If he had lower counts of original genes, his ranking would plummet, even if he scored better in the passage test.

Now that the first row students had all completed the test, it was time for the second-row students to go in. Because of the sequence the first row ended, the start of the second row started from the other side from where Keith was sitting.

Several batches of students participated in the test, but none of them were prominent enough. Their performance was average, the same as the normal students. Only a handful of students managed to enter the top 10 of the rankings.

Almost half of the row had given the test, and it was down to Keith and a dozen of other students. Keith decided to go in the last batch of students. When he looked sideways to see the reaction of Annica, she also had the same intention, as he winked at him and looked at the test area.

This batch of students performed the same as the students before, but one of them managed to reach 5th position on the rankings. It was a girl at the final stage of baron, but her eyes were dull and she walked as if she had a severe illness.

“What’s wrong with her?” Keith asked with a frown.

“Maybe some complications with her physique. Her aura is all over the place and looking at how her complexion is darker, she suffers from a genetic deformity. I’ve seen a handful of vampires like her, but most of them can’t even move a muscle and die prematurely. She’s an anomaly if she could reach this far with that horrendous condition.” Annica replied.

Seeing the frail girl, Keith remembered his childhood days before he acquired this body. He was just like her, actually worse considering he didn’t have the paths to circulate blood-qi and all his meridians had been clogged. With his faulty physique, he couldn’t even walk properly without shaking. 

His condition was much more severe and he also suffered from malnutrition because the blood-qi didn’t get properly absorbed because of his clogged up meridians. If he was born in a commoner family, he would’ve died long ago.

‘The system sealed my other dominant genes and helped me clear up the suppression that was plaguing my physique and meridians. Without it, I wouldn’t be alive right now. That bastard Marvin would’ve killed me long ago’  A painful past flashed across Keith’s eyes.

With a sigh, he cleared his mind and focused his attention on the test area inside the stage. The judgment pillar finished giving the results and her genes were normal, or you would say it was average like any other student.

Keith wondered if his results would be similar to her as well. With only nine students left on the row, it was time for Kieth to enter the test area. He got up with the rest of the students and walked towards the stage.

Annica followed him behind and stood in the position next to him. The other side was empty, but soon the student who declined the first phase of testing, stood there while looking confident.

The test commenced and the suppressing aura covered the students standing on the edge of the outermost layer. It was a very terrifying aura that was on par with a final stage baron, the highest of the final stage baron.

Most of the students were struggling with the aura as their bodies couldn’t move under such pressure. Keith on the other hand was quite comfortable. He already experienced his uncle’s viscount level aura which was many times higher than the aura he was experiencing right now.

Annica was also faring quite well, with only a slight frown on her face. She was secretly activating her blood-qi technique. On the other hand, the young vampire was also fine under the pressure. He took a step forward with a confident face and started walking towards the viscount layer.

Seeing this, Keith also started walking towards the next layer with a calm face. The three figures were seen getting separated from the seven others. The young vampire was taking the lead and almost reached the viscount layer.

Keith was several steps behind, but there was nothing bothering him at that moment.  He was just walking at his own pace and didn’t even activate his warrior frame.

He was surprised that he could move under such pressure only relying on his blood core. He thought he might need his warrior frame when approaching the viscount layer, but contrary to his concerns, the baron level pressure didn’t bother him at all.

He looked sideways and Annica was also walking at the same pace as him, but there was a noticeable frown on her face. The aura was affecting her a little, but it was not anything serious. From the looks of it, she was handling it quite well.

When the trio reached the end of the baron layer, the young vampire was a little uncomfortable, but he still moved forward. Standing at the edge of the layer, he activated his blood-qi technique.

Annica looked curiously at the young vampire and shifted her eyes towards Keith. A look of disbelief flashed across her face. From the start, Keith never used his blood-qi technique. She thought he was silently activating his blood-qi techniques but now when the viscount stage was ahead, lower level blood-qi techniques didn’t work.

Here the baron-level vampires are required to show their trump cards to move to the next layer. Only relying on cheap tricks wouldn’t work. As she looked at Keith with suspicious eyes a sudden realization struck her.

‘I never used any blood-qi techniques.’ 

She remembered his reply after defeating the arrogant kid outside the central hall. She didn’t believe him then. But looking at him now, she couldn’t refute his claim. Shaking her head, she focused on her own path.

She was still holding back her final trump card which she planned to use in this situation. Circulating her blood-qi, she focused her mind on her blood core. She activated her secret blood-qi technique and a burst of blood-qi covered her whole body.

Hong! 

Keith immediately felt the aura emanating from Annica, as her eyes turned entirely red. Then the amount of blood-qi kept increasing and her eyes glowed brighter and brighter.

‘Is that her secret blood-qi technique?’ Keith looked at her with interest.

After a while, her blood-qi stopped increasing and her aura stabilized. She took one step forward and crossed the viscount layer with ease. Her sight was focused straight at the judgement pillar. 

With an unwavering determination, she walked forward, disregarding the viscount level pressure that was reigning down on her.

The young vampire was shocked after looking at Annica and hurriedly completed his blood-qi technique. His blood-qi increased as well and he started walking inside the viscount layer.

Keith, who was watching Annica, was very impressed with her performance. She was clearly holding back from the start just like him, but now that the next layer arrived, she showed her true potential.

At the moment, Keith was wondering if he should try to enter the viscount layer without activating his warrior frame. He didn’t feel any serious issues with the baron level pressure but he didn’t know if he could withstand the viscount aura without his warrior frame.

When he fought with his uncle, he always activated his warrior frame. Whenever he was fighting with his blood core alone, Brad didn’t use his aura either. So he was doubtful as to how this would affect his performance.

‘Let’s try it once. If the pressure becomes unbearable, I will immediately activate the warrior frame.’

Having decided his next course of action, he stepped forwards without much thought.

Hong!

A huge pressure enveloped his entire body. A drop of sweat slid down his forehead.

‘This is no joke. Fortunately, I can withstand this pressure even with my blood core.’

Keith rejoiced as he examined his body. His blood-qi was working very hard to repel the aura and the blood core was circulating blood-qi with its full power.

‘Hmm… Let’s see how far I can go while relying on my blood core alone.’

Thinking this, he stepped forward with a smile.

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