Everyone knew that blood was constantly circulating through the body, maintaining a careful pressure balance. So I decided to drastically increase the flow rate within the serpent's circulatory system.
Naturally, I increased it by a large margin, if I only made a small adjustment and it proved counterproductive, I'd probably die because I dug my own grave.
As I spent my mana into my trait, I could feel the blood pressure inside the serpent increasing exponentially. I could feel it through my connection to the trait, the way the blood vessels strained against the unnatural pressure, the way the vessels began to rupture under the stress. I continued pouring my mana into the attack, and they finally broke.
The snake that had been midway through attacking me suddenly dropped to the ground, writhing in agony. Blood began flowing from its mouth, nose, and eyes as internal bleeding wreaked havoc on its system.
I had damaged it severely from the inside, but the attack had cost me dearly, around forty percent of my overall mana reserves.
I took a step back to reassess the situation. The serpent was badly wounded but still alive and dangerous. I still had another vial of blood with me, and while I could use my mana to create blood weapons directly, that would be wasteful when I had readily available blood.
I opened the second vial and used my Blood Control to shape the crimson liquid into a solid sledgehammer. The blood took form under my manipulation, forming a weapon that was both dense and deadly.
The pendant continued reinforcing me with converted life force, making me feel stronger and more vital with each passing second.
The serpent was struggling to rise, its movements now sluggish and uncoordinated due to the internal damage. This was my chance to finish it before it could recover or attempt any desperate counterattacks.
Time to see how effective a blood-forged weapon could be against Elite-ranked scales.
The sledgehammer slammed into the serpent's head with devastating power. The serpent had tried to dodge at the last second, but its internal injuries had made it too slow and unsteady.
My supernatural physique trait, coupled with the pendant's life force enhancement, had pushed my base physical power to what felt like Elite rank levels without even using my Blood Control ability.
The blood weapon struck true, and the impact was catastrophic to say the least.
The serpent's head collapsed against the cave floor with a sickening crunch. Its skull cracked like an eggshell, spider-web fractures spreading across the beautiful silver scales.
The creature was clearly dying, but I could still see fierce unwillingness burning in its eyes. Even with mortal wounds, it kept trying to slither toward me, driven by pure instinct.
"Rest," I muttered softly, raising the sledgehammer one final time in the air before bringing it down to end the serpent's suffering.
As its life finally faded, my eyes widened in amazement. A glowing orange orb materialized above the serpent's corpse.
The orange color indicated an Elite-rank drop, either an aspect or an echo. Either would be absolutely incredible, far beyond what I had any right to expect from my first real combat against a higher-ranked opponent.
I quickly approached the orb and grabbed it, feeling the warm energy flow into my body as the system processed the reward.
[Aspect: Serpent Scales]
[Rank: Elite]
[Type: Passive]
[Details: Grants complete poison resistance against toxins of Elite rank and below. Your body naturally neutralizes venoms, acids, and other harmful substances that would normally cause severe damage or death.]
The aspect was incredibly valuable. Poison resistance against Elite rank and below meant I could now fight venomous creatures without fear of their most dangerous tool, venom.
This would be invaluable in the academy's dangerous training exercises and the various crises that would unfold throughout the story.
It was an excellent first aspect. Practical, defensive, and with broad applications. A few of the academy's combat scenarios involved creatures that relied heavily on poison or toxic abilities, so this would give me a significant advantage over my peers.
I felt the aspect integrate with my body, a warm tingling sensation spreading through my skin as my cellular structure adapted to process and neutralize toxins.
The change was subtle but profound. I could sense that my blood itself had become resistant to foreign contamination.
With the Crimson Moon Pendant around my neck and the Serpent Scales aspect now part of my abilities, I had gained two powerful advantages in a single night.
I cut open the snake's main blood vessel and stored a huge portion of blood in the pendant. I kept storing until the pendant could no longer carry any more.
The pendant had carried around two litres of blood, which wasn't bad at all.
[Crimson Moon Pendant]
[Grade: Superior]
[Details: Stores up to two litres of blood. The blood can be ignited and used to improve the user's overall combat power. The effect of improvement depends on the rank of the blood. The highest rank is royal-rank blood.]
Time to head home and see what tomorrow's daily login reward would bring.
As I headed back home, I couldn't help but ponder on a few things. How did I transmigrate into this novel, is there a reason behind it?
The pondering left me with nothing but more questions. Hence, I decided to stop worrying about the future that would reveal itself soon enough.
For now, I had my own survival to worry about. Just because I had a supreme ranked bloodline didn't mean that I was automatically protected, no.
I knew that it was very easy to die in this world. In fact, even the protagonist Kyle would have died several times over, had the author not activated his special skill: Plot Armor.
So despite my bloodline, skills and new aspect. I knew that I couldn't get cocky, not even a little.
Arriving back at the estate, the guards greeted me politely. I returned the greeting with a soft nod.
The previous Adrian would mostly ignore them. But a nod wouldn't hurt or seem unusual.
I walked inside and found my father and mother both seated in the living room, sharing what appeared to be evening tea.
I greeted them, and decided to open up a sensitive topic with my father.
I needed to tell him about breaking off the engagement.