Watching the fat man sprint away, Adam couldn't help but smile.
"Poor Behemoth," he muttered. The fury from Delice would likely rain down on him soon—but he was thick-skinned. He'd survive.
Locking the door, Adam lifted the wooden panel covering the vertical shaft. A rope dangled beside it, leading deep into the tunnels. Clearly, it was meant for Lizard's comings and goings.
Without another thought, Adam tilted his body and transformed into a bat, plunging down the passage.
"Adam! You're finally back!" a silver bell-like voice screamed.
"Your Highness," everyone except Yujia kneeled immediately.
"Stand up. What are you all doing?" Adam pointed at the barrels scattered around. Before his arrival, they'd been ferrying liquids into the hematopoiesis machine.
"These are the spoils of innocent lives," Yujia replied without turning, her tone still laced with mockery.
Smoke quickly added, "We collected this blood at night, processing and storing it."
Nightly collection? Adam didn't need to ask how. He already knew.
"What happened? I didn't think you'd be so reckless, like fledgling vampires running wild."
"It's hard to acquire blood now," Smoke said. "So we only go out at night."
"Was it noticed?"
"No. At night, Athens has skirmishes between vampires everywhere. No one notices us. Even if bodies are found, others get the blame."
"Vampires fighting each other? Internal conflict among the vampire kings?"
"Apparently, Western European vampire kings sent agents to provoke the others. Both sides are reinforcing troops, and the clashes intensify. That's from Drywood's report."
Adam paused, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
"Perfect. Makes my work much easier." He produced a vial, twisted the cap—black smoke erupted, curling into the air. Cherman stuffed his nose with a cloth, glaring.
"Return what you brought from the library," he grumbled.
Almost instantly, books floated through the air, piling into a small mountain.
"Done. You may leave now."
"No. When will you remove the seven corpses? They're already rotting!"
"Tonight. I promise." Adam grinned.
After sending the barely coherent Cherman away, Adam turned to the stunned vampires.
"All the high-level vampire techniques are here. Time is short. We must master everything within a month."
"One month? Impossible!" Classical muttered, crouching over a book he adored. Too bad—he was a thirteenth-generation vampire, not even qualified to practice.
Smoke's eyes glimmered with desire, then hesitated. "A month is too short. Too many books, and we don't even have the Moonstone fragment yet. High-level techniques take years to master."
"High-level techniques differ from low-level ones. Although numerous, they mostly cover applications. The core concepts are just a few. A vampire usually masters only one or two. Too many will scatter focus." Adam placed the Moonstone fragment borrowed from Athena on the table.
"Now we have the fragment to awaken intellect. There's also the issue of insufficient vital blood during training. Ordinary vampires must accumulate for years. That's why younger vampires can't rival elders. But now…" Adam smiled. He slashed his wrist, letting blood drip into a cup as the lower-generation vampires stared hungrily.
"Lower-generation vampires can draw blood from higher-generation ones. You'll start with me."
For ordinary vampires, feeding from higher-generation blood can trigger a second rebirth if the generational gap is wide, boosting power. But high-generation blood offers nothing to them.
Whether by divine design or coincidence, this law created internal strife: low-generation vampires coveting higher-generation blood. Vampire kings hunted Adam not only to prevent his rise but because they knew this rule.
Most vampires didn't know the full effect—only that the first feeding triggers rebirth. What happens next? They'd never seen it.
High-generation blood is precious. Offering it casually is costly. Discipline is strict, and seizing it is risky. For these reasons, the law remained secret, hidden even from most texts. Adam discovered it only in the original manuscripts at Athena Library.
By feeding lower-generation vampires with his blood, Adam could rapidly cultivate a loyal force, turning others into tools for his own ascent.
With everyone's horrified eyes on him, Adam clenched his fist—the wound sealed instantly.
He slid the cup filled with his blood toward them. A faint red glow hovered above it, like a tiny cloud of dawn.
This was every vampire's dream: the progenitor's blood. A single drop could transform a second-generation vampire completely.
"The next phase will be dangerous. I have little to give, but consider this a reward for your loyalty so far."
Drinking this, their fates were sealed. Before the seven vampire kings fell, there was no turning back—they were bound to Adam.
Athens itself would become his battlefield. History would twist around it. Humans and vampires alike—food for the taking.
Hunting other vampires…
Yujia's eyes widened. A chill ran through him.
Only now did he realize the magnitude of the plan unfolding—a scheme destined to rewrite vampire history.
A grand feast was about to begin, and the world would hold its breath.