NOVEL NEXT Chapter 79
Entity Projection (1)
Bright Duke’s mansion.
“Is this it for everyone nearby?”
“Yes. It would be more efficient to call the others sequentially.”
“······.”
“That’s right.”
Seated comfortably in his armchair, Heinz quietly watched the man standing next to him, who cautiously corrected his speech.
It was quite awkward since he hadn’t used honorifics for decades, but he had no way around it; he was no longer the shadow ruler of the Talia Kingdom.
‘With the Lord still around, the process of managing the clan is going smoothly.’
Heinz looked at Mulo, who was standing beside him and sighed, feeling a sense of satisfaction.
Initially, he had pondered how to handle him after overpowering him, but subjugation turned out to be the best method.
After all, he had devoured the clan to utilize Brokoslac’s influence.
Still, one could not say he had fully taken over the power without including Mulo, the vital figure.
To amass such power, Mulo Brokoslac had led the clan from the shadows of the Talia Kingdom for decades.
Although they shared the same Trueblood, Mulo was irreplaceable, unlike the field-oriented Ovor and Frigia.
‘I’m glad it turned out as I thought. Otherwise, I would have had to deal with him.’
Mulo possessed a higher blood magic than Heinz and was an unpredictable force that could not be easily controlled.
Then, a sudden thought struck him.
If the opponent’s level was high and troublesome, couldn’t he just forcibly whittle it down…?
The source of the vampire’s power lay within the blood’s vampiric factors.
So, what if he drained them just enough to avoid death?
That was the result that led to Mulo now.
‘Still, he hasn’t dropped beneath Trueblood levels, given the status he’s accumulated.’
And the power that had been whittled away would gradually recover over time through continuous blood-sucking.
That process would be arduous, but in exchange for successfully feasting on the clan lord’s blood, he had filled Mulo’s “Refined Blood Essence” to the brim, minimizing the loss of combat power.
‘Though a lot of “Refined Blood Essence” was consumed, gaining quality blood in return isn’t a loss. My hold over Mulo has become stronger, too.’
Furthermore, with no need to hide the blood’s mutations, he called other bloodlines one by one and generously infused them with “Refined Blood Essence.”
Naturally, like heterosis, they were excellent labor that would become his hands and feet.
As a result, the clan’s strength within the capital had easily doubled since before.
“Then, call those in the provinces and take charge of organizing things. But did you receive a message from the Holy Church Order?”
“Yes… It was about the resurrection of the Undead King.”
He still struggled with the honorifics, but it would improve over time, so he didn’t mind.
‘I knew the order was making preparations through various means. However, they can’t expand their influence in the Talia Kingdom.’
This place was now practically in his hands.
He had no need to confront inconvenient neighbors, so sticking to the previous approach toward the church seemed wise.
“Then I’ll proceed as originally planned.”
“Oh, prepare to gather information from across the continent in various ways. Whether forming an information organization or making agreements with existing ones is left to your discretion.”
“Understood. You’ve proven your abilities sufficiently, so I’ll now assist with everything I have.”
Saying this, Mulo bowed lightly and walked away quietly without a sound.
‘Oh, that reminds me.’
Then, belatedly grasping Mulo’s reaction, Heinz scratched his chin and fell into thought.
In fact, what he said back then was merely a formality to win Frigia’s cooperation, and he had forgotten about it for a moment.
Now that he had entirely engulfed the clan, a mere pretense was enough.
But upon reflection, it didn’t seem entirely impossible.
‘And it seems it could indeed be quite helpful. I should think seriously about setting something up.’
If he was going to aim, it would be best to target the pinnacle.
Not just a single clan but the whole vampire community… Becoming the ‘Blood King’ didn’t sound half bad.
“Hmm… Blood King, huh…”
Heinz deeply sank into his armchair and closed his eyes.
*
“Sir Heinrich! Are you returning to your duties now?”
“Haha— I’ve rested long enough, it’s time to work. I have to earn my keep, right?”
“Oh please, who would dare say anything to you, Sir Heinrich? You could rest a while longer.”
“Actually, I feel a bit restless.”
About a month had passed since the Undead King incident.
Hauling on his armor and making his way to his post, Heinrich felt the weight of his changed status keenly.
He had been sensing this every time he had come out to meet people during the past while.
The folks in this shrine were exceptionally warm toward him.
‘I did set it up to be this way, but it’s working even better than I thought.’
Even with the resurrection of the Undead King, things were this peaceful because Heinrich had dealt a critical blow to him, granting everyone a bit of time to prepare.
And since that news spread throughout the order, it wasn’t surprising they reacted this way.
As he moved forward contently, he spotted the saint crouched in front of a flower bed.
Following her gaze, he found, just as he expected, a small pill bug scurrying away somewhere.
‘Always the same when I see it.’
Smiling faintly, he approached the saint and cleared his throat lightly.
“Ahem… Saint, how do you do?”
“Oh! Sir Heinrich! It’s been so long. I heard you’ve recovered a lot; are you completely healed now?”
“Yes. To be honest, I’ve been fine for a while, but the healing priest was so meticulous. He said I needed to be monitored for a month in case of any aftereffects… Haha.”
Of course, it was out of concern, but it felt merely irritating for Heinrich, who had no actual issues.
Because of that, he could only make do with the makeshift training facility attached to the treatment room.
‘There weren’t any high-weight exercise tools there. I’ll have to train hard starting today to make up for the muscle loss during this time.’
That facility had been established by the requests of former knights, which made him somewhat grateful.
“One can never be too careful about curses. Especially with one cast by the Undead King, you must be even more cautious! It’s only natural.”
The saint nodded earnestly, then suddenly looked remorseful as if something had come to her mind.
“More than that, Sir Heinrich. I’m sorry for not visiting often. I’ve been so busy formulating countermeasures…”
With a sullen face, she let out a deep sigh.
She’d been too occupied dealing with matters concerning the Undead King to find any time for visits.
Distributing information among various factions and checking collaboration plans was only the basics.
To formulate specific response measures, she had dug through numerous texts, sought counsel from the Magic Tower Alliance, and contacted information organizations.
On top of that, she was trying to analyze the Undead King Hans through interrogation of black magicians via the Inquisition Officer…
She was mobilizing every means possible, and it was only natural that the responsible saint was busy flitting about.
“Of course, those working frontline are more busy than I am…”
She gazed wistfully around the flower bed, her lips curling into a small smile.
“Today, I finished work early for a change and finally got to come out to the flower bed… Meeting you on top of that makes it a lucky day, doesn’t it?”
The pill bug that had been there had since vanished, but the saint stared blankly where it had been.
In her affectionate gaze, Heinrich quietly tilted his head.
‘…It feels like I’ve been downgraded to the level of a pill bug.’
It might even be less than that, but it was probably just his imagination.
Probably.
“Ahem, Saint. I’ll be heading to my post now.”
“Oh! I’ve held you for too long. Speaking of which, you’re still in training under the Radiant Guard, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. Given that the incident occurred just before the end of my training period, I’ll probably be assigned to the next Paladin Order after completing a few more days.”
Time in the treatment room didn’t count as part of the training duration, so it was an unavoidable issue.
“I see… You mentioned your goal was to become a Free Knight in the end, right?”
“Exactly. I wish to travel the continent, helping those in need and spreading the will of the Holy God.”
Becoming a Free Knight also meant sufficient support from the order, but being tied to the Paladin Order would make it hard to prepare the necessary stage.
From a director’s stance, it was better for an actor to have fewer constraints.
“Hmm— I see.”
Upon his answer, the saint nodded slowly, as if contemplating something.
Just as Heinrich turned to leave after exchanging further pleasantries, she suddenly exclaimed.
“Oh! You’ll soon receive good news!”
Taken aback, he turned around, only to find her smiling brightly and merely waving her hands.
‘Leaving me hanging like that…’
But he could guess what it was about.
It was likely some sort of promotion.
After all, he had recently accomplished something significant, and keeping a Paladin with bishop-level holy power at the bottom rank would be awkward.
‘I’d be grateful for whatever I receive.’
With a pleasant smile of anticipation, Heinrich hastened toward his post.
He had already delayed considerably, so he needed to quicken his pace.
*
『Karma Shop』
『Unique Skill Enhancement (900,000)』
『Status Enhancement – View Details』
『Current Karma – 1,393,934』
Naturally, due to seizing the Brokoslac Clan, he had accumulated significant karma.
It hadn’t been long since enhancing his unique skill right after the invasion of the shrine, and this was a very encouraging result.
‘This means everything is proceeding smoothly according to plan. What should I get this time?’
The last enhancement had allowed him to obtain “Customization,” which had enabled him to create the elf avatar Harris.
It had significantly aided in adjusting his stats toward the path of a spirit mage.
Moreover, he had also changed Hans’ appearance, who was currently maintaining public order, as an added bonus.
It didn’t matter much since he wore a mask, but it felt wasteful to let a newly acquired ability go unused.
‘If I make substantial changes to the head, it would be hard to hide with a mask, so I couldn’t alter much, but I did give it some thought.’
The result was…
A remarkably shaped smooth skull, sharp jawline, neatly arranged teeth, and strikingly elevated eye sockets.
A charisma-filled, handsome skeleton.
‘Being the Undead King, I had to at least give it this much. Now, should I begin the enhancement?’
No more time to waste.
He promptly selected ‘Unique Skill Enhancement’ and braced himself for the headache that was about to hit, squeezing his eyes shut.
《The avatar’s potential dramatically increases. The entity’s growth rate accelerates further.》
《The unique skill advances, revealing new possibilities. You have acquired the special skill “Entity Projection.”》
After the familiar headache passed.
He waited for a moment but saw no further changes and couldn’t hide his surprise as he opened his eyes.
‘…Nothing?’
The expected option of ‘increasing the number of avatar entities’ had not shown up this time.
The only things he received were the two lines of system messages that appeared before him.
‘A 900,000 enhancement, and this is it?!’
He felt a sense of being cheated somehow.
Of course, increasing the growth rate wasn’t bad considering he had many avatars, but still, this seemed excessive.
“Eh?”
Amidst his displeasure while checking the newly acquired skill, an involuntary exclamation escaped his lips.
Hans, Heinz II, Heinrich, Harley, Hubert, Harris.
Each was a proud avatar with outstanding abilities and personalities.
And the effect of the newly acquired “Entity Projection” was…
The ability to project one of his avatars into his body, once a day!