NOVEL NEXT Chapter 10: No Names and the Vi Condensation Stage
"Where were you?" Victoria said, tapping her foot on the ground. "I heard you didn't show up to any of your classes today. You weren't cheating on me with some hussy were you?"
"No. Wait, what? Why did your mind go there? Do I seem like the kind of person who would cheat?" I said.
"Then where were you all day?" Victoria said with a frustrated look on her adorable face.
"I was in vampire jail. Some other students tried to mug me for my life essence. They attacked me and I defended myself, but some lady accused me of being the aggressor. Turns out the students had important family names, so they entered me into the outer sect disciple entrance exam with the plan to let the families send someone to kill me during the exam," I said.
"Then, after I defeated my would-be assassin, three assassins showed up in the hallway and tried to kill me. And now my girlfriend is berating me. Now you're all caught up."
"What? Those sons of bitches! I mean those assholes! I'm sure their mothers' are very nice. I'm gonna hurt them, and then I'm gonna beat them, and then I'm gonna kill them," she said in a rage.
"Now would be a bad time to tell a joke, so I won't," I said.
"No, jokes are fine. I was actually just kidding about the hussy thing. I just wanted to see you squirm," Victoria laughed. "I knew it had to be something serious that happened."
"You're evil, you know that?" I said.
"I know. What's your point?" She said.
"No point. Just an observation," I said.
"What happened with the entrance exam? I assume you won. What did they give you for it?" She said.
"Of course I won. They gave me lifeblood pills, vitalus pills, and this shitty, I mean, shiny sword," I said, gesturing to the sword in the scabbard.
"Really? That's neat. The pills are probably low quality but they should help with making you stronger. The lifeblood pills will help you progress through some more realms. They work best if you're meditating after you take them. It allows you to absorb more of the life essence in the pills. They're basically concentrated life essence derived from blood. That's why they're called lifeblood pills," she said.
"Although with how good you are at extracting life essence, you may not need to meditate to extract all the life essence from the pills. You'll want to hold off on the Vitalus pills until you reach the realm right before entering the Vi Condensation Stage of realms."
"Ok, what is Vitalus or Vi and the condensation what now?" I said.
"Think of life essence as the fuel and Vitalus or Vi as the fire. Gasoline and wood are cool and all, but they're just fuel. Fire is where the real damage gets done. All the realms you've achieved up til now are minor realms in a major realm we call the Body Fortification Stage. It's a stage where your body undergoes changes to strengthen it not only in terms of power but also in terms of resistance to damage," Victoria said.
"The point of the Body Fortification Stage is to prepare your body to channel and utilize Vitalus or Vi. Without body fortification, Vi would tear you apart from the inside. Now, I only entered the Vi Condensation Stage 20 years ago, since I'm only around 200 years old in vampire years and I don't kill my targets when I feed.
"I only take what I need, and they won't miss. The older vampires and the ones that kill when they feed have already reached the Vi Condensation Stage."
"Ok. I think I'm starting to get it, but what does the Vi Condensation stage do?" I said.
"It allows you to generate Vi internally and externally as well as condense and maintain a higher concentration of Vi in the body."
"Ok, I get as much as I'm going to get for now," I said. "What's with the whole 'no name' shit? Several vampires called us 'no names' because our last name is Sanguis."
"Sanguis is the broader family name for all vampires. There are many bloodline names for vampires that can trace their lineage way back. Sanguis is used for when a vampire either doesn't know the bloodline name of the vampire that turned them, or for vampires who were turned by another vampire with the last name Sanguis," Victoria said.
"But don't the other bloodline vampires have a point in their history where they can't trace back any further?" I said.
"Yes. Bloodline names can be earned or claimed based on the age and number of generations in a bloodline, or if a bloodline member has had significant achievements in the vampire world," Victoria said.
"I've been trying to apply for a bloodline name myself, but you need at least one progeny in the bloodline. You are my first officially registered progeny. And you have to reach certain milestones in your Vampiric Evolution Path."
"Why didn't you have any official progeny before?" I asked.
"I wanted to reach my milestones first, because progeny require time and attention that I could be spending progressing in my path," Victoria said. "As you already know, you were an accident. Sorry." She made a sarcastic, sad face.
"What are the milestones, if you don't mind me asking?" I said.
"You need at least one evolved ability, a lifeblood crystal, all your nexus points filled, and to reach the Vi Condensation Stage," Victoria said, obvious frustration in her voice.
"I can help you with two of those," I said. "I have a lifeblood crystal and some of my nexus points filled."
"Already? Holy shit, baby. You're progressing fast! I knew you were fast," she said as she winked at me, "but I didn't know you were that fast. What minor realm are you at now?"
"Uh, Lesser Vampire Master, I think," I said, not really sure what that meant relative to her realm of Princess.
"Damn! Pretty soon you'll be knocking on my door. Then blasting through it!" She said, astonished.
"I'll blast through your door, alright," I said as I winked at her.
"You're so corny. We can do that later. Right now, you need to lay low in here while I take this whole assassination business to the Lead Elder," Victoria said. She kissed me, caressed my cheek, and then abruptly left the room and slammed the door.