NOVEL NEXT Chapter 985: Testing The New Skills
-----
The red colored graveyard surged with Blood Energy, Mana, and Death Energy, all these essences combined, materializing out of thin air a hundred undead. They varied from skeletons to zombies to ghosts. Their appearances were very clear, they looked like Vampires. From the sharp red eyes and even paler skin than other undead to their clothes, long ears, everything.
"Grahhh…"
"Mas… ter…"
"King…"
"Ooogh…"
They groaned and whispered words but seemed unable to fully speak. I decided to quickly analyze their composition with my eyes, detecting they were fully physical and made of flesh and bones. And very tough ones.
Each undead had their own status window I could easily access to check. And their strength was equivalent to my strongest B Rank Familiars so far. They also weren't disappearing or something and could stay summoned indefinitely.
"Holy Blood Spirit, kill one."
"Very well."
The giant made of blood energy swung his claws, tearing down into pieces one of the zombie vampires. The rest didn't have any reaction. The moment it "died" it immediately exploded into particles of red light. So they're similar to my Familiars in that regard, leaving no physical body.
However, that didn't end at that. Once the Vampire Undead died, it left behind a small soul flame with the red color. It wasn't one I could absorb to gain stats or something, but it became some sort of resource, which was absorbed back to me.
"How interesting…" I said, trying to use the soul flame instinctively. "Oh, I see."
I discovered a few things as I played around with it. These Vampire Blood Souls could be used in a few ways. I could use them to enchant my body's stats, gaining crimson red runic tattoos over my body, transform them into Blood Soul Weapons or various forms, and even transform them into powerful spells.
Above all, they seemed to feed on my Blood Energy and Mana to regenerate their composition, but it was also totally possible to dispel them, in which case, I would feel as if they entered my soul and deposited themselves there.
And then…
"Graahh… My King…"
A Vampire Zombie popped out of the graveyard after I activate the Skill again, the same soul I had stored inside my soul was used on it.
"So that's how it works. Every Undead Vampire has a singular soul that can be repurposed in various ways…" I nodded. "One of them is making them a summon, but there are other ways, enhancement, weapon, and spell creation are possible too."
"That is indeed quite interesting." The Holy Blood Spirit was learning quickly, becoming rather talkative. "Master, may I attempt to absorb one?"
"Hm? Sure." I nodded, quickly unsummoning the same Vampire Zombie and giving the Vampire Blood Soul to the Holy Blood Spirit.
The giant Vampire-like Holy Spirit grabbed the soul, opened his jaws, and swallowed the soul, munching on it and swallowing it. The soul quickly disappeared as it was absorbed, the power of the Holy Blood Spirit increasing a bit.
"It completely disappeared; it seems… However."
POOF!
By spending more Mana, I was able to summon another Vampire Blood Soul again.
"Looks like they can work as nourishment, and it might be possible for you to also lend them to others, if they're compatible like myself, they could even benefit by absorbing them." Said the Holy Blood Spirit.
"So I can produce these… With a maximum of a hundred though, not too little, but not too much either." I nodded. "Nonetheless, they seem to be able to grow stronger, their levels are tied to the skill level, and I think I can use more Souls together to summon even stronger Vampire Undead as well. Like this."
I commanded all the Vampire Undead to disappear, leaving nothing behind but red smoke. Then, I gathered their Vampire Blood Souls and attempted to summon stronger versions of themselves.
At first, I attempted to combine them all together, but that failed. Then, I tried fifty, failed too. After I finally tried fusing only ten, it worked. And what appeared was a Vampire Blood Specter, a Ranked-Up form of the Ghost.
The same happened with the Zombie and the Skeleton, a Vampire Blood Ghoul appeared, and then a Vampire Blood Skeleton Knight. Each one of them had their own strengths. But it seemed I was limited to ten souls per summon at the Skill Level of 1.
In this state, they're as strong as my A Rank Summons, such as the Dragon Monsters I acquired over Bestellen's Dungeon, which are already ridiculously strong by themselves.
"So I can go for either one hundred B Rank Summons, or ten A Rank Summons." I nodded. "Interesting, I suppose the quantity I can summon increases as the skill level does… Alright, I think I am satisfied. Let's check the last Skill."
After leaving just ten A Rank Summons, who I realized were about 20% stronger than the Dragon Summons of A Rank in terms of stats and skill power, I decided to activate the third Skill to check what it could do.
"{Familiar Soul Feasting}"
Nothing happened.
I suppose I do need a Familiar… to die?
I summoned a Familiar, it was a Hawk Summon, and then promptly made the Holy Blood Spirit to kill it, not retrieving it, there was no card left, as it disappeared.
However, there was the corpse left due to the effects of my Familiar Necromancy Skill, now I had the chance to rise it as an Undead Familiar.
But…
"{Familiar Soul Feasting}"
Something different happened once I activated the third Skill.
The corpse of the Familiar quickly turned into a large soul form of the same appearance as the familiar, which floated towards my… mouth.
"Hm? So I have to eat it?"
I devoured the soul and swallowed it.
"Gulp.."
FLASH!
Oh?!
I felt a sudden surge of power through my body. I didn't gain any permanent power though, but it was a temporary boost to my stats based on the Familiar's specialization.
"Wings?"
I looked like wings popped out of my back.
"Interesting, very interesting. Similar to the Card Buff Skill, but not? Let's test its limits."
-----