Rise of the Blood Sovereign

81  Blood and Benefits

"I'm sorry." A beaten-up Reaper, next to the 20 bandits he had in his group all kneeled down and apologized to the caravan as they shook in fear.

None of them had expected the caravan in front of them to actually have not just 3 Silver realm combatants, but one mid-grade Silver Mage as well.

"This system has made it much easier for people like that person to rise in power, I've heard that bandits attacks have started becoming more often in the last week or so." The sword and shield-wielding Silver Knight said with a heavy expression as he glanced at Reaper and the bandits.

For the first couple of weeks after the system had arrived, the daily lives of most people didn't really change that much. Normal people would have a hard time learning news from other places inside the empire, and they simply continued working as normal even after the system had appeared.

Most were curious about the system, of course, but to gain power meant that they needed to go and fight monsters, which was not something most would ever consider doing.

For adventurers, mercenaries, soldiers, and bandits, the arrival of the system presented a great opportunity to rapidly increase their own power without having to rely on anyone else. Still, constantly fighting monsters was not easy, and not all people were like Lyle who had tempered himself since a young age and could go around killing monsters for hours.

When it came to most villages, the people there also continued with their daily life. They all had access to the system and could hear the robotic voice it spoke with any time they asked a question, but most were still skeptical about it, and even those that knew that everything the system spoke was true didn't feel comfortable going in forests and other dangerous places in order to fight monsters.

Even the weakest of monsters would still pose a great challenge to most people, and those that were used to farming all day and staying in villages would not risk their lives so easily. They wished nothing more than to survive and keep living their everyday lives, well, most did.

There were always those that held ambition, those that strived to go above and beyond what they were meant to do, and those who took it upon themselves to reach those heights.

Equipped with the system's help, they went inside the forest and other monster areas and fought.

Many died, but those that survived came back to their villages and towns as if they were reborn. Inspiring new people to take up arms, they started traveling around and fighting monsters in hopes of reaching the very top of the world.

The system had only come to the world a couple of weeks ago and the impact it had was still relatively low. Even those that started using it for their own ambitions had just started and it would take time before they were able to rise to power.

The increase in mana brought forward a lot of opportunities for monsters to evolve, and they were currently more dangerous than ever.

Those that had reached the Bronze Knight realm and above were affected by the rise of mana. Thanks to mana going out of control, many were hit and lost a bit of power and would need to train or kill monsters in order to get that power back.

Some unfortunate ones had been right in the middle of an evolution, they were a mere step away from reaching a higher realm when the system came and was heavily affected by it, most of them dying as a result.

The consequences of the system's arrival on the planet were just starting, and people were yet to fully comprehend them. Those that were able to ride the wave of change, in the beginning, will be rewarded if they survived.

As for those that waited for things to settle so that they don't take risks, they would find that their actions had either brought them nothing but disappointment or that they were able to gain some small advantage with low risks.

As for the caravan, after dealing with the bandits and tying them all up, they continued moving through the forest and made their way to Orsvald. Maybe it was because of the presence of the Golden Core monster or perhaps the previous flaring of an even more powerful aura that Ulon had released for a split moment, but there were no monsters that attacked them along the way.

The caravan, although highly alert to their surroundings, was able to pass through the forest without fighting a single time after dealing with the Golden Core bear.

The body of the killed bear being transported by the caravan could have also been another reason why the caravan was able to make such an easy trip at the very end. Even though it was dead, the aura of the bear was still present on its body, just in a highly diminished state and it would disappear after a couple of hours.

Monsters would usually run away after sensing the power of such a monster, but there would always be some that could realize that something was wrong and that the aura was not as powerful as it should be.

Those monsters would be the lucky ones that were able to stumble upon a carcass of a dead Golden Core monster and they would feast and increase their power that way.

Eating a body of a monster that was a realm above your own was a very good and fast way for monsters to improve and gain more power, and it was something that was almost exclusive to them.

Humans could eat the meat of more powerful monsters and drink their blood, but they could only eat a little bit, and drinking the blood straight away could lead to them getting poisoned. The meat needed to be cooked well before being eaten, otherwise, the leftover aura and mana inside the meat could injure a person.

The blood would usually be boiled and then mixed with a variety of herbs and other ingredients in order to lighten the power and make it easy for the body to digest. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

What would end up happening was that people would find their power growing slightly after doing that. Their strength could slightly increase, or their speed, perception…

With the system being available to everyone, it was very easy for people to keep track of just how powerful they were and what kind of benefits they were getting from doing things like that.

Lyle had done similar things in the past. Thanks to his job and moderate wealth, he had the privilege of drinking the blood of a higher-ranked monster than him.

Being a vampire, he didn't really need to have the blood made into a special concoction as he could simply drink it raw and gain benefits without any drawbacks, which made it much easier for him to afford it.

Even now, Lyle glanced at the body of the deceased bear and the blood that was still flowing out from it. If he could fill up a flask and have enough for him and Adam to drink, they would be able to gain quite some benefits from it.

Unfortunately, it would be too risky to go and try get blood from the deceased bear right now.

Even using his ability to control blood would be difficult thanks to all the adventurers and mercenaries that were present. He would first wait until they were all inside the city or near it before trying to get some blood.

With his ability, he could will the blood to come to him, but because of the large disparity of strength between himself and the bear, controlling the blood was much more difficult than usual, even though the bear was already dead.

The presence of Ulon was another factor that prevented him from manipulating the blood and forcing it to come to him right now. Even though using the blood manipulation in such a way cost little mana, he didn't wish to risk it right now, after all, a Golden Knight was much more sensitive to mana fluctuations than other people.

Vampires that could control blood were actually relatively rare and not that often seen,  those kinds of vampires were always ahead of others and were considered special amongst the vampiric clans.

Lyle had no idea why he had gained the ability, but he did sense that compared to other abilities, it was much more suitable for him, who had little mana. Drinking blood actually helped with controlling blood as it would actually make the ability easier to control, the more powerful the monster whose blood he had drank, the easier it would be for a limited time.

It would also get replenished by itself after some time, and it would also be replenished after eating and drinking, which made it really hard for Lyle to pinpoint exactly how it functioned.

One thing was certain, however, he needed to get the blood of the bear since the advantages he would gain from drinking the blood would not be low.