Stretching lazily, Hel glanced up at the sky.
It was still early — perfect time to deal with those blood elf corpses.
After all, they looked no different from normal elves. If she equipped them with aura-suppression keywords, they could serve as a visible fighting force under her command.
But before that, a little preparation was in order.
Just then, her little maid Anna arrived, carrying a tray of freshly prepared lunch.
"Master, lunch is ready," Anna said softly.
"Perfect timing, Anna. I was just about to call you," Hel replied, gesturing for her to sit beside her.
It had been half a month since they last saw each other. After consuming the two elemental cores Hel had given her, Anna's power had skyrocketed — she was now a Magister.
Of course, even at that level, she didn't have much combat power at the moment — she had neither proper equipment nor many keywords.
Right now, Anna only had three equipped: [Blood Elf (Orange)], [Aura Suppression (Orange)], and [Death Mana Affinity (Purple)].
That was the limit of what her former power level could handle.
But now, as a Magister, Anna had gained four more keyword slots.
Hel already had a plan for those.
The first two she had long prepared — [Omni-Maid (Gold)] and [Advanced Death Magic (Orange)].
As for the remaining two, Hel decided to select from the new keywords she'd recently acquired: [Assassination Arts (Gold)] and [Master Archery (Gold)].
As her personal maid, it was only reasonable for Anna to know a little assassination. After all, a good bodyguard should first learn how to be a good killer.
Hel also decided to upgrade some of Anna's existing keywords.
[Aura Suppression] and [Death Mana Affinity] could both be replaced with gold-tier versions — she had plenty of those lying around anyway.
And then there was [Blood Elf] — that needed to be raised to gold quality too. With her current bloodline level, Anna couldn't create many blood elves of any real worth.
As for how to upgrade it? Simple — keyword duplication.
Now that Hel was at Grand Magister level, she didn't even blink at using four duplication attempts.
Spending four tries for a gold-tier keyword was a bargain in her book.
With a wave of her hand, Hel placed the keyword onto the upgrade panel — and soon, a brand-new [Blood Elf (Gold)] keyword appeared, still warm and gleaming.
But along with it came a system notification:
[Synthesis Option Detected]
[Blood Elf (Gold)] + [Succubus Queen (Gold)] + [Elf Queen (Gold)] = Unknown Bloodline (Red)
Proceed with synthesis?
Hel didn't hesitate for a second — she immediately selected Yes.
After all, there was no reason not to.
Even if this new bloodline lost the blood elves' ability to create kin through blood, so what?
She could always re-create the Blood Elf keyword later — she already knew the synthesis formula, and Lili could help her make more.
But a red-tier unknown bloodline? That was different.
Hel knew all three ingredients were bloodlines that boosted mana, so the resulting one would almost certainly do the same.
And more importantly — it was red-tier.
Currently, Hel only possessed three red bloodlines: Angel, Dragon, and Demon Dragon.
Unfortunately, bloodline keywords couldn't be removed — not unless the host was dead.
Aside from the one time she used an unrestricted opportunity against the Netherlord, Hel had never been able to extract a bloodline from a living being — not even from the undead.
Otherwise, she would've long since gotten rid of that damned Witch keyword on herself.
So, bloodline synthesis was the only way to ascend.
Which meant this synthesis prompt was an opportunity she absolutely couldn't waste — it might be the only chance for Anna to get a red-tier bloodline anytime soon.
After a few tense moments, the new red keyword finally materialized:
[Bloodlust Elf Empress (Red)]: Mana +190%, Charm +130.
A fusion of Blood Elf, Succubus, and Elf Queen bloodlines.
Combines the strengths of all three races, capable of using blood to create new Bloodlust Elves.
Exerts absolute dominance over all Bloodlust Elves of lower bloodline rank.
Hel couldn't help but grin. This synthesis had been worth it.
A 190% mana boost — nearly as high as her own Witch keyword.
As expected from a keyword that triggered a system prompt — the effect was excellent.
After a moment of admiration, Hel turned her attention back to the main task: creating new Bloodlust Elves.
That process ended up taking three full days.
There were simply too many low-tier blood elves.
She didn't want to waste them, but converting them all was exhausting — or rather, it was a nightmare for Anna.
Even with Anna's seemingly endless blood, this was pushing it.
Fortunately, Hel wasn't performing a full vampiric embrace — she only needed a tiny bit of Anna's blood for each conversion.
After all, with over five thousand blood elves, even draining Anna dry wouldn't have been enough.
So Hel opted for efficiency — using as little blood as possible for maximum output.
On average, a first-tier blood elf only needed a single drop.
Second-tier ones took about ten drops.
Third-tier ones required roughly a hundred.
By the time all the lower-tier elves were transformed, Anna had lost just over a liter of blood.
"That's not too bad… right?" Hel thought, though feeling a little guilty as she looked at Anna.
The poor maid was pale, her body trembling, looking utterly drained.
"I only took, what, less than two liters? I even left her some! She's undead — a little blood loss shouldn't matter… right?"
Hel winced slightly. She wasn't a heartless capitalist, after all.
So she decided to stop for the day. Before leaving, she even drew a small vial of her own blood — a potent supplement for undead — and handed it to Anna.
At first, Anna was thrilled. Hel's blood, the blood of the Death Witch herself, was a supreme tonic for any undead creature.
But when she heard that the process would continue tomorrow, her joy instantly vanished.
And so, the next day, after another round of "blood extraction," five fourth-tier Bloodlust Elves were successfully born.
By the third day, Hel began the Embrace Ritual for the Assassin Queen of the Blood Elves.
The higher the rank, the more blood it required — and the Assassin Queen was a heavyweight, stronger than Anna herself.
By the end of it, Anna was completely spent — not a single drop left to give.
When it was finally over, she looked utterly broken, her eyes lifeless and hollow.
And yet, deep down, she felt a twisted sense of joy.
After all, she had paid just a tiny bit of blood — and in return, gained several vials of Hel's own.
Such a profitable deal… she couldn't help but think, "Please… let's do this again sometime."