[You are being bound to the Path of Blood!]
Final Will's voice resounded in Rudy's head.
Following the voice, a warmth emerged at the center of his chest and spread to every fiber of his being.
His crimson eyes gleamed as his latent core was reforged into an essence core, and gradually, the glow dimmed and vanished.
Final Will spoke once again.
[You are now bound to the path of blood.]
[You are the first Deviant to walk this path.]
[You hold the Hegemony of the Path of Blood.]
[Those who belong to this path are in subservience to you.]
'What?' Dumbfounded, Rudy thought as he was currently unable to speak.
[You have been granted an attribute!]
×××××××
Name: Rudric Ironwell
Moniker: Crimson Saint
Path: [Blood]
Rank: [Deviant]
Attribute: [Scarlet Scion]
○ Grade: [Apex]
○ Description: [You are the last child of the Blood God]
Traits: [Divine Blooded], [Cold Headed], [Lesser Vampire], [Blood Expert]
Skills: [Scarlet Sight], [Blood Manipulation], [Crimstone Construct], [Blood Usurpation]
Essence Shards: [0 / 1000]
×××××××
Seeing the runes before him, Rudy's eyes widened in shock, and he muttered, "An apex attribute?!"
Attributes were ranked as follows: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Mythic, and Apex.
As their names implied, Commons were seen more than Uncommons.
One out of a hundred obtained Rare, one out of ten thousand obtained Epic, one out of a hundred thousand obtained Legendary, the special few obtained Mythic, and throughout the long history of five centuries, only four had achieved an Apex Attribute.
The number that Rudy just increased to five.
"Hah..." A baffled chuckle escaped his lips as he couldn't believe that he was the holder of an Apex Attribute out of millions of humans.
Calming his joy, he focused on his traits.
[Divine blooded Description: The diluted essence of a god flows through your veins]
[Cold Headed Description: Emotions rarely cloud your judgment]
[Lesser Vampire Description: Your soul resides within a weakened vampiric vessel.]
[Blood Expert Description: Blood listens to your command.]
"What does it mean by vampiric vessel...?" He questioned himself before focusing on his skills.
×××××××
Scarlet Sight
Description: [Your eyes perceive beyond mere vision.]
[Obtained from Divine Blooded and Lesser Vampire]
×××××××
×××××××
Blood Manipulation
Description: [You can manipulate the blood within your proximity.]
[Obtained from Blood Expert]
×××××××
×××××××
Crimstone Construct
Description: [You can craft and shape blood into Crimstone.]
[Obtained from Blood Expert]
×××××××
×××××××
Blood Usurpation
Description: [By feeding upon blood, you claim the essence of your victim as your own.]
[Obtained from Blood Expert]
×××××××
"I can do what by doing what?" He muttered upon seeing the absurd description of blood usurpation.
[Your soul world is being awakened.]
Hearing Final Will, he furrowed his brows and mumbled, "Soul world? Don't you mean soul lake?"
The next moment, the soulstar lake disappeared from beneath his feet, and he found himself suspended within pitch darkness.
Furrowing his brows, he searched for his soul lake, but no matter how much he looked around, he couldn't find it.
He frowned and mumbled, "What is going on—"
At that moment, a dim red glow reached out to him from behind.
He turned towards the source of the glow, and his eyes fell on a large, glass-like orb with red wisps swirling within.
"...Is that my essence core?" He mumbled, still unable to understand what was going on.
Soul lakes existed within the essence core, so how was it possible for the lesser vampire to see the very structure of his core? Such a thing should've been impossible.
He stared at it, and then, before his very eyes, the red wisps of blood essence flooded outwards from his blood essence core and engulfed the darkness around him.
Ground covered in red fog appeared beneath his feet, and his essence core floated far above like a crimson moon.
He blinked once. Twice. Thrice and gradually, he looked up at the dark sky and burst into a laughter so maddening it shook the very soul world around him.
Blood essence coiled around him as if it too wanted to join him, but such a thing was impossible, as it had no life.
Only after five minutes did Rudy stop laughing. His lips stayed grinning as he mumbled, "Just wait for me, I won't take long..."
He turned around and took a step towards the grand black gate embroidered with gold standing behind him.
Red mist covered his bare figure as he neared the gate and touched it.
Just as his fingers brushed the soul gate, it groaned sharply and opened.
On the other side of the soul gate were the dazzling stars of the other irregulars, unaware of the Scarlet Scion's awakening.
He stepped forward, and Final Will spoke in his head.
[You are being sent to the Modern Realm!]
Rudy's body became as light as a feather, his vision darkened, and the next moment, a foul smell brushed his nose.
His eyes shot open, and he looked around himself.
"Where am I?" He questioned upon seeing the concrete debris and cracked walls around him.
He stood up, and dust slid down his bare figure as he walked towards the dim light coming in through the wide hole in the wall.
Reaching the wall, he placed his hand on the hole's edge and looked at the cracked road and ruined, abandoned buildings outside.
"Am I near the gate's location?" He mumbled, and voices reached him.
"Wait! What are you doing, Miss Ruri?!" A young man shouted desperately.
"Mimi, are you sure that he is here?" A young woman — presumably Ruri mumbled under her breath, and an unexpected voice answered her, "Mew!!"
'Did he just say Ruri?' Rudy mumbled in his head.
The next moment, a young woman of roughly his age, wearing black shorts, black boots, and a black hoodie with a cat's face printed on it, appeared on the road, a black cat perched on her shoulder.
She pointed at Rudy and said cheerfully, "I found you— Ahhh! Mimi! What are you doing?"
Unfortunately, before she could see Rudy in all his naked glory, Mimi placed her paws on Ruri's eyes and said, "Meow."