52 Chapter 52: Preparations II

"Following the naming conventions of the bloodlines, I should name it after the type of creature followed by its type of power."

Herbert started pacing to and fro as he decided to come up with a name for his new bloodline.

"Since this came from the White-Horned Snakes, I should use the word snake. But at the same time, this bloodline does not seem similar to the type of power that they have."

Just as he paced three circles around his room, Herbert immediately felt like he got a great idea for the name.

"Snakedream? No, Serpentdream. Yeah, that sounds about right."

Being convinced by his great naming sense, Herbert nodded his head and decided on the name for his new bloodline. With this, Herbert now had a new trump card that he could use against the protagonist if they encountered each other in the future.

He knew that his original talent wasn't good because he did not inherit a large amount of bloodline from either his father or mother, as a result, he had to use the forbidden ritual to increase his bloodline purity.

But since he is the first to awaken the Serpentdream bloodline, he thinks that the bloodline purity that he has should be the default. This means that at the very least, he would have an ordinary talent and advancement speed when increasing his rank.

The good thing about this was that he could compensate for the lifespan that had been deducted due to the ritual by increasing the strength of his other bloodline.

With this great news, Herbert left his room in a good mood. On his way, he saw Ingrid so they decided to make their way for breakfast together. After this, Herbert intended to personally witness just how far Ingrid has grown during the past few days that she had spent on training.

So, around the afternoon, Herbert utilized one of the indoor training grounds that the Ravenmoons had. To facilitate better movement, Ingrid wore an outfit that is flexible and comfortable to wear during combat.

"Ingrid, I'm sure that you're already aware. Once the winter snow completely melts, we will be making a move."

"I've heard."

"I'm sure you've also figured out why I've brought you here."

"To test me?"

"Yes. You said that you wanted revenge, right? Show me what you got!"

With that, Ingrid immediately materialized a long whip as her weapon. In that instant, she immediately used her whip to strike at Herbert. She moved without any hesitation as she aimed at one of Herbert's limbs.

In front of her, Herbert also materialized a couple of his feathers to form wings on his back. From her eyes, Herbert could see her fierceness. At a glance, he instantly recognized that she was aiming for his right arm.

Compared to normal whips that moved along with the arms of the user, this whip can move in irregular ways as if it had a mind of its own. Coupled with its thorny appearance, getting hit by it would look extremely painful.

From the way Ingrid was moving, Herbert saw the amount of hard work that she had put into improving her skills. Although Herbert still thinks that there could still be some more improvements, being able to make her way here from being a complete newbie was already good enough.

Herbert then took a step back and dodged the incoming whip, but Ingrid didn't give up. She continued to strike at Herbert from multiple directions. Unfortunately, since Herbert had already reached the Transcendent rank, he had managed to not get hit by even a single attack.

Seeing that none of her attacks were working, Ingrid decided to switch things up by moving closer and trying to engage in a fight with Herbert in a melee.

She first recalled her long whip and made it wrap around her arms as if it was protective armor. She then threw a bait by launching another whip attack before she made a dash and attempted to get closer to Herbert.

Unfortunately, Herbert still managed to see through that and all of her attacks had missed. This left a very bitter taste in Ingrid's mouth. None of her tactics worked so the ferocity of her attacks lessened.

"Is that all you can do?"

Ingrid bit her lips but she did not fall for Herbert's provocation. She knew that there was a gap in their powers and all she had to do was to battle him in her best state. After all, Herbert couldn't possibly expect her to beat him in their spar, right?

She then made another attempt to hit Herbert from multiple directions at the same time, but he still managed to dodge it. Herbert frowned, and realized that this should be the same attack pattern that she used earlier. He then thought to himself, did she run out of ideas?

This time though, Ingrid did not repeat the same attack patterns as from the ground, something attempted to burrow from it as it launched itself at Herbert's foot in an attempt to bind him.

Herbert inwardly praised Ingrid's creativity. But his wings weren't just for show. He managed to fly away just in time for Ingrid's surprise attack to miss. Now, Herbert wanted to see if there were still more surprises that Ingrid could give him. However, seeing the dark look on her face, Herbert guessed that this must already be her last trick up her sleeve. Unfortunately, Herbert guessed correctly so, after a couple more minutes of Ingrid being more passive Herbert decided to pick up the pace.

"If you're not going to attack me then I'm going to attack you this time."

Seeing that she no longer had any means to attack Herbert, he switched from a defensive stance into an offensive maneuver. In a flash, he aimed one of his wings at Ingrid and used some of his feathers as throwing knives. Naturally, he weakened it to the point where he thinks Ingrid could endure it.

This was the goal of today's test. Although Herbert realized that it would be great if Ingrid could have some firepower, the thing that he wants to see the most from her was her survivability. Since the church would soon be making a move against them, Herbert knew that they would be unscrupulous in their means. And if he brought along Ingrid, as the weak link, they would probably target her more.