The Bloodline

Despite his extreme disgust towards the blood thrall, Adam still planned to use him.

Adam never considered himself a good person. He buried others' bodies haphazardly, took over their identities, enjoyed the affection of their loved ones, and lowered a good person's moral boundaries just to gain an opportunity for himself.

The difference between him and that human garbage lay in his awareness. He knew his actions were filthy and vile, and he wouldn't do such things unless they directly benefited him.

If he hadn't been reincarnated as an otherworldly being, he might have become a friar, enjoying the people's reverence and fighting against evil beings somewhere.

Unfortunately, reality was what it was, and Adam lacked the power to change it.

He hid the book obtained from the blood thrall under his bed and didn't rush to read it, opting for rest instead. Even as a werewolf, he needed rest, especially after using his heightened senses, which had left him mentally exhausted.

The next day, Alva finally began his work. He instructed Adam to scrape off the surface layer of a wall, clean it, and then mix the materials according to specific ratios. Depending on the materials and colors used, the mixture was divided into several types, which were then evenly applied to the wall in layers.

The fresco technique Alva used was a combination of painting and craftsmanship, a method that involved both carving and painting.

As the materials gradually solidified, Alva started carving, removing the excess with various chisels. In no time, a layered, textured image appeared before Adam. The different materials gave the fresco a vivid, multi-dimensional look.

Once the carving was nearly complete, Alva took out colored stones, shells, and gems from a materials box and embedded them at various points. He then used fine chisels to perfect the details.

Adam assisted by changing tools, cleaning up the discarded materials, and mixing paints for touch-ups.

By evening, part of the fresco was nearly finished, presenting a vibrant, layered, and textured image with lifelike figures.

Alva was undoubtedly a master in this field. Adam wasn't merely doing grunt work; he learned a lot about material ratios, which would be useful if he decided to pursue painting.

"Clean up," Alva said, waving his hand dismissively before strolling out, leaving the tools scattered on the ground.

Adam glanced at the unused gems in one of the toolboxes and shook his head. He scraped the remaining materials onto a wooden piece, cleaned the tools, and took the wooden piece home.

Adam understood that details determined success. Since he had decided to use the painter's role as a cover, he needed to perform the duties of a painter's apprentice diligently. The gems, though valuable, weren't worth risking exposure or bringing real benefits to him.

Walking back, Adam fiddled with the wooden piece, using branches or stones as makeshift chisels.

He found this a good way to train his senses, observing the texture, color changes, and solidification speed of materials. Adam suspected that Alva's sensory abilities were exceptional.

Before reaching the Bokku house, Adam saw a stray cat by the roadside. He crouched down and beckoned it over.

Sensing Adam's friendliness, the stray cat hesitated before approaching him.

Adam fed it the remaining half of a pickle pancake, rubbed its head, and smiled warmly.

As the sun began to set, Adam returned to the Bokku house, greeted Aris and Maggie, teased little Lena, and then went to the attic, filled with various thoughts.

Church, nobility, garrison, otherworldly beings... The information he had gathered flowed through his mind as he devised responses to various scenarios, repeatedly rehearsing them mentally to ensure he would react correctly when the time came.

Finally, he transformed into a werewolf and, under the crescent moonlight, began reading the book obtained from the blood thrall.

The book was a messy handwritten collection, even containing some diary entries.

"As expected, normal people don't keep diaries," Adam thought as he sat on the bed, flipping through the book with one hand.

The book's owner was named Adel Rean, the disgusting human trash he had encountered.

The handwriting was sloppy, with numerous errors and disjointed sentences. Yet, Adam gleaned valuable information from it.

Adel, originally a free man from Roya, once had grand ambitions of becoming a great adventurer. However, during one ill-fated adventure, he was captured by a vampire and turned into a blood thrall, serving as a half-assistant.

This handwritten book documented some fragmented information from his time as an assistant.

Adel was fortunate. The vampire later encountered a powerful ascetic, allowing Adel to escape and avoid becoming the vampire's next experiment.

Afterward, Adel returned to Roya but didn't dare enter the city. He hid in the forest for several months until he made contact with other otherworldly beings in Roya and met the witch doctor, Hoda. Only then did he resume living in Roya.

However, due to his failed adventure, he was penniless. Coupled with the high cost of potions, he had to move to the slums, where it was easier to hunt.

This information was good news for Adam, indicating that the pure vampire wasn't in Roya.

The other information also proved useful. Werewolves were classified as pure or half-blood, while vampires were distinguished by whether they were pure or not.

The distinction lay in the bloodline for werewolves, while for vampires, it was whether the ritual was correct.

The book revealed that the pure vampire continued experimenting with bloodlines, creating blood thralls and conducting various experiments to transform them into pure vampires rather than flawed thralls.

"Why did this vampire come to the Holy Sound Nation to conduct experiments?" Adam wondered. Holy Sound Nation was the Sacred Sound Church's stronghold. Adam was trying to escape because he was born here, but why would the vampire come?

With no answer, Adam put the question aside and continued absorbing knowledge from the book. The most valuable part was the experiments on werewolf bloodlines.

"Werewolves undergo a bloodline awakening when they reach maturity, unlocking miraculous powers by tracing their ancestry and personal talents to form unique abilities."

"These abilities can range from enhanced healing to potent infectious wolf toxins or even more mystical abilities."

"Half-blood werewolves, being infected rather than born, lack the ancestral connection, resulting in weaker awakening abilities."

"Notably, the closer it gets to the full moon, the faster the bloodline matures. During the awakening, even pure werewolves struggle to control their bloodline's agitation and become extremely irritable."

Reading this, Adam frowned and looked up at the sky through the attic window. It was already a crescent moon, just seven or eight days from the full moon.

If Adel's notes were accurate, Adam would indeed undergo his bloodline awakening during that time.

"Uncontrollable agitation... I'll need to prepare for that in advance," Adam thought, frowning.

"Tracing ancestry, past, and talents?" Adam looked at his white-furred, furry paw. He hadn't seen much of his biological father and knew little about his family. So, what about tracing his past and talents?

"My past and my talents..."