Secrets

He quickly got up and concealed the glass under his bed, not wanting to arouse suspicion about his behavior.

"Come in," he called as the maid knocked on the door.

The maid entered his room and placed the cup on the table.

"Young master, where is the cup I brought earlier? If you have finished it, I will take it away."

"No need, you can go now," Keith dismissed her without making any excuses.

Looking at the glass of blood, Keith felt quite complicated. He resisted the thirst, but his bodily instinct compelled him to drink the blood. Finally, unable to resist the temptation, he gulped down the blood at once.

The blood felt quite refreshing and cooled down his head.

"What the hell? I am feeling good after drinking human blood." He had the urge to vomit.

"I can't believe I have to consume this every day."

He put the empty glass on the table and went back to condensation his blood qi.

The blood qi circulated in his body and moved slowly towards the center.

Several hours later, he significantly improved his blood condensation level.

He didn't need to sleep like a vampire, so he spent the whole night condensation blood qi.

When the next day arrived, he looked out the window. The sun was always below the horizon, so the whole day stayed like morning.

"So the continent might be at a higher latitude on the planet," he thought.

He put the curtains on the window and left his room. After walking in the corridor for some time, he entered the inner garden.

This garden was inside the castle and occupied a huge area. There were statues of previous leaders and famous figures in the garden.

He sat on an empty bench and looked at the beautiful flowers in the garden.

'I miss home.'

*sigh*

'I can't go home if I can't find out how I got here in the first place. For that, I need to become stronger.'

He got up and walked to his room but found a man standing in the corridor.

"How are you, Keith?"

"Oh... Uncle Brad, I am feeling good now, thank you," Keith answered. Brad was the second uncle of Keith and one of the strongest vampires in the Ennes family.

"When I heard that Marvin almost killed you, it really angered me, but seeing you are fine, I feel at ease."

'Well, he did kill Keith,' he was now in his body because of that.

"Yeah, he said profanities towards my father, so I couldn't control myself and attacked him. And you know what happened after that."

"Ignorant kids don't know how to respect their elders; my brother was the strongest vampire in the family when he was here. I never expected him to leave."

He sighed and looked at Keith with sympathetic eyes.

"I am very sorry that due to your physique, you can't perform blood condensation."

"It's okay, uncle. I will figure out a way to get stronger."

"Good, I like your optimism." He ruffled Keith's hair.

Brad left the garden area, and Keith returned to his room. There he saw the maid, waiting outside his door.

"Young master, Master Elder summoned you."

"Grandpa Lex is looking for me? Okay, I will go there. You can leave."

He walked towards the central part of the castle, where his grandfather lived. His room was so big, with decorations all over the place.

He knocked on the door.

"Grandpa, I'm here."

"Come in." A voice came from inside.

He opened the door and entered. The room had a gothic-style decoration, with paintings of different types hanging on the walls.

"How are you feeling?" Lex asked.

"I am feeling good."

"Hmm… The situation is getting really stressful. The support for Marvin is very one-sided. I want you to leave the castle and go to another city. There is a family castle in the southern Bergzen territory. I want you to go there. If you don't, you will be targeted by Marvin and his supporters."

"I don't want to leave, and I will inherit the position of the count." Keith firmly said.

"I know you want to, but you are not strong enough. Nobody in the family will approve of this. Even if I give you the title, Marvin will challenge you to a duel, and most of the family will support him. Then you can't retain your position."

"I can practice blood condensation now, Grandpa. I can evolve now." Despite wanting to keep it a secret, he trusted his grandfather and revealed that he could use blood condensation.

"Is that true?" The old man's appearance suddenly changed, and he turned young. His white hair turned black, and all the wrinkles disappeared, making him look like a handsome young man in his late twenties.

From the memories of the previous Keith, he knew that his grandpa had the best shapeshifting ability in the family. And he always took the old man persona. He was the previous count and now the elder of the family.

"Yes, Grandpa. I don't know how, but after I woke up, I felt better and found that I can condense blood qi."

"Then the blood ritual must have cured you. This is great news. If you could catch up to Marvin, then nobody will object if you become the count."

"Come, follow me." Grandpa started walking in that direction. Keith didn't understand his intention but followed him regardless.

After walking in the corridor for ten minutes, they reached a

  dead end. There was a wall with murals of ancient vampires of the family. Lex put his finger on a certain place and applied his blood qi. The wall suddenly divided in two, opening a corridor.

The corridor looked like it hadn't been used for centuries and was filled with dust and spiderwebs.

"This chamber hasn't been used since your father entered here."

"So, what's in there?"

"You see, we need pure blood to create blood qi, and the more you circulate blood qi, the more you condense in your center. So when you break through the blood condensation phase, you create a blood core just below your heart.

There is a blood pool here that helps you increase the rate of circulation by tenfold. You can easily become a baron after a year if you condense blood qi here."

"Why didn't you allow Mavin here?"

"This chamber is only for the direct descendants. If he becomes the count, he can enter here, and so will his descendants in the future. But right now, you have that right."

'That's unfair, but that's what it is. Anyways, I need all the leverage I could get.'

Lex walked down the dimly lit corridor and entered a cave-like room with a pool full of blood.

"Enter the blood pool and see how it affects your blood condensation"