Blood Journal

When he got back up, Keith examined his body and found that his blood-qi was erratic and disoriented. The sudden attack threw him off guard, to say the least.

His blood-qi was unstable and his body was hot. There was no internal injury but the skin was bruised. He calmly channeled blood-qi throughout his body to stabilize it.

"I'm really surprised that you were able to create your warrior frame within days. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes." Brad said as he walked towards him.

Keith prepared himself for another attack, which didn't come. Brad walked slowly and stood in front of him with a big smile on his face.

"I can't wait to have a real spar with you."

"Aren't we having one now?" Keith was confused.

"Hah! Even though it was fun, It was not up to that level. You are just starting out on this path. Seeing your growth, I'm sure you will get there soon enough. I greatly underestimated you."

With a sigh, Brad looked at Keith with a new determination.

"I'm just lucky I guess." Keith looked at his hands.

"Luck is not something to be disregarded. It is an essential part of our journey to the top. A slight difference in luck could change your trajectory of life. So, think of it as a part of yourself."

"I prefer things to go within my expectations. Speaking of which, you lost your bet." Keith reminded him of his promise.

"I haven't forgotten. You deserve to learn this technique. After the abnormal potential you have shown, I think you can master it. Make sure to keep it to yourself. "

He leaned closer to Brad and whispered into his ears.

"And it's better if you leave no witnesses. This is only applicable before you enter the academy." Brad patted Keith's shoulders and turned back.

"So when are we starting?" Keith was eager to learn the new technique.

"Patience kid, you just learned the warrior frame. If you learn the blood esper techniques now, you can allocate the blood-qi properly.

"My suggestion is, you should practice the warrior frame for a week and get the hang of it."

"Is that so? I think I adapted to the warrior frame pretty nicely." Keith replied.

While his warrior frame was not viscount level yet, it was still the final stages of count. He also integrated it properly with his body. The only thing he lacked was blood-qi and more experience.

"You don't understand. Blood warrior frame has more applications than just boosting your strength. It also acts as a quasi blood-core. It is not efficient as a blood core, but it can store a lot of blood-qi within.

Also, you can manipulate the warrior frame to take any shape you want, and adjust its hardness and intensity. How do you think I increased my speed even after activating warrior frame?"

"You adjusted your blood-qi level of the warrior frame." Keith blurted out.

"Not only that, I changed some of the structural elements of the frame that are better suited for speed. Mind you, this is still considered a basic application of the warrior frame." Brad said.

"You are right. I need to catch up on a lot of things. I can barely maintain my warrior frame now, with my measly blood-qi, compared to you." Keith gave an awkward smile to Brad.

"If you were to say this in front of any other vampire, they would choke on their blood." Brad said.

Keith scratched his back. He was really fortunate in getting the system and the mark. They helped him grow stronger faster than any other genius.

'I wonder where this comes from?'

His trailing thoughts came to a halt when Brad handed him a thin metal bar. It was a couple of millimeters thick and rectangle-shaped, incredibly light and sturdy.

"What is it?" Keith looked at Brad dumbfounded.

"It's an artifact called blood journal. You can store any information here. Only those people who have been approved by the journal owner can open it."

Brad touched the center of the journal and it folded like origami and was converted into a large book that was of the same weight, but it was thicker and filled with pages and bookmarks.

Several glowing signs appeared on the cover of the book. His uncle's name was on the center, written in blood-red ink. He saw his name getting printed on the corner.

He opened the journal and saw that it was filled with various subjects. These were common observations and martial arts techniques, but there was a section about warrior frames, and below that, a single page for blood esper techniques.

"It's not what you think. I didn't put anything important, just a little introduction. You can read it after going through the warrior frame section. I added some techniques for you to improve on and other applications. So, practice them well.

We will start the blood esper techniques next week. In the meantime, you should practice these martial arts, as they will complement your current style."

Brad pointed to the sections in the journal.

"Can I ask you something? Is it made by a ritualist?" Keith said, looking at the journal.

"Yes, I bought it from the capital 30 years ago. We don't have any high-level ritualists here, so getting artifacts is expensive." Brad sighed.

"What do you mean by high level? Is there not even a baron-level ritualist in our fief?" Keith asked.

"Not even one. The highest level ritualist is unsurprisingly your grandpa. Well, the last time he said he was almost there. So I think he broke through the baron level ritualist." Brad pondered.

"Anyways, he doesn't do rituals often. He is a blood warrior after all. Rituals are kind of his hobby."

"Can he teach me about rituals?" Keith was surprised to find out that his grandpa was secretly a ritualist.

"I don't think so. He abides by the council rule pretty rigorously. I doubt he will teach you just like that. The only thing he will teach you is the family technique."

"What technique is that?" Keith couldn't hold his excitement.

"You've been studying it all along. It's the count-level warrior frame. But all the advanced techniques will only be unlocked once you reach count level. What I've shown you is just a glimpse." Brad said with a hearty laugh looking at Keith's disappointed face.