Chapter 3: One Vampire, One Jar.

"963,632!" The man shouts, I stop shaking, I breathe, and I walk towards the platform, steeling my nerves. "Please place your hand on the altar." I nod, placing my hand on it. 1 light, 2 light, 3 light, 4 light, high-level warrior? Wow, I wasn't expecting that. Wait, 5 light, 6 light, 7 light, 8 light, that's the max, that's the level of the king, all of the lights turn off and fill up again repeatedly, at least hundreds of thousands of times in seconds, and then the entire structure collapses. The man looks at me, aghast, his face paler than even the whitest Vampire. I myself am not much different. "L- Let's continue with the tests." The man says, I nod, and go up to the strength machine, I punch as hard as I can, blowing the steel plates off of the hinges, the strength output continuously goes up, 10 tons, 30 tons, 50 tons, 60 tons, 100 tons. I stand there, my mouth wide open, the man stares at me, his expression no different. You must know, the king's strength is 1,000 tons, the average general is around 20 tons, and the average warrior is around 2-10 tons. I walk over to the speed machine, waiting for the man to wave his hand, he does, signifying me to start, I do so, I feel myself go into a blur, pushing with everything I have, I stop as the treadmill beeps, I look down, my shoes burnt off, the speed machine is smoking, I look at the reading, 700 miles per hour, a speed above the kings. The man doesn't even look surprised, I'm not either to be honest, I just never expected my strength to be that high, I've never tested it. The next thing is my durability, I watch as the machine swings at me with the force of 5 tons at first, I feel nothing, and I'm unscathed. The machine throws another punch at a force of 20 tons, once again, I feel nothing, and I'm unscathed. The machine goes again, 100 tons of force, I feel the impact, but I'm not injured, it continuously goes up until it gets to 1,000 tons, it swings at me, the air around it creating a vortex as the machines fist goes towards me, *Thwack* The fist hits me, my abs tensing, I feel the force, and a bit of pain, it hurts, but not the worst pain I've ever felt. 2,000 tons, it hurts more, but still not the worst. 10,000 tons, the fist is like a bullet train, going straight to me, I feel my abs tighten to the point it hurts, I spit out saliva, my stomach feeling as if I was repeatedly punched by The Vampire God himself. I groan slightly and signal to the man that I'm done. The man looks pale and nods. The next test is my regeneration. They are going to stab me with swords and shoot me with bullets to test the speed and effectiveness of my regeneration. Some Vampire regeneration is only as fast as 2 humans combined, which in the Vampire society, is not acceptable. People who are barely stronger than 2 humans combined are considered weak, not even a child is that weak. Many have been executed because of their weakness, either that or they're exiled, which is one of the most dishonorable things in the entire continent of Vraulodura. "Are you ready?" The man asks me, I nod, preparing myself, the machine sets itself to 10,000 tons of strength and plunges multiple swords towards my chest and lower abdomen. Fire, I feel as if I'm on fire, it hurts. I take the swords out, throwing them to the ground, my chest and abdomen heal instantly, the man looks at me, visibly shocked. I look down at the crowd for the first time, just to see all of them with the same expression as the man, the King, who is watching on a throne that was placed above the platform is also visibly shocked. "A-Alright, last things last, let's test if you have The Inheritance." the man says, his face turning serious, I gulp at his last words, knowing for a fact that everyones watching me. I step forward, my heart pounding, my body frozen, I shake it off and continue walking. I go up to the jar, reaching towards the lid, I go to twist it, my breath hitches, my heart stops, and I attempt to untwist it. *Creakkk* The jar's lid slowly untwists, I gasp in shock with the crowd as the essence flows into my body, "AAAAAAAAAAA GGGGHHHH" I scream, my body in endless pain, memories flooding into my head, muscle memories being ingrained into my body, strength flowing into my very being. The pain feels like it's been going on for thousands of years but I know it's been a minute at most. I rise to my feet in a cold sweat, my head filled with knowledge of how to do many different things, including martial arts, proper etiquette, and many others. I still have to train my abilities, but I can tell, all of them have increased drastically. I never thought this would happen, it's strange. I stand up, my clothes drenched in sweat, I look around, the King jumps down and stands in front of me, I go to kneel but I'm stopped by him doing the action. I look at him in shock, utter surprise most likely strewn across my face. "My God, I have been waiting for this day for hundreds of years." the King says, I don't say anything and look around, the crowd of at least a hundred thousand Vampires are all kneeling, I look to my right and see the man who was shocked throughout my tests kneeling as well, the news of me becoming the Vampire God is no doubt spreading around the world, I wonder, what will the slaves think when they hear about it, will they be scared, terrified because of a new Vampire God. The reality hits me as I realize that I am truly the Vampire God, what will Ben think, what will Uncle Kristoph think? Uncle Kristoph is one of the nobles, he took me in when I was 7, shunned by many people, I became friends with Ben before that, but I was also homeless, another reason for people to stay away from me. I am very grateful to Uncle Kristoph, he never shunned me, he's taken care of me since he adopted me and I couldn't be more grateful, he's not around much anymore, but he's high up so he's surely already heard about the news. I wonder if I'll live in the old God of Vampires castle. No one has dared to go near it yet it still remains clean, some have rumored that the Vampire God's helpers are still there, waiting for the new Vampire God to come, these are of course rumors, but no one has dared to test it out. I am the Vampire God after all. It's a strange idea, me being the Vampire God, I bet the public loves me now, more so than the king considering my newfound status. It's weird, I used to be the kid nobody hangs around, and in one day I became the most famous Vampire in the World. "My God, you can have my entire palace and sleep wherever you wish, I am sorry that it's not enough for you." The King says, I shake my head, "No, I'm going to the old Vampire God's castle, thanks for the offer though." I say nonchalantly, the King looks at me strangely, a look of surprise shown on his face, "My God, please do not thank me, I am nothing but your humble servant." I grumble under my breath, I never would've imagined that the King would one day kneel down to me, I have no doubt that he heard my grumble, maybe if he was a human he wouldn't have, but he's a Vampire, the strongest race, the best race, superior in every way to any other rac-. "Excuse me?" I'm cut off from my thoughts, I look down to see a little boy looking at me, averting his gaze from my eyes, I look at him, orange eyes, black unkempt hair, raggedy clothes, and best of all, bravery, even though I am now the most powerful being in this Universe, he is not scared of me, he is not kneeling, probably because of fear or anxiety but nonetheless I can see the courage and bravery in his eyes, the will to be strong. I might just indulge on that will of his. "How dare you, kneel before The God before I cut your lower legs off!" the King shouts at the boy, the boy's body going stiff in response. I raise my hand, "He's alright, I believe that he's too scared to kneel, he doesn't even look like he can move right now, seems like he wanted to ask me something but was too anxious to ask." I say aloud, the boy looks shocked, his eyes widening and his body tensing even further. I may not have actually fought all of the battles the old Vampire God did, but I most certainly have the ability to fight them, I might even win in a match against the old Vampire God with my abilities from before added to his, I, of course, would never be able to do that considering the fact that he and his soul are dead, absorbed into my very being. This means I could undoubtedly beat him, I'm the strongest thing to ever live, the unfortunate thing is that I only got the memories of his skills and how to use him, I didn't get any of his personal memories, but I'm just as good as he was at fighting, and using skills, it's strange, it's like I went through hundreds of thousands of years of training, when in reality, I didn't. My point is, I can teach this kid, I can teach him how to fight, I think I'll teach him a certain kind of martial art, meant to utilize the Vampire's body. "Tell me boy, what do you desire?" I say aloud, my scarlet eyes piercing into his orange, "I-I want you to train me, sir!" he yells aloud, I'm startled on the inside, I am used to being treated like a God and called things like Lord and Sir, from my memories, but I am still surprised, I am not the old Vampire God after all. "Sure, I'll train you, but are you willing to go through hell, your body will feel like it's been hit by a bullet train, and you will have to fight, your body will be in constant pain, but you cannot stop, if you stop, you're done, gone." I say while keeping my gaze trained on the boy. "I-I-I, I do m-my lord, I'll go through the training I swear!" the boy shouts again, kneeling down.

His passion, it's very familiar, and those eyes, they have the same glow and emotion that Ben's do? Strange, is this a family member? I knew he had a brother, but I've never cared enough to meet him, always scared that I would be shunned, but this boy doesn't seem like he would ever judge someone, unlike me, who judged him from the get-go before I even met him.

"Are you Ben's brother?" I say to him, my tone less serious and strict, his eyes widen, and then shine in recognition, "Y-You're Ben's best friend, my brother is best friends with The Vampire God? Woah that rules!" he says, his stuttering completely fading away throughout his sentence. "Heh" I let out a slight chuckle, I'm still young afterall. I only have one month until I turn 16.

I flick my hand and create a piece of paper and a pen. The little boy, Ben is turning 9 today, stares at me in surprise, "Here's my phone number, I'll start training you in 6 months' time, make sure you're prepared." I say to him, and partially to myself.

The boy nods and runs away at a pace as fast as the average adult Vampire. I smile to myself, my serious facade fading away as I look at the King, "Do you think you could get me some blood, I'm feeling parched." The King nods as I say this, running away.

{2096 words}