The secret of survival for Tristan was definitely the unique trump card that he believed he alone had in this world, the Blood Monarch skill.

Besides the overpowered skills that allowed him to have a much easier time in this unknown yet extraordinary world, it also gave Tristan outstanding strength and an almost undying body. However, such unreasonable advantages naturally had its own disadvantages. And in Tristan's case was its absolute need for Blood Essence.

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Every skill and spell needed Blood Essence, and an enormous amount at that.

Others could cast a spell using something called spirit, which was a type of energy that seemed to be constantly sustained by their own body; but for Tristan, he had to spend lots of Blood Essence to do the same.

And as if that wasn't enough, Tristan also had to deal with the daily consumption of his body, where he would automatically lose an average of 10 Blood Essence every day and appear to only increase further the stronger he becomes.

He had become a being that lived off blood!

Hence, when Tristan saw how the elf could give much blood essence, he immediately thought of an idea he wanted to try.

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On this particular night, Tristan sneakily made his way into the dungeon by himself. He returned to the place where the last elf was being held captive and entered the cell. At the moment, the elven warrior was hanged with metal bars on his four limbs, making him floating horizontally in the air with his face facing the floor.

The man looked paler when compared to yesterday, and that was because Tristan had made a cut on his wrists and ankles. The cut wasn't deep and just enough for a drop of blood to slip through every now and then.

He believed on earth people called this practice as bloodletting.

While the elf was bound in the air, there were four large jars seen on the floor. Their purpose was to contain the blood that the man was dripping.

As Tristan walked closer, the elf seemed aware of his presence as he could hear his whimper. "Ple..s.. Ki..l me.."

Tristan subconsciously took a deep breath when he saw the pitiful state the elf was in.

Actually, Tristan did think that what he did to the other party was a little inhumane, but he kept telling himself that it was all for his survival and to be completely accurate he wasn't really a human anymore, therefore inhumane seems to be the right word.

He walked forward and crouched to pick up one of the jars. Then, Tristan silently prayed for his success before using his skill.

[Blood Extraction]

[Targeted blood cells are insufficient]

"Dammit!!"

Tristan was very upset because he really hoped that he could extract Blood Essence from the blood of living beings. After all, if he somehow managed to do this, he didn't have to kill everyday.

He was astute enough to understand that the more people he killed, the more problems they would bring to him in the future.

One can imagine how disappointed Tristan was when he discovered the first jar had given him nothing. However, he still had three more. It was still not the time to lose heart.

Each of the four jars were different as Tristan did the bloodletting at four separate intervals. The first jar, which was in vain, was prepared 2 hours ago, the second was 4 hours, the third was 6 hours, while the fourth was 8 hours.

Tristan's hand reached over to the second jar while hoping for the best. He used [Blood Extraction] once again, and a notification suddenly came into his mind. The moment he read it, Tristan let out a smile.

[Blood Extraction]

[A mix of 1 high-quality blood cell were found]

[Extracting and filtering the blood cell..]

[2 Blood Essence found]

Even though it was a small amount, it meant a lot to Tristan. Before concluding the result of this experiment, Tristan used the skill on the third jar - the one which was prepared six hours ago.

[Blood Extraction]

[A mix of 4 high-quality blood cell were found]

[The stale condition of blood cell has decreased the blood quality]

[Extracting and filtering the blood cell..]

[1 Blood Essence found]

As for the fourth jar, a notification that stated a different result appeared in his mind.

[Blood Extraction]

[A mix of 6 high-quality blood cell were found]

[Blood cell is too old to extract]

[0 Blood Essence found]

In the end, Tristan only managed to obtain a total of 3 Blood Essences. However, the expression on his face did not look disappointed. On the contrary, he couldn't pull back the big smile that was there.

Tristan was extremely happy because the experiment had shown him a few crucial rules on the [Blood Extraction] skill.

First, he needed a certain amount of blood before the skill could be used. The first jar failed because there was too little blood collected in two hours.

The second rule, he needed fresh blood to gain the most amount of Blood Essence. Those below 6 hours would be considered stale blood and decreased the amount of Blood Essence extracted

The solution for the first issue was simple as Tristan just needed to acquire more blood. A human body had about a gallon of blood. He just needed to draw enough blood for the skill to work while trying to not kill too many people in the process.

As for the second issue, the simple solution would be a refrigerator. However, it was very likely that such amazing technology didn't exist in Arcadia. Thus, Tristan could only resort to the alternative, an Ice element magician.

In the meantime, Tristan did a calculation in his head. Killing the elf now would give him about 200 Blood Essence, but keeping the guy probably could give him an average of 5 to 10 Blood Essence a day. So, it was certainly a profitable endeavor to keep the elf alive.

Then, Tristan's thoughts began to wander. What if he had 100 elves? Wouldn't it mean he could receive around 500 to 1000 Blood Essence daily?! This thought quickly made him regret killing those 50 elves yesterday.

Tristan grinned as he looked at the bound elf. Next, he decided to release the latter from his shackle. And on the way out of the dungeon, he ordered the guard to find a healer for the elf.

"Oh and also, give him lots and lots of nutritious food from now on please, thank you."

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Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,