btw, if you have any better names for the High Vampire, then please, do tell.

Chapter 24: Novo; the Grand Plan

Natalia had become a vampire, but she had a bit of trouble settling in, since she was new to all this vampire stuff. She wasn’t keen on the idea of drinking blood, but she got used to it though, and had settled nicely into the life of a vampire. After a few months, we also married. She was the one that had spent the shortest time as a concubine, but since she was already a Pureblood Vampire, I thought that keeping her as a concubine was a waste. She also wasn’t getting any thinner. Her belly was growing, so at least we knew that the baby inside her was alive. What kind of state it would be in was a mystery though. Even though the child wasn’t mine, I would still raise it as my own. After all, technically my blood would flow through its veins, since when I turned Natalia, my blood was infused to her, which made us of the same bloodline. Bloodlines was a thing in vampires. The characteristics of a vampire would come from its bloodline, and those bloodlines were of course, all created by me, the progenitor. Someone ‘born’ from Eric would be a very stealthy, shadowy vampire, specialising in stealth, while someone ‘born’ from Kato, would be a magically inclined vampire.

But I had no idea what would happen to the child if a pregnant woman became a vampire. It was unlikely that it would remain human or demi-human, but becoming a half vampire was much more unlikely, since it shouldn’t be possible. But the vampire blood of the mother would likely change the child into a vampire as well, especially since it was recently conceived at the time of the embrace. So I was fairly sure that it would become a vampire, but whether or not it would a Pureblood or not, was truly unknown.

Anyways, Natalia and I had married, and a great feast was held in the castle and town, and thus Natalia became, Natalia Coldblood, my third wife.(Rag:Amelia and Serana count as the first wives, Alicia counts as the second wife, so Natalia is third wife) At this time, her stomach was bulging slightly, since it had been 3 months, but you couldn’t notice it, except if you paid careful attention, which I might have. In fact I might have been carefully observing her, using my magic to carefully examine her, and making sure that she was eating well, or in this case, drinking. She did eat normal food as well in the beginning, to make sure that the baby wouldn’t die of hunger, but recently I had her stop. I had found that the baby had started getting nutrients from blood as well, which had indeed confirmed that it was no longer demi-human. All of us were happy from that, since it being a vampire was the best outcome, naturally. Of course the father didn’t know anything. In fact he didn’t know whether she was pregnant or not, since they hadn’t seen each other, since that night. Thus the time passed, and it had been one full year since our wedding, but this year had been filled with confusion. It had been fifteen months since Natalia got pregnant, yet the child still wasn’t born. In fact her belly hadn’t grown to full size yet. In the end we concluded that, since the child was a vampire, it would take longer to grow. We just didn’t know how long.

Even though there had been a bit of confusion, things had went well in the outside world. The kingdoms of Kalderon and Tabarut had officially announced that they were entering an alliance, which made a whole lot of people happy. Since these two countries were at peace, it meant that there would be no more wars. Those two kingdoms were the only ones interested in each other, since the other kingdoms didn’t care about such poor region, so the only wars that were fought here, were between them, and there were many of them. But since they had entered an unprecedented alliance, which had never been seen before, it meant that there would be no more wars. This meant that there would be far less casualties in the army. People were puzzled by the reason of this alliance though. The two kingdoms had been at war for millennia, yet now they suddenly enter an alliance. There were two popular theories. One was, that since there had been a new Royal Family crowned, and that the king of Tabarut had also ascended to the throne only a few years ago, they had put their differences behind them, and seen the bigger picture.

Naturally there were a few nobles that disagreed to this alliance, on both sides. But they were all paid a visit by one of our ‘representatives’ that would try and ‘persuade’ them. None of them were ever seen again. After that ordeal, another year passed. It had now been twenty seven months, yet the child was still not born, but it seemed like it was close now. Her belly had swollen quite a lot, and she looked like she was in the final stages of pregnancy. The biological father had naturally found that she was pregnant, since he had seen her a few times, around the castle, but he had no idea that it was his, after all, it had been over two years now. He thought that it was unrelated to him, and belonged to me. That was just as I wanted it as well, since I did think of it as my own.

In the next year, another major thing had happened in the outside world, which of course, happened because of my orders. The kingdoms of Tabarut and Kalderon combined. Well, even though I say they combined, they were still two kingdoms, but they were part of the same power. Think of it as one large kingdom, or empire, that had two states. These two states were each individually ruled by their own kings, but between the kingdoms, there was a council. The council was formed of all the kings, though there were only two right now, and a few other important people. To the public, the kings were the highest power in the counsel, but in reality, I was the highest power. This counsel was formed to better control the two kingdoms, and the heart of the counsel was placed right here, deep in the forests of Fenlai Prefecture, in Sanguine Regis. It was quite optimal, since both the Royal Palaces were connected here by my portals, so it was easy to hold meetings. Of course the public had no idea where the counsel was, or even who the members were. Even though it was revealed to the public that the two kings were the rulers, there were many that suspected that there was a higher power at play. After all, that these kingdoms all of a sudden combined into one big power was just too suspicious. And naturally, everyone knew of the Coldblood Clan. They had singlehandedly changed the Royal Family, and overthrown the kingdom, so many believed that the true rulers of these kingdoms were most likely the Coldblood Organization. But we didn’t mind this, since it wasn’t that important to keep us secret. As long as we stayed in the shadows, our fame would eventually fade away.

Eventually, after another few months, the time had finally come. A servant had rushed into my office to inform me that my wife was in labour. I was shocked and happy to hear it, and immediately had the servant take me to her. It had been a long time coming, so now that she was finally giving birth, I felt relieved. When I arrived in the room, my other wives were already there, as well as the best doctors we had.

“Isaac, you’re here! The time’s finally come, our child will be born. Even though it’s not biologically related to you, I hope you will treat it well.” Natalia said.

“Don’t worry Natalia, it may not have been born from my seed, but my blood still very much flows through its veins.” I said. Natalia smiled at me and nodded.

“That’s true, after all, when you made me what I am, we became related by blood.” She said. After that, there was just mindless chatter, until it was finally time for the child to come out. It took a few hours altogether, but with the help of the doctors, the child was safely born. It was a boy. My first child that wasn’t really my child, had been a boy. I was sure he would grow up into a good man! At least a good man in vampire standards. As for whether he was normal vampire or Pureblood, or something else entirely, you could say it was the third option. He was a vampire, but he was neither normal nor Pureblood, he was something in between. He seemed to be stronger than a normal vampire, yet weaker than a Pureblood. This was the state that a normal vampire would become when it lived for a very long time, or perhaps drank my blood. I hadn’t chosen a name for that kind of vampire yet, but for now, I would call it a High Vampire, but it was subject to change.

As the step-father of the child, I was allowed to hold it first after it was born. I had never held a newborn before, so this was a new experience.

“Hey there, little one. I am your father.” I said, while playing with him. The child didn’t cry, but laughed. It was also able to open it eyes and see right away, since it was much stronger than a human baby. After I had held it for a while, I gave him to his mother, who had to feed him. The child didn’t have any teeth yet, so he couldn’t exactly feed on his own, so instead, the mother would breastfeed him. Naturally, there wasn’t any milk going out of her breasts, but instead blood. Luckily, the child didn’t need much. A child that was born a vampire, didn’t have to drink as much at birth, as someone who was made a vampire. But Natalia still got a bit thirsty, so she was given the wrist of a slave to suck on.

Like that, time passed on happily in Sanguine Regis, while in the outside world, the two kingdoms were doing well. Many ‘loose ends’ had been dealt with, and now there wasn’t anyone against the alliance anymore. We were preparing for a building’s construction to finish. I opened a new academy in the town of Bloodmoon. This one didn’t have anything to do with the Crimson Order, but instead it was for a new corps I made. They were called Novo Corps. They were to be trained in Energy Manipulation Magic, and as I was the only ‘expert’ on the subject, I was the head teacher. Kato and the others, whom I had trained relentlessly for an entire year, were also teachers. The teachers were also given a copy on the other parts, and I would help them learn that as well, but for now, we only thought the part that was manipulation the natural energies, to condense them and keep them in one place. Later on, when my teachers were well versed in all the other parts, we would start teaching the other parts as well. If you could graduate from this academy, then you would be put in the Novo Corps.

The reason I had made this corps was a majestic one. Everyone that graduated into the Novo Corps, would become a vampire, and receive eternal life, and even better talent. After that they would polish their skills in peace, while the Novo Corps grew bigger and bigger, until there was a large number of mages in it. Eventually it would become a huge corps, full of A ranked mages, specialising in Energy Manipulation, one of the most powerful magics in the world. Of course, it would take a very long time for them to get to that stage, but that is where the vampires came in. After a certain time in the academy, when they had made enough progress, they would be made into vampires, making them learn even quicker, and since everyone in the Novo Corps was a vampire, that meant that they would all live for ever, meaning that there would be no decline in their number.

Naturally after a long enough time, there would a lot of them. Then, when the numbers were large enough, they would spread all over the kingdom of Kalderon and Tabarut, covering the entire region of low natural energy. Then they would make a colossal magic circle, with the goal of increasing the natural energies of this place. If successful, then the natural energy levels would sky rocket, even far above that of the neighbouring kingdoms, giving us a large edge over them.

With this, S rankers would become possible in our kingdoms, while it would still be impossible for the others. Then after a few centuries, when the strength of Kingdoms of Kalderon and Tabarut had grown enough, we would conquer all the other kingdoms in this continent, forming an empire. Of course, the other kingdoms would probably find out that the natural energies increased here, and wage war against us, but by that time, the strength of the Coldblood Clan should have grown by a lot. We should be able to hold them off for a few centuries. I would also look into a way to conceal the growth of natural energy. If that was possible, then the other kingdoms might not find out about it, and even if some did find out, my clan should have infiltrated all the other kingdoms by then, so assassinating a few people would be easy.

So there were two possibilities for this war. Either it would be a very long one, lasting for a few centuries, or it would be a raging hurricane, but only last for a short while.

Thus ten years passed by. By this time, people were finally graduating into the Novo Corps. There were still very few members, but there would be a steady income of members. Kato was also getting closer to mastering the basics of Energy Manipulation. In another ten to twenty years, he would have mastered it. The reason it took so much longer for him, even though his magical talent is almost on par with me, is because he didn’t have as much time as I did, when I learned it. Back then, I spent almost every hour of every day learning it, while Kato still had to teach, but he still used all his free time. The Crimson Order had also grown. It didn’t have that many A rankers, the only new ones were the ones sent by Tabarut, but the Crimson Guard had grown in size.

Natalia’s little boy had grown to be a ten year old child. His name was Alexander, named after my late sister. I was slightly worried that he’d end up as Little Isaac and stop growing soon, but since he was born a vampire, he would most likely age until he became a young man. The kid was a very cheery and happy one, yet he had no qualms against killing and drinking from people, but he preferred to drink from kids his own age, so we had gotten a few kids up here. They weren’t actually slaves, but friends that he had made down in the town. He used to go down there a lot, even to the point of sneaking out. It wasn’t that he didn’t like it in the castle, he was just adventurous. Down in the town he had made a few friends, of both genders. Eventually he had asked me if they could come to the castle. He said that he would rather have someone his age, and someone he knows, to drink from. In the end I gave in, and paid a visit to the families of their friends. I told them that the little boy that their kids played with was my son, which they were extremely shocked and surprised over, even scared, but I told them to relax. I offered them jobs in the castle, so that the kids could live with my son, and give him blood. They had known that the child was a vampire before, since a few normal vampires had already had children, and they knew that the children had given him blood before, so they weren’t against it, and gladly accepted the offer to live in the castle.

As I so often was, I was sitting in my office, a book in hand. This book was the Book of Energy Manipulation. Someone knocked on the door. “Come in I said.” The door opened, and in came a boy. The boy looked like he was ten or eleven years old, but the truth was so different. “Good evening Little Isaac.” I said, as I gestured for him to sit. Little Isaac sat opposite me.

“Uncle, will you please stop calling me little Isaac?” He said with his immature voice, sounding no different from a child.

“It sounds weird to just call you Isaac, after all my name is Isaac as well. Anyway, what do you need, nephew?” I asked him. He looked a bit nervous.

“As you know, even though I look like I do, I’m still fifty six years old. And in all this time, ever since I came here, I never left. I didn’t come with to the war, all those years ago, since I thought it would be a bit awkward, being a child in the battlefield and all. But now I want to leave, just for a while. I want to go wander around for a while.” He said.

“You want to leave? Where are you going to go?” I asked.

“I don’t know, just somewhere. I won’t leave the kingdom though, or at most, I will go to Tabarut. As long as I’m in the kingdoms, I will be easily able to get back home.” He said.

“Well, alright. You’re a grown man, and you’re also very strong. You’re at the late B rank, which is equivalent to a middle A ranker, and you’re also a High Warlock. You should be able to protect yourself. Just don’t get into too many dangerous situations, okay?” I said. I wouldn’t deny him, but I was slightly worried. Even though he was a grown man, his mind was still quite childlike. He was highly intelligent like a grown man, but his childlike body didn’t allow him to completely grow up. He would often play with Alexander and his friends, but sometimes he was a very serious person. Basically, he could function as a full grown person, but he could also let his child side loose. You could say that he was a very mature child.

“Thank you uncle. I will go say goodbye to the others then I’ll leave immediately. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. It could be a few months, or even a few decades or centuries. Depends on how much fun I have. Goodbye!” He said, then ran out like a child. That’s what I meant by his childlike. He behaved very much like a child, which was quite cute, even though he was basically an old man, but not really. Even thinking of him as a grown up, was hard.

The next day, he left. I gave him Iluvatar to ride on, even though he was much faster than the Night Wolf, but the wolf could help keep annoying bandits away, and was also more comfortable to travel on. Thus he left on his own adventure.

A few days later, I was walking through the hallways of Novo Academy, on my way to teach a class. The class I was teaching was filled with the most talented individuals in the school. They were under a lot of pressure, since everyone expected them to ace their graduation, especially since it was the esteemed me that taught them. I opened the door to the classroom, and sat at my desk. Everyone was sitting on their seats quietly. I grabbed a sheet of paper from a drawer under the table, then stood back up, to take the attendance. Everyone was there.

People in this special class didn’t ever dare skip school except if they really were sick, since whenever someone was missing, I would suddenly disappear from the classroom quicker than the students eyes could perceive. Moments later I would appear in the room of the missing student, to see what reason he had for skipping. If he wasn’t sick, then I would drag him back to the classroom, and give him some sort of punishment. This had happened a few times before, but now no one ever skipped, except if they were sick, or somehow managed to oversleep.

“Alright class. You’re all close to be ready to graduate, so today we are going to make portals. I remember when I made my first set of portals, linking the Sanguine Regis and the Royal Palace. It took about a year to do, but you will only be making small scale portals that only travel a few meters, so it won’t take very long. A few hours at most. This is what you will be doing for the rest of the year, until the exams. Now, let’s go out into the courtyards.” I said.

“Yes Lord Teacher!” They all replied. Whenever they spoke to me, they would call me Lord Teacher for some reason. I don’t even know why, since I never made them call me that, but it was probably because I was the lord of this place. Thus, the class went outside. The students all knew how to make the circles, and how to gather mana and natural energy, so I told them to begin, and that I would be back in an hour. If they had any trouble they could ask me then. After that I went to another class. There were several special classes, like the other one. They were divided by years. The special class people were all at around the same level of talent, and would become vampires pretty soon. The previous class were all vampires, and this one as well. That other class was year three, while this one was year two. Only the special class would be able to graduate this quickly, and had only been formed four years ago. Normal classes used a lot more time. They were ten years, so far. After all, we were only in the tenth year of the academy so far. But most people managed to graduate after ten years, while special classes used up to three years. Most special class students were turned on their first year, which further improved their learning, so they were around the same level as when I taught the teachers.

I estimated that in another ten years, we might have over a thousand members in the Nova Corps. In another hundred years, it should be a lot bigger, and by that time, most of the teachers should have mastered the basic level of Magical Energy Manipulation. Then we would divide the Nova Academy into several courses. You would be able to learn portal magic and battle magic, and several others, like making barriers and enchanting. Magical Energy Manipulation was the best enchanting magic in the world, and one of the best battle magics and defence magics, or so the book said. Even though there were courses, everyone had to be able to manipulate mana and natural energy, since that was what this magic was based on, and was requirement for all the other divisions of magic in it. So everyone would still be able to help in my grand scheme of increasing the natural energy levels of Kalderon and Tabarut.

Of course, even though I spent a lot of time teaching, I wasn’t neglecting my own training. I wasn’t doing any physical training, since it wasn’t necessary, but I was getting closer to the next level in Energy Manipulation Magic. I reckoned that I would need another ten to twenty years though, but I could feel I was getting very close to becoming a Middle Arcanist, and apparently, Kato was getting close too. The other Purebloods were very close to the peak A rank level as well.

1st person, Little Isaac.

I was riding on Iluvatar. This wasn’t my first time riding him, but I was still exceedingly excited. That’s because I was about to leave! Leave the castle, leave the town, leave the forest! I had never gone this far away from before. A few moments ago, I had surpassed the furthest I ever went, and now I’m finally allowed to go wherever I want. Which is weird, considering that I’m fifty six years old, but I have to body of a child, so you can’t see it. Sitting on Iluvatar, I’m slowly waltzing out of the forest. Well, I say slowly, but Iluvatar is running at the speed of sound, but it’s just that I can run much faster than that. As a vampire, my speed is one of my best qualities. While I was sitting on Iluvatar, I decided to take nap, since we were going at such a relaxing speed, so I covered myself with a blanket, and went to sleep.

When I woke up, we were out of the forest. I wonder how long I slept for. Anyways, now I decided that I should go to a city, but there was only one problem. I had no idea where any cities were. But then I remembered! Uncle used to live in a city somewhere, and he still had Iluvatar and Bane back then, so I crawled to the head of the big doggy.

“Hey Ilu, do you remember where any cities are?” I asked him. The bid doggy let his tongue fall out, as he nodded in fervour.

“Good! Then take me there already!” I said enthusiastically. The Night Wolf started running again. On our way, we arrived at some village. I told Ilu to stop, since I wanted to check the place out. The villagers were all horrified, when a huge Night Wolf appeared in their village. Apparently Iluvatar was much bigger than normal Night Wolves. It had something to do with him being fed vampire blood, and being older than most Night Wolves. He was like an Elder Night Wolf, which apparently was a thing. Villagers were running around screaming, which wasn’t quite my intention. Who would have known that Ilu would scare people? I was never scared of him, but now that I think about it, I heard that Night Wolves are supposed to be very dangerous monsters or something. Maybe that’s why. Anyways, I stood up on the wolf and shouted,

“Hey, don’t worry, this is just my pet doggy, Ilu!” and jumped down. Some of the villagers stopped and looked at me in amazement when they heard me. Ilu also sat down obediently behind me.

“Don’t worry, he doesn’t bite. Except if I tell him to.” I said. An old looking villager walked up to me. He looked to be in his late fifties or maybe early sixties, well around my age. I actually got a bit jealous when I saw him, since he had a grown body, while I was stuck as a little kid. Well, I didn’t want his body though, I would prefer a younger body.

“Young Lord, may you tell me who you are?” The old man said. They were all looking at me nervously. Who had ever seen a little boy riding on a Night Wolf? It was just a little bit suspicious.

“My name is Isaac, and I’m on an adventure!” I said, a big grin on my face. Quite a few villagers smiled, and some laughed. Apparently I looked and sounded just a bit too innocent.

“Is that so? Where do you hail young Lord?” The same old villager asked.

“I come from Sanguine Regis, but I was born in a small farm somewhere. My Uncle apparently disappeared once, and then when he came back he was super powerful and rich.” I said, an equally as big grin on my face. Uncle Isaac always was my biggest Idol, even now that I am so old!

“Sanguine Regis? I’ve never heard of that. Is it a village somewhere?” he asked.

“No, it’s my Uncle’s castle. It’s in a forest somewhere.” I said. The villagers seemed very impressed by my background. Born in a small farm, now live in a castle. And uncle that disappeared, then came back as a very powerful and rich man. Wasn’t this every villagers dream?

“A castle huh? I was once allowed in the Palace in Fenlai, but that was only for a moment. Anyways, you don’t seem to have any food on you. You must be hungry. Would you like to stay with my family for the night?” The village elder said. He didn’t dare to be even slightly disrespectful to him, since not only did he have a huge Night Wolf, which he could only assume was an Elder Night Wolf, but didn’t doubt that there was an elite squad of guardians guarding him somewhere. After all, who would allow a small child to go on an adventure all on his own. What the elder didn’t know was that this small child was exceedingly powerful, as well as a fifty six year old man.

“Sure, I wouldn’t mind a meal. I haven’t had villager food for years, so it would be nostalgic.” I said, then followed the elder to his house. Iluvatar had to wait outside, after all, he couldn’t even fit inside the house. Moments after I arrived inside the house, the elder’s wife started making dinner, while the elder rushed upstairs for some reason. Only moments later, he came back down, with some girl in tow. The girl bowed.

“Hello, my name is Katy.” She introduced herself politely. I smiled at her and introduced myself as well.

“Hi, I’m Isaac.” I said. The girl was cute, and she seemed to be around twelve years old. Maybe I would have a small drink from her. Of course, I wouldn’t kill her, since these people were so nice. I preferred to drink from people that looked physically similar to me, which would be between ten and fourteen year olds. I just didn’t feel attracted to grownups, and truth be told, I don’t feel like I’m a real adult. Sure my intelligence is the same as a grown vampire, and I can be serious, but my personality is still quite like a child. I think it’s some sort of after effect from being made into a vampire at such an early age, like it inhibits mental development in some way.

“Oh right, we haven’t introduced ourselves yet!” The elder said.

“My name is Coyle, and my wife is named Lucy.” Coyle said.

“Nice to meet you Coyle and Lucy, and thank you for your hospitality. Actually, the reason for my trip away from home, is because I would like to see the outside world. I barely even remember anything from my days in the farm, so I was wondering if you would mind if I stay here for a while, to experience village life.” I asked them, hopeful.

“I’ll even do any work you might need.” I added in. Coyle actually looked at me excitedly.

“Of course you can stay! But we don’t have any extra rooms, so would you mind staying in the same room as Katy? We’ll get a mattress in there.” He said. Katy was surprised that she had to share her room, but she didn’t seem to mind.

“That’s great! I don’t mind sharing a room, I used to do that all the time with my sister, and I still do from time to time, when she isn’t with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend is a cool guy though. He’s the personal disciple of my uncle, and even teaches at one of his academies. But since I plan to stay here for a while, I should tell you something about me. Just please promise me that no matter how scary, or how dangerous, or even stupid it sounds, you have to keep calm and believe me.” I said. They looked a bit nervous now, but they still agreed.

“Okay, thank you. And don’t worry, it isn’t dangerous. You see, I’m actually a vampire, a Pureblood Vampire.” I said.

“What, a vampire? Oh you kids…” Coyle said.

“No seriously, it’s true. That uncle of mine, he’s the progenitor of all vampires, and he became one almost sixty years ago. That’s why you still think that vampires are extinct. And if you still don’t believe me, then maybe you’ll believe me now.” I said, then showed them both my claws and suddenly disappeared. A moment later I came back into the house, a deer in my hands.

“Just now, I ran to the nearby forest, went a few kilometres in, then killed this tri-horned deer, which is an E ranked monster. My true strength is equal to a middle stage A ranker.” I said. The family now looked at me in horror, almost about to scream.

“No, please don’t worry! I won’t hurt anyone here, so please don’t worry. I’ll just drink some of Katy’s blood from time to time, and I won’t actually hurt her. The bite of a vampire feels very good, so she won’t mind after she tried it once.” I said, scared that they would shun me. They managed to calm down from my convincing, and maybe a tiny little bit help from hypnosis. I didn’t actually hypnotize them, just helped them calm down.

“Alright, we’ll trust you as long as you don’t hurt anyone, and you’re only allowed to drink from Katy, and only when she’s willing, okay?” Coyle said. I nodded enthusiastically.

“Yes, I promise. Oh and more thing. I’m actually a lot older than I look like, being fifty six year old, believe it or not. But please don’t think I’m a creepy pedophile or something, because mentally I’m still kind of a child. Uncle turned me into a vampire when I was six years old, and when I turned twelve, I stopped aging. My brain didn’t develop in the normal way either. I kept getting more intelligent, and more than capable of being serious and can have responsibilities, but I’m still a child, and I like to play and stuff. So just think of me like a more mature child. Oh, and never call me Little Isaac. I hate that nickname.” I said.

“You’re really that old? You’ve almost lived as long as me then.” He said. After our conversation, we ate dinner. They were still a bit wary around me, but I was sure that they would calm down sooner or later. After dinner, Katy showed me around the village, and we played with the other children. The village was quite big, so there were a lot of people here. Thus, my vacation in a village had begun!

End of chapter 24.