I was walking beside Naj’Rak, escorting her to her home...it was quiet late but still the streets had people on them. Some stores were still open, doing business. The sky was filled with many shining stars while the moon star looked like a big pearl on a necklace filled with beautiful and shining gem stones...

But we walked in silence, I saw from the corners of my eyes Naj’Rak was fidgeting with her hands as if to say something but for some reason she didn’t say. It was time to clear something’s to me and to her. I feel like; after taking advantage of her now I was distancing myself from her. Though I have slept with quite a few women but I’m no way a dirty scum bag...

Me: “You know, when I was growing up, I used to sneak into the swamp all by myself...the thirst for exploring guiding my every step. Suddenly when I killed my first monster, it unlocked another hunger inside me...along with exploring the unexplored swamp I wanted to kill different kind of monsters which I could kill...

Then it turned into fighting some of them head on...reckless intensity, though coming out of it as victor, the hunger in me grew and grew some more. Then the attack happened and Elder died. I went on an adventure which turned into many other things including reclaiming of my clan, getting married, confessed to after sleeping with them which I still haven’t answered and finally mating with a beautiful women of whom I had no prior knowledge but she was beautiful in her own rights...

I have doubts in me....did I force myself upon her...did I took advantage of her sweet and caring nature; forcing her to control her natural reactions...forcing to stop her tears even though she was scared or even worried for my well being or worse forcing her to think that she was not needed anymore....”

I looked towards her; she was perplexed at my sudden confession of my feelings. She was about say something when I placed my left arm over her right arm. She at first looked down towards her hands then back to me...giving me the expression that she didn’t understand what was happening...

Me: “Stop forcing yourself...show your true emotions...stop thinking about others...this is and always will be your life. The only one to decide what would happen in it is you...you and only you. The night is and always would be dark but be a moon star to a person who is worthy of your shinning light...illuminate the path of only that person who would care for you, who would always think of your feelings. Who would do things for you even without you asking them to do. Do not forget, you are a proud Blood women and Blood women are strong both inside and out...

So I ask you, Naj’Rak, Council Woman in the Council of Blood Zumas, head of the Blacksmith Corp of the Bloods. What do you wish for?”

Naj’Rak (smiled, while tearing up but this time she lets it flow...not trying to control it): “What I want?? I want...I just want to illuminate the path of the person I chose...with my Blood Right given to me by the ancient rules of the Bloods I chose him as my husband but I know he has many other roles to fulfill, many more pressing matters to attend to...

I understand the situation we are in and I’m ready to do whatever he asks me to do...

My King, I consider you and only you to be my husband but I will not force myself upon you.

And before you ask why you...was it because you were our King...then My King, let me tell you...as our Queen said to me, it didn’t matter whether you are our King or not, a Blood women chooses her partner by measuring his level of Blood Lust...our heart is controlled by our innate affinity towards Blood Lust...

My King, that is why I have submitted myself to you...I am and will consider you and only you to be my husband...

This is my true feelings...My King”

Me (making my hold on her arm tighter): “Then do not hold back... take what is yours...because the person you chose is dumb as a rock...”

Naj’Rak (wiping her tears): “My King, please don’t insult my husband; he is doing the best he can in this precarious situation.

We didn’t know or still don’t about what it means being a Blood. But he has to leads us by first becoming a Blood, which means he has to walk a road that nobody know where it leads...is it the right one or the wrong one...nobody knows. But he himself has to walk on the road, leading us, acting like a big umbrella shielding us from every pothole.

If one thinks about all the things to be done, creating our economy from the scratch, arming our people, teaching them about their own racial trait, taking on the Council of Zoit, returning our lost self belief, they would run away but he stayed...he took that feeling...feeling of hopelessness of our people and gave us a leader whom we could follow...today we can walk the streets without worrying if there would be any monster attack or how can we keep us alive.

My King, do you see that child playing on the street or that couple managing their store or that lady selling sweets...at one time they had fear in their eyes and now look at them...brimming with fire...that very fire which we or our ancestor Bloods liked to call the flames of bravery and courage; was ignited in them...by you...My King...

Now, they are ready...ready to leave their shell of a life. Ready to break free and follow you to a better future, where we would carve out our own existence...declares to the whole Zoit continent...that we, the Blood Zumas would never back down from a fight and would never let anyone say that we are weak.”

Me: “It’s no wonder that you are a Councillor...”

Naj’Rak (smiling): “My King, we have reached my home...”

She opened the door to her house and turned towards me. I looked at her and I understood that she was inviting me inside.

Me: “Well Naj’Rak, I’m glad to know what you actually felt and thank you for being honest to me. Now I would like to say something to you. I know that Adi’Je likes you and she has no reservations about you.

I have seen Adi’Je giving you some potions to drink, I want to know for what purpose?”

Naj’Rak: “Ahh...the Queen said that those are for precautions if and when the King decides to mate with me...”

Me: “Do you know why you have to take precautions?”

Naj’Rak: “No My King...Does it have to do anything about producing strong Blood children?”

Such a simple girl...But I would like to see how she reacts while in battle...it would be interesting...

Me: “No...It has nothing to do with that.The truth is that I was cursed by a monster named Aniya when I was adventuring. The curse made me unable to mate with any woman and when I do mate with anyone, if I do not check myself or hold myself at the right time, the woman with whom I’m mating could die...

Now you would want to ask me, why didn’t any problem arise when we mated?

The answer is that potion that Adi’Je gave you to drink. It turns out, when Adi’Je was in the Aura Crystal, she taught the monster that curse which was known by the pure Blood woman.

But somehow Adi’Je does not get affected from it. I am not too sure how and she doesn’t even tell me how...”

She remains standing holding her door of the house, trying to process all the information.

Me: “The reason I’m telling you this because I am planning to take responsibility after I finish my quest which is passed down to me by Hui’Mi, I would take you as my wife and publicly announce it. But before that you should also know that I have two other women waiting for me and I plan to accept them too...

I thought you should know this before you make any further judgement about this matter...”

I turn around to go back...

Naj’Rak: “My King, would you not come in?”

Me: “No...Not now...some other time...good night, Miss Naj’Rak”

I started to move forward without looking back. She should know about all the matters in my life and think about it carefully.

When I reached home, Adi’Je had a surprise reaction...really...that mischievous woman; anyway I told her my decisions concerning Naj’Rak, Marion and Aby. After hearing Aby’s name she threw a fit...claimed that she would cut Aby’s head off...called her some names which was best kept secret but at least I was now sorted. Now the only thing I had to focus was on my training and on the quest.

For the next two days I learned non-stop from Adi’Je about everything she knew about Blood art of fighting. In those days I did not attend any other matters but kept on training. After two days I felt like I had grasped the basics of everything.

The next few days I immersed myself in deep training...in the morning I learned our martial art Thunderbolt Hands and after some light exercise I went on training to improve my swordsmanship. I secluded myself from everything, training in the swamp and cutting down monsters to see what areas I lacked while Adi’Je was ruling in my stead. After a long time I had time for myself so I did what I wanted to do...I ate my prey, like I used to. I had killed many new types of monsters which I didn’t know existed here...well the swamp is very big so I was not surprised.

One of the toughest monster that I faced was the one who had scales all over its body, which even stopped my swords, they made few scratches but no definite cuts, this thing had scales running all over his body up to its head. So a slash to its head didn’t have any effect, or attacking its leg. After a while of struggling I decided to fight it in hand to hand combat...well hand to paw (or whatever its flat feet were called) combat.

I sheath my swords and put them aside. I got ready in my stance. From what I saw, this thing crawled most of the time but when attacked it can stand on two legs reaching up to my height or few inches more than me...

It charged first, while baring its sharp teeth. I understood that it wanted to catch hold of me and with its mouth... bite me, maybe on my neck. I waited, not moving...trying to gather as much force on my hands and trying to make my feet lighter. The Thunderbolt Hands works on certain principles...one of them being, when charged make the feet light...basically it depends on speed while the power is focused on the hands.

It neared me, its hands closing in, maybe few inches away, at that moment; I swerved on its right and with my backhand dealt a blow on its neck. It staggered a bit and I felt as if I punched a wall but felt no pain...but it recovered quickly, turning and attacking me again.

I again readied myself and this timed swerved on its left and dealt a blow on its neck producing same result. It turned and attacked again but this time I decided to face it head on. It came near me and with closed fists I attacked the places where I think its nerve points should be...the force generated by my fist pushed the monster back to some few feet but did no damage...his scales were tough...

Our fight went on, neither of us getting the upper hand, I kicked, punched anywhere and everywhere with no effect while it tried to bite me and or scratch me but I could heal myself instantly...the battle was dragging on...at one moment I caught hold of it neck on the left side and punched it in its stomach repeatedly. While the monster finding no way, clamped its teeth on my shoulder, though the majority of the force was absorbed by my armour but some of its teeth did find its way digging deep on the parts which was not guarded... I was feeling a nagging pain...but I kept hitting it, alternating with hits on its neck.

But the result was the same, thought I think the monster was feeling pain but it did not to do any fatal damage that can kill it. I released it from my grip; put my right hand around its neck while it was still clamped on my shoulder. While keeping pressure on my right arm I thrust my knees upwards hitting its throat.

It released its grip and screamed, though its scream was not loud but I knew I had found its weak point. It tried to wiggle out of my hold but I quickly kneed on its throat again, this time I felt something getting crushed. Green liquid came out of its mouth, which I presumed to be its blood. I used my knee in the same place again, its body started to lose power, it had stopped screaming. I looked at its face and it was still alive but barely.

I released my grip around his neck but this time held its shoulders with both my arms and using it as a hold I used my right knee to thrust upwards with all the power I could muster and hit it on its throat. The moment I hit it, its green blood gushed out of its mouth and splashed on me. Its eyes closed and I saw my knee was deep inside its throat. It was finally dead.

I kept its body on top of a tree for safe keeping and continued to train on The Thunderbolt Hands striking on a tree. When night fell and the moon star started to shine I took down its body and tried to skin it. It was tough, but I ripped its skin starting from its throat. After skinning it, I concluded that it was its only weak point. I carved out many pieces of its meat along with its heart or something close to it. It was like a medium sized ball. I cooked it and ate it but I have to tell you...it did not taste good...it was awful...but its heart was crunchy...

After finishing my meal, I concluded that I did not absorb or gain any new abilities. I decided to hunt more of its kind until I get something out of it. So I started to practice my swordsmanship.

It was a continuous cycle for five days. I hope by now the Blacksmith Unit have started on its work to make weapons and I hope Adi’Je is not pulling any prank on anybody. Last few days, it had been raining continuously, indicating that the rainy season has arrived. Along with it, it has brought many new monsters out of their caves or holes...

They all possessed different kind of challenges, some ran away after striking wanting to catch me on its trap, while some jumped on me with its group hoping to dine on me. Some attacked me while taking help from the cover of night while some attacked me from the ground, suddenly pooping out of it, after striking then again ducking down and popping out somewhere else. They were the most nagging...one time while fighting one of them, another one attacked me and caught hold of my right leg. Before even I knew what was going on...it tore away my leg up to my knee. I fell on the ground, severe pain running through my body and losing a lot of blood. I thought that I was now an easy picking...huh...stupid. It popped its head close to mine, I grabbed it with my left and with my right I slashed at it...cutting it clean off. Then another one popped up on my right and I did the same while I used bone and cell regeneration to mend my leg.

I took its body and ate it. It was again awful...I have noticed that most of the monsters that came out in the rainy season had awful taste on them... I wonder why...

During this time I also learned of a drawback or limitation of the Blood trait. Over the few days I have killed many monsters and ate some of them, enough to gain new skills from them but I found out that I cannot learn more than 20 skills at a time. If I have to learn a new skill and I have a full skill list then I have to first select a skill and set in the Stasis mode or I can stop and not learn the new skill and can also forget a previous skill completely.

And I can’t forget some skills too, how much I try to do it. That damn curse would not go either in Stasis or let itself be forgotten completely and neither will the skill Mana Drain (Mating) or Blood Lust.

So, I checked my Skill List.

Me: “Show Skill List.”

SKILLS:-

1. ADVANCED EYE SIGHT.

2. BLOOD LUST (INTERMEDIATE).

3. CARTOGRAPHY (AMATEUR).

4. CRUDE WEAPONS SMITHING.

5. COOKING (BASIC).

6. DANGER PREMONITION (INTERMEDIATE).

7. INTERMEDIATE ABSORPTION.

8. INTERMEDIATE BODY ELONGATION.

9. INTERMEDIATE HIGH ALTITUDE JUMPING.

10. INTERMEDIATE BONE LIGHTNING.

11. INTERMEDIATE PREDATOR INSTINCT.

12. STEALTH MOVEMENT (BASIC).

13. TIME DELAY (BASIC).

14. LIFE FORCE DRAIN (BASIC).

15. CURSE OF ANIYA.

16. LIFE FORCE DRAIN (MATING).

17. CELL REGENERATION.

18. BONE REGENERATION.

19. BODY SCALING (BASIC).

I decided to leave an empty space in my Skills List as in the future if I learn something; I can quickly equip it and forgot every other garbage Skills. I kept nothing in Stasis Mode.

After managing my Skills List, I decided to look at my Status Screen.

Me: “Show Status.”

STATUS

NAMELE’ONGENDERMALERACEBLOOD ZUMARANKBLOOD LORDCLASSDOUBLE SWORDTITLEGUARDIAN KILLER,CLAN’S NEW HOPE, LORD OF ALL BLOODSALIGNMENTCOUNCIL OF ZOIT,COUNCIL OF ZUMA,TEAM HAVEL

Well the changes were expected but why the ‘Alignment’ didn’t change from ‘Council of Zuma’ to ‘Council of Blood Zuma’...strange...maybe it depends upon a continental registration; well technically the Council of Zoit does recognize only Zuma but they haven’t heard of Blood Zuma...so maybe there’s a connection. I’ll find it out later...eventually.

I thought of spending one more day and then leave for the city.

The next day, I followed the same routine of my training. After hand to hand combat practice, I went in search for new prey but I saw only old ones...they were easy to kill. Now...I let them live; why kill a small fry? After searching at least one hour I came by a small lake and decided to rest and while I’m at it, why not catch some fish and have a meal.

I went inside the lake...its banks was not too deep, I could actually stand there without any trouble. I saw a couple of green fishes swimming towards me. I easily impaled them with my sword and decided to return to cook it.

I felt pain originating from my left leg. I looked down to find what had happened and suddenly something threw me deep inside the lake while grabbing my leg. After few minutes of controlling my body I regained my senses and looked around while floating in the water. My eye sight and instinct failed...How?? The lake itself wasn’t too deep so I could see its bottom. There was nothing there except rocks. I decide to swim to the banks. I reached the banks and pulled myself out of the water and stood up. Suddenly I was pushed forward as if something struck me on the backside of my armour but the force made me move forward. I stopped and turned to look what had hit me. I saw two stingers had emerged from the ground of the banks of the lake. Then something else came out. It was big, mud, rocks and water fell off it and revealed its true form...

Well it was hideous... it had a black body, it had four legs on its lower body so I guess it generates poison from it...its torso had scales while it had stingers for arms and it had one eye...with a mouth full of teeth shaped in a spiral way. I guess I was bitten by it; luckily it didn’t use its poison on me before. And thinking about it, it spit poison towards me from its stingers...well...a good amount of it...I dodged both of them but as soon as I faced it again, I was forced to tumble a few feet back as its stinger struck on my armour with full force as if trying to impale me...

I stood up and this time I was ready for anything...it tried the same routine again and I decided to charge it; dodging the poison spits and saw its stingers were already on its way towards me. I swayed on my right and with my sword in my left hand slashed at its right stinger. Some part of the stinger was cut completely and flew some distance away producing a shrill cry from the monster...It was awful, I had to stop my movements and cover my ears, it gave me an instant headache and while I was covering my ears it struck me on the front side of the armour with its stinger. This time the force was greater the last few times. I flew quite a distance away and dropped on the ground.

It took me a while to get up, while it had stopped its cry...it was a relief. The monster was still standing there waving its one and a half stinger and what it looked like, it was sucking air from its mouth...I charged, this time as its mouth was busy so it did not spit any poison but attacked with its free stinger. This time I easily swerved on my left and with my right cut its stinger into two and before it could cry again I kept on moving towards it and jumped towards its mouth with my swords positioned for a downward slash.

But it stopped sucking the air and produced something I never imagined something like it could happen.

I heard a large *BOOOM* and something powerful...way powerful than anything hit me while I was in the air ready with my attack on his head. It had produced that powerful hit of compressed air, which to me it felt like getting hit by three large trees hitting at the exact same time; from its mouth. I flew while all the air was knocked out from my lungs, while desperately gasping for air, I dropped on the ground with a big *THUD* and lay still for a while.

I was still gasping for air when I felt the PAIN...SO MUCH PAIN...originating from my chest. I felt my ribs had been grinded into powder. Blood and lots of it came out from my mouth. I activated cell and bone regeneration. While it was activated, I decided to look at that damn thing...I rolled over and luckily saw my swords, which had fallen close to me and that monster was now again sucking air from its mouth. I thought to myself...If I can dodge that air attack, I had a good chance of killing it.

I waited for my regeneration to finish which took about 5 mins and in the mean time the monster had also finished sucking air and was ready to launch its attack on me. I made my plan, knowing it could do only one of that kind of attack. I charged at him, reading myself to dodge at the last moment possible from its air burst. It also positioned itself and launched its attack towards me....*BOOOM* came the sound and I got ready for.

I felt the air compress before me and I dodged to my left, thankfully my timing was good enough. It went past me whistling away. Now I was confident and resumed my charge. It was looking at me approaching it. When I had just few meters away from it, I used my Bone Lightening and jumped at him...*BOOOM*

Next thing I knew, I was flying away from the monster, while pain engulfed my whole body. I came crashing down on the ground hitting few branches of a tree in the process. I was facing the sky, while I coughed up blood and I knew that due to the fall I had broken my back. I used my generation skills again.

If you are thinking that it was easy for me to continue fighting because I had regeneration skills then you are mistaken, though my body heals again but every time something breaks or gets cut the level of pain remains same...so every time I had to use this skill, my whole body felt like a big ball of PAIN...

This time it shot two shots at me...it was more intelligent than I thought. I got up after mending my bones, flesh and while being down for repairing myself I thought of a plan. But I had to get close to it to be successful. I charged again and got ready for its air bursts.

One burst went to my right and another one went to my left. After dodging both of the shots I moved towards its right stinger which was I had cut earlier in the fight. I moved closer to the stinger while the monster tried to move its stinger away from me but it was slow. I cut a small portion of its remaining stinger with a downward slash...its bloods came gushing out and I drank some...pretty crude way to do it but I had to try a new skill, which I haven’t used recently or often. But this time, it produced another air burst which hit me and again I went flying.

I landed on the ground but, this time I had no major injuries...just some cuts and bruise. I had my regeneration skills on so when I got hit, the wounds didn’t have a great effect on me. I got up while facing the monster. I closed my eyes and tried to find a source of energy around my vicinity. After searching for a while, I found it and it was a big source...I concentrated on transferring all the energy from that source into me. It was a steady flow...not too great or not to small...just an average amount, maintaining a steady flow. After some time, I had completely drained that source and now I was feeling powerful...very powerful...It felt like I was made of energy... I opened my eyes to find the lifeless body of the monster that had given me a great fight. So, this is Life Force Drain skill...huh...very good. That thing must have been at the same level as me. I don’t think it was weaker than me, looking at how I struggled.

I was brimming with excess energy...the one little drawback to the skill. I pulled the monster out of the lake. Normally it would have been impossible for me to drag such a heavy body but as I have excess energy in me, I can covert some into temporary strength and use it. I have to burn this energy one way or the other. After dragging its body out, I decided to practice more and after I have burned all the excess energy I would eat some portion of this monster. With this plan on my mind, I opened my armour and put aside my swords. Though until now, the armour showed no signs no degrading but I do not want to take a chance.

I continued to practice the Thunderbolt Hands, practicing its every form, every movement. I sparred with an imaginary opponent to get my stances right. Then I moved onto train my swordsmanship. It amazed me that I did not get tired from training continuously for hours. It was dark when I finished draining all the energy from my body. I went towards my meal and decided to cut some portion of its chest along with its heart. After eating them, surprisingly it tasted good, at least better than the rest. So I consumed some more... before going to sleep.

When I woke up, I felt as good as new, partly or mostly due to the incredible sleep I got. It was great. But my surprise did not end there. I got a notification.

NEW SKILL LEARNED:-

AIR BLAST (BASIC).

Me: “Show Absorption.”

ABSORPTION (Intermediate)

Ability to learn opponent’s innate ability after consuming a certain portion of the opponent, preferably their heart. But can only memorize the basic skill, the owner has to find about it by himself.

So, this was the reason why eating of the heart worked. Now, about the new skill.

Me: “Show Air Blast.”

AIR BLAST (Basic)

The ability to throw a highly compressed ball of air through the mouth after sucking the air from the atmosphere.

LIMIT:- CAN ONLY SHOOT TWO ROUNDS AT A TIME AFTER SUCKING AIR FOR 1 min.

COOL DOWN PERIOD:- 30 mins.

WARNING:- IF THE NORMAL LIMIT OF BLASTS IS EXCEEDED, DAMAGE TO LUNGS IS IMMINENT.

Well...it is a good skill but I’ll just put it aside in the Stasis Mode.

Me: “Transfer skill Air Blast into Skill Stasis List.

Show Stasis List.”

SKILL STASIS LIST:-

1. AIR BLAST (BASIC).

Now it was time to return back to the city. I hope everything is alright.

After few hours of walking, I reached the city gates. A surprise awaited me there. I saw weapons and armours on the city guards. It made me happy that finally, we were beginning to arm ourselves. I was more excited to see Adi’Je’s face...how happy she must be at this moment. Though I saw only few guards dawning a full set but it was a start. I approached the Council Hall while people stopping and showing their respects towards me. When I reached the Hall, I saw Adi’Je standing there. She hadn’t realized my presence so I ran towards her to surprise her. But when I went closer, I saw she was standing with a group of people that were not Bloods. Did the Council of Zoit have already sent their representatives?? I went closer and finally Adi’Je saw me. But she just waved at me with no happiness but with an angry face. After coming little closer to her, I saw my team standing behind them, some of them waving and some (by which I meant Aby) with face full of anger...I understood Adi’Je’s anger now...

Adi’Je: “My Lord, your friends are here.”

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