In one smooth motion, Miles’s right hand hurled forwards, the left reaching back into his pocket at the same time.

Whoosh!

Launched with a grand total of 20 Strength points, the dozen or so metallic balls flew out, soaring through the air towards their inevitable target...

The monstrous rat covered in concrete dust, appeared to be slightly winded and with shaky footing. This was obviously due to the collision with the reinforced wall, but otherwise, it was absolutely fine.

The creature appeared to possess high resilience and a formidable defence, far more than what Miles was capable of handling at his current level.

Unfortunately for the rat, even the strongest defense would be helpless against this...

The left hand returned from the pockets, grasping onto a familiar gas mask which Miles quickly put on.

And the moment he did, the metallic balls struck.

They collided against the floor, the walls, but mostly the body of the overgrown rat.

Hiss!

A familiar yellow gas rushed out, but in a far larger quantity than ever before, instantly covering the entire living room in a massive yellow cloud, one that washed over Miles as well.

Thankfully, the gas mask served its purpose, leaving him completely unaffected.

As for the 2 meter tall vermin, at first it was simply confused.

Its beady eyes shifted around the yellow cloud with mild curiosity, its pink nose twitching as it sniffed the air, trying to comprehend what was happening.

It seemed to be wary, but wholly unaware of the danger of the gas.

At least, until the paralysis kicked in.

Squeak!

The shocked rat stumbled on its feet as the paralyzing agent struck its nervous system, instantly numbing its muscles and limbs.

Miles’s lips curved into a confident grin.

It was working!

But it didn’t take long for his grin to freeze, slowly beginning to lose the confidence that had fuelled it.

‘...What?’

The pale yellow gas whirled around the hulking figure of the rat, and yet, the creature was not affected. The gas passed over the rat harmlessly, bringing no further effects. Absolutely nothing more.

The monstrous creature didn’t fall or collapse, nor did it lose complete control of its body like the smaller rats had.

On the contrary, it continued to remain upright, refusing to fall, as its eyes shifted towards Miles in a glare of realization and unbridled rage.

‘H-How!? Old Zhan said enough of the gas could even take down giants! As long as the gas is inhaled, this rat thing should fall too! Did I not use enough? No way... that can’t be it. I considered the size and body mass of the rat, and used more than enough for two. Then… could it be…’

Miles’s eyes flashed bright red as Blood Vision was activated, and what he could see was replaced with a world of blood red.

Sharp crimson eyes observed the hulking physique of the rat creature that was highlighted within this red world. They revealed the diamond-like white crystal that glowed bright at the center of its chest, as blood filled veins spread outwards from it, pulsing and flowing with vitality.

It was more or less the same what Miles had seen when he had observed the rat monster before, but he could feel something was different.

The blood flow was… slightly faster. Almost as if it was disturbed, or hurried.

Miles focused his enhanced senses, allowing him to clearly hear the soft rhythmic beat of the creature’s heart as it expanded and compressed with the flow of blood.

The heartbeat of the rat monster had always felt quite unusual to his ears. Rather than the beat of one creature, it had sounded more like the beat of a few dozen. But even with that, Miles could now sense a change, something different.

A slight increase in the beat, slowly increasing even further with time.

The rat was obviously angry about his use of the paralysis gas, but this change wasn’t just due to mere rage.

Miles’s eyes widened in disbelief, ‘Holy Hells! It’s holding its breath!’

Zhan Shen’s paralysis gas was potent and effective, but it came with a fatal flaw. It had to be inhaled to work. Which meant that the only way the rat could avoid the effects of the gas, was by refusing to breathe anymore.

While the change in heartbeat and his Kindred senses obviously helped, what truly confirmed the truth of the situation was this specific logic.

But it led towards another question.

‘This creature actually has enough intelligence to figure out how to handle the paralysis gas?’

While worrying, Miles didn’t believe it was that intelligent. He knew from experience that the horde of rats were far beyond everyday dumb animals, but so far, this rat monster had showed none of that intelligence and adaptivity. It had just reacted to what happened.

So, Miles believed he could still come up with something…

SCREECH!

Disturbing his line of thought, the overgrown rat launched off its feet as it leaped towards him once more, fuelled by nothing but rage and anger.

‘Yeah... if it’s dumb enough to announce its attack while trying the same thing it did a minute ago, it can’t be considered intelligent. Holding its breath must have been an instinct or something.

Though it does make one wonder, if the horde of rats could act with that much intelligence, why can this creature, presumably an amalgamation of the entire horde, not?’

While strange and unusual, it ultimately made things easier for him.

Relieved, Miles readied himself to defend just like before, and agitated the blood points in preparation for the ironblood spikes.

But for some reason, he held back.

‘Eh?’

Curious, his blood red eyes scanned over the rushing creature, mentally comparing it to the previous instance he had faced this exact same situation.

This time, his eyes alone were sufficient to observe the situation. Unlike the time before, there was no need for his other senses, though he did use them all the same.

And the reason for this was...

‘The rat, it's slower?!’

And not by just a little, its motion appeared to be at least 5-6 times slower than before.

While this would barely give Miles a few more seconds, considering how fast the previous exchange had been, this was a lot of time.

‘Could this be due to the paralysis gas? Even with the rat holding its breath, it did inhale quite a bit at the beginning...’

Miles had almost given up on the paralysis gas, but he should not have forgotten that when old Zhan was involved in something, it was seldom unreliable.

Unless of course it had something to do with technology. In that case, it would probably end up being a disaster.

Either way, thanks to the old butler, he now had more time. Time to do a whole lot more.

Ironblood Spike (¼) x2!

Instantly, Miles activated the skill, agitating the blood points himself, once again with the intention of forming two blood spikes simultaneously, one from each hand.

He had succeeded before, without even attempting to, but this time he was actually conscious of the process.

Under his rough but unwavering will, the agitated blood was carefully diverged into two equal portions. Each equivalent to a single blood point.

One portion was held back, while the other was equally divided once more, each portion now equivalent to a half point.

With some degree of mental effort, Miles slowly but surely guided the half portions towards the two palms.

And the moment they reached the end of the blood veins, the energy flowed out into the air, crystallizing into jagged spikes of ruby red, floating before his palms.

Solid and sharp-edged, the quarter blood spikes were formed within a single half second.

The process hadn’t been ‘easy’, but it also wasn’t all that difficult either. It was almost as if Miles knew what to do, as if some phantom hand had guided him along the correct path…

Well, technically speaking, he had done this a few times before, thought not consciously, and it might have been that experience which had helped.

Whatever the case may be, he succeeded, and that was enough for now.

And the moment they formed, Miles released a spike, while the other remained with him. The crystal stake shot forwards, bursting through the air towards the rat’s head.

[-2 BP]

(Blood Bank: 84/100)

Ringing out with a Ding!, the notifications revealed that he had lost more blood points than he had actually used.

However, it wasn't like the unaccounted blood had vanished into thin air. It had simply been used for something else.

As if in answer, the spike that remained, expanded, while the crystal lengthened and sharpened, as a vague dark tinge started to form within.

Yes, he was going to give that a go. Ironblood Spike Enhancement.

But unlike the last time Miles had done this, his current opponent would not give him enough time to complete it.

Which meant, he was going to have to try something different.

Perhaps because he was confident in his ability to survive, perhaps because he had recently learned of his pseudo-immortality, perhaps because he considered the rat creature to lack the intelligence the horde had shown, perhaps because he had just made a major breakthrough in the skill without even attempting to, Miles felt confident enough to take a risk.

Whatever repercussions there may be, he was sure they wouldn't be much.

Boom!

At that same moment, the quarter blood spike struck true. But, as if it had hit an impenetrable wall, the spike harmlessly exploded into a cloud of shimmering blood shards.

Miles had targeted the face, hoping that it would make for a softer target, but the bloodspike was apparently still insufficient to break through the rat's defences.

However, it would be wrong to say that this was purposeless.

Not only did the spike slow the rat's motion even further while shifting its path of motion, the cloud of shards even acted to temporarily blind its vision.

In short, It created an opening, one that Miles intended to make full use of. He instantly stepped to the side, easily dodging the pouncing creature.

Had the monstrous rat been as fast as before, this would’ve been impossible. But as it was now, slowed by both the paralysis gas and the ironblood spike to the face, 21 agility points was more than enough to sidestep such a direct and obvious attack.

And now that he was no longer in direct danger, it was finally time to act.

An expectant and confident smirk growing on his face, Miles reached for the blood points, in other words, the blood pumping within his veins.

Just like he had done countless times before, just like he had observed the skill activate under the system's control, he agitated the blood in preparation for the skill.

However, this time around, there was a small difference. This time, he activated almost half of the remaining blood points within the blood bank.

Perhaps 'small', was a bit of an understatement. It was roughly 42 blood points after all. Four times the average newborn kindred could hold.

Instantly, his eyes flared with bright scarlet light, as the agitated blood began to boil with immense energy and power.

‘Holy…’

Miles wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, but he could almost see and feel his skin and flesh pulse and throb, affected by the bubbling of blood within his veins, by the thrumming energy of the blood points.

He could feel immense strength and vitality filling him to the brim, power raging with his bones, making him feel that nothing was impossible.

‘...Holy Hells! T-This can definitely kill the rat. No, utterly decimate it!’

It felt limitless, never ending, almost boundless. This was more than enough to make a bloodspike that could deal with the rat.

Forget the rat. This would be enough to take down an Epsilon, maybe even Xavier!

Unfortunately, it also made for a double edged sword, as Miles quickly realized the power was too much, far too much, way beyond what he could handle.

As if to emphasize the point, a streak of blood dripped out of his right nostril.

[Internal Bleeding Detected. 0.02 BP lost. (Negligible. Not Considered.)]

The sharp but metallic scent of blood overwhelmed his sense of smell. While this wasn't really much of a problem, as he couldn't smell much with the gas mask on anyways, that fact that he had received an internal injury was not.

A grim smile, ‘Well... crap. Could I have been a tad bit too reckless?’

Miles had been so focused on injuring the monstrous rat, so confident in his ability, that he had only considered how strong the blood spikes would have to be to penetrate its defences.

He had failed to consider the possible consequences of going beyond what the skill was supposed to do.

To be exact, Miles had been aware that there would be a risk, but he had believed he could handle it. Especially since he was ‘only’ using half of the blood bank.

That was apparently an overestimation of his abilities.

He had been overconfident. Unfortunately, it was now too late for regret.

His condition worsened, unable to handle the rampage of the blood energy, both nostrils started to bleed, while tears of blood began to drip out of his eyes.

[Internal Bleeding Detected. 0.3 BP lost. (Negligible. Not Considered.)]

This was honestly not too different from what had happened to Xavier, just worse.

Miles could almost feel his body threatening to explode, as the blood rushed and pillaged, uncontrolled and untamed, within him.

When he had initiated the blood points, Miles had expected the Ironblood Spike skill to activate automatically and direct all of the energy towards his hands like it had usually done.

But it did not.

He could only assume the blood energy capacity had likely gone over what the skill could or would handle.

Thus the agitated blood simply ran amok, like a horde of maddened orcs set on destroying anything and everything in sight.

Miles could have attempted to activate the skill as he did normally, and see if it would work on the additional blood points, but he didn’t. He was fairly sure that agitating more blood points would just make the situation even worse.

CRASH!

At that very instant, the blinded rat who had completely missed its target, painfully crashed into the reinforced concrete once more, this time the wall on the other side of the room.

Despite it having felt longer, barely a few seconds had passed.

Completely focused on his own predicament and finding a way out of it, Miles ignored this.

The situation was not ideal, far from it, but he could still think of a semblance of a solution.

‘If the skill won’t do it for me, then... I’m just going to have to do it myself!’

It had always been Miles’s intention, to one day perform the Ironblood Spike, of his own capability, without any support from the system.

Every Faehuman used their abilities of their own accord, dependent only on themselves, without reliance on a crutch like the system.

Miles was always for being smart over pointless hard work, but constantly relying on the system just didn’t sit right with him. Especially after having observed Xavier’s memory.

That experience had revealed to him the versatility and adaptability of true fae humans. Something that he, who relied on 'system skills', lacked.

This was the very reason he had started to agitate the blood points by himself when he used the skill, instead of allowing it to be done by the system as well. It was also why he had experimented and modified the Ironblood Spike skill when possible.

But, he had planned on progressing gradually, step by step. Definitely not like this...

“Ugh!”

Miles grunted, as the raging blood blazed up to a new level of intensity, making him feel as if he was on fire.

His originally pale skin was now tinged with a warm red, as if the rampaging blood had started to seep out through his pores. Or more likely, it was the heat of the burning blood itself, cooking him from the inside out.

With a determined huff that caused something resembling smoke to escape his nostrils, Miles forced himself to ignore the pain, and carried on.

So yes, he had planned on gradual, step by step progress. It would’ve been safer and more realistic, but unfortunately, he no longer had a choice.

Miles would have to take a leap of faith, jump into the river of chance, and find out for himself if he would swim or lose against the currents.

He should’ve felt nervous, terrified by the possibility of death or serious injury.

He should have been shivering in fear like he had been when the Vampire and Werewolf had attacked just the day before.

But he wasn't.

Miles couldn't help but think back to that fateful board assembly, the one that had ended with him being voted out of the Director Board.

Back then, he had let his nerves get the better of him, and paid the price. He had been a little child, inexperienced and gullible, but he had never forgiven himself for that mistake.

Nervousness had always been one of his many weaknesses, one he had to always make up for, but today, he felt none of that.

Really, why should he be?

He was Conditionally Undead, and the last time he checked, he had more than enough blood points.

It may have made him overconfident, perhaps even directly fueling the bad decision that had led to the current situation, but to Miles, it provided much needed relief.

The blood rushed and roared as a raging torrent, unstoppable and overwhelming.

The currents were powerful, and they might yet pull him in, but the fact that failure was not the end, set his mind at ease.

All he had to do was do his best, and he would succeed.

So, instead of the nervous frown that he should’ve had, his lips curved into a relaxed grin.

Miles’s eyes closed, and he dived right in.