Chapter 441: The Call of Night

[Vampiric Reflexes I (Ancient)]: A vampire’s natural reflexes, combined with its heightened perception, create a full 360-degree sphere of awareness, making it extremely difficult to catch off guard.

[Vampiric Aura I (Ancient)]: In moments of pursuit, the vampire releases a predatory aura capable of intimidating weaker foes or anyone with low mental resistance.

[Weak Vampiric Charm I (Ancient)]: The vampire possesses an innate beauty, an elegant and hypnotic charisma that can evolve into a devastating power of seduction and mental influence if the vampire chooses to pursue that path.

“Charm?” Luke muttered, thrown off by the idea. He glanced at Charlie.

She really was beautiful now… to the point he doubted she even needed a charm skill.

“This one isn’t something I activate, Master Luke,” Charlie said, flustered. “I think… it just made me prettier.”

Her hair did look softer, smoother, like silk. But Luke didn’t linger on the details; she was still completely naked, after all.

[Vampiric Leap I (Ancient)]: By consuming 5 Blood Energy, the vampire can leap great distances.

[Vampiric Softfall I (Ancient)]: By consuming 5 Blood Energy, the vampire drastically slows falling speed, cushioning impacts from significant heights.

It was these two skills that finally made something click.

Blood Energy?

He scrolled back through the notifications until he found two entries that explained everything.

[Blood Core: 0/100]

[Warning: The Blood Core requires Blood Energy. Feed on blood to halt the effects of Vampiric Hunger.]

So these activation skills didn’t run on mana. They burned Blood Energy instead, stored in her Blood Core.

The next skill appeared:

[Vampiric Strength I (Ancient)]: By consuming 10 Blood Energy, the vampire temporarily boosts physical strength. Veins surface beneath the skin and blood pumps faster, reinforcing the muscles for feats beyond normal limits, scaling with the vampire’s attributes.

A buff?

If it worked the way he suspected, it was like his other temporary enhancement skills, except far more intense, powered not by mana, but by blood. And the cost wasn’t cheap. Ten Blood Energy was ten percent of her entire Blood Core. This wasn’t a mild boost. It had to be something brutal. Something monstrous.

But the next notification was even more shocking.

[Vampiric Regeneration I (Ancient)]: By consuming 50 Blood Energy, the vampire activates a blood-fueled regeneration. This skill can restore damaged organs, close critical wounds, and, in extreme cases, reattach severed limbs, including the head, so long as they are recovered in time.

Luke stared at the description, stunned.

It was absurdly powerful. Sure, Charlie as a skeleton could do some degree of reconstruction, but this… this was beyond that. She had a real body now, a living one. If Luke’s own head was cut off, he’d die instantly; he’d killed enough people to know that. But a vampire? A vampire could pick its head off the ground and put it back on.

Killing one suddenly sounded like a nightmare.

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And now only one skill remained, the one he sensed Charlie was most afraid to learn about.