Chapter 16:

Under the moonlit night, Murphy’s eyes widened. He stared intently at the newly added talent on his character card and the job change notification, and after being dazed for five seconds, a surge of excitement burst in his heart. Well, he was just complaining about his lack of talents, and in the blink of an eye, he was given a surprise! So this mimicry and learning formed through accumulating experience is the true essence of the experience system and template upgrades? “Job Change!” Murphy made his decision, and his character’s “Blood Vulture Apprentice” was changed to “Blood Vulture Swordsman”, after which a series of prompts popped up: 【Blood Vulture Swordsman job change successful! Job trait bonus: Blood Vulture Sword Arts proficiency limit increased from “Master” to “Grandmaster”, damage dealt increased when using Blood Vulture Sword Arts in combat. This damage bonus is related to Sword Arts proficiency. New Talent – Gale Storm: Each successful melee hit streak increases attack speed until physical limits, attack speed bonus disappears after hit streak is broken. New Talent – Lightning Reflexes: Every successful melee parry allows a counterattack, counterattack success rate increases with Sword Arts skill proficiency. New Talent – Midnight Swordsman: The ghostly footwork unique to vampire swordsmen enhances swordsmanship accuracy and evasion at night. Job information updated, current main job is Level 1 Blood Vulture Swordsman. When either main/sub job reaches Level 10 and character level reaches 10, can trigger Trial of Strength – Black Iron Body.】 Murphy read through these pop-up prompts. He didn’t immediately try out the changes to his sword skills, but instead realized another issue: If sword skills can be improved by reading technique manuals, then can the innate spirit talents that were rumored to be fixed at birth also be broken through in a similar way? Murphy narrowed his eyes, immediately putting away the Sword Arts manual, and took out the Spirit Technique manual written by Lady Femis. This was much thicker than the Sword Arts manual. Rather than being notes, it was more like Lady Femis’ study notes when first learning spirit abilities, more akin to a relatively basic spirit magic tome. He flipped open to the first page, and was immediately given a headache by the complex spirit models depicted that looked so intricate. This mysterious supernatural power did indeed seem different from sword skills, and reading this really did require patience and brains. But Murphy was no fool and understood the current situation, so he patiently continued reading. The first chapter detailed the most basic technique “Spirit Blast”. Murphy could use this too, but Lady Femis clearly had guidance from a renowned master. She described in detail the seven different release modes of Spirit Blast taught by her mentor, making Murphy break out in a cold sweat. When he used this skill, it was always in a crude manner, grabbing a ball of dark spirits and smashing it towards the enemy, with a posture like a gorilla’s dung throwing attack, lacking any technique whatsoever which made him look down on himself. Next to him practicing sword arts, Maxim had wanted to remind his master Murphy that it was time to return. But seeing Murphy seriously poring over the book tome, this loyal blood servant didn’t disturb his master, silently grabbing his swift sword to continue practicing. Although he himself was a superstitious half-breed born in the Transia region with the nickname “Monster”, even he knew that reading more books was never a bad thing. About half an hour later, Murphy closed the book, his head spinning and feeling drained of spirit energy. Rubbing his head, he examined the prompts that had appeared on his character card: 【Repeatedly reading the Spirit Technique manual’s first chapter by Femis Cecilia Lessenbra, Spirit Blast skill proficiency greatly increased, currently at “Proficient” level. Note! Because the writer of this book has “Mastered” the Spirit Blast technique, by reading this book and practicing, you can raise this skill’s proficiency limit to “Master”.】 【New skills mastered – Spirit Blast technique branches: Dark Ray, Protective Orb, Bind, Suffocate, Shockwave, Energy Burst, Raging Gale. Note! Branch skills are extensions of the main skill, their proficiency increases as the main skill’s proficiency increases.】 【Due to raising Spirit Technique to “Proficient”, sub-job “Empty” can change to “Spirit Apprentice”. Change job yes/no?】 “Now this is awesome!” This series of prompts made Murphy clench his fists. All of his previous complaints about poor talents vanished in an instant. To put it blankly, Murphy didn’t really dislike reincarnating, he was just afraid that having his talents limited would make all his efforts fruitless. But now the facts proved that in this other world, all his investment would be converted into visible results. The uncertainty about the future was dispelled once more. Heh, in a world where efforts directly lead to growth, why not just go all out? I’ll work my ass off! “Confirm!” Murphy took a deep breath, and just like before, when the sub-job change to “Dark – Spirit Apprentice” was complete, another long string of prompts popped up: In the distance under the night sky, pulsing blood-red lights were rapidly approaching like crimson meteors. As they drew near, Murphy saw that they were a pack of vampiric hunters soaring on blood-red wings. They materialized bat-like wings of crimson and descended like a flock of scavenging vultures, elegantly landing amid swirls of crimson cloaks. They bowed respectfully yet insincerely to Lady Femis, like a gathering of midnight aristocrats attending a party. Over thirty elite vampires had quickly assembled, but this was just the first wave of those converging here. It seemed Lady Femis was determined to handle a major operation. As for those fancy bat wings... Those were the symbol of the Blood Vulture Clan! Each of the seven major vampire clans had their own unique powers. Although other vampires also had exquisite decorative winglets, in the arrogant eyes of the Blood Vultures, those could at best be called gliding or pathetic flapping! Only the Blood Vultures’ wings were large and powerful enough to truly control the skies. “So cool.” Murphy felt a pang of envy. Although he was also an official Blood Vulture clan member, his strength was still too lacking to manifest blood wings, as Tris had explained to him. Manifesting blood wings required at least reaching the “Black Iron Body” level, which he had not yet attained. For now, he was just a fledgling adept, still a ways off from that realm. But he glanced at the unlocked “experience bar” on his character card and inwardly scoffed, with this ability, it was only a matter of time before he sprouted his own awesome wings. He climbed into the carriage intending to sleep a bit before dawn, but as soon as he sat down, he saw Miriam leaning against the back. “You really are a crafty one, deceiving that loyal fool Maxim to revolve around you, making him serve you as master and even willingly risk death for you.” Miriam said in a low voice: “Are all vampires as afraid of death as you, Murphy? This is quite different from what I’ve read in books.” “This is called wisdom.” Murphy glanced sidelong at the cunning woman and lightly said: “And you had best put on that midnight cloak I gave you. This isn’t a suggestion.” “Why?” Miriam huffed, saying: “I’m not your blood servant, I only cooperated with you out of a mutual hatred for Witch Hunters.” “I can tolerate your rudeness, Miriam, because I see your intelligence and cunning shining through.” Murphy said, pointing behind him at the whispering vampires lurking in the night. He blinked his red glowing eyes and told Miriam: “But my kinsmen may not share that perspective. Perhaps you don’t know, but the popular saying in Kadman City these days is that the blood of clever virgins tends to be more fragrant and worth collecting. Why don’t you guess how long you’d survive this night if they knew you weren’t my servant?” Murphy stroked his chin and said: “One hour? Three hours? Ah, I’ll be optimistic and bet five hours! Five hours from now, you’d just become a ‘midnight snack’ to relieve the vampires’ boredom. Some deviants looked down on for ‘dallying with livestock’ might even take an interest in your youthful charms. But that’d be good for you, it means you got a ‘new master’. How about this, I’ll bet you a gold coin! Hey Maxim, want to play?” Hearing his voice, the loyal servant turned with a grin, producing a blood-stained gold coin from his pocket and saying: “Of course I’m interested, master. I’ve seen this plenty of times, so I’ll bet this cunning rude wench won’t even last twenty minutes!” This exchange made Miriam’s face turn pale. She had thought to rebut that Murphy was just trying to scare her. But glancing past the carriage into the surrounding night, she could see pairs of pulsing crimson lights, the eyes of those vampires staring at her, filled with cruelty and desire. Although she had read the Shaldor Adventurer’s Guild’s ‘Vampire Secrets’ in the library, and knew her homeland’s various bizarre legends about the Midnight Aristocrat, only by truly facing these supernatural beings of the night could she sense the dread those authors must have experienced to pen such warnings. In truth, she also knew she was just making excuses to stay close to Murphy because she felt that pervasive malice in the darkness. She was well aware that in this situation, only Murphy could protect her. So under Murphy’s gaze, Miriam wordlessly accepted the midnight cloak from Maxim and tightly wrapped it around herself. This action made the malicious eyes watching her from the night vanish one by one. Though Murphy was a rookie, the Blood Vulture Clan adhered to rules! Until a blood servant’s elders passed away or abandoned them, other vampires could not casually lay a hand on them, or they would be severely punished. Murphy let out a satisfied laugh. He reached out and patted the trembling little head, whispering in a soft voice: “Now you’re safe, sleep. They won’t disturb you anymore.”