Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

•••

Lea's brows were furrowed as she watched Caius deliver punches to the Bullcroc only a second after it had stood back up and she had started to feel even the slightest bit of relief that things were returning to normal.

She observed Caius very closely, looking past the superimposed mana limbs on his arms and legs and trying to see signs of a Vampiric shift. From what she knew of Vampires, they could never go quite all out without showing off their true nature so, for a moment, Lea wondered if that was what she was observing.

She quickly realized that was not the case, of course, and allowed herself to observe the superimposed limbs instead, wondering what moment they made an appearance and what they meant.

She knew of people who could harness Beastly features, hell, her family on her father's side were akin to Beast Kin which granted them the ability to communicate soulfully with Magical Beasts so what she was observing was not entirely out of the ordinary.

But she had no reason to think Caius was a Beast kin or anything of the sort. Maybe it was a Vampiric thing—a possibility because there are so many features to the curse of Vampirism that might even vary from Vampire to Vampire—but she had worked through such a thought earlier and again shut that down. It didn't feel like vampirism had a direct effect on what she was watching.

Also, the more she observed, the more obvious it was to her that the strength Caius was currently harnessing was… artificial. I.e it wasn't his. It felt like he had borrowed something. A beast's aura and some of its strength.

*Craw!*

Lea got pulled out of her thoughts by Karen's bird call and she glanced at her shoulder where he raven flapped its wings with its black eyes on Caius.

"Really?"Lea asked the bird as though it had spoken to her. Which it had.

*Craw* *Craw*

Karen sounded out again and while it came out sounding quite the same as usual, there was an interesting tonal flare to it that one might liken to a human letting their voice drop in pitch and become more contemplative.

Whatever Karen had said to Lea with those two bird cries had been a result of studious observation. It was why she was here even though she was usually absent when Lea taught the class.

One of Karen's abilities was an incredible sight and a deductive mind that puts to shame any other Magical Beast in her Star-rating and even some beasts above it. She was here to notice what Lea could not and relay all that to the Study of Magical Beasts Professor to better prepare for the coming tests.

Lea stroked her beautiful jaw then.

"A Wyvern huh," she said in a low-toned voice with her eyes still on Caius as he continued to stare up at the Bullcroc with his fists.

There was actually so much Karen had said in just those two cries but what Lea picked from it all and focused on was the fact that Caius was currently harnessing Wyvern Aura. Enough of it that it would have pulled Karen's attention even if she had been simply flying above minding her own business and not on her owner's shoulder, tasked with studiously watching the students.

Karen had seen Caius chug a potion right before the Aura appeared. That detail confirmed a guess Lea already had about the strength being artificial and also provided even more context to confirm something Lea may have been able to arrive at on her own anyway which was that it was an Alchemical boost.

•••

It had been a minute or so now since Eloise began to sing and the Bullcroc was far from pacified. Even the uptick in its irritation didn't have anything to do with Eloise singing. It was really just about how Caius kept coming at it and punching it.

It had struck Caius a couple of times as well and the strikes hurt more and more as it stopped holding back and went at Caius as though it were facing a real threat. Or at least an equal.

That wasn't a good thing.

As Caius was learning through this experience, the Trait Acquisition was far from perfect. This would normally be fine and expected since Caius had known it was never going to be perfect because he couldn't extract the true potential within the Beast Blood at his current Magic Circle. However, learning one of the omitted parts in what he had managed to extract was the Wyvern's tough skin, it became less 'fine' and more problematic.

He got some of the Beast's strength but none of its defenses. Which meant he was basically enduring every strike from the Bullcroc with his normal True Vampire sturdy body. It was holding up well but it would not be too long before his chest completely caved in. His sternum had already cracked.

*BAM!*

Right after shrugging off Caius's punch, the Bullcroc delivered a particularly powerful strike to Caius's midsection, cracking his ribs as he was sent flying and landed only a few feet away from Eloise who was still singing dedicatedly.

"Ack!" Caius let out in pain as he grabbed his sides and could feel where his ribs had cracked. He couldn't hold back the buildup of blood in his mouth and had to double over and spit it out on the grassy floor.

The Bullcroc cocked its head to the side, looking confused that this human who had been capable of releasing Wyvern Aura was so physically weak. It seemed to wonder if now would be a good time to begin pulling its punches again but just then, Vines wrapped around its legs and kept winding up until they were around its throat and tightened by the second.

"Down on the ground with you, you… Fucker!" Kaya said with a strained look of effort as she tried to use her spell circles to control her conjured vines and pull the Bullcroc to the ground.

The Beast pulled against her vines and managed to resist the pull, ripping them up as well.

Kaya in turn infused more Mana into her spell circles causing them to glow an even brighter green as motes of nature magic appeared all around every single one of the many vines she had wrapped around the Bullcroc. The vines began to swell, boasting resilience at the very peak of the Third Circle.

Against an opponent at the Third Circle, this would have been very substantial. But her opponent was still at a Four-Star Beast and surpassed that peak. As such, it still ripped up the vines.

But Kaya refused to give up.

She slammed both her fists together causing the two Spell circles that had been stamped against her knuckles, and controlled the vines, to meld together into a larger one as the Arcane symbols transformed.

If one cared to pay attention and understood how to read Arcane symbols, they would have been able to tell that the symbols of the previous two spell circles simply spawned derivations. In other words, Kaya was not canceling the vine-conjuring spell she was still trying to use to constrict the Bullcroc but rather used them as foundations to build up to a different spell.

This was a technique of spell casting and creation actually. One they had technically learned during Study of Arcane Codex class which was meant to help make long-form spell casting easier.

Instead of spending time preparing a spell that required a long cast, break it down instead. Create a complete spell whose symbols can be used to eventually arrive at your larger spell cast. It leaves one less open in a combat situation and will never fail to impress.

Now, we say they 'technically learned' it in class because it's not something everyone can achieve. The Professor had cited it as more of an example of what could be achieved through a deep understanding of the Arcane Codex.