Blood and Qi: A Vampire Xianxia LitRPG

While waiting for the next injection and the mats to arrive, John focused on increasing his [External Energy Manipulation] [Skill], gearing up for the Purge, and studying for the academy entrance exam. He left his day job, though he wished he had time for it.

John had always assumed he would attend the Kahaka Academy. Usually, only Platinum or above Kahaka having proven themselves worthy were accepted into that academy.

Of the twelve planets the Peerless controlled, two were the Tech 0 worlds once controlled by Circle Joyat along with Gani, named Kliee and Oi.

The klieen females were that race’s warriors. The men were builders. Any normal slavers would’ve put the klieen males to work building, but the Peerless weren’t normal. Peerless physical labor was done by robots. The Klieens were having a hard time adjusting to Peerless ideology. They weren’t great Kahaka.

Oins were extremely lazy little gray monsters. They knew exactly what to say to please their Peerless masters all while putting zero effort into doing anything they said. They knew every single right a Kahaka had. They knew the Aikapu better than most Peerless and specialized in finding loopholes. Oins were terrible Kahaka.

Since the Peerless rose to Tech 1, they had conquered worlds containing four other races.

The ch’rans looked like giant man-spiders mixed with a good amount of nightmare and terror. They were once an empire spanning seven worlds. The Peerless controlled six of those worlds now, and all six had dwindling populations. The ch’rans didn’t give up or learn lessons easily, as they were constantly doing something to earn retribution. Regardless of the amount of respect John had for them, the ch’rans weren’t good Kahaka.

The xerupouwns looked like fruit. They only had one world. They were zeta-types and their minds worked differently enough from beta-types that John suspected they had no idea what was expected of them. There were a ton of them in Kotown. They were nice enough and supposedly very intelligent, but the vast difference in perspective and how their minds worked ensured they weren’t great Kahaka.

The aomians controlled five worlds. The Peerless conquered one of them, named Hyavod. John had heard their home world, Ma Aom, was a prize heavy in rare resources. Aomians looked like big humanoid caterpillars with dog fur and six eyestalks growing out of the front of their faces. Aomians were the best Kahaka in spirit, or at least went along with the Peerless agenda. Over a third of the current students of the Kahaka Academy were aomians.

Terrans were currently far too weak and too low of tier to be considered worthy candidates for the Kahaka Academy, but they served in other crucial ways. John had no idea if the terrans on Earth were considered good Kahaka. All the ones on Gani were, but they were all hand-picked. Half of him hoped the humans on Earth were behaving as the ch’rans.

There were three universities for the Ele, all mixed clan, but twenty academies for Li, and each academy had many times more students than the universities. There was only one academy for Kahaka, and it produced only reserve forces never given good missions or duties of great responsibility.

Attending a Li academy would give John much better training and integrate him into Peerless society in a far more significant way.

The new academic year wouldn’t begin for about six months. In that time, John had to study, take and pass the academic and physical portions of the entrance exam, get accepted into an academy, and then continue to study so he’d do well as a student.

Neither John nor Avatar were worried at all about the physical portion of the exam. Both were extremely worried about the academic portion. Though they were bred as fighters, Li were very intelligent, and that intelligence set a very high bar for the entrance exam.

Only one of the topics John had to study was somewhat interesting. He enjoyed cultivation-related knowledge. But most of the topics were so advanced he had never heard of them. He didn’t even know most of the words used to describe the topic.

John completely lacked the very basic fundamentals necessary to build up to the different maths he needed to study. There were scientific topics so alien and esoteric, the need to study them filled him with a fear similar to that which he felt upon first meeting the Butcher-type of g’athu.

But John was determined to learn. He needed to be far more powerful and far more integrated into Peerless society if he was to topple their empire.

If getting my chance to strike a killing blow requires me to study and learn, I will study and learn better than anyone has ever done either in all of history, vowed John. I have never valued learning and knowledge as much as I should’ve, at least outside of the martial realm. I was born for war and had no desire to learn of anything I didn’t find interesting. And I find little outside of martial endeavors interesting. No more. That changes now.

It took more effort than John expected to get [External Energy Manipulation] to roll over from 6 to 7, Neophyte to Novice Mastery, while training with Avatar. When it did, he checked his strange new tab to see if that was enough to complete the requirements for the pentagram symbol.

[External Energy Manipulation] was still grayed out, but he noticed the outer ouroboros, the snake eating its own tail, was filled in with his peak-concept, ‘vampiric.’ He just needed to get one [Skill] up higher and figure out what went into the inner ouroboros for his strange [Synergy].

After advancing to 15 with [External Energy Manipulation], John went over the harmony cap. He hated wasting some, but he saw it as necessary. He could no longer train the [Skill] in his Mind’s Eye either, and Avatar wouldn’t let him train it in the real world without a room dedicated to the purpose.

Without asking permission, John commandeered a long-abandoned barracks of the klieen. Most of the humans in the district were the ones brought for their intelligence. Since they had very little to do, it was easy to get them to assist in fortifying a room. They were able to repurpose the klieen environmental modulator to fill the room with a specific mix of chemicals that would make any accidental explosion less likely to injure himself, others, or cause property damage.

Why Avatar was so fearful of property damage never made any sense to John. And why he had to waste some of his wealth building such a room really bothered him. He needed all his wealth to outfit himself for the hunt.

“Hey, I saw a movie where a meteor was so hot it set Earth’s atmosphere on fire and killed all life,” John told Avatar. “If I made a big enough mistake mixing the essence of my dantian with the external energy I’m manipulating, could I destroy all life on Gani? Is that possible?”

Avatar laughed and said, “Do you know the temperature needed to cause a sustained chain reaction in Gani’s atmosphere capable of ending all life on this planet? Most omega-type Sublimes couldn’t do it regardless of concepts known, nor could they change the composition enough to make it more feasible. Higher tier Eternals could do it. Do you still remember the few exceptions allowing a user to kill without garnering negative karma?”

“Yes,” replied John. “Killing blasphemers. Those that destroy souls and the like.”

“And planet-killers. The NCS notifies all Eternals of them. They hunt down planet-killers and soul-destroyers. Killing them nets a good amount of positive karma. But don’t worry, you’re not nearly powerful enough to destroy a planet, no matter what foolishness you attempt. The most damage you could do is kill yourself, others nearby of low enough tier, and cause far, far too much property damage.”

Raising [External Energy Manipulation] wasn’t easy and went slowly. At Apprentice Mastery, level 16, John again checked the strange [Synergy] tab. It was still grayed out. The next Mastery level was Adept at 31, Journeyman Mastery, the level [Skills] normally became available for [Synergy]. He sadly accepted that getting it to 31 wasn’t possible before the Purge.

Getting a kit together for the hunt was much harder than expected. In all of Kulolo, only 13 crafters made storage devices, and every single one of them had to be sold to the Peerless Empire. All the best items and gear wear made specifically to be sold to the Peerless and couldn’t be bought by Kahaka.

John continuously asked for permission to go to Peerless shops or back to Kotown without ever receiving a response back. His current pass for Hub City allowed him to leave the Kahaka district early in the morning on the day of the Purge. He wasn’t certain if he’d have enough time to go shopping in that city, or if he’d be allowed to even if he did have time. He wasn’t even sure if Peerless had shops. He hadn’t seen any during his last trip there.

All that was available in the Kahaka district besides bad gear were NCU upgrade units, the best of which were E-grade. NCUs wouldn’t help at all in the NetherRealm.

There was some hope. The black robes with red trim John wore, the same ones he had stolen from Diamond Garioch long ago, were supposedly good robes, but were made for Diamonds and Salts. Since he believed he’d be able to attune that level of item after he ascended to Silver, the robes could fill his armor slot.

John had learned a lot of runes and runecrafting. Still, other than the ‘standard item soft-glyph’ and the resize rune, the glyphs on his robes were a mystery to him

John’s old boss, Gle Ah, couldn’t decipher the robe’s glyphs. He could tell one glyph combination contained a binding rune that would bind the item to whoever attuned it, just as John’s old bracers had been bound to him. That meant he wouldn’t be able to remove the robes without paying a stiff price to a Ritualist or buying an expensive item that performed the same function.

John went to see the only Kahaka in Kulolo able to decipher the glyphs, an old Diamond tier oin, and a bitter old hag.

The old hag tried charging John 50,000 clear crystals for the task, an amount he saw as highway robbery. She only had to look and tell him what the glyphs did, a minute or two worth of work. He had over half a million clear crystals worth of wealth, but it was the principle. He would not be robbed.

John thought of agreeing and then taking his crystals back by force, but he didn’t want to push his luck with the Peerless.

As far as John knew, there were only two females living in the Kahaka district, or three, if the sapient beast from Kliee counted. One was this old oin hag. The other was the Sage Amu, generally considered the leader of the Kahaka district. The Sage was an aomian scholar and some sort of nun sworn to celibacy. The cultural role she fulfilled for her people was as a high-level ruler. Since she was a Transcendent and a non-combatant, the other races had no issue with her representing them as de facto leader of all Kahaka.

It was common knowledge all the females in the district were to be treated with great respect and deference, even the sapient beast, so John knew stealing his crystals back from the hag wouldn’t go over well. He’d have to hunt the NetherRealm without decent armor. What decent gear he brought on the Purge, he’d have to make himself.

John was certain he could craft Exalted Mortal level weapons and trinkets. If he was going to spend all his wealth on crafting his own items, he wanted the best he could make. After working with Gle Ah on what materials were available and pricing, he had to accept he only had enough wealth to make a good sword and shield.

John had hoped he’d be able to squeeze out a ring and bracers too. He really wished he knew how to make one of those bracers that turned into a shield when infused with essence. That would save on a lot of material, and not needing to carry and equip a shield would be fantastic, but the glyphs needed for such items were beyond Gle Ah’s knowledge.

Both sword and shield would be made from a substance called koronium, a metal so sturdy it couldn’t be folded in the great machine the smithy had for the purpose. It could only be heated enough to pound into shape the old way, the way John knew well.

Koronium was horrible at channeling and holding essence and manifestations, increasing the essence cost of runes and glyphs placed on any item made of it. The metal was good for one thing - not breaking.

Even third tier Transcendents would have a very hard time breaking well-forged items made of koronium. John wanted items that would last as long as possible since all his wealth was being spent on them.

Every night after the smithy closed, John slowly beat the metal into shape until the shop opened. He poured his heart and soul into the task. He had already planned out the glyphs and incorporated their placement into the design.

When the items were finished, John carefully placed each rune of each glyph himself. He was very proud of his work.

The sword had a very similar design as his last one, Gird, but was larger and longer. And heavy, but not too heavy for him, and perfect for flinging blade energy. The blade looked like a giant single-edged long-knife. The rain-guard was nearly as wide as the cross-guard, it had no ricasso, the central ridge was thick, the fuller was much thicker, and the fuller extended to just short of the point. It could be used to thrust, slash, and the fuller ran far enough along the flat top of the blade, and was thick enough, he could use it for blunt energy.

The runes placed on it, other than the soft glyph and sharpness and durability runes, were the most advanced damaging runes John knew of that could travel a very long distance. The range of his spells were too limited. He wanted a damaging manifestation that could travel very far and still do good damage. The answer was a type of channeled maser releasing a focused and steady beam of a type of energy called charric. It presented as a dark blue and cut through all the practice targets in seconds.

John called the sword Gird. He liked the name of his last sword and couldn’t think of anything better, though it made little sense considering the sword’s glyphs. He thought Gird sounded cool, so he stuck with it.

Even though John didn’t care for round shields and thought basically any other shield type gave better protection, throwing his old shield, Defiance, at his enemies, had helped him on many occasions. He kept to the same basic design as Defiance, but made it a good deal larger in circumference, and much better balanced for throwing.

The runes for the shield were focused on protection and durability. It glowed a light purple when imbued with essence. It was a solid slab of curved metal with no boss, though the shield was thicker in the middle and sharper around the rim than a shield should be and had four buckles for the enarmes.

John called the new shield Defiance for the same reason he named his sword Gird.

John also tested his new [Title] and converted about 5% of the essence in his full dantian into shen. Avatar told him to hold off on creating more. It had a negative impact on his soul-healing passives, but it looked like that would recover in a couple weeks. They decided he’d create shen on a specific schedule and gradually convert a little more essence to shen and test how things went.

Even though the NCS would be disabled in the NetherRealm, it still tracked and collected data. Avatar was certain she’d be able to sort out the data she got when John returned from the NetherRealm, including how his testing went.

Soon after finishing the sword and shield, the mats and elixir were delivered. A few days later, John had his next genetic injection of whatever the Peerless were forcing on terrans. Unlike every other shot he took, this shot made him feel a little sick for a few days.

Once recovered, John’s race was D-grade. As a side effect, he had grown a few inches, which he loved. He was now as tall as Marbrouk, and just a few inches short of Hux’s height.

John asked Avatar, “How tall is Shaquille O'Neal?”

“Seven foot one. Why?”

“I want to be taller than he is. How tall am I now?”

“A smidge under six foot two,” replied Avatar.

John frowned. He had a long way to go. “How tall was I when…when the Tree of Life returned to Earth?”

“About five foot nine and three quarter inches.”

John frowned further. “So, I’ve only grown a little over two inches. It feels like more. How much height does completing the [SupraType] [Perk] chain give? In general.”

Avatar tsked. “My dear silly boy, there’s 12 inches to a foot, so you’ve grown over four inches. If you can’t remember these basics, how’ll you ever move on to more advanced math? Think about switching to universal standard measurements please. And finishing the [SupraType] chain usually results in a 10% growth in height, give or take a couple percentage points.”

John struggled with figuring out how much height 10% growth would give him. “7.4 inches. I’ll be six foot and nine inches or so. I need to gain four more inches of height from something else if I am to beat Shaq.”

Avatar smiled. “Correct! Who’s a smart boy!”

“Please stop calling me boy.”

When John’s race increased to D-grade, all his efficiencies increased by 10%, and his soft caps increased too. With that out of the way, it was time for [Stalwart Vessel].

Other than for his body [Perk], John had never seen a ritual so complex requiring so many material inputs and steps. The ambrosial elixir was modified in a certain way Avatar claimed would cause the [Perk] to raise soft caps more at the expense of the [Stat] efficiencies it usually provided.

John loved it when he could immediately feel the changes a [Perk] made to his body. He could definitely feel this new one.

The [Stalwart Vessel] [Perk] usually increased all efficiencies, but John only received increases to [Physical] and [Elemental Fortification] of 4% and 5% respectively. Avatar said the [Perk] changed his body in many ways. He was less reliant on oxygen, immune to many forms of pressure or drastic changes in pressure outright fatal to most cultivators in the Mortal Tree, as well as a few other benefits.

Since the [Perk] used up so much harmony, John was now able to train the rest of his spells impacted by his new-peak concept. He needed to gain as much harmony as possible in preparation for the next [SupraType] [Perk] he’d get after ascending.

If John did everything right, he’d enter the Nether with almost no harmony. He’d be spending months there fighting and increasing [Skills], and he hoped to not go over his harmony cap.

Having prepared all he could, it was time for John to ascend to Silver.