Blood and Qi: A Vampire Xianxia LitRPG

After getting the sword and two unbind tokens, John had 2,743,296 points left. The items were given to him by a waiting robot after the ceremony ended and he was allowed to leave the side room.

It looked like a giant arming sword. It was double-edged and the cruciform hilt looked single handed, but the weapon was so large he could easily fit five of his hands on the hilt. He thought it looked wrong and silly.

That changed when he gripped it. It felt right in John’s hand. The balance seemed to shift and fit him. He further tested the balance and made a few swings and thrusts with it, becoming more and more impressed. It was a fine weapon. The metal was unknown, but he could tell it was even sturdier than Gird, and he had made Gird to be as sturdy as possible.

John started to poke his senses into the sword. Before he could do much else, an Oli guard ran up to him and yelled, “What in Akua’s name are you doing, Kahaka? Are you trying to get me gigged? Don’t play with that in here.”

“Sorry, Six-five. I’ll go outside and away from anything of value.”

The Oli nodded. John did as he said he would and hobbled outside. He felt into the sword. That, too, felt right. It felt like he had been there before. It felt similar to his ‘battle-mind.’ It felt familiar in a different way too.

The sword did have to be attuned. John wondered why no one else was able to. There was no trick to it. It attuned without any issue whatsoever, and he was only a Silver. And attuning the sword also felt right.

Even without testing the runes it had, John knew what they did. The sword had two functions. As long as he gripped it, it would slightly draw on his essence and enhance his blade energy attacks. The second glyph was similar to that of his old bracers. It would shield him as it built up and released a powerful attack. He didn’t know if he had the essence for that glyph. Not without testing.

Speaking of testing, John thought. There was a long, empty, and open field leading to the garden and stage the ceremony was held at earlier. Even though the ceremony hadn’t ended all that long ago, all the chairs were gone, and the field and garden were pristine. He assumed robots did that work.

John had to test his sword. He couldn’t wait. He got into a modified roof guard, a two-handed stance he found worked well to gather blade energy. He needed to use one crutch to hold himself up, so his stance was bad, and he only gripped the sword with one hand. He performed a short reverso fendente so it wouldn’t be too powerful.

It was too powerful. Even though he didn’t build up much blade energy, hardly utilized his [External Energy Manipulation] [Skill], was using a two-handed stance and strike with one hand while holding himself up on a crutch, and released shortly after a stunted strike, the energy still bowled forward, cutting a deep and long gouge out of the earth.

The same Oli portal guard ran up to him and yelled, “Great Akua, are you defective? Why would you do that? Come on, man. This is supposed to be quiet and easy duty. Why are you still here? Just go back to Kulolo.”

John said, “Sorry, Six-five. I just did a small test. I didn’t think much would happen. I’m not trying to cause you trouble. Sorry again.”

John extended his senses out and felt only the guard in front of him and the ones inside the portal center. “I have points to spend before I go back to Kulolo. They said I could spend them all before I left.”

Six-five asked, “Who’s they?”

The Alii intern told John that. Still, he said, “Uh, I believe one of the Nani Heiau. I didn’t get her name.”

“We don’t have names, Kahaka. We’re all Peerless, united. We are one. All three of each heiau are called Nani Kanini or the like. Hold on, let me contact CQ. If someone needs to contact a Nani Heiau, Akua knows it isn’t gonna be me.”

As the brute turned away and contacted the CQ, John entered his Mind’s Eye. Ah’krat’ra didn’t attune to a ring slot. It attuned to the glove slot, so he lost both ring slots. He needed to revise his list.

After his new list was finalized, John had enough points to get the cheapest bioware item – a sight enhancement that would merge with the eye. Avatar asked him to get a couple mats instead of it. He agreed. The bioware would be wasted points since it would give him infrared vision, and his ability to see souls already let him spot hidden foes.

And the [Perk] Avatar wanted John to get next with those mats was necessary. Very necessary. He exited his Mind’s Eye and waited for Six-five.

The Oli was told to take and relay John’s order to the Mele CQ. After this was settled, John continued waiting outside for his items to be brought to him. He wanted to send a request to the crone and meditate, but he kept marveling at his new sword. He knew Gird would stay in his bracer from now on.

The sheath John used for his weapon wasn’t like a normal sheath. It was two pieces of metal he could easily connect to anything he wore – armor, robes, or even a cloak. He spaced the pieces out on his back, one piece on the upper right shoulder and the other to the left of his spine around where his ribs ended. He just had to hold the sword over his back and feed a tiny amount of essence to the metal pieces to attract the sword, and the sword would stick to them until purposefully removed.

Most of the swords John used were too large to wear on his back all the time without causing him a hassle. If he had a storage device and wasn’t expecting combat, the weapon would go in there. Ah’krat’ra was almost too large to keep on his back at all.

John had to move the metal pieces of his sheath as far apart as he could. Even having the hilt sit so high up he could barely grab it, the sword’s blade would still drag on the ground. In order for it to not drag, he had to sit the sword dangerously canted. This meant he had a sharp sword sticking decently far out from his left side canted towards the ground, and that wasn’t acceptable, especially while using crutches.

John would have to wait until he stood at a greater height before he could wear Ah’krat’ra on his back in public spaces. It would be fine when not in public or when combat was imminent, but not elsewhere. That disappointed him, as he loved the sword and wanted others to see him carrying it about.

A robot arrived with the rest of the items John had purchased while he was still worrying over how he could get people to see his new sword without carrying it on his back. Only one item was missing. A mat he would receive at a later date. He put it all in his ring.

John had the contact information for the old crone and two other Nanis. He sent all three a few requests. After waiting some time and receiving no replies back, he hobbled on his crutches back into the building and took the portal to the Okina continent and Kulolo.

Once he was back in the Kahaka district, John hobbled towards his own barracks while reciting an old song in his head. When the song ended, he cut right, and began to recite an old poem. When the poem ended, he entered the building closest to him. Since it was a barracks, he went into the communal waste-room on the first floor. He knew it was an oin barracks due to the acrid stench of the waste-room. He equipped and installed his new items.

John’s new belt was marked as being half-off from 599,999 points down to 299,999 points. It was ranked for the Mortal Exalted tiers, Diamond and Salt, and was one of Avatar’s picks, but once he knew her reasoning, he had to get it. It was a unitive belt, a great item but not all that popular, especially in the Peerless Empire. It centered and aligned the three dantians more harmoniously within a cultivator, increasing the potency of essence, shen, and emptiness. It also increased dilation within a Mind’s Eye.

John was unique in that he had the essence to spare to create shen and emptiness. Other cultivators would only benefit from slightly increased potency of essence and dilation in a Mind’s Eye. He benefited from all the elements of the belt, and Avatar believed the increased dilation would also benefit his ‘battle-mind’ and [Multi-Enhancement]. In the long term, having more potent emptiness could benefit him in many ways.

For a back item, John picked a cloak named Adumbration. Like his old cloak, Adumbration scaled in effectiveness from his [Stealth] [Skill], but it also scaled in effectiveness from ‘shadow’ related concepts. He didn’t have a ‘shadow’ related concept – he had ‘shadow’ as a concept, and though it was an average aspect, his affinity for it was extremely high.

Adumbration cloaked its wearer in shadow, obscuring them not just from normal vision, but all senses. It could also stay partially activated in combat. With this cloak, John might’ve been able to sneak up on Hyavod. It cost 724,999 points, one of the most expensive items listed that ranked within the Mortal Exalted tiers.

John left his foot attunement empty for the peripherals the biosuit he’d get during academy would require. His other purchases were five T1C expansion slot NCUs. He only had four empty slots, but he’d focus on opening the next one as soon as possible. He would put the cooldown reduction NCU in that slot when it opened.

[NCU Cooldown Reduction – T1C]. Reduce all NCU related cooldowns by 10.4%.

That NCU cost 330,000 points. If John had a T4SSUR CD reduction NCU, it would reduce all CDs by 30%. He would also purchase the maximum CD reduction through the NCS, and that had a 20% [NCU Energy Cost] for a 25% CD reduction. Max CD reduction for NCUs in a Tech 4 NCS was 55%, but some other factors and [Stats] could bring total CD reduction down further. A soft cap applied at 60%, and the hard cap was 70% for his NCS.

The NCUs John applied were –

[Swiftness Efficiency – T1C]. Increase efficiency of the Swiftness Stat by 2.04%.

That NCU cost 320,000 points. If John had a T4SSUR of the same NCU, it would provide a 6% efficiency increase to Swiftness. Muzaran was certainly right about one thing he told John – in combat, if you weren’t faster than your opponents, that often meant you were dead. He could never have enough speed, good enough reflexes, and the ability to process information faster.

[Swiftness] also influenced casting speed. If John could increase [Swiftness] enough, he could possibly finish casting a spell before a much slower opponent could react to it and attempt an unbind.

[Auto-Shield – T1C]. On detection of incoming damaging manifestation above a certain threshold, an essence-shield will generate, preventing all or some damage. Reflect-shield NCU detected (Auto-Reflect T1C). Essence-shield generates under reflect-shield and applies after. To see scaling formula per tier and Minimum Power Stat focus here.

That NCU cost 350,000 points. John hoped the biosuit he got in academy also had an auto-shield. Talker told him he’d have options for how he wanted his personalized biosuit designed.

[Emergency Heal, Prefill – T1C]. Up to 5.4% of converted essence stored in dedicated nanites and applied to qualifying injury. To see scaling formula per tier and Minimum Power Stat focus here.

That NCU cost 350,000 points. 5.4% Didn’t seem like much, but for major injuries, every bit of immediate healing helped. John’s [Min. Power] [Stat] was very high for his tier, and the purchased and expansion slot NCUs worked together. If he could acquire a T4SSUR version of the same NCU, it would store up to 25% of his essence.

John could upgrade the [Emergency Heal] he purchased through the NCS to a higher version, and he planned on doing so. He only wished he thought to do so as soon as he got the Tech 4 NCS. Having essence in a dantian was no help to a corpse.

[Reactive – T1C]. Enhance reflex, reaction, and response time by 10.4%.

That NCU only cost 180,000 points. If John had the same NCU rated T4SSUR, it would be a 30% increase. He got this NCU for similar reasons as he did the [Swiftness] NCU. Being able to react quicker would always be beneficial. His greater ability to react sooner already showed its worth in spades within the Trainers, even when [Stats] were normalized.

After purchasing all those items, John had a little under 188,000 points left. He spent them all on mats. He had the harmony and only required a couple additional materials for the [Perk] he wanted to get next, [Elaborative Encoding], which improved his memory somehow. He needed a better memory if he was going to do well on the entrance exams and during academy.

John entered his Mind’s Eye. Before Avatar could speak, he said, “One more moment. I have a couple more things to do.”

John purchased the following NCUs through the NCS.

[Reactive], 12% passive, enhance reflex, reaction, and response time by 25%.

[Swiftness], 16% passive, increase efficiency of the Swiftness Stat by 5%.

[Cooldown Reduction] 20% passive, reduce all NCU related cooldowns by 25%.

John also upgraded [Emergency Heal]. At 2% passive cost it could convert 30% of the essence in his dantian to healing, at 3% it could convert 35%, at 4% it could convert 40%. He set it to the maximum, 4%.

[Emergency Heal], 4% passive, no more than 40% of current total essence in core applied to qualifying injury. To see scaling formula per tier and Minimum Power Stat focus here.

John’s [NCU Energy Cost] shot up from 79% to 130%. He didn’t know what his discount would be after his new [Achievements] were totaled, but the old one was -73.9, which would leave him at about an effective [NCU Energy Cost] penalty of 34% of all energy gathered. Over a third. A very high amount of energy to always lose out on.

But John gathered and converted energy much faster now since completing his [Synergy]. And in the Nether, he was often attacked before he could fill his dantian, and he was now much more proficient at draining his enemies of essence. It took some time, but he could do it at range and to a group and fill his dantian decently quickly. One on one would be a problem, as it would be slow, but he had many ways to kill without essence too.

And John’s plan was to get a little crazy with NCUs as he didn’t want the Mele to suspect his next and last purchase.

[Record 1], 3% passive, user can record and store up to 1.09 hours (USACS) of video.

That was the cheapest and lowest version of the NCU. [Record 10] cost 21% passive and stored over a day of video recordings. An hour should be plenty enough.

“Alright, now I’m ready, Avatar,” said John.

Avatar put on her serious face and said, “Good. I’ll start by saying you were rescanned, free of charge again. We actually had to scan you a few times. As I tried to tell you before, there’s great news, a lot of good news, and a very serious issue. No! Don’t reply yet. Just listen.

“We know you completed the [Synergy]. We can’t even detect all those [Skills] you told me belonged to it. It’s like you don’t have them now. When you ranked up, there were no diminishing returns at all for your [Stats] besides one. Guess what [Stat] was hit with extremely significant DR?”

“[Runes],” replied John.

“Right. It looks like your soul is beyond healed and repaired judging by your [Runes] Stat. It went up by over 200 points. Over 200 base points! 208, specifically. Your effective [Runes] score is now over 340. Your highest [Stat] by a very large margin. You currently have 265 rune points available to spend. A ridiculous amount of rune points for a Silver to have just sitting there.

“Guess what else? A big problem. A deadly problem. It has something to do with your [Runes], how your soul healed, and that obscured [Class] ability we can’t detect but know you have.”

John asked, “Blasphemy?”

“Right again,” replied Avatar. “Blasphemy. And you know what we must do when we know of blasphemers? What’s hard coded for us to do?”

“Report them?”

“You’re on a roll. Correct. And what happens when a blasphemer is reported?”

“They’re hunted and killed?”

“Right again, John,” said Avatar. “Blasphemers are hunted down and killed. It nets positive karma, so Eternals often do the deed. The higher tier Eternals could kill a Silver without traveling to this reality.”

John started to say, “I didn’t…,” before Avatar interrupted him.

“Don’t say or admit anything! Ever!” Avatar glitched and added, “What happened was obscured from us, so we have no hard evidence. Even with the limited data we collect in the NetherRealm, if those events weren’t obscured, we’d still have to report and condemn you as a blasphemer.

“Never talk about what happened to anyone. We can’t see your new ability, nor can we tell what it is or what it does. We have a pretty good guess. We can’t even see the name of your [Class]. Don’t use that ability! Not again, and especially not in real space, and not on a person.

“The beasts of the Nether are one thing. Real beings in real space are quite another. You’re getting very lucky. This time. Maybe future events will also be obscured, maybe they won’t. Even with the obscuring, we could collect data we’d be required to report. I’m begging you to not just never admit anything, but to never do whatever it was again. Your soul is healed. Consider that its purpose, and its purpose served. Let this be the end of it.”