I Became the Progenitor Vampire

The experience of transforming into hundreds of bats and flying was extremely unique. Each bat was under Lide's control, but it was completely different from when he was in human form.

Transforming into bats was a type of transformation spell, consuming magic power only during the transformation. After transforming, no magic power was needed to maintain it, as long as there was stamina, flying for a day and night was not a problem.

The distance from the Far Mountain Range to Green City was neither too far nor too close.

About five hundred kilometers. After transforming into bats, Lide's speed was over two hundred kilometers per hour. After two Sunshine Hours, he successfully arrived at the edge of the Far Mountain Range.

The Far Mountain Range stretched for tens of thousands of kilometers, being the longest mountain range in the southern part of the Nolan Empire.

The towering mountains separated the Nolan Empire from the Beastman Empire in the barren wasteland further south... The two massive countries only had a contact line of less than three hundred kilometers at the southernmost point.

An ancient castle was built deep in the Far Mountain Range, at an extremely hidden location.

This place was found by the Blood Clan Ancestor after searching for more than ten years in the Far Mountain Range, the terrain was exceptionally perfect.

A large number of bats flapped their wings along the mountain range, shuttling between the air currents and cold winds.

After another two Sunshine Hours, the bat swarm slowly stopped.

This was a steep mountain range, with an ancient castle built halfway up, flanked by two mountains at least three thousand blades high.

The massive castle was built against the steep mountainside, with the walls divided into two sections, one part being the mountain itself, standing five hundred blades high from the ground.

The second section was a wall built halfway up the mountain, over thirty blades high. This wall, made of anti-magic stone with sunken iron stone, could resist the damage of spells below Five Circle.

In front of the castle, there was only a three hundred blades wide road connecting to the mountain foot, with valleys of hundreds of blades deep on both sides.

Deep valleys and secluded streams.

In such a place, five hundred spellcasters would be enough to withstand an attack from tens of thousands of people.

A true natural barrier.

Lide's bat swarm swooped down, canceling the spell and reverting to human form after landing in front of the castle.

Looking at the thirty-blade-high wall built of sunken iron stone, he felt greatly relieved.

Although his current strength didn't match the name of the Blood Clan Ancestor, the two hundred years of accumulation of the Blood Clan Ancestor was indeed a considerable fortune for Lide.

The walls above the castle were pitch dark, without any light.

The Bloodline were the Dark Night Goddess' favorites, night vision was an innate talent, even clearer than during the day in the dark.

The secret sentries above became alert after detecting movement below.

"Who?!"

"No need to be tense, I've returned."

Lide's steady voice traveled far, causing the Bloodline above to immediately rejoice upon hearing it.

"Clan Leader."

Lide's form shifted again into bats, flying directly to the thirty-blade-high wall.

After Lide revealed himself, ten Bloodline on night duty surrounded him at once.

They respectfully placed a hand on their chests and bowed.

"Good night, Clan Leader."

This branch of the Bloodline were all Lide's blood descendants, akin to human descendants in a human family.

Bloodline couldn't reproduce but could develop blood descendants through first embrace.

By injecting their own Bloodline into humans through fangs, they transformed humans into Bloodline.

This was the first embrace.

Each Bloodline could develop one first embrace annually, but each time would leave them weakened for a period.

In theory, the original body was transformed into the Blood Clan Ancestor two hundred years ago. Two hundred years of development should have resulted in more than two hundred blood descendants.

But after reviewing the Blood Clan Ancestor's memory, Lide realized things were not that simple.

A hundred years ago, at the peak of its glory, the Bloodline had nearly three thousand members.

At that time, the Blood Clan Ancestor was level 14, close to breaking through to become a level 15 Advanced Mage.

But such a large number not only represented power but also enormous supplies.

Each Bloodline needed to feed at least once a month, which meant nearly three thousand civilians around the Far Mountain Range had to be hunted by the Bloodline each month.

The horrific death rate caused great terror in the villages and towns near Green City, also angering the most powerful force in Green City, the Extraordinary Mage Rock Hart, who was above the Great Mage, at level 20.

Three thousand Bloodline were besieged by Green City's army, their other castle in the Far Mountain Range was breached, and only over a hundred clan members escaped in the end.

At that time, the extraordinary mage of Green City, Rock Hart, a powerful being who tamed magic, single-handedly slaughtered over a thousand Bloodline.

The fear still lingered in the hearts of the Bloodline.

In that battle, the Blood Clan Ancestor was severely wounded by the Extraordinary Mage, falling from level 14 to level 5, taking a full hundred years to heal.

It was that battle that made the Blood Clan Ancestor realize the prowess of the Extraordinary Mage, thus deciding to infiltrate Green City to study magic systematically.

After reviewing the Blood Clan Ancestor's memories, Lide felt slightly heavy-hearted. The survival pressure on the Bloodline was far greater than he had imagined.

Not developing meant being destroyed, but taking a wrong path also led to destruction.

The current survival mode of the Bloodline had to change; the previous rough development methods had no future.

Thinking of this, Lide couldn't help but shake his head.

Bloodline, humans, to the people of this world, both sides seemed to have irreconcilable conflicts.

The Bloodline regarded humans as food, while humans saw the Bloodline as demons, and once the two met, only one could survive.

But was the conflict between Bloodline and humans really irreconcilable?

Lide had been contemplating this question on his way here.

The current development path of the Bloodline would only lead to self-destruction; endless slaughter couldn't make the Bloodline stronger.

His return now was to find a solution to the Bloodline's development problems.

As the Blood Clan Ancestor, the Bloodline was his foundation, the stronger the Bloodline, the more confident he became.

If the Bloodline was gone, he would be useless as the Blood Clan Ancestor, and half of his bug-level talents would be wasted.

"Audis, why were you so eager to notify me?"

The Bloodline in the castle all inherited Lide's surname, Kachar.

The leading Bloodline in front of him, Audis Kachar, was a tall, handsome middle-aged man with an extremely outstanding temperament.

Due to their talents, Bloodline were all stunningly beautiful, their looks comparable to the Elf race, who had reached the pinnacle of beauty.

Audis was not only extraordinarily charismatic but also very powerful, at level 9 and about to break through as an Intermediate Mage, and a level 4 warrior as his secondary profession.

In "Glory," level 0 was a civilian, level 1 an apprentice,

2-4 were ordinary professionals,

5-9 were intermediate professionals,

10-14 were advanced professionals,

15-19 were master-level professionals,

20 was transcendent.

There were six other Bloodline as strong as Audis, all of whom were Lide's second-generation blood descendants.

The remaining 200 Bloodline in the castle were all above level 5, forming a considerable force.

Level 5 professionals could serve as captains of a hundred-man squad in the army.

So, although the number of Bloodline Lide now ruled seemed small, they possessed decent strength, enough for self-preservation.

"Clan Leader, the previously captured humans have been exhausted; we need to hunt again."

The elegant Audis looked more like a noble than a noble himself; it was hard to imagine such a person being a vampire.

The Bloodline required blood for survival, and humans were the source of their blood.

Previously, the Bloodline would collectively raid surrounding villages and cities once every six months to capture humans and keep them as food.

However, once Bloodline drank blood, they wouldn't care about the humans' lives, meaning the captured humans were almost always used up in one go.

Lide had once ordered that each raid on humans had to be reported to him.

Now, the humans from the last raid in the castle had all been killed by the Bloodline, and the Bloodline left behind in the castle had passed the message to him.

Hearing this, Lide raised an eyebrow.

He made up his mind.

The Bloodline needed to change.