Vampire Reincarnation

The warfront has changed me and my soldiers, but not enough to fall to those impudent humans!

Kai's heart jumped with happiness upon seeing that it was finally time. It also got gripped with anxiety though, fearing what may happen if he failed. Steeling himself, he grabbed the other potions, and after making sure that he wouldn't suddenly combust from ingesting them, slowly drank them.

At the same time, he had to make sure that his core wouldn't break apart instantly. The process of breaking through to the next star rank was similar to the other times, however one had to compress the Large Core back into a Small Core. That Small Core would then have just as much, and in most cases, more mana than the Large Core. That would then allow them to start the process over and expnentially increase their mana reserves, mana quality and mana control.

During the breakthrough process, a new star would be added as well, which would then revovle around the core to supplement and enhance its powers. Stars were the most important asset in a Mage's journey, as they made the difference between which spells one could and one could not cast.

For example, the disguise spell Kai needed could only be used at a Three Star Rank solely because of the degree of difficulty it had to cast and maintain. Trying to cast spells outside ouf your Star Rank would result in a failure because one could not have the amount of mana required or the amount of power, given that their Star amount is lacking.

Kai wasn't sure what spells he would be able to use though, and by how much the spells he already knew would improve. However that didn't matter at the moment, as all he wanted was to breakthrough.

The mana within his core began compresing and condensing, making more space for more mana to enter it, and increasing in size at the same time as the star shone with a blinding light. Kai didn't know the exact reason a core would expand and contract, and such things were long lost to the rivers of history after becoming common sense.

As his cores absorbed more and more of the mana within the potions, Kai decided to take out the biggest, most pure potion he purchased. He truly wasn't sure about that one, and feared that even a sip would kill him. Yet, for the most optimal of breakthroughs, he needed a lot more mana than he had at that moment.

Unlike before, though, he didn't throw caution to the wind and threaded the waters, splitting most of his focus on the breakthrough and the rest on taking a sip from the bottle.

A strong surge of mana instantly entered his sytem, causing a violent rampage that threatened to shatter his bones. Luckily he only took a small sip, and his tolerance to pain was way above abeverage, at least from what he observed.

What he didn't expect, though, was for the core to suddenly activate and forcefully drag the rampaging mana toward it, swalloing it instantly. Curious, Kai took another sip, and that time the core acted instantly, dragging the mana before it even had a chance to cause damage.

Interesting… Kai mused to himself and took another, larger sip. The core absorbed the mana instantly. I didn't know it was this greedy, holy… He stopped hestitating, and downed the entire bottle, expecting to have to endure some damage before being able to fully absorb it.

Contrary to his believes, though, the mana core simply increased its sunction force and promptly absorbed all the mana within the potion. Unlike the previous 20% It absorbed 100% of it, which gave an immense boost. With that much mana compressed within his core and star, Kai felt more confident than ever.

With a racing heart, he stopped holding the breakthrough process back, and let it fully develop on its own. The mana core increased in size at an incredible pace, tripling in a matter of seconds, and it didn't seem like it would stop anytime soon.

That was because it decompressed all the mana within at a rate that would break it apart without completely shattering, then it quickly mended the tears with mana, repeating the process again and again. Kai helped it duing that time, of course, being able to speed up the process due to his large amount of control. The mana within shone and changed hues, resembling a shifting rainbow. Kai marveled at the sight, but didn't dare lose focus for even a moment, lest something bad happened.

After fifteen minutes, the core grew to such a size it dwarved the star, sitting at twenty times its original size. However Kai felt that was the upper limit of what he could achieve, though he didn't mind. Twenty times its original size meant twenty times more mana, without counting the new layer that he would then have to refine.

He let out a light sigh and began the process of forming a second star. It was similar to the process it took to form the first one, but wouldn't be as difficult. He willed the mana within the first star to slowly come out, holding it shape due to the extreme compression. He then used mana from the core to create an outer shell, morphing it around the star-shaped mana.

The main reason you needed a Large Core to create another star was because each star required more and more mana to take shape, so creating one at a Small Core or Medium Core would be unfeasable unless one had a large amount of pure mana surrounding them. However nobody in recorded history had managed to do that, and nobody tried within recent times, lest they end up dying by mistake.

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Kai smiled upon looking at his creation, each mana layer crystalizing under the influence of the star's presence, becoming a proper shell. Twenty minutes later, the process was complete. The secon star shone even brighter than the first one, and also was bigger by a negligible margin. Beyond happy with the result, yet tired as if he had worked on the field the entire day, Kai began the last and most important step of the breakthrough - Compressing the core.

Whilst it was easy to have it grown in size, compressing it was generally more difficult, especially with it being done at the end. However much to his delight, the two stars he now had already began the process for him.

They used their mass to revolve around the core, creating some sort of artifical field that forced the core to sit still and shrink in size. Kai began doing the same, using the mana within the second star to encopass the large mass that the core had become.

Slowly but surely, it turned smaller and smaller at a speed visible to the naked eye, however just that little effort began taking a toll on Kai's mind. A splitting headache began to take over his mind, perhaps from the added strain or the resitence of the core. Kai couldn't be sure of anything, and only knew that he had to sucessfully finish the process or else he would lose a lot of potential power.

Pushing himself to his mental limits, he ordered the stars to revovle faster and to emmit a stronger pressure, which they did without complaint. Next, Kai took a deep breath and aided them in shrinking the core.

Slowly but surely, it lost size, and the excess, empty space actively got converted into unrefined core, which Kai would then have to refine once again. Due to the sheer size of the core, though, even that unrefined portion got compressed, making it even more resilient in the future.

Kai couldn't do anything about that, though, as he would start with an original mana reserve twenty times the size of his old Large Core. He couldn't complain about that, and he didn't have the time to either.

Minutes passed, turning into an hour, at which point the core had shrunk to the size of a medium one. Sweat dripped down Kai's body, drenching his clothes, the floor and the carpet. The splitting headache only intensified as time went on, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could ignore it for. However, feeling that it was the last stretch, he gave it his all and sent all of his mental power into compressing the core.

The stars chimed in, pushing their pressure to the maximum, until… The core finally shrunk to the size of a Small Core, becoming the new one. With that, Kai had an even larger reserve of mana. He let go of all mental control, pressure and allowed his stars to return to an idle state. After bing compressed to such a degree, the Mana Core couldn't grow in size anymore, and it was up to Kai to refine it even further.

Returning to the outside world, Kai let out a weak sigh, his face listless and eyes empty. He didn't care about the drenched clothes and hair, or that the sun had long since made place for the moon. All he cared about was that the process was over, and that he had become a Two Star Small Core Mage, something he couldn't have dreamed about a year ago.

No fanfare awaited him, no congratulations or reward, and the only thing that greeted him was the sweet rest that would help him forget the pain until he awoke.

…

Kai's eyes trembled as he awoke to the rays of sunlight kissing his face, and a stinky breath accompanied by a warm tongue invading his nostrils.

Without any time to process what happened, he fell down on the floor, feeling Onyx's paw land on his shoulder. The Obborik shook him a few times while licking his face, until he finally got up with as much reluctance as one could have.

The migraine reappeared soon after, and he quickly rushed to the window, opening it and sticking his head out of it. He took a deep breath, one like never before. The lazy morning greeted him. People began setting up their stalls, walking to work or church. The day had just begun for them.

Kai basked in the soft rays of sunlight as it kissed his skin, while the silver air reflected most of it back. Shit! He rememberd that he wasn't wearing the mask and recoiled, hoping that nobody saw his red eyes. The silver hair was fine, for the most part, it wasn't inherent to vampires. Out of all the humanoid creatures, though, only vampires had red eyes.

A heavy sigh escaped his body as he deflated on the floor like a punctured ball. I should be fine, I'm so high up and everyone was busy. FUCK! I need to be careful, this can't be happening again and again.

He got up and turned toward Onyx, who was back in his Obborik color scheme, but not size. Onyx decided to keep his small size, as it was much easy to sleep in. He watched Kai with a curious expression, his tail wagging back and forth, lightly brushing against the floor. Although he felt Kai's panic, he knew that happiness within him overflowed.

"Arf"

He grabbed Kai's attention, then stood up and walked toward him, gently rubbing his snout against the boy's leg.

"Thanks boy… Let's go downstairs, I'm famished." Kai yawned as he stretched, taking a deep breath and changing his clothes. After putting his mask back on and signaling Onyx to change his fur color, they walked out of the room and headed down toward the retaurant area.

Kai remembered that place very well, as it was there that he learned of his parents' past. Part of him hoped to see that adventurer party again, but he would not reveal himself to anyone again so easily, even if they were past acquintances.

The most important thing Kai had to do was consolidate his power and learn the new limits of his strength, then studying new spells.

Too bad Luta isn't here… He thought, entering the tavern-like bar. The smell of poor alcohol, decently cooked food and cheap tabacco crashing against his face. He coughed lightly, covering up his nostrils and scouted an empty table.

However he didn't have to search long as a certain group of adventurers caught his eye.

Figured they would be here…