The Fallen Vampire

An unknown amount of time later, Taira was almost unrecognizable.

None could ever accuse Fenris of being a gentle teacher, and his pupil’s state reflected that.

Taira’s whole body was a mess. The beautiful face that his wives were so infatuated with was no more.

Whole identifying chunks had been ripped from bone, his hair was, in some places torn out, and in others matted with his own blood.

One of his arms was broken. The other was missing entirely.

His beating heart could be seen through an open wound in his chest. And a few of his snapped ribs were poking through his chest.

It was a total miracle he was still on his feet and conscious.

As bad as Taira looked right now, it wasn’t all for nothing.

Because Fenris was also wearing three brand new scratches on his face, chest, and arms.

"Well what do you know. You are harder to kill than I thought. I don’t remember the last time that a pup like you has nicked me."

The beast god snapped his fingers and his wounds were instantly healed. Taira’s too.

All of his accumulated fatigue disappeared like a mirage, but Taira still felt as if he had been mentally taxed.

Fenris was a monster in every capacity of the word.

Big. Fast. Strong. Unpredictable.

But Fenris’ battle experience was far and above the most dangerous thing about him.

It was apparent with every action he took.

Taira was an extremely proficient master at making his next moves hard to read by his opponents.

But Fenris just behaved as if he had not only seen everything Taira was going to do, but he knew how to launch the most crippling counterattack possible as well.

This was perhaps the only person who Taira had ever met who had greater fighting experience than he did.

"There, now that I’ve moved around a bit I feel much less stiff. Now I suppose we can go back over the boring bits now..."

Fenris sat back down on his throne casually. His eyes were now bored and uninterested compared to earlier when they were full of zeal and murder.

"There’s a clan technique I need to impart to you while you’re here. It should help you reach the upper realm quicker than you normally would down there."

Taira cracked a small smile. ’Finally’ He thought.

"Don’t smile at me you creepy bastard."

Taira stopped smiling.

"I’m assuming you’re aware of the fact that certain animals in the lower realm have an ability to develop beast cores. Turning them into mana beasts of a grade 1-7."

Taira nodded. It was one of the world’s few big mysteries, as no one quite knew how animals were able to achieve this. It’s not like they can cultivate, or at least not the same way that evolved races do.

Animals of grade 6-7 are significantly rarer, and are not only incredibly destructive and dangerous, but they can develop a surprising amount of intelligence too.

The cores inside of the beasts can be used as cultivation materials for early stage cultivators, but it’s not a very reliable method of growing stronger since it’s only possible to absorb around 40% of the core, and only the most talented are even able to achieve that.

"So you’re going to teach me how to form a beast core of my own?"

"I am. Though yours will be a bit better than theirs since we are divine beasts. Therein lies a world of difference, boy."

"And the merits of this are..?"

"You’ll be able to cultivate passively. Just like animals, your body will naturally absorb qi from the surrounding area and you’ll be able to progress your cultivation without any thought. It should help speed up your growth process quite a bit."

Taira was outwardly calm, but downright giddy internally.

Cultivation without doing anything! It was the dream of many in the lower realm to possess and he was about to grasp it!

"I don’t need to tell you that this isn’t something you are permitted to share." Velreth said seriously. "This technique is one that must be kept secret from the outside world lest we completely fall to ruin."

"Fine." Taira agreed.

He was going to teach Lucia how to make one as soon as he woke up.

-

A burst of icy energy spread out from Taira’s body onto the grassy valley.

Flowers and grass turned into an almost crystalline ice; confusing the animals who were around him sleeping peacefully.

He stood up in a trance and a second burst of energy came out of his body.

His eyes slowly opened and he found the white-clad Gentle Brotherhood standing all around him.

First Brother stepped forward and bowed respectfully.

"Dai-Shi. Please allow me to be the first to congratulate you on your successful breakthrough. We took the liberty of standing guard while you cultivated so that none would disturb you."

Taira took but a moment to inspect his body and was pleasantly surprised by the results.

His multiple elemental cores had made way for an additional one to form in his body. A sleek, golden colored, divine-beast core.

Fenris said that only low tier beasts function through the star grading system, but beast cores have their own unique ranking from 1-8.

And sense they go hand in hand with cultivation tiers, Taira was already on the sixth major realm, his beast core was that much more advanced- becoming an Immortal Divine Beast core.

The new addition to his body, plus the prolonged sparring with Fenris, had pushed him up to the fourth level of the Quasi-God realm.

Not to mention that he could already feel the effectiveness of the core working as Fenris said it would.

Even though he was just staring here, his body was actively absorbing and refining qi through the proper channels to cultivate. Giving him a relaxed, breezy state of mind that was almost comparable to a high.

He would have to get used to this feeling very quickly.

"I see... Thank you for..." Taira felt movement come from atop his head and he already knew the culprit.

Yukiko appeared upside down in Taira’s vision, making him smile.

"Papa!"

Taira’s smile was, once again, completely wiped away.