Thalion appeared in the cold air deep within the catacombs. He was fully regenerated and ready for battle. There were still undead blocking his path, and apparently one of the liches had a bloodline ability he might want to joink.

The conversation with the voice of the system, who turned out to be some sort of prison keeper, had been surprisingly fruitful, but Thalion still didn't trust him. Later, they'd discussed whether he should tell his friends what he'd learned about the system, but the dragon god had strictly forbidden it. "The more you repeat it, the more attention will fall on this moment in time," he'd warned. "Someone might be watching your term closely."

Thalion already had trust issues, especially when it came to gods. They never did anything out of kindness. What the voice of the system was doing felt more like manipulation or theft. If Thalion became a valuable resource, other gods might try to consume him for power, or use his body for their own purposes.

In Thalion's mind, the voice of the system was a power-hungry god who hated his higher-ups. Wouldn't it be logical to help Thalion now, only to kill him later and claim the reward? Like a squirrel hiding its nuts for winter.

He was fairly sure that drinking the golden blood would form a connection, a bond that would allow the dragon god to find him once his term ended. Why else would the voice take such a risk and reveal so much? Because he had a good heart? Because he just wanted to help? Yeah, hell no.

That was something Thalion would never say out loud, but if he ever became strong enough, he would make sure to stay far away from that guy once the contract expired. Ideally, he'd never come into contact with him again which, of course, required becoming a god himself. And that would be a very long road.

There was a lot of work to do, and system events to win. For now, it was time to get back to his friends and organize the base. They needed to prepare to snatch the palace's treasure and get ready for New Earth. It would likely be far more dangerous than anyone currently expected.

Thalion activated Mistform, leaving behind the chamber where he had just defeated his strongest enemy so far. He was deeper underground than he thought and had to use Mistform several times to move upward through the tunnels.

He didn't want to face the vampires in direct combat. Instead, he wanted to test his new skill, not only to see how it worked but also to find out if it was even effective against other blood cultivators. If vampires could just absorb the Crimson Eidolon and grow stronger. Well, that would be a serious weakness.

This was the perfect testing ground.

The skill would definitely be important during upcoming system events. He didn't expect to need it against the lich or the female elf. Compared to Ankhet, they should be smooth sailing.

His next jump with Mistform brought him close to the chamber with the pillar. Maybe a little too close. A small group of vampires was heading down the corridor, probably to check on Ankhet or something similar.

Thalion didn't hesitate. He made quick work of the four vampires. Materializing right before them, he launched vines from his hand that pierced their hearts, except for one, whom he grabbed by the neck with his armored glove.

"Impossible. How are you alive?" the vampire coughed, eyes widening in fear as he watched his comrades get devoured by the Sanguis Impera.

"Ankhet is dead. Now tell me what's going on up there. I've been asleep for quite a while," Thalion said coldly, flaring the fear aura of his armor.

"No. Why should I tell you anything? You'll kill me either way," the vampire sneered. He might have had a point, but instead of arguing, Thalion simply ripped his right arm off. With his strength, it was no problem at all.

It didn't take long before the vampire started spilling everything.

Thalion clearly remembered the stench of the human corpses in the cellar of the Black Fortress. And ever since he killed Ankhet, he'd felt more driven than ever. Torturing a vampire meant nothing to him, especially if it helped him learn where his friends were.

Maybe they were fighting the vampires and undead right now. Or maybe the elves had attacked them. Kael, Sylas, and Kai could've snuck in and started a riot. There were a lot of ways things could have gone to hell and knowing what was happening was crucial.

The vampire told him the humans were all inside the Black Fortress, while the elves were hiding behind them, unsure whether to run or fight. It apparently had something to do with that lich, Elias. Thalion also learned that Elias had taken over the body of an elven prince, which was the main reason the elves had attacked the undead in the first place.

Kind of funny, actually. The greed of one lich had managed to screw things up for everyone else.

On the other hand, it wasn't all that surprising the lich had somehow caught wind of the prince's bloodline. After confirming that no fighting had broken out on the surface and that everyone was still waiting for Ankhet, Thalion quickly killed the vampire and fed his blood to the Sanguis Impera.

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He checked the vampires' spatial rings, just a few blood crystals and the rest was pretty useless to him. He'd give it to the smiths later.

Thalion generally had a lot to do at his base. It was important to him that everyone could at least live a decent life and maybe even have the chance to find their families later on New Earth. To make that happen, he would need to organize everything far better, and this time he intended to give it his full attention.

Well, after he was done stealing bloodlines, deciphering the runes of the Leviathan, and examining the Fear Pillar. Okay, maybe it was closer to the bottom of his to-do list. But Kaldrek and Maike would do a good job in the meantime. He was confident in that.

Now it was time for some skill testing.

He should be close enough and testing the range was one of the things he wanted to do anyway. Thalion sat down and let the Sanguis Impera take control of the surroundings, just to ensure nothing would happen to him while his attention was focused on the Crimson Eidolon.

Then he activated the skill.

A blood specter shot out from his chest and hovered before him. Like the witches, it didn't have legs, just a cloudy, snake-like body that ended in a thin line connected to Thalion's heart. It wasn't made of blood either, but mana with a blood affinity, or so he assumed. He couldn't manipulate it with his blood control, nor could he pull on it with Crimson Harvest.

If the same rules applied to other vampires, they were in serious trouble.

The Eidolon, in contrast to the witches and the description, had two glowing ember-like eyes. Its mouth resembled something like Venom's, needle-like teeth and all. Actually, the whole form looked a bit like Venom. Its arms and body were sleek, and its fingers ended in long claws. What he could already tell was that it was far more potent than the version the witch had used.

Thalion closed his eyes and let his consciousness fully drift into the Eidolon. If the construct were destroyed, he would simply snap back to his real body.

He glanced back to see his physical form sitting like a monk, head still upright, stable and undisturbed, unlike what most would expect.

Next, he tested movement and skills.

Flying was incredibly easy. He simply had to think about moving in a direction, and the Eidolon reacted instantly. He zipped around the chamber like a ghost. Thalion could even pick up speed. In this form, he might even be faster than using Telekinetic Dash, and the top speed was approaching Mistform. Mistform was still faster, but the Eidolon was catching up.

Dodging this form would be tough for any enemy.

He tested the claw attacks and they worked just like Shadow Claw, except they were infused with blood-affinity mana.

Next was the shriek, but he didn't want to test that too close to his body, so he began flying upward, searching for vampires to kill.

While moving, he got an idea. He flew directly at a wall to see if he could phase through it and he sank right into it with only slight resistance. It was a lot harder to maintain the Eidolon in this state, but it was possible.

Of course, he was blind now, but it was good to know that not even indestructible walls could stop him. He could pull off some fun ambushes in the future. Peek out once to spot enemy positions, then dive back in and strike from below. Estimating distance might be tricky, but manageable.

On the way up, Thalion tested whether he could use Sanguis Impera skills in this form. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work. But weirdly, he could use Mistform while as an Eidolon, which felt pretty broken.

He couldn't summon any blood-based attacks either, not using his own blood or the blood harvested by the Sanguis Impera. That was something he wanted to improve on, and he had high hopes for the scroll. There was still that blood witch he could ask some questions about the skill.

They probably all thought he was dead.

He should hurry.

With that last thought, the Eidolon sped up.

Thalion arrived in the chamber with the pillar in no time and spotted the first group of vampires, either meditating or doing something similar. Two were sparring with red rapiers dripping blood from the blades.

He accelerated, both claws glowing with crimson energy as he charged up his spell. He could immediately sense the vampires' blood and he could control it.

This might be the most fun skill he'd had yet.

He could fight without fear of taking any damage. The mana cost was high, sure, but his recovery was higher. He would even go as far as to say that no one had better mana regeneration than he did. His passive recovery rate was faster than that of most people while drinking mana potions.

The range was also quite long and he must've traveled nearly two kilometers to reach this chamber.

By New System standards, maybe that wasn't much but it was still impressive. And it wasn't even the limit. Thalion's vision locked onto the vampires as he accelerated even further. How quickly could he kill them with the Crimson Eidolon?

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