Free Web NovelChapter 9: Chapter 9: Transition
"I need to do something first," Lucian said.
Ryan frowned. "What do you mean? We need to leave. Clara is—"
"Give me two days."
"Two days?" Ryan’s voice pitched up. "Lucian, we don’t have that kind of time. The academy is outside the city, and every hour we waste is another hour my sister is—"
"Ryan." Lucian’s voice was calm. "Have you looked outside? The streets are crawling with zombies. Early Neophyte ones. Maybe even Mid Neophyte by now. There might even be Core realm ones. You’re Early Neophyte. I’m Mid Neophyte. If we walk out there right now, we die."
Ryan opened his mouth and closed it.
"Two days," Lucian repeated. "I promise we can rescue your sister and mine too. But we need to get stronger first."
Ryan stared at him for a long moment. Then he exhaled, shoulders slumping.
"Two days," he said quietly.
"Use the time to cultivate," Lucian said. "You’ve got potential. I can tell. Your mana flow is smoother than most Early Neophytes — you could break through to Mid if you push hard enough."
Ryan blinked. "How can you—"
"Just do it."
Lucian reached into his shadow storage and pulled out more food — containers, sealed packages, bottles of water. He set them on the floor of the storage room where the children were still eating.
"Enough for two days," he said. "Don’t waste it."
The children murmured their thanks. Mei — the twelve-year-old with dark hair — watched Lucian with an unreadable expression.
Lucian turned and walked down the hallway. He found an empty room at the far end of the east wing — a small office with a desk, a chair, and a window that had been boarded up. Perfect.
He stepped inside and locked the door.
Silence.
Lucian leaned against the desk and pulled up the system notification he’d been ignoring since the rooftop.
╔══════════════════════╗
║ ⚠ BLOODLINE TRANSITION ║
║ ║
║ Seal Progress: 95% ║
║ Full Vampiric Transition: AVAILABLE║
║ ║
║ [YES] / [NO] ║
╚══════════════════════╝
Lucian stared at it.
"No time like the present."
He selected [YES].
The pain hit him like a thunderbolt.
"*AAAAAAHHHHHH—!*"
The pain was everywhere — every cell, every nerve, every fiber of his being screaming simultaneously as something fundamental shifted beneath his skin. His bones cracked, not breaking but reforming, reshaping, density increasing. His muscles tore and knit and tore again in a cycle of destruction and rebuilding that made his vision go white.
He collapsed to the floor, curling in on himself, and screamed again.
"*AAAAAHHH— FUCK— FUCK—*"
Outside the room, rapid footsteps were approaching.
"Lucian?!" Ryan’s voice, muffled by the door. "Lucian, what’s happening?!"
The doorknob rattled. Then a *thud* — Ryan’s shoulder hitting the wood.
"Lucian! Open the door!"
"Don’t—" Lucian gasped, the words torn from his throat between waves of agony. "Don’t worry. I’m fine."
"You don’t sound fine! Let me in—*"
Another thud. The door shuddered but held — solid wood and iron bands, built to withstand far more than a panicked Early Neophyte could deliver.
"I said don’t worry!" Lucian snarled, and there was something in his voice — something sharp and dangerous— that made Ryan go quiet on the other side.
Silence.
Then, slowly, footsteps retreating.
Lucian groaned and grabbed the nearest piece of cloth — his own shirt, which he’d already stripped off during the initial convulsions — and shoved it into his mouth.
The next wave of pain hit, and the shirt muffled what would have been a scream loud enough to bring the entire zombie horde to the orphanage.
Mmmmmmph—!
His skin was changing. He could feel it — the warmth draining away, replaced by a coolness that spread from his core outward. His already pale skin went white, like marble, like moonlight made flesh. The fine hairs on his arms fell out, leaving behind smooth, flawless skin.
His eyes burned.
And then the blood came.
It seeped from his pores — not wounds, not cuts, just seepage, as if his body was sweating liquid crimson. It pooled around him on the floor, thick and dark, and then it began to move.
The blood climbed his body. Up his legs, his torso, his arms, his neck. It covered him like a second skin, then thickened, hardened, encased him in a cocoon of solidified blood that blocked out all light, all sound, all sensation except the relentless agony of transformation.
For five hours, Lucian existed in darkness and pain. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
---
"Is brother Lucian okay?"
Ryan looked down at Mei. The children had finished eating and were huddled together again, the fear creeping back now that the distraction of food was gone.
"Yeah," Ryan said. "He’s fine."
His expression said otherwise as he himself wasn’t so sure.
---
The cocoon cracked.
A thin line of light appeared — then another, then dozens, spreading across the blood-red surface like fractures in ice. The cracks widened, pieces falling away, and a hand emerged — pale, long-fingered, nails slightly pointed.
Then the rest of him.
Lucian stood in the center of the shattered cocoon, naked, covered in a fine layer of dried blood that flaked away as he moved. His silver hair fell past his shoulders, pure and bright as moonlight. His skin was pale — smooth and flawless and almost luminous in the dim light. His eyes, when they opened, were crimson like fresh blood, like rubies.
His fangs were small but permanent, visible when his lips parted.
He looked... devilish and inhumanly handsome in a way that was more predator than pretty.
The system erupted.
╔═══════════════════════╗
╔═══════════════════════╗
║ ║ ★ BLOODLINE TRANSITION ║ ║
║ ║ ★ COMPLETE ║
╚═══════════════════════╝
║ ║
║ RACE UPDATED: ║
║ Human (Transitional) → VAMPIRE ║
║ ║
║ Bloodline Seal: 95% → 94% ║
╔═══════════════════════╗
║ NEW BLOODLINE ABILITIES ║
║ ├─ ◀ BLOOD MANIPULATION ▶ ║
║ │ Rank: S-Rank ║
║ │ (Evolves with bloodline) ║
║ │ Turn blood into anything ║
║ │ of user’s imagination. ║
║ │ Weapons, shields, constructs. ║
║ │ Can harden, liquify, or ║
║ │ crystallize blood at will. ║
║ │ ║
║ ├─ ◀ BLOOD SENSE ▶ ║
║ │ Rank: A-Rank ║
║ │ Passive. Detect all living ║
║ │ creatures within range by ║
║ │ sensing their blood flow. ║
║ │ Current range: 200 meters. ║
║ │ Can identify species, ║
║ │ approximate cultivation, ║
║ │ and emotional state. ║
║ │ ║
║ ├─ ◀ ENHANCED SENSES ▶ ║
║ │ Hearing: 500m range ║
║ │ Smell: Track by blood scent ║
║ │ Vision: Perfect night vision ║
║ │ + thermal overlay ║
║ │ ║
║ └─ ◀ ENHANCED PHYSICAL STATS ▶ ║
║ (See Status Window for ║
║ updated values) ║
╔═══════════════════════╗
║ REWARD: 1,000 SYSTEM CREDITS ║
║ ⚠ Next bloodline evolution ║
║ at 80% seal progression. ║
╚═══════════════════════╝
Lucian stared at the notifications, crimson eyes glowing faintly in the dark room.
S-Rank Blood Manipulation.
He raised his hand and focused. A thin line of blood — drawn from the dried remnants of the cocoon on the floor — rose into the air and coiled around his fingers like a living thing.
He clenched his fist, and the blood hardened — shifting from liquid to solid in an instant, forming a razor-sharp crimson blade that extended from his knuckles.
"S-Rank," he murmured, flexing his hand. The blade dissolved back into liquid blood and dripped to the floor. "Not bad. Looks like been a vampire isn’t so bad."
He reached into his shadow storage, pulled out a fresh set of clothes — dark pants, a black shirt, a jacket he’d taken from a corpse in the forest — and dressed slowly.
His reflection stared back at him from the dark window glass. Silver hair. Crimson eyes. Pale skin. Fangs.
*A vampire.*
Lucian smiled.
