—–

Arthur would often dream about having his legs back.

He would dream about being able to walk, to finally protect his beloved ones, instead of being the one protected all the time.

He always woke up of these dreams while glancing at his legs, only to find them missing.

It was as if each day he wished reality was just a mere dream, while his dreams could be reality.

But the reality is often disappointing.

Arthur woke up from his daze, glancing at his surroundings.

He felt a strange sensation, almost alien to him.

Somehow, he had something within his legs muttons.

There was some strange electrifying sensation growing from them, which began to hurt a lot.

He felt a bit of dullness at first but then felt strange nausea and dizziness.

He glanced at his surroundings once more, finding Timassa at his side…

Although her appearance had changed slightly, as her eyes were crimson red and her hair had turned purple, alongside this, her skin was of an unhealthy pale white, almost like candle wax.

“Timassa?” asked Arthur.

Arthur found his maid, Timassa, crying out loud.

Arthur was sure that she had been hit by Edmond and was covered in blood… but now she seemed quite fine.

“Why are you crying? What’s going on?” asked Arthur.

“Your… legs… Arthur-sama, your legs are back!” cried Timassa, embracing Arthur with a hug as Arthur suddenly realized something strange.

The weird pain and dullness that he felt on his missing legs were not just his imagination or the hallucination of the lack of oxygen by being strangled by Edmond.

He could clearly see them now.

His legs.

“Eh?”

Arthur could not believe what he was seeing with his very eyes.

For so long as he dreamed about finally recovering his legs, but after so many years, such a dream seemed to be slowly fading away.

He had already begun to think that it would be useless to keep trying…

Yet because of Timassa and her support, and because Arthur did not want to make her suffer, he decided to keep striving forward… Although he had long ago begun to give up on his entire life.

If it were not because of the woman that was hugging him now, he might have even ended his life before he could have even reached this day.

Arthur began to cry, as warm tears started to drop from his crimson eyes.

“Aahh… My legs… but how? Is this… another dream? Is this another dream, Timassa?” wondered Arthur.

“No, Arthur-sama… Your legs… your legs are really back!” said Timassa with a warm smile, although her appearance changed slightly, she was still the same devoted woman that Arthur loved.

“H-How? How is this… real?” cried Arthur, as he finally noticed Jon at his side, he was touching his face.

Jon’s brown hair had turned blue, and his eye was scarlet red… alongside that, the blind eye he had suddenly gained its color, and became purple-colored.

“My eye… I can see… with my two… eyes…” muttered Jon, he had said more words than Arthur had ever heard him say.

“So? How do you like your new legs and eyes? Nice, isn’t it?” asked the familiar voice of a young man that has surprised the trio since he joined their party.

“Noah… You… You did this?” asked Arthur.

“Indeed, I did. And well, Iris also helped Timassa get through it. Now that you are all part of my creed, you will serve me for eternity,” said Noah, his crimson eyes gleaming eerily with a dominant aura, which the three could not easily resist.

Although Arthur and Timassa seemed to resist a bit, Jon was completely fascinated with Noah and glanced at him with a lot of devotion in his eyes.

“Master…” he muttered, kneeling to Noah.

“Good, Jon seems to get it quite quickly,” said Noah.

“Our family is steadily growing,” said Iris, her crimson eyes gleaming just as eerily and dominant as Noah.

“What is going on? C-Can I get an explanation first…?” wondered Arthur, he couldn’t feel afraid while being in front of his progenitor but had many questions.

“I… I have no clue either… But I am sure that most of my bones had broken and my internal organs were destroyed when I was hit by Edmond… My death was surely coming, yet my body feels completely anew,” muttered Timassa.

“That’s because of the regeneration that your new race brings to you,” said Iris.

“New… race?” wondered Timassa.

“All three of you can already notice the changes in your appearance, right?” asked Noah.

“Check your attribute panels to realize your changes,” said Iris.

Timassa, Arthur, and Jon quickly checked their Attribute Panels, glancing as their Attribute Values increased a bit, alongside acquiring new Skills and even acquiring a bloodline.

[Arthur]

[Bloodline: Dhampir (Awakening)]

[Vitality: 22]

[Mind: 35]

[Force: 19]

[Skill(s): [Healing Light: 53 (C)] > [Healing Blight: 1 (B)], [Dhampir: – (S)], [Subordinate’s Loyalty: – (A)], [Undying Body: 1 (A)], [Waves of Erosion: 1 (B)]

[Jon]

[Bloodline: Dhampir (Awakening)]

[Vitality: 15]

[Mind: 20]

[Force: 15]

[Skill(s): [Hawk Eye: 61 (E)] > [Clairvoyance: 1 (B)], [Dhampir: – (S)], [Subordinate’s Loyalty: – (A)], [Undying Body: 1 (A)], [Cursed Evil Eye of Phantom Pain: 1 (A)]

[Timassa]

[Bloodline: Ghoul (Awakening)]

[Vitality: 28]

[Mind: 45]

[Force: 19]

[Skill(s): [Bolt Arrow: 61 (C)] > [Dark Bolt Spear: 1 (B)], [Ghoul: – (A)], [Subordinate’s Loyalty: – (A)], [Undying Body: 1 (A)], [Paralyzing Dark Lightning: 1 (A)]

Noah also took a peek at each of the new Vampiric subordinate’s status, finding that they had grown exponentially stronger and acquired very useful Skills as well.

Some of them which he would immediately find a good use for.

Even Jon who was the weakest of the group acquired two new powerful Skills, Clairvoyance and Cursed Evil Eye of Phantom Pain, even with his low stats, he could still be useful through Clairvoyance that let him see anything he wanted in a large scope of vision of several meters around him, and the Cursed Evil Eye of Phantom Pain could inflict direct damage to a target just by glancing at it with it.

Arthur in the other case had his Healing Light Skill evolve into Healing Blight, which seemed to be an even stronger healing skill with the ability to also drain health from others, and then there were the waves of erosion, which seemed to let him release waves that could slowly erode things like a deadly toxic substance, however, the effect was limited to a certain range, and the erosion was slow, although it dealth damage, it wasnt as powerful as other attacks from Noah and his subordinates, and due to the slow effect, it could be more catalogued as a Skill that slowed and weakened enemies but didn’t inflicted enough damage to make Arthur good at slaying monsters by himself completely, but he was a very good support unit.

Timassa’s stats surprised Noah a bit, as she seemed to have been fairly okay before becoming a Ghoul, being specialized in the Mind Stat, her Bolt Arrow evolved into Dark Bolt Spear, an even stronger version of the former Skill, and she also acquired the Paralyzing Dark Lightning Skill, which could let her release paralyzing shocks of lightning at her target.

Noah now had even more useful tools at his disposal!

“Dhampir? What is… this?” wondered Arthur in surprise.

“And I am a Ghoul…?” asked Timassa.

“I am a Dhampir…” said Jon.

“Welcome to my creed. I am your Vampire Progenitor, through my bite, and that of Iris who was also converted by me, you have been granted a new chance at life. Rejoice, as only greatness awaits those that follow me,” boldly said Noah.

“Vampire? Is this your Ability, Noah? To convert others into your race and give them power?” asked Arthur.

“Yes, it is an SSS-Rank Ability, after all, named the Blood Progenitor!” said Noah.

“Blood… Progenitor…” muttered Jon.

“Wait… then Noah, are you the one that sole Fernand’s Blood Core?” asked Timassa in surprise.

“Heh, that’s right,” said Noah.

—–