Continuing down the seemingly endless hallway, Alina eventually reached a chamber that stood out from the rest. This room was meticulously adorned, furnished with rows of pew chairs and walls embellished with murals, placing her directly behind what resembled an altar. 

Yet, the absence of any religious symbols, particularly those of Christianity, suggested this was no ordinary place of worship. The lack of crosses and the presence of murals hinted at something far more sinister—a place dedicated to a darker sort of reverence, perhaps the focal point of a cult.

"Don't tell me Ingrid is the leader of a vampire cult?" Alina mused. 

The sight of skeletons draped in shadowed hoods, occupying the pews, added a chilling atmosphere to the chamber. Alina could only speculate about the identities of those who once congregated in this oddball setting. The absence of any living soul was a small comfort, as the presence of such people would undoubtedly have made the situation even more daunting.

Alina carefully placed her saber on the ground, allowing it to dissolve into her inventory. Alina then began to explore the eerie confines of the cultist church, examining the skeletal remains for any clues that might shed light on her bewildering circumstances. As she continued the search, she could only wonder. 

Awakening in a coffin in an unknown location was disorienting enough, but learning of her transformation into a vampire by a mysterious figure named Ingrid added layers of complexity to her situation. 

The presence of zombies and her arrival in what appeared to be a cultist headquarters further complicated matters. The possibility that she might be perceived as a deity by the members of this cult, should she ever encounter them, was a thought that both intrigued and unnerved her.

As she moved through the room, Alina's gaze landed on a bookshelf. Drawn by a mixture of curiosity and hope for some insight, she approached it, wondering if it might hold the key to understanding the bizarre world she found herself in. She rummaged through the bookshelf, looking at each title of the book. However, one book stood out. 

Sanguish Advanced Hematic Bending Part V. 

Alina could only roll her eyes, "I wish part one was here. I don't think part five of some hematic bending technique will help me, especially the advanced one, besides, I need the basic one. Maybe, there's something else in here." 

Rummaging more on the bookshelves, she found an odd diary. She opened the first page, revealing the owner's name, Lilith. Alina already assumed that the woman was a member of this cult, and it showed. 

"First day at the inner sanctum, or rather, my initiation. I question the decision to join the house, but such thought is naught at this point. To think that I will be offered access to the inner sanctum. I intend to become the servant of Ingrid, more powerful than anyone before me." 

Alina's guess was already close to the truth, based on the several first pages she read. House of Ingrid was nothing more than a cult, in which the persona 'Ingrid' was the center of it. Weirdly enough, mages, fighters, marksmen, and healers were mentioned. So... people had class in this era? 

"I have yet to unlock the basic sanguish ability, but surely, my growth will outpace the most mundane magical marksman. The world outside is on fire, and opportunities are abundant. Sooner or later, only the strong will survive." 

Such a strong statement. Alina took the statement with a grain of salt, there was no shortage of doomsday cults, and Ingrid's could be one of them, but the zombies, the classes, and the books. She gulped down her saliva, fearing for the worse. Either she got transported into another world, or the world outside had been radically altered. 

She continued reading down the diary. The inner sanctum was apparently the first step to becoming a fully-fledged bloodmancer. Lilith mentioned that she eventually had the honor of being transformed into a vampire after mastering the basics of bloodmancer. Apparently, only vampires could use advanced bloodmancer abilities. While regular people could use advanced bloodmancers, it took them decades to even learn one skill while a vampire could easily master it in months. 

She also mentioned that the survival rate of being turned into a vampire was only two out of five people survive of being turned into a vampire. Lilith mentioned that it was one of the greatest honors the member of the house could achieve. 

After that, the diary simply stopped, with the rest of the pages being empty. Either Lilith died, or she was simply too lazy to write more about it, Alina was more on the former than the latter. She didn't mention the methods, but well, did Alina need to know? 

Still, the shittier thing about her condition was the lack of other books that spoke about bloodmancer, or rather, Sanguish Hematic Bending. Most of them were either eaten by age or torn apart until nothing was discernible from the remnants of those books. However, she finally found what she needed. 

Sanguish Basic Hematic Bending Volume 1, 3rd Edition. 

Knowing the importance of the book, Alina put the book inside of her inventory and then pulled it out again. As usual, the book now had the same dark appearance with a crimson hue, but at least, the paper was still white with streaks of red. Alina sat down on one of the chairs and opened the book. 

The first sentence was a congratulation in red for her ability to use Blood Inventory, it was a hidden text on the first page, signifying that the book must be stored from the get-go. If Blood Inventory was the basic, then what was advanced bloodmancing? Upon further reading, the next step of bloodmancing was to manipulate blood at will, their own blood, that was, turning it into multiple different objects. 

Blood swords, blood arrows, blood halberds, you name it, heck, even you could make a blood bullet. And the bullet mentioned wasn't a musket ball, no, it was a .45 ACP bullet, that would consume more than half of the blood point that a novice bloodmancer had. Not stopping there, bloodmancers could also convert regular weapons to a 'blood' type weapons as long as they had enough blood points to use them. 

To become more powerful, a bloodmancer could use two ways. One was to kill a creature, and the second one was to suck fresh blood from living/dying humanoids. Drinking stale blood also worked, but it was strictly for survival, not for increasing blood points. Alina skipped a few pages to learn more in that quick reading session, and she found several spells, with blood points requirements beyond what she had at the moment. 

[Haematic Needle Rain: 100,000 BP]

[Haematic Tornado: 200,000 BP]

[Haematic Guided Spear: 4,000 BP]

[Haematic Guided Bullet: Variable]

[BP > Aether Conversion Guide: 1 BP > 10 Aether]

The bottom line, she didn't have enough blood points to use those abilities. Well, at least, she still had a saber, and she had superhuman strengths. There were also some aether spells, but there was no manual for it in the book. It was exclusive for bloodmancer. Still, there was one thing interesting, a general status screen that showed her screen on the book. 

[Ability Unlocked: Diagnose]

[Alina Lisbell - ???] [BP: 250]

Class: None

Strength: 70

Agility: 25

Perception: 30

Vitality: 10

Aptitude: 10

General Skills: [Blood Inventory] [Magnifier] [Diagnose]

General Perks: NONE

Alina recognized the pattern; the presence of question marks hinted at hidden secrets or locked capabilities yet to be unveiled. It seemed likely that these enigmatic symbols were placeholders for knowledge or power she had not yet unlocked. Even the 'none' on his class would mean that she needed to gain more Blood Points. Maybe, it would unlock more of her origin. 

Nevertheless, Alina closed the book and put it back into her Blood Inventory for safekeeping. This place wasn't safe, if the zombies could find a way in, there should have been a way out, right? Despite all of that, Alina still refused to believe that this was the real world, it didn't make any sense at all. 

"Wait," the skills, the class, the ease-of-use for spells, it was all reminiscent of a game world, right? If this was a real world, there should be a complex process of learning it. Alina then smiled in excitement, hoping that this was a solution to her problem. "Log out!" 

Nothing happened. 

Alina then put her hand on her peripheral vision, hoping that it would reveal a hidden menu or something like that, but instead, it only opened a status layout right in front of her eyes. She then looked straight and tried grasping each corner of her vision, but nothing. 

Log out, she thought, hope fluttering from her chest. 

Still nothing. 

No matter what variation of words she used, no matter which hand gesture or thought she tried, she could not wake herself from this 'game.' The conclusion was clear, either this was reality, or she got stuck in some sort of virtual reality with death game in mind. Only one word came out from her mouth. 

Shit.