***

The feverish aurora of the polluted night sky danced upon armor, yet none noticed the solitary presence atop the nondescript building. Through silverine helm gleamed all-seeing eyes, observing, scouring the darkness of the night, for something, anything, but ultimately... finding nothing.

Knight Xavier had exhausted every conceivable avenue, yet even the AllSight CCV9 that blazed within his eyes were blind to what he sought.

His desperation had even led him to the Faesycian Clinic, the one with the decommissioned security system, the very same he stood upon right now, only finding the premises looted, security records wiped with thorough precision, and what he assumed were the remnants of the Faesycian floating in the rat-infested drainage below.

None proved useful.

Worse yet, the beeping in his ear had had grown frequent and agitated, but he could afford to ignore them... for now.

Time was scarce. But he lacked the faintest clue on how to proceed.

In the end, this seemed fated to end the same. Try as he might to circumvent contradictory orders, he would always be brought to a halt by jarring politics. The same as every other attempt, to pursue those that lurked in the shadows.

Silver gauntlets tightened, creaking metal forming fists of silver, glinting in the feverish night sky.

Xavier had sworn this time would be the exception, but if even his best attempts couldn't succeed, what more could he do?

And that was when his all-seeing eyes widened.

A faded pulse of red, marking a figure, captured briefly in a discretely hidden camera before it vanished into the video stream.

Had Xavier not been nearby, wholly focused on scanning the region, he would’ve missed it...

But he hadn't.

A cursory glance solved the mystery of the matter– the video was now being looped.

The Knight's glowing eyes rippled, peered through the data and the digital system, finally finding the evidence of tamper, an intrusive presence.

A net-weaver.

Decent, needing only a second to bypass the Capital Surveillance Protocols, and perhaps even talented, assuming they had remained hidden by weaving into the city security system throughout, only now having made a mistake by being a bit too slow to react.

Knight Xavier couldn't help but frown at the sheer coincidence. He had arrived at this clinic on a wild goose chase, but it appeared that the goose he chased and the orders he had received shared some common threads.

Perhaps the ones he chased, his own personal crusade, could be progressed?

With nothing else for a lead, he decided to pay this net weaver a visit.

His eyes flickered, zooming towards the face in the half-second footage, highlighted by the red hue of those wanted by the law.

A person of considerable interest, and a wanted man, if he wasn’t mistaken.

In fact, they should be the person of interest right now, the most wanted, whom Capital Corporation, and supposedly even the Blades, the Hakuryuu, and the Craven warred over the borders for– a certain mid-tier gangster, one Hayato Ryota.

***

Zhan Shen had been, perhaps understandably, suspicious about the sudden request for blood.

Miles couldn’t even justify feeling offended, because the last time around, he had tricked the old butler into assisting his transformation into a vampire.

Thus, it had taken a few minutes to clarify that this wasn’t the case now, or just about satiating his thirst, and more about using different blood sources for experimentation. After all, Haruka did say ‘they were welcome to use whatever’. He was going to assume that imply the Faesycian’s supply of blood was at their disposal.

However, that had come with its own unique set of problems. Consuming blood from an outer city ripper-doc without any knowledge on who or where the blood had come from, was a line that Miles was not willing to cross.

Fortunately, Cadmus had proven to be invaluable here, weaving through a low-level backdoor to breach into the rather ineptly secured Capital Corp. Outer City Medical Database. It was surprising how many law-abiding citizens had provided in-detail health records to the trustworthy corporation, to whom patient privacy was obviously a priority... not.

This worked to his benefit, as all Cadmus now needed to do was cross-reference the patient data with those of the blood donors.

It was a bit troublesome that blood bags labeled with standardized health information were not the norm, the majority using nothing more than a sticker with a scrawled-on blood type and a ‘believe-it’ expiry date, Miles making sure to steer clear of those.

And even when the cross-analysis was actually feasible, Miles' perfectly average and definitely ordinary standards meant that any donor with less than stellar health records were avoided.

It should’ve been a fairly time-consuming process, but with Cadmus efficiently handling the bulk of the work, a few minutes was all it took to provide his with far too much medical information on the blood donors.

And that was how Miles found himself where he was, lying awkwardly against the embossed metal of the Lefayescan once more, staring at a wheeled table he had pulled over to be within arm's reach, or more specifically, the small black bag placed upon it.

The bag was half-open, revealing a metallic interior that wafted out clouds of cold vapor. This was a type of portable refrigeration carrier, filled with the blood bags Cadmus had deemed to satisfy his requirements.

Eighteen blood bags were placed within, categorized based on varying degrees of freshness and blood type, the final three being particularly unique.

Miles was eyeing the most recent of the bags of blood, sourced directly from a stubborn butler who had insisted. Even as he sloshed the bag around, the transparent plastic bag of blood type A+ felt unusually heavy in his hands.

Despite his relative success so far, even at the moment Miles found himself needing to exert conscious effort to restrain the desire to tear into this blood bag, to gorge on the liquid that he instinctively knew would scratch the dry itch pervading his body.

He had tried gulping air for the last few minutes, attempting to train himself to resist the urge, or at least lessen it.

It had not helped.

Yet, something continued to restrain him. The frayed yet unbroken thread that was his sense of reason perhaps.

Well, that and Zhan Shen who had, and was still eyeing him with tactlessly unhidden suspicion.

The old butler was not at all pleased. Even though Miles had proved that Vampirism was not unstable and that it would not lead to a self-collapsing implosion by over-exceeding his Faetality, the old butler seemed stuck in the opinion that it would be 'problematic'.

He didn't disagree. Sure, it could be problematic, but...

It would also be effective. And it had been.

Miles would not have fared so well in the altercation with the dozen Hakuryuu runts had it not been for Vampirism. The sense of touch of his Enhanced Senses acting almost as a sixth sense, and Unconditional Undeath being the only reason he no longer had a hole in his shoulder.

Zhan Shen was even better aware of this, but it didn't seem to mean that the old butler would be happy about it.

Miles narrowed his eyes at nothing in particular, it hadn't taken long to realize he was stalling.

He was stalling, to hold off from drinking the blood.

Miles pulled a troubled hand through his hair.

A part of him knew there was no reason to stew over this so much. He had already drunk blood, a few drops of Zhan Shen’s own.

The blood he consumed would even strengthen his lifeline that was Conditional Undeath, becoming the fuel that gave it power.

But another part of him knew, that back then, he had still been human.

He had been alive.

This would be different.

He could feel it, the anticipation, the expectation…

Miles shook his head clear, focusing on breathing.

Since it was an emotional quandary that was holding him back, Miles just stopped thinking and forced himself ahead.

The bag was almost torn open, as he tilted his head back.

And the moment the blood hit his tongue…

Miles knew he had been right. This was completely different.

He almost gagged, eyes-widening in surprise, but never stopped drinking, not until what remained in his hands was a flat, flabby piece of plastic.

Blood tasted nothing like the jarring combination of iron and metal it had been before, no, this was downright delicious.

Fortunately for Miles, it wasn’t out of this world. He could imagine himself living without it, as the blood was at most, merely on par with the best culinary, he had ever had the fortune of eating.

The relevant notifications followed.

Ding!

[1 BP (Blood Point) gained.]

Ding!

[Personal BP restored to 8/10]

‘Hmm, the average blood bag contains about 500 ml? Which is once again approximately a pint, so getting a blood point for a pint is as expected.’

Despite the ‘decent' taste, what made blood remarkable, perhaps even irreplaceable, was the fact that it had satisfied the uncomfortable thirst that had been nagging him for the last few hours…

Perhaps Miles had been lost in the feeling of the comfort, as it was only after he had autonomously reached for the next blood bag, when he was on the very verge of ripping into it, that he realized.

Miles hurried to restrain himself, dropping the blood bag like a piece of scalding metal.

Deep breaths.

‘I’m in control. I’m replenishing the blood points. Not going blood crazed... again. I'm not drinking blood like a beast gone feral...’

It took a few moments for Miles to reaffirm control and feel reassured enough to take back the blood bag. A glance revealed that this one was just three days old, blood type A-.

And with a focused breath, he ripped in.

Ding!

[1 BP gained.]

[Personal BP restored to 9/10]

Feeling the dryness and the discomfort decreased even more, Miles sighed in welcome relief. Careful to be willful this time, he reached for another. Five days old, blood type B+.

Ding!

[1 BP gained.]

[Personal BP fully restored to 10/10]

The empty plastic bag crumpled as Miles slapped it onto the side of the Lefayescan.

Finally.

He felt… good. Whole, sated, and– right.

Miles was comfortable in a way he had forgotten he could be.

'Holy hells, this– this is nice.'

No longer did he have to suppress the discomfort or ignore the unruly thoughts he could not believe were born of his own mind.

He was more than just a bit comforted by the knowledge that he would be back to himself once the blood points were fully replenished.

Yet, a traitorous part of his mind couldn’t let it go.

How much control of himself would he lose, if he had lost more blood? More than just 3 blood points?

If it had already been this challenging…

Miles shook his head clear. That was a problem for a different time.

Hoping to distract himself, he set his sights on the Omnisight and the FRI scan that had been chained into an animation by Cadmus while he had been focusing on drinking the blood.

Strangely enough, the FRIs seemed to have sensed nothing from the blood entering his stomach and digestive system.

Instead, the unseen blood that should have been in his stomach, had somehow manifested in his circulatory system. The actual process going undetected by the Lefayescan.

Moreover, this process and fully replenishing his Personal Blood Points had resulted in a noticeable change in the blood energy. The vivid red of the blood in his veins had brightened, but when observed in the FRI animation, the intensity and voraciousness of the blood had reduced significantly.

It was an obvious conclusion that the amount of blood available had an effect on the flow of the energy, perhaps even being related to the thirst he had been suffering from.

Musing on the implications of the revelations, Miles moved on to considering the effects of the differences in the blood bags he had drunk so far.

The blood being three days older seemed to have led to no noticeable change, along with no virtual difference despite the change in blood type. But this wasn’t nearly sufficient to arrive at any useful conclusion on the subject.

More experimentation would be necessary.

But just before he did, Miles shifted his attention, scrutinizing the skill he had attempted to use, unsuccessfully, multiple times now.

[Skills: Haemomancy - {Ripae Sanguine (Blood Bank) - Inferior}]

If the skill was ever going to have any effect, now was the time. Expectant, Miles reached for another blood bag, this one being seven days old, type B-.

Ding!

[1 BP gained.]

[Stored in Blood Bank: 1/100]

Miles' eyes widened, a grin creeping into his face.

Finally, finally, there was an effect from the silent skill!

‘So, it is an actual bank for blood! 10 blood points, roughly equivalent to about the 5 liters of blood undoubtedly referring to the personal blood in my body. Thus, anything additional, up to 100 points would be stored here in this bank.’

Nevertheless, he had to wonder.

‘Would it have been so difficult to explain the specifics of this skill through the system the moment I gained the skill? Like the Newborn class was explained in detail?’

Miles pursed his lips.

Perhaps he was overreacting, but was it really so much to include explanations for the skills given by a seemingly omnipotent, omniscient system? It was almost as if it had been designed to make things more difficult than was needed.

Nevertheless, Miles was still very satisfied with the effects of Ripae Sanguine. Simply put, with a fully filled 100/100 blood bank, this was equivalent to an additional 10 lives!

Forget the nine lives of the Felinei, the Vampire Blood Bank went for the win!

Well, assuming, the conversion ratio between blood points and health points was uniform that is. Miles wasn’t exactly sure, but from what he had seen from his regeneration, it wasn't one-to-one.

However, the most interesting observation was what had been detected by the FRIs during the process.

And that was nothing. Just nothing, as there seemed to be no change in his faesiology, nothing to notice.

The chained FRI animation only showed the standard motion in the blood energy, and even Cadmus confirmed there had been no comparative change in the blood energy itself.

They could only conclude that whatever unseen process had transferred the blood in his stomach to his veins, had worked once more, except this time the final location was different. Presumably transferring the consumed blood to the Blood Bank, wherever that was.

Realizing that this was not a mystery that could be solved with a simple Lefayescan FRI, Miles decided to move on.

Since the Ripae Sanguine skill could even help him control his hunger for blood, he felt rather justified in filling himself up on blood bags. So, he continued, selecting blood bags in increasing order of date sourced, while still varying the type.

Ding!

[4 BP gained.]

[Stored in Blood Bank: 5/100]

By now, he had already tested all eight blood types, and yet there had been no visible difference in the results due any of them. His blood points had replenished accordingly, and that had been all.

‘Blood type is irrelevant. Confirmed. Sourced date? So far nothing, but we’ll see.’

Miles continued, now ignoring the blood type and only considering the date.

Three bags of blood and nothing had changed with the results, his blood points had continuing to rise.

Ding!

[3 BP gained.]

[Stored in Blood Bank: 8/100]

But the moment he tasted a blood bag exceeding the 20th day, Miles felt a change.

Ding!

[1 BP gained.]

[Stored in Blood Bank: 9/100]

The change was in the taste. He could taste the age in the blood. Old, almost rusty, and considerably more unappetizing, but not to the point that he couldn’t handle it.

‘Ugh, terrible, tastes like someone dumped rotten cyberware in perfectly good soup.

But the result is quite interesting. Doesn't the efficiency of oxygen delivery by red blood cells diminish around the third week? Could that be what is affecting the taste? Very possible, but if that is so…'

With only a moment’s pause, Miles continued to consume the blood bags. As the blood grew older, the taste continued to worsen, but at least the blood point gain continued.

Ding!

[2 BP gained.]

[Stored in Blood Bank: 11/100]

Miles was absolutely appalled by the flavor of that last blood bag, tasting his mouth to see if it would ever leave. Still, he shifted his gaze towards the final of the fifteen. This one happened to be over 45 days old.

‘That significantly exceeds the typical storage duration of a blood bag maintained under optimal conditions. Which means, there should be a deviation from the norm here...'

But just as he ripped out the top of the bag, a putrid odor assailed his nostrils, reminiscent of the decaying corpses from the alleyways of Yumekuro.

Miles really didn’t want to consume this, but compelled himself to, reassured that this would be in the pursuit of science, and somehow managed to swallow a mouthful.

Ding!

[Toxic blood(lesser) consumed.]

[-0.3 BP gained. Negligible, not considered.]

Even as the notifications came in, Miles was sputtering. The blood was utterly repugnant, like the former rotten cyberware soup had been garnished with... death.

‘...It was a good lesson at least?’

However, the repulsive taste lingered in his taste buds, persistent. Unable to overcome the trauma of the atrocious blood, Miles hurled himself off the Lefayescan and rushed to grab one of Zhan Shen’s outer city canned drinks. Most of them were Boundless Energy, supposedly produced by Vulcan Corp. the world-class weapons manufacturer, if the label were to be believed.

Miles couldn't care less and guzzled it down. Even a good serving of artificial chemicals couldn’t completely wash off the taste, but the unnaturally strong flavor helped overpower the taste of rotten blood.

The realization that he was almost feeling thankful for this terrible excuse for a drink was something Miles had never expected he would be thinking. It only made him even more exasperated with the situation, wishing for a glass of good wine. But how could an outer city Faesycian possibly have anything on par with a glass of Clurichaun?

He could only sigh in defeat.

Zhan Shen who had been watching everything with a raised eyebrow, was seemingly amused, “What? I know very well how picky you are with your ‘cuisine’ Master Miles, but who knew it would carry over to blood as well? Somethings never change,” and nodded sagely.

Miles scoffed, annoyed by the fact that the old butler had somehow managed to read his thoughts, even as he broke into another can of the terribly flavorless yet godsent energy drink, “It’s called having a refined palate old Zhan, not like you ever understood. And no, that blood was just purely bad.”

And as if to make a point, he took the still almost full bag of expired blood and dropped it into a container of what he believed was clinical waste disposal.

Zhan Shen shrugged, “Very well, let us ignore the Vampire who can’t handle some expired blood. Master Miles, since your experimentation with blood seemed to be going well enough, and I have confirmed that the Vampiric Nature is not worsening, I’ll be taking a short leave.”

Miles narrowed his eyes, “Why?”

The old butler paused for a few seconds, gathering his words, “It’s not that I don’t trust the Faesycian, I believe she will keep her word, but, there is something strange about this clinic. I can’t really sense or pinpoint it, and it might just be the overwhelming number of will-o-wisp signs she has decorated the place with... but it’s just strange.”

Miles raised an eyebrow, “We’re confident it has nothing to do with tracking down Hayato Ryota for that fight you missed?”

Zhan Shen froze, but began to laugh with an agreeing nod, “Alright, maybe that too.”

Miles shook his head with an exasperated sigh, “Well then, happy hunting old Zhan," and lifted the half-empty can of boundless energy with well-wishes.

Huh, another thing he’d never thought he’d be doing. Toasting... with cans.

***

Miles was back in the Lefayescan, lying against the uncomfortable human shaped indentation of metal, staring at the refrigerated bag, eyeing the final three special blood bags.

What was unique about these was that two of them, one appearing rather ordinary, the other with a greenish tint, contained blood sourced from– Faehumans.

The first was from an Eta-55, supposedly having filled out his fatality with some basic physical enhancement serums for a balanced and reasonable build.

Miles didn’t take long to consume it, as the remnant taste of expired blood still clung to his mouth and he was eager to wash it down.

Ding!

[Faehuman (Eta - Enhanced) blood consumed.]

[1 BP gained.]

[Stored in Blood Bank: 12/100]

But besides the system acknowledging the faehuman source of the blood, nothing actually changed.

There was a barely noticeable change in the taste, like a faint indistinct flavor, but owing to the fact that this was only a week old, it was mostly the standard delicious blood.

Frowning, Miles reached for the next, the greenish blood bag, sourced from a fellow Zeta-730 faehuman. Records stated that the woman had focused purely on strength enhancement serums, and as a loyal Capital Corporate employee even managed to get her hands on a basic Fae Ability Serum - Super Strength.

The ability in question was extremely rudimentary, but even at the Goblin tier, the ability could temporarily triple or even quadruple the user’s base Strength Attribute.

It may have sounded overwhelming, but there was a reason why Fae Serums were held in such high regard compared to cybernetics. This woman must've packed quite the punch.

Intrigued as to what the results might be, he guzzled down the bag.

Ding!

[Faehuman (Zeta - Enhanced Super Strength) blood consumed.]

[1 BP gained.]

[Stored in Blood Bank: 13/100]

The 'added' flavor was clearer now, a sharp, tang blended with the taste of iron and metal, but Miles frowned.

He wasn’t even sure what he had been expecting, but he had at least expected the other skill he had been unable to use, the even more elusive [Hereditas Sanguinis (Blood Inheritance) - Unique] would react. But nothing of the sort had happened.

Well, before he threw in the towel entirely, there was one more blood bag left…

Miles reached for the pure green bag of liquid, the one he had left for last.

A bag of Goblin blood.

Technically not sold legally, but not at all difficult to acquire if you knew where to look. There were always mercs and solo faehumans who’d venture into the everglades outside the city to hunt some fae for a few credits.

There was one problem here though, the fact that a goblin’s blood could not be compared with the medical database to satisfy Miles’ requirements. Well, he had confirmed that this wasn’t expired at the very least. Anything beyond that, he had to chalk up to sacrifices in the line of science.

So, without much further thought, he guzzled it down.

Ding!

[Fae (Goblin - Lesser) blood consumed.]

[1 BP gained.]

[Stored in Blood Bank: 14/100]

The taste was completely changed. A distinct earthy, bitter flavor, what he would expect a mixture of moss and earthen minerals to taste like, yet it too was standardly delicious.

But once again, despite the system acknowledgement, nothing had changed notification-wise.

The goblin’s blood had been treated more or less the same as that of a human.

Miles chewed on his lip.

The system's show of racial equality was... disappointing.

There were two possibilities here.

Either he was completely incorrect on his assumptions about Blood Inheritance, and the skill had nothing to do with drinking blood or… there was something wrong with his approach. Perhaps drinking blood from blood bags, without contact to the actual source, was not allowed?

Miles wasn’t entirely on board with the idea of basically leaving hickeys on random people, but… thus was the price of science, and eventual power.

He heaved a sigh, his hopes for the skill mostly dashed.

It was time to give up on the unique skill, at least for now.

Fortunately for Miles, there was another avenue that he had left to explore and mentally called out the system screen, the one that had been left unconfirmed last time

Ding!

||Class Activation Reward||

[The Kindred may choose any of the following.

10 free Attribute Points {+}

OR

Skill: |Haemomancy| – {Sanguis Ardeat - Inferior} {+}]

It was decision time.

10 free attribute points could be useful, but based on the Newborn class he would be given physical attribute points with every level up, along with a free attribute point. He even had four of those stashed right now.

So, did he really need more?

Sure, higher numbers were never counterproductive. One could even argue that these 10 points equaled all the free attribute points he would be getting with the ten levels prior to the ‘evolution’, and could augment him in numerous ways, bolstering any skill set.

Comparatively, the potential of a skill held a different allure.

An irreplicable, unique power. Akin to the distinction between enhancement and ability fae serums.

Pure attribute points going up, or a potentially useful skill?

Sure, there was some risk that Sanguis Ardeat could be challenging or confusing to use, but Blood Inheritance was a unique skill, and his only other inferior skill, Blood Bank, was nothing short of amazing.

Honestly, was there even a choice here?

Well, yes, and with a mental confirmation Miles made it.

Ding!

[You have unlocked Skill: |Haemomancy| – {Sanguis Ardeat - Inferior}]

Miles felt something shift, markedly different from when he had received the skills Blood Bank or Blood Inheritance before. It was like he had been given a big red button, mentally. It wasn’t knowledge or understanding, but an instinctive awareness of what needed to be done to activate the skill.

He breathed deeply, scrutinizing himself, but despite this newfound awareness everything else remained unchanged.

So, without further ado, he followed the instinct and 'pressed'.

HISS!

Miles had been so immersed in the act of activating the skill, that the sudden blaze that ignited within his body shocked him, even prompting a yelp of pain.

A flame-like heat pervaded his entire physique, invigorating to the point of eliciting near spasms, and an excruciating pain that felt like he was being immersed in boiling water. No, it was more like he was the boiling water.

Fortunately, it was also shocking enough to stop him from continuing with whatever it was that he had initiated.

Ding!

[The blood burns.

-0.1 BP (Negligible. Not considered.)]

Miles shuddered, glad that he was in the Lefayescan, because he would have collapsed otherwise, ‘What in the Sidhe was that?’

For a moment there, it had felt as if liquid fire had replaced the blood that should have been within his veins. Even now, he could feel the residual heat spreading through him, the unnaturalness of suddenly reaching boiling temperatures difficult to just ignore.

Through agonized, uncomfortable breaths, Miles turned to the Omnisight and the chained animation generated by the FRIs, hoping to at least distract himself from the pain.

And distract him, it did.

The blood energy had been flowing through his veins normally when, all of a sudden, it just deviated into complete... chaos.

Like a hive of enraged bees, the blood energy lost its standard flow, falling into a tumultuous rumbling around, chaotic, with no direction or intention, even phasing through the veins into his muscles and flesh as it did so, similar to what had been observed with Conditional Undeath.

Even though Miles had instinctively halted the skill, the process of the energy calming down was much slower. The shuddering blood energy seemed far easier to agitate than pacify. Even now, it was only gradually settling, taking several seconds despite Miles only having used the skill for a mere moment.

The FRI analysis was completed, but just like the agitated blood, Miles found himself unable to sit still.

He hopped off the Lefayescan, still reeling from the pain, and began to pace around the clinic in the hope of walking off the pain and forcing the heat dissipate faster.

A few minutes later, Miles was still fast walking around the clinic, actively sweating due to the pervasive heat, even though he had stuck his hands inside the refrigeration bag, the ice-cold air helping considerably.

‘Hah, a vampire that sweats! I'm sure there's a joke there somewhere.'

He relished the moment of amusement, because honestly, Miles was disappointed. He had truly drawn the short end of the stick with this skill.

The potential ability of shooting flames of blood with Sanguis Ardeat had ended up being a pipe dream. It was actually about inducing 100-degree fevers, for himself.

'What the hell am I supposed to do with this?'

Miles wracked his brain for ideas, when a stray though struck him, 'Wait, Cadmus did report marginally lower body temperatures, and paler skin.’

He stared at his face in the reflection of Haruka’s Pirisidium table, the glass-like reflective metal depicting his visage in perfect clarity. Miles had been very grateful to realize that despite being a Vampire, he could still see his own reflection. That would've been quite an annoying trait to hide and get around.

Regardless, Miles could now see that his appearance was considerably more flushed, the red of the heat and the sweat making him look considerably livelier.

‘I suppose it could be helpful in hiding my Undeath?’

He knew he was grasping at straws here, but he didn’t feel like cursing himself for the bad decision either. In fact, he wasn't in the expected bad mood at all.

Mostly Miles just felt energized... Like he wanted to hop around the clinic, like a street kid drunk on a dozen cans of Boundless Energy.

Huh, that was unusual.

Miles' eyes widened in excitement, 'Blood Burn! Could this be a side-effect of the agitated blood energy? Agitating my own physique, energizing as a side-effect?'

A temporary enhancement in stamina did not compare to 10 free attribute points, but it was still something.

Miles was quite relieved as he began to ponder on the possibilities, when...

His eyes fell upon the multiple discarded energy drink cans he had consumed, previously and even recently to cool himself down.

And with that, he had a truly ridiculous thought, “There's no way it's actually the boundless energy, right?”