Chapter 88: Sugar Mommy Ate the Good Parts and Left the Rest!?

Chapter 88: Chapter 88: Sugar Mommy Ate the Good Parts and Left the Rest!?

Lucien’s eyes opened to find Carmilla standing far too close, studying his face with unnerving intensity.

He blinked but she didn’t move.

He blinked again. "...How long have you been staring at me?"

"Since your body finished forming."

"Why?"

"Because you’re very interesting."

[Ding!]

[Bloodline Evolution Complete]

[Original Bloodline: Crimson Origin Bloodline — Mythical]

[Evolution: Successful]

[New Bloodline Detected: ??? — Divine Rank]

[Secondary Bloodline Detected: ??? — Mythical Rank]

[Reason for Unknown Names: No recorded existence of compatible bloodlines identified. Assignment required from host.]

Lucien stared. "...Two?"

Carmilla’s eyes went wide. "Two?"

She leaned in closer, genuinely delighted. "That’s new."

’I’m the first person to ever have these,’ he realized, reading it again. ’Completely new bloodlines and two of them at that.’

’Naming them properly can wait until later, right now I’ve got a Goddess to deal with.’ He closed the interface.

Carmilla stepped back, finally giving him room to take stock of himself.

He was taller, not dramatically, but noticeably. Leaner and more sculpted, his muscles denser without any added bulk. His skin looked healthier than it had any right to after what his body had just survived. His hair, fully regrown, fell long and black past his shoulders.

Carmilla waved a hand seeing as he was checking himself, as a mirror formed in front of him, his eyes weren’t the crimson he remembered, they were deeper and richer somehow, like the color itself had improved.

A tiny blood-drop mark sat on his forehead, Carmilla’s contract seal, now somehow integrated into his actual features amd improving his looks instead of just resting on top of them.

And finally the new additions, two small horns curved back from his temples, unmistakably demonic horns as he was very familiar with them.

He touched one. "Ive got horns"

"Cute," Carmilla said.

"They’re not cute."

"They’re adorable."

"They’re just horns."

"Exactly my point, and they make you look cute."

She circled him slowly, admiring his new body in full detail. "They suit you."

’Great,’ he thought. ’Now I look like every other vampire in House Aethernis, well atkeast I won’t stand out.’

Carmilla’s expression sharpened as she extended her Divine Sense over him, checking his new bloodlines, his body, his soul and his mana pathways all at once.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

He clenched a fist as the pressure alone felt different now, like his body had finally clicked into a shape it was always meant to occupy.

"Stronger," he said. "Much stronger."

"That’s the difference," Carmilla said, "between a faulty Mythical bloodline and a properly functioning Divine one."

’It wasn’t just weak,’ Lucien thought, letting that land. ’It was broken this whole time. Everything I built up until now was built on a foundation with a hole in it, that would have cost me in the future.’

Then Carmilla’s expression shifted.

"Wait."

She looked toward his chest.

"There’s something else."

"The other bloodline," he said.

Her eyes brightened instantly. "You can feel it?"

"It’s my body, so it’s kind of hard to miss."

She examined it again, then a third time, Divine Sense pressing deeper each pass. Then she went quiet.

"What," he said.

"It’s still there."

"I know that."

"No, you don’t understand." She looked genuinely thrown. "It’s empty."

"Empty?"

She checked once more, and slowly pieced together what had happened. His new Divine Bloodline hadn’t destroyed the Divine demon blood, and it hadn’t left it whole either.

It had stripped it bare of it’s essence, properties, useful traits, divine energy, all of it consumed and absorbed into his new vampire bloodline, improving it further, but it didn’t devour everything as some things weren’t compatible with it, so it left those aside.

And what remained somehow got together and avoided being erased, forming another bloodline in him. A shell, with Mythical rank in name only, and functionally worth less than a much lower-ranked bloodline that at least had use in it.

"Fascinating," Carmilla murmured.

"Is that bad?"

"I don’t know." She laughed, delighted by her own uncertainty. "That’s the problem."

’I expected complete absorption, she thought, studying him with new intensity. ’Or complete destruction, definitely not this. Not a bloodline that eats the good parts and politely leaves the rest sitting there like an empty house, it would have made more sense if it erased those parts instead.’

"You’re full of surprises," she said, tapping his bare chest. "Even your bloodlines don’t behave normally, that’s why I wanted you."

"I don’t think that’s a compliment."

"It is, coming from me." She grinned.

’A Divine Bloodline forged from my own blood,’ Carmilla thought, watching him with a curiosity she hadn’t felt in longer than she wanted to admit.

’A hollowed-out Mythical Demon Bloodline that somehow survived being gutted alive. A mortal soul that endured two divine bloods warring inside it and came out the other side with two bloodlines.’

’What exactly are you, Lucien?’

She smiled to herself.

’This just got so much more interesting than I expected, maybe I should keep him for myself?’

"Do you want to dismantle your cultivation now?" she asked eventually. "I can help, though you’d still need to actually learn the Foundation Severance Scripture yourself first, which would take a few days, probably, even with my guidance."

Lucien considered it.

Then shook his head. "No."

"Why not?"

He smiled faintly. "I miss my wives."

She blinked. "Already?"

"I’ve been here for what feels like days."

"...Fair, even i don’t like sitting in one place too long." Ahe said, as Lucien thought she and Eve would get along well.

"I’ll dismantle it back home, I’m sure it won’t be as dangerous as this." he said.

Something occurred to him as they spoke. "You said you’d fund my cultivation."

Her eyes narrowed, amused. "Yes?"

"Then I need resources."

She burst out laughing. "Already taking advantage of your Goddess?"

He gave her a completely flat look. "You promised."

"Fine." She snapped her fingers.

The white space filled with crimson light.

CRASH.

Blood Mana Crystals materialized in staggering quantity, piling into small mountains around them, as Lucien activated Appraisal on them.

[Blood Mana Crystals]

[C Rank: 6,500]

[B Rank: 2,400]

[A Rank: 700]

[? Rank: 28]

Lucien stared at the last number. ’...Those are probably S-Rank.’

"Is your storage ring large enough to carry all this?" Carmilla asked casually.

He looked at her slowly. "Yes."

"Good boy."

He began storing everything, mountain after mountain vanishing into his ring in steady waves.

"Well," Carmilla said, watching the last pile disappear, "at least I know my Champion isn’t going to depend on me for everything, though I wouldn’t mind it, since I am you sugar mommy."

"You’re my Goddess."

"Sugar mommy, Goddess, is what it is, though I like the sound of sugar mommy more."

"Can I leave now?" he asked.

"Yes." A pause. "Actually,"

He tensed immediately. "What?"

She smiled. "I’ve decided to change something."

She wanted him to become her Disciple.

"Isn’t that just what Holy Son already is?"

"No," she said, delighted to explain. "A Holy Son represents me and my religion, that sort of thing. A Disciple is my student. Someone I actually teach. Someone I give resources, techniques, guidance, and opportunities to." She grinned. "I’d basically become your real sugar mommy. Isn’t that exciting?"

Lucien stared. "You’re a Goddess."

"And?"

"That makes the sentence worse, not better."

She laughed, entirely unbothered.

"I can also send a small part of my soul to keep you company."

He hesitated, and she noticed immediately.

"Don’t worry," she said, more gently than he expected. "I can’t read your thoughts anymore, the contract took care of that and I won’t interfere with your private matters. The disciple bond won’t expose anything you’re keeping to yourself, and it won’t change anyhting besides me being able to pamper you more."

"That’s oddly considerate."

"I’m a considerate Goddess." She continued. "Also a full divine presence following or paying attention to you would attract attention from beings you really don’t want noticing you yet. So only a fragment of me will stay with you, small enough to talk, not enough to be visible to anyone but you, unless you choose to show it."

"And your fragments memories?"

"Sync with the main me, in real time. Anything you tell the fragment, I know. Anything I decide, the fragment knows."

"So you’re putting a divine communication device in my forehead."

"A very affectionate and loving one."

"That is not reassuring."

He agreed anyway. "Fine."

"Excellent."

A small portion of her separated from the rest of her manifestation, a tiny sphere of crimson white light, drifting toward him. It sank into his forehead, into the mark, and vanished.

’Hello, sugar baby.’

Her voice, inside his own head now.

He went very still. "You’re already annoying."

’I like you too,’ she said, laughing softly in his skull.

"Where do you want to go?" she asked, opening a portal ahead of him.

He considered, deeper floors equaled more traits and more blood. But then thought about Aurelia, Seraphina, Evelisse.

"Just send me out."

"Of course."

He paused. "Wait, do you have a way where i can come back later secretly?"

She produced a small crimson key from between her breats, unremarkable looking, and still warm to the touch, as she explained it’s use.

Carmilla’s Crimson Key — Mythical

Allows entry to any of Carmilla’s dungeons from anywhere in the mortal world, provided you have been there before. Can transport upto five people. Generates an entrance gate at the user’s location, exit returns them to their original position.

"Don’t show this to anyone you don’t fully trust," she warned.

He understood immediately as the key melted into his palm, leaving a faint crimson mark behind.

"Can you also find my party?" He asked, just to be sure they didn’t enter back in, as he examined how they looked.

She closed her eyes briefly. "Found them."

"Where?"

"Floor Three."

He frowned. "Floor Three?"

"How long do you think you’ve been here, my sugar baby?"

He didn’t actually know. "...How long?"

"Time flows differently in spaces like this," she said.

"Normally about twice as fast as outside, but for your transformation, I sped it up to twenty times." She smiled. "So nearly one hundred hours passed for you."

His stomach dropped. "And outside?"

"About five."

He froze. ’Five hours only, Rika’s party hasn’t had time to go further, the girls haven’t been worried for days and Malrith hasn’t had time to do anything drastic.’

"Thank you," he said, meaning it fully.

She smiled, something genuinely warm behind it. "You’re welcome."

He stepped toward the portal.

"Lucien."

He turned back as she looked him up and down, grin spreading slowly.

"Aren’t you forgetting something?"

"What?"

She pointed.

He looked down.

Silence descended.

He was completely naked, his clothes long gone in the chaos of the bloodline war.

"...You could have mentioned this earlier."

"Why would I, when I was enjoying the view?"

He sighed, pulled a set of clothes from his storage ring, and got dressed with as much dignity as the situation allowed as she watched.

"You’re no fun," she said, laughing.

He stepped through the portal without dignifying that with a response.

He appeared in the Bloodmoon Ruins Floor 3, deliberately keeping his distance, close enough to reach the party naturally and far enough that his sudden appearance wouldn’t demand an impossible explanation.

He suppressed his presence moving toward them and observed for a moment.

There they were, Rika, Kael, Vex, Zalor, moving slowly through Floor Three, exhaustion written into every step.

A small smile spread on his face as he walked toward them.

Rika didn’t notice at first, then Vex stopped mid-stride, eyes going wide. Zalor turned sharply as Kael’s grip on his weapon nearly slipped entirely.

Rika froze completely, staring.

Lucien raised one hand. "Yo."

Silence.

"...Luc?" Rika said confused.

He smiled. "Miss me?"

Kael’s face cycled through several emotions in half a second before landing on outrage. "WHAT THE HELL?!"

"That’s impossible," Vex said.

"I knew he wouldn’t die so easily," Zalor added, confident.

They didn’t wait for an explanation and simply ran, closing the distance faster than Lucien had time to brace for it