Chapter 329: Best of both worlds.

"What do you think? Were they right?"

And Aurelia... after a few seconds of silence—

"You fought Varek, you tell me."

That made Lucian pause.

Aurelia shook her head, not pressing any further.

"They continued experimenting for centuries, their belief in their theory was strong, but the experiments simply weren’t working out the way they intended them to, no matter how much they tried to stabilise the subjects.

In the end, a few of the researchers came to a different conclusion."

The Vampire paused.

Lucian looked at her, waiting for her to continue. Aurelia picked up another document from the table and—

"The theory was sound, that they were sure about. The dosage they perfected over centuries seemed perfect as well, the only thing that could be a possible weakness was... the subjects themselves."

Lucian’s face changed.

"Independent Vampires, Vampire Slaves, and whatnot, they were all weak, their bloodlines were far too weak to fight and conquer Neroth’s blood.

So they chose Vampires with stronger bloodlines.

And who better than one of the oldest Vampire Bloodlines in the history of our world?"

"They chose their own.

Arcelis Vampires."

Lucian commented and Aurelia nodded.

"Varek."

Lucian narrowed his eyes, the Vampire, however, shook her head.

"He wasn’t the first. They first used distant relatives to perfect the dosage according to Arcelis Blood.

And only when they were sure did they decide to move on to a direct descendant.

Varek, being hungrily obsessed with strength, volunteered on his own."

"He volunteered on his own?"

"He did."

Aurelia nodded.

"...idiot."

Aurelia didn’t disagree with that but...

"You can call him that, but unlike everyone else before him, Varek survived. His body adapted to Neroth’s Blood, for the first time in centuries, Project Crimson Crucible succeeded."

She spoke as she passed the report.

Lucian read it.

There were the researchers’ findings about Varek’s body on it.

"Wait."

That’s when he frowned.

"If they were repeatedly putting Neroth’s blood into him, weren’t they worried about Neroth? What if he influenced Varek through his blood?"

"They processed Neroth’s blood, it did not have a Will."

Lucian raised an eyebrow.

"Varek has a Contract with Neroth."

He pointed out the obvious.

"That is what we know."

Aurelia answered and that made Lucian’s face change.

"Read it to the end."

Aurelia pointed at the report. Lucian started reading it, Aurelia then got impatient.

"Read the last page."

Lucian looked at her, then he did as she said and started reading and as he did, his expression changed.

"It wasn’t a Contract..."

"Yes, Varek never formed a Contract. Him gaining strength through suffering was the result of his body adapting to Neroth’s Blood.

It proved Project Crimson Crucible’s success."

Lucian’s face changed at that.

"They... really did succeed?"

Aurelia nodded as she pushed a few more reports in front of him.

"The early reports of Project Crimson Crucible describe conflict between the two blood systems. Vampiric blood attempting to reject the Demonic properties, Demonic Energy damaging Vampiric tissue, Regeneration correcting those injuries, then it repeatedly happening again and again and again and again.

And every time the cycle repeated, the Vampire Blood started to dominate the demonic blood, slowly absorbing its power and turning it into its own.

Other subjects’ blood was simply too weak to use this power, but Varek?

He was different.

Not only did he have Arcelis Blood, his burning will to get stronger made him a perfect candidate.

His blood adapted perfectly, so perfectly that people mistook it for a Contract."

Lucian was... surprised.

To think the Varek he met and fought was... a result of centuries of experiments...

It felt... strange.

Aurelia seemed intrigued as well.

"According to the reports, Varek’s blood isn’t the same as the one he was born with, it was substantially stronger than it should naturally be."

"Then why did they exile him?"

Lucian frowned.

It made no sense.

Centuries of experiments, and you exile the one successful subject?

"That was another experiment."

"It was...?"

"Varek couldn’t grow in Arcelis territory. He couldn’t hunt Vampires here, someone would notice Arcelis trying to protect him. Arcelis couldn’t bring his prey directly to him either, that sort of handout would weaken his blood."

"So they sent him out to hunt?"

"Yes."

Aurelia nodded.

"It is also said they protected him in secret.

This was why Varek was never caught."

"Then how did I..."

Lucian frowned.

"You caught him because he was supposed to be caught."

"...what?"

Lucian’s expression changed.

Aurelia, however, wasn’t done.

"According to these reports, the experiment isn’t complete yet."

"It is... not?"

Lucian blinked. Aurelia, on the other hand, only pushed another document towards him. Lucian looked down and a word caught his attention.

Third Crimson Ascension.

And the instant Lucian read that, his face changed as he remembered another important detail.

Varek’s age.

He was... one forty-nine.

"...his Third Ascension."

He muttered out loud.

"Yes."

Aurelia nodded.

And suddenly, everything clicked.

Lucian now had decent knowledge about the Crimson Ascension and everything it did. It didn’t just make a Vampire stronger, it... rebuilt them.

Blood, marrow, heart, bloodline pathways, everything responsible for producing and controlling Vampiric power underwent a complete reconstruction.

And in the case of Varek...

"Varek’s body has been adapting to foreign blood for decades, now, the Arcelis believe that once Varek undergoes his Third Crimson Ascension and his body is reconstructed according to his new, adaptive blood...

The changes his body underwent will finally become part of his Vampiric foundation, permanently."

Lucian stared at Aurelia.

"The result would be Vampire Blood far stronger than even Arcelis Blood. Arcelis Blood that is strengthened by an Archdemon’s influence.

A Vampire Bloodline that doesn’t need to wait till Crimson Ascension to get stronger, a Vampire who can also grow... like Demons do."

"Wait... also?"

Lucian narrowed his eyes.

And Aurelia nodded.

"Yes, Arcelis are expecting a resulting Bloodline that has the best of both worlds. The immortal body of Vampires that grows stronger with every Crimson Ascension, and a body that grows through others’ suffering like a Demon does.

A body that...

In theory, can grow and continue growing without stopping."