Chapter 331: Leave that to me.

"What’s with all the Human Blood? What do they need that for?"

He asked.

For a moment, Aurelia did not answer. Lucian noticed a bit of hesitation in her eyes, wondering whether she should say it or not.

That was never good.

Lucian looked at her, then he specifically pointed at one particular point her reports mentioned.

"Why do they need so much human blood?"

He asked again.

And Aurelia decided not to hide it.

It was all there in the reports anyways, if Lucian decided to read through them, he would know. The very fact that she was showing him these reports showed that she had no intention of hiding anything from him.

"They don’t just need Varek’s Essence and Vespera’s Ascension."

"Where do humans come into this?"

Lucian tilted his head.

"The Transfer."

"Transfer...?"

He narrowed his eyes even further. Aurelia started explaining.

"Varek and Vespera share Arcelis blood, but they are still different individuals. Their blood carries different signatures. If Varek’s Ascension Essence is introduced directly into Vespera, her body will reject it.

Possibly violently."

"So they need to dilute it."

Lucian’s face changed.

He had heard this before.

This one was actually very close.

Normal Blood Altered Humans dilute supernatural blood before injecting it and... they do not use water to dilute the blood.

That does not work.

Supernatural Blood is too strong for water, they do not mix properly. Only weaker blood can dilute stronger blood and... the weakest available blood was that of humans.

"They need a carrier that doesn’t compete with either bloodline."

Aurelia nodded.

Lucian nodded at that, Human blood was too weak to compete and embarrassing as that might feel, that was the harsh truth.

"Arcelis researchers call human blood a neutral biological carrier."

Lucian’s face twitched at that, right now, however, his concerns were far bigger than how Vampires or the supernatural world in general treated Human Blood.

"So they mix Varek’s Ascension Essence into Human blood."

"Well..."

That was when Aurelia’s face changed.

This was the part she was worried about.

Lucian tilted his head when he sensed that, urging her to continue and Aurelia did—

"Stored Human blood isn’t sufficient."

"...what?"

Lucian’s face changed.

"...why?" ℯ

He asked a more logical question first.

"It is something they call Vital Heat."

"What is that?"

He had never heard the term.

"Living blood is more than the liquid itself, while circulating inside a living Human body, it carries biological and spiritual vitality."

Aurelia started explaining.

"The instant circulation ends, that vitality begins disappearing, and according to their research, that vitality is absolutely necessary. If it is to work, Vespera’s body needs to use this Vitality to give her blood enough energy to adapt and eventually evolve."

"So... blood bags won’t work."

Lucian spoke as his face darkened, he knew where this was going.

"They won’t."

Aurelia shook her head.

"They need fresh blood."

And Lucian’s face became uglier.

They needed living people.

As that realisation set in, Lucian remained silent for a while. He knew he needed to control himself, this wasn’t the moment when he could act out, especially when he was inside enemy territory, surrounded by Vampires who could kill him, very easily at that.

So in the end, Lucian closed his eyes for a moment, calming himself down. He did not use Red Quiet to suppress what he was feeling, not right now, he needed to process what he was feeling right now in order to continue functioning.

After all, this wasn’t over.

"How many?"

He asked as he opened his eyes after about a minute.

"About three thousand."

"About?"

"Three thousand two hundred and fourteen."

She gave an exact number and this time, Lucian didn’t show any reaction, his eyes just became even colder than before.

"That is what they currently need."

"Currently?"

Lucian did not miss those words.

Aurelia looked at him as if saying we have been through this, still, she knew where Lucian’s mind was, so she repeated herself.

"This won’t be the last time they perform it. If it succeeds..."

"Then from this point onwards, every Arcelis Ascension would need a sacrifice of three thousand two hundred and fourteen humans."

Lucian completed her sentence.

Aurelia nodded.

Lucian remained silent for a good few seconds.

"Where are they going to get humans from?"

He asked.

Did they buy them?

Or...

"There are enough humans in Arcelis Territory."

Aurelia answered and Lucian lowered his head.

"What? Were they keeping them just for this?"

He spoke sarcastically but...

"According to the reports..."

Aurelia spoke and Lucian looked at her in surprise.

"They kept humans for this?"

"According to reports, about seven centuries ago, Arcelis started recruiting more humans into their property, they fed them, provided housing and medical care. They treated them rather well, many found Arcelis’s sudden interest in humans odd but none could find anything back then.

Though now..."

"Now you think they did it because they knew they would need human blood."

"Well..."

Aurelia didn’t agree.

Lucian just snorted.

"It is obvious. Seven centuries ago would be right when they would have made some progress in this project of theirs."

He pushed a few documents away from him, losing a part of his control.

Then, however, he took a deep breath and glanced at Aurelia instead—

"Is this even legal?"

He sighed.

"What if we get the Enclave involved?"

He was getting desperate, asking questions he already knew the answers to.

"These humans belong to Arcelis territory."

’So much for protecting humans.’

Lucian snorted inwardly as he once again recalled his first conversation with Claire. Of course, he was much different now than he was before, he now understood that the Enclave wasn’t all-powerful.

They couldn’t protect everyone.

It just wasn’t possible.

So he...

"Can you... do something about it?"

He turned towards Aurelia instead.

"I cannot."

She shook her head.

"Research and experimentation are not illegal under Vampire Law, I cannot exercise House Veyr’s influence to put a stop to this."

"What if... I prove Arcelis has Neroth’s Heart? Can you do something then?"

"Then I will have a reason for an official invasion but...

How will you prove that...?"

"You leave that to me."

Lucian’s face changed.

He did not wish to sit silently.