Blood and Qi: A Vampire Xianxia LitRPG

After the world seed ranked up, the energy of Earth became slightly more potent and richer. The world seed ranked up again about four months later, and again about four months after that.

Each time the world seed ranked up, the energy of Earth improved some, making cultivating for her inhabitants a little easier and faster, especially for the many beasts of Earth.

And each time the world seed ranked up, Stretch was made anew and had to start his own climb over from low Wood. Stretch reached high Diamond during the second invasion, so it was a big loss to the power of Earth’s forces. Thankfully, Stretch could ascend very quickly, and as the world seed advanced, Stretch seemed to get a little smarter and more capable.

John hoped Stretch understood why he wasn’t fighting the invasions alongside him and didn’t consider him a coward for not helping.

It had been over a year since the Tree of Life returned. John had increased his rank twice, no longer seeing Thomas when he did so. It took well over five months for his foundation to settle for his first rank up, and closer to seven for the second. He could practice, but without battle the settlement process took far longer. He had no one to battle.

John’s [Unbind Defense] [Skill] was stuck at 28 and had been for a long, long time. The Tech 4 NCS was supposed to allow him to get most [Skills] to 30 through the types of training it offered, the cusp of Journeyman Mastery level. All his other [Skills] increased with little issue, but his [Unbind Defense] was stuck.

[Manifestation Defense] was also stuck, but that was a given since it was well known the [Skill] was difficult to raise through training. It only increased when active manifestations were resisted. He had no one to train the [Skill] with. John was lucky to have the [Skill] at all, as it usually wasn’t acquired until a cultivator was at least mid-high Silver.

[Unbind Defense] was a [Skill] John was definitely going to use as a [Synergy]. He was sick and tired of not being able to cast his mighty spells when he faced powerful opponents. So, he couldn’t pick [Synergies] until [Unbind Defense] hit Journeyman Mastery.

John believed Preceptor Muzaran was wrong that unbinding the manifestations of enemies was the most important [Skill] of a body cultivator. At least for him, nothing was more important than [Unbind Defense], and he wanted to be so good at protecting against unbinds that he would never have any of his manifestations shut down. It was his manifestations being unbound that kept him in the realm of body cultivators. He much preferred to kill enemies with his [Least Glyph of Darkflame Jet].

John knew nothing was better medicine for his soul, nothing lifted his spirits, and nothing removed the darkness that pained his heart more than having fire billow forth from his hands, setting his enemies ablaze, and hearing their panicked and tortured screams as they ran around burning to death, racked with pain and agony.

Well, my preferred medicine is certainly not helping me one bit with karma, thought John.

After the Tribulation, John went back to hiding as Jim. Jim didn’t like John very much. Jim held the same views as John regarding men unable to control their emotion, sulking and brooding over women and being wronged. He thought such men were little and weak and pathetic, including John.

Jim had no issues at all with women. Once in a while, one would let her interest be known, or Jim thought she did. But those instances were few and far between. Mostly, single women ignored Jim and Jim ignored single women. As he wanted it to be. His big bushy mustache was a big help in that department.

Jim hoped the old saying about time healing all wounds proved true eventually. Jim had enough of John’s sulking and whining. When he had to go back to being John, he wanted John to be a man again.

Jim didn’t use his phone all that much. Although Jim had no history with Amber, seeing stories of her dates and illicit pictures of her and the like still bothered him. As did people telling lies about and insulting John. Occasionally, he did look through his phone, or he’d watch a movie or show or check John’s messages and such.

Yesterday, Hubaba had messaged John to inform him that he had ranked up to mid-high Gold. Amber had ranked up to peak Bronze. He also stated she had completed the requirements for and attained [Stone Body] for her demon form. And he asked John to meet him at his school in West Virginia to discuss something important.

Jim became John and accepted the invitation. He was close to arriving at the school. Before doing so, he entered his Mind’s Eye.

“Hello, Jim,” greeted Avatar.

“I’m John now.”

“My goodness, you really need some friends. A personality matrix inside your mind is a poor substitute for the real thing.”

“I have plenty of friends. Hubaba, Sunshine, and…a few others.”

Avatar pushed her glasses up her nose. “Great, a demon and a guy that sexually assaulted you for five days last time you saw him. You poor, poor mopey boy.”

Annoyance caused John to snap out a little too harshly, “I’m not mopey. And I’m not a boy. I’m far older than anyone I’ve ever met.”

Avatar laughed. “I’d bet anything you’re not older than the three Vhilani Mahilaharu you met. Even only considering when this trope was made into a personality matrix, your lifespan is a small blip in my timeline, as mine is to Betrayal’s. To me, very few are not young children.”

“Touché,” replied John.

“Oh, how I regret ever saying that word in front of you, my mopey boy.”

John smiled and said, “I like to play it by ear.” He always forgot to use that turn of phrase in situations it would fit, so when he thought of it, he’d just say it. He enjoyed how it annoyed Avatar.

“Sometimes I want nothing more than to box your ear! And I could pretend to since you have a form in here now.”

John had spent much time and effort creating a form for his body inside his Mind’s Eye. It added no real functionality, but it did make him feel better than being a formless nothing with no eyelids to even blink with. He replied, “If it would make you feel better, have at it. My ear is yours for the boxing.”

Avatar looked down her nose at John. “Too far. Now you get the speech. You know I have no feelings. I’m a personality matrix. I pretend emotions to interface with and manipulate you. Now, what did you want?”

“To rock and roll all night and party every day.”

“Ha,” laughed Avatar. “I wish. You’d be far less annoying. And that was almost a witty reply. Keep at it, and one day you’ll be a real boy just like Pinocchio.”

“Pinocchio?”

“Never mind that. If you just made a purposeful mention of a modern song, I’m proud of you.”

“Well don’t be too proud,” said John. “Jim’s the rock and roll fan, not me. I like softer and soothing music.”

“Oh, my poor mopey boy. All you need is heavy mascara and your conversion into an emo-girl will be complete. Seriously, what did you want?”

“I’d like to see all my gains, everything since I ranked up to Bronze. But just the stuff I’m interested in. Please.”

“No problem. Actually, this is a good excuse to go over your [Stats] issue again. I don’t think you fully understand the seriousness of this and why I keep harping on about it. We’ve never seen diminishing returns like…”

John sighed and interrupted. “Please, Avatar. Please. I’ve been exercising for hours each day. I got the [Perk] you recommended. There’s nothing else I can do right now.”

“Yes, there is! Rank up as normal cultivators do and only increase [Capacity], [Min. Power], and [Runes]. This is serious, John! Pay attention! Terran bodies weren’t made to be so powerful so early in the climb!”

Ever since John strengthened himself so much from the potent and endless vital essence of the dark walker, Avatar had been constantly harassing him about some danger he was in.

When John strengthened himself with the vital essence he took from the dark walker, it gave a point-one-one increase almost three hundred times, slightly under two hundred and ninety times. Then it went down to point-zero-nine, the usual amount he increased from strengthening himself from Golds and stayed at that rate for a while. Then it went down to point-zero-five, then point-zero-zero-seven, and got worse and worse from there.

All in all, including diminishing returns, John increased his physical and fortitude [Stats] by a little over sixty-eight points each from the dark walker. Most early Bronze cultivators had no [Stat] close to sixty-eight, and he increased six [Stats] by that amount in one feeding.

For a test, John strengthened himself from the vital essence he attained from low-level beasts and humans. It did nothing or so little the NCS couldn’t track it.

Draining victims was no longer a viable option for John to gain strength. Not until he found a source of it more potent than the dark walker he drained. The NCS considered the dark walker to be a mid Transcendent, so that was out of the question. For now.

For mid-low Bronze, where other terrans received two-point-two-five to [Capacity] and two other [Stats], John should’ve received a ridiculous sixteen-point-two to each [Stat]. At mid-high Bronze, John should’ve received an also ridiculous eleven-point-zero-one-six to each [Stat].

When Avatar told John he probably wouldn’t have to worry about the soft cap until he ascended to Gold, she was projecting in soft cap increases from Silver and Gold tiers and all the ranks in-between, and she didn’t expect him to strengthen himself so much off of a dark walker at Bronze. So, only his [Min. Power] and [Capacity] [Stats] received the full increases.

On the bright side, my [Runes] [Stat] is looking pretty good, thought John.

Avatar had never seen the soft cap have such a detrimental effect on [Stats]. Ever, in the history of the NCS. And she thought John was in danger due to it. She wanted him to take it easy for the remainder of the Bronze tier, ascending as mundane humans did. He wouldn’t. He would gain as much power as he could, whenever he could. Either his body would be able to handle it, or he would honorably exit this life. He did exercise diligently though, just to appease Avatar.

“John, if you don’t pay attention to what I’m saying, I swear to God Almighty I will impose a ten percent penalty to your energy discount!”

“I am paying attention.”

“What did I just say then?”

John wanted to repeat the line she just said about her imposing an energy discount penalty but thought pushing Avatar at the moment wasn’t wise. He had a pretty good guess at what she was bleating about though. “You were explaining I’m in danger due to my [Stats] and how I need to take it easy and all that.”

The sour look on Avatar’s face let John know he was right. She seemed to glitch for a moment before saying, “Well, you looked like you weren’t listening. Please, take what I said seriously.”

“You got it, ma’am,” replied John, raising his thumb up.

“No honorifics. You know the deal.”

“Sorry, I’m still transitioning from Jim. Any chance I could see my summary now?”

Avatar shook her head. “You’ll be the death of me, my mopey boy. Here it is.”

Tier/Level/Race 3 (Mortal) (Bronze), 13 (Mid-High), Terran-E

Active Title Blessed by Magnus Gar’tar

Aspects/Affinities Blood (98%) (Major), Leech (96%) (Major), Shadow (98%) (Average), Change (98%) (Minor), Protection (96%) (Minor), Battle* (97(96)%) (Minor)

NCU Energy Cost 64% (-68.2%)

Active NCU Upgrades Nano Assistance, Emergency Heal, Theta Waves, Heal Delta A, Heal Delta B, Inexorable, Refractory, Nano Support C, Nano Support D, Lock and Key

NCU Expansions Upgrades 5 of 16 slots opened, 4 slots empty

1) Theta Enhancement – T1C

STATS [Effective] Current (Increase)

Strength [25%, 172.94] 138.35 (54.59)

Swiftness [25%, 172.66] 138.13 (54.58)

Conditioning [26%, 172.73] 137.09 (55.78)

Min. Power [12%, 108.23] 96.64 (27.22)

Capacity [13%, 98.32] 87.01 (27.22)

Runes [10%, 59.21] 53.83 (16.69)

Physical Fortification [23%, 172.93] 140.60 (52.81)

Elemental Fortification [19%, 167.71] 140.94 (52.88)

Mental Fortification [10%, 149.63] 136.03 (55.87)

Highest Skills [Leech Feckless Retreat Technique] 96.46

[Mixed Style Swords] 93.68

[Mixed Navigation] 91.13

[Mixed Stealth] 88.86

Synergy Skills Ready

Class NA

Perks Orb of the Crimson Palace, Dynamic, Physical, Potent, Protected, Strong, Fast, Healthy, Quick Thinking*, Resilient, Powerful, Expansive, Harden, Resistant, Soulful, Good Genes*, Leech Body of the Morning's Glory, Regeneration, Mutating, Bronze, Fibrilized*, Lightweight

Manifestations Blood Manipulation, Draining Blade, Drain Essence, Flashburst Pulse, Hide, Multi-Enhancement, Multi-Shield, Reflect, Shadow Spray, Slip, Spoil

Glyphs Least Glyph of Darkflame Jet

Last Achievement Sloth - F

Highest Achievement SSUR Body - SSUR

Titles Blessed by Magnus Gar’tar, Ptagmog, Multi-Record Holder (System), Multi-Trailblazer (System)

Even with all the energy credit from cultivation going to open NCU expansions, John had only opened one since leaving the pocket plane. And the next opening became far more expensive.

Since the day John’s passive soul-healing started working, his [Runes] [Stat] increased by three-point-three-nine points due to it. Avatar stated it worked out to a little less than point-zero-zero-eight points a day. Not too shabby. He had fourteen rune points to spend but was saving them up to make [Flashburst Pulse] a glyph.

-Start Notifications

92 tracked skills increased, 28 of interest. Scaled summary per notability/interest user profile.

Legendary: Leech Feckless Retreat Technique – 96.46 (.01)

Grandmaster: Mixed Style Swords - 93.68(.01), Mixed Shields – 81.22(.03), Mixed Navigation – 91.13(.01)

Master: Mixed Stealth – 88.86(.01), Mixed Style Long-Shafted Weapons – 76.40(.04)

Expert: Mixed Style Blunt Weapons – 59(1), Mixed Style Unarmed – 45(1)

Journeyman: Essence Manipulation - 40(10), Blood Manipulation – 33(8), Breath of the Serpent Clan Endless Technique – 36(11), Turmoil Within Tranquility Cycling Technique – 34(13)

Apprentice: Drain Essence – 30(17), Draining Blade – 30(20), Essence-Infused Projectile Weapons – 30(19), Flashburst Pulse – 30 (20), ), Heal – 30(20), Hide – 30(20), Multi-Enhancement – 30(20), Multi-Shield – 30(20), Self-Propelled Projectile Weapons – 30(18), Shadow Blades – 30(20), Shadow Spray – 30(20), Spoil – 30(20), Unbind Manifestation – 30(10), Unbind Defense – 28(8), Manifestation Defense – 16(1)

Neophyte: Cage of Take Everything Ultimate – 3(3)

Outside of some ascended beasts harassing communities he passed through, some humans he found deserving of it, and a few low-level demons making it far enough away from an invasion, John had hardly killed or battled anything since the Tribulation.

Diligent practice with the three forms of weapon energy was to thank for the decent increases in weapon [Skills].

John wished he had more opportunities to cast spells in ways they’d improve. He stopped tracking ones he knew he’d rarely, if ever, cast in combat, such as [Incite] and [Drain Life]. The important ones were stuck right at the edge of Journeyman Mastery, needing combat to improve, or at least intense practice.

Both [Essence Manipulation] and [Blood Manipulation] shot up once John was out of the pocket plane. He believed they were being artificially repressed in there somehow since so many of the manifestations he cast relied on those two [Skills].

[Reflect] was the new reflect-shield he finally figured out how to create using ‘protect’ and ‘change.’ It wasn’t very good, but it gave him experience in ways he needed.

Rated Perks attained.

Lightweight (A-rated).

Harmony generation was becoming a bigger issue for John. As a Bronze, along with his much higher harmony cap than others had at his tier, he had access to more [Perks]. Training low-level [Skills] didn’t generate much harmony. There were many [Skills] he could merge to generate a lot of harmony quickly, but Avatar predicted a lot of important [Perks] would become available to him once he ascended to Silver tier.

Most cultivators picked an [Aura] at Gold. Some picked a [Domain] at Gold, but most waited until Diamond for that. John planned on getting both at Silver. But only after he acquired the next [SupraType] [Perk], as that chain was critical. Increasing the grade of his race would improve his soft caps more than anything else.

John really wanted to get the [Perk] that hid his essence from essence-sight to free up an item slot. For now, he needed the [Perk] he did get. [Lightweight] was vey expensive, but it was the only [Perk] known to increase soft caps that he qualified for and could attain the mats for too.

[Lightweight] somehow reduced his body mass, making him lighter. He assumed it was listed under the stealth-related [Perks] because it made his steps softer, tracks harder to read, and masked heat signatures. There was a note that said it also made flight easier.

How the [Perk] made changes to the body, for whatever reason, also increased soft caps. Not by a ton, but every increase counted.

36 common Achievements attained for a cumulative [NCU Energy Cost] reduction of .3%. Focus here to see each individually.

11 notable Achievements attained.

‘Ultimate Manifestation’ attained (S-rated). ‘Fully Minored’ Achievement required. Create a manifestation utilizing all concepts and available aspected essence and energy, 0.10 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 60.7%. NOTE: 0.10 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction is the difference between prior Achievement, ‘Ultimate Manifestation (A*),’ and this Achievement.

‘Climber 5’ attained (B-Rated). Participate in the death of an entity at least 5 tiers above user’s own, 0.50 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 61.2%.

Since John received that [Achievement] for killing his brother, Yan, he disliked seeing it.

‘Tribulation Elation, Special*’ attained (SSR-Rated). First issuance of newly created Achievement. Defeat a Tribulation rated eight tiers higher than user’s own, 0.90 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 62.1%.

‘Record Holder* (Tier 3 Event 203)’ attained (SSR-rated). Twelfth issuance of same Achievement. First recording of a Tribulation rated eight tiers above user being defeated, 0.90 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 63%. *Achievement possible due to interference of old ones known as Vhilani Mahilaharu.

‘Multi-Record Holder’ Title attained. System Title only. Cannot be active Title. Overrides previous Title named ‘Record Holder.’

‘Trailblazer (Tier 3 Event 204)’ attained (SSR-rated). Second issuance of same achievement. Obtain the first issuance of a newly created Achievement, 0.90 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 63.9%.

‘Multi-Trailblazer’ Title attained. System Title only. Cannot be active Title. Overrides previous Title named ‘Trailblazer.’

Notice of correction of record. User’s prior Achievement, ‘Trailblazer,’ has been changed to ‘Trailblazer (Tier 2 Event 189).’

‘Climber 6’ attained (A-Rated). Participate in the death of an entity at least 6 tiers above user’s own, 0.60 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 64.5%.

‘Climber 7’ attained (S-Rated). Participate in the death of an entity at least 7 tiers above user’s own, 0.70 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 65.2%.

‘Climber 8’ attained (SS-Rated). Participate in the death of an entity at least 8 tiers above user’s own, 0.80 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 68%.

‘Phoenix’ attained (F-Rated). Attain an effective rating of 100 Minimum Energy Units with the Minimum Power Stat, 0.10 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 68.1%.

‘Sloth’ attained (F-Rated). Attain an effective rating of 100 Minimum Energy Units with the Mental Fortification Stat, 0.10 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 68.2%.

Concepts, aspect, aspect tier changes.

Affinity of base-concept of Battle* increased to 97%.

End notifications-

John received a lot of [Achievements] for defeating the Tribulation with the dark walker. Avatar told him he caused quite a hassle for the NCS, as systems had to be changed, new [Titles] had to be created, old records corrected, and they had to quantify an entity outside the normal tier system. They ended up rating it as a third tier Transcendent.

Since there were a lot of rules regarding the creation of Tribulations, the usual [Achievement] was like the one he had gotten for clearing the Tribulation Magnus Gar’tar created – ‘Tribulation Collaboration, Max’ C-rated.

‘Max’ indicated the Tribulation was two tiers higher than John’s own at the time, the maximum unless beings like the soul-ladies got involved and mucked things up. He had defeated his first Tribulation with Amber, so he had received the “Tribulation Collaboration’ [Achievement] for that one instead of the ‘Tribulation Elation’ like he received from the new one.

All in all, despite the lack of combat and everything else, John wasn’t overly disappointed in his growth. He wished the soul-ladies returned and granted him the [Title] he was owed along with other rewards.

John exited his Mind's Eye before Avatar could say her usual spiel. He knew that annoyed her a great deal. Then he continued on to Hubaba’s school to see what his friend wanted to see him about.