Chapter 85: Let Me Test Your Limit
'Let's see…' Aldritch mentally commanded the system open to take a look at all his new skills as he and Lodestar made gentle strides through the garden.
Going over his original racial skills before looking at the new ones he gained, Aldritch was quite impressed;
…
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[Name: Aldritch Mondragon Hellsing]
[Age: 22]
[Rank: IV]
[Race: Vampire]
[Evolution: Vampire Noble]
[Blood Bank: 5,300]
[BP: 91,350] >> [11,350]
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[HP: ====]
[SP: 660/660] >> [2,500/2,500]
[Strength: 68] >> [118]
[Agility: 75] >> [125]
[Dexterity: 70] >> [120]
[Vitality: 20] >> [70] Read new chapters at m_v-l'e|m,p| y- r
[Intelligence: 147] >> [197]
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[Racial Skills: {Blood Manipulation} - {Mind Compulsion} – {Body Transformation – {Shapeshifting} - {Super Regeneration} - {Blood Bond} – {Feral Senses}]
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[Skills: {Hypnosis Lvl 9} - {Advanced Swordsmanship Lvl 2} - {Soul Contract} - {Magic Circle Lvl 6} - {Fire Magic Lvl 5} - {Wind Magic Lvl 3}]
…
[Blood Bond]
Turn others into vampires or lesser beings by injecting your catalyst into them. They will be sired to you with undying loyalty. Does not work on dead bodies and creatures whose rank far exceeds yours by too much. Their Loyalty will be above 70 upon turning them.
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[Super Regeneration]
You can recover your injuries and stamina naturally and by consuming blood. It will activate automatically upon injury unless you decide otherwise.
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[Body Transformation]
Manipulate your body up to the cellular level to alter appearance and general composition. Effectiveness depends on mastery.
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[Shapeshifting]
Shapeshift into a variety of animals depending on your understanding of the anatomical and physiological makeup of the animal. Potential and effectiveness depend on mastery.
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[Blood Bond]
Turn others into vampires or lesser beings by injecting your catalyst into them. They will be sired to you with undying loyalty. Does not work on dead bodies and creatures whose rank far exceeds yours by too much. Their Loyalty will be above 70 upon turning them.
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[Feral Senses]
Possess enhanced senses of all basic five senses and a supernatural sense akin to a sixth sense. Strength depends on mastery.
…
Aldritch could clearly see that all his skills now lacked the usual leveling system, and all of them now depended on his mastery over them, which was a nice thing?
Apart from his skills, Aldritch was surprised to see the exponential increment in his SP, turned out the vigor he was feeling wasn't just from his stats increasing so much.
Aldritch adopted a toothy grin that showed his teeth perfectly for a short while, his canines aligning perfectly in a beautiful fashion that any would envy.
Once they reached their destined location, Lodestar positioned opposite Aldritch, taking a loft stance not planning to attack but be on the defensive. Even though he was much rooted in magic, hence his vast knowledge in different magic, despise his earlier remarks, he was still a very capable fighter when compared to a low ranked Aldritch in all ramifications.
"Well, come one." He teased lightly with a sly smirk and a wave of his hand ushering Aldritch to attack him.
Aldritch who had been invested in learning the sword often time practiced some hand to hand combat on his own, feeling a sense of kinship with the arts, but seeing as he didn't have anything abilities pertaining to the form of fighting, he never put in that much of an effort. Now that he had some skills though, that was very different.
He already had various ideas in mind, but since he needed to first understand how the skills worked, he refrained from using them during the spar.
Aldritch took a firm stance in the most natural way his body aggravated towards, his light textured white shirt swayed in the wind alongside his hair. Placing one leg slightly ahead of the other while hanging his hands rather low, at stomach level.
His striking almost maroon pupils and full neck long black hair gave him a wild look as his back was hunched over a bit, while the paleness of his skin that ironically looked lustrous reflected the sun, adhering a certain level of uniqueness to his entire being.
He stared at Lodestar from a distance, looking him like a free prey, studying his body language, though, there wasn't much to study as the former wasn't moving or making gestures at all. Taking a few seconds before charging forward towards Lodestar, Aldritch moved at blinding speeds.
Lodestar seeing the incoming Aldritch with all his speed and the force he carried, he simply stepped to the side and allowed Aldritch run past him, crashing into the gazebo off to the corner behind where Lodestar was standing.
With a confused expression on his face, Aldritch heard the uncontrollable laughter coming from Lodestar as he put his hand on his abdomen to support himself.
Aldritch immediately saw what he had done wrong and couldn't help the few chuckles that escaped his own mouth. He had made a very rookie mistake after all, so he wasn't the least bit offended by Lodestar's laughter, how could the latter hold himself from it?
Underestimating his own improvements, Aldritch had charged forward with the same force as he normally would, expecting the same kind of speed without factoring in the fact that his stats had increased, and by a lot.
"That was my mistake. Seems I was a bit too eager to begin the spar, I didn't process everything properly." Aldritch stated.
Whipping under his right eye softly, Lodestar remarked, "it's alright, it happens, just make sure you don't repeat the mistake twice, if not I might actually roll over in laughter."
Lodestar's words were true, but Aldritch couldn't help but berate himself lightly in his mind, if this was a real-life scenario, he would have costed himself so much with such a mistake. He was someone who enjoyed improving himself constantly, and his methods were sometimes unorthodox if he could manage it, and being hard on himself was something that naturally came with it.
In the end, someone with good talent who exhibits laziness will eventually hit an unsurmountable wall, and someone who lacks talent and doesn't work hard will end up the same.
Even though he was blessed with talent, Aldritch didn't take that as an opportunity to relax. His thirst for power was strong, but his thirst for personal growth ran even deeper.
Assuming a fighting stance he instinctively felt comfortable in, Aldritch readied once again to engage Lodestar, this time taking it slowly until he got the hang of his strength and adjusted properly.