" A word of caution." Magnus' voice popped up in his head again. "Drinking blood straight from the source is as addictive to the Vampire as it is to the victim. If you're not going to treat this girl like a walking blood barrel, I suggest you refrain or go about it in some other way. Some of the Werewolves could take it, but she's just a weak human girl. The risk of anemia is no joke."
Ikaris, who was about to accept her offer, stiffened and became hesitant. In the end, he reiterated to her what the dead Vampire had told him and a shudder of realization coursed through Ellie as she took in what she had just offered.
"It would be so much easier if we had syringes to draw blood..." The blonde woman lamented with a regretful expression.
It was the first time Ikaris had met someone regretting the existence of syringes and it gave him the occasion to see the fearful student in a different light. Apparently she wasn't afraid of everything. Only of what could bring about her death in excruciating pain and other vile acts involving her consent and human dignity.
Giving some serious thought to the question, the teenager eventually replied a moment later with restrained optimism,
"Maybe it can be found in Tartarus Shade. Surely Malia and I aren't the only Vampires."
Magnus agreed with a chuckle. The syringes on this planet were not as "nice" as those found on Earth, but they did exist.
" Actually, there is a much simpler solution." Magnus spoke mentally to the two Earthlings, startling Ellie who banged her knees against the underside of the table as she leapt from her seat.
The old Vampire cackled on and on as if it were the funniest thing he had witnessed in a long time, obviously very proud of the outcome of his surprise appearance. When Ellie finally calmed down and regained a healthy heart rate, the Archmagus continued,
"The solution is actually already within your grasp. Bloodmancy."
"Bloodmancy?" Ikaris raised a puzzled eyebrow.
His Weak Bloodmancy did not allow him to accomplish such a feat. He could only control his own blood. If he tried to control Ellie's on the other side of the table he could only make her slightly nauseous. He was far from being able to extract the blood from her veins with a mere thought and most importantly without hurting her.
"You can't... yet. But Malia definitely has the ability." Magnus declared adamantly.
Speak of the devil and she shall appear. A perfectly dressed and combed Malia wearing a sexy peach sundress and brown leather spartan sandals highlighting her delicate ankles and calves entered the living room with, like Ikaris earlier, parched lips and a dry tongue.
She too was suffering from a deficiency of fresh blood. But unlike the boy, she had been used to it for a long time. Greeting them mechanically, she fumbled for a Rank 4 meat slab, but the next moment a loud, panicked scream blasted the eardrums of the other two people present.
"Where is my breakfast?!"
Realizing that he had eaten all the meat left in the cupboard, Ikaris immediately apologized by explaining what had happened and rushed to get her something to eat in the basement behind their house.
He instantly regretted his hasty exit without precaution. The rays of dawn shone on his face and he immediately experienced a burning sensation as if someone had poured a cauldron of hot water on him. In shock, he rushed back inside and slammed the door shut.
"I-Ikaris? Are you okay?" Ellie stammered in bewilderment as she saw him cover his face with his hands.
When he finally removed them, she noticed that his face was red as if he had been sunburned, but he wasn't hurt. It was just vasodilation from the sudden change in temperature.
"Meh! It could have been worse, hahaha!" Magnus guffawed loudly, indifferent to his torment.
Malia had already understood what was happening to him and gave him a sympathetic look. It had also happened to her several times in the past and it was still unpleasant. Besides the enchanted ring bequeathed by her father, she had created a Sunlight Resistance Spark just for this purpose, but walking around outside in the daylight had never become a thrill.
"Magnus!" Ikaris exploded with rage. "I'm already wearing the ring you gave me! What's going on?"
Devoid of guilt, the prankster Vampire coughed awkwardly then muttered shamelessly,
"Probably the wrong one..."
Sensing that the teenager was dangerously close to dumping the ruby ring into the bottom of Tartarus Lake, Magnus justified himself in a panic,
"S-stop! I'm kidding. Like I told you, it's one of my old rings. I have lots of trinkets like this one and I can't quite remember what they do. Test them until you find one that works."
Ikaris maintained his angry expression, but his furrowed brows relaxed slightly as he saw dozens of black iron rings fall to the ground in front of him with a clanking clatter of ironware. Malia and Ellie were stunned by the scene, but when they learned that they were coming from Magnus' ring they were no longer shocked.
In the end, the teenager burned himself seven times trying to get out of his home before finding a ring that worked. Several rings were no longer working, but the first one Magnus had given him by mistake was apparently a Blood Energy Storage Ring. Another was a small one cubic meter space ring dedicated exclusively to blood storage.
Actually, after some testing it turned out that all the difunctional rings needed Blood Energy to recharge and function. Using his Appraisal Spell on the Blood Energy Storage Ring, Ikaris saw that it was currently empty, with a gauge of 0/100.
Ikaris unashamedly insulted Magnus when he discovered that the Vampire had such a treasure but had "forgotten" to mention it even as he wondered how to fix his bloodlust problem.
Another of these rings could purify and refine Blood Energy over time, the initial process taking a few days, then up to several years to achieve the highest quality. It was close to the concept of a wine cellar and also had a capacity of 1000, surpassing the Blood Energy Ring by a factor of ten.
Several of these rings had redundant functions and after fiddling with them a bit, Ikaris and Malia each got a set of three rings: the Blood Energy Storage Ring, the Blood Storage Ring and the Blood Energy Sublimation Ring.
The Dhampir became overexcited with happiness upon receiving these three unexpected gifts. It was probably the first time since her separation from her parents that she had received so many gifts at once, not to mention the fact that they were incredibly useful items for a Vampire feeding on animal blood.
"I can't believe you had all those rings and didn't say anything." Ikaris smiled wrily as he telepathically communicated with Magnus.
The old Vampire didn't respond right away. To be honest... he had forgotten. To him, these rings were indeed just old trinkets. What Vampire Emperor needed a Blood Energy Sublimation Ring when he could drink human blood of the highest quality?
Equipped with his three new rings, all slipped onto his right hand, with the ruby ring on the ring finger of his left hand, Ikaris fetched several slabs of meat from the cellar, the sunlight giving him only slight discomfort this time. On his return, he let Malia have her breakfast while he undertook to "wring out" the remaining meat to pour its contents into a large carafe.
The bloody sight and metallic smell disgusted Ellie and she found an excuse to go back to her room to dress. Then with Magnus' help (since his Soul Spark was still level 1), he transferred 3 Blood Energy points into the Blood Energy Sublimation Ring, leaving him with 1.6 points.
Upon accomplishing this feat, Ikaris immediately felt a terrible sense of exhaustion and dehydration, as if he was literally bleeding to death. Malia playfully confirmed that he was abnormally pale.
Rolling his eyes, the teenager then grabbed the jug filled to the brim with both hands, then chugged down its contents. After gulping down about half of it, he put it down and checked his Blood Energy gauge.
[Blood Energy: 4.6/10]
As expected it was the limit. He transferred three points again, then forced himself to drink half the remaining blood. Checking again, he confirmed his theory.
[Blood Energy: 4.5/10]
Animal blood had a diminishing returns rule. He transferred 3.4 points to the ring to avoid the malus and then drank the remaining half again.
[Blood Energy: 3.4/10]
He transferred 2.3 points back into the ring and finished the decanter. The Blood Energy Sublimation Ring was now charged at 11.7/1000.
