A moment later in Ikaris' room...
"So... Was that all you wanted to see me about?" Malia retorted flatly with a coldness coming out of nowhere.
Ikaris was stumped. It wasn't the reaction he'd imagined after telling her about all those blood vials. He didn't know what he'd done wrong, but from the way she was glaring at him as if he'd stuck a dagger in her heart, she clearly expected something else.
All of a sudden, remembering the wide eyes of the two women a minute earlier, it clicked in his mind and a glint of mischief flashed in his eyes.
"Did you think I was going to confess or something?" He teased her as he came closer and leaned his face toward her until they were within two inches of each other.
Malia could feel his warm breath tickling her face and she was immediately flustered. Blushing helplessly, she quickly broke eye contact in panic.
" W-what are you talking about? You were acting so mysterious so I thought you were going to tell me something really important but it's just a bunch of blood. I drank so much of it this morning that I'm not thirsty."
Ikaris continued to stare at her with a faint smirk, not buying her fib but he refrained from putting her further on edge. If he really pressed his advantage and pushed her too hard it could become dangerous.
The worst thing was not that she got angry, but that their relationship escalated to a new stage. He had too much to deal with in his life to allow himself to fall in love. And to be honest he was a little scared.
The other reason was his age. He had never asked her directly, but although her body was mature, she looked very young. Maybe in this world it was considered quite normal to have a relationship with a 15-16 year old girl, but his earthling mentality viewed a woman of that age as underage. It was over 18 or nothing.
One might argue that his current body was biologically no older than 15, but too bad he knew his true age. Unless he had amnesia, he would never betray that principle, not even in the name of fan service.
Once Malia returned to her normal self, she and Ikaris read in detail the labels of the blood samples that might be suitable for her and several questions came to mind.
"The blood in these vials was taken from one-, two- and three-tailed foxes, never more." He pointed out as he examined the vial of a two-tailed Kitsune, "I have seen you display three tails in battle, but the rest of the time you seem to have none. Am I to conclude that you actually have three, or are you using a special technique to temporarily increase your number of tails?"
Malia fidgeted, obviously uncomfortable by the question, but compared to the embarrassment from before it was nothing. Thinking carefully about her words, she divulged in a small voice,
"It's a racial technique. My Kitsune powers double in power for each additional tail but the burden on my body, mind and stamina increases exponentially."
"So, you really only have one...?"
"No tail." Malia replied brusquely. "If a Kitsune does nothing and just grows normally, it gains an extra tail after many years. To speed up the process, I have to-"
She suddenly fell silent.
"You have to?"
"It doesn't matter. It's not important." She evaded the question.
Getting up, she picked up the vials of blood pertaining to her, then with her arms full hastily wished him good night before running off like a thief. Ikaris was taken aback by her overreaction, but he mainly wondered what excuse she would come up with for Ellie to justify the presence of all those blood samples.
Malia probably knew better than he did what was the ideal combination of blood that would suit her best.
"Magnus, do you have any clue as to what she meant?" Ikaris asked, his curiosity still burning him.
"Perhaps. But indeed, it is not important." The Archmagus pined him.
"Tsk. You know I don't like suspense."
"Too bad, it's my favorite pastime." Magnus turned a deaf ear.
In the end, the old Vampire invited him to visit his Academy's campus library if he really wanted the answer. Now that he was a student at a renowned institution, he couldn't keep spoon-feeding him everything.
"If you have time for all these questions, shouldn't you be training instead?" Magnus ended the debate by resorting to guilt-tripping.
It worked, because Ikaris immediately forgot what he was thinking and after eating some Rank 4 Meat for the stamina and vitality boost, he sat down cross-legged and began to practice his magic.
"First, my I Am Me Spell." Ikaris motivated himself out loud as he began practicing the most crucial spell in his toolkit for the first half of the night.
Its effects were the least obvious to notice from the outside, but it was the key spell to not becoming a monster driven by his instincts. After midnight, without taking a break, he checked his Blood Energy gauge again and frowned.
[Rank 1 Blood Energy(Vampire): 3.6/10 (if the Blood Energy gauge drops below 50% the rank bonus is lost. It becomes a malus below 10%. If the value falls to zero, the body stops working)]
" There we go, I've lost the bonus and the hunger is starting to feel pretty haunting. " He commented in a gloomy tone as he dutifully observed his symptoms.
Ikaris knew that an ordinary new Vampire would probably be wandering around frantically looking for prey in his shoes. The mere sight of blood would make his throat dry and the beating heart of any living human in the vicinity would monopolize his every thought.
Even right now, he could hear and even make out through the walls separating their two rooms the blood pumping through the veins of both women. Malia, although she was also part Vampire, was by far the more alluring prey. His craving to taste her blood was intoxicating.
"Which Spark should I start with?" Ikaris hesitated. He had several ways to proceed.
First, he could create the Stamina/Blood Energy Conversion Spell they had discussed earlier with Magnus. With his Vitality above 30, he would get his stamina back extremely quickly as long as nutrition followed.
However, the old Vampire had also warned him that even with his off-the-charts Soul Strength, the spell would not be very effective at first because of his tiny Divine Spark. To recover, 0.1 point of Blood Energy, he might have to spend 15 or 20 points of Stamina the first few times, which could put him in an awfully precarious position.
Conversely, if he chose to take advantage of his current low Blood Energy gauge, he could instead focus on his Blood Fasting Spark. But then again, the first few times, besides consuming his Stamina quickly, the effects would probably be barely noticeable until his Spark unlocked his level 2 permanent passive.
Learning the Stamina Conversion first also had another major drawback according to Magnus. It didn't matter if his Blood Energy came from his Stamina or the blood of other humans. It was considered feeding.
While it might allow him to go without blood, if he used this cheat code too often he would still end up addicted to human blood in no time.
Ikaris' heart leaned towards the first spell because it could significantly increase his combat durability in a very short time and make him much more formidable. If he could spam Blood Swipes like Malia without having to worry about running out of energy, his enemies would surely think twice before challenging him.
Sadly, his neurons were still working. Releasing a sigh, he mumbled half-heartedly, "So, Blood Fasting Spark it is..."
Following Magnus' instructions, he took deep breaths in and out to calm his mind, then tried to visualize and feel down to his bones the intent of this new spell he wanted to create.
He was trying to go against the grain of his bloodline curse and there was no "scientific" way to solve this issue. It wasn't that he couldn't drink anything but blood, but that he was "punished" if he didn't.
In this case, it was best to focus on the symptoms.
"Blood Fasting." Ikaris stated quietly while keeping his eyes closed.
His Stamina was quickly drained, much faster than he expected. The teenager maintained the spell, forcing himself to ignore his growing sense of weakness. When his Stamian fell below 5, he ended the spell.
On the side of his Blood Energy gauge nothing seemed to have changed, but when he checked his Status he found a new Spark as expected:
[Blood Fasting lvl1: 0.01 points]
This was both good and bad news. On the one hand he had not sacrificed all his stamina for nothing, but on the other hand the result was disappointing.
