Before nightfall in Saltstar City, the mana in the richest part of the city changed significantly, becoming 1.4 times denser than normal, a significant increase by local standards.
All the Mages in the city quickly noticed this, sensing that someone had just advanced to the level of a Sky Sovereign in the direction of the Fuller estate.
All the strongest people in the city knew that only one person could achieve this here, so the local nobility quickly realized Vicente's advancement.
Some nobles left their places to go to that place, while others sent their subordinates to get gifts and go visit Vicente.
Vicente would now be even stronger than before!
Not only the local nobles realized. At the Fuller estate itself, all men noticed their leader's success in reaching the next level.
Even Onyx left his position by shrinking the size of his body and moving to the estate's interior to congratulate his master.
...
When Vicente finished his advance, the cyan symbols and lines on his second pentagram became even more intense than they had been previously.
However, the vampire blood wasn't enough for his essence to evolve qualitatively.
He had also gained much more mana than before and was finishing the formation of the mana core in his consciousness space, an important step for his future advancement to the 5th stage.
As soon as he had finished the important part of his meditation, alone in that training room, Torne said in his mind. 'Congratulations on your breakthrough, master. Now, you just need to cultivate and get on with the family's short-term plans. We can go after your fourth pentagram as soon as Nina goes through the Awakening.'
'Hmm, by then, I'll be close to the absolute peak of the 4th stage.' Vicente agreed with an exuberant smile on his face.
Then, as he opened his eyes and stood up, the lamia on his necklace said to him. "Congratulations on your breakthrough. You should be able to free me now, shouldn't you?"
"Not yet. I'll only do that after I've absorbed my next pentagram... Besides, I wouldn't have a lamia body for you just yet, Prisiche."
"You should get one as soon as possible." She suggested. "I might be able to help you in your hunt for your fourth pentagram."
"I'll look into that in the future. It's too early to talk about it now." He said as he left the place.
As soon as he passed the exit of the training room, he saw more than ten members of his family there, including Layla and Jasmine.
He saw Sarah and Rory and their auras, noticing they had become Sovereigns.
"Congratulations, Vicente..."
Several people said similar things before shaking Vicente's hands or hugging him with smiles, full of anticipation for the future.
Nina celebrated the most, extremely happy for her older brother's success.
He played with her hair as he looked at his family members and allies. "Thank you all for being part of my journey. I've made progress, but let's not make too much of it.
As much as I can already be considered an expert, we've already seen what a superior 3rd stage vampire can do... In the future, we might have to face individuals like that from the 4th stage, so we have to get back to working hard."
He looked at Rory and Sarah and said. "Congratulations to you both on your progress. Now that you're Sovereigns, I'll give you some missions that are slightly different from what you've had.
But in the short term, I want you to accompany me on my next trip out of Saltstar City. We'll stay in the city until things settle down here, and then we'll visit the lands that Nova has given us to explore."
"When are they going to hunt their pentagrams?" Benson asked.
"I think we'd better do it when I go hunting for my fourth pentagram. The way to my 4th pentagram will be very interesting for the Sovereigns of the family to get good pentagrams.
As neither of you should become a Sky Sovereign by then, I think waiting might be interesting." He said, looking at Rory and Sarah.
The two would follow whatever Vicente told them to do, so neither of them went against his words.
"As for the rest of you, return to your recent routines. Those who advance as far as Nina's Awakening will be able to join my group, which will set off to hunt pentagrams." He said before dispersing the group to the exit of his cultivation room.
After that, Vicente exchanged a few words with some of them before they left the estate.
As important as his advance was, their plans wouldn't change much with that alone.
Perhaps Vicente's influence would grow, and the chances of their plans succeeding would be greater now. But overall, they still had the same plans and missions to fulfill.
Vicente would soon find several nobles and representatives of nobles at his door, looking for him to present him with gifts, congratulate him on his progress, and strengthen their ties with him.
More than ever, the local nobles were willing to support and stand by Vicente's side.
He was already strong enough to destroy a city like this when he was 'just' an Earth Sovereign. So now that he had become a Sky Sovereign, he should be much worse. Even the royal forces would have to respect him and be careful with him!
Even the soldiers who were unhappy with Nova and Vicente's situation came over to talk to him and show their determination to cooperate with the Fuller family.
Vicente would welcome everyone alongside Rory and Sarah, showing the people of this city that they were stronger than ever.
With that, he intended to stay in the city for the next few weeks before moving on with his next trip.
From what he had heard from the various people he had spoken to after his advance, news of the vampire's death had already left the province, and soon, forces from the capital would be arriving in Saltstar City to check on the local situation.
A Count had died, so there was a succession of power to take place, along with an investigation into what had happened that day and how the vampire had died.
Vicente couldn't leave Saltstar City before this was resolved, so for the time being he would remain in the city working alongside his family.
The person who would gain the most from this over the next few days would be Nina, who could finally get back to learning more alongside her brother while she was on vacation from her classes at the local Royal Academy.
At this rate, the one-month anniversary of the vampire's death would soon arrive!
