Marvin and Aurora left the hotel and walked along Theodosius Avenue in Zephandrel.

  "I do not quite understand," Aurora said. "Marvin, you must want to recruit her, so why instead dissuade her from becoming extraordinary?"

  "No, I am not dissuading her," Marvin shook his head. "I am only reminding her that becoming extraordinary comes with risks. Have you heard of the threshold effect? You tell a customer that they can try it for one silver coin, and once they pay, you convince them to pay nine more silver coins. It is far easier than selling them ten silver coins right away."

  "In other words, becoming non-human is merely a matter of internal conflict of self-perception. It is the least significant of the negative effects extraordinary ones face. I have not even mentioned the loss of bodily control and the collapse of rationality, which are the real, dangerous pitfalls that lead to the downfall of an extraordinary one. If I had said it outright, they would have been scared off on the spot."

  "Bodily control loss and the collapse of rationality? What are those?" Aurora asked immediately, a trace of nervousness in her voice.

  "To fully traverse the bloodline path, you must reach Level 10, which means taking a total of ten different elixirs," Marvin explained. "There are many sequences of elixirs, and most conflict with each other. The further you progress, the more likely you are to break down. Loss of control over physical strength will irreversibly turn you into a monster, while the collapse of mental strength will drive you insane."

  "And what about the two vampire paths you mentioned…" Aurora began.

  "Those come from an ancient secret organization on the player forums. After numerous experiments, they filtered out the combinations that carry the least risk and the highest benefit," Marvin sighed. "These two bloodline routes are almost entirely unknown secrets nowadays. Do not let anyone else know about them."

  "You have already told them," Aurora replied helplessly.

  "It does not matter. They will both join us," Marvin said confidently.

  Silver Cicada Tavern

  In these times when location is increasingly important to commerce, the Silver Cicada Tavern near the city wall had fallen into the depths of desolation. Only the old residents of the neighborhood occasionally came by for a quiet drink, lamenting when the day would come for the tavern to finally close its doors.

  What no one knew was that, as a secret intelligence outpost established by the Seljuk Empire in the Eastern Pendragon Empire, this tavern would never close from "poor management", unless it were discovered by the Imperial Military Intelligence.

  Vampire Molycus walked sadly along the third-floor corridor of the tavern. Reaching the end of the hall, she knocked on a door in a specific rhythmic pattern.

  The door opened.

  She immediately pushed the door and stepped inside. Closing the door behind her, the vampire knelt and pleaded in a trembling voice.

  "My master, the stronghold of the Fontaine family has been removed by the church. This was truly my mistake…"

  "You have no right to defend yourself, Molycus," a cold voice from behind a curtain declared. "You will have your limbs severed, your spirit imprisoned, and be thrown into an arena surrounded by the Sulfur River, where the Devil Lord shall decide your fate… if it were not for my intercession with His Majesty."

  "My merciful master, thank you, I thank you," the vampire cried, kissing the ground in a desperate display of submission and loyalty.

  "My mercy does not come without a price, Molycus." As the female voice spoke, a wheeled round table was pushed forward. On it stood a narrow-necked bottle filled with an elixir.

  The elixir was a thick, murky liquid, milky white interlaced with vivid red lines. In some places, orange-red whirlpools swirled, evoking an almost maddening itch, as if the very flesh of the body were in rebellion.

  "Is this… an elixir of Sanguine's Thirst II?" Molycus stammered. Her voice held a hint of desire, but it was outweighed by fear. "My master, I applied for the elixir of Marionette's Kiss I..."

  "Do you think in these circumstances you still have the right to bargain with me?" the voice said coldly. "Take it, or die."

  Almost every elixir sequence has both a Level I and a Level II. The extraordinary ability of Level II far exceeds that of Level I, but the dangers of conflicts between different sequences are also far greater. Like most novice extraordinary ones, vampire Molycus had not planned to take the first Level II so soon, as it would greatly increase the risk of losing control when taking future elixirs.

  But there was a saying. "Circumstances can turn even strong people weak." Her current Level 1 elixir-induced extraordinary power had not yet been fully assimilated, while the one behind the curtain was already a Level 2 extraordinary one.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  In a fight, she would certainly be no match. Refusing to take Sanguine's Thirst II meant death. To the mastermind behind the curtain, a vampire who had advanced to Sanguine's Thirst II would be better able to carry out missions in Zephandrel, regardless of her own wishes. Who cares about her will?

  At that moment, she had no choice.

  Trembling, Molycus picked up the narrow-necked bottle. With shaking hands, she unscrewed the cap and, with a look of desperate resignation, drank it down.

  First, her head began to change, as if burned by fire, it turned bright red. The crimson spread down her neck.

  The extraordinary nature of Sanguine's Thirst II can only be described in two words: "savagery." Like a domineering force from a nomadic people of the steppes, the overpowering extraordinary power surged into every cell of her body in an instant.

  For a moment, it was as if her entire flesh was in revolt, screaming, wailing, as she frantically scratched at her skin. In some areas, fine, disgusting nodules erupted; in others, cheese-like necrotic tissue formed pockmarked craters.

  The extraordinary power continued to seep deeper into her body. Into her muscles, connective tissue, mucous membranes, and internal organs. The pain spread like a virus, multiplying and racing through her body. She felt as if she had become a volcano on the brink of eruption, her very form corroded into countless wounds before the eruption even began!

  Only when two-thirds of her skin had been scratched or rotted away did the transformation induced by Sanguine's Thirst II gradually subside. Vampire Molycus convulsed on the floor, nearly on the brink of unconsciousness.

  Throughout the ordeal, no sound came from behind the curtain. They merely watched her struggle as if she were invisible. Emaciated and exhausted, Molycus managed to stand and bowed tremblingly toward the voice behind the curtain.

  Then she turned, opened the door, and staggered out.

  Forced to take Sanguine's Thirst II while Sanguine's Thirst I had not yet been fully digested had inflicted massive damage. She now desperately needed to find a place to assimilate the elixir and calm her spirit; otherwise, the transformation might erupt again.

  And if she lost control, she had no doubt that the one behind the curtain would immediately kill her.

  "Damn it, you old spinster!" Molycus fumed as she descended the stairs. "If only I could reach Level 3 sooner…"

  "…I would lock her in a coffin, insert a blood-extraction needle into the most tender parts of her body, and let the lowliest blood servant abuse her at will…"

  As she walked down the stairs, she lifted her gaze and saw Marvin and Aurora standing at the doorway.

  At the moment their eyes met, Molycus's expression was one of surprise and delight, Aurora's was filled with hatred and fury, while Marvin…

  Marvin showed no expression, as if he had finally encountered a hidden boss by following the guide precisely. His heart remained unmoved.

  "Die!" Driven by uncontrollable rage, Aurora completely abandoned all reason. She charged forward at lightning speed. Molycus merely swung her arm,her limb transformed into a gigantic whip of flesh, and flung the charging Aurora to the ground.

  Countless sharp bony spikes burst forth from the tip of the whip, instantly impaling Aurora. Amidst Aurora's cries of pain, Molycus let out a terrible scream.

  Her right eye was shattered, leaving a pitch-black void.

  The bullet came from Marvin's rapid-fire handgun, Aphrodite. Swiftly, he shifted his arm, aimed at her left eye, and pulled the trigger again. Although Sanguine's Thirst II meant that there were no longer fatal injuries, having both eyes shattered would still leave her briefly blind. Molycus immediately activated her ability.

  "Flesh Transfer!" Extraordinary ones with Sanguine's Thirst II can freely relocate their organs. In an instant, her eyeball sank inward; as the bullet tore through its original place, the eyeball emerged from the blood-flesh whip.

  Aurora was already gasping for breath from the bony spikes. Molycus whipped her blood-flesh lash once more, launching it at super speed toward Aurora.

  If any professional player had been watching, they would have laughed at Molycus's foolishness. Fearing being hit in the eye, she had transferred her eyeball onto the speeding lash, but that led to frequent blind spots in her own vision.

  Marvin, equally skilled, did not miss this error. Calmly, he sidestepped with a step so precise it nearly grazed his scalp, dodging the attack, while simultaneously switching guns and reloading with both hands.

  Because the lash, carrying her displaced eyeball, missed its mark and fell behind Marvin, Molycus could not see his actions at the front.

  The next second, gunfire thundered like lightning. In an instant, both Marvin's and Aurora's ears were filled with an immense buzzing sound, while Molycus fared even worse, under the onslaught of 15.2mm elephant-hunting rounds, her entire head exploded like a watermelon.

  Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

  Marvin continued reloading and firing methodically; four elephant-hunting rounds nearly turned Molycus into a puddle. Despite this, her body continued to writhe in a desperate bid to heal, showcasing the raw might of Sanguine's Thirst II.

  Marvin's handling was even more skillful. He drew his longsword and, with swift slashes, divided the vampire's flesh into four pieces, pressing each piece into the four corners of the room with chairs and tables.

  At last, even the formidable power of Sanguine's Thirst II was rendered useless. Soon, amid faint, regretful wails from all around, Molycus finally died. Deep red extraordinary traits emerged from the four piles of flesh.

  Lying on the floor, Aurora ceased struggling and stared blankly at the piles of flesh. Marvin stepped forward slowly and began collecting the extraordinary traits from the flesh.

  Each time he picked one up, he clenched it tightly in his palm to absorb its extraordinary power. (The extraordinary trait itself must be processed into an elixir for absorption, so hand-crushing can only absorb the power contained within, which causes the original trait to dissipate.) That long-lost sensation surged through him as if a famished person had suddenly been fed after days of starvation, sweet and satisfying.

  Picking up the last extraordinary trait, he did not crush it with his hand; instead, he turned and slipped it into Aurora's mouth.

  As if chewing on the flesh of an enemy, Aurora bit down with all her hatred. The extraordinary power fell like refreshing rain on parched land, nourishing her spirit that had nearly dried up from repeatedly healing her body.

  Then she broke into loud, uncontrollable sobs.

  "Finish crying quickly," Marvin said, pressing his sword to his side. "We have other matters to attend to."

  Aurora crawled to her feet, wiped her tears roughly, and found that her wounds had nearly healed.

  "Let's go," she said shortly.

  The two climbed the stairs to the third floor as the floor boards creaked under their weight.

  "Guard the stairway and wait for me to return," Marvin ordered.

  "Okay," Aurora replied without any argument, though her voice still sounded distant.