6 Changing the Vampires, Prelude to Farming

The experience of flying after transforming into a hundred bats was very special. Each bat was controlled by Reed, but it was completely different from his human form.

Bat Transformation was a transformation spell and would only consume mana during the change. It did not require mana to sustain the transformation, and if he had the stamina he could fly all day and all night.

The distance between the Farmountains and Grimm was neither too close nor too far.

It was about 500 km away, and after Reed transformed into the bats, he could travel at a speed of more than 200 km per hour. A mere two solhours later, he had reached the edge of the Farmountains.

The Farmountains Range stretched across thousands of kilometers, and it was the longest mountain range in the southern part of the Norland Empire.

The towering mountains separated the Norland Empire from the far south—the Orc Empire in the barren wastelands... The two massive countries were connected in the South by an intersecting line about 300 km long.

The castle was built deep within the Farmountains in a very secretive location.

It took the Progenitor Vampire over ten years to find that location in the Farmountains, and the terrain was perfect.

A large cloud of bats flew along the mountains and shuttled between the air current as well as the cold wind.

The bats only slowed down after two more solhours.

It was a very steep mountain range, and the ancient castle was built halfway up the mountain, sandwiched between two high peaks that were each 3,000 rhents tall.

The huge castle was nestled by the edge of the precipitous mountainside, and its walls were divided into two sections. One section was carved out of the mountains and was about 500 rhents above ground.

Meanwhile, the second section of the castle walls was built on the mountainside. At 30 rhents tall, the castle walls, which were made of anti-magic rocks and dense iron ore, were immune to spells below the Fifth Circle of Magic.

A sole 300-rhent-wide road connected the front of the castle to the foot of the mountain, and it was flanked by ravines that were several hundred rhents deep.

It was a veritable hidden valley.

As long as there were five hundred spellcasters manning the place, they could withstand the attack of enemies numbering in the tens of thousands.

It was a true, natural barrier.

Reed's cloud of bats swooped down, and he canceled the spell the moment he landed before the castle, turning back into his human form.

Looking at the 30-rhent-tall wall made out of dense iron ore, he felt relieved.

While his current strength was not worthy of a Progenitor Vampire, the savings he had amassed over the past two hundred years was indeed a considerable amount of wealth for Reed.

The castle beyond the walls was completely dark, without any light.

The vampires were the scions of the goddess of the dark night, hence night vision was a natural ability, and they could see even clearer in the dark than light.

A sentry on the wall was alerted after he detected movement below.

"Who goes there?!"

"There's no need to be nervous. I'm back."

Reed's calm voice rang out from afar, and the vampires above were immediately overjoyed.

"Patriarch."

With a flicker, Reed transformed into a bat again and flew directly above the castle wall.

Once Reed showed himself, ten vampires, who were on duty that night, immediately surrounded him.

They each placed one hand on their chest as they bowed respectfully.

"Greetings of the night, Patriarch."

These vampires were all of Reed's bloodline. In human terms, they were all his children.

Vampires could not breed but could expand their bloodline through the First Embrace.

The First Embrace referred to the act of injecting vampire blood into human beings through their fangs, transforming them into vampires.

All vampires could initiate a First Embrace every year, but they would be weakened for a period of time after each First Embrace.

It stood to reason that the original progenitor, who had transformed into a vampire two hundred years ago, would not only have about two hundred kinfolk after all that time.

Nevertheless, Reed found out that things were not so simple after he skimmed through his memories.

A hundred years back, during his heyday, the vampires had about three thousand kinfolk.

At that time, the Progenitor Vampire was a Level 14 high mage who was about to break through to Level 15.

However, the large numbers not only meant power but also the need for a huge amount of supplies.

Since every vampire had to consume blood at least once a month, at least three thousand civilians near the Farmountains would be hunted by the vampires every month.

The terrifying death toll horrified both the villages and towns near Grimm. It also angered the most powerful force in Grimm, a mage far more powerful than the archmages, a Level 20 Transcendent Mage, Locke Haart.

The three thousand vampires were besieged by the armies of Grimm, and the original vampire fortress on the other end of the Farmountains fell. Only over a hundred vampires survived and fled.

Back then, the powerful existence that had tamed magic, the Transcendent Mage, Locke Haart killed over a thousand vampires by himself.

That fear still lingered in the hearts of the surviving vampires.

The Progenitor Vampire was severely wounded by the Transcendent Mage in battle, and he dropped from Level 14 all the way to Level 5. It took over a hundred years just for his wounds to heal.

It was also in that great battle that the Progenitor Vampire learned about the Transcendent Mage's power and had the thought of sneaking into Grimm to learn magic.

After Reed flipped through the Progenitor Vampire's memories, his heart felt a little heavy. The pressure to ensure the survival of the vampires was far greater than he had imagined.

They would be destroyed if they did not begin to expand, yet they would also face destruction if they expanded in the wrong direction.

Their current way of survival needed to be changed. The violent and brutal expansion of the past was no longer feasible.

Thinking of that, Reed could not help but shake his head.

It seemed like the vampires and humans in this world had irreconcilable differences.

The vampires regarded humans as food, while humans saw vampires as the spawn of the devil. Whenever the two met, only one would walk out alive.

Even so, was the conflict between vampires and men really beyond reconciliation?

Reed pondered about it the moment he got there.

The vampires would totally destroy themselves if they continued to expand the same way, and endless bloodshed could not make the vampires stronger either.

Hence, this time around, he came back to find a solution to the problem regarding the vampire race's future.

As the Progenitor Vampire, the vampires were his roots, and the stronger the vampires were, the stronger his base would be.

If the vampires were wiped out, his role as the Progenitor Vampire would be for naught. Not to mention, half of his bugged traits and talents would be useless too.

"Eudes, what is it that you are so anxious to inform me?"

All of the vampires in the castle had inherited the last name of Kaschar.

The leading vampire, Eudes Kaschar was a tall, handsome middle-aged man with an outstanding temperament.

The vampires were all naturally handsome men or beautiful women, and their appearance was even comparable to that of the elves, who were the epitome of beauty.

Not only did Eudes have excellent temperament, but he was also extremely powerful. He had reached Level 9 as a mage and was an intermediate mage who was close to breaking through. His secondary warrior class was at Level 4 as well.

In Glory, Level 0s were civilians while Level 1s were apprentices.

Levels 2-4 were of ordinary rank.

Levels 5-9 were of intermediate rank.

Levels 10-14 were of high rank.

Levels 15-19 were of master rank.

Meanwhile, those at Level 20 were Transcendents.

Six of the vampires there had the same strength as Eudes. All of them were Reed's second-generation descendants.

The remaining vampires in the castle were all at Level 5 or higher, which was a considerable force in itself.

A Level 5 class was enough to become a captain of a hundred-man squadron in the army.

Therefore, while the number of kinsmen under Reed's rule at the moment seemed small, their strength was no joking matter. They, at the very least, had the ability to protect themselves.

"Patriarch, the humans we preyed upon last time are no more. We need to hunt again."

The elegant Eudes looked more like a nobleman than your usual nobility, and it was hard to imagine such a person as a vampire.

Vampires needed to drink blood to survive, and humans were their food source.

In the past, the vampires would collectively send out hunting parties to raid and capture humans from the nearby villages and cities to serve as food.

The second vampires tasted blood, they would not care about the life or death of their prey, and most of the captured humans were only one-use.

Reed had once ordered the vampires to report to him every time they went out for a raid.

However, the humans captured in the last raid had all been killed by the vampires before those in the castle could pass the news to him.

Reed frowned when he heard that.

He made up his mind right then and there.

The vampires had to change.