10 The Mysterious Crystal Skeleton

A vampire could create another vampire every year.

If they went on the same path as before without care or concern, Reed was confident that the vampires would number in the thousands within three years, increasing their current strength by more than three times.

However, if there were thousands of vampires, the number of humans that needed to be hunted every month would be half the amount needed in this year alone.

The large-scale disappearances would definitely arouse Grimm's attention.

Besides, if the Transcendent Mage in Grimm really wanted to begin an investigation, Reed could not guarantee that he would be able to hide the matter.

He was afraid that the castle would be leveled long before the players even arrived.

In the past, when the vampires were discovered by the armies of Grimm, every encounter resulted in significant losses.

That was also an important reason why the Progenitor Vampire concealed his identity and snuck into Grimm. If he had not been a sleeper agent over the past three years, his current vampiric kin would not have lived such a stable life.

After the crowd dissipated, Reed looked at the seven second-generation vampires indifferently. He did not say much and just waved his hand.

"Follow me to the Fount of Blood."

The seven looked at one another, and no one dared to have the slightest objection as they gracefully followed Reed.

The Fount of Blood was their fall back. It stored a large amount of blood and would never be used unless there was an extinction-level crisis.

Since Reed was the one giving orders, however, they did not have the guts to say much. After all, the information that Reed gave them was just too terrifying.

They had been targeted by the Transcendent Mage in Grimm.

In the face of such a powerful enemy, the vampires could not afford to raid and capture humans like before. Now was undoubtedly a good time to use the Fount of Blood.

Reed went through the memories in his mind and was curious about the Fount of Blood.

The Progenitor Vampire had been directly transformed into a vampire by chance. His turning was not from a First Embrace.

The divine artifact that had transformed his human body into the Progenitor Vampire was also revered by the vampires as the Divine Spirit.

It was a skeleton.

As for how the transformation happened exactly, it was a memory so distant that when Reed received the Progenitor Vampire's memories, it was already extremely vague. Hence, he was not entirely sure.

Nonetheless, the Divine Spirit that transformed Reed into a Progenitor Vampire still had great usage. It could maintain the freshness and vitality of blood, as well as absorb the magic powers that floated around, infusing them into the blood.

The effects of human blood would be reduced after it left a human's body for half a solhour. Once it exceeded one solhour, its effects on vampires would be zero.

That was why the vampires would raid and keep humans in captivity.

Fortunately, the Divine Spirit's existence had solved the vampires' fatal flaw: the fact that they needed fresh blood to survive.

As a result, their craving for fresh blood was brought down to a minimum.

It was also a major contributing factor to Reed's confidence in implementing his agricultural plan.

What was more amazing, the Divine Spirit would constantly absorb magic power in the air and infuse them into the blood in the Fount of Blood. The longer the blood was stored, the richer its magic power and the more it benefited the vampires.

It was tantamount to smashing the chains that shackled the vampires, which also greatly improved the feasibility of having humans to feed the vampires.

He then led the seven and walked slowly through the castle.

The dark night did not hinder the vampires. On the contrary, due to their innate talents, the vampires were greatly strengthened in all aspects at night.

Night vision was one of their most common innate talents.

The once glorious castle was vast, and the structures within it were all in the style of Medieval European architecture

There was a towering white minaret, and a pointed semi-circular arch stood tall with stained glass depicting stories of ancient vampiric heroes.

The architectural lines of the castle were simple yet lively, and the designs thick and solid.

The crossroads and bell tower on the transept revealed an intimidating, exotic atmosphere.

Reliefs of various figures had been chiseled into the white stone walls on both sides of the path, and the huge castle was like an exquisite work of art.

There was even a relief of a giant dragon at the entrance to the sewer.

Reed was astounded, and he realized that Grimm was like a backwater hovel in contrast to the castle.

The vampires were really the aristocratic type, and such artistic attainment, as well as temperament, could only compare to that of the elves, who were known for their beauty and arts.

The Fount of Blood was on the far right corner of the castle, hidden deep within the cavity of solid rock.

It was once a glorious place, after all, and it took Reed half a solhour to walk to the edge of the castle.

The fount was located in a cave that was under close guard.

Made out of tough green granite rock, the huge cave was five meters high, and there was a dense hanger of bats hanging upside down above the cave.

When Reed entered the cave, the bats became alarmed, and thousands of them flew out of the cave abruptly. The black mass was enough to even stop a dragon.

A few vampires appeared before Reed and his party under the cover of the bats.

All of them held their hand over their chest and bowed in a dignified manner as they spoke the local tongue solemnly.

"Greetings of the night, Patriarch."

Reed nodded as he looked at the four vampires, who were the guardians of the Fount of Blood. They would stand guard there no matter the situation.

The cloud of bats earlier were magical beasts that had been tamed by the vampires. With an average level of 3, their individual strength was feeble. When they numbered in the tens of thousands, though, it was enough to give a Level 15 archmage a headache.

"Follow me in."

The guards nodded respectfully, and one of them led the way while the rest followed the seven second-generation vampires.

They were not in any ordinary cave. Traces of alchemical materials on the rocks were visible just after a short walk. Meanwhile, hidden magic arrays and alchemic traps created faint magical fluctuations.

The defensive array within the cave was even stronger than the one in Reed's Vermillion Tower.

Forget ordinary bandits, even an archmage would pay a horrible price should he recklessly charge in.

That cave was not the place where the Progenitor Vampire attained his vampiric powers. The vampires only moved there after the Progenitor Vampire found it.

After hundreds of years of expansion and excavation work, the densely packed passages in the cave were more labyrinthian than a maze.

Half a solhour, many turns, and numerous secret passages later, Reed finally arrived at the Fount of Blood.

It was an enormous underground space.

The surrounding rocks were now blood-red as if they had been smeared with blood.

In the center of the underground area was a deep, irregularly-shaped pond that was 10 rhents long and 5 rhents wide.

Its depth was unknown.

Reed was surprised to find that the Fount of Blood's color was not the scarlet he had imagined. Rather, it was an extremely beautiful milky white.

It looked like fresh milk that just came from the farms of Grimm and still emanated some warmth.

The Divine Spirit he valued the most floated above the milky Fount of Blood.

It was a skeleton that was transparent like crystal.

The image was bizarre yet harmonious.

Reed pulled up the attribute interface and focused his attention on the crystal skeleton.

The first line of words that appeared made Reed take a deep breath, and his heart beat fiercely.

Only one sentence echoed in his mind.

He had struck the jackpot.