Chapter 8: Finding Equipment
:::
Host:
Vlad Grando Alilovic
Progenitor Vampire – Level 4
Skills:
[Progenitor Blood]
The Bloodline of a Progenitor Vampire. Increased physical abilities. Increased senses. Resistance to aging. Can consume fresh blood to become stronger and recover from injuries.
[Radetic Heritage – Sword Heart]
Radetic Family's bloodline. Increased proficiency using sword-type weapons.
[Vampire Instinct]
Vampires are the supreme predators, and years of evolution perfectioned their instinct for hunting. When activated, all the senses and physical abilities are enhanced. In exchange, it increases the burden on the body and mind
:::
Vlad observed the changes in the status screen before nodding to himself.
The past battle brought him a lot of new information. Thanks to it, he understood the system better than before.
In the status screen, his level was four, however, the level was not an accurate description of combat strength.
According to the system, the levels of the robbers that he just killed were 6, 6, and 8. Even after leveling up, his level was lower than theirs. But despite that, Vlad killed them easily. It was not even a battle, but a massacre.
But Vlad understood why.
When he used his senses on the robbers, he felt that their mana was around six or seven times higher than his, close to the system estimation.
"In other words, the level is a measure of mana, huh," Vlad concluded.
Certainly, when he just woke up, the mana in his body was insignificant, but now that he leveled up, his mana increased several times, but he did not feel any change in his physical abilities.
"If I'm not wrong, levels 1 to 10 should be the same as this world's first realm of mana."
According to Vlad's knowledge, cultivation in this world was divided into twelve realms.
The first was called [Initiation], and most humans were in this realm.
The goal of this realm was to gather as much mana in the body as possible. The three robbers Vlad just killed were in this realm, and the level 8 robber was close to the limit of this realm.
The second realm was called [Bloodline Awakening]. In this realm, the individual needed to use the mana in the body to open the dantian. In the process, the bloodline in their bodies would be stimulated until awakening.
The third realm was called [Core Accumulation]. Here, the goal was to fill the dantian with as much mana as possible. In this realm, it became possible to manipulate the mana inside the body and send it to different parts of the body to strengthen them.
The fourth realm was called [Core Formation], and this was the first big wall that practitioners faced. The goal of this realm was to form a core in the dantian. When a practitioner reached this realm, they became able to manifest their mana externally.
Before he was crippled, Vlad was in this realm. Even though it was not enough to call him an unparalleled genius, it was enough to earn him a place between the upcoming prodigies of the capital.
"But now, I'm back to the first realm." Vlad smiled self-deprecatingly.
However, he was not disappointed for long.
He could feel that although he was just in the first realm, the current him was much stronger than any first-realm practitioner he knew.
In fact, he should not have trouble facing practitioners in the second realm, [Bloodline Awakening].
Vlad believed that once he recovered his previous cultivation, his strength should be several times greater than before.
Once Vlad was done organizing his thoughts, he checked the bodies of the robbers to see if he could find something useful.
Unfortunately, the robbers could not be considered well-off. Besides a few coins, the only useful thing that Vlad found was a small dagger in the body of the first bandit he killed.
The dagger was not that valuable, but it was pretty sharp and well-maintained. For Vlad, who did not have any weapons, it was timely.
Plus, daggers synergized well with the bloodline talent of his family, [Sword Heart].
A sword would have been better, but Vlad could not expect much of a trio of poor robbers.
When he was done, he found a place to wash off the residual blood on his hands and left.
He did not bother to hide the bodies of the robbers. Anyway, dozens of people died every day in this city, and this world was not equipped with the forensic abilities to trace the dead back to him.
Vlad then continued on his way toward the hidden stashes of his family.
He used the money on the robbers to buy some fruits and a bit of dried meat in a stall and satiate his hunger before arriving at the first location just after the sunset; a small house downtown.
But soon, Vlad frowned.
The house had been ransacked, with the doors and the windows destroyed and everything valuable inside stolen.
It was obvious that the people that killed his family had learned about this place.
Vlad left immediately to not attract attention and went to the second location, but just like the first, this place had been sacked as well. It made Vlad's expression turn ugly.
'It means that there is only a place remaining. I hope that nobody has found it yet.'
A few years ago, Vlad's father had brought him to these three places and shown them to him.
He told him that the family had several places like these all around the country, and in case the family suffered a catastrophe, these places could help the family to rise again.
Vlad only knew about three places. It was a rule to not reveal all the places to a person in case the secret was leaked.
Soon, Vlad arrived at the third location.
It was an old store in a corner just outside the noble district. The store was a bit dilapidated, and it had not been used in several years.
When Vlad arrived at the store, he sighed in relief when he found that it had not been ransacked yet.
He observed it for a while before confirming that nothing was wrong and entering the store. It was already night, and there was nobody in the streets, so he did not need to worry about being seen.
After entering the store, he followed his memories and reached the last room. There, he moved a dirty rug aside, deactivated a magical trap, and removed several tiles from the ground, revealing a room below.
Vlad did not hesitate and jumped down, arriving at an almost empty room.
But Vlad was not discouraged. He knew that what he was searching for was here.
The darkness did not impede him now that he was a vampire. Even in the dark, he could see clearly, although it was hard to differentiate the colors.
Looking around, he quickly saw three things in a corner.
A pouch, a longsword, and a bracelet.
'Jackpot.'
Vlad grabbed the three objects, equipping the bracelet on his wrist, the sword on his waist, and the pouch inside his clothes.
These three objects were precious pieces of equipment.
The pouch was a spatial object able to store things inside, although it could not store living beings o things with strong magical fluctuations such as other magical equipment.
The longsword and the bracelet were magical artifacts too. The longsword was equipped with an enchantment for sharpness and self-repair, simple but practical; and the bracelet could allow the user to release the spell [Haste] three times before having to recharge it.
The value of these three pieces of equipment was of thousands of gold coins, plus, the spatial pouch was filled with gold coins and banknotes equivalent to a sizable amount of wealth. The wealth in this room was enough to allow a normal person to live his entire life worry-free.
Inside the pouch, Vlad also found a black coat made of fine materials and several other clothes. These clothes were not magical equipment, but they were made of fine materials incomparable to the clothes he was wearing now.
Vlad thought for a moment before changing his clothes, wearing a black coat, black pants, and a hooded cape. This getup made him look like a suspicious person, but it helped him to hide his identity.
But just when Vlad finished changing, his sharp hearing caught a sound coming from outside.
Immediately, his eyes narrowed.
"Intruders."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone