One day I was again practicing over at the clearing. This time, I wasn't so easily fooled by my skeleton summons. It has been a month since that failed attempt to defeat the skeleton pair. Since then, I have challenged the pair every other day and I have been getting better at observing the environment.

  Unlike with human opponents, undead like my skeleton don't make any mistakes. However, they also don't innovate. They act like how a computer program works. They calcute the best scenario before enacting. Although not as precise as a computer would be. They make up for their precision with the combat experience ying dormant in their body.

  This combat experience happens to be the one thing that I ck which prevents me from completely defeating the summons. In this constant training state, I have slowly gotten better at observing my surroundings and have even gotten myself some fancy skills that I learned from all of this training.

  Skills are just different ways to use your techniques. From the manor guards, I have learned their three most practical skills. I have learned Blood Energy Coating that lets you turn your energy into a blood like form that clings onto your weapon and enhances it in various ways. I also learned the defensive skill of Blood Barrier that temporarily turns your blood weapon into a barrier to block against surprise attacks.Finally, a skill called Blood Resonance which is a skill that enhances a vampires natural blood sensing ability.

  Now with these three skills I have gotten comprehensively stronger. Although not as obvious against my skeleton summons, I have grown significantly since the start of training and I have even promoted in strength!

  That's right. I have finally stepped out of the embarrassing unrated stage and have finally stepped into Bck Iron. Although I have long surpassed that rank in combat effectiveness. The actual ranks themselves depend more on the amount of energy you can output in a single moment rather than the quality or level of control.

  Strictly speaking, the quality of my energy is apparently quite high as my skill is dispyed as a pseudo field. Fields themselves are an expression of your energy being dispyed outside of your body and is only common pce at the rank of ptinum which means that the quality of my inner energy is that high. Maybe that is why my technique, Sanctuary of Blood is lost? Perhaps it requires the inner energy of the body to be at the quality of an average ptinum.

  Control wise, I have trained my technique quite a bit but I am not so sure how to determine this kind of thing. Maybe I should ask my dad about it.

  Having decided my next course of action, I went over to my dad to ask about how people would normally determine their energy control.

  When I arrived at his office again, I noticed that he was still focused on his paperwork so I waited at the side of the office for him to finish. After a while, he finally looked up and smiled at me.

  Celine: Dad, are you done with work?

  Warren: Yes Celine dear. How has your day been?

  I then chatted with him about how my day has been so far and how much stronger I have gotten since I first started training.

  Warren: Alright Celine, what have you come here to ask me?

  Celine I wanna know how to test my energy control.

  Warren shows a moment of surprise before giving a slight chuckle.

  Warren: Wait a second, I think I have something here. Follow me.

  He then goes to another room. This room is probably his room. I have not been to this room before and from a first gnce it makes sense why.

  The entire room is full of clutter and the only way through is walking through the massive pile of items scattered everywhere.

  After rummaging around for a while, my dad finally brings out a dusty globe like object from the mess.

  Inside of the globe is a massive three-dimensional maze like structure. After wiping it a bit he then hands it over to me.

  Warren: This was what I used to practice my magic control on. This orb can accept ant sort of energy and the goal is to manipute your energy into a strand and to weave through the maze. On the stand attached to it you can modify the difficulty of the maze according to the average expected energy control of each level up to Gold.

  I looked at the maze and found how complicated the maze currently was. I then went to the stand to adjust it over to the lowest level. I stared as the maze quickly transformed from a complex three-dimensional maze into a retively short two-dimensional maze.

  After giving my dad a heads up I proceeded to start the maze.

  I tried controlling my energy into a thread like shape. After a failed attempt I was able to get my energy into a long thread. I then began to thin it out before beginning the maze. I first determined my route through the maze before my energy thread weaved into the maze. Being able to see the maze from the outside helped a lot in this endeavor. After a minute I was finally able to lead my energy to the end of the maze and I could hear two people cpping from beside me.

  Looking up, I saw that my mom had arrived at a time unbeknownst to me. My parents were both cpping happily for me while sitting next to each other.

  Melissa: You did great honey! You were able to finish the maze on your first try with no prior experience.

  Warren: Although we vampires don't need energy control as much as races like humans, it is always better to learn a bit more than a bit less.

  A smiled with glee uncontrolbly at my parents praise. I guess I have fully adapted to being a child now.

  I then began the next difficulty. Each difficulty is named based on the various levels of strength. Just now, I completed the 'Unrated' difficulty and now I am starting the Bck Iron level difficulty. The maze now is still two-dimensional like the previous maze. The difference here is in the complexity of the maze as well as a new aspect in it. The corridors in the maze are not of equal thickness.

  Unlike before, my thread shaped energy can't just go along the path I design for it. Now I have to be able to not only go through the maze but to control the thickness of the thread in certain areas.

  I tried this test and after a few failed attempts I found myself quite stumped by this test. Even though I have reached the Bck Iron rank, is my mana control only at the level of an Unrated?

  What I have not realized at this time was that what the maze tested was not mana control once you breakthrough, but the level of control a high bck iron with specific training would have. Although my parents knew this little fact, they saw how hard I was practicing it and saw no drawbacks from practicing with it in between training.

  After my 10th attempt and failure, I could see that I was getting more and more used to mana control. I was slowly proceeding further until I noticed that my energy was running low so I stopped this practice. After sulking for a bit and receiving my parents praise and cheering, I asked if I could take the tool back to my room.

  My dad agreed and I went back to my room. Now that I have grown older, I no longer sleep in that coffin like crib and have upgraded to a new coffin. The coffin itself has a spacial spell cast onto it and has a bigger space than it seems. I walked into my room and look around again at the room. Unlike before, my room has even more vampire reted decor with bat shaped furniture and even a little bat shaped projector.

  That's right. All kinds of objects that were made with technology in my previous life now were all magic items developed by the various civilizations here. Technology based weapons are not as effective here as they were in my previous world mostly because of the high number of extremely strong characters who could easily tank the likes of a nuke, or at least escape fast enough to be unaffected. Why do I know this? Because in one of the books I read I heard about an ancestor Duke level vampire being face to face with a technology based civilization.

  What was recorded on the book was how the duke first encroached on that world with their skill [Shadow Curtain] which at the level of the duke, could cover an entire world. World here refers to a pne which can range from the size of a continent in my previous life to a size I only know as massively rger than my previous pnet.

  When the Shadow Curtain was being spread there was a certain fsh of light as a blinding light shone upon his shadow curtain. After a serious injury from the bst he went back to recover while sending some lower css vampires to learn of the situation. It was afterwards that he found out the name of the weapon was the atomic bomb and through hypnotizing the human researchers he was able to get the full schematics and logic of how the bomb worked and was able to fashion it into a spell before bsting the country who attacked him first with a taste of their own medicine.

  The key note here was that a duke css vampire was able to tank a nuke while not knowing what the object was. The shocking thing was that not only were they at the same tier as my father, being a duke and all, there is also the vampire kings who are a clear level above even them. Would that mean that even my previous life's world not even be able to take down a single major race here?

  I then went to my father about this matter. After a while of pondering my father finally remembered this event.

  Warren: Although the book said that the vampire was duke level, he had taken a step towards breaking the bloodline restrictions and was heading towards vampire king. It is a level we call vampire prince. After conquering this world he went back and added the spell to the spell list. The nuclear power from it had it then added to the fire magic list. It made a whole new category of spells known as nuclear spells and was of use during various wars before a mage made a spell barrier that could block the aftereffects of the spell.

  My dad then raised his hand a small magic circle appeared in his palm. After a second, a thin barrier was form in his palm.

  Warren: This is a mini model version of the currently most popur spell barrier for wars. The specific affect is that it reduces outside damage by 35% and it completely isotes the affects of certain super spells like nuclear magic and mass curse spells. Although it says isotes, it only redirects the effects of the spell to the surroundings. Not only does the spell consume a minimal amount of mana over time for its effect, it also can extend almost indefinitely as long as your mana supply can keep up.

  He then dissolves the spell and shows a new spell with a different magic circle. After a moment a blood red barrier rose.

  Warren: Each race has modified the cssic barrier so that it only affects a certain race. This can help amplify the overall effect of the spell drastically and can add certain effects. Our Vampire War Barrier for example, can amplify blood techniques in its range and increases the recovery rate of vampires in the area while safe guarding vampire souls in the barrier. Although it costs more to open, it is usually worth it to raise this barrier for the drastic increase in combat effectiveness.

  He also dissolves this barrier and puts his hand down.

  I took the time to digest all this new knowledge I gained today and I returned back to my room to research more on my own time. Although I can always ask my dad all of my questions, the accuracy of what he says may not always be right and a second source could help confirm some things.

  This time, I was more interested in what my dad said when he was talking about the barrier. Specifically it was about the types of spells that were specifically isoted by the barrier. Since they are so dangerous to a group, it would definitely help to know of them in case I encounter them in the future.

  Spells are specific ways of using energy. Depending on the type of energy, your energy can amplify certain spells. For us Vampires, dark and blood reted spells gain an extra buff from our energy.

  After a while of searching I found a spell about barriers among the books in the manor's library. After skimming through most of the content I finally found a section detailing the specific types of magic known as the Five Forbidden War Magics.

  First was the ancient Mass Curse spell. It is a spell used in ancient times to sughter entire kingdoms at once with a curse so vicious it even affects the direct future bloodline.

  Second is the newest Nuclear magic that my dad had mentioned. Nuclear magic is a type of fire magic that not only concentrates energy like the various sun spells, it also has the radiation side effect. Although radiation won't affect anyone of a certain level and can be cleared with various spells, it is still a dangerous spell if kept unchecked.

  Third is the weirdest one, Evil assimition. It specifically is used by various cults in order to gain believers by mentally corrupting an entire kingdom to believe in a specific evil god. As a pseudo mind manipution and mental pollution spell, it is extremely difficult to detect and any use under any circumstance is to be hunted down at all costs.

  Fourth is the most clean All-Devouring. As the name states, the user eats all that exists in its range. Although it may not sound so bad, After swallowing, the material can then burst out and deal mass damage in an area.

  Finally is the scariest All-Death. It is a conceptual spell that kills all things equally. It is only used in an absolute life and death situation as it completely affects even the user and potential allies.

  Although there are other scary types of spells, most of them conflict with the five main spells and have to be blocked specifically.

  I then wondered about any forbidden magic that us vampires have.

  After a while of searching I couldn't find any book about the subject and decided to go back and start training again.

  Time passed and the next day was upon me.

  After another morning of training and breakfast, I asked my parents for something different.

  Celine: Mom Dad, can I go out and see what is outside the manor?

  After a moment of surprise, my parents discussed it in low voices before finally deciding.

  Melissa: You can go as long as Mifune is with you.

  Celine: Mifune?

  Warren: Don't look at her regur antics, she was trained to be a suitable bodyguard since you were born and even before that training she is a...

  Mifune: Gold level Mage!

  Ah... Mifune suddenly barged into the room and conversation. I don't know if it was my imagination, but I could feel as if there was an invisible tail wagging behind her back.

  Mifune: Ah, if you wanted to explore you could have asked me! I would've taken you all around by now.

  Warren; Before that, you should remember not to interrupt your boss so suddenly.

  My dad shakes his head while admonishing her. After a while, my dad finishes his lecture and Mifune runs off with a ugh to go prepare my stuff for a little trip.

  After a little wait, Mifune comes over as hyper active as usual and drags me over to a different side of the manor. There I see a separate garage like section and after walking in I find that that is exactly right.

  I found that the garage also has the space expanding spell that my bed has and the small garage door suddenly opens up to a massive warehouse like space.

  We step onto a certain ptform and Mifune operates on a console located there. After inputting a certain command, the ptform suddenly had railing rise and began levitating. After the rails were fully extended, the ptform went and flew over to a certain section.

  After a while, we finally stopped at a retively luxurious carriage with our crest upon it. At the head of the carriage were who horned horses known as Bicorn. They are like unicorns but instead of one horn pointing forward they have two.

  Unlike unicorns who favor virgin woman in those fairy tales, bicorns have no such requirement. These ones have been bred by our family to have no such requirement in order to easily drive them.

  After a moment to gaze in awe I stepped into the carriage which also had a spatial expansion spell.

  The inside was like the inside one of those party limousines in the movies in my previous life. There was food drink and comfort all over.

  Once seated, A projection appeared in front of Mifune and she calmly zoomed in the map on the projection so I could see clearly.

  She then pointed two the city closest by and the carriage began navigating over there.

  After a while on the road, we finally got within visual distance to the city. In front of me was a massive city wall that covered a cssic medieval style city. The city was clean and pristine and we finally went to one of the gates to enter the city.

  At the gate were two entrances. On one side was the public entrance where there was a decent line awaiting. The other was the one that we were on.

  After walking through a special magic scanner, we were directly allowed in. Confused, I asked Mifune what the scanner was about.

  Mifune: the scanner scans the symbol on the carriage because we pce a certain mark on it as well as scanning if the bloodline and identities of the passengers match. My identity has already been input into the database and yours is as well since you were born.

  After a little chat I took a gnce outside. Outside the carriage is a city that you would expect from a medieval world. Although there are special items that put this society on par with my previous world, it is still a world that depends solely on strength.

  After a while of wandering, we finally arrived at our destination. A small manor was here in this city and on it was the crest of our family.

  Mifune: This is our family's manor in this city. We have plenty of houses all over that we purchased and keep cleaned in case there is any need to stay in any major city.

  After this, I was lead into the manor. Although not like the home manor, it is still quite luxurious. I then went to put my stuff in the main room and got ready to explore the city on foot.

  Although it was fun to ride the carriage to look around, only when you explore with your own two feet would it feel like you have truly explored the city.

  After Mifune was prepared we finally began our exploration with the shopping street. I looked around at the various stores with interest.

  Mifune: Where would you like to go first?

  Celine: I wanna go to a bcksmith!

  After a moment of thought, Mifune finally decided on which pce exactly to go.

  Mifune: I know a good bcksmith around here. Although they won't always be willing to take orders, it would be nice to come visit.

  Mifune then lead me to a further end of the shopping street. On the way she introduces me to various pces of interest like clothes stores and some small restaurants. What I noticed more was that the further we went the less of these big stores there were. We walked by an area that was predominantly full of stalls with various people of different races together.

  I saw humans and beast folk like I would expect from a fantasy story as well as some giants and dwarves and elves.

  Mifune: This city is governed by Mr. Warren and allows for folks of all different races and backgrounds to stay. The ruler of this city was one of his old friends back when Mr. Warren was an adventurer. He is a Wolf Beast Folk, Not to be confused with werewolves.

  Mifune expined as we were walking. After a while we arrived at our location.

  Blue Gem Bcksmith

  Blue gem? That's a weird name for a bcksmith to have.

  After entering I was greeted with a wave of heat and the smell of iron. I gnced around and saw all kinds of weapons hanging on the walls and in dispy counters.

  We were then greeted by a dwarven boy.

  Dwarven Boy: Welcome to the Blue Gem, guest, would you like to peruse our wares or commission a request?

  Mifune: Go inform your boss and tell them Mifune is here.

  The dwarven boy then goes to let another dwarf around lead us to a side room as he goes to inform his master.

  After a few minutes a loud bang sounds as an unusual dwarf with blue eyes barges in.

  Blue eyed dwarf: Mifune! Long time no see!

  Mifune: It's been forever! How have you been.

  They both chat up a storm. After a while Mifune then introduces us.

  Mifune: Earl, this is Celine the beloved daughter of Mr. Warren. Celine, this is Earl. Dwarves are known to ge good at forging, but Earl is on another level and is known as the forging master Blue-eyed Earl.

  Earl: Oh don't ftter me. You know how much I dislike that title. So you're the child of that one huh. Good thing you got your mom's genes, so cute.

  Celine: Do you know my dad?

  Earl: Of course I do, I remember it was just yesterday that I left my family to explore the world and was captured by a group of bandits. Thankfully your dad was on the mission and cleared them out. Afterwards, we met a few times and I even built some things for him. Eventually he said he was going back to his territory and invited me over. Wahaha I remember those days fondly.

  He then spoke of various adventures that my dad went on. Like when he fought off a dark dragon who coveted a far off city or when in a raid against the nd of light, he went and rushed in fighting off an army alone.

  I listened to all of his stories in relish as time slowly passed by. After a while he finally noticed that he went off track and looked back to Mifune.

  Earl: Oh, anyways, what was you and the missy's goal coming here?

  Mifune: Well, we were going to have a walk around the city and she happened to be interested in coming to a bcksmith.

  Earl: So that's it. Follow me and I will take you around this pce.

  He then walked over to behind his dispy cabinet and took an object from a shelf. The shelf suddenly shifts and moves revealing an entrance underground. He then calls us to follow and he leads us to his underground smithy.

  After walking down two flights of stairs we are finally greeted with an open and wide space and a wave of heat. In that space we could see a massive furnace burning coals in front of us. Around the furnace are giant mechanical arms that carry heated metal from the furnace to a group of bcksmiths of various descents. Most of them were dwarves and humans but I could see one or two beast folk.

  He then leads us to watch the bcksmiths hard at work before we look to a pile of weapons id on the ground. On that pile were weapons of various types all piled here after they are finished being crafted by the bcksmiths here.

  Earl: You can take a look and take one as a souvenir if you would like missy, consider it as payment for listening to an old man's stories.

  He then shows me the pile and offers me one of them.

  I look at Mifune and she nods in agreement. I then walk over to the pile and look through all the options.

  Judging from the fact that this smithy is trusted by Mifune and the owner knows my dad, it is safe to say that the weapons here should be quite trustworthy in terms of quality. This means that the weapon chosen can be used as a weapon instead of for a collection. I rummage through the pile and take out a couple swords.

  From my training, I can tell that I am used to more light weapons. Although magic could let a bigger weapon be lighter, not only is weight part of the strength of a weapon, but it also takes up the space for runes.

  Runes are a special type of magic that is used for enchanting weapons. Because of it being separate systems, my mother taught me that her technique can be used in tandem with runes to have amplified affects. Different materials have a certain amount of tolerance for runes that is known as their mana conductivity. Although it is called mana, the runes can be made of various types of energy.

  The swords I took out of the pile to choose from were all retively lighter swords made for more defensive purposes. They were specially made with light materials in order to quickly pull them out in case of an emergency to block any unexpected hit.

  With my blood weapon technique, I have no need for a main weapon and so this weapon I am choosing is to mainly work well with my blood sword.

  When I have seen guards dual wielding, I have noticed that most go for one longer and one shorter bde. It is to use the shorter bde during closer confrontations and more defensive actions while the longer bde is used for more offensive moves. In an emergency, the shorter bde can help support the longer bde when defending using them.

  Of these five bdes, ons finally spoke to me. It was a red short sword with a silver hilt. As a higher rank of vampire, low level methods like silver won't affect us as much as regur iron would so that wouldn't be a problem. After I took hold of it I tested it by swinging it in various ways. After a while of familiarizing myself with it I informed Earl of my choice.

  Earl: So you chose that one. Haha you sure resemble your parents with this choice. Hand it over so I can enchant it for you.

  I give the sword over and he heads on to an unused desk. After patting some dust, he grabs a pen like tool and imbues his energy into the pen. I watch as he sketches various runes onto the bde of the short sword. After a few minutes he heaves a sigh of relief as he hands the sword back.

  Earl: Take care of this little baby. I have enchanted it with hardening, sharpening and whistling wind. The first two runes are as it says and whistling wind affects the wind resistance when swinging this bde. When in combat you can negate wind resistance to speed up your attacks.

  He then heads on over to a drawer and hands me a sheathe for the bde. After saying thanks, he then leads us back up the stairs to the storefront once again.

  After saying goodbye Mifune and and I leave the smithy. After we leave a distance, Mifune asks me where I want to go again.

  Celine: Can you just take me around?

  Mifune agrees and takes me over to a shopping street and begins a shopping spree.

  We walk around the whole street and finally end up at the manor with a few bags of goods to store. After putting up the things I ask Mifune how long we would take to go around the whole city.

  Mifune: Hmm. If it is absolutely everything this city has to offer, maybe another two days would be enough. Although you won't really need to see absolutely everything, just what stands out. So by tomorrow could finish seeing the major parts of it all.

  After agreeing I return to my room. In my room I saw all the things that I bought today and looked again at my sword. After a moment of hesitation, I decide to go to the backyard for some practice.

  I head on over to the backyard and summon my skeleton swordsman. I then try out my new short sword in battle. Although it took a little work to get used to it, I finally got used to holding my blood weapon with one hand and the short sword in the other.

  Although I wasn't as proficient in this style, it wouldn't hurt to learn both styles of fighting to adapt according to circumstances.

  After a while of training the sky went a little dark so I went back into the manor and my room to bathe and finally rest.

  I fell asleep as soon as I fell on my soft bed and drifted off to sleep. After a little while, Mifune went to check up on me and seeing my sleeping figure let out a soft chuckle as she turned off the lights and whispered.

  Mifune: Good night dear Celine.