We arrived at the next town over, White Ember Town. As usual, the two of us were a distance away from the town and started our reconnaissance of the town. I called my Bloody Eye as usual and had it go and get an aerial view of the town. As I was taking in the aerial view, I made sure to write down a map in accordance to the view I was currently seeing.

  It was quite easy as I just had the perspective of the Bloody Eye on a screen and traced it with paper. Paper is one of the mass produced items back at base and I made sure to have plenty to write down any important information on.

  As I was tracing the map, Lu had summoned her origami shikigami out into the town to collect intel on foot. These paper soldiers were able to easily slip into the town by fttening themselves and sliding through various cracks in walls and doors. With their help, we can obtain a bit more information of the town.

  While I was training and fighting, Lu never scked off in her own training. So, her various abilities have indeed improved since the st time we went to collect intel on a town. Now, she can even hear what the origami soldiers can hear which means that her ability in reconnaissance has gone through a dramatic improvement.

  This, in addition to my bloody eye, help us quickly learn all that this town had to offer. Overall, I have to say that this town is way worse than back in Lily Breath Town.

  If I had to compare the two, Lily Breath is a breath of fresh air as very minimal darkness was found in the city. Other than the secret human trafficking through orphanages, there was not much of anything else. In comparison, White Ember is like a mixed bag with a blend of all kinds of evil.

  Just from our brief scan we both saw various gangs and robberies as well as things like red light districts and corruption. From what Lu heard in the town, the town had gotten worse since 2 of the original guardians of the town died a few years ago. At that time, although there was still darkness, they were restrained by those 2 guardians. When they died, 2 new guardians were selected and the town turned into what we see now.

  Seeing the town as it is now, it's a miracle that the town could still function like this. It's a good thing that we have decided to completely take over the town. At least, under our rule, there wouldn't be things of this kind in the town.

  After looking at the town in disgust, I went to Lu to report my findings. Although we were chatting the whole time, this was an official report so we could both completely understand what the other knows. When we were both finished, Lu then started filling in the map with what she was currently able to find with her origami soldiers.

  Now we have a solid estimate of the town and what it looks like. I then added the information of the town to the communicator and added a long term mission to overthrow the town and eventually take control of the whole town. The requirements for this mission was at least 5 Bck Irons. Although the town only has four guardians, they most likely have the advantage in combat experience. So, I decided having five bck irons infiltrate would work best. Especially since the kids at base trained in groups and the guardians here are all very individual.

  Not only them as Lu and I will also keep an eye on the town. With us two there, there is nothing to worry about.

  Since we had just posted the mission, it is likely that the task won't get picked up for quite a while. Because of this, I went to doing what I have gotten used to doing, building bases while secretly watching the town. Although the town is very weak and I could take over the town easily, I don't know how to manage a town and I won't stay in a pce like this. Especially since I am a vampire and the Church of Light would absolutely target me till I go down.

  Although they can't take me down at all, it would be preferable to not get targeted whenever I want to go anywhere. I started building the bases all over the area around the town. I then recorded all the codes and locations of the various bases while secretly keeping an eye on the town. A few weeks passed by and I finally heard a notification from the communicator.

  I looked at it and saw that the mission I posted was taken. It was by a group of 5 Bck Irons from the base. They were not as strong as the strongest team of five, but they were still among the top in the base. Like the strongest team, the team consisted of a variety of different roles that can work together to fight strong opponents.

  This team had a Shielder Tank, a Speedy Dual Wielding Swordsman, a Lightning Element Magician, a dedicated Healer, and a Ranger Archer type role. The team was overall quite banced and I think is appropriate to deal with the town. Along with them were a few non Bck Iron people to help deal with the weaker foes in the town. Those Unrated fighters were all among the top of this level and likely want to fight to help break through their bottlenecks.

  With the comprehensive strength of this team, I think taking over the town can be done. It just depends on how they go about it. Going head on would be the most stupid decision so if they have any sort of strategy, they would try to collect intel while making their own preparations.

  And so I began waiting for their arrival. After all, they have to arrive at the town from where they are currently. During the time that they were heading here, I decided to go ahead and practice my magic further. In this time, I have mostly caught up with the knowledge I should know in this level. Unlike with my technique and physical capabilities, my magic has only had a slow increase in overall capabilities.

  Magic is, after all, a road where knowledge takes precedence. Back when Mifune was teaching me magic, she told me that I had an unnaturally high affinity with Blood based magic. This affinity makes it so spells of that type are not only easier to cast, but also cheaper and more effective in use. Although it has these advantages, I still need to actually learn all of the prerequisite knowledge first. This means that the main point blocking me from reaching the limit of my level in magic is just a little experience and the knowledge required.

  Before, Mifune had told me that even though we have the technology to directly impnt knowledge into our minds, most mages choose to learn step by step on their own. The reason she had stated was that Mages rely on their entrepreneuring spirit that constantly seeks to find knowledge to increase your own understanding of the world and of how it works. This lead to my long descent into reading and learning all kinds of complicated and convoluted books to try to understand how magic works.

  Although difficult, I have finally learned all of the prerequisite knowledge in this level and I am now free to learn all of the blood based magic that are in the blood magic encyclopedia.

  The Blood Magic Encyclopedia is a compendium that contains all of the common and useful spells reting to blood magic as well as various applications and usages for each spell.

  With it, I was able to optimize my overall combat style by seeing the spells and finding the right combination that helps support my fights.

  Back in the Little Blood Cup, my knowledge of magic was rather cking so I had to rely more on my swordsmanship as well as my technique and summons to fight. Now? I would be able to absolutely crush my previous self and all of my competition with just my magic capabilities alone.

  From blood weaponry magic that simutes the Blood Weaponry technique to things like blood wings for flight my combat capabilities have surged in versatility. Of course, I have even challenged my giant skeleton summon in a fight and even won a few times.

  Now I have developed four separate combat styles for different situations. First is the Magic only style, next is the Swordsmanship and fighting spirit, then there is the Technique Summoning style, and finally my ultimate combat style that blends all of the others advantages and results in a form that I can confidently say can fight a silver level fighter to a standstill.

  My Magic based style mostly relies on a spell I found called Blood Pools that are casted upon the ground and can be used to repce the magic for spells as well as hiding myself and blood weapons among the pools in the ground. I would start by pcing Blood Pools all over the arena and quickly shuttle among them while harassing the opponent with various blood weapons from my spells. As a st resort, I can turn the entire blood pool into giant blood weapons to crush my opponents. This style can easily deal with more bulky and slow targets by easily outmaneuvering them.

  The Fighting Spirit and Swordsmanship style is a refined version of what I usually use to spar with my skeleton summons. It all starts with me summoning my two swords to my side and extending my bde-like wings. I then usually fly about and quickly assault the opponent with a flurry of sword beams while I maintain a solid armor of fighting spirit around me. This style is great when facing a melee target who doesn't crush me in terms of basic stats.

  Next would be my Summoning style that mainly relies on my skeleton summons. Depending on my needs, I can easily call in groups of various types of summons in legion that absolutely obey my orders with no objection. Although not perfected, this style still helps deal with numerous enemies who try to fight me at once.

  Finally is my Last Resort style. This style actually depends on my Blood Unison form that after some practice can be imbued with fighting spirit and even cast spells. The only problem is that this form decreases my control of magic in favor of amplifying the effects of the spell by a great deal. Because of this, this form I have determined to keep it as a st resort where I stack armor on to my self and quickly rush to the enemy with a barrage of Area of Effect spells that have a massive range in the form. Because of my fighting spirit and scales, my own spells deal minimal damage to myself while I can constantly and freely out put without a care in the world. For this form, I specifically learned the Fireball spell to bst my opponents to ashes. The only problem with this style is that it has a high consumption rate and that I can only keep up the pace for a short 5 minutes for now.

  Although 5 minutes may sound short, when I used this style for the first time it was more than enough to easily destroy a massive range. Even rge trees that would require multiple people to work together to hold would split like twigs in that form. I even went to fight a swarm of beasts that included 3 bronze levels and a crowd of Bck Irons and I was able to indeed crush my way through all of them before the time ran out.

  With these style in hand to deal with various different situations, I can rest comfortably knowing that I have several methods to deal with different situations. All of this in mind, I went to start reading the introduction to silver level magic.

  In between Bronze and Silver, the biggest gap between them is in the total amount of energy they can store. For an average Bronze level, the improvement upon reaching silver is a near 3-4 times gap in energy amount. This in turn leads to different fighting styles between the levels. For example, a Bronze Mage could cast maybe 5 fireballs that could easily damage a street. Once reaching Silver, they could easily cast it at least 15 times in succession. That is just the surface changes in strength.

  With such a drastic change in energy amount, some of the previous knowledge in Bck Iron can be discounted. In the Bck Iron level, some of the knowledge I learned is to reduce the original power of a spell in order to keep the mana costs low. In comparison, the Silver level has the original versions of those techniques that are not only stronger, but they are also more efficient in mana usage.

  This leads to the wide gap between Silver and Bronze being so massive. Although my Last resort style can let me temporarily reach the destructive power of a Silver rank, it is only a st resort after all.

  Of course, if you wanted to, you could choose to learn the original methods in the Bronze tier. The only problem you would have is the massive consumption of the spells.

  Since I am already so close to reaching the Silver level, learning the knowledge now will only make it more convenient for me down the road. And so I spent my time slowly learning the knowledge in the book as I watched the town in case the Bck Irons wanted to secretly leave for any reason.

  I could feel the bottleneck to Silver loosening by the day. It is likely that I will reach that level after this mission to take over the town. This thought really excited me as I waited patiently for the kids to arrive.

  Time passed as I spent my time quietly reading. In that time, there were a lot of crimes and bad happening in the town of White Embers. Although I felt a little bad at first, once I saw it over and over again I could feel myself growing a little indifferent to the situation. I am not a saint or savior and I have no obligation to protect these people. At least, that was what I told myself in order to stand watching this sinful nd without moving.

  It was at this time that I finally found movement in the distance. I had casted a new spell that I learned during this retreating period known as the Blood Web that allows me to find out the specific situation in an area in advance. The only problem is that it takes a while to get used to having foreign information suddenly thrust into your head suddenly. It took me a few days to get used to the situation. With this spell, I can tell when something is going on by judging the movement of the metaphysical webs that connect everything.

  Rather than casting a web, this spell just makes the connection between all things appear like a web. By seeing the web, I can feel how much the web moves to tell whether something big or small is happening. Although the spell will tell me something is happening, it won't show me or tell me what it is so I still have to let my Blood Eye go and check out what it was that caused the movement.

  The spell is actually an incredibly powerful spell in the prophecy css that is somewhat reted to blood. Through my talent, I could forcibly use the spell and use it to great effect even as I am now. The spell is actually just a degraded form of the actual spell that is an unknown level of strength. The spell was found in the Blood Magic Encyclopedia in the lost/forgotten spells section as the original is lost according to the author of the encyclopedia.

  The only problem with using this spell is of course the limited information passed on by the spell as well as the range and casting requirements for the spell. Even if the spell is degraded for usage, I need to have a way to externally support the requirement of the spell. Just receiving the information passed on by the spell already hurt my head, let alone actually casting the spell.

  Thankfully there is a magic circle version of the spell that I can just create and add blood stones to in order to repce myself in casting the spell. It just costs a pretty penny to keep up.

  The movement in the distance was on the level of Bck Iron so I went and sent my Blood Eye over to confirm the situation.

  If my inference is correct, the Bck Iron level movement in the distance is the team of Bck Irons that I called over to complete the mission. I was indeed able to confirm that it was indeed the group as I saw their faces through my Blood Eye and they were indeed what I suspected.

  Since they were here, I no longer needed to maintain the spell so I deactivated the magic and put away all of the materials and covered the sigil. I was still hiding in one of the bases I built, so I was able to quietly and cleanly clean up all of the evidence I was here.

  I then went and let my Blood Eye keep up with the kids as I began reading the notes and map I had written of the town. Lu was currently still in the kitchen so I quickly informed Lu of their arrival and waited for the day they would act. Little did I know that the day would come sooner than I thought.

  I could feel my forehead scratch up in displeasure at what I was watching. The moment the group saw the town, they immediately went to attack the guards at the entrance and invade head on.

  Did they forget everything that was taught to them? Or have they gotten so overconfident that they could take on everything on their own? I could only sigh as they quickly rushed into the center of the town with an ambush already quietly prepared for them. I could only quickly get out of the base and head on over to clean up their mess after they get ambushed. I quickly told Lu of the situation before quickly dashing over.

  Since the town was attacked, most of the guards had rushed over to deal with the rampant intruders so I was able to quietly sneak into the town undetected. Although just in case, I had thorough scan of the surroundings before hand to check for any omissions.

  When I confirmed that I came in undetected, I quickly dashed along the roofs to my final destination. In the center of the town is the administer and noble districts of the town. This is not only where all four Bck Iron Guardians of the town were, but it was also home to the private armies and security for the nobles and the town in general.

  By the time I had arrived, the group were caught in a vicious struggle. All around them were various guards in armor that were able to fend off the offenses of the kids while the guardians were quietly watching the struggle.

  The difference in Bck Iron and the Unrated is merely in the presence of any form of maniputable energy in the body. That means that the difference between a newly promoted Bck Iron and a peak Unrated is near indistinguishable. The kids have only recently reached the level of Bck Iron through feeding and training so their combat experience was quite minimal. Because of this, the kids were struggling against the human sea tactics deployed by the more experienced Town Guardians.

  I watched as they slowly began to learn how to cooperate with each other as they fought. Although I had the golems arrange mock fights back when they were learning in the base, I guess just mock battles are not enough. I should have realized this beforehand, but I guess it is good to help them change now. Since they are used to working together back at base, once they find their rhythm they start taking the advantage once again.

  Every time a lethal blow is about to nd on the kids, I secretly manipute the battlefield with my new Blood Thread spell in order to save their little lives. This spell is one of the most useful extra spells that I learned. Although not strong enough to cause an effective attack or block one, they are quite stealthy and quick at what they do. The best part is that each thread can correspond to a finger of mine and can be used quite flexibly with a minimal amount of mental control.

  My secret manipution continued until about half of the foot soldiers were vanquished. The kids all showed exhausted expressions as they readied themselves to fight once more. The foot soldiers morale had hit an all time low and just as some were thinking of deserting the Guardians all nodded at one another and stood up all at once.

  When the four stood up, I could sense the tension in the kids spike upwards. Although I couldn't hear it from where I was currently at, I could tell from the ugly expression on the kids faces and the smug faces on the Guardians that they were likely mocking them. As I was thinking about intervening, Lu had finally betedly arrived. When she arrived and looked at the battle field, she likely was able to get the gist of the situation.

  The both of us being here already determined the fate of those so called guardians. I readied myself to intervene, but Lu stopped me.

  Lu: Celine, leave this to the kids. You have already done your best. This will teach them a lesson while also putting the kids in a life and death situation. It is rare for there to be such a good opportunity for them. We can always intervene when they are truly about to die.

  After giving it some thought, I finally agreed. The kids may not be strong or determined now, but they will grow and eventually become the backbone of the organization. This is a completely controlled and safe environment that can grow their maturity and help them in their future breakthroughs.

  Unlike a powerful bloodline like mine, most creatures of ordinary blood can not breakthrough as easily as I have been able to. That is why there are not that many Bck Irons that I have found in this world. Not only are they not using the resources here to their advantage, they also do not have the proper facilities to develop effective food and training medicine to develop themselves.

  This is a world that my parents had chosen to let me learn how to develop on my own. So, my parents know exactly what resources can be easily accessed here and have developed effective recipes using the various ingredients. It is again in one of the books mom passed me. Unlike here, the technology in our pne is enough to quickly analyze the various resources here and develop them to their limit.

  The reason that there are so many Bck Iron's coming from our base is due to the combination of all of these factors.

  The only advantage that these native Bck Irons have over our base's Bck Irons is in combat experience. In terms of strength, they are all in the Bck Iron tier so they are simir. In terms of skills, ours may be slightly more sophisticated, but a Silver can easily develop simir methods. Finally, there is teamwork. Most of the Bck Irons have developed on their own without systematic teaching. This leads to them being very individualistic as well as having bad habits from their lower level.

  All of this results in this fight depending more on the conditions of the fight and fighters. In this current scenario, the town's so called guardians are at the advantage, excluding Lu and I of course. This means that although the kids could win, it would be a drawn out and grueling fight.

  Since I decided to sit back and watch, I found a comfortable spot and took out a wn chair from my space ring and sat comfortably. I quietly let my blood threads attach to everyone in the battlefield. With it, I can instantly pull back the kids or even disturb the blood flow in their enemies ate a moments notice. Although it sounds strong, it is dependent on the fact that the ones I am targeting now do not have an exceptional talent in the mind or soul. If they did, they could detect this intrusion and clear it with their inner energy.

  Now that I have already prepared my precautions, I rexed my attention and went back to reading. I can sense the overall feel of the battlefield through my strings so I don't have to pay so much attention to the war.

  As I was rexing, the fight at the center of town was getting heated up. The guardians were entangling the frontlines while sending their soldiers to attack the backline. Thankfully, the kids had already considered for this situation and had weaker unrated tanks to stay by the back to block any unexpected attacks. As the fight went on, some of the kids had finally succumbed to their injuries and fell. Of course, I secretly saved them with my threads before any major harm could come to them.

  With my secret manipution, this seemingly dangerous scenario has become a training ground and free experience for these inexperienced kids. As the fight went on, more and more people started to fall. In order to make this training as realistic as possible, I let the kids who fell be completely unable to move. Through extra threads I generated, I made sure that none of the enemies went out of their way to kill the fallen kids. So as the kids fell, the ones at the head felt more and more pressure and started to grow impatient. It was at that time that one of the guardians found an opportunity and made a dash for it to the backline. Shocked, the kids at front tried to intercept him, but the other guardians intervened and now they were the ones entangled.

  Just as all was about to go through the worst case scenario, a sudden snapping sound echoed through the minds of everyone in the battlefield. One of the kids suddenly rushed over and swung at the guardian. It was only when they made this move that everyone could feel it.

  Attacking Guardian: They broke through to Bck Iron!

  With the additional combat power, now the guardians were turning on the downside. I gave a small smile at the situation. Although the situation was looking good for the kids, I still made sure to pay attention to everything. Although the kids may look like they have the complete advantage at first gnce, the kids had fought against a crowd of enemies while the guardians are still in top condition.

  And so I watched as the fight began to drag on. Through their combat experience, the guardians were able to slowly wear down the stamina of the now 6 Bck Iron kids. When I saw that the exhaustion of the kids reached their peak and made a mistake, I knew it was time to intervene.

  Just as the newly promoted kid was about to be fatally wounded, they closed their eye awaiting the inevitable pain. But, the pain didn't arrive for a while and they sneakily opened their eyes. The fatal blow was right at his neck, but the sword couldn't move any further. Not only that sword, but after a quick gnce, all of the guardians were like they were frozen in pce. The only thing showing that they could still think was their showing their confusion and fear.

  Then a quiet set of footsteps suddenly echoed in pce. If it was in battle, this slight sound would have been drowned out by the noise. But in this occasion, the echoes of every step seemed to resonate in everyone's ears.

  When the kids turned to look at the source of the noise, there was a familiar short figure that appeared there. With a long bck cloak that hid all except the bottom half of her face. It was me Celine!

  Celine: The battle ends here. I am disappointed with your performance.

  I spoke with a calm and clear tone. Although I know that my voice is beautiful, the tone of it already set my mood clear. I could sense the shivers going down their spines from my location.

  With a mere shift of my hand, the threads connected to my fingers shift and instantly tighten around all of the guardians limbs. I then flick my fingers outwards and the guardians were all tied up in a pile. I then cut the connection between my threads and my fingers so the guardians stay that way until I seek to remove them.

  I then do fancy flicking turn with my cloak flourishing in the wind.

  Celine: Clean up after yourselves and then report to me.

  And with a swooping motion, I then get thrust up into the air and dash away at a high speed.

  I then went back to base and went into one of the private rooms. I then jumped into my bed and rolled around for a bit.

  That whole bit was so embarrassing. I wanted to show a cool side and so I just did what came to my head at the time, but now that it is after the fact, I only feel embarrassed. I wonder if my act got any of them, I hope they still see me as a cool leader and won't ugh at me for being so corny.