Chapter 263: Kobold Influence

"Master Lucian... can you..."

Kanna didn’t finish her sentence, hesitating, perhaps not wanting to be rude to him as a maid, but still... Lucian understood what she was trying to say.

"Should I get up...?" he asked quietly, his voice somewhat strained.

Even now, his head was still throbbing from the countless memories that had been forced into his head, making him wince inwardly as he tried to keep his thoughts clear.

Yet... for some reason, simply looking at Kanna’s face in front of him seemed to calm him down, if only slightly.

Kanna gave a faint tilt of her head, just enough to say yes.

But then—

"No, I want to stay like this for some time."

The maid’s expression froze, and her eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but as she saw the playful smile on his face, her lips quivered.

"But Ma—"

"Kanna..."

Lucian’s voice lowered ever so slightly, and his eyes unconsciously narrowed as a faint irritation surfaced for some reason.

Perhaps due to the few other emotions mixing with his, he didn’t know.

"I’m staying like this for some time."

His voice became slightly colder.

Kanna’s body shivered faintly at the commanding tone in his voice.

She stared at him for several seconds...

"Nh..."

A strange little sound escaped her lips as she nodded, her expression faltering for a very brief second.

Smiling once again, Lucian closed his eyes.

He wanted to get his head clear, and for that, he needed some time, and honestly...

What better place was there than lying on her soft thighs...

He didn’t realise how his thoughts were working, or rather, subtly changing right now.

Inside the darkness of his mind, Lucian shifted his attention towards the new things he had gotten from the Kobolds.

’At least I didn’t just get those useless memories, right?’ he thought silently, questioning his dear system.

Earlier, due to the sudden influx of those memories, he hadn’t been able to even think about looking at the skills he had gotten from them.

[...No, look at it for yourself.]

In the next instant—

[Ding~!]

[You have obtained a total of 187 Attribute Points.]

Lucian raised a brow.

Perhaps this was one of the times when he had gotten this much AP just through devouring.

[Ding~!]

[You have obtained the skill: Reactive Bite.]

[Reactive Bite]

– Allows the user to instinctively bite when attacked at close range.

– The bite is performed with little conscious thought.

– Damage increases when the user is caught off guard.

— — —

’Hm...’

Lucian stared at the skill description.

’I think I saw this before.’

He didn’t clearly remember, as he was suddenly pulled into the memories before he could even read them completely, and after some time, he just gave up on keeping track of the skills and readied himself for the mental abuse that came with every memory fragment.

Then—

[Ding~!]

[You have obtained the skill: Predator’s Dash.]

[Predator’s Dash]

– Perform a sudden burst of movement toward a target.

– The initial acceleration is greatly increased.

– Particularly effective when pursuing fleeing prey.

[Ding~!]

[You have obtained the skill: Direction Sense.]

[Direction Sense]

– Grants an instinctive sense of direction.

– Reduces the chance of becoming lost in unfamiliar environments.

– Allows the user to roughly retrace paths they have previously taken.

[Ding~!]

[You have obtained the skill: Starvation Endurance.]

[Starvation Endurance]

– Allows the body to function despite prolonged hunger.

— — —

’This one is good, since I’m already feeling kinda hungry.’

Especially being this close to Kanna, he could feel his throat getting dry.

Lucian quickly pushed the thought aside and continued looking through the remaining notifications waiting for him.

[Ding~!]

[You have obtained the skill: Point-Blank Shot.]

[Point-Blank Shot]

– Improves accuracy when attacking a target at extremely close range.

– Allows the user to fire without being significantly hindered by proximity.

– Particularly useful against targets attempting to engage at melee range.

— — —

His attention quickly shifted towards the next notification, and the moment he saw it—

His expression changed.

[You have obtained the skill: Kobold Influence.]

[Kobold Influence]

– Allows the Caller to exert minor influence over other Kobolds.

– The influence becomes weaker with distance and resistance.

– More effective against weaker-willed Kobolds.

— — —

’Isn’t this the same skill as that Kobold who caused all that havoc?’

[The same one who brought all the monsters for you to feast on? Then yes.]

Lucian’s lips twitched, but she wasn’t exactly wrong, though.

Still... context mattered.

Or someone might think he had actually eaten the monsters, which he definitely hadn’t.

’I didn’t, did I...?’

Lucian’s expression became slightly strange.

Even he didn’t completely know what Devour actually did to those corpses, but he sincerely hoped that those hadn’t somehow gone into his stomach or anything like that.

The thought alone was enough to make him feel slightly nauseous.

’Anyways, show me the next one.’

[You have obtained the skill: Skull Crusher.]

[Skull Crusher]

– Delivers an extremely heavy strike toward the target’s head.

– Concentrates physical force into a single devastating blow.

– Particularly effective against unprotected heads and fragile targets.

— — —

’The Brute’s skill... I suppose.’

After a moment, the messages finally stopped coming, and just as Lucian was about to get disappointed by the number—

[Ding~!]

His brows quietly rose as another notification appeared.

[You have obtained the trait: Pack Instinct.]

Lucian’s expression stilled momentarily.

[Pack Instinct]

– Heightens awareness of nearby allies.

– Improves coordination when fighting alongside a group.

– Instinctively reacts to sudden movements made by pack members.

[You have obtained the trait: Sharp Claws.]

[Sharp Claws]

– The user’s claws are naturally sharper and more durable than normal.

– Improves damage dealt through slashing attacks.

– Allows the claws to tear through weaker materials with greater ease.

[You have obtained the trait: Tough Skin.]

[Tough Skin]

– The user’s skin is naturally tougher than normal.

– Provides minor resistance against physical attacks.

– Reduces damage from scratches, cuts, and blunt impacts.

— — —

Lucian’s eyes almost shot open.

’Wait, wait, I could even get traits from them?!’

His surprise lasted only for a moment before he quickly calmed himself, reading through the descriptions.

Traits... they really were traits, and not just some skills.

Traits were natural characteristics, something that was supposed to be much rarer than ordinary skills.

Akasha had once explained to him that skills could be learnt, and it just depended on the talent, compatibility, experience, and various other factors of the person.

Meanwhile, traits were much more unpredictable.

They were almost random, where some might get them even for the simplest reasons.

For example, a tailor might develop a trait related to his profession, while another person who had spent the same amount of time in the same profession might never obtain one.

It depended on the System—no, not his own system.

But the main system—or rather, the Records, the mysterious existence that observed everyone, regardless of who they were or how powerful they became.

Of course, the status windows that everyone obtained after killing their first monsters also came from that same system... though Lucian didn’t understand much more after that.

His thoughts lingered on that memory as he now looked at the three traits he had gotten—no—stolen from the monsters.

Something that was supposed to be only theirs... he had stolen that from them.

After a few minutes of internal silence...

Lucian spoke internally once again.

’Anyways, why did I get so many memories... shouldn’t the number be less than what I just went through?’

His memories of what had happened were still somewhat chaotic at that time, and he didn’t exactly remember every minute detail inside those memories—as they were somewhat hazy.

But he was certain that he had experienced more than ten separate memories, which meant at least ten Kobolds.

Just thinking about it made his head ache again.

’Nauseating...’ he muttered grimly.

[Didn’t you see how your powers devoured multiple creatures at once?]

Hearing Akasha’s words, Lucian paused.

’Yeah, it wasn’t possible before, but now... it just happened.’

When his Devour had activated, it almost felt like it was hungry or something, and the moment it looked at the lump of corpses, the dark black mist instantly enveloped the hundreds of bodies entirely.

It was almost as if... it had a life of its own, which was sort of terrifying, to be honest.

[That all happened because your Devouring Bloodline is getting stronger with time.]

’Hmm?’

Lucian’s brows furrowed slightly.

Meanwhile, Kanna silently looked down at his face.

His eyes were closed, though they twitched every now and then, as if he were thinking something in his head, though he looked much calmer than a few minutes ago.

She could still feel the faint tingling sensation caused by his hair against her thigh.

Yet... she didn’t try to move him.

Even she herself didn’t clearly understand why she had placed his head onto her lap in the first place, and why she was even listening to his commands so... obediently...?

It was a strange feeling... and she... didn’t like it.

’Is he using some skill on me?’

The thought briefly came into her mind, but as she saw his sleeping, almost innocent-looking face... she immediately rejected it.

She had seen how prideful and arrogant he was, and he didn’t seem like the sort of person who would use some hidden ability to control her.

At least... not on her.

Meanwhile...

’So what can I do to strengthen my bloodline even further?’

Lucian asked curiously.

No, he wasn’t a masochist who enjoyed getting mentally tortured by hundreds of unfamiliar memories, but despite how uncomfortable it was to live a fragment of their lives...

He was getting their skills in return, and the stronger his bloodline got, the more he could get from them.

He was already getting their traits too, so who knew... perhaps he might even be able to take their bloodlines and other things from them in the future.

[Just devour more and more creatures. That would likely increase its power.]

’Likely...? So you aren’t sure?’

[How would I know how your Bloodline works?]

’...’

He wasn’t sure whether Akasha was actually telling the truth, but he trusted her, knowing she wouldn’t do anything that might harm him—he could easily feel that much from their connection.

[But just... don’t let yourself get consumed by those memories.]

Her voice held a genuine concern this time, causing a small smile to appear over his lips.

’I won’t... and aren’t you there to stop me if I somehow get lost too?’

[...]

After another minute, Lucian decided to summon his status window.

Though before he could do that—

[Ding~!]

The familiar chime rang inside his head once again.

[You have completed the hidden quest: First Human Blood.]

[Quest: First Human Blood.]

Objective:

– Kill a conscious, intelligent species with your own hands without any hesitation, without the slightest shred of morality.

– Ensure the target’s death is directly caused by you.

Reward: +50 AP

Difficulty: Nothing difficult by now.

Failure Penalty: None

— — —

[You have completed the objective.]

[You have acquired 50 Attribute Points.]

Lucian silently stared at the quest he had completed.

Just like Akasha had said previously, he didn’t get the quest earlier, but only after completing it, as she had promised.

And for that reason, he didn’t really feel any irritation, but there was one question he couldn’t help but wonder about.

’Isn’t this too easy for me?’

Even while thinking about killing the man, Lucian hadn’t felt any regret, not even after tortuously killing all these other men.

[Well... this was a quest that you should’ve gotten when you were human.]

After becoming a vampire, something in his mindset had shifted.

Lucian had become much more irrational and no longer felt much for human lives, but that wasn’t completely true for his past self.

When he had still been human, he might’ve hesitated, even if it were for the slightest moment.

[Anyways...]

Lucian almost felt as though Akasha were shaking her head.

[Ding~!]

[You have completed the hidden quest: Save or Enslave the Damsels.]

[Quest: Save or Enslave the Damsels.]

Main Objective:

– Save the kidnapped women from the kidnappers.

– Ensure to keep their affection above zero.

Reward: +100 AP

Bonus Objective:

– Turn the women into vampires and make them your slaves.

Bonus Reward: +200 AP, Everyone’s affection +20%(Progenitor Bond)

Difficulty: D

Failure Penalty: Hatred from them. (But you can even kill them if you want.)

— — —

[You have completed the Main Objective.]

[You have acquired 100 Attribute Points.]

[Ding~!]

[You have failed to complete the Bonus Objective.]

[No rewards will be granted.]

[Note: No penalties will be applied for not completing the Bonus Objective.]