A major event was stirring up massive waves of montum across the southern continent.
The Holy See was vacant (the religious term for the Pope's passing).
The election for the new Pope had officially begun.
Although the old Pope had already predetermined that His Holiness Adam would be the new Pope, this ceremonial performance still needed to be carried out.
Just like how His Holiness Adam hadn't known the papacy was predetermined before becoming the designated successor, the other purple-clad cardinals were also unaware of this fact.
Thus, with the old Pope's death, the entire Papal States fell into an eerie atmosphere.
Various purple-clad cardinals perford extravagant shows within their own territories, with countless church ceremonies conducted in endless succession.
The Papal States suffered from declining livelihoods due to this crazy performance spectacle, yet God's glory shone steadfastly upon every street of the Papal States and every ho of the poor.
Everything was stripped bare.
The common people found life unbearable.
And Norton began his brand new survival plan of cautious living.
Good news - he retrieved the great sword and armor. This proved these items carried no tracking signals.
Bad news - Holy Lord City, after suffering from so unknown plague, had too many casualties. The mass burial ground outside the city had completely piled up into mountains of corpses, attracting large packs of wolves, wild dogs, and various scavenging creatures.
These creatures seed to have bred into considerable numbers.
The massive presence of these organisms then attracted so strange creatures from the deep forests to co hunting.
Such as so enormous avian creatures, so massive serpentine beings...
He even spotted a werewolf being carried as food in the claws of one flying creature.
Even though werewolves were top-tier configurations in terms of natural physique and strength, these natural hunters still beca food sources for certain creatures in their eyes.
Yet these birds themselves would be hunted by packs of werewolves, becoming blood sustenance for the werewolves.
One had to admit, nature was truly awe-inspiring!
This terrifying version of a gathering of elites at Holy Lord City's mass burial ground forced Norton to abandon his idea of living in that old cave. His cave had been occupied by a bear, and being too close to Holy Lord City's mass burial ground made him fear attracting attention from new monsters.
The cliff breeze brushed against his face, feeling sowhat cool, yet the sunlight made Norton feel restless, his skin itching as if pierced by needles.
Norton released the deer from which he had drawn so blood, watching it lie on the ground, regain its calm, and begin chewing on weeds before finally feeling relieved.
Last ti he drained too many animals to death, reducing the species density in this area sowhat, forcing him to spend considerable ti and energy hunting for food in the unsafe forest.
So Norton had to embrace sustainable developnt - he captured so prey, tied them up for rearing, using them as blood slaves he could feed from anyti. The source of this content ɪs novęlfire
Oh damn, was he, Norton, really raising blood slaves now? This was what real vampires should be doing!
Since resuming regular feeding during this period, Norton's body had returned to its previous state.
Moreover, every day he could feel his strength improving slightly.
Rather than saying his strength was increasing, it was more accurate to say his constitution was enhancing. He could feel himself gradually changing, though this transformation was too subtle, possibly requiring years of accumulation to show real change.
Norton had also tried accelerating his growth by increasing blood consumption.
But vampires seed unable to advance their growth progress by consuming large amounts of blood - at the very least, draining over a dozen large animals produced no feedback. His power growth still followed its gradual pace, with only ti's accumulation allowing progressive developnt.
This made Norton sowhat miss those two golden saints he had previously fed upon.
If he could catch a few more to feed on, his evolution could advance further.
Norton felt tempted.
Of course, this wasn't urgent. After all, he truly couldn't defeat them.
Norton reached out and plucked the vampire bat hanging from his wrinkled skin, then hung it on a nearby branch.
For now, building a suitable shelter was most important. The gathering of various animals at Holy Lord City's mass burial ground was increasing daily, steadily diminishing his already limited sense of security.
This wouldn't do - he, Norton, still needed immortality!
To ensure his safety, Norton had previously considered hunting to reduce these species' numbers, preventing them from swarming him like those monstrous birds.
But the corpse quantity at the mass burial ground was too vast, attracting countless creatures. Around the burial ground, one could frequently see those strange large birds flying past, and even more terrifying cries echoed from the mass burial ground's direction.
This horrifying convergence of creatures made it impossible for Norton to hunt them to reduce their population numbers.
Unable to resolve the crisis through hunting, he could only choose to build a shelter, enhancing his turtle-shell defense to ensure his safety.
"Squeak squeak squeak..."
The vampire bat hanging on the nearby branch seed dissatisfied with its placent. After chirping several tis, it climbed hand-over-hand toward Norton's direction, then used its hook-like claws to hang from Norton's wrinkled skin again.
Norton stood up, picked up the great sword he had brought over, and began cutting down surrounding trees.
A new construction project was about to begin.
Tree after tree was felled and cut by Norton, divided into wooden boards for house building.
Becoming a vampire was truly quite enjoyable - although he, Norton, now appeared dried-up and ugly, he didn't need to exercise or train frantically like in cultivation novels to increase strength. Instead, through feeding and ti's passage, his power and stage naturally progressed steadily.
This was the best gospel for lazy people, allowing Norton to devote all his ti to other aspects.
As days and nights alternated, Norton's house and various anti-air spikes gradually took shape.
In the blink of an eye, a year had passed.
Sunlight gradually sank westward, dusk enveloping the land.
The deep autumn season felt particularly lonely at evening ti. Those with so ntal illness could easily sense a sorrowful atmosphere from this environnt of universal decay.
"Owooooo..."
Piercing wolf howls rose through the already darkened forest.
Accompanying the flowing howls, dense clusters of green-glowing pupils moved through the woods like will-o'-the-wisps.
Just judging by these eyes' height, one could tell these wolves must be quite large.
The wooden house defense system on the cliff edge had taken form. Compared to his first attempt at building a house, Norton's skills had significantly improved - at least it could be considered quite proper now.
A roughly six-square-ter wooden house stood beside the cliff, its roof covered with sharpened wooden spikes pointing skyward to defend against avian attacks.
Around the periter stood a row of outward-facing cheval de frise - these were quite effective against fierce beasts. Building such defenses under these crude conditions was truly difficult for Norton.
The interior was pitch black.
Yet so movent could be heard inside the house.
"Creak..."
The wooden window was pushed open a crack, then a blood-red eye suddenly appeared in the window gap.
Nightti, cliff, deserted wooden house, blood-red-eyed monster... these elents combined could film a "Midnight Freak" movie.
But today this midnight freak felt sowhat panicked himself.
Norton's blood-red eyes provided excellent night vision capability. With his physical transformation, the goggles he once used for night vision and underwater sight seed to have degenerated and fallen off.
A year hadn't brought much growth for him - he remained in that dried-up state, at most with slightly higher physical strength than before.
Perhaps for vampires, one year was still too short?
But Holy Lord City's problems had only grown worse over this extended period!
Norton had slled Holy Lord City's rotten odor two years ago, but for Holy Lord City, their deaths had started three years prior.
Three years was considerable developnt ti for the various swarming beast species.
Because Holy Lord City had too many deaths, these species never lacked food, causing them to rarely hunt normally. Instead, well-fed and content, they could mate anyti, anywhere, resulting in rapid population growth across various species.
However, with ti's passage, gradual decomposition and consumption of food ant oversized populations created supply-demand imbalances.
Thus these species began hunting each other, or migrating entire populations elsewhere.
A year of conflict saw major species either migrate away or gradually diminish through territorial disputes.
Until today, the final victor finally erged.
'Werewolves.'
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