The experience of transforming into a swarm of bats and flying was incredibly unique. Each bat was under Li De’s control, yet the sensation was entirely different from being in human form.
Bat Transformation was a shape-shifting spell that only consud mana during the transformation. Once transford, it didn’t require mana to maintain. As long as he had the stamina, he could fly for an entire day and night without issue.
The Far Mountain Range was neither too close nor too far from Green City.
The distance was roughly five hundred kiloters. After transforming into bats, Li De’s speed reached over two hundred kiloters per sun-hour. Two sun-hours later, he arrived at the edge of the Far Mountain Range.
The Far Mountain Range stretched for tens of thousands of kiloters, making it the longest mountain range in the southern part of the Nolan Empire.
The towering mountains separated the Nolan Empire from the Beastn empire to the south, which was located in the barren wastelands. The two massive nations only shared a border of less than three hundred kiloters at the southernmost point.
The ancient castle was built deep within the Far Mountain Range, in an extrely secluded location.
It was a place the Vampire Progenitor had spent over a decade searching for, and its terrain was perfect.
The swarm of bats flapped their wings, navigating through air currents and cold winds as they followed the mountain range.
After another two sun-hours, the bats finally ca to a stop.
This was a steep mountain range, and an ancient castle was built halfway up the mountainside, nestled between two peaks that rose over three thousand blades high.
The massive castle was constructed against the steep mountainside. Its walls were divided into two sections: one was part of the mountain itself, standing five hundred blades above the ground.
The second section was a man-made wall built on the mountainside, over thirty blades high. This wall was constructed from anti-magic stone, known as Sunken Ironstone, which could withstand damage from spells below Tier 5.
In front of the castle, there was only a three-hundred-blade-wide path connecting it to the foot of the mountain. On either side of the path were valleys hundreds of blades deep.
A natural chasm.
With just five hundred spellcasters, such a place could hold off tens of thousands of attackers.
A true natural fortress.
The swarm of bats Li De had transford into swooped down, landing in front of the castle before he canceled the spell and returned to his human form.
Looking at the thirty-blade-high wall made of Sunken Ironstone, Li De felt a sense of relief.
Although his current strength didn’t match the title of Vampire Progenitor, the wealth accumulated by the Vampire Progenitor over two centuries was indeed a significant asset for Li De.
The walls of the ancient castle were pitch black, with no light in sight.
Vampires were the favored children of the Goddess of Night, and night vision was an innate ability. They could see even more clearly in the dark than during the day.
The sentries on the wall, noticing movent below, imdiately grew alert.
"Who goes there?!"
"No need to be alard. I’ve returned."
Li De’s calm voice carried far, and the vampires above imdiately rejoiced upon hearing it.
"Clan Leader!"
Li De transford back into bats and flew up to the thirty-blade-high wall.
Once he revealed his human form, the ten vampires on night duty imdiately gathered around him.
They bowed deeply with one hand over their chests, showing utmost respect.
"Good evening, Clan Leader."
This bloodline of vampires were all Li De’s descendants. In human terms, they were his progeny.
Vampires couldn’t reproduce, but they could create descendants through the Embrace.
By injecting their vampire blood into humans through their fangs, they could transform humans into vampires.
This was the Embrace.
Each vampire could perform the Embrace once a year, but doing so would leave them weakened for a period of ti.
Logically, since the original Vampire Progenitor had been transford two hundred years ago, two centuries of developnt should have resulted in far more than just over two hundred descendants.
But after reviewing the mories, Li De realized things weren’t so simple.
A hundred years ago, during the vampires’ most glorious period, they had nearly three thousand mbers.
At that ti, the Vampire Progenitor was level 14, a high-level mage on the verge of breaking through to level 15.
But such a large number didn’t just represent power—it also ant an enormous demand for resources.
Each vampire needed to feed at least once a month, which ant nearly three thousand commoners were hunted and killed in the Far Mountain Range every month.
The terrifying death toll caused widespread panic in the villages and towns near Green City, enraging the most powerful force in the city—the transcendent mage Locke Hart, who was level 20 and above even grand mages.
The three thousand vampires were hunted down by Green City’s army. The vampires’ original ancient castle in the Far Mountain Range was breached, and only a little over a hundred vampires managed to escape.
During that battle, Locke Hart, the transcendent mage who had tad magic, single-handedly slaughtered over a thousand vampires.
The fear from that battle still lingered in the hearts of the vampires.
The Vampire Progenitor had been severely injured and nearly killed by the transcendent mage, his level dropping from 14 to 5. It took him a full century to recover from his injuries.
That battle had also made the Vampire Progenitor realize the power of transcendent mages, which was why he had decided to infiltrate Green City and systematically study magic.
After reviewing the Vampire Progenitor’s mories, Li De felt a sense of heaviness. The survival pressure on the vampires was far greater than he had imagined.
If they didn’t grow, they would be destroyed. But if they took the wrong path, they would also face destruction.
The vampires’ current way of survival had to change. The crude thods of the past had no future.
Thinking this, Li De couldn’t help but shake his head.
Vampires and humans—in the eyes of this world, the two were irreconcilable enemies.
Vampires saw humans as food, while humans saw vampires as demons. Whenever the two t, only one could survive.
But were vampires and humans truly irreconcilable?
This was the question Li De had been pondering on his way here.
The vampires’ current path of endless slaughter would only lead to their destruction. Indiscriminate killing wouldn’t make the vampires stronger.
He had returned this ti to find a way to solve the vampires’ developnt problem.
As the Vampire Progenitor, the vampires were his foundation. The stronger they beca, the more secure his position would be.
If the vampires were wiped out, he, the Vampire Progenitor, would be finished. Half of his bug-level talents would beco useless.
"Odys, what’s the urgent matter that required you to notify ?"
All the descendants in the ancient castle had inherited Li De’s surna, Kachar.
The leader of the group, Odys Kachar, was a tall, handso, and elegant middle-aged man with an outstanding deanor.
Due to their innate traits, vampires were all exceptionally beautiful, their looks even rivaling those of the elves, who were considered the pinnacle of beauty.
Odys not only had an impressive presence but also formidable strength. He was level 9, a mid-level mage on the verge of breaking through, and his secondary class as a warrior was level 4.
In "Glory," level 0 represented commoners, level 1 represented apprentices.
levels 2 to 4 were ordinary professionals.
levels 5 to 9 were mid-level professionals.
levels 10 to 14 were high-level professionals.
levels 15 to 19 were master-level professionals.
and level 20 was transcendent.
There were six others with strength comparable to Odys, all second-generation descendants of Li De.
The remaining two hundred vampires in the ancient castle were all above level 5, making them a considerable force.
A level 5 professional could easily serve as the captain of a hundred-man squad in the military.
So while the number of vampires Li De ruled over seed small, their strength was decent, giving them so ability to protect themselves.
"Clan Leader, the humans we captured last ti have all been consud. We need to hunt for more."
Odys, with his elegant deanor, seed more like a noble than a vampire.
Vampires needed blood to survive, and humans were their source of food.
Previously, the vampires would launch a collective raid every six months, targeting nearby villages and cities to capture humans and keep them as livestock.
But once vampires fed, they didn’t care whether the humans lived or died, so the captured humans were essentially disposable.
Li De had previously ordered that every ti the vampires captured humans, they had to report to him.
Now that the humans captured during the last raid had been completely drained, the vampires staying in the ancient castle had sent him the ssage.
Hearing this, Li De raised an eyebrow.
He had made up his mind.
The vampires needed to change.
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