Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Crawled Out of Hell
The sun was a cunt.
Lucian pressed his back against the cool stone of the cliff face, watching the last rays of orange light bleed across the forest canopy below. Every second that bastard star hung in the sky, his skin screamed—thousands of tiny needles piercing his flesh, reminding him of what he’d become.
What she had made him.
"Fuck you, Louisa," he whispered. His voice came out raw, unused to speech after two weeks of silence. "Fuck you and your entire bloodsucking family."
The system window floated in the corner of his vision, that persistent blue rectangle that had become his only companion in this hellhole.
╔═══════════════════════╗
║ ETERNAL NIGHT SYSTEM ║
╠═══════════════════════╣
║ [ HOST ] Lucian Grimaud ║
║ [ AGE ] 16 ║
║ [ RACE ] ANCIENT VAMPIRE ║
║ [ TITLE ] None ║
╠═══════════════════════╣
║ CULTIVATION BASE ║
║ ├─ Neophyte Realm (Mid) ║
║ ├─ Star Palace: Light Palace ║
║ └─ System Level: 3 (EXP: 180 / 400) ║
╠═══════════════════════╣
║ VITAL RESOURCES ║
║ ├─ HP: ██████████ 100% ║
║ ├─ MP: ████████░░ 80% ║
║ ├─ Stamina: ██████░░░░ 60% ║
║ └─ BE: ████░░░░░░ 40/100 ║
╠═══════════════════════╣
║ BLOODLINE: THE ANCIENT VAMPIRE ║
║ ├─ Seal Progress: 97% LOCKED ║
║ └─ Passive: [Eternal Regeneration] — Active ║
╚═══════════════════════╝
40 blood energy points. Enough to keep the regeneration passive running, but not enough for anything else. Whatever else meant—he didn’t know yet. The system was frustratingly vague about his bloodline abilities, everything locked behind that absurd 97% seal.
But the regeneration...
Lucian flexed his fingers, watching the fading light glint off his silver hair. Two weeks ago, he’d been dead. His heart had stopped. Louisa had drained every last drop of blood from his body and thrown him away like garbage.
And yet here he was now whole and alive.
Different.
The first thing he’d noticed upon waking was the hunger. Not for food—for blood. The scent of it had hit him like a sledgehammer, pulling him from unconsciousness into a world of red-tinged darkness. A mutated wolf had been prowling near his body, probably scenting an easy meal.
It became his meal instead.
The memory made his stomach turn, even now. The hot, coppery taste flooding his mouth. The way the wolf’s struggles had weakened as he drank. The perverse satisfaction that had settled in his chest as the beast’s heart stuttered and stopped.
The sun finally dipped below the horizon, and Lucian felt the burning sensation fade from his skin like water washing away grime. He exhaled—long, slow, relieved—and pushed off from the cliff face.
Night had fallen.
His time now.
The forest below was a kill zone.
Lucian moved through the trees with a silence that would have impressed him if he’d had the capacity to be impressed by anything anymore. His senses had sharpened over the past two weeks—he could hear a rabbit’s heartbeat from fifty meters, smell the fear-sweat of a deer from a hundred.
This territory belonged to F-rank and E-rank beasts. Mutated wolves, oversized boars, insects the size of dogs. Nothing that should pose a threat to even a Neophyte Realm cultivator with an A-rank ability.
But Lucian wasn’t hunting for challenge.
He was hunting for blood.
His head snapped left, silver hair catching the moonlight. Through the dense undergrowth, he spotted it—a shadow hound, one of the mutated canines that had emerged from the dungeons. E-rank equivalent. Three times the size of a normal wolf, with matted black fur and a lot of teeth jutting from its elongated jaw.
It hadn’t noticed him yet. It was busy tearing into the carcass of a deer, by the look of it. The wet squelch of flesh being ripped apart echoed through the silent forest.
Lucian’s lips curled.
"Light Blade."
A dagger of pure white light materialized in his right hand, casting sharp shadows across the forest floor. The hound’s head snapped up as its yellow eyes narrowed. It growled as it charged forward towards Lucian.
He sidestepped, his body flowing around the hound’s lunge like water around a stone. The beast’s jaws snapped shut on empty air as Lucian pivoted, bringing the light blade down in a sharp arc.
Schlick!
The blade carved through the hound’s neck with surgical precision. Hot blood sprayed across Lucian’s face, and he didn’t flinch. The hound’s body crashed to the ground, legs twitching in death throes, head rolling to a stop against a tree root.
Lucian crouched beside the still-warm corpse, his nostrils flaring.
The hunger surged.
"Fuck," he breathed. "Fuck, fuck, fuck—"
He buried his face in the wound before he could stop himself.
The blood was... different from the wolf two weeks ago. Less satisfying. But it still worked. He could feel the blood energy counter in his system climbing with every swallow—41... 42... 43...
He pulled back after thirty seconds, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. His entire body was trembling from pleasure.
The system chimed.
╔═════════════════════════════════╗
║QUEST UPDATE ║
║ [Survive the Night] — 14/14 Nights ║
║ STATUS: COMPLETE ║
║ REWARDS: ║
║ • 200 EXP (System Level: 3 → 4) ║
║ • NEW SYSTEM FUNCTION UNLOCKED: ║
║ ◀ SHADOW STORAGE ▶ ║
║ A dimensional pocket accessible via shadow contact. Current capacity: 5m³ ║ ╚═════════════════════════════════╝
Lucian stared at the notification, then at the shadow pooling beneath a nearby tree. He reached out experimentally, his fingers sinking into the darkness like it was water—
Cold. So cold.
He yanked his hand back with a hiss. "What the actual fuck?"
But he’d felt it. A space. A pocket inside the shadow, waiting to be filled.
"Shadow Storage," he murmured, testing the words. "This is going to be useful."
He could work with this.
The hound’s corpse lay at his feet, already beginning to cool. F-rank beast materials weren’t worth much—maybe a few copper coins at a guild exchange—but they were better than nothing.
Lucian reached into the shadow again, gritting his teeth against the cold, and dragged the hound’s body inside. It vanished into the darkness like it had never existed.
System Level 4. Shadow Storage.
Lucian turned his gaze toward the distant horizon, where the lights of Lyon would be glowing behind its massive walls. Miles away. Probably a week’s travel through beast territory, assuming he didn’t run into anything above D-rank.
Lemora would be mourning him. The stupid girl probably cried herself to sleep every night, believing her mother’s lie about an "unfortunate accident." She’d trusted him. Protected him in her own way.
And he’d used her.
Good.
She was a Du Maurier. A vampire. The daughter of the bitch who had stolen him from Lena, tortured him, fed on him, and killed him when she got greedy.
Lucian’s silver hair blew in the night breeze as his eyes—now carrying a faint crimson tint he hadn’t noticed.
"Louisa," he said quietly. The name felt like venom on his tongue. "Lemora. Every single one of you bloodsucking cunts."
He raised one hand, and a light blade materialized in his grip, casting harsh white light across his angular features. His expression was cold.
"I’m going to find my sister. And then I’m going to burn your entire fucking family to ash."
The forest around him remained silent, offering no judgment, no comfort.
