Chapter 147: Stupid Trust
After an unknown number of hours had passed, Valentina finally decided that he had suffered enough for the time being and allowed him to take a rest.
Instantly, Lucian collapsed onto the rough ground, landing on his back among the cold dirt.
He was still wearing nothing but his boxers. His entire body was stained with blood, some fresh and some dried—the remnants of wounds that had already regenerated, leaving behind patches of leaked blood.
“Haa… haa… haa…”
His chest rose and fell heavily, each breath deeper than the last, strangely echoing within the weird, enormous jungle that remained eerily quiet.
At least now.
There had been a few moments during the training when the silence was broken by monstrous growls, strange and horrifying cries echoing from somewhere deep within the forest.
Every single one of them carried enough primal danger to send chills crawling across his skin just from the sound alone.
Yet each time one of those noises rang out—
Valentina would merely glance in that direction, and then—
Everything would go silent.
It was simply because she would release her killing intent in that direction, silencing those voices. And all the beasts hidden throughout the forest fled as far away as they could.
And although she had never directed that killing intent toward him, Lucian had still felt traces of it—and just that lingering amount was enough for him to realize something.
That she hadn’t even tried anything back when he had practically threatened her with his words while asking to become her disciple.
Slowly, Lucian raised the Blacksteel Longsword resting beside him, staring at it for a long moment as he examined it.
Unlike before, the weapon now felt familiar in his hands.
Despite everything it had endured, it remained in excellent condition, with only a few tiny chips visible along the edge if one looked closely enough.
Just within those two hours, Lucian had perfected the basics of handling a sword, enough not to accidentally attack with the blunt side anymore.
He had corrected his footing, his posture—everything was different now.
The progress was monstrous even by vampire standards, and by now, he could even be called an Apprentice in sword mastery, having already surpassed the Initiate stage—at least when it came to the sword.
He hadn’t yet touched any of the other weapons, as Valentina wanted him to focus on mastering the fundamentals for now, allowing him to learn how to properly handle a weapon before moving on to the others.
Lucian slowly lifted his gaze, immediately spotting the source of today’s suffering.
Valentina was currently sitting on a massive dark-orange throne that had seemingly appeared out of her shadows, without him even noticing when it had appeared.
She was leaning sideways against the throne, almost lazily, while staring at him with an amused expression, one leg crossed over the other.
There was a somewhat satisfied smile on her face, pleased by how well he had progressed.
He had done very well with his training, perhaps even exceeding her expectations somewhat—enough to make her feel proud.
But still… she wanted more… more!
Lucian didn’t even have the energy to think about her looking down at him from her throne while he lay battered and exhausted on the ground—like a queen gazing down upon her servant.
He would’ve felt his ego sting—which, to quite an extent, he already was feeling—but he simply couldn’t bring himself to care right now, focusing only on his breathing and recovery.
There was nothing he could do, and right now he was more focused on getting better than getting angry over every little thing.
After several moments passed in silence—
A thought suddenly entered his mind.
During his time in the vampire world, he had only looked at Vivienne’s status window, and beyond that, he hadn’t really attempted to analyze anyone else.
Well, he simply hadn’t wanted to. There was no real reason to, and it felt somewhat invasive to look at other people’s status windows. Besides, he hadn’t really had the time to focus on that either.
But most of all, he had never tried using his Analysis on the vampire known as the Strongest Vampire—the woman sitting before him.
Based on how she fought, it was impossible to judge her rank, as she clearly hadn’t used even a fraction of her strength.
She hadn’t taken a single uneven breath, nor had a single drop of sweat appeared on her body.
It was as if she had never even risen from her throne.
And that only made him more curious. At this point, he couldn’t hide that curiosity anymore.
His Analysis skill had evolved as well—the moment his rank increased to C Rank, transforming into [True Analysis].
A superior version capable of revealing far more information about a target than before. If he wished, he could even request specific details and have the skill focus on them.
Lucian shifted his attention toward her once again, ignoring her seductive curves, which were even more pronounced from his position below, as well as the long legs revealed beneath her posture.
[Analysing…]
This time, it took a few seconds instead of immediately displaying her status before him.
Then—
[Warning: The target is too strong compared to the host.]
[Only partial analysis will be applied.]
Lucian’s brows furrowed faintly, but before he could think any further—
A large blue-gold screen appeared before him, displaying her status window, though it seemed somewhat… distorted.
[STATUS WIND%#&]
Na#e – Va$&#tina Sca^!ett
Race – Vamp@^$(Nob!e)
Rank – Tran$&%ndent
Ti!les – The Omniblade, Mis….. of W.., Un….. One, Crimson Terror, …..ayer, …rn Tyrant, Cursed One, Scarlett Du….., etc
Blo$&line – Scarlett Bl&%dline
Affi#(%y – None
Tale$t – S
[Evaluation — Currently unavailable due to high rank difference]
[Affection: 28% (Excitement, Anticipation)]
— — —
Almost all of her information was blurred and distorted, and a few sections flickered uncontrollably, barely allowing him to properly read anything about her.
It wasn’t really a bad result, because just being able to see her status window at all was already a great achievement.
But while he was trying to read through the information—
“What are you doing?”
A soft voice suddenly whispered beside his ear.
Lucian’s pupils shrank, and his body reacted before his mind could.
His muscles tightened, and he moved immediately, swinging the blade in his hand in a sharp arc.
The reaction was almost instinctive, as his senses reacted the moment something entered his immediate range—his instincts drilled in through hours of torture.
His eyes finally focused on Valentina, who was directly in front of him.
The redhead didn’t even dodge the attack and instead—
She simply raised her arm, letting the sword strike her.
But the blade didn’t slice through her arm.
Rather, it only struck her flesh and didn’t go any further, making Lucian’s eyes widen.
The realization sent a chill down his spine, finally understanding why she didn’t even truly care about defense in combat.
But ignoring his surprise entirely, Valentina asked again.
“What were you doing just now?”
She leaned down, lowering herself until their gazes met directly.
For a second, Lucian was confused, a frown forming on his face, but then—
“What did you try on me? And what is it that you were reading?”
The faint softness that had appeared in her eyes after these hours of training him—everything had vanished completely, and Lucian even felt his heart skip instinctively.
She knew.
Valentina’s eyes gleamed, shifting into a glowing crimson, her expression remaining completely cold and unreadable as she easily saw through his unease.
She didn’t move away, continuing to look into his eyes, and strangely, even Lucian didn’t look away.
No—it was because he simply didn’t want to.
Then, slowly, Lucian let out a quiet sigh.
“How did you know I was reading something?” he asked instead, his voice strangely calm despite the situation he was in.
The air around her trembled violently, pressing down on him with a heavy force that almost blurred his consciousness.
But even then, Lucian didn’t lower his gaze—refusing to back down.
“The way your eyes were moving,” Valentina answered flatly.
“It was obvious… You used some skill on me.”
She was completely spot on.
So much so that Lucian could feel his pulse quicken.
Slowly, his lips parted.
“And… what will you do if I tell you I was looking at your status window?”
Valentina blinked twice.
“What?”
For a brief second, even she didn’t understand… before realization struck her.
Her eyes glowed faintly, and the ground beneath them began to crack.
“I would break your limbs, tear them apart, burn you, skin you alive… and drink your blood until you die.”
Each word of hers made the pressure heavier, and yet… Lucian’s gaze didn’t waver once.
A wry smile appeared inwardly.
“Then Master…” He spoke, his voice quiet.
“…do it.”
Silence. Complete silence fell as she stared at him.
For a second, only the sound of the wind moved through the air, a few distant, low growls echoing from somewhere far away before quickly fading again.
Valentina’s expression grew colder, sharper.
Immediately, her body flickered as she closed the distance in an instant, appearing directly before him, just inches away.
Her pale hand wrapped around his throat instantly, fingers closing around his neck in a firm grip.
But seeing his lack of fear and the calmness on his face, she was somewhat confused.
“Why are you acting like you don’t fear death?” she asked in a low voice.
From what she had seen, she knew Lucian felt fear; he feared many things, one of them being death as well, though it was overshadowed by his fear of losing his loved ones.
“I… don’t know…” Lucian muttered uncertainly.
And inwardly, even he was frowning, because he himself couldn’t understand his own ridiculous behavior.
He didn’t need to tell her the truth; he could’ve just lied, and even if Valentina had pressed further, there was no way she could’ve uncovered it.
But no!
He himself had stupidly told her the truth.
And when he thought about the reason… a bitter smile appeared on his face, making him feel ridiculous.
“It seems… I just trust you too much,” he muttered to himself.
And the moment those words left his mouth—even Valentina was slightly startled.
