Lukas glanced at the sleeping Matthew and knew for certain that the young man was going to wake up. The only matter was the amount of time that it would take.
"It's not instant, but—"
Matthew let out a groan and sat up from the grass. He stretched out his arms and looked around at the others with a confused look on his face.
"Where are we? What happened back there?"
"Oh, you're finally awake!" Anthony dropped his crossbow and lunged for the young man, hugging him tight. "We nearly thought you died or something!"
Philip shook his head, but kept his expression neutral, the same as Lukas who both had their eyes on Matthew to see if there were any differences.
And there was a subtle change to Matthew, almost invisible unless you were actually paying attention to it.
The young man had pale skin as a Dhampir, but somehow it became even more translucent than ever, almost as if it was reflected by moonlight's surface.
There was a sharper glow to the redness in his eyes, exuding more power than it once did. A certain reassuredness that affected even the young man's posture and the way he carried himself.
"Well, that's…" Matthew's gaze dropped to the rabbit's corpse. The poor bunny's head was struck by a crossbolt and it remained on the grass, but all of a sudden, it rolled towards Matthew and he quickly plucked it out from the ground as he awkwardly hugged Anthony. "Can I have this?"
"Huh?" Anthony blinked not comprehending.
"I'm really thirsty, this will have to do." Matthew didn't hesitate and chomped down on the rabbit, fur and all. He drank in the blood, making a slight face of disgust but draining it all in one go before he dropped the body and sighed. "Not exactly the most quenching, but we can probably go grab for something else, can't we?"
Philip's gaze shot towards Lukas and it was an unreadable expression.
Lukas didn't know if the guy was satisfied or rather displeased with the fact that there was some changes, and changes there were.
"Did you ever have telekinesis, Matthew?" Lukas asked.
"I don't but—oh, this." Matthew's eyes widened as he stared at the rabbit's corpse on the ground and then his hand. He twitched his fingers and the rabbit flew back into his grip. "I got stronger, didn't I? I always had above average strength, but this is… new. Lukas, your blood really helped me. I wasn't even thinking of it, but it just happened."
"How exactly strong can you do with that power of yours?" Philip inquired and gestured around them. "Can you move that tree?"
"Move a tree? Wait, wait what—?" Anthony pulled away from Matthew to give him a confused look.
"A tree is heavy, but let me try this first." Matthew stretched a hand towards to Anthony and then lifted it up.
Anthony quickly yanked up into the air and he let out a shocked and nervous laugh.
"Woah, woah, this is cool. You can't do this before right?" Anthony said. "Uh uh—wait, can you put me down slowly? I think I'm getting a little sick with being in the air?"
"Ah, give me a second. You're actually a little heavy, ugh…"
"Drop him into the ground, he'll live." Philip said.
Matthew lowered his hand and the force that kept Anthony up vanished at once. Fortunately, Anthony caught himself before falling and threw Philip a stink eye.
"Thanks."
"Sorry about that, Anthony."
"No worries, kid. It's your new powers and everything." Anthony said.
"I'm not a child." Matthew frowned.
"How old are you again?"
"Sixteen."
"I'm twenty six, that's like ten years older than you, kiddo." Anthony laughed and ran his fingers through his hair then glanced at Lukas. "Want to do me next?"
"Let's not be hasty with it, Landel." Philip said.
"Yeah, we don't want you passing out. That'll put us in a disadvantage." Lukas said. Although he took it as an opportunity to carefully assess Matthew's new status.
Name: Matthew Williams
Age: 16 years old
Race: Vampire
Description: A creature of the night with above average strength and powers that prevail them physical and mental capacities that allow them to hunt and stalk through the night. They feed on the blood of other creatures, benefiting from better sources of blood but humans can be a good source of blood while other lesser creatures will help them survive but slowly weaken them.
Special Ability: Telekinesis (Lvl 4) Bloodfrenzy (Lvl 7) Other Skills To Be Unlocked.
'He already has his Telekinesis skill at this level four already? That seems way better than my current mastery trajectory—how come it's like that? And that Bloodlust must be how he was able to fight the giant spiders earlier via just instincts alone. Something like a berserker? A berserker with telekinesis is something… dang, think about all the applications that can happen.'
It was easy for Lukas to focus on it like a game. Minmaxing what he could and when he glanced at both Philip and Anthony, he couldn't help but wonder what they'd turn out if he gave them his blood, but he wanted to give them the choice to do it or not.
He wasn't going to force them to do it.
'I mean, it's for their own good. We all need to survive, so we have to do what it takes—or not? I don't really want to force people to do anything… I've done it with Rhea and things hadn't turned out well when I did, didn't it?'
Morality struck him hard. Now that he was being conscious of how his choices affected others, Lukas wasn't exactly keen on doing things for other people.
'I've hurt Chaerin and Lily before because I thought it was all a game. I've changed Rhea because I thought it was necessary for survival… Drusilla says that I'm just like her. That she is reminded of herself, but was I ever this calculative before?'
"So what do you think, Philip?" Lukas found himself turning to the Dhampir all the same. "Is that enough to gain your trust?"