Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After Reed contemplated for a moment, he came to a decision.
The brutish and crude development of the vampires’ ways would definitely not work.
There were still three years until the players arrived, and if the unshackled predation of humans were to continue, those living disasters would definitely wipe the vampires out.
Besides, he was not a homicidal maniac. His heart just could not allow the vampires to wantonly hunt and prey on living people.
So, the vampires needed to change from the inside and out.
If there were such a situation in the human world, even a king would not be able to pull off a monumental change like that… The nobility and anyone with stakes would fight back in the most aggressive way possible.
Thankfully for him, he was the Progenitor Vampire, and the vampires had absolute loyalty to him. Thus, any revolutionary change was not difficult to implement.
“Eudes, summon all members of our clan to the hall.”
Eudes bowed his head respectfully.
“Yes, Father.”
Father… The moment Reed heard that word, the corner of his mouth twitched intensely.
Eudes was one of the vampires, whom Reed had personally granted the First embrace, and he was a second-generation vampire.
There were only seven second-generation vampires in the whole castle, and the rest were created by those seven vampires.
While there was nothing wrong with Eudes calling him Father, watching a nearly forty-year-old face doing so made Reed gripe to himself.
Whoosh!
A cauldron of bats flew away as Eudes set off to inform the rest.
Reed did not linger on the wall either and transformed into a cloud of bats before he flew straight to the great hall with the aid of his memories.
As he flew into the hall through the semicircular arches, the hall appeared magnificent. The stained glass windows depicted the lore of creation and also vampiric heroes.
Sculptures with defined textures had bat wings and the signature fangs of the vampires.
A variety of reliefs depicted all kinds of terrifying monsters, and a lifelike flame dragon was even carved into the ceiling of the hall.
The hall’s architectural style was reminiscent of a Western church.
At the center of the hall, the bats disappeared, and Reed’s figure reappeared in their place.
Looking at the exquisite architecture and ornamentations around him, a hint of appreciation flashed past his eyes.
As expected of the vampires who were known for their elegance, the layout there was way more luxurious than that in his own mage tower.
There were various antique utensils, extremely artistic statues, and oil paintings by master painters. Even the carpets looked exquisite.
Just as Reed curiously studied the various paintings in the hall, the loud flapping of wings echoed.
Vampires continuously appeared in the hall one by one, and in less than ten minutes, all of the vampires were gathered.
Even with two hundred vampires, the vast hall did not look crowded at all. The crowd’s every movement was full of sophistication; the men were handsome with impeccable manners, while the ladies were graceful and dignified.
While Reed had memories of such scenes in his mind, seeing so many handsome men and beautiful women with his own eyes put him in a great mood.
Sure enough, beauty was justice and also pleasing to the eyes.
As the vampires stood before Reed, they paid respect and reverence to their progenitor.
The power of his blood gained him their respect, and they also revered Reed’s own strength.
The seven middle-aged men and women took two steps forward.
Following that, all of the other vampires behind them bowed before Reed, who was sitting on his throne.
“Greetings of the night, Patriarch.”
Reed stood up and learned the proud posture of the Progenitor Vampire, nodding slightly at the crowd beneath him.
He only spoke slowly after everyone had risen again. “I have summoned all of you here today to discuss our future.”
Those words surprised all of the vampires below who cast a curious look at Reed.
Reed’s study of magic was usually so obsessive that he rarely cared about the vampires’ internal affairs.
It was the first time in many decades that he had gathered all of them for such an important meeting.
Eudes was the first to speak.
“Patriarch, please go ahead.”
His expression was somewhat serious, and he rarely called Reed “Father” in front of other vampires.
Although several other second-generation descendants were also baffled by Reed’s actions, they all followed suit.
“Lord Progenitor, you do not have to worry about anything.”
“Father…”
Since Reed was the Progenitor Vampire, they were all his descendants and he had absolute authority over every single vampire.
Even if he ordered those two hundred vampires to attack Grimm with its thousands of troops right then, they would not hesitate at all.
Reed was very satisfied with how the vampires had reacted so far.
“It appears that I have underestimated the weight of my role as the Progenitor Vampire in your eyes.”
After he demurred for a moment, he solemnly said, “My children, my blood kin, do you know that the vampires are about to usher in death and destruction?”
Death and destruction?
Those cold words set off a huge reaction in the hall.
What?
Eudes looked at Reed in shock as a deep puzzlement filled his blue eyes.
The vampires were hidden deep within the Farmountains, and they were not exactly weak. Plus, with the protection of a powerful Progenitor Vampire like Reed, who at present could destroy the vampires?
Only the army of Grimm would dare to say such a thing, he thought. Had Grimm’s army discovered their tracks?
Eudes’ fingers trembled slightly at the thought of it. He did not directly participate in the war between the vampires and Grimm a hundred years ago, but he did witness the horrible aftermath of the final battle.
“Patriarch, please enlighten us.”
Even though the vampires in the hall were shocked and in disbelief, no one dared to question him because he was their lord.
If the Progenitor Vampire’s words had been uttered by someone else instead, they would have torn that person apart straight away.
There was a coldness on Reed’s handsome face.
“Lucie, come and tell me, how many humans have we vampires taken away from the Farmountains in the past ten years.”
Lucie, a Level 9 mage, was a female vampire and the youngest of the seven second-generation vampires… She was just over a hundred years old.
Lucie stood up among the seven, and her long purple dress dragged along the floor, giving her a very classic charm.
Her beautiful blonde hair and purple dress formed a complementary contrast. In addition, her appearance of someone in her early thirties along with her every move, which exuded strong aristocratic vibes, looked extremely enchanting.
Although there was a hint of bewilderment in her mesmerizing green eyes, she still answered Reed’s question seriously.
“Father, our kinsmen stopped giving out First Embraces after your order twenty years ago, and the number of humans we’ve taken every year has stabilized. Over these ten years, we have captured close to three thousand humans for food annually.”
Three thousand a year; thirty thousand in ten.
When Reed heard the statistics from his descendant, he seemed a little upset.
After he made contact with the people there, he could no longer take those living beings as NPCs in a game.
Everyone was of flesh and blood. They all had a soul.
With more than thirty thousand people becoming their food, he was terribly affected despite having nothing to do with it.
There was also another point; the vampires had no idea about the concept of sustainable development.
Their raid on human lands was simply to take humans for feeding without realizing that human beings had the ability to create value. Thus, there was no such concept in their minds.
It was like catching over a hundred chickens and killing them without knowing how to raise chickens for eggs. That was a huge waste of resources.
So, the vampires needed to change.
“Yes, and because of this, the nobility and the Lodge of Mages in Grimm have noticed our tracks. I have even received news that Grimm is preparing to launch another offensive against us as it did one hundred years ago.”
There was a sudden clamor.
No one suspected Reed’s words to be fake, and a cacophony immediately broke out amongst the initially calm vampires.
Everyone knew that if the armies of Grimm were to march into the Farmountains, they would never be able to stop them.
About half of the vampires there did not experience the war a hundred years ago, but by word of mouth alone, no one wanted to experience the feeling of being surrounded by thousands of soldiers.
After Reed finished speaking, his gaze was steely, and his expression was indescribably grim.
He continued without regard for the vampires below him who were already panicking a little.
“Grimm has more than fifty thousand men, including twenty high mages and three archmages.
“If they manage to lock down our position, the castle will not be able to withstand their assault.”
Even the second-generation vampires could not pull themselves together when they heard that.
Eudes was the most anxious, and he quickly asked, “Patriarch, what should we do now?”
Reed did not answer him directly, instead, he carried on in an unhurried yet extremely oppressive tone.
“The situation is far worse than that. Even the Transcendent Mage, Locke Haart, who personally participated in the war against vampires a hundred years ago, has noticed our existence.
“Be it survival or destruction…
“Death or rebirth…
“We are about to be faced with a choice.”