Ch. 3
The Darkness Sovereign
System: This is not a dream. You shall become the new Sovereign who governs the darkness.
"That voice again. Who are you? Where are you?"
System: I am your servant. I will assist you in regaining the divine throne of the Darkness Sovereign. Right now, I reside within your consciousness.
"Consciousness world? What is that?"
System: The consciousness world is the realm within the mind of the host. Here, you can view the energy accumulated by the altar as well as all your abilities. Would you like to enter the consciousness world now?
That voice echoed inside her mind once more. Driven by curiosity, Serea chose to agree.
Swoosh!
Serea's vision went black, and then she found herself in a space of absolute darkness.
Under her feet was a high platform; before her, the ruins of an altar. Hovering atop the ruins, a black stone floated within a pillar of azure light.
As Serea looked at the stone, she felt a strange sense of familiarity. Upon careful thought, wasn't this her own "family heirloom"?
It had once been praised as the "Dragon's Fang" in her previous life, fought over by the world. But why had it appeared here now?
System: The "Dragon's Fang" you mentioned is the vessel for the Sovereign's power. Since it was activated by your blood, you are the next Sovereign.
"Oh, I see. I didn't expect the true way to use the Dragon's Fang was like this..."
As she spoke, Serea gazed around her.
Apart from the central, destroyed altar, there were four others, of which three glowed with light and one remained dormant.
System: The four altars correspond to four dark abilities: Blood, Death, Soul, and Abyss. As for their specific uses, please explore them yourself, host.
"Uh, can't you explain a bit more...?"
Serea asked, but this time the voice didn't answer.
At this moment, she recalled—the so-called... system, let's just call it System, really did feel no different from those systems in novels.
The System had just mentioned viewing some kind of personal information page.
And as this thought arose, lines of text floated up in Serea's mind.
Character: "Crimson Storm"
Serea Otto (Vampire Queen)
Level: 10
Status: Weak
Spirit: A+ (Potential F-EX)
Strength: B (Potential F-EX)
Agility: B+ (Potential F-EX)
Endurance: D (Potential F-EX)
Constitution: C (Potential F-EX)
Charisma: EX (Potential F-EX)
Luck: B (Potential F-EX)
(ps: This is your potential, which determines developmental direction. It does not define current strength; your strength is determined by your level.)
Skills: Blood Absorption (Tier 1), undead Revival (Tier 1), Abyssal Summoning (Tier 1), Blood Frenzy (Tier 2)
Description: The one who governs the darkness!
Blood Frenzy: Consumes Dark Power to enter a vampiric state, greatly boosting all attributes for the duration. Requires one Blood Crystal to activate.
Owned Structure Unit—Blood Well: The basic building for Vampire Units. Can consume Blood Crystals to create Vampire Units or grant vampiric powers to others. Unlocking this structure costs 20 Blood Crystals.
20 Blood Crystals!
Seeing the number, Serea clicked her tongue in exasperation.
"This... this familiar setup, tsk. I get it now, it's just like a game, right? So, I'll forget about the Blood Well for now. Given my attributes here, how do I measure up in this world?"
System: Potential—Genius. Power—Weakling!
"Genius? Weakling? A genius weakling?!"
Serea's mouth twitched at the System's brutally honest evaluation.
"A genius weakling must still be stronger than an average weakling, right? Let's get practical—if you want me to become the Darkness Sovereign, just tell me how to get stronger."
Determination glinted in Serea's eyes as she spoke.
Past attachments? Transmigration to a different world? And in this life, a woman's body?
None of that mattered. Lin Yun's soul only cared for two things: power and strength!
As long as she grasped these two things firmly, nothing else mattered. In a world even more dangerous than her previous life, only power would give her the right to survive.
System: By acquiring the appropriate altar materials, you can convert them into Dark Power. Sacrificing Dark Power grants you access to powerful abilities and various items.
"Sounds good. So, what are these 'appropriate altar materials'?"
System: As the names suggest: The Blood Altar requires fresh blood. The Soul Altar needs the souls of the living. The Death Altar needs the faith of the dead. The Abyss Altar needs spreading terror.
System: As the Soul Altar is currently sealed, you cannot claim souls from the living.
"Hm... I understand. Then, can I use the blood I just extracted?"
Serea recalled that she'd just obtained a Blood Crystal.
System: Detection shows you possess Blood Altar materials. You may now initiate blood conversion to obtain Dark Power. Would you like to convert?
"Let's give it a try."
System: Remaining Blood Crystals: 1. Conversion confirmed.
Serea decided to give it a go. At the moment of activating the conversion, the floating red crystal inside the Blood Altar began to melt, turning to black mist and merging with the central Dark Altar.
Just as the altar absorbed the Blood Crystal, that same sense of weakness surged through Serea's body.
"Stop!"
System: Conversion halted after consuming half the Blood Crystal, yielding 4 points of Dark Power.
Noticing her body's abnormality, Serea stopped the sacrifice at once. As the process ended, the strange sensation inside faded away.
"Whew... Don't tell me there are side effects to sacrifices?"
System: It is not a side effect of sacrifice. As Vampire Queen, your survival depends on blood. Should a Blood Crystal be converted completely, you may face mortal danger.
"Seriously? That important and you didn't say so sooner? I almost got myself killed!"
System: Death is eternal. The host need not fear death. Life is simply a state of being. Only death...
"Stop, stop, I get it. So, I don't have any spare Blood Crystals or other items to sacrifice, right?"
System: Correct.
"Alright, then send me back. My body outside is still in danger."
System: The host need not worry. The flow of time in the consciousness space is 100:1 compared to outside.
"That's convenient, but there's no point in staying here now."
System: Understood.
The darkness faded, and Serea's consciousness returned to reality. Staring at the withered corpse lying on the ground, she fell into thought.
Transmigrating into a female body was one thing, but nearly being violated as soon as she arrived was another matter entirely. As for those bastards who had ambushed her, Serea wouldn't let them off so easily.
She didn't know how strong humans were in this world, but with her own methods, dealing with three mere mercenaries shouldn't be a problem.
With that in mind, Serea reached for the sword at the corpse's waist, but she paused and recalled something.
"Right, besides 'Blood Absorption', I have other skills too."
As the thought crossed her mind, a skill icon suddenly appeared before her—the design was of three blue skulls grouped together.
Recognizing the icon, Serea chose to activate it.
"Undead Revival!"
The skill icon lit up, and the Dark Power within her began to drain quickly.
System: Consumed 4 Dark Power.
The prompt sounded, and a ball of gray mist appeared in Serea's palm. This was the skill that had drained all her Dark Power.
She released the gray mist, letting it surge into the corpse's body. In the next instant, a horrific scene unfolded!
(To be continued...)