As i watch the veins on my chest...
my expression turn strange...
Because something about it felt… off.
Or rather—different.
How should I put this…?
Obedient.
Yes. That's the word.
The black veins slithering beneath my skin pulsed quietly. They weren't thrashing or fighting me like before. In fact, they responded the moment I reached out with my will—flowing down my arm, coiling around my wrist, as if waiting for command.
That wasn't how it was in my past life.
Back then… they were wild.
Untamed.
Vicious.
The veins were like living chains—writhing with hunger, always one slip away from turning on me. The Soul Sling wasn't just power. It was a curse—one that tried to devour me every time I touched it.
It made sense, though.
What else would you expect from something born of Corruption?
I remembered the ruin.
That ancient, dust-choked ruin lost to history—where I found the forbidden method to forge a Soul Sling.
There, carved into the crumbling stone wall, was a warning. Just one single line:
Beware of the Corruption— For to walk the path of soul is to invite your end.
Back then, I ignored those words.
But that was a mistake... i now understand how foolish i was...
I was too confident.
Too desperate.
Too thirsty for power.
I thought I could handle anything.
But when the veins finally appeared—
They came like wildfire. Unpredictable. Destructive.
Lashing out from within, trying to consume me from the inside out.
Always waiting. Always watching.
They would strike when I was weakest—
When my mind was tired, my body broken, and my guard lowered.
There was no peace. No trust.
Just a constant battle to remain in control.
One slip, and I would have been devoured.
That's why I was always afraid of them.
Why I could never let myself rest.
But now…
Now, as I look at the veins winding around my chest—dark, pulsing, alive—
Spreading softly down my arm like silk threads…
They're calm.
They've never been this obedient to me before.
"It's not like I am complaining through"
In fact, I have an idea why they're reacting this way.
I came up with two hypotheses.
First: it's must have something do with the Fate.
I tore my soul away from Fate's grasp.
This never happened in my previous life.
Back then, when I tried to gain the Soul Sling, I was already a Duke Demon.
To form the Soul Sling, I had to break my core and mana circle, which were both at the duke rank.
Of course, just breaking them caused a 1000-meter-wide magical explosion.
I don't even want to remember it.
But that's no the point….
In my previous life…
When I reached for my soul, the veins appeared.
They started as a tiny dot on my chest… before they spread, covering my soul and trying to corrupt my entire body.
If it wasn't for outside help, I wouldn't have survived.
I never got the chance to see Fate or anything divine.
The second hypothesis is because of the dragon blood I consumed.
At first, I wouldn't have believed it.
I would've gone with the first idea.
But after witnessing that dream…
I'm not so sure anymore.
Maybe, just like me, the Corruption felt fear.
After all it was connected to my soul.
Before, I wasn't sure what it was. But now, I can tell exactly what it was.
A dragon.
It's not hard to guess.
A dragon blood.
My vampire ability to see the dream of the person who I drink the blood of…
If I combine all the information.
There was only one answer to what that thing was…
Of course it was a dragon.
The kind that drowns you slowly.
That makes you feel like an insect under a magnifying glass.
Helpless. Exposed.
I shook my head violently.
No. stop thinking about that again.
Not now.
I looked down—and my throat froze.
Blood. Everywhere.
My nose twitched. My throat burned.
My jaw aches…
…Ah.
I knew this.
That familiar pressure at the back of my skull. The dizzying ache in my gut.
I was thirsty.
Not for water.
For blood.
I licked my cracked lips.
My teeth… felt longer.
Sharper.
I looked down at my hands.
The gloves were torn to shreds—fingertips burnt away. But I didn't care.
They would heal on their own.
That was the glove's ability: as long as even a single piece remained, they'd regenerate in twenty-four hours.
I ignored it.
With a flick of mana, I reached into my spatial ring.
There were still two monsters inside—sealed carcasses. Fresh. Untouched.
The moment I summoned them, the scent hit me.
Hot. Metallic. Savage.
It wrapped around my senses like a drug.
My control cracked.
I lunged.
Before I even realized it, my teeth were sinking into flesh—
My hands gripping tightly, claws tearing into raw meat as blood poured into my mouth like lava.
So warm.
So… perfect.
The taste was awful.
Foul mana. Rotting energy. Half-digested memories.
But I didn't care.
I drank.
I drank until the bodies were husks—dried up like they'd been left out in the sun for weeks.
It took maybe five minutes.
At most.
And it wasn't enough.
I wanted more.
Not just corpses.
Living blood.
Blood that screamed. That struggled. That begged.
My bloodlust surged.
More—
No.
I slapped my own cheek, hard.
Focus.
If I hadn't been a regressor…
If I didn't have all the experience I did—
I might've lost control.
I might've burst out of this room and attacked a servant.
That would've been…
Disastrous.
Deep breath.
In.
Out.
Again.
Slower this time.
The hunger dulled.
But it didn't disappear.
A voice still whispered in my head.
Blood. Blood. Blood…
I clenched my fist.
No.
I was stronger than this.
controlling myself barely.
I tried to ignore my thirst my hunger
"…Tch."
I glanced around the room.
The floor was soaked in blood.
Sticky. Warm. Coppery.
I wanted to drink that too.
But… it was disgusting.
It irked me just thinking about it.
Still—what choice did I have?
With a flick of my fingers, the blood shivered.
Then rose.
Condensed into a dense crimson sphere—
Thick as syrup.
I downed it in one gulp.
Sweet. Vile. Satisfying in the worst way.
The room looked a little cleaner now.
Still a mess. Still reeking of copper, burnt hair, and something I didn't even want to name.
"…I'm still gonna have to clean this crap up, aren't I?"
Another sigh.
And still…
No time to rest.