Chapter 853 Ruby's Resolve
-----
It has been almost a week since Ruby was brought back to her home through the powers of the pendant. In those times, she felt afraid of leaving everyone back then, and entering in this dangerous place that had brought her so much danger. Not only was there Red controlling most of the faction with her influence, and her sadistic nature, but her mother and her family were all brainwashed by the Ancestor, the Blood Venerable, and wanted to use her as the Vessel. She only ran away because of Red's plans to use her instead of allowing the Venerable to be reborn, but the sudden alliance between her and the Venerable suddenly unified both factions at the end, and their conflict, which was the reason she was sent away, ended abruptly.
With this, Ruby was now being forced into becoming the Venerable's Vessel by both factions. And therefore, there was little reason for them to fight one another. Even though Red always had ulterior motives since she showed up as a Vampire Goddess within the Vampire Family, they had no other option than to trust her the same way they trusted the Venerable. The alliance was a topic that everyone within the manor spoke about. Even as Ruby closed herself in her former room alone, she could listen to everyone speaking through her enhanced hearing senses. As she was a Pure-Blood Vampire of the greatest bloodline quality, her powers exceeded others quite a lot. And thanks to Drake's Divine Dragon Mark and his blood potions that allowed her to reach Rank 5 in her Mana Core, she was way stronger than anybody here could imagine.
However, because Red, a Vampire Goddess even stronger than Drake most of the time kept herself inside of this house, Ruby was never truly alone by herself. She was always feeling as if a pair of eyes was watching over her, and that an overwhelming and pressuring aura of divinity was constantly pressuring her. Ruby lacked the free will she had earned herself before, tricked by the Venerable's Soul Shard inside the pendant, she ended coming here against her will. After learning that the Venerable's threats were impossible to do as of now by Drake who somehow managed to create a new power that could ignore Red's Divine Aura, Ruby felt embarrassed with herself.
"After all this time I spent with them, I was still unable to trust them enough… After all this time that I spent with uncle, I still couldn't trust him? Was the fear I felt genuine? Maybe if I had trusted them more, I might had not been so easily fooled." Thought Ruby, feeling heartbroken.
She still remembered that Drake promised her that he would come to rescue her soon somehow, and that she had to prepare for that day. But what can she even do now? Surveyed by the Divine Sense of Red, what can she even do? Even the slightest of suspicious moves might make Red think she was up to something.
"How can I grow stronger on my own without being seen?" She sighed. Ruby quickly sat down over her bed again, tired of reading fairy tale books, and closed her eyes.
Suddenly, as she closed them, she felt the essence of Mana flowing across her veins. This essence flowed at a rapid speed, and the more she concentrated into it, the faster it flowed across her body. This was perhaps the only thing she could do as of now, while pretending to be taking a nap, Ruby practiced Mana Manipulation while opening her Mana Veins to grow slightly stronger each day. However, she had been doing this every day even before getting here, it wasn't just going to suddenly show an explosible result or grow in mere seconds now that she was confined here. Or well, there was another thing that was incentivizing her to work so hard.
FLASH!
Amidst the mana, another strange energy began to flow, this energy was something Ruby had never sensed or seen before within her, but that she had seen other Vampires use before. This was a unique power that let Vampires be stronger than others even more. It wasn't merely just Blood Magic, but an extension of the Vampire's powers. This was a natural power not completely related to magic, but something of an extension to Vampire's supernatural Abilities and Skills.
"Ah! Again… This is Blood Aura?"
Ruby immediately could tell right away; this had happened a couple of times before she was cultivating. But this time at long last, it had emerged once more, and it seemed that she could take a grasp of it more completely. This power was [Blood Aura], an Ability that the strongest of Vampires could develop. It granted incredible powers and seemed to be an energy of its own, enhancing physical capabilities and magical power through the roof.
"I-I think… I can keep it up for a bit longer… With the power that Uncle Drake has given to me…"
Ruby's Dragon Mark suddenly glowed bright red, enhancing her ability to control Blood Aura. The streams of red essence flowed almost naturally across her veins, being greatly enhanced. The Mana she had merged with her Blood Aura was well, making it larger and stronger. Her muscles, bones, and the rest of her body were slowly being enhanced by it. This powerful aura of essence was giving her a great opportunity to grow stronger!
"Ungh… It is getting harder to control the more I expand it across my body… I have to concentrate it inside of my Blood Core…" Ruby thought. Blood Cores were the Mana Cores of Vampires. As all Vampires had their Mana Cores turned red when they transformed, they often were renamed to Blood Cores instead of Mana Cores.
FLASH!
Ruby continued controlling her [Blood Aura], as she began to grit her teeth, resting over the bed and covering herself with the pillows helped at not being seen clearly in pain.
"I have to bear with it… I can do this… I have to grow stronger… I cannot let everything up to Uncle Drake and Uncle Rakasha…"
As Ruby trained her [Blood Aura], Drake and company reached the Chef Guild.
-----