There wasn’t much for me to do. Honestly, I wasn’t good at building stuff, and I didn’t think anyone would want me to console them over their losses. I was a stranger to them, and I didn’t even know who had died.

Saying ’Everything will be fine. Time heals all wounds.’ was nonsense in the first place. Time may help make wounds easier to endure, but would they ever heal—truly heal? I had no idea, but I doubted it. If something were to happen to either Clove or Fern, I’d never truly heal. At least, I didn’t think I would, no matter how many years passed. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

The same could be said about my family. Even if I hadn’t met them for quite a while, I couldn’t imagine not meeting them again. I didn’t want to think about it, but my mind drifted to them dying. Somehow, I don’t know how or why, I wondered how I’d feel if they were to die. Or if they were already dead.

Maybe they were already dead?

No, they’re not.

Right, they probably weren’t. It was highly unlikely that they were going to die in my hometown. There were no monsters, and the only real danger was the drunkards. Honestly, even they barely posed a danger to my family, considering that there were more than enough guards to protect the town’s residents.

And as long as my siblings didn’t awaken Powers like mine, they would be fine as well. Everyone would. Everyone except me. Sooner or later, I was going to die. Sure, I was powerful, but the more time passed, the more I felt like both Shift and growing my Core were addictive.

It was hard to tell if everyone thought like that, but I highly doubted it. As obsessed as Clove was with growing stronger, he didn’t show the same symptoms as I did. As for Fern, she didn’t seem particularly interested in advancing to a Greater Being, let alone beyond that. I... on the other hand, was struggling to think of something else.

I wanted to grow stronger, learn more about my Power, and understand more about the System and Status changes. Fern was still a priority, but she was not alone on that list anymore, and I wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean. My love for her burned deeper than for anyone I knew, yet the sense of power was almost as strong. And that—that was scary.

The attention, the fear in the eyes of those who survived Cintre’s attack, didn’t help all that much either. If anything, it made everything worse, so I did the only thing I could think of: I retreated into the inn and focused on myself—on the System update.

New Race has been recognized. System updated due to Shift’s influence.

That message flashed before my eyes whenever I thought about it. It appeared twice, once when I killed my first Vampire, and again after the first Lesser Demon fell to my blade.

What did those messages mean? How was it possible for Shift to update the System?

Nothing about the System seemed different at first glance. If not for the System message, I wouldn’t even have known.

Transforming into the different types and forms of Vampires I’d killed didn’t explain much either. The Rotheart Vampires were overflowing with bloodlust, which made it increasingly difficult to keep control of body and mind. As for the Khörs Vampire, his form hadn’t changed all that much either. I could still sense all the lifeforms spread throughout the fortress. Blood Manipulation worked as well as before, and I highly doubted it was somehow related to the System update either.

"What does a System update mean in the first place? Does every race have a different System type?" That might be it, but how was I supposed to find out what the Vampire System and Demon System looked like?

I knew Vampires formed Families and focused on them. They turned humans into thralls or lower Vampires, which would allow them to work their way up the hierarchy by advancing their Core and absorbing more...

"No way. Please don’t tell me that you want me to drink my opponent’s blood." I cursed out loud.

Bloodlines. Was that it? Did their System somehow strengthen Vampires by drinking blood? I... probably had to test that, somehow... sometime.

"Clove can help me with that, maybe?" I thought, my hair standing on end at the thought. But before I was to ram my teeth into Clove’s neck to test my System update, I stayed rooted and considered the System update granted from killing Demons.

"Highly aggressive beings with a structure not unlike the Vampires. They focus on Insignias, forming Clans. But how is that related to my System update? I already have an Insignia, and I forced several Lesser Demons into submission already. Was that not enough to form a Clan?"

As the last words left my mouth, something within me stirred. Sure enough, a System panel popped up before me, making me grimace.

Insignia has been detected. Clan has been established.

Clan [Name] – Starless

Clan Leader – Xavier Halur of Dominance

Clan Members – 1

Boons granted to Clan [Name] – None

Hmm. That was actually easier than expected.

A Clan System—one that, from as far as I could tell, wasn’t very different from the Status the Insignia of Dominance displayed. There weren’t any Boons yet, but that would change in the future. All I needed was to find people—demons?—to join the Clan. Maybe forcing them into submission was already enough. If so, pushing the Clan to new heights would be relatively easy... once I stepped into the Nether. That, however, was yet another can I didn’t want to open.

Hence, until I was forced into yet another demon attack, I’d have to sit out on the Clan System.

Fortunately, I could always focus on the Bloodline System or the regular one. I had to upgrade my Chimera form now that I had reached the 2nd Tier, and I wasn’t going to turn it into something weak.

My Tier-2 Chimera form was going to be incredibly powerful. All I needed was time and to figure out a way to integrate the Tier-2 Demon shifts into the Chimera form without making myself look like a disgusting mutation.