Chapter Fourteen: Blood Servant

Qi Xiao’s shoulder was left tingling from the heavy pat, but he gritted his teeth and smiled. “I will.”
Raymont released his grip, roaring with laughter. “Let’s not talk about all that for now. Come on, let me show you your new domain.”

They walked along the corridor for more than ten meters, stepped over the threshold, and a spacious hall appeared before them. The hall itself was unremarkable save for its emptiness, but the walls all around were inlaid with doors.

“All of this will be yours from now on!”

Qi Xiao, still searching for the room he would be living in, didn’t quite understand at first. “All… of it?”

“Of course!” Raymont said as if it were obvious. “This place is already registered under your name. There are two bedrooms in the very center—just pick whichever one you prefer when you move in.

The remaining dozen or so rooms are all alchemy chambers or laboratories. You can check them out yourself later; I get dizzy just looking at that equipment, so I won’t take you through them now. As for the locks on the doors, just touch them with a bit of your mental energy and they’ll open for you.

There are also a few empty rooms. If you want to use them for something else, go see Butler Merck and have him help you remodel them. Oh, right.”

Suddenly remembering something, Raymont’s wristband flashed, and a small bell appeared in his palm.

He gave it a gentle shake. The bell rang with a pleasant, melodious chime. In no time, a swirl of blood-red mist rose from the floor and condensed.

The blood mist gradually took on human form, though with no face, clothed in a meticulously tailored suit. The figure bowed slightly. “Young Master Raymont, your orders? And this guest is…?”

Though the blood-formed being had no features, Qi Xiao could feel it scrutinizing him.

Raymont instructed, “This is the new junior disciple our teacher has accepted, Qi Xiao. Make sure you send some servants over to take good care of him.

My junior excels at alchemy. While you’re at it, ask around the manor and see if any of the elemental spirits are willing to come and assist him—a fire elemental would be best.”

The blood-being noted everything down. Mist gathered in its hand, quickly shaping into a bell, which it presented to Qi Xiao with a respectful flourish.

“Young Master Qi Xiao, should you require anything, simply ring the bell anywhere in the hall, and I will attend to it for you.”

Qi Xiao accepted the bell with a smile. “Thank you. I’ll be counting on you. May I ask your name?”

The being replied, “I am called Merck, of the Blood Servant clan from the Arcane Resonance Plane. Since our homeland was annexed into the Sorcerer Plane, our clan has served Lord Midiel ever since.”

“I see. Then I’ll be in your care, Butler Merck.”

Seeing that there were no further instructions, Merck bowed and excused himself. “I shall go and prepare to assign servants to Young Master Qi Xiao. Do you have any further requests, gentlemen?”

Raymont waved him off, and Merck dissolved into a cloud of blood mist and vanished on the spot.

Noticing Qi Xiao’s curiosity, Raymont grinned. “Don’t be fooled by Butler Merck’s current role—he was royalty, once.”

Qi Xiao was surprised. “Royalty? Then how…”

Raymont sighed. “Such is the cruelty of planar wars. The defeated pay a heavy price—extraordinary beings are always few and far between, in any world.

Blood Servants are born supernatural, so when their people lost, others targeted them. Their very name and gene pool were altered. Our teacher, as one of the main forces in the conquest of the Arcane Resonance Plane, received the Blood Servant clan as spoils of war.

They’re actually lucky; our teacher treats them well. The Shadow Servants next door fared much worse…”

Raymont shook his head, unwilling to say more, but added with relief, “At least here, in the Sorcerer Plane, we are strong, and almost never have to worry about such things.”

Qi Xiao hadn’t seen settings like these even in the movies, and found it novel, but since such matters were far removed from his own life, he simply took it as an interesting tidbit.

Raymont then led Qi Xiao to view the bedrooms. The two rooms were both simple and practical, differing only in color. Qi Xiao casually chose the one with a blue-and-white scheme.

Once he’d made his choice, Raymont checked the time and urged, “It’s getting late. Let’s head to the study—we don’t want to keep the teacher waiting.”

Qi Xiao naturally had no objections. Raymont closed his pale red eyes, muttered something under his breath, and in an instant, the two of them were transported from the room to another corridor.

Raymont let out a long breath. “The spatial structure of these bubbles is quite special. After the teacher’s modifications, nearly everything is interconnected. That makes using space-based magic much easier, and it’s a great help for studying, too.”

“Our teacher truly is remarkable,” Qi Xiao said, full of genuine admiration. A place where practice could yield twice the result with half the effort was a source of joy for him.

He suddenly realized he didn’t even know what path Raymont specialized in, so he asked, “Senior brother, are you also a spatial sorcerer?”

Raymont clicked his tongue, as if recalling something unpleasant. “Of course not. I’m a bloodline sorcerer—focused on training the body and wielding weapons.

As for those space tricks, I only know a little—just enough to get by. Otherwise, I’d have to bother Butler Merck every single time I wanted to go anywhere.”

As Raymont spoke, his voice fell, for by then they had reached the end of the corridor. A door stood before them.

“We’re here.”

Raymont knocked gently. A calm yet commanding male voice called out from within.

“Come in.”

They entered. Qi Xiao felt his vision open up.

This place was less a study and more a library. Midiel sat on a nearby sofa, perusing a notebook.

Behind him, as far as Qi Xiao’s eyes could see, rose dozens of bookshelves, each nearly twenty meters tall, packed with an astonishing array of books—from ancient scrolls of sorcery to freshly printed tomes, seemingly everything under the sun.

Above each shelf hung a massive crystal chandelier, casting gentle, warm light that created a tranquil and mysterious atmosphere. Sprites flitted up and down among the shelves, tending to the books.

In the distance, though the ground was lost to sight, the chandeliers stretched on and on, suggesting that the shelves extended far beyond the section visible to Qi Xiao.

Even in the largest library of his previous life, he had never seen such an overwhelming collection of books. He was left awestruck.

Midiel noticed the look of shock on Qi Xiao’s face, and a barely perceptible smile of pride flickered across his features. Of his few passions, this was one.

He casually picked up a bookmark, closed his notebook, and addressed Raymont, “You need not prepare for next month’s event. I shall take your junior brother instead. You should stay home and reflect on your deepest desires—face them, don’t reject them, and do not run away.”

“Yes, Teacher!” Raymont’s delight was unmistakable. “I’ll hand over the event preparations to my junior, then. If there’s nothing else, may I take my leave?”

Midiel stroked the notebook with his left hand, and in the next moment, it appeared in Raymont’s hand. “Go on. Read more. Think more.”

Raymont made a quick bow, then dashed out, notebook in hand, leaving Qi Xiao standing awkwardly by himself.

Midiel turned his gaze to Qi Xiao, striving to arrange his features into a gentle smile. He beckoned Qi Xiao over with his right hand, his tone mild and warm. “Qi Xiao, is that correct?”