Teach Me Blood Rage

A few weeks had passed since that incident, and Kassel College had welcomed its first summer vacation.

A salty, fishy heat wave swept in with the ocean waves and washed over the beach. Luo Qiusheng lounged half-reclined in a sun chair, his mind drifting, when a notification suddenly flashed across his portable terminal. Cold white text shattered the lazy afternoon.

"Autumnraw.Low, you have one unread email." A new window suddenly popped up on the screen.

Luo Qiusheng, vacationing on a beach in Xiamen, lifted his sunglasses.

Autumnraw.Low:

According to your enrollment records, you were born on July 19, 1991, and just turned nineteen this year.

On this important day, on behalf of Hilbert von Ange, the Academic Affairs Committee, and all the professors, I wish you a happy birthday.

Thank you for attending Kassel College and sharing these wonderful times with us. It is our honor to grow together.

Sincerely, Eva.

P.S. According to school regulations, students celebrating their birthdays may claim a cake from the college cafeteria. However, since you are currently spending your summer vacation in China, the complimentary birthday cake service has been canceled. Also, the summer mini-term begins on July 20, 2010. Your transcript from last semester shows that you missed two exams, meaning you either failed or did not pass the courses. I regret to inform you that you must attend makeup classes and retake the exams during the mini-term. I have booked you a ticket back to the main campus. Please be ready to depart at any time.

"Birthday?" Luo Qiusheng thought back to the information he usually used. It seemed he'd just filled that in at random back then.

Beside him, Jiu De Mai glanced over from her sun lounger. "Whose birthday is it?"

Luo Qiusheng thought for a moment, then smiled. "Why, it's your little baby Lu Mingfei's, of course."

Su Enxi suddenly spoke up, too. "I think I just heard Eva's voice?"

The girl nicknamed Chips was wearing a bikini, holding a bag of chips in her left hand and fiddling with the laptop she always carried in her right. She didn't even look up.

"Yeah, he missed exams. What else could it be? How boring. I'd rather put sunscreen on my Sister Mai."

Su Enxi: "...Why aren't you putting it on me?"

Luo Qiusheng smiled helplessly. "Next time, for sure. But your little baby might be running into trouble soon. Should we head back?"

"The tickets are already booked. We leave tomorrow morning. But I'm still curious—how do you always know in advance what Lu Mingfei is going to do? It's like...like you've got a worm in his stomach."

It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it meant the boss gave them fewer assignments, and the tasks became much easier. Their workload should have been 100 percent, but ever since Luo Qiusheng joined the team, he'd cut it down to less than half of what it used to be.

Su Enxi had even pressed him several times about which stocks would rise or fall lately, and who would win the World Cup this year. It was no wonder she was the logistics chief of the nanny squad—those were the only things on her mind.

Jiu De Mai spoke up, too. "Luo Qiusheng, can you pass your exams? I feel like you barely studied. Don't get kicked out of Kassel College."

Luo Qiusheng pretended to ponder. "That's true. Any ideas?"

"I could tamper with the projects you'll be tested on?"

Su Enxi almost laughed in exasperation at their pointless conversation. "The people in the Alchemy Department begged him to join, and the people in the Equipment Department seem to like following him around. Those two departments alone are enough to keep Kassel College from kicking Luo Qiusheng out."

"An A-Rank bloodline, possibly even higher, under investigation by the Secret Party. And then there's his ability to foresee things. It's not that he can't pass. He's just trying to hide his real abilities, right?"

After hearing Su Enxi's explanation, Jiu De Mai kicked Luo Qiusheng in annoyance. "Trying to fool your teammates? You deserve a beating."

Truthfully, Jiu De Mai knew Luo Qiusheng could pass, but she still enjoyed teasing him. His mind was always full of such novel ideas. The most amusing thing was how he would brood alone on the rooftop late at night.

Fortunately, Luo Qiusheng didn't know what Jiu De Mai was thinking. Otherwise, he would have called her out on it. Was that really brooding? It was obviously stargazing, enjoying the view, and getting some fresh air.

"Sister Mai, how about coming to my room tonight? I'll show you something fun. I've come up with a new game recently. It's really fun, but the side effects are a little..."

Jiu De Mai froze at his words. She gave Luo Qiusheng a searching, scrutinizing look, but eventually nodded.

Watching from beside the keyboard, Su Enxi choked on a chip. "Should I leave you two alone?"

Luo Qiusheng thought for a moment, then said calmly, "Why don't you come along, too? Your abilities would suit one of the projects I haven't developed yet."

"???" Su Enxi was full of question marks. She looked him up and down, wariness written all over her face.

"Don't look at me like that..."

After nightfall, Su Enxi and Jiu De Mai walked into Luo Qiusheng's room in their work clothes. The room was neat and clean, clearly kept that way with meticulous care every day.

"You're here?" Luo Qiusheng hurriedly welcomed them in and invited them to sit.

"Sister Mai, your Underworld Reflection Spirit Word has three major weaknesses. First, it offers no defensive bonus whatsoever. It only affects light and shadow, and cannot reduce or negate any damage. If you're hit, you're no different from when you're in your normal state.

"Second, it can't conceal anything that isn't visual. Sound, scent, body heat, and heartbeat are all impossible to hide. You can be precisely detected and located by auditory Spirit Words like Kamaitachi or by thermal imaging devices.

"Third, it leaves a visual trace. When you move, it leaves behind faint, ink-like black afterimages in the air. You're easily exposed in bright surroundings, and it works best in dim or dark environments."

"What about Underworld Reflection after Blood Rage?"

Jiu De Mai raised an eyebrow, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the patterns on the hilt of her short blade.

Blood Rage was a forbidden art for Hybrids. Even within the Secret Party, only the Lionheart Society's direct descendants possessed the complete knowledge of it. Yet Luo Qiusheng spoke as if he'd studied the most classified files, even dissecting the changes Underworld Reflection underwent at higher levels.

Luo Qiusheng tapped the screen of the deduction device, pulling up three advanced progression paths marked in red. His voice was so calm, it sounded as though he were stating an established fact.

"Blood Rage essentially suppresses the human personality by force and activates the Dragon Tribe genes, allowing Spirit Word rules to advance alongside bloodline purity. In the first-stage Blood Rage state, the three weaknesses you mentioned will be made up for to varying degrees. But the price will multiply, too."

"Teach me Blood Rage!" Jiu De Mai's gaze was resolute.

Su Enxi had initially been wary, but seeing that Luo Qiusheng had called them over in the middle of the night for the sake of their abilities, she was happy, though a little disappointed deep down.

She used her Heavenly Deduction ability to calculate the strain ratio in her mind. After a moment, she spoke. "Based on your analysis, I did a quick calculation. Under normal conditions, Mai's Underworld Reflection can be sustained for over forty minutes. With first-stage Blood Rage added, the maximum duration is four minutes and twenty-seven seconds. Beyond that threshold, the bloodline strain will shoot past the safety limit. Either the domain will collapse, or she'll slide straight into becoming a Dead Servant."