Success

Adel knew very well the difference between a blood thrall and a true vampire, so after escaping, he began his own experiments.

He wanted to transform himself into a pure vampire, but unfortunately, he had never succeeded.

He was not a true sorcerer, the records were incomplete, and the materials and conditions were far inferior. Even the vampire back then had failed, let alone him.

Thus, the latter half of the entire book was filled with Adel's almost delusional conjectures, with barely any value to them.

"Sorcerers..." Adam frowned. Some Churches regarded professions such as sorcerers and witch doctors as heresy to be purged, while others turned a blind eye.

Some sorcerers were revered and created many valuable things, while others brought about disasters that caused countless deaths.

Adel had once wanted to become a sorcerer as well, but unfortunately, he lacked the talent and was defeated at the very first hurdle.

"Integrate perception. Begin meditation through perception, then guide out spiritual power." Adam rubbed his brow. It seemed he had talent in this area as well, but unfortunately, Adel had left no further records.

Even this first step had been something Adel had accidentally overheard from that vampire.

In short, after this blood thrall Adel went out into the world, he gained nothing of substance apart from the identity of a blood thrall.

"He was probably anxious right now." Adam shut the skylight, released his transformation, and lay on the bed, speculating about Adel's state.

Having his abnormality discovered and the thing he regarded as treasure taken away would deal a tremendous blow to Adel's mentality. Meanwhile, the words Adam had left behind would give Adel a measure of hope.

As he suffered endlessly in his anxiety while suppressing his craving for blood, Adel's condition would only worsen. If this continued, he would keep analyzing Adam's message, let his thoughts run wild, and begin filling in the blanks, making Adam seem even more mysterious.

"In this torment, he will instinctively choose to believe me—to believe that I have a way to conceal his abnormalities—because only then will he have a chance to survive."

"I wasn't ruthless enough. I should have smashed all his remaining potions and cut off every last bit of hope. Only then would he place everything he had on me." Adam began analyzing his own mistakes as well.

"The miserable state of that corpse interfered with my thinking to some extent, making me instinctively want to leave as quickly as possible without thinking further."

"And afterward, I mentioned the corpse. While pointing out that he had gone to worship could make him more wary of me, it also increased the possibility of exposing myself."

Although Adel had all kinds of flaws, he also had his strengths.

First, he was ruthless enough. He could endure extreme pain to worship at the church, and he could suppress his thirst for blood without going out to hunt even under such circumstances.

Second, the book showed that he possessed an exceptionally strong desire to survive and was good at seizing opportunities. That vampire had captured many people and transformed them into blood thralls for experiments, yet only Adel became a half-assistant and later seized the chance to escape successfully.

Lastly, he was cautious enough. After returning to Roa, he could hide in the forest for several months, contact the inhuman beings in the city, and only enter the city after obtaining a way to conceal himself.

"Fear. If I handle his fear properly, I can control this fellow."

Having confirmed this, Adam fell asleep peacefully.

The next day, Adam placed the painting he had made on a wooden board nearby, then continued working with Alva.

Most of Adam's work was physical labor: mixing materials, changing tools, and clearing away trash.

Alva would sometimes inspect the previous mural, observing changes in color, the solidification of the inner material layers, and whether they adhered tightly to the wall.

"With this kind of perception, was Alva really not a sorcerer?" Adam followed behind him, watching some of Alva's adjustments.

He still had some ability to appreciate paintings, especially after his perception had been developed. He was even more sensitive to changes in color now.

The mural's main colors were separated by layers of different materials. For example, if the background was the sea, the bottommost layer had to be blue. As the carving became deeper or shallower, the colors would continuously change as well.

But colors were mixed after all, and they would change over time. Considering factors such as the lighting and humidity in the church, the colors would also undergo subtle changes.

These changes might not necessarily be visible, but Adam's sharp perception allowed him to notice a trace of discordance.

Alva could detect these discordant spots and use carving knives and paint to adjust them.

Even if the position of an embedded gemstone shifted slightly, he could spot it and correct it.

The adjustments were all minor details, but it was precisely these details that made the entire artwork completely different.

This allowed Adam to confirm that Alva had gone much further than him in the area of perception.

"The Holy Sound Church maintained a neutral but somewhat hostile attitude toward gray-area professions like sorcerers and witch doctors, but I can't rule out the possibility that Alva is a sorcerer."

From certain small matters, Adam could tell that Alva held no low position in the Church and had a deep relationship with the head priest.

This could be seen from the fact that every time Adam went to Brother Jim to request materials and had Jim seek Alva's confirmation, Alva had never come even once.

Jim was a very worldly man. Adam was certain that he had used his identity as a purchaser to extort and accept who knew how many benefits, and he was also close to the nobles.

That Knight Rube had also been looking for Jim all along. On the surface, they were discussing matters concerning supplies, but Adam felt that there was something suspicious about it.

It was not because Adam had a sixth sense, but because he had overheard some related information while eavesdropping on Baron Mansla's residence.

Rube seemed to want a hand in some business involving "goods." Clearly, Rube seemed to be connected to Mansla's smuggling business.

Smuggling could not be discussed openly. The most important matter was establishing connections with the troops stationed at the border wall.

Due to the special nature of the Holy Sound Kingdom, the garrison was also managed by the local Church, and many officers were priests themselves.

As a purchaser for the South District Church, Jim was said to have rather good connections within the garrison. Of course, that was only hearsay.

Thinking this, Adam stopped letting his thoughts wander and continued observing Alva's work, continuing to learn.

It was not just his perception. Alva's hand holding the carving knife was also extremely steady. As he carved away layer after layer of material, he would not cause mistakes in the image because he used too much or too little force.

And as Alva began carving figures, Adam began to suspect that he had studied the human body. The textures in certain places were too lifelike, making the figures on the mural seem less like carvings and more like actual people wrapped in paint and embedded into it.

During the noon break, Alva saw Adam's "painting." He weighed the wooden board in his hand twice, set it aside, and then began teaching Adam for the first time.

"You reduced the amount of material used in each layer and divided the coating according to proportions. You have a bit of an idea, at least." Alva slumped in his chair, took out a flask, gulped down a mouthful, and said, "The rest is completely unwatchable."

"You used a wooden board, not a wall. You didn't alter the material ratio, so the material will peel off in less than a week. Your painting speed was too slow, and you were afraid the material would solidify, so you cleverly added water. There are too many bubbles inside. Leave it sitting for a while, and it might crack."

"And your tools were too poor. Stone dust and wood chips from the branches got into the material. Throw this thing away as soon as possible." After saying that, Alva did not make another sound and began snoring.

Adam had not changed the materials because he had no materials. He had added water because the leftover material he used was already about to harden and be discarded. His tools were poor because he had no tools.

Adam did not argue, because those problems would not disappear just because he argued.

"So, for someone like me to succeed, I will always need some methods that others cannot accept." Adam placed the crude painting on the wooden board elsewhere and did not throw it away because of Alva's words.

After finishing the remaining cleaning work, Adam went to the bookshelf, pulled out a book, and began reading it carefully.

"And I need to work harder."

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