Sanguine Paradise

Chapter 31: [Day 9] – “Sanguine Guard”

Day 9

Once the screams died down, I approached Bob.

While undergoing his evolution, I had sat observing the scene from an opposing tree trunk.

Must say it was quite interesting to witness the process when it wasn't your body tearing and ripping itself apart only to repeat and continue.

While I do feel bad for Bob, I slightly enjoyed the fact that I'm not the only who suffers this abuse

Standing now before me, was not the previous ugly and small green guy named Bob.

Bob had grown a lot.

I was very surprised at the outcome, not at all what I had expected.

Now he had the body frame and structure of a normal hobgoblin, although slightly more muscular.

His skin had now turned from a green to a pale grey, and seemed to radiate a feeling of death.

But this feeling was distinctively not because he had turned undead. But rather you could instinctively tell it was because he'd truly fight to the true death if any should dare.

The big canines or tusks of the hobgoblins were also something Bob had gotten. But his were slightly bigger.

While I didn't exactly know what to expect his new appearance to be like, I kind of expected him to look more dead.

From what I remember is that draugr are like undead corpses walking in armor. But Bob seems strangely alive, even more compared to other normal creatures and his previous self.

It might have something to do with me misunderstanding what it truly means to be undead, after all it said in the description that draugr are undead who harness both life and death.

If anyone were to see Bob, they wouldn't even be able to guess that he's undead, or whatever that even truly means in this world.

From my knowledge, life and death are simply two sides of the same coin, just like light and darkness.

One is merely the absence of the other.

So Bob being exposed to my blood which is seemingly some life aligned substance could've meant something along those lines.

Pulled out of my thoughts as I see Bob coming back to himself, I take a step back for him to have some space.

Before I was able to ask Bob if he was okay, I noticed something weird about our connection.

It was still there, although I had worried about losing it if I were unable to sustain it after the evolution.

While I wasn't afraid that he could actually defeat me in combat after evolving, I really didn't want to have to figure out a mess if he decided to break through my control.

But I was confident in his adoration of me, even if he could.

I haven't actually hurt him since dominating him, and I've only made him stronger and that's something that he won't easily forget.

But the strange thing about our connection now, was that it wasn't the same as before.

Before it was like I had a grip over him but now it was more like a connection shared between us.

Seemingly almost him willingly giving himself over to me.

That made me suddenly realize the reserved mana I had in place for controlling Bob and completely disappeared, and my mana pool was restored to its maximum capacity.

Wait... that line about draugrs serving and fighting for their masters meant something like this?

If that is the case, then this will be immensely helpful in the future. Not having to waste great deals of my mana for him.

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Getting to his feet, Bob looks tries to inspect his new body.

"Bob?" - Me

Hearing my voice, Bob looked at me.

"M-asta?" - Bob

Smiling, I went over and put a hand on his shoulder.

"You've done well Bob, you're even more powerful now" - Me

And without fail, that stupid grin appeared on his face again.

It seems that him changing into another race won't stop him from being a sucker for praise.

Now that I look properly, he's even slightly taller than the hobgoblin making him about one or two heads taller than me.

Padding him on the back I motion him to follow me.

"Well, I don't know if I can carry you anymore, so you will be doing some legwork over the next few days" - Me

Surprisingly after saying that statement as a bit of a joking matter, I visibly saw Bob become sadder at the idea of not flying anymore.

It would seem that after his initial scare from me picking him up, he had actually started to enjoy the small flights.

"Come on now Bob, look into the water, you might find something that'll cheer you up" - Me

At first, confused as to what he possibly could find in the water, I walked over and looked.

But his eyes suddenly started sparkling as he took in his new evovled form in the reflection.

Taking this opportunity to see his progress, I appraise him.

-Appraisal!-

[Appraisal - Lesser Draugr]

Name: "???"

Race: Lesser Draugr

Sex: Male

Rank: G+

Level: 1/20

Health: 105/105

Stamina: 63/63

Mana: 0/0

[Attributes]

STR - 7 18

VIT - 6 21

AGI - 9 15

DEX - 6 10

INT - 6 8

CHR - 1 2

WILL - 4 10

MAG - 0.01 0.1

[Trait, Titles, and Skills].

Skills - 4 7

Traits - 2 3

Titles - 0 1

[Resistances]

Phy. Resistance - 3 6

Mag. Resistance - 0.098 2

Men. Resistance - 1 4

[Sanguine Guard]

Jesus christ!

Damn, this little fucker really grew stronger.

I doubt any hobgoblin, magical or not, can match up to these stats.

I don't even know where to begin.

Other than the raw stat increase and his ridiculously high health and stamina, he seems to also have acquired a new trait and title.

While I could just ask him what they were, I somehow instinctively knew that I could simply open them to view with our new bond.

With appraisal, I haven't been able to see skills, traits, or titles before.

So this should have something to do with our new link.

By willing it I viewed his newly acquired skills, traits, and titles.

[Lesser Draugr - New Skills]

-Weak Charge- NEW

LVL: 1

Consumes stamina to enforce the body's shock absorption and generate a large force when running.

-Lesser Harden- NEW

LVL: 1

Consumes stamina to heavily increase physical resistance.

-Corpse Mending- NEW

LVL: 1

Can consume corpses to more quickly mend the body.

Oh damn!

The first two skills are already super great. But he even got a unique skill, and with this, I won't have to worry about getting him hurt too much.

Let's check the traits.

[Lesser Draugr - New Trait]

-Sanguine Body- NEW

Infused with the sanguine plague, your body has become one with it. Improving your blood means improving your body.

Oh?

Can this have something to do with the fact that on Bob's status it doesn't say afflicted anymore but rather sanguine guard?

Also, if I'm to think that what is described there is the only effect that trait has, I'd be dumber than a brick.

After all the hidden secrets and missing information from my own skills, traits, and titles, I know better than to think this trait is telling me everything to know about it.

But it's extremely good to know that his body can become even more powerful the better his blood it.

While traveling with Bob, I had already made him drink more of my blood in hopes of increasing the quality of it within him.

But we very quickly hit a wall that didn't allow us to increase the quality anymore.

So I wonder how we would go about this. Maybe I need to improve my own trait and blood before I can improve his.

Anyways, let's check this new title of his.

[Lesser Draugr - New Title]

-The Sanguine Lord's Right Hand- NEW

The title held by the first guard of the sanguine plague lord.

Well, that's quite the title huh...

Immensely satisfied with Bob's progress, I close the prompts only to see Bob still gazing at his own reflection in awe.

Scoffing at the now self-absorbed Bob, I give him a light tap in his side with my foot.

Managing to get out of his own stupor, Bob rises to his full height in wait of instructions.

Ah...

Yeah... Um...

"Bob- Can you please get some clothes on?" - Me

After his evolution, he had grown out of his previous small goblin cloth and was now standing in his birthday suit.

While I was no person to be embarrassed and shy about such trivial matter as nudity. It was going to be a problem if Bob was going to fight while his junk was hanging out.

And he didn't have a convenient option like I had.

With a pondering expression on his face, he suddenly lightened up, as if getting an idea.

Without any further ado, he ran past me and over to the dead hobgoblin corpse.

Stripping the corpse, and taking a few other cloths from the scattered goblins. He quickly made a makeshift pair of tied together cloth shorts.

Impressed by the little display of ingenuity, I call for him to follow.

"Bob, it's about time we find of someplace where you can become chief" - Me

Seeing his eyes light up light Christmas lights, he ran over and stood patiently like a puppy.

After seeing his appearance only being slightly different from a normal hobgoblin, and the fact that greenskins value power and strength over all. Makes me have no doubts in Bob's qualifications to become a chief or something similar.

Before departing, I look up to the sky.

By spotting the twin suns on the horizon, I could see that dusk was soon to come.