I'm a proper student; I only take nine kinds of potions every day.

She flipped and leaped into the room, landing almost simultaneously with both feet, the sound of her boots hitting the wooden floor as soft as a falling leaf.

Two swords were slung diagonally behind her, their hilts protruding from her shoulders and wrapped in black cloth, revealing only two blurry outlines in the darkness.

Under the moonlight, her silver-white hair stood out quite prominently.

After she stood still, her nostrils twitched slightly.

"The stench of vampires."

Her voice was extremely low, as soft as a mosquito's buzz, almost blending into her breathing.

"It seems the rumors are true."

Her gaze swept across the room in the darkness, then landed on the pile of medicine bottles under the bed.

She crouched down, picked up a bottle, and brought it to her nose to sniff.

In the darkness, a pair of golden vertical pupils suddenly widened.

It doesn't look like a human eye.

The iris is pure gold, and the pupil is a vertical slit, like a cat or a snake, able to focus clearly even in a room without any light source.

"Two diluted potions?"

She picked up another bottle, uncorked it, and sniffed it, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

"A new type of potion, not listed in the potion manual. It must be something invented by the vampires here."

She gently placed the bottle back in its place and turned her gaze to Evan, who was fast asleep on the bed.

She leaned down, almost touching Evan's face, and lingered near his nose for a few seconds.

Those golden vertical pupils narrowed slightly, as if they were deciphering some kind of information in the air that ordinary people could not perceive.

Then her expression changed.

"Master, two...five? Five medicinal ingredients? And two more magic potions?"

She straightened up, looked down at Evan's thin face, which looked exceptionally young in his sleep, and spoke with genuine confusion.

"How did you even survive?"

Her gaze slid along the edge of the blanket to Evan's exposed arm.

Those golden vertical pupils shone like two miniature lanterns in the darkness, allowing her to see even more clearly than during the day.

The dark red syphilis rashes on my arm are slowly fading, and the edges have changed from copper red to light pink.

The needle marks left from selling blood are shrinking, and the surrounding bruises are fading at a visible rate, changing from dark purple to yellowish-green, and then to normal skin color.

"No wonder the vampires used you to test their drugs."

She straightened up, crossed her arms over her chest, and a complex light flickered in her golden vertical pupils.

"This body is simply a natural-born medicine pot."

"If this continues, this guy will most likely become a blood slave to those vampires."

She paced silently around the room, her boots making no sound on the wooden floor.

"Such a promising talent cannot be wasted. Such exceptional drug resistance makes him a natural-born demon hunter."

Her lips moved slightly, and her murmured words were even softer than a whisper.

"I need to think of a good idea."

"The extraordinary and mysterious are still too bizarre for people at the bottom of society. It would be too blunt to tell them directly."

"And I can't let him think I'm a beautiful con artist, otherwise he'll easily fall into the arms of a vampire, which would be even more troublesome."

She stopped, her golden vertical pupils narrowed slightly, and a thoughtful smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"He needs to experience a crisis and witness the terror of vampires firsthand."

"Then I made my grand entrance and rescued the damsel in distress."

After she finished speaking, she glanced at Evan one last time, then turned and walked towards the window, her movements as light and silent as when she came.

When she closed the window frame, the hinges remained completely silent.

The night swallowed her up.

The room fell silent once more.

Only Evan's steady breathing, the rustling of mice digging at the base of the wall, and the lonely barking of a stray dog ​​on a distant street could be heard.

At three in the morning, Evan opened his eyes.

Just like yesterday, there was no lingering in bed, no struggling in a daze. My consciousness was like a light that had been switched on with a snap, instantly switching from darkness to wakefulness.

Four times the focus, online on time.

But today is different from yesterday; his body is experiencing a completely new sensation.

Comfortable.

I felt more comfortable than ever before.

The languid relaxation after a hot bath, and a full, satisfying comfort that emanates from deep within the bones.

Every muscle is warm, supple, and brimming with power.

My joints no longer ache, my chest no longer feels stuffy, and even my breathing has become deep and long, with each breath reaching the very bottom of my lungs.

He sat up in bed.

"You chicken~!"

As usual, the spring emitted a strange, mournful scream.

Ivan looked down at the panel.

You reversed the side effects of the potion chain.

[You have gained a minor extraordinary trait: Basic Vampiric Species]

The text on the panel lingered on my retina for a full three seconds, each word looking as if it had been branded on with a hot iron.

Ivan's breath hitched.

"Extraordinary characteristics?"

His voice trembled with barely suppressed emotion.

It wasn't fear, but something more primal, like someone who's been groping in the dark for too long suddenly touching a doorknob with their fingertips.

He quickly pulled the panel up.

really.

The three previously blank fields are: Occupation, Rank, and Traits.

The "Features" column is no longer grayed out with the word "None".

【Characteristic: Base lifesteal 2% (Click to expand details)】

He clicked on the details, and lines of explanatory text unfolded on his retina.

[Basic Vampire Species: Lowest-level vampire species, possessing physical strength and self-healing abilities far exceeding those of ordinary humans.]

[Each 1% progress increases self-healing ability by 1% and blood quality by 1%.]

[Upon reaching 30% progress, the basic trait effects will be activated: significantly increased physical strength and self-healing ability.]

[Upon reaching 70% progress: Full physical strength is achieved.]

[Upon reaching 100% progress: Gain full self-healing ability.]

Chapter 12: Two Objectives: Make Money, Get Medicine!

After seeing the reversal effect on the panel, Ivan got up from the bed.

He clenched his fists.

Previously shriveled and collapsed blood vessels bulged out one by one as they were filled with surging blood, spreading from the back of the hand all the way to the forearm, with blue veins twisting and turning under the pale skin.

He could feel his heart pumping power into his limbs with each heartbeat; the feeling was solid, full, and burning.

He finally grasped the edge of the extraordinary.

"They only mentioned strengthening the body and self-healing abilities, but didn't mention bloodsucking or fear of sunlight?"

He stared at the words "Basic Vampire Species" on the panel, his pupils slightly contracting.

"Does this mean I'll be able to become the ultimate being capable of overcoming sunlight?"

Excitement surged up from my chest like a fire, but then a bucket of cold water was poured over it.

"Combining these two potions and his extraordinary properties, plus Professor Pulis's habits—his skin can't be exposed to sunlight, he always wears a hooded trench coat, and he walks silently..."

"It's almost certain that this person is a vampire."

Ivan's lips pressed into a thin line.

"The noble vampires who can openly conduct potion experiments at the Sage's University are not someone an ant like me who has just begun to understand the basics can contend with."

This thought instantly dampened his excitement by more than half.

He stood up from the bedside, his gaze suddenly becoming alert, and began to quickly scan every corner of the room.

Desktop, chair, wardrobe, floor, walls, windows.

His gaze lingered on the window.

The old gray curtains were drawn tightly, just as they had been before he went to bed.

But the window frame behind the curtains is wrong.

Ivan never cleans the windows.

Everything in the apartment was covered in a layer of dust, especially the window frames, because he almost never opened that window.

But at this moment, the dust on the window hinges has fallen off.

The mark was so subtle that it would go unnoticed unless you looked closely.