The bat's transformation gave Norton a strong sense of crisis.
He felt like some kind of miraculous elixir, possessing an intense attraction and evolutionary effect on other species.
No wonder the werewolves always wanted to hunt him. No wonder even when he just went to dump a body, some unknown creature in the forest targeted him. No wonder even The Church wanted to hunt vampires.
When you got down to it, he was just high-grade evolution material!
"Unbelievable, I feel like The Church set me up!" Norton leaned against the wall, completely exasperated.
His simple wish to be an honest, long-lived vampire had become an impossible luxury!
"Any special abilities? Coal Ball. Can you understand human speech?" Norton reached out and poked the bat's belly. Seeing its withered appearance, he wanted to try stimulating it to see if it had evolved any special powers.
But unfortunately, the thing still couldn't really understand his words and showed no signs of any abilities.
Forget suddenly transforming into a little bat loli; it didn't even show much change in strength. Aside from becoming a bit more shriveled than before, there were no improvements compared to previously.
After all, it had consumed his, Norton's, blood. Perhaps the little creature's recovery ability would have some slight changes, and besides removing the stamina bar limit, there probably wouldn't be any passive abilities.After all, he himself didn't have any, so how could this bat that fed on his flesh and blood possibly have any?
"Squeak squeak squeak..." Coal Ball clung to Norton's hand, pulling it aside, then suddenly flapped its wings and flew out of the attic.
It seemed that having just completed its evolution, its aged body now possessed brand-new strength, giving birth to the desire to go out hunting.
Only Norton remained standing there in a daze, watching the bat's distant figure.
He seemed to have developed a sensation similar to a magnetic field.
Yes, a magnetic field, or rather, a feeling like radar.
This magnetic field was pitch black, with only one flying figure faintly visible within it.
Norton had an instinctual feeling that his status, or rather his rank, was higher than this flying bat, to the extent that he could crush this bat at will!
But this magnetic field was utterly dark, with only the silhouette of this still-flying bat visible within it.
"Hiss! I think I've really awakened something!"
----
"Flutter flutter..."
A bat flew into a wealthy family's courtyard and perched on their roof eaves.
The bat hung upside down, not immediately going to suck the blood of the livestock below, but instead tilted its head slightly, as if homing in on something.
These days, bats were common. Because of their disgusting appearance, they were often associated with filth. Someone started spreading the word that bats were poisonous and eating them would kill you, which gradually turned into a rumor that spread far and wide.
Just like the rumor that gecko urine is poisonous, even today some people still believe it.
The Clock Tower where Norton lived was located at the boundary between the rich and poor areas of Rino City. Seventy percent of Rino City's land was occupied by the mansions and large compounds of the wealthy, leaving only thirty percent crammed with all the city's poor.
So when bats flew down, they either went to the slums or the wealthy districts. Since wealthy households had more livestock—whether chickens, ducks, fish, geese, or horses, donkeys, cattle, sheep—all were targets for bats to feed on, so bats would only fly toward the wealthy districts.
However, this particular wealthy family was somewhat interesting, because it was the family of one of Carl's girlfriends, Miss Mary.
The Papal States didn't have a feudal system. From top to bottom, The Church suppressed everything, so there were no so-called earls, marquises, or other nobility. All influential families were connected to The Church.
For example, Low Bishop Goode of Rino City came from a very prominent family.
But his status wasn't because his family was prominent first, allowing Low Bishop Goode to become a bishop. Rather, it was after Low Bishop Goode became a bishop that his family gained prominence.
The Church was the fundamental decider of who could become prominent, so the Holy Church had one hundred percent control over the Papal States.
As for whether children entering The Church would become priests, missionaries, or Church Knights, this was absolutely controlled internally by The Church itself.
The smart ones were cultivated for higher positions, the good-looking ones became missionaries, the kind-looking ones became priests, the uglier ones became Church Knights, and the even uglier ones were taken out to be used as food. Their fates were essentially determined upon entering The Church.
This Mary's family was the family of Rino City's Priest Abraham. That's right, priests were allowed to marry and have children.
Even marriage, in this feudally oppressive Papal States, was considered a sacred matter. After all, reproduction was the foundation of humanity. Even the Divine Cause was born from God mating with a woman, so carrying on the family line naturally couldn't be forbidden by The Church.
The night gradually faded, though it was only a little past 4 a.m.
Members of The Church ranked priest and above had rest days, usually the day before Mass. Priests and above were allowed one day of rest to bathe, change clothes, and prepare for the upcoming Mass celebration.
Although Bishop Doxia had suspended Mass in Rino City, the rest days hadn't been canceled.
And today happened to be a rest day, which was why Priest Abraham, after completing midnight confessions, hurried home from The Church.
There was no helping it—there had been several accidental death cases in Rino City's church recently, making it quite an unlucky year. Even today, another missing missionary was identified during the investigation, so Abraham didn't really dare stay at The Church either—it was genuinely somewhat frightening.
Priest Abraham walked to the entrance of his mansion. Before he even needed to knock, the night watch servant quickly opened the door and then prostrated on the ground, using the most respectful five-point kneeling posture to reverently welcome Priest Abraham.
Actually, even in this era, servants in this place didn't need to perform such grand gestures every time. The reason he knelt on the ground to welcome Priest Abraham was mainly due to the priest's own little quirk.
As the lowest-ranked person among The Church's upper echelons, Priest Abraham might appear somewhat authoritative to outsiders, but within The Church's leadership, anyone felt free to bully and humiliate him at will. Even his properly wedded wife, married under God's witness, had been forced to become another man's plaything.
This created extreme psychological distortion in Priest Abraham. Power and status became his greatest obsessions, so he demanded that all servants kneel on the ground to welcome his arrival. If a servant made even a slight mistake, he would invent various cruel tortures to torment them, all to emphasize his power and status.
Looking at the servant kneeling beside him, Priest Abraham nodded with satisfaction. He was just about to step into the courtyard.
Suddenly.
"Flutter flutter..." A soft sound of flapping wings was heard, followed by a black shadow attacking Priest Abraham.
A bat with a withered body that appeared more slender and emaciated than other bats lunged like a black lightning bolt at Priest Abraham's neck. Its two steel-hook-like claws easily pierced the tender flesh of his neck, using them to hang onto him. Then it viciously used the two fangs in its mouth to bite through his skin, causing blood to immediately flow out.
"Ahhhhh! Save me, damn it, save me!!!" The intense pain and the attacking dark figure terrified Priest Abraham into screaming in panic. He repeatedly slapped at the bat on his neck, trying to knock it off.
The kneeling servant nearby was scared half to death. He wanted to rush forward to help Priest Abraham knock the bat off his neck, but he was too afraid of Abraham's long-accumulated cruel authority to actually approach.
"Lick lick..." The bat extended its tongue, rapidly lapping at the blood on Priest Abraham's neck.
And the bat itself began to regain plumpness at a visible rate.
Perhaps it was eating too fast, causing it to struggle to swallow the blood, or perhaps the priest's blood contained God's holiness, making the bat, after rapidly lapping a few times, suddenly make a vomiting gesture like a human.
A small amount of blood spilled from its narrow mouth, landing on the broken wound on Priest Abraham's neck and mixing with his blood.
Priest Abraham struggled frantically. His agony finally spurred the hesitant servant to charge forward, reaching with multiple hands toward the bat on the priest's neck.
"Flutter flutter..." The servant's approach disturbed the blood-sucking bat, causing it to finally spread its wings and fly away from Priest Abraham's neck.
"Damn it, damn it! I'll kill you all, I'll kill you all!!!" Only Priest Abraham remained on the spot, clutching his bleeding neck while shouting in rage.