"I can extract a skill?" Lin Huang asked, surprised when he looked at the box in front of him. He then continued, saying, "Can I extract the skill after he has been upgraded?"

"Would you like to extract a skill next time?" The box replied.

"Let’s do it next time then," Lin Huang nodded. He started to examine the vampire that he had summoned.

The vampire seemed to be the same age as Lin Huang. He looked like he was about 15-years-old. His features were sharp and neat. If he was in a crowd of people, nobody would be able to tell that he was a vampire.

That was the scariest part of a vampire. The humans in the tiny footholds had been a growing population for more than 800 years but with the vampires disguised as human beings, it was impossible to kill all the vampires that were hidden amongst them, like wolves in sheep’s clothing.

As long as they did not reveal themselves, nobody could tell the difference.

"Show me your complete form," Lin Huang instructed the vampire.

Hearing the order, the vampire’s eyes turned blood red and veins bulged around his eye sockets. His muscles flexed and he grew a few centimeters taller.

Sensing the terrifying vibe, Lin Huang finally knew how lucky he was the night before. "This iron-level rank-3 vampire is so powerful. Although the vampire last night was a bronze-level rank-3, its vibe was much weaker than this one. Maybe it had been weakened by the injuries it suffered earlier. If it was at full strength, killing me would be as easy as squashing an ant..." he thought, as a chill ran down his spine.

"Activate, Blood Power!" Lin Huang ordered, his second instruction to the beast before him. He wanted to see the vampire’s true form.

Following a deep groan, a crimson layer and a strong stench of blood spread all over the vampire’s body. Soon his body was covered with Blood Power, which made him grow a few times bigger than he was.

Lin Huang had forgotten that activating the Blood Power would trigger the vampire, and hence, the groans. He was worried that it might wake the neighbors and they would surely notify the Monster Hunters.

However, what he worried about slipped clear from his mind. There were two bloody wings forming at the vampire’s back, like a flower blossoming large, dripping red petals. He stared at them for a long time. They were so stunning that he was awestruck, rooted to the floor, motionless.

The vampire stood quietly while it waited for Lin Huang to give him his next instruction.

A while later, Lin Huang snapped out of his trance and said, "Alright, go back to your disguised form!"

As soon as the vampire heard his instruction, the Blood Power faded and his eyes returned to normal. He looked like a human again.

If Lin Huang did not see the transformation himself, he would not have figured that the guy standing before him was a vampire.

"I’m using the Cross-Ranking card on you. Hopefully, you won’t disappoint me in the coming Reserve Hunter assessment."

The vampire remained expressionless. Lin Huang was not sure if he understood what he had just said.

"Xiao Hei, I’m using the Cross-Ranking Card!"

"The Cross-Ranking Card is a consumable. You can only use it once. Are you sure you want to use it?" The black card read the warning.

"Yes!"

"Follow the instructions to select your target... Your target is the vampire Monster Card. Agree for confirmation," Xiao Hei continued.

"Confirmed!"

Just when Lin Huang said the word, a bright golden light covered the vampire.

The vampire then became a giant golden sphere as rays of gold shot everywhere.

Lin Huang closed his eyes against the glare. Three minutes later, he sensed the light was not as piercing anymore, he opened his eyes.

The golden sphere that covered the vampire had faded away. The evolved vampire slowly appeared to him.

The vampire’s appearance did not portray much of a difference. His hair was black before, but now, it was silver. His hairstyle remained the same, slicked back and neat, maintaining the boyish look he had before.

However, his student attire was now a black cape which covered his entire body.

"Your silver hair makes you look like a character from an anime. If I call you Kaneki, that would be copyright infringement. I shall call you Bai!" Lin Huang decided swiftly. He then walked to Bai and tapped a finger in between its eyebrows.

The vampire’s body then broke into pieces and formed a crystal card on his palm.

Lin Huang was excited to see that the color of the card had changed from white to green with Bai’s latest look.

He turned the card around and noticed that there were changes to the card’s information too:

"Monster Card"

"Rarity: Rare"

"Type of Monster: Vampire"

"Combat Level: Iron 3 Star (Bronze 3 Star)"

"Skill 1: Blood Power (Level-2)"

"Skill 2: Regeneration (Basic)"

"Skill 3 (New addition): Boiling Blood (Basic)"

"Status: Available to be summoned"

"Card remarks: This is still useless!"

As expected, the normal card was upgraded to a Rare card. There was a new skill added in the description. Just when Lin Huang was getting excited, he saw the remark at the bottom and asked, "Xiao Hei, can you give it some better remarks?" he asked, annoyed at what he saw.

"No!"

There was a giant exclamation mark next to the ‘No’ on the black card. Goldfinger was serious.

"Xiao Hei, your attitude will not get you any friends."

"I don’t need friends!"

"Fine." Lin Huang gave up. "Let’s see what this Boiling Blood does..."

"Boiling Blood (Basic): The vampire’s strength would be multiplied for 10 minutes. After Boiling Blood runs out, the vampire will become weak and will be unable to battle for an hour.

"The skill is great but the after-effect is troublesome," Lin Huang thought. He scratched his head with worry and said," I’ll try not to use it then, or else I’d only have myself in jeopardy for the following hour."

"Oh right, I still have one skill to be extracted!" Lin Huang suddenly recalled. "Xiao Hei, if I extract the skill now, would it disappear from the Monster Card?"

"Skill extraction is just a way to gain skill from the Monster Card. It does not affect any attributes of the Monster Card itself."

"That’s great," Lin Huang said, renewed hope in his voice.

Lin Huang studied the three skills carefully. "The Blood Power is good, but with my short lifespan, it’s not encouraged. The function of Regeneration isn’t too great but it’s better than nothing while Boiling Blood would just be a temporary help. Now that my basic combat strength is low, even if my strength is multiplied, it wouldn’t help that much. Moreover, I would be exhausted for an hour, and that way I would die even faster," he said as analyzed his options thoroughly.

"Xiao Hei, I would like to extract a skill." After some consideration, Lin Huang did not want to hesitate any further.

"Skill extraction activated... Randomly select a skill... Random selection is done... Congratulations, you received Blood Power (Level-2)" Xiao Hei announced.

As he read the note, Lin Huang could sense something had been added to his body.

He launched his Exclusive Card immediately:

"Host: Lin Huang"

"Gender: Male"

"Age: 15"

"Combat Strength: None (Exceeded assessment limit)"

"Skill: Blood Power (Level-2)"

"Summon Authority: Activated"

"Available Number of Summons: 1"

"Remark: You are still weak!"

Lin Huang ignored the last remark and focused on the ‘Blood Power (Level-2) on his skill. He was stunned to find out that he had achieved the vampire’s skill.

"Now that the vampire is ready, it’s time to equip myself."