Vampire Progenitor of the Immortal World

Chapter 34: Chapter 34: The Difference

The seventh morning at Willow House Inn began like the others. Ethan woke before the noise from the lower floor reached his room. For a moment, he remained still, listening to the faint sounds beyond the door. Someone was already moving downstairs. A bucket scraped against the floor. Water splashed. A door opened and closed.

He sat up.

The ache in his body was gone. That alone made him pause. For the past few days, the soreness from work had become less noticeable. At first, Ethan had blamed the rest he was getting. Then he noticed that even after a long day, his body recovered faster than before.

He stood and stretched. Nothing hurt.

He looked at his hands. They were the same hands. Same fingers. Same scars. Same roughness from work. But something underneath them had changed.

Ethan dressed and left the room. By the time he reached the lower floor, the inn had already begun its morning routine. He greeted the innkeeper and moved on with his work without making anything of the change. He had learned not to trust a single observation. One unusual morning meant little. He needed something he could compare.

Later that day, while carrying a sack from the storage area, Ethan noticed something. The sack was heavier than the ones he usually moved. He stopped beside the doorway. One of the workers had left it where it would need to be moved before the afternoon deliveries.

Ethan placed both hands beneath it and lifted. The sack came up. He paused. There was no struggle.

Ethan lowered it again. He looked at it. Then he lifted it a second time.

Still easy.

His eyes narrowed. He had carried similar sacks before. He remembered the weight because, during his first days, he had needed both hands and a moment to settle the load against his body. Now it felt lighter. Not slightly lighter. Enough for him to notice.

Ethan carried it across the room and placed it where it belonged. He did not say anything. He simply continued working.

But the thought stayed with him.

That evening, after eating, Ethan returned to his room. The door closed behind him. He stood in the middle of the room. There was no reason to rush. He looked at the wooden chair near the wall. It was an ordinary chair. He crouched and gripped the lower frame. Then he lifted.

The chair rose from the floor with almost no effort.

Ethan lowered it. He tried again. The result was the same.

He looked down at his arms. He wasn’t much larger than before. That wasn’t where the change was. It was deeper.

He sat on the edge of the bed and thought about the past week. The cultivation method had been simple. The results had not been immediate. At first, he had barely felt the Qi. Then it had become easier to guide. His body had gradually stopped fighting against the circulation. And now this.

Ethan stood again. He moved to the center of the room. He closed his eyes. His breathing slowed. The familiar sensation appeared. Faint. Warm. A small thread of Qi moved through his body.

Ethan followed it carefully. It traveled through the route described by the manual. This time, he noticed something else. The process felt smoother. The Qi no longer seemed like something foreign moving through him. His body was beginning to accept it.

He continued. The warmth deepened. Then another sensation appeared. His heartbeat.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

The warmth seemed to move with it. Ethan’s attention shifted toward his blood. The strange reaction he had noticed over the past few days returned. Blood Tempering. The Ring had given him the name, but not the answer.

Ethan didn’t try to force the process. He simply observed. The warmth remained for several breaths before fading. He opened his eyes. His breathing was steady. No pain. No exhaustion. That was different too.

The first few cultivation sessions had left him tired. Now, after the same amount of time, he felt as though he could continue.

Ethan sat down. He looked at the cultivation manual.

"Improvement."

The word came quietly.

He had finally reached the point where he could no longer dismiss what was happening. Cultivation worked. At least, this method did.

He leaned back slightly. Then he remembered something. The short dao.

Ethan reached toward the weapon resting beside the bed. He had been carrying it for days, but mostly as protection. He still had no real skill with it.

He drew the blade. The metal caught the weak light from the lamp. Ethan studied it. A weapon was supposed to extend what the body could do. If his body was changing, he needed to understand the difference.

He moved toward the open space beside the wall. He held the dao the way the blacksmith had shown him. His grip was not perfect. His stance was not perfect. He knew that.

But when he moved the blade through the air, something immediately felt different.

Faster.

Ethan stopped. He tried again. The movement came more easily. He adjusted his feet. Again. The blade passed through the air with a clean sound.

He wasn’t skilled. He knew that much. Strength did not create technique. But his body responded faster than before. That mattered.

Ethan lowered the weapon. He had spent years relying on observation and caution because he had little else. Now, for the first time, his body was beginning to give him another option.

He sheathed the dao.

The next morning, Ethan decided to test himself properly. Not with a fight. Not with something dangerous. He simply wanted a comparison.

Near the back of the inn stood a thick wooden post used to support part of the structure. Ethan had leaned against it many times. He placed his palm against the wood. Then he pushed.

Nothing.

Of course.

It was a support post. He wasn’t going to move it.

Ethan stepped back. He remembered the blacksmith’s words. A weapon didn’t solve a lack of training. The same principle applied to cultivation. Being stronger didn’t mean he suddenly knew how to fight. He wasn’t going to mistake one improvement for mastery.

Still, there was one thing he could test.

He found a loose piece of firewood near the storage area. It was thick enough to require effort to break. Ethan placed it across his knee. He pushed down.

The wood cracked.

He stopped. He stared at it. That had been easier than expected.

He tried another piece. This one resisted longer. Ethan adjusted his grip and applied more force.

Crack.

The wood split.

He lowered the pieces. His expression remained calm, but his thoughts moved quickly. This wasn’t normal. Not anymore.

He had spent enough time around ordinary workers to know what an ordinary man’s body could do. He wasn’t a strong man before. He had been lean, capable of physical work, but nothing unusual. Now his strength had clearly moved beyond that.

Not by some impossible amount.

But enough.

Enough that he could no longer call himself ordinary.

Ethan looked at the broken wood.

"Two times?"

He considered it. Perhaps. Maybe less in some areas and more in others. He wasn’t going to assign a number without testing properly.

But the conclusion was already clear.

His body had changed.

And it wasn’t finished.

That evening, he returned to his room earlier than usual. He placed the day’s earnings away without counting them. There was no point doing so every night. He knew what he earned. He knew what he spent. As long as he remained careful, he could keep going.

He placed the small amount of cultivation resources he had left on the table. The supply was already shrinking. Ethan looked at them for a moment.

The improvement in his body had answered one question. It had also created another.

How far could this method take him?

He picked up the Brute Root. Then the Vitality Grass. Neither looked impressive. Neither felt like something that could change a person’s life. Yet his body had already changed.

That meant the next step was simple.

More cultivation.

More resources.

More time.

He sat down. The lamp burned quietly beside him. Ethan closed his eyes. The Qi began to move.

This time, the circulation was smoother than before. The warmth followed. His heartbeat remained steady.

Then, for the briefest moment, the warmth inside his blood became stronger.

Ethan noticed it immediately. He did not react. He watched. The sensation spread through his body and disappeared before he could understand it.

He waited.

Nothing.

He continued cultivating.

There was no voice from the Immortal Ring. No new message. No explanation. Only the quiet circulation of Qi.

Ethan accepted that. If the Ring wanted him to understand something, it would show him when the time came. Until then, he had work to do.

His body was getting stronger. His resources were running low. His money had limits. And cultivation had finally stopped being an idea. It had become something he could feel. Something he could measure. Something he could build.

Ethan continued cultivating until the lamp burned low. Outside, Willow House Inn gradually fell silent. Inside the small room, the warmth in his blood returned once more.

This time, it did not feel accidental.

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