Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Chapter 66: ‘Balanced’

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-The Next Day-

-The Von Helsing Estate-

It was at the crack of dawn when Caius stepped out of his room with the occasional yawn and his eyes not yet completely open. He had no idea when it happened—because he was sure it hadn’t been there all through this week or even in the memories of the life he lived before his soul took over this body—but there was an Alarm in his room now.

It was fixed to the wall, powered by Mana like everything else in this world, and let out the most annoying sound Caius had ever had the misfortune of hearing. It wasn’t even really beeping and was more like a grating, soul-scratching sound that reached deep into his very core and made him so uncomfortable that he couldn’t sleep through it.

In his annoyance, he let his Mana surge, and the spell circle of his ~Fireball~ spell appeared as he was very tempted to destroy the annoying thing but then he let out a sigh and got out of bed.

So now he was walking down the corridor, nodding nonchalantly at the bowing guards that were on patrol for security before he walked down a long flight of stairs to stand in front of large double doors that he pushed open knowing what he’d find behind them.

His father, Lucian Von Helsing stood there in an Arena built especially for Combat training. The practice weapon rack that had been placed in the garden for that one practice duel two days ago was lost among even more racks. Many of whom contained real weapons with edges.

There were other things as well and the more Caius looked at them, the more he found himself feeling like he was in a gym. A gym that looked more primitive than the ones he had seen in his previous life but at the same time looked more sophisticated. It was difficult to explain exactly but the Arena gave off an air of being a temple for body improvement. Which admittedly might still not be the best way to put it.

”Good morning, son,” Lucian said with a smile. He wasn’t dressed in a military-looking outfit this time and this was the first actual instance of Caius seeing him in casual wear. Sort of. What he wore still looked made for combat with the sleeves and pant legs being large to allow good range of movement.

”Morning,” Caius said and stifled a yawn which caused Lucian to stare at him long and hard over his blue-tinted glasses.

”A Mage Knight cannot lose themself to sleep. You must remain ever vigilant. The first step to a solid foundation is fixing a lazy sleep pattern,” Lucian said in a stern voice.

”I’ll keep that in mind,” Caius said, nodding.

”Good.

Now, before we begin, there is something you need to understand;

There is so much that goes into winning a fight. Being just flat out stronger will always grant an edge but doesn’t guarantee a win. So many factors are involved such as preparedness, underestimation of an opponent, and overestimation of your strategy. Or just plain dumb luck.

Besides that, the Circles are not as clear-cut as you might think them to be. Even within Magic Circles, there are still disparities because everyone isn’t the same. Being lumped together in categories of strength and abilities makes us seem like a monolith and we’re anything but.

It’s what ’Traditional Mages’ get so wrong about us. Being a Mage-Knight is every bit as methodical as it is brute. It is also spiritual because there’s nothing more enlightened than a man or woman in tune with his or her body. Nothing more enlightened than trying to build your mortal body to withstand the very elements of magic.

That’s what it means to be a Mage-Knight.”

For a moment, Lucian looked to have taken on a pose as he held a fist over his heart and sounded like he was proclaiming his pride as he probably had had to do against many ’Traditional Mages’ who sought to downplay the ways of a Mage-Knight.

Eventually, he let out a sigh before he continued.

”What I’m saying in essence is, there is a lot of nuance to being a Mage-Knight and while in my youth, I used to be filled with so much rage for how we’re treated, I’ve since grown to accept it.

If you’re facing off against a Traditional Mage, I’ve found that you have a significantly easier time if they believe you to be a monolith and think they know how you’ll move. How you’ll attack. How you’ll think.

So let them keep their misconceptions and misunderstandings of our ways while we continue to refine them and catch them by surprise. It’s not always a terrible thing to be the underdog.

And speaking of our ways, there are three major paths to train your body to choose from;

Strength, Agility, or Balanced?”

”Balanced” Caius answered immediately.

”Are you sure?” Lucian said with a smile,

”When presented with the choice, many default to Balanced but not many stick with it. In many ways, a ’Balanced’ mindset comes with double the workload of either of the other two but at worst, you end up inadequate in both.”

”Balanced,” Caius confirmed again.

In a world where advancing in Magic Circles increases Lifespan so the strongest could live hundreds and hundreds of years with their bodies remaining essentially in their primes all that time, there really wasn’t anything to worry about in terms of having enough time to become the very best you could possibly be in the ’Balanced’ path. Choosing anything else just comes off as a matter of personal preference.

Hell, even in the ’real’ world Caius came from, where people didn’t have their primes for more than 50 years at best, people still found the time and dedication to seek balance in their martial arts so it seemed dumb not to at least try it.

Plus, even though Lucian was offering the choice, the truth was that the Count was partial to the Balanced Path himself and that was probably shown the best when, even though his smile remained the same, there was a twinkle in his eyes as he stroked his bearded jaw and nodded as he said,

”Alright then. Let’s begin.”

It took only one hour before Caius was starting to rethink his decision for the ’Balanced’ Path and the only thing that helped him grit his teeth and soldier on was the belief that choosing any of the other paths would still have resulted in a grueling exercise pattern.

After all, his father couldn’t possibly be going all out with the very first real training session. Right?

”You must consider every muscle inside you an individual entity with all hundreds of them working in tandem to grant you the full potential of strength your body possesses,” Lucian said in the voice of a sagely master as he continued to direct Caius to work his body in ways he never would have even though possible.

Apparently, according to Lucian, the practice sword duel from yesterday had told him Caius really needed to work on the basics which was what they were now returning to. With exercise to build up his core strength so he wouldn’t have to rely on Mana empowerment to the point where it became a crutch.

”Advancing to any Magic Circle sets you to its default and not its peak. Besides the individual differences from person to person, everyone still has to work to truly be deserving of being called by their Magic Circle of Excellence.”

Caius grunted at the effort of the exercise and he realized this struggle he was in was entirely his fault;

Only normal humans and humanoids are required to train or strengthen their muscles.

One of the advantages of being a True Vampire was that advancing into the next level of Magical Excellence also boosted your body into the very physical peak of that level of Magical Excellence. All the physical work Mage-Knights did to be what they were, was unneeded with him.

Even now, despite the pain he was feeling from all the exercises, when his muscles went through wear and tear, they didn’t repair and become better. They just remained at their default; At the very peak of the Third Circle’s physical prowess.