All things considered, it was a bloody mess.

Like, literally bloody.

Princess Louisa had my blood flowing in her veins, and with that, giving me a strange connection with her that was probably influencing her feelings for me.

And minutes after that happened, I ended up with 2 strange bloodlines from as yet unknown beasts rampaging in my body AND Princess Louisa's blood as well doing some strange but probably beneficial stuff to me.

I have no bloody idea what was happening to me then. I could only stand there and slowly take stock over the changes that my body was going through while grappling with some very critical questions that just popped up in my mind.

"Why?" I asked her with narrowed eyes.

Why indeed. The fact that she had a vial of her own blood at hand was extremely strange, and the fact that she used it on me was even stranger. It was as though she knew that her blood had a powerful effect and wanted that effect to take hold on me.

And if that was the case, then it went without saying that the Europeans had a serious bio tech advantage over the rest of the world.

I only knew about the power of my blood mere minutes ago, when I used a tiny drop to power Princess Louisa's device. And I was pretty sure that although the Chinese Federation were dabbling in improving genetics and stuff, they weren't doing much in terms of bloodline.

If they were, they would definitely have harvested my blood and done all sorts of experiments on me.

"Unless.. They already have enough of my blood from when I first entered the Whitefrost Clan unconscious? But I only went through physical enhancements big time after my successful devour of the two Horse Gavarels, Princess Augustine's Royal Blessing which cleaned up my blood and the current devouring of Control. So even if the Whitefrost Clan harvested my blood then, it would make sense if they were not interested because it was just too useless at that point in time.

So maybe the Chinese Federation is proficient in bloodlines as well.. Or maybe not. They would have asked me for my blood after that Horse Gavarel mission if they were. Hmmmm." My mind raced as my thoughts flicked through the possibilities at high speed while waiting for the Princess to answer and while my senses compiled all the information about the changes my body was going through.

"You looked like you needed help." Princess Louisa said softly.

"And your blood can help me?" I asked her again.

"Yes." Princess Louisa said very simply.

I was starting to get slightly irritated with her short and uninformative answers. It must have shown in my facial expression because Princess Louisa hurriedly elaborated her answer.

"My blood is of the Royal Family of Europe. It has extremely potent life force and can be used to heal." Princess Louisa said quickly.

I looked at her intently once more and was about to continue asking questions when I suddenly realized that the connection I felt with her just strengthened a couple of notches.

To a certain extent, I could faintly sense her emotional state and a vague picture of what she was thinking!

"Whoa." I couldn't help but be even more surprised than I already was.

"Interesting. To think that ingesting her blood could have such benefits for me. Let's see.. Worry. Nervousness. Confusion. Excitement. There is no trace of anger. She is either completely brainwashed by my blood, or she is reverting to her original self. It's probably the former. The latter is kind of hard to imagine.."

"It's true. Starting from around a decade ago, the European Empire made powerful breakthroughs in blood technology. The entire European Royal Family are now individually powerful human beings. Our bloodline has sublimed and we have unlocked the latent powers hidden deep within the blood of human beings!" Princess Louisa elaborated with a trace of excitement showing in her voice.

I nodded at her words which confirmed my suspicions. But my mind was elsewhere.

"Giving her my blood allowed me to control her. Receiving her blood allows me insight into her feelings and her thoughts. Interesting!" I thought to myself. "This must be so because my blood is superior compared to hers. If my blood isn't so strong, then giving her my blood would allow HER to have insight to my feelings and thoughts. Wait a minute, I just ingested two vials of strange blood.. F*CK!!"

I quickly focused my mind on my body and started to see if I was in any way controlled or if I have access to two different life form's feelings and thoughts.

Thank goodness, very, very, very faintly, I was quickly able to sense two tiny seeds of emotions and thoughts.

"YES!!" I exulted with relief. "My bloodline is still stronger than the two I ingested. That's good. If not, I'm probably screwed. But DAMN! This game is dangerous and so full of hidden traps. I must be more careful!"

Princess Louisa took my silence as an indication to continue elaborating, and so she did that.

"My blood happens to have the power of life imbued in it. I am full of vitality, and that is why my Royal Artifact is this- huh? Where did it go?" Princess Louisa touched her neck where the bloodsucking device which powered her spherical armor was earlier.

"It's with me." I said and took out that device. However, I did not give it back to her.

And as expected, she did not ask for it to be returned to her.

How could she?

By then, my blood had probably finished its complete assimilation into her body, and was unleashing its full impact upon her.

Though not quite giving me complete control of her, it was more than enough to place me upon a pedestal in her heart.

I was sensing a lot of positive feelings as we talked, and it was not difficult to figure out that those feelings were all for me.

What is love?

What is in a feeling?

Is fabricated love still love?

Her feelings for me was a direct result of the influence of my blood within her, impacting her physically which led to the creation of feelings for me.

Are those feelings real?

Some would say that those feelings aren't real, that they are nothing more than products of artificial manipulation.

Well, in a way, they might just be right.

But the most important person in this matter, Princess Louisa herself, would say otherwise.

For her, it was as real as the juicy apples she likes to eat, as the sun which rises each morning from the east, as the wild hammering of her heart every time I look at her.

"That is a very powerful artifact. It is powered by your lifeblood and will serve you well as your final line of defense in an emergency, like it did me. But beware, it is a horrendous drain on your life force. Even I am not able to use it for prolonged battles." Princess Louisa said softly.

"Hmmm." I merely replied with a nod.

After dealing with her when she was a complete bitch, I was not very comfortable with her gentleness towards me.

"I guess I would probably have to get used to it. Afterall, there is no way I can revert her back to her original self." I thought to myself.

But getting used to her would take time, and time was definitely something that was short in supply at that moment.historical

"Please unlock the second reward. The second stage of the trial will begin in exactly one minute." Came the disembodied voice.

"Damn it. I haven't even figured out what the two bloodlines I ingested can do yet." I cursed at the voice. "I guess I just have to find out while I fight later."

"Unlock the reward." Princess Louisa triggered the voice command and unlocked the drone.

Whoosh.

The door on the main body of the door opened and revealed a relatively small but shiny mecha suit!

Without hesitation, I sank my resonance on it and for the upteenth time that day, my jaw dropped once more.

It was a blue mecha grade mecha, true.

But it was a complete technological marvel.

Without a shred of doubt, even though it could only output power at the blue mecha level, it was capable of fighting against white mechas of the world!

How could it not? It's armor was above white mecha grade in strength! It was able to easily resist a white mecha's attack.

And even if its power is nowhere near a white mecha's, it was only in terms of sheer energy output.

My resonance was telling me that the way the mecha's tech manipulated energy was milleniums ahead of human tech.

It was so powerful that I was even skeptical at that point that Chronos could beat it!

What could I do in front of such a juicy target?

My lips curled into the widest grin ever, and..

Poof!