ㄴㅇㅇ(60F)(OP) : Understood, I'll give it a try!
A broken cup.
I took out the second corpse.
The first human I had killed.
A woman whose stomach I had split open to drive the man out of his mind.
First, I rinsed the pot with water and set it beside the body.
Then I reached my hand over the exposed interior of her abdomen.
"Blood Drain."
Shhh—
Blood rose from the open belly like smoke, flowing into my hand.
Once I'd gathered enough, I moved my hand.
Splaaash—
I poured it into the pot.
I drained every last drop that way.
Afterward, I dipped my fingers into the pot, infused it with mana, and…
pushed the blood back into the open cavity of the corpse.
…
..
.
I repeated that six times.
But.
"……It's not working."
Another failure.
The blood in the pot hadn't changed color.
All I'd accomplished was getting my clothes soaked in blood.
I posted again on the Gallery.
ㅇㅇ(60F)(OP) : Tried it 6 times with the open-belly corpse and got zero reaction. Not working…
ㅇㅇ(341F) : So even the newbie has something she can't do lmao
ㅇㅇ(651F) : Thank god there's something she can't pull off hehe.
ㅇㅇ(450F) : She's almost human lol
ㄴㅇㅇ(385F) : Almost human (not human).
ㅇㅇ(702F) : Hmm… that's weird. Why is she getting stuck at step 2…
ㄴ One Who Savors a Cup of Black Tea : It seems like neither corpse has a soul remaining in it…
Neither corpse has a soul remaining.
ㄴㅇㅇ(60F)(OP) : I put them straight into my inventory though… does the inventory only stop decay, and the soul still escapes?
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : Yeah that's true, but… not enough time has passed for the soul to have left. I honestly don't know.
I was still puzzling over it when someone barged into the thread.
ㅇㅇ(331F) : Hey newbie, if that's not working there's also a summoning method where you offer the corpse as a sacrifice—wanna learn that instead? I'll teach you.
ㄴㅇㅇ(643F) : lmao the hijack attempt, bold move
ㄴㅇㅇ(60F)(OP) : Can that one make a permanent summon too?
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : nononononononononono summoned entities have their own will so there's a high chance they won't listen.
ㄴㅇㅇ(331F) : get lost
"Hmm…"
The summoning suggestion was shot down immediately.
After that, other comments kept popping up trying to pull my attention away.
ㅇㅇ(134F) : Death Note Grand Canon < when's this guy showing up? Shouldn't we be listening to him?
ㅇㅇ(418F) : Just give up and go grind levels during the rest of your vacation time?
ㅇㅇ(351F) : agreed, it's not like you have to do this. You just need to get stronger yourself lol
I ignored those and typed.
ㄴㅇㅇ(60F)(OP) : I still have one left. There's one more corpse.
The male swordsman I'd killed with an instant-kill skill.
What could only be called remains—that was still there.
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : You mean the one you completely pulverized?
ㄴㅇㅇ(60F)(OP) : Yes.
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : Hmm… that one's just not gonna work. A corpse that badly damaged—the soul would've fled immediately, right?
ㄴㅇㅇ(420F) : Instead of saying it can't be done, tell her how to do it lol
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : And to circulate blood through those shredded scraps, you'd need to know 'Blood Command'—the highest-tier blood flow control magic. There's no way you can just suddenly pull that off.
ㄴ One Who Savors a Cup of Black Tea : Let me start by explaining the basics of blood flow control… please follow along slowly… ^^
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : Uh… ma'am… this really won't work? Honestly feels like a waste of time.
*Blood Command.*
It seemed like learning that spell would make it possible.
ㄴㅇㅇ(60F)(OP) : I'll try it myself first.
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : What are you talking about, Blood Command?
ㄴㅇㅇ(324F) : She says she's just gonna go for it lmaooooo
ㄴㅇㅇ(435F) : There is no spell she can't use on the first try…
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : No come on, just because she learned Drain right away doesn't mean Command will work too lol. Blood Drain being instant was impressive sure, but that's total basics—Command is absolutely impossible. Like, absolutely, one hundred percent, no way
They were hammering in how impossible it was.
But it didn't feel like they were trying to stop me.
Probably because attempting it wouldn't damage the corpse any further.
That thing was already as destroyed as it could possibly get.
I pulled the last remaining one out of my inventory and set it on the floor.
Slllop—!
It immediately ran.
Visually, it couldn't even be called a corpse.
Just a smashed lump of meat.
I reached my hand over it.
"Blood Drain."
Shhh—!
Dark crimson blood surged up in a mass from the man's body.
I didn't put it in the pot.
"I need to manipulate this…"
With the blood suspended in midair, I rotated the 1st circle in my dantian.
Whirrrrr—!!
"Blood Command."
The blood began to dance.
Afraid it would splatter across the floor, I stilled my hands and focused every ounce of concentration on my dantian.
And soon, the floating blood took on a shape.
A donut.
Why had it formed that ring shape out of nowhere?
"Ah…"
I understood.
Because I'd been focusing on my circle, it had taken on a form resembling a circle.
In that case.
"If I concentrate and imagine a shape, it becomes that shape…"
I experimented, forming various shapes.
A sphere… tetrahedron… cube… star… whale…
I could mold it into whatever I imagined.
Wiggling my fingers was effective for pinning down precise shapes.
And when I wanted to move the whole mass—
Swoooosh—!
Like this—swinging my arm from the shoulder.
But the blood's movement was too violent.
"In that case."
I tried slowing the rotation speed of my circle.
Hmmm—
The floating blood began to settle.
I moved my hand slowly.
"So this is how it feels…"
The blood was following my gestures.
Soon I had fully awakened the sensation of control.
Now I gradually guided the blood directly above the fragments of the corpse…
and carefully set it down.
"There…"
I slowed the circle's rotation further.
The blood moved more slowly, and I was able to make it seep into the shattered pieces of the corpse.
Then I raised the torque again.
Whirrr—!
The blood crawled between the flesh and broken bones, forcing its way through, carving out a path and tracing a circuit.
Swoooooosh—!
This time I didn't need to inject mana separately.
I'd been continuously infusing it as I moved the blood.
After cycling it through the body several times—
Fwoooom—!
The circling blood began to turn transparent.
And then.
"…Reddish-brown."
I saw the color of black tea.
At last, a soul had been caught in the blood.
"It worked!"
A shiver ran through me.
Shwaaash—!
I manipulated the blood again and lifted it into the air.
This was Spirit Blood—*yeongbyeol* (靈血).
"Good."
But this was only the beginning.
Step three—said to be the hardest part of the *Spirit Blood Tea Rite*.
The step I had found most repulsive when I read the instructions.
The time had come to carry it out.
*Tea Drinking*—*Eumda* (飮茶).
…I had to drink this liquid.
Within a matter of seconds.
And not just through my mouth—I had to take it in through at least the top three of the body's ten orifices.
So I couldn't even squeeze my eyes shut.
I opened my mouth toward the transparent blood floating in the air.
And beckoned it toward me. Drew it toward my face.
Slurrrrrp—!!
In an instant, the liquid filled my mouth, eyes, and nose all at once.
My throat was blocked.
My vision was cut off.
Breathing was impossible.
It felt like waterboarding.
Glug, glug!
"Mmph…!"
Glug, glug!
And so.
The liquid began flowing in through my esophagus, my airway, and my head connected to my eyes.
"Cough, cough, cough!!!"
Being able to cough at all was lucky, and holding back the urge to vomit was nothing short of a miracle.
My eyeballs felt like they were about to pop out from the water pressure.
"Nngh…"
I groaned at the overwhelming sensation of something foreign inside me.
Almost there.
Just endure this and it's done. This is the hardest part.
…Though the Gallery teacher had said this step was the most enjoyable.
"Hah…"
After a desperate struggle, I took it all in.
Not a single drop fell to the floor.
There was a sound like water sloshing around somewhere in my head, but I steadied myself.
For now, I devoted every nerve to calming my body.
Now, step four.
I had to circulate this spirit blood through my body.
The process of firmly imprinting the owner onto the trapped soul.
This step, I was told, was what made the Spirit Blood Tea Rite's defining features—permanent subjugation and absolute obedience—possible.
And step four had…
two methods.
The first, which I'd originally planned to use, was the most ordinary method—letting the body digest and expel the liquid naturally.
But there was no need for that now.
In other words, I didn't have to wait until I needed to use the bathroom.
I placed my hand on my stomach.
"Blood Command."
I made the blood inside me extend throughout my entire body.
"Aaaargh…!!!"
Agonizing pain arrived.
The spirit blood was forcing its way into every part of my body, like tree roots growing through solid earth.
But doing it this way, I'd been told, made the subjugation far more thorough.
Because it would allow every corner of my body's structure to be imprinted onto it.
Whirrr—!
While enduring the pain, I spun the 1st circle in my dantian furiously.
Stitch by stitch, I wove my mana into the liquid that had permeated every inch of my body.
And then.
I placed my hand on my stomach once more and gathered all the spirit blood back into my stomach.
"Nnngh!!!"
When the unbearable sense of wrongness reached its limit—
I bowed my head.
And then I retched with a violence that brought tears to my eyes.
"BWAAAAAAAAAAAAGH—!!"
Blood imprinted with my mana poured down over the man's remains.
Tsssssssss—!
"…"
Silence fell.
For quite a long time, nothing happened.
"Did it fail…"
Just as I thought that and was about to open the Gallery—
Ssssssssk—!
The sound of bone fragments clicking into place reached my ears.
I looked up.
The spilled blood was rising on its own.
Rumble, rumble—
The blood began wrapping tightly around the shattered skeleton, leaving no gaps.
Then the blood and flesh congealed, hardening rapidly.
Crack, crack, crack, crack—!
The blood was constructing a solid form in place of flesh and skin.
The shape those masses of blood had forged was…
armor.
A thick breastplate built in overlapping layers.
Gauntlets and greaves honed to a blade-sharp edge.
From the severed surface of the headless neck, a mist of blood was billowing out.
Now for the final step—step five.
Naming.
"Blood Knight."
That was the name I gave.
And in that moment—
Thud—!
The Blood Knight knelt on one knee before me.
"……"
It had been only a few hours ago.
This was the one who had screamed in anguish at a comrade's death.
The man who had turned bloodshot eyes on me and swung his greatsword.
The human who had lost his mind and come at me with hatred, wanting to tear me apart.
But now.
As a corpse, he was saying this to me.
⟨Absolute…… loyalty……⟩
A hologram message appeared immediately after.
[Your first soldier has come under your dominion.]
[You can check the list of subjugated soldiers in your Status.]