Wielding my sword is an intense experience. I had forgotten just how tempting it gets. Right now I am hiding in the warehouse that I have been working for the last week now.

  Well, the last week has certainly been useful. With it I have been able to get quite the bit of information on our enemy. Well, I got everything I needed in five days, but I spent the last couple days as a precaution. I needed the time anyways.

  Part of the reason is that I am scared to actually go on this mission. The reason for this is not anything that the enemy will be able to throw at me. It is what my own sword is going to do to me.

  Fully activating my sword has always been an intense experience. The fusion spell is not going to make it any easier. Even now, I can feel myself inching to activate the sword. This is especially the case since I have achieved the minor bond of my second slab yesterday.

  Well, I expected the minor bond to give me more benefits, but I can barely detect it's presence. Well, it makes my link to the sword more complete.

  If anything all the minor bond has achieved is to make me want to activate my sword fully already. Activating it this early is not going to help me out, but who will tell my head that. I will do it precisely the minute that I need to. Right now the goal is to infiltrate the other warehouse and I already found my point of entry. It is a window on the second floor of this warehouse. I noticed it a couple of days ago and it is going to be the perfect place to infiltrate it.

  The window is open, most likely rusted into its present orientation. The other side have been certainly trying to get it closed for a couple of days. well, I can see why they have not particularly bothered to close the place though.

  The only way that I will be reaching that place is by doing quite a dangerous bit of acrobatics. Something that I will only be able to pull of by transforming. Well, it is going to be worth it as I don't need to fight anybody this way. It is clear that the other party is doing their blood sacrifice in the first floor and the second floor is the storage area.

  The formation merchants book should be hidden there. I will be able to detect it if it is within my arms reach. Grimoires like this tend to have protections against being detected by mana senses. If my mana sense was back at its peak, I would have been able to tell the instant that I enter the room. Right now though the only thing that I can do is to vaguely tell that it is somewhere in the second floor.

  Well, there is my cue. The other party seems to have started their blood ritual finally. That is the only way that the spike of mana can be explained. I activate my sword finally, feeling the world change around me.

  The infusion of blood mana always starts that way, as if somebody has changed the world itself. My sight becomes sharper. Right now I can see the warehouse with such obvious detail that I can see the rust on the open window. Looks like they did manage to get the windows closed, but then they opened it up again. I wonder why they have done that.

  My hearing has been similarly enhanced. I can hear the patter of footsteps downstairs. The bastards downstairs certainly seem to be quite busy. Their footsteps are like drums in my head. Any louder and it would be painful. My sense of touch is similarly enhanced. I can feel every inch of cloth that is scraping across my skin. It is very uncomfortable actually and yet at the same time it is exciting.

  Yet it is my sense of smell that is causing me problems right now. I can smell the sickly sweat of the people downstairs. More importantly, I can smell their blood. It is like smelling a dish. A warm and beckoning meal.

  I am not surprised that the vampires cannot resist this thirst. I am physically incapable of acting on it and I still find myself tempted. So tempted. Thankfully, I literally don't have the stomach for it. Centering myself, I find myself taking a deep breath. The enhanced senses are the main benefit and problem with my ability.

  I have used sensory formation for weeks at end, but this enhancement is nothing like that. I am sure that I get more raw information from a sensory formation, but there is something that is just more personal with my sword.

  Still, time to focus on the mission. Well, another benefit of blood mana is that it enhances my strength and right now my sword is pulsing like a heart pumping my body full of blood mana.

  Well, I have stayed in this state for long enough as I jump. I can feel the wind outside like sand on my skin as I travel through the air.

  My head feels like somebody has hit it with a bat as my face hits the wall above the window. Looks like I have underestimated my strength. At least I didn't alert anybody. Even now I can feel my face smarting as I enter into the building.

  As I enter into the building, I realise why the people here had to open the window again. The room is suffused with the smell of rot and stale blood. The entire thing is filled to its brim with corpses.

  Looking at their bodies, you wouldn't think them to be dead just sleeping. The only way that I am able to tell about their death is that I can smell their blood. that is something that no living thing is capable of emitting.

  Well, the reason for their death could be the mana they have inside their body. I can't really sense it, the only thing that I can sense is a trace of a trace of mana. The mana is familiar to me but I just can't place it.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Well, now is not the time to get distracted. I have a clear goal. I open the door to this just a smidge, enough for the voices outside to be clear in my ears. Okay, there are no sounds of footsteps outside.

  The only thing that I notice is the sharp tang of fresh blood. Looks like the bastards have started their sacrifice already. Well, I can risk it then. I open the door decisively, my sword ready to reap the life of anything that dares to ambush me.

  There is nobody here. I do a quick survey of the layout of the place. A long corridor ending in a staircase, with three doors to the left and three doors to the right. Right now I have come from the room on the left side.

  I will be opening each of them, though I have to be careful about it. Right now my best defense is that I am anonymous. That is the only reason that I am ignoring the pile of bodies in the room that I have just left. Right now is simply not the time to fight.

  I have finally found the treasure room, if you can call it that. I found it exactly where I was expecting to find it. The room that is the closest to the stairs. The place where even the slightest of whispers would have been heard downstairs.

  The only reason that I am sure that I am not being swarmed by enemies is the fact that they are doing a sacrifice ceremony downstairs. Being distracted during such a ritual can be your death.

  There is everything in this room from coins, to mana stones and a bunch of other things in the room. Most of it is worthless but there are quite a few mana sources in the place. Any of them can be the grimoire.

  I am not going to be taking anything other than the grimoire though. I could take it with me, but that is the problem with having something that can emit mana. It can be tracked too easily. The grimoire is also a risk, but I will be able to get rid of it soon enough.

  The organization has certainly been quite tolerant of me doing something like this already. I don't really want to push them beyond this. I haven't seen Trevor be cautious even around the snowwinders. These are certainly more dangerous folks.

  As I am thinking this, I finally find it. It is hidden under a pile of coins. As I am going down to wipe away the coins to get the book, I pause. For a few moments, I wonder if I am somehow deluding myself, fear taking over my senses.

  Well, there it is, the unmistakeable tap of somebody trying to climb the stairs quietly. It is like a small tap, something that I only manage to get with my enhanced hearing. You don't do that unless you are ambushing somebody.

  Well, looks like a fight is inevitable. Well, the situation is still salvageable. I was expecting to drop a couple of bodies anyways. Securing the grimoire. (meaning that I have stuffed it into a sack that I brought with me.) I quickly take position behind the door, trying to keep as quiet as possible.

  The sound of the first door opening is the first sign that the other party is really out there. It doesn't take them long to open the door to this room. I am ready as I stab my sword right through the door into the hand of the person who is opening it.

  Well, I was hoping for a kill wound, but the surge of blood mana that I am getting is still worth it. Well, the blood mana left in the body of the other party will act as a poison, absorbing their vital mana and sending it to me until the other party can expel it or they die.

  As the other party retreats back, they close the door as I kick it open. The force of the kick enough to send him flying into another room.

  The instant that I get out, I find all of my potential enemies. There are two of them, each between me and the stairs. Well, this is going to be annoying. The two bastards charge at me at the same time.

  I barely block it, as I feel the impact of the sword. How the fuck are these bastards so strong. I circulate my vital mana (along with the blood mana) as I feel the pain in my hand disappear.

  After this, the two try to strike at me, but I would have blocked them even without my enhancements. The bastards are being enhanced by some type of external mana.

  Among demons, there are very few figures that should be able to provide magics like this. If any of them is showing interest in this part of the world, the next few years are going to be interesting. Well, I have played with my food enough. I circulate the mana in me at my full speed feeling my senses get even sharper.

  Both of them are still in front of me, trying to keep me locked in. Well, one of them comes to attack me as I dodge it by a small sidestep. This leaves me in the correct position to strike right at the other sides throat. The force of the slash is strong enough that I manage to half decapitate the other side.

  This happens so quickly that the person behind him is not able to stop his charge at me. I am not able to block this strike as the other parties sword enters into my left hand. I make use of my sword to relieve the other party of that hand.

  Well, they were easy to handle....

  (A few seconds later)

  I have finally come to rest at the bottom of the stairs. It takes me a few moments to understand what has happened. It was the bastard that had entered into the treasure room. He had tackled me down the stairs. This cost him his life, as my sword has entered into his heart.

  That is the least of my worries as I have landed right into the middle of the blood sacrifice.