Oliver closed the door to his hostel room excitedly. His heart beat increased as he thought about what he was about to do.
Quickly moving to the bed, he sat on it comfortably.
'It's the most painful in the beginning.' He said to himself as he focused his mind on the blood sac.
The slow-rotating red ball became visible to him.
Unlike the past, this time, it was filled to the brim with fresh blood, about 2.5 litres or so.
Closing his eyes, Oliver moved to the blood sac until it was within his arm's reach.
'Now, I should start.' he said to himself while ignoring the golden coin inside.
There was no need for further preparations. He knew what he was supposed to do due to his memories from his past life.
Expanding the blood sac requires time, concentration and pain tolerance, all of which he already has. There was no need to wait anymore.
Soon, Oliver focused on the outer membrane of the blood sac.
The thin membrane was sturdy and unmoving. To improve it, he had to stretch and merge blood into it.
"Whoofff!" Oliver exhaled strongly and controlled the blood inside.
The calmly sitting blood began to churn in all directions.
A small whirlpool of blood began to form inside the blood sac.
Second by second, he increased the velocity of the swirling blood.
Now, under his control, the fast-moving blood began to exert a force onto the surface of the membrane.
The centrifugal force caused the blood to push against the inner surface of the membrane, causing it to deform slightly.
'That's it.' Oliver was excited.
He was beginning to feel slight pain, but that didn't stop him from concentrating intently to increase the velocity of the blood moving inside the blood sac.
'Any second now. The cracks would form. I need to mend the cracks using the blood I have.'
Just as Oliver expected, the blood sac cracked. The slight release of pressure caused the crack to spread in all directions, covering the entire blood sac.
"Ah!" Oliver made an unnatural sound.
As expected, the pain was difficult to bear.
Still, he didn't stop.
His entire life depended on him increasing the strength of his ability. This was not the time to give up.
Using his iron-like will, Oliver concentrated and controlled the blood to mend the tears and cracks forming on the blood sac.
Like how he can use the blood to heal himself, he was healing the blood sac.
This was the only way to save himself from the immense pain.
Dripping with sweat, Oliver spent the next few minutes carefully cracking and fixing the blood sac. Finally, all the blood in his blood sac dried up.
At the end, the blood sac increased from a volume of 2.5L to 5L.
The increase in size was worth it. Practically, the size doubled in a couple of minutes.
Although the prerequisite was to have a full-blood sac and an inhuman level of pain tolerance. It was all worth it.
Fleeing the pain, the exhausted Oliver fell back to the bed and slept.
5 to 10.
10 to 20.
The future was bright for Oliver and his blood sac.
—
For the next few days, Mr Mor taught the recruits how to butcher all bovine types of mana beasts.
Bovine meat was delicious and in high demand. So, they were hunted the most. That was one of the main reasons why the recruits were taught about them first.
Meanwhile, Oliver quickly absorbed knowledge and blood.
Each day, he would go to the mana beast processing plant diligently to absorb blood. In the evening, he would spend the time upgrading his blood sac.
Soon, a week went by.
Oliver's blood sac size increased from 5L to 160L.
The growth was a little less than what was expected because of the amount of blood he could stealthily steal.
Although blood was a less valuable resource, the dozen or even hundreds of litres going missing would be noticeable.
160L was a large amount of blood to steal in a single day. The fear that someone might notice his actions forced him to steal moderately, a couple of dozen litres a day.
He wanted to hide his secret until he was strong enough.
Oliver had to attend military school for the next three months. He had plenty of time to increase his blood sac size. So, he was in no hurry.
—
Like that, a month went by.
Oliver increased his blood sac size to a little over six hundred litres.
The growth was moderate, but it was also discrete. No one should have known about the rapid increase in his ability.
As usual, Oliver ate some food from the cafeteria of the school, ignored the gazes directed at him and walked towards the mana beast processing plant.
But this time, he saw a familiar person standing near the school gate.
When their eyes met, he knew instantly that she was waiting for him.
Why, though?
Oliver asked himself the question and moved closer to the person.
She was the one that came with the headmaster when they spoke initially. So, it was a familiar face. But that was it.
The unexpected visit raised his wariness.
"Hello." The lady spoke first.
"Good morning." Oliver greeted.
"Good morning." The lady greeted him. "My name is Achara. I work with the headmaster. You remember meeting me, right?"
"I remember you."
"Then get in the car. We have somewhere to go."
"I have work today," Oliver said.
"No, you don't," Achara replied.
"Ah…" Oliver groaned, thinking about missing a day of work. "Is it paid leave?" He asked.
"They are paying you?" Achara was amused.
Oliver was a newbie who was going through training. He was also transferred in the name of punishment. Why were they paying him?
"Well, I do a lot of work," Oliver spoke as a matter of fact.
"Hm… I will take care of your pay. Come on and get in the car. Today, you have to go somewhere with the headmaster."
"Can I not?"
"No." Before he could complete his sentence, he was immediately rejected.
"Hm." Oliver nodded and got into the passenger seat of the military SUV.