"No! Your Excellency Norton, this old servant cannot bear to part with you! I wish to serve by Your Excellency's side for all eternity!"

Priest Abraham panicked. His formidable first-generation vampire power surged through his entire body, propelling him like a cannonball as he chased after Norton, his face so frantic it looked like it might peel off.

But no matter how powerful a first-generation vampire might be, he was still just a vampire—a vampire cultivated from Norton's mutated genes.

So no matter how fast he ran, he couldn't catch up to Norton's fleeing figure.

Norton dashed into the tunnel without looking back, then immediately turned around and blocked the entrance with a massive stone placed at the doorway.

This was a huge boulder he had found outside the city specifically for blocking doors. Norton could easily move this stone, but Priest Abraham couldn't lift it.

"Bang!" Priest Abraham followed closely behind, completely unable to brake in time, and crashed directly into the large stone blocking the entrance.

"Ah! Your Excellency!" Priest Abraham staggered dizzily from the impact, hurriedly picked himself up from the ground, then futilely clawed at the enormous boulder while weeping bitterly.

"Your Excellency, Your Excellency! My Excellency..."

Priest Abraham wept uncontrollably as he clung to the giant stone blocking the escape tunnel, crying until he became a tearful mess.

Norton had always feared he might become a second God, worried that these new vampires he created might betray him at any moment.

But he never expected that when real danger appeared, he would be the first one to sell out his own creation.

Just as Priest Abraham was weeping bitterly, the giant stone began to move again.

"Scrape..."

The boulder shifted open a crack, then a pale, withered arm reached out from inside, grabbed Priest Abraham who was grieving before the stone, and yanked him inside.

"Abraham, you're running far too slowly!" Norton's towering figure had to bend slightly in the newly built tunnel. His dim crimson eyes fixed on Priest Abraham, then he pulled him by the arm and set him down.

Norton absolutely wasn't doing this out of laziness, but because he didn't know the way and wanted Priest Abraham to lead instead!

Norton's tone was filled with concern, but his face showed no trace of caring expression—only reluctance to give up his idle life where everything came to him effortlessly.

Actually, he had already run quite far away earlier, but had just run back.

He even cunningly twisted his words, framing his betrayal of abandoning Abraham as Abraham's own fault for not keeping up.

So treacherous!

Shifting all the blame onto Priest Abraham—it seems Norton has truly grown over these years.

His heart has become so black!

Being vampires, how could Priest Abraham not hear Norton's footsteps getting farther and farther away earlier?

But facing Norton's feigned concern, he could only kneel on the ground with a moved expression, shedding tears of gratitude, praising the Progenitor's mercy: "Your Excellency Norton, it's truly this old servant's fault for being aged and frail, unable to run very fast!"

It's worth mentioning that the new-style vampires were indeed transformed according to Norton's conception.

For instance, in his understanding, vampires maintain whatever appearance they had at the moment of transformation forever, unable to become younger or more handsome. This was the common vampire movie trope, otherwise there wouldn't be vampire children and elders.

So although Priest Abraham transformed into a vampire with formidable strength, he didn't regain his youthful appearance.

"Enough, for lowly creatures like you, stiff bodies are to be expected!" Norton generously forgave Priest Abraham's mistake, then said: "Since you old dog has trouble with your legs, you'd likely be useless staying here in Rino City. Better come with me."

"Oh, Your Excellency's mercy is like winter sunlight, warming hearts and touching souls, truly making this old servant weep with gratitude! Your Excellency, this way!"

Priest Abraham cried until his face was covered in tears, pretending to be properly behaved.

But when it came to leaving, the two vampires raced each other—Norton ran so fast that Coal Ball in his arms was nearly shaken to death by his running motions. (Other bats followed through the sky)

"This Papal States is truly closed, sinful, and ignorant. Hardly suitable territory for our Vampire Clan to survive. The leadership is mentally confused, the masses ignorant and filthy—such a nation is destined to collapse! Rather than staying here, we ruler and subject should find better shelter, focus on survival, expand our Vampire Clan, and await the opportunity to overthrow The Church!"

Norton's words sounded noble and righteous. Even while bending over and slowing down, his speed still nearly left Priest Abraham behind.

Hearing Norton's words, Priest Abraham gathered his breath and said seriously: "Your Excellency speaks absolute truth! With the Boar Empire currently on the brink of war with the Papal States, they're likely to have their imperial family massacred again by Holy Knights dispatched from The Vatican. So I think going to the Boar Empire isn't very reliable—we'd be better off choosing other surrounding minor nations to temporarily reside in!"

"Excellent!" Norton was very satisfied with Priest Abraham's suggestion.

Although he only knew the general map regions, after all these years he had some understanding of this continent.

The Southern Continent had only the Boar Empire and Papal States as the two strongest nations, with over a dozen other minor countries whose combined territory barely reached half the size of the Papal States, mostly consisting of barren lands.

Further north lay a plateau—a hundred thousand li of wild, desolate Gobi Desert.

They said even these vast Gobi Deserts still had human inhabitants, though their appearance already differed from Southern Continent people.

Over the years, both the Papal States and Boar Empire had attempted exploration, but due to the enormous span, excessive distance, abundant monsters, and cost-benefit imbalance, every expedition returned halfway without success, eventually abandoning exploration altogether.

The only somewhat valuable information was that the Gobi Desert teemed with monsters beyond human capability to reach.

Based on Norton's estimation, this place was probably similar to Central Europe back on Earth. Further north there might be plains, mountains, and possibly yellow and black races too.

Except this world had many more monsters, making it difficult with current medieval-level human power to cross ultra-long distances and achieve information exchange.

As for crossing via ocean? The sea had monsters too—the old Pope's desk was made from the bones of the deep-sea leviathan Indan, showing ocean travel was also very dangerous.

Humans could only occupy the continent because they could manufacture weapons and armor, using organized armies to clear areas for safe habitation.

Even so, long-distance trade was still considered extremely dangerous nowadays, and even so-called official roads could have monster infestations.

If Norton didn't have the Aura Pressure ability, he wouldn't run too far even if escaping—at most he'd reside around Rino City's outskirts, since areas around cities were significantly safer than dense forests. Monsters and beasts around cities were manually driven away or killed to create safe environments—common knowledge for ancient recluses.

But now he had Aura Pressure, with an extremely large sensing area, enough to support ultra-long-distance travel.