A single ray of sunlight ultimately pierced the darkness, bringing with it the dawn.

Although the sky gradually brightened, this ancient castle situated in a somewhat remote location with unkempt surroundings remained eerily gloomy. The excessively dense and thick trees surrounding it ensured that only a few hours of sunlight could penetrate during the day.

This place was truly an excellent location, at least for the vampire race.

Norton's tall figure stood within Queen Elizabeth's bedroom, gazing through the window toward the direction of Marn town in the distance.

The young girl Elizabeth, whose blood had been drained, was now casually discarded on the bed like a dead dog, her disheveled hair spread across the bedding, her condition unknown.

The wound cut into her fair calf had stopped bleeding, but the outward-turned flesh still looked horrifying to behold.

After all, she was a young maiden in her prime - the finest quality among food sources. Norton certainly wouldn't drain her dry in one feeding.

Those who haven't tasted foul, stinking rats wouldn't understand Norton's current mindset of cherishing food resources. The path of sustainable development resonated most deeply with him.

This might also relate to the inherent insufficiency anxiety disorder in Chinese people's bones - no matter what it was, he always wanted to store more, lest he couldn't find it when needed.

Of course, without any personal grudges or enmity, he didn't enjoy committing heinous acts either. Being utterly without principles and only craving to release instincts would ultimately make one a slave to desire.

And when desires overwhelmed him beyond control, that would be the moment Norton came closest to death.

After all, desire represented weakness.

If God hadn't had desires, He wouldn't have been ambushed by Kuba after mating with the Lamb late into the night. Norton certainly couldn't make that mistake.

Norton's gaze remained fixed on Marn town as he contemplated his future development direction.

The Church's destruction was absolutely necessary. The Holy Knights posed a massive threat to him, and God's holiness caused him immense pain. Only by destroying the Church and concealing the truth about old-era vampires could vampires like Norton fade into history, standing alone beyond the world.

Now the new-style vampires had already developed and flourished within the Papal States, enjoying great reputation among the common people. Presumably, in a hundred years, they would inevitably replace the label of old-era vampires, becoming the greatest benchmark in people's hearts.

But this wasn't enough. The Church's management and brainwashing techniques were truly superb, and their balancing methods were downright insane. This world hadn't developed for millennia precisely because of the Church's terrifying ability to maintain balance.

Left unchecked, it would forever stand unshaken. Therefore, Norton needed to develop his forces, utilizing external means to completely overthrow the Church in one fell swoop!

But besides the Church, if vampires grew too powerful, they would inevitably attract more attention, and organizations like vampire research institutes and vampire hunters would flourish vigorously.

So after overthrowing the Church, he still needed to make most vampires physically disappear, reducing the vampire race to clowns forgotten and faded into urban shadows like in movies. Only then could the vampire image remain in people's hearts without developing large-scale anti-vampire forces.

As for why Norton didn't develop vampire rule over the world, keeping humans as enclosed blood slaves?

The Papal States had complete capability to crush the Boar Empire, so why didn't they? Simple - because after crushing external threats, without external dangers, internal conflicts would intensify. The various bishops would grow more frenzied in their power grabs. Amid such frantic infighting, Church schism would be a minor issue - the real catastrophe would be if some idiot discovered the Divine Corpse!

"When within there are no law-abiding families and wise counselors, and without there are no enemy states and foreign worries, the state will often perish."

And now Norton's reason for not letting vampires rule the world lay precisely in this.

Without the human threat, who would these vampires turn their attention toward? No need to guess - it would be Progenitor Norton himself!

Therefore, rule wasn't beneficial - being forgotten was the truth of carefree existence.

Thus, Norton had already found the direction for his path forward.

"Abraham!" Norton gazed into the distance, opening his terrifying, ferocious mouth as he called out.

"Your Excellency!" Abraham appeared like a ghost at the doorway following Norton's call, bowing with utmost reverence.

"I intend to establish a brand new Blood Nation, developing and strengthening our Vampire Clan forces, continuing Rino City's glory! Therefore I need you to convert all of Marn's populace, making them citizens of our Blood Nation!" Norton's expression was solemn, and with his words, he seemed to radiate boundless ambition.

"Your Excellency's grand talent and lofty ambitions truly bring honor to our Vampire Clan!" Abraham never missed three sentences without flattery, nor five without praise.

But what puzzled him was that Progenitor Norton seemed completely deaf to his compliments. From Rino City until now, he'd been praising him for seven or eight years, yet hadn't seen even a hint of arrogance or complacency.

This couldn't help but make him even more awestruck.

The Progenitor's thoughts were as deep as abysses, truly unfathomable, beyond measurement!

"Oh, and the pretty young maidens of Marn town are all mine - bring them all back to me! You're not allowed to sneak even a single taste!"

Seems not that deep after all!

Abraham quickly bowed in acknowledgment, feeling relieved inside.

But immediately afterward, he grew even more apprehensive.

The transition between profundity and shallowness was so natural, showing his thoughts already surpassed Abraham's by far too much!

The Progenitor's mind was truly chilling!

Abraham waited a moment longer, and seeing that his Progenitor didn't speak further, understood he had no other instructions. Only then did he turn and leave the room, returning to his own room to sleep.

That's right - it was daytime now. How could a vampire who feared sunlight go outside?

Norton glanced up at the sky, then closed the door, tossed Elizabeth's body onto the floor, and lay on the bed resting with his eyes closed.

"It's been so long since I've slept in a bed, it reminds me of the days when Flights of Fancy took off."

His over-two-meter-tall frame lying on Elizabeth's bed left his legs sticking out, looking rather incongruous and somewhat bizarrely comical.

"Abraham!"

"Your Excellency, I'm here!" Abraham, who had just lain down to sleep, immediately jolted awake and hurried upstairs from below.

But seeing Norton's tightly closed door, he stopped, daring only to wait outside for Norton's instructions.

"Get a coffin made for me! You damned fool, if I don't tell you, you just don't get it, do you?" came Norton's voice.

Hearing the impatience in that voice, Abraham took a deep breath.

Don't get angry, don't get angry - if anger makes you sick, no one will take your place! Just get used to it, get used to it!

"Yes, Your Excellency!" Abraham gritted his teeth, feeling like his molars might shatter from the rage.

This Progenitor Norton was becoming increasingly difficult to serve!