Luke’s first instinct was admonishing Sooty for putting herself at so much risk. But seeing the pitiful and bloodied appearance of his friend, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He had her pour some water from her spatial feather into a cup and then washed her off. Tearing some wraith cloth, he bandaged her as best he could.
Instead, Luke chose to praise her fighting spirit and quick thinking. “You showed those vampires, Sooty. Thinking on it, you tricking them at the end was genius!”
Sooty enjoyed the praise. Luke could tell with her feathers pointing up or the boastful flapping on her wings. However, with her being seriously injured, her display was muted in its appearance. Luke wished he could do more to patch up Sooty, his jaw clenching. Even though that spectacular fight wasn’t enough to level Sooty, it was enough to level him. If he could face a few battles with minimal support from Sooty, she should be able to level again soon. But the pattern was becoming painfully clear: they couldn’t rely on levels to fix severe mistakes in a battle.
Luke didn’t know what else he could’ve done without causing an irreparable rift in his relationship with Sooty. He could’ve ignored her wishes but saw her as his equal. Ultimately, as long as they could heal the damage, Sooty knew her current limits. It wasn’t all bad news.
"The bird's scuffle was something fierce, no doubt. She might not be up for the front lines, but she'll be gainin' another level before you know it. You best turn your mind to what's ahead, laddie. This next room might give us a run for our money, same as the last," Wayfinder counseled, with a hint of respect for Sooty's valor.
Luke tied a cloth sling around himself, creating a pocket for Sooty to rest. Placing her in the makeshift spot, Luke planned out the next move.
“Alright, Sooty, we’ll move slowly until you heal or level up. You’re only going to use your ranged moves from here. No fighting up close. I’ll handle it if we have to!”
Sooty weakly protested with a coo, but Luke wouldn’t relent anymore. He let her have her spotlight and prove her point. Anything more was foolish. Luke brought up her Interface, ignoring most parts, but one line he saw had his breath quicken.
[Sooty]
Level: 15
HP: 17/547
A close call was understating it. At least they were past it now. He began to loot the bloody feasting room. Luke ransacked all the vampires, and several light flashes entered his inventory. Before inspecting his gains, he slowly went around the gore-painted hall in case something else was around. The rune had dimmed slightly. He placed it back in his pocket. The sanguine smell of the hall had him breathing more through his mouth than usual.
Something odd about the stone table before him bothered Luke; it wasn’t the blood. A chalice had remained upright. With the sheer battle between Sooty and the vampires, there was no way that was natural. Every other chalice was toppled over, and few were on the table anymore. He strolled over and then grabbed the chalice. It wouldn’t budge. Meeting a condition, a quest popped up.
[Unlock the Chalice] (Hidden Quest)
Reward: ???
Now that he knew he was on to something, Luke messed with the thing. No matter what he did, it wouldn’t move or change.
"Brings to mind an old tale, this does. The trials we're facing' are likely a mimicry of it." Wayfinder started, "We're treading' through a grim reenactment of the blood feast, by my reckonin'. It's been many a year, but the story goes that one chalice grew weary of the slaughter and refused any more blood of beast or man. The only liquid it'll accept now is the blood of those who once commanded it. A twisted justice, you might say, lad," Wayfinder mused, his tone laced with the weight of ancient memories.
Luke started responding, “The blood of those who commanded it? But the only thing that could command a chalice here is…”
"Aye, you're catching on quick. The masters of such a thing would be no other than the night stalkers themselves — the vampires," Wayfinder interjected with a knowing tone.
With a nod, Luke went to work with Whispering Edge, slicing through the vampire's flesh to fill the chalice. Yet, when no reaction came, he turned back, confusion etching his features.
"I thought you said it thirsts for the blood of vampires?" Luke questioned
"You think any vampire's claret will do? You need the blood of the true master. Could be any one of these bloodsuckers, even the ones reduced to mere stains on the stone. Keep at it," Wayfinder urged with impatience and encouragement.
Luke was gentle as he moved around from vampire to vampire. He was trying to give Sooty time to recover enough before he was forced to move quickly again in combat. He took another chalice that was strewn about on the floor. He went to each vampire and took a bit of their blood. One after the other, nothing happened. However, once he took the blood of the vampire called Juliana, the blood swirled violently in the chalice.
A faint click could be heard.
The middle of the stone table separated, and a platform rose. On the platform was what looked like a different version of the blood ring he was wearing and a piece of paper. Unlike everything else he saw around here, this was legible to him. The paper felt roughly processed, with dust trailing down his fingers. It was tattered but intact. The words weren’t in English, but once the paper took essence from him without his permission, he could understand it. Instead of through the Interface, the meaning came to his mind directly.
Fledgling Reaver Beware.
That which stares is aware.
Behind the mirror, real.
To find the way forward, you must feel.
He repeated the words to Wayfinder in case he understood what Luke did not. But the compass stayed silent. Perhaps unwilling to admit he also had no idea. The quest completed, with the rewards being this piece of paper and the ring he found. With that, he started to compile all the other loot Sooty obtained for him in her valiant battle, hoping something might even help his fierce bird partner. The battle log list came up, and he started going through it.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
[You have reached level 15. Acquired 2 skill points]
[You have learned a new ability, Roll of the Reaver]
Luke resisted the urge to look at the new ability and keep going through the log.
[You have completed Unlock The Chalice]
[Experience has been awarded to Wayfinder for solving the mystery]
Luke felt like that was fair. Wayfinder practically spoon-fed the solution to him. Surprisingly, the Interface could pick up on things like their conversation. Luke gained nine silver and Night Leggings. He rubbed his jeans in anticipation. The rips all over them were apparent.
[You have stolen 30 HP, 6 Agility, 4 Strength]
Not believing his eyes, Luke quickly blinked and then looked again. Something was wrong. The amount of agility and strength stolen was explainable, but the amount of health points stolen didn’t make sense. He was lucky to steal one stat per creature at this point. Instead, he stole over two per monster. And keeping to the spirit of the agreement, he didn’t keep Infusion up on Sooty after the initial stacks ran out. Not to mention his ways of contributing to gaining stats. He looked through his other gains to see an explanation.
Luke put on the Night Leggings first. Partially because it was time to get rid of his torn-up jeans, it was your standard stat stick legs with agility and strength. At least they were comfortable. He threw his old jeans out. Next was his other reward for completing the hidden quest, the Blood Weaver Ring. He pulled up its tooltip.
[Blood Weaver Ring]
Quality: Rare
Stats: +5 Strength
Passive - Blood Weave: Heal for 2% of damage dealt
Requirements: Level 12
A ring vampires more adept in blood arts occasionally have. A Reaver managed to have his compass find it for him.
While the 2% heal from dealing damage was great, it couldn’t be the reason for the stat discrepancy. As for the Interface flavor text, it was half right. Luke chose to take the ring in return for a slight jab at him. Luke pulled up the new skill he had learned: Roll of the Reaver. It was a passive instead of an active ability. As soon as he saw its description, he immediately dumped three of his five skill points, bringing it up to rank III. Its effect went from a range of 1-5 to 1-7.
[Roll of the Reaver III - Passive]
With each successful stat steal, invoke the Roll of the Reaver. Stat-steals are converted to rolls between 1-7, determining the number of points stolen. The higher the roll, the more stats are permanently added to your own—vastly increased probability of a high roll for HP.
Luke had a muted celebration to ensure he didn’t disturb Sooty too much. With his new passive, he wouldn’t have HP problems for much longer, let alone his other stats. With time, he’d likely even have the opposite issue. This was the culprit, but you wouldn’t catch Luke complaining. With the recent explosion in agility and strength, Luke mainly felt fit and healthy as an ox. His intellect stat was trailing behind, but he needed to find a monster-type with the stat in spades to steal from. Blood-crazed vampires wouldn’t be in their most intelligent state, so he could see why they mainly gave him strength and agility instead.
While looking at his stats all day was great, Luke had better things to do. Luke took a few minutes, however, and let Sooty rest. He did have something to do, but if Luke's rush cost him his partner’s life, he'd never forgive himself.
“Are you going to get a move on? The clock's not stoppin' for us, laddie!” Wayfinder said.
“You seem eager to push me. Is there something you’re not telling me? Give Sooty a bit of time to rest. Half an hour won’t make a difference,” Luke said, his eyes narrowing slightly at the compass.
“I'm lookin' out for our agreement. I'm not keen on bein’ stuck in this cursed place if we take long enough that your heart stops beating,” Wayfinder quickly replied, a hint of defensiveness in his gruff tone.
Luke remained silent, processing Wayfinder's words, his gaze dropping and his expression growing tense as he sat in the blood-free stone chair. Wayfinder’s and Sooty’s relationship was odd to him. Wayfinder seemed to cheer but was afraid of Sooty. Luke wasn’t too experienced in social relations, so he grew confused as he thought about it more, his expression morphing to match.
After roughly half an hour, Sooty let out a rattle. Her natural regeneration was enough for them to continue now. He did his usual buffing routine and went to the next room.
The chamber before him was like a throne room, except there were three seats instead of one. There were stained glass windows on both sides of the vast hall. Pillars held up the vaulted ceilings. Velvet cloth covered most of the stone floor. Despite the windows, little light showed through. Reminding Luke this was all still a tomb.
Inside were three vampires. Each had fine clothes, too much jewelry, and some red circlet on their heads—one was an older male with a weapon holstered through their belt, looking to be a well-worn axe. The woman of the three had a tome holstered. Finally, the one with black hair and a relaxed expression had nothing Luke could see.
“Was it you who made all that commotion in the next room over? My, it’s about time you showed up.” The one with black hair began to talk to Luke.
None showed signs of losing sentience like the previous vampires Luke faced. Immediately, he was on guard. Seeing Luke had no intention of answering, the talkative vampire instead turned to the other two standing in the triangle they formed. “How about it, Lilian, would you like to entertain our ‘guest,’ or maybe you would Vald?” He said.
“You and your entertainment, Vincent. Let’s all attack and be done with it. This one isn’t as weak as you think.” Sweeping her brown hair aside, Lilian replied.
“The hapless human won’t be much Lilian.” Vincent’s voice dripped with arrogance.
“Let’s get this over with. We can have our fun until the next Reaver shows up,” The vampire referred to as Vald was curt. He began to bound over to Luke in giant strides, soon turning into blood mist to speed up.
With his instincts sending warning signals, Luke glanced at the Interface to glean some information. He needed to know what he was up against, if possible.
[Blood Circlet Vampire] (Elite)
Level: 14
HP: 450/450
Luke didn’t let them continue their conversation. One was already coming toward him as the other two continued to talk. With three elites to fight and his partner only at half capacity at best, it was not a good scenario. They’d likely be fast, so he didn’t do an Essence Fissure in case they’d dodge. Without a word, he silently cast Essence Bond on the talkative one. Luke didn’t like him already.
With that, the other two vampires also charged toward Luke, and the girl, Lilian, also became mist while coming toward him. Vincent, the one with Essence Bond on him, didn’t for some reason. In fact, he seemed to slow down intentionally. Sooty let out her Essence Screech in time, and despite the distance between the three, they all gained Essence Bond.
Luke thought. Sooty’s Screech transfers debuffs no matter the distance or their state, as long as they all get hit in the cone effect. Good to know.
The woman vampire was in a misted form before being forcibly resolidified a few feet away from Luke. Vald was only a foot away, under the entry frame with him. Their foreheads creased, and their eyebrows raised in surprise. Luke didn’t waste the split second of an opening. An Essence Fissure opened beneath them, putting them under crowd control. Being in the back, Vincent had enough distance to avoid the Fissure. Luke still decided to take a risk. He planned to throw everything into focusing one down immediately.
He threw a lance at Vald. In this situation, he figured hitting one would be much more impactful. So he didn’t shatter it over him. Instead, Luke aimed the lance to impale Vald.
This vampire had to die before it was too late.