Terry looked around him. Did I lose my memory or something? Damn, I must have blacked out like before. Terry felt over his body and then the stolen sword in order to make sure he still had his body. Terry noticed a large city in the distance. But more importantly…

“Where the hell are my clothes?” Terry said with a sigh as he felt a cool breeze flow across his entire body and tall grass through his toes. One thing was for sure, if Terry wanted answers, his best option was to check out the city but he would probably need clothes before then.

Terry looked behind him at a massive tunnel. Huh, Terry thought. Should I check it out? Nah, I feel strange as if I’ve been in there for a while and never even want to see it again. Well, I trust my instincts above all else so for now, I’ll just look for some random people or something, Terry thought as he continued to look around him. Terry was on top of a massive mountain of some kind. In front of Terry was a city although far away and behind him was a forest. Although, while Terry could just walk right up to the forest, there was a massive drop before Terry could reach the city safely. And he didn’t have any clothes or money, making a forest safer than a city anyway. Plus, Terry looked at his word and smiled after gripping it in a strong grip with his right hand. If there was anybody in the forest, Terry could threaten or, if things went wrong, kill them and regardless, loot whatever they have and be on his way. Besides, Terry's tongue felt dry in the sun and his skin ached, making water a good goal to start.

“Alright! A caravan! Finally, we can make some money sis,” whispered the voice of a man in the forest.

“Yeah Ryan, go get them while they’re taking a break,” responded a young woman.

Terry had been walking slowly in the forest looking for water for half an hour or so before he heard 2 voices a few meters in front of him.

Terry attempted to sneak forward slowly in order to catch whoever he had heard by surprise. He was still naked and was very eager to get some clothing of any kind from whoever he could find.

[Activating Mask existence]

Damn, these ‘skills’ sure are hella convenient. I hope I can get more. Although, I still just can’t get used to this sh*t.

Terry continued to sneak toward the two voices while watching all his surroundings from top to bottom like a hawk. Everything from twigs to leaves, Terry didn’t let them so much as graze him as he slowly snuck over to a young man and young woman crouching behind a large rock watching something in front of it which Terry couldn’t see. Once Terry had gotten within 3 meters of them he readied the large sword in his hand to strike his unsuspecting foes. The two wore some sort of thin gray armor that covered much of their bodies save for the head.

The man had a large brown afro around a full foot high and wide while the girl had long brown hair that seemed very smooth and was likely well maintained. Both had light brown skin as Terry could see by their necks. Terry glimpsed at a small dagger that the girl held which suited her small build although she held the blade as if she was a child. Terry then saw sharp titanium knuckles on the hand of the man which made sense due to his larger build and the muscles that lined his arms. Although, that wouldn’t matter much when Terry pulled his sword upon their flesh.

[Activating Appraisal]

[(Sealed) Boxing Sorcerer=weak;] Notice, Boxing Sorcerer is a Legendary class that is currently sealed to Rare. In order to truly utilize powers as a Legendary class, the target must be subject to immense overexertion of the body and mind in a short period of time.

[Activating Appraisal]

[Human Princess=insignificant]

Terry smiled, although Terry couldn’t ever understand the messages that he constantly saw about ‘Skills’, it was pretty nice to have. Yet, Terry still couldn’t exactly trust the messages no matter how they seemed. Although he had to admit, the title of Rare and Legendary intrigued him and he couldn’t simply ignore such a treasure without first determining the value of it. Although, what exactly did ‘sealed’ mean. And why exactly did the man need to be ‘subject to immense overexertion of the body and mind…’? Things were getting a bit interesting for sure. Yet, while the girl was apparently a Princess, she looked weak as f*ck. On top of that, she seemed to have no experience in the way she carried herself except some trembling from excitement. A genuine psycho, had her fine body been the basis of her rating, she would be very rare since she had quite the beauty. Although, Terry hated that type of woman most of all.

“Now,” Ryan whispered as he and his sister jumped, ran around the large rock and upon their unsuspecting foes or more precisely, their victims.

Terry frowned, angry about his failure to catch his prey. Terry slowly stood and ran closer to the rock as he began to hear shouts from behind it. Terry looked out from behind the large rock to view his targets fighting a small group of trained individuals with weapons in a small clearing by a fire with a horse pulled caravan. There were a total of 10 people fighting that Terry saw. The 2 targets of Terry and the 8 targets of them. Terry inspected the people defending from Terry’s targets.

[Soldier=Insignificant]

Time to sit and relax, Terry thought as he waited for his targets to be done with their targets before he would make his move.

Ryan and the girl he called his sister took a minute to knock down plenty of the weaklings protecting the caravan while also preventing the caravan from moving by breaking the front left wheel and back right wheel as well.

“While Ryan stayed calm and composed during the fight and gave his opponents the respect they deserved for having taken their lives, Crystal continuously cut limbs apart from the enemies and continuously left openings in her technique which required Ryan to step in. Crystal constantly had some psychotic laugh constantly and Terry simply continued to sigh at how retarded she was.

Eventually though, a large man around an entire foot bigger than Ryan stepped out of the caravan with a sword of similar size to the one Terry held although smaller.

[activating Appraisal]

[Arch Crusader=Deadly] Notice, Arch Crusader is a Super Rare class.

Hmm, he seems terrifying and undoubtedly strong. He also seems to be ‘Super Rare’ and which is really nice I guess since I don’t know that much about this place. Well, I can be assured that he’ll be my most dangerous opponent by looking at how he’s ‘Deadly’. Maybe even more so than that giant creature that I remember from the tunnels or something. In fact, this strange feeling I have. Fear? But that’s weird, why’s somebody that strong in a place like this among a bunch of rabble? In fact, I wonder if I can kill him or not since. But, I haven’t been able to kill a human in proper combat in a while since I got here. Especially one where both of us could die from simply one strike from the other. Like those cowboy movies. This should be fun.

“Bruh, you guys can’t even take care of common bandits. Well, then again, now that I better look, that looks like Ryan Rosario, the Birthright Boxer. No wonder you guys can’t best him. He’s got a damn bounty on his head of like 127 gold. That alone makes him too strong for you who’ve never had more than like 10 gold at once when he’s worth more than even a platinum coin, but that also makes him too weak for me,” said the large man as he gripped his sword tightly with both of his large hands and lunged at Ryan.

“Get away from here Crystal! This guy’s a general making him too damn strong for you, I can’t fight him if I must worry about you getting hurt!” yelled Ryan.

“No Ryan, I order you to fight them for me, you have the honor of serving me already, so I order you to simply destroy them all!” responded Crystal.

“Sh*t, well, I can’t exactly force you, but make sure you’ll run if things go south,” Ryan said weakly as he began fighting the massive man while the remaining 5 individuals ganged up against Crystal.

Well, Terry thought as he began to grin widely. I may as well see how the people of this world fight. Especially since they’re missing guns.

Terry watched, intrigued by the battle. While Crystal was barely holding her own while attempting to occupy the individuals, Ryan was doing a damn bad job at fighting the large man. One swing of the large man's sword would end Ryan but the fact that Ryan used knuckles was very fortunate and so the man was mostly on the defensive from the spiked Knuckles which Ryan used, as one connecting punch would leave several large holes in the man’s larger muscles.

Although the larger man was still only playing with Ryan and was easily able to knock away Ryan using his sword successfully and using that opening, was able to swing his sword while also coating it in… electricity?

“Hah! Try hitting me now with those knuckles if you wanna get paralized. Even though I could kill you super easily right now, some extra money from someone as valuable as you is always nice.” The fight was getting quite interesting. Even more so when Ryan engulfed his spiked knuckles with flame to counter the electricity.

So, Terry thought, this was probably why most heroes are considered to be ‘failures’ and thrown into the pit. Wait, how did I get out of that pit anyway. I feel like I can remember bits and pieces…

Bam!

Slash!

The sounds of the men clashing drew Terry’s attention again.

While the two men could be slaughtered by Terry within seconds, Terry was very fascinated by the sorcery that they used and wished to continue learning from their fighting style. But still,

“Can you guy’s hurry up? I’m sick of my body being exposed out in the open. I mean, just hand me some clothes or something or kill each other faster before I slaughter you guys like the dogs you are,” Terry said nonchalantly.

Everyone took a moment to stare at Terry, then his naked body, then his sword, and finally processed his words.

“What exactly is someone as strong as you doing naked in a forest?” asked the large man before using the flat of his sword to strike Ryan, causing him to fall to the ground, exhausted from barely blocking the blow.

“Oh, you can tell how strong I am, well, I’m impressed. I’m just a guy who needs clothes because my camp got set alight by bandits of some kind which ended up with my clothes getting burned and all that’s left is now me and my sword,” Terry said. “Now can you guys please give me clothes. Having my d*ck in the wind is just plain embarrassing.”

“Kuma, that guy’s right. Give him some of your armor so we can have a proper conversation,” commanded the large man to the second largest man from the group. He was among the rabble and very weak since he was very fat. But that was a good thing for Terry since he would have clothes.

The man walked past the large man and appeared to take something sharp from him. A dagger?

“Thanks,” Terry said as the man began to remove his clothing and hand it to Terry. The man had clothes underneath the armor so the man didn’t have to completely strip naked. Although, there was one thing that was weird. The man held a small purple dagger in his hand behind him as he handed the leather chestpiece for Terry to wear.

Heh, this’ll be fun, Terry thought as he finally raised his arms into the armor as he put it over his body.

Slash!

“Woah!” Terry yelled as he fell to the ground as the armor slid onto his body.

“Perfect,” said the large man as he ran to Terry to attempt to swing his sword upon the fallen man.

Terry noticed the large man as he swung but was more concerned with Ryan though who was, at the moment, attempting to run since he would have no chance whatsoever against neither Terry nor the large man and was probably taking advantage of what was seemingly infighting.

[activating Spur]

[activating Weaponized Mind]

[activating Bane of Humans]

Noticing this, Terry zipped around the large man while also grabbing the dagger from the fat man before plunging it deep into the spine of the large man.

[Finger of Thomalus=the ability to inflict an incredible uncontrollable attack at the cost of severe damage.]

[as you possess the body of a hero and the resolve to genuinely change and conquer the world for the better, the dagger, Ring Finger Of Thomalus, has been acquired and used, as this weapon has been used for the first time, 2 attacks remain]

[Activating Blood Empowerment]

[Activating Blood Regeneration]

Terry then used the same moment to grab a dagger from the large man and threw it directly between the legs of Ryan as he ran instead of directly at his spine which would be far more effective, but Terry had no use for a cripple.

After noticing the dagger which could’ve ended him within seconds, Ryan stopped himself and Crystal and spun around to view Terry smiling at him.

[activating Intimidation]

First, everyone froze. Then, the other individuals who had realized they didn’t stand a chance, dropped their weapons and bowed to Terry, begging for their lives and saying that the attack was purely the large man.

Heh, Terry thought, that ‘Finger Of Thomalus’ said my resolve was for a better world. Well then, I guess I have no more reason to doubt myself and can simply continue what I’m doing. Especially since I must do so in order to use such a powerful weapon. I mean seriously, this thing is incredible, I was able to kill such a strong man who would have slaughtered me had he not lowered his guard. This weapon is like an awesome sniper rifle and can therefore open so many possibilities but will apparently break quickly so I’ll need a better plan. Now I get why that big guy gave such a powerful weapon to a worthless grunt like that fat guy. But to think that I won because of a cheat of sorts, I need to become stronger and uphold my promise to that damn Tarantula so this dagger is a must. Especially for an assassin like me who kills targets with only one hit.

Terry looked at the miserable men. There was no use for them, and a conversation with them would be a waste of time. In fact, their lives alone were a problem to Terry and he knew what had to be done. Terry walked up to the men after picking up the sword of the large man and as well as his own while sticking the dagger into his pocket. The men raised their heads to see Terry, Terry made sure that those heads saw a full 360 degree spin before hitting the ground again. Terry then looked at Ryan and smiled again.

[Equipped Arch Crusader Sword=1284 damage; Magic amplified by 250%; Cuts through evil]

Damn, Terry thought as he gripped the sword tightly, ‘250 %’ is one damn high amount. While I can’t exactly use magic, I guess this sword must be very strong anyway. Well, I may as well use it for the rare chance that I may get magic or something. Besides, it’s not like I have room to store this thing other than on my back. I’ll probably never find something quite this sharp either under normal circumstances.

“Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! That r*tard. I even considered sparing him. Although, he was pretty tough. A fight to the death was natural. I'm lucky he didn't use any magic since he would've likely fried me unconscious. No wonder the Temple values magic over skills. I would too, but still, I make use of all my resources perfectly which’ll make things even more fun,” Terry said happily.

Ryan looked terrified at Terry. Even though he had outright massacred the guards and even the insanely powerful guard, he and Crystal were spared. That meant there was some purpose that this crazy man had for them and Ryan could do nothing about it. The worst part was, how the hell can human lungs even laugh like that?

“I won’t beg for my life although, all I ask is that you leave my sister alone. If you do, I won’t resist in the least,” Ryan said, holding Crystal tightly. Crystal looked disgusted but was paralyzed in fear and couldn’t move.

“Hmm,” Terry said after calming down. Terry looked to the paralized large man who was bleeding at his feet. He would be dead within a few minutes due to the size of the blade that Terry had plunged through his chest. The large man could barely speak but used all of his remaining energy to do so.

“Who the f*ck are you? Why’s someone as strong as you in a place like this and up until now naked?” asked bleeding guard man angrily,

“Me? Well, since you’re about to die I will answer your question as I can. To put it simply, I’m part of the Temple and you attempted to kill me so I killed you instead in retaliation,” Terry said with a smile.

“What, you’re with the Temple? Then, wait, how can I trust you?” asked the man as he began to think hard about something.

Terry sensed an opportunity arising and decided to take a chance.

“Well, considering how this information could possibly help me and more importantly the Temple, I’ll tell you what I can. I’m a hero and a very strong one to be sure,” Terry said.

“I would ask to see some sort of proof although my eyes are nearly blind now so I won’t be able to see. Well, I’ll put my trust in someone of your strength who will probably be needed. That armor you wear is too weak and that sword is probably strong but not nearly enough. Since I’ll die soon, I allow you to take my armor and sword. Well, as you’ve probably assumed, the man in the caravan is on an important and secret mission for the Temple of which you must learn from him. I would try to tell him who you are but my voice is too weak. Remember, he’s very valuable to the Temple so while he may attack you, don’t dare to harm him. Also, that dagger as you probably know, is very powerful and could cause great harm if used incorrectly, I’m one of the few who were gifted with it and even fewer who can actually use it to the maximum, since you seem to be able to as well though, show that to no one and return it to the Temple once you have safely escorted the priest. The Temple shall reward you well,” the large man barely said before a bunch of coughs overtook him and his mouth became like a fountain of blood before he finally died.

[Level Up! 35/100]

Terry looked at the large man’s corpse with an amused grin before removing the strong but damaged armor and then putting the cold armor that had been inside the carriage for a long time upon his even colder body.

[Archbishop Blessed Armor acquired. Increased resistance to evil desires and energy as well as most magic.]

“Ow, that sh*t stings,” Terry said as he shook from inside the armor.

[Activating Light Resistance, Blood Regeneration, and Impersonate,]

Terry shook for a few more seconds but knew to trust his skills and that pain only served to make him stronger.

Makes sense, Terry thought angrily as he moved his body around a bit for a few minutes in order to help forget the pain until the pain finally dissipated. Blessed Armor, makes sense since he’s one damn strong Crusader. I had a severe disadvantage yet beat him since he underestimated me quite a lot. Well, a criminal always has room to grow, even more so in a place like this.

Terry began to feel weird and noticed that his face felt differently. Terry moved his bloody hand to his face before exclaiming in shock.

"What in the hell?" Terry said angrily as he felt the rest of his body. He wasn't much smaller but smaller nonetheless. Wait, what about my stats, Terry thought to himself.

Vampire Lord Level 35/100 (Currently changed to the class 'Arch Crusader' due to 'Impersonate'

Health=1792

Magic=54

Stamina=295

Strength=263

Defense=148

Speed=129

Vitality=371

Intelligence=438

Seems about right, and my stats are the same but... Hmm... I guess I should be glad that I look like that dead dude. I have his exact looks, hair, and size. There's no doubt, I can copy people. I guess I should be happy about this since I can now kill the king easier but still, I hope I can fix this.

[Skill Acquired=Blessed Item Proficiency]

Neat, I guess this’ll help me use more of the very armor and weapons meant to kill creatures like me or something. Bruh.

The large man had chainmail underneath the armor but Terry saw no need to take it for himself and decided to merely leave it there.

After Terry had put on the uncomfortable armor, he placed the Gazel’s sword inside the scabbard across his back while holding the other massive sword in his right hand while Placing the Finger Of Thomales into a special slit inside the armor which clicked as the golden hilt touched the cold metal as if it was meant to be there. Terry then simply stared at Ryan and then at Crystal who looked angry at Terry. She hated him, probably wanted to even kill him.

[activating Read Minds]

Damn that Ryan, he’s so worthless. I should just let that man be my new servant. Maybe if he figures out that I’m actually a princess, he’ll surely serve me willingly. And he’ll definitely be unable to resist my body. He’s definitely a better choice than Ryan at least. I should just abandon Ryan since he’s so weak and go to that man who can actually get things done while I can just sit and ride on his shoulders while never needing to lift a finger.

Bruh, this mind reading thing takes a while to get used to and it gives the worst headache possible. I feel like I’m getting shot in the head over and over while being alive to feel every bullet. Well, now I think I get why people drink alcohol but I just need to get some practice. But still, that woman is one crazy b*tch, I

“Hehehehehe! You know what, I refuse. Although, instead of wasting your talents on a pike, I got no use for money, so you two can be my slaves instead,” Terry said with a smile as he raised the stolen sword toward Ryan.

Ryan looked Terrified at Terry, not for himself but for Crystal. Ryan lowered his head to the hot Earth and begged Terry.

“Please sir, don’t harm my sister, she’s worthless to you. I’ll go willingly as your catch and you can get plenty of money for me. If you don’t however, I’ll be forced to kill myself,” Ryan said, beggining to cry as he placed one of his knuckles to his neck.

“I know everything, we’ll talk in a more secure place. And obviously,” Terry looked at the few bruises on Ryan and numerous cuts on Crystal. “We’ll have to get those wounds treated. Oh, and please don’t make me torture you for running away.”

[activating Intimidation]

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Ryan shivered and Crystal fell to the ground unconscious.

“But first,” Terry continued. He walked over to the stopped caravan and petted the horses in an attempt to sooth them. Then, Terry stepped in front of the door which the large man stepped out from and slowly pulled it open.

“Yaah!” yelled a voice from inside as a dagger came towards Terry who merely grabbed the arm holding it with ease and snapped it like a twig.

“Arghh!” screamed the voice in pain.

“Heh,” Terry laughed, looking at the grown man sitting in the caravan. Hmm, Terry thought. Looking at his white clothing and how he had guards, along with how that insanely strong dude outside called him a priest, he must have some serious money. Although, there doesn’t seem to be another cart following this one. Meaning that there’s nothing valuable here other than this guy. Which meant that the large man was right, although Terry had already lost the chance to earn this man’s trust. Although, who needs trust when you can just read somebody’s mind for info. All Terry needed to do was get the man thinking about what Terry wanted.

“You’re somebody powerful aren’t you?” Terry asked while glaring at the man. Realizing he could read the man’s mind, Terry attempted to think of what the man was thinking and naturally was able.

[activating Read Minds]

Now this is hella convenient, isn’t it? Terry realized.

Wait, what the hell is going on? Why’s somebody this strong here? I could hear bits and pieces of his conversation with Gazel but still, why would he attack my caravan? Wait, he must be lying and is actually a hero from another country or some rogue assassin. Damn it, if he figures that I’m going to the king, I’m f*cked. Thankfully, he doesn’t yet know that I’m going there though since I tried so hard to stay covert by bringing only a few guards and Gazel if things went south. I’ll just try to buy him off with money, alcohol, or women. Nobody can resist that. Plus, with the Finger Of Thomalus that Gazel held, if I can just get him to the Temple, then I may even earn a reward instead of punishment for the death of one as strong as Gazel.

“I can offer you a higher position than whatever country you serve as long as you help me and spare my life. What do you want, money, girls, alcohol?” the man asked, struggling to make words with all the pain from his ruined arm.

“Hmm, I like the proposition, but one thing, I’m not gonna hurt you at all. I’m just gonna use you in a far better way than just caring about horrible material things. Although, there is one thing I want,” Terry started terrifyingly.

“Yes? Yes? Tell me what it is and you’ll get it, just let me live!” yelled the man excitedly thinking he had succeeded in guaranteeing safety. How wrong he was.

“If you say it like that, well then, I shall indulge myself this once,” Terry said slowly as he tried incredibly hard not to laugh and covered his face with his right hand while he used his left to take the dagger from the man.

“Alright, what is it? What do you want from me?” asked the man annoyed but trying very hard to be respectful in order to better seal the deal.

“You don’t yet know? I want you,” Terry said moving his right hand and revealing a devilish smile that caused the man to jolt back in fear.

[activating Intimidation]

While the man sat frozen on his seat, Terry worked masterfully to cut his palm and then pressed his bleeding limb against that of the man’s broken arm which also had blood dripping from it.

“It’s great that I remembered that little trick from my sleep, well, it felt so real which is never a dream, but, I really hope this works,” Terry said.

[activating Blood Contract]

“You said you’ll give me whatever I want so long as I don’t kill you, now you are mine so long as I uphold that condition. You are now my slave for as long as you live. My commands for you are simple, stay quiet unless I order you to do otherwise or you notice something that would be in my best interest to know. Also, make sure that all actions you do are in my best interest. If you don’t know, ask.”

[Blood contract made, unable to be broken other than by the vampire whose blood has been used for the contract. Nullified if the used blood is purified. Those who break the set terms to a certain extent shall lose their soul to the Contractor]

“Heh, well then, let’s not waste any time, I still need to figure out the ways of this world,” Terry said with a smile as he laughed in happiness at his success.

This means that those scenes from what I thought a horrible dream weren’t just real, but they placed me directly in front of death more times than just once. And that promise I made… I always keep my word. I will get much stronger and once again, I shall reign as the Criminal Lord. Now then, meeting this ‘king’ will come first, Terry thought as he grabbed the surprised man and looked around inside the nearly empty caravan. Terry was glad that the man had decided to go undercover and brought very little with him. All there was were a few pouches of coins and some small insignia which Terry stowed away in the few areas of space inside the armor before grabbing his swords and stepping out.

Ryan stared at Terry, waiting for a conversation of some kind like a scared dog waiting for an abusive master.

Terry looked at him and then to the 2 horses that were used to draw the caravan. He signaled to Ryan to take one of the horses and Crystal while he took another for him and the man.

“Now there's no other evidence other than… those bodies…” Terry started. “Haah, I guess there’s no other choice. Hey, my slave! Make sure they don’t see or hear what I’m doing here.”

The man whom Terry had controlled looked angrily at Terry since he still had his mind left but couldn’t control his body and therefore obeyed his command loyally and listened regardless.

Damn, I guess I’ll have to do this of my own free will in order to better stay conscious and not lose myself like that last time. I can’t put myself through that again lest I possibly die from a crucial mistake. Even if I felt partial control over myself, that state as if I was in some sort of a drunken rage. I can’t allow myself to be lost like that as it would hurt my ability to think straight. Now then, well, I guess I stretch my mouth or something and sink the fangs grown into these warm, motionless bodies. Well, this’ll be fun I guess, Terry thought as he stretched his mouth long and his teeth began to shift into long, sharp daggers as they were lowered into the still body of the larger man known as Gazel and as they pierced the thick, white skin, Terry felt a burst of energy in his body. The blood that spurred forth didn’t have much of a fine or sweet taste but rather, it felt as if Terry had just sent his senses into hyperdrive and he felt amazing. It was as if Terry had just taken an immensely powerful drug which, instead of causing massive side-effects, caused an amazing heightened state.

After Terry drank his fill of the larger man's blood, he then proceeded to the next largest body.

[activating Raise Ghouls]

After Terry had raised the men, he continued to feed on a few more bodies and raised more ghouls while also commanding his ghouls to clean up the others. Within merely a minute, Terry had cleared out all of the bodies from the caravan and the rotted bodies of his ghouls fell lifeless to the ground when they had finished their task of ripping apart the other bodies.

Terry stepped over to the broken and rotting body of the large man, his empty neck dripping with blood and his head lying on the ground far from him, and ripped the large chainmail from his bleeding body.

After removing the armor Terry originally wore, Terry wore the chainmail and then wore the armor again before stepping over to the horse and sitting behind his loyal servant who looked terrified at Terry. He knew that since what had just happened was not to him, that his fate would be worse unless he loyally served Terry and even then, his safety wouldn't be assured.

“So then, I don’t have much knowledge of this place and we could all use a break. From what I heard, you have a bounty on your head of some kind and are pretty damn strong for someone as young as you are. So, I assume that you have a base of some kind nearby which would be perfect for us to rest at, right?” Terry asked Ryan nicely while also revealing a menacing smile as a threat.

“Oh… of course,” Ryan replied uncertainly.

“Well then, lead on, I don’t know the way there,” Terry laughed as he followed Ryan and Crystal on their horse.

“Hmm, smart choice. I wonder how you even found this bunker. It’s pretty damn spacious although it won’t fit the horses sadly. Eh, we’ll only be here a while before continuing on,” Terry said getting off his horse along with his slave.

Terry stood deeper inside the forest in a very lush area while looking down at a trap door which Ryan unlocked and entered. Looking inside the room, there was plenty of space and even, treasure?

“Well, why don’t we sit down and chat. After all, there’s plenty of things for you to tell me,” Terry said with a large grin as he jumped into the hole and sat on a thick couch to rest his body even though he was barely tired. In all honesty, he just wanted to be out of the sun for a while.

Terry signaled for his slave to remain outside before signaling Ryan to bring an unconscious Crystal and enter the room.

“Well, umm, there were some bandits who used to live here who were relatively weak and since me and Crystal needed a place to stay, we decided to evict-”

“Kill, you killed them. Don’t sugarcoat that sh*t,” Terry said with a laugh.

“Wh- haah, I can’t hide it from you. What was I supposed to do?” Ryan said angrily as he stood with a sleeping Crystal in his arms while Terry sat on the large and only couch in the room.

“Well, I’m not saying it’s wrong, in fact, I merely wish to possibly teach you of how similar we are to each other in order to further develop our relationship. But first, sit down, you’re useful to me so don’t worry about merely sitting next to me. Only those who would betray me need to worry about my wrath. Besides, it would be annoying if she were to wake up and disturb us where I may become annoyed enough to kill her,” Terry said with an evil grin.

“Well, this is where we live so of course,” Ryan said before he took Crystal and sat upon the thick couch with Crystal on his lap.

“So please explain to me the money of this world first, then explain weapons, ranks, countries, basic stuff. But lie to me and I’ll end you,” Terry said as he held the sword in his right hand to Ryan’s neck, causing a few drops of blood to spill.

“Huh? Hey, that sword has blood already!” Ryan cried before immediately shutting up out of fear for his life.

“Don’t worry, now tell me what I want to know,” Terry said.

“Well, money is pretty simple since there's 4 types of coins for money. Copper, silver, gold, and platinum. But first, what is the standard amount of money from your world so I can better understand and explain to you,” Ryan said.

“Hmm, US dollars are the most common and versatile currency but I need to figure out what exactly the transfer rate is....

[activating Vampiric mind]

Perfect, this is just what I nee- huh all this knowledge, my mind, it feels like it’s going to explode. Graagh!!!”

Terry’s face became twisted in agony as he began to choke himself with both of his powerful hands after dropping the heavy sword in his hand.

Be calm, this is important knowledge, you shall not die as you are strong enough to be my vessel. Now go, there isn’t much time for you. Take your time and revel in the destruction of this world.

“Rrrrgghh!” Terry quietly roared before finally calming down.

“You alright?” Ryan said, holding his spiked knuckles against Terry’s snow white flesh while running a powerful layer of flame through them which warmed Terry’s neck nicely.

Terry began to think and process the information. Hmm, so the leveling system works in such a way that people and monsters have levels in order to represent strength and strength is quite easy to increase by the use of levels although there is some sort of limit at some point which I have no idea about. To level up, you must either kill creatures ranging from monsters to people, train yourself, or eat. In order to properly level up efficiently while making sure that the world doesn’t become a bunch of murdering freaks, there are plenty of dungeons filled with monsters that respawn as long as a core remains intact. Due to this, people can become much stronger much easier. Sadly though, those who were smart in this world would obviously monopolize such a perfect resource and therefore become the strongest. For training, people can do anything from meditating to experimentation. Class Rarity, like how Ryan is Super Rare, is broken into 7 ranks of Poor, Common, Uncommon, Rare, Super rare, Legendary, and Celestial. Well, that must be really good since I got a cool message about it. Although Crystal is definitely worthless to me with how weak she is. While people in this world can apparently rank themselves up after getting a certain Item or something, a minimum requirement of Rare would be appreciated and preferred. Apparently there’s also a sort of strength system of insignificant, weak, strong, dangerous, very dangerous, deadly, ultimate, and finally invincible, other than the obvious question marks. I even know about all sorts of continents and countries in this place, damn. This information is pretty damn weird since it feels as though I have memories or some such about this stuff. But then again, all information is valuable in some sense, I guess I should just keep most to myself though.

Especially what I learned about how there are slaves, Terry began to think. Such a common practice here from what I can see. It's akin to prostitution and/or low paid manual labor from illegal immigrants and/or much of the population inside third world countries. So I guess slaves are simply those who sign a contract with another, signifying forms of submission and forfeiting several or even all human rights whatsoever. Such people become a tool to the one in power in the contract and must obey the terms of the contract and most likely the party in power to every desire. Contracts are also very cheap for use upon a weak slave while stronger slaves take a bit more energy to control and therefore require a more expensive contract. But once made, a contract cannot be broken unless very specific conditions are met, depending on the contract used. But as I am a vampire and don’t need a contract, there's probably not even a limit to how many slaves I can possess. And just like going anywhere and finding diversity among people, depending on where I go, I can encounter different types of people who have been enslaved such as refugees, mages, demihumans who are also called bestials, and others that I don’t yet know. There’s probably even places that have monsters as slaves too, similar to how I have my Raise Ghouls.

Interesting, unlike before when I had to trust people and even got betrayed by them, I can actually enslave people here and it’s fully legal. Even better, I will have full control of them. Well, I can use these vampire powers of mine and use a common practice that could never truly be controlled. And with my power, I may truly succeed in my goal of enslaving this very world. With slaves of this world, even true loyalty is settling for less when I can genuinely enslave the very body of another. Maybe that’s how I can leave this place...

“Huf, huf, put those down before you hurt yourself,” Terry said as he calmed himself and grabbed his sword from the ground before placing it onto his lap. “I know the currency now, apparently, when compared to my currency of USD, 20 copper coins equal a dollar while 100 copper coins equal a silver coin. There's basically no credit cards and everything is cash, but the value of this kinda cash is huge. So a copper is like a nickel, a silver is like a $5 bill, a gold which is 100 silvers would be a $500 bill and a platinum which is 100 of those would be worth $50,000. This is one f*cked up currency to be sure. Damn, a small damn coin is worth 50k. Well, it should have some benefits and downsides for thievery all on its own. I’m also pretty sure that there’s also a war going on if I’m thinking correctly. And the temple,” Terry said as he began to shake his fist in anger. “Those bastards slaughtered everyone and made themselves more powerful while ending up loved by all. Hoooh, I must become stronger and then destroy them. Oh, ahem, excuse me. Well anyways, the capital of Valmaster where the main branch of the Temple dwells was back there while there’s a few villages here and there. And then…”

Terry looked at his slave standing above the room.

“Tell me, where exactly were you heading to meet some king?”

The slave looked terrified at Terry but since he was under the complete control of Terry, he couldn’t hope to resist and told him the truth.

“I was sent from the Temple undercover to go to the king of Dinstorm to settle a deal for slaves used for experimentation of which I don't know the nature,” mentioned the slave.

“So, when must you arrive at Dinstorm to meet the King?” Terry asked curiously.

“Since Dinstorm is only a few days away, a week and a half is expected at most. If we hurry on horseback, we’ll arrive in a much shorter time of around 4 days, give or take a day,” said the slave.

“Hmm, nice, first off, Ryan, What level are you? I can’t exactly leave any witnesses, if you know what I mean, unless they’re worth more to me alive than dead,” Terry said, turning back to Ryan with a look of annoyance.

“Oh, m-me, I’m level-”

“Lie to me and Crystal dies,” Terry interrupted rudely.

[Activating Intimidation]

“Oh, uh, I’m level, um, 24,” Ryan said weakly as he held his shaking knuckles between Terry and Crystal.

“Oh, damn, that’s hella good, the fact that your level is pretty low means you have great potential and are also pretty strong. Huh, while you’re not exactly the best to bring with you’re only strong compared to people of your level which we’ll probably never fight, you are valuable nonetheless and are definitely worth bringing due to your potential. After all, I got where I am today by not looking to the past or present, but rather to the future. As you are valuable to me, I shall spare you and possibly help you to further your own goals as well. Of course, I can’t exactly trust you and therefore wish for your undying loyalty. So, do you agree, if you don’t, I won’t blame you but will also not let you live,” Terry said.

[Activating Blood Contract]

“You seem serious, I can’t exactly ask for time to think this over so I ask for a condition to be met,” Ryan said.

Terry started deep into Ryan’s eyes and smiled.

“You have resolve, while your body may be that of a young adult, barely into his twenties, your mind has matured to that of a grown man. I may as well hear you out,” Terry said.

“I want for Crystal to have her dream met and for your help in doing so along with her guaranteed safety,” said Ryan.

“Well then, while I don’t understand why the hell you'd serve someone so weak, I will allow you to protect her. As someone who serves me, I shall listen to your requests if I feel the need. If your desires seem to align with hers, then I guess I shall oblige. But know one thing, as long as you serve me, you may not die without fighting for my sake to the very end and by slaughtering all those who would dare harm you as well or any of those who I genuinely value,” Terry said with a small smile. “So, do you accept?”

“As you have allowed me this much, I am grateful. Besides, I have loved Crystal for as long as I have lived. It is my honor to serve one such as her and even more so to die for her. If I can protect her as your servant while protecting her from my fate, I would be honored to be your servant and fulfill your orders as long as those conditions are met,” said Ryan as he kneeled to Terry.

“I hate these formal things since I used to just hand somebody a weapon and they’d happily follow my orders, but I guess this’ll make things a lot easier to trust you,” Terry said with a smile as he raised his left hand to Ryan’s head.

[Blood contract made, unable to be broken other than by the vampire whose blood has been used for the contract. Nullified if the used blood is purified. Those who break the set terms to a certain extent shall lose their soul to the Contractor]

“Nice, now then, wake up Crystal, we leave in a few minutes,” Terry said with a large grin appearing on his face as he looked up to his slave.

“How much money exactly did you bring?” Terry asked.

“100 platinums and 53 gold as far as I know which were held in the pouches which you took from the caravan. The platinum was for the payment while the gold was for those in the group to rent inns and possibly have some fun in a brothel or buy weapons and armor.

“No way, you’re saying that I have 5 million dollars worth on me right now? Heh, well I have held stuff worth even more so I guess it’s just ‘meh’ so then, I guess that it’s pretty nice. Well, considering how we’re good on funds, I guess there’s no point in staying here any longer. Except one thing,” Terry said as he looked at the waking Crystal.

This’ll be fun, Terry thought as he stood from the comfy couch.

“My lady, princess Crystal, I only now realize your greatness. Please forgive me. Tell me, is there any order you have for me?” Terry asked as he stood before Crystal.

Crystal looked annoyed at him, probably since he wasn’t offering a bow or kiss that she was used to although after realizing how lucky she was to simply have the strong man in front of her saying even that, she forced a smile at Terry and then stared angrily at Ryan.

“Restrain that fool,” Crystal said to Terry.

Terry smiled.

“Yes my lady,” Terry said as he dropped his sword and lunged upon Ryan before gripping Ryan’s arms and holding him tightly.

Crystal picked up a small black whip from the floor and walked toward the restrained Ryan before making a twisted face at him.

“You are worthless to me now that I finally have somebody who can fight. Unlike you, he can properly satisfy me and help me further my own goals to take back my birthright. You would always interfere in my fun and act like I needed you to survive even when I allowed you to serve one as amazing as me. You fool, trying to teach me about being ‘proper’ and not willing to service me in every way or torture our victims rather than kill them. You worthless dog!” yelled Crystal looked to Terry. “Remove his shirt, he must feel all of this.”

“Yes my lady,” Terry said as he first removed the knuckles from the struggling Ryan before removing his shirt to reveal the muscular brown skin on Ryan’s back.

“What the, Terry?” Ryan asked as Terry held him firmly, not allowing Ryan to so much as twitch.

Ryan stopped his struggling and simply stared angrily at Crystal.

Whip!

“ah!”

Whip!

“urg!”

Whip!

“graah!

Whip!

“ahh!”

Whip!

Whip!

“Rrrg!”

Whip!

“Grah!”

Whip!

Whip!

“Aargh!”

Whip!

“Crystal stop!” cried Ryan in tears as he struggled frantically to escape Terry’s grip but to no avail. Terry continued to hold the writhing man as several scars continued to open up all across his back.

“Hehehehe!” laughed Crystal as she continuously whipped Ryan and enjoyed his screams and tears. “There's no room for someone like you in my dream.”

Whip! Whip! Whip...

Ryan had been whipped close to 50 times and had screamed and struggled violently the entire time. Ryan constantly begged Terry to help him and then to Crystal to stop which only caused Crystal to laugh continuously. Eventually Ryan’s voice produced no more sound and body became limp from the pain after having exhausted his strength.

While Terry had witnessed and even done much worse forms of torture, he knew very well that what he was doing was wrong but still had to do so in order to accomplish his goals as he had done for his entire life. Terry knew that in order to create true peace, that he had to become the very people he would kill and do the very things they did in order to become strong enough to achieve his goals.

“I’m bored of you now, you’ve served your purpose and now deserve to die,” Crystal said as she lowered the whip from her left hand and picked a dagger from the floor with her right.“Even with all this, I will happily die for you. You saved someone like me from the depths of despair and gave me such a good life that someone like me could never have. If my death is your desire, then so be it. Terry, I’m sorry, but I can’t follow our contract anymore. Please, heed this last request and abolish our contract to allow me to die in peace,” Ryan said weakly as he stared deeply into Crystal’s eyes and smiled.

Crystal glared at Terry as she raised the whip to strike him firmly several times.

“You large, worthless, fool, you should have held his mouth closed the moment his screams stopped. Now I have no enjoyment from this. How do you expect to enjoy killing someone who wants to die? Huh?!?” Crystal cried as she finally realised what she had done and stopped as she looked at the towering giant before her. Crystal held her dagger firmly, ready for a retaliation.

“Please forgive my mistake my lady. My ignorance has caused you anger, if you so please, I will accept any punishment happily if I can please you,” Terry said as he lowered his head and held Ryan’s mouth shut tightly.

“Heh, hehehehehehehehehehehehe! Nobody can stop me or even dare to harm me now. Even the strongest of men can only hope to grovel at my feet before my strength and beauty. Ryan, now do you see how worthless you are? Well, I had hoped to keep it quiet but as you’re about to die, I assume that it will be of no consequence to me. In fact, I can’t wait to see your face,” Crystal laughed as she Glared upon Ryan as his face became puzzled.

“I shouldn’t have wasted my time bringing someone like you into my service. When I was younger and needed a retainer, I asked my father for someone of great strength and loyalty and then heard that you were very strong and were a sort of prodigy of great value while your family was mere trash and was worth nothing. Naturally, as a princess, I asked them nicely to give you up as their duty to one as powerful and beautiful as me. But since they refused, there was no choice but to simply kill them and reap you as a reward by force since they dared to defy me. Hehehehehehe! And you dumbass, you actually believed us hook line and sinker when we forged a will from your family and took you in as a slave. Sadly, now you deserve to die for being of no more use to me. If you want something to blame, blame your stupidity and weakness for angering one like me. After all, you dared disobey me in the slightest, and that alone warrants death,” Crystal laughed again.

Ryan’s face went from submission to simply blank as his eyes stared blankly ahead from.

Terry felt a change in the strong man he was holding and tried very hard to hide the massive smile that began to form across his face.

Within a few seconds, Ryan’s body shook incredibly violently and a look of sheer rage had consumed his blank stare. His mind had a specific goal now other than to simply escape. Now he only wished to do one thing, punish. Ryan thrashed violently from Terry’s grip and Terry had to use all his strength in order to keep the young man still yet even then, Terry’s strength was draining fast.

Ryan said nothing but continued to thrash violently in an attempt to be free from Terry’s grip while glaring at Crystal who was shivered at the immense bloodlust which she had never felt before.

[Activating Overwhelming Strength]

Terry’s muscles bulged enormously as Ryan continued to struggle to no avail. The massive muscles smothered Ryan who simply continued to resist against all odds.

“You think you can scare me, huh?!” cried Crystal as she shook the knife weakly in front of Ryan who glared deadly stares in response. Not even death was feared by Ryan who cared only for punishment and vengeance. If he was to die for his goal, he would be happy. The intense rage that had been created from pain to loyalty to sheer hatred and sadness had nearly broken Ryan. And the fact that he was being restrained, unable to move, only magnified the strength of those very feelings even further.

“Too bad, now you will die. While I’d prefer to properly punish a dog like you for daring to bark at its master, as a dog, you’re worth almost none of my time and should be grateful for this,’ Crystal said as she plunged the dagger from her hand deep into Ryan’s… chest?”

[Activating Appraisal]

[(Unleashed) Boxing Sorcerer=Deadly] Notice, now that Class, Boxing Sorcerer has been unleashed, it is much stronger and has been promoted to Legendary rank.

[Activating Blood Regeneration]

Terry smiled as he stepped back and clasped his steaming hands together.

Damn, if I hadn’t released him as fast as I did, the flesh from my hand would’ve been burned off completely. Terry thought. Although, I could just regenerate really quickly since I’m a vampire. He’s been releasing heat from his body the entire time I held him to the point where my frigid body felt on fire for holding him so long and my blood even began to literally boil. He has probably never leveled up nearly as much as me yet he has such a high strength in comparison to mine. So this is the power of magic, how spectacular that I decided to do this. Although I got whipped and completely embarrassed by doing role playing, I would say that all that was definitely worth it just to see this moment.

“Huf, huf, huf, huf, huf,” Ryan breathed hard as he stepped towards Crystal’s shaking body. Thick, black smoke formed a cloud around Ryan as it was produced from his mouth. Flame completely engulfed his once brown body and instead made him a dark orange color. His large afro burned brightly as a gray liquid fell from near Ryan’s chest to the floor.

“Th-the dagg-g-ger, wh-why-what?” Crystal stammered as she looked around helplessly towards Ryan and the gray puddle that was made from the dagger she had pushed towards Ryan as it melted from the intense heat after touching his molten chest.

Ryan glared into Crystal’s eyes as she looked to Terry with a smile of hope.

“You got this girl, I’m rooting for you all the way,” Terry said as he responded with a similar smile of his own.

Crazy b*tch, Terry thought. She deserves to die. I’m glad I could make use of her at all in the first place. I was originally going to just order Ryan to kill her against his own wishes since he can’t disobey me no matter what, but for this to turn out, I’m so lucky that she’s one psychotic b*tch.

Ryan reached out his burning hand as Crystal slowly, paralyzed with fear, attempted to flee but had no exit as the way out of the bunker was via a ladder behind Ryan. Ryan reached out and grabbed Crystal's very skull with his large hand and crushed it hard as it steamed and burned in the process her body collapsed and Ryan afterward.

Terry looked at Ryan’s body as the Flames disappeared slowly but not before cooking and even melting, several parts of Crystal’s dead body. His afro had shrunken almost halfway and his very skin had become either darkened or charred from actual burns across his body. The black cloud of smoke dissipated from the bodies as Terry lifted the sword from the couch and swung it hard into the smoke.

“All I can say right now is just, WTF?” Terry said with a deep sigh.