Chapter 17
Life Goes On.
Luke was right. Making Kathrine dinner when I hadn’t cooked anything for him was unfair of me. He’d been at Darksmith for months. We’d trained together. We’d talked about his sister. But we hadn’t hung out. Everything I did with him revolved around survival. None of it was about enjoying life.
So, to make it up to him, I’d been cooking dinner every night for the last week, trying to improve my capabilities with each new meal I made. Like everything I put my mind to, there was clear and quick progress.
Luke pushed his empty plate aside and leaned back in his chair to undo his belt. He released a loud groan. The noise echoed off the dinning room walls, making the large empty room seem even larger and emptier.
“You’re definitely getting better,” He said. “That mushroom sauce was something I’d only expect from a high-level chef.”
Seeing my son happy and with a full belly made me feel content. “The secret ingredient is love.”
Luke snorted at my cheesy joke. “You know, it’s terrifying how quickly you pick up everything. A week ago, you were able to replicate mom’s old recipes and now you’re imitating high level chefs without any skills.” His mood sobered. “It makes me think everything we know about ancient vampires is wrong.”
“What you know isn’t wrong.”
“It feels that way?”
“It feels that way because there are gaps in your knowledge, not because what you know is wrong.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Can you fill those gaps for me?”
“Not safely. I don’t know if what I’ve experienced is universally true for ancient vampires or if these experiences are unique to me. And filling gaps about ancient vampires with assumptions or false information is extremely dangerous which is why the little you know about ancient vampires doesn’t contain any speculation.”
He frowned. “There must be something you can tell me?”
There were many things but all of them came with life threatening risks if my assumptions were wrong. However, telling him nothing could be equally as dangerous. Luke liked to get himself into trouble.
I picked up my last slice of steak, dipped it into the mushroom sauce, and popped it in my mouth. A world of flavour exploded across my tongue as the meat fell apart. I savoured the last bite and then pushed my plate aside.
I looked at Luke. “I’ll give you an example of something I believe to be true, if you promise to disregard it once we finish this conversation.”
His frown deepened. “You’re that worried about it?”
“Yes, and I’m not the only one, otherwise those gaps in your knowledge would be filled with commentary and speculation instead of being left blank.”
He smirked. “Fine, I’ll ignore your life lessons this once, but you owe me.”
I didn’t laugh at his bad attempt at humour. What I had to say next wasn’t something to joke about.
I waited until he accepted how serious this conversation was. “I believe ancient vampires are at their most dangerous when they know they’re being hunted by something or someone that can kill them. In this scenario, their survival instincts will overpower the Curse of Sloth and allow them to tap into their ability to quickly grow their skills. Because of this, if you fail to kill an ancient vampire in the open, you should take obvious steps to make sure that it’s aware you’re not chasing it. This will allow the Curse of Sloth to take hold of the ancient vampire, so you can grow your skills to kill it in a future encounter.”
Luke whistled as he leaned back. “That seems dangerous.”
“That’s because what I’m saying is counter intuitive. Most threats become more dangerous when left alone. Ancient vampires become less dangerous.”
He nodded. “I can see how you would make that assumption, but would your strategy work if you found it’s resting place?”
“No. You would be a constant threat until you were eliminated.”
“That makes sense.”
“It makes sense, but I could still be wrong about what I just said. And if I’m wrong-”
“People will suffer for your assumptions.”
“A lot of people. Which is why I don’t want to share my speculations with you, until I’ve confirmed them to be true.”
“I see why you’re concerned. I’ll forget everything you just said.”
“Thank you.”
He smirked again. "That’s alright. I’m getting better at forgetting things I shouldn’t know. Hopefully, I’ll be able to forget the fact that you’re a furry someday.”
I chuckled. “The living dead in my workshop are called dog warriors and they would likely eat a furry on sight.”
Luke chuckled with me as the second dinner bell chimed signalling the start of after dinner clubs. I lifted my hand and lazily snapped my fingers.
Shadow Two leapt from under my coat and began to clear the dishes from the table, zipping out of the room.
Luke raised an eyebrow. “Did you just use Shadow as a waiter?”
“That’s not Shadow. That’s Shadow Two. And I’m not using his as a waiter, I’m field testing him.”
“Why?”
“I need to prove that he’s identical to Shadow, so Davina will teach me master tier magic.”
“I thought that was why you made Shadow?”
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“It was, but Davina is being overly cautious.”
“Wait…if you had to make a second shade, you had to damage your soul again.” He looked to the door Shadow had passed through and then glared at me. “You promised to take me to the Abyss to hunt. Why am I just hearing about this now?”
Dread filled me as images on me sparkling and Luke laughing played through my mind. I’d been staying away from this conversation for the past week, but Luke had managed to steer me towards it without me noticing.
I tried to look concerned rather than panicked. “You’re sister needed you.”
His glared vanished. “That’s fair, but you’re going to make it up to me, right?”
“Are you sure you want to risk gaining skills related to hunting dungeon monsters?”
I’d come up with a long list of excuses for why he shouldn’t come with me to the Abyss, so if this one didn’t work, I’d move onto the next.
He scoffed. “I’ve been practicing magic for months, so the chances of me gaining those sorts of skills are low now.”
“Unless we’re hunting floor bosses which is exactly what I intend to do.”
He paused. “You’re hunting floor bosses?”
“Yes.”
“Alone.”
“They help me recover and strengthen my soul a lot faster than regular monsters.”
“I’m out then. Hunting floor bosses will definitely get me skills I don’t want.”
I decided to change the subject. “How are your lessons with Carolyn going?”
“They’re going okay. They would be going better if someone would convince their students to help me refine my mana network.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not going to owe my students favours because you can’t be bothered refining your mana network yourself.”
“You used to be cool.”
I chuckled. “That didn’t work when you were twelve and it doesn’t work now.”
Luke smiled as he stood up. “I better get going. Kathrine wants to visit the night market in town, and I said I’d go with her.”
“Keep her safe.”
“Always.”
“Keep yourself safe too.”
He grinned. “Where’s the fun in that?”
***
The following evening, I knocked on the door to Headmaster Wink’s office. I’d spent the past few nights hunting in the Abyss to repair my soul after making Shadow Two, so I wasn’t sure why I’d been called here. He hadn’t mentioned it once today.
The doorhandle turned and the door swung opened. Headmaster Wink sat behind his desk rubbing his scalp and smelling more stressed than usual. There was a half-drunk bottle of wine beside him, but no glass.
Wink only drank straight from the bottle when he was exceptionally stressed. It wasn’t a good sign.
I walked in and took a seat. “What can I do for you headmaster?”
He sighed. “Is your assistant by any chance your son?”
I’d clearly missed several important conversations over the past few nights. “Yes, he is.”
Honesty seemed to be my best option.
Wink groaned and rubbed his scalp harder. “Vincent, did you intentionally come to Darksmith to facilitate your son’s affair with Princess Carolyn or are the two events unrelated? Don’t trying to deny the affair. I know she turns up early for your club meetings and goes upstairs with him while you teach. You’re clearly using the school rules around guards to get them alone.”
This conversation might have taken a dangerous turn. I needed to see how much he knew.
“Headmaster Wink, facilitating an affair between my son and the only heir of Arcadia could be viewed as treason in Arcadia. And if I were doing anything like that, I would never admit to it.”
Headmaster Wink frowned and finally looked at me. “What do you mean the only heir?”
If he didn’t know Carolyn was the only heir, then it was highly unlikely that he knew Luke was a hero. I didn’t need to be concerned about this talk. This was just the headmaster being his usual stressed self.
“Carolyn’s siblings were massacred shortly before the dungeon surge began in Arcadia. She was the only one to make it out alive.”
His eyes widened. “You brought her here to protect her.”
“I did. Darksmith is one of the safest places outside Arcadia’s border and until they catch the killer its safer than anywhere inside the border.”
“And the affair?”
“What affair?”
He scowled. “Don’t pretend this is just about her safety. You and your son are making a play for the throne.”
“Headmaster Wink, there are easier places to facilitate an affair than Darksmith and Arcadia’s laws around succession and children born out of wedlock are quite clear.”
Wink leaned down and reached into his draw for a wine glass. He placed it on the table and filled it to the brim. He took a long drink, emptying it.
He sighed as his shoulders relaxed. “I apologise for my assumptions, Vincent. In the future, I would appreciate it if your son would be a little more discrete. Try to teach him some of your tricks. You’re much better at hiding your trysts than he is.”
“I’ll do my best, headmaster.”
Headmaster Wink didn’t seem to hear me as he picked up the bottle of wine and refilled his glass. “I can’t believe I have to deal with two of you.”
***
Davina couldn’t decide if my shades were identical or just extremely similar, so I created Shadow Three to speed up her decision. Davina had watched all three perform various tasks side by side. To my eyes, their actions and reaction were identical, so either the emotions influencing my magic were completely the same all three times, which I knew for a fact wasn’t true from the way I made my last shade, or I had mastered applying emotion to magic. After three more days of observation, Davina finally agreed my shades were identical and that I was ready to practice master tier magic.
Before that could happen, I had to combine Shadow with Shadow Two and Shadow Three. Maintaining three shades cost me far too much lifeforce. Souls weren’t meant to have a ghost wandering around and that included if were trapped inside a vampire.
However, combining them created a new issue.
Davina’s eyes glowed blue as she circled Shadow in my workshop, evaluating the unexpected changes that occurred when I combined him with the other shades. “I don’t think this has anything to do with you using the layering technique, your Dark Eminence.”
My workshop contained several dozen active undead projects split between skeletons, zombies, and the living dead. They’d been moved to the side while I combined Shadow, so there wasn’t any room for me to sit.
“Then why do you think the power transfer was so high?”
Shades like ghosts grew stronger when they consumed other ghosts and shades. When I’d combined Shadow the other shades the strength transfer had been a Two-to-one exchange which should have been impossible.
Shadow was now twice as strong as he used to be, and when he stood in the open like this, he reminded me of Peter Pan’s shadow. He was a silhouette of darkness in the exact shape of my body and powerful enough to strangle a man to death.
Davina let the spell fade from her gaze, and her eyes returned to a soft white glow. “Demons don’t change, and you’ve proved you share this characteristic many times, your Dark Eminence. I think the power transfer was higher because both the imprint of your soul and the magic you used to create your shades remained identical all three times. There was no incompatibility to weaken the transfer.”
I had come to the same conclusion but wanted to be sure Davina agreed with it. Now that she had, I was ready to move onto more important matters.
I snapped my fingers and Shadow leapt into my coat. “Since you’re here, we might as well begin my new lessons.”
Davina turned around looking for a chair among the clutter. “Have you decided where you would like to begin?”
“I’d like to learn the master tier version of the create undead skeleton spell.”
“I can’t help you with that. The knowledge is lost.”
Several months ago, Celest had come to me after class and handed me the reward for saving her life. Dramyin’s Skeletal Texts was a collection of fifteen books filled with everything the lich king Dramyin knew about creating undead. The collection carried a curse that killed anyone who tried to copy it.
The curse had tickled.
I reached into my storage pouch and began placing my spare copies of Dramyin’s Skeletal Texts on the table beside me. “I think these will be able to help us.”
Davina walked over and picked up the first book, read the cover, and squealed with excitement. She stopped paying attention to everything around her and it was several hours before she noticed I’d left and came to find me.