I was lying over the uneven stones trying to recover. The energy flow from the dead vampire surprised me as it was pretty significant. That girl must have been high level. Well, compared to my current 'me'. Probably a two digits level, something like eleven or twelve.

I wondered if I had made another level. Was I now at level four?

It was a bit hard to evaluate, the game did not float me in the air and reset my wounds, so without the additional interface it was a bit hard to tell. Sometimes I knew it, but sometimes it was just guesswork.

The combustion continued, the vampire disintegrating like a low-flame burning paper, and I was happy looking at it, just breathing in and out, trying to gather my thoughts.

Watching those pieces fall down like burning snowflakes was a strange, beautiful sight.

The bent leg was in front of my eyes; however, I did not feel anything. Did I break my neck too? Oh fuck, I really did it; it was not the case of: 'I almost broke it'.

Strangely, I was still alive. Especially after falling down with a broken neck. Or did I break it when I fell on the hard stones?

Being devoid of mana, I could not heal myself, so all I could do now was wait and see. The little slime was 'looking' worried at me and poked me with a tendril. I knew as I saw it, but I did not feel it. I smiled at it.

Heh, my face still works!

I was lying on my back with the slime riding on my belly. I could not move nor even turn my head to look around; hopefully, nobody was going to find me before I recovered enough mana.

How much time did I lose with this vampire? Why is there a hole in my memories?

Blood flowed out from the two small holes in my thigh, one drop at a time, now meandering slowly up the thigh as my broken leg stood up. Oh well, the vampires must have something in their spit, like other bloodsuckers, something that blocks the blood from coagulating. I watched the trickling down blood, and the lights went out: the slow-burning vampire was only ashes now.

The colour of my blood, was it darker than human blood? Do dark elves have a different blood colour or was it only the lighting?

Flo clarified it for me:

“No, the blood is darker, almost black with blue notes.”

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Heh, I have blue blood! I grinned, amused at the thought as she healed me, then she stood up hesitatingly, moving slowly in the total darkness.

She sent a small light towards the ceiling, illuminating the stones around in the dark cavern.

I was still dazzled and could focus only with difficulty.

“What is this? Why am I so dazzled?”

I felt my face forming a snoot: she was angry.

“She must have doped me with something.”

“How?”

“Probably the liquid and her kisses. She was probably immune to that shit, and I have ingested it through my skin. Probably not enough as I recovered too soon.”

A shiver passed through my spine. I've been totally at the mercy of that vampire. I've been lucky!

“My error!”

It was seldom that Flo recognized that she had made an error, so I did not comment, happy to let it be. Heh, I'm not the only one making stupid things.

She continued:

“I was too sure of my capabilities, like, for instance, checking if somebody lies or not, but I did not correctly understand the limitations that come with Andy's low level... Sorry... I haven't been so low level since... uh, since very long.”

“Oh well, nobody is perfect. The bitch also underestimated you!”

“True. She allowed herself to be distracted by the slime for a second. That was enough. I think I can now spell my lightfire spell. What do we do with the slime?”

She looked down at the little slime that was scrounging something. Or what was it doing with that thing

“Oh, wait a minute! You are a clever little slime!” - said Flo.

It looked again smug at me.

“What?”

“She'd found the vampire's inventory box! Wow, a seven-slot box. There is gold inside! Twenty-one gold!”

“And you ask what to do with it? You take it with us; it already saved our lives two times!”

“True!”

I was still feeling dizzy and had a headache as if after a heavy party. I made a small inventory selection, crammed the most critical things in the new box, put on a new bra and panties, and arranged my mini and a blouse. I now had two pairs of shoes to choose from.

I looked at the slime.

“Do you want to come to town?”

It bubbled. Yeah, as if it would understand me.

“Where to hide you?”

Hm...

“Can you stay on me like this blouse?”

Fuck! It understood me!? As it wanted to climb on my foot, I helped it, taking it in my arm, and it spread around my torso.

“Good, good. Good boy! Can you change the colour to not be transparent?”

Huch, almost perfect. It looked now like some high-quality armour.

“Can you stay like this?”

It bubbled.

“Stay calm and don't bubble when I talk with others, ok?”

It pushed against my skin. Two taps. Heh, I have slime armour that can communicate through taps!

“So, trying the spell now?”

“Sure. I have the feeling that it will work!”

“Where to? To the boys in the grotto?”

“No. We need first to get a portal scroll!”

She took a deep breath and started the spell. As it was a complex spell and I had a small amount of mana, it took longer to get the spell done.

The lightfire worked, and... a sudden pain threw me on my knees. It was such a violent pain that I was mute for several seconds then a long wail escaped my lips. I dropped the staff.

My first thought was that somebody had shot me just when I'd cast the spell. Being again devoid of mana, as everything went into that spell, I could not heal myself, so I stayed there, crumbled over the stones in a foetal position trying hard to concentrate on the surroundings.