I stared at the newest experimental subject when there was about two hours until I figured everyone would wake up and realize almost thirty of their numbers had been kidnapped in the middle of the… eh, night? I sat on a stone with one leg crossed over the other and my chin resting on my hand as I watched the black carapace finish engulfing the Thrall in a tight protective shell that would allow it to feed through a small opening on its face guards that would prevent it from biting anyone.

The unfortunate man bitten by a thrall became a feral zombie… I just hadn’t been able to control him and it had attacked me. At first I’d figured it was because I’d killed the one that had bitten him but after another experiment it turned out that the bite of a thrall just turned them into these half thrall zombie things that those bitten by them just became more of them. None of whom would be able to be controlled. Useful to know if I wanted to do a pandemic type of attack on some place but not ideal for my plans right now.

Now I was trying to figure out ways to stop the thralls from biting while still able to feed. I’d tried ordering them not to bite but they were much more instinctual than anything else so they forgot that order quickly in the heat of battle or when faced with food. I’d tried a gag but it had given me some rather unsettling BDSM of the damned vibes so I scrapped it.

So I tried an experiment with my own carapace which was now growing over the thrall from my other hand which was clamped on the thralls head. Before I let go I infused the carapace with shadows and ethereal armour which gave it a bit of a shadow smokey look with the smoke obeying gravity as it always leaked down.

You’ve created a new type of vampiric thrall from your experiments! Void touched servants can now be created through Vampiric conversion at a higher cost of stamina and mana costs to user!

The notification startled me a little but I simply smiled as I looked down at the insectoid looking creature I’d created. A narrow face ending in a small opening revealing the snarling teeth beneath and glaring holes in the mask allowed the maddened red eyes to shine through. I moved on to convert the ten others into the same type as I wanted horror, not pandemonium for what was to come. I had the stalkers go and get me more of those in the shanty town that were as unimportant as they could find.

I’d sent the sorcerers, royal guards and inquisitors out to fetch me some homeless people to add to my little horde of thralls. I’d already had Ashes and Dust find concentrations of homeless that wouldn’t be missed and those that showed backbone and honour despite their circumstances. The second ones had the criteria of having to be young as there were quite a lot of homeless in Veta and quite a lot of orphans on the streets too. I’d need to train those that would join me to become my agents in the future.

In the end when the shanty town woke and those kidnapped weren’t discovered I simply sat in my makeshift little workplace with Vashanesh at my right. The Ushabti at our backs and behind them a full forty of the void touched thralls, all chomping at the bid to be unleashed upon the shanty town.

I’d taught Vashanesh to create the spy spiders as I ended up calling them and kept a fair number of them in one of my storage rings to replace any losses that might occur in the future. I waited for the tournament to begin as my spiders had found out that while most guests and participants had been there the key players that had started the tournament hadn’t shown up. It had been the only thing preventing me from taking the shanty town silently in the night with the superb performance of the stalkers in their tasks.

I grit my teeth when one of my spiders found the troll mentioned in the briefing I’d gotten from Emperor Alocia. It was Trolgar. I was too late, he had a brain-dead look about his face which wasn’t really helped by the three nails in his skull and the wrought iron plates bolted into his flesh for armour and the red tinted twin crystals infused in the flesh between his shoulder blades and his spine felt tainted to my senses.

It was a fate worse than death so I resolved to free him of it but I wanted the one who’d done that to him. I wanted to know what the hell had been done and see if I could actually use it more… I couldn’t believe I was thinking it but more humanely than this by applying it to undead instead of the living. I waited for a long while as I formulated ways to assault the town in as unnoticed a manner as I could while the tournament was in full swing.

While everyone was focused on the tournament I’d take the lives of anyone outside the arena before they’d even notice they were screwed. I ended up thinking of using the natural darkness of the cavern the shanty town was in to my advantage.

With how lit up the arena built into the wall the shanty town was built against they wouldn’t notice the darkness encroaching in on the town. One section at a time. I had to trust in my new stalkers to get that job done with the other types of Ushabti acting as back up if needed. I knew I couldn’t trust the mindlessly feral thralls for the job, they’d go nuts as soon as my focused control of them loosened even a little. They were useful as attack dogs but subtlety or stealth was wholly beyond them if not hunting a single thing.

I found that the vampiric conversion skill allowed me to really feel the potential and how those I’d create with it would act. I knew I could create the servants of a noble house with vampiric conversion if I got it to a high enough skill levels and getting it out of the basic proficiency rank.

The thralls would be considered the hunting dogs, then it would be servants which would be about as intelligent as a ten year old before moving onto soldiers as more combat oriented versions of the servants with finally knights that would be lesser vampires fully loyal to me and me alone until I released them from service which might allow them to rise above lesser vampires with time and effort. I suspected I needed a full house as it were to be able to gain the very last levels before ranking up the Vampire baron class. As a noble type class it needed these types of conditions to level up in the last five or ten levels in the class’s progression.

As the only true… ish vampire on the continent of Imerith besides Abhorash all I needed to upgrade this class was meeting the requirements for it as there was no one above me in that series of classes that might prevent me from advancing in the ranks of night aristocracy as it was called.

I just hoped I wasn’t going to be visited by a vampire in the future that was a higher rank than me in the vampire noble classes. That would suck.

Anyway with my ability to create thralls limited to normal vampire thralls and the void touched thralls I decided to go with the slightly more reliable void touched ones. I didn’t want an outbreak of feral zombies running around in the sewers to eventually breach the surface to the streets. I was not in the mood to explain that but keeping a small colony of perhaps hundreds of thralls in hibernation just waiting for my call to arms did tickle that evil overlord vibe at the back of my head.

It was all about contingencies after all.

I watched as the tournament started and waited until at least the first two matches were over before slipping inside the shanty town and allowing my stalkers to go do their assigned job. Vashanesh would use one of the empty storage rings I had given him to collect the bodies for later materials during clean up later.

I walked slowly and carefully making my scales grow out in a sort of mask over my face that allowed me the use of both eyes while still looking like a mask instead of it having grown out of my skin like it did. I made my way to the entrance to the area where I was finally noticed and stopped by a small squad of guards.

They all looked more like bandits and were about as attentive as guards as a sleepy collage student in a boring long winded lecture. They appeared to want to do anything but guard, then again what did they have to fear so far bellow the city and it’s guards?

“Hey you! The elf dressed funny.” He said pointing at me and I stopped and cocked my head towards him. “Yeah I’m talking to you. What’s yer business here?” He asked me trying to look as threatening as possible but almost coming across as those comically exaggerated thugs or delinquents I’d seen in so many anime back on earth.

I held in the chuckle I wanted to let out and stared him directly in the eyes and tried my beguiling gaze. A part of me angry at myself for not trying it out while I was playing around with the kidnapping earlier. “I’m simply out for a pleasant walk.” I answered calmly and I noted the small tint of blue coming into the guards eyes as the skill began to worm its way into his mind.

He stared back almost in a daze. “Well I don’t want to catch you walking around when I’m not even allowed to watch the tournament like the others.” He said gruffly and I decided to size upon an opportunity here.

“Why not? I doubt anyone would notice if you sneak into the crowd right? Not like anything is going to happen out here that’s worth your time right?” I asked with a jovial tone and I saw the idea plant itself in the guards face and he looked a bit puzzled before going on.

“Yeah, yeah your right. Fuck them for putting me on this shift.” He spoke and I noted that the others in his squad agreed. Group mentality or just stupidity… it was hard to tell with these guys. In the end they allowed me to slip into the crowd along with them but I moved through the stands towards the V.I.P box that was simply a fenced off section in the stands with a few more guards in place to keep everyone out.

There I saw the sponsors of the tournament. A trio of black robed people with something that looked like minimalistic carnival masks on with one being red, another blue and the last an orange colour. I was a bit puzzled over their attire then figured it must be some secret society or group that was using this tournament as a shell over a simple field test of their product. I’d kill them nice and slow for using Trolgar for that. The kind troll had deserved better but there wasn’t anything I could do about it now as I’d lost that precious and valuable time to help him just getting here and the trail had almost gone cold before I arrived in Bedelev.

While the fights were going on I slowly mapped out the arena with my mana senses as I just sat there with closed eyes in focus. I paid particular attention to being as subtle as I could when I spread out my awareness so as not to alert anyone. I lightly probed at the trio to see if they had any magical items on their persons and I found out they had a few on them with even their masks being somehow magical in nature.

Thankfully however the analysis skill made their levels out to be between eighty and ninety in magically inclined classes. I’d managed to make O’malley move from just about level one hundred up to almost a hundred and fifty with my new body’s abilities and I couldn’t wait to see how far above those normally at my combined level would compare to myself at this time.

I still didn’t dare grow arrogant and think I could just slaughter the place at my leisure. I spent all the matches up till the semi-final preparing. Carving a small circle into the bottom of my seat which would make it explode with a fire ball once I channelled mana into it while creating three silence spells behind the trio all aimed at them.

Once this all started the pandemonium that the thralls would cause would serve as the distraction for me to take the trio down and then focus on any other threats that might pop up.

I then opened my eyes and fully took in the crowd for the first time. I was surprised to see a few that were dressed as nobles in the crowds and I commanded my spiders to stealthily latch onto those as I’d let them flee. I’d find leverage on them and bring them under my thumb or sell them out to the emperor if I find no use for them.

I found this backstabbing and politicking that humans did distasteful. It was why I hadn’t created more patriarchs or matriarchs of any other bloodline than Abhorash’s Svartridder bloodline. I’d even forbade him from making any vampires for his house. I wanted my vampires to be selective as I was sure that the change would highlight the qualities that went into the ideal for a bloodline.

The Svartridder line had honour, loyalty and martial prowess as their first and foremost ideals. I wanted the romanticised version of what made a good knight that had so pervaded media depicting them. I didn’t want to have to worry about any of these soon to be highly trained and capable mage killers suddenly turning around and stabbing me in the back.

They would be the elite of the elite and I wanted them limited to five full knightly orders worth of members. Though four would be specialized with one as aerially mounted, another mounted on fast mounts, a third heavy mounts and the last with monstrous mounts. All of course would be highly trained in all things.

The fifth on the other hand would be the cream of the crop, made up of the strongest vampires all of which would be sired only by Abhorash himself. While the other four would only be headed by one of those. I had a similar idea for the other bloodlines as well with each focused somewhere. One for magic and necromancy, another for assassination and espionage, my own as leadership and then perhaps another as craftsmen?

I’d have to put more thought into the matter, but I put it on hold now as the final was starting. A Barbarian armed with a large Dane axe against a ranger that relied on a small crossbow strapped to his forearm and twin short swords.

There was a silence now as the two were setting themselves up and the crowd was quiet with anticipation. I clapped slowly and derisively with a similar laugh as I stood up and slowly swaggered down to the edge of the arena. I felt quite a few hateful glares fixated upon me, I simply smirked under the mask.

“Is this really the best this tournament has to offer?” I let out in a loud half drunken tone as I swayed a little to sell the idea of me being drunk. “I’m well bellow both their levels but I could take them both on at the same time without breaking a sweat!” I roared drunkenly before belching loudly.

The derisive yells and laughter of the arena boomed out at me and I could only inwardly laugh at it all. The arena master ended up calling up to me. “Is that a challenge the sir is willing to back up with action?” He asked with the voice amplifying magical tool after sharing a brief conversation with the contenders who had also looked up at me with derision.

“Of course. I wouldn’t have bellowed out here otherwise. It’s boring to see these weak men act like their actually level eighty.” I said half hanging my head in derision towards the fighters before dropping down into the arena.

My sudden outburst of competence as I dropped down and easily walked it off as I half wind milled my arm to limber it up. The two contenders tensed up a bit now at that display. “How about we can go all out?” I asked cockily. “All skills allowed? For you guys anyway.” I added just to tease them a bit more, I needed this for practising my senses and moving with the constrained feeling of my elven form. I now sort of knew why the bad guys sometimes had second forms that were stronger than before, it was most likely that they were sort of fighting while constrained like I was now.

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The two contenders nodded at me. “Your funeral!” They screamed as they bolted towards me, the barbarian rushing at me with axe raised high for a diagonal chop. The ranger on the other hand ran a bit to the side as he aimed his forearm crossbow at my neck and fired then went straight to reloading it. All of this in around two seconds but my heightened senses had somehow increased that to feeling like twelve. I’d already known this phenomenon when I just about hit level two hundred back when I served Aona and it had been more like two seconds felt like twenty then but if I was hitting this now then I could only smile at what it might be in the future.

No wonder the more supernatural enemies I’d faced had all required such damn effort to deal with when they were fast and reacted just as fast. They usually had turned more into mind game types of conflicts were I had to outwit or outmanoeuvred them just to win. That didn’t mean it didn’t matter as I had only been able to win those fights due to the buffs I’d been given to close the cap just enough to allow for victory.

These two however weren’t using skills and their forms were more focused on attacking than anything. They were underestimating me and just focused on ending some drunken fool that had interrupted their fight.

I reached out and grabbed the arrow as I moved to dodge into the strike from the barbarian. Taking most of the momentum and force out of the strike by intercepting it with my shoulder on the handle of the axe. The arrow found its mark in a neck just not mine as I jabbed the arrow in my hand into the barbarians neck.

Taking his axe I turned around and hurled it at the ranger. The throw caught him by surprise and he was soon lying on the arena sand bleeding out.

I burped and stumbled back a little and laughed. “See?! What did I tell ya!” I blustered at the crowd now stunned silent. I laughed as I stumbled a bit then marched up to the announcer who hadn’t gotten the chance to get out of the arena before the two contenders had gone after me. I thrust out my hand at him with my hand and stared him down.

“So what do I win?” I asked arrogantly as I puffed out my chest at the man. “I beat both of them at the same time and I barely qualified for this sham of a tournament. So what do I win?” I asked half yelling at the man just staring at me dumbfounded now.

“You get to face the champion.” The blue masked of the trio announced as a large gate opened and out he walked. Trolgar lumbering forwards and bellowing like a mindless beast, metal plates riveted to his flesh that made him more horrific science experiment worthy of an even more deranged doctor Frankenstein than in the novel.

I was horrified, the rivets embedded in his flesh still let out slight pus ridden blood more akin to a slowly moving pudding or cream than actual blood. This was no way to live or even exist, the frozen look of dumb brute had hints of the look of horrified agony he must have felt before his mind went away. I’d rip that trio apart for this, I swore it to myself.

I’d pick them apart and find what sick mind thought this up and I’d tear his reasoning for this travesty from his very mind before I’d end him permanently. Whatever magic or technological abomination this was wasn’t something to be used on a living thing. It was much to cruel in my opinion.

“What is this?” I asked in horrified shock as I stared at what had become of Trolgar. “What have you done to him?” I felt almost an involuntary sob come up my throat as I felt what his soul emanated. My rebirth into a demigod so tied to both the void and death left me a sense for the fluctuations and emotions that a soul emanated naturally but I required time to do so. It had been the main reason I’d stayed so long trying to reassert my elven form with Saleh. I’d needed that time to get a read on what his soul emanated to better my bargaining position against him.

I didn’t need to with Trolgar’s soul though, it radiated pain, anguish and suffering on a level I could feel with visceral intensity. Even if he’d become mindless he was still suffering from what had been done to him.

“I see you are in awe of our prototype.” The red masked of the trio said as he stood up while the blue masked one sat down again. “We will test more after this field test and then we will put these on the market. Unstoppable juggernauts for any with the coin to buy one.” He said and I realised his spiel wasn’t for me, no I was supposed to die here as an advertisement for their business.

I grit my teeth as I turned my head to look at the announcer who was trying to slip away. “You!” I growled and he froze while the crowd in the stands had murmurs of conversations ripple through them. I was glad for it as it would mask the conversation I was about to have with the small man. “Is this tournament a sham?” I asked low but with enough of a growl that he’d realize his life was on the line for his answer.

He shook his head vehemently. “No-no! If you manage to beat that thing...” He trailed off and looked at Trolgar before swallowing and looking back at me. “You’ll get twice the prize money but...” He then trailed off as his eyes met mine.

“That's if I survive and I don’t get a choice in fighting that thing right?” I harshly asked him and he winched a little before nodding at me. I leaned in and said so low I was sure he’d have a slight problem hearing me over the rising volume of the crowds conversations. “I better see you in front of the treasury in this arena in five minutes or I’ll flay you alive.” I growled and his skin turned a funny shade of grey as he nodded emphatically and then rushed off.

I cracked my neck and reached out to the two dead men but then thought better of it and instead tethered mana into the Dane axe I’d thrown. It took a bit of concentration and the imagined overlay of a chain connecting my hand to the axe before I pulled on it and the axe came loose. It flew across the arena and landed in my hand. Before I could turn and face Trolgar a heavy fist landed in my side and sent me flying into the wall opposite the blow.

I cursed myself for a naive idiot once more to expect that trio to show any sportsmanship or honour and stood up. Feeling a bruise on my left side where the blow had landed that caused me to wince slightly when I moved. Trolgar roared and came charging at me with both fists raised high and I suddenly understood the reason trolls were popular battering rams for those armies or bandits that could field them.

A quick wraith step had me back at the middle of the arena and I took a ready stance. “Hey you aren’t allowed to use skills in the tournament!” The orange one shouted and I got a sense of their ages, Blue was a woman at maybe thirty, red was an old man and this orange one was a young one late twenties I suspected from his tone.

“You lost any say in this when you commanded that troll to attack without any warning you dishonourable prick.” I shouted back while keeping my eyes on Trolgar. I focused and activated my ethereal armour which I could now make appear nearly invisible after my training with mana as this skill had a similar mental function that Sutekh had taught me about.

I waited until Trolgar was almost upon me and was raising his fist to attack when I struck out with death’s tug on his fist. The skill worked in a manner that I could pull opponents towards me if they were a similar size and I could lift them even if just for a second on larger opponents like Trolgar it had the opposite effect and instead pulled me towards them. As a Death knight himself Sutekh had told me that the skill gains quite a bit of nuance once it’s in the proficient ranking.

I was launched forwards and pulled along faster with Trolgar's fist raised up in preparation to strike only to bellow out as I landed on his chest with the axe leading the way and cutting in deep into his flesh.

I managed two good hacks at Trolgar's shoulder before I had to jump away from his grasping hand. Looking for a distraction I used Death’s tug on the body of the barbarian and it came hurtling into the small of Trolgar’s back as I had been able to see it through the opening between the troll's legs on the ground. As Trolgar looked behind him to see what had struck him I came at him again and hacked at his throat so hard the handle of the axe broke.

I watched the poor quality wood splintered right in the middle between the axe head and my upper most hand on the two handed weapon. I was immediately punished for it by a strong backhand that sent me skipping a little along the sand and end up rolling into a heap.

I slowly got up and watched as Trolgar lumbered slowly and drunkenly towards me, the wound in his neck bleeding too much to be anything but fatal. He ended up staggering and then falling down onto the ground just a few steps in front of me. I watched through one of the vision changes I could have now that allowed me to see the souls outside of bodies and the emendations of souls inside the living. I watched as the agonized face of Trolgar rose from his corpse and then slacken in relief before noticing me looking at him and smiling at me.

I felt nothing but thankful acceptance from him as his soul drifted upwards to then move on to whatever river of souls he was destined for. It was the second soul to do so and this one left just as bad an aftertaste in my mouth as Nyrunths had. How fucked had this world become that those considered monsters felt relief once released from their mortal coil?

I shook my darkening thoughts away and focused my gaze at the trio who were slowly trying to get away. Most likely because they didn’t want to deal with the problem of rewarding the winner or explaining anything to the perspective buyers they’d hoped to entice with this stunt. “Where do you think you are going?” I roared out which shut the entire arena up as the crowd had been going wild over the turn around to their expectations.

I ran towards the arena walls and wraith stepped up the walls to end up in the V.I.P section and staring the trio down. “What did you do to him?” I asked with venom on my lips and teeth bared under my mask. I wanted to tear into these unethical monsters in front of me but I had to reign in my fury and what my instincts were screaming at me to do. “Answer me and maybe I’ll let you three live.” I then growled low enough that only the three could hear me.

“Who do you think you are?” The Orange one started blustering like those over privileged nobles I had expected most of the nobility of Veta to be. His head was quickly slammed into the stand bellow him as I lashed out and held his face firmly down against the broken wooden bench I’d tried to slam it through.

“I won’t ask again.” I growled low and looked up from the orange one and at blue and red who looked a bit stunned at the violence. Like they didn’t think it was justified to have it turned on them or that they deserved so much worse.

“We simply performed the juggernaut experiment upon the troll.” Red said like he was speaking to an angry dog and raised his hands placatingly like he could just push the anger I felt away by pushing at the air.

Blue began to chant a spell under her breath and I simply looked at her and activated the silencing spell I had already constructed before I even jumped into the arena and she stiffened when it hit her. “I am not someone you can deny.” I said speaking as calmly as I could while I straightened up and left the orange one unconscious or dead behind, I didn’t care at the moment.

“You will answer me, show me your lab and I might let you live. There are no other choices available to you right now.” I said and I noted the first of the thralls clambering up the outer lip of the arena’s outer walls. “You have two choices, me or them.” I then said and pointed at the thrall.

Pandemonium broke out as the two exits were guarded by the Ushabti working as a team with one type of each at each exit. The thralls came up the walls and threw themselves at the feast before their eyes and began to tear the people into shreds that they came upon trying to bite them but only headbutting them instead.

The guards had a hard time mobilizing as they had been making their way towards my section and were now isolated in a sea of panicked people which made them easy prey for the thralls. The guards that had been around the section however had been closing in but now closed ranks and managed to put up a good defence but Vashanesh took care of it with a few well placed fire bolts that distracted them enough to allow the thralls the opening they needed.

“Spare a few of them.” I sent to Vashanesh. “I’ll need more thralls to make up those I’ve lost now and to just keep up their numbers.” He nodded into the air and I turned to look back at Red and Blue only to see Blue disappear in a flash of blue light and Red cursing her.

“You bitch Vitani!” He roared at the spot she’d been before he looked over at me as I crushed Orange’s head with my foot. “I’ll cooperate! Spare me I’ll tell you everything!” He begged as he went to his knees. I smiled under the mask and let a bit of an oily smoke cover me for a moment as I made my scales grow out to make me into the most combat oriented version of my elven form. Appearing like a the mostly elven version of my Elder form.

“Yes, you will.” I said as I stepped out of the shadow and stared down at him. He just stared up in amazed horror and I was wondering what he was thinking when I noticed the puddled beginning to grow under him.

I shook my head and then knocked him out with a swift spell. I turned to look at how many of the nobles had escaped and it turned out quite a few must’ve had similar devices to Blue’s, or Vitani’s as she was apparently named, to escape. I closed my eyes and reached out through my strings connecting me to my minions and found all the spiders had managed their tasks brilliantly and were now making their way to a safer location within the manors and hideouts of the nobles they’d hitched a ride with. I was glad that at least that one was a success as I looked over to the small crowd of twenty or so people that now were corralled in the centre of the arena.

I’d lost most of my thralls but the Ushabti had equated themselves fantastically as even now they surrounded the last survivors of the shanty town. Those thralls I hadn’t lost were busy trying to feed through the small opening on their facial masks to care for the captives. I turned to see Vashanesh come up to me and bow in respect before taking up the task of guarding Red’s unconscious body while I walked up to the edge of the arena.

The arena was the only source of light in the underground cavern now and I looked over at the few guards unlucky enough to have met the stalkers before the main assault hit the arena.

“We’ll be appropriating this cavern Vashanesh.” I said as I came back and sat down on one of the stands to look at the fearful people corralled now like sheep before slaughter. “We’ll need to close of all exits from this cavern and make a single entrance leading to the manor.” I continued while I took out a soul stone and began to pull in any soul still remaining in this cavern. I ended up having to make the stone bigger with soul energy much like I could do with a mana stone. Turning a stone fitting into my palm to a large stone I had to hold with my entire hand just to fit everything inside it.

I looked at it and realized I was quite the hypocrite and bit of a liar now. I’d told the emperor that I only collected the refuse of a soul that would already be left behind but here I had taken it all. Well I didn’t care any more, dead was dead and the dead were materials for me to use as I saw fit, especially if they died from my hand, directly or otherwise.

“I will begin collecting the bodies at once.” Vashanesh bowed. “Will you turn the captives now?”

“Yes, I’ll have to.” I sighed before looking down at the corralled people. I decided to switch between the vision modes I was capable of now. The world lost it’s light and I saw as a normal human would but sharper as I let go of the ability to see clearly in the dark. Then I let go of the ability to see souls and switched over to see mana, finding that the cavern had slightly less ambient mana than the surface. I’d have to find a way to funnel more mana down into this cavern if the magically inclined of my minions were to work here.

I snapped mana sight off and the world went black and white. I looked down at the people and saw the blood vessels in their bodies glowing a pale red within their silhouettes. I felt hunger rise in me once more, I’d drained three men and that had just kept the thirst at bay, I was rather certain I needed to sate my thirst fully for it to go away since it had taken quite a bit of energy to change me in the first place. Since I wasn’t a full vampire up to this point I had been able to settle the thirst with normal food but I suspected due the dramatic change my latest rebirth had done to me I needed to feed the vampiric side of me.

I looked over the people and then I noticed one more. The announcer had just taken a peek from two man sized doors of the arena, Trolgar having entered through the only other much larger door leading onto the sand. I smiled, while the people corralled in the centre of the arena now had been pushed into the arena pit this one had shown a bit of intelligence in staying hidden.

I decided to spend one skill point to bring vampiric conversion up from basic to advanced. I smiled as I could now create servant type thralls that would be more intelligent than the thralls I could make now. I grinned at a thought that came to me, my own little Igors.

I stood and went to go to find the announcer but stopped and looked over at Vashanesh. “See if you can keep the sewers intact while still closing off this cavern from any would be intruders. I noted that part of the sewers at least uses the far end of this cavern as a run-off point. I’d rather secure this place without making a problem that we’d have to deal with at a later date.” At his nod I continued on and made my way to get the announcer who noticed me walking towards him and closed the door to hide again.

I smiled widely, I didn’t know if I enjoyed a hunt or not. Guess it was time to find out.