I... am truly an idiot, when I opened up my eyes in the morning I was greeted by Bob's seriously diced up corpse and Mary was no where in sight. No matter how tired I was I should have realized that even if she cannot hurt me or kill herself she can still hurt those around me and run away. Now I was back at square one, no information, no protection and there is someone out there who seriously wants me dead... wait that's less than square one.
Thought you were dead for a while there since you never woke up to all the commotion.
"Eh, did you see something Karen? Wait what can you see anyway?" Taking a further look around it almost looked like a tornado went by. There were claws marks digging trenches in the ground, trees were in pieces and beside him was a tree branch; suspiciously close to his head.
I can see anything around you and you in 360 degrees. As for what happened last night, after you fell asleep the Bloodsucker went on a rampage, also tried to kill you directly and indirectly multiple times. She left about an hour ago. Oh by the way you slept for exactly 8 hours.
"Do you not sleep? Wait that means when I go do my private business you can see?!!?!?"
I am a soul, I have no need for any nourishment or sleep, of course that includes waste disposal. As for your other question, don't worry I would not want to look unless I was ordered to be the Lord and Lady themselves.
Also there were some skills you unlocked while you were walking yesterday...
*Ding
Stalker's Eye (Active) - Reduces your vision to only one target allowing you to track it's movements down to the most minuscule details resulting in higher reaction to actions taken by target, higher levels of the skill reduce Mana costs, reaction speed bonus, and increases environmental awareness.
Novice 2 - 29%, Costs 10 Mana per second to focus in on one target, increases reaction speed by 1 to actions done by target. In addition you are able to see 0.5m area around the target.
Walking Dead (Passive) - Reduces the stamina costs for walking, higher levels of the skill further reduces stamina costs.
Novice 3 - 11%, Reduces stamina costs for walking by 15%.
Discerning Gaze (Passive) - Allows you to see the status of a target after you stare at it for a while, higher levels of the skill further reduce the amount of time required to activate.
Novice 2 - 76%, Allows you to see the status of a target after 55 mins of staring.
... It's great to get new skills but they are kinda...
"You are definitely the one giving me skills aren't you? Also why is it only shown now if I unlocked them yesterday?"
Negative, my superior is the one who makes the skills, as for why you are only getting them now... I do not know, my memories from yesterday after we met the vampire are... kinda hazy.
There seems to be some jumps between Karen's behaviour, does she have something against vampires? I recalled the message from last night and shivered, Karen seemed like she was enjoying Mary's suffering. Well for now there's nothing I can do about it, not need food was nice and all but there was an urging to get rid of all the water I drank yesterday. Pulling the sword which was still stuck in a chunk of Bob out I walked towards the trees.
"Umm Karen if there's some kind of off feature could you use it now?"
No such option exists, I'll just stare at the bush to your right for the duration of the deed.
Now that I finished relieving myself what do I do now. I feel that Mary hasn't gone far but if I go after her she might run away when I get near, I also don't want to use more commands than necessary.
"Well, nothing I can do about it, she's my only lead anywhere and I desperately need information." Holding the surprisingly heavy sword I walked in the general direction that my bond was telling me Mary was in.
It only took a walk of 5 minutes and 37 seconds according to Karen to get to the road, where I found Mary sitting on a fallen log brooding. Her simple clothes were cut up and dirty, my eyes drawn to the pale skin that was visible between the gaps in the cloth.
"What do you want from me?" She asked in a quiet resigned voice as I got near.
"I'm surprised you weren't farther away." With her speed she could have been kms away by now.
She laughed a bitter laugh, "is that supposed to be a joke?" she looked at me, her eyes stained with dried tears, "whenever I tried to get away from you the chains pulled tighter and scorched me." Looking closely I saw some barely visible markings of chains criss crossing her skin that even as I watched was fading away.
"I'm sorry, I did not mean for this to happen, it was the only thing I could do to stop you." Once again reminded that I need some combat skills.
"Then undo it, set me free from this curse." I said nothing, if I set her free I would be compromising my own safety. "See you won't, just as a slave trader would be with a slave or a murderer with his victim." She stood up and started undressing.
"Eh! wha- what are you doing?"
She looked at me eyes serious, "Do what you will with me then end my life, grant me at least that much mercy." She wasn't even trying to resist any more, after struggling throughout the night to no avail she had given up on any prospects of freedom. The most she could hope for now was a quick and merciful death instead of a life of servitude.
"I just want information and a guard, although I was truly only thinking of a way to not die to you when I cast that spell."
"There is no need to try and fool me, I have already given up; how much more do you want to trample on my pride. I'm not naive enough to believe you only to have you destroy what hopes I would have gathered in that time." It was clear that she did not trust me one bit and there was nothing I could do right now that would convince her otherwise.
"Look for now just put your clothes back on, it would be rather bad if we got misunderstood by some travellers."
"Is that an order?"
"I... no-" sigh... "Yes, yes it is so can you put your clothes back on?" Aside from not knowing where to look there also seemed to be some strange pressure in the air that was giving me goosebumps.
After she finished dressing she looked at me, seemingly waiting for me to say or do something.
"Well then... umm which way to the nearest city?"
"So you can show or sell me off?"
"Just what do you see me as?"
Some monster that won't die and wields unknown magic. Also the one who enslaved her body and soul.
"Karen I was not asking you!"
Mary looked around then at me, "Who's Karen?"
"She is... a soul I guess, now could just get back on topic? I truly do not mean you ill. Really."
"I will not fall for your lies. If we continue walking down this road we will reach Kane the city of gold in two days."
"Well, let's head there for now. I would like to ask some more questions if you don't mind and also why the city of gold?"
"I do not have a choice either way."
Despite my efforts throughout the day Mary remained as hostile as ever and even though we passed some travellers nothing much happened aside from some greetings. But I did get a lot of information: The world we are in is called Mael, there is 5 known continents.
To the north is the Continent of Fire where no one has successfully done a return trip to date, it's a land surrounded by a sea of magma creating an unstable constantly shifting ring of flaming earth where it touched the oceans.
To the west is the Continent Beasts, it is populated primarily by tribes of beast men and dragons along with a multitude of high level monsters.
To the south is the Continent of Ice, it is a frozen land where like the northern continent much is unknown as none have returned.
To the east is the Continent of Magic, it is a fertile land populated by spirits and other magical beings. While communication is limited there has been a recent increase in friendly relations over the past year as some really strong adventurers went out and started helping out the spirits.
We are currently in the central Continent of Earth where most of the standard fantasy races are: humans, elves, orcs, goblins, dwarves, and gnomes as well as a bunch of monsters. Kane is located in the southern part of the human empire and called the city of gold because it is a central hub for trade and commerce so coins flow in and out constantly. As for what Mary meant earlier, a vampire slave is exceedingly rare and is priced high on the market. Vampires who are made slaves are completely shunned by their fellows so there is zero chances of a rescue from them so the only worry would be the slave him/herself.
Unlike our stories the vampires here aren't vulnerable to the sun or garlic but do require blood for nourishment and are weak to silver. About 30 years ago the empire held a huge vampire hunt and thus now days the few vampires left are living in hiding. Pure blood vampires were even more of a rarity being in the forefront of the battles between humans and vampires they are considered by most to be extinct except for a few relics. Mary was a pure blood vampire of 26 years of age, nothing more than a fledgling. Her parents gave birth to her during the war but died soon after, so she was taken in by a friend of theirs before she ran away from home to go on an adventure 3 months prior to our meeting. Both because of her age and heritage if I did sell her I would have more than enough wealth to live in luxury for ten lifetimes. That is quite a large sum that few in the empire could afford, but since I had no intention of selling her off to be a slave there is no problem with that.
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We had made good progress due to both us having unnatural stamina so when the sun went down we made camp in a clearing a little ways off from the road. Water it turns out was not that much of a problem as Mary had a little bit of water magic, enough to be able to conjure up some clean water whenever we needed it.
For the first time since I first met Karen I decided to check my status.
Status WIndowNameShinKageLevel3ClassNoneEXP500/600Sub-ClassNoneRaceHumanTitleHardcore GamerHP220/220MP250/250Stamina210/210Alignment- 50 : NeutralStrength11Vitality10Endurance9Agility14Dexterity10Luck10Intelligence13Wisdom10
You have 10 Stat points to use.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
For now I guess I'll put all 10 Stat points into Intelligence considering my skill sets, health would be nice but since my skills run off of percentage and I can't regenerate health there's no real point. I bring up my regen stats.
Health Regen Per Minute: 10
Mana Regen Per Minute: 23
Stamina Regen Per Minute: 9
Stamina Regen is a bit low but since I have skills that reduce the costs it should be fine, 11 minutes to fully my current mana pool is quite decent. Skills.
Sense Magic (Passive): Novice 3 - 10%, 10m radius.
Spectre Vision (Passive): Novice 4 - 2%, 7.5m radius.
Language of the Dead (Active): Mastered.
Aura of Death (Passive): Novice 1 - 0%, 5m radius costs 5 mana per second.
Chosen of the Reaper (Passive): Mastered.
Undead Endurance (Passive): Novice 5 - 32%, stamina costs reduced by 30%.
Walking Dead (Passive): Novice 5 - 59%, stamina costs for walking reduced by 25%
Dreamless (Passive): Novice 2 - 0%, Reduces amount of sleep required to 7 hours and 50 minutes.
Ashen Taste (Divine Passive Curse): Mastered.
Death Defiant (Passive): Mastered.
Rejected by Life (Divine Passive Curse): Mastered.
Soul Reaper (Passive): Novice 6 - 29%, 16m radius for 16 mins.
Create Soul Stone (Active): Novice 1 - 25%, x mana to store 1 soul.
Consume Soul (Active): Novice 2 - 10%, 110 Health, 110 Mana, 110 Stamina, 105 Exp.
Create Soul Contract (Active): Novice 1 - 0%, costs 100% Mana, 100% Stamina, 10 souls.
Enslave Soul (Active): Novice 2 - 0%, 98% Health, 99% Mana, 99% Stamina, 10 souls.
Lesser Dark Arts Mastery (Passive): Novice 1 - 9%, costs reduced by 5% and power increased by 10%.
Soul Summon (Active): Novice 1 - 0%, costs 500 mana to summon at 50% power. Costs 20 mana per second.
Summon Lesser Undead (Passive): Novice 1 - 50%.
Summon Shambler (Active): Novice 2 - 0%, costs 95 mana.
Lesser Summoning Mastery (Passive): Novice 1 - 20%, costs reduced by 5%.
Gamer's Will (Passive): Novice 2 - 54%, 1.5 reaction speed, 2% exp, per 10% missing stamina.
Questioning (Passive): Novice 4 - 32%, 20% more chance of answers.
Insulting (Passive): Novice 1 - 5%, 5% effectiveness and 10% intensity.
Strong Lungs (Passive): Novice 3 - 6%, you can hold your breath for 2 mins and lungs are 25% more effective at taking in oxygen.
Stalker's Eye (Active): Novice 2 - 29%, 10 mana per second, +1 reaction speed, 0.5m area.
Discerning Gaze (Passive): Novice 3 - 22%, 50 mins.
Yeah my stamina cost reduction skills are coming along just fine, I should probably be making some soul stones and training my other abilities too. Using the supplies we got from the merchants wagon we managed to make a small fire and set up some blankets to sleep on.
"Do you not need food?" Mary was looking at me curiously, her brown eyes a fiery orange from the flames.
"No, I consume souls as a source of... life force I guess you could say. How about you?"
"Truly a monster, or are you a demon?" after a pause, "I'm a vampire we have no need for food."
Funds wise I realized, our current party of two really isn't all that expensive because neither of us needed food and Mary can provide the water. I had checked my inventory during the day and along with a ring with a skull on it - which I assume is the symbol that represents my patron - was April's watering can and 10 gold. From what Mary told me the currency is the same between most races, going from copper, silver, gold, platinum, mithril, to finally gemmed coins. 100 of the previous coin is required to go up to the next coin, it is an inconvenience to carry so much coin around so there are banks situated in cities and some towns where you can exchange a slip written from a bank for your money. I had asked if there were fakes but Mary simply said that the notes were enchanted with magic, and while you can copy the magic you cannot copy another person's magical mark, DNA so to speak. In rural areas and with come of the other races material goods were often exchanged as payment instead of coin, that of course in the exchange of slaves. As option I had to get 10 gold would start me off really well, but then I guess I wouldn't have survived without that trash item. It was strange that Karen was quiet throughout the entire day since we set off, well it's not like she has to converse with me. My last thought as I fell asleep was of Yuki, how as she doing?
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Morning was quite uneventful, we packed up as soon as we took care of basic needs and went on our way. During the entirety of the time I spent making Soul Stones using various amounts of mana. Through trial and error I discovered that 100 mana and less created small cloudy soul stones that could store weak souls. Between 100 and 200 gives a small soul stone that can store normal souls. At around 3pm I had made 30 small cloudy soulstones and 6 small soulstones and while I was preparing to make another one we met up with a small travelling family of three. It seemed that family were merchants that was traveling from a small farming village called Vesthal after finishing their business there. They mainly dealt with foods and some raw materials and were delighted at having company for the road. Most of the time was spent with asking questions about the market and being asked questions about ourselves, we answered as vaguely as we could. The couple respected our privacy and didn't pry but their daughter kept pestering us for answers.
There were a lot of questions about my clothes (partially because there was a giant patched hole in my shirt, I know general life skills whether I use them is another matter) which were made from a strange material. Realizing that I was standing out a lot in the clothes I am currently wearing I asked if they had any clothes that we could buy, also because the wife kept glaring at me due to Mary's clothes being patchy; especially since her husband kept stealing glances. As we stopped by the road and they dug up some clothes from their small wagon Mary suddenly tensed. Sensing that I turned to ask her what was wrong before seeing a group of six armed men. They were wearing hoods and carried an assortment of weapons, definitely bandits. Seeing them approach the father ushered his wife and daughter inside the wagon and tried to do the same for Mary but she refused to budge.
"It's her choice" I told him as he looked to me for help. Shrugging he went a bit ahead to greet the approaching bandits hands spread out to show he held no weapons.
"Good sirs it's a fine evening is it not?" He reached into the purse at his side and brought out six silver coins "We are just a small merchant family would you not let us by peacefully?"
The bandit at the head of the pack looked back to his gang and snorted, "Merchant eh? Then you should have a lot more than this. If your family and your life is so important you got to have more right?"
The merchant bowed his head, "this is all we can afford, if we give any more we would not be able to pay for our basic needs within the city."
"Oh is that so? Then I guess we'll just take everything from you, right boys?" at that the bandits drew their weapons and circled the wagon. Well this was bound to happen, I handed the sword to Mary "Please dispatch them, but try not to be too unnatural."
"Is that an order?" This again?
"No, but it is a request from me." She looked me in the eyes, and then apparently finding whatever she was looking for she started walking towards the men.
"Hey boys, looks like there's a girl here coming out to play with us." He laughed and started advancing towards Mary left arm stretched out to grab her. Just before he reached her, Mary ducked down and darted under his arm sword facing forwards with an almost inhuman speed. Suddenly with their leader on the ground the bandits stared at Mary and the body of their leader in a daze. Even the merchant seemed not to know what to make of it.
"You bitch, I'll make you suffer for that!" And the bandit who screamed that went down while swinging an axe at Mary who was just calmly standing there with a disgusted look on her face. The remaining bandits having figured out that the rest of us weren't a threat surrounded Mary in a 4v1 situation. Mary was strong and fast but I'm not sure if she could take four opponents on at once unscathed so reaching into my mana pool I resurrected the two recently killed bodies. The rest went by really fast, the two bandits that saw my shamblers rising stared in fear frozen in place. Taking advantage of that Mary quickly cut off the head of the bandit to her right before swinging the sword diagonally to deal a devastating cut to the other bandit's chest. By then the bandits that were behind her were already being eaten by their former friends.
The merchant beside me was staring at us in shock, "What are you two."
As I turned to answer Mary cried out in pain, a silver bolt was sticking out of her back as she fell forward towards the ground. Two more bolts of silver put a quick demise to my shamblers, as a figure clothed in white appeared from behind the trees. "One is a vampire, not sure about the other but seems like a necromancer." A man with a hand crossbow, cruel eyes and a sadistic grin said while slowly walking towards us.
Stunned I stood there watching as Mary who was getting up from the ground reaching for her sword got her hand shot and pinned her to the ground. Through our link I felt a huge amount of pain and anger. From my knowledge of games I could tell that the person standing in front of us was a vampire hunter, and an asshole at that. That knowledge was also telling me that I couldn't win and I had to retreat, but Mary was still there and I sure as hell aren't leaving her to die. So I summoned 4 more shamblers as I consumed the souls of their previous owners intending to at least distract him so Mary could escape.
Laughing maniacally the hunter simply just drew a silver longsword and swung, being shamblers they were not particularly smart so they got cut all at once. And then a bolt went into my chest. "Don't die yet, I intend to have my fun with you." He is absolutely crazy.
"Wa-Wait, these people saved us and there shouldn't be any hunts against vampires any lo-" The merchant never finished his sentence as a bolt went through his head. Screams pierced the air as his wife and daughter ran to his dead body crying.
"So annoying, would you shut up already?" Another bolt left his hand crossbow and a voice was silenced forever. The girl stared in shock at her mother who just followed her husband to the land of the dead, well to be accurate to be chained next to her body by my ability. "I have no interest in you so die." As his finger squeezed down on the trigger a dark furious anger flowed through and a scene years ago entered my mind.
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Mary was in pain, a lot of it. Silver weapons hurt a lot for vampires and to add to that when Shin got hit by a silver bolt the chains burned into her body responded. Vampire hunters indiscriminately hunted vampire, even now long after the war they went around killing people, regardless of if they were actually vampires. Mary could care less about the humans but vampire hunters specifically were the ones who killed her parents and she fully intended to kill every last one of them. But here she was helpless against just one of her mortal enemy and even though she should be happy her slaver was about to die she had a feeling that the burning sensation inside her would consume her if he did.
Gritting her teeth and grunting from the pain she pulled her hand through the bolt taking with it a chunk of her hand. Painfully picking up the sword she staggered towards them when a hand punched through the vampire hunter's chest, held within the fist was a still beating heart shedding blood on the ground below it. When the hand retracted the owner's body fell backward revealing the assailant. He was not a fighter, Mary had ascertained that during the two days they spent together but the one currently eating the bloody heart was no other than the one who enslaved her. A savage smile was on his face as he devoured his delicacy and his eyes shown with a murderous glint, finished with his meal he took a step towards her and she almost fainted from the amount of killing intent he was giving off. Every step he took the pressure intensified and as she blacked out looking up at the monstrous face she wondered, who was he truly.
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*Note: Im going to be abusing the hell out of these lines from now on, theyll either represent a switch in perspective or a skip in time.