Vlad left the ER and immediately strolled to the main building, hoping to find anything useful. He thought about going to the gift shop, but the ones in hospitals didn’t have that many items that he could make use of. They mostly had gift cards, balloons, flowers, and whatnot. Not that could be deemed “useful in an apocalypse”.

All he was after were first aid supplies and whatnot, in case he got injured. That and some medicine that he could use for bargaining. Since this was the apocalypse, having the upper hand in supplies would benefit him greatly. So, he checked out the supply rooms and patient rooms that were on this floor.

He roamed down a hall before coming across a room that looked like a supply room. Finding the place faster than he thought, he reached for the handle to open the door. Just then, he heard a distant clang from further down the hall, causing him to stop in place. After hearing it, he sharpened his senses and focused on what was down the corridor. As soon as he did, he got the faint sound of heavy breathing. What caught Vlad’s attention was that the heavy breathing sounded…human.

Could there be other people aside from Vlad in this building…?

That meant...Social Activity!

Immediately invested, Vlad moved away from the door and changed course, marching directly down the hall to investigate the noise. If it really was a human, then this was good news. He could obtain information regarding the past two days that he had been gone. However, he wondered if the human was either a monster in disguise or a criminal that could attack him. Realizing how serious and possible this outcome could be, Vlad readied his spear while marching over to the cause of the sound.

As he walked down the corridor, he quickly activated [Blood Sense] to see where the stranger was. He then noticed a red human-like silhouette, crouched down on the floor and shaking. From where Vlad was standing, it looked like this person was in another room, possibly in there to hide from monsters. Maybe after making that clang sound from before.

Vlad got a little closer before stumbling across another door with the person inside. Thanks to his enhanced hearing, the vampire could hear the panic breathing coming from the other side of the door along with the trembling whimpers. It didn’t sound like a child, and from what he could make out when he used [Blood Sense], the person in question seemed to be either a teenager or a young adult, like in their early twenties.

Vlad pondered over how he should handle this situation. He thought about opening the door, but that could cause the person to scream, most likely alerting monsters of their location. Then there was knocking on the door like a gentleman, telling the person that he wasn’t a monster and was human. Vlad didn’t see this scenario working out either since there were likely monsters that could mimic human voices to lure people to their demise. Unfortunately, he had no other options except the first two.

So, he decided to take a risk and gently knocked on the door.

“Yo, is anyone there?” Vlad called out to the person. “I’m not a monster.”

He grimaced at his own words. Yeah, that’ll convince him real good…

While face-palming himself, his mind raced to come up with another idea on how to get the person to listen to him. However, before he could, he heard a sound on the other side.

“I…I don’t believe you!”

Vlad paused, slowly shifting his head back to the door with a dumbstruck expression. Did…did he really reply to that? Was this guy an idiot or something? The vampire continued to dumbfoundedly stare at the door, unable to respond since this felt a bit unprecedented for him. However, after shaking his head and collecting his thoughts, he took a deep breath before responding.

“You know, if I were a monster, you would certainly be dead. In situations like this, you’re supposed to stay quiet and pray that the supposed “monster” doesn’t know you’re behind the door.”

Vlad had seen enough horror movies to know that in this type of scenario, you couldn’t just reply to the monster as if you were playing hide and seek. That would easily result in your demise, and it would entirely be your fault as well. Still, it was thanks to this guy’s stupidity that he managed to strike up a conversation with him.

“Listen, man, I’m not a monster. So, just come out of there already before I break the damn door down myself.” Vlad rubbed the back of his head as he was slowly losing his patience.

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In hindsight, Vlad was technically lying to the person. It was true that he wasn’t exactly “a monster” that was out to kill him, but he definitely wasn’t human. Then again, such a technicality wasn’t his concern. He had better things he should be doing right now than whatever this was.

Vlad waited a couple of seconds for the person behind the door to reveal himself. Just when he felt the urge to kick it down out of annoyance, the door slowly opened up, revealing the human he was just speaking to.

He looked rather young, maybe only a year or two younger than Vlad. His skin was slightly tanned and he was covered in dirt and blood. His hair was brown and curly, and the clothes he was wearing looked like a magician's robe. Which meant that this person was a magic-type player. Underneath the hood over his head, he wore glasses while his cheek was spotted with freckles.

The young man adjusted his round glasses while directing his attention toward Vlad. The moment their eyes met one another, the person sighed deeply before fully opening the door to reveal himself.

“S-so you really are human…” He stuttered, looking anxious as he looked back and forth in the hall.

Vlad took a moment to collect his thoughts, still a bit surprised by the kid’s outfit. This was the first time he saw someone else, wearing class-related attire other than himself.

“Yeah,” He uttered, before getting back on task. “So, what exactly are you doing here, man?”

Since this kid was obviously also human. It was time for Vlad to question him and get some answers. What happened during the two days he was gone and if he knew anything about players like his friends? The latter was unlikely, but this guy had to at least know something about what had been going on for over forty-eight hours.

“O-oh, I’m here looking for supplies. M-my name is F-Flint, by the way. Flint Pierce.”

Flint then brought his hand up, likely hoping to shake Vlad’s. The vampire looked at his hand for a moment before returning the gesture.

“I’m Vlad. Nice to meet you, Flint.”

As the pair shook hands, Flint moved his hand away first before rambling again.

“E-ever since the apocalypse started, I-I’ve been moving from place to place for the past two days. I had to sleep in a grocery store bathroom last night and a closet the night before. I-it’s been rough.”

“I see…” Vlad muttered. “Have you encountered anyone else? You know, other players?”

He doubted that Flint hadn’t come across a single human for the past two days. So either he had and avoided them out of fear or…

“I-I have seen a few players,” Flint confessed, sparking Vlad’s interest. “In fact, I saw a group of them yesterday, but…”

Flint hesitated, unsure of what to say about these players he encountered. Vlad quickly put two to two together and realized what was wrong in an instant.

“I’m assuming they weren’t good people?” He questioned.

Flint shook his head. “N-no, they weren’t. T-they were just a b-bunch of thugs. T-they were running around like delinquents, raiding shops and taking what they wanted. I-if I had revealed myself to them…”

“They likely would’ve robbed you for fun…”

Flint said nothing and lowered his head. Meanwhile, Vlad scoffed at the situation. Since this was the apocalypse, it was obvious from the start that there would be people who would take advantage of it. With the end of the world, there were no rules to follow, and it was basically survival of the fittest. Only the strong could stay alive in this chaotic environment. And the strong would do anything to live.

If Flint had taken the risk and tried to interact with those thugs, he would’ve either died or become their slave to do their bidding. Basically, he made the right choice to not approach them. It was also thanks to this that he and Flint could finally meet.

“By the way,” Vlad spoke up. “What’s your class? You look like a mage, but what kind?”

“A-ah, my class is a mage. That was the class I chose.”

“A mage…?” Vlad mused over this information.

So, just a regular mage, huh? That must be a default class like Warrior or Archer. Which meant that you had to wait before evolving your class to a more specific and powerful one. Vlad’s Legacy class was likely the same. Then again, unlike a regular mage class, Vlad was given the option of the Blood Mage Class. Though, his classes were more Unique than the average player. Plus, he went through hell to actually obtain the classes to begin with.

Anyway, a mage was a pretty good class for Vlad to come across. With Flint assisting him, he’ll be able to find his friends faster since the monsters will be quickly taken care of. And yet, why did that suddenly bother him? Even though he was able to get help…a part of him felt that it was unnecessary. Burdensome, even. But why?

“Hey, Flint…huh?!” Before Vlad could ask Flint to join him, the pair heard a loud thud from the far end of the hall.

They both looked in that direction, only to bear witness to a group of monsters approaching them. They were tall, had scales all over their body while wearing tribal clothing, and had a reptilian appearance. The obvious characteristics of the Lizardmen.

One of the lizardmen hissed at the pair, flicking its tongue in their direction as if provoking them. Flint saw this and started trembling with fear. His knees buckled and he was completely pale in the face. Vlad saw this but could only sigh in disappointment. Unlike him, Flint wasn’t a fighter, so he was going to slow the vampire down if they did fight the lizards.

Which meant there was only one thing for Flint to do.

“Flint, get back in the closet,” He ordered the mage.

“W-what do you plan to do?!” Flint questioned; fear written all over his face.

Vlad wore a fearless smile while turning back to the group of lizardmen coming their way. “I’m going to do a little hunting, is all.”

The vampire then readied his spear and was prepared for the upcoming battle with the monsters. Despite this, his smile didn’t disappear and only widened more, exhibiting his thirst for battle. He knew then that it was time to start hunting.