Vlad and Tyler relocated to an abandoned restaurant shop near the center of the mall on the third floor. The pair were sitting at a table alone as Flint and Conner left them so they could continue their conversation in private. Conner decided to give Flint a better tour of the mall and show him everything there was to show. It didn’t matter to Vlad, since he was alone with Tyler. And he had a lot of questions.
“Where did you send them?” Vlad questioned; his crimson eyes trained on the supposed leader of this base.
Tyler looked a bit intimidated by his glaring, but he quickly cleared his throat and answered. “I sent Chloe and a few others out to scavenge some materials like weapons and metal. And that was around three hours ago. They…were only supposed to be gone at least an hour or two.”
Vlad’s glare intensified, causing the leader to flinch in response. However, the vampire took a deep breath and tried to remain calm while briefly checking his friend’s current location. All of them were present and accounted for, including his sister. That meant they were still alive. That or the system was guiding them to their dead…no, he shouldn’t think like that. His friends were alive. They had to be.
Vlad leaned back against his chair, his eyes closed shut as he tried to stay calm. “In which direction did you send them?”
“North,” Tyler said immediately. “There were a few weapons and metal shops that I knew in that direction, so I sent them there. One of them is called Garry’s Warehouse.”
Vlad didn’t know about this warehouse. However, all he needed to know at the moment was the location. Anything more than that was practically irrelevant at the moment.
Aside from where his friends could be, Vlad had another question in mind. “What are my friends' levels and classes?”
The reason why he wanted to know this is because Tyler here was Level 18. If his friends were around the same range, then they should be fine. But, if they’re low-level like him at the moment or even worse, then he really needed to hurry. Then again, this was Chloe, Arthur, and Lucy. There was no way that they didn’t use the two days on Earth to level up as much as possible.
“Both Arthur and Chloe are level 17, and Lucy is level 15. Chloe possesses the Brawler Class, Arthur has the Knight Class like myself, and Lucy bears the Cleric Class.”
Vlad nodded at this information, pretty much suspecting as much. Chloe was a natural-born fighter due to her family lineage. Her entire Cribb family comes from a long line of fighters since the mid to late 1800s. As for her class, a Brawler seemed suitable for her since she mainly relied on her fists to fight and she’s participated in a lot of Boxing matches. Vlad could already imagine seeing Chloe wearing metal gauntlets and bashing monster skulls with one punch.
As for Arthur, his class was certainly predictable as well. Aside from liking Archeology, he was also fascinated with Medieval stuff like Knights, swords, and such. He was specifically fixated on Arthurian Mythology with the legendary king and wielder of the Excalibur, King Arthur. Vlad found it a bit funny that they both had the same name. And if his equipment was anything like Tyler’s then Vlad expected his friend to look like a genuine Knight from his favorite mythology.
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Lastly was Lucy, which he was a bit surprised by. He didn’t expect her to reach level 15 in two days, considering her personality and background. Lucy wasn’t much of a fighter, and her Class was a clear indicator of that. She grew up in a church and was very passive when it came to violence, which is why Vlad could see Lucy with a Cleric Class. She’d rather heal people than hurt them. Back in high school when Vlad and Chloe beat up some bullies for bothering them, Lucy was the one who scolded the pair for resorting to violence instead of using a different method. In terms of how XP is gained, you need to kill monsters, which meant Lucy was forced to take the lives of living beings. Even if they were monsters, Vlad doubted that Lucy wouldn’t get fazed by it. She valued life due to her upbringing, so the fact that she’s been forced to take so many lives to reach level 15…showed up much his friend has changed.
“You said that they’ve been gone for around three hours now?” Vlad asked for confirmation.
Tyler nodded. “That’s right. I was actually planning on sending some players out to go find them. Chloe and the others are a valuable asset to this base. They helped me build this place from the very beginning and stuck by me ever since.”
“Yeah,” Vlad muttered. “That was who they are, after all.”
Chloe, Lucy, and Arthur were all the types of people that would help those in need. Especially Lucy and Arthur, who felt that it was their responsibility to help as much as possible. Chloe usually helps in her own way by taking down bullies and the like who pick on the weak. So, it was pretty obvious, that to survive, and protect the people in this base, they were willing to do whatever it took to ensure their survival, even if that meant adventuring this apocalyptic world to gather supplies.
“Thanks for the information,” Vlad suddenly stood up from his chair, causing Tyler to flinch. “I’m going to be leaving now to go find them.
Since Vlad had information regarding his friends' current situation, he had no reason to stay here. At least for the moment. He needed to find the warehouse and gun shop and see if their okay and not in danger.
As Vlad walked away from Tyler, the leader frantically took up as well and called out to him. “H-hold on!”
The vampire reluctantly stopped and resisted the urge to glare at the Knight Leader as he spun around to face him. “What?”
“Let me join you,” He offered, making Vlad’s eyes widen in shock. “I’m the one who sent them out there, so it’s my responsibility to make sure they’re safe.”
Vlad paused, unsure of how to respond. He was furious at Tyler for sending his friends to the apocalyptic city and didn’t want anything to do with him. If he was more cold-blooded, he would’ve sunk his fangs into Tyler’s neck and made him his next meal. However, he was also aware that his friends likely volunteered to find supplies since he knew that they would do something like that to help the group out.
There was another reason why Vlad didn’t want Tyler to join him; that being his vampirism. He couldn’t afford to have the leader of this base who is also a Knight find out about him being a blood-sucking monster. If he did, he doubted that he would understand. Tyler may look reasonable, but Vlad wasn’t going to see if that was true by revealing his secret. But, he could tell that Tyler was persistent in joining. And desperate.
His eyes met with the leaders, and he could see how serious he was in wanting to join, making the vampire cringe slightly at the sight of this. He also doubted that Tyler would accept his declination, knowing full well that his friends were out there likely in danger, because of him. If anything, he’d likely keep pressuring Vlad to let him join and make up for his mistake. Just the thought of having such a tiresome back-and-forth annoyed the vampire, forcing him to make a decision.
“Fine…” Vlad conceded, lowering his head.
“Thank you,” Tyler said, placing his hand against his chest. “I’ll do whatever I can to help and make up for this mistake.”
“Do whatever you want…” He muttered and turned away, marching over to the stairs.
And just like that, Vlad’s solo mission became a duo. He let out a slight groan while a headache started to slowly form, only intensifying his irritation even more.