CHAPTER XXIII: PROFESSIONAL
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{23:26 LOCAL TIME 14TH MAY 1ME}
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LONG BEACH
PRIME
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< CONGRATULATION YOU ARE NOW A PROFESSIONAL >
{Professionals are the creators of the GREAT GAME. The mana in the world quickly breaks down everything over time. That is unless it is built by a professional. The mana that professionals put into their creations slows down the degradation of the items and increases their durability.}
{PROFESSION NAME: Forger
PROFESSION RANK: 1 (Initiate)
PROFESSION TYPE: Hybrid-Energy Creation
DESCRIPTION: A Forger is a unique profession as it needs no special materials only the legacy’s mana and some cases blood to fill in the blanks of what is being forged. The legacy can still use materials to augment and reduce the Mana cost, you can learn Trades, but all of that is second to the Mana creation.
Non-combat Initiate Benefit: Use less mana with all trades to forge creations.
Combat Amateur Benefit: Absorb Mana from kills within a controlled area for use in forging creations.}
< PROFESSIONAL ABILITIES LEARNED >
{Trade Sight(Toggle)}
{Infuse(Triggered)}
< Choose 2 starter profession skills(Trades) >
{Trade List}
{1) Basic Wall Forging(NC)
2) Basic Melee Weapon forging(NC)
3) Basic Armor forging(NC)
4) Basic Siege weapon forging(H)
5) Basic Body Enhancing forging(C)
6) Basic Fire bolt forging(C)
7) Basic fire ward forging(C)
...}
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The list of Trade skills was prodigious, and Colonel didn’t have time to go through them all, but he found one that he knew he needed right away, and didn’t hesitate to take it.
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< YOU HAVE LEARNED A PROFESSION SKILL >
{TRADE NAME: Basic Wall forging(Active)
TRADE RANK: 1
DESCRIPTION: Manipulate the ground using mana and the local material to make a wall.
Cost: Variable. Cast time: Variable. Cool down: none. Duration: 1 week per level of Trade. Durability: Variable base of available local materials.
EFFECTS: The Legacy can build a COMMON wall with time and resources at a 100% chance of completion rate, the higher the rank of the professional the better chances to make higher-level walls.
COMMON Trade Benefit: Base wall size is equivalent to 10X10X1 meters.}
< Choose 1 starter Profession Trade >
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Colonel looked back at the glowing ground and toggle on his new ability Trade Sight ten of his mana regen was reserved for the ability, it wasn’t much to him, but he was beginning to see why getting the magic stat increase hurt so much, it gave you more options than just 100MP, and 100MP was a pretty ridiculous.
He let the prompt of the new Ability wash over him again not having time to read it fully, but didn’t want to just use it without any information at all.
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< TOOL TIP >
{Ability NAME: Trade Sight(Toggled)
Ability Level: Student 0
The ability to see the flow of the mana and get information on your Profession which includes creations or combat styles. Being able to see the flow of mana gives the professional a better understanding of their environment in order to better apply their trade. Levels with use.
Cost:10 mana regen per hr.
Ability EFFECT: See the Durability of items.
STUDENT EFFECT: See high concentrations of the basic mana within items and identify special properties.}
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< TOOL TIP >
{Ability NAME: Infuse(Triggered)
Ability Level: 1
Every professional earns this ability which allows the professional to infuse their mana into any of their trades. That Mana increases the power of any trade based on the level of this Ability, the Trade, and the Professional. Minimum Cost: 1 mana regen per minute.
EFFECT: Common Durability is Minutely increased.}
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He saw all the colors of the rainbow which seemed to represent the different mana types, red for fire and brownish green for earth being the most abundant in his current area, even the shadows gave off a wispy Mana glow when he looked at them.
Colonel instinctually knew that he could make a ten by ten by one-meter wall anywhere within a few meters of himself. So he did. His mana regen dropped by 60 as his Infuse Ability triggered as the wall grew from the ground. It took about ten seconds to grow, The dirt and concrete mixing together and sealing it tight, it wasn’t pretty, but it would provide cover and that was what Colonel wanted. He got two prompts, one was his Creation prompt, the other was from his teammate through their soul bond.
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< WALL FORGED >
{CREATION NAME: Basic Wall
CREATION RANK: COMMON
CREATION DURABILITY:107
CREATION DURATION: 1 hour.
Description: A 10X10X1m barrier made of Minutely Mana-infused dirt.}
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< CHIME >
< YOU HAVE BEEN OFFERED A SOUL BOND QUEST >
{QUEST NAME: Start a Stronghold I
QUEST TYPE: Noble Tutorial(Rare)
DESCRIPTION: A noble isn’t just a Caste, they are the protectors of humanity. They are the definition of with great power comes even more responsibility. They are supposed to be a beacon of hope in an ever-changing and more dangerous world. But in order to be that beacon they must establish a Stronghold. A Stronghold is a semi-safe place where Players can put their resources together for mutual benefits. While anyone can take over a Stronghold only nobles and Legacies can create one and grow it to its full potential.
Objective: Start a Dungeon Stronghold.
TIME LIMIT: 10 minutes.
REWARDS: EXP and a set piece
FAILURE PENALTY: No progression of Noble class beyond the first specialization.}
{Would you like to start a Stronghold?
YES/NO}
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Last thing first. Colonel thought.
[What do you think Soto?]
[Do it! EXP and mutual benefits sound great.] Soto replied.
[Let me build the walls first then I’ll set up the Stronghold unless you want to handle that?]
[Hard pass, all you mo, I run guilds in the real world maybe later I’ll help, but for now I’ll cover you.]
Colonel would have argued, but he just didn’t have the concentration to do it. While the first wall went up fast it was not fast enough.
Soto arrived at his location with eyes wide open. Sugar and some well-dressed homeless people behind her.
“What is that?” Soto asked.
“A wall,” Colonel answered as he thought about making more.
He concentrated on building it another way with different dimensions. This time he made the length 20 meters, the height 5 meters, and the width 2 meters. It took 11 seconds and cost 15 more mana, his infused cost also went up 120MP per hour during the forging.
“Well, no shit it's a wall, Captain Obvious.” He looked at the second one. “That one is better, do the rest like that. We will cover you keep going.” He turned to the now healthy-ish-looking homeless people. “Let's move those fire barrels closer. Fire is their bane so any little help will be useful. Everyone grab anything that can burn and keep them lit.” Soto ordered. “How is your Mana Colonel?” Soto knew that this could be a game changer if they could buy Colonel some more time.
“I am burning through it pretty fast. But I think I’ll have enough to fortify our location.” Colonel answered looking at his mini-map. “Time is not our friend, however. So if you can give me more of it, it will be much appreciated.”
Soto looked at the map as well, there were more red dots converging on them. “No doubt. Kuma can you change to Chibi form, I think we need it to buy Colonel some time. Sugar as long as you have Mana you can chain attack spells am I correct to assume that?”
“Kinda, I have the BURNOUT Ability and I have two more attack spells.”
“Good. You take the west and south side, I’ll take the north and east side.” He looked at Sugar measuring her, all the old fear was gone only the determination of a woman wanting to prove herself remained. “Good. You don’t have to kill them, just try and slow them down as much as you can. Kuma would you please?”
Kuma looked at Sugar for confirmation. She nodded at her, and Kuma changed into her Chibi form. Everyone’s regen goes up by twenty times now that Kuma was level 10.
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< BUFF ADDED >
{BUFF NAME: Boost
BUFF TYPE: HOT/MOT
BUFF DURATION: Continuous
DESCRIPTION: The primary skill of Chibi Kuma, it boost regen times 10 for one hour per Tier}
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
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Colonel’s eyes widen then he smiled. “Now this is a useful buff I can continuously make walls, but better yet.” He paused.
[What's this guy's name again?] Then he remembered the prompt. “Mr Johnny.”
The well-dressed homeless man was startled when he heard his name, he looked away from the scene of the walls forming from nothing but the earth around them, and to the clean-shaven black man who seemed to be in charge.
“Y-yes sir?” He answered tentatively.
“Make sure everyone that comes in is assigned to a wall, but make sure they don’t attack just back up the combatants, is that clear? I’ll have to work for them soon. Sergeant Major is right, move the barrels in if you can.” Colonel gave the orders as he made another wall getting another great prompt for his actions.
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< PROFESSION TRADE LEVEL UP >
{TRADE NAME: Wall forging(Active)
TRADE RANK: 2
DESCRIPTION: Manipulate the ground using mana and local materials to make a wall. Cost: Variable. Cast time: Variable. Cool down: none. Duration: 4 days per level of Trade. Durability: Variable base of available materials
EFFECTS: The Legacy can build a UNCOMMON wall with time and resources at a 100% chance of completion rate, the higher the rank of the professional the better chances to make higher-level walls.
COMMON Trade Benefit: Base wall size is ~10X10X1 meters.
UNCOMMON Trade Benefit: Walls are Minutely harder to climb}
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{Wall forging is now Rank 2, for double the cost you can upgrade current walls, would you like to upgrade COMMON walls to UNCOMMON walls for 120 mana?}
{YES/NO}
{For Leveling Trade.}
[+1 to CON]
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{Profession Forger is now rank 2}
[+1 to all stats except Magic.]
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Colonel’s eyes broaden. “That was really quick! I am not going to complain though, everything has been going to shit here so, I’ll take whatever I can get.”
“Who you telling? I thought it would have taken hours to build the walls and get the homeless people together...” He looked at Colonel. “You weren’t talking about that were you?” Soto asked when Colonel shook his head, and the next wall he built grew a little bit faster and was no longer the same bland plain wall. The wall was a little smoother, and more concrete than the mix of packed soil.
“No, I leveled up my trade skill and profession,” Colonel answered. “Yes.” He confirmed the upgrade to the walls and Analyzed the Uncommon version.
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< WALL FORGED >
{CREATION NAME: Lesser Wall
CREATION RANK: UNCOMMON
CREATION DURABILITY: 1207
CREATION DURATION: 4 hours.
Description: Up to 20X20X5m barrier made of mana-infused stone.}
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“Already?” Soto inquired as his eyes widened when the walls all changed from dirt walls that looked like they were barely standing, to stone walls that looked sturdy enough to stop a speeding car. “That is really cool dude, it did take a huge chunk of your Mana to do that right?”
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< TRADE ABILITIES LEVEL UP >
{Ability NAME: Trade Sight(Toggled)
Ability Level: STUDENT 3
The ability to see the flow of the mana and get information on your Profession which includes items or combat styles. Being able to see the flow of mana gives the professional a better understanding of their environment in order to better apply their trade. Levels with use.
Cost:15 mana regen per hr.
Ability EFFECT: See the Durability of items.
STUDENT EFFECT: See high concentrations of the basic mana within items and identify any special properties.}
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{Ability NAME: Infuse(Triggered)
Ability Level: 2
Every professional earns this ability which allows the professional to infuse their mana into any of their trades. That Mana increases the power of any trade based on the level of the Ability, Trade, and Professional. Minimum Cost: 1 mana regen per minute.
EFFECT: UNCommon Durability is Slightly increased.}
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“Yes, but well within my regen thanks to Kuma helping,” Colonel answered smiling at the Chibi dog who was standing in the middle of their make-shift fort so that her buff could affect the whole team. She smiled at the praise.
Sugar was beyond impressed as the walls instantly changed right before her eyes. “I can take my profession now, you think it will help?” Sugar asked.
“Yes to Soto’s first question, and no Sugar’s last. We need your firepower. Besides it looks like Adia and Bour are buying us some time.” Colonel saw the two light green dots that represent Adia and Bour stop about four hundred meters away ushering the homeless along.
On Adia’s side, Ghouls represented by red dots started to disappear as all of her yellow dots continued to run to their make-shift fortification.
On Bour’s side, however, all the red dots appear to be converging on his green dot. Clyde could barely make out the dwarf’s dot. That was until some peel off and continue to give chase after the homeless.
Colonel looked in Bour’s direction to see the first of his homeless coming into view. “Soto you are up. Make it rain.” Colonel said to a smiling Soto.
“Roger that Colonel! Magic City special incoming, or is it Club One Twelve special? maybe? I miss and love Atlanta.” And with that ridiculous statement about one of the greatest cities in the country, Soto put actions to his words.
Soto took out an arrow and then replaced it. He felt his mana regen and used it to his advantage. “Let's see what kinda of range I got.” He aimed high launching ten dark mana arrows with minimum charge in ten seconds, and waited. Not for long.
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< BATTLE LOG >
{Feral Ghoul X4 has died EXP +2800}
{Lesser Ghoul X3 has died EXP +6600}
{NPC has died EXP +100}
< QUEST UPDATE >
{Objective 3: Save homeless 142/152 remaining}
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“Oops.” Soto winced at the last update.
“Oops, really? That is all you got to say for yourself?” Sugar asked.
“It's not like I meant to kill them, I kept my grouping tight, so either they are much slower than the others, or were about to be eaten by a Ghoul.” Soto defended himself. “Either way they were going to be dead, and now we have one less ghoul for us to fight.”
“We are not going to be able to save them all. But just in case check your shots better Sergeant Major.” Colonel jumped in to prevent any argument between them.
Soto nodded and fired another volley of dark mana arrows. Colonel ignored his BATTLE LOG. Sugar looked like she wanted to add more, but then sighed instead. She could see the first set of homeless NPC coming her way. So she decided to ready herself
“I got some NPCs here, I think.” They were all so disheveled they could be mistaken for ghouls themselves. It was only their normal running gait that told Sugar they were humans. “I can barely tell the difference between them and the ghouls they all look awful.”
Johnny coughed from behind them wanting to say more but thought better of it.
Colonel finished the four sides of their fort, and another four walls staggered outside of contact sides, four hundred meters in all give or take. The staggered walls made it so anyone running at them had to either jump over them or zig zag through to get to the center.
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< TRADE RANK UP >
{TRADE NAME: Wall forging(Active)
TRADE RANK: 3
DESCRIPTION: Manipulate the ground using mana and local materials to make a wall. Cost: Variable. Cast time: Variable. Cool down: none. Duration: Variable. Durability: Variable base of available materials
EFFECTS: The Legacy can build a Low Rare wall with time, concentration, and resources at a 100% chance of completion rate, the higher the rank of the professional the better chances to make higher level walls.
COMMON Trade Benefit: Base wall size is 10X10X1 meters.
UNCOMMON Trade Benefit: Walls are Minorly harder to climb.
RARE Trade Benefit: Wall spikes are added to the outside of your walls making it more difficult for enemy combatants to scale walls and can cause Minute damage to enemies if they aren't careful.}
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{Wall forging is now Rank 3. For double the cost you can upgrade current walls, would you like to upgrade UNCOMMON walls to Low-RARE walls for 360 mana?}
{YES/NO}
{For Leveling Trade.}
[+2 to CON]
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{Profession Forger is now ranked 3}
[+2 to all stats expect magic]
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“Yes!” Colonel said and the walls fused together, no longer could you see the individual stones as if the walls all got an instant paint job.
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< WALL FORGED >
{CREATION NAME: Minor WALL
CREATION RANK: LOW RARE
CREATION DURABILITY: 11750
CREATION DURATION: 1 day.
Description: Up to 100X100X20m barrier made of Minorly mana infused stone.
RARE ATTACHMENT: Wall Spikes; 3-inch spikes placed equally across the outside of the wall. Each spike does 30 damage and has a durability of 117.}
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Colonel smiled at the stat increases, he was excited about the RARE bonus of his Trade. He then addresses Sugar. “I think the difference between them will be obvious once they get closer to us. What is the range on your spells?”
Sugar brought up her HUD. “Ten meters on my new spells, and over thirty on my VOID BOLT.”
“Well have patience save your fire spell for anyone who sneaks up on you, spam blast VOID BOLT every time you are off of cool down,” Colonel advised.
“Copy that.” She turned and looked back at her sector smiling at being treated like a soldier, and not someone's prize porcelain doll. She didn’t even know where that thought came from, but she worked better when she had a chip on her shoulder, so she rolled with it.
Soto sent his third and fourth volley. Colonel looked at his Quest updates.
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< OBJECTIVE UPDATE >
Objective 1: Find and kill 3 Greater ghouls (0/3)
Objective 2: Kill 25 lesser ghouls (9/25)
Objective 3: Save homeless 141/152 remaining
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[Soto did you kill another civilian?] Colonel asked in the command channel
[Negative! They must have been caught by a ghoul, I haven’t gotten any EXP for them.] Soto responded.
[Alright, I have another professional trade I can take, I have too many options to choose from what do you think?] Colonel shared his list.
Soto paused mid-draw of his fifth volley.
[Do you have a range weapon forger Trade? Maybe a flame thrower for our homeless NPCs to use.] He joked.
But Colonel thought it was an excellent idea. His SYNERGISTIC SIGHT showed him a few combinations that just might work, the glow still obvious with his Trade sight... “Wait TRADE SIGHT! Sugar do you have any sight ability?”
Soto answered, “Yes she does.”
They both look at him. Even Kuma cocked her oversize head to the side at him.
“What? Photographic memory, it was on her character sheet.” He rolled his eyes. “Can’t a brother from the Bronx be smart?” he grumbled.
“Yes...yes, I do, why?” She asked after her eyes unfocused a second later.
“Toggle it on, the Ghouls should look very different from the NPC’s,” Colonel said confirming it when the first ghoul stepped into the dim fire light they glowed different from the humans. “Contact North!” He yelled as he got another surprising prompt.
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< SKILL LEVEL UP >
{Disassemble is now Student 9}
{Skill Quest: Disassemble 100 creations. (10/100)
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He didn’t even know he was using the skill, but then he remembered that the prompt had said it would update or something when he chose the Forger profession.
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< SKILL UPDATED >
{SKILL NAME: Disassemble(U)(Active/toggle/Triggered)
SKILL LEVEL: Student 9
DESCRIPTION: The Legacy can use mana to break down any matter over time and convert it into mana for personal use over time. *When using any Trade skills this skill is triggered to offset mana cost.”
SKILL EFFECT: -1 mana per second on Common tier items and receive 10 Mana per second back after the item is fully disassembled. Each item takes a certain amount of time to break down, the factors are many including size, rarity, and designer. The player must stay in contact with the item the entire time. Each tier higher costs 10 times more mana, but also gives 10 times the return. Can only disassemble one thing at a time.
Effect speed can increase based on Skill level and charisma stat.
UNIQUE SKILL EFFECT: Mana well; Store up to 100 mana per skill level for profession use only. (This Effect becomes an Ability at Artisan rank).
The Effect is based on Skill level.
Current Capacity: 670/900 Mana.
STUDENT EFFECT: Utility; Increase range:
The player can disassemble items at range for an additional cost. Can only disassemble one thing at a time.
Effect range is based on Skill level times 1 meter.
Current range: 9 meters}
UNIQUE STUDENT EFFECT: Dead organic material can be broken down into Mana faster.
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Soto reacted like a cobra turning and firing two dark mana arrows. The first one takes a chunk of brain from the ghoul, and the second one finishes it off. The only thing remaining is a big red floating -3500 and a loot globe forming in its place.
Sugar jumped as the world changed colors. “Whoa, that's hella cool.” She couldn’t help but get into the game more when these elements happened. “I think you are right.” She frowned “I think you should see this Colonel.”
Colonel looked at Sugar who pointed to the group running up to them. At first, Colonel wasn’t sure what she was pointing at, then his TRADE SIGHT picked it out. His eyes widen a little as realization hits him. “They are hiding within the NPCs. Shit!”
“I can’t hit them without hitting the NPCs.” Sugar complained.
“I think that's the point Sugar. They are getting smarter as they level Soto.” Colonel added.
“We got bigger problems,” Soto said a little alarm in his voice.
Colonel turned back to Soto's direction just as he felt the ground shake in a macabre parity of Jurassic Park. “Fuck.” He cursed just as he got another prompt.
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< MAP ALERT >
{Unknown hostiles of varying levels and Tiers beyond your team’s capacity to fight have entered your team’s collective aggro zone. Build a Stronghold, Good luck!}
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“FUCK!” They all echo.
***
DUNGEON CORE ROOM
THRALL ALDO
Aldo smiled at the screens. “The fools made their own coffin. They actually think those walls will serve as anything but their final resting place.”
He looked at the thirty by thirty box that their leader had made around them in record time. “So this is the power of a professional. He must have an EPIC or higher profession to be able to build those walls out of nothing but the ground around them, and at that speed, truly impressive.” Aldo chuckled mirthlessly. “Once he dies hopefully I can learn that profession skill.”
Aldo moved his hands around. The flaming barrels start to morph into something. Aldo’s eyes narrow at the odd action on his screen. “That is not good. These little ticks won’t just die easily.” He scowled. “That is all the forces on the floor right Lupita? In the very unlikely scenario of them killing them, we must prepare the third floor since we sent the second-floor bosses up to kill them. What is the deal with that short guy and that Elf woman?”
The room was eerily quiet. “Lupita?” Aldo pulled his eyes away from the screens in the dungeon room. Only he, the screens, and the purple throne pulsing with the power of the Dungeon core remained. In the chair, however, was the Vampire Lord’s sleeping Avatar.
He looked confused at first and then angry. “Lisette, Lisette!”
No answer.
He tried to calm himself. But found it hard for some reason. Ever since the Vampire lord left. He had become a more independent thinker. He had his directives of course, but outside of those he could freely think about, and do whatever he liked. His hate at the injustice of the world was his driving force. Countless years of service, and dedication had focused that hate.
The old priest was long gone, but that knowledge and intelligence was not. It only took him a few seconds to figure out what had happened.
He wasn’t the only one that had old knowledge, and much higher intelligence. Lisette was a genius prior to her change, and while ghouls typically don’t get intelligence as they level. The starting base intelligence of the host was suppressed by the overwhelming hunger for flesh, mostly sentient flesh. He couldn’t help but sigh.
“Lupita.” He said sadly. She was always to eager to serve and be of service. To the lord, to her family, to the community, and even to her shitty good-for-nothing boyfriend, and for what?
Aldo looked back at the screens and found her easily now that he knew what to look for. “There you are.” He saw her among the group of homeless making their way to the makeshift coffin. Aldo smiled at her cunning. But he would always worried.
[Lupita be careful we still don’t know their full capabilities.] Aldo said in Spanish through their link.
He saw her flinch as he spoke, but she caught herself quickly. Aldo smiled. ‘Still like a kid with her hand in a cookie jar.’
[I expected you to call me back Father Aldo] Lisette said back to him.
[I am no longer a father and you are the farthest thing from a delicate flower on the verge of blooming.] Aldo growled back at her.
[So you approve?] She asked as her group closed in on the fort.
[I don’t have to, we are equals in service under our lord] Aldo reluctantly said.
She visibly relaxed which surprised Aldo a little, was her old personality so ingrained in her? Then her face turned cold like ice.
[I am going to finish this!]
[Live well Lupita!] Aldo recited.
[So that our lord’s enemies may die free, and then rise again in service to him.] She replied with a scowl.