Underworld - Book 6 - Chapter 35

The thermos-like containers and jugs were placed in groups on smooth dark-stone ground. There was a cliff behind them, and Shamash’s barrier was up to hide what I was about to do.

“First drain the Quarter-blood, then Half-blood before the Trueblood,” the lich said. “It should be more than enough to get you to the Trueblood rank. With Vampire’s Might at the Master Rank, draining should also cap out the amount of stats you can get from the vampire race. So in the future, unless you drain a high level Trueblood, or the rare bloodlines like beast-feeder, you will no longer gain any stats from them. Gaining experience will be your main reward for killing them, as well as their cores. Even though you can make Mana Orbs at will, higher level cores will still be worth collecting because they can contain unique features. They can also help you gain mastery in Dark Magic and further your pursuit of Light Magic Grandmastery by understanding their characteristics. After you become Trueblooded, I will finish preparing you for the final stage of your mission.”

“Understood,” I replied. One at a time I undid the lids of the ten bodies of Quarter-blood. I felt like there should be more to the moment, but those who would be cheering me on, like Aeris, Russ, Travis—even Olivia—weren’t there to enjoy it with me…

Casting Vampire’s Might, I watched the blood pool in an orb above the fast to empty containers. Close to thirty gallons of quarter-blood flooded into me while I was in my Vampire Form. I immediately felt the change as my bloodline jumped past half-blooded and made it more than halfway to the three-quarters mark which was called Full-blooded. The Form’s buffs more than doubled.

Despite the jump in power, I found it impossible to find any joy. Even though Jale had been preparing to allow me to become Trueblooded, ranking up felt like I was getting farther and farther away from her.

Without any ceremony or delay, I undid the three containers of Half-blood and drained them as well. Not only did I become Full-blooded, but my bloodline shot up to near the 95% marker. One last step.

Undoing the body of Trueblood, I was silent for a moment before nodding to myself. I cast Vampire’s Might. As it filled me, there wasn’t any magic fireworks that went off, but I did feel a strange sensation as mana quickly rushed to my vampire core. I confirmed the change.

Vampire Form

Bloodline: Trueblood

Level: 100

Cost: 10,000 Mana Per Second (1,000 with buffs)

Strength: +5,000

Dexterity: +5,000

Intelligence: +10,000

Special Abilities: Vampire’s Might, Night Vision, Shadow Step, Bat Form.

Dark Magic Proficiency: +50%

Seeing the increase in stats and the newly added Dark Magic Proficiency, I sighed deeply. It was a wonderful addition to my forms and overall ability. 50% to Dark Magic as a Light Mage was outrageously unexpected. Even though the Beast-feeder Bloodline that was brought on by a beast only diet would be amazing for the added physical stats, this was truly the best possibly outcome for me.

Shamash had never said that Trueblooded would give me such a provision, but he showed no signs of being surprised. Much of what he did for me he had a tendency to keep hidden unless I asked the right questions. At least, so far it had mostly been positive.

Looking at my other popups that displayed the stats I’d received, I simply shook my head.

+14 Str

+77 Dex

+4,372 Int

+4,707 Wis

It looked like I had already nearly exhausted the physical stats I could gain from vampires before even draining this batch, but with the richer sources, my mental stats went wild. I’d drained a Trueblooded vampire once before—Lord Darius. He’d only given me a fraction of what I’d just received. Having Vampire’s Might at its Master Rank was truly frightening.

Returning to my human form with my 10x Mind Buff intact, I saw that my Maximum Mana had shot up to over 55,000,000 once refined. In my Vampire Form it was over 60,000,000… What I saw next forcefully snapped me out of the funk I was in. In 4,713 levels my Wisdom would hit 100,000. If I used Mind Buff it would be much sooner. It was still nearly impossible for me to buff myself enough to reach that level because of the way my Light Magic buff scaled, but soon, that would no longer be the case.

I immediately thought of Mistress Nava and subconsciously clenched my fists.

“Now stay here for a day or two and refine your new mana,” Shamash said. “We are close enough to the city that if anything happens here I can return in seconds, but also in a well enough hidden place that you shouldn’t have any problems. To not draw any unnecessary attention, don’t use your human form. When I return from scouting out Lord Darius’s manor, I’ll have a better idea what options we have. Being Trueblooded will open many doors and make it so that you don’t seem out of place, but you’re still going to have to walk into a mansion that belongs to someone else and gain access to their vault that’s key is missing. It maybe impossible to completely keep from shedding blood but the smaller amount you do the higher your chances of success. With your current mana, you should be able to escape even in the worst case scenario.”

Even as I agreed and the lich left, I couldn’t help but notice he was taking more of an initiative to help me than ever before. He’d searched for escape routes, so what he was doing wasn’t completely out of character, and I was sure he was excited to get back so that we could resurrect the Wraith… Maybe nothing was off, but I still had a bad feeling about this. All that I could do was trust him. Had I ever really had any other choice?

***

I didn’t refine the 5,000,000 MP that my Vampire Form gave me since, if it came to a fight, I’d switch to my human form when facing any high level vampires anyways and lose it. While he was gone, I also worked on defensive uses of mana since I wasn’t entirely impressed with what I’d learned during my time in the Hallow Amphitheater. I didn’t have a Nature Magic tree defense like Lusa Egotak, or a stone wall and water defense like Eshana. My main defense was Shapeshifting.

Even though I’d be walking into an enemy vampire’s mansion any day, I wasn’t anxious, but relieved. Soon my journey into the Vampire Realm would be over and I could finally return home. The very thought brought a smile to my face. I still wished something else could be done about Jale and the Tirs, but Sanctuary really was much more than a place to escape to. After Lilith had stripped my freedom to return there, I realized how much the place now meant to me.

I was stocking up on pre-made Light and Dark Magic Discs when Shamash returned.

Drawing a mana map in the air, he went through the layout of the city and also Lord Darius’s old manor.

“Lord Soroush, one of Lord Darius’s thousand brothers, has taken over running the Persepolis branch family after his death,” Shamash said. “He’s not nearly as talented as Darius but is level 60,000. Facing him head on will be nearly impossible. There are also a couple hundred guards between level 20,000 and 30,000 in the manor itself, with their captains being as high as 40,000 to 50,000. It’s large enough, so I’ll guide you through mind-speak from here. You still have the Immaculate Light Magic Focal Crystal, yes?”

I blinked at him repeatedly before I was able to respond. “Thousand brothers, level 60,000, hundreds of guards… Uh, yeah. I still have it.” Retrieving the Immaculate Light Magic Focal Crystal from my inventory, I held the perfectly round, egg-sized orb in my palm. It was completely transparent with a blue glow.

“If you are caught, run if you can, but once cornered, funnel your Light Magic through it. It may be the only thing that can save you. If there is a large group, try to get as many of them in view as possible then funnel everything you have. It doesn’t magnify your magic as a magnifying glass by focusing into one point but increases its overall power on a large scale and will only work once—twice at the most. I’d recommend using Artificial Sun so that you can take out as large of a group as possible. Of course, if even that fails, I will uphold my end of the contract and save your life this once.”

***

Persepolis was built in a grand alcove in the rock of one of the vampire realm’s natural boarders. It wasn’t just made of dark-stone, but was also rich in Water-type Ore. It gave the entire city which sat in the base of a stone valley a blue tint. It was also much brighter than Hallow had ever been but was still acceptable to a vampire’s Night Vision.

I entered the outskirts of the city from one of the smaller roads that hugged the southern rockface of the alcove. Each and every building was more than four stories tall and were built of dark-stone with water-stone roof tiles. They were all in good shape as if newly built, as was the well-worn blue tinted street. Everything was clean and well kept, except as soon as I took my first step into the city, I found it was filled with downtrodden people of all races. Dozens of people were hurrying along their way, but their eyes never left the ground even to greet one another. Those that weren’t busy, were a little braver to at least glance at me before reverting their eyes to the ground. Even though there were vampires, humans, dark elves, orcs, imps, goblins, and countless more, they all wore the same plain dark shirts and blouses with red sashes on their sleeves.

As I continued forward, I saw enough variance in the number and design of the sashes to see that it was the only thing that really distinguished them.

“Why are there so many people in the outer parts of the city?” I said through mind-speak.

“The population is overcrowded here,” the lich replied from our basecamp. “Even though Persepolis is said to have a population of 100,000, its slaves aren’t included in the count. It’s estimated that the slave to citizen ratio is 4 or even 5 to 1. Meaning there are closer to 500,000 or 600,000 people.”

Suddenly a young vampire boy of about 8 years old ran up from behind. I felt his presence before he got there but I didn’t expect him to run into me. It didn’t even jostle my balance as he bounced off me as if he had run full speed into a telephone pole.

Before I even had the chance to help him up, he spun to see who he ran into and immediately lowered his gaze. He was trembling as he flipped himself over onto his knees and pressed his face to the ground. “F, Forgive me, my lord. I was told to be quick with my delivery and have lost all merit in my clumsiness. Whatever punishment you feel is appropriate, I thank you for.”

Hearing Shamash’s description about what this city was like beforehand, I wasn’t exactly shocked to see his response. I had walked into town in Trueblooded pomp. My suit was one that I’d bought while in Hallow and would meet the Shah’s family standard. It was the deep red glow of my eyes that gave away my Trueblooded status though. It had only taken a glance before the boy was pleading for mercy.

Without looking at me he seemed to notice my rising anger right away even if it wasn’t directed at him.

“Remember what you are pretending to be,” Shamash’s voice rung in my head.

“Hurry off then,” I said coldly to the boy.

He thanked me and darted away before I would have any chance to change my response.

I felt ridiculous as I continued deeper into town. What was I dressed up for exactly? It was obvious to anyone that I’d just arrived, and yet I was dressed like I was going to a king’s ball or some other kind of nonsense. All that my outfit really did was force me to stand out and scare the life out of people due to my presence. Compared to Hallow, this place had a cloud of misery hanging over it.

“If you want to do something for these people, then raiding Lord Darius’s vault will have a huge impact in the long term,” Shamash said. “The family has lost access to their vault, but if one of the family elders came with their own Master Ring, they’d have a way to gain entry. It won’t be considered an emergency to a high ranking family like theirs as long as it’s considered secure, but in a decade or two someone will come and reestablish access. There is no small amount of wealth inside.”

“Got it,” I replied.

I caught my first glimpse of someone who’d be considered to have a small amount of authority after turning the corner. It was a big burly vampire who was shouting at a group of about twenty people who had their heads lowered so much that they were nearly bowing. There was a big pile of crates against the building they were standing in front of and a row of carts. The vampire’s entire left sleave was red, but he certainly wasn’t Trueblooded. He wasn’t even quarter-blooded.

None of them noticed me because their eyes were already down, but as I passed the vampire who was yelling, he stopped in the middle of a spittle filled rant and bowed to me before saying, “My lord.” Only a half breath later and he was screaming again.

Not one of his workers glanced up to look at me.

I pretended to ignore him and walked on.

The city itself was fairly small in breadth and was instead built up. Most buildings touched one another and the further I got into the heart of the city, the more abuse I saw. One red sleave was even walking down the street and sending out bursts of Dark Magic to knock people off their feet just because he could.

I gritted my teeth and kept walking, forcing myself to remember that I was on a mission to steal from the people in charge here.

Lord Soroush’s manor came into view near the deepest part of the city near the natural defense that the city’s alcove provided. It wasn’t just any mansion or large house, but a castle. It reminded me of a pro basketball stadium in size with a dark, serpent-like design. The walls slithered up in wavey lines, and even the windows and doorway followed the same concept.

Hearing a scream, I looked off to the side in its direction unable to see where it had come from. Then everyone surrounding the conflict scattered and the view became clear.

“Please, my lord. We were just married today,” a dark elf pleaded from his knees.

A quarter-blooded vampire with two red sleaves held a dark elf by the hair on the back of her head. She was a vampire, yet her knew husband wasn’t?

The quarter-blood removed a crescent bladed sword from his inventory.

“I beg you to give us today. Just one day before—" Cutting him off mid-sentence, the vampire’s sword fell and removed his head from his body.

“Problem solved,” the vampire said with a callous laugh.

The woman didn’t scream. She’d been grabbing at her hair to put up a small struggle, but in that moment her arms dropped to her sides and she just hung there looking at the fresh corpse of her husband.

“Just great,” the lich said sarcastically. He already knew what I was going to do and didn’t bother trying to stop me.

Using creature observation, I saw the quarter-blooded vampire was only level 9,000.

I was on him before he could blink. His sword was ripped from his grip and I removed the arm he was holding her with from his body while it was still holding her in the air.

“Who!” He demanded.

It was the last thing he ever said. I shoved an Advanced Light Disc into his mouth and delivered an uppercut to his jaw that was probably enough to kill him by itself. There was a loud snap as his body was launched into the air. When the Cataclysmic explosion went off, I turned my gaze to keep the mess from reaching my face.

There were hundreds of people in the surrounding area that cried out as one. Anyone near the explosion fled. Despite killing a man on the street no one bothered me and never would dare. I was Trueblooded.

Instead of thankfulness, all that I saw from the woman was greater fear. Out of habit, she got to her knees and pressed her nose to the ground. “My lord.” After seeing her newly married husband killed, she was an emotionless husk.

“She thinks you killed him because you wanted her instead,” Shamash said.

“What are these people’s burial rituals like?” I replied through mind-speak.

“Dark Elves normally practice burial, but vampires have a ceremony before draining and burning.”

She’s both so I’ll leave it up to her… I deposited her dead husband’s body. She suddenly went stiff.

“Magically drain your husband’s murderer,” I said.

She sharply shook her head. “I mustn’t, my lord. It’s forbidden.”

I was so indignant I was shaking. You think I killed him just to have you to myself? Fine. “There’s a mess. Clean it up. Now.” I commanded.

She was completely unsure what to do. Scrambling back and forth, she didn’t even get up off her knees when she faced his body and cast Vampire’s Might. The man’s blood had scattered throughout the area and was even covering many of the people that were staring on in shock.

Finally obeying, the blood pooled, pulling it from the ground, the corpse, and the blood-scattered people before filling her.

Her level was only 4,863, so when the quarter-blood filled her, it was a nice boost to her stats and even her Bloodline ranked up to match the murderers.

“Unless you plan on taking her as your slave, if she stays here she will be put to death or made into a prostitute,” the lich’s informed me.

“Do you have any family?” I asked her.

She shook her head.

No family and her husband had just been murdered… Maybe I should just stay here and systematically dismantle the place. That wasn’t realistic at my current level, but it gave me one more incentive for getting stronger.

I quickly checked the murderers’ inventory. Eshana hadn’t introduced me to many vampire specific drinks, but they’d come up enough during our date that I recognized some. The guy was a bit of a drunkard, but he also carried a good quantity of common blood that was more nutritious for vampires.

“Loot him and follow me,” I ordered.

She obeyed this time without the same hesitation.

“What are you going to do with her?” Shamash said.

“If we can’t leave her here then we’ll take her somewhere else.”

“The closest territory that is openly friendly to dark elf vampires is two weeks away in the opposite direction we’re going if we can’t fly. Taking her there will add at least three weeks to our trip.”

“Then we will figure out something else.”

Looking back to get a good look at her, she was completely a mess with her dark purple hair going every which way. She also looked much younger than I’d thought she was and had the naturally beautiful features of a dark elf with the slight red glow of a vampire in her eyes. What am I going to do with you?
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Updated! Sorry, that one needed it more than usual.