Underworld - Vampire Gate: A LitRPG Series

by Apollos Thorne

  I had a good chuckle, but I cut it short.

  “There is still a chance you could go with her,” I said bluntly.

  “Maybe. We were never as close as Aeris and you. It was more like dating for us than that we were destined to be together. With enough time though… I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

  “Don’t get me wrong. Sanctuary is safer with you around, and more importantly, better. Besides Aeris, you and Russ are my closest friends. You’ve always told me when I was messing up, and I appreciate that. I’d still like it better if I knew you were able to leave and make it to the surface. Maybe give Kylie a real shot—get married—make some babies?”

  This time he did laugh. “We’ve been incredibly lucky that no one in our group has died yet. It’s just—dangerous. Even with everyone growing stronger, it’s really only a matter of time. But life down here seems to mean more than life on the surface. I haven’t played a single game in months and I haven’t missed it. That used to be my life. There are people that I miss, but life was dull. Not here.”

  “Take George to the Illuminated Cathedral. You’re the only one strong enough to do it on your own and you have the tracking ability. Even if you don’t end up leaving with him, you’ll help us establish a real relationship with the other humans, and then, who knows. If you do go with him, you’ll still be able to help from the surface.”

  As he was thinking about it, I thought of something else. “There’s something I need to give you.” I waved him closer.

  Placing one palm a few inches above his abdomen and turning my other hand into a Light Surgeon’s thread, I jabbed my thread into his side and I quickly mapped out his insides. Deconstructing his Light Magic Orb, I used the leftover mana with additional mana of my own to begin creating a new core inside of him. Just so he wouldn’t be standing there longer than he had to, I used some of my refined mana to complete his Master Light Core. There would be plenty of time to replenish it.

  “There,” I said. “Even if you go to the surface, you’ll never completely lose your magic.”

  “This thing is so much more powerful than the Intermediate Core,” he replied.

  “Next level, right?”

  “When are you going to leave?”

  “I’ll wait for a few days. I have some gifts for the others and I’m going to train a bit with everyone.”

  He patted his lower belly that held his new core. “I’ll teach them how to use their auras, and I’ve already spoken to them about unlocking schools of magic—excessively. Send them to me after you give them their cores. I can help guide them in the basics.”

  “Alright. I’ll focus on working with Mel, Steve, and Trevon after I’m done.”

  He turned as if he were about to leave but I stopped him. “Hey.” When he turned back I wasn’t sure what to say. “Thanks. For everything.”

  “You too,” he said, and then he was gone.

  ***

  Giving everyone their own core took no more than a couple hours. It would probably be years before they could get full use out of them, but in the long run it would be a huge benefit. I’d considered starting everyone with Intermediate or even Advanced Cores instead of Master ones, but there was no telling how long I’d be away. I was planning on getting back as soon as I could, but what if I weren’t strong enough to reach Lord Darius’s vault? It might take some cautious leveling before I could even approach my destination.

  The first person I trained with was Trevon. Since he was considering leaving, I wanted to make myself available to him and also do some experimenting with his ice magic while he was still around. We hadn’t spent a lot of time together. He was closer to Audrey and Clarissa than any of the guys. I didn’t ask any questions about why he wanted to leave. If he wanted to talk, I’d let him broach the topic.

  Since I had access to multiple schools of magic, even if many of them were only Blue Magic imitations, I let Trevon pick which element he wanted to try his magic against. Our approach didn’t resemble sparring, or any kind of fighting. We sat comfortably next to each other and focused on control above power.

  He held a spikey ball of ice in the space before us. I held out a similar sized ball of fire and we slowly brought the two together to see how they’d respond, then we’d make our observations. We tried to match the intensity of each spell and then let them fluctuate to see how they would resist each other even when they were outmatched.

  Before we were done, I’d tried each of my schools of magic against his own. We both made decent progression on the path to Grandmastering our primary magic. It was only when he no longer had our experiments to focus on that he finally spoke.

  “I love this. Playing with magic. It's freaking amazing. But I’m scared—every day. I don’t have anything to go home to, but I’m tired of being afraid. How do you do it? Go off into the Underworld, alone, and not turn into a madman?”

  I looked him in the eye, studying him for a moment, before responding. “I don’t think about it.”

  “Dude, I’m being serious.”

  “So am I. Honestly, that’s my secret. As much as you might feel one way or another, you have the ability to control what you allow yourself to think about. Only when you let yourself think about the worst-case scenarios, the injustice or unfairness of it all, will your emotion take control.”

  Trevon was shaking his head. “You don’t think about it at all? That we were taken against our will? How the Head Mistress could fry us up like fried chicken? About how some random monster could sneak up behind you and make you a snack before you even know it’s there?”

  “It isn’t that I ignore everything. I just focus on the solution instead of the problem. Also, staying busy helps. Do you think I haven’t thought about storming the Succubi City to get the girls back? I just know that if I only think about how angry I am, I’ll end up doing something stupid instead of using the same energy on something that will actually help.”

  “I guess. You’re not wrong. I just don’t like it.”

  “You know, Master Trev, for an Ice Mage that’s supposed to be cold as ice, you’re awfully warm and mushy inside.”

  His face wrinkled up into a wide grin. “And for a healer who’s supposed to be super compassionate, you’re a jerk.”

  Seeing my shocked response, he lost it. He was laughing so hard he rolled over on his side, holding his gut.

  After he’d settled down, I said, “Do I really come off as a jerk?”

  “Nah, I’m just mess’n, man. You called me warm and mushy, so I had to get you back.” After a minute, he added, “This was good.”

  ***

  I met with Steve next. He didn’t have as much time because he’d been spending a lot of time talking with George to prepare for taking over the Cave Swine. I still took him through the same steps I’d gone through with Trevon. It was interesting to see how Light Magic interacted with Lightning—especially Solar. Instead of destroying one another, they bent and redirected each other in unpredictable patterns. The Life Aspect had actually absorbed Lightning better than I thought but it could still have a harsh effect.

  I’d saved Mel for last because we’d likely be spending more time experimenting than I had with the others.

  He’d always been relatively quiet, but it spawned from a lack of confidence. Not that he wasn’t as awkward as most of the other geeks here, but as his confidence grew, he’d gotten on with everyone just fine. So when he gave me a one-word greeting, I knew there was something on his mind.

  “What’s up?” I said. “Thinking about returning to the surface?”

  “No…” he replied. “It’s kind of dumb.”

  “What?”

  “It’s just, we’re losing two girls, and now us guys outnumber them.”

  “Did you like Melony or Kylie?”

  “It’s not that. I’m not ready to deal with a relationship. I was just hoping there would be an option when I was.”

  “Did you forget? The Illuminated Cathedral has millions of p
eople. I’d say at least half of them are girls. You’ve got options.”

  “Maybe, but—” Holding out his hand, a ball of Dark Magic formed.

  “So?” I held up my hand and summoned a Dark Magic ball of my own. “Not all of them are against Dark Magic. Heck, my Embar, Brat, was there the entire time I was talking to one of their Grandmaster Light Mages. I’m sure one day you’ll find the right girl to vice-command your minion army.”

  He gave it some serious thought.

  After a while, I got us back on track. “So how’d you get your Dark Incubus Form to where you could cast it anytime you wanted to?”

  “Oh, I mastered its skull,” he said.

  I gave him a questioning look.

  As he explained, it became clear that it was an advanced form of Capture Familiar. He studied it and studied it until he fully grasped its form. He’d done the same thing to a lesser extent with his skeleton minions, but not to the point of being able to take their shape. It seemed it was only worth the effort for more powerful creatures.

  Before we got too carried away, I started unloading the skulls I had won for him during my time away. I hadn’t brought any of the largest ones I’d seen in the dungeon where I’d wiped out the undead armies, because many of them were gigantic. I’d brought him some skulls from lesser specimens of the same species, though, so he could level them up in time. Among them were the Sonic Lizard and Giant skulls. I told him that there were even better examples of these, and he could get the location from Travis. It just might be worth it for him to take a trip up there to greatly improve his army.

  I showed him my own normal Incubus Form and we discussed the distinctions between Blue Magic Forms and his Dark Magic ones. He seemed to steal the creature’s strengths while not changing his entire form. He wore it more like a bionic suit of super armor. I confirmed this through Forced Learn by examining his internal mana while he was changed. I could even pinpoint the Light Magic Core I had given him, as well as his cardiovascular system and the mana-rich blood running through him.

  Instead of experimenting for a couple of hours, we had daily sessions for almost a week where we tested Light and Dark Magic against each other, but he also shared my interest in Calamity.

  When I wasn’t with him, I was spending time with Aeris. Sometimes we talked about the Succubi academy, other times the goings-on of Sanctuary, but mostly we just talked about anything else. It was nice to forget about everything, even if it was only for a time…

  With any free time I had, I created more orbs, leveled some of my new forms, and ate. I didn’t eat as much meat as I wanted, but there was plenty of bread to go around so I munched on it even though it was unnecessary. It made me feel more normal—more human. I also had a feeling that once I left, it would be a long time before I’d get to eat this way again.

  Chapter 39 – Geeking Out

  On the smallest scale that Mel and I could manage, we joined Dark and Light Magic to watch the cataclysmic reaction for an extended period of time. We kept the reaction about three feet from our faces to stay safe during the experiment. My Light Magic was drawn to a small point the size of a period. His magic was focused to one about the same size. It had taken us a while to match our magics just right so that one didn’t overwhelm the other. The key had been in the ratio of Solar and Life Aspects. 50/50 didn’t cut it, but 60/40 was perfect.

  On this scale, neither one of us would run out of mana and it was fairly easy to keep it active. It wasn’t Solar versus Darkness that we were worried about. It was the reaction between Life and Corruption. It was that realization that made observation easier. Eventually, my mind differentiated between the reactions and looked past the first to what really mattered. On a larger scale, you’d see them sizzling apart and both magics dissolving in the air. On the smaller, you could see them join together. When equal in power and proportion, they acted like Decay, except in an accelerated manner. So was there an explosion, or did they just dissolve one another like acid?

  It wasn’t clear whether Light and Dark Magic were turned into their simpler magic form during the process or destroyed altogether. I started with the assumption that magic, like energy, can’t be destroyed, but changes to a simpler form in use. I was beginning to think that that wasn’t the case.

  During magic use, every spell left residual mana in the air. Some spells were more efficient than others, but all left something. In studying both of our magics separately, we were able to see how much residue each period-sized ball left. When bringing them together, there was less residue, not more. It was possible that Calamity wasn’t a different school of magic at all, but the destruction of mana itself…

  When we’d been experimenting for five days in a row and nothing else was revealed, I began to rethink my approach. Even if learning Calamity as my First was impossible, it still might be possible to master the reaction between Light and Dark. Better control over Dark Magic by unlocking it might also be necessary for me to understand Calamity enough to discover it.

  How many creatures in the Underworld had unlocked Light and Dark? And how many of them were talented with one and unlocked the other as their First? It was more likely that monsters like the Head Mistress used Blue Magic versions of Light Magic spells. They would probably be more powerful in most cases than if they chose Light Magic as their First. Only if they happened to be talented in Dark and Blue Magic would unlocking Light Magic even make sense. They’d need Blue Magic to get the most use out of unlocked Light Magic in the first place. In that I had an advantage. Zorik had said that the most powerful Succubi and Incubi have only a single talent.

  If I unlocked Dark as my First, I’d be among the most proficient with Dark and Light because my Blue Magic would help me boost Dark. Shamash had said that the best I could hope for was 20% Mastery in Dark Magic, but with the help of my Blue Magic it could be as much as 40%. If Calamity did exist, having Light as my Primary and Dark as my First would give me as much as 70% proficiency with it. If there was no other way to unlock Calamity, that would still put me on a level playing ground with anyone else in the Underworld who had unlocked it except for the ultra-rare person that might naturally be talented in it. That’s if such a person could even exist.

  Finding anyone with any proficiency with Calamity at all was in the realm of impossibility. From what I could tell, it wasn’t its own alignment—it was the death of magic itself.

  “I think your theory is as good as we’re going to get,” Mel said while still watching our magics fight it out.

  “So do I,” Shamash said from the other side of the tunnel. He’d been watching us periodically each time we met. More so now that he’d done as I requested and talked to each of the guys about what schools of magic they should consider.

  I couldn’t decide whether it was strange or appropriate for Mel to be as comfortable as he was in the lich’s presence. Travis, who had traveled with Shamash for more than a month, was more wary of him than Mel was.

  “Are you going to choose Dark Magic then?” Mel said.

  I dropped my Light Magic spell and Mel dropped his. “I think that’s the most logical choice if I want to pursue this,” I replied.

  “I don’t blame you. If you could learn to control that power… For me, since Light Veins are so difficult to find, I’ll probably go for something else. Maybe Earth Magic so that I can manipulate the battlefield in my favor. Or maybe Blue Magic as a First, but that might be just as hard to find as Light Magic.”

  “Either would be excellent choices,” Shamash said. I felt his gaze land upon me. “Are you ready to continue your quest?”

  Was I? George and Travis were ready to go and were only waiting for me to tell them it was time. To my pleasant surprise, Trevon had decided to stay.

  “Richard,” I said, waiting for him to respond from the Master’s Chamber. “I don’t want to make a scene, so can you private message George and Travis and tell them to meet me here?”

  “You got it, boss!” he said a moment later. />
  I wasn’t trying to sneak away, but instead of a big goodbye with the entire group present, I was going to message them one at a time while I was on the road. Besides, I’d still be in range to talk with them for over one hundred miles and we’d already had the goodbye party two days before.

  When Travis and George arrived, I found it difficult to speak. This could be the last time I saw either one of them. I knew it would be the last time I saw George, so I approached him first. He held out his hand and I moved to take it, but instead knocked my skeletal breastplate against his chocolate Earth Armor.

  “Chest bump,” I hollered.

  It brought a smile to his face, so it was a success. I didn’t know him well, but he worked as hard as anyone in Sanctuary. He’d also shared his expertise and got us set up with the Cave Swine so that we could turn our dungeon into more than just a short-term place to hide. We owed him much.

  “Thanks for all you’ve done, man,” I said genuinely.

  “It’s been my pleasure,” he replied. “Take care of everyone.”

  I promised I would do my best.

  Travis was still in his human form with his helmet removed, but the large Metal Armor Leeman had gifted him made it difficult to embrace him. I tried to think of something funny to say, but I was too distracted by the real possibility that he wasn’t coming back.

  No words passed between us, but we shared a knowing grin.

  They had to go back through the Outer Perimeter on their way out, so I had a feeling there would be a few people there waiting for them.

  As they walked away, I saw Travis change into his Werewolf Form before he disappeared around the corner. I felt his grief through Bloodlust’s connection. It hit me like a tidal wave.

  I transformed without a second thought to make sure he knew I felt the same. There was a melancholy twinge of joy that cut through the rest of his emotions in response. I couldn’t respond to him with words but knowing was enough to cause a similar reaction in me that I know he felt.