Wisdom: 25,083
He had already brought all of his physical stats past 10,000 and his Dexterity put him on a level where he could compete with anyone at our level with speed. He was one of the rare people that had the 10,000 stat bonus in every stat. No wonder he was doing so well in the competition
I could feel more than see with the naked eye the aura that his buffs gave him. I imagined that snakes of purple electricity were crawling all over the surface of his skin, but there was nothing visible. Through Mana Sight, I knew better. It was impossible for his body to hide his swelling power from me.
In his right hand, Sai held a long sabre that was twice as thick as a katana but had a similar degree of bend to its polished steel blade. He had it leaning against his shoulder as he waited for the match to start. I couldn’t tell what material it was made out of, but it resembled normal steel in almost every way.
His opponent was level 16,000 and a typical Intelligence-focused caster. He didn’t seem impressed with Sai, but, since they were both fighting in the outer arenas, they hadn’t done enough to earn a spot in the more prestigious middle arenas. It made me wonder how much the fight placement had to do with one’s record and politics. Sai had fewer total fights than I did, but as far as I could tell, he had finished all of his opponents quickly.
The announcer called for the fight to begin.
His opponent didn’t hold back from the very beginning. Throwing both hands out in front of him, a massive beam of Dark Magic lightning pierced the air. It would only take a moment to reach him, but Sai stood unmoving.
The attack seemed to hit him head on, but the image of Sai dissipated into nothing. He’d moved so fast that only his afterimage had taken the hit.
Focusing Mana Sight to its max, my eyes caught up with him where he had already halved the distance between him and his opponent. He sprinted forward, rounding his approach so that he’d attack from the flank.
The caster’s own spell took up most of his view, so he didn’t realize Sai had dodged until his attack had faded. He spun to face Sai’s assault. His eyes went wide, and he tossed out a quick bolt of Dark Lightning on reflex.
Sai didn’t wait to completely close the distance. From thirty feet away, he’d already slashed out his sword. Like the heat of a glowing coal, the electric energy of his saber-beam could be felt in the stands. It was like a purple blade of highly compressed Dark Magic that cleaved his opponent’s spell down the middle. There wasn’t a moment of delay between his first strike and a series of follow-up slashes. Countless saber-beams chopped up the space between them.
Tomorrow I’d be facing off with the first person from Shamash’s list, Gansuk the orc. When I’d first watched him, he’d also used condensed beams of mana to launch attacks from a distance at his opponents from his axe. It wasn’t yet clear to me, but there was something different between Gansuk’s axe-beams and Sai’s saber-beams. I just couldn’t place it. At first, I’d thought it was just the difference in their School of Magic, but it might have actually come from their choice of weapons.
Sai’s first saber-beam was fully blocked by the caster’s reflexive lightning, but it wouldn’t be enough to block the coming onslaught.
Using the little time he had to thicken his internal mana to the surface of his body to help defend against the blow, the caster hoped to reinforce the armor beneath his outer robe. In a desperate attempt to slow the additional beams, more Dark Magic bolts were cast, but they didn’t help.
The first beam that broke through his outer defense cut through his aura like it wasn’t even there and whipped into his body. The caster seemed to block most of it, but then the wave of beams fell like the first drops of rain in a torrential downpour. As the caster flew back, his body tensed up as if being electrocuted. He landed on his back over ten feet away.
Even then, the assault wasn’t enough to end the fight. The caster jumped to his feet a few moments later, but Sai’s saber was already waiting an inch from his nose. The caster admitted defeat.
Sai was returning to his seat. His ability to channel mana reminded me of the Goblin Elder who had an ability to enhance his body with mana. It was certainly not a perfect comparison, but it was closer to the way his buffs worked than the way my Light Magic ones did. Why his magic buffed his mental faculties and not his physical ones didn’t make sense either. I needed to watch him more to see if his buffs enhanced his speed and strength even without increasing his physical stats. From what I could tell, his speed should have come from his 20,000 Dexterity, and the Dark Magic Buffs to his physical body were more of a unique way of manipulating mana to enhance his physical attacks. It was almost like he was using his body as a conduit to guide his magic.
Sitting down next to me, I saw a grin stretched across his face. He was more than satisfied with his performance.
“You need to extend your fights,” I said, acting annoyed.
He sneered. “Oh yeah? Not entertaining enough?”
“How else am I going to figure you out?”
“Don’t worry, when it comes time for us to fight, I won’t hurt you.”
It was my turn to snicker. “I’m not worried. You haven’t faced any casters that can take your attacks while running circles around you yet.”
“So you’re going to beat me with speed, strength, and your magic? Is this what fear sounds like?”
Shaking my head, I asked seriously, “How do you think you’re going to do against the better casters?”
“I’m not really sure. Manu isn’t fighting until tomorrow and there’s only a few others that could be considered good.”
He’d noticed the same ones Shamash had brought to my attention. Parth Gul was a wealthy merchant’s son, a Blue Mage, and an experienced duelist. He wouldn’t fall to something as simple as superior speed. The dwarf Lusa Egotak had her magic tree and poison that would also be difficult to manage. There was also the dark elf Eshana Dara. She had dual Schools of Magic and impressive speed. She also had vast experience in the arena.
I needed to focus on fighting melee opponents since I’d have to face Gansuk and his battle axe tomorrow. From what I knew so far, Gansuk had similar abilities to Sai, although he focused more on strength instead of speed, so his attacks would be fast, but also more powerful than Sai’s. My vampire friend’s advantage was that he could launch more and quicker attacks with his saber…
We were leaving the arena to head to the next fight when a young woman in a dress of black with a green apron stood in our path with her arms crossed. Her black bangs were cut straight, and her short hair hugged her round face. Her features were small and cute except for the scowl she wore to greet us—or Sai?
“Sai Darvish,” she growled. “Have you lost yet?”
“Arzu,” he said with a mocking grin. “Oh, how I’ve missed you. Meet my fellow competitor, Zerin.”
She immediately had a change of demeanor. It was disarming. Though she didn’t outright smile, her eyes carried a lot of emotion. If I weren’t here to see her initial greeting, I would have thought she was actually excited to meet me. She nodded her head deeply, as if meeting a superior, except her eyes never left me. “The honor is mine.”
The next moment, she was standing between us and taking my arm. “I’m Arzu of the Glory Bled Brewery. We’re a first generation brewery founded here in Hallow.”
Sai had given up and was already heading to the next fight we’d agreed to watch. She was following him without so much as looking while leading me along. She spoke as if what she was telling me was the most amazing thing in the entire world. I admit to being seized by her charm, but I could already tell what was coming next.
She hadn’t stopped talking. “Our human stock comes from the royal capital and doesn’t receive their first bleeding until after reaching level 1,000, so our standard is the same as luxury breweries. Once my fiancé is done trying to relive his glory days in the military, please come by for a tasting. We incorporate Golden Pip into our wine which is a local wild
berry that gives it a flavor unique to us.”
Human stock… It had been my intention in befriending Sai to explore the world of vampire ethics, and now I’d found out he was directly connected to a brewery that used human blood as a main ingredient. Should I have been surprised?
Sai looked back, rolling his eyes. “He’s a beast-feeder.”
Arzu was stunned for a moment, then looked up at me as if for the first time. With a sigh, she gave me a slight frown. “I see. I’m afraid we are a few decades from extending our line to meet the appetites of niche markets.”
She was completely shameless.
Patting my arm as if pitying me, she let go a moment later then sped up to walk with Sai. “When you’re finished with this nonsense, your mother expects you to make a decision—and so do I.” She stormed off before he could respond.
Stopping long enough for me to catch up, he didn’t say anything as we made it to the entrance of the middle arena. We took a flight of gloomy stairs up to the arena’s stands where we followed the crowd and found our seats low on one side.
It was only then that he spoke. “Sorry that you had to deal with that.”
“You have a fiancée, huh?” I replied, unsure how to broach the topic of treating humans as cattle.
“Only according to her and my parents. I may have also winked at her once.”
“I’m starting to see a pattern here.”
“Yeah, I have a problem.” He laughed but it was bittersweet. “That, among other reasons, is why I’m trying to find a way out of here.”
“There’s another girl?”
He shook his head. “No, but sort of. At first, I was on board with the brewery idea. Arzu and I both grew up poor and we’ve known each other since we were kids. You can guess the rest. It’s not easy to change your status, but if you can create a product that enough people like, money will follow. Our parents did most of the groundwork. Arzu and I are supposed to get married and take over. But…
“Years ago, before I did my two years of service, there was a girl. She was so delicate that she was borderline frail. She also happened to be part of our human stock. One of my responsibilities at the time was to raise the young offspring to prepare them for their first bleeding. At Glory Bled Brewery we treat them well. Families are usually kept together, and we take a long term approach to keep them healthy. Many are given chores, but to be a bleeder is in many ways a pampered life.”
As he explained how they treat them, it sounded like it was an excuse he had held on to for a long time that also put a bad taste in his mouth.
“That’s not always the case,” he said, staring off while lost in his own memories. “The human girl took a little longer to make it to level 1,000 than average, but it was acceptable. She still looked delicate, but with some focus on her Constitution she lost her frail appearance.”
He fell silent before continuing. The direction of his story was relieving some of my concerns about him, so I felt it was appropriate to lighten the mood. “So you winked at her?”
When my comment didn’t stir him from his musing, I knew his story wasn’t going to have a happy ending.
“After her first bleeding, her frailty returned. At first, it seemed nothing was odd, but her recovery time was more than twice that of other bleeders. I took responsibility for trying to help with her recovery. I tried many things, like lessening the amount of blood we’d take, diet, even increasing her Constitution, but nothing sped the process. A few months later, after her twenty-second bleeding, I sat at the side of her bed hoping she’d recover quickly, because if she didn’t I would have to inform her that we were selling her. Most professions for human slaves aren’t gentle. Who knows if she’s still alive?
“At the time, I was too timid to do anything to help her, but after military training, after learning to fight, I’m not the same person. I made the decision back then that I didn’t want anything to do with the brewery. Now, if I do well in the preliminary, I can make another way for myself.”
I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised at his story considering he’d been willing to hang around me even though I was a beast-feeder. There was one thing that still didn’t make much sense though. “Don’t you still drink human blood?” I said.
He shrugged. “Sometimes. It’s impossible to be a beast-feeder in the military because all they give you is the cheapest human blood available. I’ve tried going without once I was out, and some of the time I succeed. I’m not very disciplined, and it’s just like my problem with winking. I still crave the taste.”
I felt Shamash’s gaze on me even though he was still in his vampire form. I ignored him but knew that he feared everything Sai was telling me would make it even harder for me to return to our original plan. He wasn’t wrong. As much as I should perhaps hate Sai for still indulging in his bloodthirsty nature, the fact that he had a conscience, and wanted to change himself, made a huge difference. There was still the issue that he might try to kill me if he knew I was a human impersonating a vampire, but we would deal with that if it ever came up.
“How do you do it?” Sai suddenly asked.
I was at a loss for what to say. After thinking about it for a moment, I decided to be honest—in a roundabout way. “I don’t drink blood.”
“Any blood?” He leaned to the side of his seat to look at me from a different angle.
“None. I only drain beast blood magically so as to starve my every temptation for any kind of blood at all.”
“You’re a madman.”
“I won’t deny it. Have you considered trying to join the Tir family? They’d probably be able to help you with your cravings.”
“Yeah, by beating it out of me. They are even crazier than you are. Have you seen how they dress in animal skins? They’re savages.”
“So you don’t like human exploitation and are using violence to earn your way to a better life? What’s the difference between you and them again? The way you dress?”
“Yes. And have you seen how serious they are all the time? It’s exhausting.”
I didn’t say anything but gave him a look.
He looked away. “I’ll think about it. Besides, I’m sure they have some drinks that a man could look forward to after a long day of work.”
“And lots of girls to wink at.”
As he laughed in response, it seemed he was finally back to his usual jovial self.
What I’d learned about Sai was a relief, but my attention fell back to the real problem at hand. If I wasn’t going to return—couldn’t return—to the mass slaughter of vampire guard posts, then winning here was my best option to finish my true mission. Tomorrow, I’d face the first opponent Shamash had warned me about. Even though I’d grown, this orc tank could present as much of a problem as Waldemar the minotaur, if not more. The minotaur captain had been given honor through service to Mistress Nava, but he was also at a lower level than the talent I faced now. And this time, I’d be completely alone.
Chapter 18 – Orc Respect
My merging of Dark and Blue Magic was coming along as well as could be expected. After the last fight I watched with Sai, I returned to my apartment to focus on such training. My Vampire Form’s level was advancing steadily, but it wasn’t the only thing. Creating Mana Orbs had become such an easy process for me that I would quickly lose track of how many I created and even which alignments I used in the process. Working within my mana restrictions was the only thing that pulled at my focus.
“If I win the preliminary, how many orbs will I need to make to purchase enough to reach Trueblood?” I asked Shamash who stood watching me in his lich form on the other side of the room. I felt his gaze fall on me where I sat in front of the blood fountain.
“Since Trueblood is impossible to buy outside of winning in the arena, unless you kill a Trueblooded vampire, you’ll have to rely on Half-blood,” he replied. “That’s a problem. At first, it will greatly enhance your bloodline, but the more you Drain, the less it will help. If you Drain
it before Draining the Trueblood, then it will have the best results. Even then, you will probably only get 80% or 90% of the way there. Getting the last 10% to 20% will take hundreds if not thousands of bodies of Half-blood. Without a body of Trueblood, it would probably take a week of mass-producing orbs to afford enough. Could you afford it? Yes, but carrying that much blood, or the thousands of orbs it would take to buy it…
“Also, the richer your bloodline is, the more of a target you will become. All someone would have to do is kill and drain you. Once we are outside of Hallow, you can transform to a different form. Even coming back here to our room to Drain it to reach Trueblood, then transforming to something else before leaving won’t be safe. Everyone knows you’re a Blue Mage, so if they are watching you to look for an opportunity to attack, then they will suspect you might leave in a different form. They can keep an eye out for your aura, which is difficult to change even if you were to switch to a form of a different alignment. The amount of mana you possess would still be the same.”
Of course, he explained a few things I could do to improve my chances of leaving safely. None of it was new. I counted the orbs I had stockpiled and was only halfway there. There was still plenty of time to make the rest. I made almost Dark Orbs exclusively. Doing so helped me advance my Dark Magic, but it was also the Alignment that most everyone in Hallow could absorb. That was why it was so easy to use them as currency.
The more I played around with enhancing my First School of Magic with Blue, the more I wanted to unlock Fire Magic as my second school. Outside of Light Magic, it was the main school of magic I used, but, since it was only Blue Magic based, with Fire Magic unlocked, I’d be able to blend the two and take it to a whole new level.
There was also the possibility of fusing my Dark and Fire Magics once I got the enhancement process down to a science. Fusing Magics, as I’d seen a vampire mage do a few days before, was truly advanced mana manipulation. It could take the advantages of two schools of magic and merge them. Shamash had answered my questions regarding the possibility but made clear that the enhancing of my magic with Blue was far more profitable in the short term. Knowing that I’d really only tapped into what was possible was both stimulating and humbling. I’d really only just begun dabbling in the massive world of magic.
Underworld - Scorching Sun: A LitRPG Series Page 14