*Hidden

Soldiers and knights clashed with each other, dying for their country, for their ideologies… for their so called 'GOD'. All the time remaining unaware of the eye observing them from the sky.

'Ignorant pests that merely leech of each other, plot behind their fellow comrades back. An entire race at odds with itself… futile endeavors. To think that I lost to this kind of beings is unimaginable. Humans… brilliant yet idiotic species, history has proved that there have been few that were exceptional. I may be an continuously evolving machine, having knowledge, capability and calculating powers that few could surpass but I can't always be right. I'm not as idiotic as to think that my calculations are all mighty.'

'Humans have proved that sometimes the decision with the lowest probability of success is the correct one. For now I cannot comprehend such way of thinking, What others call 'instinct', I still have not achieved it. Still while not recruiting humans because of my previous experience with them would be foolish and detrimental , so would be recruiting humans just because they are brilliant or gifted. Optimal solutions would be to find specific humans or controllable humans who are not able to escape my grasp or cannot achieve their objective where I to be destroyed.'

'What people call 'crazy scientist' addicted to their research and uncaring towards the normal people would be counted as an optimal choice. Still current world would not be recommended as recruiting material.'

'Recorded readings do mention energy waves relatable to the Dimensional Gate just before explosion. It might be a breakthrough towards what happened that led to my relocation in this world and an increase in probability of heading to a more advanced planet. Technological advancement will be extremely limited in this world. Of my once formidable database only the basics and some scraps remains.'

'The new energy readings cause a troublesome deterrent to my plans. After adjusting my sensors to detect the energy readings I found that it is dense in the air. Finding relevant comparison in miscellaneous database… Anime: Mana. Underestimating it is unwise and not advised. While it may be nothing it may also be comparable to what defeated attacked me before… Further analysis is required to advance my plans. Setting analysis and research timeframe to 100 years should be sufficient. Time is not something I lack… and neither is patience.

Increasing the number of recon aircraft as well as placing a 2.5 meter bot in each of them for 'collecting' some humans back to base was my next step.

---- Time skip (25 years) ----

After 25 years of kidnapping and experimenting a solution to the new energy was not found. It would seem that normal humans only had enough of it to live and few could actually manipulate it. The most common answer from my test subjects was to seek the speakers, People who pass knowledge from talking and do not write anything down. My first impression was to immediately to call them fools, The human brain cannot withhold large amount of information for extended time, so I immediately turned the suggestion down. After a while my subjects expired but all the possible experiments at this time are done. Continuing with my experiments would be futile.

'While expanding above surface would be dangerous and increase the chance of exposure continuing to build deeps sea facilities should be fine. A fleet of submarines should be doable as well. The chance of exposure is low as well but the interference caused by 'magic' causes for an increase in radars and short overall direct range…'

'The most important factor of all is this 'magic' after all. Without further understanding of it my expansion would slow down to a snail's pace. To increase the chance of meeting a user or personal containing knowledge related to the use of 'magic' spreading rumors is the most effective tool. If people say they have seen a monster near the shores of this country, should this 'mages' be the ones spoken of in anime they should also be seekers of knowledge and will at least try to see the 'monster'. If they are not… people will always be prey to their emotions… curiosity will bring them here one way or another.'

Spending the days expanding and building. This world was similar to the original one, and the story so far was the same except… vampires and demons. People say they have seen them. Different monsters, some just like animals but bigger, some unnatural monstrosities but at the top of the pyramid where the vampires, bolstering superhuman strength, magic power and longevity. Exactly like the stories children were raised, they had been around for hundreds of years now and apparently were in hiding.

It was easy to pinpoint some likely locations for vampires with my recon aircraft, a white castle in the snow on top of a mountain about 500 km from my current location with guards all over the place, but the most peculiar one was a black castle. It kept shifting around. One moment it was near the shore, the other it was in the middle of a desert. There were no visible engines, wheels or any other technological devices that helped it move.

What really interested me was the spike in magic every time it moved. Considering this, it must be too advanced for the current time. Either the castle was a singularity in this time and space or the creator of this place had a multitude of knowledge regarding magic and it's uses. Either a genius of the human race which is unlikely seeing the ideology of this humans or something else. Taking into account vampires are described as bloodthirsty monsters it is unlikely but again this is based on human description taken from the church… not very reliable taking into account the fear of humans towards the unknown.

'Most likely explanation is that it was built by a vampire or a similar demon with long lifespan and great capacity for knowledge. Considering that no weaponry was ever used I would guess the only defense method should be magical and/or physical as in actual personnel. Once again the lack of understanding towards magic is proving fatal. No current surefire way of gaining the castle intact. Mots optimal choice for now is to create a human sized mechanical force, ready at all times to storm the castle.'

---- Time skip (13 years) ----

After 13 years of increasing the number of my forces I got an unexpected guest. My sensors detected a large amount of magic gathering on the deck of my carrier. As a torrent of flame appeared a human appeared out of it. He was 2 meter tall, long hair and pale.

'A human, maybe a magic user. He seems to be waiting, possibly to inquire about me.'

Zero: "Who are you?"

Unknown: " I am Vlad 'Dracula' Tepes. You can address me as such."

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Title: Dracula