Solution

Valerie Tepes still can't believe it. In her childhood, she's already been outcast due to her human blood. Sure it was hard but she has a friend who's also a fellow Dhampir like her but unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse and they almost died.

She was locked in a dungeon and has been kept because of her Sacred Gear that would give power to their faction.

Maruis was enjoying it for sure but she didn't. They took her friend away and she almost got executed if it wasn't for her Sacred Gear saving her but now? Maybe she should've just died.

She'd rather die than experience those experiments again.

Then she got rescued, sure it was a strange man but she didn't feel any malice from him. Call it intuition, at least he's not giving the same vibes as her brother Maruis.

She found out a lot of things, from the world and her supposed gift, a Sacred Gear belonging to the classification of Longinus.

Some people may have been thankful for having such a gift but not her. Back then sure it was, it did save her after all, but it also made her life worse.

After getting rescued, she didn't know what to do. Find her friend? Where would she start? Going around in Romania? It would only be a matter of time before her "family" found out where she was and dragged her back to that cage again.

So having no choice and also out of gratitude, she followed him. Surely he knows what he's doing right?

"I'm starting to have second thoughts. I can understand you going to the Church but what about me?" The Vampire Princess glared at her companion.

Did he forget that she's a Dhampir? The Church doesn't really get along with vampires.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. We're just going to check someone and then go to the Vatican after." Walking in the alleyways of Italy, Cao Cao assured her.

Valerie's right eye twitched. Is that supposed to comfort her? As she was about to ask, she heard him continue.

"This is also a good way to train your Sacred Gear, your brother was…err experimenting on you, surely with the power of the Grail, you know something that would work?" He saw her shake for a moment but still continued.

The Dhampir who was about to snap, heard the last part and calmed herself down. He's right, she does know something.

Stopping in her tracks, she closed her eyes and focused on her Sacred Gear.

She always remembers when Maruis was angry at her because she didn't make any progress with her Sacred Gear but in truth, she was just hiding it. No way she would let him access her power, at least as long as she can do something about it.

There was a time where aside from healing, Maruis asked her if she can remove a vampire's weakness to sunlight, she always answered no but in truth she knows how to do it. It was easy for her as she's a daywalker. She's a Dhampir after all.

So what are her advantages? She has human blood coursing through her veins. By using the power of the Holy Chalice, changing her race into a human is not that difficult.

Cao Cao looked at the girl who stopped walking and his eyes widened. He can feel it. This girl is transforming!

A few seconds passed and Valerie opened her eyes again. Her slit pupils are gone and her canines are replaced with normal teeth. Her face wasn't as dead pale as well.

"You've actually turned yourself into a human." Cao Cao's eyes widened in surprise. Sephiroth Graal is hax!

Valerie looked at her hands and clenched it before speaking, "It wasn't hard, I already have human blood in my veins."

The hero descendant nodded. If Sephiroth Graal can turn Vampires into Evil Dragons who's not related to them in any way then why not humans? More so a Dhampir turning into a human.

"Problem solved then, now it's just the Sacred Gear." Cao Cao touched his chin. He can use the Fire-Tipped Spear to serve as his "Sacred Gear." No one would really care as there's a lot of Sacred Gears that exist in the world. Valerie on the other hand is different, he doesn't know what to do with her.

Hide her Sacred Gear? He does have that kind of Talisman from Nezha.

"We can hide your Sacred Gear." He suggested. As he said, this world is weird. Gods can't notice Sacred Gears but low level Fallen Angels and Devils can? What a joke.

Valerie nodded, agreeing to that decision.

"By the way, where are we going?" Now in her human form, they both came out of the alleyway to greet the busy streets of Italy.

Cao Cao didn't say anything when they took off and just landed in a forest near the city before walking, she doesn't know what they will do here.

"You can say that I'm here to meet someone, a healer to be exact. She's pretty rare so I wanted to meet her." The hero descendant answered casually. Asia is a good investment, not only is she a rare healer but also a human with strong faith.

He needs that kind of person in his group.

"I see… so you're gathering members from your group?" Although it was supposed to be a joke, Valerie did hit the mark.

"Exactly, I was wondering, why don't we Sacred Gear users or any outcast help each other out? Seems very efficient to me." Although Cao Cao said it without any passion in his voice, Valerie can tell that he's serious.

Or else he wouldn't rescue her.

"That means you wanted to recruit me then?" The Vampire Princess raised her eyebrow.

Cao Cao nodded, "Indeed, but I'm not interested in forcing people. I find preaching unappealing after all, so it's up to you or them for that matter to decide. I'm just here to extend a hand."

That's the truth, there's a lot of people he wanted to recruit but he's not delusional enough to think that they would join.

He wasn't interested in becoming a wanted terrorist just because he decided to kidnap or even extract Sacred Gears of his potential teammates just because they refused.

Valerie nodded but didn't say anything more. She can't answer yet. At least she didn't think it's time to join. There's a lot of things that can happen in the future and she still has things to do. For example, finding her friend.

Cao Cao saw this but didn't push either. There's a lot of time, no need to bother about it.

Now, he's here to see the Holy Maiden of the Church.