8 Well Shit, That Doesn't Look Good

Leaning back in her chair, Astur opens the encyclopedia on the System interface moving to the page on Planet Vopal when she notices her phone vibrating to see an incoming call from Glacia.

"What's up?" Astur asks.

"I was bored," Glacia says.

"... I'm hanging up."

"No, wait, I was joking. I wanted to know what your planet is like. I've been going around asking what each of the other planets are like. I've only gotten around to a couple of people so far though. Mine's a bit interesting, the planet is called Sefar and it's full of Elves while Spirits like myself are rare. Apparently, Spirits are hunted for the essence we leave behind and because our remains tend to have special properties that can be used for various things. But that last part can also be applied to Elves, the only difference is that they're the dominant species of my planet."

"Are you alright with the situation over there?"

"Yeah, it's not all bad. The planet is essentially split into two groups one that pushes the hunter agenda and the other that wants to co-exist with us Spirits. So how's your planet?" Glacia asks.

"At the very least, it isn't as life threatening as yours is. Much like yours, my planet is also split into what's effectively two factions, although the circumstances are a bit different the premise is the same. Although I've only heard about your planet, I'd go on a limb and say that most if not all the starting planets are split like this, chances are this is why they were chosen to be starting planets."

"Your theory is probably correct, the situation is similar on both Zrathno's and Sömskar's planet. So what kind of people are on your planet, it was Vopal right, let me go and bring up the encyclopedia page for it."

"I was actually just doing that when you called me. Vopal is inhabited by three sentient races, Humans, Beastfolk, and what the people here call the Mystic races. The Beastfolk are effectively Humans, with slightly stronger senses and while some might have a few attributes that are superior to Humans, they also have a couple of weaker ones as well. Overall, the Beastfolk are essentially just Humans with animal ears and a tail. Then there are the Mystic races, both the guy I spoke to and the encyclopedia describe their main characteristic is that they drain the life force of the other races as sustenance, although the encyclopedia suggests that there may be more to them."

"Say, doesn't that kinda sound like the Demon races?" Glacia asks.

"Not just sound like, but I'm near 100% certain that it's just the natives of Vopal misnaming the Demons. The guy I talked to tried to probe me and confirmed that I am one of the Mystic races and as we both know, the Infinity Wolves are classified as Demons, being soul eaters. The encyclopedia describes Vampires and succubi as being examples of the Mystic races, yet we would classify them as Demons. But since I haven't met… no at this point it's more like I haven't truly held a conversation with one of the other Mystic races so I'm not sure if they themselves are aware of it."

"Oh, it sounds like something fun happened when you went outside."

"More like troublesome. There were a few people fighting in front of my house. I've taken care of it, but know I've got a Vampire sleeping on the sofa next to me and two corpses right outside my door."

"I remember you saying once you disliked killing, but the reason for it was different than most people. You have no problem with the actual killing part, it's the aftermath that you don't want to deal with."

"Yeah, I fully intended for the sleeping beauty to clean the mess up for me, it was her problem after all. Also, I'm curious, what're your stats and unique abilities?"

"That came out of nowhere."

"I was only a bit curious as to where I stand," Astur says, closing the encyclopedia.

"My stats can wait until you take a look for yourself, but I don't mind sharing my unique abilities. There are two of them, the first is called 'Zenith of Magic', which increases the potency of all magic I use by 150%. The second is called 'Suppression of the Sareav', which grants me a suppression effect when around other Fox Spirits, what this means is that other Fox Spirits will feel helpless if they try to fight me and are more likely to listen to me. What about you? And don't try to hang up without explaining after hearing mine."

"One is my Immortality and the other are my Divine Authorities, I currently only have access to one while my others are in a sealed state. Though most of this is conjecture since the System doesn't provide any information on this, I should unlock more of them as my level increases or something similar. As for the one that is active, it's the only one I ever bothered to learn to use, my omniscience. I can always know when someone says or thinks my name and can eavesdrop on them."

"Good thing the one you have is the one you know how to use since a lot of your others have some bad effects for the people around you. I remember tripping over myself for almost a week after hugging you because of the Authority of Misfortune. Actually, I had some bad luck right after I arrived here on planet Sefar and it's probably because I hugged you again," Glacia says.

"Oh, yeah, that did happen, now that you mention it."

"I remember one time where some guy was causing trouble at your sister's gaming cafe and she called you down to deal with it and all you did was tap his shoulder and his coat ripped while his pants fell down."

"I don't remember… wait, I remember that."

"Anyways, do you want to hear about Zrathno's and Sömskar's planets?"

"Hmm…"

As Astur doesn't really care to listen about the other planets, she comes up with a great excuse, she gets up and kicks Elizabeth.

"Ugh…"

"Hey, I gotta go, the Vampire is waking up," Astur says.

"Alright then, later," Glacia says, ending the call.

With a groggy feeling, Elizabeth rubs her eyes as she leans up from the sofa and looks around. As she sees Astur standing before her, the memories of the previous events come back to her.

"Since you're awake now, why don't you take care of the bodies outside?" Astur asks.

"Huh?"

"The dead bodies of the people chasing you, they're right beyond the barrier. Now go clean them up, it's your problem, not mine?"

With Elizabeth's thoughts becoming more clear as she wakes up, she soon understands what Astur is talking about and knowing it is indeed her fault, she follows Astur's instructions while they go outside to clean up.

While the actual procedure is a simple matter of just burning or burying the bodies, Astur herself doesn't want to do it but is fully content with standing behind Elizabeth during the whole process, from digging a hole to throwing the bodies in and covering it up.

With the morning sun rearing its head, Elizabeth wipes the sweat from her forehead, "Finally done."

"Good job," Astur nods.

Although Elizabeth is a little upset since Astur spent the whole time watching her, she decides to ignore it since Astur did save her.

"By the way, I don't think we've introduced ourselves yet," Astur says.

"Isn't that your fault since you put me to work as soon as I woke up and you never gave me a chance to say anything?"

"You say something?" Astur asks, pretending not to hear what Elizabeth just said.

"*Sigh* My name is Elizabeth Tepes, 16 years old and recently orphaned. I'm proud to call myself the heir of the great Vampire clan.

"I see… and I'm Astur Kojuuin."

"Eh? That's it?"

"I guess."

"Fine, whatever. So, can I ask a favour of you?" Elizabeth asks.

"Depends, what is it you want?"

"I want to suck your blood, I used a lot of my strength last night and drinking blood would help me a lot."

"I suppose that's fine, but let's head inside first, I'm hungry."

Moving inside, the two sit on the sofa as Astur stretches out her arm.

"Here, go ahead."

"Much obliged."

Taking Astur's slender arm in hand, Elizabeth brings her fangs down, taking in Astur's blood. But mere seconds later, Elizabeth's eyes widen as her face darkens.

"*Cough* ugh…"

"... Well shit, that doesn't look good."