28 Vampire!

"Vampire magic?" said John. He knew from Mel that there were vampires in this realm, but he had little idea of what they could do.

Were they stereotypical vampires that could move fast, turn into bats, drink blood, and all that?

Did they have the same weaknesses? Allergies to garlic? The sun? Fear of Jesus? Wait a second, does anyone even know who Jesus is in here?

[Vampiric magic is classified as Wild, focusing on the body] came Mel's explanation, and John was relieved to hear her voice again.

She had gone quiet for a little while, saying she needed some time to further analyze his body to make sure the Angelic seal he had absorbed was not harming him.

During this time, she had held off on telling John to access his Inner World for fear that there might have been issues with it, and as a result, he also had not had the opportunity to get his second Arcana.

[Vampiric Wild Magic manipulates blood and flesh, and it is quite varied in its capabilities. Some vampires will focus on creating projectiles with their blood, others will favor enhancing their musculature and blood flow for stronger physical prowess, and so on.

A universal weakness among Vampires is a weakness to solar energy. Their cells will rapidly degrade under sunlight exposure as will many aspects of their magic].

'Basically, then, I'm a walking, breathing counter to all vampires,' said John.

[Certainly, you are uniquely suited to battling Vampires] said Mel. [But take care to not let confidence overtake you.

What is universal among all Vampires is an ability known as Reversion that allows them to tap into the blood of their deity, the Crimson Presence.

They obtain a far more monstrous and destructive form and their weakness to sunlight is significantly negated. The strongest Highlord vampires may match even the might of Dragon Lords when they fully Revert]

'Thanks for reminding me I'm still a tiny fish in a big, big pond,' said John with a sigh. Just when he felt like he had gotten a lot stronger, reaching the High Mystic core stage, he just had to be reminded how weak he still was.

[Do not be so disheartened. The imp is a lowly creature, but his insight is correct regarding power and cores. A core grade determines only how much total mana your body may process.

It is in the application of this mana where battles are truly won.

Beings that have access to greater Arcanas and better Wild Magics will easily triumph those that hold large mana reserves but no efficient means to use them.

In this regard, Draconia reigns utterly supreme, and you, my child reign supreme even among us.

Your Wild Magic of Evolution allows you to take in the Wild Magics and bodily traits of every other being unto your own, and draconic Arcanas are some of the mightiest and most varied spells across the realm.

Your Inner World, too, will allow you to equalize fights with beings vastly stronger than you once you learn how to expand it]

'Still a long ways to go before I'm truly strong, though, but I'm optimistic I'll end up there one day. So Mel, anything wrong with me?' asked John.

[I will inform you in detail once you are done dealing with these lesser beings] said Mel. [But in short: no.

You should not experience any dysfunction due to the Angelic seal within you for the foreseeable future. Once your scales harden and your power stabilizes, you will have no issue accessing the Inner World and your Arcanas]

'Foreseeable future? That doesn't sound ominous at all,' said John before he took his attention back to the trio that had tried to jump him and Hemet.

The werewolf dude was still burnt up and weak, the dwarf was frozen, and the captain was unconscious, still clutching his box of Astra recordings. Just in case, though, his legs were also frozen up from a shot by Hemet.

"We free!" said the werewolf. He turned to the frozen dwarf. "We free!"

"And about to be eaten, yes," said the dwarf. "Be careful with me, dragon. There is enough alcohol in my veins to kill you, da."

"I am not going to eat you guys unless you really force me to," said John. "Why were you guys even hunting me?"

"Money!" said the werewolf. "Money to buy bones to chew on, good food to eat."

"Money for repairs." The dwarf took another swig of his canteen and sighed. "Oh right, ship blown up, da. Forgot. Buy new ship I guess."

Hemet emerged in front of John, coming out of a state of invisibility. He still clutched the blue bone shard in his free hand, and the veins across his arm now bulged black, almost like they were rotten. He put the shard back into the bag of holding, and his veins started to recede back.

"What was that?" asked John.

"I am too weak to handle Demonic Arcana," said Hemet. "But that Cursed Bone allows me to temporarily utter weak ones from the Ninth Circle. Specifically, one that shrouds my form from sight." He waved his arm painfully. "But as you can see, I cannot use it for long, nor successively.

Thus, I was captured by these fools."

"Bone!?" The werewolf's ears pricked up. "Where?"

Hemet pointed his ice gauntlet at the three attackers. "Now, they must die."

"Hold up," said John. "Hemet, I know they've made you suffer and imprisoned you, but for our well-being too, we need some more info out of them. They mentioned a vampire. They know things we don't."

"It was vampire that told us to attack you! The one that wants to buy you!" said the werewolf to John.

"Right, but you would have sold me to another buyer regardless," said John. He was met with silence, and John sighed. "Look, I get it. It's like hunting an animal. Capture, sell, make money. But I need to know if that vampire's going to be on my tail, literally."

"Da, he will be," said the dwarf. "But only if we go back to tell him you are here. You see, blood curse that Eluf here talk about makes it so in two days, we die. Explode from within. Make it so we must capture you.

But your breath has lifted the curse from all of us. Make us free. Means we don't have to report back. We can just run, go to Alliance Settlement where they cannot touch us, something like that."

"These are Outlaws," said Hemet as he kept his gauntlet aimed at the three. "Those who have broken laws and been exiled by their peoples. Even besides the pain they inflicted upon me by tearing away my wings, I cannot trust their words."

"That is captain's decision to hurt you," said the dwarf. "Not us. We did not want to trap you, but captain thought you had some great treasure.

Even if you did, eh, not worth the trouble.

I am just dwarf Magiteknik looking for work.

Eluf is good Werefolk, too. Simple and dumb, but good. If he was not easily tempted by bones, he would have left captain a long time ago."

"Who you calling dumb!?" said Eluf, and the dwarf sighed.

"Basically, the captain is the jerk, and you two are not. It does seem believable, but at the same time, I have no way of guaranteeing that you three won't just inform on us," said John. "Either to the Vampires or anyone else because it really does seem like everyone wants a piece of me.

I'm flattered, but yeah, not the kind of attention I want."

If John had access to his Inner World and the [Glamarris] Arcana that let dragons change their forms, he would be more inclined to give these guys more leeway because it would be way harder to recognize him as a dragon.

"We are in winter zone with no ship," said the dwarf. "We probably die to cold and monsters before making it to settlement anyway, and if vampire sees us, he will kill us with no hesitation. We have no reason to go back to him.

If you saw how he was, his arrogance, his cruelty, you would know, trust me."

"A shame, because perhaps I would have put in a good word for you." An icy voice devoid of anything resembling compassion cut through the air, and from the dark of the forest, a figure emerged.

A figure encased in black, spiked armor streaked with multiple lines of red. The red lines seemed to travel in circuit-like patterns outward from a glowing crimson red circle at the chestplate. This circle looked like a power source, occasionally emitting a gleaming pulse that traveled through the lengths of the red lines, fueling them.

His helmet possessed a visor not made of metal, but of a half-dome of smooth, crystalline gold that glimmered in the firelight. It sort of looked like the visor of an astronaut.

"Really edgy armor," said John. "Let me guess, black and red, you're a vampire?"

"Astute observation, dragon," said the vampire. "And they say that your kind is wise."

"I'm assuming you're the one that hired them," said John. "Wanting to make sure the job is done, huh?"

"Incorrect," said the vampire.

"You followed us?" said the dwarf. "Marcus did not trust us then, eh?"

"Oh, he did," said the vampire. "Or rather, he cared so little of you that he did not bother whether you were successful or not. He did not even believe you had a dragon in your care. But you should be heartened, mudbloods, for I did, and I only alone in the crew thought to follow you.

And now, I have been rewarded." The vampire pointed an armored, spiked finger to John. "And once I devour your blood, the blood of one of the Great Offspring, I, Severus, shall ascend to heights of power unchallenged.

No more will I serve, no, it will be time for my rule."