Chapter 14: Gathering Materials

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After today's classes, filled with Chris' shenanigans, Paul made his way back home. The weekend had already begun for him because he only had four classes per week, so he had the other three days to rest and do whatever he wanted. There was no more homework because he had finished it in the college cafeteria while eating with Chris, who had invited him to eat in exchange for copying his homework.

It was a rather devious way of "buying" his homework. Paul didn't really like what he was doing, but he was exactly too upset about it either. Perhaps with another person, he would have felt angrier, but Chris just had something that made him... Just weaker, for some reason.

He couldn't completely explain it, but whenever he saw those big blue eyes, he had a hard time dealing with the mischievous little devil. It was almost ironic that he ended up becoming an incubus in FSO; it was almost poetic to an extent.

It had been just four days since he had met Chris, but Paul was already slightly attached to him. He was unfortunately that type of person; when someone was friendly with them, he would get attached to them quickly.

This caused a lot of awkward moments in his life, where people he had thought were his friends would usually just sideline him or not want to interact with him at all anymore.

This was perhaps one of the things that made him slowly grow to have a lot of social anxiety, especially towards the opposite gender; he didn't have a good experience with ladies.

He often thought of himself as a loser and still does, but knowing there's a friend there for him slightly reassured him that, at the very least, he wasn't that bad of a socially awkward dork.

"I just wish he didn't just forget about what he had said," he thought.

Although he didn't want to think about it, Paul wished that Chris wouldn't be like the rest of the "friends" he had had through his life, people who, no matter how hard he tried to reach out to them, would simply ignore him and move on.

A lot of people were like that. What would make Chris any different?

Perhaps because of this, Paul was wary of calling him a friend for now and didn't want to open up with him either, not for now at least.

Though, for what it has lasted, he enjoyed yesterday; he did many things he never thought possible. Chris even tried to introduce him to a bunch of cute girls, and they called him handsome.

Everything else went terribly, but at the very least, the girls seemed to find him attractive; he simply now had to work on his own social awkwardness somehow.

He also made a livestream of everything and earned real money from it! He never thought he would ever have the personality or the talent to do such a thing throughout his entire life.

And thanks to his extra help, they were able to get a lot of materials.

"I guess today I won't be going into dungeons."

As he logged in after greeting his mother, Paul opened his eyes as Vlad spawned inside his house. Looking around, he noticed that the lugubrious, dark, dusty, and spiderweb-filled manor was slowly becoming a familiar sight for him.

"Back here…"

As he logged in, he heard someone knocking at the door. He quickly moved and opened it without hesitation; it was nobody else but the incubus himself.

"Hey~ Just logged in, what's up?"

"Hey, come in. We have a lot to do today, so get comfortable if you want."

Paul walked upstairs as Chris quickly followed him with his little devil wings.

"We aren't going to grind at the dungeon yet?" he wondered.

"Not yet. Now that we have a lot of materials, I'll craft a lot of stuff first. We might end up spending the whole day doing that. Also, I'll teach you to conjure some magic, at least," said Paul. "I'll send you the files for the magic books I used to learn the basics of conjuration. Spirit magic needs a contracted spirit first, so I guess we'll have to leave learning that for later."

"Wow, okay, you're quite dedicated. But let's not waste your ten-minute buff; at least we should speedrun the three dungeons again," said Chris.

"Yeah, don't worry," Vlad nodded. "We'll do that later, though; for now, you're going to read all of this and learn basic stuff. Your Arcana stat is much higher than mine, and it is not below some horrible buff, so you actually can conjure strong magic spells. I rely mostly on the artifact's own Arcana rather than my own, because my own is nerfed by ninety percent."

"You sure got it tough, and at the same time, you're OP... Surely, a weird character build, a crippled useless vampire but ten minutes of invincibility per day, haha!" Chris laughed at Paul's avatar.

"Yeah, it's pretty shit, but I have to deal with what I got," Vlad said. "Yours is not the best either. Ah, now that I think about it, I haven't read what your Traits and Flaws are for, like information about them and their abilities. I know you have a weird core; you said it grows stronger by doing acts of kindness and goodwill. Now that's funny."

"Don't mock me!" Chris cried; unlike Paul, he was much weaker against being laughed at. "I know it's a tad weird, but I bet we can find some cool quests like that, right? Also, we need to register in the Hunter Guild and find more missions and quests! We've done absolutely none yet, dude; that's what the game's all about! Every other player's doing that instead of just hanging out inside their houses."

"Well, they're commoners that don't have such a big manor as me," Paul roleplayed as the noble vampire, using his wand to float over the stairs and reach his room.

Camilla was still sleeping there; she had changed positions, moving around as she slept. Right now, the little dhampir princess has her two arms spread out and her mouth open while snoring cutely.

"Camilla's still sleeping, huh?" wondered Paul. "I guess we have to leave her be. Let's move on to another place. Although her sleep is heavy, I don't feel right doing loud things in front of her."

"Me neither, but isn't she a cutie? She's like a little doll, haha!" Chris poked the little girl's nose as he floated above her.

"Hey, leave her be," Paul sighed. "Come on, let's go."

After storing all the necessary things he had inside his room in his Player Inventory, Paul and Chris moved to the adjacent room where the butlers usually slept. The difference in cleanliness compared to the rest of the house was too much!

"Woah, is this room really inside your house?! It looks so clean out of nowhere!" Chris said.

"Yeah, those damn butlers probably kept everything very well tidied up," Paul sighed. "I killed them for poisoning us and mistreating my sister. They were the first ones to taste the power of the Heavenly Demon buff."

"Hoh, you're pretty ruthless in games," laughed Chris, smiling at him teasingly.

Paul tried to ignore that comment as he moved on, placing the cauldron on the floor. With an infusion of Soul Ether, the cauldron quickly started bubbling.

This cauldron was one of the few incredible artifacts he could use and bring out of his soul at the moment. It was an Alchemy Cauldron that the Heavenly Demon used to concoct all the pills.

It was composed of several incredible materials, such as several unique metals that could only be mined in the mountains of the Realm of Murim, the scales of powerful dragons, and even the bones of mighty demonic beasts.

It was one of the Heavenly Demon's most prized treasures; however, because of the long time since he died, it had grown weaker, and it requires a lot of Ki to regain its former Special Abilities. For now, however, it was good enough to synthesize anything with the available materials.

And the more things he created with the cauldron, the more it would unlock its abilities. Chris noticed the cauldron and instantly flew to take a look at it.

"It's huge! Did you make your wand here? No way… How can you make such a long piece of stick in this thing? You boiled the metal or something?" He asked eagerly.

"Yeah, pretty much. I melted two different types of metals, used a mold, and then carefully embedded the cane-shaped wand with beast cores and runes so it could both hold Arcana and conjure spells," Paul explained. "It's actually pretty simple... The cauldron did most of the job."

"Huh, interesting. Alright, so what are you making then?" The incubus wondered, putting his face inside the cauldron. Because of his position, his long tail was constantly and unintentionally poking Paul's head.

"Don't put your head inside; it's dangerous, Chris." Paul grabbed Chris's long tail and dragged him out.

"Now, don't grab my tail! It's like, weirdly sensitive!" Chris cried, flying away.

"Just don't put your head there; once I activate it fully, a boiling liquid known as Alchemical Essence will be generated; it can melt and synthesize materials together," said Paul. "And by using the Alchemy Skill and the Crafting Skill, I can even shape the materials dexterously, as long as I have some tools, such as the molds, alchemy gloves, and more."

"Weird, it's like you're cooking more than anything," laughed Chris.

"You could say that, I guess," nodded Pual. "Anyways, to answer your previous question, yes. I'll be making a lot of things. First of all, I need to see how tough those obsidian skeleton bones are. I'll also try to smelt their rusty weapons and armor to get the pure metals. I think they have some magical properties. Once we're done with those experiments, I'll move on to equipment manufacturing. I'll make you a bow that can shoot magic arrows."

"Oh, not bad, but I don't know if I can aim well." Chris said.

"You'll have to practice until you do," said Paul. "Well, you'll probably learn a skill related to archery that can help you too."

"Hmm, fine, I guess I was the one that asked you for a long-ranged weapon in the first place." Chris nodded. "But I still like my devil trident."

"I'll make it stronger too, probably increasing durability, range, and damage. Maybe I could add some sort of ability? If I can imbue the runes for an enlargement spell into it, I could make it so your trident can pierce a foe from a distance by growing longer. Or maybe a float spell so it can float, and once you throw it, the trident can come back to you."

"Both! Both are good!" Chris seemed rather excited.

"I don't think I can do both, though," Paul said. "Hmm, I'll see what I can do…"

"What about you? What are you making for you?" Chris wondered.

"Honestly, something I've noticed is the lack of equipment slots in this game. You can just equip anything as long as your body has any space for it. I think most top players have begun to abuse this in various ways," said Paul. "But I'll do something even more insane and craft as many little accessories as possible and cover my entire body with them to increase my Arcana. The more Arcana I have, the longer I can move and the more spells I can use."

"So you're going full-on glass cannon build?" wondered Chris.

"Kind of, but I'll also make some armor too; a shield with magic properties wouldn't be so bad. My build is sickly and weak, but through {Float}, I don't have to worry about not being able to carry everything," said Paul. "You're also probably getting some armor... I don't know what kind of armor you could even wear, but some. At least a shield."

"Can I equip one?" Chris wondered.

"Although players have no equipment slot or type limitations, the equipment itself has certain requirements to be equipped," said Paul. "But I think I could make defensive equipment for an incubus if I go around some rules. I might need some materials from you."

"Huh? M-Materials? What do you mean?" Chris wondered, feeling slightly nervous.

"Like your nails, a few fragments of your horns and hair, perhaps the tip of your tail. It can regrow using pills anyways, right?" Vlad smiled menacingly, with crimson-red eyes. "Don't worry, if I use your materials in the equipment that's for you, I am sure we'll get good results and compatibility."

"Y-You're scaring me a bit, Paul…" Chris felt slightly creeped out.

But if he wanted good equipment, he had to agree with him and give him what he wanted.

"It won't be too painful," Paul smiled. "Now come here."

Chris felt both nervous and strangely aroused as the tall, handsome vampire with long, silvery-white hair and red eyes approached.

Only to scream as he grabbed his horns and broke them.

"Ouch! You monster, be gentler!"

"Okay, sorry."

Vlad then gently grabbed his hands, and using a nail clipper, he gently cut his nails and took them as materials.

Incubus nails weren't really small; they were long, very claw-like, and sharp, they used them to pierce a subject's flesh and drain their life force after all.

Chris felt a bit embarrassed as Vlad actually became gentler, taking his claws, his horns, and then some of his beautiful red hair.

Paul was acting coldly, but he was actually having his heart race.

"Are you done yet?" Chris wondered; his manner of speech became slightly shier due to the embarrassment. "Or you want something else…?"

"Something… else?" Vlad wondered as he looked at Chris.

Suddenly, both of their faces were very close, as Paul had moved Chris to one of the nearby beds.

His soft, silky white skin felt good as he gently massaged Chris's legs without realizing that he had been cutting the claws of his feet.

"Yeah… L-Like…"

The incubus's body suddenly started smelling sweeter as Paul noticed he was sweating, his breathing becoming heavier.

He didn't know what was happening, but he might've fallen for the boy's Charm Stat!

"Ah!"

Paul quickly realized that whatever he was doing, wasn't right, dragging himself back before doing something weird.

As crippled as he was as a Dhampir, his race was still quite resistant to a few status conditions.

"Shit, I shouldn't really look at you too much; your charm can get in my head…"

"Charm?"

"I mean, the stat, what else?"

"A-Ah! Yeah, right! Hahaha! You're such a dork, dude!"

Chris tried to play it cool, despite feeling aroused the closer the handsome vampire had gotten to him.

"Anyways, I got everything; it's better to not cut your tail; you're too much of a baby for that," Paul sighed.

"I'm not a baby; that's just torture; anybody would feel pain for that!" Chris complained.

"Yeah, yeah, anyways, give me your weapon and your equipment; undress yourself," Paul said with a poker face.

"Eh?" Chris only grew redder as Paul asked such a question, throwing a pillow into his face. "What are you talking about? You perv!"

"Perv?! Chris, this is a game; stop caring so much about stuff like that!" Paul said. "Look, I'll undress myself to show you-"

"Stop!" Chris covered his face not to look, but still looked at naked Vlad's body between his fingers, feeling slightly disappointed that he was still wearing underwear. "Hey, enough, I get it! Put on your clothes already!"

After a series of awkward discussions between someone who took games too seriously and someone who didn't, Vlad started experimenting with his new materials while Chris, embarrassed of being fully naked, covered himself on the blankets while reading the magic book file.

It was going to be a long day.

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