Dark Magic, the Laboratory, and the Vampire

"I've made up my mind to go, but..."

Although I believed I wouldn't die, that didn't mean I wouldn't face any danger. I couldn't imagine what would happen to me. Of course, I couldn't run away just because I was scared. I needed something important from that place.

"But it still makes me nervous. It feels like going to work."

As I got closer to the professor's office, my steps became heavier. Professor Caron Deflen, my mentor in dark magic and a professor at the academy, may not be famous, but he had a solid support base as a reputable mid-level professor. His characteristic coldness and calmness were powerful weapons for concealing his identity as a dark mage.

However, he wasn't lenient enough to overlook mistakes like the one I made. When I arrived at Caron's office, I could see the light was still on. Luckily, it seemed like he hadn't left yet.

Knock, knock.

"Professor Caron, it's Adrias Cromwell."

I knocked on the door and waited for a response, but there was no answer. After a tense moment, I heard a faint voice from behind the door.

"Come in."

I cautiously opened the door. Inside, a middle-aged man with neatly arranged black hair sat at his desk, examining a magic tablet that resembled a smartphone from the world I used to live in.

"...Adrias."

"Yes, Professor."

"Didn't I clearly say it was the 11th?"

"I apologize. I must have mistaken the date."

A cold gaze passed over me like a snake's tongue. It was an uncomfortable moment, and then he stood up from his seat.

"Seems like I shouldn't waste my time on someone like you. But I still need to make money."

"I'll make it up to you."

"Retrieve a corpse from the graveyard at Vin Hartz National Cemetery with the name Beinday. You have two days."

Vin Hartz National Cemetery. The moment I heard the name, it came up in my memory. It would take more than a day to travel there and back. But I had no choice but to accept. If I refused, I would be the one used instead of the corpse.

"Understood."

"Follow me."

As soon as I replied, Caron touched one of the books on the bookshelf. The bookshelf moved sideways, revealing a magical barrier.

"Open."

With a simple interaction of mana, a beam of light shot out from his ring, causing the barrier to gradually fade as it touched the owner. I followed him into the barrier, and a mix of the smells of various potions and decaying bodies vibrated in the air.

"I've seen this many times in Adrias's memories, but it's still creepy."

It was as if I had entered a slaughterhouse, with corpses of various animals, monsters, and even different races scattered around. There was no distinction between them.

"Phew."

I suppressed my frowning brow. As I followed Caron further inside, there were corpses that were neatly arranged on chains.

"I should have done this yesterday, but it doesn't really matter."

Caron muttered to himself as he used magic to lower one of the bodies from the chains.

"What are you doing? Are you still not focused?"

As I stood there, staring blankly at the body, Caron spoke to me. In response, my body instinctively began gathering various unknown reagents.

It was a familiar movement, as if my body remembered what to do. I first dripped the blood of Mandra-Gura, the plant given by Caron, onto the central floor.

Caron began using magic to construct a spell formation around the blood.

"Now, around this area..."

I sprinkled Torokan root powder in several places on the spell formation. Then, I arranged cursed items and reagents in their proper positions as mediums...

"Utcha."

When the corpse was placed in the center, it was done.

"Did it require such a complicated process?"

In the game, I could simply resurrect the corpses and summon the undead with a single spell. But now, it seemed much more complicated.

It was already giving me a headache. Once the preparations were complete, Caron arranged mana and created a magic circle.

As I watched the process, I felt an inexplicable gaze from somewhere and turned around.

"...?"

In the area with iron bars, a gaunt woman wearing restraints was looking at me. When I saw her, memories of Adrias surfaced.

"A vampire."

Wait, did Caron also have a vampire? Unlike vampires in other games or media, the vampires of the Crimson World were considered as a separate race. They didn't die just by exposure to sunlight. However, their rarity was extraordinary, and I could count the number of times I encountered vampires in the game on one hand.

"And because of that, I even had to do a ritual when I killed Caron."

Vampires were powerful individuals. With their strong physique and unique blood magic, they possessed a perfect balance of offense and defense. Although Caron was already a strong mid-boss-level talent, that was only during the progress of the game, around the middle. I wondered how Caron managed to keep a vampire restrained.

"Moreover, when I killed Caron, there was no trace of the vampire."

In the game, even after killing Caron, I couldn't find any evidence of the vampire. Of course, I couldn't confirm if this space was replicated in the game, but it was strange that nothing related to vampires appeared until the end.

"Could it be that Caron failed in creating undead by turning the vampire?"

Even in Adrias's memories, there was no relevant information. He only supplied the vampire with food once a month. As I carefully recalled my memories, an unrelated conclusion suddenly emerged.

"I guess I was completely fooled."

Adrias. Now that I think about it, he wasn't just lacking talent; he was also quite a gullible person. In his memories, he diligently polished Caron's shoes but didn't learn much from him. After learning the basics of command spells in the early stages, he didn't learn anything else.

Growl.

A sound that woke me up flowed out of the magic circle. The ominous red light scattered, and the circle started to absorb mana, forming a barrier.

"Graaaw."

What should I call that? A zombie skeleton? However, as soon as I had that thought, the undead that emerged collapsed.

"It failed."

Caron's calm voice echoed. After uttering those words, he started jotting something down in his notebook.

"Is it over?"

Was I called here for just this one thing? Now that I think about it, I've been called for quite trivial reasons before.

While silently cursing inside, my body diligently cleaned up the filthy room, tainted by the process we went through.

"Andreas."

"Yes, Professor."

"...Professor?"

"I'm sorry, Master."

He's a damn master without teaching anything.

But I sent him a loyal gaze like a quick recruit.

"It seems like Angela's food supply has exceeded a month."

Angela was the name of a vampire trapped in the bars.

"Yes, I will take care of it after I organize it."

"Andreas."

"Yes."

"You seemed to have changed, but you've become even stupider."

With those words, he left the room.

Could it be that he noticed the change in me?

As I entered Andreas' body, I also changed from my original personality.

Nevertheless, it seems like I wondered curiously about the clear difference between Andreas and me.

"If you pay attention to every little thing, you'll die sooner."

Mumbling to myself, I continued cleaning.

After all, I'm just a disposable pawn.

The only one who would care about my changes would be Charon at most.

If Charon only had such a reaction, there would be no need to worry about Andreas' memories or my behavior every time.

While doing the cleaning, just in case, I tried using magic spells.

Coincidentally, there were remnants of a medium and a discarded magic circle, which was a perfect environment for me.

[Basic Command: Summon Skeleton.]

[Warning! There are currently no summonable creatures remaining.]

Oh?

When I tried to use magic, it automatically came to my mind as if it were programmed.

Arranging mana and then constructing the spell one after another, a proper magic spell was activated.

It felt like a special bonus for the player.

"If I do this, there won't be much burden, right?"

Honestly, when I was planning in my room, I had a lot of thoughts about learning magic from scratch, even for dark magic if necessary.

In the end, I had to think long term, so I was considering borrowing books from the library and studying on my own.

But now I had one less thing to worry about.

"But I still have to learn more."

Generally, dark magic cannot be self-taught.

It wasn't for any special reason; it was just that there were no ways to learn the relevant knowledge.

In this world, dark magic was taboo, so it was being secretly passed down in secret circles.

If there were books or materials widely available, I would have tried self-study, but there were no books on dark magic.

...Of course, that's the story of ordinary people.

I had the conditions for self-study.

"The widely available books here are dark magic books."

That was my first growth plan.

Those were Karan's dark magic books.

Anyway, until I become stronger, I couldn't cut ties with Charon.

So I might as well make the most of him.

The things that Karan didn't even think about touching were the items I could use as Andreas.

After finishing the cleaning, I glanced through the items in the laboratory.

Even though I had barely done anything, I could see roughly what was what.

Even if I used them little by little, it wouldn't be noticeable, right?

I checked the shelves in the laboratory that were filled with dark magic books.

"Introduction to Dark Magic, Basic Lecture for Dark Magic Users, You Can Do It Too. Dark Magic!"

Unlike the books I saw at the academy, these had a slightly shady feeling, but for now, I took out the most basic-looking ones.

With that, I prepared to start reading the books in earnest, but I heard a voice again.

"Ah."

When my eyes met with the vampire Angela, I awkwardly scratched the back of my head and stood up from my seat.

"I forgot to give you food."

Her food wasn't anything special.

Since corpses were already abundant, there was enough blood, and I only needed a little bit.

I brought a long hose, as Andreas' memories told me, and handed it over the iron bars.

Of course, there wasn't much blood.

Just enough to prevent her from starving to death?

At that moment, I heard a cracking voice.

"You..."

As I handed her the hose, I wondered if I misheard something and raised my head.

Did I mishear her?

Just in case, I asked Angela.

"Did you say something just now?"

I had no memory of her ever speaking.

Even though I spent more than two years under Charon, it was the first time.

But she was looking at the hose in my hand as if she had said something.

"It seems like you said something, right?"

She seemed to be thinking for a moment and then approached me with difficulty, and she sucked the hose into her mouth.

I don't know how she got caught, but her determination to live was impressive.

After solving her meal, I calmly closed the book and stood up from my seat again.

"I forgot to mention the food."

Her eyes turned red.

That light was like the light that lures prey.

"And I will kill him too. What do you think?"

"Stop with the nonsense. Let's get on with it."

"Instead of feeding you to him, are you afraid of him?"

"That's not the only reason, but even if I don't believe you, I can make you suspicious. That's enough."

Certainly.

If the guy who hadn't said a word all this time suddenly started to suspect me and told Charon about my identity, it might create some suspicions.

"At least, if you don't release me, I will tell him your identity."

"...Are you sure?"

"I'm not asking you to believe me. I can make you doubt, and that's enough."

Definitely.

He had never questioned this guy's actions until now, so if he suddenly started to suspect him, it would raise some doubts.

"Before you make a decision, swear on your family."

"...Family?"

"Don't play dumb. Swear on your family clearly until then."

"...."

But unexpectedly, Angela hesitated.

'Don't tell me, she's hesitating even though it's just an oath?'

Honestly, I was skeptical about how sincere the oath would be.

A life-and-death matter like this, anyone would sacrifice their family's name.

That's why there was no surefire way to confirm her sincerity.

"...."

But Angela surprised me by finally lifting her head.

"Alright. I swear on the name of Lucifel."

Ding!

[Condition has been met.]

[A potential evolving individual has been detected.]

At the end of her words, a message suddenly appeared, which startled me.

Why did this suddenly appear?

[Angela Lucifel's potential for evolution: 55%]

[Two branching paths exist if evolution is pursued.]

[Would you like to initiate evolution?]

Why did this suddenly pop up?

And I naturally chose to confirm.