Labyrinth Hunter - Book I: Undercover

I woke up… thanks to a weird feeling of my body being moved against my will.

"Wah…"

A weird sound escaped my mouth when I tried to open it, since the light was too dazzling. In the next moment, I felt something moving close to my head and then I felt a piece of cloth falling on my forehead. It took a while, but eventually, my eyes adjusted to the light. That really helped.

I thought I was in some open field with the sun right above me, but I was inside a clearing, apparently. There was a hood covering half of my face as well… I could sense light movements coming from below, so that confused me. I could tell that my legs weren't moving after all. What happened? Those movements were too fluid, and I was a pretty tall adult. No way someone would carry me that easily.

All of a sudden,, an enormous head approached from the side and I couldn't help but blink in astonishment. It was the face of a man in his thirties. He had a bit of long black hair and he had a square-shaped beard. It was a bit overgrown as well. Anyway, I had never seen this guy in my life, so I wondered why he was checking on me. The look on his face was quite troubling.

He looked at me unfazed with his emerald green eyes, but soon the eyes betrayed a bit of anger and frustration when he squinted at them.

'What is going on here? Is he carrying me? He looks strong, but… not strong enough to carry an adult man like it is nothing.'

Before I could try to understand the situation a bit more, the dazzling light came back, and I had to close my eyes. The light had always been there, actually… it just became more obvious when we left the clearing. I didn't like where things were heading.

By the look of things, it was mid-morning since the temperature wasn't high, but my eyes seemed weirdly affected by the light of the day. That usually happens when I spend the night partying and drinking, but I left those days behind after I graduated from college. My liver wouldn't have lasted for long if I had kept following my moronic friends.

I tried to recall my last few memories, but there was nothing unusual… I went to bed at the usual time, after returning from work at also the usual time. Yesterday was Monday, so things had been a bit more depressing than usual, but aside from that, nothing. Ah, I fixed the engine of a car that a moron had almost burned to a crisp thanks to the lack of maintenance… I changed a lot of parts, so a new engine was almost the better option. At least, I had the chance to focus on a single project for a while and we had all the parts necessary too.

All of a sudden, I heard some weird metallic sounds approaching from the distance alongside the grunts of horses… Before long, the black-haired guy stopped moving and then a large group surrounded him.

'I guess this must be a weird dream… first stage of grief: denial.'

I thought that bandits would attack the black-haired guy and me, but soon the sound of metal ceased, and the black-haired guy calmly stared at everyone around. I heard the sound of a door opening and then heard some footsteps approaching in a hurry. Eventually, a bunch of women hugged the black-haired guy. Four of them had their hair tied up in weird styles, like Victorian? It was hard to say… and they were quite the lookers as well.

'Well, with a jawline like that, even I would be insanely popular. Still, dude... a four-timer, your balls must be made of titanium.'

The women didn't look like the guy, so I assumed they weren't his sisters or cousins. Eventually, the women found me and opened their eyes wide in disbelief while stepping away.

'Ouch… what is with that look? I know I am no David Beckham, but I can't be that disgusting looking.'

I saw those looks a few times before… they came from women that I had tried to talk to. and they had thought that I was hitting on them. Their faces clearly conveyed the message: "Are you hitting on me?" Are you insane? When one realizes what they are thinking, one can't run for the hills faster.

In any case, after a bit of commotion where the man spoke some weird words that made little sense and the women made a lot of noise, we began to move again and soon we entered a carriage. The interior of the vehicle was pretty fancy and well-decorated, too. It looked like the black-haired dude was rich, or maybe he was a trust-fund kid.

Anyway, what I was thinking? I was just trying to avoid thinking about the obvious fact that I died and was probably in another world. Carriages don't exist anymore on modern Earth… I was 99% sure of it. The other possibilities were that someone drugged me or that I was having the most lucid dream of my entire life.

'I don't know how I even died, so how come I can accept being reincarnated? I have read about this kind of stuff, but not even once in my life had I thought that it was a real thing. How could I...'

For the time being, I decided to just wait while considering the second and third possibilities. Eventually, I fell asleep and then woke up when I felt I had soiled myself. The dream was slowly turning into a nightmare. By the look of things, it didn't seem that either of those women were my new mother. I couldn't tell if the black-haired dude was my father… I thought he would be if he cleaned my mess, but someone else showed up to clean up. I was thankful for not being cleaned up by a guy, but at the same time, I wasn't. It was also a woman wearing Victorian maid clothes. She also had that thing that maids used… what was called it again, mob cap?

The maid was in her forties and she was a bit plump and she also looked at me with disgust when no one was looking. In my humble opinion, she wasn't a ten out of ten, but even if someone like her looked at me like that, I should be pretty hideous.

'No handsome status for me again. What a surprise. Bad luck in the genetic lottery again.'

Name: Regulus Dawnshield

Race: Dhampir

Health: 10/10

Regen: 0.1 per hour

Mana: 10/10

Regen: 0.1 per minute

Stamina: 10/10

Regen: 0.1 per minute

Traits: Minor Weakness to Sunlight, Minor Sensitivity to Holy Magic, Minor Aversion to Silver

Classes: (None)

Aptitudes: (None)

Experience: 00

I was caught off guard when that showed up in front of me… soon enough, I realized that thinking of status made that show up. Doing the same made it disappear… Once I called it again, I confirmed it didn't cost anything to use. Still, are you for real? A status screen? Can I stop being in denial now?

'Dhampir? Aren't those half-humans and half-vampires? Oh, I get it now…'

It wasn't because of my looks people looked at me with disgust; it was because I was a Dhampir. I couldn't understand how a human and a vampire could have offspring. Still, that wasn't important, what was important was the traits that I had thanks to being a half vampire… they are all negative traits because nothing in my life can go right, in the old and in the new world.

Minor Weakness to Sunlight

Dhampyrs are slightly sensitive to sunlight, which can affect their abilities and health. All of your parameters decrease by twenty percent during the day.

Minor Sensitivity to Holy Magic

Dhampyrs feel discomfort when affected by holy magic. All healing spells, support spells, and buffs are fifty percent less effective on you.

Minor Aversion to Silver

Silver is a bane to undead creatures, and Dhampyrs share this vulnerability to a lesser extent. Silver weapons are fifty percent more effective on you.

'Great, I only have demerits and not a single power of the vampires. This is an absolute head scratcher…'

In any case, despite the downsides, having a second chance at life in a world where a system exists was still interesting, so I decided not to complain too much. I also decided to check the system further, but I didn't find anything. That was odd. How come my parameters were only those? Maybe they will show up later since a baby isn't supposed to have strength or endurance or things like that.

For the next few days, I checked things with the system as much as possible, but I didn't find anything else since there was no help option or anything similar. That made me think that I wasn't inside a game, so it was a bit better.

After five days, we finally left the carriage. The guy who was supposed to be my father was nearby, but the maid who looked at me like I was a piece of dirt rag carried me. I couldn't move my body that much, but I at least was able to see that we arrived at our destination. It was a large house that had some tall iron fences and even a bunch of armored guards protecting the entrance.

'I took glimpses of him and he has a weapon and he looks strong too… so maybe he is a military officer.'

"Papa!"

"Father!"

While I was thinking about that, I heard the voices of children… There were a bunch of them, over five at least. I looked at the maid carrying me and she didn't look disgusted while looking at the other kids, so the problem was me.

'It seems that my new father is a player… the other women look human, so the problem must be that I am half. Being half vampire only makes things more difficult, I guess.'

Although I was still lacking a lot of information, I could at least tell that my circumstances would prevent them from killing or throwing me away. Still, I couldn't expect to be treated like a legitimate child. In the worst-case scenario, I would become a servant, or someone would kill me in my sleep. Yikes.

During those five days, I tried to think of some explanations… If vampires existed in this world, perhaps they saw humans as livestock. My new father looked like a man who would fight vampires, but because he couldn't keep his boy in his pants during the war, he had a fling with a vampire girl. Some people can't just keep it in their pants, apparently.

'I guess the weird part is the fact that I woke up without seeing her or just in time for the birth. I didn't smell like blood either… but I can't deny that he could have killed her. The possibility exists.'

If only I knew the language of the world… The black-haired guy talked with the women a bunch of times, so he should have explained things.

While I was thinking along those lines, they moved me to a simple room in the house. While thinking along those lines, they moved me to a simple room in the house, and I could tell that my new family was wealthy, despite not liking me that much.

I was also unpopular with the servants of the house since the maid put me in a cradle and then brushed her hands on her clothes.

'Hey, that is mean… I haven't even soiled myself today yet.'

That kind of treatment can break the spirit of most people… Still, I pushed those thoughts aside and then focused on my surroundings. The room provided a sense of comfort, but could have used a good dusting. Even the cradle looked like it had seen better days. Maybe I was in a servants' room since my stepmothers saw me as an eyesore.

I guessed that it would be better than being mistreated, but I would have to grow up fast because the servants wouldn't give me a hand, either. Without a mother and with my new father having who knows how many other children, I might be ignored, and no one would defend me.

'Well, no point in worrying about it… I will just have to make the most out of the situation and hope that it will be enough. I won't have to feed on blood, so that saves me from a lot of trouble. Hopefully, I won't wake up one day feeling thirsty for blood.'