Experimentation

[Vlad POV]

'Hm.... well, when are they initiating the attack and are they still in that kingdom that we destroyed a long time ago, and settled in?' I ask.

[They will attack in a week or two. That is all I can get. And yes, they are still in the same place, the ruins of the Traj Kingdom.] says Archibald .

'I think we have enough time.' I think to my self and go towards the back entrance of the castle.

Walking through the halls of Castle Dracula, a couple of things to notice is that the walls and pillars are made of a marble like material, but it's dark grey in color. The halls are littered with torches that are fueled by magic crystals.

On the floor is a dark red carpet, it looks very beautiful to be honest, on both sides of the carpet are white lines going straight and at the end of the sides of the carpet, there is small Celtic like etchings. The carpet is around four meters wide, and the hall is six meters wide.

Reaching my destination I turn right and see two guards, they bow and open the door. The door leads downstairs, to the basement, and it is a really huge basement. You could say it is basement/cellar/storage/laboratory/prison/dungeon... you get the point.

Reaching down and going through the halls where each side there is a door, the hall is four meters wide and on every two doors, there is a guard on both sides. Reaching to the end, were the laboratory is, I open the door and am greeted by Hendriksen and Esmeralda, they both smile and bow with their head lightly.

"We got twenty bandits, all healthy with no health issues whatsoever, although they do drink a lot. Might that be an issue?" says Hendriksen.

I sway my head sideways lightly and say "No, it will not be an issue Hendriksen. Thank you, both. You may leave now, I will deal with them. Be ready in my studies, for your change."

They leave and I look ahead, there is thirty-five strap tables, and twenty of them are occupied, the ones in the middle. All of the bandits are strapped from their ankles, knees, wrist, elbows, mouth and head.

I look and their treeified faces and grin, saying "It is showtime."

[2-3 hours later.]

Before I actually started experimenting on them, I forged pieces that would make a microscope, surgical tools and many other medical and experimental tools.

With that, I decided to just experiment with five for now.

First I started by trying my Vampire Lordship... and boy was it interesting. It worked instantly with the first one, I change him just by touching him, on the arm. The second one I tried to change and he turned into what I call a Mutated Vampire, this one looked ugly... ugly wouldn't even suffice to describe.

The first one was naturally weaker to the known weaknesses of Vampires, but I managed to negate them, give resistances and almost, almost immunity. Same thing goes for the other way around, I can remove things from the basics of a Vampire. Such as fangs, the ability to convert others into vampires, and much more.

The second one, the ugly one, I tried to change a lot of things and he turned into this monstrosity. He has... well not exactly resistance or immunity to the weaknesses, instead he gets enraged and stronger. Doesn't matter now, he's dead, I tested my physical strength and was able to crush his skull with one hand like it was nothing. Even though Vampires have very strong bones.

For the third one, I tried going beyond, Vampire Lord. I managed to do it, it seems the more I use my powers the more they become better in all aspects. I just feel like there is limit, where I will have to go for something or someone stronger... or something like that, for my powers to improve or achieve another "enlightenment" or understanding of my powers.

The fourth one, however he was different, not necessarily stronger. Instead, better and the reason for that is that he was a mage, I think by turning him into a Vampire, unnaturally. He become a Vampire with high attribute and/or talent in magic. The amount of magic he radiated was nothing compared to the others I have seen, but still significant. I called this a Mystic Vampire.

As for the last of the five though... that was trouble, these strap tables are made from Adamantine, with runes etched into it to draw in magic to stop or contain practically anything, anything not too over-powered.

The fifth one, I tried to go beyond Vampire Lord, what I would call a Vampire Elder. The amount of energy, magic, and aura this guy radiated was, was just mind boggling. But, I am pretty sure, that if I do this with a person who was a Vampire for a long time, they would be pretty strong. When crushing his skull... I got to say, it was durable, not insanely, but more so than the rest.

As for the rest, the fifteen bandits. I tried everything on them, all of my powers on five, I gave them high regeneration before starting and just went on a crazy trip. I grasped an understanding of my powers, but I still need real battle, I need the experience.

As for the other ten, I kept experimenting with my Dark Alchemy. Only five died so far... As for the rest, four were horribly mutated and for the last one... oh that was a success, if I may say so. Not the best, since it is still a work in progress. I controlled him to do some tests, and here is what we got; Enhanced Physical Attributes, meaning strength, agility, stamina, durability, endurance and so on. As well as Enhanced brain function. This was just a prototype, yet it was this strong.

I as well discovered that if I keep on using my Dark Alchemy on mutating beings, I will be able to maybe unlock or achieve a power that lets me control mutations, or at least help me to.

Concluding this wonderful experiment by killing the last bandit, I took the book with all the details about the experimentation and hid it in a "mini-space", a small spatial dimension. It is a rare element/attribute of magic, spatial magic.

I left the basement and went to my library. Entering, I find Hendriksen, Esmeralda, and... Volrais. All of them sitting around the table, it is a long table that has seven chairs. Hendriksen and Esmeralda are sitting on the right of the middle chair, and Volrais is sitting on the left.

"Well hello there, Volrais." I say, smiling while walking towards the middle chair.

He smiles and bow lightly with his head.

"So, are you both ready?" I say looking at Hendriksen and Esmeralda, they both nod.

"We let's get started then" I say standing up.