The Hideout

Not the entirety of the following day was spent reading books. Arthur thoroughly and carefully thought and speculated about what had happened last night, his interactions with the father-son duo and what his plans were going to be.

The baron gave him a week, so, within that time frame, he must find a target and take over his or her body. Of course, it would be foolish and suicidal to attack any random noble and hope to possess his body without getting seen. Worst case scenario would be dying by the hands of town guards or the knights.

If there was one good thing from unofficially attending yesterday's banquet then it had got to be the money received from Baron and his friendly son.

The Baron was rather stingy and only provided Arthur with five Blakin Gold Coins, which were a lot for a commoner, but nothing to a noble. The head of the Lernon family, however, did not forget to warn 'Latif' that the money was to be used for the resources required to complete the experiment.

Feylord, on the other hand, gave him a small leather pouch containing twenty Blakin Gold Coins. If he used all the money in his possession sparingly, it could easily last Arthur two to three years.

Unfortunately, Arthur was planning on spending most of it over the course of the next couple of days. For his plan to work, he needed to equip himself with a variety of things that may come in handy later on, especially when fighting people, though he hoped he could avoid unnecessary bloodshed or direct confrontation.

Initially, Latif had a pitifully meager amount of money and about half of it was used on buying books, renting the inn room, and ordering food.

From dawn till noon, Arthur stayed at the library and read relevant books, all talking about the Militant Syndicate, the Aristocratic Consortium, and Vampires.

Essentially, the Militant Syndicate was an unorthodox kingdom, meaning that it wasn't ruled by a single entity such as a king or queen, but a group of people calling themselves the Aristocratic Consortium.

The number of people part of the Consortium changes every year, almost, but the average ten, and from what Arthur could gather, based on his speculations, Baron Lernon wanted to be part of the aforementioned group.

However, to enter the Consortium was no easy feat, even for a wealthy and successful noble. One must offer a great contribution to the syndicate, whether it was an economical and greatly-sought product, a commendable policy, or even donate a priceless treasure. Then again, the last method was rarely used as the hidden and powerful magical artefacts weren't easy to acquire, even with vast amounts of gold.

The baron's shady deals with Latif proved that he thought of the experiment as some sort of contribution which would facilitate his climb over the nobility's echelon and successfully integrate himself into the Consortium.

The Militant Inspectors were experts in their respective fields, well-trained individuals which had the role to keep the rampant nobility in check and tour the three regions of the Militant Syndicate to check on their lords as well as thoroughly examine any contribution they want to offer to elevate their status.

This meant that Latif played a vital role in the upcoming inspection, which explains why Baron Lernon was stressed and impatient. What Arthur had yet to figure out was the exact purpose of the experiment and what Latif and Lernon actually hoped to achieve.

It was plainly obvious that it involved Vampires, however, that was all Arthur knew, at least for now.

After visiting dozens of miscellaneous shops in Wilsden Town, Arthur deposited the newly-bought books in his inn room then departed for Latif's cave.

The old man's hideout was not far away from the town and though Arthur did not know the exact location, he was still confident he could find it. After all, the forest surrounding the town was relatively peaceful and was regularly patrolled by the town guards.

After leaving through the town's Southern exit, Arthur strayed from the main road and entered the lush and peaceful forest. Last time he passed through this region, he had been in his bat form, which made it much easier to navigate thanks to its useful flight ability. Then again, [Bat Flight] could only be used at the full moon and a flying bat would be very conspicuous in the middle of the day.

Nevertheless, even with Latif's old body, Arthur was able to locate the hideout within an hour. Though with slight difficulty and completely drenched, he was able to pass to the other side of the river bank and spot the motionless and dumb-looking zombie, which was Latif's one and only subordinate.

Even when Arthur got closer to the undead, it did not seem to notice him. It was leaning against the wall, half-asleep and twitching from time to time as if it was being electrocuted.

The parasite hesitated for several breaths then he nudged the zombie. It took three strong nudges for the hideous zombie to fully wake up and process what had happened.

"M-master!"

A comical sight proceeded to unfold as the zombie straightened his back and tried to salute his master in a strange manner. All that he did, however, was waving his twitching hands and eventually falling on his exposed butt.

"You're back."

The voice of the zombie sounded robotic and very unpleasant, but it didn't bother Arthur so much. He was too preoccupied about whether the zombie figured out the truth or not.

Fortunately, no such things happened and the two of them entered the gloomy cave. The place was exactly the same as he had left it; Stacks of old papers scattered all over the room, whether on dusty tables or on the dirty ground. Rolled parchments that were scribed with foreign runes or incomprehensible languages, which all looked like gibberish to Arthur.

The interesting thing about this room, at least to Arthur, were the half-decomposed rotten bodies laying on one of the corners. They let out an ungodly smell that would even make a zombie nauseous, however, upon a closer look, Arthur noticed that some of the bodies were relatively intact so there might be a chance that they could be possessed.

Before searching for any important clues, Arthur separated the intact corpses from the dismembered ones and began the process of possessing them, which didn't go as well as he had expected. Nonetheless, he did manage to possess two Vampire corpses, which was better than nothing.

Unfortunately, when he possesses a slightly mangled body, the wounds do not heal themselves and even if he wore clothes, they were still conspicuous. Additionally, as he did not know who the corpses belonged to, it would be foolish to use them, especially in Wilsden.

TITLE(S) : NONE

NAME : Arthur Bilgart

RACE : Blood Parasite

Lv: 3 (85%)

-

Strength : 56

Intelligence : 34

Agility : 48

Wisdom: 28

Vitality : 46

Dexterity : 50

Skills: Vampire Bite (Active Lv10) - Full Moon [Passive-Active] - Physical Enhancement (Passive Lv7) - Blood Succor (Active Lv6) - Mana Control (Passive Lv3) - Possession (Passive LvEX) - Universal Human Language (Passive)- Basic Arman Language(Passive)- Sadistic Torture (Active Lv5) - Corpse Dissection (Active Lv12)- Medical Field (Passive Lv4) - Knife Mastery (Passive Lv2)*

Although he did not gain any new passive or active skills, the one he already got leveled up and his stats increased by a good amount. In fact, when he returned to Latif's old body, some of the stiffness that weighed him down was lifted, though he was still a hunchback, sadly enough.

Without a doubt, Arthur needs real experience in battling people or monsters. Simply having good stats wasn't enough to defeat the baron's knights, for example. Then again, Latif's body wasn't suited for combat so, until a good vessel was found, Arthur would have to resort to tricks and under-handed means to entrap or kill those who deemed as dangerous or enemies.

Not only were his stats decreased when exposed to the sun, but with the lack of experience and the old man's body, Arthur was as helpless as a genuinely disabled elderly. Stats or physique prowess mattered little when you could not even use them.

The true purpose for coming to this cave was mainly to gather clues about the experiment Latif had been conducting. After examining the rotten corpses one last time, Arthur cast his gaze over to the door leading further into the hideout.

After a bit of pondering, he marched to the door and soon found himself walking through the dimly lit corridor he had been in last time. However, he soon noticed a blood trail on the ground; There were several bloodied footsteps heading inside, which raised the parasite's guard and made him order the air-headed zombie to take the lead.