From Chapter 35

“No.” There was a sudden windstorm that kicked up all the snow around me into a full-on blizzard. When it finally died down a blue skinned elven child stood in front of me. Two blue crystalline horns formed on either side of her head. Even her dress, a china dress of all things, was blue to the extreme. It brought to mind a song I heard from the early nineties about being blue.

The color scheme aside, it was hard for me to process that the giant snake like dragon that had wrapped around the mountain top and had to have been a kilometer or two long had shrunk to this pipsqueak. She pointed at me with a grin, each tooth razor sharp like a shark. “I’ll be joining you. Front row seats are always better than secondhand tales.”

I looked at her and just slowly took a deep breath. “Well. I guess introductions are in order. I’m Maxwell.”

“Lapis. The Frozen One.”

Chapter 36

Aurora

With Zaras taking most of the Greater vampires, and the others on their own missions, the dungeon was starting to feel lonely. The common vampires could talk a little, but it was like pulling teeth. My demons could talk well enough, but in their case, they were busy. I was pushing them as it was. I couldn’t distract them just for some idle chatter. I sighed then pulled up my status screen since it had been a while.

--

Name: Aurora Nightingale

Level: 10

Race: Vampire,

Sub: Dungeon Master – Night Queen

Sub: Dungeon Core

Total Mana: 2,000/2,000

Abilities:

Blood Sucking

Blood Magic

Elemental Magic – Fire, Earth, Death, Dark

Basic Sneak

Dungeon Menu

Learn Spell: 1

--

[Dungeon Core: Vampire – Night Queen. Owner: Aurora Nightingale]

Dungeon Level: 4

Total Mana: 277/4000

Absorb.

Create.

Destroy.

Summon.

--

I had completely forgotten about my learn spell. The incident with Losa happened right after I had gained the level. I’d been focusing on a few other things since then. Zaras teaching me blood and dark magic hadn’t counted towards the system’s learn count. That was beneficial. Tapping on the menu, a list came up.

--

Cruel Wind

Death Curse

Fear

Possession

Famine

Pestilence

Death’s Scythe

Bond of Death

Fake Death

Death’s Body

Aberrant Sorcery

--

Looking over the list, I wanted them all. Now that I had a goal other than trying to get out of the game, more power was necessary for me to achieve it. Last time I chose Death’s Sight which allowed me to look around the dungeon. While clairvoyance had turned out to be better, the benefit of Death’s Sight was that I could actually use other magics from the viewpoint. Something I had found out while testing various things recently.

A few new items had been added since the last time I had checked out the list. I decided on Aberrant Sorcery. It appeared to be the newest entry on the list thus must be more powerful than the others. Or I was completely wrong and was choosing a dud. Tapping on the entry, knowledge flooded into my mind from the system.

Aberrant Sorcery. I got it because my blood magic, dark and death had all progressed to higher levels. I clearly understood that as soon as I processed all the information. It combined aspects from all three disciplines. I licked my lips as many new spells entered my mind. This was going to be fun.

Jumping to my feet, I exited my tower and made for the prison. We had a few goblins there that the vampires were using for food. While they could consist off the dungeon mana, it was draining on the resource. I would eventually reach a tipping point where I couldn’t support any more monsters.

I was just lucky I had vampires that only needed to feed once a week when uninjured. If my dungeon consisted of goblins or something else that had to eat a lot, then I would be screwed if I didn’t make a farm or something inside the dungeon to support them. Even that wouldn’t be good enough in the short term.

A few vampires were in the prison keeping watch or feeding. I ordered everyone but two out to serve as my hands during my tests. Extending one of my claws, I crouched and started carving a magic circle into the ground. The image of it clear as day in my mind. I wasn’t sure how long it took, but soon the circle was no longer just in my mind, but on the ground as well.

I stood back to check over the circle to make sure there were no imperfections. That would be bad. Once I was sure nothing was out of place, I ordered one of the goblin champions over into the circle. His neck was covered in bite marks from the numerous feedings he’d been forced to endure. Once he stood in the middle of the circle, I reached out as if to caress his cheek only to swipe my claws across his neck. The goblin collapsed to the ground as his blood filled the engraved circle.

Holding my hands out, I began to chant the words in my mind, the magic construct that formed over my hands during spell casting took shape as well. Only instead of just my palm or wrist, this spell formation covered most of my arms. Before long, the body of the goblin dissolved as a new figure to shape on the ground. I paused in my chanting at the designated point and held my hand over the body.

Using my claw, I made a small cut on my palm. A small stream of blood dribbled out onto the figure, and it began to change. Before long, a beautiful woman laid on the ground. With the last words of the ritual, a surge of mana struck the woman’s chest and she started breathing slowly.

Breathing deeply, I fell back most of my mana used up. It had been close, but I knew from the information gained from the system that I had enough. The woman looked completely different than me. Red hair with pale skin, she looked like a northern beauty from Ireland. Taking another deep breath, I closed my eyes and recited another spell. When I opened my eyes, I was looking at a different part of the ceiling.

“It worked!” I coughed as my throat hurt. It felt like it had never been used before which it hadn’t. I sat up and found my actual body resting like it was asleep. I summoned Varroth as I got used to my new body. I needed some clothes, but that was easy enough to get. Curious about what it would say, I opened my status.

--

Name: Aurora Nightingale

Level: 10

Race: Homunculus Vampire,

Total Mana: 200/2,000

Abilities:

Blood Sucking

Blood Magic

Elemental Magic – Fire, Earth, Death, Dark

Aberrant Sorcery

Basic Sneak

Flesh Repair

Basic Telepathy

--

Varroth came into the room as I dismissed the menu. He appeared to know instantly that it was me in the body. He came over and rubbed his head against me like a pet dog would. “Good boy. Watch over my body, will ya?” I patted his head then made my way out of the prison. I was soon outside next to the barrier that had irritated me the last few weeks.

Cautiously reaching out, I went to push against the barrier only to fall through without touching anything. Finally! “Finally!” I repeated out loud. I was finally free of the dungeon that was nearly a prison for the last two weeks. Fuck! This felt amazing! I strode forward without another thought.

The moonlight felt amazing, as did the breeze. I could experience both while still being in the dungeon aura, but there was just something different about it. I wanted to both laugh and cry at my newfound freedom. I wasn’t sure how far I walked, but I had to come to a stop as I felt the link back to my main body weaken. I turned back and walked for a minute and felt it grow stronger. It appeared I had a range. That was a pity.

I wasn’t that disappointed though. It was still beyond my expectations to get out of the dungeon at all. I would pay more attention next time to gauge how far my range actually was. For tonight, I mainly wanted to enjoy the sensation of being free. At least, that was my plan until I heard the crack of a branch.

Turning, I found a single goblin staring at me. Based on how he was dressed, I assumed he was a scout or part of a patrol. The creature pointed at me before barking something out in his language. “What?”

The thing narrowed its eyes at me before switching tongues. “This lord Razz’s territory! Naked woman trespass!”

“I see. That is a shame.” I had honestly forgot that I was still naked. Being called out by a goblin of all things slightly ticked me off. I held out my wrists to the goblin. “You going to take me away?”

The little creature appeared taken a back for a second before he reached into his satchel and pulled out some rope. “Yes. Present to lord Razz. Get reward.” He moved closer acting like I wasn’t a threat anymore. When he was a step away, I reached out quickly and grabbed both sides of his head.

“Death!” He only twitched for a second before his face melted from the spell. I wiped my hands on his tunic before heading back to the dungeon with a skip in my step. I was pleased that my magic worked more or less the same even in this body. For the first time in the last few weeks, maybe even the last few months if I thought about my life before I came here, I was enjoying myself. It would have been better if Losa were with me, but I knew he could be revived if I worked hard. Thus, I could allow myself to enjoy the moment.