When I pop my head out of the tree, the sun has risen to stand right above me. I squint at it unhappily. How hard it is to do evil in broad daylight. I love the sound of it, but actually doing it is very unsatisfying. Villains were meant for the shadows, not the sunny fields!

Grumbling so, I emerge fully from the tree, spreading my new wings over the unassuming public. From what I could tell from the earlier broadcast, I am not alone in having gained power. This is... a set-back to be sure, but hardly a game-ending one. I shall simply drink the blood of my enemies, and gain their power! I'll bet their scruffy arses can't do that, hah!

Above me, I notice a bird squawking, a magpie in heat. Yes, here I am exposed, I must find shelter to check my stats and creature even more underlings. As my brother often wisely stated, better safe than sorry.

Well, finding shelter sounds nice on paper, but in practice, there are very few such places of asylum for mosquitos. Luckily, even without having increased my status after this whole evolution ordeal, I am still quite fast, enough so to easily weave through crowds without fearing a sudden high-five to the face.

Eventually, I do find a place to rest, namely, the inside of a public toilet. I cannot for the life of me recall someone every having used this place, not once in my seventeen years of life. Beezlebub be damned, I now understand why. Even with as small of a nose as the one I have, this absolutely reeks! The walls are all graffitied so horribly that the original colour can't even be seen anymore. Personally, I believe it was some foul version of beige, probably called "cream" to make it seem less disgusting.

I don't doubt that the colour was chosen specifically to hide any leakage, but that is all beside the point. Let's have a look at our skills, shall we?

David Branner Petite Vampire Level 1/50 Power Health 125/125 Blood 1000/1000

Status

Flight 54 Succ 15 Defence 35 Noise 35

Skills

Mitosis (2, 5 or 10 Blood/Use) Evolution Bloodwork Dark Arts

...System, you fanciful moron, are you trying to make fun of me with that name?... Had you simply named me "Vampire", I would have adored you for the good choice! Now, I shall-,

Oh, hold on. Dark Arts?...

...Do tell me more. Or I'll make good on my promise, you infant!

Dark Arts: Blood may be used as fuel to complete spells. Current spells known:

-Oho? Now, now now now-! Now we're talking, damn it! You certainly do not disappoint, although you do, at times, infuriate! Now, don't be shy, tell me about this... spell. Heheh.

Dark Arts Spells Reanimation (1000 B/use)

Raises a fully drained corpse from the dead to serve the creator at the cost of (1000) Blood.

Well. Well well well well well! What a useful little spell-! Nothing I'm interested in using right now, but... I'll keep it in the back of my mind for future use. Even just the thought of it brings a certain all-too-pious toad to mind. Having him as an underling... Oh, I dread it with excitement!

But, that must wait. For now, I need to recreate my army! As much as it pains me to admit, without my army, I am very little to fear. So, with all that said, I have time to admire my new storage. 1000 Blood. With this much, I could create a legion of 500 mosquitos in a single refill!

Well, I could. But I am nowhere that near-sighted. No, instead, we'll recreate the whole squadron system, but with Vampires at the top (I refuse to refer to them as "Petite"!), with Bloodsuckers just beneath. So, mosquitos cost two, Bloodsuckers five...

...Alright, so, I'll use 600 Blood to create 300 Mosquitos, 300 Blood to create 60 Bloodsuckers, and 100 Blood to create ten Vampires. In other words, each Bloodsucker will lead 5 mosquitos, and each Vampire will lead 6 Bloodsuckers, or 6 squadrons. Put that in motion, system!

Maybe, just maybe, I should have considered my location for doing this. Once all those 370 mosquitos were created, the public restroom because quite literally entirely crowded. Every single surface, from the toiler-bowl to the roof was covered in mosquitos, all standing according to rank, with the Bloodsuckers and Vampires at the front.

Very good. Stepping up to one of the Vampires, I admire his form. A deep, dull matted grey, with small striped and details being a dark, luscious blue. Quite handsome, if I do say so myself.

Then, something caught my eye. Something that the other mosquitos did not have.

...Vampire three.

The underling rose his head, ocean-blue eyes staring up at me.

-What's that you've got at the end of your abdomen?

Vampire three turned to look, quickly noticing what I was wondering. His body perked up, and he proudly let a triplet of tails slip out, ready to take in the blood of other underlings. Even so, he still had that groove on his back, so...

Oh. Oho. I see how this is. You can take the blood of other underlings, which I can then absorb myself, personally-?

Vampire three mulled over my words for a second before nodding haughtily. Prideful, are we? Well, with a name like vampire, I should expect nothing less than arrogance. As long as he obeys me, I shall forgive it.

This does, however, change my plans just a little. Vampires will not lead squads, but will instead act as superiors which the Bloodsuckers and Mosquitos will report to, and once the Vampires are full, they will report to me. Quite effective, if I do say so myself!

Yes, all I need to do now, before the blood starts rolling in, is to find us a permanent abode. It will not do to have conferences in toilets, much less public ones! Now, be off with y-,

The door slammed open, and a desperate-looking man hopped inside. He was just about to turn around to lock the door when he noticed the discourse taking place.

"A-,, AAAA-,,!"

Underlings, scatter in formation!

And that was how we all separated. They will know how to find me, they always do. But until then...

I must find an evil lair.