I was not actually here! It was only my mind that was trapped. I couldn't feel my body, nor could I do anything else. It was dark because my eyes weren't here. Once I realized such, I was able to see light, and I slowly woke up. I felt something on my forehead, so I peeled it off. It was a strange pink glob. Appraisal showed what it was, and I finally understood everything.

Baby evil wooden dream sprite

Vitality: 0/12

Description: Once attached, forces its prey's mind to enter a nightmare and be trapped there until death. Gains power based on the confusion and negative feelings of the dream

This long-named parasite was forcing me to have a bad dream!

Bella said, "Welcome back, Husband."

"Why didn't you wake me?"

"Cause I didn't get the chance. It just attacked you a moment ago."

"Really? It felt like forever."

"Yup."

Even though it felt like an eternity, according to Bella, I'd only been in the strange dream world for a moment. We proceeded on, and I finally was able to realize a solution to get out of the cage: spatial fold.

"Spatial cage that traps us, the door that deceives us, I, Roberto, command you under my authority! Reveal your secrets and unfurl your desires! Show unto me the secrets of space and the intricacies of this area. Space, I command you to fold and unfold. Close and open. Reveal the way, and open unto us a passage! Spatial fold!"

After completing the chant, a door opened in the barricade. Easily, Bella and I passed through and arrived on the other side.

We landed in front of the orb leading to the next floor, so, just as I thought, this floor wasn't too hard to clear. > seemed like a cheat, this time around. It made this floor even easier than when I was fighting the goblins down below! As we approached, the usual messages popped up.

[Floor six complete. Authority level for floor six recognized.]

[Achievement: first time sixth floor conquered by Earth explorer. Reward calculated. Reward: dream interference resistance lv 5]

I could have used that when the evil sprite attacked! It's a little late!

As always, the silver ring turned back into its six-pointed star form. A second later, a bright white light came up from the ring and engulfed the orb.

[Unknown interference detected. Crystal orb error]

"I am Knight Furcas. Once you are ready, I shall teach you what you need to know about the laws regarding fire. Even though I am the weakest among us in standing, I know the most regarding fire."

"Interesting," Seere was the first to speak, as always. "It's good you gained control over him early."

"Why's that?" I asked perplexed.

Amon, the main question answerer, responded, "Your power can control him the easiest. You will be able to make use of his full power earlier. I await the day."

Foras simply responded, "Welcome."

Amdusias responded, curtly, "Hi."

From the others, I learned Dukes and Kings don't care for the lowly knight too much since the difference in power is so great.

"New master, the lowly knight can't gift you much, but please take these pants.

God's pants (broken/growth) (soul bound/unnamed) (Armor)

Durability: Infinite

Description: will never get dirty, nor tear. Cannot be cut. Size adjusts to wearer. Allows quicker leg movements and increases speed by three. Imbuing demonic energy, or similar lesser energies to a lesser effect allows gravity to lessen dramatically.

I named the new pants Tambourine. Why not? It's asking me to name a pair of pants, after all. I also, as normal, received a new demonic technique from my new demon.

Demon teeth and tongue

Description: allows identifying any substance by taste, purifying anything ingested into energy. As you can only use death energy, the energy will be transformed into it. Once you use demonic energy, the skill will change to convert to demonic energy. Allows biting, tearing, and breaking apart any substance with unbreakable teeth. Individual or groups of teeth can expand to be twice as big. Teeth can change color and absorb blood. Note: no vampiric abilities can be used (ie, injecting the blood). Teeth and tongue can turn blood into flowers that can be eaten to restore stamina.

"Congratulations, Husband," Bella said.

"Thanks!" I responded as we embraced.

Nothing strange happened while we transferred to the next floor, but I wanted to relax until tomorrow. Using my authority, we transferred back to the sixth floor's heated pond for a brief respite before challenging the next one.

For this floor, we decided to have a small contest. It was difficult to decide on the rules. One idea was to see who could collect the most experience, but Bella's skill made her the sure winner. Next, a race to the finish was thought of, but Bella's speed was much faster than mine. Finally, we decided on who could defeat the most monsters. We trusted each other to fairly report our numbers, so there was no accounting system set up for it.

The door on floor seven opened up to a very small island on a gigantic sea. Looking around, I could see pretty girls riding sea horses while singing. These women also carried harps. I was surprised that, according to appraisal, they were sirens riding another monster, the hippocampus.

"Ready?" Bella asked.

"I'm ready," I responded as Bella sped off to fight the sirens.

I also flew to the first siren.

"Are you not fazed by our gorgeous song?" the monster questioned.

"Why would I be?" I asked.

I knew a little about sirens from reading myths, but I didn't think their song actually lured people to their deaths.

"You are a male, right? Our singing entrances men to come with us and we easily dispose of them. I'm impressed you can even talk to us!"

"I don't need any girls besides Bella!"

"That's why! You are so in love that our song can't dissuade you," the siren said, pulling on the string of her harp. "I'll just do it the old-fashioned way."

Water-like arrows formed from the harp, targeting me. The individual arrows were weak, so, just by deploying my mana shield, I was able to withstand the onslaught. Unfortunately, other sirens and their mounts came forward.

I didn't think my fire-based spells would have any effect, so I had to think of a new strategy for this floor. Rather than magic, I was going to burst through with brute force! In one hand, I held Blackmail. The other was my demon claw. Using both in combination, over the next two days, I slowly pushed forward and defeated the sirens. I was lucky my armor was so strong, and the siren's arrows were weak. The harps, which were called Siren Harp-Bows also sold for $50BTP each, whenever they dropped.

After fighting the sirens, Bella and I met back up. My count was ninety, with fifteen EXP shards, ten bows, and two spell books as loot. Bella, the winner, defeated 142. She got forty EXP shards, of which she gave me five for my second-place prize. Her prize was a kiss from me. She additionally got thirty of the bows, which I sold. Finally, she got an ingredient.

Water Walk

Rank: F-

Level: 1

MP use: 75/minute

Requirements: water affinity 40% (human)

Description: walk on water

The first spell I learned was useless, so I hoped the next was better.

Broken Siren's song

Rank: C-

Level: 1

MP use: 180/song

Requirements: water affinity 50% (human)

Description: Sing a song imbued with the magic of sirens. 50% chance to hypnotize and lure listeners, unless they are in true love or have thought control resistance greater than the spell's level. Chance increases as level increases

Converting my affinity, I did not have enough affinity, but the spell was better than water walk. If I rank it up, maybe the word broken will be removed.

When I finished learning the spell, surprisingly, I got an achievement!

[Achievement: learned twenty spells! Calculating reward. Reward calculated.]

Looking at my status, I counted the spells I knew. It was only twenty when the spiritual and death magic weren't included.

[Reward: all affinities increase 3%! Maximum MP, SF, DE + 50! Maximum HP + 10! SP + 2! SP shop updated!]

I checked the shop, but, like before, all of the new skills cost much more than my available SP. The skills I learned, such as the bow and blacksmithing skill sets, disappeared, replaced by completely different ones. On the skill lord column, there was one new skill I could almost purchase, but I didn't need to learn elementary cooking skills for anything! It would be a waste of 20SP.

After our comparison, we set off to the next room; however, there were monsters we forgot. While killing sirens, their mounts hid. My guess was the sea stealth skill they possessed.

Now, they all reappeared—over two hundred sea horse-like hippocampi!

We retreated to fight in a superior position. I tried out >, and a wall of fog sprang up, creating a narrow corridor, just as I wanted it to. With my death energy and MP, I could only keep the wall active for approximately three minutes. As such, while I created the alleyway, Bella and I had to fight at full speed. From a few of the hippocampi, I got MP recovery potions. This was enough to extend the wall to a maximum of seven minutes before my death energy ran out. In the end, there were about eighty monsters left. I cast > for a second, and the effect seemed to have been strengthened since the entire ocean froze! Bella and I defeated ten before the ice started to crack. Even though they were partially freed, some disappeared as soon as they were unfrozen.

"The water runs through them like blood! It must have been frozen for long enough that they couldn't survive!" Bella exclaimed.

There were now forty left, but I was very low on MP and DE. My armor was quickly absorbing the death energy from the defeated foes, and I drank a bunch of MP recovery potions. It would still take a few minutes, so I went to using my SF! I cast >, and the balls that arose caused the remaining to be slain.

We rested to finish recovering our respective energies before moving to the next room. We agreed to be careful not to leave half the enemies until the end like we did this time.

At the end of the sea, by a giant rock mountain that rose infinitely, there was a sign pointing underwater. Since we didn't require oxygen, and since Proper also helped with underwater breathing, it was no trouble for us to get underwater. This water, unlike normal water, was sticky. If any enemies were remaining, it would have been difficult to fight them in this condition. Luckily, we were able to safely make it through. Bella showed me a hidden path, and we arrived in a small pool of water. Looking up, the mountain surrounded us on all sides. We got out of the water, and Bella showed me the passageway to get to this floor's source.

For this floor, the orb was pale gray and faintly shining. After it scanned me, my darkness affinity rose by 5%! I was acknowledged by the gray twilight dark source.

We went back to the pool, and we saw a white light pass over us. When it was directly overhead, the water began to boil. Slowly, it was lifted up, forming a pillar with a hollow center. It continued to rise until it was all the way at the top of the mountain.

[Acquired title: Blessed by the moon. Dark affinity + 15%. Water affinity +5%. Can swim through any water or liquid easily, ignoring resistances. Attacks against enemies in an ocean environment or primarily of a water element increase by 10%. Gained skill: tide control. Gained spell: liquid transference. Gained spell: spiritual moonbeam.]

Tide control

Level: 1

Requirements: water affinity 50% (human), dark affinity 50% (human), title: blessed by the moon

Description: Control the tides, the flow of any water. Due to effects of class: ???, can control the absolute movement of any liquid. Level increase allows more precise control.

Liquid transference

Rank: B+

Level: 1

MP use: 300/use

SF use: 500/use if transferring spirit

Requirements: water affinity 50% (human)

Description: transfers any object through a liquid medium. As you are a spirit, spirits can also be transferred from one point to another.

Spiritual Moonbeam

Rank: A+

Level: 1

SF use: 650

Requirements: water affinity 27% (spirit), title: blessed by the moon, night time if in a place where night and day differ

Description: condense the power of the moon into a single point, delivering high destructive power against the target

We were glad that we both got the titles, even though we didn't quite know what happened. We descended back to the water, and we swam, much easier, through a series of passageways. We arrived underwater. No matter how high we swam, we were unable to surface. Giving up, we saw our new enemies weren't sirens. They seemed to be small people made by the water itself! Undines, according to the system, carried tridents for attacking. These tridents carried an electrical charge, which they could conduct in a specific direction.

Unfortunately for them, tide control was superior to their weapons. Whenever they tried to shock us, we just sent it right back! They seemed smarter than many other monsters, as, soon, they stopped using the electricity. Instead, they directly stabbed with their tridents. Again, tide control stopped their attacks before they could reach us. For the next two days, we leisurely defeated the undines while they couldn't even get close to us. During this time, my skill leveled up! Once again showing their intelligence, the undines changed their attack method. They tried conglomerating into a single entity, but we were still in control. At first, it was a tie—neither side could attack the other, but I used two of the dropped tridents, along with my skill, to direct the electricity at the single enemy, defeating it and its components.

Continuing on, Bella and I defeated some more undines and hippocampi that wanted to fight us. We soon saw what appeared to be an underwater ruin. Behind the ruins was another impenetrable mountain, again symbolizing the required transition to the next room.

We entered the ruins and explored around. There were some miscellaneous items and ingredients we kept for later. When done, we swam to the underground part, and, through there, we arrived at another subspace. I didn't bother fighting the enemies here, and, using >, we left soon after. I restored my MP with a high-tier recovery potion found among the ruins.

The next room was also underwater, just like the one before it. Here, there were a few undines scattered around. The main enemy looked like a red-colored squid. When its tentacles opened, it showed teeth that looked like fangs! They were also very fast! Due to their speed and ferociousness, it was difficult to defend against their bites. They were also smart enough to escape with only losing a tentacle to Blackmail.

After defeating a couple, I was surrounded by three. Two attacked either side of me, and one charged forward. I > Blackmail at the one in front and my > and > kept the other two from attacking. I recovered blackmail and turned towards the one on my left, whom I >. To my right, I > the opponent. All three disappeared, and I got a skill book and spell book!

Vampiric blood injection

Level: 1

Requirements: blood in a stable collection place

Description: Injects blood from a recognized collection place (such as teeth, arteries, veins, arterioles, venules, capillaries, or collection pouches) into target. 25% chance to turn target into a vampire or lesser form of such by using 100 death energy

Death vampiric blood boiling

Rank: C

Level: 1

DE use: 100/target

Requirements: dark affinity 70%

Description: a skill fit for a vampire! Boils target's blood, causing it to disappear and enter caster's blood collection pouch

Death blood curse

Rank: B-

Level: 1

DE use: 75/use

Description: applies a curse to blood in a blood collection pouch; forces one whom blood is injected into to follow command of caster; poisons target's blood; uses target's blood to kill them

Learning all of these skills caused my elementary curse techniques to level up! I learned the new skill of blood curse, which had the same effect as the spell. I also learned the blood dominance curse, which didn't cost anything to use. It forced control over anyone who comes into contact with it.

Satisfied, I continued my hunt. I even practiced storing and injecting blood with my demon teeth and the new skill. It took some getting used to, but I was able to successfully subordinate the monsters and have them to attack their kin.

The same worked for the hippocampi I encountered, but it seemed the undines didn't have blood, and, as such, there was nothing to take or boil.

Finally, we arrived at a beach-like area. There was a small shrine guarded by two water giants. The entrance was a golden arch with a serpent similar to Samantha, minus the void sections, adorned at the top.

"This is a test of the dungeon—explorers aren't supposed to enter. The storm giants are way too powerful. It would even be tough for you to win. Instead, we are meant to go around, through the mini-forest, and onto the other side to fight the giant squid with fifty arms," Bella told me, afraid that I would attempt to barge through.

"Let me try something," I said mischievously.

"K," Bella responded, trusting my decision.

I summoned Samantha before talking to the guards.

"Hello, I believe that we should be able to pass. Even your god is on our side."

"Sorry for not recognizing you, Sir Saint! It is not our god—we are just guards. It is our boss's ancestor. You may enter the Vampire's Shrine. This way please," the one giant led the way while the other continued standing guard. Similar to the sources, I was scanned after passing the threshold.

"I'm sorry, but there are some security measures. Your identity has been verified, so you can now come and go as you please. This location is also available for teleportation. Normally, at your authority level, you wouldn't have access to the shrine. This is as far as I can take you. If you like, you now have a reserved room in the outer hall."

The polite giant stopped in front of a brass door. We had walked through a few hallways to get here, and I saw the large rooms he talked about. There were many common amenities, such as a kitchen and bath, and uncommon ones, such as a spa, sauna, and hot tub. We entered past the door and arrived in an outdoor garden. We continued on towards the center, where we saw a gazebo made of polished quartz. I read the message left on the pedestal, which, like the others, seemed to be a hidden warning regarding the great catastrophe.

"Thank our god, our ancestor. The force field surrounding this place is impenetrable unless the guards are tricked. Your divine protection applied to our immortal souls and bodies has kept your sanctuary safe. We are glad to enjoy life after the great catastrophe, so we can't complain. One of our elders fought hard and passed away, unfortunately. We hope that our successors can stay here peacefully."

Past the gazebo, we found a small chapel. The table on the altar contained a pink, stained pouch. I wasn't sure what this was, so I went to pick it up. While doing so, I felt extreme pain in my abdominal area. After almost fainting, I realized the pouch disappeared. Luckily, the system told me what happened.

[vampire blood pouch integration successful. Physique integrated to incorporate vampire genes without changing race at all]

Even though my status didn't update, I could sense the pouch, filled with blood from the vampire squids I previously defeated. My strength also increased by eighty and endurance by sixty! My speed increased a lot less, only by fifteen.

As for skills, I gained elementary vampiric techniques. The first of these was bat transformation, which, as its name suggests, turns me into a bat. In this form, my speed is increased fifty times, echolocation becomes possible, and my wings are at least four times as hard as diamonds. The second, blood sight, allowed me to see blood and track the history of a spatter of blood. Third, I could regain MP, HP, and DE by consuming blood using the transfusion skill. Using the same skill, I could transfuse blood between living beings, regardless of ABO group or rhesus factor. The fourth skill, language, allows me to speak the magical language of vampires. This language can control blood by speech and seal, create, destroy, and unseal different passageways. I can also leave and receive secret vampiric messages. Blood forge creates weapons from blood, and, finally, blood bank means my body can create an infinite amount of blood and store it in a moment—even though I don't have actual blood, being a fairy.

At this point in time, I thought that the most useful skill was blood bank. The skill would allow me to fake blood if I ever need to get blood drawn. I could even perfectly edit the blood to have specific cells and antigens appear.

We walked back to the gazebo, and, this time, I spoke to the pillar. "Show me the way. Open," I commanded it in the magical vampire language. Inside, there was a runic book. I became the owner, yet my rune techniques were too low. I also found a special skill book which taught me vampiric illusion creation and destruction, which create and destroy minor illusions. There was an old piece of parchment paper folded up like a bun. I unraveled it and saw a small sun-like object, which allows vampires around it to walk in the sun unhurt. It didn't have any use for me since my race didn't change. Finally, there was the amulet responsible for the protection force field, which I stored in the warehouse.

After obtaining the inheritance, I said my blessings, and we left through the main entrance.

"Interesting," Seere said once we left the force field. "I sense an ancient aura from you. It's weak, but it is still evident."

Amdusias told the other demons and me, "It's the aura of an elder pureblood vampire."

"Even more intriguing! This won't stop the process, right?"

"I hope not," said Foras.

"No, nothing will happen. It, in fact, may help. Demons are still, overall, a stronger race than even the ancient and ancestral midnight vampires."

"What's this process? What's the difference between an elder pureblood and a normal vampire?" I asked

Amon stopped the discussion about the process with a simple sentence, "You will learn the answer to the first question when the time comes. We can say no more."

"I don't know much, but, master, I can tell you that vampires like breeding. They are attuned to the darkness and fire elements, mostly," Furcas began explaining. "They procreate often, and pureblood means it was the mating of two of the same race. There are many lesser monsters who follow the bloodlines, but very few remain pureblood."

With his explanation, I re-checked my status, and the aforementioned affinities did increase!

Amdusias seemed to be the only one who knew the elder part, so he explained, "Reluctantly, since no one else seems to be able to answer, I shall. An elder vampire is a more powerful evolution of a normal vampire, closer to the roots of their lineage."

I sent the fairy queen a message about the language. She soon after responded and said that it was a lesser magic language, with limited uses.

With the newfound information, I believed I was ready to challenge the giant squid. Bella and I walked over to the final ocean, and, above a small dirt island, with the sun shining hard, rose a giant squid. All fifty arms seemed as sharp as razors, and the ink it spit could be seen combusting and corroding wherever it hit.

I was ready for the fight!