Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only thing Desinka needed to deal with. “I need to talk to you about something else, though. Whatever was done to you was three things. I’ve dealt with the curse and you know about the vampirism, but whatever he did also created-” Serenity stopped. Maybe he shouldn’t drop it on her that way. “Would you check your Status and see what it says about your Path and Tier and if anything else looks odd?”

Desinka looked puzzled but pulled up her status. “It says-” She stopped and then flicked the top of her Status to where both her father and Serenity could see it.

Name: Desinka te A’nar Rakyn

Species: Daywalker Vampire

Sire: Serenity

Core: Poor, Tiny

Progression: 0%

Tier: 2

Ev: 0

Path: Elementalist

Level: 53 (disabled)

Tier: 2, 300/300 Spent

“When it says Core, does it mean ... like the core a monster has?” Desinka looked at Serenity like he was her salvation. It made him deeply uncomfortable. He barely even knew her.

Even if he was in some sense now her father.

Serenity glanced at her actual father and saw that Rakyn was looking back at him with a look much like Desinka’s. Seeing that look of faith from Rakyn made him even less comfortable than seeing it from Desinka. At least he understood why Desinka had that much faith in him; her new body pushed her into it.

“Yes, that’s what I was afraid of. It’s new and small, which gives you a few options. None of them will make you human again. That’s very difficult and not really survivable for a vampire below Tier ten. It’s not reliable until fifteen. Even then, I’m not sure how a core would affect it.”

Too much information, Serenity. Repackage your presentation to be easier to understand.

“So you can stay the way you are. I can’t recommend that. It has all of the disadvantages of the other options with none of the benefits. A monster grows in a way that follows its type, not a chosen Path. You do get some choice when you Evolve, but it’s limited by what you are. You know what I mean - a drake might get better scales or gain an element, but it’s not going to become a cat or an elemental.”

Serenity - well, Vengeance, really - had seen all sorts of odd monsters. Evolution was very flexible, but even so, he’d never seen a monster with abilities completely disconnected from what it had possessed in the past. Sometimes they developed oddly - a fire-based monster with fire magic might someday become a master of the elements - but there was always a connection.

It wasn’t all that different from Paths in a lot of ways. It seemed more like Paths than his own Evolutions did, now that he thought about it.

Serenity shook his head and returned to Desinka’s situation. “Another choice is to carefully destroy your Core. It should be possible; it’s still very small, and you were recently Pathed. That should return you to the Paths and you would proceed normally. I can probably do it, but it’d be safer to get help from Order’s Guild; they definitely know how. Either way, you’re going to need to figure out how to control your thirst, and what limitations you actually have. Daywalker vampires vary a lot. I know I’ve already said it, but I don’t know what your limits are, and they won’t be the same as mine.”

Serenity was already doubting the wisdom of giving Desinka the option of becoming tied to his Dungeon. Yes, it would mean that she wouldn’t have to drink blood, but at the same time it would lock her in as a monster forever, and a dungeon monster at that. He doubted it would ever be possible to return her to human, even if she wanted it, and it would limit her Tier to that of her dungeon - how would that even work for the Safe Rest dungeon? Field Dungeons were often strange, and the original Last Refuge dungeon had been both strange and high Tier. He knew it would be limited by the planet’s Tier, but Tzintkra was a graduated-Tier planet, and that meant the top end was higher than usually possible for a planet with low-Tier areas.

“What’s the third option?” Rakyn’s voice interrupted Serenity’s musings. “You said the first option had the disadvantages of the other options.”

Rakyn must have been paying more attention to Serenity’s wording than he had.

“There is a third option. I’m not sure it’s worth exploring.” Serenity glanced at Desinka. She wasn’t saying anything, but she was watching him intently. That only made sense; this was her future, after all. “It’s probably best to give Desinka the choice. The third option is the opposite of the second. Instead of returning to being Pathed, go all in on being a monster. I can link you to a dungeon, make you a dungeon monster. You’d be a monster forever, and there would never be a way to return you to being human.”

Serenity stopped to let the downside sink in. “The only benefit is that you’d be a dungeon monster. You’d be fed by the dungeon and if you died, you’d come back. It’s one of the stranger forms of immortality; dungeon monsters don’t truly die until the dungeon dies or chooses not to respawn them.”

Serenity wondered if he counted as a dungeon monster. Probably not? He probably counted as a dungeon master of some sort, and he didn’t think that brought immortality with it. If it did, he’d know.

“On the third option,” Desinka asked hesitantly. “Would I be able to leave the dungeon? And would people be able to tell I’m a monster?”

Serenity didn’t know what the source of his confidence was, but he knew he simply had to accept it. “Yes, but you wouldn’t be able to go too far from the dungeon. Most of Tzintkra would be fine currently, though it’ll be more comfortable to be closer. The dungeon would have to grow and you’d have to Tier up to get a range that would get you off planet. As for detecting you, that depends on the person’s Paths. Most people don’t take those Paths, but Beastmaster types often do. I can’t guarantee they won’t be able to tell. I might be able to make it more difficult…”

Serenity trailed off as a way to make it more difficult occurred to him. Her Core was positively grungy and low quality. Improving the quality would make it harder to find. He wouldn’t be able to make it as good as his; he wasn’t anywhere close to skilled enough to make a Core True, but he could probably manage to improve it enough that she’d be able to upgrade it herself.

...was that what a True Core did? Hide it from other people?

Serenity knew that was part of it, but not all.

He couldn’t think of anything he’d left out, so he waited for more questions from Desinka. When he looked over at Rakyn, there was a gleam in the man’s eye that Serenity wasn’t certain he liked. He’d seen it before, and it had usually meant that he’d met a fanatic.

Serenity didn’t like fanatics. His experience of them said that they hated necromancers and wanted to kill them or the people around them even if they’d done nothing wrong. Of course, he’d also seen the same look in the eye of a necromancer more than once that didn’t believe that undead should be allowed to live outside the control of a necromancer. That hadn’t gone any better than the first kind of fanatic.

No, it didn’t matter what kind of fanatic it was, fanatics were trouble. Serenity hoped that he was misreading Rakyn; surely he was simply mistaking a father’s care for his daughter as fanaticism.

Surely.

“Would this be your dungeon?”

Rakyn’s question came out of nowhere and Serenity answered without thinking. “Yes.”

Rakyn nodded and turned to his daughter while still speaking to Serenity. “It’s the same as the first choice, isn’t it? You don’t want to push someone into a choice that’s better for you, even if it’s also better for them. I can admire that, even if there’s no good reason for it.”

Rakyn took a breath before continuing. “Desinka, you definitely should take the third choice. Not being able to leave Tzintkra - that’s a minor problem, if you somehow manage to hit Tzintkra’s cap you’ll be well over what anyone in the family has managed in generations. It also gives you time and a guarantee that you can learn from mistakes instead of dying. That’s not the big reason, though. Being fed by the dungeon is the big benefit. The easiest way to find a vampire is by finding their victims.”

Serenity knew he was going to regret asking the question, but asked anyway. “Why do you say that? Most vampires are careful about how they choose the people they feed from.” Vengeance had known a number of vampires but no matter what, the vampires he’d known were always careful about humans they fed on. Some made sure the human didn’t know who they were - often didn’t even know they’d been bled - while others had a relationship with the human (employee or otherwise) that meant the human wouldn’t betray the vampire.

“The ones that survive would have to be.” Rakyn shrugged. “I should know. I used to hunt vampires.”

Of course he did.

“A vampire that doesn’t feed on people and can walk in daylight?” Rakyn continued, “That’s a vampire I’d never find, and one that doesn’t need to die. So obviously it’s the right choice.”

Serenity had to admit the man had a point. He still thought that destroying the Core was the better option, but at least he could understand why Rakyn disagreed. “It still removes the ability to follow Paths. That’s not a minor penalty.” Serenity turned to Desinka. “It’s your choice. I don’t want to push you either way. This is your life, not mine. It is a permanent choice, so be sure before you pick. You have some time-”

Desinka interrupted him. “I don’t need it. I know which one I want. You can hide the core, and I don’t want to look at my friends as food. I want to stay here and delve with them. The only way I get that is the last option.”

“You’ll still have to control your thirst,” Serenity warned Desinka. “You may be fed, but that doesn’t mean you won’t want to drink.” Dungeon vampires might not need to drink blood - they could go for years without it if no one entered the dungeon, after all - but when someone did enter, they’d go straight for the throat. Figuratively, at least.

“If it makes it easier, it’s worth it.” Desinka seemed determined, So Serenity nodded reluctantly and walked over to her.

“Remember to boost your attributes when you can, they’re important. You’ll also need to pay attention to your Core. I can purify it some, but all that will accomplish is opening a pathway for you to do more.”

Serenity caught a glimpse of Rakyn’s triumphant grin before he knelt in front of Desinka and put his forehead against hers. Having his Core as close as possible wasn’t necessary to link her to the dungeon, but it would help with the purification process.

Serenity wasn’t sure how long it took, but connecting Desinka to the dungeon was simple once he started; she seemed to snap into place. It was like an emptiness he hadn’t even realized he had was filled by her presence next to the subsidiary dungeon core. He couldn’t speak to her directly, but he knew where she was and that she was healthy.

Purifying her core was not as easy. In the end, he was only able to take it from ‘poor’ to ‘fair’ and establish a route for her to upgrade it herself in the future. That would have to do.