《Vampire Reborn》Chapter 31: Society
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Alucard did not tire nor require any kind of sleep due to his undead nature but, he was still unable to break out of some of his human habits so he always made sure to get some sort of sleep whenever he could. And, now was a better time than any considering how drained he felt.
He took one last whiff of the not-so-fresh air before once again grabbing his thick black mask, slowly entering the first bed he felt in months as he stared up at the creaking boards of the room's ceiling. Although the mask blocked much of his airflow from the outside world, he was not about to take any chances of people somehow peeking inside his room only to find out he was a vampire. Besides, Alucard thought that the thinner air entering his nose as he slept would slowly train him to be able to utilize his undead body's strength of not needing air to its full advantage and eventually break out of his human practices.
As he laid down on the bed, he could not help but find many similarities between it and the hard stone ground of the moist cave he used to reside. Even after readjusting himself multiple times, the feeling of rock hitting his head and back could not be escaped.
This was all a reminder of how he was currently at the bottom of society. A rich, well-endowed man like him slept on the most comfortable of beds, yet now he could not remember that feeling nor did he think of it too fondly. To him, it was all the same now.
He had seen more than enough horrors in his single month of being here and people who had it far worse than he did. He had no right to complain about a slightly uncomfortable bed.
He looked up mellowly at the ceiling and began to slowly ponder.
Just like the game, the world was lacking in technology but made up for it with its heavy origins in magic. But, that did not come as a surprise to him at all.
Alucard had seen many things upon entering the city and had learned much about the reality and culture of this new world. It was rooted in strict tradition and social laws far more than the rather free in comparison world he was used to.
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It was a rather jarring, eye-opening experience when he first set foot on the busy roads of the city. The social divide between the classes were more than clear at but a glance. It was like half the people he would see on the streets wore nothing but rags and a good chunk of them claimed certain corners of the roads as their homes. It was like he could not go a few steps without noticing at least one man begging for money. The rich and nobles walked around proudly like they were on top of the world while the poor in rags seemed to try their best to survive and get by without getting in trouble as guards could not care less about them.
But, not even those people had it the worst… No, it was by far the non-human slaves. Those were the true dirt of society. It was impossible to see any non-human sentient creature in anything outside a collar and thick chains. They were publicly beaten senseless if they did not do as they were told and were treated worse than the worms that slivered on the ground on rainy days. They were common to see amongst certain rich and nobles.
From the brief moment' Alucard took to find the adventurer's guild he managed to come across all kinds of slaves… Everything from elves, lizard-men, wolf-men, orcs, and far more.
That alone spoke volumes about the state of this country's economy and social systems.
Alucard had never been an advocate or anyone's life other than his own and there was no way he was about to begin now. Not to mention, he had no business discussing something he lacked complete knowledge of. He had no idea about anything pertaining to the history of the country or its people like any previous wars that would have made this happen.
He had only gotten a surface view from the first few minutes he saw of the city. There was still much for him to learn and much for him to adapt in order to fit in and not stand out.
At a first glance, this world was very similar to that of the game he knew and loved, but upon closer inspection that could not be farther from the truth, especially in one area…
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When he walked around the city, it was nearly impossible to see a woman that did not wear a dress or skirt, walking around trying their best to appear as pretty and dignified as possible, this was especially obvious in the rich but oddly existed in even the lowest class.
Not only that, out of all the guards patrolling the busy roads, not one of them was a woman. At that point, he could not come to any conclusion considering he had only visited certain parts of the city, but once he entered the guildhall, it was more than clear…
It was the most masculine gathering he had ever seen. The testosterone was almost oozing out of the walls. Every single adventurer with no exception was male, while a bulk of the staff were the only females around.
They were all treated like second-class objects that the men used for their own purposes, harassment was not too far off the table. It was truly a medieval society through and through. It was truly despicable, yet at the same time, he was no hero and felt no obligation to do anything about it.
But… that made him wonder even more as the sudden image of that golden-eyed woman popped up in his mind along with that piercing stare that was etched deep down in his subconscious and still sent shivers down his spine to this very day.
"Hey… Lord Alucard… Are you going to sleep now?" His thoughts were immediately interrupted by a sudden glowing figure flying directly into his line of sight.
"Yes Luck, I am…" He smiled underneath his mask.
"Can… Can I sleep beside you?" He nervously asked, taking Alucard by surprise.
"Sure, why not, it's not the most comfortable place but here you go," He scooted over to the left side of the bed to allow Luck some space on the pillow.
"Thank you so much, my lord!" He fluttered down and snuggly made himself comfortable on the rock-hard pillow, the light turning extremely dim around his body as he slowly closed his eyes and went to sleep like a little child.
"Hey, aren't you scared I might move while I sleep and accidentally crush you?"
"Uh, uh," He gently shook his head. "I trust you my lord just like you trust me… I'm certain nothing like that will happen…" Luck smiled, closing his eyes once again and peacefully went to sleep.
Alucard's eyes suddenly softened as he looked at Luck's peacefully sleeping figure and he could not help but be once again overwhelmed with a sudden wave of guilt.
The memory sprung back into his brain like a volcano… The memory of outrage brought upon by his thirst for blood and the sight of the beyond scared face Luck wore which was brought upon by his actions. In Rebirth, that outrage was the vampire passive, "Blood Furor," which simply increased certain vampire powers but made the user agro on every enemy in sight indiscriminately, unable to escape or flee from battle… The player had lower defence and was slightly harder to control in such a state but was still very playable, not to mention that the state did not force attacks on allies due to the no friendly fire set in place by the developers. To a certain point, it was almost a joke debuff that players at times even resorted to on purpose depending on the situation.
In hindsight, he should have completely expected for this mechanic to be tweaked to translate to this new world but he was too ignorant. And as such, he had to pay the price. Yet, despite all of that, Luck still acted the same towards him and even felt comfortable sleeping next to him. If he did it out of his own free will and not out of some programmed AI embedded in him, he couldn't imagine the strength needed to do what he did.
He wondered if that was how a true partner was meant to be...
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Godfather Of Champions
This is a story about the pursuit of victory.— «I subscribe only to the theory of victory. I only pursue victory. As long as I am able to obtain victory, I don’t care if it’s total football or counterattack. What is the ultimate goal of professional soccer? In my opinion, it is victory, and the pinnacle of victory is to become the champions. I am a manager. If I don’t wish to lose my job or be forgotten by the people, there’s only one path for me to take, and that is to lead the team in obtaining victories, in obtaining championship titles!»The main character was not well-liked by people.— «⋯We conducted a survey which had been deemed by Manager Tony Twain as extremely meaningless. In a random street survey conducted, ninety-three percent of those surveyed chose the option ‘I hate Tony Twain’, while only seven percent chose the option ‘This person is rather decent, I like him’. It is worth noting that nobody chose the option ‘Who is Tony Twain? I don’t know him’. Mark, do you know why Manager Twain felt that our survey was very meaningless?» Parker, a reporter from laughed loudly and said when he was being interviewed by BBC.But there were also people who were madly in love with him.— When Tony Twain was forced to talk about the survey conducted by during an interview, his reply was : «I am happy, because Nottingham Forest’s fans make up seven percent of England’s population.»And he did not seem to care about how the others saw him.— «What are you all trying to make me say? Admit that I am not popular, and everywhere I go will be filled with jeers and middle fingers. You all think I will be afraid? Wrong! Because I am able to bring victory to my team and its supporters. I don’t care how many people hate me and can’t wait to kill me, and I also won’t change myself to accommodate the mood of these losers. You want to improve your mood? Very simple, come and defeat me.»His love story had garnered widespread attention.— «Our reporters took these pictures at Manager Tony Twain’s doorsteps. It clearly shows that Shania entered his house at 8.34pm and she did not leave the house throughout the night at all. But Manager Tony Twain firmly denies, and insists that that was merely the newest-model inflatable doll which he had ordered.He was the number one star of the team.— «⋯ Became the spokesperson of world-wide famous clothing brands, shot advertisements, frequented the fashion industry’s award ceremonies, endorsed electronic games, has a supermodel girlfriend. His earnings from advertisements exceed his club salary by seventeen times, owns a special column in various print medias, publishing his autobiography (in progress), and is even said that he is planning to shoot an inspirational film based off his own person experiences! Who can tell me which part of his life experiences is worthy of being called ‘inspirational’? Hold on⋯. Are you all thinking that I’m referring to David Beckham? You’re sorely mistaken! I’m talking about Manager Tony Twain⋯.»He was very knowledgeable about Chinese soccer.— «⋯ I’ve heard about it, that Bora gifted four books to his manager Mr. Zhu before your country’s national team’s warm up match. After which, the team lost 1:3 to a nameless American team from Major League Soccer. The new excuse that Mr. Zhu gave for losing the match, was that Bora gifted «books» (‘books’ and ‘lose’ are homophones in the Chinese language). Here, I recommend that you guys find out what that one specific book is. Which book? Of course the one that caused you all to score a goal. After that, tell me the title of the book. Before every match, I will gift ten copies of that same book to you. In that case, won’t you all be able to get a triumphant 10:0 win over your opponents every time?» An excerpt taken from Tony Twain’s special column in a certain famous Chinese sports newspaper.He was loved and hated by the press.— «He has a special column in at least four renowned print media, and he is able to get a considerable amount of remuneration just by scolding people or writing a few hundred words of nonsense weekly. While we have to contemplate hard about our drafts for three days before our boss is pleased with it. In an article inside his special column, he scolded and called all of the media ‘son of a bitch’, announcing that he hated the media the most. But every time he publishes an article, we flock towards him like flies which had spotted butter. Why? Because the readers like to read his news and see him scold people. I dare to bet with you, and Manager Tony Twain knows clearly in his heart as well, that even though he says that he hates us, he knows that the present him cannot do without us. Similarly, we also cannot do without him. Is this ultimately considered a good or a bad thing?» Bruce Pearce, a reporter from said with a face of helplessness when talking about Tony Twain.But no matter the case, his players were his most loyal believers.— Gareth Bale, «No no, we never had any pressure when playing on our home grounds. Because the pressure is all on the manager. As long as we see him standing by the side of the field, all of us will feel that we will be able to win that match. Even the football hooligans are like meek lambs in front of him!» (After saying this, he began to laugh out loudly)The reply from George Wood, the team captain of Nottingham Forest, was the most straightforward. «We follow him because he can bring us victory.»The legendary experience of Tony Twain, the richest, most successful, most controversial manager with the most unique personality!Debuting this summer.Thank you for reading.
8 340The Djinn's Price
Albek Shokarov, a teenager struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic world, unwillingly enters into a contract with an entity he calls the Voice. Something changes inside him on that day, and he soon discovers that he wields a power that gives him a leg-up on the competition—though it comes at a price. Albek soon learns that the Voice isn’t the only being with an interest in him. He will soon question everything that he thought he knew about himself and his family as he is drawn deeper and deeper into a web of deceit and evil intentions. We all have a breaking point. Some may be pushed more than others, but everyone has a limit. These are the threads binding us to our identity that, once pulled taut, can't go any further without snapping. When every last thread is cut and we are left to face ourselves in a mirror, will we even recognize the person standing there? This is a tale of loss, of the powerless achieving power, of gods and men, and of the hatred and ambition that propels the founding of a legend. This is a tale of revenge. Either Albek will break his chains, or they'll break him. Updating intermittently.
8 160This World Really Knows How To Hit A Nerve
A 26 year old entrepreneur had sold game he developed, a VR MMORPG game to world's largest console company, thus making him a millionaire. He is using that money to live his life in luxury as well as develop yet another game. What happens when he is thrown into an unknown fantasy world with his console?
8 169Code Reader Kagami (LitRPG)
Sometimes things happen in this world that we are not in control of. Sometimes we are to a certain degree, and sometimes we are completely in control. However, this is a tale that constantly questions those boundaries. The story follows Kagami, a young programmer, as he winds up in a world almost alien to him. If it were up to him, he would have never visited this world and would rather stay raising his young daughter. Was it through his own actions that he had wound up here? Was it due to several combinations of factors? Or was it something he completely chose. These are questions that constantly haunt Kagami’s mind as he wanders this world and ponders his actions. Unfortunately, the glaring truth of it all refuses to ever look him in the eyes. Each night as he looks up at the night sky, he wonders if the end of this would turn out like the game he made. A tale of Guts and Glory… or would it turn out like he fears, a tale of blood and tears. Regardless of how it turns out, he will one day unveil the truth enshrouding it all. And perhaps in doing so, unveil the fate of his old world, enshrouded by mystery. ___________________________________________________________________________ While this is a typical Isekai started by the infamous truck-kun, the story is most definitely not what is to be taken at face value. I love making tragic twists into these types of stories. For Code Reader Kagami, you'll begin to see a descent into psychological madness. As your hero changes entirely from the moral man he initially was. If you're not a fan of dark aspect stories, this one is not for you. Thank you~
8 67Waste of Space
writings of a lonely person
8 156Atama ✓ tk
In Jungkook's case the ♥︎ is smarter than the💡Taehyung and his gardener Jungkook meet each other between rose petals & tea parties for stuffies.jjk ⤊ kth ⤋✰ cover made by @tzuwinkle ✰
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