Book 2: Chapter 9 (6/9)

The LYAUR Kain held in his hand could no longer benefit him like it used to due to his level being too high now. Because Kain’s [Conjure Skeleton Warrior] spell can conjure a Skeleton that has strength on par compared to a tenth-tier warrior, the LYAUR can still lock one of Kain’s Skeleton in there. Kain thought about throwing it in his Storage Ring but then decided to keep it on his body as he told himself, “Even a Skeleton Warrior having the strength of a tenth-tier warrior can sometimes be useful. I will keep this LYAUR on my body for backup. Who knows, maybe one day I will get into a deep shit situation like having all of my blood pools and mana pool reach depletion than that Skeleton Warrior will be a powerful ally.”

Things went on great for Kain as he slowly obtained knowledge on how to craft Magical Equipment from Marc Jorudel. Twenty-six years later, Kain learned everything he could from Marc in Magical Equipment Craftsmanship. Kain successfully crafted two steel daggers embedded with a small Mana Stone on each. Just like Toria Continents, Magical Stones are rare and expensive in this realm. Unlike Toria Continents that have many Magical Forests, there are only five Magical Forests in this realm which made Magical Elemental Stones even harder to find because they only drop from killing the Magical Beasts. The drop rate for Magical Elemental Stone is 0.1% per Magical Beast. Despite being powerful, Kain only made enough money to buy two small Mana Stones and embedded them into his two steel daggers through Magical Equipment Craftsmanship skills he had learned.

Just when Kain thought he was ready to move onto the next tier of this Timeless Dungeon. The city of Shorekeep went into a panic mode as the guards shouted for all citizens to stay inside their houses and locked all of the doors.

Marc told Kain, “You can stay at my house for now. It is very dangerous to stay outside at a time like this. I know you are a powerful Conjurer Mage but this isn’t something you can handle.”

Kain asked, “What is happening?”

“There is no time to explain. Hurry, please follow me.”

Kain followed Marc into his house. After Marc checked on his family members making sure no one was still outside, he started locking all the doors and windows. Kain laughed inside his head thinking, “I have heard Iris said the Lycan doesn’t like vampires. I bet this is another attack from the vampires that was why those Lycan shit their pants like that. I didn’t know they are such cowards.”

Sat on the bed silently for approximately two minutes with his wife and two sons, Marc whispered, “The vampires are attacking again.”

“I knew it.” Kain smiled and thought to himself.

Marc continued to say in a whisper tone, “Shorekeep is a major city, we have more than six million guards stationed here. As long as we stay inside the house, everything will be okay.”

Kain did a quick calculation in his head and thought, “I bet this is the Watchers’ plans again. They are betting right now either I will do the right thing by saving those Lycan or be a heartless man and let them get slain like animals. If my thought is correct, the vampires must have brought a much bigger army to attack this city by that way the six million guards here won’t be able to win against them. Then it would be up to me to either play the hero or not.”

Kain asked, “How many vampires do they normally bring to attack a city?”

Marc said in a whispered tone, “Please keep your voice down. We don't want them to hear us. They normally brought about five thousand vampires.”

To give Marc peace of mind, Kind decided to speak in a whispering tone as well, “Just five thousand? Six million guards should be plenty enough in fighting them back.”

“Because the Vampire King can instantly revive as many vampires as he wants to through some kind of magic spell. This is why we have to be on high alert even when we have the number advantages.”

“Vampire King huh. How many Vampire Kings are there in your world?”

“There are twenty-one Vampire Kings in this world.”

“I see. That is all I needed to know. Thank you for your interpretation.”

Kain smiled and said out loud, “If any Watchers bet that I won’t provide aid, you are correct. Why would I waste my time and energy helping out the Lycan when it’s not part of my quest? Well, unless there will be some kind of reward for it. If there is any reward, you can send Iris to tell me now while I’m still in the good mood.”

Marc and his family members opened their eyes widely looking at Kain as he just said that out loud. They looked around and saw no one else was in the house. Marc’s wife asked in a whispering tone, “Is he retarded? Why would he asked no one out loud like that?”

Marc shook his head and said, “Who knows…”

Unlike what Kain had thought, Iris didn’t appear to give him a new quest or say there will be a reward if he helps out the Lycan. That was why Kain decided to do what a great hero would do, that is to do nothing. Kain quietly sat inside Marc’s house until the front door was kicked down by a group of six vampires. The card that was given to Kain by Iris so Kain can give it to Marc. Marc raised that card up, and the six vampires walked away without fighting with any of them. Marc did the same thing every time he saw any group of vampires walking into his house.

Kain asked, “What kind of card is it? How come the vampires walk away after seeing it?”

Marc put his right index finger up signaling for Kain to be quiet as he whispered, “This card can hide us from the vampires by blocking them from being able to smell us and temporarily granting us invisibility. It doesn’t work on Lycans or other creatures but perfectly works against vampires.”

“Ah…” Kain was about to say, “It didn’t work on me though.” But Kain glads that he didn’t say that because exposing his identity wouldn’t bring him any benefit here.

Kain asked, “How many of those cards do you have?”

Marc said, “This is the only one. I was so happy when you gave it to me.”

“You didn’t know who Iris is, did you?”

“Who is Iris?”

“Nevermind, I understand now.”

Kain thought that Marc knew Iris that was why when he saw the card he agreed to teach Kain his Magical Equipment Craftsmanship skills. But it seems like Marc agreed to train Kain because of what this card can do for him and that it can help him and his family members to hide their presence from the vampires of this realm.

Kain walked out of the house despite Marc trying the best he could to stop him. Kain looked around and saw countless corpses of the Lycans after they had transformed were everywhere on the ground. An individual of half-man and half-wolf was still fighting strong with three vampires but his fate will soon be just like the others. A group of twelve vampires wandering nearby saw Kain. They immediately flew toward him. Kain stood still because he wanted to see what those vampires were going to do. Just like Kain had thought, they look and act just like the vampires that he can convene using Blood Magic. The vampires immediately attacked Kain using their claws. Kain was disappointed because those vampires seem to be weaker compared to Ancient Vampires that he had met in the Fourth-tier of this Timeless Dungeon.