Chapter Thirty-three

Chapter Thirty-three

After getting back to the rental house, Kay helped Eleniah prepare for dinner. Most of his life in Torotia till this point had been focused on adventuring and leveling his combat skills. He hadn’t had the chance to pick up the Cooking skill, but he'd made enough meals for himself back on Earth that he could at least help with the basics.

“I just realized.” Eleniah turned to him as he started chopping vegetables. “Have you looked at your class effect?”

“My what?”

“I think we talked about it before. Classes tier three and higher have effects to them, things that change or augment the related skills. Like how my Talent Scout lets me share Identify, Inspect, and Appraisal results. Your tier three Blood Manipulator should have one now.”

Kay set the knife down and focused on the class description.

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Class: Blood Manipulator

- Blood Manipulators are experienced at magically directing blood to their will. Blood Manipulators have a much greater control and ability with their art as compared to their lesser brethren, and they have a greater degree of flexibility with the blood they control. Born of an act decrying the “evils” of Blood Mages, Blood Manipulators stand in defiance of them.

Class Effect: Blood Manipulators can compress blood more effectively, increasing the force and weight of their attacks.

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“It says I can compress blood better, and that’ll let me make stronger attacks.”

“Same effect as tier three Water Manipulators then. That should let you use that pressure blade thing you were talking about.”

“Nice!”The initial posting of this chapter occurred via Ñøv€l-B!n.

The meal was delicious. It somehow reminded Kay of a quiche, but without any eggs. He’d never had a seafood quiche, and wasn’t sure if that was even a thing, but Eleniah’s dinner was fantastic. After finishing everything and cleaning up, the adjourned to the living room.

“So, lets talk.” Eleniah said as she sat down.

“There’s more? I already told you everything that happened yesterday.”

“Some of what happened to you could be related to my investigation, so I wanted to go over it. After yesterday there’s a chance that you’ll get more caught up in it than I would like, so you need to be informed and prepared.”

“Oh, the political stuff that’s related to the Nelamian plotting or whatever?”

“Right.” Eleniah marshaled her thoughts. “The gist of it is this: The Adventurer’s Guild believes that Nelam is trying to annex Tumbling Rapids non-violently.”

“Okay. Why did they ask you to investigate that?”

“Sure.” Eleniah walked into a different part of the house and came back with a scrap of parchment. The word ‘Vampyr’ was written on it.

“Huh.” He looked over the paper again. “And you say ‘Vampeer’?”

“That’s right.”

“Are they humanoid monsters that drink blood and are killed by the sun?”

“They do drink blood. They start as other races, then if they get infected by another Vampyr they eventually turn into one. They start off looking like their original selves, but over time they go insane and mutate into more horrific forms. They don’t like the sun because it makes them weaker, but they don’t get killed by it.”

“Interesting. Back home there are legends of beings like that, although a lot of them vary from one to the next. This,” He tapped the paper, “Is an old way of spelling the name of them, although I don’t know if it’s pronounced that way. Nowadays we call them Vampires.”

“Huh.” Eleniah shrugged. “From what you’ve been telling me some things are similar to stuff from your world, and some isn’t. Maybe this is just one of those things.”

“Could be. Tell me about Vampyr, please?”

“Sure. They lose their sanity over a period of a year or two after being turned. They don’t start to mutate for decades, so the younger ones can blend in with regular people, as long as they hide their fangs. None of them go crazy in the same way, but most of them become cruel and sadistic. Probably because of their race getting changed, they tend to have a good affinity with blood magic, so many of them become Blood Mages. The one’s that aren’t tend to have blood mage around to make it easier for them to feed. A lot of them become Necromancers too. Because of the insanity and a preponderance towards banned classes, they’re considered a very dangerous species. There are lots of organizations dedicated to hunting them, although the Intarian Crusade is the biggest one. They also try and help those turned against their will, and they use volunteers from that group to try and research a cure, if there is one.”

“Since they hang out with Blood Mages, you think that’s why one or more of them might be the dead Blood Mage’s Great Ones?”

“That, and most Vampyr are narcissistic megalomaniacs. Every one I’ve ever encounter had some kind of title they made up for themselves. The Doomlord, His Royal Majesty of the Red Fluidity, shit like that.”

“You met a Vampire who called themself ‘the Doomlord’?” That sounded like a thirteen year old roleplayer to Kay.

“Right? Ridiculous title. Plus, the Lord of Doom would destroy them if they ever heard about it.”

“What?”

She glanced over with a confused look. “What? It’s a dumb idea to give yourself titles that sound like someone else’s real title. It’ll just piss them off.”

“No, I’m surprised there’s someone who calls themself ‘The Lord of Doom’.”

“It’s the name of their class. Why wouldn’t they call themself by their class title?”

“Do you call yourself the Indomitable Fist?”

She shook her head. “I don’t call myself ‘the’ Indomitable Fist. But in formal settings it’s considered the correct thing to do to refer to yourself by your name, then your highest tier class. So I’m Eleniah Selthoran, Indomitable Fist. If you’re being really formal, and you can, you use the Voice of the World when you give your class.”

The conversation soon sidetracked from Vampyr, on to formal events, when it would be appropriate to use the Voice of the World, and when it was possible, and smart, to lie about your classes and levels in formal settings.