Once we all calmed down and Helaina got off the floor, some of the vampires started to gather around us. They all looked to be in good spirits, but I was sure they were all wondering why we were here.
"So, you have kept your word so far, but what of us now?" Bill called as the crowd separated.
"Well, it is time to see if I can really do something about your problem. Hilda!" I said, and my boxy bee appeared in a puff of smoke.
"Everything is ready, and I ensured that Light Magic would be integrated with them. I will take care of the class separation and designation," Hilda explained, and I nodded, breathing a sigh of relief that I would have to look through the long list of classes.
As much as I was interested in what would be produced, I had more important things to take care of right now. I needed to get ready to deal with the Meccats and figure out what formalities I needed to get through.
"Bill, do you, as a leader of your people, the Vampires, accept me as your Queen?" I asked.
"I do," Bill said, and the room lit up with light as he and the Vampires all lit up with light.
[Queen System] Activated!
[48 New Subjects added to Hive]
The light cleared, but Bill was looking much different, not that I expected less. Still, going from a brown bear to a polar bear was quite a change, and I couldn't help myself from scanning him.
[Type]:(Race)Bear Folk-(Subrace)Imperial Draken Bear.
[Class]: Imperial High Alchemist Vampire: A Vampire progenitor that excels in the study of equivalent exchange through the art of Alchemy.
[Unique Class Traits]:
[Alchemist]: Transmuting metals and medicines is possible through the equivalent exchange.
[Light Walker Vampire]: Immune to sunlight's negative effects on Vampires. Can consume food or blood. Allows the use of Light Magic.
[Draken Bear]: Racial trait allows for the growth of wings and extreme Magical Resistance.
[Status]: Surprised (HP N/A)
[Abilities]:
[Bear All](Passive): Increase the effectiveness of tasks done to take care of Royal Subjects by 50%.
[Excellent Bearings]: Activate to learn about the people and environment within fifty feet.
[Overkoalafied]: Activate to achieve better than expected results for whatever you are working on.
[Vampire] (Gene) Acquired!
'
"You did it?! After all this time and searching, you were able to do this like it was nothing?!" Bill explained, and he looked down at his much more muscled and trim body.
"Sure, but don't complain. You have had the chance to live this long and learn what you did in your search. Because of what you did, you have access to something that I find very interesting. Depending on what you can do with your Alchemy abilities, you could create something like a Philosopher's Stone or an Elixir of Youth. You could turn to lead to gold, but that isn't as interesting as the first two," I explained, and Bill gave me a strange look.
"What is the Philosopher's Stone? I have never heard of anything like that, but I have heard about the Fountain of Youth before. That is a real place, but it is in the depth of an extremely dangerous dungeon like the mountain we were just in," Bill explained.
"You need A to make B. The stone is required as a power source of some kind, but it really just removes the need for the exchange. You can turn a pile of metals into a complicated clock with the stone. I am sure you could even learn to make golems with enough practice, but I am getting ahead of myself. For all I know, you could be the Philosopher's Stone yourself. Just keep me updated on what you discover," I explained, and Bill nodded.
"I can see your excitement, but I am going to take care of our people. Thank you again for everything," Bill said as she started to turn, but I shook my head.
"Don't thank me yet. I will be asking for all of your help to deal with the Sky Folk and many other problems this world has. I will push you to your limits, don't worry about that, but I will reward you with growth and access to a world that you couldn't have dreamed of if you wanted to!" I declared, and Bill flinched slightly but then grinned and kept turning.
I smiled and turned back to the three girls. My pets had settled back on my shoulders, but I was feeling a lot better.
'ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ No(ve) l Bi n',
Adding the forty-eight Vampires had given me a bit of a boost. Some of my weapons had changed again, and my Vulture Bees had gotten a lot stronger and now were Synced with my four pets.
"So, what is the next step?" Sakura asked, and I nodded at Shiva, who turned into a disc.
"We are going to head back to the main deck area so I can go over the formalities. We don't have much time before we are going to reach the capital," I explained as I lifted us onto Shiva.
Once we were on, the wall opened, and Shiva took off, leaving the Vampires that cheered and waved as we left. I hated having to leave so fast without talking to some people, especially the two Thrulls that had helped us in the beginning.
I had no choice. There was just too much that needed to get done!
"Ashia? Are you okay? You are gripping my hand harder than normal," Helaina said, and I tried to let go of her hand, but she held on. "I don't mind, but it just seems like you have something on your mind that is bugging you."
"Yeah, you keep trying to act calm, but I can almost smell the anxiety rolling off of you," Sakura said, sniffing me, making me pull back from her.
"That is probably because I don't remember the last time it was actually clean. I am just stressed out about all the things going on right now. I just want to relax and go back to the way it was in the beginning. Then the Predators showed up, and we were just about finished with them, and poof! We find the Tellarider controlling the SugaBees!" I growled but then lost my composure. "Now the goblins are at risk! The stupid Sky Folk just want to kill anything that doesn't fly or pray to a god that doesn't even like them! Some asshole that isn't even in this dimension is literally trying to mess things up for me at every turn! I feel like I am being pushed to my limits here!"
"Yeah, you got the short end of the stick, but what are you going to do?" Sakura asked, and I turned to blink at her.
"I am going to fix it all," I said plainly, and the fox girl smiled and nodded.
"Then shut up. If you are going to do it, why are you complaining about it? Why are you stressing yourself out over it? Is that going to make any of it better or solve it?" Sakura asked, and I sighed.
"No, but it feels like I am trying to carry the world on my back," I said, looking down.
The weight was really getting to me lately.
After being sent across the world, I came back out of the mountain, and things had only gotten worse. I was starting to get tired of the ever-rising mountain of problems, but it was like Sakura said, I was going to do them.
There was no point in worrying about things I couldn't control. I just needed to focus on what I could do now and here at this moment.
"You don't have to; we are here. I know that we aren't your wives yet, but I am sure that Sakura feels the same as me. We want to help you as much as possible, so don't hold the world alone. Break it into smaller parts, and let us help you hold it. We can start working on other tasks while you focus on the ones that are most important right now," Helaina explained, wrapping her arms around me from behind.
"I haven't agreed to anything yet! I am still considering things about becoming your wife, but I will help. The wasp is right; even if we don't get married, I still want to help you. You did free me after all, and umm, you are quite a bit of fun. I also don't like to see you so wound up like this," Sakura explained, and I let out a long sigh.
I did need to start telling people what to do; that was my job, not trying to do everything at once. I had been stuck in that darn mountain for too long, and now that I didn't have my normal helpers, I was lost.
"You are right, and I need to start getting everyone working on things. Once we are on the deck, I will start getting things ready and give you tasks, but I would like to make you my Wife, Helaina, before anything," I said, turning in her arms.