"Huh? What's going on with this figure? I'm sure her loyalty was at 60 before, how did it drop so much? And it's even fluctuating like this..." Aldritch really didn't know what to say about the situation, it was very bizarre indeed. Looking at it more, it was clear to him now that her loyalty had dropped before, but just when that happened, he had no clue.
'I need to watch these things more... but it has only been a few days, how did things turn out like this. This was certainly a problem, but after thinking of it more, Aldritch came to a conclusion that it was related to her being a witch.
'I doubt she has no protective amulet or artefact on her, even that could cause this I guess.' At the point, there was nothing he could do, at least, the loyalty wasn't reducing anymore.
Aldritch watched the figure increase steadily until they came to a stop at 82, after hitting 82, her loyalty didn't increase any further.
Looking at the current 82, Aldritch was satisfied, this was enough, that meant that she would at least not betray him. Just how much of their loyalty these figures represented was still unknown to Aldritch, but since 82 out of 100 was a good margin, he deemed it good enough.
Feeling bored again, Aldritch began questioning the system, asking different things, some relevant, others not so much. He even began playing with blood, making different shapes and constructs with it until an idea came to him.
'I wonder if I can make a weapon using the blood?' He wondered.
This was something he had seen many blood manipulators do in almost all the movies and fictional stories he had read, it was basically something that was common and seemed to be basic knowledge for all blood manipulators. Not to mention, having such a skill would be vital in combat and other situations.
Vampires weren't exactly meant to be swordsmen or such, Aldritch could feel it deep within, but that didn't mean he could learn a thing or two about swords and daggers.
He deconstructed the statue of himself which he had formed using some blood, then easily made a knife.
Looking at the blood red thing before him, it certainly looked like a knife, but then again, that wouldn't even cut a fly, talk less of a human. The next question was obvious, how could he make it hard enough to function the way he intended.
After a minutes of thinking about it, Aldritch deconstructed the knife and made a simple ball instead. The ball or orb made of blood was the same as the knife from before, completely liquid with no combat function other than blinding the enemy temporarily if he was to get it in their eyes.
'This shouldn't be difficult, it's simple physics, physics aided by magic and supernatural phenomena...' he assured himself.
His plan was simple, condense the blood until it became solid.
"Let's start by trying to draw it into itself."
...
*Slash *Slash * Slash
No matter how many times Olgud swung his blade, he couldn't touch his assailant. He was totally powerless against her. As for Lina, without her weapon, her combat abilities were severely diminished. She was literally sitting out of the fight, there was also the fact that their assailant didn't bother with her and was focused on Olgud, even when she fought.
"I can't believe we would get attacked here, has this human betrayed our master?" Lina sounded a bit furious and angry, though she was holding back, not wanting to be taken by her emotions.
"No!" Olgud spoke as he deflected a casual strike from the shadowy figure. "she's not trying to kill us; this is just a test." He answered.
After saying that, the shadowy figure moved faster than it had been, appearing before Olgud and knocking him back onto his knees. He was unsure of what had hit him, a punch or elbow or even a kick, all he knew was that he was sent flying backwards.
"That's enough. I've been ordered by my master to train you in the art of the shadows, this was just a test. Before you go deciding anything, know that this was an order that came ultimately from our lord, so take it seriously." The shadowy figure said in the voice of a lady as her shadowy form dissipated, revealing a cloaked figure.
"Come on, let's go. Your training will start immediately, no slacking off old man." She said, bringing down the hood of her cloak to reveal her crimson hair as she turned away from them.
Lina's anger calmed a bit, but she was still a bit furious, maybe it was because she was ignored throughout, or the fact that Lada had chosen to test them like this... well, test Olgud, not her.
"Where's that woman?..."
...
After a few hours, Aldritch reached the outer walls and Ingrid's house. With a pouch filled with gold coins, Aldritch brought Ingrid with him to the slave market.
This time, he wanted to buy as much as possible. Even though he had decided to start a kind of human farm for blood, Aldritch knew that the supply wouldn't be so consistent because humans couldn't produce and lose blood in such amounts like that, if not they would dry out and die... 'I can always replace the dead, but that's beside the point.
I'd need some kind of scientist to maximize the gains from such a facility.' He thought to himself. Giving the nature of this world he was in, if they were capable of making a train, he was sure that there would be someone somewhere with enough expertise to conceptualize his ideas, but that was if he could find them.
'That'll be something to think about later, for now let's focus on what's on ground.'