The System Of A Vampire

The words Draig had spoken you might wonder. It was eight simple words.

"Buy or Bargain, the Deadman"s Enchanter is Open"

The Guild leaders quickly received the news and were elated, soon news spread to the Knights who immediately sent an envoy to do business but came back enraged.

Draig had refused to take custom requests unless they were willing to pay double the normal price on one of his Display items.

The Guilds were shocked but were grudgingly understanding as the benefit of enchanted weapons were too overwhelming, and another reason they remained calm was while the Knight"s couldn"t afford the price the Guilds could. As well as the fact that Draig had said that they could bargain meaning they could trade items as well.

While the adventuring world was gus.h.i.+ng over the news and creating rumors Draig had Dracule complete another task by venturing into the Beast lands and collecting all sorts of monster skeletons.

"Excellent that will be enough Dracule" commanded Draig as runes began to dance from his finger tips and began scrolling around the bones. As the glow fade the skeletons seemed to reconnect and and soon several different skeletons stood around him though mostly goblin skeletons it would still be useful.

"What is the use in raising these bags of bones" asked Dracule as the green flames inside his head danced.

"You will see when the time comes" chuckled Draig as he began walking around the steel walls the surrounded the Farm.

Draig suddenly stopped and began carving figures and symbols into the steel using his claws, each slash into the steel looked elegant as if it had been crafted into the wall itself. Draig"s expression was the epitome of concentration as he continued to engrave the walls, eventually Draig finished and in front of him was a swirl of Characters that seemed to intertwine endlessly into itself.

Dracule standing at the side intended to ask what Draig was doing but found the young Feratu was already walking to another wall. However the difference this time was the way he allowed his finger to dance aimlessly over the steel until he came to another spot and began the process again leaving another formula though it seemed the core functions were a bit different from the different symbols mixed in.

It seemed the process would take forever but it wasn"t but a few hours for Draig to complete his work.

"Lord, may I ask what it is these symbols are supposed to be doing" requested Dracule staring dumbly at the characters.

Draig didn"t answer instead he began to sweat as blue tendrils of energy began swimming from his body into the symbols covering the walls. Gritting his teeth the blue energy began pouring from his body into the walls and his form began to shrivel until a flash was emitted from the four walls of the Farm.

However before Draig could celebrate his success a wave of dizziness took him and forced him to collapse, Dracule standing at the side showed a bit of sinister intent at first but a glowing symbol danced around the flame in his head causing him to cease. After a moment the jack o lantern picked up Draig and returned to the Farmhouse and laid his young master to bed.

While the the young Lord of Deadman"s enchantments slept, the Guilds and Knights were each holding their own gatherings.

"So the leech is finally open for business" began the Skinny man in blue armor.

"That seems to be the case, but that is not why we are here. I am certain we have all gathered for the same reason, we need to find the best way to reap benefits from it"s enchantments." stated the scarred man.

The other a.s.sembled Guild Leaders seemed to agree save for a few, the main conspirators seemed to be the Skinny man, The scarred man, and the Rotund leader. The other leaders at the side just seemed to nod along while doing their own calculations, it was clear from this meeting that the Guilds were not united in their endeavors instead thinking of their own interests.

While the Guilds were trying to come up with their own schemes the Knights were holding a more official meeting.

"Sir, as you have heard the prices that this mongrel demands are simply to ridiculous. A simple flame enchantment on a standard sword he demanded three hundred cores. Does he not understand how much that would be in gold" complained a Knight with a righteous air about him.

The one this Knight complained to was a much older man wearing scarred armor that seemed worn from years of battle.

"Tell me how much did that new set of gear cost you" responded the old man.

"..... four hundred cores" answered the Knight quietly.

"Oh so quite the sum, tell me then. Does any of this gear increase your strength, grant immunity to certain effects, or anything other than a regular set" asked the old man looking at the Knight.

"No sir" answered the Knight his face growing red.

"Then tell me what is expensive about such fantastic armaments, the one thing that has held us back from overtaking those Guilders is their magic. Now an opportunity has been presented to us and you dare look a gift horse in the mouth? Ridiculous, and on top of this you said he was open to bargain. This means their is a possibility of receiving his wares through trade." huffed the old man before standing and turning around to leave.

"The Knights will start no trouble with the Enchanter, this decision is final" stated the old man leaving a group of decorated Knights standing at attention.

"Very well, then let us see how long he can last at this rate then" muttered the Knight before making his exit.

While these meetings came to their end Draig had woken up and was attempting to feast to restore himself.

"It seems my magic reserves are far more inadequate than I originally believed, there must be a way to boost the amount of magic at my disposal" thought Draig as he ate a hard loaf of bread before looking at the meager amount of rations he could afford, dried meat and rough grain.

"Why are you eating the food of these mortals" asked Dracule looking at food on the table in disdain.

"What else am I supposed to eat" shot Draig with a narrowed look.

"Simple, you are a Vampire. You thrive off of the life essence of other creatures, this muck is nothing more than a way to stave off your hunger. If you wish to grow stronger then you need to follow your instincts and feast on the living" answered Dracule heatedly, the very thought of a Vampire eating normal food like a human filled him with disgust.

"You mean for me to drink the blood of the living" stated Draig looking at the pumpkin.

"If you wish to grow then you must stop living by the standards of mortals and live by the standards of our kind" responded Dracule.

The words were like a bell ringing in Draig"s ears, he had known about his condition for years but he had never followed in the steps of his counterparts. Never had he tasted the crimson essence of another being, he began to truly wonder if perhaps that would a.s.sist him in his growth.

"If that is what I must do then so be it but before I can do that I must first learn to control the abilities I have gained from the complete heritage that I already possess" concluded Draig.

"Then allow me to a.s.sist you then Young Lord" laughed Dracule as an old farmer"s scythe started twirling from the pumpkin"s side.

Draig was caught off guard at first but managed to regain his baring as he ducked under a swing in confusion.

"How are you able to swing that scythe" demanded Draig as he avoided another.

"Beat me and maybe I"ll tell you brat" laughed the Jack o Lantern as his blows became quicker.

Draig bent backwards but quickly threw up his arms and blocked a strike by solidifying his blood.

"Good use of the Crimson armor from the Altis branch but not perfect, show me more. Show me that you are the Heir of Feratu" called Dracule as his strikes began to pick up again.

Draig jumped back and thought about the few abilities he currently had from the branch families, he had the Crimson Armor, Alluring Gaze from the Valdi, and the Bloodscript of the Aries family. Though these abilities were few and only one currently had any battle use if he could find the right moment to activate the Alluring gaze he would be able to tank the blow using the Crimson Armor and land a strike but it was tough to say whether the blow would defeat the Jack o Lantern.

Draig snorted and rubbed the sore spot where he had been hit and suddenly dashed at the old Pumpkin swinging wildly as if he was in a street fight which seemed to enrage the old Feratu as the next swing that would have made contact was stopped by an ominous glowing symbol inside the pumpkin"s head.

"Why is it taking effect this time" asked Draig taking a bit of pleasure from seeing the old pumpkin in pain.

Dracule said nothing instead opting for the enchantment to die down before he swung again suddenly cracking the back side of the scythe into Draig"s skull.

"I have never been so disgusted in my existence until now, we are Vampires that means we are elegant on and off the battlefield. I expected with all the knowledge you have gained from the rus.h.i.+ng of the training process you would have tried to incorporate some of it but instead I see you swinging wildly like a barbarian or caged animal, we are going to do this again and I will not tolerate a repeat" snarled Dracule before Draig felt the wind from a swing he barely managed to dodge.

Dracule growled and brought his scythe to his back and used the force to follow up into a kick that launched the young Feratu away and caused him to cough up a bit of blood.

"Messy, just messy" tutted Dracule as he charged towards Draig"s form but instead of the messy dodge before Draig instead closed the distance and positioned his claws for a stab but felt a pressure building in his stomach that caused to spit up bile.

Looking towards Dracule who was still standing it was revealed to be his knee that had caused such a situation.

"At least you were smarter that time, get up we are not stopping until you can fight" stated Dracule dragging Draig into the yard before too much damage was done to the Farmhouse.

Tossing Draig opposite to himself, Dracule seemed to imitate stretching before he dashed quickly to Draig"s location aiming for a dive kick but found the young Feratu was back on his feet and now just opposite of Dracule. With a quick grab Dracule found himself careening into the ground.

Draig wasn"t done yet and tried to pierce the pumpkin"s head with his claws but was blocked by the trusted farm tool.

"That was smarter but not elegant enough" spat Dracule as his movements began to look like a dance of never ending blades.

Draig took a deep breath for a second and focused his mind and thought back to the times he was training in his sleep with the Founder. The movements he began taking then were subconscious but they flowed more smoothly and seemed to pack more force behind each hit.

Draig finally exhaled and his eyes seemed to glimmer as he turned slightly and dodged one scythe swing, soon another came but he slapped the side of it and knocked it off course forcing Dracule off balance opening him up for a strike but instead he felt a light tap on the side his head.

Dracule snorted and tried again but found that each of his strikes were being dodge effortlessly which left him basking in an odd sort of elegance. However soon his strikes began getting faster and faster, Draig continued to dodge though you could start seeing the signs of effort as sweat began building but still Draig did not take a kill shot instead landing soft taps on different parts of Dracule"s body.

"What is the point in those light taps, was your goal to enrage me? Then you have done an excellent job of that" growled Dracule as he swung again but instead of the soft tap to the side of the blade he found it kicked from his hands and a hard palm struck Dracule"s head smas.h.i.+ng the pumpkin into pieces.

"You lost control of yourself" stated Draig as he watched the still burning green flames engulf the pumpkin pieces and began fusing them back together.

"Shut up you annoying brat, you could have made my father lose composure with that disposition of yours" growled the old Feratu.

"That didn"t really help me in mastering the Branch Families abilities" shot Draig as he brought up the reason for starting the fight to begin with.

Dracule sat for a second and chuckled.

"Then just practice in your free time" said the Old pumpkin before turning around and leaving to do who knows what.

Draig sat there for a moment and tried a few of the magics that were available to him for the time being ranging from simple use of elemental magics to few obscure Vampire Dark arts. However soon the day had ended and the Feratu returned home to sleep mildly curious how he hadn"t seen any humans come to his domain yet.