Vae Victis - Chapter 21 (Patreon)

Shelter

I woke, as always, with the setting of the sun. I did not dream, or if I had I did not remember it. If there was one thing that I missed about sleeping it was dreaming. The thing that came over me now was more of a state of unconsciousness, even with this sun, than it was actual sleep. My body just being unable to keep up under the daylight. I wondered if perhaps this sun just had a weaker effect on me and but still the same one. After all, some vampires could remain awake during the day, and there had always been stories of some that could survive the sunlight for short periods of time. Perhaps there was a lot more to learn about my kind than I realized.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Shimi called out.

I sat up, fully alert and took in everything around me. Vampires didn’t really have that period of adjustment to being awake, and it seemed like that hadn’t changed. I took stock of myself, poking at my thirst. It didn’t stir at all, which told me that I was good on blood. I hadn’t really been paying attention, but I decided that I should probably do a bit more testing to see how the blood of these animals affected me. I had felt bursts of power moments after I drank it, though not from the bird. Was that because it was weaker? It had almost tasted like the blood from the animals on Earth, though still tinged with power.

“Anything happen while I was asleep?” I asked.

“No, the field is still operating as it should,” Shimi answered.

“How exactly does it operate?” I asked as I walked over to where I put the water gourds and washed my face.

“It releases a faint mental suggestion, telling the animals that there is nothing of interest here. Of course, the higher Investment animals would probably be able to see through it eventually. Monsters might get tricked for a few minutes, no longer.”

I blinked at that. “So, a monster could just walk through that?” I waved at the shining field around us.

“Yes,” Shimi nodded.

“That doesn’t seem all that safe?” I raised an eyebrow as I came to sit back across from him.

Shimi smiled. “Monsters rarely leave the inner ring, or at least they did not up until now. And I picked this place because animals here were weaker. Now something had disturbed them, changed the patterns that had held true for millennia. The quakes have been getting more intense.”

“You said that they were common?”

“They are, but it had never been more than slight shaking. This though, it started very recently.”

He turned his head up at the sky, clearly in thought.

“You don’t know why or how it happened?” I asked.

He glanced back to meet my eyes. “I do not know, but I assume that it has to do with your arrival.”

“I…”

“Your world’s arrival I mean, not you personally,” he clarified. “I assume that the Great Mistake has some schemes in mind.”

“The Great Mistake?”

“The Grand Spell, the System,” Shimi answered. “It has many names.”

That seemed like a story all in itself, but I didn’t think that we had the time for such things. Even the message I stumbled on called it a different name. I stood up and looked down at him. “We should move camp then, somewhere safer. The ruins to the East maybe? I hid there from the big ferrorn,” I suggested. I wanted to see if he would speak a bit more on these Ancient Ones he had mentioned. Perhaps his people already knew about the vision, perhaps I was not the first to discover it.

Shimi blinked. “You entered the ruins of the Ancient Ones?”

I tilted my head. “Yes?”

He cursed and shook his head, but he was grinning. “Bravery or stupidity can, at times, look the same.”

I scowled at him. “Excuse me for being thrown into another world and not knowing anything about it.”

His expression turned gentle. “Apologies,” he waved a hand in a gesture that seemed to indicate something, but I had no idea what. “There was likely no danger at all, but people from this world would rather take on a ferrorn than test fate with whatever remained of the Ancient Ones. Unless they were treasure hunters, but even then, the ferrorn would be far more appealing.”

That made me sit up, and lean forward interested to hear more.

“It’s that dangerous?” I asked, yet again struck by just how much I didn’t know.

Shimi thought about it for a few seconds, and then gave his answer. “No, not really. Not here in any case. The treasure hunters had wiped clean anything of interest in the outer ring ages ago. It is unlikely that you would’ve stumbled onto something that they missed.”

Nothing like a message left by one of those Ancient Ones, not at all. Had it been hidden so well that no one found it? I’ve pretty sure that the earthquake revealed the room, but I would’ve thought that someone would’ve been able to find the room regardless. Well, shows just how much I knew.

“These Ancient Ones, you said that they were the ones that created the Grand Spell?” I asked.

He inclined his head. “Yes, or at least that is what we think. We cannot know for sure. Their ruins are the oldest things that we found, but with how volatile the Grand Spell can be, there could have been more before them. Some records recovered from their ruins indicate that they once had a different type of magic before gaining masks. Most assume that means that they created them, but some argue that they could have just been the first brought over to this place and that their previous world had something similar.”

“How long ago did they die off, do you know?”

“The youngest ruins that we uncovered were dated to more than twenty five thousand years old,” Shimi answered.

I blinked, that number seemed incredibly high still, but it did align with what Saia had sampled. Something must’ve shown on my face, because Shimi continued.

“They built things to last,” he said.

Suddenly I felt a pressure inside my chest, and then an impression inside my mind.

Ornament of the Student — No Investment; 1st Carving

[A Lesson Remembered] skill gained.

Shimi noticed and tilted his head. “What is it?”

“My Ornament, I got a Carving for it and a skill, a [A Lesson Remembered]?”

“Oh, that is good, and a skill already bodes well for the future. It is a good skill too, it will let you remember any lesson perfectly, go ahead, try and use it, think of a lesson from your past.”

I frowned, then focused on the skill, the act of using it as easy as breathing. I blinked and—

“—Caesar was pursuing Pompey into Egypt when he was suddenly cut off by an Egyptian fleet at Alexandria.” The elderly professor said as he pointed at the images on the projector. The students in the classroom were a blur, only the professor, the projector, and the chalkboard was clear.

“Greatly outnumbered and in enemy territory, Caesar ordered the ships in the harbor to be set on fire. The fire spread and destroyed the Egyptian fleet. Unfortunately, it also burned down part of the city - the area where the great Library stood. Or at least that is what history claimed for the longest time. Now we know that Caesar learned of a vampire master living beneath the city harbor, and decided to burn the entire part of the city. Caesar wrote of starting the fire in the harbor but neglected to mention the burning of the Library or his original intent. He failed in his primary goal as well, the vampire escaped and took with him the most precious items from the Library prior to it burning down. Such an omission proves little since he was not in the habit of including unflattering facts while writing his own history. Nevertheless, the vampires still hold that event over humanity, using it as an example why humans are not meant to rule. In their words, we allow our hate and greed to rule us, too often uncaring about what destruction we wreak in our wake.”

I blinked again, and the classroom was gone.

“Did it work?” Shimi asked.

“Yes,” I answered. It had been so clear, as if I was right there. Except for the details around me, but those were unimportant. It had been so long since I was at school, learning and living free for the first time. As free as one could be, with a chain half a continent long attached around their neck, at least.

I shook my head to clear it. Then something occurred to me.

“Shimi?”

“Yes?”

“Back there, when you saved me, I felt, or heard something. Your skill I think? I’ve been experiencing the same when I gained carvings.”

He leaned back, his eyes widening. “Huh, yes, that was my skill. You did not hear it, not really, it is more as if you felt its impression on the Way. Not many people can do that.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “You need to be very sensitive to the Way in order to be able to do that.”

“There was almost like an impression of color?”

“Color? Ah, that must be how your mind interprets it, interesting.”

“Is there something different about your skills?”

“There are several types of skills, each has a different impression,” Shimi started. “There are the basic skills that you gain from advancing through Carvings, they are the most common skills you will encounter. These skills can be improved in various ways, by advancing your Mask is the most common way, but you can also do it by improving your ability to wield the skill. Then, there are learned skills, which as their name suggests are learned and not gained—this was what you felt when I used skills. Most any physical type skill can be learned, though it is incredibly hard to do. Followed by inheritance skills, which are self explanatory. Then you have Mask specific skills, which are the second rarest of them. They are gained for incredible feats in line with your Mask, for very high quality investment, and are exceptionally powerful. The last type are the rarest, they are called waybound skills. They resonate with the Way in such a way to create an effect. They are perfectly executed actions that hold power.”

“What even is the difference between the Way, the Source, and the Weave?” I asked. I hadn’t had the chance to ask Saia to explain it to me in depth.

“The world operates under certain rules, laws that are immutable. I guess that you could call the combination of those rules and laws, along with everything else around us the Way. It is reality which includes everything that exists. The Source is a small part of the Way, one that we can directly influence. It is the energy that can be altered or guided to cause an effect. The Weave is that alteration, the construct that causes the effect. In terms of Masks, every skill is a Weave of the Source,” he paused, his eyes looking at me intently. “Does that make sense.”

“It does actually,” I said. I should’ve asked earlier.

“So what you felt is the skills impression on the Way. Not all can sense it, and some powerful individuals have such mastery of their skills that they leave no impression at all. Though most just don’t bother with it as people who can sense it are rare.”

I nodded, shelving the information for later.

I could feel the sun coming, so decided to change the topic.

“So, should we move camp to the ruins?” I asked him.

Shimi thought about it for a long while, then nodded reluctantly. “It would seem that we have no choice. It should be safe enough, most of the ruins have been stripped bare this far out from the inner ring.”

I stood up. “Well, we should get to it then.”

* * *

I looked on in amazement as the entire camp was stuffed into a big metal chest. It was insane. When Shimi told me to start packing things up, this was not what I imagined. Nearly everything in his camp had what Shimi called a [Size Enchantment] which let him reduce the size of objects and fit them nicely into the big chest that had leather straps so that it could be carried like a backpack.

“This is insane,” I repeated, this time out loud.

Shimi chuckled as he leaned on one of his weapons, what he called the serpent-tongue spear, using it as a makeshift crutch. “Think you can carry it?”

The night had fallen by the time we had finished. I looked it over for a bit, then knelt and pulled the straps on. With a deep breath I stood up with an effort. I blinked, it was heavy, but not nearly as heavy as all those things were supposed to be. I glanced at Shimi, and he answered my unspoken question.

“[Weight Enchantment].”

“¡Que chévere,” that’s so cool, I looked at it in awe.

“We should hurry,” Shimi said and I had no reason to object.

We started the trek through the jungle at a brisk pace. I tried to take us over the easiest to traverse the terrain, though a lot of the ground was covered in moss. Even injured, Shimi didn’t seem to have an issue keeping up. Though I had noticed that he was visibly sweating.

“What do you know about the Ancient Ones?” I asked as we walked.

“What do you want to know?” He asked in return.

“I don’t know, I guess anything really? What were they like, what happened to them?”

“We don’t have any records of what they looked like, only descriptions and half recovered statues that we used to make recreations. We have an idea, but no real evidence. What we know is that the collapse of their civilization was violent and abrupt. When the Grand Spell brings over a new world, it combines its land masses into one big landmass, like it was arranging a puzzle. We do not know if the Ancient Kirios only ever had one continent, or if its landmasses have been merged into Ish Vimza, regardless a lot of it is submerged, we’ve found evidence of ruins scattered all over the oceans. What remains on the surface had been devastated in such a way that we suspect they had a very bloody civil war that wiped them out.”

What the message told me was that they didn’t adapt to Masks, so infighting was possible. The message did suggest that their end was sealed when they attempted to assault the Last Intent—the Great Spell—and destroy it.

“You said that the ruins are dangerous?”

“They are,” Shimi added. “One of the reasons why some believe that the Ancient Ones created the Great Spell are because of their artifacts. Most of the finds don’t work at all, but every once in a while we would find something that worked still, though never in the way we could predict and often not in the way we could contain. You see, we found these items that make no sense to us, and have strange uses. Like for the example the rod that I use to protect my camp. It is one such artifact, though our experts agree that the items that do work are no longer functioning properly. Some believe that to be because they were made before the arrival of the Great Spell, and after the rules were changed the Weaves that powered them now no longer worked as intended. Some are incredibly illogical and destructive, but powerful nevertheless. We take great care when entering their ruins, because you can never know what even a seemingly mundane piece of rock actually is, or what it can do.”

That made sense. I had more luck than I had thought, I’ve stumbled through the ruins without a care. Well, I had been drawn into a rift, so there was that.

I turned my attention on our surroundings, making sure that nothing sneaked up on us. We reached the buried ruins before dawn. Even knowing that the crack in the stone was there, I had a hard time seeing it. We squeezed through and entered.

“This is a good place,” Shimi said once we were inside. He paused, and tried to play it off as if he was looking around, but I could tell that he was winded. “This crack is too small for most of the really dangerous monsters to come through. Are there any other entrances?”

I waved at the corridor leading out of the room. “There’s a long hallway leading to another room just like this one with a pool of water, and there are several stairs leading down, but all are collapsed,” I said, debating yet again whether or not to show him the room and the message.

Shimi nodded. “We should stay here then, near the exit. Though I don’t like having a dead end behind our backs.”

We started setting up camp. Soon enough, it became obvious to me that he had no issue seeing in the dark, the same as me. When I asked, he gave me a simple answer.

“A gift from my mother’s side,” he said, his tails swaying behind him. “Not all Tsu-gi inherit the eyes from their Kitsu-oi side.”

“What do you think this place used to be?” I asked, nodding at the corridor on the other side of the room.

“A barracks of some kind, most likely,” Shimi said. “I had seen similar ones before.”

“Really?”

“Oh yes, I used to be a treasure hunter,” Shimi answered. “Though, the make of this place is slightly off from what the usual barracks I’ve seen. But then again, the Ancient Ones had many different factions, just like any civilization. I cannot even tell from what age this place hails from. Once, this place was probably filled with weapons, sadly, most of the ruins in the outer ring have been stripped clean long ago.”

Not completely, I thought, but didn’t say anything, not yet.

What he said though, was understandable, there were a few ruins remaining on earth that hadn’t been plundered over the years.

He placed his rod, wedging it between a crack in the floor.

“How common are these artifacts?” I asked as he turned it, a moment later the pale blue spherical shield appeared around us.

“They are rare, only the wealthy and the powerful have access to them. Most would have enchanted items, made by a Masked. Some of those rival even the strongest of the Ancient Ones artifacts. Though requires a really high Investment Enchanter Masked in order to create them. We call items like these, the ones that are from the Ancient Ones but still usable, relics.”

“Wow, bacano,” cool. “So, how does it work?”

Shimi shrugged. “No one knows. That rod was my addition actually. The actual relic part is just a small stone in the head of the rod. I found it as part of a collapsed wall defending a small town. I have no way of knowing if the way it works was its intended purpose.”

“What makes it different than the rest of these items?” I asked as I pulled out a smaller chest out of the big one, placed it on the ground and watched it grow.

“Those are not nearly as complicated or powerful,” Shimi said.

“So is there anything that I should know about all these different items?”

“The enchanted items are created by crafters, they are the most common of special items. Next are relics, the remnants of the Ancient Ones, which we don’t understand and can’t replicate. And last are the Invested Items.”

“Invested Items?”

“Yes. Just like people and animals, items can get Invested too. Think of Investment as an exchange. You give something to the Mask and it gives you power in return. A wielder of the Blademaster Mask might gain Investment by fighting with a blade, gaining combat experience, or just training with it. Some might even spend years meditating on the deeper concepts and what it means to wield a blade. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as you are giving something that aligns with the concepts of your Mask to it. Now, Invested Items are the rarest of items. It takes a long time for them to come into existence, and they are always powerful. Imagine a blade, passed down generations, wielded by great warriors. Over time, it would absorb part of the investment from its wielders and the world around it. Usually, their birth comes in moments of great tragedy, or glory. Moments when something monumental happens. An ancient blade, soaked in the blood of hundreds of thousands might gain enough to become an Invested Blade. A butcher’s knife, passed down a family for generations might do the same. What skills they gain depends on the type of Investment that they experience.”

That was fascinating, but ultimately wouldn’t help us much to survive. I turned the conversation back to the things that would keep us alive.

“So,” I started. “How do I go about hunting animals and getting us out of here?”

Shimi took a deep breath, and then started to explain as I set up camp.

“The reason I suggested that you hunt an okolon is simple. Every animal or monster has capstone skills, usually they gain more as they get older and gain more Investment, one for each tier of it. Signature skills, though, are skills that the animal or monster is born with. In the case of the okolon, the [Mist Step] skill.”

I listened attentively as Shimi explained.

“As you have experienced, it allows them to take a single step during which their body turns to mist. The [Mist Step] will be very useful to you,” Shimi paused, then shook his head. “We need to plan your targets very carefully.”

I tilted my head. “Why?”

“You gain skills from the monsters you take blood from,” Shimi answered. “We need to equip you with skills that will ensure our survival. All Masks are shaped by the type of investment they take in, yours is no different. A warrior constantly in battle will get skills related to battle, a warrior during peace would get skill adequate for the investment he gained. You gain investment from blood, but also skills to use. I am certain that you will not keep getting slots as your skills, but we still need to make a cohesive build for you. All Masks have logic in the way they gain skills, there has to be one for you. The [Lesser Strength] that you gained from the ferrorn would’ve been its most powerful skill at that age. I am making an assumption that if you kill the beast on your own and drain it, you will get its most powerful skill.”

That actually did make sense to me. I wasn’t sure how, but I was almost certain that he was right about that.

I nodded. “So, what are my targets?”

Shimi’s eyes narrowed, and he seemed to be thinking. Then, he stood and walked to where I had placed the tent and one of his chests. He rummaged through it for a bit and then came out with two items in his hands. One was a smooth a crystal cube, looking almost as if it was made out of quartz, the second was what looked like a cream colored piece of paper.

“What is that?”

“I should have done this before but…” He shook his head. “This,” he raised his left hand. “Is a crystal enchanted with the [Inspect] skill. It will let me see your full Mask title and all skill names.”

I frowned. “You already know everything about my Mask.”

“Yes, but this will give us some additional information that we should be aware of.”

“Wait, so there are ways of seeing what someone’s Mask is and what it does?” I asked. “Doesn’t it then defeat the point of trying to keep it secret?”

Shimi shook his head. “There are ways of protecting against it, and the skill type is very rare, only certain Masks can gain it and only on high Investments. Most will never encounter anyone who has it, and the higher someone’s Investment, the harder it is to inspect them. I am not really a good example of what an average person is capable of or what means they have access to.”

He offered me the stone, and I took it slowly. Hesitating, I looked down at it. I didn’t know a good way to refuse him. But if I did use this, then he would see my Revelator Ornament.

“Is something the matter?” He asked.

I opened my mouth, then closed it.

“Ah,” he said. “There is something that you haven’t told me. I understand, I have kept things as well. It is only natural. I can only say that I do not wish you harm Marianna Rojas. I will not survive this jungle without you. If you do not want to do this, then we do not need to press. I shall find a different way to help,” he extended his hand for me to return the device.

How did people trust others? It was so hard for me, I had never trusted anyone. The closest person I ever had was Khalil, and not even he knew everything about my life. I was raised in an den of vipers, surrounded by criminals. I wanted to trust, but I just didn’t know how. I wanted to ask Shimi for advice, to spill everything that I had learned from the message and the vision. But I hesitated, I just couldn’t open my mouth and say it. A nagging voice in the back of my head told me that everyone was always out to get me.

And yes, maybe Shimi was playing the long game. Maybe he was tricking me, playing me in order to get more information out of me. Perhaps I would wake up with a knife in my heart one of these days, or not wake at all. But after a life of such darkness, I wanted to be different. I wanted to take this opportunity to be better than life made me. So, trust. And if he betrayed me, then at least I had tried.

“Trust is hard for me,” I said. “But, I’ll show you, just don’t ask questions, I’ll tell you when I was ready.”

Shim met my eyes, then nodded gravely. “You have my word.”

I took a deep breath. “Okay, so what do I do with this?”

“It is called a Reader. Just hold it, and wait,” he brought the piece of paper close and put it on top of the crystal in my hand, it immediately started to glow and symbols started appearing on the paper. I blinked, and looked at them uncomprehendingly. It was written in a language unlike anything I have ever seen.

Once the page was filled, he took it back and read. “Hmm… well, this at least gives us some idea of what to do.”

I narrowed my eyes and he offered me the paper. “I can’t read that.”

One side of his lips quirked up and he just offered the paper again. I took it in my hands and turned to reading. At first it was written in the strange language, but then after a few moments of me looking at it the symbols shifted and changed, arranging into something that I could understand.

“The Grand Spell translates most things for you.”

My eyes widened, and I read what it said.

Marianna Rojas

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Mask of the Drainer (Weave, Esoteric):

No Investment; 6th Carving

Ornament of the Revelator (Esoteric)

No Investment; No Carving

Ornament of the Student (Physical, Weave, Esoteric)

No Investment; 1st Carving

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Attributes:

Physical: C

Weave: F

Esoteric: C

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Skills:

[Debilitating Wave]

[Lesser Strength]

[A Lesson Remembered]

“What is this?”

“Your traits, you could say,” Shimi said, not commenting on my Ornament. He grimaced, then walked back to his spot and took a seat. I looked away guiltily, I hadn’t noticed that just standing had been a strain for him.

“And what does this mean? What does C in physical represent?”

“Ages ago, Elves came up with a system of categorizing people and their power across Investment tiers. They started assigning people ranks, which are: F, E, D, C, B, A, and S. And split these categories into three attributes: physical, weave, and esoteric. Now, we can get a rough idea of how powerful someone is by using these devices,” he raised the Reader. “You… are stronger than I thought, about as strong as a first Investment physical based Oni-yi. You having a C rank in physical at No Investment tier, that makes you stronger than most at their Second Investment, aside an Oni-yi, close to some at their Third. Attributes increase with more Investment, based on the Mask type. Your Mask is not a physical one, so I doubt that you will have much increase there as you improve your Mask. Still, your attributes are… impressive. Some physical oriented Mask wielders can be lucky if they hit D rank in their Fourth Investment. Do you follow?”

I nodded my head slowly. I didn’t think that this was the right time to tell him that a vampire grew stronger as they got older, and that I was very young.

“Each Investment tier comes with some increases in the three attributes. There is a high amount of Mask variety, some Masks give far greater physical increases upon tiering up, while others don’t.”

“What do those attributes actually mean? I had been meaning to ask, there just never seemed to be a good moment.”

“The basics are as follow. Physical is just what it states, all things related to the physical attributes: speed, strength, toughness, regeneration, agility, senses, regeneration, all of them added together to give a rank. You can have two people of the same rank with vastly different capabilities. One that can bend metal bars, and the other who can hear from leagues away but can barely break wooden branches. Weave is all things related to the use of the Source, mostly as related to Mage type Masks. Esoteric is tied to the Way, and as you have noticed, how in tune you are with it.”

“Wait, you said that this was just a system invented by the Elves?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“So how does that [Inspect] skill show it then?”

Shimi smiled. “That is a good observation. This method was invented so long ago that the skill appeared after it. The Grand Spell is always changing, new skills and ideas are incorporated from time to time.”

“So, what does all of this mean actually for me?” I waved the paper in his direction.

“Well, your Weave is F, which is not surprising as you said your world had no Source. With your [Lesser Strength] your strength is probably somewhere around high C, maybe low B, since it scales of your base strength. That puts you on equal ground with most High Second Investment physical Masked, perhaps some low Third Investment ones too. I have seen your speed and I would put it around the same rank, your coordination I would put a bit higher. I do not know the rest… Would you be willing to share more about your capabilities? It would help me fashion the right path for you to take.”

I thought about it for a few seconds. On the one hand, revealing the secrets of my kind didn’t sit all that well with me. I could fathom giving him my secrets, but Earth stuff. On the other… almost everyone on Earth knew about vampires, it was doubtful that our capabilities would remain a secret for long. I nodded and he continued.

“I have noticed that your healing is… accelerated compared to what I am familiar with.”

“I can heal from nearly any wound, aside from decapitation, though the severity of the wound can make me… thirsty.”

Shimi thought about that, then touched his neck with one of his hands. “I’ve noticed the wound around your neck,” he commented.

I grimaced as I remembered it. I touched the tender skin and winced—the wound was healing, but it was still raw. “It was done in a special manner, that hurts us more,” I told him. “We heal slower from the wounds inflicted in such a way, and they scar.”

He looked at my neck, and I prepared myself for the inevitable question of its origin. It was a pretty specific kind of a wound. Instead, he nodded, not prying further.

“Okay, what about disease or poisons?” Shimi asked.

I cleared my throat and answered his questions. “Vampires don’t get sick. The thirst is a jealous bitch.”

“That is… incredible, you are like the Naga-shan, better perhaps—they are only highly resistant to disease or poisons. This thirst, what is it exactly?”

“It is what makes vampires who we are. It is a name that we give to the bacterium that changed us and made us who we are. It lives inside of us, all the things my kind is capable of is because of it. The thirst is the most common name for it.”

We spent a a while talking about vampire origins. I of course shared only what was widely known by the humans. Not that I knew much more in the first place.

When I was finished, Shimi looked at me, opened his mouth, and then closed it with a sigh and shook his head. “If we were anywhere else… If I had but the time to sit down and properly learn, ah… perhaps, one day we might meet again, after all of this is done, and I could properly record everything about your kind and world?”

I smiled at his expression. “Sure, you’ll have to buy me dinner first.”

“As many as you wish,” Shimi said. “Though… I wonder. May I have your permission to attempt something? It shouldn’t be dangerous for you.”

I tilted my head, then nodded. Shimi grimaced as he got up to his knees and then his nine tails waved behind him. I frowned, looking at him. I felt something tickle my nostrils, and they flared unconsciously. Suddenly, another Shimi stood up from the one kneeling, and a second one followed quickly after. Both moving on opposite sides around me. I blinked, then heard something behind me and froze. A hand touched my shoulder and Shimi whispered.

“What do you see?” He asked from behind me as I watched him kneeling in front of me.

“I—achoo!” I sneezed. The two Shimi’s standing across from each other shook, their shapes becoming blurry. “What—achoo!” I sneezed again, the weight of the hand on my shoulder disappeared and the kneeling Shimi tilted his head. I shook my head and felt heat inside of me, and then I sneezed again. The two images disappeared as if they were made out of smoke. “What wa—” I paused, holding my nose to prevent another sneeze. “Was that?”

Shimi’s eyes narrowed. “What did you see?”

“You, well, more of you,” I answered. “Then I started sneezing.”

“Huh,” Shimi said, and then I saw him grimace and collapse back on the ground. I dashed forward and caught him, then helped him sit up again.

“Blights,” Shimi said. “Should not have done that.”

“What was it? A skill?”

Shimi shook his head. “No, no,” he answered. “Just like how your kind has quirks, so does mine. The Kitsu-oi can release powerful pheromones that can make any being hallucinate. Mine are not as powerful as a full blooded Kitsu-oi’s, but I should’ve been able to keep you under the effects for longer.”

“Wait, they—you—can mind control people?” I asked. There were many stories and myths about vampires being able to mind control people, sadly they were just that, stories. Vampires couldn’t read minds, we were just better at seeing the minute changes in people’s expressions, it let us trick them and pretend that we were reading their minds.

“No, of course not,” Shimi said in between deep breaths. “Though, there is some stigma and fears from those who are ignorant,” just like on Earth it seemed. “It allows us to play with the senses, make illusions. Many consider Kitsu-oi to be tricksters and untrustworthy because of it.”

I felt warm knowing that he was sharing more about his kind too. It felt like my trust wasn’t misplaced, for now at least.

I looked him in his eyes. From what little I knew about Shimi, I had gotten an impression of a prankster, even though he was often composed and spoke in slow even tones. But there were moments where I had seen humor in his eyes.

“Well, I guess that it doesn’t work that well on vampires,” I said.

He nodded. “Mine is not particularly potent, and you still came under its effects. You are probably just highly resistant. More powerful Kitsu-oi will be harder for you to shake. Regardless, this gives me a good idea of your strengths and weaknesses, now we need to plan your advancement. You are strong and have survivability, that gives you a chance, but even with all of your advantages, all it takes is for you to encounter a monster above Third Investment and you are most likely going to die. That means that the first thing you need is a way to run away—[Mist Step]. Okolon are the only Third Investment animal common in these parts that you should be able to kill with little danger that will also provide you with something useful. The question now is whether or not you will get more skills.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve told you that there is a chance for any Masked to gain an additional skill after every Carving, but that actually getting it is rare. At most, people get two skills per Investment tier, one on entering a new tier and one while climbing. You already have two skills, which is impressive, but even if you gained another we have no way of knowing if it will be another [Empty Skill] or something else. I don’t know enough about your type of Masks to be able to tell. Nor do I know how the blood you are consuming will shape your Mask’s evolution.”

“It matters?” I asked.

“Of course it does,” Shimi said. “Just like how a soldier who had served in war would differ in skill that the one that served during peace, or a Guard standing in the palace compared to the one walking the streets. What you invest in your Mask shapes it. You have been drinking blood of Monsters that were on the greater Investment than you, two of them already dead, we have no way of knowing what kind of skills that will give you. But, there is not much that we can do about that.”

“Right,” I said, I was ignorant, but even he didn’t have the answers for what my Mask could do. At least we were ignorant together.

“Before I send you out again,” Shimi started. “You’ve been using those weapons of yours in a fight. I assume that they were brought over with you. But perhaps you might want to look at some of mine?”

I looked down at the glaive that I’ve placed on the ground near me. “They are not the weapons I am most familiar with, but they are good enough,” I told him.

“You said that you had some training with weapons?”

“I’ve been trained with a few weapons, the ones I am most comfortable with are the spear, the staff, and the chain and blade,” I told him, then explained what each of those looked on Earth. Those were the three weapons that my sire was the master of. I said that I knew how to use them, but I was barely proficient compared to someone like my sire. Still, it was better than nothing. I walked over to his weapons rack, and picked up the one that he had been using like a crutch, the serpent-tongue spear. “This is closest to what I am familiar with, the blade is too long and it is heavier, but that doesn’t bother me much,” I said as I tried it out.

Shimi looked thoughtful. “I have nothing like what you described, no chain I’m afraid. The serpent-tongue spear is a good weapon though, but perhaps you might want to hold to your knife for the okolon. You need a fast weapon to take them by surprise and catch them before they can use [Mist Step].”

I was painfully aware of that, my ribs still ached. I thought about it, then returned his weapon to the rack. I looked the rest over, most were over-sized sword looking things, thick with serrated edges or weird serpent shaped ones. Old vampires tended to be proficient in the use of ancient weapons, the sword, the spear, most of them were good with nearly every weapon used in their time. But generally, they all focused on one to near perfection. The modern age had left them behind somewhat, guns and explosives have replaced the weapons they had spent centuries mastering, not that that made them useless. A vampire with a sword would win against a gun wielded by a human in nearly all cases. It was when the guns were wielded by shifters or other vampires where their power shined. Still, I understood what Shimi was trying to say, I wasn’t going to be fighting any of the monsters that would put me in too much danger. And he was right, I had grown accustomed to being the biggest threat around. Walking through the barrios I knew that there was nothing that the humans living there could do to touch me. Here, I wasn’t the big bad, here I was just one of the smaller predators. But that was what a vampire was in the end, an ambush predator, and I had to adapt to reality.

Low on the rack, I noticed a dagger looking weapon. It was thin about two of my fingers wide, and as long as my forearm, slightly bent. It was double edged, and the handle was a bit longer than what I was used to, probably to accommodate Shimi’s larger grip. I picked it up and was immediately surprised at its heft, it was heavier than what I imagined it would be.

Perhaps two daggers would be the way to go for now. “I’ll take this, just in case.”

I still had Saia, which I could have turn into a weapon, though for now I was thinking that it would be best to have her on me in case anything surprised me enough and got close. She could probably jump into a beast's mouth again, buying me time.

Though, I had to remind myself that she hadn’t even had the chance to do that against the mature ferrorn. I had to figure out a way to use Saia more efficiently. I could see another conversation with her coming as soon as we were alone again.