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[Vampire skill tree: 0 Skill points] 𝘰𝑣𝘭.𝗇𝓔t
Tier one skills:
[Night affinity][Locked(Cost one point to unlock)]
[Blood-sucking bite][Unlocked]
[Blood magic: Faint spell][Unlocked]
[Silent Step] [Unlocked]
[Blood scent] [Locked(Cost one point to unlock)]
Tier two skills:
[Blood magic: Eyes Burst] [Unlocked]
[Thralls-cursing bite] [Unlocked]
[Resting Coffin] [Locked(Cost two skill points to unlock)]
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[Blood magic: Eyes Burst] Would allow me to stun people who managed to resist [Blood magic: Faint spell]. It will also damage them, so it’s nice to have.
[Thralls-cursing bite] will allow me to get three helping zombies. I wouldn’t have struggled against Kristina if I had them.
I choose [Silent Step] above [Blood scent], so I can get an advantage of surprise. It will make it easier to get my first thrall up.
[[Silent Step] Would also allow you to escape when things turn sour.] Mom replied.
Arad smiled, opening the door and leaving the dungeon. “What?” He gasped, seeing the cultist camping out. They were discussing how to act.
Arad quickly closed the door and held it in place the moment they saw him.
BAM! BAM! BAM! Arad could hear spells exploding behind the door. The cultists have spotted him, and they aren’t happy.
^Mom, do you have any idea?^ Arad asked.
[There are a lot of them. If those people are capturing dragons, we should have expected them to have a lot of people.]
^That isn’t really helpful,^ Arad growled, but then an idea sprouted in his head, ^They are bison!^
[What?] Mom gasped.
Arad immediately transformed into his draconic form and blocked the door with a massive amount of dirt that he kept in his stomach. ^Let’s hunt them, shall we?^ He started digging, borrowing out of the dunging and beneath the cultist’s camp.
Arad opened his void eyes and looked up, locating all the cultists by the mana. He then locked on the strongest one. ^Let’s start with the big one,^ He dug all the way beneath a tree and poked a tiny hole to look out from.
Arad stared directly at the mage’s face [Blood magic: Eyes Burst]
POP! The mage’s eyes turned red from the blood pooling in them. And they burst. GRWAAAAAAAAAAA! The mage fell on his knees, screaming his guts out. The other cultists stared at him, confused. How did he get attacked? But as they looked, Arad’s claw emerged from the ground, pulling the mage by the neck into the ground.
The cultist jumped in and grabbed the mage by the legs, trying to pull him out as he screamed. Soon, they managed to pull him out, neck and face all scratched.
“He’s unconscious! Take him to the healer’s tent. Beware the ground!” One of the cultists shouted.
“Is it save to assume it to be a brown dragon?” Another cultist asked.
“Attacking from the ground says so, but what about the eyes exploding thing? Was it magic?” The cultist replied.
“We should go investigate inside. I fear Kristina is hurt!” Another cultist cried.
The mage got put inside the healer’s tent, and a priest-like woman approached him, “What horribles scares. I will fix you right away,” She turned around to pick a bowl of holy water.
The mage slowly stood behind her, his face turning grey. GRWA! He jumped, biting her neck.
GyAAAAAAAAAAAA! The woman screamed, alerting the whole camp. “Alfred turned into a zombie! He attacked Mila!” One of the cultists shouted, sending terror across everyone.
[Good, they are distracted. Let’s make a run for it.] Mom said, but Arad shook his head.
^I can’t let anyone who knows about me live. And they look like decent heals for later.^ Arad stayed, slowly approaching them from underground.
[You want to massacre them all?]
^No, not at all. Do you know if Aella and Jack are alive?^ Arad asked.
[No,]
^They attempted to capture me and hurt my wife. How can I call myself a dragon if people can mess with my mate and get away with it?^ Arad growled, his draconic blood boiling. Dragons usually eat their kind just for treading into their land, let alone touching their mate.
GYAA! One of the cultists screamed as Arad pulled him to the ground. The cultist turned in terror, and another of them disappeared.
PEW! PEW! PEW! Three arrows flew from the forest, taking down three of the cultists. Two green eyes glared from the tree branches, “Who…” PEW! PEW! PEW! The moment one of the cultists was about to speak, an arrow hit him.
Surrounded and feeling hopeless despite their numbers, the cultists ranks shattered, and they ran in every direction. Jack jumped from the bushes and rushed to the door, trying to pick it open.
Arad borrowed into one of the tents and walked in his humanoid shape, “Jack!” He called to him.
“Cheif!” Jack turned around, and Arad glared into the forest, “Don’t let anyone leave alive,” Arad said.
“You sure?” Jack looked at him.
PEW! PEW! PEW! Aella didn’t wait and quickly started sniping the running cultists.
“Fine by me then!” Jack rushed into the forest, hunting those who hid in the shadows.
After half an hour, Aella couldn’t spot more cultists, “Arad, this seems to have been all of them!” She shouted.
“Nothing on my side,” Jack called, waving his hand to Arad.
Arad approached Aella’s tree. “Fine, let’s hope no one escaped.” He sighed. It would be a problem if they learned about him being a dragon or a vampire.
“What do you want to do now?” Aella asked.
Arad smiled, “Clean, I will store all of them in my stomach. We will see their weapons and clothes and keep any magic items they had,”
Jack walked toward Arad and Aella, “So you want it to seem like they vanished? Leave it to me,” He started running around and collecting every single item the cultists had.
Before dawn, Jack had torn down their encampment, collecting every old rusted penny they had. “Cheif, did you finish?”
“Yeah, I collected all the corpses,” Arad replied. He would keep the blood for healing.
Aella looked at the sun rising, “Should we get back to the village?” She asked.
“What are you saying?” Arad looked at her, “Those crazy people poisoned us. I don’t trust a village filled with fanatics like them,”
“Then how will we get back home? We need to find a carriage somehow.” Jack stared at Arad.
“Oakedge village is located between here and Alina. I will carry us there, and we can find a carriage there.” Arad transformed into his draconic form.
“Are you sure?” Aella stared at Arad with a hesitant face.
“Well then, don’t mind me!” Jack immediately hopped on Arad’s back, “Come on, Aella.” He waved his hand to her, “You don’t get to ride a dragon each day,”
Aella smiled, gently getting on Arad’s back. She held tight to his neck, and he started running.
Dragons run like felines, using their claws to get attraction on the ground while balancing with their tails on sharp turns. But, It’s been stated they can run as fast as horses when unhindered. Arad’s speed reduced drastically due to the weight of Aella and Jack on his back, but he didn’t feel tired at All.
^As if I could run indefinitely,^
[Don’t push your body too much. Dragons naturally don’t show their weakness. You will run till you pass out of exhaustion.]
^Are you saying that I’m getting exhausted?^
[Yeah. Magic dragons like you aren’t named in vain. You can move till your stamina reach zero, your body will then start consuming MP instead, and you will keep going till you run out and pass out.]
^Can I keep recovering MP with the blood to run longer?^
[You can, but isn’t that a waste?]
^I agree,^
Arad kept running toward Oakedge village across the forest. They finally reached it in the afternoon. He stopped by the forest edge and transformed back into his humanoid form.
“Arad, are you okay?” Aella asked as she saw him bent, panting, and sweating like he was splashed with a bucket of water.
“I’m fine,” Arad replied, “Just need to catch my breath,”
Jack looked at Arad with a smile, “You rest, Chief. I will go find us a carriage,”
“Wait!” Arad called him, pulling a gold coin from his pocket, “Get a big one. We need to carry the dragon.”
“Can’t you just keep it in your stomach? That would save us the transport cost,”
“Merlin said nothing about secrecy,” Arad panted, “We need to take credit for slaying the dragon, and we might rank up,”
Aella looked at them, “What would Alcott think?” She asked.
“That isn’t our problem. It’s Merlin’s problem.” Arad replied, “Also, the dragon said a purple dragon killed his father and kicked him out.”
“So he was alone,” Jack looked at Arad, “Well then, I’m going,”
“Take your time,” Arad waved his hand.
As Jack went to Oakedge to rent a carriage, Arad went with Aella deep into the forest where he washed with some water he had in his stomach, and changed his clothes.