It didn't take long to arrive home. Marina was waiting in the garden in her Arachne form. She was using her thread to hang the laundry in the garden. The sight was quite impressive as she controlled each web to gain the maximum breeze to help dry them faster.
I could see both Alice and Chuchu in the distant yard. The problem with these noble residences was their gardens were like football fields. Chuchu was currently sitting on a lounge chair drinking from a coconut. She was a very cultured rabbit. Sometimes I thought she was something else entirely.
"Welcome back, master." Marina said. Her human half gave an elegant bow with the spider part moving the webbing.
"Ah! Lucian." Alice said with no respect. Which earned her a coconut throw at her head by Chuchu.
"Meep!" (It's Lord to you little white.) Chuchu corrected Alice, jumping on her spider body pressing down her head with a paw till she bowed to Lucian.
"Meep" (Welcome back dear husband!)
To be welcomed by three beautiful women. What else could I ask for? Just as I was about to speak, Emura stepped forward, giving the other women a bow.
"Greetings everyone. I am Emura, the slave and future bride of Lucian Von Silver. It's a pleasure to meet you!"
"Again?"
"Another?"
"Meep?" (More minions?)
The girls began some sort of silent talk. I felt a little out of place and hurried to my room. It was high time I started getting stronger. The system had been silent, likely because of this. Let's aim for two levels today!
I was now motivated. My body ran towards my room to collect some clothes suited for fighting. A black tunic and light leather armour and loose fitting black pants. My boots were, of course, iron plated knee length combat boots.
****
When Lucian left, the girls. They now stood looking at each other with faint smiles. It seemed like they were judging each other's power levels. Emura was happy, the other's didn't look down on her because of her current curse. They treated her like a rival, which ignited the pride of a red dragon, as she refused to back down.
"Meep!" (I am the empress, bow before me puny lizard!)
"Hehe, little rabbit, do you want a carrot? Keep dreaming." Emura said with a sneer. Her face was always lacking emotion, which made her seem even more aggressive.
The twin sisters looked at each other, wondering how she could understand what Chuchu was saying. Marina concluded both of them had the same level of intelligence. She then felt satisfied and returned to doing the laundry. As long as she had a place by his side what she didn't care, whilst Alice only wanted to steal Lucian from his sister and defeat the rabbit.
"Meep! meep!" (I am the princess of Monster rabbits! You lizards must follow my commands. Rude commoner!)
Chuchu was now standing on her back legs like a human. If Lucian hadn't run away in haste, he might have noticed she was growing into a more humanoid form. Currently, her size had grown and become more animated. She exposed her little fangs towards Emura, the only woman she felt a threat from.
"So you're just a mutated monster! I am a proud member of the red scaled lizard folk, a descendant of a true red dragon!" Emura puffed out her chest. This was the only way to show her emotions by using physical actions.
The sound of Lucian approaching entered the girl's ears. They seemed to understand each other, deciding to end their fight, and gave each other a nod. Their previous scene of conflict was now a picture of harmony. His footsteps approached and finally passed the two. He was about to leave the garden when everyone heard his spirited voice.
"I'll be back later tonight. If you see Carmilla tell her I will visit her in a few days. Try not to destroy the mansion with your fighting for dominance, Chuchu. Take care Marina, Alice and Emura don't hold back if Chuchu tries to bully you."
****
Lucian didn't make the mistakes of the other day. His katars were equipped and was ready to fight the moment he entered the forest. He felt the situation differed from the other day. It was strangely quiet. There was a lack of any life form. His vision turned dark red trying to find any beating hearts and using his vampiric senses.
"Nothing… It's like somebody drove through here with a bomb and wiped the entire forest out."
He slowly entered deeper into the forest. This was a strange situation. His daggers handles filled with sweat from his palms.
Lucian could feel countless powerful demons clashing with something deep in the forest. Their battle was nearly one kilometre to his north. It was likely their opponents were humans. He wasn't a retard, nor was he the protagonist who could get some adventure from visiting that direction. His choice was to head in the southwest, entering the second layer where monsters were level 3-5.
****
I had been hunting for over two hours and found nothing. My location is close to the second layer, it's not like I would have troubles there with my status. It's the fact I lack combat experience and there's no Chuchu to save my ass.
"Oh?"
My blood sense picked up three stray wolves. I was glad to discover that using this ability wouldn't cost me any mana. There was something I was forgetting, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
[Would you like to activate the combat module?]
"Ah? I had almost forgotten you existed."
[System -10 Affection]
[System exists only to support the host. If you wish to uninstall please confirm]
"No, where would I be without the perfect existence like you? Siesta!"
[System +15 Affection]
[Did you just name the system abruptly?]
[What if I wasn't female?]
"Then you'd just have to be a trap for all eternity, I guess. Let it be your punishment for failing my task,"
"Ding Main Task added."
"Make Lucian Fall in love with you."
"Reward: +10 Lucian points."
"Punishment: Become a toaster."
[…]
[You're an idiot.]
The system went offline after that. No matter how hard I pressed the interface, only the basic functions remained. My nerves were gone though, so I honestly want to thank Siesta a lot. I felt now I could finally improve as a person without relying on anybody but myself.
I put my force into one foot and bent my left leg slightly. My body leap into a large tree landing on a thick branch able to view the wolves from a high vantage point. There were actually four in total. They were currently eating a dead horned rabbit. The scene reminded me of Chuchu. "If she ever encountered something like this…"
Rage built within my body. It was this damn race. The game developers considered them to be too strong. They added a negative trait, being extreme emotional fluctuations which could almost trigger randomly. They would drive the vampire into a killing rage. It lowering all their status but soaring strength.
The branch cracked, with the force of my legs pressing against it. The desire to rip these wolves apart filled my mind. I pictured Chuchu's body as the mangled rabbit. With a snap of the tree branch, my body catapulted through the air at high speed towards the wolves, my two blades out stretched aiming to eviscerate two of the wolves' necks.
*Thud*
My body impacted the ground, causing my entire body to feel an aching pain. I felt the sensation of the wolves' throats being ripped open by my katars. The impact changed my trajectory, causing me to twirl. I impacted the ground and heard a snap in my right arm as I continued falling onto the ground, covered in the mud and rocks. When I tried to get my balance, my back slammed into an enormous tree trunk, causing a shooting pain down my spine.
The living wolves howled, looking at their two dead companions, baring their teeth and growling towards me as I staggered to my feet, wanting to correct my distorted balance. "I won't make it in time! Shit! Guess I have to use it."
My body shone blood red, two black lights glowed on my blades. In this moment, the pain didn't matter, my rage didn't matter. Like a fluttering swan dancing on a lake, my body gracefully flashed towards the two wolves, dodging to my left hand rising like a wing, nimbly cutting off its left paw.
The wolf tried to leap onto my back to tear my neck apart. I rose my left arm with an elegant flick. I felt the blade slicing through its flesh, muscle and bone like tofu. A black light followed my arm as my dance continued for several moments. I felt my arms were dancing in the air causing countless slashes to rain upon the wolves.
After several moments, I stood panting.
It filled my body with pain, but my mind was satisfied. I can do this, with more practice and efforts I can fight in this world! Not being useless was a great relief to him. Someone who was a pacifist all his life and feared conflict. He could take the first step to changing himself to survive in this new world.
"The loss of control is probably my lack of combat experiences and training."
The lovely system voice rang inside my head.
[Good work on your first solo battle, Lucian.]
[Killed Level 2 Iron Wolf] x 4
[Gained 12 EXP]
[Vampire Lord Levelled Up] [Level 3 ^]
[Strength +1] [Intellect +2] [Agility +1] [Stamina + 2]
[Learned new skill]
*******
[Lucian Silver] [Age:18]
[Vampire Noble: Baron]
[Seduction Rank:1] [5/10 EXP]
[Class: Vampire Lord] [Level: 3] [2/50 EXP]
[Alignment: Chaotic Evil] [Element: Earth/Water]
[Strength:11] [Stamina: 16] [Agility:7]
[Wisdom:5] [Intellect:7] [Charm:16]
[Talents]
[Dagger Mastery (Rank 2): Increases damage and knowledge with all dagger type weapons by 20%]
[Immunity To Sunlight: Sunlight causes no damage.]
[Vampiric Charm (Rank 1): Chance to charm opposite sex doubled +5 Charm.]
[Ambidextrous: Dual wielding gives 10% increased damage and no penalties.]
[Vampiric Stamina (Rank 1) - Increases stamina by 3 and recovery by 60% (30% in combat.)]
[Rock Skin: Reduces all damage taken by 5.5 (50% Strength)]
[Lesser Magic Resistance (Rank 1): Reduces all magic damage taken by 7 (100% Intellect.) 10% chance to resist spell effects completely.]
[Skills/Spells]
[Earth Spikes: Three spikes made of rock stab the target from the ground. Each spike dealing 4 (50% Intellect + 1) Earth damage.]
[Blade dance: Perform a spectacle for your enemies, cutting them into pieces with style and elegance. 5-12 damage (50-100% Strength damage.)]
******
Instead of being satisfied, I continued to hunt the wolves like they'd killed my wife.
When hunting, I suddenly found at a strange ferret with blonde hair and pointed ears staring at me like it was pleading for help. It was really cute, like Chuchu.
"Wuu!"
[…]