By the time we got out of the bath, the water level had visibly fallen from all the steam that had continuously risen up.

How long was that? I wasn't sure, but it was more than enough to turn the inside of my hands into looking way past prunes and more like raisins.

After I got dressed, I headed over to the 78th floor and had my fill of troll blood. They were similar to the gardener trolls back in the Knossos dungeon, but a bit stronger. Alicia informed me they were called timber trolls and they were over fifty levels above the ones in Knossos.

You could taste the difference as well. The trolls before were like eating a nice salad with bacon bits and some Caesar dressing, but these were more akin to strips of beef cooked Korean barbecue style with extra sauce layered with rice, then wrapped with cabbage boiled in an oyster sauce based marinade.

It hit all the right spots and was absolutely filling, on top of the fact that it didn't hesitate to scream decadence.

Definitely one of my favourites, but due to the time it took to take one down, I hadn't really had much of a chance to enjoy these trolls' blood ever since I had met Alicia. I just didn't feel comfortable with leaving her alone for too long even if she was asleep and in the safety of the fountain room.

(But to think that they were so close to my own level.)

It wasn't like they were that difficult anymore considering I was still about 70 levels above them, but taking them down while both preventing too much blood loss on top of avoiding having Alicia experience any injuries did make it take a bit more effort than expected.

But in the end, it was only a bit, and we were able to enjoy this decadent treat.

[You know, the food you made was really good, but it's pretty amazing how good blood tastes as well. I've always heard that blood isn't nice tasting, but that troll blood was amazing.]

"Well, that's because I'm a vampire. I'm sure that it doesn't taste that good to anyone else."

[I see. But different monsters taste different right?]

"That's right. Just like different fruit taste different for other races."

[That's why charge boars and hornbulls have a mild taste, right?]

"That's right."

It was a little surprising that she hadn't mentioned it back when we were visiting the Knossos dungeon, but maybe she was still bewildered by the taste of blood back then.

"Hmm...Let's try something."

[Mmm?]

Ignoring Alicia's questioning tone, I quickly returned to the fountain room and teleported to the 74th floor. The monsters of that floor were of the undead variety.

I rushed the first monster I encountered, ducking under the semi-transparent monster's swipe of its icicle claws, I grabbed the strangely feminine creature's arms and bit into its neck from behind. The monster struggled against me, but despite its first attack it was a magic based fighter so there was no way it could beat my more balanced stats.

The monster's chalk white hair pressed against my face as it raised its head, its glassy eyes looking up at the ceiling as its almost human mouth gave out a silent scream.

Despite how it resisted me, how it resented me for flipping its role unexpectedly from predator to prey as its HP drained rapidly, it did nothing to diminish the sweetness of its essence that flowed through my hollow fangs as its mana filled my belly.

(Yum. I love mocha swirl sundae cones.)

[Mmmm. Even though it doesn't have any blood, it tastes so good! What a perfect dessert!]

"Right?"

I let go of the doubly lifeless body before it disappeared in a shower of light, leaving behind some drops I idly threw into my bag without checking what they actually were. On the other hand, I glanced at the little window that Alicia produced in the corner of my vision when the monster appeared. Apparently it was called a frost wight.

[But to think that you could feed off of things without blood! Being a vampire really is amazing.]

"Do you want to be one?"

[I miss eating your cooking, but it won't be so bad since I could enjoy all these different types of foods!]

"I see, I see. It's the same for me. I still miss normal food a bit, but it's not painful or anything thanks to all the variety I can get from all these monsters."

[Yea! It's so amazing!]

"On a related note then, do you still want to be my daughter?"

[Huh? I thought you didn't want me to be your daughter?]

"Well..."

It was true. I resisted the idea for so long, all the way from when I first adopted her, I kept insisting her as my little sister rather than my daughter. Even after I reawakened her after she died, I resisted the idea every time thoughts about how to make her a new body came up.

But...but something changed these last few weeks.

Seeing the everyday miracle of life unfold before my own eyes, something happened within me.

Before I knew it, my hand was already pressing against my lower belly.

It was obvious why. I wanted to feel it for myself. That bulge, the feeling of another distinct life growing within my own body. It was an experience that was impossible for me to have on Earth. Not without some more serious advancements in medical sciences at least.

Whether it was simply a part of my new instincts that had forced awake after helping to bring a new life into the world or if it was some part of me which simply always desired it but I had unknowingly repressed, the result was something I was sure about.

I wanted to experience it for myself.

"To be honest, at first I didn't. I was scared by the thought. I know I was acting like you were my daughter on so many levels, but...maybe I was just afraid of committing?"

[Committing?]

"Yea. If you were my little sister, I could just run from that once you grew old enough to survive on your own."

At the very least, I could break our relations whenever it became inconvenient. Sisters could do that. Sisters did that all the time back on Earth. But a mother and daughter couldn't. Or rather, it would be a lot more difficult to do. Even without the legal framework that made it more difficult to do on Earth, there would have been much more resistance to it psychologically, as a person who grew up with that legal framework being the norm.

"But now, I..."

My gaze dropped down. I couldn't see it past the globes that dominated my chest, but my hand continued to rub my lower belly.

(What would it be like to feel kicking from inside? What would it be like to give birth? What would it be like for MY baby to be in my arms? What would it be like for a life that was once part of my body to grow by my hand? To mature under my watchful eyes? To become a whole and independent creature?)

I shivered.

(For her to stop needing me?)

[Scarlet? Are you alright?]

"Ah, yea. I was just thinking."

It was only after I blinked that I became aware of the tears that had distorted my vision, what it was that tipped Alicia off.

(It's okay. It won't happen for years. Maybe decades. I'll have the time to prepare for that.)

I wiped away the tears from my face and straightened my back.

"I want it. I want to have a baby. Alicia, I want you to become my baby, and grow up as my own flesh and blood. Would you like that?"

My gaze rose up as I gave her my proposal. The false night sky in this ruined city floor was just as beautiful as the real thing outside.

[...Really? Is it really alright? Are you really not just saying that because you know I want it?]

There were signs, but to think a little girl like Alicia had actually repressed her greatest desire like that for my sake. Was it because she was used to not having her desires fulfilled? Or was it because she was just so much more mature than her age suggested?

It could have been both. She was always surprisingly mature, and that feeling was even stronger these last few months, but at the same time the life she had lived and the conditions of her body when I first found her were also telling.

"At first it was."

My words probably hurt Alicia, even if she seriously suspected it to be true. But even then, I had to say them. I couldn't lie to her, not about something so important. I didn't want our relationship to be one where we couldn't tell each other the truth.

"I couldn't bring myself to disappoint you when you were so excited by the idea. I was constantly trying to come up with a way to make you more interested in some other method."

[...]

"But...when I was holding that new born baby in my hands, I don't know. But something changed. I..."

I took a deep breath to give myself a chance to figure out the words I wanted to formulate.

[...]

"I wanted that baby to be mine."

[...Huh?!]

"No, that's not right. Not that baby, specifically, but...I wanted MY baby in my arms. My baby, that I could take care of, to protect, to raise."

[...]

"If you don't want to be my baby, if my weird obsession over it is turning you off, then I understand. I'll find a different way for you to get a new body. But...but if you still want to be my daughter..."

[I do.]

Before I could even finish my proposal, Alicia gave me her answer.

"Are...are you sure?"

[I am. You're the one who saved me. Twice. You took care of me, you loved me, in ways my own mom didn't. Ah, it's not like I resent her for that, or my family though. I was a burden to them when we were already so poor so it couldn't be helped. But, even still, the love I felt ever since we met, I don't want to lose that. Ever. If I could fulfill your wish, I want to do it! And because it would also fulfill my wish too, I want to be your daughter! Not your sister, not your friend, but your daughter. I want you to be my mommy!]

I was shocked into silence.

No, that wasn't quite right. I was stunned by the intensity of her wish, the complex feelings that went with it all. I couldn't help but choke up.

I fell to my knees and held my hands over my mouth as tears ran down my cheeks. My body quivered as I stifled my cries.

[Scarlet?]

"Master?"

But as the two with me voiced their worries, I stood up, and ear to ear grin almost making my cheeks hurt.

"I got it! I'll do it! I'll definitely figure out how to give birth to your new body, Alicia!"

[Thank you so much, Scarlet!]

"Ah, also."

I pulled my familiar spirit off of my shoulders and held her in front of me.

"You too. You're also our family. I don't care what other people think of familiars and their relationships with their masters. You're still my family. Got that Claret?"

"M, Master!"

I pulled Claret against my body as I wrapped my arms around her.

What she was to me, whether a sister, a daughter, a cousin, a niece, or maybe even something completely different, I didn't know. Maybe our relationship couldn't be defined by single words like that. But she was still family to me. A precious, precious family.

A small part of me twinged with regret. I had never had a good relationship with my family in my previous life. No, rather than merely not good, it was simply that I had taken it for granted. Family was just people who were related to you genetically or something. Parents took care of their children because it was their responsibility. Children grew up and became independent, eventually having their own children to feed and shelter.

It took me far too long to realize that wasn't what family was. That was nothing more than the technical definition of family. Of passing one's genes to continue an unbroken line of a species. It was no more than the definition given to unintelligent animals.

But for those of us who had gone beyond simple animalistic instincts, that was far from what family was supposed to be. What exactly was family I couldn't say that I knew what it was, but it felt like I was starting to understand it, at least.

"Alright! In celebration of confirming our familiar connections, how about I bake a...umm..."

"Bake what, Master?"

[Bake? Oh...]

"No, I mean, even if I baked a cake or something, it's not like any of us can eat it. Well, it's not as fancy, but how about we go find a few more monsters to gorge out on. Ah, and for you, Claret..."

I held both hands in front of me and gathered my mana. Unlike usual, I didn't simply compress it into a small point, but tried manipulating it a little. Altering the elements a bit, layering the condensed mana in specific ways as it solidified, it took me much longer than usual, but in the end, the results were worth it.

Well, it depended on how it tasted to Claret, but to me it was a tentative success.

What emerged from my hands was a mana treat in the shape of a three tiered cake the size of a large cupcake. The contents were layers of mana cycling through the elements with outer surface being black thanks to a thick coat of dark mana. Singular small white stars were embedded and scattered across the ebon surface. The base was encapsulated with a series of fuzzy beads that spiralled upwards right before they made a full circle, rising up through the tiers before making a similar open ring at the top. In the middle was a trio of large orbs. One red, one blue, and one green.

"This is...!"

"I figured that rather than your usual meal, something a bit fancier would commemorate this moment better."

[It's so pretty!]

"I'll cherish it forever!"

"Eat it. I don't know if it can go bad, but the mana will probably disperse if you don't."

This thing took a third of my MP. There was no way I could afford to make this a regular thing.

(Oh, but if I just eat a bit, then I could restore that consumed MP pretty easily.)

In the end it was more an issue about time than anything. But if the fluffballs also started to go wanting me to make them some as well, there was no way I'd last. It at least gave me an excuse to make it extra special.

"A, alright, Master!"

Claret held the small cake-like mana treat as she admired it from every angle.

It was a little embarrassing having something you made being examined so thoroughly, but the fact that it made my family member so happy tugged at my cheeks.

The greater dark spirit went to nibbling the mana cake bit by bit at once. Unlike the usual mana treats, she really took her time to savour this one. It was nice to see her appreciate it so much.

On the other side, Alicia deserved to enjoy something special as well for this occasion, so I went to my bag.

We might have just enjoyed a nice meal and some dessert, but my body was capable of taking in quite a bit more. It was almost like I had extra stomachs I could call on to when I wanted to eat more than usual.

What came out was a jar of blood, but not just any jar. It was the one that was filled with blood from that hydra monster I killed back on the Brokecleft Mountain Range.

[What is this?! It smells so good!]

"It's a little something special I got back before you properly woke up. Let's have a sip."

I brought the big jar to my lips and poured a small mouthful of blood in. I savoured the rich flavour that was like it was made half of pure butter. The taste reminded me of the descriptions I once read of foie gras, though it wasn't like I had any actual experience with that duck liver, so my comparison could have been completely off.

It was very decadent though. To the point that I wanted to compare it to a deep fried mars bar despite that being nothing but a sweet.

It would have been nice to have gotten a detailed [scan] of that hydra monster, but unless if I encountered another one, it wasn't likely that I would have the pleasure of finding out more. Or getting more blood. What I had was going to have to last until I found a monster that had even better blood.

Maybe a dragon.

(I want to try dragon blood.)

I might find one in the wild, or maybe I'd find one here in this dungeon. I still had no idea just how far this thing ran after all. It was far deeper than the dungeon in Knossos, though I didn't know if its depth was typical, or if there was any standardization amongst dungeons.

After we finished the jar of hydra blood, we went on to suck out the essences of various ghost monsters in this floor.

 

"Oof."

I felt bloated.

The three of us thoroughly enjoyed our meals as we celebrated our joyous occasion, but at the very least, I went too far. I didn't bother counting, but I probably had one or two too many ghost monsters to eat.

It wasn't like I could help it though, since I was on such an emotional high, but that had nothing to do with the regret I felt as I waddled my way through the fountain room and plopped down on the newly cleaned furs on the bed.

Claret on the other hand was casually floating nearby, sideways. She continued to have an expression of pure bliss on her face. It looked like she really enjoyed that special mana cake I made.

Despite how I could physically feel a painful bulge under my hands as I slowly rubbed my belly, it felt more like the greater danger I was facing was having my cheeks cramp up than any belly related issues.

Today was a good day.

No, yesterday was a good day as well.

This was looking to be a great week in general.

And to make sure that things got even better, I opened up my menus and got to work analyzing the code for [Breeding]. Most likely, this skill was going to be the key to allowing me to bear Alicia's new body.

[Breeding] was a skill which forced any pregnancies resulting from copulation with an individual that has the skill for the resultant baby to always be the race of the owner of the skill. This meant for me, being a bearer of the skill, that any baby I ended up having would always be a vampire, regardless of the species the father was.

That was, if I could actually use the skill. I had the one for orcs, but since it was a racial skill, I needed to modify the skill to make it work with my body. That in itself wasn't hard, as I've done that exact thing several times already. But the single major hangup I had, was in the initial condition to allow the skill to work.

That was, the need to have a seed presented.

Frankly speaking, it wasn't really a difficult condition in the slightest, but copulating with some random person just to have his seed was...the very thought made me shiver. I wasn't ready for it. Not in the slightest.

No, it might not have even been an issue of being ready, but rather, I flat out didn't want to do it. If I was going to mate, I wanted to do it with someone who I felt strongly for.

But I didn't have anyone like that. Not even close. At least when it came to the male variety.

Or rather, I only really knew Magni and the guild masters of Linsington, Knossos, and Eremus. None of which I knew even remotely close enough to say I could have any feelings for any of them, and I didn't know a single man aside from them.

Boys, sure, but not men.

And waiting for one of those boys to become old enough that I'd accept their seed was...

I wasn't Hikaru Genji.

The very idea was revolting, like I was abusing my status as an adult and imposing unreasonable expectations of children. It was one thing if such a thing just naturally came about, but to deliberately set things up like that was a low point I refused to touch with a ten foot pole.

So all that combined meant that I'd either have to find a mate, or find a way to do this without one.

Cloning was a possibility, and maybe Alicia would love the idea that we were the same genetically, but I'd rather have a bit of differentiation, even if it was only a little. I didn't want her to suffer being mistaken as me when she grew up.

But when it came to finding a genetic base to use as her other half...only regret came piling up.

I had cremated her old body. If I had preserved it instead, I could have found a way to combine her genes with my own. That way she'd be able to keep a bit of her old self.

It was seriously doubtful that her blindness was genetic. I hadn't heard of such a mutation before. Though it wasn't impossible, it was far more likely to have just been a simple deformation caused by simple bad luck during pregnancy. The chances of it being repeated was near zero.

But that was presuming I could use her original genetic base in the first place, which was now impossible.

Unless...

I sat up and looked around.

(Is there a chance that I could find some traces?)

I spent the next while slowly sweeping across the room and found some hairs. They were brown, completely different from my own silver hair, and there should have been nobody else who'd come to this room. At least since I got here.

But the thought made me nervous.

(What if I got the wrong hairs?)

I had cleaned this room out when I originally made it my primary living area, but that didn't mean that some delver from a long time ago couldn't have left some hairs here as well and they managed to survive the cleaning I performed.

Length wasn't a useful measurement either, as it wasn't like Alicia's hair was completely uniform in length. There weren't any unusually long hairs either.

But the possibility still made me nervous.

I had to make sure.

So I used [Scan].

The first hair gave me a nice set of information. Well, a lot, actually, but not nearly as much as when I scanned a person. There wasn't any status information and many of the usual sections were gone.

But I could find some identifier container files. Files that suggested at least one of them contained the body's DNA, or whatever this world had in its place if it was different.

I set aside the information to the side of my vision and checked another hair.

The contents of the [scan] was the same. Or rather, it showed the same information, so I opened up the identifier container files and compared the two. If all of the hairs had identical information, then I knew for sure that they all belonged to Alicia.

Due to the size of the files, it took me a while, but in the end, I came to a solid conclusion after examining these two hairs.

(Fuck.)