{So you know why I hate people who mess with spirits so much, right?}

‘Yeah.’

After the scar on Laura’s spirit was removed, she instantly started blaming herself for what she did and almost burst into tears. And it was merely small scar making her scared of someone and more inclined to listen to him.

{If only such small intrusion being removed got her to react so intensely, think what major changes could do. Out of a hundred people with various degree of spirit alteration I have last seen, almost ninety ended up with mental breakdown once it was reversed. The only reason I dared to remove it in case of Laura was that it was very minor interference that was very unlikely to affect her permanently.}

I thought about how Laura reacted, and it was simply scary. First she started blaming herself, but after Natria told her it was Murky who affected her spirit, she was so furious I needed to convince her not to kill him at first sight, but rather wait a while until we have a good chance to do so, the better if we could expose him.

At the same time, what I got to know only from Natria was that Laura was scared of me, especially after I questioned her and suggested to kill Murky. She said I have no idea how scary aura I have when I get angry, and that might be true, because I can’t help but notice how much I have unknowingly changed after Natria barged into my life.

After Laura calmed down enough to talk calmly, we discussed the matter of Murky.

We could kill him easily if Natria attacked him with help of Laura, or at least Natria concluded as such after Laura explained his prowess.

According to Laura Murky poses himself to be a spirit mage, and from all the abilities he had shown, he was capable of forming pacts with spirits and either using them as medium for his spells, empowering them, or commanding them to act more or less independently. She also said he was very good in the spell department, though Natria dubbed him as random caster on the bottom of the well. Another crucial point was his experience in close combat, in which he was making use of extremely wide range of spirit-formed weapons.

He was very fragile, though, and relying on his high firepower and speed, very vulnerable in a fight head on as well as theoretically easy to sneak attack.

Natria concluded it would be easy for her to kill him, but completely rejected this notion, because, as she said, it was like a fight where one hit kills either participant, but in enemy base. There were simply too many things that could go wrong, including the fact I was way too fragile at this moment, to the point random stray shot could kill me.

Additionally, Natria said that, according to what she had encountered in the past, he was most likely a Spirit Burner, and relatively capable one at that, that could burn parts of one’s spirit to either damage it for various purposes or burn out marks at certain parts to empower what it transmits, effectively doing what was done to Laura as good example, though she didn’t explain how it works.

She also pointed out that being able to burn out only a small, designated part indicated very precise control over what he was doing. That should mean he can detect spirits well enough to know what part of the spirit does what, and while it could indicate low range of detection, it could as well be opposite. Either way, approaching him from a blind spot would be basically impossible, and making a sneak attack even more so, at least for ordinary people. She said she could do it, but it was not worth the risk.

Considering the limited knowledge of our enemy leading to very high risk, we decided, or rather managed to convince Laura, to find a good reason for her to take a break from hunter activity and go to the forest in some time with me.

This way, after I powered up in the sewers and possibly a few other places in the city with Laura’s help, I would be able to go with her to hunt stronger monsters I would have no way of defeating that Laura would hunt and profit from and I would get huge amount of power from. Combined with the fact Laura is a scout, I would be in far less danger comparing to going there alone, not to mention that she would be of great help in finding monsters suitable for my level of strength. While Natria could also do it with more than decent effectiveness, she had very small range of detection. And kinda different understanding of suitable level.

Then, I would have a lot of trouble to merely get out of the city due to all the guards and procedures, possibly even getting into some mess on the way as a lone pretty girl, as Natria was kind enough to remind me of.

To top it off, spending time with Laura would be a good chance for her to learn of me and get used to what I am, so for me there would be only benefits in having her help me, and she would not be particularly inconvenienced.

…

“Um, Laura?” – I ask as we sit in the sewers side by side, enjoying our company deep into the night.

“What is it?”

“Um, it’s that, Master has very accurate senses, and she told me that one of your parents was not human. Could you-?” – I pause, seeing her shocked to the point she didn’t utter a single word, just staring into space blankly.

“You… are you sure?” – She finally asks after a few seconds, managing to at least hide her surprise.

{At least he or she was significantly different on the inside of things. On the surface, though, he was almost indistinguishable from any human. You are strangely attracted to blood, I assume? You often get sunburned despite tanned skin, you have no fear of battle, and your nails in triangular shape, though you cut them regularly. Correct?}

“Wha- what the hell? How…?” – Laura stutters, looking no less shocked than a minute ago when she was told one of her parents is not human.

{I analyzed your Origin and got to know a few things. Sorry for intruding your privacy, but I have never seen a bloodline looking the way your does, and I am only making educated guesses based on certain parts of your Origin. I know nothing about you as a person, but rather your bloodline.} – Natria explains patiently.

“Oh. That… damn, you’re right, but… No fucking way…” – She says, slightly incoherently.

I wrap my arm around Laura’s waist to comfort her and ask in a gentle tone.

“What is it, Laura? Don’t worry, you can tell us, it won’t get out of here.”

She takes a deep breath, giving me a sense of déjà vu, and starts speaking slowly.

“My father was always kind of… weird. He had a few strange habits, like wearing a hat even in a sunny day or going out for some time every few nights. And when I was… eight, I think, he suddenly disappeared. Mom told me some time later that he was detained for something and died sometime after that, and I tried to investigate, but got completely no results, almost as if he disappeared. I have never found out what he was up to or why he was captured, but it never occurred to me he might have not been a human.”

{Alright. Just so you know, however much it might indicate he was a vampire, he was not. I’m not sure what was his race, because I have never seen such, but he was somewhere between a vampire and human, but much more inclined to human. It’s kinda interesting, you know? From what I can see, he had most vampiric qualities, but body much closer resembling that of a human. If I were to say what he was, I would say a human with a eighth of vampire’s body and half of mind, I guess? But, if it bothers you, Laura, you certainly can’t be classified as vampire, monster, or something like that. I guess demi-human would be more or less accurate term in your case.}

“But-”

{No buts. From what I see and what you said, you have no reason to be dubbed as monster or vampire, but at most human with slightly different tendencies and body. In case you don’t know, the trait of vampires that makes them what they are is the fact they rely solely on blood as their sustenance and are unable to even eat solid food. No person who can eat normal food can call themselves a vampire, but dhampire at the very most, and that is not in all cases. Your father was probably one-fourth vampire or even less, so you have no reason to even call yourself part vampire, because you have so little from your ancestor no one would even notice that at first glance. Got it? At this point you’re not even as monstrous as most demi-humans, and I advise you to remember that.}

Laura sighs after listening intently to what Natria was saying.

“Thanks… I… know that, but, it’s hard not to think about it this way.”

{Well, yeah. But, let me tell you, I have seen many in my life who hated who they were, but very few of them did so because of the differences they saw and weaknesses they had. They have merely convinced themselves it was as such, and didn’t see what they could do, but what they couldn’t. And Laura, next time you have the chance, because I assume you hadn’t tried, try drinking blood of a monster alive, okay? Fufufu.} – She giggled strangely.

“What? You say…?”

{You know, Laura, I have been quite like you in far past. Compassionate, lawful, considering killing an unfortunate necessity. But when I became a monster, I learned to enjoy what most consider cruel, inhuman, monstrous or other. Do you know what kept me sane at this time? It was not joy, indulgence in whatever I found fun in, but it was living among humans like a human. And you, however much you want to call yourself a monster, have lived with humans for a long time. And has anyone of them considered you a monster? It’s not that they haven’t seen that you are a monster. It’s just that you have two sides, one of which you never wanted to pursue.

{It can often be seen as humans see two sides of the living. One is the human side, held alone by the naïve, foolish and inexperienced. Second is monster side, possessed by pure monsters, senseless beasts that have no feelings but to kill upon seeing a human. Most people are developing the inhumane side slowly as they get accustomed to killing, to cruelty and to many other things. You however, Laura, have both sides right off the bat.

{And it’s only you who decides who to show each of them. I have long decided to show my monster side to humans. But you can keep your monster side to monsters, and you will still remain human. What I want to tell you is that, as long as you don’t lose yourself, as long as you know who you are, you can be as much of a human as any other, however monstrous you may seem. Please remember this, Laura, for you have two sides of yourself only you can control.}

I listen intently to Natria together with Laura, who looks into space with slightly dazed eyes.

While I have little experience with life, I can certainly confirm what she tells us to large degree. There can be also noted there can be humans with monster side to them in literal sense, like me or Laura, but Murky can certainly be said to have monster side as a human. Not that I know he is fully human, but it’s more about actions in his case, meaning that what he does as a human, like messing with spirits, would be, by humans, deemed as inhumane.

So, in his case, it could be said to be virtual monster side, showing in his actions, and in Laura’s case literal side, visible in her abilities and traits and making use of them.

‘Natria, I wanted to ask. Can Laura, like, drink blood? I mean, does she have long fangs or something?’

{Nay, she has nothing like vampire’s fangs, it’s that her normal-sized fangs retained the blood-sucking canals. I presume she just didn’t notice that since she has never really bitten into anything to make use of this fact, but she can suck out blood and even gain a bit of strength from that, though it is severely cut down ability of proper vampires.}

‘I see. So it’s like incorporating the trait from a bloodline with low efficiency instead of changing part of the body responsible for certain function?’ – I ask for confirmation.

{Well, if you say it this, it’s not wrong, but the technical aspect is slightly different. That’s not important for you though, so, looking at the effect, you are right.}

‘Alright.’ – I say, then I frown a bit, thinking about what Natria was saying before. – ‘Um, by the way, how much can you deduce from the bloodline of a person?’

I remembered how Natria bombarded Laura with small details about her, even such as skin getting sunburned easily.

{Um, well, I can know basically everything about the bloodline, but not the individual. For example, I can read the length of fangs, size of breasts, basis for emotions and many other things, but the end result for every individual can depend on the personal matrix in the Origin core, their life conditions, for example malnourishment, their experiences and a hell lot of other things. So, I deduced from the bloodline that Laura should have fangs of normal length, but she could as well have some abnormality within her matrix or have experienced something that affected her fangs’ length, meaning I have no idea if her fangs really are of this length. Got it?}

‘Got it. Kinda makes sense, because if bloodline solely determined the features of a person, two people with exact same bloodline would need to look exactly the same, which is obviously not true since one could have been doing different job for example. That makes sense, but what is that… matrix?’

{Uh. Um, it’s a matrix, a basis, a fundament of Origin that houses every tiny bit of information about a certain person. If I wanted, I could look there to see the exact length of Laura’s fangs, but honestly, this stuff is so complicated and there is so much of data it would take at least a few minutes to find what I am looking for and I am not particularly inclined to do so. I have also tried to mess with it in the past, but any change going past increasing and decreasing values has way too high chance of fucking up the whole job, resulting in something alive, but so messed up it would better be dead. Just know this shit is the most complicated and most fucked up part of every living thing, okay?} – Natria says in a joking tone.

‘Oookay…’

That’s harsh alright.

While I think about it, Laura finally breaks from stupor.

“Thanks, Natria. I will definitely remember your words. Nea, it’s been a long time, so I need to come back, okay? I’m late already, to be honest.”

“Okay, sure. I’ll walk you off.”

“And Natria, um, about me… drinking blood from, alive monsters…” – Her words falter near the end.

{Take your time, Laura. You probably won’t have the chance to check it soon, but if you really wanted to, you can always try on some random hopeless in the slums who no one will even notice dead. Just don’t forget what you are doing, and you are free to do anything.} – Natria says in a gentle tone.

Laura nods her head.

“Okay, though… no, nothing.”

‘You just completely changed her world. Not that I didn’t participate. It almost feels like she would listen to your every word now.’

{Well, she did receive a few huge blows to her mind in a short time. She just needs someone to lean on until she finds her new self. Do you blame me for that?}

I think for a while.

‘No. I don’t blame you for that.’ – I say with conviction. – ‘If anything, I am glad she seems to accept who she is, though the side effects of that are rather unpleasant. But no, I don’t blame you, Master, because I know it is better for her to change now than later find herself at loss alone with no one to help her, or even worse get discovered to be part vampire while having no knowledge about that.’

…

After I walked Laura off and she got out through the flop in the ceiling near their shack, the same I went through just a few hours ago, I went back once again to find a good place to sleep since it was already late into the night, probably around midnight.

Laura wanted me to go with her and sleep where I have always been, but I managed to convince her it would be better to not show up for some time and not tell the kids who I am.

If I showed up without them knowing what happened to me, not only would they be extremely suspicious, but it would also be bad for the children for a new, well-nourished and exceptionally pretty girl to join the group of orphans who hardly ever get their bellies full and skin clean. Not to mention they would find it strange and unjust I would not be working with her and Laura would be training me.

On the other hand, if they got to know who I am, the second problem would only be more apparent unless I told them I have awakened my Origin, which in turn might lead to jealousy, or even worse telling this either deliberately or by accident to someone who should not know about me.

To top it off, no matter what I tell them, my looks are definitely not that of a homeless or orphan, not that of a common girl and not even that of the better off families in the city, but anyone seeing how I look would flat out deem me a young noble lady. Or, to put it short, no one would believe me if I said I was the same Neo, but with changed body, because I look as if I was living in luxury for my whole life.

The fact I completely don’t resemble my past self can definitely help me, but equally so it can’t in this case.

Regarding my looks, Laura couldn’t help but be amazed how smooth my hair and skin were as well as how perfect my body was. In the end it was not without reason she stood dazed for a few seconds after seeing me for the first time. Though I was really surprised when she told me that most nobles have worse bodies than me even now, not to mention future, and, as she said, the king would feel blessed to have wife looking like me. In my opinion it was going overboard, but since even Natria agreed with Laura, I couldn’t help but acknowledge how exceptionally good I look.

I also remember that Natria told me before I look exactly like her, which says a lot both about her opinion of my looks and how I will look in the future. I mean, it is both rather unlikely she would consider herself ugly or that a goddess will not look beautiful, right?

That said, though, I don’t look exactly humane. I have abnormally pale skin that could even be said to be white, crimson red eyes and similar hair, and it is probably going to change in the future with addition of some monsters’ bloodlines. In general I look quite like a vampire, though I lack their crucial features like pointed ears, sharp nails, or more accurately claws, and long fangs. Laura mentioned that at first she thought I was a vampire and the only reason she didn’t take me as one as we talked was because she saw my round ears.

I laid on cold stone on a small shelf in the wall and wrapped myself in my vest. I’m well aware these conditions will not leave me either healthy or comfortable tomorrow, but I also know I would be in far worse situation if someone took fancy to my body on the surface, and I certainly am not taking such risks. And as sleeping where I have before is a no go, I have no better option than the sewers.

I settle myself in a comfortable position and close my eyes.

‘Natria? Out of curiosity, would you fall asleep when I do?’ – I ask a question.

{No. To be honest, it is impossible for me to fall asleep, just like for any other spirit. I can meditate or enter a state of suspension, where I would be aware of my surroundings but not conscious, but apart from that I am constantly awake. And I don’t know if you remember, but I said I will be messing with your bloodlines when you sleep, because the constant pressure could easily make you pass out.}

‘I see.’ – I answer, but remember what happened with Laura some time ago. – ‘But if that’s the case, what did you do this time with Laura? You released your pressure for just a moment, but the spell worked for a long time.’

{Oh, that’s because it was a spell I made the way it would follow certain order. Then I just released it in split second and all the work was done without my interference. In your case, though, while I could do the same, I would much prefer to work personally, because the matter is much more complicated and it will be easier for me this way.}

‘Okay.’ – I nod in understanding. – ‘What will you be changing, just to be sure?’

{I can’t do much with what I have now. Apart from improving your sense of smell, I will only be doing some very minor changes you probably won’t even notice if I don’t tell you.}

‘Uh, I see. Thanks in advance.’

{No problem. Would you like me to change your body in some way according to your preferences? What I mean is that I can, for example, make your fangs longer, change a few colors there and there or other similar changes.}

I ponder for a while.

‘Well, nope. Or wait. Could you make my nails stronger and sharper? Teeth maybe too. As for the rest I would like to stay like you, at least until I get bored.’

{Okay~! You will see the difference in a few days then!}

We stay silent for a while.

‘Good night, Master.’

{Oh, good night.} –She replies after a slight pause.