Orion stared at the Naga that was lazing at the edge of a hot spring. Truly, he could use the nickname the Brightest Star for the creature. A more handsome Naga he had not seen, in all of his five hundred and two years of life.

But that was the keyword: handsome. He did not want handsome, as in a man. He wanted beautiful, as in, a woman.

"System, what gives? Why did you send me off to charm a man?" Was the system damaged? Or did it not understand the difference between genders?

<Your memories, which were extracted from you when you agreed to put in the work, show that you are afraid of women.>

Orion blinked. Him, afraid of women? As if!

"I'll have you know I am a macho man," Orion protested.

<Name one woman you have kissed. I already know the answer, master, but I'll wait,> Orion had the feeling that the system was getting prissy with him. He did not like that.

"Well, there was Drusila," he spoke, proud that it had taken him no time at all to come up with the answer.

<You kissed lady Drusila's hand, master. That does not count. Now, you can either go to the nice Naga and ask him, politely, for him to become your lover, or you will have to try your luck with the village.>

Oh, Orion did not like that. Sure, there were women in the village, but they were like butterflies for him. Pretty to look at, but dead the next day. He did not have any intention to get attached to something with such a small lifespan.

"What about the elf girl?" Orion asked, and he looked as the text in the book changed again.

<The Swan Song is a man,> the system informed him, and Orion wilted.

"Don't you have tricks with which I can go in the village without being ousted as a vampire?" Orion begged. This was too much for him. Him, romancing men. How was he going to do that?

<This is your first quest. If you fail, you would be considered a failure and earn the Fail badge. With which my assistant to you will end, and this book will just find its way into someone else's hands, as per the curse the author laid on it.>

Orion gulped. He imagined himself laying face-first into the dirt, as someone read this book while sitting on his back. Well, a vampire had to do what a vampire had to do.

Orion fixed up his short black hair, and then righted his clothes. After that, he made his way towards the hot spring, as if he was not seeing the Naga that had opened his eyes and was watching him.

The vampire stopped by the hot spring, blinked, and smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, hello. I didn't see you there," Orion said in his best suave voice. Which came off as a whisper.

"You didn't see the two-meter tail?" The Naga deadpanned.

Orion bit his bottom lip. This was going to be harder than he imagined. Ok, the one thing that one needed to achieve success was to image themselves with the thing they wanted. As in, already possessing it. Orion just had to imagine himself as the lover of the Naga, and act like it.

"So, I noticed that you..." Orion's voice hitched. He blushed deep red and made a step back.

"If you start singing me my praises and call me something dopey, I will bite you. My bite is poisonous," the Naga warned him, and he opened his mouth to show two fangs with a clear liquid dripping from them.

"How do you avoid getting poisoned by these," Orion blurted out. Worse, he pointed at the Naga's fangs.

"I am immune to my own poison," the Naga turned around, clearly dismissing him. Yet, Orion did not give up.

"I offer you a partnership," Orion was going to be sneaky about this. First offer them friendship, then sneak up the romance on them. Yes, he considered himself quite clever at this moment.

"Not interested, vampire," the Naga lowered himself in the water and moaned softly.

"It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Orion continued. "You give me blood, I cover all of your expenses."

Orion had plenty of gold, collected over the years. He liked to rob travelers who passed through the forest. He was certain that the Naga would spend and spend and Orion would still be able to be fine.

" What expenses? Do you think they let me in the villages or towns?" Orion blinked. Well, the Naga got him there.

"You know that is hardly fair. Sure, we kill sometimes. But it is mostly in self-defense," Orion whined.

"You look like the type to kill for fun," the Naga retorted with a snort. Orion looked at himself.

Sure, he was dressed in black, which might come off as edge. However, that was only because the Hag near the pine circle did not sell anything but black fabric and leather. Was it the skull pendant? No, it couldn't be. It was nice and tasteful. The hag had told him so.

"If you don't give me some of your blood willingly, I will put you under hypnosis," Orion spoke, straightening so that he could tower over the Naga.

"Oh, so scared. I drink a mind strengthening potion once per year. I'd like to see you put me in hypnosis. If you do, I'll do anything you want," the Naga snorted then, and submerged himself under the water.

Okay, this was going to be hard, Orion figured. He would need to put more mana into the spell. But, he was certain he could do it. He focused his mana into his eyes and then went to the edge of the hot spring and looked the Naga in the eyes. The cheater knew that the water would be another layer of protection.

 Although, what he did not know was, that, Orion had gotten an evolved mana hypnosis technique. And, so, Orion's first blood bank was secured.