Drake sat on the chair he had pulled from his inventory, watching Sah Ul’ mercilessly and unrelentingly destroy the small army of undead that had come to find the Tier 2 Dhampir they had captured.

 

“Huh, I should really look at her class sometime. She seems to get stronger over time like Bjorn gets sturdier. Is it some kind of berserking ability? Her aura gets thicker as well,” Drake thought aloud, watching her go to work on the mass of vampires and the like, her ax cutting down tens of undead with each swing.

 

But even with her enraged vitality, she had reached her peak by now and was gradually slowing down. There were simply too many undead for her to deal with.

 

Drake got up and placed his seat away, his hair shimmering to a light green as he rolled his shoulders.

 

“I think she’s done enough. I guess it’s time for a warm-up,” he said, turning his head to the sky, the last bit of twilight winking out from it as night descended, “Shouldn’t take long.”

 

He shot forward spreading his aura out freezing vampires and other undead as he passed, his spirit tattoos coming to full bloom as they lit up the surroundings in golden light.

 

With practiced ease, he used direct and brutal strikes to pierce and crush the undead’s weak points.

 

Their heads.

 

Running through the few hundred left, Drake ripped and tore through them, putting his golden fist through the vampire’s chests and using quick precise chops to bisect them from taint to head.

 

Within seconds he reached Sah Ul’ a trail of destruction left behind in his wake.

 

“Feeling better?” Drake asked.

 

Sah Ul’ breathed in long heavy gasps, her ax arm quivering, “I will not stop, until they are all dead!”

 

Drake nodded, “I’m not asking you to stop. But at this rate, you are going to die of exhaustion. Let me take care of the rest. And go make sure nothing happens to our little eavesdropping kids ok?” he said, thumbing to a pair of tree’s that had several heads poking out from behind them.

 

Sah Ul’s eyes dimmed, returning from the bright red they were to the deep topaz that she normally had.

 

“They… They left the shelter? Even after Patriarch told them not to?” she asked through huffs.

 

“Of course they did, they’re teenagers,” Drake scoffed, “I might be training them hard but they're still young and curious. Now go see to them. I’ll clean up the rest.”

—---------------------------------------

 

The kids flinched and tried to scramble behind the grouping of trees once they saw Drake thumb to them, but it was too late. Sah Ul’ although exhausted, couldn’t be outrun by unadvanced classed children.

 

She quickly caught up to them, grabbing several of them by the scruff of the neck.

 

“What are you all doing here?” she asked.

 

Sah Ul’ asked knowing only Atropos, Clotho, and Kalik could understand her, but she was sure her point made it across. Or at least she hoped her frustrated and disappointed look made it obvious enough.

 

“We simply wished to see what was happening…” Atropos winced.

 

“What would have happened if this army found you?!” Sah Ul’ snapped back, turning to Kalik Tu’, “You should know better! You have trained for years to fight as a proud warrior of the Rahk!”

 

He took a step back and frowned, “I only came because they needed to be watched!” he snapped, “I know…! I know my limitations,” he finally admitted, “But I came to make sure nothing happened and to see how that man fights.”

 

Sah Ul’ gave a long sigh, releasing the others and leaning against a tree, letting her stamina slowly tick upwards and recover. Placing her ax within arm’s reach next to her.

 

They all took that as a signal that they weren’t in trouble and sat down next to her, although Kalik Tu’ chose to stand and lean his shoulder against a tree as they all watched Drake’s fight.

 

“He fights with such ferocity,” Atropos said, almost purring the words, “How could one man be so strong, Lord Drake is simply felling these vampires in one strike.”

 

Charlotte said something to Atropos that Sah Ul’ couldn’t understand and pointed.

 

Atropose nodded, “It is curious why he isn’t using his magic. Could he not wipe them all out in one spell? We have seen his magic before, Miss Sah Ul’ Rahk?”

 

Sah Ul’ felt a twang of annoyance in her chest, but she couldn’t tell why. Was it from being addressed by her full name instead of in some way connecting her to the Patriarch?

 

“I do not know,” Sah Ul’ said, “Perhaps he is simply straining himself to not use it for practice, or he is conserving his magic in case a new opponent arrives? My husband, is strong, but there are many enemies yet left and more may come.”

 

Atropos’s thin eyebrow twitched and she turned back to the ensuing fight, “I simply wished to see more of Lord Drake’s magic, it will do wonders to speed along his personal, one-on-one lessons.”

 

Before Sah Ul’ could snap back, her mouth snapped shut and her head turned a vampire was running straight for them. In the woman’s hand was a spear made of blood that was hard to make out in the deepening darkness of the night.

 

Sah Ul’ made to get up only to stop as the vampire was stopped dead in her tracks, her visage backlit in brilliant gold.

 

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Drake growled raising her into the air and slamming her into the ground a sickening squelching sound reverberating in the area as a small crater opened up from the impact.

 

His hair cascading to white, he gave a sigh looking back over his shoulder.

 

“There’s still so many… I’ll have to step it up a bit. Atropos, Clotho! Make sure you keep your eyes on me maybe you can get some hints,” he grinned, dashing back into the fray.

 

Atropos turned to her brother, “Hints?”

 

Clotho shrugged from his seat next to her but tried his best to follow Drake.

 

Atropos pursed her lips but quickly turned as well her brows furrowing in concentration.

 

Sah Ul’ gave a small grin, her snaggle-tusk poking from her lips, already forgetting how bratty the young wolf-girl was just a moment ago compared to the diligent student she had switched to. And she also turned to watch the fight.

 

—------------------

 

Drake shot through the army, kicking up dust and bodies as he rampaged to get to the middle, his aura spreading out once again but this time flexed in earnest, freezing the entire surroundings as notifications flooded in alerting him of his successful consumption of buffs and interruption of spells.

 

He threw his arm outward, his hand spreading as a brilliant electrified yellow magic circle sparked to life, a bolt of lightning striking out in vibrant majestic violet charing any undead it struck.

 

Flexing his will the bolt recoiled and condensed forming a long double-sided scythe.

 

“I’ve never really used one of these but how could it be?” he chuckled twirling the magic-made weapon in his hand.

 

“Resonance! Witch Hunter!”

 

The scythe in Drake’s hand crackled and sharpened, his spell chant furthering the infusion of mana and power.

 

Without another word, Drake rushed forward. Swiping with the scythe he cut horizontally, the speed of his swing so fast it left an afterimage of a violet line that soon smoldered in the wounds of every undead it touched.

 

He twirled and kept slashing with the weapon, the weight of it just right in his hand but heavy enough from the condensed mana to have heft.

 

Swinging upwards the weapon rolled over his shoulder turning into another horizontal slash, which transitioned into a roll of the weapon into a downward slash.

 

Soon his swinging turned into almost a dance of death as he moved through the ranks quickly cutting down the numbers by half.

 

Almost losing himself he forced himself to stop mid-swing, the scythe careening into the remaining crowd of undead.

 

“Whoops almost finished everyone off with just that… Now for something for Clotho… Ah, I got it,” Drake said snapping his fingers a bubbling magic circle of blue manifesting in both his hands.

 

Balls of water swirled to life from the magic circles, becoming a small torrent of power between them. The blue ball deepened with more mana as flecks of green scattered around inside the swirling vortex.

 

By this time the undead were done. Drake’s aura had forced many of them to the ground but some of the slightly higher leveled ones were able to finally break free and began to run in all directions.

 

But Drake’ of course couldn’t let that happen.

 

“Kekkijutsu, Kokushiro!”

 

The ball of water burst, splitting into countless thin threads that passed effortlessly through the remaining undead in the area.

 

It was as if time stopped, the entirety of the undead were motionless for a long drawn-out breath as Drake’s threads turned inward reforming into a ball in front of him, now dyed in a deep ruby red.

 

He clenched his fist, the spell releasing, and casually walked back to the group. The bodies of every undead in the area splattering to the ground in pieces.

 

—----------------------------------------

 

A few moments later Drake eyed the open-mouthed teens with a raised brow, “What?”

 

“You didn’t have to do them like that,” Landin said, grimacing at the scene behind them.

 

“Landin,” Drake said evenly, “I know you aren’t so naive to believe that after everything you’ve seen and what you went through a few hours ago. You still don’t understand that something is going on.”

 

Landin scratched the back of his head, “My bad, I get what’s going on but,” he touched the scar against his left eye, “No, never mind. Why were they here anyway?”

 

Drake nodded, “They were following up on that small group you guys fought earlier. Apparently, that dhampir was someone important. Or at least important enough to send…” he paused a minute trying to count the notifications, “One, two… Two hundred or so undead to come find him. But they’re all gone now so we shouldn’t have any more interruptions.”

 

“Why didn’t you have us fight? We could have helped,” Charlotte said with a frown, “You made us stay back in that castle you built instead.”

 

“Do you really think you were ready to fight against this many undead who used to be real people?” Drake asked seriously, “Do you think you could take another life Charlotte?”

 

Charlotte went silent, biting her bottom lip.

 

Drake raised his hand, “I don’t want an answer I want you to just think about it. I’ve made my peace with being the way I am. And I’ve come to terms with forcing you six to fight and become stronger. But I never intended to turn you into killing machines like me. I hope you all protect yourself and loved ones with the strength I am giving to you, but it is ultimately up to you. Whether or not you have the conviction or resolve to end the life of a sapient being to further your own progress or stop them from harming those important to you, is going to be your own decision, not mine.”

 

He let the words sit in the air for a moment, then sighed, “I’m going to clean up and gather what they all dropped. You all go back with Sah Ul’ and I will meet you in a few minutes. From there we’ll continue from where we left off. If you can all sneak out after being told to stay, I’m sure you’re rested enough to start training.”

 

Sah Ul’ shepherded the teens away, their expressions thoughtful while Drake went to work.

 

He turned around languidly passing back into the mess he had created, tens or hundreds of skill stones and spatial bags littering the battlefield. And for his trouble, he wasn’t looking forward to taking Monster Cores from the ghouls.

 

The vampires and dhampirs were considered mana vessels by the system, but the ghouls were not. The moment they turned the mana inside them condensed forming the cores. He had simply just burned the ones from the town’s residences earlier, not able to stomach taking them.

 

But here he had no connection to the people who had turned. And the vampires had come specifically here to find the others as well as take his life.

 

“The bounty huh…” he muttered under his breath.

 

After a few minutes, Drake had collected the bags and stones, coming away with over two hundred spatial bags filled with monster cores, vials of blood, steroids, mana coins, and various weapons. The Skill Stones had all been of varying common and uncommon rarity, with only a handful of Rare Stones.

 

He pulled the notable mentions up, inspecting them before going back.

 

[Skill Stone: Blood] [Rare]

 

• Unlocks a random skill from the Blood tree

• Requirement: Open Skill Slot

 

 

[Skill Stone: Knuckle] [Uncommon]

 

• Unlocks a random skill from the Knuckle tree

• Requirement: Open Skill Slot and have a Warrior-based Main Tree or Sub-tree Branch Unlocked.

 

 

[Skill Stone: Petrify] [Rare]

 

• Unlocks a random skill from the Petrify tree.

• Requirement: Open Skill Slot.

 

 

[Skill Stone: Crossbow] [Uncommon]

 

• Unlocks a random skill from the Crossbow tree

• Requirement: Open Skill Slot and have a Ranger-based Main Tree or sub-tree branch Unlocked.

 

 

[Skill Stone: Weak Regeneration] [Uncommon]

 

• Unlocks a random skill from the Weak Regeneration tree.

• Requirement: Open Skill Slot

 

 

[Skill Stone: Shield] [Uncommon]

 

• Unlocks random skill from the Shield tree

• Requirement: Open Skill Slot and have a Warrior-based Main Tree or Sub-tree Branch Unlocked.

 

[Skill Stone: Broadsword] [Uncommon]

 

• Unlocks random skill from the Broadsword tree

• Requirement: Open Skill Slot.

 

 

[Skill Stone: Twin Blade] [Uncommon]

 

• Unlocks random skill from the Twin Blade tree

• Requirement: Open Skill Slot and have a Warrior-based Main Tree, Ranger-based Main Tree, or Sub-tree Branch Unlocked.

 

 

[Skill Stone: Staff] [Uncommon]

 

• Unlocks random skill from the Staff tree

• Requirement: Open Skill Slot and have a Mage-based Main Tree, Cleric-based Main Tree, Warrior-based Main Tree, or Sub-tree Branch Unlocked.

 

 

[Skill Stone: Wand] [Uncommon]

 

• Unlocks random skill from the Wand tree

• Requirement: Open Skill Slot and have a Mage-based Main Tree, Cleric-based Main Tree, or Sub-tree Branch Unlocked.

 

 

Drake noticed that the Blood Skill Stone was the same one he had gotten from the Tyrant Ant King in the tutorial forcing a thin smile from him. There were also some specific skills mixed in with the bunch and more common and uncommon ones than he could count. There was a severe lack of sub-tree stones in the bunch, which would become a problem since most of the teens only had one significant sub-tree stone to each of their names.

 

He could always have them take the same ones that he himself had, but Drake really would have liked that they used the higher rarity ones for a more specific direction and pool of skills. Hopefully, they could come across some in the next three days before they reached his family but it would be the luck of the draw at this point.

 

Drake did however find a single Epic Skill Stone in the bunch and had to whistle at the unexpected find.

 

“One of those vamps had a crazy skill it seemed… Too bad I couldn’t even notice since they all died so quickly.”

 

[Skill Stone: Duality] [Epic]

 

• Unlocks random skill from the Duality tree.

• Requirement: Open Skill Slot.

 

 

He threw the crystalline stone into the air, it flashing from a pale white to a midnight black making Drake stumble as he almost lost sight of it in the toss.

 

Placing it safely away in his inventory along with all the rest of the spoils from the fight he found his way back to the castle he had erected, all the teens and Sah Ul’ there waiting impatiently for him.

 

“Finally,” Kalik Tu’ grunted, crossing his arms.

 

“Yeah about time,” Landin agreed, nodding his head.

 

“You understood him?” Drake asked, surprised.

 

“No, but it’s Kalik. I could guess he said something about you taking a while. He’s been fiddling with his axes since we got back,” Landin smirked, “I honestly imagine him cursing at you on a regular basis.”

 

Drake scoffed at the accuracy of Landin’s guess.

 

“You aren’t wrong….” Drake chuckled.

 

“Where do we go from here?” Charlotte asked, bringing them back on topic, anticipation clear in her eyes.

 

“You four will go with Sah Ul’ your job is to take turns going up against more and more monsters at once to gain the titles for doing so. The highest one I’ve gotten is fighting against over one hundred monsters at once so that is your goal,” Drake explained, the teens grimacing slightly.

 

Drake continued, “I’m not sure if there is a higher one but there could be, I haven’t fought against more than five hundred or so at a time so there may just be a higher scale after one hundred. Either way, the ultimate goal is hitting level 10 while also fighting as hard as you can in rotation to gain titles. At level 10 you will all stop and we will find monsters to get the last two titles. They need the monster you kill to be of a higher rank and the other 10 levels above you.”

 

“You want us to kill a Level 20 monster at 10?!” Landin exclaimed.

 

“Yup. But that is only after you’ve all filled out your classes. That title isn’t rank dependent so honestly, I think you all should be able to do it with the other titles coming into play. The former title is more important and will only help you to get the other so don’t sweat it.”

 

Drake turned to Atropos and Clotho, “You two.”

 

Atropos firmed her gaze at Drake. Clotho was unfazed by Drake’s address and continued to play with his metal wire.

 

Drake smiled, “I hope you’ve both found some inspiration from watching me. You’re going to be training with me and I’m a strict teacher.”