“Phew. I thought I was caught.”
After finishing her conversation with Lily, Piarro entered the room provided by the Vampire Master while firmly hugging the book and locked the door.
She had instructed the junior vampires who helped with maid duties not to enter unless told, so no one would disturb her immediately.
Feeling suddenly requested by Lily to use magic, Piarro was a bit panicked but calmly cast her spell.
‘Slightly less capable than I know it to be.’
Even though the book had been taken by the Master, preventing much practice, she still remembered how to use it and considered herself fairly adept.
She had to hide her progress in order to show a “wow” moment in a month.
Piarro then showed a slightly weaker version of her magic, and Lily nodded as if understanding before handing her the book.
Even though Lily seemed to have guessed something, there was no way to avoid showing her.
“I wanted to ask, but since you just took it… Everything’s messed up.”
Among the vampires’ Seven Seats of Blood, the Elders…
Piarro’s master was an Elder known for holding the third seat, and after accidentally falling into this place, Piarro received both blood and teachings from him.
In vampires, the richer and purer the blood, the stronger the power.
Thus, Piarro, having been given the Elder’s blood, gained the power and status of a high-class vampire in just half a year.
She had become a recognized power in this mysterious Land of Vampires.
“It’s just words, I would’ve made a copy for you. You’re too hasty.”
Piarro disdainfully tapped the luxurious carpet and furniture before opening the book she had received.
Even though it had been only three days since her class, she was starting to get the hang of the foundational magic.
This magic was strikingly similar to the “Blood Magic” she used herself.
Probably due to the influence of Lasty, the progenitor of vampires, who had deciphered such magic.
“Ugh… Naturally.”
Thinking back, wasn’t the “progenitor” something truly remarkable to vampires?
Even herself, as a user, felt her breath stifled just standing before her.
How much more so would the vampire residents of this world faint, it would’ve been no surprise.
Piarro fully understood such dangers of the progenitor but strangely couldn’t bring herself to speak the name.
Even referring to her as “That Person,” “That Professor,” or “That Teacher,” anything but the actual name “Lasty,” felt impossible.
‘It’s as if that’s not allowed.’
Because of this, Piarro hadn’t mentioned the existence of the progenitor even to her teacher, the Elder.
“I’ll tell you my true identity if there’s an opportunity later. First, I need to study… ah?”
Pleased to open the book, Piarro furrowed her brow.
Oddly different content.
Compared to the book she received before, this was significantly more complex, and the blood energy flowing from the book gave her chills.
Most importantly, as she skimmed the content…
“Ah… using the mana ratio like this… Is this entirely Blood-Script Magic?”
It wasn’t common magic.
From the first page to the last, it was all in Blood-Script, and some sentences just by looking at them felt like they were making her dizzy.
“Using the blood matrix would make maneuvering easier… If we employ the blood diagram to draw this… symbol in this way… ■■■ ■■■ ■ Unable to decode some power symbols. This will need separate experimentation and later organization…”
.
.
.
[… Your synchronization value is abnormally rising.]
[Judging that the user is encountering a severe threat, the protection system is activating.]
[The Divine Protection, Défenso, is initiated.]
Splash!
Piarro wiped the liquid that suddenly covered her face with her hands, startled, and was shocked when she looked at her hands.
They were completely covered in bright red blood.
Her pale hands were drenched in blood and her eyes, which felt numb, were spilling blood like a waterfall.
It’s hard to imagine how long she hadn’t noticed this.
“Ah… I’m bleeding…!”
Quickly, Piarro placed the book she was reading on the table and controlled the blood flowing inside her body.
Controlling blood is natural for a vampire, akin to breathing.
Soon, the blood that flowed like a waterfall stopped, and her vision, which had turned completely red, slowly returned.
Her already pale face grew even paler.
Still somewhat dazed, she frowned, looking at her still blood-red hands.
“Why did this suddenly happen?”
All she did was read the book, yet when she regained consciousness, she was hemorrhaging.
More bizarrely, she hardly remembered the content of the book.
She could only recall the first line of the first and second pages.
Half-closed, Piarro confirmed the page placed on the desk.
8.
“…Page 8.”
Unknowingly, she had reached the last sentence of page 8.
The copy she had before was completely blank, but in this book, everything was written.
Most likely, there would be more content on the following pages too.
Piarro tightly shut her eyes and gently closed the book.
“What a crazy book.”
This book was insane. Totally insane.
Who would have thought a book could drive someone insane and cause them to gush blood.
“Even for a vampire!”
As a vampire, Piarro managed only this much; if another user had read it, they would most likely have died.
Still wearing a baffled smile, Piarro dragged her weak legs and collapsed onto the bed.
Her head was spinning.
As she was about to drift off to sleep, she suddenly thought that if she did, she would forget the little she had remembered.
“…Uh. It was definitely… like this…”
Piarro’s hand drew something in the air.
The blood scattered on the floor rose up, forming countless mana lines, followed by auxiliary lines arranged in order.
Just yesterday, she had felt that something was holding her back, but now the road ahead lay open for her to speed through.
“Rotate…”
Finally, the rotation.
Wooowhoooong…!
The blood ritual began spinning fiercely, floating a red circle.
A perfect, continuously maintained magic spell.
“Haha… ha…”
It worked.
“I’ve succeeded in mastering foundation magic!!”
“I’m a genius!”
Just obtaining unrefined knowledge and implementing it perfectly at first try.
“Of course this body is a genius—”
Drip…
“Huh?”
Blood started flowing again.
The blood that flowed from her eyes now started flowing from her mouth, nose, and ears.
[Puuuuhhhwaackk!!]
It exploded.
[You have died!]
[Excessive synchronization can cause side effects.]
[Please be careful.]
[A 5-tier death penalty has been applied.]
[Resurrection in 48 hours…]
■
“Hey, return what you took.”
“?!”
It was three weeks after the class.
I had finally raised my ranking to the top 10, at 9th place, and satisfied, I ended the ranking battle broadcast and returned to the academy.
At the academy, Lasty was still there with the same constant expression, seemingly only decoding books all day.
“Did I take anything?”
“Do you not remember, sister?”
“I don’t recall anything special.”
“I’m talking about the book.”
“The book?”
‘Did I take any books?’
I had received a few books from Lasty for study, but I didn’t personally ‘take’ any specific books.
All of them were received directly from Lasty.
And Lasty wasn’t the type to express giving such things as ‘taking’ them.
“Did you mean the few days ago? They’re in subspace now.”
“Not a few days ago, more like 3 weeks ago.”
“3 weeks…?”
If it’s been 3 weeks, there was nothing specifically received during that time. Around that period, the only thing I gave was to Piarro…
“…?”
“Anyway, the book has a few errors. I’m studying it so there are notes written without any protective codes. Of course, it wouldn’t have been a problem if you read it.”
“I gave it to another user.”
“…What?”
The look on Lasty’s face immediately changed.
She became slightly more serious, widening her eyes and asking again.
“Who did you give it to?”
“I gave it to a user named Piarro. Wasn’t that a copy?”
“No. That was my working draft I left there.”
“Huh?”
It wasn’t a copy?
“Isn’t that where only copies go? I found it lying there, so I thought it was something normal.”
“That’s true, but it was only temporarily placed there because I had someone to see. I thought no one would take it in that short time…”
“Wow!”
By a fluke, while I was about to issue a new copy to Piarro, Lasty accidentally left her working draft in the same spot.
And because there were more than ten normal mass-produced copies in the space, it would have been the regular copy if I had reached a little differently.
It was indeed an astonishing coincidence.
“This book has no seal magic. Some abilities are partially dismantled and could be dangerous for humans to look at.”
“How many pages were decoded?”
“Up to 11 pages. At that time, I had reached a certain level of enlightenment.”
Demon Race’s Magic is dangerous.
It’s not only capable of altering the user’s body but can affect the soul as well.
Even when Lasty and I decode it, we do so under controlled conditions so that the user can safely utilize the magic. However, the version Lasty was working on lacked that control.
“…Still, maybe it will be fine.”
“Huh?”
“The system is stronger than expected. Each administrator has varying power, but since Kraken, we’ve implemented several precautions.”
Since the incident involving the Sword Saint, a sense of caution has emerged. There have been multiple protections applied to ensure the safety of the users.
Even when the Black Lily’s incident occurred, protections were provided by placing blessings for me and establishing protective shields across the continent to prevent any emergencies.
“Of course, the final moment did get breached.”
In fact, if there was any issue with Piarro, it’s highly probable that the system would’ve immediately responded.
“The problem is with the residents. Since the system doesn’t protect the residents of the world…”
Their fate remains unclear.