Acquired the skill Spirit Pollution!
“If only I had grown up faster! If I had honed my magic harder! If I had gathered more information sooner! If I had only been stronger, you wouldn’t have had to die, Mom!” Insanity tore through Vandal’s mind. His expression hardly changed, but his body shuddered with sadness, and regret and anger caused tears to flow endlessly from his eyes.
Spirit Pollution skill increased to level 2!
Dalshia watched him sadly. She hadn’t wanted to share all of the details of her death with Vandal. But she couldn’t stay quiet, either. She was a weak spirit, on the verge of vanishing, and so she had been unable to resist Vandal’s request to tell him what happened. He possessed death magic, as well as vast magical power, after all. As she watched, the undead bugs all returned to Vandal. They had gathered information on what happened from across Evbejia, which now flowed into him in a jumble of voices.
“My lord, the public execution today was quite the show.”
“Indeed. It might not have been the vampire, but taking care of the dark elf who opened her legs for him had merit enough. His Majesty and the church will take notice of this. I sense my promotion is soon to be handed down.”
“Indeed, my lord. The ‘et’ will be removed from Baronet Bestello before you know it.” An exchange between lord and servant, happily speculating on a rosy future.
Spirit Pollution skill increased to level 3!
“That witch didn’t give the dhampir up.”
“Hah! A monster playing at mother. She could’ve at least begged for her life when burning at the stake. Unrepentant to the end! A real witch.”
“Burning again for that now in the fires of hell, I’ll abide. And what’s for tomorrow? Dhampir hunting with the Five-Colored Blades?”
“Do we need worry about a babe? It won’t last three days apart from its mother. It’s probably dead already.”
“Fool! Babe or not, it’s still half vampire. We don’t know what dark abilities it might have inherited. If the father was a subordinate species, all very well, but what if he was a noble species? Lord forbid, a progenitor species! Then what?”
“Yes, of course. My deepest apologies, High Priest Goldan!”
“Not that we have the coin to keep the Blades around for much longer, and I don’t like fueling tales of their deeds either. I doubt they want any more part of this anyway. Filthy adventurers! They are nothing like we disciples of Alda, God of Law and Life. For the hunt into the mountains, we’ll have some trappers lead the way, and go with knights from the baronet.”
“Yes, High Priest.” In the church, the high priest and his holy knights discussed the downfall of the “witch,” and talked of locating Vandal and killing him too.
Spirit Pollution skill increased to level 4!
“That was an easy day’s pay today. That dark elf was pretty good with her bow and elemental magic, but good is still what, grade D? No match for us, Heinz!”
“Something wrong, Heinz? You don’t seem yourself.”
“No, it’s nothing. I just don’t like the aftertaste of this one.”
“You’re taking pity on that dark elf? You’re the leader of the Five-Colored Blades, an alias-holding grade B adventurer! Don’t go soft on us now.”
“I don’t know if she fell for the allure of that vampire, or was after eternal life, but that dark elf brought this on herself. Don’t pay her any more mind. And you’re the one, Blue Burning Blade Heinz, who wanted to take this job, remember?”
“Yeah, after being introduced by the count. I didn’t really have a choice.”
“Whatever. Let’s spend some of this windfall on food and drink! Just like eating the meat of a kill on the hunt. You’ll feel better. Honor her death.” The Five-Colored Blades, a group of adventurers hired to help capture Dalshia, were eating well off the payment for their aid and feasting in her memory.
Spirit Pollution skill increased to level 5!
“Cheers! Cheers to the baronet, and cheers to the high priest!”
“And cheers to your dark nature, Olby!” Much laughter.
“Hey! Who are you calling dark?!”
“You, you nutter, you! You’re the one who got rejected by the hot dark elf coming to town and decided to try and teach her a lesson for shutting you down! Some hunting buddy I’ve got here!”
“That’s why we found out she was the wanted witch, isn’t it?”
“A real waste too. Burning such a beauty alive. At least we can make some more coin tomorrow, hunting down the dhampir. The knights will take all the glory, but we can make easy money pointing them in the right direction.”
“We can do more than point! If we catch the dhampir ourselves, we’ll be making bars of gold, not bags of pennies!”
“You never told them where the dark elf’s hidden home was?”
“Well done, Olby! If we bag that dhampir they’ll be lining up to buy it—the church, the magician’s guild, slavers, we’ll have our pick of the purchaser!” The trappers who sold Dalshia out, cackling to themselves are they planned to catch and sell him too.
Spiritual Pollution skill increased to level 6!
“If you aren’t a good girl, you’ll get burned at the stake like that witch.”
“They still haven’t found the dhampir. I’m worried. I hope they catch it soon.”
“You think the vampire might come for some payback?”
“It’ll be bad for business if our wine gets labeled as coming from a town with a vampire problem. They’d better wrap this up quickly.” And then the regular folk of the town. The comments from those people just going about their daily lives. None of them had any sympathy for Dalshia either.
Spiritual Pollution skill increased to level 7!
This was all too much. Vandal had never once thought, in any of his three lives, that the world revolved around him, or that it was a place overflowing with goodness. But he had never considered it as evil, twisted, as bitter a place as this. Earth, Origin, and Ramda.
He had lived three lives now and hadn’t been happy in any one of them. All he had done was lose, suffer, and withstand pain. He had done nothing wrong in any of them, and yet had everything taken away, and given nothing in its place. Even the god—who actually did exist—hadn’t done anything to help him.
“I’m sorry, Vandal.”
And now, right in front of his eyes, he was about to lose Dalshia again.
“I can’t hold on any longer.” She was already faint, and now she shuddered, her voice fading. Her spirit was no longer able to remain in this world.
“Wait! Mom, you can’t go!”
She was heading into the afterlife, where she would encounter the Reincarnation God Rodocolte. He would surely get a chuckle from learning Vandal had lost his mother on Ramda too, reveling in the despair this would cause, and probably right in front of Dalshia’s soul. Vandal couldn’t accept that. He couldn’t stand that thought.
“I’m sorry. I wanted to talk with you more, just like this. I wanted to see you grown, as a man. I wanted to see you married, with children, so happy.”
Spiritual Pollution skill increased to level 8—9—reached capacity!
“It’s okay, Mom.”
He took his remaining MP, all 45 million, and poured them into Dalshia’s spirit body. She made a puzzled sound, and then started to moan. Vandal continued to fill her fragile, flicking form with all the magic he could, just like when he was making undead. It was like pouring water into a bucket with a big hole, but if you poured enough water it could still be full for a moment.
“Now I just need something for your soul to possess….”
He couldn’t just use a stone, tool, or bone. That would make it harder for Dalshia’s personality to remain intact. The best thing would have been her own body, but that had been burnt to ash.
“There has to be something.”
Vandal had Bone Monkey search the ashes, and found a burnt piece of bone there. Just a small fragment, fitting into Vandal’s own small hand.
“This will do. Mom, into this.” Even with his vast magical power flowing into her, Dalshia still tried to resist the wishes of her child.
Because that was what was best for him.
It was sad, but she was dead. Even if she became undead, it wouldn’t be like when she was alive. It wouldn’t be good for her son to have her around like that. Indeed, it would only cause him harm. She wanted to be with him, but pushed down her tears and tried to break away….
Acquired the skill Death Attribute Allure!
Dalshia’s head throbbed: I want to be close to you, close to you, always close to you! I never want to leave your side!
“Don’t worry,” Vandal said. “We’ll always be together.”
Vandal overwrote Dalshia’s own thoughts and feelings, and she happily went into her own fragment of bone.
“Now you’ve got your spirit body back, at least. I’ll make you a new body one day, you’ll see.”
He had provided the MP needed to maintain her spirit body, and something for her to possess, but ultimately it was just a bone fragment. Dalshia wasn’t strong enough to move it herself. The only option was for her to go to sleep until Vandal woke her up again. He decided to hone his death attribute magic powers and create a body that would allow Dalshia to be just as she was during her life. He swore it.
“But first, I need revenge.”
The baronet and his ministers, those in the church, the adventurers, the trappers, and the people in the town. Revenge on all of them. He was going to go crazy otherwise. They deserved punishment. It was too unfair for this to stand.
“But not…right now.”
He was down to less than ten percent of his magic. His head was throbbing, his throat was dry, and he was hungry and tired. His body was only 6 months old. He had pushed too hard.
“I’m sorry, Mom. I’ll avenge you…later. Bone Monkey, back the way we came.”
Bone Monkey picked him up and clattered back through the streets of Evbejia. Once they passed through the hole in the walls, the stone wall returned to normal, and the waiting horde of undead obediently followed behind Bone Monkey.
The townspeople didn’t have any idea that they had purchased the wrath of the one individual they shouldn’t be shopping with.
Rapid Healing skill increased to level 2! Limit Break skill increased to level 2! Resist Maladies skill increased to level 2!
Name: Vandal
Race: Dhampir (Dark Elf)
Age: 6 months
Alias: None
Job: None
Level: 0
Job History: None
—Status
Vitality: 18
Magical Power: 100000600
Strength: 27
Agility: 2
Muscle: 33
Intellect: 25
—Passive Skills
[Brute Strength: Level 1] [Rapid Healing: Level 2] [Death Attribute Magic: Level 2]
[Resist Maladies: Level 2] [Resist Magic: Level 1] [Night Vision]
[Spiritual Pollution: Level 10 (NEW!)] [Death Attribute Allure: Level 1 (NEW!)]
—Active Skills
[Suck Blood: Level 1] [Limit Break: Level 2 (NEW!)]
—Curses
[Unable to carry over experience from previous lives]
[Unable to enter existing jobs]
[Unable to personally acquire experience]