"Huh? What''s going on with this figure? I''m sure her loyalty was at 60 before, how did it drop so much? And it''s even fluctuating like this…" Aldritch really didn''t know what to say about the situation, it was very bizarre indeed. Looking at it more, it was clear to him now that her loyalty had dropped before, but just when that happened, he had no clue.


    ''I need to watch these things more… but it has only been a few days, how did things turn out like this. This was certainly a problem, but after thinking of it more, Aldritch came to a conclusion that it was rted to her being a witch.


    ''I doubt she has no protective amulet or artefact on her, even that could cause this I guess.'' At the point, there was nothing he could do, at least, the loyalty wasn''t reducing anymore.


    Aldritch watched the figure increase steadily until they came to a stop at 82, after hitting 82, her loyalty didn''t increase any further.


    Looking at the current 82, Aldritch was satisfied, this was enough, that meant that she would at least not betray him. Just how much of their loyalty these figures represented was still unknown to Aldritch, but since 82 out of 100 was a good margin, he deemed it good enough.


    Feeling bored again, Aldritch began questioning the system, asking different things, some relevant, others not so much. He even began ying with blood, making different shapes and constructs with it until an idea came to him.


    ''I wonder if I can make a weapon using the blood?'' He wondered.


    This was something he had seen many blood maniptors do in almost all the movies and fictional stories he had read, it was basically something that wasmon and seemed to be basic knowledge for all blood maniptors. Not to mention, having such a skill would be vital inbat and other situations.


    Vampires weren''t exactly meant to be swordsmen or such, Aldritch could feel it deep within, but that didn''t mean he could learn a thing or two about swords and daggers.


    He deconstructed the statue of himself which he had formed using some blood, then easily made a knife.


    Looking at the blood red thing before him, it certainly looked like a knife, but then again, that wouldn''t even cut a fly, talk less of a human. The next question was obvious, how could he make it hard enough to function the way he intended.


    After a minutes of thinking about it, Aldritch deconstructed the knife and made a simple ball instead. The ball or orb made of blood was the same as the knife from before,pletely liquid with nobat function other than blinding the enemy temporarily if he was to get it in their eyes.


    ''This shouldn''t be difficult, it''s simple physics, physics aided by magic and supernatural phenomena…'' he assured himself.


    His n was simple, condense the blood until it became solid.


    "Let''s start by trying to draw it into itself."


    …


    "Olgud, you''re awake. I was going to meet with thedy master introduced before, are youing along?" Lina asked as she just left the room assigned to her. It happened to be that it was opposite Olgud''s.


    "Why not?" Olgud agreed. This was his initial n anyway, so it was no issue.


    They weren''t sure where to find Lada exactly, but running into any maid in the house and asking them would suffice, so that was what they sort to do.


    The corridor they were on was a bit lengthy, after all, the house was massive. Themps inside the house lit with a brighter shade of yellow, but there was no smell, one that would normally permeate the house from litmps and torches, it was strange indeed.


    Olgud noticed Lina looking at themps. He could tell quite certainly what was on her mind, "thesemps work through magic stones." He said, bringing an understanding look to Lina''s face.


    "Ohh, I see, no wonder it felt different. Wow, you know a lot of things…" She said, ncing back to Olgud briefly.


    "Hmm."


    In between each of thesemps was a normalmp holder where a normalmp lit wit fire was held, but all of them were not lit. Probably put in ce for back up, just in case.


    Just then after Lina had solved the issue with themps, all of them went off, plunging everywhere in darkness, though, being vampires, Lina and Olgud had no problem with seeing in the dark environment. Maybe it was because they were in apletely enclosed space, but their vision wasn''t as good as it would have been outside.


    "What''s going on? Are we under attack?" Lina asked, reaching for her sword before realizing that she didn''t bring it with her.


    Olgud was going to calm her down, saying something like it just a fluctuation or the power from the magic stones had run out, but his instincts said otherwise. Being an ogre, his battle senses were naturally sharp, but after bing a vampire, they had be even sharper.


    At the moment, Olgud could feel something amiss, as though he was being hunted. Suddenly, the oldmps lite up one after the other until the entire corridor was lit and the mes from themps burned. The light was considerably dimmer than the one produced by the magicmps, but at least their vision was returned to its peak now.


    Olgud gripped his sword which had a shorter than normal de with both hands, ready to attack or defend at any time, then suddenly, his instincts screamed for him to move out of the way…


    "DUCK!" He screamed to Lina who only dyed a little before bending down. Just a momentter, a de passed over their heads, leaving a scratch mark on the stone wall as a small spark was produced from the friction.


    Lina was slow to react, but Olgud had already raised his eyes to catch the figure that attacked them. Without a moment spent to think any further, he charged towards the figure with a burst of speed, thrusting his sword towards their assant''s back, aiming for the heart. Unfortunately, he was too slow, and all he hit was a shadow.


    …


    *sh *sh * sh


    No matter how many times Olgud swung his de, he couldn''t touch his assant. He was totally powerless against her. As for Lina, without her weapon, herbat abilities were severely diminished. She was literally sitting out of the fight, there was also the fact that their assant didn''t bother with her and was focused on Olgud, even when she fought.


    "I can''t believe we would get attacked here, has this human betrayed our master?" Lina sounded a bit furious and angry, though she was holding back, not wanting to be taken by her emotions.


    "No!" Olgud spoke as he deflected a casual strike from the shadowy figure. "she''s not trying to kill us; this is just a test." He answered.


    After saying that, the shadowy figure moved faster than it had been, appearing before Olgud and knocking him back onto his knees. He was unsure of what had hit him, a punch or elbow or even a kick, all he knew was that he was sent flying backwards.


    "That''s enough. I''ve been ordered by my master to train you in the art of the shadows, this was just a test. Before you go deciding anything, know that this was an order that came ultimately from our lord, so take it seriously." The shadowy figure said in the voice of ady as her shadowy form dissipated, revealing a cloaked figure.


    "Come on, let''s go. Your training will start immediately, no cking off old man." She said, bringing down the hood of her cloak to reveal her crimson hair as she turned away from them.


    Lina''s anger calmed a bit, but she was still a bit furious, maybe it was because she was ignored throughout, or the fact that Lada had chosen to test them like this… well, test Olgud, not her.


    "Where''s that woman?…"


    …


    After a few hours, Aldritch reached the outer walls and Ingrid''s house. With a pouch filled with gold coins, Aldritch brought Ingrid with him to the ve market.


    This time, he wanted to buy as much as possible. Even though he had decided to start a kind of human farm for blood, Aldritch knew that the supply wouldn''t be so consistent because humans couldn''t produce and lose blood in such amounts like that, if not they would dry out and die… ''I can always rece the dead, but that''s beside the point.


    I''d need some kind of scientist to maximize the gains from such a facility.'' He thought to himself. Giving the nature of this world he was in, if they were capable of making a train, he was sure that there would be someone somewhere with enough expertise to conceptualize his ideas, but that was if he could find them.


    ''That''ll be something to think aboutter, for now let''s focus on what''s on ground.''