Chương 716: The Jealous Vampire Girl

Two days had passed since the attack on the count's district. Two months since Stage 3 had begun.

"I win," Marten said, laughing. He dragged the pile of gold coins toward himself with the smug satisfaction of someone who knew exactly how good he was at what he did.

"Better luck next time."

"I'm out," Triss said.

"Me too," Mia said.

"Same," Randall and Doug said at almost the same time. They were playing poker, or at least trying to. Marten was way too good at it. Luke looked at the cards in his hand, then at the coins he had lost, and let out a sigh.

"I know when I'm beat." Marten's grin widened.

"You sure you don't want to sell me your cores?" Luke asked.

"No. If you want my cores, you'll have to win them from me at poker."

"I... want... to play," a soft voice said. Everyone looked at Anne. Marten raised an eyebrow, amused. The doll maid approached the table with silent steps and sat among them, setting a small pile of gold coins in front of herself. Marten smiled.

"Doll girl, I don't go easy on beginners. Don't hate me afterward."

"I want... to play."

"What do you want to bet?" Anne pointed at Marten's pile of cores. He looked at the cores, then at her, his smile turning more teasing.

"Doll girl, if I win, you owe me dinner. Just you and me." Anne blinked, confused.

"You won't... win."

"We'll see. And just so we're clear, I'm definitely not holding back." A few minutes later, Marten's smile was gone. He stared at the table with the miserable. With a heavy sigh, he pushed the pile of cores toward Anne.

"There you go... Lady Anne. My cores." The doll maid gave a small smile.

"Thank you..." Luke watched the scene, impressed. Anne, without the slightest ceremony, picked up the cores and handed them to him.

"For me?" She nodded.

"I appreciate it, Anne." Triss stretched in her chair.

"Enough cards. Time to drink." And just like that, her ship turned into a party. The celebration had a clear reason: the notification for the final challenge had finally appeared. Stage 3: The Expedition At one edge of this region, a ship lost in the [Abyssal Zone], once used by the ancient royal family, is returning. Any participant who wishes to try their luck in the Final Challenge must proceed to the indicated area and wait for the ship's arrival. Participants must then launch an expedition to board it.

Once aboard, they must complete the challenge it imposes. The participant who conquers the ship's challenge will win the event. Warning: Participants who fail to reach the location in time will be automatically disqualified and returned to their planet of origin. [Time Remaining: 29 days: 12 hours: 27 minutes: 53 seconds] By then, most of the people there no longer cared much about winning the event. Luke had found out some people only wanted the reward from the last beacon.

Because of that, they had been forced to stay in Stage 3 until the end. Everyone who stayed had their own reason.

"You're really not doing the expedition, Marten?" Luke asked.

"No. I'll leave that to you lunatics. My thing is Event Points." The longer Marten stayed in the event, the more points he could farm.

"You're not even a little curious about what happens to the winner?" Triss asked. Marten took a drink before answering.

"I'd rather stay alive. Sticking around Stage 3 was already risky enough. I'm not pushing my luck. Especially since I'm going to need it on New Earth." The night went on with laughter, bets, drinking, and improvised competitions. The ship's deck became a loud mess of lanternlight, sea wind, and bad decisions.

"Where did you get this much booze, Luke Moon?" Triss asked, tipping back a mug.

"It was Stephen's. He decided to leave it all behind. Said he was staying sober on New Earth to save his ex-wife, or something." The drinking contests started not long after, and Luke won. Naturally. That earned him a few more cores.

"I've never seen anyone drink that much and still stay on their feet!" Triss said, downing another mug.

"They don't know you're practically immune to getting drunk, do they?" Artemis asked. Let's keep it that way. I need cores. Anne had already returned to Luke's ship, so he had to make his way back alone. Or almost.

"Wait," a voice called behind him.

"Can I walk with you to your ship?" Luke glanced over his shoulder.

"Sure, Mia." The two walked side by side in silence for a while. The noise of the party faded behind them, swallowed by distance and the sound of the waves.

"I'm not giving back the cores I won from you and your sister," Luke said.

"A deal's a deal."

"That's not why I came."

"I know." Mia took a few seconds before continuing.

"I just wanted to say... sorry I treated you like crap." Luke turned his head toward her.

"Where did that come from? Are you drunk?"

"Maybe a little. But I never thanked you for saving me from that vampiric beast. Back when I was… naked, you know." She looked away, clearly uncomfortable with the memory.

"You know, that day I thought you were spying on me."

"Ah. Right. Thanks for not telling anyone." An awkward silence settled between them. Luke narrowed his eyes.

"You really are drunk. Any other day, you'd want to punch me just for bringing that up."

"It's just that we probably won't see each other again. I'm going to convince my sister to abandon the final challenge. And even if she does go, there's no guarantee we'll run into each other."

"I get it." Luke looked toward the ship ahead.

"Still, I'm glad we cleared things up." When they arrived, Mia simply stepped away and left, disappearing in the direction of her own group. That would be Luke's last day there. After that, he would leave with his people. She surprised me.

"I just realized something, Luke," Artemis said in his mind.

"You have insane luck when it comes to accidentally seeing naked women." That day was an accident. And why are you making it plural? It was just Mia.

"Mia? Please. Let's start at the beginning. There was Allison, by accident. Then Charlie, when she got a body. Oh, and before that, Angie. Let's not forget her incredible sexy statue form. Should I include Zoe? Probably not, since you managed to ruin whatever chance you had with her." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Don't remind me.

"Then there was Mia, and after that Serena, though with the heroine, sadly, you cut off the visual connection." Every single one of those was pure coincidence.

"No, no. You're a naked-woman magnet, man. You've got that going for you. Plus, apparently, a talent for getting women drugged with libido potions." Now you're exaggerating.

"Am I? You drugged Allison, Layla, and Eleanor. And I'm the one exaggerating?" Luke stopped halfway up the ship's ramp.

"Look, it was all coincidence. There's a lot of context here." A rich, salty smell rolled out of the kitchen, warm enough to remind Luke's stomach it still existed.

"That smells good, Charlie." Then he stepped into the kitchen and stopped dead. Charlie stood motionless at the counter, holding a knife. She wasn't cutting anything. Not anymore. Her eyes were locked on him, cold enough to make the whole kitchen feel several degrees colder.

"What do you mean, you saw Mia naked?" she asked, far too seriously. Luke swallowed.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"I was using my super hearing to listen for you after Anne came back. I wanted to surprise you. Show you the dough I made." Her stare sharpened.

"But then I overheard something very interesting."

"Charlie, wait. I can explain." Beside her, Cadmus slowly became visible again. He looked at Charlie, then at Luke.

"Luke Moon, she's scarier than a leviathan. You're on your own." Then he walked out without looking back. It took Luke a while to explain the misunderstanding. Longer than it should have, mostly because Charlie kept holding the knife for half of it. Somehow, he survived.

"I see," she said at last.

"So it was an accident." The terrifying look vanished, replaced by a smile far too calm for someone who'd been ready to turn the kitchen into a crime scene five seconds ago.

"Besides, you'd never betray me, would you, Master Luke?" She smiled as she said it. Somehow, that made it worse.

"Never."

"Good. Very good." Charlie stepped closer and patted him lightly on the head.

"Keep being a good boy." What... happens if I stop being a good boy? Luke stared at her smile for one more second. He decided not to ask.

That night, the group prepared to depart. Luke stared at the system screen in front of him. On it was the image of a tree, with fruits marked by the names of sins. All of them seemed dormant, except one. Only the fruit of Wrath was red. Title Path: [Tree of Knowledge] Knowledge has a price, and each Fruit requires the bearer to prove their worth through action. To unlock a Fruit of Sin, the bearer must embody one facet of their Title of Power and offer the sacrifice demanded by the Tree.

Fruit of the Sin of Gluttony: The bearer still needs to embody Gluttony as a true Dark Lord. Sacrifice:? Reward:? Fruit of the Sin of Greed: The bearer still needs to embody Greed as a true Dark Lord. Sacrifice:? Reward:? Fruit of the Sin of Envy: The bearer still needs to embody Envy as a true Dark Lord. Sacrifice:? Reward:? Fruit of the Sin of Lust: The bearer still needs to embody Lust as a true Dark Lord. Sacrifice:? Reward:? Fruit of the Sin of Sloth: The bearer still needs to embody Sloth as a true Dark Lord.

Sacrifice:? Reward:? Fruit of the Sin of Pride: The bearer still needs to embody Pride as a true Dark Lord. Sacrifice:? Reward:? Fruit of the Sin of Wrath: The bearer demonstrated the nature of Wrath by abandoning hesitation and turning his violence into judgment. His rage was not a directionless outburst, but a conscious force, used to destroy what dared stand in his way. Even so, the Fruit has not been fully unlocked. To release the power sleeping within Wrath, the bearer must offer the Tree a worthy sacrifice.

Sacrifice: Soul of a Hero. Reward:? Only the Fruit of Wrath was available, assuming, of course, he killed a hero. During those days, Luke had spent a lot of time staring at that interface and trying to understand how he had unlocked Wrath. It didn't seem to be a matter of simply committing a sin, or even carrying it inside himself. It was tied to the meaning of the [Title of Power] itself. He would have to internalize that sin somehow. The problem was figuring out how.

I never thought Wrath would be the one closest to me. At least that was what he had deduced. It wasn't about acting on impulse or raging like some armed idiot. It was about weaving the meaning of that sin into the way he acted, thought, and judged. So instead of trying to unlock the other fruits blindly, Luke was trying to map out exactly what had activated Wrath. If he found the answer, maybe he could apply the same principle to the others.

"And now?" he murmured.

"What happened between completing the thousand souls and getting here that unlocked the Fruit of Wrath? Or was it some earlier change tied to Wrath, something the system only recognized once the [Title of Power] activated?" He closed the interface. Luke hated that feeling of ignorance. It was like having a forgotten word stuck on the tip of his tongue.

The trip to the challenge area continued. Fortunately, Cadmus knew safer routes, or at least less suicidal ones, through that region. Even so, whenever an opportunity came up, the group took advantage of it to hunt beasts. You could never have too many levels or cores.

"Lightning incoming!" Angie warned. [Lightning Verdict activated] She pointed the spear at the water. A bolt of lightning cracked down and struck the sea. The surface flashed for an instant, and several submerged beasts convulsed beneath the waves. A moment later, Luke jumped off the ship and dove in, swimming toward the bodies to finish off anything still thrashing. When he was done, he and Angie collected the cores and returned to the deck.

"That's one hell of a way to fish," Charlie said. And it was. Fish, cores, and no downside worth mentioning.

"I'll only be able to use that power again after a few hours," Angie said, resting the spear.

"So it's not that useful." Still, it helped. Over the last few days, they had been hunting as many beasts as possible whenever the route allowed it. [You have absorbed a Rank D Core] Rank D Cores: [471/1000] [You have absorbed a Rank D Core] Rank D Cores: [472/1000] [You have absorbed a Rank D Core] Rank D Cores: [473/1000]"That's three more cores," Luke said.

"It helps. I didn't think I'd even hit four hundred, and now I'm almost at five hundred." When his [Spectral Beast] reached four hundred absorbed cores, a new skill had been unlocked. [Spectral Devour (Epic)]: The Spectral Beast can devour and consume the life energy still lingering in a corpse. The fresher the prey, the greater the amount of energy absorbed, restoring damage to the creature's body. A primitive and cruel form of healing, in which the predator turns its hunt into food, blood, and survival.

The power did not restore the energy the [Spectral Beast] burned to stay active. It only healed injuries. Still, that was useful enough. Later, Luke entered his laboratory and looked over the plants spread throughout the space. He had harvested dozens of species during his time in that world, each one a possible way to strengthen the seed born from the [Tree of Mother Freya]. If it was possible to create a forest on land, then he could find a way to make one on water. Now more than ever, I need territory of my own.

And if his plan to raise a massive magical forest worked, then inside that territory, he would be absolute. Luke opened the system screen and stared once again at the Profession evolution options that had appeared at level 100. It had been a few days since the choice had appeared, and he was still undecided. Not completely, but enough that part of him considered delaying everything until he returned to Earth. [Champion Botanist of Mother Freya]: Nature does not choose its champions by accident.

To carry this Profession is to become Mother Freya's warrior of roots, blood, and blooming fury. Where the Guardian protects the sacred balance, the Champion rises when that balance must be enforced by strength. He is not merely a defender of the land; he is the blade, the shield, and the voice of nature itself.

Beyond botanical skills, this Profession can awaken abilities that harden his skin like ancient bark, let him draw strength from plants like roots breaking stone, and make his strikes carry the weight of thorns, vines, and living wood. Every seed under his command becomes an extension of his will, every plant a weapon blessed by the Mother's essence. The Champion Botanist does not fight to conquer. He fights to restore.

When nature is wounded, corrupted, or threatened, he answers with calm fury, reminding the world that life can be peaceful... until provoked. (Attribute Bonus per level: +17 Strength, +15 Vitality, +13 Toughness, +12 Wisdom, +9 Willpower, +25 Free Points.) [Botanist Garden Architect]: To plant a forest is to shape the future. The Botanist Garden Architect understands that nature is not only beauty, but structure, shelter, weapon, and kingdom.

This path belongs to those who have gone beyond simple cultivation, learning to design living landscapes where every root has a purpose, every tree has a function, and every stretch of land becomes part of a greater design. He commands more than plants. Soil, roots, moss, flowers, stones, and underground networks answer to his domain.

With time, vision, and power, he can unlock abilities to raise forests that defend territories, form natural barriers around sacred places, hide entire structures beneath living vegetation, or turn peaceful groves into silent traps for invaders. His creations are not random woods, but ecosystems planned with care and intent. A castle may be made of stone, but the Botanist Garden Architect builds with earth, stem, and patience, creating sanctuaries that breathe, watch, and defend themselves.

(Attribute Bonus per level: +18 Intelligence, +15 Wisdom, +12 Perception, +10 Willpower, +7 Vitality, +25 Free Points.) [Sentinel Botanist of Mother Freya]: The Sentinel is no longer merely one who guards nature. He is the living authority of sacred territory, turning forests into armies and roots into law. Chosen by Mother Freya's blood, he carries a power that awakens the land and unites every stem under his protection.

Where the Guardian walks in harmony with nature, the Sentinel learns to command that harmony on a greater scale. This Profession is meant for those who seek to master plant transmutation, seed fusion, and the creation of new species, shaping flora for protection, war, concealment, or restoration. With time, he can unlock abilities to strengthen plants under his command, raise living forests, awaken ancient seeds, and make his territory evolve alongside his own will.

To enter a Sentinel's domain as an enemy is to step into a world that begins choosing a side. The forest stops being scenery and becomes ally, shield, weapon, and witness. As his power matures, nature does not simply surround him. It listens. It obeys. It evolves. (Attribute Bonus per level: +21 Wisdom, +16 Intelligence, +13 Willpower, +10 Perception, +8 Vitality, +25 Free Points.) [Botanist Alchemist of the Sacred Forest]: Some botanists learn to command plants. Others learn to understand what flows within them.

The Botanist Alchemist of the Sacred Forest follows the path of essence, sap, nectar, resin, poison, pollen, and the green blood of roots, extracting the hidden miracles asleep inside plant life. To him, every plant is not only alive, but a vessel of effects waiting to be awakened, refined, and transformed. Through careful study and sacred techniques, he extracts liquids and essences from plants to create potions of great power.

Healing elixirs can be born from regenerative vines, antidotes from purifying flowers, strengthening tonics from the sap of resilient trees, and even rare rejuvenation potions from plants. His art is not crude extraction, but communion. He understands the function, spirit, and cycle of each plant, using its nature as the foundation for magic.

In the hands of a Botanist Alchemist of the Sacred Forest, a single drop of nectar can close wounds, restore vitality, purify corruption, or preserve life against the weight of time. (Attribute Bonus per level: +19 Intelligence, +16 Wisdom, +12 Dexterity, +10 Perception, +8 Vitality, +20 Free Points.) For what Luke wanted to do, [Botanist Garden Architect] seemed like the best choice. Still, throwing away everything he had built along Mother Freya's branch would be stupid.

In the end, there were only two real options left: [Champion Botanist of Mother Freya] or [Sentinel Botanist of Mother Freya]. Luke stared at the bonuses for a while longer, but he knew attribute points were not as important as imagining the most fruitful path for a Class or Profession. Numbers mattered. Direction mattered more. [Your Profession has evolved into...] Hey guys, that wraps up the mini-arc at the start of Stage 3. We're in the final stretch of both the arc and the volume now.

Like I said, Stage 3 was going to be a lot quicker than the previous stages. Thanks again for reading this far. The next chapter finally introduces something I've had planned for a long time, and I've been waiting for you guys to see it. Don't want to spoil anything. Oh, and one last thing. The version of this chapter over at that other place has an illustration of Charlie looking a little yandere in that scene.