Chapter 7
Chapter 7
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Vampire Revelation
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In the depths of the dungeon, the flow of time isn't precise.
In the real world, you could just check your smartphone, but nothing like that exists here.
You can tell day from night to some extent, but anything more exact is impossible.
Still, one thing is certain.
When you're hungry, you have to eat.
I boil herbs to make mana potions and bottle them in gourds. With the remaining fire, I toss in chunks of potato and jerky and let it simmer.
Soon enough, something resembling stew is ready. I hand the finished food to Hyun Tae-jin.
"Eat up."
"...Thank you."
There's no need to thank me.
Warriors who double as porters naturally burn through rations fast.
Mages suffer less from hunger debuffs, so they can skip meals, but warriors can't afford to.
...Even setting aside game mechanics, a male warrior like Hyun Tae-jin is bound to consume a lot of food.
"...Aren't you eating, Do-hwa-ssi?"
"No. I don't eat."
I don't need to.
I experimented with solid food earlier, and my blood reserves are fine for now.
A vampire under the [Attunement Debuff] can last two to three days from full satiety. I gorged once today, so there should be plenty of time before the next feeding.
"Still, if you don't eat now, you'll get hungry later..."
"Probably. But I'm a vampire. I can't eat anything but blood."
"Ahh."
Did that convince him?
With a casual nod, Hyun Tae-jin scoops more stew from the pot into his bowl and slurps it down.
And moments later.
"Pfft! *Cough*!?"
He chokes, hacking violently as he spits out the stew from his mouth.
"*Hack*, *gag*. *Cough*-"
Did something suddenly get stuck in his throat?
This never happened in the game.
...Well, he'll manage.
You don't usually die from a little choking.
As I watch impassively, Hyun Tae-jin asks in a horrified voice.
"Wait. Just now... you said vampire?"
"Yes."
"...You're joking, right?"
"No. I'm really a vampire. See these fangs? They can extend long."
"...Eek!?"
I open my mouth and extend my fangs.
Vampire fangs look vaguely pointed at rest, but they stretch long for feeding.
Thanks to my previous feeding, I had the feel down, so showing proof was easy...
...But does he really need to scramble back so far?
I'm not about to bite him.
"...Hah, but you're Korean?"
"That's true too."
Will he believe me just like that?
In a situation where we've been yanked into some bizarre dungeon out of nowhere, it's not impossible for someone to turn into a vampire somehow.
With no choice, I explain the full story.
"There was a DLC for this game originally. Other Races, where you could pick a non-human race—"
Pavarintos' DLC, Other Races.
As the owner, I could access the non-human perks, and I chose vampire that way.
...I opt not to mention it was an accident.
Sounds too idiotic.
"...Is that true?"
"Any reason to doubt it now?"
"Hmm..."
Can't wrap his head around species conversion being that simple?
Hyun Tae-jin eyes me warily from a distance, questioning dubiously, but I don't care.
He'd learn the truth eventually anyway, even without me convincing him.
Believe it if he wants, don't if he doesn't.
Living here, he'll figure it out in time regardless.
I'm not the only non-human in this world.
Non-humans suck hard in the early game, but their unique flavors draw plenty of players anyway.
Especially in a real-world Pavarintos.
The allure of reincarnating as high-tier races like 'elves'—stuff you'd only see in games or novels—is obvious.
...Another gap between game and reality, I suppose.
Early-game elves in Pavarintos the game were trash not worth interacting with, but things might differ here.
In reality, appearance counts as a stat.
Just being pretty garners goodwill, so relatively beautiful non-humans should be common enough.
We'll probably run into a few once we reach Labyrinth City.
One thing nagging at me, though...
'...This cave's map has ballooned hugely.'
The gap between game and reality.
As expected, Pavarintos' discrepancies show starkly in time and space from the start.
Today, we walked two hours to reach the outer zone, then wandered another hour to find the well.
Pavarintos as a game wasn't anywhere near this massive.
A few minutes' walk at most, but reality's scale defies estimation.
I get it, sort of.
A trash game where you spend four hours just walking wouldn't survive in cutthroat capitalism.
Not physically, not economically.
Replicating Pavarintos at full scale would've been impossible.
'Makes finding the portal tougher too...'
Temporally or spatially,
Pavarintos' scale has become overwhelmingly vast.
No clue how big the inner 'boundary zone' or 'deep zone' might be.
Setting 'find portal, return to Labyrinth City' as an immediate goal is unrealistic.
'Whatever. Take it slow. No funds gathered anyway...'
No need to rush, of course.
Pavarintos demands endless back-and-forth between Labyrinth City and the dungeon. Returning now wouldn't leave us with much to do anyway.
For the moment, just handle what we can.
'Gotta get used to spellcasting too.'
At least we found the well.
From here on, use it as a base for scouting.
To do that, I need to master 'spell' skills.
Skills in this world allow for all sorts of applications.
Telekinesis is a mage's basic—and essential—skill.
Its effect simply converts mana into a controllable telekinetic force, but the applications stemming from it are extensive.
Even [Mana Arrow] incorporates part of telekinesis' elemental formula in its makeup, so you can imagine.
"Um, Do-hwa-ssi."
"Yes."
"The reason you saved me... it wasn't for my blood, was it?"
"No."
"...No?"
"Blood flows in goblins and other animals too. Of course, if things get desperate, I'd have to ask a person's permission."
"..."
"It won't come to that unless things go really south, so don't worry too much."
I brush off Hyun Tae-jin's drivel from the side and cast the Telekinesis spell.
'Telekinesis.'
Telekinesis memorization stores by total power output, not number of casts.
The total amount of Effect Mana, basically.
It's like pre-storing the volume of water from a tank to dispense through a faucet when needed.
Requires periodic checks, but...
Once we return to Labyrinth City, no need to worry about it.
'Telekinesis Engraving' is a favorite among mage players, after all.
The sensation upon casting is intangible mana like mist. I manipulate the 'telekinetic body' that manifests physical force like an extra hand, enabling me to move objects.
It's hardly omnipotent.
The effective range is a modest four meters or so, and its power diminishes against targets emitting mana wavelengths.
The mechanics are a bit verbose, but in short, trying to use it directly on people like in movies wastes mana horribly. Countering a charging warrior with telekinesis would drain the mage massively.
Exception: the mage's own body.
'Alright, now split the telekinetic body into two...'
The feel of handling telekinesis is like an extension of my hands.
So maybe that's why.
Splitting it into two was a quick adjustment.
'...This isn't so bad.'
Impossible in the game.
Probably tricky to implement with just one mouse.
But it served its role in suggesting the idea, so whatever.
'In that case...'
The two split mana 'telekinetic bodies'.
I move them to test the technique I'd thought of.
Grab my own body like lifting myself and float up.
Not difficult.
A person can't lift themselves with their two arms, but they can lift others.
Telekinesis hands are physically detached from the caster, so self-lifting works too.
'Good. This is worki—'
As expected, not a tough technique, but...
"—Ow."
...Control is pretty finicky.
The instant I thought I'd nailed it, my body spun a full rotation.
I tumbled acrobatically to the floor. Hyun Tae-jin, practicing longsword swings at a distance, glances over.
"...Do-hwa-ssi? What was that?"
"Nothing."
Scratch 'not difficult.'
Way trickier than expected.
How do I grab to keep balance?
Widen the range to envelop my whole body?
'A few practices and I'll get it...'
It's an essential technique.
A means to offset the sluggish mage mobility.
There is a higher-tier spell, but I can't use it yet. Besides, telekinesis covers it, so no point wasting precious 'spell capacity' on flight.
'...So engraving locked to telekinesis, then?'
[Mana Arrow] or .
The debate over which to engrave was a mage's eternal dilemma.
In the game, it split evenly.
Arrow side held sway early, but after a patch assigned flight spells to telekinesis engraving, telekinesis gained momentum.
...Strictly speaking, it's playstyle dependent.
Utility and mobility,
or a sustained attack that doesn't need memorization—choice varies by situation.
But in real-world Pavarintos, I suspect the former hold more value.
'Aim practice... after this.'
Telekinesis mobility drills, mana arrow targeting, telekinesis dagger handling practice.
Tasks piled high as a mountain.
Could skip them without much issue, but heaped laziness might one day turn into a blade aimed our way.
...So for now, let's hustle.