After a few more rounds of his aura, the group of budding teens had all received their titles.
Drake wasn't surprised that some of them had also gained a few titles that pertained to aura resistance as well due to the method and length they were under his aura.
[Against Tyranny]
You have stood up to the oppression that is the Tyrant's aura and lived.
+5% Resistance to aura suppression from beings of the same rank.
+1% Resistance to aura suppression from beings one rank above.
"Hey, come on. I see this as an absolute win!" Drake said, spreading his hands out with a grin.
The line of teens looked at him with distasteful expressions. Quetz shook slightly as she sniffed giving a sad coo.
"Ok… So much for silver linings… Right, so on to killing cows yeah?" Drake said, trying to smooth over the tense air he had made.
"Brute," Landin said, from behind Charlotte trying to mimic her voice, "How could you do such a thing to us, Lord Drake!" he said, moving behind Atropos.
"I don't sound like that," Charlotte huffed.
"Neither do I," Atropos said, turning her head.
Landin backed away with a grin, his hands up placatingly.
"Fine, but they didn't deny it," he whistled innocently.
Drake cringed slightly, putting his hand on his chest, hurt.
Charlotte and Atropose both hit Landin in the arm from either side.
"Hey that isn't cool," Landin winced, rubbing his arms, his lips pursed as he blew on his side that Charlotte had hit like he was blowing on something hot.
"You get what you deserve," Drake smirked, only to lurch forward as something hit the back of his head, "Ow! What the-"
Sah Ul' was behind him, her face frowning as she pointed to the teens and then back to him.
Drake scrunched his face up, "Fine. I guess, I deserved that…"
"Ha, justice!" Landin cheered, then the girls leveled him with a glare that forced him to backpedal next to Drake, gripping his arm, "Women are scary."
Chuckling nervously, Drake nodded, "Yeah, you're probably right on that one…"
The sound of a deep moo forced Drake to turn around. When he did he was met with a bull that was stomping its back hoof into the ground, rutting.
"Looks like the local farm life has had enough of us," Drake shrugged.
"Enough of you maybe," Landin countered.
"Either way!" Drake said shouting over him, "It's time to get the rest of your titles and get this leveling show on the road. I want you all to finish ranking up to F-Rank when we get to my mom's house."
Drake chewed on the side of his mouth for a second, "Wow, I never thought I'd say it like that…" he shook his head, "Ok, time to take this bull by the horns."
[Alpha Iron Hide Bull Level 15]
"It's level 15 so we can't use it for any of you four… Atropos and Clotho… Both of you don't have as much fighting experience right?" Drake asked, remembering the limited titles the two had, even before gaining the recent three.
"I fought for a time and somewhat after our parents… But yes, it was mostly out of necessity so you are correct Lord Drake," Atropos said.
Clotho grimaced, turning his head down and away, his fist balled.
"It's alright. You two will get more than enough experience with it here. Since you two are so ahead of the others I've been thinking of what to do about it. And the best I can come up with is getting you both the punching up title and then have you advance to ranking up. The only problem is we don't have the best sub-stones for you both right now."
Drake placed his hand to his chin, the bull behind him charging forward its two horns aimed right at his unprotected back.
"Uhh Drake… Drake!" Landin shouted, stepping back into the line of the group and away from him.
"I guess there's nothing to do about it besides that…"
While Drake was lost in thought the bull thundered forward, bucking its head as it grunted and snorted.
The group of teens' eyes widened as it seemingly was about to barrel into Drake's unguarded back, but was stopped as its feet continued to tear at the ground trying to propel itself forward.
Kalik was the first to grunt and walk beside Drake to see what happened.
He only scowled deeper as he saw, prompting the others to move to see as well.
"Amazing…" Atropos said.
"Where's his magic circle?" Landin asked.
"Look at his feet," Charlotte commented, tilting her head to look behind Drake.
The bull still tried its best to buck and snorted in vitriol. But the teens traced the earthen brown magic circle at Drake's feet, the black stone creeping up his legs and covering his back, the bull's horns stuck in a layer of pitch-black earth.
"How do you gain such control over your magic?" Atropos said, her brows knitting together in concentration, seemingly watching the magic behind her closed eyes.
"Lots of fight, practice, and a pretty convenient skill," Drake grinned, then snapped his fingers.
Instantly the obsidian earth spread and covered the bull from its head down to its hooves, locking it in place as it snorted gusts of white smoke from its nostrils.
Drake turned to get a better look at the monster, only to hear a squish at his feet.
He looked down, pulling his food back, the sound followed by the eyes of the group.
[Newborn Slime Level 2]
"Ew," Drake cringed, "I stepped in baby."
Kalik and Quetz dropped down on their haunches. Kalik Tu' poked it with the tip of his ax, only for it to be slapped away by Quetz, who cooed and poked it instead with a finger, the monster jiggling and wobbling at the touch.
"Hey, hey. Can we keep it?" Quetz asked, scowling and slapping Kalik's ax away once more.
Drake was about to say no but then remembered that Natto had specifically asked for these monsters.
"Sure. I don't think it will listen to anyone, we don't exactly have a tamer class," he shrugged then panned his view beyond the infuriated bull into the rest of the long expansive corral that contained thousands of mooing bovine of all kinds.
Huh, seems like these monsters have multiplied pretty crazy. Wait… Drake thought then saw a cow a little further into the field.
"It's eating the slime?" Drake scoffed.
Gasps were heard from around him.
"How can they eat something so cute!" Charlotte protested, dropping down to poke the slime with Quetz.
"I agree! Lord Drake, we must hunt every last one down!" Atropos agreed, already kneeling down and squishing the slime as well.
He held up his hands again, taken aback by the sudden fierceness in the teens' voices.
"Whoa whoa, hold your horses for a bit. Look, here's what we'll do," Drake began but spotted Sah Ul' tilting her head in confusion searching the area.
He sighed, "It's an expression, there aren't any horses around…" he said, chuckling lightly.
Sah Ul' jerked and froze slightly, but said nothing to the side, eyeing the rest of cows and bulls in the pasture with sudden interest.
"Anyway, here's what we are going to do. Sah Ul' will take the four of you and have you go through the cows in turns. Some of you still need the combat titles for fighting against more than one opponent and it shouldn't be too hard as long as you focus on grouping up the lower-leveled monsters for now," then he turned to Atropos and Clotho, "For you two however… We have to limit your experience intake for now and work on your practical ability and proficiency of skills. You will be fighting with me so we can get a grasp on your skills and immediate fighting style."
"But neither of us have fought with our new skills yet, Lord Drake," Atropos said, speaking for her and he brother from her crouching position, still poking the slime.
"It will be fine. Just like how everyone has learned to fight relatively quickly, you will learn on the fly, and the skill stones impart a small bit of knowledge to you when you consume them. It might not feel instant or massive at first, but I know for a fact they start to influence you once you get going. So it's only a matter of putting it into practice, trust me," Drake smirked.
Kalik Tu' shot up from his kneeling position, axes at the ready as he heard they would be grouped with Sah Ul' for once.
"Good, finally a real warrior will instruct us!" he shouted, only to get a smack to the back of the head from Sah Ul'.
"You know the Patriarch is a strong warrior. You should feel honored to be included in this group. I have already seen how you have improved fighting with the others, do not muddy the progress you have made so far with such shallow and false words, Kalik Tu'," Sah Ul' admonished immediately.
Kalik looked as if he wanted to say something but quickly snapped his mouth shut and just grunted.
"What's he on about?" Landin asked, stepping up next to Sah Ul'.
"Yeah, he's been pretty tame since we got out here. Is he unhappy about not fighting with Drake?" Charlotte asked, her finger poking through the slime as she turned her head in their direction.
"He's just being Kalik," Drake sighed.
He looked into the distance again forced to shield his eyes by the sunset quickly descending on them.
"The day's already gone huh?" Drake grumbled.
Then they were all made aware of the still trapped bull in Drake's spell as it snorted and grunted.
"Oh right this guy is still here…" Drake scoffed, "You get to live another day bud," he chuckled, placing his hand on the beast.
"Fear is binding. Cower," he chanted, inky black smoke extending from his hand and sinking into the Bull's hide.
A moment later the bull's eyes bulged and hazed over as it started to buck even harder, its breathing becoming unbelievably erratic.
Drake let his earth spell fade away as it crumbled and the Bull ran off into the herd behind them with incredible speed.
"Right. Now that Georgie is gone. I guess we'll rest up for the remainder of the night. Lucky you," he smiled at the kids.
"But don't we need to hurry up?" Charlotte asked, standing up with some concern on her face.
"Yeah, I'd rather fight through the night. You have fire to light the surroundings right?" Landin agreed.
"I would also like to start our training as well, Lord Drake. We do not wish to fall behind any more than we already have," Atropos added.
"Quetz is good at seeing monsties in the dark. Yep, yep," Quetz chirped.
Drake shook his head, snapping his fingers a large earthen magic circle forming at his feet.
"Sorry, but this is, like everything else. Non-negotiable."
The magic circle spread wide around them encompassing the group and the small makeshift walls he had made before. The walls sunk into the ground as the area around them rumbled slightly, more elaborate walls sprouting from the ground and covering them fully in a castle-like structure.
"All of you stay here, Sah Ul' and I are going to go patrolling. No going out, you hear me. You agreed to listen to me without question and I'm pulling that card."
Drake pulled Sah Ul' from the building by the wrist, not waiting for a response as the door of the castle closed behind them with a slam.
"Jeez," Landin grumbled, "What was that all about?"
"Not sure," Charlotte frowned, "But it sure was sudden. Maybe he sensed something in the area?"
—------------------------------------
"Patriarch, where are we going?" Sah Ul' asked, her head turning over her shoulder back to the castle in the orange light of the sunset.
"That vampire we captured before said there would be a small army coming to find him if he didn't make it back. Guess he wasn't lying," Drake smiled.
He had felt a large group of what he was able to make out as human-like forms in his aura sense at the edge of the sphere and made the decision to bring Sah Ul'. He knew from how she acted earlier that she was just as upset about letting the teens fight the vampires only to get dangerously injured as he was.
And just like that, Sah Ul's face hardened and Drake could feel a small pulse of aura come from her as her deep topaz eyes turned a shade of red.
Drake gave a wry smile, "Good to see you motivated now."
"Where are they? How many?" she growled.
He pointed ahead of them, "There. And I'd say enough to break at least a little sweat."
—--------------------
"Why are we out here again?"
"Because," the lead man said, tapping a long blade against his shoulder, "Some dumb higher up is lost and they have a good number of blood vials and didn't come back."
"Yeah but why is that our problem?"
"It's everyone's problem, you moron! We have quotas to hit, remember? Don't want boss man turning you into one of them mindless ghouls do you?"
The complaining man shivered, "Nope, definitely don't want that… But are we sure they're over here?"
"Do you bitch and moan about everything? They should be, they were stationed at that town we passed through and there should have been hundreds of ghouls there but we found nothing…"
The man shook his head, turning around and pointing at the massive following behind him.
"Alright you lazy grunts, spread out and find them!"
The area rumbled at the response, several hundred vampires, dhampirs, and ghouls shouted back. But they were suddenly stopped by the sound of eerie laughing.
The lead vampire turned confused, a man walking out from behind a tree in a hoodie.
"So he wasn't lying when he said there was a small army."
"Who the fuck are you?" the vampire shot back, pointing his blade at the man, his eyes flashing a dull red.
[Drake Wallen Level 10]
"Look here, boys! It's Mr. Drake Wallen himself!" the man laughed, "Oh this is so much better! We get to snuff out this dude and grab a bounty and report back that he's dead! Grab him!" he shouted.
At his words twenty odd vampires shot forward, weapons drawn and skills humming right for Drake. But he didn't move, almost uninterested.
"Levels 10 to 13. They're just converting everyone they see aren't they…." Drake said, his face masked by the hood as the vampires lunged and shot spells at him.
His hoodie tore, ripped, and singed apart revealing the armor underneath.
The sounds of spells slamming and exploding against him, weapons metal tanging and ringing as they tried to cut and stab him, but after a minute, the vampires around him stopped breathing as if they had just ran a 4k marathon.
"W-what is this…?!" one from the group shouted.
"What is what!" the lead vampire yelled back.
A plume of debris and smoke had formed where Drake was and they waited for it to settle, but it didn't stop the circling vampires from shaking with jaws dropped.
"H-he's undamaged… And any skill that scratches him g-get's healed right away! W-what is this!"
"What did you say?! He's level 10!" the lead vampire shouted, "That isn't possible!"
"Oh, it's quite simple really," a voice from the smoke said, almost laughing, "You didn't account that this wasn't my real level."
The smoke began to dissipate, revealing Drake unharmed and in a half mask smiling with porcelain white teeth. His armor bared for them to finally see. A half-cloth vest with black chains, golden tattoos humming with power on his arms and shoulders, and a slitted white robe covering his legs from the waist down. With the hoodie now gone, they were able to see his glowing orange hair burning as if it was the setting sun itself, whipping in the air with a blood-red shawl.
"I always forget that I have this on, but I can't really complain. It leaves for some very fun power reveals," Drake laughed, placing the necklace into his inventory.
"2-2-2-27?!"
A unified gasp escaped the group surrounding him, the entire encirclement taking a nervous step backward.
"See, my numbers. Are just bigger than yours," Drake explained, "So you could sit here all day and you wouldn't make a lick of progress!"
"He's only one person!" the vampire lead shouted, pointing back at Drake, "More of you get in there now! Kill him!"
The surrounding vampires hesitated, but quickly resumed their attempted assault on Drake as more ran past them with their weapons drawn.
More laughing reached the lead vampire's ears as Drake shouted above the chaos.
"See funny enough. I was told that Rank and Level are absolutes in the multiverse. It just never really applied to me, ya know? But seems like Natto was right! Reach a high enough level and you're almost untouchable."
"What the fuck are you on about!?"
"My wounds heal faster than you can make them," Drake laughed.
"What in god's name…." the vampire lead stammered, taking a step back.
"God? No, my little pale dirtbag. There's no need to wonder where your god is because she's right there!" Drake shouted, shooting out from the cloud of dust and sounds of fighting, only to appear right in front of the vampire lead, his face nicked with a fresh line of red that healed right in an instant.
Drake grabbed the vampire lead's head and turned it around, the scene something out of an Avengers movie. A blur of green was tearing through the ranks of the hundreds of undead as if fury incarnated, her eyes a deep red as she swung a huge blood-covered obsidian-black ax back and forth bisecting bloody swaths.
Drake moved his head next to the vampire's ear.
"And she's fresh out of mercy…"