I place my bottle of blood and cake on the table as I sit beside Alice and opposite of Ethan.
"How does blood taste?" Ethan asks.
"It tastes sweet and really good. This is also from a human and that tastes better than from beasts in the dungeon" I answer.
Eathen is eating some sliced bread with topping on. While Alice is eating meat with sauce and mashed potatoes.
"Sophia I see you have bought some cake. How does normal food affect you" Alice asked.
"I can go a little longer without blood but at a maximum, maybe two hours, so It's more for the taste" I answer.
"After we are done eating, shall we go to the fighting and training ground to scout for members?"
"Why don't you and Alice go and do that so can I look for supporters?" Ethan suggest.
"Sounds like a good plan to me" Alice says.
"Then let's do that" I agree.
When we are done eating we split up and I and Alice walk to the close training ground. Once we arrived there is some other students here training. Some are just swinging their weapon, others are using some training dummies, training their strength or some obstacle courses.
We find a place to sit and watch the other students for ten minutes before I start speaking. "What do you think Alice? Someone that catches your attention?"
"There are some. But the ones that catches my attention the most are the boy with wolf ears, the vampire, that elf and that human" Alice says as she points on them.
"Ye, that wolf person seems to have ice magic that can be good to slow down enemies if he acts as the front liner. That vampire boy has his stats boosted because of his race and can have blood magic. The elf has nature magic which is common for elves, but that just makes it easier for him to learn how to use it and he is good with his sword. The human is slow, but his strength is amazing and he probably has high defense too. Hey Alice, I also noticed that all of them are boys. Can it be that you are single" I tease
"I'm lesbian, but yes I am single"
"Ohh. Why is it so easy for you to tease me but hard the other way around?"
"Because you're the cute type" she answer.
"Ok, I can live with that answer" I respond.
The wolf boy look towards us and start walking. "Hello ladies. First day and you're already looking for boys?" he says.
"No, we are scouting for a team member and beside you just have fluffy rears and no fuffy tail. Too little to fluff for my taste" I answer.
He look strange at me for a short while before laughing. "Well anyone that caught your attention?" he asks half laughing.
"For our team? Yes, there is you, that vampire boy, that elf and that human" Alice says.
"That vampire boi is Asher and is skilled. And I'm Michael and a beat person of the wolf. We are both looking for a team"
"I'm Alice"
"And I'm Sophia. Are you friends that are going to be in the same team?"
"Yes we are childhood friends and have plans to stay as a team"
"Hmm, we wanted either two front liners or one front liner and one support. But the two frontliner options require you to be able to heal yourself or at least be able to hold out for a long time against multiple enemies. I'm also not that positive of six people because it's harder with teamwork, easier that quarrels happens, harder to move stealthily, and we need more recursess. So if you both are to join our party and support, you need to be worth it. Though I guess you would find another team before insisting to join some strangers' team" I say to him.
"I don't know about that. Who wouldn't join a team with two beautiful girls. Especially as cute as you are"
"Ohh, someone knows how to compliment a lady" I say as I blush a little.
"Hey Michael, who are you talking to?" Asher asks as he approaches us.
"Some pretty girls who are looking for team members, though it would be hard for us to join since they are searching for one and not two frontliner. So if we wanted to join we would have to prove ourselves or something like that. So we should probably find another team, but they seems like fine people to get to know" Michael says.
"Yeah, it shouldn't be hard to join a team this early" Asher says. Then he suddenly looks at me with a curious gaze before widening his eyes. "Nevermind, we want to join this team"
"Why the sudden change?" I suspected that he just wanted to join because he found me cute. The other too also looked at him surprised and curious.
"Because you either are or have the potential to become strong" Asher says as he still looks at me.
"Uhh, what do you mean?" I don't understand where that came from.
"We vampires are naturally drawn to and can feel the aura of other blood races where the case is superior, the class is strong or they as an individual are strong. At first I just sensed a little difference and thought you were a little stronger than me. So I focused on that aura I was able to sense and found out that it was so strong that it was hard to pick up unless focusing on it. I doubt you are that stronger than me this early on in the awakening so it must be your race that has so much potential. And I'm a vampire noble so for it to be this much difference you have to be something really special. Take that I just explained my class as a sign of how much we want to join your team" Asher explains.
I get surprised to find out that vampires can sense other blood races' strength or potential and that his class is noble since I never have heard about it.
"Vampire noble? What's that?" I ask.
"It's unique to vampires. We can get a class called noble. It merges with our race and changes it to vampire noble. We lose the class under the race in the system, but it is merged with our race so we do kinda still have it. About the noble class, it's unique to vampires, rarer than the blood hunter class, you have to have the blood element to get it and it boosts everything. When I say everything I mean everything. The strength of the blood element, skills, regeneration, stats, senses and resistance. It's the best class to get for a vampire unless you get a super op unique skill" Asher says.
"Wow, that was something new" I say.
"So you are someone really op then?" Alice says.
"Yes he is" Michael answer.
"Well enough about me. What do we need to join the team?" Asher says.
"Before I answer that. What do you mean with vampires being drawn to stronger blood creatures? Because I want to know what you see me as" I answer.
"Like wolves have an instinct to be in packs, we vampires have a kind of instinct to follow the strong to learn from them. We respect them and if the aura is much stronger the vampire may sometimes wish to become a servant. Though that is rare because the vampire has to wish it himself. But usually it is to learn and when they have learned what they think they can they usually stop following that stronger person" Aher says.
"That too was new. I thought vampires liked to drink the blood from stinger beings" I said suspiciously.
"It's true that many vampires do that. When they do that to a stronger being of the blood race they ignore their instinct and try drinking that brings blood because the stronger a being is the better the taste. And if it is a big enough difference in strength a vampire may also grow in strength. The instinct I talked about isn't strong so it's easy to ignore and most that follow it do it to learn from a stronger being. That is why I want to follow you. Your aura is that strong that I think my friend and I will get much out of it if we join your team" Asher explains.
"And how do I know that you aren't just after my blood?"
"It would be a lie to say that I wasn't interested in your blood. Though as a noble I don't need to drink a being dry to get the strength from the blood, just a little. And I don't like the idea of taking some of your blood by force. If I should get some I would like to earn it so that you give it to me freely" Asher says.
"Hmm, what do you think Alice?" I say and look at her.
"I'm ok with them as long as you are".
"I'm going to give you two trials" I say as I bit my finger. "Ouch, that looks so much easier on tv." I say as I hadn't thought it would hurt so much.
"You are something else Sophia" Alice says.
I Look at Asher with my bleeding finger. When I think that I want the wound to bleed I am somehow able to hold back my regeneration. "I'm going to put my finger under your nose. If you show any sign that it's hard for you not to act you fail the first trail" I do as i say and put my finger so close that it almost touches his nose. Then I stare at him. Trying to find any sign that it is hard for him.
After 7 minutes I take my finger back. "You pass" I say satisfied at not finding any sign that it was hard for him.
"As a vampire noble my control also increases. I don't know if an ordinary vampire would be able to pass it" Asher says.
"The next trail is for the two of you. It would be more handy to choose one frontliner and one support than two front liners or have six people in our team. So why should we accept you? I already have gotten a good impression of your personality so it's the personal skill that you have to show off. Therefore I want you to fight that human there and the elf, two vs two, if they are ok with it. Let's go ask" After saying that I start walking towards them.
Luckily they are close to each other now and when they see us approach them they stop their training and look up at us.
"Hey. My teammate and I are scouting for some members. And we wondered if these two boys are good enough. So I wondered if you would do a two vs two against them. If you beat both or one of them we would like one of you to join us if you are skilled enough and are ok with it. What do you say?"
"That sounds like fun, what about you?" the human says and looks towards the elf.
"Why not? Always fun to test my strength against others" he answered.
"Great, let's go to the fighting arenas. You want to prepare something or have some strategy talk?" I look at the four participants.
"Yes, if you are ok with some strategy talk" the elf asks the human.
"Yes, I think that would be wise" he answers.
"Ok, I and Alice will go and occupy an arena and wait for you four there" I say as I and Alice leave the rest of the boys.
Once we arrive there are one of fifteen arenas that are occupied. Makes sense as not many would know each other so well or get to any situations where one would duel someone. There are five big arenas that are exposed to the surroundings so other people can watch. The other ten are enclosed so people aren't forced to show thay skills and fighting style.
We pick a random enclosed arena and wait at the door that leads in to it.
"Who do you think will win?" Alice asks.
"Hard to say. A vampire gets a little boost to all stats so they are often stronger early on, but he was a noble vampire and seven stronger as he explained it, so I think he may be the strongest. Though we don't know their level yet. When it comes to the wolf boy though, then I have no idea" I answer.
"I thought the same about the vampire, but when Michael took the obstacle course he looked quite agile and fast, but except for that I have no idea. But their opponents looked quite strong so it won't be easy for them" Alice says.
"You're right. ohh, looks like Asher and Michael are here" I say as I see them walking toward us.