When Zed returned to his room, the whole dilapidated dwelling seemed to sigh with relief as the morning sun shone through the window.
The air was crisp and fresh after the night's rain, a stark contrast to the faint musty smell lingering within the room.
"Totally dying, totally..."
Zed muttered, throwing himself onto his creaky spring bed. The bed groaned and screeched, as if crying out in pain.
Lucy opened the window for him and sat on the edge of the bed, fiddling with a pinwheel she had picked up on the street.
Zed was surprised to see this childish side of her.
"You now got enough blood to last a while," Lucy said, her words muffled as she blew on the pinwheel.
As she spoke, Zed pulled a deep red sphere from his pocket, about the size of a baseball.
He shook it gently, and in the dim morning light, he could see a viscous red liquid flowing within the sphere. It pulsated, as if it were a vivid living creature with a heartbeat.
Zed sat up and looked the Spore, which he had never see before.
Yes, this was a Spore. From its shape, the sheen on its surface, and the magical aura it emitted, he could tell it was a Spore.
Taking a deep breath, Zed activated his ability as an Awakened, then focused intently it.
The world around him turned a red as he accessed his vampire abilities.
In fact, he had not fully experienced his abilities during the earlier battle on Old Town Road. At that point, instinct had driven him to rely on his trusty guns, only activating his abilities when someone crushed a power spore in front of him.
Recalling the heightened senses, speed, and strength that followed, Zed couldn't help but feel excited.
He had maintained that state until he used his intuition to scan the area and realized there was only one spore signal.
And that spore had been used by the guy who had crushed it.
What did this mean?
Zed's anticipated spoils were gone.
He would receive nothing.
"Damn it!"
Zed cursed bitterly, lying back down on the bed.
The mere memory of it was infuriating. He had killed all those people and had nothing to show for it.
He had never really expected any reward from the unofficial bounties, as many were simply bait put out by criminals themselves. Small factions after Big Fall had obtained spores and even Awakened powers, often luring weaker hunters to their trap.
This had even evolved into a weird marketing strategy outside of the shelters.
As Zed thought about it, he glanced over at Lucy.
'As long as she's happy, I guess it's all worth it. We did save some people anyway,' Zed thought.
Suddenly, the spore in his hand seemed to sense the Awakened aura Zed had released.
As their frequencies matched, the crimson glow intensified, bathing the entire room in red.
A series of characters appeared on Zed's eyes, starkly different from when he had previously tried with Power Spore. The red characters displayed not only the name but also a description, exuding an entrancing allure that sent shivers down his spine.
[Blood Bank Spore - B2]
[5/100 - You can collect blood points from any form of killing; the quantities depend on how fresh the blood is.]
["Oh, my bloodline! You seem to have discovered the true potential flowing within your veins!"]
[Note: A necessary spore for activating any vampire path awakening skill; only original or 1st-generation vampires able to generate, and only 1 can be generated per month. Only valid in the vampire path.]
[As you are origin, there is no debuff under the sun. However, Do NOT use it frequently under the sun, or you will get lots of random flaws. Yup, you still have to be sunless]
"Original vampire? Am I the first?"
Zed asked to himself.
"Yes, you might be,"
Lucy surprisingly spoke up.
Zed put Spore back, turning to face Lucy. His eyebrow raised unnaturally.
"How do you know that?"
Lucy's body stiffened for a second, and she put down the pinwheel in her hand, seemingly too afraid to meet Zed's gaze.
As soon as he asked the question, Lucy's face turned paler, and she avoided Zed as if something terrifying was about to happen.
Zed still kept silence, seems like it wouldn't every go away.
The room fell into complete silence for a minute, only broken when Lucy dared to breathe again upon hearing Zed's breathing.
"Alright, alright, I won't ask any more questions. I don't have secret to you."
Zed's voice was no longer stern, knowing of Lucy's unique nature.
"You know, you're the only one who can see me..."
"But you're real, right?"
"Yes."
"You promise?"
"Yes."
"Then it's fine."
Zed held the back of his head with both hands, grinning as he planned for the future.
Adrian would be waking him up soon to go into town, and what he needed now was a good sleep.
Alex put the clothes as pillow, though it's a rubbish one. He could turn it to another side when one side became a bit too warm to sleep.
It was quite nice when you did not need to set any alarms, as you knew that somebody was going to wake you up.
Caught between a strange half-sleep, half-wake state, Zed felt a cold chill on his back, as if Lucy had joined him in bed. So, he turned over and left space for her to continue sleeping.
An ancient, cold voice echoed in his mind:
[Survival countdown: 69/100 days]
[Revenge section: 1]
[You have 1 revenge left, Entering the Tower]
[Task: Find the wolf among us]
[Level: A]
[Introduction: A total of 4 awakened ones participate; please play according to the faction you've been assigned to]
[Hint: As the object of vengeance has been naturally erased, the reward afte completion of the task will exchange to new skills]
[You dream of an ancient castle...]
Zed just blink eyes once, the gloomy sky was torn apart, and a muffled rumble rolled in.
Lightning flashed and thunder boomed outside the window, the drizzling rain suddenly intensifying. Damp winds gushed in through the window.
Lucy quickly stood up and shut the window, looking shocked as she turned to Zed.
"That doesn't make sense. In such a short time, twice? Could he have ready back and done it again?"
Zed was unaware of Lucy's face, but in that instant, his mind felt as though it had been plunged into a frigid abyss, enveloped by an endless darkness.
The sound of a raging tempest filled his ears, as if trying to drown him till die.
It was as if he had been cast into the depths of the ocean—cold, lonely, dark. He felt himself sinking deeper, the silent darkness swallowing him whole.
In that moment, Zed suddenly felt the world speeding away from him. Countless whispers, like the murmurs of lost souls, reached him from the dark and echoed in his ears.
Zed could clearly sense his vision drifting in somewhere, reminiscent of the sensation of traversing a space-time tunnel when he closed his weary eyes.
He did not dream about any castle.
He dreamt of a coffin...
No, as Zed attempted to turn over, the icy stone and glowing silver chains surrounding him caused his entire body to ache.
He was physically lying in a coffin.
A faint, eerie green light somehow ignited within the coffin, and he once again saw the countdown before his eyes.
[00:59:58]
[00:59:57]
...
'Okay, time even shorter now,'
Zed sighed.
'Wolf? Werewolf? whatever, I need to find the target of this mission quickly this time, and not end up as pathetic as last time.'
Zed tried once more to break free from the chains, but they were incredibly sturdy, and there was no sign of movement.
'What's wrong with it?'
[You cannot move...]
[You cannot move...]
[You cannot move...]
'OK. How can I find the wolf if I can't move?'
Zed nearly cursed out loud.
At that moment, a commotion erupted outside the coffin, accompanied by different voices. Their messy footsteps sounded like the tolling of a death knell before a judgment.
"Ok, we've finally get rid of the last task. There are four of us here," a young man's voice began.
After a pause, he continued:
"I don't know what era you all come from or what your backgrounds are, but none of that matters in the Tower. Since we've all received the next task—to find the vampire among the four players within an hour—let's start with... First, share your own paths if you don't mind..."
After a few seconds, voices spoke in turn.
"I'm a Qi master," said a man.
"I'm a Magician," a girl replied.
"As you can see, I'm a Druid," a deeper male voice announced before asking.
"Why do we have to speak first?"
The air grew tense for a moment, and even within the coffin, Zed could feel the oppressive vibe outside as the conversation halted at the young man.
"Alright, I understand your concern, but let me clarify that I have the least likely chance to be a vampire."
"I am a Priest."
At that moment, Zed felt the chains around him loosen, followed by the receipt of a new message.
[The priest is the wolf. Within the allotted time, do your best to help the other awakened ones escape from wolf.]