After the release of the Patch: The Land of Dawn many places in the upper world transformed into dungeons after being taken over by vampires and demons. The difficulty levels of these dungeons were so challenging that some of them were considered nearly impossible to conquer, including the one directly overseen by Dravenic.
Besides the challenging difficulty levels for adventurers (players), the risk of losing equipment upon defeat had to be accepted. Although the items that would drop from them were random and could be prevented using a spell or special items, there were still numerous unlucky victims.
"That's about all I know... I've heard of someone re-entering the raid and finding their equipment again, but that might have been one lucky case among hundreds of unfortunate ones. I'm not sure what happens to other items inside the dungeon after being left behind," Soran explained.
"You're utterly useless."
"W-what?!" Soran quickly turned to Valeria, who had just said something.
"If you want to provide information, then don't do it half-heartedly," she continued.
"What else can I do? I'm a player; I don't know anything from your NPCs' perspective... at least not until I woke up in this body," Soran said, half-mumbling.
Imagine suddenly waking up in a body that wasn't yours, in a world that wasn't your own. Plus, it wasn't a region he recognized at all. Only after Soran arrived in Lemuria and overheard conversations from adventurers at the Guild did he guess that this was the Australian server.
Not only did he have to adapt to his new body, but Soran also had to learn his new class, which he had never used before but came with his new body. In the initial patch, some classes in the game were not widely distributed, and each region and server seemed to have their own unique classes. Of course, there was no Samurai Class on this server now. Also because of that, Soran couldn't buy better equipment or weapons, and there were no experts in the town for repairs.
While theoretically, Soran could have changed his equipment using a one-handed sword base, he chose not to because he would lose access to many early skills. Besides, buying skills meant using Skill Points, which was an unnecessary extravagance. Especially after Soran learned and realized how important Skill Points were in this world.
"But regardless, I've observed your skill usage," Anubis added, "And you're the most skilled at it among all the adventurers I've seen so far."
Hearing that, Soran gave a proud and smug smile and puffed out his chest at Valeria. "Of course, even though I've practically never used the Samurai class, I once befriended a professional... Well, of course, after applying what I saw turned out to be very different from my expectations."
Even in the game version, from the initial release until the players could adapt to their new realm, it took months to a year for them to learn the possibilities of what could be done with a skill.
Aside from Anubis's combat abilities, Valeria was also in the process of adapting and learning the Vampire Aspect. Her weaknesses were quite evident during her fight against Soran. Valeria had a high chance of winning if she could utilize her vampire powers properly, but using them limited her perception as a dual-power user.
She struggled to control both druidic power and vampire power simultaneously to enhance almost every aspect of her predominancy. Instead, she became too focused on one aspect and ignored all other potential avenues.
"I-I apologize," Valeria said, bowing in regret.
Soran, who didn't know why she was doing that, became puzzled and looked to Anubis for an explanation, which was promptly given.
"Valeria has my bloodline's power; miraculously, she survived. It seems we have a sort of emotional rollercoaster relationship between us," Anubis said. "And I just replayed your two's battle and assessed it."
"That's true," Soran replied, rubbing his chin. "This woman is a druid with vampire powers, which, if you think about it, is incredibly rare, especially since you both come from very different origins."
It's unclear what would happen if it were a regular vampire case where they infect someone from another race; likely, only one of the two powers would prevail. But in the case of Anubis's bloodline ability, it could unify both.
"Yeah, there are many mysteries I have to unravel, chipping away at them letter by letter, word by word, until they finally form a paragraph that fills the abstract knowledge in my head," Anubis replied, beginning to walk further inside.
At least, there was one item he needed to show. It was a glass case that had previously caught his attention, a glass case that specifically contained only a black scroll without motifs and a gold ring at each end.
[Mythic] Talent Scroll: "Yami no Kenshi"
They had been so engrossed in the conversation that Soran hadn't paid much attention to what items were on display. It was only when Anubis walked to one glass case in particular that he could immediately tell what caliber of item would be showcased. Anubis took it and then turned back to face Soran, holding the scroll in his right hand.
There, Soran stood gaping, almost frozen, with wide-open eyes and mouth. Even some of his long hair reached into his mouth, and he remained still.
After studying it, Anubis could understand the purpose and function of the Talent Scroll he held in his hand. He believed it was the item they were currently searching for. "I think this item is sufficient to bind our relationship," Anubis said calmly, observing Soran more deeply.
"Oh, right, I didn't know you had an item like that," Lumine responded. "With that, both of you will establish a connection like that between a master and a subordinate, a method other than a blood contract."
Of course, Anubis wouldn't have full control as he did over Valeria, but it should be enough to sever Soran's origin from the celestials and link it to Anubis, the Crown of the Vampire Lord. "But do you understand the risks before accepting this scroll, human?" Anubis said, his gaze and tone growing more serious.