"Many fear vampires, not because they are inherently evil, but because they have the tools to do evil. So, if they are, they can do a lot of damage. Nonetheless, not everyone fears or hates you, nor does being a vampire mean being evil. Your path is yours to follow."
That kind of confirmed her fears, but it also made her feel relieved. As in the game, she should be careful, be cautious, not reveal her identity, but her fate wasn't written.
"Do you know anything about an elf named Elendnas? Or a dryad named Melia? My classmates liked them, in a way, as if they were real. I'd like to know if they really exist, if they're fine."
She stared at the Oracle while waiting for an answer, but it didn't come. For some reason, the Oracle was simply motionless.
"Hello?"
"Ehh… That… What you saw and did in the game, may or may not be real. You will have to find out for yourself," the Oracle answered by repeating a previous sentence.
"Could it be a bug in the Oracle?" the vampire asked herself, but without expressing it aloud.
"How will I know when the other players return?"
"If you find them or someone tells you about them, you will know," replied the Oracle.
"Oh, come on, couldn't you help a little more…?" she reproached them, as she again hadn't obtained an answer. "Why are you here?"
"To be your guide."
"Will you be here long?"
"As long as it takes."
Between mentally tired, and wanting to test the leveling area, the vampire shrugged, got up and went towards the green circle. Suddenly, she turned again.
"Hey, can I learn new skills?" she asked with interest.
"Not as a player, but as any inhabitant of this world. They require time, training and patience," explained the Oracle.
"Who teaches them? Where can I find them?" she continued, excited.
She had always wanted to learn more skills, more spells, but there was a limit in the game. That she could do it now excited her.
"They are taught by those who know them and are willing to share their knowledge. You can find them around the world if you know where to look and who to ask."
"That's what I want to know. Where do I look and who do I ask?" she insisted.
"You will have to find out for yourself."
Gjaki snorted and growled at herself, both because the Oracle hadn't told her more, and because she had believed for a moment that they could. So, she headed back towards the green circle, but changed her mind again.
She went to tour the village, to send her assistant to collect all the materials. She only had to look at them and wish to take them. Then, a little Gjaki started making trips between her and the materials, and storing them in her inventory.
Soon, there was nothing left in the Beginner's Village that could be taken, except for a few chairs and a table. She might not know what to do with most of that, but that didn't mean she was going to stop storing them, accumulating everything she could.
The experience of the game had taught her that it could be useful later. While she didn't know if that experience could be applied now, she wasn't losing anything by storing it either.
After that, she went back to the green circle, reached it this time, and let herself be enveloped by a cylinder of light.
"The special effects are better than in the game," the vampire valued, even if they weren't special effects.
She was in a cave, like in the game, where there was a portal to return and an exit. She stared at the exit, to observe what in the game was called the Quiet Forest. That name didn't do honor to what it was, unless by Quiet one meant that death, the ultimate quietness, was lurking in every corner, in every shadow.
Of all the leveling zones of all races, it was the most dangerous, supposedly just another joke from the developers. However, it was just an extra layer of difficulty, it was nothing compared to getting there.
If they died, they would reappear in the Beginner's Village, which was much better than going back to the beginning. Besides, they always had the option of returning to said village to heal or resupply.
Also, although the place was dangerous due to the number of enemies, said enemies were living beings. That is, they provided them with blood. That made it so much better than what they had suffered before. For those who had made it there, it was just a challenge, not hell.
The place didn't seem very different from her memories, which mixed the game with the reality, but she did not advance immediately. She decided to stay watching for a while.
Actually, Gjaki wanted to go out, she was a little anxious to level up. However, it was still daylight, so she had no choice but to wait for the sunset. Only then, did she take off her goggles and put on her battle gear. It was still the same level 5 armor, but it was repaired. This time, it looked like a karate uniform, with a black belt.
She was comfortable in those clothes that she had worn in the past, in the real world. Although now, the upper part was shorter, as it barely hung below the belt, since she was afraid it might get caught in a branch.
Her hair was tied in the style of a character from an old martial arts fighting game that she had grown fond of in the past. It was tied up in two buns, one on each side of the head, at the top, and with some cloth covering them. There were even a few strips of cloth falling from them in the form of an ornament.
In the past, she had invested a lot of effort to get this hairstyle done, in an attempt to cosplay, but this time it had been much easier. She had only had to think about it, and a fairy had done the job. Even said fairy got the same hairstyle at the explicit wish of the vampire.
She jumped up and ran through the cave, to make sure she was comfortable in those clothes. She even tried using the whip, or pretending to attack with the daggers.
"If Goldmi and Eldi saw me now, they would laugh," she thought wistfully.
She took a deep breath. While wielding both daggers, she crossed the barrier that separated her from the vampires' green leveling area, the dangerous Quiet Forest.