Levi had been walking for quite some time now, the light at the end of the tunnel had still not shown itself. He was hungry, extremely so. The good thing about hibernation was that he never got hungry.
"I don't think I can go on any longer, I have no energy."
It didn't help that he spent his energy digging a grave. He didn't think that far ahead at all.
"Sigh. Being part god is making me shortsighted." He coughed, his hand holding onto the the stone wall.
[You won't die, don't be so dramatic master. You'd have to starve for at least a century for you to perish from this just go on around and look for something to eat.]
"Lilith, don't start. My stomach feels like it's on fire. I've never felt hunger like this before."
[You'll get used to it master. I promise, since you're an immortal being hunger isn't part of something that can kill you.]
Levi chuckled. He never understood why these supernatural beings were called immortal in his world, when they could be killed by a stake to the heart or a silver bullet.
"I suppose everything needs a weakness to make a good and interesting story." He shrugged.
[Rest assured master, demons of Ancieru were far superior and different from the Vampires you're used to. A stake wouldn't even pierce your skin. Maybe Zodiac bronze would do the trick.]
Levi was too hungry to ask what zodiac bronze was. He couldn't wait for when he was used to the hunger, because truly, it felt like he would perish any second.
Levi clicked his tongue and continued the journey that seemed useless. The cave was like a maze, he was sure he'd passed the grave about a hundred times already.
No matter which path he took, it was always the same thing. It started to make sense why the person died there, they weren't really keeping him company by choice. Surprisingly, the realisation didn't spur up any emotions.
"Lilith come on, do something. I'm lost here, going in circles." He grunted, looking around, contemplating on using the hilt on the walls.
[Okay master, I have a plan if it doesn't work don't blame me. Take that hilt and start slashing in that direction, remember it has to be this direction.]
"But there's nothing but air in that direction!"
[Just please trust me, if this is what I think it is, this is our best chance to get out of here. I wouldn't ask if it weren't important master.]
He wanted to argue further but there was no other better plan, so he started slashing pretending the hilt had a blade of its own. With every strike, his breath was very well controlled.
Soon it felt like he was running underwater. Every slash required all his might to go through.
'This is one weird world, am I supposed to be underwater? No, is the air that thick then? It doesn't feel like that, then what is this?'
The training he did of martial arts in his Hub came back flooding his mind. He'd done the moves for years and years, his muscle memory was doing the work because he wasn't aware he was doing it.
Levi started moving with the air instead of against—he found that his muscles weren't strained much when he did that.
'Flow and blend with the nature around. That way it works with you instead of against you.' A smile flashed across his face.
He was never a slow or stupid person in the past either but Levi loved the way his mind worked in this world. It saw things from unconventional perspectives.
[Master sure is amazing. You never trained swordsmanship but here you are, using martial arts meant for punching, using the hilt like it were an extension of your arm. You're brilliant.]
Levi intended to ignore Lilith, "why don't you stop praising me and tell me how I can breakthrough to the first gate? Surely that's more important."
The part where the blade was supposed to be glowed but too faintly to be noticed by Levi. The training he was doing was good, it took his mind away from the fact that he was starving.
[There are many of them, well five for each gate. Each fruit has its own subspecies that's used to progress on every stage of the five gates.
I'll list them in the order of the most common to the most rare. Hydra Tears, Unicorn Hair, Fairy Freckles, Phoenix Flames and Dragon Heart.
Each of these have a grade. Depending on how many stages within a gate there are. For example, Novi has 3 stages, so that means that the fruit you use to breakthrough here is Hydra Tears, making it have 3 grades.
The grades are divided by numbers. Hydra Tears has 3 grades, one to three. One being the lowest and three being the highest. The number goes up depending on which fruit it is.]
"T-this is a lot for a...wait how old am I?" He regretted asking, all this seemed very complicated but if he wanted to breakthrough he'd need to find these fruits.
Though this traffic of information didn't stop him from his training. He guessed he'd just ask the system when the time comes.
[You're eight years old at the moment master. That's how much time has passed since coming to this world.]
Before asking anymore question, the once faint light shone bright and a blade appeared from the hilt, extending longer making it hard for him to balance.
Levi caught himself twice about to fall.
[Master, whatever you do don't stop, don't stop slashing.]
'Easier said than done.' He meant to say but thought it.
He breathed in deeply, not forgetting his lesson from before of working together with nature. After what seemed like days of hard work with no results, he saw a rip in the air.
He kept at it until the illusion broke apart. The blinding light came through the cave, the rays piercing his skin like giant prickles of needles.
Levi ran deeper into the cave, he deep down knew that light was his enemy.
"Dammit, a vampire through and through."