The door closed, waking Jack from a dreamless slumber.
She had just entered the room, walking toward the writing desk.
Like a distant dream, he quickly recalled everything that had happened.
His mother's death, the encounter with the moderator, and this girl sucking his blood. It was all real.
He took a deep breath and opened his profile.
[Memento Mori] [Level 1]
[Class: Cursed Sovereign]
[Cursed Path: Accursed Novice 595/1000]
[Health Points: 3/5]
[Cursed Energy: 10/10]
[Magic: 10]
[Strength: 3]
[Defense: 2]
[Agility: 1]
I guess it doesn't go up if I'm unconscious.
He activated [Hex Harvesting] again, but he noticed his cursed path was getting the points much slower.
The girl turned on her chair, looking at him for a moment.
She went back to writing but stopped as Jack spoke.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"None of your business."
"Alright. but-"
Jack stopped mid-sentence, hit with a sudden dizziness.
He heard her pen loudly hitting the desk as the girl got up, pushing the chair back as she quickly approached him.
She was wearing a dress, and her exposed skin, while still pale, had more color.
Her eyes also felt brighter and more captivating. She lifted his chin, looking at his neck.
She then put a hand on his chest, feeling his heartbeat.
She loudly exhaled. "You're fine."
"Why did you stop yesterday? Why not kill me?" asked Jack.
She let go of his chin.
Her face barely showed any emotions, a standstill at a neutral position.
"You're my food, now."
"Why did you kiss me?"
She narrowed her eyebrows.
"I didn't kiss you."
"I lost consciousness, but I remember vividly."
"I was feeding you my own blood. It pains me to know it entered filth, but it's my fault for not knowing you were this weak."
Jack frowned, concerned.
"Wait- you fed me your blood?"
"You would've died."
"Will I turn into something like you? A vampire?"
Her face hardened.
"How do you know my blood is needed for that?"
"I think everyone knows."
"Well," she said dryly, "it's part of the ritual. But the vampires born from that process are pale imitations. It would be like turning filth into... filthier filth."
She stumbled on her words, barely making the end of that sentence cohesive.
"Was that a ritual then?"
"Like I said, there's no point in turning humans into vampires."
Jack looked at his arms and hands again and asked her, "Could I already be one?"
She arched her eyebrows, barely hiding her surprise.
"Shouldn't you know what you are?" she asked.
"...I don't. Not really."
She looked him up and down, then sat before him.
"I did hesitate at first. You're quite pale for a human," she said, "But no. Your teeth are normal, your nails while narrower aren't as sharp as ours. And when you opened your eyes, it confirmed it."
"They aren't red?"
"They're white. As if you were blind, yet you're not."
"Huh," Jack's voice barely hid his surprise, "What am I then?"
"You forgot what you are? I did read a novel with such a plot, however..."
She looked up, trying to recall what she had read.
"Did you hit your head, or drink some sort of potion? Did you anger a witch?"
Jack wasn't sure how to explain his situation, and giving too much information wouldn't be good.
However, he noticed she suddenly became slightly friendlier as she thought of novels she read.
Good. Maybe she'll end up freeing me, her last mistake.
"I'm from another universe. I just arrived, along with many more. I don't even know how I got into your room."
"Hm", she voiced, barely surprised. "I heard father mention this but didn't think it was real. I found you in our gardens, unconscious..."
"My name's Mori," suddenly said Jack.
He was staring into her eyes, awaiting an answer.
"My name is Aura, but I'm only telling you, so you don't annoy me about it."
Jack was about to talk, but quickly cut off.
"I keep you here for your blood, but if you plan on talking your way out it won't work. The only thing you'll do is annoy me until I decide to cut your tongue."
She's not so dumb, I guess.
She got up and headed to her desk but suddenly stopped.
She turned her head toward the door, silently waiting as if she could hear something.
Her face was rigid, and the softness she wore quickly left for dull emptiness.
She quickly started walking, exiting the room and shutting the door behind her.
After she had left the room, since he had nothing to do, he simply closed his eyes and let his mind wander while harvesting hexes.
[Accursed Novice 605/1000] +1
Jack spent the next hours harvesting. He did his best to understand the process, but it was quite complicated.
His first realization was that his hitpoints not being full made the process slower, proven by how much faster it was once he went from 3 hitpoints to 4.
And, if my hitpoints affect the harvesting, it's safe to assume beyond physical integrity other things affect magic here.
In Elder Heir Online, activating a spell was all one needed to do. Being healthy or not, tired or not shouldn't matter.
That's how he realized harvesting hexes wasn't just a toggle spell affecting his system profile, but something physically happening.
When he closed his eyes, he could feel the energy coming in, the 'hexes'.
If spells and magic aren't just something activated in a sort of system, and something physically happening, this changes everything. Those who just activate spells without trying to feel them or polish them will have the most basic versions of that magic...
Every minute that went by, his theories were confirmed. Activating [Hex Harvesting] by mentally using the system simply gave a basic input of cursed energy, while concentration easily doubled the input.
Not only was he able to double the input, but he also activated the spell without mentally using the system.
He simply closed his eyes, concentrated, and felt as the energy crawled toward him.
It wasn't like other games he had played, where energy resembled a golden hue going toward his body, building up courage, faith and will.
The energy he was accumulating resembled small eldritch creatures crawling toward him, eerily dragging themselves.
When he closed his eyes and concentrated he could 'see' them slithering and skittering toward him, like moths to a flame.
They looked like nothing he had seen before, some gelatinous gooey black masses crawling at a constant speed by detaching from their bodies what resembled pointy legs and reabsorbing them once their step was made.
They went up his legs and arms, entering his ears, nose, and eyes.
At first, he stopped multiple times in panic, out of breath.
After realizing nothing happened to his physical body, he closed his eyes again, surfacing on the 'other side', where those creatures were waiting for him.