Chapter 3 - 3

Raphiel woke up, chilled to the bone. The cold was so intense that he couldn't sleep, and despite his attempts, he eventually gave up on trying to rest. It was a clear night, with stars twinkling in the sky, though upon closer inspection, he noticed their light flickered slightly, a side effect of their great distance.

As he gazed at the stars, he noticed they were positioned differently than he remembered, reminding him of home. "I will never return to that hell," he vowed silently to himself. Watching the stars sparked an idea, though he didn't hold much hope for it, but he decided to try anyway. He was willing to die for even a spark of hope.

Spotting a wooden stick on the ground, he picked it up. In the past, when he had tried to perform magic, he relied on his imagination, but no matter how powerful his visualizations were, they had never caused any actual change in reality. Even when he imagined a fireball, nothing appeared in his hands—not even a spark.

This time, however, he felt the stick in his hand grow slightly warm. Then, suddenly, he felt his hands burn. He dropped the stick in pain, and it immediately burst into flames.

Raphiel extended his hands toward the fire for warmth, murmuring, "Is this a bit too scientific?" He warmed himself by the fire and finally managed to fall asleep. This time, he didn't have nightmares, though his body still shivered in the biting cold.

A few hours later, Raphiel woke up. The sun had yet to rise, but he noticed a silver coin and five bronze coins on the ground nearby. Most likely, someone had mistaken him for a beggar and left alms. However, he felt a slight tingling on his neck.

Touching his neck, he discovered two round wounds. His face paled with fear, and he checked his status panel to calm himself. The only change was an effect titled [Minor Blood Deficiency], which only reduced his maximum stamina by 2 points. Still, he felt unsafe and moved to another alley.

The sun hadn't risen yet, so it was still very cold, but he refrained from lighting another fire, fearing it might reveal his presence. He also assumed that lighting fires in the streets was forbidden.

Deciding to stay warm by moving around, Raphiel avoided city squares, where a beggar would stand out, and wandered through the shantytown on the outskirts. He was prepared to pretend to be deaf and mute if anyone spoke to him. It was sad, but it was reality.

Just as dawn was breaking, a muscular man stopped him. "Hey, I've never seen you around here before. Are you a new beggar?" the man said, though Raphiel didn't understand him due to the language barrier. He gestured to his ear, feigning deafness to indicate he didn't understand.

The man's face paled, and he muttered, "Vampire." The man had recognized the significance of the bite mark on Raphiel's neck. A single bite was enough to turn someone into a half-vampire; all that remained was to consume blood to purify one's lineage.

Unaware of his impending transformation, Raphiel assumed a vampire had simply fed on him and left. But if that had been the case, the wound on his neck would have healed in seconds.

On the bright side, he was less likely to be wrongfully accused of being a demon and killed. Now, he would instead be hunted by priests and burned at the stake for being a vampire. It was a significant development.

The man released Raphiel and left without looking back. After a moment's hesitation, Raphiel realized that the man had mistaken him for a vampire. To hide his bite mark, he decided to buy a scarf, hoping to both protect himself from the cold and conceal the mark.

He wandered the streets for a while, but couldn't find any shops. The merchants he encountered looked at him with disdain—not because of his bite mark but because they assumed he was a thief. Exhausted, he eventually found a darker alley and lay down, guarding his coins tightly.

Turning into a vampire required a lot of energy, which often made one feel drowsy.

Contrary to popular belief, vampires didn't have any fantastical weaknesses. They feared garlic because it contained compounds that, when combined with the dark energy in their bodies, formed a toxic substance often referred to as holy water.

Similarly, their weakness to silver arose because silver interacted with dark energy to generate heat. Likewise, vitamin D also reacted with dark energy to produce heat. When vampires were exposed to sunlight, their bodies produced vitamin D, causing them to burn. However, these effects were less pronounced in half-vampires due to their lower dark energy levels.

Aside from these fundamental weaknesses, other disadvantages could be overcome with a strong enough will.

---

The full moon shone brightly in the sky at midnight. Everyone had long retreated to their homes, leaving only the moon and stars to illuminate the city. A faint mist hung in the air, creating an atmosphere fit for a horror movie.

Raphiel felt a tight grip on his ankle, which jolted him awake in pain. He heard the voice of a young girl, "Why are you in my territory?" He looked up to see a little girl, about 10 years old, with red eyes. She demanded again, "Answer me!" but, receiving no response, her eyes began to glow. She repeated the question, and though Raphiel fell under a hypnotic spell, he would've done anything she asked—if he could understand her.

The girl squeezed his ankle even tighter, almost as if threatening to break it. Realizing he wasn't going to respond, she flung him against the wall of a building. Raphiel collided with the wall but didn't hit it hard enough to break any bones, though the pain was real.

The little girl looked at him with contempt, as if staring at a piece of trash on the roadside. "If I see you in my territory again, death will be the least of your worries," she said. Raphiel murmured, "What's happening?" The girl heard but didn't understand him, and then left as if nothing had happened.

After she left, Raphiel, terrified she might return, quickly made his way back to the shantytown area. He noticed the streets were unusually crowded, and almost everyone had red eyes. Most of the crowd consisted of women.

Realizing that he could end up as food for this swarm of vampires, Raphiel decided to leave. However, he noticed bottles filled with a red liquid, which triggered a slight craving. "Could it be?" he wondered. Spotting a bucket of water nearby, he checked his reflection in the water's surface and saw his own red eyes. "Seriously?" he muttered, as the mystery was finally solved.

His status panel had undergone a major change.

The [Stamina(?/?)] indicator was gone, replaced by [Withered_Mana(2/10)]. He had reached Level 3, with a 0.1-point increase in Mind and a 0.2-point increase in Soul. He also gained a new ability:

[Vampirism(Lv.1)]: The most basic ability of a vampire. Enables one to gain Withered Mana and experience points by consuming blood. The higher the level of this ability, the stronger the bloodlust. If there is excess blood in the body, this ability activates automatically.

Raphiel wondered if any blood besides human blood would work, but since there were no animals around to test on, he decided to wait. For now, he would linger on the sidelines, listening to people's conversations, hoping it would help him learn the language of this world.

Raphiel carefully observed his surroundings. To him, every action others took and every word they spoke told a story, like a puzzle with scattered pieces. Solving it seemed possible with enough effort.

His efforts paid off as he managed to pick up a few words, like "bottle" and "blood"—common terms that were easy to learn. In his previous life, he had been terrible at learning languages, but necessity had turned him into a near expert in just a few days.

The greatest advantage of being a vampire was no longer needing food, as long as he wasn't dependent on blood. Avoiding dependency was as simple as never consuming it in the first place, just like avoiding addiction to a drug.

Gradually, the crowd of vampires dispersed, and dawn was approaching. Raphiel saw other vampires retreating into alleys, suspecting that the one who had woken him up might have done so because he had unknowingly intruded into her home.

Raphiel chose a gloomy, dark alley and settled in. He made sure there were no other vampires around before falling into a deep sleep. Vampires needed a lot of energy, and without blood, his only option was to sleep.

After sleeping for about ten hours, it was still not yet night, but he was no longer tired, so he looked for ways to keep himself busy. Walking in the sunlight wasn't realistic, and using magic would draw attention. He remembered the silver coin in his pocket and took it out with curiosity. It felt warmer than it should, though not hot enough to cause him harm.