The new vampire was even worse than Lady Kalnislaw. It was like being in the presence of a living lightning bolt, where the air was charged so much that one wrong move would get me electrocuted.

He even looked similar too, though that might have just been the vampiric features. His hair and beard were the same shining moonlight silver as his wife, though neatly trimmed. The glow of his skin, the rich embroidery of his suit, the shining ruby cast off his eyes, it was all the same. Just… more, somehow. Stronger. Tugging on my very being like he was a magnet for souls.

“What proposal?” Hamsik asked.

At least he didn’t seem that affected by the new arrival. His half-brother had respectfully stepped backwards to give his father space to come down, though Lord Kalnislaw had remained put. Lady Kalnislaw was looking up at her husband with undisguised adoration. Even Glonek felt a lot more subdued than normal. Sreketh just stared.

“I know what writhes in your heart, Hamsik,” Lord Kalnislaw said. He sounded almost gentle. “I know how you are filled with youthful hope and budding kindness. That is what drives you to your decisions. It is admirable.”

“Right, of course.” If Hamsik was uncomfortable at that, he didn’t give any sign of it. “None of that answers my question, though, father.”

“Ah, straight to the point then. I always knew you would make a great overseer for the family business.”

“Father.”

Lord Kalnislaw smiled, and it made my body shiver lightly like I had received Escinca’s Blessing, which was annoying. “Would your reconsider your intent to claim the entirety of your inheritance in exchange for greater cooperation between House Kalnislaw and the Cult of the Sun?”

Wow. Now that was a bold gambit. My immediate impulse was so confusing, I needed a moment to figure it all out.

The proposal came from a Scarseeker, from the father of the man I had seen trying to bully the cult into selling their land. I was immediately suspicious. Yet the primal part of me being affected by a powerful Scarseeker’s presence also immediately approved the idea. It was a crazy contradiction.

At least I recognized where I was being very subtly manipulated. I wondered if it was on purpose, or if Scarseekers just naturally did that. The sensations felt like some kind of magic, but I couldn’t see any mana threads being actively used.

“Lord—” Glonek began in protest. One look from Lord Kalnislaw made him shut up for a second before he spoke again. “I—I believe that is a fantastic idea, yes! I am sure all the… the mortals down there are suspicious of us innocent Scarseekers because of their recent troubles. It would do us well to ensure they do not see us as enemies.”

Hamsik didn’t buy it for a second. “Why?” His question was addressed to his father. “What’s the point? Why chain me to a family where I hardly belong and see no future in?”

Lord Kalnislaw sighed mightily. For all that his hair and beard looked metallic, they were surprisingly fluid. “You are a member of this family whether you wish it or not, Hamsik. You are my son. I asked you to reconsider your intent out of love for your family, not because—”

“Where was that love for my mother?”

Oh, boy. I hadn’t come here realizing I would stand witness to a soap opera, but maybe that had been naïve of me. Of course, there was going to be some drama when the bastard child decided to visit his family.

“Your mother, may her soul rest in peace in the Beyond, was loved,” Lord Kalnislaw said. He was solemn. And sad. Genuinely depressed. “I carried out her dying wish to raise you as my son to the best of my abilities, and I do not regret it. I am sorry you were too young to remember receiving the warmth of her touch, but she loved and was loved back greatly.”

Hamsik wasn’t backing down. He was on his feet now, his eyes swivelling around to take in everything. “If she was so loved, father, then where is her memorabilia? Why does she have no painting when every family member from the last eight generations all have at least one? Why is the room she supposedly stayed in so bereft of anything personal?”

“Son—”

“Why does she have a lonely grave that isn’t even on the grounds instead of a place in the crypt like everyone else?”

I clocked the fact that vampires were laid to rest in some sort of crypt. That was interesting. But it was a bit insensitive of me to note that when Hamsik was so emotionally riled up. I wasn’t surprised, though. A half-breed. Hamsik’s biological mother was a human. Did Scarseeker logic dictate that only real vampires went into crypts?

It was, unsurprisingly, exactly what Glonek answered. “Your mother was laid to rest where she would feel more at home, among her own brethren, Young Master. That is what she would have wanted.”

Hamsik’s glare at Glonek was pure murder. “I don’t want to hear what my mother would have wanted from a man who hasn’t even been in the family for a year. You didn’t even meet her.”

I glanced at Lady Kalnislaw. She wasn’t jealous or disdainful, despite Hamsik’s mother clearly being a mistress of sorts. If anything, she looked sad for Hamsik.

“Enough, please.” Lord Kalnislaw’s voice held the same crushing power that Lady Kalnislaw had used when Hamsik had nearly started a fight with Zoltan. “Hamsik, do you or do you not agree that it would do us all good if we found a way to ensure that the residents of Ring Four do not see all Scarseekers as threats to their existence?”

Hamsik curled his lip but then moderated his expression. “I agree.”

“Then we will make preparations. You know we have been looking into the actual matter of the Scarthralls. But until our joint endeavour, perhaps you could wait to make a final decision on your inheritance?”

Hamsik closed his eyes for a moment, then got up all of a sudden. He nudged his head at me and Sreketh. I got up. It was time to get going.

“If you can find and stop the Thralls,” Hamsik said. His voice hardened. “And find the Scarseeker responsible, then I’ll withdraw my intention to take what I am owed.”

I blinked. That was… smart and ruthless. He was putting his family’s money where their mouth was. This whole schtick about him taking his inheritance and essentially cutting ties with House Kalnislaw was just him marinating them. Now, he was cooking them with the ultimatum.

“Oh, and don’t think you can slack off,” Hamsik said. “Two weeks. That’s all you’ll get from me.”

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I had to hand it to the guy. He sure knew his way around his family.

“You’re making us do your dirty work?” Zoltan said. “This is why Brasvay has been wanting to kick you and your stupid, useless cult out of Ring Four. You’re so pathetic.”

Both Lady and Lord Kalnislaw looked harshly at Zoltan.

“Hush, my son,” Lady Kalnislaw said.

Lord Kalnislaw glared down from higher up. “Didn’t I say enough, Zoltan?”

Zoltan shut up, but it had been enough. Hamsik was ticked off again, and so was I, honestly.

“One of these days,” Hamsik said. “I’ll beat the Pits-cursed shit out of you, Zoltan.”

Now, it was Hamsik’s turn to receive terrible glares from his father and stepmother.

“Ha!” Zoltan sneered down. “You and your fellow weaklings can’t even take care of some Thralls. Maybe prove you can take down animals first before you even think of challenging someone like me.”

“Is that so? Remind me again which one of us has already manifested an Icon?”

“That pitiful thing you call an Icon isn’t worth the vileness in my piss from drinking bad blood.”

“Boys,” Lady Kalnislaw. “I will not stand this discussion any further.”

She had grown furious, but my attention was still mostly on Zoltan. On that bastard who saw the cult as nothing more than something he could own and discard.

“I killed a Greater Brillwyrm, the other day,” I said. “A Greater Brillwyrm that had been turned into a Thrall, might I add.” I stared right into Zoltan’s blood-red eyes. “I don’t think killing you is going to be that much harder.”

It was hard to tell which part of that statement resulted in the ensuing silence that followed. Were they amazed a little human like me had killed a vampiric Greater Brillwyrm? Was it the blatant, naked threat I had levelled at Zoltan? Maybe it was just my sheer audacity, or maybe a combo of all of the above.

Hamsik’s laugh cut through it. “That’s right, Zoltan. Don’t underestimate the cult.”

If the others, especially Zoltan, had anything to say further, they were all cut off when the butler returned bearing a crystal tray loaded up with glazed, cherry-red confections.

“Blood truffles are here!” Yerenc announced with a wide grin. “Who wants some?”

Nobody moved to take any, definitely not anyone from House Kalnislaw. Even Hamsik just stared at the sudden arrival of the family butler.

“Uh,” I said. “Are blood truffles actually made from blood?”

“Indeed! Hand-crafted with the finest, ethically sourced blood. Would you like the recipe, honoured guest of Young Master Hamsik?”

“What… what kind of blood is ethically sourced?” I couldn’t stop my mind from imagining a weird bag full of red liquid with a green label printed on it that said things like “cage-free”, “farm-fresh”, and “fully-consensual!”.

“It’s all in the recipe, Guest of Young Master!”

“I see. Well, I think I’ll pass, thank you.”

Unlike the rest of our reactions, Sreketh was staring at the pile of sweets like she had just been handed a map with a treasure marked on it.

Hamsik sighed. “Go on, it’s fine.”

I wasn’t so sure about consuming truffles made of blood, but Sreketh wasn’t a human, so hopefully she would be fine? The eager way she attacked the plate of truffles and how Yerenc’s grin widened at her enthusiasm took care of the last of the tension.

We decided to leave afterwards. Lady Kalnislaw implored Hamsik to return and visit more often, while Lord Kalnislaw assured the rest of us that he would be sending a letter detailing his ideas for a joint endeavour we could undertake.

I just got a giant stink-eye from Zoltan.

“We do love you, Hamsik,” his stepmother said.

“Yes, son,” said his father. “And I know you love us too.”

Hamsik grumbled something under his breath before waving at them and then leaving.

I was mostly just glad to finally get out of the creepy-ass mansion with the even creepier individuals.

“These are so yum!” Sreketh was still munching on the truffles she had brought with her. “You sure you don’t want some, Ross?”

“I’m sure,” I said. “Glad you’re enjoying them though.”

Sreketh didn’t care one whit that her mouth looked like she had dipped her head into a deer’s carcass. She enjoyed her treats so much, she even forgot to stare all around as we made our way back from Ring Two.

“Great family you’ve got there,” I said to make conversation as we walked.

Hamsik snorted. “They are certainly a Great House of Zairgon.”

“Not what I mean, but you’re not wrong.”

We walked in silence for some time. Hamsik wasn’t exactly the most talkative person and we weren’t exactly friends. Eventually though, he sighed.

“Thanks, you two,” Hamsik said. He was definitely not looking at either me or Sreketh when he said it. “For accompanying me.”

“Don’t thank me,” I said. “Thank Elder Escinca for making me come along. Although, I’d have appreciated a warning that your parents would be so, uh, influential.”

“Oh, right. I forgot.” He gave me an appraising look. “You did pretty well to resist it, though. For your first time.”

“Thanks.”

“Is that you how say thanks—hey!

”

Sreketh had stuffed a blood truffle into Hamsik’s hand. “Try it, Hamsik. It’s really good.”

Hamsik grumbled to himself, sighed, then took a bite. “… it is good.”

Escinca was quite delighted to hear about our little adventure at House Kalnislaw, and was even looking forward to seeing what Lord Kalnislaw had in mind. I still wasn’t sold on the idea of cooperating with a House whose scion actively supported trying to buy off our land, but maybe that was why Escinca was happy to explore options of working together harmoniously.

Weirdly, Hamsik didn’t appear to be sold on it either. Escinca’s enthusiasm drowned out any potential misgivings we might have had, however. Plus, we didn’t have any real reasons to not go along with it. Just a sour experience.

And, of course, the fact that they were Scarseekers. One or more of them could be behind the whole Scarthrall mess.

I trained as hard as I could for the next day or so. There were a bunch of things I could focus on. Learning yet another Affix for Gravity, finding the breakthrough that would get my Vitality to Silver, practicing more with Field Manipulation. What I ended up actually focusing on was Spirit. In a roundabout way.

Agility was what I concentrated on next. It was a couple of ranks away from Silver too, and focusing on movement and reflexes helped train my Gravity Aspect as well. The idea was to weigh myself down and force myself to move as fast as I could. This essentially had the same effect as resistance, improving both my Power—at a lower rate—and my Agility as well. Three for one with just a single trick.

I felt a smidge sad about taking up so much of Gutran’s time. The sparring sessions where we focused on a specific Attribute were always the most helpful. Gutran, bless him, never complained. He said I more than made up for it by drawing new clientele to his smithy.

“I’ve got adventurers from Ring Two swinging by every so often,” he said, his brown slit-pupiled eyes gleaming. “Those used to be rare, but your recommendation—well, your party members’ recommendations—have helped a ton.”

I smiled. “Glad to hear it.”

“And in return, I get to beat the crap out of you. Sweet deal, I’d say.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong about that. Even if I wasn’t taking direct hits on purpose to raise my Vitality, I did take some blows that I failed to evade. It wasn’t easy dodging fast hits from a soldier-turned-blacksmith who had several ranks on me, especially when I was about three times my normal weight.

But it worked. It definitely worked. Took over a day, but I got to rank up Agility once again, while also pushing my Path closer to Silver.

[ Rank Up!

Your Agility Attribute has risen by one Rank.

Your Path of the Newborn Star has risen by one Rank.

Agility: Iron IX

Path of the Newborn Star: Iron VIII ]

Close. I was getting close, and it felt great.

“Great work,” Aurier said. “My Path of the Smith is getting close to Silver too.” He wiped some sweat off his brow. “All thanks to being able to focus on my actual work.”

Gutran and I both praised him for it, though he quickly wilted away in embarrassment at that.

Later that day, I did notice that my countdown had fallen to five days. I knew I wasn’t slacking that much on the Sacrificing my Aspect casts, so it led to only one conclusion. The more I Sacrificed the same thing over and over, the less impactful on the mana draw in by my core.

Was it because the Aspect needed less mana for the same kind of tribute after a while? Did it have some kind of learning facet to it, where Sacrificing the same thing needed less mana to do so over time? It might have been related to the Aspect’s rank, but Sacrifice hadn’t ranked up in a little while. At least, not since I had started tracking the days left till mana implosion since returning from the dungeon delve.

It wasn’t something to worry about, though. The next day, I received the letter from Kostis I had been waiting for, and with it came the invitation to Xokrist. And a recommendation for another treasure-Sacrificing job.