Vae victis an apocalypse.., p.18
Vae Victis: An Apocalypse LitRPG, page 18
In what seemed no time at all, I came upon the corpse of the monster that Shimi had killed. It looked like a blue crocodile the size of a car, with longer limbs and sharklike teeth. Its hide was rough, appearing to me almost like a turtle shell, one that was a lot more flexible. I paused as the scent of blood reached my nostrils. It sang of power, and I knew that it had to be depleting fast. The longer the blood stayed dead, the less useful it would be, and I was hungry. I knelt next to it and pulled one of its limbs up, then I bit down.
I frowned as I felt the tough skin repel my teeth. That had never happened before. I tried to bite harder, but the result was the same. With a frown, I pulled out a gourd and walked around to the wound on the neck. The blood had pooled on the ground, but I rolled the monster around and squeezed some more blood into the gourd. I couldn’t get much, but what I did get, I downed immediately. The thick liquid poured down my throat, the slight stale taste barely there. I felt power, but its memories flashing through my head were too disconnected for me to get any useful information, as the monster was dead. Then, I felt something deep inside of me, in my chest.
Mask of the Drainer — No Investment; Sixth Carving
[Empty Slot] skill gained.
A new skill, another [Empty Slot], I smiled, but then thought more about it. I had gained another Carving, two this time. I tried to figure out why I gained two now. The young ferrorn I killed when I arrived had been before I gained a Mask. The monkeys had raised my Carving by one too. The bearlike beast had given me one as well. Then came the mature ferrorn, which gave me my fourth, and then this one, my sixth. Was there some logic there that I wasn’t seeing? The most obvious thing that I could think of was that the power of the blood mattered. The young ferrorn and the monkeys had been either relatively equal or weaker than me. The bearlike thing I fought was stronger, but it was ultimately an animal, and I had weapons and Saia. The mature ferrorn was beyond me, and I drank its blood after it was dead, killed by someone else, this other creature—the reaper—was the same. I didn’t kill either of them, but they were according to Shimi a lot stronger than me. Fourth and Sixth Investment compared to me, who had none yet.
It sounded right to me.
Still, the new skill would help me greatly, I resolved to slot in a new one once I returned to Shimi.
“Saia, you want to consume it?” I pointed at the corpse.
“Feedback: Affirmative.”
She surged from my wrist and turned into goo falling onto the corpse. I saw her moving over the corpse, but saw no black smoke rising. Then, after a few seconds she flowed to the ground into her dragon shape.
“Statement: This Unit is not able to consume this biomatter.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“Feedback: Biomatter’s structural integrity too great to be taken apart.”
I narrowed my eyes, remembering not being able to bite through the skin. I pulled out my knife and leaned it on the corpse, trying to stab. After a few unsuccessful tries I pulled back and looked at Saia.
“I guess that Investment does more than we thought,” I said. I couldn’t imagine what would’ve happened if this beast had attacked me. If I couldn’t even scratch it …
Well, there was nothing for us to do here it seemed. Saia moved back to my wrist, and we continued on to the river.
I returned quickly after I filled the gourds, and thankfully without any trouble. Once I was close enough to the protective spell, I paused. I could see into it, see the low fire burning as I had left it. What I couldn’t do was hear it. As I passed through, the sound of crackling wood immediately reached my ears. Good to know that it blocks out sound, I thought to myself. I didn’t know how the spell worked, but Shimi had said that it would keep most things around us away. I walked into camp, my eyes seeking Shimi.
I found him where I left him, and saw that his eyes were open, staring at the canopy above them.
“You are alive.” I sighed in relief.
“Surprisingly,” Shimi said. “I should not be. The reaper’s bite is venomous. Few survive it, even those on my Investment level. And those that do often wish that they had not.”
“I gave you what I thought was an antidote—”
“You did well,” Shimi said, his eyes still on the canopy. “You used the one marked with the fang, yes?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“It might have helped.” Shimi turned to meet my eyes. “I am sorry, I made a mistake, and both of us will suffer for it.”
“You’re alive, that’s all that matters,” I told him.
He shook his head. “I survived, my body fought the venom off, but … this will weaken me for months, years even. I cannot protect us against what is out there anymore. A ferrorn like the one I rescued you from could kill me with ease now. That reaper was not supposed to be there, and if other monsters from the inner ring are now leaving it … We cannot survive a single encounter with them.”
There was a finality to his words, a sense of giving up.
I had faced certain death several times over the last few days. Like him, I had accepted it, and yet I still lived. No, I said to myself, I am not going to die here. I was finally free to find my path. I was not going to have it cut short before I discovered all that I could be.
“I’m not going to die in this godforsaken place, you hear me, hijueputa?”
Shimi’s lip curled into a weak and sad smile. “Tenacity, it can often get you far. But not here, not now. I regret that you have been dealt such a fate.”
I flashed back to the vision. There was a darkness prepared by fate already. Perhaps what I had seen wouldn’t happen for a thousand years; perhaps it would come to pass tomorrow. I wouldn’t let him or a message from a dead race force me to live in fear as before. It coalesced for me: I would struggle, I would survive. Vampires always did.
“Fuck your sorry.” I walked up to him, then loomed over, glaring at him. “I said that I wasn’t going to die here, and I won’t. If you can’t keep us safe, then you’re going to help me do it for the both of us.”
Shimi closed his eyes. “Perhaps if we were anywhere else, but … you are not even on your First Investment, no matter what your natural gifts are … the gap is just too wide.”
“Then I’ll get stronger,” I said.
Shimi opened his eyes and looked up at the faint light of the two moons above them barely peering through, one red and the other blue. “If only Masks improved with such ease. Investment is an effort of years Marianna, and no matter what kind of a Mask you have, you will have a hard time investing in it in this place.”
“You don’t know how my Mask improves; you don’t know what my Mask is at all.”
He turned his head to meet my eyes but didn’t speak.
I had struggled with trusting this stranger, even with him saving my life. But he was hurt because he saved me again—he pushed me out of the way. He had not even mentioned it, that I was the reason he was hurt. I was certain that without me none of this would’ve happened to him. I might not trust him enough yet to speak on what I had seen in the ruin, but I knew that if I was going to survive, I would need to trust him, at least a little.
“My Mask is the Mask of the Drainer,” I told him.
He frowned, his vacant eyes clearing a bit as he turned to meet my gaze. “Mask of the Drainer?” he asked. “I am unfamiliar with that. What does it do?”
I looked at him, and decided that I needed to snap him out of the depressed state he had fallen into. “I have two skill slots that I can switch out. I gain Investment from drinking blood, which I need to live as all vampires do. I get skills from the blood I consume: a room appears in my inner room—what you called soul space—where a copy of the blood source can be found. I need to kill them in there in order to gain a skill from them. I don’t know if the skills I get are random or if there is some logic behind it. Right now, I have [Lesser Strength], [Debilitating Wave], and [Lesser Leap]. I have No Investment; Sixth Carving.”
He frowned. “Sixth Carving already? You couldn’t have been here for more than a couple of days.”
I nodded. “I don’t know what is considered normal. And I drank the blood of that beast you killed, the reaper.”
“That certainly isn’t normal, not in normal circumstances. Perhaps for a very specific Mask in a very specific situations. A soldier in active war, fighting where the conflict was the greatest, against enormous odds and surviving would perhaps see such growth.” He tried to sit up and grimaced. I leaned down and helped him sit up.
“I think that I know why,” he said, looking up at me. “You are too weak for the threats here, and all of the blood you drank probably has been so far above you in Investment. The reaper alone is in the peak of the Investments of all the Masked in the world. The difference between you probably netted you more Investment. That will lessen as you gain power and if you fight monsters near your own Investment.”
That made sense, I had already suspected as much.
“Your Mask, it probably works like some Mage Masks, maybe like an Invoker. They have never been properly documented. A pure Invoker Mask is hard to advance, and there have never been enough successful Invokers for that Mask to be properly documented and researched. And those that do know guard their knowledge. I have heard stories though, they have ritual skills that let them draw skills from others, from animals, elementals, even people. I assume that your race’s peculiarity made it like what it is.”
He looked down at his bandaged chest, then up at me.
“I didn’t,” I said before he could ask.
“But you could if you wanted to?” He tilted his head. I didn’t know what he was thinking, his expression was too even.
I decided not to lie about that. I nodded. “Vampires feed mostly on the blood of humans, another race on my world. I have no evidence to believe that yours wouldn’t work.” If its scent was anything to go by, his was definitely the most powerful I had encountered so far.
“Do you need to kill in order to feed?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No, we usually only need a glassful every few days. Long ago, it would happen. Vampires would hunt and kill their victims in order to feed. Nowadays we have blood banks, and most of us drink donated blood.”
He held my gaze, then nodded. “Thank you for telling me.”
He seemed to have heard the truth in my words. There was one other thing that I wanted to ask him about. I described what happened the last time I fought for a skill. How I felt the injury even after I left that place.
He grimaced. “Everyone’s soul space is different. It is shaped by who we are and what our Mask is. While that place might be of the soul, it is real. I have heard stories of some Invokers being found unresponsive, their eyes blankly staring into nothingness after their ritual skills. They die sometime after being befallen by such a fate. I am going to assume that like you they had to do something in order to secure the skill. It would not be wrong to assume that if you die in your soul space, you will most likely die in the real world too.”
I gulped. That was good to know. I had to be a lot more careful, and should probably make sure that I was ready before I tried to enter rooms with monsters that I hadn’t killed myself.
“Your skills though,” he started. “Yes, that can work. It is going to be hard, probably the hardest thing you have ever done. But if you agree to do as I say, perhaps the both of us can survive this.”
My expression turned grim; I understood the gravity of the situation. “I promise to do everything in my power to make that happen,” I told him.
He closed his eyes, then nodded. “And I pledge to do all in my power to make you stronger, to help you survive.”
There was an understanding between the two of us, I could see it in his eyes. A promise was made, and it mattered to him. We were both in this together. Yet, I still couldn’t bring myself to be fully open. It felt … wrong somehow. My life had taught me that trust was a sure way to get one killed. Somehow, I had to try and work through that.
“Does this mean that you are going to tell me your name?” I asked with a smile, turning my attention back to him.
A shadow of his usual playfulness appeared on his lips. “I will tell you my name, if we survive this.”
Well, I had to try.
“But you have shared with me, so it is only fair I do the same,” he sighed. “My Mask’s name is Mirror Mistweaver of the Old Ways.”
I blinked. “I have no idea how you think that someone knowing that would give them an advantage.”
He burst into laughter, then winced and put a hand over his chest. “That is because you lack context. Suffice to say, my Investment comes from two things, fighting and knowledge.”
I nodded. “What now?”
“We cannot waste any time,” Shimi started. “The goal is to get you as strong as we can in the next two weeks here, then start the journey south to the shore when I am recovered enough for that trip. I have a boat stashed on the coast. This area is relatively safe, which is why I chose it for my camp, or at least it was supposed to be. The animals and monsters here are at the highest around Third and Fourth Investment. The reaper was greater than that, at Sixth Investment. It was a beast from the inner ring, and those rarely leave the vicinity of the Blight Curtain. Something must have disturbed them, and while I would very much like to know what that something is, we are in no shape to investigate.”
He shook his head. “No, hunting is the plan. This had been the territory of the ferrorn that I killed, meaning that there should not be any other predators that are as dangerous in the area. But there are plenty of other animals around, and you are going to hunt them and drink their blood. Get more Carvings for your Mask and hopefully more skills. If we can get you to your First Investment you should get your first capstone skill, which will be a big jump in power for you. We have a month before you are sent back, and as weak as I am, I will not survive without you. So, in two weeks we will attempt the trek across the continent, get me to my boat and safety, and get you ready for your return to your home. Hopefully you will be strong enough by then to protect us both.”
No pressure, it seemed. I shuffled my feet uncomfortably; he was going to depend on me. I owed him a debt for saving my life twice over. My sire’s teachings echoed inside my head. Honor was one of the most important things that he taught me. It was why seeing his disappointment hurt so much.
“Capstone skill?”
“A Mask can gain a skill at any Carving. Most people gain one or two skills per Investment tier. Some get more, but those are rare, require a very high quality of Investment. But, once every Investment, starting from the First Investment you will get a capstone skill. It is a more powerful skill, a defining skill if you will. You will understand more once you get one.”
I nodded. “Where do I start?” I asked.
“First, there are things you need to know about your Mask,” Shimi started. “When you arrived and gained your Mask, you had to choose from several options, yes?”
I nodded.
“The choices you didn’t pick, were they still available to you in some form?”
I described the three pillars and the plaque, and Shimi nodded.
“Yes, the center pillar is obviously your Mask. The other two are called Ornaments. You can only ever have two Ornaments at a time. And they act as something of sub-Masks. Which Ornaments are available to you depends on your knowledge and life experience. An Ornament will not be able to improve beyond the Second Investment, and all its skills will be lesser than those of a Mask of the same type. But every time your Mask evolves into a new Investment tier there is a chance for your Ornament to consolidate into your Mask, improving it further. This is of course dependent on how synergistic your Ornaments are with your Mask. Ornaments have their own Investment requirements, and are an important part of everyone’s path. They can elevate your Mask, or even help you change it.”
I thought back on what choices had been given to me. I had already suspected that they were based on my life. They painted a picture of a sad life.
“So I should pick something?”
“Preferably before you reach First Investment. You might be able to consolidate at least one of them, if they are synergistic enough with your Mask.”
“I don’t know if they are. Synergistic, I mean,” I said.
“May I know what they are?” he asked.
I hesitated, then sighed. If I was already trusting him with all of this Mask stuff, there was no reason not to go all the way with it. Though it would reveal a lot more about my life than I was comfortable with. “I have Thug, Servant, and Student available.”
His eyes widened. “Blights, you have Student! If we had done this sooner … There is no helping it now.”
“Student is good?” I asked.
“Yes, very much so. Most people who have the means prepare their children by giving them the foundation to have that option. And it is not often that they manage it. It requires higher learning. Many who are undecided about their Masks and manage to obtain the option to start with the Student Mask, since it can change into anything and consolidates nicely with everything. And it is very easy to gain Investment for. It only requires learning. If we had done it before, all that you’ve learned so far would’ve counted as Investment for it.” He shook his head. “Well, there is no use dwelling on what is lost already. You should take it. For your second Ornament, though, Thug is a criminal variation on a warrior-type Mask, and Servant is common but useless to you. I assume that you have some martial training?”
I appreciated him not asking questions about why I had those options. “I was trained in a few weapons,” I answered. “Not exactly like what I saw in your tent. The weapons in my world are different from what you had on display, but close. There’s no chance that you have a gun is there?”
He blinked. “I … don’t know what that is.”
I shook my head. “Most are small, can fit in your hand, they fire small fast-moving projectiles.”
He frowned. “A boomstick, perhaps. The Dwarves use them oftentimes.”
