Master of Myths

"Your good at this, perhaps you'd like to become a vampire?"

YuJu teased the redhead biting into his shoulder and sucking out all that corrosive toxin building within

Ellis let go of him and answered with a frown

"Perhaps a little caution could do us good Master, can't run around racking in injuries one after the other like this"

"It was worth it, plus we shouldn't be getting any more trouble"

"We weren't supposed to this time either, nor the time with the silver ox, or the time at the back of that flying ray, not to mention we were supposed to be on vacation when this entire thing started!"

Ellis just about had enough of this crazy month they spent traveling around in the name of vacation, every time whether it was due to the opposition or them a fight broke out ending with either the enemy dying or them stealing something and running away

"It's better than staying home and doing almost nothing though"

His words couldn't be refuted, Ellis improved much faster in live combat than mock battles and training, plus all that killing did net her a few levels

"Haah, I stopped the toxin from spreading for now, with a little bit of care we can get back on the road soon enough"

Knowing whatever she said wouldn't change their course Ellis did what she could to help their journey go a little easier

"If it's stopped we should be on our way"

"Master! Fighting like this is a bad idea"

"We aren't fighting, if you hadn't noticed we kind of spun in a circle, guess what our next stop is?"

"A circle?...Hortus?"

YuJu nodded, putting on his cloak and called for Anput playing with the newly acquired shadows before leading the way back home on top of their new ride, a giant shadow ray

Arriving before the tower Ellis and Anput entered without the need for stealth, YuJu meanwhile sneaked his way inside

Inside the mansion the three shared a hot relaxing bath, at least until Ellis was called to meet Aminta

"Convey to her my situation"

"Yes Master"

Leaving the mansion she was brought before the commander and her two trusted generals

Ellis gave a bow and waited for them to ask what she expected them to

"Ellis, we would like to know where your Master had run off to"

Precisely what she thought they would say

"Master is here in the tower but, given his current appearance, he cannot show himself before you"

"Is it due to the time where his hair turned white all of a sudden?"

Latvia continued to press on, guessing that the masked man was YuJu

"Indeed so, the situation is somewhat complicated so we ask your patience on this matter"

The three went quiet for a time, contemplate as they might however all Aminta could do in the end was agree

"Thank you for your understanding"

Giving another bow Ellis walked out of the hall leaving the three helplessly shaking their head

Back at the mansion she reported the cooperation of Aminta to YuJu

"That's reassuring, it would prove to be somewhat problematic to appear before them in this form"

He knew Aminta wouldn't shun him for the sin of pride taking root but Verbrand was another case, his history with the sins might spark some conflict

"So where to next?"

"Back to the human land, it's been long enough for them to choose new territories, now that they are once more settled in it is time for us to groom them"

Naturally the redhead was happy to hear they would be putting more effort into their race which brought her to urge him into leaving even though they just got here

Perhaps before she couldn't be so casual with him but after going through a few adventures together the two got a little closer, though his prideful attitude remained unchanged

Under her incessant urging they left in the cover of his energy, making a quick journey to their house

"The world feels a lot smaller after that tour of ours"

"That's just because we have better mounts that make this distance seem effortless, the more powerful we get the wider our view becomes, maybe in the far future this entire land would look like children's playground"

YuJu's words struck some wisdom, at the same time made Ellis feel a little sad, getting stronger so quickly makes one feel estranged to themselves, it felt like only yesterday when she'd been stubbornly clinging to her ideals of protecting the entirety of humanity 

'It is alright, I am so much stronger now, surpassing everyone else by a huge margin, even if I meet Zero in head to head combat I won't buckle over easily'

"My, you've become too careless dear Ellis"

As if to mock her thoughts a hot breath said right into her ear, Ellis would have flinched with a back punch if not for the dagger like nails trailing her neck

"Mia?"

"Who else could it be"

The half vampire let go of her and stepped to the side, bowing to YuJu in welcome of his return

"Your a lot sneaker Mia, advanced your class I presume?"

"Yes Master, after going to that abyss we talked of long ago my class Servant Of The Night has now become Night Walker, with it I gained the skill Shadow Steps"

"I see, I'd forgotten about the matter of scouting it all together"

"I am sure Master was busy with other more important things so I sent Ika and the Witness to check it out"

'No, we were just on having fun running around and making a mess'

Naturally Ellis did not expose her master and kept those thoughts to herself

"The others have also made great strides in their own strength, I must say my own are quite lacking"

She continued with a smile aimed at Ellis, as if she knew the dignified swordswoman was feeling complacent

"I will be needing a rundown on everyone's new status and skills, as you prepare them I'll discuss with Subrina her future schedule"

"As Master wishes"

Leaving Mia to do her job they entered the mansion whose doors were already open, Subrina at the ready with the shadow maid left here to help her

"Welcome back Master"

"How have you been Subrina?"

"As well as the last time we've met, only I wish Master would accompany me more"

"Then worry not for we would be working from here for the near future"

Naturally the head maid was delighted to hear this, bowing in gratitude before leading them to the newly decorated study room where everyone but her got seated

"I take it you have been making strides in your research?"

"Yes Master, both on blood and poison, my master over extracting essences has also gotten quite a boost since working on those wraiths, I can say with certainty energy based objects are also extractable now"

"Good, that should help with the next bit then"

Out of his storage YuJu took a rock radiating heat, a Forgotten Tinder which has not seen the light of day for quite a while now

"Can you conduct research on this"

Subrina had the maid take the rock off her master's hands and wrap it with shadow energy so she could take a closer look at it

"Hmm, this object is rather weird, it's like a flickering fire of immense power resides inside, yet when I peek in closer I spot nothing? Very tricky, I might have to conduct extra research on similar objects before I get to this since I might ruin it"

"I have a small supply of them so you can break a few"

"That's reassuring Master, I shan't disappoint you then"

YuJu nodded, confident in her skills

"How fairs our little gatekeeper?"

"Ianus is doing great, thanks to all that death energy it seems to have gained a similar trait, part of its small garden now houses corpse eating plants, before long I believe it will grow to house our entire territory before branching out"

"The day will come sooner than you think"

He added to her expectations

"Because from now on we will be actively expanding"

"We can expand our territory?"

"Yes, not just us, our vampire branch, and even humanity will begin expanding"

"Any reason for the rush?"

Ellis commented seeing the lack of need for such actions given their small number

"You might think it is detrimental, that we should level up first before showing our strength off to the world, but you are forgetting that nothing in the nearby territories can raise our levels at this point, the shadow raid helped humans boost up enough so they could enter the mid level threshold of the majority of races, meaning no more level grinding unless we encounter another raid"

His words started to make sense, if they remained stagnant then sooner or later they would lose the element of surprise as humans interacted with other races and revealed the superiority of their three class availability, from then on it would be war with everything on this world, so why not try to reach further up before being nipped in the bud?

"Being in the spotlight is a bad thing, but being unknown can be even worse, sometimes you must grow tall, heavy as the winds may be up in the sky, for that is the only place you would be safe from being lost in the rabbles chaos of survival"

Looks like the race with time was once more on for humans, would they succeed in surviving as a race or would they be left as vagrant few like his previous world? Only their own efforts would decide that