"It's not a game anymore after all…." Damien muttered while staring at the gold-plated pocket watch in his hand.
"What's not a game master?" Fay asked as she shakily attempted to dress Damien. She had to perch on a stool to reach Damien's shoulders, and due to blood loss, she was struggling to stand. She was tempted to use Damien's shoulder as support but quickly suppressed the idea as she didn't want to die yet. She knew her master despised any type of physical contact.
"Don't talk to me," Damien responded coldly, "From today, you will stay in my sight at all times. If you leave my sight for even a moment, I will lock you in a cage."
Fay's hand, adjusting Damien's tie, froze in place, 'Does he know?' she thought, her mind racing with scenarios, trying to justify how she was found out.
Damien just gave a toothy grin, revealing his sharp fangs as if he could read Fay's thoughts. Fay was terrified but quickly nodded in acknowledgement. She then continued dressing Damien, but with haste in her actions, wishing to run away from the monster in front of her as soon as possible.
As Fay went to tie his shoes, Damien snapped open the pocket watch and looked at the little mirror inside the lid.
Psychokinesis [C] - Also known as telekinesis, the ability to influence a physical system without physical interaction, typically manifesting as being able to exert force, control objects, and move matter with one's mind.
Psychokinesis is an essential skill from the Psychic school of magic.
(New) Telepathy [F] - The ability to transmit or receive thoughts and memories supernaturally.
'Currently, I can only read surface thoughts of one person at a time within a meter range. However, thoughts and memories can also be transmitted to one person within 5 meters.'
'In the game, whenever the player levelled a skill from a school of magic above the D grade, they would receive a new skill. Since I upgraded my [Psychic Magic] and [Psychokinesis] skill to C grade, I received the skill [Telepathy] as a reward, but it starts at the F grade.'
'I have to stop thinking this is still a game world. In the game, to level an ability, the only way was through combat with monsters or practice in a training field to gain exp. What does exp stand for? Experience. In a game world, the developers will give players certain ways to gain experience, but since this is no longer a game world, why would I have to go to a practice field to gain exp? Why couldn't I practice in the bath?'
'But even then… Why did I level up so fast? Did the world decide my usage of Psychokinesis was equal to C rank and decided to promote me? Did I do anything special?'
Damien thought long and hard if he had done anything special compared to the first time he used Psychokinesis when he woke up in his bed.
'When I moved the pocket watch from the desk to my bed, I was concentrating incredibly hard on the pocket watch and manipulating it in the air… but when I was in the bath, I was focused on my death flags and controlling the pocket watch subconsciously?'
'Was the requirement to advance to C rank to be able to control something subconsciously with Psychokinesis? If so, then how can I advance to B rank? I should use Psychokinesis as much as possible to try and advance asap.'
"Master?"
Damien realized a lot of time had passed while he was deep in thought; Fay had finished dressing him.
"Master, I'm sorry to trouble you, but I have not eaten all day… and since you drank so much blood, I'm feeling frail now."
Damien did feel a little bad about that, so he nodded, "Go and make food; you are dismissed."
"But master, you said I cannot leave your sight."
Damien smacked himself mentally. Maybe locking her in a cage is the right move? He stopped just as he was about to tell her he would lock her in a cage. But, the words refused to come out.
A voice seemed to whisper from his soul, 'A noble never goes back on their word, at least to the person's face.'
'Ah, of course, my traits have to make everything difficult for me. For example, I forgot about [Noble Aura], it forces me to act like a noble, and also the fact my race is [Noble Vampire] further forces me to act like one.'
"Fine, I will come with you, lead the way," Damien said while gesturing with his hand towards the bathroom door.
"We have no food left. I need to go buy some." Fay said with a shaking voice.
Damien's nails slightly elongated, ready to stab this annoying woman in the neck. How can a human speak back to a Noble Vampire? This lowly blood slave could die for all he cares… 'If it wasn't for the death flags, I would murder you here and now!'
Damien got control over his body with great effort and calmed down. There is a good reason Vampires are feared. They are blood-sucking crazy psychopaths.
"I needed to visit the university library anyway before school starts on Monday. You can get lunch from a food stall on campus." Damien said with a cold tone.
As Damien was about to leave the room, he noticed his gloves laid neatly on the table and had a genius idea. He hates touching things and needs to practice Psychokinesis. So why not kill two birds with one stone?
Damien put his hands in the pockets of his wine-coloured chinos. He then willed the two white gloves in front of his face. It took a bit more concentration to manipulate two objects simultaneously, but he quickly got used to it.
'Why not just use gloves with Psychokinesis as my hands? That way, I don't have to touch anything!'
Fay seemed surprised at the sight. Psychokinesis was one of the most challenging schools of magic, so seeing this level of manipulation was somewhat surprising. But she hid her astonishment and just stood quietly in the corner. She was scheming something.
Damien spent the next few minutes practising and managed to make the gloves open and close in a fist. He couldn't entirely manipulate each individual finger yet, but he felt that he would get the hang of it with some more practice.
"Lead me to the study," He commanded.
Fay nodded and walked down the room's corridor. Since Damien moved in, he had converted the guest room into a study. But, since he was so lazy, he preferred to look over work while lying in bed.
In the guest room, opposite the master bedroom, which he had been in earlier today, there was a queen-sized bed where Damien would have to lie at an angle in; otherwise, his feet would go off the end.
Luckily that was not an issue since he usually sat upright while in this bed. He had placed a desk across the bed's width, so he could sit up with the assistance of a pillow mountain and study the documents on the desk.
Damien didn't even need to enter the room entirely. Instead, he sent his two glove hands out with Psychokinesis, one opened a small drawer next to the desk, and the other grabbed a handful of coins from within.
Damien knew this was the money Fay used to purchase the silver-coated dagger in a previous playthrough. The old Damien had left this money in an unlocked drawer since he considered it a small amount of money and knew that only Fay had the location.
Never in the previous Damien's wildest dreams would he suspect his blood slave had broken the control of his blood magic and stolen this money to purchase a silver-coated dagger to murder him.
Damien used his gloved hand to grab the coins. He would have used Psychokinesis to collect the coins, but controlling two gloved hands was already his limit at the moment. Damien watched Fay's reaction; to his surprise, she showed no response to him taking away the money. He expected to see despair, but she seemed calm.
Using Telepathy, he couldn't read any surface thoughts, as if she thought nothing of it.
'Does she have money hidden somewhere else and therefore doesn't care that I use this money? Or is my Telepathy level too low, and she's too good at acting? Something to be investigated….'
With the money now secured to pay for lunch and some other necessities while they were in town, it was time to leave.
"Alright, follow me closely, Fay. If you try anything funny, I will kill you."
"It's not a game anymore after all…." Damien muttered while staring at the gold-plated pocket watch in his hand.
"What's not a game master?" Fay asked as she shakily attempted to dress Damien. She had to perch on a stool to reach Damien's shoulders, and due to blood loss, she was struggling to stand. She was tempted to use Damien's shoulder as support but quickly suppressed the idea as she didn't want to die yet. She knew her master despised any type of physical contact.
"Don't talk to me," Damien responded coldly, "From today, you will stay in my sight at all times. If you leave my sight for even a moment, I will lock you in a cage."
Fay's hand, adjusting Damien's tie, froze in place, 'Does he know?' she thought, her mind racing with scenarios, trying to justify how she was found out.
Damien just gave a toothy grin, revealing his sharp fangs as if he could read Fay's thoughts. Fay was terrified but quickly nodded in acknowledgement. She then continued dressing Damien, but with haste in her actions, wishing to run away from the monster in front of her as soon as possible.
As Fay went to tie his shoes, Damien snapped open the pocket watch and looked at the little mirror inside the lid.
Psychokinesis [C] - Also known as telekinesis, the ability to influence a physical system without physical interaction, typically manifesting as being able to exert force, control objects, and move matter with one's mind.
Psychokinesis is an essential skill from the Psychic school of magic.
(New) Telepathy [F] - The ability to transmit or receive thoughts and memories supernaturally.
'Currently, I can only read surface thoughts of one person at a time within a meter range. However, thoughts and memories can also be transmitted to one person within 5 meters.'
'In the game, whenever the player levelled a skill from a school of magic above the D grade, they would receive a new skill. Since I upgraded my [Psychic Magic] and [Psychokinesis] skill to C grade, I received the skill [Telepathy] as a reward, but it starts at the F grade.'
'I have to stop thinking this is still a game world. In the game, to level an ability, the only way was through combat with monsters or practice in a training field to gain exp. What does exp stand for? Experience. In a game world, the developers will give players certain ways to gain experience, but since this is no longer a game world, why would I have to go to a practice field to gain exp? Why couldn't I practice in the bath?'
'But even then… Why did I level up so fast? Did the world decide my usage of Psychokinesis was equal to C rank and decided to promote me? Did I do anything special?'
Damien thought long and hard if he had done anything special compared to the first time he used Psychokinesis when he woke up in his bed.
'When I moved the pocket watch from the desk to my bed, I was concentrating incredibly hard on the pocket watch and manipulating it in the air… but when I was in the bath, I was focused on my death flags and controlling the pocket watch subconsciously?'
'Was the requirement to advance to C rank to be able to control something subconsciously with Psychokinesis? If so, then how can I advance to B rank? I should use Psychokinesis as much as possible to try and advance asap.'
"Master?"
Damien realized a lot of time had passed while he was deep in thought; Fay had finished dressing him.
"Master, I'm sorry to trouble you, but I have not eaten all day… and since you drank so much blood, I'm feeling frail now."
Damien did feel a little bad about that, so he nodded, "Go and make food; you are dismissed."
"But master, you said I cannot leave your sight."
Damien smacked himself mentally. Maybe locking her in a cage is the right move? He stopped just as he was about to tell her he would lock her in a cage. But, the words refused to come out.
A voice seemed to whisper from his soul, 'A noble never goes back on their word, at least to the person's face.'
'Ah, of course, my traits have to make everything difficult for me. For example, I forgot about [Noble Aura], it forces me to act like a noble, and also the fact my race is [Noble Vampire] further forces me to act like one.'
"Fine, I will come with you, lead the way," Damien said while gesturing with his hand towards the bathroom door.
"We have no food left. I need to go buy some." Fay said with a shaking voice.
Damien's nails slightly elongated, ready to stab this annoying woman in the neck. How can a human speak back to a Noble Vampire? This lowly blood slave could die for all he cares… 'If it wasn't for the death flags, I would murder you here and now!'
Damien got control over his body with great effort and calmed down. There is a good reason Vampires are feared. They are blood-sucking crazy psychopaths.
"I needed to visit the university library anyway before school starts on Monday. You can get lunch from a food stall on campus." Damien said with a cold tone.
As Damien was about to leave the room, he noticed his gloves laid neatly on the table and had a genius idea. He hates touching things and needs to practice Psychokinesis. So why not kill two birds with one stone?
Damien put his hands in the pockets of his wine-coloured chinos. He then willed the two white gloves in front of his face. It took a bit more concentration to manipulate two objects simultaneously, but he quickly got used to it.
'Why not just use gloves with Psychokinesis as my hands? That way, I don't have to touch anything!'
Fay seemed surprised at the sight. Psychokinesis was one of the most challenging schools of magic, so seeing this level of manipulation was somewhat surprising. But she hid her astonishment and just stood quietly in the corner. She was scheming something.
Damien spent the next few minutes practising and managed to make the gloves open and close in a fist. He couldn't entirely manipulate each individual finger yet, but he felt that he would get the hang of it with some more practice.
"Lead me to the study," He commanded.
Fay nodded and walked down the room's corridor. Since Damien moved in, he had converted the guest room into a study. But, since he was so lazy, he preferred to look over work while lying in bed.
In the guest room, opposite the master bedroom, which he had been in earlier today, there was a queen-sized bed where Damien would have to lie at an angle in; otherwise, his feet would go off the end.
Luckily that was not an issue since he usually sat upright while in this bed. He had placed a desk across the bed's width, so he could sit up with the assistance of a pillow mountain and study the documents on the desk.
Damien didn't even need to enter the room entirely. Instead, he sent his two glove hands out with Psychokinesis, one opened a small drawer next to the desk, and the other grabbed a handful of coins from within.
Damien knew this was the money Fay used to purchase the silver-coated dagger in a previous playthrough. The old Damien had left this money in an unlocked drawer since he considered it a small amount of money and knew that only Fay had the location.
Never in the previous Damien's wildest dreams would he suspect his blood slave had broken the control of his blood magic and stolen this money to purchase a silver-coated dagger to murder him.
Damien used his gloved hand to grab the coins. He would have used Psychokinesis to collect the coins, but controlling two gloved hands was already his limit at the moment. Damien watched Fay's reaction; to his surprise, she showed no response to him taking away the money. He expected to see despair, but she seemed calm.
Using Telepathy, he couldn't read any surface thoughts, as if she thought nothing of it.
'Does she have money hidden somewhere else and therefore doesn't care that I use this money? Or is my Telepathy level too low, and she's too good at acting? Something to be investigated….'
With the money now secured to pay for lunch and some other necessities while they were in town, it was time to leave.
"Alright, follow me closely, Fay. If you try anything funny, I will kill you."
