44 – Interviews

Enough time had passed during my work that I wasn’t empty now. Meaning several hours in total at least.

It hadn’t felt that long, but apparently I’d been more focused than I thought.

Since my familiar was still asleep, I had enough time to reattempt the book’s right hand test. I flipped it open.

Just like I’d expected, there was a single space available, which reacted to my right thumb with the minor drain. Then followed the five spaces, before the page rearranged itself to the puzzle I was looking to beat.

Unexpectedly, I actually breezed through it without issues. Sure, I was out of mana at the end and turned a bit floppy, but I could move my mana out through my fingers with only minor delay.

My brain was still mildly convinced that I was moving while staying still, but the vertigo was significantly less severe this time. My channels were also already activated, so they didn’t offer any resistance.

As with the left hand, the page reconfigured to a show a line down the middle. Due to my mana-empty state, I was again done for the moment and snapped the book back shut. It was the type of exhaustion I’d experienced last time, where I could still somewhat move.

Another point in favor of this being the result of actually spending mana myself instead of having it drained out unwillingly.

Stuck here for the next few minutes, I spent my limited movement on scratching my bat familiar’s neck and the back of his ears. Even in his deep sleep he still leaned into my fingers. Cute.

My recent success with modifying the result of blood-based transformation raised an interesting question. Can I do the same to my own strengthening process? And if yes, what would I want to achieve?

So far my strengthening hadn’t changed my body in noticeable ways, unlike both familiars’ clear transformations. Which implied the processes might be different somehow. The main reason I could come up with was the difference between an actual vampire and what could uncharitably be called a thrall.

Not that I treated my familiars as thralls, but I got the distinct impression that’s what they were ‘supposed’ to be. Or would that term only apply to humans I bonded? What changes would a human go through if I fed them a whole lot of blood? And it would have to be a lot, considering the volume of blood each of the small animals took to change.

From now on, I’d have to be more hands-on with any future transformations, so the subjects didn’t turn into something useless that might even be harmful to them.

Though there has to be a way that doesn’t need me to manually intervene each time, right? Also, how many blood banks does one vampire even need? What if I need combat familiars instead? Or scouts? Both transformed familiars so far would have been perfect for that role. Not to even mention human ‘thralls’.

The main issue I had so far was that I didn’t understand how this whole vampire business was supposed to work. I’d really have loved it if Mel actually read the entire book on the ritual he performed, since there was undoubtedly more information on vampires in there.

No point crying over spilled milk. The little bat was waking up finally.

Looking around groggily, the little guy gave another adorable little yawn. When his brain made sense of his unfamiliar surroundings and recognized me, he squeaked at me happily. Then he was confused, flicking his tongue against his changed teeth.

Our bond gave me the same sensation of increased mental clarity I’d seen in the rat before. His body was feeling good, as though he’d gotten a nice full-body massage.

It took a little bit of explaining, but I managed to convey what had happened after he’d drank my blood. In response, my batty friend stretched his wings, marveling at the newfound strength. With a single flap, he catapulted himself halfway across the room, tumbling uncontrollably.

I jumped up in shock but reacted far too slowly to catch him before his flight ended in a crash-landing on the floor. Hurrying over, I scooped the little guy up carefully.

He was, luckily, unharmed. Or he might have been a bit bruised, but that barely mattered compared to the alternative. Breaking a wing – or, even worse, tearing one of the membranes – would have been debilitating.

“Let’s be a bit more careful, alright?” I got a shocked squeak back in reply to my mental equivalent message. The little heart in his chest was beating furiously.

Instead of further flight tests, the two of us sat in the dark calming down. My fingers tenderly rubbing all his favorite scratch-spots definitely helped. Soon enough, he was a vaguely bat-shaped lump of silly putty in my hands. If he was a cat, he’d definitely be purring.

Before restarting the acclimatization to his new body, we first found out how my familiar’s new stomach worked. Since I was listening in on his mind, I felt the same sensation when he discovered the mental ‘switch’ I’d managed to create.

Still not quite sure how I succeeded at that, to be honest. Also, damn that feels weird.

It felt like a combination of blinking and contracting the stomach at the same time. But deeper, somehow? Also, it wasn’t exactly like blinking in that it didn’t happen automatically. In fact, the stomach remained in whatever state it was left in until manually switched.

At least this wasn’t too hard to mentally get the hang of. Soon, my friend could switch with barely a thought. Also, each state felt distinct, so there was no confusion as to what his stomach would do at any moment.

While we were at it, I also explained my idea with the livestock blood. My familiar was up for it surprisingly readily. He was apparently eager to help me out. Also, it didn’t hurt that I promised to prepare the special fruit for him whenever he wanted in return. Couldn’t have him work without reward, nor let him starve because he didn’t eat anything himself.

For now, he was still sated somehow. Which was good, since dawn was fast approaching. Meaning it was soon bedtime for bats. Luckily, besides not being hungry, there were still traces of exhaustion from the previous long sleep remaining as well. So his sleeping rhythm wouldn’t be too disrupted.

Our remaining time was spent slowly relearning how to properly move his body. From carefully stretching and moving each muscle, to flapping his wings while keeping a tight hold on me with his tiny feet.

As a result of this training, my buddy could fly back to his own perch himself when I opened the door. There was a lot of happy chirping and squeaking when he appeared, since the rest of his flock had already returned to nest for the day. I closed the door with a smile and headed downstairs.

Today was going to be split between two things: Training with Lars and interviews with my staff. I’d already decided who the first official interviewee was going to be. Anders was due to have a drink with me anyway, so I might as well start with him. Having a salary discussion with a guy whose pay was being withheld for nearly three more months might be a bit cruel, but I might be able to spin it in my favor.

First was breakfast though. To my dismay, there was barely any blood sausage left after the meal. Enough for a little snack after training maybe, but I’d really destroyed the stock over the last two days. Oh well, all things come to an end. There’ll be more in future. And today will be a day full of actual blood too.

I was going to continue taking small quantities of blood from each person I talked to. It wasn’t the most ethical thing to do, but I needed blood to survive and grow stronger. Until I found some more trustworthy people, I’d need to rely on subterfuge for a while longer.

After breakfast, I joined Lars in the entrance hall. He’d personally moved some of his own exercise equipment here for my benefit. The knight did have proper weights to lift, but they’d been in his personal quarters yesterday. And too heavy for normal people to safely carry around. There was also an assortment of weighted clothes and accessories to increase the load on normal exercises.

Obviously I was made to put all of these on. The fit wasn’t great, since I was much lankier than Lars himself, but everything came with adjustable straps to tighten. Soon enough, there was at least another fifty kilos of stuff weighing on me. Lars sent me to run laps.

Moving with this extra encumbrance was not pleasant, but I got used to it within a few minutes. Not like I was too burdened either. Though it did noticeably raise the effort required to complete the run and following basic exercises. Which was the point.

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Even with the increased burden, I still managed to complete every task set. Lifting the near fifty kilogram one handed barbells was the most challenging part by far, but even that wasn’t beyond me.

Once all the warm-up and exercise was out of the way, Lars repeated the basic hand-to-hand forms he’d started me on yesterday. I repeated these with occasional corrections from my instructor until our practice ended shortly before noon.

My progress so far wasn’t anything amazing. It was only my second session of martial training. I did get the impression that I could take on a normal person in a fistfight and not be utterly hopeless. I’d probably have won the fight anyway before, but that would have just been up to my vastly improved body. Now, I’d actually be using martial arts instead of flailing about.

Raiding the kitchen for the last bits of delicious blood sausage and a bottle of wine, I freshened up a bit before sitting down in the study. At my command, Mia brought Anders to me for his interview.

Seated in my plush chair as I was, the guard stood taller than me as he entered. His heart was fluttering nervously, but he put on a brave face. The man bowed immediately on seeing me, only taking a seat when I said so. When he’d settled down, I fixed him in my gaze.

“Hello, Anders.”

“Greetings, Lord Steelheart.” He bowed again in his chair.

“How’s your wife doing? I hope there are no complications?” My question surprised him, but Anders quickly answered.

“She is well, thank you for your concern. Healer Theodore has gone to see her and he said there are no issues. Baby is due in a month or two. I must also thank you for providing free care for her. The healer told me you had ordered him to take care of people’s families. For that, you have my undying gratitude, my lord. And for the second chance given to one such as myself as well.”

His expression was serious and filled with intensity. The earlier nervousness had evaporated without a trace. I smiled at that.

“Well, since we had a discussion not too long ago, this one will be rather short. Tell me, are you content with your position as a guard?”

“Yes, my lord. I feel it is my calling to protect people, and this allows me to do just that.”