Shot

--Return to Eira POV--

[8 Essence Acquired]

Sucking the remaining blood of the officer, I throw the drained body to the side. I take a look at my bleeding shoulder.

'He actually shot me!'

Pulling up my status, I check my health and mana.

Name: Eira Callista

Gender: Female

Race: Vampire {Pseudo True God}

Level: 1 (0/10)

Health: 269/300

Mana: 17/100

Strength: 15

Endurance: 15

Agility: 15

Intellect: 10

Constitution: 30

Talents: Paranormal

Skills: Blood Magic

Titles: Heir of Blood

Essence: 27

'It's pretty far from life-threatening, but it still hurts. Nothing compared to the inheritance ceremony, though.'

I focus my thoughts on manipulating the blood in my body. I hold out my hand, and the bullet drops into my palm.

With my enhanced stats and constitution, a single bullet to the shoulder isn't that vital of an injury. As I thought firearms don't seem that effective. It was able to do some damage to me, but I am only level 1 and have no magical defense erected. I messed around with the magic shield a little the other day, but I had problems with mana expenditure.

All that said, the Japanese police force use antique sidearm pistols maybe military-grade weapons will have some effect on weaker magical creatures. Anyways that's the future, and this is now.

**Sigh**

I think I went a little overboard with the bloody chains. I don't have much mana left; maybe only enough for a blood spike or two.

Having finished my meal, I quickly begin to leave the area. In the distance, I hear sirens and yelling.

'Why are there so many police in this area?! Is the police station across the street or something!'

I start moving faster to put some distance between myself and the police. I make sure to keep to the back alleys when possible.

Looking at my blood-stained clothes, I couldn't help but think how much I stick out.

'I need to change clothes I can't run around looking so obviously suspicious.'

Finding a small utility room, I kick open the door. Closing the half-broken door, I begin changing clothes and put a bandage over the wound. Although it's almost already stopped bleeding and vampires heal quickly, I still don't want to get any blood on my clothes.

Changing into a black dress and black coat, I walk out of the alley and blend into the crowd. I see police cars and ambulances speed by heading for Yokohama Station.

'I'll walk from here. It will take me around an hour to walk all the way to the port.'

As I walk, I see officers pulling people from the crowd that are wearing clothing similar to what I was wearing earlier. I pick up my pace to escape. As I got farther away from the station, things seemed to quiet down a lot.

After forty-five minutes, I arrive at the Yokohama International Port. At this point, I realize this is going to be a lot more complicated then I thought it would be.

'This looks more like an airport than a dock! Of course, it does. Why did I think this would be simple?'

Don't get me wrong I did look this place up on the internet, but that was an aerial view. Actually, standing here is entirely different.

Entering the area, I look to my right and see the Yokohama Aquatic Police Station.

'Please, say that at least they aren't looking for me.'

Grudgingly I pass by doing everything I can to not look suspicious. With a sigh of relief, I walk past unnoticed.

With some breathing room, I start looking around the area to assess my options.

To my left is a breakwater structure; to my right is the pier building, and in front is the entrance to the terminal the legitimate international cruise goers would take. The entire area to the left and right of the terminal is raised with a walking path so passerby can watch or wait for the ships to arrive. The two paths are raised high enough if an ordinary person tried to jump down they would break their legs.

Between the raised area of the terminal and the pier building is a road with a guarded security gate that is for buses and other vehicles to deliver passengers to the cruise ships.

Right now, there are a bunch of buses parked on the other side of the gate. Supposedly they'll be picking up passengers from somewhere tomorrow.

I walk up the path to the right of the international terminal to get a closer look.

'There are a few other boats and cruise ships here, but the one I need should be toward the backside.'

Eventually, I find the luxury cruise ship I am looking for. The ship is simply named 'Moonlight'. It is around 900 feet long, 200 feet high, and accommodates approximately 3,500 people. It is your standard luxury cruise ship with spas, pools, a casino, and so on, but none of that is important. The most important thing is they'll be sailing to the United States starting tomorrow.

Looking over the railing

'Now that I am here, I can at least see some potential ways of going about this.'

For a while, I run through all the possibilities I had considered for the past few days. Now that I have observed the full situation, most of them seem unfeasible.

The main thing is I need to find a way to draw everyone away while I climb on. At night I'm certain there will be security making sure no one sneaks on.

It's not that I'm afraid just to get rid of the security, but if they simply vanish, that could prompt a search. The last thing I need is them checking everyone's identity and doing a full-scale search of the ship.

While staring out at the ocean, I'm struck by a sudden idea.

'I have an idea, but it will be difficult with my current capabilities. It should work...probably.'

I remember that I have enough essence to level up.

'While I have some time, I should level up. Leveling up should boost my odds of success a bit."

With a thought, ten essences get added toward my level.

[Ding!]

[Achieved Level 2!]

With the sound of leveling up, a comfortable warmth feels my body.

'Leveling is such a pleasant experience.'

"Status"

Name: Eira Callista

Gender: Female

Race: Vampire {Pseudo True God}

Level: 2 (0/25)

Health: 304/320

Mana: 51/130

Strength: 15 -> 16

Endurance: 15 -> 16

Agility: 15 -> 18

Intellect: 10 -> 13

Constitution: 30 -> 32

Talents: Paranormal

Skills: Blood Magic

Titles: Heir of Blood

Essence: 17

From what I remember what stats improve and how much is dependent on the actions of the person. If someone uses a lot of magic when they level up, their intellect will increase. On the other hand, if someone uses a heavy weapon or the like, then their strength and endurance would improve more than their intellect.

I pull out my umbrella and find a secluded place off in the corner to watch the cruise ship 'Moonlight'.

'With my coat, the umbrella isn't essential, but being in the shade is simply comforting.'

While sitting, I take out some daifuku from my storage ring to snack on.

The police are still looking for me, but if I keep a low profile, I should be fine. I doubt they would check a place like the International port.

It seems more likely they are probably checking my home along with all the places 'Robert Adams' frequented.

I'm curious if they think I perhaps killed 'Robert Adams' or if they think he is my coconspirators. The way I see it, neither answer is wrong, but neither answer is correct either.

With a small chuckle, I sit in the shade of my little black umbrella, waiting for the night to come.