Chapter 73

The appearance of vampires dates back to as far as 1700, a far cry from the current 3562 century, back then they had a population of a billion and come the current years have dwindled down to only a handful. Their existence is currently on the brink of extinction.

This was because of the stigma they carried. Shadow magic was already an isolated form of magic, and with vampires being natural users they were also isolated.

Back when cult formations were popular and encouraged, a lot of vampire hunts began. It was made into a national holiday, however this died out only a hundred years ago when it suddenly became impossible to catch sight of them.

Years of being hunted had lead to vampires developing stealth and thievery to survive. Rumours arose of their extinction, but were proven wrong when Shane Ainsley had decided to terrorise the Kaedmen Empire.

He stole, killed and conquered. This went on until Darron managed to capture him because of his resistance to shadow magic as a user.

And that was just recently, which meant Shane was at it for a hundred years at most.

"This is insane" she muttered feeling as though she was reading the beginning of an epic novel and forcing herself to remember that Shane was the bad guy here and not the main protagonist.

'But… can he be blamed?' She sighed.

"I've found it" Hector suddenly declared. Clearing the area around the book he held as he ushered them towards him. They soon gathered around him looking at where his tired, shaking hand pointed.

"What is it, might I ask?" Alastair stared at what looked like a blueprint for a bottle of some kind. It had horribly written notes on it that would do Alexis' father proud.

"A mana storer. It's not known because it was basically useless after recovery potions were made, but it might not be entirely useless." He stared at the clueless faces in a bit of rare excitement, his usually polite face bright. In a way, he resembled Joshua. "It's possible to store energy or mana in it and give it to people to use at later dates".

"I see. This could be our saving grace", Alastair nodded understanding what Hector was getting at while Alexis stared blankly at Hector.

Emilia sighed at her, "it seems Alexis is busy processing all those books she's been at for the past hour. I'll explain, Alexis dear, as you read, vampires steal excess mana that is discarded by humans during their sleep. What Hector is saying is that we can fill up these mana storer's with mana to help the vampire population".

Alexis blinked for a moment and then understandingly nodded.

"Ohhh.. that's clever! But where do we get the mana from? Wouldn't we need a lot?" She held her chin while glancing around at her companions, furrowing her brows when she noticed the look they all sent her. "Why are you all staring at me like that?"

Manufacturing mana storers was difficult to say the least. Literally nobody made them. The material used to make it was expensive and because they were countered useless nobody bothered making them.

Along a round table were dozens of them, scattered all over the place in different sizes and shapes. Some less dusty than others, and some pitch black with a thick coating of dust and grime.

"These were all the models that were lying around. They should work fine" Adam dusted his hands. Alexis wasn't sure where he had to go to find these, but judging from his dusty appearance and constant coughs it wasn't a pretty place.

Hector frowned at them, picking one model up with scrutinising eyes.

"They will have to do. The current number of vampires aren't known but there can't be too much", he nodded, "and either way, we've found a solution".

Alexis lifted a bottle, finding a strange glass button on the side. She pressed it out of curiosity and within seconds the bottle jumped away, landing swiftly on the table as a murky baby blue colour filled its interior. A makeshift lid appeared on the top. Shaped like a cork.

"What the hell?" Alexis unconsciously let out, ignoring Agathus who clicked his tongue at her language while she observed the bottle, "the bottle can move on its own?"

Adam laughed at her expression of stupidity.

"It's a magical condition. It does that when it's full" replied Hector, holding back a smirk, but his twitching lip betrayed him.

"Well it's good to know they work" Adam shrugged still grinning and then suddenly threw another bottle to Alexis, "now. Let's get started".

Filling the bottles had been easy, for Alexis at least. She had gave a triumphed chuckle at the last one. Hector and Adam on the other hand were drained completely and had to recuperate in their rooms while Alexis easily filled up the last of them.

She had been so focused she didn't notice the approaching footsteps behind her until a whisper met her ears.

"You're finally done"

She jolted back, her cold back meeting a warm broad chest and she relaxed the instant she felt it. The lock of blonde hair she spotted next to her made her smile.

"Alastair" she turned to his lowered head with a warm look, meeting an equally warm look.

"You've been busy the moment we came here. Why not take a break?" He asked with a wink that made Alexis flush a bit.

"A- a break?" She stuttered face getting hotter with each passing second.

He nodded with a smirk, "a break. Your little head needs to cool down after all", he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and strutted off with her head nestled on his shoulder.

"Where are we going?" She sighed softly, enjoying Alastair's warmth.

"A place where nobody can disturb us".

That made her flinch. Her cheeks once again flaming up. Her mind ran wild with ideas.

Alastair noticed and gave her a concerned look.

"What the matter? Do you have a fever?" He touched her forward which didn't help her spiralling thoughts and instead made them worse.

"N-No I don't. Let's go!" She jumped out of his embrace walking ahead of him despite not knowing where to go.

Alastair chuckled at her.