Making the First Move

"A-Ah... I get it, you can wear your towel back now"

Blake hurriedly averted his gaze away and said when he saw a glimpse of heaven in the flesh, his face was flushed as he couldn't believe that Tara would expose herself like this without any hesitation.

It was too sudden, and his heart was not ready to view such a paradisical sight.

Seeing that Blake's face is turning red to the ear, Tara covered herself again as she too becomes embarrassed. She didn't even know where she got the courage to expose herself like that in front of Blake.

Maybe due to the dependence on Blake that she developed in such a short amount of time.

"I- I'm sorry!"

Out of embarrassment, Tara went back inside the bathroom and slammed the door.

Now that he was alone again in the bedroom, Blake covers his face and sighs deeply, 'Aside from the black mark that developed on her body, I also don't know what kind of traits this Shaded Walker has. What if she couldn't step into the sunlight? What if she becomes weaker during the day? I really don't know...'

Despite Tara didn't adopt a different personality, there are still more questions.

Since this is the first time he has ever turned someone, he's walking blind. Even the description of the race doesn't explain the side effects or even the benefits of the Shaded Walker race, the description only contains its general information.

"Is there no way I could learn about the Shaded Walker Race?" Blake asked.

Upon hearing this, Salana ponders for a moment before she shrugs her shoulders, "If you're expecting a full description then no, there's no way you can have that. The only thing you could learn about the race is through the library or another Shaded Walker directly"

"Maybe I'll visit the library, I heard the Elves are very resourceful" Blake musted to himself.

A moment later.

Blake has already informed Tara of what he said to Linthia to get their story straight, she doesn't need to be told about what had happened to Tara, or else she would be sad or worse, freak out completely.

On top of that, Tara also said something interesting to him.

Just before the two got back to Linthia, Tara wanted to know if Blake is also a Shaded Walker. But he confessed that he's a Spectral Vampire, a mix of the best power that a Vampire and a Specter has.

He also said explained that Tara is also the same but influenced more by the Specter side.

Knowing the truth, Tara then explains that Vampires, Specters, or other various races are not welcome in the Narva Empire. Vampires in particular are hated in the empire because of their delightful taste for human blood. If one is spotted and identified, they will be staked and burned.

Additionally, Vampires and Specters were also considered a minority race.

It's true that each one of them is stronger than the average humans or even other major races, but none of the two have a united kingdom like the Elves, Dwarves, or even the Dragonkin which are the prominent races other than the humans.

Vampires and Specters acted more like stray dogs instead, occupying certain spaces.

Generally, Vampires stayed in one place and becomes a parasite of that place, living in the shadows and kidnap one or two humans to satiate their thirst for blood. On the other hand, Specters usually occupied damned places, far from civilization.

Blake now gets a fundamental grasp of the situation, and it's not looking good.

"Tara..."

"Yes?"

Just when Tara was about to go back to Linthia's room to comfort her, Blake suddenly call out to her. Pausing for a second, he then eventually raises his gaze, "I know you're trying to hide the fact that you're nervous about your current state to not make me feel bad, especially since I apologized before. But I don't want you doing something like that..."

Upon hearing this, Tara's body stiffens for a second.

Despite she accepted the fact that she was not a human anymore pretty well, Blake could tell that she was only doing that for him. Just like what she did to Linthia, she decided to keep a calm composure to not make him worry about her.

But Blake could see through her, and know what she was trying to do.

"I don't know your story, or how you became Lady Linthia's guardian. But I assume you've always done your best to protect her emotionally and physically, considering you endure the pain alone back then to not worry her" Blake continues, pouring his thoughts.

The moment he realized what Tara did for Linthia, he respected her selfless act deeply.

Linthia is lucky to have someone like her, yet this couldn't help but make Blake think about whether Tara has someone like that in her life. Someone that could do what she has done for Linthia throughout the years.

Now that Blake has turned her into something else, he has responsibility for her.

Putting on an allaying smile, Blake then added, "Specifically to me, I want you to be open and be yourself. Don't bottle up what you feel. Just know that whatever happens in the future, no matter what you did, I'll take responsibility for you"

At the sound of those words, Tara looks down at the ground in silence.

It was then, she puts on a light smile and gaze at Blake, "I- I'm going to Linthia now..."

"Oh, okay..." Blake replied lightly.

Tara then calmly opens the door and closes it behind her, leaving Blake inside the room alone. But it was right after that, she puts her hand above her beating heart before she slides down the door.

She suddenly felt weak just from hearing Blake's words.

Meanwhile, inside the room, Salana was staring intently at the side of Blake's face.

Blake felt the side of his face burning and he doesn't want to glance over to Salana, it feels like he was caught doing something bad, and he now awkwardly tried to make the moment pass without being questioned.

"Hey... If you want to bag all the girls then come clean to me right now"

"W- What do you mean? I'm- I'm not doing anything like that. M- More importantly, I think I'm going to check the dungeon in the Asmel Elf Kingdom. Yes... I need to find the item in mind for when the Transformational Token expired"

Not intending to stay on the topic, Blake quickly changed it.

Albeit that was the case, Salana can see right through him and could only sigh heavily.

A moment later.

Tara heads over to Linthia's room to comfort her.

Knowing how Linthia usually reacts, she's definitely in a shaky state because of the news from Seth Ashward. It must've been devastating for her to hear that. Tara also felt bad that if it weren't for Blake, she would've died and left Linthia in this kind of state.

Due to that, she wanted to stay by Linthia's side until she calmed down.

Knowing the two needed time alone, Blake didn't come and stayed in a separate room.

In addition to not wanting to disturb the two of them, Blake also felt awkward looking at Linthia right now. Due to the incident from earlier, he would have a hard time keeping his composure when around her.

Now, he was inspecting the Asmel Elf Kingdom's territory on the map.

Aside from the territory of each kingdom and empire in the continent, the map also shows hunting regions as well as the available dungeons, cleared or uncleared throughout the entire continent as well as information about the mobs inside of it.

Blake is searching for a dungeon that might be of help to block the sunlight.

Even though gaining another weaker race that doesn't have the side effects of being weakened under the sunlight is a better path, he needs to take into account that having a weaker race would drastically reduce his physical stats.

If he turned into a weaker race, then the increase per level would be adjusted to that race.

Due to that, he intends to only have S-grade races as the bare minimum. Gaining other S-grade races would definitely take time, and it would be best if he could obtain or craft an item that could help him block the sunlight.

Although that is what he wanted to do, it seems he was too hopeful.

None of the dungeons that have mobs similar to Vampires and Specters can be found, most of them were magical beasts thanks to the environment of the Asmel Elf Kingdom, 'Seems like I'll have to obtain other lower-grade races...'

Closing the map, he then lies on the bed and sighs to himself.

Some time has passed, and the date when he would need to meet with Angel is nearing.

"Maura, wake up"

"Eugh... "

Maura opens her eyes and finds that Blake is standing beside the bed, looking at her with an undisturbed expression. She was still feeling dizzy from the loss of blood, however, Blake already gave her a couple of pills to help her recover that he bought from the local drugstore.

Gesturing to follow him, Blake walks out of the bedroom with steady steps.

But as he reaches the sofa where a shopping bag was lying on it, he looks over his shoulders and finds that Maura is still sitting on the bed, "What are you doing? I told you to come here" he said with a frown.

"I- I think I can't" Maura replied meekly, she looks at the floor with a troubled expression.

In response to this, Blake tilted his head and walks back into the bedroom in confusion. Seeing that Blake is getting angry, she quickly added, "It's not that I don't want to, it's hard to explain. But I just feel like if it's not right for me to leave the bed, and something bad might happen if I do that"

Listening to this, Salana rubs her chin in thought.

"Compelled, I think she's compelled by you" Salana uttered in suspicion.

Upon hearing this, Blake was confused as he doesn't remember the Spectral Vampire having such an ability. But then again, it's possible that this is one of the effects that the Shadowblood is capable of.

Blake also remembered telling Maura to stay on the bed on the first day she arrived here.

Closing his eyes to focus for a moment, he tries to communicate with the Shadowblood before eventually he opens his eyes again that has already glowed red, "Get down from the bed and do as I say"

Maura stiffen when she heard this before surprisingly, she gets out of bed.

"Oh...? It actually works?"

"What did you do to me...?"

"Something that you don't need to know about, come"

Finding a useful ability that the Shadowblood is capable of, Blake smiled before he stopped at the sofa again. Pointing at the shopping bag, he then said, "Go clean yourself and change into those clothes, we're going somewhere"

"Where are we going...?" Maura asked curiously, it was so sudden.

Shrugging his shoulders, Blake sat on the sofa before he takes a cookie for himself, "Well, you said to me that the other mercenaries and special forces that are searching for the Limited PK VR Helmet are probably still around the area, right...?"

"If so then do you know who they all are?" he added nonchalantly.

Upon hearing this, Maura shakes her head as she only knows a couple, not all of them.

Blake then glanced over to her before a wicked smile cross his face, "I already expected that, so you're going to bring me to your organization. I'm going to need more information to know who I'm dealing with, and you're going to help me with it"