Chapter Sixteen #5
And here I had two incredible women ready to cry for me with faces full of anxiety for my safety as I casually talked about getting myself killed as part of game mechanics.
I could no longer, with 100% certainty, claim that it would work exactly like it was supposed to. Even if I could be 100% sure, the risk was too high and pointless for one specific combination.
Then, when they tried telling me I couldn’t do it, I got mad at them for not wanting me to kill myself because of how something worked in a game.
Maybe I was—no, I was definitely being too selfish there. And foolish. I was overcorrecting for how I used to be.
I took a deep breath and got to explaining.
“I wanted Reaper for a single ability: Soul Reap. It’s a fun ability that removes all status effects on the target with some fun mechanics.
For each buff the target had, it dealt 25% less damage.
However, for each debuff on the target, it dealt 25% more damage. It got real fun with DoTs, though.”
“Wait,” Rosie said. “Isn’t this a spoil—”
“With DoTs, it would take the remaining duration on them and burst all the remaining damage at once, multiplied by the bonus from debuffs and the base skill. So if you stack a ton of DoTs and debuffs onto an enemy, you would deal a seriously ridiculous amount of damage all at once. And I was going to pick up Chronomancer because it had two skills: one that would pause DoTs on the target and another that would double the duration of all status effects—buffs, debuffs, and DoTs, on a target. So the strategy was going to be load up a ton of DoTs onto a target, pause them, double them, and then burst them all at once with Soul Reap.”
“Why are you telling us this?”
“It lets me get the satisfaction of coming up with the idea in the first place since I won’t be doing it.”
“Wait—you’re… you’re not? Why not? You were so excited about it!”
“Because what kind of selfish, idiotic asshole would I be to get myself purposely killed hoping that this world is going to still do the same thing it did as a video game? What if I mess up in the dungeon and get killed before even reaching the boss? What if the boss kills me and the questline to unlock Reaper doesn’t begin like it’s supposed to?
The boss at the end of the dungeon is the Reaper of Sin, and by carrying Otto’s necklace from the cemetery—by killing me, the boss would recognize the item, resonate with it, and then some other things would happen that would result in the boss giving me its scythe and unlocking the option for me to become a Reaper.
So much could go wrong there that I wouldn’t be able to come back from.
If the world worked exactly like I expected it to, then I would be staying in a tavern instead of with your parents, and Lupa wouldn’t exist at all.
In other words, for the sake of not being a dumbass, and for the sake of not making the girls who I care about cry, I’m not going to risk my life to be a stubborn, selfish asshole when there are literally thousands of other possible builds I can pick from. ”
I was confident that most of the world would, in fact, be like the game still. That didn’t change.
But that didn’t justify letting myself get killed for the sake of one possible build.
I was being a dumbass for thinking of using that build ever since I first realized the world wasn’t exactly the same.
Even if the world was the exact same, it was still too stupid of a risk when I knew death was permanent.
“Also,” I continued, “back to what you said earlier—you’re not horrible for refusing to let me throw my life away.
I'm the horrible one for getting upset because you tried being reasonable. In fact, if I ever start treating my life too lightly because part of me still treats the world like it’s a game, I want you to slap me and put me in my place, alright? ”
“I—I wouldn’t slap you,” Rosie said, starting to tear up. “But I’ll remind you how much we care about you and hope that gets through to you.”
“It will. I promise. If you ever feel like I’m pushing myself too far or putting myself in too much danger, let me know. You’re not trying to restrict me and take away my freedom… you just care about me and want to live a long life with me.”
“Exactly! So… just to be sure… you’re not going to go solo a dungeon and get yourself killed?”
“I’m not.”
Rosie’s tears couldn’t be held back at that point. “Thank—thank you. I was so scared, but I didn’t want to take away your freedom or make you hate me…”
“Master,” Lupa said.
“Yeah?” I replied.
“This is when you hug her.”
“You’re right. I’m ashamed for not realizing that sooner.”
While Rosie cried, I got up, walked to her side of the table, and hugged her against my chest.
Rosie was quick to wrap her arms around me in response while getting her tears on my shirt.
As for Lupa… she ended up crawling under the table on all fours to come over and hug me from below. “Mm. I’m happy, too. Thank you, Master.”
I left one arm around Rosie while my other hand reached down to pet the top of Lupa’s head. “Sorry for making you worry, too.”
“Mm. It’s okay as long as you don’t do it again.”
“I’ll do my best. In fact, I already have an idea for what kind of class to go for. One that’ll better synergize with both of you while dealing damage and supporting you with healing. Oh, and, technically, it’ll make us immortal—or at least, we won’t age.”
Rosie and Lupa both looked up at me with confused expressions, the former more confused than the latter. Though, that might have just been because Lupa wasn’t that expressive.
“Would you like some… forbidden knowledge?” I asked with a growing grin.
“I—I am curious,” Rosie said while Lupa nodded.
“Have you heard of the dungeon Dracula’s Spine?”
“… why are you bringing up a dungeon full of blood-crazed monsters that are all around a hundred levels?”
“What do you know about vampires?”
“They’re immortal monsters who live on blood known for their cruelty and impaling people for banquets. Most were hunted to the point where they almost went extinct… but nobody could defeat Dracula.”
“And according to the lore, he retreated to his tower—Dracula’s Spine—where he waits to this day for a new chance to conquer the lands.”
“… Sev, nobody knows about that part.”
“Oh.”
Rosie let out a groan. “Great, so he’s still alive and waiting for the right opportunity. Everyone was hoping he just kind of… you know, disappeared and lost interest in that sort of thing.”
“Nope, he’s alive and can’t wait to get revenge.”
“This world is doomed.”
“It’s alright, we’ll deal with him eventually. For now, the important thing is: what is he waiting for? And the answer to that is: his daughter.”
“He has a daughter?! Doesn’t that make everything even worse?!”
“Well, his daughter hates him, so no. The lore goes that he’s waiting for his assassins to kill her since she’s the only one who can actually kill him.
Even if you reduce his health to one, he won’t die unless she inflicts the killing blow.
It was actually a really fun time in the community when the game released since nobody could figure out how to kill him and nobody knew how to find his daughter.
Dracula died many thousands of times the day that his daughter was found. ”
Rosie sighed and asked, “So, is his daughter a good person then? I mean, if she’s his enemy…”
“She’s a good girl,” those words caused Lupa’s tail to wag, “who believes in justice.”
“That’s… not bad, at least. And what does all of this have to do with the class you—wait. Don’t tell me—”
“You see, Rosie. There are vampires, and then there is the Vampire class.”
“You want to become a vampire?!”
“I’ll become a vampire who has the Vampire class. All I have to do is find Dracula’s daughter and let her turn me into one. Letting her turn me into a vampire is the only prerequisite for the Vampire class.”
“… is it safe to do that?”
“As safe as letting someone turn you into a vampire can be.”
“Isn’t there a chance that she’ll kill you instead of turn you?”
“You two will be there with me just in case—plus since I know you’d want to be—even though she would never do that if she’s anything like she was in the game.
But first, I would confirm that I can trust her—that we can trust her.
But I’ve already trusted you and Lupa, so I want to try trusting her, too. ”
Rosie let go of me and sat back in her chair with a tired look on her face. Lupa stayed on the floor clinging to me. “And what about burning in the sun and all that?” Rosie asked.
“It’s fine as long as I use an umbrella or wear clothes that cover up my skin.”
“And drinking blood to survive?”
“Dungeon monsters are full of blood.”
“Do you promise that you believe this is a hundred percent safe, even by real standards and not game standards? Do you promise you’re not potentially throwing your life away?”
“I am. Plus, if it means getting to live in a world like this, there’s no way I wouldn’t do everything in my power to become immortal at some point anyways.”
Rosie sighed but then shrugged. “Well, alright. You’ve already gone back on your original plan for us, and I don’t believe you’d talk like that only to pick up another dangerous plan, so… how do we find the daughter of one of history’s greatest villains?”
“That’s easy.” I winked. “With the power of forbidden knowledge.”
“I didn’t expect any other answer, by the way.”