'Research?' Thought Aurea.
"Yes, you heard that right. It's the research of Mana. Your Aura and my Magic both are fueled by Mana," explained Ooro.
"The Sovereign of Pandora is the one personally funding this research. Here, they do things in the name of science. You might not have learned of Science yet, but here it stands at the top. Through scientific research, I realized just how lacking our ways of learning magic was. Even I have never once sought to question how mana worked this much," explained Ooro.
And in the moment afterwards, Ooro began a long session of in-depth analysis on how science worked. It was fervently explained, so much so that he had to drink water several times during it.
And finally, when he was done. Ooro realized that Aurea had fallen asleep.
Instead of forcing himself to be awake through Aura, Aurea decided to let go and sleep.
Truly the best lullaby on Pandora.
****
In the coming days, Aurea experienced a rapid period of healing through the help of his Aura.
Unfortunately, some of his injuries were too far gone to be healed properly with Aura.
Though it did not impede him in his normal activities, he felt them a lot whenever he practiced his swordsmanship.
The doctors told him that it was because he suffered permanent nerve damage.
But since he had never gone to Oer academy, he did not know what "nerve" even meant. Even when they explained to him the nervous system, he had a hard time believing their words.
Luckily for him, it was soon to be Lucky's 7th year in this world.
And for this 7th-year anniversary, Lucky decided that it was time for the opening of spots for new vampires.
After the war that was too short to even be called a skirmish, Lucky had stopped the girls from making new 3rd Generation vampires.
It was because the 3rd Generation vampires were actually still capable of producing children through sex, though very rare.
This meant that if he did not control the vampire population, everyone would become vampires soon enough.
Afterwards, he decided to make it a yearly event. One that coincides with his own anniversary of arriving into this world and also becoming a vampire.
****
A couple days later, Aurea stood in a public venue in the Inside District of Oer.
He held a paper that detailed his personal information in his right hand, getting this paper was tough since he did not know how to read or write.
Luckily, any Pandora citizen could request such papers if they were illiterate. The Pandora government helped its citizens in many sorts of ways, including this one.
Social services were one of Pandora's core activities. After all, to technologically advance, the society and citizens of Pandora needed to be well and thriving.
Around Aurea were numerous other people.
Incredibly, there weren't just goblins here.
There were humans, orcs, elves, dwarves, and many other races.
Everywhere his eys could go, he could see other races.
He could see that there were more non-goblins in the sea of thousands here.
Pandora clearly did not discriminate.
"Tan? Is that you??" Aurea called out.
And surprisingly, it was.
"It is indeed me. I see that Sir Aurea has also applied," acknowledged Tan, the first disciple of Ooro.
Considering that Tan hated vampires more than his master, this was a massive surprise to Aurea.
"What number do you have, Sir Aurea?" Asked Tan.
"Mine? Here, does it say 112? I seem to recall them saying it was," spoke Aurea.
"Hmm, it says 50 though?" Spoke Tan.
"What?! They called 50 awhile back!" Exclaimed Aurea.
"I'm just joking. You should really learn how to read and write, Sir Aurea," said Tan.
"...."
Aurea was clearly displeased with that joke.
"Ahem, it seems that it's my turn. I'm number 99. I shall excuse myself," spoke Tan.
'They haven't even called out number 98,' said Aurea in his mind.
****
Soon, it was his turn.
"Calling for number 112! Number 112, it's your turn!" Announced a vampire goblin soldier.
Aurea's heart beated like it was going to go through his chest.
He never once thought in his life that he was going to become a vampire.
Even during the preliminary interview to get here in the first place, he did not think much about it.
So why now?
Nevertheless, he still kept his walk steady.
To fix his permanent nerve damage, he had to become a vampire.
Vampires could survive even without half of their body, so surely becoming one could fix nerve damage.
Cming into the room, he could three beautiful elves, and a familiar man.
"?!"
"You look deathly pale," spoke Lucky.
Aurea hadn't thought of the man since the incident. No, he willfuly ignored such thoughts.
"Why are you here?" Questioned Aurea.
"Should I not be here?" Lucky questioned back.
"...."
Clearly at a loss of words, Aurea began searching for answers towards the elves.
He had learned in the military that the Elven Trio of Pandora were second only to the Sovereign. This was because they were turned into vampires by the Sovereign.
Seeing as they were silent, it seemed that the mysterious human vampire was supposed to be here.
"Let's get it done, shall we?" Spoke Lucky.
"Out of the three abilities you've been briefed on, which one would you choose? Daywalking, Steel Claws, or Blood Weaving?"
What used to be called Blood Control was now called Blood Weaving.
The reason why Lucky referred to it that way now was because of how it was operated.
Strings of blood ejected through the skin pores and coagulating into floating pools of blood. Just like the spinnerets of spiders ejecting various fluids that mix into spider silk.
"So, which one?" Asked Lucky.
"...."
"Hurry up, will you? You're not the only one doing this today. We've still got thousands," complained Lucky.
"Sigh, to make this easier, let me do you a a favour. Each of the girls has each ability. If you can't do this right now, just go ask them to do it later. Elena here, your boss in the military, has Steel Claws. This woman, Erina, is our trading company's boss, she's a Bloodweaver. And Ella here is the headmistress of our Oer Academy, she's a Daywalker. Now leave, we have others to turn," spoke Lucky sternly.
After hearing how Lucky referred to the 3 elves with the second highest authority in Pandora, something finally clicked in Aurea's mind, 'could it be, that this man is the Sovereign?'
Then, as if to gamble his own life, Aurea made his choice.
"Could you be the one that turns me into one instead?" Asked Aurea.
"What? Why should I? You don't even know what ability I have. And I don't even want to do it," said Lucky.
Then, Aurea did something that he had never done in his entire life. He kneeled.
Fully kneeled, with all four limbs and his head on the ground.
"I swear my life, my Aura, and my sword, to be loyal only to you, the Sovereign of Pandora," spoke Aurea whilst kneeling.
"Oh? So you finally noticed my identity?" Spoke Lucky.
"If you make me a vampire, I will dedicate my whole being into serving you," said Aurea.
"But you'll already be doing that if they turn you into one anyway?" Spoke Lucky.
"No, as a Knight, I can only serve one Master. To serve you by proxy of serving one of the Trio would be no different than not serving you," explained Aurea.
He did not want to serve Lucky by being a vampire, he wanted to serve him as a knight.
Becoming a vampire to one of the women would nullify his oath to serve Lucky.
"Pandora is against the concept of Knights, so why should I abide by your rule?" Asked Lucky.
"Then make me a personal knight, not an official or legal one," spoke Aurea.
"...."
The room was quiet.
For the girls, they were quiet because they were reserving their stamina for the coming days. After all, they would be stuck here giving their blood to thousands of people for the rest of today and possibly the next few days.
But for Lucky, he was quiet because he genuinely did not know what to say anymore.
Aurea was just too persistent.
'I can already tell that he'll be doing this for the next few days, months, and probably even years. His eyes are that determined,' thought Lucky.
"Sigh, fine," admitted Lucky.
"Lucky?"
"What?"
"No...."
The girls exclaimed their shocks. They thought Lucky was going to refuse.
Due to how weird Lucky's Progenitor blood was, there was no way of knowing what outcome it would produce.
"Quiet. You three should be reservinv your stamina. Weren't you all the ones that suggested we do the turnings in a single event?"
"...."
"...."
"...."
The girls went back to being quiet. His words were true, to make the turnings simpler, they suggested bunching it all up in a single event.
You reap what you sow.
"Now, let's do this. Come closer," beckoned Lucky.
"Open your mouth, a single drop of my blood will enter it," spoke Lucky.
When Aurea opened his mouth, Lucky used Blood Weaving to conjure a drop of blood in the air.
Then, the blood entered Aurea's mouth.
"Now, let's see what unique ability you'll get," spoke Lucky whilst smiling.
'Huh? Let's see? I'm not getting your ability?' Thought Aurea.
'Didn't vampires get their parent vampire's ability?' He thought.
Suddenly, his heart beated its loudest.
*BADUMP*
Lucky and girls could hear it.
No, even the thousands of people in the public venue outside the tent they were in could feel the vibration of his thumps.
*BADUMP*
*BADUMP*
"I-I don't feel so good...." said Aurea.
Clearly something was changing in his body.