I saw Roselia bear her fangs at us. This isn't something you'd see humans have. Roselia was far from being human. This version of Roselia is her second iteration. She left a wisp of memories behind which eventually grew akin to a reincarnation. She took the role of the Holy Beast of Fire, the Burning Sphinx, from her predecessor, the first elder of the Hexen Clan. In reality, this Roselia is the second elder, despite sharing the same name.
Roselia, in a way, was very similar to me when I experienced my reincarnation. She became whole again, back to the Roselia who is now seated beside us. But that wasn't all she did this time around.
This newer version did something even crazier than her predecessor, in my opinion. Closer around the Middle Ages, Roselia decided to work alongside the Septian Church and become what's called a vampire hunter. Vampires are very real, and they ran rampant throughout Heimdallr back then. Roselia took it upon herself to eradicate every single vampire on the continent. The kicker?
Roselia is their True Ancestor. AKA, the Progenitor of her race. She was a vampire herself, and yet, she was tasked to slay her own kin. What a bad way to go, right?
But here she is, seated right beside us. Those fangs belonged to that of a vampire. Not a human. Hell, they even documented Roselia's events by spinning them into a tale. Red Moon Rose!
I sighed, seeing Roselia do this before me.
"...I had a feeling it'd come down to this.", I said while sighing.
To put it bluntly, by baring her fangs like this, Roselia requires a resupply to nourish her Mana. She likely thinks that I am a very good battery to recharge that Mana. I am a future Awakener after all. Normally, Roselia has to spend a long time to recover her strength like this, but if she undergoes this spell to create both of our Mana Cores, no doubt she will consume a lot of Mana. I doubt she even has enough right now to perform it. I wasn't the first Awakener she has come across, it really does make me wonder if she has shown this side of her to other past Awakeners. You know, the fact that she is a vampire.
Still, I did not back down from it. The prospect of learning Magic in this second life of mine weighed too heavily for me to simply ignore it! It just involves a little puncture to the skin. I think I can survive that. I nodded my head at Roselia, causing her to smile at me.
"If you are ready Naoto, then turn around, and show the back of your neck at me.", Roselia issued.
"Got it.", I said. Remaining seated, I turned around and scooted closer to Roselia. My back was now against hers. Thankfully my hair was still really short, so I didn't have to move it out of the way. She saw my neck become visible. She then glanced back at Prince Olivert and Aurelia.
"I have little interest in what you two do during this. If you are squeamish, you may want to look away.", Roselia said to the two.
"Squeamish?", Aurelia tried to ask, but she couldn't even finish her words before she was interrupted by Roselia's swift action. All of a sudden, she opened her mouth wide, and moved her head toward my neck. She found an area on it to her liking. Chomppp. Hsss!
A low-pitched hiss resounded around our ears as my neck felt a puncture. To my surprise, it wasn't painful, but rather, numbing in a way? A couple droplets of blood began to drip down my neck while Roselia gobbled most of it up. She was pretty messy. A few droplets of blood splashed onto Aurelia's face not too far away, painting it bright red.
"This...", Aurelia uttered while shock returned onto her face. Raising a finger, she wiped the blood off with one of her fingers, only to see it stained. She turned quiet. "It's not like blood is foreign to me. I've participated in many battles to grow my strength, despite most of them being duels. I just wasn't expecting to see such a thing tonight...", Aurelia uttered softly while taking a moment to clean her face.
"You truly are a blood-sucking vampire...? Records of old indicated they were all wiped out, but that clearly isn't the case.", Prince Olivert mused seeing this play out before him.
I winced my eyes for a moment upon the initial puncture while expecting the pain to gradually grow during each passing moment. But to my surprise, that never came. Roselia likely has a numbing agent that her teeth produce. The only thing I felt was a lump buried into my neck. Honestly, it was a pretty weird sensation, but it wasn't exactly unpleasant? Before I realized it, I heard a low 'pah' sound, only to follow with Roselia clicking her tongue. The blood stopped trickling down my neck, and I turned around again. That still caused a few droplets of blood to splatter onto the rug beneath us, and I finally saw Roselia's bloody mouth.
"Tch, I really am rusty at this, to let a few droplets of blood go to waste...", Roselia said.
"You shouldn't talk with your mouth full like that, Rose. Haha!", I retorted, seeing her as a bloody mess. But to my surprise yet again, I suddenly heard a Gamer Notification sound off inside my head. Seriously? Now of all times?
My eyes wandered to it. The three couldn't see the window appear, but they saw as if I was reading something. Only Roselia could see this if she was connected to my mind. Right now, she wasn't.
[Ding! a True Ancestor Vampire has sunk their teeth onto Gamer Naoto for the first time. Considering Gamer Naoto is presently Human, the Occupation Function has now been unlocked. Depending on what Gamer Naoto does in the future, new Occupations may become available.]
[Ding! Two or more Occupations have now been detected. Gamer Naoto can equip one Occupation at a time. Depending on the equipped Occupation, Gamer Naoto will receive various buffs.]
[Current Occupations]
Noble
True Dhampir
[Ding! Gamer Naoto can freely switch Occupations at any given time, as long as they are not currently being interrupted by another action.]
"Nani?", I uttered softly, shocked at what I was now seeing before me. As I continued looking at this new Function I just received, my wound began to close at a visible speed, leaving behind no dripping trail of blood at all. Roselia had already cleaned that off. She had only dropped a few drops once. She savored it, even going as far as using her finger to wipe away any remainder of it from her lips.
Thankfully it looks like my surprise went unnoticed. Aurelia and Prince Olivert were too absorbed with Roselia's actions of sucking blood. I heaved a sigh of relief.
"Now that did the trick. Your blood is exquisite, Naoto.", Roselia said while she smacked her lips.
"You could have at least warned us you were going to do that...", Aurelia retorted, scoffing.
"Do you feel any different, Naoto?", Prince Olivert questioned as he regained his composure. He glanced his eyes back to me. Roselia just looked at the two.
"I did warn you two though?", Roselia retorted back. And as for me, I ensured Prince Olivert that I was alright.
"I'm fine. I don't feel even the slightest bit woozy.", I replied.
"All is well then. I've replenished a hefty amount of Mana thanks to you. I would even go for seconds~", Roselia said, grinning. Even though most of the blood was now gone, you could still see her teeth were still stained red.
"Yeah, I'd rather not.", I shot back, keeping my cool. "More importantly, what's the next step from here, Rose? You've enough Mana now right?", I decided to ask.
"Umu. What comes next is the easy part. At least for me. You, on the other hand, may not like it so much, Naoto. As for your answer, I can now attain my true form again. It will only last for a little while, so we need to act quick. And before you even ask about it, it isn't what you're thinking of. I am simply returning to how I look. Remaining a little girl like this helps me conserve Mana.", Roselia explained, shutting me down before I could even ask more.
Roselia still had her large crimson staff beside her. She grabbed it after standing up. She now had our undivided attention. Making sure she had enough space, she twisted her crimson staff horizontally. All of a sudden, a rather complex bluish magic circle appeared beneath her which contained symbols I had no clue what they were even for. The two beside me just stared on with a blank look in their eyes seeing Magic cast before them for the first time. As much as I wanted to laugh, I didn't. Roselia didn't even need an incarnation for this spell. She simply transformed, just like that.
We were then greeted by a white puff of smoke, hiding Roselia's figure entirely. Her shadow began to stretch. This played out very similarly to how clones appeared and disappeared in Naruto. She grew taller and taller, no longer appearing like a little girl.
Once the smoke vanished, an entire new Roselia appeared before us. She was much taller, more beautiful. Quite voluptuous to boot. Her hair no longer appeared as unruly as before. It didn't touch the ground. It was more toward her knees now. Regardless, it just showed how long her hair actually is. As far as I can recall, Roselia has only shown this form once or twice at most to Rean. I'm surprised she doesn't use this form more often. Maybe she's just used to that other form? I'm not sure.
But to what Roselia mentioned, it requires a lot of Mana to stay in this form, so maybe that's why she doesn't use it too often. This lets her cast incantations much more effectively. And as Roselia said, this isn't her Burning Sphinx form. If she had transformed into that, a large portion of Valflame Palace would come crumbling down, haha!
"Looks like your transformation is a success, Rose.", I said to her with a smile.
"Umu. It looks like I've still got it. If I didn't have plans to cast three brands here tonight, I very well may have had a good long while in this form of mine. But alas, I am already preoccupied with you all.", Roselia said, looking back at us.
"Still, it's not like this won't be the last time we see you like this, right?", I decided to ask.
"Indeed. Should another chance arise, I may attain this for again. Only time will tell for that.", Roselia said. With a serious look in her eyes, she glanced at me, then at Aurelia. "Are the both of you ready?"
"I am.", I replied, full of confidence.
"I didn't think you'd turn out this way, Roselia. But I am ready nonetheless. I will not back down.", Aurelia said, nodding confidently too.
"Good. Good. Let us start with my branding. This will cast three insignias of the Hexen Clan onto the two of you, like I said before. Now drop those clothes and face your backs against me.", Roselia suddenly said.
""Eh?"", Aurelia and I exclaimed in shock after hearing that. We could only glance at each other in silence...