The city's lowest quarter smelled of rust, spilled blood, and failure.Perfect for business.
Lumiel stood behind a crooked table made of old coffin planks. On it sat three cracked bottles of potion—one green, one purple, one that wouldn't stop fizzing.Daniel had drawn a sign with coal on a piece of bone:
"Healing. Energy. Bliss. 2 Blood Coins each."
No one stopped.
Mockery and Dust
The first customer came limping down the alley—an emaciated vampire with one fang missing. He sniffed at a vial and spat on the ground.
"Rat brew. You really expect nobles to drink that?"
"You're not a noble," Lumiel replied.
"Fair point." The vampire shrugged, drank, and groaned. "Feels… warm."
"That's the healing one," Lumiel said.
"Warm isn't healing."
"You're still alive."
"Barely."
The customer staggered off, muttering curses. The next buyer never came.
Daniel sighed. "You know this isn't working, right?"
"It's market testing," Lumiel said.
"They're testing us, and we're failing."
Luminous leaned against the wall, tired eyes half-lidded. "Maybe we just need better ingredients."
"Or better customers," Lumiel muttered.
Cartethyia's voice crackled softly in his head.
[Profit today: 0.4 blood coins. Reputation: negligible.]"Thank you, accountant of doom."[I prefer 'financial realist.']
Bad Wine, Worse Hope
Night bled into another night. They brewed in abandoned rooms, grinding herbs with bones and boiling blood with stolen heatstones.Every potion fizzled or curdled.Every attempt tasted worse than the last.
Lumiel drank one of his own brews once—it burned his tongue and made his hair briefly turn silver.
"Progress," he said.
Luminous slapped the bottle out of his hand. "You're going to kill yourself before you impress anyone."
Cartethyia whispered:
[Observation: low-tier ingredients insufficient for advanced reactions. Recommendation: higher purity blood samples.]
"You're saying we need to steal again?" Lumiel asked.[I'm saying improvement requires investment.]
Daniel grumbled, "Investment in what? We can't even afford food."
Lumiel grinned. "Then we'll invest in theft."
The Next Batch
They raided the gutters, draining blood from feral vampires—boiling, filtering, mixing it with herb dust.It stank. It burned. It failed.
But each time they drank, just a drop, their eyes sharpened.Memories they didn't earn began to slip through.Alchemy diagrams formed in their minds like forgotten dreams.
Luminous looked up from her bubbling flask. "It's like we remember things we never learned."
"Blood keeps secrets," Lumiel said. "And we're drinking truth."
Daniel wiped his mouth, shaking. "Feels wrong."
"Then it's working."
Cartethyia hummed thoughtfully.
[Cognitive enhancement detected. Neural efficiency up 7%.][Emotional regulation down 15%.]"We're getting smarter and moodier," Lumiel said. "Congratulations."
[You're welcome.]
The Lowest Kind of Fame
Two days later, their stall finally drew attention—Not from nobles, not from merchants—but from addicts.
One by one, gutter vampires came to buy the "Warmth Potion." It didn't heal. It didn't empower.But it made them feel something again.In a city where nothing felt alive, that was enough.
"You're giving them hope," Luminous said softly."I'm giving them business," Lumiel corrected."Same thing, sometimes."
Daniel counted coins. "Two blood coins… three… four… it's working."
"Barely."
Cartethyia's tone softened:
[Progress recorded. Revenue up 600%.][That's… still very little.]
"Don't ruin the moment."[Understood.]
The Spark
That night, Lumiel sat beside the cauldron, watching the mixture swirl.He was exhausted, cold, hungry—and smiling.
"We're at the bottom," he murmured. "But even the bottom can boil."
Cartethyia's glow flickered faintly in the reflection of his blood.
[You enjoy this struggle.]"It's the only thing that feels real."[Why?]"Because nobody respects us yet."
He poured another vial, holding it up to the light. The glow was faint but steady.
"They will."
And somewhere above, in the polished towers of the vampire aristocracy, the first rumors began:
"The Crimson Rats are still alive.""And they're learning."