Everyone Else Has a System

Alaric Pere was his name, a half vampire born from the mating of a human and a vampire. Even though it was really hard to digest the facts about his origin, since the living proof was right in front of me, I couldn\'t really deny it, can I?

\'A Dhampir?\' I thought as I looked at him before I told him that I would watch over him and he simply agreed without hesitation. When I asked him how he could trust me that easily, he simply answered,"Some things… are better left unsaid."

After that I asked Zial to show me around, which he did. One thing led to another, and I ended up helping people here every now and then. It was a nice change from my usual mundane travelling and I was benefiting from it as well…

…

"[Blood Assimilation Magic]" Alaric activated his spell from his system as he looked at that patient and connected his blood with that patient. His System allowed him to control and check the blood of others, as long as he can physically touch it.

He had a vast knowledge about blood and when I showed him my blood magic… he was more than just amazed by it. He asked me how I use it and other stuff, which I replied with an honest answer. Though that only made him more confused before he gave up on my blood magic and spoke if I wanted to learn about Blood Assimilation Magic, since I could more or less copy most of the magic, I readily agreed to it cause… why not?

He was a kindred soul, helping everyone whenever he could… Watching him doing all the hard work, from healing the patients to teaching me blood magic, made me feel like that the world is still worth fighting for.

So, for the past 3 months I have been helping people out here meanwhile also learning about Blood Magic and various properties of blood from Alaric. As far as teaching goes, he was an excellent teacher, and with his teaching, now I was helping people on par with him. I also helped him with his theories and stuff using my own knowledge and intelligence pool I had collected over the years.

At times when I was not learning, I was helping people out while also training on my own whenever I could.

\'We are almost there, aren\'t we?\' I thought as I looked at the Blood Assimilation Magic of Alaric as he studied the changes in the blood of his patients there. I also helped him in that process wherever I could using the same blood Assimilation Magic he used, though it wasn\'t as effective as his.

"Reaper!! Look!!" Alaric spoke with excitement as he looked at those blood samples, and hearing his sudden excited voice, I too analysed it only to be dumbfounded by what I saw.

"The black blood is returning to normal?!! What did you do?!" I asked with the same enthusiasm he had as I looked at him with a bright smile.

Maybe because I had been working on this for months that I was so glad with the progress we made after all that effort… or perhaps I was happy that Alaric is almost closer to his goal after putting in all that work.

His face was beaming and then he spoke,"Your theory of using an alternate pathway to return the blood to its original state using a catalyst worked!! All this time I was so fixated on reversing the process… but damn! To think it would be this simple…"

I looked at him before asking again with a cheerful voice,"what is the catalyst?"

It took us hours and hours of work to determine the right catalyst. Half the time, we chose the reversing theory to see if we could bring the blood to its previous state. Other times, we tried using various catalysts to change the properties of black blood to something suitable to humans.

\'The amount of time and patience it took for each experiment was not a laughing matter,\' I thought with a slightly tired smile as I looked at Alaric as he kept smiling at me with his eyes glistening as he spoke,"it\'s Red Monster Core… it upgrades the blood when used after diluting it with white feathers of Pleuri Tree by thousand times."

I looked at him with a slightly dumbfounded expression before recalling the properties of the objects he mentioned right now.

Red Monster Cores are usually taken from the monsters who have used their berserk modes and then are killed before their berserk mode is over. It has the property of enhancing blood, muscle and skin, which is extremely beneficial for people whose abilities are more physically inclined.

White Feathers of Pleura are actually the flowers of a tree that is found near high-density mana areas. It doesn\'t get affected by the mana around it. In fact, it resists it to no end. The flowers, that is the White Feathers, have strong mana diminishing property which is beneficial for various alchemic reactions.

\'If we reduce the property of Red Monster Core using the White Feathers… surely it would be ideal to enhance the property of blood. Though wouldn\'t it just increase the property of the black part of the blood too?\'

"Did you forcefully enhance the original portion of the blood using the Red Monster Core so that it overpowers the black parts?" I asked him as I looked at him with a deliberating look and he scratched the back of his head with a slightly awkward smile, as if the cat was out of the box.

\'Though, even so, to finally get a thread of hope to get the success to cure this disease… man, that is really something,\' I thought as I looked at him, still beaming with that smile.

"How many Red Monster Cores do we have left? What about the feathers?" I asked, and he looked at me with a sigh before speaking,"as for the feathers, we have enough of it right now. Though the Red Monster Core… is something we severely lack. Sorry Reaper, Can I ask you for a favour again?"

I saw him joining his palms together and bowing to me and I sighed before speaking,"All right. I need to get some Red Monster Cores, right? From what I remember, there is a Nest of Desert Harpies nearby-"

"Thank you so much Reaper!!! You really are a saviour!!!" He spoke as he held my arms before hugging me tightly as he kept crying and thanking me at the same time.

For a few moments, I let him cry before it kinda got annoying, and I had to forcefully separate him before I glared at him. Even still, he got up with a cheerful smile and I couldn\'t help but speak,

"I will be leaving in about an hour or so. Still got some small business to finish here."

He then wished me luck before sending me out and so I did, where I met a few more people and helped them as usual. They thanked me after I was done with helping them, before moving back to their work and I moved towards my house where I found about 20 to 25 people waiting there.

\'Ah! Totally forgot about them,\' I thought as I looked at my students whom I have been teaching ways to protect themselves in times of danger. At first, it was really annoying, but then I found that almost all of them have a unique magic of their own. While I can\'t really use them, learning about those abilities would be really helpful if I am in a pinch or something.

"Well… the class is cancelled for today. I have some important work to do," I spoke before entering the room while they looked at me with a disappointed look before bowing and leaving from there.

\'I wonder how surprised they would be when they realise that they are going to be cured soon… maybe I would form my own travelling group or something?\' I kind of daydreamed with a bright smile on my face as I prepared for my excursion.

It might be a day or two before I come back, so I need to make sure I have enough for a long return trip… I also tried recalling the Desert Harpies and their weaknesses and strong points, while I could.

Later on that evening, I began moving towards the Harpies, looking forward to a better future… for me and for the others.