The Game Rune System

There was a far more important mission that the game master needed to do.

He wanted to invite bloodsuckers to his game and so he needed to also plant his purple cubes around their area.

At least the outskirts had to be scouted by him.

After Tetsuya made the forest 'map' with the purple cubes, he used the former connection with sweet bloodsucker and followed it closely.

There was a path that the bloodsuckers had been using since their beginning here.

This path didn't seem like any bloodsucker could use as it was deeply hidden and required more than just 'key' to enter here.

Tetsuya's connection and purple cube, that had tasted it already, opened the hidden pathway and allowed Tetsuya to scout out the area.

He was very meticulous with his advance here and the goal was to meet the woman he had seen with this connection.

"I will propose an offer she won't be able to refuse," Tetsuya spoke to Ashley, then followed the darkness luring him deeper.

As a faint light suddenly blinded him, Tetsuya knew that he found himself in the underground city that belonged to the bloodsuckers.

He saw a lot of people with pale skin, their teeth faintly peeking out of their lips.

While men wore dark suits with capes, the ladies had gorgeous red dresses that stood out in such an underground city.

On the roads, Tetsuya could see a lot of bottles with red liquid which piqued his interest, "Blood?" He asked himself...

Along the roads, his eyes could also spot bloody meat and various fruits that exuded metallic smell. There were many goods displayed on the streets, but bloodsuckers also frequently exchanged goods such as books and clothes.

They were living to their best here, but Tetsuya could tell that they would like to go outside as some of them often had their eyes set up on the ceiling.

He covered his features with black robes, then followed the connection to find the woman he had seen before.

Her location turned out to be one of the castles, so Tetsuya braced himself and began to sneak his way past her walls.

Seeing this, Ashley commented from within, "It's been a long road, but you have finally… Ah, I am so happy…"

Tetsuya felt like telling her to shut up, but he held himself. Soon, he entered one of the corridors through the window, then followed the connection straight to the big room.

Here, a sweet bloodsucker had been reading the book with her red eyes slowly following all the letters.

She wore emotionless expression and rather looked as if killing time with this book than purely enjoying it.

Soon, Tetsuya made his appearance clear, "Hi, bloodsucker."

"!" The lady's book immediately closed, then her eyes swept through the room. She found the plain looking man with a wooden sword standing in her room!

His skin, eyes and demeanor didn't belong to her race, so the lady stood up alerted.

"How could you enter here without alerting the elders?" She immediately spoke, her voice imbued with pressure and unique aura.

A blood rune crept its way from her chest and painted her collarbone, neck and half of her face.

"Because of you," Tetsuya didn't hide anything.

He spoke about the connection from Silver Bird and this alone made the lady part her lips slightly.

It looked like she tried to say something, but held herself relatively fast.

Tetsuya added, "It could be anyone else, not especially you. But this makes you a lucky bloodsucker."

"Don't call me bloodsucker, you human," The lady refuted, "I am a vampire." She exuded noble aura after saying it out loud.

Of course, Tetsuya's eyes were delighted to see such a woman and he didn't need anything else to accept this, "A vampire." He repeated with a faint smile.

The silence then ensued between them.

Tetsuya's goal was unknown to the vampire lady and she herself was just a step away from calling other vampires.

But she didn't do it because it could be a 'lucky moment' for her race.

What if this man had high status in this province and could provide them with land on the outside?

It would be great for her race and she would even get a chance to become the queen!

However, Tetsuya's words were different, "You race has become more active and uses the birds to get blood for themselves. Is this blood for your daily needs or for a bigger project? If it's the latter, then it's fair to assume that your race wants to leave this underground."

"..." She didn't say anything, but waited for more!

"No race would hide themselves if their past was clear. Who knows what happened in the past. Have you been treating humans and other races as slaves? If so, then what's the difference between you and everyone else?" Tetsuya said.

One of the things he took care off in this world had been the slave business. But it was just a mere part of it and there were far more slaves around the world.

It was a business accepted by many forces…

Even after all of this, Tetsuya didn't get an answer from the vampire woman. She hovered her eyes on him and waited for more, so he just spoke as forcing here would be wrong, "If it's something worse, then it has to be the environment vampires need for their living."

His words made the lady narrow her eyes, so Tetsuya immediately realized he hit the truth, "If you go outside, the environment will change and other people might not like it at all.

"You are close to the truth." The lady said it out loud, "We need darkness to exist. Sun is one of our mortal enemies and our emergence would turn the surrounding lands into a shadow world." She spoke with sigh.

"That is not the end, though." And continued slightly after, "This is natural defense our bodies and runes have developed. If we go outside, we will slowly envenom the land. The problem is that we can't control it."

Tetsuya instantly understood their problem.

They wanted territory for themselves outside. A night sky with countless stars to be their ceiling and fresh breeze to be savored along the blood wine!

They wanted all of it, but if they went outside, they would spread the uncontrollable darkness!

People wouldn't like it.

No one would like it as vampires had nothing to offer besides themselves and their strength. Any strong force wouldn't even want to deal with this problem and just erase them off the map instead!

But there was another problem. The vampires didn't want to offer their services! They had been preparing for the war and this project was close to the completion.

"Even Big Mom wouldn't like it," Tetsuya assumed, "She likes to keep things in its natural order, so she wouldn't even bother trying to stop your influence from going rampant."

As said before, no one would like to bother with it. It would be either extinction and just some vampires would be taken as slaves deep underground!

"We won't become slaves," The lady said it firmly, her aura getting sharper.

"So your race wants to go outside then live with the war close to their homes?" Tetsuya just asked to confirm the things. Of course, they had been gathering a lot of blood, so some powerful rune might make an appearance soon to give them leverage during the war.

Tetsuya still found it impossible.

The whole province would erase them, no matter what.

But the lady just confirmed, "We want to go outside and war can become our friend."

It was Tetsuya's turn to just keep his eyes on the lady in silence.

She didn't mind that and even eased up a little. It was clear that Tetsuya wasn't hostile towards her race and rather spoke about them with curiosity.

She felt also an allure from his eyes, her heart beating faster than usual!

"If you go outside, you will face something unexpected," Tetsuya's words suddenly rang out and immediately brought confusion to the lady red jewels.

She asked, "You must know about this 'unexpected'. What is it?"

"It will be a game," Tetsuya faintly smiled, "A game where you will fight with your unique skills to get rewards for… Your darkness won't be a problem here and might be even part of your strength," His words sounded so absurd, but the lady also didn't understand it at all.

"What's your name?" Tetsuya suddenly asked.

"Evelyn…" She answered after a brief pause.

"Evelyn… I will be honest with you. A few strong mercenaries will soon enter the birds' forest to find you," Tetsuya's words brought fear, "You have to gather your people, not the whole race, and just fight them in this game. The reward… will be the control of the darkness."

"Don't be stupid. What game can reward my race with something…"

"Something you never had control over?" Tetsuya added.

"..."

"It's not like one victory will give you this reward. You gotta work far harder for it." Tetsuya explained, "If you don't believe me, then stay here and wait for your race to emerge out. If you do, then take your close people and fight with others. Be ready for losses, though."

Tetsuya passed the map, then ran away from the room, leaving the lady speechless.

She grasped the map and her eyes trembled with how detailed it was.

She also spotted something weird…

[You have become a player…]

"What player?" Everything was so absurd and now she had an unknown window blocking her way!

"Disappear! Oh… It disappeared…" It did.