Vampire Cultivation System in a Hidden World of Monsters

I grabbed two mugs out of the cabinet and put them on the counter. I looked through the blood flavored coffee pods and chose 'Thin' hoping that would have a lighter more mellow taste.

I made the coffee and then chose a light nutty breakfast roast pod and put the second mug under the hole. The coffee hole. How eloquent. Give me a break, I was tired.

I made that cup of coffee and put the two mugs next to each other. I slowly lifted the 'thin' blood flavored coffee to my lips, and sipped it. Boy was that a flavor.

It wasn't too much though, like the 'rich' flavor had been. It was a little over being just right. Just a little too much flavor, if that made sense. Then I tasted the nutty breakfast blend and it was heaven in a cup. Boy did I love coffee.

"Are you enjoying yourself over there?" Aldous said.

"Holy ahh!" I jumped and spilled boiling hot coffee on my hand and wrist. I watched as my hand got red, just about started to blister, then healed and went back to normal. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"I was here first," Aldous said with an amused smile. "Come. Sit." He patted the bar stool next to his.

"Yes, Master," I said with a frown and slumped shoulders. I plopped down hard on the bar stool next to my teacher and looked at him.

"You don't have to make it sound so torturous to have a master. Having a master is a good thing. I had a master. He helped me grow and nurtured my talents into who I am today," he said puffing his chest out, looking proud and grateful.

"I'm not saying I'm ungrateful. It just gives me a minor sense of control when I don't passively go along with what authority figures want from me," I said.

"That's very wise of you to realize that," he said.

"Yeah, but how do I stop it? How do I choose to follow or not follow authority on the merits of their words and actions, rather than just wanting to rebel because they are authority figures?" I asked.

"Realizing it and admitting it are the first steps. Discovering why you do it, is the next. We can go over it some other time if you want," he said with a patient smile.

He drank the last of his coffee, stood up from his seat, and said, "But now it is time to train. One word of advice before we begin, keep track of your waking hours, and make sure to keep a 24 hour circadian rhythm. Keeping a watch on you can help with that."

"Always keep in mind how close it is to the time you need to sleep. That's why you passed out yesterday. You had been awake for over 36 hours. It was a combination of that and physical and mental exertion."

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. I don't own a watch though. I had one during the last portal dungeon, but the system gave that to me just for the dungeon," I said.

"You can have one of mine. Being alive as long as I have, you tend to accumulate things," he said.

"Thanks," I said as I followed him out of the kitchen. "You said you had a master. As in past tense. What happened to him?" I said.

"He died in the Blood Purge many many years ago. Vampire hunters attacked him in the middle of the day. Burnt his house to the ground, forcing him to face the sun. And then, well you know what happened."

"Does the sun kill vampires immediately?" I asked.

"No, but it happens quickly. It generally takes about an hour of direct sun exposure to kill a vampire. Reflected light like off a wall can still cause damage, but it's more like a sunburn is for humans," he said.

"He was just unlucky because he lived isolated, dozens of miles away from any other full shelter from the sun. Trees can help, but it was the middle of winter and none of them had any leaves. He could have dug a hole, but his shovel had burned up with the house and was covered in flaming wood."

"Did he get the guys who killed him?" I said as we walked up the stairs and down the corridor to the training hall.

"Yes. The sun weakens us as well as kills us, but he was very strong. Even weakened, he vastly overpowered the hunters," he said. "I found this out all after the fact, mind you. I wasn't there."

Ravenkin continued walking down the corridor after I turned to go into the training hall. I quickly realized my mistake and followed after him. He was going to get me a watch first.

—

We stood in front of multiple glass displays of watches. It started from shiny new modern watches on the left and transitioned to older and older and older watches on the right. Some of them couldn't even be considered watches. They were more like small clocks.

"Whoa! It's like you have every watch ever made!" I said in amazement.

"I don't have nearly as many watches as have been made, especially not in modern times, but I have most of the historically significant ones. I have the Breitling Navitimer, the IWC's First Pilot's Watch, and the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, which was the first modern diving watch, waterproof up to fifty fathoms.

You'd be surprised how much vampires, especially long lived ones, like to collect and give each other pieces of history," he said.

"I wouldn't be surprised by that. I wouldn't be surprised by that at all," I said, mentally picking out a watch. "Can I have that one?" I pointed to a more modern looking watch. "The secret agent looking one. I can pay you for it. I'm rich now!"

"How rich is rich? A lot of vampires are rich just due to compound interest," he said, getting the watch out of the display and giving it to me. "Having asked that, you can have it for free. I have more than enough money than I know what to do with."

"27 million Gold Giblets. Which translates to 2.7 billion dollars," I said, casually.

"WAIT, WHAT?!?!" He said.