The energy flowed from his core outward like a cold, steady current.
And imdiately, Mark knew this was different.
With Ely, Yuki, and Aria, their minds had been blank canvases.
But this was sothing else entirely.
The vampire’s mind was a storm.
Decades of accumulated mories, experiences, and emotions crashed against his ability like furious waves against rock.
Mark felt the resistance instantly, pushing back with a force he hadn’t anticipated.
’Shit... this is a lot harder than I thought.’
Mark clenched his teeth and focused, ignoring the vampire’s screams and the faint dizziness that ca with the effort.
As he navigated the chaos of her mind, he began to think.
’How should I modify her?’
With Ely, Mark had gone too far.
She was a walking emotional wreck. Adorable in her own way to him, but definitely too dependent.
With Aria, he had gone to the opposite extre. A complete degenerate, no filter, no sha, willing to do anything with a smile. Also adorable in her own way, but still an extre.
Yuki was probably the most balanced of the three.
And curiously, the three of them balanced each other out fairly well...
Mark considered this while he kept pressing against the vampire’s mind, whose resistance was starting to give way little by little under the constant pressure of his ability.
’Maybe this ti I’ll just adjust what’s necessary.’
The idea began to take shape as he explored her mind.
’Maybe I don’t need to rewrite her personality from scratch.’
Mark found her na almost imdiately, carved deep into the layers of her identity.
’Rose...’
Mark kept exploring, and the next thing he found made him stop.
’A mage... and a vampire?’
’Two classes at the sa ti? And both fully developed.’
Magic Power Level: 9,999.
Elental Magic: 9,999.
Vampirism: 9,999.
’This is... quite unusual.’
In any ga Mark had ever played, vampire and mage classes were always separate.
Completely distinct archetypes, with skill trees that rarely crossed.
Combining them in a single character would have been a balance nightmare.
And yet, here she was.
A full hybrid.
’Elental magic maxed out and vampirism maxed out... I’m really curious to see how that works in practice.’
Mark decided not to touch any of it.
Not her personality. Not her mories. Not even her na.
Just one thing.
Her loyalty.
’I am your Master, your loyalty to him is unquestionable and you love him unconditionally.’
And then, when he finished modifying her mind, the resistance disappeared.
Not all at once, but like a wave that finally loses its strength and dissolves at the shore.
And then everything went quiet.
Rose remained still inside Vorax’s grip, her gaze completely unfocused.
Her red eyes, which monts ago had been filled with fear and fury, now weren’t looking at anything in particular.
Her expression was neutral, almost serene, as if she were subrged sowhere deep inside her own mind.
Mark slowly withdrew his hand, releasing a breath he hadn’t known he was holding.
Yuki watched Rose with her usual expression, dagger in hand, guard unbroken.
Vorax remained silent, his gelatinous body pulsing softly around the vampire.
Several seconds passed.
Then a few more.
Rose blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Her unfocused gaze began to clear slowly, like a cara finding its focus.
Her eyes swept across the forest clearing, passed over Yuki, over Vorax, and finally ca to rest on Mark.
And then she smiled.
Not a forced smile.
A relaxed smile, almost amused, like soone waking from a particularly pleasant dream.
"Well..." she said softly, tilting her head slightly as she looked at him. "So it was you."
Her tone was completely different from a few minutes ago.
Where there had been desperation and fear, there was now sothing warm, almost playful, mixed with a natural arrogance that was clearly part of her personality.
"I have to admit," she continued, looking at her hands trapped inside Vorax with curiosity, as if being immobilized were just a minor inconvenience, "I didn’t expect my little snack to turn out to be so... interesting."
She looked at Mark again, that relaxed smile still on her lips.
"Do you know how long it’s been since soone surprised ?" she asked calmly, as if they were chatting in a coffee shop. "Decades... literally decades."
Rose paused briefly, as if reorganizing her thoughts.
"And you managed it twice in a single night. First in bed," her eyes glead with amusent, "and then with that peculiar little ability of yours."
Rose shot a brief glance at Yuki with a strange expression — like a cat observing another from a distance — before refocusing on Mark.
"Your silent bodyguard makes a little nervous, to be honest. But I suppose that’s my problem."
Mark watched her for a mont, processing the shift in personality.
’Good. This is... manageable. I think I can work with this.’
Mark gestured to Vorax, who slowly released Rose, his gelatinous body retracting back to its usual size beside Mark.
Rose stood up again, brushing a few leaves from her black hair without a care.
Mark watched her stand, and then rembered sothing.
"One question," he said casually. "What were you doing out here?"
Rose looked at him with mild amusent.
"Looking for sothing to eat," she replied matter-of-factly, shrugging. "I’ve been traveling quite a bit lately and hadn’t had the chance to feed properly. You just had the bad luck of crossing my path."
She paused briefly, a smile tugging at her lips.
"Though I suppose, in the end, it turned out to be good luck for both of us."
"And where were you headed?" Mark asked.
"To see the Demon Lord’s dungeon," Rose answered in the sa breezy tone. "I wanted to see it with my own eyes before moving on."
"Before moving on?"
"I have a trip planned," Rose explained, inspecting her nails calmly. "I’ve been searching for new types of elental magic. There are variants I haven’t studied yet, and that’s... unacceptable."
’A nomad.’
Mark processed that in silence.
’It actually makes sense... if she stayed in one place too long, she’d draw too much attention. Constant travel is the logical solution.’
Mark nodded slowly, and then his gaze dropped to Rose’s body.
She was still completely naked.
"And your clothes?"
Rose blinked once, as if the question had caught her off guard.
She looked down at herself, and for the first ti since coming out of the trance, a faint surprise crossed her face.
"Ah."
With a quick snap of her fingers, clothes appeared on her body instantly, as if they had always been there.
A mage’s robe in dark purple tones, elegant and slightly striking, with dark trim.
A long staff materialized in her right hand, crowned with a violet gem that pulsed softly with magical energy.
And to top it all off, a witch’s hat.
Mark looked at her for a second.
’A vampire mage with a witch’s hat... heh.’
Rose adjusted the slightly crooked hat with a casual gesture and looked at Mark with her usual relaxed smile.
"Much better," she said, satisfied.
And then Mark felt sothing.
’Cold.’
A very specific and uncomfortable cold coming from his lower half.
His pants were still on the ground to one side, right where he’d been with Rose.
’Ah... Right.’
Yuki was watching him with her usual serious expression, though Mark could have sworn there was sothing dangerously close to suppressed amusent in her eyes.
Rose raised an eyebrow, her smile slowly widening.
"Need so help?" she offered with false innocence.
"No," Mark replied with dignity, bending down to pick up his pants.
Putting his pants on while trying to maintain his composure turned out to be considerably harder than he would have liked.
But he managed.
Mark straightened up, adjusted his clothes, and looked at the group with a completely neutral expression, as if nothing had happened.
He had questions. Quite a few, actually.
How long had she been a vampire?
Where was she from?
What specific types of elental magic did she command?
How did the combination of her two classes work in practice?
But he looked toward the horizon, where the morning light was already beginning to filter through the trees, and decided the questions could wait.
"I have questions," Mark admitted calmly, "but we can talk while we walk... the last thing I need is another complication before we get there."
"No problem for ," Rose replied in her usual breezy tone. "I have all the ti in the world. Literally."
"Good," said Mark. "The Demon Lord’s dungeon isn’t far from here."
Mark began walking into the forest without looking back.
Yuki followed imdiately, and Rose watched them for a mont, that faint amused expression still on her face, then adjusted her hat one more ti — almost like a nervous tic — and followed at an easy pace.
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