Beyond M-Eclipse: Easy Mode LIVE

———Jeff———

“I mean why would I ever ruin her mood by loudly announcing it?” Jennla said to justify her long silence on the topic. “She’s the secretive type, right?”

“Is there anyone else who makes contact with her that I don’t know about?” I straight-up ask, just to see if anyone will confess.

…No one said anything. Are they just keeping it a secret or is that answer legit?

“Well, there you have it.” Gregori sarcastically replied. “I don’t think anyone is hiding anything, aside from Karra and maybe Kenni.”

“So what did she say to you?” Malk gets right to the point. We have plenty of time to interrogate her… Could’ve phrased that a bit better.

“Not much, to be honest.” She said without a hint of dishonesty. “She ignored most of my questions and mainly just talked about trivial matters. Like the weather.”

“...So what questions did she answer?” Malk said, reading between the lines.

“...One thing I asked her is how much power do we need to be able to fly. She said that for those without bodies meant for flight like Kenni, you need to work on magic related to wind resistance and gravity, as well as mastering the ability to constantly output mana.” Oh. That’s interesting.

“You could’ve read the book in the library for that.” Gregori chimed in, clearly bragging about his greater pool of knowledge for being such a big nerd. “Surely you have something more exciting than that.”

“I also asked her what the strongest individuals out there are capable of. She said they can ‘bleach the Earth’s surface’.” …Well that’s terrifying to think about. That means all of humanity will be wiped out… unless we count the astronauts still on the space station, but they’ll be screwed as well. “What else… Ah, right. I did ask her about the magic circles she put near the dungeon entrance. We kinda guessed it already, but those are checkpoints that can be used. None of us have reached the twentieth floor, so we can’t see it from the other end.”

“...Can we even use it?” Gregori asked. Seems like he has some idea in mind.

“She said to just fill it with mana to activate it.” Jennla answered. Is it seriously that simple? Kinda sounds like you might accidentally activate it. “Which does mean there are over a hundred floors. Just how deep does it go?”

“Who really knows. Is there even a final floor?” Qyunda asked a pretty ridiculous question.

“Logically there should be.” Gregori chimed in with his own thoughts. “Anything that goes on infinitely is just impossible, flat out. It could go on for trillions of floors for all I care, but I doubt it’s infinite.”

“...What is the deepest level she managed to go down anyway? Did you ask her that?” Qyunda didn’t bother talking about that point and just asked Jennla for more details.

“I did ask her, since I was curious about the numbers. She just said ‘300-something’ and left it at that. She also told me that the monsters at around floor 90 will completely tear me to shred with zero chance of winning. Not a fun image to think about.” Well those are some large numbers. Like she said, we haven’t even reached the twentieth floor. We’re a long way off…

“Hmm… From how she worded it, and considering our current record. It seems like as long as we tackle the dungeon in a large enough group, we can easily push past the twentieth floor.” Gregori gave us his conjecture. Makes sense.

“...Well. We could give it a shot right now, or tomorrow.” Malk suggested.

“On a full stomach? You’ve got to be kidding me.” Useph finally spoke up and clearly displeased with the plan. “And I don’t want to be run ragged tomorrow. Did you forget we have a test on Monday?”

“When did we ever care about that?” I asked, since those are pieces of cake. Even with the exams none of us take longer than twenty minutes. “That just sounds like you’re not ready for it.”

“You punk, are you asking for a knuckle sandwich right now?” Ohhh… He’s not happy about that comment.

“Please calm down, patrons.” The sound immediately caused all of us to flinch. The chills are making me feel like I’m gonna freeze over! Did you forget that this is Rico’s family restaurant!? Why would you say that out loudly!

Useph’s reaction quickly turned from fury into fear, and he shut his mouth quickly.

…After a moment of silence and certainty that she isn’t looking at us. Probably a good time to continue the conversation… in a different direction.

“...So did we ever talk about the Ice Sword Incident after all this time?” I don’t really know how to continue the conversation so I brought that back up after… Was it over a year by now?

“No.” Qyunda said with a clear look of disapproval. “Why would you even bring that up? Remember how much of a clusterfuck that was?”

“Of course I do, I thought I was gonna lose my arm!” I was a pretty much a victim of that little fiasco. Still can’t believe… or rather I don’t quite remember what caused it to go so wrong.

“If you hadn’t run off then you probably wouldn’t risk your limb.” Malk chimed in. Oh don’t you start with that!

“In his defense it doesn’t look like the basketball… Nevermind.” Orrel was about to come to my defense but stopped short of defending me. What a great friend.

“Okay you guys. Stop there and listen. I want to make sure Jennla said everything she learned. Don’t bring that back up again.” Gregori interrupted this conversation that was about to spiral. “So do you have any more answers?”

“...I do. Just one more.” Oh? Sounds rather important if she’s wording it like that. Let’s hear it. “It might be a joke though, so I’m not sure what to make of it.”

“Just say it. I doubt it’s anything frightening.” Gregori said, clearly not worried about Jennla’s current tone.

“It’s a little bit frightening…” Jennla said, her voice showing a high level of uncertainty. “I asked her about more… mythical beings that aren’t monsters. Specifically in this town. And she said there’s a vampire and a demon lord roaming around.”

“...Well that’s rather concerning.” Gregori said, not sounding too concerned. It’s hard to take it seriously. A vampire and a demon lord. Talk about typical fantasy stories villains. I think I have heard Jass talking about how it feels like both were undervalued nowadays. Can’t say I know what the hell he is talking about.

“...I think we would see someone that gaudy around already.” Qyunda remarked. True, can’t see anyone fitting those two categories to be wearing weird clothes like hers, or anything mundane. I think they’re probably wearing something similar to Wiina’s coat cape thingy, or something weirdly impractical or flashy.

“Don’t want to bring the point back up, but realistically, they won’t do that.” Gregori doesn’t seem to hold the same opinion as us on the topic. “Both could be wearing casual clothes to be beneath notice, and any tells would be their physical appearance. Obviously this is assuming Wiina is not fucking with us. Also, it feels like there should be a lot more incidents if beings like that are making this place their home.”

“I doubt it’s entirely false.” Orrel gave his opinion. “If it’s a topic she wants to completely obfuscate, she would’ve said nothing more than likely. A lie tends to have a grain of truth in them, people rarely are incapable of lying by conveying completely falsified information, let alone maintaining the falsehood.”

“...Is that how that works?” I can’t help but ask. I mean I could make up stories pretty easily.

“I meant in a sense of creating a believable lie. People tend to put in a fact or two to their false statement to make it more believable, and muddying the water on what part could possibly be false. Even if it’s not actually a vampire and a demon lord, something similar probably exists around here.”

“You’re looking into this more than I thought.” Useph remarked. “By the way, do you know anything about these two things? Like in the books you read a lot?”

“I have, so does Gregori. We’ve been stuck in the library soaking in a lot of information, as you’re aware.” Yeah yeah, you two read a lot, we have known this since forever. “Both topics take a long time to explain, so I suggest only listening to one right now if we actually decide to go to the dungeon later today… Or maybe even if we don’t.”

“I think we should go with the one that is most likely to appear… So vampire. There are already rumors about it, very little about demons, let alone a demon lord.” Gregori suggested, and we simply nodded our heads in response. Either will work.

“Okay then. First off. Vampires don’t burn in sunlight.” …Wait, seriously?

“Huh? Then what are those stories going on about then?” Qyunda rightfully points it out. Now that we know that these things exist, the old folklore and tales should be based on something that is true. Weakness to sunlight is one of the biggest-

“Well, here’s the thing, vampires in the earlier stories aren’t even weak to sunlight, or rather, it doesn’t kill them. Some are weakened, put to slumber, all that. It’s not a fatal weakness.” Gregori chimed in with a detail I never knew about. “Certain vampire types in the hierarchy actually fall in that category, so that’s where the weakness to sun came from and why it’s portrayed as an inconvenience rather than something that would completely destroy them.”

“Speaking of the hierarchy. I guess we need to elaborate on that first and foremost…” Orrel said before his focus was disrupted, our order finally arrived. A crap ton of philly cheesesteaks. “You all can eat while I explain the situation. None of you would want them to get cold.”

Don’t have to tell me twice! Mhmm! Good as always!

“So as I was saying. There is a hierarchy of vampires. There are three main ones that you need to know, and one that isn’t on the list. Let’s start from the bottom, which is Blood Drain. I think it is best to call them a shambling corpse looking to drain blood, so a zombie, basically. They are servants of the two types of vampires above them, and have very little… brain function? They are moving corpses, their brains are not functioning.”

“One would call their autonomy to be close to a rather simple AI. Like he said, zombies. In terms of weaknesses, sunlight does weaken them significantly, but it still wouldn’t kill them.” Gregori chimed in to help with the explanations. “The one above that would be the Dead Descent. They are more like traditional vampires you see in the media, specifically the earlier stories. They are obviously stronger, and are still considered undead, but unlike the zombies that are Blood Drain, these guys are fully cognizant. Albeit some more so than others. Their mental stability is rather varied, but at least enough to pretend to be humans. Sun does make them weaker, but that is also variable.”

“How strong are they anyway?” Malk spoke up.

“I have no reference for their strength, but Blood Drain is the weakest, of course. Dead Descent and the next category is much more varied, but from what I read up, the former is capable of razing a village, while the latter can feast on an entire town.” Gregori answered. What is the latter category?

“What he’s talking about is the True Ancestor. A type of vampire at the top of the hierarchy and origin for all vampires. The conversion process is pretty simple, by making the victim consume the blood of a True Ancestor, they are turned into a Dead Descent or a Blood Drain, same with Dead Descent, but creating another one of its kind is very unlikely. There is also a way to turn someone into a True Ancestor, but it is entirely up to the potential of the victim themselves. If they have the potential to become a True Ancestor, then even a simple bite would turn them into one, no need for sharing blood.” Orrel answered what I was wondering about. “They have no weakness to sunlight, their need for blood is significantly less than a Dead Descent, much more potent regenerative power, can store up a reserves of blood to perform spells beyond their capabilities, and overall nearly impossible to kill. They aren’t undead, so any signs of that would not be there for you to notice, like the lack of breathing or heartbeat.”

“And the last one is a Dhampyr. You guys probably heard about it. This one is a result of a child of a human and a Dead Descent. Unfortunately there is very little detail on it, like how an undead conceives children, for one. Their power is higher than the bottom rung, but not as high as a Dead Descent. They have no weakness to sunlight and need less blood in comparison.” Gregori explained the last type of vampire.

“So in that case, the only kind of vampire that could conceivably blend into our society is a True Ancestor or a Dhampyr.” Useph pointed out. “From the sound of it these two types don’t consume blood often, and don’t need to be weary of the sun.”

“Indeed. Two kinds that are less likely to be aggressive.” Orrel remarked. “So is that enough for everyone? Or do you want more information?”

“If you want to ask about their general behavior. Like Orrel said, the two types that can blend in the best are also the least aggressive. They just need fresh blood of some kind, even monster blood count.” …So does that mean they’re basically harmless? That’s what it sounds like.

“...So do we only care about the demon lord then?” Qyunda asked, coming to the same conclusion that the first one could possibly be ignored.

“Probably.” Gregori said not sounding too sure. “So are we going to the dungeon after this or not?”