Chapter 19

  Theo opened the door to a hallway of the castle. Unlike the rest of the city, it was pristine, with granite tiles; the walls were off-white and had gilded trim. Every six feet or so, there were sconces with white flames that created a homey atmosphere. As Theo walked, not having a destination or knowing where the nearest enemy was, he continued to walk. There were doors on the inner wall of the corridor. Peeking through, there were bedrooms of a modest nature; taking a guess, he was probably in the servants' quarters of the castle. Approaching an intersection in the hallway, Theo began to feel tired and had a thought that the beds, even though they were for the slaves, would be comfortable, and he would have a nice, quick nap.

  “Wait a minute, slaves? Not servants Oh fuck, this is the mental manipulation, that is fucking insidious. It almost felt like my actual thought; that’s fucking scary,” Theo thought. With the cane sword, he unsheathed his sword and looked around, but he could see no one around him besides his Spectral Guard. Still, thoughts entered his mind, and the drowsiness had not left.

  “Maybe if they can fuck with my mind this badly, I can’t see the fucker,” Theo thought.

  He imbued all of his chains with Cleanse and started thrashing them on either side of the intersection. The hallway to his left, where he heard a screech, as if the shattering of glass, the surroundings changed from the vibrant off-white walls and the white ambient light that came from the wall sconces. To cracked, bloodstained walls and floors. The wall sconces changed and now cast a creepy red hue in the hallway. Gazing at the creature that wailed was a drop-dead gorgeous woman in a dress of dark blue and black trim with gold highlights, the fabric of the dress marred by blood splotches all over. As she turned to face him, her eyes were pitch black, and her flowing blonde hair swayed back and forth as her head turned towards him. Two fangs poking from her lips. Her mouth was set in a sneer, and across her cheek was a burn mark from the chain that still let off some smoke, as if she had been branded by it.

  “Filthy peasant, you should just go to sleep, and your death would be painless,” the lesser vampire spat. Even her voice sounded like velvet.

  Theo cannot help but appreciate the deadly beauty in front of him; he still was going to kill the vampire for fucking with his mind. Something must’ve shown on his face.

  “Oh, you like what you see, peasant,” the lesser vampire said in a sultry voice.

  At the same time, the drowsiness and tired feeling dissipated, and from there, a deep desire to hold and caress the beautiful woman in front of him arose, letting her have her way with him in any way she desired. He felt flushed; the desire for the woman in front of him changed as a switch was flipped, the feelings of desire transformed into disgust, and his lust turned to rage, starting to fill him with anger at how effortlessly this creature could influence him. Without thinking, Theo was in a blind rage; he extended his left arm out, the chain uncoiled from his arm and shot across the hallway and around the vampire's neck. Theo flowed the spell Cleanse through the chain. The vampire began to squirm and scream. Then Theo felt needles, then spikes, driving through his skull. Blood began to trickle out of Theo’s nose as the vampire did mental attacks against him. Theo’s anger spiked even further. He took the chain from his right arm and wrapped it around the vampire’s body, then started to yank in the other direction. With one last tug, Theo pulled the head off the vampire, and as the head came off, it was like a signal for the spell Cleanse to go to work. The pink tendrils of magic devoured the vampire, and with that, his mind became clear.

  Ding.

  Mental Resistance, Common, Journeyman 0 to 3

  “Alright, do I want to continue, or do I want to call it a day? Let’s call it a day. This was fucked up on so many levels. I feel violated and wrong. I need time to process, and fuck my past self for agreeing to this shit,” Theo thought.

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  Theo stormed out of the hallway he had come from, fuming as he walked out of the castle and headed back to the inn. He was not accosted by any banshees as he walked back to enter the inn.

  “Good afternoon, Theo,” the host said

  “The same to you, host,” Theo said in a strained voice.

  “So what got you all out of sorts, Theo?” the host inquired.

  “Fucking vampires. I thought banshees were bad, but fuck, that was insidious. There was no battle of the wills. One minute I was fine, and the next I was beguiled in her fucking allusion,” Theo growled.

  “Yes, you were underneath her spell. Fortunately, you have protections against these types of attacks. Very few people have that innate ability as you do. I’ve been told that you already have Mental Resistance, the system wanted me to say that I am bound by a soul contract to keep silent about this. The reason why the system told me is to help you out in these situations. That being said, again, you are lucky in many aspects to enable you to shrug off these mental attacks,” the host said solemnly.

  “You’re right, but the anger is still there—how easily she was able to manipulate my thoughts and my perception. That terrifies me,” Theo said.

  “This is voluntary. You can stop at any time; you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” the host said.

  “No, I do not want to do this, but I’m going to. These are the monsters in a controlled environment, and they’re that strong. In that case, I do not want to face similar beings with similar powers out of the tutorial with no skill levels in Mental/Soul resistances to protect me,” Theo said with a shiver.

  Dragging himself out of the seat of the bar, he said, “I’ll be fine. I may take a couple of hours in my room. Have a good afternoon, host.” Theo said

  “You too. Take all the time you need,” the host said.

  Theo walked up to the third floor, opened his room, closed the door, crawled onto his bed, and sat in the Lotus position. He started to meditate and think and feel through his emotions about the vampire's mental attack, contemplating how subtle the mental manipulation was and how easily the vampire was able to seamlessly befuddle him completely. Spending many hours on his feelings and his memories, his contemplation came to an end, and he noticed he had a couple of notifications waiting for him.

  Ding

  Mental Resistance, Common, Master 0 to 2

  Meditation Common, Journeyman 3 to 5

  Theo relaxed and spent the rest of the time in bed. The next morning, he went down to the bar.

  “Morning host, so I’ve noticed that I haven’t leveled that much in the third District. Why is that?” Theo asked.

  “That's because the system has this portion all about your resistances, and another thing: you won’t reach level 25 in your race level until after the fight with the Guardian,” the host said.

  “Why is that?” Theo said with a frown on his face.

  “Because the tutorial is all about you to grow, and ranking up will make the fight easier, so we can’t have that,” the host said with a shit-eating grin.

  “Oh, that’s fucking lovely. Is there anything else that’s bullshit I need to know?” Theo said, throwing his hands up in the air.

  “There is, but it’s not relevant yet and will piss you off more. Do you still want to hear it?” the host said with a smile, getting wider.

  “Fuck it, tell me,” Theo said with a resigned sigh.

  “The skills you get every five levels will stop when you rank up to E. The reason why newly integrated worlds get this handout is that it makes it easier for them to adjust, as it allows them to deal with their new situation more smoothly. The system decided to give them skills each five levels, but since the system is the God of growth and betterment of one’s self, the handouts stop after the F grade,” the host said, and with him being a spirit, his smile was literally ear to ear.

  “You’re right, that did piss me off more, and cut that out its not scary; you just look like an ass,” Theo said.

  “Well, in any case, I’m pretty sure that your time here is almost done,” the host said.

  Yes, I’m doing the same thing that I did with the banshees to train my Mental Resistance. Be another day or two, I’ll be ready to face the last Guardian,” Theo said

  Well, I won’t keep you. Have a good day and stay safe,” the host said

  With that, Theo took his leave. This time, he headed directly for the entrance of the castle. As he approached the gate doors, he saw that they were thick, wooden, engraved runic doors with bluish metal inlays and filigree. They were still in pretty good condition compared to the rest of the castle. They opened as soon as he got 5 feet away from them, silent as the grave. Walking in, it opened up into an elaborate entrance way with a flowing staircase that branched off to the left and right on the back wall. On either side of the hallway, it opened up to hallways going either left or right. A once magnificent chandelier was in the middle of the floor, and glass shattered all around it. On either side of the wall of the foyer were old armor sets; some still stood upright, while some were on the floor. All of them were rusted beyond belief. The tile was cracked in a weblike pattern; CenterPoint came from the chandelier. The paneling and the walls of the foyer were peeled back, smashed, and completely gone in areas, revealing the old stone. The staircase on the left was completely shattered and broken. The one on the right was still usable. Also, Theo noticed that in between the staircases was another doorway that entered deeper into the castle. At that exact moment, the door opened up, and a man dressed in a fine butler uniform stepped out.

  “Good heavens, sir, sorry for the mess. We haven’t had a guest in ages, and with all the servants gone and me being in disposed, this place has gone to hell,” the man said.