DMS Chapter 190

Count Menard admitted to Flinx that, after fully becoming a vampire, he no longer required ordinary food and now subsisted primarily on blood. The count explained that he had only become a true vampire within the past few years, making him relatively young in terms of vampire lineage.

Even so, he said that vampires possessed an extraordinary command of blood magic. That mastery was the primary reason his family had been able to protect the lands surrounding their manor for generations.

When Flinx feigned ignorance and casually asked what kinds of spells the count could use, Menard merely laughed and steered the conversation in another direction.

The count did, however, reiterate one important point. He wanted to make absolutely certain that Flinx understood his family was not murderers.

He explained that several women voluntarily donated blood to him in exchange for financial compensation and the protection of his household. There were enough willing donors that none of them suffered any ill effects from blood loss.

Flinx nodded.

"I understand."

He then asked, "Why only women?"

The count smiled.

"It is simply my preference. Not only must they be women, but they must also be beautiful."

"Do they eventually become vampires?" Flinx asked.

"Of course not!" Menard replied, sounding genuinely offended. "Why would you think that?"

"Well, in some of the fiction I've read, vampires can create others like themselves simply by biting a victim and allowing them to survive. In some stories, the victim also has to drink the vampire's blood."

From the brief hesitation that crossed Menard's face, Flinx sensed that those stories might contain at least a grain of truth.

After remaining silent for several moments, the count finally answered.

"A true vampire must possess the bloodline of an established vampire family. After that, a ritual performed by another member of the family is required before they can become a full-fledged vampire."

He paused before continuing.

"However, if a vampire like me nearly drains a human's blood until they are on the verge of death and then forces them to drink my blood, they become nothing more than a bloodsucker monster."

"So that's how those monsters are created?" Flinx asked.

Menard nodded.

"Yes. The problem is that creating such a creature greatly diminishes the vampire's own strength. Because of that, no sane vampire would ever do it. Only one who has descended into madness would resort to such a thing, and vampire families generally hunt those individuals down until they are destroyed."

Flinx appreciated how forthcoming the count had been.

He doubted Menard was lying. More likely, everything the vampire had shared was common knowledge among those already familiar with the Dark Species, such as powerful wizards, renowned adventurers, and influential nobles.

Wanting to reciprocate the count's honesty, Flinx began sharing stories about his own experiences after arriving in this world.

He explained that he came from an unimaginably distant land and that, because of certain oaths, he could not reveal any details about his homeland.

To make his stories more interesting, Flinx brought out his Android tablet and showed Count Menard several photographs and videos.

There were pictures of Bertol Town, the large compound where several of his Galder's Towers stood, and recordings showing how he and his companions had transformed the area into a beautiful settlement through the use of magic.

Count Menard seemed especially fascinated by the pond in front of Flinx's tower and the powerful water elemental that watched over it.

When Flinx casually mentioned that he could conjure an entire tower instantly, the count immediately led him into one of the manor's gardens and asked for a demonstration.

Before casting the spell, Flinx explained that the tower would remain for only twenty-four hours unless he refreshed the spell daily until it became permanent.

He deliberately omitted how long that process actually took.

In reality, if he cast the spell using a spell slot above the seventh level, it would require only a week of daily recasting for the tower to become permanent.

Even if he used his highest-level spell slot, the required time would remain the same. Higher-level spell slots merely increased the number of floors and possibly unlocked additional features that he had yet to discover.

After hearing the explanation, Count Menard nodded.

Flinx then cast Galder's Tower on the section of the garden the count had selected.

He chose one of his higher-level spell slots, allowing the tower to reach five stories in height, and selected the design originally created by Paul.

Although all of their towers incorporated elegant elven aesthetics, Paul's masterpiece was, in Flinx's opinion, the most beautiful of them all.

Every floor had been meticulously designed, perfectly capturing the enchanting and melancholic beauty of the elves as Paul had envisioned them after watching The Lord of the Rings films.

Fortunately, Flinx had taken photographs of every tower his friends had created, including every floor and room, so he could faithfully reproduce their designs whenever necessary.

He was grateful for that foresight.

The instant the tower appeared, Count Menard's eyes widened.

The vampire actually gasped.

Flinx could hardly blame him.

The five-story tower was breathtaking.

In truth, everyone who had seen Paul's work had been astonished by his talent for architectural design.

Its beauty had impressed Flinx so deeply that, during his long days grinding inside the dungeon, he had repeatedly recreated the tower from memory until he could reproduce every detail perfectly.

The only reason he had never replaced his own tower with Paul's design was that he was already satisfied with his existing home, and his adopted family had grown attached to it.

Besides, he did not want Paul complaining after returning from Earth and discovering that Flinx had copied his favorite design.

Instead, Flinx had asked Paul to create additional Galder's Tower designs ranging from single-story cottages to towers with two, three, five, or even more floors.

His only request had been that each design be as beautiful as possible.

He had also suggested branching out beyond elven architecture into entirely different themes, such as modern, post-apocalyptic science fiction, gothic, space western, and many others.

Paul had readily agreed.

He even promised to hire talented architects and interior designers before uploading the completed designs to the forums used by the Earthlings.

Flinx then invited Count Menard inside the tower.

The vampire's admiration only deepened.

Every floor was just as magnificent as the exterior.

The tower also possessed countless magical conveniences: a perfectly regulated temperature, invisible light sources that could be brightened, dimmed, or extinguished with a command, running hot and cold water without any visible source, and fireplaces and stoves that functioned without fuel.

When Count Menard asked what powered all those magical conveniences, Flinx admitted that neither he nor his friends knew the answer.

He shared their leading theory instead.

"We believe the tower gathers ambient mana from its surroundings to power everything inside."

The count nodded thoughtfully.

Finally, he asked, "Would you permit me to copy this design?"

Although Flinx felt somewhat reluctant because the design belonged to Paul rather than himself, he eventually nodded.

He doubted Paul would ever learn that this particular tower had been copied.

Besides, once Paul hired professional architects and interior designers to create even more elaborate designs, there was a very good chance that his tower would eventually be replaced by something even more magnificent.