"About the Vampires… What should we do with them?" I asked.
I wanted to know Benladann's thoughts on the matter. It's not like she orders me around and I obey everything she says, but she's my beloved wife and the one I like to listen to her opinions about. After all, we had been surviving together through a lot already, so what she might think could help me out in deciding something.
"To be honest… I've been thinking about it… but for now, let's not get involved with them. It's too dangerous. Going there might kill us… the Immortal Vampire overseeing them is strong, maybe she can't directly kill us, but if she catches us and throws us inside her divine realm, we are as good as dead… Right?" she asked.
"I thought the same. It would be too unrealistic to think we stand a chance against a being at Rank 8… even other immortals fear her power, so it would be foolish to get there without a proper plan and without being actually strong…" I said.
"Maybe in the future, we could revisit the idea… For now, what we must do is protect little Ruby… We might have to tell Rakasha and her the truth about what we really are and then invite them to come inside of Fuyu and become our Sect Members." Said Benladann.
"Maybe not telling them everything… But enough to let them know what we are I suppose. Ruby is already a friend of our children, and Rakasha is our good friend too, and she's his daughter at this point, so I completely agree with your proposal. I had also thought about it but wanted to hear what you thought… I am surprised you came with the same idea. But I shouldn't have to be surprised, I know my Benladann is a very gentle-hearted girl." I said.
"I-It's not like I am too gentle… I just like little Ruby, and Rakasha is a good friend. He always has fun anecdotes to talk about, and the ale he has is always good too!" said Benladann.
"You're right, we have to ask him where he gets that ale…" I said
"But I do wonder… Will these Vampires do not stop annoying us?" asked Benladann.
"Certainly not. They might continue annoying us throughout the entire journey. They have a way to track Ruby and we can't really get rid of it because it might be within her own body. Perhaps they can just track her mana core, and such a thing cannot be just hidden. But oh well, as long as it's not that Rank 8 woman, I think we can handle them out as we go," I said.
"Indeed, sounds good." Said Benladann.
"It is an excellent idea, my lords. Fighting my Tyrannical Lady at your current power level might as well be suicide. You must become Rank 7 to even stand a chance." Said Rose Soul, which was floating around us. There was also the soul of the guy Benladann killed, but he disappeared after a bit. I think Rose ate him and grew stronger as a soul. I did hear his cry of agony but didn't really care.
Apparently, souls as vicious as hers can eat others to grow stronger. It seems the souls of highly ranked Vampires grow pretty strong to this point. Her soul already was able to damage my armor and even my own soul through those phantasmal fists, so it's totally possible for her soul to be this strong, I guess.
"What do we do with this?" asked Benladann.
"We'll keep her as a pet, I guess. Let me make her into a proper Undead." I said.
"Huh?!" wondered Benladann, as I touched Rose's phantasmal head and then infused my Mana into her, death attribute mana.
I used the Spell [Undead Creation] and created an Undead out of her pure soul.
FLASH!
Phantasmal energies grew larger and stronger all-around Rose's soul, as she began to tremble in excitement. She was even laughing as her entire phantasmal body, which was very blurry and barely recognizable, changed into an almost perfect copy of how she was alive, but her body was now covered by a long red dress, and her legs ended in the middle of them as they unified into a phantasmal tail, like a ghost tail.
Her ears grew sharper and so did her claws, becoming phantasmal claws of crimson-red nails. And her eyes became sharper and had a glint of seductiveness. A large amount of mana crystalized in her chest and became a red-colored Mana Core at Rank 1, she became an official Undead Ghost Monster!
"Wow… She really regained a bit of her original appearance without a body…" said Benladann.
"She had become a Rank 1 Blood Ghost. It's a pretty unique type of Ghost, to tell you the truth, I never thought Ghosts could be of elements in this world… but this opens the possibility to make other elemental ghosts! Such as Fire Ghost, Water Ghost, and so on… Hmm, oh well, that should be left for later." I said.
"Rose, how do you feel?" wondered Benladann.
"Spectacular! I've never felt this good before, this by far beats how I felt when I was alive, even!"
"I think she's exaggerating a bit there, but we understand that she feels better than when she was a pure soul, I guess," I said.
"She's just Rank 1 as of now, but by beating monsters and eating their souls she should be able to grow stronger pretty quickly. She'll also serve as our guide…" I added.
"I see… Oh, Rose, do you know if there are more Vampires in other sects and cities around the continent?" wondered Benladann.
"Why yes! My prideful race spreads across most of the continent, my Tyrannical Lady's faction has near a hundred of us, many of them even stronger than me by far! All of them are controlling other Sects in the shadows, or influencing them somehow… And well, some others might be moving towards here right now! Who knows?" she wondered.
"I feel like we should have asked this before…" I sighed.