"Gurgle..."

Senata's stomach was growling again... Of course, it wasn't just ordinary hunger. As a vampire, her eyes turned extremely red, and her stomach started growling, which meant her blood cravings were acting up again.

She didn't drink much of the cow's blood during the day.

Vampires are supposed to survive on animal blood when there's no human blood to drink... but she's no longer the kind of vampire who can make do with those.

She could have endured the darkness if she had never seen the light.

I believe that it's the same for all vampires. After experiencing the extremely sweet and even beneficial "Blood of Blood" from Illa, no vampire can ever go back.

Rare blood is already quite delicious, and Yinla is even the kind of rare blood that was specially developed for its deliciousness. Once you taste it, you will definitely be intoxicated by it, just like taking hallucinogens.

Senata tossed and turned in the coffin, unable to fall asleep.

I miss him... (Second week without Yimra)

...

"Senata".

"..."

It seemed to be Yinla's voice; it looked like she was hallucinating from missing him so much.

"Senata? You're not asleep, are you?"

"..."

Is it really Inra?!

Senata looked up in shock. The bloodshot in her eyes vanished instantly, and her blood craving was relieved. It was hard not to wonder whether she wanted to drink blood or simply wanted to see Ira.

After rubbing her eyes, Senata confirmed that the person standing in her room was indeed Ira. She asked in shock, "Did something happen? You came back early?"

"..."

Yinla looked at her with a puzzled expression, and gently flicked Senata's forehead as she sat up, saying, "What are you thinking about... Of course we're still on our journey. I just used the Void Travel to get back early."

"Oh! By the way, being able to travel to any place you've been before is such a convenient ability..."

Senata, who had just remembered this, grabbed her twin tails and nodded in response, then continued, "So, Illa, did you come back specifically to give me blood to drink? Waaah, thank you."

Senata seemed very touched. She gently opened her mouth, revealing sharp fangs...

"I'm sorry, but that's not actually the case... Never mind, you can drink while I explain."

As he spoke, feeling the sharp teeth eagerly thrusting into him, he experienced a pleasantly tingling sensation and said, "The fleet encountered some issues while docking in Hazlosa..."

While Senata was gulping down her drinks, Yinra quickly gave a brief account of what had happened, then placed a list on the messy coffin lid and said, "Relay what the children want to their parents."

"Waaah. Mmmmmmm (Okay, I understand)"

"..."

Hurry up... we have other things to do afterwards...

——————————

"Vera...Miss Vera Yairmenio Theatos?"

As Yinla spoke, he called out to the lich who was conducting the experiment, watching her carefully drip the liquid into another glass bottle... Then he decided to raise his voice: "Vera!"

"Croak!"

!

In response to Yinla, Vera, whose hands were shaking from fright and who then let out a very loud scream, looked at the liquid that had dripped onto the table, breathed a sigh of relief, and then turned to glare at Yinla, saying, "Yinla! You're scary, you know that?"

As she said this, Vera took a deep breath, wiped the blue liquid off the table, and wiped away imaginary cold sweat, sighing, "Just a little bit more, haha, I was almost in heaven... My Soul Box was almost activated."

"..."

Yinla narrowed his eyes, looking at the liquid on the table and the blue liquid in Vera's hand. He said shrewdly, "Alchemy experiment? You're not an alchemist, are you? Shouldn't you be doing magic experiments?"

"Hobbies... well, liches are doing magical experiments these days."

Vera, clearly not intending to explain anything here, cleared her throat and asked, "Yinra, did you come back using dimensional travel? Is there something you need from me?"

Yinla nodded in response to Vera's question. He wanted to see what Vera was up to, but Vera blocked his view completely with her body. He said, "Ask about the current situation of those liches."

I have a feeling that Vera is up to something again... Is it just my imagination?

No way! How could it be an illusion?

...

"They're doing quite well... After the constructs finished building the exterior of their mage towers, they all holed up inside and didn't come out. They're either continuing to modify the interior of the mage towers or they've already started experimenting."

As Vera spoke, she moved in sync with Yinla's gaze, completely concealing the equipment and potions behind her. She felt that Yinla must know something; if it weren't for the lich's body, she would definitely be sweating profusely by now.

"Yin, Yinla... what are you looking at?"

Feeling guilty, Vera said this, already considering whether to tell Illa everything... But to her surprise, Illa just glanced at her, then nodded and left.

Before her body began to fade, Yinla's eyes held scrutiny, doubt, helplessness, and a very specific sense of "What kind of trouble are you causing now?", but no suspicion... There was suspicion, but not the suspicion that she was doing something bad.

The feeling of trust warms the heart.

"..."

You must have figured something out, right?

"Um... thank you for not pressing the issue."

As Vera spoke, she watched Yinla's body gradually become ethereal, watching him shrug indifferently, and then she watched him until he left through a virtual world.

"How cool... Yoon-ra."

Vera, still marveling at this, carefully dripped another drop of blue liquid into the bottle containing the clear liquid. Then, with the infusion of her magic and a gentle shake, the clear liquid turned an inexplicable crimson.

"Is this considered a success?"

Vera muttered to herself, then leaned closer to the bottle and took a gentle sniff... But as soon as she got close, she immediately took two steps back, her heart filled with anxiety and inexplicable anger.

However, because she inhaled only a small amount, she quickly regained consciousness...

It seems the experiment was initially successful, but further improvements are needed, and... how should I tell Yinla about this? Will he accept my well-intentioned but ulterior motives?

"..."

With that thought in mind, Vera plugged the crystal-clear glass vial with a cork and fell into a new round of contemplation.