Logan left the signature gathering for later, he still had jobs to do and a week left after them. When it came to his evening time off he could go to the people he knew, but there weren’t many he was certain would sign the sheet. He could take the signatures of those not viable for “votes”, acting more of a general plea from the populace, to sway others in the congress meeting to agree.

Warping to the first settlement of the day, Logan appeared within a small city that housed the most people thus far. However, unlike the other settlements, this one had a dedicated blood house for the trading of blood. Logan noticed some defaced markings on the side, fangs with a red x painted across them.

Placing a hand on the handle caused a hiss to echo through Logan’s head, an almost incomprehensible, “Yes”, was mixed into it. The door clicked as if unlocking at his touch and allowed him to open the doors.

Walking through the threshold, Logan felt a wave of water wash over him, invisible and slightly thick, it seemingly was a barrier to keep unwanted people out. But why did it let Logan through?

As he fully passed the doorway, the door pushed on Logan’s hand, letting go it closed behind him with another solid click.

The interior of the building was wide, shelves emerging from the floor and reaching the ceiling as Logan looked around, obviously protected underground when not in use. Countless vials lined the shelves, with some utensils strewn about neatly. Knives, scissors, wires and rope, all used for blood drawing. This world had yet to create syringes though.

At the far end, lit up by a sconce on the wall, was a clean counter with a gashriek manning it. His glowing red eyes created a dark scenery, even more than what was already created by the rest of the place.

Approaching, Logan pulled out his permit, “Blood delivery.”

The man raised an eyebrow, “Not a customer? How did you—ah, you must be another form of demon.”

“Is that what the door was checking?” Logan asked as he looked back.

“Yes. Many people have come to this place wanting to… destroy it. We had that barrier created some time ago to keep the brash ones out. Only those of demon blood, or staff members, may enter without allowance.”

“Handy”, Logan said off handily before turning back to the man, “anything you need a hunter to sort out?”

The gashriek looked at Logan’s armband, the ridges under his eyes glistening against his red eyes, “Well, you’re a competent one. That’s… a sheepdog colour?”

“Wolf, actually.”

Letting out a breath of air, the gashriek replied, “Even better. We have our own hunting lodge, but none of that calibre… But no. We don’t have the funds to pay for your services just yet. Maybe in due time.”

“Alright then. Where can I unload the crates?”

The gashriek handed a key to Logan, “That door there.”

Taking the key, Logan nodded and went into the side room. Unlike the other storerooms he had seen previously, this one was much neater and way cleaner. Almost everything was labelled, with a clear spot where Logan needed to put the new shipment.

After putting away his delivery, Logan went back to the gashriek, had the permit signed and placed it within the largest lockbox yet. He was allowed to go back into the storeroom to look it over, and put it in his inventory after using Echo Radar to make sure he wasn’t being watched.

“Thank you for your business”, Logan said as he began to walk away.

A thud and creak could be heard outside which caused the gashriek to grab onto Logan’s arm, “Sir, I believe you’ll find danger out the front. We have an underground passage if you want to find a better way to teleport away as you arrived.”

Logan was about to respond when he saw a new system quest appear by the man’s head.

“Another quest where I will only get two objectives done”, Logan thought to himself, knowing he was far too specced into teleportation to not use it. “Do you have any other defences in place?” Logan asked as he looked at the doors.

“What? No, we don’t. Just the barrier for the building and its detection.”

Logan sighed, “I take it you only have blood for sale too?”

“And blood accessories.”

“Alright. I’ll take care of the people outside.”

“I said we can’t afford your services, sir.”

Logan looked back at the man, “That’s fine. I get an apprehension fee from Gauntlet. Plus their stuff if it isn’t stolen.”

The gashriek was left a bit aghast, but accepting of the offer, “Ok. I don’t really have anything to offer you to help, but the assistance is greatly appreciated. Who knows how long they would stay out there.”

Moving to the door, Logan looked over his spells and status. Thankfully he had only used the periapts given to him alongside his own, so he had most of what he had prepared in the previous days.

Opening the door to the outside, Logan exited to a vacant street. Just as vacant was the atmosphere. No sounds except for the wind and bird chirps, a settlement at least has chatter in the distance or wood creaking as it was alive with activity.

Eyeing a rooftop, Logan could spy a female with a strung bow, a Fighter or Rogue. In the streets side-by-side were two Knights from how they were armoured. It was a solid guess that magi of some form were hiding elsewhere. The quest noted four people, so one was unaccounted for.

“Porter!” the left Knight yelled through the breaks on his helmet, “lay down the rest of your supply, grant us entry to that blood house, and we’ll let you move on.”

“What is all this about?” Logan asked, feigning ignorance.

The Knight on the right replied with angst in her voice, “You’re on the leash of the soulless. We can’t abide by their influence in our lands. Do as my partner says and we guarantee your exit. You are just a pawn porter. Paid without knowledge of what you do.”

“What will you do with the blood and the house?”

“That does not concern you after you have left our vicinity”, the left Knight spat.

“Sorry, but it does if you aim to kill the staff. What do you have against vampires anyway?”

“They are a curse! Delivered by the ones below. They should have been cleansed on their arrival, but our ancestors were too soft on their dead kin.”

“You may think it’s a curse, but many do not. Why can you not just let them live their lives?”

“They aren’t alive! They sold their souls for power, and take power from those who still keep theirs!” the left Knight continued as they both drew their swords and shields.

“Comply or die”, the right Knight added.

“I can’t use Identification on them, they have defences against that for sure, and I need my eyesight clear”, Logan thought to himself.

Clicking his fingers, Logan’s mini-map updated with the location of the last classed person. They were hiding behind a building near the rooftop ally. However, this motion sparked the start of the fight.

Both of the Knights clanged their swords onto their shields with the call, “Chatter”, shockwaves rushing towards Logan.

Knowing of this skill beforehand, Logan warped into his centre before the waves hit him, instead caressing the barrier of the blood house.

Apparating behind the bowwoman atop the roof, Logan wrapped a hand around her face and chanted, “Sleep Grasp”, causing a torrent of pollen and dandelions to erupt from his palm into the woman’s orifices.

The woman tried to resist, but in favour of Logan, she failed her save and went into a deep slumber. Logan gently guided her body onto the roof and left her there. This clued Logan into thinking she was a Rogue instead of a Fighter.

Leaping onto the rooftop after him were the two Knights whose bodies were slightly glowing grey, revealing the hiding foe to be a Devout.

Warping in and out, Logan appeared behind both of the Knights as they landed on the edge of the roof.

With arms up high, Logan drew two Bowen daggers and planted them into the right side of the right Knight’s neck, and the opposite for the left. As his hands created an x across his body he drew up two other daggers from his hip holsters and did a reverse through the x to stab into the Knights’ armpits.

Four floating texts of, “Backstab”, confirmed his skill usage as they dealt heavy damage and removed the use of turning their heads and one of their arms each.

Landing a solid foot onto the roof, Logan grappled the top of both the Knight’s tunics under their armour, did a backwards somersault, and threw them both to the floor below. Their bodies crashed across the dirt floor as they slid away, tumbled, and rolled into crouching positions.

Dancing yellow lights made their way to the Knights from afar, Logan groaned at the healing they were receiving. Chanting, “Invisibility”, Logan’s form whirred and vibrated before almost completely disappearing. Only faint heat waves showed his location for a second before it was impossible to spot him.

Darting across the rooftop, Logan leapt over to another and slid off the side, landing behind the hidden Devout. Planning a solid palm on his back, Logan chanted, “Flame Second Grasp”, a massive mound of flames soaring upwards as the Devout was burnt. Logan had no more Backstabs, so he dealt less damage, but a following, “Flame Grasp”, caused the Devout to go limp to the floor.

Logan heard the rushing footsteps of the Knights, and so he reapplied, “Invisibility”, and also cast, “Haste”, as his current Invisibility came to its end.

The left Knight threw up his sword, and the right threw up her shield, as they aimed their good arms at the Devout. Yellow lights darted to the unconscious body as it was healed back to consciousness. Grabbing their gear as it fell back down, Logan moved around and grappled both from behind, casting two rounds of, “Sleep Grasp”, into their faces.

The female Knight went to sleep, while the male stayed awake, dropped his sword, and grabbed onto Logan’s arm to keep him in place.

Teleporting away, Logan planted a hand on the back of the Devout who was kneeling into a stand, “Flame Grasp”, he chanted as flames put the man back down again. Logan’s form slowly blurred back into sight as his Invisibility ended.

Logan just barely saw a spark of electricity up high, seeing the Knight retract his hand as if casting a Skystrike spell. But nothing hit the Spellthief. “Damn, he woke up the Rogue!” he thought to himself.

Warping behind the Knight, the man spun around to bat away an outstretched hand with his vambrace, knocking Logan off-balance.

The Knight clenched his fist and then loosened it, his weapon swerving to his grasp as he swung it upwards.

Logan backstepped to dodge the strike and drew up another dagger to parry the next strike from the Knight.

Parrying another blow, Logan held his other hand close and mentally commanded, “Flame Shot”, sending a tuft of fire at the Knight who bent backwards and narrowly dodged the embers as they flew past the front of his helmet.

Slashing their blades against one another, Logan tried to knee the Knight but had it blocked by theirs, numbing Logan’s knee as it hit metal.

Spinning around to the Knight’s back, Logan went for another stab but jumped back to avoid a straight kick from his adversary.

Sliding across the mud, Logan almost missed the shadow forming below him, kicking off the floor he rolled away from a downward double strike from the Rogue who had come into the fray.

“Slippery bastard, aren’t you”, the Knight cursed.

“Not just any porter”, the Rogue added.

Waving his hand across the floor, Logan called out, “Gaia Wall”, causing a large wall of mud and rock to rush upwards. Warping from behind the wall, the two had no idea where he had gone.

Apparating in the sky, and then to the floor, Logan grabbed onto the Devout and warped away again, the pair twisting around at the sound but missing the Spellthief. Doing it again, Logan took away the sleeping Knight.

If they were going to keep getting up, it was a better use of his spells to move the bodies. Clampering atop the roof of the blood house, Logan started to pelt the final two with Force micks one after another.

The Knight had his body shrouded in a red aura, the Hard Skin skill that reduced the damage of oncoming attacks. The Rogue jumped to the side to hide behind her ally as they made their way towards Logan.

As Logan’s micks were pretty much nullified by the Knight he had to think of another course of action.

Leaping from the rooftop, Logan threw his hand from the wall outwards and chanted, “Gaia Wall”, causing a horizontal wall to create a landing for him and above the foes.

Jumping into a cartwheel, Logan flew both his hands on either side and chanted twice more, “Gaia Wall”, forcing two walls to erupt from the floor and join up with the previous one.

Throwing his hand across the floor and into the one-exit hold, Logan chanted, “Sleep Wall”, causing it to fill with sand and pollen. The two foes coughed and waved their hands to remove the dust, allowing Logan to move his hand across the floor a final time and chant, “Gaia Wall.”

Creating a tomb of rock and sleep spores, Logan had fashioned himself quite the sleeper box. It cost quite a bit of MP to do, 4 for the walls, and 2 for the Sleep. His Haste just ended, the main thing that let him do this. It probably wouldn’t have worked if his opponents weren’t focused on the fight, weakened, and fatigued.

Logan could hear the scraping of metal and smash of rock on the other side, the two trapped vampire haters trying to break out. They were even able to crack the wall and let some of the pollen escape, angry eyes inside applying a stare of death on Logan, but they soon closed as both fell asleep on the inside.

A thumping could be felt at the front of Logan’s head, exhaustion from casting so many spells in such a small timeframe, but the pain was lessened as he saw the experience text start to float.

Crouching to a seated position on the floor, Logan breathed a sigh of relief at the end of the conflict. Without the use of Sleep, that would have been a much harder fight without more intricate battle plans set in place. Checking what he had left, he read the new window that appeared.

“Level up! Gain: 8 HP, +1 Str, +2 Agi, +1 Con, +2 Int, +1 Wis, +1 Cha. You have 1 attribute point to spend.”

“That was bound to happen, it was close anyway”, Logan thought to himself as he put the extra point into his Intelligence. It was easy enough for him to calculate that the enemies were all level 14 for what he received.

Logan could only pray that he didn’t face four level 16s, but then this sort of solidified his theory that the quests were weighted based on the party he had at the time. This was seemingly a one-man show, instead of a party or raid team for him to interact with.

That did bring up another of his theories, would these attackers come here without him? It would probably change since they would have attacked the caravans if he wasn’t teleporting the blood around… but then, who told them of his presence here? They were all still alive, so interrogations would reveal that.

Standing up, Logan saw another window waiting for its time to shine. Allowing the eager light to brighten his day he opened it.

“Quest - Repel the AV Club, has been completed. You achieved 2 additional objectives during the mission and as such your rewards will be increased. Distributing rewards…”

“The reward for your quest completion is as follows:

3 Skill Points. Bangle of the Convoker*4”

Logan let out a loud whistle at the reward, the skill points on their own were significant compensation for what he had to go through. The item also caught his eye as he opened up a window to investigate it.

Logan had a wide smile as he replaced his old bracelet with the much better version, setting off the timer for removing the previous summon attuned to it.

Pulling the bodies into one pile next to the blood house, Logan made sure to take their weapons and trinkets quickly, placing them inside his bag. They wouldn’t be waking up any time soon, either unconscious or asleep, so Logan let the man inside know that everything was ok outside.

After a harrowing start to the day, Logan teleported back into the sky.

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