Iris took ‘a few steps’ back a bit further than intended and ever so ‘subtly’ legged it back to the chief to hid behind him. Not that it helped much.

The effect was terrifying as Sabu manifested a great specter of a many headed dragon, or perhaps a manifestation of the idea of dragons, whose gaze bored into her very soul and pinned her in place. She felt like a minuscule spec in an uncaring cosmos at the mercy of beings far more powerful than herself who did not care that she existed. It was horrifying. Maddening. Fortunately it was over relatively quickly. She was not sure how long she could have endured it.

In the aftermath she was left gasping for breath in compensation for the breathing difficulties the effect had created.

"Please. Never do that again."

She noticed that the chief had not been affected as much as her. Because he had power, because he had evolved. She needed to gain that power so she would never feel that helpless again, and the first step to that was to find out if magic would be a good path to that.

"Can we go for that magic testing now, if we are done with” she avoided saying showboating ”demonstrations?"

Redd had stepped back from Sabu. Despite his prodding, he knew he was dangerous, however his ego seemed to require him prove himself on his own terms. He considered poking that just because he had powers that seemed related to dragons doesn't mean that he had the ancestory of dragons, however the other newborn goblins seemed to want to get in his way. They will rue this day, but that is not for now. But he was going to drink the blood of dragons, he was just not have it diluted.

---

Kluuto nodded in a satisfied agreement at Lyminia's remarks against the uppity goblin. She wasn't as satisfied towards the other goblin's response however, who just said that Sabu could just handle him on his own. It didn't mean that she doubted Sabu's abilities however, oh no, not at all. But she just simply disliked the uppity goblin to the point that she wanted Sabu to punish him in some way.

And right away, Kluuto got her wish.

Sabu, in an attempt to prove beyond any doubt about his dragon blood, gave a demonstration of his power. And what a powerful demonstration it was. When he did his Potential Release technique, Kluuto could feel every inch of her body bowing down to his amazing and terrible power. It was truly the power of subjugation. The power of the king of beasts that ruled over all.

Kluuto panted after Sabu returned to his normal form. She could feel her heart beating loudly and a layer of sweat covering her skin.

Kluuto could see the effect of the demonstration on the uppity goblin as he backed away himself without being told to. She smiled. At least he got his comeuppance.

"Please, never do that again," she heard the hazel-eyed goblin said. She had to agree with her though of course, she didn't say anything, just so she wouldn't be seen as a coward.

She then heard Rekzild asking for an assistance in getting the Stored Knowledge Matrix, even to the point of wanting to accept debt to get it. She didn't understand why he wanted it so badly. But if Sabu agreed, then who was she to object?

"Yes, I want to hurry on to the magic testing as well," Kluuto added to the hazel-eyed goblin's request. "I believe we've dawdled here for long enough."

@Leotamer@DracoLunaris@Malchivo@Moonlit Sonata@Holy Grail

Lyminia found herself pushing her willpower into simply breathing and moving seemed to be far harder than that. Such a display of power left her in awe for a moment, the sensation of pressure and authority throughout her entire body from this tyrannical source left her feeling...invigorated, actually. So far she had not truly felt alive for a moment, or ever faced such a force far beyond the scope of her own. Ah. It was something that got her blood pumping, her mind racing in that brief time, and left her wanted to grin with a wide grin. This. This power like Sabu had was something she wanted to aspire to, to reach the level of in her own manner and way. Digging, magic, however it could be made possible. That drive to become better than she was welled up within her like a tidal wave, and indeed she could not help but allow the wicked and excited grin overtake her face completely in the process of this new wave of genuine feeling and...joy?

As the others began to talk again, Lyminia did her best to pull her composure back together, though this was a visible struggle for her with just how much she was feeling and thinking in the wake of it. Indeed, the effects of that "demonstration" had reaped their toll on her. She wanted to become strong. Stronger than anything. To be able to better herself and feel that..."alive" once more. It was not like she would ignore the tribe or anything. No, this would be for the good of herself and the tribe. At least, those members of the tribe that did not include the blood-colored dunce. Then again, oddly enough it was his possible attempt to get blood that left her feeling this way. Odd. Very, very odd if she were to be honest about the matter.

This aside, the fact was that the others and her were in agreement that they needed to get into town already, to get to the magic testing portion, and to get things done without further delay. If she could learn magic, she wanted to know and to work for it before the digging tools came along. If she could not learn magic, then she had no business trying to learn it and would devote her labor and hard work into other areas. Such as the simplicity of that particular matter in the eyes and mind of Lyminia.

"Hah...Yes, we should get going into town. Now, preferably." the female Goblin said, slightly huffing still after the exhilaration she had just felt, her breathing more rapidly slowing back down to a normal pace as she regained her composure,
the female doing her best to regain formerly more somber appearance with that bit of camaraderie she had felt towards Sabu just before as well, "Many of us would like to know if we can use magic or not...and if you could tell us if there's places we could learn things like the human language from as well afterwards."

---

@Hammerman @Leotamer @DracoLunaris @Moonlit Sonata

After his brief display of power, Sabu seemed to calm down considerably. Or at least, calm down by his own standards. The Lesser Draconic Goblin let out yet another of what the newborns would likely have mentally registered by now as his trademark laugh, giving the newborns a slight nod. "Very well, very well. Those who would like to visit the human village, follow me! You will have the privilege of getting my personally-crafted tour of Ironwood City." He remarked, turning around and, without another word, setting off in the direction of the just-visible structure in the distance.

For those who would have chosen to follow him, the trek over was relatively short all things considered, and was largely uneventful. The pathways between the city and the forest seemed relatively well-cared for. A grand gate stood at the entrance to the city, two armored guards positioned at either end of it. With Sabu's approach, though, they visibly relaxed.

"<Well, look who's back. How'd the spar with the General go?>"

"<Gahaha! She's advancing quickly, but not enough to outpace me!>"

"<Careful man, keep this up and you might make her visit Old Crazy for another experiment.>"

"<Oh, huh, don't recognize these ones. They new?>"

"<Correct! It's their first time leaving the forest, so I'll be giving them a tour.>"

After the conversation between Sabu and the guards in the human language, Sabu turned back to the younglings. "When you enter the city, the guards put a spell marker on you so that they can track you, and remove it when you leave. It's their way of keeping tabs on people, and preventing something like someone entering the city, murdering somebody, and then sneaking out. You'll feel a light tingle, just don't try and resist it." He explained.

She was glad that they were finally under way and so quickly hurried after Sabu when he turned to go to the human town. As they got closer she had to admit it was rather interesting, though it was perhaps odd to see human dwellings before those of their clan and as a result she kept reminding herself to not think of all these things as normal so as to not instantly alienate herself from her actual home when they went to it.

She was rather perturbed by the explanation of the tracking mark, it sounded like a gross invasion of privacy. Would they know when she wet to the bathroom? That was not a nice thing to think about.

”They don’t trust us do they? Bet they wouldn't track us if we were human." she muttered, mainly to herself. She was kind of assuming the guards wouldn’t understand her like she could't understand them. be kind of embarrassing if they heard her badmouthing them

She made a mental note to look out for places to sneak into the town as they got their tour. It would be useful if she needed to do anything in the town that she did not want nosy humans to find out about. She wasn’t sure if she would ever wan't to do anything that would require such sneakiness, but it would be nice to have the option available.

For the time being she let them put the tracking spell on her. It should be noted that Iris had run out of plants to chew on the way to the town, apart from the daisy crown that she was still sporting which she liked to much to ruin, which was probubly contributing to her souring mood.

---

So this is the human city... I feel somewhat nostalgic looking at it...

Kluuto stood behind Sabu as he talked with the two guards guarding the gate to the city. It would make sense that they would have a security like that, seeing how there were a lot of dangerous monsters nearby. She heard about the spell marker and it could be a nice and easy way to prevent and punish crimes. However, she wondered if every city resident had it or it was just for foreigners. She heard Iris mumbling that they probably only gave it to goblins like them. Well, she herself didn't really mind it that much, but the invasion of privacy could certainly be a problem. Trading freedom for security. Perhaps the humans had to do it in this harsh world.

The Lesser Draconic Goblin blinked twice as he heard Iris's murmur, turning to face her with a tint of confusion. "...why would you think that? Any non-resident has a tracker on them. This is the biggest city in the prefecture, after all, so they try to keep security as tight as they can to balance it out." He explained, shrugging slightly. Then again, it was no exaggeration to say that Sabu had essentially "gone native" with regards to the humans, so perhaps he wasn't the best source for critical analysis of human society.

The gazes of the guards went from Sabu to the newborns, each of them feeling a barely-momentary sting as an immaterial force touched them. Providing they didn't attempt to mentally push back against the force, it would dissipate a moment later, leaving them feeling no different than they had a bit earlier. Giving a nod to the guards as they opened the city entrance, Sabu strode forwards, gesturing for the others to follow.

"Come now! As promised, I will allow you to get your magical affinities analyzed first, and then we shall begin the tour!"

Finally calming down fully not normal as Sabu chatted on with the armored humans standing before them, Lyminia took a moment to observe the work of their gear armor. Not that she was any kind of blacksmith, but at the same time this was curious to her since this was the first time she had seen human armor and such. Then as Sabu explained the spell markers to them, she gave a brief but short nod, allowing the guards to do their job before they finally opened the gate. One of the other females had seemed to whine about the prospect, but in reality Lyminia did not blame them. Random Goblins, including one red psychopath, could be a danger from their perspective. Really, if there was a Goblin city and a human came to it, she would want to keep an eye on them if she did not know them well. Then again, perhaps Sabu was somewhat partial to this place as well. Whatever the case was, she didn't speak up towards the female who had complained. Wasn't worth slowing things down again from her perspective.

It was then she heard Sabu speak and gesture to them all to follow him inside, however, mentioning heading to get their magical affinities analyzed first before the tour officially began. Letting out a small sigh of relief at the prospect of getting this first important question answered, Lyminia immediately began following after Sabu through the city gate. She did not know what a human city would look like really, but she hoped this would be an interesting time for discovery and such. First, see if she could learn and use magic or not. Second, find useful locations for herself, such as a place that sold or made tools and a library of sorts she could learn the human language in.

Considering she didn't know what everyone's Gifts were, though, on a side note she had no idea if any of them would be able to use magic anyways.

---

@Moonlit Sonata@Hammerman@DracoLunaris@Leotamer@Malchivo

Iris turned bright red as Sabu corrected her negative assumption. Apparently it was all foreigners that got tagged and not just monsters. Well she now looked like an ass.

”Oh, uh, woops. My bad for making poor assumptions."

She still didn’t like the tracking situation but at least it wasn’t just them who were being marked. Speaking of said mark she flinched a little at the little sting that came with being marked, really she was to surprised by the pain to try and resist but the sensation passed quickly enough. That could have gone worse she supposed .

Entrance given she hurried along after Sabu, interested to get the magic test underway and then get the tour. While magic affinity might not be her gift, the chief and even the mundane looking guards could do a little bit of magic and she was hoping she could too.

The walk through the city was...odd, to say the least. The newborns hadn't even seen the Goblin tribe proper, but the human city was something on another scale entirely. Countless people filled the streets, stalls selling everything from magical artifacts of dubious quality to all manner of food standing wherever one looked. The very sound of the city was omnipresent, the mingling together of innumerable human voices.

"Stick close to me. We don't want anyone getting lost, gahaha!"

Sabu's warning seemed prudent. As he had said, to the humans this was the largest city of the prefecture, their prefectural capital through which goods, services, and gold all flowed as a nexus point. It would be worryingly easy to get lost amidst the crowd if one wasn't careful. And yet...

"<Hey, it's Sabu! When are you coming by the tavern? It's been weeks!>"

"<Mommy, look, it's the goblin man who stopped that giant rabbit!>"

"<Ah, Adventurer Sabu, we have a new spear in stock. Perhaps you'd like to take a look?>"

How the hell did every other person in this overcrowded city seem to know Sabu?

Before long, those who had managed to stick with the Lesser Draconic Goblin found themselves outside of a small wooden building, a faded sign that was illegible even to those who knew the human language hung out front. Without a word, Sabu swung the door open and stepped inside, waving for the others to follow him in.

"<Ah, the dragon-blooded Goblin. It's been some time.>"

The building interior opened out into a single large room, with a corridor running further behind into darkness. In this room, a handful of chairs were scattered about almost randomly, what looked to be a young human boy of no more than eight years old seated on one of them. His eyes glimmered slightly as he glanced at the new entrants, seamlessly switching to the goblin language. "And you've brought new ones, too. Well, since it doesn't look like you're here for lessons, I can guess why you've brought them. Come, come, who's first?" He asked, hefting himself off of the chair and turning to face the group properly.

---

Kluuto made sure to stay close to Sabu as they went through the city. She had to stop herself from wandering off as there were simply so many interesting things she wanted to look closer at. But she didn't want to risk getting lost, as doing so would complicate matters for everyone involved.

As they walked, Kluuto heard some humans greeting Sabu. It seemed he had some sort of popularity among the humans. Well, it shouldn't be too hard as his form and physique certainly made him stand out.

Hmm, this is the place? It's certainly... less fancy than I thought it would be.

Kluuto now stood in front of a small wooden building. There was a sign in the front but the letters were so faded even her couldn't make out what it said. When she saw Kluuto waving to them to enter, she immediately obeyed however, trusting Sabu more than her own judgment.

What is this? A child?

Indeed, the one greeted them was a boy no older than eight. Was he the one that would examine their magical capability? Surely there must be some sort of mistake. She had expected a bearded old magician or someone that actually looked like a mage.

Kluuto glanced at Sabu, but she couldn't find any confusion on his expression. So he really was the one.

"Me first," Kluuto said to him, raising her arm. Might as well see right away what this boy was capable of.

As they wandered through the town Iris felt more and more guilt for her former disdain for the humans. She had been so quick to judge, but here they were, Sabu having numerous friendly greetings thrown at him as they made their way to the magic tester. At least she assumed they were friendly, she only recognised the Dragon blooded goblin’s name out of their sentences, but their tone was certainly welcoming.

There were so many interesting sights to see, she had to fight against her natural curiosity in order to not get separated from the group. She wasn’t sure if she liked the noise however, nor how cramped it was, it was somewhat suffocating to be surrounded by all these massive busy humans. Certainly an interesting place to visit, but so far she would not like to live here.

---

Iris was slightly surprised by the nature of the place they had been taken and by the one that greeted them. She was more surprised when the boy began to speak the in goblin tongue. She supposed maybe he dealt with their kind on a regular basis?

She wondered about the boy, was he some kind of magical prodigy, an old man who made himself young or perhaps an apprentice to the real mage who was busy doing magic stuff in the back. She was leaning towards the last but imagined it would be rude to assume any of her guesses.

She offered a ”Nice to meet you" and a wave before seating herself in one of the haphazardly placed chairs as kife ears eagerly put herself first in line. She would wait her turn to come, hopefully this would not take to long. She was looking forwards to lunch.

The young boy nodded as Kluuto volunteered herself, a slight chuckle leaving him at the goblins' collective reaction to him. He was hardly surprised by that, of course, but that didn't make it any less amusing to see. "Very well, very well. Ah, you probably don't have a strong enough soul to actually fight back, but if you do then please don't. This is a bit more intrusive than normal Appraisal or those markers of the guards, so if you try to resist then your soul might...break."

Before Kluuto even had so much as a chance to blurt out a response, the air grew dense around the boy with the reek of magical energy; unlike the red and black fog of Sabu and the human general he had fought, there was no visible indication this time save for the fact that one could certainly gauge that "something was being channeled". The boy's eyes met Kluuto's, a wry grin playing across his face.

"<Vaish, grant me eyes.>"

Visible only to Kluuto, from the boy's eyes streamed light, a flowing burst that jolted like a burst of static from his eyes and into the Goblin's. If the actions of the guards had made them feel exposed, then this was that same feeling brought up to the utmost degree. And then, as quickly as it began, it had ended, the boy nodding to himself lightly while Kluuto would likely feel drained from the ordeal.

"Mm, not bad. You haven't undergone any Touchstones, but your soul's a bit stronger than a normal Goblin's would be starting out, even with a Gift. Having a Gift itself is always pleasant as well. Language comprehension's certainly valuable to have, especially if you decide to try your hand at the more ancient ones. Physical parameters are normal. Magical potential...well, you don't have any elemental affinities, but given the strength of your soul, you could probably become competent in magic if you put in the work to learn and get the appropriate Evolutions; your Gift will no doubt help with that. Right now, you're not meeting any Evolution qualifications, but you could probably get into a more humanoid Goblin form if you had higher exposure to humans, or any variant of scribe-themed monsters if you work on your Gift. Alternatively, you could go for a more standard Evolution, improving your physical parameters to qualify for Hobgoblin or something. Those are just some examples of course, not even I know every single monster a Goblin could theoretically evolve into."

"What's a bit more curious is that the state of your soul's a bit odd. There's some information in there that even a Total Appraisal can't penetrate, which is something We've almost never seen in the past." He remarked, grin widening a bit. "Almost like there's information there that doesn't belong in this world."

Shrugging a bit, the boy let out another chuckle. "Well, hopefully that answers your questions. Any others who want a go?"

Redd had simply followed along, staying out of focus. After his last stunt, the others were guarded. He would need to act when they was not around. He stepped towards the mystic, though looking around to see if someone else wanted to step up. There was a curiosity about him, but he was not impatient in this matter. It didn't really matter to him if he was first or last.

A part of Redd was worried about revealing himself to much. While Redd is not malicious, there is the chance that the ignorant could perceive him as evil. This and the tracker worried him, not because of what they said it was for, but for what it could potentially be used for. Redd is not a trusting goblin, for each person can only be trusted to a certain degree, and he does not know the degree that the people around him could be trusted. However, so far, it seems as though following along would be beneficial to him.

---

The examination process was not like what she had expected. It was over in a flash yet it was certainly uncomfortable. It was if he was drilling straight into her mind, taking the information necessary for his examination.

Kluuto then heard what the boy had to say attentively. Basically, she had to evolve first before she could become competent in magic. And she could either choose the traditional route of evolution of a goblin, becoming a hobgoblin via training her body, or have more exposure with humans or other scribe-themed monsters to evolve to a more humanoid form.

Well, she knew perfectly well which option she would want to take.

He then said that there was also something odd with her soul, other than how it was stronger than your ordinary goblin soul. Apparently, there was some information there that even his examination skill, Total Appraise, couldn't penetrate. It was as if it was an information that didn't belong to this world, he said.

"Thank you," she said to him, bowing a little. "I now know what I should be doing next. I believe I shall aim for that humanoid evolution. That means I'll probably have to stay and mingle with the humans in this town. Is there a place where I can get a job related to human language? Perhaps a place with lots of books? Or a goblin to human translating job?" She also looked at Gabu, expecting him to answer as well.

Listening to the words the young looking human said, Lyminia swiftly stepped forwards immediately as the boy asked if any of them wanted to have a go at being tested. The information about Kluuto was admittedly interesting to hear, but also brought about questions that she did not quite understand as well. Or rather, questions that spawned from questions. What had the boy meant about Kluuto's soul having information in it that "doesn't belong in this world"? What were these "scribe themed monsters" that he was referring to in a general manner? Such things went through her mind for a moment, but in the end were quashed by her desire to see what her potential was as well according to this odd human. Not that she had met many humans until this point, at any rate.

"I want to go next, if that is acceptable," Lyminia said to the boy, her tone calm yet with hints of a masked excitement to some small extent that she felt in regards to this...ability to learn of her possibilities to a certain level, "And on a side note, do you have any jobs you would need done around a place like this? I may have just woken up, but if i can find any job of some sort in a place like this i can say i will work my hardest at it."

Perhaps she would have some sort of affinity, or some kind of unique qualification for something if she worked hard enough. Perhaps her strange desire to dig could be explained in some manner by the nature of her own soul, or perhaps other things about her could be explained that she was not aware of. Truly, it was something she wanted to know about and learn about if possible. And if she could learn magic, perhaps something about souls if this young looking human knew more about them, perhaps this place would be a good way to start before getting her digging tools...

And if she could get a job here or something, that would be cool too. Perhaps she could earn some money, perhaps she could apprentice if she could just to get some information. Even just cleaning things up or something was acceptable to her. Not that hunting rabbits and selling pelts and wood and such was bad, not at all to her, but curiosity prodded her to want to ask such a thing to this boy if possible. It was sudden, though, but she was not going to speak sweet words or spin a story to try to mention the matter as well.

So it turned out the young human was the wizard after all. That was odd. Well, maybe it was odd. For all Iris knew all human mages were like this, perhaps humans slowly lost their magical affinity over time or something equally strange. Seeing as nobody else was going to ask, Iris gave into her curiosity.

”Are all human magicians as young as you?"

There was no arrogance or dismissal of the mage due to his age in the tone of her query, after all her own age could be measured aptly in days, only a genuine desire to know more about the world.

”oh, and I’ll go after Lyminia if that’s alright?"

She suspected the answer she would get would be similar to knife ear’s answer, but she was interested about the lad thought her possible evolutions from working her gift was. Also she wanted to see if this ‘information that does not belong with this world’ thing was something all of them in their generation had. She wondered what that info possibly could be.

She was rather amused by the two other girls attempts at gaining employment with the young wizard, presumably both hoping for some of his knowledge of the arcane to rub off on them. The mention of translation made her wondered whether goblins even produced or consumed literature at all. She supposed that Madam Archmage might have produced works that humans would be interesting in reading, if she wrote in goblin that is. She wished the two of them luck with their attempts with getting education in the human town, personally she was going to wait till she had seen home before she made a decision on where her interests were best served.

"The library isn't hiring, but if you hit it off well enough the librarian, she might be willing to give you a part-time job. With that said, you don't exactly have much in the way of employable skills." The boy replied to Kluuto, shrugging slightly. "And to answer the others' question, no, I don't have jobs I need done. Nothing that shouldn't be done by myself, at least; a newly-awakened goblin without an ounce of magical strength doesn't have any use for me." He said rather coldly, leaving Sabu to only laugh slightly at the boy's demeanor.

"Gahaha! You could let them down a little bit easier, you know!" He remarked, grinning widely, only to be met with the terse reply of the boy.

"...what's the point of that?"

"Gahaha, you haven't changed a bit!"

At Iris's question, though, a hint of amusement entered the boy's eyes, the trace of a laugh leaving him. "Well, likely not, but that's largely because the number of humans my age is relatively slim. The population above ninety years in age is a pretty small proportion." He replied. "To make that clear, I'm not human. I'm a homunculus, artificial life created through the alchemy of humanity's strongest magician. I've been stationed here for just under a century to monitor that freak, Yggdrasil. Well, that and potentially to serve as a last line of defense for the city if something were to happen, but I despise combat, so I'd rather that doesn't happen." He explained, puffing up with pride a bit at the mention of his creator.

With that, the process of Total Appraisal was conducted on those who remained. Lyminia, Ivy, and then Redd.

"Mostly the same as the last one. Standard physical parameters, no skills of note, slightly stronger soul than expected, possession of a Gift, no Evolution criteria met, information that I can't penetrate. Oy, just what's up with this group of yours? Even among all of my siblings, We've only seen this sort of thing, information outside of Total Appraisal's purvey, three times in the past. I'll have to report this to Father. Your Gift is related to heat and earth, so you've got some heat resistance and a subpar affinity for fire elemental essence; of course, as your soul gets stronger, so will that affinity since it's a result of the Gift. Depending on Evolutions and training, the Gift could either stay balanced, or one aspect could get exaggerated over the other. Valuable training places would probably be places like volcanoes, but there are only a handful of those on the continent, and they're all hotbeds for monsters that could kill you in an instant. There's also Below, but you'd need to be Father's equal to even attempt that."

"Mm, as for you, it's exactly the same thing in specs. Really, the only thing different among you is your Gifts and your minds. Oy, Vaish, are the gods engineering this or something? At any rate, your Gift currently lets you gauge properties of plants. That'll become more detailed as the soul grows stronger, and later on it could do things like grant certain affinities, allow one to speak with nature, or any variant of similar things depending on your Touchstones. If you're able to earn Yggdrasil's respect, then it's probably your best resource for the time being; that thing's the strongest plant-type existence in the known world, after all. In this specific case, the guidance it can give you is better than what I can."

"And you...oh, blood, huh? By coming into contact with its blood, you can gauge something's species. That could expand out into a more general detection ability, blood elemental affinities, vampiric capacities, maybe even acquiring abilities through blood. Again, it depends on your Touchstones. Most humans aren't going to take very kindly to that, especially if you try to go for vampiric Evolutions. It's also one of the harder ones to train, but combat's probably the easiest means. Consider visiting the Adventurer's Guild. Ah, and be careful, if you decide to shoot too high above your class in dealing with blood, you probably won't survive. Ingesting the blood of a Greater Dragon, for instance, would kill you almost immediately even with your Gift."

Redd took a moment to take in the information he was given. The most important thing seemed to be that evolution was not simply useful in obtaining the blood of stronger species, but that it was required for his body to handle such precious blood. The next that entered his mind was that while this creature seemed very powerful, he was an artificial creature. Even if he had blood, it would be unnatural, and for some reason it made it seem unappealing on a deeper level.

It seemed that the ancient being suggested combat as a logical course of action. Redd was not opposed to this if was a way to further this goals, and combat did have the added benefit of blood shed.

The final thought was that vampiric evolutions would displease humans, however he already seemed to have this idea. However, humans was just a means to an end, once he had evolved into a form stronger then them, he would no longer have use of them. Though, for the time being, perhaps the adventurer's guild could be of service.