Epoch: A Berserker's Rise

Chapter 181: Sad Past

Back in the game, Adam left the inn he was in and headed toward Neith's location. He found her in a large plaza, with numerous vampires all over her. However, they didn't wish her any harm, but were painting her.

On his way here, Neith had explained the situation to him. For today's festivities, because of her big size and her identity they had decided to use her s an idol. They had drawn numerous symbols with red paint all over her body, or were in the process of doing this, and they were there to wish Adam and King Slayer good luck.

As it turned out, the Blood Tower was sacred to vampires because it was believed that the cure to their curse was detained on the top floor of the tower, which no one had ever reached. The problem with the tower was that it was, from what he heard, a divine artifact.

The tower would generate different things inside the tower depending on the level and rank of the one entering, and so one's rank didn't matter. An SS Class Bronze Rank had as much chances to climb to the top than the Vampire King.

Vampires were not a biological race, but instead a magical one, created through a curse. During the era anterior to the war of the gods, an evil god had created the vampires by placing a curse on a bunch of people from different races.

No one really knew anymore why he did this, but the point was, this was a curse. Although becoming a Vampire allowed for some advantages such as the great life expectancy, the strength and the ability to pretty much ignore talent by drinking blood, it came with even harsher counters.

They could be under the sun, and wouldn't be turned to ashes by the sun's rays like in the movies on Earth, but they would become much weaker, and the powerful regeneration power coming from their blood would be deactivated.

Also, they were weak against fire, lightning and light based attacks, making them one of the races with the worst weaknesses.

But for vampires, all those things weren't the worst, it was actually their state of undeadness. Being undeads also allowed any vampire below the Hero Rank to live up to 1000 years, and for Hero and Legend Ranks, they were almost immortal. Well, for the corresponding ranks amongst monsters, obviously.

But they were only almost immortal, as no mortal was really immortal. It was a popular belief that Legends were immortal, but that wasn't actually true, it was just that they had a lifespan of 10 000 years, which was so long that people called them immortal. In reality, only gods were really immortal.

Anyway, despite losing the lower lifespan of mortal men, they also lost the pleasure of life.

Whatever they ate, if it weren't blood, it would be tasteless. They could barely feel the touch of another, and carnal pleasure was non existent. Thinking about it, they were what most would define as perfect killings machines.

Stealthy in the dark, they didn't need to sleep, to rest, they didn't fear poisons and diseases, and the only thing they needed to eat was the blood of their targets. Unfortunately, there was one flaw, and that was their mind, as they kept their mentalities and personalities from before they were turned into vampires.

When they first appeared, almost every vampires would only follow the call of blood, as that was their only source of pleasure in this world, but this caused their race to nearly become extinct. That's why many years ago an especially powerful vampire had led the remaining vampires into this realm and forced his fellow vampires to calm down.

And that's how the pacific Vampire Kingdom came to be through the years. They gradually discovered that apart from blood, they could also derive pleasure and ecstasy from emotions, and so they turned from a hated race to a well liked one. Because of this, 1500 years ago they decided to come back live on the main land of Epoch.

For a thousand years their lives were happy, Vampires became a thriving tribe and were friends with pretty much everyone. However, five hundred years ago a tragedy took place.

A madman made a terrifying discovery, and that was that Vampire's blood could be used a great magical conductor, as well as a great ingredient for potions, especially health potion. There was even a legendary potion called the Blood Potion that was said to be able to rise people from the dead, and it was made using a Legendary Vampire's blood.

Because of this, many people joined forces to attack the peaceful vampires, and almost the entire vampire race, including almost all of their royalty, were killed. In the end, it was Vald, the current Vampire King, who had saved his people by leading them back into the Land of the Eternal Night.

And this escape had only been possible because Vald was friends with the current Cave Master of Blackheart Mountain, who had faced against most of the other Racial Powers to protect the vampires. That was also the main reason why Vampires would always side with the current Cave Master, and were so friendly to King Slayer.

However, Adam also learned something that baffled him, and that made him feel guilty. Amongst those who hunted the vampires, the Coldlands Empire was actually amongst the most ruthless, and were the ones who killed the most vampires. This was done by the current Emperor's father.

The old Emperor chased vampires hard and killed most of their race. Before, the vampires could even form a whole empire by themselves, but now they could only fill a city that was barely as big as Fjora. More than 9 tenth of their race were exterminated, that was the latest genocide that took place in Epoch.

And yet, when they spoke to him, the people here, who had clearly for most suffered under the Northmen, spoke to him politely, and no trace of hatred could be seen in their eyes. Although Adam hadn't taken part in the massacre, and the one who led it was the previous Emperor, anyone would have been antagonistic.

The orcs and the Northmen, for example, were still hostile to each other despite not having ever fought such a deadly war against each other. Ironically, the vampires were more human than anyone Adam had ever met.

Anyway, this led Adam to truly respect those people, and he had decided that he would do his best to help them with their curse, and if someone were to ever threaten them, they would have his whole support. This was a big decision, but they had earned his respect.

Well, he kind of drifted off Back to the tower, it was a tower created by the god who cursed them to lock up their cure forever. According to him, not even a Sovereign or a Chosen one would be able to get to the top of the tower.

The tower would create obstacles within each floor according to the challengers' level and rank, so whether one was a legend or an Iron rank, it didn't matter. Like that, for countless years the tower was in front of the vampire, with their cure inside, and yet they couldn't even access it.

Moreover, the insides of the tower were very dangerous, which was why less and less people wanted to attempt to climb it. That's for all those reasons that every time someone challenged the tower, the vampires would celebrate and wish good luck to the challenger. The paintings on Neith were here for this.

After chatting with Neith for a little, Adam let the Vampires continue what they were doing, and walked toward the tower.

When he accepted to try entering the tower earlier, he had merely accepted because he thought it was going to be fun, and he might earn some XP, so although he prepared himself a little, he didn't take it too seriously.

But now he had found a new motivation, and he was determined to reach the last floor and help the Vampire clan.