Chapter 30 of 100

Chapter 30

16 min read3,930 words

After completing Lan Xin's main weapon, Sun Ran immediately crafted a pair of willow-leaf swords made of ceramic alloy with a third-level structure as her close-combat weapons.

Next came Ke'er's pair of rune daggers, also of third-level strength. Unable to resist her pouting, Sun Ran also made her a small crossbow, which was extremely lethal at fifty meters.

Due to the tight schedule, Sun Ran crafted an ordinary second-level staff for himself and a second-level magical device that looked like a staff for Bai Tingxuan.

Mages and warriors are different. Warriors can immediately unleash most of the power of high-level weapons, but mages need high-level spells to be effective. Without high-level spells, even a divine staff would be useless. Therefore, second-level was sufficient.

With this staff, Sun Ran could cast second-level spells. With the magical device, Bai Tingxuan could draw talismans faster and more powerfully without cinnabar.

By the time all the weapons were completed, it was already nine o'clock the next morning, and the Thorn Rose team's combat strength had significantly increased.

Sun Ran was exhausted and fell asleep on the bed in the storage room. His sleep quality was excellent, and after two hours, he woke up refreshed and full of energy.

The butler had just prepared lunch, and Sun Ran enjoyed it with the three women.

After lunch, the butler reported that Priest Glass had come to visit.

In comparison, the Ottoman Empire was relatively enlightened. Although it was predominantly Muslim, there were still Christians within the country.

He must have come for the vampire from last night. It wouldn't be difficult for a priest like Glass to find out about the vampire. For the Catholic Church, vampires were absolute heretics and must be eradicated, so it was natural for him to be concerned.

Sun Ran nodded and said, "Please bring him in quickly."

He tidied himself up and waited in the living room.

After a while, the butler led the priest into the hall.

This was a middle-aged man, dressed in the attire of a bishop. He wore a red skullcap and a red robe, with a very serene demeanor.

Sun Ran hurriedly stood up to greet him. In Europe at this time, although the Christian Church had already shown signs of division due to the sale of indulgences, the Catholic Church still held supreme authority. If he could gain their support, dealing with the vampire would be much easier.

After some casual conversation, Priest Glass got straight to the point, "Pasha Orlando, the vampire that invaded your residence last night was not an ordinary one. Be honest, have you recently offended Duke Dracula?"

Sun Ran was taken aback, his face showing shock. After a long silence, he nodded hesitantly, "Yes, how did you know?"

The background of the mission was that Dracula had forced the Church to recognize his status with his vampire army. It seemed the Church deeply detested Dracula. By admitting he had offended Dracula, he would be on the same side as the Church, which was not a bad thing.

Priest Glass sighed deeply and said through gritted teeth, "Dracula has recruited a group of dark mages and used some evil spells to transform ordinary people into bloodthirsty monsters. These humanoid vampires are only found in his army, and they number an entire legion."

Sun Ran gasped in shock, his face showing panic. He knelt before the bishop, tightly gripping his hand and pleaded, "Bishop, please save me!"

Although his original identity was Muslim, Sun Ran didn't hesitate to abandon Allah to gain the Church's support.

There was no choice; Dracula's Wallachia was not part of the Islamic world but the Christian world, and the support of God was much more important.

The priest was satisfied with Sun Ran's reaction and asked in a low voice, "Be honest with me, do you know magic?"

Seeing Sun Ran's hesitation, he added, "As long as it's not evil magic, the Lord will forgive you."

Sun Ran smiled awkwardly, "I do have some knowledge."

The priest showed no sign of blame and immediately took out a dagger with a dark, ominous glow from his pocket and handed it to Sun Ran.

"Original Sin Dagger! The weapon of the first vampire, Cain, who used it to kill his own brother. This dagger carries the power of the first vampire and is cursed by God. Any vampire that is even slightly scratched by it, even just a scratch, will die. Take it."

Sun Ran took the dagger and carefully examined it, feeling a surge of joy. This dagger was a high-privilege enchanted weapon. Although it was made of ordinary steel, the dark glow was a fourth-level selective death curse!

A death curse is like a brutal kick out of the game. The curse on this dagger was selective, only effective against vampires. If it hit, the vampire player would be disconnected from the game, no matter where they were hit.

"Your Excellency, what is this?" Sun Ran was still a bit puzzled.

"I received divine inspiration last night. The Lord told me to give you this dagger. Keep it for protection," the bishop said.

Divine inspiration? Sun Ran chuckled inwardly. This was just the game administrator's usual method of sending dreams.

In other words, the dagger was sent by the game administrator through the bishop. The curse on it was specifically designed to counter the vampire disruptors, and it was absolutely effective.

Why a dagger? Because a dagger is discreet and fits the medieval technology level, with a mythological background. If the bishop had brought a mushroom bomb, a sniper rifle, or an RPG, it would have been too out of place. The bishop would not find it novel but would complain about the game company ruining his experience.

The dagger was a boost from the game administrator to the maintainer, and Sun Ran naturally accepted it with pleasure.

After giving the dagger, the bishop's face turned serious, and he warned, "Try not to reveal that you are a mage. Not everyone is as rational as I am. In the northwest, there are many fanatics, and you should avoid them."

In the Ottoman Empire, the Catholic Church was in a weak position and thus more tolerant and enlightened, or they wouldn't survive. But in northwestern Europe, the Catholic Church was extremely oppressive, with an Inquisition.

Sun Ran was shaken and nodded in agreement.

The bishop continued to nag for a while, mainly advising Sun Ran not to go down the wrong path and to be cautious now that he had offended Dracula. After more than half an hour, he finally left.

Ke'er was skilled with daggers, so the Original Sin Dagger naturally went to her.

Now that everything was ready, their next step was to go to the Principality of Wallachia to find the vampire count.

How to find the disruptor was the hardest part, where many previous maintainer teams had failed.

"Which way? The Principality of Wallachia is located on the Wallachian Plain, which is quite large," Lan Xin asked, assuming Sun Ran would have a plan.

Ke'er and Bai Tingxuan also thought so.

"Is the disruptor not in the capital of the principality?" Sun Ran asked first.

Lan Xin shook her head, "We don't know. The capital, Targoviste, is the base of the bat army, and there are indeed many vampires, but no one knows if the disruptor is there. The count's power is just speculation."

"Oh," Sun Ran indeed had a plan, "Watch my ghost-finding compass!"

He specially made a compass and poured the vampire's heart blood from the previous day into it, creating a ghost-finding compass.

"This compass can guide us to the bloodline's predecessor. Find the vampire, kill him, get his blood, and we can trace back one more level until we find the vampire disruptor," Sun Ran explained to the three women.

The vampire disruptor maintained control over his subordinates through blood, which Sun Ran used to trace back to his hiding place.

"Let's go then," Lan Xin was pleased.

"How do we go?"

"Of course, by horse."

Sun Ran slapped his head and said regretfully, "I don't seem to know how to ride a horse."

He was now a mage, previously a Taoist, and had even been a king. When traveling, he either flew or rode in a carriage. Riding a horse was something he had never done.

Lan Xin, who knew Sun Ran's past, was not surprised and smiled, "There's no time to learn now. Let's ride together."

The Orlando residence had horses, all Arabian horses, which were very majestic, with good endurance and strength, easily carrying two people.

The four rode out of the residence, with Sun Ran sitting in front of Lan Xin, ignoring the strange looks from passersby and focusing on the ghost-finding compass.

Guided by the compass, they quickly left Istanbul and headed northwest toward the Principality of Wallachia, located along the Danube River.

---