Underworld - Book 8 - Chapter 37

“Aren’t you overdoing it?”

I spun to find Hadassah standing there watching me in the most conservative dress I’d seen her wear. Bowing my head deeply, I greeted, “Matriarch.”

“Okay, I’m impressed. If I hadn’t known the three of you were coming, I wouldn’t have known what to look for. Despite that, your blending of mana is difficult to decipher.”

Lilith’s voice sounded from the other side of the portal. “Sister, you’re ruining it. I was hoping to subject them to this charade for a time so that they learn the drawbacks of traveling as one. It’s an important lesson they must learn.”

Hadassah looked from us to the portal and rolled her eyes. “Lesson? You just find this amusing.”

When the portal snickered, Nava’s shadow detached from my back, and she reappeared at my side, pouting. Aeris did the same but wasn’t in the same hurry. I remained in my vampire form.

“There’s no need to disguise yourselves,” Hadassah confirmed. “We’re inside Zacarro’s palace. Everyone except for those of his own harem have been asked to leave while we shop to our heart’s content. Shall we get started?”

Lilith bid us farewell before the portal closed, then our very own Succubus Matriarch hostess began to explain the layout of this megamall in the shape of a skyscraper. If there was question as to whether it would have everything we were looking for, our worries were soon settled. What happens when a thousand-year-old vampire who’s an avid collector decides its time to sell some of his goodies? You get one of the seven wonders of the Underworld.

The girls got giddy with excitement, while I got down to business. I had made a shopping list of everything Sanctuary might need as well as what our friends had requested. This was not my cup of tea, but we were short on time. So I did what I normally would never do when I went shopping.

“Matriarch Hadassah, are we able to request help from the Zacarro sales associates?”

She glanced back at me curiously. “Of course.” With a gesture, a level 20,000 succubus came running.

“Greeting’s Master. How can I help you?”

“How many of you are there?” I asked.

“There are quite a few of us…”

“Good. Can you tell me if you have anything on this list?”

The first one I handed her was the list of ores and materials Russ had requested. There were a lot of them. Many of them were rare enough that he’d never worked with them before. The idea wasn’t just to get him hooked up for the immediate future. I wanted him to have excess materials of every level so that he could grind to the highest rank of Blacksmithing as quickly as possible and have some leftover to make some truly remarkable things.

“Most of this we have in stock,” she began. “For what we don’t, our competitors should. But at these quantities… It will cost billions of dark coins.”

“If the price doesn’t matter, are you able to put the order together for me in a few hours? We don’t have a lot of time.”

She bowed her head. “We have been commanded to accommodate you. I’ll put together a team to get on it right away.”

“Excellent. And what about this one?”

I pulled out a second list filled with alchemy materials.

She just blinked at it several times before asking, “Are there more?”

Grinning, I handed her a third one that listed needed livestock and bulk seeds. Sanctuary wasn’t just about to have more than enough cave swine for mass meat production but also muck cows and Underworld chickens. Then came the fourth list asking for cooking ingredients in the quantities needed by giant monster chefs. That was only the beginning, and I hadn’t even gotten to the personal requests. Gemstones, monster cores, unique plants for Olivia, Lydia, and Steve to study, and surface and Underworld books to get the Sanctuary Library off the ground were other bulk purchases we’d be making. All of which Master Mather would be transporting to Sanctuary.

Pretty soon, a table was brought out and I was sitting across from the succubus associate as we worked through the lists. She sent runners as needed. So without even browsing, I proceeded to purchase more stuff than I’d likely bought in my life many times over. We weren’t just buying enough for our fifteen friends, the few large families from the Illuminated Cathedral that had settled there, and the First Spear’s defensive force. We were planning for mass expansion.

To Aeris’s credit, she wouldn’t leave me until I insisted I had this under control. She reluctantly followed Nava and Hadassah, but I could feel the excitement radiating off of her. She would mainly be shopping for the girls. Clarissa was already taken care of with all the minerals and gemstones we’d be purchasing. She’d also be looking for baby clothes, toys, and the like for Lydia and Olivia. Yeri had requested Underworld music, even if it wasn’t written in the same way surface music was. There were some pieces translated to surface sheet music. Jasmine was easy to shop for according to my wife. They’d spoken a lot about their tastes. It was Audrey who had made the most ridiculous request. She wanted a boyfriend. A tall elven guy that’s athletic. I was thankful I had Aeris to handle such things.

It was only once I’d gone through every list with the associate that I turned to the more personal requests. Trevon was easy. I basically bought out a music store with all the Underworld and surface instruments for him to mess around with. Travis wanted metals to study, so we did a double order. I would also receive a whole variety of different alloys.

Zorik liked soda, believe it or not. Not just cola either. There were several beverages that made use of carbonation, but there wasn’t the same categorization as there was on the surface. I looked at the succubus and said, “I have another friend that loves to try knew foods. Could I just buy a variety of human-safe foods and bubbly beverages that store well?”

 As we got into the more specialty goods, I found out just how much stuff they really had. There was almost anything you could imagine. There were even some things the guys didn’t ask for that I got anyway. To Travis went several mullet-wigs of varying hair colors. Perry was about to get a functional Viking cosplay set. For Mel, I bought dark rimmed sunglasses. Why? It just seemed funny at the time.

It was when we got to the more general stuff that they guys really wanted that I finally got up. When the succubus attendant said she was going to take me to a floor filled with items from the surface world, I contacted Aeris immediately. They’d been a few floors below, but Nava and even Matriarch Hadassah were quick to join us.

The floor was near the top floor of the building, closer to the living quarters. As soon as we flew up the corridor and reached the floor, I stopped dead in my tracks. It was like walking into an antique mall. Something I’d done several times with my parents when I was younger. It was like being transported back to the surface, except the time period for the different items varied greatly. Some of the things were modern and not really antiques at all like the 70” OLED flatscreen that was just sitting there amongst things like an old rotary phone and a cookie jar.

I knew what I was looking for. The guys were all interested in collectable trading cards and tabletop games. As I looked some more, something caught my eye and wouldn’t let go.

Aeris was saying something about table hockey but everything else faded into the background. There wasn’t just one old car, but an entire row of about eighty lined up side by side against the back wall.

I zombied forward as if seeing my first meal in over a year. It wasn’t the McLarens, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, or the Bugattis that were my end destination. It was a 1969 Mustang Fastback convertible in cherry red with black racing stripes that had my attention. My man-drool ran thick. Then I glanced to the left, away from the more modern super cars, and a whole row of muscle cars were waiting.

A Plymouth Road Runner in white with blue racing stripes, a blue Pontiac GTO Judge followed by a Camero ZL1 in black next to a Z28, then a Chevelle in red and white, a Dodge Charger next to a Challenger, an Oldsmobile 442, and in the final slot was a 1964 Shelby Cobra 289 roadster.

I had two questions that I asked without even looking to see if the attendant was with me or not. “How they get these to the Underworld, and did they raid a high-end car auction?” Each one was exquisitely restored.

“Master Elorion, the imps sent to the surface have access to their inventories. With their low stats, generally its difficult for them to bring something of this size back with them because of its weight. Master Zacarro will hire strength specialists to act as mules when he makes such hauls. He is fair, and usually has his servants pay for art pieces such as these.”

My head tilted awkwardly as I looked at her. “You mean he sends human servants with low-levels with high strength stats and has them buy them with surface money?”

“Yes.”

Did I even want to ask where he got human money? Vampire secrets, I’m sure. And even though I agreed they were works of art, they have far more practical purposes than just sitting here. I have a few such purposes stirring around in my head already.

“How much?” I said.

“Which one are you interested in?” she dared to ask.

“All of them.” I knew Aeris had already found one of the more modern ones to her liking even if I hadn’t glanced in her direction yet. When I did, I saw she wasn’t next to the new Ferrari F80, the orange Lamborghini Urus, the all black Bugatti Veyron, the McLaren Artura coupe, but a late 90s Nissan Skyline GT-R—the holy grain of import cars. There was even a Ferrari F8 Spider which she’d said is one of the cutest cars ever, yet she only had eyes for the Skyline.

“Two billion dark coins,” she offered.

“Done.”

Even after we’d spent hundreds of millions of dark coins, she was still caught off guard by how easily we spent money. What she didn’t know is that because we’d agreed on a price for grandmaster dark orb exchange, everything we were spending could be replaced in time and it was only a fraction of what we had.

Aeris’s voice sounded in my head, “Are you serious? What are we going to do with them?”

Before responding, I asked the attendant, “How easy is it to convert them to flying vehicles that run off mana orbs?”

“Oh. Well…” the woman thought for a second before responding, “There are several options. More permanent ones that require the device to be attached, and transferable ones that you can move from vehicle to vehicle. The permanent ones are more efficient, but if you’re willing to spend the money, there are mobile ones that come close.”

“I will take a few of the transferable mobile ones then.”

It was ridiculous, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t imagining flying into battle in a mustang convertible just because I could. Would I ever put our collection in such danger? Not a chance, but maybe, one day, when we had reached max level and had little to fear, we could cruise into the greatest cities of the Underworld in the most epic way possible.

“You’re crazy,” Aeris said.

“And you love me for it.”

“Yeah. I think I do.”

“Which ones are your favorites? I was thinking about sending the newer ones to Sanctuary. Can you imagine Skyler showing up to a meeting with the First Spear flying in a Bugatti?”

“No, no, no. There is no way. He’s not a super car guy. He’ll break it just trying to get in and out.”

I just smiled, waiting for her to glance over and see it.

When she did, she responded through mind-speak, “You’re so cruel. You’re thinking of keeping all the muscle cars to yourself, aren’t you?”

“You know me well.”

She crossed her arms over her chest as Nava and Hadassah looked on, oblivious to what was being said but amused at the argument we were having. “Pick three of your favorites.”

“Five.”

“Deal. You get five. I get five. Sanctuary gets the rest.”

“That’s like seventy cars, Aeris.”

She just glared at me. “It’s not about whether we can afford it or not. At the end of the day, they are just vehicles. If you start hording stuff now, where will we be a hundred years from now? Can we even fit ten cars into your master ring?”

“Oh, easily. I can fit fifty without having to move much around. I’ll make it work.”

“Fine,” she said as if annoyed, but she didn’t hide roguish smirk. She rattled off the ones she wanted including the Skyline and F8 Spider. I found it much harder to pick, but decided on the 1969 Mustang Fastback convertible, blue Pontiac GTO Judge, 1964 Shelby Cobra 289 roadster, and decided on the all black Bugatti Veyron. As for the fifth choice, I just couldn’t decide.

Maybe another newer car, or I began looking around the room then saw one section of the room for the first time. Me and the guys had talked about everything from getting a projector for movies and game consoles to putting together a local LAN center for PC games. I’d already seen a modern flat screen when we first arrived, so it’s not like it was out of the question. There were piles of boxes filled with electronics. Pillars of them.

“Aeris,” I hissed, pointing toward that section of the room.

“I already mentioned them, silly. You were just too focused on the cars.”

“Oh.” I was being pulled in that direction, so I quickly picked out the Ferrari F80, placed it in my master ring with the other vehicles we’d decided on, and headed in that direction. I probably shouldn’t have been as excited about it as I would since an army of imps had likely raided a Best Buy, but over the next fifteen minutes, we began sorting through them only to buy out half their stock. There weren’t any movie theater projectors, but we got the home theater versions that they had along with every TV and monitor.

Scanning the room, I realized how much time it was going to take to look for what we needed. I spotted notebook PCs, consoles, games, movies, even record players and actual records.

“How much for everything in the room?” I asked the attendant.

She looked at me blankly.

As I waited for her to reboot, I spotted a board game and strolled over to find what I’d been looking for. There were more desktop games then I knew what to do with. I was grinning from ear to ear even though I knew it would be some time before Aeris and I would get to enjoy any of these things with the others. If ever. But if we could give them a piece of home, to make their lives a little better, how could I put a price on that?

Then I asked Aeris, “Do you want to take some movies, games, or novels with us?”

She was hovering next to me where she shook her head. “I won’t argue if you’d like to, but I’d prefer to leave them for Sanctuary. They’ll be a reward for us to return to.”

I glanced back at a VR headset similar to the one I’d been using before coming to the Underworld. “You’re right.” No distractions.

I tried to pick out some things out for Chris who had only wanted stuff for the baby. As for Khun, I got him a real pirate hat. Or at least the closest thing to it. Queen Degima was getting a variety of different fire orbs with unique characteristics.

We’d leave the rest of the sorting to our friends in Sanctuary. One of the last things I picked up for both us and Sanctuary were a boat load of memory crystals that would act as video cameras. We were also getting actual cameras and video cameras, but surface technology just couldn’t compete with vivid memory recordings.

Did that mean we were finished? Not quite. Besides a few odds and ends we picked up for ourselves while shopping for the others, we had only started looking for us.

I had to admit that the variety of blood available was limited. When asking about it, I learned Lord Zacarro sold most of it to his sources in the Vampire Realm, which made sense. Still, I bought what they had and considered what Blue Magic Forms to learn while still here.

I had to admit that I wasn’t as enthusiastic as I’d once been to learn every Shapeshifting form I could get my hands on. After our last visit here, and the fact I had yet to even tried the Dendran Form, I wasn’t sure whether they were worth spending the money. What I needed wasn’t a bunch of forms I’d never use, but the kind worth investing in. As for what was available, there just weren’t any I thought I’d make use of. I decided on just one. The Grandfather Deathstalker Scorpion.

Hadassah insisted we didn’t use our disguise when we left the palace to return to the zoo. In case there were any onlookers, she didn’t want us to bring any attention to the main form we’d be traveling in.

The big black scorpion was hanging out in a cave. It was sleeping, but I found it interesting that its tail was standing on end even while it was resting.

Deathstalker Scorpion Form

Rank: Scorpling

Level: 1

Cost: 10,000 Mana Per Second (1,000 with buffs)

Constitution: +1,000, +100%

Special Abilities: Neurotoxins, Cytotoxins, Hemotoxins, Necrotoxins, and Myotoxins

Neurotoxins – Affects the nervous system.

Rank: Novice

Cytotoxins – Causes damage at the cellular level.

Rank: Novice

Hemotoxins – Disrupts blood clotting.

Rank: Novice

Necrotoxins – Causes tissue and cell death.

Rank: Novice

Myotoxins – Attacks muscle tissue.

Rank: Novice

Next Level:

Constitution: +90

Interestingly, it was a simple form that remained fairly costly even while we were at the lowest rank. It seemed the form could rank up, as could each toxin. Even at the lowest ranks, it would give a +10,000 Constitution buff once it hit level 100, not to mention the +100% of my base Con. It was definitely the toxins that made it so powerful, though.

It was my experience using bone appendages while fighting that convinced me it would be a powerful addition. Now I could coat them with a variety of poisons. They would be best used when hunting monsters, since any good healer, dark or light, would know to just force the toxin out of the body and then heal the affected area. But even in the context of a large battle, as a short-term debuff it might be amongst the best out there. And if a healer can’t get to them in time?

After draining the bodies of blood that they had in stock, my stats increased.

+392 Strength

+401 Dexterity

+1,003 Constitution

+83 Intelligence

+74 Wisdom

The stats I’d have at the beginning of our completely unsupervised journey into the Underworld were as follows.

Character Status

Elorion

Level: 51,005

Health Points: 30,274,000

Current Mana: 5.9 billion

Base Mana: 1,198,880,000

Mana Once Refined: 5,994,400,000

Mana Per Minute: 42,154,800 (702,580 Per Second)

Attributes

Strength: 26,748

Dexterity: 24,372

Constitution: 30,274

Intelligence: 119,888

Wisdom: 351,290

It may not have seemed like much, but so much had changed.

School of Magic

Natural Talents: Light Magic, Blue Magic

Unlocked: Dark, Earth, Nature, Water, Wind

We returned to Aeris’s palace to meet with Master Mather one last time before our departure. Elder Erryl was there during the several-hour meeting. We went over our purchases that day and how things would be managed when we were gone. We decided to give him a lot of discretion within some lose parameters to basically build up our harems as he deemed wise. There was a magic contract in place. He’d support Sanctuary the best that he could. That was our purpose for building up our harems in the first place after all. He made clear that he understood.

The Erryl family was provided with a few cases of alchemy potions that would hide the purple tint of their eyes as we traveled in the Vampire Realm, disguising their Beastfeeder affiliation. The elder was not happy about the deception but was willing to accommodate us since we were technically his family’s saviors.

Once everything was settled, we headed toward the portal array in Lilith’s palace.