Chapter 286: Children of the Night

The shadow of the assassination era still hung over the heads of the top leaders in Bolerum Territory. Fortunately, the strict secrecy of relevant news and the lack of a loud military or spy operation to start a new wave of white terror made the previous assassination event feel like a gentle breeze for the whole Bolerum Territory—it only stirred a few clouds in the blue sky.

For the commoners, all changes seemed to have nothing to do with them. All work and life were exactly the same as before. In the manors where people worked at sunrise and rested at sunset, their lives were naturally unchanged.

The blades of the windmill on the west side of the manor leaned slightly to the right, turning slowly counter-clockwise with the wind from the ocean. They easily drove the heavy stone mill weighing over a ton at the bottom to grind the grain. The people of the manor paid one twenty-fourth of the ground grain or its equivalent value in money as a fee for using the mill.

This could be said to be the bottom line of power for lords on the Western Continent. In fact, given the current fiscal situation of Bolerum Territory, there was no need to collect such a fee at all.

But traditions are hard to change. George could be said to have taken a small step forward in many aspects to avoid angering other lords around him, but he also carefully tested the bottom line from time to time and then pulled his foot back.

Of course, for these agricultural workers in the manor, they did not need to farm as intensively as the farmers in Tianchao before crossing over. So the scene of facing the yellow earth and turning their backs to the sky was not easy to see here every day.

They could spend more time on managing livestock, pruning fruit trees, making individual handicrafts, and even routine military training. Collective outdoor labor, while maintaining existing agricultural foundations, also provided a good opportunity to train the discipline and obedience of the people.

The main outdoor activities, besides going to the market, were the regular cleaning of river ditches and canals in the fields by the people under the leadership of the manor manager. Of course, while dredging, they would also put the fertile mud they dug into baskets and transport it to the manor’s farmland as extra fertilizer.

The workers rolled up their outer clothes and waved their tools, working in the mud. But their happy smiles, along with the dirt on their faces, gave people a pure and moving feeling of diligence.

Besides working with their relatives and partners, the women in the manor had one most important task that only they could complete—spinning and weaving. This was like the grape harvest every year, where only men could participate in the wine pressing work.

Refined steel scissors replaced the old iron ones, and the novel blunt-tip design made it harder for shepherds to hurt the sheep when shearing them. However, the sheep at this time were smaller than modern sheep before crossing over. According to George’s estimate, the wool yield per sheep was only about one-quarter to one-sixth of that of long-wool sheep. This made the value of wool in this era very high.

Although George once wanted to improve goat breeds through cooperation with those Druids, they firmly refused on the grounds of violating the nature of animals. It seemed that in the eyes of those Druids, most animals had more rights than plants.

Usually, when cleaning wool, people would choose a sunny afternoon, and the women of the manor would go out in groups of three or five. They had to choose the banks of the irrigation canals or non-drinking water sources in the territory as their work area.

This is because the freshly sheared wool is oily and dirty, and it is difficult to clean thoroughly even at the edge of a small river like this. There are two best local methods: one is to soak it in special plant ash; the other is to soak it in diluted urine and scrub it. Both can more effectively remove the oil and grease.

But plant ash had a special function in this era. By mixing melted cow and sheep fat with plant ash, a kind of “fat ball” was formed. Its function was similar to soap before crossing over, of course, much more primitive and rough.

Similarly, pig pancreas blood could be washed clean, the fat removed, and ground into a paste, then mixed evenly with bean powder, spices, etc., and after natural drying, it became bath beans for washing purposes.

Such items could be said to be luxury goods in this period. So alkaline plant ash could absolutely not be used in such occasions. In fact, when George first knew the production process of the cashmere clothes he was wearing, he almost developed a psychological shadow and never dared to wear such clothes again.

But seeing that his colleagues around him had such an indifferent attitude, he had to suppress his feeling of nausea and accept all this. After all, if he did not wear them, there was no problem, which could be explained as a quirk. There were many nobles in this world with quirks, and he was not the only one. Besides, many of George’s previous behaviors had already been considered quirks by people.

But he could not force those users around him to give up such clothes. And he had to contact them in both life and work. It was exactly such an external environment that forced George to accept reality. Now he found that as long as the finished product was cleaned and made clean, this kind of cloth made by local methods was also acceptable.

At a later time, the cleaned wool would be combed, and after drying, it would be put on spinning wheels. The invention of the spinning wheel in this world was only forty or fifty years ago, but it swept the Western Continent in a short time. It used continuous wheels and belt traction, which could save a lot of effort compared to the past. In the past years, if women wanted to spin yarn, they had to hold the spindle in their hands and wind it slowly.

Of course, some people felt that this plain and peaceful pastoral scenery lacked the fun of life. They believed that life needed to be created by their own efforts, and life was constantly pursuing new goals and exploring what they longed for.

Life has many desires. When desires cannot become reality, there are too many helplessness. The current political system made these people completely restricted on the land before becoming Freemen. Joining the army became their best choice to look out at the world.

And the residents in the towns had a broader vision. The prosperity of commerce made them start their work from dawn. After sunset, although it was often the end of a day’s industrial work, it was the beginning of night life—although at this time there was no choice but taverns and the red-light district.

George, sitting in his office, felt especially comfortable. This was a new discovery he could accept after receiving the will power. Now, even without personnel investigations and system data, he could roughly understand the happiness and satisfaction of the people in the Territory.

But before George could indulge himself for long, Jinluoke, who had finished personal affairs with his squad, came to the office to report to George: “Lord! I have come to follow your orders.”

George looked at the Magus Warrior in front of him, nodded, and said: “I originally planned to let you be my Arcane advisor. After all, the Mage in the Territory who is about to break through to the Black Lead Rank is far away in the capital Karada with my father. I am now finding more and more that not having a research-type Spellcaster by my side is a trouble. But now the Territory faces a greater threat. I know that the Magic Swordsman in your squad, her goal is to kill her Vampire blood relative. I think your squad must have quite a few moves to deal with those pure-blooded Vampires.”

Jinluoke was first surprised, then immediately showed a happy expression and said: “Lord, the enemy you are facing is a Vampire? If so, please allow me to go back and bring some items. I hope through the explanation of these items, I can give you some ideas.”

It seemed that this person entered his state very quickly.

After George agreed, the other person left the office quickly. When he came back, he had a large box hanging on his waist, which was originally empty-handed.

“This is a commonly used Vampire Hunter toolkit.” Saying this, he opened the small wooden box with a lock.

It contained many tools and equipment used to hunt Vampires. It included 10 cloves of garlic, 4 Masterwork wooden stakes, 1 warhammer, 1 silvered mirror, 4 bottles of Holy Water, 1 portion of silvered ointment, and 1 Masterwork Holy Symbol. In addition, it was equipped with a large number of reagents and powders for treating wounds and making protective barriers, ointments, or other mixtures.

Jinluoke pretended to be mysterious and said: “And besides general functions, when we usually set up these Vampire Hunter tools, the suspected Vampire target often changes its expression.”

“Is this the effect of the smell on that garlic?” George was a bit curious about the difference between legend and reality.

Jinluoke shook his head and said: “Of course, there is some, but the biggest function of this garlic is to prevent Vampires from eating our blood to recover. After eating garlic for a period of time, our blood seems to be polluted for Vampires. So before the action, we all eat garlic to prevent anyone from being accidentally captured and becoming the blood food of the other party.”

After that, he also took out a heart-piercing crossbow bolt. This heart-piercing crossbow bolt was specially made of solid black wood, specifically for hunting Vampires. Heart-piercing crossbow bolts were suitable for any type of crossbow, but they often had a certain impact on the hit of the attack. And because of the weight, the range increment of the weapon was halved.

However, when it hit a Vampire, it caused normal damage, but if the Vampire did not successfully pass a Fortitude saving throw, it would be helpless for a period of time. If the Vampire was killed because of this, other creatures could try to use the heart-piercing crossbow bolt to pierce the Vampire’s heart and kill it. Killing a Vampire with a heart-piercing crossbow bolt was almost the same as killing a Vampire with a wooden stake.

“It seems necessary to specially order a batch of such equipment,” George nodded and said.

Having shown his value, Jinluoke continued to take out a neck guard. This collar made of hard leather and reinforced with metal edges was used to protect the wearer, allowing them to resist the Vampire’s bite on the throat as much as possible. It provided a certain armor protection effect to the wearer when facing the Vampire’s bite on the throat or other similar attacks.

Of course, such a neck guard was usually only effective for warriors wearing light armor and medium armor. After all, heavy armor that wrapped the whole body often provided sufficient protection at the neck.

“This is our most expensive prop, the Stake of Justice,” Jinluoke carefully took out a silver stake from the box.

These level-one Enchanted silver stakes, just like the Dwarf’s anti-magic crossbow bolts before, were quenched with Holy Water after forging. They were usually used by pious warriors to hunt Vampires. When used to insert into the heart of a helpless Vampire, it would release the continuous effect of the Sanctify spell, centered on that Vampire. The person who inserted the stake could spend time to determine the spell effects that a Sanctify could add.

And once the Stake of Justice was inserted into the Vampire’s heart, only those with the same alignment as the initial inserter could easily pull it out. Although other creatures could pull it out through a special spellcasting check similar to that of Sorcerers, failing the check would result in a certain holy energy damage from the weapon, and it could not attempt to pull it out again within 24 hours.

Jinluoke shook the refined glass bottle in his hand: “And there is this small bottle, which Vampires call ‘Fatal Siphon’. Do not look at them as small, but the effect is very amazing. Unfortunately, the usage restrictions are too great.”

This small bottle had a narrow and short neck, sealed with gray wax. After releasing a level-three or lower spell with a designated target into the small bottle, it would be activated and emit a pale red light.

Then anyone could break the neck and drink the liquid inside. Although doing so would destroy the small bottle, it would also cause the creature’s blood to carry the spell released into the bottle before, but this spell did not affect the creature itself, but rather like it was triggered by a trigger spell.

Next time, any creature drank its blood, the hidden spell would immediately explode, targeting the blood drinker. However, if the spell allowed for a counter, the blood drinker would be better off. The spell could hide in the blood for 24 hours or until triggered, whichever happened first.

This could be said to be a good item for ambushing Vampires, but as a consumable, it still seemed a bit expensive. And it was not very convenient to use.

Next was a string of Vampire tooth necklaces that looked a bit disgusting. This Vampire tooth necklace was made by collecting Vampire teeth. It released a strong protective Spirit Light for Vampires. Wearing this necklace while waving a mirror, Holy Symbol, or other items that made Vampires uncomfortable would make Vampires stop as usual. But Vampires could use their own will to try to overcome this discomfort.

Finally, a force field net was displayed in front of George. The threads of this ghost-catching net were made of silver and a magic Force Field. It was exceptionally tough, and ordinary strength could not tear it open forcibly. More importantly, this net could be used to capture ethereal or gaseous creatures. And if an ethereal creature occupied a body, such as a Vitara Vampire clan member, and was caught by the net, it could not leave that body before breaking free or tearing open the net.

“Lord, now let me introduce some props that Vampires often use! Although most of the things in my hand are just models.” Saying this, Jinluoke took out some items from his money bag.

The first one that appeared was said to be called a Bloodletting Ring. This platinum ring was crafted through complex processes, presenting the shape of a beast’s claw. When worn on the finger, it could cause a small wound while the Vampire used its Siphon ability.

The wound did not cause damage, but it would make the pain of the other party turn into pleasure. The target must pass an Willpower contest, otherwise, they would be mesmerized and would not resist the Siphon for the next period of time. After this period, the creature’s senses would return to normal, and they might react accordingly. Jinluoke then took out a strange gem and said, “And there is this model of the Life Channeling Amulet. Actually, this kind of thing is not only used by Vampires. Many intelligent Undead also carry it.”

This amulet was composed of a dark gray metal frame and a translucent gem inlaid in it, with ancient runes carved on it. If the wearer had a Negative Energy affinity racial trait, this amulet would change the effect of Positive Energy on their body.

When someone chose to channel Positive Energy to heal living creatures, the wearer gained temporary hit points equal to half the value of the Positive Energy channeled to heal. These temporary hit points could last for up to 10 minutes.

Although this effect did not stack with the Channel Life spell or other abilities that turned Positive Energy healing effects into temporary hit points, it was still very useful for dealing with the Positive Energy dispel of Priests or hiding in crowds.

However, this prop did not turn Positive Energy into Negative Energy; it only affected the wearer’s body’s reaction to Positive Energy.

Then George saw an item that looked like sunglasses and picked it up curiously to play with.

“The real version of this object should be called Dark Lens. Usually, it is made of dark crystals full of magical darkness. These lens devices are placed in front of the wearer’s eyes. If the wearer is sensitive to light or can be blinded by strong light, these lenses can help the wearer resist light effects from sunlight, Daylight spells, or similar light effects. But both lenses must be worn at the same time for the magic to take effect.” Jinluoke hurriedly explained to George.

“Oh! So this item is not only usable by Vampires. I think for Dark Elves, the actual effect of this object is even greater.” Saying this, George played with it while turning his gaze to the bone-carved badge.

Then he said: “This should be the unholy symbol used by Vampire Priests, right? The effects of these things are more or less the same. Since it is for Vampires, it is generally used to control other Undead, right?”

Jinluoke smiled and said: “You are absolutely right! The original of that model is called the Unholy Symbol! That thing is completely carved from human bones…”

“Finally, this is the only real item we kept, after all, a certain lady in the squad can also use it.” Saying this, Jinluoke opened a box.

Inside the black box was actually a beating heart. It could be used to store the life energy of creatures for consumption. When a Vampire carrying this box made a successful Siphon attack, it could transfer the essence absorbed into this heart. Such a Siphon attack would harm the target but would not immediately benefit the Vampire. The essence could be stored in the heart for one week. At any time, the Vampire could use a standard action to grip the heart tightly, absorb the essence from it, and gain the corresponding benefits.

This item was very useful for Vampires traveling long-distance sea voyages or visiting desolate areas. Of course, it was also useful for a certain Magic Swordsman of the Vampire Spawn.