A Vampire's Evolution

I woke up early to prepare for the opening ceremony.

I quickly made my way to the hall where it would be held.

Upon entering the hall, you could feel the excitement in the air.

I went to look for a seat and found one relatively close to the front.

I was a little nervous; all the students here were as strong, if not stronger, than me.

"Hey, is this seat taken?" a blonde-haired girl asked me.

"No," I replied.

"Then, do you mind if I sit here?" she politely asked.

"No," I said again.

She proceeded to sit down.

She reminded me of someone. It wasn't the way she looked or acted but her magion—it was a little similar to someone I knew, though I couldn't exactly guess who.

"Hey, I know I'm extremely gorgeous, but can you not so blatantly stare at me?" she said with a faint smile as she looked at me.

"N-No, I didn't mean…" I stammered, extremely embarrassed.

I hadn't even realized I was staring at her.

"Hehehe, I'm just joking. You can stare all you want," she replied while giggling.

"…" I couldn't even respond. I was too embarrassed.

"My name is Lily. And yours?" she asked with a smile.

"Oh, I'm Silver," I replied.

"Silver… So—"

"Students, quiet down," Victor said.

The whole hall instantly fell silent, and everyone focused on Victor.

"Hello, young vampires. My name is Victor Eclipsys," he said with an imposing demeanor.

"I will be hosting this ceremony in our principal's stead," he added.

"All of you can be very proud of yourselves for having made it this far. There are those who couldn't even pass the first test. You are all very talented, and you all have very bright futures ahead of you," he said.

All the students' faces lit up.

"But… you all are far too weak compared to last year's batch—that being us," he continued.

"And so… we will be conducting a special test. It will be more like training, and please take this seriously."

The whole atmosphere in the hall changed. The students were filled with confusion and fear.

"You will be taking on an ancient cave," he said while jumping down from the stage.

"And you will be staying there for seven days." He said raising both his hands.

He opened one of his eyes and began to activate the skill

[Mass Teleportation: Dispersal]

A white spell circle appeared on the ground beneath all our feet. It covered the entire hall.

"What's happening?!" a student yelled in panic.

"No, stop! We didn't hear anything about this!" another yelled.

"Good luck, and try not to die," he said, smiling as he teleported us away.

The light it emitted was so bright I had to close my eyes.

When I opened them, I was in a completely different place.

"Where is this? I think he mentioned an ancient cave," I said, looking around.

I couldn't see anyone—all the students were gone.

The cave was dark, but I could see everything clearly thanks to the [Night Vision] skill.

I saw plants I'd never seen before and heard water in the distance. The sound came from what looked like an entrance leading deeper into the cave.

I headed toward it and found myself going through a tunnel.

The tunnel was filled with crystals—magion crystals, the kind we use for energy to create lights and such.

It wasn't just the crystals; the air in this place was also thick with magion.

I went deeper through the tunnel until I reached its exit.

As I stood on the edge of a cliff outside the tunnel, I was in complete awe.

This place was massive. In the distance, I saw a giant waterfall leading into a pit.

At the bottom of the pit, the entire ground was covered with crystals.

Victor said we had to survive here for seven days. That meant I needed to find food and build or find shelter.

But how should I get down from here? Should I just jump into the lake beneath me?

I decided to jump.

The water felt surprisingly warm, but more shockingly, when I got out, I wasn't even wet.

I took a closer look at the water and realized it wasn't water but melted magion crystals.

But how could they have melted? It takes an extremely high temperature to do that.

Anyway, I still needed food.

I noticed several tunnels leading out of the pit I was in. I decided to enter the nearest one.

This tunnel was similar to the previous one, but there were markings on the walls.

I couldn't understand most of them, but one drawing caught my attention.

It depicted stairs with a cross through them. It seemed to warn against going up stairs. But how could there be stairs in a cave?

At the end of the tunnel, I emerged into a place filled with trees. The trees bore fruit, but I wasn't sure if it was edible.

As I ventured deeper into the woods, I came across a small cabin.

Had someone been here before us?

I touched the cabin door, which was so old it fell apart instantly.

Inside, I found a bed made of leaves and more writings on the walls. These writings radiated a faint magion, unlike the ones I'd seen earlier.

I decided this would be my shelter for the next seven days.

The cabin provided food and shelter; I only needed water now.

If I were a Vampire Lord, I wouldn't have these problems, but my magion limit needs to hit 20,000 first. How long will that take me?

I wonder if there are monsters here I could kill to become stronger. Victor did mention this would be both a test and training.

Is the test just survival, or is there another condition? And where are the other students?

No, I can't worry about them. I need to survive and pass this test.

First, I needed to search for water.

As I ventured through the forest, it was eerily quiet. No monsters or insects—just the sound of my footsteps on the grass.

"Who's there?!" I shouted, looking around and readying myself to attack.

I suddenly heard rustling in the bushes behind me.

"Was it just the wind?" I muttered, lowering my guard.

I walked deeper into the forest, but the whole time, I felt as if something was watching me—like I was being hunted.

Finally, I reached the heart of the forest and saw water. I quickly ran to check if it was drinkable.

It was clear and clean. This place had everything I needed to survive the seven-day test.

As I leaned down to drink, I exclaimed, "It's refreshing."

But then I saw something in the reflection of the water—a figure behind me.

It lunged toward me. I quickly dodged to the right.

"I thought I was quick enough," a giant serpent said in a sinister voice.

It spoke. A serpent spoke?

The serpent was enormous, with two horns on its head. It was pitch black, with glowing green lines between its scales. If I hadn't dodged, it would have swallowed me whole.

A chill ran down my spine. I'd never seen or heard of a monster that could speak.

Not only that, this thing was incredibly powerful, radiating magion.

"E-ei…" I stuttered, my voice shaking.

Race: Ancient Beast (Serpent)

Threat Level: Extremely High

Skills: [Poison Scales]; [Paralysis]; [Communication]; [Stealth]; [Sound Control]; [Curse]

I needed to run, but I couldn't turn my back on it—it would attack immediately. I had to fight.

Summoning my Bloodless Weapon, I prepared for battle. Though afraid, I knew fighting was my best chance of survival.