Page 10

In the end, I was defeated by Master Blanoir. Speaking of which, she's currently taking a nap and she ordered me to fill out what happened next after I had been defeated while she was resting. I have finished up my daily dungeon duty, so the next segment will be from Valentyn Kiefer's perspective. 

I blacked out after taking the black ball to the chest, but there was no pain at all. Eventually, I woke up from the shock and the first thing I saw was Blanoir's chin. There was also a soft, squishy and warm feeling that my head was resting on so I immediately decided to enjoy it as long as possible. I had figured it out. It was a lap pillow. I also took notice of the fabric of her white one-piece dress; it felt cool and very relaxing. 

Even though I was a vampire of relatively high standing back when vampires were much more common before the First Hero had slain all of us five thousand years ago, I did not have any romantic experience with women. 

I did not hold any romantic feelings for Master Blanoir at that time, and neither do I have now, but I still wanted to enjoy my first lap pillow to the fullest. Before I could enjoy my first lap pillow to the fullest, however, I still needed to gather some information about my surroundings. 

I carefully tilted my head sideways to observe and I was in a completely different location compared to when I blacked out. The magical energy felt similar to that of a dungeon, a new one too. Since I was sealed by the First Hero's Sword for over five thousand years in the depths of the Fallen Ice Dungeon, the most challenging dungeon in my era, I would consider myself quite knowledgeable about dungeons. 

I did not know who Master Blanoir was at that time, but all I knew at that time was she was powerful and frankly, mysterious. She had claimed that she was an "angel" but her strength alone opposes her statement. 

After all, angels were pacifists and condemned violence and bloodshed. They were stronger than the average Joe, however, besides that, they weren't much of a threat. They do not start conflicts or take sides when a conflict arises, and they are often forgotten. 

They also live in extreme isolation, which means it is already considered quite rare to spot an angel let alone have a conversation and trade blows with one like I just did. 

"Hm? You're awake?" Master Blanoir spoke, looking down at me. She smiled cheerfully and at that moment, I felt like I should protect that smile. I don't know how to explain it... but her cheerful smile along with her child-like appearance makes me want to protect her from any danger.

You might even call it "awaking my fatherly instincts". 

"Yes," I sat upright. "Thank you for providing your lap as a resting place for my head while I was unconscious." I thanked her. 

"No biggie! If you enjoyed it, you could always ask for it again." she joked. 

"Is that so? Then I'll note it down for when the opportunity arises." 

Blanoir nodded. "Before we get started... I wanted to ask: Are you a fast learner?" 

Confused by this question of hers, I was a little on guard for what was coming next, so I steeled myself and nodded. I wasn't lying either. Not to boast, but I mastered trigonometry when I was six years old. It's not a thing that I could boast about, but it showcases my ability to learn I guess. 

Besides that, after she had taken my response, she sighed a sigh of relief. Then she mumbled to herself about something and then provided me with a pen and a sheet of paper. 

I was forcibly seated in a soft, fluffy white coloured desk and chair and was told by Blanoir, "I'll provide you with some key points, you write it down in whatever language you are most fluent in. I'm having you write a status report on my dungeon for you to grasp where you are and your duties." 

"Y-yes... ma'am..?" I responded in a weak and puzzled voice. 

Then I wrote. I wrote using the Three-K script, one of the main languages used back in my era five thousand years ago. It should be still around, maybe evolved into something more modern like how the Three-K script evolved from the original K script over three millennia before my time. 

Master Blanoir told me back then that she didn't care what language I used to write the status report but I needed to be sure to make my handwriting legible. She also told me to expand on key points such as the condition of the dungeon, progress on its internal floors and such. 

She provided me with some data she had collected on another piece of paper and I did what I was told. 

I was amazed to find the sheer size of the dungeon; at over thirty cubic kilometres. I believe the Fallen Ice Dungeon, the place where I was sealed, was merely a tenth of the size compared to Master Blanoir's dungeon. Of course, the Fallen Ice Dungeon is still a massive dungeon, at around three cubic kilometres, with each floor being a massive sixty million cubic metres (only 0.06 cubic kilometres), it is by no means small. 

It's just... Master Blanoir's dungeon is way too massive. Since it's a new dungeon and once word gets out about it, traffic for any other dungeon is their biggest concern. However, for this dungeon, well over ten thousand people can comfortably explore the dungeon at once, so traffic won't be a problem. I believe around a billion humans can fit inside the dungeon, assuming each person requires two square kilometres of space. 

It's massive. The dimensions of the dungeon itself are also very impressive, to say the least. I could ramble on and on about Master Blanoir's dungeon, but I won't since she will most likely complain after she wakes up from her nap. 

I'll continue on a different topic. Hmm... oh right. Maybe I should give some details about Arula's past?

Alright, let's do that. So, five thousand and twenty-eight years ago, I was born to the "Vampire Queen" Lavfi Ross, my mother and the "Vampire Lord" Landus Selemar Ross, my father. I have no clue about their whereabouts in this era, but back then, they were my everything. 

Not only were they my parents, but they also were my tutors and teachers for language, math and magic and I had a friend named Caelor who I played and fought with during my youth. Unfortunately, he died in my arms after being fatally wounded by the First Hero around five thousand and three years ago. 

I won't go into detail about his death, but his death brought changes to my life. I had lost my best friend to the hero, and my mother and father also disappeared two years later. I presume the First Hero sealed them like I was, but I have no way to tell. 

I could release my energy in waves that only vampires could detect or notice, but human magic tools back then were able to detect these waves so I wouldn't like to reveal that I'm unsealed again. It definitely will bring chaos to the dungeon and it would annoy Master Blanoir. 

Fun fact: The vampire population five thousand years ago before the Great Vampire Purge was approaching two hundred million. Humans put us into three broad categories. Those were:
- Low Tier
- High Tier
- And Pinnacle Tier

Back then, and I'm not too sure if this is still used today, Low Tier made up the danger threats of D-rank, C rank, B rank, BB rank and BBB rank. 

The categories of danger threats go up to SSS, but let me explain what each rank means first before moving on. Instead of categorising beings or items by how powerful they are, this unit of threat level does something similar to that. 

It is still categorising things based on their strength, but instead of their strength, it ranks them by what percentage they are in compared to the strength of other beings or items in the world and what percentage of the human population could defeat them. 

Such as a BBB-ranked being is ranked BBB because twenty to twenty-five per cent of the world's population could defeat them. Another example is a C-ranked being ranked C because forty to fifty per cent of the world's population could defeat them. 

It's honestly quite strange and it's a mystery why the world even adopted that system in the first place. Anyway, it's not my problem, it's just the system of categorising I used when growing up. 

High Tier consists of the three A ranks, A-rank, AA-rank and AAA-rank. Some might include S-rank as well, but generally, it is agreed that S-rank is in the Pinnacle Tier. There's not much difference anyway.

D-rank = one hundred to fifty per cent
C-rank = Anything above fifty to sixty per cent. 
B-rank = Anything above sixty to seventy per cent. 
BB-rank = Anything above seventy to seventy-five per cent
BBB-rank = Anything above seventy-five to eighty per cent. 
A-rank = Anything above eighty to ninety per cent. 
AA-rank = Anything above ninety to ninety-four per cent.
AAA-rank = Anything above ninety-four to ninety-six per cent. 
S-rank = Anything above ninety-six to ninety-nine per cent. 
SS-rank = Anything above ninety-nine per cent. 
SSS-rank = A very small handful of randomly selected people. 

Therefore, the Pinnacle Tier consisted of the three S-ranks, S, SS and SSS. 

That was a long detour! Back on topic now since I've fully explained my fun fact.  

Oh right, I almost forgot to mention Silver. She's my co-worker (I believe?) and she's my senior here. I have no clue where Master Blanoir recruited her from, but I don't stick my nose into other people's business, so I hardly care. I'm quite opportunistic about the fact of having a co-worker in the dungeon. It would mean that I won't be doing all the work myself. 

However... she is a bit of a clutz sometimes, which gives me more work to deal with. She's a human so it's a given, but I hate overtime. Oh, Master Blanoir's awake. She's coming here. Hopefully- 

Okay, Blanoir here. I don't know what kind of detour he took when I explicitly told him to talk about the state of my dungeon back then. He did do what I had told him, but then he started to talk about things from his era. 

Not related to the order I gave him before I went to take a nap. Damn it, Valentyn. And wipe that smile off your face.