SSS Awakening: Rebirth of the Strongest Vampire God-Chapter 123: Friendly fire

Damon stared at his unbelievable stat screen for a few more minutes, grinning ear to ear like a little kid. He then closed it up and returned to reality, only to realize that there was still one problem. What was he going to do with Varnyx now?

Varnyx, still on one knee, dared to look up. "You carry the breath of an Origin Vampire. No, something even older..." His voice was reverent, trembling. He had been mumbling similar things for a while now.

"I need to wipe his memory." Blood Reign unexpectedly chimed in.

"Not all vampires would be thrilled to hear about an anomaly like this. They might even make sure you do not grow any further. This information absolutely cannot be allowed to spread. It would be one thing if you were the Master of this Blood Hall. Then this vampire would be bound to loyalty to you, but now he is free to relay whatever happened here to whomever he knows."

Damon nodded in agreement. He had already expected this and was about to ask the weapon spirit for help, but the good woman offered it herself.

"Do what is necessary."

Damon couldn’t tell if she actually did anything, but a moment later, Varnyx stood up and looked around in confusion. "What are you doing here, vampire? Move. Get to work. The glorious Blood Hall is being rebuilt. Go do your bidding and contribute as much as you can."

"Yes, sir." Damon smiled and briskly walked away. "Blood Reign, you did a really good job." He mentally probed, but there was no response from the other end. It looked like this time, the weapon spirit was truly weakened.

"I will make it up to you." He once again mentally thanked her and walked over to take a look at the available quests on the mission board. These quests were pretty low-grade, but if he remembered correctly, there were a few quests that were worth doing.

Considering that he needed a shit load of gold coins and blood essence for the next upgrade of the build hall, he had to grab every decently rewarding quest. Otherwise, grinding a million gold coins was going to take some effort.

There were also some other things he had to take care of. Damon scratched his head as he tried to mentally prioritize what to do next, when he suddenly remembered. "Fuck! I need to log out and meet my parents!"

He hurriedly touched his tattoo, and the next second, he reappeared in the same corridor he had teleported from. "Same place, huh? Good to know."

He continued to walk through the corridors until he ran into someone. "Hey, do you know where to find my family?"

"Yes, sir. Please come this way." The attendant thankfully seemed already briefed about his status. Damon followed him, doing his best to keep his expression neutral even as his nerves twitched. Meeting his parents after everything that had just happened? He wasn’t ready.

His mom was going to grill him for sure. His dad was going to give him that same dirty look. Argh. Maybe he could just go back to the game. He did have a lot of important things to take care of.

Damon almost managed to convince himself and even lifted his wrist to take action. However, before he could do anything, a familiar voice yelled through the long, empty corridor. "Don’t you dare do it!"

Damon turned around to see Mark standing with a strange expression on his face, along with the rest of his family. His niece was the first to react. The little girl, barely four years old, ran up to him with a face full of glee.

"Uncle Damon! Uncle Damon!"

She launched herself at him like a tiny rocket, arms wide, hair bouncing wildly. Damon barely had time to brace before she collided with his legs, hugging him tight like he was a life-sized teddy bear. He froze for a heartbeat, then slowly lowered himself to her level, resting a hand on her head.

"Hey, pumpkin," he said softly, his grin slipping back into place.

Mark walked over, hands in his pockets, face unreadable. Behind him were Damon’s parents, his mom already wiping tears from her eyes, and his dad standing like a statue, expression firm.

"Damon, where have you been all this time? I have been worried sick! What is going on? Mark is telling us something. These nice people have graciously invited us to their... ummm... base, but I am still not sure what is happening. Couldn’t you come sooner? Why are you always irresponsible like this?"

Damon winced at the barrage of questions as he walked over and hugged his mom. "Sorry, Mom. I was inside the game. I had something important to take care of." He shamelessly lied. It was somewhat true, so it couldn’t completely be called a lie.

Making sure not to look towards Mark, Damon continued. "Mom, this game. It’s very special. A lot of things are going on, and it’s better for us to stay with them. Everything is available here. It’s just for a couple of months. Think of it like a vacation."

"Vacation, huh?" Georgina, his sister-in-law, sneered. "Since when did my little brother become so capable of bringing us to vacation in such extravagant places? You know what I thought at first. You borrowed money from some rich family, got in trouble, and they have now brought all of us here for organ farming."

Damon let out a dry chuckle. "Really, Georgina? Organ farming? That’s your first guess?"

She folded her arms and raised a perfectly skeptical brow.

Damon looked at his brother to see if he would say anything to support him, but just like always, he kept his mouth shut and let his wife do the talking for him.

Damon sighed. Typical. "You could at least pretend to have my back, you know," Damon muttered, more disappointed than annoyed. His brother did not reply.

Georgina pounced on the silence like a hawk. "See? Even your brother doesn’t deny it. We’re just supposed to sit here, eat mystery food, and smile politely while you waltz around like some big-shot overlord?"

"I am a big-shot overlord," Damon said, completely deadpan.

***

Bonus Chapter sponsored by Syphatrol~