"Oh! Nawa wasn't lying, you finally woke up."
She said in a tone that was both relieved and amused, seeing my state. Exactly what she finds amusing about seeing me in this state, I have no idea.
"What a sweet way to greet your half-dead brother."
I replied, my voice sounding hoarse and slightly wet; I think I even had injuries to my throat. The amused expression vanished from her face, replaced by concern.
"Yeah, you're right, how are you?"
She said, genuinely worried. I knew she didn't find my state really amusing, but it's always been her habit to try to lighten a bad situation using humor; practically everyone in the family did it.
"Terrible, I wasn't kidding when I said I was half-dead, that's what my status says too."
My throat burned with every word, similar to the sore throat you get with a really bad flu, except here, instead of feeling like my throat was raw flesh, I'm almost certain mine actually was raw flesh.
She approached and sat on the edge of the bed. I mentioned she was in her normal form, not Pixie, right?
"Don't be surprised. From what I've been told, you were only alive by a thread because you drank some of Drake's blood, and Impeto gave you some of his blood as soon as you arrived."
"Impeto did that? How?"
I know he has a tiny amount of phoenix blood, and I knew that according to several stories, tears have healing powers, so there was no reason why blood wouldn't too. The part I don't understand is how he, a bird, however intelligent he may be, still wouldn't have an opposable thumb to hold a tool to draw his own blood.
"It seems he pecked one of its wings until it opened a wound and let a few drops get into its mouth. Then, with a combination of antisocial traits, its accelerated vampire healing, and the fact that you were inside the house's protection area, which speeds up the recovery of everyone residing there, you managed to survive."
Hmm~, it seems accepting antisocial traits wasn't a complete loss then.... Huh?, But wait, if that were the case, two things wouldn't make sense.
"Wait, you didn't say I wasn't registered as a resident or anything like that, right? How did that house effect apply to me? And if that "synergy" you mentioned really happened, why did I only have 2 HP and 0 MP when I woke up?"
"Okay, okay, I don't know the answers to all of that. But about the house, it's actually quite simple. Yes, you're not registered as a resident, but you reside here, so the advantages are partially available to you."
I just stared at her so she could continue.
"It's kind of like this, the monsters can't get into the main house, but they can get into the garden and the garage. If you're inside the main house, they can't get in, and that happens to everyone inside the house, registered or not."
Okay, I understand that part, continue. That's what I was trying to convey with my gaze.
"Besides that protection, there's also a slightly accelerated healing, but that's only really noticeable for those who are registered."
"Let's say, before the world became... like this, if you had a scratch, the time it would take for it to stop bleeding and form a scab would be about 10 minutes. Now, that time inside the house would be shortened to 5 minutes for registered people, and about 8 for unregistered people. If you add that time to the accelerated recovery that the antisocial status offers, along with your constitution, I think we could extrapolate and conclude that that 10-minute scratch on you, even unregistered, would heal in 5 minutes or less."
She explained with the air of a proud teacher; it was cute to see her like that.
"Now, as for why you have 2 HP and 0 MP, I don't know. I can only imagine it has to do with your completely messed-up state. From what they told me, you were barely alive. If it weren't for the Impetus blood that gave you a boost, along with that synergy, you wouldn't have made it."
She said with a mortified look, and I couldn't have looked much better...
"But that still doesn't explain the MP."
She looked at me and shook her head.
"That I can't explain. Just a reminder, I'm as new to things as you are now, I only have a few hours' head start, and I spent a good part of it sleeping."
"Well... At least you didn't spend it lying in bed with your face glued to your phone."
I said remembering how she usually spent the days before the... well you get It. My voice still came out hoarse and a little wet, with a burning sensation and pain in my throat, but not as much as before. I found it a little strange, so I decided to check my status.
[HP:5/200
MP:1/180]
The next second.
[HP: 6/200
MP: 0/180]
And the next.
[HP: 4/200
MP: 0/180]
'Is this a glitch? As far as I know, I don't have any ability that converts MP to HP, or is this one of the new house features?'
Just to be sure, I decided to check my abilities.
[...
• Unique Ability: Resistance
Abilities: Antisocial 1, Unarmed Combat 7, Combat Instinct 5, Dodge 4, Item Box 0, Hide 1, Silent 1, Read 1, Clean 1, Herbalist 0, Dark Magic 2, Laziness 1, Swordsmanship 6, Archery 5, Stable Step 5, Thrown Weapon Proficiency 5, Acid Resistance 1, Poison Resistance 1, Ice Magic 2, Pain Resistance 5, Intimidation Resistance 3.
Racial Abilities: Blood Magic 0, Night Vision 1, Body Enhancement 5, Advanced Senses 4, Obsidian Claws 4, Bloodsucker 5, Weakness to Light 2, Vulnerability to Heat 2, Vampiric Regeneration 2
Wow, that increased a lot, and very quickly, let's see... It doesn't seem to have any— Wait, what is this?
[Vampiric Regeneration 2]
When did— Oh, I remember, it appeared during the fight against Commander Kobold. I didn't even check what it did because I thought it was self-explanatory, but could it be…
[Vampiric Regeneration 2: the enhanced healing ability of a vampire, and derived species.
This ability allows for constant HP regeneration of the individual both in and out of combat. The recovery rate is 1 HP per minute when the individual does not ingest external blood; when ingested, the rate increases by 10% at level 1.
Blood is used as the driving force for regeneration, acting for 10 minutes after ingestion. If the individual is in a critical state and does not ingest blood, MP will be converted into HP at a rate of 0.1 per 1 MP per minute.
Current recovery rate:
• After ingesting blood: 1.4 HP every 10 seconds for 20 minutes.
• Without blood ingestion: 1.2 HP every minute continuously.
• In a critical state: 0.2 HP per 1 MP.]
'Ahhhh, now it makes more sense.'
We can consider that if my situation were that of a poor wretch lost at sea, Drake's blood would be a punctured buoy that prevented me from sinking straight down, while Impeto's blood patched the buoy, increasing my time until the current carried me close to an island. Close enough to swim, but still at risk of drowning, and I've remained in that state ever since.
'So the best way to get to safety would be-'
*GROOOOWWWWW*
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