LIGHTNOVELONLINE 021
Eventually, @Priscilla took me back and I ended up inside the sack again.
She carried me around for a bit to take care of a few errands, and she also stopped by the healer who gave her a simple healing salve. Contrary to my first impression of her on the airship, @Priscilla was actually relatively quiet. She didn't talk very much, and she tended to float away elusively when someone stopped her in the hallway with small talk and trivial gossip.
Honestly, she wasn't very friendly at all.
The women in Ovum broadly speaking seemed to be quite sapphic, and they seemed eager to hug each other and make other cute displays of feminine affection. My honest opinion was that it was maybe a little over-the-top, but they seemed to happy to celebrate their femininity and freedom of self-expression.
@Priscilla on the other hand was curt and evasive.
She seemed to deflect invitations to hang out with polite excuses and vague promises to do so on another date.
Naturally, she didn't try to talk to me either.
Even though I couldn't see the vampire girl's facial expressions, I was already starting to develop the mental impression that she was this grumpy moody woman who never smiled. She wasn't rude, but she wasn't particularly nice either.
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Towards the end of the day, @Priscilla finally pulled open the drawstring and took me out of the muffled darkness.
She placed me on a small table and secured the chains around my limbs to a bolt on the wall.
It was already the late evening, but there weren't any windows in this poorly lit room. It took a little bit of time for my eyes to adjust to the faint light from the oil lamps, but it was a plainly adorned cubical with walls that looked like tree bark. My first impression that it was the hollow interior of some kind of giant tree, and it certainly smelled arboreal. The scent of dirt and other natural vegetation was strong, and it was in stiff contrast with the pristine and concrete-laden streets of Tower Anchorage.
Frankly, this was most likely an improvised bedroom.
Without motorized equipment and high-power magical machinery, most radicals in Vetita were forced to rely on more primitive methods to construct their hidden outposts. In many cases, buildings and structures were designed to be temporary. Settlements were practical and easy to evacuate, and most were inevitably discovered by the enemy within a few years. As a result, extreme factions like Ovum were constantly on the move. New safe houses were continuously under construction in remote locations, and entire settlements would be evacuated if the coordinates were leaked. Even though I didn't know very much about Ovum in particular, it was very likely that they had dozens of hidden locations spread out around the server.
@Priscilla was silent, and she mostly seemed to ignore me.
She opened one of the patchwork rucksacks lying on the floor and dumped its contents on the flimsy sleeping cot on one side of the bedroom. There wasn't even a proper bed in the room, and the sleeping platform was essentially a wooden frame covered with woven reeds and a little bit of fleece. This sleeping chamber was truly spartan, although it was probably very easy to build and furthermore lightweight.
The vampire girl stared at the trinkets and items spread out on the cot.
I realized that this must have been Ovum's standard refugee pack.
Since @Priscilla had recently died, she had basically lost all of her belongings and skill levels. She was starting over from nothing, and most factions provided their members with some kind of basic package to help them climb back onto their feet. However, a majority of the hard work that @Priscilla invested had entirely evaporated. On Vetita, it took many years to accumulate experience and skill levels, and there was no shortcut for lost time. High-level players often had a decade or more of experience, and a sudden death was utterly devastating.
@Priscilla didn't say anything as she stared at the items in the basic refugee pack.
She was completely silent.
The girl reached for a small pistol-like firearm on the cot and disassembled it.
Her hands moved in a fluid blur, and then the gun was lying in individual pieces moments later. @Priscilla examined the firearm parts for a minute, as if to check their quality, and then she swiftly reassembled the metal pieces into its original form with a long sigh. She pulled back the handgun slide with a click, tested the safety, and then put it back inside its storage case.
Firearms existed on Vetita, but they were mainly utilized by lower level players. They weren't as effective as they were on Earth, mainly because there were many spells and other countermeasures that could easily deflect bullets. A simple talisman was sufficient to screen for most low-mass projectiles. Arrows were considered superior since they could be easily enchanted with custom spells, but it was much more difficult to achieve similar effects with factory-produced bullets.
Most experienced players would prefer not to use a basic firearm unless they had no other choice.
However, @Priscilla had very few options available to her.
The vampire girl looked visibly frustrated with herself.
It was obvious that she was dissatisfied with the current state of things.
She reached for a toothbrush and toothpaste from the refugee pack and then paused.
@Priscilla looked back at me.
"What?" She asked in annoyance. "Is it fun to stare?"
I blinked expressionlessly.
It was true that I had been watching her this entire time, but it wasn't like there was anything else for me to do. I certainly didn't ask to be taken here, and I could barely move around with all the chains that restricted my movements.
@Priscilla sighed again.
She sat down on the flimsy cot, pushed the variety of different items aside, and rubbed her temples. I slowly realized that the vampire girl was extremely sleep deprived, even though she concealed it well throughout the day. It was basically impossible to get much rest while running around in Spawn, and then she had been imprisoned and mistreated by mercenaries on a slave ship for more than a day. After arriving at this hidden outpost, she was immediately running errands for @Trisha again, and she hardly even had a few moments to sit down.
The vampire girl was unbelievably hardcore, and her ridiculous dedication was nothing to laugh about. Vetita was clearly much more than just a mere game to her, and she was invested in this world to a fanatical degree. She treated everything seriously, and she had the indomitable willpower to surmount the traumatic nightmares that the server threw at her.
@Priscilla rummaged inside of her bag and pulled out an unlabeled bottle of pills.
She pushed herself off the bed and slowly walked over to me.
"Bedtime medication for you," she said flatly. "They'll be required from now on."
She unscrewed the lid, took out a white capsule, and stared at me.
"Are you going to swallow it or do I need to go take out a syringe? I have the injectable version too." She stated unsympathetically.
@Priscilla didn't bother explaining what it was.
For that matter, even if I asked, I somehow doubted she would really tell me the truth either. The pill bottle was probably intentionally unlabeled for a reason, and there was no telling what cocktail of drugs or potions Ovum intended to feed me. Honestly, they did similar things at the slave markets in Tower Anchorage. It was standard practice for the slaves' food to be laced with sedatives or mild aphrodisiacs — anything that would make a slave easier to handle or appear more attractive to buyers.
The pills didn't surprise me, in that sense. Slaves usually weren't given a choice about their food. Even if a slave refused to take their medication, there were plenty of creative methods to force a prisoner to receive it in other ways.
I mainly just thought it was ironic.
@Trisha claimed that they didn't keep slaves in Ovum, but they clearly intended to treat me just like one.
I could only assume that the bunny girl had given @Priscilla these instructions.
Was it really any different if they simply called it by a different name?
I stared at @Priscilla for a long time and then slowly opened my mouth.
She gave me the white pill and I swallowed it.
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