I Hate Minedays - Part 1

POV: Third Person

Alucard had left the bungalow, the home itself under the watchful, yet lazy eye of Steve. He had taken a wooden sword; the edges of the wooden blade were sharpened for a cleaner cut.

He had taken a new route opposite the Dryad memorial and fought the occasional slimes, some were blue and had a stronger exterior and this brought a thought, some slimes were significantly more powerful than others. During his exploration, he had found an entrance into a cavern. Taking a torch, lighting it up and pulling out his pickaxe, he strolls right in.

The cavern was barren with dirt and stone, which he did take stone. Steve said they could use it to make arrows for ranged combat and the furnace which was important for ores.

Some ores mentioned were copper and lead, which Alucard found. Upon procuring them, he heard groaning and growling behind him. Whipping around, he saw a few zombies shuffling towards him, arms stretched out, tensed and primed for a swing.

With a step back, the first zombie whiffed its attack and was punished swiftly. The other zombie had kept its arm up and swung downwards, this was also dodged and countered.

Upon defeating the zombies. He would continue to scour the cavern for ore.

A click sounded below him and he hears tumbling before him.

Steve steps outside and looks him up and down. "Boulder, judging from your surprised cry of pain."

Alucard cursed as he got up. "That was fucking cheap!" he spat in anger, stomping back to the cavern.

Steve smirks a little. "Watch your profanity."

As Alucard returns to the spot where he died, he managed to recover his coins. However, upon taking another step, he feels a sharp pain on the back of his neck as he yelps out. "AC- GAH!" pulling out a poison dart. He finds himself suddenly dropping and turning into gore and coins.

"Poison Darts?" Steve asked.

"BULLSHIT." Alucard responded.

Alucard procured his dropped money once again. He was considering continuing onwards, but since he saw the traps, he simply destroyed them with his pickaxe.

Backing off to return to the cavities that once held ores, he had tons of money anyway and he wasn't losing another six silvers and thirty coppers to a cheap death.

Knowing hat death wasn't fully permanent had dulled the anger inside, but that didn't stop the aches that came with every single death.

Upon turning around, he saw a few Zombies. "Are you kidding me?" he uttered to himself as he prepared for combat.

He dashed quickly, raising his arm to bat away a zombie's attack before swinging his sword down, cleaving in two. The other zombie was caught off guard by the abrupt power of that counter, but it's shambling wasn't fast enough to get out of range of Alucard's advancing slash.

With the zombies dispatched, Alucard thought it was high time to leave with what he acquired.

A few more zombies would appear from the sides to ambush him. He slides under their combined attack, stabbing one in it's back upon his recovery and quickly slicing the other in two. They both drop to the floor in rotten piles of gore.

With the encounter finished he turns to leave, but not before picking up the coins they dropped.

Though... He hears the beating of a heart but it sounded like it was made of glass. As he changes route towards the beating, he leaps down into a hole and a pinkish gleam catches his eye. He comes across a love heart, glistening with hot pinkish hues, the beating causing the energy inside to swirl around inside.

Alucard draws his pickaxe and raises it, swinging downwards to smash it. With three smacks, the heart shatters violently, but the shards that hit Alucard harmlessly break against him. The energy that was inside the crystal now condenses and solidifies into a smaller love heart, slowly floating around.

As Alucard extends his hand outward, the heart slowly floats towards him.

"..."

He pockets it into his vest before looking up to his previous location. He climbs up through the hole and immediately booked it to the entrance

Just as the sun was setting behind the mountains.

The shadows they casted gave the bare, empty plains an unsettling appearance.

Upon pouring the contents of his bag, which was mostly ores, onto the table, Alucard looks to Steve. "Check what I got." he said as he looked at the items.

Steve stood up and inspected the stuff. "... That's a lot of copper and lead, some silver too. Oh- hey, you found some rope too." He smiles as he picks up some knives. "Pretty nice finds. And you've got enough stone for a furnace."

Alucard takes a love heart from his vest. "By the way, I came across this." Steve's eyes lit up.

"That's a Life Crystal." He carefully takes it to look at it. "This should be one of your important goals. This will make you stronger." He said as he hands it back to Alucard.

"How do I use it...?"

"Crush it in your hands, slam it on your chest, raise it to the sky. Give it an indication you want it's power."

Alucard looks to the crystal. It shined, waiting as if it was alive...

With a thrust towards the skies, the heart gleams a bright light and soon before long, it dissolves into his hand, pink sparks flew around him.

Alucard felt slightly weird, but in a good way. "... I feel a little stronger."

Steve smiles. "With these ores and materials, we can get you significantly stronger in terms of defense."

Upon making the furnace and smelting the ores into ingots, Steve showed him how to make an Anvil, to create the equipment to help Alucard take more tougher blows.

Throughout the night, Alucard had worked on a second floor, turning the bungalow into a proper house. "Alright. Is this good enough for your friend?" he asks.

Steve looks around. "Yes, this is good, enough space, good ceiling height." He turns to Alucard. "I found some Cobweb near the bungalow. I suggest you also look for these and get a loom. We can make beds. It's better than lying on the floor."

"Got it. I'm going to go and nab some more money from the zombies." Alucard spoke as he steps outside. Before long there would be a slew of hacking and slashing.

As Alucard fights his way through a few Zombies and Demon Eyes, his own eyes catch a glimpse. It was a figure of sorts, he would have paid more attention if he wasn't being harassed by monsters. Stepping into the house, he looks to Steve. "Have you seen a strange figure in the distance at night?"

Steve darts his head suddenly. "Was it big and circular?" "…No. It was more humanoid and… well, feminine?"

Steve now stands. "Be careful. There are such things as Nymphs and Sirens on this island. They flaunt their nice legs and shapely hips to woo any man. And then, that man is no more."

Alucard rolled his eyes. "I've been around succubae before and they're far more deadly than them."

Steve raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

Alucard nods. "Yes."

The Guide raises his own eyebrow. "What are you exactly? From what I know, the name Alucard referred to the son of Dracula."

Alucard nods, again. "You are correct. However… I'm not the actual Alucard from the legends. That was the original Alucard and Dracula."

He then continues.

"There's been many vampire men with that name and power. I've been Alucard for so long that I've forgotten the name I was born with.

My father, who was the Dracula of his time, died after I was born but that is all I know. You see, Vampires are chosen to lead all vampires, Whether it's

to prosperity or to war. When a father becomes Dracula, his son is chosen to surpass him and receives the name Alucard. Hell, it doesn't even have to be a Vampire.

Any man, be it human or goblin can become Dracula through taking the original vampire's blood, be it from him or his bloodline."

Steve exhaled. "This is a pretty heavy lore drop, Ally. I assumed you were just a vampire fan. So you're a vampire, but… why haven't you taken my blood or something?"

Alucard folds his arms as he leans back, "Well, to start off, all vampires don't feast solely on humans. We feast on anything with blood. Zombies so far have provided me with enough blood, and we even gain some nourishment from ordinary food."

Steve raised an eyebrow, "But zombies are infected with a curse and the books-" "Don't trust in the stories. A lot of false information was mostly made by those who hate vampires and anything to do with the occult. As for the zombies, we are immune to being cursed due to us already being 'cursed' by dark magic. We just live with it."

Steve reclines on his chair. "So you're not evil? Like, you're not going to kill all humans or enslave them?"

"No. I suggest you go to Transylvania at some point. The vampires there are friendly. The Dark Magic that had afflicted us has weakened to the point where the sun doesn't even burn us."

He then quickly changes demenor and topic.

"So what's my next goal?"

Steve pulled out a list. "Tomorrow, we wait for my friend from the mainland-"

A sudden rapping at the door, "Hello?! Anyone in there!? Help meee!"

The voice was female and had a worried, alerted tone.

Another voice speaks up,

"There's a zombie horde after us! Open this damn door!"

The voice was that of a middle aged man, and filled with panic.

Alucard rises from his chair quickly. "Steve, get ready to open that door!"

Steve was already at the door. "My favourite thing to do!"

Alucard leaps over the table, readying to engage whatever was assailing the female on the other side …