Like a swarm of locusts, the two of them thoroughly ransacked the entire ancient castle, inside and out, taking everything of value into their possession.
Darian naturally took the lion's share of the spoils, with most of the valuable items going into his game inventory, while Blade, following behind Darian, could only pick up the scraps he didn't want.
On one hand, his hand speed simply couldn't keep up; on the other hand, his eyesight wasn't good enough.
These Vampires clearly had no habit of storing cash, mostly possessing jewelry, antiques, and strange works of art. Blade knew nothing about such things and could only pick out items that looked relatively valuable.
He watched Darian casually glance at things and then, with clear purpose, pick out a dozen items, his movements swift and decisive, which made him curious.
"Can you tell the value of these things?"
"I know a little."
"Then can you tell if this is valuable?"
Blade held up the kettle in his hand.
In his opinion, this kettle should be the most valuable item he possessed.
Darian glanced at the kettle's information and nodded, "It's quite valuable. It's hundreds of years old, probably worth a lot of money."
Blade's heart leaped with joy, and he asked, "What is this thing?"
"A urinal used by a certain Vampire when they were still human."
"..."
Blade's expression stiffened, and he quickly threw away the kettle, vigorously rubbing his hands.
What kind of weird habit did these Vampires have, to collect their used urinals!?
Darian's professional skills were indeed proficient. He tapped and knocked, touched and looked, and before long, behind a seemingly ordinary stone wall, he found a hidden secret room.
The secret room wasn't large, filled with various objects from several centuries ago.
Darian's gaze quickly swept across the entire space, finally settling on the bookshelf against the wall.
Many ancient texts were neatly arranged on the bookshelf, most covered with a thin layer of dust, indicating they hadn't been read much.
However, one thick, entirely black ancient book was particularly eye-catching.
[The Darkhold (Dracula's Edition)]
[Description: A redacted version of the Darkhold, compiled by Dracula based on one of the original Darkholds. The book records the origin story of the Vampire progenitor, as well as Dracula's deeds, and transcribes some dark magic, including Dracula's summoning ritual.]
[Note: This replica, due to its inherent dark essence, will continuously erode the reader's mind. As reading duration and depth increase, the reader's sanity will constantly drain. If their mental attribute is too low, it is highly likely to lead to irreversible mental madness and cognitive distortion.]
The Darkhold!?
Darian raised an eyebrow, quite surprised.
When he was in Kamar-Taj, he had heard some mages mention this book.
Just as the root of White magic comes from The Book of Vishanti, personally written by the three-in-one dimensional demon Vishanti.
The completely opposite Dark magic system, its source comes from The Darkhold.
It is said that the author of this book was a very powerful ancient evil god.
The book records various powerful dark magic. Learning just one or two of these spells would be enough to instantly elevate an ordinary mage's strength to the peak, easily crushing most mages in the world.
However, this book is extremely sinister. Anyone who reads it will unknowingly be affected by that ancient evil god. At best, their personality will change drastically; at worst, their mind will be twisted, they will lose themselves, and ultimately become a living vessel for the ancient evil god to descend upon the world and bear its power.
Darian never expected that Dracula, this Vampire, would be connected to the legendary Darkhold.
No wonder Dracula not only knew magic but could also use such powerful magic.
"It seems this should be the divine tome that the Vampire Elder mentioned."
Darian carefully examined the ancient book emitting an ominous aura before him.
Although it was only a redacted replica, the danger it contained was still not to be underestimated, as could be seen from its description.
That being said, Darian was very interested in its contents.
Although the cost of dark magic is immense, its power is indeed high.
Because of this, evil mages usually master several dark magic spells. In their circles, if a guy doesn't even know one dark magic spell, they'd be too embarrassed to greet other colleagues when they go out.
As for so-called evil books, Darian wasn't particularly afraid. It's not like he hadn't read a few evil books himself.
Back when his curiosity was strong, he had read through all the so-called evil books he could find on a certain website, and he was still perfectly fine.
For Darian, a player, the Darkhold was considered mild compared to those other evil books.
However, just in case, Darian still put on the Dumbass Ring before he began to flip through this Cult Version of the Darkhold.
The content on the pages was written in an ancient script, completely incomprehensible to ordinary people.
Fortunately, with the game system's translation function, these obscure and difficult-to-understand contents became easy-to-understand modern text in Darian's eyes.
According to the book, the Vampire progenitor was not Dracula, but a great Sorcerer from the lost civilization of Atlantis.
This powerful Sorcerer read the original Darkhold and, following the forbidden rituals described in the book, transformed himself into a dark creature—a Vampire—becoming the first Vampire in the world.
However, after enduring the baptism of long ages, this Vampire progenitor saw through the meaning of unlife and grew weary of eternal life. Like the peerless masters in many Wuxia novels, he passed all his power to Dracula, a junior Vampire, and then voluntarily ended his own life.
Yes, the first Vampire progenitor went offline just like that, becoming a background story that was quickly glossed over, with the entire content taking up less than half a page.
After that came Dracula's own story. Just like the protagonists in most novels, having obtained the power of the Vampire progenitor, he embarked on a rise to power that could be described as cheating.
This rags-to-riches story occupied a full ninety-five percent of the book's length, spanning hundreds of thousands of characters. The content was tedious and long-winded, with Dracula constantly boasting about how great and awesome he was, completely shameless.
Calling it the Darkhold, it was more like Dracula's self-indulgent fanfiction. If it were on a certain novel website, it would definitely fail spectacularly in minutes.
Darian, with a darkened face, quickly skipped through it and finally found the dark magic content he wanted in a few scattered pages.
To find only a small amount of dark magic in the Darkhold was simply absurd!
Darian browsed these dark magic spells and found that half of them met the learning conditions, and there were also several skills that could be learned within a day.
As expected of dark magic, the threshold was indeed much lower than for proper magic.
Darian immediately put away the Cult Version of the Darkhold, intending to study it later when he had time.
After confirming that there was nothing else of value left in the ancient castle, the two no longer lingered and quickly left the place.
Before leaving, Darian threw a dozen specially made high-explosive charges into the ancient castle.
There was no particular reason, it was just a matter of convenience.
Boom!
A violent explosion echoed across the heavens and Earth!
In the series of explosions, the ancient castle, which had stood for countless centuries, collapsed with a roar, raising a sky full of dust.
Darian, the culprit, had already quietly departed before the explosion, vanishing without a trace.
Several hours passed.
In the originally silent ruins of the ancient castle, a viscous, blood-red energy slowly seeped out from deep underground, eventually outlining a tall humanoid silhouette.
When the blood-red energy receded, it was none other than Dracula, whom Darian had killed!
Dracula stood on the ruins, looking in the direction Darian had left, a triumphant smile on his face.
"Didn't expect this, did you? I actually had a backup plan, hiding my blood deep underground. As long as I die, I can revive after a while, no summoning ritual needed at all."
In fact, Dracula had indeed been killed by Darian, but he successfully won the resurrection match again through the blood he had left behind.
This was Dracula's most relied-upon ability, true immortality in every sense of the word!
But this joy of rebirth did not last long; Dracula's expression quickly turned grim.
"Damn human, just you wait. As soon as I leave this place and assemble my Vampire army to enslave the humans on Earth, I will make you suffer the most excruciating torment in the world!"
He could not accept that he had died at the hands of a mere human.
This humiliation had to be repaid!
"I'm afraid you can't leave here."
Just then, a calm voice came from behind Dracula.
Dracula was startled and immediately turned around, only to find a figure standing behind him at some unknown point.
This person was wearing a light yellow monk's robe, holding a wooden fan in their hand, and a large hood obscured most of their face, making them appear very mysterious.
Dracula was already in a bad mood, and hearing this person's words made his anger surge even more.
"Another ignorant fellow pops up! You say I can't leave, so I can't leave? Who do you think you are!"
"Just an ordinary person passing by."
The newcomer slowly pulled down their hood, revealing a neutral face and a bald head.
Wow! Bald head!
Dracula naturally didn't believe these words, and his eyes were wary. "Are you also sent by The Church?"
At this moment, Dracula was particularly wary of anyone potentially connected to The Church.
It was clear that Darian had indeed left a significant psychological scar on him.
The bald man retorted, "Do I look like someone from The Church to you?"
Dracula was momentarily speechless.
Indeed, this person's appearance was more like a Buddhist monk than someone from The Church.
To be cautious, Dracula pressed again, "Then can you use Holy Light?"
"No."
The bald man's answer was crisp and direct.
Hearing this, Dracula's tense nerves finally relaxed, and a sinister smile crept onto his lips.
"Since you're not sent by The Church and you can't use Holy Light, then it's easy. I'm in a very bad mood right now!"
Dracula grinned menacingly as he walked towards the bald man.
In his eyes, this bald man was thin and unremarkable in aura, completely a soft persimmon ripe for the picking.
Moreover, the other party couldn't use Holy Light like Darian, so he had even less to fear.
The bald man quietly watched him approach, his face still as calm as an ancient well: "I advise you to calm down."
"Don't worry, I'm as calm as can be right now."
Bloodlust surged in Dracula's eyes.
After sleeping for hundreds of years, he had just revived and only consumed a Maid Vampire; the taste was, needless to say.
Then he fought Darian for half a day and died again. Up until now, he hadn't even had a decent drink of fresh blood and was practically starving mad.
At this moment, he could no longer suppress his desire for blood, and this bald man in front of him was the best food!
"Offer your fresh blood to me!"
Dracula cackled, opening his maw wide to reveal two sharp fangs, poised to pounce on the bald man.
The next moment, he saw the bald man casually wave his hand, and the surrounding space shattered in response, covered in cracks like a broken mirror. At the same time, dozens of crimson energy chains shot out from these broken spatial rifts, dancing wildly in the air like venomous snakes.
Dracula: "..."
Why didn't you say you were so powerful earlier?
Oh, what a misunderstanding! Let's just forget about it this time, but don't do it again next time!
Dracula nonchalantly retracted his fangs, rubbed the back of his head, and revealed a clear smile: "Uh, I suddenly remembered I have something to do at home. I'll head back first, you do as you please."
Before he finished speaking, a pair of huge Bat Wings suddenly unfurled behind him, frantically flapping as he tried to escape.
However, as soon as his feet left the ground, the crimson chains wrapped around him like shadows, encasing him layer by layer, binding him into a sturdy mummy. He was forcibly dragged in front of the bald man, unable to break free no matter how hard he struggled, and he couldn't even use his transformation skill.
The bald man said earnestly, "Dracula, you are too dangerous. Your power must be restricted."
Dracula: "???"
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, Director's Office.
Hill handed Darian a brand new eagle-shaped badge, a smile on her face.
"Agent Darian, you have completed this mission exceptionally well. According to protocol, this is your level 8 agent badge. From now on, you officially have S.H.I.E.L.D. level 8 clearance, allowing you to access higher-level databases and giving you the authority to deploy more strategic resources."
"Alright."
Darian took the eagle badge and casually tossed it into his game inventory.
He only cared about the identity promotion within the game system; as for the increase in Agent rank, he didn't pay much attention to it. In his eyes, it was just an irrelevant background detail.
But in other people's eyes, it was a different story.
A level 8 agent—this was a rank that countless Agents within S.H.I.E.L.D. found difficult to achieve.
Even top Agents like Black Widow and Hawkeye were only level 7 Agents in S.H.I.E.L.D., still some distance from level 8.
To become a S.H.I.E.L.D. level 8 agent, one not only needed outstanding abilities but also sufficient experience and accumulated loyalty.
For example, Agent Coulson, who was also a level 8 agent, had worked diligently at S.H.I.E.L.D. for over ten years, participating in countless missions, losing more hair each day, before finally reaching the position of level 8 agent.
And Darian, in just a few short months since joining S.H.I.E.L.D., had achieved this leap in rank at Rocket speed.
It was simply a miracle!
Of course, no one would question this decision.
Within the entire S.H.I.E.L.D., Darian's abilities were definitely among the best.
His mission efficiency was even more remarkable; he alone could complete the workload that would require hundreds of ordinary Agents working together, and complex operations that others needed several months to finish, he often completed easily in one day or even half a day.
Just writing his mission reports had already exhausted over a dozen S.H.I.E.L.D. clerical staff.
Coupled with Darian's modus operandi, his mission reports could be said to be the most difficult to write among all S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents.
The reports were numerous and complex, requiring at least tens of thousands of characters daily, a word count far exceeding that of some web novel authors.
It is said that a clerical worker named May, after being assigned to process Darian's mission reports for several consecutive days, finally succumbed to the overwhelming pressure and resolutely quit her clerical job, instead applying to be transferred to Coulson's action team, becoming a field Agent who constantly faced dangerous missions.
She herself stated that she would rather face ten fully armed Terrorists than organize another one of Darian's mission reports.
One can imagine how painful it must be to write Darian's mission reports!