SSS Awakening: Rebirth of the Strongest Vampire God-Chapter 60: Are you serious?

[Ding! Big bro, I’m really sorry about earlier. My sister got a little... intense. She’s just used to getting her way, y’know? Please don’t take it the wrong way. You’ve been amazing to us and we both respect you like crazy. To show there are no hard feelings, we’re sending over another 10,000 gold. No strings attached. Just thanks. Hope we can still team up sometime.]

Phoenix watched her brother type, then added her own note under her breath, audible only to herself: "Let’s see how the Blood God responds to a mountain of gold... or if he’s the kind of monster you can’t buy."

Many people have said no before and acted as if they were above the lure of wealth but that always changed when they get their hands on the actual money. Men were simple like that. Now it was only a matter of time before this one comes and joins their team.

"Sis! He accepted the 10,000 gold coins!" Blood Wraith suddenly shouted in glee.

Phoenix smiled, her face even more beautiful in that moment—serene, triumphant, and laced with quiet arrogance. She turned her head slightly, brushing an errant strand of hair behind her ear, as if she’d just proven a fundamental truth of the world.

"Of course he did," she said softly, her voice like silk drawn over steel. "They always do. Even the monsters bleed gold in the end."

Blood Wraith pumped a fist in the air, visibly relieved. "See? I told you he liked us! This is good, right? Maybe he’s cooling off now—maybe he’ll team up again."

Phoenix smiled and shrugged. "And?"

"And?" Blood Wraith asked her in confusion.

"And what else did he say?" Phoenix sighed in exasperation at her brother.

Blood Wraith scratched his head. "Nothing?"

"What?!" Phoenix’s smile flickered, just for a second.

Then her lips pressed into a thin line, and her eyes narrowed as she leaned closer to her brother’s screen, confirming for herself that Damon had indeed accepted the 10,000 gold without responding. No thank you. No remark. Nothing.

Are you serious? Her face twitched.

Blood Wraith blinked. "Huh? Isn’t it good that he didn’t say no and reject the gold coins?"

Phoenix wanted to slap the shit out of her brother but instead she closed her eyes and exhaled slowly through her nose, reigning in the urge.

"You absolute golden retriever," she muttered.

Blood Wraith tilted his head. "Thanks?"

"That wasn’t a compliment." Her voice was flat. "He did the worst thing he could possibly do."

"Which is...?"

"Nothing," Phoenix said, cold and sharp. "He left us in the dark. We made a move, and he acknowledged it—but gave us no read, no angle, no counter. That kind of silence is control, you idiot."

Blood Wraith still looked confused.

Phoenix sighed, starting to walk away. "Hmph. It’s fine. Let me see how long this attitude of his is going to last. He will join our team sooner or later. The world as we know it is going to change. He will realize it soon enough and come back begging to us. Let’s go." ƒreewebɳovel.com

Blood Wraith shrugged it off and hurried behind his sister. "Where are we going?"

"I got a special quest to unlock a hidden class."

Blood Wraith’s eyes lit up like a kid told he could skip school. "A hidden class?! Which one? Is it flashy? Do you get wings? A dragon? Wait, is it an S-rank? SSS?!"

Phoenix didn’t break stride. Her tone was clipped, but there was an edge of satisfaction underneath. "It’s a Unique-class chain questline. It unlocked because of my high affinity with fire."

"Wow! You were going to quit the game yesterday and today you are about to become a top player. All because of my big bro Blood God. Tell me honeslty sis. You came back to the game because you were impressed by him, right?" Blood Wraith wagged his eyebrows but he quickly stopped after he got a fiery glare from her.

***

Damon did not care about the brother and sister duo. While Blood Wraith was straightforward enough, his sister, that phoenix woman seemed to be fond of playing some mental tricks. He did not like women like that and he did not have time for all those mind games.

Of course, he was not going to say no to money. He simply accepted the gold coins and moved on. He needed to focus on what was important right now. He looked at the system screen and mainly his friend’s list.

If someone logged in from the same internet, then the game allowed them to show up on each other friend list automatically, even if they hadn’t added each other yet. And right now, Mark and Kate were yet to show up.

"They should be in the tutorial." Damon quickly sped through the streets reaching a familiar alleyway that led to the big market square of Garth city. He had a couple of minutes to spare and he decided he might as well finish what he started.

Once in the market square, Damon quickly walked over to one of the tailor shops, Uncle Al’s. "What do you need, brat?" Al asked in his trademark gruff voice. Damon smiled and took out a monkey hide. This was just one of the normal monkey drops but the middle-aged man’s face visibly changed.

"Where... where did you get this?" the tailor muttered, his gruffness suddenly replaced with a reverence. He reached out with surprisingly delicate fingers and ran them across the coarse gray hide.

"These bastard monkeys. Do you know how long they have tormented me? Every time I go outside the city, they’d jump me. Steal my packages. Ruined three of my best shipments last year alone. And the guards? Useless. Said I was exaggerating."

He straightened up and held the hide to the light. "How many of these do you have? I will reward you handsomely for your courage and bravery to stand up to these villaneous beasts!"

Damon smiled. He took out a stack of monkey hides from the storage ring and passed it over to Al.

***

Book Review bonus Chapter~

Thanks to Overlord Tyrant