Gacha Leveling

Erin saw herself in a room with Helen. They were both wearing their own clothes, but their weapons were gone. Their room had no windows and no furniture other than 4 pairs of bunk beds. The door was made of iron and was locked.

"Did you get the Maiden role too?" Helen asked Erin while trying the door.

"Yes." Erin said looking around the room for a way out. "We need to escape."

"Do you think the others are also around?" Helen asked trying to find a way of opening the door.

"Locked in a room like us?" I don't know. If we have roles, it's likely they can have other roles than Maiden. Like Knight or Bodyguard." Erin conjectured. "We should focus on finding our weapons and then looking for the others."

"Do you think you can open the door?" Helen asked giving up on finding a way to open it.

"Let me try one thing." Erin said getting close to the door.

Erin then made a key of solid mana and put it inside the keyhole. She changed its shape inside while trying to turn it open. After several tries, she finally managed to find a shape that worked and the door opened.

"That was clever." Helen said.

"I tried it once with my bicycle's padlock, but it didn't work. Glad this old lock has a simpler key structure." Erin smiled.

The two of them left the room cautiously making sure no one was watching them. They sneaked around the narrow corridors always making sure there were no one around on every corner. It seemed they were underground, but not in a dungeon, but in some kind of servant quarters.

Mia saw herself in a lavish room laying on the bed. She was wearing only a silk night gown and her clothes and weapons were also missing. Her role was Traitor and her mission was "Help the Maidens escape".

She was unsure what the dungeon meant with Traitor, but soon the doors of the room opened and two maids dressed in black uniforms walked in. One moved to the window while the other moved behind a folding screen where a wooden tub was.

"Good evening, my lady." One maid said while opening the window curtains.

"We'll ready your bath now." The other maid said while using a crystal to fill the tub with hot water. "What would you like to dress for the ball tonight?"

"I don't know." Mia mumbled trying to understand what was going on.

"Oh!" The first maid exclaimed. "Lord Novak bought your ladyship a new red dress that will look incredible! Should I fetch it?"

"Yes. Please." Mia said.

It was getting clear for her now. She was somehow related to the vampire Novak, either his wife or a cohort of some kind. Her mission was to help the Maidens escape, that could mean the others were the Maidens? Anyway, it was best for her to play the role for now until she found her friends.

Matthew, Orpheu and Tina were looking upon the castle from a safe position inside the forest. However, they were too far away to see the castle's defenses properly. The moat was their first obstacle, then the walls. Once inside, they didn't know how many enemies would they have to face.

Matthew was a bit scared of sending Ffyr inside there on her own to scout. Even in her ethereal form, she could be in serious danger.

"Then send her just around the moat." Tina suggested. "See what she can find."

"Ffyr?" Matthew asked his familiar's opinion.

The fairy just nodded and flew away returning some time after when the sun was already down.

"You were supposed to only scout out the moat and walls." Matthew admonished her.

"What happened?" Tina asked hearing him.

"Ffyr went inside the walls." Matthew explained while the fairy used her wind spell to draw the castle's layout on the dirt. "She said they seem to be preparing for a party."

"Can we infiltrate in the party?" Orpheu asked.

"There are some carriages inside, they might be receiving guests." Matthew relaid Ffyr's words.

"Should we wait by the road and see if another carriage comes? If we ambush some of the guests we could try pretending to be one of them." Tina asked.

"This is our best plan so far. If it doesn't work, we can always try the direct approach." Orpheu agreed with the plan.

They took pictures with their phones of Ffyr's drawing on the dirt and moved to wait for a guest to pass by the road that led to the castle.

"Don't touch me!" Faralynn hissed at Novak when he tried to caress her cheek.

"Oh, my dear. You wound me." The vampire said playfully. "You are my guest of honor for this night."

"Guest of honor?" Faralynn asked keeping her improvised club ready to defend herself.

"Yes." Novak smiled. "Tonight is the night you will become my wife." He smiled more and licked his teeth.

"What do you mean, wife?" Faralynn took a step back hearing that.

"The ceremony for your ascension." Novak said walking to the window and looking at the setting sun. "When you'll become one of my spawn and my woman." He chuckled to himself like that was a joke.

"I will never be yours." Faralynn growled.

"Well, my dear. It's not like you have a choice." Novak said turning and looking at her. "Since you won't come willingly…" He added moving his hand and making her fall asleep.

The elf tried to resist the sleeping spell and attacked the vampire, but she fell to the ground after her first step towards him. Faralynn only had 8 points in Mind and such spells were far too effective on adventurers with a low Mind stat.

Shortly after, two maids came in and carried the sleeping Faralynn downstairs to the great hall where a large table was set with food and wine. The maids carefully sat Faralynn down on a red velvet throne overlooking the table. Novak was shortly behind the maids.

It is then that Mia joins the hall dressed in a beautiful red silk dress and adorned with gold jewelry. When she saw Faralynn sleeping on the throne, it took a lot of willpower to not break her character. Upon seeing Novak there, she quickly assumed it was the lord of the castle, for he was the best dressed person in the hall. Mia got close to him and bowed courtly.

"My daughter." Novak said taking Mia's hand and pushing her to straight up her back. "You don't need to bow to your father."

"It felt appropriate given the occasion." Mia said glancing at Faralynn.

"So… What do you think about your new mother?" The vampire asked noticing her stare.

"She's beautiful." Mia said letting herself to examine Faralynn with her eyes. "Is she asleep?" She asked noticing her friend breathing softly.

"My dear elf was not feeling cooperative today." Novak assented. "But don't worry. Once our guests arrive and we go on with the ceremony, she'll be obedient like yourself."

"Yes, father." Mia said bowing her head.

A random thought crept inside Mia's head then. If she was his daughter, did that mean she was also a vampire? She opened her status screen making sure no one would see her fumbling around with it. There she saw written:

"Temporary Unique Skill: Lesser Vampirism

Unholy Mana.

Sun vulnerability.

Undead."

So the dungeon made her a vampire? At least it was temporary. She didn't know it was possible. She decided not to question the dungeon and just accept it. There would be time to think about it later, but, for now, she had to focus on the mission.

Erin and Helen found themselves in the castle's arsenal. They kept dodging all the castle's servants and guards that were walking around the quarters and eventually found where the soldiers stored their weapons and armor.

None of the weapons there were magical, so they decided not to take them. But they did find their own weapons. Faralynn's armor, sword and bow. Helen's armor, shield, spear and sword. Mia's wand and Erin's robe and staff.

"Does this mean Matt, the professor and Tina are not in the castle?" Helen asked while Erin put her friend's items in her inventory.

"Or that wherever they are, they have their stuff. Might also mean that their stuff is just in another place." Erin added.

"We should try finding them." Helen said.

"Well, the dungeons were empty. But they can be locked in a room like we were." Erin pondered.

It is then that they hear a commotion around them. From the screaming voices, they can infer that their room was found empty and now all the servants and guards in the quarters were actively trying to find them.

"The master will not be happy! Those women were supposed to be tonight's main entertainment!" They heard a voice saying out loud while passing the door to the room they were in.

"I don't think we can sneak around anymore." Helen said looking at Erin.

"It's just the two of us, but I don't think we have a choice but to fight now." Erin said looking at Helen.