Malphegor
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MCIM Ch. 24
🕑 Added 2025-09-19 02:08:21 +0000 UTCIn a small parking lot on the west side of Central Park.
"Alright, Pearl. Hold up a second."
Mario watched the blood vial in Pearl's hand fill up completely, then waved for him to stop. He jumped down from the truck and grabbed some bread from his inventory, munching on it to restore his lost health while walking over to the furnace. The glass was done smelting, so he pulled it out and headed to his crafting table.
Three pieces of glass, one gold ingot, and three iron ingots later, he had an Altar of Inspiration, the vampire equivalent of the hunter training stations.
Holding the freshly crafted altar, he walked back to Pearl and tried placing it inside the truck bed. To his surprise, it worked exactly like placing it on the ground.
If this works, then beacons and conduits could be mounted on vehicles too!
His thoughts immediately jumped to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s helicarrier. The thing was clunky as hell, but it could fly and it wasn't exactly slow. With all the chaos going on inside S.H.I.E.L.D. right now, borrowing one wouldn't be the worst idea.
Though I'd need to recruit some crew first. Can't exactly pilot a carrier by myself.
Mario shook his head and focused on the task at hand. "Give me those blood vials," he said to Pearl, then pulled a few more empty bottles from his inventory and tossed them over. "Fill these up too. I'll tell you when to stop."
Pearl obediently caught the bottles. Even with just this blood draining ability, he already felt like he'd gained incredible power. No longer doomed to just sit there waiting to die, he could now freely drain blood from any creature within three meters.
Scarlet light flared around his hands as Mario's freshly restored health began dropping rapidly. Less than ten seconds later, he was waving.
"Stop! That's enough!"
Pearl immediately cut off his ability. Mario collected the filled vials and poured all the blood into the Altar of Inspiration. Upgrading vampires from levels 1 to 4 was pretty straightforward, just fill the altar with fresh blood and mentally activate it.
He jumped out of the truck and pulled Blade and Coulson away from the altar, then shouted toward the vehicle.
"Pearl! Focus on the altar and think about using it!"
The moment Mario finished speaking, the blood inside the glass container began visibly draining away.
BOOM!
A bolt of lightning split the clear night sky, ignoring the truck entirely and striking directly at the altar. Pearl, caught in the blast radius, was instantly charred and smoking like a piece of overcooked barbecue.
The fat vampire didn't make a sound, though he might have just been stunned unconscious by the electricity.
Mario calmly pulled out more bread and started eating. With his hunger bar full, health recovery was rapid, just a little slower than chugging a healing potion.
Ignoring the shocked stares from Coulson and Blade, he kept munching as he walked back toward the truck. Before climbing in, he glanced up at the roof above the altar.
Lightning that thick and it didn't even crack the roof. Minecraft physics are something else.
He touched the truck to make sure there was no residual charge, then hopped inside. Pearl was unconscious, his eyes rolled back and showing only whites.
Mario scratched his head awkwardly. "Can't blame me, buddy. You're way too big to dodge anyway."
Luckily Pearl was out cold, or he'd probably be cursing Mario in his head right about now.
At that moment, Coulson and Blade climbed curiously into the truck bed. They mainly wanted to know why lightning had suddenly struck on a clear night, and more importantly, why Mario had seemed to expect it.
Blade sniffed the air and grinned. "Smells like medium-rare pork in here."
Coulson cut straight to the point. "Why did lightning strike? You knew it was going to happen, didn't you?"
Mario nodded, putting on his most serious expression as he prepared to bullshit his way through an explanation.
"Coulson, you don't understand. Back in Italy, my nonna used to tell stories about the streghe, witches who made pacts with dark forces. She said that creatures touched by evil magic, like our Pearl here, they're marked. Every time they try to grow stronger, nature notices."
He gestured at the sky. "That lightning? That's what happens when something unnatural tries to gain more power. The world doesn't like it, so it throws a tantrum. But if they survive the hit, they get to keep what they earned."
"My grandmother always said: 'Il diavolo fa le pentole, ma non i coperchi,' the devil makes the pots, but not the lids. Even evil has limits, and sometimes those limits bite back."
Coulson looked completely baffled but half-convinced. After all, he'd just witnessed it with his own eyes. In this busy city, the stars weren't easy to see, but the bright moon overhead clearly showed that tonight's sky was cloudless. Yet lightning had struck without warning, hitting exactly where the vampire sat.
Blade, however, wore an expression of pure disbelief. As a half-vampire himself, he'd never heard of vampires getting struck by lightning when leveling up.
"Mario, vampires are just humans infected by a virus. They're not supernatural monsters that can turn into bats..."
Mario just looked at Pearl meaningfully without saying anything, then pulled a human heart from his inventory and shoved it into the unconscious vampire's mouth. Instinct took over, Pearl devoured it hungrily, and his injuries healed at an incredible rate.
At the same time, he noticed a "+" symbol appear next to Pearl's health bar.
Curious, he mentally clicked on it.
Well I'll be damned. This is Pearl's skill panel.
Just as Mario was marveling at the interface, Pearl slowly regained consciousness. He opened his eyes and looked around in confusion before focusing on Mario.
"I think I just got struck by lightning!"
Mario patted the rolls of fat on Pearl's body with a grin. "You did get struck by lightning, and there's more coming."
Pearl's face went pale. "More?"
A few minutes later, the blood in the Altar of Inspiration had reached the level needed for another upgrade. Mario hopped out of the truck, with Coulson and Blade scrambling after him.
BOOM!
Another massive bolt of lightning crashed down from the sky, turning Pearl into a smoking piece of meat once again. This time he was closer to well-done.
Neither Coulson nor Blade could stay calm anymore. Once might be coincidence, but twice? This was clearly something supernatural.
"What you said earlier, was it actually true?" Blade asked seriously, a strange itch in his heart.
If getting struck by lightning really makes you stronger... maybe it's worth a try.
Mario couldn't help laughing. "Of course it was bullshit! Come on, you're both grown men. Did you really believe that crap?"
"If you'd been paying attention, you would have noticed the lightning was striking the altar, not Pearl himself. He just happened to be standing next to it."
"Wake up! Wake up!"
Slap, slap...
He reached out and smacked Pearl across the face several times. After receiving his "treatment of love," Pearl slowly regained consciousness, looking around in confusion.
"What... where am I?"
Mario sighed. "You got struck by lightning. Again."
A few seconds later, Pearl finally came to his senses. He took another heart from Mario and stuffed it into his mouth with difficulty, healing his burns.
Watching Pearl eat, Mario thought, Could getting struck by lightning actually make someone lose weight? He looks a little thinner...
But when he looked again at Pearl's body, still layered with rolls of fat, he immediately dismissed the thought.
"How do you feel? Any changes?"
Pearl concentrated on his body before answering honestly. "I feel a little stronger... but aside from that, nothing else."
"Try mentally activating your skills."
A few seconds later, Pearl shook his head. "No, I don't feel anything at all."
Mario glanced at the little plus sign next to Pearl's health bar.
So only I can allocate his skill points?
If that's the case, that's perfect. I'll never have to worry about this guy getting rebellious thoughts. I'll raise him to level 3 first and see how he behaves.
Thinking this, he couldn't help but smile. With a thought, he opened Pearl's skill panel.
"There might be some changes in a moment. Don't be surprised."
Seeing Pearl nod, he looked at the available skill points, just like his own character, leveling up gave two points.
The first skill available for vampires was Night Vision, a very practical ability since vampires were active at night. Without hesitation, he allocated a point.
Pearl's expression froze for a moment, then his mouth opened wide. Everything around him was as bright as day. Remembering Mario's warning, he didn't say anything, but his gaze toward Mario changed.
Next was Regeneration, an active skill that granted 19 seconds of Regeneration I but also inflicted 19 seconds of Thirst III. Thirst was like a hunger effect that accelerated fullness depletion, but like normal hunger, staying still barely consumed anything.
Then came the skill Mario envied most: Toggle Batmode
Using it allowed the vampire to turn into a bat, though it would automatically cancel in sunlight or water.
Finally, there was Summon Bats, while in bat mode, this released a swarm of bats around the user to harass enemies.
After spending all four points, he clapped his hands together. "I've given you special abilities. Try them out properly."
He explained each skill's effect to Pearl. The more Pearl listened, the more excited he became. His eyes were glowing as he nodded eagerly.
"Thank you, boss..."
Mario waved dismissively. Being called "boss" felt weird, he'd grown up as a working-class Italian, not some mafia don.
"Just call me Mario from now on. What matters is that you respect me. Now try turning into a bat so I can see."
Pearl nodded enthusiastically. Following Mario's instructions, he focused on the thought of transforming. White smoke appeared, and his massive figure vanished, replaced by a gray bat.
Mario stared. "Pearl, you absolutely have to lose weight!"
Pearl had successfully transformed, but the bat's proportions were wrong. The body was perfectly round like a ball, with a tiny head stuck on top and half-meter-long wings flapping frantically to keep the obese bat airborne.
He had no doubt, if this weren't Minecraft's vampire transformation system, Pearl's bloated bat form would never be able to fly.
"I can fly! I can actually fly!" Pearl's excited voice came from the ridiculous-looking bat. He'd forgotten how long it had been since he could move around freely.
"Can I go outside?"
Mario nodded. "Just fly in the air and follow me. I'll take you to where we'll be living from now on."
He dug the altar out of the truck bed and tossed it into his inventory.
Blade and Coulson were stunned by the sight of the fat bat floating in front of them.
Especially Blade, as a half-vampire, he watched the bat with hungry eyes. "Can you give me that bat transformation ability too? Even if it means getting struck by lightning, I'm willing!"
Flight was everyone's dream, even someone with Blade's superhuman abilities.
Meanwhile, Coulson thought, I need to get Mario back to S.H.I.E.L.D. and keep him safe. Can't let him make contact with other vampires.
Just imagining a world where every vampire could transform into bats made his skin crawl. Vampires already had physical abilities far superior to ordinary humans. If they also gained the mobility and stealth of bat form, then not just civilians, even highly trained agents could be easily ambushed.
"Can you grant this ability to all vampires?"
Mario glanced at Coulson, noticed his concern, and shook his head with a reassuring smile. "Relax, Coulson. What you're worried about won't happen."
"Besides, I have a new idea. I'm planning to create a Hunter Association, an organization dedicated to hunting down vampires hiding in cities. If I rely only on myself, wiping out all the vampires in the world would take way too long."
Hearing this, Blade's eyes lit up and he immediately declared, "If you really create an association like that, I'll definitely join!"
No one was more passionate about killing vampires than him.
"Even if you didn't want to join, I'd find a way to make you," Mario grinned.
He was already planning to find a place to establish the Hunter Association, dedicated to cleaning up the bloodsucking trash.
Coulson felt conflicted. He'd caught the underlying meaning, that Mario could indeed easily grant others such powers. But he stood firmly on the opposite side of vampires, which was reassuring.
Seeing Coulson remain silent, Mario extended an invitation directly. "Come on, let's go to my place. I know you two must be curious about where I live."
That snapped Coulson out of his thoughts. He perked up and nodded eagerly. "Really? If I'd known, I would've bought some gifts to bring along."
Mario chuckled. "Don't worry about it."
He led the two men into the depths of Central Park's forest, with Pearl's bat form fluttering overhead like a furry beach ball with wings.
"Here we are."
Coulson and Blade looked around at the seemingly empty woods, then remembered Mario's abilities and focused on the ground. Sure enough, they spotted a patch of grass that looked different from the rest.
Mario pulled out his shovel, dug up the grass block, and revealed an underground entrance. He gestured toward the opening.
"Welcome to my piccola casa."
