Endless Extraction in a Game-Like World

Old man Welt had his hands clasped together as he sat in his chair. Rachel stood by his side silently. It was clear that she already knew about this matter.

"The dungeons are a connection between other worlds," Old man Welt took a deep breath before saying.

"These dungeons are actually created by other races as part of the Origin Domain quests."

"Other races unleash their dungeons into our world using dungeon cores. It is like a game-like index where they spawn dungeons across our map at a cost. The dungeons or gates exist not only to cause destruction around our world but also to steal the mana from our world."

"The less mana we have, the fewer servers open up in our world."

"What?" Caelus was stunned. "There’s such a thing?"

"Yes." Old man Welt snapped his fingers, and the blank wall behind him shifted as a holographic image appeared.

"As you can see in the data, a total of 10,439 servers opened up in our world this year. But last year it was 16,393. The year before that was roughly the same. Fifty years ago, 100,000 if not more servers opened up, and 250 years ago, it was at 16 million."

"What the heck?" Caelus was bewildered when hearing this.

Sylvia, however, remained calm. She seemed to already know about such matters.

"I will tell you this: our world lacks a lot of dungeon creators."

"No one precisely knows how one becomes a dungeon creator, but it is very crucial for the survival of our world."

"The other races, hell, even other humans, steal mana from our atmosphere through the gates, while we desperately need more dungeon creators. Our current dungeon creators are barely enough to fully establish ourselves."

"We do not know what will happen once we reach the Middle Expanse. It will most likely cause even more dungeons to appear."

"We need to be prepared for it." Old man Welt finished his words.

"How are we going to prepare for that?" Caelus inquired, tilting his head.

"I do not know." Chairman Welt said with a soft chuckle. "But if I have to protect the citizens of Fortis City, then I will do so without any complaints."

"If it comes down to it, we will have no choice but to fight." Rachel said with a cold look forming on her face.

Sylvia and Caelus exchanged glances and sighed.

If things come to that, then, they will also have to fight.

With that thought, they both went back home.

-----

Dragon Luxury Estate. Caelus’s villa.

In the open living room, the TV played a local series while the fireplace burned quietly by the side.

Sylvia stood in front of Caelus wearing a loose white blouse. She had just come from the shower and smelled exquisitely of vanilla and something uniquely her own.

Right now, she had a slightly hungry look in her eyes.

The dense essence she had gathered from the Space League had been acting up; if left unchecked, it would cause her bloodlust to run rampant.

"Caelus, let me have your blood~" Sylvia closed the distance, her voice dropping into a sweet, coquettish whisper. She smoothly placed one knee onto the sofa cushion right beside his hip, resting her hands lightly on his shoulders for support.

"Wait." Before she could completely bounce onto him, Caelus reached up and gently caught her wrists, stopping her advance.

"Before we continue this, I just want you to know that I do not have any memories of the past." Caelus said with a heavy sigh, looking directly up at her. "And I do not think I will ever awaken those memories either. They are long gone. A recent accident completely made me unable to remember anything, and as a result, I am no longer the same Caelus you once knew."

Even though he didn’t say it directly, his unspoken words were clear: I am not the Caelus you once knew and loved.

"No." Sylvia’s expression turned incredibly soft. "You are better than then."

"Back then, you protected me and saved me..." Sylvia reminisced, her gaze dropping to his lips before meeting his eyes again. "If you don’t remember it, I’ll tell you myself."

"It was when we were both eleven or twelve. We met at a convenience store by coincidence. As soon as you saw me, you told me that I was the prettiest girl you had ever met." Sylvia said playfully, a fond smile gracing her lips.

"I did?" Caelus was speechless.

"Yes~" Sylvia nodded slowly. "But back then, I did not like you. No, I wasn’t in the right mindset to even talk to you."

"I was here in Fortis City with my mother, but back then, I was not like the girl you see now. I was a recluse; I didn’t talk to anyone. But you came forward and tried to talk to me every single day. You would buy me all sorts of candies and ice creams."

"But I always rejected them."

"Back then... there were many things I didn’t know as a kid, and things I deeply regretted." Sylvia’s gaze became distant.

"I-I was not in my right mindset back then. The world looked dull and gray to me."

"But when you came into my existence, that changed."

"You showed me the world outside; you made me smile for the first time." However, after that, Sylvia wore an avoidant expression.

Caelus clearly caught it. She didn’t want to talk about anything past that point.

Caelus sighed. "I understand that you value that past very much, but my memories... they won’t come back."

"And I also know that you chose me as your blood-bond because of our past relationship."

"However, Sylvia... that past, it won’t come back." Caelus said softly but firmly.

"Nor will I remember it."

’Because that past does not belong to me,’ Caelus mused silently in his heart.

"Now, I won’t force you into anything, but you have two options now."

"One: You break the blood-bond with me, as I am not the person you once knew. Of course, we will still remain party members."

"Or two: You and me both, we start from the very beginning. From square one."

Caelus looked at Sylvia. She was not a bad girl. In fact, compared to Sylvia Reign, everyone else was a distant second option; that was how beautiful she was. But more than that, Caelus genuinely liked her personality.

He might hate getting teased by her, but he knew she only did it because she cared for him.

Sylvia looked down at Caelus and smiled. Their faces were incredibly close, Sylvia’s beautiful, ruby-red eyes locked intensely onto his own red ones.

"You are better," Sylvia suddenly said. "These past few days we spent together..."

"I had more fun than I ever did." Sylvia said with a breathtaking smile. "And when I was down, you were right there to comfort me."

"I don’t want to choose either of those options." Sylvia licked her lower lip slowly as she smoothly straddled his lap, settling her weight perfectly against him.

"I can’t take it anymore, Caelus. I want it." Sylvia leaned forward, her face hovering mere inches from his, her breath ghosting over his skin.

"W-Wait... this isn’t exactly what we should be do—"

However, before a highly flustered Caelus could finish his sentence, Sylvia tilted her head and sank her fangs delicately, yet hungrily, into his neck.

Nhhh...

The soft sounds of swallowing echoed in the quiet living room. Caelus sat rigidly on the sofa, his face completely buried in the crook of Sylvia’s neck and her damp, fragrant hair. Sylvia tightly gripped his broad shoulders, her slender frame pressing flush against his chest as she greedily drank his blood.

Every time she took a deep sip, she shifted her hips slightly to adjust her weight, the friction sending a jolt straight through Caelus. He sat there with a deeply flustered expression, entirely at her mercy as she squirmed in his lap, trying to angle herself to draw more blood.

"Isn’t it enough? Your combat score already rose, Sylvia." Caelus was speechless, his voice slightly strained.

[Combat Score: 91.50 -> 100.21]

She didn’t listen to any of that, she was greedily drinking his blood from his neck with an intoxicated expression on her face.

For a vampire, there was nothing better than blood.

A stray drop of golden blood seeped from the corner of her mouth. Seeing this, Sylvia paused, pulling back just enough to catch the trailing drop with her fingertip. She sucked it into her mouth and smiled.

Without saying another word, she dove right back in, greedily feeding from Caelus.

"Damn, at least let me drink a healing potion."

Hearing this, Sylvia finally pulled back, clutching Caelus’s shoulders tightly. Her eyes were hazy with pure intoxication. She delicately wiped a trail of golden blood from her bottom lip and gave a sweet smile.

"I once promised you that I would hug you and call you a good boy as a reward for the blood~" Sylvia leaned forward, suddenly enveloping Caelus in a warm, tight embrace, pressing her soft curves fully against him.

She then gently patted the back of his head. "You are my good boy~"

"What the hell." Caelus was utterly speechless.

"I did not sign up for this." Caelus looked at Sylvia, who burst out into musical laughter.

He now truly felt like a kept man.

"You are so easy to tease, Caelus~!" Sylvia chuckled softly as she licked her lips once more, her gaze dropping back to his neck.

"I want more~" Sylvia murmured. "If I drink more of your blood, then I won’t have to eat normal food today and your blood has became even more tasty after turning gold, it tastes like honey to me."

"Didn’t you want to go out with me?" Caelus asked with a slightly bleak look.

"We can do after this~" Sylvia said with unwillingness.

"Fine, but, you... never do that again." Caelus said in a serious, albeit slightly breathless, tone.

"Do what? Calling you a good boy~?" Sylvia giggled, leaning in to whisper directly against his ear, sending a shiver down his spine.

Soon, Caelus finished downing another healing potion, and Sylvia immediately zeroed in on his pulse, digging right back in.

Caelus was helpless. He had a stunningly beautiful vampire comfortably straddling his lap, constantly treating him like a juice box. This girl was definitely not going to leave him alone anytime soon, that much was certain.

Just then, a world notification rang out.

[Ding!]

[Azure Origin Planet will now undergo a plane of existence elevation.]

[Lower Expanse -> Middle Expanse]