《How I Destroyed The Main Questline At My New Job》 Prologue The glare of the morning sun strut it''s way through the small gaps not covered by the curtains. It''s golden rays slowly dancing along the tips of my skin, warmth, so much pure natural warmth. In my close to 30 years of life, I feel like I can say I''ve never truly appreciated the sun. Yet here I lay on the last day this body will draw breath smiling with the light of the sun waking me from my restful night of sleep. No worries, no doubts.. relatively no cares. In thirty years when was the last time I was ever this relaxed? With a slight yawn I peel the covers from me, disrupting my comfort and peace. ¡°Today''s the first and last day of the rest of my life.¡± Okay maybe not in that order, but the statement still stands. As I look around the hotel room I can''t help but think about the tiny apartment I lived in for the last few years. Dark, stuffy, and lacked that homey feel to it. Maybe if I was allowed to have pets like I wanted, it may have been filled with a light but lively energy. A few cats and two dogs, yeah that definitely sounds nice. Unfortunately the landlady was allergic to animals, at least that''s what she told us tenants. I never got many visitors, although I have a large extended family I decided earlier on to move far away. As I go to take my last shower here and brush my teeth I can''t help but find satisfaction in the fact that I won''t have to go into that dingy office anymore and sit at my desk that has been overcome with paper since the first day I started years ago. Giving this tattered body a once over as I pass the mirror I run my fingers along the scars that have been permanently etched into my skin. The feel of them each taking my breath away as I''m overcome with flashbacks of past traumas. The lamenting doesn''t last long as the fact that I''m finally a winner had resurfaced itself making me glow lightly with confidence as I take my steps out of the room. I was always a mediocre child, just barely average in some areas while being beyond lacking in others. The only thing I was semi good at was writing, I had a deep passion for taking the thoughts in my head and putting them to paper. Dragons that swallow star''s, princesses that save kingdoms, and animals that overcome tribulations. Unfortunately the market was flooded with aspiring authors, many with outstanding and brilliant ideas that are continuously overlooked for less qualified individuals but with better connections. A year ago I applied for this writing contest sponsored by the scientific nation of research and development. Each contestant was charged with coming up with some in game plot. There would be a hundred winners who would have their plots added to the game''s AI for quest references. There was also the chance of fifteen people becoming a grand prize winner. The country kept especially secret the reward, doing everything to make sure the information doesn''t leak. 6 months ago surprisingly enough I had a man in a suit standing outside my small door claiming to be a representative of their country. After checking his credentials and inviting him in he broke it too me plainly that I was a grand prize winner.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. He told me that if i accepted the prize I would be leaving for the main research department in charge of the game within a week''s time. He couldn''t tell me what the prize was only that if I accepted I had to say my goodbyes to my family forever and be prepared to leave within the week. After the shock I received about finding out I was a winner, with hardly any questions asked I told the man I could have letters written within the hour and we could leave today. Now you have to know, the scientific country hardly lets anyone without a certain pedigree into their floating country. I''m a middle management office worker, with hardly any friends and a family I haven''t seen in over a decade. Without any hesitation the letters were written and handed over, bags packed with a few clothes my hard drive and a few momentos and I was ready to go in only three hours. It was only when we were on our way to the airport that the man, after deactivating my cell service, while handed me my phone back mentioned that the scientific country will be taking care of my contracts and debts so I won''t have to worry about them later. Now don''t get me wrong, it''s not that I''m unreasonably naive, it''s just that I knew deep in my heart I''ve already become an empty shell of the man I use to be, resembling nothing of the man I had always aspired to be. After two flights and a helicopter ride I successfully arrived on the artificially created country that floats on the sea. It was a city right out of a fantasy novel, shiny buildings outlined in sea plants, floating lights, and even holographic screens projected everywhere. throughout the city you could see different techniques used to harness natural energy. Capturing the sun, taming the winds, even rolling with the waves. Little robots going around checking on citizens was taken as a common occurrence, cleaning up trash, and insuring the safety of each resident were the tasks filling their daily lives. During the first few days the assistant in charge of me had me do physicals and psych tests. On the fifth day they finally broke their silence and told me my prize. ¡°we would like to offer you a permanent job working at this company¡­¡± I couldn''t even hear the rest of the statement because I froze up. Overwhelmed with a feeling of angst, dread started to creep in. ¡°Will they be disappointed too? Will my incompetence drag me down even here?¡± I couldn''t help thinking to myself. Before the dread could take root my fist balled up and I clenched my teeth. Rage! Pure heat rose from my chest I could feel my nails cutting into my flesh, the feeling of my palms growing more wet was all the confirmation I needed. I was bleeding, so filled with rage at myself for already preparing for failure. ¡°this isn''t the same as the past, I will definitely grasp onto this opportunity with my life on the line!¡± I screamed these words to myself, the inside of my mind becoming a vortex completely tinted in red with only these words repeating over and over again. Within the few seconds that all of this happen, neither the manager nor the assistant had taken noticed of my internal battle. Abruptly slamming my hands down onto the table, I stood up and said very clearly. ¡°the paperwork, contracts, non disclosure forms, everything! Bring everything, I''ll sign it all today!¡± Clearly startled and a little unhappy about my outburst, the system manager leered at me slightly, did a quick cough and spoke. ¡°Sir are you sure about that? We''ve already prepared a reputable lawyer to help you completely look through the paperwork? There''s really no need to rush." Taking a deep breath I sat back down and calmed myself a bit. ¡°No, no I do apologies for the inconvenience you''ve gone through at length for me. But whatever it is i''ll do it. I won''t give up on this.¡± With a slightly surprised look the manager gingerly smirked and didn''t ask again with a snap the young assistant brought out several stacks of paper from his briefcase. With ink and blood I signed over all my rights to this company backed by one of the most powerful nations in this world. In that moment it was decided I would allow them to transfer my consciousness into their game that will debut soon. Sixth months of collecting biometrics, brainwave activity, and a bit of physical exercise has lead up to this moment of me strapped into and laying up against this machine. A voice over the intercom broke into my monologue. ¡°on behalf of the company and the many nations involved in this project we sincerely thank all the participants that agreed to our slightly pushy and unreasonable terms. The character outlines you''ve all submitted have been thoroughly analysed and synthesized by the leading AI in charge of the mainframe maintenance. Once you are uploaded you''ll be able to pick your classes and will all be randomly transported to a town based on your luck. We wish you all the best, whether you become a ruler of the people or help stave off the players allowing the darkness to extend its reaches. Upload will be complete in 3.. 2.. 1.¡± And like that everything went dark. Chapter 1 - Choosing a Class . . . . . . . . . . . . An indescribable feeling left me disheveled and speechless. How long did that floating feeling last, how endless was the darkness really.. As these thoughts flashed through my mind I received even more of a shock when everything turned white. ¡°I can finally see. Is. . Is this my new body?¡± Slowly my sense started coming back to me, I allowed my fingers to dance across my new flesh. Such smooth hazelnut skin, can skin really be this beautiful? Is this really the new me?¡± [Welcome player! 90% Biometrics synch established synthesis successful! 93% memory synch achieved Parameters fall within margin of error Incarnation deemed complete success!] ¡°Oh that''s better than I thought! My health was never very good and it didn''t help I didn''t take care of myself very well. The assistant said my synchronization rate might be low possibly barely reaching 50%, but even my memory transfer was in the 90s. I don''t feel like I''ve forgotten anything important. But now that I think about it, if it''s forgotten I wouldn''t be able to recall what I don''t know immediately anyway.¡± I guess I shouldn''t be making jokes at myself until the transfer is finished completely. I can''t help but smile at the thought that everything is going to be different from this day forward!Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. [Player, after evaluating your specified avatar outline your bloodline rank has been deemed SS Rank! You have four main class slots and six subclass slots you can fill. You have ten minutes to voice your choices. Because of your bloodline rank you''ve been penalized and the class catalog will not be provided. Please keep in mind one of your subclasses have been used for the social stratification of this world Your time begins now!] ¡°Haha this is what I had expected. I was given a guide book to study during the sixth months prior. I''m a bit surprised by my high evaluation but the backstory I developed must have been outside the scope of the AI¡¯s ability, helping push my rank up. Thankfully I don''t need so many slots in the beginning. I hadn''t planned for my rank to be evaluated so high, even getting just an A rank off my own strength seemed hard enough. This definitely leaves me with a lot more options for growth in the future. My plans are becoming much more feasible!!¡± Part of our job as live in players is to affect the planned out storyline of the AI giving it the opportunity to face unpredictable opposition and unexpected aid. Out of the 15 contestants everyone''s personality alignment was widespread. They wouldn''t give us specific details since they didn''t want to effect the in-game choices we would make. But regardless what we do, every action we take is helping give a ton of research data. Doing this all while helping them make billions of dollars off the unpredictability of this game! What a mad world I lived in. I could feel my blood boiling with strength and excitement! In the novels I wrote I always imagined different ideal selves that I would slowly develop to fit the storyline. Now here I have the chance to finally live one of them out, what more could a young boy wish for! I''ll finally get to say really cool stuff like ¡°May the darkness consume you!¡± or ¡°you''ve unraveled your own demise! Perish! Ultimate Shining Finger!!¡± all while not sounding at all out of place. I can feel my eyes glowing with stars in them from the excitement! ¡°I''ve chosen [Battle Mage] and [Necromancer] as my two main classes, While [Enchanter] and [Refiner] will be my additional Subclasses!¡± The system was silent for only a second, but during that brief pause I could hear the blood in my veins racing, my heartbeat was steady but I felt like each beat was heavier than the last. [Player please designate your new name] Finally I''m about to be transferred over, everything''s about to begin I won''t have to be that empty shell anymore! ¡°The name I''ve chosen is Alucard Cadmus Di Beelzebub!¡± [Alucard Cadmus Di Beelzebub please confirm that this is the correct spelling as well as [Battle Mage] [Necromancer] [Refiner] and [Enchanter] are the classes you''ve chosen] ¡°Yes!! Yes I confirm!¡± [Your status has been updated, the transfer will be completed in 10 seconds. Please bring more surprises to us in the future best of luck] 10. . . 9. . . 8. . I could see my body slowly dematerialize from the top and bottom respectfully, before the countdown finished I had already lost my hearing. Soon my sight was gone as well and all I could feel is weightlessness as I began falling in endless darkness again. ¡°when I wake up, what will this new world look like¡­¡± My final thoughts as the 10 second were up! Chapter 2 - First Encounter I stirred gentle at the feeling of the wind slowly prancing along my cheeks. Before I even opened my eyes I could feel the sun''s glare beating down on me. I slowly sat up while taking a glance around. I was sitting on top of a small hill underneath the shade of an old oak tree. At the roots of old tree, strands of grass and a variety of flowers swayed to the wind''s lullaby. "How peaceful.. I guess my luck isn''t to bad if I''m appearing at such a beautiful location" As I moved to get up and check my surroundings I was gratefully surprised that I was already wearing the novice gear. "I was slightly afraid they would send me in without any cloths. I wonder if I have any items or money in my inventory as a sort of beginners gift. Let''s give it a try, [Item Box]!" As I said the activation key a hologram screen appeared before me. "unfortunately it doesn''t seem like I was left a dime, not even any bread crumbs.. Mmm I guess I''ll have to go beast hunting and collect some materials and meat! Thankfully enough the size of the [Item Box] corresponds with the amount of magick power you have in total, which means it also gets larger the stronger you get!" Glancing at the open space in front of me I couldn''t help realizing I would have to hike a good distance to the city I could see off in the distance. "I should probably check my stats before venturing off, I need to know what I''m working with so I can respond properly in any situation! [Status]!" Like before another hologram screen appeared in front of me but unlike last time this screen was packed full of writing! Name: Alucard Cadmus Di Beelzebub Age: 13 Gender: Male Race: Dhampir Bloodline Rank: SS Evolution: Possible Main Class: [Battle Mage lvl 1] [Necromancer lvl 1] Sub-Class: [Noble lvl 1] [Enchanter lvl 1] [Refiner lvl 1] Titles: [MOD Player] [New Blood] Affiliations: Reputation - Fame: 0 Infamy: 0 Level: 5 Hp: 1220/1220 Mp: 1460/1460 Str: 93 Def: 65 Vit: 122 Agi: 72 Dex: 61 Min: 146 Wis: 137 Cha: 83 Luc: 58 Bonus Points: 100 Abilities: [Ancestors blood] [Ancestors eyes] [Blood Sovereign] [Familiar Mark] [Vampires Physique] [Heightened senses] [Transformation] [Usurper] [Food Chain] [Item Box] Skills: [Weapon Mastery lvl 1] [Enchant lvl 1] [Refine lvl 1] [Minor Arcana lvl 1] [Necro Arcana lvl 1] [Analyze lvl 1] [summon lvl 1] [Aura lvl 1] [Language acquisition lvl 1] [Telepathy lvl 1] [Psychometry lvl 1] [Psychokinesis lvl 1] [Teleport lvl 1] [Meditation lvl 1] Blessings: None Accumulated Divinity: 0If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Accumulated Souls: 0 Familiars: None Descendents: None Notes: Many racial abilities are limited while several are hidden until Bloodline awakening is achieved! Although I heard the system say it, there''s really nothing like confirming it with my own eyes. The [Noble] subclass isn''t surprising seeing as I''m the Source of my own vampiric bloodline. Interestingly enough it seems the AI gifted my bloodline psychic abilities, that was definitely outside my realm of prediction. I''m already very happy for my incredible stats and the Arcane skills for both [Battle Mage] and [Necromancer] are already listed. I swiftly closed my eyes and searched my mind for the beginner spells from arcane skills. After getting a good idea of the kinds of spells they are, I tried moving my magick through and around my body to get a feel for my [Enchant] and [Refine] skill. Opening my eyes I looked at my status again, seeing that my MP had only drop by 30 and was quickly recovering I was confident of being able to make it to the city in one piece. ***** In the beginning of my journey I had a slow start. Thinking up cool abilities and designing my ancestry all sounds great... until you try to run ahead and instead you leap 10 meters and land on your ass without even being able to see what happened between it all. Thankfully it was early morning when I opened my eyes here, I spent two hours on just learning how to walk. Then I spent an hour jumping around and landing like a crazy person just to get a feel for my leg strength! On earth I was probably as strong as a young goblin on top of being in an adult body. My new body is only 5''3" tall, completely changing my line of sight. The softness of my sun kissed hazelnut skin does not hint at the barbaric strength hidden at all, While weighing next to nothing doesn''t keep me very grounded either. "Getting use to my new center of gravity was very uncomfortable, but through all this I learned something. Having 93 points in strength is no joke!!! I''m thankful I didn''t distribute my level one bonus points immediately. I''ll definitely hold on to them for a while until I can fully control my strength and can get a clear gauge of how strong the people around me are." After spending a bit of time getting use to my senses i finally truly starting my journey a little before noon, I was hopeful in finding prey on my way to the city. ***** After jogging at a breakneck speed for twenty minutes I slowed down because I suddenly sensed something. "it feels like something is tugging at me. It''s kind of alluring, and it even gives me an acquaintance like feeling." Slowly walking through the close to knee high grass I finally spotted my first monsters. In the distance among the grass 6 rabbits that would have been cute if they were not so terrifying looking were chewing their food. The rabbits had white fur with a few yellow patches here and there, their eyes were an amber color and if it was only that they would be pretty much normal bunnies. Unfortunately these bunnies looked liked they weighed close to 25 pounds, could leap 3 to 4 meters in a single bound with no problem, and had spiral meter long horns protruding from their foreheads. From about 15 meters away i watched as they gave chase to a child like orange creature and impaled it from several angles ending it''s life. I inhaled deeply as I realised what it was that I was sensing, blood! "mmm this is all a bit more real than I had expected. This world is immersive in a way that words can''t give justice to. Even though I read the guide and it mentioned this world in a sense was built to emulate the real world. Although troubling, it can''t be helped. If I collect the beast core from the dead goblin that should be enough to pay for entrance into the city. Although they''re only supposed to be weak F Rank monsters their speed is a bit troublesome since I''m not use to this body yet." If I used an AOE spell everything might get blown away. I want to just collect the beast core and they can finish eating. Oh! I know just what to do! As I slowly inched closer to the feast I decided to switch on my [Aura] and prepare my binding spell. "I''ll stop you from chasing me by holding you in place, [Wind shackles]!" As I unleashed my aura completely I hurriedly spoke the spell. Unfortunately I completely over esteemed my opponent. *Ding* [You''ve killed Horned Rabbit] [You''ve gained 17 exp] x 6 [Aura lvl increased to lvl 2] [Through forcing your will onto others the art of [intimidation] has been learned!] [Intimidation lvl increased to lvl 2] After listening to the series of notifications and looking over at the rabbits that are foaming at the mouth i realized that SS Rank bloodline is no joke! "hmm seems like a good idea to keep aura off in the town until I get better control over it. To think that they would immediately die just from a little intimidation actually leaves me feeling a little embarrassed that I was making a big deal about them. Scratching my cheek lightly I walk over to all the corpses. "This.. this is disgusting. How did bunnies become so vicious!?" On the ground circled by the [Horned Rabbits] laid the [Goblins] corpse. Entire chunks of meat were already chewed up and swallowed. The organs of the goblin didn''t seem to have had a chance to get eaten yet but it seems they intentionally put them off to the side. And the smell.. the smell actually wasn''t awful. The blood gave off a sweet syrup like scent that wafted about in the air, if you closed your eyes you might even feel like you''re in a beautiful candy forests. "Okay well this confirms another question I had. This body craves blood, and it seems like drinking some won''t cause any problems. Unfortunately this leads me to my next problem... How can I collect the blood without getting my hands dirty!?" With a light chuckle I couldn''t help laughing at myself. What did I think this new world of monsters would be? Growing up I always got made fun of and was often called a germophobe because I would often wash my hands or wear gloves if something was nasty looking. No playing in the mud for me, or rolling tires down hills! No thank you, I''ll take my clean hands elsewhere! Giving my status screen a once over again I looked at what I might be able to use to get through this. "Okay I know what I''ll do, although all my skills are still low level, as long as I''m willing to expend the MP I should be able to exert more force and control with them. As a [Dhampir] one of my abilities is [Blood Sovereign] which allows me to have sway over blood. If I use [Psychokinesis lvl 1] lifting the corpses off the ground, slowly slicing them open while extracting the blood only using my sovereignty, While lastly using my [Refine lvl 1] ability to make nice, clean, and safe blood orbs! Oi! I''m getting excited again let''s get some practice in!" Slapping my cheeks and pumping my fist up, I made my next move! Status Window Name: Alucard Cadmus Di Beelzebub Age: 13 Gender: Male Race: Dhampir Bloodline Rank: SS Evolution: Possible Main Class: [Battle Mage lvl 1] [Necromancer lvl 1] Sub-Class: [Nobel lvl 1] [Enchanter lvl 1] [Refiner lvl 1]If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Titles: [MOD Player] [New Blood] Affiliations: Reputation - Fame: 0 Infamy: 0 Level: 5 Hp: 1220/1220 Mp: 1460/1460 Str: 93 Def: 65 Vit: 122 Agi: 72 Dex: 61 Min: 146 Wis: 137 Cha: 83 Luc: 58 Bonus Points: 100 Abilities: [Ancestors blood] [Ancestors eyes] [Blood Sovereign] [Familiar Mark] [Vampires Physique] [Transformation] [Usurper] [Food Chain] [Item Box] Skills: [Weapon Mastery lvl 1] [Enchant lvl 1] [Refine lvl 1] [Minor Arcana lvl 1] [Necro Arcana lvl 1] [Analyze lvl 1] [summon lvl 1] [Aura lvl 2] [Language acquisition lvl 1] [Telepathy lvl 1] [Psychometry lvl 1] [Psychokinesis lvl 1] [Teleport lvl 1] [Meditation lvl 1][Intimidation lvl 2] Blessings: None Accumulated Divinity: 0 Accumulated Souls: 0 Enslaved Spirits: 0 Familiars: None Descendents: None Chapter 3 - Pestilence As I approached the [Goblins] body I used my [Psychokinesis] to move all of the [Horned Rabbits] to the side as to not distract me on my first attempt. I found a patch of grass not tainted with blood and sat down. Slowly entering into a meditative state I wanted to get my mind in top condition so I can do this in one fell swoop! Snapping my eyes open, although scattered about the Goblins body started to rise into the air, I let my senses stretch out before me and enter into each part of the Goblin, there was not much left but I could still feel the blood lying dormant in various places. I felt for the source of the Goblins strength, the blood essences which should be located in the heart. Slowly droplets of blood started leaving the body and began accumulating right above it. So focused on my task I hardly noticed the Goblin being drained completely of color. It''s skin going from a vibrant red to now a cloudy pink color. As the glob of dark blood floated in the air even the blood that had been spilled on the ground started to join the amalgamation. Feeling that all the blood I could call to has gathered, all I can do is let the body drop and begin the refining process. Hearing the plop and feeling the blood bubble float over, it was time to start the last phase. The [Refiner] class used simply, allows you to remove impurities from a substance by allowing your magick to filter through it. The [Refine] skill is not limited by level but by the amount of magick you have readily available. When the amount of magick power you have at your fingertips increase you''ll realize you can imbue whatever you''re refining with your mana allowing it to gain effects, increase in quality, and in some cases completely give birth to a new substance. Extending my senses once again, I covered all the blood in one go. The magick I''m channeling starts to diffuse into the bubble, I imagine a gentle but resolute wind blowing away a smog cloud. Clearing away the toxins and leaving nothing behind but fresh spring air. Strong mental imagery can aid in directing spells and skills so that you can increase your proficiency. Pouring more MP into refining I could see black blood start to be sifted out and the remaining blood started to become a vibrant and fierce scarlet color. Being careful as to not over saturate the blood bubble I slowly stopped feeding it magick and just worked on condensing the bubble as much as possible. *Ding* [Refining Successful!] [Refine lvl has increased to lvl 2] A half hour later and 136 MP spent the system message appeared confirming my success and the increase in my skill level. After waving the messages off, my eyes opened wide as two small orbs floated in front of me. Although seemingly ethereal they pulsated rhythmically while giving off a solid presence! One was a beautiful scarlet color while the other was such a breathtaking deep black that it seemed like it could swallow anything ¡°Okay, moment of truth after I look at the stats of these I''ll know if any of its possible.¡± With clenched fists I went to use my second skill from my [Refiner] class. ¡°[Analyze]¡±Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. In moments two hologram screens appeared before me. Name: Blood Essence Orb Rank: F Use: embed, consume, equip, ingredient HP: +20 MP: 0 Str: +2 Def: 0 Vit: +2 Agi: 0 Dex: 0 Min: 0 Wis: 0 Cha: 0 Luc: 0 Abilities: [Detect bloodline] [Awaken Bloodline] Skills: None Description: After rigorously refining blood essence, an orb with a purity rate is created. The use of the orb is strongly connected to the quality of the orb. Purity: 100% ¡°Yessss!!!!¡± I couldn''t help but jump in excitement! In my former life I dabbled into occultism, I have always been interested in the concept of ¡°The source¡±. Us [Mod players] were given the right and privilege to do whatever we want in this world. Build nations or destroy them, become a merchant or steal riches, creating quests, or even advance the technology.. As soon as I found out, there was no question! I knew what I wanted to spend my time doing. ¡°I will be known in this world as the crazy mage who refined the heavens, the earth, and everything in between, all in order to find the source!¡± After a moment of laughing like a mad scientist I quickly took a peek at the second status screen Name: Pestilence Essence Orb Rank: F Use: embed, consume, equip, ingredient HP: -100 MP: -30 Str: -5 Def: -3 Vit: -10 Agi: -4 Dex: -4 Min: -3 Wis: 0 Cha: -3 Luc: 0 Abilities: [Breed Epidemic] [Curse] Skills: [Infect] Description: After rigorously refining impure blood essence an orb with a purity rate is created. The use of the orb is strongly connected to the quality of the orb. Purity: 100% Rubbing my chin slowly I could feel a bit of cold sweat roll down my back. ¡°Even things like this can be made? Does this count as an oxymoron? I don''t really plan on playing much of an active role when it comes to the main storyline so I''m not sure if I''ll have much use for something so dangerous¡­ I know our roles are to throw the AI through loops so the game is ever changing and almost impossible to finish, but I really don''t think I''ll have to to waste on that. But looking at this second orb I''m honestly not sure at this point, it''s also labeled as a kind of essences. Will I need this as well to achieve my goal?¡± Feeling like I stumbled into something important I lightly toss the [Pestilence Essence Orb] into my [Item Box] after making a folder labeled essence. ¡°Now to test out the next part of the plan, the entire reason I started all of this!¡± Letting the [Blood Essence Orb] roll around my palm for a second, without a second thought I popped it on my mouth. [You''ve consumed [Blood Essence Orb] x1] I could feel a warm current flowing from my stomach to the rest of my body [Your bloodline is of a higher rank [Bloodline Essence Orb] x1 has been safely digested. There will be no additional benefits] When the warmth subsided I gave my status a once over and checked my body, other than my bloodlust and hunger being curbed there was no other changes. ¡°Well it seems like I''ve found a good way to consume blood without having to worry about the mess of it all.¡± Looking back over the corpse lying not too far off I realize I can see a small white orb floating around each body each orb looks to be connected to a particular body. ¡°So caught up in my bloodlust I completely overlooked their beast souls¡± With a small grin I moved my arm out in front of me, let the cold energy of necromancy fill my hand and made a grasping motion. Surely enough without any resistance the souls floated to my hands with a listless bounce. ¡°Should I see if I can refine these as well? I know most necromancers use them as ingredients when making their undead creations But what happens when I refine them together?¡± As I looked towards the sky although there still seemed to be plenty of daylight I knew I should dig out at least one beast core and hurry myself towards the great city. Hurriedly using [Psychokinesis] I pulled the beast core out of the head of the goblin, it was a small great stone with a small hint of white in the center. "Ah, this really is the lowest class of monster, it''s stone is so small and full of impurities. Well nevertheless it''ll get the job done for now." Not wanting to waste any possible material i severed the head from the goblins tattered body and threw it along with the bunnies and the beast core into my [Item Box] ¡°Okay let''s sprint to the city, as long as the guard takes the beast core for tax I can later exchange some of the bunny fur for some coins for an Inn for the evening!¡± With that everything became a blur again as I made a mad dash for the city in the distance that seemed to be the width of the horizon itself. Chapter 4 - City Of The Dancing Forest Standing outside the city the first thing that comes to mind is "HUMONGOUS!!!" "I was never lucky enough in my previous life to see the great wall of China before it was attacked by space pirates, but the outer walls here don''t look anything short of 10 meters tall! How can the wall not collapse in on itself from the sheer weight of it alone?" Although my travel was interrupted a few times I was able to make it to the city in about 2 hours. Along the way I was able to collected 7 more [Horned Rabbits]. Quickly switching my Aura on helped end the battles in just moments I''m currently making my way around the outer wall to find a gate I can use to enter the city. Jogging for 10 kilometres I was finally able to see a stone road from the forest leading up to the city walls. "Finally let''s get the rest of my life started! Should I try the cuisine first after getting an inn?" It''s hard to say what to do first I''m going to be living in this city for a while and there are still a few abilities I haven''t tried out yet. "Players will start showing up "Descending from the heavens" I believe that''s what it will be called, in 4 months. Although only the premium sponsored players will show up first, another month after that the monthly subscription players will descend. And eventually the world will be open to free players some time much later." It will be 4 months for me in this world but in the outside, only a month will go by. I''m not entirely sure of the science behind it but somehow the AI is able to manipulate an individual''s perception allowing them to experience 4 times the amount of time while in-game. Raising my level is a must but I don''t know how strong the creatures are or even which type frequent this area other than the few bunnies I saw. I still don''t know what city or kingdom this is, the presence or lack thereof when it comes to dungeons is also unknown. There''s also a few more experiments I want to do and even raising a pet or two sounds attractive. "Well as a Dhampir it''s not like I have to rush, my mixed race comes with outstanding longevity! What''s a few hundred years spent getting a feel for things hahaha." As I was thinking about my none existent schedule in the distance two men wearing light armor wielding spears could be seen making their way towards me. Waving his arm one of the soldiers shouted towards me. "hurry child, we were ordered to close the city gates early today!" For a moment my breath was caught in my throat. I had completely forgotten that I truly am in the body of a child now. I''ll have to prepare myself to be treated as such. I picked up my speed as to help them not waste energy coming to me. "it''s a good thing one of our men spotted you from atop the wall. If not you would have had to sleep outside tonight and there have been wolf sightings lately." With a grin the taller brunette soldier jested. He gave off a deep earth like energy making the surrounding area feel kind of woodsy. The shorter blond with his calm but warming energy elbowed his side and gave him a slight glare. "ignore him, he likes to try and spook our men in the barracks too. Boy you don''t seem to be an aristocrat why are you entering through the north gate?" With a stern look the blond man asks, there was not a hint of joking in his tone.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I couldn''t blame them I looks like a poor vagabond with nothing except the clothes on my back. Speaking of appearances though, above the head of both men were animal like ears and following behind them were two skinny 1.5 meter long tails. Wow my first run in with a beastman I didn''t think it would be so soon. I wonder if I told him I''m a noble if that would change his tune? "Actually sir, I''m a Noble. I had been traveling when my horse got spooked and rode off with my satchel containing all my belongings." I tried to release only a sliver of my Aura just so they could get the picture. The two men paled immediately, a look of constipation framed their faces. The taller brunette slapped the pouch on his waist and an orb a bit larger than his hand appeared. "Please excuse my previous blunder if you would be so kind and place your hand on this orb we''ll check your status and let you be on your way." Oh, from their quick response they must be used to dealing with unexpected situations, so fast on their toes. I wonder how much of my information will be read. I took my hand and placed it on the orb, within a moment I could feel a negligible amount of magick flow out of me and into the orb. He gestured for me to remove my hand and they both peered into the crystal ball. Several things happened in succession. The number five floated up onto the orbs surface, the orb then flashed green, then purple, and lastly glowed a white so bright the rays stretched out for more than 10 meters in broad daylight. The two beastmen used their arms to cover their faces and backed two steps away. The light was so blinding that the brunette couldn''t help but drop the orb to the ground. As it slipped from his hand it landed on a rock and cracked along the outside. When the crack started to spread that sliver of magick inside escaped out taking the blinding light with it. Since everything had returned to normal I took a glance at the soldiers, even without seeing the sweat with my eyes I could smell it in the air. Other than the number that appeared giving away that I was level five I had no idea what all the colors meant. "So does everything check out?" Another moment passed and I couldn''t help but ask because all we were doing was standing around burning daylight. Adjusting himself the blond stepped forward and spoke. "We apologies for our lack of manners. We''ll lead the way into the city without any further delay!" Turning quickly on his heels he began leading the way. It wasn''t until after he''d already taken a dozen steps that he realize that no one was following him. With wet eyes the brunette had clenched fists and looked like he swallowed a frog. After a moment he finally mustered up the courage to speak. "Youn.. Young Master. Someone with so much poise and grace.. wouldn''t keep in his heart the insignificant chiding of a small time soldier would you?" Taken aback I couldn''t help but give the soldier a one time over again. I''ve already labeled myself as an outsider so he couldn''t be afraid of my political power, my level was clearly displayed and level five isn''t really much. The only thing I could think of is the bright white light, what was it measuring? Magick capacity? Soul strength? Bloodline rank? I see I''ll have to get identification papers to prevent this from happening again in the future. I released only a fraction more of my Aura allowing some of the chilly necromancy magick to mix in, then a sharp glint flash across my eyes. I took a small step forward closing the gap between us. "I don''t respond lightly to threats or those who cross me, keep this in mind in the future and we''ll have no further issues. I''ll be in this city for quite some time so our paths will cross again if fate allows it. Be sure to keep whatever you think you know to yourself." I brushed passed the soldier and caught up to the young blond. In the background i could smell urine and in the next moments heard knees hit the ground. Mmm I wonder if the necromancy magick was a bit much? *Ding* ?Intimidation lvl has increased to lvl 3? ?By creeping into the hearts of the weak you''ve planted seeds of torment and horror. [Nightmare lvl 1] has been learned? ?Infamy has increased by 1? Ah it seems the system has agreed, mmm having this much power is a bit dangerous isn''t it? Definitely need to learn a control skills asap. Even more so the fact that my [Infamy] increased so easily doesn''t seem very good either. I hope fame is just as easy to increase. No wait, hopefully easier?? "Lead the way it''s starting to get stuffy out here." Hearing my comment the blond soldier steeled his nerves and started leading the way again. As a member of the beast race there''s no way he didn''t smell and probably even hear his companion relieving himself. After finally arriving at the north gate guard house I learned the blond guards name is Eric while his friends name is Hank. After telling a few free soldiers to go pick up the passed out Hank he asked a few questions such as my name and race, wrote it down on a permit pass and told me I could continue on into the city. Finally stepping foot into the City of the Dancing Forest I took in the site and sounds of what I''d thought would be a bustling town full of vigor and hidden temptations. But instead what filled my view was three children full of wounds with savagery clear in their eyes. A round man adorned in jewels, and wearing what looked to be the finest robe while holding a whip was surrounded by citizens watching the spectacle. Mixed in the crowd you could see what looked to be clergymen from several different sects. Some robes were white and gold, green and yellow, even black and blue. They were standing in different locations with hands brought together in prayer. The robust man moved his arm holding the whip motioning to strike at the children again! *Ding* ?Quest Grade: Common Details: ....? Completely ignoring the system notification my body had already moved before I could follow up with a thorough plan. In the next moment I was in front of the children and let the whip wrap around my arm... Chapter 5 - First level Up I¡¯ve been putting off using my [Teleport] skill that comes with the [Battle Mage] class because I have a fear that I might move myself into a wall, a tree, or even underground and suffocate unintentionally. Just the thought of it makes my face darken. Unfortunately we don''t always have the luxury to try things at our leisure. Quickly checking my status I let out a breath of relief. Jumping in front of an attack without being able to properly gauge the strength of the assailant is just suicidal. In a stroke of luck I only lost 60HP, my defense is noticeable behind my other stats but I should be able to clear this guy up without much problem. ¡°How dare filth like you impose in on my business? Oh are these children your friends? Have you come to save them like some Hero boy? Hahaha how childish, I''ll beat you black and blue while I discipline these children with my whip. All of this is in the name of vanquishing evil spirits! Hahaha let''s hope our mighty God takes pity on their souls. ¡± This bling bling shiny bastard is sadistic! I grabbed onto the end of the whip that''s still wrapped around my arm. ¡°Simmer down you sick pervert, I can help these children before they die under your whip!¡± I carelessly sent my magick rushing into the whip in an attempt to disrupt and shake him. Unfortunately his resistance to magick was much lower than I could have guessed. Blood started leaking from his ears as he coughed up a mouthful of blood! I tossed the whip to the side and turned back to the children. Hearing the screaming of the clergymen trying to help that flashy bastard was annoying, quickly putting up an isolation barrier around the four of us with the wave of my hand was all i could do. It wouldn''t keep out sound but it would stop others from easily distracting me, I approached the children pensively. ¡°How the hell did you three get so many tainted spirits attached to you?¡± There was no response from them, they were hardly breathing, nothing but the whites in their eyes showing, and the miasma coming off of them was just getting stronger. ¡°count your lucky stars for running into me today none of these spirits have any real juice behind them. Removing them and storing them away to practice refining later will be excellent. The real problem starts with your wounds and the miasma.¡± Having so many evil spirits attached to them they received a kind of spirit poisoning which attacks the mind and body. Calling out to my necromancy magick sleeping deep inside me, I easily removed around 11 or so spirits from the two boys and young girl each. The children immediately passed out but their breath became even weaker. ¡°sleeping through this is a blessing in itself. I''ll have to refine the blood of all three of you at the same time and slowly pull out the sickness.¡± Unfortunately I don''t have any healing magick as of yet. Mmm maybe.. I turn to the crowd and realize that the robbed people were gone. The crowds definitely thinned out but there were a few people who drew closer standing right outside the barrier. I could see a few adults and children crying and assumed they had some relation to these children. I walked closer to the edge of the barrier. ¡°I can help them but I need the help of anyone who can use healing magick. Will anyone offer their services?¡±The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The two adult women who were crying broke down even more, held each other tightly and were saying things between their breath such as ¡°liar!¡± ¡°scoundrel!¡± ¡°giving children false hope!¡± I scowled a little but didn''t retort. They were right, if I couldn''t get healing magick then my efforts would be for not. To my surprise it was 3 children two girls and one boy who stepped sheepishly to the barrier with half dried tears and snot all over their faces. ¡°we can all use healing magick but we can''t use it for long¡­ Mr. can you really help our brothers and sister??¡± It was the boy who looked younger and smaller than the rest who spoke out. ¡°if all three of you help earnestly then I believe they will make a full recovery in no time.¡± I gave them my best all American smile but Unexpectedly none of their eyes glowed from my promise of success. They looked at each other with a small nod and then back at me. Their eyes all seemed a bit hollow but I could see a faint tint of resolve in each pair. ¡°We''ll give it our all even if we pass out from exhaustion!¡± That''s all he said, with a wave of my hand I let them pass through the barrier while expanding it a bit to accommodate the increase in people. I had each of them sit at a cardinal direction and I sat in the last spot. Clearing my mind quickly, I lifted the comatose children using my [Psychokinesis] and placed them each in front of one of their siblings. ¡°Okay you''re going to have to listen carefully, I''m going to remove the sickness but it will be painful for them. When all the sickness is close to being removed you''ll start focusing your healing on them so just get mentally focused until then. I''ve already stopped their bleeding a while ago, so as long as we hurry there shouldn''t be any issues!¡± With the head of each child laid in front of me I slowly pushed my magick into their bodies, sprinkling it ever so softly as to not disrupt the miniscule amount of magick they possessed. My magick finally reached their hearts where the source of their bloodlines laid. Slowly but surely I made my magick follow the flow of blood in their bodies and with each cycle I could feel the impurities start to gather. Turning my hand over I pulled the [Pestilence Essence Orb] out of my [Item Box] with but a simple thought. Controlling the magick that has dissolved into the impurities slowly the black blood started leaking from their wounds. Gathering the impure blood around the orb I finally shouted my order. ¡°Now begin the healing!¡± Immediately healing aura flowed into the sleeping children and with the aid of the magick I left within their bodies you could visible see their wounds closing! While they focused on healing I threw my attention to controlling and refining the essence orb. From start to finish everything took a solid twenty minutes. When I was content with the completion of the healing and refining, a series of notifications flooded my view. *Ding* ?[Refine] lvl has increased to lvl 3? ?Class [Refiner] has increased by 1? ?Quest: [Remove Evil] Complete!? ?Completion Reward: [1500 Exp]? ?Completion Reward: [Fame +2]? ?Class [Battle Mage] has increased by 1? ?Class [Necromancer] has increased by 1? ¡°I see all my hard work is starting to pay off!¡± The experience you get in battle and from quests is evenly distributed to your main classes, while the only way to level up your subclasses is through repetitive actions related to said class. There is a chance you can find a quest specifically related to your subclass, but those are hard to find without buying the information from players who make money looking for and selling such information specifically. Most people stay away from classes you have to be diligent in because they don''t want to waste their precious time outside of battle. I quickly used [Analyze] on the orb to see if there were any changes. Name: Pestilence Essence Orb Rank: F+ Use: embed, consume, equip, ingredient HP: -210 MP: -100 Str: -8 Def: -5 Vit: -21 Agi: -7 Dex: -6 Min: -10 Wis: -1 Cha: -3 Luc: 0 Abilities: [Breed Epidemic] [Curse] Skills: [Infect] Description: After rigorously refining impure blood essence an orb with a purity rate is created. The use of the orb is strongly connected to the quality of the orb. Purity: 100% My vision shook violently! ¡°adding only a bit gave it such a drastic change? Yeah this is a dangerous thing to have.. Wait am I going to be okay handling it?¡± shaking away the thought fiercely, I threw the essences orb that was no larger than my pinky nail into my [Item Box], I then dropped the barrier and took a step back. The rest of the children and the two women ran towards the group of 6 that were still on the ground. ¡°Oh my goodness are you guys okay?¡± ¡°Bert is big sister going to be okay?¡± ¡°Shaya, Neesha did you exhaust your magick? Do you need to rest??¡± While being bombarded with questions the pale faced healers comforted the other children. Finally the three comatose children started to stir, the girl was the first to wake up followed by the two boys. Seeing this the two young women walked over, eyes still a bit wet and red from their tears. As they made their way over to me I received another message. *Ding* [Fame has increased by 4] Status Window II Name: Alucard Cadmus Di Beelzebub Age: 13 Gender: Male Race: Dhampir Bloodline Rank: SS Evolution: Possible Main Class: [Battle Mage lvl 2][Necromancer lvl 2] Sub-Class: [Nobel lvl 1] [Enchanter lvl 1] [Refiner lvl 2]Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Titles: [MOD Player] [New Blood] Affiliations: Reputation - Fame: 6 Infamy: 1 Level: 8 Hp: 1220/1220 Mp: 1460/1460 Str: 93 Def: 65 Vit: 122 Agi: 72 Dex: 61 Min: 146 Wis: 137 Cha: 83 Luc: 58 Bonus Points: 160 Abilities: [Ancestors blood] [Ancestors eyes] [Blood Sovereign] [Familiar Mark] [Vampires Physique] [Transformation] [Usurper] [Food Chain] [Item Box] Skills: [Weapon Mastery lvl 1] [Enchant lvl 1] [Refine lvl 3] [Minor Arcana lvl 1] [Necro Arcana lvl 1] [Analyze lvl 1] [summon lvl 1] [Aura lvl 2] [Language acquisition lvl 1] [Telepathy lvl 1] [Psychometry lvl 1] [Psychokinesis lvl 1] [Teleport lvl 1] [Meditation lvl 1] [Intimidation lvl 3] [Nightmare lvl 1] Blessings: None Accumulated Divinity: 0 Accumulated Souls: 14 Enslaved Spirits: 36 Familiars: None Children: None Chapter 6 - Street Thugs Although they both looked human I knew Better than to assume someone''s race off of looks alone. Although faint they both gave off an aura of dominance. ¡°Thank you for aiding our siblings. My name is Juliana, and this is my sister Meagan. I''m honestly sorry to say, we have no money to repay you for your deeds. All we can give you is our gratitude¡± Of the two women she was the shorter one, waves of raven dark hair ending with loose curls crowned her head. Her eyes although glowed a honey brown, the black of her eyes gave nothing away. Such rich dark skin, it''s hard to say if I''ve ever seen anyone with such an even tone. She couldn''t be more than 16 or 17 years old, standing at about 5¡¯8¡± just a bit shorter than my previous self. Her sister Meagan on the other hand had brunette hair with hints of gold and yellow, her skin was a soft caramel color. Her age seemed not far off from her sisters but she looked close to 6¡¯ tall. Looking at the kids there had to be close to two dozen of them maybe more and they''re referring to each other as siblings. Some of the children have wings, and scales, while others are absent of unique characteristics. Juliana followed my gaze, with a light nod like she knew what I was thinking and continued on. ¡°Although all of us are not related by blood, many of us have similar circumstances of not having any parents. We''ve stuck together through hard times and help each other survive.¡± Oh.. that''s close to what I had already been thinking. ¡°there''s no need to explain, and I didn''t help looking to receive a reward. If you''re truly grateful I would appreciate some help finding a place I can sell [Horned Rabbits] to and an inn with decent food that''s not to pricy. I''m willing to give you and your family one for the help.¡± Meagan looked shocked at my retort but quickly hid her expression again within moments. Juliana on the other hand didn''t even flinch at my statement. ¡°Mmm I don''t think that will be a problem at all. Although the area isn''t the best it meets all your requirements.¡± ¡°Thank you I don''t mind the area it''s only temporary until I find something more stable.¡± ***** Walking at a moderate pace and it still took more than an hour to enter the east district. Eventually Meagan and the kids all disappeared into one alley or another taking the still recovering children with them. Before Bert, the boy who stepped forth to give aid by using his healing magick, disappeared into the alley with the others, he gave me a strong look as if memorizing my face. All that was left was me and Juliana as we silently walked further into the city. The entire way she would nod as if in deep thought. The first stop was to show me the location of the inn, a three minute walk further down lead to a butcher that would buy the rabbit meat. ¡°Oh great this is really helpful I appreciate you taking the time out to guide me.¡± I made a grasping motion with my hand and out of thin air the bunnies corpse appeared. ¡°Here is my promise to you, please keep in mind it hasn''t been bled yet. But it''s freshly caught today!¡± Juliana took hold of the 20+lbs rabbit being sure to tightly holding it close to her body. It was honestly a bit comedic seeing such tiny arms holding the large rabbit. This time I definitely seen a smile and a bit of what seemed like a twinkle in her eyes. leaving behind only a few words of thanks she disappeared like a mirage into the crowd of people. ¡°hmm what an interesting group of kids..¡± Putting the incident out of my head I walked into the butcher''s shop. A bell above the door rang out sending notice that a patrons arrived.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The first thing I noticed was the deep smell of blood, unlike in my previous life it didn''t smell very metallic but instead had an alluring sweet edge to it. "This body truly craves blood on a fundamental level. I''m a living being with a beating heart so it''s not like I need the blood to sustain my life, its just a nagging craving that can''t be satiated. It doesn''t help that on top of being half vampire I also have blood fiend leopard in me. With high mind and wisdom stats I''m able to curb my bestial instincts, it was just my lack of foresight that didn''t take into consideration how deep this rabbit hole goes. Thankfully I don''t seem to be having any adverse reactions from the demon blood, and the human blood if there''s any at all doesn''t seem aggressive either. This world doesn''t feel augmented or synthetic, this body feels 100% natural and mine. When I drew up my character outline I wanted strength and versatility, I''m not sure if this bloodlust is going to be a hindrance though. Staying well fed is a must! Since most mage class don''t tend to focus to much on strength having a racial advantage was how I thought to overcome my obvious weakness. It will be much more useful in the beginning stages while I''m still training to learn more powerful skills and spells. Hehehe and hey who doesn''t want the strength to lift cars effortlessly?" Hearing a few grunts and footsteps drew me out of my thoughts. From behind the counter coming through a door about three men wide and two men tall, a husky bear beastman squeezed through the frame. No shorter than 6¡¯5¡± with an aura stained in blood the pressure coming off of him was like standing under a mountain you couldn''t see the top of. Reaching the counter and giving the shop a quick look he shrugged and moved to head towards the back again. Not wanting to miss this chance I shouted out! ¡°hey mister! Down here!¡± With a pause the bear beastman turned back towards the entrance, finally looking down he spotted me. With a chuckle he moved back to the counter. ¡°I''m sorry kid, all the blood blocks up my nose. How can I help you today?¡± Oh? What a light hearted guy, completely different from his presences! ¡°yes I''m sorry to barge in so suddenly..¡± I waved my hand and a single [Horned Rabbit] appeared. The butcher raised his eyebrows and started looking the corps over, he gave the fur a sniff, rubbed the horn then looked back at me. ¡°mm you have an interesting kill here. As long as there''s no poison in this I''ll give you 1 silver and 50 coppers for it. Deal?¡± I''m not actually sure if that''s a good price but I just need something to get me through tonight. Thinking it over I pulled out 2 more for a total of 3 rabbits. ¡°If you buy these at the same price we definitely Have a deal!¡± He seemed surprised that I had more tucked away but with a smile he gave a node, tossed me a small coin pouch, and turned with the rabbits in his hand. As I was turning to make my exit as well he said a last remark. ¡°I''m Nolan, if you have anymore game with such quality in the future come see me first hehehe¡± And with that perverted laugh he disappeared into the back. ***** Retracing our steps I was making my way back towards the inn Juliana picked out for me, along the way I took note of the few other shops that I might need to visit in the future. When I spotted my inn I continued on past it without blinking. While walking the crowed I could feel a few gazes watching me as I stumbled along like a country bumpkin. After a few turns I found a deserted alley with a dead end. ¡°Alright come out!?¡± Slowly filing into the passage one by one 7 men with bulging muscles blocked the only exit. Entering the alley last, the seventh man slowly walked his way to the front of the group. ¡°hahaha smart kid, this is much better than having to drag you out of your bed in the middle of the night. You''ve offended someone you shouldn''t have. Our client was clear on their instructions so after beating you to near death we''ll be taking one of your arms as payment for your offense. The question is do you want to keep the right? Or should we leave you with the left? Hahaha get''em boys!¡± With the snap of his greasy fat fingers the six other men launched themselves at me willingly. I gave a mocking laugh. I figured my actions early would cause a snowball affect but who would have guessed that shiny bling bling bastard already sent someone to ''take care of me'' ¡°Haha what luck I can try out a few of my spells and skills, Thank you for delivering yourselves to me.¡± Before my words ended they all ran into an invisible wall. ¡°what the hell is this!?¡± One of the thugs shouted. They all started to punch and kick the barrier wall in an attempt to break free. The leader of the group clearly frustrated tried to walk out of the alley only to find that side was sealed off too. I waved my hand and a black fog veiled the inside of the alley from the street. Although the sounds could still be heard no one would be able to see a thing. ¡°Boy you best not do anything reckless! Do you know who we have backing us in this city? If you keep offending priest Nottingham you''re sure to regret it!¡± I threw my head back laughing as I approached the outside of the barrier. ¡°right now this is simply an isolation barrier, it keeps you in but also keeps me out. But I''ve been wondering how many magick''s I can use in tandem. This will also be great to test the local strength in this city, hahaha I wonder if you are of quality or are you all just pawns. Let''s find out shall we? Hehehe this is a great learning opportunity for me uncle. Isn''t it the older generation''s job to educate the young?¡± Placing my hand on the barrier I poured 100 MP into reinforcing it, I want to be sure I can focus solely on the experiment. With a smirk I used my [Enchant] skill on the barrier and infused the spell [Leech Life] from the [Necro Arcana] system. Being careful not to be forceful I could feel the spell formations overlapping each other. *Ding* [Minor Arcana lvl has increased to lvl 2] [Necro Arcana lvl has increased to lvl 2] ¡°Hahaha it worked!! Doesn''t this mean my options for spells have increased exponentially?? Oh this is grand! But I''m not finished yet!¡± Chapter 7 - Ability Gained From this side of the barrier as time wore on I could see the punches of the thugs becoming more sluggish. I could feel their lost vitality flowing into my body. "Okay this is interesting I wasn''t sure if I would still receive the energy, but it seems like that won''t be a problem. Let''s move on to the next step." With my hand laid on the barrier I activated [Enchant] again but this time I placed the skill [Nightmare] overlapping it with the [Leech Life] spell. I could definitely still feel their vitality swirling within me so the old spell formation didn''t collapse, but the real change happened within the barrier. Each of the men reacted a bit differently, one was cowering off to the side, another was scratching an itch so hard he began to bleed, one attacked another as if his life depended on it. Each man was clearly affected differently but each seemed just as terrified as the last. "Ho? So even when used in a group it doesn''t cause mass hallucination. Hmmm I wonder if it''s because the skill level is still low? Hehehe while you seven are occupied I''ll take this chance to refine the vitality you''ve graciously given to me." Putting my back up against the alley wall I took a seat and with a wave of my hand another barrier enclosed me separately. Already having some experience manipulating energies I drew out the life essence I was receiving from them. Using [Refine] the vapid energy started to coalesce, after reaching a certain size I cut off the outflow from my body and finished the condensing process. Just as I was about to [Analyze] my work a notification popped up. *Ding* ?Through unique and rigorous effort you''ve started to peel back the veil and walk your own path of principle.? ?You''ve gained the ability [Essentia]? ?Wisdom has substantially increased by 20? "Huh? Can you gain abilities through effort like skills? Mmm this is getting a bit interesting now even one of my stats increased for free hahahaha!" Deciding to check the essence orb later I tossed it into my [Item Box] bringing my attention back to the men I still had trapped. After gaining my new ability it''s like I had a kind of second sight. From a distance it couldn''t be felt so easily but as I approached them I realized there was another energy mixed inside the barrier. I closed my eyes trying to get a better feel for it, with that the feeling became much clearer. It was like wisps of black smoke was pouring out of them. I used my magick to try and grab onto some of the wisps. It was tough but I was able to slowly maneuver the smoke to gather in front of me. Completely defenseless I stood there drowning in the feeling of this energy. Without even realizing it I had already begun refining the energy. 1 minute, 3 minutes, 7 minutes, after a full 15 minutes there was no more smoke to gather. What floated in front of me was a grey orb with an otherworldly black glow to it. *Ding*Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ?[Refine] lvl has increased to lvl 4? ?Class [Battle Mage] has increased by 2? ?Class [Necromancer] has increased by 2? ?Class [Refiner] has increased by 1? In the distance I could hear hollers and screams sounding off left and right. Looking into the barrier I could see all my experiment subjects had died. "Shiit, I didn''t think they''d be killed off so easily just from this! I''m not sure how much time has passed I have to get out of here." Looking over the corpses I gave a mischievous smile. "don''t worry uncle''s your deaths are not in vain, you''ve even helped me level up! As thanks I won''t leave you to lay here in this dirty alleyway all alone!" I waved my hand to store the additional essence orb and the corpses into my [Item Box]. With a grasping motion I quickly collected the lingering souls. The corpses were riddled with valuable material that could still be used. Looking at my stats I realised I had less than half of my magick left, this left me deeply shocked almost instantly a wave of fear washed over me. While in action I usually gained about 13 MP back a minute, while resting I recovered about that much but every ten seconds. With my sudden growth in wisdom it should have increased to about 15 points, but having less than 300 MP remaining leaves me very vulnerable until I recover. Using a bit more magick I pushed my [Cloak of Darkness] spell from the [Necro Arcana] out into the street blinding the pedestrian that were just waking from their daze after being freed from their day terror. Shouts and screams rang throughout the streets again as the black fog took them by surprise. *Ding* ?Wherever you go seeds of fear easily sprout in the hearts of the common people.? ?You''ve been awarded the title [Harbinger of Terror]? ?While active your presence breathes fear in to your surrounding. +20% chance of inducing fear into the weak willed. All fear related skills are 30% more affective? ?Titles are passive, feel free to toggle them on or off given the situation.? ****** I spent about an hour walking the streets as I blended into the crowd. A minute after I had left the alleyway a small team of about 10 soldiers descended unto the street restoring public order and getting people who needed medical attention to the closest healing clinics. Finally making it back to my inn all I could think about is eating and getting some well deserved rest. Entering the inn and taking a look around it seems I had walked directly into their dining hall. Taking in the scene the inn was already half full of patrons. I finally spotted the receptionist counter and walked over. "Hello sir, will you be getting a room or dining with us this evening?" Behind the counter a young boy no older than nine was furiously taking notes, finally putting his quill down he looked up. His eyes behind his spectacles were large but seemed a bit mature for someone his age. Seeing him take notes left me wondering if he had the [Scribe] class or something similar. His writing was elegant making one believe he''s been doing it for years. "I''d like to book a room for the evening. How much would that be?" The young boys response was so quick you could tell he''s been doing this for a while. "It will be 15 coppers for a room, 5 coppers for a meal, and an additional 3 coppers to bathe later." 23 Copper sounds like a great deal to me, it''s 100 coppers to 1 silver, 100 silver to 1 gold and so on and so forth. Just by running around outside the city killing bunnies I will have no problem at all finding a place to eat and sleep. "That sounds reasonable! Thank you very much, here you go!" I quickly pulled out the exact change and was handed a room key and a meal pass. Since I was curious about the food I sat at an empty table and asked to have it bright out. All though it was a bit lacking in my opinion I could understand why it was so cheap. I got the leg meat of some animal, a bowl of soup without many veggies, and a hard piece of bread. I quickly ate the bland food and went up to my room. " i see I''ll have to keep a strict diet of blood to curb my appetite until I can afford quality food." The room I was given was pretty small, the length of the bed could hardly fit an average adult male. On top of that because I could hear moaning and groaning from the rooms beside me the thickness of the walls could not be relied on. I softly walk to the nearest wall, place my hand on it and allow my magick to soak into each of the walls, floor, door, ceiling and window. Using [Enchant] I placed the strongest [Barrier] spell I could to ensure I wouldn''t have to worry about any late night entries. Through the window I could see that there was still a few more hours of daylight left before dusk arrived. "it seems my mental strength hasn''t fully assimilated with this body yet. After so many experiments with magick and all the drama of today I feel a bit fatigued mentally. This is probably the best time to practice meditation which will aid in my recovery" Right as I was sitting down I finally remember about all the essence orbs I''d collected today... Exploring Classes - Battle classes Warrior Barbarian Beserker Swordsman Magick Swordsman Samurai Knight Crusader Guardian Templar Paladin Sword MasterA case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Sword Saint Fighter Martial artist Grappler Gladiator Mage Shaman Druid Summoner Battle mage Arcane war mage Elementalist Necromancer Arch Magician Archer Arcane archer Hunter Tamer Beast master Rouge Thief Assassin Ninja Thug Gangster - Scholar Classes Adept Archivest (Tome wielder) Mathematician class Philosopher class Sage class Teacher class Tactician - Production class Blacksmith Butcher Apothecary Alchemists Arcane alchemists Enchanter class Refiner class Artisan class Carpenter class Chef class Engineer class Artificer Farmer class Tailor - Administrative classes Manager class Scribe Merchant class Peddler class Maven Class Investigator Class Detective Class Commoner / Surf class Noble class Aristocrat General - Divine Classes Oracle Cleric Priest / Priestess Bishop Arch bishop Head Priest - Unique classes Bard Synergist Creationist Puppeteer Slavemancer Temptress class Illusionist Seductress class Philanderer class Philanthropist class Familiar Doppelganger Chapter 8 - BP Madness With a shake of my wrist a tiny white orb with a light green glow to it appeared. Out of the two orbs created in the alleyway this one should definitely be less dangerous than the latter. I quickly used [Analyze] on it and a screen appeared.
Name: Vitality Essence Orb Rank: E Use: embed, consume, equip, ingredient HP: +500 MP: 0 Str: +15 Def: 0 Vit: +50 Agi: 0 Dex: 0 Min: 0 Wis: 0 Cha: 0 Luc: +5 Abilities: [Aura of Life] [Raise Libido] Skills: [Heal] Description: After rigorously refining vitality an orb with a purity rate is created. The use of the orb is strongly connected to the quality of the orb. Purity: 100%
¡°hmm even the description changed a bit.. I definitely feel a soft energy seeping into me. If I strengthen my aura with magick it no longer can enter me though. [Aura of life] seems to be what''s causing it. The other orb must have a similar ability which is why the streets turned to chaos. I''d do well to only take the other out under trying circumstances, at least until I can develop a solid way to contain the aura.¡± I quickly focus harder on its abilities to see if I can get a better understanding
[Aura of Healing] ?With such a strong presences of life, being within its sphere of influence your bodies natural ability to recover will be multiplied. - E rank natural healing x3 -? [Raise Libido] ?With such a strong presences of life, being under its influence the flames of passion burn brighter and longer?
I rubbed my chin gently.. "This [Raise Libido] ability is very ambiguous it doesn''t really give any real values to help gauge it''s effectiveness. [Aura of Healing] on the other hand seems extremely useful, depending on your race 3 times natural healing could make you near immortal. I know there are a few demi human like monsters that have regenerative abilities that allow them to regrow an arm within moments. Mind you this is so only E Rank what about D Rank or even C!!" Being over come with excitement I couldn''t help thinking that cities don''t really need criminal organizations do they?? Putting the essence orb away i quickly activated [Meditate lvl 1] while sitting on the not so soft bed. Meditating instead of sleeping is for few reasons, plainly after a thorough meditating session you''re generally much more mentally well rested as opposed to conventional sleeping. Secondly, I have to train my mind to be in synch with my body. Although I''m a variant vampire species, I still have my ability [Vampire Physique] making it so that sleep isn''t a necessity. It''s vital that my mind grows accustomed to this new body, especially since i don''t know when the terms will be met for me to go through a bloodline awakening unlocking the rest of my abilities. Last but not least meditation has a passive effect of increasing magick manipulation and magick recovery, even only increasing it by 1% can be the difference between life and death in this new world full of monsters and dungeons. ******
?Meditation lvl has increased to lvl 3?
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Spending so much time alone in my previous life gave me a lot of time to try out various things. After a coworker suggested it because of the bags under my eyes from insomnia, I practiced meditation up until my final days. It tended to be the only time I could quiet my anxiety and let my mind get some rest. This two hour session increased my my level twice and I feel like I got a solid 6 hours of sleep. ¡°I still have the bodies of those thugs, after refining the blood I could refine their bones and spend a few days engraving enchantment all over them. Afterwards I could bury their bodies in a location with a lot of spirits of darkness for three days and then raise them with my necromancy. But that seems time consuming and I already know what refining the blood does, I''ve collected a good amount of souls and tainted spirits lets see what we get from each of them respectively. Getting caught up with my experiments is second nature to me, finding anything interesting is a blessing when life is perpetually dull. Right before pulling out the souls I remembered I''ve leveled up a few times and I think it''s time to start distributing points. With a thought I brought up my status window.
Name: Alucard Cadmus Di Beelzebub Age: 13 Gender: Male Race: Dhampir Bloodline Rank: SS Evolution: Possible Main Class: [Battle Mage lvl 4][Necromancer lvl 4] Sub-Class: [Nobel lvl 1] [Enchanter lvl 1] [Refiner lvl 3] Titles: [MOD Player] [New Blood] [Harbinger of Terror] Affiliations: Reputation - Fame: 6 Infamy: 1 Level: 13 Hp: 1220/1220 Mp: 1460/1460 Str: 93 Def: 65 Vit: 122 Agi: 72 Dex: 61 Min: 146 Wis: 157 Cha: 83 Luc: 58 Bonus Points: 260 Abilities: [Ancestors blood] [Ancestors eyes] [Blood Sovereign] [Familiar Mark] [Vampires Physique] [Transformation] [Usurper] [Food Chain] [Item Box] [Essentia] Skills: [Weapon Mastery lvl 1] [Enchant lvl 1] [Refine lvl 4] [Minor Arcana lvl 2] [Necro Arcana lvl 2] [Analyze lvl 1] [summon lvl 1] [Aura lvl 2] [Language acquisition lvl 1] [Telepathy lvl 1] [Psychometry lvl 1] [Psychokinesis lvl 1] [Teleport lvl 1] [Meditation lvl 3] [Intimidation lvl 3] [Nightmare lvl 1] Blessings: None Accumulated Divinity: 0 Accumulated Souls: 21 Enslaved Spirits: 36 Familiars: None Descendents: None
In this world, bloodline determines how fast you get strong. The lowest tier bloodline which is ranked F gives you a blessing of about 4 bonus points per level while E gives you 6 BP per lvl. Now two points might not seem like much in the beginning but the stronger the bloodline the more BP you receive. At level 10 an F Rank has received a total of 40 BP while a C Rank at the same level has received 100 BP. That''s an additional 60 BP to distribute to stats exponentially widening the gap. You cannot receive a noble title Unless your blood Is C Rank or above. This is up held by most kingdoms in the land unless it is newly founded. Each bloodline rank has a Class slot and level limit, if you can overcome that limit you will go through an evolution. That evolution will strengthen your soul, blood, and body. F Rank level limit is 100 with a slot limit of 1 outside of your social class. An F Rank bloodline would have to wait until their main class reaches level 30 before gaining a sub class slot with a small chance to open a secondary subclass slot at level 70. As someone who already hardly gets BP when they level it becomes harder and harder to find pray to level up with, and spending years leveling subclasses through repetitive action can only help you break through the bloodline limit so much. Without determination you just don''t see people transcend their limits often. During evolution theres a possibility variations may appear In some cases these bloodline variation will give a person strange abilities or even change their shape. ¡°only my first day in this world and I''ve already had this many battles.. This is not a peaceful world of law and order. Here, might means right and if I want to keep myself safe i''ll need the strength to back me up. At a glance if I raised all my stats that were below 100 to 100 I would need to spend 168 of my 260 BP. That would leave me with 92 BP left to distribute to my vitality, mind, and wisdom stats. If I put 22 BP in vitality, 30 BP in mind, and 40 in wisdom all of my points will be spent.¡± I''m walking the path of magick so focusing on those as my main stats is the foundation to my future success. I really am lucky that the AI evaluated my plot and avatar outline so high. Being awarded a SS Rank bloodline from the jump saves me a lot of trouble. It''ll be tough finding the limit to this bloodline rank but this world is many times larger than earth. In my quest of the source I''ll have to travel far and wide. But it''s best i set my new stats immediately to help preserve my life even if only for a few more moments. Distributing my BP and finalizing it my body was filed with a fiery energy cutting into every nook and cranny bringing out potential that wasn''t there before. I gritted my teeth and willed myself not to yell. After a few moments the energy subsided and I could feel the new strength in my body. I quickly brought the status window into view again.
Name: Alucard Cadmus Di Beelzebub Age: 13 Gender: Male Race: Dhampir Bloodline Rank: SS Evolution: Possible Main Class: [Battle Mage lvl 4][Necromancer lvl 4] Sub-Class: [Nobel lvl 1] [Enchanter lvl 1] [Refiner lvl 3] Titles: [MOD Player] [New Blood] [Harbinger of Terror] Affiliations: Reputation - Fame: 6 Infamy: 1 Level: 13 Hp: 1440/1440 Mp: 1760/1760 Str: 100 Def: 100 Vit: 144 Agi: 100 Dex: 100 Min: 176 Wis: 197 Cha: 100 Luc: 100 Bonus Points: 0 Abilities: [Ancestors blood] [Ancestors eyes] [Blood Sovereign] [Familiar Mark] [Vampires Physique] [Transformation] [Usurper] [Food Chain] [Item Box] [Essentia] Skills: [Weapon Mastery lvl 1] [Enchant lvl 1] [Refine lvl 4] [Minor Arcana lvl 2] [Necro Arcana lvl 2] [Analyze lvl 1] [summon lvl 1] [Aura lvl 2] [Language acquisition lvl 1] [Telepathy lvl 1] [Psychometry lvl 1] [Psychokinesis lvl 1] [Teleport lvl 1] [Meditation lvl 3] [Intimidation lvl 3] [Nightmare lvl 1] Blessings: None Accumulated Divinity: 0 Accumulated Souls: 21 Enslaved Spirits: 36 Familiars: None Descendents: None
¡°Hahahaha it''s beautiful!! Ahahahaha!!!¡± My gaze was full of nothing but those rows of digits it was like seeing fresh water after being trapped for days in the desert. Just as I was taking a breath in to keep laughing a knock came at the door! *Knock**Knock* I instantly froze up. ¡°I''m sorry manager if I was being too loud I''ll quiet down now.¡± My voice got smaller and smaller as I spoke, my caramel dipped cheeks flushed red as cold sweat dripping down my back. ¡°how could I forget how thin the walls are I''m sure everyone probably thinks I''m crazy, no!! *sob* *sob*¡± ¡°Come out by order of the Lord of the city! Your presence has been requested!¡± "..." "...." ¡°wait.. what?¡± Chapter 9 - Stormcasters (1) ¡°Our deepest apologies young sir, while you''re a guest within the castle if you have any need please don''t hesitate to ask! I''ll get to the main topic, what is your price?¡± . . . . . Right as I was enjoying myself and thinking about moving forward with my experiment I was hurriedly rushed out of my inn, into a carriage, and taken to the lord''s castle which by the way is absolutely stunning! Beautiful art of every kind lines the walls, eloquent music can be heard giving the castle an otherworldly ambiance, beautiful people of every shape and size mingle in every nook and cranny of this place! It was a bit overwhelming not knowing why I was summoned in the night, it should only be around 7 or 8, but for the commoners and farmers of this world that was considered late and maybe even rude if the visit was for nonsense. There were three knights who came to fetch me, a women and two men. You might not think so but the slight femininity with broad shoulders and towering height gave her a stoic beauty. From afar seemingly hard to approach but that only made her all the more enticing. Her rich dark skin against the shine of her tight armor, which helped highlight her curves, really made one appreciate the aesthetic of the lady knight! Interestingly enough both men had soft facial features, giving them a serine calm look. If you didn''t look into their eyes you may very well be fooled into thinking they were your run of the mill everyday warrior. They all had cat like ears and a thin tail either wrapped around their waist or swaying behind them. their armor was stunning, inscribed with enchantment, molded and cut with precision, even the small details like what seemed to be a crest engraved into the armor added personality and depth to the master pieces. On further inspection you could see the many places were the armor have been patched and fixed, where blood has dried and stained, and where it has been shined until the paint has wore on it. These knights gave off a much different feeling than those thugs from earlier. If I had to guess it would probably be a mix of their profession and experience. These were not rookie knights, they didn''t even seem like the type to head to a pub and be rowdy after a long day. They seemed more like blood drenched cold steel. Blades waiting for their master to point out who or what to kill next. Honestly with my abilities locked just trying to use my senses I can''t even guess their levels at all. After taking a glance at a rolled up parchment the female night quickly gave a nod and grunt in approval and the two subordinate knights started ushering me out the door. The ride by horse took about 40 minutes within the city walls and was in the most northern district. Upon arrival the lord''s steward met me outside. ¡°Good evening young Sir. I''m Steward Ronaldo of House Stormcaster! My apologies but please come into our reception area for tea.¡± It was when I first walked into the foyer that I seen not only in this life but also my last life, the largest mirror ever. It had to be at least 5 meters tall and close to 3 meters wide. For the first time since coming to this world I finally got a good look of myself. At 5''3", I had beautiful even toned sun kissed hazelnut skin, with a small beauty mark under my left eye. My black hair was trimmed shorter on the sides, with tight pure snow white curls resting atop my head. My eyes had a ruby shine to them with a gold circlet between the iris and pupil. When I went to smile at myself I was a bit surprised, seeing my fangs start to length had caught me off guard since I''m not very use to it. I thought I would have more of a petit look but it seems I''m leaning more towards the stocky side, wide set shoulders with a bit of meat on my bones. Now if only I could get my face to match, I wouldn''t exactly call it a baby face but it definitely has an androgynous feel to it. Being only thirteen I still haven''t even fully matured yet so I still have growing to do, but I do like the idea that with the right clothes I could leave a few people guessing. I couldn''t help wondering if I looked more like my vampiric father or human mother? Either way their union definitly created a work of beauty and splendor!Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Giving myself one last smile I quietly followed behind the steward, marveling at the sights within the castle. Using the proper etiquette I finished my cup of tea and let my mind swirl about why I''ve been bright here! Could this have something to do with that bling bling bastard and the goons he sent after me? Whatever it is I won''t willingly dance to their tune. ¡°As I''ve said Forgive us for being rude and using up your time but we had to make sure our information was authentic. Although your level has more than double since this morning everything else checks out even the fact that we can''t measure your bloodline rank.¡± Thankfully I was not still holding my tea cup because I would have dropped it letting it shatter all across this beautiful marble floor. I continued with my hands in my lap and legs crossed, not that they could touch they floor with my short body anyway. With a light smile on my face I listened on as if completely unbothered by his comment. I wondered to myself if I should release a sliver of my aura as some kind of warning. My class is [Noble] but I never really had any interaction with those who have extensive pedigrees and not many had peerage in my past life to know how this should go. So I took the route featured in novels and books. Giving a blank face is like screaming you''re guilty, so giving an emotion they can read such as smile and they''ll base all other reactions with that smile as a standard. ¡°Getting to the main point! We''re not certain as to why you choose this city in particular to come to but just name your price so we can be done with all this. We just ask you cure them before leaving.¡± I couldn''t help but raise my eyebrow and frown deeply. What in all hell is this man taking about? Why do I have to leave and cure who? I''m not an alchemist''s or physician¡­ I coughed a bit to clear my throat and began by returning the pleasantries. ¡°Steward Rolando, I''m Alucard Cadmus Di Beelzebub. I no longer have a house name, even if the kingdom hasn''t fallen in on itself already, I''ve become free of them regardless. I am but an exiled noble who has wandered about looking for a new place to call home. I¡¯m not interested in the wars of man I just want a place I can do my work in peace. You speak of cures and prices to chase me out, what grievances have I caused to be called out in the dead of night?¡± As I spoke Steward Rolando was first a bit surprised but then his lips tightened up, and his skin which was only a few shades lighter than my own, started to turn beet red! Trying his best to not let his anger slip he opened his mouth to speak each word releasing more and more of his aura. ¡°You no good dark sorcerer you!! The people of Dancing Forest City are not for your personal use so you can eventually turn us all into an undead army at your own whim! We are not disposable pawns you can toss about at your leisure! The city lord is being patient with you, it might not have been the best choice to kill off your associates last time but you left us no other choice. This has all gone to far, now hurry off and undo what you did and be on your way elsewhere!¡± Now I was starting to get pissed off! Although I had just met the orphans today I couldn''t just let them die! I leaned forward in my chair and continued the shouting match! ¡°How dare you call me a dark sorcerer!!!? Was I supposed to let them follow me back to my inn just for them to kidnap me in the middle of the night?? I''m being persecuted and yet I''m the real victim here, where is my justice? Am I not even able to defend myself within the city or should I just hand my head over on a platter waiting on the city soldiers to come save me? And for your information I arrived in time to save them thank you very much!¡± Giving me a sharp look up and down the Steward threw a few more words my way. ¡°I understand you are all close in age but even all the children together wouldn''t be able to cause you any real harm. Don''t you think a death sentence is a bit harsh?¡± I literally jumped out of my chair! What in the world is this old man talking about!?? Landing softly behind the chair i turned my head down with a cough to hide the blush. This is embarrassing and awkward.. I think I just told on myself and I''m not even sure who I need to cure. Only moving my eyes to meet the old mans I said. ¡°Steward Ronaldo I think there is a misunderstanding, the only children I came in contact with since entering the city are the orphaned children who were possessed by tainted spirits. Outside of them walking with me halfway to my inn I haven''t had any other contact with them. Unless my technique didn''t remove everything they should be in great health in the future. The only people I''ve had to take care of was a small group of thugs who came to hurt me under the order of someone named priest Nottingham.¡± With a wave of my hand the corpse of the thug leader was lying on the floor. Eyebrows high Ronaldo went over to inspect the body. After a few pokes and a few deep sniffs he backed up and waved his hand signaling I could remove the body. ¡°That man was a local thug protected by that no good priest, he ran amok causing havoc in the slums. His body did not smell of miasma nor have you turned him into an undead. Are you not planning on slowly turning the slums into undead and then going to war with the city lord?¡± I took two steps back and waved my hands in front of myself they must have found out I don''t know how they found out I''m a necromancer but with my sudden increase in level it was almost as if I was telling them loud and proud that I''m using the citizens for experience points. ¡°No I have two production subclasses and an additional main class outside my necromancy, all of my classes have just been especially useful today which is why it seems like I''ve had a huge increase in level. I''m being honest when I say I''m just looking for a peaceful place to practice my work. I''m not really interested in an undead army unless it''s of my enemies.¡± Quickly the gears within the stewards mind were turning. He has probably realized that either none of my classes have reached level five or some of them are still uselessly weak. He turned to me with a deep stare, he spoke his next words carefully. ¡°If what you say is true, then will you help save our young Miss and young Master as well? Like what you did for the orphans?¡± There was hope shining bright deep within his eyes, the kind of blinding light you see when you''ve touched a bottomless pit of darkness and despair, and your one and only shot at success is within arms reach. This was a light that seemed as if it was going to shoot across the room right into the depths of my soul! I knew I had to do something! Chapter 10 - Stormcasters (2) As I was about to give my answer, I felt faint as a surge of magick filled the entirety of the castle! Suffocating! It felt like I went from breathing fresh air, to being plunged 30 feet underwater without gills! I hurriedly put three of my most powerful barriers on me, each enchanted to fully refine any energy it''s struck with and cycle it back into the spell formation! When I was sealed tightly inside my barriers I felt only a bit better, the amount of magick filling the castle only continued to increase. I brought up the mental image of my room at the inn, throwing away all other fears I tried to use [Teleport] but there was too much magical interference. I tried over and over but the most I was doing was shimmering in an out at my same location. I turned to look at Steward Ronaldo but his face was pale and aghast! As I motioned to say something a powerful and oppressive scent of sulfur attacked my nostrils! *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* Thunder claps filled the sky above the castle! If I hadn''t known any better I would have thought the castle was being bombed from all sides! ¡°Oh no! The mistress is about to rampage! I have to go stop her before it''s too late!¡± Right after the Stewards remarks he was like a wisp of smoke and dashed out into the corridor. Just moments later the piercing scream of a women could be hard throughout all corners of the castle! ¡°Have I walked into a battlefield??¡± Seeing that the walls were shaking and the sounds of lightning striking could be heard I refused to be here alone, I quickly chased after the Steward he should at least be trying to move his charges to safety first, right? Catching a glimpse of the wisp turning a corner I used all my might to follow behind him. Unfortunately I completely forgot I Just upgraded all of my stats so I clumsily ran into a wall. Thankful my barriers only shook a little bit, I quickly adjusted my speed and sprinted off in pursuit! I thought we would have been moving further away from the overwhelming magick energy but the more I followed the closer we got. Seeing Steward Ronaldo stop to open the doors of a room I was just about to approach when as soon as the doors opened he was struck by a bolt of lighting as thick as my waste!! Steward Ronaldo was by far no small man, at 6''2" broad shoulders with a widest back, he gave the impression of an unmoving deeply rooted tree. But even still with that single bolt of lightning he was thrown out of the room and struck the wall hard enough to leave an imprint! ¡°What in the hell!!? The storm is raging inside the castle?? How has the roof not caved in yet??¡± The excess energy from the bolt filled the hallway, the barriers around me shook violently! Even after refining the energy and using it to reinforce itself the outermost barrier instantly shattered! The second layer lasted much longer but swiftly cracks started to spread I knew that if I didn''t make my move soon all my shields would erode away and i would be lucky if any part of my body was left intact after being shredded by the storm energy around me! I knew there was no use fighting this magick pressure with my own, it would be like pouring a lake into an ocean. Would it even make a splash? Focusing on my new ability [Essentia] I felt for all the energies around me, cupping my hands together I focused my magick there and used it as a kind of net drawing in all the rampant magick close by. As the energy around me started to calm down a new storm was brewing. Before me was a small twister swirling about my palm, in the center in this miniature storm was three orbs. Sapphire, Peridot, and a beautiful shining white star, with gem like colors each were giving off a different energy. *Ding* You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
?[Refine] lvl has increased to level 5?
When the hallway was finally starting to clear of energy, I could see that Steward Ronaldo was already standing up shouting into the room like nothing happened. ¡°Mistress! Please heed my words!! I beg you, remember the late master said no matter what else we do we are never allowed to destroy it! I''ve found a way to save the children but we must hurry!¡± His voice enhanced using magick boomed over the shockwaves caused by the thunder. ¡°Ronaldo! These are my children!! They are all I have left! I''ve given everything to this kingdom and what have I gotten in return! I fled the capital with my two precious jewels Just so they wouldn''t be tainted by the greed and hypocrisy there! But even in this remote land surrounded by nothing we are bordered by plains in one direction, valleys and mountains in another, we even have endless forest encroaching in on us! Yet through all this I''m suppose to uphold a promise to a man who couldn''t uphold his promise to me?? WHAT HAPPENED TO FOREVER!!?? Here I stand close to breaking through my bloodline limit, with enough power to erase large cities from historian maps and yet I can''t even save that which is most important to me? I will destroy that forsaken cathedral and if my body is torn apart in the process so be it!!¡± All I could hear is the voice of what seemed like a mother who is beyond hysterical! Someone as powerful as her hadn''t taken notice of my presence nor that the once raging storm is little by little coming to a calm. Still holding my hands together to refine the energy and insure my life even if only for a little longer, I started to walk towards the voice on the other side of the doors. The castle had been filled with several kinds of energies, I was much more familiar with the essence of magick. But the most abundant energies were that of this women''s emotions. Who could really imagine how she feels? Being revered and respected by the masses yet in a simple but unfortunate occurrence, she''s left feeling a hopelessness very few are strong enough to go through. She''s already pumping out magick as fast as I can refine it I''ll have to bet everything in my next move to try and gain her attention. [Intimidate lvl 3] was swelling around me, I knew that alone wouldn''t affect her but I wanted to build up until right before we could see each other. Each step I took the air around me tightened as I removed the chaos and in its place left behind my presence. Using the magick from my [Battle Mage] class the air of intimidation gained a new weight too it, a kind of resolve permeated the air around me. In The center of the room a being wrapped in wind was raging about in the air, lightning crackling across the ceiling leaving behind holes and burns. Right as I took my last steps into the room I released my [Aura] to it''s limits, something I''d never done before. A light of Scarlet, Gold, and Obsidian shone from my body. The lights rotated, lifting towards the roof until they fused into a silver Aura. Like something out of a fairytale my body lifted off of the ground, in front of me I held a beautiful peridot and sapphire orb. Between the two of them floated a transparent crystal. The silver aura around me gave me a commanding like air, at this point i''m sure everyone in the city probably realized something is going on in the Lord''s castle, well I guess those that are still awake. I took a glance at the steward although not foaming at the mouth he looked terror stricken, as if he would pass out any moment. With the form of a celestial entity, letting my magick run wild I said only two words! ¡°BE CALM!¡± From my body out poured a shockwave, although it moved with a purpose it didn''t bring harm to anyone it touch, it tried to fill those hit by it with serenity. *Ding*
?[Intimidation] lvl has increased to 7?
?[Aura] lvl has increased to 5?
?[Minor Arcana] lvl has increased to 4?
?[Refine] lvl has increased to 7?
?Class [Refiner] lvl has increased by 1?
?[Origin Word''s lvl 1] has been learned?
Seeing three notifications pop up I knew my words at least had some effect. I put the newly acquired essence orbs away and allow my aura to slowly subside. As my feet finally touch the ground I looked to the center of the room to see the grieving mother for myself. But I myself was unprepared for with but a glance I was struck dumb from the sight. Flesh of bronze and gold, skin as smooth as jade, long flowing white hair that turns to aqua blue curls at its tips, it swayed in the remnants of the storm that''s begun it''s slumber. Atop her head were two soft and fluffy looking cat ears with that aqua blue as trim outlining them. Her eyes were an emerald green that looked as leaves with the noon sun shining through them. Unfortunately her jade like skin and emerald eyes were stained with tears and tainted with rage, it truly painted a picture of helplessness and grief. A beauty so unblemished, so ethereal and otherworldly, modest and captivating it could only be matched by her raw power of destruction! She was embodiment of the Goddess of storms, a true weather Goddess! Breathlessly all she said was. ¡°You can save my children!" Chapter 11 - Stormcasters (3) In all honesty I wasn''t prepared.. ***** ¡°We are very grateful for your help and apologize deeply for any misunderstand this entire ordeal may have caused. If you just follow me through here the children are being safeguarded by the Old Master and Mistress. As these are their only grandchildren they have been doing all they can to preserve the children''s condition. Well, it''s Better if you just see for yourself..¡± Immediately after the chaos subsided we had no time for pleasantries, I told them to bring me to the children with haste. The current Lord of the city Empress of Storms, Viscountess Rose of house Stormcaster was leading the way while Steward Ronaldo was giving bits and pieces of information while also mixing in apologies and thanks as we walked along. When she calmed and realized I was here to help the children Lady Rose with the shake of her wrist made a jar with an indigo liquid appear in her hand, ¡°Drink¡± was all she said as she started marching towards the door. ¡°Please excuse our Miss, this is a very trying time for her, this family has dwindled and their numbers are scarce, we do all that we can for the bloodline. I''m sure you can understand wanting to build your bloodline and nobility up. I hope you found the mana potion convenient!¡± When talking about bloodline and nobility the steward looked back and gave me a once over. It''s hard to say what he might have been thinking, but I knew I made a huge blunder revealing myself like that. If I''d known the castle was going to be destroyed I would have memorized the layout to insure my escape. Hell of a time for [Teleport] not to work. ¡°After I make it out of here there are a lot of talismans and magick items I want prepared immediately!!¡± I couldn''t help voicing out quietly my indignation over the injustices I''ve suffered. ¡°Oh Young Master Alucard did you say something?¡± I''m not sure what kind of species he is but I''m sure everyone in the hallway heard my small complaint. I''m not entirely sure but I think I seen a smirk form on the Viscountess face. ¡°No do forgive me, I''m just hoping it''s not much further, the potion has completely replaced all the magick I''d spent up and I don''t want to waste something so precious. It will surely help supplement the magick needed to help the children. The technique I''ll be using, although I have an item that will aid in healing, it hasn''t been tested to what degree it will be helpful to yet. Are you sure there is no need to call in more healers?¡± I still haven''t been able to fully assess the extent of their condition yet, Ronaldo mentioned the miasma was so thick the two elders were using magick to dispel it. But it seems as fast as they removed it was as fast as it was being produced. ¡°Don''t worry about a trifling thing such as potion of that quality, if you need more during the process i''ll force as many down your throat as it takes just be sure to do your part. He might not look like it but he''s been around for a while. Ronaldo your level is around 270 and the level of your healing magick broke into level 28 here recently correct?¡± The steward gave a small nod and hum in confirmation to what she said. I was taken aback for a moment by Lady Roses frosty words. Skills that do not belong to any of your classes or your specific race are much harder to level up, even if you spend extra time practicing. On top of that, the head butler.. I''m sorry the Steward, of the house was at least a D Rank bloodline? With a level close to 300?? I couldn''t help wondering if this household had special classes and skills. So this is what a noble is, they have their own ways I guess when it comes to leveling up and keeping their house strong. After passing through a courtyard overflowing with flora glowing in the light of this worlds three moons, we entered a different wing of the palace and with just a glance I realized the storm didn''t even hit this side at all.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Thinking about it, the garden wasn''t messy either. Throwing my thoughts to the side, Lady Rose seemed to be hesitating before a double doored room. She didn''t hesitate for too long though as she steeled her resolve and flung the doors open and headed inside. Tragedy.. That''s all you could describe it as. Everything in the room had been thrown in corners and against the wall. In the center you could see four people two were sitting so still they seemed to be statues. I poured magick into my eyes to makes sure I''m taking every bit of this sight in because there was no time to waste. The too elders sat crossed legged with their fingers holding seal signs, they were emaciated with baggy clothes covering them. In front of the man floated a young boy who seemed to be sleeping in crystallized mana, in front of the women also floated a young girl under the same conditions. Dozens of apparitions swam in a spiral at the ceiling of the room, they were still connected to the children metaphysically but the aura of magick kept them at a distance. ¡°It seems they gave up on dispelling the miasma and decided to take it into their bodies on their own. All four are suffering from either the poison or the spiritual attacks.¡± Because of my [Necromancer] class i''m very in tune with spiritual workings, I can even see a person''s soul if I wanted to. ¡°The souls of the children have been damaged beyond natural repair, their condition is nothing similar to what I seen earlier.¡± The mother of the children and daughter of the two elders fell to her knees, tears trailed from her eyes staining her face again, she could only punch the ground furiously since she couldn''t scream out her grievances given the situation. Ronaldo also had tears falling from from his eyes, he knew that eventually the elders wouldn''t be able to take in anymore miasma and then the children would have to take the full brunt of it all. He turned to me slowly and said. ¡°I''m sorry for dragging you into this, it seems we''ve come to late. If you wouldn''t mind giving our family some space so we can make our peace..¡± He turned back expectantly, there was no doubt in his mind that the Stormcaster house had finally seen its darkest day. Fortunately enough the one who they met today was me, I try to be careful who i sow karma with but how can I do nothing when I see a family working so earnestly for the ones they love. ¡°Move to the side there''s still time left, I''ve come all this way and suffered my share of injustices. Are you willing to give up just because the doors a bit hard to open? I''m going to put my everything into this so you Better not slack off, take this and just keep the healing coming until you see it take effect and then pour every ounce of your soul into making sure every wound is closed up!¡± I barked my orders and tossed my [Vitality Essence Orb] to Ronaldo, even if only a little, hopefully the healing aura will have an affect. I had no time to check to see if my theory was right because lives were one the line! I took out a majority of the souls I had saved up and began refining them into two orbs. While that was happening in one hand, I brought out the [Pestilence Essence Orb] letting it float in front of me i started directing and refining all the miasma into it. After 4 minutes the [Soul Essence Orbs] were complete. I figured after removing the impurities and destroying the ego they should have a similar effect to the [Blood/Vitality Essence Orbs] and be able to strengthen the soul of who ever consumed it. Now that the soul orbs were finished, I made a grasping motion with my hand to try and collect all the tainted spirits possessing the children. Of course though, things did not play out as simply as this morning. There wasn''t even 40 spirits on the three orphan children but yet these two children alone brought home close to 80 tainted spirits. When I went to make my move to capture them, my magick rebounded and struck me. Although I was flung into a wall, my barriers protected me from physical harm, it was the spiritual attack that had me spitting up blood. The apparitions began swirling faster and faster soon a single form started to manifest. I quickly shouted out to Lady Rose! ¡°Hurry fill the room with lightning attribute mana! They''re trying to become a something greater! We have to stop it!¡± As soon as the words left my lips I could feel the space around me lock down making it impossible for me to use [Teleport] again. Thankfully the people of the land new the undead are weak against the lightning attribute. It''s just unfortunate that this family had no way of repairing the spiritual damage, and removing the spirits and healing the outer wounds is not enough. And if you remove the spirits without having everything prepared you will only be bringing more harm to the victim potentially putting their life at risk. The children earlier were lucky, as soon as I removed the spirits the fear effect started to wear off. There was also no permanent damage to their souls. With the sudden surge of lightning mana the halfway formed [Specter] let out a terrible ghostly wail! A sphere of energy gathered at its mouth and grew larger every moment the light coming from it was blinding, it took aim and fired it at Lady Rose. Taken by surprise since she was fully focused on controlling the outrageous storm magicks he works everyday to keep bottled up. Having fought in many wars she figured how could an attack from such low rank undead have any affect on her, especially when she''s clad in lightning aura. What she hadn''t taken into consideration is that these spirits have been feeding on the magick of her children and even soaked up a large amount from her parents massive magick pool as they held nothing back to help their grandchildren. By the time she realized how dangerous the beam was it was already in front of her. As the blinding light is expected to take her out, suddenly a shadow jumped in the middle. Once sight returned to everyone Steward Ronaldo was lying on the ground, a bloody hole was gouged into his abdomen. Although it did not pierce all the way through, most of his intestines were shredded into bits¡­ No longer carrying for the circumstances Lady Rose let out a blood curdling scream.. ¡°RONALDOOOOOOOOOAAAAHHHHHH!!!!¡± Chapter 12 - Stormcasters (4) This is too real... ****** I was to greedy. In a situation where lives were on the line, I still tried to put my interest first. Is this why I allowed myself to be reincarnated here? Have I become so closed minded and goal oriented that I couldn''t even see what was important.. because of my mistake this entire family is about to be wiped out. All of this over some spirits that I still don''t even know the true worth of? "I should have severed the connection between the spirits and the children. Instead I tried to grab them in one go in hopes of making a gain. That was selfish as hell!" Lady Rose was holding onto Steward Ronaldo the best that she could. Is he even still breathing? By severing the connection, the spirits would have been thrown into disarray making saving the children much easier. But I had no assurance I''d be able to capture all of them later to refine them into pure essences. I grew shallow and cocky, using cheap tricks I''ve been able to come out on top through these few trials. In just one day I allowed myself to be blinded by my own greed. "Even now I''m left with uncertainty.. The beta trial hasn''t ended! One months time in the outside world is four months in-game." This world moves at a 4:1 ratio. There are no rebirth points activated until the first sponsored premium players can login. If I die now, will I have to sit in limbo until the four months pass? Am I going to waste my one chance to make something of my life all because my eyes were bigger than my stomach? Would I be reborn at all? This is asinine! The amalgamation of spirits gave us no room to breath or recover, the semi formed apparition shook it''s left arm and the spirit like skeletal hand turned into a large curved blade all the way up to its elbow. It finally came down from the ceiling still aiming to take out who it perceived as the most dangerous to its survival. "I won''t even let you touch Lady Rose!" The apparition closed the distance from the ceiling in moments, lost in her sorrow lady rose had given up the will to even protect herself. She truly felt that everything''s been lost and she might as well face her family on the other side. I quickly placed my hands to the ground and used my [Necromancer] spell [Curtain of death], I refused to succumb to the whim of others! "I want to live!!!" Being unable to stop immediately the almost completely formed specter flew right into my spell. Anything wrapped in the curtain of death becomes constricted while they slowly lose hp. Unfortunately the curtain is not strong and can be easily tore through. When used on ghost type monsters it won''t lower their health but it keeps them trapped for a while and they don''t generally have the physics strength to break free. "I''m not done you undead bastard!" The [Battle Mage] class doesn''t focus to much on a single elemental spells such as fire, water, wind and such except for the basics. The class is very versatile and equipt with a wide array of support, crowd control, and area of effect spells especial in the lower levels. The class is one of the few true mage classes that allows you to equipt a weapon of your choice opening up a lot of options in the way of tactics. Wielding multiple classes that have synergistic spells is a plus, by using the spell from the [Necro Arcana] I hastily used the spell from my [Minor Arcana] [Fireball]. Letting the fire float above my hand I poured my cold necromantic magick into the spell foundation. The fire went from as orange yellow color to pale blue color! It didn''t seem to get particularly warmer, if anything it also carried a chill about it. But the vibe it gave off was a pretty frightful. I let the [Fireball] grow in my hands! I didn''t let it get out of control though, being sure to condense it every time it reach a certain width.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. After pouring in what seemed to be no less than 500MP and seeing that it''s returned to it''s original size just many times more powerful I immediately moved to close the distance between myself and the apparition. Jumping behind the specter I fired the ball right at its back. The monster had been wailing the entire time, trying to fight it''s way out of my curtain. Thankfully I was able to finish this attack before it could break free. When the [Fireball] landed I felt my first spell shatter, the backlash from that made me go pale, but I made sure to grit my teeth and get through it. I wouldn''t take my eyes off this until everything was finished. My arcane magick was still low leveled but with the spells and magick working in tandem I was given more than enough time to wave my arm and send out a mana blade filled with necromancy magick to sever the connection, making it so the spirits can no longer feed off the children. If you blinked you would have missed it, the moment the [Fireball] landed I thought there would be a shockwave tossing me clear to the other side of the room, maybe even bringing about friendly fire to everyone in the room. To my surprise the fire moved with great haste completely enveloping the specter. If it was wailing before this could be called nothing other than a scream. Finally free of the first bindings and seeing that it was being consumed at an astonishing rate the specter gave up on becoming one and quickly tried to dissolve the bond between each of the spirits. With suddenly so many spirit''s it seemed a few would definitely get free, unfortunately when separated the spirits were many fold weaker making it much easier for the flame to eat them. A few did make it out of the hoard but they were still on fire, before they could move through the walls to escape, the flame finished consuming them. In under a minute all the spirits were vanquished and the room was dyed in an eerie pale light. the flames didn''t extinguish, they just kept floating where ever the spirit they were consuming died. Soon notifications came rolling in. *Ding*
You''ve destroyed [Tainted Spirit] x88
You''ve gained 6864 exp
[Minor Arcana] lvl increase to 5
[Necro Arcana] lvl increase to 3
Class [Battle Mage] has increased by 2
Class [Necromancer] has increase by 2
You''ve learned [Mana Manipulation lvl 1]
You''ve taken two opposing forces and brought forth one of the [108 Heavenly Flames] [Ghost Flame] seed has begun to grow within you.
whether by natural talent or through coincidental accident, you''ve moved to improve upon and create unique variations of system spells. You''ve gained the ability [Create spell]
Congratulations!! You''ve taken the first step on the path of becoming a powerful [Necromancer]. Although accidental you''ve created your first D Rank Undead servant! May you spread death and darkness across the land!
More and more windows popped up but I had no time to check them. I moved over to Lady Rose and Steward Ronaldo as soon as I seen that the spirits were all finished. She was so far gone, the eyes of the Viscountess were unfocused starring at one of the still floating blue flame. I could tell she wasn''t really seeing the flame though, her gaze was distant like she was truly elsewhere and only her body was present here. Laying in her arms I looked down to see sir Ronaldo, what I expected to see was a mangled corpse. What I actually saw was although still bloody the gaping wound from earlier had clearly gotten much smaller. The organs which earlier looked like minced meat had already found their way back into his body. What surprised me most of all was the aura coming from Ronaldo. [Aura of healing] could be felt several meters out with his body at the center. My mind was moving 100 times over! I quickly reached out to Lady Rose trying to wake her from this broken state. She wasn''t responding to her name so I went to nudge her shoulder I was zapped by a strong electrical current. "FUCK! That hurt like shiit!" My resistance to lightning must be very low, even in the hallway just the excess energy made me feel like I would die. "I''m sorry to have to do this to such a lovely lady but ... drastic measures!" I pulled my hand back and with a quick motion I struck her across the face! Even with all my strength behind it her aura negated about 95% of the force put into the slap before it even hit her face. A loud crisp sound resounded through the quiet room. Wide eyed she finally looked at me, clarity returning to her eyes. "No one''s dead yet! But they will be if you don''t pull yourself together!!" "What do you mean?" She clearly blocked out the last few minutes of the situation, I didn''t even have to say anything as her head rolled about taking in all there was to see. Her eyes lingered on the largest pale blue flame for only a moment before shock was painted vividly on her face. She then looked down at her steward and she let out a great gasp! "I don''t know what he did but he''s some how releasing a powerful healing aura and his wounds are closing up if you give him a health and mana potion he..." I didn''t even finish my words out of thin air a bottle appeared it was similar in shape to the one she handed me earlier but that was where the similarities ended. From this potion I could feel an intense concentration of mana and medicinal herbs. "This elixer should be plenty to help speed up his recovery, I''ll watch over him hurry over to the children and my parents!" "When his wounds close up bring him over next to them we still need a healer and right now his aura is the best we have!" I quickly gave her my advise and went over to the group. I don''t know how but they seemed completely unaffected by the battle that rattled off just moments ago that left holes in the walls and blood all over the ground. "My [Refine] skill is already at an excellent level this should go very quickly now." Going back to where the [Pestilence Essence orb] was left I once more continued pulling all the miasma into it. I immediately ran into another issue. All four of them were covered in crystallized mana. It''s not impossible to do what needs to be done it''ll just take ever ounce of mana I had left. I couldn''t help but frown. "Even with my all, will I have enough to finish it?" But in the next moment my issue was solved. Before me hovered a mana potion identicle to the first one I drank earlier. "I told you already, don''t hesitate when it comes to something like that when my children''s life is still on the line!" Lady Rose didn''t even give me a glace as she spoke those words. Someone at her level probably had no problem seeing the tiny amount of mana I had left. I nodded and drank it in one go. My body immediately felt completely refreshed as a cool energy flowed into ever recess within me. Now let''s save you guys! Chapter 13 - Reflection (1) Last night''s ordeal left a deep impression on me. I hold a very deep belief that children are our future! In my last life even though I lived in a pretty small apartment and didn''t have many things, that was more of a choice than anything else. I unfortunately worked very long hours at my job and sometimes a few weeks would go by before I would get a day off. But I actually made a decent salary for being a young bachelor. Since I didn''t have time to volunteer like I wanted,I made sure to donate to all the local organizations and facilities that helped give children better opportunities for their future. Schools, shelters, community centers, if children went there to play or educate themself I made sure to help send as many donations as I could. Even more so to the places that didn''t already receive a lot of outside funding. That''s why the moment I entered the city I threw caution to the wind and jumped to help the orphaned trio. Even at the city lord''s castle when I was being accused of things I didn''t do, the moment I heard there were children that needed help and I had the power to do so I immediately agreed. When I stepped back into my inn this morning the light of dawn could be seen peeking over the horizon, off in the distance. As soon as I got into my room I threw myself on my bed and entered meditation. My mind was completely exhausted after everything that happened and I was no longer in the mood to continue on with my experiments. I really need to give myself a once over and see what all my abilities can do so that I would have more insurance for myself in the future. ¡°My life is only valuable to myself and no one else, I can only rely on me in dangerous situations!¡± Several thing''s stuck out to me last night. I first tried to use brute force to break the crystallized energy everyone was wrapped in and immediately realized that was a stupid waste of magick. I made a motion and pulled out one of my few gains from last night.
Name: Mana Essence Crystal Rank: C- Use: embed, consume, equip, ingredient HP: 0 MP: +21,810 Str: 0 Def: 0 Vit: 0 Agi: 0 Dex: 0 Min: 2181 Wis: 613 Cha: 0 Luc: 0 Abilities: [Absorb Mana] [Generate Mana] [Territory] Skills: [Mana Manipulation up] Description: Concentrated mana in its purest form will eventually crystallize. Although still small as long as its crystal body is not destroyed it will continue to produce mana. It will absorb the mana in its territory in cycles waiting for the mana to become abundant to insure the environment stays rich in mana. What will it become as it grows? Purity: 100%
The moment I pulled it out I had to return it for in the split second the amount of mana concentrated in my room alone was suffocating! From the connecting rooms I could hear sudden movement and a few screams sounding off throughout the inn. The mana capacity for this Crystal is nearly 20x my own! ¡°I honestly can''t image the size of Lady Rose¡¯s mana pool for her to be pumping out so much power that even after filtering out the elemental affinities mixed in something like this was still made.¡± The first mana crystal I refined was when she had been hysterical nearly destroying that part of her castle. It was much smaller than this one, being the size of my pinky finger, whereas now it was about the width and length of my indeed finger. When I approached the children I realized the mana cocoon they were in gave off a similar feel to the crystal I refined. When I pulled it out and used [Analyze] on it, I immediately checked for any useful skills or abilities.
[Absorb Mana] Although lacking an ego it''s instinct drives it to grow stronger! All mana within its [Territory] is subject to absorption. Warning! Purity may drop depending on quality of mana absorbed!
[Generate Mana] Being a [Source] of mana it cannot help but manipulate and synthesize the ever present [Lesser Energies] in its [Territory] to produce Mana. Warning! Quality and Type of mana produced is a direct reflection of Crystal purity and the quality of the [Lesser Energies] in its [Territory]
[Territory] All energies with its sphere of dominance are subject to its control! Only those with strength and resolve may freely wield mana! Radius of current [Territory] 250 meters
[Mana Manipulation] Wisdom is the way of experience, knowledge, and principle! Through these, your understanding of mana will only ever increase. The more you learn about mana, the more you''ll know you know nothing all the same.
I have to say I was shocked by its abilities and skills! Control, manipulation, absorption!! Those were all the things I needed in that moment. I grabbed onto the smaller crystal that it was at the time and willed it to absorb the cocoon like mana around the children. It took a moment to get a feel for what I needed to do, but I could feel a kind of pull between the crystal and the cocoons.. After a minute threads of mana no bigger in width than thin hair started uncoiling from the cocoons and found their way to the Essence crystal. I quickly noticed that the process was going slow, after investigating why I realized that although it can absorb mana, it had to do almost an act of digestion. Meaning it could only absorb and hold so much at a time. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I quickly threw this slow as a snail idea out the window and just directly refined the mana it drew out of the cocoon for it. When I did it this way, a process that would have taken a few hours and definitely hurt more than helped, was easily finished in a few minutes. It was an unfortunate thing that I couldn''t sit and absorb all the mana these two grandparents expended in an attempt to preserve their precious grandchildren, but time was of the essence. After absorbing and refining about 2% of the total mana between the two cocoons the amount of mana I could manipulate with the crystal increased by a lot. What use to be thin hair sized mana became mana threads as thick as straw. I learned from my earlier greed and instead of trying to grow the mana crystal I just used it''s [Mana Manipulation] skill to rip holes into the cocoons large enough for me to slip my own mana in. After large enough holes were torn into it, the mana began to dissipate on its own. I really did want to leave the crystal out to absorb the copious amount of mana filling the room, but I remember it''s territory description. I wasn''t sure how it would affect the mana in the children''s body or even the emaciated elders sitting before me. After storing it away I quickly asked the Viscountess who had already moved closer to me with the steward, to protect both their minds with her aura and to do the same to everyone else when I gave the word. Along with the [Pestilence Essence Orb] I pulled out the [Despair Essence Orb]. I hurriedly wrapped it in my aura trying to prevent its own aura from causing more harm than good. My ability [Essentia] had allowed my to see the cloud of terror assembling around both children, clearly an effect of the spiritual damage they had received from being possessed. Refining miasma into one orb and fear into the other I was putting everything I had into the process to insure success. What I concluded later was that Steward Ronaldo in an act of desperation must have eaten my essence orb of vitality. It wouldn''t be unusual for someone in his profession to have the [Appraisal] skill. I couldn''t help but notice how during all this his aura kept getting stronger with time. I was curious to know if he gained the skill after consumption or had the Essence of the orb assimilated with the skills he already had. Whatever the case I was very thankful for his actions. Throughout the entire process everyone was getting healed, once I had put the [Despair Essence Orb] away, i tried to start focusing on removing the miasma from the elders but I couldn''t even get my magick past their auras. Thankful as I was finishing with the children they both gave two great coughs and a large amount of refined black blood and miasma was expelled from their bodies at once. Their once pale complexion once again started to regain its lavish dark color. And while still emaciated, two elixer appeared before them, the liquid left the bottles of their own accord and entered the elders. I couldn''t help but suck in a breath of air deeply! ¡°Powerful!¡± was definitely a word that could describe these two. I quickly refined their portion of miasma and blood into the [Pestilence Essence orb] and took the two very tiny [Soul Essence orbs] out, we were betting everything on these. I quickly split my attention and gave them a once over.
Name: Soul Essence Orb Rank: F Use: embed, consume, equip, ingredient HP: 100 MP: 100 Str: 10 Def: 10 Vit: 10 Agi: 10 Dex: 10 Min: 10 Wis: 10 Cha: 10 Luc: 10 Abilities: [Strengthen Soul] Skills: Description: After rigorously refining the souls of the fallen an essence orb with a purity rate is created. The use of the orb is strongly connected to the quality of the orb. Purity: 100%
[Strengthen Soul] Some wounds aren''t physical but can cause much greater damage. Deepen the foundation of your soul, carve out it''s dormant potential, transcend tribulation! Warning! Those with strong foundations and powerful souls may be completely unaffected.
I gave a small grin at that. Although this was the lowest quality orb and as nobles the their bloodline should be no less than C Rank, their souls were both very clear for me to see! Damaged! And the parts still intact were tainted with dark spots in some places. They would definitely live but they would become husks of what they could have been. Their growth stunted and they would be plagued with phantoms from the trauma they''ve incurred. The peaceful glow my orbs of soul essence gave off along with the information about their skill was very reassuring. Placing orbs in the mouths of both children who were finally laying on the ground, had their bodies begin to glow and I could see a change in the quality of their souls immediately! First the tainted spots evaporated in moments. Then their souls actual started to shrink in on itself but I could tell from the way they were pulsing like heartbeats, they were getting stronger! After the time it takes an incense stick to burn the pulsing of their souls stabilized and the light of their newly healed souls were bright! Much brighter than they had been before. Nathaniel, the young boy, started to glow much brighter and his short cropped hair grew about ten inches longer, the hair on his body including his tail had become dark navy blue instead of the black that it was. Ren¨¨, the older sister, also noticeably glowed brighter herself but while her bob cut black hair grew a few inches, the color did not change. What did change however was that suddenly the tail that had laid still next to her split itself in two! I was both appalled and amazed! Was this the ¡°carving out dormant power¡± the skill was speaking of? I''m not sure if you can call this a bloodline awakening, a pseudo-evolution, maybe a quasi-variant? We would have to see the full effects after they wake up, although it could be possible that we won''t see any results for a few years since their both still young. After seeing that I had put everything away and nodded in satisfaction Viscountess Rose gave me a suspicious look. Apparently she wasn''t happy with the sudden changes to her children. All I could do was put my hands up and tell her it was all experimental. Under her breath I heard her curse the local temples for not producing any priests or clergymen of quality. I could understand her frustrations, it would have been easy for a Bishop to [Exorcise], [Cleanse], and [Purify] the children, making it so she wouldn''t have had to have waited so long and watch their health get worse. As we spoke more and I started to get a bit more understanding of their situation, the system hit me with my second quest... Chapter 14 - Reflection (2) ¡°Outside the city on a small mountain about 8 kilometres northeast there lies some ruins. My late husband although only having the peerage of Great knight, his family had specialized in relics and knowledge of the forgotten kingdoms. They were esoteric in nature and kept odd records, various things happened and his dying wish was for me to promise not to destroy the damn cathedral, the only building partially left standing. No God resides there and none of the temples here have anyone with the power to sanctify it and claim it for their own God. In the vicinity of the temple the precious flower Luna Lily grows, and although I''ve advised incessantly for no one to go there, but surfs and the people living in the slums risk going there because there are plenty of places that will pay a few silver for a small bundle of the flower. 3 months ago a group of necromancers and dark mages occupied the temple and attempted to corrupt the land in hopes of presenting it to one of their Dark Gods! When I received word I immediately intervened and me and my knights slaughtered them all. Unfortunately we didn''t make it in time and they had already began their ritual. Since then I''ve had to send my stronger knights to clear out the cathedral and it''s surroundings every two weeks or so. Their aura helps keep the lesser spirits at bay so they''ve been able to keep from being possessed.¡± After having the knights that picked me up from the inn, walk out of her shadow and carry everyone who was recovering off somewhere, Lady Rose was going over what had occurred to warrant the stewards initial hostility towards me. Hearing their side of the story I honestly couldn''t blame them, mages who control the undead, when discovered are usually killed before they can grow into power. From what she says at least that''s how it is in the majority of Human, Fae, and Beastkin Kingdoms. Which left me wondering how anyone even obtains the class in the first place. That''s why you won''t find any major mages guild with an undead faction. Taking this into consideration I couldn''t help wonder one, why she was explaining all this to me while I''m still alive, and two, what would the citizens of this world do when the players arrived and necromancers showed up in the thousands. I gave a small smile at that, unfortunately the Viscountess misinterpreted my action, thinking I found what she said somehow amusing. First she scowled deeply, but a sly smile soon crossed her face. She lightly tapped the side of her nose. ¡°hehe Sir Alucard, although you smell of Demonkin, but under that you also give off a familiar scent as well.¡± That last part she finished with a deep purr. My face darkened a few shades and I couldn''t help but squint at her. When she saw my expression her smile widened and she continued with her words. ¡°Could you perhaps be one of our beastkin as well, maybe even a feline race?¡± She ever so subtle fluttered her eyelashes trying to make the question seem innocent. She was mocking me. I hadn''t said anything but I had noticed that the city guards and the knights that I''ve seen all seem to be Beastkin with feline as their bloodline base. ¡°You say you''re exiled from a far off land, but you don''t have the strong scent of any of our beastkin on you. That seems a bit sad, by chance.. Are you maybe the bastard child of a noble? Mother a concubine maybe? Were you exiled because you just luckily happened to be born with your father''s noble blood, didn''t want you fighting your elder siblings or the first wife''s children for his noble title?¡± My eyes widened in surprise!! Her face and smile lit up at my reaction, there was even a trail of electricity that arched through her hair.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I was honestly surprised by how wrong she was. Was this the system filling in pieces of my back story for the people of the land? No that wouldn''t be necessary.. on the outside I made my face get darker in reflection to her amusement of it all, but I was actually laughing very hard on the inside, she was just wrong. ¡°She made up a story that made the most sense and ran with it! Oh this was gold! Now I don''t really need to explain too much of why I was exiled this is a perfect excuse!¡± I couldn''t help but revel in the feeling of this small victory. I gave her a small nod confirming that she had guessed mightily right but was choosing not to say much else. I also found satisfaction in the fact that to her, I was but a small child and probably seemed like I was pouting about the situation. I couldn''t tell her my father was the scion of one of our demon nations 7 vampiric true ancestor bloodlines. That he has been having children with various species in an attempt to create a child that could act as a vessel for their God. If I told her my mother was a human that was bit by a Therianthrope and infected the baby she was carrying with its bloodline I know the Viscountess would be even less inclined to believe me. Who would believe that a father would birth his weak willed baby with no ego or sense of self into a pool of blood from sacrifices that had been possessed by said Demonic God in an attempt to have said God possess the vessel immediately through the blood ritual? And all in all who would believe said child survived, was rescued by his mother who sacrificed more than 700 levels of her power to have them both escape and have been fleeing the pursuit of my father''s men since? Well that was the story I gave to the company anyway, hehehe I threw in a few things about a half brother I grew up with, and how our mother abandoned us with his father''s tribe. Making sure I added that I was abused there and made my escape a few months ago which is why I didn''t materialize anywhere close to my ¡°kin¡± of any kind. I was a Dhampir alright, a Dhampir that was a Vampire, mixed with Blood Fiend Leopard, Human, and the blood of those 13 possessed sacrifices.. When I wrote the character outline up, it had been passed up the corporate ladder because the technicians assisting the AI wasn''t sure if this was possible. Finally someone at the top had them change a few codes around and it was approved. Honestly I didn''t think it would be an issue when I wrote up the finer details, we were told our job is to surprise the AI and do whatever we can to affect the world it was creating. I figured helping create a unique bloodline fell into those parameters and with that my job would officially be done and I could use my time in-game as I pleased. I hadn''t taken into account maybe i should write something that wouldn''t made me look so damn suspicious!! But thankfully with the Viscountess backing up this story who would doubt it? ¡°Oh! Where are my manners? That must be such a touchy subject for youu~! How rude of me to pry at old wounds!¡± The Viscountess gave a devilish grin ever so slightly at the end of her statement. She quickly put on a much more serious face and continued leading the one sided conversation. ¡°Well you are still young, and as you know, Nobles regardless of the country are usually given a bit more privilege than the common folk. I won''t dig any deeper into your background or even send a messenger to the capital reporting more necromancy sightings, and in return you could stay in this remote city and help take care of a few things whenever the occasion arises.¡± This time her devilish smile was in full display, I''m sure she''s used this smile many a times on naive young men and women alike to help push whatever agenda she was running. As I was thinking of declining her and making a mad dash to the next city a prompt appeared. *Ding*
Quest Grade: Unique Details: Viscountess Rose is impressed with your demeanor and character. Although she feels your background is a little sketchy she''s very thankful for the lives of her children. She believes your talents are useful and that given time she will be able to hold influence over you unlocking the secrets you hold. Give Lady Rose a Satisfactory answer. Reward: [Affiliation: Gentleman of Dancing Forest City] [Title: Gentleman] [Fame: +10] [Infamy: +4] Failure Penalty: [Title: Wanted] [Blacklisted: Myriad Quartz Kingdom] [Fame: +2] [Infamy: +10]
Reading the quest window pissed me off, I couldn''t help wondering if if she was playing at some typical Tsundere character. I''d hardly heard anything from her in regards to the fact that her children were in the clear now, and yet the system is saying she''s very happy.. who could tell? I am wondering how I ended up in the whole ¡°I really like you but I still have to do my job¡± scenario. I hadn''t given much thought to how the people of the land would react to my necromancy class since I knew I had demon heritage and that when the players arrived necromancers would be a common occurrence. The thing is if I accept her offer and become a member of this kingdom''s nobility I couldn''t help wondering how it might hold me back in the future.. on the other hand it was starting to get to me that I hadn''t found another way to increase the level of my [Noble] class. Gaining an affiliation while doing a few errands here and there would help me level pretty easily, but why would I gain fame and infamy? I could understand one or the other, but both? Looking at the quest penalties cast a shadow over my heart.. I came here to live my life as I please, build something unique for myself, Chase a dream maybe.. But whether I agree or disagree my future is already in the hands of another¡­ At that time I balled my fists up but I gave her my approval, I swore to myself that I wouldn''t be weak for long and that I won''t be trapped here forever. This time could also be looked at as a kind of protection period, at least for four months anyway. After that the breach in the void and the warriors descending from the heavens will shake the land up and who knows if this remote city will survive the chaos. That''s one of the things i''ll be waiting on today, Lady Rose said the notary would come to my room a bit past noon. After the documents were signed the quest would officially be complete! That brought me to my next thought, I looked over towards the empty corner near the door and Said aloud. ¡°Appear!¡± Chapter 15 - lets play with the dead? (1) With my words I could feel a bit of my MP drop, a negligible amount, and a crack in space appeared. It wasn''t very large, just the right size for a ball of blue fire to float through and enter the room. When the fire completely crossed over, the space stitched itself back together like nothing was there in the first place. Reaching out with my palm face up I gestured for the flame to land in my hand. When it was finally hovering before me I couldn''t help but gently move my hand over the flaming mass. There was no heat, at least none at the level you would expect a ball of fire to be at. It was almost like moving your hand through silky smooth waves of warm fur. My first true ¡°undead¡± servant! Although it was a spirit, the system recognized it as belonging to the undead tree. Probably because it wasn''t really an elemental in the same sense as the others, all the spirits I''ve collected so far are so weak the system hadn''t even bothered to register them as servants. I couldn''t help but wonder if I was being trolled. ¡°Hello there little buddy, was it lonely in the necropolis?¡± After the battle I received many system notifications, having no time to scroll through them all, I missed the ones where it said I gained [Summoning lvl 1] and that I had fulfilled the condition to opening my own little necropolis for my undead to wait at when they weren''t being used. I found that indispensable, even more so now that I know the stigma behind my class. Unfortunately right now mine can only hold up to about ten undead properly. Given time though as i grow stronger, it will grow larger. And when my undead reach a certain level they can help expand the space as well. The lesser tainted spirits I''ve been collecting were always just thrown into my item box, after the necropolis opened I wasn''t sure they would all fit, but it seems the system recognizes every ten of the spirits as one undead slot. It was an odd feeling.. the comfort I was getting just from having my servant next to me. I could feel the metaphysics bond between us, something like a signature of mine left tying us together. Probably because it was my magick that gave it life. Being able to feel the bond so distinctly through it helped me realize I also had a kind of bond to the essence orbs I refined, just to a much lesser extent. But that would probably change too the more I focused on them. Through our bond I quickly opened up its status window while feeding it one of the lesser tainted spirits.
Name: None Gender: Agender Race: Ignus Fatuus Bloodline Rank: D Grade: Unique Evolution: Possible Class: [Spirit lvl 1] [Locked] Sub-Class: [Locked] Titles: [Servant of Alucard] Affiliations: None Level: 1 Exp: 10/80 Hp: 300/300 Mp: 350/350 Str: 10 Def: 10 Vit: 30 Agi: 5 Dex: 5 Min: 35 Wis: 40 Char: 10 Luc: 5 Bonus Points: 8 Abilities: [Over Gorge] [Spirit Sight] [Spirit Body] [Absorb Mana] [Mitosis] [Nucleus] [Split] [Possession] Skills: [Digest lvl 1] [Animate lvl 1] [Fire Magic lvl 1] [Darkness Magic lvl 1] [Psychokinesis lvl 1] [Leadership lvl 1] Blessings: None
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I was honestly pretty happy with my first undead, my class and arcana skill level are still relatively low. I''m thankful for my over abundance of mana so early on in my growth. If I was the same Rank as this guy unless I was throwing all my BP into Mind stat, I wouldn''t have had the magick to throw around and do whatever it was that I did back then. Somehow the combination of my spell, mixed with magick from another skill tree, and the tainted souls came together to form this guy. The fireball I had thrown at the time was very light blue mixed with white in color. This guy was the same except he has a very tiny purple swirl in the center of his flame. I couldn''t tell if it had emotions or not but it seemed happy whenever I paid it some attention. It''s flame would brighten a hint, it would spin a bit faster, and it''s body would dance a bit more. When it was first born we were still in the midst of healing the sick, I had thrown all my energy into focusing on that. When everything was getting cleaned up the blue flames loitering around the large room started congregating towards the largest flame with a slight purple swirl. One off Viscountess Rose¡¯s knights went to extinguish it but it quickly floated over and landed on my head. To say the least I was surprised, but having calmed down by then I remember a few of the notifications and waved the knight off. It was only after Lady Rose told her knight to stand down did I realize I had been extremely tense at the thought I might lose this little guy before I had the chance to understand what it really was. ¡°My cute little Wil-o-wisp let''s finally check on those unusual abilities you have.¡±
[Over Gorge] Forcefully swallow double the spirits you would be able to usually. Using [Quick Digest] you can immediately receive 40% of their original worth. Currently Digesting: 0/10
[Mitosis] Once a mana threshold is hit, proliferate and populate the area with your kin! Mana Threshold: 0/2000MP Divisions: 1
[Nucleus] You are your flames, your flames are yours to control, as long as the flame isn''t destroyed it will remain under your influence.
[Split] Wisps of a willow are as appendages, be sure not to spread yourself too thin in an attempt to [Control] everything in sight! [Lesser Wisps]: 4/4
[Possession] Bending the wills of others has always been within the nature of the undead spirit. The living, undead, and inanimate can be useful vessels.
Everything honestly sounded great I don''t think I could have asked for more given the circumstances! ¡°I feel like [Over Gorge] will definitely be an ability that can help in a pinch. Eating about twenty spirits is you limit for right now, but it seems like a growth type ability which is very promising! Through [Mitosis] it''s seems like I''ll be able to eventually have an entire team of Wil-o-wisp like you, which in battles of attrition will have its own benefits, especially if they have the same starting skills and abilities as you! Unfortunately for now it seems like it''ll take a lot of time to put mana into the ability, while also maintaining some mana incase I need to call you out into battle. Until I can level you up and at least get your mind and wisdom stats to 100 respectively, we''ll probably have to hold off on that mostly. Recovering 4mp per minute just isn''t reassuring. Maybe if we found a ton of lesser spirits for you to gorge on and quick digest we might be able to speed up the process but it doesn''t seem very likely.¡± [Spirit Sight], [Spirit Body], and [Absorb Mana] were all pretty clear cut. Without a set of eyes it makes it hard to know what''s around you, [Spirit Sight] allowed for a kind of otherworldly perception of your surrounding at all times, while being a sought after gift by [Spirit User] class who relied on the whim of the present spirits to help cast their spells. Although flames could cause physical reactions and were generally made up of molecules, was it the same for spirit fire? [Spirit Body] allowed for intangibility, and the ability to move through the ever present ether undetected. [Absorb Mana] was helpful in the fact that instead of recovering 4mp every minute, taking mana right out of the surrounding air and slowly refining it would help build the amount of excess mana needed for [Mitosis] unfortunately with wisdom being so low, the amount of mana in the surrounds that it could influence is pretty low. ¡°Raising your wisdom is definitely a must if I want you to be more helpful in battles!¡± Hearing my remarks it''s flame burned hotter for the first time, was it pumped up from my words? I believe your key ability is the [Nucleus] ability that you have, it says you are your flame and all flames from you are to be under your control unless destroyed. Using the [Split] ability for example, using one of your [Lesser Wisps] to [Possess] an small object or a weak well person would help you control more things at once. But in the same sense, if I captured one of your wisps and refined it as a core ingredient for a magick item, granted it''s shape changed but your wisp is still in there, it would be like having your own artifact that can grow with you they no one could steal away permanently! I do wonder how [Nucleus] will affect the other Wil-o-wisp born through [Mitosis] I mean technically they were born from your flame correct? The one skill I had been a bit disappointed in was actually the [Animate lvl 1] skill, it seems one of the [Lesser Wisps] needed to be used to animate the object for an extended amount of time while corrupting it with its magick before the wisp could be used and the object permanently animated. Although my dreams of you wielding a second undead army with me are put on hold, it''ll only be a matter of time before both of our levels rise to the necessary levels. Then we won''t have to live under the thumb of other people! Looking at its stats and abilities was very reassuring to me. All we needed was time and opportunity would present itself, patience was the key factor in all of this. Chapter 16 - lets play with the dead? (2) I couldn''t help but admire my my own work! I had left several corpses just lying in my [Item Box] all day yesterday because I hadn''t had the time to properly tend to them as I had wished. After looking through my cute little Wil-o-wisp stats, I wanted to be finished with the prepping part of the materials I''d gathered so far. After refining the blood I had my undead use it''s flame to ¡®eat¡¯ the meat and flesh of the bodies, well at least what was left of it. The leftover blood from the goblin allowed me to create a [Blood Essence orb] that was relatively weak although still filling. I thought with the stats of all these bodies combined i would be able to create a very powerful blood crystal. One powerful enough even I''d be able to see a lot of growth after consuming it. Unfortunately after refining it to a certain point the the orb wouldn''t get stronger. In the end I only ended up with 4 maxed out orbs.
Name: Blood Essence Orb Rank: F+ Use: embed, consume, equip, ingredient HP: 1000 MP: 0 Str: 100 Def: 100 Vit: 100 Agi: 100 Dex: 100 Min: 0 Wis: 0 Cha: 0 Luc: 0 Abilities: [Detect bloodline] [Awaken Bloodline] Skills: [Drink Blood lvl 1] Description: After rigorously refining blood essence an orb with a purity rate is created. The use of the orb is strongly connected to the quality of the orb. Purity: 100%
Only guess I could make is that I need to experiment with higher ranked bloodlines. If I could figure out ways to produce higher level bloodlines with low cost, couldn''t I have an army of the living and dead?? I popped one of the orbs into my mouth allowing the warmth to wash through my body relieving stress I hadn''t even realized was pent up.
You''ve consumed [Blood Essence Orb]x1
Your bloodline is of a higher Rank! [Blood Essence Orb]x1 has been safely digested!
Permanent increase to the following stats ¡· Str: +1 Def: +1 Vit: +1 Agi: +1 Dex: +1
¡°I knew it!!¡± It seems I''ll be able to supplement my stats with these orbs, I bet if I was willing to go on a killing spree, getting a few hundred extra stats wouldn''t be an issue at all. ¡°Mmm this is actually pretty dangerous. Since my Rank is so much higher I hardly get any benefit from these, but what would happen if any F Bloodline Rank individual consumed one of these? The system stated ¡°Safely Digested¡± both times. I''ll have to do a lot of experimenting before I can gives these to other people, while also looking for ways to create ones of higher rank but with less stat increases. Hehehe don''t want to much completion! I honestly have to keep tight lipped about this for now. Wouldn''t want some hidden master to come lock me up and spend the rest of my days refining blood essence for them¡± Another reason to be pissed off at my weak self. Maybe I should have just wrote my outline as still being in my father''s castle? That wouldn''t really help either, I''d probably only be allowed to grow enough to constantly have the power to spin these into existence. Which brings me to my next question, there should definitely be others out there who know about creating these, right? Maybe who ever else knows realized the danger of it and decided to keep quiet about it. Shrugging off my wandering thoughts I brought myself back to my current project. I had no plans of making any kind of zombies, Banshee¡¯s, or ghouls, so there was no need to leave the brain behind. I quickly removed the tiny beast cores and have the brains burned away as well. What laid before me were skeletons from 7 adult men, 9 bunnies, and one goblin head! Even though I don''t have any land to lay these guys in yet, allocating what will go where is definitely important and it helps to do it beforehand. It''s not like I couldn''t just wave my hand and turn them into [Skeletons] F Rank undead, but what I need right now is quality not quantity! If I take my time preparing these guys making a E Rank [Bone Warrior] or even a D Rank [Skull Soldier] shouldn''t be an issue. I''ve also thought about a way to make increase their [Grade] so that I''m not just stuck with [Common] undead. Taking 8 of the 9 grayish beast cores, I paired them up and refined them down to four almost transparent cores no bigger than the size of a grain of rice With the wave of my hand all of the rabbit skeletons and 3 of the male Skeletons floated into the air, my hand made a first and all the bones were ground into dust. Infusing the bone dust with my necromancy, the dust took on a black metallic color. Unfortunately my enchantment level was still very low so the number of enchantment I knew were few. Undead have an innate weakness to fire, light, and lightning. Luckily [Resist Fire] was a novice level enchantment. Portioning off 90% of the dust I began inscribing the remaining four skeletons with [Resist Fire] [Strength Up] and [Feathered Feet]. All three would give a permanent 10% increase to to their corresponding stats. It won''t make them completely immune to fire, give them Herculean strength, or allow them to run like the wind. But having permanent buffs that have the chance of growing as the evolve could definitely make a difference. I wanted to turn the Goblin head into a magick item. I should be able to sell it for a decent price after refining it and placing similar enchantments on it. Low rank undead didn''t need beast cores since pure mana was enough to animate them, if you wanted to create anything of quality using a core would up your chances!A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. After placing The cores inside each remaining skull I watched as the dust enveloped The skeletons soaking into their bones! Soon a spell formation for the enchantments started forming on the skeletons forehead as a complicated circle with magick runes started to take shape. Slowly magick script branched out from the circle and started to cover them from head to toe. As soon as I felt that every inch of them was covered with the Formation I poured more mana into the inscriptions. I watched as the inscription patterns branded themselves to the dark bones of the skeletons. As my mana drained, the bones took on a beautiful ivory color while the ash took on a very dark silver tone. When it was nearing completion, the inscriptions no longer looked like runes or words, but more like tribal war tattoos. Dark silver lines covered every piece of them and each line flowed into another until 7 lines met back up at the forehead forming the silhouette of a hollowed out silver sun mark. The [Enchant] skill could give timed buffs that cost a relatively humble amount of mana. If you wanted to permanently inscribe something you had to spend anywhere close from 5 to 10 times the original amount of mana depending on what your inscribing and the amount of inscriptions To fully enchant these for skeletons cost me a whopping 600MP!!! A third of my mana out the window and they have not even been raised as undead yet! I moved the excess bone dust back to the collective to be used when I inscribed the Goblin head later.
[Enchant] has increased to lvl 4
Class [Enchanter] has increased by 1
I was a bit disappointed my class level didn''t increase by 1 more, but I knew I shouldn''t be far off from it leveling again. I took a moment to collect myself and let my mana recover a bit. This is where the tricky part comes into play. I''ve decided doing a full burial ritual would be unrealistic given my circumstances, and time constraint. I looked up at my cute little Wil-o-wisp that had been floating there watching me intently.. at least I hope it''s watching, and not just day dreaming... Anyway, I figured I would make these guys special using its help. ¡°Okay you ready to do what i explained little buddy?¡± I couldn''t help but smile at the cute blue flame, it really was adorable!!! The Wil-o-wisp lowered itself to hover just above the four skeletons. Its body suddenly shrunk by about half and surrounding it were four smaller flames about the size of an index finger and middle finger next to each other. It made the smaller wisps rotated and dance around it and then made them lay on the hollowed out sun mark, the silver lines began reflecting with an icy blue sheen. I quickly took out one of the three remaining [Blood Essence Orbs] and crushed it, willing the essence to flow into the skeletons. It was in that moment the wisps began integrating into the bodies. I threw my entire being into using my necromancy energy and [Refine] skill to fuse all the ingredients. Minutes ticked by, 3.. 7.. 12.. 20.. I couldn''t be bothered to keep track, the blood essence was battling it out with the death magick and [Ghost Flame] wisps. I had to be extremely careful not to try and snuff out the essence all together since the integrity of the bones wouldn''t be able to take such a violent magick pulse. I could sense the main body of the Wil-o-wisp growing weaker, it was throwing all it''s mana into making its wisps integrate fully. As an undead it shouldn''t feel pain, but having its wisps attacked by the blood essences it was probably losing HP as well. Through our connection I could feel it start to siphon mana from me to cope with the drain. As time ticked on the blood essence fought back less and less, it gave one last great push and then feel silent. I released a breath I hadn''t even realized I was holding, shortly after the refining came to a close.
[Necro Arcana] has increased to lvl 4
Class [Refiner] has increased by 1
Realizing i did something dangerous again, i was taking a few deep breaths waiting for my mana to recover when I felt a soft tap on my head, I knew it was the Wil-o-wisp letting out its own sigh of relief. The skeletons were no longer empty husks, now they gave off waves of death energy. They had become true undead! I quickly gave them my first command. ¡°Rise!¡± The once empty sockets where their eyes once were suddenly burned with violet flames! I was a little caught off guard when they didn''t stand, but instead dematerialized, then rematerialized standing up! ¡°whoa! You guys are better than I expected!!¡± I gave them a thorough inspection, the tribal markings glowed an eerie purple with silver undertones, where before there bodies were of various sizes now they all stood at a uniformed 6 feet, it seems their bones didn''t get any wider but when I went to touch them the density was indeed remarkable. If before their bones were considered brittle now they were as if cast from Steel! Where the makings come together to form the silhouette of the hollowed out sun, in the center of their ivory skulls a vertical slits appeared like a cat''s pupil. When I looked into what was seemingly their third eye i felt my perception stretch all around me, one moment i was standing in my room and the next it was as if I was pulled into an abyss. Darkness was become a kind of everythingness giving off a feeling of conquest, it was oppressive! In the next moment a pulse made the darkness ripple, deep in the center of the darkness a tiny violet flame flickered, throbbing almost like it was dancing in a wind I couldn''t feel. I watched this dance for some time, I watched as after it throbbed so many times, a pulse would go out, and following that pulse the darkness would ripple again giving off the illusion that it was shimmering and stars were cascading out into the endless abyss. I pulled my consciousness back and I was immediately back in my body. I couldn''t help but scowl, these guys are definitely increasingly more interesting the more I look, dangerous but interesting. That thought made me grin. ¡°Hehehe it''s a good thing you guys are mine huh? Okay let''s take a look at your actual stats why don''t we, I''m sure there will be some good stuff!¡±
Name: None Gender: None Race: Flaming Blood Fiend Specter Bloodline Rank: D Grade: Unique Evolution: Possible Class: [Specter lvl 1] [Locked] Sub-Class: [Locked] Titles: [Servant of Alucard] Affiliations: None Level: 1 Exp: 0/80 Hp: 350/350 Mp: 300/300 Str: 40 Def: 25 Vit: 35 Agi: 20 Dex: 15 Min: 30 Wis: 20 Char: 5 Luc: 5 Bonus Points: 8 Abilities: [Spirit Sight] [Spirit Body] [Conjure Armament] [Siphon Blood] [Abyss Flame] Skills: [Pyrokinesis lvl 1] [Weapons Mastery lvl 1] [Aura lvl 1] Blessings: [Ghost Flame]
¡°Yes! Now these abilities and skills look promising! I''ve never heard of their race but they are most likely a variant of some kind. I was even lucky enough for them to all be D Rank bloodlines and were evaluated as Unique grade! How many necromancers will be able to start off with such muscle like this spoiled uncle here!?¡± Although their dexterity and wisdom are lacking that''s something that can be worked on as we progress. All their other stats were more than I could have bargained for, those inscriptions definitely helped. Thinking about it, I can''t image how powerful they would be if I did a full burial ritual, and had all the herbs and potions needed! My eyes filled with stars for my future prospects!! Okay let''s look at the less obvious abilities so I can be sure I know what I''m working with!
[Conjure Armaments] To better serve your master manifest weapons and armor to cut down your foes! Cost to Conjure min:10MP - no Max!
[Siphon Blood] Breathe in the blood from your surroundings letting it fill every fiber of your being! [Temporary] +1 stat point to all physical stats for every liter of blood consumed. Duration 10min - stackable x10 [Permanent] 1% chance of a permanently increase in stats after duration wears off.
[Abyss Flame] - The weak willed are meant to be devoured, souls, spirits, consciousness.. the abyss knows no bounds! -3% HP per minute -5% MP per minute Cultivate your ghost flame with a chance to produce [Abysmal Flame Seed] Warning!! Effects vary on those with strong wills, high levels, high rank bloodlines
¡°!!!! I don''t need to spend coin on arming them!!? They can use their own mana to suit up and dish out ass whoopings!! I''m guessing the more mana they infuse their weapons with the stronger they are? With their [Pyrokinesis] ability that actually gives them a wide range of attack! While conjuring armor should help cover the defense they''re lacking. I probably shouldn''t put my hopes into [Siphon Blood] it seems like a skill you''d benefit more from when fighting hordes of creatures or in the midst of a war.¡± I couldn''t help but feel my thoughts wandering back to questioning if cities really need crime syndicates? I''m sure there are some [Bandit] dens somewhere in the forest. ¡°hehehe looks like I''ll have to go on a trip out into the forest sooner than I thought. The [Abyss Flame] must have been what I experienced early.. that darkness that felt almost alive! The skill description mentioned another kind of [Flame Seed], I wonder if they''re linked to a sort of hidden quest because I hadn''t heard much about them. It can''t really hurt to collect something right? Seems interesting enough. Let me give that blessing a once over.¡±
[Blessing: Ghost Flame] Fear not flames that are not of the [108 Heavenly Flames] Flame Resistance increase by 60%
¡°This is definitely bonus, I can''t image to many people walking around with a [Flame Seed] so fire will only bring moderate damage instead of completely wiping you guys out. Hahaha that''s great!¡± Feeling accomplished with my work and giving a small nod I was about to open the [Necropolis] and send them over, but I felt my head get lighter by a smidge and I seen my only Wil-o-wisp float above my new warriors. Suddenly their bodies turned to flame, they dematerialized and were absorbed back into the Wil-o-wisp! Wide eyed, I could feel my pupils shrink as a zoomed in on what just happened!! Walking over to the Wil-o-wisp I found four skulls floating inside it''s flame! I smiled as i caressed the flames gently. ¡°This is outside my expectations, but it must be a combination of your abilities working together. If they didn''t have the [Spirit Body] ability I doubt you''d be able to hold them. Nevertheless, this is priceless! I''ll have to be sure to throw much of my effort into growing you.. Maybe I should gift you with a true name in the future if you continue to prove yourself useful.¡± With a wave of my hand the another rift opened and my Wil-o-wisp gently floated through it, a heartbeat later the rift had completely vanished. Chapter 17 - Barmaids to die for? (1)
Name: Alucard Cadmus Di Beelzebub Age: 13 Gender: Male Race: Dhampir Bloodline Rank: SS Evolution: Possible Main Class: [Battle Mage lvl 6] [Necromancer lvl 6] [Empty] [Empty] Subclass: [Noble lvl 1] [Enchanter lvl 1] [Refiner lvl 4] [Empty] [Empty] [Empty] Titles: [MOD Player] [New Blood] [Harbinger of Terror] Affiliations: Reputation - Fame: 10 Infamy: 3 Level: 18 Hp: 1440/1440 Mp: 1760/1760 Str: 100 Def: 100 Vit: 144 Agi: 100 Dex: 100 Min: 176 Wis: 197 Cha: 100 Luc: 100 Bonus Points: 100 Abilities: [Ancestors blood] [Ancestors eyes] [Blood Sovereign] [Familiar Mark] [Dhampirs Physique] [Transformation] [Usurper] [Food Chain] [Item Box] [Essentia] [Create Spell] Skills: [Weapon Mastery lvl 1] [Enchant lvl 1] [Refine lvl 7] [Minor Arcana lvl 5] [Necro Arcana lvl 3] [Analyze lvl 1] [summon lvl 1] [Aura lvl 5] [Language acquisition lvl 1] [Telepathy lvl 1] [Psychometry lvl 1] [Psychokinesis lvl 1] [Teleport lvl 1] [Meditation lvl 3] [Intimidation lvl 7] [Nightmare lvl 1] [Origin Word''s lvl 1] [Mana Manipulation lvl 1] Blessings: None Accumulated Divinity: 0 Accumulated Souls: 1 Enslaved Spirits: 35 Servants: 5 Familiars: None Descendant: None
Best thing I could do for myself right now as I wait for the Notary to arrive is get an understanding of my titles and abilities better. It would also help to see what my racial abilities have been limited to as well.
MOD Player You are no longer bound by the laws of your old world, the people of the land recognise you as one of their own. Players will not be able to easily distinguish you as an anomaly. You have full access to system features except logging out. [Quest Creation] - Locked
New Blood! You are one of a kind! Fully awaken your bloodline for you are the progenitor of your kind!
The [Mod Player] title was a given, but it seems like I won''t be able to give quests until after the system update right before the Players arrive. [New Blood] is a good one in it''s own way but is definitely a headache until I''m strong enough to protect me and mine. From the lore I''m pretty sure there are only a little bit more than a handful of [True Ancestors] that all other vampires descend from. Even if there are new ¡°ancestors¡± born later they''re usually snuffed out so that the political balance can be maintained. Each [True Ancestor] bloodline descendants have their own set of abilities they rule over. I know one bloodline can control the basic 4 elements, while another has a very peculiar magick that they use with beasts and the certain beastman. My Father''s bloodline gained strength from drinking blood. And not the usual ¡°oh I''m hungry I need to feed!¡± but more along the lines of, if they drank from someone stronger they would see an increase in their stats from it. It seems my own abilities stem from that but are stronger in their own way. Like the way I can manipulate blood itself doesn''t seem to be within their repertoire! Although i can''t be entirely sure until all my racial traits manifest.
Ancestors blood Has there ever been a [Dhampir] that became an ancestor and lived to tell the tale? Your superior blood gives you inborn knowledge. Descendents through birth or bite are compelled to take your word and will as their own. Be warned some have been known to look for ways around your compulsion ¡¶Your influence is weakened until first awakening.¡· ¡¶Descendents are greatly weakened until your first awakening¡· ¡¶Innate knowledge suppressed until your first awakening¡·
Ancestors eyes Your eyes show you the truth of the world. Current level can see through illusions. Ability ranked below [Dragon Eye] [Eye of origin] [Gods Eye] ¡¶Identify - Locked¡· ¡¶Analyse - Locked¡· ¡¶Appraisal - Locked¡· ¡¶Detect Lie - Locked¡· ¡¶Judgment - Locked¡· ¡¶Glamour - Suppressed¡· ¡¶Spirit Sight - Suppressed¡· ¡¶Essence Sight - Suppressed¡·
Blood Sovereign You are the source of blood for generations to come. Your sovereignty stretches beyond those bound to you. All blood feels the call of your power. Conquering the blood of others is in your nature! ¡¶Dominate - Locked¡· ¡¶Blood Arts - Suppressed¡·
I couldn''t help but rub my chin, this is a bit disheartening since there are only a few ways to go through a bloodline awakening. Normally the people of the land would go out and hunt a magick beast one rank above them to do the awakening. Its especially tough for those without money or background to aid them. Finding and keeping alive D Rank beasts like hobgoblins, Kobolds, or even a black or grey wolves is tough since they''re community and pack oriented beasts. If you''re lucky enough to capture one and bring it back, you can use their beating heart and a few other ingredients to trigger the awakening. For normal bloodlines what you use for the awakening doesn''t matter. But someone like lady rose probably had a lightning based beast prepared for her awakening before hand to help increase her lightning affinity. That''s also the merit of having money, you could just hire other people to do the annoying work for you. I wouldn''t be surprised if she''s raising beasts to use for her own children''s sake when the time comes. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Breaking through your bloodline level limit could also commence an awakening for you, but it becomes much harder to breakthrough all following bottlenecks. People in similar situations as myself have to try and get lucky and gather the attention of a God and then with a stroke of luck trigger the awakening quest line.. But that''s the equivalent of becoming one of their bitches until the end of days. They could also lay heavy restrictions on you if you''re disobedient or displease them in anyway. ¡°I''ll take my chance waiting for a [SSS] rank bloodline to appear before become a servant of the Gods. It''s also counterproductive to the mission I''ve been tasked with from the company. From what I understand the Gods in this world are just different AI¡¯s fighting for supremacy. Who has time to be a pawn?¡± It is a bit disappointing though, my racial abilities, at least the ones I can see anyway all seem to be domineering to the extreme hehehe. ¡°I''ll have to see if I can find any loopholes!¡± Moving my attention back to my status window I couldn''t help but anticipate breaking the system in my favor.
Familiar Mark Since ancient times familiars have been used by those who wield magick at all levels. Most notable cases of using Familiars, was to use them as a conduit to draw power through ley lines and dragon pulses. Familiars may assimilate and use powers of their master as the bond gets stronger. With an increase of the bond, racial traits may be shared between the familiar and master. With time new abilities may arise ¡¶Familiar limit - 4¡·
Dhampirs Physique Your blood carries the traits of Vampire, Blood Fiend Were Leopard, Human, and something Dark. ¡¶Physical Attributes x1.5 - Transformation x2.5¡· ¡¶Instant Regeneration¡· ¡¶High Poison Resistance¡·
Transformation That human form is but a shell hiding the monster inside ¡¶Vampire Form - Suppressed¡· ¡¶Blood Fiend Leopard Form - Suppressed¡· ¡¶Demon Form - Locked¡· ¡¶True Form - Locked¡·
¡°Okay, now that''s a bit interesting. I have a demon form and a ¡°true¡± form but they''re both locked. I hadn''t been expecting much with this ability in the beginning but this ¡°True Form¡± is enticing to say the least.. This leaves me feeling a bit philosophical almost¡­ who am I if I don''t even know what I actually am? Clearly the AI did more improvising than I thought when it created my avatar.¡±
Usurper Don''t be afraid to crack open a few veins, the stronger they are, the closer you get to their source, the more of their blood you drink, the more likely it is for you to gain strength from them. Mild chance to gain abilities and skills from your meal~!
Food Chain Be it Servant, Familiar, Decedent, or even Contractee! If they grow stronger you grow stronger, as well as when you grow stronger so do they!
Essentia For eons humanity has used the power of the heavens to shape the world around them - Mana, Ki, Chakra, Divinity but few have questioned the essence behind these powers - you have awakened to [Lesser Energies] your possibilities are limitless
Create Spell Creativity and ingenuity are your strong points! Crafting new spells becomes 70% easier
¡°I guess I''ll have to work on my phobia when it comes to being unclean. It''s just whenever I feel nasty my anxiety just starts running full throttle and it''s hard to bring myself out of that state once it starts. But I don''t know, I might be willing to deal with the crushing feeling of inadequacy if it means getting stronger. At my current level even just 1 or 2 stat points can be the difference between life and death!¡± I had noticed my reputation had increased again after I had healed the children of the Viscountess. I had checked the system to see if it would explain why fame and infamy have times when they both increase, but I had only got a generic definition explaining they both work in tandem with my charisma stat, which wasn''t very helpful. I have hypothesized though that they both increase during times where an achievement may seem sketchy or even when you''re doing something good but it may instill fear into the hearts of those present. It left me wondering if villains who aim for high infamy but capture the hearts of the masses also see a small rise in fame as they progress. I mean it''s kind of hard to hate Robin Hood when the money he''s stealing is being given to the poor, unless it''s your money hehehehe. ¡°There''s one major thing I''ve been curious about this whole time..¡±
Divinity Transcend the limits of the mortal plane! After breaking into [AA] Rank your connection with the heavens and earth is established on a cosmic level. When you make your presence known lower bloodline ranks can''t help but be in awe at your majesty Collect prayer and worship to raise out of the mortal plane ¡¶Divinity: 0¡·
The developers said there were more continents and secret realms you could get to later in the game once they''re opened, the necropolis being one of those places, I''m definitely looking forward too seeing these other worlds. It must be a system for those players who do nothing but power level, doing it hoping that they don''t get bored haha. I guess racing to the top for supremacy would be enticing for hard core players. I just wonder what those guilds will do once their top players start heading off to distant lands for leveling? ******* Having rested for a while it was a welcomed sound when I heard something other than headboards hitting the thin walls. Apparently being a [Notary] was a big deal, being escorted to my room by the same three Knights that came to fetch me last night. One in the front while the other two taking up each side a few steps behind, it was definitely a protection detail. I would also note that after seeing Viscountess Rose call out this head Knight''s name and watched as she walked out of her shadow, the knight Lady Kim definitely has many skills and levels behind her. Donning an all black robe left me unable to even tell who or what I was talking to, the voice was a bit seductive and effeminate, but that hardly mattered seeing as this person could be an elf or even a vampire. The different races didn''t really follow the same gender binary rules the people of my last life were obsessed with. I was first given a scroll to read which prompted my [Quest] to appear once more. After checking over the final details written on the parchment I took the quill and wrote my name. Apparently if I was taking up a seat in court I would have also needed to use a drop of blood to sign the contract. Thankful I was getting only the lowly [Gentleman] title, I''d be lucky if the land I was given could grow the lowest grade magick herbs for potion crafting. When the witness finished signing, the [Notary] chanted a spell softly over the contract. The parchment floated up and glowed briefly, it''s edges started to pull away in their own directions and soon for identical copies appeared. Rolling themselves up, one scroll landed in my hand, another in the Notaries, while the final two poofed out of existence. Apparently one teleported to the Viscountess while the other went to the capital. Impressive, apparently the notary organisation in this world was just as mystic and powerful as the one in my old world. Of course with everything finalized the system messages popped up on queue! *Ding*
Quest Complete!
Title Gained - Gentleman
Affiliation Gained - Gentleman of Dancing Forest City
Fame has increased by 10
Infamy has increased by 4
Class [Noble] has increased by 1
I gave the notifications a quick glance and didn''t give much of an outward reaction, one thing I will say though is that I was ecstatic! I was having the hardest time trying to figure out a realistic way for me to level my [Noble] title without having a ton of money to donate or throw into taxes and i wasn''t having much luck! With this all my deeds will be measured and used as experience. Simply helping the elderly or a lost person''s will give me a miniscule amount of exp, while more rigours acts like keeping the streets clean and stopping muggings will give me much more exp. After being lost in my thoughts for a while, I was brought back to the room in front of me from someone clearing their throat. When I looked up the [Notary] and the two male knights were gone. The only one left in my room other than myself was Lady Kim. Seeing her scowling at my inattentiveness i couldn''t help but give her a once over. Who was she to be judging me? Okay yes she''s no shorter than 6¡¯3¡±, her flawless dark skin was complimented by her emerald green eyes. Broad shouldered with a hefty bosom, tight skin to show off her toned muscles. Okay.. with her strength and beauty I''m sure she gets a lot of passes to judge people, but.. but I won''t let her slide so easily. I hurriedly looked her over for anything to give me an advantage and finally my eyes land on the top of her head. Sometime while I was caught in my own thoughts she had removed her helmet, revealing her oh so soft black cat ears. I couldn''t help wondering if they felt like a cute luxurious plush!! It was then that I noticed.. hehehe she has long grey inner ear hair hahaha! She''s probably old! Feeling smug about my conquest, our eyes finally met. I couldn''t help noticing she had grown increasingly more agitated during the time I was reclaiming my pride! I don''t know what she wants me to do? I''m a growing boy, I have to keep my mental health in tip top shape if I ever hope to be a man that exudes confidence into the air and people around me. Not wanting to waste anymore time here I started up the conversation. ¡°Is there anything you need from me Lady Kim?¡± Her frown deepened. ¡°I don''t like the presence of you or your kind in our city Necromancer! You just happen to show up and rescue the Young Lady, and Young Master? A few months after we just had to slaughter more than a dozen of your kind? I don''t buy it!¡± Is this prejudice? Ha! In half a years time she''ll be swimming in people like me. A smirk lifts my cheek up a bit. ¡°That''s what you stayed after to say? What would I gain causing trouble in a remote city like this? I just want to find a nice place to work on my crafting skills.¡± At that remark she snorted and literally spit a lugi at my feet! Forget lacking class, that''s just completely disgusting, and I feel compelled to burn the floor in its entirety after seeing that! It''s almost as bad as a snot rocket, AHHHH!! I don''t want to think about it, lalalalalalala go away evil thoughts!! Giving me no time to collect myself after the insult she laid on me, she made her reply! ¡°Don''t go firing off insults just because I see you for the scum you are! Do you think I can''t smell the corpses you''ve had in this room? The stink tells a story of itself. What of the death magick you have bottled up in here? I''m surprised with your utility of barriers though, able to keep magick in but I see you''re still having trouble keeping sounds out.. unless you''re a pervert? Is that what all this is? Are you some corpse loving pervert?? See this is exactly why I''m glad I pleaded to change the land you were appointed!¡± Seething was an understatement! How dare she question my moral character!!?? I''m suppose to be playing the part of a youth! What youth isn''t a little bit curious at this age?? I don''t see her volunteering to give me ¡°health 101 my body and me¡± classes! So she can just go shove it! Realizing she had added a bit more to the end of her statement I tried to focus back in on what she was saying. I watched her slowly reach into her bosom and pull out a different scroll and a small money pouch. I can''t image that''s actually where she was keeping those things, with the magick of storage rings and the [Item Box] skill it would be pointless. It must be a force of habit from her younger years. ¡°Lucky for me, my Lady values my opinion. Although it took some pleading on my part I finally got her to send you to those God awful forsaken ruins. This way if things get worse we can just off you when we''re dispatched to clean the place up again hahaha, don''t disappoint me little necromancer.¡± That last part she said with a very sweaty soft tone ass she handed me the scroll and money. As soon as I took the money into my hand there was that familiar sound again. *Ding* Chapter 18 - Barmaids to die for? (2)
Quest Grade: Uncommon Details: With your new found title you must do your part to help bring prosperity to the land.
  • Viscountess Rose has charged you with the task of lowering the danger level of the designated land.
  • Investigate the cause of undead spawning.
  • Luna Lily must be properly cultivated, 30% of the yield must be turned in as taxes.
  • 10% of three additional crops will be used as tax
  • Begin a small farming village.
  • Keep Cathedral safe.
Quest Items:
  • 500G
  • Pioneer Gem
  • Grape Seeds, Cranberry Seeds, Leopard Tulip Bulbs
Reward:
  • Exp: [Varied]
  • C class item [Undetermined]
  • Title: [Village Chief]
  • [Fame: +10]
  • Land Ownership
Failure Penalty:
  • Title: [Wanted]
  • Blacklisted: [Myriad Quarts Kingdom]
  • [Infamy: +10]
Accept? Y/N
Lady knight Kim pulled out three seed sacks with the wave of her hand and made an innocent face while seemingly struggling to pluck something wedged between her bosom. With a great shake to her voluptuous melons and a soft pop sound, she revealed a small glowing green gem between her fingers. Spending a few moments looking between the quest window and the scroll that prompted it, I made sure to take note of the details left out of the blue screen. It didn''t take long for my forehead to crease and my face to darken. According to the scroll I had ten days to gather the initial people heading to help start the village to till the land and plant the seeds. Another 10 days leeway was given to insure everyone''s safe arrival, and 3 year to reach proper village population. frustrated as I was, nonetheless I was thankful for the startup funds since I''m severely lacking, and it seemed commodities would be sent once every two weeks until first harvest. Although it all seemed very simple since all I was tasked to do was start the village and investigate a bit. But looking at the rewards this doesn''t seem to be a short term operation. To do this correctly I would have to post ads looking for people who held the proper professions to insure growth and safety within the community. When coming into this world, I had no plans of mingling with the locals to much let alone be given such responsibility. I couldn''t help wondering to myself if such a lowly title like [Gentlemen] warranted receiving more than 2000 acres of land to cultivate for the local lord in my old world. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. noticing my lack of response it seems Lady Kim had began to grow impatient. She must be use to lesser individuals salivating over her provocative gestures. Unfortunately for her my mind was filled with more important things. With a ¡®hmmph¡¯ sound she tossed the glowing orb towards me and crossed her arms. Quickly catching it I could feel a mysterious power flowing through it. With a confused look I looked at her and asked. ¡°What is this? What use does it have?¡± As if she wasn''t frustrated just a moment ago a sly smile crept across her face. ¡°Oh? Noble blooded yet so ignorant of something so significant? It can''t be that what Lady Rose said was true? Did they not even give you a nobles education in that house of yours?¡± I could feel my face flush, doesn''t she know I''m a noob to all this? It was fiction lady keep your thoughts to yourself! Honestly I couldn''t tell if she was fishing for answers about me or just got a kick out of giving me a hard time, thankfully she didn''t linger on the topic for too long and immediately went into explaining. ¡°That my dear boy is a [Pioneer Gem] although low rank it''s indispensable when starting a new village. When activated the gem will absorb mana from the vicinity and and those living within its boarder. It will eventually hatch, becoming a village core. Since you will still be within the Viscountess jurisdiction, once the gem hatches it will link to this city''s core allowing us to more closely monitor you and your actions. As a lowly [Pioneer Gem] the most it will be able to do is keep track of population and enrich the land enabling a greater crop yield and stop the random spawning of monsters and vicious beasts within its territory. Over time the gem will evolve into a Village core, town core, then large town core, and eventually become a city core of its own. With each evolution more uses and abilities are unlocked. Each evolution can only be achieved by reaching the mana and population threshold. While you''ll be starting a small hamlet at first as long as you manage the land properly, increasing the population to 250 people in 3 years shouldn''t be an issue at all. That is.. as long as you''re not turning your residents into undead.¡± Although her voice was coquettish, I couldn''t help remembering she actually was looking for a reason to kill me. Is she by chance a psychopath? Sociopath maybe? Is this the company Lady Rose keeps? That thought sent a shiver down my spine. Why did I have to land outside this city? Whatever happened to the starter villages and nice aunties that cooked blueberry muffins? Overcome with anguish my tears would not fall.. the dreams of my past self seem to be getting further and further away.. I just wanted a peaceful life with a few pets!!! Moving past my dilemma I put the money and seeds away. Taking a closer look at the gem, it was completely round. It''s circumference seemed to be close to 5 inches, so it had some heft to it. From her explanation I was a bit shocked! Isn''t this an exclusive item players need to acquire to build up their guild cities? Since when did such a precious item become so easy to obtain? It''s green color gave off a soft glow as its smooth surface rolled around my palm. When I closed my eyes and concentrated I could feel a warmth from it, and ever so gently I could feel a vibrate. It almost seemed like I was holding a young fertilized egg. The vibrating acting as a small heart beat making you anxious for what''s to come. Closing my hand I wrapped my fingers around it knowing this little guy would play a huge role in my future. Now I had to ask the most important question of all.. ¡°How do I activate it?¡± ¡°Since it was born from this cities core the Viscountess has administrative rights she can enforce on it during emergencies, so don''t get any big ideas. I was against giving you the core but the people you''ll be taking to build the village are still our people and they deserve to be protected. Keep in mind that gem you''re holding is worth more than your weight in gold, if the Lunar Lily wasn''t so precious there''s no way you''d qualify to obtain one. Lady Rose sent many expeditions into the ruins to look for the location of its old city core but had no luck. My suggestion to you, find a place a bit further away from where everyone will reside. Usually the a core is hidden away behind many secret passages and the location is only known by the cores lord and the parent core. Even though it hasn''t awakened and become a true core yet, there are plenty of people who would pay a hefty price to execute you too remove your claim to it so that they could sell it on the black market to the highest bidder.¡± She put her finger on her lips like she was in deep contemplation. I honestly couldn''t tell which direction this women''s thoughts would head. I''ve been trying to not let any of my emotions slip in reaction to her comments, but being at her level I doubt anything got past her. ¡°it would honestly be unfortunate for you to meet such an end, if anyone gets to have your head it''s definitely me! Don''t disappoint me now little necromancer, I want our showdown to be grand! And for that you''ll need to live a bit longer and grow much stronger¡± Although I was scowling I was also a bit confused. Does she have a past with necromancers which is why she''s acting this way? Or is she truly just sick in the head? When did I offend you lady!!?? ¡°Lady Kim, you still haven''t told me how to activate it?¡± ¡°oh it must be nice to be youthful? Scurrying along trying to hush up your elders. Be patient child, I was getting to that part. To activate it is easy, once you bind the gem to you with a drop of blood you''ll have any innate understanding of what to do when the time comes. See simple! One last thing before I go, I''ll be taking the image you gave me to our mistress for approval but there shouldn''t be any problems there. The surname you picked is very strange, you have 10 days grace period to change your mind.. Sir Enlil. As she spoke she slowly melted into the shadow at her feet and like a phantom she was gone.