《Ancient Vampire unleashed into the System》 Prologue For ages I dreamed about blood. Of pulsing rivers, barely hidden inside a web of fragile veins. I dreamed of those envious sorcerers, who dared to curse me, trembling in fear. Unable to run away. Frozen prey before the predator. Their skin flavoured by spicy drops of glowing sweat. Textured by goosebumps. Dilated pupils waiting in anticipation for the bite to stab down and release the overflowing pressure. Until their galloping hearts calm down and their frozen minds drift away into the call of the silent darkness. The lines between wakefulness and dream blur. Flowing colours bleed into each other, slowly fading into darkness when the dusk kills the day, and the night rises again somewhere out there. But I¡äm stuck down here unable to heed her call. I¡äm still trapped. I¡äm still forgotten. Left to rot between worm-eaten furniture under a carpet of dust. My mind wanders through streets I never visited, listens to the unfamiliar tune humming in the air; runs free into the embrace of the dark forest, where the sun never shines. But my body never moves anymore. My flesh cast into rigid and cold marble, smooth alabaster, covered in dry lichen and bird defecations. I¡äm only an old trophy. A statue of stone to represent the victory of the masses, the victory of the weak, the foolishness of the last of my kind. A statue whose meaning has been lost to the ages. A testament to how even old grievances are forgotten and lost to the erosion of time. But I remember. I even remember what came before. When I wasn¡ät alone. An older time where we were valued members of our tribes. We were the protectors of the living from the dangers of the wild, caretakers and providers. They let their blood flow willingly into our throats, eager to please us, eager to be with us. I remember hot bodies, pulsing with life, so tender and sweet. Then civilization advanced and we became superfluous. The wilds were tamed. The great beasts were domesticated or erased from the face of the Earth. The dark forests fell to make space for the expansion of humanity. Admiration and gratitude for our sacrifice turned into indifference and suspicion. Envy germinated in the hearts of the living, fertilized by their never-ending greed. One day it flourished, and we were cast out. Our most loyal admirers were the first to betray us, when we didn¡ät complied with their ever-growing and outrageous demands. They slayed most of us for the second time, for the final time. The weak became butchers. They went after us when we were most vulnerable, during the day, under the numbing rays of the harsh, unforgiving sun. I watched all my peers fade into dust, to be lost and forgotten. We hunters of the Nipari became the hunted. The wandering blood-priests of the Kitai wandered into the frozen wastes, never to be seen again. The lords of the Sumerians were all slain in their sleep.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. I alone survived for ages, hiding in the shadows, always running, hiding in the ever-shrinking forests. Never remaining in one place for to long. I lived like an animal, seeking nourishment in narrow alleys or on dark roads. Preying on the lost, the sheep, the bandits, the beggars, the forgotten. Then I was captured and shackled for the first time. Obese men loved to watch me starve. To watch me fight crazed with bloodlust in their arenas. They called me gladiator. They applauded my suffering viciousness in morbid fascination. But when the drained husks of my opponents faded into the sands, I just was thrown bag into the cage. And there I withered away, the shrivelled shadow of a proud lion. One day, after having escaped three times, they grew bored of me, and I was cast into stone by those traitorous sorcerers. I was a decoration on a pedestal for a long time. The night hunter, the fallen beast proudly displayed. I witnessed the advancement and collapse of civilizations, the rise of new civilizations, more advancement, the passing of generations. I stood there until nobody remembered what I stood for. Never able to close my eyes. Agonizing under the burning rays of the sun, unable to hide. Watching and dreaming. Awake and asleep at the same time. One day some leader, or king, or rich merchant decided to renovate their palace. The decorations needed to meet modern standards. My face was judged to ugly, frozen in its grimace. I was just thrown into some dark corner in some cellar, along with a bunch of discarded mobiliary and some dolls. I still lay in the same place they left me, dreaming to break my shell apart, to be reborn again a third time. I dream of stilling the gnawing hunger, of laying waste to every greedy king, to every snivelling sorcerer, to all the vain witches who abandoned us. To let their blood flow free into the streets after satiating my thirst, food for the rats. To paint an intoxicating artwork of red swirls and slowly drying coppery flakes. An ephemeral and delicate artwork, to be washed away by the unforgiving rain. I dream of going on the hunt again, of testing our mettle, of outsmarting great beast together with all my lost companions. But I know those are just impossible daydreams. Trying to help me cope with the agonizing boredom of my existence. I¡äm trapped in stone, lost and forgotten. A miserable soul, trapped for eternity. *Ding Your civilization is about to collapse. The humans of Dirt have been found wanting, unable to survive anthropogenic induced climate change. Unable to change direction on their own due to being lost in the production and consumption model promoted by their leaders in order to continue filling their own pockets at the expense of the future of the masses, while ignoring all the warnings of the few wise men who dwell on the planet. The System Integrated Conscious Civilizations Alliance (SICCA) has decided that your planet Dirt has to be integrated into the System immediately to prevent the loss of millions of sapient beings. The System is fair. It judges you on your actions, not your connections or social standing. Only your own efforts will be rewarded. Rise or fall into obscurity. You have been integrated into the System. Scanning new User to evaluate starting attributes. Bloodline detected. Petrification curse detected. Scan finished. Starting attributes assigned. Curse lifted. Prepare to enter the tutorial* The bloodless illusion I feel myself stumbling. Surprised by the unexpected movement, my forgotten reflexes fail to make sense of the situation. I fall and smash onto a white and even surface. I blink, not understanding where I am and how I got here. I move, and the lichen still covering my skin crumbles, leaving only scratchy dust behind. I stand up on trembling legs, naked and confused. What happened to that old spell those sorcerers cast upon me? Why can I move? My muscles tingle and complain, dry and weak, screaming for nourishment. I look around. Everything is white. The walls and floor are white, and even the ceiling is white, harsh, and sterile. Cold, like fresh snow. It is so hostile and unforgiving, a bright lantern. A mirror that reflects light into every corner, into all the comforting hiding places of the non-existent dark. Someone on the other side of the room seems to be sitting on a chair, sipping on a cup of something. I can feel my bloodlust spike. My body vibrates in eagerness and anticipation after so long without stilling my gnawing hunger. I tense, ready to pounce. My palate aches, trying to salivate. I lick my canines, eager to bite, to rip and tear, to drink my fill, to cover the offending brightness in a crimson hue. I am ready to close the distance, leaving no time to react. But then I stop, nearly falling over again. Something is wrong. There is no smell. No blood. That figure is fake. It is made of dancing lights, of swirling colors. Someone is teasing me, mocking me, laughing about my plight. ¡°Leave me alone, illusion," I rasp. The figure flinches. The cup in its hand breaks, tinging like a bell, but no liquid spills. The figure blinks, then watches me, then blinks again. ¡°What?¡± Its eyes dart around the empty room as if looking for someone else. ¡°You can tell? How? That should not be possible.¡± ¡°No idea of what you are talking about,¡± I mumble, absentminded, marveling at the sound of my voice. ¡°Show me your status, User!¡± demands the illusion, raising his voice. ?What about responding? To show him what? Rude. ¡°I don¡ät swing that way, dude¡­ Even if I did, you are not even real.¡± The illusion looks at me like I am demented. Maybe I am, but I can not tell anymore. ¡°Yes¡­ You are not even fully integrated yet. You would not know,¡± His eyes fall upon me with derision. Like a patronizing grandfather commenting about the stupidity of the younger generation. ¡°Just think the word Status.¡± Leave me alone! What is all this rambling about some stupid status? *Status: Name: Ka¡äain Race: Human (Undead) Age: 13827 years Bloodline: Ancient Vampire (A) 0,3% Level: 0 Class: NoneIf you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Cultivation: None Attributes: Strength: 28 Agility: 47 Dexterity: 42 Endurance: 21 Vitality: 4/61 (Temporarily reduced due to severe blood starvation) Perception: 52 Intelligence: 19 Willpower: 64 Traits: Universal Tongue Skills: Identify Lvl 1 ??? * A blue window has appeared from thin air. It tries to hinder my vision. What is this? A new curse designed to screw with my senses? An illusion to distract me with flimsy words that lack any meaning? No, no! I will not be trapped again this time! It is not even real! I try to catch its edges, to shove it away. But my hands pass through it without resistance. Then, it suddenly disappears into a shower of sparks. The illusionary man is flicking his simulated fingers through the air, like looking for something only he can see, ignoring me. I wander around the room, searching for seams, a door, a way out. I need to get out. I¡äm starving, and there is no prey in here. ¡°This can¡ät be real¡± mumbles the illusion somewhere behind me. ¡°His stats are way too high for a level 0. This, this will screw with everything. This will jeopardize the colonization effort of the new planets. I need to do something. * A moderator has requested the judgment of the System upon you due to: ¡°Possible outside meddling detected. Multiple violations of fair play. The User possesses an unfair advantage before System Integration. The User is too old for an unevolved being. Possible fair competition and intervention thresholds exceeded. The User exceeds the stats any level 0 on an unintegrated world should have by at least 2 to 6 times. User should be eliminated for the sake of keeping the balance.¡± Scanning User. Assessing. No outside meddling was detected. Elimination request denied. The User is a native of Planet Dirt and can not be left out of the ongoing Integration of his home planet.* Another blue window appears. Stubborn and annoying. ¡°What is this nonsense?¡± cries someone somewhere, sounding like a whining child. *A moderator has called for the assistance of a System Administrator* Stupid windows, pesky flies. Go away. Another illusionary man appears next to the first one. They start rambling about something. I only half listen to it. What are they even talking about? Why does the first illusion seem so alarmed about me? ¡°No, you don¡ät understand. We need to warn all the seeded young prodigies of the guilds, the young scions of the sects seeking their rightfully owed fortune. This monster is a menace to the future elites of this new world. It could cause a galaxy-wide stir.¡± ¡°Just eliminate him from the competition. I have heard of Vampires before. They are usually considered a plague. Barely rational. They are not even fully alive. Like dead men wandering around or something. I think they are usually eradicated wherever they appear. You may have just cause.¡± ¡°I can¡ät. I have tried. He has somehow managed to be considered a native by the System.¡± ¡°Maybe he is. That does seem to be a problem, does it not?¡± ¡°It isn¡ät?¡± ¡°You are still young and new. It¡äs not the first time something like this happened on an Integration. Just send him into the Impossible difficulty tutorial. Problem solved.¡± The second illusion is fading back out of existence. *Ding You are about to start your tutorial. Select the difficulty you want to experience. Higher difficulties are deadlier but have greater rewards. Choose wisely. -Easy -Normal -Hard -Hell * I blink, another of these pesky windows again, refusing to disappear this time, no matter how hard I try to shove it away. It wants me to choose something. Why? Should I? Maybe it will finally disappear if I do. Maybe I will wake up from this strange dream, still cast into stone. I do not want to. Here I can move. Let me dream for a while longer. I will do it. I will choose. What do I choose? *Moderator override. You have chosen to enter the Impossible difficulty tutorial. Prepare yourself* Sweet dark caves I feel like my body is fading, falling apart into dust. A swirling vortex of mad colors and impossible shapes gulps me up. It pulls me through a jagged tunnel of light. Time is stretching into a blur, oddly fluid, losing all meaning. I¡äm inside the night sky. Stars are falling all around me, like vertigo-inducing raindrops spiraling into the void. My body is rearranging, reshuffling, stretched into impossible positions. Everything snaps back into place, and I find myself standing in a musty cave. I feel at home in the comfortable embrace of the penumbra, only illuminated by the soft glow of some strange bioluminescent moss. I take a deep breath, tasting the air. There are living beings here, somewhere. My hunger stirs, possible prey. Something blurs in the corner of my vision. I feel a hard impact, a piercing stab, and I¡äm suddenly flying towards the walls. Old reflexes kick in. I turn in the air like a cat to absorb the shock on bendable joints. Even so, I can hear something crack on impact once I reach the hard stone. I stumble to the ground in a heap of limbs. A small green man armed with a rusty sword looks at me with wide-open eyes. Not believing I¡äm still alive. *Goblin scout, level ???* Pesky windows, not now, go away. There is prey right before me. A wilful offering. I can smell the blood, rich and intoxicating. Swollen veins waiting to burst. I squat down, ready to pounce. But the green man blurs again, and his sword carves a deep line into my belly, nearly disemboweling me. I take a step back, ignoring the throbbing pain, dodging a clumsy follow-up strike. I dodge another strike. Surprised and alarmed. How can this little man be so fast? That shouldn¡ät be possible. He is quicker than me, faster than any of my fallen companions. I take another step back, reassessing. I try to clear my head, to reign in the madness. I need to focus. Observe, find the weakness, wait for the moment, strike. He may be faster and stronger than he should be, but his technique is that of a toddler. He waves and whirls his ice picker around like a stick, hoping to hit something with the pointy end. Has he never seen a sword before? He is always overextending, leaving himself wide open to a counterstrike if I had a weapon and was fast enough. I¡äm suddenly very aware that I lack everything, even clothes. I have only my fangs and half-broken claws to defend myself. He blurs again. I sidestep. The point of his short sword barely nicks my arm this time. I smile. Maybe I¡äm the predator after all. I can see his muscles tensing, preparing to rush me again. This time, I step even before he starts to move. Anticipating his telegraphed strike. We run and dodge around the cave in a lethal dance, like dog and cat. He is still way faster than me, but his hits barely scratch me anymore. I am growing tired, though, and the bloodlust numbs my senses. I need to end this before I lose control. The green man blurs at me again, annoyed and enraged from missing this much. He jumps, leaving the ground to try to stab me in the throat. I duck down to dodge the strike, softly catch him out of the air, and embrace him from behind, baring his jugular with the soft, caressing touch of a lover. He is so light, almost like a child. His rusty iron chimes and rumbles against the ground. He flails his arms around and tries to kick my shins, desperate to shake me off, but he lacks leverage. His feet don¡ät even reach the ground. I bite down, and he screams. I moan in pleasure.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. What is this? So thick and tangy, intoxicating. I¡äve never tasted any blood that tasted this good. He keeps screaming, his strength slowly fading. I release the hold of my bite to lick up the flighty vital elixir starting to spill down his arm. I tear deeper and deeper, ripping at his throat. He screams. He screams, and I scream with him, laughing like a maniac until his voice gurgles out. *Agility +1 You have received the skill, Dodge. ¡­ Dodge has reached level 9. You have received the skill Unarmed fighting. Prior knowledge detected. Unarmed fighting assessed at level 47. Your blood-starved state has lessened. You have received 5768 exp. Special bloodline detected. Would you like to use the received experience to increase your level or to further refine your bloodline? * What is this? Another of those pesky windows that refuse to go away. It wants me to choose again. Will it leave me in peace if I do? *Would you like to cease receiving all non-essential notifications* Yes? *Non-essential notifications disabled. Please choose between increasing your level or refining your bloodline. * Why is it still there if it is disabled? Well, whatever, bloodline, I guess. Blood is life. Blood is nourishing. *You have chosen to divert your incoming experience to refine your bloodline. Current progress, 0,307%. Bloodline of the Ancient Vampire (A): When you completely drain your victim, you have a 40% chance to absorb a very small portion of its highest attribute. * Finally, the window closes. I can hear steps closing in from somewhere, echoing around the tunnels that reach the cave in which our battle took place. They rush in search of the source of the noise, the disturbance, the monster in their midst. I watch around a corner, down a steep incline, into another maze-like cave of shimmering polished columns and dripping stalactites. A horde of little green men swarming towards me like disturbed ants. *Goblin scout, level ??? ¡­ Goblin skirmisher, level ??? ¡­ Goblin pebble thrower, level ??? ¡­ Goblin warrior, level ??? ¡­ Goblin clubber, level ??? ¡­ Goblin hammerer, level ??? ¡­ Goblin rogue, level ??? ¡­ * My bloodlust spikes. I yearn for more. I feel overwhelmed. But I reign it in. If there is something I learned in my millennia of imprisonment, it is patience. I need to be a cunning fox, not a valiant but stupid lion. The shadows are my friends. There is all the time in the world. Haste is death. Slow is fast. I pick up the bend and rusty long knife, the dead green man called a sword, and slide in the opposite direction of all the noise. Kill the captive *Quest received! - Escape the goblin-infested mines before the time runs out. Time remaining 7:59:49 ¡­ 48 ¡­ 47 ¡­ 46. Optional sidequest: - Rescue the mage overseer and the rest of the captive miners. Another pesky window encouraging me to do something idiotic. Why would I try to go outside? Into the sun. It is cozy in here, dark and cool. What is that about a mage? Where is the mage? With the miners. What miners? I breathe in, letting the humid air caress my nostrils. It smells of wet earth and chalk, of metal and bones. There are too many of those little green people traipsing around everywhere. I wander around, hiding in the shadows or clinging to the ceiling whenever I cross a patrol. There are no lonely goblins anywhere. They hunt in groups now, at least four men strong. I snort. Creatures of the dark, fearing the dark. Ridiculous. Are you warriors, or are you children? Maybe they are not creatures of the dark. I may have to wait until they relax again. They may be cowards but are still stronger and faster than I am. But I am still hungry! No! Don¡ät reveal yourself yet. Whittle them down, one by one. Ambush the stragglers. Find their village. Kill them in their sleep. The tactics of the underdog. How far I have fallen. Where are those four going? I follow a group of goblins down a dark corridor. The clings of their rusty chainmail echo through the caves. Like church bells in the fog. Do they think they can hunt me while announcing their presence with that much noise? Amateurs. One of them picks the snot out of his nose and eats it. Not the most educated fellows. I sneak closer, waiting for an opportunity. Their veins pulse, their hearts beat, so fragile. It would just take a small tear, to liberate their load. My fingers twitch. I file my clawlike nails against the stonewalls. One of those bumbling idiots cuts himself after stumbling into another. Blood! My mouth waters. I see red and slide closer without thinking. No! No! Get a hold of yourself! You are better than this. I exercised my patience as a hunter for centuries. But it is so hard to stay in control after starving for so long. The beast inside me is craving to be let loose. Time remaining 5:59:49 ¡­ 48 ¡­ 47 ¡­ 46. Go away! Finally, one of them falls behind, looks around, then goes up to the wall to pee. His companions disappear behind a bend. I rush towards him. A shadow that slithers through the darkness. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I embrace him from behind. He tenses. My new blade enters cleanly under his chin and punches up into his brain. A spasm, then his muscles relax in the calm of death. I throw him over my shoulder like a grain sack and disappear into the shadows. I wade into a pond behind a bunch of artfully grown columns. And then drink, drink while he is still warm. Cold blood is tasteless. Blood clots are annoying. Suck him dry before the rest of his group realizes that they lost one man. They do now, they are poking around the dark corners with their spears, but I am not there anymore. They soon tire themselves. They look at each other. One pointing forward, another flailing wildly with his arms. One runs back the way they came from, probably to alarm the other patrols and call for reinforcements. Not if I can intercept him. I jump from column to column, over stalagmites, between ponds of water, carefully not to step inside. Ripples in the water may well reveal me. I barely keep pace with him until he slows down to a jog. I overtake him without using their trodden path. Circling a gigantic glowing mushroom. I crouch down. His steps grow louder. Then my blade darts out, and a green head goes flying. It bounces between columns and rolls on the dirt until it falls into the water. A ripple flickers over the surface. I see the head disappear inside a giant, tooth-filled mouth. A sharklike creature looks at me with beady eyes. Then it disappears again, faster than my eyes can follow. I slurp on the fountain of sweet blood, bursting out of the headless neck until it dries out. I could throw the rest of the body into the water. Those fish might make it disappear. Now, let us take on the two that are left. They aren¡ät where I left them anymore. I follow their trail until the tunnel opens up into an immense cave. The stale air is laden with the stench of sweat and urine, of unwashed bodies. There are normal humans here. Pent up in cages like cattle. One of those goblins is poking at a girl with his spear. He seems to enjoy himself because he is grinning from ear to ear. The girl glares at him. Then she points a finger in his direction and a lightning bolt tears through the darkness and impacts the chainmail on the goblin¡äs chest. I rub my eyes to remove the aftermath of the stinging light. I growl. Is she a sorcerer? Those I knew couldn¡ät do that? The goblin still lies crumpled in a heap of limps. He twitches a few times, then goes still. His companion steps back, weary. But falls right into my waiting arms. His throat leaves my blade wet and red. But I resist to lick it dry for now. We shouldn¡ät scare those people now, should we? His blood spills into the dirt, wasted. I tear my eyes away from it and go closer to the caves. ¡°Welcome, adventurer!¡± says the girl, looking at me. Unfazed by the dead green men. ¡°Hurry! Take the keys from that goblin on the ground and let me out. My family will reward you.¡± ¡°Are you a mage?¡± ¡°Hurry! Take the keys from that goblin on the ground and let me out. My family will reward you.¡± Did that girl smash her head one too many times as a child or something? Is she deaf? I pick up the keys she is talking about and open her cage. ¡°May the gods bless you, adventurer. Hurry! Let us liberate the rest of the miners and get out. The guild needs to know what happened here.¡± I wait for her to come close until she is right by my side. Then I slit her throat. She gurgles and looks at me in confusion. I smile and bite down. *Sidequest failed* The cries of the miners are a sweet symphony that lulls my senses. I bathe in the despair, the realization that I am not here to help them. They are nicely aligned for the slaughter. I smile, letting the thick blood of the limp body trickle down my chin before licking it up. I have food for a while. Let us finish it up before some of those goblins come looking. Who cares about safe zones? *Time remaining: 0:00:05 ¡­ 04 ¡­03 ¡­ 02 ¡­ 01 Quest failed! You have failed to escape the goblin mines in time. You have failed to unlock the feature safe zones. Safe zones have been disabled until the end of the tutorial. Safe what? Who cares? I feel safe here, and there is still a lot of food left. Why should I hurry? I found their village. Well, a bunch of dry, holed-out mushrooms they use to sleep in. They are really careless there. Believing themselves safe because of their numbers. But their guards are a joke. Entranced playing with dice instead of keeping an eye on the dark tunnels. Goblins bumble around all over the place. Laughing and fighting, smoking some of those pale sharks over stinky campfires. The dried mushrooms they use as fuel don¡ät burn very well. It releases more smoke than anything, drowning the cave in grey-blue clouds. They may well knock themselves out. A bigger goblin comes running, gesticulating at the fire and admonishing the cooks. They duck down sheepishly. The big goblin points at the mushroom with his finger. Bright flames erupt, banishing the clouds. I blink. That was unexpected. What kind of goblin is he? *Goblin shaman Lvl ??? A mage? Do those goblins have mages? My fingers twitch. Calm down and stay hidden. Wait for them to go to sleep. They don¡ät go to sleep? Well, they do, but they sleep in turns or whenever some of them feel like it. The day and night cycle means nothing down here. I grumble. I am still forced to ambush them when they patrol those tunnels. They don¡ät take chances anymore. They have increased the strength of their groups to ten men when they move out now. They seem a bit slower than before, or maybe I have become faster now that I¡äm not starved. But still, ten are too much to confront them head-on. My eyes wander to the rough fishing line they use to catch those sharks. I could use that. I wait. I wait and wait. I am tired of waiting. I throw a pebble at the back of the head of one of the goblins walking down the street. He whirls around and punches the goblin behind him in the face. The other goblin growls, and then he hits back. They start hitting each other. More goblins are attracted by the commotion, like moths to a flame. I sneak towards the now lonely goblin, still sitting by the lake. My sword thrust enters cleanly through his back, coming out slick and smelling like the heavens. Concentrate. I catch his fallen fishing pole and disappear again.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. The dark and high ceilings of the chamber where they kept their prisoner are my first hiding spot. I take off the hook of the end of the line and knot it together into a self-closing sliding knot. The line seems very resistant. It has to be, or those sharks would rip it apart every time. I wait above the entrance until a patrol passes below me. They pause, taking in the scene. There are dead bodies painted in blood everywhere they look. They start to gutter in a strange language, waving their swords and spears around. I let my line fall, slowly, around the throat of the last one of them. He catches it and looks up, confused, trying to pierce the darkness. Then I pull. His unborn cry dies in his throat. It is fishing time. Three goblins later, they finally realize that they are missing people. Froglike eyes dart around, afraid of the shadows. Their chatter grows louder, more frantic. Then they run back up the tunnel they came from. I sit back, languidly sipping on the veins of a throat. This is becoming boring. I should have left some of those miners alive to keep me company, maybe that pretty girl. She was a mage, sadly, and I think mentally handicapped too. There will be no truce for sorcerers, witches, or magicians. Pretty and bewitching or not. I need to kill all those traitorous bastards. Maybe I could search for the exit and leave this cave. Explore what is out there. Find a city, read a book, get laid. Yeah! But there is still that goblin shaman. I need to kill him first. And the bastard doesn¡ät leave his village. So, I still need to whittle their numbers down one by one. Heavy steps thunder down the tunnel, echoing closer. A big brute of a goblin appears, carrying a tree trunk over the shoulder like a mace. Then another and another. *Hobgoblin Lvl ??? ¡­ Goblin Shaman Lvl ??? Goblin Shaman Lvl ??? Hobgoblin Lvl ??? Hobgoblin Lvl ??? Goblin scout Lvl ??? Goblin Chieftain Lvl ??? Hobgoblin Lvl ??? ¡­ Hobgoblin Lvl ??? If those hobgoblins are like grown men, the chieftain is a giant. He carries a long metal pole that I don¡ät think I could lift. I shouldn¡ät mess around with this group. Let the shadows hide me. I cover up here on a ledge between two broken and refused stalactites. The scout sniffs around, but the corpses have started to rot, and their stench overshadows everything. I wait in hiding. The chieftain orders his lackeys around. Goblins poke their spears into every corner. A frightened bunch wanders reluctantly down another tunnel on the opposite side of the cave. It seems to scare them, but their chieftain scares them more. I smile. He scares them more for now. Another group shoves one of the empty cages close to the entrance. They wait for the explorers to return, then plug the cage into the gap and start to fill it with stones. Good try, but that isn¡ät going to help you. Blue sky I decided to lay low for a while. Let the goblins believe that they solved their problem. They need to relax. I want them to reduce the size of their patrols again. I have been exploring a lot of winding side tunnels, and I think I found the entrance. Daylight shines into the cave shafts, illuminating metallic rails on the ground. Wagons full of ore can be pushed along them. Interesting invention. Two lookouts guard the entrance, more preoccupied with what may come in from the outside than what may be behind them. The first one dies in a second. His hammer falls through the air. I try to catch it, but I stumble on a stone, and it slips through my fingers. The hammerhead impacts on the rails. A high-pitched ring pierces through my sensitive ears. The world blurs, the penumbra a whirlwind of colors. The other goblin whirls around, a dancing smudge in my vision. I step back instinctively. Something arcs before my face, through my left shoulder, leaving behind stinging throbs of pain. I step back again, still a bit dizzy. My vision clears just in time to parry and deflect another spear strike into the ceiling. The goblin looks at me, then at his stuck weapon. I thrust forward. His complaints die in his throat. That was dumb. I may be faster now. I may have been lucky until now, but an error will still cost me. I drink my fill and wait for my flesh to knit back together. Should I wait for the night to fall before exploring outside? I don¡ät know. Something feels wrong. Is it the light? What is wrong with the light? I step closer and hold my hand into the sun. I feel. I feel nothing. ¡°What is happening?¡± It feels warm, like holding my fingers close to a candle, not the irritating burn it should feel like. I step outside. The rays of the sun bathe me in their warm embrace. No! That can not be the sun. It must be a fake. But it seems so real. I can see the blue sky over me. Clouds slowly drift towards another mountain range in the distance. I should feel something now. The older a vampire gets, the less the sunlight affects them and the longer they can hold out under it. But it still should tickle, then prickle, and slowly ramp up until you agonize. Nothing is happening here. It can¡ät be a sun. It must be a lamp, imitating one. The sky must be fake. Is this all just another giant cave? Someone is trying to deceive us, to deceive me. I shudder. How rich do you need to be to paint a false sky on the ceiling for no reason, just to make fun of us? Are they hiding somewhere, watching us stumble around? Well, there is nothing I can do about it right now. Even with a fake sun, I still don¡ät like it out here in the light. It feels wrong. It might instill bad habits. I turn around to go back into the welcoming darkness, but the cave is gone. I blink. There is only a smooth stonewall. I poke at it, solid stone. How?Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. *Milestone achieved! Rejoice! You have escaped from the goblin mines. What rejoice! No. No! Let me go back! There are still shamans left to kill! *Achievement unlocked: Early bird: You are the first User of your tutorial at impossible difficulty to escape your initial dungeon. Agility +4, Strength + 2 Achievement unlocked: Last-survivor: You are the only User of your tutorial who survived your initial quest. All stats +1 Error. User has not finished his initial quest in time. Safe zones have been locked. User can not choose a class. Purging User. Error. User is the first to finish his initial quest. User is the last surviving participant in this difficulty. User can not be purged. Searching for a solution¡­ Solution found. Choose a class: Error. User is still at level zero. User can not choose a class. Analyzing combat logs¡­ Multiple slain enemies were found. User remains at level zero because he has diverted incoming experience into his bloodline. Rebalancing tutorial. Generating new questline¡­ *Quest received! -Reach level 10, enter a city, and speak with the Captain of the Guard, a registrar of the Adventurers Guild, or a member of the Thieves Guild to learn how to unlock your first class. -Alternatively, enhance your bloodline to an S grade to get a Unique, personalized class. Currently: 1,7%. Yeah, whatever. How do I get back to the caves? I wander through a maze of stonewalls and boulders. There is no other entrance, only solid granite. I punch the stone in frustration. Some of it crumbles under my fist. There is a visible dent in the wall. It feels more fragile than it should be. Or Am I stronger? How was it again? Status. *Status: Name: Ka¡äain Race: Human (Undead) Age: 13827 years Bloodline: Ancient Vampire (A) 1,7% Achievements: Early bird, Survivor Level: 0 Class: None Cultivation: None Attributes: Strength:34 Agility: 56 Dexterity: 43 Endurance: 26 Vitality: 63 Perception: 54 Intelligence: 22 Willpower: 65 Traits: Universal Tongue Skills: Identify Lvl 2 Unarmed fighting Lvl 48 Daggers Lvl 27 Dodge Lvl 11* Yeah, those numbers went up. But what do I do now? Where should I go? I need to find another source of food somewhere. *Optional side quest received: Find shelter before the storm rolls in. What storm? I look up. Black clouds cover the horizon to the south. Flashes of Lightning pierce the sky. I count to ten before the thunder washes over me, drowning my senses in the noise. That looks dangerous. The human remnants of my brain feel threatened by it. But the Vampire in me feels welcome. Bad weather makes good hunting conditions. But where are the people to hunt? Where are the roads, the villages? I start wandering into the green plains. Bullfighter *Side quest failed In hindsight, I should have tried to find shelter. Fist-sized pellets of hail batter my aching shoulders or split into shards on my skull. I run, trying to reach the distant forest. Two bulls chase me, hot on my tail. For some reason, they are not peaceful herbivores that leave you alone if you don¡ät bother them. They have fangs and bloodshot eyes and run at an incredible speed. Luckily, they are not very agile. They need time to turn, to stop, and to accelerate again. They may be twice as fast as me in a straight line, but they are not that hard to evade. One of them is close again, I step aside, and he rushes past. I try to pierce him with my blade, but I may as well be hitting stone. The vibration of the impact punishes my sore wrists. I look at my chipped and now even bent blade. Astonished. What are they made of? Don¡ät get distracted. The second one is incoming. I jump high into the air. He rushes past beneath me. This may have been a bad decision because the first one is already coming again. My feet try to reach the ground, racing against sharp horns, aiming for my backside. My feet win by a hairbreadth. But my footing isn¡ät steady enough to jump to the side. I barely manage to lean out of the way. His shoulder hits me like a battering ram, throwing me into the drenched grassland. I roll through the dirt with a wet splash, just in time to evade the second one again. I glare at them. They roar, snort, and bellow. Another egg-sized pellet of hail cracks against the back of my head, pushing my face back into the mud. Lightning falls close by, illuminating even more cows and bulls wandering in the distance. Enough of this nonsense! They may be fast, strong, and incredibly durable, but how intelligent are they? The first one is nearly upon me again. I dodge to the left. I take a few steps back, waiting for the second one, and dodge to the left again. I need to throw off their timing. The first one comes in. I sidestep and follow as he rushes by, keeping an eye on the second one. He starts turning. I cut diagonally towards him, towards where he will be, the other one is coming close behind me. At the last moment, I jump high again. One bull crashes into the other one and sends him flying. I turn and bolt toward the forest. Ear-splitting bellows die under the rain. I hear a snort and look back over my shoulder. One still follows me, tongue lolling, swinging from side to side. His mouth is dripping bloody foam with each step. But one solitary bull is easy to evade without being forced to change directions every few seconds. We have left the other one behind, hobbling in the distance. Finally, we reach the forest. The bull crashes, trips, and stumbles through the undergrowth for a few meters. He looks at me and tries to gain speed. I step behind a towering tree and look out the other side. He snorts and bellows in rage. Then he turns around and walks back into the open plains, swishing his drenched tail from side to side like a whip. I sit down as close to the trunk of the tree as I can get, trying to hide from the hail without much success. The bigger pellets crash through the crown, tearing off leaves, branches, and pieces of bark that fall all around me in a rain of wood splinters. At least it softens the impact a bit. I look around, searching for a better tree. There is one, a bit further into the thick shrubbery. A half-fallen trunk, still full of branches and dead, yellow needles, that, instead of falling to the ground, has gotten stuck between the branches of a few adjacent trees, leaving a relatively dry and sheltered space beneath. *Reassessing ¡­ Side quest completed Grade: D- Calculating rewards¡­ You have received Impact resistance +1 Resistances unlocked Resistances work as a bonus or malus over your constitution attribute that makes you more resistant or vulnerable toward certain types of damage. Error. The constitution attribute is not supported in the initial system integration package of this cycle. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Error. Constitution is a basic attribute. Searching for justification. Constitution has been declared a premium attribute since integration cycle number 89. Additional attributes may be bought at the system store. Error. The system store is not supported in the initial system integration package of this cycle. Resistances can not be unlocked. Error. Increases in specific resistances are an integral part of the rewards of the Impossible difficulty tutorial. Conflict of interests detected. Possible mismanagement detected. Generating a maintenance ticket. Waiting for a solution¡­* What is all this nonsense again? I thought I was free from all these distracting windows. I duck beneath the tree trunk to sit on the dry, half-rotten leaves. The hailstorm doesn¡ät seem so dangerous anymore. It is almost like music. Crazy drummers hammer their fists against wooden planks at top speed, keeping the rhythm. The wind whistles. Bringing the distant howls of wolves to my ears. *Worldwide notice: System actualization No 3.111.45678 -A bug that blocked the acquisition of certain attributes has been removed. -The constitution attribute has been made available again. -The system store has been made available again. It will unlock once a User meets the requirements.* Suddenly, there is silence. I blink. When my eyes open again, all the hail that covered the ground has disappeared. Even the storm has disappeared. The sky is clear and blue, except on the horizon, where the fake sun is setting. I frown. The sun is fake, and the sky is fake. Even the storm was fake. Is there anything real here? My arms are bruised and tender. That seems real. The hail seemed real. How did it disappear? I look around. There are torn leaves and branches everywhere. I discover a few nearly molten hail-grains. I didn¡ät imagine it, but I must have lost time without realizing it. I shiver. *You have unlocked your constitution attribute. Constitution assessed at 18. Achievements reapplied retroactively. Constitution +1 You have unlocked resistances.* Okay? What are those anyway? *Resistances: -Impact 1 -Darkness 90 -Light -85 -Curses 30 -Death 90 -Poison 90 ???* I am resistant to death, whatever that means. Well, I already died once, and here I am. No surprise there. Yammering howls pierce the forest. I look up, trying to catch the direction they came from. They grow louder and closer, but I still don¡ät see them. What is that? A horse-sized pitch-black beast wanders into a clearing a few hundred meters away. A grey one follows it, and another. I am out of here. If those are as strong as the bulls, there is nothing I can do. Those are wolves, giant wolves, pack predators. The first of them looks my way, yellow eyes meeting mine. I turn around the tree and bolt upwards. The bark is slippery after the hail and rain, but my clawlike nails help my grip. Before they can reach me, I want to be way up. They circle the base of the tree, looking up, scratching the bark, and yammering at me. The big black one grins at me, eyes glinting with intelligence. It is like he is telling me that I should give up, that there is nowhere to go. Well, he is wrong. The trees are very close to one another and sturdy enough to jump from branch to branch like a squirrel. I climb high into the crown, bending the branches, and jump over their heads. I grin back. Stupid mutt! Five trees later, they still follow me. Tenacious like a pack of hyenas. I look at them. Really? The big black mutt swipes his paw. Something dark glitters through the air and rams into the branch beneath my feet. The branch wobbles but holds. A sorcerer? How can a mutt be a sorcerer? I feel like my entire worldview is about to collapse. I continue swinging and jumping from tree crown to tree crown. Finally, the wolves get tired and fall back. I can hear horses whining in the distance. I sneak closer without getting down to the ground. Who knows if the mutts really left or are just hiding somewhere, waiting to pounce? I can see a carriage now, black and shiny, escorted by four ironclad riders armed with longswords. I follow them, a shadow gliding through the tree crowns. Maybe once they camp, I can get a drink. They might as well show me the way to the next city. One of those swords would be nice. I would prefer a spear, but beggars can¡ät be choosers. An arrow flies through the air and slams into the side of the carriage. Followed by another. Where did that shot come from? Another arrow. One of the horses stumbles and then bucks, throwing off his rider. *Side quest received: Safe the eldest daughter of Lord Thunderfield from being kidnapped by the Blackforest bandits.* Yeah, I don¡ät care. Men start swarming out of the woods, rough-looking people armed with spiked maces. One swipes his hand through the air in a weird gesture, and the spokes of one of the carriage wheels splinters into pieces. A bandit sorcerer? Why are there sorcerers everywhere? I may not care about some noble girl, but I can¡ät ignore that now. More arrows fly. Found you! It is time to get my first snack of the evening.