《Hell's Wonderland Online [Monster Evolution, Progression Fantasy]》 Chapter 1: A Rough Start Immediately throwing my bag into the corner I ¡ªgently¡ª throw myself on to my bed and put on my headset. My vision fades and I find myself standing in front of my game library. Gah! I am so excited! Finally, after two years of the game being out and the hype only continuing to get bigger, I have turned 21 and am able to purchase the coolest game of all time. Hell¡¯s Wonderland Online! Over 10 million players and a world so realistic that I have heard of a few underground cults thinking that the game is a real place. Though¡­ with the advancement of Full Dive VR technology that is not exactly uncommon. ¡°Weirdos.¡± Chuckling to myself at how crazy those people are, I pull on the new game on my shelf. In an instant I find myself dragged into the digital world, standing on a small circular stone platform with a fancy greek looking goddess standing before me. Long blonde hair and a fancy white toga type dress. I don¡¯t know what they are called to be honest. Gold leaf adornments in her hair and piercing golden eyes. Damn, she¡¯s hot. ¡°Welcome to Hell¡¯s Wonderland Online.¡± A voice over starts to play as some scene starts playing out behind the goddess. ¡°The world of Yisaria is a¡­¡± ¡°Skip!¡± I shout quickly before the story can get any further. I know the game¡¯s story, I have watched so many videos and read all of the public forums. I am obsessed with this game. There is no need to go on about the fantasy setting or its magic system for a junkie like me. The world that had been expanding behind the goddess snaps back into the large grassy plain it was before. I let the wind wash over me for a moment as I take in the complete recreation of all the senses that this game has managed to recreate. Far too many games these days are cutting corners and they feel awkward when you play. Cheap bastards. The smiling goddess waits for me to finish my inane thoughts before speaking again, in time with her words a small glass panel appears in front of my vision. [Please design your character] Soft white text covers the glass panel the size of a small computer monitor. Runes, in a language I would not normally understand, all make perfect sense after the downloaded common language is installed in my noggin. How that works or is remotely legal is something I will never understand but can¡¯t be bothered looking into. Legality of messing with the human brain aside, I have a character to create! One interesting thing to note for this part of the game is that you are always forced to make a human avatar to start with, regardless of the race you pick in the end. Your racial traits are added on afterwards. Another weird quirk of the game that I don¡¯t quite understand. I do have a theory though. Shrugging, I quickly begin making a bunch of changes to my appearance in the editor. I will leave the gory details for some other time. ¡°I will just make myself cute on the off chance I get the skill sometime down the line!¡± After several hours of fussing around I fist pump at how cute I look before moving on to the next stage. The [Humanization] Skill has never been proven to exist even after two years of people playing the game, but I think the character creator requirement is a hint for players like me. [Please choose your name] Well, considering the game has ¡°Wonderland¡± in the title and how I have always been fond of the Lewis Carroll stories, I want to pick something thematic. I just think it will be more fun that way. Hope no one took the name already, but with so many players I may have to dig through my name list. Considering my future plans for this character I think I will go with ¡°Vorpalia¡± in reference to jabberwocky. Basically I¡¯m just taking a cutesy twist on the word ¡°vorpal.¡± Now comes the fun part! [Please choose your race] This is what I have been waiting for, race selection. And no, I am not going to be some nekomimi maid girl. Though, that is a popular option. Not for me though! ¡°I am going to be a dragon!!!¡± Grinning wildly I pull up the monster section of the race menu. I have always had a weird affinity for the big lizards. Some dumb obsession I just never got out of as a kid. Probably watched too much TV instead of studying but I have no regrets! The best part of this game is that it lets you play as a monster. Well, in my opinion that is the best part. You have to start as a really low level version of the creature and there is no assistance in moving in your very non-humanoid body, so there is a very small community of dedicated monster players, but they are all really cool people! I have talked with several on the forums and plan to meet a few in game when I get strong enough. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Scrolling through the list I finally find what I am looking for after frantically flipping my finger on the screen. ¡°Found you!¡± I shout as I jam my finger into the glass panel and select [Lesser Drake]. It is just basically a large lizard, but I can totally see it evolving into a dragon at some point. That is just basic fantasy rules after all. After picking the drake the rest of the creation is a bit of a blur, I just spammed my way through the boring features setup and hopped right into the world of Yisaria. ¡­ My eyes flit open as I am hit with a wave of nausea. Ugh, I was told this would happen but I didn¡¯t take it seriously. Suddenly having my mind and senses crammed into the body of a foot tall lizard is far from an easy experience. Blinking rapidly I let my eyes refocus from their much lower position. Wow, everything looks so huge! All around me are trees and flowers that would look perfectly natural to any normal human, but from my position on the ground they are really bringing my that fucking wonderland feel. Trippy. Magic! I should try and use my magic! I picked up [Healing (Low Rank)] because I won¡¯t have access to healing potions or other people to heal me when I am a monster. That, and I don¡¯t want to die. The death penalty is massive for this game. Locked out for an entire day, and you lose half your maximum Ether. Do this too many times and you have to create a whole new character! The dev¡¯s really seem to want people to take the game seriously as far as I can tell. No zombie runs. I pull up my screen with my thoughts to check over my skills. Healing, Blood, and Lightning make up my magic. All Low Rank of course. The [Healing Magic] is for my own safety, but the [Blood Magic] is a bit of my edgy side leaking out. I just think a blood dragon is the coolest idea. As for [Lightning Magic], well I need some way to cause real damage and cook my food. Ugh, that is going to be rough. In this game, you have a real need to eat food, and I can¡¯t magic up a cooked pork chop by throwing some pixelated coal into a cube of stone. This ain¡¯t Minescape. Well, whatever. I will figure it out. Next, are the racial skills, or racial skill -singular- [Roar]. Which just intimidates creatures weaker than me. What constitutes weaker? Well, with no level system, that question is something still debated over by people on the forums. Finally, there are the general skills which include [Yisarian language], and [Dimensional Storage]. The first is self explanatory, the game is played by people from all over the world so a common language is necessary. The second, is not nearly as cool as it sounds. It, like my magic, is Low Rank, which means I can basically open a hole as big as a small wall safe and put things on the tiny shelves inside. It is nice and all, but I am here to test out my cool draconic powers! A sharp toothed smile forms as I look over my smooth dark crimson scaled body, my cute little tail, and awesome black talons. Time to find something to kill. Skulking out into the woods, I stumble a bit but quickly get used to the new body. Those whiners on the forms don¡¯t know what they are talking about, it''s not that hard to control a different body. Marching through the tall grass, I come across what looks like a tall black chicken with mean purple eyes and wings that come to sharp obsidian points. Ah, fuck. I had forgotten that since I am a monster, I get spawned in a monster infested area. I was just too excited! And it looks like I was rather unlucky with my spawn. The towering black rooster, that I think has a snake for a tail but can¡¯t really see from this angle, lashes out at me. Screeee! The beast lets out an ear splitting cry and flings its wings at me, dislodging several of those very blade-like feathers. Ugh, I can¡¯t cover my ears with my stupid limbs! Scrambling to the side I barely dodge the feathery knives as they lodge into the earth that I had just been standing on. Gah! I try and call on my [Lightning Magic] to throw at the very angry chicken, only for tiny sparks to sputter out of my mouth before dying in the grass. Right. You have to train your magic to use it. I remember praising the game for the realism of such a system¡­ I am seeing why so many people complained now. Thankfully, standing still due to shock did not get me killed by the chicken. Instead I hear a jeering cluck. The thing is laughing at me! Not taking the insult from a damn piece of poultry, I charge forwards and leap with all my might onto the chicken¡¯s face. I dig my claws into the stupid bird¡¯s eyes and get a sharp beak through my chest in return. I want to scream and cry at the pain as the blood falls from the wound, I don¡¯t have time as the chicken¡¯s wings reach up to claw and carve into my skin. I let out a [Roar] which only barely manages to make the chicken flinch. Good enough! I pull myself higher on the chicken¡¯s head and clamp my sharp jaws down on the base of the monster¡¯s spine. It lashes out and flails under my bone crushing jaw strength for barely a moment. Crunch! I feel the whole world shift as the monster collapses and falls out from under me. [You have defeated a monster!] [Your maximum Ether has gone up!] Geh, I am covered in blood and my mouth is full of feathers and bits of bone. Spitting out the remains of the chicken in my mouth I assess my wounds. Looks like the scratches didn¡¯t get too far past my scales which is nice, but the beak hole in my chest is not great. Pulling on my negligibly increased Ether I start running my [Healing Magic] through my body. I can feel a pins and needles sensation as the wounds start to close up. This is going to take a while, isn¡¯t it? I can¡¯t even see my chest all that well without twisting at a weird angle, so I can¡¯t tell how fast the wound is closing there. But the scales on my sides, which I can see, are stitching themselves back together at a rate just barely visible to the naked eye. I don¡¯t want to move too much in case I make the wounds worse, but I realize the smell of chicken blood is thick in the air and likely to lead other monsters to me. Time to bail I guess, bye bye Mr chicken. I won¡¯t miss you. Shakily stumbling through the tall grass I decide to explore a bit while being as sneaky as possible. Something that is easier said than done when covered in chicken blood. Squawk! It would seem Mr chicken had a friend. Chapter 2: The Idiot Savant Left right, left right. I dart through the woods in a zigzag pattern to try and throw off the less maneuverable friend of Mr chicken. Up down, up down, B, A, Start. Wait, no, that cheat code does not work here! Squawk! Silence Mr chicken #2! I will deal with you in due time. I just uh¡­ need not hurt with every step I take as blood drips from my chest hole. I am trying to make sure the area is clear before I get into another fight, but Mr chicken #2 does not seem to care about my needs. Several obsidian feathers fly out and slam into where I was a moment ago. Damn it, how many times can you do that?! Mr chicken #2, or actually you know what, I am going to give you a name because saying ¡°Mr chicken #2¡± every time is going to get annoying. Congratulations, your name is now Bob! Squawk!! Ah, yes. Those bloodshot eyes filled with hate and malice. Clearly Bob loves his new name! Screech! More feathers fly past, this time nicking the side of my head. I feel, well not sweat since I am a lizard, but something roll down my back as I continued to dart around. Yeah, that¡¯s probably blood. Hey! I have [Blood Magic] right? Let¡¯s give it a shot! Taking a turn around another tree sharply, I swivel around to face Bob. Pulling on my Ether I reach out to my new friend and yank his blood to the side as best I can. The damn thing barely twitches. Fine, I guess I will use my own blood then! I am fucking covered in the stuff thanks to you and your buddy after all. Letting my new and yet instinctual senses wash over the blood coating my body and the path behind me, I reach out with my hand. Not my clawed one, but what feels like my own human hand. The blood on my body leaps off and wraps itself around Bob¡¯s throat while molding itself into the loose shape of a hand. Holy shit, that worked?! I fucking rule! My eyes go wide at my functioning magic before I realize that the stranglehold of blood is not exactly doing much as it has very little force behind it. However, the fact that something is grabbing its throat is enough to distract the chicken. Flailing feathers swing and swish through the bloody hand as they try and fail to get the crimson appendage off. All Bob does in the end is manage to coat himself in a thin layer of blood. Okay! Since I managed to get the [Blood Magic] working, then maybe I can use [Lightning Magic]! Snapping my mouth open I focus on the path between myself and the chicken, letting my highschool science classes come back to me about ionization of the atmosphere or whatever. I didn¡¯t pay much attention in that class. I feel the air heat up for a moment before a bolt of bright white strikes out instantly at Bob, frying the chicken neatly and filling the air with the smell of burnt feathers. Gross. [You have defeated a monster!] [Your maximum Ether has gone up!] Doing my best not to gag on the smell, I run [Healing Magic] through my eyes. I can see again! Stupid [Lightning Magic] not giving any protection to the eyes at the early stages¡­ I should upgrade it as soon as I can because going blind every time I use it is a one way ticket to a harsh respawn. Sniff, sniff. Hmmm, if you ignore the smell of burnt feathers, Bob actually smells pretty tasty. I wonder if that is because of my [Lesser Drake] body? Does my nose smell things differently? Eh, whatever. I don¡¯t feel like bothering with game mechanics like that, I am here to have fun. I can ask on the forums later and let one of those lore freaks figure it out. Waddling over to the well cooked chicken I open up my [Dimensional Storage], which punches a small square shaped hole into the air with wiggly purple lines around it, and inside I can see a little cubby hole with a single shelf in the middle. On the shelf are three little vials of bright red healing potion, a few silver coins, a water skin, and a pouch of some kind of monster jerky. All the standard starter stuff. Nothing fancy. Pulling my claws along the side of the chicken, I start to scrape off the feathers and carve out a few chunks of the cooked meat for later before storing them on the bottom of my space cubby. Nice! I am glad we get a free inventory skill or I would probably starve to death so fast. Along with that thought, I close the space cubby and munch on what is left of Bob. Munch, munch. Bob, I must say. Though you were a huge dick for chasing me, your meat is certainly tasty. B+. You know, I thought it was supposed to take a while to figure out how to use magic, but I guess everyone else just needs to get good. I managed it through sheer awesomeness! No one can stop me now! Laughing to myself internally, I start my trek out to find a place to call home. One of the parts of this game is that you don¡¯t vanish when you log out. Your body stays in place, sleeping. Your hunger does not go down thankfully, but you can still get killed if you don¡¯t log out somewhere safe. Naturally, this is a problem for monster players. We don¡¯t get to log out at a cozy inn or at the safehouses in a church. No, we get the hardcore experience of finding a lair and playing an afk tower defence game. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. I had planned on finding a river or something to wash the blood off and get a drink, but with the water skin in my space cubby being full, I feel more like exploring to find a cave. I can just use [Blood Magic] to get the blood off me anyway. Looking up I can see the steep slope of the mountain I am on, thick bushes and rustling sounds coming from everywhere. I can¡¯t tell if it is just the wind or if they are monsters, but I know I can deal with monsters so I am not worried. Maybe I can sense them? I got all this Ether stuff floating around inside me, and since I feel like I can move it around, then I just might be able to make a detection spell or something! Not wasting any time thinking about how it works, I rely on instinct, feeling, gumption, and chutzpah to make my magic work. I let a trickle of Ether float out of my body and settle in the air, not letting it get so far away that I lose control. Hey, this is pretty easy! I can even feel the things that my Ether touches. [You have learned the skill [Detection]!] Awesome, magic is so easy to control. I wonder what other skills I can get just by messing around?
¡°Dude, come on! We gotta report to the Guild.¡± Running across the dirt road towards a city gate, a long black bearded and yet rather short man shouts out to his companions. ¡°I am coming as fast as I can. Unless you want to pull the cart?¡± A young woman, who should have nowhere near enough strength judging by her thin arms and all around non muscular appearance, glares at her party member. Pain in the ass at times like this. Keeping her thoughts to herself while still glaring, Dahlia just continues to pull the cart along. Behind her, in said wooden cart, is a monster corpse that looks like a bipedal bull with a thick gold ring hanging from its nose. Greg, as a dwarf, should be naturally stronger than a vulpid like Dahlia. However, he just looks away sheepishly and darts on ahead to the Guild. ¡°Impatient as ever.¡± Dahlia shakes her head, her light orange fox ears fluttering in the wind. ¡°What ever happened to that stereotype that dwarves are serious taciturn people?¡± Nadia, the elven researcher and scout, chuckles as she watches Greg¡¯s antics continuing on as usual. ¡°Ha! Don¡¯t let Guildmaster Dante hear you say that. He takes his whole ¡®super cool and badass dwarf¡¯ thing very seriously.¡± Dahlia can¡¯t help but bark out her own laugh as she hears her friend describe the old stereotype. Greg wandering around in his flashy, all too colorful armor and noxiously painted shield completely destroys such an image instantly, all by itself. ¡°True.¡± Nadia nods once and pulls on her leather armor a bit to let the air through as she focuses back on keeping people away from their catch. There are not a lot of other people on the road at this time of day, but being careful of thieves at all times is the norm for adventurers. ¡°Hey Lupis! Get your nose out of that book, we¡¯re almost at the Guild.¡± Shouting behind her to the man lazily sitting on the edge of the carriage she is pulling, Dahlia wrinkles her nose as the wind suddenly blows the monster¡¯s stench her way. The ulfr, Lupis, just presses on his reading glasses and swishes his wolf tail before barking out an annoyed response. ¡°I am studying! Magic is extremely difficult to learn and if you want me to be able to save your hides the next time a glungar attacks us in The Abyss, then I recommend you don¡¯t distract me.¡± Dahlia grimaces at the mention of the glungar. They had been ferrying their hunt back from The Abyss for their latest Guild quest, when a mass of physically resistant sludge attacked them after turning a blind corner. Her [Sword Arts] and [Aura] attacks barely scratched the thing and only Lupis¡¯ [Lightning Magic] was able to bring the thing down to the level where they could defeat it. It was the closest they had come to death in a while. ¡°Geez, he is obsessed with magic¡­ Though, I will admit that the lightning really saved us back there. I wonder if I should try and learn magic?¡± The ulfr, who had just been complaining about interruptions, laughs at Dahlia¡¯s murmuring. ¡°Hah! Just learning to move one¡¯s Ether to produce magic takes weeks of practice under the tutelage of the church or a master, and you are a physical type. Most of your Ether goes to strengthening your body so trying to function as a mage at the same time would only weaken you.¡± Glaring back, the vulpid woman huffs. ¡°I know, I know. I was just saying. No need to be a dick about it.¡± Dahlia was quite good with moving her Ether to reinforce her body or weapon, but she knows very well that using that Ether externally to create magic is not something you can just do without a lot of practice. ¡°So, once we turn in the minotaur we need to track down the lesser basilisk that has been nesting in the mountains, right?¡± Noticing that the conversation had ended, Nadia chimes back in as she takes out her notebook from her bag. Her talent as a scout is clear by her ability to take neat and detailed notes despite the brisk pace they are making towards the Guild, the conversation she is holding, and her duties to protect the monster corpse from outsiders. ¡°Yep, should be an easy job. It¡¯s a young one, so the quest is only Rank E. They want it dead before it can start makin¡¯ too many babies.¡± Dahlia makes a rather scrunched face as she mentioned the last portion of the quest details. Looking over, she sees Nadia doing the same. ¡°Ugh, baby basilisks are so annoying. Thankfully, they are easy to kill and can barely scratch the cheapest of monster leather. But you miss one of those little bastards and you end up in an endless cycle. At least goblins need a mate to produce offspring, basilisks have no right making fully fertilized eggs on their own.¡± Nadia grumbles for several more seconds about basilisks before letting her breath settle. ¡°You say that like goblin infestations are any less annoying to clean out¡­ We really should move to somewhere like the capital so we don¡¯t get these shit jobs anymore.¡± Letting out a sigh, Dahlia laments the backwater town her party ended up in. It seemed like a nice place to start making a name for themselves but backwater means backwater. The words of the Guildmaster from their first meeting echo in her head. There really is fuckall around this place. ¡°Find us the money to take the trip, buy an overpriced studio apartment, and scrounge up enough mid ranking jobs in a sea of adventurers to sustain us to pay off said overpriced studio apartment, and I will agree with you.¡± Nadia¡¯s scathing words just make Dahlia¡¯s shoulders droop further. ¡°Urk. Right, why did I become an adventurer again?¡± ¡°Because you are a muscle head who thought a life of fighting in The Abyss would make you famous and rich?¡± ¡°Fuck off Lupis.¡± Chapter 3: Looking For Real Estate [You have learned the skill [Concealment]!] [You have learned the skill [Aura]!] [You have learned the skill [Physical Enhancement]!] Well, it seems that is all I can get for now. A shame. It took a bit of time and a lot of experimentation, but I got three new skills! During the testing, I managed to diffuse my Ether around my body and match it to the environmental Ether which netted me the [Concealment] skill. That should come in handy! The new skill should let me walk around without giving away my position to anything and everything around me. Now, I should mention that the [Concealment] skill is not [Stealth] and only hides my Ether signature. My footsteps still make the same amount of noise sadly. After getting the [Concealment] skill, when I took the same principle of manipulating Ether outside my body but flipped around to apply a strong pressure on a point, I got the [Aura] skill. With this I can get a minor boost to my magic resistance when wrapping the aura around my body, as well as apply pressure to monsters, much like my [Roar] skill. Both seem useful in their own right, but far too boring to be of any fun. Now, [Physical Enhancement] is a real joy to play with. Sure, it is a drain on my Ether stores, but locking down any leaks when I run it through my muscles makes that issue go away. Easy peasy. I can soak my body in my own Ether to reinforce anything from my physical strength to durability. I can even see a lot better when I run it through my eyes! Aside from my magic, this is my new favorite skill. Now, it is time to find a base! Yes, I desperately need to find a place to live. With the whole ¡°falling asleep in place when you log out¡± system, I can¡¯t just leave the game in the middle of a monster infested forest. Even I have to eat and sleep in the real world sometimes. Though, that is not exactly all I should be doing. I do have college classes to attend. It is only responsible to keep up with your studies. Not! I fully plan on playing this game non stop, aside from eating and sleeping, for the next week straight! Thankfully I managed to convince almost all my professors to let me only have to show up for tests this semester. I mean, the classes are so boring, a toddler should be able to figure them out. I only had to prove to them that classes like Differential Equations and Organic Chemistry would be a waste of my time since I can just spend an hour studying on my own and learn everything the entire course would have taught. As for the teachers that said no? Well, I will just skip their classes. Losing a fraction of a point for attendance won¡¯t make my grade anything less than an A anyway, so why bother? Regardless of how boring college is, my point is that I don¡¯t need to bother with all that stupid life stuff while I play! Now, I just need to find a place to settle down in. A base of operations, a command center, my home away from home. That¡¯s right! A cave! Naturally as a dragon I should have my own cave. One to horde my wealth in and a place to slaughter haughty fools who come to challenge me. Muahahahahah! Come puny humans, I shall show you the face of despair! Cramming a boat load of my Ether into [Physical Enhancement] I push off the ground as hard as I can, leg muscles brimming with incredible power! Zipping to and fro I scour the mountain at lightning speeds! Or as fast as my tiny little legs can take me, whichever you want to believe. Now, I know that caves don¡¯t just appear naturally all over the place, this may be a video game, but it prides itself on realism. But, that does not mean there are no monster made caves lying around! All I have to do is track down a cave with some big bad monster nesting in it and then slaughter the thing and steal what is rightfully mine. I will stand on the corpse of my enemy and plant my flag in the dirt while shouting. Huzzah! I shall claim this land for queen and country! ¡­ Well, anyway, off to find a cave! Several hours later¡­ Fuck! This mountain is too fucking big! And why are there so many goddamn chickens?! The little bastards are everywhere. Eh, more Ether for me in the end, I guess. I have been looking all over for ages, but only just now stumbled upon a large rocky area with an actual freaking cave! Stupid thing was miles and miles away from where I spawned. Damnit game devs, you should always spawn dragons in caves. How could you miss such a crucial piece of game design?! I tried climbing a tree earlier, but realized a big ass lizard like myself is a tiny bit too heavy for the smaller branches at the top of a tree. I may or may not have learned the hard way. If a lizard falls in the forest and only a chicken is around to see it, well, let¡¯s just say there are no more witnesses. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Whatever! I didn¡¯t fall! I swear! Humph. Anyway, standing before me is a big ol cave. A real heckin chonker. The opening is taller than some of the trees and a thick warm wind is flowing from within, smothering me in the moist air. Roarrrr! Yeah, it seems the occupant is not happy about the eviction notice. From the looks of it, I am dealing with a baulder, basically a giant bear covered in small spiky rocks instead of fur. Or maybe it would be better to compare it to a porcupine? Whatever the best comparison is, the thing is pissed. Towering over me, the beast¡¯s piercing yellow eyes fixate on my position, its hot breath making me wrinkle my snout and let out my own [Roar] in response. Grahhh! A [Roar] that does absolutely nothing. Don¡¯t look at me with those disappointed eyes! I don¡¯t deserve this. My little chicken massacre while looking for your, I mean my, new cave should have gotten me enough Ether to at least make you flinch or something!! Honesty, why are there so many fucking chickens out here anyway? Roarrrrr! Yes, yes, I will get to you in a minute. My monologue about the now declining chicken population is more important than whatever claims you pretend to have to my cave. The rocky bear thing, or whatever it is, apparently loses its patience after seeing me unmoved by its attempts at scaring me off and moves in to crush me beneath its paws. Paws that are larger than my whole body I might add. Whoops! Running my Ether through my legs, I dart to one side to just barely avoid being turned into a lizard pancake. Take this! I immediately fire off a bolt of lightning at the beast¡¯s left side. Not letting up, I make sure to keep moving while the flash erupts from above me and crashes into the monster¡¯s stony flesh. I didn¡¯t fire it from right in front of my face this time, see I can learn! A flash fills the cave and as the light clears I can see that it only manages to char and crack the stone a bit while monumentally pissing the thing off. The beast turns around and slams its paws onto the ground once again. This time, several spears of stone explode from the floor and try to skewer me. Shit, shit, shit! Pushing out my [Aura] and [Detection] skills I just barely manage to track and evade the spikes before they erupt. The flow of Ether easily gives away their position. Hmm, I should probably learn to conceal my Ether movements in the future. I dart in real quick and slash at the stone on the baulder with my long black claws. A flash of sparks flies out as my claws drag along the stoney hairs on its leg. Yeah, I didn¡¯t think that would do much to be honest. Time for plan B! Sprinting my way between the creature¡¯s legs I feel the sheer scale of the thing as I look up at the monster¡¯s decidedly less stony underbelly. Perfect! Along the way, I discover that A: the monster is a boy, and B: my claws can cut through the creature¡¯s non-stony bits with ease. Ragghhhghg! Hooo boy, that has got to hurt. Not taking any responsibility for my part in such an agonized howl, I quickly yank on the flowing blood and whip it around to smack the big lug in the eyes. Blood splatters all over its vision as it lets out a deep gravelly growl of pain and hatred. Bye bye ya big oaf, this is what you get for having the misfortune of being in my cave. Already back out from under the baulder, I stare straight ahead at the towering mass of stone as it tries to regain its vision, blinking rapidly to clear the blood from its eyes. Kame! Hame! Eat shit! I collect a large mass of Ether in my mouth and fire a lightning bolt bigger than any of the others I have fired before right into the monster¡¯s face. [You have defeated a monster!] [Your maximum Ether has gone up!] It would seem that even a powerful monster like this can¡¯t handle getting its brain cooked. The bigger they are, the bigger the target their dumb head makes. I think that''s how the saying goes? Standing atop my prey, I let out a [Roar] of excitement. I am the king of the hill! Bow down mortals! I totally won against something so huge and got a big boost to my Ether as a reward. I really am awesome. Now uh¡­ What do I do with your corpse? Because I certainly can¡¯t move the thing on my own¡­ Well whatever. That is a problem for future Vorpalia. I need to log out and eat something before I starve to death. The little flashing icon in my vision is getting rather annoying. I get it, I have been playing for 10 hours straight, stop reminding me! But first¡­ I should look into upgrading one of my skills. Chapter 4: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Which skill should I upgrade is the ultimate question. I know from the forums that upgrading a skill takes a large amount of Ether, so I can only do it once right now, even after my chicken massacre and bear eviction. I chose my magic skills very carefully. I spent weeks deciding, flip flopping back and forth before I decided on my current load-out. [Healing Magic] because I can¡¯t go buying potions or play co-op with a healer when I am a monster. [Lightning Magic] as a primary damage dealer, I could have gone with fire, but as much as it pains me to say with the whole dragon thing and all, [Fire Magic] is kind of weak. You are forced to concentrate fire on an enemy for a long time to cause any real damage as you slowly roast them. You need to get to a much higher rank for [Fire Magic] to be effective. With my play-style and plans, I need higher firepower early on. And, lighting is just more versatile and can cover any cooking related needs as long as I do it right. Finally, [Blood Magic]. I chose it as a utility magic. Since it is a fluid I get all the flexibility of [Water Magic], aside from drinking water, and can even attack the blood in other people¡¯s bodies! There are so many uses for [Blood Magic] that I don¡¯t know why anyone chooses anything else. Those three magics make up my three affinities which is the maximum a person can have. Magic skills however are not stuck at Low Rank, no no no, they can be upgraded to higher ranks provided you pay the price. Upgrading a magic skill is not like suddenly getting a list of new spells, it just increases the range of things you can do with your magic and the overall strength. In magic, there are six ranks split into two equal pieces. Low Rank, Mid Rank, and High Rank make up the Common Ranks, while Knight Rank, King Rank, and Saint Rank make up the Royal Ranks. Each subsequent rank requires exponentially more Ether to acquire. As far as I know, very few members of the human races ever reach the Royal Ranks. Even among the top players only four have made it to King Rank in the two years since the game was released. I could upgrade [Lightning Magic] to Mid Rank, but it is already functioning as a good damage dealer so I want to focus on the other two magics for now. [Healing Magic] is a possible option because I will be able to heal a lot quicker once the upgrade is done. And while that would be incredibly useful, I have gotten better at dodging and fighting back against the chickens without getting hurt. So, I think I will go with [Blood Magic], which is my most useless magic at the moment, since I can only really blind things and make creepy blood hands. Readying myself I open the system window, a wide frosted glass panel appears in front of me with the prompt to begin skill evolution. [Would you like to evolve the skill [Blood Magic (Low Rank)?] [Y/N] Yeah, let¡¯s do it! I quickly funnel the majority of my Ether into my [Blood Magic] skill and let the upgrade begin while mentally selecting the ¡°Y¡± option on the menu. [Skill [Blood Magic (Low Rank)] will now evolve into the skill [Blood Magic (Mid Rank)!] I feel my maximum Ether drop rapidly down to a step below where it was when I first logged in. Whew, it feels like I just ran a marathon. As the exhaustion sets in from losing so much energy, I feel a warm sensation flood my body. Aww, no fun flashing lights or party streamers? I have been cheated! As the warm sensation fades a new window appears in my vision and the text is read out in the usual smooth and yet slightly robotic voice of the goddess. [Skill [Blood Magic (Low Rank)] has now evolved into [Blood Magic (Mid Rank)!] ooo, that¡¯s an odd sensation. I can feel my blood now, and not just my blood, but the blood of the baulder in front of me. Hehehe, I can work with this. Staring hungrily at the big chonker I prepare to play with its blood a little. Time to test- Beep! Ugh! Stupid human body and its stupid human needs. A flashing warning appears in my vision, warning me that I am getting extremely hungry in the real world. Fine, I will eat something, just shut it already! Logging out, I quickly throw together something to eat using the magical invention that is a microwave and settle down in my chair to look over the forums for a bit and chat with the other monster players I befriended before I got the game.
DragonGirl1234 : [Hey! Finally got the game. It is sooooo fun! I already killed a bunch of angry snake/chicken hybrids and a baulder, thus claiming a cave for my future dragon horde. Jealous?] SlimeToDemonLord : [Hey Drag, lol. If the chickens have a snake tail then they are called cockatrices by the way. Where did you even spawn?] TheLichQueen : [Girl yes! When you get strong enough come hang out in The Abyss under the Zerkal kingdom and we can one shot these weak ass humans together. Kekekek!] This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it DragonGirl1234 : [I know they are called cockatrices. :rolls eyes: But ¡°angry chickens¡± feels more accurate of a description. And I spawned in Silkfall Kingdom if I remember my choices correctly, though I was not paying that much attention when I selected the spawn location to be honest. Oh! LQ I will 100% track you down once I get some wings and I can fly over.] SlimeToDemonLord : [...Dude.] TheLichQueen : [Bet, I am on the second level, so you will need to be stronk to meet me.] SlimeToDemonLord : [Wait! I just realized you said you killed a baulder! How?! You just started!] DragonGirl1234 : [Lightning Magic, duh. It was super easy to kill when you fry its brain.] SlimeToDemonLord : [It took me a month to learn magic on my own, and that is considered really fast! I totally forgot that you are obnoxiously talented at everything. It¡¯s not fair!] DragonGirl1234 : [:P]
Hmmm, looks like Silkfall is pretty far away from Zerkal. My meeting with LQ will have to wait. I think Slime-san said he was chilling out in Dagra a while back, which is directly south of me according to the map. How he managed to sneak his ass into the floating kingdom and survive this long is beyond me. Ya know, I should probably look into magic circles while I am at it. Once you choose your starting magic they are set in stone. You can¡¯t learn any more magics after that. A shame, but I guess it is to keep people with too much time on their hands from becoming OP. In the world of Yisaria, the NPCs are meant to be granted their magic by the gods at sixteen, us players get to choose the magic we start with, so we get an advantage. Though, not much of one considering our magic only starts at Low Rank when NPCs can be blessed with higher ranks right out of the gate. There is one way around the magic limit though, and that is what I am scouring the forums for at this moment. Magic circles are a way to let anyone use any kind of magic even if they don¡¯t have the affinity for it. Obviously, magic circles are not easy to make and a single mistake can blow up in your face, which is why they are rarely used in combat. I however, am looking for a certain circle in particular. Scrolling furiously through my search history I eventually manage to track the page down. Ah ha, found it! It took some digging on the magic circle thread, deep deep under mountains of more advanced magic circles, but I remembered seeing an illusion and stealth based circle to conceal an entrance. Hehehe. But it doesn¡¯t end there, I just figured out a use for that giant corpse in the middle of my living room. Blood magic is really useful for sacrifices. Logging back in, I find nothing has changed around me and I am still alive. I would have been pissed if a ¡°You Died¡± screen was the first thing I saw when I logged in. Thankfully, I was not logged out that long. Time to make an offering to the blood gods! Ripping the blood out of the baulder with my new [Blood Magic (Mid Rank)], I start painting the floors bright red. It takes several logins and logouts to triple check my work, but I finally get all the shapes and stuff in place. I mean, I understand why you can¡¯t access the forums from in-game. Forum snipers are a huge pain in other games and kill the realism of having to use in-game communication systems. But that was still kind of annoying. Well, it¡¯s fine. I got the circle drawn. Crimson paint covers the stony floor in a big ring around the slab of meat that is this cave¡¯s previous occupant. Runes carefully carved and lines drawn marking the cave¡¯s entrance. Now, let¡¯s see if this works! Excited at the prospect of using a magic circle for the first time I can¡¯t shake off the huge grin on my lizardy lips. Ether starts to leave my body as I channel it into the sacrifice circle. The thick red lines begin to glow ominously as tendrils of energy lash out and skewer the beast. Within moments the tendrils start to drain tiny particles of Ether from the corpse and feed it into the larger illusion spell around it. Bit by bit, the entrance to the cave starts to shimmer and solidify. A few minutes pass by as the circle fills with power and by the end of it, the whole cave entrance has completely sealed itself off. Now nothing but a large wall of stone blocks the way. Hesitantly, I press my claw against the illusion. Sinking into the stone without any feeling at all my claw passes through the stone. Good, no weird ripples when I do that. Good from this side. Charging out of the cave through the stone wall, I turn around to see a perfectly ordinary cliff face. Grey stone and a few bits of moss here and there, but no signs of a cave whatsoever. Awesome! It works! I go to launch myself into the cave when I suddenly realize that one slip up and I will likely find myself charging face first into a real stone wall one of these days. Better mark off the edges of the entrance somehow¡­ A quick claw mark on the ground should be enough! Just gotta make it look like a natural scratch and not a proper marking. As I am carving away I hear a now annoyingly familiar sound off in the distance. Squawk! Damn it! That¡¯s it, I am going full massacre and hunting down every last chicken on this mountain. I shall be the enemy of all poultry! I begin to charge towards the sound of the dumb bird when I come to a halt at the scene before me. In the woods is something beyond my wildest imagination. A chicken and snake turf war! There are half a dozen chickens facing off against a single large black snake. Ohohoh! I need me some popcorn for this. Quickly climbing up into a tree and casting [Concealment] on myself, I get in my perch and prepare for the show. Chapter 5: That鈥檚 A Fowl! Feathers immediately go flying. Streaks of glistening black rocket towards the snake¡¯s scaled body. Clink, clink, clink! The snake does not even bother to dodge. The durability of its hide far outstripping the damage a few measly feathers can do. Undeterred, the chickens charge forwards to peck at their enemy with all their usual mad hatred. A moment later the clearing is quiet. The loud squawking ending before I can even process what happened. The snake just swallowed them freaking whole?! Wow, I mean just what? Six chickens, gone in an instant. Well, that was anticlimactic. I didn¡¯t even get to pull out any snacks! As I muse inane thoughts, a pair of sparkling crimson eyes lock on to me. That can¡¯t be good. But hey, I am in a tree and the snake doesn¡¯t have any legs! I should be fine to just chill here and blast away. It¡¯s over snake-kun, I have the high ground! Slam! Oh fuck! The thing is going to take the whole tree down and me with it! Slamming into the base of my perch over and over again, the snake begins to rip the whole tree out of the ground bit by bit. How is it moving so fast?! It¡¯s a goddamn snake! I quickly fire a bolt of lightning at it but it just twists its body out of the way. Dirt and grass fill the air as the ground burns black. I am starting to panic. If it can dodge my lightning that easily I really should have tried to figure out how to conceal my Ether movements before leaving my new cave. [Concealment] is kind of useless if the enemy already has their eyes on you. Ughhhh, what do I do? What do I doooo? Staring down at the snake I see the bulge in its body from where the chickens must be. Ah ha! That might work. Burst. I feel the blood of the chickens tear itself free and flood the inside of the snake. While I may not be able to affect the snake¡¯s blood, the chicken¡¯s have much lower defense in the magic department. With my newly evolved [Blood Magic] I can shred the chickens with ease. Pulling on the blood inside the snake I maneuver the fluid though its body and up towards the mouth. Even snakes need to breathe! Or at least they should, if they don¡¯t I am going to file a bug report. It is a bit difficult as the snake¡¯s Ether presses against my own, attempting to tie down and make the blood its own, but I manage anyway. A crimson flood flies out of the snake¡¯s mouth and starts to bury itself in the creature¡¯s eyes, nose, and basically entire face. Smothering the snake¡¯s face with half a dozen chicken¡¯s worth of blood, I am freed from the relentless tree slamming as the monster begins to thrash in place. Time for the usual method! As they say: If it ain¡¯t broke, don¡¯t fix it! I fire another bolt of lightning right at the partially immobilized snake, only to realize I don¡¯t have enough Ether left in me to actually do so. Oops! Making the magic circle, firing the lightning before, and controlling all the blood now¡­ I am almost tapped out. Shit. I can probably manage a single small discharge if I get in close, but with how strong the snake seems to be, I will be crushed the moment I actually get near it. Ugh, but I don¡¯t have enough Ether to play the long game either! I will run out before it suffocates. Kowabunga it is then! I yeet myself off the tree branch I had been watching from, and fall directly on to the writhing snake. Sharp black claws flexed towards the smooth scaled neck. My claws bury themselves in the creature, digging past the scales and right into the flesh. Let¡¯s try some taser claws! Letting out a flow of electricity through my embedded claws, the snake begins to twitch rapidly, even more so than its struggle-to-breathe dance. Die! Die! die! As the creature collapses to the ground, I move in for the kill. Putting all my remaining force into [Physical Enhancement], I brace myself against the ground, digging my clawed feet into the dirt. Squelch. My claws bury themselves in the snake¡¯s spine, killing it instantly. Phew! That was a close one. I am completely out of Ether. Looking over the snake corpse I realize that I have never had snake before, I never even tried any of the snake tails on the chickens. But¡­ I can¡¯t cook it right now. I need to head back to the cave to recharge. Just as I am about to turn towards my cave, I faint rustle of leaves. Instincts I didn¡¯t know I have start to blare an alarm in my head. Twisting my head around I spot an elf watching with a hard glare. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Fuck¡­ A small knife comes flying out. I try to dodge out of the way, but it just changes trajectory mid air and embeds itself in my shoulder. Owwww!!! I can¡¯t move that limb anymore, I am out of Ether, and if I head to my cave I will just be giving away its position for no reason! What can I even do?! Let¡¯s see. Option 1: Fight! Yeah, no I would die! Option 2: Plead for my life! No one is going to just let a monster get away scott free, even if they grovel. And besides, I can¡¯t speak! Option 3: Run like hell! Ding! Ding! Ding! Winner winner, angry chicken/snake hybrid dinner! I immediately bolt in the opposite direction of my cave, weaving and twisting at random. All I can manage right now is an extremely low level version of [Detection] by using the dregs of slowly regenerating Ether. The skill is just barely keeping me alert enough to dodge out of the way of the arrows trying to turn me into a lizard kebab! Pain arches through my disabled arm with every step. I am running as fast as I can but the elf is keeping up with ease! As I run I find a new problem, a fucking chicken is blocking my path! Piss off, you sack of poultry! Sliding by the chicken, dodging the feathers launched my way, I carve my claws across its neck. I don¡¯t look back as the chicken¡¯s head slides from its neck. [You have defeated a monster!] [Your maximum Ether has gone up!] Huh, how ¡®bout that? Suddenly changing direction, I plunge into what I know is the nearest chicken horde, I had spotted it a short while back and noped out of there real quick. But¡­ if I can get Ether from killing them, then I am willing to risk it. Better chickens I know I can beat than an elf who will probably gut me the second I slow down. Hereeeee chicken-chicken-chicken! Squawking off in the distance fills my ears just as an arrow pierces my tail. Damn it! I yank my tail off the arrow as I keep my pace up, a bloody rod left behind embedded deep in the dirt where it almost pinned me. A few moments later I see the chickens. I never thought I would be so glad to see you little bastards! I charge into the flock of fowl and begin hacking away. A familiar ding starts ringing over and over in my head. I just barely get enough Ether in my body to coat my scales in [Physical Enhancement] before the first feathers slam into my side. Thump-thump-thump! Ha! suck it! You can¡¯t hurt me anymore! Slaughtering as many chickens as I can, I turn to where the elf should be arriving any moment now. A scream rings out. My own. My whole arm is hacked off by a long curved pale green knife. Where did- No, I see it. A haze of wind rockets past as I yank on the blood that coats the mithril blade and push the elf¡¯s knife just barely out of the way of my neck. Without even a hint of shock at my clever use of blood magic, something too clever for a normal monster, the elf whips back around to slash at me again. Fine, sometimes sacrifices need to be made. I slash out with my tail to bat away the knife. The blade embedding itself in my flesh as I ram a full power lightning blast right up the elfs arm and into their chest. Not letting up on my massacre for more Ether, I launch another wide range blast into the remaining chickens at the same time. [You have acquired the Unique Skill- I hear another notification go off in my head, this time the goddess¡¯ voice plays out, but the sound is too distracting so I block it out. Ack! I cough out a mouthful of blood. The elf is on the ground, their arm charred black but they are clearly not out of the fight just yet. I am about to strike again when a black feather suddenly embeds itself in the elf¡¯s forehead. I turn around as fast as possible and gut the remaining chicken before it can attack me. Kill stealing shit! At least I still get most of the Ether from the kill. Finally, it¡¯s over. A field of corpses surrounds me, blood, feathers and a rich coppery smell fill the air. I limp over to the elf and tear out their throat just to be safe. That, and a little bit of spite. Fucker took my arm and my tail is now hanging by a thread! Everything hurts, and the only reason I am not bleeding out is because I am manually keeping my blood inside my body with [Blood Magic]. Though, even that is failing without a new source of Ether. My eyes scan the surroundings quickly, not spotting any new foes but I don¡¯t let myself relax. I only have one option if I don¡¯t want to die. I log out as quickly as I can, not bothering to go to my desk and instead searching online with the headset. Where is it?! I don''t have much time, if I bleed out I am done for. Without me actively being in that body I have a minute or two at best. But I already memorized one part of the process a short while ago. Got it! I scan the image, it is one I have studied before. Keeping the runework fresh in my mind, I log back in and grab as much chicken blood as I can and begin drawing circles in the air. I am going to be cutting this very close with how fast I am now eating through my Ether, but I can get it done. Feeding the last drops of Ether into the magic circle drawn in blood, I activate the spell. Tendrils of red energy lash out, skewering the dead chickens and elf, their bodies now dissolving into Ether. I immediately feel warmth rush through my waning mind. The blood loss halts as my arm starts to slowly regrow. It is incredible to see the flesh knit itself back together from nothing. Motes of light collecting at the wound expanding and taking shape, energy filling my body. All thanks to the sacrifices around me. Question, is it heresy to use [Sacrificial Magic] to power [Holy Magic]? [Title acquired: [Heretic]!] Well, I guess that answers that. Chapter 6: Is This Allowed? Wait¡­ No¡­ Hold on¡­ What do you mean ¡°Title Acquired: [Heretic]?!¡± What kind of bullshit is that?! I am being unfairly treated by the game AI! Surely such a simple use of [Sacrificial Magic] and [Holy Magic] can¡¯t be an automatic trigger for such a Title¡­ Is it to do with the fact that I used the corpse of that elf? Or that I am a monster? I should file a complaint to the devs once I am done healing. Hmph! Crossing my slowly regenerating stump over my chest alongside my one functional arm, I stand on my hind legs to look over my gains. A frosted glass window appears in my vision and I pull up my past notifications list. There was one that felt rather important that I had blocked out mid fight. Ah, here it is. [You have acquired the Unique Skill [Vorpal]!] Huh. Does the game AI just give out Unique Skills like that? It clearly is pulling from my own username when naming the skill so it must be something made specially for me. Though, I don¡¯t think I have heard anything on the forums about Unique Skills. Though, anyone who got one is likely keeping it to themselves. Whiny little bitches would come after you in a heartbeat once they know you have something they don¡¯t. I would rather not get murdered for the sake of their fragile egos. Grim reality of the loser mindset aside, I wonder what the skill actually does? Pulling up the skill list I check the description. The normally white runes glow a soft gold for the skill name and description showcasing how special it is to have this. [Skill : [Vorpal] Description : Killing an opponent with the skill active will sacrifice 50% of your maximum capacity for Ether in exchange for 50% of your opponents maximum capacity for Ether.] Oh? Now that is fucking cool! Definitely a giant killer type skill. And maybe it should also be classified as vampiric? Only really useful for powering myself up in the long term it seems, I could upgrade my skills so much faster! Provided I can kill things much more powerful than I am, that is. Looking over at the dead and dissolving elf, I feel a bit of regret. Not for killing them obviously. The bastard cut my arm off! No, I regret not knowing about the skill before finishing the annoying dismemberer off. I could have gotten hella Ether from the elf, they were clearly chock full of the stuff. I can see the amount coming off their body as it fuels my heretical holy magic and it tells a story of how strong they were. It is a miracle I caught them off guard and got that lightning blast in, otherwise I would likely have died. Scanning my eyes over the dissolving corpse, I realize I should search the body. The elf may mostly be gone by now as the [Holy Magic] uses a ton of Ether, but I can still loot their belongings! Does the fact that I have no qualms about stealing from my murder victim make me a bad person? Nah, it was self defence anyway. I should stop asking questions like that, last time I did so I got a really mean Title. To be honest though, this Unique Skill is a total cheat! I could blast through upgrading my skills at ludicrous speed if I can track down enough high level enemies! Is this really allowed? I mean, I have been in the game for a single day and already have such an OP skill that absolutely destroyed the game balance. And the voice when I got the skill¡­ I was not super paying attention, but it sounded different. The normal system voice is a bit artificial sounding, but that one was rather smooth. It felt¡­ Important. Maybe the game is messing with my brain again to make it feel that way? Really not sure how legal that is. The voice for the [Heretic] Title was different too, it almost sounded, amused? I think the game AI might be a bit too snarky for its own good. Ugh, watever. I will look for a way to get rid of the Title at some point. Though, there are no [Identify] type skills thankfully. I think the Guild and churches can check your stat page, but I am a monster so I won¡¯t have to worry about that! Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. What does the Title even do anyway? [Title : [Heretic] Description : For committing a heretical act.] ¡­ Oh, okay. It does nothing then. Cool. I guess it is a flavor text kind of thing? Maybe I can get that [Enemy Of Poultry] Title at some point. Hehehe, look out chickens! I am coming for you! Oh right! I was going to loot the elf! Forgot about that¡­ Digging through the slightly charred clothes of the dissolving body, I mainly find knives, bottles of what is probably poison, and a crispy notebook. Whoops! I should learn to be more precise with my [Lightning Magic]. I should also be more careful about humans hunting me down. I saw a town off in the distance at the bottom of the valley while I was exploring the mountain, so I should be prepared for others to come looking. I diiiid kinda kill a one of this world¡¯s human races just now so I can see a quest for a evil [Lesser Drake] ending up on the Guild board at some point. Meh, I will be fine as long as I am not completely empty of Ether like I was this time. No point in worrying about it! Opening my [Dimensional Storage], or as I like to call it my ¡°Space Cubby,¡± I toss in the elf¡¯s money, knives, food, water skin, and other personal effects. I would have taken the poison too, but it is kind of ruined thanks to my lightning blast. Sighing, I flex my new arm and mended tail. I really should evolve everything I can as fast as possible, maybe get some new skills while I am at it.
¡°Well done on the job¡¯h, now I have info about your next one.¡± A gruff red bearded dwarf in a nice grey suit scrunches up his face, his expression grave. The scout that had been sent to look into the basilisk situation up on Mt Veren has not reported in. A D Rank scout should not have fallen to a [Lesser Basilisk] so easily, this there is only one possibility that the Guildmaster can think of¡­ The basilisk has evolved. ¡°Shit¡­ If it really did evolve then things might be a whole lot harder.¡± Nadia mutters at the news. She has spent a lot of time studying monsters and a [Greater Basilisk] is known for its [Stealth] and [Concealment] skills which are also passed onto its young. Their job to clean up the monsters before they can spread out will require a thorough sweep of the mountain. And if they are ambushed by the monster, things could get bad. ¡°Indeed. I will be changing the job to an investigative one¡¯h for now. I need ya¡¯ll to determine the beasties location and status. If it evolved into a variant, then I will need to call in to the capital for backup¡¯h.¡± The whole party of adventurers had hard looks, someone was already dead to the creature, and if it gained any more power the whole town could be in trouble. Their team was not the strongest. They could only explore the first layer of The Abyss and even that was never safe. A [Greater Basilisk] was a C ranked threat, not something they couldn¡¯t take down, but it wouldn¡¯t be easy. The party only barely qualified to be C Rank as a group. Still, they would protect this town as best they could. ¡°Yes sir!¡± A strong chorus comes from the team as they stand up and leave to prepare. ¡­ .. . ¡°Damn, the cockatrice population is far lower than normal. I guess the basilisk really did evolve¡­¡± Nadia fretted over the rather quiet forest. Monsters should be all over the place, but something had either killed or scared them off. ¡°Ugh, this is really going to be a pain. I don¡¯t want to spend weeks searching the whole mountain for every last baby basilisk.¡± ¡°Quit whining Lupis, someone is dead. This job is important.¡± Dahlia glares at Lupis. That man only cares about his magic. Their footsteps are heavy but the leaves underfoot barely make a sound as they march along. [Stealth] is naturally an essential skill for any adventurer. Not that it is necessary for them right now, the complete lack of monsters making it pointless. ¡°Everyone stop.¡± Nadia¡¯s quiet voice halts all movement of the party. ¡°What is it?¡± Whispering as softly as she can, Dahlia keeps her hand on the hilt of her sword, ready to draw at any moment. ¡°I feel a strong flow of Ether coming from that direction.¡± Channeling Ether into her eyes, Nadia activates her [Farsight] skill to peer through the distance. ¡°Shit.¡± The consternation of her face gets worse and worse the longer she looks. ¡°Damn it, Nadia, what did you see?¡± Harshly hissing out his question, Lupis inches closer and starts to channel his Ether. ¡°The [Greater Basilisk]... it¡¯s-¡± Chapter 7: Big Plans And Bigger Snakes Weeeee! I dash through the forest, slaughtering every chicken I see until I find what I am looking for. Hello Mr Snake! I am Vorpalia Montoya, my father is alive, prepare to die! I throw out a wide range field of lightning as I yank on the snake¡¯s blood to keep it in place for a moment. It tries to struggle from my control, but with all the Ether I am putting into the attack it is unable to get away in time. Fractals form across the snake¡¯s scales as smoke rises from the burns. Thud! [You have defeated a monster!] [Vorpal: You have sacrificed 50% of your Ether capacity for 50% of your enemies.] [Your maximum Ether has gone up!] Nice! Now to upgrade [Lightning Magic]! I already upgraded all my other skills, starting with [Healing Magic] because that fight against the elf was nasty. I left [Lightning Magic] for last because I felt my damage output was perfectly fine for the low level mobs on this mountain. [Would you like to evolve the skill [Lightning Magic (Low Rank)?] Quickly mashing the ¡°Yes¡± option, I feel my Ether drain once again. A familiar but still rather unpleasant feeling. What is not unpleasant is the sensation that comes after. Crackles of energy flow through my veins as I feel the magic skill go up a rank. [Skill [Lightning Magic (Low Rank)] has now evolved into [Lightning Magic (Mid Rank)!] I am now fully decked out in Mid Rank skills! It has been about two weeks in game, the five day weeks and thirty hour days existing to let players from all over the world play at all kinds of times, and I am already totally killing it. Now, with all my skills upgraded, I can focus on bigger and better things! Like becoming a dragon! Pushing the dead snake aside I lay down in the grass. Ya know¡­ there is a strangely large number of snakes on this mountain. Like, much higher than the number of chickens. Though¡­ the low chicken population is kind of my fault. But hey! I am making bank off of all these snakes and chickens so it is cool with me. I even learned how to use [Stealth] from watching the snakes. It seems that all I need to do is use my Ether to obscure my body by making an oscillating haze of aura inside my body and a dampener on the outside. Simple stuff. I let out a breath as the upgraded [Lightning Magic] fully settles in, tiny sparks appearing around my mouth. Gosh, that is so cool. And now I should take far less damage from my own lightning! It was really getting annoying to have to look away from my own attacks all the time. I mean sure, I could see well enough with [Detection] but it just is not the same. I let out another puff as a circle of lightning floats away from my face like a smoke ring. Keeping it controlled as best I can, the shape flickers and writhes. Clearly, lightning magic is not as conductive to fine control like [Blood Magic]. I guess I won¡¯t be drawing any magic circles with lightning anytime soon. No matter, I can just try something else instead! Not letting myself grow complacent, I coat my body in a layer of lightning. I can feel the tingling sensation as the charges dance across my body. Hmm, if I can create lightning, then shouldn¡¯t I be able to create blood the same way? All magic skills let you create the materials of their aspect ,so it should be possible. I let the lightning around my body die down and slowly open my scaly mouth. As for why I am opening my mouth? Well, as a dragon, it only makes sense that I should turn my magic into a breath attack. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Channeling Ether into my [Blood Magic] skill I push on the skill the same way I do to create lightning, but it quickly fails. At Mid Rank I have no trouble controlling blood, but creating something that complex is easier said than done. I feel myself start to tug at the veins within my body on instinct. No, stop. I am aiming to create something new, not use what I have. The Ether just needs guidance to take shape. Letting a drop of blood find its way out of my body and to a point just hovering above my tongue, I collect the Ether around that ball and replicate the blood. My Ether starts to turn red as the lights begin to move more fluidly, and then it explodes in a burst of blood. Geh! I quickly remove all the blood that had ended up in my mouth. I may be a monster, but I still can¡¯t enjoy the taste of blood. I have taken a particular liking to roasted chicken lately though. Could do with some spices to be frank. Is there salt magic? Can I find a salt mage out there to season my growing pile of poultry? Though, things made by magic eventually dissolve into Ether again after a while, which is why you can¡¯t just live off water magic. Some players on the forums that spawned in a desert learned that the hard way. One second you are fine the next the dehydration hits and, well I hear it was a tad traumatic. Not my problem though, I have my own traumatic incident of getting my arm cut off to file away in my brain. Where was I going with this? Right! I was making blood with my magic! I pull out another drop of blood, this time not doing it directly inside of my mouth, and start feeding in the Ether. Slowly, a ball of blood begins to take form. Writhing and thick, the crimson sphere grows with every drop of Ether I feed it. The rate of expansion seems to be exponential. Eyyyyy, I did it! I then condense the blood as hard as I can and turn it into a thick square plate. Time for some testing! ¡­ .. . Slamming into the tree once again, I discover just how well the condensed blood armor dampens impacts. And with my lightning running through it, I am fully defended! Try and cut off my arm now you shitty elf! Ahem. I mean rest in peace¡­ you shitty elf. It is so pretty to watch the crimson glow of the lightning move around under the blood armor¡¯s surface. It used to burn, but I quickly figured out that I can match the wavelengths of the Ether I use to make the blood and lightning at the same time as a single piece! I tried creating some blood wings like this, but while they looked absolutely sick, I couldn¡¯t get off the ground¡­ I probably need a [Fly] skill or something. I mean, it makes sense. According to all known laws of aviation, a dragon should not be able to fly. But they do it anyway! Well, I have all my skills evolved to Mid Rank now. I want to evolve into a [Greater Drake], and while I do know the requirements for that, I want to see if I can get a unique evolution instead. I already got a Unique Skill, so I am certain I can do it! I want to get [Blood Magic] to High Rank before fulfilling the evolution requirements, just to see if that works. Slime-san said he got a unique evolution when he got his [Curse Magic] to that level before his second evolution. He won¡¯t tell me any more though¡­ Says I have to meet him in person to find out. Lich Queen also got one for her second evolution, her [Necromancy] is what did it for her. I really think a blood dragon is just the coolest idea, so that is what I am aiming for! Now, I just need something with enough Ether to get me to that threshold for evolving a skill to High Rank. A single one of these small snakes just ain''t gonna cut it. No, I need something bigger. As I think that a large maw appears out of the forest, seemingly materializing from the trees shadows. Darkness incarnate attempting to swallow me whole. Oh! You¡¯ll do! I quickly create a spear of lightning infused blood inside the mouth that could swallow an entire midsize sedan whole. That should keep the things mouth from closing! I just need to get out of the way and fill the thing with my newly upgraded [Lightning Magic] and I bet I can- Snap! Or not! The spear shatters in the snake¡¯s jaws, barely slowing it down for a moment. Okayyyy¡­ This may be more difficult than I was expecting. The jaws close around me before I can get another thought out. And then everything goes dark. Chapter 8: Egg A chilly wind blows through the mountain as the elf girl struggles to speak, the situation too different from her expectations to put things into words. ¡°The [Greater Basilisk]... it¡¯s¡­ already dead.¡± Nadia¡¯s face twisted with worry. A beast like that was a Rank C threat. If something managed to kill it, and cause so much gory damage, then they had much bigger problems than cleaning out a snake den. ¡°What? How? You think the scout managed to kill it before dying themselves?¡± Lupis was reeling at the news, hoping against hope that their troubles ended there. He was a bit of a wuss when it came to unexpected situations. Though, he still pulled his weight when the time came. ¡°No, the monster died recently.¡± Nadia began to explain the state of the monster as she took in the sight with her enhanced vision. It seems to have exploded from the inside, but the amount of blood is far more than what the creature should have. Perhaps the creature that fought the snake is heavily wounded¡­ but there was no blood trail away from the body. ¡°Any signs of the thing that did it nearby?¡± Dahlia gripped her sword¡¯s grip tighter, her hand quickly turning white from the pressure. Her party was not strong enough to fight anything that could eviscerate a Rank C monster so thoroughly. If anything, they should be running back for the Guild immediately. However, despite their desire to leave, they had a job to do. If they left now then it would be marked against their record. Naturally, there were allowances for situations a party could not handle, but this group was rather stubborn. The elven scout put all of her skills to work, but could only determine that the powerful source of Ether was coming from further up the mountain. The group quickly moved in formation. Greg with his shield switching from its normal flashy paint job, to a more subdued one along with his armor. [Stealth] skills going full tilt all around, they all made it to the basilisk¡¯s corpse. Nothing gave away what had done this or how it was done. It looked like the creature simply ate a bomb crafted by a Rank C artificer. Nasty things. Though, no bomb residue could be seen. And the excessive amount of blood told a story of a fight between large monsters, not a human. As the party moved, they followed the flow of Ether. It was subtle, barely noticeable, that is if only the Ether was not giving off a rather ominous feeling. Within a few minutes they arrived at a large cliff face. Tall grey rocks covered in moss and roots spread across their vision. A fifty foot wall of stone leading up to the next layer of the mountainous terrain. ¡°It¡¯s coming from here.¡± Nadia stared at the rock wall with a tense expression. The Ether was running chills down her spine and she honestly wanted to be anywhere but here right now. ¡°Yeah, even I can feel it now.¡± The vulpid woman¡¯s fox ears flicked, her tail twitching ever so subtly as she tried to keep herself under control. Physical types like her were less perceptive when it comes to Ether, but even she was getting creeped out by the tension in the air. ¡°The wall¡­ I think it is coming from the other side. Should I go check it out?¡± The young dwarf, being far denser than any of the others, showed no fear in the face of this strange Etheric energy. Dahlia and Nadia share a wry and exasperated look for a moment before they turn back to Greg simultaneously. ¡°Go for it. It is probably an illusion.¡± Dahlia, as the team leader, tensely gave the go ahead. Pulling his shield to cover the team behind him, the dwarf presses forwards into the rock wall. ¡°Someone set up a pretty advanced spell just to mask this location, but whatever is going on in there¡­ it¡¯s clearly not the work of a human.¡± The ulfr man scrunches up his nose as he voices his thoughts. In the worst case, we could be dealing with an Old One. Following behind the dwarf, the party advances through the stone surface. ¡°The hell-?¡± Lupis can¡¯t help but mutter in shock as he sees a half dissolved baulder powering a large complex magic circle. A circle that is drawn in blood. Nadia holds her fingers to her lips to stop the ulrf from making any more noise, but stops when she notices the Etheric flow is getting stronger and stronger. She motions for them all to move forward until they reach the back of the massive cave. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°What is that¡­?¡± Greg looks on at the object sitting in the back of the cave. Blood red and perfectly spherical, tendrils stinging the object up to several parts of the cave walls. A soft crimson glow suffuses the room as the object emits more and more Ether. The scale of the blood orb is enough to fit their whole party inside and still have room to spare, and it is beating like a heart. ¡°I think it¡¯s an egg.¡± Dahlia horsley whispers as she draws her sword. Crack!
I pant in exhaustion as I see the notification appear in my vision. [You have defeated a monster!] [Vorpal: You have sacrificed 50% of your Ether capacity for 50% of your enemies.] [Your maximum Ether has gone up!] Hahahaha! I finally did it! It took sooooo long to get this stupid giant snake to go down. I had to keep creating new blood armor to keep the stomach acid from dissolving me. Even my upgraded [Lightning Magic (Mid Rank)] barely did any damage! Squelch. I climb out of the stupid snake¡¯s mouth and kick it in the head. Fucker just had to be resistant to lightning. I hit you with like a hundred bolts! Well, now I can upgrade my [Lightning Magic] to High Rank with all this Ether. I was gonna upgrade [Blood Magic], but clearly my damage output is lacking if I want to take on things of this level. I had to create what amounts to a bomb by packing layer and layer of lightning infused blood into a dense sphere for hours to finally take the thing out. Why was its insides so durable?! Movies lied to me! Whatever, I will just upgrade my lightning magic and go clean off in the river. I am tired and need to log out for the day. Just as I am about to start the process of upgrading my [Lightning Magic], an increasingly familiar pane of frosted glass appears in my vision. [Conditions Met!] [You may now evolve from [Lesser Drake] to [Blood Drake]!] [Proceed?] [Y/N] [Warning: You will be vulnerable while evolving so it is best to be in a safe place during the process.] Huh. ¡­ .. . I am an egg¡­ Everything is dark around me, and I can feel my body dissolving, morphing, rebuilding. I ran back to my cave immediately after the battle and activated the evolution. I was just far too excited! I mean, I am already getting a unique evolution! And a cool one at that. I became an egg the second I hit the ¡°yes¡± button. A crimson cocoon wrapping around me and stringing me up. It feels weird, but also comforting. I kind of wish I could watch my transformation from third person, but the game sadly does not have such a convenient option. My egg is still pretty cool though from the short glimpse I had before fully being wrapped up. Humpty Dumpty ain¡¯t got shit on me! I am so giddy that if I weren¡¯t a puddle of goo right now, I would be bouncing off the walls. [Blood Drake], that is an interesting evolution option. I have never heard of such a creature in the game before so it might be one unique to me. Did my near constant weird uses of [Blood Magic] cause it? Or maybe the slightly vampiric nature of [Vorpal] had an effect? Whatever, I am finally evolving! One step closer to becoming a dragon! I wonder if- My new eyes narrow as I sense something enter my cave. Their Ether is strong, but poorly controlled. Four of them. Humans. I swear if they kill me before I can finish my evolution!! Crack! Heh, looks like I made it just in time. I feel sensation return to my newly formed limbs, my eyes taking in the dark cave, lit only by the Etheric glow of my ritual circle. I can see four figures standing around my egg, all prepared for battle. What a kind group, coming to celebrate my birthday! This¡¯ll be fun. Chapter 9: The Bloody Beast Claws thicker than a human¡¯s arm break free as the blood orb dissolves into Ether. The presence of the creature is overwhelming as it steps into the dimly lit cave anew. A slightly transparent throat bobs up and down as stores of excess blood move around behind it. Crimson scales imitating muscle run along its body, the ¡°flesh¡± matched by a thick skeletal framework that juts out like monstrous adornments to a wicked armor. Spines of bone running along its back and sharp white fangs splitting into a joyous grin. Talons that are dyed a coppery red, as though they have already bathed in the blood of countless foes. Whipping behind the monstrosity is a tail covered in sharp bone plates, all ending in a serrated point, a perfect weapon for drawing blood. And that is what this creature loves most, blood. Looking back at them with its dimly glowing eyes, more red light fills the cave, and it blinks. As practiced adventurers the party quickly arranges themself in a strong formation for battle. The creature raises an eyebrow. The staring contest holds for several seconds when Lupis nervously speaks up. ¡°I-Is it not going to attack?¡± His hands are shaking a bit, for all his bravado when talking of magic, he is a bit of a coward. The party tenses as they sense Ether moving around the monster and get ready to attack, only to freeze when letters form above the monster¡¯s head in blood. ¡°As long as you don¡¯t attack, I won¡¯t.¡± The party just stands there blinking. Dahlia¡¯s eye twitches a bit at the casual stance of the monster. What in The Abyss am I even looking at? The whole situation is hard to wrap her head around so she quietly has to ask aloud. ¡°Am I going crazy or is the monster writing in the air using blood?¡± It is a ridiculous sight, especially the cutesy font that the blood is writing in. ¡°No, I see it too¡­ Also, that thing¡­ The way it controls Ether, i-it is just abnormal. I have only seen masters with such f-fine control.¡± Lupis struggles to form his words properly as his brain short-circuits. ¡°But it just hatched!¡± Greg can¡¯t help but cry out. The idea of a monster with such fine control over Ether just appearing near their ¡°starter town¡± ¡ªas it has recently been called by some strange people¡ª is just ridiculous! ¡°No¡­ it didn¡¯t hatch, it evolved.¡± Nadia, the resident monster expert, is the only one that has an edge of calm. They followed the creature from its slaughter of that [Greater Basilisk] to find an egg. It is the only logical explanation. ¡°Are y''all players or not?¡± The monster¡¯s words appear in blood again, floating gently in the air. ¡°Players?¡± Lupis mumbles the word on his lips, unable to recognize where he heard the term before. ¡°The term the otherworlds brought to this world by the Goddess use to refer to their people.¡± Dahlia lets herself relax for a moment. If this creature is one of those otherworlders, then it is likely they won¡¯t need to come to blows. ¡°You are one of them I assume?¡± ¡°Yep! Guess that means you aren¡¯t. So, can you all like, leave? I wanna test out my new powers and shit.¡± Once again, the cutesy text is completely at odds with the terrifying form of the monster writing them. As the party begins to discuss among themselves, they find opinions slightly split. Gred seems intent on just leaving the monster to its things. Dahlia does not know what to think, but prefers to keep her guard up. Lupis is interested in the creature¡¯s magical skills, and yet still votes on leaving. Finally, Nadia has a realization. ¡°Did you meet the scout that was sent out here?¡± Her words cause the whole group to tense up. ¡°Scout? What scout?¡± ¡°An elven man was sent to investigate the basilisk in the area and never returned.¡± Nadia¡¯s face is scrunched as she replies to the monster, its innocent head tilt not making her any less nervous. ¡°Oh, that guy? Asshole tried to kill me after I defeated one of those annoying snakes and was practically running on fumes from several battles. Chased me down and cut my fucking arm off! He got what he deserved.¡± Punctuating its declaration with an evil grin, the bloody thing casually rattles off her experience with the scout. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Suddenly the atmosphere shifts. A growl coming from the side of the party¡¯s formation. ¡°So, you killed him.¡± Lupis¡¯ hands are shaking but his voice is filled with hate. ¡°Self defence my guy. He attacked me first, I tried to run.¡± Despite the aggressive stance Lupis is taking, the monster still seems completely relaxed. Its reflective slit eyes staring them down without a care in the world. The ulfr man begins to prepare to attack at the casual response when the bloody words shift again. ¡°Hey wolf boy, I can see your Ether movements. I promise you I can tear your heart out faster than you can hit me.¡± Its calm stance never abates, but the monster¡¯s words are somehow full of terrifying conviction. Dahlia quickly shouts to her party member in hopes of calming things down. ¡°Lupis! Stand down!¡± The ulfr winces for a moment, but gathers his resolve to speak. ¡°Why?¡± A deep halting growl escapes his lips. ¡°It is a monster that killed a human, that makes it an enemy.¡± Dahlia, however, does not care for Lupis¡¯ take on the situation. That monster is far too strong, why are you provoking it?! ¡°It said it was self defence and I believe it. Also, I am not sure we could take it down even if we tried. ¡°I am a she not an it, by the way.¡± ¡°S-Silence monster!¡± Lupis starts to lose it as the monster continues its casual approach to the conversation. The fear of how the beast before him does not seem to care for their party¡¯s might, making him lose control. ¡°A: I am writing everything, so it is already silent on my end. B: You have 5 seconds to stop charging your Ether before I gut you.¡± Finally, the monster¡¯s eyes take a serious glint and its relaxed stance shifts to one of preparation. ¡°LUPIS! STAND DOWN!!¡± Dalia is practically screaming at this point as she glares at her party member. ¡°Tch.¡± Clicking his tongue, the ulfr returns his Ether to a resting state.
I narrow my eyes, he is still clearly ready to try and attack again at a moment''s notice. These people found my cave.. I really don¡¯t want to give it up but that guy seems like he will cause me problems in the future. I might need to deal with him now. Evolving seems to have increased my Ether by quite a fair bit, I may even be able to reach High Rank in my [Blood Magic] with this much! but before that, I need to get these humans out of my cave. Can I take them? I just evolved, so I don¡¯t have a good judge of my new body. Any fighting would likely be difficult as I need time to adjust. I really should just get them to leave by talking to them, but the wolf guy is not going to make that easy. He is the kind of person who lashes out when he¡¯s scared. How an idiot like that is still alive as an adventurer is beyond me. The fear in his eyes is so real looking though, almost too real. I know the game devs pride themselves in the realism they put into HWO, but being looked at like that feels weird. I mean, I fully plan on playing the part of a badass dragon, so I just need to get over it. Still¡­ something is strange about how detailed the AI is. It sends a weird shiver up my spine. Or exo-skeleton? I seem to have a bunch of bones all over my body for some reason. I guess bones do have a relation to blood so I can¡¯t complain. I don¡¯t think I can win a fight if they all work together, so in the end I may have to find a new cave. Ugh! So annoying! Clearly, my annoyance must have shown, because the cute fox girl ¡ªwho I am guessing is the party leader by the way she acts¡ª moves to apologize. ¡°We are sorry about him, you were attacked so you had every right to fight back. The scout¡¯s job was to learn about the basilisk, but it was their choice alone to go after you. I hope you do not hold it against the town.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t hurt someone who has not caused me harm.¡± Making my words sound a bit more fancy, I try and play up my magnanimous dragon side. Muahaha! I, the mighty blood dragon, am a generous one! They all sigh in relief, well, all of them but the wolf, who is gritting his teeth. ¡°However-¡± They all freeze up as I start. Time to act all badass dragon like! ¡°-in exchange for your lives here, I expect you to keep that wolf on a tight leash.¡± Honestly, that guy will probably hire a bunch of thugs to attack me the second I let him go, so I need insurance. ¡°How dare-?!¡± Said unleashed wolf boy immediately goes to attack me as he shouts. Damn it! I pushed things too far! Before he can even finish cycling his Ether though, I cram all the blood I have been using to write into his face and then proceed to drown him in lightning. A charred body slumps to the ground, and the rest of the humans all ready their weapons. Oops. Chapter 10: Signed In Blood The whole squad is now in a defensive formation as their friend falls to the floor, charred and barely alive. I can still feel his heart beating somehow, despite all the lightning I crammed down his throat. I don¡¯t know whether to be happy or annoyed, but he must have [Lightning Magic] at Mid Rank at the bare minimum. That is the only way he could have survived. Well, let¡¯s just play it off as a warning and not attempted murder. I mean, he did attack me first. Creating more blood above my head, I do my best to get some breathing room. ¡°I don¡¯t wish to fight you, but I will if you attempt to attack like that rabid dog.¡± Keeping up my haughty attitude, I see the group twitch as they read my blood letters. A few tense moments pass before the fox girl speaks up. ¡°M-May we heal him?¡± She is clearly nervous, which makes sense. I did just knock out one of their members before they even had a chance to do anything. I must say, I am quite a bit stronger than I expected to be. My Ether moves faster and more smoothly than before, I can feel the power coursing through my new body so clearly. It was like I had been trying to thread a needle while wearing thick gloves this whole time without noticing. Now the gloves were off. Hmm, how should I handle this? I am feeling better about my ability to win against all of them now, and their main caster is out for the count. Should I just kill them? Nah, I will just get more people flooding in if the party goes missing. Better to let them live and pretend I mean no harm. My eyes shift towards the blackened wolf man, the scent of burned hair and flesh thick in the cave. I don¡¯t mean any more harm. The glistening blood takes on a new shape as I play my part. ¡°I see no reason why I should. But, if you can guarantee that he won¡¯t attempt to get revenge should I let him live, I will consider it. That, and I expect suitable compensation for the nuisance.¡± A deep growl rolls from my throat, the blood inside rumbling under the vibration. Their faces scrunch up and I can see a bit more concern than I was hoping for. Shit, even they can¡¯t think of a way to keep the idiot under control! Why would you party with someone like that?! The fox girl starts to stumble as she panics, ¡°W-We don¡¯t have-¡± Only to be cut off as the elf girl shouts. ¡°A blood contract! You are a blood mage so we can use that right?¡± My eyes widen a bit at the suggestion. Blood contracts are a way to enforce a deal by manipulating the body through one''s blood. Breaking one of these contracts will often see a person¡¯s heart stop, a rather violent approach to deal making. The whole cave¡¯s air is thick with tension as the party waits for my consideration. I can feel the wolf man¡¯s heart slowing down, the beating becoming irregular. He does not have long. ¡°You think you can get that idiot to sign?¡± The elf girl nods, but the lack of confidence is rather concerning. ¡°He doesn¡¯t have a choice.¡± Moving towards the blackened moron, the tall slender woman glares down at her own party member. ¡°Lupis, listen. You are going to accept the blood contract with her. Are we clear? It is that or die.¡± A weak growl rumbles from his throat, but after a short hesitation he finally nods, just barely. With confirmation now secured, I send a drop of blood into his mouth connected to my own through a thread of Ether. I fill the air with the terms of the contract. ¡°By my blood, I bind you to never stand against me in any form. Do you accept?¡± The blood takes on a thick gold tinge and crimson light begins to build around us. The wolf man glares at the words hatefully, his whole body trembling. He is stalling. ¡°Lupis! You will die if you wait any longer. Just say yes!¡± The elven girl begins screaming at him. A weak wince and a growl later, he nods his head. I feel the Ether thicken a connection between us, the blood from the glowing letters rushes into his body, sealing the contract.
Making their way back down the mountain and towards the town, Lupis grunts as the bandages over his skin chafe. Nadia by his side continues to stream [Healing Magic] through his body all the while. ¡°What do we do now? That thing is too strong for us to take on alone.¡± Growling out his complaints, the ulfr scratches at the bandages on his face. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°One: Don¡¯t scratch at the bandages, you will mess up the healing. Two: We are not going to do anything, if we do then the blood contract will activate and you will die. What part of that was unclear?¡± Nadia rolls her eyes as she continues to heal the idiot wolf. In response, Lupis growls hatefully, but does not say anything else. Dahlia notices the ulfr¡¯s clear disagreement and piles on. ¡°This is your own fault. If you could have kept your ego in check for five seconds then none of this would have happened.¡± ¡°You expect me to believe that?! That monster is evil and should be put down!¡± Screaming at the top of his damaged lungs, Lupis glares at Dahlia through his wrappings. At this point, even Greg ¡ªwho is normally quite carefree¡ª feels the need to speak up. ¡°We are all still alive dumbass. If the creature wanted us dead then we would be. She said she didn¡¯t want to fight and even let someone who attacked her, you, live. How is your situation not your fault?¡± Before he can offer a rebuttal, Dahlia speaks in a low voice, one filled with disappointment. ¡°Tell me, was it because you couldn¡¯t stand a monster being better at magic than you? Or were you just trying to compensate for your own cowardice?¡± Lupis winces and desperately avoids making eye contact with his party¡¯s leader as she finishes speaking. ¡°I guess that answers that question. Idiot.¡± Dahlia lets out a long sigh and a silence settles over the group. Looking back up at the direction they came from, the vulpid can¡¯t help but wonder if the monster would make a better party member than the idiot currently covered in bandages. It was certainly more rational and accommodating. Shaking such silly thoughts of partying with a monster from her head, her eyes drift to the rest of her party. Greg and Nadia both have reached their limits of patience. Letting your temper get the better of you and nearly getting your party killed is a massive taboo in adventurer life. They had put up with him until now because they needed a magic caster starting out, but he had overstayed his welcome. Finally resting her eyes on the wolf man, she sighs again before making a decision as party leader. ¡°When we get back to town we are reporting your actions to the Guild. You will need to find a new party.¡± Once again the ulfr winces, but can¡¯t even muster the resolve to look his leader in the eyes. He just carries on back to town slowly. Stewing in his hate.
Slumping back against the cavern wall I let out a pained groan. Ughhhh, that was nerve wracking¡­ Why did those humans have to show up now? I just wanted to evolve in peace and then check out my new body! Now I have to find a new place to hide and I am already exhausted. I was going to log out soon and go to sleep. It looks like I will be sleeping in-game to be safe though. My barrier was built mainly for monsters, and the stealth aspect of the spell was clearly not enough to hold back the Ether emitted by my evolution. Quickly logging out, I open the forums to look for magic circles I can use to detect people, as well as trap the area around my cave. I am too tired to find a new one right now and need some sleep. A few minutes of mindlessly scrolling later I discover the spells I am looking for and log back in. I have much more Ether now than I did before, so I think I will take the opportunity to replace my nearly depleted sacrifice. The rocky bear thing was slowly powering my magic circle before, but it has been quite some time and the creature is nearly gone. But, I just got the perfect replacement. One that is much more powerful. Stalking out of my cave, I dart down the mountain to the place where I had just killed the big snake. A few chickens were feasting on the corpse, but a quick yank on their blood turns them into paste. Now, I wonder if this will work? There is quite a bit of blood around already, so I grab ahold of all of it, slowly wrapping it around the snake¡¯s body. Heavy! I can feel the pressure pushing back on all my blood, the mass of the creature making it rather difficult to move through the blood alone. Though, it is not impossible. It takes about an hour of careful movement¡ªand a few accidents where I dropped the stupid thing¡ªto finally make it back to my cave. Throwing the corpse into the magic circle, I use the large mass of blood I was using to transport it to draw several new circles. Detection, Lightning Barrier, Blood Curse, High Concealment, the works. My own magic greatly strengthens the effects of the spells I have an affinity for. When I finally complete the spells, I collapse into the back of my cave and quickly pass out.
In a murky void, far from the eyes of humans, two all consuming black orbs peer into the heart of a young wolf eared man. ¡°What wonderful hate. Perhaps you can make a good test run for striking out against the goddess¡¯ pawns?¡± A voice thick with miasma causes the depths to tremble. At the same moment, the wolf covered in bandages shivers, not noticing the speck of black forming inside his soul. ¡°Do put on a good show for me.¡±