I first walked over to the dried-up corpse I had awoken next to. Looking down at the face, that was wrinkled like a raisin and pale as a sheet of ice, a wave of guilt washed over me. Now that my mind wasn't focused on the incredible changes that had happened to me, I focused on the state of the corpse and its few wounds. Besides a few lacerations on its body, the major wound it held was a circular pinpoint bite on its neck. Staring at the bite mark, I subconsciously raised my hand up to my own teeth. My normal human teeth, as if answering a silent command, transformed from their flat, straight state and elongated into multiple thin, sharp points. Like the thin teeth of a leech. Touching the point of one of them with my finger, I was surprised to feel it pierce my skin easily.
Pulling my hand away, I felt my teeth retract and go back to their normal human form. With a furrowed brow, I looked from the dried-up corpse and over to the two dead ghouls. Besides their own blackened blood, I couldn't see any signs of them having inflicted any wounds upon a human. Not on their claws or their own serrated, teeth-filled mouths. With a sigh, I faced the ground with a frown and clenched my fists. I knew I was only trying to make excuses for an obvious truth I had known from the moment I had awoken. I was the one who had killed these two unknown men and drained them of their blood. The guilt of taking what I assumed to be a human being's life swept over me, but what made me truly uncomfortable was the fact that I actually wasn't that bothered.
There was a part of me telling me I should be feeling horrible for taking another's life. This was the human part of me. It had grown up in a society that always talked about the need to respect and care for its neighbors. This part had been told; it was wrong to take another's life. It was also the part of me that had grown up idolizing a man who thought that protecting one's country and the people living within was a sacred duty. However, there was a new part of me, a part that I just couldn't ignore, that told me there was nothing wrong with taking the life of another standing in my way. Especially when it was a situation of me or them. My memories of the transformation in the blood pool were hazy, but I remembered that right before the end, I had run out of some crucial component and because of it, my body was breaking down. At that time, there was only one word shouting inside of me, and that was 'survive!'
Gazing back down at the dried-up corpse, whose face was twisted in a silent scream, I could see where I had gathered the remaining nutrients to complete my so-called evolution. I didn't know who they were, what they were here for, or even if they were good or bad. However, it was a fact that I had killed them. Their blood was literally on my hands. Even with finally admitting the truth, the guilt that weighed on me was a small thing, and no matter what I said to myself, I couldn't summon further thoughts or emotions regarding their deaths. 'Maybe through transforming, I've lost not just my human body but some of my humanity?' The thought worried me, as there were many stories of people turning into monsters and inflicting violence upon their loved ones without them being able to stop themselves.
Just the thought of hurting my family in any way brought a surge of pain to my chest and caused my head to grow heavy. 'No. I haven't completely fallen.' It was weird. I felt a violent possessiveness invade my thoughts at the thought of my family being hurt. Not just for the fact that I loved and cherished them but also for the fact that they were mine. And like a dragon's reverse scale, I felt immense hatred for anything touching upon it. My emotions seemed to run hot but also cold when I thought of different things. It was a surreal feeling, as I knew it was not like my usual self, but I also knew that this was now truly me.
Now, when I gazed down at the corpses, my swirling emotions began to settle, as I came to accept this new part of me with a cold calm. A sentence from an old book came to mind at that moment, resonating with my very soul, 'The wolf does not concern himself with the opinion of the sheep.' This sentence was swiftly accompanied by a bestial roar inside my mind. The roar was filled with violence, greed and bloodlust but, most of all, it radiated an overwhelming feeling of dominance. Unknown to me, the whites of my eyes were colored red, framing my blue eyes and giving them a piercing quality.
"I guess a vampire almost needs to feel a sense of apathy towards its victims. If you felt guilt over every meal, it would soon drive you insane." Speaking to myself, I accepted the new part of me that was more beast than man. "However, I will not let it control me. I am not a mindless monster. I am me. Take your weakness and turn it into your strength." Clenching my fists, I imprinted the promise right onto my soul.
I released a breath and shook off the stifling emotions within me. I leaned down next to the dried-up corpse and began to go through the collection of items. Annoyingly, I had to keep tucking my hair behind my ears, as it kept falling down in front of my face. "What a pain in the ass. How do girls handle having long hair?" After only a few minutes and using Analyze on a couple of items that I hadn't seen before, I made a decent pile. I then went over to the larger dried-up corpse and sorted through its pile of items as well. As I was going through the items, a crystal-shaped object that felt warm to the touch and was as big as my fist caught my attention. Grabbing hold of the object, I looked inside its transparent outer coat and saw a swirling nebula of multiple colors inside. It reminded me of the coins I had found after looting the long-tongued zombie inside the tutorial world.
Staring at the object, I felt an almost instinctive impulse to swallow the swirling nebula inside, but I held back the temptation and used Analyze.
[Life Force Crystal – Tier 3 - Unattuned]
System Note: This is a life force crystal of an entity in its third transition. It holds the majority of its accrued life force and doesn't hold an elemental trait.
"Holy balls. Isn't this..." Looking at the crystal with wide eyes, I quickly summoned up my pathway mission.
[Pathway Mission: Build a Personal Base in the Fallen Kingdom of Bravdi. As a foreign being, lost and confused and new to the system universe and all its worldly woes, you are to be given a chance to make your mark on the planet of Aeos. The fallen Kingdom of Bravdi's capital city, Cortez, used to be known as the city of knights, but had fallen under the power of Necrosy, the system's antithesis, being filled with creatures of the undead. By completing three objectives, the system will help you purge an area to act as your base, offering relative safety.
Objective 1: Clear a designated structure of all hostile threats.
Objective 2: Defeat an Elite Level 5 or above monster and claim its Life Force crystal
Objective 3: Defend your designated structure for 12 hours (Your territory core must not be destroyed)
With a grin that I guarantee looked villainous inside the shadowed chapel. I saw that the second objective of my pathway mission had been cleared out. With gentleness, I placed the crystal inside my pocket and looked up into the shadowy eaves of the decayed church. Unable to help myself, a small chuckle escaped my throat that soon turned into an almost hysterical cackle. That went on for several seconds before I reigned in my jubilation. 'I'm close. So close.' The thought that I was now so close to being able to go home brought such relief that I felt as if my insides were filled with butterflies.
Not wanting to waste any more time, I went through the rest of the loot with haste. I didn't find any armour that fit me, besides a pair of thick fur-lined boots that I quickly put on. The two held a collection of armour that, besides the ones still strapped to their dried-up corpses, was just common-grade leather. However, when touching the leather garments, I felt an instinct inside of me telling me that I could repurpose the armour for myself. Knowing this was a hidden trait of my leatherworker occupation. I made a pile of the leather and left it to the side. It was far too much to put in my inventory.
Other than low-grade health, stamina and mana potions, there was also an assortment of small, thumb-sized vials. That, after analyzing, told me they were different sorts of poisons and paralytics. With the light armour, small weapons and now poisons, I could take a collective guess that these two were either thieves or assassins of some sort. At least that's what their items told me. I placed all the potions and poisons in my inventory with a smile at the free loot. There was one thing that surprised me, though. When I had analyzed the health potion, I found a new description that wasn't on the one I had found on a zombie corpse earlier.
[Minor Health Potion – Common - Unconsumable]
Restores 30 HP
"Unconsumable? Has it gone off or something?" With a raised brow, I held up the potion that looked exactly like the one I had seen previously. I retrieved the one in my inventory and was surprised to find that it also had the unconsumable tag on it too. In total, I had looted four health potions, and they all read unconsumable. The stamina and mana potions, however, did not have the tag. While thinking it over, I popped the cork of one of the health potions and took a sniff. Almost immediately, a wave of revulsion overtook me, and I dry-retched to the side. "What the fudge!" I held the red potion at arm's length, and while spitting out the bile that had risen to my throat, I put the cork back into the bottle.
With the smell from the potion gone, the revulsion swiftly disappeared. "Maybe it's my new constitution? Like in the stories where vampires find no sustenance besides blood agreeable." Something within my blood was telling me my thoughts were on the money. There was something inside health potions that my body found intolerable, so much so that even the system was warning me of it. "Well, considering my regeneration. I suppose it doesn't matter too much. Maybe, I'll need to carry vials of blood with me instead?" The thought of carrying bottles of someone's blood around made my skin crawl, only for a moment before a more rational part of my mind told me it was the right thing to do and to just get over it. Brushing off this line of thought, as it was pointless, at least for the moment. I went back to organizing the loot.
After putting all the potions and poisons away, I grabbed several pairs of clothes, a bag of assorted gold and silver coins, and a bedroll, almost filling my small inventory space entirely. After those items, I looked over a couple of the books I had found. Two books that were within the pile of the larger corpse were just an assorted collection of horribly drawn pictures of naked women and men. "Ew. If this is what passes for art here, I'm worried about the social level of these people." With disgust, I placed these two books inside my inventory. Just in case. And then opened the only book that was found upon the other dried-up corpse. It was almost as useless as the other two, merely filled with lists of names, next to which held a notation of money. There were several annotations next to some of the names, like a skull or a tick. "Looks like an old-fashioned moneylender's ledger. Well, now I feel even less guilty about killing these pricks." Due to my family's situation, I held a natural hatred towards loan sharks.
The names inside held basically no value to me. The only thing that piqued my interest was a small sentence on the very first page of the ledger. It read, "This is the property of Lucian Dragfall of the Raven's Marauders; if found, return to Codger's Inn in Summerset. Do not read its contents, or I'll gouge your eyes out." With a click of my tongue, I rolled my eyes at the threatening message and shoved the ledger into my already cramped inventory. After placing the book in my inventory, a mysterious sense of fullness was transmitted to me, warning me that my inventory space was at capacity. Moving on from the books, I unrolled a scroll that was slightly worn but was obviously kept in careful condition, going by the neat way it was folded.
Unfurling the scroll, I was happy to see it was of a map. "Fantastic!" With a grin, I looked over the map. It depicted what was obviously only a small part of a larger country or, in this system-based world's case, empire. The words at the top of the map read, Dawner Province. It depicted a land covered in several unnamed small towns or villages, separated by several woods and a large lake. Right in the middle of the province, next to the large oval-shaped lake, was the depiction of a walled city, which read Summerside above it. To the west of the city was a vast forest that stretched from one side of the map to the other. Underneath the forest was a sharp line splitting the map in half. Under the line were several empty plains, denoted with small hills or mountains. With a single road running from the forest to another walled city.
This city held a drawing of a crossbones and skull above it alongside some writing that read, Cortez, city of the Dead. "Well, I guess that clears that up. And going by the key to the side, it takes at least three days on horseback to travel to this forest, and who knows how long it takes to cross that. I guess I'll be hanging out with the dead for the foreseeable future." With a sigh, I folded the map back up with gentle hands. With a frown, I took out one of the books with drawings in it and placed my map inside my inventory instead. Moving on from the map, I took up the last of the looted items. Weapons. My mood swiftly surged. I first grabbed a rolled-up, leather-bound holder. Unfurling the string, I lay out the long strip of oddly cut leather.
[Midriff Leather Throwing Knife Sheath – Common]
Throwing knife slots: 6/10
Pulling out one of the knives, I saw that it was colored black and was perfectly balanced. They were of common grade but looked to be in perfect condition. They held no handles, and instead just finished in a square edge. With the throwing knife in hand, I took a step back and focused on a wooden pew about six feet from where I was standing. Rolling the small knife through my fingers, I felt a certain instinct correcting my movements. It was a strange feeling. It wasn't like I was some master of it or anything, but I felt an almost uncomfortable feeling when holding the knife a certain way, or in the way my feet were placed. The uncomfortable feeling only went away after I corrected my placement. 'Must be my new martial trait coming into play.'
With my fit planted correctly, I cocked my arm to my side, as if I was throwing a frisbee. Holding the knife in the middle of my palm, I shot my arm towards the pew while flicking my wrist up at the end. Instead of what I had seen in movies and shows, the blade didn't fly end over end but instead flew straight like a dart and embedded itself about half a finger length into the wood. "Awesome." Breathing out the word, I repeated the movement with the rest of the knives. I managed to embed four of the knives into the wooden pew. An outcome I was very happy with.
Retrieving the knives, I put them back into the leather holder and, after fumbling around a bit; I managed to strap them around my stomach. I realised there were two ways I could wear the holder. I could have them at my front with their handles facing up or I could have them at my back with their handles facing down. I imagined the second option would be helpful if you didn't want a potential enemy to know you had it. However, I knew it required a lot more skill and familiarity to be able to blindly retrieve the small knives from behind. So, I placed them at my front at least for the time being.
The next two items were also knives; these were different from the trench knife I had previously. These were foldable, much like the butterfly knives I had seen some gang members back in Bayswater playing with. The blade was very narrow, though; it was like a small version of a rapier.
[Foldable Stiletto - Common – No requirements]
Damage: +25
Armor piercing value: +10
"Interesting. They're looking more and more like some assassin types." Muttering to myself, I folded both knives up and placed them into my pockets. I then moved on to the last of the looted items and the one I was looking forward to the most. Grabbing the ridged handle that fit snug in my grip, as if the weapon was made for me, I pulled my arm back and, much like before, I corrected my movements naturally before flicking my wrist towards a wooden pew. A carved a sharp line across the rotted wood, splitting it down the middle, sending out a crack upon impact. Retrieving the long weapon with a flick, my teeth naturally elongated as I grinned feverishly while gazing at the serrated silver whip in my hand.
[Dustsilver Retractable Bladed Whip – Rare - Requires Agility: 12]
Standard Damage +80
Increased Damage +25% to Necrosis, Demonic and Solar-sensitive beings
Infused Skill – Whip it: At the cost of 25 stamina, infuse the whip with an extra vigor, creating a phantom strike to accompany your own. Inflicting 50% of the total damage of your own attack.
"Beautiful. I'll be just like my favorite vampire-killing hero! Wait. I'm a vampire. Well, whatever." Shrugging my shoulders, I flicked my new favourite whip out, causing severe damage to the surrounding pews. I will admit, I think I got a little carried away playing with my new toy. After several minutes of running around and whipping the furniture into oblivion, I was sweating and panting, but a large grin warped my features as I felt the sparkles in my eyes. In the now-silent church, I realized that what I had just done was absolutely foolish. I made so much noise that it was a miracle I hadn't brought a swarm of zombies upon my head.
Realizing I didn't really have anywhere to attach my whip to my belt, I retracted the blades on the whip with a mental command. The triangular blades slid back into each other, giving the whip a smooth silver look. I then wrapped the whip around my shoulder several times, making sure the bladed tip was pointed away from me, and the handle was in easy reach. Now that I had finished going through the loot. I pulled the Life Force crystal out of my hand and took a breath to calm my nerves, which had begun dancing again.
Activating the system with a mental command, I designated the church as a possible structure. Receiving several notifications in return.
[User has designated – Temple of Glory – for a possible territory acquisition – Analyzing.... No hostile forces found, searching for vital energy source... Found user in possession of Tier 3 Life Force Crystal]
[Upon pathway parameters, the User can use the Tier 3 life force crystal to complete objective 2, enabling the system to harvest the vital force within to assist in sanctifying your territory. Use Tier 3 Life Force Crystal? Yes or no?]
Taking another breath, I readied myself. I mentally said yes and braced myself for whatever changes were to come. Even though I thought I was getting used to the fantastical, what I witnessed next still made my jaw drop in shock.