After a few hours, Sin woke to persistent vibrations from his phone. He checked the screen and his stomach dropped. What in the world? People were sending him multiple videos—especially those who knew who Sin was, but also strangers who had apparently searched for him online and found his number. That was concerning, though Sin didn't bother to change it.
He clicked on the first video. His breath caught in his throat. There he was, in the woods, fist cocked back, punching the tree with devastating force. No, no, no, no. People had recorded him. Worse, they'd sent it to the internet. Now everyone knew his true strength. His heart hammered against his ribs. This wasn't good.
"What am I supposed to do now?" he muttered, running a hand through his hair. "It's going to seem pretty weird how someone gains extreme strength overnight. For all I know, someone might just kidnap me and dissect me for any strange parts or something." Knowing people, that was probably exactly what they'd do. Sin gulped, fear creeping up his spine as he imagined being dissected in the middle of the night for experimentation. "I should have been more secluded. I should have gotten into an area where no one was watching." He clenched his fists. "Apparently I didn't look behind me. Idiot."
Sin's eyes flashed a deep crimson—more crimson than they had ever been before. His jaw tightened. "I will not let that happen again."
A few hundred miles away, deep underground in a dark red facility, a young man watched the same video. His lips curved into an interested smile.
"Well, that seems interesting," the man said, leaning back in his chair. "It seems like someone has gained a lot of strength."
"Do you think it's from one of our pills?" a younger man beside him asked, his voice tinged with curiosity.
The man looked up at him, one eyebrow raised. "One of our pills? Please. No one has ordered them recently, so obviously no."
The young man interrupted, undeterred. "But sir, you have to remember people can steal things. The dark web still exists, sir, so there's that option too."
The older man paused, considering. "I guess you're right." He straightened in his seat, his expression growing serious. "Go figure out this matter. I'll give you some clothes to spy on the guy. Dress like normal." He grabbed the usual white set of clothing from a nearby cabinet and held them out. "Put this on." He handed the younger man a watch. "Press the watch twice to communicate with me."
The man put on the watch and hurried off to change. When he returned, dressed and ready, the older man waved him off with a dismissive gesture. "Go find out how this man gained strength. Find out what he did to gain so much power."
Sin didn't know what to do. He felt trapped, out of options. People knew what his face looked like, what he looked like in general, the strength he held that he'd wanted to keep secret. They knew about him. So what was he supposed to do now? Stay paranoid all day? Lock himself up in some isolated area where no one could find him?
No. He wouldn't do that. He wouldn't fall to paranoia, and he wouldn't lock himself away. He wouldn't be cut off from society. But there was a real chance that people could come after him, so maybe staying locked up was the right option. Yet if he did that, he would lose his humanity. He wouldn't be Sin anymore.
Sin honestly didn't know what to do at this point. He tried to think over his options, but they were all bad. Either he would lose his mind being isolated from people, having no contact with anyone—and he meant anyone—or he would just stay with society and risk people finding out more about him.
Suddenly, a system message appeared in his view.
**System has been successfully integrated.**
**Status:**
**Name:** Sin
**Race:** Lesser Vampire
**All stats currently at 12.**
**Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error.**
The system let out a cascade of errors that Sin honestly didn't understand. He didn't even understand the system in the first place—he'd been sleeping when it first came to his mind a few days ago.
"What in the world? A system? But why me? Why do I deserve this?" He shook his head, bewildered. "Unless it's because I'm a vampire."
Sin couldn't comprehend all that was going on. This was reality, not an RPG game, so how could there be a system? And why right now? It was strange. Very, very strange.
**You are no longer a Lesser Vampire. You are a Shadow Vampiric Anomaly.**
**A Shadow Vampiric Anomaly is a vampire who has lost all of their downsides. You are not able to be harmed by sunlight. Although you require blood for sustenance and to keep you alive, you don't have cravings for it, and you can eat normal food. You just have to consume blood occasionally—once a week. You also have some shadow power within you.**
Sin looked at his status. He was no longer a lesser vampire. He was apparently a shadow vampiric being. His chest tightened with a mixture of relief and apprehension.
"So basically I'm just a vampire without the downsides? Isn't that a little overpowered?" He frowned. "I mean, it seems like it's a little overpowered to me."
Sin looked at other features the system had. Nothing much—no shop, at least nothing that he could buy. He had consumed zero liters of blood. He needed to drink, according to the system, at least two liters of blood a week to live. If he didn't, he would get hungry, and when he got hungry, he would soon lose control. His body would go get blood on its own without him being conscious. At least that was the one downside of being a shadow vampire, though it wasn't really much of a downside. Two liters of blood every week wasn't that much.
Sin looked around his apartment, a strange sense of unease settling over him. The system did seem a bit unfair to other vampires, if they even existed. Sin honestly didn't know if they did. For all he knew, this could have been just a trick of his mind.
But it wasn't. It wasn't a trick of his mind.
He went to a tab called **Shadow Powers**. The screen, which had once been red with white text, became black with white text.
**Shadow Abilities:** 1
**Shadow Points:** 0
"So I have no shadow powers and no shadow points. What do you know? I start with nothing." He let out a bitter laugh. "Of course I do. A broken being like me has to be limited. How wonderful."
He paused, rereading the text. "Wait. There are other Shadow Vampiric Beings? Something else in this world like me?"
Sin walked into his room and sat down on his bed. The last few nights he'd been sleeping on the couch, and he'd been growing tired more recently. He pulled out his computer and began searching about vampires. He knew the basics—how they couldn't live in sunlight. Obviously, he didn't know if garlic would actually do anything against them.
Then he looked up "Shadow Vampiric Beings." Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just a bunch of fan creations and theories. Nothing really out of the ordinary, just some mythical being. But then again, wasn't a vampire a mythical being too?
Sin closed his computer and put it away, his mind racing. "So it seems I'm the only shadow vampiric being. At least, the only one people know about. There are always rumors about vampires, but because they're so well known, someone would have noticed by now."
Someone was looking through his window. He felt eyes on him—a prickling sensation along the back of his neck. Sin looked up sharply, and as soon as he did, there was no one there.
The person had ducked down and dipped himself into the shadows.
"Can't be recognized," the man muttered to himself. "From what I saw on his computer screen when he looked up, it seems like he's one of them."
The man emerged from the shadows, his expression hardening with determination. "I guess it's time for a real fight. I'm taking this guy in, whether the boss likes it or not. It's time."
The man disappeared into the shadows, ready for battle.
Sin got out of his bed and was about to leave his room when a pool of shadows formed beside him. A man dressed in white clothing rose from the darkness. He had dark hair and crimson eyes that gleamed with predatory interest. The man smiled, his expression both amused and dangerous.
"Let me guess," the man said smoothly. "You're a Shadow Vampiric Being."
Sin stared at him, his pulse quickening. "How did you—"
"Don't worry about how I knew. I saw your computer. It's kind of obvious, don't you think?" The man's smile widened. "Sin."
Sin's blood ran cold. He knew his name. The only people who knew his name were his family and that one old man who'd gotten run over before he could tell him why he knew it. His mind raced with questions and fear.
"So another person knows who I am, huh?" Sin thought, his muscles tensing. "But how does he know that I'm a Shadow Vampiric Being? Do those even actually exist?"
The man opened a shadow portal. A red blood orb emerged, and the man grabbed it with casual ease. He juggled the blood orb in the air, then stopped. He transformed it into pure liquid blood and drank it, pouring the crimson liquid into his mouth, energizing himself for what was to come.
"Well," the man said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, his eyes gleaming with anticipation. "Let the battle begin, Sin."