It was Thursday, August 19th, that Sen Salazar woke up wishing that he was dead.

August 19th. The Sun has released excess Odd into Earth. Next discharge in 02 days, 08 hours, 11 minutes, and 58 seconds.

Flow overdrawn. You are Withering [Stage 1].

Flow regeneration paused. Sustenance is required.

He woke up in the darkness with nothing but the stench of garbage to keep him company. The reek soaked into the humid air, creating a disgusting mix of slimy, dirty sweat on the surface of his skin. Sen felt himself gag, but the jerk in his gut only caused pain to flare up all over his body, his wounds and bruises screaming in protest. He groaned.

Moving slowly, he felt around his torso, his hands running across the shredded remains of his clothes. He winced as he touched the skin underneath; sore, scabbing. Shallow hurts littered every corner of him save for his legs, which had suffered little damage thanks to his armor.

His arms, however, were in a wretched state.

Even in the darkness, he didn’t need to see them to know that ugly, green and purple bruises snaked up and down his withered arms. His armor had prevented the essence vampire’s force blasts from tearing his arms off, but the kinetic force still remained. They’d felt like punches, and now they’d left their mark in pain and suffering. Sen kept feeling up his torso, assessing the damage. Unlike what he initially thought, he was… fine. Or not dying, at least.

His wounds were light. Barely more than shallow cuts and scrapes, save for the deeper cut on his side. And in the day that he’d spent knocked out in the dumpster after his fall, they’d already scabbed over thanks to his Body attribute.

There was one problem, however.

He was thirsty.

Really thirsty.

Sen raised his arms and felt around him, the bed of garbage under him shifting, until he felt the dumpster wall to his left. Sen felt up until he touched the lip, and with a pained grunt, he pulled himself up. He tipped over the edge. Fell.

Thump.

Garbage clattered around him as he crashed to the ground, groaning in agony. Pain flared up all over him, protesting at the fall.

“Fuck,” he rasped, clutching at his side, where a wound deeper than the other opened up again. Blood spread across his fingers and Sen thumped the bottom of his fist against the ground, teeth gritted through the spreading ache. He curled up into himself, gasping with the effort, and stood, wobbling up to his feet. His calf muscles burned.

But still, he stepped forward, using the dumpster as support. Sen reached into his pocket and felt around until—

Click.

His phone’s screen flickered open. It was cracked, but working. And there in the corner, the battery icon blinked yellow, telling him that his phone was well under thirty percent. Sen’s shaking fingers tapped at the screen and the flashlight flared, casting its glare across the darkness of the garbage room.

Several dumpsters stood lined up along the wall, with the one he’d fallen into positioned right under the garbage chute. Most of them overflowed with trash, from bottles to paper bags, and even the rancid, maggot-ridden sludge that remained of the canteen’s leftovers. Sen pinched his nose as he walked around, his legs shaking and his head pounding. Normally, he would’ve left already, but…

He spotted it. Glinting against the light of his phone.

A bottle of water.

Sen gingerly plunged his arm into the dumpster, grimacing as he felt the wet slime roll over his skin. He pulled the bottle of water out, seeing the trickle that sloshed at the bottom. Barely more than a gulp. Gray gunk covered the bottle up to the cap, but the inside was… clean. Hopefully.

He closed his eyes and opened the cap, his face twisting further as the slime squelched against his palm. He threw the cap to the side and stared at the water at the bottom. Clean, but old. And inside a very gross container that no sane person would drink from.

But Sen was desperate, and desperate people did stupid things.

So Sen thought of happy things, happy places, as he tipped the bottle into his mouth.

He gagged.

The water was stale and the reek of garbage in the air entered his mouth, so thick that he could taste it. He choked the slime down, feeling the water slide into his gut, up until there was none left. And then it was over, and small streams of steam hissed out of his skin. He instantly felt a little better.

But it wasn’t enough.

Sen looked around at the dumpsters around him, and the collection of half-empty water bottles that impaled themselves into the gunk. He let out a sound that was halfway a gag and halfway a sob.

He really wished that fall had broken his neck instead.

Yet, despite his complaining, Sen forced himself to reach forward, plunging into the filth and the grime for the sake of survival. He dragged the bottles out and drank from the cleanest he could find. He drank until he felt sick, desperately wishing that it was just his head and not his stomach trying to commit suicide.

Sen leaned against the wall, resting. Waiting for his energy to return. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumbly packet of wafers, stuffed into his pocket from the vending machines and ruined in the following fight.

He soothed his stomach with the shards of wafer he could pluck from inside.

And in his miserable state, one thing kept him going.

Sen pulled up his interface.

Status

Name: Sen Salazar – Tier 0 Human [10/15]

Ability: Locked – Essence Required [0/1,000]

Attributes

(0) Mind – Rank III [0/250] (+)

(0) Body – Rank V [0/1,000] (+)

(0) Spirit – Rank II [0/100] (+)

Essence: 2,554

Skill Orbs [1/5]

Bone Armor (Tier 0 - Yellow) [Body]

He stared at it, his eyes stuck to the absolutely massive number next to Essence. He studied the interface for the first time, and each glance gave him more information, pumped directly into his brain. The most important of which were about his Attributes: all the essence he had would allow him to increase them all—from Mind, which increased his reflexes and intuition, to Body, which made him stronger and more durable, to Spirit, which reduced his Flow consumption and increased his resistance to outside skill effects.

Among others.

Sen’s eyes moved to his tier—zero. One just beneath the tier one essence vampire, which had felt unkillable. Impossible to defeat. And all he needed to reach the same tier was five ranks’ worth of attributes.

The choice was easy, if he wanted to survive the next time his next encounter with the vampire.

Sen quickly did the math: two-fifty for another rank in Mind, five hundred to push it up to rank five, a few hundred in Spirit just because it was cheap, and another thousand in Body, and…

Increasing his tier would easily leave him with just over four hundred essence. The thought of spending so much made him nauseous, but…

Sen closed his eyes as he jabbed a finger at the screen.

Body [Tier 0] increased! Rank V -> Rank I

Body increased to [Tier 1]! Attribute reset to Rank I.

Mind [Tier 0] increased! Rank III -> Rank V

Spirit [Tier 0] increased! Rank II -> Rank IV

Fifteen Attribute ranks achieved. Tier evolution in progress.

Expanding Flow channels. Strengthening and purification starting. Effects will be listed after tier evolution concludes.

Beginning optimization by removing unnecessary organs and impurities.

Sen stared at the last line, blinking.

No fucking way, he thought, before his eyes widened. Sen covered his mouth and lurched forward, his cheeks ballooning. His eyes turned bloodshot as disgusting, slimy tar gurgled up his throat, bitter as bile and wretched as death.

…He was going to vomit again.

And this time, he was pretty sure a few organs were going to come out with it. Sen staggered up, raced for the nearest dumpster, and—

A sudden spray of sludge exploded out from his mouth in a torrent of tar and bile; a geyser of dark, putrid filth that splattered across the floor like some alien monstrosity. Sen coughed, stumbling to his feet to suppress it, but it kept coming in chunks of shredded organs and impurities. The grime monster on the floor spread further. Pieces of bloody meat floated over the puddle of gunk, staring up at him.

“I—” Sen gasped, coughing, burping out another explosion of filth as he leaned against the wall for support. “I hate this interface so fucking m—urp!”

Nobody ever told him that the apocalypse would involve so much… vomit.

The movies were liars. The whole lot of them.

Another minute of misery splattered across the floor. By the time the puke-guzzling was over, he stood in the darkness, covered in sweat and filth. He spat in an attempt to force the bitter-black taste of body gunk out of his mouth. It stayed.

Impurities expunged. Biology optimized. Flow capacity has been increased.

You have reached Tier 1. Lower-tier essence has been converted (x0.1) to Tier 1 essence, rounded down.

Current essence: 45

Additional system features unlocked.

“If I vomit one more time this week, I’m gonna lose it,” he panted, hands on his knees as he watched the flurry of notifications fly across his vision. Sen stumbled off to the side, away from the site of his recent disaster and the absolute stench of it. Like rotting fish entrails and old vinegar stuffed into a fuck-you sandwich of spoiled eggs and piss.

Still, the smell chased him down even from across the room. Or maybe that was just the dumpsters reminding him that they existed.

Either way, Sen was halfway sure he was going to be smell-deaf by the end of today.

Grumbling, he traced the wall, distancing himself further. As he did, Sen viewed the rest of the notifications trying to catch his attention.

Essence Exchange unlocked.

Skill Orbs can now be upgraded up to current tier by selecting/upgrading a Skill Augment. Skill Augments unlocked. First Skill Augment of each tier is significantly discounted.

Number of available skill orb slots has been increased to six.

Sen waved away the golden letters as he sighed, leaning up against the wall. Looking around the darkness, he frowned at the wretched situation he was in. Even with a tier increase, it hardly changed his situation. He was still in a room full of trash, injured and hurting, with only one exit that led to god-knows-where.

The situation was far worse now that he was alone. No one to watch his back. No one to watch corners while he rested, and no one that could save him if he ever got pinned under another vampire.

If he wanted to get out in one piece, he needed every advantage he could get.

“Menu,” Sen said.

Nothing.

He rolled his eyes.

“Status.”

Status

Name: Sen Salazar – Tier 1 Human [15/30]

Ability: Locked – Essence Required [0/500]

Attributes

(0) Mind – Rank V [0/500] (+)

(1) Body – Rank I [0/30] (+)

(0) Spirit – Rank IV [0/250] (+)

Essence: 45

Skill Orbs [1/6]

Bone Armor (Tier 0 - Yellow) [Body] – Upgrades Available N/A

Sen immediately found his eyes drawn to the shiny new changes on his interface. The most immediate change was the conversion of his essence into a higher tier. It was a tenth of what it once was, yet the upgrade costs of his lower tier Attributes had only been halved. He suspected essence gain would be affected the same way—less, from things of a lower tier. Drastically less.

He shuddered at the idea of having to face several essence vampires just to get his Attributes to the peak of the first tier. The scaling between cost and gain was, quite frankly, ridiculous. Even with his Body at the first tier, he still felt… inadequate. Unsure.

If he faced the first-tier boss again as he was now…

He shook his head. His imagination didn’t give him any pretty pictures to look at. Sen pushed the looming dread out of his mind and moved on, noting the other changes. His Bone Armor was upgradeable now. Curious, Sen tapped it, and another set of text appeared in his vision.

Bone Armor (Tier 0 – Yellow) [Body]

Small Flow cost, ongoing. For a total number of minutes equal to the user’s Body (6), the user grows an exoskeleton of considerable durability. Bone Armor may be molded according to the user's will. Strength, area of effect, and control scales with Body. Active duration and cost refreshed automatically until turned off.

Available Augments:

Power Augment [0/25]

Passive. Body parts affected by Bone Armor are strengthened for the duration of the skill. Small increase to Body effect and scaling upon skill activation.

Shatterburst Augment [0/25]

Active. Allows the user to shatter Bone Armor at will, blasting targets with Flow-powered shrapnel. Effect may be strengthened further by increasing Flow used to Small, Moderate, and Large respectively.

Bone Manipulation Augment [0/50]

Passive. Control over Bone Armor is greatly improved. Bone Armor durability increased. Skill may now be manipulated to create more complex extensions like blades, knuckle claws, mauls, and shields on the user’s body.

Sen considered his options. He could only choose one, while he only had enough essence in store to actually get two of them. Meanwhile, his Body Attribute taunted him with another upgrade. It was tempting to get—especially with how significant the Tier 1 boost had been. As it was, Sen felt like he could easily lift the dumpsters if he tried. What more if he increased it again?

And how much more powerful would he become if he let it reach Tier 2?

The idea was certainly exciting, but it was easy to get carried away. Sen looked down at himself, covered in still-fresh injuries. Even with Body at Tier 1 making him tougher and stronger, he wasn’t much of a fighter. He didn’t know how to defend. He didn’t know how to attack. In a close-quarters fight against savage vampires, he would just keep accumulating injuries until he dropped.

And so, an upgrade to Body wouldn’t do anything to fix his current weaknesses.

One of the skill upgrades did, however.

Bone Armor upgraded! Tier 0 -> Tier 1.

Effects increased.

Shatterburst unlocked.

A ranged attack. Sen felt the skill orb’s new effects flow into his mind, showing him how he could control the blasts and channel Flow to increase the potency of his attacks. On top of it, the increase to Tier 1 upped the skill’s effects as well. He didn’t have any Flow to spare on testing it at the moment, but Sen instinctively knew that it covered more than his limbs now; he knew it could stretch past his shoulders, protecting his neck and upper torso with plates of interlocking bone.

The upgrades made him feel safer. He could run now. Attack from a distance. With his Body, he could flee faster and dodge better. And in the event that he took hits, his toughened flesh and bones could take more punishment than before.

Sen felt himself smile a little.

If he tried hard enough, he might actually survive for a few more days.

He looked across the room, at the bolted metal doors leading outside. It was dark, save for the faint light of his phone, but he could just barely see. Even from a distance, everything the in the room had a faint outline in the gloom. His Rank V in Mind was improving his senses little by little with every increase. Another tier or two, and Sen wondered if he’d even need light to see at all.

He focused on the door’s outline, squinting to see more of it. It was barely visible, yet there was a cold feeling of dread emanating from it that he couldn’t rid his mind of. It wasn’t anxiety or fear, but something else. Something older.

It was like sitting alone in a room, feeling a gaze on his back that wasn’t there.

Instinct. A small, primal part of him tensed at the sight of the door and what was at the other side. Sen wasn’t sure what was waiting for him beyond, but he had to be ready. Rested, satiated, and recovered.

And for that, he found his answer in another one of the system’s new features.

The Essence Exchange.

Flicking through the notifications in his line of sight, Sen discovered that the Essence Exchange was some sort of store—a place to trade essence for various functions, of which many were locked behind higher tiers.

The ones that were available to him, however, kindled the hope in his chest.

Essence Exchange – [Updates in 07 hours, 31 minutes, and 10 seconds]

Convert Essence -> Sustenance [50/day]

Convert Essence -> Flow Bead (consumable) [0/100]

Convert Essence -> Craft Skill Orb [Tier 0]

Convert Essence -> Minor Attribute Boost [0/100]

Convert Essence…

More options dragged down in a list of just over a dozen items, allowing him a plethora of potential boosts and options for crafting, consumables, and survival. Some options temporarily increased a body’s ability to heal. Others allowed him to conjure materials like wood and metal from thin air. Hell, there was even an option to sacrifice essence in order to repair items at Tier 0.

Sen glanced down at his tattered uniform, barely more than scraps. For a moment, he was tempted to spend a little essence to at least fix his slashed-up pants, but he crushed that want down into nothing.

No, what was important now was saving essence for the first option:

Sustenance.

For fifty essence a day, he could fulfill his biological needs. No food. No water. Just essence to reinvigorate his body and keep himself alive. It was horrendously expensive, yes, but it was essential. Especially where he was now. Away from any reasonable place to scavenge food and water from, it would be the difference between life and death for him.

And he needed to make that difference soon.

Sen glanced down at his body, still slightly withered from his last fight. His head still hurt, and while his body’s wounds had healed a little after his tier increase, they still inhibited him by quite a bit. He was low on all his resources. Essence, flow, sustenance, strength—

If he let his condition worsen further without help, surviving would be impossible.

There was only one way to bring himself back to good shape.

Survive. Gather essence. Recover.

The Skill Orbs he collected would be a big help in—

Click, click.

He froze. Looked up.

Click, click. Clatter. Click.

Something was moving down the hatch he’d fallen through. The sound of clicking claws descended from above, echoing down the length of the garbage chute. Then a grating shriek—metal tearing, ripping against claws dragging down its iron frame.

Slowly, Sen stood from his spot on the floor. The sound kept descending. Closer. He pushed himself up and crept towards the door, wincing as every step sent pain stinging up from the wound on his side. He crossed the length of the garbage dump until he reached the door on the opposite end.

He backed up and pressed his hand against the icy metal surface. His skin prickled at the sensation of it. His muscles seized up ever so slightly as a quiet, creeping dread plunged his gut into black water.

Sen swallowed. It was sprint headfirst into danger, or stop and die to what was coming down.

…He chose to sprint.

Sen pushed the door open and turned to find a hellscape cast in dim, red light. Dry flesh crept along the walls and up the parking lot pillars, spiderwebbed by veins that pulsed with red blood. Among them were these crimson crystals—vast, towering protrusions of red salt—that speared out from the ground to cast the world in an eerie sanguine glow. They drank the blood from the veins lining the walls, depriving the shriveled vampire nest of what it so desperately needed.

With a long breath, Sen limped through the boundary.

You have entered a newborn Nightmare’s territory. All monsters that spawn here are strengthened. Essence rewards for Nightmare spawn are doubled.

Kill the Nightmare to dispel its influence on the area [Dubai Belmont University].

Sen limped behind a flesh-infested Toyota just as a screech ripped through the air behind him. He pressed himself against it—deeper into the shadows. Deeper into hiding. And as he did, the thin, shriveled form of the beast he fought just a day ago stepped back into its home.

[Boss] Awakened Essence Vampire – Tier 1

It scanned the vast parking lot with its empty eye sockets, its claws clicking. Despite having been mortally wounded by water just a day before, it seemed close to recovered now. It extended its shriveled black tongue as it tasted the air. Searching; looking for him. And unlike Sen, who was hanging on the brink, the creature was ready.

The vampire had come looking for a fight.

Sen was not ready for round two.