I’m left speechless as I watch myself charge through the door out onto the deck. The way I’m moving shouldn’t be possible, but there I am, accelerating to a full sprint in just a few yards. Now, that I think about it, I was moving faster and faster the entire fight. I guess I need to check my skills… but that can wait a few minutes, because I really wanna find out how I killed the five people on the deck.

As I burst through the door I continue on, dodging one of the players converging on the door. Wait, actually did I cut his leg? Oh shit, I cut his leg off… at his fucking thigh. The amount of force it would take to do that with a khukri is insane. As he falls to the ground clutching the stump of his leg, the others hesitate at the sight. That moment was all I needed to get behind the next person, and cut his throat deep enough to expose his vertebrae. That breaks them out of their stupor, and the others start firing at me. But I’m just too fast, jumping around and dodging their aim faster than they can keep up. Actually, I’m jumping around faster than a human should really be able to move, not superhuman fast though. I’m closer to what you’d expect a cat to be able to do... a 180 pound, bipedal cat.

During all that, I hear men scream and glass breaking towards the rear off the ship. I pause the video and pan the camera around to see two men, covered in wounds, being thrown through the windows in the back. I press play to see if I need to worry about them making it back to shore. Turns out, being thrown into the ocean while bleeding profusely doesn’t end well. I watch for maybe another minute before both men are torn apart by sharks.

I pan the camera back and resume the fight from where I left off. I watch myself close the distance on the last guy alive, and push him up against the wall.

“I just wanted to let you know, I hope your first life was worth losing for absolutely nothing. No, no, no… don’t beg. It’s meaningless, you’ll just bleed out, like everyone on this ship. You all are nothing but a means to extend my presence.”

Ok, that doesn’t really sound like drunk me, and it damn sure doesn’t sound like sober me. So, why am I saying it? I guess it could be that skill blood high?

Motion on the screen tears me from my thoughts. I watch myself take a quick step to plunge both blades through his belly into his chest cavity, picking him up over my head. There is a disturbing look in my eyes as blood runs down my arms and pours out on the ground.

I watch my in-game self dump the lifeless body to the side. Then he pulls out his pistols and fire into each of the dying men, killing them. He turns to the cabin with a malicious grin, “Well, that was satisfying. Now let’s go tear those last two bloodsacks apart with my bare hands.”

I’m watching with bated breath as my earlier self takes off at full speed towards the cabin… only to slip on something being covered by all the blood. He lands head first with a sickening thud, and I watch speechless for a good five minutes.before I realize that was the same position I woke up in.

I sit back rubbing my face, trying to make sense of all that, “What in the fuck was that? That little bit of blood really save their lives? Was I really going to kill them? Goddammit, why did I drink so much? I can’t remember anything.”

I suddenly realize I needed to check my in game notifications. I maneuver around the website until I come to the player page. I click on the notifications and my jaw drops.

Due to the large number of notifications, they have been consolidated. You have _error_ notifications. Blades 26-->54 Aerobic Conditioning 21-->26 Anaerobic Conditioning 25-->37 Unarmed 27 -->32 Pain tolerance 45-->50% MAX Intimidation 14-->23 Mental Fortitude 26-->32 Small Guns 35-->38 Blood High 1-->3 A sense of extreme euphoria due to past trauma associated with blood. Current rank gives this skill two levels. Increases Strength, endurance, agility, and perception by 20%. An intoxicating sense of euphoria increases pain resistance by 50%. Must be fueled with increasing amounts of spilt blood. Level 1 Increases Strength, endurance, agility, and perception by 50%. Pain resistance is Doubled. In order to activate this level, an alternate personality will prompt you to give control. Warning: This entity is formed from the anger and joy associated with Blood High, and is highly unstable. Superhuman levels of willpower would be needed to bring the entity under control. Must be fueled by ever increasing amounts of spilt blood. Level 2 Title: Drink ‘till I die Consumed fatal amounts of alcohol and survived. Endurance +.2 Due to the large amount of skills levels gained in such a short period of time, your physical attributes had to be adjusted so the skills could function properly. Strength 7.24-->8.19 Endurance 7.01-->7.90-->8.10 Agility 7.94-->8.99 Perception 6.83-->7.84

Warning: Such a large increase in skill levels is a statistical improbability. Any attempt to manipulate the system through any form of hacking will result in a perma-ban. This will not absolve you from your debt to Rio Grande.

Jesus… this is insane. I gained 70 skill levels in less than a day. I need to look at the forums.

I went out for target practice and gained 10 levels in small guns. Is that right? I was in a ship battle and my cannon skill went up by 20! I was in a bare knuckle boxing match and gain 25 levels in unarmed. It adjusted my attributes to. Is this a glitch? Has anyone got that warning about hacking from Rio Grande? I’m a little worried. That would seriously mess my life up if I got banned. My pain tolerance skill went up by 30%! I feel like I can actually play the game without being miserable.

Hmm, I guess it isn’t isolated. I wonder if skill levels are easier to earn right now? I guess I need to send Liber a message to tell him to work on the shields and hop back in the game.

Notification: Player’s avatar is about to be interacted with by an NPC. Recommend logging in immediately.

Shit, I have no idea how long I’ve been out of the game. I hobble into the kitchen and down a glass of ‘high caloric meal fluid’ so I don’t starve myself and plug myself back in. I lay back and instantly fall into the game.

“Where in the hell are they? I can’t find any sign of those three.”

“You think they’re dead Doc?”

“I don’t know son, there is a lot of blood up here though. I’ll go check underneath to see if I can find them.”

Oh fuck... I was hoping for a little more time to acclimate to all this pain. All the knife wounds are burning like hell, I’m still hungover as hell, but the worst is my muscles. I guess those insane movements I pulled off last night really strained my muscles and ligaments. I go to sit up and realize the gash on my back is stuck to the cloth hammock, which rips the huge scab that had formed. It’s all I can do not to scream in pain as the pain comes in waves. I'm sitting there, bleeding, head pounding, and every muscle in my body is on fire... and I'm caked in blood. This should be a great conversation.

About that time Doc Thomas finishes the climb down. He looks around waiting for his eyes to adjust, but when he does see us, his face is hilarious. Wide eyed and speechless, his eyes go from Bheki, to Zijde, to me and back to Zijde. He closes his eyes while he pinches the bridge of his nose, “Boys, what in the fuck happened last night?”