“White!”

“White!”

Rae awoke from his stupor when he heard Norton and Roland calling him. He pulled his hand away and got up.

He then bowed and apologized. “I’m sorry, Masters. This one became nervous at the thought of my first kill.” And lied out of his teeth, again.

“It’s alright, White. Make sure you buckle up in front of the Dire Boar. Or it’ll be your life,” Norton warned with good intentions.

Roland just looked at Rae for a few seconds, then smiled and said, “It’s all good, White. What Norton said. Don’t drop the ball with Dire Boar. We can’t help you if you want the full experience. That will ruin the point of this hunt.”

They then they started tracking the Dire Boar again.

While the trio was walking, Rae couldn’t help but think about what happened. ‘What was that? Was blood really whispering to me and telling me to ‘rule’ them?’

Rae was thinking he might’ve gone crazy, but he remembered the description of Origin Vampire. ‘”A sovereign of blood,” the System said. I’ll find out soon enough,” Rae said to himself in a determined manner.

An hour later, they tracked the Dire Boar to a cave.

“Okay, White, looks like the Dire Boar’s in there. Make sure not to die,” Roland said with a snicker.

Norton smacked the back of Roland’s head and turned to Rae. “A Dire Boar should prove no problem to you, now go,” Norton said sternly.

‘This might be easier than I thought. If they’re not going to be around, I’ll be able to use magic,’ thought Rae.

He proceeded to walk up to the cave, and a dense scent of blood washed over his body. ‘The Dire Boar is definitely in here.’

As he walked further in, Rae could hear gruff breathing and grunts among sounds of water dripping off the walls.

When the sounds of the breathing got closer, Rae quieted his footsteps. When he got to the end of the cave he saw the Dire Boar and it was the size of a cart. The Dire Boar had thick legs with muscle creasing its thick grey hide. There was hair lining its huge chin and neck. It had a ferocious set of teeth with two tusks sticking out from the corner of its mouth. The Dire Boar had a long mane brown mane that made the beast look old, and hair lining its spine. The hooves were large enough that they could probably squish a human head like a watermelon. The Dire Boar’s savage appearance was further amplified by the blood dripping down its face.

Rae looked at the beasts face while he was hiding. ‘Looks like it’s resting. Most likely recuperating from whatever put it in that condition. Let’s appraise it.’

『Status』

『Titles』: 『Ferocious Elder Beast』

『General Information』

Name: 「N/A」 Gender: Male Age: 8 Years Race: Dire Boar Level: 63 Class/Level: 「N/A」

『Resistances』:「Lightning: 0%」「Fire: 0%」「Wind: 0%」「Water: 0%」「Earth: 0%」「Light/Holy: 0%」「Darkness: 0% 」「Poison: 0% 」

『Status』

Health Points: 456 / 2237 (+0.37/s)

Mana Points: 345 / 345 (+3.45/s)

Stamina Points: 324 / 1650 (+2.50/s)

『Attributes』

Strength: 472

Endurance: 632

Intelligence: 152

Dexterity/Agility: 542

Perception: 304

Wisdom: 163

Charisma: 0

Luck: 0

『Skill List』

「Charge LV6」「Enhanced Smell LV5」「Hoof Stomp LV5」「Ferocious Chomp LV6」「Roar LV4」「Tough Hide LV 7」「Crisis Perception LV5」「Pain Resistance LV6」

‘Hm? Uh, Mr.Norton, Sir. I think there’s something off here about this beasts stats. I thought you said it was relatively weak. If that’s so… WHAT THE FUCK ARE THOSE STATS?! His hooves could accidentally nick me and I would die! He could spit and it would have the same impact as a bullet! Okay, breathe, Rae. Just breathe.’

After Rae managed to calm himself down, he looked at the Dire Boar’s status once again and noticed that it was severely weakened. ‘That other beast really did a number on him. It seems I have a chance. I should use「Darkness Magic」and strike it down in one blow. I can go all out in this cave so I just need to use everything I’ve got on it. The only thing I need to worry about is「Crisis Perception」... I’ll just have to hope my 「Darkness Magic」is faster than the Dire Boar’s「Crisis Perception」 .’

Rae focused on his sixth sense. He felt the Mana in the air and power he could wield. He concentrated on condensing all the mana he could into the shape of a bullet, just like the first time. Except he would concentrate most of the power on the point, so he could penetrate the thick hide the Dire Boar had.

The atmosphere began to change as Darkness started to converge in the shape of a bullet. When Rae felt the shape was right, he directed all the Mana he could to the point.

When he felt the bullet was at critical mass and would backfire on himself if he went any further, he pointed his hand at the resting Dire Boar and fired at its head.

The black bullet flew so fast, even Rae couldn’t follow it with his eyes.

As the black bullet got closer the center of the Dire Boar’s forehead the Dire Boar’s eyes flew open.

The Dire Boar didn’t have time to dodge from its resting position and because of the bullet’s speed, so it curved its head and the bullet flew into the Dire Boar’s right side of its neck. There was a loud *Bang* as the bullet entered and exploded, but it only went a few inches deep. So it didn’t do enough damage. Still, there was blood everywhere.

*ROOOOAAAAR*

The Dire Boar was furious.

When the Dire Boar roared, Rae felt a momentary fear consume his body and he couldn’t move. Rae contemplated as fast as possible. ‘Rae! You’re scared of something much worse than this! Not getting back to Earth. Norton was right. BUCKLE UP OR DIE!’

『Akashic System』Gained 「Fear Resistance LV1」!

Sadly, the Dire Boar was not going to let the enemy that disturbed its rest, get away.

The Dire Boar ignored its injury and went into a「Charge」 towards Rae. Rae felt he was about to die the next moment if he did not move and rolled in the opposite direction of the exit, moving further into the cave.

『Akashic System』Gained 「Crisis Perception LV1」!

‘SHUT THE FUCK UP!’ complained Rae. ‘It’s too fast! Even when it’s wounded that much!’ Rae got up while trying to think of a way to kill the rampaging beast.

‘It’s bleeding profusely from the wound I gave it, coupled with the wounds it had before. It will die no matter what. The question is: will I be alive by the time that happens?’

After the Dire Boar charged towards Rae’s direction, it turned its head around and found that he was still alive.

*ROOOOAAAAR*

The Dire Boar roared in anger again at the still alive prey. It began another「Charge」.

‘Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit, it’s too fast for me to make a Darkness Bullet strong enough to pierce its hide. The sword I’m carrying will never pierce the Dire Boar. And I’m out of Mana as well from the first shot.’ Rae tried to think as fast as he possibly could in this life or death crisis. And tried to think about anything that could cause damage to the Dire Boar.

As the Dire Boar was inching closer to reap Rae’s life, Rae began to look around the cave for anything whatsoever that could help him until he spotted red.

‘That’s it!’

『Akashic System』Gained 「Thought Acceleration LV1」!

『Akashic System』Intelligence +1!

『Akashic System』Wisdom +1!

Rae had no time to curse the System. ‘「Mana Perception」「Perceptive Eyes」! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!’ Rae was in immense pain, but he had to endure.

『Akashic System』「Pain Resistance LV2」Leveled up!

『Akashic System』 「Pain Resistance LV3」Leveled up!

There were the beautiful blue particles Rae had seen the last time he activated 「Mana Perception」, but in the next millisecond, all the blue particles in the surrounding area had turned blood red.

‘「Blood Manipulation」!’ Rae pictured every single drop of blood in the cave and on the Dire Boar’s body as hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands, even millions of blood red swords bombarding the Dire Boar’s body, specifically its wounds.

Blood sword after blood sword, converging, then destroyed from the collision with the Dire Boar’s body, then coalescing only to repeat the cycle again.

After 10 seconds of the onslaught of crimson, the cavern was painted with blood, and the Dire Boar was nothing more than a meat paste.

『Akashic System』「Blood Manipulation LV1」Leveled up!

『Akashic System』「Mana Control LV2」Leveled up!

『Akashic System』「Concentration LV3」Leveled up!

『Akashic System』Host has leveled up!

『Akashic System』Host has leveled up!

『Akashic System』Host has leveled up!

『Akashic System』Host has leveled up!

『Akashic System』Host has leveled up!

『Akashic System』Host has leveled up!

『Akashic System』Host has leveled up!

『Akashic System』Host has gained 『Title』: 『Beast Conqueror』

After Rae saw that the Dire Boar was a pile of paste, he collapsed onto the blood painted cavern floor and sighed in relief, but before he could lose consciousness, he began to hear whispers again.

‘Rule us, Sovereign. Rule us, Sovereign. Return to your rightful glory… wield us and gain power’

‘Power…? I want power… lots of it…’

‘As you desire, My Lord… take us, My Lord. Take ALL of us… Absorb us’

When Rae heard the whispers, he felt an instinct gnawing at him from the inside.

An instinct that told him to take what belonged to him.

‘「Blood Absorption」!’

When Rae activated 「Blood Absorption」, the puddle of blood beneath him disappeared. Rae got up and he felt better than ever! All the Mana he had lost from the fight was recovered and the exhaustion and pain he felt from using 「Mana Perception」was gone.

‘So this is what happens when I absorb blood? How does it taste?’ Rae dipped a finger into a puddle nearby and sniffed it. ‘It smells… delicious. Odd, it didn’t smell like this before. Is it a side effect of absorbing blood?’

Rae put the finger in his mouth and thought it tasted good, but not enough to make him go insane. ‘Maybe because it’s beast blood… I should stop that line of thought,’ Rae said to himself. Then he looked at the cavern covered in blood and came up with an idea.

Rae used「Blood Manipulation」and willed all of the blood to gather and condense into a small ball in his palm.

‘「Blood Absorption」!’

Rae immediately collapsed and heard a voice in his head before blacking out.

『Akashic System』Host has absorbed enough blood. Host will now advance from ‘Fledgling’ to ‘Adult’.