《Sanguine Paradise》Chapter 2 – [Day 1] – “Taking Flight”
Advertisement
∼ Day 1 ∼
Sorting out my thoughts and steeling my nerves, I start taking full stock of my new but diminutive body. Even though I have a 360-degree field of vision, I was still unable to view my entire body. But from what I could see, my body was indeed that of a seemingly ordinary, but larger-than-normal mosquito.
I have a head, thorax, and abdomen. On the sides of my thorax, six spindly legs protruded, two of them I would call my front legs and the other four my hind legs due to their placement being close to each other on the bottom half of my thorax.
On my back were two long transparent wings that ran down the length of both my thorax and abdomen. Reflexively I tried to unfold them, and it was to my pleasant surprise of how easily I was already able to control all of my body parts.
And lastly, what made a mosquito a mosquito, a long needle-like appendage that extended from my face. But I wasn't even sure what the proper name for a mosquito's appendage which it used to drink blood with was exactly.
-System, What is the needle-like appendage of a mosquito called?-
[I cannot answer that question.]
It seemed that the system probably wouldn't answer questions that do not relate to the system itself, so I simply decided to relegate it to "needle". And no I don't want to think about bad jokes about my "needle"...
Done taking stock, and making fun of myself, I readied my mind for what I was going to do next. Mentally prepared I start my countdown.
-One... Two... THREE..... Oh-OH Aaaahhh-
-HOLY SHIT, HOLY SHIT. I'm actually fucking flying, this feels a lot better than I thought I wou-
(THUNK)
My train of thought was abruptly cut off as I rather unceremoniously rammed directly into the stone surface of one of the cave walls. Quickly looking around, as if to check if anybody happened to see my rather pathetic display of aerial performance, I got back on all six of my thin legs and checked my status.
-S-Status!-
Status
Information Attributes
Traits. Titles. and Skills -Name- "???" STR 0.12 Skills 3 -Race- Glade Mosquito VIT 0.09 Traits 3 -Sex- Male AGI 2 Titles 0 -Rank- K- DEX 1 Skillpoints 1 -Level- 1/3 INT 12 Resistances
Health 1/1 CHR 0.05 Physical Resistance 0.02 Stamina 1/1 WILL 11 Magical Resistance 0.00 Mana 0/0 MAG 0.02 Mental Resistance 5
Phew... my health didn't seem to be affected by my recent embarrassing failure. Recentering myself once again, I took another few minutes to extend and flex all of my limbs and appendages, to make sure I had everything under control. This time instead of jumping forward with momentum to take flight, I began rapidly flapping my long and semi-transparent wings.
And before I knew it, I had taken air yet again, and with much more stability this time around. Taking a few rounds flying at the edge of the cave mouth, to adapt the new and wonderous feeling of flying, I noticed that accompanied by my flight is a slight humming produced by my wings flapping which I duly noted at the back of my mind.
On to my next agenda, I had to scout my surroundings, preferably without getting myself killed by whatever this world had in store for me. And secondly, then get me some food and EXP, since I already felt ravenous.
Flying cautiously out of the cavemouth, I began cautiously venturing out. The first thing I noticed around me was the absolute stunning beauty of the completely alien flora and fauna that colored everything in a wonderous collection of colors and shapes. If I were to describe my surroundings I would say it would be something between a jungle, swamp, and glade, but simply all seemed fantastical and alien to be Earth.
Advertisement
All around me were splotches of luscious green, small and big, plants of all sizes and shapes. Some individual plants also had wildly different colors that screamed in contrast to the rest of the forest- uh, jungle? Urgh, I'll just call it a glade, since it makes sense with my race.
I made sure to steer clear of all the brightly colored plants that I had no idea was just to be sure I wasn't getting myself killed by some venus flytrap or some other carnivorous plants. Sticking a 10/10 landing (in own narcissistic opinion) on a branch I took a break from flying to survey for potential prey, and potential predators.
Oh wait, didn't I have a skill point that I hadn't used?
-Skill shop!- I shouted mentally.
Skill shop Search > Skills Name Type Cost Requirement
Hmm, it appears that I have to search for skills myself. So what do I need right now?
Currently, I was a mosquito, a Glade mosquito to be exact. Which was a slightly larger-than-ordinary mosquito to Earth standards. I had only a measly one point of health, so probably any accident with me getting hit by pretty much anything would instantly spell death for me.
Combat skills at this point didn't provide me with anything worthwhile. Due my skill limit breaker I already knew that I would be able to evolve at some point or another. Meaning I most likely will grow bigger and more powerful, but only if I managed not to die before I became sufficiently strong.
The one thing I was severely in lack of, was information. I knew barely anything about this world and its inhabitants, and my place in it. So a skill that could provide me reconnaissance or information about pretty anything will be a massive boon, even though if I had to forego a potential defensive item.
-Skill shop, reconnaissance!-
Skill shop Search > Reconnaissance Skills Name Type Cost Requirement Scouting Information 5 INT - 9 Basic level of reconnaissance. Allows you to better scout and log the information of the user's surroundings. Mana buffering Information 15 INT - 30 / MAG - 25 / Mana 10 Buffers up mana within your mana source to release pulses of thin mana waves, to echo-locate the surroundings. Infrared vision Sensory 5 VIT - 1 / DEX - 1 Develops infrared vision to see heat signatures, allowing you to switch between infrared vision and normal vision.
This was very interesting, especially the mana buffering skill which seemed seriously useful. Being able to seemingly create a picture of your surroundings with mana which would be extremely handy, allowing oneself to avoid dangers and find opportunities. But it was so damn expensive, and the requirements were crazy high for the current me.
Hmm, what else is there? Oh! Isn't Appraise or Appraisal is like a stable for any game-like system? Let me try that.
-Skill shop, appraisal!-
Skill shop Search > Appraisal Skills Name Type Cost Requirement Appraisal Information 10 INT - 8 You can appraise a living target to create a profile on the creature. The amount of information is determined by the skill level of the user and the difference in power between the user and target.
Hell yes!
But again that was seriously a hefty price, and I only had one skill point. I would have to acquire a whole nine more levels to be able to purchase this skill. Now that I thought about it, Appraisal was kind of a cheat skill. Having information about your opponents by just activating a skill is quite a powerful advantage, and I doubted that this kind of skill was readily available to just anybody. It did that that the trait skill shop was a "unique" trait, so coming by skills might not be that easy for every one.
Advertisement
Hmm, I got it! Lemme try this instead.
-Skill shop, profiling!-
Skill shop Search > Profiling Skills Name Type Cost Requirement Mana scan Information 3 INT - 10 / MAG - 5 / Mana - 1 Uses mana to send out pulses, and slowly analyze a target's information. The amount and speed of the analysis is tied directly to the amount of mana spent, skill level, and the difference in power between the skill user and target. Blood profiling Information 1 INT - 8 Consumes the blood of biological creatures to create a profile on the target. The amount of information is directly tied to the amount of blood, skill level, and the difference in power between the skill user and target. (Can only be used on biological organisms) Archiving Information 4 INT - 10 By studying the target over a period of time will slowly form a profile on the target. The amount and speed of the profiling are directly tied to the amount of time spent, skill level, and the difference in power between the skill user and target.
There we go!
Something I could finally use. The blood profiling seemed perfect for me since I'm a mosquito. But the low cost of the skill and requirement was probably tied to the fact that I had to consume the blood of the intended target, which would undoubtedly be quite a bit harder and quarrelsome than what the other skills entailed.
But as a mosquito, that's no problem for me! And besides, I would very much like to know about the things I'm eating, to ensure my safety even more. But just to be sure, I went through a number of different key words to search for anything that might be better. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything in the range of a single point that would increase the chances of my survival.
But even though this skill might not provide me with much, any information was vital right now. Literally, anything could kill me, plus if I were to be able to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of whatever I'm eating, I would be able to see where I fit into this world at my current level of power.
And as such, I bought the skill.
-Blood Profiling!-
[Skill - Blood Profiling, has been added to the skill list!]
Now I simply had to find some prey, so I decided to stay on the branch for a while in an attempt to try and scout out my possibilities. About 20 minutes later, something happened that immediately caught my attention.
Some brushes right beneath me were rustling, so I immediately started to fervently observe the disturbance. Only 2 minutes later, an inconspicuous rabbit hopped out, other than this was no ordinary rabbit, it had a pointy horn protruding straight out from its forehead.
Is that a fucking unicorn rabbit? Huh, interesting creature...
After jumping out of the foliage it simply stopped and started chomping down on some particularly lush and moist patch of grass. Seeing this I immediately perked up.
This is my chance!
Taking to air from my impromptu resting point, I started slowly making my approach on the unsuspecting rabbit. Luckily it didn't notice me at all, or simply didn't give a rat's ass about me if it did.
Landing on the thin sheet of fur on it's back, I steadied myself to make sure no funny business went on while I indulge in my first meal of this world. Standing on the back of the rabbit, I could feel my instincts kick in and I knew immediately how I was supposed to approach this situation like a natural instinct.
Before I knew it, my needle appendage had penetrated the rabbit's skin, and a warm feeling started entering my body.
Oh, this warm feeling must be the rabbit's blood, it would seem I didn't have any tastebuds since I couldn't taste the blood. That was probably for the better now that I think about it.
I doubted I would enjoy tasting the blood of all the creatures I was going to be drinking off so it didn't bother me really. Suddenly an errant though managed to find its way into my head about mosquitoes.
I wasn't an expert on mosquito biology, but I think I heard about it being primarily just females that drank the blood of living creatures when pregnant, foregoing the safer alternatives of plant nectar for better nutrients. But seeing that I was neither pregnant or female, such things probably didn't relate to fantastical and magical beings, so I simply put the thought away and continued to drink away.
After 30 seconds I felt completely stuffed, so I retracted my needle appendage.
[Siphon]
[You've consumed the blood of a horned rabbit]
[2 points of EXP has been acquired and stats have been added]
[Blood profiling has created a profile of "Horned rabbit"]
Well, that seems good I guess.
Now I needed to get back to my resting spot on the branch to try and digest some of this blood. So checking that everything was in order, and noticing that my abdomen had swollen quite a bit, I began to take flight.
But this time around I could feel that there was a lot more strain put on my wings because of my increased weight of the blood weighing down my body. Sluggishly flying back to the branch, I landed unceremoniously and began immediately to rest my body.
Now to so see the rewards for my exploits.
-Status!-
Status
Information Attributes
Traits. Titles. and Skills -Name- "???" STR 0.12 ⇒ 0.15 Skills 4 -Race- Glade Mosquito VIT 0.09 ⇒ 0.15 Traits 3 -Sex- Male AGI 2 Titles 0 -Rank- K- DEX 1 Skillpoints 0 -Level- 1/3 INT 12 Resistances
Health 1/1 CHR 0.05 Physical Resistance 0.02 Stamina 1/1 WILL 11 Magical Resistance 0.00 Mana 0/0 MAG 0.02 Mental Resistance 5
It would seem my stats have probably increased in the direction of the horned rabbit's own stat allocation. It's not much but it's a start. Before I could do anything else, I suddenly started feeling dreary once again, and I slowly began to feel my mind slip into sleep.
The last thought that escaped just before darkness claimed me was;
-I better not wake up in another world again, you hear me!-
Advertisement
No Second Chances: The Beginning Of The End
Greed is a powerful feeling that has changed the world over thousands of years. Science, religion, and magic have built a new era and there are some who want to end it all, for the sake of a dying wor...
8 460Dragon Marksman
When a 21-year-old convicted murderer is given a second chance, just how will he put his legendary real-life skills to use in a new world? In a virtual world? How will he find a path of action in a place where magic is commonplace, and where bloodshed reigns? Yi Qiang, a professional sniper at the top of the mercenary world, completed his one and only life goal at 21. Trouble was, that goal got him into jail. However, he was given another chance to hone his skills and put them to use when a mysterious suited man called Mr. Yang approaches him with an offer. An offer of a gateway into worlds yet unknown and into a place chock-filled with the only thing that gave him life. A gateway into Ascend. Release Rate: One chapter every Thursday and Sunday, average length of at least 4 pages.
8 340King Fool
Fixated on stories of magic since a young child, King Lonson VI of Oates sets out on an expedition to find it. But....his undying obsession may lead to his death along with the downfall the Oates Kingdom.
8 122Tales of The World Eater
Habitable planets are not as common as was once thought and those that are, are taken. Humanity drifts in the void, desperately in search of a home. A lone solarin wakes only to burn in the atmosphere of an abundant super-earth. He assigns himself a single mission: to conquer and subdue the new world, with its flowing water and rushing air, in the name of his species. With the hope of his people fading, he will not let aliens stand in his way. But first, he must say alive. Fast-paced and action-driven. Genre-bending fantasy/sci-fi with light LitRPG elements. Aiming for 2 x 2000 words per week. Editing is ongoing. Chapters may be collapsed. Content warnings: will reach around GOT levels.
8 102Spoilers : The Abandonned Empress
○-> SPOILERS ◇-> ANALYSIS ▪ FIRST TL LONG, DETAILED SPOILERS ON :○ Background of the parents generation (Tia's Mother...)○ What REALLY happened during the first timeline from an objective pov○ Ruve's true feelings for Tia in 1st TL○ What happened to Ruve and Ji-Eun after Tia's execution in the first timeline ◇ Ji-Eun and some others things related○ Ruve's death in the first timeline▪ SECOND TL LONG, DETAILED SPOILERS ON : ○ Carsein and Allen's futures◇ The roots of Ruve's love for Tia○ Ji-Eun, Tia and Ruve's relationship in second TL○ Ruve's courtship○ General informations on what will happen soon in the manhwa○ Tia's dilemma ○ Tia's "death" and confession○ Jenna's sentence and Tia and Ji-Eun conversation○ Tia and Ruve being cute together (3parts)○ Carsein renonces Tia○ End of the novel and epilogue◇ Vita's will▪ SIDE STORIES LONG, DETAILED SPOILERS ON : ○ Allen POV (6parts)○ Ji-Eun POV (3parts)○ Carsein, Tia and Ji-Eun◇ Why we should root for Ruve○ Ruve's dream○ Tia and Ruve relationship after their wedding○ Wedding Night (2parts)○ Tia wakes up Ruve with a kiss and a common day for newlywed○ Ruve's letters○ Tia's pregnancy ○ Eight years after the wedding○ Ruve and Diana relationship and Adrian and Elina's birth○ Afternoon tea time with Adrian, Elina and Diana○ Last Chapter : Keirean○ Allen come back after 13 years○ Emperor Mirkan ○ All of Ruve's POV : • Jeremiah • Ji-Eun • Execution • Ji-Eun and him in the first timeline (3parts)..................... Those spoilers are all from novel updates.All I did is sumerising them.Also, don't take me wrong, I'm absolutely not trying to defend Ruve but I still wish to explain why things happened the way they did in this timeline.I just want to give the rationale for the actions of the first timeline.Don't forget to support the autor whenever you can !
8 176The Promise! (Tommyinnit x reader)
After a girl born in the country moves to UK she notices her next door neighbor is the one and only Tommyinnit. She falls in love with him and she thinks he likes her too but does he actually like her or does he just use her for views.I'm not sexualizing Tommy (just wanted to get that out!)I'm writing for fun and I just wanted to make someone smile! Also I do put some song lyrics in here so yea 😂Also this is my first writing so if you see a mistake you can correct it and I will try and fix it!For the people who didn't know Y/n means your name. L/n means last name. N/n means nick name. U/n means username. I'm going to be writing a lot but it takes a little bit of time cause I'm a little busy!! Thank you for clicking on here and if you do read I'm excited to see what you think of it :)
8 94