Thane was ninety feet up a mountainside when he came across a sleeping, coiled snake the size of an extra large pizza. Its head was wide and clubbed with sand-colored scales. A serrated white pattern streaked its back. Colors were a good indicator of elemental leanings, light magic in this case. Maybe even holy.

Thane focused on the snake’s head until a thin glowing red line surrounded its form. A translucent box appeared.

Desert Cobra (Level 1)

That was all the information the game system forked over because he lacked the Examine skill. No problem. He would naturally learn it sooner or later at this rate. On his Orcish character, he had attained Examine after focusing on twenty different NPCs. Naturally learning other skills, however, was either a hundred fold trickier or simply impossible.

But killing this Cobra was easily doable. It shouldn’t have any skills.

Thane climbed upward, finding footholds in the grooves. Rock cracked under his right foot. He sucked in air as crumbs landed on the snake, but it didn’t wake. He climbed with more care, testing grooves and notches beforehand, expending three times as much energy. He was struggling for breath by the time he hauled himself onto a ledge. A green bar, nearly empty, dimly pulsed at the bottom of his sight. 7/104 stamina. A little too close for comfort.

A little too embarrassing.

Cade and other ‘powerful people’ were watching this. Not in real time. There was a 3.5X time compression. Why 3.5X? So that two days on Earth was a week here. There were resets on every in-game Monday for many things—your usual time gating in MMOs to cater for the vast majority who couldn’t log in 24/7.

The green bar stopped pulsing and faded as Thane’s stamina recovered to 30/104. He elbowed onto his feet, and out of habit, he wiped sweat off his forehead, but his skin was dry. He couldn’t sweat. His body didn’t heat up during exertion. He wasn’t going to question how the biology added up; this was a world of magic.

He spotted a stone a bit bigger than his head. It was much heavier than it looked. He hauled it along the ledge into position, then gave it a final push.

Thump.

The Cobra was crushed, unmoving—a clean, quick kill.

A thin, empty bar appeared at the very bottom of his vision, spanning the width of his viewing field. A sliver was painted light-blue. A marginal 21 EXP, as expected. The game system had taken into account the fight’s difficulty. And kills which involve fall damage went through another layer of experience penalty calculations. There was no easy experience in this game.

Thane quickly climbed back down and considered storing the Cobra corpse in his inventory for later butchering; it was barely able to fit into a slot. But at a surprising fifty pounds, his stamina regeneration would be noticeably debuffed. With a reluctant mental command, he looted it. The world’s innate magic manifested as gray light that consumed the corpse. Items appeared in his inventory: Snakeskin, three Snake Meat Strips, and Snake Bones.

No blood.

His knuckles cracked. Annoyance clamped his stomach. Unusually viscous saliva swished under his tongue. He spat on the ground, and rock sizzled. His saliva—his Vampire venom—was acidic. Nice to know.

A slow, calming breath filled his lungs before he resumed climbing. Yards passed by the dozen, rock stubs breaking off in his brisk ascent. He didn’t spot another snake, but the characteristic glow of crystal light brimmed over a hilltop. Alarm tingled on his scalp. He quickened his pace, practically running up the mountainside in between minute breaks on ledges. He was halfway to the peak when he saw a Stone Hall two miles away.

A Human settlement. The architecture was classically medieval European. Amber crystals atop watchtowers brightly shone like supernova stars. Thane roughly estimated two dozen stone buildings and a wall in construction. They had a Livestock Pen, maybe camels. This settlement had to be weeks old… and they monopolized the only oasis in the area.

The only Gold Mine in the area, although tiny—a mass of boulders leaking gold light.

And judging by the neat building layout similar to one on a forum guide, this was a player-built town. Competent, high-level players at that. High-level Builders and Miners.

Thane knew a lost cause when he saw one. Time to leave.

But I can’t carry my coffin, he grimaced. They’ll stumble on it eventually, one hundred percent. At best, they’ll use it for a Graveyard… and then my spawnpoint will be inside their town.

The seeds of a plan took root. One day this tree was going to produce bloody fruit; maybe not tomorrow or next week or this season, but potentially one day. This was an opportunity that he couldn’t pass over, a secret back door. A single group portal cast by a single Mage could wipe them.

But what if they were to deconstruct the coffin for stone? Or simply destroy it? An empty coffin with no remains inside was somewhat suspicious. Thane could fill it with dirt, but even then, the coffin itself was suspicious. It was an ornate tomb with intricate engravings made of high-quality granite, definitely eyebrow-raising. They may even post about it on the forums, and then whole parties of max-level players would sweep the area out of curiosity or boredom.

His mental debate continued for untold minutes until movement at his right eye’s corner yanked his attention.

A small furry humanoid with a long snout, holding a yellow lamp, scurried out of a cave. Kobold—a monster race which uncommonly spawned in mountainous areas. Their behavior was rodent-like, easily frightened by anything larger than them. Only their Elites and advanced workers had high sentience ratings; the rest were like scripted robots that obeyed only the simplest of orders.

The Kobold knelt by a large bush, looked around, and picked herbs.

Thane strained to focus on it. After a minute, he was about to starting climbing down as a box appeared.

Kobold Worker (Level 1)

Then another box.

New Active Skill: Examine (Novice 0)

You are able to discern basic attributes of other characters with minor inaccuracies and general entity attributes at greater distance. 1 target maximum.

Just in time. He dismissed the prompt and again focused on the Kobold as it ran back to the cave.

Kobold Worker (Level 1)

Sentience: 23 (Low)

Health: 31

Stamina: 24

Mana: 8

A Mana Bolt through the neck could one-shot it. The image of its bleeding corpse filled Thane’s mind, its sweet, sweet blood gushing. He licked his lips. Venom pooled in his mouth. It was time for dinner. He hurried down the mountain, twice almost falling to death in his rabid need to quench burning thirst. He jumped the last ten yards, then haggardly sprinted, hardly feeling sharp stones scratching his soles.

Foot tapping, he waited behind a rock formation in the shape of an hourglass. He stared unblinking at their cave’s mouth, visualizing his prey. He smelled their scents wafting from the depths, both sweetness and shitty odor. Thankfully, his brain filtered out the odor and he was left with only sweetness not dissimilar to coconut or peaches. If blood was a hot fruity drink, then he wasn’t going to complain.

There, a lamp glowed. A Kobold’s beady eyes peeked from behind a stalagmite.

Kobold Worker (Level 1)

Sentience: 25 (Low)

Health: 30

Stamina: 21

Mana: 12

Different Worker. Longer fur. Its snout twitched thrice. It seemed to smell something off, its head jittering left and right. It shied away before poking out, looking at the bush. Its eyes gazed at ripe berries in hungry desire. It shuffled forward two steps, then suddenly jumped behind a rock. After five seconds, its snout reemerged, sniffing. It gazed at the berries some more.

Thane’s eyes narrowed. Just hurry up, dammit.

The Kobold seemingly heard his thoughts, ducked out of view. Then glanced at the berries. Suddenly it ran for the bush.

Thane gulped an ounce from his flask. The blood was icy and stale, slightly bitter, tasted rancid and sour despite the flask’s enchantment. He shivered as his mana bar filled by ten percent and immediately began dwindling. He aimed his staff. Mana surged from his stomach, flowed down his arms.

A bluish-gray arrowhead pierced the Kobold through the chest. Blood sprayed. It screeched in pain, dropped its sack.

Thane was already running. He leaped, tackled, covered its mouth. His fangs extended, sank into its jugular, pumped venom into its soft flesh. A pleasure unlike any other blossomed in his skull as hot blood flooded into his mouth, smooth and sweet and runny like boiled coconut syrup. He sucked mouthfuls from its artery while its furry hide writhed in dying agony. Its struggles ceased before he was sated. He squeezed remaining blood from its corpse, hugging in a death grip until he sucked it dry.

What a delicious drink! The best he had in all his life!

He rolled onto his back. Blood sloshed in his stomach. Every inch of him was warm and fuzzy. His fingertips tingled in the influx of mana. If only the other players knew what they were missing out on—pure bliss. This was the life. The eternal virtual life till the end of time.

Truly heaven.

And a big chunk of his experience bar was filled. 127/1000 EXP.

He looked at the Kobold’s corpse. It was dissolving in his venom. Hmm, doesn’t look like it’s going to turn into a Vampire. Must need blood magic. Or maybe Kobolds can’t catch Vampirism like how most animals can’t catch FORTIS-33.

A gust of wind shook him out of his stupor. He sprang to his feet and grabbed the Kobold’s Mana Lamp. The glass was cracked, but the candle inside still worked, burning crimson in his mana. He shone light down their cave and saw nothing but stalagmites. Eventually, if left unchecked, they would become a massive pain in the ass. They had spawned here because of that Human settlement’s influence on this area, and the game system would have either placed these Kobolds near an existing Gold Mine or spawned one for them.

Come to think of it, a subterranean base was perfect for a sleepless, sun-hating Vampire. With a feral grin, he stepped inside, followed their scents.