I started to panic. I didn't know how I had gotten like this, or whether it was curable. I stared at my reflection, terrified of the bright yellow eyes and claw-like hands that belonged to me.

Fear and panic continuously built up within me, as I watched my figure distort more and more, turning into some nightmarish beast.

A rustling nearby brought me back to reality. I whirled around to face whatever had made the noise, only to see a rabbit, dashing away scared. Although I was relieved that it had just been a rabbit, the animal had reminded me of my incredible hunger, and there was no way that I could go into the town looking like this. I turned back to the stream, plunging my face into it and drinking my fill.

With my thirst quenched, I walked tiredly into the woods. I searched for half an hour, the painful gnawing at my stomach growing worse by the minute. Once again I heard a rustle. Facing the noise, fully expecting to find another rabbit, I came face to face with an enormous, black wolf.

I prepared to turn and run, but stopped as I realized that there was no way I could outrun this thing. Plus, I needed food, and I needed it fast. I didn’t have much time to formulate a plan, as the wolf was quickly sizing me up. The only skill I had any familiarity with was Blessing of the Outer Gods, and there was no way I was suffering from that backlash again.

Well, I guess it’s time to try out that blood stuff.

Still not willing to use my own blood in an explosion, I activated Blood Needle.

There was a sharp pain in my right hand, and as I looked down I saw that my fingertips had been ripped open and there was blood coming out of them.

The blood from each fingertip flowed like ribbons into the air, binding themselves together into a needle above my hand. The crimson needle floated above my hand, about a foot long and incredibly sharp looking.

I made a flicking motion with my hand and the needle flew at the wolf at a nearly imperceivable speed. It hit the wolf squarely in the chest, piercing completely through it. I dropped to the ground, the blood loss from my hand taking its toll on me.

At least I won.

Smiling to myself at the thought of wolf meat, I propped myself up on my knees.

As I was about to make my way over to the wolf, a black shadow ferociously lunged at me, silver claws gleaming in the moonlight. Without enough time to activate a skill, all I could do was strike out with my deformed hands.

The wolf's claw pierced my stomach as my hand stabbed into the side of its neck. The giant wolf collapsed on top of me, both of our hands buried within the other.

I could hear the faint and ragged breathing of the wolf as I removed my fingers from its neck and took the claw out of my stomach.

As blood seeped from both of our wounds, the wolf let out its final breath. Notifications popped up once again.

You have slain Abyssal Hound (lvl. 9), Gained 342 Blood Essence.

Fulfilled Blood Essence requirements. You are now level 1.

Fulfilled Blood Essence requirements. You are now level 2.

Fulfilled Blood Essence requirements. You are now level 3.

You have been exposed to Blood Essence and gained your first level. Gained access to Status. You will gain 80 randomly distributed points across your attributes. Attributes available are as follows: Vigor (Increase total amount of Health), Endurance (Increase total amount of Stamina and Stamina Regeneration speed), Wisdom (Increase total amount of Mana and Mana Regeneration speed), Vitality (Increase Health regeneration speed and resistance to status effects), Strength (Increase physical power), Intelligence (Increase mana power), Agility (Increase speed and reaction time), Constitution (Increase bodily defense and stability).

Randomly distributing stats…

Status unlocked.

Error: Due to certain circumstances, Strength points have been relocated to Intelligence, and Endurance points have been relocated to Wisdom.

Wade Sanguis

Level 3

Class: Accursed

Subclasses: None

Attributes:

Vigor - 11

Endurance - Unavailable

Wisdom - 25

Vitality - 10

Strength - Unavailable

Intelligence - 23

Agility - 11

Constitution - 9

Skills:

Madness (lvl 1), Comprehension (lvl 1), Tear in Reality (lvl 1), Blessing of the Outer Gods (lvl 1), Arcane Strength (lvl 1)

Bloodarts:

Blood of the God (2/7) - Blood Explosion (lvl 1), Blood Needle (lvl 1)

You have gained access to Status, and are now able to acquire Blood Essence and Experience. Obtain Blood essence from fallen enemies and use it to further empower yourself. With every level gain 1 point in Vigor, Endurance, and Wisdom, as well as 2 points which you may freely distribute. Experience is a term used to describe the improvement of skills. Gain skill levels through repetition and mastery over the skill. Speed of skill growth may increase or decrease under certain circumstances and environments.

Although a ton of information had just been shared with me, I didn’t really feel like trying to process it all at the moment. I had lost so much blood, from the Blood Needle as well as the wolf stabbing me in the stomach, that I could barely move a finger, much less the wolf over twice my size.

Stuck under the wolf, there was nothing that I could do. And as darkness crept around the edges of my vision, I gave into the sweet temptation of sleep.

I woke up to the sound of birds and the sun on my face. The heavy weight of the wolf still pressed down on me, making it difficult to breathe. My body still hurt all over, but compared to previously, I felt a lot better.

It felt as if wounds were healing, not rapidly, but I could feel that my wound had closed partially and seemed to be getting better. Still unable to do anything, I laid there, staring up at the sky above me.

After a time, I decided to look over the notifications I had gotten recently.

All of the info about Blood Essence and Experience seemed pretty straightforward. Although, the part about increased or decreased skill growth speed was pretty vague.

I think I understood most of the stuff about Skills and Classes as well. Any questions I had weren’t extremely pressing at the moment anyway, and could wait for later.

On to the biggest issue.

I had played my fair share of games with Bryan, and no small amount of MMO’s. With so many different Attributes to choose from, I knew I had to plan out what kind of build I was going to be.

There was no way that I couldn’t base it on magic, considering the stats I had as well as my skills. But, as I thought back to Blessing of the Outer Gods, I remembered going hand to hand with that man. As well that instinctual feeling I had, that with the proper weapon and power, Tear in Reality could become a powerful and useful skill.

I came to a conclusion. I would use a combination of magic and melee; Specializing in speed, damage output, and most importantly mana. Constitution and Vitality would be secondary, with Vitaly the more important of the two.

Once I had gotten my thoughts straight, and finished making the outlines of my build, I decided that it was time to free myself from underneath this wolf.

Getting my arms into a position in which they would be able to push upwards, I took a deep breath and readied myself. Exerting all of my strength into a push, I shoved the wolf upwards and to the left, rolling to the right to free myself. Lifting myself up off the ground, I turned and looked at the large corpse of the beast.

I smiled and turned towards the direction in which I thought that I had come.

After trudging through the woods for hours, and getting lost multiple times, I finally heard the familiar sound of running water.

I walked towards the noise and came across the same stream that I had before. Looking at my reflection, I was flooded with relief. My nightmarish state had gone away, and I now looked relatively like I used to, aside from being abnormally pale and sickly looking.

I assumed that it was due to my loss of blood and that it would heal soon. I looked up towards the edge of the woods, where the town was located, and at last, made my way towards it.

As I stepped out of the forest I whispered audibly to myself, “God I hope they have somewhere to rest.”