Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. –George Addair

I want people to fear me, thereby making the point moot. If I am not at least a little afraid of myself, how is anyone else supposed to be?

I descended slowly, sliding my hands and feet forwards with the torch extended as far forwards as possible. I looked back for a second and caught Klaudias slightly illuminated face, showing heaps of uncertainty.

I'll be honest, I was uncertain too. I was venturing into unknown territory with what would certainly be a boss type monster at an unidentified level. And while I was confident in the power of my stats and the shotgun I held, I couldn't help but hold a fear of the unknown.

It was exhilarating.

Skill learnt: Harnessed Reaction (B)

Due to the timing and name, it was a skill that I had to check out immediately. I made sure to keep some attention focused on the void that stretched in front of me so that I wouldn't be surprised.

Harnessed reaction (skill):

Instead of needlessly losing energy due to instinctual reactions, you can better use adrenaline.

Randomised bonuses will be applied when certain status effects are applied.

Cost: none

I almost laughed at how vague the skill sounded but appreciated the bonus. If I was surprised by an enemy, this might give me the edge I need to prevent an instant death.

After what felt like an eternity of silently shuffling down the tunnel (but what was likely only a few silent minutes), I noticed it had levelled out. While it was at maybe 45° before, it was flatter now, and I no longer needed to use my free hand as an emergency brake.

But despite the slight change in footing, I was still massively bored.

I activated Spectral Sight and Vitalis Vision periodically letting the colour changes entertain me even for a little while. But neither had the range to give me any hints about what was up ahead.

Trackers Sense was no help either as it merely told me that dozens of lizards had walked this path over the last few hours.

I sighed and cleared my throat, eager to do anything other than walk in utter silence. But doing anything with my mouth had reminded me of my hunger and my stomach growled in protest.

I heard a slight giggle behind me and spun around quickly causing the torch to flicker worryingly.

Klaudia jumped at my sudden movement, but her surprised look quickly fell back to a smile when she saw the slight smile on my own face.

"Why don't you eat anything?"

I noticed her voice echoing loudly down the tunnel. I hadn't exactly been expecting to use a huge amount of stealth from here on, but it was impossible now. I kept on walking, talking ahead of me but addressing her.

"Because we don't have any more food. I gave you the last of it."

"What? Why?"

"It was vegan food. If we find meat, I won't make you eat it. I don't want to force you to eat something you don't want to."

There was another long period of silence broken only by the soft padding of our shoes.

"Thanks."

It was a simple show of appreciation, but it was all I needed to know I had done the right thing. It wasn't like I was trying to protect and provide for her, but it was sort of happening. It was a habit I wanted to break as soon as possible. I might be able to disguise myself as a good person by doing good deeds, but when people needed me to be better than them when I was needed the most, I would undoubtedly let them down.

We finally reached the end of the tunnel when the ground was completely flat.

The tunnel was still vaguely circular but ran completely parallel to the surface. Ahead, I could just see that the tunnel opened up into a cavern. The torch wasn't bright enough to see any further than just past the entrance, so while in knew it was there, I knew nothing about it.

Quick and separate flashes of Spectral Sight and Vitalis Vision showed there was no life close to us, and I listened as hard as I could to no avail. I could only hear the soft but slightly rushed breathing of myself and the throbbing of blood in my ears.

"Shall we continue, dear?"

I looked back and Klaudia shot me a domineering smile.

At least she got it was a joke, despite not appreciating it.

My shoulders shook slightly with silent laughter, and I pushed forwards into the far more open area where I would be more vulnerable. Physically, that is.

It was strangely warm in the open cavern, and I felt no passage of air whatsoever. I looked up once I had left the tunnel, but the ceiling of the open area was far too high for the torch light to reach.

I looked to my left and right to a similar effect. This room was huge, but as far as I could tell, completely empty.

The only hint I got to there being any animals even close to us was the slight smell of hot meat. It was vague, but I could immediately identify it. That nearly shocked me. I had become so engrossed in the game to notice how used I had become to the smell of death. The only question I had remaining for myself was: How will I react to killing a person?

Of course, I wasn't likely to go out of my way to kill someone. I generally disliked people, but I could always get to know someone fairly easily. I didn't want to explicitly murder someone. Unless they gave me incentive enough, the people around me at any time would be safe. From me, at least.

I took in a deep breath, hoping that focusing on the smell would trigger something in Trackers Sense to give me an idea of where the smell was coming from.

I activated trackers sense and could immediately see a bright green sheen overlaid my sight. It was like I was watching the world through a thin silk sheet laid over my eyes. I could even see slight ripples above me as the warmer air displaced the colder and it dragged the scent into varying degrees of concentration.

Trackers sense has levelled up. Trackers sense is now level 2.

I looked around in a circle and could see the scent was becoming more concentrated ahead of me, slightly to the left.

"This way."

I started walking and regretted not feeling Klaudia why I knew where to go, as she immediately started questioning me.

"Why that way? How do you know where you're going?"

I stopped in my tracks and she almost walked into me, backpedalling at the last second.

I spun around dragging the flame fast enough to cause it to threateningly flicker. I simple tapped my nose, and then pointed in the vague direction I wanted to go.

"I can smell it. Trackers Sense. It affects more than just my ability to see tracks. Just, please trust my ability to track. It's pretty much my occupation right now to do just this."

"Fine. But when we start exploring, I'm in charge."

I turned back and started walking towards the more concentrated scented area.

"Who says I'm going to be exploring with you? You said you're only sticking with me out of interest. I might go on a slaughter spree. Or go collect human souls."

I put a smirk in my voice at the last suggestion to give her the impression I was joking. But surprisingly, she was silent. I wanted to turn back and get an idea of what she was thinking, but I didn't dare. If she was angry, I would only make it worse.

There was every chance she would turn back on her own, leaving me to fight alone. The idea was unnapealing to me. Most likely due to the decreased chance of survival. But I imagined what problem she might have with being alone.

Loneliness?

I sighed inwardly at myself. I couldn't believe that I had said such a stupid thing. Of course, she would be lonely. As far as she knew, I was the only person she even remotely cared about that was alive. It might not have been a problem for me, but I knew most people would dread the possibility of being truly alone while surrounded by strangers.

"I'm... I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I'll explore with you for a bit if you like."

Klaudia remained silent behind me for a few more seconds, but I sensed I had repaired a little of the damage.

I suddenly felt contact with my free hand, and my arm tensed readying for action before I realised it was Klaudia. She had reached forwards to take my hand and held on tightly.

"Thankyou. I would like that."

I smiled at the reluctance in her words and immediately reclassified her according to my list of waifu stereotypes.

I frowned and shook my head a little. I had to break myself from the weaboo habits that my recently deceased friends had installed in me.

For one, anime was likely already an outdated media as I suspected electricity was out in most places. And for another, no-one would be making more anime for a long, long time. Manga would be all that remains alongside the tonnes of brightly coloured and sexually themed merchandise.

But back to the matter at hand, I had to address the hand in my own.

"I promise," I said and lightly tousled her hair with my hand. The torch that had previously been there, being held in my mouth as soon as I had given her my promise.

I retrieved the torch from my mouth and continued following the direction I could see with Hunters Sense.

I opened my mouth more than once with the intention of breaking the silence, but I held back when I activated Social Chameleon. Something told me this wasn't the silence that was ment to be broken. It was comfortable, not awkward.

The feature also caused me to think more about the girl I was in contact with, needlessly so. It was distracting.

I deactivated it, and my mind returned to the steel edge dedicated to eradicating a certain nest. It was easier like this. Life was complicated to the point of exhaustion if I had to consider everyone as individuals.

We continued as a crude parody of a couple. One of us emotionally needy and the other emotionally unavailable.

A terrible first date. Subterranian slaying. Love it.

I almost laughed as my train of thought bordered on the ridiculous again, but I ignored it and focused on my surroundings more.

Following the path to the source of the smell, we had passed through a series of large tunnels, massive semi-circles as opposed the circular one we had first passed through.

We had been walking for about fifteen minutes and I wondered where all the lizards were. We hadn't encountered any, or even come close to sensing any.

Trackers sense told me that the floor was not littered with tracks but covered in them, but they were far too numerous for me to discern one from the next. They were impossible to follow.

The smell, at least, was a more promising lead. It was thicker now, and as the air grew hotter, more unbearable. The increase in temperature hinted at our proximity to a large number of life forms. The smell? Their food.

The number of tracks concerned me slightly. There must have been hundreds of lizards here at some point. And for all I knew, they were waiting just up ahead outside of my detection range.

But no attack came, and my unease slowly dissipated, leaving only a vague underlying nervousness.

The torch in my hand began to flicker and I noticed the circle of light surrounding us was far smaller than it had been earlier. I began to panic and took my hand from Klaudias, holding the torch in both hands as still as I could.

But it wasn't the motion that had caused the issue. It was just out of fuel. There was only a handful of blackened remnants of cloth clinging to a slightly burning ember.

I threw the torch to the ground in frustration as the final piece of glowing fuel fell from the metal screws holding it together.

Sparks flew and in seconds, the only light source was gone.

I heard Klaudias panicked breath get faster and louder.

"Calm down. Let your eyes adjust to the dark. Chances are, we're going to get a skill soon enough."

I was instantly conscious of the way my voice was echoing in the massive cave we were in. I activated Spectral Vision, seeing a very human soul close to me. One with a light green streak that crossed with a dark blue one. I was curious at what these meant, so I used a skill I had wanted to use since I bought it.

Soul Read.

Greater Human Soul:

Essence Capacity: 160

Reason: To Grow

Reason: To Discover

The information looked confusing initially, but as I thought about it, I could piece it together.

She had accrued two soul skills, reasons for her own personal growth. From what Nephthys had told me, and what I had seen already, a reason under the soul skills tab wasn't really a skill. It was mostly just a listing of the user's desires. Their desires fuel their growth, so what they desire becomes their reason.

In this case, Klaudia wanted to grow and discover. I was curious about what her third reason might be, and even more so about what she would choose.

I wanted to check what my one earnt reason was. I couldn't quite remember what my train of thought was when I earnt it. Of course, I got one from creating my party, but that didn't really fit into the whole desire thing I had laid out.

Discarding my curiosity, for now, I switched my visual skill to Vitalis Vision. Immediately, I could make out a red silhouette that was Klaudia. She was still slowly swinging her arms around her, trying to make out any sort of motion in front of her eyes.

I reached out with my own arm and stopped for a moment to examine my own body under the effects of the skill. Though I could make out my fingers in fair detail, there was no depth perception.

I placed my hand gently on Klaudias shoulder and felt her first stiffen then relax as she cycled through surprise and relief.

"Anything yet?"

"No."

There came a flat and slightly pissed off reply.

"Try to imagine that you can see. Skills seem to be learnt mostly due to mental effort."

It was a guess, but it was an option nonetheless. A night vision skill would be immensely useful, and the earlier we learnt it, the better. So I pretended. I pretended I could see for miles around me, that I could make out the ceiling far above me made of rocky outcrops and stalagtites.

Yet, nothing.

I heard a shuffle behind me, further away than either of us could have been.

"Shit. Ok. Plan B."

I turned on Vitalis Vision and Spectral Sight at the same time, disregarding my instinct to not do so. While I could instantly see the red silhouette containing the grey based soul that made up Klaudia, my eyes also erupted into pain.

Indescribable burning pain. I fell to my knees unable to do anything other than scream into the darkness.

You are rendered immobile by pain. The status effect Immobilized has been applied.

+3 speed while the effect is active.

I couldn't focus on the message. I couldn't even think enough to deactivate either of the skills. All I wanted was for the pain to stop.

A pressure built higher and higher. In my brain and I pressed my hands to my closed eyes. My vision was red, detecting the life in my eyelids. But grey shapes emerged past the red blanket.

I opened my eyes past tears and saw grey souls approaching, low to the ground. As they got close enough, the bodies of the dozen approaching lizards became silhouetted in red. I finally had an answer to the question regarding range, but I couldn't even begin to comprehend that.

I fell onto all fours, vaguely registering that Klaudia was trying to pick me up.

To run?

It didn't matter. I had made a fatal mistake and couldn't fight back.

Wetness flowed over my hands, soaking them in the tears or blood that fell from my contorted face.

And all at once, the pain disappeared. Strength flowed back into my legs and the immobilising message was replaced by one with a much better-sounding result.

The skills Vitalis Vision (B) and Spectral Sight (A) have combined through a pained struggle to create the skill Life Seeker (U).

A feature has been applied to your eyes: Vitality Infused Sight (B)

I stood in one fluid motion, making a quick analysis of the situation and an even quicker plan.

I was fairly low on stamina from my brief pain trip, but my health and mana were full.

I activated Mana Infuson on my left hand, a glowing blue circle surrounding my fist. It slightly illuminated the area to the point that I could see the eyes of the lizards that were hesitating not two meters away from me. They must have expected an easy prey from my obvious pain. I could tell their limited capacity for thought would have been consumed with questions.

But I wouldn't give them time to figure it out.

I pulled my shotgun from storage, the temporary white magic circle providing enough light that I could see the deep red blood that covered my hands. I could only imagine the state of my face, let alone my eyes. It would be a problem for the surface.

"Cover your ears."

With the one command, I raised the shotgun straight above my head and fired into the air.

The flash of light completely filled the massive cavern we were in, and I immediately identified the twelve lizards that had crept up on us. They were all of the long and fast variety. All were significantly larger than the ones I had encountered before, but that still meant they were fairly weak.

I hesitated to activate my new skill as I knew it would drain my remaining stamina far faster than I would have liked. I could get by though. The new feature essentially provided a slightly more permanent version of vitalis vision, albeit one with slightly different effects.

I couldn't outright see the red silhouettes of living matter anymore, but I could very easily sense the presence and rough shape of living creatures within my field of view it was as if I was familiar enough with their body and limb placements that I could recognise what they were and what they were doing.

I fired my last shot into the densest area of flesh and a cloud of damage notifications flew above the temporarily lit dust cloud.

I saw several of the lizards knocked back by the impact, and even more take a few cautionary steps back. These seemed smarter than the ones on the surface too, so I took advantage of the temporary stalemate to restock.

"Klaudia?"

"Yeah?"

I got a nervous reply, but it was a reply at least.

"I need a second to reload. As soon as they realise, they'll attack. Keep your knives ready. If you hear them get close, long and strong swings. Ok?"

Klaudia took a deep shaky breath, but I heard her draw both her weapons.

"Ok."

"Good. Resupply."

First resupply requested.

Weapon type: 6-ring shotgun

Default ammo type: Buckshot (5 copper)

Alternate available ammo types:

• Flechette (15 copper)

• Slug (50 copper)

• Birdshot (1 silver)

Confirm ammo type.

I thought for less than a second about my answer. Video games had prepared me for the relative pros and cons of shotgun ammo types. And right now, I needed ammo with moderate crowd control and piercing.

"Flechette."

Flechette ammo selected as new default.

15 copper coins will be removed from personal storage or persons holding whenever resupply is requested.

A ball of white particles formed above my left hand which spread out into a rough ring and perfectly formed a thick metal ring with six shotgun shells protruding from it in the same direction. It fell Into my open hand, and I marvelled at the convenience of the skill and it's resulting ammo. It resembled a massive version of the cap-gun ammo I had played with as a young child, but it wasn't a time to reminisce.

I heard a slash connect and a lizard hiss with pain, quickly followed by the scrape of claws on stone and a pained cry from Klaudia.

I felt around the back of the handle of the shotgun blindly for a second before finding the lever and pushing it as hard as I could. I felt the front half of the shotgun fall forwards and the six empty shells that previously inhabited the barrels were ejected with an audible pop.

I pushed the ring into the downwards facing barrels and after a little trial and improvement, managed to get all the shells to fit at once. The metal ring that had connected them all immediately dissolved in the same white particles it had arrived in, and with a flick of my wrist, I snapped the gun shut.

I activated Social Chameleon with a savage grin on my face and made myself an easy prey for the lizards. At once, they sensed the false helplessness I was portraying and seven uninjured lizards came at me at once.

I fired into the faces of the lizards as they came close, dealing as much damage as possible at the last possible second.

Monster killed:

Damage Dealt: 424

Exp earnt: 476

Four more similar notifications appeared as I carried out the same tactic when each ran at me. The tactic failed when the fifth lizard twisted mid-leap and the shot only scraped along its side.

-37hp

-41hp

Decay (0:47)

-20hp

Almost 100 damage had been dealt, and while the lizard had lost most of its front right leg, it was still a danger. A danger that was behind me. I turned to finish it off but hesitated when the other two lizards came ever closer.

I spun so that I had my still mana infused fist aimed at the injured lizard, and the shotgun pointed at the two uninjured ones. I fired towards the two, but they jumped in opposite directions, only taking about 20 damage each.

Shit. Empty.

The manoeuvre showed they were learning, and had apparently learnt that the shotgun was their greatest threat. I hoped that they wouldn't be able to figure out it was empty and we reached a careful stalemate despite me being surrounded.

The uninjured lizard made the first mistake by limping quickly for my legs, and I used Mana Infusion on my left leg, spinning 180° and kicking it in its softer underside.

I had to apply a high amount of strength to my leg to make sure the lizard took as much damage as I could give.

[ALL OUT]

-68hp

It took a massive amount of damage, and flew further into the darkness, further than my eyes could see. I knew it was still taking damage from the decay effect, but even when I hear it land, it still didn't die.

Tough bugger.

My lapse in concentration was the ideal situation for my other two assailants. They attacked as one, aiming for my legs and torso as they leapt.

Both my hand and foot were still infused, so I kicked the lower lizard away with my heel without much issue and grabbed the higher one by the neck with my significantly stronger hand.

It was still a bit too heavy to hold for an extended period of time, so I strained my muscles and spun in a complete circle before throwing the lizard as far away as I could.

Mana infusion has levelled up. Mana infusion is now level 2.

Before it landed, I got a kill notification, and I realised the one I had launched with my first kick must have succumbed to the decay.

Monster killed:

Damage dealt: 305

Exp earnt: 364

While my two biggest threats were not close enough to do any harm, I attempted to get more ammo.

"Resupply."

Resupply requested. (Flechette rounds)

-15 copper coins.

Exactly like before, white particles formed the shell ring out of nothing, and I carried out another reload. This time, I tried to use the light of the mana circle and managed to put the rounds in much easier.

I snapped the gun shut again and fired straight into the second lizard that I had kicked. It had been dazed lightly because I managed to kick it directly in the forehead.

Its head disappeared in a cloud of blood and dust. And I checked off the sixth lizard from my kill list.

The lizard I had thrown came running at me from the darkness, but I reacted fast enough to easily turn it to little more than a gory mess with another shot.

I had four shells still in the barrels and another five lizards to kill, but I was out of breath and just wanted a break.

I shifted my social personality to an overbearing power and the rapidly recovering lizards all froze in fear. It was good that they were injured, they recognised me as someone who could cause a high amount of pain. A debuff appeared above all their heads, the white background of the boxes a stark difference to the black cave. They were all Terrified. I imagined it was a debuff that crippled any motivation

I took a few steps towards Klaudia who was crouched low to the ground with her knives outstretched. Towards me. I realised what I was doing. Sure enough, she had the same debuff.

"Calm down. It's just me. The lizards aren't a threat right now. I'm using an oppressive aura."

"Sam, you're scaring me. I know it's you, but... I can't help it."

I took a moment to try and repair the damage. If I changed the effect of Social Chameleon, then the lizards would attack again. But if I kept it on, Klaudia would begin to fear me.

All I needed to do was target specific entities. Not that it was a particularly easy thing to do. The skill/feature acted like a massive aura to everyone. I could freely change the effects of the aura, but only in ways that someone could interpret me. If they saw me or even noticed me, all I could do was change how they saw me.

It was easy to appear like a functioning human or an insignificant shadow. But to apply a direction to the effect was something I couldn't begin to fathom. I might need to invest in some aura training before I could do that.

I had wanted Klaudia to finish the lizards to earn her some valuable xp, but if I couldn't get her to turn her back on me and target another enemy, there was only one thing I could do before we advanced as a team.

"Throw me a knife. I'll finish them and remove the aura."

Wordlessly, I heard her throw the smaller, better-balanced knife at me. I had expected the throw to have a harmful effect but had sorely underestimated the speed and accuracy that she threw it with.

I put up a hand to where I guessed the knife was going with the aim of catching it, but it instead stabbed deep into my abdomen up to the hilt.

-19hp

"Agh!"

Instantly, my breath left me and I panicked as the rising burning pain hit me.

My control over the skill flickered and as the effects decreased Klaudia realised what her body had instinctually done. I heard growing hisses and strained my mind, ensuring that everyone remained at my hypothetical mercy.

She took a few running steps towards me in panic before she stopped again, her mind gripped with fear. I groaned at the pain and at how spectacularly I had fucked this up.

I pulled the dagger out slowly, glad that it was only the small one. As soon as the knife was past the skin, I began bleeding profusely.

Bleeding (0:38)

Even without my health slowly regenerating, this kind of damage wasn't fatal. Annoying, but not fatal. And still really, really painful.

"Sam. I'm... I'm so sorry."

"No."

I spoke through gritted teeth, fighting the urge to release the skill and receive help. I was painfully aware that the five initially injured lizards were still alive and glaring at me despite being almost motionless.

"It's my fault. I shouldn't be using this skill with another person around. Good throw by the way."

I spoke with a slight smile at the end. The quality of the throw had actually been surprisingly good. It gave me more confidence to see she could defend herself like that.

"Thanks. It's more to do with the knife itself though. It did most of the work. But these weapons are for an archer to use. Or a ranger I think they're called. I think it would be good for me to get a bow. They don't always kill right?"

Klaudia was rambling in an effort to control her fear and I did my best to ignore the pain and join in with her.

"I don't think so, but at least we know what class for you to get. How does Ranger sound?"

"As long as I don't have to kill and just defend myself."

I stood straighter and focused on the single life in front of me. She didn't deserve to be down here with me. She just wanted the freedom that this world could provide, and I had dragged her down into this cave for no reason other than my own curiosity, chasing after a soul.

She deserved a better companion than me. Someone that could help and hold her. I couldn't be that person all the time.

I shut my eyes and tried to reach out for her with my mind, pretending to see myself from her point of view, shifting the image, changing the opinion.

Social Chameleon has levelled up. Social Chameleon is now level 3.

I pushed my own, new image of me onto her. The human version of me. All the while keeping the full force of fear plastered on the lizards.

She gasped in fear as she saw me, or I guess, noticed me in a new light.

"Sam. I'm not... The fear. The lizards!"

"It's fine. I'm controlling the aura now. They still can't attack us."

Truth be told, it was a massive effort to keep this up. It wasn't an effort that exhausted any of my bars or even my soul energy, but I still felt like I was straining to pull this off.

"Thanks for the knife by the way. I'm just going to finish the lizards over here. And... do something gross. Just sit there for a minute and call for me if you hear something from another direction."

I heard Klaudia sit on the stone floor, and from her pose saw she was still holding her long knife out.

"Gross like what?"

I didn't exactly want to tell her I was planning on cutting a strip of meat from a still living lizard to eat it raw. But there was little else I could do that wouldn't cause a problem.

"I'm going to use my monster Carver skill. Gross as in I'm going to soon be covered in blood that isn't my own. Again."

Klaudia laughed for a second. But she might also have been gagging. I didn't stick around to find out and quickly slit the throats of all the remaining lizards, harvesting their souls as I did so.

They were all basic souls, but I made sure to collect the eleven that were within the range of Life Seeker earning a very nice 45 essence exactly.

Returning to the five most intact lizards, I chose the one that was still more than 50% untouched by the decay effect and focusing on its rapidly fading heat, partially skinned it and tore out a bunch of its ribs with my bare hands.

I tore out half of its guts at the same time by accident and a slight clink reminded me that coins often spawned in the dead monsters. I didn't care about that though.

I just scraped off the skin and guts from my rack of uncooked ribs and tried to think of an instant way to cook them. I had almost no control over mana and no other heat source.

I sighed, disappointed in the unsatisfactory way my first ever hunted meal would turn out.

But another growl from my stomach reminded me of the situation I was in.

So I at the entire rack, forcing myself to choke down the tough, stringy, cold meat. I felt sick after finishing it, but I was sure it was just disgust rather than an actual sickness. I would have received a status effect if that was the case. At least I was full.

I tried to wash the taste out of my mouth with water, but the coppery flavour of blood remained.

"Sam!"

I immediately looked over to where Klaudia was sitting.

"What? What did you hear?"

There was a pause and I saw Klaudia stand up with her back to me. She turned and then recoiled. As did I. Her eyes were glowing emerald green.

"Oh... nothing. I was just going to say... um... I got a night vision skill."

So it is possible. I just needed more time.

"That's great! What can you see?"

Klaudia shuddered as she looked me over and I realised all at once why she was acting like this.

"I can see something I wish I hadn't. What were you even doing?"

I would have felt hurt at this point if it were possible, but that didn't mean I couldn't act that way.

"I had to eat something. Anything. I gave you the proper food. This is all I had available. I'm sorry you had to see it. This is... not a high point for me."

"It's ok. Just clean yourself off a bit. You look like a feeding lion."

I pulled off my tattered blazer, emptied the pockets into my personal storage alongside the shotgun. I doused it in water, wiping my face and arms down, removing the stickiness of half-dried blood. I was worried I would accidentally use a bottle of vampire blood, but the blood was obviously highlighted when I looked with Life Seeker. That turned my suspicion into a confirmation. The stuff was still living.

I was more curious about the night vision skill though.

"So you can see colour?"

"No. But I can tell shades apart really easily."

"Can you see the walls? The ceiling?"

"I can't see the ceiling, but the range on this skill is pretty far. I can see a wall ahead of us buy that's it."

"Cool. Shall we continue then?"

She nodded and I activated Trackers Sense again. The scent that I was following before was thrown off by the corpses surrounding me so I deactivated it, and started walking in the direction we were before. Without a second thought, I discarded the soaked and bloodied cloth that had once been a blazer.

Klaudia caught up to me and took my hand again. I waved her knife in front of her eyes as we walked and she wordlessly took it and slid it fluidly into its holster. Her ease at handling the weapons unnerved me slightly. Yes, I was already becoming proficient in using the ranged weapon, but a throwing knife arguably took more skill to use properly.

But I didn't want to argue. I didn't even want to question. I was relishing the mental relief that was lasting even that long after having to essentially stack Social Chameleon.

The skill aspect of the feature was becoming more mysterious and every time I thought I was close to figuring out part of it, I found myself further from the truth.

Something kept telling me that levelling it up was key to my progression. In what? Only time would tell. I just wasn't sure I particularly wanted to know.