Area Unknown, Novus Ordo, Date Unknown. Local Marker Unknown: Time Unknown

I got up at the crack of dusk, I had a feeling I was going to have too much fun repurposing daytime idioms. Quickly I check my notifications and am happily rewarded with the sight.

-----Congratulations-----

Due to surviving an entire day in the sun, you have a reduced the damage you receive by exposure by a quarter of a percent.

Photosensitivity damage: 9.75%

This was going to take a lot longer than I thought. I was resigned to solitude in a forest at level 1 with no food, because I could not hunt, otherwise I would gain experience and level up. Once I thought of food though, I of course, started feeling hungry.

To take my mind of the hunger I focused on my hearing, all night. You know I had half a mind to quit right now, the only thing holding me back was my promise to Lex. Sitting against the same tree I repeated last night’s exercise. Total side note, I wonder if I just personified night, I mean I gave night, an inanimate… thing, the ability to possess. Anyway scrolling through the Wikipedia page on bats, I found that bats used the time difference sound hits their left and right ears to pinpoint the horizontal direction.

After I analyzed a cricket I would then try to locate it directionally, I would then point to that direction, unfortunately, and this was not really of help because I realized that I could find the cricket just by the difference in loudness between my two ears. I continued the exercise only because the game seemed to want recognition for actions, in order to give out rewards.

I decided to leave my eyes open tonight, and simultaneously try to use improve my eyesight. I picked out an object in the dark and tried to identify it, at the same time as banishing crickets. This proved to be two difficult so I ended up alternating. Off in the distance I thought I could see a bush. I realized I needed to confirm what I was seeing.

I was curious because the bush was not there during the day. I cautiously approach the bush, watching and listening intently. I reached out and touched the bush and it fell over. With unhindered speed I kept backwards, narrowly escaping the fangs of a large spider.

I never really had a fear of spiders, but I was afraid of this one. I sat stunned, I may be unnaturally fast, but I had a feeling that this spider was faster, the fact I escaped earlier was sheer luck. The spider circled me, moving with such grace no other could match. Why are you not attacking? My clothes! Slowly I stood, not wanting to provoke this epitome of grace. A stray thought went through my head at the spider’s beauty, it was not ugly as one might expect, but its entire being emanated lithe precision.

I locked eyes with the creature, though it had eight, it only had two on the front of its head, placed in almost human position, as close as you could get on a spider that is. I saw an intelligence there, one most would ignore. I decided to consider it sentient, I bowed deeply, my back parallel to the ground and my eyes, inches from his? “I apologize food encroaching on your hunting grounds, since I have stolen your chances of a meal tonight, allow me the attempt to replace it.”

*Tring*

I grinned satisfied as a quest popped up.

-----Vapid Recourse-----

Your foolish blundering has scared off prey, causing an unnecessary problem. Help the Arachari get some dinner.

--Quest Difficulty: F--

How was the difficulty “F” if I have no weapon? “Well,” I start, as I turn to face the Arachari. (Arak-charee) “What do you normally eat?” I was not actually expecting an answer, at least not one I understood, so I was surprised when the Arachari let out a short chirp, followed by two clacks of its fangs, then began skittering around franticly. Frantic, is probably not the best word, for the he still moved with that same fluid beauty, nor was he scared. He was just moving very quickly.

I focused on him, trying to discern what it was he was doing, and as if he could read my mind he slowed, not much but just barely enough for my eyes to interpret his movements. He was drawing, or more accurately, weaving a picture on the forest floor. The picture was of an odd animal, but it looked familiar, it was, the picture at least, the size of an Aussie dog. It was lithe with a long tale ringed tail, its face was pointed, like a mouse, and it had small ears.

“Got it.” I boasted with determination that I definitely, did not, have. The Arachari gave a single clack with its mandibles. The sound was odd, it hung in the air longer. I turned around and started jogging… and then dove away from a moving tree! Okay, the tree did not actually move but I was moving too quickly. Dusting myself off, I try again, this time at a light jog. After getting confident I sped up to same pace I tried to start with.

It was odd, the speed I was traveling at now was a full sprint in reality. I decided to have some fun. I ran towards the dessert, and once I broke the tree line I let loose to a full sprint.

I… am… fast! I thought, then I looked down at my feet, they were a blur of motion, I was probably running about forty miles an hour. I look up and low cactus just yards in front of me, and I panic, then I just stop. Suddenly I had no speed, it was if I was normal again, running was the same as it always was. Cursing the game for its cruel tricks I headed back to the forest, which by now was just on the horizon. I was just about to break into a jog when I noticed something, a lizard, a yard long was ambling through the sand. It was about the same size as the dog thing.

This would be a perfect substitute for the Arachari, and it moves so slow I should be able to beat it with a rock. I scavenged for a suitable rock and hefted it above my head, waltzed over to the lizard and brought it down and hit dirt. At the last second this sloth lizard jumped out of the way and put down a mad dash across the barren earth. I sprinted after it, but it was just barely faster than me, at least in my new slow state. Tired of eating its dust, I gave up, which is when the lizard went from fifteen, to Mach one in a second. The damn thing took off into the desert like a slingshot. Turning I see another sloth lizard but this one was walking faster than the one I just chased off planet.

I sighed and ran towards the forest, only to trip over a rock that was two hundred yards away. I suddenly came to me that it was my brain that was changing speed, not my body. Picking myself off the ground I started sprinting again, this time when I got to the tree line I focused, and my brain caught up with me. I started weaving through the trees looking for one of those dog things, and it did not take me long to find one. I grabbed a dead tree branch, ran up to it and creamed its head.

--Sneak attack-(x2), Critical hit-(x4), improvised weapon-4, Strength-20, speed-35. Total-470--

--lesser kill-1, targeted strike-5, stealth kill-5, mercy(special)-5, one-hit kill-10. Total-26xp--

The mercy tag was strange, it did not seem merciful to behead an animal with a blunt object. Maybe the cause was the instant death. But, this was an isolated incident, as such it was impossible to deduce what the actual cause was, and I did not feel like butchering animals just figure it out. At the same time though, I felt it was important somehow.

I picked up the carcass and was about to run headlong into a tree, again. Fortunately I stopped myself and focused. The world slowed again, but only by a little, it wasn't like the comic books where time seemed to stop. This was part of the reason why I wasn't able to notice it in the first place. On my way back to the Arachari, I pondered the fact that I didn't have to actually be sneaking to get a stealth attack. It seemed as long as the attack was unexpected.

I came to the bush that had covered my new friend. It actually took me three hours just to find him, I held the carcass upside down, and its blood quickly pooled at my feet. I looked down at my feet, curious at what was making them wet, and I froze.

Several things happens in the three seconds I was in that trance. First, I realized what was staring me in the face, I was a vampire. The sensitivity to sunlight, the enhanced senses, and the buff during the night time, the speed and the strength, hell I was even in Erzebet forest. As in the try and of the regent Elisabeth Bathory, where the term bloodbath comes from.

Elisabeth Bathory, was a countess of Transylvania who was unimaginably cruel, and is only outranked in the legends of vampires by Dracula, a count of the same province of Hungary. The interesting thing is she actually drank blood, unlike Vlad III the Impaler, whom Dracula is based, so she is more of a vampire than Bram’s.

The second thing that came to mind was a stupid pun about being Hungary for blood. Stupid I know, but when have you never had a stupid thought?

The last thing I thought was, damn. Then I lost control.

***

Deep Space, The Eagle Spire, 64, Phorcys 458. SW-3 S.D. Captain’s Quarters

“You lied to me Alexander.” Victor Ross said to the holoComunicator.

“I did not lie, I only did not tell you the truth.” Alexander replied.

“There is no difference.” Victor frowned.

“Captain, there is a quantifiable difference. Lying means I told you something that was untrue. I did no such thing, I merely avoided telling you true statements.”

“That is ostensible and you know it!” Captain Ross gritted his teeth.

Alexander chuckled as if his best friend’s frustration was comical, which in fact, at least to him, it was. “Be that as it may, it is still accurate, besides, you can't expect me to just throw around galactic secrets.”

“You should have told me!” Victor almost shouted, he was quite angry with Alexander.

”And you should have asked!” Alex yelled back. “I quit the career of my dreams, out of the blue, to move to the rim of the galaxy, to take up a teaching position on a blasted farm world, and you didn’t even ask why. Or, better yet, if I was okay.”

Victor was mollified at this, it was true, he just assumed it was a midlife crises. “You’re right, I didn’t, I’m sorry.” He apologized, but he was a Captain, now some child, he did not look down ashamed, but straight into the eyes of his best friend.

“I cannot reveal to you the truth over tacCom, when you come back to Auctus I will tell you the story.”

“What if the boy does not like your gift?”

“Then I will see you sooner, but I have a feeling that I am going to stay right here.”

“What makes you so sure?”

With a big Cheshire grin, Lex replied, “Because that boy is special.” Then his face went serious. “And because he must.”

Ross was curious about Alexander's last statement, but he knew he would have to wait for answers until he could securely talk in person. “We will all be calling him ‘Sir’ one day.” He chuckled.

Alexander looked at him with an intense stare,”I believe ‘Sir’ will be disrespectful.” Then he cut the connection.

Ross was left staring at empty space, pondering his friend’s last words, and he had to admit, Alex was probably right. He glanced at the clock. In space time was counted in ten months, of a hundred days each. Each day was two watches, first and second. Each crew member had one watch on duty, followed by two off. Each watch was five hours, and each hour was 52.6 minutes. There are no seasons in space, so that is not a problem Victor had second watch tomorrow. The earth calendar day could is calculated by adding the minutes, or by divided the total days past in a Star Date year by 2.7397… or by adding the minutes, yeah, that is easier. It was just starting the fourth of first watch, Victor had first watch in the morning so he needed to get some sleep.