Level

7

Max HP

292

Max MP

822

Max VMP

452

Strength

16

Agility

21

Intelligence

51

Wisdom (C)

52

Constitution

36

Luck

23

I looked at my status window and almost despaired.

I felt like I’d been castrated back there. I usually didn’t realize just how much attribute points changed me, since they usually come in increments, but having everything halved like this really put their effect into perspective. I felt sluggish, weak, and like the mana that coursed through my body had been ripped out of me violently.

I’d landed myself in deep shit.

If there was a single saving grace, it was that wisdom was still crowned. Since the crown came from the skill, rather than actually having a hundred points, it remained. I couldn’t help but stare at the low numbers. So much work just evaporated into nothing because of a small mistake. My encounter with that voidling scared me.

I finally managed to rip my eyes away from my status window, casting my gaze into the void. Before, there was something ethereal about the void, something I could appreciate and actually quite liked. Now? It felt like I was one wrong step away from certain death. Should I even continue to move or should I just stay put? I would really love to return to my body right about now, but my skill trapped me here for as long as my body was asleep.

Other voidlings could stumble over me here, as past experiences proved, so staying in my personal bubble was no guarantee for safety. A cold shiver went down my back as every star in the distance seemed menacing all of a sudden. I needed to get out of here.

The bar!

The bartender was presumable a powerful individual, or at the very least more powerful than me, and with any hope he would be professional enough to offer protection to his customers. Also, the walls would spare me from the paranoia of seeing potential danger everywhere I looked.

I hastily activated void guidance again while manifesting the bar as my safe haven and the path emerged in my mind's eye again. This time I kept my eyes wide open, unwilling to repeat the mistake that cost me greatly, although I wasn’t entirely certain how to avoid stepping into somebody else’s place involuntarily. Nonetheless, I did my best to follow the path as accurately as I could, not deviating a single millimeter. Eventually, the path ended and I almost bumped into the front door of the bar.

Oh, thank fuck!

I ripped the door open and flung myself inside, almost hyperventilating from the stress, uncaring about the odd looks I got from the patrons. An uncomfortable amount of eyes were watching me since most of the guests had way more of them than needed. But I didn’t care as I hastily closed the door behind me, only able to relax a little after having done so.

I exhaled heavily, trying to calm myself as the other voidlings sitting around the bar returned to their drinks and conversations, rapidly losing interest in me. The bar looked just the way I remembered it. Old school, neon, and pretty kitsch, a jukebox was playing music today which sounded alien to me. I suppose music made by literal aliens would sound weird to me.

I made eye contact with the bartender, or at least I think I did. It was kinda hard to tell with the sheer amount of eyes decorating his mushroom-like head. I hopped my way over to the bar and jumped on a stool, waiting to be served.

“Welcome, I see you’ve figured out how to return here,” the bartender eventually addressed me. “And, is it just me or did you get significantly weaker?”

“Yes, and yes,” I noticed that he was talking in my mind again, so I replied in void language to tell him that I could communicate normally now. “I’ve evolved into a Nascent Voidling recently which gave me the void guidance skill and, uhh… About the whole weaker thing, I just had a rather unpleasant encounter.”

“Is that why you are so skittish?” the bartender switched to the void language as well.

“I guess so,” I slowly nodded my eyes. “The voidling I encountered was… really something else.”

“Got your attribute points extorted?”

“Either that or be obliterated on the spot,” I confirmed. “How did you know?”

“It happens more often than you think,” the bartender chuckled and started mixing a drink behind his back, grabbing various bottles and putting them in a mixer. “How much did you lose?”

“Half of everything,” I winced. “Almost two hundred points just gone…”

“Well, I suppose for a newbie like you, that would be a lot,” the bartender put a glass in front of me, a blue and green liquid swirling around inside but not properly mixing. “On the house, I think you need a little pick me up.”

“You sure I don’t need to pay?” I asked, longingly looking at the drink. Getting drunk might be just the thing to take my mind off recent happenings.

“You just lost a lot of points, don’t need me digging into what’s left. Besides, I have a feeling like you might become a regular, and I treat my regulars well.”

“Thank you,” I extended my arm tentacles and grabbed the drink with my “hands”. Being able to grab stuff really made me feel a little more human, even if I clearly wasn’t. I took a sip of the ominous-looking drink and was reminded of the fact that I had no taste buds. Well, not like I was going to decline. Time to find out if I could get drunk.

“Like it?” the bartender asked, observing me carefully.

“I kinda don’t have any taste receptors…” I admitted, feeling like lying wouldn’t be smart. “But I appreciate it anyway.”

“No worries, a lot of voidlings don’t have the facilities to taste. But most of us don’t drink for the taste, now do we?”

He winked at me, which was a weird sight since it was only a single eye among many that did the winking. I continued sipping on my mystery drink while my new “friend” went on to serve another guest. The atmosphere in the bar was quite normal for an alien bar. There were voidlings out and about, talking to their friends, and listening to music while talking about their lives with each other.

Maybe the voidlings weren’t so different from humans, in a way. Of course, there was still the whole abomination thing going on, which combined nicely with the enormous power some, or even most of them had. At the end of the day, they were a kind of society with their own set of rules. I wasn’t entirely sure if Kamleguunior was something like a lawless thug or just some guy that got miffed about me entering his home.

But if I ever wanted to find out, I’d need to familiarize myself with the laws of the void. As I’d already learned, the void might seem chaotic when looked at from the outside, but the few civilized interactions I had so far led me to believe that it might be more structured than I initially believed.

“Is it okay if I come back here in the future?” I asked the bartender when he returned to me. “I’d love to learn a bit more about the void.”

“Of course, it’s okay,” the bartender chuckled. “In fact, I encourage it. After all, you’re a paying customer! And I’ll gladly engage in some small talk with my customers.”

“Right, of course,” I laughed a bit at my oversight. “It’ll be nice to have a place to go to instead of having to float around in the middle of nowhere whenever I’m asleep.”

“Ah yes, Dreams of the Void, right? Nasty little skill,” the bartender shook his head a bit.

“Really? How come?”

“Well, it is a skill that is only given to non-voidlings,” he waved one of his tentacles around a bit. “It’s especially nasty for what the system considers “the intelligent races” since they gotta sleep so often. Most of them turn insane after a while since they’re trapped in the void with no real way to move or do anything. That, or they get devoured one way or another.”

“It’s that bad?” I personally didn’t have to sleep that much, and so far my dream visits had been mostly boring or positive.

“Quite so, yes. For us it’s a good thing actually, the poor saps provide a good source of attribute points, or sustenance if you’re so inclined.” he shrugged. “Well, now that you’re a proper voidling you won’t have to worry too much about it. Just, if you ever get a more direct way of accessing the void, might I suggest getting rid of it? It does make the sleep less restful than it could be.”

“I’ll… I’ll look into it,” I was surprised that there even was an option of discarding skills, but I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised at this point. It was also quite disturbing to hear him talk about killing other beings so flippantly. I suppose there might be some beef with “the intelligent races” that I wasn’t aware of.

“Well, it seems your night is drawing to a close. You’re turning transparent, you know?” the bartender gestured towards me.

“Oh, yeah,” I quickly downed the rest of my drink. “Well, thanks for providing me with some shelter and a drink. I’m Gary by the way, and I’ll definitely be coming back.”

“Fantastic, I’m looking forward to doing business with you,” the bartender nodded and extended a tentacle towards me, which I assumed I should shake. “I’m À̷̧̧͙̬̘͖̠̯̰̝̬̹͙͆̊̅̽ͅm̷̧̰͇̠̪̾͗̽̀̄͗̈́͝(̷̢̢̢̘̣̫͉̦̮̝̥̞͇̎̀̓̇̊̾̊͘͘%̶̖͔̭͚̈͐̈́͊̅ḑ̸̬̗͓̺̮͇͚̩̜̣̖̻̘̐̃̅̾͜͠i̸̼͖̝̥̰͒́̓̓ͅn̶̹̉͋͛̓̎̈́̄̿̀͛̏͠$̴̙̋̌͑̈̊̔͐̀̿̀̂̒͘͝l̶̢̛̥̲̪͎͖̦̱̝̪͈̣̩̋̉̓̅̈́̄̏̓͆̅̂͝͝ but my friends call me… Tim.”

“Alright then, Tim, I’ll see you next time.”

“Likewise, and, do make sure you don’t get exploited for points again.”

“I’ll try!”