Chapter 14: Luck is really on our side today!
[Ding! Bloodline Extraction Initiated]
[Target: Forest Boar – Tier 0 Beast]
[Ding! You have extracted the ability 'Minor Strength Boost'.]
[Ding! Minor Strength Boost (Lv. 1): Permanently increases Strength by 5]
Damon simply killed off the other one and only used Bloodline Extraction for the first boar. "A new passive skill. Nice." He quickly checked his stats and saw that his mana was already at 0.
Now he understood why he had suffered Mana Exhaustion. Each time he used Bloodline Extraction, it cost him 50 mana points. This wasn't a huge deal, but it was something he needed to keep in mind.
Wait, then how was he able to use it at all for the second time when he had fought against the wolves? Something did not add up.
Damon felt a little confused, but when he stared at his stats, he finally saw what was happening. The thing was... vampire players were a little special. They used blood essence for all of their skills which came from their health. In fact they did not even have a mana pool to begin with.
But now he had both blood essence and mana. Was it possible for him to convert some of his blood essence into mana? That was the only way he could explain using the Bloodline Extraction skill for the second time and going into Mana Exhaustion. Otherwise, the skill simply wouldn't activate.
Damon let out a sigh. There was a lot he needed to figure out with his new body and new skill. There was also the matter of bloodline stabilization that he needed to think about.
"Look who is here! What a coincidence! Luck is really on our side today!" All of a sudden, a voice shouted.
Damon swung around to look when a few familiar figures walked toward him from the distance. He was thinking deeply about his skill issues that he did not detect the presence of other players around him.
And that too, they were the same ones he had seen before. What were the chances indeed! They were still at a distance, and it was enough for him to get the hell out of there, but why would he run?
New test subjects had willingly walked over to him. There was no reason for him to run.
[Sniper] and [SirShankzAlot] were already preparing fire balls, and [DaddyBrutal] was charging straight toward him with a two-handed axe slung across his shoulder, eyes gleaming with arrogant bloodlust.
Of course, there was the other rogue player [Lurking Panda] who was currently trying to circle behind him.
Damon had already seen through his Stealth once, but it looked like the guy was delusional and probably thought of it as a coincidence. It was fine. Their loss was his gain. It was time to find out exactly what this skill could give him if he used it on other players.
Damon's smile widened just slightly as he waited for [DaddyBrutal] to finally reach him. The rogue was waiting for him, and it was clear that both of them wanted to attack him at the same time, thereby gaining an advantage.
However, they picked the wrong target. Damon might be a low-level player but he had been playing this game for almost three years now. Every single day he had fought constantly and honed his battle skills. How could people who had only barely stepped on the path of carnage match him?
Damon did not do anything fancy. He feigned an attack on the right, and at the last moment, he executed a blood swipe on the left. This was enough to take care of [DaddyBrutal], who had foolishly committed to a full swing, leaving his entire side wide open.
Damon's Blood Swipe slashed straight across his ribs, red energy crackling from his fingertips as it carved through armor and flesh alike. The man grunted and stumbled, and before he could recover, Damon threw a punch and knocked him out.
Next up was the rogue who had managed to backstab him. Damon grabbed him, threw him on the ground, and without hesitation, stomped right on the guy's face a couple of times. Blood sprayed from his nose and mouth as his tongue rolled out.
[Ding! You have killed player LurkingPanda.]
[Ding! Notoreity +1]
"Che. He died." Damon clicked his tongue. It was fine because there were two more players left. He looked up to find them or rather see where the fireballs went, but shockingly, there was no one around. It seemed that the two had run away.
Damon blinked in surprise and then shook his head helplessly. Well, whatever. There was still his one test subject. He focused on making sure that no one was around and then sunk his fangs into [DaddyBrutal]'s neck, activating the skill.
[Ding! Bloodline Extraction Initiated]
[Target: Level 8 Player DaddyBrutal]
[Ding! Partial Bloodline Extraction. You have gained 1 Strength stat point. Player DaddyBrutal has lost 1 Strength stat point.]
"Oh ho." Damon smiled. "Not bad."
But once again, his mana was empty. He needed to fix this issue soon. As for the dead guy discovering his vampire race, that was not an issue.
The game didn't really provide an explanation of why you died and how you died. Many times, one would never know what hit them before they found themselves standing in the graveyard. He let out a sigh, picked up the loot dropped from the two dead bodies, and continued his jog to the snake pond.
The rogue had dropped his dagger which just a common trash grade dagger, so there was nothing special about it. As for DaddyBrutal, he had dropped something different. A small crystal.
Damon inspected the thing but couldn't quite place it. He had never heard of nor come across anything like this.
For all purposes, it simply looked like a fancy stone. He stared at it for a moment before tossing it inside his storage ring. He could always throw it out later if it didn't amount to anything.