Wolf of the Blood Moon: A Blood Magic

Scarlet

The moment I wake up, I suck in a breath through my teeth at the pain of my injuries. But they’re nowhere near as bad as they were before I lost consciousness, judging by the pain. So I slowly open my eyes to look at my surroundings, only to find myself in an office next to a window, with only a couple of people in the room. Although by the sounds of it, there are several more on the other side of the door.

I also find that I can hear a lot of joyous cries throughout the building without any of the regular noise that I have come to associate with demons. Which means that the Fracture’s core was probably destroyed while I was out.

With that relieving thought in mind, I glance at my wounds to find that they have managed to heal a decent amount. Which leaves me wondering if Tar said-

“They don’t know what was going on. All I said was for them to put you next to the window where moonlight was shining through and they obliged, so it’s most likely that they believe you have some sort of skill that lets you heal in moonlight,” the tanuki says in my mind, sounding just as robotic as ever. But despite that, I can’t help but feel like he was worried about me for some reason.

“Preposterous,” the tanuki in question responds to my thoughts. But then the System’s messages suddenly play out in my mind before I can say anything in retort. “Just listen to your messages and don’t bother me.”

I raise an eyebrow as I begin listening to them, a wide smile spreading across my face in the process.

{Level 53 Demon Knight defeated. Bonus EXP is awarded for killing a creature fifty levels or more above you. An EXP penalty has been extracted for getting assistance in the kill}

{Twenty-five Skill Points are awarded for killing a demon fifty or more levels above you. With risk comes reward. And you drown yourself with risk, gathering all of the reward you deserve. But beware the price you may one day pay for that reward.}

{Ten Skill Points are awarded for killing a demon ten or more levels above you.}

{Ten Skill Points are awarded for killing a demon knight while under level ten.}

{Five Skill Points are awarded for killing your first Demon Knight.}

{One Skill Point is awarded for killing a demon.}

{Congrats, you have leveled up to level 4. Two Free Points have been awarded to you and your stats have been updated.}

…

{Congrats, you have leveled up to level 10. Two Free Points have been awarded to you and your stats have been updated.}

{You have earned the inherent skill, ‘Blood Siphon’.}

Alright, now that’s a nice set of messages. Although I could’ve done without the cryptic warning, thank you very much. I get enough of that from Allen as it is. I don’t need the System joining in on criticizing my recklessness.

Speaking of Allen, I should try convincing the people here to not blab about me taking on a demon knight so early. Because it would be a pain if he found out.

Now then.

Time to check out my gains!

Name: Scarlet AsgerSpecies: Human/Blood Lycan HybridMagic: Blood Age: 19Level: 10SP: 67 Stats: Physical: 35Mental: 24Magical: 33 Physical/Level: 2Mental/Level: 1Magical/Level: 2 Free Points: 16Mana: 396/396Free Points/Level: 2 Active Skills: Blood ClawsSkill Level: 2Description Blood SiphonSkill Level: 1Description Clean

Without any hesitation, I focus on the description for the new skill.

{Blood Siphon - Allows the user to drain the blood of nearby creatures and use it for various purposes, including transfusing the user’s or others blood or infusing the blood into the blood claws skill and other possible skills.}

I smile with glee at the changes and the new skill before immediately investing nine free points into my Mental stat, then another three into Physical, and two into Magical. Then I take another look at my status, only for a severe mixture of pain and pleasure to sweep through my body, leaving me grunting and losing my balance to fall back flat onto the ground.

The hell was that?

Officer Winslow – who was sitting in the corner of the room without having realized that I was awake – quickly gets up and moves over to me as I groan before shouting, “Scarlet! You’re awake!!!” He then assaults me with questions such as ‘am I okay’, ‘do I feel sick’, ‘do I feel any pain’, and so on.

I just groan in response as the pain and pleasure continue moving through my body until eventually stopping who knows how long later. And by then, the officer has already gone to get the others.

Oops.

“It’s recommended not to use more than five free points at once as the changes can prove… severe… on the nerves of the Guardian,” I hear Tar mentioning long after the information would’ve been useful for me.

I just grunt in response, feeling too weak right now to give a proper retort.

After a couple minutes of silence, my ears twitch as I finally notice the slight buzzing sound coming from outside the building. But when I look outside, I don’t find anything.

What is that noise?

It also sounds like there are a lot of people going up and down the stairs now, likely checking on if everyone’s alright. Or maybe just checking their things. Who knows.

Then there’s the set of footsteps that sound much heavier than everyone else’s, despite being a lot faster. And they’re quickly approaching the twenty-first floor.

Not sure why they’re in such a big hurry to climb up.

Maybe they had family in here?

But if that were the case, I can’t imaging someone who clearly has some sort of magi-tech equipment with them to just stand by when their loved one is in danger just several floors higher in the same building.

Although it’s also possible that the footsteps belong to the Guardian who destroyed the core, and they’re now heading here because they sensed Tar.

I listen to the footsteps for a few seconds before mentally shrugging right as others begin to flood into the room, making me feel awkward.

“I’m fine,” I tell them, stopping them from asking anything, “was just using my free points. Do you know what that knight was protecting?”

They look surprised for a second before the officer answers, “We’re… actually not sure about that ourselves. The shield turned out to still be busted, so it wouldn’t turn off to let us in and see. And then the Guardian destroyed the core, so whatever it was, it’s not likely there anymore.”

I narrow my eyes at that before sighing. Guess it doesn’t really matter with the core being destroyed.

So with that thought in mind, I open my Skill Store. Because I have to have unlocked something good after all of those achievements. Not to mention the massive amount of SP I have now.

So it’s shopping time! Then I can focus on testing out that new inherent skill.