Ryan was well aware that he was currently in a high-level zone, so he moved ahead with caution. He had a thief class starter dagger gripped in his hand, which thankfully the game's AI didn't take away. He walked a few steps nervously when he started noticing something strange. He could pick up on small movements in the forest a little better than usual.
"Hmmm?" The forest was alive with sounds—the rustling of leaves, the snap of a twig, the low growl of a beast—and he was able to pick them all out, from a considerable distance. This mattered because once he was within aggro distance of a beast, it didn't matter if he knew about the beast or not, it was going to chase him to his death irrespectively.
"This is not on my status screen, but my senses are definitely heightened." He paused, thinking about what else might have changed. Immediately, the first thing that came to his mind was the elegant fangs that are usually typical for a vampire. He reached his hand to his mouth and ran his thumb along his row of teeth, only to find that there weren't any special fangs.
Instead, his teeth felt sharper than usual. If he wasn't careful, he would have already cut his finger. The same seemed to hold true for the nails on his hand. They were slightly longer and sturdier, but there was no other apparent difference. His skin, his appearance, and everything else also seemed to be the same with no noticeable changes. It was a bit anti-climatic but Ryan could guess why this might be the case.
"If I am correct, perhaps I will see more changes when the blood lust skill is active." He nodded to himself. However, he did not want to find this out. It was not a pleasant feeling to give up control of one's body, lose the memories, and wonder what could have happened. So he quickly got down to business, which was to get the hell out of there.
Ryan moved carefully through the forest, using his newly sharpened senses as best he could. Inwardly, he was dying to test out his new class and learn more about it, but all of that had to wait until he was back in the starter zone. He flipped open the map every other minute and tip-toed around the danger zones. In 'Mana Online', the paved roads were relatively safer regions. However, this was only true in the beginner areas.
Once a player crossed the Level 20 threshold, all areas were fair game for the beasts. Ryan still stuck to these paved roads because there was always a chance that one could run into a passing carriage. Unfortunately, his luck was working against him. Even after several minutes, he did not come across any NPC carriages or even other players. The thirst, on the other hand, was slowly but surely building up.
"This is not good. I need to hurry up. I am going to go rabid again if I don't drink blood soon." To make matters worse, Ryan started developing a small throbbing headache, which was quickly becoming stronger. With both the thirst and the headache working against him, he was only barely able to concentrate.
Because of this, his next step became unsteady and Ryan ended up tripping and falling on a stone. Argh. He groaned, trying to stand up, and when he did, he was suddenly face to face with a snarling feral creature.
[Level 10, Dire Wolf]
The wolf growled and pounced on him without any warning. "Shit!" Ryan immediately waved the dagger in his hand, the sharp metal clashing against the claws of the beast. But how could a starter trash-grade dagger hold up against a Level 10 beast? In a second, the weapon lost its durability and cracked like an eggshell.
Ryan grunted as the impact threw him back, his ass landing on the ground. This fight was going to be impossible! Before he could catch his breath, the wolf had already doubled back and was racing toward him. At this moment, with the headache threatening to break open his head and the thirst that was all-consuming, Ryan only barely had a sliver of consciousness.
However, this was still enough for him to see the obvious flaw in the wolf's attack. With a last-second twist of his body, he avoided the beast's claws as it lunged at him, but his hand remained outstretched, its sharp nails pointed at the furry body of the beast.
Rip! To Ryan's delight, his calculations were correct, and he was able to draw blood thanks to the beast's own momentum.
Critical Hit!
-100
Critical Hit!
-100
The damage numbers were also starting to pile up. It looked like he had aimed well. Roar! The wolf's eyes reddened in anger as it let out an agonized growl, but Ryan did not stop. His hand and his nails were still on the beast's body, so he kept twisting and turning, burrowing deeper inside.
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Roar! Roar! Roar!
The wolf became even more incensed. It was in so much pain that it started blindly attacking Ryan. It waved its claws at him in a mad frenzy.
You have claws, I also have claws! Ryan also copied its movements and started clawing at the beast. Thankfully, his nails were not as weak as the starter dagger. It was hurting like hell, but they didn't crack and fall off on the impact. He also did not hold back and kicked and clawed at the wolf, blocking all the attacks as best as he could. Of course, he did not let go of his one hand that was already inside the beast's body.
It appeared as if the two were engaging in a pathetic catfight, but Ryan was desperate, and thanks to the deep gauge he had set up, he had the upper hand. However, a level 10 wolf was not weak. The beast had its own pride. As the fight continued, its eyes regained clarity, and Ryan immediately knew that it was not a good sign.
One hit from this wolf and he was definitely dead meat! Before the wolf could take any action, Ryan made the split-second decision to employ the only weapon he hadn't yet tried: his mouth.
Rip! He directly aimed for the wolf's bleeding wound and attached himself to it like a goddamn leech. His posture was awkward, and his movement was weird, making his body twist like a pretzel but as soon as he tasted that blood, a frenzy overtook him. He was already fighting the beast in a sort of frenzied state, but this was completely different. Every single one of his instincts screamed loudly. It was a determination to not let anything come in between him and his blood meal.
Drinking the blood made his movements faster and the wolf slower. The beast yelped in pain as it felt the strength drain out of its body along with its blood.
-20
-50
Critical Hit!
-100
Critical Hit!
-100
And just like that, the entire 500 health points of the wolf drained out and its body slumped onto Ryan lifelessly.
"Huff." Ryan fell back with a big sigh of relief. He didn't think he was going to make it, but somehow here he was still alive. He couldn't even believe that he had actually pulled it off. He took another deep breath as the wolf's corpse in front of him disappeared into light dust, leaving behind a copper coin. He leaned forward to pick up this coin. This was not all he had gained. Thanks to fighting a beast several levels above him, he actually leveled up thrice with this single fight.
Ryan opened his system interface to see all of his notifications piled up.
"That's a lot of attribute points." Ryan immediately thought about where he needed to add everything. Unlike others, he didn't really have to focus on stamina or vitality. Even after the dreadful fight with his life on the line, he still did not feel any tiredness at all. Instead, he felt refreshed as he had drunk a considerable amount of blood.
So obviously, the attribute points were going to the other aspects. "Hmm… Strength and Agility. These should be my choices for now." He didn't seem to have any mana yet, so these two looked the best among the other options. Perhaps there was also merit in considering defense?
Just as he was thinking about this, suddenly another distant howl sounded. "Damn it. Did this fight attract something else?" He quickly got back up on his feet. Though he had leveled up a little now, this area was still outside his limits. Even if another Level 7 dire wolf showed up, there was no guarantee he would be able to win again. It was best to leave while his head was still clear.
Ryan hurriedly started jogging, picking up his pace. At the same time, he quickly tapped the system interface, adding 5 points to Strength, 5 to Defense, and 5 to Agility. Until he was sure of his strong and weak points, he decided to do a somewhat practical yet balanced build.
This was a good decision because the effect of this was immediately apparent. His jogging speed was much higher than before. He also casually kept the pace without any effort. He was starting to like the undead race more and more. Was there a leveling spot in the beginner's area that could help him tap this advantage?
Thinking about this, Ryan soon arrived at the edge of the Level 30 area. Next to this, there were only Level 10 areas, beyond which there was a small town. Luckily for him, he came across a carriage heading to the town before running into another beast. The carriage fare was one copper coin, so he had to spend all that he made right away. At least with this, he was able to reach the town safely.
A few hours later, he was standing outside the town. Now he needed to think about the next steps and, more importantly, his two problematic skills. Ryan quickly opened the system interface to check the skills and saw that there was already a change. The dire wolf blood he had consumed was taken into account as a common beast quota.
Now he only needed to consume two more common rank beasts, three elite rank beasts, three rare rank beasts, and one chieftain rank beast. Easy enough? Ryan's face twitched. He was calmer at the moment, so he was readily able to see the big problem waiting for him.
The Chieftain beast! This was going to be the biggest headache!
At least based on what he had read on the forums so far, chieftain beasts were extremely rare in 'Mana Online'. The worst part was that even if he managed to encounter one, he still needed a big guild group to take it down! This would basically be displaying his newly acquired legacy to the world. Could he still play this game peacefully after that?
No, he couldn't let that happen, at least just yet. He first needed to obtain the overpowering strength that should go hand in hand with a legacy of this caliber. Right now he was simply a cursed weakling so he had to lay low. So how was he supposed to cross this hurdle?