Chapter 3
The Awakening
Ethan stared at the floating window silently, his emotions in flux. Part of him despised the thing–it was the harbinger of everything that went wrong with the world. However, part of him revered it. After all, it afforded ordinary people magic–the ability to do things that even science couldn't. In his past life, he was a rogue-like 'class'--he could become invisible at the snap of the fingers, and nobody could find him. It was mostly because of that that he survived for as long as he did. But there were people far more powerful than him–those who could conjure life-altering magic at the drop of a hat and do so with a smile.
He sighed, shaking his head in an odd attempt to dispel the memories. As he would have to fight in this life rather than run away, he could not go down the same route as before. Rogue classes struggled against Behemoths and were most effective against other people. Since he had no intentions of hunting down humans, he had to reconsider his path. There would be time for it, however–for starters, he read through the welcoming messages on the window just to confirm everything was the same as the last time.
[Welcome, inhabitant of World 88–9x01. As a survivor of the Descent, you have the privilege of having the chance to ascend to the transcendental heights by the Grace of Alluk.]
[Congratulations on being the first Human to Awaken! As a reward, you may have unilateral access to the Class Information, and select one that is to your liking. Please note that Class Information is restricted and you are forbidden from sharing anything you read with others. Do note that you will be provided limited information due to your level.]
[Your journey begins here, but where it ends is up to you. The story of your world has only just begun.]
Ethan stood frozen in place for a few delicate moments, largely in disbelief of the information he encountered on the second ‘slide’ of the window’s brief presentation. He rubbed the bridge of his nose for a moment, breathing out deeply in an attempt to calm himself–but his raging heart could not be tamed. Nobody ever found out who the first Awakened was. Chances were that they died shortly after as being the first Awakened to Ethan was a completely different beast compared to someone… well, anyone else in the world at the moment.
Managing to somewhat calm himself down, he began looking through the catalogue of classes–there were hundreds of them, at the very least. Some he immediately recognised as the most common ones–Pyromancer, for instance, was a fairly common magic class that made up nearly 40% of all magic-related Awakened. There was also the Paladin class and its numerous variations which was the most common fighting class, and a few Judicator classes which were relegated mostly to the support roles.
Information provided on the classes was actually quite abysmal–past the name and some really rudimentary description, there was nothing else. No starting stats, no list of abilities, or potential class evolutions down the line. For the uninitiated, they may as well be shooting blind and hoping they hit something good. However, Ethan largely read through the list out of curiosity–as soon as he realised he could choose from ‘any’ class, one immediately popped into his head. It was one of the Vampire-related classes, and though most people wound up calling the one person with the class ‘the Bloodsucker’, he claimed that the class’ official name was ‘Blood God’. It was not, however. Ethan found it somewhere halfway through the list–Blood Inheritor. Its brief description matched perfectly with what Ethan observed in the past.
[Blood Inheritor: augment your own blood to become a perfect weapon. Command it by the right of perfection, and usher in the Age of Blood. You may never die, though you can still be killed. You may never become anything but the Bloodbound one.]
Taking a moment to collect himself, he ended up selecting the class. The window disappeared, and just as it started to seem he had been cheated, the changes began occurring–once again the warmth surged, and once again the pain returned, but far more amplified. His sight grew red and dark, and he could feel blood pouring out of every orifice in his body. He felt light-headed, causing him to fall onto his knees, barely holding himself up by his arms.
Right after, he was forced to heave–an outpour of blood came out of him and seemed to keep coming for an eternity. But he endured–it was still nowhere near as painful as some of the things he had experienced in his life.
The world grew quiet and still soon after; he was lying on the ground, drenched in sweat and blood, red from head to toe like a demon, but feeling incomparably different. He felt Mana–within and without. The quintessential element of all magic and something that could only be felt by those who Awakened.
He lay there on the ground for some time, breathing heavily, and staring at the window propped up in front of him. It was one he had seen innumerable times before, but it was also a completely novel one, before unseen.
Name: Ethan Flynn
Age: 32
Race: Human
Level: 1
Variant: N/A
Titles: N/A
Items: N/A
Relics: N/A
Class: Blood Inheritor [Prime]
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Vitality: 22
Strength: 6
Intellect: 11
Agility: 14
Wisdom: 5
Health: 220
Mana: 65; Mana is converted into a class Unique Resource at the following rate: 5 points of Mana for 1 point of Blood.
Blood Pool: 13 (at 100% Blood Pool, regenerate 2% of current Health per 5 seconds, lowered to 0 at 50% Blood Pool; at 50% Blood Pool, increase Damage by 1%, increased to 20% at 0 Blood Pool. Spend Health as a direct resource if Blood Pool is empty, but the abilities will only be 60% as effective)
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Damage: 36
Cooldown Reduction: 0
Physical Defence: 0 [Reduces physical damage intake by the amount]
Magical Defence: 10 [Reduces magical damage intake by the amount]
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Abilities:
[Bloodbound-Level 1] You have natural regenerative properties. Passively restore 1% of your Health per 5 seconds while in combat, increased to 3% per 3 seconds outside. Note: depending on the ability level, there are restrictions in terms of what kind of wounds can be healed passively.
[Vampiric Touch-Level 1] Dealing any damage to any non-mechanical and non-Undead creature restores your Health. It baseline restores 1% of your maximum Health no matter what, with direct hits restoring 1% of the damage dealt. Note: in order for the ability to gain experience, its secondary property has to be triggered.
[Sanguine Snap-Level 1] Conjure a whip of blood from any of the bleeding wounds on you and slash it in any direction. The whip's length is directly proportional to the amount of Blood Pool used, maxing out at 7ft. Damage can critically strike. If it hits more than 1 target, the damage is split among all targets. If it hits no targets, take 5% of your current Health as damage.
[Bleeding Agony–Level 1] Passively activates when your Health drops below 10%. Increase all Leeching properties of All Skills and Items by 100% for the next 15 seconds. Additionally, restore Blood Pool to 50% if below; if above, every excess point above 50% is converted to Health, 3 Health per 1 point of Blood Pool. Increase all passive Health Regeneration by 1000% for 4 seconds. After 5 seconds, begin bleeding profusely, losing all Health gained through the effect over the following 4 seconds.
Ethan still struggled to accept the reality of it all–four starting abilities compared to one that most classes got, insanely inflated Health as most people started with 3-4 points of Vitality, maxing out at 10 for the 'take the beating and shut up' classes, and a remarkable distribution of stats across the board. The drawbacks, however, were still there–having no Physical Defense was virtually unheard of–even glass-cannon classes had at least 10 to 20 points, and while 10 points of Magical Defence was nice, it was also virtually worthless for the time being outside of fighting people.
As he suspected, the core of the class was juggling one’s Health value, even this early on. It would likely be amplified later as he got more abilities, but the issue of getting there persisted. He wasn’t worried, however–though he’d have to rework all the plans he had as his item priority just took a complete 180, it didn’t matter. It was worth it. In fact, in some ways, it was better. Most items that the Blood Inheritor wanted were considered subpar which meant that there wasn’t a lot of competition for them. Similarly, he could avoid the bloodbaths that would occur around some of the items that were universally wanted. For example, the appearance of Shimmering Crown was one of the most devastating hits to humanity following the Descent and it had little to do with the monster guarding it and all to do with human greed.
The Crown was on the list of the items he had to grab, but not anymore–if anything, he was far more interested in the item dropped by the monster just before the one guarding the Crown. The person who got it sold it nearly as quickly since the item's value was steeped in a perfect storm of individual elements coming together.
Taking a deep breath, he got up and swiftly went to the bathroom to wash up–he couldn't imagine how Layla would react seeing him completely bloodied from head to toe. As soon as he was done, the sun slowly began to shine its rays upon the world, indicating the arrival of dawn. He knew he had spent quite a bit of time Awakening, but he didn't expect it to be hours. Nonetheless, he logged online once more and began sifting through the news. There were already reports of the Orb as it was dubbed–a shining, alien structure levitating above the Atlantic.
It was currently surrounded by every military known to man, and he was fairly certain that a few hours from now, roughly fifty nukes would be sent at it–the Orb, however, would just absorb them and continue hovering as though nothing happened.
On the other end, entire nations fell to chaos–even those unaffected directly by the tidal tsunamis sweeping the coastal areas of the continents. It was not unexpected, not in the abstracts anyway. Tragedy breeds chaos, and chaos breeds opportunity, and opportunity is a siren's song for the greedy. Soon, it would only get worse. While there were no Awakened just yet, eventually there will be–and the consequences were… unbecoming.
Somewhere around 8, Ethan winced; his ears picked up on the muffled sound of footsteps near the lodge, some twenty yards by the looks of it. Looking into the bedroom, he saw that Layla was still fast asleep, but was worried she might get up at an inopportune moment. Taking the risk, he left the lodge in haste and stepped out.
He saw a middle-aged-looking man wearing a tattered-seeming suit hiding behind a tree, observing the lodge. As soon as Ethan stepped out, the man seemed to pull back for a moment before reconsidering and stepping out.
“Hello–”
“Fuck off,” Ethan spoke in a calm but commanding and, most importantly, inflexible tone.
“E-excuse me?”
“Fuck off,” Ethan repeated in the same tone, staring directly at the man without flinching.
“I–you probably don’t know what’s happening, but–”
“You’re clearly not deaf,” Ethan said, a bit of intentional anger seeping into his voice. “Or a moron. So, why aren’t you doing as told?”
“I just want a bit of water, is all, and I’ll be on my way! I…” Ethan sighed inwardly. It has already begun–though he couldn’t be certain why or how the man ended up wandering upon their lodge, it didn’t matter. Even if the man put on the Oscar-worthy pity party, Ethan wasn’t buying it–not in the least because he was trained in spotting human behaviour that was off, but even because he spent decades frolicking about with the men just like him… and Ethan was hardly any better than them. And even if the man was genuine, Ethan didn't care. The risk was too great.
“Stay there,” Ethan said. “I’ll bring you a bottle. And then you’ll leave?”
"Of course! Just a bottle is enough!" Ethan ignored the man's moronic slip-up of a smile toward the end and went back into the lodge. There, standing in the hallway, was Layla, seeming quite scared. Ethan quickly put a finger to his lips, indicating she stay silent, and the young girl obliged with a nod. Closing the door behind him, he quickly pulled Layla to the side and ordered her in whispers.
“Get back to your room,” he said. “And don’t come out until I call for you. Got it?”
“... is everything okay?” she asked tenderly.
“Everything’s fine,” Ethan reassured her with a smile, patting her head. “I just gotta give the man some water and he’ll be off.”
“... be careful,” Layla spoke cautiously as she left, causing Ethan to look at her strangely for a moment. However, he dispensed any strange thoughts; Layla was already wary of strangers even in the city, so it was only natural she would be twice as wary this far out in the middle of nowhere.
Ethan grabbed a bottle from the fridge and left the lodge again. The man was waiting in the same spot, smiling widely as he saw Ethan carrying the bottle forward. The latter seemed oblivious to anything, appearing to be in a hurry to give the man a bottle and 'shoo' him away. With half a foot of separation between the two, Ethan handed over the bottle, and the man reached out to grab it. However, instead of grabbing the bottle, he grabbed Ethan's wrist and tried to yank him forward where the other hand speared forth a knife.
To the man’s shock, however, Ethan didn’t budge and the knife stabbed empty air. No matter how much he pulled, the arm would not move. Eventually, the man looked up and met Ethan’s gaze–it was cold, unfeeling, untouched. Ethan easily got out of the grip and suddenly laughed, his arm reaching out and grabbing the man by the shoulder.
"Don't worry, man! I'm always happy to help! Here, let me escort you," Ethan pulled the man along, and though the latter tried to fight back, it felt as though he was being dragged by the force beyond this world. Soon, they were out of view of the lodge and the man felt a palm in his back push him to the ground. "You have a knife," Ethan pointed at the weapon still sitting neatly in the man's hand. "And you have me. Choose."
“W-what?” the man stuttered, by now horror-stricken enough that his bladder had given up.
“It’s simple. Choose what ends you.”
“C’mon man, don’t be like that. I–I’m desperate, okay?! The city’s in chaos! There’s people killing people everywhere! Fuck, the entire world is in chaos, okay? I–I just saw your cabin and thought it’d be a nice place to lay low. L-look, just let me go? Okay? I–I’ll go and you’ll never see me again.”
“Boy, you ain’t deaf or dumb,” Ethan said. “I said–choose.”
“Please, okay? Just–just let me leave, man!”
“You don’t want me making a choice for you,” Ethan warned in a cold tone. “So, choose.”
“I–I–”
“Fine,” Ethan shrugged, extending his arm suddenly. “Your funeral.” a trickle of blood opened up at his forearm, suddenly surging into a massive, crimson-dyed whip that was nearly three feet long. Without hesitation, the whip lashed out toward the man who was frozen still at the sight of something he could not comprehend–with the lash, a head, still bearing the expression of utmost confusion, flew off and rolled midair before falling down by the body. The man’s last, gasping sight was of an emotionless face staring at him hollowly as the flame of life vanished from within his soul.