To have my particular set of powers inevitably meant to sacrifice things for success, and while I had spent the days before doing just about everything except introspecting, I knew that this advance only existed because everyone I had grown up around had been sacrificed to a single mistake of mine.

The author would have tried to reject this horrible power, always picturing himself the hero, even when the sacrifice has already been made.

The lich side of me had killed thousands for far less, sometimes taking lives because it was the only joy they could still feel.

I am Luce Bravelight, both of the above and neither at the same time, and I would never reject power that was basically free at this point.

Thus, a dream took me, one in which I lived many hours.

It started during early dawn, the whispers of the sun tickling my skin and forcing me to run towards the nearest shadow, a bad rash building where it had touched me, though a cloak I had in the next scene helped me against it.

Then, I ran into a back alley and bit into someone's throat, my teeth pushing some kind of venom into my target and paralyzing him, disappearing once I am done feeding, only for my target to wake up a while after and acting as if nothing happened, the blackened wound on his throat swelling like some overgrown mosquito bite.

As I ran, my speed surpassed the one I currently had.

I mostly spend the day skulking around, trying not to be touched by the sunlight.

Then, it began to rain, and as the water touched my skin, another rash overcame me.

It was the point where the end of the path became obvious, and I knew it was the most vampire like path I could take, which made me reject it instinctively.

Mutation number two was different.

Here, my skin grew paler and slightly bluish, as if I suffered a perpetual lack of oxygen.

The second thing I noticed was that my tongue had grown even more wicked.

It was a path where many gave me concerned looks, though that would be a problem anyway considering my already too pale skin.

This version of me walked everywhere hiding what was in its mouth, until I felt hungry and searched for someone in the back alleys.

My hunting tactic was disgusting, with me splitting my jaw four ways as I envelop the top of my victims skull, holding them in place while my tentacle like tongue searches for some opening, before going full on dissolve mode.

I felt his life force rush into me, his body drying up until it could pass for a mummy, for it lacked anything but skin and bones.

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It was worse than anything a vampire would be, but at the same time, it had none of their drawbacks.

My target struggled during the whole procedure, until his corpse was unrecognizable.

This form was wearing a mask different from my other masks, his entire face not necessary to the most part. He gave up some of the mask in exchange for an extremely efficient feeding technique, as it drew upon mind, soul and blood.

I knew my hunger would be worse than it currently was, but at least it didn’t introduce any new weakness.

Thus, the choice was pretty easy for me as I embraced the second option.

Waking up to having my jaw split was painful, but I had survived much worse at this point, and when I shot my tongue out, it easily penetrated the hide of Hannibal, though I had to force myself to redraw my tongue, leaving a pretty nasty gash in my companion that healed within seconds.

I was now at a level where traits offered me to become a true monster, and this new mutation only affirmed that choice.

I would never consider myself human again, and no one else would. This body was that of a monster for quite some time now, and I had fought against my urges successfully so far.

With these thoughts, I went to my daily training, which mostly consisted of my teacher hunting me across the clearing again. This life of mine I would not rely on cheap tricks to grow immortal, I would earn it. And as I was pushed to my limits, I decided to focus on my new traits, learning what they did during the next three days of constant running.

Each of them was a bit subtle, with arcane gaze the only one whose effects I realized during the first day. Everything had just a tad bit more color, each Arcana looking a bit different.

The grass and trees held green and brown, probably meaning geo and vita, two Arcana that made up most of the forest, with only the occasional aqua or the people's own arcane affinities.

Number two on my list was the elemental trait, which only became obvious when I actually focused on it.

This one improved the quality of my day-to-day life drastically. When I hoped for a coin for example to fall on one side, it tended to happen, my arcane gaze picking up a minor resonance between my soul and the spatium around me, before said external spatium reacted.

Other effects I currently experienced were a slightly shinier skin, me no longer being blinded or annoyed by stray rays of sunlight, a constantly comfortable air humidity around me, and the world supporting my steps just a bit more. It was a confusing combination of things, but I soon found the reason behind it. My body and soul had strengthened their connection, the life force within me functioning as a translator between my soul and the outside world, thus subconsciously bettering my day to day.

The last change I noticed was my early puberty, and that happened when my teacher commented on my rate of growth, which I took with pride until the growing pains set in.

“So far, I have been heating you, but it seems you have reached the perfect temperature to begin the forging process.”

It was his reaction to me informing him of the trait, and the start of me learning just a bit more about real pain.

He hated my ability to ignore sleep, and my undead mutations made it harder for me to finally reach that point of power he wanted me to. I did not sleep for a whole month that time, my body much better with its rate of decay, which I quickly pinpointed to be the effect of elemental and my necros affinity interacting.

He no longer made me merely run, he had me climb trees and dig holes, shred trees near the village and build a house out of them, I got so motivated I began to dig a mine when he was on errands and the things he wanted me to build were done already.

At the end of that years Aqua month, I finally felt close to a breakthrough, which prompted him to beat me to a pulp until I reached the point I wanted, every day driven to my limit, though the single-minded focus on helping the community turned my hunger into a tool even as my body had lost its mask completely, my most ragged form still focused on the task at hand.

I never collapsed, though, and at some point I lost myself to the drive and attacked my teacher.

He later told me how our fight lasted ten minutes, with the world itself bending against him and my tongue always launching at him, it would make me shudder if the thought of power didn’t drown out all the uncomfortable bits,

My master had problems snapping me in half during a battle of life or death, but still he managed to.

While unchecked power of any kind is generally bad, I needed it. How else was I supposed to kill the titan I had created?

Even unconscious and beaten to a bloody pulp I hadn’t reached the second refinement of my body, thus I spend a week underwater, which finally almost drowned me as I let it rush into me.

I had reached the point where I had to rely on other powers to bring e a challenge, because I myself wasn’t strong enough,

I could have died in that river bed, but as the near death situation had my life force as a torrent, I finally managed to filter out my impurities and let myself float, at which point I finally felt the second body refinement claim me.