Time seemed to slow down as Leech chewed the revolting flesh. He saw the ancestral spirit sprinting towards him with a look of hatred and disgust apparent through not only his face but his body language. As time grew slower and slower he watched leaves fall from the trees above, he observed them as their speed decreased until finally came to a halt in midair. For a split second everything was frozen in time; then he swallowed.

The frozen spirit, just inches away from him, evaporated into a mist and was quickly blown out of the physical world. Leech didn’t know what he expected, but this was not it, ‘Why isn’t anything happening? I thought that with all that emotion from the spirit that something bad would hap-Ack!’ Leech’s inner thoughts were brought to a halt as a sharp pain appeared in his abdomen. Panicking, he looked down only to find that there was no physical wound.

Before Leech could get his thoughts in order his stomach revolted, sending blood flying out of his mouth. ‘Am I going to die? Is this the reason that cannibalism is forbidden?’ Leech thought that death was upon him until he remembered the spirit’s words, how the reason it was forbidden is that the spirit of the dead Dark Elf is destroyed. ‘So what’s happening to me?!’ Leech had gotten ahold of himself and put a lid on the pain when suddenly it intensified, this time it wasn’t spreading from his abdomen; instead every cell in his body burned like it was on fire.

Leech collapsed face first onto the ground before convulsing fiercely. He held his stomach, he tore at his arms, he beat his head against the ground, however nothing helped. Rather abruptly the pain stopped, leaving Leech wondering what the hell had just happened to him. Through somewhat blurred vision he noticed some windows hovering without a care in the world. When his vision returned to normal he read them all:

For consuming the flesh of a creature from the same race as you, you have gained the title ‘Cannibal’. The title ‘Cannibal’ causes revulsion in all those who meet you. In addition you also gain +5 Ferocity.

Transformation has begun

Transformation has ended

Your race has been changed from Dark Elf to Dark Blood Elf. For more information check details

Your class has been changed from Ancestral Berserker to Crimson Heritage Berserker. For more information check details

You have gained an affinity with Blood. For more information check details

‘Seems like I have lots of details to check’ Leech thought before commanding, “Show details of race, class, and affinities.” Leech spent several minutes reading through some very long descriptions before he felt he completely understood his new self. ‘So basically as a Dark Blood Elf my characteristics are a combination of a Blood Elf and a Dark Elf, meaning that I’m inclined to have an average sized mana pool that I can control normally, however my magic will be slightly more potent. Besides that I have a vampirism trait that lets me restore health from blood, seems like a good race.’

In Aethr races could impact a character greatly because the system would place limits and give advantages to each race in different areas. As the game was still in its infancy it was unknown just how the system did this but there was plenty of speculation. An example is that Dark Elves were known to have small mana pools that they couldn’t access, as a result trying to become a mage as a Dark Elf would take a lot more work than a player from another race would have to put in.

Leech preferred his new class over the previous one, as it allowed him to take the skills of defeated enemies rather than use the skills of ancestors. Of course there were restrictions; he couldn’t obtain skills that he couldn’t use and, of course, he could only gain one skill per enemy. Even with those restrictions Leech thought it would give him a lot of flexibility when in combat, he hoped that like in many other games berserkers would be able to use a variety of weapons and skills.

His blood affinity was the least exiting, in Leech’s mind, as it only allowed him to use blood magic and gave a slight boost to his health and health regeneration. ‘It’s not the worst affinity I could get, but it’s pretty bad. The forums say that every vampire is given blood affinity by default…well I’ll have to see how common it is amongst the other races’ The only other hint that the details on blood affinity gave him was that if he could gain an affinity with the arcane or with darkness he would probably be able to use very powerful skills.

There was only one more thing to check before he started getting ready to move, to check his racial skills. Although the details had told him what being a Dark Blood Elf entailed it hadn’t shown him what he really wanted to know, “Show racial skills” Leech commanded:

Prime Mutations:Your body is unstable and is able to gain characteristics from other races. To gain characteristics from a race you must drink their blood. You may only gain 3 mutations before your body is unable to mutate further.

Blood Sense:You are able to sense blood around you. Due to your ability to sense blood you are able to see the health of enemies.

In many VR games Blood Sense would be discarded as useless, in fact many players in Aethr might do the same. However Leech felt the opposite; it wasn’t his first game where life wasn’t displayed, and he knew from experience that being able to see the health of opponents was a huge advantage. That being said Prime Mutations blew Blood Sense out of the water; to give him the characteristics from another race, although unclear, sounded amazing.

Having checked everything that he wanted to Leech decided to start taking advantage of his skills. He approached one of the corpses that he had created and placed his mouth near its neck. Instinctively, if that was even possible, his fangs extended and he plunged them into the corpse’s neck. After he had drained the corpse, which was now mummified, he dropped it and three windows popped up:

Register Dark Elf as a Prime Mutation?

You have gained the skill Double Shot

Double ShotAllows you to shot two arrows at once, reducing the accuracy penalty from -50% to -25% (the accuracy of each arrow becomes 50%)

“Register Dark Elf as a Prime Mutation” Leech said slowly, hoping that whatever bonus it gave would be good. Another window popped up quickly:

Dark Elf registered as a Prime Mutation

Prime Mutation-Dark ElfHunter’s Instinct:Allows you to perceive the level and name of any creatures you see.

“Oh” ‘What a great combination of skills to get’ Leech thought to himself. With the combination of Hunter’s Instinct and Blood Sense he would be able to see the name, level, and health of every monster he fought. Leech knew that those two skills would probably be some of his best in the long run. ‘Now all I need is a skill that shows me the opponent’s mana…’ Leech mused to himself.

Leech continued on his quest to drain the blood of every single Dark Elf that he’d killed, unfortunately after the second Dark Elf he kept receiving the same message:

You cannot learn any skills from this body

The message continued until he consumed the two individuals who he thought to be the former village chief and the former village elder, rewarding him with two new skills:

Piercing Shot:You can imbue mana into arrows to give them extra piercing power (+10% accuracy and +5% critical hit damage)

Mana Arrow:You can create arrows out of mana; the arrow’s damage is dependent on how much mana you use for its creation

They were much better compared to the skill that he’d obtained from the second Dark Elf:

Triple Shot:Allows you to shoot three arrows simultaneously, reducing the accuracy penalty from -75% to -50% (accuracy of each arrow become 25%)

All together he’d obtained some decent archery skills. He’d also found the reason that the Dark Elves had been so easy to kill; their lack of skills. Normally NPCs whose levels were in the 100s would have many skills that they could use; however the Dark Elves seemed to have about two each. As he thought about it the pieces came together in his mind, ‘Although their levels were high they are still NPCs that guard a starting village. That means that they’d be designed to be able to keep monsters at bay but be unable to clear the monsters out so that the players can obtain experience. The only reason their levels were so high was so that they could deal enough damage to the surrounding monsters.’

After reaching this conclusion Leech’s feat of defeating 43 Dark Elves didn’t seem so grand anymore. Effectively the Dark Elves only advantage over him had been their damage and health since they simply shot arrows at him while stationary. Their damage had been negated by his dodging skills while their health didn’t matter when he’d shot an arrow into their head from point blank. The Dark Elves hadn’t been designed to utilize their full potential, they didn’t use their agility or any strategy to take advantage of their numbers; they just scattered.

Leech sighed, ‘Now I don’t feel so overpowered anymore…though I’m still high leveled’ from what Leech had heard the players who had started with the game and devoted their lives to it had reached ~50 in the time the game had been out. Being at level 59 was quite the accomplishment for a new player, although Leech admitted it was strange that a new player could level up so fast, even if his circumstances were unique. Leech decided to check the forums about the matter of leveling so quickly when he logged out.

Having finished with the corpses Leech supposed that the only thing left to do was to check the houses for loot, ‘Wonder what kind of amazing items I can get. If my luck continues I bet I’ll find something SSS in the next ten minutes!’ However Leech’s hopes were destroyed faster than he’d thought possible after finding that every burrow he went to was devoid of useful items. It seemed that Dark Elves didn’t value worldly possessions very much as the most he’d found was a walking stick (Rank F).

Leech decided to take a break and eat some of the meat he’d stored in his inventory; after all he did need the room. Leech cooked some of the delicious meat that he’d eaten last time, however he was surprised that he didn’t receive any stat bonuses this time. ‘Seems like my luck has turned around’ Leech thought to himself. Leech searched the remaining houses while contemplating whether it was possible that his luck had somehow been removed from the future and sent to the past; hence causing his situation.

Leech had searched every house in the village and found nothing, being thoroughly disappointed Leech decided to find a safe place to log off. Leech decided that that ‘safest’ burrow would probably be the highest up as he could get a good view of everything when he logged back in. Surveying the village Leech noticed that there was a burrow that he hadn’t visited high in the trees, the reason that he’d missed it was that it didn’t have a bridge connecting it to the rest of the village. ‘That’s odd’ Leech thought as he climbed the tree that harbored the elusive burrow.

At first the burrow seemed just like the rest, however upon closer inspection Leech found a trap door under the ‘bed’ (which was a combination of plants). Leech opened the door and descended into the darkness. Luckily for Leech it seemed that his eyes were still luminescent, allowing him to see unhindered. The room seemed to be a study of sorts, although it appeared that it didn’t receive much use as a thick layer of dust covered everything.

Perhaps calling the room a study was generous, for while it had a desk, chair, and bookshelf, it only had three books and lacked both writing instruments and paper for writing on. Leech grabbed the three books off the shelf and ascended back into the light. Leech spread the books on the floor before him and examined them. ‘Oh great, they’re written in some kind of Dark Elven runes, how am I ever going to-wait what?!’

Although the books were written in a language that Leech had never seen before, he could understand them as if they were written in English. They weren’t being translated by the system, no; it was more like the system had added extra information to his brain, as if had learned this language himself. Leech then had a strange thought, ‘If I can read this language then…’ “drask bram indulo Leech…” Leech paled and sat in silence for several minutes.

‘I just spoke in a language that I’ve never learned…it’s more than that though, I tried to speak in English but I can’t…what’s going on?’ Leech decided that it would be best to log out and check the forums for information on his situation. Leech quickly packed the three books in his bag before moving to the corner of the room and logging out.

***

David exited his capsule and walked through the darkness towards his kitchen. The time read 1:00, which meant that he’d been in game for 8 hours (real-time). He poured himself a glass of water and drank it, followed by some instant ramen noodles. After his midnight snack he made his way back to his bed room, which also functioned as his game room, and turned his computer on. As the fan whirled to life the screen came on, displaying all the windows that he’d left open.

One such window was the Aethr forums, which he promptly started navigating; looking for the answers to his questions. He found his first answer relatively quickly; as he’d thought, many posts explained that in Aethr every race had their own language. He wasn’t the only one who had noticed that he gained the ability to read and talk in another language either; there was an entire section of the forums for a discussion of the subject and how it was possible to cause someone to speak, and indeed think, in another language without their immediate knowledge. Leech didn’t really care though, as he’d confirmed his suspicions.

Some others had noticed that they couldn’t speak in their native language and created a section to debate how that was achieved as well. As for why the system didn’t let you speak in your native language…it was obvious to most. It would defeat the purpose of giving each race a different language if players could overcome the barrier by speaking their native language.

His second question took a lot of sifting through posts to finally find a post that explained the leveling issue:

ElvenDarkenBlade:Guys you’ll never believe what happened to me in-game! Everyone has been complaining about how difficult the Dark Elves are but I know the reason. Like everyone else I’ve been struggling for the past couple of weeks, receiving few quests and being treated terrible, however there is a light at the end of the tunnel! I was invited to join a hunting party from my tribe (and I did) and you’ll never guess what happened! I only shot a couple of arrows into one of these giant monsters but I gained 10 levels from its death! After the hunting trip was done I was level 39 (and currently am), all my hard work has paid off!

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

The post continued to ramble on about how great it was to level up so quickly but Leech stopped reading there. It made sense to think that Dark Elves would level up so fast if they had such a time gap between opportunities to level. The Dark Elf NPCs were rude by nature but if you gained their trust then you could gain levels. Although it’s a different way to start the game is makes logical sense. It would probably also mean that almost all Dark Elf players would be persistent and determined.

Having found answers to both of his questions David made his way into his bed before drifting off into sleep. As his consciousness faded away he questioned why VR capsules couldn’t be used while you were sleeping. He also thought about how his summer break was almost over, and in a few weeks he would have to start attending college, ‘Don’t worry about it’ he thought to himself, ‘There’s plenty of time to get things done…’

***

David logged back in after a 7 hours of sleep. Leech found himself exactly where he’d last been, which was a relief because players bodies remained for about an hour in-game after their user logged out. Thinking back on his actions Leech thought it would have been better to log out in the room under the trap door ‘20/20 hindsight’ he thought to himself. He made his way over to the opening and gazed out at the village below him.

At a glance the village didn’t look any different from when he’d logged out, but as he observed he noticed that there was an abundance of monsters on the forest floor where there had previously been none. In addition several branches above the village seemed to be hosting bird nests and bee hives, something that would have previously been impossible for the animals to maintain. With the Dark Elves gone it seemed that the forest was returning to its natural state.

Leech retreated back into the burrow before taking the three books out of his inventory. He examined the runes that were used as letters in the Dark Elven language; they were curvy and smooth but they had some sharp edges and ended in points. After his examination he read the titles of every book; ‘Metamorphosis; Elf to Dark Elf’, ‘Dark Elven Crafting Secrets’, and ‘Forbidden Techniques of the Ravenclaw Tribe’. Leech was particularly interested in that last one, so that’s what he started with. The book was divided into three sections, each explaining a different technique. The first technique was called ‘Arcane Branding’, which read:

‘Arcane Branding is a technique that was born with the advent of the Dark Elf sub-species to compensate for their weak magical potential. To understand its creation you must first understand the reasons for the lack of magical potential in the Dark Elf sub-species. Dark Elves are typically born with very small mana pools, however that is not what stops Dark Elves from using magic. The mana pools of Dark Elves tend to be very stable, which is usually regarded as a good thing, unfortunately they are too stable. The result is that trying to remove mana from the pool becomes close to impossible and that when it is removed it takes a long time to return to its former amount.

When this change started to occur in the ancestors of the Dark Elves many of these ancestors had previously experienced what it was like to be an Elf and did not want to lose their magical abilities; their desire to retain their magic lead to the development of Arcane Branding. The technique involves manipulating ambient mana from nature and forcing it into one’s body. Arcane Branding became a forbidden technique when the 5th Chief realized that it was becoming impossible to successfully perform. The reason was that the changes between Elf and Dark Elf grew between every generation, so although the first Dark Elves could perform the technique the later generations did not have the capabilities to manipulate ambient mana properly.

However the fact that many Dark Elves could not perform the technique was not the problem in and of itself, it was the cause of the problem. If Arcane Branding fails the results are disastrous; the ambient mana that is absorbed distorts the mana pool and the formerly stable mana becomes uncontrollable. Imagine a can of water that is suddenly squeezed into the size of an ant; the water would discharge from the can in every direction. As a person loses control of their mana they experience great pain that ends only when their mana causes their death, usually by explosion of melting. As the technique can only be performed on oneself it was impossible to have an experienced Dark Elf help, aside from explaining the process.

After a large number of deaths resulting from failed attempts the technique was deemed ‘forbidden’. The risk is great but so is the reward if the technique if performed successfully. Arcane Branding allows the user to use their life force to manipulate the magic around them to their will. As previously explained Arcane Branding is performed when the user forces ambient mana into their body; the marks created, known as ‘burns’, serve as a link between the body and the ambient mana around the user. To activate this link the user must sacrifice some of their life force and send it into the surrounding ambient mana, once there the life force acts as a kind of magnet and pulls ambient mana into the user.

Ambient mana, however, cannot be manipulated by the mind like normal mana; to overcome this obstacle the original burns must be made into the shape of runes. As the ambient mana is absorbed into the body it will automatically change itself to fit the will of the rune it entered through. By using Arcane Branding the user allows themselves the ability to use magic however they please, the only limit is the number of runes on one’s body. Here is a list of all possible known rune combinations for those who are willing to take the risk…’

What followed was a series of runes that Leech could not fully understand, though thankfully there were explanations under every rune to explain its purpose. Leech guessed that the runes were not actually Dark Elven runes; instead he thought they were probably an ancient mix between Elven and Dark Elven runes. Of course he based his theory on a guess that Dark Elven was derived from Elven, so he may not have even be close to the truth.

Leech read through the list of runes carefully, making a mental note of those that he thought would be most useful to him. Though the process seemed dangerous beyond belief, Leech knew that any and every player that got their hands on such a secret would not be able to resist the temptation to try and use the forbidden technique. After an hour of studying the runes he finally had all the combinations that he wanted to ‘burn’ into his body.

As having these ‘burns’ active would consume his ‘life force’ (which he assumed to be health) he decided to create a series of runes that he could use at the beginning of the battle, when he still had full health. Figuring that it would be better to try and use them to avoid taking damage and instead only lose health to the runes he focused on runes that would boost his physical abilities, specifically he wanted to increase his speed and reaction time.

After deciding on his combinations he read the explanation of the actual process of Arcane Branding:

‘Arcane Branding can be divided into two stages; the first being the forcing of ambient mana into one’s body and the second being the forcing of one’s life force out of one’s body to draw in ambient mana once the ‘burns’ have been made. Before you start the procedure you should be able to directly manipulate your mana. To perform the first step, meditate until you can feel the presence of the ambient mana around you. Once you are proficient at detecting ambient mana you must cut the runes into your body, as your life force escapes into the surroundings a small amount of ambient mana will gather around the wound. Use your mana to grab ahold of the ambient mana and draw it into your body. As the ambient mana is drawn into your body you will experience great pain and the parts of your body affected will heal slowly. Once the wounds are fully closed the pain will subside and you may release your hold on the ambient mana. To perform the second step of Arcane Branding you may simply will your life force out of the runes on your body, from there the ambient mana will naturally come to you and grant you the effects of the runes. You will always feel pain as you release your life force. The next passages are exercises to help one develop their control over their mana. To sense ambient mana meditation is all that is required.’

Leech stifled his inner disappointment at not being able to perform the forbidden technique straight away, although it was to be expected that preparations would be required, it still put a damper on his mood. So Leech read the instructions for developing control over his mana and started performing the exercises to the best of his ability. Whenever he tired of controlling his mana, or ran out, he would meditate or read.

The book that Leech read was the ‘Metamorphosis; Elf to Dark Elf’ which told the tale of how the Dark Elven sub-species came to be. In addition to providing some history the book also talked about the actual changes that occurred within the bodies of the Dark Elves, as well as giving the reasons for the changes. Leech found it very interesting to learn about the differences between Dark Elves and Elves and spent much too much time reading the book.

Leech continued in such a manner for six in game weeks, which added up to two weeks in real life and brought David closer and closer to the end of his summer break. Fortunately those six weeks had not been all for naught, Leech had gained a variety of mana based skills and was now confident that he could manipulate his mana enough to ‘grab’ ambient mana. His basic mana manipulation skills were:

Mana Orb:You can compress some of your mana into an orb that you can manipulate at will. The orb will give off light and slowly release the mana used to create it. If the orb is broken it will deal damage based on how much mana is remaining inside it. You can add mana to a pre-existing orb if you so desire.

Mana Mist:You can release your mana in the form of a mist around your body. This mist will deal damage to anything it comes in contact with. The damage it deals is based on how much mana you are releasing.

Mana Tears:You can excrete your mana into a water-like substance. Drinking the substance will restore the same amount of mana that was used to make the liquid.

Although they seemed like very weak skills they allowed Leech to gain a basic understanding of how he could manipulate his mana into a solid, gas, or liquid state. And while in their most basic form they were almost useless, if he put in large amounts of mana the damage could be great. Leech often kept several mana orbs hovering around him, which were the size of marbles, while he constantly released mana mist.

***

It was the day before his orientation at his new college and David was eager to finally perform the forbidden Arcane Branding technique. He was eating a small breakfast while watching one of the various news programs about Aethr. The program he was watching followed some of the most famous players through their adventures, examining how they played along the way to try and give tips to other players. From what the program was showing the highest levelled players were around level 100 and were finally starting to slow down.

Initially gaining levels had been relatively easy for most people, but those who were professional gamers scoffed at how easy it was to shot through the levels. It seemed that the game was designed in such a way that level 100 was more like the start of a player’s adventure. The company behind Aethr had stated that they wanted players to have a set of skills that they were proficient at before they set out on real adventures, hence the reason that reaching level 100 was so easy.

NPCs were not disadvantaged, however, as a similar rule applied to them. Most people had assumed that NPCs were just given high levels to dissuade players from abusing them but the truth had been uncovered when the level 100 announcement was made. NPCs usually gained an average of five levels per year from when they were born till they were twenty years old, making the average NPC level 100 at twenty years of age.

For players the slowdown in levels was not the only thing that hitting level 100 signified; it also meant that you could no longer change your class or change affinities. As you were limited to one class and five affinities it was important that you decided on what you wanted before you hit level 100, because at that point it was too late to change anything. Of course your class could ‘evolve’, that is, it could change into a variant of the original class (just like Leech’s had) but you wouldn’t be able to start a new class from scratch.

Finishing his breakfast David turned off the TV, which was now prattling on about how amazing a certain famous player’s skills were, and headed towards his bed/game room. Entering his capsule he closed his eyes and waited as his mind made the journey to Aethr.

Leech opened his eyes to the abandoned study that he’d taken to logging out in. Today was the day when he was going to perform the first stage in the forbidden technique Arcane Branding, and he was chomping at the bit. He was about to slam the trap door open when he heard something above him move. He immediately entered a battle stance, ready to strike whatever came through the door, but nothing happened.

Curious, Leech peeked out the trap door to behold a sight that sent shivers down his spine. A large black bird with a neck like a swan, elliptical wings, and feathers like a crow stood making its nest in the burrow. Upon closer inspection Leech could see bone-like spikes protruding from the creature’s neck and down its back. ‘What the hell is that thing?’ Leech asked himself, of course he already knew; due to his hunter’s instinct he knew that the creature before him was a ‘Corrupted Nightmare Swan' with a stunning level of 250.

Leech re-examined his bow, which now had some strangely familiar scenes of a Dark Elf dodging arrows and a Dark Blood Elf draining corpses engraved on it. Nothing had changed, ‘I guess that’s to be expected, I’ve only leveled up twice since I got the bow so expecting a change so quickly would be unreasonable. Unfortunately it’s not going to help me in this situation; its high rank seems to be mostly due to its ability to grow and the fact that it’s soulbound to me.'

Leech silently closed the trap door and examined his options, ‘I could fight it…and die….I could try and sneak past it…and die…I could wait till it leaves…and probably die. Hmm.’ after considering every possibility he could think of, Leech came up with a plan. ‘It’s insane, that’s for sure. But it’s the only way I can see out of this.’ Leech reached into his inventory and took out the tooth he’d used to skin the monsters before, ‘Here goes nothing' Leech thought as he plunged the tooth into his abdomen.

End of Chapter 2

***

Authors Notes: I tried to get this chapter out quickly so I apologize for any mistakes made and for its shorter length. If anyone sees any mistakes please point them out so I can fix them.

Thanks to Elsie, superloner, and RainbowRabbit for commenting on my last chapter! Made me feel really great to get comments!

RainbowRabbit- Thanks for the feedback, I agree that the story is a bit rushed. I tried to make Leech a bit less overpowered in this chapter in some ways by making the massacre of the Dark Elves & his bow seem less overpowered to make the story more believable however some of the rushed feeling has stayed and I don't think I can write it away.

Feedback is really appreciated as I'm hoping to improve my writing abilities.