Arthur didn't feel pain, no, it was a completely different feeling. An exhilarating sensation. He felt alive, for the first time in fourteen months. He thought the fall would kill him but, ironically, it did quite the opposite.
He opened his mouth, desperately gasping for breathing, his arms raised upwards as he tried to feel the air. At last, his eyes fluttered then slowly opened, revealing to him the place he was at.
Arthur saw the ceiling, made from unorderly stone bricks, all riddled with holes and splashed with blood, not unlike the room he was tortured in. However, as he sat up, he didn't see the rest of the room but something else, something magical.
His vision was filled with translucent blue windows with thick English white letters on them.
*By Fate's decree: Arthur Bilgart has been reincarnated into a Parasite.*
*Parasite Race: An extinct Race, originating from Zaarae, the Parasite Empress.*
*Zaarae, the Parasite Empress, The Lady Who Reaps: One of the Twelve Creations Gods: Second only to the Creation God Moriah, The Shadow Emperor, Zaarae was one of the Six Creation Gods born from the Darkness. Her unique parasitic abilities allowed her to possess anything, whether it's a living or spiritual being.*
*As a Parasite, the user 'Arthur Bilgart', through the use of the skill [Possess(Active LvEX)] is able to possess any corpses and obtain 30% of their stats and all their skills. To possess a target, a parasite must enter through one of the body's orifices or through a wound of at least 3 centimeters in length.*
*You possessed 'Dissected Vampire Corpse: Rodrick Donovan*
*First possession! +50% Experience.*
*You have gained a new skill: [Vampire Bite(Active Lv8)].*
*You have gained a new skill: [Full Moon(Passive-Active)].*
*You have gained a new skill: [Blood Succor(Active Lv5)].*
*You have gained a new skill: [Physical Enhancement(Passive Lv5)].*
*You have gained a new skill: [Mana Control(Passive Lv2)].*
*The Status Window is now available. Please check it for more details.*
*You have gained a new skill: [Universal Human Language(Passive)]*
*Your stats have increased. Please check the Status Window for more details.*
*Your Race has automatically been changed: Blood Parasite.*
*Blood Parasite: An upgraded version of the race 'Parasite'. It's suitable when using a Vampire as a host: When possessing other Vampires, the user will gain 60% of their stats along with all of their skills.*
*The Blood Parasite will lose 50% of his stats in daylight.*
*The Blood Parasite's stats will increase by 10% at night.*
*When the host of the Blood Parasite dies, the Parasite will be ejected and permanently lose 30% of his stats and gain the temporary debuff [Near Death].*
*[Near Death] Debuff: When incapacitated, the Parasite won't be able to possess any corpse for 24 hours.*
*The Blood Parasite can only possess vessels that are relatively intact.*
*The Blood Parasite cannot possess corpses that are made or are wearing Silver.*
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
*Beware! Silver is fatal to Vampires and Blood Parasites.*
Arthur did not get up or move, he thoroughly read the blue windows, one by one, carefully as to not miss a single word. Even when he was done, he was still half-doubtful and half-confused. It has become plain clear that, technically, he didn't die. Nevertheless, he was perplexed over the absurdity of the unfolding events.
Thankfully, the System did a good job at explaining a few things, such as what he became.
'A Blood Parasite? There seems to be vampires too.'
Though still not entirely sure, Arthur concluded that he was not on Earth anymore. X did speak of a magical world, however, since he refused to cooperate and eat the purple orb, this shouldn't have happened.
Arthur, the parasite, spent two minutes collecting himself and grasp the situation and his surroundings. As the blue windows said, Arthur was now in the body of a dissected Vampire. His entrails were dangling, full of gore and dried blood. Next to the bed or table he was sitting on, there was a short metal table with a lot of equipment neatly ordered, all of which meant for torture and experimentation.
The next thing he paid attention to were the skills, which were explicitly presented in front of him.
'Oh, how helpful and polite.' he sneered to himself and looked at the floating blue windows.
*Mana Control (Passive Lv2): The ability to feel and control the Mana inside and outside of the user's body.*
*Vampire Bite (Active Lv8): Bite a living target and suck its blood for empowerment or sustain. Must be used at close proximity.*
*Physical Enhancement (Passive Lv5): A Vampire's body is stronger than a human. All physical stats will be increased each time this skill levels up.
This skill levels up once after sucking the blood of ten living creatures.*
*Full Moon (Passive-Active): Every full moon, the Vampire will gain two additional skills: [Bat Flight] - [Blood Magic].
Stats will increase by 100%.*
*Blood Succor (Active Lv5): The Vampire can sacrifice a bit of his Blood to turn Humans, Demons, Elves, Beastmen, Dwarves, … into half-vampires. If the Vampire successfully turns a target into a half-vampire, his stats will increase by 7%.*
Whether it was a new life or a test, Arthur didn't like it. The foul smell invading his nose, the vomit-invoking sight of his stomach, or the eeriness of this torture room. Fate seemed to be mocking him, throwing him from one torture room to the other.
Fortunately, he didn't have trouble moving around, nor did he feel any pain. He stood up and grabbed the organs dangling around, trying to stuff them back inside.
Arthur was calm, neither happy nor angry. Not even excited. After all, there was nothing to get excited about, neither becoming a parasite- which he still doesn't know anything useful about- nor getting sent here.
The next ten minutes were wholly spent looking around the room, which had more things than the previous one. There were old and dusty parchments thrown in the corner, small black books, and three broomsticks snapped in half. Apart from that, there were two doors on each side of the room, though Arthur didn't know which one led outside.
He searched for a weapon to use in case someone attacked him but, sadly, there wasn't anything useful. The torture equipment was sharp but they were small and, in a real fight, they won't help him that much. Still, Arthur hid two of them in his saggy pants then picked up one of the broken broomsticks.
'It mentioned skills' He thought as he waved the broomstick around. His movements were sluggish and his dissected body made it awkward. In addition to his stomach, which was cut open, his throat had a gaping hole and his left arm wasn't functionally properly, probably due to the broken bones, which he had noticed only when tried the broomstick.
'I should expect danger. I don't know where I am…'
Only when thirty minutes passed since his arrival here did Arthur try one of the doors. He examined the books but couldn't understand the runes, symbols, and language used, it looked like absolute gibberish.
Before stepping out of the door, which led to a narrow and dimly lit corridor, Arthur took a thorough look at the Status Window mentioned earlier.
TITLE(S) : NONE
NAME : Arthur Bilgart
RACE : Blood Parasite
Lv: 1 (50%)
-
Strength : 32
Intelligence : 13
Agility : 28 (-7)
Wisdom: 11
Vitality : 30
Dexterity : 19
Skills: Vampire Bite (Active Lv8) - Full Moon [Passive-Active] - Physical Enhancement (Passive Lv5) - Blood Succor (Active Lv5) - Mana Control (Passive Lv2) - Possession (Passive LvEX) - Universal Human Language (Passive)
It doesn't take a genius to figure out the meaning behind those numbers. Each one was significant and, put simply, turns the physical and magical prowess of Arthur into accurate numerical values. The problem, however, was that he didn't know if they were low or not.
Even with a body like this, he slowly got used to it and was able to walk properly, more or less.
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Unbeknownst to Arthur, he wasn't the only one who had an unexpected meeting with the entity known as 'X'.
The mysterious figure who had appeared before him had set his sights on another suitable target, one much younger but more twisted than him. It all started in the alley at the outskirts of a city, a place which reeked of the pungent smell of trash, piss, and alcohol. A place that not even the desperate homeless people wanted to pass by.