The corridor was narrow and with a low ceiling, almost reaching Arthur's head. It was dimly lit by old torches, separated from each other by a distance of twenty to thirty meters, at the very least.
While using his new and foreign dissected vampire body, Arthur gingerly marched ahead, holding the broken half of the broomstick, and kept his eyes wide open, warily scanning his front and rear.
Strangely enough, he didn't feel that afraid, just slightly apprehensive of what was in store for him once he leaves this place, wherever this is.
'Voices!'
After walking for no less than five minutes, Arthur could hear subtle noises, which, once he walked slightly closer, turned out to be voiced. One was shouting at the top of his lungs whereas the other was responding with unpleasant croaking or incomprehensible moaning. Like any earthling of his age, Arthur distinguished some similarities between the second voice and that of zombie’s… the ones usually heard in movies.
"I told you to stand there and not a move a single damned muscle! You retarded shit!"
Carefully, as to not make any sound, Arthur drifted ever closer to a now-visible door, which looked the same as the one from before. From right behind the door, the voices were now clearer than ever. Furthermore, Arthur could, fortunately, understand one of them, which was hoarse and nasty.
The circumstances surrounding his arrival, the translucent blue windows, and him being a parasite, were more than enough for Arthur not to open the door and kindly greet whoever was there. It was essential to take another approach, an aggressive and dangerous one, if necessary.
Logically thinking, the man shouting from the other side should be the very person who dissected the vampire. While the croaking and moaning individual or 'thing' should be his subordinate, a guard of some sort. That was Arthur's initial assumption after listening to them for a minute or so.
The man kept rambling on and on, spouting vulgar words, insulting the guard, and kicking or throwing the seats. Arthur stood there, holding the broken piece of wood and preparing himself. It was wise and safe to wait for them to finish and for the guard to leave, through another door, hopefully.
"Get back there and don't move! Do you hear me?! If I see you here again then I'll gouge out your disgusting eyes!"
Finally, he started talking, though his heavy and loud breathing could still be heard. He was hyperventilating and angrily stomping on the ground as he made his way toward the door.
Before the door was opened, Arthur clearly heard another door open and close, signifying that the guard was gone.
As it turned out, the shouting man was actually a very old man; Wrinkled face, bony hands, abnormally large nose, and beady eyes, which constricted at the sight of Arthur. Sadly for him, before he could react, the parasite swung the broomstick- or what was left of it- straight at his head.
Arthur used all his strength, which turned out to be a bit too much as the whole body of the old man was blown against the wall then limply fell to the ground, head-first.
As the old man laid motionless and seemingly dead on the ground, Arthur looked at his right hand then at the piece of wood, totally bewildered. He didn't think it would do this much damage… in fact, he was planning to attack again.
Regardless of whether the old man was dead or not, Arthur felt neither guilt nor remorse. He was doing this to survive and even if the old man wasn't evil, he'd have done the same to keep his life. He didn't want to remain in that torture room, imprisoned for the remainder of his second life, which has just begun.
The parasite didn't enter the next room, he examined the old man and checked his heartbeat, which was non-existent. It seemed he really killed him and the confirmation came shortly after, in the form of floating blue windows.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
*You killed 'Latif Aitzeon Biar'.*
*You gained 1872 Experience.*
*You leveled up!*
*You leveled up!*
For an indeterminate amount of time, Arthur debated with himself whether it was a good idea to possess the dead old man. There seemed to be no disadvantages in doing so, however, the system didn't explain how to leave his current host or if it was even possible to return to a previous host in case he didn't like the new one.
Certainly, though dead, the old man was in a much better physical condition than the dissected vampire. After all, his stomach was intact and his left arm wasn't broken, nevertheless, Arthur wasn't too keen on possessing him. The old man was uglier than the vampire in more than one way; He was a hunchback, bald, had disgusting pimples all over his face, and smelled and looked dirty.
After a long and thorough contemplation, Arthur decided to do it albeit reluctantly. There were too many factors that were taken into account, one of them being his life from now on. He couldn't walk in the open looking like this, he would look frightening and conspicuous. The state of his dissected stomach made it impossible to sew it or try to fix it in any way. There was also his broken left arm, which he didn't know how to fix. Furthermore, there was still the chance that he might stumble upon another corpse, a nice-looking one, optimistically.
Unexpectedly, the process of exiting the current vessel (or host) wasn't taxing or complicated. Arthur had to focus a little bit and will himself to leave the vampire, which happened spontaneously. His minuscule parasitic body was ejected, coming straight from the stomach.
Even though he was now a Blood Parasite, he was just as tiny as before, lacking any limbs or means to properly move. Nonetheless, as he positioned himself well, he was able to land on the dead old man. Unlike the first time, Arthur possessed Latif by going through his mouth, and then his vision turned black for a couple of seconds.
When he opened his eyes again, he was in the old man's body. Like before, he felt no pain but was sluggish and it took him a considerably longer time than earlier to adjust to this body. He heard the continuous ringing sound that belonged to the System.
*You possessed 'Latif Aitzeon Biar.*
*Possession Experience: +5%*
*You have gained a new skill: [Corpse Dissection(Active Lv12)].*
*You have gained a new skill: [Medical Field(Passive Lv4)].*
*You have gained a new skill: [Knife Mastery (Passive Lv2)].*
*You have gained a new skill: [Sadistic Torture(Active Lv5)].*
*You gained a basic understanding of the Arman Language: 11.3%*
*You gave gained a new skill: [Basic Arman Language(Passive)].*
*Your stats have increased. Please check the Status Window for more details.*
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TITLE(S) : NONE
NAME : Arthur Bilgart
RACE : Blood Parasite
Lv: 3 (35%)
-
Strength : 39
Intelligence : 16
Agility : 37
Wisdom: 19
Vitality : 35
Dexterity : 23
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)- Basic Arman Language(Passive)- Sadistic Torture (Active Lv5) - Corpse Dissection (Active Lv12)- Medical Field (Passive Lv4) - Knife Mastery (Passive Lv2).*
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There was a strange occurrence this time around; A pain assaulted Arthur's head, it was head-splitting, causing him to groan and clutch his head. It didn't last for long, fortunately, but it perturbed Arthur. It was as if an influx of information was forcefully dumped into his brain.
It took him a bit to sober up and realize what happened, which, despite the excruciating pain, could only be a good thing. As a businessman, he wasn't that knowledgeable about other jobs, including doctors and nurses. Yet, magically, he had a good understanding now, good enough to qualify him as a nurse on Earth.
Names of unfamiliar herbal medicines were in his mind, as well as explicit surgeries performed on this world, names of diseases, and pandemics. It was a lot of stuff, which made him sit there and sort them up, feeling a bit excited. Although it was unreasonable to steal someone's knowledge about a specific field, Arthur was able to do it, much to his surprise.
By gaining the host's skills, he didn't think he would be able to also gain a bit of their knowledge if the skills demanded so. In reality, and unbeknownst to him, it differed from one skill to the other. Not all skills would provide a wide variety of useful information and details, only a handful of general skills. However, there were also skills that gave him something else, like the ability to wield weapons.
For example, by gaining the 'Knife Mastery', Arthur was now able to use a knife better than before. He could swing it more freely and perform novice moves, which could prove fatal if aimed at vital points.