Once Ryzen returned to the living quarters, he silently moved back to his corner mat and pretended to be asleep. Thankfully, it seemed that nobody noticed he was missing otherwise there would have likely been some problems.
Truthfully, Ryzen fit in quite well with this type of life. After actually doing it, he didn't have a huge reaction to killing especially when the person he did so attempted to end his life first. This didn’t mean that he had no morals. He definitely did. He just didn’t feel much killing lunatic vampires that were feeding off him. He wondered if this was strange and didn’t think much of it besides that. Ultimately, his lack of feelings would only benefit him as he learned to adapt to this new world.
Now that he was settled, Ryzen was eager to look at all his stat gains. He promptly pulled out his stat sheet and began to determine where he was lacking the most.
Ryzen Litfield
Race: Otherworlder
Class: Shadow Soldier
Level: 7
Hp: 30
Mp: 160
Strength: 11 (+5)
Dexterity: 25
Agility: 32
Vitality: 6
Endurance: 4
Intelligence: 16
Wisdom: 9
Unselected: 10
Skills:
Disguise: 1
Shadow Step: 1
It was clear to Ryzen that his health desperately needed a boost but he was reluctant to do so. Would raising his health allow him to tank just a single hit? If so, maybe it would be worth it but how much would he have to raise it for that to happen? Ryzen groaned and decided to designate ten points in vitality. Currently, his vitality was so low that simply being touched by a vampire would likely kill him let alone being attacked. Having more health was unfortunately necessary.
Ryzen silently sighed to himself and fell back into his bed to sleep. Tomorrow would mark their second day in this hellhole and Ryzen was already making massive gains.
“Hey! You sure sleep a lot!” a familiar high-pitched voice jerked Ryzen awake as he shot open his eyes.
He looked over at the source to find Analith staring at him with an inquisitive look. He returned a glare of his own and tried to go back to sleep.
“That wasn’t very nice! Get up! Food is here!” Analith shouted.
This time Ryzen forced himself out of bed and dragged himself over to whatever slop was considered food. He grabbed a bowl and ate just enough to maintain his energy and set it back down. It was truly horrid. Ryzen was convinced that the vampires shit in a bowl and fed it to them because of how bad it was.
After their meal, Ryzen was left with nothing to do and considered sneaking out to hunt. However, it seemed that Analith was keeping a tight eye on everyone and he didn’t want to make a scene. It was vital that he kept his rising strength an absolute secret. Anyone who knew would be a liability.
With that, Ryzen just sighed to himself and waited until once again the vampire came to take them to the feeding hour. Ryzen took his usual place in the back of the line and they once again started to walk towards the dining hall. However, Ryzen didn’t plan on sticking around this time.
He slunk away into the shadows and quickly zoomed off towards the nearest exit to the tunnel. He wouldn’t be returning to the barracks today as he figured it would be much too risky. Instead, he decided to peruse the massive number of interconnecting tunnels that made up the vampire’s home. Hopefully, he would be able to catch an unlucky vampire off guard.
After rapidly exploring a massive number of tunnels, Ryzen finally found a group of two vampires that were guarding a door. He was instantly curious as to what they could be guarding so he naturally prepared to attack. He took a deep breath and instantly slammed his knife into one of their hearts. A quick yelp and soon, the vampire died without another sound.
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Ryzen quickly moved to strike the other vampire but just as he was about to succeed, a red-tinted barrier appeared right where his knife was, easily blocking the blade and stunning him. The vampire put up an extremely ugly face and slammed his fist into Ryzen who was launched back into the wall. Ryzen felt dazed as blood leaked out of his mouth.
“Fuck!” he yelled.
The vampire unrelentingly stormed towards Ryzen and was next to him in the blink of an eye. Ryzen knew that he wouldn’t be able to take another hit like that so he quickly disappeared back into his shadow.
The vampire proceeded to launch his fist into the wall, creating a massive hole. However, he was clearly not satisfied as he realized Ryzen was nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately for the vampire, that thought was to be his last as a sharp pain filled the left side of his chest. He quickly tried to turn around and confront the cause but realized that his body would no longer listen. It was only then that he realized he was dead.
You killed level 24 vampire!
You killed level 31 vampire!
Ryzen’s face was deathly pale as he limped away from the body of the vampires. He slowly stumbled into the room the guards were in front of him. Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be anyone in there. He was right to put some of his unselected points into vitality. If he didn’t then Ryzen was sure that he wouldn’t be standing here.
He looked around the room which seemed to be filled with various tools and supplies. There were even vials filled with various liquids. While the thought of health potions came to Ryzen’s mind, he had no way to verify this and he was sure that it wouldn’t be smart to drink random substances. Essentially, Ryzen had just walked into a glorified janitor’s closet.
He sighed and planned to leave the room until he heard a commotion outside the room prompting him to quickly go into the shadows. A few seconds later, the door to the room was slammed open and four vampires hurried inside.
“Is anything missing?” one of them quickly asked.
“No, the poison and torture devices are all still here.”
Upon hearing this, Ryzen became extremely glad that he wasn't as stupid as to drink the vials. Still, he didn’t quite realize what the tools did.
Ryzen sighed inwardly as the vampires refused to quickly leave. At this rate, he would run out of time to get back to the dining hall and that would only cause more problems. Ryzen didn’t hesitate and quickly stabbed one of the vampires in the heart. Doing this caused the other vampires to turn in their comrade’s direction allowing Ryzen to take out another.
“Fuck, we’re under attack!” one of them screamed only to be quickly stabbed.
“Fuck, what are you!” the last one cried as he backed away into the corner. He shakily drew his sword and moved to strike down Ryzen but he was much too slow. Ryzen easily dodged the strike and slammed his knife into the vampire’s heart.
You killed level 23 vampire!
You killed level 22 vampire!
You killed level 19 vampire!
You killed level 25 vampire!
You have leveled up!
Ryzen was running out of MP, HP, and was exhausted. Unfortunately, his status didn’t keep track of where he was on both but if it could he was sure it would be extremely low. He dragged himself out of the room and sighed, wondering where the hell he was. Why were their torture tools being guarded just in a random tunnel? Then again, Ryzen had no clue where he was and for all he knew, there was a torture chamber nearby. He was curious but he knew that continuing to explore would be the death of him.
Ryzen went back to the dining hall where his wrecked state fit right in with the average student’s. Thankfully, they were quickly sent back to their quarters and Ryzen was allowed to rest.
Once the night came, Ryzen was feeling much better. His MP and HP had regenerated on their own. He had no clue what sort of damage came with the hit he took but whatever it was seemed healed. He could also tell that his MP was full. He didn’t quite know how but it stemmed from an instinctual sort of feeling that he couldn’t explain.
He silently left the area and continued his hunting in the barracks area. Ryzen noticed that he was starting to gain levels much more slowly than before so he decided that he had to speed things up. After taking out various different guards, Ryzen figured that their level wasn’t much of a concern. Tonight, he would become more aggressive. Ryzen silently entered, ignoring the guards who were on the lookout. He then closed in on an unsuspecting vampire and silently came out of his shadow form. He then proceeded to cover the mouth of the vampire and kill him in his sleep.
Fortunately, Ryzen’s plan worked and he proceeded to take out one vampire after another until nearly the entire room was wiped out. The two guards at the front were completely oblivious to what was happening and were even joking around with each other. That was until Ryzen stabbed one of them in the heart and quickly neutralized the other before they could even make a sound.
A torrent of notifications popped up on Ryzen’s screen as he gleefully stared at the incoming experience. Thankfully, he was correct to assume that each vampire wasn’t very strong but the number of them rapidly increased his experience. Soon, he widely grinned.
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
New skill gained: Shadow Daggers
Ryzen quickly thought of the skill and a status containing its information popped up.
Shadow Daggers (Unranked): Another important skill utilized by shadow soldiers. There were often times when soldiers were needed to neutralize multiple targets at the same time. Use the power of the shadows to form a single deadly dagger that can be controlled with your mind. Pierces most armors. Cost ten MP per summon.
Ryzen wasted no time in summoning the dagger. A purplish blade the size of a kitchen knife appeared in front of him, floating aimlessly. He tried to grab it but found he couldn’t. Then he remembered what the description had said. He could control it with his mind.
Ryzen focused on the dagger with his thoughts and sure enough, it moved wherever he needed it to. Better yet, he realized that he could instantly summon it wherever he needed as well.
Armed with new levels and a new skill, Ryzen happily walked out of the dead-silent barracks and silently returned to his room. He fell into his corner mat and went to sleep, with some hope for the future.