Over the next few days, Ryzen continued his pattern of hunting at night and during the feeding hour. His increasing speed along with his MP pool was allowing him to go farther and explore more of the current space he was stuck in. So far, it was much bigger than he immediately assumed. As it turns out, everything he had successfully explored was all part of one single sector of the entire city which was something he learned from eavesdropping on some guards.
Ryzen was surprised by this considering he didn’t feel like he had explored even ten percent of sector ten. Still, he had found countless more guard barracks, dining halls, large human living quarters, and many other interesting places. He was sure to eliminate any vampire guards he saw along the way, bringing his level to fourteen.
One thing Ryzen had noticed was that the security of the sector seemed to have been heavily reinforced and he couldn’t help but wonder if he was the reason for this. Considering he had wiped out a whole barracks, Ryzen was starting to believe that he was. However, this didn’t dissuade Ryzen from continuing to hunt. Instead, it had quite the opposite effect. He was now able to find enemies much easier which encouraged him even further.
Besides, his stats were starting to become rather monstrous compared to normal humans. He could no longer be compared to anybody he had ever known on earth. He was as fast as a car and could carry a weapon like a professional who had been training their entire life. If that wasn’t good enough, he was also capable of diving into shadows and making daggers appear out of thin air.
His shadow daggers were an incredible boon that truly did allow him to take out multiple enemies at the same time. As soon as he appeared to strike down an enemy, another would quickly be taken out at the same time. He would then rinse and repeat on each guard until they were all dead. If Ryzen wanted to remain completely stealthy, then he could also simply stay in his shadow and summon his dagger from there. Although this was taxing on his MP, his enemies would never be able to find him let alone hurt him!
He wasn’t sure what the limitations were for his shadow step skill but so far physical attacks were incapable of hurting him. Despite this, he was positive that there must have been some sort of weakness to it and made sure to avoid as many attacks as he could.
For now, Ryzen was waiting for the feeding hour and was excited to finally distribute some of the stat points he had saved up. He didn’t really mean to save them, it was more that he forgot to do so. Ryzen brought up his status and sighed when he realized just how many he had.
Ryzen Litfield
Race: Otherworlder
Class: Shadow Soldier
Level: 14
Hp: 80
Mp: 230
Strength: 11 (+5)
Dexterity: 39
Agility: 46
Vitality: 16
Endurance: 4
Intelligence: 23
Wisdom: 9
Unselected: 35
Skills:
Disguise: 1
Shadow Step: 1
Shadow Daggers: 1
Ryzen had successfully saved up thirty-five points like a dumbass. That was enough to seriously change his fighting abilities and mitigate potential risks. He wanted to slap himself and would have if it weren’t for the possibility of drawing the attention of Analith.
Ryzen respected her for managing to keep the students sane but also wished she would stop trying to pry into his business. Every day she had tried to ask questions about Ryzen and he would always refuse to answer any of them. This must have been an annoyance to her as it was clear that all of the other students easily answered whatever she asked.
Ryzen wasn’t trying to be antisocial, he just didn’t trust her whatsoever. This wasn’t because she had done something, he just naturally didn’t trust anyone.
Ryzen’s eyes went back to his status and he immediately knew where he was going to put his first few points. His endurance and wisdom were looking mighty sad right now, not to mention, life-threatening. In the past, he didn’t need endurance as his movement skill relied on MP, and his battles were never drawn out. However, Ryzen knew that he needed to be prepared for any sort of risks and this meant upgrading his stats accordingly. That being said he plugged five points into endurance and five more into wisdom.
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The next ten went into intelligence as this would allow him to keep shadow step running longer, which was vital. The final fifteen went into an even split of dexterity, agility, and strength.
Satisfied, Ryzen nodded to himself and patiently waited for the next feeding hour. During his exploring, he found an extremely heavily guarded room and was eager to explore what was inside. Now that his stats were heavily improved, he felt confident enough to face this danger. He figured that even if he failed, he would be able to easily escape.
Once the vampire came to retrieve them, Ryzen took off towards the guarded room and stopped right before the guards would be able to see him. There seemed to be around fifteen guards just lazing around. They all had bored looks on their faces and likely never expected an attack to actually happen. Why would they? They were deep in enemy territory with a seemingly obnoxious amount of guards. Nobody would dare attack them. Nobody except Ryzen.
With his shadow step skill, Ryzen essentially appeared in the middle of the group and instantly stabbed one of the guards in the heart. Simultaneously, his knife flew into another, instantly ending two vampire’s lives at once. Before any of the guards could even react Ryzen proceeded to take out four more like this.
Finally, the remaining nine guards composed themselves and systematically attacked Ryzen. At least they tried to. As soon as they swung their swords, Ryzen was already well into the shadows, prompting many confused looks.
This confusion quickly turned to horror as two more of the guards died. The remaining guards, realizing this threat was out of their league, tried to run but that only made it easier for Ryzen. Soon, they were all dead.
You have killed level 18 vampire!
You have killed level 24 vampire!
You have killed level 19 vampire!
You have killed level 21 vampire…
The notifications piled up on Ryzen’s screen as he reveled in the experience. Unfortunately, as he only recently leveled up to fourteen, it didn’t seem to be enough to push him to the next level. He did feel as if he were close though.
Ryzen smirked as he began to open the door to enter but rapid footsteps filled the air and Ryzen instantly disappeared into his shadow form.
A vampire in pitch-black armor and a blood-red sword quickly hurried to the scene followed by three guards in similar armor, although less elegant. Thankfully, they didn’t seem to know Ryzen was here at least that’s what he thought.
“Shit, we were too late.” the vampire in front grunted.
“Commander Xeruf, the attacker is still here. Do you want me to eliminate them?” one of the vampires following Xeruf asked.
Xeruf slowly nodded and Ryzen nearly shit himself when the vampire following him looked directly at Ryzen. He pulled out a red wand and shot a red orb that rocketed toward Ryzen. Ryzen quickly moved to dodge but the edge of his shadow was still grazed by the orb.
The pain he felt nearly caused him to scream as realized he was most definitely still vulnerable to magic in this form.
He rapidly shot away at full speed from the area and somehow the vampires were following him.
“Fuck!” Ryen thought as one of his worst fears became a reality. They were tracking him with some sort of skill! Not only that, but they were also keeping up with his speed. These guys were nothing compared to the usual vampires that he found.
Ryzen quickly came to a halt, causing the other vampires to do so as well. Before another magic orb could come his way, he popped out of his shadow and quickly tried to stab one of the vampires in the heart. Unfortunately, his target easily evaded the attack, obviously expecting it. A swift counterattack came Ryzen's way but he was able to move into his shadow to avoid it. Unfortunately, the vampires had planned this and a red orb was already rapidly encroaching.
The vampire who had sent it was sneering as he knew that there was no way that Ryzen could dodge it in time. Unfortunately for him, Ryzen had yet another trick up his sleeve and a purplish dagger that seemingly appeared out of nowhere flew straight towards the vampire’s chest. Due to his overconfidence, the vampire was left completely open as the dagger flew true and sank into the guard’s chest.
Still, the death of the vampire did not stop the charge of the red orb, and if Ryzen didn’t do something he would likely not be able to tank the hit. He quickly summoned and shot one of his shadow daggers at the orb. The impact of the dagger greatly slowed it down and dispersed part of it but it was not enough. Seeing this, Ryzen rapidly shot daggers until the projectile fully disappeared.
Sighing a breath of relief, he turned his attention back to the two enemies glaring at the dead vampire’s body. Unfortunately for them, they had no way to find Ryzen let alone kill him without the tracker.
Ryzen sent a shadow dagger at the vampire beside Xeruf and easily skewered him from behind. There may have been time to react to Ryzen coming out of his shadow and attacking, but unless the vampires had some sort of sixth sense, there was no way to dodge a dagger appearing out of thin air from behind.
The vampire fell to the ground with a thud and Xeruf panicked. “I will not stand for this you cowardly bitch! I am destined for greatness! A genius among the ages. I will not…”
Xeruf fell to the ground with an enraged face and a purple dagger sticking out of his back. Ryzen became annoyed with his glorified speech and just decided to end the battle. The tracker was the only real threat anyway.
You have killed level 35 vampire!
You have killed level 30 vampire!
You have killed level 40 vampire!
You have leveled up!
New skill gained: Shadow Guard
Ryzen ecstatically looked at the new skill’s description and nearly sighed out loud as he did so.
Shadow Guard (Passive) (Unranked): There were many who held a deep hatred for the shadow soldiers and many who would often search for them, yet they were never successful. This was because of their Shadow Guard skill. A small shadow barrier now surrounds you at all times, giving protection against mental, poison, and search attacks.
Ryzen sighed, thinking about how useful this would have been just five minutes ago. Still, he now had it and it would no doubt be another incredibly powerful boon to his already powerful skill set. Considering how easily he took out the higher leveled enemies, Ryzen wondered if his skills were normal for everyone or if his class was just this busted.