Ryan felt as if he was drinking the sweetest of nectar. A kind of frenzy overtook him, and he couldn't stop it. He used his finger again to wipe off the red liquid mark and licked it.
He then rushed to the couch and licked the puddle of red liquid, even squeezing out the clothes that were dripping in blood.
He grabbed all the dirtied clothes, dunked them in the sink, and drank the water with the blood stain. Everything happened too quickly. He didn't even get a chance to think about what he was doing. It was as if his brain was switched off.
Only after he cleaned out everything, he stopped. The thing that had a hold on him was no longer there, and he was able to breathe.
Ryan collapsed on the ground, clutching his head. What the hell was happening to him?
A woman was murdered near his building, and his apartment was filled with bloody stains. Was he responsible for that?
He thought about how he had acted like a lunatic out of control just seconds ago when he mindlessly cleaned off this blood. It was as if he had no control over his actions.
Ryan then remembered that he had blacked out. What exactly happened then?
That seemed to be the time when the woman was also murdered. He checked the clock, and barely an hour had passed. Could he really have done all this in an hour?
He opened his window and looked out to see the many police cars still lingering in his neighborhood. He tried to remember something, anything, but nothing came to his mind. He had no recollection of doing anything at all, let alone killing a person.
"No. I couldn't have done it." Ryan tried to recall everything that happened all over again.
All he remembered was the insatiable thirst and the red color. After that, everything was blank. When he woke up again, he found out that he could walk, his legs, which were completely lifeless and dead, were somehow back to their normal condition once again.
He pinched his leg, feeling the sharp pain. The pain was very real and so was the fact that his legs had healed. It was as if that accident had never happened in the first place.
Then there was the dead woman and the way he had acted at the sight of what he could only assume to be blood.
Ryan did not want to link everything together but the only wild conjecture that could possibly explain all of these things was…
"No. What the fuck am I thinking? I have gone crazy. This is all in my head. How could something like vampires even exist? This thing is just in novels and games."
But then he suddenly stopped.
"Games…" Ryan repeated in a daze.
That was right. Why didn't he think about this before? That game… Apocalypse Online. Didn't he get a hidden class that was similar to vampires?
"Bloodsucker!" Ryan's eyes widened in shock. "No, mindless bloodsucker." He slowly stood up from the ground, as everything seemed to finally fall into place.
He couldn't accept this explanation, and yet here he was, staring at the only possible reason for everything that had happened since this morning.
He looked at the gaming helmet that lay inconspicuously on the desk table. He had a feeling the answers to all his questions were in that helmet.
Snapping him out of his thoughts, another loud knock sounded on his door. "Ryan? Ryan? Are you awake? Dude, open the door. Something huge happened!" Mark's voice boomed through the door.
Ryan sighed and then sat back in the wheelchair, wheeling towards the door to open it. He also covered his lap with a towel to make sure that nothing out of the ordinary was visible.
Mark was someone who met him every day, so he would notice even if there was the slightest change. The same went for his mother. He hadn't decided whether or not to be honest with these two people.
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"Can you stop shouting?" Ryan opened the door and the other party immediately barged in.
"Dude! There was a murder in our street! Can you believe it? The police just left my apartment. They were asking me a bunch of questions."
"Why do you look so happy about it?" Ryan shook his head helplessly.
"Of course, for once something interesting is happening in our neighborhood."
"Idiot. Your mother, my mother, and my sister are all living here. Aren't you worried?"
"Meh, fine. Fine. I was wrong, brother." He jumped onto the couch, only to shriek and get up the next second. "Dude, this is wet!"
He then saw all the wet clothes lying strewn about. He also couldn't help but notice his own friend's pants and shirt were wet. Everything pointed to an unanticipated bladder accident.
He could already assume what happened and tactfully didn't ask any questions about it. Mark was always like this. He was the only person who didn't once look at Ryan with pity or sympathy.
Quickly changing the topic, he asked Ryan, "Hey! By the way! What happened? Why did you quit the dungeon run halfway?"
Ryan's expression immediately faltered a little, but he recovered. "Why? Did they say something?"
"No, no. I mean, I was just worried if you were doing fine."
"Ya, I am okay now. I was tired earlier."
Mark nodded. "That's good. In a way, it was good that you quit. Do you know what happened after you left? Massive party wipe!" He started talking about everything that happened in high spirits while Ryan listened silently.
"So anyhooooo we are preparing for another run shortly? Log in and join again?"
"Nope." Ryan instantly shook his head. "I think I will stick to playing solo for now and…" After a pause, he added, "You should also quit that guild."
"Huh?" Mark was confused. He was about to ask why when the two of them were interrupted by a loud ungodly burp.
A sexy D-cup milf swaggered towards the duo, a drink already in her hands. "Can't you fucking keep it down? Why are you both making a ruckus so early in the morning?"
Ryan sighed and Mark gnashed his teeth. Neither of them had an interest in talking to this person. She was quite attractive and voluptuous but she was equally foul-mouthed and dirty. The woman was a total drunkard.
However, their silence didn't make her go away. Instead, she walked even closer and leaned over revealing her assets to the duo, her finger pointing towards Ryan.
"Hey invalid, who knocked on my door? Do you know? Which bastard knocked on my door so early in the morning?"
Ryan did not care and he did not bother responding to her. This was not the first time she was calling him names and this was also not going to be the last one.
However, her words as usual touched a nerve with Mark who no longer remained quiet. "It's afternoon, not morning, you dumb bimbo." He scoffed. "Ryan, I will close the door now. I will see you inside the game."
Mark then left the apartment, closing the door right in the woman's face. He didn't bother hiding the contempt he had for her.
Ryan didn't particularly care but he had more important things to focus on at the moment. He was finally alone once again. He hurriedly grabbed the gaming helmet as if his life depended on it and logged back into the game.
"Ah, shit. I am still in the middle of nowhere!" Ryan almost forgot about this part because of everything else that happened. He had spawned right in the middle of a Level 30 area, as this was the place he had logged out.
"Ok, I first need to get out of here." He immediately activated [Stealth], only to find out that nothing was happening. Wait a second, a small thought appeared in Ryan's brain. "Don't tell me!"
He pulled up his system interface to see that everything had completely changed. He no longer had his thief skills and he was also back to level 0. The three levels he had gained had fully reset.
But that was not the most shocking thing… His gaze hurriedly ran through the entire status screen, his eyes widening every second.
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Name: Ryan Holland
Race: Undead
Gender: Male
Level: 0
Title: Cursed God's Descendent: All races hate you
Legacy: SSS-Rank Cursed God's Legacy (Incomplete)
Class: Mindless Bloodsucker (Can be upgraded)
Health: 50/50
Mana: N/A
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Stamina: N/A
Vitality: N/A
Strength: 5
Defense: 5
Agility: 5
Wisdom: 10
Intellect: 5
______________
"What is this…" Ryan was utterly speechless. "All races hate me?" The title seemed to only have negative effects. "How can all races hate someone? Shouldn't there be at least some races I am friendly with?"
There were also his stamina and vitality stats that looked weird.
"Ok, let me check out the skills first." Ryan shook his head and continued to look at the status screen. At least the class had given him some starter skills like the other normal classes. However…
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Skills:
Blood Lust: (Class Specific Passive Skill) Your bloodlust is randomly triggered; when the skill is active, you lose your consciousness and act on pure instinct; Memories might be lost forever; Every time the skill is triggered, your body degrades and your brain corrodes; Skill cannot be triggered if hunger is completely satiated; Cool Down: None.
Curse of the Abyss: (Legacy Specific Passive Skill) The first of the ten curses of the Cursed God; When the curse activates, you permanently lose your mind and become a rabid animal; The curse will be nullified when you drink the blood of three common rank beasts, three elite rank beasts, three rare rank beasts and one chieftain rank beast; Cool Down: 10 days (1/10).
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"Hmmm…" Ryan narrowed his eyes as he stared at his so-called starter skills, studying them carefully. He spent a few minutes trying to carefully understand them, as each had a huge description, unlike the simple skills of a thief.
But no matter how many times he read them, the content did not change.
"Damn it! This is bullshit!"
Both the skills were not really skills. They were handicaps.
Ryan gritted his teeth as he now understood what had happened in reality. The similarity was simply too much for him to ignore.
"Yup, it has to be. I became crazy because of that bloodlust thing that got triggered. Does this mean I need to constantly keep drinking blood?" He read the skill again and there seemed to be no other explanation.
The worst part was that this seemed to be happening both inside the game world and in real life? Fuck, he could accept all sorts of weird things, perhaps in this game world, but how on earth was this happening in real life as well?
He felt as if he was going crazy. If the skill [Blood Lust] could be activated in real life, then could the skill [Curse of the Abyss] also be activated in real life? At least the first one only made him temporarily rabid, the second one would make him permanently rabid!
As the gravity of the situation he was in fully dawned on him, Ryan listlessly sat on the ground staring at the dense forest surrounding him on all sides.
What was happening? What was this game? Why did he become a vampire in real life? That too not the fancy ones shown in tv and movies, he became some sort of cursed creature?
Ryan sat in silence and thought about a lot of strange ideas and possibilities, each of which was more ridiculous than the last.
However, it looked like he did not have the luxury of sitting around like this and thinking. Very quickly, he started feeling the dryness of thirst in the back of his throat.
Ryan instantly jolted up to stand on his feet. The familiar feeling of growing thirst cleared up his mind in an instant. That's right. Things might be confusing for him now, but he was not going to give up. This was still not enough to make him feel dread.
So what if the unimaginable and unbelievable started happening all of a sudden? The path he had to take was still clearly etched in front of him.
"Blood lust and the curse of the abyss, huh? It's time to take a look at what you two actually are." Ryan indifferently started walking ahead, the previous hesitation and confusion no longer in his face.