Chapter 4: Save the Hospital
"To think this is possible. How awesome,"Rex grinned as he walked through the Mundane as if he were a ghost. When the mask's effect said Mundane could not detect him, it really meant it. They could not even feel him when they walked through him.
Then, he saw a dark silhouette fly in the sky, unnoticed by the Mundane below. After observing it through the system, he discovered it was a pure-blood vampire! After reading some of Lionel's books on vampires, he discovered that pure-blood vampires were the only vampires able to infect humans to an existence closer to their own. Pure-blood vampires came from the Night, a world parallel to Earth with the veil between their worlds thinning during the night.
An infected Mundane would become a mutated vampire. Their skins would turn blue, their irises turned crimson, their hair turned white, and they became berserk with a thirst for blood. Their strengths and speed would skyrocket and they could only remain sane if they kept consuming enough blood. They could also be controlled by the pure-blood vampire that bit them unconditionally.
In short, they had no free will pertaining to their orders and were raging juggernauts with a blood addiction. They had to be killed before they turned level 10 and ranked up, gaining even more fearsome abilities. They could infect other humans, but they would not be as strong as mutated vampires turned by a pure-blood.
"That pure-blood vampire is only level 9. He must be here to create mutated vampires to increase his level," Rex said as he ran. His agility was currently nineteen and sped through the crowd like a cheetah. He shivered as he ran through five cars while he kept his gaze on the flying vampire.
As he closed in, he could see the vampire's skin as pale as snow with even whiter hair that fell to the middle of the back. Its eyes were also crimson, but it was supernaturally beautiful, nearly feminine in appearance. Wings made out of shadows flapped on its back and it disappeared as the vampire landed in front of a distant hospital. Rex frowned as the vampire screeched, blocking his ears as all the electricity seemed to die out in the hospital, like a electromagnetic pulse. The vampire bit two humans who were prepping an ambulance and flew onto the roof as two newly turned mutated vampires roared and burst into the hospital.
"Holy crap! He turned two of them. If the humans survive the bite, they'll also be mutated vampires. But why go to the roof? Why not wait in front of the hospital and wait for them to leave....unless he is controlling his vampires to make them go to the roof. There, the vampire would have no Mundane witnesses and could take its time draining all the other Mundane of their blood!" Rex realized.
System AnnouncementD rank quest unlocked: Save the Hospital
A young pure-blood has come from the Night and is currently attacking the hospital to increase its rank. Mutated vampires are being made and many humans are thinking of fleeing to the roof. Save the hospital by killing the mutated vampires and their vampire noble master.
Reward
+2 level up
+ $2,000
+ 1 soul stone
Failure
All Mundanes wiped out.
No rewards given
"I get money! Well, games give money but this is a quest! A D rank quest and I get $2,000. Oh yeah! Now I get why Gary is so rich. His dad might be a Night Hunter too. Well, if they get quests but what's a soul stone?" Rex said as he ran to the hospital, eager to begin fighting and leveling.
He stopped as he saw a mutated vampire come out. He struck the red diamond of his Staff of Flame and toward the blue vampire, a wisp of fire shooting from the diamond. The vampire staggered back and began to burn. It shrieked with pain, calling for reinforcements as a second wisp of fire bolted and killed the vampire.
*+20 Exp*
"Yes! I killed it! No wonder mages are better off in long distance. These fire wisp bolts do alot more damage and even have burning effects. Like Lionel's books said, vampires are weak to fire. This is gonna be fun!" Rex yelled as he swirled his staff, sending more bolts of fire wisps as more mutated vampires came out and ran to him. As the mutated vampire gathered together, Rex grinned with ecstasy and he decided to try out a magic spell.
"Witch Fire!" Rex roared, purple flames swirling around the red diamond of his staff. Closing his eyes, he willed it into a dragon and used his left hand to direct it at the vampires. Eyes opening as he moved his left hand, he grinned from ear to ear as a purple flame dragon appeared. Its serpentine body waved as it roared and crashed through the vampires.
*Level up*
*Level up*
*Level up*
"3 levels! Damn! It must be the higher damage and burning effects. I can even feel my mana rising. Hahaha! It's like I never cast the spell.
Now that he had a total of twelve free stat points, he decided to add three to each of his stats. At low levels, it was hard to determine which stats to distribute until the class upgrades. If Soji, Suna, and Gaoli knew he just leveled three times by slaying a single group of newly turned vampires, they would cough blood. However, they would have more experience as it took longer for them to level up, even if they would never know what level they were or their stats.
Purple flames littered the area and Rex had to dissipate them before proceeding inside. Purple flames were not natural and would obviously be noticed by a Mundane. He called out inventory and discovered he could see all the items in the tribal tattoo on his hand. Ecstatic, he put tiny vials of vampire blood into the tribal tattoo. Apparently, even blood of a mutated vampire was considered as loot.
As he saw a vampire burning to death, he noted that their skin was highly combustible, their skin burning and spreading the fire faster than the clothes they wore. It was no small wonder why he killed the group of clustered vampires now. Slightly disappointed at discovering it was not all his magic, he ran into the building. Most of the humans were already dead or turning, Rex using his staff to fire bolts of flame wisps.
He didn't see the victims as humans but as experience points. He felt slightly disturbed but waved those concerns aside as he saw them bite humans. Mutated vampires were not human anymore. Thinking that way, Rex felt slightly better as he killed and killed. After he killed the last mutated vampire, he realized their intelligence was indeed too low if they hungered for blood and easily reached level 8.
As he got to the rooftop to fight the vampire noble, three familiar faces arrived with one other. It was Soji, Suna, Gaoli, and Bingbing. Soji and Suna both had mud brown hair and slightly brown skin while Gaoli and Bingbing had light skin and raven black hair. All four looked around in horror in the sight they saw.
"How horrible!" Suna said, stepping back as she gazed on the bodies.
"We need to hurry! There could be more victims inside!" Soji cried but Gaoli stopped him. "What? Why are you stopping me?"
"Don't tell me you don't feel it? The scattered mana in the air? There is a mage here. Look at the ground. Why is just burned in a near straight column?" Gaoli said, the trio staring at the ground.
"Fire magic. Smart. He must have waited until they clustered together to use it. The bodies have not entered the Void, meaning there is still fighting nearby," Bingbing said, feeling the mana in the air as she was also a mage. "This is mana....is way too pure. I never felt anything like it."
"What do we do? Gaoli only knows wind magic and you don;t know any fire magic," Suna shivered.
"Then you and I will just have to cut off their heads while they destroy it. The vampires won't be able to regenerate that," Soji said and ran inside with a katana in his hand.
"He's right. Let's go. Leave the vampire noble to me," Bingbing said, Suna and Gaoli nodding as they raced behind her.
At the roof, the vampire noble looked back and saw the door break down. Rex grinned as he stared at the vampire. Three mutated vampires rushed at him, but he easily killed them with a single bolt of fire wisps.
"A human fire mage. That explains why my minions dies so easily. Killing a vampire would be tedious work otherwise. Why stand in my way?" the vampire asked as its two, personally turned vampires breathed heavily as they stared at Rex. "I've not broken the rules of the truce. The cameras are disabled and I did not enter the building."
"Sorry, but you are a money bag of $2,000 and experience. I'm also curious about what a soul stone is," Rex said. "I'm no saint. Even my namesake, the tyrannosaurus rex, was rumored to be a bloodthirsty creature. So you can just stand there as I kill your two dogs first."
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"Hmph. Kill him," the vampire said, the two blue vampires shrieking as the noble pointed at Rex.
The two vampires were quick, closing the distance very quickly. Rex jumped back and waved his arm, sending a wave of purple fire at the vampires. The noble vampire quickly issued an order, one vampire sacrificing itself as the other ran and tackled Rex onto the stairs behind him. Rex grunted, unable to push the vampire away as he let go of his staff to use both hands. Punching it, he took the opportunity to add 3 stats to strength and the other five to stamina. His body became tougher and he could finally push the vampire off him, kicking it away.
"Ki Blast!" he roared, grabbing his staff as he stood up and thrust it toward its head. Red Ki seeped out of his body and exploded toward the vampire's head, destroying it. Bruised on his back and legs, he glared at the vampire noble as he reentered the roof.
"You're pretty strong, for a mage. Come with me, into the Night, and become a creature of the Night with powers you've never witnessed. Why waste your time saving these weak Mundane?" the vampire asked as it quickly decided to make a plan.
"Shut up, moneybags. I've never been tackled down the stairs in my life. You consider that your crowning achievement before I toast your ass!" Rex roared, sending a wave of purple fire at the vampire.
"Futile," the vampire said, freezing the flames into ice. "Vampire's have magic superior to humans. You cannot beat me with magic. You're also injured. Give it up."
"HAHAHA! I think not.....Life Drain!" Rex said coldly, pointing his staff at the vampire. Its eyes widened as red light surrounded it, taking its very life force as it injected it into Rex, healing him.
"That magic is forbidden! No human should be able to use magic that ignores magic defenses!" the vampire cried as it was more shocked than hurt. "You can't be allowed to live!"
There were no humans on the third floor, so taste my magic! See how inferior your magic is to mine! Meteor!" Rex screamed, pointing his staff into the sky. He coughed blood as a red pentagram circle appeared over the diamond as another, bigger pentagram circle appeared in the sky.
"L, legend, legendary tier magic....." the vampire paled, the sky darkening over them both as the Meteor descended and crashed onto the vampire. Seeing the meteor gave it too much of a shock and an explosion of flame burst from the point of impact, destroying the roof.
"Suna!" Soji cried as he grabbed his sister and ducked under a doorway as the whole hospital trembled. The Mundane in the second floor and first floor seemed to faint as a pink mist appeared on each of the three floors.
"Sleeping magic! The system only creates it if a populated Mundane area survived a fight. The battle is over! Quick, we need to see who did this!" Bingbing cried and Gaoli dragged the twins behind him.
"Ugh. Fuck," Rex groaned as pushed some of the floor segments of the roof off his body. He was on fire but felt no pain and quickly dissipated it. The enter roof was destroyed, the third floor badly damaged and nearing the verge of collapse. He would definitely not use Meteor on a building if he was on or in it.
He looked around and saw a head with a badly burned neck and half of its face burned off. He felt the urge to vomit but swallowed it and cringed. He coughed as his throat burned and stared at the head as something shined beneath it. There, he saw three minor potions, five hundred dollars in twenties, and a skill book! The bodies of the vampires began to disappear as the battle had officially ended and Rex sighed with relief.
He looked at the skill book and noticed it was titled: Heal. It was actually the skill book for Heal! However, he already had Life Drain and decided to sell it online to make money. It was a rare skill and bound to be worth alot. He already learned four actives of the eight he could learn before level 40. Unless he got a class and it made one of his four actives a class skill, he could only learn four more active skills. With one healing skill, he didn't need another. It was also not a passive skill and he could learn three more. Still happy to see health potions and money, he deposited them into his ring.
*Ding*
System AnnouncementQuest Completed
While your actions damaged the hospital considerably, you saved the patients and prevented a massacre. You did not kill any humans or exposed yourself as you fought the mutated vampires. You admitted you were not a saint and did not save the people with pure intentions. Since you are level 7, you will be level 9 soon after and one level away from a class promotion! Try not to destroy anymore hospitals in the future.
Rewards
+2 level up
+$2,000
+1 soul stone
*Level up*
*Level up*
"Yes!" Rex said as an inventory screen popped up and saw an additional $2,000 and a soul stone inside. He closed it and summoned his staff to him. The Staff of Flame appeared before him in a small explosion of fire, quickly reverting it back into a ring. As he made his way to the stairs, he paused as he saw Gaoli and the others. He stared at Bingbing, his breath stopping as she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Then, his wits returned as he remembered they were all Night Hunters.
"What did you do?" Gaoli asked, pointing a white wooden staff with a green orb at him.
"I save this hospital," Rex answered, the mask changing his voice to sound deeper.
"I can't use the system identification on him. I can't even see his class, level, name, and titles. He must be a Cheat Hunter, like me,"" Bingbing assessed. "You completed the Save the Hospital quest very quickly. You must have followed the pure-blood vampire here."
"You are a Cheat Hunter?" Rex asked, surprised.
"No. I have an item from my father that he made to check them. He also notified me of this quest. He the Cheat Hunter and you just confirmed yourself as one," Bingbing said. "What did you do to destroy the hospital's roof?"
Rex said nothing, adding two stats to agility and four to spirit. He turned and jumped out the window, cracking the ground as he landed. Bingbing and Gaoli were about to follow, but police cars arrived. Soji and Suna were not at the strength to endure a jump from the third floor and the four quickly slipped out of the hospital, the police officers not noticing Rex as he ran past them.
Rex took off the mask and leaned back as he waited at a bus stop. He was mentally drained from what he witnessed and did. The meteor was not big, as expected, but it was destructive. He stored the mask and rode the bus all the way home, gazing at his stats.
Name: Rex Valentine
Level: 9
Class: Mage
Title: Fire Lord (hidden)
Health: 420 (360+60)
Mana: 290
Ki: 280 (240+40)
Stats
STR: 20 (18)
AGI: 24
SPR: 23
STA: 28 (24)
Stats available: 0
With his one hundred extra mana, he could safely use Meteor and still have mana left over. He noticed both Witch Fire and Meteor reached the second level of mastery. Ki Blast and Life Drain were not legendary skills and were only used once. Thus, they were still level one skills. His Prey Instinct skill became level 2 and there were more wisps of indigo, blue, and purple swirling around him as he made them visible to himself. They were always invisible to others as he did not want others to use another means of identification to associate him with. The mask was one thing, but he could not cloak his magic or skills. He would have to be careful in the future.
"Rex? Did you go to the hospital?" his mother called as he got off the bus and arrived in front of the house.
"How did you know that?" he asked.
"My father received a notice about a quest called Save the Hospital, restricted to those below level 10 by the system. I knew you were hunting, but I did not know you were the one completing the quest until you told me! Rex, you destroyed the hospital?"
"Only the roof and most of the third floor is on the verge of collapsed, but I saved many lives," Rex amended but his mother cut him off.
"Where are you?" she asked.
"I just arrived in front of the house," he answered.
"Your father, Grandpa Raymond, and your sister are eating out, so only my father and I are here. We are going to have a long chat about Night Hunters," she said. "Get in the house!"
"Yes, ma'am," he said, ending the call and quickly raced inside.