Talia was brought back to reality as the Abyssal Cuda circled her cautiously, feeling something unsettling arising from the girl.
She looked at her right hand and found her mother’s glaive in it.
Talia briefly looked down toward the blackness of the bottom of the ocean, wondering how the weapon had traveled back to her, but then, seeing the Abyssal Cuda ready to strike again, she wielded the weapon with both hands, paddling with her feet to stay afloat.
Like trails of smoke gently levitating in the air, Talia saw the filaments of her blood float from her wound in front of her.
Before being able to process what was happening, the Abyssal Cuda propelled itself at her at incredible, skill-enhanced speed with its malicious eyes and opened its vicious mouth to tear her apart.
She felt a pull inside her chest and followed the instinct that was telling her body how to move.
She brought the glaive to her side and then swung.
Her arms barely strained now that she was underwater, and as the blade reached backward, the filaments of blood that had been floating in front of her now shot to the glaive’s edge.
A moment later, the blood congealed into a foot-long blade as she swung it through her weapon at the beast.
The Abyssal Cuda approached rapidly.
In an instant, Talia's fear of imminent death transformed into astonishment.
The Cuda's head had been cleanly severed from its body.
Although Talia herself remained still, the underwater current listlessly pushed the monster's decapitated body away from her.
[You have slain Abyssal Cuda Level 7!]
[Choose your Class to distribute the Experience!]
...
Even with her powerful lungs, it had been hard to resurface while carrying the glaive and latching onto the capsized raft.
She looked at it and found Takai trying to press his shirt right into Fiora’s large wound.
Talia saw the blonde’s complexion become more and more ashen by the second.
“She’s dying!” Takai shouted, half-crying.
No! She saved my life!
Talia scrambled onto the raft, throwing the glaive onto it and kneeling beside the blonde.
There was only one way she could possibly save Fiora.
[Choose your Class to distribute the Experience!]
[You currently qualify for ‘1’ Class!]
[Lifestealer: You draw on blood powers to manipulate life energy, transmuting it and also healing and growing stronger from your enemies' spilled blood.]
She hesitated for an instant, able to hear the voices of all the islanders.
Monster.
Kraken’s spawn.
Disgusting.
But she had no time to bother with those.
[Will you accept ‘Lifestealer?’]
She immediately accepted and frantically skipped all the notifications in her head to move on to her skills until she found something that she could use to help Fiora.
[Blood Siphon]
She immediately activated the skill and felt the instinctual knowledge of how it worked pour into her head.
Talia’s head snapped to the water, now turning red from the Abyssal Cuda’s blood, and opened her palm toward it while she laid the other onto Fiora’s stomach, removing the ripped shirt and Takai’s hands.
“What are you doing?!”
“Move! I’m healing her!” Talia shouted at Takai.
Spooked, the boy backed off.
As she channeled the skill, she could feel all the vitality from the Level 7 monster slowly getting dispersed in the water.
And so, she started siphoning that vitality into the rapidly dying blonde.
The large wound on the girl’s stomach knit itself back to its original form in real-time, with squelching sounds that made her want to retch.
Only when the Abyssal Cuda’s vitality that she was siphoning couldn’t be pushed into Fiora anymore, and the blonde had regained color, she sighed in relief.
However, she noticed that the skill was still working. There was still a good chunk of the Abyssal Cuda’s vitality that she was absorbing.
She looked down at her side, expecting to see her own flesh starting to heal, but she found that her wound had already mysteriously disappeared, leaving only a partially ripped shirt in its place.
As she curiously siphoned away the Abyssal Cuda’s vitality, she suddenly heard a notification going off in her head.
[You have absorbed the Abyssal Cuda Life Force.]
[+0.1 to your Primary Mana Channel (0.1/1 to Level One)]
[+0.3 to your Agility (0.3/1 to 1 Agility)]
[You have absorbed a Skill from Abyssal Cuda.]
[You have learned ‘Missile Swimming.’]
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...
After Fiora had woken up, they had managed to turn the raft back up and started heading back to Solara.
It didn’t matter that it was Talia to kill the monster, Takai and Fiora had participated in the fight, meaning they both got contribution experience and were now also Initiated.
But Talia was sitting in the corner of the raft, not talking to either Takai or Fiora.
She was hugging her knees as she stared at the distant horizon in the Deep Belt.
Some might have been excited by the powers she had just received with her Class, but Talia had lived all her life waiting to prove to the people around her that she wasn’t a monster.
Now, she had powers that closely resembled one of the best-known abilities of the Kraken.
Hemomancy, Blood Magic.
Secondary Mana Channels with a Blood Affinity weren’t unheard of, but the ability she had just used defied all she knew about Classes and, most importantly, went hand-in-hand with one of the legends about the Scourge of the Deep.
Most said that after the Kraken killed a powerful warrior, it would not only grow stronger, but it would suddenly be able to copy the magic of its prey.
That seemed to confirm all the rumors about her.
Perhaps, she thought, I really am the Kraken’s spawn.
Then, suddenly, she felt someone kick her back.
“Ouch,” Talia said, turning to see Fiora towering over her.
“You’re not the Kraken’s spawn, idiot.”
Talia, while still in shock, had explained what had just happened to her to both Takai and Fiora.
That had been stupid to do this, especially considering how calculating and careful she usually was with everything else.
The emotions of the moment had overwhelmed her in a way she hadn’t expected.
She had regretted it almost immediately, knowing the implications of her power, but the net had torn, and the fish had escaped; there was no way to put things back to how they were.
“You’re not,” Fiora repeated, flicking a blonde strand of hair over her shoulder. “It doesn’t make any sense, stupid. You might have been cursed, sure. But that only gave you a strong Class. You said you might be able to level up your Primary Water Channel by killing and absorbing monsters, right?”
“Yes,” Talia said in a low voice.
“Well, that means that even if you have a Level Zero Primary Mana Channel, you can raise that level, possibly without limits. Most people need to go through life and death or worse to become stronger. This power is strong. Why do you look so upset?”
“I—I... it’s evil,” Talia muttered.
“Who cares, ugh!” Fiora groaned. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You’re making me sick.”
“I’m a damn monster!” Talia suddenly shouted at the blonde.
Fiora, however, didn’t seem fazed in the slightest.
She turned to Takai and asked matter-of-factly.
“You, do you think she’s a monster?”
Takai immediately shook his head.
“Ok,” Fiora turned back to Talia with an asking face.
“What about the people back—”
“They already think you’re a monster, so, what’s the problem?”
Talia was taken aback by that statement.
“Your one friend doesn’t think you’re a monster, right? That’s all that matters to you. And you can now, perhaps, raise the Water Affinity of your Primary Mana Channel to Level Two – high enough to enter the Water Riders Academy. Isn’t that what you always yapped about? You wanting to become a hero and a Water Rider?”
Talia was stunned into silence, barely letting out a nod.
“Great. That’s it, then. Now, stop moping. I’ll get wrinkles if you keep bringing the mood down. We all got Initiated—it was a miracle, and... you made it happen, idiot.”
Talia nodded and slowly rose to her feet, staring at the girl.
She realized that Fiora was right, that Takai was the only person whose opinion she should care about.
But still, there was another person whose opinion she might be interested in now.
“Do you think I’m a monster?” Talia asked the blonde with a disarming ingenuity.
“Monsters don’t heal people,” Fiora said, turning away, blushing. “You’re not a monster. You’re just... stupid.”
That said, Fiora went to kick Takai out of his seat and took the rudder, steering the raft back to the island.
Once they notified the Elders about becoming Initiated, they’d gain passage to the Water Riders Academy—all three of them.
Talia looked at the icy Fiora and felt a small smile blossom on her lips.
Now, though, it was time to check all the notifications she had ignored and been too scared to check before.
I’m not a monster... Talia told herself as she closed her eyes and started sifting through all the text.
[You have accepted ‘Lifestealer.’]
[You have been Initiated.]
[You gain two Free Attributes!]
[Lifestealer reaches Level 2!]
[You gain two Free Attributes!]
[You gain one Talent Point!]
[You have unlocked your Akashic Record.]
[Blood Siphon reaches Level 2!]
[Name: Talia]
[Age: 16]
[Class: Lifestealer Lv. 2]
[Rank: Novice]
[Primary Mana Channel (Water): Level 0.3 {Dormant}]
[Secondary Mana Channel (Blood): Level 5 {Flowing}]
[Core Skill #1: Blood Siphon Lv. 2]
[Core Skill #2: Hemomancy Lv. 1]
[Core Skill #3: Eyes of the Abyss Lv. 1]
[Strength: 0]
[Agility: 0.3]
[Constitution: 0]
[Intelligence: 0]
[Wisdom: 0]
[Charisma: 0]
[Free Attributes: 4]
[Talent Trees:
* Bloodborne Warrior
* Carmine Thunder
* Sanguine Guardian
* Hemomantic Artisan
* Crimson Sage
* Life Thief
]
[Free Talent Points: 1]
Talia surveyed the three skills she had gained – Blood Syphon, Hemomancy – the abilities to control blood, which she had used against the Abyssal Cuda, and Eyes of the Abyss.
“Eyes of the Abyss?” She muttered.
Curious about her newfound abilities, Talia decided to explore the mysterious “Eyes of the Abyss” skill. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and activated it.
When she opened her eyes again, the world had changed. She turned to look at Takai and Fiora, gasping softly at what she saw.
Their bodies seemed to glow from within, pulsing with an inner light that she instinctively understood to be their vitality. Fiora's light burned brighter and stronger because of her natural talent. Takai's vitality was dimmer in comparison, but Talia's eyes widened as she noticed something peculiar—a core of blindingly bright light nestled in his abdomen, outshining everything else.
Intrigued, Talia shifted her gaze to the water surrounding their small raft.
The sea, once an opaque blue, now seemed as clear as glass. She could see fish darting beneath the surface, their own small lights flickering as they moved. In the distance, larger, and more ominous fuzzy shapes loomed—the Abyssal Creatures, their vitality a dark, pulsing red that sent a shiver down her spine.
Fascinated, Talia let her eyes wander further towards the horizon where the Deep Belt stretched endlessly.
As her gaze reached the edge of her vision, the world suddenly shifted.
The sea and sky melted away, replaced by an impenetrable darkness.
In this void, two enormous azure eyes blinked open, glowing with an ancient, malevolent intelligence.
Talia felt her heart stop as she instinctively recognized them.
Before she could react, spectral tentacles materialized from the darkness, wrapping around her body.
She could feel their cold, slimy touch as they constricted, pulling her deeper into the abyss.
Talia tried to scream, but no sound escaped her lips.
She twisted her body, but she felt rooted on the spot, immobilized.
The tentacles dragged her down into a deep darkness that started to suffocate her.
She tried to breathe, but she felt like the darkness was obstructing her airways.
Her consciousness began to fade.
“Talia! Talia, wake up!”
She jolted back to reality, gasping for air.
Takai was shaking her shoulders, his face full of concern.
Fiora stood behind him, trying to mask her worry with a scowl.
“It's alive!” Talia shouted, her voice hoarse and her body trembling. “The Kraken—it's still alive!”