Power, Sacrifice, and Shadows

Vecna stood in the dimly lit chamber, his crimson eyes reflecting the eerie dance of flames from the previous battle. As the remnants of the Goblin Shamans lay at his feet, he knew that the real challenge lay ahead—the final boss.

With the first awakening of his stats, Vecna's power had surged to new heights. His attack power, magic power, and mana capacity had all seen substantial increases. 

He could feel the energy coursing through him, and with this newfound mana, he could approach the upcoming battle with confidence, unburdened by the fear of running out of magical reserves.

He opened his status window once more and began distributing his stat points strategically. His agility, strength, and intelligence received significant boosts. Vecna wanted to be agile and resilient in the upcoming fight, ready to adapt to any situation.

'It passed the 10k mark. Great. If I use the Advanced Mana Potion, along with my Mana Recovery Rate, chained with another Mana Potion,  I have one minute of Blood World activation.'

'Plenty of time I say to wreck a green rat.'

[Health: 14,884/14,884 | Mana: 10,920/10,920]

Next, he reached for a new weapon at his side. It was Archdemon Camio's 'Shadowed Talon,' a short sword with a dagger-like design. 

[Camio's Shadowed Talon]

Rating: Unique

Durability: 350/350  |  Attack Power: 236-304 | 

* Attack Speed +10% | Critical Strike Chance + 10%

* When a member of God Yatan uses this dagger, it reduces the enemy's evasion rate by 15%, 

* The Active Skill 'Shadowstrike' will be unlocked

A sinister and powerful claw taken from Camio's body. This rare weapon deals shadow damage and has a chance to inflict fear on enemies.

User Restriction: Level 100 or higher. Intermediate Sword Mastery level 6; +480 Strength & +340 Agility.

The weapon oozed dark and demonic energies, remnants of the Archdemon he had vanquished in the past encounter, even if it was just a Soul Fragment of the real Archdemon. 

With a thoughtful expression, Vecna gave the 'Shadowed Talon' a few experimental slashes. He needed to get accustomed to its weight, balance, and the unique feel of the weapon. Each swing sent ripples of dark energy through the air, leaving a trace of shadow in their wake.

As he wielded the weapon, he couldn't help but notice the message in his interface from Morpheus: 

[User is being exposed to Demonic Power].

He slashed again with the Shadowed Talon, and just as he finished executing the simple movement of a Sword Dance which mimicked the ones from 'Blade Dance', the darkness around the dagger wrapped around Vecna's right hand.

[User is being exposed to Demonic Power]

'...'

'And?'

Vecna paused for a moment, his crimson eyes narrowing as he contemplated the message. It seemed almost ironic that it would warn him about being exposed to Demonic Power when he had already embraced his own demonic nature. 

The transformation into a low-grade vampire had fundamentally changed him, infusing his being with dark and supernatural energies.

He couldn't help but let out a dry, humorless chuckle at the absurdity of it all. "I am already a demon," he muttered to himself, his voice tinged with a mixture of bitterness and amusement. "What difference does it make if I'm being exposed to Demonic Power?"

That question reverberated inside an amphitheater room inside the conglomerate known as S.A Group. In that room, the main dev team members sat to watch a 'Show', and the channel they were overseeing for their entertainment was spot on Vecna's Raid on the Brambleskinner's Tribe.

"Yoon Nahee, have you kept tabs with User 'Vecna'? Can you give us some insights into his character stats?" inquired Lim Cheolho, whose presence turned casual while holding a bottle of Soju and a bucket of chicken wings in the opposite hand.

"Sir, if you wish to see his Status Window. I hope you and the other developers don't freak out." 

Replying back was a woman of vibrant beauty, appearing rather professional and with a serious demeanor. Her professional outfit along with her sexy pencil skirt could make most males turn their heads at her.

"Ohh, are you trying to hint at something Nahee? What haven't we seen inside Satisfy? All sorts of crazy stunts those people pulled, all the bad media from the fools deciding to kill civilians without a reason." inquired  Kim Jisung, the developer in charge of glitches inside Satisfy.

Receiving that question, she turned her sharp, focused eyes to a developer who was wearing a tailor fit black suit, showing a captivating presence. He possesses a tall and well-built physique, standing at around 183 cm, with a sturdy frame.

Choi Minseok, one of the main developers in charge of World Building the Satisfy World. From his mind came various iconic characters, such as God Yatan, the Great Demons, but in this current moment, his expertise was known as the creator of Vecna's class, 'Caine's Reincarnator'.

"Why are you giving me that look, Nahee-ah. You are the Head of Operations, show the gentlemen what they want to see."

'Jerk, it was you who created such a monstrous class. Take responsibility for the poor goblins.' thought Yoon Nahee inwardly as she gave Choi Minseok a deadly glare, which resulted in his laughter.

"Now you also made me curious. Show his Status Window, Nahee-ah." remarked Lim Cheolho as he finished the bite of chicken he was chewing.

"Alright."

She tapped around on her tablet, interacting with Morpheus to display a futuristic interface where Vecna's avatar in his current state as transformed into a Vampire was presented, next to him being his Status Window.

It didn't take long for the 9 developers in the amphitheater, excluding the other 5 developers who were in a way aware of the potential of Caine's Reincarnator Class, especially Lim Cheolho knew it best about all the madness that Minseok poured on this class.

This class had a great difficulty, and not just anyone could achieve greatness with it. He knew that Chinseok worked within the boundaries set by him as Chairman of S.A Group and Head Developer of Satisfy and Morpheus.

"Outrageous!"

"How could a player achieve such Stats. It's as if we are looking at Kraugel's Status Window or Chris! Chinseok, you better explain yourself, this garbage was created by you!"

More of the developers poured out their raw thoughts, feeling that Chinseok broke the balance of crafting classes by buffing Caine Reincarnator to a state where the player owning such a class was above the curve predicted by Morpheus.

Even the developer that he hated the most, took aim at him, inquiring in his "professional" and "composed" tone. "You should explain how User 'Vecna' got to this state. If you don't bring a compelling answer, I will get involved myself into investigating any breaches of your authority."

"Heh, you can try." replied back Chinseok, not bothered by the blazing gazes of his colleagues, looking at them as he stretched his arms, yawning loudly.

"Hmm, I guess I should give you bunch something to go home and grind your teeth."

"Let's see, now that I look at his stats, he was actually holding back. Considering he has the Divine Artifact, 'Book of Night' and he could use his Blood Servants to powerlevel him without caring about their well-being, farming Achievements and Titles for days on the Higher Level Grounds."

"I would have looked for the members of the Tower of Wisdom, the Dukes of the Empire, maybe even the Minor Kings of the Western Kingdom, and enslaved them."

"I would have began conducting Sacrifice Rituals using maidens from the various Kingdoms I have took over in the Shadows to speed up the Recovery of the Artifact, once the Ego would be awake, I would pursue on regaining all of the Divine Authority lost."

Chinseok's facial expression turned crazed and ruthless, making some of the developers present question if this guy wasn't a psychopath. Only those close to him would know the true answer.

Yet, seeing how the atmosphere turned chill, as they were Devs, it was obvious they were aware of all the characters he included in the plan.

"As if an Epic-Rated Class would have such power. Don't blabber too much nonsense Choi."

"Indeed, it's only an Epic-Rated Class… That's just me speaking nonsense. Back to what you wanted to hear."

"His Stat Growth is akin to an Named NPC, or Super-named NPC, mainly because of his Legendary Title ' The Fallen One'. You might ask me, why does he have it?"

"Answer is simple, Caine's Reincarnator is supposed to appear just around the Veil of the Goddess Episode commence. That's looking down… how many years, Morpheus."

[Processing the request… Six Years from today.]

"However, there needs to be certain conditions for this Title to appear for a player. That would be for you to be the first user to become a Greater Demon-Race. As far I'm concerned, the Gate of Hell hasn't appeared, nor any player in Yatan Church reached the Servant State to receive Amoract's Blessing."

"..."

"Another part of his growth is the fact this player is using his brain. I might nitpick certain choices of his, since I know how you should play the Class, but this is a genuine growth. There's no abuse of my authority as Developer of this Class."

"I have respected all the guidelines, as such you could verify this information with the Duplicator Class, the Illusionist and to not forget… Baal's Contractor."

"Are you by chance saying that User 'Vecna' is more of a freak compared to User 'Agnus'?"

"Hmph, both of them are deranged people, psychopaths. How could a human mind adapt to becoming a demonic being?"

"Sure, sure. Another fun-fact, and with this I will no longer answer any stupid questions."

"What difference does it make if I'm being exposed to Demonic Power?"

"A sensible question from our current protagonist on the screen. He is for certain a Demon, yet he lacks Demonic Power? Don't you people find it strange? That's right, for the Class to enter in the boundaries set by Cheolho-sshi, I had to tinker around and put some stoppers to the class power and growth."

"He lacks the Stat of Demons, Demonic Power."

"Closed Argument."

"... Does this mean, if he allows the Demonic Power to corrupt him… he will awaken … No. It can't be that easy." thought out loud one of the developers.

'It's actually that easy.' thought inwardly Chinseok, smirking at how hypocritical his colleagues could be when it came to "fairness".

Each of them had a Class in which they invested more than the others, one might call them their 'Soul' Projects.

Meanwhile, back to the desolate Chieftain's Hut, Vecna ignored the System Warnings, seeing them as just a pesky reminder of the apparent reality.

'Can you stop being annoying, System? I want some peace of mind while I think about how to deal with the Goblin Boss.'

Once he stopped from getting accustomed with his brand new weapon, he continued on with his plans.

This plan centered on one crucial item in his arsenal that needed to be brought into play—the Book of Night. It materialized in his hands, its ancient and weathered pages bound in a dark, leather-like cover adorned with eerie symbols, and the ominous crimson eye on the front cover.

The Book of Night was a Divine Artifact of immense power, a relic that had served him well throughout his journey. It held within its pages a myriad of dark and forbidden knowledge, as well as a unique ability that he was about to invoke.

He would rather not use the following ability, for obvious reasons … he wasn't a masochist. But for a sure job, there was no way around this.

With a calm and collected voice, Vecna called upon the Book's special ability, one that he had used sparingly in the past but recognized its significance in the upcoming battle.

"Blood Bank."

As he uttered the words, the Book of Night responded in kind. It was as though the very fabric of the artifact came to life. Tentacles of crimson energy sprouted from the pages, reaching out and wrapping around Vecna's right hand, the one holding the book.

The sensation was peculiar and unsettling as the tentacles began to siphon away his precious life force. Vecna's vampiric appearance seemed to grow slimmer and more dehydrated as the tentacles drained him. His skin paled, and his eyes gleamed with a dark, otherworldly intensity.

This was the price he willingly paid for the power that the 'Blood Bank' ability offered. It allowed him to sacrifice a portion of his current Health Points, storing them within the Divine Artifact itself. 

It was a calculated risk, a gamble that he was willing to take in exchange for a potential lifeline in the heat of battle.

[You have sacrificed 99% of your HP to 'Blood Bank'.]

'Ahh, sure. Stop tighting around my arm, you'll tore it off.'

Vecna's Health Points dwindled rapidly as the Book of Night absorbed his sacrificed vitality. The crimson tendrils continued to feed on his life force until he had given up 99% of his remaining Health Points.

[Health: 142/11,370]

The transformation was evident. Vecna's once robust and vampiric appearance now appeared gaunt and frail. His body had sacrificed its own essence to fuel the 'Blood Bank,' leaving him with only a sliver of his former health.

But Vecna was not concerned. He knew that his Health Recovery was exceptionally high, and with the stored health in the Book of Night, he could quickly restore himself to full health when the need arose.

With a sense of readiness, Vecna closed the Book of Night and tucked it securely into his inventory. He could feel the power stored within it, a reserve of vitality that would be his secret weapon in the upcoming battle.

Taking a deep breath of air, as if to calm his nerves, he made his way toward the final room.

Vecna's footsteps echoed through the narrow corridor as he approached the entrance to the Goblin Chieftain's "Throne Room." The anticipation hung thick in the air as he prepared to confront the final challenge that awaited him. With every step, he could sense the weight of the impending battle pressing down on him.

The door to the Throne Room was a crude and oversized structure, a mockery of human architecture. It was adorned with mismatched pieces of scavenged materials and carved with tribal symbols, reflecting the goblins' haphazard design sensibilities.

As Vecna pushed open the massive door, it creaked and groaned under his touch. The room beyond was bathed in an eerie red glow, emanating from braziers filled with burning embers that lined the chamber. The walls were adorned with crude tapestries depicting the goblins' history, from their earliest tribal days to their encounters with other creatures of the realm.

In the center of the room, atop a dais made of scavenged wooden planks and stones, sat the Goblin Chieftain's throne. It was an ostentatious piece of furniture, haphazardly assembled from various stolen treasures and human artifacts. The Chieftain himself was nowhere to be seen.

Vecna's eyes scanned the room, his heightened senses detecting the presence of something sinister lurking in the shadows. He could feel the malevolent energy, the anticipation of the final showdown, building like a storm on the horizon.

With the 'Shadowed Talon' in one hand and the Book of Night securely tucked away, Vecna approached the center of the room, his crimson eyes locked on the Chieftain's throne. He knew that his adversary was lurking in the darkness, biding their time for whatever Ritual was done in this place.

"Show yourself," Vecna called out, his voice ringing through the chamber. "I've come this far just to meet you Chieftain. It's only you and me."

As if in response to his words, the shadows in the room seemed to coalesce and take form. A figure emerged from the darkness, clad in tattered robes and adorned with crude jewelry. It was the Goblin Chieftain, a creature of grotesque proportions, with a misshapen body and a twisted countenance.

[Fangor Brambleskinner - LV. 150] (Boss) [225,000/225,000 HP]

The Chieftain's eyes gleamed with a malevolent intelligence as he regarded Vecna. In one gnarled hand, he clutched a staff adorned with a sinister crystal, and in the other, he held a wickedly curved blade.

"You dare intrude upon my domain, outsider?" the Chieftain hissed, his voice a mixture of hatred and arrogance. "You shall pay for your audacity with your life."

Vecna's response was a predatory grin, his fangs gleaming in the eerie red light of the Throne Room.

"I'm no mere outsider, goblin. I am Vecna, the King of Midnight! Just quickly die, so I can visit the rest of your brethren."