Great Strides

"Although I knew that this horse I'm siphoning blood from would die eventually, I wouldn't expect it to go out like this," Bell muttered to himself as he looked at the notification of the horse's death before focusing his sense of vision on the horse that just died. Naturally, the horse that just died was none other than the horse he was standing on. But surprisingly, rather than slump to the ground after losing all vigor due to dying, it remained in its sleeping posture, as if nothing had happened. If one looked closely, the only difference they would find from the horse would be the somewhat strong stench of death surrounding it.

As he retracted his proboscis from the dead horse's skin, his attention then focused on one of the other notifications he had received after being notified of the horse's death. Making sure that the information that was written on the screen was correct, he said to himself as he rummaged through his memories, "So I obtained this title."

It did not take long for him to retrieve information regarding titles in his mind, feeling a bit of excitement as he pondered as to what effect the new title he obtained had. According to his memory, titles were a feature of the system that allowed their owners to become stronger through achievements. It also said that although a single title wouldn't amount to much in the grand scheme of things, once obtained a great number of them, it could be considered as the fine line between life and death for someone who owned a system.

"Identify 'New Blood'," Bell commanded the system not long after, feeling the hunch that he would be able to view information regarding the titles he had obtained just like how he had obtained information on the skill evolution paths a while ago. Fortunately, his hunch was correct as a small screen containing a few lines of information appeared in front of his field of vision, which was accompanied by a faint notification sound.

Ding!

As he read through the contents on the screen, the initial excitement that the young mosquito felt from what the effect of the new title he obtained could have was hastily replaced with slight disappointment. Feeling this slight disappointment, he could not help but mutter while inwardly letting out a light sigh, "Then again, it's my first title so I shouldn't expect much."

________

[New Blood]

A title given to those who have killed at least 1 being.

> Increases maximum blood capacity and siphoning efficiency by 1.

Note: Most title effects still apply even when they are not equipped. Of course, some titles need to be equipped for the effects to appear.

________

Committing the note at the end of the screen to his memory, he soon closed the small screen in front of him as he wondered what would happen if he equipped his new title right now. Taking a look at the night sky, which now had the three moons at its peak, Bell decided that it would be better for him to not rely on his system that much unless necessary. Of course, it did not take long for him to realize that the interesting parts of his new life all came from the system, which made him lightly chuckle as he said to himself, "I guess I'm a hypocrite."

"Let me change my thoughts then," he continued to talk, this time thinking out loud. "As long as I know that I can solve something without the help of the system, then I won't ask help from the system unless necessary."

"Yeah, that sounds better," Bell muttered before commanding the system not long after, "Equip 'New Blood'."

Whoosh!

In an instant, the aura surrounding Bell changed, giving off the feeling that there was a faint killing intent surrounding him. At that moment, he realized that the titles had some effects that were not written on their descriptions, just like the faint killing intent surrounding him right now. Even though he knew that he could ask the system to show all of the effects of a title as long as he asked for it, he liked the current description layout of the title where only the important effects are shown. Nevertheless, he could not help but say, "This system is really straightforward with its mechanics at times."

"I like it," he continued before letting out a happy chuckle. After that, he pondered on what he was going to do next, taking into consideration the position of the three moons in the night sky. Although he did not know if the setting of the moons meant that sunrise would soon arrive, he felt that it was still a better way to keep track of time than not knowing anything. Just as he thought about this, a spark of inspiration flashed in his mind as he focused his attention towards his mind before asking, "System, could you show me how much has passed since I reincarnated to this world?"

Ding!

Surprisingly, the system answered his question a few seconds later, with the monotonous voice of the system responding, "It has been about 7 hours, 32 minutes, and 52 seconds since you have arrived at this world."

"In short, not even a half-day has passed since I was reincarnated," Bell said before the thought of his remaining lifespan flashed in his mind. Thinking that he only had over a month left to live even with only less than half a day passing, he could not help but feel a bit melancholic as his mindset became slightly pessimistic. With a sigh, he asked himself, "Will I be able to achieve a Constitution stat of 1 before I die?"

Thankfully, that pessimistic mindset only lasted for a while as he knew that he had to make the most of his time here in this world before he died. Discarding the negative thought he had, he then formulated the next move he was going to make as he muttered, "Since I don't obtain any extra Constitution from siphoning horse blood anymore, I should find a new being to siphon blood from."

"Hmm…" As he hemmed and hawed on which animal inside this fenced-off area was going to be his next target, he utilized the entirety of his sense of vision to scan the animals in the area before it eventually stopped at a certain animal. This animal radiated a feeling of strength and sturdiness just like a horse, but to a slightly greater extent. Combined with the two sharp horns on the animal's head, as well as its decently stocky frame, it gave others a feeling that it shouldn't be messed with.

To Bell though, this animal looked like the perfect animal to siphon blood from.

"You'll be my next target," Bell said with a chortle as he flapped his wings to head to where the bull was…or at least, tried to head to where the bull was.

Whoosh!

In an instant, he had covered the distance between the horse he had siphoned blood from and the bull he was aiming for. But that was not all. Just as he willed his body to stop over the bull's body, the remaining acceleration from his wings propelled his body beyond where the bull was, to the point that when Bell was able to stop the acceleration of his body, he was already near the fence on the other side.

At first, he was puzzled as to how he was able to cover that much distance in such a short amount of time. Fortunately, it did not take long for him to remember that his Constitution had increased after siphoning the blood of the horse. With that in mind, the first question that came out of him was, "Surely, my Constitution didn't increase by that much after siphoning blood from that horse, right? I remember that every once in a while, my Constitution only increased by around the same number as my original…Constitution…"

"System, open the status screen," Bell hastily commanded the system, a screen filled to the brim with numbers and words appearing in front of his field of vision not long after. Without delay, he focused his sense of vision towards the Constitution stat, noticing that the previous 0.001 beside the word 'Constitution' was now 0.016. Taking in a deep breath through his proboscis to calm his emotions, he was about to mutter something in response to the great jump in his Constitution, only for him to retract it as he silently accepted that his physical capabilities had undergone a great change.

Hovering where he stopped for a few minutes, he eventually turned around and headed to where the bull was, making sure to become more familiar with his newfound strength. Surprisingly, by the time he was hovering over the bull's body, he already had full control over his strength. At first, he thought that the reason why he could control his new strength without a problem was thanks to his mental capabilities far beyond a normal mosquito. But after he had obtained a notification from the system that his strength had synced up to his body, those thoughts were crushed as he landed on the bull's back.

"Identify Blood Energy," Bell commanded the system before poking his proboscis into the bull's back. Not long after, a small screen appeared on the top left of his screen, with the number on the right being 20% higher than the horse. Noticing this, he could not help but be inwardly gleeful that he had made the right choice, although he felt like not much would happen even if he chose the bull after siphoning the other animals in the fenced-off area.

Nevertheless, he started to siphon blood from the bull, easily filling up the remaining free space in his stomach as a notification sound soon resounded. Without hesitation, he allocated all of the Impure Blood Energy towards [Enhanced Blood Storage] as he thought to himself, 'I'll raise [Enhanced Blood Storage] first to where it could handle 20 points before focusing all of it onto [Blood Siphoning Efficiency].'

And so, after obtaining a notification that [Enhanced Blood Storage] had leveled up, he continued to siphon blood from the bull, eventually obtaining his second Constitution skill after siphoning a few more points of blood from the bull.

Ding!

[After absorbing enough blood from a bull, you have obtained a Constitution Skill!]

[You have obtained the Constitution Skill 'Bull's Ferocity'.]

[Bull's Ferocity (0/10) -> (1/10)]

[Constitution +0.002]

[Absorb 20 more points of Impure Blood Energy to upgrade Bull's Ferocity to the next level.]

"20 points, huh," Bell said to himself as he calculated how much levels he would obtain from this bull before it died from having all of its blood siphoned. It did not take long for him to conclude that he would only be able to raise his new Constitution skill to Level 6 before needing to find another bull to siphon blood from. Thankfully, the fenced-off area had all of the same animals congregate around one another, so he just needed to siphon the blood of the bull next to him to achieve the maximum level of his second Constitution skill.

Slurp…

As the three moons in the sky continued to move towards the western horizon, Bell continued to siphon more of the bull's blood, taking note of the amount of blood he currently had in his stomach as he made sure that he would start allocating all of the Impure Blood Energy from the bull towards his [Blood Siphoning Efficiency]. Although it was fine for him to focus all of the Impure Blood Energy he obtained from siphoning beings towards storage for now, in the long run, it would be better for him to keep them at a relatively equal level. In his mind, having a lot of storage for blood but a low speed of siphoning was akin to him placing his neck on the chopping board.

Surprisingly, before he was able to siphon all of the Impure Blood Energy contained inside the bull, [Blood Siphoning Efficiency] had reached its maximum level, with the requirement to evolve being the consumption of 20 Impure Blood Energy. Without hesitation, he allocated the 20 points of Impure Blood Energy he had obtained from siphoning the bull's blood towards the skill, allowing a screen with two buttons to appear in front of him not long after.

Ding!

________

Please choose between the following:

[Blood Sac Proboscis]

[Blood Consuming Proboscis]

________

Naturally, with two paths of skill evolution in front of him, he unhesitatingly went ahead and identified both of the possible skill evolutions, hemming and hawing for a bit as he pondered over which path was the better choice.

________

[Blood Sac Proboscis]

A siphoning skill that allows you to siphon more blood than before. Due to the structure of the proboscis, the owner can store more Impure Blood Energy than usual. Increases maximum capacity and siphoning efficiency by 1 per level. Maximum level of 20.

________

[Blood Consuming Proboscis]

A siphoning skill that allows you to siphon more blood than before. Due to the structure of the proboscis, the owner can siphon more blood in the same amount of time when compared to other mosquitoes. Increases siphoning efficiency by 2 per level. Maximum level of 20.

________

Eventually, he had made his choice, letting out a tired sigh as he said to himself, "Both skills have their ups and downs, but I feel like this skill will be more useful to me in the long run."

Ding!

[Blood Siphoning Efficiency Lv. 10 -> Blood Sac Proboscis Lv. 1]

[Maximum Capacity + 1]

[Siphoning Efficiency + 1]

After evolving the skill that dictated his siphoning speed to the next level, he continued to siphon the remaining blood from the bull, muttering to himself, "Although an increase of 1 every level won't be a lot in the long run, they do say that with enough quantity, a change in quality happens."

Ding!

[The being is now dead.]

Obtaining the notification that the bull he was siphoning blood from was now dead, he went ahead and retracted his proboscis before landing on the bull beside the bull he had just siphoned from. Checking the amount of Impure Blood Energy he could obtain from the bull he had just landed on, he then went ahead and poked his proboscis once more before siphoning blood yet again. With [Blood Siphoning Efficiency] now evolved to the next level, he continued to allocate the Impure Blood Energy he siphoned from the second bull towards his maximum blood capacity.

Eventually, Bell stopped siphoning blood as a congratulatory notification sound resounded in his mind. Wondering what the notification sound was about, he went ahead and read through the multiple notifications he had received, only to mutter to himself in disbelief.

"Is it really this easy to obtain titles?"

Ding!

[Bull's Ferocity (9/10) -> (MAX)]

[Constitution +0.002]

[You have obtained the title 'Farm Slaughterer (Incomplete)'!]