Level Up

Barbara's pupils dilated as she stared blankly at Lucian.

Getting up onto her feet she slowly walked up, stopping only a few feet away from Lucian.

"Disable your ability," Lucian commanded.

The purplish ooze surrounding her open wounds began to slowly turn into a blood-red colour.

*Sniff*

Smelling the sweet irony smell he'd recently fallen in love with, Lucian's mouth began watering.

He walked over to Barbara, tilting her head slightly to the left.

Lucian then preceded to lower her shirt collar a bit, revealing her neck.

"Time to eat."

Lucian licked his lips with visible hunger, before lifting his mask up a bit, revealing his pearly white fangs.

He inhaled a breath of air before sinking his teeth into her neck.

*CHOMP*

Lucian began sucking all of the blood from her body until she fell to the ground lifeless.

Now she was nothing more than a shrivelled-up corpse.

"I wonder how my body can even fit that much blood?" Lucian wondered to himself as he slowly fixed his mask.

*DING*

[You Have Quenched Your Thirst For Blood. THIRST bar has been reset to 0]

[You have received 10 Exp for killing an E-rank mortal]

[You have received 20 Exp for drinking the blood of an E-rank mortal]

[Quest Completed]

[Quest (Reoccurring): Satiate your hunger]

Quest Completion Requirements:

- Drink 100% of a mortal's blood.

Quest Duration:

- 24 Hours

Quest Completion Rewards:

- Victim's Ability (Warning: currently does not work on victims with abilities greater than E-rank)

[Ability Plunder Has Activated!]

[Plundering E-Rank Ability: Blood Poison…]

[Plundering Successful!]

[New Ability: Blood Poison]

[Ability Description: Convert your blood into a poisonous substance.]

[Cost: 1 Ability energy for every 100 ml of blood converted.]

[Gained 20 Exp For The Completion Of A Quest]

*DING*

[EXP LIMIT HAS BEEN REACHED: 100/100]

[LEVEL UP]

[5 FREE STAT POINTS HAVE BEEN ADDED]

[AQUIRED NEW SKILL: Bloodlust]

[Bloodlust Lv.1]

[Skill Description: Increase STR, DEF, and SPD by 30%, but gain 1 THIRST for every second in use.]

Lucian watched the incoming notifications with visible excitement.

Hardcore gamers are often asked the question, "What motivates you to play for hours on end?"

While some of them tend to have varying responses, most of them would agree on one thing.

The dopamine rush when they accomplished a task, got a kill, found a rare item, or levelled up.

Lucian, whose very life became a game was currently experiencing a similar dopamine rush.

Eager to see his current stat page, he pulled it up.

"Status."

[Status Information]

Name: Lucian Sanguinis

Age: 15 years old

Race: Vampire

Lv.2

EXP: 0/500

HP: 30/30

STA: 14/15

ABILITY ENERGY: 25/25

THIRST: 0/65 (Gain one point in thirst every 30 minutes. WARNING: DO NOT LET THIRST REACH THE MAXIMUM VALUE)

DEF: 9

SPD: 16

STR: 14

CHAR: 25

Free Stat points: 5

____________________________________________________________________________________

Abilities:

Plunder Lv.1

Ability Description: Steal the abilities of anyone whose blood you completely drink. (Currently can not steal abilities that surpass E-rank.)

Ability Slots: 2/5

[Iron Skin]

Ability Description: Cover your body with a coating of metal. Significantly increases defence and durability.

Cost: 1 Ability Energy every 10 seconds of use.

________________________________

[New Ability Blood Poison]

Ability Description: Convert your blood into a poisonous substance.

Cost: 1 Ability energy for every 100 ml of blood converted.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Titles: Prince of the Night

Title Description: ???

____________________________________________________________________________________

Skills:

- Blood Claw Lv.1

Skill Description: Coat your claws with a cover of blood, amplifying damage from slashing and piercing with your claws. (Warning: Will consume your own blood if not covering your claws in the blood of others before using this skill. Using your own blood will reduce HP.)

________________________________

- Charm Lv.1

Skill Description: Charm your target into becoming a slave to your will. The effectiveness of this skill depends on the level of your charisma.

________________________________

- Highspeed Regeneration Lv.1

Skill Description: Passively increase the rate of natural regeneration significantly, but consume points of thirst.

________________________________

- Bloodlust Lv.1

Skill Description: Increase STR, DEF, and SPD by 30%, but gain 1 THIRST for every second in use.

____________________________________________________________________________________

"Hmm…" Lucian surveyed the new information with a scrutinizing gaze.

"It seems that I'll need to kill at least 10 more people to hit level 3, but that's only if I get the Satiate your hunger quest…"

Lucian thought for a moment before his eyes widened.

His mouth curved upwards into a cold smile.

"Why don't I just keep inflicting injuries on myself while using bloodlust? I can increase my THIRST by using highspeed regeneration and bloodlust in tandem, thus drastically increasing my thirst, letting it reach the point where the quest will generate gain!"

Games would always be exploited for even the smallest bugs or details, just for the players to achieve the highest level of efficiency.

Lucian was someone who hated doing unnecessary effort, being someone who preferred to work smart than work hard.

If there was a way he could bypass several days of monotone grinding and shorten it down to only a few days at most, he would certainly do it in a heartbeat.

He walked over and grabbed a petroleum canister that was behind one of the nearby buildings, one he assumed was a barbecue-style restaurant.

Lucian elongated his claws, causing them to grow an inch.

[Iron Skin]

The claws turned into an onyx colour.

He readied his hand and pierced the canister, causing petroleum to spray outwards.

Lucian walked over and dumped the contents of the canister on Barbara's corpse, making sure to fully douse it in oil.

Pulling out a matchstick from his pocket, he was about to light a fire, but he heard something behind him.

*CREAK*

"Okay, the four of us need to bring back the blue canisters here. I think around 4 should be enough to restock the grills. We should have exactly 4, so each person just grabs one."

"Wait… Boss? I only count 3…"

"Huh? That's wrong… Wait we are missing one?"

"That's what I said!"

"I counted four just 20 minutes ago! Did someone take it or something?"

The person they called boss looked around to find their missing gas canister, only to find a blue-looking canister only a few meteres away from them.

"See it's there!"

He pointed at the gas canister, but he noticed something else.

There appeared to be a man with his back turned towards them, leaning over what appeared to be a collapsed human.

It wasn't quite easy to make out the collapsed human's details in the dark, but their general body structure resembled a human.

"Hey, are you two okay? Also were you the one who tried to steal our gas canister?"

Neither of the two figures responded.

*KSK*

The sound of a match striking a matchbox rang out, as a small light appeared in front of Lucian.

He dropped the match, letting it hit the barbara's corpse, before taking off at top speed.

"Hmm? Why is he running?"

*WOOOSH*

A plume of fire erupted out of Barbara's corpse, covering her whole body in flames.

"WAAH! THAT PERSON'S BODY IS ON FIRE!"

"G-GET A BUCKET OF WATER QUICKLY!"

It took them several minutes to put out the fire, but by that time, the body's features were hardly recognizable.

The only thing they could figure out was that she was a woman.

"Did that guy just kill her?"

"I think so…"

"The fire department's on its way, so let's tell them what we know."

However, even if they did tell the police, Lucian was already long gone.