Book 3: Chapter 66

Book 3: Chapter 66

The corruption pushed deeper into his chest toward his heart. Kay’s voice was hoarse from screaming and no water, but shrieks of pain still erupted from him as the vile vampyr sludge spread throughout him. He could feel it changing him wherever it spent time; his veins were becoming something different, his bones were getting strange, and his muscles were contorting in odd ways. For whatever reason, it was leaving his brain alone, spreading down through his neck instead of up. He could feel a simple intelligence in its malevolence, or if not an intelligence, a goal. It wanted to corrupt his heart so that his own body produced more sludge for it, and then he’d be lost entirely, only the time it took to fully turn him keeping him himself.

Kay knew time had passed, but he had no idea how long he’d been screaming and trying to fight back against the changes. It felt like an eternity with the pain dulling his sense, but it couldn’t have been very long at all since the viral agent or whatever it was that was changing him into a vampyr was only part of the way into his chest. It wasn’t like there were leagues to travel to get there; it was only a foot at most, so it could have only been a few hours.

His focus was increasing as he tried everything he could to combat what was happening to him. He could now “see” inside his bloodstream, small enough to identify his own cells trying to attack the invader as if it were a bacteria or virus that had gotten in him. This wasn’t a normal viral or bacterial invader, though, and it was actively fighting back, consuming and twisting cells as they charged into battle. He didn’t know if it was because of his Skills or just something a body could do, but there was an actual battle in his body; his cells were fighting back and delaying the change, even if, overall, the contaminant was pushing deeper and deeper inside him.

The pain was becoming something he was used to as time passed, and the fight went on. It wasn’t lessening, it hurt just as much, but he was becoming able to withstand it to greater and greater degrees. The eldritch taint of the disgusting goop flowing through him was another matter. He felt like he constantly needed to vomit, but his gag reflex just rebounded on itself over and over, never getting anywhere. He pushed past both sensations as the pain became something to bear instead of something unbearable and started trying to aid his body in this fight.The inaugural upload of this chapter took place via N0v3l-B1n.

He started by forming infinitesimal barbs inside his veins and shredding at the corruptive fluid, but it just divided individual pieces like mitosis and kept moving. Using Healthy Blood and Blood Regeneration gave his body more resources to fight back and let his cells last a few moments longer in each individual battle against the tide of vampyric change, but it only delayed what was happening. The corruption started to creep around his heart; pieces of it somehow jumped from the main host and appeared in other veins, coming at the heart from all directions and surrounding each of the chambers.

Part of small Kay was confused since blood was produced in the marrow of the bones, not from the heart itself, but he could feel the eldritch purpose behind the sludge and its desire to fully corrupt his heart, so he was more worried about that. He tried Skill after Skill in different ways, but nothing worked for long as the change crept closer and closer to its goal. It was when he tried using Blood Boost to send more oxygen running through his veins that things started to change.

The burst of highly oxygenated blood spread throughout his entire body, and some of it went into his brain, sharpening his thoughts for a moment. His senses became sharper, too, including his sense of pain, and he writhed as the agony came into even sharper focus. At the same time, though, a thought hit him, the idea that he wasn’t using the best Skill for this. Something was off.

A situation of interest has been logged.You are in danger of dying due to an incomplete transformation into a vampyr.You have also successfully ended an attempt to transform a being into a vampyr for the first time recorded.Beginning scan.Return to human is impossible, changes are too extensive.Calculating chances of change into new species.Probability: 85% SuccessYour survival would be beneficial to the System.Attempting to recreate partial framework into full species framework based on incomplete data.... Success, framework created.Framework does not match local world, adapting to local world.Success, framework balanced to local world.Chance of successful change increased to 97%Beginning change to new species.Your System Boon has been spent as payment for framework stabilization, assistance in, and acceleration of race change.

The parts of him that had been twisted earlier snapped back into place with the rest of his body, and all of him began to change at one. His bone marrow became denser, his muscles became denser, his nerves grew faster and more responsive, he could feel his eyes change in ways he couldn’t describe, but he knew it was making them better in the dark and even better overall and his teeth started to grow. Two of them specifically. His canines began to sharpen and expand deeper into his skull, muscles forming around them that would allow him to drop their entire length out for biting. His organs began to shift as well, his stomach changing to account for a new kind of diet and his intestines following along. His heart started pumping more slowly, and his kidneys became more robust, better able to remove toxins and poisons. Even the nails on his fingers changed, becoming stronger and sharper.

A massive shift flowed through his body, every part of him changing in one sweeping wave that turned him from a human into something else. Something new. The pain was so much worse than it had been when he fought against becoming a vampyr, but it was over so much more quickly.

He opened his eyes with a grunt as the pain began to fade, leaving only a persistent ache.

Congratulations on your survival.Your species has been changed.This species is new to Torotia.Based on data from other worlds, this species is identified as “Vampire”.

“Oh really?” Kay groaned sarcastically, “I wouldn’t have fucking guessed that a vampyr with the eldritch taken out would be a vampire. How could I have missed that?”

That information can be discussed; however, this may not be the best time.

Movement had Kay looking up from the text to see the vampyr staring at him, his expression pulled back in an animalistic snarl and bright red rage in his eyes.

“What have you done!?” He shrieked, his eyes frantically roaming over Kay’s body, “What foul mockery of my lord’s holy power have you wrought!?”

Your continued survival is now of importance to the System due to ongoing events and your intersection with them.Aid provided for race change was not totally equal to value of System Boon expended.Using remaining value.Experience needed for Leadership to reach level forty is minimal.Adding necessary experience.Previous decision to accept tier five Class that “combines the most possible Classes” acknowledged.Two Classes possible.Comparing Classes.Second Class is harder to achieve and is “more powerful” based on current metrics in use.Auto accepting applicable Class.Beginning tier up to tier five.Combining Classes.Assigning new Skills.Moving relevant Skills.

Kay jerked as an ocean’s worth of mana flowed into him, significantly more than any other tier-up he’d experienced. He could feel the changes from his sudden race change become even more pronounced as the influx of mana strengthened his body to even higher levels. He yanked his arms down and threw his legs apart, shattering the red energy that kept him bound. He landed on his feet with graceful ease and stared at the vampyr, who snarled at him wordlessly and charged.

Kay saw one last message as he charged forward.

Tier up complete.New Class applied.New Class: Lord of Spilled Blood