Sanguine Paradise

Chapter 3: [Day 2] – “Shadow”

Day 2

Returning to consciousness I jolt up. Two thin and spindly legs stretched out before me to support me.

-Ah...

Okay, I'm still a mosquito and nothing happened while I was asleep.

Looking all around me, I noticed that it looked to be nighttime currently, but to me but there was barely any difference. Well, I could definitely perceive it was nighttime compared to the glow of daytime light, but luckily my sight was relatively unaffected by the change.

I didn't know for how exactly long I've slept since I couldn't really make out how dark it was coupled with being unable to accurately pinpoint the position moon due to the rather annoying limitations of my sight. But besides, I wasn't even sure if the planet follows a 24-hours cycle, so I could only try and estimate.

Shaking the sleepiness out, I scouted around for any changes or points of interest in my vicinity from the branch. The horned rabbit was no longer at the patch of gra- Wait!

Just a few meters to the side of the patch of grass where I had previously shared a dinner with the cute rabbit, was a lump of something looking quite a lot like a ball of fur over by the foliage. It seemed that the horned rabbit had also gone to sleep, so it must've not have been too long that I've been asleep.

Feeling that I had surprisingly already digested pretty much all of the blood I had procured, I took off from the branch without any further ado and began flying towards the lump of fur in hopes of another easy meal.

Immediately after taking off, I noticed now after that I've lost the additional weight, that flying is a lot easier and the strength given off by my wings had become more potent. I simply assumed it must be the increase in stats from siphon; before I just couldn't feel it that well because of the encumberment of the blood.

Yup, this siphon trait is pretty damn good.

Making my way down to the lump of fur, I promptly made a swift landing and began to go to town on the innocent creature. This time I took almost a full 40 seconds to fill myself, probably since I had also grown a bit larger as my stats had risen in tandem. After finishing drinking my fill a prompt gave me a most welcome piece of information.

[Siphon]

[You've consumed the blood of a horned rabbit]

[3 points of EXP has been acquired and stats have been added]

[Congratulations! You've reached level 2]

[You've been rewarded with 1 skill point for reaching level 2]

Hell yeah! Now to rest up a b-

Before I could even finish my mental sentence I was promptly cut off as my mind jolted and my world turned upside down. Tumbling through the air I tried desperately to right myself in the air, but with the added weight of the blood in my abdomen, it was quite a bit harder.

But with a sudden burst of natural instinct, my body managed to right itself mid-air. Slowly recovering my senses I looked fervently around with panic in my chest, uh-thorax I mean? A few seconds later I finally figured out what the hell had happened. Only a few meters away, stood a big pitch-black feline cat with a horned rabbit dangling in its mouth; seemingly dead.

It would seem that while I was feeding, I had almost died due to carelessness. A shiver went through my body, I almost forgot how easy it would be for me to simply die before could even notice or realize I had been in danger. Studying the black feline a bit more as it was munching on the rabbit, I noticed something weird about this panther looking feline.

It looked almost as if it's whole body was exuding darkness and shadow, obscuring it. If I didn't already know that it was there, I'm pretty I wouldn't even have been able to spot it, even though it isn't even actively hiding.

-Scary...

For a very brief moment of opportunistic greed, I actually thought about stealing some of its blood while it was eating. Since it must be a very powerful creature it must give quite the bonus to stats. But I quickly shook that thought from my head. Not only have I not finished digesting the horned rabbit's blood, but it's also all too risky for my liking.

Or for now at least...

Getting back to my perch on the branch, I rubbed my small spindly legs together in anticipation to see what has changed on my status.

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-Status!-

[Status]

Name: "???"

Race: Glade Mosquito

Sex: Male

Rank: K-

Level: 2/3

Health: 1/1

Stamina: 1/1

Mana: 0/0

[Attributes]

STR - 0.15 0.21

VIT - 0.15 0.26

AGI - 2

DEX - 1

INT - 12

CHR - 0.05 0.06

WILL - 11

MAG - 0.02 0.03

[Trait, Titles, and Skills].

Skills - 4

Traits - 3

Titles - 0

Skillpoints - 0 1

[Resistances]

Phy. Resistance - 0.025 0.035

Mag. Resistance - 0.004 0.006

Men. Resistance - 5

Hmm, not an enormous change but for my small frame, it's quite a bit. It would seem that leveling also gives me a bit of stat increase, with some further leveling and use of my siphon trait I should be able to become stronger relatively fast - or fast for a mosquito at least.

Oh yeah! I almost forgot that I had just gotten a skill point for reaching level 2, but to be fair it was mostly because of how rudely I was interrupted while eating that rabbit. Stupid thieving cat...

Now, what do I need?

Spending a few minutes I mulled over different ideas and possibilities. I knew I still couldn't make use of any combat-oriented skills at the moment. I could save up this point and wait for something better than a 1-cost skill, but currently, I was severely in need of something that can ensure my survival - however little.

Thinking about various skills that might have a solution for my current dilemma, my mind suddenly wandered back the black feline and remembered about how well it was at hiding.

Hah! I know what I need - stealth!. Yeah sure I might be small right now, and must creatures won't be able to notice me. But right now I don't have the slightest clue of what the animals in this world can do, not to mention all the different kinds of them that I've never even seen. I'd rather find out there exists frogs or other mosquito-eating-critters before they find me...

I already can deduce that there is quite a lot of birds in this glade, due to the consistent bird chirps from when I first woke up in that cave mouth. Accidentally flying past some kind of frog or similar creature, without me noticing it first might just spell death for me. Me discovering the creatures of this world before they discover me would be my biggest advantage in my current diminutive form.

With that in mind, I quickly pulled up the skill shop and searched for some stealth skills.

[Skill shop]

Search: > Stealth

Stealth: Cost - 25 / Requirement; AGI - 50, DEX - 70, INT - 30

A skill that allows the user to completely hide their presence and form. Any creature will have trouble finding the user even if the user was standing in front of them, especially if their power is lower than that of the skill user or if they lack any skills to countermeasure the user.

Obscure presence: Cost - 10 / Requirement; AGI - 10, DEX - 20, INT - 15, MAG - 10, Mana - 3

Allows the user to use mana to more effectively hide their presence.

Obscure form: Cost - 5 / Requirement; AGI - 10, DEX - 20, INT - 10, MAG - 5, Mana - 2

Allows the user to use mana to more effectively hide their form.

Hiding: Cost - 1 / Requirement; None

The basic level of hiding makes it harder for creatures to notice your presence and form.

For a moment I was completely baffled at the price for stealth, but as I read the description of the skill and then thought about the implications this skill would have for the user I settled down. Stealth was an extremely powerful skill and I already knew that you can level up skills. If I'm not wrong I could possibly even evolve or advance them at a certain point. So with that in mind, I could see why stealth would cost so much.

But to be sure I still asked the system.

-System, can I advance or evolve my skills, and if so when?-

[Yes, most skills can be upgraded, advance, and modified when reaching a certain milestone in said skill. Skills at some point might also be able to turn into other skills]

I see. So if I leveled the hiding skill to a sufficiently high enough level, or advance it enough I might even be able to turn it into the stealth skill without even having to purchase the skill for full price!

I then continued on to read the next 3 skills and their corresponding descriptions. After reading them all I obviously knew which one to pick, so I picked the hiding skill.

-Hiding!-

[Skill - Hiding LVL: 1, has been added to the skill list!]

About an hour later I had surprisingly already digested all the blood again. I don't know if it is because I'm a "monster-type" mosquito or because of my skill, but my rate of digesting blood is abnormally high compared to anything from back home on Earth. Now free from encumberment I decided to go hunt, I couldn't wait to hit level three. Although I wasn't sure but due to my status saying 2/3 on my level, most likely meant that once I hit level three I can evolve into something better.

Man, it would seriously suck ass if I was put on this world simply to live out my years as a fucking mosquito - wait how long are their lifespans even? A week? A month? Fuck I need to get moving...

Flying for about half an hour, I didn't see any animals besides some, particularly dangerous-looking frogs by a puddle, which I steered well away from. I wasn't exactly all that enthusiastic about dying the belly of a frog. All of a sudden, I started to smell something that was oddly enticing, and I couldn't help but head straight in a beeline towards the scent.

It took me only about a minute or two of flying before I found the source of the smell. Upon seeing the source of the smell I was slightly stunned. It was another horned rabbit, but this one was at least three times as big as the previous one. It was sleeping, so I slowly approached it after scouting out the situation and promptly landed on the nape of its neck.

Not seeing any disturbances from my presence in the big animal other than the slight movements of its body as it breathed at a steady pace, I made quick lunch of its blood. It was a minute later that I had finished stuffing myself and was rewarded with a prompt that I was oh-so-hoping for.

[Siphon]

[You've consumed the blood of an (Alpha) Horned Rabbit]

[11 points of EXP had been acquired and stats have been added]

[Congratulations! You've reached level 3]

[You've been rewarded with 1 skill point for reaching level 3]

[You're currently at the level threshold, you can choose an evolution path!]

[Blood Profiling has reached LVL: 2!]

[Blood Profiling has advanced the profile of "Horned Rabbit"]

[Puncture has reached LVL: 2!]

Holy shit, that's a lot to take in at once. But hell yeah! I can evolve!

Dislodging myself from the alpha horned rabbit I quickly found my way to a safe-looking branch. But on the way to the branch, I was surprised with yet another skill level up, which was more than welcome.

[Flight has reached LVL: 2!]

For the last stretch of the distance to the branch, I felt a noticeable difference in the ease and speed of my flight, which was a clear indication of the skill's improvement. Landing on the branch in giddy excitement, I opened up the possible evolutions.

-Evolutions!-

[Available evolution paths]

Lesser Sanguinite: Rank - K / Primary ATTR - AGI, DEX / Req - Bloodsucker race

A larger than average mosquito that is usually feared by human peasants due to their tendencies of nesting close to human villages and causing infestations. If they evolve once again they become abnormally big for a mosquito another reason why they're feared by peasants.

Jubokko Seedling: Rank - K- / Primary ATTR - STR, VIT, DEX / Req - Bloodsucker race

A Jubokko seedling is the earliest evolution of the Jubokko, a living tree the feeds upon the living to sustain itself. A Jubokko seedling will seed itself in the ground where it will then feed upon unsuspecting critters to nourish itself.

Not many choices, but they were interesting, to say the least. The Jubokko seedling seems like it probably will become quite powerful once it evolves into a real Jubokko. But I had a sneaking suspicion that that evolution path will a hell of a long time, and I wasn't particularly excited to spend the next few years in the ground hoping something delicious will hop by - or some too big wouldn't stomp on me...

So Lesser Sanguinite it is.

-Lesser Sanguinite!- I shouted mentally.

...

Nothing happened

-Lesser Sanguinite!!!- Again... nothing happened.

Am I doing this wrong or wh-

(SNAP)

I was interrupted as a surge of mindboggling pain flared and reverberated throughout my tiny body accompanied by the distinct sound of something snapping. I hurriedly looked around in a panic, thinking something might've attacked me. But nothing was around me, looking down at were waves of radiant pain flared out from I saw that my right front leg had snapped and it looked like it bubbling from the inside.

Realizing that this was probably my evolution beginning, sweet relief flooded my mind, only to be immediately replaced with a creeping dread.

-Ah, fuck this is going to hurt like a motherfucker, isn't it?