Blood Queen Reborn-Chapter 18: New Skill

Erin was at the gaming pods again and logged in. She was thinking about what Quinn had told her regarding the way the world worked.

She knew she had a habit of only remembering the faces of those who were strong, but somehow she’d remembered Quinn’s name despite him not having an ability. Erin just assumed it was due to the fact that the system had his name linked to their shared messages, making him an exception to her bad habit.

Checking her status, she noticed that she had gained a single point in strength, as well as a free stat point.

[User: Erin Heley]

[Race: Halfling]

[Level 2]

[20/200 EXP]

[HP 20/20]

[Strength: 16]

[Agility: 15]

[Stamina: 15]

[Free stat points: 1]

There was a slight improvement to Erin’s strength. At first, she wasn’t sure where the point had come from, but then she recalled that she actually gained a notification around the time she drank her roommate’s blood. Not only that, but it was likely that drinking blood would increase her strength if Layla’s stories about vampires were true. She would need to test this theory later.

The other thing was that Erin had somehow gained a free stat point. Recalling when she first got the point, it happened around the time she had leveled up, but she hadn’t noticed it then because she was busy with other things.

Selecting stamina through the system, Erin added the free stat point into it.

[Stamina: 16]

Starting up a random ranked match again, Erin wanted to test out her new blood swipe skill.

As the match began, she saw the environment form around her: a circular arena carved into the ground with chairs situated outside the indented area. Getting into a battle-ready position, she saw her opponent—a man wearing a light blue, skin-tight suit with a white electricity symbol plastered on his chest—charge straight at her. He either had a speed ability or a lightning ability.

Erin held her hand out and yelled, "Blood swipe!"

Her hand glowed bright red, then she flicked it downwards, causing a glowing red line to fling through the air and slash against her opponent. The man looked a little confused, but he began to run around Erin in a zig-zag pattern.

He came in for a kick, which Erin grabbed, before slamming him onto the ground. Then, before he could get up, she threw out several more blood swipes into his body. The match ended, and she received her EXP.

[You have gained 25+ EXP]

[45/200 EXP]

After winning the match, she checked her health stat but noticed that the HP count had not gone down at all. She wasn’t sure why this was the case, as the blood swipe skill clearly stated it would remove HP. Just to be sure, she opened her system screen and looked at the skill’s description.

[Blood Swipe] 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

[A skill that fires a red line of energy from the user’s hands in the shape of a claw. To use the skill, the user must use their own blood, causing -1 HP per Blood Swipe.]

The text clearly stated that it would cost -1 HP, but Erin was still at full health.

My health likely replenished when I completed my previous match, Erin thought.

Starting up another Quick Match, Erin was set to fight against a level 3 user in the same arena. Standing opposite her was a ninja-looking guy with black hair and green robes.

Immediately, the guy formed gray smoke around himself, obscuring Erin’s vision. Erin threw out three blood swipes in the area where she last saw the ninja and quickly checked her health.

[HP 20/20]

Interesting... Erin thought.

For some reason, using blood swipes in the game didn’t use up her health, and she didn’t know why.

While Erin was thinking about the new skill, the smoke suddenly enveloped her, and she was met with a quick kick to the face.

[-3 HP]

[HP 17/20]

Stepping back, Erin saw that the ninja guy was wearing something very intricate on his feet. It was shiny, as if made of metal, and Erin realized it was actually beast gear.

As soon as the ninja guy kicked her, he immediately jumped back into the shadows. Taking out her sword, Erin listened intently for the sound of footsteps. Thanks to her enhanced hearing, she was able to hear very faint taps on the ground behind her.

Without even turning around, Erin blocked another kick from the ninja guy with her sword.

How did she detect I was here? the ninja player thought. I swear I was using my smoke to silence my footsteps!

Flinging his leg off, Erin spun around and slashed across the ninja’s torso, catching him off balance.

As he was stumbling back, he threw a ball of condensed smoke into Erin’s eyes, and she quickly batted it away. Unfortunately, by that point, he was gone.

Smart, Erin thought. But he’s only delaying the inevitable.

Then, the air shifted to the left of Erin, and she spotted the ninja guy jump into the air about 20 feet above the smoke. To be able to reach that height most likely meant that it was the boots’ active ability.

He spun in the air, his foot sticking out to deal a devastating blow, but all Erin had to do was step three feet to the right.

Once he crashed into the ground, the ninja boy realized that he had seriously injured his leg from the force, his face grimacing in pain. Not wasting another second, Erin slashed her sword across the ninja’s body, ending the match.

[You have gained 25+ EXP]

[70/200 EXP]

Once she was teleported back into the game’s white room, Erin began thinking about the best way to use her time. She could improve her fighting skills by taking the fights seriously like she did against the ninja, or she could spam the blood swipe attack and level up faster, similar to how she handled the blue lightning bolt guy.

In the end, Erin decided to do a mix of both. She would fight normally for a few minutes before spamming blood swipes to finish the match sooner.

In a dark room lit only by several bright monitors, a green-haired boy was looking at a forum page.

The place was littered with knick-knacks that the boy considered inventions, and the floor was covered in wires, gadgets, and trash. As he held his hand to his advanced computer, he scanned the page because there was a recent surge in posts about a specific user. Namely, that the user was using hacks.

Apparently, this user was using a strange ability that wasn’t registered as something one could select in the ability library. It involved a red aura that would slice through the air, from what he could gather from the forums. He knew all of the abilities registered in the game, and not a single one fit this description. This boy didn’t even need to double-check the list because he was the game’s head developer.

He thought the whole situation was interesting. However, due to the encryption devices he had coded to scramble the data, not even he would be able to identify who the person was. Instead, he opted for an alternative solution. If he could find out what times this user was active and figure out which gaming pods were in use at the same time, he could pinpoint who this player was.