NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 51: The Hidden God
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As he was below the gaze of the three Outer Ones, Vlad started to experience strange hallucinations; memories of his childhood as a vampire began to appear one after another. It was like mini-cutscenes mixed together; Paul couldn’t really make any sense of this, and it was making him feel dizzy, almost with nausea.
The three entities glanced at him; their gazes so strong that it felt like Vlad’s very soul was beginning to be eroded. The Evil God of Gluttony and the Goddess of the Crimson Moon glanced at the vampire fall to his knees, screaming in pain as he grabbed his head.
[The {Goddess of the Crimson Moon} panics! She says that you should be able to return to your body already!]
[The {Evil God of Hunger and Excess} says that’s impossible; these three visitors have taken over the temporary Mind Realm.]
“Uuugghh…! Why is my head spinning so much… Dammit, I’m going to puke…!”
Paul was feeling terribly dizzy. He did remember that the game had a lot of warnings before playing it, so many that it had like ten pages worth of them, but he didn’t care and accepted them all.
These memories of Vlad began to fall apart, burning, being consumed by shadows, and then melting away into green acid.
Constantly, images of burning corpses appeared within his mind, then of death, rotting corpses, and lastly of disgusting ooze, slime, and tentacles opening their jaws and eating him.
“Uuuaaaggghh!”
[Warning! You have been inflicted with the [Mind Erosion] Status Effect!]
[If this continues, your character might begin to grow weaker; both stats, soul, and skills might be permanently lost over time.]
“Log out! Log out!”
Paul tried to just log out; this was getting ridiculous…
However.
[Do you wish to forcefully log out?]
[Progress so far might be lost.]
“Wait, what? My progress will be lost? No way…!”
Paul hesitated for a bit in that moment, thinking that maybe it was better to sit down and watch this horrendous event until it ended.
The entities in front of him drew closer. The emerald ooze extended tentacles towards Vlad, trying to touch him.
The flames tried to wrap around him and burn him, and the shadow clouds rapidly started swirling around his body, attempting to grab his soul.
Were they trying to kill his character right now?
Then perhaps just losing all his progress might as well be the same thing in the end!
[The {Unending Crimson} also wants to give you their sponsorship!]
[To accept, please bathe in his flames and let your mind and soul be baptized by them.]
[The {Desecrated Shadow King} is interested in the endless curses you carry within you.]
[He wants to see your soul be consumed by his darkness. Accept him by allowing his curses to consume you.]
[The {Maiden of the Emerald Sea} smiles, finding you adorable, and wants to give you her blessings.]
[To accept them, she wants to hug you very tightly and let you melt away within her body, becoming one with her.]
They offered ultimate power, but all of them also asked for an ultimate sacrifice: to destroy everything that made him and to be remade with their flames, curses, or acid.
It was too stupid and ridiculous! Wouldn’t the character Vlad completely be erased by then? Paul also knows that the personality of an avatar affects character interactions and even how his words come out when he speaks with others.
As of now, his personality and Vlad’s have been very in synch, to the point where they were even able to fully synchronize to gain tremendous dexterity and abilities.
But if this happened, Vlad would become a broken shell, and it would be hard to convey his intentions through a broken mind.
“You’re all insane! You’re worse than the evil gods! Let me go!” Vlad protested. “Dammit!”
As he unleashed his anger, suddenly his Aura grew stronger, rapidly spreading shadows and blood-red liquid everywhere, shaping into countless jaws.
Then, from within that initial wave that didn’t even affect the Outer Ones, something else emerged.
“What’s with this ruckus?! Why are you crying so goddamn much, my reincarnation?!”
FLASH!
A bright golden light erupted from Vlad’s body, his mind rapidly opening to reveal the secondary being within his soul.
The entire Mind Realm suddenly shook tremendously, cracks appearing around Vlad as his eyes widened.
Then, as the sea of golden light, Ki itself, spread out everywhere, the three Outer Ones began to be slightly pushed back!
And the two other Gods that tried to stay and do something were completely and utterly…
Startled!
[The {Goddess of the Crimson Moon} is shaken to sense another Divinity!]
[The {Evil God of Hunger and Excess} doesn’t know what’s happening anymore.]
“Y-You’re…?!”
Vlad glanced at the figure on his back, while the three Outer Ones quickly gathered together to glance at the entity that had emerged.
And they seemed pleased.
Their prey had suddenly become even more interesting!
“Who else than me, my foolish reincarnation?”
The man behind Vlad was tall, much taller than the vampire prince, easily reaching two meters in height.
He wore ancient Chinese clothes of red and black color, adorned by silver and black metal armor over his body.
He had long, silky black hair, waving behind his back like a mighty sea of darkness.
His crimson eyes pierced through his soul as his prideful, handsome, and Asian face smiled.
“What’s gotten into you?! Startled by my handsome face? This is what your previous life looked like—foolish reincarnation! Vask in my glorious appearance! This Mind Realm has allowed my manifestation! Hahahah!”
It was nobody else than Murim’s Heavenly Demon, Vlad’s previous life!
The golden aura around him quickly mixed with the darkness and blood-red energies, forming his true ki.
Ki by itself was gold-colored, but once corrupted through the powers of the Heavenly Demon, it took the shape of his real Ki Aura.
Black and red, this was his Demonic Venerable Ki!
FLUOSH!
It surged like a gigantic force, destroying his surroundings and consuming them completely. The Outer Ones could see how part of the territory within the Mind Realm they were eroding recovered, slightly amused by this!
[The {Unending Crimson} is fascinated by this show! They wonder if this is the origin of your mysterious powers.]
[The {Desecrated Shadow King} admires the purity of your previous life’s darkness; the curses and shadows that linger within that man’s past are exquisite and magnificent.]
[The {Maiden of the Emerald Sea} screams out of furor! She cannot believe how handsome your previous incarnation was! Her tentacles swirl around; she wants to lick every part of his body!]
“Disgusting aberrations from the outer cosmos, do you think you can do anything to my reincarnation, fools?! He is me, and I am him! If you mess with him, you mess with me!” the Heavenly Demon roared. “BEGONE FROM MY SIGHT, MISSHAPEN ABOMINATIONS!”
RUMBLE!
With his very words, the Mind Realm continued recovering, his Ki spreading everywhere, transforming the entire place, and pushing the Outer Ones far, far away!
He wasn’t directly fighting them; he was simply pushing them away from the Mind Realm.
Even the Heavenly Demon knew that these were beings he could not touch…
Or could he?
[The {Unending Crimson} laughs! They say they are not giving up on you!]
The flames and crystals of the Unending Crimson gathered together into countless burning hands, rushing towards Vlad.
[The {Desecrated Shadow King} accepts the challenge.]
The shadows and curses of the Desecrated Shadow King gathered into enormous swords, spears, axes, and other weapons, attacking Vlad.
[The {Maiden of the Emerald Sea} screams in ecstasy, saying to not leave her out of the fun!]
The endless emerald-colored ooze and slime of the Maiden of the Emerald Sea gathered together into thousands of tentacles, moving towards Vlad.
“T-They’re still going at it?!”
As Vlad was shocked, the Venerable of Murim’s Demonic Faction smiled at him.
“Have I not taught you a single thing, my reincarnation?” the Heavenly Demon asked. “In this world, or in any other, if you don’t show others what you’re truly capable of… They will never stop trying to use you for their own selfish goals! Show them that you’re not a weakling, that you’re not a dog they can grab and tame, and that you’re not a fish they catch and eat… You’re a tiger, and you’re the one that hunts them down!”
FLUOSH!
Suddenly, the Mind Realm gathered around the Heavenly Demon as he harnessed his Ki and fused with the Mind Realm itself, forming a gigantic sphere of darkness and light.
The other two gods, glancing at this, were left flabbergasted.
[The {Goddess of the Crimson Moon} is speechless!]
[The {Evil God of Hunger and Excess} laughs in disbelief.]
“You’re…! What are you doing?! If you use the Mind Realm like this, the space between those things and us has only shortened!”
Vlad didn’t know what the hell the Heavenly Demon was doing.
“Watch and learn, you impertinent brat!” The Heavenly Demon gathered his energies and then released them with a single fist moving upwards.
“{Heavenly Demon Arts}: {Heaven-Defying Fist}”
A gigantic golden, black, and red fist materialized out of thin air, pushing towards the attacks of three Outer Ones at the same time.
“It’s not going to work; they’re too powerful!”
“Sit down and watch, mongrel!”
As their fists collided with their attacks, the impossible happened.
BOOOMMM!!!
An explosion, a tremendous shockwave of pure martial prowess, erupted, consuming and disintegrating the mind attacks of the Outer Ones.
At the same time, their manifestations could not hold themselves anymore, disappearing entirely, alongside the Mind Realm, which quickly started fragmenting into pieces.
“T-That was…”
Vlad glanced at the blinding light above the skies, resembling a setting sun as it slowly lost its luster.
“One day, you will be able to use that technique too,” the Heavenly Demon smiled. “But for now, if you chose such a Subclass… Then let me give you some sponsorship, my foolish reincarnation.”
The Heavenly Demon’s hand touched Vlad’s chest, imbuing into him a fragment of his previous life’s divine powers and combining it with his chosen Subclass.
FLASH!
And then, blinding white light engulfed him completely, until he finally woke up.
“Aaahhh!”
As Vlad screamed, Chris and Camilla ran towards him, worried.
“Paul?! You ok?” Chris asked.
“Y-Yeah…” Paul sighed.
“Big brother! What happened?!” Camilla panicked.
“N-Nothing; everything is fine,” sighed Vlad. “It was just a terrible experience altogether; I hope this doesn’t happen every time we Rank Up Class or Subclass…”
Ding!
[You have chosen the Rank Up Class: [Arcane Vampire Prince of the Crimson Moon: ★★] sponsored by the {Goddess of the Crimson Moon}!]
[Your [Blood Power] has increased by +5.000!]
[Your [Soul Ether] has increased by +3.000!]
[Your [Arcana] and [Dexterity] has increased by +2.500!]
[Your [Strength] and [Vitality] has increased by +1.500!]
[Your Class Skills Slots have increased by +1!]
[You learned the Class Skill: [Crimson Moon Arcane Arts (B): Lv1]!]
[You received the Character Trait: [Blessing of Achlys, the Goddess of the Crimson Moon (Epic Grade)]!]
[With the new [Crimson Moon Arcane Arts (B)] Skill you will be able to channel the power of your Divine Blessing of the Goddess of the Crimson Moon, unleashing her Divinity temporarily to create all sorts of special effects. The higher the level of the Skill and also of your devotion to the goddess, the more Spells become available.]
“So her blessing is like a Trait, huh? That’s interesting.”
Vlad felt a surge of power coming from his body, a connection to the crimson moon itself. His body overflowed with crimson moonlight, a new power similar to light, yet without its holy powers.
“This is pretty unique…”
However, that was just the beginning.
Ding!
[You have chosen the Subclass: [Farmer: ★]!]
[Because of the interference of the Mysterious Otherworldly Divinity: {Great Demon of the Nine Heavens}, the Subclass has been modified!]
[The Subclass: [Farmer: ★] has evolved into the [Spirit Ki Farmer: ★★]!]
“What?!”
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