Chapter 15 - [Day 4] – “Blood Plague”

∼ Day 4 ∼

"WARGHH!" - Goblin

Not sure if a goblin can fly, if not, then this one is fucked...

(Thump)

Landing on the rocky ground with a heavy thump, the previously beetle riding goblin turned flying goblin, smashes its head into the ground immediately causing it to pass out.

Not gonna lie... this is quite funny to watch. I mused to myself while spectating the oddly comical scene before me, or that is if you discount the gore of the dismembered and gouged goblins.

It didn't take long before one more goblin was killed as its rib cage was crushed into bits by the rock beetle.

Observing how the last frenzied goblin was going to fare, I notice something.

The goblin that had just been thrown through the air and passed out after hitting the ground with its head, was now twitching and slowly coming back to consciousness.

This time though it didn't have the frenzied look in its eyes that had before its impromptu flight, most likely indicating that the blackout had made it disappear.

Contrary to my predictions, the goblin didn't turn tail and run. But instead immediately got back down and started to play dead.

The hell? Don't these fuckers have like only a will around 2 points?

With such a weak will and low intelligence, I have a hard time understanding its reasoning for playing dead.

Wanting to find out, I use appraisal on the little bastard.

-Appraisal!-

Appraisal - Goblin

Information Attributes

Traits. Titles. and Skills

-Name- "???" STR 5 Skills 5

-Race- Goblin VIT 4 Traits ???

-Sex- Male AGI ??? Titles ???

-Rank- H- DEX 4 Resistances

-Level- 5/10 INT 5

Health 15/30 CHR ??? Physical Resistance 3

Stamina 7/13 WILL 2 Magical Resistance ???

Mana 0/0 MAG ??? Mental Resistance ???

Huh? This one has a lot higher intelligence than the other goblins.

This one must be an irregular goblin. But as I think about it a bit more, it does make sense that monsters will have some that are irregular amongst the pack.

Else, how are monsters supposed to meet certain requirements for rarer or different evolutions?

Seeing the fight between the last remaining goblin and the rock beetle, I briefly think of stealing the kill for the EXP. But that thought is quickly shot down, I don't have anything the can efficiently kill the goblin quickly enough while it's fighting with the beetle. Well sure I might have weak slash but doesn't do nearly enough damage to reliantly guarantee the kill.

Besides, the EXP will hardly be worth it, risking my life I might just get taken out by the beetle instead.

The next second the last remaining goblin fighting is pinned to the ground with the underside of the beetle's horn.

Applying more pressure each passing moment, the goblin's head suddenly goes splat with skull fragments and brain matter go everywhere.

Not even sparing another second for the goblins who had just attacked the rock beetle, it promptly turns around and wattles away.

Hmm, not a carnivore?

Perfect for me! Free blood!

Making sure the beetle had left I approach the still goblin on the ground trying to play dead.

But before I manage to get close enough to ambush it, it starts to get back on its wobbly feet.

Dammit, couldn't you just have waited for a few seconds more you stupid goblin!

Stumbling over to its dead brethren it begins to prod them with a finger, but of course, there's no response.

Seeing my moment of opportunity I slowly approach from behind.

Now 2 meters away I see it shift in the body of the goblin as if it was going to turn around, I immediately dropped all pretenses of stealth and lunged with a burst of speed from my wings.

In the next few series of actions, I learn a grave and important lesson.

Goblins are not horned rabbits, goblins are very flexible, goblins like to bite.

Firstly I had commenced my act of restraining the goblin.

So my front legs went to the sides of the goblin's arms to pin them to its sides.

My other two pairs of the legs, the hind legs, go down around the pelvis to lock me in place and the other pair goes down around the goblin's legs to shut them together.

Now all of that went perfectly fine.

But what happens secondly is where it goes wrong.

I immediately commence the action of my plunging my mouth into its flesh at the side of its neck.

But due to the bit of an awkward angle of the puncture, coupled with the goblins muscle tissue being very dense, it kept my mouth from going all the way into its heart as I had hoped.

Not wasting a second, I inject all of my paralytic compound into its body.

Sensing it stiffen slightly, I was about to go to town and drain its blood.

[You have taken 5 damage!]

Suddenly a surge of flaring pain shoots out from my right front leg.

Following that the goblin's struggle started again.

Feeling now that I've lost the grip on the right arm of the goblin and I'm continuing to lose control completely, I dislodge myself and retreat in with haste.

Creating distance fast, I manage to take to the air and hover while looking down at the goblin.

Looking down at my aching right front leg, I only find half of it.

In the mouth of the goblin were the other half.

What. the. fuck. happened.

This little fucker is weaker than an average human, and I injected all of my paralytic compound straight into its body but there was almost no effect.

He only stiffened up for a second or two, so what the hell happened?

Mulling over it a bit, I realize that the fucker must have some kind of resistance against poisons, paralytics, and maybe other foreign substances.

It could even be a skill that allowed it to negate my paralytics.

But after it regained mobility, it had used it's apparently abnormally flexible neck and body to contort just enough for it to be able to bite off the half of my right leg which had been pinning its arm down.

Staring down the small green bastard I notice my blood dripping from its mouth.

Or rather it isn't really blood since I remember that mosquitoes have something very much like the blood of most creatures but it's somewhat different.

Not that I remember what that difference is, so just to make it easier I'll call it blood anyways.

I also notice something odd. While I had yet to see my blood before, now that I see running down the goblin's face it's seemingly quite special.

It was a very bright crimson color and it's almost as if it's glinting in the rising sun's shine.

Looking closely I think I even see streaks of silver in it. Well enough of that, I have to get out.

About to retreat to a safe location in hopes that I can still get the dead goblins' blood if this one leaves, I get a notification.

[LVL: 5 - Goblin has been afflicted with the Blood Plague!]

[Titled acquired: The Sanguine Plague Bringer]

[Blood Plague has unlocked more information]

[Hidden trait "Sanguine Blood" granted by the unique skill Blood Plague has been revealed!]

The fuck?

Glancing at the goblin again, it seems that it didn't get any notification.

A bit stunned, I began to find a place where I can figure out what the hell all of this means.

Luckily the goblin doesn't follow but rather walks back to stupidly prodding the dead bodies of his brethren which just leads to him looting whatever is on them when he confirms that they've died.

Landing in the foliage of a tree which still provides me some vision of the Goblin, I begin to inspect what the hell this prompt means.

Firstly I think I need to check this new title.

-Titles!-

Titles

Name

-The Sanguine Plague Bringer- NEW

The title held by the lord of the sanguine plague.

Lord of the sanguine plague?

What does that mean for me?

Let's just look at the added information on my unique skill.

-Skill list!-

Skill list

Name Type LVL

-Appraisal- Information 2 ⇒ 4

Appraises a target and creates a profile. The amount of information is determined by the skill level of the user and the difference in power between the user and target.

-Blood plague- Unique 1

Influence and control the sanguine plague.

-Blood profiling- Information 4

Consumes the blood of biological creatures to create a profile on the creature. Profiles are fused with appraisal to help analyze the target.

-Greater Puncture- Offensive 1 ⇒ 2

Increased penetration.

-Heat sensitive- Sensory 2

Allows the user to better detect heat sources.

-Language Adaptability- NEW Information 1

When exposed to a basic language of the world of Eve, the skill holder automatically learns the language over time. Amount learned depends on the amount of exposure.

-Lesser Paralyze- NEW Offensive 1 ⇒ 2

Creates a gland at the user's mouth that produces a weak paralytic compound that can be injected into a target.

-Obscurement- Defensive 1 ⇒ 3

Increased hiding capabilities. Can be activated to create an obscurement effect in exchange for stamina.

-Silent Flying- Defensive 1

Reduces the sound produced by flight.

-Smell- Sensory 3 ⇒ 5 (MAX) - Advance

Enhanced smell capabilities.

-Swift Flight- Transport 1

Enhanced speed and maneuverability.

-Weak Slash-

Offensive 1 ⇒ 3

Slashes the targets with the bladed appendage of the user.

Control the plague? Do I have some power over it?

I don't even know what the plague does, is it a plague like the black death?

Well, let's also check the trait.

-Traits!-

Traits

Name

-Siphon-

A natural ability of monster-type mosquitoes. Consuming blood provides the user with EXP and attribute increases. The stats that are added by siphon are the two highest attributes of the selected creature. A higher difference power will either garner fewer or more stat points to the user depending on which way the difference swings. Drinking the blood of a rare creature or drinking blood a great number of times of the same creature with similar or higher power level to the user provides the user with a very small chance of acquiring a compatible skill from said creature.

-Skill shop-

A unique trait that provides the user with skill points each level and allows the user to use the system to open a shop, where they can purchase skill with said skill points.

-Limit breaker-

A unique trait that allows the user to be unhindered by the limitations of levels, evolutions, and skills.

-Sanguine Blood- NEW

Your blood is sanguine blood. The blood within you carries the sanguine plague and has different effects and qualities.

My blood is literally liquid plague?

Uhh...

Okay?

I'm not entirely sure what to feel about this. It definitely sounds abnormally powerful, but I have no idea of knowing if it'll bring me more harm than good.

And the fact that the plague is literally inside me I wonder if I'm immune to any negative effects or just simply this plague is not innately harmful and might have another purpose.

I'm in desperate need of information about this skill.

Resolving my next course of action within my head, I begin to move back in range of the infected goblin to observe it.

Once again in range but hidden, I appraise it to see if there's any change.

-Appraisal!-

Appraisal - Goblin

Information Attributes

Traits. Titles. and Skills

-Name- "???" STR 5 Skills 5

-Race- Goblin VIT 4 Traits ???

-Sex- Male AGI ??? Titles ???

-Rank- H- DEX 4 Resistances

-Level- 5/10 INT 5

Health 12/30 CHR ??? Physical Resistance 3

Stamina 5/13 WILL 2 Magical Resistance ???

Mana 0/0 MAG ??? Mental Resistance ???

Afflicted

There's a new thing on its status saying it's afflicted but other than that there doesn't seem to be any change or done any harm to it by the plague.

Hmm, I wonder if it knows or can even see the afflicted status.

Thinking of harm, I look down at my severed leg. Luckily it would seem that it has stopped bleeding completely, and the bleeding had only cost my health 2 points.

I seriously hope that this limb can regrow, or at least when I evolve again it'll grow back.

I doubt that my evolution can't regrow a limb if it can change my entire being.

Finding solace in that I continue to observe the infected goblin.

5 minutes later after finishing rummaging through its brethren's belongings it finally begins to take its leave.

Seeing it go into the foliage, I charge down and drain the most intact goblin.

[Siphon]

[You've consumed the blood of a Goblin]

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

Draining the entire goblin, it's perfectly enough to fill me and not so much that'll hinder me while moving.

Unfortunately, the quality and freshness are much lower than that of something like a human and it had already been dead for a bit of time.

Moving on again, I found my way back to the goblin who was stumbling through the rocky hills injured and I simply continued to observe it.

What the hell is this weird feeling I get when I focus on the goblin?

For a while now, I've been getting a very weird, although not unpleasant, feeling vaguely radiating from it.

I a bit confused as to what it means, I decided to try and test something.

Going around a tree to completely block my vision of the goblin I focused on trying to sense it.

To my amazement, I could vaguely feel the presence of the goblin in my mind.

Moving around the tree again, I see the goblin exactly where I felt it was.

Amazing!

What other implications do the Sanguine Plague bring?

I try and experiment within my mind again.

Sensing the feeling of the goblin's presence in my head, it's almost like a faint star in the night of my mind.

It's almost as if... I have a connection to it?

Very intrigued by it, I try and bridge that connection.

The feeling I get as soon as I try to bridge the connecting is like a building pressure on my mind.

Noticing in my field of vision that the goblin is apparently feeling the effects of influence, as it suddenly clenches its head in pain.

Instinctively I feel almost as if I manage to bridge this connection I'll be able to control it...

Almost as soon as I bridge that connection I feel a tuck in my thorax.

It feels as if my head is trying to draw some kind of energy from within the center of my being.

It's kind of like the feeling I get when using the active part of skills that consumes stamina to activate. But I can distinctively feel that this feeling is coming from trying to draw some kind of different energy than stamina.

It takes a split second of tucking that energy before a head-splitting surge of pain racks my entire body and mind, which causes me to pass out on the tree right then and there.

The last thing I see before darkness claims me is the goblin looking around in confusion, only to shrug before it moved on.

Ehh, I'll just blame you for this, you little green fucker...