VRMMO: World's First Glyphborne-Chapter 10: Grindset Mindset

"Oh right, I got some notifications when I was... enjoying myself."

Belladonna chuckled awkwardly to herself as she made her way back to the Eastern Gate for some more grinding. It was a necessary step for games like these, so it was good to get it out of the way now so she could get to the hidden quest before someone else discovered it.

Who knows if it was first come, first serve.

She looked at the back of her hand with a frown, the crystal responsible for her stats was hidden underneath the gloves she wore. With a thought, she commanded her stats to appear, and let out a relieved sigh when the screen appeared before her.

[Sanguine Essence Absorbed. Stats have been temporarily increased based on blood purity.

Per + 4

Agi + 10

Consuming new Sanguine Essence will replace the current effect.]

’Oh sweet! I kinda forgot that I would replace my effects when I drank that girl’s blood, so it’s a good thing I got better stat boosts from it.

Although... I should be more careful with what I eat. There’s always the chance I could get some bad stats from something if I lose control again. Hmm, perhaps I should invest in a way to store some blood just in case.’

She made a quick mental note of that as she hummed to herself softly, her hands busying themselves with a pair of metallic marbles. Loot gained from the stomach of Stonemunchers, and the few spares she had from selling said loot to the armourer.

This outfit wasn’t exactly cheap, but this and a few Brut were all that was left to her name. For the moment at least.

Those thieves really did bless her with some nice funds though, since it let her splurge on this armour instead of the cheaper version.

’Now, Let’s see... What was the other one?’

[You have leveled up! You are now Level 2]

’Woohoo! I was wondering when that was going to happen.’

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[Status: Healthy

Name: Belladonna Walachia

Race: Fell-spawn (Sanguine Maiden)

Class: N/A Level 2

Innate Talent: Unawakened

Attributes:-

Strength(STR): 10

Agility(AGI): 10 (+10)

Vitality(VIT): 10 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Perception(PER): 10 (+4)

Resistance(RES): 10

Attribute Points: 10 ]

Skills:-

Basic Butchery]

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’Oh, So my current bonuses are giving me an entire level’s worth in Agility. That’s good... although I’m not sure how much that is changing things. I probably should have checked before I ate her so I could tell the difference.

Hmm... I think I’ll keep the points for now, I’m not sure on how to build myself just yet. It’s weird that there’s no magic stat though... Maybe that’s what perception is?’

Belladonna shrugged softly and dismissed the screen. She took a few strips of rabbit jerky from her bag and began to idly chew on them as she made her way back into the forest to grind for more levels.

The addition of the jerky into her stomach finally settled down its incessant rumbling, which had only grown worse after her little ’fight’, if you could even call it that.

As it turns out, as delicious as it was, she could not sustain herself on blood alone. She might have had vampiric tendencies, but it didn’t seem like she was that far gone. Perhaps in later levels.

It was strange to think she was already planning for and crafting theories on the later game, even though she had only played for an hour at most. But that really just spoke to how captivating the game was.

Honestly just the ability to live, breathe and walk in this world alone would have been enough, and she suspected it would be for many others.

The game aspects, the monster hunting and such, only added to the enjoyment. Actually living out the fantasies they had spent so long simply watching on a screen or reading in books. It was... amazing.

The player base for this was going to be enormous, both in casual and professional areas. Honestly, she expected this game could quite easily change the world. She just didn’t realise yet how right she was.

***

Keeping low in the grass, Belladonna slowly crawled on all fours, her dagger clenched between her teeth, as she prowled deep in the Eastern Forest. Her movements were slow and methodical, making sure not to spook her prey as she stalked it like a true predator, hunting it like a wolf would hunt a deer.

Which was ironic, considering her prey was a wolf.

The wolf in question had pitch black fur, with flecks of grey mingling with the black, giving it the classic salt and pepper look of a refined older man’s beard. Naturally, it was an older wolf, which had been left by its pack when it was unable to keep up, leading it to wander over to this area where it could deal with the weaker prey all by its lonesome.

Was that a cruel way to treat your elders? Perhaps, but such was nature.

Currently, the elder wolf was in the standing middle of a more open area of the forest, with tall grass and foliage surrounding it, its head hanging low as it enjoyed the meal in front of it. Just as Belladonna had planned.

The wind blew past the wolf, then drifted past Belladonna as she crept ever closer, the breeze carrying the scent of fresh blood with it. The delectable scent came from the carcass of a Stonemuncher Juvenile, one she had hunted earlier.

The wolves weren’t as common in these forests as they were in the Western Woods, but there were a few, and they were juicy for EXP. She had killed two already, and it had brought her to the bottleneck of level 2, at least that’s how it felt.

See, there was no EXP bar. No defined number for each of her kills, but that didn’t mean she was without a way of tracking it.

Whenever Belladonna killed something, be it animal or person, there was a feeling of something flowing into her. As if she was absorbing a portion of their life, of their power. If that wasn’t EXP, then she didn’t know what was.

She had felt it before levelling up last time, but she hadn’t understood the feeling until she actually hit the threshold, which caused the bloated feeling to subside. Now that she was at the cusp of a level up, she was feeling that bloated feeling once more.

Prowling closer, Belladonna crouched down deeper and rustled some of the grass next to her. The wolf’s ears perked up, quickly lifting its head and stopping its free meal as it turned towards the sound suspiciously. But by this time, it was too late to save itself.

Belladonna leapt from the grass like a crouching tiger, pouncing onto her prey which let out an enraged growl at her sudden appearance.

Her slender body slammed into the elderly wolf, sending them both crashing to the ground. As they rolled, Belladonna wrapped her legs around the wolf’s hips and locked her ankles.

One of her arms wrapped around its throat, trying to control its wriggling head, its slobbering and blood-covered jaws snapping at the air, while her other hand yanked the knife from her mouth and lifted it high, before plunging down.

She tried to kill this wolf quickly like the last, a quick stab to the throat to bleed it out, but it seemed this one didn’t make it to old age by sheer luck.

Before she could deal the killing blow, a jolt of pain shot through the arm that was wrapped around her throat. On instinct, she yanked her arm away, allowing the wolf to roll its body over and lunge at her throat with its slobbering maw.

The raised blade slashed across, catching it across the eye mid lunge, sending it reeling away with a whimper as Belladonna released the leg lock and rolled backwards to gain some distance.

Getting a safe distance away from the wolf, which had the same idea as it growled at her and started to prowl around her, Belladonna risked a glance towards her arm, which was still throbbing with a dull pain.

Sticking out from her armour was a few dozen long, thin barbs that were as black as night, all apart from the flecks of grey lingering at the ends of some of them. They were embedded deep in her armour, piercing through it and thankfully didn’t pierce more than an inch into her actual skin.

The fact that it could get through her armour so easily was concerning. If she hadn’t been wearing any, she would have been pin cushioned completely.

But the question remained though, where did they come from?

Her eyes narrowed, before trailing up from the spiked embedded in her armour to the wolf in front of her. Focusing on its neck, she could see the fur around its neck had grown coarse and stiff.

Was this... a Magical Beast? Was she finally going to see what magic was like in this world?

A smile crept onto Belladonna’s lips as in her chest, her heart began to thunder. Beating against her chest with a rapid rhythm, overflowing with excitement like never before.