He died again- This time he was sucked dry by a vampire, he woke up back on his bed the day before he died. His vampire was surely the cute new professor on he high-school he teaches... He remembers the guy taught there for a month before he vanished, only sending a letter telling that he quit. Maybe he was killed? Captured? Contained? "Welp." He wants to survive- Of course he does, dying feels like shit! And he doesn't want to experience having his body torn apart by those tendrils and have them sink into his guts and dry him off of his liquids. "Time to clean the apartment." He killed the Shadowthings faster this time, even the strongest one was easy to fight off once you knew the pattern of attacks, it particularly liked using the shadows to impale and cut so Gray knew when to block with a tendril of shadow of his own.
He also trained more on his [??? Manipulation] skill and did the unthinkable- Pulled the energy towards his body! If he dies, he'll come back anyway, no matter how much it hurts- And this was the message he received:
[You've absorbed energy for the first time! You've received the skill
Energy Absorption lvl 1: You can absorb every kind of energy and use it upon yourself, limited by touch of skin.]
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[Survivor Skill Activated:
You've absorbed the ??? Energy, your body and mind is too weak to resist. You will die painfully.]
Well, he at least got a skill out of it, right? He screamed and cried as blood poured out of his pores, he saw beings beyond his comprehension with his very two bleeding red eyes that burned and unfocused. He saw darkness with eyes, pieces of flesh, that shadow thing that came out of his chest, he saw a giant reptile trying to kill everythjng, a king in red and a man being hanged, he saw a an underwater giant serpent, and he saw the red sun.
[Due to your actions, your ???% increased 10%, bringig it to 20%!
You'll receive the following rewards:
+20 to your Wisdom, Intelligence, Willpower Endurance, and Vitality, +4 levels on the skill [??? Manipulation] and [??? Stabilization], + 10 Skill Points, Title: [Reckless]
[Your skill [Pain Resistance] has leveled up.]
[Your skill [Pain Resistance] has leveled up.]
[Your skill [Pain Resistance] has leveled up.]
[Your skill [Pain Resistance] has leveled up.]
[Yout skill [Child of the Sun] has leveled up.]
[Reckless: Increases Speed, Strength, and Endurance while fighting recklessly. Decreases your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Willpower while fighting recklessly.]
-x-
[Status:
Name: Gray Graham Geithner
Age: 25 (35)
Lvl: 05
Race: Human (Child of the Sun: +10 in all stats)
Titles: [Reckless]
Perks: None
???%: 20%
Stats:
Strength: 18
Endurance: 43
Speed: 17
Vitality: 43
Dexterity: 15
Intelligence: 45
Wisdom: 52
Willpower: 55
Extra Points: 20 (+5 per lvl)
Unique Skill: [Survivor], [Child of the Sun lvl 2]
Skills: [Perceive lvl 1], [Shadow Manipulation lvl 2], [??? Manipulation lvl 5], [??? Stabilization lvl 5], [Energy Absorption lvl 1]
Resistances: [Fear Resistance lvl 1], [Pain Resistance lvl 5]
[Skill Points: 10] (Each point equals 1 level in any skill)
-x-
He woke up with his muscles stiff, his whole body was stiff, he could feel it in the way he had to move with more effort- "Fuck... I need a warm bath." Gray only then realized one thing: He hasn't survived two days after returning yet, and that, made him feel disappointed and very angry with himself: 'Fuck, I'm so weak...' He clenched his fists as he passed through the kitchen to go to the bathroom, ignoring the Shadowthing that looked like a child before entering the bathroom and locking the door behind him: 'Just a warm bath...' He felt like a large grumy cat with how he was acting, even his reflection reminded him of a grumpy kitten- Short light brown hair almost buzzed, dark chocolate eyes, and sharp jawline with a short stubble beard to accompany it... He didn't consider himself too handsome, but many men did, so he'd say he is? 'Yeah, still not getting it to this day.' He smiled at his reflection to see if his grumpy aura would go away, but from behind him he saw it- The Shadowthing.
Fuck, he forgot about it because he was so focused on wanting to take a bath! In a panick, he used [Shadow Manipulation] to create a barrier using his own materialized shadow to stop the attack of the stronger shadow, it worked sure, but there was a single problem: Shadow doesn't hurt Shadowthings- Only light (and other types of energy) does! "Fuck me-" In succession, three tendrils shot forward to try and impale him through the shield, but he blocked it: "It wasn't an invitation you shadow thing!" The only thing he could do, looking through skill was hope-
[Survivor Activated!]
[To survive this situation, your skill [??? Manipulation] needs to be lvl 10!]
Oh, there it is... Lvl 10? Fuck, he didn't wanna die before taking a warm bath, he wanted to die after taking a warm bath! "Fuck it." He can get more Skill Points in the future anyway! He used 5 of those points to level up the skill to level 10 and something changed- The name of the skill was now:
[R????? Manipulation lvl 10: You can manipulate it, change it, shape it, and use It at will! It may cause you mental fatigue, this skill is also influenced by your Int, Will, and Wis stats]
Change it? It wasn't there before on the description of the skill... He gathered a sphere of that energy that was always around and wished, with all it was worth, that the ball would shine like the sun- In hindsight, maybe the sun wasn't the best example of something shiny, because as his body burned with the flames of the apartment after he created a small sun on his bathroom, he wished he had taken a flashlight with him. But hey, Pain Resistance helps a lot here, because the pain was bad, but not as bad as filling himself with 'It' and dying a painful and agonizing death.
But now he knew the use of this skill, he could nake things, he hasn't tested the limits of it but apparently creating a mini sun wasn't the limit of it! 'Too op.' But guess, he got a new Resistance Skipp at least: [Fire Resistance lvl 1], from dying to flames in an agonizing and painful way. "Well... I'll take the flashlight." And he did indeed take the flashlight with him to the bathroom and waited, soon the Shadowthing attacked him and he closed the being there with him as he used the flashlight to push the creature to death- However, the Shadowthing entered the mirror, since the mirror reflected light it could die inside the mirror. "Fucker." Gray hissed angrily before a tendril of shadow hit the mirror, shattering it... He breathed in and out to calm down before he looked down at the broken glass shards and pondered, for a single second, what the neighbors thought of him and if they could hear him through the walls... Then he decided to test his new ability.
He controlled It, gathered it, and changed it in the form of a small hand broom and a small shovel so he could get the glass shards, and lo and behold, it actually appeared in his hands! Well, wind gathered around it, shaping itself into the things he wanted before solidifying and changing into something similar to plastic, but he didn't question how this worked. He was happy it did! He gathered all the glass shards before deciding to try and fix the mirror now- He made It flat, about the size of the mirror on his wall, and watched as all the shards he thought of using to fix the mirror moved as if alive and returned to their specific places in the mirror, and the shards that were missing simply came flying into the mirror before the mirror grew hotter and hotter, until it was white for a second- And instantly it just was.
A full mirror that he could see his reflection on.
"Huh... Neat." And he followed his routine as always- He cleaned himself, did his do, made some (read: burnt) toast, drank some coffee, and then he was going to school to teach! He thought, maybe, just a little maybe, he should try to change it up? He wanted information, knowledge, why was that vampire thing after him? Was it because he could see 'It'? Because he lived in this apartment and nothing ever happened to him before! Maybe...
It was his fault?
A wonder to ponder on.
-Scene Cut-
School was boring, Alexis thought, but not when it was Mr. Graham's class- Every girl in this school agrees with this statement, and some of the boys as well, because there was a rumor floating around that he was gay but he never confirmed nor denied, so most girls were hoping he wasn't. As if he'd notice them, as if he'd go out with them- he's a teacher, and they're horny teens who like to fantasize about men! "Sit down class." Fuck, that voice! Alexis was surely one of the few (or many, he doesn't know) boys that liked Mr. Graham's voice- It was husky, deep, and it always sounded like he just woke up! He wondered, for a second, what would he sound like after he just woke up with that morning voice- "Open up your books and let's get on with the class." Something was off...
Mr. Graham looked more... Off? Yeah, like, he wasn't as laidback as he was on his teachings, and the lesson of the day was about Ancient Greece, when it was supposed to be about the fall of the Roman Empire. Maybe he just decided to change it? "Uhm... Professor Graham?" He looked up to the girl beside Alexis, the one who raised her hand, and lifted one of his eyebrows to ask what she wanted without using words: "Are you alright?" Of course Alexis wasn't the only one who was worried about their favorite teacher, who seemed off today. Mr. Graham just stopped for a second and suddenly they all, slowly, saw him relax and let out a heavy sigh, as if letting go o whatever was troubling him: "Sincerely? No. I'm not alright... But I'll be, i think." He smiled at the girl and Alexis' pretty sure she was going to faint- Sometimes he thinks their teacher is not aware of his charm, because oh fuck if the guy isn't fucking handsome!
The class resumed, they were learning about the social structure of Ancient Greece, mostly about Athens and Sparta, as well as Argos and Arcadia before a guy scoffed looking down at his book: "Fucking disgusting." Alexis grimaced because he knew what he was looking at- Above the text was a picture of a painting about Ancient Greece's costumes and sexuality, the tale of Achilles and Patroclus alongside the image of two men kissing, both soldiers, in armor, holding a sword and a spear. "Ah, one of my favorite Greek Tales is the Trojan War, I'm sure you all have seen the image of Achilles and Patroclus in your books about now. Congratulations, you found the next assignment!"
People groaned while Alexis watched the smirk grow on his teacher's face: "An essay, about the Trojan war. Extra points if your essay contains the following: Agamemnon bashing, Patrochilles love and angst, and of course, Gods. You may include your own vision of this essay in a commentary at the end of your essay." Patrochilles? Bashing? Alexis remembers reading about these words somewhere, or rather, his sister told him something about... Fanfic, was it? Something like that.
Of course their teacher doesn't read fanfic.
Right?