Lan Liuyue widened his eyes for a moment before maintaining his usual face. He was quite surprised by Vaelorian, if he chose to keep this a secret then who knows what questions Vaelorian might ask in the future.
"What do you want to know?" Lan Liuyue spoke carefully observing Vaelorian.
'I am lucky I know some things about this system, otherwise, I would be unable to get any information.' He thought, "Tell me about the stats first."
Lan Liuyue was surprised again, he wondered how Vaelorian found out about this. "There are 5 types of stats, Strength, Agility, Vitality, Intelligence, and Mana."
"I will help you to my fullest if you don't hide anything and tell me more than what I asked. We both can play this game otherwise." Vaelorian honestly spoke and looked him in the eye.
Lan Liuyue decided to take a chance and spoke. "Alright, as the name suggests Strength adds your physical power, Agility adds up to your stamina and speed, Vitality is your health and endurance, Intelligence is the ability to grasp high-level spells and mana is the cost of spells. For example, basic spells have 1 or 2 mana points. We all started with 5 stats each and some were higher than the other and that depicted our prowess. There are two ways to gain the stats, one is level up and the other is training. Level-up happens when we complete the tasks that are given or when we kill any monster, which gives us what is called exp points and after a certain threshold we level up and get one stat point that can be allocated to any 5. This is how the system works."
Vaelorian was surprised, it all sounded complicated but at the same time, it was really easy. "What do you want to know?"
"Tell me everything you know about the mana and the elements."
"There are a total of 5 elements, Air, Water, Nature, Fire and Light. Each of the elements has its own rule and we need to understand them and their nature before extracting the element. Mana in general is impure, we need to purify it before extracting the elements otherwise it harms the body. We can do it by the breathing technique, and before that, the most important aspect is mana circulation. When you breathe in mana it goes through veins and they are called Meridians, each of them has gates that need to be opened to smoothen the flow of mana." Vaelorian noticed that Lan Liuyue's eyes bulged when he said the word Meridians.
"Alright, your turn." Lan Liuyue maintained his composure and spoke.
"Tell me how is everyone so familiar with the system? Do all the people on Earth have a system?"
"No, we don't have a 'system' but it is a specific genre of stories and novels. We have video games on Earth and that system is a way that gives you your overall strengths and weaknesses and rewards you when you complete certain missions. I got an intermediate spell by finding you." Vaelorian widened his eyes as he heard Lan Liuyue, "I don't know where the spells came from because the system is generally a mysterious existence. As for familiarity, we have novels which are written in a similar concept, reincarnating into a different world with a system."
'That's why many of them were happy and oddly familiar when they reincarnated?'
"Tell me about the continents and cultivation."
"I honestly have no idea about what you meant when you spoke about cultivation. I told you the techniques and beyond that I don't have any knowledge." Vaelorian spoke and observed Lan Liuyue who had a look of disappointment. "As for the continents, there are four. Celestara is a continent that belonged to humans and was named after our god Celestrios. Eldorium, the continent of elves, Mythraldor, the continent of demons and Astralynthia the continent of dwarfs and other minorities."
Lan Liuyue nodded as he heard Vaelorian. "About the elements," he began, "are you sure there are only five?"
Vaelorian was shocked but he didn't show it, "I recently heard that there might be a forbidden one. Do you have any idea?"
Lan Liuyue's eyes widened and he smiled, "Yes, it is the dark element. The element that I want to master."
"Dark element?"
"Yes, in the novels on Earth. There's always the dark element that the demons use." Lan Liuyue carefully observed Vaelorian as he spoke. "I am going to need your help regarding that aspect, I don't have any idea about how to use the dark elements or their spells. Even the system hasn't given any hints as of now."
"My help is going to cost you."
Lan Liuyue was speechless. He stared at Vaelorian. "What do you mean by that? You do know that the mana contract is formed and working now, right?"
"I am going to do something that's going to attract more attention towards me. I want you to divert the attention. Can you do that?"
"You are going to kill again aren't you?" Lan Liuyue was really surprised as he asked Vaelorian.
"Yes,"
"I never asked you, why did you kill those 5 people in the first place?"
"They defiled my sister," Vaelorian suddenly felt something burst inside his body. He didn't give any reaction and maintained his expression.
'This was a half-truth, why then?' It was hurting him but he had to bear it.
"Your eyes are red, I am sorry. It must have been painful." Lan Liuyue spoke in a low voice and patted him on the shoulder. "I will leave you alone now. Let's talk about this later." He took the hint and left the sad Vaelorian alone.
Lan Liuyue looked back at the hut and sighed. 'He is pretty sharp. I am glad I got him as an ally.' He thought and started moving towards the gates of the inner city. Many thoughts occupied his mind but the most important one was to make sure that he gets the most out of his alliance.
Vaelorian vomited blood the moment Lan Liuyue left. He now understood that the mana contract was the real deal, he could not get treated because of the questions elders are gonna ask. 'Blood, you need blood' Suddenly this statement popped into his mind.
He limped out of the house, blew out smoke, and immediately felt pain in one of his meridians. 'I am going to die.' Was his first thought but he quickly dismissed it. He is living his life on his own terms and he will die on his own!
Vaelorian quickly ran deeper into the shanties. He remembered an old man living alone not far from his house. He banged on the door.
"Jesus fuck what is it?! Can't you wait a little? It takes time for a person to open the door! You better not be another idiot from this Earth!" An annoyed voice came from inside.
The door opened revealing an eighty years old man, he widened his eyes as he stared at Vaelorian. "Vaelorian is that you? What happened?"
"I need your help, can I come in?" Vaelorian spoke in a low voice and the old man let him in.
Vaelorian looked at the old man closing the door. He cannot use the mana bullets because of his ruptured meridian, within a second he made his decision and bit the old man's neck with all his strength. He covered the man's mouth with both of his hands and coiled his legs onto the man's waist, forcefully dragging him down on the floor.
He could feel warm blood flowing into his mouth but there was no change in the pain he was experiencing. He sucked large amounts of blood and quickly gulped before taking in another batch.
"What now?" He spoke aloud, the man was groaning in pain. Vaelorian couldn't notice any improvement in his pain. It was getting worse with each passing second.
"SHUT UP!" Vaelorian punched the man's throat in anger and his groaning stopped. Vaelorian's head was exploding and it was driving him mad. He forcefully circulated the mana and blew out black smoke, it was the only thing that gave him calm but this time all he experienced was pain again.
'I CANNOT DIE!' His mind screamed.
He started biting the chest of the man until the ribs were visible, blood was gushing out non-stop and Vaelorian drank it all. After a minute of drinking the blood, he saw a dark red organ between the ribs. It was the heart. He broke the ribs and pulled out the heart and without wasting a second he started eating it.
The door forcefully opened and a pregnant woman walked in. She looked at the scene and slowly closed the door. "You did good. Let me take it from here." She spoke and her eyes darkened and black smoke started oozing out from them.
Suddenly a cool feeling embraced Vaelorian and his pain turned into bliss.