Kim let out a small chuckle. "Calm down, im not bloodthirsty or anything. But now that I remember... It says I can gain stats from drinking blood." He said. His eyes slowly traveled over to Apollo, a nervous smile appearing on his face. "C-Can I test it out on you?" He asked.
Apollo, although nervous, accepted.
"Are you gonna bite me on the neck or something?" Apollo asked, rubbing his neck. "I-I don't know... I didn't get a skill or anything... Use her dagger to make a cut on your hand." Kim nervously suggested. Apollo took Ana's dagger and rested the blade on his arm, taking a deep breath before pressing it against his skin. Instantly, a dark crimson liquid started dripping down his arm. As he thought, a sudden urge to drink the blood started emerging, but he calmed himself. He slowly approached his mouth towards the blood, licking it just to get a slight taste of it. "W-wow! It tastes super good." He said. He put his mouth on the wound and began to drink the blood, a feeling of power growing inside of him every second.
[Strength +1, Dexterity +1]
Although he didn't want to, he pushed his mouth off Apollo's arm, wiping his mouth of the blood. "As it said, I gained a strength and dexterity stat point."
"If it gives us a better chance of surviving, you can have mine too." Ana sheepishly said, grabbing the dagger from Apollo and cutting her skin. Without a second thought, Kim dug in and began chugging her blood.
A few seconds later, he gained his stat point. [+2 Dexterity]
"Two dexterity, that's different from Apollo's." He said, his interest piqued.
"Maybe it's based on the person's stat or what their class prioritizes? Mine gave me equal strength and dexterity, hers gave you two dexterity and her class prioritizes dexterity." He nodded, it was a smart assumption. 'This is why vampires are an ancient race and such a high rarity.'
He wasn't able to amaze the class further as the daunting notification came up on all of their screens.
[Tutorial started! Parties formed based off of already formed relationships between players!]
Suddenly, A beam of golden light connected the trio to each other, a weird, but not painful feeling protruding through all of their chests. A few seconds later, it faded away, but they could feel a distinct feeling with one another. "This is good; I hope," Apollo said.
[Teleporting players!]
Suddenly, a blue sheening light enveloped the three, blinding them and ridding them of all their senses. A few seconds later, they were teleported to the part of the forest together, coming to their senses.
"What's the goal of the tutorial?" Kim asked. It could've been to survive, get killed, and much more. Luckily, it seemed like the system finally answered him, although everyone saw the same message.
[The tutorial is to introduce you to this new world and its horrors. The tutorial is simple enough. The more you perform, the greater the reward. The top ten with the most kills will be given significantly better rewards, as we need brave and strong warriors. As you live on, you will see that the world favors the powerful, and this is probably your biggest time to prove you are strong to the world.] And just like that, it was over. It was just Apollo, Kim, and Ana alone with their thoughts.
However, it didn't last long as a faint snarl was heard behind them. Quickly turning around, they could see an independent wolf with crimson eyes, saliva dribbling from its mouth with booming muscles. "One strong ass dog if I had to say." Kim joked, elongating his nails. Apollo put his sword in front of him, releasing a deep breath. Ana tightly gripped her two daggers and put them in front of her. 'They're both brave.' Kim noted.
Suddenly, the wolf dashed forward, running on all fours at the trio. With superior dexterity, Kim dashed forward, the other two closely following behind. "Fight it from the left, Ana just attack from the front and keep changing directions!" Ana and Apollo nodded in response. The beast wasn't some dual-wielding swordsman, he could only attack one of them at once. Kim wasn't some battle expert but he hoped this little strategy would be effective.
The dog stopped in front of them, loudly growling and barking at the two. "AHHHHH!!!" Apollo raised his sword and plunged it downwards, which the wolf easily dodged. However, it didn't have any time to counter-attack as Kim came from the other side, shooting his hand forward, just barely knicking the back of the wolf.
[No HP gained; Max HP]
The dog quickly turned around, swiping its claw that barely grazed Kim's hand. "It doesn't seem to be that much stronger than us! We can beat it with our numbers!" His words seem to boost the morale of the two as they began to poke at it, delivering light attacks that only inflicted minuscule wounds that barely affected the wolf. "Attack it when it's attacking one of us or at the same time! Even though it has tough skin, it would still take a lot of damage." The two nodded and began attacking simultaneously, which had great results. Nearly ten seconds in, Apollo spun out of the way of Wolf's claw, instantaneously releasing an attack that was powered by his spin, giving it an extra tick of strength. A silver glare shone off his sword as it traveled closer to the body of the wolf. Through possible luck, it almost completely cut through the joint of the wolf's leg, immensely hindering its movement. Without waiting, Ana threw her dagger which narrowly missed the wolf, which was just enough to grab its attention.
In anger, it dashed forward in a limp straight at Ana, growling louder than before. Ana froze, fright overcoming her as the beast ran at her. Without hesitation, Kim dashed, appearing just on the side of the beast. "Don't forget about me you shit!" He shot both of his hands straight at the side of the beast, his vampiric nails easily piercing the beast.
The sheer force from his stab called the beast to slightly curve around his hands, the feeling of piercing something belonging to a live thing caused Kim to gulp, but he didn't stop pushing his hands forward. The beast slipped off his nails, flying forward before falling just in front of a tree. Blood dripped down its fur, a pond of blood forming below its body. It silently whimpered as it struggled to get on its paws, falling down despite its best efforts.
Kim retracted his nails, letting out a few breaths, checking to make sure Apollo and Ana were fine. For most of the fight, Ana only attacked when its attention was diverted. But due to her low strength, it wasn't effective against the wolf's tough skin and muscles. Apollo, however, dealt the biggest blow as it greatly hindered its speed which led Kim to easily catch up with it and stop it from reaching Ana.
"Go get your kill, Kim," Apollo said with a smirk.
Kim nodded and walked to the beast, its whining turning into growls as he neared. "You aren't a challenge anymore." He said, elongating his nails again. Jumping behind the best, right behind the injured leg, he stabbed again at the back-side of the beast, causing it to jump and turn around, which Kim quickly side-stepped, stabbing his nails right through the head of the beast.
[Congratulations! You got your first kill!]
[You are the (1st) person to get your first kill! Bonus XP rewarded!]
[You are now level 2! Two stat points to allocate!]
A sequence of notifications appeared in Kim's vision which caused him to nod in satisfaction. "I got a level up from an assist, what about you, Ana?" Ana nodded, "I got one too." She responded, wiping her forehead. "I, too, leveled up. I even got some bonus EXP because I was the first to kill a monster." He said without emotion. He raised his head up towards the sky, and on the screen, it displayed his name, along with Ana and Apollo's following.
[1. Kim Yun]
[2. Apollo Garol]
[3. Ana Garol]
[4. Vacant]
All the numbers after Ana were vacant, signifying they were the only ones to get a kill so far. "Weird, it said I got an assist but it counts as a kill? Maybe cause we were at a party? Or do they count as a kill to the leaderboard but not in terms of XP?" Apollo asked people that can't answer, simply stating possible explanations.
"Whatever it is, we need to keep this lead." Kim seriously said. "But first..." Kim stared at the beast's blood and knelt down, putting his mouth near the wounds that dripped blood. Although it wasn't as appetizing as human blood, it still awarded him with one Dexterity point.
"Well, we don't have time to waste, let's go hunt."