[You have been slain.]
Vikram was getting the time messed up. The mage's spell was like a homing missile, and at one time, he had broken his foot because of how fast he had turned his foot around.
But slowly he was getting the hang of the timing.
'Come on,'
Vikram took a deep, steadying breath and pressed onward, his footsteps deliberately slow and measured. Each step felt deliberate and calculated,
The zombies turned their heads and snarled at Vikram, and the mage burst out of the barrels. Vikram instantly moved backward and got out of the range of the mage and zombies.
The moment the zombies lost interest in Vikram, he burst into a sprint and smacked the zombie that was closer to him with his double axe on its head, and instantly bolted out of the range.
Vikram saw that the other zombie did not follow him, instead, even if Vikram was inside the range of the zombie, the thing would wait until the mage would finish casting.
'What kind of place is this,'
That either meant these creatures possessed highly advanced artificial intelligence or, far worse, that they were imbued with some form of sentience. Neither possibility sat well with Vikram.
Vikram stepped into the range of the caster, and the caster didn't waste one moment, casting the spell that had a dark fog that was surrounding the hand and wand of the caster.
The wand was ominous, it was made up of small bones and skulls. Of whose, those skulls belonged, he didn't have one clue about it.
But that was irrelevant.
The moment the wand tilted a little up, Vikram crouched like a python, ready to pounce, and when the wand came down, Vikram almost jumped to another side.
Vikram hit the ground face-first, but a small, defiant smile crept onto his face. The vines had managed to ensnare him, but their grip had barely grazed his leg. A thin, shallow wound marked where the thorns had struck, but it wasn't severe enough to slow him down. He could still fight, and that was all that mattered.
Vikram hurriedly stood up, and he looked at the zombie that was coming for him. He easily cut him down heaved his axe and threw it to the caster's body, and the caster's corpse gradually turned into dust.
'Die! You voodoo blow-up doll!'
[+120 Soul Fragment]
But Vikram saw something still staying on the ground, begging to be taken.
'Is that what I think it is?'
Vikram moved and saw that the wand was in the hands of the caster.
[Abhorring Wand(Class: Mage)]
Vikram looked at the notification and tried to pick up the wand. Before he could touch the wand, an invisible force stopped him from touching the wand and alerted him of his choice.
[Do you wish to store or equip (Abhorring Wand)]
Vikram made up his mind to equip the ominous thing, and the moment Vikram's hand touched the wand, tendrils of black smoke attacked Vikram and invaded Vikram's body, and Vikram exploded on the spot.
[You have been slain.]
Vikram cursed and cut the corpses and the stones that surrounded the cave to relieve his frustration. A single piece of equipment could make you die. If that wasn't hell difficulty, Vikram didn't know what was. But complaining was never Vikram's thing.
So, Vikram went into grinding again.
"Damning Hell!"
[You have been slain.]
"Damn to all hell!"
[You have been slain.]
"Finally!" But sadly, the wand didn't drop another time.
It was hard to pass the caster part, and it took an additional two tires to clear that section. It was just a sad part that Vikram didn't see any save point.
He didn't even want to think that this whole theatrics of a game didn't have a save point.
After Vikram passed the caster part, Vikram saw a couple of zombies, he even saw that the zombies were appearing in groups. But it was quite easy to kill these rotting corpses because they didn't have any prominent intelligence.
They had situational awareness, but that was all. After one or two tires, Vikram grasped the rhythm of battle.
[+55 Soul Fragments]
Vikram finally came into another clearing, and Vikram felt that it was going to be another frustration-inducing part.
The clearing was a dilapidated village, with run-down houses and rooftops and broken wooden fences. Vikram was about to enter the village, but he paused when he saw that there was a statue of a nun that had both hands outstretched.
It was not that the statue was anything great. It was that held our arms called to his soul. He felt a primal calling towards the hand when he looked at it. But when he looked away from it, the feeling was gone.
Only when he focused on the held-out hand did he receive the calling.
He moved forward to inspect the statue, but when he was close, his chest glowed a luminescent blue. Vikram thought that this statue was some kind of boss, and moved back to create distance.
The statue remained utterly still, its cold, lifeless demeanor unchanging. Its stone features were frozen in an eternal pose, unresponsive to any stimuli.
Yet, as Vikram cautiously approached it, something strange happened. A soft, radiant blue glow began to pulse faintly from within his chest. The light throbbed in rhythm with his heartbeat, growing brighter the closer he got to the statue.
Frustrated by the lack of answers, Vikram decided to push forward. His curiosity, tempered with a hint of defiance, urged him closer to the enigmatic statue.
As soon as he stepped within arm's reach, it felt as though an invisible force had been triggered—like a time bomb silently detonating.
Blue motes of light seeped from Vikram's chest, swirling around him before encircling the statue. As they settled, the cracks and wear on the statue vanished, restoring it to its "supposed" original, pristine state. The statue now gleamed with life, its intricate details shining anew, leaving Vikram staring in stunned silence.
[You have been blessed by the Saint.]
[Save point has been registered.]
[Would you like to use the Souls?]
Vikram knew the basic functions by observing and willed to use the souls he had.
[Level: 1]
[Realm: Blood Refining Realm(Early)]
[Strength: 1-->2](200 Souls)
[Agility: 0-->1](100 Souls)
[Vitality: 0-->1](100 Souls)
[Muscle and Bone Density: 0-->1](100 Souls)
[Blood Beast Energy: 0-->1](100 Souls)
[Stat Points: 0]
[Souls: 200]
Vikram paid 200 souls to increase Agility and Muscle and Bone Density to 1. Vikram saw that the blue motes of light all condensed around the hand of the 'saint', and a pulse passed through Vikram's body, and he felt the changes all across the body.
Vikram's bones, muscles, and nerves twitched and writhed, sending waves of pain through him. He gritted his teeth, feeling as if his body was shedding its skin—metaphorically—transforming under an unseen force.
When the torturous process finally ended, Vikram felt reborn. His movements were quicker, his grip on the axe steadier, and each swing seemed to stir the air with newfound force. He was stronger, sharper—a transformed version of himself.
It was an exhilarating process to see your body grow stronger with minimum period of intervals.
Vikram now understood the importance of souls, and he was already wanting to restart the whole thing just to acquire all the souls again and increase his stats.
But he resisted the urge, dying to someone else was one thing, and dying to yourself was another matter altogether. He had to keep a fine line of restrain, otherwise, he would devolve into an animal that didn't treat his life with care.
Even though he hadn't felt the burden of dying and resurrecting multiple times, Vikram couldn't just shrug it away.
Vikram looked at the village, and entered it.
[The Adthal Village.]