After dying to the Skeleton General I flicked the screen once again to respawn my avatar and spent the next 30 minutes exploring the city, avoiding the street where I found the General, I smashed my way through over 200 Skeleton Soldiers without any drops.

  Seeing as there wasn’t much I could earn here, I let my avatar die so I could leave the Ancient City and respawned outside of the Ant Nest.

  Returning to the tunnels, I slowly picked off the small groups and avoided rge spaces where the ants would gather.

  I have to say, my strategy ended up strange. While I have a decent pool of health, I ck the strength, speed, or skills to fight the ants head-on. I could only do notable damage after losing enough HP, losing about half my HP bar before I could effectively damage these ants significantly.

  Growing curious about the strange UI I spent a couple of lives figuring out how to control the mass of blood better. In doing so I learned another addition to the system's dispy.

  I wasn’t the only one with a stats dispy.

  Selecting the Blood-red spirit as it floated around my avatar,

  Name: *Bloodborn

  Symbiotic Form: ####

  Level: Mortal

  Strength: 4

  Speed: 6

  Constitution: 1

  Primordial Energy: 1

  Skills: A (Rank7) B (Rank3) C (Rank2)

  As for Skills and Symbiotic form, I couldn’t transte them. He had a few skills listed and one notably with a high rank. As for his Symbiotic form, I think it should say something like ‘Heart’ or ‘Blood’, but I can’t tell with the little information I have.

  In the test encounter, the blood-colored avatar faced off against another small group of rge bck ants. Having lost half my HP I used the bloody mass to smash one of two that were currently engaging me in combat. While the third of the trio was currently afflicted by my Bloodborn’s possession, writhing around on the ground as its life was sucked away.

  *ding* crisp noise alerted me of the ant’s death. I think I had killed well over 50 in this round, and I still had yet to receive a second drop. They really were rare…

  With that one dead, only one remained, surging the blood towards the remaining ant ensnaring it and locking down its six long scythe-like legs at the joints. Holding it down all that was left was to wait for my Bloodborn to finish its current target and enter its body.

  Through this process, I could slowly restore my lost HP and if I received an attack, it would increase the ever-expanding blood mass that floated behind my avatar.

  Now was just a waiting game as their remaining HP was slowly drained.

  Seeing as I was in a lull waiting for the process to finish, I continued reading the comic.

  Over the course of a few dozen weeks or a couple months while pying the game he eventually got both a skill crystal drop and an Ant egg. The skill crystal dropped from a red Mutated Vigor Ant and gave him a skill called ‘Power Punch’. It also seems that absorbing skill crystals not only adds the skill to the stats panel but also increases the recipient's max Ki as well.

  Then there was the pet egg, that too was a mutated 'red' ant. I can only assume this means that stronger creatures have higher drop chances. As for the Vigor Ant's symbiotic form, it appears to be a red glove, utilizing it in combination with the Power Punch skill creates a synergy, increasing its effect.

  Next was an encounter with the boss of the Ant Nest, Silver-Winged Flying Ant. Then he arrived at the Ancient City for a school test.

  I had stopped here before taking my first exploration of the area but… On his first attempt while exploring the Ancient City, his first encounter with a Skeleton Soldier a skill called ‘Skeleton Palm’ dropped.

  Now if only I could be so lucky to receive a blessed drop…

  At least we both died the same way during our first encounter with the Skeleton General; a red-light fsh followed by a swift thrust.

  Reading the next few chapters, he ends up in an encounter with the Skeleton General in reality. He kills it. And it drops a pet egg!

  “He really has far too much luck…”

  Later in the same chapter, he has an encounter with one of those ‘strong old man’ characters, who after an awkward conversation about his preference in women (Do you like big or small breasts?), offers him a better cultivation technique and after rejecting him the first time, the old man gives(forces on) him a better one.

  Taking the two out, according to the transtion the first was called, True Demonic Record. It was a palm-sized folded pamphlet with nothing written on the outside. Flipping through the pamphlet it looked like Chinese characters mixed with a Sanskrit style. “More chaos writing…”

  As for the second, it was an equally hand-sized metal box, around the same size as a carton of cigarettes. Pulling it out, it was fashioned from a dark violet metal with a brushed texture. On the cover of the box were three characters that morphed after I took it from the image.

  Spoiler

  [colpse]Lifting the first sheet, I realized that it wasn’t a box. Instead, it was a stack of multiple sheets, all connected and folded together. Written on each of these sheets were strange glowing characters, each no bigger than a fly’s head.

  If not for my enhanced eyesight, I would probably need a magnifying gss.

  Looking at the strange golden characters I felt myself grow hungry. Taking out some food I tried to satiate this urge before looking at them again and found myself drawn in, I started reading…

  .

  .

  .

  While I read, I started to feel hunger creeping up on me once again, before looking away from the book for just a second, I felt a sense of hollowness.

  “What was I doing?” Looking at the clock on my computer, I had been doing something for over ten minutes! But I can’t remember?

  looking back at the metal sb in my hand, “What was I reading again?” I couldn’t remember any of the content while simultaneously feeling like I was comprehending, something?

  Folding the sheets back to the beginning and trying again,

  .

  .

  .

  Pulling myself back together after the second attempt, “…That can’t be normal…” If I tried to read it, I felt engrossed (even though I can’t understand a word), but if looked away even for a second, I forget everything I was just looking at.

  Continuing the story, it was called “Lost Immortal Sutra” and I wasn’t the only one suffering from forgetfulness. Not only that, trying to copy the contents using a pen and paper doesn’t work as you forget them immediately, nor do they don’t appear if you tried using a camera.

  Trying these methods out myself I discovered that both affects remained true. Reading further, it also seems to have given him nightmares… “This thing might be more trouble than its worth…” Then again, it was also the first one to activate the way it did. Even the magic jade slips with techniques on(in?) them didn’t work for me.

  “In for a penny, I guess.” I didn’t have much else to do right now but wait so I continued my attempts.

  The pages of the small box would unfold, and I was making my way through each of them before any minor distraction would reset my progress. After every distraction, I would find my progress reset.

  After several more attempts memorizing each of these strange characters, my patience was nearing its limits while my focus was increasing with each attempt.

  The ptes had unfolded before me as I made my way through each of them, thirteen ptes in total. The second I finished looking at the st character as it ingrained itself on my mind, I felt my body quake as I returned to awareness, the unfolded ptes had disappeared somewhere. And the energy flowing within my body had begun to circute.

  “Freaky,” I noted feeling a profound difference. Previously the energy would just ball up in my stomach if I wasn’t using it. After my Bloodborn, it started to sporadically integrate with my blood. Now, letting the energy flow as it wished, it traced a pattern throughout my entire cardiovascur system autonomously. There was no longer a start or a finish, no longer a pit in my stomach.

  It seemed to have been a notable direct upgrade from before, but now it stopped returning to my dantain.

  As one section ended another began, flowling throughout my entire body before the process began anew. It was perpetual, continuous without end.

  Focusing on this pattern, I could control the speed of the flow. Making it faster or slower, but never make it stop.

  The way Ki flowed within my body had changed, now all the cats were standing in attention. This alone was a massive difference though I can't really utilize it right now. And I learned something else, If I wanted to use one of these manuals, I had to find the really magic ones that beam esoteric knowledge into my head.

  Looking back at the game I had died. Another group of ants must have found me and killed me while I was engrossed with the book. Utilizing my Ki it felt incredibly smooth as a strand of blood Ki grew from my index finger. Flicking the screen twice, once to turn the phone back on and second to spawn my avatar. Once the game loaded, checking the floating stats again,

  Name: James Dewitt

  Age: 22 years

  Lifeform level: Mortal/Ordinary

  Strength: 5 -> 6

  Speed: 4 -> 5

  Constitution: 9 -> 12

  Primordial Energy: 1 -> 3

  Primordial Energy Art: *Lost Immortal Sutra

  Primordial Energy Skills: None

  Primordial Energy Pet: Bloodborn

  Aside from the book’s skill now dispying on my stats in indecipherable moon runes, “at least it was the same three characters that dispyed on the cover.” I mused taking note that both my Strength and Speed had increased by 1 while my Energy increased by 2. Most surprisingly was the rge increase given to my Constitution by 3. This should break something with the Mortal limit of 9 but there was obviously information I'm cking.

  With a new life spawned in, my grinding in the Ant Tunnel continued for a couple more hours. With my enhanced health I was able to take more swipes from the ants, but three- or four-point bnk and unguarded hits would still kill me. As for my speed, I was just barely faster than them now. As the test ant started to catch up to me as I ran down the tunnels. Actually, I might be on par with them now.

  While I continued deeper into the Ant Nest, eventually, one of the ptops I set up behind me started to release a blinding light as a burst of code escaped and reformed into a familiar polygonal shape. The original Porygon had returned.

  *BRIING!* It announced its presence while I was engrossed.

  “Yes, Thank you,” I said putting the phone down on the table as it brought itself over, presenting the storage drive ejected from the slot on its chest. (I wonder if it would like being pet?)

  Plugging the drive into my computer and performing a simple name search for important names I quickly came about some named files with the reted individuals. Checking these for the most recent dates and exchanges took a couple minutes.

  After having Porygon crack the password protection and a short scan over several documents, my suspicions were confirmed. Of the several individuals I picked, all of them were shorting previously high-value stock after removing most of their prior investments.

  While I can’t fault the firm for doing their job, I can find fault in the fact they were party to this manipution. They were using their status, information, and investors to receive more benefits through market manipution. They were coordinating through multiple avenues to minimize suspicion and adjust things in their favor.

  I would still need to go through the rest of the documents for complete and irrefutable proof, “I have to say, I’m impressed.” Without direct access to these files, no one would ever be able to figure this out.

  I wonder if they involved the media as well? That answer felt obvious.

  Letting go of my disappointment, a creeping smile grew on my face, “Welp, if they’re going to py dirty, I can only oblige.” In hopes of even a couple people buying in, I made a few anonymous posts online using various sites from the ptops. Taking the most egregious ones and simply stating “Invest in me for high returns!”

  “Next would be…” the grin on my face started to grow wider, “I’m only doing to you what you would to others.” Using some of the documents I was reading earlier today, I started drafting messages to various media agencies and online news personalities. I could sell stories to them using reliable information, and after the release, I could turn around and bckmail the politicians. Though, that part might lead to trouble… It wasn’t exactly as anonymous as I intended. So long as I have them dead to rights, they probably wouldn’t try to fight back. Risking the rest of their life in prison. And trying to use mainstream media probably wasn't going to work either, talking heads are owned after all.

  To remain anonymous, “If I’m gonna sink the ship, I might as well sink the whole thing and prevent the rats from escaping.” After all, light is the best disinfectant.

  END

  Spoilerkidmonkey94

  Happy New Year. Cya next year.

  [colpse]