Weeeee! I dash through the forest, slaughtering every chicken I see until I find what I am looking for. Hello Mr Snake! I am Vorpalia Montoya, my father is alive, prepare to die!

  I throw out a wide range field of lightning as I yank on the snake’s blood to keep it in place for a moment. It tries to struggle from my control, but with all the Ether I am putting into the attack it is unable to get away in time. Fractals form across the snake’s scales as smoke rises from the burns.

  Thud!

  [You have defeated a monster!]

  [Vorpal: You have sacrificed 50% of your Ether capacity for 50% of your enemies.]

  [Your maximum Ether has gone up!]

  Nice! Now to upgrade [Lightning Magic]! I already upgraded all my other skills, starting with [Healing Magic] because that fight against the elf was nasty. I left [Lightning Magic] for last because I felt my damage output was perfectly fine for the low level mobs on this mountain.

  [Would you like to evolve the skill [Lightning Magic (Low Rank)?]

  Quickly mashing the “Yes” option, I feel my Ether drain once again. A familiar but still rather unpleasant feeling. What is not unpleasant is the sensation that comes after. Crackles of energy flow through my veins as I feel the magic skill go up a rank.

  [Skill [Lightning Magic (Low Rank)] has now evolved into [Lightning Magic (Mid Rank)!]

  I am now fully decked out in Mid Rank skills! It has been about two weeks in game, the five day weeks and thirty hour days existing to let players from all over the world play at all kinds of times, and I am already totally killing it.

  Now, with all my skills upgraded, I can focus on bigger and better things! Like becoming a dragon!

  Pushing the dead snake aside I lay down in the grass. Ya know… there is a strangely large number of snakes on this mountain. Like, much higher than the number of chickens. Though… the low chicken population is kind of my fault. But hey! I am making bank off of all these snakes and chickens so it is cool with me.

  I even learned how to use [Stealth] from watching the snakes. It seems that all I need to do is use my Ether to obscure my body by making an oscillating haze of aura inside my body and a dampener on the outside. Simple stuff.

  I let out a breath as the upgraded [Lightning Magic] fully settles in, tiny sparks appearing around my mouth. Gosh, that is so cool. And now I should take far less damage from my own lightning! It was really getting annoying to have to look away from my own attacks all the time. I mean sure, I could see well enough with [Detection] but it just is not the same.

  I let out another puff as a circle of lightning floats away from my face like a smoke ring. Keeping it controlled as best I can, the shape flickers and writhes. Clearly, lightning magic is not as conductive to fine control like [Blood Magic].

  I guess I won’t be drawing any magic circles with lightning anytime soon. No matter, I can just try something else instead! Not letting myself grow complacent, I coat my body in a layer of lightning. I can feel the tingling sensation as the charges dance across my body.

  Hmm, if I can create lightning, then shouldn’t I be able to create blood the same way?

  All magic skills let you create the materials of their aspect ,so it should be possible. I let the lightning around my body die down and slowly open my scaly mouth. As for why I am opening my mouth? Well, as a dragon, it only makes sense that I should turn my magic into a breath attack.

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  Channeling Ether into my [Blood Magic] skill I push on the skill the same way I do to create lightning, but it quickly fails. At Mid Rank I have no trouble controlling blood, but creating something that complex is easier said than done.

  I feel myself start to tug at the veins within my body on instinct. No, stop. I am aiming to create something new, not use what I have. The Ether just needs guidance to take shape.

  Letting a drop of blood find its way out of my body and to a point just hovering above my tongue, I collect the Ether around that ball and replicate the blood. My Ether starts to turn red as the lights begin to move more fluidly, and then it explodes in a burst of blood.

  Geh!

  I quickly remove all the blood that had ended up in my mouth. I may be a monster, but I still can’t enjoy the taste of blood. I have taken a particular liking to roasted chicken lately though. Could do with some spices to be frank.

  Is there salt magic? Can I find a salt mage out there to season my growing pile of poultry? Though, things made by magic eventually dissolve into Ether again after a while, which is why you can’t just live off water magic. Some players on the forums that spawned in a desert learned that the hard way.

  One second you are fine the next the dehydration hits and, well I hear it was a tad traumatic.

  Not my problem though, I have my own traumatic incident of getting my arm cut off to file away in my brain.

  Where was I going with this?

  Right! I was making blood with my magic!

  I pull out another drop of blood, this time not doing it directly inside of my mouth, and start feeding in the Ether. Slowly, a ball of blood begins to take form. Writhing and thick, the crimson sphere grows with every drop of Ether I feed it. The rate of expansion seems to be exponential.

  Eyyyyy, I did it!

  I then condense the blood as hard as I can and turn it into a thick square plate. Time for some testing!

  …

  ..

  .

  Slamming into the tree once again, I discover just how well the condensed blood armor dampens impacts. And with my lightning running through it, I am fully defended! Try and cut off my arm now you shitty elf!

  Ahem. I mean rest in peace… you shitty elf.

  It is so pretty to watch the crimson glow of the lightning move around under the blood armor’s surface. It used to burn, but I quickly figured out that I can match the wavelengths of the Ether I use to make the blood and lightning at the same time as a single piece!

  I tried creating some blood wings like this, but while they looked absolutely sick, I couldn’t get off the ground…

  I probably need a [Fly] skill or something. I mean, it makes sense. According to all known laws of aviation, a dragon should not be able to fly. But they do it anyway!

  Well, I have all my skills evolved to Mid Rank now. I want to evolve into a [Greater Drake], and while I do know the requirements for that, I want to see if I can get a unique evolution instead. I already got a Unique Skill, so I am certain I can do it!

  I want to get [Blood Magic] to High Rank before fulfilling the evolution requirements, just to see if that works. Slime-san said he got a unique evolution when he got his [Curse Magic] to that level before his second evolution. He won’t tell me any more though… Says I have to meet him in person to find out.

  Lich Queen also got one for her second evolution, her [Necromancy] is what did it for her.

  I really think a blood dragon is just the coolest idea, so that is what I am aiming for! Now, I just need something with enough Ether to get me to that threshold for evolving a skill to High Rank.

  A single one of these small snakes just ain't gonna cut it.

  No, I need something bigger.

  As I think that a large maw appears out of the forest, seemingly materializing from the trees shadows. Darkness incarnate attempting to swallow me whole.

  Oh! You’ll do!

  I quickly create a spear of lightning infused blood inside the mouth that could swallow an entire midsize sedan whole. That should keep the things mouth from closing! I just need to get out of the way and fill the thing with my newly upgraded [Lightning Magic] and I bet I can-

  Snap!

  Or not! The spear shatters in the snake’s jaws, barely slowing it down for a moment. Okayyyy… This may be more difficult than I was expecting.

  The jaws close around me before I can get another thought out.

  And then everything goes dark.