NOVEL NEXT Chapter 2 2: Broke, But Alive!
An ethereal body created of blue mist was floating in the dark cosmos seeking its destination; the man himself was unaware of who he was and why he was floating, only filled with a sense of pain and profound loneliness.
'Who am I?'
'Why is there only darkness and this cold river around me?'
The man's mind was trapped in darkness; his body was floating down what seemed like a dark river, his body frozen and unable to move.
Unable to feel his own heart beating or the movement of his chest causing him to panic, just when he lost all hope, isolated on the brink of insanity.
A gentle voice, nostalgic and soft, filled with warmth and affection.
"I beg you to live freely, live happily... until the day we meet again."
"My beloved Lucifer."
'Beloved...? I am not alone....'
'Is Lucifer my name?'
His body suddenly began to sway and shudder like a plane in heavy turbulence as his hands attempted to grasp the river for balance and buoyancy but failed.
'H...help!' His mind cried to the gentle woman's voice, thinking her to be his mother or some goddess.
The river became wild, like the raging sea pulling him into the giant waves, crashing against the walls; even though his body crashed against the strange black stone, he felt no pain.
Instead, his mind would be filled with intense stabbing pain each time, followed by sudden memories, maybe his past life. His future life?
Lucifer couldn't focus as the river only worsened, like winding along tight bends. His body was flung around like a ragdoll.
'Damnit! I feel sick!'
He could hear something approaching from behind; it sounded like an animal howling at night a��� then another one joined in.
Their dirty mouths sounded with a wet and horrifying crunch, the scarping of their teeth together causing his entire existence to shudder.
'I need to run!'
Desperately he tried turning back to see where they were coming from, but that made everything worse; twisted creatures created of shadows, their mouths filled with countless teeth, their bodies with hundreds of eyes.
All were peering at him! They wanted to devour his soul and consume every remnant of his existence!
He was thrown onto land again as if being pulled through the sky. The ground beneath his feet shook violently, shaking the earth itself apart before he fell into a dark chasm. A pit so bottomless and vast he knew death awaited him, yet still he continued falling towards it.
Another memory came to pass: a young woman standing atop a mountain cliff staring over the horizon. She saw a flock of birds flying across the clear blue skies.
Upon seeing it, her face lit up with joy but also gave off a feeling of envy.
She turned to face him, but her face and voice were mere static noise; as the scene grew distant and hazy, he felt something impact the back of his skull before everything faded into darkness.
It took a while for Lucifer to regain consciousness. When he did, he found himself lying flat on his back, looking up at the sky, his entire body covered in sweat.
"Ugh...!?"
He could feel an aching pain throughout his body, but something was strange and didn't match the fractured memories inside his mind.
"I am Lucifer... Lucifer Argentus? I work for... I am... years old?"
Lucifer felt strange because the information about his work, age and other details were distant, like waking from a dream in the morning as it fades from your memory rapidly with the simple task of sitting up.
'Strange...'
"A forest?"
His eyes looked around him; a vast expansive forest seemed to surround him; beneath his body was a beautiful grassland with vibrant green shades, pretty flowers, and thick brown trunks at the base of wonderful and mystical trees Lucifer swore he had never seen before.
Their branches and twigs twisted around each other like snakes and vines, and the beautiful leaves were shaped like hearts as they flowed with the slightly bitter wind.
"Don't panic."
"What was I doing last..."
Lucifer began to examine himself why trying to think but was shocked when he noticed the slightly plump stomach was gone.
However, no matter how often he went to the gym due to ageing and his desk job, his stomach would naturally increase despite his best efforts.
"Why.... do I have a six-pack!?"
"What's with this huge thing... I was above average but now... it's WOW!"
He came to the realisation, something that should have caused his heart to race, but there was no pulse. His heart wasn't even beating as he pressed fingers to his neck!
"Okay... Calm down; you are not a child..."
Lucifer quickly climbed to his feet and pulled the cloth rags over his lower body, leaving his bruised upper body naked.
"I'm not dead..."
"Well, I can still move, so would the term undead be better?" His thoughts were now leaking out due to his mental duress.
Taking a deep breath, he leaned against the massive tree behind him, watching the surroundings with sharp eyes.
'I am undead; my body isn't the one I had before... Somehow I've awoken in a strange place...'
He started to arrange the memories before awakening here, driving down a wet and snowy road; the radio suddenly began to burst with static as he rushed to do something... 'I cannot remember what I had to do...' Then he crashed...
He should have died in that crash...
Lucifer dropped to his knee, unable to react appropriately. Should he be angry at his death? Happy for the new life, grief that the family he once had will never know how much he loved them...
"Why would I lament in pity... No, there will be a moment to grieve my loss... Lucifer, focus. You are in a strange world; you have no money, and those growls in the distance sound much more horrifying than mere wolves!"
'How does this world work? What do I do? Is there some power system? Magic? Haha... I'm too old to be this childish...'
He couldn't deny that even at his age, he enjoyed reading various novels and manga when busy at work.
'It's clich??... but... shall I do it?'
Lucifer's body pushed further against the hard bark, the slight rough ridges cutting into his pale back, blood dripping down his flesh as he tried to hold his breath, hoping those monstrous barks and growls would move away.
'No! I have to check... I'd rather be cringe and live than pretentious and die!'
"Status!"
The words rang out before a strange book-like image hovered over his left wrist; with the thoughts in his mind, he could turn the pages; the first was his details, the second spells, the third his talents, and the final page was his current inventory list.
...
[Name: Lucifer]
[Race: Vampire]
[Condition: Wounded(50%)]
[STR: 1]
[AGL: 1]
[STA: 2]
[VIT: 2]
[INT: 3]
[Spells]
[Vampiric Drain(Novice)]: Drink the health from target enemies and heal the caster simultaneously; suck those enemies dry, you filthy creature of the night!
[Vampiric Bite(Novice)]: Bite down on your foes, drinking their blood directly from their body to restore health and drain them rapidly. Warning, old man! It causes Estrus when you bite the opposite sex.
[Talents]
[Dagger Skills(Novice)]Your dagger skill is quite impressive. Are you a shady rogue or a deadly assassin in the making?
[Vampiric Charm]You are innately charming; whether it brings fortune or misfortune is all down to who you charm and if you remember to keep it wrapped up!
[Lesser Vampire]A mere peon, the sun reduces your strength and agility by half; sometimes it's best to stay home and wait till the night... don't die, kid.
Despite feeling relieved that he did have some way to protect himself or survive, the attributes and race caused him to feel slight despair.
"It's over... I'm so weak... No... I'm alive... whatever it takes, I must keep fighting!"
'Wait a minute...'
The stirring of those creatures was drawing closer.
However, something about those skills, the way the screen looked, the strange flavour text that was slightly infuriating was familiar to Lucifer, a memory of sitting in his chair, enjoying a meeting with Missus's hand late at night to one of the heroines and her love for swallowing thick yoghurt...
"This is just like that eroge! Sword of Celestia!"
Lucifer wasn't a coward, but he wasn't some Chad fighter unless in the bedroom; luckily, his skills suited him well.
He remembered that he liked to kill in stealth or fight with an unfair advantage; the drain skill seemed usable with one hand in the game.
'How would I use it in the real world... what were the invocation words?'
Ahead of him, the bushes began to rustle before a large black-furred wolf appeared, a low-level monster in the game, but now it was real; his body standing before a wolf almost 3 feet off the ground caused him to feel a strange sense of uneasiness.
Shling!
With a nervous hand pulling the worn dagger from his torn clothes, lowering his body and relying on the body's muscle memory to guide him on how to use the novice knife skill.
'Oh, to hell with it! I've already died once; let's try everything and laugh about it over a beer later! If this world is like Celestia, I can get stronger, sleep with attractive women and live a wonderful second life! Some stupid wolf isn't going to stop me!'
"Drain!" Lucifer shouted, his offhand pushing forward as a strange feeling of suction formed from his hand. It felt like a mouth opened up, sucking a line of strange red fluid or mist from the wolf that instantly stopped observing him and charged forward with a loud howl.
Lucifer was about to face his first combat, feeling the slight tingling in his mind from using his mana to cast [Vampiric Drain] as the wolf's giant jaws opened and snapped towards him, the dull blade of the dagger sparking with silver light.
The force of the wolf's body caused him to be pushed back, with a dull ache filling his entire body as the wolf's first attack was repelled.
"Yes!"
Filled with a sense of euphoria and adrenaline, his hand once again pushed forward, gritting his teeth as he tried to maintain the [Vampiric Drain] while moving slowly towards the wolf that showed wariness as its body convulsed from the constant stream of red fluid being ripped, then swallowed by Lucifer's hand bringing his current [Status] to Healthy at 92% leading to his confidence soaring.
"Come! Little dog! This old man will eat wolf stew tonight!"
"Awuuu!" (Whose a dog! Your whole family are dogs!)