Chapter - 18

“What? Get off me!” the stalker snarled, then backhanded Yuki.

Yuki lost her grip on the man’s trousers, teeth slipping free. She flailed, trying to regain balance, to no avail. The force of the blow threw her back, and she slammed against the nearby furniture. She heard and felt the crunch of broken bones when her arm hit something. Then the pain hit her.

For a moment, Yuki couldn’t see or breathe.

The loud crash gave way to more voices ringing out near her. A man cursing, a woman trying to call out. Then there was another meaty slapping sound.

Through her still hazy vision, Yuki saw Jenny falling as well. She hit the ground and stayed there, not moving.

“What the fuck. Fucking crazy NPCs.”

The stalker, or Ferdinand — Yuki remembered his name — walked closer, a hand massaging the spot at his waist where she’d bitten him. He stopped near her. His face was stormy, changing between anger, confusion, disbelief, and something else.

“Fucking hell, she’s not even a teenager yet. This fucking world.”

Yuki couldn’t move. Her head spun. The pain was horrible.

The stalker gritted his teeth and kneeled by her side. Words she couldn’t understand cascaded from his mouth, and the cloying scent of his magic assaulted her nose.

The chant rose and got louder, the stench of his magic worse with each moment his casting continued. Whatever he was trying, he didn’t have time to finish it.

The Manor door banged open.

A portly man stood on the other side, one hand holding a lantern, the other a sword. She remembered him, the guard at the door when Boris brought Yuki here.

Ferdinand bolted up and turned to face the newcomer. There were more noises, shouts, and frantic movement.

She couldn’t keep track of things. She closed her eyes. Darkness replaced the pain.

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Yuki awoke gasping for air. Her head hurt, her side hurt, and her whole everything hurt. She moved one arm, and a spike of pain made her give up on that idea. With a little trepidation, she moved the other, and the pain was tolerable this time. She pushed against the floor and inspected her body.

One arm was bent in ways that shouldn’t be possible, which explained the pain.

With her good hand, she touched her mouth. A gash divided her lips in two, and she was missing a few teeth. Breathing hurt, broken ribs probably. It all felt surreal, as if it was happening to someone else. Even the pain felt distant.

She willed the system to show the first notification.

Your passion [Hate] the stalker overwhelms your willpower.

What the fuck was that? The system could interfere with her mind? That was bullshit.

She looked at the other notification.

Bite (A): 3 » 4

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

A gurgling, wet laugh escaped her mouth, flecks of blood dripping from her lips. What a frolicking joke. She got a skill up from that? What the heck.

Yuki summoned her status landing page. It was red all around. Chest, abdomen, left arm, head. Her legs and right arm were the only parts that didn’t hurt. She cast her gaze about. She was still in the foyer.

The room was a mess. The door lay ajar. Near the entrance, the heavy-set guard, crumpled and bloodied, smelled of decaying flesh.

A wheezing, gurgling sound caught Yuki’s attention. She looked in the sound’s direction.

Jenny lay sprawled on the ground with a dagger plunged into her stomach. There was something on Jenny’s forehead. At first, Yuki thought it was just blood from some injury, but the shape made little sense. It looked like a drawing, a circle.

The gurgling was her breathing. Yuki got up, letting out a hiss of pain. She approached, slipped on the blood pooling on the floor, and fell. A strangled cry escaped her mouth. The world turned to white searing agony and all thought vacated her mind.

An eternity later, Yuki was back on her feet, and by Jenny’s side.

Somehow, Jenny was still awake and lucid. Crying.

Even with all the pain Yuki was in, it was the look in Jenny’s eyes that hurt her the most.

Gone were the bright sapphires. Now replaced with dead, despairing shades of indigo. In them, Yuki saw in Jenny’s eyes unrealized ambition, unfulfilled love, and bitterness at facing the end.

Yuki looked away. If she kept looking, she might also give up. She looked at her mana points, considering her options. Any choice she made here was problematic. If she helped, she would put herself in greater danger. The [Regenerate] spell was slow acting. What would happen if her [Shapechange] effect ended while she was still channeling [Regenerate]?

The rabbit-turned girl shook her head. She already knew her answer; the manor was quiet as a grave, and she had to try at least. In a way, she owed her life to Jenny. Yuki doubted Jenny was supposed to keep the ‘rabbit’ as a pet. If that was the case, she wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to keep her ‘Biscuit’ hidden.

Yuki closed her eyes and took deep, slow breaths. She braced for the pain, then jarred her broken arm back into place. The agony was exquisite. She whimpered, cried, and sobbed. Yuki was pretty sure she was full-on ugly crying right now; snot ran down her nose, but she didn’t have the time to stop.

When she finally regained her faculties again, more notifications greeted her.

Resist: Fear (A): 6 » 7.

Resist: Pain (A): 5 » 8.

“About right,” she muttered.

Yuki blocked everything out. She ignored the pain, ignored the rising fear, and the voice in the back of her head yelling at her to escape. She ignored the dying girl before her and concentrated on the magic she wanted to cast. It was hard; moving a broken arm. Chanting with broken teeth wasn’t a pleasant experience she wanted to repeat, but somehow, it worked.

Yuki pressed her good hand over Jenny’s abdomen near the knife. The scent of her magic spread in the room, flowing out from her core. Nice sweet vanilla trying to push away Ferdinand’s stench.

A new system notification blinked in existence.

[Regeneration] failed.

Target’s magic essence has been usurped.

The spell faltered, and Yuki scowled. She knew what that message meant.

Among all the sorcery knowledge implanted in her head, there was a small nugget she didn’t touch or even think about.

Magic was a scarce resource. A spell shaped past its initial form took a lot of mana. Right now, Yuki could only meld one additional effect: distance, duration, number of targets, among others. Each of those effects increased the magic cost.

Taking her own system as an example, each additional effect added one mana point to the spell’s cost.

Yuki’s system interpreted her magic essence as if it were mp because that is how she understood things. And it might be arrogant on her part, but she was sure past Yuki would have maximized magic if given the choice in character creation.

Now, comparing that with the average caster, each additional modification made casting spells a costly process. Moreso because magic points regenerated at one per day.

The knowledge Yuki had tried her best to avoid was a way to regain magic points. Or in system speech: Usurp someone else’s magic.

Blood magic.

There was at least one ritual Yuki was aware of that would allow her to usurp the mana of another creature...

That was one line Yuki didn’t want to cross. It was a slippery slope.

Oops, ran out of mana from the last enslaved person? Well, that’s easy. Fetch me another sacrifice and problem solved!

Clearly, the stalker didn’t have any such scruples.

Yuki glanced at the dying girl in front of her. To Yuki’s surprise, Jenny was still alive. Yuki could think of one other way to save Jenny. It might not even work.

In for a penny, in for a pound.