Bloodlines Online

After slaughtering the ants Ezekiel left to find other trees since these clearings would be full of creatures to kill just like before.

It did not take long to track down another clearing which he found to be full of beasts in a death match with one another.

The dead were dragged into the nest of the ants while the rest simply fought.

By repeating the previous attack on the ants he made them swarm the area to get even more kills while he covered the area in spells.

~

When he found the boss again he decided to test a theory he had.

He began to absorb the poison mana in the region as he kept his gaze on the pond for the boss.

The potency of the poison element in the area made his body start to take damage but he pushed forward nonetheless.

Eventually he managed to obtain the affinity, he had lost more than twenty five percent of his health however.

Now he could put his plan into motion.

Through an explanation given by Lucretia he knew that the mana control skill would allow him to handle the ambient mana of the world but if he had an affinity with the mana then it would be significantly easier.

By gaining the affinity in poison he made it possible to control the ambient poison mana in the area but it was not a perfect solution.

It was enough for now however.

He pushed his mana out into the world to mingle with the ambient mana then he used his lesser mana control to shape it.

He started slowly by pulling orbs of poison from the pond, orbs that grew in size as he grew more confident in his capabilities.

Soon he was pulling orbs of poison the size of cars from the pond which made the level of the liquid fall.

His plan was to force the serpent to fight him on solid ground where it would not easily move since it had fins.

He had seen videos of eels and he suspected that they were less agile on land than in water so it was time to make the boss an easy target.

He used his mana control to lob the orbs of poison away so they wouldn’t simply pour back into the pond and after a few more orbs he saw the first signs of the eel.

Because the eel was now exposed to the air this also meant that it realized something was wrong so it checked it’s surroundings, when it saw him however it immediately went on the offensive.

A creature as territorial as this made it difficult to clear away all of the poison which meant Ezekiel had to let the mana go to defend himself.

He immediately dodged the poison needle projectiles while the spells he was preparing came into existence.

He unleashed a barrage of void wing needles to start tearing the defensive scales of the serpent apart but he already knew this wasn’t the most reliable method to do this.

Even if hid vitality was at an extreme level now he wasn’t the most confident in his defenses but having even more health because of his higher strength did make him feel much safer.

Due to his stats he could probably compete with archers and low level frontliners due to his health being over sixty thousand.

In addition to that his strength was over six thousand meaning he had a natural defense six percent, if he kept consuming enemies this would grow faster.

His vitality made it possible for his health to regenerate at a strong pace now so he only needed to heal when he took significant damage.

As he battled the serpent his void mana continuously regenerated itself which allowed him to use his complete spells in a rapid way but using larger spells would cause the mana to drain to quickly.

His focus on the wounds he created was getting better as he practiced fighting such a quick target but he wasn’t able to get perfect accuracy yet.

He noticed that the timer for the server pause was approaching due to the hours he had spent here so he decided to try something reckless.

He returned to the ground to battle with his melee skills since he felt that it would allow him to enjoy himself before the end of his game time.

The serpent struck forward with it’s dozens of razor sharp fangs ready to tear into his body but he dodged sideways at the last second while using his mana barriers to deflect the fins on it’s neck.

He then lunged back in to slash along the creatures neck, this attack allowed him to get into a vulnerable area where he could dig his claws in to drag down and out.

Such a savage attack created a large wound where the serpent would be expelling large quantities poison since the gills were so close by.

The serpent pulled away with a savage sound that resembled a hiss and a gurgle, it began to emit purple gas from its gills which he remembered was the same sign as the breath weapon before so he flew back as the purple steam blast was sent out.

The ground where he stood now had a significant amount of dead plant life so he would make sure he avoided that attack.

As the battle raged on be began to take damage from the poison in the area but he quickly figured out that the poison was more to debilitate the target while it slowly drained their health.

A strategy that would work if one did not have a life affinity to counteract it.

His mana was taking a hit now but he was able to survive longer.

He saw that his time was running out so the decision was made.

Ezekiel stood still while channeling mana as this creature tried to snap him up, he created a large ball of shadowfire spikes as well as using his needle covered wings to make the serpent regret this move.

Then as the serpent began trying to regurgitate him he launched his void star into it’s gullet.

The projectile unleashed it’s volatile mana which shredded through the layers of muscle until the serpent lay there dead.

~

As Ezekiel left his pod he began to look around for his mother, he wasn’t sure why he couldnt fund her in the house until he checked her room.

Inside he found a pod just like his own.

Stepping out of the pod was his mother who wore the body suit that each pod came with, he threw her robe to her so she could cover up as these suits left very little to the imagination.

”Sorry mom if I knew you got a pod I would have knocked.”

”It’s alright sweetie, did you do well in your game?”

”Yeah actually I am, I met a really cool NPC and I even got a weird species called the Void Beast.”

She smiled but then began to look at him closely.

”Sweetheart I think you need to start going out more, that pod is doing something to you.”

He got confused by this response and waited.

”I think you may be having a bad reaction to the gel or maybe something else, your skin is turning pale and your eyes are a bit red.”

He went to the bathroom with her behind and he checked the mirror.

Inside of it he saw that his skin was taking on a slightly pale look while his slightly chubby body began to have some strange growth to it.

He wasn’t suddenly developing muscle but he did start to slim down.

In fact the two realized that he was starting to get taller, he had grown almost half an inch over the last few days which was a lot of growth for an eighteen year old.

These changes were so strange that he forgot to tell her about his recent money ventures in the game.

After a few hours he started to think about the final items he put up for auction before leaving the game and by then his mother had gone to work.

’I hope they add a currency exchange to the game, I want to use this game to make money quickly so I can quit that restaurant job.’

His efforts to get stronger were rewarded in small ways but his skills were growing rapidly.

The hope he had was that after killing this leader of the human kingdom he would have all the time he wished for the money making efforts.

He was on his way to work when he saw an ad for BLO which showed a strange event.

He watched as a number of figures sat around a table in the middle of what looked like an old school play stage, he recognized one of them as Lucretia!

The ad showed her and the others discuss things before the screen faded, it then opened to a scene in a cathedral where multiple people were around an elegant table in a beautiful chamber full of light.

He saw the man dressed in finery and something about him didn’t sit well.

”Bloodlines Online. Which faction will you fight for?”