[Lex Wintoff –
[Status Points: 0]
[Level: 1]
[Race: Ghoul]
[Job: None]
[Title: None]
[Strength: 5 / Agility: 6 / Health: 6 / Endurance: 6 / Mana: 8 / Magic: 8]
Racial Abilities:
Blood Manipulation – Can control his own blood, shaping it into weapons or threads.
Blood Assimilation – Consuming blood or flesh has a low chance to inherit the abilities of prey.
Blood Density (Passive)
The user's blood is unnaturally condensed and rich in essence.
A single drop of blood is equal to ten drops of normal blood for fueling blood-based techniques.
Lex kept staring at his reflection and at the blue screen.
"What does this even mean?" he murmured calmly. He knew panicking in this situation wouldn't do him any good. But he couldn't help but be curious.
He shifted his attention to his body first. For the first time in his entire life, he felt a surge of newfound energy inside him. His body, which couldn't even move without the help of someone before, surprisingly felt light…
"Have I become some sort of superhuman? And why do I have white hair and red eyes all of a sudden?" Lex questioned himself. His breathing came easier now, and even his heart was beating smoothly without any pressure or pain.
BANG!
Just then, the door of Lex's ward opened all of a sudden. His eyes moved toward the sound without any delay. A silhouette appeared at the entrance of his room.
It was Nurse Jenny, his private nurse. But she no longer looked like the woman Lex once knew. He observed her from top to bottom; the changes in her were evidently visible.
Her skin had turned a deep, violent red, and the focus in her eyes was gone, replaced by a dull stare!
Her slim figure, which was lusted after by almost every man in the hospital, had also changed. Her body had swollen with thick, unnatural muscle, stretching her uniform tight across her frame!
"Nurse Jenny… are you alright?" Lex asked her quietly. But truth be told, he already knew the answer.
As soon as the words reached Jenny's ears, she dashed towards Lex as if she moved purely on sensing sound. The floor cracked beneath her step as her massive body burst forward. Her hand shot out with wide fingers, aiming straight for Lex's throat!
"Oh, shit," Lex cursed under his breath as he threw himself sideways, trying to evade her. Jenny's hand missed him barely as she crashed into the wall.
Lex slid across the floor and rolled to his feet. But he did not panic. He scanned the room in a heartbeat, searching for anything he could use to defend himself!
His eyes locked onto the tall oxygen cylinder near the wall, and he made a run towards it.
Jenny sensed the noise once again as her red figure charged faster this time towards him. Lex grabbed the IV stand nearby and threw it straight into her path to gain some time.
But she did not slow down.
Her knee slammed into the stand, sending it flying. Thankfully, that half-second was enough for Lex to reach the oxygen tank.
He twisted the valve of the cylinder open with shaking hands and threw it at the incoming creature.
Hiss!
Gas began hissing out in a sharp, rising scream as the creature barreled towards him. The leaking oxygen flooded the room, wrapping around Jenny's swollen body like an invisible tide.
Lex reached into his pocket. His fingers brushed against a small, scratched lighter.
That lighter had been with him longer than most people in his life. The nurses hated it. Doctors scolded him for it. His parents simply ignored it!
They all thought it was just another bad habit, another quiet rebellion from a boy who was already dying.
But to Lex, it had been more than that.
On nights when the pain became too much to sleep, he would sit by the window and smoke slowly, watching the city lights flicker like stars he could never reach.
He had learned how to inhale gently so his lungs would not give out too fast. Each breath burned his lungs, but it reminded him that he was still alive.
Smoking was the only thing that made the endless hospital walls feel less suffocating. When Lex smoked, he did not count the cigarettes.
He counted the minutes they gave him to forget how alone he was.
Remembering it, Lex slowly flicked the lighter, which made a small flame bloom in his palm. He threw the lighter towards Jenny, but not before shielding himself behind the bed.
The lighter hit the floor, and a single spark touched the gas.
BANG!
A violent bang tore through the ward. Fire rushed across the walls in a blinding flash, swallowing the whole room. The blast slammed into Lex like a hammer and hurled him into the far wall.
Pain exploded through his back, and his ears rang very loudly! It truly hurt him, but Lex hoped that it had at least done the job he hoped for.
After half an hour, when the smoke finally thinned, the room fell into a dead, broken silence. The red body lay motionless on the shattered tiles, blackened and twisted beyond recognition.
Lex sat on the floor. His chest burned as he dragged in shallow breaths. He stared at the charred remains and let out a shaky laugh.
"…Guess you really were useful," he whispered while looking at the empty lighter at the far corner of the room.
For the first time in his life, the habit everyone hated had not shortened his time. It had given him more of it.
Lex coughed and slowly pushed himself up. He stared at the remains of the one who took care of him his whole life.
"I am really smart, huh. I should praise my intelligence more often," he muttered quietly. The death of his caretaker hurt him, but there was nothing else he could do in that situation.
Just then, a white orb of light came out of the dead body and got absorbed by him.
[You have gained level 1 zombie's existence codex. Agility+1, Strength+2]
[You have reached level 2. You acquire three points to distribute freely.]
Two new messages appeared before Lex's eyes. He could feel himself getting stronger after absorbing the orb.
"Hehe~ you are quite smart. I love smart boys!" Just then, a melodious voice filled his ears as he turned his head. There stood a woman so beautiful that he had never seen before!