Chapter 17: Bloodline (3)

As the night went on, the occasional roars, howls, screeches, barks, and different sounding inhuman cries kept on resounding non-stop outside.

These savage cries induced a very oppressive atmosphere of fear and anxiety that turned this city into a living hell for the humans that were still alive and hiding in the buildings.

It was as if these vicious creatures were announcing that this city was now theirs. Of course, these cries might also mean that these creatures were simply fighting each other to mark their own new territories, or trying to intimidate their preys in attempt to flush them out.

Anyway, it could be any number of reasons. But regardless of what the reason is, it was still bad news for Ramie and the two with him.

At this moment, Ramie slowly opened his eyes, as he reached a certain conclusion.

It had been few hours since he saw the result of casting the 'morphing spell,' but still, he couldn't believe that this is how he's going to look like from now on.

He felt, bitterness, anxiousness, restlessness… and many other feelings welling up inside him for the past few hours. But till now, it had led to nowhere… as he was still found it hard to stomach the change.

At one point, certain thought clicked in his mind, allowing him to break free from the negative cycle of thoughts that had dominated his mind till now.

The idea was; regardless of whether he accepts this change or not… the grim situation outside would still be the same.

He was hungry and trapped in a hostile environment filled with hostile predators that would tear him apart on sight! He wasn't even sure that he could live through this crisis even with Lance's life energy and Neil's artifact.

So, even though he needed time to process this shocking change, the severity of the situation was too pressing to allow such luxury. And even if he needed to brood a bit, now was definitely not the time for it.

Thus, starting to clear his mind up, he threw all the useless thought to the side, while deciding inwardly to do all he can to live through this calamity.

…

Time went on…

Although the cries of the creatures never ceases throughout the night, Ramie couldn't resist the mental fatigue anymore, and fell asleep.

Today was simply too eventful, and he went through two life and death confrontations, and barely escaped the third one, all of that in less than 24 hours.

Not to mention that he was also hungry, as whatever little energy the small meal of noodles had given him, was already spent, and more.

Thus, he slept to save whatever little energy he still had.

Of course, it wasn't only him who couldn't resist the tiredness, as Lance and Neil fall asleep shortly afterward.

…

Opening his eyes, the sight of the well lit bedroom welcomed his vision.

Judging by the light, it seemed to be day time outside. And a single glance at the cat shaped clock hanging at the wall confirmed his guess.

Looking around, he saw that both Lance and Neil were submerged in a very deep sleep.

He didn't blame them for it, as yesterday was beyond exhausting. Instead, he wondered on why he was the one to wake up first…

Standing up, he walked to the curtained window, and looked through the corner of the window frame, scanning the street bellow.

Luckily, nothing could be seen… which made him sigh in relief.

However, after further thoughts, he started inspecting this particularity from a different aspect: 'Are these creatures active only in night time, or… they're just lurking and waiting for the hiding people to come out…?'

Feeling his skin Goosebumps at the latter possibility, Ramie chose to believe the former…. Since the alternative, was too horrifying…

Because if these things were deliberately hiding and waiting for someone to step into the streets to hunt him down… Then that meant that his chances of leaving this place alive were none.

Seeing that there was nothing on sight outside, he started walking to the bedroom door, to see if there was anything that could be eaten in the kitchen…

However, after taking few steps, he saw his reflection in the mirror, and couldn't resist stopping and staring at this thing that stared back…

As Ramie looked at the mirror, a face that not even a mother could love stared back at him. This reflection reminded him of the shock he had received yesterday after seeing himself in the mirror for the first time after casting that 'cursed' morphing spell.

The reflection in the mirror projected a man/thing that he did not recognize… in fact; the reflection did not seem to belong to a human at all!

Ramie felt the bitterness crawls back on him.

The thing in the mirror had a dark-green skin with wooden pattern on it. The whiteness in his eyes had turned pitch black, and his irises become golden yellow in color, making him look like a text book monster…

And that wasn't all…

Looking at his head in the mirror, his hair was no longer there, and instead, there was a large, ugly flower on the top of his head, with large, black-colored petals sliding down his head, making him look as though he was wearing a weird hat.

If this was all, then he wouldn't probably feel this bitter… but there was something else…

His nose… was not there!

It wasn't that his nose had become flatter, and thus was hard to make out due to his dark-green skin color…

It was that his nose was completely erased! And in its place, there was nothing… nothing at all…! Just flat area!

Ramie had no idea how he was still alive, as he was not even breathing anymore!

His chest area wasn't moving at all!

But he didn't feel discomfort, nor was he suffocated…

More ever, he could still speak and make sounds… which meant that he has air inside him. So, where does this air come from…?

He didn't even know what to think of this anymore…

His nose-less face, the weird flower on his head, and also, his dark-green, wooden patterned skin, not to mention his terrifying, blood-freezing eyes… All of these together would be more than enough for him to be considered a monster!

He felt bitter because he had no idea if his aunts would even recognize him at all.

He was also worried of the people's reaction, and more than anything… the military's reaction!

He didn't want to be shot down on sight…

Feeling helpless, he thought: 'I should conceal my skin with clothes. As for my head and face, probably a hoodie and scarf would do the trick. A shade glass would do to cover my eyes!'

Afterward, ramie shifted his focus to the artifact. Taking a deep breath, and calming himself, he mentally commanded!

Instantly, the readings surfaced in his mind without a moment delay. He had discovered yesterday that he didn't have to look at the artifact on his wrist to summon the readings. Instead, he could simply will it, and the artifact would display his readings.

- Name: Ramie

- Lv.1 Magic Artifact (86%)

- Path: Bloodline Magician

- Class: Subterranean Ghost Tree (Special)

- Magic Energy: 9

- Innate Spell: Unknown

- Spell: Morphing (permanent)

The information looked a bit different from the one he had prior to casting the spell.

Mentally, Ramie started going through these stats, to see what he could understand of them.

The first thing he noticed; was the percent change of the magic artifact. It used to be 16%, while now it's 86%.

Thus, he focused on it, wishing that this artifact would elaborate it for him, just as it did with the spell part.

When he yesterday focused on spell part, the artifact offered him a brief explanation on it. So, he hoped that it would offer him elaboration similar to what Neil's artifact did. As in Neil's case, his artifact gave him a detailed information on what his spell could do, its effect, its cost and so on.

So, Ramie was hoping that his artifact might offer him the same explanation on the meaning of percent value…

Unfortunately it didn't…

Helpless, he moved to the other values, hoping that some elaborations might pop up on to him…

Focusing on the spell part, he noticed a bit of change, as the word inactive had disappeared.

The same information appeared, with the casting 'yes/no' part missing.

Ramie couldn't help but to feel greatly disappointed in his artifact!

The spell that Neil got was simply too good, it was very powerful, and although Neil only had 5 points in his magic energy, half of what he has... which is 9, but Neil could still cast his spell twice…

And considering that it had put down the creature that even Lance had lost to… it was crystal clear how much useful it was!

As for Himself, all what he got was turning into a monster!

His artifact didn't even give him a clear explanation on his spell before disfiguring him,

only telling him that he had gained the bloodline of the subterranean ghost tree!

Subterranean ghost tree!!

Just how ominous this name was!

It was no wonder that he turned out to be this frightening…!

Following this line of thoughts, Ramie felt even worse.

Casting one final look at the mirror, and smiling bitterly, the human-like monster in the mirror grinned back at him, devilishly, making him look even more atrocious, as if he had just came out of a horror movie.

'It seems that i shouldn't smile in front of other people any more...' he added a mental note.

Sighing deeply in his heart, ramie shoved the unnecessary thoughts aside, and moved to the kitchen, to find some food.

…