Death Gene

Dave climbed out of the pod feeling weak. He was stressed and exhausted from the long fight. He never knew that it could reach up this point. Mentally, that pain that he felt in-game was so painful that he was having a hard time forgeting the ordeal. It stirred his mind thinking that a game this huge would probably have more inside of it. He got shivers thinking about it. This machine was really living up to its reputation. Dave directly slept because of how tired he was. It took him 10 hours before he woke up. He showered and ate then directly hopped inside the pod launching the game.

Dave was back in the town but with a difference. The past state of the town was nowhere to be seen it was dark and gloomy but now the sky was blue and the sun shining brightly. He looked up his stats to see his attributes have changed but there wasn't anything except for an indicator that there was a new gene he had infused within him.

03/80 F-Grade Genetic Solution

1/1 SSS-Grade Gene

What did this mean? It gave birth to a lot of questions but the grade left Dave dumbstruck. How could he possibly have gotten something so valuable and most importantly it wasn't even an item but a genetic power that could be use indefinitely by him. This was getting exciting. Dave haven't even took a look at his body if there were any changes but as he did he saw that there were no skin or muscles in both his hands only bones.

"I turned into a skeleton? I must have become one after I absorbed that power. I somehow managed to become something like this through experiencing that immense pain but what is this SSS-Grade Gene?"

Dave took a closer look and see what this gene was all about.

[Death Gene SSS-Grade]

Consume Blood Esssence of People/Monsters and turn them into your own power.

The following are the abilities you have been given:

1. Consume - After consuming a particular blood essence of a kind you are able to draw the innate power in that blood and make it your own.

2. Immortality - You are practically immortal. Consuming blood essence will raise the immortality bar when the bar hits zero you will die.

3. Corrupt - You will innately bond with any weapon you equip giving an increase in damage but its durability will be decreased.

[Note: You will unlock more abilities in the future when you get stronger]

The game giving him this was like a cheat. Everybody knows that those super stong players currently in the game has some kind of power like this. The game was without limitations. You can become strong if you want to but you have to work for it. Those players who use money to get what they want didn't necesarily meant that they were the strongest players. You have to be brave and adventurous and find these kind of things that will power you up.

Dave looking at himself knows that if someone would see him then they would instinctively see him as a monster. They would attack him on sight but he remembered that consuming players would give him blood essences. He should probably find something that could mask his identiy first before going inside a city. It could get bloody if people were to know that a walking skeleton just appeared inside a city. Everybody would then guess that it was a player. There were many genetic transformation of players but those that have them are high-leveled and people didn't want to offend them because people like this could bring a rain of blood wherever they go.

Dave decided to hunt some monsters before proceeding to his plan. Now that the scenery was changed the zombies outside of town were nowhere to be seen. The trees that were dead was slowly coming back to life. The monster that Dave first found was Demonic Goat. It had large horns on top of its head. As soon as it saw Dave it charged forward. Dave being ready unsheathed his sword. Red Lights started appearing and Dave felt that it was more powerful than before. He waited until the last and critical moment before he dodge and thrusted the sword in hand to the neck of the demonic goat. It crashed towards a tree and Dave dashed and gave the final blow chopping its head. Blood flowed and he came near it and the blood essence was slowly absorb by him.

[Demonic goat - 1/20] Kill more to unlock the ability

[Immortality - 1/?????] Reach one thousand and unlock one Life

Dave smiled as he saw this. "The skills are working as intended. I need to find a few more of this goat here and see what I would get."

Dave got excited and searched the area. Every ten minutes on average he would find another one and kill it. He leveled up to 13 giving him more attributes. He did not allocate it for now.

He killed the last demonic goat and absorbed its blood essence.

Ding... Consume Complete.... Ability Unlocked

[Passive skill gained: Demonic Skull]

Dave felt a throbbed on his forehead. Horns began growing on top of it.

"F*ck. It's this pain again!"

The pain on his head was intense as horns slowly emerged making him extremely look demonic.

[Ding..... Skull defense has increased]

"Wait. That was it? That felt so painful and that was the only thing I got?" Dave got mad as he would probably feel this way throught acquiring more as he progressed.

Dave kept battling and killing monsters as he would also find weapons that people left behind when they were killed. He leveled up to 15. He knew he still needed a lot to catchup to those in the leading levels. Dave did not lose heart as he was a hard-working person.

He then found a group of players adventuring near the area as they were currently fighting a huge bear. He saw that the group was thoroughly synced with each other giving him the impression that this people have played each other for a long time. The players would take turn hitting the bear and there was this one person who aggroed the bear. It was a commendable performance.

"This guys were probably new players within this game but maybe pros from the old ones.'

Genetic Warriors was a fairly new game for some. Even though it was Six years old other games have been around for nearly two decades until they finally died out. People would make money with these new games. As techonolgy progressed further on people began to develop much more realistic settings that will make the users enthralled and became addicted with it.

It didn't take a long time before they defeated the bear. The looted the corpse taking away those that could be sold to traders or shops. "Careful!" One of the party members shouted. It indicated that he detected a monster within the perimeter. He was the scout of the group so his senses were high. He naturally detected Dave who was hiding on one of the bushes.

"Did they mean me?" Dave asked himself.

They stayed vigilant for awhile until they see it fit that there was no danger. The scout found it strange though he was sure that there was something nearby.

Dave didn't want to fight them so he decided to leave and find some monsters to hunt but as he walked a way he a large bird attacked him. It was a demonic bird he would usually kill when he hunted after leaving the town. It mostly came in groups and it must have come for revenge knowing it was the only one here. It did not took to long to kill the bird but the noise he made alerted the group of adventurers. As soon as they saw Dave. They were shocked to see a skeleton with swords on both his hands that had red aura swirling around it. Those lifeless eyes that could penetrate the soul made them shiver. Dave just finished consuming the blood esssence as the group made the call to prepare for battle.