Traumatized

After updating her status, Silver looked at herself. The black robe matched particularly well with her outfit. The Epic leather armor she wore, was pitch black, and had accents of purple, which matched with her Elven guantlets. Her boots were purple with accents of black. Originally, they were coloured blue, but when she willed it, the boots changed to match her current outfit. She wore a necklace that was laid over her armor. The necklace's chain was a very simple silver. The ornament itself was a small golden wolf's head. Her earrings were made of a black metallic material. They were small hoop style earrings. She chuckled to herself and thought: 'With all the black I'm wearing, I might as well put on black eyeliner and lipstick.' She laughed to herself again. Although she was laughing, her laughter was empty. Her vampiric side wasn't able to fully block out her human feelings of loss, guilt, pain and suffering. She silently laid down on her bed, and fell asleep. It had been roughly a day since she logged back in, meaning that she had only been playing for about eight real world hours.

.....

Silver opened her eyes, and saw a message request. It was from Faux.

Faux: "I apologize for my guild's behavior last night. I wish you the best of luck in recovering, let me know when you are free so that we can chat."

Silver replied: "Make sure you come to the Blue Mana Inn today. Come alone, and as soon as you can. I will be here waiting for you. If you are not here in three hours, I will not be chatting with you in the future. A guild leader who cannot manage their time, will be of no use to me."

Silver smirked when she sent the message. During her morning nap, her vampiric side had consumed her remaining feelings, making her stable once again. Truthfully, she was testing Faux. She wanted to know what kind of importance he placed on her, and what kind of precautions he would take to avoid being put in an unfavorable position. She wanted to gain the upper hand before the conversation had even started.

Silver decided now was a good time to expand her knowledge on shadow magic. Silver thought to herself.

'Currently, my shadow's aren't able to manifest themselves as anything but corporeal. I wonder... do they need some sort of catalyst to become physical? If so, what would work? A weapon then? No, that wouldn't work. Maybe if I had the earth element, wait! What would happen if I mixed them with my blood...Hmm'

Silver began stimulating her shadow mana. She first attempted to easily integrate her blood magic, but ultimately failed. The idea fizzled out, and both spells failed to manifest. She began to ponder.

'Perhaps the mana isn't compatible by itself. Maybe if I tried to force the mana to enter my heart..'

She began coercing the mana to enter her heart. Immediately, she fell to the floor and began to spasm. She sucked in a breath of cold air and tried to scream in agony. This was far worse than any kind of torment she had ever felt. She was terrified to imagine how bad it would feel if it wasn't limited to 30%. She laid on the floor for half an hour before her strength began returning to her. She was covered in sweat, and her body was still shaking.

'That hurt so fucking bad. I'm never doing that again. Although it might come in handy later... The mana was too strong to enter the heart. Luckily I'm at the beginner stage, or else I would have immediately died. If the mana is too strong to enter the heart, what about the blood stream...'

Silver once again stimulated her mana. Sending it towards her blood stream this time. The mana entered her blood stream, and shortly after, all her mana was sucked away. She froze and thought. 'Did it work?' Right after that thought, her veins bulged, and she noticed an immediate difference in her strength. She smiled, thinking it had worked before getting a notification.

*DING* "You have discovered a new technique. 'Mana Strengthening. Mana Strengthening: The user manipulates their mana to enter their nervous system and muscles. The mana will temporarily increase strength, speed, and reflexes. The amount of mana used will determine the increase."

Silver sighed 'So, it didn't work. I only discovered something. What else might work? Maybe I'm thinking on the wrong front. What if the mana doesn't need to merge with something else. Perhaps something needs to merge with the mana...But what would work...What can I fuse into my mana to make it stronger. Blood is my sustenance, and it is what drives me..Let's try this first. Only one drop so that I don't die by accident..'

Silver waited for 15 minutes, and her mana recovered. She focused on her shadow mana, forcing it to stay together. While holding her shadow mana together, she attempted to use her blood magic. After a few tries, Silver succeeded, and the shadow mana greedily absorbed the drop of blood. Without anything happening afterwards, Silver inwardly frowned. She thought: 'Maybe it wasn't enough...' The shadow mana absorbed every single droplet of blood, turning more red every time. After absorbing almost a full cup of blood, the shadow mana began trying to rampage throughout her body. Silver immediately focused all of her control into stabilizing her shadow mana. After a few close calls, and a couple of minutes, the mana settled down.. Silver finally relaxed when she heard multiple "dings" go off in her head.

*DING* "You have successfully learned the skill 'Multi-Casting'. Multi-Casting: You have become proficient in using multiple magic types at the same time. Current level: 2."

*DING* "You have successfully evolved your attribute (shadow) to a new element. 'Shadow Magic' has changed to 'Crimson Shadow Magic'. Crimson Shadow Magic: A custom element created by Silver Moon. The element is a combination of blood and shadows, allowing for more versatile use. The element is volatile, and strong."

*DING* "You are the first player to create your own element, would you like to announce it to the world?"

Silver smiled, after thinking for a moment, she decided she would show off a bit. After all, she had already cleared the first dungeon, cleared a danger zone, and was the first player to reach level 10, what's one more accomplishment added to that list?

*DING* "World Announcement: CONGRATULATIONS TO PLAYER SILVER MOON FOR CREATING HER OWN MAGIC ELEMENT."

As soon as the announcement went off, Silver heard a light knocking on her door. She shakily stood up, her body still recovering from her previous experiments. The door opened to reveal Divine, who carried a worried expression. Silver stumbled around the door as she let Divine in. Divine frowned worriedly and helped Silver to her bed. Silver's eyes turned green, and she smiled warmly at Divine. Silver's voice was a stark contrast to her usual tone. She spoke meekly and shyly. "Thank you, Divine. I, uhm, had some trouble with experiments earlier. My shadow magic has been very niche so far, and I wanted to gain more out of it. I'll be okay in about half an hour, so you are free to go. Thank you, for worrying about me.." Although Silver's humanity was kind, she was scared of losing someone else. Her humanity had developed a tendency to push people away, rather than let them in. She was terrified that she would lose them once again.

Divine nodded and stood up. She smiled at Silver warmly. Her eyes flashed with an immense worry. "Alright Silver...Just..Let me know if you need anything else. I am just in the room next to you. Be careful, and don't push yourself too hard."

Although Divine had just met Silver, she felt like they had known each other for years. She could swear that she had met Silver before. If it wasn't for that feeling of nostalgia that Silver gave her, she wouldn't be this kind. In fact, she normally adopted an air head type of personality. Only around people she trusted, would she reveal her caring and gentle nature.