Shaded Walker

Blake stayed on his spot for a moment when he felt Tara's body shaking.

It must be rather terrifying to be trapped inside the Spectral Dimension when there was absolutely nothing except for complete darkness, the shaking was certainly due to the fear she experienced throughout the process.

Additionally, time stopped there, so it's unclear how long she was there.

In the real world, she was gone for around half a day but Blake is quite certain that she experienced the horror of the Spectral Dimension far longer, 'At least she doesn't seem to change personality-wise and didn't go berserk, this is good...'

While the two stayed for a minute, Blake also noticed other things.

Due to turning into the Spectral Vampire race, his body is not warm anymore, he emits a cold sensation that can be suppressed but will not disappear completely. Similarly, Tara seems to also exclude the same thing.

Blake could feel a sense of familiarity with her, almost as if there was a link between them.

"Go ask her to allow you to check her status window"

"Huh...? I can do that?"

Listening to what Salana suddenly said, he was surprised as he didn't know that he could ask permission to see others' status windows. But it seems he could, it's only impolite and offensive to ask most people for that kind of permission.

"Tara, can I look at your status window?"

"W- What for...? But if it's you, you can look at it"

After receiving her permission, a status window interface appears in front of Blake's eyes.

~

[Status Window]

Name: Tara Nor Freeda

Title: Phantom Disciple

Class: Shadowmancer

Race: Shaded Walker (S)

Level: 27

Hp: 9.700 / 9,700

Mana: 2,730 / 2,730

Strength: 131 (+30)

Agility: 180 (+40)

Vitality: 230

Spirit: 211 (+5)

Intelligence: 164

Luck: 0

Defense: 350

Condition: Greatly Weakened.

~

Upon looking at Tara's status window, his eyes immediately fixed on the race section that has now turned from human into an S-grade race called Shaded Walker. It puts a frown on his face as he didn't know what this means.

Clicking on the race, a description menu appeared, and Blake started reading it.

[Shaded Walker]

Description: A being with a lineage intertwined between Specters and Vampires, possessing partial fusion of their abilities. It retains more Specter traits such as being able to manipulate shadows while its Vampire side was heavily suppressed, hindering it from using most of its Vampiric ability except the thirst for blood.

[Congratulation on successfully turning Tara into a Shaded Walker!]

[Spectral Vampire's hidden skill has been triggered, you have obtained Specter Tears!]

Just as he was checking Tara's status window, he was surprised to find the notification from the system. It's stated that he triggered a hidden skill regarding his race, and he gained an item from that.

Opening his inventory, he finds the Specter Tears and checks what is it for.

[Spectral Tears]

Grade: Red

Item: Consumables

Description: A sacred tear of the Specter Race that manifests upon the birth of another Specter. Mainly used by ornaments and mementos for the Specter Race, but will have a transformation effect when consumed by a Spectral Vampire, allowing them to enter a Spectral Possession state that greatly increases battle prowess.

Blake was excited, he gained a wonderful hidden card that could help in difficult situations.

'So anyone that I turn will become a Shaded Walker, huh...'

Albeit he thought that anyone that he turns would also possess the Spectral Vampire race, it seems he thought it too simple. Clearly, receiving an EX-grade race is not something that easy, or else he could create an army that could throw the balance of the game.

Surely, the Lunaris game wouldn't allow him to do something like that.

"What happened to me, Blake...? How can I still be here" Tara pulled away and asked.

Upon hearing this, Blake then sighs before he explained the situation clearly. Now that she has already turned into something else, it wouldn't be appropriate to not let her know the truth of what happened.

Blake recounted everything that had happened throughout the day.

One of the first things was the fact that she almost died from BlueBlade's attack. Additionally, he also confessed that he instinctively turned her into something not human out of fear that she would die there as well as the quest given by the Phantom Lord for him to protect Linthia alongside her.

"I know this is not a small matter, so I hope you would forgive me" Blake said apologetically.

Albeit this is the Lunaris game world and the NPCs are not real, for the NPCs this world is their world. So denying them death and turning her into something not human is morally wrong for him to do.

It would be understandable if Tara didn't forgive him.

Due to that, he could only bow his head to apologize for what he impulsively did.

Listening to the whole recap attentively and also Blake's honesty of what he did as he bowed his head in apology, Tara smiled lightly, she seems to appreciate it a lot. Reaching out her hands, she then hold Blake's face and lifted his face up.

"I don't need you to apologize. You saved my life, and I'm grateful" She said vibrantly.

Expecting to be at least slapped or worse beaten up, Blake's eyes widened when he finds that Tara didn't mind becoming a Shaded Walker. It lifted the weighing pressure on his chest when he heard her say this.

With that, Blake sat on the edge of the sofa in relief.

Tara on the other hand is checking her body to see if there are any visible changes.

Compared to how she appeared before, Tara's appearance had changed in a few subtle ways. Her dark brown hair has turned ink-black, her bright amber eyes which are almost glowing in the dark were now also black, and finally, her human fangs have become sharper than before.

It may not be eye-catching, but Linthia would definitely notice the changes.

Since the two seem to know each other for a long time, there's no doubt that Linthia would definitely recognize the changes, "I'll go to the bathroom for a moment to see if there are other changes on my skin"

Blake nodded his head before Tara went over to the bathroom and closes the door.

"Phew~ I'm in the clear"

"Congrats, things could've gone a lot worse than this"

Upon hearing that Blake nodded his head as he couldn't agree more, the transformation this time is a subtle one, Tara doesn't seem to be unstable as he initially thought. But as he lies on the bed, he suddenly remembered something.

Glancing over at Salana, he then asks, "I've been thinking about something..."

"What is it? If you need advice, then tell me. I'll always be ready to help" Salana replied.

An idea came to mind when Blake was reading about the new Exchange System in the park, it came when he was thinking about earning more gold, "Say, the Lunaris game appears to help the world to face the Inevitable Apocalypse, right?"

"Yes, that's what I said" Salana replied.

Nodding his head, he then continues, "Then won't it be better if I open a Race Jockey business? I can gain a lot of money through that which I can use, and players that gained my race would also be stronger"

"That's... That's actually not a bad idea" Salana was slightly surprised.

If the goal of the Lunaris game is to prepare the world for the upcoming Inevitable Apocalypse, then Blake could use his cheat to help the world become stronger quicker, providing them with multiple high-grade races.

Just imagine if everyone has EX-grade races, the world would be unstoppable!

Albeit that's the case, there's one slight problem that needed to be addressed, "I'm not against you doing that, but there's one problem. Unlike turning NPCs, players couldn't be turned instantly as you did to Tara. The law of the game prohibits that from happening"

"Instead of being turned, players would only unlock a Racial Quest of the specific race"

Upon hearing this, Blake frowns as this is not good news.

Since the higher the grade of the race the harder the Racial Quest becomes, even if Blake unlocks the Spectral Vampire Racial Quest for other players, they wouldn't be able to complete it in years to come.

None of them would be able to reach the quest, not during the First Act at the very least.

"The only solution to that would only be getting a good lower-grade race that is easy to obtain and effective enough to power through the First Act, Dhampire is an S-grade race so it's still very hard to complete. Maybe I'll get a B-grade or an A-grade race to start" Blake uttered inwardly.

Salana also agreed with him, that's the best bet they could do right now.

It's a brilliant plan to help Blake gain gold faster as well as develop the players to become stronger, killing two birds with one stone. So he would need to find a suitable race that he could focus on to achieve that.

But as he thought of that, Tara suddenly opens the door and peeked from the inside.

Tara has her face reddened slightly while she poked her head out of the bathroom, she averted her gaze away before she suddenly said, "Blake, I think there's one more change that I have after turning into a Shaded Walker..."

"Hmm...? What is it? Show it to me, is it bad?" Blake replied with a frown.

Upon hearing that, Tara becomes even more embarrassed as her face turned red like a tomato. It was then Salana clicked her tongue from the side, "Are you dumb? I'm sure it's somewhere sensitive and you're asking to see it?"

"O- Oh, you're right" Blake uttered as he realized that it might be the case.

Just before he could retract back his words, Tara suddenly answered, "O- Okay..."

After saying that, Tara shyly walks out of the bathroom, "It's here and it's quite big..." She tilts her shapely body to the side slightly to show the obvious black marks that almost look like fractures starting on her left waist, climbing up to her left back before spreading across her left arm.

Even though she was clearly trying to show the black mark, Blake's body froze for a second.

Tara came out wrapped in a white towel, she then opens the towel enough to show the black marks. But by doing that, she also exposes the side of her ample left breast as well, her long smooth thigh as well as her curvy bottom.

It was the most beautiful thing Blake has ever seen in his life.

Due to that, his body reacted strongly and causes blood to trickle down his nose, "T- Tara...?"