Marcus's interface exploded with notifications, the corrupted text scrolling faster than he could read. His hands still trembled from the kill—from the consumption—and he could taste shadow hound blood on his tongue. It tasted like nightmares felt.
[CORRUPTED EVOLUTION TRIGGERED]
[YOUR NATURE IS ADAPTIVE. CONSUME TO EVOLVE. WARNING: EXCESSIVE CONSUMPTION MAY LEAD TO SYSTEM INSTABILITY.]
[STAT INCREASES FROM LEVEL UP: +2 FREE POINTS. ALLOCATE NOW.]
Marcus forced himself to breathe. In his real body somewhere, lying on a couch in a shitty apartment, his brain was experiencing all of this. The neural interface made it impossible to distinguish from reality. The blood tasted real. The pain felt real.
The power felt real.
He pulled up his character sheet. Level 2 now, with two free stat points. His temporary boosts from drinking blood had faded, but [Shadow Step] remained, glowing softly in his ability list.
Outside, screams continued. More shadow hounds prowled the streets, hunting players who'd been caught in the open. The smart ones had found shelter. The slow ones were learning about Eclipse Online's death penalties.
Marcus allocated his points—one to Strength, one to Agility. He needed to move fast and hit hard. Glass cannon build, at least for now.
His stomach—or whatever passed for it in this body—growled. The hunger had lessened after consuming the hound, but it hadn't disappeared. It sat in his gut like a sleeping predator, waiting.
[HUNGER: 65/100 - SATISFIED FOR NOW]
A meter he hadn't noticed before appeared in his interface. If it hit zero, what happened? The warnings suggested nothing good.
Marcus moved to the shattered doorway, peering into the ruined pharmacy. Three players huddled behind an overturned shelf—two sorcerers and what looked like a Frankenstein-class player, their body covered in stitches and augmentations.
They hadn't noticed Marcus yet. They were focused on the shadow hound circling their position, looking for an opening.
Help them? Or let the hound kill them?
The old Marcus, the real-world Marcus, would have hidden. Would have waited until it was safe. Would have been too scared to take the risk.
But that Marcus was a loser.
Game-world Marcus was a predator.
He activated [Shadow Step].
The world lurched. For a fraction of a second, Marcus existed in a space between spaces—everything was grey and distant, sounds muffled, his body weightless. Then reality snapped back, and he was five feet from where he'd started, emerging from the shadow of a collapsed beam.
[SHADOW STEP SUCCESSFUL: ENERGY 80/100]
The shadow hound spun, sensing him. Marcus grinned, his sharp teeth catching the dim light.
"Come on, puppy. Let's dance."
The hound charged. Marcus dodged right, his increased Agility making him fluid, natural. The creature's jaws snapped shut on empty air. Marcus's claws—he was getting used to having claws—raked across its flank.
[DAMAGE DEALT: 15]
The hound's health bar appeared: 180/200. Barely a scratch.
It retaliated with impossible speed, catching Marcus across the chest. He flew backward, slamming into a shelf. Medicine bottles rained down.
[HP: 125/150]
Pain lanced through his ribs. The hound advanced, sensing victory.
Marcus rolled left as jaws crashed down where his head had been. He came up running, leading the creature away from the three players. They watched with wide eyes, too shocked to help.
Typical.
The hound was faster, closing the distance. Marcus waited until he could feel its breath on his neck, then activated [Shadow Step] again.
He phased through a pillar's shadow and emerged behind the creature. Before it could turn, Marcus leaped onto its back, claws digging into shadow-flesh. The hound bucked and thrashed, but he held on, wrapping his legs around its torso.
Then he bit down on its neck.
[BLOOD DRINKER ACTIVATED]
[DEVOUR ACTIVATED AUTOMATICALLY]
[WARNING: CONSUMING SECOND SHADOW HOUND. ESSENCE REDUNDANCY DETECTED. EVOLVING EXISTING ABILITY...]
The blood tasted like the first one—nightmare and electricity—but this time Marcus was prepared for it. He drank deep, feeling the creature's life force flowing into him, feeding that endless hunger.
The shadow hound collapsed. Its health bar dropped to zero. Marcus didn't let go, couldn't let go, as [Devour] finished its work.
[SHADOW HOUND DEFEATED]
[EXPERIENCE GAINED: 250 XP]
[SHADOW STEP HAS EVOLVED: RANK F → RANK E]
[SHADOW STEP (RANK E)] - Phase through shadows to reposition. Increased range. Cost: 15 Energy. Cooldown: 20 seconds.
Marcus stood, wiping blood from his mouth. His hunger meter had risen to 85/100. The three players stared at him like he was more monster than the monster he'd just killed.
Maybe they weren't wrong.
"Thanks," the Frankenstein player said cautiously. His nametag read "GrimStitch | Level 2." "That was... intense. What class are you? I've never seen a vampire fight like that."
"Doesn't matter," Marcus said. His voice sounded rougher after the feeding, almost inhuman. "You three should find shelter before more spawn."
"We're heading for the shopping center's main hall," one of the sorcerers said—"Elena | Level 1 | Fire Sorceress." "Bunch of players are setting up a safe zone there. You should come. Safety in numbers, right?"
Marcus considered. A safe zone meant resources, information, possibly crafting stations. It also meant crowds, questions, and potential Admin attention if someone noticed his glitched status.
But he needed to understand Eclipse Online's mechanics better. And he needed to know if other players had encountered anything like his corrupted class.
"Lead the way," he said finally.