Wolf of the Blood Moon - Book 2 - Chapter 19 - New Inherent Skill (Patreon)

                                                                 Scarlet

The kid actually doesn’t go to sleep this time and just keeps her eyes cracked open slightly, so I offhandedly ask, “Do you know where your parents are?”

Which turns out to be a bad idea judging by her stiffening up ever so slightly. So little that if she weren’t hugging onto my arm I wouldn’t have even noticed.

She doesn’t say anything for several seconds, so I just add, “You don’t have to talk about them if you-”

The girl cuts me off by answering, “Father is far away from here like always.”

I blink in surprise.

“Oh.” I mutter.

She continues while squeezing my arm tighter between hers, “I don’t have a mother.”

That cuts me deep. So deep that I can’t help but reach over and hug her with my left arm despite my distaste of physical contact.

I blink at that thought.

Wait a second.

She’s been touching me for who knows how long and… it hasn’t felt uncomfortable? What?

“You’re only just noticing this?” Tar asks, apparently having noticed it himself a while ago.

But… why?

“My guess is that you see yourself in the girl somehow, and unconsciously not putting your guard up around her or something,” Tar answers in a very unclear and uncertain way. “If our guesses are correct, then she is likely the daughter of a Class V Guardian who doesn’t seem to take good care of her. Possibly even abandoned her in a way. Just like you in a way.”

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. So I close it again.

He’s right.

We are similar.

Although now that I’m thinking about the physical contact, I am starting to feel a tiny bit uncomfortable, so I slowly remove my arm from around her. Only for the girl to stiffen up at that, so I keep it there.

Damnit.

I’m willing to bet that I know what’s up with the girl’s family situation. At least partially.

Most likely her father is a Class V Guardian who has an etched skill and was ‘politely asked’ by the military and the government to have a child, but probably didn’t actually want one. So he likely just had one at random or something to get them off his back but doesn’t actually bother caring for his daughter, instead leaving her here while he fights on the front lines.

That’s my guess at least.

A cruel way to be brought up. Although still probably better than being an orphan, considering the clothes she’s wearing and that she’s in a Tier 1 city.

Might be best to avoid that subject now though.

I am kind of curious what her etched skill is though.

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Nearly an entire half an hour passes with me continuously going out to fight fomorians every time they enter the floor every three to seven minutes or so. And every time I level up from the kills.

But now, after killing the fifth fomorian and beginning to walk back while letting my messages play out, I stop mid step at the sight of a new message included amongst the bunch.

{Level 110 Demon Fomorian defeated. A vast EXP bonus is awarded for killing a creature above your level.}

{Congrats, you have leveled up to level 75. Two Free Points have been awarded to you and your stats have been updated.}

{One Skill Point is awarded for killing a demon.}

{You have earned the inherent skill, ‘Blood Dispersal’.}

Finally! Another inherent skill!

Although… what’s blood dispersal?

I quickly open my status and then focus on the description.

{Blood Dispersal – Allows the user to set up a faint magical barrier around their own body. This barrier will cause any attack below a certain level to burn the blood of the user instead of causing direct damage to them. The amount of blood burned is dependent on the level of the user and the power behind the attack dealt. The barrier does not work against affliction-based attacks.}

Oh? A defensive skill. That’s something I hadn’t thought about before.

Maybe I should also try getting an actual shielding skill to go along with this one?

“With the Skill Points you’re earning in this Fracture, you very well can,” Tar answers, making me nod my head in agreement.

Just gotta stick with a rare skill for the shield, since another epic would be too expensive. Not to mention that I don’t actually have any defensive epic skills. Or other epic skills at all in my store available to me, for that matter.

I was kind of hoping for another blood lycan skill though, if I’m being honest.

“You’ll probably get one after reaching Class II, so don’t worry,” Tar says, reminding me that I’m actually getting close to Class II already. Only twenty-five levels away at this point.

A frown emerges on my face at the thought.

And I still haven’t managed to get a skill that can help me remain human…

“Honestly, I think you should give up on getting that skill at Class II and just accept that you’ll be losing some more of your human genes upon advancing to Class II,” Tar states as I walk through the hall, making me grimace at the thought. “In fact, I’m pretty sure a skill like the one you need is most likely a mythical one. So even if you do eventually get it, you’ll likely be somewhere around Class IV by that point.”

Well, shit. That… that’s not good.

“You’re right,” Tar says, appearing in the air as I walk but still speaking directly to my mind and not out loud. “Losing your human ears – which I can very much see happening at Class II – very well might raise questions about your strange reality warp. Since everyone knows you to have straight up blood magic, despite you showing skills and a reality warp related to wolves.”

Yeah… it’ll definitely be a problem.

Although, it won’t be serious enough to worry about someone figuring it out yet. The grudge between humans and demons is just too strong for someone to ever reach the conclusion that I’m half demon. Especially half blood lycan.

It’ll probably be Class III that I’ll have to worry about. What do you think will happen then?

“I can’t be sure,” Tar answers while flying over and landing on my shoulder. “It’s possible that the Class III changes might just be internal and nothing too obvious to the naked eye, like you having two hearts right now from your first reality warp.”

I blink in surprise at that.

Huh. Actually forgot about having two hearts.

“How do you forget about something like that…?” Tar mutters, sounding honestly shocked by my statement.

I shrug.

Our conversation cuts off again when I make it back to the set room just to find the girl standing up next to the window, looking out over the city.

Kind of surprised she’s not sleeping.

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