Chapter 53:

No longer human

Hacker Class


Excruciating pain. Thinking was difficult. Mind was jumbled. But there was hope. Bits of his flesh had been burned, or rather, large portion of it. It had still been eating through his flesh, had he not done what he did. He could have escaped, flown out and left. He could've but he just could not leave...not in the condition he was. There was a way to fix everything, a way to bring it all back to normal. Maybe, even beyond normal. Maybe unique. Could he use his abilities on himself? That's where it started. He had to try, he found himself no choice. He figured that if it worked, he'd be able to reverse the effects of the larva. Instead of destroying him, it would act as a force playing a part in molding him into something better, into, a weapon. It needed to be timed perfectly. The dragon body was an ingredient for this ultimate recipe, so was himself, and lastly, moon metal.Pain dulled his senses, and slowed his thoughts. However, he could not suffer, he had no time to suffer. Pain was inevitable, but suffering was optional. So, ignoring the pain, he activated his skill.[BLACKSMITH (lv3) ACTIVATED]He brought forth moon metal from his ring, and as soon as it appeared he began the process. Oh, the pain. It was unimaginable, and he felt himself losing his sanity.A thousand, no a million scorpions repeatedly stinging the same spot all over your body. It didn't feel that way, it felt worse. His nervous system collapsed, either his pain receptors could not perceive the agonizing pain, or his brain could just not interpret the extreme agony. His body trembled, and he began to find his mind unsettling under the pressure of the pain. Suddenly, memories he didn't know he had appeared within his mind, and He could do nothing. A thousand needles violently stabbed his veins, his bones were shattering into a thousand pieces. His muscles were tearing, and every Fibre seperated from the other, violently at that. Pain, pain, pain. Suffering was no longer optional.Like a faulty bulb, switching on and off, he began to slip in and out of consciousness. That meant that the pain kept dissapearing, and returning, dissapearing, and returning, dissapearing and returning. The single second of unconsciousness he had each time was delightful to Alden, but it was not enough. It was like giving a boy who had starved for a week a small piece of chicken, far from enough to satisfy his hunger but more then enough to reinvigorate his intense longing for food. He begged for the pain to stop... It stopped. And he was conscious.

~~~

Alden had never felt relief as great as he what he felt when the pain dissapeared. He quickly flew out of the larva, and like a dolphin he dived out from within the orange, heat filled liquid. Alden looked at the energy surrounding his body, he could feel something different. He way he could feel energy present within him, it was a new amazing feeling. It was like he was filled with pure, raw energy. It was like a cool liquid tuning through his veins, he had to admit.A notification he hadn't noticed had popped up. [DRAGON BOSS ELIMINATED!][+100 EXP!][177/175 EXP TO LEVEL UP.][+1 LEVEL][LEVEL 13] [MISSION COMPLETED!]REWARDS FOR MISSION: ONE SKILL- SKILL SHARE(lv1)                            THREE CONSUMABLE SKILLs- SKILL GENERATE(lv?? )                                           90 POINTSBONUS REWARD: +60 EXP[92/200 EXP TO LEVEL UP][SYSTEM MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!][MORE THEN 50% OF DUNGEON WAS CLEARED WITH PHYSICAL COMBAT] REWARDS FOR MISSION COMPLETION: 6 SKILL POINTS                                                     +200% ATTACK POWER IN PHYSICAL COMBAT                                                      +70 EXP                                                      SKILL: FAST MARTIAL ARTS LEARNER (lv 2) "Wow..." Alden muttered, but that wasn't even the end. Alden immediately flew to the rocky surface where he could rest and see his there notifications. [CHAPTER UNLOCKED!][ATONOMY MECHANICS] [CHAPTER UNLOCKED!] [MOON METAL!] [USER CAN ATTAIN NEW ABILITIES BY STUDYING BOOK :MAR KIRR'S HARD SOUGHT KNOWLEDGE!] [ALERT!] [NEW TITLE ACQUIRED!] [MOON MASTER!][USER CAN CHANNEL THE POWER OF THE MOON!] [NEW ABILITY ACQUIRED!] [MOON MASTERY] [NEW POTENTIAL PATH UNLOCKED!][PATHWAY TO THE MOON!] "I have a new ability!?" Alden rejoiced. He lifted his hand, maybe that was the strange energy that running through him. [NEW TITLE ACQUIRED!] [DRAGON HYBRID!] [NEW ABILITY ACQUIRED!] [HALF-DRAGON TRANSFORMATION] [NEW ABILITY ACQUIRED!] [FLAME CONTROL] Alden covered his mouth, there were still more notifications. [NEW TITLE ACQUIRED!] [CONJURER] [USER CAN MANIPULATE PURE ENERGY!] [POTENTIAL PATH ADVANCEMENT!] [+1 STEP ACQUIRED] [SKILL IRON LEGION HAS EVOLVED INTO MOON LEGION][ABILITY MOON SOLDIER CREATOR ACQUIRED!] Alden tried to absorb all that he had heard. It was difficult to absorb all of the information. So he decided to first leave the dungeon. First, he had to do something... He walked over to where the first dragon he slayed had lain, the dragon has transformed back into its dragon form. Alden sighed, and held out his hand. "Converge." 

~~~
Alden left the dungeon, and found himself near the river. He decided to have a quick bath, but first he summoned Shadow, his raven, to keep on the lookout. Hr quickly cleaned and washed himself up before donning a new set of clothes. He then decided to go to his dungeon so he could check out his new abilities there. Firstly, he had 100 points to distribute. He opened his stats screen, and he was instantly overwhelmed with shock. All of his stats were at 99. It was like they had somehow jumped to 99. Was it because he had enhanced his body with moon metal and a dragon."Wait! My arm!" Alden realized something. He now had both arms. He'd fixed himself.Alden couldn't help but wonder. How did what he try work? Had he transformed himself into a weapon? Was he still human.He remembered the system say he was a dragon hybrid, furthermore the ability to control moon energy most probably came from the moon metal he'd used on his body.He was changed, he was no longer human."Wait..." Just to test, he dumped 40 points into agility.[+30 agility!]However, the 99 didn't change. Wait, that meant one thing, right? He was S-class! Joy filled Alden, and he couldn't help but smile with satisfaction. He'd finally reach his first goal. He could now, go re-register as a ranger. Ah, beside that. He had acquired S-class strength during that fight... Right?Cheat mode... After checking the skill details, something was confirmed. It only activated randomly, meaning, he couldn't just use the mode whenever he wanted. Hopefully, it activated on big moments when he especially needed it.Now, he needed to distribute his points. So, spent 30 points each on Strength and energy."Alright, now that's out of the way..." Alden thought. Now it was the skill points He decided to spend a single skill point on gravity. And 2 on his MOON LEGION skill. 1 point he added onto his GLITCH skill. Another went into the STUN skill and the final one was invested into SKILL SHARE.Now, he had to look at SKILL GENERATE. Alden had 3 of the consumable skills. Alden took a few long minutes to think about what to use the skills for. Thinking about it, it was easy to understand what the skill could be used for. "Firstly, I need a skill that can help me heal myself..." Alden thought. [SKILL GENERATE (lv??) ACTIVATED][WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF THE SKILL BEING GENERATED] "Can heal all of the user's wounds and injuries or just specific ones."[PLEASE NAME THE GENERATED SKILL?] "Self heal." [SKILL: SELF HEAL GENERATED!] [USER HAS USED UP CONSUMABLE SKILL] "And now..." [SKILL GENERATE (lv??) ACTIVATED][WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF THE SKILL BEING GENERATED] "Can allow user to experience the view of those in the moon legion." [PLEASE NAME THE GENERATED SKILL?] "soldiers eyes." [SKILL: SOLDIERS EYES GENERATED] [USER HAS USED UP CONSUMABLE SKILL] "I'll wait a little before using the third one," muttered Alden. "now, to test my moon mastery..." He raised his hand. Sea-blue energy flowed around his hand, twisting and whirling like some snake. Alden pushed outward, and from his hand burst forth a great deal of energy. The energy smashed into multiple buildings, destroying all that stood in it's path."Master." Mar Kirr called. He had been standing, and watching Alden."Yeah?" Asked Alden, turning toward him."I could feel that you had changed, but I was not sure what it was about you that had changed. Would you care to clear my doubts?""I altered my body, much like what you did, actually. I'm now a half dragon who can control moon energy.""Beautiful. As expected of my master, you've achieved what I failed to do. You have even surpassed my ambitions.""Wait... So you seeked a way to alter your body and enhance it with the moon metal?""yes, and this was the result."Alden observed the tank's bulky metal stature. Though it looked sturdy, strong and intimidating it lacked elegance and beauty. The natural elegance seem in a human body body or any natural body was lost. But Alden..."What about the tanks, what were they for?""My old master requested soldiers and I experimented on enhancing bodies using moon metals, and transforming them into puppets.""So... Can they regain their santience?" Asked Alden."It's complicated... But no. They're more or less dead now. Similar to us, the members of your legion. They are hardly sane, all they can do is follow orders.I would say that they are dead. ""how did you manage to make them interpret orders even though they're dead?""The power of my master. His race have powers pertaining to the dead. They are able to influence the dead. My master gave me a portion of that power for my experiments.""The dead...what is his race?""He is a vampire.""tell me, is he coming after this world?""I believe so. He wishes to conquer this planet."Alden wondered if all of these gates appearing had something to do with the vampire. So he asked Mar Kirr."Indeed. The gates are an experiment. The vampires are trying to seek a way to create a way to quickly invade the earth. All of these gates were failures, since they took too long to activate before the vampires could travel here.""Then, why don't we find vampires in the dungeon?""Only vampire prisoners or lower level soldiers guard gates. Or, races that are under the vampires empire.""So..." Alden asked the ultimate question. "How would I fend off against the vampire king, your master?"Mar Kirr hesitated before speaking. "No disrespect to my honorable master, but you would not be able to make him blink."Alden felt his spirits drop. So that meant that if the vampire king invaded, S-class could do nothing against him? "What about the elite - class?" He wondered. They were above S-class, and there were only about 9 in the world if he guessed correct. If even they couldn't... "I'll have to get strong then," Alden said. He had something else to try. He activated the ability HALF-DRAGON TRANSFORMATION. Blue moon energy formed a layer over his skin. Then, suddenly, scales began to appear all over his body, so that it covered every inch of his body besides his head. It was like and armor, and it covered his clothes. Just like the dragons scales, it was a deep blood red color. His long curly hair had partly transformed into a similar reddish color, and his pupils glowed red."Cool... And now..." He outstretched his hand, and blasted out of it a stream of angry blue flames. The flames spread, and engulfed the surrounding buildings, hiding it within its angry fires. The flames soon dissipated, and in it's place, was ruin. There were no more buildings or ruins, there was simply nothing. "Wow." Muttered Alden.