The view changed dramatically. Shen Yi discovered himself standing on top of a snow-covered mountain. Everything was covered in white, the cold wind was slicing through the air, and at the base of the mountain laid a piece of woodland. Looking back he saw that the door of light behind him had disappeared without a trace.
The Blood Crest emitted a “tick” sound.
“Mission world: Van Helsing.”
“The mission this time belongs to the beginner’s level of difficulty, each adventurer will receive a newcomer reward. Please choose the difficulty level. The difficulty level will determine the level of the reward offered to you.”
A screen suddenly appeared in front of Shen Yi:
“1: Amateur, difficulty level is 25% of the original difficulty level.”
“2: Intermediate, difficulty level is 50% of the original difficulty level.”
“3: Standard, difficulty level is 100% of the original difficulty level.”
Shen Yi blinked. This may be specific to the beginner’s mission only, being able to not only receive gifts but also decide the level of difficulty.
Shen Yi could think of many reasons to choose the lowest difficulty level, but he did not want to do so. Without hesitation, he chose the difficulty level of 100%.
Owing zero fear of death, he wanted to face this cruel world. If Scarface knew the choice Shen Yi made, he would definitely have angrily cursed out loud. According to Scarface, the beginner’s survival rate was 20%, but it’s under the condition that they chose a difficulty level less than or equal to 50%. With the difficulty level of 100%, though the reward ratio increased, the difficulty wasn’t weakened at all. This was a risky task that only an experienced adventurer could face, the beginner’s survival rate would be less than 5%. Bravery and determination were not enough to survive.
“You have chosen the difficulty level: Standard; this difficulty level will not apply a decrease in the opponent’s strength in difficult situations.
You received 3 beginner rewards:
“1: Randomly generate 3 skills, you can freely choose a skill to learn.”
“2: Randomly generate 5 items, you can freely choose an item to use.”
“3: All stats temporarily doubled.”
Afterward, three different skills immediately appeared on the screen:
“Skill: Rush Stab. Powerful sword action will cause a sword line attack, 30 points fixed damage. Skill can be leveled up. Needs a sword-type weapon.”
“Skill: Toxic Smoke. Creates an area of toxic smoke at a designated location, anyone who stands in the area of effect will take 3 damage/s, duration last up to 1 minute. After leaving the toxic smoke area, toxic fumes will continue to corrode for 4 seconds. Skill can be leveled up.”
“Skill: Appraisal. Can be used on designated targets, to find out the target’s information.”
Among the three skills, there were two offensive skills and a support skill. But Rush Stab required a sword-type weapon, so there was certainly no need to pay any attention to it. Toxic Smoke was not bad, but Shen Yi didn’t think much of it. Comparing the two, the Appraisal skill was much more valuable in this situation. Although it can’t be used in a fight, it may help Shen Yi understood this world and his enemies faster.
After choosing Appraisal, Shen Yi started to feel a headache, as if something was forcefully stuffing info his head. The Blood Crest automatically displayed his character data with a series of attribute bars:
“You have five skill slots in the skill bar, you have learned a skill.”
“Skill: Appraisal – Emit spiritual energy to analyze a specified target. Can gather information from opponents. The level of information will be determined by the difference in level between user and target; as well as the level of this skill and the opponent’s Will. Skill cost: 3MP, skill effect time: 10 minutes, cooldown: 0 s. Priority: 12″
“Open Status Screen”
“Character ID: E5371″
“Main attributes: Strength 4 (8), Agility 7 (14), Vitality 5 (10), MP 12 (24), Will 10 (20).”
“Skills: Appraisal.”
“Innate Talent: N/A.”
“Class: N/A.”
“Psychic Power: N/A.”
“Practicing Manual: N/A.”
“Bloodline: N/A.”
“Note for the newcomer: Strength determines physical power and stamina. Agility increases movement speed, attack speed, and reflex speed. Vitality determines HP and endurance. Will increases resistance against crowd-control type skills, along with negative status. It also increases the speed of MP regeneration. Every additional point in Strength will increase attack damage by 1 point. Every additional point in Vitality will increase max HP by 10 points. Every additional 4 points in Strength or Vitality will increase defense by 1 point. After systemization, all vital places including head, heart or the internal organs will automatically no longer be fatal points and instead change to weak points. A hit on a weak point will no longer be fatal, instead, the damage will be doubled, but the damage is recoverable.”
After the attributes were doubled, Shen Yi felt incredibly refreshed, even his sight cleared up. He could look further, his hearing became sharper, his step became steadier. Just add a bit of training and he could easily join the Olympic Games.
On the top of the screen, there were two bars. The red one indicated his HP, which numbered 100, while the blue one indicated his MP, which numbered 24. His original HP was 50 points, but since his attributes were doubled it immediately changed to 100 points.
After Shen Yi was done with his skill selection, he checked the second reward options:
“1 magazine of Holy Bullet: number of rounds: 100/100. Base damage: 12. Deals 50 points of additional damage to undead creatures, the additional damage ignore Defense. Value: 150 BP.”
“5 pieces of bread: Eating them would restore HP.”
“3 incendiary ampoules: After throwing may cause the ground to burn continuously, deals fire-type damage to the enemy.“
“1 bottle of Holy Water: Can be deadly to undead creatures.”
“1 precious jewelry: Can be exchanged for 200 BP.”
Shen Yi directly selected the Holy Bullets magazine. If one were to consider the value then the jewelry would’ve been the most valuable. If one uses a more pragmatic approach instead, then three items would have their specific uses. The most advantageous would be the magazine since he already had a gun.
After receiving the rewards, Shen Yi suddenly felt a splitting headache. It was a little overwhelming in the beginning to suddenly learn a new language, namely Romanian. The method of learning was impossible to explain.
Following that came the introduction in the form of images which resembled the movie Van Helsing:
“In the 19th century, deep within the mountains of West Romania, there was a small town that looked exactly like one would imagine in the mythical and legendary Transylvania. Whenever the sun vanished behind the mountains, evil overflew and the nightmares rose up from their depths… Count Dracula was the lord of this land. He was an extremely powerful demon. Even if you were to ignore his numerous minions, such as the three Vampire Brides, werewolves and goblins… This was Monster Hunter Van Helsing’s mission, which was directly issued by the Vatican, to go to Transylvania and vanquish the evil Count Dracula…”
He now had some knowledge of the existence that was called the Bloody City. Some beings, who liked death games, created a city in an unknown location and then proceeded to kidnap people to become their chess pieces.
If he wanted to survive in the city, according to the regulations, he had to participate in death games in the form of missions that were conducted once every month.
“While it was very unfortunate that I died, I am also quite lucky to have been reborn in Bloody City.” He knew that if he didn’t appreciate this opportunity, he was certain that the Bloody City would not give him another.
If it assumed that the entire purpose of the Bloody City was to torment others, then it sounded quite sadistic. While that may be the case, Shen Yi did not feel any fear, instead, he felt his chest burning with excitement.
Before he came to the Bloody City, he had prepared thoroughly. If he hadn’t, it would have been impossible to plan well for seven years and use the force of one man to kill multiple targets. Hiding for seven years, once it broke out, all wishes would be completed. It made his heart long for vengeance and turned him towards violence. As for those he murdered, while they fell under the fear of death, he was able to withstand all that and was going to finish the task no matter the risk or cost. But after the completion of his vengeance, he had lost all will to live and thus died. Thanks to the Bloody City he found a new goal to live for.
He could continue to play deadly games in Bloody City and die, or gradually grow stronger by killing to look for his lost spiritual imprint. The thought of this made Shen Yi’s blood boil. The Blood Crest had once again lit up the little screen which made a resonant sound:
“Main quest 1: Flee together with Anna Valerious to the small town of Transylvania. Quest accomplishment: Reward 200 BP. Quest failure: Obliteration. Main quest 2: Kill at least ten goblins and a goblin leader. Quest accomplishment: Reward 500 BP. Quest failure: Obliteration. Main quest 3: Kill at least one vampire bride. Quest accomplishment: Reward 1000 BP. Quest failure: Obliteration. Optional Quest: Kill Count Vampire Dracula. Quest accomplishment: Reward 4000 BP. Quest failure: No punishment. Mission requirement: Complete all quests in ten days.”
When Shen Yi saw the tasks, a roar suddenly sounded.
Looking back, his eyes saw a young girl dressed in a red leather waistcoat and boots. Six meters behind her was a huge ferocious wolf chasing after her. Its speed was very fast, each time it leaped, it shortened the distance of its prey considerably.
The main quest arrived immediately, the Bloody City basically did not give Shen Yi a chance to come up with a thorough response, all he could do now was rely on his instincts. By doing so, Shen Yi instantly sprung towards the big bad wolf. While he didn’t think that the girl saw him, she suddenly evaded sideways and yelled, “Don’t come here! It’s dangerous!”
”You should tell that to the wolf, not me.” Shen Yi sighed. He raised his gun and aimed it right at the big werewolf.
Bang!
He shot and hit the wolf, causing the wolf to lose a few drops of blood. Shocked, Shen Yi used Appraisal on the wolf.
The Blood Crest displayed a series of data strings with a threatening sound:
“Normal werewolf, attack damage: 6-10; defense: 3; HP: 76/80. Undead creature (Holy-type attacks do double damage); Strength Type; Weak-point: Head.”
Although the wolf was shot, he completely ignored the impact and continued to rush towards the girl. But the girl reacted as if she had eyes in the back of her head and leaned forward to evade the werewolf’s claw. She grabbed a branch from a nearby tree and used it to swing herself up.
After missing its target, the wolf fell into a frenzy and howled while turning around. It continuously punched the tree in the hope that the girl would fall down.
Shen Yi ran in haste, while continuously shooting at werewolf’s head. Since attacking the weak point dealt double the damage. After receiving two more bullets to the head, the wolf was very angered. Suddenly, it turned and looked toward Shen Yi. Its bloody mouth emitted a loud roar as it jumped towards Shen Yi’s location. Shen Yi stood there motionless, switching to the Holy bullets magazine, he aimed right at the big wolf’s head. The girl above the tree yelled, “Get out of there! You can’t kill it! ”
“I don’t think so!” Shen Yi continued to focus on his target. When the large wolf drew nearer, he suddenly pulled the trigger. Bang! Following the shot, the werewolf’s HP bar immediately drained empty. Its body heavily fell from the air and crashed right in front of the Shen Yi.
Shen Yi fired six rounds before, but barely managed to slice off a third of the werewolf’s HP, but when he switched to his Holy bullets, one shot depleted more than half of its life. Using the good stuff always makes things easier. After an odd sound, the werewolf’s corpse gradually transformed into a naked man.
The girl jumped down from the tree, and gazed in amazement, “Thank you for helping me, but how did you do it? Why do your bullets have such great efficiency? Who are you? What did you come here to do?”
Shen Yi calmly replied, “Before asking so many questions, you should start by introducing yourself.”
“Anna Valerious, sorry for being disrespectful.”
Of course, she was Anna Valerious, who was also the last member of the Valerious clan, which swore to god to kill Count Dracula. In accordance with the Valerious’ vow, if Count Dracula did not get exterminated, than those of the Valerious family would never be able to rest in peace after death..
Shen Yi pretended to be surprised, “I am called Shen Yi… hold on, Valerious? Do you say you are Princess Anna of the Valerious clan?” “No, I am not a princess at all. I am but the only one left of my clan.” Anna ran ahead.
Shen Yi followed, “I thought you had a brother.”
“He died two months ago while battling the werewolves. My clan bore the mission to destroy Count Dracula, but until now, even after hundreds of years, we still have not accomplished it. My ancestor’s souls can’t enter paradise, and it’s all because of that damned vampire! He treats us like slaves! You should not visit this place, stranger, please hurry and get out of here. This place is not safe. When the night falls, the living dead occupy this place.” Anna said as she walked towards the woods.
“That is the purpose of my arrival. I am a demon hunter, and hunting monsters is my main income source. If you have enough money, I can help you.”
“Do not expect a great fortune from this place, Count Dracula is the incarnation of death and can only bring death to you. Do not waste your life.”
“I voluntarily bet my life for money, my only fear is that you do not have enough money to invite me.”
Anna suddenly stopped and turned around, “Die for money? Did you not see the werewolf earlier? It used to be just a normal innocent villager, but after being bitten, it turned into what you saw. In this place, death is not the scariest thing, the most frightening thing is that your soul is permanently unable to rest in peace, to only be enslaved by the devil forever!” Anna resumed walking,“Out of respect for the fact that you have helped me back in town, I will invite you to drink and give you a sum of money. So so please leave, I do not want you to die.”
Shen Yi shrugged but did not say anything more. Based on the fact that Anna did not want to lead him toward the other werewolves, she must be a kind-hearted person. But since Blood Crest didn’t announce anything about the task’s reward, even after they arrived in the small town. That could only mean that the task was still not completed.
At that moment, he suddenly noticed that something wasn’t right. He looked back at the quest’s information: Flee together with Anna Valerious from the small town in Transylvania. Clearly, the quest did not require him to kill werewolves, it just asked him to leave the town with Anna. The current situation would only make sense if the Bloody City intended to have “flee from the small town” difficult task. This thought brought about a bad feeling to Shen Yi. He talked to Anna, “If I hadn’t been able to save you just now… would you have had a way to escape?”
Anna replied, “Head south from this place and there is a cliff, below it is a river. I can simply jump into the river before the werewolf catches up, and hope to escape alive. I am the last of my clan, so each time before I go out to hunt werewolves, I prepare a retreat path. I am not afraid of death, but because I am the last of my clan, I must fulfill my family’s vow to God so that they can rest in peace.”
“If so, then you better get ready to jump into the river.” Shen Yi suddenly said. “What do you mean?” Anna questioned. Her gaze shifted from Shen Yi to the thing behind him.
Only a few dozen meters away in the forest darkness were several murky pair of green eyes that could be seen glowing from within the shadows. “A pack of werewolves!” Anna cried aloud.
“Run!” Shen Yi frantically screamed as he dragged Anna along. More than ten werewolves emerged from the forest, as they sprinted like crazy towards the two.