Unholy Player

Chapter 500: The Fifth Stat

"It’s... weird," Adyr murmured, his pale lips barely moving as the words came out.

As he looked at the sky, he realized it was no longer the same as before. He could see more than just its blue.

Strange, whirlpool-like patterns hung in the air. Shapes hovered around him too, things that had never existed in his sight before. They were faint, like optical illusions, yet undeniably present, drifting at the edge of reality like distortions in glass.

The effect was strange. It was unsettling. Still, Adyr wasn’t disturbed, because he knew exactly what he was seeing.

It was the new physical trait he had gained from Blood Sszhar: the serpent’s eyes. The change didn’t feel natural, but it felt precise, like a switch had been flipped behind his eyes.

He had thought gaining the serpent’s scales would already be a beneficial outcome. Instead, he had received something better. He could now perceive the small dimensions around him, not by touch, but through an instinctive awareness that reached beyond normal sight.

There were countless dimensions surrounding him. That alone caught him off guard. He hadn’t expected so many cracks in space or so many hidden pockets layered into the world.

Yet as he studied them, he could sense something else. Every single one of them was empty. Nothing inside was worth looting. Only silent hollows tucked between the layers of reality.

Anyway, even if something valuable did exist in one of them, he had no way to enter those spaces and take it.

Sszhar was gone, and the Riftwalk skill had vanished with it. That meant Adyr no longer had any means to step into those fractures. Still, he could find something similar later. A tool, a Spark, anything that could replace what he had lost so he could enter and leave those hidden dimensions whenever he wanted.

After examining the change in his eyes, Adyr turned his attention to the innate talent he had gained.

The moment he checked it, a satisfied smile tugged at his face.

Out of all the 5 skills the Blood Serpent had possessed, Adyr had received the best one: Leech’s Reach.

He didn’t need to guess. He already knew why it was the best. It had been the most expensive skill among Blood Sszhar’s abilities, costing more than 12,000 energy per use. A price like that always meant something.

Before, he hadn’t known what the skill was or what it did, only that its cost was absurdly high. Now it was different.

The moment it became an innate talent, his mind absorbed every fragment of information about it. He understood exactly how it worked and exactly how dangerous it could be, as if the knowledge had been stamped directly into his nerves.

It didn’t fit any category like defense, movement, attack, or support. If he had to force it into one, Adyr would file it under utility.

It wasn’t an ability that won battles through brute force. It was the kind that shifted the balance in his favor before a fight even began.

The skill worked with 2 elements: Blood and Space. Its function was simple in concept and terrifying in practice.

It was an ability that could steal something from any target that had life energy flowing through its veins. It could bypass flesh and even distance, reaching things that should have been untouchable.

"With this ability, I can now loot others’ sanctuaries, right?" Adyr murmured with a grin, already picturing the panic it could cause.

Practitioners were living beings with blood flowing through their veins. Their Sanctuaries were literal pocket dimensions. That meant they perfectly met the conditions for the skill, living anchors tied to hidden storage and sealed spaces.

There was a drawback, though. Now that the skill had become an innate ability, it no longer cost any energy. Instead, it demanded an excessive amount of stamina. It would drain his body in a way raw energy never could.

With the knowledge settled in his mind, Adyr could estimate the limit. He could use it once. Thereafter, he would need to rest at least a full day to recover from the strain.

And the stamina cost depended on what he tried to steal. A Rank 4 Spark would demand far more stamina to draw out. That would mean an even longer recovery afterward.

The ability also carried a chance of failure. If the Spark was too strong and managed to resist Leech’s Reach, it could slip away. Adyr would be left with nothing, empty-handed, his stamina spent for nothing.

Nevertheless, it was still the ideal kind of skill. Any enemy would dread it. Just knowing someone had the power to steal from their Sanctuaries was already a psychological blow. It would force people to think twice before deciding to make Adyr their enemy, even before the first clash ever began.

Satisfied with both his new physical trait and his innate talent, Adyr opened his status panel to see what else had changed.

He was especially curious about the strange, alluring scent coming from his body, the one that attracted animals and insects alike, as well as the sense that his body had grown more durable.

And when he opened his status panel to check the reason, he received another pleasant surprise.

[Name]: Adyr Hellcraft

[Race]: Sanguine Nephilim

[Path]: Primora

[Evolution Step]: 3 → 4

[Physique]: 1783

[Will]: 1400

[Resilience]: 905

[Sense]: 1260

[Vigor]: 1000

[Energy]: 6648 → 8648

[Registered Talents]: 30/30 → 30/50

[Omnisight (Lv1)], [Sword Art of Existence(Lv2)], [Maleficent Architect (Lv2)], [Elysian Cook (Lv1)], [Nihil (Lv1)], [Tracking(Lv3)], [Throwing(Lv4)], [Linguistic(Lv3)], [Tactician(Lv4)], [Stealth(Lv4)], [Trapper(Lv4)], [Butchering(Lv3)], [Scouting(Lv4)], [Surgery(Lv3)], [Reader(Lv4)]

[Masonry(Lv3)], [Flying (Lv4)], [Sprinting (Lv3)], [Climbing (Lv3)], [Swimming (Lv4)], [Drawing (Lv3)], [Instrument Playing (Lv4)], [Singing (Lv3)], [Writing (Lv3)], [Persuasion (Lv4)], [Anatomy (Lv3)], [Deception (Lv5)], [Herbalism (Lv3)], [Farming (Lv4)], [Navigation (Lv3)]

[Sparks]: 18/20 → 17/30

[Sanctuary]: Sanguine Land

[Free Stat Points]: 175

Adyr’s eyes bypassed everything else and locked onto the newly appeared stat, examining it with interest as he tried to grasp what it represented and how it truly strengthened him.