Jean struggled to defeat the last seven infected before falling to her knees, unable to get back up. The corruption was preying on her. She needed to do something as soon as possible.

“This isn't going to beat me!”

Those were strong words, but she knew that determination alone wasn't enough. Life had taught her that too many times. How was she going to overcome something like that?

A strong dizziness plunged her back into a trance to the past.

She was rushing through a dark tunnel guided by a light at the end. A tunnel shaped by a strange purple smoke that constantly rotated.

With each step, her destination became clearer. What at first seemed to be a blurry silhouette on the horizon, quickly revealed itself as a masonry building. A single-storey medieval building with wooden doors and windows, and a slate roof with a large smoking chimney.

Although distant, she noticed a familiar sound similar to the one often heard while trading with some merchants in games. It took her a while to realize that someone was sharpening something metallic on a grindstone.

When she finally reached the door of the building, a small sign hanging with runes written on it caught her attention. It didn't take her too long to figure it out with Linguistic. “Open.”

She was barely surprised by the skill. She was used to it now.

[Linguistic] (Basic): Allows you to understand, learn and communicate in the languages of most of the intelligent races of the new world.

The door was slightly ajar, inviting her to enter. When she lightly pushed it, a current of hot air came out, carrying a pungent smell of burning charcoal.

“Hello?! Is someone there?!”

Since the sound of metal against the grindstone didn't stop for a single moment, Jean pushed the door with determination.

A bell on the inside door frame announced her arrival, and a male voice greeted her. “Come in, come in! It's open!"

An old blacksmith was working inside, unaware of his own odor. “Come on! Come in! I don't bite!” He then smiled playfully, showing his perfect teeth. “Unless that's your thing!”

Jean took a step forward and entered the smithy. Although due to the variety of products on display, calling it a smithy might not be the most appropriate term.

The old man opened his arms, proudly displaying his work. He looked at his weapons and armor as if they were pieces of art. "These are my little babies. Aren't they beautiful!"

He scowled abruptly. "If you touch them, I'll break your legs! Is that clear?"

Jean nodded profusely, eager to leave. The man seemed to enjoy teasing her, but she wasn't going to play along.

Once again, a flash burst into her mind, followed by a new wave of whispers.

“[»Trader«, »Inventory« and »Transmutation« skills successfully implemented.]”

[Trader] (Basic): Allows you to buy basic items from Irum’s bazaar. You can buy them directly from the »Inventory«.

[Inventory] (Basic): Allows you to access a dimension of your own. You can store and remove the items in it freely. Slightly reduce stored weight.

[Transmute]: Allows you to transform objects from your inventory into »Essence Coins«. The number of coins and their category depends on Wisdom.

The blacksmith put his arms on his hips while laughing out loud. "They're already activated, right? Great! Back to work!"

He approached a hanging rope and pulled it. The rope was tied to a large bellows that fanned the embers. The heat became so stifling, that Jean had to move away for a moment.

"Welcome to the interdimensional bazaar! Depending on your Trader rank, you will have access to better items and discounts!"

“[You’ve received »100 White Essence Coins«.]”

The blacksmith approached the forge and pulled an incandescent steel blade from the embers. Holding it firmly with a pair of tongs, he carried it to an anvil and began hammering it without delay. After several blows molding the red-hot metal, he stopped the hammer in the air.

"What are you waiting for, child? Choose your first weapon!"

Her inventory opened automatically, startling her. Several panels appeared with purchasing options on the sides. From ranged weapons, throwing weapons, melee weapons and shields to HP and MP potions.

"Excuse me! I don’t see any of the awesome weapons and armors you have displayed..."

The old man turned so serious he could almost kill her with a look. "Are you serious, child? Do you think you can buy my beauties with pennies?"

Jean looked at a nearby sword and swallowed hard. The price was in blue essence coins. "I'm sorry! I didn't realize how much it equals in white essences coins."

"Take a better look next time!"

Jean lowered her gaze and focused on a shield that appeared in the annexes of her inventory. After looking at it for a while, a pop-up panel appeared.

Item: »Bronze Shield (Common)«
Details: Oak wood base reinforced with bronze sheet. Leather grips.
Prize: 62 White Essence Coins.

After taking a look at the weapons on offer, Jean debated between a longsword and a spear. Both with a hefty price of 83 and 66 coins respectively. The sword was the typical starting weapon for RPG, but it required proximity. The spear, on the other hand, inspired safety. Being able to attack from afar gave her confidence.

Whispers surprised her again. This time with something that had been simmering beneath the surface for some time. Something she knew would erupt at any moment.

“[»Devourer« successfully implemented.]”

[Devourer]: Unique Skill. Killing doesn't give you experience. You can only improve by consuming ingredients from your inventory. You get the following bonuses:
◦ (+4) extra attribute points for each level gained. (9 free points in total)
◦ You cannot learn new skills or knowledge except by devouring.
◦ You can improve the rank of a skill every level.
◦ You devour faster with fatal injuries.
◦ You only get essence coins after transmuting.
◦ »Transmute« generates hunger too.”

The blacksmith slowed down his hammering without taking his eyes off her.

“[You have broken the rules! You have acquired a »Forbidden Class« for a player!]”

“[Mission: »Choose your destiny!« updated.]”

“[Face the »Punishment«!]”

The blacksmith stopped hammering and looked at her angrily. "What-the-hell-have-you-done, brat?"

Jean pretended everything was fine, but a sudden pain made her wince. An atrocious and inexplicable hunger took hold of her.

The blacksmith pointed the hammer at her. "Don't play dumb with me! Answer!! Have you talked to anyone before you walk through my door?!"

Jean avoided his gaze, not knowing what to say.

"I'm detecting Devourer among your skills! You... Not only you have talked to someone! It was her! That vermin...! You've been deceived, child!"

"Deceived?! Wait! She only agreed to help with a problem in exchange for a favor!"

"I can't believe you're so innocent! She didn't give you something ordinary! You don't understand what you've done. You have doomed yourself!"

"It must be some kind of misunderstanding! I just made a pact!"

The blacksmith slammed his hand on the anvil. He hit it with such force that the building shook. "So that's what it was! You’ve brought back the cursed class! It was banned for a good reason! She knew it!!"

Jean wanted to explain herself. "She told me that...!" But when she looked at the anvil, she froze. It was visibly deformed. His fist was imprinted on the anvil as if it were nothing more than plasticine to him.

“Curse her! You won't be able to escape the imminent hell that awaits you!”

Sudden retching brought her back to the present. The thick mucus accumulation in her throat gave her a terrible urge to vomit.

Too much information in a single flash. Who the hell was Irum? Why being so powerful was he running an interdimensional bazaar? However, that wasn't what intrigued her the most. Who had she made a pact with? What had she agreed to?

“[Those answers won't get you out of this situation. Do the only thing you can actually do.]”

Jean didn’t understand what the whispers expected of her. She coughed heavily with her body cringing in pain. "How about giving me a hint?"

“[Store a corpse in the inventory and devour it.]”

“I won't do that! That’s disgusting!”

Her stomach growled insistently, she was hungry as hell.

After a long, awkward silence, she touched a corpse with disgust. "I don't have to put it in my mouth, right?"

“[No.]”

She narrowed her eyes, hoping for a breakthrough. However, despite two more attempts, nothing happened. She tried several other methods, including some weird hand poses, but they all proved to be a waste of time.

"I need a little help!"

“[You have to find a »balance« between desire, enthusiasm and control. You just want it and hope for it. You need to »demand« it too!]”

She confidently ordered the corpse to be stored. When it disappeared before her eyes, a hopeful smile appeared on her face.

“[Now, devour it. When you feel satiated, turn the corpses into essence coins!]”

“Ok! … Devour!”

Jean fell on her face from the effort, but didn’t lose consciousness. The cold water made her whole body shiver, preventing her from fainting. She remained in that position for thirty long seconds, thinking of her imminent death.

“[You’ve devoured your first enemy and started your progress towards the next level: 102/1000.]”

Her terrible hunger was mostly satisfied now. She also felt a little better; less tired and sick. She crawled to the next corpse, stored it, and devoured it as well.

The hunger disappeared completely. She smiled and went for the third, but couldn't devour a finger. The whispers explained to her that she needed to be hungry in order to devour, and so she did.

“Transmute!”

A sudden and intense dizziness forced her to get on all fours. The skill demanded stamina, and a significant amount of it.

Gasping for air after spitting out the disgusting green mucus. "No, no, no! I can't fall now! This body is incredible! I've never felt like this before! Hold on a little longer, for God's sake!"

“[You’ve received »11 White Essence Coins«.]”

Hunger appeared as if a black hole formed inside her. “OMG!”

She quickly reached for two other corpses and devoured them. After that, she was able to stand up again, but not without great effort.

“[Keep devouring! The more you devour, the better you will feel!]”

Jean spent the next few minutes transmuting and devouring. A terrible cycle more akin to torture than progress.

After devouring the tenth corpse, the sensation of discomfort was less intense, but the effects of the corruption still persisted. If she wanted to avoid a similar situation in the future, she would need to have backup corpses.

“[You’re ready to »Level Up«. Do you want to do it now? You must be sure, the process cannot be canceled and you need at least a few minutes of sleep.]”

After making sure there was no audible sound in the area, Jean climbed onto the rock to avoid succumbing to the cold water. Darkness enveloped her, taking her to a place full of stars with a nebula at its center.

The nebula simulated a neural network intimately connected to a center; the Devourer. It spread three-dimensionally in nodes throughout. Each one carried information of a skill or mutation yet to be discovered.

It felt like a sightseeing tour. A journey briefly interrupted by her attributes.

Name: Jean
Class: Child of Nimireth
Level 1

“Who is Nimireth?”

“[The woman who kissed you and changed you forever.]”

She really expected her class to be called Devourer or something epic. That was a bit disappointing.

Strength: 20
Dexterity: 6
Agility: 4
Toughness: 18
Resistance: 12
Wisdom: 4
Intelligence: 1
Willpower: 19
Perception: 6

When she saw her Strength, Toughness and Willpower values, she was stunned. Why were they so high compared to Intelligence?

"Shit! Goodbye to the possibility of conjuring a fireball soon…"

“[So this is what motivates you! Remember then that you can't learn skills like any other player. The children of Nimireth only gain skills by obtaining genetic material from what they devour.]”

“Thanks! I won't forget it from now on!”

“[This will slow down your progression obtaining them. However, you will be able to acquire many more than any other player, and also upgrade them faster. It all depends on how far you want to go and what you are willing to do.]”

Before becoming infected, she had felt powerful. She would have to find a way to stop the corruption from spreading if she wanted to get that feeling back. Maybe the answer was to obtain some healing skill.

“[You already have »Reconstructive Healing«. But even if you improved it, your skill rank wouldn’t be sufficient in your condition.]”

[Reconstructive Healing] (Basic): Gives a small HP, MP and SP regeneration after devouring. Mana consumption can be forced to obtain moderate HP regeneration and accelerate the healing of any wound. The healing effects are doubled in case of life-threatening wounds.

"What can I do then?"

“[You are doomed. Death awaits you.]”

Jean turned pale. "So I'll inevitably become one of them?”

“[If you just sit there, yes.]”

Hope returned. "No! I'm not going to stand here waiting! What do I have to do to..."

[Whichever path you take, you can only devour.]”

“So devouring… Wait! Why haven't I copied anything from everyone I've devoured?”

“[The corruption of their bodies is total. It has gradually degraded them to an irreversible point. They have lost practically everything they achieved in life. Levels, knowledge, skills and even their souls.]”

“Their souls…?”

Jean realized that with only 4 Wisdom, she was missing a lot of obvious things. It was crucial for her to improve her Wisdom. Her chances of survival depended on the Trader. Additionally, a sharp mind was necessary to find a way out of her current predicament.

“Alright! I want +6 to Wisdom, +1 to Willpower and +2 to Toughness. I need 10 Wisdom to be able to upgrade the Trader, right? ... Wait! How the heck do I know that? It was you, right?”

“[Correct! You're sharper now!]”

“Really?”

“[Attribute increments have a short synchronization time!]”

Jean didn't notice anything special right away. The only change was that the flow of information coming from the whispers became clearer and richer in knowledge.

She was on the right path. “Okay! Then I choose to upgrade the Trader!”

“[You have upgraded your »Trader« skill. The »Advanced rank« allows you to buy basic armor, and advanced potions and weapons. It also increases the chance of obtaining higher-ranked essence coins when transmuting. You won’t be able to upgrade this skill again before possessing 15 points in Wisdom and level 5.]”

“Understood!”

“[With your new values of »Toughness« and »Willpower«, you’ll be able to add »Advanced effects« to skills. The »Basic effects« are still available, as well as the new Wisdom effect.]”

After accepting the changes, she fell into a deep sleep. When she woke up, she tried to get up, but an intense pain through her body prevented her from doing so. She attempted to descend from the stone gradually, but her lack of strength caused her to slip and fall.

She slowly crawled towards the other corpses, stored them and transmuted them into essence coins.

Transmuting was exhausting, but hunger allowed her to devour and alleviate the discomfort of the ever-growing corruption. She devoured two additional corpses and transmuted three others into essence coins.

Most of the discomfort had subsided, allowing Jean to stand up and look for more enemies.

“I don't feel as powerful as before. I don't have 20 Strength anymore, do I?”

“[Check your »Player Menu«.]”

“Amazing! I have that too! Let's take a look then!”

Strength: 20 (-10)
Dexterity: 6 (-2)
Agility: 4 (-2)
Toughness: 20 (-5)
Resistance: 12 (-3)
Wisdom: 10
Intelligence: 1
Willpower: 20 (-5)
Perception: 6

Corruption was terrible for anyone, but much worse for a fighter. “Holy shit! -10!”

“[You suffer from an »Unknown Corruption«. You need more Identify rank to know how to combat it. Attribute decreases can range from 25% to 80%.]”

“Let’s focus! Skills.”

◦ [Magic Core] (Level 2)
◦ [Linguistic] (Basic)
◦ [Trader] (Advanced)
◦ [Inventory] (Basic)
◦ [Identify] (Basic)
◦ [Devourer] (Linked to the Magic Core)
◦ [Reconstructive Healing] (Basic)
◦ [Last Breath] (Basic)
◦ [Transmutation] (Rank linked to the Trader)

“Ok! Mutations … … Nothing? … Masteries.”

Weapon Masteries:
◦ [Ranged Weapons] (Advanced)
◦ [Throwing Weapons] (Advanced)
◦ [One-Handed Weapons] (Advanced)
◦ [Two-Handed Weapons] (Advanced)
◦ [Block and Deflection] (Advanced)
◦ [Hand-to-Hand] (Advanced)

“Map.”

A picturesque map with a full zenithal view appeared. It appeared to be hand-painted with a charcoal pencil in shades of brown. All very artistic. However, when zoomed out, everything began to blur until the outlines disappeared completely. What hadn’t been discovered was still undrawn.

Above her location, there was another indicator in addition to the blue arrow that showed the direction he was facing. This indicator was a yellow arrow that pointed in a different direction. The whispers indicated that this was her principal mission, and that there would be as many arrows as there were missions she wanted to complete.

"Ok! ... How many essence coins do I have now?"

“[You can see it in the lower right corner of your inventory.]”

She needed something that would allow her to kill faster and with greater range. Another spear and a shield might be good. If she managed to reach wider areas, possibly a two-handed axe or a greatsword would be a better alternative. Drunk with excitement, she imagined herself as Conan the Destroyer.

Essence Coins:
◦ White: 189
◦ Green: 0
◦ Blue: 0
◦ Orange: 0
◦ Purple: 0

“Not bad! How do I open the bazaar?”

“[There is a problem with that. Irum has banned your access to the bazaar.]”

"What does that mean? I can't use the essence coins?"

“[Don't worry! You can, but you won't be able to choose the items yourself. We'll have to do it for you. Undercover.]”

Jean rolled her eyes. “What does that entail?”

“[That you will have to trust us.]”

"That's not a problem. You saved my ass! Not trusting you would be insulting!"

A murmur echoed in her head. The whispers spoke to each other. They sounded extremely pleased, as if her answer didn't happen very often.

"Can you get me a shield and an extra spear? The one I have has about half the durability. You can spend all the coins. Oh, and some boots too! This cold water is chilling me to the bone!"

“[Give us a second... We've found a bargain!]”