"Get up, Ace. Get up and help that person who’s about to get killed." "Wha...What are you talking about?" On the ground in serious pain, Ace looked over at the pod Anya was in and saw the same type of beasts Jim was fighting struggling to make their way in. While still healing from Grim’s blow, Ace got up from where he sat and rushed for Anya’s pod. Just as he was about to get close to it, Grim wrapped his tail around Ace’s neck and run him through the ground, running at an intense speed. The young man’s skin peeled off and he lost a lot of blood, health points, and energy that was constantly being used to heal his wounds that weren’t stopping. With one last swing, Grim cast Ace’s body at great speed and left rolling through the ground. The Granian leader quickly sprinted towards Ace, who was prepared this time. "Your training for today is to get past me and save that woman before she dies." Grim shouted with his hand stretched out, ready to grab Ace. [Blood Step: Activated.] Knowing he couldn’t outrun Grim, Ace decided to quickly move out of Grim’s way and then focus his attention on Anya. As soon as Grim got close enough, Ace stepped out of the way before blood sprinting to Anya’s pod. "Excellent!!" Grim praised while digging his feet into the ground while spinning his upper body to change his momentum. "Let’s see you dodge THIS!!" Already moving at a fast rate, Grim launched himself further towards Ace with a round kick to the boy’s right side. Ace increased his speed but he knew that the kick was going to land if he did not dare to do anything against it. He needed to either dodge quickly or meet the kick with a counterreaction of his own. [Blood Drain Skill Level Up.] [Congratulations: Your blood extraction skill is now two times stronger. Given your blood strength, you can now extract blood from a wider radius. Over usage of certain skills causes them to level up.] [Blood Drain Skill Level 2: Activated.] Stretching his hand out, Ace felt the power of his leveled-up skill as he drained the blood from the beasts on top of Anya’s pod. The creature’s body was sucked in an instant of all its blood, leaving behind an old, weak shell. Its black blood, so loose and versatile, swirled around his body as it released a terrible, painful stench. Ace quickly hardened it while keeping some for himself to use later. Although Grim’s kick landed on Ace, he suffered a painful shard that went through his leg for Ace turned the black blood into a thick, jagged blood block with many projectiles protruding. "Effect...ive...." Grim groaned in pain as he stopped to take out the shards in his legs. Meanwhile, Ace used the remaining blood he kept and forced it through the heads of the beasts on top of Anya’s pod, killing them in an instant. [Level 24>>>>Level 25>>>Level 26.] [EXP: 90/40>>>50/50>>>0/60.] [Total: 30 Stat Points.] Putting his system’s notifications aside, Ace broke through the pod and managed to help Anya out. Looking at her sorry state, the young man felt sick to his stomach and glared angrily at Grim. "What did you guys put her through?" He asked angrily as the black Granian’s wounds finalized the healing process. "Anya, how long have you been here?" "I don’t know." Anya, who was all skin and shriveled muscles hanging onto her skeleton answered as Ace helped her stand up. "After the invasion, I came running outside and saw you and your sister on the ground. These creatures then pointed some type of gun at me and knocked me out." "As I said to your sister," Grim smugged, "You’re not the only ones here, meaning you’re not that special." "I don’t care about that, Grim." Ace argued. "Look at the state you’ve left her in. How many others do you have on board of this ship?" Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝※𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖※𝕟𝕖𝕥 "That isn’t of your concern right now." Grim answered as he suddenly appeared behind Ace’s back with his claws slowly piercing through his back muscles. "As I said earlier, things will be revealed slowly by slowly to you. Be lucky I brought to you this person since you know them so much. You might just be the one that’ll be able to help her." "Wait, help her?" Ace wondered for he was clearly confused by Grim’s words...which happened a lot of times. "Help her from what?" "They put something in me, Ace." Anya whispered as her weak, feeble legs gave out and let her fall to the ground. "They have this...room full of different types of monsters and alien life forms. They got a body part from one and force-fed it to me. It’s what has made me look ." "Your friend is dying." Grim chuckled as he prepared to jump back to the raised platform where he once stood with Skyler. "Whatever you did to your Jim friend, do it to her so that she retains her humanity....better yet her own life." At first, Ace was convicted within himself on whether he wanted to fight Grim and kill him from where he stood or not. However, he knew his own strength and where it stood when placed next to Grim’s. He would rather have the Granian give him orders than risk his life for a fight that would most likely not end the way he would want. So instead, Ace calmly looked at Grim and asked, "How long does she have? As I told Jim, I do not know how I did this. It must have happened on its own." Almost conveniently, Ace’s system popped up with a familiar section he hadn’t seen in a very long time, the same type that showed up the very first day he grasped what his system was about. "As long as you like." The Granian answered. "I have to warn you, the thing she ate will destroy her from the insides and give her a very uncomfortable death. You wouldn’t want that on her now, would you." With that said, Grim jumped back onto his platform and watched as Cherry and Jim struggled to kill the creatures they were dealing with. A couple of hours passed. Cherry and Jim were still battling the beasts sent to them by Grim as a form of training. Currently, Jim was in between the four beasts with a scratched and bruised body. His hair was tangled and dusty, his posture hunched as he crouched awkwardly while gasping for dear air. His hands bled out while he struggled to hide his flesh wounds. However, the golden blood mutant was not the only one that was badly beaten. The four beasts close to him quivered from where they stood as they too gasped for air. Neither Jim nor the beasts had managed to cause lethal blows but instead wore each other out. ’These damned beasts are tough,’ he thought to himself as he slowly regained his strength. ’I’m surprised they haven’t taken me out. Doesn’t matter, I just need one more move to take them out.’ Still acting weak, Jim fell to the ground and pretended to be passed out. For a moment, he stopped breathing to give the impression he was dead. He even let his body bleed out while slowly gathering every single drop of blood he and the four beasts lost while they were caught up in their battle. One by one, the beasts got closer to Jim as they used their long claws to move his body around. Suddenly, the blood puddle beneath their feet hardened as long blood spikes protruded through their bodies. The creatures roared angrily, surprised by how they were easily fooled. Jim quickly got up while using his own blood to his advantage. With his palms open, he spun around with the blood following and hardened it while forcing it through the creatures’ necks. The beast’s heads fell to the ground and their bodies became limp with no signs of life left. [Second Assessment for Jim: Complete.] Having secured his victory, Jim fell to the ground and passed out while his body began the natural healing process. It was a struggle, but he did it. He managed to conquer his fear and went fo the kill without hesitating. Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, Cherry was busy running away from the last two blood beasts that pursued her relentlessly. The young woman ran around while having a handful of blood spears which she threw aimlessly at the blood beasts. The creatures that were chasing her did so to keep the girl away from the bodies of their fallen comrades for they knew that if she got their blood, she’d use it to finish them off. "DAMN IT YOU TWO. JUST HURRY UP AND DIE." Cherry suddenly jumped as she threw over twelve blood spears at the blood beasts. She quickly halved them into smaller spears and managed to stab their legs, leaving them in excruciating pain that made them unable to walk for a while. Quickly taking the opportunity to make her move, Cherry ran past the creatures which pointed their tails at her. The creatures then fired large volumes of blood spikes at the girl and a couple of them hit her body. Nonetheless, the young woman persevered and got to the other dead creatures. With her hands held out, Cherry covered her body with blood, making herself look like a certain black symbiote character. "Now that I’ve gotten my blood, let’s do this one more time, SHALL WE?"