[You have been impaled.] [Your body will not heal until you remove the dislodged object.] Upon regaining consciousness, Ace found himself lying on his blood dome with a claw dislodged in his midsection. Looking up, he noticed Skyler and Jim getting overwhelmed by the ever-increasing numbers of the Xof. Skyler, covered in blood and bruises, was pulling the creatures off her body with blood dripping from the deep wounds she suffered. Jim, currently in his human form, was fighting for his dear life even though he looked as if he were about to pass out the next moment. The two Humans had put up their best, despite being exhausted. Eventually, Jim and Skyler became too tired to keep up fighting. Their bodies screamed in agony. Their movements became too slow and stiff. Their breaths became so heavy that their vision blurred in the process. ’They’re about to pass out.’ Angrily, Ace turned his hands into claws and dug them into the Xof’s arms. Slowly and angrily, he removed the creature’s arm from his mid-section and later on ripped its head from its body. [+1 Brutality Point.] [Congratulations: You have made your first kill at the fiftieth level.] [You no longer have an object dislodged in your body. Healing may begin now.] ’Brutality points?’ Ace wondered as he transformed into his Blood Bishop form. ’Are they a part of the new update? What are they for?’ Inasmuch as he wanted to explore his new system, Ace had bigger issues to deal with. Seeing that he needed to save two people at once, the Blood Bishop decided to help one and send a blood clone to help the other. While doing so... [Congratulations: You have exercised your Blood Clone Skill and have leveled it up to the Second level.] [Excessively exercising a skill will level it up. The higher the level, the more powerful the skill will be and the less energy it will consume.] [You can now create ten more blood clones than you could originally. This skill no longer consumes energy given your current Blood Strength level. Constantly level this skill to its maximum level to unlock a hidden feature.] ’30 Clones!!’ Ace’s eyes lit up. ’I can make thirty clones now? And I won’t have to worry about my energy?’ [Blood Clones now depend on Blood Mana. The more Blood Mana you have, the longer your clones can last and regenerate. Blood Mana can be obtained by extracting the life force from your slain enemies.] [Blood Mana cannot be collected from previously slain enemies. Once you reach the Maximum Mana count, you will automatically be granted an extra two thousand points.] [There is one target that you have killed. Would you wish to extract their life force? Y/N] [Life Force Extracted.] [+2 Blood Mana points obtained.] Quickly rushing to Skyler’s side, Ace created six blood tendrils and pierced the bodies of the Xof that were on top of her. As he pulled them off her, he used his arms and gently picked her up as his tendrils killed the remaining Xof that approached him. [+26 Blood Mana extracted.] [Blood Mana: 28/4000] "What took...you so...long!!" Skyler smirked weakly as Ace leaped to safety. On top of his Blood dome, he placed Skyler safely as his clone returned with Jim resting on its arms. Once his comrades were safe, Ace decided to kill as many of the Xof while collecting as many experience points and Blood Mana as possible. He was out for blood. [Blood Lust Lv1: Acquired.] [The stronger your Blood Lust, the stronger your attacks and defenses will be.] With a flick of his wrist, Ace slowly collected all the spilled blood around him, quickly swirling it around his body as it grew larger. A whirlpool of Xof blood surrounded his body with its edges hardened. While the Xof started to surround Ace, he quickly moved the blood from the ground and surrounded his body in an X-shaped ring of spinning blood, a skill he just come up with. After all, his system did tell him countless times to be creative. Quickly and without warning, Ace sprinted for the Xof with his whirling blood ring surrounding his body. Those who were caught unaware were sliced into chunks of flesh with their blood aiding in the growth of the blood ring. [Total EXP: 26+44=70] Meanwhile, Ace advanced further in the horde of Xof. While he used his blood ring to kill those who tried getting closer to him, his other skills, like Blood Drain and Blood control, were used to kill those who tried to escape from him. In an instant, the numbers of Xof began to reduce once more. The simulation chamber slowly started to stink with the putrefying scent of blood reaching those that were outside the room. After a long while of constant bloodshed, the number of Xof depleted and those that would suddenly appear from nowhere ceased. The Third Phase was cleared, thanks to Ace and his lust to kill. {The Third Phase has been completed by subjects Skyler, Jim, and Ace} {Subject, Cherry, is yet to complete the Third Phase.} [EXP:837/260>>>577/270>>>307/280>>>27/290] [From now on, all of your stats will be moved up by one point with each level up you experience. You have moved up by three points, therefore all stats will move up by three points.] "System what happened to the Ranking Up process with my sister?" Ace questioned his system as he slowly let down the Blood Dome he created. Looking inside, he saw his sister lying down peacefully, although her body was covered with blood and had a few scars on her arms, legs, and chest. [During your Upgrade, the ranking process was completed. However, the subject did not possess enough energy to use the Blood Knight rank.] "Is Cherry alright?" Skyler asked as she got back up on her feet. Feeling as though she rested enough, the young Gifted Human felt ready to move onto the next phase, even though she didn’t look the part. "She just needs to rest," Ace said while signaling the Granians to come and take his sister away. "She won’t be able to continue for now...and neither do you guys!!" "I’m fine," Jim sucked his teeth while transforming again. Thanks to the excess pools of blood lying around, he was able to rest, feed, and heal back to his normal stats, even though he was fatigued. "I can still do this." can," Ace argued. "It has only been three phases but you two have already been injured and exhausted. You guys nearly passed out!!" "Ace, I. Am. Fine," Jim insisted. "I can still keep moving forward. I’m not backing out just yet." "Same," Skyler responded as she transformed into her different forms just to show how ’okay’ she was. "I’ve still got some strength left in me. Let’s move on to the next phase." -------------------------- [A few moments later.] With no Simulation AI telling them about the Fourth Phase, Ace, Skyler, and Jim sat still as Cherry was lifted away by the Granians. Skyler and Jim took the time to rest and lick their wounds while Ace used it as a perfect excuse to check his stats and his system’s new updates. [Welcome to the New System Update.] [Blood Mutant System: Lv2] ’I’m just on the second level of the system?’ Ace smirked, his mind wandering off to the other updates awaiting him. [You have Unlocked the following...] -[Automatic Level Ups.] -[System Blood Store.] -[Hidden Stats yet to be achieved.] -[Absolute Blood Control Skill.] [Select where you would like to go first.] After reading what he had unlocked with the new update, Ace decided to check out the most interesting feature of the update. The System Blood Store. [Welcome to the Blood Store.] Read full story at 𝚗𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚕·𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚎·𝚗𝚎𝚝 [Here, you can purchase Blood Weapons, tools, skills, and other accessories. You can also buy more inventory space to store more items.] [The System Blood Store works on a Blood Coin currency that only you and the system have access to. Blood Coins can be obtained through defeating challenging enemies or completing quests. These coins can be used to buy weapons, tools, skills, and other accessories that you will come to learn of in the future.] [At the moment, you do not have any Blood Coins to access the store. Complete the Current Quest you are on to access the store.] ’Fascinating,’ Ace’s eyes lit up once more as he went through the rest of his system’s update features. What stood out the most were the store and the Absolute Blood Control skill. The more he explored them, the more he came to learn of his Blood Mutant Skills, powers, and what he was capable of doing. After about two hours of sitting and going through his system, the Granians approached the Mutants and announced the Fourth Phase. This time, however, the Humans were separated from each other as the ground beneath them split into three massive canyons. {Phase Four has begun.} {Scale your way through the Canyons and get to the other end safely.} ’How the hell do these Granians make such a massive, almost realistic biome in a simple simulation room?’ Ace questioned as he began to doubt the technological advancements of the Granians.