VRMMO: World's First Glyphborne

Leaving Midas to his dealings, Belladonna chuckled to herself as she tossed the Source Remnant up and caught it a few times while she strolled through the streets.

The Source Remnant she had seemingly chosen at random, but had in fact specifically chosen, was dark in colour. Specifically it was a deep, midnight purple that blended into black as the two dark shades swirled and mixed together inside the crystal.

It was slightly cold to the touch and had an ominous air that would give you a shiver down your spine if you held it for too long. Many might have believed it to be something that was purely evil, which was understandable. It did give off those vibes in feeling and looks, and it was ideal for crafting the magic instrument, i.e. Wands and Staves, of the more malevolent casters like Revenant.

But the Element contained within was not evil in and of itself. It was a Source Remnant from a creature aligned with the Shadow Element. One much more attuned than the last Shadow aligned creature she had devoured.

Of all the Source Remnants that Belladonna had consumed with her Source Devouring constitution, she had only ever gained one ability. The [ShadowVeil]. Ability points were in the same boat.

With the Barghest, she gained stats. But with others, she did not. A part of her had honestly forgotten about it amongst everything that had happened that day, as amazing as her memory was. It was only when she was talking to Midas about it that she finally realised the inconsistency.

With all the other Source Remnants, her mana levels were all that grew.

At first she had considered it just down to luck, but lately she had been brewing a theory that it was, in fact, down to a fact of affinity. Beasts had natural elements, and advanced through consuming items with the similar element.

So why could the same not be said for people?

If she had to guess, her natural element was Shadow, mainly because of her ability and her bond with Beans. Blood was another possibility, but she wasn’t entirely sure if that was an element, or what a natural blood element creature would even look like.

If only her own corpses dropped Source Remnants, then perhaps she would have figured that out for sure.

However, all of this was only a hypothesis. There was only one way to confirm it for sure.

She smirked to herself, tossing up the Source Remnant one last time as she tilted her head back and stuck out her tongue, catching it in her mouth this time. It melted the moment it touched her tongue and her body was immediately flooded with a cold shiver of revitalising energy, like the cold shower waking you up in the morning.

[Source Devouring Constitution activated!

Purifying Source.... Purification complete!]

You have gained the following benefits from the purified source;

Resistance + 15

Agility + 30

Esoterica + 20 ]

[You have gained the following skill from the purified source;

Skill: Shade Claw]

’Val... You are a beautiful genius.’

With a thought, she activated the skill and immediately the shadows around her flickered, before her own shadow latched onto her leg and rapidly crawled up her body. It wrapped around her like a serpent, racing up her leg, across her torso and along her arm until it split apart into five segments.

Her fingers turned black as the shadows segments extended off of them, turning her fingers into wicked black claws each over 6 inches long. They seemed to be shadows of the claws she gained in her [Blood Frenzy] form, but it was hard to say if that was a coincidence or part of the skill.

Either way, it was an improvement to her attacking skills. Punching was wonderful, but sometimes you wanted to slice and dice.

’I wish Lox was around. Could have been fun to test these out on her face, Hehe.

Am I being petty? Maybe I am picking on her a little too much and being too much of a bully. I mean does she really deserve this kind of treatment?

Yes. Yes she does. Of course she does. What are you thinking you idiot? If anything, you’re being too nice on her for the way she’s pushing herself onto Percy and for uh... other reasons.’

Belladonna cleared her throat awkwardly and cancelled the skill, letting the claws dissolve and her shadow reform at her feet.

It seemed now that she had yet another goal to add to the list. Find all the creatures that were aligned with the Shadow element, and turn them into her own personal power buffet. Oh, and to find out if there were any others that she could gain abilities from.

Even if the Blood Element didn’t actually exist, that didn’t mean Shadow was necessarily her only natural attribute. If only there was an adventurer guild with a convenient orb that could tell her all of this information, or she could awkwardly break with her overwhelmingly awesome power.

Instead she had to do it the hard way. Although... She still did have a cheat of her own.

{Revenant: Come to the attached location for the hoard. Bring the heart, we can discuss the deal there.}

Oh, and would you look at that! There her little cheat code was now, making demands like he was the one that was in charge. How adorable.

She quickly composed a reply and sent it back, before quickening her pace. It was really past time for her to find out whether or not the things this annoying prick said were true, or if he just got a little cocky with some insider information from the company.

In fact, it was probably best if she figured out exactly how he got that information in the first place.

Without the horde of players fighting one another for a scrap of Dragon, the journey out of the city was actually rather peaceful, as well as simple. Belladonna had little issue retracing her steps, and following the previous trail of destruction, to the location of the Dragon’s death where she then started to follow Revenant’s instructions that he had sent with his demanding message.

Within a half hour of leaving the city, Belladonna had reached the location of their little meet up, where all of her party members were already waiting. Minus Prince of Stars of course, but considering the hostilities that was probably for the best.

"Great, we are all here now." Revenant grumbled, glaring at Belladonna as if he was annoyed at her lateness, before his expression shifted to masked joy at the sight of the wrapped beach ball on her back.

"Now, let’s go get some treasure, shall we?"