First, I did a double-check on myself.

  Marlene? Charged.

  Energy? Half-tank and rising.

  Water? Yes, please—with a slice of lemon.

  Am I forgetting to save the poor villagers?

  Almost. But if I’m dead, I can’t save anyone. It’s like self-esteem—first, love yourself so you can love others. Survive long enough to actually do it and be a hero for some people.

  Alright, I’m psyched up. No more self-talk. Time to get freaky.

  Because, my God, these bastards are getting stronger—faster than gym rats on roids. No side effects, and full of supernatural juice.

  Each new swing from the vampire becomes less about increasing the wounds of the bleeding targets and more like a full-blown second attack in itself.

  A scratch transforms into a full-blown open fracture in a second. A deep cut becomes an explosion of blood a moment later.

  The orange bastard didn’t look any less dashing, his swings becoming faster and faster. Less like a toddler with a foam hammer and more like a child with a plastic one. I honestly wouldn’t want to be the target of that crystal.

  At least until I topped up with some of these shards.

  Looking like a carrion crown, I slowly started increasing my shiny hoard.

  It was almost like a rainbow—if that rainbow were made of only shades of red and green, and obviously a pile of translucent light.

  Getting nineteen shards, I felt like a little cheater.

  That feeling passed as soon as I glanced at the mayhem happening just a little way ahead.

  I need this. Otherwise, I don’t stand a chance of surviving.

  Yeah, I could run, but that could also mean the end of me. These freaks are getting stronger every moment, though strangely, the chaos seems to be slowing down.

  Whatever.

  I almost increased my haul, but the metallic felines—let’s call them tigers, though their ears were almost double the size of a normal tiger’s, but their muzzles looked similar—kept staring at me as I went for more shards.

  When I reached a certain distance from the fight, they started moving in my direction. As I stepped back, they returned to the mayhem.

  They acted like bouncers at this match—only enter if you want to play.

  On the bright side: five red shards, three green ones, and eleven translucent.

  Already a good distance from the clash, I started consuming the magic and biological shards—let’s call them bio shards. The basic ones I’d use depending on the result.

  Using two magic shards, I expected to gain a star outright, since I’d only needed two shards to increase my magic constellation before. The third one worried me more, but the fourth one did it.

  A new star formed, connecting to my constellation. Sadly, just a normal star again. At least I got an increase in my energy. And I won’t bet my life on it, but the energy seemed a little more—like not just a 20% increase on the base I had, but 20% on the total I had. Like some sort of magical compound interest.

  Good for the conflict I’m already planning to participate in.

  Bad because I wanted a fucking new spell.

  I consumed the last magical shard, and a strained connection to a new star in the constellation soon formed.

  A little pissed, I consumed the bio shards.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  One shard, and I already felt the connection taut. I didn’t know if consuming more than necessary would waste the essence of the shard or something like that, so I topped it up with a basic shard.

  And…

  Another normal fucking star. It got worse because I didn’t know what the fuck it did.

  I felt like some old man scratching off lottery tickets.

  On the bright side, there were a bunch more shards to go.

  Two bio shards… and… not enough. Added four basic shards into the mix.

  And—fucking yes!

  Woo-hoo! Fuck! Oh, my beautiful Spellstar, come to papa!

  The star projected an image of something slowly being enveloped by blood, showing a metallic sheen.

  In essence, it looked like some sort of iron fist thing. Honestly, being a mage throwing fire is way cooler, and with the bonus of not needing to be in melee range—take these poor bastards ahead of me as an example. Still, I need to test the range of my burning blood spell.

  And to be fair, a fire mage with shining metallic skin seems metal as hell. Unless I get frozen like a statue.

  Alright, six more basic shards to go.

  Where to spend them?

  I could try using them for the magic constellation, but I’m not even sure if it’s enough. And I need to figure out how the fuck these shards work. Based on my brief experience:

  - A basic shard is half of one tuned to a pillar cluster.

  - Each subsequent star requires double the amount.

  The problem is, I didn’t need two whole shards to get a second star. I needed one tuned shard and one basic shard.

  I need to check with Houonas. Maybe there’s some kind of rule for certain stars. Maybe it’s that simple.

  Let’s balance things. Yes, I don’t know what the fuck I’ll get from the tech constellation. However, I don’t think I’ll get two Spellstars in a row with the divine one. Hmm, I can actually get one star in each—like two basic shards to make one tuned and another basic one to tune it up.

  Let’s see if I get lucky with the divine constellation… another normal star. Alright, I don’t feel any different.

  Consuming my last shards and feeling the connection to a new tech star forming, I didn’t hold high hopes of getting a Spellstar.

  But hopes be damned—that’s what I got. The projection seemed a little weird; it looked like an anatomical video. Not that it didn’t have the awe of the others, but this one seemed different.

  It showed an entire body, its blood vessels working throughout. Soon, a green and vile substance entered the arm—a poison. The projection focused on where the poison entered.

  Weirdly, the poison didn’t move. Some part of the blood blocked it physically, slowly drifting it out of the body through an incision—probably the same one that delivered the poison.

  Soon, the poison was out, along with some of the blood. However, some of the blood didn’t move anymore, becoming something like a stopper—not coagulating, but not letting the blood flow out either.

  It’s a really weird spell, but I got the gist of it: physical control of my blood inside my body.

  Hmm, this seems useful for my use of blood, but I don’t know if it’ll be better than the iron skin thing.

  Anyway, I’ll call the bio spell _Blood Skin_ because Iron Skin isn’t totally accurate. And the tech spell will be Blood Control, though I don’t see why that’s technological to begin with.

  Alright, the shards are gone. Let’s test _Blood Skin_.

  Using the spell with the concept I got after binding myself to the star, I first created a small droplet of blood with the divine spell—which I need to think of a better name for later.

  Soon, I used the _Blood Skin_ spell. The droplet of blood flattened at the tip of my index finger, taking on a dark red color with a metallic sheen. It looked kinda cool.

  I didn’t have anything sharp nearby, so I bit it. The blood film held up incredibly well, resisting my bite. Still, I’m not sure I’d want it instead of a bulletproof vest—which I don’t have anyway. So, better _Blood Skin_ than nothing.

  Speaking of vests, I found a silk shirt near a blood puddle. There were also pants and some coins. The coins had a human face on one side—kind of beautiful, like a supermodel, her features sharp and angular. On the other side, the model showed their lamprey-like ugly mouth.

  That shit seemed useless. Would I try to negotiate with money with these freaks? No, and I won’t be carrying useless weight around. I could try to use it for some stupid trap, like leaving free money in the street, but fuck—even a poor sod like me has magic.

  No water, no food on him either. So, just the shirt.

  I put the silk shirt on under the wererat rags, keeping an eye on the mayhem. I won’t die putting on a stolen shirt if I can help it.

  Looking at my bloodied shirt haphazardly bound to the wounds on my left arm, I almost threw it out—almost. But there’s my blood on it. Maybe it’ll be useful. So, I stuffed it into my shoulder bag.

  Now I felt fresh. The shirt was a little bloodied but clean and had a really fragrant aroma. Not enough to dispel the horrendous wererat musk, but whatever.

  I have better things to think about.

  Like how the fuck I’m going to fight these freaks.