Summing it up, I have one remaining brilliant blue shard from the orange rat. The greatest haul, however, comes from the vampire: five large magic shards, three large bio shards, one large tech shard, and three large basic shards.

  “Pet is the greatest friend,” my ass!

  Sadly, I don’t have enough shards to see if there’s something different about the seventh star of the biological cluster or if it would be more of the same.

  Hmm, I have enough for the sixth star, though, so let’s see if it does anything like the magic one.

  Consuming the bio shards like candy, I unlocked my sixth star.

  Wonderful!

  The same thing is happening! Fuck yeah!

  As the beaming lines finished linking each star, a different symbol—let’s call it a rune—appeared.

  Can’t get distracted by it. Like I had a choice. Slowly, I felt a change in my body, but not a normal one.

  My focus was forced inward, with a concept ingrained in my mind. The stars, the connections, showed me something, guiding me toward something I couldn’t possibly understand.

  I saw my hurt left arm—still injured, but with a little less blood. It was like watching a hyper-realistic 3D video of anatomy in action.

  Soon, the area of the wound came into focus, especially my blood vessels. My attention was drawn to one wounded vessel, as if it were an example.

  It showed the vessel clearing itself of some sort of debris. The vessel dried up, and the image lingered for a few seconds before something changed—more blood replenished it.

  Ah, I got it.

  Finally, the concept connected with my mind as an insight, not my own, struck me.

  My blood is regenerating faster, which is great for someone like me who uses blood for spells.

  There’s a caveat, though, as the alien insight revealed: it still consumes resources from my body.

  So, I’d better eat all my vegetables—or red meat, in this case.

  Message received, my overprotective bio-existential constellation.

  I still need to consult my AI chatbot to see if faster blood regeneration is useful beyond making me a better juice machine for my spells.

  Still not looking forward to cutting myself to cast spells, though. Wasting less energy on pain doesn’t seem all that budget-friendly.

  Oh, well, at least I learned that these normal stars have some use. The magic normal stars are still the best.

  In a blink, I consumed the remaining magic shards—47 shard value in total. According to my calculations, I need 17 more shards to get another star. And look at that, there’s just enough... nah, fuck, I forgot I’d need double the basic shards.

  I should get a notebook to keep track of my current number of shards in each constellation.

  Another thing to do when I return.

  Fuck, this still isn’t enough power to be a menace against people like the guys from before.

  Should I go to the kitchen or not? I’m fucking parched, and I didn’t even grab any food from my home.

  Alright, time to top up shards in my divinity and see if these corpses have anything useful.

  ---

  Getting powerful, what a fucking joke! Another two divine shards and four basic ones. Just another normal star.

  Now, should I spend the basic shards on divinity in the hope that my sixth star gives something useful, save them, or invest in magic, which seems like the best constellation overall?

  ...

  ...

  ...Magic.

  I know divine shards are really hard to get, but I need power. Still, would I really get a spell at the seventh star?

  No, that’s the thing. Investing in magic, even in the worst-case scenario, gives me more energy for spells, which is always great. The compounding effect makes it the best choice.

  Thirteen basic shards—worth 6.5 for magic. Next time I get a basic shard, I’ll invest it in magic to make the total an integer.

  Enough about shards. Time to loot the corpses.

  Weirdly, after all this time, no one has shown up. Which only makes this fight even stranger. Why were they fighting? Aren’t the wererats supposed to obey the vampires?

  Rummaging through their remains didn’t help much.

  My blood skin started to flake off. Likely, it’s not permanent—which is both good and bad.

  On the bright side, I won’t have metallic red hands for life. On the downside, I’ll have to waste energy and blood for each new blood skin spell.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  The detached remnants also aren’t responding as material for spells, like burning blood.

  Alright, as for the loot: the orange rat didn’t have anything useful—just some vegetable-like plants, rocks, and metallic tools I don’t see a use for.

  As for the vampire’s possessions, he had some coins (like the ones I got from the other remains), miscellaneous items like a hairbrush, a box of powder that smells like perfume, and a bunch of other useless things.

  Except for one vial. Uncorking it revealed a red substance that smells like blood.

  It’s still useless—unless you’re a vampire, obviously.

  For me, it would be useless if I didn’t have blood spells. But if I mix some of my blood in it, maybe I could make a sort of bomb.

  The other possession that interested me is the metal whip. The problem is, the thing is too hard to handle.

  I don’t know how to wield a whip, either. Channeling some energy into it to see if it did anything didn’t help. The thing seems to be just that—a whip.

  I was hoping for another shard weapon like the orange wererat’s hammer. In a sense, that hammer didn’t seem very useful unless it had something special about it.

  Overall, it’s just weird that an average-height being like the wererat could move that thing with such ease. For an overgrown rat, it’s impressive.

  Is there a chance the whip is a shard weapon? Maybe, but carrying its weight around isn’t justified—especially since I’m not into BDSM or cowboy shenanigans.

  Letting the whip fall to the ground, I take a look at the road ahead. The tigers vanished after the fight, but they could show up again.

  After this clash, the best thing would be to meet Houonas again to clarify some of my doubts.

  Nah, this is just me wanting to run away. I need to use my time wisely before my presence becomes known.

  Houonas could be full of hot air. Maybe they already know about me. Maybe they’re hunting for me right now!

  ...Just keep calm.

  Taking the tile relic, I do a quick check. A change has occurred in the markings.

  “The heir with the territory of the saloon has fallen. Who could have done that?”

  The saloon is the farthest from where I am right now, on the top floors.

  If it’s the heir of the cooking complex or the library, they could have been weakened—or gotten stronger.

  Son of a bitch! What am I supposed to do?

  Food and water. Food and water. I need to survive, find out what happened to the people, and figure out how powerful the heirs are.

  I’ll just get out of here. Problem solved. The oozing rats would be a piece of cake to deal with, although if one showed up while I’m sleeping?

  Would I sleep near Houonas? So many arms strangling me in my sleep...

  ...Before I could come to a decision, my legs moved on their own.

  Not on their own—I need resources, and I will fucking get them.

  The idea of going home isn’t so bad, though. If going to the cooking complex doesn’t work out, going home is my second option.

  Walking as stealthily as I can, the tile relic sits in my shoulder bag, ready to be checked when needed.

  The intertwining paths, sized like a highway tunnel, have an architecture that makes it easy to follow directions, even with their massive size.

  I’d only get lost if I wanted to.

  The lighting made it easier to see where I was going, but not enough to ease my fears.

  Enough to comfort my greed.

  My right hand gripped the shotgun, my palm sweating. Soon, a bright azure light could be seen at the end of the tunnel.

  The familiar light of a big shard—a tech shard, judging by its blue tone.

  So bright, it could only be more than one shard, or maybe an even better version of it.

  It would be a beautiful sight if not for the multiple wererat bodies, all with arrows protruding from them.

  There’s even a metallic tiger among the corpses, meeting the same fate.

  This isn’t the only way to reach the cooking complex, but it’s the most direct.

  The trap would be perfect if it didn’t have so many victims screaming to anyone not stupid to not come.

  Hmm, weirdly, there are some arrows thrown on the floor, a little dirty, I bet it's blood. And why aren’t there any shards besides the trap?

  Ah yes, seems I found a camper. It seems these assholes are using a bunch of ways to farm shards.

  Now, I’m not sure if I’ll go this way. The problem is, what if the tigers thought the same? Maybe they’re still eager to ally.

  It could work, I need all the help I can get.

  Before I could delude myself in my chances of riding a tiger and throwing spells all around, I feel small tremors, the vibrations not enough to make me fall but enough to make walking a little harder.

  “Now what?” Enough with delaying. Time to move.