Varnyx nodded in approval. "Not bad for a bloodling."
Damon smiled. His starting stats were slightly better than average thanks to his old habit of paying a visit to the gym regularly.
Heightened Senses was the passive buff all vampires received and similarly Eternal Hunger was the passive debuff all the vampires received. Nothing new here.
Eternal Hunger did sound very overwhelming but in reality as long as one consumed good amount of beast blood once a day, it was more than enough to handle the debuff. In some ways, the debuff was also a kind of buff because the vampires seldom needed health potions. Drinking blood would suffice. It saved some money in the long run.
The buff was also good. It helped the players see in the darkness which was a huge deal at least in the beginning stage. Same thing goes for the other senses.
What they don't mention in the fine print but a nice sweet surprise is the fact that vampires can sometime sniff out low level stealth players. Other than that the passive buff didn't do much and couldn't really considered overpowered.
For that matter, most of the classes in the game were kind of balanced. Just choosing a specific class didn't automatically make someone overpowered. Special hidden classes though were an entiredly different ball game.
There were also some rumored legendary classes in the game but even after three years no one with a legendary class was officially confirmed. All the top players had opted to keep their class details a secret for good measure. There were forum threads, unverifiable claims, a few wild tales of one-shot wipes in PvP zones, but nothing concrete.
After exchanging a few polite words with the vampire and giving the excuse of returning the charm to the old hag, he quickly made his way out of the well.
Thanks to the long nails and the way the bricks of the well were arranged, the upward climb wasn't a big deal. He was back in the fields in no time.
As for the change in his appearance and others noticing it, it did not matter because the old hag's charm took care of it. Dark faction players had many ways to hide their identity and blend in with the Light faction players and similarly vice versa. Unless he did something stupid like show up in front of a temple high priestess, the chances of getting caught were slim.
Within a few minutes, Damon was back in the outskirts of the small town in the newbies farming area. Many heads turned toward him inquisitively but he barely paid them any mind.
He walked fast and blended in quickly. The charm worked very well, masking his aura and concealing any hint of his new identity. To everyone else, he was just another nobody who still hadn't managed to cross level 1.
Damon smiled. He still had a long way to go before he actually started leveling up. He was going to use all the exploits he knew right from the foundation and by the time he got to that first level up, he would already be far ahead of the others in the game.
Next stop, Ellora's shop. Time for some more haggling.
"You are back so soon?" Ellora raised a brow as the door of her shop chimed open. A nasty, wrinkled smile appeared on her face as soon as she saw Damon's new appearance. "Welcome, my little bloodling."
'I guess she already knows.' Damon thought inwardly, shuddering a little at her creepy smile. It did not come as a surprise because the old hag was a high-level NPC, and everyone knew it. She was essentially a wolf in a sheep's cloth spending her days happily swindling every newbie who came her way.
"Yes, Miss Ellora. I cannot thank you enough for opening my eyes to the truth of the world," Damon replied smoothly, offering a respectful nod as he stepped into the shop's musty warmth. He took out the charm and handed it to her, his appearance immediately reverting to the pale figure.
In all honesty, it wasn't all that different from a normal human appearance, except for the red eyes and the fangs, which a good mask could potentially hide. But as he leveled up, a weak aura would leak from his body, exposing everything about him. He would simply reek of blood. To hide that, he needed something else.
"Ah." Damon acted surprised. "My eyes. Miss Ellora, please. Help me. Everyone can see me. I am exposed. How do I hide myself and blend in among the cattle?" he finished, throwing just enough drama into his voice to make Ellora scoff.
The old woman let out a croaky laugh. "Look at you, already talking like one of us. 'The cattle,' is it? Hah." She eyed him for a moment, then reached beneath her counter, fingers dancing over a row of small, intricately carved boxes.
She pulled one out and cracked it open. Inside lay a thin silver chain with a black gemstone pendant, barely bigger than a fingernail. The gem shimmered with a faint red glow that pulsed like a heartbeat.
[Item: Bloodveil Sigil – Uncommon ]
Disguises vampiric aura, fangs, and red eyes. The user can pass as human unless directly examined by high-level detection.
Durability: 100/100. Wears down slowly when exposed to sunlight or divine auras.
She slid it across the counter. "Wearing that won't make you invisible, but it'll stop the cattle from having a stroke when you walk past. Just don't push your luck around temples."
Damon took the pendant, looping it around his neck. His reflection in the shop's dusty window immediately morphed; his eyes dulled to brown, his fangs retracted, and his pallor faded.
"Perfect," he murmured while cursing the stingy old hag inwardly. He already had such a high reputation, and yet she only took out an uncommon grade item.
"Brat, I am giving it to you for free. Take what you get." Ellora snorted. "What? I don't need to read minds to know when someone's mouthing off in their head," she replied coolly.
Damon just smiled and politely nodded. "Thank you for helping me out."
"Then, what are you still hanging around here for? Get lost." Ellora studied him for a moment before letting out an annoyed sigh. "Don't tell me. Are you going to stand here and ask me for more freebies?"
"I wouldn't dream of it, Miss Ellora." Damon quickly shook his head. "I do need a small loan." He added after a moment.
"A loan, is it?" She gave him a glare.
Damon held up both hands, placating. "Temporary! Strictly business. I'll pay it back with interest."
Ellora stared at him, fingers drumming on the counter. Then she snorted finally relenting. "Fine. Tell me what you need."
Damon smiled. "A couple of bristle net, a couple of redleaf weed, a few stalks of bogthorn and one drop of big wasp honey."
Ellora's brows instantly shot up. "Bloodling, who the hell are you? How do you know the exact ingredients of body tempering liquid?"