Time to check my notification logs; there were quite a few. Most of them were experience notifications. Enough for a few levels in my class and race. And even a single level in my weapon.

  "Hey Jen, could add more skills to my Aetherblade?"

  It was a question I had been pondering for a little while now as I looted the Gravewalkers. Not much on them really, just their weapons and armour, which ended up in my bag. Thank the gods for a resizing magical bag.

  Returning to my safe room, yes, it was a safe room for me and not an evil lab. Jenny finally responded with a notification. She was getting good at using them to communicate system features. It was a rigid form of communication, but whatever works.

  [Aetherblade Skill Slots Available: 1/2]

  Good to know I had a slot available. Not dissimilar to how the Grimgard system works with its skill slots. I am guessing this is less a limitation of our system and more a limitation on the weapon.

  "Perhaps I can fill that slot later?" I wondered before shrugging.

  Add it to the to-do list. Someday I'll get to it when I work out how to use magic efficiently. I'm sure there is a way to get mana circuits.

  "Oh, someday I'll be a mage! Won't that be quite an age?" I sang completely off-tune and probably caused a few people's ears to bleed.

  I looked around and tried to find Jeremy, only to discover his noticeable absence. Alas, it only took me a few minutes to find the evil bastard just chilling atop one of the Gravewalker corpses, looking off in the distance. He acted as if he had just toppled a Goliath and this world show bow in reverence.

  "What are you doing, buddy?" I asked the obvious question.

  He hissed at me as if I had ruined his whole thing. Probably interrupted him just straight vibing like some Puma God that slew a magnificent beast.

  "Well, whatever dude, I'm going to go level and stuff." I waved him away and returned to the lab.

  Opening my character sheet, I found enough experience points to level up my race once and my class twice. Even the blade got a level, so now I had a level two Aetherblade, for whatever that does. Oh, it increases the maximum mana.

  I wondered if there was a level cap, which there should be, because mana crystals have an upper limit on how much mana they can contain. I suppose I will find out soon enough. Or it will break mid-battle and leave me weaponless.

  "Hey babe, is there anyway to add a level cap to my weapon or maybe a notification it's about to explode?"

  It was a bit of a long shot. I knew she could interact with my system, but could she access the Aetherblade? I guess I will find out. But not immediately, as it took several minutes for her to respond with a prompt.

  [Aetherblade. Maximum level 5.]

  Only five levels — well, it was a first try, made from reused mana crystals. Perhaps I could swap them out or maybe extend it with new embedded crystals. Add it to the to-do list, like everything, add it to a list and hope I get to it.

  [Increase your Aetherblade's maximum level either by replacing the crystal or by adding new ones. Reward: More powerful sword. Completed: 0/1]

  "Thanks, babe." I gave her a quick salute before turning to other matters.

  My level ups were nothing major. I wondered whether I would get a skill selection for my class. Querying my ever-present and faithful friend, she conveyed a message which meant Wait, you impatient man.

  Shrugging, a habit I couldn't break so far. I looked over my attributes and found them pretty good, although my health was lower than my stamina. That made little sense. They should be at least at the same level as each other. As I examined my attributes, the answer came to me.

  "I created only one attribute to bolster my physical condition." Facepalming, I realised my mistake.

  A single attribute influenced my health and stamina, halving their effects. Or in this case, a smaller portion went to health compared to stamina.

  "Was I wasting a bunch of energy? No, it was probably being reallocated elsewhere. Either to Jenny, my weapon, or to me. Either way, my stats would get lopsided or just plain wasteful."

  The truth hit me like a semi-truck. Just isekai me now, cruel and benevolent vehicular god. Hmm, I wonder if that is a thing. Surely the Gaming Gods TM could swing something like that. They have the world to drop some young hero and the juice to reach into an earth variant.

  "I know im adding too much stuff to the list. But add a lookout for isekai'd people." I added for the fun of it, probably never to complete it.

  [Locate a transmigrator of Earth origin on Grimgard. Reward: It's a secret. Completed: 0/1]

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Grinning like a child, I read over my little quest and found the reward interesting. It was a secret. Did that mean it was something good? Could be something epic or just Jenny playing a prank? I didn't program her to prank me, but I also didn't program her not to prank me.

  Whether she was going to punk me was up in the air. It was a future-me kind of problem, and present I lived in the moment. With my character sheet pretty decent, I concluded I needed more experience points. That's the crux of the problem, needing more juice to achieve what you want.

  Staying in this glorified safe room was getting me nowhere. I took one last look at my sheet and said goodbye to safety. Time to get more levels and create more skills.

  Not sure why, but that sent a thrill up my spine and into the pleasure centres of my brain. Yeah, I can totally sense that happening. System integration is super weird. I can sense so much stuff now.

  "I was so blind before, but now I see so much."

  Weapon in hand, I made my way down the hallway, through the crypt and into a completely new place. Yep, it was so new, even got a paint job. Extra grey and dank little crypt that is not similar to the previous one.

  At least the coffins were in the centre of the room instead of embedded in the walls. Still, I was cautious and kept my guard up. Arriving at the nearest resting place of whoever is in there. I assessed the coffin and found it pretty nice-looking.

  Moss covered it, but it looked more like a casket. In fact, most of them seemed well-crafted. Probably a rich guy in there, but why arrange them around a centre pillar? No, not a pillar that looks like a podium.

  Approaching the podium, it became clear who was probably in the caskets. Given the bowl of blood and a sacrificial dagger next to it. The grooves on the floor spread out like a spiderweb of coagulated blood. Yes, the grooves on the floor are probably blood channels leading to each casket. All of this would suggest that setting this place on fire seems the best option.

  Shifting focus to the podium, I couldn't help but pick up the dagger to inspect it. The blade looked like your typical weapon for bloodletting. Made of bone, serrated edge and probably enchanted, I don't know.

  It had a faint trace of the system, glowing softly around the blade. So, a system skill and not a manual ritual that enchanted it. Perhaps I could mess with it, or maybe I should cut my wrist and spill blood into the bowl.

  Oddly, that sounded like a great idea, though I'm not sure why. I mean, that was basically self-harm, and that was not me. But then again, it seemed pretty important I do that. Since the dagger was here, the bowl was there, and it needed blood.

  [Warning! Your mind is affected by the Curse of Bloodletting!]

  What was that prompt? Something about a curse and it was affecting my mind. I should probably think about that, assess what that means and determine a rational course of action.

  "Ow!" I grunted in pain as the dagger slid across my wrist and clarity came back to me in a wave of comprehension. "Come on, no more mind-screwing. I'm feeling targeted right now."

  With the whispers and unfamiliar thoughts dying down, I threw the dagger aside and tried to staunch the bleeding. Completely against my natural regeneration, the bleeding wouldn't stop.

  "Where is a healing spell when you need one?" I complained as the sound of a casket opening came to my right ear.

  Noticing a lid rising as a clawed hand reached out to grasp anything within reach. I gave the creature a quick Inspect and the result only emboldened my next action.

  [Vampire Spawn. Level 14.]

  Blood still flowing, I pulled my hand away, gripped my sword, and stabbed the blade through the opening in the casket. Feeling nothing, I swiped across, and finally the blade met flesh and promptly parted it. The casket fully opened, revealing a headless vampire spawn oozing very thin blood from its neck.

  With that brief respite, I pulled a cloth from my bag, wrapped my wrist tightly and turned to face the rest of the creatures. Three more vampire spawns rose from their caskets, and one of them was floating in midair before its red eyes opened.

  It, along with its friends, did what I expected vampire spawns to do when they wake up. They turned to the bleeding blood bag in the room, bore their fangs, and hissed like Jeremy. My feline friend hissed back with equal intensity, and I only just realised he was on my shoulder.

  "How did you get there, you sneaky bastard?" I said, baffled about how this guy gets around.

  The vampire spawn seemed taken aback by the challenge, but that only lasted for a few moments before the hissing started again. Whoever created this place is a seriously messed up dude.

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