Luke had already left, and the bedroom door closed with a soft thud. Charlie remained where she was, unmoving, gripping her sword so tightly the metal quivered faintly between her fingers. She only relaxed once she recognized the footsteps in the hall as Luke’s group and not an enemy’s.

  Her interface opened with a gentle glow, projecting a pulsing notification before her eyes.

  [Evolution to Rank E was interrupted. Do you wish to continue?]

  Charlie stared at the prompt. There was something familiar about it, blurred memories, fragmented echoes of a past attempt, one that had ended with her soul damaged and the system forcefully shutting everything down. Not even the notification had remained in her logs.

  Even so, she pressed continue.

  [You are evolving to Rank E…]

  The burning started immediately. Heat surged through her entire body, so intense her legs nearly gave out. Her sword vanished, swallowed by her inventory, and then her armor began dissolving piece by piece. Charlie knew it wasn’t her doing, the system had taken full control of her form.

  In moments, only the skeleton remained. The same bones she had possessed since the moment she first gained awareness. Then the pain hit, spreading like fractures spidering through every piece of her structure. It hurt. It hurt in a way that felt brutally real… but her soul clung to that agony. It felt like progress. Like something raw and honest pulling her forward.

  Luke had described something similar when he told her how evolution felt. And now she understood.

  The bones began to break.

  They snapped, split, and expanded. Her entire frame reshaped itself, shrinking as pieces shattered and reformed in patterns that defied any natural anatomy. She tried to take a step, but the shock of the pain was so overwhelming that her body simply refused to move. It was like trying to act while trapped inside her own soul.

  And then everything shifted.

  Charlie felt submerged in something warm, like sinking into a glowing lake. Her perspective snapped outward, she could see her own body from the outside, as if watching through the window of her soul’s core. It was strange and intimate and terrifying all at once.

  Her iron skeleton began to change. Something grew from within.

  First blood.

  Then flesh.

  Like roots spreading through soil, she watched muscle form, grow, crawl across her bones. Her consciousness slipped back into her body at the same moment she saw her hands, or the forming shapes of them, gaining raw red tissue. She looked down and saw…

  A torso.

  Red, unfinished, nothing but exposed flesh. But real.

  Every second, more flesh bloomed. Organs formed beneath it: pulses, tightening contractions, internal hums she had never felt before. It was like witnessing her own birth, inside out.

  Rank E was giving her a new body. A body with flesh.

  Her vision sharpened. The world came into focus, then into color. When she touched her face, she felt real eyes. A nose. Eyelids. She felt her brain taking shape, the ear canal opening, and suddenly she heard, heard everything. No echoes. No muffled resonance like before. It was as if the world had finally been turned on. She lifted her hands and the final stage completed: skin.

  Uneven, scarred, a mottled mix of green and brown.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  [You have successfully evolved from Rank F (Skeleton) to Rank E (Undead)!]

  Charlie could hardly believe it.

  She had… a body.

  She stood there, naked, staring at herself with a kind of stunned disbelief that words couldn’t quite capture. The body wasn’t perfect, patched together, marred by the decay characteristic of an undead, but it was still a real body. She felt weight. Volume. Texture. She felt existence. And it didn’t take long for her to notice something else: she was shorter. As a skeleton she had towered over two meters; now her height matched that of an ordinary human. Strange, but good. Comforting, even.

  An almost childlike urge to run to Luke and show him everything rushed through her. She was glowing with happiness. But the joy didn’t last.

  A new notification appeared.

  [Your Race Skill Bloodline of Vespertilio has been activated]

  Charlie’s hand flew to her chest on instinct. Something burned inside her. The freshly formed blood churned, boiling with life.

  [All existential requirements for Race Skill activation have been fulfilled: Heart, Lungs, Brain, Blood, Flesh, Skin]

  Another flash.

  [Your Race Skill has successfully transformed into a Bloodline!]

  The heat surged. It felt as if her entire body were being fueled by a red energy that burned without destroying. Violent, but transformative. The wounds scattered across her newly formed skin began to close. Slowly, layer by layer, the rot faded. Dead flesh gave way to human skin, warm, firm, complete. It was like going through a second evolution while still inside the first.

  Her bones shifted. Muscles reshaped beneath the growing layer of flesh. Her frame grew more defined, more grounded. Her breasts swelled into shape. Her fingers, once incomplete, rebuilt their nails, some lengthening into subtly sharp points.

  Then the pain hit her mouth.

  Charlie clutched her jaw as her canines moved. The bone in her face vibrated, thickening. It was as though her skull were adjusting itself for a stronger, more predatory bite.

  The canines elongated, sharpening into points she didn’t recognize. Pain rippled again. A hungry haze washed over her. She could smell, really smell, and with it came a deep, primal hunger. A few rays of sunlight slipped through the room’s entrance, and her body reacted instantly, retreating.

  

  And then… everything stopped.

  [You have successfully evolved from Rank E (Undead) to Rank E (Vampire)!]

  [Your resurrection is now complete!]

  [Updating your information…]

  The notifications shifted, and finally:

  [Name: Princess Charlie] -> [Name: Charlotte Vespertilio]

  The full interface unfolded before her.

  Name: Charlotte Vespertilio

  Level: 50

  Race: Vampire

  Rank: E

  Class: [Blood Death Knight (Lvl 60)]

  2nd Class: [Black Ash Fighter (Lvl 60]

  Title: [Servant of the Dark Lord]

  Bloodline: [Bloodline of Vespertilio]

  Health Points (HP): 5080/5080

  Mana Points (MP): 4350/4350

  Stamina: 4950/(4950)

  Stats:

  Strength: 911 (981)

  Lethality: 401

  Agility: 357

  Dexterity: 187

  Endurance: 455 (495)

  Vitality: 508

  Toughness: 485

  Perception: 300

  Intelligence: 435

  Wisdom: 435

  Intelligence: 196

  Willpower: 402

  Free Points: 0

  Class Skills: [Basic Weapon Handling (Common)], [Heavy Strike (Common)], [Basic Spectral Charge (Rare)], [Crescent Slash (Uncommon)], [Whirlwind Strike (Uncommon)], [Spectral Chain (Rare)], [Spectral Barrier (Rare)], [Doomblade (Rare)], [Mark of Doom (Rare)], [Force Infusion (Rare)], [Doom Explosion (Rare)], [Spectral Soldier (Ultra-Rare)], [Blood Familiar I (Epic)]

  Second Class Skills: [Advanced Hand-to-Hand (Uncommon)], [Steel Fist (Rare)], [Stunning Punch (Uncommon)], [Battle Roar (Uncommon)], [Concentrated Kick (Uncommon)], [Power Punch (Uncommon)], [Pugilist’s Leap (Uncommon)], [Muscle Reading (Uncommon)], [Movement Echo (Uncommon)], [Flame (Common)], [Flame Fist (Rare)], [Flame Aura (Rare)], [Basic Levitation (Ultra-Rare], [Berserker Ashen Flames I (Ultra-Rare)], [Twin Meteor Fists (Epic)]

  Race Skills: [Demonic Servant Perception (Uncommon)], [Basic Bone Regeneration (Rare)], [Bone Endurance (Rare)], [Iron Bones (Ultra-Rare)]

  Thousands of questions exploded in Charlie’s mind at once. Every detail, every stat, every shift in her body felt like a new revelation, thrilling and terrifying in equal measure. Before she could form a single coherent thought, something in her body responded on its own. Clothing appeared automatically. First the pants, then the boots, the gloves, the chestplate, and finally the helmet. Her armor assembled piece by piece around her, enveloping her completely in the span of a heartbeat.

  She blinked, stunned. She wanted to see her skin again, the new skin, pale, alive, perfect. But she never got the chance. The door opened.

  “Charlie, false alarm, it wasn’t Jonathan,” Luke called. “It was just our group. I’m heading out for lunch. See you in Maine.”

  With a snap of his fingers, Luke pulled her back into his soul before she could say a word, before she could show him what had happened, before she could show him what she had become.

  https://discord.gg/znGSjCxhkR