Chapter 85: ERROR

Brunhild stared in shock at the incredible options presented before her. All three professions seemed highly promising, each with its own unique strengths that made them stand out in different ways. Even the seemingly weakest choice, Crepuscular Vigilante, offered impressive enhanced short-range teleportation abilities that functioned like advanced versions of Shadow Step.

However, Blood Hunter clearly stood out as the strongest option when it came to hunting vampires, which she would likely face next. Yet she hesitated. It was a highly specialized profession focused almost entirely on vampires. Once she dealt with them, she might end up with a skill set that offered little value against other types of threats.

In contrast, Knight of the Scarlet Order provided excellent overall defenses, powerful sacrificial abilities that activated her Guts and other techniques as she lost vitality, and the remarkable power to create equipment and armor directly from blood. With this profession, she would no longer have to worry constantly about her armor shattering during every major battle.

Brunhild remained lost in thought for a long moment, which eventually drew Sigrid’s attention.

“What are you thinking about, Brun? Can’t decide?” Sigrid asked, taking another bite of her apple.

“Yeah, these choices are difficult,” Brunhild sighed.

“Hmm…” Sigrid rubbed her small chin thoughtfully. “Just go with whatever you think would be best for you! You’re never wrong about these things. Listen to your instincts.”

“Fine,” Brunhild replied with a small smile at her friend’s straightforward advice. “I guess I really shouldn’t overthink it and should choose whatever feels right.”

After careful consideration, she made her decision. She selected the profession that would best ensure her survival, protect her family, and help her overcome the powerful enemies waiting ahead.

Ding!

[You have chosen the [Blood Hunter – Tier 1] Profession.]

[Your Affinity with Tracking Abilities, Thieving Skills, Hunting Skills, Daggers, Swords, and Throwing Weapons has increased significantly.]

[Vitality]: [+2,000]

[Mana]: [+1,500]

[Strength]: [+2,000]

[Endurance]: [+1,000]

[Spirit]: [+1,500]

[Resistance]: [+1,000]

[Agility]: [+2,000]

[Luck]: [+1,000]

[Charm]: [+1,000]

[You learned the Profession Skill: [Predator’s Instinct – Tier 1: Level 1/10] – Your senses sharpen dramatically toward special blood signatures. You can track hidden or disguised prey across vast distances, detect blood toxicity, blood curses, and evil bloodlines, and identify weaknesses in any creature with a heartbeat or blood flow during combat. It is possible to mark a tracking target using a Blood Curse as long as you possess even a small drop of their blood, allowing you to quickly learn their location and current condition.]

[You learned the Profession Skill: [Blood Rend – Tier 1: Level 1/10] – Target a foe to tear apart their internal blood vessels or crystallize an enemy’s blood with a touch or thrown weapon. This worsens wounds, causes severe bleeding, and lets you absorb vitality from them. The skill is highly effective against other vampires and similar blood-based monsters. You can extract foes’ blood into Blood Vials, which you can then apply to yourself as temporary Elixirs to gain Vampiric Abilities or use through Hemocraft to transform and reinforce your equipment.]

A powerful surge of energy rushed through Brunhild’s body. Blood runes seeped into her skin as her eyes glowed with intense light. Her new skills activated on their own. Her vision shifted dramatically, revealing dozens of colorful threads floating in the air. What she once smelled now appeared as vivid visual markers, thanks to the Predator’s Instinct and the profession’s innate abilities.

She focused on the threads and noticed a prominent red one stretching far into the distance. It led downstairs toward the depths of the dungeon.

“Is that where Alistair came from? Or perhaps someone carrying his blood scent went there… maybe a sibling or another member of his vampire family,” she thought, narrowing her eyes. “Well, this profession is already proving useful. I’ll keep—”

She paused. Her eyes twitched as she realized the system window had not disappeared. Even though the scroll had been consumed and vanished, the selection window remained open, still displaying all three options.

“Um, Freyja, it’s happening again, right?” Brunhild asked.

“…The window is frozen! Ah… Well, this is good for you, right?” Freyja replied.

“Y-Yeah! I mean, this is awesome! I’m glad it happened again… though I don’t know if this harms you in any way?”

“No, not really, but it might cause some strange effects. It might never work completely as you imagine.”

“What does that mean— Ah!”

BZZZZZTTTTTT!

Brunhild slowly moved toward the option she had already chosen. Nothing happened at first. She then tapped the second option, followed by the third.

BZZTTT!

“Ugh?! What the…?!”

Glitching sounds echoed around her. Red and blue pixel-like lights pierced her hand with sharp pain as new notifications appeared and her vision blurred for a moment. This time the glitches felt different and more severe. Freyja, still in her premature state, had not yet found and fixed all the bugs.

“Augh!”

“Brunhild?!” Sigrid cried out in alarm and rushed closer.

Brunhild felt a painful sting spread across her entire body, but the discomfort gradually faded as twisted, glitched blood runes sank deeper into her skin. The blurry, distorted notifications swirling around her slowly reassembled themselves.

[You have chosen the [#Z53#$% Vigilante – Tier 1] Profession?]

[ERROR, UNABLE TO PROCESS.]

[Vitality?]: [+???]

[ManA]: [+1,1%]

[Stren#]: [+Z]

[_durance]: [+0]

[Srit]: [,]

[Esis]: [+50]

[Agility]: [+2,000]

[Luc/arm]: [+1,000]

[You learned the Profession Skill: [#### Veil – Tier ?: Level ?/?] – ???, ERROR. UNUSUABLE SKILL SCRIPTURE. PLEASE REPAIR SCRIPTURE OR DELETE FROM CENTRAL DATA.]

[You learned the Profession Skill: [Crepuscular #### – Tier ?: Level ?/?] – ???, ERROR. UNUSUABLE SKILL SCRIPTURE. PLEASE REPAIR SCRIPTURE OR DELETE FROM CENTRAL DATA.]

The stat bonuses appeared with corrupted values, and the new skills were riddled with errors and unusable scripts.

“Huh?!”

Brunhild felt dizzy. The powers from these additional professions were not what she had expected. She did feel some kind of boost, but it arrived in a broken and unstable form. The skills refused to respond properly.

The Veil skill glitched into a strange shifting mass of colors that hurt to touch when it wrapped around her. Crepuscular granted brief movement assistance but then caused her to trip and fall face-first, unable to travel far.

And those were not the only issues.

[You have chosen the [#Z53#$% the Scarlet Order – Tier 1] Profession?]

[ERROR, UNABLE TO PROCESS.]

[Vitality?]: [+?1?]

[ManA]: [+1,3%]

[Stren#]: [+ZEEEE]

[_durance]: [+Y]

[Srit]: [,]

[Esis]: [+50]

[Agility]: [+2,a00]

[Luc/arm]: [+0,9,0,0]

[You learned the Profession Skill: [Scarlet ####– Tier ?: Level ?/?] – ???, ERROR. UNUSUABLE SKILL SCRIPTURE. PLEASE REPAIR SCRIPTURE OR DELETE FROM CENTRAL DATA.]

[You learned the Profession Skill: [#### Bulwark – Tier ?: Level ?/?] – ???, ERROR. UNUSUABLE SKILL SCRIPTURE. PLEASE REPAIR SCRIPTURE OR DELETE FROM CENTRAL DATA.]

The same errors appeared when she selected the Scarlet Order option. She felt tougher and heavier thanks to the new profession, yet the stat bonuses and skills remained nearly impossible to use or understand properly.

“This is the same problem…!” Brunhild muttered.

She tried activating “Scarlet,” causing her aura to flare red before it shifted into strange glitched patterns and dissolved into particles of light. The Bulwark skill only gave her painful muscle cramps with no noticeable benefit.

“Looks like there are some errors! I will have to fix them. They are unusable as they are right now!” Freyja sighed. “Please don’t use them. They might even harm you. Oh no…! This is the worst that could have happened. That scroll must have affected things more than I realized.”

“Is it too bad?” Brunhild asked, her voice filled with worry.

“Um, well… not that bad. We can fix it!” Freyja said nervously, her voice almost trembling. “I’ll need your help… a little.”

“It’s fine,” Brunhild nodded calmly. “Tell me what you need.”

“Really?! Well, what I need is… uh, please don’t get mad?” Freyja asked hesitantly. “Um, I need Experience Points. Levels. These exist and grant me greater power. If we can spend some of the levels you have accumulated, it should be possible to repair this.”

“I see…” Brunhild nodded. “So you need Experience Points. What are they exactly?”

“It’s a mix of various complicated calculations…” Freyja explained. “Essentially a combination of Soul Essence and other synthesizable energies that the system and the body absorb.”

“Hmm…” Brunhild nodded again. “What about the Souls inside my Soul Orb?”

“Oh! That might work as well!” Freyja said, sounding relieved. “Sorry for suggesting the use of your levels. I know how hard you worked to earn them.”

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