A Vampiric Potionmaker LitRPG (new story preview)

A/N: Hey there! I've been working on a new story -- the name I'm still debating, but it's a Vampiric Potionmaking / Crafting LitRPG Isekai about a girl named Nara, because 4-letter names are elite. I'm curious to hear if this chapter intrigues you guys at all, and if it does, I'll consider continuing it. I've written a few backlog chapters, but haven't fully commited yet, so let me know!

This story is connected to the universe of Momo the Ripper - as you might recognize, but not in a direct crossover type of way. The systems and universes are different. Anyways, enjoy!

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CHAPTER 1 - (TOO) ADVANCED WITCHCRAFT

Nara did not have a Twilight phase in high school. This is crucial information to be aware of. Back when every teenage girl’s bedroom was draped in Edward vs. Jacob posters, photoshopped six-pack abs, and collaged Hollister bags, her four walls were as white and personless as an insane asylum. A certified blank slate.

This wasn’t for lack of trying. It was just, well – she moved around a lot.

Family life started in the camper van. She practically came out of the womb in the backseat. Most of her childhood memories were jittery and cluttered: cardboard boxes full of old photos, blurry polaroids that Dad called his Magnum Opus, busted up Converse, five by five tins of candles that Mom insisted they could sell on the road to hippies and junkies.

Failed entrepreneurs—those were her parents.

Nara wanted to be different. Craved it. Demanded it of herself. She got straight As in all her homeschooled studies – not hard, when you’re the student and the teacher. Once she got to high school, 2008 hit like a truck, financial ruin and all, so they sold the Camper, Mom got a job at an Amazon fulfillment warehouse, Dad drove Ubers, Lyfts, and just about any other app with a four letter name, and Nara started… reading.

It all started with Modern Day Witchcraft. She read it mostly as a prank. Her best friend Heather put her up to it. She knew Nara was terrified of horror movies, fantasy, sci-fi. Anything odd or unusual or even a little bit off. Star Wars was even too much – she had tremors every time she thought about Chewbacca. He wasn’t a bad guy. He was just… too furry.

But the Witchcraft book wasn’t creepy at all. It was practical, actually. Brimming with positive affirmations disguised as spells, hexes for her exes, how-to guides for ingredient foraging. At first her parents were a little concerned that she kept turning up at the house late at night with bags full of harvested mushrooms, but they got used to it. Chicken of the Forest became a popular replacement for the real thing. The whole family turned vegan.

It was a joke at first. She didn’t really believe in spells, but it was fun enough assembling ingredients. The book had these odd little diagrams – triangles and stars of rosemary and thyme. She did it for the fragrance, really. The smells helped her doze off to sleep when thoughts of Chewbacca started to creep back in. Not that she would admit that.

Of course, things took a turn for the worse when blood got involved.

It was a total accident. She nicked her wrist while out skateboarding – also Heather’s fault, as everything tended to be – and didn’t notice until she was up in her room, putting together one of her nighttime rituals. To some people, nighttime rituals meant brushing your teeth, donning a face mask, and scrolling Twitter for 35 minutes. Nara’s were more literal.

“Three locks of rosemary, some clover, and…” she chewed her bottom lip, tracing her finger over the recipe. “Nether Root? That’s a new one.”

She uncorked her two containers of rosemary and clover, spreading them along the floorboards according to the circular diagram. Then she sprinkled some lavender petals around the border, in place of whatever Nether Root was supposed to be. The ring of ingredients had a faint, earthy smell. Floral and pleasant.

“Alright, now for the spell,” she hummed, kneeling on the ground and inspecting the book. This was one she hadn’t tried before – something at the tail end of the book, under the Advanced Witchery section. Big, bold warnings suggested that these spells were only to be performed by truly specialized witches. Nara, eighteen and arrogant, figured that meant her.

She read the spell aloud, summoning her most mystical voice.

“Through misty veil's hold, worlds apart, now one unfolds,” she narrated. As she did, blood accidentally leaked from the side of her wrist, dropping into the center of the circle. She barely noticed the dark splotch. “Whispers cast in ancient tongue, new world to unveil. Dip through the pond. Dip through the pond.”

She laughed. “This spell is nuts. Some advanced buffoonery.”

At the last of her words, the splatter of blood expanded like a tsunami – growing from a speck to a modest pool. The blood filled the ring completely, turning the floor into a red, liquid carpet. The pool was reflective. Staring back at Nara was an image of herself, but twisted. She had different ears, pointed slightly. Red eyes. Skin that hadn’t seen the sun in months.

“Oh my god,” her skin went pale. “Did I just… cast something?”

Losing control, the book fell from Nara’s hands. Instead of landing on the floor, it sank through the floorboards. The pool swallowed it completely. She shrieked – scrambling backwards. But the terror made her lose her footing. She fell ankle-first, then thigh, and by the time she thought to yell, she was already gone.

—

Nara wasn’t dead. Well – she couldn’t be positive, as she didn’t know how being dead felt, exactly, but she assumed it felt like nothing. And this wasn’t nothing.

This felt like she was swimming in a ball pit. And ok – she was. She reached her arms and legs out, and they pushed against hundreds of red and blue plastic balls. Her head bobbed just above the sea of circles, and she found herself in an enclosed pit, gated off at all sides. Wide glass panes bordered the ball pit, but everything was just fields and fields for miles. Endless grassy plains.

She took a long breath in. Sanity check – failed. She was in a ball pit in the middle of nowhere.

She felt like a Sim who had been dropped in the pool with no ladder. For as much as she could tell, there was no escaping the glass enclosed box. It was totally impenetrable. She could maybe shatter the glass if she rammed herself into it hard enough, but she wasn’t too keen to try.

All of the sudden, something bobbed out of the pit. Its head came shooting out like a dolphin out of water. Only it was small and green, slimy and stout. It hovered on a mass of green plastic. A frog? It ribbetted at her good-naturedly, and Nara screamed.

“Get away from me!” she swam fruitlessly backwards. She found herself unable to move past the position she was in. “This isn’t real. None of this is real. Heaven – or Hell – can’t possibly be a frog-infested ball pit.”

“Infested has so many bad connotations,” the frog complained. Yes, the frog complained. Using words. Nara’s jaw fell. “And since there is only one of me, it is hardly an infestation. My name is Boppit. I am not a Frog – that is merely one of my many manifestations. I am one of the Gods of this realm. A caretaker of sorts.”

Nara blinked at him, speechless.

“You’re a talking frog god?”

“I’m a god that can sometimes appear as a talking Frog,” Boppit clarified. “Now, time to Awaken.”

Giant, bold text appeared in front of Nara’s vision, as if overlaid on a photoshop layer.

Location – Nether Ball Pit

“Nether Ball Pit?” She remembered the missing ingredient from her spellbook – Nether Root. This had to be some kind of freak accident involving that spell. “What is a Nether?”

“The Nether is neither here nor there. It’s everything in between,” the frog explained as it jumped from ball to ball, as if bouncing off lily pads. “Ah, this is curious. You’ve already claimed an achievement, despite only now arriving in the system. That’s unusual. A rare one, too. This might cause some complications.”

“Complications?” Nara cried. “Frog god thing, please, I promise this was all a big misunderstanding. Can you please just send me back to Earth?”

“No can do, dandy-o,” it whistled. It jumped again, but this time it didn’t fall. It just levitated in mid-air. “You’re in it now. The good news is you’re going to be powerful. I mean, seriously powerful. I might have to come claim you later. But for now, just let things settle in, alright?”

“Powerful? What do you –”

The frog blinked, and everything changed.

She felt a falling sensation, like she was being pulled beneath the ball pit, skyrocketing through endless plastic until she hit the ground, hard and sudden. She groaned as things came back into view. Luckily, she was no longer surrounded by red and blue circles most likely covered in children’s illness. Unluckily, she was somewhere equally unfamiliar.

The bold text came clamoring down in front of her eyes again, startling her.

Location - Plucky Feather Inn

An Inn. She knew what inns were. She could do inns. The room wasn’t totally bizarre. It had a bed, dressed with white sheets, a wooden cupboard, a small red rug, a pitcher of water, and a night table. It even had a small mirror, laden in dust.

As she was about to look in the mirror, more text bombarded her.

Welcome, unclassified Outsider, to Kin’dra. You have entered Race and Class Selection.

Due to unlocking the achievement [Cursed: Bloodlust], before you entered Race Selection, you have been assigned the race: Vampire.

Race: Vampire

Also referred to as nightwalkers, vampires are one of the most powerful races in Kin’dra. Known for their pointy incisors, tapered ears, and dangerous intellect, vampires are best to be avoided – unless you want an amazing one night-stand, and we mean only one night. These shadowy creatures lurk only in the nighttime due to their Daybreak Curse.

+ 5 to INT

+ 5 to DEX

+ Siphon Blood (R. 1)

+ Shadow Step (R. 1)

Nara narrowed her eyes helplessly at the text. Vampire? Like Twilight vampire? And what were all those plusses with the weird words next to them?

The text faded, and she saw a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She immediately fumbled backwards.

“There’s no way that’s me,” she said, breath caught in her throat.

The reflection staring back at her was that woman from earlier. Guant jawbones. Long, tapered ears. Hollow, red eyes. Her eyelids were caked in what looked like natural eyeshadow. Her skin was pale but clear, pretty in a way her teenage acne had never let it be.

The longer she stared, the more it sank in — that was her. At least now it was, in this nightmare illusion.

“Damn,” she muttered. “I look kind of good.”

More text landed in front of her.

ERROR: You have acquired the Vampire race without the achievement [Cursed: Daybreak].

ERROR REMEDIED: The God Boppit has decided this is not an error.

You must now pick a class.

Nara sighed, feeling a migraine creep at her temples.

“A what now?”