I extended my senses to the far reaches of town. Some of the Hexed internally groaned as I took over their bodies. They were probably tired of their autonomy being stripped from them.

I focused on those undead and smiled. I'd made another important discovery. The annoyed ones had a resistance to my control, which meant they had to be higher ranked.

There weren't traditional levels in Dark Offerings. They went off a system that averaged the combined strength of all of your character's equipment, attributes, and abilities.

They called it a Power Score. It was similar to how most MMORPGs determined your rating for getting into a raid.

I didn't bother with armor so the numbers never really meant much to me. If I were going to lead an assault on this town or the Enlightened, I would need to learn to use equipment to its full potential or have someone manage that type of thing for me. It was something I would have to think about.

Fellow Hexed, as much as I would like to overtake this place tomorrow, the Enlightened have us at a great disadvantage. I expressed to them.

A wave of disappointment and anger flooded over me.

They weren't happy so I sent them a mental map of the Enlighteneds spawn vs ours. I want to tear the flesh from their bones as much as you do but we have a lot of preparation, planning, and execution to do before that's possible—especially the execution part.

I sent them my intent, which was an image of upturned graves in the Enlightened spawn, followed by human, elf, and dwarven bodies lying in a fog-filled Chardance. We stood victorious over their petty ambitions.

There was a moment of silence then I was pelted by blasts of excitement.

Raccoon, can you do some research on how towns are made? I asked in group chat.

He wiggled in Molly's arms. Already researched everything I could about this game. I'm still not sure why you like it.

I like to roleplay and love the sense of independence I get from it, I said.

He didn't respond to that.

If any of you know anything about building, and are good at strategy, or combat, meet with me at The Lazy Frog, I informed the Hexed.

Before anyone could respond I shut down my skill.

We were going to have to start from scratch and weren't going to have the luxury of a private conversation out in the wild. Taking advantage of what time we had with privacy in mind was essential. Lily’s rogues were probably already stalking us. Not to mention the stream sniping that would likely be going on.

One good thing about dying to Raziel was that it reset my hunger. It would act up again eventually but the reprieve felt good.

Molly drifted over to the meta shambler and the blue ogre followed her. They started a conversation.

I needed to get some information from Molly so I joined her. Their demeanors stiffened and whatever they were talking about stopped.

“Hey,” I said.

The shambler took a step back. He had his hat on so he didn’t look like a shambler at the moment.

“Ma’am,” he said while tipping his hat. He glanced down at my dress and looked away.

In response, I checked my clothing. It was practically in tatters. It appeared that someone had stitched it together. Its buffs to my abilities were still active but it desperately needed to be repaired.

Just one more thing I have to do, I complained.

I turned to the ogre and extended a hand. “I’m Inethiel.”

“Adare,” she said, glanced at my offered hand, and turned away.

The shamber took my hand. “I’m Rufus McFar—” He let go, blinked a few times, and rubbed his arms. “McFarland. That’s some power you have there, Ma’am.”

I wasn’t sure what stat allowed him to resist my power. Whatever it was, Rufus seemed to have it in spades. Perhaps he wasn’t as meta as I thought.

“Thank you,” I said to Adare. “For bringing me back.”

Adare continued to ignore me and asked, “Molly, has my favor been redeemed?”

“If you give Raccoon a kiss,” Molly said, raising Raccoon to Adare’s face.

Raccoon’s eyes spread wide and he flailed his limbs. Is that thing going to eat me?

“Pah!” Adare said and turned to leave.

“Adare,” I said.

She stopped. “What do you want, ‘cadavre?’”

An insult in French? It meant corpse but I wondered why it didn’t auto-translate. It was the second time I'd encountered non-translation. Perhaps it was a part of immersion mode? More people seemed willing to roleplay than I initially thought. “How much for the spell you used on me?”

“Three platinum,” Adare replied.

Molly gasped. “Don’t buy that Inethiel, I can get it for cheaper.”

“Done,” I said.

Adare spun and locked eyes with me. “What?”

“Three platinum,” I said then turned to Molly.

I swapped to group chat. I need a stocked spellbook and I'm hoping she can help me.

Good luck with that, she's stubborn, Molly said.

Rufus squinted and glanced between the three of us. “Are you two in a party?”

I nodded.

Why do you need a spellbook? Molly asked and got closer to me.

She didn't need to know everything so I ignored her question.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Can I join?” Rufus asked.

“I don't know you,” I responded.

Molly squinted and got close to my face. “What aren’t you telling me?”

A lot, Raccoon said in group.

I glared at him. No using AI— or whatever knowledge. Don't reveal my plans.

Whatever, he said and rolled his little eyes. I'm bonding with Molly.

He was on my account and I didn't think he could bond with me. Though—

I thought you were already bonded with Inethiel, Molly said.

Raccoon shook his head. We just said that to explain why she could hear me talking.

People were beginning to surround us again. The orange light in the bottom right of my interface had appeared the second we had exited the Grizzled Beard. It was there when I died, which meant that Raziel was streaming too. Did I even need to learn how to stream? Perhaps I could hire someone to be a personal reporter or something like that.

“What do you feel when I activate my Undead Domination ability, Molly?” I asked out loud.

She flipped Raccoon around and laid his head on her shoulder like you would a baby. “I don't feel like I need to touch you anymore or do what you want me to do.”

“Whoa, what?” Rufus interjected. “Sign me up for that. Resisting your orders is annoying as hell—” He cleared his throat. “Pardon my language ma'am.” Then tipped his hat again.

I shrugged. It might be a good time to find out how many Lieutenants I could have. Plus it would be a good opportunity to test out how to remove someone from my list if our personalities clashed. “Okay.”

“You have to let her in,” Molly said. “Give yourself to her fully.”

He laughed. “What, like marriage?”

Molly nodded.

Did I even need to use my skill to add him? Let's test it.

I presented my hand to him.

He hesitated then took it.

As our skin touched I felt the presence of the person behind Rufus. Our minds met and I could feel his apprehension. I sent him a feeling of satisfaction.

“How…” he panted, taking in exasperated breaths.

I closed my eyes and scanned him for the aura I'd detected with Molly. His shambler body appeared in my mind's eye. Deep in his chest, the golden glow was hidden away.

When I opened my eyes Rufus was staring at me. He stood there like a statue, then suddenly pulled me into a hug.

Like I'd done to the shamblers during the Enlightened event a couple of days ago, I asked him to accept me.

At first, he didn't respond but then his body began to radiate his light which seeped into me.

With Molly, I didn't feel anything but when he accepted my body felt energized.

Rufus “the Damned” McFarland has been added to your Lieutenant list.

I couldn't believe he'd added a nickname to his name.

He tentatively pulled away releasing my hand. “That was amazing.”

Molly circled him. “Did you record it?”

“You bet your ass I did,” he said and slapped his knee.

I turned and started toward the bank. “Adare.”

With a little concentration, I found I could see from Molly's point of view. Adare rolled her eyes and caught up to me.

Molly and Rufus fell in behind her.

As I reached the blockade of newbie shamblers they didn't move.

A small one that looked like a female Hobbit gazed up at me. “Azerail—”

“I am your Wight Queen Inethiel and you will address me as such!” I yelled.

Horror and disbelief were painted on the faces of those nearby. If my heart could beat it would be thrashing in my chest. A part of me wanted these people to like me and I wondered if I'd just betrayed that trust.

A pull at my energy distracted me. Then the shamblers in front of us bowed and backed up making a passage.

It was Rufus that had made them move.

I smirked and continued forward. Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.

There was a shift in my personality. I knew these were other people but it may have been the power over them that was getting to my head. Whatever it was, I knew I couldn’t interact with them on an individual level. There were simply too many of them.

We made it to the bank without further interruptions and I pulled out twenty platinum.

I opened my hand and showed the pile of coins to Adare.

Her eyes widened.

Raccoon? I thought.

Yeah, yeah, he replied, knowing exactly what I wanted.

A contact appeared in my hand and I dropped my coins on top of it. It absorbed them and a platinum trim surrounded the edges of it.

Hopefully, Raccoon had thought of everything I wanted. Contractees needed to render the services outlined in the contract exactly as it was inscribed otherwise they didn’t get the coins attached to it.

If it was destroyed the coins would automatically deposit back into my account. However, if it were lost there was a time in which it needed to be completed.

I handed the contract to Adare and she eagerly took it. Her mouth dropped. “That's it, you don't want me to do something crazy? You just want spells?”

I nodded. “In an unbound spellbook.”

She put her hands up. “It'll take me a few hours.”

“I'll be at the Frog in one of the booths,” I said while leaving the bank.

She followed me like a six-foot-tall blue puppy.

I stopped and turned.

“Y-you sure you don't want anything else? Like, spell components?” she asked as she stroked the contract.

“Hmm,” I said. “Make sure you follow what the contract says exactly. But if you could get a bag of components that'll help greatly.”

“Tell her to scroll down, there should be components listed, as well as totems,” Raccoon said.

I cleared my throat. “Scroll down.”

Her mouth dropped as she swiped and swiped. “Uhm.”

“I can always find someone else if you're too busy,” I said and reached for the paper.

She pulled it out of my reach. “Three hours tops.”

“I appreciate it,” I said.

The ogre woman bowed to me and then dashed away.

It was weird how different someone treated you if they knew you had money. Being nice to the neutral races was all a part of my strategy. I hoped she would spread the word.

Raccoon, have you figured anything out about the Lieutenant features yet? I thought.

Molly blinked at me a few times as Raccoon squirmed in her arms. You're the first to unlock it so there isn't any information out there. If it follows the guild system or group system it should have a separate chat to talk to your lieutenants. Other than that, who knows?

That's disappointing.

I pointed toward the now-visible Lazy Frog Tavern and set out.

Rufus cleared the way for us as we went while Molly struggled to find a comfortable way to hold on to Raccoon.

“We need to get you a sling for him or something,” I suggested.

DO didn't have Mana. Instead, they had a single resource called energy. It was closer to stamina than to a traditional mana system.

It recovered quickly and the reason mine never seemed to deplete was because I had an energy recovery skill combined into Undead Domination.

I decided to go with a less potent version of the skill so I didn't have to monitor a resource. When in immersion mode I couldn't see my resources but sensitivity to my energy's current level was increased. A combination of laziness and immersion was the reason for the changes. Plus I didn't want to have to be forced to throw a lot of my precious experience into Physique.

The increased sensitivity was as simple as feeling exhausted or not. Sprinting as a shambler depleted my energy faster than my enhanced regeneration on my control undead skill could keep up with. It took longer in those instances for me to deplete my energy because my skill was active.

With my new evolved class I wasn't sure how it would affect my control. Since I could now run for extended amounts of time, did that mean the shamblers under my control could too?

Did my lieutenant's appearance change after pledging to me? I didn't notice anything different about Molly. Later on, I'd have to ask Rufus to remove his disguise so we could check him too.

There were about twenty Hexed separated from the crowd standing in front of the Frog.

They were the real deal. Everyone I'd seen up until then, except Rufus, were newbs. These undead were decked out in expensive armor. A veritable variety of death incarnate. Ghosts, shamblers, and skeletons, oh my.

***