Lily couldn’t help but grit her teeth; she hated the Church and all it stood for, but she also didn’t condone wanton massacre like the kind the [Necromancer] was sent to carry out in the Papal State. She didn’t owe anything to the Church. In a way, she didn’t really owe much to Hadrian either, considering all the knowledge they had traded. However, she still felt obligated to take care of this threat, no matter how dangerous.
Thankfully, Lily had an ace up her sleeve.
She looked at Manul, the dark [Necromancer] who consumed his stew in silence, scrutinizing her. Suddenly, she had an idea. The first thing she needed to do was to have the man trust her just a little bit more. She needed him to lower his guard.
“Can I ask you something?” Lily cleared her throat.
The man nodded.
She pointed at her own face, “that tattoo… are you with the Black Hand?”
Manul raised his eyebrows and nodded, “it seems you’ve heard the stories.”
“I—I have heard a little,” she replied. “It’s just that… you’re really strong, right?”
“You could say so,” the [Necromancer] replied amidst the low, distant growls of his army.
“Aren’t you worried that the Church will send men after you, by the way? Once they see what you’re doing...”
“We’re slaying them by the thousands each hour at the front,” the [Necromancer] smiled. “For all I know, they might have already won the war. The midwits killed their strongest fighter; we’re sending them hordes upon hordes of Undead and our best. This is it, girl. That’s why I’ll hurry at the first light of dawn. I need to sow as much Death Energy as I can before the rest of the continent knows we’re about to win.”
Win? What, but Dad said... He must be lying... Lily swallowed, trying not to think about this. There wasn’t anything she could do for the front anyway. Instead, what she could do was to eliminate the threat in front of her. And to do so, she needed to first have him lower his guard a little.
“Can I ask you for advice? I’m almost thirteen, but I’m not really sure which Class to choose. I think I’ll get offered something like [Death Fighter]. But I don’t really know how it works.”
“You use Death Magic offensively? Physically, I mean?” The [Necromancer] asked, curious.
“Yes.”
“You’ve got a good Death Affinity?” He asked.
Hadrian had tested her for it. She had been born with one of the strongest Light Affinities, but that had completely disappeared after the Elysium incident. After meeting the Ouroboros and the demonic figure inside her soul, Lily gained a strong Death Magic Affinity.
And so, she nodded in reply.
“Just a few more questions, then. Are you a bare–handed fighter?”
She nodded.
“Have you discussed your Stats with your family or tutors? Has someone told you what to do?”
Lily considered replying affirmatively, but she bit down on her lip and shook her head. The less she showed this man, the more he would feel like teaching her something. And the more he would feel like he had to teach her, the more he would think she was useless.
“Let me give you a refresher, little girl,” Manul sighed, taking pity on her. “Would you like me to start from the Four Threes?”
“Yes, please.”
“Alright,” the man sighed, scratching his beard, “there are four major categories of stats. Together with things like someone’s level, they cannot be visualized by someone who has yet to unlock the System. Once you do, you’ll receive some Statistics based on the Feats you completed before unlocking a Class. Usually, that’s how people decide which direction to take for their Class choice. So, let’s get to it.
“First, Physical Augmentation Statistics: Strength, Speed, Toughness. They’re pretty much self–explanatory. Strength makes you stronger, Speed makes you faster, and Toughness makes your body more resilient to damage and the environment. I suspect that you’ll spend quite a bit of your Statistics here. Then, the second category, Magical Enhancement Statistics: Power, Control, Regeneration. This is trickier to explain. Take [Necromancers]; our Class doesn’t require Power and Control as much as it does Regeneration.”
“Power is better understood as how big and explosive a [Fireball] can get. Control is how accurately you can move that [Fireball] around and the cost of each spell. Control lowers the cost. A big–time [Wizard] would need a lot of Control to avoid having his spells be too expensive to cast. [Necromancers] cast smaller spells; that’s why Control is mostly useless for us. Keep in mind that you’ll always need a few points in every Stat; it’s the nature of the System. Some Control is beneficial for [Necromancers] as well.
“Then, our third category, Reservoir: Vitality, Mana, and Stamina. This is very self–explanatory. Do you want me to give a little brief anyway?”
“Please,” Lily asked.
“Alright. Vitality is how much life your body has got going on. [Warriors] have a lot of that—[Rogues] much less. The latter focuses more on Stamina, and… you know what. Let’s have a little quiz. Why is a [Warrior] less efficient than a [Rogue]?”
Lily had heard Hadrian talk about this very topic for hours on end, with the man actually disputing the theory that [Warriors] were a subpar Class multiple times. If the grumpy [Librarian] were to be here, he would have probably thrown a book at this guy’s face.
“Because…” Lily had her words drag. “They are slower?”
The [Necromancer] actually laughed out loud.
“No, girl. [Warriors] require a more even distribution of Statistics. That means their highest Stat is much lower than a [Rogue]’s.”
“Is there any advantage to that?” She questioned mindlessly.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Well, [Warriors] can take more than a few hits, but… [Rogues] are better. They can creep up from behind your back and kill you in your sleep.”
Unless they’re on a battlefield or unless the [Warrior] is not a complete moron, Lily thought to herself. Hadrian stressed the importance of preparation so much it’s unreal. You can get killed by pretty much anyone if you’re dense. Well, good for me, I guess. We’ll test the grumpy man’s theory pretty soon.
“Anyway, that’s it for Reservoir. We’re left with a [Necromancer]’s favorite, Mental Attributes Statistics: Focus, Perception, and Charisma. These are the least known Statistics of all. The Fourth Three… well, I guess you’re lucky I don’t really have much to do around here,” the man said, pointing around the place.
“Focus means concentration and mental resilience; it affects abilities like spell casting duration, resistance to mind–affecting spells, or mental tasks. I’ve known a couple of [Warriors] who had the Stat quite high… somehow it granted them some neat skills. For a [Necromancer], it’s what allows us to control so many Undead without fainting. Imagine each Undead like a little spoonful of water being poured into your head; if you pour too much, it’s either going to spill or your head’s going to explode. Instead, Focus enlarges the basin. It’s the same for casting multiple spells at once or casting extremely complicated spells. Honestly, girl, do put some of your Free Stats toward Focus; it’s never a bad expenditure.”
I know, Lily thought to herself. Hadrian has explained this in much more depth. Focus is the capability of the Soul to react to strain. It’s the Soul’s adaptability, essentially. If I want to use Light Magic again one day together with Death Magic to fight whatever thing was in my soul, I’ll need tons of Focus.
“What about Perception?” She asked. Immediately, she noticed the [Necromancer] deflating since she asked about the next Stat without lingering on Focus more. “Or… is there more to Focus?”
“It’s a great Stat,” Manul shook his head. “But I’ve already told you enough, right? So, Perception is… Perception. It’s how you take the world in. It’s mostly for [Rogues], in my opinion.”
Holy crap, that’s super wrong.
Hadrian had explained to Lily that among the Mental Attributes, they would all need some attention. Perception, too. Even though she had a Sphere of Perception around her, thanks to the Perk she got from [Mana Sense], that didn’t mean she could do without that Stat. In fact, it actually meant that her Sphere of Perception would become stronger through the Stat. To an extent, every Perk had one or two Statistics to refer to, and the more points she poured into those, the stronger the Perk would become.
Pestilence Purge, for example, the Perk she had gotten by combining two skills’ Perks, would benefit from Focus from the Mental Attributes and Power from Magical Enhancements.
Plus, Perception could allow a simple [Warrior] to evolve their Class beyond the simplicity of a normal frontline soldier and into something much scarier and stronger.
“It sounds boring, this Perception,” Lily pursed her lips.
“It is,” Manul shrugged. “[Rogues] have a hard time jumping around hundreds of Undead. You don’t really need Perception when you have a horde surrounding you. They do all the percepting there’s to do.”
The [Necromancer] craned his head toward Lily expectantly. It took her a couple of seconds to understand this man was waiting for her to laugh. And so she did, trying to sound as natural as she possibly could after hearing this terrible joke.
If it could be even called a joke, she reasoned.
“Anyway, we’re almost through with them: Charisma is the last, an unusual but powerful one. Among the Mental Attributes, it’s the strangest Stat. Perhaps it’s the strangest of them all.”
Lily caught herself before she could nod. Hadrian had said the same. In fact, the [Librarian] had also called it something else, something that [Necromancers] were extremely familiar with…
“Influence,” Manul explained. “Influence is the secondary name that some give to Charisma. It influences how strong of an Undead you can control—some of my students back in the capital have tried focusing on Charisma as their primary Stat. It’s an interesting strategy but extremely risky. I don’t know of many who attempt to use Charisma as their main Stat. It’s strong but… less practical when compared to the other ones. [Necromancers], publicly, put one out of every five Free Stats into Charisma.”
“Isn’t that a lot?” She frowned, lying through her teeth.
“It is, but people smarter than me have deemed it worth it. I am no expert on Stats… at the end of the day, the battlefield claims you, or it doesn’t. Death is always right.”
She had never heard that specific saying, but what she had heard of was knowledge about the Charisma Stat. Although it didn’t affect someone like her directly, given that she wanted to become a fighter, Hadrian had explained that Charisma affected some major things that weren’t easily noticeable. For example, her [Death Touch] combined with the [Inferior Mandala of the Black Rain] could seriously damage people of lower levels. However, when it came to someone like Marcus, with so many defensive skills and levels beyond her, her skill became much less effective. Instead of poking holes through the [Monk]’s flesh, she had barely been able to spread any corruption through the man’s body. And that’s where Charisma became interesting: it allowed one to bridge the difference in levels and powers for some reason. It wasn’t as effective as simply raising the levels of a skill, but being a Stat, it compounded in odd ways.
Lily observed the [Necromancer], almost completely tuning out his voice. He had a smile on his face—a large, wide smile. However, she couldn’t reconcile the smile and the fact that this man would soon be on his way to slaughter hundreds of innocents. All that in the name of preparing the battlefield for the next war.
She understood war, and perhaps, she even understood the man too. But she couldn’t shake the feeling of unease from her stomach.
“So, if you want to use Death Magic in close combat, you’ll have to look at Physical Augmentation first and Magical Enhancement second. Based on your individual style, you can tap into the Reservoir if you want to be a fighter known for their endurance, or maybe you can try your luck and dip into Mental Attributes with Focus. If I were you, I’d simply look at your offered Class and have the fundamentals down – Physical Augmentation, namely Strength, Speed, and Toughness, and Magical Enhancement, but mostly Power and a little Control. Something like 10–10–10–10–5–3 for STR, SPD, TGH, POW, CTR, REG.”
Lily nodded slowly and briefly spaced out. Manul caught the confusion in the girl’s eyes and inquired about it, “is there something you don’t understand, girl? People at my level plot much further than this. I’m just giving you a heads–up. I can write down the distribution for you if you need it.”
What Manul did not know was that Lily had not spaced out because the description was particularly complicated but because it was actually a terrible idea to follow his advice in any shape or form. In fact, she wondered if she had overestimated the man’s knowledge, given that his level should have been close to her father’s. Lucianus Claudius had briefly touched on a few points about her future Class during their long discussion, and the knowledge he had displayed had seemed on par with Hadrian’s.
It's time, anyway, Lily thought, trying to calm herself down. While they had been talking, she had put a hand in her backpack and inside summoned one of the scrolls that Hadrian had made for her. She had two. She wasn’t sure that using it like this was the best idea, especially considering she was about to face entities beyond her understanding.
It doesn’t matter, she thought. I have to do this.
Her food was finished; she looked around to see if she could spot any signs of the living nearby. Thankfully, there was only the Undead horde and Manul.
She got up and held the scroll up, looking at it thoughtfully.
“What’s that? An old scroll?”
“Just some garbage I want to burn,” she replied, turning to smile at him and then opening her mouth again. “Manul, sir, can I ask for a favor?” She said, getting closer to the fire.
“Sure,” the man shrugged. “I’m very busy, girl. I’ll be leaving after a short sleep. But I can spare some money and food if you need it.”
“No, no. That’s not what I wanted to ask. I was just wondering... do we meet the Gods when we die?”
“The Gods? Our Dark Lord most certainly accompanies our souls to rest. But remember, there’s only the God of Death. In fact—”
“I think there’s more to it,” Lily replied with a smile. “In fact, if you see him on the other side, tell Lucas I’m coming to talk to him; there are many things I want to know. And tell him I’m not the woman he brought here—not anymore.”
“Who? Lucas? What are you—”
Lily dropped the scroll into the fire as she summoned her armor and activated [Wraithform].
“Goodbye, Manul.”