“Fuck yeah,” screamed Vanish.
His arm dropped to his side, and his eyes fluttered as he struggled to stay awake.
A dozen skeletons were erased from the battlefield as Vanish’s healer tossed a flurry of Life Orbs, and Vanish seemed to gain back a small bit of energy. Drake could tell he was on his last legs. but the battle at hand seemed to be far from coming to a conclusion.
Drake was the first person to notice the change however. Skeletons began to wander off, and after a while Aurora brought the oddity to Drake’s attention.
“Drake, look,” said Vanish, pointing with black energy wrapped around his hand.
Drake couldn’t help but smirk at Vanish, seeing his talents grow with the bone manipulation skill. Her only thought every time she saw him successfully move with a broken spine status effect still in his scan, was how long it would take for him to move entirely with the use of his skills alone.
She turned toward where Vanish pointed and smirked, seeing a line of light begin to stretch across the skyline in the distance.
Not much more, just breathe and bring it home Drake.
She turned back toward the crowd of skeletons she had just been fighting within and frowned. Not only because Vanish’s former martial artist skeleton could be seen standing without being approached by any of the monsters near to the center of the mob, completely unmoving, but also because of the slightly taller skeleton, that still wore an entirely obsidian light plate armor, standing across from the newly formed Denizen.
Aurora, did you notice the Denizen move?
No I did not, it moved so quickly that I only saw it come to a stop…
Drake could feel a subtle sense of fear in Aurora’s tone, and only had to wonder why for as long as it took her to scan the armored skeleton facing off with the former martial artist.
*Scan* - Monster -
Name: Steel plated Assassin.
Rank: Adept
Age: ???
Class: Ambidextrous Mage Hunter
Average Attribute Level: 3.5
Scan results - As this Skeleton has both been risen with lingering life essence still in its body, and was ranked well above Adept, the amount of void energies within has allowed for it to keep its class, unlike its brethren. This undead monster was once a man of the ambidextrous assassins, known as the Quadrupeds, easily identifiable by the ritual done for them to possess two thumbs, placed perfectly to either side of each hand.
Warning - This undead still possesses access to all of its former skills.*
Holy fuck Aurora, are you seeing this? Drake mind raced with questions. The scan hinting at so many details of the world she knew she was still ignorant about. Drake unable to brush aside the countless details in the scan that she now wanted to know about.
“Yeah, this explains the whole former classification tag on the rest of the skeletons scans.
What do you mean, I’ve been super confused by that, I just thought it was detailing what they used to be before they died?
It is, but there is more to it than that. You gain a class at level 30, or Average Attribute level 3.0 when you become an Adept, look at the scan for vanish’s martial artist.
Drake hadn’t even thought to scan Vanish’s minion, and quickly brought up the scan.
*Scan* - Monster -
Name: Vergeling Denizen of Combat
Rank: Novice
Age: ???
Class: Former martial Artist
Average Attribute Level: 2.9
Scan results - This combat Adept was once able to use many dead arts. As a minion for the BaneBorn Heir, this minion is on the verge of gaining a Classification, which none of the BaneBorn legacy have ever been able to accomplish, even as the greatest necromancer’s to ever live.
Warning - This monster has a cunning unlike any of its brethren, if it manages to gain a class, all of its skills and abilities may return, or be reselected by the Denizen itself. This could be dangerous for all allies within range to a classed System user as their own void energies may be influenced by the classified monster.*
None of that sounds good, but I see what you are saying. Still though, what is making them formerly have classes like this new skeleton, that these other skeletons no longer have?
I can only assume it is because the dead can’t maintain mana nor Ki, without either or the ability to maintain all of the gathered Void energies they used to rank up, their bodies must slowly degrade until they lose their classes.
Hmm, I see, but it still makes me wonder what is bringing them all back to life? Maybe there is a necromancer somewhere near to this mountain, thought Drake to herself, nervously glancing at the manor behind her. Still unsure if trying to gain entrance inside was worthwhile or just asking for more trouble.
What should we do, asked Aurora bringing Drake back from her thoughts.
Help Vanish’s minion win is all I can say, beyond that, I don’t think there is much we can do…
Drake widened her stance, preparing for whatever was to come. It wasn’t until both Vanish’s minion and the Steel plated Assassin, moved, blurring beyond what her eyes were able to track, that Drake knew they were in a bad situation.
“Drake,” yelled Vanish, and without thought she came running. She grabbed him by a shoulder after placing her offensive Arm of the Brute across his chest. Glad to see that her defensive Arm of the Brute, grab him by his other shoulder.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here buddy,” said Drake in a whisper, trying to keep her voice down.
“Where are we going,” asked Vanish his rising fear apparent in his voice.
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“We got to hide, I know I said this place is probably just as dangerous as being out here, but that is yet to be seen, if we can get inside and be able to fortify the place enough to keep that thing out here, that is better than nothing!”
“Agreed, should I call back the rest of my minions while the Denizen fights it off?”
“Umm… no, not unless it looks like they may die, they may be able to help kill that thing.”
She tried to keep her eyes on the fight, but felt as if she was now part of an anime where two Cultivators were fighting well above her current limits.
“Is this what it is to have a classification,” mumbled Drake aloud as she dragged Vanish toward the nearest series of steps that lead to the manor at the center of the lake.
“Just leave me here, and go help, you can’t leave those mage arms you searched so hard for behind,” prompted Vanish the moment he noticed Drake about to start pulling him up and across the gap to the first floating stone platform.
“Fuck, I forgot about those.”
She weighed her options, cursing once she knew that she may never get another opportunity to obtain minions with magical affinities. The skeletons with former magical classes had been beyond rare, closer to one in every hundred they’d fought when she thought about it.
“Okay, I’m going to go get them, make sure to pull back your healer, and maybe even have it pull you toward the castle and hide if things get any worse,” yelled Drake as she ran off, no longer caring to try an keep her voice down.
The fight occurring nearby had grown to a volume only achievable by what Drake would have once seen as the power levels of Demi-gods. A tree exploded as Vanish’s minion was kicked through it, causing shards to erupt through the air as if a bomb had been planted within the forrest. Drake was only able to worry about Vanish’s minion being defeated by such a strike for the single instant it took her to realize his minion wasn’t left in the debris.
She looked back to the Steel plated Assassin to see Vanish’s minion appear just above the now dead member of the Quadrupeds, only becoming visible once its heel drop was stopped mid air. The force of the kick was enough to cause the ground below the assassin to cave in slightly, even though the assassin was barely pressed downward. Its crossed armed guard and its slightly bent legs showing no signs of damage.
Is this normal for a fight like this princess?
“I would normally say no, but I don’t know that we can exactly call this pair normal monsters, they both more than likely experienced even higher ranks than Adept.
Yeah, but don’t they lose power over time like you said, by being dead I mean? The notification on the assassin even made it seem like they did now that I think about it.
“Yes, but imagine you were able to fly or run at incredibly fast speeds, and know what that is like, your entire perception and senses hav even become accustomed to moving remarkably fast, don’t you think moving at anything less than your previous maximum would seem slow?
“Yeah, I never thought of it like that. So even though they are slowly becoming weaker, they still might be able to do things that a monster normally at this level couldn’t pull off without the same knowledge, understanding and experience. As these two. That makes sense.
Drake ran passed Vanish’s healer and its demonic guardian, racing toward where she’d seen the storm mage. Aurora pointed out its location underneath a large pile of bones. The storm mage easily identifiable by the fact that the skeleton was largely whole, missing only its head.
A beheading was the only way that Drake had seen end with a skeleton dying and the majority of its body remaining. As the body of the Metal Magus was entirely without its bottom half from what Drake could remember.
“Here we go baby, come to momma,” said drake. She handed her offensive Arm of the Brute to her defensive arm, destroying the chest section of the former mages body with a few quick stomps.
She was glad to see the arms undamaged, bending down to pick up the left appendage before she immediately tried to use Reanimate.
“No no no,” roared Drake as the arm crumbled to dust in her hand.
Fuck, what happened…
Drake couldn’t think about it for more than a blink as a Warning from Aurora came just in time to stop Drake from being barreled into. She looked back at the fight and gaped as Vanish’s minion was once again soaring through the air, flying directly at her.
Luckily for Drake she’d already been reaching for the second arm, and was able to grab it before she was forced to dive away.
Fire flooded her senses momentarily as her broken arm struck the ground,, but to her surprise her defensive arm placed her weapon beside her as she rose; cupping the hand of her damaged limb as if to brace the broken arm.
Drake wasn’t even able to move an inch before the pain that had rattled her momentarily vanished. A crimson light pushed into her arm from the hand of her minion.
Now that’s interesting, thought Drake, wincing as she tried to move the damaged limb.
Okay, still broken, but the pain is diminished at least.
Drake glanced around to place the still fighting skeletons, finding them only a few yards away, still trading blows at a mind boggling speed.
You’ll get there one day Drake, just keep pushing your limits, thought Drake as her defensive arm picked up its offensive partner, and drake rushed toward the tree line to take cover.
She ducked behind the bountiful vegetation of the forrest while still trying to keep the combat in her line of sight. Not wanting to lose track of the powerful undead and end up standing right behind a tree as it exploded. The forrest around her was largely impacted by the battle, the pair of powerful skeletons uncaring for the scene of paradise that they fought within.
“Come on, I got one more chance at this, Cultivator magic don’t fail me now!”
*Notification* Reanimate Successful - Reach of the Storm Core -
You have created your first magical minion. Reach of the Storm Core. Your connection to this limb is deeper than the bones of the undead creatures outside your growing horde. With this bond formed, so will grow your understanding of magic.
Scan - Hybrid - Monster/Weapon
Name: Reach of the Storm Core
Rank: Unranked
Age: ???
Class: Locked / Former Storm Mage / Weapon
Average Attribute Level: 0.1
Stats -
Offense: 0.1
Defense: 0.1
System: 0.1
Scan Results -This magical arm is filled with the spirit of the sky and the fury of storms. Though its magics may seem rigid at first, many may come to understand that blizzards are as much of a storm as hurricanes. Show the world the power of storms young Cultivator!
Would you like to level up this minion, Yes / No ?*
“Yes,” roared Drake, completely forgetting that she didn’t want to draw attention to herself, or the fact that she was not but a few feet away from a literal ground breaking fight. A fight that could end with her death by her just standing within the proximity of the nearby carnage.
Celebrate later you fool, the fight is closing in on the body of the Metal Mage, yelled Aurora.
Drake tucked the arm in her tunic, peeking out from behind the tree to see what Aurora meant; her eyes widening at the sight.
Son of a bitch!
Drake darted out from the tree line and raced toward the skeleton she coveted. A gnawing feeling of potential loss consuming her as she sprinted as fast as she could.
Forget the magus Drake your too close!
Drake ignored the girl, and pushed her body to a speed she’d never experienced before even. Not even as she’d sprinted up the mountain at olympic track star velocities.
The world around her stretched, and in that moment, nothing else mattered. She would grab that torso, even if she died to do so.
…
Aurora couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She watched Drake push beyond the limits of what any level one unranked Cultivator should ever be able to achieve without some sort of godly boon.
Could that be it?
Up until that point, Aurora purely believed that maybe She’d just wasted her talents, but if Drake had been blessed by a god, or a group of gods even, that would begin to explain how remarkable her charge was. Yet even as she thought it, she disregarded it as yet more excuses for what must have been her own laziness.
“You could have been this powerful Aurora, and now it is your duty to make Drake even more than what you could have ever been without her.
Hurry up Drake, you can do this, if anyone can it is you!
To Aurora’s surprise, Drake sprinted even faster at her words, even as the fight moved that much closer to her target.
The body of the Metal Magus came into Aurora’s view and she directed Drake as best as she could.
Its more to your left, underneath that pile beside that boulder!
Aurora yelled the instructions in a panic, almost having had pointed Drake toward a type of fruit commonly known to all of Imperial; stuttering as she looked for a near enough landmark to send her toward that she could easily identify.
Got it, yelled Drake mentally; once again forced to dive to avoid being struck by the hurtling body of Vanish’s minion. She tucked and rolled, getting to her feet just as Vanish’s minion landed directly on top of the Skelton of the Metal Magus’s torso; crushing almost everything, leaving only a left arm and its skull.
Aurora watched Drake glanced toward the approaching Steel plated Assassin, cursing inwardly knowing she wouldn’t be awarded with any other chances.
Its now or never!
Drake nodded at Aurora’s words, and with a nod she sprinted into the direct path of the assassin. She used her offensive Arm of the Brute to reach for the arm of the Metal Magus, unaware that her defensive minion also reached outward.
The assassin blurred and Aurora screamed, watching as a kick meant for Vanish’s minion collided directly into Drake’s side. A spray of blood covering the white bones at it’s feet.
No!
…
Drake felt pain unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. Not a moment after the unrivaled pain she heard a series of explosions erupt above her.
Drake couldn’t perceive what had just happened in any way shape or form, but in the moment she’d been kicked was the same moment that Vanish’s healer arrived, throwing almost 8 back to back life orbs. All of which struck the back of the Assassin in almost the same instant she’d been kicked.
A deluge of healing energies filled her, healing her largest injury nearly completely, due to the large rank difference between her and the assassin the life had been taken from. All of this occurring even before she could be sent tossed end over end through the air, arriving like a boulder that had been thrown by a giant. The force of the kick was enough to cause her to skip across the surface of the lake; once again bringing her to a crash landing into a large body of water for the third time in as much as a day.
Drake was happy to recognize as she came to her feet in the shallows of the lake, that she had already grown enough to still be conscious after such a heavy blow, now more sturdy since the last time she’d experienced the same.
“Fuck… that fucking hurt man,” she muttered to herself as she gingerly rubbed her side. Wincing as her weapon brushed up against her still tender ribs.
Drake, are you okay?
Drake nodded, smirking, as she remembered why she even was standing now drenched in the water’s of the lake in the first place.
“Still clenched in the hand of her offensive minions grip was the arm of the former Metal Magus. Yet it was the skull held in the hand of her other minion that brought her up short.
Are you seeing this, asked Drake as she scanned what the minion held.
*Scan* - Monster -
Name: Skull of the Scholarly Druid
Rank: Novice
Age: ???
Class: Locked / Former Druidic Changeling / Armament?
Average Attribute Level: 2.9
Scan Results - This skull once belonged to a wise matriarch of the forest. Throughout countless season cycles, this queen of the forrest dedicated herself to the laws of magic and nature. To the understanding of spiritualism, and even the godly boon bestowed upon mortals known as celestial healing.
Warning - Reanimation of this skeleton may be far more dangerous than any other you have tried before Cultivator, and even if this is accomplished, restoring its level to Adept is highly advised against, as this once practitioner of magic was strong enough to transform into that of a Celestial Phoenix and may be able to reincarnate herself, only having had died due to being betrayed.
You have been warned.*
“What the…”