Bobby stared down at the two unconscious men on the floor, still heavily breathing from the fight. Normally he’d be panicked, but he’d called on his magic near the start of the fight and it had filled him with adrenaline and taken the edge off. It slightly disturbed him at the eagerness of the power’s almost instinctual response to the situation.

Now what? He thought, idly looking around the bar, no one else was in the room except Gary who for some reason seemed to have a proud and slightly reminiscent expression on his face.

Bobby ignored the man and surveyed Mcgunkin and the Possum, other than Mcgunkin’s new black eye, neither seemed to have suffered anything more than a few minor injuries, which was good. Then he looked down at the heavily battered brothers who were both lying on the floor unconscious. That’s an issue, the police will probably arrive soon and I’m going to have to make them thralls to ensure they don’t press charges on me. Then I’ll have to decide what to do with Gareth, although no one will take him seriously after what he’s about to see.

Bobby crouched over and tore off a piece of his soul, before reaching into the space where Gomp’s soul existed. The cloudy soul seemed to be red and turbulent, with most of the red colour concentrated in his ego. Maybe this is a sign he’s prone to anger? Bobby wondered as he pushed his soul into the man's ego like planting a seed while watering it with magic. Next he repeated the process with Boris, who had a pretty ordinary soul, or at least one that was similar to his. Bobby hadn’t really seen enough souls to form any conclusions on what was normal or not.

[Perception 12 → 13]

[Dexterity 11 → 12]

[Milestone achieved, check Status for reward]

He breathed in, and clenched his fists as some indescribable part of himself seemed to get slightly sharper.

“Wha-What the fuck was that?? Your hand was glowing and shit!” Gary said shakily.

Bobby looked over at him and madly grinned, pushing magic into his hand so it glowed. “Yeah I’m a freaking wizard!”

Gareth let out a high pitched laugh, “What did you do to them?”

“I enslaved their minds, so they won’t get me arrested, and I’ll do the same to you if you tell the police what really happened, not that they’ll believe anything you say.”

The man was silent for a few seconds, ”I’ll keep your secret boy” Gareth eventually said, then breathed deeply. “Any chance you have a need for an unenslaved old veteran like me?” he inquired hesitantly.

Bobby’s eyes widened slightly at the mention of the V word, that was exactly what he needed, he had no idea where to start with global domination, but a veteran would be a great help, especially if he didn’t have to make them a thrall and take away their creativity. Not wanting to sound too eager he forced himself to calm down before speaking. “I think I might have a use for you, though I won’t be able to pay you much in the beginning.”

Gary grinned, “Ah don’t worry about that, I only need grub n’ a roof over my head.”

Bobby put out his hand and matched the grin, shaking the hand of his new general. “I don’t think that will be an issue.”

As soon as he finished his sentence Boris and Gomp rose behind him, “What is my name master?” they said in unison to Gary’s shock.

Bobby pointed at them in turn “Boris, Gomp, you are my new minions, when the police arrive this is what you have to tell them…”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Bobby proceeded to weave a story where Boris had instead fought his brother off and the rest of them had been injured in collateral but decided not to press charges in thanks for Boris’ heroic deeds. Pretty soon after he finished giving the two detailed instructions a police siren came from outside and a cop ran in with his gun.

Half an hour later the disgruntled cop left, he had questioned all those involved in the situation and they all had the same story and none of them wanted to press charges, it was fairly anticlimactic, but at least he wouldn’t have to do much paperwork.

When the cop finally left Gary turned to Bobby and asked him a question. “What do you need me for anyway?”

“You’re going to be the general of my army, we’re going to take over the world!” Bobby proudly announced. Gary wasn’t sure how to reply to that.

Bobby checked his status to investigate that milestone notification he’d received earlier.

Roadkill Necromancer - Human[Bobby]

Magic[90] Soul[90]

Magic Capacity

10

Magic Density

10

Regeneration

10

Perception

13

Dexterity

12

Warning: If soul drops below 80 death will occur

[Milestone Reward]

Bobby pressed the button that had appeared at the bottom prompting another window to pop up.

Knowledge - Necronomicon Chapter One - [Learn]

This is not a comprehensive guide to making true undead beings, rather just a knowledge foundation, every necromancer must take their own journey in creating their horde.

Use this gift of knowledge to help you learn the mystical art of people recycling.

Tip: Successfully create a true undead being to achieve the next milestone.

Bobby raised his eyebrows at the words ‘people recycling’, that just sounded like self justification, by definition necromancy was riddled with moral issues and if you tried to think of yourself as doing good, you’d probably end up in a rabbit hole of your own making.

He pressed [Learn].

For a moment he blanked as a flood of knowledge painfully forced itself into his mind, all together it was far more than the simple soul puppet procedure, however none of the knowledge contained any comprehensive procedures similar to what he had learned last time, in fact most of it was about various techniques and how they could be used to perform the steps needed to create an undead being.

As the flood slowed, the last of the knowledge trickled in and Bobby finally learned what he would need to achieve for the next milestone. All undead ran on magic in replacement of having working biology, the difference between true undead beings and false ones though was that false ones would need to be continuously recharged with magic whereas true ones were capable of continuously replenishing their own supply. In that sense then none of his current thralls were undead, because apparently they still relied on their biology and after the initial infusion to help with the healing of the soul they needed no more magic to run on.

Bobby dismissed his status and looked round, realising he’d just been standing unresponsive for a few minutes and a very awkward silence had generated itself. He cleared his throat to break it and then turned to his two newest minions. “You two will keep this place running as a Bar and Grill, the same way you’ve been doing it all these years, make sure you clear up this mess though.” Then he eyed up Gary and Mcgunkin, frowning, “I think it's time we go clothes shopping!”

Mcgunkin looked over at the plates of glistening meat that had been forgotten in the chaos, “I’m hungry.”

++++