I finally left the dungeon and was on the surface and stretched a bit before heading off. According to my skill, most of my undead had died but I had gained a small chunk of experience from the undead slaughtering the guards. I still found it awesome that I could gain experience from undead I controlled, but the amount I got was paltry compared to me killing the target myself. I gained anywhere from 0.001% to 1% of the original amount of exp, so it was rather annoying that I couldn't sit around and let my undead do all the work to power level me. It would take me forever to gain 1 single level that way. I was continuing my walk and after an hour of walking I came across several tired former slaves that were resting off the path, cooking something they managed to catch. All in all I saw that there was less than 30 slaves in total that I had rescued. There was still some that were escaping the dungeon at this moment due to me but that still made the amount I had saved far less than I thought I had saved, combining all of the slaves from all of the floors I passed through.
"One of the former slaves saw me and screamed, "I-its the necromancer! H-hes here! Oh no!" I stood there confused as to why there were freaking out. I saved your asses and now you are freaking out about me? Cmon man, that's just not cool. Its not like I'm going to use them for inhumane experiments or something. I have morals y'know.
I tried calming them down by speaking to them and said "Calm down, I'm not going to do anything to you, sheesh. I'm just passing by so no need to freak out. I finished my business here anyways so I'm going to leave." I started walking away and saw that some of them visibly relaxed but a few were carrying some of the old weapons they had been using in the dungeon. They held them tightly in their hands and one screamed "G-give us more of those potions and all you own! Do that and we won't hurt you!"
I facepalmed.
Were these guys numb in the head? Did they think it was a good idea to attack the necromancer who had just saved their lives via brutal combat? I mean sure it looked like I didn't do much until the end and left shit to my minions but I wasn't helpless like they thought I was. I just conjured a fireball spell and flung it into a nearby boulder causing the fireball to explode. The armed slaves instantly started to look worried, with 2 outright dropping their weapons and fleeing back to the big group.
I sighed and said "Look, I won't kill you and turn you into a puppet if you bugger off. I'm not in the mood to kill people I just rescued so scram." That made most of them back up and run or simply drop their weapons. I guess they didn't think I knew regular spells?? They must have a very low wisdom stat if that's true.
I continued to walk away and left them behind. I didn't want to bother with them anymore now that I knew they were scared of me. I was originally going to help them out by giving them a few cores I had collected to sell but not anymore. They could just find a way to the city and live that way.
~~~
I continued travelling for a while and was around halfway back to the city when I heard a loud rumbling and then an explosion back from the golem dungeon. "What the hell are those people in the dungeon doing? Trying to bring the whole place down? Pff like that would ever work. Dungeon walls are literally indestructible save for the parts they leave destructible." I was continuing my trek when I remembered my Nercon Heart. I pulled it out of my inventory while walking and examined the thing. It seemed to have stolen mana and health from Jarrl and Berk. It contained around 1200 health and a little under 500 mana. "I wonder If I can pull mana from this or use the health to heal? Hmm."
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With that idea planted in my head I decided that now was as good a time to experiment as any. I expended some mana by firing a dozen fireballs or so, at the ground and when I had lost a sizable enough chunk I tried to pull mana out of the Nercon as I would from myself. It was safe to say that I was very surprised that it worked. The mana flowed back into me and refilled my mana pool at a rapid rate. I was very excited by his as it meant I could theoretically have an infinite mana battery. "Wait, this thing also stores health, I need to try that out as well. Hmm Meh I might as well just cut my hand open and try it that way."
I put away my armour to prevent the regeneration passive from healing the wound and then sliced my palm open a bit. I then held the Nercon and tried to do the same thing but with the health, but was having less luck. Try as I might I wasn't getting anywhere with the violent energy. The health energy for a lack of a better term was very violent and resisted being used like mana would, thrashing and wriggling against my efforts. It pissed me off quite a lot and so I sat down on a nearby log after making sure the area nearby was clear of monsters. I resurrected a few goblin undead as body guards and got back to work on restraining the energy.
Blood flowed from my palm as I struggled with the violent energy. It was a brutal mental war. One that I was losing, when I got an idea. What if instead of trying to control the energy like mana I just directed it? Instead of using water magic to stop the flow of a river I would just dig a separate path for the water to flow so to speak. I got right to it with that mental image and started to coax and direct the energy into my wound. It was still struggling a bit but slowly, ever so slowly the energy was moving into my body and then winding its way to the injury. I saw the neon red mist flow out of my hand and into the cut I had made. The wound healed over almost instantly and I saw that I had only used around 1 point of hp from the Nercon. I was jumping for joy at having finally succeeded at this grueling task. I then noticed that it was nearly night time.
"Holy shit I spent nearly half the day sitting on this log trying to control this energy?!" I panicked and looked around but saw my silent guards still on duty, vigilant as ever. I sighed and put on my armour again and then continued my travelling back to town, but with more of a hurry. I didn't want to spend too much time travelling but I might have to camp out it seemed from how long I had taken. "God damnit, I don't like camping."
I was still walking but decided to fiddle with the Nercon a bit more. I learned that I couldn't use it at all if it was in my inventory which made sense but disappointed me nonetheless. I also found out that I had to have it on my person and near me to be able to use the Nercon. It didn't matter if it was touching my clothing or my skin but It had to touch me to activate, so I could keep it in my pocket or in my hands but I couldn't just drop it on the ground nearby or something.
I was having fun experimenting when I got a really awesome idea. It made me stop for a bit and wonder whether or not I was just plain insane or if it was even feasible. "I wonder... Can I use the health mist to fuel spells instead of mana? If so what would the result be? Blood spells? Cursed spells? Or something else entirely? Hehehe, this trip just keeps getting better. Wait... I'll need to fuel this up since it'll eventually run out and rather quickly at the rate I'll use it. Hmm"
I was thinking and got rid of my undead guards and tossed them back into my inventory as I walked. I wondered if I could use monsters to fuel this thing or if it had to be sentient races. If it was the latter it was going to be a real burden to refuel. I would have to hunt bandits and criminals to fill this thing up constantly. That would get very tiring to be honest as much of a help to the local governing forces it would be, I didn't want to become a low grade adventurer clearing bandits.
I put the Nercon back into my inventory and decided I would camp out tonight and hunt for monsters to see if I could refuel my Nercon with them. If so I was going to have a fun time. I would start my levelling spree and fuel my Nercon at the same time. Two birds for one stone as they say.