V – 00003.3 – Real Power.
Staring into the sniveling, terrified man before me, watching his eyes dart around as they did anything and everything except meet my own, filled me with a sense of pride; the terror in his face kicked my sadistic heart back into beat, reviving a piece of me I had begun to forget, an integral part of my personality that I had buried when I was with Alice.
“Where’s the rest of your little outfit?” I asked in an almost conversational tone as I ran my tongue along my teeth. ” He stared up at me for a few moments, processing my words, showing me a confusion I had seen on Reggie's face. “Where are the others?” I shouted, having lost what little patience I had for the dimwit.
His eyes widened as the chains that hung lazily in the air around me stiffened suddenly as if finally realizing there was more food to be had. “This was everyone.” I raised my hand and flexed my fingers as the man cried and started begging and pleading that I stop; finally, he said something worth listening to.
“Wait… they’re upstairs in the top office, the boss and his favorites. Please don’t hurt me.” Were the last words he managed to irritate me with before my hand snapped out and ripped his windpipe out.
“Sorry… Wait, no, we’re not. I would say I hope you go to hell, but I don’t have to hope, I said as my chains and death mana ripped into him, taking his everything from him: soul, shade, and core.
I whistled before commanding my shades to follow me through the factory and led my small army up through the building. After around ten minutes of stomping through the halls and kicking open doors, I found what must have been the CEO’s office, which I expertly deduced from the door sign that read “CEO Jeffery Bees.”
Kicking the door open, I felt the wood splinter around a lock as I forced it open, and a glimpse of the well-lit office hit me before a massive bang rang out, and I was thrown backwards, my hulking figure slamming through several of my shades, exploding them into mist, and crushing a desk as I landed.
A raspy cough escaped my dried throat as I struggled to bring air to my traumatized lungs, the muscles in my stomach and chest conspiring against me. I spat hard, expelling bloody saliva, a small piece of my cheek, and a metal pellet onto the floor.
I forced myself to my feet, palpating my adrenal vault gently just enough to ease the pain, and rising from the ground, I took notice that I was largely fine; in fact, my stomach and chest, which had taken the majority of what I suspected to be birdshot, appeared to have deflected most of it, only leaving red bruising skin behind. In a few spots, I could see blood leaking from my chest and belly button, where the pellets had penetrated.
Looking back up and towards the doorway, I watched a large bald Russian man frantically trying to reload a double-barreled shotgun. He was covered in thick muscle, and his face looked neatly put together with a dark beard framing his features.
He looked nothing like the lanky, scarred, almost sickly-looking man I remembered with a patchy beard that always left the impression that he was shit at shaving.
“Don’t bother, Grigori; your gun isn’t going to cut it,” I said as I advanced forwards, pulling on my deathly aspect and dragging the ice from it into a thin, semi-transparent mana shield.
Another bang rang out; I felt the birdshot slam into my mana, and my ice coated the bullets, slowing them as they hit me. I braced against the impact, holding my ground as hundreds of metal BBs pelted my rock-hard body and bounced away, failing to even break my skin even slightly this time.
“Why the fuck are you doing this, Viktor? We left on amicable terms.” Grigori barked out, his thick Russian accent reminding me of a time we were almost friends.
I stopped for a moment to consider Grigori’s question, and then I sprinted forward, kicking the desk that Grigori was shooting from, throwing the wooden piece of furniture into Grigori, slamming him into the wall with the desk.
Grigori pointed a finger at me, and suddenly my mana sense went insane; massive amounts of orange-red energy appeared in my vision, traveling from Grigori’s hand to my head. I twisted out of the way and watched the energy stream speed up and curve.
Waves of darkness clashed against the searing wave of energy, and I felt my mana getting purified and burned away, like vegetation being flamed so that you may get to the root.
When the wave of energy hit me, it was massively diminished, barely a flicker speeding through my destroyed impromptu shielding, and as it collided with my face, I felt my skin ignite, as my chest, neck, and lower jaw caught fire and cooked for a fraction of a second.
I launched myself forward and flexed the muscles around my adrenal vault for everything they were worth, knowing how little time I had before burns this bad would bring me to my knees.
I appeared before Grigori like a monster out of the dark and began my furious assault. I punched and smashed and hammered his head into the wall, beating his skull into the structure so hard he was becoming a part of it, as his vitality struggled to keep his skull in one piece against the ferocious blows.
I watched his hands come up attempting to push me away, from my peripheral vision and I spared them barely a moment, knocking them away and bashing his shoulder and arms into the wall breaking his weak limbs, my knuckles viciously dug into his stomach, neck, jaw and temples dust and powder rained down on me and Grigori as I crushed his skull into the wall, I felt his head buckle and break with a punch then I followed up with an elbow that threw his head through the dry wall and crushed it against the brick exterior.
I pressed my mana into the dead-man and ripped the only thing he had of worth from his body while twisting ice mana up my skin freezing my incinerated flesh. Turning, I strode towards a door on the side of the office and opened it up, expecting anything but what I found.
The office had what appeared to be a miniature apartment attached to it, complete with a bed, a small table and kitchenette, and sitting on the bed was two half-naked women pressed up against the wall with clear horror in their eyes as they beheld my ruined body and face.
I checked my kill counter and saw I was still two short and began taking long strides towards the two unfamiliar girls. “I'll make it fast, I said grimly before pulling on the chain of torture and flooding my body with ethereal strength. I flew across the room at supernatural speed and snapped their necks before releasing the ohm rune.
“Not sure if you two deserved my mercy, but you're welcome,” I said as I pulled up my notifications.
[Congratulations You have completed the main objective of the quest: Nothing Left To Lose: Destroy the reapers 31/31]
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[Quest Reward: + 1 to all attributes, + 500 EXP, 1 General perk, Title: Candidate – V]
[Title: Candidate – V: You have performed admirably in the eyes of the system and have been marked as a candidate for certain special roles and responsibilities.]
[+ 1 to top 3 attributes]
[Congratulations Viktor Bloodstone! You have gained a level. You have been awarded + 5 free attribute points, + 1 skill point.]
[Congratulations, Viktor Bloodstone, you have reached level 5. You may now select a class.]
[Classes are offered to you based on compatibility and past achievements.]
A massive list opened before me; clearly, I had shown a lot of aptitudes thus far.
[Warrior – Common] [Woodsman – Common] [Novice – Common] [Carpenter – Common] [Gladiator – Uncommon] [Hedge-Witch - Uncommon] [Feral – Uncommon] [Shademancer – Uncommon] [Necromancer – Rare] [Demonologist – Rare]
I read through a few of them, attempting to understand the difference between the rankings. The big difference I found with the rankings was the amount of attribute points they offered, yet I had a niggling feeling that there was more I couldn’t understand without taking a class; the system was always doing shit like that.
[Warrior – Common: Warriors are the foot soldiers of every army, mercenaries, conscripts, and private alike. This humble class is the engine that drives forth war and extermination on a grand scale. Warriors excel at taking extreme physical punishment and returning it.]
[+ 2 vitality, + 1 strength, + 1 agility, + 1 dexterity, + 1 Warrior Technique, + 1 Warrior class perk.]
Skipping over the common classes, I opened up Gladiator to get a feel for the Uncommon classes.
[Gladiator – Uncommon: “Strike like a storm, defend like a whisper—victory belongs to those who never hesitate.”]
[Gladiators have made an appearance in every world and every civilization. Warriors who seek glory, redemption, and honor through blood sport and combat.
Gladiators live their lives on the edge of a blade. They live by the sword so that you may die by the sword.]
[+ 2 Strength, + 3 Agility, + 2 Dexterity, + 1 Vitality, + 1 Gladiator Perk, + 1 Gladiator Technique.]
I continued scrolling through my classes right till the very end, finding them largely the same save for the fact that common classes gave me five attributes, uncommon gave me eight, and rare gave me twelve. Finally, I arrived at the bottom of the list and decided to open the ones I found the most appealing.
[Necromancer – Rare: “In the silence between heartbeats, I hear the whispers of the lost. They are not gone, only waiting to serve; I harvest what others fear and weave it into my deathly domain”]
[Necromancers have been seen as bad omens since the first of their kind rose. Necromancers control the forces of life and death to create curses, undead monstrosities, and dark magic’s.
Where the Necromancer treads, cities oft fall. By hook or by crook, necromancers almost always cause massive destruction.]
[+ 5 intelligence + 5 wisdom, + 1 vitality, + 1 Glamour, + 1 Necromancer Perk, + 2 Necromancer spell]
[Demonologist – Rare: “Through the twisted runes of the abyss, I carve my will into the fabric of reality. Each word written, each soul tormented, fuels my ascent.”]
[Demonologists have long been tortured and executed for consorting with the infernal forces. They come in many forms, but one unifying fact is that a demonologist draws their power from the infernal by using souls, pacting with devils, or through the use of infernal runes and scripts that the devils invented.]
[+ 6 Wisdom, + 1 Intelligence, + 1 Vitality, + 3 Glamour, + 1 Dexterity, + 1 Demonologist Perk, + 1 Demonologist Spell, + 1 Demonologist Technique]
I stared at the two options that I had narrowed down, lost in thought, trying to decide what I would need more, both in terms of stats and abilities.
“Demonologist is intriguing, but 3 points in glamour? I really don’t think I need that, and the fact that it’s going to hammer so much into my wisdom and leave my intelligence when I already have a lead there is concerning.”
“Plus you might have no fucking idea how to use the class; it mentions the infernal script, which I’m guessing is the shit covering our body, but… we have no idea what any of it means. What is knowing the infernal language? Is it a pre-requisite for properly using infernal abilities?”
“Mm, fuck your right; it has a certain draw, and definitely not because I’m vain. Fuck you before you even say it, but I think necromancer is just the right choice here; it feels right.”
I neglected to say that I felt like something was wrong with my infernal attribute to the others in my head, deciding to keep that strange juvenile feeling it gave off to myself for the time being; I selected necromancer.
[Congratulations on acquiring the Rare class: Necromancer.]
[You may now spend perk, spell, and technique points freely.]
[All changes will be made after your selections are complete.]
[Necromancer Perks]
[Commander – Ranks: 1/4 – Spoken – 2/4 Sign – 3/4 Telepathic – 4/4 Master.
This perk allows you greater ability to communicate with your undead, ensuring they can understand you and the intention behind your commands. At higher levels, lesser undead will recognize you as a superior and obey you.]
[Memento Mori – Ranks: 1/6 Functional – 2/6 Animalistic – 3/6 Sentient – 4/6 Sapient – 5/6 Recollecting – 6/6 Conscious.
This perk grants your undead greater mental cognizance and capabilities, including the ability to remember, and eventually even remember who they are.]
[Dark Nexus – Ranks: 1/4 Decaying – 2/4 Slowed – 3/4 Stable – 4/4 Regenerating.
This perk grants your aura a darkness that protects the undead who stand within it from decay and the holy, at greater ranks, instead of just slowing the decay, it can allow them to heal.]
[Evolutionary – Ranks: 1/5 Growth – 2/5 Change – 3/5 Mutation – 4/5 Evolution – 5/5 Shared System.
This perk allows your undead to grow in power without you altering them; at higher ranks, this perk will even allow your undead a system of their own, which you will have primary access to.]
[Horde Mentality – Ranks: 1/3 Infectious – 2/3 Cursing – 3/3 Horde Mentality.
This perk allows your undead to infect those that they fight with death energy keyed to them; should their victim fall to the infection, they will join the horde. At higher levels, this energy becomes a complex curse, and your undead may choose to leave enemies alive so they are consumed by the curse.]
[Negative Energy – Ranks: 1/2 Sight – 2/2 Touch.
This perk allows you to see on the spectrum of negative energy and interact with the plane of death. At higher levels, you can reach out and touch negative energy and the deathly planes with your physical form.]
I barely even had to consider where I wanted to put my perk. Jesus Christ, if “Functional” is the first level of a perk, I don’t even want to imagine how brain dead these things must be.
[Acquired Necromancer Perk – Memento Mori Rank 1/6 – Functional.]