Vals walked over the hot sands, annoyed more than anything. He had fun walking through this new place, it was fresh and exciting. That feeling quickly faded however, because he found that there was just nothing in all directions.

Well, that wasn't quite true. It wasn't nothing, there were mountains off in the distance, and occasionally they found a monster or two, but that was it. It had been 2 whole months since they left the city, but they did almost nothing. The good news was that it was a great time for practicing magic.

Vals had leveled up his manipulation twice, and his circulation also leveled up. He could also feel himself getting close to leveling up his perception, which for whatever reason was growing very slowly, despite its constant use. As for Paul, he had taken time to learn more about his magic and his craft.

Paul was now able to simultaniously control 8 undead. And he had also increased his overall mana capacity, which he had tried to explain the process to Vals, but Vals couldn't understand it.

Overall Vals knew that they had both grown significantly, even though it was only through the skills that they had available to train, which were few in Vals case. Honestly, both of them had been growing weary of running around so much.

Vals had long since gotten to the point that he could continue learning magic from his book, but simply didn't have time to read. The only time he would be able to read is when they rested, which was at night. Unfortunately, he lacked the night vision to read in the meager star light.

He tried a few things, like using his mana, which looked like it glowed. Unfortunately that wasn't really true, the only reason he saw it that way was because of _Mana Perception. In truth it gave no light on its own, although according to Paul, there were a variety of spells that could create small amounts of light, or even just give him enhanced sight for a short period of time, both of which would solve his problem... of needing to read... to develop his magic... essentially it had come to a point where he needed to skip a few steps to figure out a solution, or just wait, neither of which he was too emphatic about, but...! He did have plenty of time, after all he was an undead.

The one good thing about this long stretch of time was being able to better talk to the system. As it turned out, the Personality function had more uses than just being able to talk to him. It had taught him a few nuances about the system, as well as how to better word things for specific answers about attributes of creatures and other wise.

This had helped him a few times as he had uncovered a few smaller programs that the system hadn't said anything about.

"Ah. Another Sand Newt." Paul called back to him, breaking him from thought.

"I'll deal with it. I have the better equipment to do so anyway." Vals grabbed his sword, and approached the quick lizard monster.

[Sand Newt]

[A native race to desert environments, its scaled body allows it to travel both more easily and more comfortably in the sands of dunes.

It is a very agile creature, but is neither smart nor strong, usually found more often towards oasis, but beware as they build tribes around oasis.

Note: Rewards 75 Experience on defeat]

The feature he liked the most was the note feature he had uncovered with the Personality of the system.

Vals simply walked up, and stabbed it through the chest, the creature wasn't smart enough to realize that Vals would simply stab it, and only went to dodge at the last moment, which was already to late. The stab landed true, and the creature fell to the ground, dead.

"That was easy." Vals walked back over to Paul.

"Well, you are more built towards melee style combat." Paul shrugged. "Also, that's the 5th one today, I think we may be close to an oasis."

"Probably, we encountered more today than we have all week. I hope we are closing in on one, then we may be able to rest a few days." Vals sighed at that. "That would be nice. To be able to focusnon learning more magic..."

"True... Well, we'll find out once we get there." Paul smiled as he turned to the direction they'd been traveling for the last week.

They'd gone south when they had left the city, and gradually veered east over time, currently the duo was on a north east path, which they'd hoped would allow them to slip away from the orders persuit.

"Fair. Though unless they have some amazing trackers, I don't think the order could find us at this point." Vals said as they had started off again.

"Keep in mind that they found me in a city that hadn't been seen in over a century." Paul looked back at Vals. "I don't doubt that they'll find us. It's just that I hope we have time to grow before they reach us."

"Hmm. Now that you mention it, why is there no one in that city?" Vals decided to accept what Paul had said, and changed the subject towards something that seemed to be useful, information wise.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Ah... that. Yeah... well if I remember correctly, which is iffy to be honest, it was due to the expeditions into the city going insane after about a week or so. Every time. It seemed to only affect people who had directly touched things in the city, or if they went beyond the small wall by the mountain." Paul narrowed his eyes a bit, thinking about it, and then continued. "It was abandoned after a while because, well, if you can't do anything with the stuff in the city.... it's hard to study it."

"So people know it's there, but generally avoid it?" Vals contemplated it. "Well I suppose it would scare people... but what about bandits?"

"Let me ask you, have we been to a single town yet? Hell, have we even seen a town yet?" Paul looked at the remnant.

"Point taken. They have no reason to be here, since there is no people to loot out here, they don't come here." Vals nodded.

"Generally, yeah. The only reason someone comes here is to escape people who would hunt them down, such as Necromancers, like me, or heinous criminals with big bounties. Occasionally you might find someone who escaped from Denevi though."

"I got the necromancer and criminal part, but what do you mean by escape?" Vals stared at the man.

"Well, you see, Denevi is one of 3 nations still practicing slavery, it is also the only one of the 3 that also borders the desert, although, really it is more like slavery lite in Denevi. People there can sell themselves as a product, and essentially work like that to pay off debt. Honestly, they want to get rid of slavery, but their economy is so heavily linked to that system that it would send them into a recession almost instantly, add to that that they are also the main producers of leather goods on the continent, and well..." Paul seemed quite knowledgeable about this country.

"Hm.. that doesn't seem too bad though? Why would people flee?" Vals asked.

"That's the thing isn't it? The way the country is supposed to work is different from how it really is. What I described was the outer surface of Denevi, but in reality, it's a cess pool of people who treat others as property." Vals, though his _Mana Perception could determine that Paul was getting upset.

"Are you alright Paul? You seem to be getting a bit worked up." Vals asked, his tone noticably softer than before.

"Hah...." Paul let out a sigh, and collected himself. "Well, I told you about my family right?" Vals nodded and responded.

"You did."

"I hadn't let you know what country I'm originally from. I came from Valonia. It's one of the three countries that still use slaves." Paul had his fist clenched tight. "I was once a butcher. I lived peacefully, with my family. I hadn't done anything, and yet they sent slavers to capture us. If they hadn't done that... my family wouldn't be dead. That incident was how I found out about my magic, and then because of that, the paladins came. They simply killed everyone, sparing no one..." Paul paused for a few moments to compose himself. "Either way, you can tell why I have a... distaste for slavery and people who partake in it."

"Well, yeah. I just don't really know too much about it, so I can't say much on how I feel about it." Vals contemplated for a bit. "Though... if you hate it so much, I guess we can do something about it."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Paul was confused, he understood what Vals was saying, yet simultaneously, failed to truly comprehend it.

"Well, you will probably become a lich at some point. I am already undead. It isn't like we lack time, in fact, it may be the one thing we don't lack." Vals paused for a brief moment to deliberate on his wording. "I'm saying that we could just grow over time and get rid of slavery through power, after all, if people oppose us, we can just kill them if we're strong."

"That's... true..." Paul had a lot to think about, and grew silent, so Vals directed his attention to the system, and initiated a conversation.

'How strong would I need to be to destroy some countries?'

[That's very dependent on multiple things.] The young woman's voice answered. [The military strength, land size, and certain organizations all make a difference in different countries! For example, even if military strength and land size were the exact same, the power required would change drastically depending on what organizations are invested in the country and how much they're invested. If one isn't very invested, they may not care so long as you let them be, likewise, thenopposite is true, if a organization is built in a country, or their main headquarters are there, they'll be willing to front much more money and power to protect the country.]

'I suppose that makes sense. After all it'd be like... actually I don't really know whay it'd be like. Perhaps like watching an acquaintance get hurt compared to a friend?' Vals struggled to understand the systems reasonings.

[Close enough, but you'll understand more as you get to know more of the world.]

'True enough.' Vals agreed.

"Sand Newt!" Paul yelled back towards Vals, who rushed forward like last time. This one managed to dodge, but not for long as Vals swept his sword into its neck before too long.

"We must be close now. It's not been an hour yet, and we encountered another one." Vals said.

"Yep. That means that we'll have fresh water that isn't made via magic. That's definitely something I'm looking forward to." Paul then turned and walked towards the same direction they'd been heading.

"Man, you living sure are strange." Vals chuckled.

*-*-*-*-*-*

"Sir!" A young man in half plate saluted to the large man. "We've found traces of the Necromancer in the air's mana, we belive that they are heading eastward!"

The older man nodded, his body was about twice the bulk of the younger man, scars littering his face, signs of the dangers that he'd faced over so long working as a paladin.

"Good. Have we yet identified the mana signature that travels with him?" The voice of the man, deep and noble entered through the air.

"Not yet, but it's apparently heavily filled with the life attribute. We worry that it may be something he picked up in the cursed city." The soldier answered

"Well, if that's the case, lets hope we find a corpse. It'll be much better than fighting a necromancer, since even weak ones can kill paladins if they're unprepared. Though I guess ut would be bad if he became a lich.

The older man laughed a bit, his not really a joke received some awkward chuckles, and then the man abruptly stopped laughing.

"We found traces, lets pack up and chase, I'd likento be done with this task before my grand-daughter graduates the academy." The man then took a deep breath, causing his diaphragm to lift and buldge a bit, then he let out a yell that stayed at around the noise of a gun shot continuously. "MEN! IT'S TIME TO MARCH FORTH!"