I walked for hours until the darkness of the night engulfed the forest. It would still take another two days to get out of the village hunting grounds, but I decided to use every daylight moment to do it – I won’t let them get caught in my problems.
My second undead is slower than the first was before leveling, but it can still keep up with our march. It helps that I left the carrying for my level 3 skeleton. Instead of looking for a safer place, I decided to make my own security with the two undead, at least until I leave this area. It could be a really bad choice, but I wanted to cover as much ground as fast as I could.
Even so, I still had to do some basic camp settings. So, I cleaned a small area, gathered some wood, and got a fire started. The sky looked too blue for any rain, so I wasn’t prepared to use the waterproof hide that I brought from home. Before sleeping, I tried to clean myself with some leaves and a relatively clean part of my shirt, which had become a rug after my first fight.
My rushed job with the last boar had drowned me in blood and filth, and though I had tried to clean it with plants as we walked, I was as far as I had ever been from being clean. Unfortunately, I would keep staying so until I crossed a river or stream, regardless of how much I tried to clean myself. Actually, I was purposely avoiding going in the direction where I guessed the red river would flow. I knew the hunters would prefer to follow the river or the road for reference.
I observed my undead doing their guard around our humble camp until I couldn’t keep myself awake. I was no longer afraid of them; in fact, I was starting to like to have servants to heed my every call. However, I still didn’t trust their ability to guard me against all dangers that could be lurking through the night. Yet, nothing of that mattered when my body demanded some needed rest.
The skeletons did gain some confidence points when I woke up the next morning to the scene of two dead beasts lying outside of our ‘perimeter’. It was a brown snake and a rodent that I didn’t recognize. Both didn’t look much of a threat, but it was a testament to my guards' efficiency. I took the cores of the beasts, as nothing more was of value, and proceed to inspect my undead. Both didn’t seem damaged in any way, but their purple mana – I need a better name for it – had started to degrade.
No time like the present, I guess.
I did a quick check on my stats and started channeling into the first skeleton. Again, the mana offered some initial resistance but flowed easily after the contact was made. I channeled vigorously until it became difficult to push further. The undead did look ‘refilled’, so I stopped and checked my stats.
My mana was down by 6 points, which was just a little more than I expected, but what truly made me pause was the 2 points of health that I lost. So, anything I do with my mana has some health costs too… Maybe my necromancy mana is somehow toxic to life, even to my own. That gives me a few ideas for offensive engagement… Let’s go back to it later, now I need to refill the other skeleton and get all the numbers.
I did so. The result was pretty much the same, except that it cost me 2 points of mana and 1 of health. That left me with a two multiplier for the mana for each level and an unknown direct relation with health. The health penalty was dangerous but not that bad considering that it would ‘heal’ fast. While a wound like my bruised – hopefully, not broken – bones was taking days without assistance. I knew that a healer could get me fixed in no time, but I doubt I’ll have access to those any time soon, or ever.
CLASS
NECROMANCER
LEVEL
3
HEALTH
60 (70)
MANA
22 (30)
SKILLS
BRINK OF DEATH
YOU CAN BRING YOURSELF FROM THE BRINK OF DEATH (X).
COST: HALF OF YOUR TOTAL HEALTH (PERMANENT)
RAISE SKELETON
SUMMON AN UNDEAD FROM THE BONES OF A DEAD BEING (I).
Cost: 10 mana and 5 health.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
A day later and a few more kilometers away from the village, I met another lesser boar. This time around, I let my undead take care of it and only commanded them from a ‘safe’ distance. My leading skeleton was mostly undamaged but the weaker one lost many bones during the fight. However, something strange happened when the level 3 skeleton finally slayed the beast. Before the purple mana appeared over the dead body, I saw the ‘purple’ of my skeletons deepen, and as ran forward to inspect the situation, I felt ‘something’ enter my body.
After a quick check, I discovered that my health and mana had gone up by 2 points and 1 point, respectively. So, when I kill – or when my undead kill – I’ll absorb the health and mana from other beings. Nice! However, I seemed to remember having a stronger ‘feeling’ in the last two times. Then, I turned to my skeletons and got a pretty good idea of what was happening.
Either because I didn’t participate in the kill, or because I was far from it, the skeletons – let’s call them Skelly-1 and Skelly-2 – ended up absorbing more while I got less. Wait, Skelly-1 seemed to have absorbed more, probably because it dealt more damage and landed the fatal blow. If I use the same logic for leveling, Skelly-2 didn’t level because it didn’t cause enough damage. Damn! I should’ve held Skelly-1. Or maybe not, Skelly-2 was already banged up as it’s.
While trying to organize my thoughts, I started to skin and process the boar – we couldn’t stay here for long, could we? – I was getting better at it with every kill, however, I still took two hours to get all the bones cleaned. The summoning proceed as expected but faster. I was getting better at that too.
After raising Skelly-3, I moved to ‘fix’ and recharge the other two. Surprisingly, Skelly-1 barely needed any mana – it should’ve got what it needs from the kill. – Unfortunately, Skelly-2 required extensive repairs. It took 5 mana, 2 health, plus all the bones there were scattered during the fight.
As expected, Skelly-3 was only level 1. Like Skelly-2, it had once been a level 6 beast, so it was just business as usual. Yet, I had a hunch that I could improve the starting level of skeletons by leveling my skill. Either way, that was something to verify later, because now, I need to get going.
The forest started growing even denser, while I started avoiding fights. I wanted to leave this area as soon as possible, so I couldn’t stop to face every single beast on the way. Actually, let’s be honest, I’m only rushing because just a few hours after raising Skelly-3 I had another almost meeting with the village hunters. Fortunately, they are too loud and I can hear them approaching from some distance. There’s also a strange sense I get when living beings get close. Sadly, it’s too weak and unreliable – I hope it gets stronger.
In the rush to get away from the village, I avoided many fights, until I met a wolf.