Pain.
All encompassing pain.
There was nothing else.
Alaster did not know how long that was the case. It felt like an eternity, where he felt like he was floating in a bubble of agony.
However, gradually, that bubble became smaller and smaller, until he could sense the world around him. He was still in pain, but it was not consuming him, at least not entirely.
Some unknown amount of time passed, and Alaster was eventually able to make out the world.
Opening his eyes with a groan, through blurry eyes, he could see that he was in a room, on top of a bed. With much effort, he turned his head to the side and saw a beautiful young woman in a chair beside the bed. She was leaning on the bed and had fallen asleep there.
Against the wall, just a few feet behind the sleeping woman, another woman was asleep in another armchair, spread out without a care in the world. She was not conventionally beautiful, but she had a certain draw that made her just as difficult to look away from as the girl beside him.
Iris was in a pretty but functional dress while Astrid was what appeared to be clothes she would train in.
Alaster attempted to sit up, but found his body too weak to do so. His attempt, coupled with his gasp as pain shot through his entire body, woke both women.
“You’re awake!” Astrid exclaimed, causing Alaster to recoil slightly as his head pounded like a drum.
“Shoosh Astrid, he just woke up.” Iris scolded.
“Oh, sorry.”
“How are you feeling?” Iris asked as Astrid walked over and gently sat down at the foot of the bed, crossing her long legs and facing Alaster.
“Pretty good, considering I died.”
Iris winced, but Astrid chuckled, “No kidding! How did you do that anyway? There was no Healer around with the capability to revive someone. So how did you revive yourself?”
Alaster opened his mouth to answer, but found that the memory was muddled, like someone had thrown dirt into a pond.
“I…don’t know.”
“Well, you broke your promise to both of us.” Astrid accused.
“What promise?” Alaster asked with a sigh. His pain was still present, but he was beginning to be able to function past it.
“Not to die.” Iris stated with a frown.
“No, I distinctly remember that I said that I would come back. And I did, just not in the manner I’m sure we all wish I had.” Alaster said with a smile.
Astrid laughed and Iris moved to slap Alaster’s arm, but thought better of it, much to Alaster’s relief. Astrid’s movements were jiggling the bed enough as it was.
“So, what happened anyway?” The bedridden man asked.
They both stopped smiling. Iris opened her mouth to speak, but Astrid was faster.
“It’s been nearly a month since the Siege ended. It took the entire wall falling on your thick skull to kill you, but apparently not for good. Only a few minutes later, you crawled out of the rubble, except that it wasn’t you. At least not the you we know.
There was this black inky film over you, like the stuff I saw down in the Portal room. You grew this tail like thing out of the black stuff. Sharp, strong, and wicked fast. You dove into the remaining Experts that he killed you and ripped them apart within moments, then you turned to the Tarian army.
You previously told Iris that even you couldn’t singlehandedly defeat an army that size, but that was pretty much exactly what you did.
While the Onigarians were too stunned to assist, you carved through the Tarians like a hot knife through butter. According to the reports, and the few recordings, it was like you were some Monster beyond Expert Tier. You used the claws of your armor, your feet, and the tail, but no weapon.
It was terrifying to see in the recording, I can only imagine what it must have felt like for the Tarians themselves. They fled, and you killed any stupid enough to stay. The Tarians fled the siege entirely, you even killed their General.
I imagine they are back in Tarian Lands, wondering just how to describe why they lost.”
Iris just nodded along solemnly. She too had seen the recordings, and even read a few of the reports. It had frightened her. She was scared of what it meant and could mean. Both for Onigas, and for Alaster.
Alaster meanwhile took a moment to process that information. He had been unconscious for an entire month.
‘Bel? Sedall? You guys still there?’ Alaster desperately asked.
It took a moment before he heard Sedall’s voice.
‘Yeah, we’re still here. Bel got hurt when you died because his soul is bound to yours, but he will be alright.’
‘I’m not some cripple! I can speak for myself.’ Bel’s smooth yet powerful voice resounded.
Alaster sighed in relief as the two voices began to bicker once more. But then his eyes widened once more.
“Wait, did I hurt anyone from our side?”
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Iris vehemently shook her head, “No. You didn’t hurt anyone.”
“Good, good.” Alaster said, allowing himself to sink into the bed.
“Has anything else happened?” He asked.
Astrid and Iris looked at each other for a moment before Iris answered, “Quite a bit actually. A week after the Siege ended, a group representing Galmore arrived wanting to discuss something of importance.”
“You don’t know? I thought you would have snuck in to eavesdrop.” Alaster smirked.
“Not this time. It must have been pretty important because they used some pretty powerful enchantments to prevent just that thing. Whatever it is, they don’t want anyone to know about it.
But there was one man, he seemed like the leader, but also let the others do all the talking. They seemed to look to him for permission a couple of times. He stood apart from them and seemed intent to simply watch. He claimed to be your teacher.”
“Yeah, I know him. Technically he hasn’t actually taught me anything. I first had to prove myself worthy of his teachings. But if he is claiming me as his student, I guess I passed?”
“Sounds arrogant.” Astrid said bluntly.
“Perhaps, but he came highly recommended. But can we discuss this later? I am still quite tired.”
“Of course. Come on Astrid!” Iris quickly stood up and grabbed Astrid by the elbow, dragging her off the bed and out of the room.
Once the door closed, Alaster relaxed completely, sinking into the bed and momentarily giving in to the pain.
‘You should check your Status. I felt some changes.’ Belgroth informed.
‘Yeah. I’ll get to it.’
It took several minutes for Alaster to actually do so. The pain was quite distracting and seemed to come from everywhere.
[Class: Lord of the Dead
Level: 67<79
EXP: 72%<48%
Health: 2,160/2,160<2,250/2,250
Health Regeneration: 92/min<96/min
Mana: 2,090/2,090<2,600/2,600
Mana Regeneration: 100/min<110/min
Bloodline: Demonic Blood
Abilities: Striker Type, AOE Type, Minion Type, General Type
Passives: Pain Tolerance, Blunt Resistance, Regeneration, Magic Resistance
Bonuses: Horde, Death Pact, Soul Domain, Split Mind, Swap, Soul Seal, Blood Price, Dead Embrace, Last Stand, Imbuement, Blood Aura, Reaper, Fine Control, Dark Sight, Seeker Sight
Stats:
Strength: 271<300 Wisdom*: 494<534
Dexterity: 267<297 Intelligence*: 356<398
Constitution*: 372<412 Free Points: 0<120]
‘Gods, it’s been a while since I last checked. That’s quite the level up considering how high of a level I was already.’
‘True, but you are forgetting just how many Adepts and Experts you killed in the past week. The System doesn’t reward as much experience for killing Humans as it does for Monsters, but when you kill as many as you did, that doesn’t mean much.’
‘Hundreds of Adepts at least, as well as a couple dozen Experts.’ Belgroth added.
‘Couple dozen? But there was only a dozen that killed me.’
‘And you think that was all the Tarian army had? The dozen they sent against you were just their best. At least the best they had with them. Have no doubt, there are stronger ones under the Tarian Banner.’
‘Pay attention to your Status, you aren’t done.’
[Wisdom 500 Bonus: Reaper’s Touch
Consume the souls of the dead.
Be careful not to let them consume you.
Mana Cost: 2,000 per use]
‘What does it mean, per use?’ Alaster asked, closing his eyes against the evening light peeking through the window.
‘Meditate. Search through the Mana Streams for the answer.’ Belgroth sighed, he had told Alaster that exact thing countless times.
Alaster did as he was told and slowly got into the right mindset. Seeing and manipulating Mana Streams were becoming easier to Alaster, but it was not something as simple as conjuring a ball of fire.
Meditating was a common practice to learn more about one’s Abilities, but simply meditating would only be able to disclose genetic information. By peering into the Mana Streams of an Ability, Alaster was able to see detailed information, though it was still not everything.
Slowly, Alaster was able to discern the details of his newest Bonus.
Upon activation, Reaper’s Touch would pull in the nearby souls of the dead. The souls would be consumed by the User’s own soul, growing stronger with each one eaten. However, the force of the souls was quite intense on the User’s own. Depending on the strength of the souls and the number, the User was at real risk of having their soul shattered, or even worse, corrupted.
A corrupted soul became a ghoul. A person who consumed others in an attempt to fill a hole in their own soul. And in this instance, it was not metaphorical. A ghoul could be considered a type of Wild Undead, one as powerful as the person as they were alive.
It was a man-made Monster that haunted many a nightmare and horror story. They were rare, otherwise civilization would have long since collapsed.
Alaster studied the streams intently. As a Necrotic Mana User, Alaster’s soul was stronger than most mortal souls naturally. And Alaster’s was further strengthened by his advanced level, Special Body, and Elite Class. But the risk was still there. Though the more he thought about it, the rewards might be worth it.
Depending on the strength of the souls, they would give Free Points to Alaster. That was a powerful Bonus, though according to Sedall, was not overly rare among Experts. Many had access to Abilities or Bonuses that granted Free Points or Stat Points.
And yet, Alaster was still not done looking through his Status. He had one hundred and twenty Free Points to distribute. Using the Free Points, he could either get Constitution or Intelligence up to five hundred, granting him another Bonus.
He could only have three five hundred Stat Bonuses, and he had already chosen to use his Prime Stats. So, either way, he would eventually have both Constitution and Intelligence Bonuses. It was just a matter of which he wanted now.
Constitution Bonuses typically increased survivability while Intelligence Bonuses were more diverse. The first INT Bonus allowed him to cast multiple spells at once through his [Split Mind]. But his second INT Bonus improved his mobility. Though traditionally, Intelligence Bonuses tended to empower a person’s Magic.
Alaster eventually settled on getting the Intelligence Bonus.
[Intelligence 500 Bonus: Shared Pain
Transfer all sustained damage between select Minions.
Level 1: 0%
Max Minions: 4
Range: 10 Meters]
‘…Holy,’
‘Watch it young man.’ Sedall teased.
‘How can I? I was already a damn cockroach before! Now I might as well be immortal. So long as I have Mana, I won’t die! And My Mana sustainability is already insane!’
‘Not quite. There are a few advanced enchantments that can block summonings and portals. Think of it this way, for just about everything, there is something that counters it.’ Belgroth said.
‘Yeah, but are those enchantments something Human Mortals today would know?’
‘Rare, but yes.’ Sedall clarified, ‘Most high value locations will have such enchantments, they might be sloppy and crude compared to the ones Belgroth knows, but I guarantee that just about every throne room and Royal Quarters will have them.’
‘Too be fair though, just about everything Magic related would seem crude to Bel.’
‘True. Like a bunch of goblins drawing pictures in their own feces.’
Alaster’s attention was then forced away. Anyone who had something new in their Status, while they were looking at it, would have a sense if they had not seen everything new. It was very minor, easily ignored. Alaster had gotten two five hundred Stat Bonuses, and yet, he still had that sense that he had missed something.
Alaster took another look and noticed something at the very bottom corner of his Status. Mentally selecting it, Alaster was stunned, more so than he had ever been before.
[System Alert: Living Undead
You came back from the dead. Not just from the state of neutrality, you came back from the other side.
With the aid of the Corrupted, you broke the laws of nature.
You are the Warden of the Corrupted, do not become its prisoner.]
[Rebirth
The Souls of the dead are lost to the other side, but not their memories.
Return to a body their memories, but not their soul.]