Alaster almost choked.
[Class: Death Knight
Level: 24<30
EXP: 74%<52%
Health: 525/525<675/675
Health Regeneration: 13/min<16/min
Mana: 580/580<730/730
Mana Regeneration: 11/min<14/min
Abilities: Necrotic Bolt, Raise Undead, Bone Crafting, Mana Manipulation, Death Touch, Skeleton Creation, Meditation, Necrotic Heal, Dead Aura, Flesh Crafting, Raise Mage, Dead Bomb
Bonuses: Horde, Death Pact, Split Mind, Swap, Blood Price, Imbuement, Fine Control
Strength: 74<104
Dexterity: 64<94
Constitution*: 83<113
Wisdom*: 118<148
Intelligence*: 100<130
Free Points: 0<30]
[Strength 100 Bonus Unlocked: Blood Aura]
[Constitution 100 Bonus Unlocked: Death Embrace]
[Horde Evolution Available]
[Raise Undead Evolution Available]
[Dead Bomb Evolution Available]
One of his Minotaurs looked over as Alaster struggled to control his coughing, but he waved it away.
“Ahem. Let's see what we have here!” Alaster’s heart rapidly beat as he began to look over his Status once more.
First, he added six Free Points into DEX to get the hundred Bonus. And the rest of the Free Points into WIS.
[Dexterity 100 Bonus Unlocked: Dark Sight]
Smiling to himself, he started at the top, with Strength.
[Strength 100 Bonus Unlocked: Blood Aura
Level 1: 0%
Grow stronger as blood is spilled
Radius: 5 meters]
Right out the gate, something amazing. As Alaster finished reading it, he could feel himself growing stronger. However, the effect only applied to his physical strength. He did not feel any increase in his Magical strength. While the Bonus didn’t detail how much stronger it made him, if Alaster was to make an educated guess, he was roughly 30% stronger. And he was in one of the more dry areas. If he went deeper into the carnage his [Horde] Skeletons had created, he had no doubt he would grow even stronger. The blood there was pooling.
Yet perhaps the greatest part of the Bonus? It was a passive. Alaster didn’t need to worry about activating it, or reserving mana for it. It was always active. The Bonus could also serve as a warning system. If he felt himself grow stronger for seemingly no reason, blood is spilled nearby.
‘That’ll help in crowded areas like cities. Onto the next.’
[Constitution 100 Bonus Unlocked: Death Embrace
Level 1: 0%
Forsake life, embrace the dead.
Mana Cost: 50/min]
‘That's vague. What does it actually do?’
The description hinted that it was permanent, but the Mana Cost said otherwise.
‘Does it remain active till I run out of Mana?’
Alaster looked around himself, checking for any obvious threats. But his Undead were through in that regard. He was as safe as he could be in a Dungeon, though his nose wasn’t. The dead Goblins were beginning to stink. But he ignored it, as difficult as that was in an enclosed area with no air flow.
Regardless, he decided to try it out. With a thought, he cast the Ability. The change felt impossible to describe. Like he was losing something vital to himself, but gaining something different, but equally vital. The noticeable changes were much easier to describe, though the young man struggled to comprehend them.
Holding up his hand, Alaster couldn’t believe it. It was nothing but bone. Like his Undead. Moving the cloak aside and holding up his shirt, he saw it was the same there. He could even put his bony fingers through his ribs. Alaster would have shivered, but he couldn’t. He had no organs, no muscles. However, Alaster also noted that while he could put his fingers between his ribs, or even touch his spine, there was an invisible force that was pushing him away, ending just outside of where his flesh would have been.
He had no doubt his face was also skeletal, but he had no mirror to check. His body felt much lighter and more flexible. He bent himself in ways no living human should be able to. It was eerie. He could jump much higher and was much more agile.
‘So it turns me into a skeleton. What's the benefits, though?’
For one, he no longer felt pain. He did feel it, but it wasn’t pain, more of a notification that there was something there. He only found that out by scratching one of his bones, as he had no flesh to damage. Which brought him to the next mental note. He no longer bled. He didn’t have any flesh to bleed! And with no organs, or brain, Alaster doubted he would be affected by such issues like concussions, shock, or stuns. And with no blood or organs, poisons and venom would have no effect.
Yet even as a Skeleton, his clothes and bone armor pieces still stayed and moved like it was still on flesh. Even if he took it off and put it back on. They acted like it would with flesh, unless it was pushed on with enough force, then it would move closer to the bone, but then push right back like a spring.
Alaster almost missed it, but even when he was experimenting with his clothing, he didn’t feel the chill. Even after stripping himself of everything, he was still perfectly comfortable. Or, it would be better to saw, he didn’t feel temperature at all, which was a weird feeling. Almost numbing.
Alaster would have widened his eyes, if he still had them. Which he no longer had to blink. That numbing feeling he had felt since activating the Ability. He felt cold. Not chilly, but emotionlessly cold. Every thought he had was cold, emotionless, and purely analytical. He had always been a logical boy. But now, it was as if he had no emotion behind any of his thoughts.
‘Fascinating.’ Alaster deactivated the Bonus. It had only been a few minutes.
[Constitution 100 Bonus: Death Embrace
Level 1: 0%<43%
Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
Forsake life, embrace the dead.
Mana Cost: 50/min]
‘For a Bonus, that leveled quickly.’
But he moved it aside. If he was planning on entering a battle, or a situation that needed careful thought, he would ensure to activate this Ability. He had heard that many Full Transformations also changed the way the person thought, but he hadn’t really cared, as Transformation Abilities were Uncommon and Full Transformations rare. Now he had one.
Instead of looking at the [Horde] Evolutions, Alaster decided to look at his next new Bonus.
[Dexterity 100 Bonus Unlocked: Dark Sight
Level 1: 0%
The Dark has no effect on you.
Range: 5 Meters]
Immediately upon reading, Alaster could feel something extremely slight change. Looking around, he found he could, in fact, see through the dark. The Tunnels had never been quite dark, due to the luminescent moss, but nor had they been light. Now, it was as if the amount of light meant nothing to Alaster. Everything within four meters he could see perfectly. The last meter of the Ability’s range faded out, the object was entering a fog, after that, the normal light took effect.
So while Alaster could still see further than five meters, he could only see perfect detail without light within those five meters. It was also a Passive Ability. Always active. The Bonus was incredibly rare. Night Vision Abilities were common. Not so much that everyone had them, but enough that the average hunting party would have at least one member with one such Ability. But Night Vision still required light, usually from the moon. If there was no light, the Ability was useless.
Of course, there were other types of sight Abilities. Such as Thermal Sight, allowing the user to see the temperature of things in various colors. Sounds fairly simple, but living creatures were very hot in terms of their surroundings. So even in pitch black, and even through certain materials, the user would still be able to see them.
Then there was Mana Sight, that allowed the User to see the Mana within and around objects. Of course, there were plenty of ways to trick that sight or even block it. Stone for example was fairly difficult for Mana to pass through, also concealing the Mana behind it.
Some Sight Abilities were activated, while others were passive. Alaster could only imagine how aggravating it would be for a person if Thermal Sight was a passive ability.
Next, were his Evolutions, of which he had three. Alaster decided to do the [Horde] Evolution first. It had been what allowed him to kill all the Goblins in the first place.
[Wisdom 50 Bonus: Horde Evolutions
1. Two Minions per Mana Regeneration
2. Stronger and faster Horde
3. Store Mana that will automatically raise those killed by the Horde]
Alaster almost choked again, but he managed to control himself. Nonetheless, he still couldn’t believe it. The Undead Alaster raised naturally, had roughly the same stats as when they were alive, minus the Wisdom and Intelligence. They only seemed stronger and faster because they didn’t have any of their fleshy bits weighing them down, nor did they even understand the concept of hesitation. He could only imagine how much quicker his [Horde] could have torn apart all the Goblins if he had this Evolution then.
The Third option was equally amazing, as it would allow him to send his [Horde] off and then focus on something else. So long as they were able to kill, they would never fall. However, he would also have to pay attention to it, in a way. To Alaster, it sounded like a battery.
Colius had shown him a Mana Battery. Mana Batteries were fairly rare items, simply because they saw minimal use. They were complicated to make, but easy to do when you understood it. They had numerous shapes and forms, so instead they were graded on how much Mana they could hold, as well as how much Mana they could release within a single minute. The one Colius had was only graded as a D Battery because it could only hold five hundred mana, and release fifty per minute.
Some Mages used Mana Batteries in battle, but most didn’t. They were expensive, and if damaged slightly, they were at risk of blowing up, releasing all the Mana still inside within a fraction of a second. It simply wasn’t worth the risk. However, Batteries still saw use. They could be used to power items. Alaster had even heard rumors that the Capital was powered by Batteries that were regularly charged. If a fortification was under attack, Siege Mages could recharge themselves using Mana Batteries, allowing them to release their Magic more often.
However, Alaster had also heard that Mana stored in Batteries could dissipate on its own over time, and if a Mage recharged themselves using Mana in Batteries, they tended to grow nauseous and sick. Typically, enough to make them vomit once or twice, but if the Mage continued within a short enough time, it could grow more severe.
Regardless, The third Evolution sounded like Alaster would store Mana within the Spell itself. Mana that would be used to raise more [Horde] Skeletons. If the Spell didn’t have enough Mana, it wouldn’t be able to raise anymore.
However, Alaster only glanced at the second and third Evolutions, as his attention was glued to the first. Currently, he was able to have fourteen [Horde] Skeletons, but if he meditated, he was able to maintain twenty-five. If he selected the first evolution, he would be able to raise twenty-four Skeletons, fifty if he meditated. Even if they were weak, the numbers alone were a threat. Not even High Adepts would want to encounter an entire Goblin Tribe without some form of AOE Ability.
Alaster chose the first evolution. He was excited to test it out, but he first had two more Evolutions to pick.
[Dead Bomb Evolutions:
1. Increase Range two meters
2. Increase Radius one meter
3. Adjust trajectory midair.]
All three Evolutions were good. However, he was more interested in Radius. The range was good at five meters. He would, of course, want to increase it later, but [Dead Bomb] was leveling incredibly quickly because the Goblins were packed tightly. And as much as he was sick of this Dungeon, he knew he would be running it again several times. With his increased mana, he could cast [Dead Bomb] three times consecutively. He was planning on using it many more times.
‘Come to think of it, I could probably use [Dead Bomb] to remove the stench.’ Alaster grinned to himself, before he remembered, ‘[Dead Bomb] removes everything that isn’t bone, including blood.’
Alaster had no doubt that against targets with higher Constitutions, the [Dead Bomb] would be less effective. But currently, against the Goblins, if he wanted to make use of [Blood Aura], he couldn’t use [Dead Bomb].
Regardless, he made his choice and moved onto his last Evolution. An Evolution for an Ability that was the backbone of his power.
[Warning: Change Detected in Ability]
Alaster immediately brought the Status of the Spell up.
[Raise Undead
Level 19<21: 45%<52%
Raise a corpse to serve as your servant
Max Minions: 6/7
Max Skeletons: 6/7
Mana Cost: 30]
‘Seven? When did that happen? Wait, it's an Adept Level Spell now!’
Many Abilities were known to ‘morph’ upon reaching a higher tier. Just like how Classes were tiered in Novice, Adept, and Expert, so too were Abilities. It didn’t matter when the Abilities were learned or gained. They all started at level one. Not all Abilities morphed, [Meditation] did not. But it seemed like [Raise Undead] did. However, it was rare for the System to tell the user what the change was exactly.
‘Hmm. Its level twenty-one now. And I can raise seven. Is it reliant on the multiple? Will I get another free Minion when the Spell reaches level twenty-eight? Or, do I get another Minion every level after twenty?’
Alaster did not know, but not that he was made aware, he was going to pay attention to the change, if any, when the Spell leveled up again. But, that was not his Evolution. He still had to choose it.
[Raise Undead Evolutions:
1. Bond, take direct control over a Minion.
2. Twin, raise two Minions per cast.
3. Null, Raise Minions’ Magic Resistance.]
None would drastically change things. However, he was leaning more towards Bond. It would pair nicely with [Swap]. Ordinarily, he could order his Minions exactly where he wanted, but if he couldn’t see it, then his orders were more general. Allowing the Minion itself to decide. Normally, his orders were simple. Go kill that, stand guard, things like that. But in settlements, he would have to be much more detailed.
And for [Swap], Alaster imagined that he would usually be using a Night Child to do the swap, and Night Children were not the same size or shape as Alaster, they could go places he couldn’t. Which is what made them such a prime target for [Swap], but if he used it, he could end up someplace he couldn’t fit, or get out of because he wasn’t a Night Child.
Twin, Alaster didn’t pay much attention to. It would make his mass summoning much easier and less costly, but he rarely did those. Nonetheless, Alaster still weighed the pros and cons of choosing it, and the Evolution was still in his considerations.
Null was an incredible pick, but he had yet to face a Mage. Owen didn’t really count because he didn’t try to use Magic against his Undead. Even if he had tried, his Magic was so weak Alaster doubted it would have affected him, let alone his Undead. But in the future, Alaster had no doubt he would be sending his Undead against Magic.
Alaster sat there, debating what to choose, for nearly an hour. He wanted all of them, but he could currently only choose one. However, in the end, while Null would have the greatest long term effect, it would not help him now, and if he died against something that didn’t use Magic, Null would be pointless.
Alaster chose Bond. When he chose the Blueprint Evolution of [Skeleton Creation], then he would choose Twin.
Looking around, Alaster selected one of his Minotaurs for his first Bond target. Bond did not require any Mana, in fact, the only thing it required was that the Minion was still active. It had no range or time limit.
Alaster felt his sensation black out, similar to how it was when he entered a Dungeon. Within that same moment, his vision returned, except it wasn’t his. He was seeing through the ‘eyes’ of the Minotaur. Which he quickly realized was pretty limited by the helmet visor. Alaster considered adjusting the Minotaurs’ visors, but so far, they hadn’t had any trouble with following his orders, so he just left it.
Being in the body of the Minotaur was very similar to [Death Embrace], in fact, it was pretty much the same, except that it wasn’t his body. Alaster turned his massive and heavy body to look his physical body. Laying there, he almost looked like he was asleep. Careful with his new body, he bent down and put his massive armored hand under his fleshy one, and lifted. Sure enough, it was just like he was asleep. When Alaster lowered his own fleshy arm, his Flesh body adjusted itself, just as if it was asleep.
‘Must be my second mind.’ Alaster assumed.
Turning away, Alaster decided to experiment with the Minotaur’s body. He did stretches to see how flexible they were. He ran as fast as he could, down the tunnel and back. He did some practice swings to see how powerful they were. When he finished a few minutes later, he was even more impressed with his creations.
Ending the Bond, Alaster opened his own eyes once more, only to be hit with a wave of exhaustion. Smiling to himself about his progress, Alaster adjusted the chair into more of a bed and closed his eyes. He still had the boss to defeat, but with his new changes, he was not worried.