“You scout ahead and stumble upon a ritual held by five vampires, what do you do?”  The Dungeon master said.  Sir. Melvin the Paladin and servant of the god Mars, knew what he had to do. 

“I point my cross bow at the highest-level vampire and fire at the head with a holy water dipped bolt.”  Melvin picked up the dice and rolled for accuracy.  The dice landed a 20 turning into a 22 thanks to his accuracy. 

“Mars shines brightly upon you the Vampire’s head explodes shattered the other vampires with holy skull fragments causing shrapnel damage.  As the vampire’s body begins to deteriorate it burns lighting up the ritual.  Roll for action.”  Melvin was on a roll and dropped the die again.  18, the other four vampires scored in the single digits.  His party was approaching from behind. 

“I draw my holy blade and holy mace from its harness to duel wield.  With my sword, I decapitate the nearest vampire and attack with my mace at the next closest.”  He rolled scoring a seventeen, which turned into 23 due to high strength. 

“You cut the head off the nearest vampire and your mace shattered the next vampire’s rib cage.  The other undead look on in horror and attempt to flee.  What will you do?”  There could be no survivors.  Melvin grinned maniacally, as he rolled the die. 

“I cast smite on them.”  He rolled a 20.  This was great. 

“The vampires couldn’t take your holy might and are reduced to ashes.  This seemed to be their plan all along.  The mist of the fallen vampires pour into the summoning circle and merge with the phylactery of a lich.  BlackStar the vampire Lich has joined the field.  All players within 20m must roll a madness and fear check.”  The dungeon master said. 

Melvin tossed his die hoping for another high number.  He rolled a 1.  “Your mind has been broken by madness and you’re paralyzed by fear.  What will the party do?”  Melvin looked across the table.  James the Rouge Elf snorted and glared at Melvin.  Their wizard Markus rolled his eyes and their Orc cleric Rick just shook his head. 

“We leave Sir. Melvin to his fate and retreat back to the town.”  They all rolled high numbers. 

“Blackstar doesn’t care to follow you, he has a Paladin to torture.  He allows you to leave unmolested.”  Phil their DM said. 

“Come on guys you need me I’m the highest level.”  Melvin said. 

“The lich opens its mouth and drains you of blood and casts death touch.  Do you want to cast a saving throw?”  Melvin shook it was a lost cause. 

“I think we are done for the day.  Melvin you will have to come up with a new character and reroll later good luck.”  Phil said.  Melvin shrugged, he glared at his party they just looked away. 

“Hey, I have something fun we can do.  Something that will get us laid.”  Melvin perked up at James’ words.”  He looked around conspiratorially. 

“I printed us off some fake IDs.  My mom works at the DMV and I was able to barrow the machine.”  James said. 

He took out a small stack of licenses wrapped in rubber bands.  “You know this is illegal.  We aren’t 21 yet.”  Phil said. 

“Dude, Broken Steel is in town and throwing a party at the abandoned factory.  With these baby’s we can get in.”  James said. 

“Phil, we can get laid.  Its Broken Steel you know every hot chick in the state will be there and horny as fuck.  We have to go.”  Melvin said.  He blinked at Phil, trying to psychically impose his will upon him.  It must have worked because the guy slowly nodded his mop of curly brown hair.

 “Well it looks like we agree.  Let’s dress out in our best cloths come up with some fake jobs and get laid.”  Markus said. 

“Bradas do you know da way?  Because, I have no idea where the factory is.”  Melvin said. 

They all rolled their eyes at the stupid meme.  “Melvin just show up at my house at midnight and I’ll drive.  Dad used to work there, he took me there once.”  Phil said, Melvin nodded.

He got home and slammed the door behind him.  His crummy apartment shook a little as he busied himself with grabbing his best cloths and taking a shower.  Melvin kicked Snickers off his toilet.  The cat loved drinking out of toilets for some reason. 

His phone chose that moment to ring.  He turned off his water before he committed to a cold shower.  The landlord hadn’t fixed the water heater in a couple months. 

“Hey mom, what’s going on?”  Melvin said. 

“Melvin Finally, you have to call more often.  I’m about ready to shoot you boy.”  Melvin let his mouther talk, as he fixed himself a sandwich.  Better the eat now than be hungry later.

“I’m sorry love you mom, I should call you more it’s, I just work a lot and don’t have much time, everything gets crazy.”  Melvin said. 

“That’s ok boy, I remember what it was like at 19.  Its rough and hard on your own.  But you are making it and I’m proud of you.  Just call me more, I love you.”  Melvin frowned in annoyance. 

“I love you too mom.  I will call you tomorrow.  Me and the guys are getting ready to go see a late-night movie, so I need a shower.  Love you.”   He hung up on her after the good bye and finished his sandwich.  He kicked Snickers off the toilet, again and jumped in the cold shower quickly washing up. 

After combing his hair, he blasted it with jell to keep it in place.  Now, that his hair was concrete, it was time to watch youtube until 11:30. 

He made it to Phil’s house and hopped a few fences for his trouble.  The horses weren’t happy and charged at him like always.  He had gotten good at making hair pin turns to dodge horses.  That bit of adrenaline from a life-threatening chase woke him up. 

After hopping the last fence, he was there, Phil was at his car staring at his watch. “Finally, Melvin I was going to go without you.”  They got in Phil’s new car and made their way to the old factory.  Cars covered the parking lot and the sound of music could be heard a mile away.  Melvin put some earplugs in.

“People will thank you’re lame if you wear those.”  Phil said.  Melvin shrugged. 

“When I’m old and can still hear, then I won’t care.”  Melvin said.  They made it in the massive line and waited for their turn to go through.   

The bouncer looked tired.  It was three in the morning when they made it to the front and the party was still going strong.  He glanced at their IDs and let them in.  “Have fun fellas.”  The giant of a man said with a tired grin. 

Strobe lights were flashing, music was blaring, and hot chicks were dancing.  They felt out of place in their stuffy business suits.  Melvin shrugged and moved onto the floor.  He started copying the crowd the best he could.  His lanky body probably looked ridiculous, but he didn’t care. 

Phil and the others joined in behind him.  One of the hotter chicks took noticed and started bumping up against him.  “Hey, you’re dressed fancy, what do you do for a living?”  She said with a wink. 

He looked her over and knew she wasn’t from around here.  She was too beautiful.  A super model or something.  She was half Asian and thick in all the right places.  He started to focus his dancing more on her.  Melvin didn’t see the snickers from the other guys. 

“Software engineering, mostly anti-viral software,” he hoped his lie didn’t have too many holes in it.  Then again, the chick didn’t look like she knew much about computers but with Asians you never knew. 

“Oh, we got some business men, will you and your friends should come to the back room with me, for some real fun.”  The woman said.  Melvin found himself moving despite his brain yelling at him, ‘it’s a trap.’  It was the pillow shaped ass and bouncy titties, it had to be.  Curse his desire for half Asian flesh.  The others followed behind him quickly enough.

They made their way following behind her.  The room they entered was darkly lit.  Men and women were having sex on the floor all around them.  As the slow strobe light entered this place it showed people in various displays of passion. 

“Hey why don’t you take some of these.”  She handed him a bowl of various drugs.  He hesitated. “What are you afraid?”  Melvin grabbed a heavy hand full and popped them in his mouth.  He swallowed them down in a single gulp with a shot of Vodka.  The mass of pills slammed into his stomach like a heavy weight.  She looked at him and smiled. 

“You should be a lot of fun in a few minutes.”  The woman said.  Phil and the others declined the pills.  “Oh, come on fellas are you going to let your friend have all the fun.” 

“I think we have overstayed our welcome.  Its been fun but we better get out of here before anything bad happens.”  Melvin suddenly jerked his head to the side, it felt like something hit him.  He turned and punched the wall with all his might. 

“Fuck what hit me.”  Melvin said.  The other guys in the room turned to him in confusion.  He turned his head and they all appeared as horrid demons.  His heart began to beat rapidly.  “What the fuck did you do to me?”  Some of the demons stood up and began to crowd him.

“Hey guy, maybe you should go sit down.  Trish what did you give him?”  One of the demons asked. 

“A couple of aspirin and jelly beans nothing that should cause this.  I’m not about to give a couple of kids something hard.”  Horns grew from her head and horrid bat wings appeared.  She no longer spoke English, as the world began to get weird.  The walls turned into flesh and an eye started to peak in the dimly lit room causing it to light up.  

“That isn’t the kitty bowl Trish.  The kitty bowl has a blue lid that one has a black one.”  Melvin opened his mouth and started laughing.  He grabbed the nearest demon by the back of the head and began to ram them into the wall.  A powerful force hit him from behind.  His head snapped to the side to see a horrid abomination of tentacles trying to hold him down. 

The abomination’s head had two obvious weaknesses.  He grabbed ahold of the creature’s face and drove his thumbs through its eyes sockets.  The creature let go of him and he threw it into the next guy.  He ducked a demon trying to lock him in a headlock and nut shot him. 

Just as one of the demons smashed its fist into his face he felt his heart stop.  Melvin collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. 

Skeleton POV

They were mighty warriors trained for months fighting the forces of life.  With every battle their power grew, and new weapons had been afforded them.  This battle they were marching into would be a challenge like none before.  This was a test to prove themselves as more than mere skeletons, but as warriors. 

A door opened to reveal their foe.  Ten large humanoid undead unarmored and unarmed.  Grey skin and finely muscled, they looked fierce.  The skeleton captain directed his five archers at the one farthest and they opened a volley.  Five bolts fired and filled the creature’s chest and head.  Two in the eyes and three in the chest.  The grey skinned creature fell to the ground.  His archers reloaded for the next volley.

The captain lowered its leather covered hand three skeletal swordsmen leapt forward just as the foe became aware.  This was the true test of their training.  How would the enemy respond and how would he counter? 

The enemy didn’t disappoint.  They began to serpentine to negate the effectiveness of the volley.  Truly an admirable tactic.  His sword skeletons cut into the shoulder of one of the grey skin nearly cutting the arm from the bone.  A bolt pierced another grey skin in the thigh.  His pike skeleton protected him as the battle began to fall into chaos. 

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Melvin POV

Melvin began to regain awareness.  His head was pounding from the drugs and alcohol.  He had the most messed up trip.  Demons, what was he in the Cthulhu campaign.  How ridiculous, it felt like he was in an elevator.  Must be in the car heading home.  He hoped Phil wasn’t too drunk.  Maybe they got laid, he just wished he could remember what happened.  The elevator stopped with a sudden jerk. 

His eyes opened, and he noticed the world was too clear.  Paramedics pulled his beaten and broken body on a gurney.  The world became so clear.  He felt his body, his muscles were like steel cables, and his bones felt like titanium.  “Clear,” electricity flowed through his chest to no avail.  His heart was inert there was no bringing back the dead in his world.  Even if they got it started again, his brain was dead.  They began to strip his body of organs.  The fake ID said he was an organ downer.

The new world became the only thing that mattered.  He looked around to see others glancing about.  “It seems they chose us to be slaves.  How could the nobles damn us to such a fate?”  One was openly weeping, his tears falling upon the ground. 

Melvin started laughing to himself.  A door opened, and a team of skeletons grouped up and launched a volley at one of the guys at the furthest side.  They immediately began to reload.  “Serpentine,” Melvin yelled and pushed one of the other guys.  Everyone started to panic and run.   

Melvin didn’t feel tired when running.  His lungs sucked in air, but his heart never raced.  An impact nearly took him off his feet.  He looked down to see a bolt sticking out of his thigh.

A scream made him turn to the guy who lamented about nobles and fate. One of the skeleton swordsmen managed to hack at the guy’s arm.  It was holding together by a scrap of bone.  The guy was screaming, and the skeleton cackled evilly.  The green fire that was its eyes glowed ominously. 

He took a step and felt the sharp pain in his leg and was overwhelmed with power.  With each step he felt unimaginable pain then more power.  The pain and power were becoming indivisible.  He noticed that the world was slowing down.  His friend’s arm was starting to look like a mighty fine weapon in this situation. 

Melvin took the advantage and grabbed ahold of the guys hand.  He yanked him out of the way of the skeleton’s finishing blow.  The man screamed louder, as Melvin began to pull harder. 

“Hate to say it, but I need a hand.  Whether you give it, or I take it is up to you.”  The man looked at him like he was insane.  “K, I’m taking it.”  Melvin made sure to move his bad leg to give himself a much-needed boost.  The bone of the humorous snapped and the arm came with it.

With a turn, he smashed the end of the arm into the skeletal swordsman smashing the head off and up into concrete ceiling.  The light within the skull faded and Melvin felt his muscles bulge, he felt stronger.  A grin lit his face.

As he continued his momentum, he saw the archers prepare a volley in his direction.  In the corner of his eye, he saw his one-armed friend.  Melvin managed to duck behind his screaming friend as the bolts impacted his new meat shield.  His friend wasn’t looking, so good.  The guy was changing colors and glowing with black energy. 

Tentacle like protrusions began to poke out as eyes and mouths began to form and then sperate.  The body wouldn’t last much longer, and he was beginning to glow brighter.  In most games that meant explosions.  This guy was a grenade. 

Melvin picked the guy up and threw him at the line of archers.  His friend glowed brighter and exploded.  Black lightning, bone fragments, and gore covered the room in the explosion.  The skeletons were reduced to broken bones and shattered armor.  Melvin felt his strength increase again.  He began to laugh, as he felt his muscles bulge and shrink, the strength he felt was far greater than before.  

A spear jammed into his stomach from a sneaky skeletal pike man.  “I’m going to skull fuck you.”  Melvin yelled, and the skeleton balked for a moment.  He grabbed ahold of the spear and snapped the handle like a grown man would a twig.  

A blue screen of all things popped up with a message. 

New skill

Black Rage lv1

Pain and hatred fuels your power with this skill.  While in pain you enter a state of madness.  An aura of hate shrouds your body causing entropy damage to all enemies near you. 

+5%Stats +1%/lv

5 entropy dam/sec +1/lv

Cost 5MP/sec +1/lv

Melvin’s eyes casually moved to the two bars he hadn’t noticed before.  His health bar was slowly on the decline, but his MP hadn’t dropped since he got the bolt jammed in his thigh. 

A cloak of black mana covered his body, and everything felt it.  He dashed toward the pike man one stabbed him in the chest and it only made him angrier.  The spear snapped off his skin, as he used Black Rage four more times.  There was no end to the stack.  His health dropped below 25% and he was the only one of his group left alive.  One of the skeleton swordsmen casually decapitated one of his fleeing comrades. 

He grabbed ahold of the pike man’s head and crushed it in his grip.  The boost this time was small in comparison to the others.  He threw the body at the skeleton with an axe and steel armor.  Melvin roared and launched himself at the last two skeletal swordsmen like a missile.  Their bodies shattered under the force of his tackle.

The bones had been moving after the heads were destroyed.  The commander of the skeletons had called the parts of its men to it.  Through the madness he made note of the commander’s profile. 

Skeletal commander lone survivor lv25

A skeletal commander that has absorbed the stats of its soldiers and gained new power.  With its multiple arms it can carry many weapons. 

Melvin spotted a sword on the ground.  He picked it up and threw it at the Skeletal Commander.  The creature took the sword to the ribs and shrugged it off.  Melvin slammed his fists together rattling the air with force. 

He bent his knees and charged at the monster like a bullet.  A sword cut into the side of his shoulder, as he made contacted with the monster.  He cast Black Rage again.  His mouth opened, and he yelled with all his hate and confusion.  The pain, hate, and power kept increasing his strength, he grabbed ahold of the creature and began to punch it. 

Bones cracked, and his health was slowly whittled away, as he continued to crush this undead abomination with his fists.  It stabbed him with its swords and slammed its axe into the side of his head, but Melvin couldn’t be denied. 

He continued to crush the creature starting at the legs.  Once the knees were powder the creature collapsed.  Even in the haze of rage, dodging was possible.  He ripped the axe from the undead grip and turned the blunt side of the axe on the creature’s head.  Melvin struck it again and again.  Bones cracked and shatter before his might.  Only when the light was gone from the creature’s eyes did he stop. 

Black blood and bone fragments littered the area.  Strange organs covered the ground around his friend’s explosion.  The faces of his fellows looked up at him in lamentation of their fates.  “I’m not bound by fate believe it.”  Melvin said and chuckled to himself.  If this was a dream, then he would enjoy it.  As a paladin, he had some self-healing spells. 

His grey body was covered in wounds.  He held up his hand and focused on his flesh knitting back together.  The black aura continued to waft from his body.  Bones and weapons began to turn to dust and rust rapidly.  His wounds remained open and bleeding.  The door opened, and a man dressed in a fine black robe. 

Xen Rudolph lv232

Apprentice Necromancer QUAC

This is a necromancer that works for the Quality and Control Unit or QUAC they accel at determining if the quality of an item produced by necromantic organizations under the purview of the Black Church.  This is done by taking a multitude of factors into consideration and balancing them on a scale of values.  He is currently bored. 

“Disable all skills.”  Before Melvin was consciously aware of his actions.  His five stacks of Black Rage turned off. 

Unknown magic has taken control of your body

That didn’t help Melvin at all.  The man looked him over then looked over at the rest of the room.  He snorted and waved his hand over Melvin.  Melvin felt his body push the bolt and spear head out of his body.  His focus turned to the black energy filling his body.  Skin closed and soon he felt not pain. 

“Go to the living quarters with the others of your kind while you await your fate.  You will know in two weeks whether your batch are to be broken down for spare parts or not.”  Melvin felt his body move despite his own protests.  No mater his strength, his body took a step away from the room behind him.  He couldn’t even open his mouth and speak.  His existence was now, devoted to following orders.  He hated it. 

When next he was in control of his body, he was in a room filled with hundreds of other people.  They were all grey like him.  Their hairless bodies were clothed, and they were in clicks talking with one another.  It reminded him of high school.

They were all so, weak.  None were above lv one.  Speaking of levels, he had a mass of blue screens that he needed to swamp through.  The clicks could wait.  

He walked over to a nearby bench and sat down. 

Level up STR+2

Level up STR+2

…

Melvin Hill Lv30 next lv 53.687b

Xp 26.843b

Species: Undead

Race: Lich   

He froze, not only was he an undead, he was the equivalent of undead royalty a lich.  That only made him angrier.  How dare they stuff his soul in a phylactery, where was his phylactery?  His mind only needed a second to realize, they had it on hand and were more than willing to destroy it.  “Shit,” some of the others turned to him with raised eyebrows. 

Age: 19Years

HP 50/50

MP 50/50

VIT 5

DEX 5

STR 65

END 5

INT 5

WIS 5

WIL 5

CHA 5

LUK 5

Stat Points 150

                This changed things.  He had the potential to be truly powerful.  Though, there were a ton more screens to flip through. 

                Black Rage lv up x12

                Black Rage lv12

                You have gathered your rage and made it a worthy weapon.  Beware your enemies will become wary and your allies fearful. 

                +17% stats

                17 Entropy Area Dam

                Cost 17MP/sec

  New skill

Pain resistance lv1

You know pain, through torture and agony there is a shining light at the end.  By focusing on that light, you can begin to tolerate the tortures of the flesh. 

+1% pain resistance

New skill

Devastation lv10

Your strength has made your body a weapon to be feared.  No longer do you fight like a human you are a natural disaster, in the making. 

50 Phys Dam on contact +5/lv

Cost 50MP/sec +5/lv

  New skill

Dark Heal lv1

Through careful observation you have learned how Black Mana can be used to heal.  It may take time but soon you will be a competent healer. 

1HP restored/sec +1/lv

Cost 5MP/sec +1/lv

Now, he had a problem.  What would he spend his points on?  If he kept power leveling like he was, it wouldn’t take long for his strength to become a real threat to the necromancers that controlled this place.  From reading his stats he could surmise the Wil stat had something to do with resisting commands from the necromancers. 

There were still a few pages to work through. 

You have reached lv5 you may choose a perk

You have 26 perk points to spend and 3 perks to choose from.  In ten levels you will roll another 3 perks to choose from.      

 Brutal Death 0/10

I am become death destroyer of worlds.  Your fists have gained the power to snuff out lives and snatch more than just xp.  The more points placed in this perk the more effects it will gain. 

+5% chance to leech enemy HP, if HP is full .001% chance to add enemy HP permanently

Grey March 0/10

Every step you take is another for your people.  Your steps grant all allies a bonus when they are on ground you have already tread. 

+5% to ally stats and xp

Bloody Wraith 0/10

You are fill with rage and will stop at nothing to destroy your enemies.  When you inflict damage, you have a chance to cause bleed damage on non-undead enemies. 

1%chance per hit to cause bleed 1%Max enemy HP per/sec

Time limit 10sec

Melvin laughed out loud causing all the other grey skinned liches to look his way.  He smiled, “sorry I got OP.”  He continued to laugh as they stared at him like he was an alien.  He slammed 20perk points into Bloody Wraith and Brutal Death.  Both were maxed out instantly.  He had a one in ten thousand chances to add an enemies max HP on top of his own and 100secs of 10%max health damage on any enemy.  That perk was broken. 

When he really thought about it though.  The apprentice necromancer waved his hand and healed Melvin instantly. 

There was one screen left he clicked on it. 

STR has reached lv50 you have gained the perk Troll Musculature physical strength is now measured on the same scale as a troll’s.  A troll with 1Str is equal to a human with 10Str. 

Melvin felt his body shake for a second.  When he came to people were looking over him.  “What are you guys looking at, I’m not interested in ugly grey corpses?  Especially other men.”  One of them looked at him like he said something in bad taste. 

“I will have you know I’m a woman.”  The grey bald creature said. 

“I too am a masculine presenting transgendered lesbian.  Perhaps, we can braid each other’s hair later.”  They all looked at him like he was insane.  Maybe, he was this could all be a dream.  He looked the lot of the over.  That thought was becoming less likely by the second.  He would have to deal with them and the massive amount of skills and stats he now had. 

“I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot.  The name is Melvin Hill.  I like slaying foes and hearing the lamentation of their women.  Fucking their women over the corpses of said foes is a momentous past time of my people.”  They all looked fearful of him.  He turned his head to the side.  Had none of these people heard of sarcasm.   Its not like they just experienced a massacre or something. 

“I’m Jezebel of March, that is Franklin of Creek, and he is Bingaman of Douglass.  I haven’t heard of a village naming itself Hill is it near Salomon’s Town.”  Jezebel said.  This was getting better and better.