His body was a wet paper bag holding back an explosion. Any movement could rip his flesh apart. Just moving at his full speed had nearly destroyed him. He looked over to see the downed body of Duluth.
After rotting rapidly, a small green gem remained. Melvin walked over slowly and picked up the small green stone. He let go of it when green mana began to invade his body.
“Shit, fuck why does this keep happening?” Green mana infested his body again. Slowly the green energy crept into his system only for the pain to force fresh power into him. His eyes went black and he yelled out.
His territory slowly expanded from his zombie horde. When the black mana of his territory reached his feet, he felt the soothing touch of the dark. Melvin soaked in the black mana and let it sooth his aching bones.
Plants died filling him with ever more Black Mana. His zombies soaked it up leveling and empowering him with their mana stores. He thrust his hand into the nearest zombie and began to drain it dry.
“Hello, my friend you seem well.” A butterfly man said.
Melvin continued absorbing the black mana from the zombie wolf. He needed to regain max MP quickly.
“Have you begun filling out the forest quests. There should be some even for a mere corpse such as yourself. Even mongrel elves have quests presented to them by their ancestors. Your little compound must have issued a few.” Mobius said.
“I didn’t know there were quests. Can anyone set them? How does the rewards system work?” Melvin asked. He had a ton of stat points to allocate and more than a few perks to get used to. If Mobius pushed him, well he had enough mana for one more all out assault.
“You’ve gotten scary Melvin. I can see your body brisling with power. So, sexy you must drive all the zombie girls crazy.” Mobius said.
Melvin measured the distance between himself and Mobius. It was just a few hundred feet. If he really boosted his stats, maybe he could rip the wings off in his first blow. Then, he could use one of the nearby trees as a spring board to finish him with a decapitating close line. He decided to call the move the guillotine.
“There are indeed quests some I’ve made and other created by your tribe. Though, those are unavailable to me. You are a scary guy. Duluth is a hard bitch to put down. I’ve done it once myself, but she always comes back with an immunity to what destroyed her before. The number of coincidental perks that foul woman has, could fill a scroll.” Mobius landed in Melvin’s territory and began converting it instantly. “You hurt me Melvin, you hurt me so much, and I’ve become interested in your growth. You a mere newborn ripped off one of my wings and forced me to replace myself with a wood clone. A devastating insult but killing you here would be a waste. I want to fight you at your most beautiful, when your power is great enough to slay this forest as I can grow it. As for your question. So, long as the quest is difficult enough to warrant the rewards, then our world’s system accepts it. If the reward is less than the effort, then the system may grant random rewards. I would advise you not to cheat the system. Even I am not confident enough to challenge the system.” The butterfly man turned his back, Melvin prepared himself to strike. “I wouldn’t, I’ve had more than enough time to reacquaint myself with my stats. Our roles are reversed it seems.” Something was wrong.
His zombie bears suddenly ripped open magenta butterflies began to pour out of the. The flesh of his zombies began to rapidly lose form as their HP dropped. Melvin gripped his face as sudden pain overtook him. His eyes burst as caterpillars began to wiggle within devouring his flesh.
“Duluth was my mother Melvin. She created me many hundreds of years ago. It was my summoning that brought her back to this world and you killed her. So, suffer.” Melvin yelled unleashing Black Rage as his body fought to produce more black mana.
The caterpillars in his eyes died. He was blind, but stat screens were in his head. Melvin was blind, but he could still feel life and death. The world slowly came back into focus, not as a world of color but as mana.
New skill
Mana Sight lv1
No longer are you bound by the physical world. All things touched by mana show themselves in a 3demensional scale. The higher the level the further your sight extends.
5m +1/lv
5MP +1/lv
Melvin could see again, he was a single point with perfect 360-degree vision. He doubled and tripled the stack on Mana Sight. Extending his view to encompass the trees, the maggots within his zombies, and Mobius. The world became a fight between green and black energy. His Black Rage had been a wave before, he had no way to truly direct it. Now with eyes that saw only energy, he could see where the green infected the black. The entropy aura shifted becoming an entity of long precise tentacles.
He struck with a scalpel of entropy killing the small green worms. “This is why, I won’t kill you before your stronger Melvin. Even when you shouldn’t have a way to fight back, you make one. Keep growing, Melvin show me what you can do. And thank you for the treat.” Mobius held the green gem that had been in Duluth’s body. He swallowed it down, the light green his body was made of darkened to a forest green.
Mobius Son of Duluth lv2300
Minor divine status
This entity was created by Duluth. His poisonous dust contains necrotic caterpillar eggs. Tiny amounts of white mana exist within his own mana pool allowing him to resist the power of death itself. He can manipulate nature and mutate it to suit his needs. The elves of the deer tribe consider him a dark spirit of misfortune. They will do anything to destroy this monster. He has taken a liking to you protect you ass at all costs.
New skills
Mana Control lv1
Manipulate the finer aspects of mana and yield greater results. No longer are you a mere initiate, with this skill you are practically a novice. If you ever get back to the organization, they will surely up your rank.
-1MP cost/lv
+1% Effect Dam/lv
Mana Shape lv1
A further evolution on the road to mana manipulation. Not only have you gained the ability to make constructs from mana, but you can maintain their form for an extended period. This skill is at the apprentice level.
-5MP/lv
+5%Effect Dam/lv
“Are you at your perfect form now? You haven’t changed much. Duluth had another 5k levels over you and I killed her. What makes you think I won’t kill you?” Mobius turned his head to the side.
“Duluth, my mother wasn’t a combatant. She was always a researcher all her stat points were in wisdom, Luck, Vitality, and Intelligence. Her build was in territory creation and gene manipulation. You couldn’t find a better researcher and shaman in the deer tribe. In combat, she was worthless. The only real combat skill she had was a Heavy Life Lance. The skill is powerful, I won’t gain access to it until lv5k, but it isn’t something to write home about at her level. She wasn’t a war ancestor; I and my brothers were created for that purpose. You have a week to become strong enough to fight me.” Mobius said, and flew away covering the forest with his dust. Melvin formed a black barrier around himself and his remaining zombies.
Melvin knew what he had to do, take advantage of his infinite stamina and grind. First Perks, he had over1000 in strength there had to be some powerful perks.
STR Perks
1. Troll Musculature
X10STR
2. Dark Soul Reaper
+50% of users STR added to Minions
+0.01% of Minion STR upon their death
3. Decaying Wrath
1% of STR as Entropy Damage per hit
4. Frozen Brutality
1% of STR as Ice Damage per hit
0.01% chance to inflict Frozen
5. Finite Blow
0.01% enemy level reduction
6. Devour Might
0.01% Steal STR
7. Death March
Territory boosts STR 5%
8. Strong body Stronger mind
Increase INT by 1% of STR
9. Strong Vitality
Increase VIT by 1% of STR
10. Mighty WIL
Increase WIL by 1% of STR
11. 1000 Fists IN the Air
Sacrifice 1000 Minions to double STR for 10s
12. Shade of Might
Project a ghostly entity for 30s once a day with half of all your Stats except STR. The ghostly projection possesses all your skills and will attack any of your enemies.
Melvin Hill lv535
Species: Undead
Race: Lich
Age: 19Years
Perks: Brutal Death 10/10, Bloody Wrath 10/10, Troll Musculature, Steel Spirit, Exceptional Control.
HP 10,000/96,300(+2,500)(98,800)
MP 15,000/85,600
VIT 70(180)
STR 1,100(11,000)
DEX 50
END 10
INT 50(160)
WIS 9
WIL 50(160)
CHA 10
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
LUK 5
Stat Points 2,525
Skills
Black Rage lv58
Devastation lv20
Dark Heal lv10
Pain Resistance lv5
Raise Dead lv12
Control Dead lv10
Death Touch lv5
Territory Creation lv20
Bone Craft lv1
Mana Sight lv3
Mana Control lv2
Mana Shape lv1
With Mobius out of the picture, he slumped over and started casting Dark Heal on himself. His body was a mess. The black mana was leaking from his body even as he tried to face off against mobius and those damn maggots.
If he was really going to fight the guy, he needed a leg up. He was less than a fourth the guys lv and in most games that would mean his death. But, if builds really decided everything then maybe he needed to specialize even further in brutality. The only thing keeping him from plummeting all 2,525 points in STR was the feeling his body gave off. Melvin felt unbalanced.
He had to use less strength than ever just to keep himself from jumping through the tree tops by accident. The ground felt like it would fall apart if he wasn’t careful. His body looked like a giant mass of muscle. He needed to even it out with DEX and END. The problem was, it took 10 of any stat to equal one of STR.
He opened the quest menu. All quests were labeled under W, B, G, U, Y, R, O, P, S. He navigated to B which stood for Black Mana. There were three tabs. Skills Lab, Bounty, and Farming he clicked on the skills lab. If he was going to get stronger perhaps gaining a few skills would be beneficial.
Then more tabs appeared. There were dozens but only six were available. Bone Craft, Undead Management, Mana Manipulation, Alchemy, Flesh Craft, and Summoning. Melvin took a breath and clicked on Bone Craft. He hadn’t had a chance to mess with the skill recently. The next list of tabs was listed Initiate, Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Adept, Master, Grand Master, and Overlord. The only quests available were in Initiate.
Of the Initiate tab only one quest was available.
Initiate Quest
Bone Craft 101
Acquire: three bird skeletons
Rewards: +1lv Bone Craft
Y/N
Melvin picked up three bird corpses and rotted away the flesh and muscles, while keeping the skeletons intact.
Initiate Quest Complete
Bone Craft 101 Part1
Bone Craft Level UP
Bone Craft lv2
Melvin went to the next quest.
Initiate Quest
Bone Craft 101 Part 2
Shape: 1Bone Ingot from three bird Skeletons
Rewards: +1lv Bone Craft
Y/N
He placed his hands on the skeletons and slowly pooled his mana within them. Once his mana comprised the empty spaces between the molecules that made up the bones, he could pull them and force them to change shape.
Slowly, the bones broke apart and crumbled into dust. This wasn’t how a bone ingot was made. Fortunately, there were plenty of skeletons to choose from.
After the fourth attempt, he had an idea. Altering the bones damaged them, so why not heal them as he alters them. Melvin started moving the bones apart, when there was a crack, he used dark heal to regain durability.
Soon, he had a small ingot, full of black mana.
Initiate Quest Complete
Bone Craft 101 Part2
Reward: +1lv Bone Craft
Bone Craft Level Up
Bone Craft lv3
Every time, he completed a quest a new one opened. It was slow, but with a new level for each quest he could see himself mastering the skill overtime. This must have been what Mobius was talking about. Quests could make or break a build. His stats were at the apprentice level, but his skills were not. There were ten quests to each tier.
Initiate Quest
Bone Craft 101 Part 3
Craft: Bone Dagger
Slay: Forest Bear with Bone Dagger
Rewards: +1lv Bone Craft, +1INT
This was a real test. He held the small ingot in his hand and slowly widened and healed the block of bone until it was the length he wanted the dagger. He brushed his hand over the back end of the block rounding it for the hilt. Melvin added a slight guard for the fingers and then began work on the blade. He thinned and edged the blade careful to add a slight second edge on the back of the blade for extra penetration.
He kept the blade straight, piercing a Forest bear’s skull would be difficult enough for the weapon. A curved blade would decrease piercing power. Watching knife and sword channels on Youtube never came in so handy.
With the blade formed he stabbed into a nearby tree. The formerly hollow bird bones held up well enough thanks to Melvin’s efforts to strengthen them.
With dagger in hand he ran deeper through the forest. He doubted Mobius would let him out, so it was better to train. After dashing through the forest, he came upon his prey. A lone male bear was scratching against nearby rocks sharpening its claws. Melvin kept his mana close to his body to keep his presence concealed.
He stepped out of cover when the bear’s back was turned. Leaping upon the bear’s back, he thrust his dagger at the nape of the bear’s neck. Melvin hoped to take out the creature’s spine in the first stab. Fat and muscle were too thick for the dagger to pierce. The bear struggled only for Melvin to kick it against the rock. Dagger in hand, he began to rapidly stab at the bear’s stomach. Blood covered his body as the bear was suddenly inflicted with frozen. Its whole body froze solid then with a final kick, it shattered.
Frozen blood covered his dagger. He looked at it more carefully. The dagger gained an effect after slaying a bear.
Frozen Bone Dagger
+1 to 10 Frost damage
Initiate Quest Complete
Bone Craft 101 Part 3
Reward: +1lv Bone Craft, +1INT
Bone Craft level up
Bone Craft lv4
Initiate Quest
Bone Craft 101 Part4
Merge: 2 Bone Daggers
Craft: M Bone Ingots 2
Rewards: +1lv Bone Craft, +1INT
As for the bone M Bone Ingots, that was simple. He just killed a couple of wolves and made ingots from their bones, until his quest tab had a check mark by the Craft icon. He took one of the spares and began to merge them the same way he altered bones. Melvin repeatedly altered and healed them until they were one solid element. That didn’t complete the quest.
He had to look deeper. With his mana sight, he saw pieces of bone that didn’t react well to Black Mana. Melvin forced them out and kept the pieces that reacted well. Once complete a new window popped up.
Initiate Quest
Bone Craft 101 Part 4
Rewards: +1lv Bone Craft, +1INT
Bone Craft level up
Bone Craft lv5
2free INT points didn’t seem like much, but if he was still in the facility that would be the difference between life and death. There was so much left to do. It had only been a few hours since he started questing.
After part 6 every quest gave him 2INT and 1WIS. Now he was on part 10.
Initiate Quest
Bone Craft 101 part10
Craft1: 24 bone shafts, 24 Bone broadheads, 24 fletchers, 24 nocks
Craft2: 1 Bone Longbow
Slay: Forest Turkeys 10
Rewards: +2lvs Bone Craft, +2INT, +1WIS
This wasn’t as daunting a task as it should be. After building calipers and a few bone sculpting tools, this was the next step. He even had a bone quiver and a spine harness. He wore a kilt, he made from bear hide sewn with a thread he made of bone fibers. It was the best he could do. The bone fibers kept the kilt from rotting away, when he used entropy-based magic.
Melvin carefully measured the bone shafts and carefully made indentions for the broadhead, fletchers, and nock to fit in. He left small twists in both that could be locked. He would Dark Heal the arrow whole when completed.
In less than an hour the first step was finished. Now, he needed to make a long bow. Taking the backbone of a bear, he curved and altered the piece until it was symmetrical. Then he took a few ingots and lengthened them. After tearing strips away, he began to wind them together. With that he connected the indentions finishing the bone bow. He nocked an arrow and fired it at a tree. It missed slamming into the nearby dirt. The broadhead snapped off in the ground.
“I’m going to have to fix that.” He mumbled to himself. With a sigh, he walked out towards the lake near the eastern side of the forest. He had Forest Turkeys to kill.
Like with most things in the forest, if he let his mana out, everything living made a beeline to kill him. This time, he attracted well over 400 turkeys. The flock made wild gobbling sounds and smashed into his territory. Zombie bears growled and slapped the birds back savaging them with claws.
The turkeys wouldn’t stop. They leapt and dug their talons into the sides of his zombies. His arrows found their way into the strangely large birds. They were half the size of the bears.
Initiate Quest Complete
Bone Craft 101 part 10
Rewards: +2lv Bone craft, +2INT, +1WIS
Bone Craft level up
Bone Craft lv13
He felt a pair of sharp claws dig into his body. His head turned in time to see an elf with mutated arms and legs rip its claws out of him. Before the strange creature could go in for a second blow, Melvin dashed back and fired his quiver into the elf. The Elf took every arrow with little more than a growl.
“My name is Vento I sold my place with the ancestors to Mobius for the power to slay you abominations.” Dark Heal was already healing his wounds but covering them up might give him the advantage. Melvin directed his zombie bears to attack the insane elf.
The elf’s obsidian claws tore through necrotic flesh and splintered bone. He moved too quickly for the bears to react to. His zombies were faster, but the elf fought faster. Melvin was dealing with a high dexterity fighter.
The shafts of bone in the elf’s flesh began to fall out, as fur from the arms began to poke out of the wounds. If he got too close, the creature would make confetti out of him.
Vento Elf Warrior lv250
Enchanted Beast
He could see from the nearby bird’s the elf’s ears were darkening becoming wolf like. Mobius must have messed with the guy’s genes.
“So, you sold yourself to Mobius just, so you could commit suicide through me. I’m honored. Don’t worry, I’ll bring you back as a zombie, so you can serve me for all eternity.” Melvin said.
Vento Elf Warrior lv300
Enchanted Werewolf
Melvin whistled, the guy went up 50 levels. His transformation was still going on. Melvin pulled a bone Warhammer from his shoulder harness and tossed his bow away. He bent his legs gently feeling the ground begin to cave underneath him.
“Well Jacob, I’m gonna kill ya.” Melvin said, and sprinted to Vento’s left slamming the Warhammer into his guts. The elf turned werewolf spat out blood before fur began to rapidly grow over his stomach. Melvin stepped off a nearby tree and slammed his Warhammer into Vento’s knee. A claw managed to catch Melvin in the stomach.
Vento Elf Warrior lv350
Enchanted Werewolf
Melvin nodded his head and sent every flee, tick, and wasp at the werewolf. Vento’s claws moved rapidly to get rid of the flying insects, but it was pointless against the flees and ticks. Small dots of black mana appeared all over Vento’s body.
Vento began to rapidly scratch himself like a common dog. A ghostly smile covered Melvin’s face. He placed his hands on the ground and got in relay position. Just when Vento’s eyes were distracted he leapt at maximum speed. There was one weakness that every breathing creature had.
He smashed Vento in the Solar Plexus. The air left the werewolf’s lungs and it immediately began to spasm fighting to breath and scratch itself. Melvin’s fists tightened, as he cackled at his opponent’s distraction. Two lightning fast strikes shattered the bones in Vento’s shoulders. Vento opened his mouth to scream but couldn’t.
Melvin smashed Vento’s Adams apple. He took a step back and watched the werewolf begin to suffocate in earnest. A frown crossed Melvin’s face.
“Another fool tricked and tossed into this game with no understanding of the rules. Perhaps, you will have a better fate as my minion. I would have hated to fight you, once your transformation finished. You might have beaten me.” Melvin knew that his opponents would probably fully transformed werewolves from now on.
That’s how games worked. Everything was linear. He was certain after he killed Mobius, there would be some other big bad to fight against.
How was he going to train for the guy after Mobius? He needed to continue to raise his strength and everything else he could. The werewolves weren’t really a threat. Their instincts would betray them every time.
Mobius was wrong, he wasn’t going to destroy forests with a single blow, he would destroy several forests. After looking Vento over, he decided to raise the guy.
A small cartoonish black creature formed from his mana. The creature jumped into the corpse. Followed by a string of black mana. “I live, but you killed me.” Vento said. “Why would you bring me back?”
Melvin stared the partial werewolf over. “Vento, do you know who I am?” Melvin asked.
“You’re the abomination. A creature from across the great sea come to devour our forests and rape our women.” Vento said.
Melvin chuckled. “Is that what they say about me. Good, I’m a lich, if I’m not feared them I’m not doing my job. Do you know your situation?” Vento glared with such ferocity that Melvin though about just snuffing his unlife out.
“I will honor my loss. It is your right to do with my body what you will. I will follow you, so long as you have control over me.” Melvin thought, about going the god emperor route, but the elf would make a pitiful Warmaster. The elven werewolf was back down to lv1. That was depressing. But, maybe he could work with him. Time was on his side.
“Your first task is to use territory creation.” It was rather simple. If he could use territory creation, then it would make things easier.
“My Lord, I am compelled to inform you of another method of territory creation. I gained a new skill from my creation. Blood Prison, it causes agony to living creatures it is more efficient than simple territory creation.” Melvin nodded.
“Use it, gather all the mana you can. I will give you half of my army do with it what you will.” Melvin said. He would give him enough rope to hang himself.
Melvin Hill lv535
Species: Undead
Race: Lich
Age: 19Years
Perks: Brutal Death 10/10, Bloody Wrath 10/10, Troll Musculature, Steel Spirit, Exceptional Control.
HP 10,000/96,300(+2,500)(98,800)
MP 15,000/85,600
VIT 70(180)
STR 1,100(11,000)
DEX 50
END 10
INT 56(166)
WIS 11
WIL 50(160)
CHA 10
LUK 5
Stat Points 2,525
Skills
Black Rage lv58
Devastation lv20
Dark Heal lv10
Pain Resistance lv5
Raise Dead lv12
Control Dead lv10
Death Touch lv5
Territory Creation lv20
Bone Craft lv13
Mana Sight lv3
Mana Control lv2
Mana Shape lv1