Now that I had a name for my new companion, it was time to animate him. I tried using my [] skill on him by channeling my mana into him yet nothing happened. A few minutes had gone by and he still stood standing. I began to question whether I had done something wrong, so I decided to check the skill description.

[] Grant any raised undead sentience and a fraction of your power.

"Hmm," I pondered in my mind. I still didn't understand what I was doing wrong. The description was vague and it began to annoy me. A thought crossed my mind so I went with it. My thought was to try and give it a fragment of my soul but that would lower my HP significantly, but I could not think of another way so that is what I did.

I visualized my hand grabbing a piece of my soul and putting it into Alex then it happened.

[You have taken damage! -30 HP]

"Gahh!" I yelled. I felt as though a limb had been torn out of my body. Alex remained still. After a few seconds had passed, I noticed Alex begin to move his jaw. It was as though he was trying to speak so using one point of mana, I visualized a string connecting my mind to his and I directed my thoughts through the string.

"Speak by directing your thoughts to me. Visualize a string running through your mind, to mine."

"Testing, testing… Can you hear me, creator?" Asked Alex. He had a deep, gruff-like voice, sounding almost intimidating.

"I hear you, Alex. As you already know I am your creator. I created you to serve me and aid me in my quest of building a home within this dungeon as well as to grow in power."

I commanded Alex to walk with me further into the dungeon. We were nearing the end of the first floor and I could see the gigantic gate in the distance. It was bigger than any other gate in the dungeon I had seen.

"Alex, since you are going to be my right-hand man, it is only natural that you receive a weapon capable of defending me. Take this sword. It is worn out but it will make do for now. Perhaps we can find a camp to test out your abilities and combat skills once we arrive at the gate." I spoke. Oftentimes, there were a lot of weak adventurers who were arrogant enough to try and enter the second floor so they would set down camps near the gate and make preparations for themselves to enter.

As we got closer, I noticed a pathway to my right that led to a nearby camp. I decided that now was as good a time as any to raid it and steal the adventurers' items. I pulled out my Staff of the Satyr and Alex still had his sword in his right, bony hand and we slowly crept up on the adventurers' camp.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

I noticed that out of the five we saw, only two were awake out on patrol. I ordered Alex to kill them both and with a swift slice of his blade, he cut both of their throats one by one without them ever noticing. The rest of the adventurers perished silently at Alex's hands. I then ordered Alex to steal and equip the gear that the adventurers had on.

"Great job, Alex. Let's continue through the dungeon. We're near the gate."

We continued moving through the dungeon and finally, we made it near the gate. When we arrived, a large group of adventurers stood near the gate blocking anyone from entering it. I consulted with Alex to plan our next move on what to do with the adventurers.

"Alex, what do you think would be the best course of action?" I asked.

"Hmm. My lord, I think you should use [] and just kill them all."

"Yes, that might be a valid plan but I'm not sure it'll work. The end of the hall near the door is too densely packed it will only make it hard for us to advance."

"I suppose your right, lord. What about you? What is your plan?"

"I say we pick off the adventurers that are scattered around the hall one by one to clear up some space. Then, we do an all-out attack using []. One thing that worries me though, is the more powerful adventurers. I'll just have to create an army big enough to overwhelm them. Although, as I said before it'll be tough breaking through the last of the adventurers because of how dense the area is."

"Very well, lord. We'll go with your idea."

We began to sneak through the backline of the swarm of adventurers and began our silent assassinations. I used a knife I had picked up from the dead adventurers back at the camp and although it was a bit lackluster, it was better for silent kills than my staff was.

One by one, dozens of lowly adventurers fell without them ever knowing. Their necks sliced open by our silent attacks. Some were stabbed in through the heart from behind and others were decapitated completely.

[You have gained a level!]

After having killed dozens of adventures I only managed to level up once which was a bit disheartening.

Finally, we made it to the end. And with a swirl of my staff in the air, I used []. I summoned almost a hundred skeletons and thirty lesser ghouls. They advanced and swarmed the gate quickly causing many adventurers to die without having a chance to fight back.

As I heard their wailing and screaming, I couldn't help but feel ecstatic. This was my new reality and I enjoyed it for what it was. I didn't know if I had begun to forget what it was like to be human as a result of becoming a ghoul, but I cared less and less as time went on.

Finally, we made it to the gate. All of the adventurers had been killed by Alex and me.

[You have leveled up!]

I got the prompt yet again, however it was only a mere level. If I wanted to level up more in the future, I would have to find stronger adventurers to kill or even monsters for that matter.

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Now at the gate, we attempted to open it but it was rather difficult for the both of us so I ordered my forces to open it and they did. The door opened and a flash of green line shone through the stone gate. We had finally reached the second floor which I decided I would claim as my new home.

The floor was a lot different than before. It wasn't as broken down as the first floor, instead, it looked like it was actually built by people. This floor was a much better version of the first but it still looked ancient. Green braziers lit up a path going through a downward staircase. When we reached the bottom, there were more green braziers on both our left and right side. Bones were in piles everywhere along the floors, walls, and even structures. The ominous stone pathway led to a deep darkness.

We finally reached a good spot to set up camp and I decided it would be a good idea to use [] to create guards while we sort everything out.

"Make yourself at home Alex. We have much to plan for the future of our time here."