I looked down at a set of Rat Pelts and Essence Crystals running the battle I had just fought through my mind. Was all this getting easier? I sighed as I relaxed my posture. It certainly felt like I was improving. Even a two on one fight like the one I just finished had proved to be too easy. Granted, I still used my Banshee’s Wail once to stop one rat from jumping when I wasn’t prepared. I had fought more in the past few hours than my entire life up to this point, so it did make sense that I was getting…not stronger, but perhaps my technique was better?
“Excellent. This is it!” Cythia shouted with glee as she scooped up the loot and dropped the two pelts into her bag of multidimensional fuckery. I was sure to have nightmares of one of them bags tearing open and unleashing a black hole, killing everyone everywhere instantly. These adventurers were messing with the space-time continuum without even realizing what was at stake. “Ready?” She asked me with both Essence Crystals in her palm.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I shrugged. It was only level five. So what if she got another spell slot? I had to get to level ten dammit! With a grin, Cythia clenched her fist, destroying both crystals with a satisfying crunch.
[You have gained 30 experience]
[You have gained 30 experience]
[Cythia Du Etrisn has leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You now have two free stat points]
Without a second thought, I dumped one point into Stamina and my other into Intelligence. With an extra five Mana, I could cast Banshee’s Wail three times in a fight before I had to wait for it to regenerate. What made me grin however, was unlike previous levels the experience needed to level up didn’t double. With my ten left over from leveling up, I only needed another two hundred and forty to reach level six. I breathed a sigh in relief at that. If my experience needed to level kept doubling…well…I would need to kill a metric fuckton of rats just to hit level ten. I’m no member of PETA, but even I frown upon animal genocide.
Sadly, I did not gain a new Spell Slot myself. What a gyp.
“Ready to hit the town?” I glanced over at Cythia who stared at her Status Screen so seriously it was rather comical. Silently, I crept over towards her, trying to not laugh as she began to nibble on her thumb as she read a small side pop-up with great interest. I made sure to stay away from her line of sight as I snuck around behind her and looked over her shoulder. Taking a quick glance at her sheet, it seemed she put another two points into her Stamina, bringing her health up to eighty. She was taking my advice to heart, which was good as I didn’t want to find out what would happen to me if she died. I’d rather not die for good again.
“Watchya lookin’ at?”
“Mmmm…” she mumbled, unaffected by my attempt to frighten her the way she had done to me. Bitch. “I can now choose another spell to learn and I’m having a hard time deciding on which to take. They all seem so good and I want them all!”
“I thought you wanted to take Death Bolt or whatever it was so you could help out in battle.”
“Well, yes…that was the original plan. But look!” Her screen shifted as she moved about beside me. With a quick movement of both hands, the screen enlarged clearly stating the words ‘Spell Selection’ at the top.
[Death Bolt]
[Cost: 5+ Mana]
[Deals 10+ Dark Damage to your current target. Damage is increased based on the amount of Mana invested into the spell]
[Summon Zombie]
[Cost: 40 Mana]
[Beckons a lost spirit to inhabit the body of a cadaver]
[Wave of Miasma]
[Cost: 30+ Mana]
[Deals 30+ Dark Damage to all foes in a cone in front of the caster. Damage is increased based on the amount of Mana invested into the spell]
[Bone Shield]
[Cost: 20 Mana]
[Conjures a shield of bones around the caster, increasing the caster’s armor rating by 30 for 5 minutes]
[Grasping Hands]
[Cost: 20 Mana]
[The hands of the dead erupt underneath your target, binding them in place for 10 seconds]
“I just cant decide on a spell to pick!” She groaned in frustration. Not gonna lie, I could see her predicament. Every one of those spells brought something she could use. Death Bolt and Miasma could bring a respectable amount of damage to the table, though of the two, I’d probably go with Death Bolt. Miasma simply sucked up too much Mana to be useful against small groups which I had started to face. Bone Shield could give her a lot of survivability depending on how armor rating worked, which I decided to look up later. Grasping hands would be amazing as well, as roots and binds are always good to have when shit gets real. Not to mention Summon Zombie, which would give her another minion. Though they probably wouldn’t be as cool as me.
“Well…that depends on what you want to do as a Necromancer…” I answered as I looked over the spell list over and over. A spark of mischief ignited within me at that moment. “You should really look into how you want to specialize yourself before you assign your stat points.” I grinned as I returned what she had said to me earlier.
“But! You told me to- Ugh!” she huffed in annoyance as I began to laugh. “I was hoping for some insight, minion. You may be lacking in common knowledge, but you did speak sense earlier.”
“Glad to hear my opinion carries such weight with you, mistress.” I chuckled at her rolling eyes as she turned back to staring at her spell list. “Well, I’m no expert, but where I’m from there were mainly two types of Necromancers. Ones who dealt damage themselves like some sort of Dark Mage, and others who used a ton of minions to attack. Those were often called Minion Masters and, funnily enough, I played them the most.”
“I see.” She rubbed her chin. “While I am loathe to be unable to pull my own weight in combat, I do like the idea of having an army at my command…” She grinned the kind of grin that I’m sure every dictator around the world has when they realized they held all the power in their hands. “Very well, I too shall follow in the footsteps of these…Minion Masters…” And with that, she tapped on her screen with a slight touch. “As my first minion, I implore you help me become a Minion Master of worth.”
“Yeah…sure.” Implore? Who even says something like that? I get that she’s a proper lady and all, but the formal flowery language is just a bit much. I’d have to corrupt a lot of slang into that vocabulary of hers. Lead by example as it were. “I got your back.”
“Hmhmhm.” She chuckled in a pleased manner. “Very well, shall we meet our newest companion?”
“No time like the present.”
“Very well then.” In an instant, her face went from smug to serious as she held forth both hands. “Heed my call, thy sundered shell…” Her voice echoed as an unseen wind whipped about through the cavern, sending her ponytail and her robes rippling backwards. Not gonna lie, it was pretty badass. If this is what it looked like every time she summoned me, it was no wonder she got someone as awesome as me as her minion. “Rest no longer in thine suffering hell…” Well…that didn’t sound good. Rather foreboding in fact. Was she summoning a zombie or a demon? “Take your place at my side with unerring stride!” She shouted, finishing the incantation. All was silent as the air grew still.
Groaning filled the once silent corridor as a corpse began to lift itself from the ground. Dirt parted to display rotten flesh coated in a multitude of cuts and various other open wounds upon our new friend’s body. Shoulder length white hair was completely missing in large patches. Even the skull was visible in a few areas! Fuck, even the brain was! I’m not one to eye up a cadaver, I’ll leave that to the undertakers in the world, but based on those hips, and a clear lack of manhood, it was obvious our new friend was of the fairer sex. The sound of snapping bones and squelching flesh made my own bones rattle as she turned towards us. Bosoms the size of…melons…hung low as gravity did it’s eternal duty. Unsurprisingly, even the front of her was also covered in wounds. In fact, she had far, far more cuts and scars on the front of her than the rear. Based on her wounds alone, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she simply plopped down on the ground.
Were I Cythia, I would have let the poor gal rest. She’d seen some shit.
A single eye gazed at us in a calculating fashion. The other was completely missing. In fact, most of the skin around her lower jaw was missing as well. Most of the face that stared at us was a mess of cuts. Needless to say, it was horrifying and disgusting all at once. And judging by the retching sound from beside me, Cythia agreed with my assessment whole-heartedly.
“Cythia don’t look! Shes naked!” I covered my mistress’ eyes with my bony hands even as she spat out the remnants of her stomach’s contents all over the cavern floor.
“I can see through the gaps in your hands, idiot!” She yelled and knocked my hands away. “If anything you should cover your own eyes like a gentleman!”
“I don’t have eyelids! I couldn’t close my eyes even if I wanted to!” Oh God…I saw maggots rummaging around inside of her…why did she have to have maggots inside of her? In that moment I thanked God for not being alive and lacking all the necessary organs for me to vomit. All I could do was stare and imagine myself vomiting.
“Ummm…” Came the voice of the girl hunched before us as she covered herself in an embarrassed manner. “Would any of you perchance have some form of attire I could acquire?” Hah. Nice rhyme. I liked her already despite the bugs inside of her. Oh god something was moving under her skin. Was that a centipede? Ewwwwww!
“Y-yes right here!” Cythia exclaimed as she sent a hand into her adventurer’s bag and pulled out a black robe. “Here, I’ll help!” she rushed over and plunged the cloth over the zombie’s head.
“Thank you…” she bowed her head as she placed her hands through the sleeves. “Mmmm…is this cotton? No…wool. Definitely wool.” Now that our newest companion was covered, we all breathed a sigh of relief.
Cythia quickly retreated to stand beside me. “I’ll have to burn those robes later…” she muttered almost to the point where even I could barely hear her.
“If you dismiss her she’ll only come back naked when you summon her again.” I whispered to Cythia who nodded seriously.
“I understand. No more dismissals. I can’t afford to replace too many robes anyway.” I hoped that meant it would be hard to replace them in our current location and not that she was too poor to afford them.
“Please excuse my inquiry but who exactly are you two? Normally I’d slay Skeletons and Necromancers like you on sight, yet I feel no desire to do so.” She stared pointedly towards me and Cythia. Was there a chill in the air? I couldn’t help but feel like a gazelle when a lion was mere inches from it. Despite her serious countenance, she began to stretch her body, ushering the sounds of popping joints and squishy…things…throughout the cavern. At one point she stretched her arms high above her head, which sent a rather large grub falling to the ground from one of her gaping arm wounds. I wasn’t the only one who shivered at the squelching sound it made when it erupted in an explosion of bile when it hit ground. “And what does ‘Level Five’ mean exactly?”
Stepping forward, and shaking a little more than slightly, Cythia cleared her throat. “M-my name is Cythia Du Etrisn, your humble and benevolent master.” A smile cracked out on the new girl’s face for a split second as I pointed towards Cythia and shook my skull repeatedly side to side. Thankfully, our benevolent master didn’t notice my disagreement with her statement. “I have beckoned you from beyond the realm of Death to serve as my newest minion!”
A mixture of emotions crossed the gals face. One moment anger, the next sorrow, I’m pretty sure I saw a bit of confusion in there as well. Lord knows I experienced more than my fair share of that feeling today. “So…I’m dead then. And to make matters worse, a Necromancer’s puppet.” She sighed and closed her eye. A moment later she pointed at me. “What about you? Are you satisfied with being her slave?” I shrugged,
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“It pays the bills. By the way, I’m Richard and I punch rats for a living.” Her serious countenance faded slightly at my words. I always was good at bringing smiles to people’s faces. Not gonna lie though, I did punch rats really good.
“He’s also an idiot.” Cythia sighed audibly which got the new girl to utter a chuckle.
“I see…you two don’t seem like the evil beings I had fought against…” She closed her eye in thought before nodding a few times. “Very well, Sir Richard.” She nodded her head towards me before giving Cythia a judging stare. “Mistress Cythia. I suppose I shall join your cause. My name is Felith, Felith Sabris.”
“”We know.”” Cythia and I spoke in unison as we pointed at the top of our heads. Granted, we couldn’t see our own names, classes, and level displays over our own heads, but we knew they were there.
“By the way, you’re a level five zombie. If you didn’t know.” Slowly, I leaned over towards Cythia and kept my voice low. “Why is she a level five zombie?”
“Idiot!” She yelled, ruining my attempts to not appear ignorant with a mere shout. “A Necromancer’s minions share their owner’s experience for the purpose of leveling up!”
“Oh. Shared experience. Gotchya.” Honestly, if she were to say something so simple then she should have just said it. Perhaps I should have asked earlier, but I simply assumed we were splitting the experience of my kills between us.
“You two speak rather strangely. Many of these terms are…unfamiliar. What, pray tell, are…‘Levels’?”
“New here, huh? Me too. Don’t worry Felly, I’ll bring you up to speed on our way back to town.” And I would do it much more effectively than Cythia did to me. She’d never make it as a teacher where I was from.
“F-Felly?” She gasped, “Isn’t that far too informal for one whom you’ve just made your acquaintance?”
“He calls me Toots.” Cythia grumbled.
“Relax Felly, we’ll be together for a long while. Might as well get comfortable as soon as we can, right? Sides, I’ve already seen your bits so we’re already pretty close in my mind.”
“I…you…Have you no shame?” It was a tragedy her face was so mutilated, she’d probably have looked really cute when she was angry. Ah well, thats the way the cookie crumbles. Or corpse decays in this case.
“If anything you’re the one with no shame!” I countered with false indignity. “You’ve been staring at me nonstop and I’m completely naked!” I motioned towards my skeletal figure. “Pervert.” Shock was quickly replaced by visible confusion followed closely by an amused grin. She didn’t blush though, so either zombies couldn’t blush, or she really was shameless. She then coughed politely and turned away from me.
“My apologies, Sir Richard.” She snorted and attempted to stifle her laughter.
“Its alright. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been nude in public. Won’t be the last either.” I’ll never forget Mrs. Evans’ fourth grade class trip to the museum.
“Minion…” Came the dark foreboding growl of my mistress. The fury of her anger rolled off of her in metaphorical waves.
“Yes mistress?” I spoke innocently, pointedly not looking towards her. My but were stalactites interesting! So many patterns and colors. I could see why a handful of people wanted to get into geology. Rocks were cool as shit.
“Wear the robes.” Cythia growled as she thrust a set of robes out towards me.
“No thank you.” No man would…okay, maybe some men would willingly wear women’s clothes. But I wasn’t one of them. At least, not while I’m sober.
“Either wear the robes or I’ll dismiss you!” Wellp, there goes that free will of mine. Its always so nice to have someone make my decisions for me.
“Hand ‘em over.”
[Woolen Robes (Black)]
[Armor Rating: 0]
[Robes woven by a seamstress with a careful hand. While they may not offer the best protection, they will certainly provide comfort in colder climates. The item has been dyed rather poorly compared to the craftsmanship of the robe as a whole.]
Forgive me mother, your son is about to embark on a journey he’d never thought he’d take part in. His innocence taken from him against his will by forces beyond his control. I was taking that tragic first step down a road I may never return from. Remember me how I once was, dear Mother, not what I became. With a sigh, I lifted the robe over my skull. Slowly, I pulled the robe down over my head before quickly lifting it away.
“Are these dirty?” I asked my mistress curiously. A feral snarl marred her once pretty face as she thrust her hand forward.
“I dismiss-”
Never before had I put on clothes with such haste. “They’re on they’re on!” I shouted as the cloth settled over my bones. “I…It feel so wrong wearing women’s clothing…”
“Would you please shut up.” Cythia grumbled with clenched teeth.
“Fine fine.” I shrugged, “They’re comfortable robes by the way. Can we go back to town now?”
Her sigh seemed to drain a lot of the tension from her as she nodded, “Indeed. Follow me.” Cythia strode forth towards the direction we had come. Wait, why was she leading us?
“Shouldn’t you be behind us? What if the Cave Rats respawn?” I asked as Felly and I fell into step behind our fearless leader.
“Monsters won’t return until the start of the next week!” She shouted in frustration.
“What.” I turned to Felly who merely shrugged. Right, she was even newer here than I was. The sound of Cythia sucking in a sharp breath of air was closely followed by a long exhale.
“It takes quite a bit of Mana for a Dungeon Core to replace all the lost monsters inside.” She answered. “Typically, the Cores save up all the Mana they accumulate over the period of a week. Upon the turning of the days, they begin replacing the monsters they’ve lost and using the excess Mana to expand with new rooms, corridors, traps, and more monsters. You would know this if you looked up dungeons with your interface!”
“Ah Okay. Gotchya.” I had no fucking clue what she was on about.
“What is an interface?” Felith questioned with genuine curiosity. Before Cythia could speak, I interjected.
“Right Felly, let me bring you up to speed. An interface is like a visual book that displays all sorts of information. You following me?”
“I…suppose?”
“Right, showing is easier than telling.” A loud smack resounded through the halls as I clapped my hands together. “First order of business, let’s check your status page. Simply state the words ‘Status Page’-” Instantly, my own window showed up, causing Felly to gasp in surprise. “and you’ll get a large window depicting your stats, spells, skills, and other assorted bits.” I closed my own screen quickly and motioned for her to try.
“I-I see. Well then, I never would have thought something like this could ever be possible…” She cleared her throat, “Status Page!”
Name: Felith Sabris Race: Undead
Class: Zombie Level: 5
Experience: 10/250
Health: 100/100 Mana: 50/50
Focus: 80/80 Unspent Points: 8
Strength: 8 Stamina: 10
Agility: 6 Dexterity: 6
Intelligence: 5 Wisdom: 5
Perception: 8 Luck: 4
[Spells] [0 of 1]
[Skills]
[Triple Thrust (Rank III of V)]
[Cost: 35 Focus]
[Deals 65% of equipped weapon’s damage to the user’s current target three times in the blink of an eye.]
[Sunder (Rank IV of V)]
[Cost: 40 Focus]
[Rends the user’s opponent’s armor, dealing 120% weapon damage and reducing their armor rating by 40%]
[Parry Stance (Rank II of V)]
[Cost: 5 Focus per second]
[The user enters a battle trance where all attacks for the duration of the skill will be parried]
[Traits]
[Novice Unarmed Fighting (Rank III of V)]
[Mastery over the art of weaponless combat. Any attack you make with fist or foot deals an additional 9% damage]
[Novice Blunt Weapon Mastery (Rank III of V)]
[Mastery over the art of combat wielding a blunted weapon. Any attack you make with a club, mallet, hammer, or other blunt instrument deals an additional 9% damage]
[Intermediate Blade Mastery (Rank II of V)]
[Mastery over the art of combat wielding a bladed weapon. Any attack you make with a bladed weapon deals an additional 21% damage]
[Intermediate Shield Mastery (Rank III of V)]
[Mastery over the art of wielding a shield to block and deflect attacks. Any attack you successfully block with a shield will have its damage reduced by 24%]
[Novice Medium Armor Mastery (Rank III of V)]
[Familiarity with wearing Medium Armors increases their armor value by 9%]
[Intermediate Heavy Armor Mastery (Rank III of V)]
[Familiarity with wearing Heavy Armors increases their armor value by 24%]
I opened my mouth before promptly shutting it. And then I opened it. And then I closed it. The clack, clack, clacking of my jaw continued ceaselessly.
“Would you please stop doing that?” Cythia growled from the front.
“Ya…buh…muh…wuh…” Felith stared at me with a look of confusion.
“Does…does everything seem to be in order, Sir Richard?” Right, I can’t stand someone so powerful being so humble. The least they could do is brag a bit!
“Cythia! Felly is cheating!” Its not fair. How come she was a super strong goddess compared to me? She didn’t even have both eyes! And neither did I! She even beat me in that area, she had one! Fuck!
“What do you mean?” Cythia rushed over clearly curious only to openly gape at the Status Screen of our newest member. There were no words, only unbelieving babbling between the two of us. But while Cythia stared at Felith with open admiration, I’m sure my visage was more envy and jealousy. I want big numbers dammit!
“Is it truly so strange? I was a Knight within my family before…well…before the end.” Felith mumbled in an embarrassed manner.
“Well…that makes sense I suppose…” Cythia then glared in my direction. “How come your stats are so low then? Just what were you doing with your life before you became my minion?” I’d have been pretty pissed off had I not heard that very speech a million times before. Well, minus the whole minion deal. It still stung a bit though.
I shrugged, “A bit of this, a bit of that. Getting by and all that.”
“Perhaps we should leave things as they are.” Felith spoke suddenly, drawing attention from me. She may be a decomposing corpse, but she was cool in my book. Kudos girl. “Would you mind continuing your explanations, Sir Richard?”
“Right right. I’ll start off by explaining the stats one by one.”
And so my teaching career began as I explained stat after stat, their benefits and why she should pick one stat over others. Granted, I was just reading from various window pop-ups that I summoned, but Felly listened intently and took my advice to heart. She asked questions aplenty and for the ones I couldn’t provide an acceptable answer for, Cythia would butt in. It happened way more often that I would have liked, but that just meant I was learning too! In the end, Felith decided to place her free points into a balanced physical build, due to her being most comfortable in that area from her life as a Knight.
In other words, she became our powerhouse. Our ace in the hole. Our Rambo.
Sunlight gleamed into the cave in an almost holy fashion as the exit loomed into view. Oh sweet sun, how I’ve missed you so! With arms wide open, I rushed forth to stand under the sunlight that I have so desperately lacking in my life. Dreary cave begone!
“Wait! Stop!” Cythia’s voice cried urgently in a panic as I rushed past her without a care in the world.
“Sunliiiiiiiight!” I yelled out as I emerged into a land of green grass growing in every direction. Birds sang in beautiful notes, though I knew they were all screaming for sex. Horny fuckers. I laughed and raised my hands upwards to blue skies dotted with white clouds.
[You take 235 damage]
And then everything went dark.
[You have died]
“What the hell was that! What even hit me? What the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!” I screamed out in a rage to the empty void filling my surroundings. What could even do that much damage in a single hit? Did I get stepped on by a fucking dragon? God I hoped so. That would be so fucking cool. To think that a dragon considered me so important that I had to be crushed underfoot before I could gain my true power! Awesome. Simply awesome.
“Heed my call, thou forsaken soul…” Came the summoning of my mistress. I didn’t have to wait long until beautiful sunlight filled my eyes once more.
“Sorry about that, miss.” Came a gruff voice off to the side.
“It is no trouble sir.” Cythias voice reached my ears. She sounded pleased. “That idiot skeleton should have listened to me instead of rushing forth like a lunatic. At least I got an increase in my Summon Skeleton skill!” She chirped happily. That bitch, profiting off my expense.
“My pleasure to be of service then.” The gruff voice responded with a chuckle.
“Are you okay Sir Richard?” Felith’s decomposing mug entered my field of view.
“All good here.” I nodded as I stayed laying in the grass. “Just enjoying the sun is all. Trying to bleach my bones to attract the eyes of women everywhere and all that.” A wry grin crossed her face as she reached down and helped me to my feet. “Thanks Felly.”
“Don’t mention it.” She responded.
“Sorry ‘bout the whole killin’ ya deal. Thought you were a dungeon mob got loose and all.” The gruff voice spoke from behind me. When I turned to see my murderer, I could only stare open-socketed at him.
[Jirard]
[Level 65 Thug]
The man was a bear! The hairy, gruff kind that you know bats for the other team. Not the forest fires kind. Fiery red hair curled all over his head and face forming a rather bushy beard. If I could use one word to describe him, it would be thick. In the muscular sense, not the flabby kind. Dude could probably bench press log cabins all day long with those bulky arms of his. And level sixty five! Resting upon his shoulder was a massive maul of shining metal.
There was still a small amount of dust upon the one side. Bone dust. The man had disintegrated me with one hit!
“Oh…no problem. Thank you for knocking some sense into me.”
“Anytime.” He responded which a chuckle and a slap on the shoulder bone. “Name’s Jirard by the by.”
“Richard.” I responded in kind.
“Felith Sabris.” Felly followed suit with a bow.
“I can see ya got a pair of good minions under yer belt.” Jirard sent a grin towards Cythia before returning his attention to us. “You two best keep her safe, hear?”
“Yes sir.” Felith and I responded in unison. Cythia put her hands upon her hips in smug satisfaction at our respectful attitudes. She could grin all she wanted, as soon as this dude was out of sight I was still gonna give her hell.
“Then let me be the first to welcome you to Croast Mark.” He motioned off towards a wooden walled settlement off in the distance. A settlement of about ten houses by the looks of things.
“Not very big is it?” I inquired as I appraised the place.
“Yeah, it ain’t much yet. But thanks to the sudden appearance of the Croast Mines here, it’ll be a bustling little town within the year. They just started building an Adventurer’s Guild and a Tavern ‘bout a week ago.” He grinned. “Hope ya like sleeping under the stars.”
“Come on then you two! I need to hand in my first quest!” Cythia shouted excitedly as she marched towards the town without waiting for us.
“C’mere you two.” Jirard whispered conspiratorially and beckoned us over. Curious, Felith and I huddled close to the hairy man. “Got a message from her father for ya.” He met our eyes…or lack of, with a serious stare. “If anything happens to her you two will beg for banishment to the afterlife.” A friendly grin then filled his face. “Happy adventures!”
I don’t know about Felith, but I wasn’t scared at the man’s words. No sir, the clattering of bones was merely a result of how joyous I was to be out in the sun once more and to meet living people again.