Having been named, the creature, now know as Iden began to move around. Its body felt lighter than before, but also much stronger. As if every action had both greater force behind them. As well as taking less effort to carry out.
On top of this, they had also gained the ability to speak. The knowledge simple there, as if it had a been. Even the words they had learned before had been given further context and meaning.
"Now try to speak." The voice commanded.
"How do I do that?" Iden asked back. Before quickly realizing that it had already done it.
"Excellent, it seems like named monsters work the way I remember. Though your lack of intelligence does make me wonder if it was worth the Ather. Though, I guess, bad company is better than none." States the voice. "Well, either way, I got some things to deal with before more people arrive. The first being your wounds. It seems that you don't heal naturally due to having been reanimated. And while your current wounds are not dangerous to your survival. To many of them will give away your disguise. So, we are going to need to find a way to patch you up."
"What do you mean?" Iden asks.
"I mean that any cut or other wounds you get are permanent. Which, in the short term, will give away your disguise. And in the long term, will end with you dying from countless small wounds." they state, not seem overly concerned.
"So, if I don't find a way to heal, I'll end up like them?" Iden asks, while pointing to the bodies still on the cave floor.
"Yes." The voice says before taking a pause. "Though we might be able to use those bodies to cover up the wounds. It won't really solve the problem, but it should allow you to remain disguise until I find either a better solution or a better minion. I need to make something for this plan to work though. So just wait here while I get it ready."
Hearing the voice go silent, Iden decides to not bother the voice. Instead of planning to test out its newest improvements. Starting with the most basic test, walking around the room.
Just from this, they are able to see the scope of the changes. Their walking, which used to be a demanding task, now came completely naturally to them. With far less effort needed to control each limb and keep their balance. On top of this, the pain they had been feeling before had vanished. Leaving their limbs feeling light and ready to move once more.
"Testing out your newest strength?" The voice questions. "It must be quite an astonishing change for you. Suddenly having such a large boost in power. Well for you at least." The voice pauses, seeming to consider its next words. "Just so you know, even if you weren't under my control. There would be no way for you to challenge me. So don't be getting any strange ideas. Because if you do. Even if it's just a passing thought. I will have you destroyed and replaced. I know you're capable of thought, and I want to make it perfectly clear. I have no mercy for traitors." The voice cautioned. A cold anger percent in its tone.
And while it had no thoughts about betraying it. The words still terrified Iden. So much so that it did not even know what to do.
"I guess you get what I'm saying. That's good. The last thing I need is for one of my minions to get dreams of grandeur. Far to many of my old colleagues were brought down by a minion who saw themselves above their master. Far better for you to remain a loyal puppet. For both of us. Don't you agree?" It asks. Though its tone clearly shows that there is only one answer.
"Of course." Replies Iden. Despite something inside of itself saying that what it is being told is wrong. The seemingly can't help but agree with them. Knowing that the voice must have some greater reason for saying these things. For some reason it simply does not understand.
"That's good. Now I think I have found a solution to your current problem. The people I recently killed have the same skin tone as you. So if you were to stitch it to yourself then cover it with flesh molding, it should be nearly invisible. So just gather some up form the body in front of you while I prepare what you'll need to stitch yourself up." Says the voice.
Hearing its orders, Iden sets to work. Walking over to one of the bodies, they prepare to start removing the flesh. Though, as they do, they can't help but notice that there still bothered by what it was told earlier. Even though it knows the voice must be right, it can't help but feel something is not right about it.
"Use the sickle, not your bare hands. You're never going to get anything done like that." Says the voice.
"Whats a sickle?" Asks Iden.
"The curved metal blade with the wooden handle. Reflects light and is sharp." Replies the voice, clearly getting more and more frustrated.
Having been given clarification, Iden grabs the sickle and gets to work cutting up the bodies. Quickly leaving it covered in the blood and muscle of its target. But also with many chunks of flesh with strands of mussel hanging from them.
"I think that might be the worst skinning I have ever seen. All of that is completely useless now. You need the skin to be in one piece and have as little muscle as possible. Not just random chunks of flesh and mussel. Start over, and be more careful."
Having been given further clarification, they move over to the next body and try again. This time being as careful as possible to only cut the skin from the meat.
Once they were done, they were left with slightly larger pieces of flesh. This time with far fewer mussel chunks and tears left.
"That should do. Though it's still not ideal. I can't really expect more from you. I'll make some string and a needle using some Ather, so make sure to be careful with it. And make sure to try and keep the stitches even and tight. There's no point in doing this if the skin is just loose and flapping around." Says the voice.
As it hears this, Iden notices a something appear at its feet. Crouching down to look at it. It seems a small piece of metal attached to an even thinner piece of cloth.
Picking it up, they're about to ask the voice what to do next. But decided it would probably be better to figure it out instead of further angering the voice. So, looking at what it has, it pushes it through the skin it has prepared.
It then moves onto its own skin. Pushing the needle into its skin near the edge of one of its larger cuts. And almost dropping the needle at the sudden pain it causes.
"Why did you stop?" the voice question "Keep going."
Having been ordered to continue, it has no choice but to. It's hands seeming to move of their own accord, forcing it to continue against its will.
"It hurts too much. There must be some other way?" it begs.
"The only other way wastes far too much Ather. Even naming you was a questionable expenditure. And that was in order to save a massive amount of time. Which we are short of at the moment. It's not worth spending more just to spare you a bit of pain." It states, seemingly completely uninterested in their pain.
Iden felt betrayed. It had done everything it could to serve this being. Even desperately clinging onto trespassers with everything it had when it thought the voice was in danger. But it did not seem to care about them at all.
But the feeling of betrayal was quickly giving rise to something else. Something it had never felt before.
Charisma Growth ranked up to basic 5
Anger. White hot anger at realizing how little it mattered to one it was serving. Anger great enough that its pain seemed to fade away into the background.
Charisma Growth ranked up to basic 6
1 Point has been distributed
Finally, it felt something in its head snap. It was as though something had been forced out. And with it, the trust it had once had in the voice.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Charisma Growth ranked up to basic 7
Realizing instinctively what this meant, Iden's rage only grew. The voice had control of not only its body but its mind. The respect it had for the voice was not of its own will. But forced on it from its time of creation.
Charisma Growth ranked up to basic 8
1 Point has been distributed
And the pain. This pain that had driven it out of the dungeon's control. It was being forced to undergo all this pain just to make it slightly easier for the dungeon in the future. A future they might not even be around for if replacing them was easier than fixing them.
Charisma Growth ranked up to basic 9
Though, looking back, it could tell this would have been obvious if its minds were free at the time. The voice even seems to greatly enjoy mocking and degrading them. Insulting them for things it had improperly explained to them. And while it had claimed it wanted something to talk with. It seemed more acquitted to say it wanted something to bully.
Charisma Growth ranked up to basic 10
1 Point has been distributed
And they had been made to just accept it. To feel as though there was some greater reason for this treatment.
Well no more. It would no longer serve this voice. It would be its own master. Free to make their own decisions.
Charisma Growth ranked up to Novice 1
By reaching Charisma Growth Novice 1 in under a day, you have unlocked
Path of Charisma 1 0/5
Still, the voice seemed far too prepared for the possibility of it attempting to betray them. Even warning what would happen if they even thought about. Perhaps it new that it would be able to break free soon and this was simply some new form of torment. And, while there was no way for them to know how prepared the voice was for it attempting to betray them. There was something they were sure of.
They were still under its control. Running the needle through its own flesh over and over. With seemingly no way of stopping. With the pain only getting worse with each pass through their flesh. But still, they did not lose hope yet. Because, thinking back, they did realize something they could use.
While they did need to follow orders, they only needed to do exactly what they were told. Not what the voice wanted them to do.
To test this out, they began to slow their sowing. Gradually moving the needle through slower and slower, but never stopping. Though, no matter how slow they went, they never felt something compelling them to speed up. Seemingly proving them right and earning a rank of Wisdom.
Seeing this had worked, and that the voice did not speak, told them that either it was not paying attention. Or, it was observing them, see what they would do. And since they had no way of knowing which it was and would not be getting a second chance if they failed. Knew that they would need to prepare first if they wanted to do anything.
So, instead of attempting a betrayal, it got back to sowing at the proper passe. Doing its best to be as accurate and fast as possible.
Dexterity Growth ranked up to Novice 1
By reaching Dexterity Growth Novice 1 in under a day, you have unlocked
Path of Dexterity 1 0/5
Now that it was paying attention, it noticed that instead of going past 10, the name changed and went back to 1. On tops of this, seemingly due to the speed it had been at, it had unlocked a new path. It decided it was probably best to check before it tried anything else
Stats
Name N/A Race N/A Gender N/A Age 8 Hours Title None Crimes None Str 7 (+9) Dex 7 (+12) End 7 (+6) Con 7 (+5) Int 7 (+3) Wis 7 (+6) Cha 7 (+12) Mem 7 (+8)
Classes
Skills
Flesh Molding Basic 1 Str Growth Basic 9 Dex Growth Novice 1 End Growth Basic 6 Con Growth Basic 5 Int Growth Basic 3 Wis Growth Basic 6 Cha Growth Novice 1 Mem Growth Basic 8
Traits
Paths (27)
Path of Dexterity 0/5 Path of Charisma 0/5
Seeing that it had two new paths, as well as remembering how useful they had been last time. It decided it would be best to invest points into them now.
Path of Dexterity 5/5
+1 Dex
+1 Dex
Unlocked title Dexterous
Path of Charisma 5/5
+1 Cha
+1 Cha
Unlocked title Charismatic
Looking over what it got, it was disappointed. Its gains had been far less then it had anticipated. And even though it did not yet know what these titles did. They still felt as though they had been cheated. These paths used far more points than the first one and gave far less in return.
Still, since unlocking them already gave enough points to complete the paths, and it still had no idea for any other uses of the points. They decided it would be best to invest the points instead of simply letting them pile up.
And so with its stats done, it decided it best to finish up its work before the voice got suspicious of it.
"Ah, looks like your done. Now use your flesh molding skill to cover up those stitch marks. They are way too obvious currently." Commanded the voice the second they are done "Also, toss everything that you are done with onto one of the bodies. I'll be absorbing them as soon as I'm done adding the new tuneless." It takes a quick pause before seeming to remember something, "And to be completely clear, you are not to touch my core while I am gone. It is incredibly irritating."
Iden almost chuckled at its commands. While it had never noticed when it was under its control. The commands it gave were extremely easy to exploit. All it had to do was determine it was not done with the tools and it was able to keep them. Letting it hold onto both the sickle and needle for future use.
Though even though it managed to get around one of its orders, it still did have a direct order it needed to follow. So it needed to learn how to use it newest skill.
A task that proved to be quite easy. It just needed to focus on the part of its skin that it wanted to move and it would. Though the process was slow, they were making progress. Which only got easier as time passed. Allowing them to bring the skill straight up to rank 4
Thought this alone was not enough for them. They knew they had limited time to raise their skills if they wanted to unlock more paths. And while they currently did not know how to train all of the skills, they were determined to figure it out. And while some of them were obvious, others seemed to just appear at random times.
Wisdom Growth ranked up to basic 7
Seeing the box appear, they couldn't help but wonder if they were being mocked.
But seeing that this skill seemed to be increased by thinking about things, maybe the others were things like this.
Still having no paths to pursue, it decided to open its stats. Maybe it would be able to find the answers there.
Stats
Name N/A Race N/A Gender N/A Age 8 Hours Title Dexterous Crimes None Str 7 (+9) Dex 9 (+12) End 7 (+6) Con 7 (+5) Int 7 (+3) Wis 7 (+7) Cha 9 (+12) Mem 7 (+8)
Classes
Skills
Flesh Molding Basic 1 Str Growth Basic 9 Dex Growth Novice 1 End Growth Basic 6 Con Growth Basic 5 Int Growth Basic 3 Wis Growth Basic 7 Cha Growth Novice 1 Mem Growth Basic 8
Traits
Paths (19)
Looking them over, they still didn't have any idea how to increase them. With the most confusion coming from Charisma. It had gone up when it talked to others, but also when it had gotten angry.
Charisma Growth
Novice 1
Increases the Cha stat by (2 points per level of the skill) +10
Noticing that as it focused one of the skills, more information had appeared. It decides to try another.
Strength Growth
Basic 9
Increases the Ste stat by (1 point per level of the skill)
Seeing that it had worked, it decided to check out the rest of its skills.
Flesh molding
Basic 4
Allows the manipulation of skin and muscle, with faster and more precise manipulation at higher levels of the skill
Doing so showed, next to the skill above, that all the skills it possessed were nearly identical.
With the only difference being the difference in value between the skills at the basic level and novice level. As well as the name of the stats it affected. Worst of all, it seemed as though none of its skills explained how to upgrade them.
Having found nothing to help them, they decided to finish up their flesh molding. Then, once they were done, move onto trying to figure out the key to upgrading their skills.