Chapter 6: Earthen Fortress

The next two hours passed with me creating earth spikes and molding them together. This was probably the hardest that I’ve worked in my entire life. But every second I spent working was well spent. This wall would be useful if I found an enemy I couldn’t fight and needed to flee. The wall I was making was considerably thick and it would take something incredibly strong to break it. As I was molding my earth spike for what seemed like the hundredth time, a blue box suddenly appeared in my vision.

For having great knowledge of using and molding the earth, you have gained the skill Earth Magic. Earthen spike has been assigned as a sub skill of earth magic.

Earth MagicSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 4Exp: 5%Effect: Allows the user to mold the earth into a variety of constructs.

I wiped the sweat from my brow as I read the box in front of me. Because of the time I spent manipulating my earthen spike I gained the skill earth magic. This would make it easier to make constructs from earth that weren’t in the shape of a spike. Nice, I could already see how this skill would be better than just a plain earthen spike. Hmm, maybe I would be able to do this with my wind blade also. I added this to my task list before moving one.

Placing my hand on my shabby earth wall I began moving more earth onto it. It was noticeably easier than before thanks to my new earth magic. Once I made the wall sturdy enough to resist several attack I went to work on its height. The earthen wall was high but not too high. I wanted some fresh air circulating around in my home and I doubted that a giant rat could even jump that high. Even if it could, I molded the top part of my wall into several spikes. Whatever tried jumping in my base would receive a nasty surprise.

Once my wall was done I meditated to regain my mana and moved on. Thanks to all of the meditation I was doing my skill had leveled up to level 2 a little while ago. This helped me regain my mana faster so I was thankful for the level up.

MeditationSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 2Exp: 25%Effects: By sitting down and gathering mana, mana regeneration is increased. The higher the level, the more mana that is regenerated.

After I finished meditating I turned around with my back facing my new wall. All I had to do was create one more wall and the outside of my all would be finished. But before I did that I would need to decide on how big I wanted my house to be. I would rather have my new home be too big rather than too small so I had to keep that in mind when I created the wall. After a few minutes of debating I decided to make my new home twice as big as my room at home.

Placing my hands on the ground once I was a good distance away, I once again began the process of creating an earthen wall. As I was creating it I left a space for a doorway this time. There was no point of this home if I couldn’t even get out of it. Since my other wall was actually facing the giant rats I would open and close the door every time I journeyed out. Before I made a doorway I created a short tunnel in front of it. This way if monsters did come from this side I would have a few seconds to prepare myself. I also created tiny holes in my wall so I could peek out of it and get fresh air.

Once the wall was done I went inside my new earthen home. I then created a tiny section in my home for the bathroom. I then took another hour to reinforce my walls since some had cracks in them. I might have to do this every day depending on how well my earth magic held out. Once this was done I sat down and looked at the skills that had leveled up.

Earth MagicSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 5Exp: 10%Effect: Allows the user to mold the earth into a variety of constructs.

Mana Affinity SkillSkill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: UniqueSkill Level: 3Exp: 7%Effects: Any skill using mana cost 3% less. You are more sensitive to the mana. This enables you to know when someone is about to cast a spell due to the amount of mana being gathered. Anything mana related comes easier to you.

My earth magic was now my strongest skill by two levels. Thanks to my level, I felt more…in tune… with the earth. The more I used earth magic the more I realized that it wasn’t just a thing. It was something more. I would have to train my skill level up more to fully understand what I was feeling. My mana affinity skill leveled up reducing my mana cost by one more percent. I wasn’t that irritated that it was taking so long to level up my skills. Slow and steady wins the race after all.

Now that my home was complete and my mana was restored (thanks to me meditating), I decided to try out some more necromancy spells. Standing near a patch of moss I began flipping pages in my journal. In my honest opinion, this book was a godsend. The journal was separated into various categories ranging from notes, spells, and rituals. I was faintly surprised that all this information could fit in one book. But even with all this new information, I was still left in quite a predicament.

The journal was nice and all, but I didn’t have the time to read through the whole thing. Did I want to try to learn these new spells or should I finish trying to reanimate a strong corpse first? Should I ignore those two options and read the notes about the idea of necromancy instead? I had no idea what to do. Although I would like to sit down and read it, I needed to get out of this sewer as quickly as I could. Why? So I could see my family. However there were a couple of problems with that line of thought.

One problem was even if I did manage to get out of the sewer quickly, what was stopping me from being killed the moment I escaped? I needed to become stronger before I even though about escaping. One of my fears was that I would meet my family only in time to see their death. The only way that wouldn’t happen was if I was stronger. I wanted to be strong enough to protect my family and my loved ones. And the only way to do that was train and level up. With that in mind I decided to put my thought of escaping as soon as I could to the side. My main goal right now was to become stronger.

The next question I had was how. Should I train my skills or should I just try to level up quickly? Training my skills would make my fighting abilities stronger and allow me to have more strategies in battle. However if I leveled up my health, mana, and stamina would increase. Not only that but I would also have stat points that I could allocate. The problem with leveling up though was that I needed to be strong enough to defeat my enemies so I could gain experience. Hmm. This was going to be a hard decision.

I took the next few minutes thinking about what I should do. After debating on the pros and cons I decided that I would rotate. I would practice my skills and once I thought they were at a decent level I would go out and level up. It might not be the best decision but it was the one I made. Looking back at my journal once again I began to read.

According to my journal I could actually control more than one corpse at a time. But in order to do that I needed to know the art of necromancy well. I obviously didn’t if my level one necromancy skill as anything to go on. With the surplus of corpses I was receiving I could combine them all in order to make a better reanimated corpse. However I just didn’t want a stronger corpse, I wanted one that would last a long time. With that in mind I began looking through my journal once again.

A few minutes later a smile erupted from my face. I had finally found it! This ritual would not only make my reanimation stronger, but it would also last a good period of time. The ritual I was looking at essentially made every part of my reanimation into a weapon. I was ashamed to say but my face turned a little green when I happened to glance at the picture on the next page.

The picture depicted a monster that looked like it belonged in the depths of hell. Organs with sharp teeth crawled out from its stomach, biting at its prey. Blood flowed from oozing wounds, infecting enemies with disease. Various appendages stuck out of its body creating a gruesome sight to see. Other people might have threw away the ritual after seeing the picture, but not I. A zombie this strong would only help me get stronger. It didn’t matter how it looked, all that mattered was its strength.

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Once I was finished looking at the picture, I read the necromancer’s notes to the side. This ritual would be more challenging and complex than the ones I did before. According to the necromancer, this was one of the strongest rituals in the book. When I did the ritual I would have to be exceedingly careful that I followed all of the steps. One mistake and I would look like the rat in the journal. That was something I didn’t want to happen.

The ritual itself needed me to gather a couple of things before I could attempt it. First I needed several corpses of the creature that I wanted to reanimate. It didn’t specify the number but it said the more corpses I used, the more likely the ritual will be a success. The next was that I needed another corpse to use as a host. This “host” would be what the reanimation ended up looking like. It wouldn’t look exactly like the host but its features would be based off of it.

I also needed some of my blood in order to make the corpse loyal to me and me only. I was a little bit shocked at this since usually all the ritual needed was my mana. However this time it would need both. I guess the stronger the ritual the better material it needs. These few things were the only materials that I needed to gather. Just gathering these things was the easiest part too. I wasn’t looking forward to the next instructions since one of the steps took up half a page. Oh well, I would deal with it when the time came.

Tearing my eyes away from the book, I looked at the corpses that were placed to the side. I rubbed my chin slowly as I decided what to do with them. Should I just save them for my ritual or should I make another zombie rat? If I saved them for my ritual I would have more corpses. However if I used them to make another zombie rat, it would be easier for me to kill more enemies. This would enable me to have more corpses that I could use for my ritual. After thinking on it for a few minutes I made my decision.  

Walking over to the corpses, I grabbed one giant rat by the tail and dragged him off to the side. Since I technically didn’t need all of the giant rats I had for the ritual, I could save this one for later. Moving back to my corpses I began the process of combining them. The reason I combined them instead of just reanimating one and saving the rest for later was because of several reasons. Not only would my reanimation be stronger, but the success rate of the ritual increased exponentially.

Once I the symbols were drawn, I began chanting the words to the spell. As I chanted pieces of the rats in front of me began to combine. Even though I had already seen it before, it was still unnerving to watch how well the pieces melded together. A few minutes later and everything was done leaving a bigger bulkier giant rat. I then chanted the words for the reanimation spell making sure to enunciate every word carefully. I hadn’t messed up before and I didn’t want to now. I then finished the ritual by imbuing my mana into the symbols on the ground. I watched in anticipation as the giant rat began to twitch after I spoke the last word in the chant.

Giant Zombie Rat - Lv.6

Hp: 35/35

No matter how many times I reanimated a corpse it was always going to be exciting. As I looked at my new reanimation I soon realized that something was different from the description. For some reason it was level six instead of five. The only explanation I could come up with was that I used higher level corpses. I wasn’t complaining since my new zombie rat now had increased health and strength.

Similar to before my reanimated rat nuzzled against my hand the moment I was distracted. I gave it a small pat on the head as I stood up. It was time to gather some corpses.

Walking over to my wall, I manipulated the earth into a doorway. Once my rat and I went through it, I closed it off. I did not want any enemies to go into my home while I was away. I also left my two containers of bone dust and my journal in my base. I wouldn’t need them since I was just gathering corpses and I didn’t want them to get damaged. Setting off into the darkness with my rat, I looked for enemies to fight. But only after a few minutes of walking, a blue box appeared in my vision.

For navigating in near darkness with little to no sight for a long period of time, you have gained the skill Enhanced Vision.

Enhanced VisionSkill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 1Exp: 5%Effects: This skill allows you to see farther and better. If level up high enough, night vision becomes possible.

Taking a few seconds to look around, I began to notice some changes in my vision. The dark spots that once obscured my vision were now slightly lighter. Not by much but enough for me to notice a difference. I was looking forward to night vision since walking around in almost complete darkness was taxing on my nerves. Since my skill was passive all I needed to do was use my eyes and my skill would level up.

Once I finished examining my surroundings, I continued on my way. As I walked I was forced to periodically wipe my hands so I could grip my sword tighter. At first it was awkward holding my sword since I felt like I was cosplaying. But as time went by the more used to it I got.

I was forced to stop walking when my zombie rat’s fur started to bristle. Could it sense something that I couldn’t? Coating my sword in wind I waited cautiously for my enemies to appear. Sure enough three giant rats came bolting out of the darkness a few seconds later.

Giant Rat - Lv.4

Hp: 25/25

Ferocious Giant Rat - Lv.7

Hp: 45/45

Giant Rat – Lv.4

Hp: 25/25

My eyes widened in shock as I read the blue box above their heads. The level four giants rats I could kill easy but the level seven one might prove to be a problem. Not only was it four levels higher than me but it seemed to be stronger than the average giant rat. It even had ferocious in its name. While the other rats were a solid grey color, this rat had white streaks on its fur. It was also more muscular than its counterparts. It might have been my imagination but its claws seemed sharper too.

The way it stood in front of the other two rats made it seem like a leader of some sorts. It made sense because it was considerably stronger than the other two giant rats. I could already tell that I would have to be strategic in this battle. I wasn’t going to win by strength so I had to use my mind instead. The question I had was how to go about fighting these rats. I was outnumbered and although I wanted to pick off the weak ones first, I doubted that the ferocious rat would let me. If push came to show I could always flee.

However, there were several things that could go wrong if I tried to run. One it followed me back to my base and told the other rats where I lived. I had no idea if the rats talked to each other but I didn’t want to take that risk. Another reason was that it might attack me the moment I turned my back toward it. If I was going to be struck, I wanted to be facing my opponent. The last and most important reason I didn’t want to flee was because this giant rat was special. Not only could I use its body to reanimate a corpse, but I would probably gain way more experience from it than I normally would. The rewards were too great for me to flee so I decided that I must fight.  

Taking a deep breath, I initiated the battle.