I sat in my room. It was still a part of the dungeon even though I was no longer the dungeon boss. Being here still gave me some minor benefits, one of which was the simple fact that I was as safe here as I would be just about any place else. Kellnock would let nothing get to me.

Across my legs lay Mercy. My connection was so deep with the weapon that it didn’t even feel like a foreign object was touching my body, this was simply another part of me. I wore simple robes rather than my powerful Thanatrith armor. It was a pain to take the armor on and off, but after spending several days in it I decided I didn’t want to always be wearing armor. It was uncomfortable, especially now that I had flesh on my body, even if it was emaciated.

I was focusing my mind inwards, a process identical to what one goes through with soul compression. My trait remembrance of the soul meant I did not have to do soul compression again, it automatically completed. Which was nice. Soul compression was a pain, especially if you messed it up and had to regain levels to try again. It did mean I hadn’t gained the stat multiplier for having stat points over a value of 100, but that was okay. My old multipliers were bigger than what I would have gained anyway. I was curious what would happen when my level was equal to what I once had been at, and the trait went away.

However, I still needed to refine my death core. Since I hadn’t gone through the process before, it wasn’t automatically completed. Before starting the process, I had absorbed enough death cores to bring me above a base value of 200. I had been very close, and if it behaved like stat points did, bringing it above 200 would be a nice boost.

The process of refining the death core was fairly straightforward. Vito had explained it to me before he left. Normally, you would have to do both soul compression and core refinement at the same time. Not having to do so made the process that much easier

Focusing on meditation I was able to picture my core and directly access it. I then pulled all of the death energy out of my core, but not out of my control, urging it into a miasma around me. I condensed that miasma down until it became a sphere of highly condensed energy.

I then pulled a stream of energy out of that sphere and ran it back down to my core. Wherever the stream touched the core, it refined. That began the cycle. I ran a constant stream of energy in and out of my core in loops refining every part of it as I slowly worked the energy through the core. The process was exhausting. The mental control was akin to the amount of effort it took for me to control large numbers of undead with precision.

With the refinement process finally done, I channeled the energy back into the core and opened my eyes. No prompts waited for me, but that was okay. I knew where I could find the information I wanted, I pulled up my character sheet, going through my stat sheet first. There weren’t any level gains since I last looked, but I was certain there must be some changes.

Character Soul Level: 101

Name: Ezekiel Verniac

Race: Human Lich

Unspent Stat Points:

Spent Stat Point: 505

5 Stat Points per level

Health: 1528

Health Regeneration: 54.49/sec

Death Energy: 2596

Death Energy Regeneration Tier 1: 57.7/sec

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Death Energy Tier 2 Storage Capacity: 1

Mana: 1705

Mana Regeneration: 51.56/sec

Carrying lbs.: 2314.07

Stats:

Intelligence: 190 [multiplier: 1.311] [40 from gear]

Spirit: 134 [multiplier: 1.23]

Vitality: 119 [multiplier: 1.15]

Resilience: 116 [multiplier: 1.15]

Death Core Tier 1: 218

Death Core Tier 2: 1 [multiplier: 1.21]

Agility: 115 [multiplier: 1.1]

Dexterity: 89 [multiplier: 1.21]

Experience: 20,136 of 103,015

There weren’t very many changes, but what was there was interesting. The tier information about the death cores was new. It was also interesting that the tier 2 death energy did not have a regeneration rate, only a capacity. My stat screen was different than it would’ve been normally. Even discounting the death core which replaced my strength and endurance stats. Now that I’d passed level 100, I should have a compressed stats score—it’s where the multipliers come from. But I didn’t have one and was beginning to suspect that when I passed the level I’d been before, I was going to have some hard adjustments as my body reset to the correct system.

It was interesting that the tier 2 death core didn’t show a fractional number. I assume that would be explained in my character sheet. I was glad to have taken the time to get my tier 1 death core beyond level 200, it would make a large difference in the long run. I moved on to my character sheet to see what had changed there.

Character traits:

I was very interested by the explanations between the different tiers of death cores. In a way it made sense that I did not have a passive generation for the tier 2 energy but did for the tier 1. After all, tier 1 death energy is essentially stamina for us Lichs. I was thankful I’d be able to continue to increase that value, even if it wouldn’t add to my multiplier. Lichs are already very powerful, that would have been just ridiculous.

The benefits of being a dungeon lord were interesting as access to dungeon energy was tempting, but judging from what Damien said, I doubted the construction of the nexus was something I was even remotely close to being able to do.

The enhancements I gained from advancing my death core to tier 2 were impressive, to say the least. I was excited about the possession ability. That was certainly something I hadn’t expected. Vito should’ve told me about it, but then again, he was a vampire, and I was a lich. I was also interested to see just what I could do with more powerful death energy. That first meant figuring out how to refine it though.

If the utility from the second tier death energy wasn’t enough to be excited about, the body of death trait was, in some ways, even more important. Innate skill with magic is good, but that trait took it beyond even that. I could cast even the most complex death magic spells that would normally push my limits of control with ease.

Overall, I was just stronger. The boost of strength that came from the utilization of the second tier death energy would be interesting. I was uncertain about the backlash so some experimenting would be required.

Leaving the room, I stepped into a small courtyard Kellnock had constructed, where my room, Raven’s room, Maxwell’s room and also stables for Raven’s pets were located. Kellnock had only been in charge of the dungeon for a few days, and he was already making large changes. In the courtyard was a pile of bones provided by Kellnock. When the incredibly powerful and serious boss of the dungeon showed us the changes he’d made to our living quarters, I got the feeling he wanted us out of the way.

I didn’t blame him. The last thing he wanted was his boss looking over his shoulder while working. I used a simple but powerful undead construct spell to create a four-legged creature. It had long bony legs driven by pure magic. The creature would not last long, but I didn’t need it to, I just needed it to last long enough.

As my creation waited, I pulled out a piece of paper and wrote a quick note to Vito, asking what he knew about the second tier death energy, and attached it to the bone-creature’s back. Then with a mental order I sent it racing away. My creation would find Vito and his growing fortress in Tehomal. All my construct had to do was get there, Vito would then either send his own construct back or come himself.

Vito had left after Friar Brown departed. Though Vito expressed gratitude towards the friar, I got the feeling he still didn’t fully trust him.

With that done, I decided to explore the outside some. Very little out there could hurt me, even with how weak I was at the time. Immunity to death and necrotic magic meant I was basically untouchable by everything there. Unless they had a powerful physical attack, there was nothing they could do against me. Besides, I’d been cooped up in this ziggurat for a while, and was interested to see just how the marsh had changed.