“I’m sorry about that, Ezekiel.” The consternation in Livia’s voice was clear. “They arrived a few days ago with some of their guild members and have been causing me headaches.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I shook my head as I watched the construct crouch back down and get lowered below the sands. The iris closed, leaving a bare spot within the sand. The porters quickly covered it over as they scooped up the remains of the players. “They thought they could get something by being dicks. In a way they did, they got a quick death.”

“Unfortunately, they’ll just be right back,” Livia sighed.

“They can directly come back to the marsh?” I asked. “I thought the nearest place of creation was a ways away.”

“It was,” Livia agreed. “But there is a way to get altars of creation to show up in different places. It’s not simple to do, but it’s worth doing if you’re setting up a settlement.”

“Really?”

“Yep,” Livia said. “They’re not quite the same, and it comes from one of the builder classes sub-skills, and there’s all kinds of requirements that need to be met for it to work, but I specifically hired someone who I knew had that skill and it was established just a couple days ago.”

“I see, well, hopefully they’ve learned their lesson.”

“I doubt that,” Raven snorted. “They seem too stupid to know any better.”

Both Livia and I barked out a short laugh. “Your bluntness is sometimes just perfect,” Livia said.

“Anyways, I guess it’s time we get on with it since we’ve already been delayed this much.” I began to trace out a circle in the smooth sand.

***

The process of out the ritual was quick. Livia paid close attention to how it was done, but I told her that even if she replicated the ritual itself it would still take a lich to run it. The only point of the ritual was to make the process smoother; I didn’t actually need it. But the ritual would make it painless.

When I was done, Livia took her spot in the middle. The crowd in the stands watching with interest.

Raven placed lower-level death cores all around in different spots left open for them. She also placed several different ingredients that Livia had provided. Most came from creatures that had been hunted out in the death biome. When I had created living dead before, the process had been quick and dirty. To do it right, I needed to use more than just raw power. The catalysts would make things function correctly without me having to brute force it and should result in a much more straightforward process.

“Last chance,” I said to Livia. “Once this is done, I don’t know how to undo it.”

“That’s fine, I’m ready,” Livia said. She wore a simple T-shirt and black pants, not wanting her armor to get caught up in the magic.

For dramatic effect I reshaped Mercy’s blade into a fancy skull with glowing purple eyes. Reaching out, I poured magic into the ritual and began the spell. Livia was picked up into the air as if by a string attached to her chest. She did not fiight it, she let herself hang there. The theatrics weren’t strictly necessary, but I figured since I was doing it in this fashion, I might as well make it a good show.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

I was careful not to touch her with any of the magic, other than what was suspending her. Every single one of the death cores cracked and my mana contained the death energy. Then in one large pulse it streamed into Livia’s body, killing her instantly. Instead of fully dying though, the spell held her in place and death magic along with death energy began to circle through her body.

The energies worked from her extremities inwards. An unforeseen effect was that the clothes she wore were decayed and destroyed. Fortunately for her own decency, no one outside of me could really see into the spell. Her pale skin changed, like the background color of her skin had been changed, and though still pale, it took on a darker hue.

A more complex weave of magic passed through her head, adjusting it to its new reality. Power bled from her eyes as they were changed. The magic gathered above her and streamed down in one steady beam into the left side of her chest, wrapping around her heart. It started beating again, and her body stirred.

I reached into my bag of holding as the spell faded and she was set back down. I tossed her a cloak as soon as the spell faded.

It took Livia a moment to realize she was naked, and she flushed as she wrapped herself in the cloak. It was interesting that living dead flushed. I wondered how that worked, but decided it was not the time for such investigations.

To my surprise, there was a smattering of applause from the crowd. “This is a reward now available both from the dungeon and the arena. It is a race change into a living dead,” I explained. “There is still a cost associated with it, the reward itself is me being willing to do it for you. If you’re interested, watch for it to show up on the lists or look for it in the dungeon.”

I strode towards the tunnel Raven and I had entered through. Whispers were already spreading through the crowd. I tried not to look back, but did glance back right as I entered the tunnel. Livia was looking at her hand in interest. She had a lot to discover about her new race, and I was interested to see what she’d find out. After all, the other living dead I had created were creatures and I couldn’t really talk to them. Or they were just not interested in talking about that kind of stuff with me.

***

“So, what do you think about being living dead?” I asked, sitting down at the tavern with Livia.

“It’s not as different as I expected,” Livia said after a moment. “The biggest differences are the resistances, like you said. Though I no longer feel tired in-game, I get weary with no need to sleep.”

“Yeah, that’s to be expected. I know you don’t have access to death energy, stamina is the same anymore. After all, stamina is life-based in a way.”

“Yes,” Livia agreed, taking a drink of her beer, which had some healing concoction in it that she said did not affect the flavor. “It’s called power now. Though it acts the same.”

I cocked my head to the side and thought. I had a glass of whiskey that had been made with holy water. Livia had previously asked what my preferred drink was, and the next time I visited, boom, it was there. “I would investigate that. I feel like you should have more utility with it than you normally would, even if you are a melee type.”

“I shall,” she agreed. “Everything else, umm, works fine as well.”

I sputtered, having just taken a sip of my whiskey. “Ah, good. I guess.”

There was an awkward silence. “Anyways, that team that was giving you issues have been in the dungeon lately, they constantly complain about it but they seemed happy with the loot and experience they’re getting.”

“Good to know. I don’t really keep a close eye on it anymore. The only teams I notice are when they get deep enough,” I explained.

“They say they could go deeper, but they don’t.” Livia rolled her eyes. “Big talk from an annoying team and guild.”

“What did you say?” a voice I recognized, much to my dismay, said from behind me. We had not noticed Larry entered the tavern. I’d been too distracted by the completed building. For such a large and complex structure, it had gone up very fast, even accounting for the players with their special skills.

“Not now,” Livia sighed.

“Who’s your friend, Livia?” Larry demanded. “I didn’t hear what you said. It sounded like he my team.”

“I’ll catch you later, Livia.” I knocked back my whiskey and got up to leave. I didn’t want to deal with this asshole. For a moment, it seemed like he might block me, but he stepped out of my way. I didn’t feel bad leaving Livia with him, she could take care of herself.

“See you later Zeke,” Livia said as I walked away.