My zeal was palpable as I considered what new spells would be opened to me. They would be specific to my necromancer class. I was loving my current spell options, but I was hoping for something along a different path. I was hoping for a summons or pet class spell, something that was a staple for necromancers in the video games I played back on Earth. I already had a small selection of the damaging over time spells, so one of those would work too, but I had my hopes, nonetheless.
“Ok, coming at you,” Stella smiled my way, clearly catching on my exuberant energy. “Oh, these look good.” As she said this last part, the system message appeared in my vision. She wasn’t kidding.
Congratulations on reaching level 7. As a Necromancer, you are able to choose one of the following skills or spells. Please know that it is possible that skills or spells not selected have the possibility to be found elsewhere in the World.
Please know that you will be able to choose a new skill or spell when you reach level 9. Additionally, after choosing your tier 2 class at level 10, another set of skills or spells will be selectable at level 12 and another at level 14. Choose wisely.
Option 1: Spell – [Minor Envenomed Bolt] – A bolt of poison shoots from your palm striking a desired target. The target is then ravaged by a potent toxin doing high damage over a short period of time.
Option 2: Spell – [Minor Curse of Darkness] – You summon darkness to cling and bind to a target’s legs. This slows the target’s movement speed and does a small amount of damage over time.
Option 2: Spell – [Minor Restless Bones] – Animates the bones of a recently defeated foe creating an undead servant that follows your commands. The skeleton lasts until destroyed or the spell is canceled. Only one skeleton can be summoned at a time.
“Yes!” I said as I read the last option. “I was hoping for a spell like that. Still, this was going to be a tough decision… I would love to have all three really. The poison bolt is perfect for my necromancer build as it looks to be a highly damaging spell, likely killing weaker mobs with just that single cast. There’s a tactic with damage over time spells where you cast your longer lasting ones, then go down your available list with shorter and shorter spells.” I rubbed my hands together as I spoke, thrilled at the options.
“That curse spell is something new,” Stella said as she hovered close by. “It has a small amount of damage with it, but it looks to primarily slow an enemy. Kind of like limiting them to a walking speed instead of a sprint, but how helpful can that be right now?
“Curse of Darkness is what is known as a snare spell,” I said. “It’s really good for a type of tactic where you aggro a monster with that spell first, then layer DoT upon DoT on it all the while as you keep away from it. Essentially, keeping it at bay so it can never strike you while your spells whittle down its health. Keeping distance from an enemy is a strong ability and absolutely destroys melee-type classes.”
Stella bunched her face in confusion, “Aggro?”
“It means to make a monster aggressive towards you,” I replied, but could tell she still wasn’t getting it. “It’s a gamer term, it means to draw a monster to attack you. Hmm, picture this, you’re in a field and a goblin is wandering aimlessly about. It hasn’t detected you so is not aggressively attacking you. I ‘pull’ the monster to us using a spell like that curse, it is now aggressive towards me. Another way the term is used is who a monster is actively attacking. Say I get this skeleton spell and I order Mr. Bones to attack the wandering goblin. He will draw aggro meaning I can stand back and fire spells freely without the threat of the goblin attacking me. Does that help a little?”
“Yeah, that helps. Pulling aggro is causing a monster to attack, or when a party member makes it specifically attack him or her.”
“Exactly,” I nodded at Stella’s simple explanation.
“So, are you getting the snare spell then?” Stella asked. She was on the mark here, either I was going to get the curse or the skeleton pet. While another DoT would help, those two options enabled me to have better survivability and new tactics for which to engage our enemies.
“Hmm, I’m actually leaning towards the new pet. The snare spell would help us both offensively and defensively, but I think I’d rather have the skeleton first. It can do the same thing but has the benefit of not being outright ignored by a monster. Snares have a weakness of either being resisted entirely or wearing off prematurely. I think it would pair well with a skeleton, so I’m hoping we see it again down the road. Plus, imagine putting some of our old gear onto my skeletal minion. At least, I hope that can be done.” I looked at Stella to see if she had any information about that possibility.
“Hmm,” Stella pondered as she pulled up information I couldn’t see. “Yes, even a ‘minor’ spell like this comes with the ability for it to equip weapons and armor, though nothing that’s too powerful.” Stella paused then, looking deeper into the information before her. “So many minor pet spells like this one can equip gear but only up to uncommon rarity. A lesser version and equip up to rare rarity weapons and armor. That continues on for each new tier.” Stella eyed my battle axe before continuing, “So, he wouldn’t be able to equip your axe for example, not at least until ‘average’ tier spells.”
“Average tier?” I questioned.
“It’s the tier that comes after lesser spells, so not too far down the road for us. If you have a lesser spell that you specialize in, it would probably bump it to average tier.”
“Something down the road to consider. I mean, my lesser boil blood is a gods damn monster right now,” I said as I considered how powerful the spell had been thus far. “I can’t even imagine it at the next tier.” With a thoughtful expression on my face, I ran through my options one last time. “I think one other thing to consider, is that I doubt you and I will be grouping up with any other hunters. They seem far too quick to violence, and I’d more likely end up fighting one than becoming friends. Most Hunters are evil bastards, are they not?”
“Sadly, yes,” Stella lamented. “Though, there are clearly good Hunters if you consider people like Stouter.”
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“There certainly are,” I agreed. Between the two spells, I kept coming back to the fact that I was going to be soloing and would likely remain that way for some time. Having a skeleton that could occupy a monster’s attention while I blast it with spells would be incredibly helpful at this time. Not only that, but my newly acquired hood also synergized with the pet spell meaning it did an additional ten percent damage. That sealed my choice. I could only hope I was making the right one. My fingers selected Minor Restless Bones and confirmed the selection.
Knowledge and power flooded into me as if directly downloaded to my brain. Mystical passes, arcane words, the entirety of the spell was instantly mine to command as if I had known the spell my whole life. In the seconds it took for the process to complete, I couldn’t help but close my eyes as the wealth of knowledge reached the furthest corners of my mind.
Congratulations! New Spell Unlocked: [Minor Restless Bones]!
[Minor Restless Bones] You animate the bones of a recently defeated foe which creates an undead servant that follows your commands. The skeleton lasts until destroyed or the spell is canceled. Additionally, the skeleton will always match your Hunter level, though it can only reach a maximum level of 12 at this time. Cost: 200 mana. Cast Time: 10 seconds. Recast Time: 1 second. Plus 2 Strength, plus 1 Dexterity and plus 2 Constitution per spell level for the minion. Additionally, for every two levels of the spell, the minion’s maximum level is increased by plus 1.
“That’s an interesting aspect of the spell,” I said as I studied the spell description. “I hadn’t thought about it leveling with me and it potentially capping out. If I don’t use the spell regularly, it could cause the spell to become weaker and weaker over time. When I’m level twenty, and if I don’t use this spell, the minion would cap out at only twelve.”
“I doubt that will be a problem for you,” Stella said with a shake of her head. “I don’t see you not using this spell, so as long as you keep it up, that won’t become an issue.”
Stella was right, I knew that, so didn’t dwell on the thought longer. It was true, I doubted I wouldn’t have this skeleton minion up at all times. The only time it would be down, would be if it was destroyed in combat. That would be a pain to recast it, especially in the midst of combat as it took ten seconds to do so. “Let’s see this puppy in action,” I said, then noticed Stella make a weird face at my words. “Oh, sorry. Let’s see this skelly in action.”
Walking over to the matriarch’s corpse, the words of my new spell filled my mind and thoughts as if I had already cast the spell countless times. The body was disgusting to look upon, with the stink growing even stronger in the few minutes since the battle ended. I really hoped my new minion didn’t draw upon any of the matriarch’s attributes. The spell didn’t hint that it did, but I would find out soon.
Straightening my back, I began casting my new spell. The arcane phrases and gestures reminded me of a building tornado. My motions were slow to begin, my hands moving in twisting arcs. In the seconds that followed, the intensity of the gestures tightened into slashing movements with abrupt changes in angles. The words came from deep within me, also building in speed and power with each passing second. Even near the climax of the spell, the movement of my hands, the positioning of my fingers, and the arcane words I spoke, all felt natural and practiced. The ease of it was incredible.
After ten seconds, my hands cascaded down towards the body in one final motion, as if I were directly all of the power into the body before me. That was, in fact, exactly what the spell was calling into being. Dark energy raced out of my fingertips, darting to the still form of the boss. Her blubbery skin trembled as the dark energy sought to pass through her skin. Only a split second passed before the dark magic sunk into the corpse. My now innate knowledge of the spell informed me that had the body has still been alive, the energy would not have been able to pass through the fleshy barrier. Though, since the boss was truly dead, the resistance it would have carried in life was easily overcome.
The body of the boss began twitching, slowly at first, but then came to a crescendo as if there was something under the skin that desperately wanted out. Then the skin seemed to just melt away, evaporating into the magical ether. What was left was a collection of bones that, as I watched in fascination, were moved by the dark energy. The corpse had more bones than my spell needed to create my minion, so a great portion of the bones evaporated into nothingness.
As if being built from the ground up, bones were twisted and reformed to slowly build a skeleton minion that would soon tower over me. Bones elongated, others shortened, and others still grew wider as the magic of the spell worked. The shadowy energy of the spell positioned each bone to the proper area, creating a powerful skeleton that was a head taller than me. The bones were sturdy and gave a sense of durability as if not even a direct axe strike would break them. Stepping closer, the dark energy wound around every bone as if it was imitating tendons and muscles. It had the effect of tinting the previously stark white bones to a dark obsidian.
My gaze moved upwards and locked onto the twin balls of plasma that were the skeleton’s eyes. While the burning orbs didn’t move or shift, I somehow knew it was looking directly at me as if awaiting instructions. A small nameplate appeared over the skeleton’s head, like what a monster would have. It read simply ‘Skeleton Minion.’ Feeling a bit disappointed at the unoriginal name, I was pleasantly surprised when a notification popped into my vision.
Do you wish to rename your skeleton? Please know that this can only be done once. Yes/No
Hell yeah, I wanted to name this guy, but what to choose? I mulled over the thought when Stella interrupted. She was hovering so close to my ear that it startled me, “Can we name her Noteleks? You know, skeleton spelled backward. It would really mess with people.”
“Wait, what?” I asked without thinking. I must have had an incredulous look on my face, as Stella flew a short distance away, looking completely embarrassed. Taking a few seconds to reorientate myself with the decision at hand, I returned my gaze to the intimidating creature. “Sorry. Just no, Stell. Plus, who even said it was a girl?”
“Well, obviously it’s a girl.” Stella flew close to the skeleton, floating around it. “It did come from a girl boss monster, you know.” Her voice hinted that there was no debate to be found here, her reasoning obviously settling it as the only option here.
“Okay, let’s find a compromise,” I said. “How about I give you five names and you get to choose which one it is?”
Stella perked up at that, “Ok, but you can only give me girl names.”
Stella finally came around our newest teammate, excitedly wagging her tail. I raised an eyebrow at her when she landed on the skeleton’s shoulder like she customarily did on mine. Both her and my new minion looked expectantly towards me.
Twin beady eyes looked at me, awaiting the names that I was even then debating in my mind. “Ok, how about,” I paused as I considered several options. I wanted a name that spoke of confidence, lethality, and a dash of feminism in light of Stella’s request. “Helena, Moraine, Azura, Artemis, or… Ripley.”
Stella held a paw to her face as she considered the names. Her face and composure looked as if she was making the most important decision of her life. It was quite enduring, but I had the good sense to avoid saying anything at that moment. With a curt nod, Stella finally decided, “Ripley.”
“That’s a good choice. The names from a famous character from Earth, a total badass, really.” My fingers danced over a keyboard that had appeared in the air, as I input the name. Stella beamed at my words, nodding along, and eyeing up the skeleton once more. Confirming the choice, I looked up at my new powerful guardian. “Welcome to the party, Ripley. May your enemies fear your fury, fierce determination, and fearless spirit.”