I awoke the next day and me feeling as refreshed as I possibly could after sleeping in a spooky gothic house in the middle of a graveyard dungeon. My faithful minions were still standing guard at the doorway. I ate another granola bar and downed a water bottle. My supply had dwindled to half of what I originally had. I could probably stretch it to last another couple days If I really tried. I had two goals today. Grind out some levels and skills.
“Boy have you tried practicing any of your other skills or seeing if any of them have leveled up?” Vaeda asked.
“No I haven’t had any mana to try out my manipulate shadows skill, but thanks to our decision to raise my mana pool I have a little extra I can begin experimenting with it. And I’m guessing based on you asking that some skills have leveled up? Skill list”
Gregory Sol's Skills: Soul Chamber Unique Passive Beginner 1 Host absorbs the souls of enemies after defeating them in combat. The host then stores the soul in a soul chamber within their own soul. Souls can be used for a variety of purposes host may unlock as they level up the skill. Summon Familiar Exotic Active Beginner 2
The host can summon a familiar to aid them in exchange for a portion of the host’s mana pool. Cost: 50 Mana
Control Undead Exotic Active Beginner 3
It allows the host to control all forms of undead. Each undead host controls takes a portion of the host’s mana. The number of the undead host can control is based on the control stat. Every undead type will require a different amount of control and mana.
Manipulate Shadow Uncommon Active Beginner 1 It allows the host to manipulate shadows. Cost: Varies
“Sweet Summon Familiar went up by one level and control undead reached level three. I wish I understood what made them each level though. I have a vague idea that the longer I have you summoned the stronger you get Vaeda. But then my minions which have now been through a battle have only leveled up the skill by two levels.”
“All skills are different and should be treated as such. I’m a special case. It’s not too important right now boy but I will tell you anyway. Some skills when they level up get different abilities or change their properties. For instance, Summon Familiar will unlock certain abilities when it levels up.” Vaeda replied.
“Okay, that gets me kind of hype. So before we set out I’d like to practice my Manipulate Shadows skill. Do you have any idea how it works or anything?” I asked.
“I assume it’s a basic manipulate element type skill. Essentially it allows you to well, manipulate said element to varying degrees based on how much control you have and how high level the skill is. Just give it a try.”
I’d read a lot of comics and novels before and if there’s one thing they all have in common is that when you’re learning element bending you start out small and unable to create said element just being able to manipulate it. Luckily for me, it was permanently dark outside. But somehow There were also shadows everywhere. It was very confusing but when I asked Vaeda about it he just started mumbling something about stupid dungeons. I sat down cross-legged on the couch and began trying to figure out how to manipulate shadows.
“Manipulate Shadows”
I felt a tug on my mana pool and I felt it begin to slowly leave my body. I focused every fiber of my being into my hand. At first, nothing happened but gradually a semi-transparent shadowy dot formed on my palm. The dot was like a seed in my hand that started to grow the more mana I sent down my strand. Eventually, it became a foot long stalk of shadow that was waving in the little breeze coming through the window of the house.
“VAEDA LOOK” I screamed at him as I showed him my shadow stalk.
“What’s wrong boy?” He asked as he flew over to me.
“Look I DID IT. I DID MAGIC.”
He started to chuckle at me but I didn’t care. I had done it. I know I’ve been casting spells up to this point but this was bonafide magic I had achieved. Vaeda came from a dimension or world that had probably had magic for as long as it had existed, while earth had just been introduced to it. Who wouldn’t be a little giddy or excited after achieving what humanity had dreamt of for centuries? I failed to notice though that in my excitement I had jumped out of the corner of the room and my shadow stalk had disappeared along with more than half of my mana. I walked over and plopped down on the couch and waited for my mana to regen. Vaeda then told me he’d be going out for a bit and flew out the window. Maybe he’s out hunting. Does he even need to eat? What do owls even eat? I think they eat small vermin. I haven’t seen a single rat or anything like that since I’ve been here though. Is that because of him, is he out patrolling every night while I sleep keeping the rats and mice at bay? If so I should thank him. If not and he hasn’t been eating for my sake I should offer him some granola. Luckily my undead don't eat or we would quickly be out of food.
Three hours later my mana had finally regenerated and Vaeda had returned. It was time to ask him some important questions I had.
“Hey, Vaeda do you eat?”
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“What? Yes of course I do I’m a living breathing creature aren’t I?”
“Then what do you eat? I haven’t seen a single rat since we got here.”
“I mostly hunt the crows and ravens that are all over the dungeon while I scout the surrounding area. You’ve surely heard the racket those annoying birds make right? Think of me as an exterminator.”
“Oh okay. I think I’m going to continue practicing Manipulate Shadows. I really wish I could send you out with the goon squad over there to hunt other undead but they don’t seem to listen to you.”
“Maybe eventually we’ll get a skill that allows for that. Until then though we have to keep grinding your level and skills.” Vaeda said sternly.
Vaeda and I spoke for a little longer getting to know each other better, with him asking about my life on earth before the apocalypse and me asking all sorts of magic owl questions. I wanted to spend all day leveling up my mana and shadow skills while he pressured me to be out fighting more and raising my stats. Eventually, we came to a compromise that I would spend a couple of hours practicing my skills in the morning until my mana was depleted and then me, Vaeda and the goon squad would head out and attack undead while my mana regenerated. We kept this up for a couple days straight and I had gained six levels and a good amount of skill levels. And at level ten the system had given me ten extra stats for being the first of my race to hit said level. I had also picked up four more skeletal grunts and traded in my zombie grunt for a new breed of undead we had found called a Zombie Rusher. It was a fast zombie who would chase after its target endlessly until either it or its target was dead. It cost me 20 CTRL and 40 mana. I was able to harvest enough armor to outfit me and the goon squad completely and all of us even had weapons. We had been out for most of the morning and now we were headed back to our base house. As soon as I got into the house I plopped onto the couch.
“Okay boy now let’s see if you gained any skill levels”
“Yeah yeah yeah. Status”
Name: Gregory Sol Age: 21 Sex: Male Race: Human Level: 14 Class: Necromancer Health: 25/25 Mana: 100/265 (165 in use) Health Regen: 2 Health Per Hour Mana Regen: 15 Mana Per Hour STR 3 INT 53 WIS 15 PERC 3 VIT 5 END 2 AGI 2 DEX 2 WILL 30 CTRL 73 (70 in use)
My stats aren't what you called balanced but that's not what you’re supposed to do either I guess. My level growth had begun to stagnate as of late. The closer I get to my enemies levels the less experience they seem to give. Makes sense I suppose so people don’t just farm low-level mobs forever. I put most of my points into either willpower, control, intelligence or wisdom. And then I used 1 on each of my other stats as well. I also found out that when you level up the system refills your health and mana to full and heals you of any status ailments you may have. I always wondered how the bite the zombie gave me disappeared and now I know. This past couple of days of training has felt like hell for someone who used to be the epitome of laziness. But I now felt stronger and the system was a wonderful way to show how you had made progress. Now it’s time to check those skill levels.
“Skills”
Gregory Sol's Skills: Soul Chamber Unique Passive Beginner 3 Host absorbs the souls of enemies after defeating them in combat. The host then stores the soul in a soul chamber within their own soul. Souls can be used for a variety of purposes host may unlock as they level up the skill. Summon Familiar Exotic Active Intermediate 2
The host can summon a familiar to aid them in exchange for a portion of the host’s mana pool. Cost: 50 Mana
-Eye in the Sky: Allows the host to see through their familiar's eyes.
Control Undead Exotic Active Intermediate 1
It allows the host to control all forms of undead. Each undead host controls takes a portion of the host’s mana. The number of the undead host can control is based on the control stat. Every undead type will require a different amount of control and mana.
Manipulate Shadow Uncommon Active Beginner 5 It allows the host to manipulate shadows. Cost: Varies
Vaeda and I were ecstatic when we unlocked his skills first ability. This would let me see everything he sees. The first time I tried it I didn’t close my eyes so my brain had to suddenly process double the amount of visual stimuli and add on top of the fact that one of the stimuli was several hundred feet in the air. I proceeded to vomit profusely all over myself. Vaeda found that part hilarious. Luckily for me, the goon squad is void of any personality so they couldn’t laugh at me as well.
I also have found a correlation between the rank of a skill and how hard it is to level it. Which is why my unique skill Soul Chamber had only leveled up twice but my exotic skill Control Undead has leveled up 8 times. Vaeda explained to me that the way a skill level gets classified is as follows: Beginner 1-10, Intermediate 1-10, Advanced 1-10, Expert 1-10, and there's allegedly a final rank called Master that also goes 1-10 but Vaeda had never met anyone with a skill level that high.
My Control Undead skill now allowed me to give more complex commands to my undead besides just attack, stab, defend, run, etc. Now they were capable of listening to half sentences and remembering commands. Manipulate Shadows has barely leveled up and I still hadn’t found a use for the spell beyond making cool shapes or shadow puppets.
I reached into my backpack to grab my daily rations and found that I had run out of granola bars. I still had plenty of water and I remembered reading somewhere once that a human can survive on just water for three weeks. I didn’t want to put that to the test though so I told Vaeda about my predicament.
“Do you want me to bring back some of my prey boy? I hunt more than I can eat by myself anyway.” Vaeda asked.
“I don’t think humans can eat the same things as magic owls Vaeda. Also, I don’t even want to know what kind of diseases I’d contract if I ate raw bird meat. We’ll just have to locate a new source of food today. I think it’s about time we left the nest. No offense Vaeda.”
“No offense taken boy I know what you mean. And I agree. I think I remember seeing a pretty big structure nearby if you wanna go exploring a bit?”
With that, I packed up all our stuff, made sure the goon squad was properly equipped and got ready to head out. It had only been a week since the apocalypse had happened but I feel like I’ve already been through so much and become a stronger person than I was before. I went upstairs to the bathroom where it all began and gave myself a good look in the mirror. I was still wearing my hoodie and jeans though both were much worse for wear. Now on top of it, I had a leather chest piece, leather shin guards and leather braces. They all looked like they had seen better days but so did I. At my side was a scabbard with a sword sheathed in it. I had long since traded out my shovel for this weapon. After making sure everything was tied tightly I swung my backpack over my shoulders and headed out to explore the rest of the dungeon.