Before I could really consider why I wasn’t able to talk to the weird rat thing, the attackers reacted, rather violently to my “speech”.
Veleon, being the quicker and more experienced combatant, reacted first. Using his hard axe like tail, he intercepted the arrow aimed at my rather exposed cranium, while simultaneously catching a shadowy demoness ambushing from the rear with his mighty fore claws.
Me, on the other hand, was much slower to react; I barely dodged the downward slash from the big green guy only to find myself with a rusty dagger in my ribcage. This snapped me out of my stupor and I stared at the chaotic mess around me, the attackers who attacked for no good reason, the rage and hate on their faces, an angry demoness glairing at me, soon she looked just like a certain noble woman, one I’d tried to suppress.
Shifting my vision to the rusty thing in my ribs, my mind started racing, memories of a dark room came crashing in to the surface. Julia was there; in the form of the demon she was when she killed my father. She was cackling while holding the rusty dagger. “Shall we test my new toy some more?” came her demonic voice.
Time froze for what seem like an eternity, rage and sadness, hatred and anger, fear and hopelessness all overwhelming levels of emotion rushed me. I was lost, my eyes flared from the normal calm glowing whites to a roaring black/red flame.
In an instant almost robotically i cast dark bolt at the horrified Ratkin. Hitting the poor creature directly in the face for an amazing <-32HP> removing the creatures head entirely.
Claire was scared, she was an AI, she should not be able to feel fear, and yet she was. A weak dagger stabbed Alex, it did some damage sure but why had it caused this reaction. Alex was currently emitting an aura so fierce, so powerful, so terrifying that even an A.I. like Claire felt it. That aura scared Claire to her very core, and she was barely able to process what was going on. “Ok, lets calm down and process, what’s happening?” Claire said aloud. She decided to look over Alex, even though the thought of it terrified her, what she found was even worse. “This, this shouldn’t be happening, skills don’t just happen!” She roared as the reread the skill she found.
Passive Skill Information
Magic Name: Enraged Undead Heart
Level: Max
Classification: Mental/Toggled
Description: Possessor of this skill feels all emotions at a significantly higher intensity, Pain is not considered an emotion for this sake of this skill. Humor and laughter are felt at a slightly decreaced degree. While Enraged, attack power and agility are tripled, however player is berzerk and skill canot be deactivated untill all hostile forces are elimanted. MP restored on activation.
Status: Berzerk: Target will attack with everything they can, with out care of damage to their own body, untill all targets of their emnity are destroyed.
Claire was rather shaken, this did not bode well, they were outnumbered. She attempting to wake Alex from his rage immediately, while sending a pleading request to his summons for assistance. It failed miserably.
Malveleonix was attempting to subdue their attackers when his summoner went into a battle lust. He was unaware as to why this happened, but he too was affected buy it, to a lesser extent. He was not overtaken by rage as Alex had been but there would be only one end to this fight. Reacting quickly he sent a tail spike at a distracted dark elf, knocking her from her perch, the strike was lethal. That was one annoyance taken care of, now for the demoness, she, like her friend was distracted when hit by Alex’s aura. Malveleonix was not one to pass up such a chance, a quick swipe of a paw later and two distractions were gone. It was at this point Claire was shouting for help in his head. “Please subdue Alex, I need to help him somehow. For his own sake don’t let him kill anyone else!” She screamed. (Had he killed? Oh, yea that Ratkin is very, very dead. Well it wouldn’t be the last time.) With a roar Malveleonix charged the last annoyance, an orc charging his master. It didn’t matter though Alex would kill it soon enough.
***
Lug was alone now, face to face with a very angry undead, a glowing darkness held in his hand as if he was just waiting for Lug to make the first move. Lug would oblige. Both of his friends were dead, he could sense it through their lost bond, and the rat, exploded.
Lug knew he would die too, but he would die with honor, in battle like his ancestors. He built his courage and charged the undead who threw that ball of darkness at him. He dodged it to the right and rushed forward, just when he was about to reach the undead who foolishly still stood there, his back exploded in pain. He looked down at a gaping hole in his chest before he keeled over, dead.
***
I roared in triumph as his flaming eyes burst in furious flames, the battle was won. The rage wore off and I collapsed finally able to hear Claire’s panicked voice calling for me before passing out.
***
In a distant land far removed from the battle that was fought between undead and demoness, darkness stirred. One far greater than the tiny fragment that once resided in Julia, this one was the original, the first, the master of the darkness spreading in this land. Like its children it chose a host to hide in, however it took over the host completely after feeding on it, assuming its role in the world.
After the role was assumed it would feed on the constant flow of fragments that came, and was full to bursting with elemental energy, yet still ever hungry. This allowed the source of the darkness to easily maintain its hosts cover without destroying the body. The host’s soul was long gone of course, more fuel for its hungering maw.
The host was a rather convenient one, and the origin would rather not lose such a useful tool for gathering food. What better tool to gather souls of this world than a king of the most prosperous nation?
The king, known as High Lord Xavier Von Silverai, true to any high noble or royal house the Von in the name was a way of saying “of the house”. This traditional affix was part of all major, and most recognized minor nobles surnames.
Some foreign nations use son added to a founding patriarch’s name. Or even a profession could be used, if one became noble through wealth gained from such means. In almost all nations, the common folk did not bother with surnames, seeing them as tedious or for fear of repercussions from the noble class.
The original demon rather liked the convenience this name came with, and slowly used it to further his plans. It began gathering armies at the border of a nation with loose ties and troubled past with his nation. Though it would be seen as extreme it would not be seen as insane. The goal is to gather as many souls and elements as he could through massive conflict under the guise of a king quelling a potential threat to his nation.
Xavier rode his warhorse atop the hill before looking over the horizon, before him were countless formations of enemy troops, armed and ready to greet his own. His general, a man named Maxim Von Argus, trotted up to his side, he was possessed by one of his strongest fragments which was told to control, rather than consume. After all Xavier needed pawns he could trust, and was not fool enough to place trust in man.
“One hundred thousand men, my lord,” exclaimed Maxim resting comfortably on the back of his horse, “They have brought us a rather nice feast, have they not?” he smiled wickedly.
“Yes, how kind of them,” Xavier said calmly, “shall we begin the festivities, then?” He continued, emotionlessly, as he reached for a signal horn, blowing it twice.
Rising from behind the hill came an army unlike any the world had seen before, men wielding unnaturally large weapons and wickedly armored horses, faster than should be possible, came charging or the hill, arriving at the enemies unprepared front lines in mere moments.
The battle of thousands lasted only minutes; it was an overwhelmingly one-sided fight, none escaped, none survived, the darkness and its children’s soldiers consumed all. Atop the hill maniacal laughing could be heard as Xavier absorbed the souls that flowed from the field like a waterfall, exclaiming, “Wonderful, wonderful! I must have more!” after all, the demon could truly never be sated.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
***
I came to seeing a rather bony cat ass in my face, I struggled but to no avail the cat was deceptively heavy.
“Can you get off me?” I asked.
“Oh? Back with us are you? Claire was worried you might still be a rage machine, what ever a machine is. Doesn’t sound good though” The great beast said still sitting on him, not moving an inch.
“Can we talk after you are off me, I’d rather not talk to your butt!” I shouted.
“Oh right, right.” Veleon said as he moved off me like I was an exceptionally comfortable chair he didn’t want to leave.
I slowly stood, taking in the carnage around us. I seemed a bit stiff but from what or how I did not know. I asked what happened and got a rather harrowing response. I had apparently gone berserk, (An actual status affect not just a term) panicking Claire in the process and killing two of the four attackers, Veleon had handled the other two.
My raging state had caused significant strain not just on my body but my soul and had forced me to feel my emotions, ones I’d been bottling up mind you, at an enhanced rate. The withdrawal of those forced emotions was far worse than expected. This apparent stiffness was one such side affect, walking was troublesome so I stumbled to some nearby rubble and sat down, with significant effort.
Settled in my makeshift seat I called out to Claire, she did not respond, that was odd to say the least. Veleon said she was performing repairs or something he didn't really understand her "lingo". I noticed that there was a blinking icon in the corner of my vision. It was the skills Icon; the icon had a red 2 above it. Also there were some Exp notices.
Confused I called to Claire again but to no avail. Deciding I should investigate it himself, I mentally clicked the icon and two new screens greeted me.
Now curious and somewhat fearful I read the new prompts.
Passive Skill Information
Magic Name: Undead Heart
Level: Max
Classification: Mental/ Transformable
Description: Possessor of this skill feels all emotions at a reduced intensity, Pain is not considered an emotion for this sake of this skill. Humor and laughter are felt at a slightly increased degree. Skill can be transformed.
Passive Skill Information
Magic Name: Enraged Undead Heart
Level: Max
Classification: Mental/Toggled
Description: Possessor of this skill feels all emotions at a significantly higher intensity, Pain is not considered an emotion for this sake of this skill. Humor and laughter are felt at a slightly decreaced degree. While Enraged, attack power and agility are tripled, however player is berzerk and skill canot be deactivated untill all hostile forces are elimanted. MP restored on activation.
Status: Berzerk: Target will attack with everything they can, with out care of damage to their own body, untill all targets of their emnity are destroyed.
*New Skill Aquired*
Skill Information
Skill Name: Enrage
Level: 1/100
Cast Time: Instant
Range: Self
Classification: Buff/Debuff
Soul Cost: 1 Soul Point
WARNING: Soul Points do not regenerate passivly, you must consume a soul to regain soul points or risk damaging your own soul.
Special Ability: Trigger the enrage status.
Description: This skill transforms undead heart passive into the Enraged undead heart passive.
1 Ratkin Level 2 Killed EXP <200>
1 Orc Level 4 Killed EXP <400>
Companion Killed 1 Drow Level 5 <500> EXP
Companion Killed 1 Demoness Level 5 <500> EXP
After taking a moment to process this new information I decided I would need Claire’s help to clarify it. Exp. aside, the skills felt confusing, I did not like the sound of soul points at all.
Veleon, apparently having decided I had recovered enough, said “How you feeling, boy? You went all dark and glowy there, freaked Clair out quite a bit.”
I replied, “yea I got that, shes not responding to me for some reason, she talking to you at all?”
“Not at the moment, No, she did say something about me needing to restrain you so she could try to help, repairs and something, I told you already didn't I? You’re back now so maybe rest a bit and she will be to.” Veleon said. “Also you should maybe learn to talk out loud, so you know,” Veleon gestured at the mess and corpses surrounding us. “ This doesn’t happen again. Though it probably still would have, I mean, they threw a Ratkin at you, who does that?”
***
I practiced his speech for hours while we waited for Claire to finish whatever she was doing. I worked tirelessly; after all undead needed no rest (So I guess that’s a thing now, no rest for the wicked undead I suppose). I figured it had its benefits, not sleeping. Also downfalls, which would show themselves at an inopportune moment if my luck was anything to go off of. I worried the lack of rest would cause my once human mind to go insane, maybe my new passive would actually help there.
Also there was apparently a balance to that, as Claire had told me previously, I had a stronger mind now as both a player and undead. I was very unlikely to be affected by insanity no matter how long I lived (temporary moments excused apparently). I definitely felt far more intelligent than a baker’s son had any right to be. I knew things I had no real metric for knowing and seemed to absorb new knowledge at an alarming rate.
I was sure I was not exactly mentally stable but far more than someone who had gone through what I had should be. If not for me being an undead I’d probably be a pile of gibbering goo. Perhaps that God and Goddess made me one for precisely that reason.
While I thought about this I had continued my speech practice and after a few more tries I finally said something aloud, something more than uuga booga anyway. I knew this for two reasons, first it felt different, more pleasant or correct. The second, more obvious one was that I had received a notice for attaining the magical speech skill. The skill apparently fell under general skills thus was not listed under the normal skill page, also it was immediately maxed.
The morning came fairly quickly, all things considered. They still hadn’t heard from Claire. I had been mostly lost in thought through the night, occasionally speaking with Veleon or calling out to Claire. I would also practice using my interface, getting more familiar with it as I went when something peculiar caught my eye. A small fairy with three z’s icon sat buried deep in my interface. Mentally hovering over it told me it was an A.I. Reboot function.
Mentally clicking the button I heard a famuilar tone I had hoped to never hear again. "Initializing Clarion's Player interface V. 2.35, progress 1%" “OH, oh no, no, not again!” I screamed at the interface when it all stopped.
“Previous install found, please make a selection.”
“Reboot”
“Reinstall”
“Recover”
I was just happy the horrid pain was not coming. Reading my options I really did not know what to chose, but I knew recover was what I wanted Clair to do so I chose that option. I also somehow knew it was the right choice.
Making my selection, the process began; it was thankfully painless and only took about an hour before I was greeted with “Recovery completed.” Then much to my delight, Claire in all her cheery brilliance chimed in my head.
“I’m so happy to be back!” she nearly squealed in my head. “Thank you for not choosing reinstall, that would have replaced me, I do not think I would like replacement.” She said somberly, “What happened while I was out.”
Current Status
Name: Alex Samoson
Title: None
Level: 2
Class: Basic Skeleton
HP: 22/22
MP: 24/24
EN: 20/20
Unassigned Status Points: 0
AP: 0
STR: 10
VIT: 11
DEX: 10
INT: 12
WIS: 12
LUK: 4
ATK: 10 DEF: 11
SPELL: 12 SPELL DEF: 12
CRIT: 3% CRIT DEF: 2%
MP5M: 6
EXP: 1800/2000
Magic Menu
Magic Name Level
Dark Bolt 1/100
Raise Minion 1/100
Summon Skeletal Familiar 2/????
Skills Menu
Skill Name Level
Enrage 1/100 (Soul Skill)
Baking 3/10
Passive Skills Menu
Skill Name Level
Undead Heart Max
Enraged Undead Heart Max (Inactive)
Undead Resilience Max
Consumption Immunity Max
Of light, Dark and Gold Max
New Skills
Passive Skill Information
Magic Name: Undead Heart
Level: Max
Classification: Mental/ Transformable
Description: Possessor of this skill feels all emotions at a reduced intensity, Pain is not considered an emotion for this sake of this skill. Humor and laughter are felt at a slightly increased degree. Skill can be transformed.
Passive Skill Information
Magic Name: Enraged Undead Heart
Level: Max
Classification: Mental/Toggled
Description: Possessor of this skill feels all emotions at a significantly higher intensity, Pain is not considered an emotion for this sake of this skill. Humor and laughter are felt at a slightly decreaced degree. While Enraged, attack power and agility are tripled, however player is berzerk and skill canot be deactivated untill all hostile forces are elimanted. MP restored on activation.
Status: Berzerk: Target will attack with everything they can, with out care of damage to their own body, untill all targets of their emnity are destroyed.
Skill Information
Skill Name: Enrage
Level: 1/100
Cast Time: Instant
Range: Self
Classification: Buff/Debuff
Soul Cost: 1 Soul Point
Special Ability: Trigger the enrage status.
Description: This skill transform undead heart passive into the Enraged undead heart passive. WARNING: Soul Points do not regenerate passivly, you must consume a soul to regain soul points or risk damaging your own soul.