Dan collapsed softly next to me, shrinking into a human shape. Wounds still lingering red on his skin after his transformation. I immediately applied my healing salve to his injuries, and then treated my cracked bones with the last of the ointment.
I could feel the temperature climbing as the flames of the town hall grew, consuming it completely.
[HP: 70/75]
[Quest Survived!
Rewards:
+150 souls
+10 Stat Vouchers]
[You have defeated the Braunfeld Village Sherriff!
+50 Souls
+50 Antagonist Points
+1 Blood Emporium Ticket]
[Your actions have caused you to lose 200 reputation points with the ‘Royal Police’
Current Score: -500
Current Status: Enemy]
A ticket appeared in my skeletal hand, as indicated by the boxes. One side had a skull printed on it, with the words “Admit One” on the other side. I looked over and saw Dan examining his ticket.
“So you got one too?” Dan looked up at me.
“Yeah, I did. I don’t know how I use it though.”
I examined the ticket closely.
[Blood Emporium Ticket: When ripped in half, this ticket will transport the owner to the blood emporium. This item may only be used once, and this item may only be used by Subject #431189. This item can not be lost or stolen.
Quality: Unique
Durability: N/A]
I started sifting through the notifications stacking in my interface.
[New Title!
Title: Arsonist I
Rarity: Uncommon
Effect: +5% success when intentionally burning down a structure, +1% fire damage resistance, -10% reputation gains with the ‘Engineering Guild’
Duration: Forever]
[You have Destroyed the Tier 1 Settlement: Bruanfeld Village. You have earned:
+250 Souls
+100 Antagonist Points]
[New Title!
Title: Conqueror I
Rarity: Rare
Effect: +5% Siege Success, +5% damage dealt to buildings, -1% Enemy Morale During Conflict
Duration: Forever]
I was pleased to see so many boosts and bonuses. I was most interested in the ticket. I looked over at Dan, just in time to see him disappear as he ripped his ticket in half.
“Woah!” I gasped. Kent stirred and climbed to my shoulder.
“Yeah, he’s got the right idea. You’d betta get upgrades as soon as possible at your current power level.” I nodded and ripped the ticket in half.
Everything went black, and a Skull logo burned in my vision for a moment. I came to my senses standing in a dimly lit shop. Books, weapons, rags, potions, and more were scattered about dusty shelves, where cobwebs decorated the corners. A scattering of candles burnt low, casting a faint glow on my surroundings.
“Welcome, welcome, dearie!” I jumped with a clatter as an old hag screeched greetings from behind me. She sat on a tall stool behind a counter, featuring a hooked nose, many warts, and an evil glint shining in her eyes.
“Good Evening. This is the blood Emporium?” I straightened and met the hag’s eyes.
“Oh, so polite. And so handsome,” The hag’s throaty cackle was drier than my bones. “Yes, dearie, this is your blood emporium. I am Gretta, your shopkeeper. Shall I show you around?” The lady got down from her stool and hobbled toward me with the help of a tall, gnarled staff.
The witch began to lead me through the shelves.
“Here in the blood emporium, I have everything a growing boy needs,” She gestured around her with a creepy grin. “I have magical items, skill books, stat points, and much more. Oh, and take these, dearie.” Greta handed me a handful of black and gold coins. These were the ten stat vouchers I had received from the quest. Each coin had a skull on one side and “+1” on the other side. They vaguely resembled poker chips. “Come see me when you are ready to use them. Enjoy your time, dearie”
I began to browse the shelves. Everything here was compliant with a skeleton antagonist character build, ranging from powerful skeleton knights to undead spellcasters.
“First order of business is regeneration,” Kent Spoke up from my shoulder, “You need to find some way to heal your injuries without reliance on consumables.”
“I agree. I’ll start in the skills aisle.” The skills aisle was a small collection of dusty leatherbound books. I looked through the descriptions as I browsed.”
[Tome of Flaming Fist (Level 1)
Skill Description: At Level One, the caster’s fists are engulfed with flames. These flames deal no damage to the caster but inflict 10-25 bonus damage to the target pet punch.
Skill Type: Active
Skill Cost: 15 mana
Activation Time: .1 Seconds
Skill Duration: 60 seconds
Cooldown: 1 Minute
Price: 35 Souls]
Interesting spell, but not very useful to me.
[Tome of Deadly Cold (Level 1)
Skill Description: At Level One, the caster causes the air to turn sharply cold in a 35-foot radius. In the area of effect, lights dim, fire weakens, and creatures in this area without proper cold resistance receive 1-6 damage every second. Creatures taking damage from the cold are inflicted with Chilled I until they exit the area of effect.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Skill Type: Active
Skill Cost: 30 mana
Activation Time: 1 Second
Skill Duration: 5 minutes
Cooldown: 6 minutes
Price: 70 Souls]
Another useful skill, but I had to be picky or I would waste my resources. I put the tome back on the shelf. The next one looked promising.
[Tome of Dark Miasma (Level 1)
Skill Description: At Level One, the user is shrouded in a veil of leeching darkness. This darkness extends with a radius of 15 feet, and living organisms within the ability will lose 6 HP/second of health regeneration. The regeneration leeched will be used to fill the health of the caster, and if the caster is at total health, it will refill their mana instead.
Skill Type: Passive
Skill Cost: 1 mana per second
Activation Time: N/A
Cooldown: N/A
Skill Duration: N/A
Price: 75 souls]
“How does this look?” I asked Kent for his opinion.
“That’s just about what we need. Hold on to that one. We also need to look for some decent combat skills. You can try for a spellcasting or martial skill, but look for something on offense and something on defense.”
I looked through more, and eventually found something that struck my fancy. I wasn’t sure what Kent would think, though.
[Tome of Raise Undead (Level 1)
Skill Description: At Level One, the caster attempts to bring a dead creature within ten feet back to life as an undead minion. The minion’s stats, skills, and intelligence are all dependent on the level of the spell, the stats of the corpse in question, how long the corpse has been dead, and the relevant stats of the caster.
Skill Type: Active
Skill Cost: 35 mana
Activation Time: 10 Seconds
Skill Duration: N/A
Cooldown: 15 minutes
Price: 100 Souls]
Kent blinked as I suggested the skill. “Necromancy… Not a bad option, it does have defensive and offensive capabilities. There are obliviously some big drawbacks, so don’t make necromancy something you rely on too much.”
“Makes sense.” I took the Necromancy tome with me. I looked optimistically to a future full of powerful zombie armies to wage war on my behalf.
[Tome of Authority (Level 1)
Skill Description: Authority is an Antagonist specific skill. This skill allows the caster to command reality with their words. At level one this skill can achieve small effects such as repairing small objects, revealing poorly hidden traps, and opening simple locks.
Skill Type: Active
Skill Cost: Variable mana
Activation Time: Instant
Skill Duration: Variable
Cooldown: -None-
Price: 100 Antagonist Points]
Kent piped up in a reverent tone, “That’s a skill that will grow with you. It is versatile and badass at higher levels. Get it for sure.”
“Badass indeed…” I took the book along.
I searched the shelves of equipment, taking my time to find some interesting pieces. I carried them all with me.
[Mask of Illusions: A blank grey mask that casts a weak illusion of a human face over the caster. The illusion will move like a normal face but might be revealed as an illusion when focused on. The illusionary face can’t be easily recognized unless its illusionary nature is known.
Quality: Uncommon
Durability: 35/35
Creator: -Unknown-
Date of Creation: -Unknown-
Price: 25 Antagonist Points, 10 Souls]
[Carver’s Illusionary Suit: A stylish Back blazer with a frilly white shirt. Created by an ancient lich, these pieces of clothing hide the undead nature of the wearer from both touch and sight. Hands and feet are hidden with pairs of leather boots and white gloves. They also grant +2 to Agility, +2 to Strength, +2 to Constitution, and +4 to charisma. Undead-related charisma disadvantages are eliminated while this is equipped.
Quality: Exotic
Durability: 50/60
Creator: Master Lich Carver
Date of Creation: -Unknown-
Price: 90 Souls, 50 Antagonist Points]
[Glaive of Dread: A polearm with a curved blade at the end. This Glaive is engraved with beautiful rune work. When a small amount of mana is supplied to the weapon, any creatures that gaze upon the weapon are inflicted with Fear I.
Min Damage: 2
Max Damage: (Strength / 2) + Strength
Quality: Rare
Durability: 500/500
Creator: -Unknown-
Date of Creation: -Unknown-
Price: 50 Souls, 5 antagonist points]
I awkwardly wrestled my junk to the back counter, behind which the crone gazed down from her tall stool. I lowered the pile to the wooden counter.
“Oh, what interesting picks, dearie.” The old lady cackled in delight. “Let Greta see… A tome of necromancy, tome of Dark Miasma, tome of authority, Carver’s suit, a mask, and a glaive… you will have one hundred twenty-six souls left, and five antagonist points. Would you like to proceed?”
I nodded in approval. The old lady grabbed my skeletal hand. My hand tickled with warmth as small glowing orbs and bright blue marbles flew from my palm. The souls flew to a crusty jar on a dusty pedestal, which sealed itself and basked in the blue glow.
“Once you fill that jar there full of 1000 souls, you will unlock a special surprise.” Greta’s emphasis on the word ‘special’ made me squirm. Her dancing eyebrows didn’t help.
“Okay… So how do I use these things?” I pointed to the ten coins on the counter, each marked with a +1.
“Here, here, handsome.” Greta shambled to a dilapidated vending machine in the corner. Dusting off one of the many cobwebs, Greta slapped the machine. It whirred to life in a vaguely electric show of lights, sparks, and a clear stench of ozone.
“Just put them here, let me know if the thing jams up.” Greta shuffled back to her stool.
“Can I buy more?” I asked her. Her mouth cracked into a maniac grin.
“I thought you might never ask! I can sell you those, sure. But be warned, the more you buy, the more expensive they’ll get. I can offer you a nice deal. 23 tokens for 120 souls. Limited offer!”
“I’ll take it.” Greta smiled and tossed me a small pouch from within her robe.
I was left with 33 coins to invest. Kent gave me his advice from atop my clavicle.
“If you are trying for a necromancer build, you will want high willpower.”
I invested seven into willpower. I put six coins into agility, strength, and constitution. Kent bobbed his little red lizard head in assent. I finished by putting four coins into wisdom and intellect. Kent shrugged.
“Honestly, you may as well neglect charisma, it won’t be very tied to your survival. Luck will need a few points, but not right away. The way luck affects the world for NPC characters is just… weird. Perception isn’t too important for most builds, but give it some love next time.”
Greta jabbed her gnarled cane toward the door. “If you’re all done dearie, go ahead through here.”
“Thanks, Greta. I’ll see you again.”
“I hope so…” Greta trailed off with her trademark cackle as I stepped through the threshold of light.
[Name: Nathaniel
Subject ID: #431189
AI Rank: A
Race: Skeleton
Role: Antagonist (I)
Titles: Arsonist I, Conqueror I
Health: 100
Mana: 50
Stamina: N/A
Strength: 20
Agility: 20
Constitution: 20
Willpower: 27
Intellect: 19
Wisdom: 24
Perception: 15
Charisma: 5
Luck: 16
Souls: 18
Antagonist Points: 15
Skills: Play Dead (lv.2), Reaper (lv.1), Stereotype Nonconformist (lv. 1), Spear wielding (lv. 2), Tracking (lv. 1), Dark Miasma (lv. 1), Raise Undead (lv. 1), Authority (lv. 1)]