Ren did a quick swipe of the neck.

† Killed Cultist (Lvl2) (Faceless). Gained 34 experience. †

Thats the third one. Is there a cultist infestation? Magically spawning from weird rock kind of infestation? I sure hope so. It would be good experience.

† Level Up. You are now level 1. You have gained +3 Charisma, +3 Willpower, +1 Strength, +1 Agility, +2 Free Attribute Points. You have gained +1 Free Spell. (Warlock). You have gained +1 Charisma, +1 Agility. (Demi Aeth). You have gained +1 Willpower, +1 Free Attribute Point. (Demi Human). 021/200 experience to next level. †

But, it's enough to level. Finally. Now, distribution time. +1 Charisma, +1 Willpower and +1 Agility. Learn Command.

Ren felt the new spell flow into his mind, excited, greatly so. Why let them struggle feebly when you can tell them to stop?

† Command (Lvl1): Hijack a creature's body and mana, and command it. Only works with simple commands. Can order target to cast spells, both the ones that the target knows, as well as the user's. Success if: User Charisma is greater than target Willpower. Cost: 50 mana. †

It was expensive, but usefull. All points to Charisma would be strong. Another cultist stepped out of the bushes, and gasped at the dead body. It's definitely an infestation.

"You will pay for this, in the name of the Faceless! Evil Arrow!"

A sickly lime arrow, or rather blob, appeared in the air between his outstretched hands, and flew forward. At around two meters a second. Slow.

Ren sidestepped the underpowered blob, saying,

"Stop."

The cultist stopped running at Ren.

"Drop the knife."

The cultist did not drop the knife.

"I'm out of mana, shit." Ren was not out of mana. He just didn't like being wasteful.

The cultist laughed. "You will die!"

Ren walked up to him and the cultist tried to stab him, feet rooted to the forest floor. Ren stepped back and threw a stick at him. "Hey! You bastard!" The cultist threw his knife in a fit of rage as he could not close the distance. It missed horribly, and the cultist immediately paled behind his mask. Ren circled behind him and thrust his knife into the back of the wiggling man's neck.

† Killed Cultist (Lvl2). Gained 43 experience. †

Disable kill notifications, unless it's a new type, or gives significant experience. Also, there's definitely an infestation. I'm going to wipe them out.

† You have received a quest from your Patron. †

† Quest: Infestation †

† Primary Objective: Find out the reason for the infestation. Locate the source of the cultist infestation and destroy it. †

† Secondary Objective: Kill all the cultists. †

† Quest Rewards: 600 experience (P), 500 experience (S), 100 experience (Full), Pact Perk (Full). †

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

† Failure Conditions: Lack of completion of both objectives. †

† Failure Rewards: Death †

Ren was definitly going to complete this Pact Quest, that was for sure.

He began by walking deeper into the forest. Who wouldn't?

»»»«««

Ren surveyed the small, delapidated, newly infested temple. Here's of cultists were congregated around preachers who wore fancy clothing, embroidered with grey seams. That was the difference. Though also, they were much cleaner, and their masks had some fancy grey paint as well. This soured Ren's mood - he forgot to loot all the previous cultists he had killed. He idly wondered how much the robes would sell for. He'd even forgotten to pick up the thrown knife.

Stupid excitement at an awesome pact quest that would level him seriously and give him an awesome perk.

Ren decided to do this slowly, and methodically.

First, he jumped a cultist going to relieve themselves and stole their clothes, killing them afterwards.

Second, pretending that he, the cultist, totally not Ren, had managed to shave off twenty centimeters of height by pissing, entered the dense crowds. This is where everyone is. I only encountered seven cult patrols.

Three,

"Try to kill everyone you see, excluding me," Ren whispered into a cultist's ear. The cultist in question immediately stabbed the person next to them, not Ren. Perfecto. He then proceeded to back away, repeating the command to another cultist. Two unlucky cultists were killed, and then the unwilling traitors. He would win in no time. While the others were busy gearing up, he would be completing Pact Quests and levelling up.

Attrition tactics worked best with large crowds.

Following that, he and twenty seven others were sent out on patrol, in groups of three by one of the preachers. Ren really didn't see how it would help.

"For the faceless," the preacher had said when they left. How dreadfully boring. They were accompanied by another, weaker preacher, who didn't preach.

Because there was only one preacher on patrol, only one group got the preacher. Namely, Ren's.

»»»«««

"Jump," Ren whispered, testing the waters of Willpower. To his great surprise, the spell failed.

† Spell Failed. Target is being controlled a stronger being. †

The preacher turned and looked at him, visibly confused through his mask. Ren just shrugged. Wasnt me. The preacher shrugged his shoulders too and loudly proclaimed:

"Remember our goal! We live and serve the faceless!" A wave of compellation rippled through Ren's mind and he thought, Yes, the faceless, how could I forget? The faceless is thing I desire to see the most! I live and breath for the faceless's death!

† Compel Resisted †

Ren's face twisted into a frown, a frown that the faceless will never be able to do themselves and thought, Only I control others here.

The preacher let out a screech as the knife plunged into his back, sliding inbetween its ribs and into its heart. He pulled the knife out and stumbled back as the preacher released a wave of the sickly lime energy, crashing into Ren's chest, maybe cracking a rib. The other cultists began towards him, one standing back and chanting. Ren Commanded one of them to kill the other; he had regenerated his mana earlier, as he did not launch his assault until it recovered.

The targeted cultist turned abruptly and slammed a fist onto its fellow's masked face, pulling out another knife and cutting at it.

Ren glanced at the downed preacher. Near dead. Honestly, I was surprised that the preacher could survive that long, but a notification splashed across Ren's eyes.

† Killed Preacher (Lvl4). Gained 220 experience. †

† Level Up. You are now level 2. You have gained +3 Charisma, +3 Willpower, +1 Strength, +1 Agility, +2 Free Attribute Points. You have gained +1 Free Spell. (Warlock). You have gained +1 Charisma, +1 Agility. (Demi Aeth). You have gained +1 Willpower, +1 Free Attribute Point. (Demi Human). 045/400 experience to next level. †

+2 to Charisma, +1 to Willpower. Ren left the spell choice to be decided later.

The last cultist finished its chant, and another arrow, much like the earlier cultists, flew, underwhelmingly. Even on the ground with a cracked rib, Ren could easily avoid it. He responded by Commanding it.

"Commit suicide." The cultist pulled a knife and cut its throat, promptly falling into a crumpled heap and bled to death.

Ren then looked to the combating cultists, one was dead and the other bleeding to death like a... A... Bleeding cultist.

Ren decided to use his time to take a long, thorough scan of his spell options.

† Suggestion: Plant an idea, a suggestion in a creature's mind. More subtle than Command. Depending on user's Charisma, the suggestion will grow in perceived importance. Cost: 100 mana. †

It may cost twice as much as command, but was clearly twice as good. Ignoring all other options, he selected it, loving the rush it gave him while unlocking a spell.

The infestation would be taken down, one way or another, eventually.