“Where is he?”
I felt like growling. I did growl, but only a little. Okay, it was a lot. I’m still adjusting to this Zombie thing.
“He should be right here. That ripple is the half-formed portal. It’s still being held in place. He must be trying to make more anchors.”
“Well that just sounds like cheating,” I said.
“This coming from the newborn brat that can kill experienced zombies two levels higher with minimal effort.”
“I wouldn’t say that I’m newborn, or that they’re experienced.”
“But you are a brat,” Basil said with a chuckle.
“Yeah, hard to argue with that one.”
We stood. Well, I stood, and Basil hung around. The only thing in the large clearing at the center of the hedge maze was the portal. It rippled and glimmered, looking like a holographic film over reality. But there was nobody there. I walked around the portal, then again. It was on the third trip around that Basil caught my attention.
“What was that?”
“What was what?” I stopped and spun in places, looking for what he had spotted.
“Whoa, stop that. You’re going to make me sick!”
“Can zombies even get sick?”
“You’re about to find out,” he said, half muffled by my shoulder. I hiked him up higher, Then spun slowly. He stopped me when I was facing directly away from the portal. We had come to a stop just behind it, opposite the only entrance, or so I thought. When we stood in just the right spot, at just the right angle, a shimmering door appeared in the hedge wall. I squinted my eye to keep it in sight, then moved slowly forward. It disappeared, but I felt a long, slim handle in my hand. Even though I couldn’t see the door, I trusted my sense of touch, dulled as it was.
“I think I’ve got it.”
“Careful,” Basil whispered. I realized I was doing the same.
I gently pulled the door open, getting a headache when it shimmered into view and the door opening yawned wider. We stepped through and into what looked like a study. I spotted the Necromancer on the far end of the surprisingly well-appointed room. Bookshelves filled with tomes and journals lined one wall, going back at least a hundred feet. Tables and desks were in every available space with different types of apparatus. I saw beakers and flasks, an alembic, multiple sets of mortar and pestle, a few open tomes the size of War & Peace, and one desk in particular absolutely piled with snacks. That was the one the Necromancer stood next to, feverishly eating while leafing through a book and muttering to himself. He hadn’t noticed us yet. I put Basil down on a desk so he would have a good view of what was going to happen.
Once he was situated comfortably, I crept closer. When he wasn’t trying to put on a show, the man was meek, with a nasally voice that didn’t match his outward appearance at all.
“My uncle is going to kill me. I finally had a chance to show him I’m a decent Necromancer, and I lose every minion I brought to one freaking guy. What the hell is up with him anyway? How does a level 0 fight sixteen hand-picked elites?”
I snorted, making the Necromancer jump a foot in the air and spill his snacks. He even made a little ‘eep’ sound. His hands shot up in surrender.
“Wait!”
I sighed. “What?”
“I can give you whatever you want! Just don’t kill me!”
I paused. What did I want?
“Can you make me human again?”
He sagged. “N-no… It’s an irreversible process.”
I sighed again. “Well, I guess I have no reason to keep you alive.”
“W-wait. Uh, I can give you credits?”
“Sounds like a short-term gain trading for a long-term loss.”
Before he could utter another word, I kicked leg, caught him by the neck and yanked hard. His neck broke with a sound like a stout stick snapping. He slumped, and I let him fall to the ground.
Level 5 Necromancer killed. 50 xp awarded.
Level up!
+3 strength, +1 agility, +3 constitution, +1 free stat point.
I loved seeing that. It pushed me over the hump and to level 2. A moment later, a new window popped up.
Alert: quest completed!
You have destroyed all four anchors holding a portal open. The invading army has been halted. You have closed the portal, defeated the Necromancer and maybe saved your world. The region is yours to command.
Rewards: 150xp, 1000 recognition, Noble title, Washoe County.’
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Level up!
+3 strength, +1 agility, +3 constitution, +1 free stat point.
Recognition up!
You are now Unknown.
Congratulations!
As the first to seize a Noble title on Planet Earth, you gain the title Royalty.
+1 to all stats!
I stretched up, working my arm in a circle. “If I’m unknown now, what was I before?”
Basil chuckled from over in his corner. “Well done, lad. I take it the quest has completed?”
I nodded. “What the hell am I going to do with an entire county?”
“It sounds like you gained control of the region that was being contested by the Necromancer. As a Noble, you can now establish mayors over cities, claim or accept vassals, collect taxes, and make proclamations. You might wish to establish a ruling council if you don’t want to be involved in the minutiae of running your region.”
I shook my head. “This is all happening way too fast. I get all the combat. That’s not hard. But I’m getting stats, titles, and quests left and right. It’s been like an hour since this stupid system was put in place.”
The Necromancer had fancy clothes on, but his pockets were only filled with candy wrappers. Where had he found the time to rob a convenience store while helming an inter-dimensional invasion force? I finally located a little sack of coins tied on a belt at the small of his back.
“Paranoid asshole, too.”
“To be fair, you did break his neck after he surrendered.”
“Look, if he hadn’t launched an attack, led an army of zombies, and most importantly, turned me into one, I would have shown a little more mercy. But here we are.”
“You know he didn’t turn you into a zombie, right?”
“And how would you know?”
“Because he was too busy running the invasion. Making a zombie, especially early on like he was, takes hours of concentration.”
I scoffed, then kicked the Necromancer’s corpse and walked back to Basil.
“Are you going to heal? Can you get your limbs back?”
“Not as such. You either need to take me on as a vassal, then find a way to give me prosthetics, or you need to find an undead healing unguent. As an undead yourself, you should be aware that regular healing potions are a deadly poison to us.”
I nodded. “Noted. Drink poison to heal, drink healing potions to poison myself. Clear as mud.”
I hoisted him up to my back, and we walked out of the study. The portal was gone, and the maze returned to its original size as we walked out. What had taken nearly an hour before, took only three minutes to cover on the way out.
“You mentioned taking you on as a vassal. What is that?”
“It would make you my liege, or Noble. I would become one of your minions. Or soldier, scientist, whatever you want to call it. But it would mean I am loyal to you and your faction.”
“I have to make a faction now?”
“That would be prudent. You are a Noble, after all.”
I sighed. It seemed like I was doing that a lot, too. “Fine, how do I do that?”
“Just like anything else: you think about doing it.”
The window popped up as I thought about it.
Congratulations on receiving your region! First, you must establish your faction. What name would you like for your faction? This can be changed down the road for a cost, however we recommend against that.
I thought for a moment, then decided to go with the obvious choice. I entered ‘Blackwood Company.’
Blackwood Company accepted. With your control of one region, you have attained the Noble ranking of: Count.
“Count Blackwood. I kind of like that.”
“Add on a few more regions, and you could move up to a Marquess or Duke. Beyond that, you’re into Royalty, mate.”
“Now that would be something to see. King Blackwood.”
“Don’t get too far ahead of yourself here, lad. Focus on the now.”
“Speaking of, what’s next?”
“Next, you go into town, find an Adventurer’s Guild, get registered, and start earning xp and recognition. And since you’re so close to it, you should know that at level 5, you can get a job. You should start thinking about what you want to do.”
“Why would I want a job?”
“Every level in your job gives you additional stat points, which can round your stats out- or make you lopsided, like a glass cannon or tanky brute.”
“Is it like crafting? I always enjoyed doing that a bit when I played games like Skyrim.”
“I don’t know what a ‘Sky-rim’ is, but yes, crafting is one type of available job. You can also go into research, technology, services, cooking, even be a bodyguard. It all depends on what you want to do. You should also keep an eye out for armor and loot.”
“Yeah, why haven’t I got any yet?”
“Just like everything else, lad, you need to activate it.”
I stopped and groaned. “Have I been missing out on loot this entire time?! Why didn’t you let me know?!”
“We were on a bit of a time crunch, and honestly, you should have gone through the tutorial.”
“I WASN’T GIVEN THE OPTION! I woke up with a broken neck, fixed that, then starting fighting you assholes.”
“Noted.”
I sighed, turned around, and started walking back into the maze. I hoped all the corpses were still there. As we got to the first clearing, I remembered something.
“Oh yeah. Want to be my vassal?”
“Finally. Yes, I pledge my loyalty to the…” he paused, looking into the distance. “Blackwood Company. Nice name.”
“Thanks.”
Congratulations, you have recruited your first follower!
New follower: Basil.
Would you like to see their stats?
I mentally affirmed, and his information streamed in.
Name: Basil
Race: Zombie Human
Faction: Blackwood Company
Age: 138
Level: 2
XP: 54/110
HP: 3/140
HP regen per second: 0.00
MP: 0/0
MP regen per second: 0.00
Stamina: 0/140
Strength: 8
Agility: 7
Constitution: 7
Wisdom: 1
Intelligence: 1
Charisma: 1
Luck: 1
Titles: None
Skills: Unarmed Combat
Abilities: None
Spells: None
Notes: Zombie Common. Crippled.
Curious, I mentally selected the last note: ‘crippled.’
Crippled:
All healing has been stopped due to physical injury. Heal the affected injuries to regain regeneration.
“Okay,” I said as I took it in. “We need to get you healed. Good thing we don’t really feel pain.”
Basil nodded. I let the silence settle over us as I walked to the first of the four corpses. I toed it, thinking about looting it, and a box popped up.
Looted!
+10 copper, +1 undead unguent, +1 bandage.
I toed each of the others, and they gave roughly the same, save the last one gave two unguents and no bandages. Figuring out my next question before I asked it, my inventory popped up as another semi-transparent window. I had 40 copper, five undead unguent, and three bandages. I thought about pulling out an unguent and felt it drop into my hand.
I put Basil down. He looked up at me with a smirk.
“Okay, big guy, how does this work?”
He laughed. “It’s not that complicated. You can either do a general effect, which is done by gathering up as much as you can hold in your hand and basically slapping it on me, or you can do targeted, which is taking a little bit and putting it directly on the wound. General will work for now.”
I nodded, scooped out a bunch of the slimy stuff, and plopped it on his chest. It sank in and he glowed in a sort of negative light. It looked and felt like a petroleum jelly mixture. Maybe it was like Icy-Hot. He sighed in satisfaction, and I had a seat next to him.
“Okay?”
He nodded. “Much better. I’ll heal up over the next while, then we can work on looting the rest. After that, we should see how many survivors there are, clean out the house, and then head down to town.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.”