I debated how to best answer such a question, but I didn’t feel like lying for no clear gain.
“I died, I’m back now obviously, but the system was not so kind as to remind me of my name.”
The spellcasters eyes lit up. “Your an undead? How do you feel, do you remember anything?” he asked in rapid succession visibly excited at the revelation.
I was taken aback by his enthusiasm, but you know what they say about wizardy types and their curiosity.
“Powerful, being a ghoul has made me radically stronger than I have any right to be as a low level Barbarian. Very clear too, mentally that is, I don’t have all that anxiety and stress and I feel in control of my thoughts, the exact opposite of myself from before.” I replied seriously, deciding to give him my best information after his aid with the caravan guards.
“Incredible, just incredible, But what do you remember exactly?” Timor pressed further.
I thought about the question for a few moments. “Not much, a lot of details of the world and such, but not very many personal memories, I remember that I was a Lv37 Barbarian fighting for Conall, I was in a lot of battles….. and that’s basically it.”
He seemed genuinely impressed at that information. “37 Levels, damn.” he said with a whistle.
I smiled in spite of myself, that was something that I was very proud of. Not many made it to Lv37, certainly not on the battlefield. Around left 15 to 20 leveling becamee significantly harder due to the scarcity of higher level opponents, 30 was quite rare, and 37 was near the upper end of what you will see on the battlefield. I suspect my unusually high level contributed to my strength and mental clarity even as a low level ghoul.
“Oh by the way, what level are you now, if you don’t mind me asking, you tossed those guards around like nothing.”
Status, I thought.
Name: None
Race: Ghoul
Level: 5
Class: Hollowed Barbarian
Attributes:
STR: 28
VIG: 20
AGI: 15
WIL: 10
KNL: 10
MND: 10
Skills: None
Perks: You have (1) Perks to be chosen.
“Level 5, Hollowed Barbarian.” I replied
“Ghouls really are just way stronger then aren’t they, and I’ve never heard of that class, I imagine it’s a pretty rare one going by your circumstances, who knows what the requirements are.” Timor said thoughtfully.
He had a good point, being that high level and a Barbarian almost certainly influence the class I received as a Ghoul, for all I know you have to be at least Lv35 in Barbarian and die while in a frenzy to receive this class.
“So what level are you, and what class as importantly?” I asked this time.
“Me? Just a Level 7 Warlock.” he said casually.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
I let out a little chuckle in my raspy undead voice. “Just a Warlock, and that cage was just a fancy new means of transportation.”
He let out a sheepish grin. “Yeah those two things aren’t entirely unrelated I must admit…… it’s so wrong I get criminalized just for my class, they were going to burn it out of me! So of course I tried to defend myself and things may have gotten a little out of hand but it wasn’t my fault.” he defended himself.
“No the giant man eating hydra rampaging across the city got there by itself.” I smiled.
“It was a chimera actually.” he huffed.
Aaaand that’s your typical Warlock right there. Never was there a Warlock in human history that wasn’t up to something or another, the system didn’t give you the Warlock class because of your shining personality and law abiding ways. I could hardly blame King Conall for outlawing the class entirely, but I was outlawed as well being a sentient undead, even more so than Warlocks.
“So where you heading now anyways.” I asked, curious.
“Well I was going to the capital, not so sure now though. They’ll be looking for me when they see this wreckage and learn of my escape. I could stick with you maybe?” he said the last part suddenly, seeming hopeful.
A human was trying to follow me around? An unpredictable man eating undead barbarian? But he was a Warlock so it all kind of checked out, they weren’t right in the head.
I did really like how he could control the fire to ignore me, maybe I could use a partner in crime out here.
“Sure, why not.” I agreed.
He seemed happy with that, so I went to work on the bodies, lugging them 4 at a time to the river I knew flowed nearby, snacking on the ones slung over my shoulder occasionally as I walked. The Warlock grabbed one and did his best to drag him along, he clearly wasn’t too strong and struggled with it, but I respected the attempt.
He we very chatty, telling me all about the things he had summoned, and how annoying the king was, and how cool eldritch entities were. You know, typical Warlock conversation. I nodded along, trying to pay attention, there was some genuinely good info here and there.
We dumped all the bodies into water and Timor burned all of the remains, there were hardly in any good worth keeping besides a fancy silk handkerchief that was enchanted to better absorb liquids and clean itself, which I promptly used on my own axe.
I wondered why Timor didn’t just burn the bodies too, maybe it would leave too strong of a scent for days to come, but I didn’t mind throwing bodies into the river anyways.
I realized the Timor would need a place to sleep, so we worked on finding a little spot for him, I could finally drop off the bag I’ve been carrying around there anyways. We made sure to look as far away from the adventurer town as was reasonable, didn’t want any rangers getting on our tracks. After a day of walking through the forest the ground started to slope and become far more uneven, and soon mountains appeared in sight. They were impossible to see through the tall ancient forest from the road, you practically had to upon them.
We located a small cave and ensured this wasn’t the home of anything else, and setup our stuff.
“I’d like a few catalyst materials if we can find them, they’re not a huge deal I generally just use my own blood, but certain materials can make the whole process easier. Maybe we kill a few wizards.” Timor said as he laid out a small bedspread he’d found in one of the tents.
“What do you mean by the whole process?” I said skeptically.
“Oh you know communing with spirits, talking with my patron, that kind of thing.” He noticed the lost look on my face and elaborated. “As a warlock I have contracts in place with different beings, generally I make blood sacrifices in return for some of their powers.”
Ah, blood sacrifices and contracts with otherworldly beings, wonderful. Anyways, not that we were all settled down, it was time to decide on what Perk I should go for.
I brought up my status and selected the Perks panel.
Perks: None
You have (1) perk slot available.
I choose the perk slot.
Available Perks:
Here’s the deal about Perks, they were seemingly never ending, almost no two Barbarians of any significant level had the same build. But after browsing through them for the better part of the night, I narrowed it down to a couple in particular.
One thing to know about me, I only use Passive perks, not a fan of the active ones, or “Skills” as some people call them. I particularly like ones that improves with time.
Perk (Passive): Herculean
Over time, alter your base Physiology to be more Herculean. Increases muscle and skeletal durability and strength. Massively boosts Muscle Protein Synthesis (You put on muscle easier, faster, and more frequently.) Also increases the resilience of your flesh. This perk''s effects are negligible to begin with, and slowly but continuously improve as long as you exist.
Perk (Passive): Carnage
Temporarily gain +3 STR after defeating an enemy, duration depends on the Level of the enemy.
Perk (Passive): Virtus
+2 STR every (2) Levels.
Perk (Passive): Already Dead
Come back as a Wraith when you die (again) and gain the ability to possess a dying person. You retain their Classes and Perks, they can not be the same class or sex as you.
I had so many question about Already Dead, just why, being the main one. But I had no desire to be some wizard girl so I moved on, Carnage was fantastic, but really only good in battle or fighting larger groups of monsters. I wanted to be at peak power at all times, so I ignored this one as well. Virtus and Herculean were both right up my alley, I love perks that improve my base strength. As much as I wanted the 2 STR, I had a feeling the Herculean would have more return in the long run.
Perk Selected: Herculean (Passive)
Over time, alter your base Physiology to be more Herculean. Increases muscle and skeletal durability and strength. Massively boosts Muscle Protein Synthesis (You put on muscle easier, faster, and more frequently.) Also increases the resilience of your flesh. This perk''s effects are negligible to begin with, and slowly but continuously improve as long as you exist.
I’d say this is a pretty good start to my journey as a Hollowed Barbarian.