《Whispers of a Dead Empire》 Chapter 1 Chapter 1 Finally, I was finished here. My fingers deftly danced across the touch screen as I typed my employee number into the system and clocked out. I have been here since eight-thirty, and it was going on midnight now. I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and forget the day. My patience was quickly growing thin, and I had no real desire to be here anymore. I walked into the back and grabbed my sports bag hanging from a green rack next to all of the other chef''s coats. I started to carry this with me since I lost my car a few weeks back. I usually had a phone charger, a notebook, and a few other items that I would carry around just if I needed them. I quickly removed my chef''s coat, ced it on a hanger and back onto the rack, and ced my hat right above it. They were clean enough, and besides, I would be back here early in the morning anyway, so it''s not like it mattered too much where I put it. I threw the sports bag across my back and let out arge yawn. I ran my fingers through my long hair to work out the build-up of knots. I was so tired, and I didn''t want to be here in the morning. I opened up the back door and entered the night. It was a bit colder than it was earlier in the day, but that was okay. I walked over to the fence that enclosed the back dock and pushed open a small door hidden in the corner. The metal groaned in protest as it swung open, and I stepped out into arge driveway. I scratched my head once more and followed the narrow concrete path down to the sidewalk before finally hitting the main road. There were dozens of stores that filled this smallmercial district. It was a pleasant area and easy on the eyes. I would easily describe it as being very upscale, if anything. I halted at the stop sign and was so enthralled with my thoughts that I almost didn''t see that a car zed past. It was probably a good thing I decided to stop here. Let that be a reminder to look both ways before crossing the street. I clenched my teeth and hissed at the idiot, and just kept walking. I would have usually ordered a ride or something, but I honestly didn''t feel like doing that right now. It was a decent night, and I wanted to clear my mind. I walked up the gentle slope of the hill and onto the main road into the city. The road was reasonably empty tonight, and it''s something I appreciated. There wasn''t a soul in sight and nothing that could annoy me. I mindlessly walked through town, basking in the deafening silence, broken only by the asional roar of a vehicle. I pulled my phone from my pocket and nced at the time. It was going on two-thirty, which means that I have been walking for almost two and a half hours. I was close to getting home, finally. I lived near the city center, right next to the park. I could be home in five minutes, but I think a little detour would be lovely to clear my mind. I turned from the main road and went into the local park. The grass looked to be freshly cut, and the night was tranquil. I meandered over to a bench and sat down, and stared across the park. Small groups of trees were clustered around in small groups, and concrete walkways cut through the ground like veins on a body. It was a beautiful park during the day and even more so during the night. I let out a sigh of content and settled on the bench. My long sleeve shirt did wonders to keep out the bite of the cold air. It was moments ofplete silence like this that made me question my life. I was stuck as a line cook, with prospects of bing sous, but I honestly don''t think I want to stay in this field much longer. I love my job, I do, but man, was it grating at times. I also decided not to go to college, so really, my options were limited in that regard. A dejected sigh escaped my lips, and a small cloud of condensed air hovered in the air around my lips for a moment before it dissipated. I had no clue where my life was going, and I refused to remain a line cook for the rest of my life. I put my phone to sleep and crossed my arms, and sunk into the bench. This was a thought for another day. I was too tired to think now. Maybe it was time I went home and tried to get some sleep while I still could. I pushed myself off of the bench, keenly aware of the dull ache that resonated in the soles of my feet, and started the final trek home. However, a strange sight caught my attention. It was a flicker of light that sat behind a small grouping of trees tucked away in the far corner of the park. It was something that I only just barely noticed. A part of me was saying that I should probably turn around andpletely ignore whatever that was. Another aspect of me was just curious about what was going on. It was a bit of a mental struggle, but sadly, the irrational part won. I quietly crept over the grass and towards the cluster of trees. I pressed myself against the closest one and peeked out from around it. A small distance from the trees was something that looked like a portal. It flickered as it rotated and would fade away beforeing back to full intensity. However, there seemed to be no real rhyme or rhythm to it. It was a mesmerizing sight to behold. I rested against the tree and quickly thought over my next course of action as I watched it. I could turn around and pretend nothing was there. I could live my life and be perfectly fine or investigate further and sate the growing sense of curiosity growing in my mind. I mean, it looked to be a portal, so would it be that bad if I were to investigate? Sadly curiosity got the best of me, and I approached it carefully. Everything should be okay if I don''t touch it. Right? I got closer to it, and a low thrumming sound emanated from the surrounding air that pulled on the edges of my soul. A very faint blue light radiated from it and cast a soft light onto the surroundings. Through the portal, I could make out something that looked like a ruined stone hallway of some sort. Torches that have long been extinguished lined the dpidated halls, though what bathed it in light for me to see, I couldn''t even begin to guess. I pulled my gaze away from the portal and looked around to see if anyone was nearby, and an idea struck me. I could walk through this now, and no one would ever know. It could be a chance for me to start over and work towards a better life than what I was living right now. But even then, it wasn''t a guarantee either. It was a risk; what if I crossed over this portal and I died? I toyed with the idea for quite a while before I eventually decided to push through and see what''s on the other side. I mean, what were the chances that I would have something like this happen to me ever again? And on top of that, I honestly just wanted to get away from my life. I wanted to start fresh somewhere. I steeled myself as I realized what I needed to do. So with my choice made, and before I could think twice about it, I pushed a hand into the portal. It resisted at first before it gave way and wrapped itself around me. It felt like I was trying to go through a wall of syrup. I forced myself through thest bit of it and fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. A groan escaped from my lips as sharp pain resonated through my body. I pushed myself off of the stone ground and looked behind me, and saw that the portal vanished. I had a feeling that was going to happen. I dusted off the te grey dirt that gathered on the knees of my ck dress pants. In front of me was the same hall that I saw on the portal. Water dripped from the ceiling and impacted small puddles with soft plinks. The stench of musk and stone prated my nose as I took a deep breath. Though it wasn''t overly unpleasant, it was still very pungent. I looked around the hall and couldn''t identify any light source that caused the hallway to be lit. I stepped over some debris and grabbed one of the torches that sat in a rusted sconce and immediately regretted my choice. The torch was soaked and covered my hand in some strange slime. I threw it to the side and tried to suppress a gag as I looked for something to wipe away this gunk. Sadly there wasn''t anything but the stone wall or my clothing at my disposal. Immediately I ran my hand across the wall since I didn''t want to cover my pants in whatever that filth was. Yes, I know the wall was dirty, but it''s better than rubbing slime over my only pair of pants. I wish I would have run home and grabbed a change of clothes, but this was a spur of the moment thing. Besides, I had no clue if that portal would have still been there or not by the time I got back. I followed the hallway down. The path stayed the same for the most part, though the further I went in, the worse condition it became. Stone debrisy strewn across the floor, and the wall was caving in some spots. The more I walked, the more uneasy I felt, and I couldn''t help but think I made a wrong choice. I don''t even know where I was. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone, and tried to turn it on. I pressed the button on the side, intent on turning it on and using the shlight. Unfortunately for me, the screen stayed ck. There was no way it was dead; it still had half a battery left when I was on that bench. I hit the back a few times with my hand and tried again. To my dismay, it didn''t change anything. I put the phone back into my pocket with no small amount of disappointment. I was officially out of a phone and still had no clue where I was and now without a light source. I pushed further into the hall and came to a decaying wooden door. I reached out and grabbed a rusted metal ring that sat where a doorknob would be and gave it a hard pull. The hinges squealed in protest, and the door shuddered as it opened slightly beforeing to aplete stop. I repositioned myself and gave it another hard pull, this time putting my entire body weight behind it. For a few seconds, the door refused to yield before a loud crack echoed through the hall, and the door flung open, revealing a corridor that was clothed in writhing darkness. Chapter 2 Chapter 2 Hoi Hoi! I have arge backlog of chapters for this story. Time to upload like a normal human being. Enjoy and let me know what you think! I really wish I had my phone right now. A shlight light would have been lovely right about now. I nced behind me cautiously and then back into the corridor. An itching feeling told me that entering here would be dangerous, but the only way for me to take was forward since the portal behind me vanished. I swallowed the saliva that was building up in my mouth and pressed on. The air was heavy and stale, with just a touch of humidity. The further I went, the more darkness started to consume my vision. I felt stones shift under my shoe with each step I took. I reached out and pressed one of my hands against the stone wall.Each step I took was slow and ponderous. Considering the state of the ce, I wouldn''t be shocked if there was something for me to trip on. So far, the path felt empty for the most part. I kept walking for an undetermined amount of time before the wall start to curve. I wasn''t too scared of anythinging after me. Honestly, the worst part was just the silence that engulfed me. There was nothing but the sound of my breath and the thudding of my heart to keep mepany. Maybe it wasn''t the smartest idea to have walked through a mysterious portal in the middle of the night, but it was toote for me to go back now. I quietly crept forward until I felt the walle to an end. I reached out and ran my fingers across the area. I could feel the dry grain of wood and then the cold bite of rusted metal. I slid my hand down and felt another metal ring under my fingertips, and I gave it a hard pull. The door shrieked on its hinges as it swung out.Behind it was a room that was dimly lit. In the center was an orb that rotated on a circr stone tform. Its surface was inky grey with spots of ck mixed in thatgged behind the orbs'' movements. I nced around the room and saw nothing else. I stepped forward and observed it for a few minutes. I wonder what it was. The motions it made were enthralling. In fact, they were entirely hypnotic to behold, and before I knew it, I was utterly mesmerized. I reached out to touch its surface. It parted around my fingers like water and heat rushed to my fingertips.
The conversion has been initiated. The divine spark is starting the assimtion process.
Words began to crawl across my vision, and a wave of panic washed over me as the orb sped up and began to consume my arm. I tried to yank my arm away, but it was glued to the surface. Out of desperation, I ced my feet on the altar and tried to use my entire body to pull away. Pain never once visited me while I struggled to free my arm. Just a loving warmth that slowly spread through my body. Peace and serenity began to well in my chest as the orb moved up my arm and began to devour my shoulder.My mind grew murky, and my body began to go limp. I tried to struggle once more, but I lost the energy to do so. Instead, I pulled inward and tried to mentally fight my encroaching doom. At first, I felt like I was bound and struggling against chains, but the more I fought, the more I felt my restraints began to weaken. Slowly my vision greyed out, and I lost all control of my body, just as I pushed through thest chain holding me back.
Analyzing specimen Analyzing specimen Race designation: Human Sex: Female Age: 22 User designation: Calixa Wright The first phase of conversion has beenpleted. The current primary race will be maintained. The sub-race of Dungeon Core has been introduced.. Implementing race change... Implementing race change an error has urred Rescanning scanning specimen and divine spark... A new subrace has been introduced. You now have the subrace of Domain god/ Please select your Affinity.
More words shed across my vision, chasing away the darkness that threatened to consume me. But what did they mean? What was all of this? Why was it asking me to choose my affinity? I struggled against the encroaching darkness, and more words started to appear before me.
Please choose from the following affinities Fire Ice Ash Sand Water Air Earth Death Electricity Darkness Arcane Gravity Space Clickherefor more
What was this for? I quickly scanned across the text and saw that I was something called Domain God, but what was that? I have never heard of something like that before? I had so many questions that I didn''t have answers for. But one step at a time. I did this to myself, so I might as well see where this takes me. It wanted me to choose an affinity, so I guess that''s something that I would be using a lot, so let me make a smart choice. I can panic after all this is over, at least.My eyes danced across the list, and I took all the information in. There was an option for more, but I didn''t want to overwhelm myself with it. I would choose from this list alone. The words blinked as they patiently waited for me to make a selection. Initially, it said that I was supposed to be a dungeon core, so if what I am does something like that, my choice will significantly affect me. Fire felt cliche, and so did ice, though they were too tempting to select, just for the sheer opportunity that it could grant me. Electricity was also excellent cause I could be something like Zeus or Thor. That would be pretty cool. Gravity and space seem like they would be overpowering. Arcane looked to be rted to magic, so that was also pretty dope. All of these choices were far too good. There was even sand! I could be like that one sand ninja from that anime I watched while growing up. There was even death, which means that I could be like the grim reaper!The choices I saw made me salivate, but I could only choose one. I looked through them all and eventually decided to go with gravity. I mean, out of all the choices, I feel like this would be the strongest. I selected it, and the words flickered.
You have selected the gravity affinity... Applying choice Applying choice An error has urred. Your choice has been overridden by your divine spark... A new affinity has been granted. You now have the affinity ofUndeath The final conversion has begun Please be patient while this process finalizes. If you have any questions, please type them into the query bar while the operation finishes.
What? My gravity affinity was taken from me? I couldn''t help but feel disappointed by that. I was actually looking forward to all the possibilities that having a gravity affinity would bring. But I received the undeath affinity in turn. I can''t say that I am super disappointed by that. That means zombies and stuff, right? But the question is, what the difference between that and the death affinity? I skimmed over the new text and saw the message about the query bar. I guess I better put that to fair use while I can.
Where am I?
I submitted my question into the bar and waited for a split second.
You are in the world called Tenith.
The response reced everything else in my vision. So it was called Tenith then. So I wasn''t on Earth anymore. Note to self, don''t walk through strange portals anymore. On to the next question. One that was burning in my mind like a hot star.
What is a domain god?
The query bar blinked as the response came in almost instantaneously.
A domain god is a step above a dungeon core.
I hate these short answers. Let me try something else to see if I can get a better answer.
What is the description and function of a domain god? A domain god is a step above that of a dungeon core. It functions approximately the same as a dungeon, with a few key differences.
  • You are not bound by the same rules that a dungeon core is. You are allowed free reign to move wherever you please within your domain.
  • You are not restricted by the number of mobs that you may have and use at any given time.
  • You are bound permanently by your affinity.
  • You can do anything within your domain, even if adventures are within it.
  • You can leave your domain at any given time. However, you will lose all your power until you return. You will be ssified as your primary race for the duration of your stay outside of your domain. You may also choose one ss from any of your mobs within the domain. You may alsobel your self as a boss and choose your own ss. However, you will be permanently locked to that choice.
  • Instead of a physical realm that acts as your dungeon, you are granted a domain to exist within. You may designate any area that you wish as your domain, up to a maximum size of five kilometers. Once the domain is selected, it will exist as a separate entity from the world. The foundation of your domain will always remain the same size. However, you are free to expand the interior to any size that you wish.
  • Unlike dungeon cores, you are limited to only the resources that exist within your domain. Once your domain''s foundation isid, you must rue all resources from outside the designated area or use essential points to create it.
  • If you are in, the domain will be destroyed.
The function of a Domain God: A domain god is a dungeon core that has gathered enough energy to create or has consumed a divine spark. The function of a Domain God is the exact same as a dungeon core. However, the ultimate goal of every Domain God is ascension toplete godhood. This is done by harvesting essence from anything that may enter your domainthe more potent the soul, the stronger the life essence in turn. At your ascension, your domain will be torn from the world. Then will be yours to preside over for all of eternity as a god.
This was actually something I wasn''t expecting. I walked through a portal, touched a divine spark or whatever it was, and became something like a god. That''s something out of a dream. Maybe somebody slipped some drugs into my food or something when I wasn''t looking, or perhaps I am losing my mind.
Can I go home?
Maybe if I stick with this, I will eventually get to go back. Imagine going back to see my mom or dad as a god. That would be a sight to see. The washed-up daughtering back as a diety. It made me chuckle before the thought of them stabbed a knife of guilt into my heart. I should have said something to them before I did something stupid like this. Now it''s toote.
Answer unknown. Ascend to godhood to find out.
Well, that was helpful. Maybe it was possible. I got myself into this mess, I will get myself out of it, now onto the next pressing question on my mind.
What is the difference between the Death affinity and the Undeath affinity?
The Death Affinity brings only the end to all beings and is the direct opposite of Life. Those with the death affinity can only destroy and never truly create. Everywhere they walk, they only bring the absolution of the end.The Undeath Affinity is the antithesis to both the Death and the Life affinity. One that many consider to be an abomination. Those that feel the touch of Undeath are brought back to the fringes of life, and nothing is safe from its grasp.
So, I was going to be a necromancer god? I mean, that doesn''t seem too bad. That''s what zombies and stuff? Maybe more. I wasn''t super against the idea. I was always interested in that sort of stuff growing up, even if it was only superficially. So this works out; I get to sate my curiosity a bit with this and see where it goes, I suppose. Chapter 3 Chapter 3 If you noticed any typos or grammar issues, let me know in thements, I will fix asap So, my job was to harvest life and ascend into godhoodwhat a stark contrast from cooking food all day. As much as this seems exciting, I also feel kinda stupid for just trancing through a portal on a whim. Mom always told me I did stuff without thinking, and I guess this was a pretty good example of that. I reminisced on the thought for a moment before I noticed that I still had ess to the query. Let''s see if I can get some more answers out of it, while I could, at any rate.
Why did that divine spark override my original choice?
I was a bit annoyed that I lost the gravity affinity because I was looking forward to all of the possibilities.
The Divine Spark was a remnant of a now-dead god of undeath. Its predisposition overrode the traditional process.
Who was the dead god?
Answer unknown.
Well, that was annoying. I was curious, but maybe it''s something that I will never know. I was a little overwhelmed with everything and couldn''t think of any other questions that I wanted to ask. So now I get to wait. I was mentally torn between being excited about my new life and being depressed that I left Earth without saying goodbye to my family. I just had to walk through a random portal that I saw.I floated through the darkness, and a sense of weariness started to weigh me down. I was exhausted. It was a deep level of exhaustion than I have ever felt. Maybe it was all just a dream, and when I open my eyes, I''ll wake up to my rm clock and be on my way to that hellhole of a job. As the words started to fade away, my consciousness slipped. A part of me hoped that wasn''t the case. My vision blurred as my eyes fluttered open. A stone ceiling sat above me, and light poured in from a window, catching the particles of dust as they floated around. I sat up and looked around as my mind struggled to catch up. Strange numbers hovered around my line of sight, including a bar of scarlet red, and under that was a vibrant deep blue bar. What was this? I rubbed my eyes and the previous day''s events slowly caught up to me. I wasn''t on Earth anymore. I looked around and noticed that my body felt rxed, and I was mentally alert for oncea far cry from having to wake up after working for most of my day. I sat here for a moment and thought over what happened. I was an idiot and walked through a portal and found the remnant of a dead god. In my wisdom, I touched something called a divine spark and became a domain god. I let out a yawn and looked around the room. It was fairly simple. There was a wooden deck in the far corner that was decaying and had two broken legs. The cot I was lying on was thankfully in better condition than the desk. The air smelt a bit stale with a faint undertone of musk. I pushed myself off the cot, and a nervous chuckle escaped my lips. Oh, what have I gotten myself into this time? Laying next to the cot was my sports bag. I dragged it over and pulled it open and quickly rifled through it, and a set of words filled my vision.
Minor bag of divine holding. Capacity 9/30 Weight capacity 1.3Kg /400 kg Contents: 2 bottles of water. 3 snack bars 1 half-used lighter 1 charger 2 notebooks 1 half-used pen 2 pens 3 sharpies 2 sticks of deodorant 1 handheld mirror 1 hairbrush
Well, that was convenient. I''m d that I could keep my sports bag, though it changed into a bag of holding. I pulled it open to check inside and could only see deep swirling darkness. It also weighed almost close to nothing. I reached into the bag with the intent of grabbing a bottle of water. I needed something to wash away the disgusting taste that was built up in my mouth. I wish I threw a toothbrush and some toothpaste in here. At least I had the foresight to pack some deodorant in here. I felt the cap brush my fingers, and I pulled it out and unscrewed the top. So, I wasn''t on Earth anymore, huh, I thought to myself as I took a hefty swig of the cool water. I needed to find a source of this stuff, along with food, if I wanted to survive. I cracked my fingers and saw some blinking lights in the corner of my vision. How do I select them? I made a quick gesture with my hands and saw that it was pointless. Maybe I have to do it with my mind.I gazed at the blinking symbols and mentally thought about clicking them. I was immediately rewarded with a few screens that appeared side by side.
Would you like to make this ce your domain? You can select up to a maximum of five square kilometers from the center of the domain. You will remain without power andpanion until your domain is selected.
So I had to choose where toy my domain then. Well, thankfully, I started out in a building. But before I go about trying to start this, let me take a small inventory of what I have. I reached into my bag of holding and pulled out a pen along with my notebook and a snack bar. I only had three bars and two bottles of water. I had to ration until I could find a source of both. I wasn''t sure that I even needed both once I selected a domain, but it wouldn''t hurt to have them just in case. I pulled the stic wrapper off of the snack bar and mindlessly ate it while I wrote down everything I saw in my bag of holding. Today''s first task is to find food, water, and get a bearing on my surroundings and select my domain area. In situations like this, it was better to stay as organized as possible. I was in a new world, with only the most basic understanding of what my job was. There was really no point in panicking about it now. I just gotta get through it. I put the stic wrapper back into my sports bag and quickly unscrewed my water bottle, and took a few more sips of it. Just enough to get my body warmed up and ready to go. I slid the bottle back into my bag and threw it onto my back. I kept my notebook and pen in my hand as I walked over to the door. It was a simple wooden door that was only in eptable condition. The wood was dry and king. The metal had a thinyer of rust.I pushed on the door, and the metal on the bottom scratched along the stone floor as I forced it open. I ended up in a small deteriorating hallway. Torches lined the crumbling walls in rusted sconces. Piles of stone debris lined the bottom of the walls. Some of the doors were in decent condition, while others were broken and falling apart. It was time to start small, just take a look around and see what I could find before I decided to ce my domain. I''ll check out a handful of rooms here before I make my choice. I walked across the hall to the first door and stepped into a small room. Bookshelves lined this room. Some of them were destroyed, and booksy strewn across the ground. Some of them were, thankfully, intact. I walked across the room, kicking away some of the destroyed reading material. I approached one of the intact shelves and looked through them. The first book I grabbed was wholly ruined. The ink was smudged and not very legible, and the paper was covered in ck mold. I threw the book back and onto the floor in disgust and grabbed the next one.This one was in a bit better shape. I flipped through the book and was disappointed that I couldn''t understand the writing. Though the diagrams would be quite helpful if I could understand them. I threw this book into my bag and looked through the other books shelves salvaging what I could and trashing what I couldn''t. I should probably use the destroyed stuff as a fire source for tonight. Since I doubted that electricity was a thing here. I gathered a few more of the destroyed books and threw them in a pile outside my current room. I walked down the hall to the next door. This one was in much better condition than the others so far. I pushed the door open, and it revealed arge chamber. On each corner of the room, arches extended towards the cealing and met at the center. Underneath the arches was a circr tform built into the floor and broken into segmented rings that grew smaller the further in, they went. The rings were broken into small rectangles; each was engraved with the same writing that I found in the books. It was a lot like a rune system, but I couldn''t read it. I stepped into the room and looked around and saw that in each arc was a small crystal that glowed with a faint blue light. I felt a power in my chest strum for a moment as I closed my eyes and focused on the magical instrument before me. I had no idea what I was doing, but I wanted to try. Maybe I should try to summon something. I reached out my hand and focused my intent. I felt a sliver of power pull away from me and the tform pulsed for a moment. The rings shifted, and the runes lit up with a bright blue light, and the circr tforms began to move. I dropped my hand and watched in wonder as the process unfolded. Runes finally aligned but pulsed red and turned off. I was disappointed, but that was to be expected. I still had no clue what I was doing. I flipped open my notebook, quickly scribbled some notes down about it, and decided to move onto the next room. Sitting just inside of it was another living area. Four beds were decaying and covered in stone dust. At the foot of each bed was a simple footlocker that surprisingly enough looked to be in good condition. A small window had ripped up brown curtains that hung on to the metal bar above it by the barest of margins. I quickly moved over to the window and nced outside to check my surroundings. I was on the second floor of a building, and all-around was arge forest. I wish this building was a little taller, but this would work. I stepped back from the window and nced around the room that I was standing in once more. I''ll go check the footlockers before I move onto the next room, just to make sure there wasn''t anything in them. I carefully opened each one and was rewarded by the sight of an empty chest. At least they were in reasonably good shape; I would need more storage areas in the future. I picked them up, carried them back over to my room, and put them by the bed. I slung my sports bag from across my back and pulled out the books, and ced them inside of the closest footlocker to me. Now let''s head down to the first floor and see what there was down there. Granted that there was still more to explore up here, but I could do thatter. I walked out of my room and down the hall. Light from outside tore through some of the ceiling''s holes, illuminating small patches of the stone floor. I reached the staircase and saw that it spiraled as it descended into the building. I carefully walked down the stairs; each stone that shifted was enough to give me a mini heart attack. I wasn''t sure about the state of this part of the building, so I had to take it slow. I hit the bottom part of the stairs and looked around the first floor. The main hall was slightlyrger than the upstairs and was in about the same condition. Down here, I counted three rooms and arge central lobby. I walked over to the closest door and attempted to open it. The door fought against me as I slowly pushed it open. Behind it sat a decently sized room that had a few tables ced in a row. On the far back wall, I could see the telltale signs of a kitchen. So this was a dining hall, that''s good, maybe I can find some pots and pans. It would make getting clean water a lot easier. I pushed past the decaying tables, keenly aware of the stench of rotting wood. I''m going to have a lot of cleaning ahead of me if this would be my base. Once that thought crossed my mind, I chuckled; here I was in another world, moving towards a goal that I was forced into. But I honestly wasn''t bothered too much by it. I was looking for a change, and this was what was given to me. It did feel kind of weird, though, and slightly rushed, but let''s just see where it goes. I walked into the kitchen and looked through the various cabs. A lot of the wooden utensils were far too gone to use. But I found a deep cast iron pot. This looked like it would make huge soup batches, which made it perfect for me to boil water with. I lifted the heavy pot up and lugged it through the room and set it outside before going back to see what else there was. There wasn''t any kind of food product. But that was expected, but it didn''t hurt to check. I left the cafeteria area and went into the main lobby. Other than the various bits of debris thaty scattered around the room, there was nothing there. It was hauntingly empty in this ce. It instilled a sense of foreboding dread in me. Something happened here, and I was curious as to what. But with time, I was sure that I would figure it out. Chapter 4 Chapter 4 After thoroughly exploring the kitchen, I recovered a few good-sized pots and a couple of rusted old rusted knives. Not what I would prefer to have, but they would do for now. There was also another room, but it was locked, and I had no way to break into it right now. But that would be an itemter on my list. I should head outside next and see if I can find any source of food or water. Since I also had an idea of this building''s interior, I should pull it into my domain. It''s a safe starting ce, and it shouldn''t hurt anything. I went upstairs and found what could be roughly considered the center of the building. But how was I going to do this? I tentatively poked around my HUD since I was still trying to get the hang of it. Eventually, I discovered how to set down the first part of the domain. An outline of a small pole appeared, and I directed towards the hall''s center and confirmed it. A deep purple rod materialized and started to billow violet smoke. It reached the cealing and began to rush across it, seeking its way outside. Alright, so part one isplete. Let''s explore the area and see what else there was. I carefully stepped through a destroyed set of double doors and went outside for the first time since I woke up. The sounds of birds chirping filled the air, followed by the rustling of leaves as the wind rushed through them. The temperature was almost perfect for me. I rolled my sleeves up, revealing my scarred arms. The years I spent in the kitchen have taken their toll on my body. All of my mishaps were forever tattooed on my flesh. I took a moment to stare at the scars as I reyed the moments that caused me to get them. Some were from just barely touching an oven grate or by a baking tray that shifted too far while I was carrying it. I tore my eyes away from my arms, chastising myself. I needed to focus. Now wasn''t the time to get distracted. I looked around the area that sat just outside the door. There was a ruined water fountain that was in the middle of a small clearing. The walls were shattered and torn apart. Weeds grew in the stone gaps while other nts were forcing their way through just behind them. There was a small path that was barely visible. Weeds choked out some of the nts, and vast swaths of grass hid the ground in waves of life. A far cry from the feeling that the building gave off. It looked like nature was on its way to reiming this area. I stepped out into the piercing rays of the sun and looked around. This building was the only one here, and it was quite sizable. Maybe it was an outpost at one point in time. I looked up towards the sky, and faintly glowing in the far distance were two moons. I know that when I said I wanted a fresh start, this wasn''t what I expected. Gravel crunched under my feet as I moved across some stone and out into the wild. I firmly grasped a rusted knife for dear life. I didn''t know what could be out here, and any measure of security was more than good enough for me. The chirping of the birds grew louder as I approached the tree line. The foliage was thick everywhere but on the path that cut through the forest. I guess I better stick with it and see where it went. I walked through the woods, keenly picking apart every small noise that I heard. So far, so good, just the sound of distant wildlife. The canopy asionally broke apart, and thin rays of light fought through the greedy grasps of the leaves and bathed small patches of ground in a loving illumination. Maybe I could find something that could feed me, even if it was minor. I used my rusted knife to cut away some foliage, carefully stepped over some of therge overgrown roots that covered the forest floor, and approached one of therge bushes that seemed to be soaking in the light. I ran my fingers across the leaves'' soft cool surface, shifted the nt around, and saw some berries. Out of curiosity, I picked one and ran it over my fingers. It was about the size of a blueberry, but the color was something closer to a grape. But I couldn''t get ahead of myself, if this was poisonous, I risked killing myself, so I needed to investigate. I didn''t have extensive knowledge of survival in the wilderness, so I had to be cautious. With that thought in mind, I shifted the bush around and saw that berries lined it and looked rtively untouched. Maybe I should take that as a warning sign and leave them alone; after all, if it wasn''t safe for the wildlife, it wasn''t safe for me. To top it all off, since this wasn''t Earth anymore, I''m not even sure what''s safe for me to eat or not. I dropped the berry to the ground and quickly traced my steps back to the path I was following. I was sure that I would find something to eat out here eventually. Maybe even make a few makeshift traps to capture the wildlife if I could. For the first time in a few years, I started to feel excited. I pressed on quietly, walking down the trail, carefully looking at the forest around me. I was so intent on listening to the wildlife that when I heard my stomach rumble, I nearly pissed myself. I gave it a quick pat in turn. I''ll get to youter, I promise. After walking quite a ways, I found some more berries, this time, the bush seemed like it had been picked through already, so I guess these berries were okay. I chose a handful of them and ced them in my bag. I would hate for them to get crushed. After getting them settled into my bag, I found myself back on the path and followed it once more. It cut through the forest before eventually hitting a smallke. The water glittered softly as the sun reached the middle of the sky. A fewrge creatures milled about on the far shore that looked like overgrown deer. Thergest one that must have stood over three and a half meters tall stood and watched over the small herd of animals. It had an array of massive antlers and a huge muscr body that rippled with power. I had to be careful; if that thing were to attack me, I would stand no chance. But at least I found water. I would have to collect some of it in a little while, bring it back to where I stayed, and boil it out. With my first missionpleted, I decided to scout a little further and find a position to drop the next part of my domain. I pushed further ahead with the intent to go as far as possible to secure my domain. Because once I finalized this domain, the only way to get more resources was to get them from outside. I kept up my leisurely pace until the sun broke past the middle portion of the sky. I had no clue how long I walked, but I think this will do. I brought my menu, and I confirmed my choice for the domain. A violet pir rose from the ground. It steadily grew in brightness and billowed out massive gouts of purple clouds. The clouds quickly rose to the sky, pressing against an invisible force that kept them in the area. They expanded and increased in speed as they spread across the sky. The purple clouds from the first totem appeared and met the rest like a hungry lover in the far distance.
Congrattions! You have made your domain. The foundation of your domain is four and a half kilometers in diameter. With the creation of your domain, you are now under a three month protection period. Yourpanion is now able to be summoned. You are now able to summon mobs. Please refer to yourpanion for more information. You now have ess to your life essence pool and your starting essence. You now have ess to all of your powers as a domain god. Please click here to summon yourpanion. Good Luck.
The cloudspleted their journey encasing the sky in a violet bubble. The air felt heavy and power coursed through me. I felt in touch with the surrounding environment like it was an extension of myself. It was time to head back to the outpost and summon mypanion. The violet haze cast an ominous light across the forest. The clouds rolled and shifted in the sky as they danced in strange patterns. This was home now; I mused to myself as I kept walking. I should make the most out of it, at least until I could make it back. The light level never once changed as I walked back towards the outpost; it was like the domain kept the surrounding environment in a time limbo. In an undetermined amount of time,I arrived back at the outpost and walked through the ruined double doors and into therge lobby. For the most part, the hall was empty, other than the debris thaty strewn across the floor. I pushed away some of the junk that clogged the floor. Once I was content with some space, I looked through notifications and saw the option to summon mypanion. I cleared my throat and stared at the empty spot. So this was my life now. Former line cook turned into a domain god. It was hard to believe even as it was happening. I stared at the open area for a few minutes longer, lost in thought before I clicked on the summonpanion option. Chapter 5 Chapter 5
You are attempting to summon yourpanion. Would you like to select yourpanion from the following temtes? Skeleton Zombie Ghost
A new screen appeared before my eyes when I selected thepanion option. I could decide between three temtes, but I''m not sure which I liked more. A zombie seemed pretty dope, and so did a ghost. But I think for getting started, I will go with a skeleton. It should smell better than a zombie and should be able to do more than a ghost. I clicked the option, and my screen flickered once more.
Yourpanion is your first mob and is one of the few that can be respawned at will. However, it can not be customized, unlike your future bosses. Due to your current level, you are temporarily limited to three ssification options for yourpanion. Would you like to ssify it as a boss, optional boss, or mob? Mob: A basic unit that poptes your dungeon. Has varying strength levels but is usually weaker than a traditional boss. Boss: A strong mob that is usually found near critical areas of the domain. It is significantly stronger than most other mobs. Optional Boss: A mob that is far stronger than that of a regr boss. Only a few are found in most domains. These mob types can be found at any point in the dungeon and any location.
I quickly read through the list and nodded my head. It was a shame that I couldn''t customize it. That would have been pretty cool. But this is alright. Now, what the question is, what ssification was best? A simple mob would be far too weak, mostly because I wanted something to help defend me if things went south. At least until I could get on my feet and fight for myself. So that left just a boss and the optional boss. My eyes bounced between the two options for a while beforeing to the optional boss category. It would be nice to have something powerful. I confirmed the choice, and another screen appeared before me.
Please name yourpanion. Please be aware that its name will be public to any who enters the domain.
What should I name it? It is a skeleton, so should I do a pun? I do like my puns. Should I call him bones? No, that was a little too over the top. Maybe something subtle would be nice. After all, this will be a public name. I thought hard about it for a while. Since my affinity was that of undeath, maybe I should give a subtle reference or at least something from my world. In that case, think I''ll name him Kharon. The ferryman of the dead would be a reference from my world, and I doubt that anyone here would understand that. That is if there wasn''t anyone else like me. Maybe if there was this would be a clue that I wasn''t from here. I typed the name in, and a strange circr rune set appeared in my vision that shifted with my head. I positioned it carefully in the spot I cleared out and activated it.Arge circr magenta-colored rune appeared on the ground. It pulsed with an unearthly light and began to rotate clockwisethe rune began to flickered and pulse as magical power coursed through it. The center of the portal opened up, and the crown of a white skull slowly rose. Then a set of blood-red eyes appeared. Then that was followed by a tall,nky body. Once Kharonpleted his rise, the portal flickered once before vanishing, leaving this tall skeleton in its ce. My newpanion looked around the building for a moment before it fixed its gaze on me and dropped to a knee. "Your will is mymand." The sound of bone crashing into stone echoed across the room. Its masculine voice was raspy and seemed to grate over itself as the words rolled out of its jaw. " Hello, Kharon. My name is Calixa. I am new to this life so please guide me to the best of your ability." I figured I would try to be somewhat amicable since I would be working with him for a while. It wouldn''t do to push away my only chance of sess. "Of course." Kharon stood up and looked around the outpost. "What is the first course of action, mistress?" "First, please teach me how toyout my domain and what to do as a domain god." That was a simple enough start. "Of course. Have you checked your status sheet or the domain page?" Kharon''s voice echoed around the room as he paced to get a feel of the lobby. "No, I haven''t. How do I check them?" I shifted ufortably and let out a chuckle. I had no idea that those things existed so far, but I was also dumb and didn''t think about doing that. "For your status page, you just have to summon it mentally." I nodded my head and did what he told me to do. A momentter, a screen appeared.
Status Page Name: Calixa Wright Main Race: Human Subrace: Domain God Affinity: Undeath Level: 1 ss: N/A Health: 130/130 Stamina: 130/130 Mana: 100/100 Stats: Health: 6 Stamina: 6 Intelligence: 4 Agility: 5 Dexterity: 7 Strength: 5 Wisdom: 4 Constitution: 3 Endurance: 3
I looked them over and nodded my head. My stats didn''t look too bad, and for the most part, they were self-exnatory, I mean, I used to skim over the D&D wiki just to read the lore, so I had some idea of what each meant and how to level them. "I see. Thank you, Kharon. I''m going to go off on a limb and assume I ess the domain the same way as I do my stat sheet?" He nodded his skull and cked his teeth together in agreement. I mentally summoned up a spreadsheet of my domain a few secondster as I got the hang of it.
Domain Stat Sheet: Name: N/A (Please name your domain before the protection period ends.) Foundation Radius: 4.5 kilometers Domain Size: 9 kilometers Current Mobs: None Current Bosses: None Optional Bosses: 1 Current Domain Level: 1 Life essence: 27,00/40,000
Current mob temtes
Tier One: Zombie Skeleton Ghost
Current item blueprints avable for use:
Broken rusted short sword Rotting Chest Rotting bow Aged Leather Armour Busted wooden shield Broken spear Primitive mining Kit Primitive Wood Working Kit
Current Building Blueprints
Destroyed House Ruined Storehouse Ruined Watchtower Ruined Stone Wall
Underneath the domain spreadsheet was arge map. The small outpost we were currently at was directly in the center. From this perspective, I saw that most of the area around us was a massive forest. There was that decently sizedke that I passed earlier. There was also a legend on the side that helped exin some key locations. One of which was a mine that was roughly two kilometers out from where I was. I wanted to know what this ce was before it became the ruins it was now. The more I look over this map, the more the curiosity got to me. Maybe I can use my powers to skim over some of the books I saw earlier. They should have something for me in there, right? "What''s the first thing that I need to do?" I asked as I dismissed the screen and saw that the skeleton was standing where he was summoned. I liked to get down to it, just standing around didn''t quite do it for me. It didn''t matter that I was in another world. All that mattered was that I had a job, and it needed to get done. "First, we need to summon a few mobs, and then start designing your domain. You can either do it manually or use your essence to absorb various materials and create items, though the efficiency isn''t quite the best. I would rmend setting up the foundation of the buildings that you want and letting your mobs build it for you." I nodded my head and resummoned my temtes, "Alright, how do I do summon the mobs? I''ll worry about building stuff in a bit." "Select the temte, and then find an area to summon them. The lowest tier mobs are rtively inexpensive. You should be able to summon arge amount of them if you so desire." I looked through the temte and selected the zombie, and the screen blinked and then asked me how many I wanted to summonjust one for now. The familiar rune appeared though it was much smaller than before, and the summoning process began once more. The runic circle began to spin, and a zombie wed its way from the ground, much like the creatures from the old movies that I enjoyed growing up. A low moan was forced from the zombie''s throat as it stood up. I took a moment to look it over. Its flesh was putrid green and was turning to liquid in some ces. Its clothes were tattered and caked in dried blood and radiated a repulsive smell. Half of its face was torn away, revealing bone, and part of its teeth and jaw. It cked its teeth together and began to stumble across the room before it fell face forward into the ground. I chuckled at watching the zombie struggle quite a bit. Kharon found it funny as well and expressed it through a bone-rattling chuckle. "Zombies are not the brightest of the bunch. They will wander around unless they are given a directive. But be careful because they may even wander outside of the domain, which could spell trouble unless you have restrictions set in ce beforehand." That would make sense. I would have to work on that; I would hate to piss off whoever lived out there merely due to my mobs wandering around mindlessly. "How do Imand the zombie?" "You can either issue a verbalmand or do it mentally. Though I rmend you do it mentally, so you can paint a clearer picture for the zombie to follow." I gazed at the zombie and forced an image of it standing still into its mind. A few short secondster, it stopped moving and just stood there, quietly waiting. I brought my menu back up and summoned a basic skeleton next. Once the summoning process finished, a gleaming white skeleton stood before me. It wasn''t anything too special. Just a normal adult skeleton, however unlike Kharon, its eyes were just two deep ck voids. It rattled its teeth together, and the noise echoed around the lobby. The noise was unnerving and very creepy to hear and made me shudder for a moment. Just staring at a skeleton that was moving around stirred a strange emotion in me, though I couldn''t quite ce what it was. Now, it was time to see what the specter was. I summoned one and wasn''t disappointed. It was a floating mass that held the faintest silhouette of a human without legs. Its body was a faint whitish-green that was almost transparent. The noises it made were a bit fear-inducing andpletely ethereal. Good, this was nice. Itcked the repulsive smell of the zombie and the ufortable feeling the skeleton instilled in me. I nced over to my essence pool and saw that I didn''t use all that much summoning these three. "Kharon, what do you rmend for me to summon to use as a worker base for the time being?" "Well, they are all skilled at something, so it''s best to have a blend. Zombies are strong, so we can use them for manualbor. The skeletons are a bit more nimble and have better use of their hands then the zombies would, and the specters can be used to move around things in hard to reach ces with their mobility, though I wouldn''t quite ce too much faith in them. They can''t control what they can interact with physically" I nodded while I looked through my menu. That was good. I made a motion for everyone in the room to follow me outside. I needed space to do some mass summonings, and I didn''t want to share a room full of zombies; otherwise, I would end up vomiting from the smell. I quickly mass summoned ten more of each mob, bringing me up to eleven of each. So thirty-three mobs total. My essence took a small hit, but it was alright. I wasn''t nning on using it for a little while longer, at least until I figured out what I could do with it. Right now, it was time to issue jobs to them and get things underway. Chapter 6 Chapter 6 Hey guys! So here''s the deal. From this chapter forward, I may or may not have put various puns in. Some chapters will have them, others may not. If you find them, drop them in thements below. If all are found, I will upload a bonus chapter! Probably not directly after, because I edit the chapters meticulously, but I will upload it during the week at some point! Ty for your love and support! Also, I will be including undead from various walks of life, mythos, fantasy, etc. If you have any that you wish to see, drop it in thement section as well. As long as it isn''t copyrighted or trademarked its fair game. I caved and summoned a few items from my menus. It would have felt wrong to make them work without the proper tools after all. I gave a team of five skeletons the primitive mining tool kit and a group of five zombies some broken des for defense. It didn''t cost too much since it was a premade temte, but I wanted to be somewhat smart about my spending. I brought my map up and looked up the direction of the mine. "Kharon, would you mind showing this group towards the mine? I want to get a small operation growing so I can utilize resources the best I can, while we have the time." I asked him as I motioned him over to look at the map. "Of course, mistress. Before you issue your order, however, make sure they are as clear and concise as possible. The lower level mobs will not think for themselves and will do only what they are asked." That was going to be a bit annoying but expected. I hated micromanaging with a burning passion. I sent a mental order to the zombies to carry the stones back here and stack them as neatly as possible and defend the skeletons mining the rock. I further emphasized the neat part for them since I really hated stuff not being in its ce. I looked at the skeletons team and sent them a picture of mining out the stone and metal, though Icked information on adequately doing that. Hopefully, Kharon can fill them in better than I could. "Alright, I think that should be okay. If you know how could you show them how to mine properly, and what to look for? That''s not something that I canmand all too well." "Of course. Do you need anything else?" He asked, and I shook my head. "I see, well then we will be on our way." He made a gesture, and they began to move away from the outpost as a small shambling horde of undead. I sent a mentalmand to five ghosts to follow above the group and protect them and help out when possible. I didn''t know what was out there, and I didn''t want to risk losing my assets. With that job done, I looked towards the remaining mobs. I nced at my essence and let out a sigh. I was burning through it faster than I wanted to. For the remaining team of skeletons, I gave them a woodworking kit and told them to chop down the trees and then cut them into smaller sizes. Then I selected a group of three zombies to drag over the logs and stack them neatly in a pile close by. For the remainder, I order to start cleaning up the area to make it look more presentable. I refuse to live in a dirty ce, even if it was the home of the undead. Once I finished issuing out the task, I decided that it was time to head back inside. I wanted to find something to eat and figure out my next few steps for this domain. I sat down on my cot and pulled out my notebook, and began to scribble in it as I tried to sort through what I wanted to do next. So far, it was just me winging it and having the mobs collect resources so we can start building. I could say that it was me being smart, but honestly, it was me just stalling. I had no idea what I wanted to do or even how to manage something like this. I felt like I was a little over my head in this task. I let out a deep sigh as I tried to think things over. What to do, what to do. I decided to clear my thoughts and make a list for starters.
  1. Set up a storehouse.
  2. Figure out how to get more life essence for the time being.
  3. Pick out a ss to use
  4. Work on expanding the domain out
  5. Find more food, and collect some water
  6. Research undead and see what other temtes I can get
  7. Look through the books in that room and see what I can discover
  8. n building designs for future use.
There was probably more to add there, but that''s all I could think of at the moment. I bounced my pen across the surface of the notebook and tried to think about what I wanted to do. Surely enough, it dawned on me. I have all this newfound power, so why don''t I create a story instead of just having something basic and repetitive like a dungeon? I felt a grin cross my face as I scribbled that into my notebook. I reached down to grab my sports bag and grabbed a snack bar and some water, and quickly scarfed them down. Now, what do I want to focus the theme of my domain around? I do have undead, so I think the idea of a fallen empire would fit well. I jotted the idea down and thought it over. I can''t really go too far in-depth with it until I have bosses and the domain expanded. I scribbled in a new section into my notebook. Questions to ask mypanion 1) Can I add in area names to be seen 2) Create bosses 3) How do I create more mob variants 4) Can I create more items then what''s on my list 5) How do I gather essence 6) How do mobs level I closed my notebook andid back on my cot, and a yawn forced its way through my lips. I was exhausted, and I had no idea what time it was. I summoned a ghost in my room and gave it amand to fetch me water and see if they could find some wildlife or something and kill it and bring its corpse back. It was a vaguemand, but it would do for now. Shortly after, I curled up in my cot and fell asleep, dreaming of what it was I wanted to create. When I awoke, I found a pot of water sitting at the foot of my bed, along with a dead squirrel-like creature. The spirit hovered there, watching me like a dog would have. It sent shivers down my spine and made me a little ufortable when I realized that it was just watching me while I slept. I sat up and pulled up my bag, and pulled out the hairbrush and a small handheld mirror as I tried to pull my attention away from the ghost in the room. I pulled the mirror up and looked at my face for a moment. My light brown hair was frizzled slightly, and I grimaced at that. I grabbed my hairbrush and quickly tried to get rid of the knots and straighten it out as much as possible. I enjoyed how my hair felt; it was always soft and came with natural gentle curls. I hated that I had to keep it tied up in a stupid hat for work, but that won''t be the case anymore. I finished brushing it and ran my fingers through my hair, and positioned it around my shoulders. I brought the mirror up again and quickly looked over my face. My deep green eyes glittered back at me as I looked over my face. I looked tired, which was a given. I worked a lot and didn''t really get much sleep at all. The bags that filled up space under my eyelids attested to that. I wish I had some makeup in this bag, but sadly I didn''t carry that around. I would love to get rid of these bags. My eyebrows I kept trimmed and sat on a high arch and came down to a tapered point at the end. My nose was straight and narrow and sat on my face proudly. I actually really liked my nose. It wasn''t as ugly as it could have been. My lips sat at the perfect thickness and curved downward on the edges. I looked over my face onest time and wiped away some dirt that was building up. I really wanted to take a shower. That would be lovely right now. I pushed my mirror back into the bag along with the hairbrush and looked back at the spirit. I wasn''t super off-put by the fact that it was a ghost. I mean, it wasn''t going to hurt me. At least, I don''t think that it would. It was more like a pet, albeit a partially creepy one. If that was the case, though, I''ll make this one my bodyguard and maybe experiment with itter and see what I could do with itthat why Kharon could be used elsewhere, and I could work on things with my end. I issued amand for it to follow me and protect me if I was attacked and shifted my focus towards the items it brought me. Now let''s see what it brought back for me. I leaned over the pot to inspect the water. The water was clear, but I could see a few dirt particles sunk to the bottom of the metal container. I would have to boil it for a little while before I drank it. I would hate to get sick here. Considering that there would be nothing here to help me but undead if I were toe down with something. But then a question struck me right after I looked at the pot of water. How did the ghost manage to drag the pot and corpse into here? Didn''t they have trouble interacting with physical objects? I eyed the ghost wearily as I thought about it. There really was more than meets the eye when ites to this stuff. It was probably a good thing I decided to keep this ghost with me. But it also made me realize that I really had a lot to learn and such little time for it all. It felt a little daunting thinking about it all; I was still new to this, and I wasn''t sure that I was ready for it. But I will do my best to seed. Losing isn''t something that I do, ever. I shifted my attention to the dead animal to inspect it. It was a bitrger than my entire arm length and was still slightly warm to the touch. I guess ghosty here just recently killed it. I carefully picked it up by its tail, looked it over, and didn''t see any visible marks on its brown fur. I wonder how it was in. Just another question to ask my dearpanion when I see him next. But let''s get this bad boy cooked. I decided to leave the pot of water there for now. I could lift if I wanted to, but I really didn''t want to struggle with it at the moment. I grabbed my sports bag and pushed the oversized squirrel into it, and decided to drop it off in the kitchen and then gather some firewood so I can get this guy cooked. I navigated my way through the ruins and made it to the kitchen. I rummaged through it once more in hopes of finding more things to use. There were a few whetstones that were tucked away in the cabs, along with more rotted utensils. At least I could use these to sharpen those knives. I don''t know what I could use to knock away the rust built upon it, but I''ll find something. I set the whetstones down on the counter and rummaged around for some of the knives I left behind. Since I wasn''t sure where I put that knife, I had early at. I still had three in here. I had a butcher knife with a ck metal handle that had spots of rust that tarnished its surface. The other was something close to an all-purpose chef''s knife that I would have used in the kitchen that I worked in, and the third was a long thin knife, that would be used for making fillets. It was nice to have a knife set like this. I hated using one knife for everything; it was the bane of my existence as a cook. I looked around the kitchen some more before I started cooking. It was best to get everything together first, while my breakfast sat in my bag. I had no idea if it would stay fresh in there or not, so I better hurry. Sadly there wasn''t anything of value that I could use with this. A lot of cutting boards were not safe to be used. Which annoyed me cause I really didn''t want to deal with all the extra cleaning. I gathered a few tes and what not to put the creature on it to catch all the excess stuff. I stacked them in a neat pile next to the knives and decided to head outside to gather some firewood so I can get this ball rolling. I stepped outside and noticed arge stack of stones that was nowhere near being neat, along with a pile of logs that were haphazardly thrown around. Didn''t I tell these guys to stack them neatly? I felt my eyebrow twitch as I stared at the pile for a few more seconds. They had one job to do. Just one, was it that hard? I buried my annoyance and decided to take stock of the rest of the courtyard. A vast portion of the grass and nt life was now dead and gone, leaving just dirt. I could see mypanion moving some stones around with the other skeletons attempting to bring some order to the area in the distance. Oh good, I''m d that someone here decided to follow my orders. I could also ask him a few questions since he was back. "Kharon, can youe over here for a moment?" As I sat down on the steps, I called out to him, my previous task wholly forgotten as I fixated on getting my questions answered. My ghostlypanion was behind me, floating silently. As silent as the grave, some may say. I reached into my bag and pulled out my notebook along with a pen, and flipped open to my page of questions. Kharon lumbered over and gave me a bow. "Mistress Calixa, how may I help you?" He asked. His voice was as raspy as usual. It made me wonder how a skeleton could talk. "I have a few questions for you regarding the domain. Since I am stuck here, I want to get to work immediately. That, and I want some input on a few things as well." I crossed my legs and sat up straight. It was time to work, and if there was one thing I prided myself on, it was my work ethic. Chapter 7 Chapter 7 "What is it you would like to know, mistress?" I nced down at my list and looked at the first question. "Can I add in visible area names that adventures can see?" This was a crucial question since it dedicated if I could do my story based domain or not. His skeletal face remained impassive as he thought it over. "Yes, it should be doable since you are not adversely affecting the system. If it''s just a simple visual, then yes." I nodded my head and quickly put a check by the question. "What do you mean by adversely affect the system?" I asked as I began to write in a new section under the questions. "Well, as a domain god, you have unparalleled control over what happens in here. You can change almost anything you please, as long as it doesn''t affect the system''s foundation. A good example would be stripping the ss system away from people who visit or removing their ability to interact with it." His teeth cked together as he exined it to me, causing the annoying sound to assault my ears. I quickly penned that in. That was good to know. As long as I don''t attempt to directly change the system, I could do it. "How would I do that exactly?" "You can directly ess that function through the map that is given to you." Therge skeleton walked to the steps, and heavily sat down next to me, and watched the other undead as they worked. I opened up the menu and essed the map, and tried to interact with it. I found that I could zoom in and interact with areas and rename them, and set them to be publicly visible for a few moments. I could take it further and change the graphics around, which would be nice. There was so much potential there. I scribbled that into my notebook and went to the next question. "So, my next question is how do I create bosses, what is their function, and what other kinds of bosses exist?" Depending on the answer, I could do a lot with my idea. In fact, the thought made me salivate a little. The skeleton made a sound akin to a thoughtful hum, though it sounded like bones being rattled. "Well, a boss''s primary duty is to guard strategic areas or ces where the domain shifts. Though they don''t exactly have to fufill that role. It mostlyes down to expectations that adventures would have and if you want to stay inline with them. But you also have to realize that as a domain god, you have more freedom than a regr dungeon core would, so the choice is really yours." I quickly shifted my pen to the free space under my notes as I listened along. "There are many variations of what bosses are and do. Some have restrictions on them that not even domain gods can lift, while others you can do with as you see fit." I forced my writing hand to follow along as he spoke since I didn''t want him to interrupt him. "The first variant is, as you know a basic boss. They are mighty and usually guard specific areas, or if you feel like it, you can have them roam or join mobs. The next is the optional boss. These can be even more powerful than a basic boss and are often marked with a skull next to the public name denoting them. Most adventures avoid fighting them since they are widely considered to be stronger than most creatures in the domain." He thankfully paused for a moment to let me catch up. My wrist ached from how quickly I was trying to write, and my words looked a little sloppy, nothing a one over couldn''t fix. Once I caught up, I turned my attention back to him. "After that, as you level, you begin to unlock more unique variants as well. There are currently zone bosses, mini-bosses, raid bosses, g bosses, and a single world boss. However, if you manage to create a unique form of boss, the system will reward you." I let out a low whistle as I penned that in. There was a lot to work with, and it made this all the more enjoyable. I nced up from the notebook and decided to drop the boss types talk for now and get back on track. There was too much to ask for right now and other more pressing questions that needed answers. I''ll cross that bridge when I get there. "Thank you, Kharon. Now how do I create them? Are there limits to it?" I flicked my pen around to give my fingers a small break from the fervent writing. "Activate your domain screen, and select a mob you wish to alter. Currently, you are capped at three bosses and one optional for your size and level. As you grow, you can eventually add even more than that. The bright side is that there is no upper limit to the power they or the mobs can achieve." As he told me, I pulled up my domain screen and looked at one of the zombies, and a green outline surrounded it. It took me a few minutes to get the hang of the menus that opened up for me. I could push essence into the target mob or immediately upgrade it to a boss with this screen. I also had the option to alter the drop chance for items. I selected the boss option, and a brand new screen appeared that would allow me to use my hands to alter the boss''s appearance. That was actually glorious; this would make my job so much easier. "Oh, thank you. That''s really handy. This actually leads me to the next question. How do I create new mob temtes?" I dismissed the screens and flipped open my notebook again, ready to write down what he was going to say. "Well, since you have undead mobs, there are a few ways that are unique to them. Usually, dungeon cores or domain gods would breed mobs together or directly mess with their gics and feed essence to force a change. However, in your case, you can feed them power and hope they evolve or kill off adventures or wildlife. That usually yields unique temtes since they would fall under your jurisdiction." That would make sense. I could create zombies or ghosts with their bodies. But would that make me a murderer? I froze as the thought danced around my mind. I was going to be responsible for the deaths of innocent people. Could I live with myself after that fact? I mean, I''ve hurt people before but never tried to kill them. "Are you alright, mistress?" The skeleton asked, which pulled me from my thoughts. "Will I be a murderer? Killing innocents as theye into this domain?" The thoughts made me feel horrible. This new life seemed fantastic at first, but now that I was faced with the certainty of killing, I was starting to regret my choice. "Is it really killing them, though? We are undead. We have already died and been reborn free from the mortal coil. You can''t look at it from the perspective of a living being anymore. You, in essence, are one of us now. If you treat them kindly, they will try and kill you. Instead, try to look at it as if you are granting them a new life. One that is free from sickness and pain." For some reason, that brought a chuckle to my lips. I was human, but I am also a being whomands the undead. If I am weak, I will die. His words rang hollow, but I would have to swallow my hesitation. It''s kill or be killed. "Thank you, Kharon. That was oddly inspiration. I''ll try and keep to that. Thank you." I brought my pen back to the notebook and pushed away those thoughts for now. I still had a few questions for now. "Anytime. We are in this together. If you fall, I fall." I froze as the words struck me. That was true. If I died, then everything here would die too. I would have to be strong. If not for me, for them. Even if they are not truly alive. I would do my best to make sure they live, that I swear. "So back to my questions. Since we are on the topics of mobs, how do they get stronger?" As I asked that question, I checked off the questions that I had already asked. "We as undead have three ways to gain power. The first two are to y either the living or other undead and consume their essence. The final way is really hard depending on the mob in question, and that is to gain sentience." I quickly penned that into my rapidly growing notes. This was a lot to take in. "What is sentience specifically? Isn''t that being alive or something?" I asked as I brought the pen up and chewed on the back of it out of a horribly ingrained habit. "That''s notpletely correct. For example, take that zombie over there." He extended a long bony finger out towards a random shambling zombie carrying a pile of wooden logs. "Yes, while it is undead, it is sentient. However, only partially. They are alive but to varying degrees. Now, the important question is, do you know what drives the zombie?" I stared at the zombie for a moment as I thought it over. From the knowledge bestowed upon me by mainstream media, I had a few ideas. "Hunger, right? The desire to consume flesh." I nced at Kharon to see if I was correct, but his face revealed nothing. "That is only partially true. You see, as an undead, purpose is our driving factor. Superficially, we can assume that the zombie wants to consume flesh, but there is something more. What if it is searching for its long lost lover? We never truly know what drives most undead to do the things they do. Each and every one of us has something different that guides us. Even if we have no idea what it is. If we achieve that goal, then we are granted sentience. Which either brings back our memories or grants us a new life. However, the hard part is finding out what that goal is. For lower tier mobs, its a fleeting thought, one that lurks just beyond your grasp. While for the highest tier, their purpose defines their very existence, so its much easier to obtain their sentience." That was very sad. It also painted them in a different light. I always assumed them to be bloodthirsty monsters, but in reality, they were just shells, chasing after memories they had already forgotten. I felt terrible for them. I cleared my throat and set my pen on my notebook as I tried to get away from the topic. "What makes the sentient undead dangerous?" I could potentially use this to my advantageter on. I already had a few ideas brewing with this new knowledge. "Because they will be intelligent and have full ess to the powers of the undead. While a mindless zombie can be tricked and staved off, one that is fully aware of what it is and what it is capable of is far more dangerous. That''s a lower-tier example, but that''s all the knowledge that I have ess to on this topic." I pursed my lips and was slightly disappointed at that. I wanted more information, but I will take what I can get. "What about you, Kharon? What is your driving purpose?" I was curious and wanted to get to know mypanion. Primarily what drives him as an undead. "Me? I exist to instruct. I am apanion; I guide the domain god on their path, to the best of my ability. I desire nothing more." I stared at him for a moment and wished that there was emotion in his voice. I can''t really tell if there was anything more he wasn''t telling me. "I will do my best to learn," I replied as I looked back down to finish writing. I was learning a lot, and I was thankful for this. Now it was time to ask the questions that were brewing on my mind about gaining sentience. "Can I impart a goal on a specific undead to awaken them?" This question made me feel weird since it made me feel like I would be altering my underlings'' memories. "That is difficult to answer. On a summoned mob, it should be fairly easy; the problem is making it stick. On a mob that was turned from a living being, it''s near impossible. Why do you ask?" Kharon turned his skull towards me. His red eyes bored into me and made me squirm ufortably. "Well. I had an idea about the domain that I wanted to try. Which I was about to exin to you." I cleared my throat and ced my pen in the notebook and closed it, and turned to look at him. He was deathly silent as he stared at me. Waiting for me to tell him. "So. Instead of just building a domain for adventures to plunder mindlessly. I wanted something a bit more unique. I wanted to create a story. I want every boss to have a reason to exist and every mob to y a role, then just to be test dummies for the adventurer. It will still retain its nature as a domain. But it will have a very personal touch and reward those who wish to do more than just mindlessly ughter." The skeleton looked at me for a moment before turning his head and resting back on his hands to stare out across the courtyard. "Existing for a purpose, huh. That sounds lovely. Undead, just wander in pursuit of ours. Most never really know what drives them. It exists just under the haziness, just out of reach. Granting them a purpose is the kindest thing you can do for them. That sounds lovely, Calixa." I swear I could hear the very faint touch of emotion in his voice, and I felt pride swell in my chest. I will give them all a reason to be if it''s thest thing I do. Chapter 8 Chapter 8 "What did you have in mind, mistress?" He asked as we watched the mob mindlessly stack the various materials for us to use, though it wasn''t as neat as I wanted it to be. "I was thinking of a fallen empire. One that was was torn asunder by an invasion and then betrayal. Though I am still working on the idea a bit. I can''t gopletely all out without a few things." I ced my notebook on the steps next to me and sat back onto my hands. The loose stone bit into my skin, although it wasn''t an unpleasant feeling. "What things do you need to do toplete this?" He asked as I closed my eyes, trying to enjoy the warmth of the air, which was a stark contrast to the biting cold from earlier in the day. "Well, Bosses, for starters. I need to write stuff about them and create a back story. Afterward, I will probably attempt to link it to them to be with that knowledge if they awaken. That and essence. What can I create with it? How far can I expand my domain? What can I add to it?" The questions flooded out of my mouth since they were finally free. "The bosses wille in time. As for the rest, we can work on it together. With essence though, you can create almost anything you want with it. You just have to visualize it down to even the most minute detail. Otherwise, it won''te into existence. It''s a bit more expensive if you dont have the materials for it on hand." I opened my eyes and saw that I had a massive pile of stone and wood, so that shouldn''t be too big of an issue for me, at least at the start. "What about the domain? How does that work?" I sat up and grabbed my notebook and scribbled down the brief conversation. "Well. You can''t change the size of the foundation. However, the interior you can change at will, as well as the positioning of everything. Each new zone cost essence, and naturally, the amount increases with size. But it''s a t rate." I raised my eyebrows and looked over at him. "Isn''t that a little busted?" "You would think. But grow too much too quickly; you are pushed to the side and will forever stagnate or be killed off. Grow too little, and it''s the same. The weak will always get culled." His response was off-handed and sounded like he didn''t care, but honestly, that was just his tone. I knew that bothered him a little. I would just have to be careful. I nodded my head and thought it over. Thankfully the cost would be manageable. "Would adventures build cities in here if they had the chance?" It was a random thought but one that I was curious about. If they could, then I can work out trade deals and bring in more resources. "In theory, they could, as long as they had a safe area. It would provide a steady source of essence for you and protection for them. But that is a rare urrence." I nodded my head and jotted down the idea before closing my notebook. I slid it back into my bag and realized I still had this squirrel in here. I had to get this creature cooked, so I can eat. "I see. Well, thank you, Kharon. I would love to finish this conversation, but I want to cook some lunch first before I starve to death." I exined as I stood up and threw it over my back. "Why would you cook food? You are a domain god. You don''t need to eat." He asked as he tilted his head much like a dog would. Wait, you''re kidding, right?" I asked as I stood, dumbfounded. "No. You no longer need to eat, sleep, or consume water. The domain sustains you and all of your needs." The skeleton stood up and cracked his knuckles, and rolled his shoulders. "Damn, that would have been nice to know before I panicked; Wait, you said I didn''t have to sleep. So why did I before?" I asked as I reached into the bag and grabbed the dead animal. What was I going to do with it? "I said that you didn''t have to. Not that you can''t." He turned his head towards the dead animal and gestured towards it. "What are you going to do with that?" "Can I turn this into an undead too?" I asked as I stood there, with the corpse hanging from the scruff of its neck. The idea seemed a little morbid, but every little bit counts. "Yes. All feel the touch of undeath." Kharon replied, and I nced at a zombie and mentioned for it toe over. The lumbering creature shuffled its way over, dragging a leg behind. Even though this creature was dead, I wouldn''t just toss its body to the side. That would feel wrong. Instead, I waited for the zombie to get closer, and I handed it over to it like an average person andmanded it to take a bite. The zombie ripped the corpse from me and bit into the creature''s nk. The sound of flesh getting torn apart filled the air, followed by wet smacking at the zombie chewed. Each time the zombie bit down, it opened its mouth wide, causing blood to run down its grey flesh. It swallowed its meal and stared at the squirrel for a moment before tossing it to the side and stumbling away toplete its task. I dry heaved as the zombie left. That was gross, so very gross. I nced down at the oversized squirrel and saw it twitch a few times before it stood up. Its nk missed a massive chunk of flesh and poured its life-giving liquid onto the earth below it. It shuddered and turned its head towards me. Its beady eyes stared lifelessly at me as it waited for me to issue amand. I stared at the little guy for a moment in sadness. I''m sorry that I had to do this to you; I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me.
You have unlocked a new temte. Undead Giant Squirrel
I shuddered as I realized the implications of this. I like zombies; I really do. But watching them in action in person is a bit terrifying and a lot different than I expected. With a heavy heart, I told it to spread undeath to all that it meets. The giant squirrel gurgled and bounded into the forest beyond. I stared at it as it ran into the woods. I felt guilty for condemning the entire poption of wildlife within my domain to their death. Please forgive me, I whispered quietly before turning back to Kharon, desperate to take my mind off of what I just did. "How do I gather more essence?" "Life essence is in every living thing and can be even be drawn from inanimate objects. You can get it from converting the trees in the forest or having your mobs kill the wildlife. But once you run out of it here, it gets much harder toe by. You can also get it back by your mobs killing each other." I nodded my head and listened along to him. Well, at least there is always a way until adventures start toe in. I opened my menu and looked at my essence pool at my disposal. The current mobs really didn''t even scratch the total amount of my essence. At least that meant that I could experiment a bit and see what I could do. But now, I was itching to get to work at crafting my domain. First, I wanted to create a small room away from everything to work in peace and quiet. "Alright, so I can do almost anything in here, right? Can I create a room somewhere that has no ess except to those I allow?" "You can, mistress. However, please be aware that you can not teleport there if you are inbat or if you have been issued a direct challenge by someone." Well, I fully intend on avoiding the crowds anyway, so it''s not like it really matters all that much to me. I opened the map and began to interact with it and explore the various tools that exist within it. After scrolling through, I found a tool that allowed for three-dimensional interaction with the terrain within my domain. That made me incredibly happy. I wanted to craft this room somewhere far away so no one can identally stumble into it. I went to where the center of the outpost roughly was and began to quickly shift the map down as far as I was allowed to. Once I hit the furthest point, I went through the tools once more and found a sculpting one. I selected it and carved out an area around one hundred meters in all directions, which yielded me about two hundred life essence in total. That was terrible efficiency considering the stone''s weight that I just absorbed, but I wasn''t surprised. I mean, it''s all rock and dirt anyway. I selected the newly formed area and reinforced the walls with multitudes of reinforced rock and other materials; at least that was the n until I stumbled across the unchangeable option in the tool list and selected it. Making my workroom almost indestructible. I wasn''t worried about it getting invaded, just the walls copsing down around me. I looked through the menu and saw the teleport option. I rested my hand on Kharon and the ghost that sat behind me and clicked it. With a lurch, we appeared in a pitch-ck room. The air was warm and very humid and made me very ufortable. I quickly looked through the tools and saw that I can increase the brightness, along with ambient air temperature. I clicked on the lighting first and was immediately greeted by a slider and a preview. However, the further I pushed the slider up, the more essence it would cost me. Thankfully for me, I only wanted something decently bright. I slid the key over until the preview showed something that was near the perfect amount for me. I selected it and spent one hundred essential points on it, and ced it in the room''s center. The light shot out and lit up the various stones that dotted the room. It looked like something cut a chunk of the room with a surgical knife, but it was ugly for the most partjust brown and grey stone everywhere. I clicked on the ambient temperature, set it to twenty degrees celsius, and shifted the humidity to something much more bearable than this. This action cost me thirty more essence points, but at least this was perfectly livable. "Alright, Kharon, how do I create things?" My voice echoed around the empty room, causing me to cringe. I hated hearing the sound of my own voice. Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Let me know what you guys think! Also, put down errors you see in thements so I can fix them. I try to proofread and edit, but sometimes I miss a few things. Thank you, guys! "In your domain tool, you should see a creation function. It can be used to create items, buildings, or materials, but never any mob. To use it, you can either imagine what you want to create or design it yourself." Welp, I guess it''s better to imagine cause I couldn''t draw for the life of me. I sighed and selected the function to get a feel for it. A radial mini sub-menu came up with items that I could pre-select, along with the number of the required materials. I scrolled through the menu and settled on a simple concrete block. I nced at the wall and imagined it encasing the entire room in one solid block. A hazy blue outline appeared, encasing the shape of the room in its width. I adjusted it a few more times, a bit more to my liking. Once I was happy with the current setup, I confirmed my choice, and the screen blinked, telling me that it would cost me three thousand essence points to create. I balked at the price but confirmed it anyway. I refuse to be surrounded by such ugly colors. I wish I could afford to be a bit more luxurious with my spending, but I was on a tight budget at the moment, so from now on, it was just simple items. I added in a chair and a in wooden desk to finish up my office. I will have more stuff added in once I get some more essence points stocked up. I touched the office up a bit more and then sat down in my newly created chair. "There we go. It''s not much, but wee to my office. Anyways, is there a way for me to collect material, so I don''t have to spend straight essence creating it?" I asked as I pulled out notebooks and pens, cing them in a neatly stacked pile on the desk. "It should bebeled under the storage function mistress. However, you get a better yield for storage if the material has already been harvested, other than just trying to straight store a mining quarry." I looked through the menus once more and found it. Good, good. Having those mobs mine was a godsend for me. It probably would have saved me a bit of essence if I were to have used storage first, but I would have felt wrong to use it for personal gain. "Thank you, Kharon. Can you teleport in and out of here as well?" The tall skeleton nodded his head. "I can. I have the ability as yourpanion." "Good. You are free to go. See if you can recruit some more of the zombies and skeletons to hit the mine. I''ll see if I can do some remote summoning so we can increase the efficiency a bit." I told him as I settled into my chair. It wasn''t asfortable as I wanted it to be, but it was good enough for now. "As you wish, mistress." Kharon gave me a bow and vanished in a muted disy of grey light, leaving me alone with my ghostly friend. I grabbed a pen and started to twirl it around as I tried to think about what I wanted to do next. I opened up my menu, activated the map, and went to a three-dimensional view of my domain. I scrolled over to the outpost and watched in real-time as the mobs collected resources and dropped them into a pile. I selected the storage tool and highlighted the pile of stone, and selected the store function.
Would you like to store a thousand units of mined stone?
I wasn''t sure how much a unit of stone was, but it looked like a metric fuck ton. But it wasn''t surprising; they were working nonstop since I assigned them to the job. But a part of me felt like somewhere, and somehow, I was viting a whole suite ofborws in the process. I found the summon function, selected a clear area, summoned fifteen more skeletons and fifteen more zombies, and watched as my essence bar slowly dwindled.This circle was massive from my viewpoint and bathed the surrounding area in a morose disy of light as the undead slowly rose from the ground in a grotesque disy.Shortly after they spawned, Kharon walked over to them and began directing them around silently. As an afterthought, I summoned a bunch of tools next to the formation of the waiting undead.I should create some carts or something for them so they can lug more around. That way, I can''t feel as bad as I do now for making them work with just their hands. I scrolled over to the pile of wood and selected it for storage.
Would you like to store a thousand four hundred and fifteen units of wood?
I confirmed the choice, and the pile of wood turned to ash and vanished into the air. Alright, now let''s get some basic carts created. It would do wonders for the efficiency of these guys. Furthermore, I could start having them stack the stone closer to the mines with this. The woodpile was fine with where it was currently located since there were a lot of trees nearby. I scrolled through the menu and selected the create function, and went through the premade section. A lot of what was already here was elementary. I saw a design for a simple cart, which on a preview was just a nk of wood, with wheels attached to it. It was better than nothing, I suppose. But I also don''t know why that this blueprint wasn''t on my main list. I would have to get my own designed to fit my empire''s theme once I figure that out. This means a lot of drawing practice was at hand, unfortunately. I selected a quantity of ten carts and summoned them into the courtyard next to my small shambling horde of underlings. Thankfully the price was lower since it consumed a couple of hundred wood units in the process, plus a few essence. It was far cheaper than what I would have expected.
Blueprint has been created: Patchwork Cart
Ah, that would exin it. I guess they weren''t actual blueprints until I utilized them. I turned to look at my ghostlypanion, told it to stay there, and teleported back to the courtyard. Small groups of undead were milling about, and the area was alive with the sounds of feet shuffling through the gravel. Kharon finished directing some of the undead before he noticed me and walked over. "Actually, yes, I just wanted to ask you to inform the mining crews to start stockpiling stone just outside of the mine for pick up." "You know you could have just sent me a message instead of teleporting here." That made me want to p myself. I felt stupid. Why didn''t I think of that? "Of course." I put my head down in shame, and for the first time, I heard something akin to augh from the skeleton. It sounded like bones being tapped lightly together in a rhythmic pattern. "It''s alright. You are still new. It''s to be expected. Though I will apud you on the fact that you stepped up to the job so quickly." "Eh, I tend to try hard with everything I do. I hate being ipetent, and I hate losing, so I will always do my best to stay on top." I told him as I went through the area and moved some of the tool bundles onto the patchwork carts. "Alright, this should help them move things around easier. Position the stone somewhere outside of the quarry, and I''ll pull it away once the stack getsrge enough. I''ll probably give you seven more of each mob to mine with, and I''ll put the rest towards getting wood together along with some nt material." He nodded and silently started to give out orders to the mobs that surrounded the area. The ghosts here just silently floated around the area, cleaning away vast swaths of life. Everywhere they raised their hands, the grass withered away and turned to dust. I looked towards them and called them over, and told them to line up. They broke away from their current tasks and formed a small line in front of me. I looked them over and realized that I was a bit more partial to them than the zombies or the skeletons. They were quiet for the most part and just felt right. They alsocked the egregious smell the zombies had. I also appreciated the fact they none of the mobs looked the same. Some wore tattered clothing that I could hardly see due to how transparent they could be at times, while others looked like the remnants of noble clothing. As all the ghosts lined up, I decided on the course of action I wanted them to take. The party at the quarry already had ghost support. But I would send two moreover to them. There was no telling what lurked in the forest. I knew nothing had happened so far, but it doesn''t hurt to be safe. The remainder I sent into the outpost to start cleaning it up. But while I was up here, I might as well gather all the reading material I could find along with the footlockers. Those would be for personal effects. The rest they can do whatever they want with it as far as I care. Time to collect those things and send them down to my office! I teleported back into my new office, quickly organized the footlockers and the cot, and pressed them into the wall. After meticulously going through it, I set a bookshelf next to it. I left behind all the ruined books and a few of the unsalvagable bookshelves. Those would be for decal. After all, they were free and didn''t cost me anything to make. Ireached down and grabbed a handful of the books that were legible and ced them on a pile on my desk. My ghostlypanion sat where I left it, floating quietly. It was like having a pet. That didn''t talk or need anything from me and did exactly what I wanted it to.I sat down in my chair, pulled out my pen and notebook, and nned out the story for my domain. I would go with a once beautiful empire that was torn asunder by a betrayal and invasion. I would be at the helm of the empire as its empress, of course. I mean, I could be a little conceited, couldn''t I? This was my domain, after all. But what role did this outpost y in it? I brought the map up and looked at it from a birds-eye view for a moment. It felt a tad too small to have yed any role. So I will expand it and give it some walls and defensive areas. Once that is done, I can carefully craft the appearance of having been in a battle age past. But then I would need to create some bosses for that and lore for the bosses.I scribbled the ideas down and looked at the map again, and a realization hit me. I didn''t check out the locked room or that one strange room upstairs. I zoomed in on the outpost, and selected the ghosts, and saw a message function appear. I quickly typed an order to ignore the one room upstairs along with the locked door downstairs. Once that was done, I shifted back and stared at the outpost. What did I want to name it? I stared at it for a moment before I shifted back to my notebook. It woulde to me eventually. In the meantime, I could work on the overall domain appearance and then hit bosses next. I set my pen back down on the notebook and went directly into the domain menu, and found the customization tool. Here I could change the sky sphere and the size of the domain along with the name, weather, and entrance. First, let''s do the sky sphere. This cloudy purple haze doesn''t fit the environment I wanted to build. I opened the menu and saw an extremelyprehensive list of various sky spheres. I scrolled through them, but none seem to fit what I had in mind.I sorted through them for a while and then decided to click on the custom tool. If I couldn''t find one that I wanted, then I would make one myself. A backdrop appeared, and a very long list of options appeared in a side panel. I hadplete creative freedom from the looks of this menu. Let''s start from the top, then shall we? The first option involved the light source and there were dozens of options. They ranged from a single sun all the way to massive glowing rocks, including an option to choose multiple. However, I will settle on a star due to this ce''s nature, and then I''ll take two moons, to give it that fantasy vibe. I selected them and ced the star on the curved backdrop''s bottom corner, and the two moons just slightly passed the middle. Immediately the backdrop lit up with an overwhelming amount of light. So much so that I almost blinded myself.I scrolled down to the option to alter the light sources and clicked on it. In here, I could change everything from the light color to the intensity and particle spread. Holy shit, I really could do anything I wanted here. I dimmed the overall intensity of the star down and switched the light to something slightly darker. I wanted the adventures who came here to feel like something was off. I wanted it to itch at the back of their minds but never honestly know what it was. Once I switched the light to something that I enjoyed, I saved the customization. I kept the moons the same since they didn''t bother me all that much; besides, they were pretty enough as is. As for a backdrop, I could go with a blue atmosphere, much like what Earth has. That way, I would feel a little less homesick. I saved the current setup and looked through the rest of the tools that could be used. I could either synchronize the time to the outside world or set up my own.I strummed my fingers along the top of the desk as I toyed with a few ideas. I think I will stick with a twenty-four-hour system. Mostly cause it made more sense and cause I was not too fond of the twelve-hour clock that was in heavy use in the United States. Once I entered the function, It prompted me to enter numbers into the system to function as a clock, to synchronize with adventures as they enter the domain. I quickly typed the numbers in and saved the changes that I made, and made the starting date, January 1st 2021, just to make things easier for me. The next part would be the weather. I mindlessly went through my choices and decided to settle on a standard weather cycle that I control free of cost. I could have been fancy and meticulously went over everything, but I had other stuff that I wanted to get done.I opened up my notebooks and quickly wrote down what I do so far. I changed the sky sphere and time, and I was happy with the results. The best part is that it didn''t cost me a thing, since it was my first time. But before I confirmed the choice, I would mess with it a bit more. But I want to mess with the bosses and then sleep on my choices for a while. Chapter 10 Chapter 10 Here is your chapter! If you enjoy it considering popping into my Ko-fi ount and showing some love! For those of you who donate, I tuck away the next chapter in there! After every main update, I will add another chapter to Ko-fi! Any amount is appreciated since I cycle it back into the story for artwork/music and whatnot. Thank you /raizia If you wish to subscribe monthly, I offer a Patreon as /silentoverseer 3 dors a month to stay ahead of chapter release, and 5 dors a month for five chapters ahead at any given time. As well as all the fun things I n on doing as well. Also, join my discord, I want to do an event in a few days for making mobs and sses :) https://discord.gg/CWDycd8 Now, let''s start the experiments with the ghost in the room, shall we? I stood up and positioned my chair to face the ghost before I sat back down. I brought the menu up and selected the ghost. Now the question is, do I directly promote it to a boss, or do I inject it with essence and see what happens? After thinking it over for a moment, I decided that I was feeling a bit like a mad scientist right now. Besides, this way, the boss could be a bit stronger than the rest of the mobs. I selected the add essence option, and a slider appeared. With this, I could theoretically add in however much I wanted, though I really don''t want to strain my budget like that. It was a nonrenewable resource at the moment. Granted, I had a lot to spare, but I didn''t want to risk it. I slid the button up till the counter read one hundred. I confirmed the choice. The ghost lit up for a moment and became more defined and solid before growing dim again. I slid it to a hundred once more, and the ghost started to visibly react. The ethereal tail that extended it behind it began to condense down and be more tangible and form the faint outline of a pair of legs. I dumped another hundred points into it, internally balking at the fact that I just spent three hundred essence points on a basic mob. The ghost absorbed it like a sponge, and the tail finished forming into a set of ethereal legs. I felt like I was really close to something tremendous, yet a part of me felt that if I put too much into it, the ghost wouldn''t be able to handle it. I decided to cut down the amount of essence I was giving the ghost in half, and I confirmed it. I really hope that nothing would happen. The ghost grew solid, and its feet touched the floor, yet not a noise was to be heard from it, and a notification blinked on my menu
You have unlocked a T2 mob: Spirit: A possible evolution of a ghost. A spirit can better interact with the world of the living and can potentially use physical weapons instead of just siphoning life away from its target. The spirit also has more control over the surrounding environment than a basic ghost does.
That wasn''t a bad upgrade. Though it cost me a grand total of three hundred and fifty essence to hit the evolution point. It was widely inefficient but, it was better than nothing. I guess with that out of the way, I should make this guy a boss; since, at the moment, it was just a test dummy. On top of it bing a boss, I would need a bodyguard or at least someone to keep close, so Kharon can do other tasks for the time being. I selected it and confirmed the upgrade to the boss option, and a warning appeared in my vision.
You are attempting to upgrade this mob to a boss. Doing so will change it from its evolutionary route. Evolutionary upgrades from this point on from this mob will be twice as costly. Current promotion cost: five hundred
The screen blinked as it awaited my answer. Of course, this was too easy the first time. The price essentially doubled, and that''s not counting the base cost. Plus it would cost me five hundred essence points as well to drag it to boss status. With a sigh, I confirmed the choice. I couldn''t spend anything more at the moment on you. The spirit lit up in a brilliant disy, and another notification appeared on my screen.
Would you like to name your boss?
I stared at it for a moment as I tried to settle on a good name. I very much wanted this one to be a female. I looked at the spirit for a while as I thought it over. This boss would y a significant role in the future, so maybe I would name her around that. The question is, what exactly? If I wanted her to be a bodyguard and someone close to me. I strummed my fingers along my legs and thought about it. I think I want to create a specialized group, one whose job was to protect the empire at all cost, and above all else, the Empress. So with that being said, I shall appoint this one a high rank. Her name shall start with an A. Because she is the first boss amongst many. I think her name shall be Alessia, as for herst name, I want to go with Veers. It seemed simple and nice. I confirmed the choice, and the screen blinked again.
Would you like to change the boss''s appearance? The cost to change is included in the original price.
Of course, I would, Why wouldn''t I? I clicked on it, and a new screen appeared. This one was a three-dimensional editor and had the spirit locked in a T-pose. I looked over the spirit and immediately switched the gender to female. After looking her over for a moment, I decided that she should have long flowing hair tied up in a high ponytail. I adjusted the length until it reached the middle of her back. Now the next step was eyes. I shaped her eyebrows to a high arch with a tempered edge and then shifted her eyes from being round to that of a thin almond. I tampered with it for a few minutes until they perfectlyplimented each other. Satisfied with my work thus far I decided to work on the rest of her face. I straightened out the nose a bit and shifted her facial shape slightly since it was previously rounded, to something more pronounced and feminine. After working on it for a bit, I sat back to look her over. Currently, she looks sophisticated and like a beautiful badass, if I do say so myself. I pulled the height down a bit to something close to my size, which was an easy one hundred and sixty-seven centimeters. For the rest of her body, I just kept it in proportionnothing overly crazy here. I wish I could go into more detail, but how her body was now would make it pointless. She was still partially ethereal so a lot of the finer details would go to waste. I woulde back to herter once she evolves. I confirmed the choice, and yet another screen appeared before me.
Would you like to grant her a title? Please be aware that this title will be visible to any party that enters your domain.
Oooh, a title. It has to be something fancy to fit her and the role she will y. I typed in ''The de of The Empress.'' and stared at it for a moment. Now that I read it, I''m not sure if I like it or not. I erased it and thought about another. Should I give her a title based on the life she lived or how she died? What are her goals? I stared at her as I thought it over. Was she betrayed? Should I give her ''The Betrayed'' title? No, that didn''t seem right either now that I think about it. Maybe I should stick with a war-based title. That way, if or when she encounters the ones that took the time to read or uncovered the tidbits I left around will recognize who she is.The Champion of the Empress.I typed it in and looked at it for a momentthis one I like. I confirmed the choice, and the screen vanished. The newly created boss floated there for a moment before a new screen appeared.
Would you like to choose a ss or randomize it? sses selectable are based on the following: Race/Type/Title/Affinity/Auxiry skills sses evolve with the boss.
Ugh, why was this so much work? I guess it works out cause it lets me actively flesh her out to an extreme degree, but man was this a lot of work. I would not randomize the sses, though. Considering that I spent all the time designing her, I would stick with it this way to the endall for this story''s sake. I selected the choose ss option, and a list appeared.
Spectral War Maiden: A perversion of the venerable War Maiden ss avable to human female knights. This ss focuses heavily on having a potent offense as well as a solid defense. They are known for their mastery over multiple weapons. Spectral de Dancer: A ss focused on heavy, overwhelming offensive capabilities, with minimal defensive capabilities, and no magical talent. This ss relies solely on its ability to deal overwhelming damage and absorb health back with its siphoning effects to protect its self. Its primary focus is on short swords and duel-wielding weapons. Maiden of Death: A ss that has a healthy blend of magical damage, along with physical damage. This ss has moderate defensive capabilities and heavy sustain along with steady D.O.T output. Undead Spear Maiden: A ss that has a longer attack range and deals damage with pinpoint uracy. This ss has a solid blend of magic and qi capabilities.
I read through the list and nodded my head. These all seemed like such powerful sses. But what would fit her the best? I read over each carefully bnced the pros and cons. The War Maiden would ssify her as something close to an off-tank. Able to trade blow for blow and would be a decent tie-in with her lore. The Spectral de Dancer would give her an edge in some forms ofbat since it would allow her to overwhelm her targets, but I think in something bigger than a duel it maye at a disadvantage. The Maiden of Death seemed like a pretty solid choice too. It would grant her the ability to use magic, which could be handy in a fight. Especially if it is D.O.T. It should be able to help her hold her own in arge party. Thest option was the Spear Maiden, which was pretty straightforward. The only issue I could think of with this ss was that it would be harder to fight in a close-ranged environment. I looked over the list carefully and crossed off the Undead Spear Maiden. It looked nice, but ultimately, it didn''t seem like it would fit. I studied the list for a few moments longer and decided to remove Spectral de Dancer next. It looked like a fantastic ss, but I needed her to have some kind of protection and utility other than just overwhelming damage. Now I was down to just two sses, Maiden of Death, or the Spectral War Maiden. Both of them seemed like an excellent choice. I bnced them both and thought over what they could bring to the table. Both as a boss and as a character for my theme. With that thought, I decided I would cut Maiden of Death. It was a bit sad to cut it out, but as a bodyguard and a boss, I think War Maiden won. I selected the ss and confirmed my choice. The screen vanished, and the spirit dropped to the floor and stood up. Its eyes studied the room around us, but that was about it. Maybe I should build her some lore and see if I can transfer it to her and get her to awaken. It would be nice to talk to someone other than Kharon for a change, so I should work on that for a bit before I work on anything else. Chapter 11 Chapter 11 I set my pen down and shot a nce towards the boss. I looked at the boss as I looked over its public profile.
Name: Alessia Veers. The Champion of the Empress
The name wasposed of violet-colored text. I wonder what the colors meant. Was there a legend or something for this? I looked through my menus for a little while, following link after link. Eventually, I came across a danger rating guide. m
Guide to Danger Rating for mobs in Domains: Typical Mobs White: A typical run-of-the-mill mob. Green: A mob that is slightly stronger than the average level of mobs in the domain Blue: A mob that has crossed a strength threshold and is considered an elite.
Boss Mob Ratings: Red: Usually denotes a miniboss or an equal in strength. Violet: Denotes a typical boss Orange: Denotes a boss that far exceeds the strength of the collected party Silver: Denotes a boss that requires a full raid group to take down. Rainbow: Denotes a boss that far exceeds the power of multiple raiding groups. Brown: Denotes a boss that stands above all and would take a full military detachment to bring down. ck: Nothing will save you
g ratings: g bosses are unique in that they are widely different then most bosses that exist within domains. Only four are allowed to exist at any one time. They have no set route or path and are not bound by any rules. They can roam wherever they please, and aggression is not dropped if the party leaves the domain. Each boss is designated by the g that is carried upon their back. Each g rating denotes exponential growth, with four gs denoting a world-ss threat. Please use this boss ss wisely.
There was so much, but at least it could be determined at a nce. I shifted my gaze from my menus over to her, filing away the newly acquired information. Now, what was her lore going to be? I wanted something more profound than just a champion. I brought the pen up to my lips and began to chew on it as I thought over her lore a bit and wrote down a few key points. -Champion to the empress. -Formally a peasant who climbed their way up the militarydder, eventually bing my right hand. -Former knight of the Order of the Blue Rose. -Loved by the citizens of the empire. -Leader of the royal guard. -was betrayed near the end of the empire''s life and cut down defending the pce. I looked it over and nodded my head. It was a good start. However, I had no intention to craft out a detailed back story for her entirely. It would take a whole lot of time and patience that I didn''t have. I just needed a few of the basics, and then from there, I can write more and feed her the information.I gently pulled the sheet from the notebook, ced it on top, and motioned for her to walk over to the desk. Once she was in position, I took a deep breath. Alright, All I had to do was transmute this information to her. I tugged on that feeling that I felt in my chest when I interacted with that room upstairs. At first, it resisted before it caved and started to pulse. I pointed my finger at the paper on the desk, and the power rushed from my fingertips. However, this time, it was a grey fment of energy. It touched the paper and quickly began to dissolve it. I really hope this works; I would hate to run out of notebook paper, I thought to myself as I let the energy consume the words on the paper. Once it was done I pointed my finger at Alessia, with the focused intent of passing the knowledge onto her. The energy began to slither across the air. It wrapped its self around her head, and a prompt appeared in my vision.
You are attempting to override ''Alessia Veers'' previous memory. Current memory: 32% Corrupted 18% Erased 50% Normal Percent chance to override: 50%
So, the higher the lost memory, the higher the chance to override it. The question was, could I only do that with the boss or with all the mobs? Would I even want to do it for every mob? Would it even be worth it was the next question? Maybe this was something I should leave to all the vital characters and the ones that be sapient. That way I could save on resources. Once I made my choice, a hollow well filled my chest. Here I was attempting to erase someone''s memories. Did that make me a bad person? Taking away something as precious as memories. I bit my lip I confirmed my choice before my mind could stop me. Whoever you were in a past life, I hope you could find it in your heart to forgive me. The tendril of energy squeezed its way into her head, and for a brief few moments, I could feel my heart beating roughly in my chest as a wave of anticipation and guilt. I was conflicted on if I actually wanted this to work or not. So I stared on for a few more agonizing moments before the prompt reappeared.
Override sessful. Since this is a created memory, you are free to alter it as you please. However, each change will cost essence points.
My mood fell slightly as I read the prompt. Goodbye, whoever you were, Ill keep whatever I knew of you in my mind. I took a moment to look over Alessia and see if I could spot any change in her demeanor. Her eyes still stared ahead, yet; they seemed to have a certain edge to them. Nothing I would quite say as intelligent, though. I tore my gaze from her and grabbed my notebook yet again. She was a unique boss, and I wanted to keep her by my side. I had no idea how domain gods were treated in this world, and I needed to keep myself safe until I could protect myself. I sat back in my chair after a few moments and rubbed my eyes. This was a lot more work than I thought it would be, and I still had two more bosses to go, and that''s not counting Kharons lore.With my first bosspleted, for the most part, I decided to take a break. I want to bump up the next two to at least a t2 mob before pushing them into being a boss. That way, they can pose a challenge to those who enter the dungeon. However, that will be soon, and I want to focus on other things for the time being. With a gesture, I opened up my domain screen and looked through it. I wanted to expand the size a bit and create a more significant entrance area. With that in mind, I selected the expansion tool and moved the bar to the outside of the edges of the domain. The screen flickered and asked me how muchnd I wanted to create. After thinking it over I, I decided to expand it by another four kilometers to the total radius. I winced as I saw that alone would cost me eight thousand essence total. God, this was draining my wallet.I confirmed the choice, and the ground shook violently for a few moments. I clenched the edge of the desk, terrified that my room was going to copse in on itself. Small hand fulls of dirt rained from the cealing and into my desk as the ground trembled. Once it finished, I nced at the map and pulled up the entrance tab in the menu, and designated two kilometers of the entire outer ring as the entrance. Let me see what I can do with the entrance before I dive headfirst into it.
The domain entrance sets the theme to the entire domain. This part of the domain takes precedence over all else, and its position will never change. Anything goes as long as the following rules are met.
  1. Adventurers are not barred from entering
  2. If the entrance is turned into a trap, there is a way to cross it and survive.
I mean, that was fair. I gazed at the customization screen and thought over what I wanted. This was supposed to be an undead kingdom, so did I want the entrance to be something like the entrance to the outpost, or do I want something unique and exquisite, like an arch or massive statues? I also had to consider that the zombies may or may not wander outside of the domain. So I had to devise a n to keep them in a while still allowing the adventures to get inside. While I was thinking it over, it hit me. Why don''t I make a river that encircles the entire domain? It could be like the river Styx from Greek mythology. Plus, it would be kind of cool and fittinga ferryman who keeps the dead in and escorts the living across the river. I am a genius! I nced at the customization screen and fiddled with it for a bit to get the hang of it. I had dozens of tools here that I had to check out before I could start. Once I wasfortable with them, I selected the sculpting tool and dug out twenty-five meters of the ground all around the entrance. Once that was finished, I filled it to the brim with water. With this, hopefully, those zombies can''t get out. Otherwise, that would be quite deadly for all parties involved in the matter. Now I have toy this river with magical enhancements and traps. I scrolled through the list until I found magical enhancements. I clicked on it and began to read through the massive list.
The illusion of Despair: Exposes the user to their deepest fears, and pulls out the worst emotions possible. The illusion of Avarice: ys with the greed that is embedded within the heart of the viewer. The illusion of memories: Shows the viewer their fondest memories and pulls them into a false sense of security. Singr point: No matter where the domain is entered, all will be lead to the designated spot. If the spot is crowded, then they will cycle through the path until a spot opens. Drowning Tides: The water acts with a mind of its own and attempts to drag the victim to its depths. This magical enhancement will only ur if physical contact urs with the water. Haunted depths: An extended version of the Drowning Tides magical enhancement. Whoever dies within the designated area will be soul bound to it. The newly bound soul will attempt to pull others to join in their fate. This magical enhancement will only ur if physical contact urs with the water. *Due to the presence of multiple illusions, they will not ur on the same target at once. Each will have a percentage chance to proc.
I liked these choices. It made the river deadly to cross by themselves and would force the adventures to take a path I wanted them to. Not to mention it would keep the zombies in check. Now, all that would be left is to create a few simple docks so that adventures can be ferried over to the shore. What should I name this river, though? I couldn''t go with Styx cause that was a little too on the nose for my taste. I wanted something quiet and down to earth. I stared at the screen for a while and couldn''t think of a good name, so I went with something nd. ''The River of Lost Souls'' at least it was to the point.Now all that was left was setting up the ferry system and figuring out how to make the named areas appear to the adventures. Yay, it was time for me to go through these never-ending menus to figure out how to do it. Hourster, I finally found it. It was tucked away in some hidden menus, and funny enough, it was just a simple setting that turned the current location public and allowed me to rename selected areas. I swear these menus were sometimes the most unintuitive thing I have ever had to deal with in my life. But on the other hand, I could also do anything I pleased here. I had the power to make adventures lives living hell, but here I am instead making a story that maybe only a handful would enjoy. The cost of art has no limits, apparently. I typed in the name of the area and set the limits of its size. I went through and started to work on the coastlines, making sure they were nice and pretty before they too werebeled. I confirmed my choice and saved the entrance. Now let''s finish the sky sphere, so I can finally get to the remaining bosses. I pulled the menu up and went back to the sky sphere; I worked on the light a bit more until I got it exactly where I wanted it and saved it. I sat back and cracked my fingers, and rolled my neck. Aware of the ache that was starting to build up in between my shoulder des and neck. I dismissed the screen and nced over at the cot. I know that I don''t need to sleep. However, that won''t stop me from doing it anyways. I stood up and threw myself onto the cot, and rolled over to my back. I stared at the cement ceiling as thoughts began to tease my tired mind. This was my life now, a woman surrounded by a small horde of undead, trying to create a story. I crossed my hands behind my head and chuckled at my situation. Never would I have ever imagined I would be living a life like this. I rolled over to my side and thought about the various menus that I looked through today. They were so convoluted to look through. I would have to talk to Kharon and see what I could do to minimize them cause if I have to look through everyone to find stuff, it will take me forever to do what I need to do, and I only have a few months to get it all done. So much to do, such little time. Chapter 12 Chapter 12 I opened my eyes and stared at the cealing. The blinking of my screen bore its way into my restless dreams. I have only been here for a few days, and yet I still haven''t gotten used to seeing it all the time. I mentally selected the notifications so the incessant blinking woulde to a stop.
T1Temtes unlocked: Undead Deer Undead Pigeon Undead Wolf Undead Linal Congrattions! You have been gifted one thousand essence points for unlocking multiple temtes!
I read through the list and nodded my head. Not a bad haul; I brought in two thousand essence points as a reward plus another couple hundred total from the squirrel doing its job. I went ahead and added experimenting with the new temtes to the future to-do list. It wouldn''t hurt to have variety after all. I dismissed the notifications andid there for a bit, trying to shake the exhaustion. So, my first course of action today was going to be getting with Kharon and seeing how I can condense all my tools into an easy-to-use folder or something. After that, I want to investigate that locked room and then figure out what that strange room is upstairs. With a groan, I sat up, and a giant yawn escaped my lips. My eyes traveled across my room, and I saw that Alessia settled into my chair. She swung her head towards me, and she quickly looked me over. For a moment, I felt the excitement bubble in my chest until I realized that she wouldn''t be sentient overnight. I stood up and stretched before I walked over to my sports bag. I fished out some deodorant and my hairbrush. A girl has to stay pretty after all, right? I lifted my arm, and the harsh smell of body odor immediately bombarded me. I felt my lips shift into a grimace, and a groan escaped from my mouth. I wanted nothing more than to take a hot shower. But sadly, that was out of the question. The closest substitute a the moment was theke up top, so I could probably take a dip pretty soon. As for the clothes, I would need to wash them. I could probably create some once I had an idea of my budget. Once I finished brushing my hair, I slide all the items back into my sports bag and grabbed my notebook and a pen. I would need thister, so it would be best to keep them on me at all times. I did a quick once-over on the room to make sure that I didn''t forget anything. "Alessia,e along. We are going to explore today," I called out to her. She stood up from the chair and gracefully walked over towards me. I ced my hand on her shoulder to teleport, and much to my surprise, she was partially tangible. What a strange spirit you are. With a mental confirmation, we teleported back to the steps in front of the outpost. The sun sat near the sky''s halfway point and cast dark rays of light onto the ground. Clouds slowly crawled across the sky and absorbed some of the light, trying to make its way down. It felt like there was a storming, yet there were no storm clouds in sight, just white clouds that stretched into the distance. Though it was creepy, the lighting felt off, and it was gnawing away at my mind like something was about to happen. Perfect, all I needed now was just some fog, and the theme would bepleted. I shifted my attention to the courtyard and saw that some of the undead were milling about mindlessly while others were busy moving some logs. They have been working relentlessly and managed to clear out arge portion of the forest. That was good; it would give me room to work with to expand the size a bit. I summoned my menu real quick and selected the massive pile of lumber, and stored it. With that finished, let''s take a gander inside, and while I am exploring, I''ll send Kharon a message. The ghost managed to collect a lot of the loose rubble and get it into one spot. So I went ahead and collected all of it with my storage tool. Afterward, I inspected the area to see how well they did. Overall the outpost looked a little cleaner than before. But there wasn''t much that could be done here without a full overhaul. But that wasing sooner rather thanter. Once I was finished inspecting the surrounding area, I walked over to the first floor''s locked door. The sound of my feet echoing in the lobby filled my ears as I walked at a brisk pace. Once I got to the door, I looked it over carefully to see if there was any way that I could get it open. After realizing it was a fruitless endeavor, I nced at mypanion. "Alessia, can you get in the room and unlock it from the other side?" The spirit looked at me for a moment as she considered my words and then the door. She nodded her head and walked over to the door and pushed a hand through, and then the rest of her body a split secondter. I waited for a second and jumped when the door frame shuddered. Dust blew away from it as it rattled heavily on its hinges. What was she doing? I asked her to unlock it, not whatever this was! The door rattled again and swung open with a heavy crack. Alessia stood behind it and gave me a questioning look. "Well, not exactly what I asked for, but it works. Thank you." I took a few steps forward to check out the room. Dust caught the light that rushed into the room as itzily danced through the air. Dozens of crates lined the walls, and dozens of misceneous objects sat in containers that were spread throughout the room. Oh, nice. This was a storage room, from the looks of it. Maybe I could find something useful here. I walked over to arge crate and pulled it back, only to realize that it was far too heavy for me to move. I attempted to pull it back again. I strained against the crate for a moment before it budged an inch and stopped moving again. There was no way I was this weak. "Can you go get one of the zombies for me, please?" I asked the spirit behind me as I decided to look around the room and see what was in the open containers. The first few were nothing more than cooking utensils. I had no use for these, but I''m sure they were suitable for the ambiance. I discarded the spoon and nced into the next one, and saw some metal tips of arrows. I reached in and pulled a single one. The wood looked like it was in good condition, and the tip still felt sharphowever, the fletching was some strange synthetic material. I ced it back inside of its container and went to another. In this one sat a couple of dozen short des. I pulled one out of the box and looked it over. It was in a leather sheathe that felt incredibly dry and brittle. I pulled it out, and the sound of metal scraping leather filled the room. I nced over the de for a moment and saw that there were no blemishes on it. It was a short de, more along the lines of something made for stabbing instead of shing. But it was nice nheless; that means I didn''t have to spend as much on creating des for the mobs to use. I decided to keep this for the time being. I slide my sports bag across and slide the sword in. I had no idea what the world was like outside of this domain. I would need to practice with this if I wanted to stand a chance against whatever may enter here. In another crate, there were some torches and some stuff that looked like quills for writing, which I wouldn''t need since I have a few pens. However, I would take some ink so I could refill my stuff at some point. Maybe if I were lucky, I would find a case of it in here. I heard the sounds of feet shuffling towards me, and I saw a zombie that was missing the lower half of its jawing towards my direction. "Can you grab the crates that are stacked on top for me and move them?" I know it couldn''t talk, and I didn''t feel like trying to convey what I wanted it to do mentally. The zombie emitted a low moan as it stumbled over to the first crate and pulled it down without an issue, and set it on the floor with a heavy thud. I ran my fingers across the top. Eventually, I found a small dent just under the wooden lid. I hooked my fingers underneath it and pulled on it with everything I could muster. The wood creaked for a moment before it gave. Inside sat blocks of grey metal. Oh boy, I hit the jackpot! I cast storage on it, and a message appeared on my screen. You have stored a lumber crate. You have stored several hundred units of refined steel. Fucking sweet! This was a godsend. I could create them from nothing if I needed to, but I didn''t want to shell out any more essence than required. With a grin stered to my face, I had the zombie pull down every crate in the room. So far, I have collected many swords, arrows, bows, old leather, and various metal types. I also found a small container of books that had nothing written on them, which I immediately sent to my office. I needed those to write in to set up this area for exploration. This was such a relief. Now I didn''t have to panic for a bit. I went ahead and started to sort through my haul of materials. Close to an hour had passed before I was finishing rummaging through the storage room. I never found any ink, sadly, which was my main desire at the moment. "Mistress, what can I do for you?" Mypanion''s familiar voice broke through the silence. The zombie had already wandered away to do god knows what, and I was thankful. That one reeked. "Hello, Kharon. I do have a couple of questions. Firstly, is there a way to condense all the tools I use most? This system is kind of cluttered." I asked as I pushed a few more books into my bag to take down into the office. He stared at me for a moment before he replied. "I can ess your system and move stuff around for you. However, you should have the power to do so yourself. " A nervous chuckle escaped my lips, and I found myself scratching the back of my neck. "I am still learning. I''m doing my best here." A momentter, a notification appeared.
Yourpanion wishes to ess your system. Will you allow it?
I confirmed the choice, and I heard him hum something that sounded confused. ''What is it?" That sound made me a tad bit worried. Was something wrong with me? "Your system is extremely cluttered, but I will clean it up while I am in here. What do you want me to do with it exactly?" I nced over at my screen for a moment before I replied. "Can you put all of the most important tools into one folder so I don''t have to shift through things to find it constantly?" Kharon nodded his boney head, and I saw my screen start to rearrange. "So, why does my system look this way?" He nced at me for a moment before his eyes dulled. "The system conforms to whatever you are the most familiar with. My best guess is that it tried to adjust to your memories of whatever was used on your world and ended up messing up a few things." I nodded my head. That would exin a lot about why it looked likeputers I have used along with various software that I dabbled within my life. "I see. Thank you. Do you like what I did to the sky sphere?" He bobbed his head. "Yes. It''s nice; I also see you created your first boss as well." "Yeah, I was experimenting with the ghost temte and made a spirit. After I finish my tasks for the day, I am going to work on the zombies and skeletons next." Kharon''s eyes brightened again at the mention of skeletons, and he stepped back. "There. That should do it. I hate to cut this short, but I have to head back to the mines to make sure they stay on track. Good luck, and I can''t wait to see what undead you make next." Without a word, he vanished in a puff of grey smoke. I happily opened up my menu to see what changes he made. Chapter 13 Chapter 13 Hello! With this chapter, I can finally make a creature glossary! Don''t forget if you have any specific undead variants you would like to see slid them into thement section! Also, what do you think the next two bosses will be? What do you think Calixa''s powers will be? Leave your guesses in thement section too :) Finally, my menu was a little more streamlined than it was before. He organized the most important stuff into a tab andbeled it as everyday use. I dismissed the screen and started to send the stuff in the storage room to my office. As soon as I figure out mob cement, I will begin issuing out gear to them and hopefully start creating custom pieces. I sent the final crate down; I decided to head upstairs to see what I could figure out about that room. Once I arrived, I stepped inside and looked around. The runes still didn''t make any sense. I decided to repeat what I did when I first arrived. I extended my hand and sent out a small tendril of power. The runes greedily ate it up and began to radiate a gentle white light and slowly rotate. The sound of stones grinding against each other filled the room as the stones started their journey. Then just like before, the runes pulsed blood red and came to a screeching halt. I wanted to know what this room was, and not knowing was gnawing away at me. I stamped my foot on the ground and turned my back on the strange room. I''ll have to rifle through the books I collected and see if I could find something that would help. I entered my office and quickly went through the pile of neatly stacked books. There had to be something here for me to use. I grabbed one from the top of the pile and flipped it open. Lo and behold, it was still covered in glyphs that I didn''t understand. What use was it, being a domain god if I couldn''t read a simple fucking book? I threw it across the room in a fit of rage. Just take a breath, Calixa. You are probably overreacting; there is a logical way to fix this. I opened another book and stared at the glyphs for a moment; what if I treat this like I do the mobs? Maybe I should try and impose my will on it. That may yield better results than just staring at it like an idiot. I red at the book and imagined myself being able to read it. I felt my eyebrows furrow, and I stared at it for a few more seconds before the words started to twist around and turn into English.
You have unlocked the automatic trante function for fifty essence.
Shit, well, I didn''t want that to happen. It''s nice that I could read it now, but I didn''t want to spend any more essence in the process. Well, it can''t be helped now, I suppose. I flipped through the pages, my previous task all but forgotten. This book seemed to deal primarily with magical theory and the discussion of where it originates. It could be helpful, especially when I start trying to learn how to use magic, but that waster down the line, mainly after I get my domain settled. I didn''t want to take chances and be defenseless and I refuse to let my mobs protect me forever. I sat the book down onto a corner of my desk and moved onto another. That will be my essential items pile, for future use after all. I grabbed the next book in the stack and quickly looked it over. This one was another book that discusses the uses of magic in practical use. I guess this book will also join the critical pile. Once the book left my fingertips, I moved onto the next in the stack. I felt heat spread across my cheek as my eyes quickly drank in words. My hands slowly closed the book cover and set it down on the table, and slid it over. While I may not be the most innocent person around, I wasn''t expecting to read an erotic novel. Though I can''t say, I was opposed to the idea. I will keep this book for future research purposes. After I cleared my throat and pushed away the budding feelings in my stomach, I began sorting through the rest. There were a few books about the Avarogian Kingdom''s history, though I had no idea who they were. Once I was finished sorting the books, I sat back in my chair. Nothing I had indicated what that room was. I pinched my nose and thought over what I could do with it in the meantime. I would have to hide it away until I knew for sure what it was. I would hate to lose it and find out it''s something precious. I still had some time before the domain went public, so it wasn''t too pressing of an issue, I guess. Speaking of which, I need to work on the next set of bosses and then on the domain''s lore. A yawn forced its way from my mouth, and I stood up. Well, it was time to go take a swim and then start working on the next project. I teleported topside and walked over to theke. The water was crystal clear, and I could see small schools of fish as they made their way around its length. I sat on the grassy shore and enjoyed myself for a few moments. The feel of grass tickling the palm of my hand and the feel of the cold waterpping against my feet brought me a sense of peace. It was nice just to sit here and rx. I closed my eyes and relished the feeling of the water for a bit before standing up and stripping down to take a dip. I should probably wash my clothes while I am in here; it has been a few days. The only thing was that I didn''t want to walk aroundpletely naked. Even if there were only undead here, I still had standards. I slid into theke and floated there for a while, staring into the sky. Groupings of clouds slowly made their way across it and would asionally drown out the sun. I knew that it was fake. But it still didn''t change that it was beautiful. Now, I will just float here, on this lovely patch of water, until I felt like getting out, staring at the sky. Being a Domain, God had its perks. For example, I could create some towels for myself and dry my clothes. It was convenient though it bit into my budget a bit. I slid my clothes back on and adjusted my hair. I nced over and saw that Alessia was just floating there quietly. I would have to do something about her soon. Otherwise, she would only continue to remain like thisa shell with only the barest hints of intelligence. With a sigh, I adjusted my shirt and bra underneath. It was time to get to work. I teleported into my office with Alessia in tow. Now the question would be what kind of bosses would I want to have. I sat in my chair and strummed my fingers across my desk. Maybe I should include Kharon in this. I have been leaving him outtely, and I am sure he is tired of dealing with the zombies. I know I would be. I nced at my screen and selected the message function, and sent it to him. A few secondster, in a dazzling disy of grey light, he appeared. "Yes, mistress?" "Kharon, hello. I figured you would want a break from dealing with the other undead. I am going to be working on the next two bosses and thought that your input would be critical." I told him as I created a chair for him to sit in. He nodded his boney head. "That would be correct. Keeping them in line is quite frustrating at times. But what do you have in mind?" He asked as he sat down. The wooden chair creaked in protest under his weight, which was odd considering he was just bone. "Well, I was thinking of creating a zombie and a skeleton boss. However, I wanted to make sure that they were at least of the T-2 level. I don''t want to trust my security to a weaker mob." I exined as I grabbed my notebook, ready to jot down some ideas as I get them. "Yes, that would be smart. Are you aware of the fundamental difference that each mob has?" He sat forward and ced his hand on his boney chin, and gazed at me. I shifted in my seat and shook my head. "I haven''t looked too far into it." His eyes shone for a moment, and he nodded his head. "Alright, spawn in one of each real quick." I turned in my chair, used the clear space that I left in my office, and summoned one each of them, and told them to stay there. "Alright, what now?" "Alright, so each mob has a fundamental strength and weakness. Click on the temtes and see what each does." He told me as he stood up and walked over to the mobs. I nced down at my screen, filtered out all of the various mobs, and focused on the major ones. I selected the zombie temte first.
Zombie Temte Ratings: Strength: 6/10Vitality: 6/10 Magical Affinity: 1/10 Speed: 2/10 Dexterity: 2/10 Fortitude: 6/10 Intelligence: 3/10 Perception: 5/10 Average Challenge Rating: 3 Key Traits Unbreakable: This unit has no sense of self-preservation and will relentlessly attack its target. Unyielding: Once this unit finds its target, it will hunt it continuously until it is in. Tireless: This unit will not tire Painless: This unit does not feel pain Mob Mentality: This unit is usually found inrge groups and will move as one. Roamer: This unit is usually found roaming the area. Fire-Prone: Fire deals 2x the amount of damage against this unit Needs a head: Decapitation will instantly kill this unit Corrupting Bite: A bite from this unit will pass on its infection and apply the ''zombification'' debuff. Description Zombies are one of the mostmon forms of undead. Usually, they are summoned and reanimated by magic or through biological means. These units are slow and cumbersome. They can take a hit and deal out steady damage in turn. They are well known for swarming their foes and drowning them in a sea of bodies.
Skeleton Temte Ratings Strength: 3/10Vitality: 3/10 Magical Affinity: 5/10 Speed: 4/10 Dexterity: 6/10 Fortitude: 3/10 Intelligence: 5/10 Perception: 5/10 Average Challenge Rating: 3 Key Traits Bloodless: This unit does not possess any flesh and is immune to bleeding debuffs. Tireless: This unit will not tire. Painless: This unit will not feel pain. Fleshless: This unit is immune to puncture and sh damage. Bone-rattle: This unit will receive increased damage from blunt force damage. Unbreakable: This unit has no sense of self-preservation and will relentlessly attack its target. Description Skeletons are reanimated and held together by unknown magic. They are more intelligent than most other forms of basic undead. They can handle most weapons with ease and can be quite nimble and tenacious. They do roam in small packs.
Ghost Temte Ratings Strength: 1/10Vitality: 3/10 Magical Affinity: 7/10 Speed: 6/10 Dexterity: 5/10 Fortitude: 4/10 Intelligence: 3/10 Perception: 5/10 Average Combat Rating: 3 Key traits Immaterial: This unit receives less physical damage but will take heavier magical damage in turn. They can also bypass nonmagical armor with their attacks. Non-corporeal: This unit can move through terrain. Soul-Syphon: This unit will continuously absorb life and heal for a percentage of all the damage dealt. Tireless: This unit will not tire. Unbreakable: This unit has no sense of self-preservation and will relentlessly attack its target. Unyielding: Once this unit finds a target, it will hunt it continuously until it is in. Uncontrolled Tangibility: This unit can not control what it can or can not physically touch. Bane of the Arcane: This unit takes heavily increased damage from all sources of magical damage. Description Ghosts are the soul-given life. They can pass through objects and asionally can move physical items with incredible difficulty. To sustain themselves, they absorb life from the living. They can bypass nonmagical armor and deal damage directly upon their target.
Spirit Temte Ratings Strength: 3/10Vitality: 4/10 Magical Affinity:7/10 Speed: 6/10 Dexterity: 6/10 Fortitude: 5/10 Intelligence: 5/10 Perception: 5/10 Average Combat Rating: 5 Description Spirits are a ghost that has managed to condense their form. They are slightly more intelligent than a simple ghost and can hold physical items at will. Spirits are known to be more nimble than a ghost and are much more dangerous. Key traits: Partially Immaterial: This unit will take reduced physical damage and slightly less magical damage than its lower-ss varients. They can also bypass nonmagical armor with their attacks. Soul-Syphon: This unit will continuously absorb life and heal for a percentage of all the damage dealt. Tireless: This unit will not tire. Unbreakable: This unit has no sense of self-preservation and will relentlessly attack its target. Unyielding: Once this unit finds its target, it will hunt it continuously until it is in. Selective Non-corporeal: This unit can move through terrain at will. Bane of the Arcane: This unit takes increased damage from all sources of magical damage.
I quickly read through the list, and it dawned on me. Each type of undead that I had acted as a counterbnce to another. This was good to know, especially for mob cement in the future. Chapter 14 Chapter 14 "Alright, so each mob needs each other to equal out their strengths and weakness?" I asked as I skimmed through the list to make sure what I was saying was right. "Correct. Especially until you manage to unlock high tiers of the undead." So I would need to cluster them together for maximum benefit. I nodded my head and set my pen down. Alrighty then, well, let''s get these bosses made while I think this over. I created two more chairs and made a motion for both of them to take a seat. It would have felt rude of me to make them just stand there. I like to think that I am not entirely heartless. Once everyone was settled in, I opened my menu. For the next boss, I will start off with a zombie, or whatever it will evolve into after I finish. I massed summoned ten of them and grimaced as I watched my sweet essence trickle down. It hurt watching it drain. It truly did. It was like watching your paycheck get spent just a few moments after getting it. Once the summoning finished, I looked them all over. I was thankful that they were not carbon copies of each other; they were all unique. Some were towering giants, while others looked like they were in their early teens. It really increased the fear factor and added a bit of humanity to them. I stared at them, and I was hesitant to issue my order. I knew that I had to, it was for the greater good, yet that thought didn''t make it any easier for me. It was as if the room was holding its breath for what was toe. I gulped down some air and gave mymand. "Fight to the death." In an instant, the room exploded into a flurry of activity. The zombies tore into each other, uncaring that they were allies. The harrowing moans filled the air as limbs were torn from torsos. ck ichor sttered the concrete ground on gruesome patterns, and low animalistic cries did little to cover up the sound of bodies being torn apart. The sounds grated my nerves, and I did the best to block it out. I thought I was ready for the carnage that would ensure, but I wasn''t. I was by no means squeamish about blood or gore, but this was something entirely different. It was almost primal the way the zombies tore into each other. I shifted my gaze sideways so I didn''t have to see the gruesome scene unfolding and did my best to block out the sounds of flesh getting torn apart. I kept an eye on the clock as the sounds of fighting died down. It took them close to an hour to finish one another off. I nced back at the tiny battleground and almost threw up from the sight. Body partsy strewn across the ground, and ck ichor ran freely in small streams. Most of the bodies had been ripped to shreds beyond any recognition. However, there was one zombie left that looked utterly unscathed. Its flesh was pale grey and pulled tautly across its body, revealing ck veins that crisscrossed its flesh. It had small fangs that hung just over its pale grey lips, and long strands of stringy ck hair hung down its head, covering its grey eyes. ckened blood coated its face and dripped off onto the solid concrete below, giving it a monstrous visage.
Tier 2 mob Unlocked Ghast Temte Ratings: Strength:5/10Vitality:5/10 Magical Affinity:0/10 Speed:6/10 Dexterity:5/10 Fortitude: 3/10 Intelligence:5/10 Perception: 6/10 Average Challenge Rating: 6 Key Traits Territory Minded: This unit will not leave an area once it has been imed. Pack Hunter: This unit is usually found in small packs and receives small bounces for being with others of its kind. Territory Roamer: This unit is usually found roaming its territory. Fire-Prone: Fire deals 2x the amount of damage against this unit Holy Cleanse: This unit is weak against holy magic. Needs a head: Decapitation will instantly kill this unit. Putrid Touch: Any bite, scratch, or wound inflicted by this unit will inflict the target with a myriad of diseases. Description Ghasts are a subrace of Ghouls. Ghasts are formed from undead that find themselves devouring the flesh of their long-deceased kin. They are fast, and agile, and lined with feral intelligence. But theyck the resilience that their cousins have. They prefer to ambush their prey. It has been known to utilize weapons and mimic sounds that they have heard before to amplify their hunting further.
I shuddered as I read over the new temte. This undead was disgusting. But reading its description still raised a lot of questions for me. "Kharon, how do I unlock the ghoul?" As much as I wanted to stay away from this kind of creature, I needed to make sure that my domain had variety and could defend itself. "I''m not quite sure. I am only granted knowledge as needed by the system. I am afraid that I cannot help you at this time regarding any form of future evolutions.: Kharon lowered his head, and I felt a scowl across my face. That made my job a little moreplicated. Everything was going a little too easy anyway, so thankfully, something threw a wrench into my ns. It was nice to know that not everything will go my way, I guess. I let out a sigh and activated the consume function and quickly tried to expunge the smell of decaying flesh and the pool of blood. I refuse to let this mess stain my office.
Item Temte unlocked: Zombie Blood Lesser Quality
Once I finished, I looked at the ghast once more and teleported it out. I couldn''t bear to have it in my office anymore. I''ll experiment a bit more and see if I can create something a little more pleasant for a boss. I nced over at my essence and saw that I made a small portion back from all of the deaths. Thankfully spawning in the lower tier mobs and letting them fight was far cheaper than pumping straight essence into them. I feel like I got lucky once with Alessia, and I don''t want to test my luck once more. "Is there any other way to help them evolve?" I asked as I finished thest bit of needed cleaning. "Well, yes, undead mobs do get ess to a ss system. Just give them some weapons and see what happens, especially if you want to avoid another ghast situation." I nodded my head and cast a nce over to the storage containers I had in the back. I could part with a few of the swords. I''ll just have to clean them meticulously if I wanted them to be usable afterward. I left my chair and walked over to the storage crates, and pulled out a sword. I activated my consume function on it out of curiosity.
You have saved the temte for: Avarrasian Infantry Sword.
Oh, so I can save temtes like this. So I can use these a little less sparingly. I grabbed a few of the swords and walked them over to where the observational area was. I set the des down around us and gave one to Kharon and one to Alessia. They were the most essential to me, after all. Kharon took the de and looked it over, and ced it across hisp. "Thank you, mistress." His words were as emotionless as ever, making a part of me wish that I could read him better. Alessia, on the other hand, just took the sword and sat there, staring forward. I wish she would hurry up and be sentient. It was driving me a bit nuts. With a dejected sigh, I began summoning another host of zombies; I started to move a bunch of the des over to thebat area. Once the process finished, I sat down and motioned towards the weapons that sat on the concrete floor. "Take your weapons." I crossed my legs and then my arms while staring at them. They slowly shuffled towards us, their milky white eyes trained on the weapons that sat on the floor. As they reached down to grab the swords, I nced over to Kharon. "So, how do I unlock my ss?" "You have to ssify yourself as either a mob or a boss in the domain menu. As a domain god, you get ess to every boss ssification, so just read through the list and see what you like or exit the domain for a time and find a ss that suits you." His teeth nked together with each word he said, adding a strange click to his words. I nodded my head and shifted my attention straight ahead. The zombies managed to gather their weapons and were milling about aimlessly as they awaited their orders. The des hung limply in their arms as they shuffled around. I didn''t want to exit the domain because, as it stood, I was fragile, and without my powers, I wasn''t worth anything. I cast a sideways nce towards the zombies and ordered them to fight while I dived into my menu in the search for what I could do. However, it was mostly to cover up that the zombies were brutalizing each other just a few meters away from us. I delved into my domain menu and looked through everything until I found my domain status page. I went through everything and quickly skimmed through the menus.
Wee, Domain God! Would you like to ssify yourself as a resident of this domain? This will in no way affect your ability to leave the domain. However, each ssification will have asting effect on you. Yes No
I clicked on the confirmation key, and a slew of new screens appeared before me.
Before the process begins, would you like to change your designated name? This process can only ur once and will be a permanent change.
Do I want to change myst name? I sat there and thought about it for a moment. I was obviously used to my currentst name after using it for close to two and a half decades or so. But if I wanted to make sure that I had a properst name for this theme for my domain, I needed something that sounded royal. I tore my gaze from the screen and watched the zombies fight while I mulled it over. At least this time, it wasn''t as gruesome as before. Just a bunch of zombies swinging a sword around like a child with a stick. Albeit, it was a very deadly stick. Arms were being lopped off, along with legs, as they attacked each other. Thin grey fments came from the corpses of zombies that perished and rushed into their yer. The ones that absorbed the fments seemed to grow slightly stronger and move a little easier. However, a portion of that rushed towards me, and I saw that my essence tick up somewhat in return. Ah, so that''s how that worked. I see. I shifted my attention back to the screen as I tried to think of a decentst name to use. I hated naming things since I was never really any good at it, but this was something I needed to do. Maybe I should narrow it down and try and build it around the theme of my domain. Maybe I should do something in Latin or anothernguage. What was the name of the empire? Did I decide that yet? I found myself biting my fingernails as I worked through the various years of knowledge that I built up over my rabbit hole dives of Wikipedia. I think I will name the kingdom Asteria for starters. It would fit with what I had in mind. Asteria was a Titaness of falling stars or something of the sort, and overall it was a pretty enough name. Now that just left me. Should I keep to the naming and give myself thest name of the empire? It would make the most sense, right? Or maybe I should stick with something else. Chapter 15 Chapter 15 Hey, sorry for thete upload! I went on vacation and forgot to transfer files over. Anyways! I am doing apetition. The basis is to create a mob, using the temte from the previous chapter or a boss character. Since the world is slowly bing more fleshed out, there is ample room for creative freedom. Alessia''s order is the Order of the Blue Rose if anyone wants to write about that. The duration will be about two weeks. You can drop them in thements, or my discord, or pm on. I''ll host a vote here and on my discord to find the winner :) https://discord.gg/JNYCY6U6e2 As a reward, I''ll give the winner ess to the current most written chapter! :D I bounced the idea around in my head for a bit, trying to find a proper spelling for Asteria to fit my name. But it wasn''t easy to settle on a good spelling of it. After fiddling with it for a while, I finally just settled on using Asteria as it was. It sounded weird saying it in my head, but it was something that I would grow into. I erased Wright from the screen and typed in my newst name. I stared at it for a moment and felt a strange sense of heaviness weight on my heart. Once I confirmed this choice, there was no going back. It really hammered home just how far away from Earth and my family I was. But one day, I would make it back, I swear it. I would go home and see my parents again. The screen blinked its confirmation once I selected it and vanished. Now I was Calixa Asteria, Empress to an empire filled with the undead. I dismissed the screen and took a moment to check on the zombies and see how they were doing. The scene looked much like it did on the first trial run. A vast majority of zombiesy dead on the floor, carved into roughly chopped pieces and without mercy. Now only two were still standing going at it. Their movements were far more refined than before, but they were still swinging the swords widely and with no form of skill, though I knew I was also severelycking in that department. I watched them as they both shed one another for quite sometime before one dropped to the floor. A fment of grey energy rushed into the surviving one, and a dull light pulsed from its bodywounds it received during the fight stitched themselves together. Fingers quickly grew back, and even a leg that looked like it was close to beingpletely dismembered swiftly healed. So, you heal back to full health when you level up from the looks of it. It looked painful, but I had no clue if that was true or not. They didnt feel pain, after all, so they couldnt tell me. I nced at the notification on my screen since they were annoying me a bit.
Elite T1 Temte unlocked: Zombie Swordsman Congrattions, you have unlocked your first elite variant! You have gained two hundred essence as your reward.
At least I made money back from this endeavor. Kharon, does the elite mob get its name from the ss it unlocks? I dismissed the notification and cast a questioning nce over to mypanion. Yes. The temte will also evolve based on the further evolutions of the ss well, which will affect the mob''s future evolution. That was interesting, and it raised more questions on the matter. How does the ss system work? I activated the consume function and cleaned up the mess as I motioned for the zombie toe over and wait, though at a distance that I didn''t have to smell it. The ss system is incredibly customizable. It functions off of choice, skills, titles, and whatever else you may earn. He exined to me as I finished cleaning up the mess. At least I make essence back from doing this. I hated being a penny pincher, but it was a necessary evil at the current time.
You have unlocked the temte to lesser quality zombie blood.
Apparently, I can also unlock stuff like this. However, I had no use for zombie blood at the moment. Maybe the Adventurers would once they arrived. I see; when I gave Alessia her title, it seemed like it would only allow one. I shifted my menus around and summoned a small group of skeletons to begin the next round of testing. You can designate a public title, but they will earn more through actions they take. He leaned forward as he spoke, interested in the action that woulde because of the skeletons fighting. Hopefully, this would be a little cleaner than the zombies. I understand; thank you, Kharon. I really appreciated his help. It means that I wouldnt be so far behind on the curve. Imanded the skeletons to pick up the discarded des; sadly, one was left without a de. Sorry friend, but budget cuts, I hope you understand. I stared at them for a moment, and some ttered their teeth in a rhythmic pattern as they waited. The tension slowly filled the room, and I was still feeling somewhat hesitant to issue mymand. Fight. The skeletons were much more agile than the zombies, and it showed. They all moved much more nimbly, though they stillcked any skill. Swords swung around the air and impacted bones. Metal rang as it impacted the concrete or sank into bones. This was definitely much more bearable than watching zombies tear into each other like a pack of feral animals. A little less messy and not as scar-inducing. The skeleton without a de was doing well. It was dodging the des as best it could and delivering punches to the other skeletons bodies. I didnt expect it to happen; I figured that it would have been one of the first ones to go. I watched, enthralled, as the skeletons took each other down one by one, which was quite tricky from the looks of it. The skeletons had to be bludgeoned for them to stay down; otherwise, they would keep moving, which would help exin why the one that wasnt armed was doing such a superb job. Finally, after twenty minutes of fighting, only two remained standing. The unarmed one who was missing some rib bones and half of its jaw and various other small bones throughout its body stood with one of its fists bared. Its other hand was missing and came out to a sharp point. The other skeleton looked to be in just as bad a condition. Many of its bones were cracked, and it had part of its head caved in. It chattered its teeth as it charged the unarmed skeleton. It swung its sword in a wide arc and mmed the t of the de against the ribs of its opponent, filling the room with a sickening crack as few bones shattered from the impact. Instead of backing away, the other skeleton pushed forward and began raining down giant haymakers with its sole good hand. It looked like many toddlers fighting, if I was going to be honest, though it didnt make it any less enjoyable. Blow after blow rained onto each skeleton, and I found myself on the edge of my seat, waiting to see who emerged victorious from the fierce fighting. Eventually, the armed skeleton fell, leaving the other standing tall. What an upset! I wasnt expecting that. Good job, friend; I will promote you for your efforts to the kingdom.
Elite T1 Temte unlocked. Skeletal Pugilist
There was no small amount of disappointment at seeing that it did not award me essence for it. Oh well, I cant have my way with everything. But lets get these two upgraded and move on to bigger and better things, shall we? I would give the ghast an upgrade since it was a t2 mob, but it was terrifying. Even more so than I thought possible. It was a primal fear, and I wanted to stay away from it. I didnt want to waste any more essence trying to create t2s, so this will do for now. I selected the zombie first and clicked on the boss upgrade option. Now, it was time to go through the same thing asst time with Alessia. Lets start with a name, and then Ill start working on a back story to go with it. I stared at the zombie for a moment as I tried to work on its back storys foundation. I think I will leave you in charge of the outpost, as its former captain. Now I need a name for my honored warrior. How does Stryker sound? Captain Stryker Levian? No, that still didnt seem all that right to me. How does Rikard sound? That sounds like a noble name and a fitting one for a soldier at that. You look kind of like a Rikard, so it fits. Now for yourst name. I think I will go with Levent. Captain Rikard Levent. Yes, I like that. I typed it into the system and confirmed it, and moved onto the appearance tab. Lets get you cleaned up and looking pretty. Nomander of mine will get away with looking like a dead man. I took away many of the blemishes that covered his flesh since I wanted him to be somewhat presentable. However, I broke its left arm and left it dangling to the side. I cleaned up his face a bit, gave him a close-cut shave, and changed his fleshs tone to a light grey. There, you are as pretty as a zombie captain could be. I confirmed it and thought over the next portion of what this boss will be. You need a title, but what will fit you? What did you do in life that was notable? Did you defend this outpost with your life? Did you give your life for your men? I stared at him for a while as I slowly pieced together his story. I think for you, I will give you the title of The Stalwart, for you gave your life defending thends of the empire when you had the chance to save your life. Now Ill have to write your back story and force-feed it to you, so you can one day be intelligent. With that finished, all that was left was the ss selection part.
A ss has been detected. Because of the upgrade from an elite mob to a boss, the ss can be evolved. Analyzing title, skills, gender, race, and affinity. Undead Warrior: This ss focuses on dealing moderate sustained damage with some life steal in turn and moderate defensive capabilities. There is no magical affinity present. The Undead de: This ss focuses heavily on de usage and agility to keep itself alive. There is no magical affinity present. Zombie Marauder: A perversion of the marauder ss. This ss heavily focuses on defense but uses heavy disabling attacks to harm its foe. There is no magical affinity present.
Sadly, there wasnt as much variety as Alessia had. But I can work with this. But at least he got a free ss upgrade! That is money saved right there, so I cant reallyin about that. But what will suit you, my dearest captain? Shall you be a feared warrior in my empire? A stalwart de to fend off the foes? A scalpel to cut down those who stand before me, or a marauder that debilitates its foe and lets its men kill its target? I thought through the options carefully as I figured out what I needed. So far, Alessia had the role of a warrior, so that was out of the question. So that left Zombie Marauder or The Undead de as potential sses. As it stands, the zombie was already a good enough tank, so lets give it The Undead de ss to see what happens. I confirmed my choice and paid my dues for the conversion. Rikard shuddered as his body lit up and slowly changed ording to what I designed for him. His milky white eyes unfogged a little, and sheen of intelligence glittered in them. He let out a strange moan that sounded somewhat intelligible. At leastpared to the other mobs that roam the domain. I created two more chairs and motioned for the zombie to sit down. Now it was time to work on the skeleton here. I went through the opening steps of upgrading it to a boss and looked at it as I tried to figure out its name. What were you in life, Mr. Skeleton? Perhaps you were a lieutenant to Rikard here, a close confidant and friend of the captain. I typed Lieutenant into the bar and thought over the name. I think I will name you Aaron, now for thest name. It was tough to name him based on his features since there wasnt anything there but bone. I eventually went with the name Flint since it was easy enough and seemed to fit him. I confirmed it and left his appearance as a skeleton. There wasnt much to change here. But now I had to think of a title. What made you special in life, Aaron? You used your fist and outmaneuvered a group of armedbatants, so maybe something rting to that feat. I tried to think it over, but nothing seemed toe to mind. But maybe I was just overthinking it. Something simple, for a lower-tier boss, should do. Lets make it rted to your fist, then. Did your fist have magical properties in life? Were you a monk who specialized in a particr path? Does Fist of mes suit you? No, that sounded a little clingy. How about the Undying Fist? It was still cringe, but it fit sadly. I typed it in and waited for the ss menu to show up.
A ss has been detected, Because of the upgrade from an elite mob to a boss, the ss can be evolved.. Analyzing title, skills, gender, race, and affinity. The Undying Fist: This ss is ssified as a drain tank and can restore health with each attack. This ss gets ess to Ki and loses ess to mana. Ten fisted: This ss has a heavy focus on dealing massive damage and overwhelming opponents inbat. This sscks defensive capabilities. This ss gets ess to Ki and loses ess to mana in turn. Advanced Pugilist: This ss has a blended focus on taking hits and dealing damage. It has decent utility and is very mobile in a fight. It has some magical affinity tailored to it.
I salivated at the choices. This skeleton was really rocking some powerful sses. However, I went with the Undying Fist ss. I mean, it would fit the situation at hand reasonably well and his title. Plus, I needed something that was a bit of a tank. I confirmed the choice and watched as the skeleton grew thicker bones and grew slightly taller than before. There, I had a full boss roster now, and now all that was left was working on me. Chapter 16 Chapter 16 Dont forget I have a contest running! It''s set to conclude within a week, please check thest chapter''s author notes for it! In turn, I''ll try and upload another chapter this week! The ss Milestone system may be reworked. But that is to be determined. I went back to my menu and looked through the options that I had. I could change how I looked if I so pleased. But I was okay with the way I wasno need to change anything. I confirmed the option and then stared at the title screen for a moment. Now it was my turn to go through this process. It made me kind of nervous because it would forever affect the path of this domain. Would I have done anything notable as an Empress? Or would I have done something unforgivable to save my failing empire? After thinking it over, I decided that doing something unforgivable would be the better option here. But how did I do it? Through some form of forbidden or now lost magic? That seems usible, and I just wanted something heart-wrenching for it, at least for those entering this domain intending to explore all facets of it, outside of just battling bosses. I stared at my title screen for a few moments longer. I wanted something far more profound than just Empress. That was so nd and felt anti-climatic. How about The Soul Empress? An empress who had to resort to wretched means to save all that she held dear? Choosing to use now forgotten magic to keep her people alive. The title was a bit cringy, but it would work; again, I would grow into it. Besides, it should give me a killer ss as well. I confirmed the choice, and instead of a ss menu, I got a different one.
Due to your position as a domain god, you can ssify yourself as the following. Mob: You will gain the average amount of exp/essence with each kill with a slight bonus towards killing adventurers who enter your domain. You will gain no stat increase. CP grows linearly with level and overall power. Mini-Boss: You will gain 95.00% of the amount of exp/life essence each kill with a slight bonus towards killing adventurers who enter your domain. All stats will be increased by 5.00% for each level gained. Base of 5cp+2cp per level gained+1cp per increase in overall power. Boss: You will gain 75% the amount of exp/ essence with each kill with a slight bonus towards killing adventurers who enter your domain. All stats will be increased by 25.00% with each level gained. You will be boosted by one free ss milestone and a base increase of two personal levels.* Base of 10cp+4cp per level gained +3cp per increase in overall power gained.** Optional Boss: You will gain 65.00% of the amount of exp/essence with each kill with a slight bonus towards killing adventurers who enter your domain. All stats will be increased by 35.00%with each level gained. You will gain two-ss milestones and two and a half personal levels. * Base of 15cp+8cp per level gained +6cp per increase in overall power** Zone Boss: You will gain 50.00%the amount of exp/essence with each kill with a slight bonus towards killing adventurers who enter your domain. You gain a 50.00% stat increase with each level gained. With a boost of three ss milestones and three personal levels. * Base of 20cp+12cp per level gained +9cp per increase in overall power** Raid Boss: You will gain 25.00% of the amount of exp/essence with each kill, with no further bonus. You will gain a 75.00% stat increase with each level gained, with a boost of four ss milestones and three personal levels.* Base of 40cp+24cp per level gained+9cp per increase in overall power.** g boss: You will gain (24.00-15.00%)(Amount decrease with each g, amount maxes out at four gs.) the amount of exp/essence with each kill with no bonus. You will gain a (76.00-85.00%) stat increase with each level gained. With up to five ss milestones and personal levels. * Base of (50-75)cp+(26- 36)cp per level gained+(10-16)cp per increase in overall power.** World Boss: You will gain 0.1% of the average amount of exp per kill. You will gain a 99.9% increase in stats per level gained. You will gain seven ss milestones and seven personal levels. * Base of 100cp+80cp per level earned+30cp per increase in overall power.** *ss milestone varies based on ss rarity and strength. Higher rarity will result in lower-ss milestones given out. Milestones received also vary based on the current ss level. **denotes any change in stats, level, or skills gained
I read over the ssifications, and my jaw dropped. I had to stop myself from clicking the World Boss ssification almost instantly. I could do that and be stronger than I could ever hope to imagine. But I had to be smart about this. Let me ask mypanion some questions real quick and then go from there. So, Kharon, Im trying to ssify myself and get my ss so that I can get stronger. However, I have a few questions. Are the stat percent bonuses additive or multiplicative? I cast him a sideways nce as I was trying to reel myself in; I didnt want to get too far ahead of myself. Each bonus stacks with each other. When you level up, it is applied again, which in theory results in rapidly developing power. However, each tier of boss has its drawbacks. However, this will be quite lengthy to exin, and I know you like taking notes, so would you like to get your notebook before we begin? Awe, he remembered, how sweet of him. I had Alessia fetch my notebook to jot down a list of what he was about to say. Alright, Im ready. I readied my pen to write down the additional information quickly. So, As you can probably tell, you get free levels and sses with each tier of boss, but you lose the amount of essence you gain or how the rest of the world calls it, experience. Lets take Alessia, for example. You gave her ten free levels before she ascended to being a primary boss. Therefore, she achieved that stat bonus eleven times since its retroactive. However, in doing so, the cost of pushing her up to boss hood increased by a certain amount. I nodded my head as I quickly jotted down the information, and a sliver of understanding pushed its way through my mind. So, how does thatpare to something like a world boss? I asked as I tore my gaze from the paper to look at him. A world boss is a powerful being. It gets ess to seven ss milestones at its base. However, the system heavily restricts it. You will receive only the smallest of a percentage of essence from killing. Not only that, you essentially bottleneck right from the start if you choose that option. I nodded my head, jotted that down, brought the pen up to my lips, and chewed on the end as I prepared my next question. Alright then, what are ss milestones? He gazed at me with his piercing scarlet eyes for a moment before he answered. ss milestones ur when you reach certain levels. You get your first at level 10, then 25, 50, 100, 150, 250, 375, 450. Obviously, the amount of exp needed for each level goes up, so anything past the two hundred and fifty levels is insanely difficult to get. Even getting to two-fifty is difficult for most people. Though, milestones vary with your ss. Some sses have fewer milestones simply due to how strong they are. I quickly jotted that down, thankful for the flow of knowledgeing in my direction. So, choosing a ssification with a high-ss milestone would mean that when I reach the first milestone, nothing will happen? I had a feeling that it would work like that; I just wanted to make sure. You would be correct, mistress. I knew it. Oh well, thatpletely takes off thest half of the ssifications. But it led to more questions. What is Cp? I saw it earlier in the temtes and didnt think about what it meant. I jotted down hisst statement as I asked my new question. Combat Potential is just the aggregated difficulty of said creature. It determines your rank or how strong you should be. Keep in mind that having a low CP score doesnt mean much. It could be very misleading. However, that is a stat that only high-ranking adventures can see or domain gods. The domains total CP is usually every mob in the dungeonbined, though adventures can only really see total aggregated difficulty rating of said dungeon. All of that would make sense. If I am too high, then I risk attracting unwanted attention. It would probably be best to grow with the mob ssification. Going with the bosses would be beneficial now but would only hurt meter. Thank you, Kharon; I think I have made my choice. I will go with the mob ssification and work my way up in strength. I closed my notebook and put a cap on my pen. That would be wise mistress, Kharon told me. A small glimmer in his eye revealed he liked that choice. Being all-powerful first seemed okay, but what good was power if you didnt have experience with it. I know I was missing out on a wonderful opportunity by going with the mob ssification, but I will climb thedder and get strong on my own, no matter what. I confirmed my choice and new screens appeared before me.
You have selected the mob ssification. You will now receive a ten percent bonus to all essence earned. You are now fully inducted into the system. You have been given +5 stat points to be allocated. You have been given three thousand essence forpleting a major step in your path of evolution: scanning attributes, title, race, level, affinity, and sses avable in your domain. sses avable: Soul Catalyzation: This ss grants the ability to manipte the users and others souls for many effects. However, ess to mana will be removed and reced with soul strength. Soldier: An all-around ss with no real strength or weakness. It can be branched off into dozens of potential trees. The Noble: A ss geared more towards leadership and increasing productivity in underlings, very little in the way ofbat power. Necromancer: A summoning ss geared towards creating underlings to do your bidding, is capable of high DPS and sustain at the cost of defense. Pugilist: A ss focused on hand-to-handbat. Quick and very urate with its overwhelming attacks. Swordswoman: A ss that is geared towards the use of a sword and potentially a shield. This is an overall bnced ss that has an extensive evolutionary tree.
The sses were a bit of a letdown. They all looked pretty good, so I couldntin about that. I just wanted something a little cooler, but I guess that is what I get with the mob ssification. But it was toote toment, and now it was time to decide. I instantly crossed off Necromancer from the list. I mean, isnt that what I am now? I literally just hosted a fight club of undead in my office; if that wasnt necromancy enough for you, then I dont know what is. I was hoping for other magic-like sses, but I will take what I can get. Pugilist looked like a decent option; I mean, judging by the ss I gave Aaron, you get ess to ki, which is like magic, right? I kept that option on the list and scrolled through the others. The Soldier ss and Swordswoman ss were equally bnced sses that left a lot of wiggle room. The noble ss would fit the theme but not really help me protect myself. Besides, who needs more productivity? They are undead; they dont need rest, or food, or anything. , the first-ss seemed really interesting, and I am assuming I got it because of the title I gave myself. Lets get an opinion from mypanion. Kharon, what do you know of the soul catalyzation ss? He froze when he heard that and stared at me. His vibrant scarlet eyes dimmed for a moment and turned into a set f charred husks. A few tense heartbeatster, his eyes lit up again. From the limited knowledge that the system gave me of all of your sses, that is a potent ss. But to be fair, all the sses you got were potent, but thats because of your status as a domain god. It is the weakest starting ss on the list, but it can stand toe to toe with the strongestter down the line. I nodded my head and read over the choices once more. I mean, I was already working my way up thedder, so what was another thing keeping me down? I selected that option mostly because it would fit the theme and because I wanted to be the best I could be.
You have selected the Soul Catalyzation ss. Please refer to your mentor so you can unlock the first batch of skills for it.
I nced at Kharon and raised an eyebrow, and I assume you will be my mentor. Chapter 17 Chapter 17 Oi, the event is over! Thanks to everyone who submitted a contest submission! Voting ended in the discord today, so I will be posting voting here! Check the bottom for more information! You would be correct, Came a pretty lively response from a pile of walking bones. I sank into my chair with a sigh and cleaned up the skeletal battleground.
You have gained a new item temte: Human Bone Dust Lesser Quality
Im going to go off on a limb and assume that I use these specific items for treasure chests and loot drops; eventually, I will have to set it up. But first things first. I need to work on getting my ss in order and start working on the domain redesign. I stood up and motioned for my bosses to follow me. Kharon, can they teleport as well? I asked as I adjusted my shirt since it was bundling up. Really, I have to create new ones at some point. No. However, you can teleport them to an area if you need them there. I nced at my map and looked it over. Ah, yes, there it was. I should probably read before I ask another stupid question. I selected the two bosses and told them to wait for us and then teleported them out. With that out of the way, I ced my hand on Alessias shoulder and teleported. Perhaps I was just a little biased towards her, just a smidge. Once we arrived, I had everyone gather around the ruined fountain. I pulled myself onto the ruined wall so I could see everyone. Alright, so, Rikard. Your job at the moment is to make sure the zombies stay in line. I will need you to lead them once construction starts. In the meantime, I will teleport you to the mines. Make sure the mobs there wrap up their work while we pull in thest of the materials. He let out a grunt of acknowledgment, and I teleported him away. Im sure that Kharon appreciated that. I sure would; if I had to deal with those zombies and skeletons, I probably would want to off myself. At least the Ghosts are easier to work with. Aaron, your job will be to help the skeletons and zombies finish gathering thest bits of logs. Once that is done, I want you to gather them all and pull every single thing of use out of the outpost. We will remodel the entire area soon, and I want to make sure that we are using everything that we can. I want everything stacked as neat as possible by this fountain. I emphasized the word neat and then summoned a team of ten more skeletons for him to assist withpleting the project. It was okay to be a little more liberal with this since I got some essence as a reward earlier. Aaron chittered out a response and quickly led the group of freshly gathered skeletons over to the working camp. I cast a nce at Alessia as I tried to figure out her role in things. I didnt want her to leave, but I had to get everything ready. Alessia, gather all the ghosts in the domain and try to evolve them to the best of your ability. She nodded and vanished without a trace. Leaving just Kharon and myself. I enjoy the fact that you issue orders with no hesitation. He said as we watched the skeletons help the zombies carry thest bit of logs into the pile. Ites with the territory, I suppose. I used to work in a kitchen, so if I wanted stuff done, it had to be fast and clear. Besides, if everything goes as nned, I might get to go back home one day. I shrugged and crossed my arms as I watched them. I wasnt sure how building the outpost out would work, but I would do my best. Its a wonderful trait to have. Anyway, would you like to start your training? I nodded my head. I would be lying if I were to say I wasnt eager. He made a quick motion with his head as we walked through the courtyard, He gestured to an empty spot on the ground, and I sat down. He followed shortly after and crossed his boney legs. Now, this ss you chose will not be an easy one. I hope you are aware of that. I slung my sports bag from across my back andid it across myp, and rummaged through it for my notebook and pen. Maybe I should consume my spare and a pen, so that way I would forever have them. Im ready, I told him as I cleared my throat and adjusted my hair. I wish I had my hair tie, but I had no idea where it went. Good. The first thing about this ss is that you need an item that holds great personal value. Do you have something like that? I thought about it for a moment, and I quickly went through my bag and pulled out my cell phone. Its screen was still pitch ck and cool to the touch. I tested out the power button once more to see if it would work. I knew it wouldnt, but I still wanted to try. What is that? Kharon asked as he eyed my cell phone. Its a device that can do almost anything. I can talk to people across the world or y music onmand. Take pictures, or have a light source. I exined as I clenched the phone in my hand. I sometimes forget that he doesnt know what Earth is or know of the technology there. I have never heard of such of a device. He mused quietly to himself as he stroked his pointed chin with his finger. May I see it? He asked and stretched out his hand. I hesitated for a moment since I didnt want to part ways with my phone. But I caved and handed it over to him. I ced the phone into his hand, and the metal tinked in response to hitting the bone. He pulled it back and looked it over for a few moments. He reached down with his other hand and tapped the screen a few times with the tip of his finger, and shrugged as he handed it back to me. It looks useless to me. I took my phone back and felt my eyebrows twitch at thatment, Ill have you know that this is thetest model and cost me a fortune! Its not my fault thating here ruined it. I huffed out as I pulled the phone out of view. He stared at me for a moment before shrugging and clearly choosing to ignore my tantrum. Anyway, what we are going to do is activate your ss. While most sses would be active the moment you select it, the Soul Catalyzation ss requires you to make a medium. As I listened to him talk, I deiced to drop my indignation at hisment. This war far more critical than getting mad over a phone that doesnt even work, anyway. So what do I need to do with it then? I asked as I set the phone on top of my notebook and leaned forward. You have tobine a part of your being to your medium and mold it as you desire. However, be warned that once the medium is formed, it is forever bound to your body. As he said that, I realized what I had to do, I grabbed my phone and looked at it for a moment, and a wave of apprehension coursed through me. I really didnt want to destroy something that I put so much money into. Well, part of it was about the money; the rest was the sentimental value it held to me. It had all my pictures, and its been through a lot with me, hell in a way, it was one of thest ties I had to Earth. Do I have to destroy it? I asked and ced it back down on my notebook and brought my knees up to my chest. Who said anything about destroying it? Indeed, it wont be the same item that it once was, but it wont be destroyed. It will just be changed to better suit your needs and will forever be a part of you. Damn, he had a point, even if it was a little rough around the edges. Besides, I shouldnt be too materialistic. If I ever get back to Earth, I have uploaded it all to the cloud, so it will still exist in some capacity. I shoved away my feelings and nodded my head in agreement, though my heart was still in turmoil. Good, I am d you understand. Now, here is the hard part. You have to fracture your soul and impart it onto your medium. I snorted and choked for a moment at that revtion. I what now? My words sputtered out as I tried toprehend his words. You have to fracture your soul. He replied with that same monotonous voice. Either he knew I was being sarcastic and messed with me, or he couldnt tell that I was. No, no, I got that; it was just too crazy to believe in, was all. He stared at me unflinchingly with those red eyes and slowly bobbed his head. Various forms of undead surround you, and you find fracturing your soul too crazy to believe in? Oh, he had me there. I cant really argue that. I just never really believed in the concept of a soul. So hearing you say something like that raises questions that Im not sure I want answers to. He nodded his head and shifted his legs around a bit. The things that govern us change between worlds, so what you may know to be true may not be so true anymore. However, I wont push you into knowing things you are not ready for. He reached forward and ced his boney hands on top of my shoulder. The feeling of bone was strange. Mostly cause they were cold, even colder than ice. Even though it was an odd gesture, I appreciated the kindness. Thank you, Kharon. Anyway, what do I need to do? I pulled away from him, not cause it creeped me out, but cause his hand chilled me to the bone, even through my clothes. He pulled away unperturbed at my dismissal. Well, the first thing is, I need to teach you a skill. However, it will be considered an auxiliary skill and count towards your limit. Uh, I have no clue what any of that means, I replied and grabbed my notebook, ready to take more notes on the matter. So, the system has three categories. You have primary skills, which are directly rted to your ss. You have auxiliary skills, which are specific skills that are not immediately essential to your ss. Then you have a third tab where your resistances AND ss modifiers go. I jotted that down and shot back with a question of my own. You said it would count towards a limit; what limit would that be? Well, for primary skills, there is no true limit. Once you get ess to the tree, you will see that. You can branch into any path that you would like. However, for Auxiliary skills, the maximum is seven total. For the resistances, the only limit is what your body can take. The rest varies; you are free to take on however much you want in the way of proficiencies like swords and hand to handbat; however, active passives cap out pretty quickly. Oh boy, more stuff to figure out. I jotted it and set my notebook down. Well, Kharon, I am ready; teach me what you know, I told him as I cracked my knuckles and steeled my resolve for what was toe. Here are the top contenders! Along with one of my favorites! Cast your votes! I will end the poll in a few days! 1) Anotreants Strenght:3/10 Vitality:4/10 Magical affinity:1/10 Speed:6/10 Dexterity:5/10 Fortitude:4/10 Intelligence:1/10 Perception:5/10 Key traits: Dependent: This unit cannot do anything alone, they must be at least two to act.Territorial restricted: This unit sprout from zone that are infested by vegetation only and cannot leave the area Vegetalmimic:This unit can mimic nearly every creature/animal that they been in contact with and gain 1/7 of the stats of the mimicked creature/animal (need the appropriate amount of vegetals to replicate the size)Veggie meat: This unit can produce a very strong raw meat odor to lure carnivore animals or creatures Single-minded: if the group have 50 or more individuals they will all share the same mind and won''t attack mindlessly anymore. Intelligence grows with the number of individuals.Wet:This unit has a resistance to fire due to his constantly wet body but grows weak and dry if deprived of water for an extended timeParasite: This unit can deploy parasitic spores to take the control of weak creatures/animals like rats, bunny or ferrets Description: Anotreants is a mutated species of treant that we can call an anomaly. They are born in ces with a lot of magical power and treants corps. Even if they are naturally weak and dumb, they can outspeed you easily and rapidly increase in intelligence if they grow in number. When they have the right amount of intelligence, they tend to transform into small animals like rats to ambush you and turn you into fertilizer for them. They don''t have an original form so they like to take the form of small green animals. If more than 1000 individuals are linked together, they can have a IQ of nearly 230. 2) Name: Gargarosh the Druid''s Bane Race: Telendori (Undead/ntoid) Lvl: n/a Boss Tier 1: Harvester Path(lvl 10~15) ss: Battle-Mage Description: Telendori are a type of undead created from bacsh, corruption, or a vengeful desire ced upon diseased or dying spiritual natured,oid, or awakened nts. It is in part, that due to theiroid nature, that theye in a variety of shapes and sizes. This is mostly due to the fact that they are a parasitic type of undead, requiring a host or vessel to maintain a moveable or stable form. Their preferred prey is beings with high concentrations of natural energy, an energy simr to mana or soul energy, it is a chiefponent of the life force. Background: Born in the icy tundra to the North, Gargarosh was an experiment to see what would happen if a nt gained sentience and was permanently isted. This lichen was subjected to a number of spells allowing for this to ur. Unfortunately, this drove them mad, as expected, what the research facility that housed it did not expect was suicide who knew nts could kill themselves. However these acts did not go unnoticed, and subsequent ughter of all on-site personal by two newly summoned hordes of orcs and beastmen was the result. Unexpectedly, or not unexpectedly arge number of undead were born from the bloodshed and negativity of the site''s victims. Aftertching onto a corpse of a captured shaman, Gargarosh''s rotting wreck of a body moved south stopping only once or twice to feed on Druids and other sources of energy to halt his nonhost body''s degradation process. Eventually, they settled in a Dungeon, and thanks to the near-constant source of energy they were able to achieve a better procurement of food, bodies, body preservation skills and techniques, as well as, oddly enough, this worlds closest approximation to ckberry pie just don''t eat it. Skills and Abilities: Thorn Whip: After absorbing the withered husk of a rose garden, Gargarosh gained the ability to create vines and brambles made of thorns. Damage: 1d4 piercing damage. Constriction: vines can be used to deal an additional 1d8 damage from tightening the vines around the enemy as a spiked rope, noose, straight jacket, or whip. Harvester''s Desire: As a Harvester-type boss, Gargarosh is able to manifest their desire to harvest certain materials. For their specialization they chose energy. When low on Health or at the end ofbat, Gragarosh can drain his opponents for health or energy. Summon minion: Outside ofbat, Gargarosh can create a smaller version of themselves by cing a small portion of their mass inside of a corpse. They can summon a small number of weaker versions duringbat. Doom Pie: Gargarosh likes themselves some pie, just don''t eat it. Strengths, or Resistances: Undead, nt, Water, Poison Weakness: Holy, Unholy, Eldritch, Fire Levels up by harvesting life force and converting it to undeath energy. Increases intelligence every now and again when a high enough dosage is absorbed. Boss monster, with a minor mob attached. Think skeletons controlled by rotting nt vines. 3) Bone Horror Strength: 5/10 Vitality: 5/10 Magical Affinity: 4/10 Speed: 3/10 Dexterity: 4/10 Fortitude: 5/10 Intelligence: 4/10 Perception: 4/10 Key Traits: Bloodless:This unit does not possess any flesh and is immune to bleeding debuffs.Tireless: This unit will not tire.Painless: This unit will not feel pain.Fleshless: This unit is immune to puncture and sh damage.Bone-rattle: This unit will receive increased damage from blunt force damage.Unbreakable: This unit has no sense of self-preservation and will relentlessly attack its target.Tough Bones: This unit has surprisingly tough bones able to withstand heavy blows.Bone Maniption:This unit is able to manipte the shape of bones.Bone assimtion:This unit is able to assimte nearby bones into its massive frame. Description: The Bone Horror is an amalgamation of bones of different creatures. It is born from mass graves of many different species. Its original shape is eternally unknown to it and therefore has no standard appearance. It is often mistaken for a Skeletal Beast. Every bone in their body is a weapon. It eternally searches for new bones to add to its collection. The quality of the bones in its collection influences its strength. Their connection to bones makes them able to manipte their basic shape. Its customizable nature makes it especially hard to kill as it can just discard broken bones, and rece them with others. It is therefore highly rmended to not fight them in graveyards or other collections of dead bodies. Which submission is better?