《Melvin The Necromancer》 Ch1 Getting HIgh and Lichdom ¡°You scout ahead and stumble upon a ritual held by five vampires, what do you do?¡± The Dungeon master said. Sir. Melvin the Paladin and servant of the god Mars, knew what he had to do. ¡°I point my cross bow at the highest-level vampire and fire at the head with a holy water dipped bolt.¡± Melvin picked up the dice and rolled for accuracy. The dice landed a 20 turning into a 22 thanks to his accuracy. ¡°Mars shines brightly upon you the Vampire¡¯s head explodes shattered the other vampires with holy skull fragments causing shrapnel damage. As the vampire¡¯s body begins to deteriorate it burns lighting up the ritual. Roll for action.¡± Melvin was on a roll and dropped the die again. 18, the other four vampires scored in the single digits. His party was approaching from behind. ¡°I draw my holy blade and holy mace from its harness to duel wield. With my sword, I decapitate the nearest vampire and attack with my mace at the next closest.¡± He rolled scoring a seventeen, which turned into 23 due to high strength. ¡°You cut the head off the nearest vampire and your mace shattered the next vampire¡¯s rib cage. The other undead look on in horror and attempt to flee. What will you do?¡± There could be no survivors. Melvin grinned maniacally, as he rolled the die. ¡°I cast smite on them.¡± He rolled a 20. This was great. ¡°The vampires couldn¡¯t take your holy might and are reduced to ashes. This seemed to be their plan all along. The mist of the fallen vampires pour into the summoning circle and merge with the phylactery of a lich. BlackStar the vampire Lich has joined the field. All players within 20m must roll a madness and fear check.¡± The dungeon master said. Melvin tossed his die hoping for another high number. He rolled a 1. ¡°Your mind has been broken by madness and you¡¯re paralyzed by fear. What will the party do?¡± Melvin looked across the table. James the Rouge Elf snorted and glared at Melvin. Their wizard Markus rolled his eyes and their Orc cleric Rick just shook his head. ¡°We leave Sir. Melvin to his fate and retreat back to the town.¡± They all rolled high numbers. ¡°Blackstar doesn¡¯t care to follow you, he has a Paladin to torture. He allows you to leave unmolested.¡± Phil their DM said. ¡°Come on guys you need me I¡¯m the highest level.¡± Melvin said. ¡°The lich opens its mouth and drains you of blood and casts death touch. Do you want to cast a saving throw?¡± Melvin shook it was a lost cause. ¡°I think we are done for the day. Melvin you will have to come up with a new character and reroll later good luck.¡± Phil said. Melvin shrugged, he glared at his party they just looked away. ¡°Hey, I have something fun we can do. Something that will get us laid.¡± Melvin perked up at James¡¯ words.¡± He looked around conspiratorially. ¡°I printed us off some fake IDs. My mom works at the DMV and I was able to barrow the machine.¡± James said. He took out a small stack of licenses wrapped in rubber bands. ¡°You know this is illegal. We aren¡¯t 21 yet.¡± Phil said. ¡°Dude, Broken Steel is in town and throwing a party at the abandoned factory. With these baby¡¯s we can get in.¡± James said. ¡°Phil, we can get laid. Its Broken Steel you know every hot chick in the state will be there and horny as fuck. We have to go.¡± Melvin said. He blinked at Phil, trying to psychically impose his will upon him. It must have worked because the guy slowly nodded his mop of curly brown hair. ¡°Well it looks like we agree. Let¡¯s dress out in our best cloths come up with some fake jobs and get laid.¡± Markus said. ¡°Bradas do you know da way? Because, I have no idea where the factory is.¡± Melvin said. They all rolled their eyes at the stupid meme. ¡°Melvin just show up at my house at midnight and I¡¯ll drive. Dad used to work there, he took me there once.¡± Phil said, Melvin nodded. He got home and slammed the door behind him. His crummy apartment shook a little as he busied himself with grabbing his best cloths and taking a shower. Melvin kicked Snickers off his toilet. The cat loved drinking out of toilets for some reason. His phone chose that moment to ring. He turned off his water before he committed to a cold shower. The landlord hadn¡¯t fixed the water heater in a couple months. ¡°Hey mom, what¡¯s going on?¡± Melvin said. ¡°Melvin Finally, you have to call more often. I¡¯m about ready to shoot you boy.¡± Melvin let his mouther talk, as he fixed himself a sandwich. Better the eat now than be hungry later. ¡°I¡¯m sorry love you mom, I should call you more it¡¯s, I just work a lot and don¡¯t have much time, everything gets crazy.¡± Melvin said. ¡°That¡¯s ok boy, I remember what it was like at 19. Its rough and hard on your own. But you are making it and I¡¯m proud of you. Just call me more, I love you.¡± Melvin frowned in annoyance. ¡°I love you too mom. I will call you tomorrow. Me and the guys are getting ready to go see a late-night movie, so I need a shower. Love you.¡± He hung up on her after the good bye and finished his sandwich. He kicked Snickers off the toilet, again and jumped in the cold shower quickly washing up. After combing his hair, he blasted it with jell to keep it in place. Now, that his hair was concrete, it was time to watch youtube until 11:30. He made it to Phil¡¯s house and hopped a few fences for his trouble. The horses weren¡¯t happy and charged at him like always. He had gotten good at making hair pin turns to dodge horses. That bit of adrenaline from a life-threatening chase woke him up. After hopping the last fence, he was there, Phil was at his car staring at his watch. ¡°Finally, Melvin I was going to go without you.¡± They got in Phil¡¯s new car and made their way to the old factory. Cars covered the parking lot and the sound of music could be heard a mile away. Melvin put some earplugs in. ¡°People will thank you¡¯re lame if you wear those.¡± Phil said. Melvin shrugged. ¡°When I¡¯m old and can still hear, then I won¡¯t care.¡± Melvin said. They made it in the massive line and waited for their turn to go through. The bouncer looked tired. It was three in the morning when they made it to the front and the party was still going strong. He glanced at their IDs and let them in. ¡°Have fun fellas.¡± The giant of a man said with a tired grin. Strobe lights were flashing, music was blaring, and hot chicks were dancing. They felt out of place in their stuffy business suits. Melvin shrugged and moved onto the floor. He started copying the crowd the best he could. His lanky body probably looked ridiculous, but he didn¡¯t care. Phil and the others joined in behind him. One of the hotter chicks took noticed and started bumping up against him. ¡°Hey, you¡¯re dressed fancy, what do you do for a living?¡± She said with a wink. He looked her over and knew she wasn¡¯t from around here. She was too beautiful. A super model or something. She was half Asian and thick in all the right places. He started to focus his dancing more on her. Melvin didn¡¯t see the snickers from the other guys. ¡°Software engineering, mostly anti-viral software,¡± he hoped his lie didn¡¯t have too many holes in it. Then again, the chick didn¡¯t look like she knew much about computers but with Asians you never knew. ¡°Oh, we got some business men, will you and your friends should come to the back room with me, for some real fun.¡± The woman said. Melvin found himself moving despite his brain yelling at him, ¡®it¡¯s a trap.¡¯ It was the pillow shaped ass and bouncy titties, it had to be. Curse his desire for half Asian flesh. The others followed behind him quickly enough. They made their way following behind her. The room they entered was darkly lit. Men and women were having sex on the floor all around them. As the slow strobe light entered this place it showed people in various displays of passion. ¡°Hey why don¡¯t you take some of these.¡± She handed him a bowl of various drugs. He hesitated. ¡°What are you afraid?¡± Melvin grabbed a heavy hand full and popped them in his mouth. He swallowed them down in a single gulp with a shot of Vodka. The mass of pills slammed into his stomach like a heavy weight. She looked at him and smiled. ¡°You should be a lot of fun in a few minutes.¡± The woman said. Phil and the others declined the pills. ¡°Oh, come on fellas are you going to let your friend have all the fun.¡± ¡°I think we have overstayed our welcome. Its been fun but we better get out of here before anything bad happens.¡± Melvin suddenly jerked his head to the side, it felt like something hit him. He turned and punched the wall with all his might. ¡°Fuck what hit me.¡± Melvin said. The other guys in the room turned to him in confusion. He turned his head and they all appeared as horrid demons. His heart began to beat rapidly. ¡°What the fuck did you do to me?¡± Some of the demons stood up and began to crowd him. ¡°Hey guy, maybe you should go sit down. Trish what did you give him?¡± One of the demons asked. ¡°A couple of aspirin and jelly beans nothing that should cause this. I¡¯m not about to give a couple of kids something hard.¡± Horns grew from her head and horrid bat wings appeared. She no longer spoke English, as the world began to get weird. The walls turned into flesh and an eye started to peak in the dimly lit room causing it to light up. ¡°That isn¡¯t the kitty bowl Trish. The kitty bowl has a blue lid that one has a black one.¡± Melvin opened his mouth and started laughing. He grabbed the nearest demon by the back of the head and began to ram them into the wall. A powerful force hit him from behind. His head snapped to the side to see a horrid abomination of tentacles trying to hold him down. The abomination¡¯s head had two obvious weaknesses. He grabbed ahold of the creature¡¯s face and drove his thumbs through its eyes sockets. The creature let go of him and he threw it into the next guy. He ducked a demon trying to lock him in a headlock and nut shot him. Just as one of the demons smashed its fist into his face he felt his heart stop. Melvin collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. Skeleton POV They were mighty warriors trained for months fighting the forces of life. With every battle their power grew, and new weapons had been afforded them. This battle they were marching into would be a challenge like none before. This was a test to prove themselves as more than mere skeletons, but as warriors. A door opened to reveal their foe. Ten large humanoid undead unarmored and unarmed. Grey skin and finely muscled, they looked fierce. The skeleton captain directed his five archers at the one farthest and they opened a volley. Five bolts fired and filled the creature¡¯s chest and head. Two in the eyes and three in the chest. The grey skinned creature fell to the ground. His archers reloaded for the next volley. The captain lowered its leather covered hand three skeletal swordsmen leapt forward just as the foe became aware. This was the true test of their training. How would the enemy respond and how would he counter? The enemy didn¡¯t disappoint. They began to serpentine to negate the effectiveness of the volley. Truly an admirable tactic. His sword skeletons cut into the shoulder of one of the grey skin nearly cutting the arm from the bone. A bolt pierced another grey skin in the thigh. His pike skeleton protected him as the battle began to fall into chaos.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Melvin POV Melvin began to regain awareness. His head was pounding from the drugs and alcohol. He had the most messed up trip. Demons, what was he in the Cthulhu campaign. How ridiculous, it felt like he was in an elevator. Must be in the car heading home. He hoped Phil wasn¡¯t too drunk. Maybe they got laid, he just wished he could remember what happened. The elevator stopped with a sudden jerk. His eyes opened, and he noticed the world was too clear. Paramedics pulled his beaten and broken body on a gurney. The world became so clear. He felt his body, his muscles were like steel cables, and his bones felt like titanium. ¡°Clear,¡± electricity flowed through his chest to no avail. His heart was inert there was no bringing back the dead in his world. Even if they got it started again, his brain was dead. They began to strip his body of organs. The fake ID said he was an organ downer. The new world became the only thing that mattered. He looked around to see others glancing about. ¡°It seems they chose us to be slaves. How could the nobles damn us to such a fate?¡± One was openly weeping, his tears falling upon the ground. Melvin started laughing to himself. A door opened, and a team of skeletons grouped up and launched a volley at one of the guys at the furthest side. They immediately began to reload. ¡°Serpentine,¡± Melvin yelled and pushed one of the other guys. Everyone started to panic and run. Melvin didn¡¯t feel tired when running. His lungs sucked in air, but his heart never raced. An impact nearly took him off his feet. He looked down to see a bolt sticking out of his thigh. A scream made him turn to the guy who lamented about nobles and fate. One of the skeleton swordsmen managed to hack at the guy¡¯s arm. It was holding together by a scrap of bone. The guy was screaming, and the skeleton cackled evilly. The green fire that was its eyes glowed ominously. He took a step and felt the sharp pain in his leg and was overwhelmed with power. With each step he felt unimaginable pain then more power. The pain and power were becoming indivisible. He noticed that the world was slowing down. His friend¡¯s arm was starting to look like a mighty fine weapon in this situation. Melvin took the advantage and grabbed ahold of the guys hand. He yanked him out of the way of the skeleton¡¯s finishing blow. The man screamed louder, as Melvin began to pull harder. ¡°Hate to say it, but I need a hand. Whether you give it, or I take it is up to you.¡± The man looked at him like he was insane. ¡°K, I¡¯m taking it.¡± Melvin made sure to move his bad leg to give himself a much-needed boost. The bone of the humorous snapped and the arm came with it. With a turn, he smashed the end of the arm into the skeletal swordsman smashing the head off and up into concrete ceiling. The light within the skull faded and Melvin felt his muscles bulge, he felt stronger. A grin lit his face. As he continued his momentum, he saw the archers prepare a volley in his direction. In the corner of his eye, he saw his one-armed friend. Melvin managed to duck behind his screaming friend as the bolts impacted his new meat shield. His friend wasn¡¯t looking, so good. The guy was changing colors and glowing with black energy. Tentacle like protrusions began to poke out as eyes and mouths began to form and then sperate. The body wouldn¡¯t last much longer, and he was beginning to glow brighter. In most games that meant explosions. This guy was a grenade. Melvin picked the guy up and threw him at the line of archers. His friend glowed brighter and exploded. Black lightning, bone fragments, and gore covered the room in the explosion. The skeletons were reduced to broken bones and shattered armor. Melvin felt his strength increase again. He began to laugh, as he felt his muscles bulge and shrink, the strength he felt was far greater than before. A spear jammed into his stomach from a sneaky skeletal pike man. ¡°I¡¯m going to skull fuck you.¡± Melvin yelled, and the skeleton balked for a moment. He grabbed ahold of the spear and snapped the handle like a grown man would a twig. A blue screen of all things popped up with a message. New skill Black Rage lv1 Pain and hatred fuels your power with this skill. While in pain you enter a state of madness. An aura of hate shrouds your body causing entropy damage to all enemies near you. +5%Stats +1%/lv 5 entropy dam/sec +1/lv Cost 5MP/sec +1/lv Melvin¡¯s eyes casually moved to the two bars he hadn¡¯t noticed before. His health bar was slowly on the decline, but his MP hadn¡¯t dropped since he got the bolt jammed in his thigh. A cloak of black mana covered his body, and everything felt it. He dashed toward the pike man one stabbed him in the chest and it only made him angrier. The spear snapped off his skin, as he used Black Rage four more times. There was no end to the stack. His health dropped below 25% and he was the only one of his group left alive. One of the skeleton swordsmen casually decapitated one of his fleeing comrades. He grabbed ahold of the pike man¡¯s head and crushed it in his grip. The boost this time was small in comparison to the others. He threw the body at the skeleton with an axe and steel armor. Melvin roared and launched himself at the last two skeletal swordsmen like a missile. Their bodies shattered under the force of his tackle. The bones had been moving after the heads were destroyed. The commander of the skeletons had called the parts of its men to it. Through the madness he made note of the commander¡¯s profile. Skeletal commander lone survivor lv25 A skeletal commander that has absorbed the stats of its soldiers and gained new power. With its multiple arms it can carry many weapons. Melvin spotted a sword on the ground. He picked it up and threw it at the Skeletal Commander. The creature took the sword to the ribs and shrugged it off. Melvin slammed his fists together rattling the air with force. He bent his knees and charged at the monster like a bullet. A sword cut into the side of his shoulder, as he made contacted with the monster. He cast Black Rage again. His mouth opened, and he yelled with all his hate and confusion. The pain, hate, and power kept increasing his strength, he grabbed ahold of the creature and began to punch it. Bones cracked, and his health was slowly whittled away, as he continued to crush this undead abomination with his fists. It stabbed him with its swords and slammed its axe into the side of his head, but Melvin couldn¡¯t be denied. He continued to crush the creature starting at the legs. Once the knees were powder the creature collapsed. Even in the haze of rage, dodging was possible. He ripped the axe from the undead grip and turned the blunt side of the axe on the creature¡¯s head. Melvin struck it again and again. Bones cracked and shatter before his might. Only when the light was gone from the creature¡¯s eyes did he stop. Black blood and bone fragments littered the area. Strange organs covered the ground around his friend¡¯s explosion. The faces of his fellows looked up at him in lamentation of their fates. ¡°I¡¯m not bound by fate believe it.¡± Melvin said and chuckled to himself. If this was a dream, then he would enjoy it. As a paladin, he had some self-healing spells. His grey body was covered in wounds. He held up his hand and focused on his flesh knitting back together. The black aura continued to waft from his body. Bones and weapons began to turn to dust and rust rapidly. His wounds remained open and bleeding. The door opened, and a man dressed in a fine black robe. Xen Rudolph lv232 Apprentice Necromancer QUAC This is a necromancer that works for the Quality and Control Unit or QUAC they accel at determining if the quality of an item produced by necromantic organizations under the purview of the Black Church. This is done by taking a multitude of factors into consideration and balancing them on a scale of values. He is currently bored. ¡°Disable all skills.¡± Before Melvin was consciously aware of his actions. His five stacks of Black Rage turned off. Unknown magic has taken control of your body That didn¡¯t help Melvin at all. The man looked him over then looked over at the rest of the room. He snorted and waved his hand over Melvin. Melvin felt his body push the bolt and spear head out of his body. His focus turned to the black energy filling his body. Skin closed and soon he felt not pain. ¡°Go to the living quarters with the others of your kind while you await your fate. You will know in two weeks whether your batch are to be broken down for spare parts or not.¡± Melvin felt his body move despite his own protests. No mater his strength, his body took a step away from the room behind him. He couldn¡¯t even open his mouth and speak. His existence was now, devoted to following orders. He hated it. When next he was in control of his body, he was in a room filled with hundreds of other people. They were all grey like him. Their hairless bodies were clothed, and they were in clicks talking with one another. It reminded him of high school. They were all so, weak. None were above lv one. Speaking of levels, he had a mass of blue screens that he needed to swamp through. The clicks could wait. He walked over to a nearby bench and sat down. Level up STR+2 Level up STR+2 ¡­ Melvin Hill Lv30 next lv 53.687b Xp 26.843b Species: Undead Race: Lich He froze, not only was he an undead, he was the equivalent of undead royalty a lich. That only made him angrier. How dare they stuff his soul in a phylactery, where was his phylactery? His mind only needed a second to realize, they had it on hand and were more than willing to destroy it. ¡°Shit,¡± some of the others turned to him with raised eyebrows. Age: 19Years HP 50/50 MP 50/50 VIT 5 DEX 5 STR 65 END 5 INT 5 WIS 5 WIL 5 CHA 5 LUK 5 Stat Points 150 This changed things. He had the potential to be truly powerful. Though, there were a ton more screens to flip through. Black Rage lv up x12 Black Rage lv12 You have gathered your rage and made it a worthy weapon. Beware your enemies will become wary and your allies fearful. +17% stats 17 Entropy Area Dam Cost 17MP/sec New skill Pain resistance lv1 You know pain, through torture and agony there is a shining light at the end. By focusing on that light, you can begin to tolerate the tortures of the flesh. +1% pain resistance New skill Devastation lv10 Your strength has made your body a weapon to be feared. No longer do you fight like a human you are a natural disaster, in the making. 50 Phys Dam on contact +5/lv Cost 50MP/sec +5/lv New skill Dark Heal lv1 Through careful observation you have learned how Black Mana can be used to heal. It may take time but soon you will be a competent healer. 1HP restored/sec +1/lv Cost 5MP/sec +1/lv Now, he had a problem. What would he spend his points on? If he kept power leveling like he was, it wouldn¡¯t take long for his strength to become a real threat to the necromancers that controlled this place. From reading his stats he could surmise the Wil stat had something to do with resisting commands from the necromancers. There were still a few pages to work through. You have reached lv5 you may choose a perk You have 26 perk points to spend and 3 perks to choose from. In ten levels you will roll another 3 perks to choose from. Brutal Death 0/10 I am become death destroyer of worlds. Your fists have gained the power to snuff out lives and snatch more than just xp. The more points placed in this perk the more effects it will gain. +5% chance to leech enemy HP, if HP is full .001% chance to add enemy HP permanently Grey March 0/10 Every step you take is another for your people. Your steps grant all allies a bonus when they are on ground you have already tread. +5% to ally stats and xp Bloody Wraith 0/10 You are fill with rage and will stop at nothing to destroy your enemies. When you inflict damage, you have a chance to cause bleed damage on non-undead enemies. 1%chance per hit to cause bleed 1%Max enemy HP per/sec Time limit 10sec Melvin laughed out loud causing all the other grey skinned liches to look his way. He smiled, ¡°sorry I got OP.¡± He continued to laugh as they stared at him like he was an alien. He slammed 20perk points into Bloody Wraith and Brutal Death. Both were maxed out instantly. He had a one in ten thousand chances to add an enemies max HP on top of his own and 100secs of 10%max health damage on any enemy. That perk was broken. When he really thought about it though. The apprentice necromancer waved his hand and healed Melvin instantly. There was one screen left he clicked on it. STR has reached lv50 you have gained the perk Troll Musculature physical strength is now measured on the same scale as a troll¡¯s. A troll with 1Str is equal to a human with 10Str. Melvin felt his body shake for a second. When he came to people were looking over him. ¡°What are you guys looking at, I¡¯m not interested in ugly grey corpses? Especially other men.¡± One of them looked at him like he said something in bad taste. ¡°I will have you know I¡¯m a woman.¡± The grey bald creature said. ¡°I too am a masculine presenting transgendered lesbian. Perhaps, we can braid each other¡¯s hair later.¡± They all looked at him like he was insane. Maybe, he was this could all be a dream. He looked the lot of the over. That thought was becoming less likely by the second. He would have to deal with them and the massive amount of skills and stats he now had. ¡°I¡¯m sorry we got off on the wrong foot. The name is Melvin Hill. I like slaying foes and hearing the lamentation of their women. Fucking their women over the corpses of said foes is a momentous past time of my people.¡± They all looked fearful of him. He turned his head to the side. Had none of these people heard of sarcasm. Its not like they just experienced a massacre or something. ¡°I¡¯m Jezebel of March, that is Franklin of Creek, and he is Bingaman of Douglass. I haven¡¯t heard of a village naming itself Hill is it near Salomon¡¯s Town.¡± Jezebel said. This was getting better and better. Chapter 2 Escape the compound Last names were great here. The first name was your designation and the last was your address it must have made taxation and the collection of levies much easier. As the strongest member of this new race of Lich, it was his duty to establish the pecking order and gather enough meat shields to cover him, while he makes his escape. Perhaps, he was getting duty and privilege mixed up. A shark like grin stretched over his face. He had a ton of stat points to spend. Perhaps, Charisma wasn¡¯t the worst stat to put his faith in. Melvin turned his attention to Jezebel. She was one of the few members of his new race to wear a dress. It looked ridiculous on her bald and muscular form. He like making comparisons between himself and the rest of the Lich in the room. Melvin was the same height as the others, though his chest was at least four times theirs with arms and legs like tree trunks. Standing up to full height, he walked to the center of the room pushing all the nobody¡¯s out of his way. They gave him an ornery looked and a few dozen tried to push back, only to fall on their backs. Melvin shook his head at the plebs. ¡°My name is Melvin Hill and I am the strongest of our kind. I have made the decision to escape this place before the necromancers decide to break us down for parts. Those who join me will have a chance for freedom. Who¡¯s with me?¡± Melvin said, and was welcomed by silence. ¡°The nobles won¡¯t allow us to be killed so easily. If we keep praying to them and giving our mana onto them, then soon they will surely save us.¡± He glared at Melvin with conviction. ¡°This man is unknown to us. He speaks with an unknown accent. Don¡¯t fall for his lies.¡± The man was dressed the most extravagant out of anyone. ¡°You can all die, for all I care. I¡¯m giving you a chance to save yourselves. I don¡¯t expect all of you to take it. No, I¡¯m sure most of you will happily go like sheep to the slaughter. Have fun with that.¡± Melvin said. He scanned the room. Some looked uncertain while most glared at him. ¡°My flock won¡¯t be swayed so easily heretic.¡± The man in question stood a head taller than Melvin at lv12. Melvin looked at the man¡¯s profile. Jenson of Timber town lv12 Species Undead Race Lich A Grizzled old preacher who worshipped the nobles and the holy government that rules over the people of Great Albania. He has experience swaying the fearful and won¡¯t let you lead his flock astray. He is a great political enemy. ¡°Jenson if you don¡¯t bow down and yield these people to me, I will rip your head from your shoulders and smash it against a wall. You have three seconds to comply.¡± Melvin said. He wasn¡¯t playing anymore. This was a life or death situation and religious nonsense had no place here. ¡°Anyone who bows down to the necromancers and lets them have their way with us is an enemy.¡± ¡°You are their tool. Don¡¯t you see by breaking our faith in nobles, you give them power over us.¡± Jenson said. Melvin took a step. ¡°Die heretic.¡± Melvin stepped to the side as a black bolt of energy shot past him and slammed into one of their fellows. The lich¡¯s body rotted rapidly before it aged to dust. Melvin¡¯s hands found their way around the priest¡¯s head. The lich in his way were knocked away by his bulk. He twisted snapping the spine and pulled while using devastation. Bones, muscle, and sinew popped and snapped. The Jenson¡¯s face was had a look of shock, as Melvin sent it hurdling towards a wall. Jenson defeated Reward: Xp 102k +5CHA Melvin looked over to see the head splattered against the wall. Bloody chunks and brain matter oozed down slowly. The crowd stared at him with panic and hate. ¡°You seem to have confused me with some other powerful undead. Allow me to correct any misconceptions. I will kill anyone who prays to the nobles. We have gained Lichdom the epitome of the dark. The light doesn¡¯t care for your fate, they would just assume destroy you.¡± He looked up there were several halls one was devoted to living quarters, one was built for the spell craft, and another was combat. ¡°Those who want to survive in this new world follow me to spell practice. The rest I don¡¯t care, stay out of the way.¡± Melvin said. Fear was a good motivator. Melvin didn¡¯t like taking the lead. These people moved sluggishly. Anyone from his world would jump at the opertunity to learn magic. Why couldn¡¯t Phil, Marcus, James, or even Rick come here with him. It would make things so much simpler. Who was he kidding. These noobs would die if they fought the skeletons. He survived mostly through luck and getting pissed off. The spell craft area was a massive spanning library. There were books on various subjects, though there were limits. They could only learn initiate level texts. Spells were put into place to encrypt high level texts. Over 90 lich were in the library. Under his gaze they picked up books and began to read. He looked over the titles. Control lesser skeletons, minor death touch, and bone craft for beginners. Melvin picked up all three and began to slowly make his way through them. It taught the worlds of the spell the the proper amount of mana needed to activate the initial stages of the spells. The spells needed to be tried in battle to gain the skills. Jezebel walked up to him. ¡°What you did wasn¡¯t right?¡± Melvin rolled his eyes. ¡°Results are all that matters. The priest would have questioned my every decision if I let him live. So, I didn¡¯t.¡± Melvin said. ¡°How can anyone be so cold? Were you ever human?¡± Melvin rolled his eyes. His mother was a better manipulator than this sad woman. ¡°Are you going to be a problem Jezebel, should I make an example out of you?¡± He could see the fear in her eyes. ¡°I didn¡¯t think so. I¡¯m doing this because it¡¯s the fastest way to make you all effective. I¡¯m the strongest at level thirty. I saw an apprentice in the 200s. The difference in power is too great to treat you all softly.¡± Where were the skeletons when you needed to weed out the weak? He had to supervise now that he learned what he wanted from the spell books. The further in they went the more like a historical text the became. He didn¡¯t care who discovered the skill and when they died. Melvin wanted the flashy deadly abilities. It felt like he was a teacher in study hall looking over students shoulders to make sure they weren¡¯t reading porn. Shaking his head at the thought, he counted out ten who learned long range skills. Over twenty-five were learning how to turn the battle field into an undead wellspring of mana. He made a mental note to learn the ritual spells. They would be his engineering core. It would be their job to fortify their position. He went through the stacks and found a few books on defensive wards and placed them on his engineering team¡¯s desks. ¡°Everyone who pulled territory creation you are now battle field engineers. Your job is to alter territory to assist everyone on the field. Read the books on defensive wards, I placed on your desks.¡± The last fifty-five were all over the place. Some had minor death touch, weapon enchantment, and dark heal. He took a book labeled dark heal and placed them on every desk that didn¡¯t have a copy. Hours later and more conditioning, he made his way to the training hall. There were a few dials, and levers attached to a contraption that determined enemy lv, type, and quantity. He had ninety here, so he clicked lv10, skeletons, and 200. His 25 engineers quickly began chanting their spells and went through the process of going through pop up windows. The barren land at their feet quickly became saturated with black mana. Their mana pools quickly began to increase by 25MP/sec. The effect of a multitude of liches casting a single spell. They immediately swapped to the Kinetic ward. In less than two seconds they had their full mana supply back and began casting the next ward. The army of skeletons weren¡¯t like the ones he faced before. They were newly formed and barely armored. Their tactics included running across the field and shooting arrows randomly. There were no skeletal mages or mounted Calvary. The 55 infantry liches prepared their death touch, while the 10 artillery liches began to chant their long-range spells.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Massive ice spikes shot up in an arc landing in the skeleton army shattering and freezing the skeletons. Several of the artillery leveled up. Melvin decided to invest a few points while he had time. He added 25 to INT and VIT. Both his MP and HP increased to 950. He looked down at his hands to see them grow calloused and his skin became healthier. He dropped 45 in DEX. New Perk Exceptional Control ¨C You have body control that only comes around in 1 in 10. Every movement is exactly as planned. Martial skills will lv 50% faster. He dumped another 45 in WIL. Something happened it felt like his hold over his body increased by a massive degree. New Perk Steel Spirit ¨C Through hardship your spirit has been tested and your will has always won out. +50% resistance to mental control by those 100lvs above you. If your enemy is below your level negate control. If the enemy is over 100lvs above, you then this perk has no effect. He tossed the last ten points in STR, it was better to have a little more strength then to save the points. Melvin felt his muscles bulge out. The skeletons smashed into the infantry. Death touch had negligible effect on the skeletons. It took a group of four to slay a single skeleton with the spell. Skeleton swordsmen stabbed and sliced at his soldiers only for their fellows to cast dark heal on them. Those that survived the battle would be more than capable of taking on hordes like these in the future. It was shocking the disparity between the levels. Melvin could easily destroy this army a thousand times over and not lv up. After the tenth of his army fell, he decided to weigh in on the battle. He activated devastation and leapt into battle. He swiped his arm through several skeletons their bones shattered at his touch. Weapons nicked and cut at his arms, so he cast dark heal. He ran into the battle. Melvin had no armor or weapons. He had only his bod and his ever-growing might. Grabbing skeletons, he threw them into the crowd and stomped poorly armored feet. His every motion was a brutal display of power. None of his enemies had over a 100 health. A single blow was enough to destroy them. When the last of the skeletons were dead he walked back to his soldiers. ¡°What are we going to do about our dead?¡± One of them asked. Melvin turned to him. ¡°We burry them here and deny the necromancers more materials. Search the battle field for any armor or weapons you can find. Tomorrow we will fight them at a higher level. Engineering team, collect the bones from the battle field and organize them for later use. We may need to turn them into weapons and armor.¡± They followed Melvin¡¯s orders and went to work. The infantry began to dig graves for the dead and continued to cast territory on their side of the field. Days pass and the first week ended. In that time Melvin let the liches level up and collect what skills they could. Melvin walked along the walls of the area they could maintain. The walls were solid bone. Several runes were carved into the walls. He rubbed the rough surface of the and nothing happened. He reared back his fist and smashed it into the wall. A shield appeared around the wall and blocked out his attack. He brought his Black Rage skill up to 20 in preparation to break through the wall. Melvin had his Lich lined up, his four captains stood behind him. Jezebel of Artillery, Wesker of Infantry, Robert of Engineering, and Ebenezer of accounting. In a week, these four showed leadership skills, so he promoted them above the others. ¡°Report,¡± He told the four of them. Ebenezer spoke up first. ¡°Every man has leather armor, a shield, and a sword. One in three have a bow and quiver and one in ten have a two-handed weapon. Every soldier is on average lv20. The summons has reached the lv cap at 15 and gains have decreased significantly. We are 70 strong and ready.¡± Ebenezer said. Melvin nodded. ¡°Banging dog, sunglasses go.¡± The man did not have a pair of sunglasses, but he went anyway. ¡°Martial skills have been tested and formations have been drilled. I want to raise concerns, there is no way to determine what¡¯s on the other side.¡± The man said in a monotone voice. Melvin rolled his eyes at the guy. These meat shields were becoming more trouble than they were worth. ¡°Jezebel, I choose you.¡± Melvin said. This was becoming fun. He had put her in charge of Artillery because, there was little she could screw up. ¡°Artillery have increased their ice shard spells to lv35. They are the strongest in the army.¡± Jezebel said. ¡°Bob, are my engineers ready to step out in the unknown?¡± Melvin asked. ¡°No, they think it would be better to remain here and fortify the area. They will follow, but there is a lot of protest.¡± Robert said. ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± He turned his head to see the rows of lich ready to follow beyond the wall. He pulled back his fist and activated Black Rage x10. All his stats doubled, and his fist contacted the wall. The shield took form, and nothing happened. Devastation x10 if not for the territory creation skill he couldn¡¯t use a 10-stack devastation. The kinetic field shattered, and the wall exploded. Melvin and the others leapt through the opening. The second he saw the sun, he had to dodge bone spikes as they rained from the sky. A spike ripped through an infantry man behind him rapidly aging the lich to dust. Melvin picked up the speed and activated Black Rage to max. Towers with artillery batteries turned on their fleeing army and fired just as the wall began to close behind him. Melvin took his mace from his belt. He smashed a bone spike away from himself and watched as the head of his mace rusted until dust. Just beyond the towers was a massive forest. It would protect them from the spikes, if he just got a little closer. Branches slapped his back, as he made it to the forest. He hid behind a tree and listened for the thud of bone missiles to stop. Some of his army made it to the forest. They made it through and continued. He ran with them a mile from the edge of the forest. Just as they were starting to calm down and count their numbers. A lv32 bear rushed their camp. Melvin slammed into the beast and began to box it. More bears attacked the camp and began to rip his fellow lich apart with claws and teeth. ¡°Fuck you, Winnie the Pooh.¡± Melvin yelled, and smashed it with entropy and devastation. New enemy slain Forest Bear lv32 Slain Reward Xp 170k +2VIT That was such a shitty reward. Three of his infantry died from that ambush alone. Melvin felt his skin grow a little tougher. He drove his fist in the side of the nearest bear and watched its brain scramble from the blow. Melvin pointed his hand at the nearest dead bear. ¡°Engineer team begin casting raise lesser undead on the bears we kill. We need to fortify our numbers.¡± Wesker seemed to have lost one of his shields and Robert was busy carrying out his orders. Jezebel was too terrified of the bears to order the Artillery team and the infantry Ebenezer was busy trying to kill a bear with a war hammer. The bears weren¡¯t the only creatures that had went out of their way to target them. Birds of all kind were dive bombing them trying to make a nuisance of themselves. Melvin smashed them away and continued dealing death blows to the bears. It seemed like nothing here was worth anything compared to the skeletons during his first battle. Every other blow from Melvin dealt a terrible bleeding disorder that often finished the bears off in minutes. Once the last bear was killed, they began to use territory creation and cast defensive wards. The new zombie bears rose from the grave and Melvin gave them orders to defend the camp. Nothing was going right. Bird¡¯s dive bombed their camp or shat overhead. The kinetic barrier held enough but eventually something had to give. ¡°Sir we are down to 30 men 5 artillery, 15 infantries, and 10 engineers. If this keeps up, we won¡¯t survive much longer. Wolves are being spotted. It seems all we can do is fortify the area and build our undead army.¡± Ebenezer said. ¡°Some of the men want to mutiny against you.¡± Melvin looked over the sorry state of his men. They were shaken by the destruction caused by the necromancer¡¯s artillery and now nature itself attacked them. If they remained, they would surely be overrun. The only way was to blitz over the mountains hopefully that would put them out of range of the command of the necromancers. Though, he still had no idea where their phylacteries were. ¡°Tell the men to prepare themselves to move out. We will continue on to the mountains.¡± Just as Melvin turned his head the weight of Ebenezer¡¯s war hammer smashed him in the face. The attack cost him 400HP. His vision was obscured, and he tripped over a log and fell out of the circle of protections. His four commanders walked up to the edge of the camp. The rest of his men prepared for a fight. All five of the artillery prepared to bombard him with ice shards. ¡°We are no longer your men. If you want to continue with this fool¡¯s campaign, then go ahead. We aren¡¯t going to follow you.¡± Jezebel said. All four of them and what remained of his army stood united against him. ¡°Perhaps, I should have invested in Charisma. I don¡¯t think many of you will survive. Good bye, you were useful tools.¡± Melvin said and started marching towards the mountain. Something leapt out at him from the shadows. He snatched a limb from a nearby tree and stabbed it through the eye. It was a massive panther. Melvin ripped the limp out of the panther¡¯s eye socket. The mountains were just ahead, he needed to escape the valley. Melvin Hill Lv30 next lv 53.687b Xp 26.843b Species: Undead Race: Lich Age: 19Years Perks: Brutal Death 10/10, Bloody Wrath 10/10, Troll Musculature, Steel Spirit, Exceptional Control. HP 950/950 MP 950/950 VIT 52 DEX 50 STR 75 END 5 INT 50 WIS 5 WIL 50 CHA 10 LUK 5 Skills Black Rage lv25 Devastation lv20 Dark Heal lv10 Pain Resistance lv5 Raise Dead lv1 Control Dead lv1 Death Touch lv1 Territory Creation lv1 Through the Forest Melvin had wronged the other lich. He used them to escape and they paid for it. For the life of him he couldn¡¯t feel sympathy for them or any emotion besides rage. He glanced over his grey hands. They were muscular, and his fingers were longer than normal. His fingertips ended in black nails. Melvin felt a strength in his hands that was never present in his mortal life. The sounds of hooves pounding the ground pricked his ears and he turned to see a massive equine. A moose charged at him. Biting and stinging insects followed behind the massive animal. His fist found its way through the moose¡¯s skull, he used the new corpse as a club to crush the wolves coming from behind. Even with the constant xp the next level was too far away. Blood and animal parts covered the forest floor. Birds aged and rotted to dust in the air. Black Rage extended killing everything around him. The trees soaked up nutrients rapidly grew then sagged with age. His ears pricked from the twang of bow strings, he hit the deck. Arrows covered where he had been standing. A green fluid leaked from them turning the forest floor green. Vines and tree branches began to rapidly grow into a monstrosity. ¡°Awesome, I was getting bored killing everything sent at me. Hopefully, you guys will last a bit longer.¡± Melvin said. When more arrows slammed into the growing monster, he took a step back in preparation for a fight. ¡°Foolish abomination, we won¡¯t let your evil spread any further. We have stopped your army now all that¡¯s left is you. Give up and we will make your death quick.¡± The vines and roots spun into a large egg. ¡°No thanks. But do you expect me to sit and wait on this thing to hatch. Thanks for the xp.¡± Melvin said with a grin. He slammed his fist in the growing egg unleashing Devastation and Death Touch. The black mana invaded the construct of life mana for a moment before the green mana overwhelmed his own. The green mana infested his fingertips. A blistering pain filled his arm before black mana forced the green out. A smile lit his face. ¡°That is so cool. Is this like a combination of Land Creation and Raise Dead. So, what exactly does it do. I understand that its an egg but of what. Is there some sort of tree monster that¡¯s about to pop out or is this how you have so many animals to throw at me?¡± Tendrils covered in thorns slashed at him driving him from touching the egg, again. ¡°I wonder what the profile will say?¡± Egg of Life lv? A spell prepared with a long-range delivery system. A random creature that once lived in the forest is summoned with a +20 to its level. If more Elven Shaman devote mana to the spell the level boost can be greater. Massive root stabbed into the earth and the trees around died. This egg was storing more and more power to bring about its purpose. Melvin laughed out loud. ¡°Oh, no don¡¯t summon a powerful monster for me to destroy. If you summon something like this I might lose.¡± ¡°It is too late abomination. You will die on the claws and fangs of our beast. We may have needed to sacrifice our lives, but you will die, and we will gain a victory for our people. Future generations will sing of our victory over the death himself.¡± Melvin began by casting territory creation. Tendrils of black mana changed into snakes and dove into the ground. Will and imagination had a lot to do with magic. He didn¡¯t have a weapon besides the branch in his hand he used against the panther. His best bet for survival was to take advantage of the time he had. Green lightning began to shoot around the egg as it began to expand. All the forest around Melvin was dead and the egg grew ever larger. It was the size of a small house now. Whatever was inside was going to be a giant. The elves collapsed finally revealing themselves to Melvin. It seemed the Egg wasn¡¯t satisfied only draining the trees. Small parasitic vines grew off their bodies releasing green mana for the egg to absorb. ¡°What a greedy thing you are. Sucking your allies dry and still after all this time you keep getting bigger.¡± Melvin said. The egg had grown to the size of a two-story house. He honestly couldn¡¯t wait to see what the inside. A crack split the egg down the middle. ¡°For thousands of years, I slumbered waiting for a spell to allow my return to this world. Yet my only challenger is a pathetic dead man.¡± Dark Heal had long since healed the scratch from the eggs thorny vine whips. ¡°Who are you supposed to be?¡± The egg fell away revealing a man-sized humanoid. This creature had butterfly wings and green skin. He had four solid purple eyes and antennae. With a flap of his wings a powder filled the air only to die and turn to dust when it neared him. When it saw the effect, its head turned to the side. ¡°I see you aren¡¯t one of the Elven. No, you are a creature not from this land. Let¡¯s see how you swap hands.¡± The creature said. Mobius The Enchanting Forest Moth lv150 Legendary Life Mage A Legendary Shaman who attempted to challenge the gods and lost. He was chopped into pieces and made fertilizer for the forest. Warning if this monster escapes, he will gain levels at an incredible rate. Melvin concentrated Black Rage around his skin to amp up the effectiveness of the skill. He multiplied the skill by 10 making use of his territory. ¡°Interesting a worm wishes to challenge me. Well it has been a long time since I got down and dirty. I hope you aren¡¯t too fragile.¡± Mobius said. Melvin kicked off the ground throwing up dirt and planted his fist in the bridge of Mobius¡¯s nose. Mobius¡¯s eyes widened, and he clutched his face. His face changed colors and he stepped back clutching his face. ¡°Dude, are you ok.¡± Melvin asked. ¡°Oh, god my nose why does this hurt so much. Your lv30 this shouldn¡¯t hurt.¡± Mobius yelled between sobs. ¡°Man, I¡¯m starting to feel bad. We can do this another time. You don¡¯t really seem to be ready. We can do this again another time.¡± Melvin suggested. He let out a sigh realizing, he would lose all that sweet xp. If this guy wasn¡¯t so pathetic, he would have finished him already. ¡°I got you.¡± Mobius blew a heavy fog of poison in Melvin¡¯s face. His eyes were full of poisonous dust and his lungs burned horrible. A heavy blow slammed into his chest and knocked him skidding across the ground. ¡°What the fuck?¡± Melvin yelled as he tried to get up. Dark Heal did nothing to clear his vision. ¡°Fooled you. You should have taken me more seriously. Now, I can finish you at my leisure.¡± Black Rage stacked 20 as he smashed the ground and dragged his body up. A blow knocked him away from his territory. Sharp spikes ripped through his body, as a tree crushed him. Pain, the spikes began to grow roots through his body and began to drain his mana supply. He continued to rev up Black Rage as his pain and rage grew. The world began to rot and age around him as entropy damage increased. Another blow hit him from behind, as he ripped the spikes form his body. Melvin spun around and grabbed ahold of Mobius. His hand moved gripping a wing and ripping it off. The sound of tearing flesh was music to his ears. ¡°You bastard, I¡¯m,¡± Melvin smashed his fist repeatedly against Mobius¡¯s body. It sounded like a child punching mud. It felt warm and wet bones shattered and Melvin felt mana filled organs ripping them out. He crushed them to pulp. Melvin stabbed his fingers through Mobius¡¯s eye sockets crushing them. He dropped the butterfly man and stomped Mobius repeatedly. There was no increase in xp and no matter how much damage he did, the monster wouldn¡¯t die. Melvin crushed the creature¡¯s skull and walked on. As he moved through the woods towards the mountains bumped into trees constantly. He was forced to use his tree branch to find his path. He crushed the monsters in his way and walked on. Bird¡¯s died from his Black Rage dropping like rain. Level Up Level Up Wasps, hornets, and dragon flies, they attacked him in their hundreds of thousands. He continued his way to where he thought the mountains were. Melvin could have already been turned around, but it didn¡¯t matter. He was growing stronger.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Black mana turned into small humanoid dolls and leapt into some of the downed birds. With that Raise Undead was cast. He immediately cast Control Undead. Small strings of black mana leapt from his body and attached to the zombie birds. With the connections, he regained sight through the birds. So, he continued towards the mountains in the distance. Through his undead, he noticed something interesting. Melvin could gain xp from their kills. Any undead he controlled gave him a portion of their xp. He smashed a lv40 poisonous forest bear and cast Raise Undead. The creature was resurrected, as a lv1 undead with all the same physical stats it had in life. When he cast control undead, he could see through the creature¡¯s eyes if he wanted to and it followed his orders. He told it to kill everything living. It began attacking dire wolves and quickly leveling. He decided to name it Yogi. Yogi was around 16hands high more than fit for riding in Melvin¡¯s humble opinion. One thing about his time as a D&D paladin irked him. He wasn¡¯t allowed to have any mount that wasn¡¯t a horse. With a flex of his will Black rage formed into a deadly maw and swept through a bee hive. All the bees died. From there he raised the bees with multiple tiny shadow dolls. From there he attached strings of black mana to the bees. Armed with thousands of bees and riding yogi an undead poisonous forest bear, he made his way towards the mountains. With every life, he painfully extinguished his mana recovered. When his MP was full the mana became xp. It seemed the more painful the death the more xp and MP he gained. To improve upon his grinding, he directed his bees to go for eyes and genitals. He swept through killing trees and taking xp. Melvin killed painfully for his own benefit. Raise Undead level up A next of hornets were added to his growing zombie army. The xp and mana was rolling in, so long as he kept killing then he could crank the stack of Black Rage to 50. Every level an undead gained cost another MP in upkeep of control. Though, he learned that his MP wasn¡¯t limited to his own body. When one of his directly controlled undead leveled up, he could assign stat points. By increasing INT, he increased their MP capacity and by extension how much MP he could draw from. A single Queen bee could have up to 50INT and by extension control 10,000 bees. It lowered the cost of his control undead and allowed him to direct his army more efficiently. The mountains were growing closer through the rain of bird cadavers. The effect of his Black Rage had taken on the form of an angry black humanoid. Everything, caught by the dragon¡¯s presence suffered. When in direct contact effects were far more impressive. Level UP x5 Nightfall took his ability to see with the birds away. He needed to find an owl or something. Yogi was up to the challenge of navigating through the forest. His nose, ears, and eyes were well beyond human. Melvin relaxed on Yogi¡¯s back on their way to the base of the mountains. Wild mountain lions assaulted them with hit and run tactics. They never remained in his aura long enough to die, and always took one of his bears down in their assaults. He was down to five forest bears plus Yogi. The bees had long since blinded them, but they often managed to escape before he could bring them down. The elves or perhaps Mobius was behind the change in tactics. A small elven girl wrapped in deer leathers approached him from the edge of the forest. He was almost out and in the base of the mountains. She glowed with green mana. Her pointed ears had several earrings in them and her hair was braided. ¡°I am Duluth traveler. My descendants are in peril from Mobius¡¯ machinations. Already, he has taken advantage of the gaps in our forest¡¯s growth. Like a cancer he has rooted himself in our forest and the more time he has to grow, the harder it will be to remove him. A white and green aura circled around the child like spirit. The energies impacted Melvin¡¯s aura and his rage wasn¡¯t enough to hold back the tide. Life and a white aura slew everything in its path. Melvin had to condense his aura just to keep the white and green mana from poisoning him. ¡°The fuck, why does every bastard I run into try and hold me back.¡± He stuck the ground forcing territory creation to kill the newly growing plants increasing his mana output. She pulled a staff from her back. ¡°Interesting, you gather power from death, just as my people gain strength from growing new life. You are an incarnation of the opposing force to our magic, that is why the forest itself wishes to destroy you. Its possibly, why I was called as well. You may be able to destroy life, but death holds no power over faith.¡± Duluth said. Duluth The Forest Sage lv7600 Ancient White/Green Mage An ancient entity once a purely green mage, upon her death her descendants told stories of her great works of magic and creation of powerful creatures. Her descendants have fed her spirit worship for countless generations granting her the white element. She is most dangerous behind an army of summoned creatures. He had to wonder why attack him by herself. Why not summon a vast amount of forest animals and buff them? The Mountain lions had already whittled down his ranks. Melvin thrust his hand forward sending a swarm of wasps at her face. She swiped her hand creating a pillar of white/green mana granting the insects new life before the overabundance of life made their fragile bodies explode. The white/green aura was creeping upon his territory. Moss, vines, and flowers poked up from the desolation the energy fought his own skill slowly gaining territory. No matter how many times he recast Territory Creation, he was losing ground. He couldn¡¯t compete with her in magic, she had more skill and possibly more MP. So, he had to go with physical attack. Black Rage was still stacked 50x. Devastation could slowly rise to the occasion, if he can just deal 10 blows and cause bleed damage, maybe he can win. The second he stepped out of his own territory, he knew he had made a mistake. The pillar of white/green mana was an icon of her faith. It pulled upon her own stores and slammed them into the land. Outside of his own territory, he lost the cumulative effect of his undead. His territory was lost the second he stepped outside. He slammed 25 points in STR. New Perk Dark Soul Reaper ¨C With physical power surpassing the Lich of the past, you have gained the ability to extend your strength through black mana. 50% of STR is added to all constructs with your mana. When they die you gain .01% of their STR stat. His Black Rage was currently at lv50 due to stacking the skill 50x and gaining 50x the normal experience. To be blunt one hour using the skill counted as over two days of training straight. He had used it for a day. In essence he had used Black Rage for 100days straight or 1,200hours. His skill with Black Rage was beyond initiate and apprentice, it was closing in on journeyman and adept. Though, to keep the stack going, he required 2,750MP/sec to burn. With thousands of undead so gather mana for him, it wasn¡¯t an issue. Now, his mana would run dry in less than a second. He didn¡¯t bother with Devastation; the skill wouldn¡¯t improve anything. His best bet for a victory was to deliver his attacks hard and fast before his mana went dry. His STR with Black Rage at 50x was ironically 2,750. When Troll Musculature entered the equation his STR went up to 27,500 In life it took him about two seconds to throw a punch. He estimated, if he started throwing them now, he could throw 275 before his mana depleted. With the distance it would take to get there he could take 50 of those punches away. That meant he had to inflict bleeding on her within 225punches. With a 10% chance of bleed inflicting 10%HP Dam/sec. Nothing grew fast enough to stop his approach, that or she never considered. Melvin was crazy enough to throw hands with a being 7000lvs above him. He saw her eyes widen, when she realized it. She was too slow to react. A smile spread across his face when he felt his fist meet her face. It felt like he was tearing himself apart. His body was moving at over 33,000MPH, or 9.1 miles per second. The shear power behind his first blow made her crater the ground and continue moving back at an incredible speed. He kicked off cratering the ground wailing on her with everything he had. She must have had a hell of a lot of VIT because it felt like he was punching concrete. Even after smashing her through the ground, she looked healthy. Dirt covered her body, but she was still in one piece. His brow creased in frustration. He couldn¡¯t stop. Her hand glowed green with a spell. Duluth was able to move in slow motion. Melvin punched her continuously, as he watched the hand approach him like the slow rise of the guillotine. Taking a step behind her, he began delivering jackhammer blows, to the back of her head. He pushed her hand into own chest and continued to attack her defenseless body. Melvin knew, if he let up for even a second to his time, he would die. His mana ran dry. Duluth unleashed her spell. It was a blast of white/green mana through her own chest. It opened a massive hole. Nearby terrain grew up rapidly. The trees had white bark and gold leaves. Everything began to grow rapidly, in strange iconic ways. Duluth opened her mouth and vomited a cascade of blood. Green mana covered her body to heal the damage, only for her to fall over. Black mana spread through her body it was poisonous to her. Melvin crawled to her failing body and punched her repeatedly, as she spasmed and gaged on her own blood. He felt her pain as she stared at him accusingly. As each blow rained down on her, he could feel her bitter hate. When she finally died, he got up. A sigh exhaled from his undead lungs. The ever-present mountains loomed over head. Behind them represented freedom from this valley and hope. If he could escape this place perhaps, he could put violence behind him. Melvin had enough in the last week to last a lifetime. As black mana consumed Duluth, he could feel a flow of power like never before. His body filled past the breaking point with black mana and he could feel the life within Duluth die and enter his body. Level Up x100 +(2STRxlv) Level UP x200 +(2STRxlv) Level Up x300 +(2STRxlv) Melvin Hill lv535 Species: Undead Race: Lich Age: 19Years Perks: Brutal Death 10/10, Bloody Wrath 10/10, Troll Musculature, Steel Spirit, Exceptional Control. HP 50/37,500 MP 0/26,750 VIT 70 STR 1,100 DEX 50 END 10 INT 50 WIS 9 WIL 50 CHA 10 LUK 5 Stat Points 2,525 Skills Black Rage lv56 Devastation lv20 Dark Heal lv10 Pain Resistance lv5 Raise Dead lv12 Control Dead lv10 Death Touch lv5 Territory Creation lv15 Bone Craft lv1 Ch4 Quests His body was a wet paper bag holding back an explosion. Any movement could rip his flesh apart. Just moving at his full speed had nearly destroyed him. He looked over to see the downed body of Duluth. After rotting rapidly, a small green gem remained. Melvin walked over slowly and picked up the small green stone. He let go of it when green mana began to invade his body. ¡°Shit, fuck why does this keep happening?¡± Green mana infested his body again. Slowly the green energy crept into his system only for the pain to force fresh power into him. His eyes went black and he yelled out. His territory slowly expanded from his zombie horde. When the black mana of his territory reached his feet, he felt the soothing touch of the dark. Melvin soaked in the black mana and let it sooth his aching bones. Plants died filling him with ever more Black Mana. His zombies soaked it up leveling and empowering him with their mana stores. He thrust his hand into the nearest zombie and began to drain it dry. ¡°Hello, my friend you seem well.¡± A butterfly man said. Melvin continued absorbing the black mana from the zombie wolf. He needed to regain max MP quickly. ¡°Have you begun filling out the forest quests. There should be some even for a mere corpse such as yourself. Even mongrel elves have quests presented to them by their ancestors. Your little compound must have issued a few.¡± Mobius said. ¡°I didn¡¯t know there were quests. Can anyone set them? How does the rewards system work?¡± Melvin asked. He had a ton of stat points to allocate and more than a few perks to get used to. If Mobius pushed him, well he had enough mana for one more all out assault. ¡°You¡¯ve gotten scary Melvin. I can see your body brisling with power. So, sexy you must drive all the zombie girls crazy.¡± Mobius said. Melvin measured the distance between himself and Mobius. It was just a few hundred feet. If he really boosted his stats, maybe he could rip the wings off in his first blow. Then, he could use one of the nearby trees as a spring board to finish him with a decapitating close line. He decided to call the move the guillotine. ¡°There are indeed quests some I¡¯ve made and other created by your tribe. Though, those are unavailable to me. You are a scary guy. Duluth is a hard bitch to put down. I¡¯ve done it once myself, but she always comes back with an immunity to what destroyed her before. The number of coincidental perks that foul woman has, could fill a scroll.¡± Mobius landed in Melvin¡¯s territory and began converting it instantly. ¡°You hurt me Melvin, you hurt me so much, and I¡¯ve become interested in your growth. You a mere newborn ripped off one of my wings and forced me to replace myself with a wood clone. A devastating insult but killing you here would be a waste. I want to fight you at your most beautiful, when your power is great enough to slay this forest as I can grow it. As for your question. So, long as the quest is difficult enough to warrant the rewards, then our world¡¯s system accepts it. If the reward is less than the effort, then the system may grant random rewards. I would advise you not to cheat the system. Even I am not confident enough to challenge the system.¡± The butterfly man turned his back, Melvin prepared himself to strike. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t, I¡¯ve had more than enough time to reacquaint myself with my stats. Our roles are reversed it seems.¡± Something was wrong. His zombie bears suddenly ripped open magenta butterflies began to pour out of the. The flesh of his zombies began to rapidly lose form as their HP dropped. Melvin gripped his face as sudden pain overtook him. His eyes burst as caterpillars began to wiggle within devouring his flesh. ¡°Duluth was my mother Melvin. She created me many hundreds of years ago. It was my summoning that brought her back to this world and you killed her. So, suffer.¡± Melvin yelled unleashing Black Rage as his body fought to produce more black mana. The caterpillars in his eyes died. He was blind, but stat screens were in his head. Melvin was blind, but he could still feel life and death. The world slowly came back into focus, not as a world of color but as mana. New skill Mana Sight lv1 No longer are you bound by the physical world. All things touched by mana show themselves in a 3demensional scale. The higher the level the further your sight extends. 5m +1/lv 5MP +1/lv Melvin could see again, he was a single point with perfect 360-degree vision. He doubled and tripled the stack on Mana Sight. Extending his view to encompass the trees, the maggots within his zombies, and Mobius. The world became a fight between green and black energy. His Black Rage had been a wave before, he had no way to truly direct it. Now with eyes that saw only energy, he could see where the green infected the black. The entropy aura shifted becoming an entity of long precise tentacles. He struck with a scalpel of entropy killing the small green worms. ¡°This is why, I won¡¯t kill you before your stronger Melvin. Even when you shouldn¡¯t have a way to fight back, you make one. Keep growing, Melvin show me what you can do. And thank you for the treat.¡± Mobius held the green gem that had been in Duluth¡¯s body. He swallowed it down, the light green his body was made of darkened to a forest green. Mobius Son of Duluth lv2300 Minor divine status This entity was created by Duluth. His poisonous dust contains necrotic caterpillar eggs. Tiny amounts of white mana exist within his own mana pool allowing him to resist the power of death itself. He can manipulate nature and mutate it to suit his needs. The elves of the deer tribe consider him a dark spirit of misfortune. They will do anything to destroy this monster. He has taken a liking to you protect you ass at all costs. New skills Mana Control lv1 Manipulate the finer aspects of mana and yield greater results. No longer are you a mere initiate, with this skill you are practically a novice. If you ever get back to the organization, they will surely up your rank. -1MP cost/lv +1% Effect Dam/lv Mana Shape lv1 A further evolution on the road to mana manipulation. Not only have you gained the ability to make constructs from mana, but you can maintain their form for an extended period. This skill is at the apprentice level. -5MP/lv +5%Effect Dam/lv ¡°Are you at your perfect form now? You haven¡¯t changed much. Duluth had another 5k levels over you and I killed her. What makes you think I won¡¯t kill you?¡± Mobius turned his head to the side. ¡°Duluth, my mother wasn¡¯t a combatant. She was always a researcher all her stat points were in wisdom, Luck, Vitality, and Intelligence. Her build was in territory creation and gene manipulation. You couldn¡¯t find a better researcher and shaman in the deer tribe. In combat, she was worthless. The only real combat skill she had was a Heavy Life Lance. The skill is powerful, I won¡¯t gain access to it until lv5k, but it isn¡¯t something to write home about at her level. She wasn¡¯t a war ancestor; I and my brothers were created for that purpose. You have a week to become strong enough to fight me.¡± Mobius said, and flew away covering the forest with his dust. Melvin formed a black barrier around himself and his remaining zombies. Melvin knew what he had to do, take advantage of his infinite stamina and grind. First Perks, he had over1000 in strength there had to be some powerful perks. STR Perks
  1. Troll Musculature
X10STR
  1. Dark Soul Reaper
+50% of users STR added to Minions +0.01% of Minion STR upon their death
  1. Decaying Wrath
1% of STR as Entropy Damage per hit
  1. Frozen Brutality
1% of STR as Ice Damage per hit 0.01% chance to inflict Frozen
  1. Finite Blow
0.01% enemy level reduction
  1. Devour Might
0.01% Steal STR
  1. Death March
Territory boosts STR 5%
  1. Strong body Stronger mind
Increase INT by 1% of STR
  1. Strong Vitality
Increase VIT by 1% of STR
  1. Mighty WIL
Increase WIL by 1% of STR
  1. 1000 Fists IN the Air
Sacrifice 1000 Minions to double STR for 10s
  1. Shade of Might
Project a ghostly entity for 30s once a day with half of all your Stats except STR. The ghostly projection possesses all your skills and will attack any of your enemies. Melvin Hill lv535 Species: Undead Race: Lich Age: 19Years Perks: Brutal Death 10/10, Bloody Wrath 10/10, Troll Musculature, Steel Spirit, Exceptional Control. HP 10,000/96,300(+2,500)(98,800) MP 15,000/85,600 VIT 70(180) STR 1,100(11,000) DEX 50 END 10 INT 50(160) WIS 9 WIL 50(160) CHA 10If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. LUK 5 Stat Points 2,525 Skills Black Rage lv58 Devastation lv20 Dark Heal lv10 Pain Resistance lv5 Raise Dead lv12 Control Dead lv10 Death Touch lv5 Territory Creation lv20 Bone Craft lv1 Mana Sight lv3 Mana Control lv2 Mana Shape lv1 With Mobius out of the picture, he slumped over and started casting Dark Heal on himself. His body was a mess. The black mana was leaking from his body even as he tried to face off against mobius and those damn maggots. If he was really going to fight the guy, he needed a leg up. He was less than a fourth the guys lv and in most games that would mean his death. But, if builds really decided everything then maybe he needed to specialize even further in brutality. The only thing keeping him from plummeting all 2,525 points in STR was the feeling his body gave off. Melvin felt unbalanced. He had to use less strength than ever just to keep himself from jumping through the tree tops by accident. The ground felt like it would fall apart if he wasn¡¯t careful. His body looked like a giant mass of muscle. He needed to even it out with DEX and END. The problem was, it took 10 of any stat to equal one of STR. He opened the quest menu. All quests were labeled under W, B, G, U, Y, R, O, P, S. He navigated to B which stood for Black Mana. There were three tabs. Skills Lab, Bounty, and Farming he clicked on the skills lab. If he was going to get stronger perhaps gaining a few skills would be beneficial. Then more tabs appeared. There were dozens but only six were available. Bone Craft, Undead Management, Mana Manipulation, Alchemy, Flesh Craft, and Summoning. Melvin took a breath and clicked on Bone Craft. He hadn¡¯t had a chance to mess with the skill recently. The next list of tabs was listed Initiate, Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Adept, Master, Grand Master, and Overlord. The only quests available were in Initiate. Of the Initiate tab only one quest was available. Initiate Quest Bone Craft 101 Acquire: three bird skeletons Rewards: +1lv Bone Craft Y/N Melvin picked up three bird corpses and rotted away the flesh and muscles, while keeping the skeletons intact. Initiate Quest Complete Bone Craft 101 Part1 Bone Craft Level UP Bone Craft lv2 Melvin went to the next quest. Initiate Quest Bone Craft 101 Part 2 Shape: 1Bone Ingot from three bird Skeletons Rewards: +1lv Bone Craft Y/N He placed his hands on the skeletons and slowly pooled his mana within them. Once his mana comprised the empty spaces between the molecules that made up the bones, he could pull them and force them to change shape. Slowly, the bones broke apart and crumbled into dust. This wasn¡¯t how a bone ingot was made. Fortunately, there were plenty of skeletons to choose from. After the fourth attempt, he had an idea. Altering the bones damaged them, so why not heal them as he alters them. Melvin started moving the bones apart, when there was a crack, he used dark heal to regain durability. Soon, he had a small ingot, full of black mana. Initiate Quest Complete Bone Craft 101 Part2 Reward: +1lv Bone Craft Bone Craft Level Up Bone Craft lv3 Every time, he completed a quest a new one opened. It was slow, but with a new level for each quest he could see himself mastering the skill overtime. This must have been what Mobius was talking about. Quests could make or break a build. His stats were at the apprentice level, but his skills were not. There were ten quests to each tier. Initiate Quest Bone Craft 101 Part 3 Craft: Bone Dagger Slay: Forest Bear with Bone Dagger Rewards: +1lv Bone Craft, +1INT This was a real test. He held the small ingot in his hand and slowly widened and healed the block of bone until it was the length he wanted the dagger. He brushed his hand over the back end of the block rounding it for the hilt. Melvin added a slight guard for the fingers and then began work on the blade. He thinned and edged the blade careful to add a slight second edge on the back of the blade for extra penetration. He kept the blade straight, piercing a Forest bear¡¯s skull would be difficult enough for the weapon. A curved blade would decrease piercing power. Watching knife and sword channels on Youtube never came in so handy. With the blade formed he stabbed into a nearby tree. The formerly hollow bird bones held up well enough thanks to Melvin¡¯s efforts to strengthen them. With dagger in hand he ran deeper through the forest. He doubted Mobius would let him out, so it was better to train. After dashing through the forest, he came upon his prey. A lone male bear was scratching against nearby rocks sharpening its claws. Melvin kept his mana close to his body to keep his presence concealed. He stepped out of cover when the bear¡¯s back was turned. Leaping upon the bear¡¯s back, he thrust his dagger at the nape of the bear¡¯s neck. Melvin hoped to take out the creature¡¯s spine in the first stab. Fat and muscle were too thick for the dagger to pierce. The bear struggled only for Melvin to kick it against the rock. Dagger in hand, he began to rapidly stab at the bear¡¯s stomach. Blood covered his body as the bear was suddenly inflicted with frozen. Its whole body froze solid then with a final kick, it shattered. Frozen blood covered his dagger. He looked at it more carefully. The dagger gained an effect after slaying a bear. Frozen Bone Dagger +1 to 10 Frost damage Initiate Quest Complete Bone Craft 101 Part 3 Reward: +1lv Bone Craft, +1INT Bone Craft level up Bone Craft lv4 Initiate Quest Bone Craft 101 Part4 Merge: 2 Bone Daggers Craft: M Bone Ingots 2 Rewards: +1lv Bone Craft, +1INT As for the bone M Bone Ingots, that was simple. He just killed a couple of wolves and made ingots from their bones, until his quest tab had a check mark by the Craft icon. He took one of the spares and began to merge them the same way he altered bones. Melvin repeatedly altered and healed them until they were one solid element. That didn¡¯t complete the quest. He had to look deeper. With his mana sight, he saw pieces of bone that didn¡¯t react well to Black Mana. Melvin forced them out and kept the pieces that reacted well. Once complete a new window popped up. Initiate Quest Bone Craft 101 Part 4 Rewards: +1lv Bone Craft, +1INT Bone Craft level up Bone Craft lv5 2free INT points didn¡¯t seem like much, but if he was still in the facility that would be the difference between life and death. There was so much left to do. It had only been a few hours since he started questing. After part 6 every quest gave him 2INT and 1WIS. Now he was on part 10. Initiate Quest Bone Craft 101 part10 Craft1: 24 bone shafts, 24 Bone broadheads, 24 fletchers, 24 nocks Craft2: 1 Bone Longbow Slay: Forest Turkeys 10 Rewards: +2lvs Bone Craft, +2INT, +1WIS This wasn¡¯t as daunting a task as it should be. After building calipers and a few bone sculpting tools, this was the next step. He even had a bone quiver and a spine harness. He wore a kilt, he made from bear hide sewn with a thread he made of bone fibers. It was the best he could do. The bone fibers kept the kilt from rotting away, when he used entropy-based magic. Melvin carefully measured the bone shafts and carefully made indentions for the broadhead, fletchers, and nock to fit in. He left small twists in both that could be locked. He would Dark Heal the arrow whole when completed. In less than an hour the first step was finished. Now, he needed to make a long bow. Taking the backbone of a bear, he curved and altered the piece until it was symmetrical. Then he took a few ingots and lengthened them. After tearing strips away, he began to wind them together. With that he connected the indentions finishing the bone bow. He nocked an arrow and fired it at a tree. It missed slamming into the nearby dirt. The broadhead snapped off in the ground. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to fix that.¡± He mumbled to himself. With a sigh, he walked out towards the lake near the eastern side of the forest. He had Forest Turkeys to kill. Like with most things in the forest, if he let his mana out, everything living made a beeline to kill him. This time, he attracted well over 400 turkeys. The flock made wild gobbling sounds and smashed into his territory. Zombie bears growled and slapped the birds back savaging them with claws. The turkeys wouldn¡¯t stop. They leapt and dug their talons into the sides of his zombies. His arrows found their way into the strangely large birds. They were half the size of the bears. Initiate Quest Complete Bone Craft 101 part 10 Rewards: +2lv Bone craft, +2INT, +1WIS Bone Craft level up Bone Craft lv13 He felt a pair of sharp claws dig into his body. His head turned in time to see an elf with mutated arms and legs rip its claws out of him. Before the strange creature could go in for a second blow, Melvin dashed back and fired his quiver into the elf. The Elf took every arrow with little more than a growl. ¡°My name is Vento I sold my place with the ancestors to Mobius for the power to slay you abominations.¡± Dark Heal was already healing his wounds but covering them up might give him the advantage. Melvin directed his zombie bears to attack the insane elf. The elf¡¯s obsidian claws tore through necrotic flesh and splintered bone. He moved too quickly for the bears to react to. His zombies were faster, but the elf fought faster. Melvin was dealing with a high dexterity fighter. The shafts of bone in the elf¡¯s flesh began to fall out, as fur from the arms began to poke out of the wounds. If he got too close, the creature would make confetti out of him. Vento Elf Warrior lv250 Enchanted Beast He could see from the nearby bird¡¯s the elf¡¯s ears were darkening becoming wolf like. Mobius must have messed with the guy¡¯s genes. ¡°So, you sold yourself to Mobius just, so you could commit suicide through me. I¡¯m honored. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll bring you back as a zombie, so you can serve me for all eternity.¡± Melvin said. Vento Elf Warrior lv300 Enchanted Werewolf Melvin whistled, the guy went up 50 levels. His transformation was still going on. Melvin pulled a bone Warhammer from his shoulder harness and tossed his bow away. He bent his legs gently feeling the ground begin to cave underneath him. ¡°Well Jacob, I¡¯m gonna kill ya.¡± Melvin said, and sprinted to Vento¡¯s left slamming the Warhammer into his guts. The elf turned werewolf spat out blood before fur began to rapidly grow over his stomach. Melvin stepped off a nearby tree and slammed his Warhammer into Vento¡¯s knee. A claw managed to catch Melvin in the stomach. Vento Elf Warrior lv350 Enchanted Werewolf Melvin nodded his head and sent every flee, tick, and wasp at the werewolf. Vento¡¯s claws moved rapidly to get rid of the flying insects, but it was pointless against the flees and ticks. Small dots of black mana appeared all over Vento¡¯s body. Vento began to rapidly scratch himself like a common dog. A ghostly smile covered Melvin¡¯s face. He placed his hands on the ground and got in relay position. Just when Vento¡¯s eyes were distracted he leapt at maximum speed. There was one weakness that every breathing creature had. He smashed Vento in the Solar Plexus. The air left the werewolf¡¯s lungs and it immediately began to spasm fighting to breath and scratch itself. Melvin¡¯s fists tightened, as he cackled at his opponent¡¯s distraction. Two lightning fast strikes shattered the bones in Vento¡¯s shoulders. Vento opened his mouth to scream but couldn¡¯t. Melvin smashed Vento¡¯s Adams apple. He took a step back and watched the werewolf begin to suffocate in earnest. A frown crossed Melvin¡¯s face. ¡°Another fool tricked and tossed into this game with no understanding of the rules. Perhaps, you will have a better fate as my minion. I would have hated to fight you, once your transformation finished. You might have beaten me.¡± Melvin knew that his opponents would probably fully transformed werewolves from now on. That¡¯s how games worked. Everything was linear. He was certain after he killed Mobius, there would be some other big bad to fight against. How was he going to train for the guy after Mobius? He needed to continue to raise his strength and everything else he could. The werewolves weren¡¯t really a threat. Their instincts would betray them every time. Mobius was wrong, he wasn¡¯t going to destroy forests with a single blow, he would destroy several forests. After looking Vento over, he decided to raise the guy. A small cartoonish black creature formed from his mana. The creature jumped into the corpse. Followed by a string of black mana. ¡°I live, but you killed me.¡± Vento said. ¡°Why would you bring me back?¡± Melvin stared the partial werewolf over. ¡°Vento, do you know who I am?¡± Melvin asked. ¡°You¡¯re the abomination. A creature from across the great sea come to devour our forests and rape our women.¡± Vento said. Melvin chuckled. ¡°Is that what they say about me. Good, I¡¯m a lich, if I¡¯m not feared them I¡¯m not doing my job. Do you know your situation?¡± Vento glared with such ferocity that Melvin though about just snuffing his unlife out. ¡°I will honor my loss. It is your right to do with my body what you will. I will follow you, so long as you have control over me.¡± Melvin thought, about going the god emperor route, but the elf would make a pitiful Warmaster. The elven werewolf was back down to lv1. That was depressing. But, maybe he could work with him. Time was on his side. ¡°Your first task is to use territory creation.¡± It was rather simple. If he could use territory creation, then it would make things easier. ¡°My Lord, I am compelled to inform you of another method of territory creation. I gained a new skill from my creation. Blood Prison, it causes agony to living creatures it is more efficient than simple territory creation.¡± Melvin nodded. ¡°Use it, gather all the mana you can. I will give you half of my army do with it what you will.¡± Melvin said. He would give him enough rope to hang himself. Melvin Hill lv535 Species: Undead Race: Lich Age: 19Years Perks: Brutal Death 10/10, Bloody Wrath 10/10, Troll Musculature, Steel Spirit, Exceptional Control. HP 10,000/96,300(+2,500)(98,800) MP 15,000/85,600 VIT 70(180) STR 1,100(11,000) DEX 50 END 10 INT 56(166) WIS 11 WIL 50(160) CHA 10 LUK 5 Stat Points 2,525 Skills Black Rage lv58 Devastation lv20 Dark Heal lv10 Pain Resistance lv5 Raise Dead lv12 Control Dead lv10 Death Touch lv5 Territory Creation lv20 Bone Craft lv13 Mana Sight lv3 Mana Control lv2 Mana Shape lv1 Ch5 The Mountains Elven POV They huddled in their tree tops, as the creature passed. They were beneath his notice. The grey creature never even glanced at them. It stepped through and trees aged, animals died and turned to bone, and the weak or sickly elves died on the spot. This creature never stopped moving, it never stopped hunting, and even the ancestors feared it. It was the necromancer¡¯s Machine, then the demon Mobius came to them and offered trade. If they gave him ten elf maidens, in exchange he would turn one of their warriors into a creature capable of combating the machine. Ten of their most beautiful young maidens offered themselves up to the green haired demon. The fallen ancestor took them to its lair. When Mobius returned, many elves spat on the ground when hearing the fallen ancestor¡¯s name. Vento, their greatest ambush hunter offered himself. The fallen ancestor did something to him. Vento began to grow claws from his fingertips, he left to confront the machine. The fight was quick and brutal. They looked through the eyes of the few bird¡¯s that still ventured near the machine. Vento managed to score a deadly blow ripping a hole through the machine¡¯s chest. But, it was insufficient. The grey creature had many tools at its disposal. Undead wasps, bees, ticks, fleas, and other biting insects attacked Vento distracting him. The Machine took a Warhammer to Vento¡¯s legs and shattered his shoulders with precise strikes. To increase their warriors suffering, the machine smashed Vento¡¯s wind pipe. It was unfeeling and without mercy. Further defiling Vento¡¯s body, the machine raised Vento from the dead and commanded him to cause suffering to further fuel the machine. Now, the Machine climbed the mountain leading to the burial trees of kings. All thirteen tribes of the elvish nation held their breath as, the Machine reached the base of the mountain. Melvin POV Lv735 In less than two days Vento¡¯s skill had raised his level by proxy 200lvs. It was astounding how much suffering before death effected xp. No, it made sense. Death was just a by product of necromantic feeding. The task at hand shook him from his thoughts. They were moving up the mountain. It was perhaps the only way out of the valley. There was also the need to increase his bone supply. Melvin had risen Bone Craft to the 30s and reached the apprentice tier. This tier required many more bones. He needed to stockpile them to build housing and other structures. Vento claimed that there were reptiles in the mountains that were vastly larger and more powerful than anything in the forest. These creature¡¯s fed from the mountain¡¯s volcanic heat. They were of the Red Mana. Elves only ventured up here when a king died. ¡°Why are we leaving? If we remain in the forest, I can continue using blood prison. We could be in the thousands within a year.¡± Melvin continued to walk towards the mountain. He could feel a fire coming from the place. It drew upon his desire to fight. ¡°We could, but it would be a waist. My intelligence rose 400 from leveling. That¡¯s worthless for my build. You had a similar increase. As an ambush hunter, I doubt that helped your build. No, from what I can tell, our best bet to increase our strength is to fight stronger enemies.¡± It may be a bit slower, but the gains are worth it. They began to walk up the mountains. ¡°Roarrrr,¡± A massive reptile chased them. Flames bellowed from its mouth as it charged and tried to rip them apart with its claws. Tyrant Lizard lv300 It lives its life in the fringe of mountainous areas. From its mouth flames, from its claws poison, and from its ass thunder. This creature is dangerous for the inexperienced. Melvin leapt up from under the creature to uppercut it. The massive lizard fell backwards. Its teeth smashed together cracking in places. Warhammer in hand, Melvin smashed the creature on the head. The skull split, and its brain swelled. He placed a hand on the creature, ¡°Death Touch,¡± the creature began to rot. ¡°I will skin it and make leather from its hide. As my master, you shouldn¡¯t walk around in just armor.¡± Melvin nodded and let Vento get to work. He heard a twig snap and a pack of the creatures invaded their camp. The burned and snapped their jaws at the bears. Melvin smashed his hammer into the nearest monster. More packs were running out of caves to attack their small convoy of undead. Fortunately, there were always more dead to raise. Melvin raised the newly downed Tyrant Lizards. His new creature leapt from the ground and clamped their jaws on the invading lizards. It was a blood bath. Fire, blood, and bone covered the ground when the raid finally ended. ¡°I believe we came upon one of their cities.¡± Vento said, Melvin raised a brow. ¡°Tyrant Lizards are an intelligent semi sentient species. They tolerate undead no more than we elves do.¡± Vento chuckled, at the irony. Melvin nodded his head. ¡°Well, if they¡¯re smart, they will surrender. I have to get over that mountain range, if they stand in my way then they are the enemy.¡± Melvin said. ¡°Master, there are paths through the city.¡± He turned to one of the newly zombified Tyrant Lizards. Only, it wasn¡¯t a zombie. Unlike the others, it was raised while it still had a bit of life left in it. Black Tyrant Lizard lv1 This tyrant lizard was brought from the brink of death by raise undead. It has the mana of a necromancer with the ability to reproduce. Its allegiance is with the one who raised it. This tyrant lizard¡¯s instincts caused him to worship you. ¡°Could you get us safe passage?¡± He asked the B Tyrant Lizard. The creature had the head of a T-rex and the body of a four-limbed dragon. It was black instead of the red scales of the normal Tyrant Lizards. Their necks were long with small spikes. They could stand on their back legs or run on all fours. ¡°My kind are called the Crested, if one of us vouch for you, then you may enter as friends even if you are different.¡± Melvin only now noticed the crown like crest on top of the creature¡¯s head. ¡°Do all of your kind have crest?¡± Melvin asked curious. ¡°Only the females. Males are smaller and fewer in number. They are normally kept in pins for mating. A male¡¯s life is one of the easiest in all Crested. My name is Shredder master. What is your name, for when I introduce you?¡± Melvin shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Call me Melvin.¡± The reptile¡¯s eyes became slits. ¡°Melvin, truly it must be a mighty name in your culture.¡± Shredder said. He shrugged and let her lead the way. Shredder showed her crest to the reds of her kind and they slowly stopped charging. Now that Melvin counted, over half of the crested were black while the others were zombies. One was a legit Wight, the paralyzing super zombie. ¡°Come and meet the queen, if she judges you worthy, then you may cross through our territory. My name is Captain Gutburster, of the 10th squad.¡± Melvin smiled at the names. ¡°Do you understand a word their saying?¡± Vento asked. ¡°Yea, its like their speaking my language.¡± Melvin said in perfect elvish. It was his body. The necromancer¡¯s who built it installed a couple of extras. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Captain, why do the men remain indoors, while the women defend?¡± Melvin asked. ¡°We are a sexually dimorphic species. Females are 2 or 3 times the size of an average male. With the increased size is increased muscle density and brain capacity. Then you get to our birthrate. The average clutch is 10 females to 1 male. In a clutch that ranges from 50 to 100 eggs. You were originally a mammal correct. Humans are also a dimorphic species, with the stronger, smarter, and more durable male. Your females must guard and gestate the young, difficult in this dangerous world.¡± Gutburster said. She was a red scaled female like many of the Crested. She wore a satchel and was armored unlike many of the other warriors. ¡°Why do so few of you wear armor?¡± Melvin asked. ¡°You are a curious one isn¡¯t you. For an undead abomination, you seem a hatchling.¡± Shredder growled at the slight. Melvin raised his hand to calm her. ¡°I¡¯ve held my hand from your destruction. Pray, I don¡¯t decide to destroy you.¡± Melvin said. ¡°You can try, but the Crested aren¡¯t so easily beaten. Remember, this is our mountain.¡± Gutburster said. They traveled through a series of tunnels to a massive space. Houses carved from stone circled the antechamber. A river flowed through the space and out of the mountain. It was cleaner than he expected. The air within the cave was much warmer. After crossing through the original cave, they entered a tunnel leading to something like a palace. Statues of powerful Crested covered the courtyard. Lanterns lit the area burning an oil of some sort. His formation of undead followed behind him ever present. They were apart of him in a way. He could feel his mana within them. Even Vento was just an expression of his will. Only the Shredder and the other living crested with his mana within them remained truly sentient. A massive specimen lay in a bed of hot coals as various tiny crested mated with her. She opened her eyes and glared at him. ¡°The abomination that dared to climb my mountain, have you surrendered. Is that why you¡¯re here.¡± Tyrant Lizard Queen lv600 The queen of the Tyrant Lizards or crested. She sits upon a bed of hot coals to maintain her strength. Quick to anger she often toys with friend and foe alike. She won¡¯t hesitate to make threats and throw insults. Melvin smiled and spread his hands wide. ¡°I am Melvin and I¡¯ve come to ask for passage to the other side of your mountain. Whether you lead the way, or I have to step over your corpse to get there is your decision.¡± Melvin said. ¡°Asking for a favor and throwing threats around, how droll. You may be a higher level than me, but this is my territory. Undead are known for burning well. Do you think you¡¯re any different? All things burn.¡± The queen said. Melvin sighed. He thought about plugging her full of arrows. He was certain, he could place one each in her eyes before she could react. Instead, he kept his hands behind his back and held himself like a pillar. He stepped upon the coals. She raised an eyebrow and the males began to growl at his approach. The coals cooled rapidly with each step. His steps themselves inflicted a small amount of ice damage. The Crested noticed it. ¡°I know why the elves fear you. An abomination that can¡¯t be stop, it marches and kills anything in its way. It doesn¡¯t matter how much strong the foe, it wins every battle. Blind it; death has no need of sight, stab it; death is beyond life, or stand in its way; death stops for no one. Are you really the god death?¡± The queen asked. Melvin stopped a few feet from her. ¡°No, now, will you grant me passage.¡± He asked. ¡°Elves truly are gossips, how disappointing. But no, the tunnel leading to the other side was collapsed to protect us from the orcs. Disgusting green creatures, they tried to take my queendom. They said the iron belong to them by right of conquest. If I could unleash you upon them, I would have left the tunnel open, but I¡¯m afraid its closed.¡± Melvin nodded. ¡°Thank you for being honest with me. I will go over the mountain. I¡¯m sorry to have wasted your time.¡± Melvin said. She licked the side of his head. ¡°You taste powerful. If you were of my species, I would consider you a worthy consort.¡± The male crested growled at him. She reached down and snatched one up in her jaws, before Melvin heard bones snap and the queen swallowed. Once her throat was clear she spoke again. ¡°Did I give any of you, permission to be rude to my guest? And you, I didn¡¯t say stop.¡± The male behind her continued pleasuring her. Melvin wiped the drool from his head. He felt nothing but rage but held himself from crushing the queen. His black crested remained to praise his name and add his mana to the queendom. He let them, they were free after all. The mountain loomed overhead. They let him out at a higher tunnel. Melvin moved slowly letting his new crested zombies lead the way. Their raptor toes evolved for climbing. Melvin stopped when the sun began to set. Most of his zombie army couldn¡¯t see at night. He made a small fire and leaned against a bear. He still couldn¡¯t see with his natural eyes. Even now, as he gazed at the sky, he saw nothing but black. ¡°Hello, don¡¯t be startled. I¡¯m from the government.¡± In the fire light he saw her through his bears. She was dressed in wolf furs and her black hair was braided. Her face was oval and pale. He could fee from her the white mana that Duluth possessed. ¡°Comrad Melvin correct, your profile is out in the open for any to see. That could be dangerous, if you were in the homeland.¡± Melvin raised an eyebrow. ¡°Sorry, unlike the barbarians of this land, I hide my information. You may call me Layla. I didn¡¯t think the Black would have a success. Did you know, you are the tenth generation in a long line of failures? I was sent here to shut the project down, if there were no successes. But 700 that¡¯s the level of a journeyman. My informants claim, you should have only been born less than a month.¡± Layla said. Melvin¡¯s owls spotted several bats that generated white mana and transferred it to Layla. ¡°Well then go back where you came from and report the success.¡± Melvin said. He could tell when an opponent was gearing up for a fight. ¡°You necromancers always have the same weakness. Break your territory and mana transfer between undead becomes impossible. A mere lv700 is no match for me. Why don¡¯t you make things easier and show your big grey neck to me?¡± She pulled an axe from her back and pointed the barrel of a blunderbuss at him. Boom! Melvin fell back as hot balls of let blasted him in the stomach. That attack alone took a third of his health. He used the force to gain more distance. His owls gave him a great bird¡¯s eye view of the battle. He spent quite a while practicing with his bow using the third person view. Melvin spun killing a diving bat, then pulled his bow and fired three arrows. She burst into bats as the arrows hit. She opened her mouth to say something when she reformed only for Vento to attack from behind claws extended. Her eyes widened in surprise and they did battle. Claws battle axe as Vento used his enhanced strength and overwhelming dexterity to fight the communist vampiress. Melvin calmed down and began to think. She was here to assassinate him. Vento was running low on life and she seemed to get faster with every bit of damage dealt. More than likely a perk. Melvin drew his war hammer and prepared to enter the fray. His perk activated forming a shadowy clone. He nodded to it. The clone leapt into battle, with Melvin¡¯s war hammer. ¡°Enchant Weapon, Death Touch, Territory Creation, Cold Touch, and Leech Life.¡± He said, the battle had gained some distance allowing him to focus on finishing it. He had five seconds left before the clone vanished. The second he started his plan, she would target him. He began to fire on the bats that covered the forest. Melvin attacked at an ever-faster pace. Before the first bat died he had already targeted ten more. Life left the bats and entered his zombies strengthening them further. By the 11th kill Layla broke out of her battle with Vento and his shadow. ¡°Attacking my mana supply how devious, I expected nothing less from a lich.¡± Black Rage x50 ¡°My supply of mana has returned to me Vampire. You can no longer refuel yourself, I¡¯m sure the wounds my servants inflicted upon you are costly. Surrender, perhaps I will be lenient and let you go.¡± Melvin was still powering up. He had his stat page out and dumped 1000 stat points in dexterity, wisdom, and Vitality. He then dropped the last of his points in strength. She didn¡¯t stop, she kept charging and drove her axe in his neck. The bone armor protecting it shattered and the axe slid into his neck then stopped. He healed the armor over the blade, reached up, and snapped the axe head in half. His hand moved like a snake capturing her arm only for her body to turn to bats. Instead of reforming nearby, the bats began to fly down the mountain, and through the forest. Melvin let her go. If he chased her, he would lose his territory and mana supply. So, he took up his bow and began to pick off bats as they flew away. His body had changed again. Melvin was taller, his skull was larger better formed, and his muscles seemed to fit better. He no longer looked like a steroid injecting gym bra. Now, he looked like a giant lineman. His muscles looked more natural. The real change was his mind. Before now, he would have charged into the forest. That one increase in wisdom changed the way he reacted. That wasn¡¯t all. His mana supply was recovering at a faster rate. It felt like his body could take mana in faster. Lightning began to fall from the mountain. His fight with Layla had disturbed something at the top. Started his climb up atop Yogi the last surviving zombie bear. Melvin Hill lv735 Species: Undead Race: Lich Age: 19Years Perks: Brutal Death 10/10, Bloody Wrath 10/10, Troll Musculature, Steel Spirit, Exceptional Control, Dark Soul Reaper, Decaying Wrath, Frozen Brutality, Finite Blow, Devour Might, Death March, Strong Body Stronger Mind, Strong Vitality, Mighty Will, 1000 Fists in the Grave, Shade of Might HP 180,000/904,050(+2,500) (906,550) MP 150,000/448,350 VIT 1070(162) 1232 STR 1,625(x10) 16,625 DEX 1050 END 10 INT 456(162) 618 WIS 1011 WIL 50(162) 212 CHA 10 LUK 5 Stat Points 0 Skills Necromancy Black Rage lv58 Devastation lv20 Dark Heal lv40 Pain Resistance lv12 Raise Dead lv20 Control Dead lv25 Death Touch lv15 Territory Creation lv26 Bone Craft lv30 Cold Touch lv3 Magus Mana Sight lv12 Mana Control lv10 Mana Shape lv5 Enchant Weapon lv15