《Semi-Risen》 Chapter 1: Completely unremarkable Chapter 1: Completely unremarkable
Hello Roger. Due to a stray sandwhich dropped on the sidewalk you have slipped into oncoming traffic and died. Your Karma points and the impact of your actions in life are now calculating
The weird blue box floated in front of my eyes. I hung in a vast space of nothing but serene white light. Almost like clouds, but without substance. I tried to look around. Though, the sensation of movement whilst nothing changed soon disoriented me. Maybe it was that it was the only sensation I was experiencing. The silence was deafening and my limbs numb. The box followed my changing perspective, remaining fixed in the center of my view. Semi-transparent and now that I thought of it, with symbols I did not recognize. Though that did not seem to keep me from understanding them. With a pleasant chime the box was replaced with a new one.
Calculations completed. After tallying your life''s work, your good and bad actions. You have been found to have had a negligable effect on those around you in your earthly life. Having achieved nothing of note your Karma points are tallied at +113. Denying you access to the extreme negative karma options. As well as severely restricting what you can afford from the positive karma options.
Name Roger Peabody Level 2
Paths Allegiance
Health 100% Mana 120/120
Health regen 0.01%/sec Mana regen 0.6/sec
STR 9 AGI 8
END 8 DEX 10
VIT 7 INT 12
Skills
Completely unremarkable
Completely unremarkable
Due to how unremarkable you were and how little impact you had on people in life it has now been manifested here. People will overlook you just like everone did on Earth
As a sense of injustice grew in me I started getting frustrated. ¡±Wait what? What is this strange, absurd.......¡± My indignated rambling was ended as I felt a strange calm being forced upon me, draining all will to fight. Smoothing over my thoughts untill my mind was blank for an indeterminate ammount of time. Leaving behind neither awareness nor thought. My mind returned from it''s rock-impression, as yet again the chime was heard.
With your Karma points you may now buy bonuses to take with you into the afterlife. Please take your time to peruse and select the bonuses that would fit you. Select carefully since your eternal soul may depend upon it.
¡±Wait wait wait! My eternal soul MAY depend on it? What the hell kind of afterlife is this? Before I could shout out again the strange calm was once again thrust upon me. My awareness exploded as what seemed like an infinite list expanded in my mind. Dizzyness causing me to fall over. Probably. It''s very hard to tell if you''re standing up hunched over or lying down when you''re suspended in nothing. Suddenly I was very happy to have the strange calm, keeping me from freaking out about all of this. Allowing me to actually thing about it all. ¡±Okay, this seems to be real.¡± I muttered to myself. ¡±Shit, Okay. Lets see what my Karma can get me.¡± I started to browse through the list and very soon, WORRYINGLY soon ran into the end of what I could afford. The list went on for millions upon millions of options. Browsing through the parts i could afford I noticed some marked ''popular purchases''. These popular choices included tickets for 10 points each, change haircolor for 70 and pet-spider for 100. That last one confused me a bit. Leaving behind what I could afford I kept looking. Dagger: 190. Beginners guide 200. Keeping your earthly memories: 10.000. ¡±.... Oh...¡± now that I thought about it, I really could remember nothing from before this white space. ¡±Oh, Well. Ain''t I glad for that calm now......¡± I once again muttered. Okay okay... Well. According to the box, my life probably had nothing worth remembering, right? Considering how little impact it seems I had... I tried to convince myself without much success, though I managed to make me feel a little less pity for myself. And that way of death? No thanks for having to remember that, I''d probably instantly die again from embarassment. That beginners guide also seemed like it would be useful. Probably explained everything that was going on. Like what the hell everything was. 9 strength, was that a lot? Was I a weakling? Flexing my arms I pondered the slight bulge that appeared. Right, I guess I could scratch any hopes of being strong. Still wallowing in my own pity I despodently selected 11 lottery tickets. Since I couldn''t afford anything I might atleast take a chance.
lottery ticket nothing
lottery ticket nothing
lottery ticket nothing
lottery ticket fistful of sand
lottery ticket nothing
lottery ticket New lottery ticket
lottery ticket goblins worth of exp
lottery ticket nothing
lottery ticket Honors of Valhalla [Rare skill], Honor of Valhalla attribute.
lottery ticket nothing
lottery ticket + 1 agi
lottery ticket nothing
Any items gained will appear in your pockets
Name Roger Peabody Level 2
Paths Allegiance
Health 100% Mana 120/120
Health regen 0.01%/sec Mana regen 0.6/sec
STR 9 AGI 9
END 8 DEX 10
VIT 7 INT 12
Honor of Valhalla 0
Skills
Completely unremarkable
Honors of Valhalla
Honors of Valhalla
As one of the honorable Einherjar who have sworn allegiance to Valhalla you get rewarded points for slaying opponents that you may spend with this skill to grant you comforts, skills and much more.
My face was slack with disappointment as the first few tickets yielded little. On the sand one I put my fist in my pocket, and yes. Finally a tactile sensation. The coarse unpleasant feeling of sand clinging to my hand. I tried to shake the sand off my fingers when I got the the exp notification. There my face perked up in intrest. My eyes widening, I gasped as I saw the Rare skill.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. A rare skill? Though I wasn''t sure how much use it would be. With the whole slaying business, which I didn''t really get how that would happen. But the Valhalla part was intresting. That was a hall of gods in the ancient Norse religion.. Does that mean they were correct? Also I had never sworn any allegiance to anyone! Though now that I look at my status some more, my allegiance indicator is still empty.
Congratulations on finishing your selection. Since you failed to attract the attention of any of the recruiters from any of the pantheons, you will be sent to the Pits of dregs. You will have with you what you had just before you died. Good luck on surviving and reaching more pleasant areas.
¡±Wait! Pantheons? So there are gods? Could you-¡± The brightness disappeared. In its place was a dark dank cavern, dimly illuminated by luminecent lichen. Filled with between 30 and 40 confused humans. ¡±Please explain...¡± I lamely trailed off. All around me was confused chatter, as everyone tried to ask everyone else what was going on. In return recieving little in the way of answers. Trying to listen in and gather the courage to speak, I was ignored by the people. This continued on for several minutes before shouting could be heard. I whipped my head in the direction of a tall and handsome blond guy, who had climbed up on a rock ¡±Everybody calm down and be quiet!¡± The stunned crowd quieted down and looked at the man. ¡±I get that everyone is confused. Hell, so am I. But we must remain calm and focused here. Now, my name is Jake and I got here the same as you. By dying it seems. And here would appear to be in som god-forsaken part of the afterlife. Now if you looked through the karma store before, you should have noticed several food sections. Which should be an indicator that we still require food. So, who here brought any food with them?¡± A few hands were raised tentatively. ¡±Alright. Anybody that brought enough to last themselves for more than a day or two?¡± The hands were slowly lowered again ¡±Okay. Now it would seem that our first priority, should be to find food and a way out of these caves. And seeing as there appears to be only one tunnel out of here I suggest we stick together and all head out now¡± The man named Jake said, as he pointed towards one of the walls. Standing on the tip of my toes I peered over the crowd and just managed to make out what appeared to be a poorly lit tunnel. Jake smoothly jumped off the rock and started heading towards the tunnel. The chattering started growing again and I fellt the press of bodies. Half walking, half pushed, I started following the rest of our mob of the confused. While walking, people seemed to have calmed down a bit. The formation becoming looser. Those near me started discussing the white space and what was going on more. ¡±Yeah. I mostly just stayed in my house all life. Except when I went to the store to shop, or to pick up my trust fund check. That''s probably why I only got 7000 karma points. I didn''t speak to a single human the last 5 months of my life...¡± ¡±Yeah, I ended up with 12000. I queried from where. Apparently I got 4000 points from holding doors for people. 10 points per person. and 8000 from taking care of my dog all its life. As well as an animal tamer skill and Path. I apparently lost a lot from not recycling and stuff¡± As I listened to people chatting I became more and more embarassed over the measly 113 karma points I''d managed to gather. When I got to hear that a 7 year old had managed to get 3000 points, by just playing every day, it made me wish I''d just sink through the ground. I was then VERY happy that nobody seemed intrested in asking me about my points. We went through the tunnel and passed by several, lichencovered branching paths. As we passed more and more tunnels, grumbling from the crowd grew. Until we arrived at a cavern with 5 exits. Jake led us towards the opening opposite the one we''d entered through. When a drawling voice shouted out from the crowd. ¡±Oi! Why should we follow that wanker eh? He''s not led us anywhere at all! Probably just wants to be in charge! Be the man with the big brass balls, yeah?¡± Jake turned around and stopped. A wave of curses spread backwards as people collided with those in front of them. Packing the crowd closer together as those in front were faster to halt. A heavyset man in an orange hunting vest and a rifle slung across his back pressed through the crowd. Moving up towards Jake. ¡±Well wanker? Why would we follow you eh?¡± I started tugging at my foot. Which had somehow ended up under the foot a woman to my left. ¡±I assure you tha-¡± Jake began. Before rudely being interrupted by having his throat torn out, as what looked like a corpse took him in an embrace from behind. A typical lovers embrace, were it not for the blood. ¡±What the fuck!¡± The hunter shouted as a jet of blood arced over Jakes extended hand. Splashing the mans face. Sputtering, he started fumbling with the strap holding his rifle in place. A stunned silence had befallen the crowd as we tried to wrap our minds around what just happened. I stared into the shocked face of Jake. Who still had a finger raised in the typical lectruring position. Pandemonium erupted. Screaming, shoving and crying began as I stood there frozen. Staring at the tunnel as more of the beings came out of it. Shambling their way towards the crowd. Out of the corner of my eye I saw more of the living corpses. Coming out of the other tunnels they started to surround the crowd. A loud bang reverberated through the cave. Snapping me out of my daze, as the hunter had finally managed to get his rifle ready and fired on Jakes killer. A large chunk of its arm was blow off, but it showed no sign reaction, not even dropping the rapidly dying Jake. Only dropping down with its lover as a second shot took it in the throat, going through the spine. Before the man had time to do anything more, a green bolt of light slammed into his chest from the tunnel. Causing him to fall down on the floor, spasming and dropping his weapon. The screaming began changing pitch, as the shamblers reached the group and started tearing into them. Jostled, I kept getting shoved around as one of the beings leapt at the woman next to me, pushing her into me, causing me to fall down with her. The last thing I saw before my head painfully struck the ground and all was dark, was the tallow sunken face of an eyeless corpse. I tried to open my eyes, finding the left one unable to do so. Automatically my hand jerked to rub it before my other eye took in the surroundings. Memory of the attack came back to me. A weight was pressing down upon me. A corpse, hiding my twitching arm from the sight of any potential observers. Taking in the dim cavern where I laid, I saw the torn body that was pressing me down. Dripping blod into my face, blocking my left eye. My heart stilled as I recognized the mangled corpse of the woman that had stood on my foot. Turning my head slightly I took in my surrounding. Corpses littered the room. Both those from my group and the walking ones that had fallen upon us. Though, they were turned away it seemed. Standing by the tunnels, looking out. As if standing guard. They were unmoving, making no sound. It seemed as if once again I had been overlooked. Though at the moment I did not mind this. In fact I praised whatever I had done (or more like not done) in my past life that was so boring. Thinking about what to do I heard approaching footsteps. Freezing up. I saw what appeared to be a slavic man in adidas sweatpants and a dark, frayed hoodie. He walked in, bearing a staff made out of four pieces of bone. With a skull on top, completing the strange staff. Under his left arm he had several candles. As well as what appeared to be a leatherbound book. Walking over to the corpse of a rather heavy woman, he prodded her fat with his staff. ¡±This one. And the child next to her. They are fat for candles and dinner. They wouldn''t make very good Ghouls, yah?¡± The man chuckled to himself, as if he''d told some great joke. A small smile spread on his pale face, showing under his grimy, patchy beard. Three of the creatures picked up the indicated bodies. Two of them took a leg each of the woman, dragging her into the passage. The third one slung the body of the child over its shoulder, walking off. The child who had so badly outclassed me in karma points I noted. The man looked around a bit, walked over towards the tunnel, squatted down and placed one of the candles. Then walking along the wall, out of my field of view. By the sounds he was making it seemed like he walked from tunnel to tunnel. Placing candles by the 4 other entrances as well. Letting out a content grunt the man walked back to the first candle, surveying the room. Chanting out some strange, guttral words he thumped his staff into the ground. ¡±Kruethan mahaek.¡± Immediately the candle lit with a sickly green light. Suddenly the cavern filled with this green light from all directions, as one by one the candles seemed to light up. The man opened up his book and started chanting, waving his staff. Starting low the chanting was impossible to make out, except for one word that he repeated several times throughout the chant. ¡±Sethmak¡± His voice raised. ¡±Sethmak!¡± the mumbling chant continued. Fascinated and very, very afraid, I watched as the chanting went on for well over a minute. Then the staff struck the floor with a last shouth ¡±SETHMAK KRUEAUSTEN and the man silenced. Wonder, as well as utter dread filled me, as the green flame in the candle took into the air. It then split in two, then split again and then yet again before they started circling the room. Dozens of the flames danced around in my vision. A dread-inspiring singing filled the room as they circled, faster and faster. Then suddenly the singing and dancing stopped. The flames hung there for a moment, before shooting inwards, towards the bodies. I liked to think it was my immense willpower keeping me from screaming like a little girl. Definitely not the shock of one of the flames flying towards me, right into my one open eye. Chapter 2: Semi-Risen Chapter 2: Semi-Risen
A Corpse-candle spirit has entered you. It is attempting to take control of and reanimate you
Pain exploded in my mind as green flashes filled it. I distantly felt my body twitching as the thunderous roar of my beating heart blocked out all other sound. An eerie humming became noticeable between the roaring heartbeats. The humming captivated me. As I focused on it the pain receded. Fear, anger and surprise all went away. Listening in on it I heard more and more as the thunderous pauses in it became fewer and fewer with longer inbetween. A seductive melody became apparent. Becoming clearer and clearer as it grew less overpowered by heartbeats. Instead they now just intermitently added some interference to the sound. My mind blanking out I surrendered to the sweet melody and cold calm that gently spread through me. I felt the flame of my conciousness be about to be snuffed out and replaced by the flame of the invader. A sudden bash to the side of my head caused a surge of adrenalin to coarse through me. My heartbeat soaring and growing strong, blotting out the song. The flame of my conciousness burst into a roaring flame in the shock and consumed the invader.
The spirit has been consumed right before it managed to subsume you. The work it has done and the energy consumed from it has permanently changed you. You Path has been changed to [Semi-Risen]. Skill: [Conjure corpse-flame] added at level 1. Attribute: [Willpower added]. +10 Willpower. Attribute: [Humanity] added Ammount of mana given by int increased by 50%
Corpse-candle spirit defeated. Experience and 1 Honor of Valhalla gained
[Semi-Risen] A Semi-Risen is someone who is straddling the border between life and death. Alive but yet not entirely. You have been infused with the powers of undeath. As you use the powers of undeath your body and mind will slide towards the state of undeath. Subsuming your mind, leaving only the instinctual hatred and hunger of the undead. As you leave behind your humanity, your powers grow
As my mind returned to me I started to take in everything that had just transpired. Something had just tried to take over my body! And I was apparently undead now or something? My thoughts were interrupted as my saviour twice over, the woman whose body had shielded me and then apparently saved me from the spirit by elbowing me getting up, put a knee right into my groin as she struggled to stand. Tensing up, the air left my lungs in a wheeze as I wallowed in the pain. I started to re-evaluate my gratitude for the woman as I heard the man with the staff shout out. ¡±Okay you shamblers, follow me. It''s time to head home¡± He then turned around and started walking. Soon the former corpses finished getting up and filed into the tunnel after him. Their retreating steps echoing through the cave where I laid. Seeing my chance after beeing overlooked I waited untill the former people all had gone into the tunnel. Throwing one last glance around I hurried to get up and out another tunnel as quietly as I could. Confusion, fear and relief warred in my mind and I tried to decide what to do. First order of business, however, was something I''d wanted to do since I woke up. Putting my hands to my face I vigourously started rubbing the blood out of my left eye. I wasn''t sure how long I had been wandering the tunnel in a daze. I was taken out of my torpor by a sudden growling sound. Fearfully I scanned the area, before my cheeks reddened as I realised the growling came from my starving stomach. Looking around for anything to eat I saw the luminescent lichen. Staring at it doubtfully for some time I was finally persuaded by a very eloquent grumbling. Well... What is the worst that could happen? Tearing loose a piece I inspected it more closely. It didn''t look any more apetizing up close either. Carefully I placed some in my mouth. Then struggling to ignore the horrible taste I swallowed it. I immediatly regreted my decision. What meager content was in my stomach was immediately and forcefully ejected on the cavern floor. Breaking the gray monotony with a splash of rancid yellow.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Panting and hunched over I felt mighty sorry for myself. Wanting something to distract me, I experimented with whether there was any way to bring my status screen up. I vaguely remembered that someone in the group had said something about focusing on ''status''. Doing so I was soon rewarded with the textbox appearing in front of my minds eye again.
Name Roger Peabody Level 2
Paths Semi-Risen Allegiance
Health 93% Mana 180/180
Health regen 0.01%/sec Mana regen 0.6/sec
Humanity 100% Humanity restoration 0.01%/sec
STR 9 AGI 9
END 8 DEX 10
VIT 7 INT 12
Will 10
Honor of Valhalla 1
Skills
Completely unremarkable Conjure corpse-flame 1
Honors of Valhalla
Noticing several changes I focused on the new skill that I had gained.
[Conjure corpse-flame] level 1 By utilizing the undead energies inside you it''s possible to conjure a corpse-flame from your finger, draining your mana and humanity but allowing you to utilize it for various purposes, such as reanimating corpses.
It did sound useful, though I did not like the part where it drained my humanity. I was also unsure of where I would get any corpses. Even if the thought of killing someone would have sat well with me I was not very confident in my ability to do so. Being curious of the Honors of Valhalla skill I focused on it. In my mind another list much like the one I used to spend my Karma points expanded. Unsurprisingly there was not much that I could afford with my meager 1 point. Immediately a smile appeared though as I saw one object near the top. Soon the tunnel filled with the mouthwatering smell of a freshly baked loaf of bread. Tearing into it I couldn''t remember ever tasting anything so delicious. Though thinking of it, I couldn''t remember ever tasting anything before. Having filled my belly to the point of it hurting. My mind could at last stop focusing on the hunger. What it noticed instead was the beginning of thirst. Though not yet too great. I started thinking back on whether I had seen any water in these caves so far. All I could think of and indeed see when I looked around was small rivulets of water on the walls. Not yet desperate enough to try to lick it off the walls I decided to wander on. I realised something, walking through tunnel after tunnel. It''s REALLY hard to keep track of time while underground. with little visual difference in vistas nothing broke the monotony. The only thing indicating that any time had passed at all were my increasingly aching feet, my thirst and exhaustion . I had passed by several depressions into the walls that might fit me. As well as some dark smaller tunnels and cracks that looked like they had been dug out by something. Not yet willing to risk encountering whatever had dug them, nor trusting the scant concealment of a 2-3 meter deep recess for a resting spot, I journeyed on. I started playing games with myself in my mind. Counting prime numbers, playing I spy (though there was only so many times I could ask myself ''is it rock?'') and rearranging letters in my status screen to make up fun sentences. Yet thirst and exhaustion kept creeping into the forefront of my mind. Maybe It wouldn''t be so bad to rest for a while. I could creep into a cozy hole and lick the walls a bit... However, something broke my monotony. Faintly, from one of the tunnels I heard a sound. Water falling into yet more of the water I craved. Forcing myself to be careful and not just rush to the water, I silently crept into the tunnel. As the sound grew louder I saw that ahead even the dim light of the lichen disappeared. Hesitating, I considered going back. However, the sound of the water was too tempting. Silently I creep closer to inspect where the light ended. The lichen was gone, dirtstreaks marking where it should have continued. Some pieces of lichen hung loosely by strands, seemingly as if poorly scraped off. This doesn''t seem very inviting at all. Scratching my arm absentmindedly I once again considered the merits of licking moisture off the walls. On the downside, licking the walls would be disgusting, not give me very much moisture at all and most likely give me some terrifying parasite that made me explode from the inside. Okay, that last bit probably wouldn''t happen. The parasite part was still valid though. Things that spoke for licking the walls however, were not going down into the dark scary place. In the end, necessity prevailed over prudence and I moved down the gently sloping tunnel. Down into the darkness. I considered using my newly acquired skill [Corpse-flame] to try to light the path. Though the thought of losing my humanity, as well as the though of being so visible stopped me. Hell, how would I know that the flame wouldn''t hurt me either? Sliding my left hand along the damp wall as I moved into the darkness. I strained my ears to try to make out any sounds. Hearing nothing but the sound of water, I moved on. Barely able to make out my hand on the wall. I considered whether this really was a good idea. Jumping as I suddenly heard a new sound, I clung to the wall. Heart beating and peering wildly I tried to pick anything out. Tentatively taking another careful step I heard to sound again. Relief spread through me as I realised what the sound was. My shoes made the sound again as I took another careful step onto the watercovered floor. Crouching down I felt with my fingers. The liquid was cool and maybe half a centimeter deep so far. Bringing a finger to my lips I tasted. Water, sweet delicious water. Encouraged by my discovery, I took two rapid steps before my foot struck something and I tripped. Extending my arms to catch myself they painfully struck the slippery bottom. My arms shot forwards on the slippery surface and soon my chin joined the ''bodyparts that are in pain'' club. The echoing splash was soon joined by my sputtering, as I removed my face from the fingerdeep water. Collecting myself I sat upright. I began feeling around myself to find what I had tripped over. Soon my hands found the unpleasant sensation of wet cloth. Pressing down on it it appeared to be on some semi-firm object. With a sinking heart I released the cloth. Needing to know for sure I summoned my will, focusing on my extended hand and the corpse-flame skill. A small, sickly green flame appeared over my index finger. In the unnatural light I first noticed that what I had tripped over was indeed the body of a human. As my mind began to take that in I noticed something else. A violent hissing right to my side. Quickly turning, my flame ended up merely a few centimeters from a a teacup-sized eye. The owner of the eye quickly sqeezed it shut and averted its gaze with an angry hiss. In front of me was a small, repulsive, fishlike creature. Giant eye squeezed shut it hunched over. Towards me it held what seemed like a sharpened piece of bone. My astonished mind was soon awoken by a pained hand as the creature blindly jabbed the small bonespear into it. Chapter 3: Cave-lurker Chapter 3: Lurker Screaming in pain I fell over on my back trying to get away from the hissing monster. Scrambling backwards on the slippery cavern floor I felt stabs of pain every time I pushed with the bleeding hand. The light was rapidly changing as the hand was used to propell me backwards, dimming when it splashed up the bloodied water. The hissing, screaming and spashing echoed around in the the dark cavern, joining the frantic beating of my heart. My mind coming up short when it tried to find a reference as for what to do. The creature rubbed its huge eye with one hand while the other one jabbed wildly in my direction with the bone. My pained and panicked scrambling stopped as my head hit the cavern wall behind me. Disoriented I tried to remember which direction I had arrived from, but everywhere was just darkness outside the little pool of green light. Flipping over in the cold water I started crawling along the wall. Rapidly placing my hands I just barely avoided placing my unhurt one on a jagged piece of bone. My weight now on my hurt hand I flinched, slipping into the now ankle high water as I got my head dunked under the surface. Breaking through the turmoil, some strange, calm part of my mind noticed that the green flame was still burning under the water. The same part urged me to grasp the bones hard as I broke the surface and breathed in the stale air. Holding a jagged piece of bone the length of my hand I turned towards the creature. Scaled and pale it peered towards me, its huge eye squinting to a slit and sharp needle-like teeth showing. Drenched and cold I shivered, clutching my improvised weapon painfully hard I though of how delicous sinking my teeth in warm living flesh would be. I would feel the life slipping from the creature and gorge myself upon.... Where did those thoughts come from? Never mind that, I had more important things to focus on. Under the flame I saw that the bleeding in my left hand had almost completely stopped, leaving a ragged gash. Slowly the pain pulsed with every heartbeat, but distantly, as if belonging to someone else. A growling could be heard and it took me a moment to realize that it came from me. Stopping the growling I licked my lips. I bet its brains would be delicious, succulent and warm, so full of life. Those thoughts made me pause and blink. That really didn''t feel like me. Wait, the flame was supposed to make me more undead wasn''t it? Maybe it''s what''s causing this? Maybe I should-... My thoughts were interrupted as I rocked backwards, a thump against my chest. Looking down I saw that the creature had taken the opportunity to close in and attack while I was distracted by my thoughts. The tip ofc the creatures spear had struck the two bottommost ribs on my left side. Causing a small slow trickle of blood to run out, and from the desperate jerking from the creature to retrieve its weapon it seemed like it had gotten stuck.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I took a step forwards towards my enemy, raising my weapon and then promply slipped on the treacherous footing as the creature pulled once more. Noticing me losing my balance the thing tried to retrieve the spear with one last pull as it stepped sideways out of the path of my falling body. Spinning slightly from the last tug I extended my left hand to break the fall. The bonespear struck the rocky ground and pushed in, threatening to punch through my ribcage before it snapped off under the strain. Scrambling to get up I saw the creature dive forwards and pick up the bonespear, now much shortened and less pointy. Glancing at the broken tool it hissed before throwing it at my face, making me flinch and threatening to once more make me lose my balance. Managing to steady myself I gave the creature a bloodthirsty leer. That was when I felt some kind of reserve inside me run dry and the corpse-flame went out. ¡±Shit¡± I said with hollow concern. Splashing was the only warning I got before something slammed into my leg. Pain blossomed as dozens of sharp teeth sank into it. Falling down the pain didn''t seem important. Well, atleast not as important as cracking open the things head, scooping out its brain and snuffing out that hated spark of life. Landing under the shallow water I started stabbing wildly with the bone shard. Strikings something firm I sneered and tried to grasp the little monster biting me with my left hand. Keeping it in place as it attempted to pull back, I repeatedly stabbed at it. I was soon rewarded by the satisfying feeling of somethign soft giving way beneath my weapon. Flesh parted as first the shard and then my hand entered something slimy and hot. Fluid splashed my hand, seemingly scalding to my cold skin as a gurgle could be heard. The struggling soon changed into twitching as a mouthwatering scent filled my nostrils. Throwing away the bone shard I thrust my hand into the warm opening I began scooping the contents out, hurriedly bringing it to my mouth and stuffing it in. Chime~
Level 2 cavelurker defeated Experience and 2 Honor of Valhalla gained
Level up You have become level 3 Stat-gain for the Semi-Risen Path given. +1 End, +2 will, +1 vit, +2 int.
Name Roger Peabody Level 3
Paths Semi-Risen Allegiance
Health 43% Mana 14/120
Health regen 0.01%/sec Mana regen 0.6/sec
Humanity 64% Humanity restoration 0.01%/sec
STR 9 AGI 9
END 9 DEX 10
VIT 8 INT 14
Honor of Valhalla 2
Skills
Completely unremarkable Conjure corpse-flame 1
Honors of Valhalla
Seeing the messages I was reminded of where I was and why I was here. Cupping my bloody hands I dipped them into the water. Bringing them up to my mouth I drank, quenching the thirst I had forgotten. Feeling a distant exhaustion I grabbed my fallen foe and started dragging it to where the water seemed shallower. Soon seeing faint light I wandered towards the tunnel, dragging the fishlike creature through the shallows. Stepping out of the water I dropped the creature, put my head down upon its soft belly and instantly fell asleep to the faint sound of falling water and the pleasant smell of death. Chapter 4: Grimoir Chapter 4: My sleep was fitful and plagued by nightmares. I was chased by inhuman, shambling monsters only to discover that the monsters were me when they started devouring everything that I am, leaving nothing but a lifeless, hateful husk behind. I woke up with a gasp, a strange taste in my mouth that I couldn''t quite place. Pushing off from my cold pillow I looked around in the dim light and placed my hand in something sticky on the ground. Looking down I saw the mutilated creature that I''d been using as a pillow and the memories came rushing back. With the memories came a deep horror. Hunching over I heaved, my stomach turning itself inside out and dumping the contents back onto the Lurker. Panting I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. My hand felt sticky and crusty. The smell from having my hand so close to my nose sent me into a new bout of dryheaving as tears clouded my vision. Come on Rodge, this can''t be true. This is just a bad dream, this isn''t happening. I''m going to close my eyes, count to 10 and then open them up. When I open my eyes again it will all be gone. When I opened my eyes I found that the nightmare was still real. Shaking I staggered towards the closest wall. Leaning against it I collapsed. Pulling my legs against me I cried into my damp, jeans-covered knees. I don''t know how long I sat curled up in self-pity, only pulling myself together when the need to relieve myself grew too strong. Even in my dazed state I knew better than to foul my only known source of water. Or well, foul it more than it already had been. On unsteady legs I wandered up the sloping tunnel, into the areas lit by the luminescent lichen. Revulsion once again rose as I could see my hands, and the formerly dark blue shirt now splattered in the brownish red and yellow of blood and gore. The smell I''d been ignoring until now rose. Sickly sweet and nauseating. Looking around to make sure nothing dangerous was around I went to one of the depressions, hunched down and slid my jeans off. Later I returned to the darkness, sans one shirt-sleeve. Having had some time to gather myself and think, I had started making up what could generously be called a plan. Hesitantly I started on step one. Trying not to come into contact with the now bloating corpse of the human I had tripped over upon first entering this room I grabbed his shirt and pulled. The body moved slightly before a tearing sound could be heard. With a whoop I gracefully fell on my ass, a piece of fabric clutched in my hand. Next I tried to walk into the shallow water on the other side and push with my foot. However the slippery surface threatened to make my lose my balance and I stopped. I considered using the corpseflame since it was supposed to be able to reanimate corpses. Though remembering yesterday and how it must have affected me I wasn''t very sure. I couldn''t remember a lot of being me, but how I was after using the flame really didn''t feel like me. Focusing on my status the window opened up
Name Roger Peabody Level 3
Paths Semi-Risen Allegiance
Health 98% Mana 210/120
Health regen 0.01%/sec Mana regen 0.7/sec
Humanity 100% Humanity restoration 0.01%/sec
STR 9 AGI 9
END 9 DEX 10
VIT 8 INT 14
Honor of Valhalla 2
Skills
Completely unremarkable Conjure corpse-flame 1
Honors of Valhalla
Looking it over it seemed a lot had changed. The humanity had once again been restored along with the mana. However the health remained stubbornly at 98%. Feeling where I remembered getting hurt, I checked first my hand and then the leg. Feeling no obvious injuries there I moved my hands to under my shirt, feeling where the spear had stabbed into me. I was filled with existential dread as I realized how close to death I''d come. Pushing past the dread I felt a little lump where the wound should be. Exploring it more, it felt like something hard was under the skin. Fuck, did I pull out the broken off bone-shard? Fuck, I didn''t did I? And now the skin has healed over it... Fuuuuuuuck... I''m so gonna get an infection from this... Considering ways to get the shard out I arrived at two conclusions. 1.I didn''t have any knife or anything to cut it out with. And 2. I really really didn''t want to cut into myself to get it out. Settling on these conclusions I decided that the bone-shard probably wouldn''t kill me if it remained for now. Having settled on that I decided to do a little experiment. Focusing on my status I kept track of my mana and humanity as I once again summoned the corpse-flame. When I counted to 5 the mana and humanity were at 96.5% and 188/210 respectively.
Conjure Corpse-flame Has reached level 2 Conjure corpse-flame will now have a longer range it can be controlled at as well as a slightly reduced humanity drain.
Seeing this message I let the flame go out. Hmm, well, I didn''t feel that different from my humanity going down. Maybe a little calmer but that was about it.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. My hesitance to use the flame on the body was lessened and I turned towards it. Crouching down by it I once again conjured the flame. In the light I saw a bloated asian face that felt a bit familiar. Maybe someone from my group that had managed to escape the ambush? Brushing my thoughts aside I focused on the flame, imagining it floating from my finger into the corpse. At first nothing happened, then it flared as if buffeted by wind and moved. Gracefully the flame swooped down into the chest of the dead man. Sitting in the darkness I had my eyes wide in anticipation. Nothing happened, then nothing happened some more. Finally when I started to consider what I might have done wrong I felt something against my leg. Screaming and jumping backwards I fell on my back, scooting away from whatever was out to kill me now. Focusing on a wheezing sound from in front of me I noticed the hands on the corpse twiching and moving. Astonished I sat there watching. Over the next minute or so the corpse started twitching more and more. Fingers, hands and then arms. Soon the legs kicked and the neck craned. The entire body spasmed and then suddenly it fell deathly still. Chime~
A human has been reanimated under your control. A level 3 ghoul is now yours to command.
* Necromancy added at level 1*
Necromancy level 1 Using unholy energies you are able to raise and control the dead through various spells and rituals. You could also put curses on foes and objects. Beware budding necromancer, the dark arts are reviled by most beings and gods. Your necromancy level limits which spells and rituals you can use as well as strengthening their effects. Infuse a corpse with unholy energies to create your grimoir.
I pondered the meaning of these messages. I didn''t feel like being ''reviled by most beings and gods'' was a good thing. But then again being trapped in a cave with psychos and monsters without any way to defend myself was something that probably was even worse for my chances of survival. I decided that I probably had no other choice than to seize every advantage I had, and the power to command an army of the dead seemed like it could prove to be quite the advantage. Speaking of commanding the dead, the apparently reanimated corpse still laid still, unmoving like... Well... A corpse. Slowly walking over to it I nudged it with one of my sneakers. The bloated body didn''t react at all. Trying something else I instead tried ordering it. ¡°ehm. Stand up?¡± I said hesitantly. As soon as I had uttered the words the ghoul started rising up with jerky motions. Fumbling around a bit on the slippery floor, it eventually stood up, staring right at me with hollow eyes. ¡°Uhm, raise your right arm.¡± The ghoul did as I said. ¡°Now raise your left arm.¡± Again the undead followed my orders. ¡°Okay, now throw them both in the air and wave them around like you just don''t care.¡± A small smile tugged at my lips viewing this, possibly the first one I could remember. The sight of a flailing corpse was horrifying but at the same time oddly amusing. Huh, maybe something inside of me has finally snapped. Eventually growing tired of watching the flailing ghoul I started revising my plan. Addendum, step 1.5, create a grimoir. Okay, so I needed a dead body. I guess the lurker thing would make do? Though the whole ''infusing my unholy energies'' part seemed a bit unclear.. Well, how hard could it be? Walking over to the diminutive corpse I wrinkled my nose at all the horrid smells coming from it. The natural smells of a dead lurker did not seem to be improved by my old vomits that caked it. Trying to ignore the smell I crouched down and placed a hand on one of its webbed feet, trying to avoid touching any of the grosser parts. Touching the thing I began experimenting. First focusing on the reserve I had felt empty when I used the corpse-flame. After a few seconds I could feel some strange energy flowing into the corpse but nothing seemed to happen. Checking my status I saw that about half of my mana had been depleted. Huh, okay. Apparently that didn''t work out, though getting a feel of my mana is always good I guess. Right, unholy, undead, necromancy.. Getting an idea I started transmitting my mana while trying to focus on that strange feeling I had in the fight, when my humanity lessened. The emptiness, the hunger, the longing and the hatred. Caught up in reliving the horrible memories it took me a few seconds to realize that a dark smoke started rising from the corpse. A twitching of the foot made me jerk away and I watched the smoke whilst disgusting, squelching sounds emanated from inside it. Deciding that walking up the tunnel away from the sounds would be better for my stomach I set off. Still not seeing any sign of life I decided to use another of my honors of Valhalla to create a loaf of bread. Happily munching of the fresh bread I considered my position. A fresh source of water and an undead guardian probably meant that I had a somewhat good place to stay. The lack of food was a concern though. I would probably have to go out and search for food or ways to get more honors of Valhalla. And for that I''d need a way to find my way back here. Seeing the breadcrumbs on the floor I got an idea. Maybe I could leave a trail of that to help me find my way back! A brilliant idea, truly I''m starting to get this situation under control. But first I''d probably want some way of lighting up my new home. The lichen were an obvious solution. Given time they would probably regrow in the scraped off parts, though some immediate light would be nice. Looking around I found a large, thick patch of lichen. Trying remove it in a whole piece I heard the now familiar chime in my mind.
Grimoir created. The dark gods aligned with undeath and necromancy realized that their potential followers kept being killed off before meeting up with others of their kin that could teach them the spells and rituals. So they have created a shortcut for getting incantations. Using the spell ¡°extract soul¡± you may fill your grimoir with soul energy and then use that to unlock new incantations.
It seems the process is completed. I thought to myself. Hurrying with the lichen I got a piece the size of a torso loose and started walking down the tunnel again. The lichen didn''t illuminate as much as I might have wished for but atleast there was a 2meter wide circle around me where I could make out the ground. Looking around on the shore a bit I found what appeared to be the grimoir. A small scaly book the size of two hands side by side. Putting the lichen down I picked the book up. It seemed to be in good condition and was slightly warm to the touch. Opening the book I started to flip through the pages. It appeared to mostly be blank pages except the first page where lines, text and numbers were present. As well as the second page where at the top of the page was the title ¡°extract soul¡±. The page was filled by descriptions and incantations for how to extract the soul from a recently deceased creature. It seemed that the amount of time you had to extract the soul varied, but generally was about an hour. The page also told that the amount of soul energy extracted depended on the soul where powerful creatures and humans gave the most. That did not please me very much. I''d grown more comfortable with the thought of killing creatures like the lurker, but humans? And then using their souls for my own purposes? That did not sit well with me. Flipping back to the first page I looked through what looked like a tree-diagram. 3 starting points that branched out to more and more places the further down the page they went. I scanned the page and the parts of the tree that had text. Soul energy: 0 curse of doomed meditation.0/100 ??????Create ghoul. 0/100 ??????Extract soul 100/100 / ????\??????????????/?????? \ ??????????/?????? \ Soul shield 0/500 ??soulbolt 0/500 I figured that the numbers next to the names was the amount of soul energy that was required to unlock the incantations. Though how many souls and of what kinds would be needed I had no idea. Deserving a well-earned rest I sat down by the lichen with my new book, opened the second page and started reading, trying to understand and memorize. Chapter 5: Innocent. Chapter 5 : Innocent ¡°?rken zert zefausten, ket krue?rken lis kruegran.¡±Chanting, I felt power rise up through me, exiting me with the words. As if searching the power swirled as a slight distortion in the air and then dispersed, having found nowhere to go. Sighing in relief I slumped down again with my grimoir. It appears this time I had only used about half of my manapool, a world of difference from when my first stuttering attempts had drained the entire pool without even taking shape. In the hours I had been practicing I had been learning more and more. Though casting the soul extraction spell without anything to extract was a doomed endeavor, it also seemed like a safe way to experiment. At first when the spell started started searching I had become worried it would kill Bob the ghoul, my newly named and best line of defense. However as the spell fizzled out Bob remained as he was. Some of the things I''d realized was that pronunciation seemed to matter when it came to efficiency. The better I pronounced the words, the less of my mana pool was used up. It also appeared that certain words could be left out, though doing so seemed to lessen the efficiency. For example, leaving out ¡°zert zefausten,¡± and just chanting ¡°?rken ket krue?rken lis kruegran¡± caused the same sensation as the entire chant, though my manapool drained before running its entire course. The same thing happened when leaving out the ¡°lis kruegran¡± at the end. However when I instead left out ¡°krue?rken lis¡± the sensation of the spell changed. The power still traveled out with my words and searched before dispersing. With this incantation though the feeling was completely different. The closest comparison I could come up with was that it had a different scent. I had tried mixing up the order of the words as well, though I stopped that after chanting ¡°krue?rken ket kruegran¡±. Having said that I had been overwhelmed by indescribable pain that wracked my whole body for an indeterminate amount of time. Upon the pain ending I had noticed one of the blue boxes, and even read it after I stopped imitating a curled up shaking ball.
Insufficient necromancy level to properly cast Soul sacrifice. Due to your low necromancy level the amount of your soul sacrificed has been greatly lessened, along with the conversion efficiency to experience/mana.
Taking into consideration the extreme agony as well as the 5% humanity I had lost I had decided to leave that kind of experimentation alone for now. Though I had recovered all of my lost humanity in the time between the failed soul sacrifice and now. Time however had not done as good a job when it came to making me forget the pain. Thinking back on it still made me mentally recoil whenever I considered more adventurous experimentation. Feeling the need to relieve myself I decided it was time for a well deserved break. Standing up I started stretching my aching limbs after sitting down so long. Feeling a tingling in my right leg I annoyedly stomped it into the ground to regain feeling in it. Shaking the leg as I went towards the tunnel before realizing something. ¡°Bob, stop flailing your arms¡± I said turning to my undead minion. However the the bloated corpse just kept waving its arms in the air like it had for hours now, ignoring my order. Perplexedly I frowned, then realization hit me. ¡°Oh right, zombie-ghoul-thingy, your name is Bob now. Now, Bob. Stop flailing your arms and follow me instead¡± Pointing at it for good measure I commanded my unspeaking companion. This time the order seemed to have set in as Bobs arms sank down to his sides and he walked over to me. ¡°Okay Bob, you are my bodyguard. Your job is to protect me from any creepy crawlies. If anything attacks us you are to kill it and protect me.¡± Seeing no change in the ghoul I frowned a bit. ¡°Okay, new rule Bob, whenever you receive a new order you are to nod to confirm it¡± Seeing the corpse nod I repeated my old order and received a new nod. Relieved that it seemed like my undead could receive somewhat complex orders I set off up the tunnel, my bodyguard closely behind me. Reaching my smelly destination I wrinkled my nose, unzipped my pants and emptied my bladder while humming a nonsense tune. Shaking off any stray drops I tucked myself back in and zipped up my jeans. Continuing the tune I walked back down the tunnel. I halted two thirds down the tunnel and looked at the wall, or more precisely the lichen. I wasn''t entirely sure but I didn''t recall the lichen reaching nearly this far down the last time I had relieved myself. Though if it''s fast-growing that''s just good for me. Being able to see in my new home would be a marked improvement. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Continuing down to the water I drank my fill. Spending my last honor of Valhalla I bought a new loaf of bread. Breaking off a piece I nibbled on it as I once more I made my way up the tunnel. Looking around I could find no new signs of anything passing by here. Whelp, exploration time I guess. Can''t just stay down here until I starve... Though maybe I could send Bob out to find me some food... No, he''d probably just fall down some hole and be stuck there... That and me being left without protection probably was a bad idea too. No, I''m going and Bob is going with me. Looking at the two other tunnels leading away from this room I considered my options. The left one was the one I had come from when I first arrived here. Pros of that tunnel was that I was more familiar with the area. I was also fairly sure there were no immediate traps or lairs of scaly creepy-crawlies. Con: A psycho necromancer with an army of the undead... I think the con column has it this time. Right, right tunnel it is. Walking up to the tunnel in question I broke off a small piece of bread and dropped it, before walking on. Deciding that I didn''t want to find out whether complex orders lasted less time than the ''wave your arms in the air like you just don''t care'' while getting attacked, I decided to refresh it. Looking over my shoulder I spoke. ¡°Bob, the order to protect us is still active. If we get attacked you''re supposed to protect us and kill the attacker¡±. Behind me my ghoul nodded its acceptance. I continued walking through several tunnels, always dropping a piece of bread when the path split up. At one of the openings ahead I spotted something on the ground. Cautiously walking forwards I saw a piece of string and bloodstains on the floor. Worried I looked around but didn''t find anything out of place. Crouching down I picked up the string and tried to put it in my pocket only to discover that it wouldn''t fit into that one due to it being full of sand. Sand.... The sand.... Fuck! I wasted perfectly good bread to place a trail when I had sand! Okay Roger, not the time or place. I have time to beat myself up over this later when I''m in a safer place. A bit further ahead, in the beginning of a downwards-sloping tunnel I spotted another bloodstain. Considering my options I stood there. It could be something dangerous. But it could also be a person in need of help. Still hesitating I considered my dwindling food supply, and massive holes in my basic knowledge of this world that might be filled by another person. My loneliness had absolutely nothing to do with the decision. Uneasily I walked down the tunnel keeping my eyes firmly fixed on at the end of it, preparing to run away and let Bob fight any monsters that might appear from down there as soon as I spotted it. I got halfway down the tunnel before I heard a thud from behind along with a shrill shriek. Turning rapidly, heart about to burst through my chest I was relieved to see that it was only a little girl, maybe 10 or 11 years old bursting out from a fissure in the wall I had missed. With a bloodstained, ripped shirt and a baseball bat she looked like she''d been through some shit. Wildly she hit Bob in the shoulder with her baseball bat while screaming. ¡°Die you monster! Die!¡± tears running down her terrified face. I began to talk to calm her down. ¡°Girl, relax. I''m no-¡± My sentence remained unfinished, and my mouth hung open in incomprehension as the undead turned around more rapidly than I thought possible. Grabbing the girl by her black pony tail he slammed her head into the cavern wall. Then again and yet again the sickening crunch was heard as I stood there in terrified silence, seeing the first live human I''d seen since my escape get brutally pummeled to death by my minion. Chime~
level 3 human pathless defeated Experience and 5 honors of valhalla gained
Level up You have become level 4 Stat-gain for the Semi-Risen Path given. +1 End, +2 will, +1 str +2 int.
Stunned I stood there unspeaking. I watched the collapsed girl, blood pooling around her. The murderous ghoul standing by her body, unmoving. Hearing a wail I ran forwards to the tiny body. It was first when the wail stopped as I shook her and begged her to be alright that I realized I had been the one who had been the source of it. ¡°Come on, please, please. Get up! This isn''t happening. It''s just some fucked up nightmare.¡± The little girl refused to rouse, still just lying there. Blood streamed from a noticeable indentation above her ear and white pieces could be seen in the gory mess. ¡°Fuck you Bob! FUCK YOU! YOU FUCKING KILLED HER! YOU DIDN''T NEED TO DO THAT!* Sobbing broke up my screaming and I felt myself deflate. ¡°She was just a kid. Fuck yourself Bob¡± The ghoul nodded and started unbuckling its belt.¡±No, fuck. Stop that.¡± Nodding the ghoul stopped moving again. The anguish was overwhelming and nigh unbearable. Sobbing I didn''t know how to cope. Fuck this, fuck it all. Fuck this pain, I just want it to go away. Fuck it all. Fuck being human if it''s just pain. Wanting to lessen the pain I desperately focused on the empty feeling I had gotten before. When my humanity had fled me and I was left without such concerns. Focusing on the corpse-flame it slowly materialized over my hand. I gazed deep into it, letting it captivate me. Feeding on all my grief and anguish. Burning the emotions down to cinders and leaving naught but a dim withered shadow where the radiant pain used to be. My heart slowed down with every beat. Growing weaker by the second until my mana ran out. The flame extinguished and with it went my concern for the dead girl. No, the material. Briefly I considered sinking my teeth into it but no. The lifelessness was unappetizing. Without the allure of consuming the life-force of a living struggling foe, the husk left behind held no attraction. Some nagging thought kept bothering me though. Was it guilt? Guilt... What is the point of guilt? No, not that. Something about the body. Burying? Burying would be a waste of perfectly good materials. No... Materials. That''s it. Opening my grimoir I flipped to page two. Reading the top lines again I started chanting. ¡°?rken zert zefausten, ket krue?rken lis kruegran.¡± Once again the energy rose from within me with my words. This time however it only swirled for a moment before it shot down into the corpse in front of me, Disappearing into it. I stood there, awaiting what would happen next. I soon got my answer as the air around the body started distorting slightly. The shimmer appeared to be slightly glowing, though I wasn''t sure of it. Slowly the energy stretched out towards me, coiling through the air. As if some kind of ephemeral snake it bobbed from side to side before it rapidly struck. Lunging forwards the energy dove into the book in my hands, soon disappearing without a trace. Flipping back to page one I noticed that at the top the number next to ''soul energy:''¡± had changed from 0 to 60. Content I closed the book. Over halfway to an incantation. Why, maybe I should go search for more humans? Weak delicious humans full of life to extinguish. Looking down at the girl I prepared to raise her as well when I heard a scratching sound from down the tunnel. Looking down into the dim tunnel the scraping grew louder. Soon shapes appeared, peering up towards me. Grinning hungrily I picked up the baseball bat. Chapter 6: Guilty Chapter 6: Guilty As I stood there with a rictus grin plastered over my face, the scratching sounds grew louder. In the dimly lit tunnel the shapes started moving up towards me. Soon I began to be able to make them out. There were maybe a dozen of the creatures. Reaching up to my knees they looked like fleshy crabs. With 6 legs each and 2 arms tipped with metallic-looking claws they moved with a scuttling gait. Two eye-stalks sprouted from between their arms and were constantly twitching as they took in the surroundings. On the top of the eye-stalks were dark prismatic orbs that reflected the scant blue light from the lichen. Scuttling, the swarm came closer, reducing the distance to 20, then 15 and at last 10 meters. There they halted. The crab creatures reared up on their 4 hindmost legs, arms raised in the air and clicking their claws threateningly. Not feeling the expected fear, only anticipation. I stood still, raising my newly acquired bat. A distant corner of my mind screaming at me to get out of here. An easily ignored voice trying to tell me that I didn''t need to kill, that I could survive instead and embrace life. The creatures scuttled forwards two steps, snapped in the air and then backed off a step. It would appear that me not running away screaming and leaving them a free meal, has them unsure about what to do. Poor simpleminded creatures. They kept approaching in this back and forth manner for at least a minute or two. Ending up in a arched line 3 or 4 meters away from me. They snapped at me while I stood there with the bat raised, unmoving. Not even blinking I stared at them, waiting. Just a bit further, come on you sacks of life. One of them took their customary two steps forwards and raised its front body. Having gotten what I waited for I took a quick step forwards and brought my new implement down in a rapid arch, that ended with the tip of the bat squarely between the eye-stalks. A crunching thud was heard as the bat continued a few centimeters into the soft living tissue, denting the ugly creature. Chime~
Level 1 depth-scavenger killed experience and 1 honor of Valhalla gained
At the strike the scuttlers shied away, putting more distance between us. Their eye-stalks twitched as they frantically clicked their claws at me and each other. Wishing to end more life I stepped forwards and struck another one. Gaining the same message as from the one before that. This time however they were in closer formation. The one next to the formerly alive scavenger lunged at me. Swiping the metallic claw into my thigh with a snip. Distantly I felt the claw encounter resistance as it tore through the muscles. Coldly I turned towards the offender and stared at it. It snipped the air at me with its surprisingly sharp claws. I raised my bat to prepare to end the offender. Before I had time to do so however my here-before idle minion Bob literally dove past me, arms extended and landed half on the ground, half on the creature. Hands grabbing onto the eye-stalks he jerked. Pulling the eye-stalks free in a spray of blood that reached all the way to stain my shoes. The squelching sound loud in the sudden silence as the crablike beings stilled. The things exploded into motion as Bob kept tearing into the now blind and panicking scavenger. Scuttling back down the tunnel the disappeared deciding that this meal wasn''t worth the risk. I took a step to follow them but instead fell down as my left leg refused to support me. Looking down I saw a tear in my jeans about 3 fingers wide. Through that tear I could see a deep gash through the muscles. Hell, I even think I could see some white bone in there. Staring at it I saw thick, dark and viscous blood slowly seep out. This got through my mental numbness. That''s not natural, shit. The body should not be like that... What the fuck am I? My thoughts were interrupted by a familiar chime and the appearance of the kill notification as Bob finished off the blind scavenger. It would appear that my minion killing something counts as me doing it. I wonder if I could crawl after those crab-things and catch up to them? That would be so great, tearing into their succulent still living fl-No! Snap out of it Roger. Stay alive, don''t crawl off wounded after monsters. Making myself stay was hard. Not cause of extremely strong impulses but because the rational part of me that had managed to resurface was so weak. Taking all my willpower to not slip back into the fog that was my mind. Even the small rational part that remained was strangely numb. Knowing that I should feel grief, fear and pain, but only abstractly sensing where it should be. As if the the emotions were announcing their existance with an impersonal, formal letter. Realizing I was lying face-down on the cavern floor I heaved myself up with my left arm, keeping the bat clutched in my right hand. Looking around me I saw Bob stand by a mutilated scavenger. Blood and gore dripped down from him and half his left hand missing I saw. The two bloated fingers and half the palm laid next to the slumped claw of the creature. Next to me were the two crablike creatures that I had killed with the bat. Up close they smelled like decay and salt. Pulling myself over the ground I gripped one of the creatures and pulled myself up on it. Laying half on it I was content with my position for now. Deciding that I needed to know my status I focused on bringing the window up.
Name Roger Peabody Level 4
Paths Semi-Risen Allegiance
Health 83% Mana 233/240
Health regen 0.01%/sec Mana regen 0.7/sec
Humanity 59% Humanity restoration 0.01%/sec
STR 9 AGI 9
END 10 DEX 10
VIT 8 INT 16
Honor of Valhalla 8
Skills
Completely unremarkable Conjure corpse-flame 1
Honors of Valhalla Necromancy 1
The health loss was quite a bit lower than I expected from my debilitating condition. It probably had something to do with the low humanity. 59%.... Damn.. No wonder my mind was so odd. Though without that my leg wound might have ended up bleeding quite badly. Which would not have been good. That was probably the reason my health was so high. I was startled from my musings by my heart beating. Damn, why was my heart beating startling to me now? How long has it been still? Looking at my status, humanity had now increased to 60%. Did my heart stop beating when it fell under 60%? Maybe it did. It wasn''t something that had bothered me or which I had tried to keep track of. Dismissing these thoughts for now I focused on my current situation. Things I had to do was to get back to my little lake safely and find more humans to ki- NO! No killing humans! Okay. Getting back, resting until I''m restored in body and mind and then figure out what''s next. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. With a plan to focus on it seemed like I was able to keep my mind on track better. Okay, but I probably won''t be able to walk very well for a while so anything I could do here first? Oh right. Opening up my grimoir I once again went to page two and soon had extracted the souls from the scavengers. Afterwards the soul energy number stood at 105. so either I had gotten 15 energy per crab or there was a variance to the number. I probably should have checked between each extraction. Beating myself up mentally I checked my status again.
Name Roger Peabody Level 4
Paths Semi-Risen Allegiance
Health 86% Mana 42/240
Health regen 0.01%/sec Mana regen 0.7/sec
Humanity 62% Humanity restoration 0.01%/sec
STR 9 AGI 9
END 10 DEX 10
VIT 8 INT 16
Honor of Valhalla 8
Skills
Completely unremarkable Conjure corpse-flame 1
Honors of Valhalla Necromancy 1
It seems like I have restored some of my humanity in this time. The health is a bit better too. Checking my leg it oozed a little more blood than earlier, but I could no longer see bone in the wound. Which probably was a good sign. Pleased I decided that I might as well see what I could use the soul energy for. If I understood things correctly I could use it to get new incantations. Either a tier 1 or a tier 2. Though with necromancy at level 1 casting them would most likely be impossible. More soul energy than I had was required as well. So my 2 choices were narrowed down to either Curse of doomed meditation or Create ghoul. The curse I had no idea what it did, but it did not sound very useful. Unless those crab things were really into yoga it would have been completely worthless in any of my encounters most likely. The other option was ''Create ghoul''. Well shit, I already had a way to create ghouls. Though going by the soul extraction page I would probably get a lot of useful information from it. Maybe I could figure out how the magical language works as well as get a way of raising ghouls that wasn''t me giving up my humanity. If I could raise them with just an incantation now then I could probably ride them or get carried back at once. No need to wait for me to recover. Making my mind up I decided to select the create ghoul spell. Having made the choice I realised I had no idea how to put my soul energy into that option. ¡°Put 100 energy into ''Create ghoul''¡± As I said that nothing happened. Then I tried focusing like with how I created the corpse-flame. Still nothing happened. Finally I tried putting my finger on the ''create ghoul'' text. Something happened then. A thin circle appeared around the words and at the bottom of the page the words ''cancel'' and ''select'' appeared. Hesitantly I put my finger on ''select''. As soon as I did so the numbers next to ''soul energy'' and ''create ghoul started changing. Ending with soul energy being at 5 while create ghoul went up to 100/100. Under create ghoul two new options appeared. ''Create skeleton'' and ''create shade''. Each at 0/500 Flipping forwards in the book I found that page 3 was now filled with text and diagrams. Looking around to make sure nothing unexpected was going on I started reading. Several minutes later I put the book down. Well, apparently even using the incantation I still needed a corpse-flame. Though included in the new information was a description for how to make corpse-candles from the fat of dead humans that could produce corpse-flames when lit. The ability to make corpse-candles didn''t however change my current predicament. Moreover the text described what seemed like the ritual where I had become what I now was. A ritual to raise any bodies in an area as stronger ghouls than the quick incantation would give. The downside was the larger amount of corpse-flames needed as well as a much steeper mana cost. The mana cost was a large part of the apparently long chant that the necromancer had used. Giving time for more mana to accumulate. I decided that there would be no harm in trying out the incantation without a flame to see if I could pronounce it somewhat clearly. The descriptions for how to pronounce it in the text only went so far. ¡°Lis kruethan, zefausten ket krueausten. Sethmak krueausten fi draug. Sethmak kruedraug. Sethmak krueausten¡± Feeling the stirring of magic I knew that I was on the right track. Saying the words I thought of how several of them were familiar. Both from the soul extraction spell and from what I could vaguely remember from the necromancer. Kruethan was something he had said to light the candles if I remembered correctly. So maybe it has something to do with candles? Or flames. Since this ritual said it needed corpse-flame and him saying it lit his candles. Sethmak Krueausten was also something he had stressed in his ritual and was repeated in my incantation as well. So that was probably an important piece. Hmm, ''krue'' was repeated a lot as part of words, though the meaning of it escaped me. With more points of reference or experimentation its meaning might become clearer. Now however was neither the time nor place for such experimentation. Looking down I was mildly surprised to see that my wound had closed until it was almost half the size it previously was. Trying the move the leg I found that it still did not work perfectly. Anything could stumble upon me here and it was probably time to get moving I thought with more clarity than I''d had since the little girl had hit Bob. Thinking that a small amount of guilt crept up in a corner of my mind. Still ignoreable but actually noticeable now. I couldn''t leave all this material here where something might eat it. I needed them for protection. Maybe it was time to raise them. Thinking shortly I decided that it was time to see what difference there might be between my old way of reanimating ghouls with the flame, and the incantation. Focusing on the flame I once again brought it out over my finger. Wanting to stare into it I resisted my urges and instead rapidly moved my hand to the crab thing I was laying on. Willing the flame into it it the flame obliged. As before nothing happened at once but soon the spasms started. Realizing that maybe a twitching corpse with sharp claws was not the best couch I rolled off it. Seating myself up I leaned against the corpse of the other one I had killed. The twitching increased, causing it to skid over the floor a little bit before it stilled and I heard the chime.
* A Depth-scavenger has been reanimated under your control. A level 1 ghoul is now yours to command.*
Said ghoul stood unmoving in front of me. ¡°Scavenger ghoul, come over here¡± My order seemed to have been valid as it scuttled over to me. Pulling myself up I threw my legs over it. There was a surprisingly stable point at which to sit, legs between each eye-stalk and arm, with my butt at its back. Some instructions later regarding to how the ghoul should react to me pushing and pulling its eye-stalks I managed to make my new steed move in an approximation of how I wanted it to. Moving my mount we went over to one of the other corpses I looked down on it. Okay, time to try the incantation. Summoning my flame again I rapidly started the incantation. ¡°Lis kruethan, zefausten ket krueausten. Sethmak krueausten fi draug. Sethmak kruedraug. Sethmak krueausten¡± As I chanted the flame started dancing on my finger before rising into the air. At the finale of my incantation it shot down into the corpse in front of me. After backing away from the twitching scavenger I was soon greeted by another chime and message
A Depth-scavenger has been reanimated under your control. A level 2 ghoul is now yours to command.
I didn''t know how much better a level 2 ghoul was than a level 1 but I decided that I''d much rather have the level 2 ones. Making sure that the new one also followed orders I moved over to the last crab. Once again I summoned the flame and said the incantation. Chime~
A Depth-scavenger has been reanimated under your control. A level 2 ghoul is now yours to command.
Preparing to raise the final body here I wanted to put my current ghouls to work. ¡°Crab ghoul, guard the entrance.¡± I said to the most recently raised one. However all three scavengers went to the entrance, including the one I rode on. Oh boy, this won''t do. ¡°Okay, from now on you are named Snip, Snap and pony¡± I pointed at them one by one as I named them. Patting my mount as I Said ''pony''. ¡°Snip, guard the other side¡± The ghoul without eye-stalks went past me. How it knew where to walk without eyes I wasn''t sure of. It just had to be a mystery for later. Clutching my grimoir and bat down between my legs I gripped Pony''s eye-stalks and with some slight difficulty guided it towards the corpse of the girl. Looking down at her I knew that I should feel guild and grief but they seemed like foreign concepts to me. What good were they when I had something useful in front of me? Picking up the grimoir again from its resting place I opened the third page and once more started the chant. 200 mana disappeared as the flame shot into the body. Soon the small body began twitching before the blue box appeared.
A human has been reanimated under your control. A level 4 ghoul is now yours to command.
Necromancy reached level 2 It''s now possible to cast the second tier of necromantic magic and your necromantic spells have been strengthened.
As soon as I finished the first message a second one appeared. Huh, improved necromancy. That could come in useful. I though as what little activity was possible in my pituitary gland kicked in to produce endorphins. ¡±Well ghouls. It''s time to head back home. Follow me.¡± I spoke out to my ghouls as I steered Pony on to the dimly lit caverns to follow my trail of breadcrumbs back. chapter 7: Friendly fire Chapter 7: friendly fire Back at my pond I dismounted pony. With my health back at 98% I could use my leg without any issues. My humanity had gone up to 75% and with it I breathed slowly, my pulse having grown stronger. My mind worked better as well. I could remember why to do things more than just urges to kill. Empathy and compassion I could understand, though feeling them were another matter. I could understand that seeing the walking corpse of the girl I had inadvertently gotten killed stirred something in me and I could understand that if I returned to a more normal state while seeing her it could go badly. Though the solution of getting rid of her felt like too much of dishonoring her and wasting resources. A lot had happened on my first excursion. Much had booth been gained and lost when I left the relative safety of my new home. My ability to defend myself had increased many-fold with new ghouls and an actual weapon. I had unlocked a new spell and leveled both my level and my necromancy skill. Yet even if I could feel happy right now I was fairly sure that I would not. My gains had come at the cost of the life of a child. Someone that was slain as she in fear attacked my minion. Someone that died as I stood frozen with inaction. It was far from a foolproof or permanent solution, but I ordered the dead girl into the tunnel and ordered her to stand guard where I couldn''t see her. Remembering the honors of Valhalla I had I decided to open up the skill and see what I could afford with my 8 honors. Looking through the things that I could afford my attention was soon caught by something I could afford. [Gunpowder: 3 honors/100gram] [Lead musket ball: 2 honor] Searching more into what I couldn''t afford I soon found more offers in the same vein. [Musket: 20 honors] [AK-47: 200 Honors] This piqued my interest. Guns... No mere shards of bone or baseball bats. Honest to god guns! With that I could stay safe and away from dangerous things! Though I''d need quite a bit of honor for it. And for that I needed to kill things. And to do that safely I needed guns. Suddenly I remembered the rifle the angry hunter had had at the ambush. I couldn''t remember any of the zombies or the necromancer taking it. That didn''t guarantee that none of them did or that it would still remain there. Getting it would be dangerous. And fuck, I don''t think I remember the path back there either. The general direction I knew and with luck I might find my way there. Though without luck I might just as well wander into the crazy bastard that made me into what I am. I should probably wait with that decision until my full mental faculties are back. And that meant after I had slept. Though for now I decided to keep looking at the Honor of Valhalla list. A switchblade for 5 honor soon caught my attention. A knife is always useful to have and with it I might actually get out that bone-piece from my rib-cage. Focusing on the switchblade it soon materialized on the ground in front of me. Seemingly as if mist coalesced out of nowhere to form the knife.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Picking up the weapon I clicked the button to flick it out of the handle. With a shick the blade sprang out in a graceful arc and halted with a jolt. Locked in place the was ready for usage. Taking of my stained and tattered shirt I used my free hand to feel where there bone-shard was stuck. The bump was still very noticeable and I brought the knife towards my ribs. Hesitating I pricked the skin to see how bad it would feel. A distant dull ache could be felt and I pressed the knife deeper. A small trickle of dark thick blood seeped out. The sensation was odd but manageable. Pressing harder I soon felt the tip of the knife scrape against something hard. Bending my neck I tried to see what I was doing. But the darkness and awkward angle prevented me from making out anything useful. Giving a mental shrug I brought up my left hand and put a finger above and under the wound, lightly pulling apart. The grip wasn''t the best as the slight amount of blood that seeped out was enough to make my skin slippery. Taking a deep breath I widened the incision. Increasing the length of the cut to maybe 8-10 centimeters. Continuing to feel with the blade the pain suddenly became noticeable and the blood started seeping out more rapidly. A pained gasp escaped me and I let go of my slippery, bloody flesh. Swearing, a green flame flared over my bloody hand. With it the pain disappeared and the blood slowed again. Blinking in surprise I quickly put it out. I couldn''t remember intentionally conjuring the flame. This development was worrying, was I losing the ability to control my powers? I didn''t want to dwell on it for too long as everything was starting to become a bit too much. Taking a firmer grip on the knife and spreading the wound with my other hand I steadied myself. Testing around with the tip of the knife I eventually managed to fit it where my rib and the bone piece met. Jiggling the knife it slid in a bit further and the bone piece moved slightly with it. Getting the knife into a semi-firm location I started leveraging it while still wiggling it. Slowly I felt the piece of bone start to slide out of me until with a plop it fell out and with a slight clack landed on the ground. Feeling with my fingers I couldn''t feel any other pieces stuck in there. Just a bloody gaping hole in my body I''d very much like to close. Sitting down, leaning against the cavern wall I decide to rest for a moment while gathering my thoughts about everything that''s happened. With a jerk I woke from a fitful sleep. Gasping I opened my eyes. With my heart beating wildly I looked around in a frantic search, of what I did not know. Wide-eyed I looked around in the dark room. The tunnel was brighter than I remembered and the blue lichen could be seen from my position. Monstrous figures could be seen in the dim light and I froze up. A loud rumbling from my stomach broke me from my panic and I realized that the monstrous figures were the ones I had put under my control in my excursion. Snip, snap and pony. Sluggishly I used one of my 3 remaining honors to get another of the dark loaves of bread. Eating it with a slowness that did not reflect on my hunger. Soon the hunger stopped gnawing at me and I put the remaining bread down. Going to the water I crouched and began drinking. It tasted a bit off. Though whether that was due to the water or something with me I could not be sure. Either way I didn''t much care and kept drinking. Having drunk my fill I stood up and wiped my mouth with the back of my arm. Shuffling to my sleeping spot I picked up my shirt and put it on. Bending down again I picked up my grimoir. Starting to open the book I stopped when I noticed a certain pressure on my bladder. Sighing I made my way to the tunnel. How long have I been asleep? The lichen is reaching all the way down to my cavern now. Maybe if I get some points over I should try to get a timepiece. Dragging my feet I made my way up the tunnel towards my toilet. Or more precisely, shallow hole in the ground. The pit of my stomach fell as it felt like I had the wind punched out of me. I stopped as I saw the small figure of the girl with the ponytail. The girl that had been brutally murdered by my ghoul right in front of me. Anguish welled up in me and threatened to overcome any semblance of control I had managed to erect. My body seemed to stop working as my mind failed to cope. Suddenly things became easier as the horrible emotions receded and grew weaker. In my teary-eyed vision I saw a small green flame. Quickly I dismissed it. Cutting off the flow of mana sustaining it. I looked at the dead girl and felt a dull guilt and shame. But I could functions in my current state. The reflexive use of corpse-flame was not something I thought was safe, but for now it seemed to do some good atleast. Moving past the ghoul I went over to my toilet corner and unzipped, extracted my member and started to relax my bladder. A steady stream arched down into the hole as I pondered my existence. That stream soon splashed on the cavern floor and my shoes as I tried to quickly turn around with my pants around my ankles, stumbled and awkwardly got my balance back. The source of my disarray soon appeared again as voiced could be heard echoing from the tunnel where I had had my exploration.