《Necromancer by Halosty》 Necromancer - Chapter 1 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 1 Mortimer Perrywinkle was a rather strange, rather spoiled, rather rich teenager, nearing the end of his senior year in high school. He was about average height, with black hair and very pale skin. His well fitting clothed did little to hide the fact that he was quite skinny, although not quite unhealthily so. Mortimer''s parents stepped in anytime he tried to do anything unhealthy. Besides, the cook made good food. He just never remembered to eat it, since he was always reading books or thinking. He had trouble interacting with other people, and was considered rather antisocial. Really, though, he just thought the world was boring. He didn''t tell anyone this, because everyone was boring and they wouldn''t understand. Well, not everyone was boring. There was one girl at school named Solara Vail who he thought was not boring. Everyone else probably thought she was, but that''s because they didn''t really know her. Or maybe because everyone else was boring. Some of the other students picked on her and called her ugly, but Mortimer knew she was beautiful. She just hid her face behind her rather short blonde hair, as well as her glasses. Sure, she covered up parts of her body instead of dressing like a lingerie model who forgot to change out of their work clothes. Anyway, he thought she looked cute in her various sweatshirts. Mortimer knew she was not boring, because he listened to her talk to herself, when she thought no one could hear her. He had very good hearing, and could choose an inconspicuous place to sit. He may have also read her journal which she left in her desk when she went out to eat lunch. Perhaps he secretly followed her around at school at other times. He really intended to talk to her, but he didn''t want to interrupt her. He never followed Solara home or anything, that would have been creepy. Also, he was picked up by his driver, James, every day after school. That may have had something to do with it. Anyway, because of his obsession with interest in Solara Vail, when he found out she was going to be playing Royal Road, he was naturally obsessed with interested in the game as well. Royal Road was an innovative new Virtual Reality game that was immensely popular, all over the world. (Although new may have been something of a misnomer, since it was almost 2 years old now). Unlike many games, there was just one server, or collection of servers, to play on. Even people in different countries could play together thanks to new innovations in the area of automatic language translation. Mortimer, though, was mostly interested in the game for the opportunity to stalk get to know Solara outside of school. Naturally, Mortimer ordered a capsule right away, and even paid a little something extra for expedient delivery. He had happened to find out the city Solara planned to start in, purely coincidentally while reading her journal. Solara seemed interested in art, based on the doodles in her journal, so her choice of Morata as a starting city made sense. Mortimer was slightly disappointed because he had wanted to be a wizard, and there were no magic guild halls in Morata. Still, he could always choose some other class, he had picked wizard more based on whim than any real desire to use magic. -------------------------- Starting up the capsule was a new experience. Mortimer had assumed virtual reality would be boring like real reality, but this was slightly different already. For one thing, there was nothing around him. Then, a voice appeared with an introduction to the game. ¡°Select your avatar¡± ¡°Quietus¡± ¡°Select your gender from male, female or neuter.¡± ¡°Male¡± (He didn''t really want to experiment with anything like that... right now) ¡°Royal Road has fourty-nine races. Please select your race from this list.¡± ¡°Human¡± (Morata was a dominantly human city) ¡°You may alter your appearance¡± He fiddled a bit with his appearance, mostly out of curiosity. He did change his eye color from brown to black so that it would match his hair. He also got a different hairstyle, slightly longer and shaggy, but of a style his parents wouldn''t allow him to walk around with in real life. Then, there was an introduction telling him about royal road, before he was allowed to choose his starting location. He chose Morata, of course. That was where Solara was going to be, after all. Suddenly, there was again the sensation of having the world around him, although a different world than he was used to. He was in the middle of a city, filled with people. It was then that Quietus realized that cities were big. He also realized that he would have some trouble finding any specific person just by looking for them. ''Well, I might as well play the game while looking...'' he thought to himself. He knew that he had to obtain money for food, or he would die. Thus, he wandered around the city, casually observing everything and observing the scenery. ''Hey, that redhead is hot!'' he thought, looking at a skimpily dressed bard. Normally, that wasn''t his type. Well, normally, just Solara was his type. Still, it was interesting what a change of worlds can do for one''s perspective. He reluctantly pulled himself back to the first task at hand, obtaining a job. He hadn''t really done the research on where he could go to find work, but he figured there would be something. He took random turns down streets until he also randomly came upon a sign ¡°Help Wanted¡±. It was a dark, creepy looking building that could have used some repairs. Obviously, he went in. He literally had nothing to lose except for a canteen and ten pieces of some kind of unpleasant bread. Rye bread, said the game interface. Inside the building was no less creepy than the outside. It was dark and cold, and smelled like death. Well, Quietus had no idea what death smelled like, but this building smelled awful. ¡°Yes, that is the smell of death.¡± Quietus jumped. He wasn''t used to people being able to sneak up on him, although he wasn''t sure if anyone had actually tried before. He turned around to see a slightly hunched man with bad teeth and an eyepatch. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Need someone put under? Better get a plot now while it''s cheap!¡± ¡°Umm... put under? I was just here about the ''help wanted'' sign.¡± ¡°Oh, well this here''s a morgue. M'' name''s Jack, the proprietor of this lovely establishment.¡± He chuckled slightly. ¡°You have a strong stomach?¡± Although Quietus thought this man was creepy and weird, he figured this job would have low interaction with boring people. ¡°Well, it''s as strong as any, I suppose.¡± After being given a tour of the ¡°facilities¡±, as well as a test of his stomach, he was sent on an errand to buy some preserving fluids from a local alchemist. If the mortuary smelled like death, the alchemist''s shop smelled much worse, since it mixed many terrible smells together. Quietus managed to not show any open aversion to the smell, which oddly enough got him a slight discount. Apparently those who are best friends with alchemists are the ones who can stand to be around them. Quietus made a joke about the wonderful aroma of the store, and it was taken the right way. It could never hurt to have a little friendship with a NPC, and it was easy enough to pretend to care a little. After he was done delivering the bottles of foul liquid, he was told that there was nothing else that needed doing that day, and that he should come back in the morning. He wandered around the city aimlessly until he heard singing around a corner. For some reason, instead of just going to look he peeked around the corner. It was the red-headed bard. She was still singing, but it was getting late and no one was listening. Quietus felt that she wasn''t bad, but she could use some more practice. Well, it looked like she was a beginning player too. He watched her for a long time, using the excuse that he was looking around the square for Solara, in case she passed by. Quietus kept his ears open for people walking up behind him, after all, he didn''t want to be mistaken for some kind of creep. Occasionally, someone did pass by, and he did his best to look innocuous standing against the wall. For some reason, Quietus just couldn''t tear himself away from this bard to accomplish his real goal in being in this game. He quickly lost track of time, which is why he was surprised when he realized that it was dark. In fact, he only realized it was dark because the sun was coming up. The red-headed bard had kept him enraptured for an entire night! She didn''t appear to get tired of singing, either. However, just as he thought this, she stopped. She then set off with purpose, heading in the direction he was hiding observing from. Quietus decided this was a good time to head back to his job. When he arrived at the morgue he was greeted by Jack. ¡°To properly do the job of caring for the dead, you''ve got to learn what makes people alive. That''s why today we''re gonna cut some people up. It''s all part of the process of preserving them and some of the other work we''re asked to do.¡± Quietus wasn''t exactly sure what the ¡°other work¡± could be, but he didn''t really care. He learned that he did indeed have a strong stomach, and he also learned some very interesting things about corpses. *Ding*
You have learned a new skill! Anatomy Your knowledge of anatomy allows you to strike opponents weaknesses more effectively. Increases critical hit damage when striking a vulnerable location by 10%
''Huh, I learned a new skill, that''s cool.'' Quietus thought. His knowledge of the game being very limited, he hadn''t known how to gain skills. Pretty much everything in the game was a surprise to him. He then received a message that his satiety bar was low. Once the game mentioned it, he realized he felt hungry, so he ate some of his rye bread. Then, he went back to learning about anatomy. After they finished with the basics, Jack had Quietus help prepare him some preserving fluids. It involved a lot of mixing of smelly ingredients, including the foul mixture from the alchemist. Soon after... *Ding*
You have learned a new skill! Alchemy You can mix various ingredients to create varied potions and poisons.
''Wow, they''re just handing out skills all over the place for trivial work!'' thought Quietus. The difficulty of the work itself may have been low, but the average person would not have been able to get over their revulsion so quickly to start the actual learning. In fact, most players wouldn''t even consider working in such an unpleasant place. Eventually, Quietus'' work was done, and he received his wages for the day. He didn''t have any particular goal in mind in the city, except perhaps finding Solara, so he wandered aimlessly for a while. He noticed a strange building with the words ¡°Training Center¡± on the outside, and he could see inside to a large number of scarecrows. They were hardly anatomically correct, but Quietus decided that he would try to strike some locations similar to the ones he had learned about that day. He picked up the sword and had no idea how to swing it. He decided to stab some points that would have vital organs not protected by hindering things such as ribcages. His terrible posture and grip made him knock the sword out of his own hands. He tried again a few times, but decided the sword was just too big and unwieldy for him to use. I mean, it couldn''t be that he was clumsy or anything. He gave up, and logged off so that he could get some sleep. He may not have many rules that his parents made him follow, but they did require him to go to school. Besides, Solara would be at school. End Chapter 1 Next Chapter: http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=122 Necromancer - Chapter 2 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 2 A quick guide on names in case you forget them easily: Mortimer Perrywinkle (Quietus is his Royal Road name)- The main creep character. Rich. Solara Veil- The girl Mortimer stalks and has a crush on. Writes journals. Plays Royal Road. Jack- An NPC who runs the morgue, and the current employer of Quietus. The next day on the way to school, Mortimer was tired. He had spent most of the time he should have been sleeping playing Royal Road. After all, he did spend around ten hours in the game, almost two full days of game time. He hurriedly ate a breakfast prepared by the cook, Marie, and did some of his homework on the ride to school. Fortunately for him, he was relatively smart, and had little homework. It also didn¡¯t hurt that his parents contributed an (un)reasonable amount of money to the school. He was sure he could get by... if he at least spent a bit less time playing Royal Road. Mortimer had never known games could be so fun. Everything had been boring, like people. Maybe it had been because he knew Solara was in there, somewhere. Mortimer was determined to find her in the game. He knew she wrote in her journal at the beginning of lunch, and sometimes left it out on her desk when she went to eat. He didn¡¯t peep or anything, he just... made sure it was safe. Don¡¯t want any strange people looking at it. Sure, sometimes he skimmed, but that was out of concern for Solara¡¯s well being. Plus, he was curious. He really only skimmed because he didn¡¯t know how long it would take her to come back. Otherwise he would have read it in depth and possibly tried to leave some subtle critiques. Certainly nothing creepy. As luck would have it, Solara did leave her journal behind at lunch that day. He quickly looked around to make sure there wasn¡¯t anyone to falsely accuse him of wrongdoing. Then, he opened it to the latest sections. After reading through the last days, at a quick pace, he was disappointed to find no useful information. He did know that she indeed started in Morata, but she was pretty vague about what she had done. She just mentioned that she had fun trying about the abilities of her class. ¡®What class?!¡¯ Mortimer wanted to ask the journal. ¡®Where were you?¡¯ He didn¡¯t ask, of course, because journals can¡¯t talk. Plus, he wouldn¡¯t want to make anyone think he was prying into someone¡¯s personal information. Well, he¡¯d surely recognize her if he saw her. Morata was a decently sized city for one person to search alone, and he knew she was still staying in the city. (He didn¡¯t know that it was mandatory to stay in the city for one week) Mortimer slept through the rest of the classes after lunch, but he was doing better in those anyway, and could afford to slack off. Sort of. After the last bell woke him up once more, and rode home with James. He involved himself in some quick flurrying of homework, and even did a few math problems at home before he hopped on Royal Road. Always a diligent student. -------------------------- Quietus found himself just outside the training center. Perhaps he would come back later, though he wished they had something less clumsy than those stupid wooden training swords. He went to go work with Jack at the morgue. He had nothing much better to do, and figured he could earn some money. It¡¯s not like his parents could give him money in the game or anything. Besides, he enjoyed learning things there. As Quietus cut open the thoracic cavity of a body (for science!) he thought about the scalpel in his hand. Something around this size, easily controllable and precise, would be nice to use as a weapon. He knew there was combat in the game, so he figured he should try to learn how to use a weapon. Quietus supposed a scalpel wasn¡¯t very practical for combat though, too fragile. Maybe just a knife. Or a dagger? He was pretty sure a dagger was slightly better and more likely to be a weapon in this kind of game. Two edges were better, obviously. After he finished all the work he could help with for that day, he went to a blacksmith intending to acquire a dagger. Quietus asked about the price of one, and was astounded to learn that he couldn¡¯t even afford the cheapest weapon. He wasn¡¯t used to being unable to afford things. He quickly got over it, however, when he realized just how little time he¡¯d spent earning money. The blacksmith did recommend that he go see a carpenter, where he could purchase a practice dagger. He did, and got a wooden practice dagger.
Wooden Dagger: Durability: 10/10 Damage: 1-1 This wooden dagger is made for practice. It is very fragile, and impractical as a real weapon.
The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Quietus hadn¡¯t really expected anything different for a toy dagger worth not much more than a copper. Hopefully it was at least durable enough to hit those training dummies. He decided to go check. The wooden dagger was much better for the moves he was attempting to do on the dummies. It didn¡¯t stick out so far past his arm that he got the hit locations wrong. Well, not as wrong. He stared at the dummies for a couple minutes after every strike, trying to think of good places to hit. The dummies provided very little help in that regard, since they were pathetic attempts at real anatomy. ¡®Do I stab here? I think there¡¯s an artery, but I can¡¯t tell if I¡¯ve hit it.¡¯ Quietus pondered. He left after about an hour and less uses of his practice weapon than he could count on both hands. Quietus was trying to decide what to do when fate intervened. He saw the hot redheaded bard going by. Excellent, now he had someone to stalk something to do while waiting to find Solara. He snuck after her kept a respectful distance until she stopped. He waited for her to start singing, but to his surprise she did not. She started dancing! Maybe she wasn¡¯t a bard, but a dancer? She had been singing the day before. Quietus was focused on her, but she wasn¡¯t as enthralling with her dancing as her singing. She wasn¡¯t bad, but it seemed like she didn¡¯t have much practice. In fact, he probably wouldn¡¯t have watched her at all if not for her skimpy apparel excellent fashion. He wasn¡¯t normally into wanton skimpiness, but it suited her. Quietus wasn¡¯t very good at keeping track of time when he was stalking people focused on a task, so he was surprised when she stopped dancing. She¡¯d been getting better too. Also, he was surprised that it was dark. Coincidentally, she again chose to walk in his direction. That was what he got for hiding towards a main street. He quickly scurried away. He decided to go back to the training center, to see if it was open at night. He spent quite a few hours practicing his hits on vital spots. The training dummies were very poor for what he wanted, so he spent most of his time just staring at the training dummies trying to guess where their vital parts should be, the parts of them that existed anyway. After around five hours, and not a very many actual attempts to do anything, he got a message.
Agility rises by 1 point. (+1 AGI)
Quietus was surprised, he didn¡¯t know you could gain stats through means other than distributing them at level up. This was an excellent discovery! If only he knew what it was that caused him to get the stat point. Maybe it was after so many swings? That seemed too easy. Plus, he was pretty sure he hadn¡¯t achieve any important numbers. ¡®Oh well, if it ever happens again I can compare circumstances¡¯, he thought. During this time, the instructor at the training center had been watching Quietus. The instructor very much enjoyed hardworking people coming to his training center and working hard to learn the way of the sword, or practice their skills. This is why he stared at Quietus. ¡®This guy is so lazy!¡¯ thought the instructor. ¡®He stabs at the training dummies with that tiny wooden dagger, and then spends five or ten minute staring off into space! He¡¯s an insult to my training center!¡¯ Quietus, of course, didn¡¯t notice this smouldering glare, because he was concentrating. That was why he was surprised when the instructor came over to him. ¡°You don¡¯t take this training at all seriously! You haven¡¯t even made fifty real swings in the entire time you¡¯ve been here, and you don¡¯t put any effort into them! You are an insult to my training center. Leave, and don¡¯t come back!¡± Before Quietus could reply to this, he was lifted off his feet. Seconds later, he was literally thrown out of the training center. Quietus was sitting on his backside pondering what had just happened, when he noticed a figure in the shadows between the training center and the next building over. Oddly enough, the shadowy figure appeared to be laughing. Quietus frowned. He would have a word with this disrespectful shadowy figure! End Chapter 2 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=121&p=127#p127 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=123 Necromancer - Chapter 3 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 3 Quietus was angry at this shadowy figure who had laughed at him. How could he do that? It was so disrespectful! Quietus himself would never do such a thing! Well, he might laugh at people, but not out loud. Unless it was really funny. To be fair, he did get literally thrown out of a building. It was rather funny now that he thought about it. Still, what was this stranger doing laughing at him? This shadowy, cloaked figure. Such a figure radiated an aura of mystery. In fact, he was sure that it was on purpose. He almost didn¡¯t want to go look, but he had the feeling the person had been waiting nearby for some nefarious purpose. Perhaps they had a grudge with the training instructor and were waiting around, looking for the perfect time to seek revenge. Perhaps they waited on a clandestine lover (not very clandestinely now, though). Maybe they were just wandering the streets in the wee hours of the morning for no reason. Thus, in the time it took him to walk the distance to the alleyway, Quietus had convinced himself out of his rather irrational anger and acquired himself an intense curiosity. Quietus quickly came up with a clever plan to find out the figure¡¯s identity. ¡°Who are you?¡± he asked. ¡°Me? I have been called the messenger of the night, deliverer of death, seller of secrets, and a whole bunch of other mysterious names which may or may not be applicable. You may call me Frank. It is not my name, but my associates and I aren¡¯t big on names.¡± ¡°So, what is this association that appears to consist of a creepy person standing in an alleyway?¡± ¡°That I can answer. We¡¯re the assassin¡¯s guild, and we even have guildhall here in the city and everything. It appears in broad daylight, with a sign to let people know. That, of course, is where people recruit assassins to go fight monsters. This really rather makes us into rogues or some such. Rather a boring business... but that¡¯s not why I¡¯m here. One of our contacts told us about you as a potential candidate, and it¡¯s pretty obvious that you¡¯re not cut out to be a warrior. Still, we¡¯ve seen some of the qualities we like in you.¡± ¡°Are all assassins this long winded?¡± ¡°No, but many of us are when we are being Frank. Details can be key. Well, I¡¯ll be brief for this part. Come to the back of the guild tonight... or perhaps tomorrow night, depending on how you count your days. We can have a little test run to see if you fit in with us.¡± *Ting*
The True Nature of the Guild Bet your future and your life on discovering the true nature of the assassin¡¯s guild. Visit the guild at the appointed time for your trial. Difficulty level: E Quest requirements Display the attributes of an assassin, and be noticed by the right people.
¡°Umm... okay.¡± Quietus was not the best at interacting with people, possibly best displayed by the fact that he smart mouthed a shady character in an alleyway. Sometimes, however, he just had a stupid mouth.
You accepted the quest.
Then, the man who was called Frank disappeared. There wasn¡¯t a puff of smoke or any sign of his departure, he was just gone. Quietus thought that was a pretty cool thing to be able to do. It was like magic. Well, maybe it was, you couldn¡¯t really rule that out in this game. Quietus went on to the morgue. It opened early, and maybe there would be something for him to do there. ¡°We gotcha some special lessons today,¡± said Jack. On the table lay a body. So far, this was a pretty normal day for Quietus. ¡°This here person is a foreigner, something like you. See if you can tell what offed him.¡± Quietus put his recently acquired accelerated learning of anatomy and death to the test. First, the guy didn¡¯t have any large stab wounds or anything. Severed limbs would be a pretty good indicator of cause of death as well. He hadn¡¯t actually seen any of that stuff, but he had put them on the list of things to look for anyway, just in case. It took a while, and it was only after an hour that he found a slight discoloration on the man¡¯s neck. He pointed it out. ¡°Umm... maybe poison? There¡¯s a discoloration there. Although I suppose he could have been sick, or had a rash or something.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Hmm, not bad for a beginner. This sorry example of a corpse is what we call sloppy work. If a man gets killed by a professional, the poison shouldn¡¯t leave any marks. At least, if he wants it to be a mystery. I suppose you might be wondering where we get all these bodies. There certainly aren¡¯t enough citizens in this town to support such a death rate. Well, it¡¯s mostly foreigners that come through here. We generally pick them up in the countryside, don¡¯t want them just lying around. Our job here is to dispose of them properly. Sometimes, we look into what killed a man, ¡®specially if he dies inside the city limits. Sometimes, we look, but not too hard. A wise man knows when not to look.¡± Jack went on to teach Quietus more in depth about the various ways people died, all ¡°foreigners¡±. Quietus realized these were players. He had assumed the bodies of players who died just... went away. That was what usually happened in games. It was very odd to think there was actually a way it was dealt with by NPCs in the game. Somehow, he never found it odd that he was involved in this, just that it existed at all. After half a day of working with dead bodies, something he was strangely coming to enjoy, he was done for the day. He set off through the town. Today would be the day. He was going to find Solara and nothing could stop him. No army, no walls, nothing. He would not be distracted by- hey look it¡¯s that redheaded bard. He quickly followed her down a side street, keeping his distance. For some reason, she always seemed to do her practice, if that¡¯s what it was, away from the main streets. Maybe she didn¡¯t like being watched, which is an odd thing for a bard. Or dancer. He wasn¡¯t really sure which. Today, it seems, she was practicing both at once. The combinations of song and dance were a bit awkward. Eventually, though, she matched them together quite well. She seemed to get tired much more quickly, and often had to take breaks. During these breaks, she would sit down and look around. Quietus had to put more effort into not being seen. One time, he had just ducked around a corner when- *Ting*
You have learned a skill Stealth It is harder for people to notice you while this skill is active. All stamina consumption is increased while this skill is in use. Quick movement and combat will cancel the skill.
Quietus was surprised. He hadn¡¯t really been sneaking around much or anything. Well, that was how he thought, because he was so used to doing it in real life too. He was sort of a natural. Perhaps not naturally good at it, although he was not bad, but he was definitely a natural at performing the act of sneaking. This was because he was a creep shy. Sometimes, he just didn¡¯t want people to see him. Especially when he was stalking watching observing umm... anyway, those times with Solara. Quietus decided he would keep the skill activated while watching the bard, since she seemed to want privacy and he didn¡¯t want to disrupt her concentration. During her next few breaks, he caught her looking rather puzzled. He wasn¡¯t sure why that would be. Was there someone else around to make noise or otherwise distract her? He kept watch for this, but mostly he paid attention to her. Still, he did have to watch his back in case anyone saw him stalking her appeared and distracted her. That night, he went to his meeting, although he really wanted to be a wizard. Still, it seemed like a bad idea to turn down an invitation from an assassin, even a relatively nice one. Plus he had a quest, and he heard those gave experience and stuff. He figured he could use some experience, since he would probably be leaving town soon. The restriction to the city was almost over, and even if he wouldn¡¯t have gone out of the city, he was sure Solara was going to be going out. Hopefully he would find her before then, but he he was starting to lose any hope of that. End Chapter 3 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=122&p=128#p128 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=185 Necromancer - Chapter 4 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 4 Quietus arrived at the back door of the assassin¡¯s guild at exactly the appointed time. Well, maybe. He¡¯d really only been told to be there at night. It was night, so he was exactly on time by his count. He stared at what he could see of the door in this shadowy alley. Yes, this was probably the right door. It was unmarked, unlike the front door, but that would only make sense for truly clandestine activities. Quietus decides that he had spent long enough staring at the stupid door, and performed the secret knock. Well, he would have, but he couldn¡¯t remember it. In fact, he didn¡¯t remember learning a secret knock at all. Quietus knocked on the door. He heard a voice from the other side. ¡°Password?¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t given a password,¡± replied Quietus. He hoped they wouldn¡¯t kill him for forgetting the password. Forgetting the secret knock and the password was very embarrassing. He usually had a good memory for these things. ¡°No password? ... Ah good you¡¯re not someone we sent to get killed then. Come on in.¡± The door would have creaked open, but the hinges were rather well oiled so it just opened quietly. Inside was a man who was obviously some kind of warrior- armor, weapons, broken nose. Quietus had expected someone dressed in black and whispering from the shadows. There were actually very few of those inside as well. Shadows, that is. It looks like they understood that people need to be able to see to walk around. ¡°I was sent here by Frank,¡± Quietus explained after the door was shut behind him to keep out the cold. ¡°Sure, he¡¯s in that room over there, waiting with the other new recruit. Go on in, he¡¯ll explain.¡± Quietus wondered about the other recruit. Suddenly, a strange sense of fate rose up inside him. Could it be that the person he had been looking for this whole time except when he was stalking that bard would show up here, when he wasn¡¯t looking? On stepping into the room, he knew his feelings were true. He saw short, blond hair, and a thin build. The hair was a bit different though. Actually, wasn¡¯t this a male? He really looked nothing like Solara except the hair color being a bit similar. When he saw the man¡¯s face, he was sickened at the thought of even considering that this person was Solara. He kept his face neutral though. He didn¡¯t want to aggravate a possible future guildmate. Although he wasn¡¯t really convinced on becoming an assassin. Still, he also didn¡¯t want to make assassins angry at him. Frank started with an explanation, ¡°Welcome, potential recruits, welcome. We have gathered all of you¡± he put an emphasis on the all of you, as if to say he was well aware there were only two people listening, ¡°all of you here today, based on your demonstrated skills and proclivities. Your inclination for our trade, and the mettle to pursue it. Will you skyrocket through our ranks, or be yet another disappointment? It is up to you to decide! Also, your natural talents. Plus, whoever you have connections with will help greatly. Luck will be a deciding factor for some of it. Oh, right. If either of you are here because you think this is an introduction to the assassin class, just leave. That¡¯s not what this is about. We have a front door and operating hours for that.¡± Quietus was surprised, but somewhat relieved, to hear this. He didn¡¯t want to be the assassin class. He still felt the draw of magic, even though he was acutely aware of the lack of magic guilds in the city. He was also surprised to see the other player walk out- had the man no sense of curiosity? Quietus was then surprised a final time to hear the player scream unpleasantly after they were out of the room. ¡°Umm...¡± Frank answered the unspoken question, ¡°We are not above being petty. It disappoints us to have promising recruits end up being uninteresting people. Now then, to the matter at hand. Be aware that you are forbidden to speak what transpires after this, upon penalty of death, to anyone not involved in it. Also, we are aware that foreigners have the nasty habit of coming back to life, so be aware that we will kill you a lot if you let any of our secrets out. We¡¯re petty. Last chance to leave without hearing our dark secrets, and since you¡¯re such a nice young lad we won¡¯t even kill you on the way out.¡± Quietus wanted to cover all his bases. ¡°If I hear your secret, and don¡¯t join you, but also don¡¯t tell anyone, what happens then?¡± ¡°Then we kill you once out of pettiness. Any further questions?¡± Quietus had none, so he just shook his head. He also stayed in the room. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°Right, well then, here it is. We kill people.¡± Quietus stood there waiting for the secret. Frank stood there staring at Quietus. The silence was getting awkwardly long, so Quietus said, ¡°Ok, but what¡¯s the secret?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the secret. Well, not really. The secret is that we don¡¯t just kill monsters. We are hired out to kill people as well, although those who become ¡®assassins¡¯ generally just hunt monsters. However, if you join the real guild, be you a warrior, wizard, or even a painter, you will kill people. On commission, or sometimes on the whim of a high ranking member. Always for profit.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t really see why that has to be much of a secret, seems like something any assassins guild should do.¡± ¡°Interesting. Have you no qualms about killing people? Not just vile monsters, but the shopkeeper down the street, or the knight in his castle?¡± Quietus, even if you ignored the fact that he may have been somewhat of a sociopath, found nothing wrong with killing people. It was, after all, just a game. Players respawned. NPCs stayed dead, sure, but they weren¡¯t really sentient or anything, so he had no reason to feel bad for them. He did have to take the chance to make a snide remark, however. ¡°Well, I am a bit ill-equipped to kill a knight. I think I¡¯ll pass on that for now.¡± Frank smiled. Not entirely the kind of creepy smile you would expect from a professional murderer, but a genuine smile. Slightly creepy as well, but truly happy. ¡°Then, how would you like to join the true order of assassins?¡±
You have been offered a position as a novice in the Order of Silence.
¡°Well, I¡¯ll get paid, right? Sounds great.¡± And it did.
You have joined the Order of Silence as a novice. Do jobs for the guild to earn reputation and infamy.
*Ting*
The True Nature of the Guild Quest Completed!
*Ding*
You have gained a level!
Quietus was happy to have his very first level up. He distributed 5 points into Agility, since he felt that would be useful. He also distributed 5 points to luck. It couldn¡¯t hurt to have that. ¡°Now then, how would you like your first assignment?¡± Frank didn¡¯t actually wait for Quietus to answer, ¡°This man here,¡± he gestured to a sketch of a rather plain looking man¡¯s face, ¡°has annoyed someone with money. His name is Marcus Phinx, and he is a beginning merchant. He has been in this country some time longer than you, but has no combat skills to speak of, so you should be capable of carrying out this job. No specifications on how he should be killed. No time limit given, but he is likely to be leaving the city within a few days, after which the difficulty will significantly increase. Here is an advance. If you fail to complete the job, we have ways of obtaining it back. Any questions?¡± Quietus didn¡¯t really have any questions. All he was thinking about was the shiny dagger the advance would buy him, and how he couldn¡¯t wait for this guy to be dead. *Ting*
Assassination Kill Marcus Phinx. Specifications: None Estimated Difficulty Level: E
You accepted the quest.
Quietus automatically accepted the quest. Not that he was planning to refuse it. Now he had something about this game that he was, unexpectedly, looking forward to. End Chapter 4 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=123&p=129#p129 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=198 Necromancer - Chapter 5 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 5 Quietus was excited about the prospect of killing someone. Of course, it was in a game, and therefore not real, so it was okay. Fortunately for Quietus, he didn¡¯t have to ponder what it would be like to kill someone in real life, because then he would have a chance to feel bad. He was nervous, though, because it would be his first combat. Normally players had to play for four weeks inside Royal Road before they got to go outside the city and experience combat. Here he was, just over a week in, and he was going to experience real combat. Sort of. He didn¡¯t really plan to make it fair for the other guy. After all, even if he was a merchant, he was probably somewhere above the two levels that Quietus himself possessed, and levels had something to do with strength. They always made you stronger in other games, so there was no reason for this to be different. Thus, Quietus went to the apothecary to buy some herbs. He purchased some that, in his learning of alchemy, were somewhere along the lines of ¡°don¡¯t mix these together that will kill someone instead of healing them¡±. In layman¡¯s terms, he made some poison. Quietus made his next stop the blacksmith¡¯s shop. His purchase: a real dagger. The cheapest one they had, unfortunately, but it was still made out of metal. Much better than a wooden one.
Iron Dagger: Durability: 20/20 Damage: 5-10
This iron dagger is made with decent workmanship. It has no particular flaws, but no particular good qualities either. Now Quietus had to do the part of the task that most assassins disliked the most, finding information on the target¡¯s whereabouts. However, Quietus was not a normal person. Exceptional was not the right way to describe him, however. Just not normal. He enjoyed the thought of finding out about someone, and then killing them. For fun, of course. In game. Fortunately for him, it was also an easy task. Quietus thought it was logical to check the marketplace for a merchant, and easily found him. Specifically, Quietus was searching through the marketplace, looking for the right face, when he heard a loud argument. It bothered him, disrupting his concentration. He turned to frown at the arguing people. One of them being the Marcus Phinx he was supposed to kill. On second thought, it wasn¡¯t surprising to find him like this- someone obviously already had a grudge against him. While it could have been someone petty, it seemed that this man just had the kind of personality that grates on you. Quietus stayed away from him, and did his best to remain inconspicuous. He did have some practice doing this in real life, because of his... habits. It also didn¡¯t seem to hurt that the man was pretty much oblivious to his surroundings. An easy catch. However, he did have the unfortunate quality of being very noticeable, which means people would notice very quickly if he stopped being annoying. Then people would blame the man with the bloody dagger. Although most of the people around probably dislike him, they wouldn¡¯t want to kill him. Well, except whoever put out a hit on him. Still, everyone else feels better if they can believe that people don¡¯t get killed by anything but monsters in this game. No one likes a murderer. Or, technically, a PKer, to other players. Because this was a game. Nobody was going to actually die. Quietus was still quite good at focus. Some might have called it spacing out, but he would have called it focus. He did come into a larger sense of his surroundings when the man started walking out of the marketplace. Thus, he realized it was night time. Quietus had just spent most of a day watching this man, trying to figure out how he moved. Of course, Quietus had no basis for determining the skills or weak points of the man, so he mostly made wild guesses and compared them to things he¡¯d seen in movies, then threw them out. He¡¯d just have to hope the guy couldn¡¯t actually fight. Quietus poisoned his blade while following the man away from the crowds. Then came the perfect moment. Marcus was walking down a large, empty street with very little light. Nobody was around. Quietus quickly hurried after him, his dagger drawn, but still careful to retain his stealth skill. His palms were sweaty. Because of his abysmally terrible endurance stat, he was even starting to run out of endurance just from walking faster, although his stealth skill was also contributing to the drain on that. Still, all he had to do was slit this man¡¯s throat. That was how it was done, right? Probably. It was usually unarmored, and he knew that throats were very vulnerable. He was now right behind the man, who was fortunately very, very, noisy and oblivious. Quietus reached forward, his dagger going in front of Marcus¡¯ neck, when he tripped. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Quietus actually had a pretty good sense of balance. It wasn¡¯t actually his fault that he tripped. Instead, it was because Marcus tripped, and somehow pulled Quietus with him. They both fell to the ground, and Quietus suddenly worried that this man was some kind of master grappler. He¡¯d been wrong. He was going to die, instead of killing this man. Well, at least it had been kind of fun. After a few seconds of realizing that he wasn¡¯t dead, he looked at Marcus. Marcus had been oddly quiet, and now Quietus realized why. When Marcus had tripped, his throat and Quietus¡¯ dagger had become well acquainted. That¡¯s how Quietus had fallen with him, since he had had a pretty good grip on his weapon. The fall had confused Quietus enough for him to miss the critical hit notification, gained for striking an opponent¡¯s weak point. Marcus wasn¡¯t dead, however. He did have enough levels, even as a merchant, to have more hit points than that. He could survive a critical hit from a measly level two newbie. What he wasn¡¯t going to survive, however, was the bleeding it was causing, combined with the poison. His health bar was slowly draining out its last, and he was just sort of staring into the sky, dazed. Then, the last remnants disappeared, along with the health bar itself. *Ting*
Assassination Marcus Phinx is dead. Return to Frank.
Luck rises by 1 point. (+1 LUK)
Quietus stared at his hands, covered in blood, and the body of Marcus Phinx covered in blood, and knew regret. Darn, those were some nice clothes. He thought. Now they¡¯re all covered in blood. Still, quality was quality, even if it was a bit less quality than it had been. Quietus began looting Marcus¡¯ body. However, he immediately encountered a problem. He couldn¡¯t take everything. It appeared that all he got was an assortment of items from the guy¡¯s body. I guess the game developers didn¡¯t want to leave dead players without all their gear. Fortunately for Quietus, the assortment of items included at least some significant portion of Marcus¡¯ coin purse, which was not insubstantial. All in all, it had been good. Not as well executed as it could have been, but successful. Fun. Profitable. Plus, he had somehow gained a point of luck. Ironically, he had to assume that was BECAUSE of luck, because he had no idea how he could gain it otherwise. Strength, of course, is because your muscles work, but is luck gained when you are lucky? Maybe. Only time would tell, or a quick internet search. Still, that sounded like a lot of trolling through boring forums to find answers. He¡¯d find out how it worked eventually anyway. As Quietus was strolling back, with his loot, to turn in his quest, he saw a guard up ahead. The guard yelled, ¡°Stop, Murderer!¡± Quietus quickly looked around for this guy who might kill him. He didn¡¯t want him taking his hard-won loot. Then, he realized. He was the murderer. This, about the time he felt the guard¡¯s sword going through his side. Thus, the first of many deaths of Quietus occurred. End Chapter 5 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=185&p=374#p374 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=213 Necromancer - Chapter 6 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 6 Solara Vail was a very shy girl. This had led, in a rather recursive fashion, to social awkwardness. She was shy, so she didn¡¯t know how to talk to people, which just made her more shy. On and on and on, as such. She was, however, also quite intelligent. Generally, this is the formula for a stereotypical nerd. Another contributing factor to her social awkwardness. Throughout much of her life, this caused her much distress. Partly because people picked on her in school, but while unpleasant this was not a terribly big problem for Solara. No, in fact it was the fact that although she was shy, she really liked being around people. She wanted to be able to talk to them, and her inability to do so hurt. This is why Mortimer Perrywinkle was sort of a blessing. Sort of. When she first saw him, Solara had been talking out loud to herself off in the corner of a courtyard, during the lunch period at school. She had been practicing conversation, in an attempt to get better at it. Then she saw him, kind of awkwardly hiding, but obviously making the attempt. She wanted to go up to him and talk to him, but she was too shy to attempt it. Instead, she started talking to herself more, to communicate with him. It was a sort of odd, one-sided conversation. She never learned much about him, since he said nothing and pretended not to be there, and she pretended not to notice him. However, he also learned about her mostly just what she wanted him to know. After that first day, she was careful in what she said. She even left a carefully formulated journal which Mortimer was creepyobservant enough to find. This very awkward relationship carried on for some time before Solara found another possible way to come out of her shell. Virtual Reality. There was a game called Royal Road which practically everyone played. She saved up money and sucked up to her relatives for some time before finally getting a capsule for her birthday. She would have to pay for her subscription herself. Still, it promised another world where she could be someone else. She had researched the game quite a bit before playing, and decided she wanted to be a bard. She had always been interested in the thought of playing an instrument, and wanted to force herself to do something that would inevitably involve other people. She had considered being a dancer, but bard had won out since she had to choose just one. Thus, when she logged into Royal Road for the first time, she made sweeping changes to her appearance. No one could recognize her, because she would be using an entirely different face, build, hair color... everything. She also planned to go in with an entirely different attitude than she did outside of Royal Road. Solara chose to name her character Ruby, although it was perhaps a bit cliche. Well, quite a lot. Still, bards were kind of expected to be extravagant about whatever they did, so why not start with a bit of a pretentious name. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. During her first couple of game days she did quite a few odd jobs, and also went for singing and instrumental lessons at the bard¡¯s guild. She even managed to pick up the singing skill. Then, she spent some time practicing in less traveled areas of the city. She really wanted to sing in the main square, but she wasn¡¯t really that good yet, and she was still kind of embarassed of the idea. Still, she had been talking to some people, and that had been more than she had done before. Men were significantly more eager to talk to her, probably because of her new looks. After a few days, she saw Mortimer when she was just finishing up her singing practice. It was easy to recognize him, even with the few minor changes he had made. She¡¯d seen him often enough, and he was the closest thing she had to a friend. She tried to avoid thinking about how pathetic that was, and walked towards him. She was going to talk to him, as the new, more social her. Unfortunately, he skittered away. She realized he probably didn¡¯t actually recognize her, so he probably thought an unknown woman had noticed him stalking her. This made her feel rather odd, as she both felt jealousy at Mortimer watching another woman, and disgust at the thought of thinking her stalker was kind of cute. She hadn¡¯t really thought about that second point much at all. Solara soon learned that the dance skill could be used, to a much lesser effect, even for one not of the dancer class. She thought it might be a good thing to have, and thus learned that as well. Again, she went to practice her skills. She noticed Mortimer watching her again, much earlier this time. She had to rest, so she had plenty of time to look around. Then, one time he slipped around the corner, with much more finesse than he had exhibited when they first met. This was the last Solara, as Ruby, saw of him for a long time. ------------------------------------- A note to readers: I hate some of you (not really) for guessing some of the things I was/am going to do. Just let it be known that I (mostly) won¡¯t be changing my story based on suggestions you guys make. That doesn¡¯t mean you shouldn¡¯t give them, and I love comments, I¡¯m just saying that if you see something you suggested it doesn¡¯t necessarily mean I was swayed by your comment. Then again, it could be subliminal, so keep at it, and maybe you¡¯ll get everything you want! End Chapter 6 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=198&p=420#p420 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=246 Necromancer - Chapter 7 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 7 Mortimer got quite a bit more sleep that night than he had for the last few days. The reason was quite simply that he wasn¡¯t playing Royal Road, so he didn¡¯t have anything better to do. He dreamed of dying. However, always just before he actually died, the scene changed to another. He woke up in a sweat, frustrated. Unlike most people, however, he did not consider it a nightmare. He was instead disappointed that he didn¡¯t actually experience the death. Not that he was suicidal, just very morbidly curious. He thought back to his death in Royal Road. The sword had gone in near his heart. There had been a sharp, stabbing pain. However, because of the nature of Royal Road, the pain had been muted. After all, for the happiness and sanity of the players, only a certain threshold of pain was simulated. Not many people would play a game in which dying actually felt like dying. Still, it was somewhat of a disappointment to Mortimer that he would not be able to properly gauge how much dying would really hurt. Mortimer¡¯s day at school was fairly typical, but upon arrival home he saw his parents in the entryway. This was a bad sign, because that means there was going to be a talk about something, and Mortimer never enjoyed those. Still, it would be far worse if he ran away. ¡°Yes, mother, father, you have something to talk about?¡± His mother replied, ¡°We have been concerned about your lack of physical activity since you no longer attend a physical education course at school. A true gentleman should be fit, and preferably participate in a sport.¡± Mortimer didn¡¯t bother to tell his parents that he didn¡¯t want to be a gentleman. That would be a recipe for disaster, such as revoked privileges. Instead, he said, ¡°Of course. I will certainly take up a worthy sport. Just give me some time to deliberate which would be the most fitting.¡± At this, Mortimer received a nod from his parents. Approval, barely. He knew he would have to pick something in the near future, lest they pick for him. He couldn¡¯t stand the thought of playing polo or something stupid like that, and football would have been murder to his small frame. After he was out of sight of his parents, Mortimer sighed. This would also take time away from his playing Royal Road. Mortimer quickly did his homework. He couldn¡¯t sign into Royal Road until twenty-four hours after his death, so he figured he¡¯d do something to stave off disappointed parents. Then, he researched all the things that could be called sports for something that wouldn¡¯t take much time, and would preferably involve little moving around. There were not many options, of course. Then, he stumbled upon an idea. He quickly did some research in that area, and came up with the workings of a plan that would not be unpleasant to him. If he could get it to work. Then, it was time to log on to Royal Road. He would only have about half as much play time today as most days, since he was starting on the second half of his play time. Dying was kind of a pain. Well, at least he got his homework done, and that might help him stave off his inevitable future of failure. Not that he particularly cared about failing in a world full of boring people, but he did rather like not dying of starvation. Also, now, playing Royal Road, and Royal Road was definitely not free. Of course, as long as his parent¡¯s didn¡¯t disinherit him, he¡¯d be fine, but he had no doubt that if he turned out to be a true failure, he¡¯d be sitting on a corner begging soon enough. With those thought of finances, he logged in. Quietus quickly noticed that he was lying on his back, staring at a vaguely familiar ceiling. He couldn¡¯t imagine why the ceiling of the church would be at all familiar. He had never gone in there, and since churches were where players generally respawned, that is where he expected to be. It was also a very uncomfortable place to wake up. Perhaps they didn¡¯t think to put down pillows under the poor dead players. Or rather ¡°foreigners¡±, if he wanted to use game terms. Blessed by some kind of god to come back to life instead of staying dead like any respectable NPC. Someone nearby cleared their throat and said, ¡°Good mornin¡¯.¡± The fact that this particular voice was familiar finally made Quietus realize where he was. It was not, in fact, in the church. It was hard because there was no point in giving comfort to the dead. This was, of course, a slab in the morgue. Thus, Jack was the one who had given greetings. Why am I in the morgue? Quietus thought. Then he said, ¡°Why am I in the morgue?¡± Asking the question seemed the most expedient way to solve the dilemma, much more sensible than pondering it out himself. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°Well, it¡¯s much more convenient to have certain people stay here, ya see. Pretty much everyone passes through here, and we figured there¡¯s no reason to cart you off to a strange building when you can wake up to a lovely smile on a friendly face.¡± At this, Jack grinned, exposing about half as many rotten teeth as a normal man would have normal teeth. ¡°Well, thanks,¡± Quietus answered sincerely, ¡°I do know my way around town from here better anyway. Still, don¡¯t people usually have to be around the holy power of the church to come back to life?¡± ¡°Oh, well yes. Usually. Still, I¡¯ve picked up a few tricks in my time. Enough to get a man back on his feet after he falls down. Works better on some than on others.¡± Quietus thought about it for a little bit. ¡°That¡¯s pretty neat, sounds like some useful magic. I don¡¯t suppose you could teach me a bit sometime?¡± Jack laughed, as pleasantly as someone like him could. ¡°Ha! Perhaps that will be so, but it¡¯s mostly tricks, hardly anything useful.¡± Quietus got up and left the morgue, one level and about half of the money he had acquired short compared to how he was before he had died. The level he had worked for was disappointing, but the money was the biggest loss at this point because he had just enough before dying to buy a much nicer dagger than the one he had. Now, he was reduced to only getting a quite a bit nicer dagger. He never even really considered buying anything else with the money. He had grown fond of daggers even in his short acquaintance with them. Quietus wasn¡¯t sure if the assassin¡¯s guild (specifically the back rooms) was open during the daytime. His previous experience made him feel it wouldn¡¯t be. Thus, he was surprised when the door opened after his knock. He saw the same guard as before, who half smiled at him. Well, perhaps a quarter smile. Something like a twitch of the side of his mouth. Still, he didn¡¯t look angry or about-to-kill-an-intrudery, and that was good enough. Quietus went in to see Frank, who actually, legitimately smiled. ¡°I¡¯ve heard tales of your great success as well as the catastrophic blunders that were involved with such. However, you succeeded at the task, and that is all that was required. Besides, sometimes luck is the best skill one can have. Congratulations on a job... well, done.¡± *Ting*
You completed the quest.
*Ding*
You have gained a level!
Quietus got back his level. He quickly distributed the points back into Luck and Agility, where he figured they belonged. He also received money, which brought back into his future the much better dagger. Quietus quite enjoyed this profession already. ¡°We don¡¯t have any more work right now for someone of your rank. You can check back later, perhaps after you get a bit of practice. It never hurts to have more. You¡¯ll also want to speak to our guild trainer about alternate uses of stealth, which you may find useful based on... recent events.¡± Quietus, not being one to ignore sound advice, went and found the guild trainer. There, he learned something important. How to not get stabbed by guards. Well, how to avoid making them want to stab him. More specifically, how to disguise himself. ¡°It works like this, see. If you don¡¯t get too close, or you have a brilliant disguise, guard¡¯s won¡¯t recognize you, and you won¡¯t be attacked for being a murderer. This will allow you to walk along the streets normally, just don¡¯t try getting through the gates if you get marked again. They¡¯ll see right through you.¡± Quietus nodded. This made a lot of sense. He also learned that it worked on players as well, not showing you as a murderer and displaying your name- so long as you stayed a distance away from people, or quite a bit further from those with keen observation skills. Armed with this knowledge, Quietus set out to find himself another adventure, although this one probably wouldn¡¯t involve killing someone, not just yet. End Chapter 7 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=213&p=483#p483 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=288 Necromancer - Chapter 8 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 8 The first part of the plan that didn¡¯t involve killing anyone went very well. Quietus visited the morgue (everyone there was already dead so they didn¡¯t count). Then he went to the alchemists to pick up some ingredients to practice with. Practice was going very well, until he was significantly a little careless with the mixing of some things. The last thing that he remembered before dying in the toxic fumes was that it smelled vaguely like mint. This, then, was the second death of Quietus. Although technically his plans were still fine, because although he didn¡¯t plan to kill anyone at that time, he didn¡¯t specifically plan to not kill anyone. However, it did kind of ruin the part in which he would be playing Royal Road. Instead, plans changed to sleep. -------------------------- In the morning, over breakfast, Mortimer informed his parents of the sport he wished to partake in. Well, if he had to participate in anything at all. He was actually hoping it was obscure enough that he wouldn¡¯t be able to do it. If his parents couldn¡¯t meet his ¡°request¡± he would likely not be required to do anything sport like. Even if they somehow found someone to teach him the ¡°sport¡± he had requested, well, at least he wasn¡¯t entirely uninterested in it. After a normal day at school(well, normal for Mortimer anyway), Mortimer attended to his homework, which went significantly faster now that he wasn¡¯t making up for about a week¡¯s work at once. Dying may not be good for his fun, but it was turning out to be good for his grades, and indirectly his parent¡¯s approval. If they were happy with him, he could do whatever he wanted, which was to play Royal Road. He wasn¡¯t sure why it was so fun, except that it was not real life. That, and he also got to learn interesting things without consequences to his actual well being. Then, it had been twenty-four hours after his death. Mortimer only had a few hours to play, because he had to start late, but that translated to much longer in the game. -------------------------- Although he was again back to level 1, Quietus was excited about his time today. It was a special occasion. Specifically, he could now leave the city. Nothing would distract his attention from his goal, to kill a rabbit. Or whatever it was that was out there. He was focused, and his great concentration wouldn¡¯t be interrupted by anything, not even- well, okay. Maybe that bard. The bard appeared to have found a group of people to adventure with, at least that is what it looked like from over where Quietus was hiding standing. They moved together towards the gates of the city, talking to each other, so it was a logical assumption. Quietus followed them. He had no reason not to, because he was stalking the bard could observe their killing techniques. Thus, he unobtrusively followed them. Quietus did, in fact, observe their combat techniques. Perhaps not as carefully as he could have, but he was distracted by the bard¡¯s skimpy clothes quite a distance away. His unwavering focus wasn¡¯t entirely distracted from his original goal either, because he saw a rabbit nearby. He thought it would be fun to try combat again, although his one combat had been rather short and bloody. Fun, though. He knew that rabbits in this game were significantly more dangerous than in real life, since no one could lose a fight to a rabbit in real life. Well, perhaps sickly, paralyzed grandmothers could, but perhaps they would just lose to life itself. Anyway, he decided that he should study the movements of the rabbit to find a good time to strike. Thus, he lay on the ground some distance away from the rabbit and hid himself (more than he normally did). He watched it hop around with an intense stare. Eventually, he felt confident that he could strike a good blow. However, he wanted to be extra cautious, so he moved to where he thought it might be going, to prepare an ambush. His first few attempts failed, as the rabbit turned off course, but eventually he found the perfect moment. The rabbit hopped in front of him, almost buried in the tall grass. His dagger, which had been held at the ready, snapped down behind it¡¯s long, fluffy ears with perfect aim and timing. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. The rabbit, as most new players would have been surprised to learn, died. Quietus, however, had spent all his money on a dagger, and with his skill in anatomy, the critical hit that happened was even more powerful. Most players would also have been surprised that he spent a few hours watching a rabbit before even trying a swing. Quietus might have been surprised at the time it had taken him too, since he had been so absorbed in the task.
Agility rises by 1 point. (+1 AGI)
You have gained a level!
All at once, Quietus obtained another point of agility and got his level back. He was surprised at the level, but he shouldn¡¯t have been. He had been just on the verge of third level before he died, and was thus a miniscule bit away from second level afterwards. He had, after all, successfully killed a player, and completed a quest. Some quests were even known to give multiple levels, depending on their difficulty. Quietus now went through the familiar process of distributing points to dexterity and luck, again. This time, he thought, this time they would stay there, and he would get more levels. In fact, it would be quite easy for him to gain more levels by killing rabbits, although probably not at the pace he usually adopted. Still, with practice his speed would increase significantly. Before he did anything else, however, Quietus indulged his curiosity. He had learned about humans at the morgue, but since monsters were more common in Royal Road than humanoids, he would have to learn what made things different. Thus, he started with the rabbit. A while later, he was satisfied that he had found all it¡¯s major organs, and had a good idea of how it worked. At least, as a base.
Level Up: Anatomy [4] Increases critical hit damage when striking a vulnerable location by 20%
Now he could go back to killing rabbits and leveling up properly. Thus, obviously, he decided to kill something besides rabbits. Well, obvious to himself only, perhaps. He now considered himself far above rabbits, having slain one in a single blow. He would move on to the next level. Perhaps foxes. He was pretty sure those were next. Quietus followed the same pattern with the rabbit, hiding and observing, before waiting for it to approach for a fatal blow. It happened much the same as with the rabbit. The dagger swung down, and there was a satisfying sound of it piercing the fox. Except, it wasn¡¯t. The sound of a rabbit being stabbed is apparently remarkable similar to the ground being stabbed at the same time as a fox bites into soft, fleshy neck. Quietus immediately, although unsteadily, stood up to put up a proper fight. He was quite a bit lower on health than he wished he were. As he was deciding where to place his next blow, the fox bit him again. And again. And again. None of the bites were incredibly dangerous, except the first one. However, together, they added up. Quietus had no armor, and very low amounts of health. Quietus felt a rather familiar sensation. This is turning into a bad habit, he thought as he died a third time. Oh well, at least I learned something. End Chapter 8 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=246&p=684#p684 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=320&p=1176#p1176 Necromancer - Chapter 9 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 9 Mortimer was rather depressed at school Thursday morning. He¡¯d had an impressive start to his combat career, slaying a player and even a rabbit, but he had ended up dying after each time. He would need to actually work his way up in levels and personal experience. This was not something he was used to doing, at least not in any way that felt real. In other games he had leveled up a character, but it had not been virtual reality, and thus, not him. In real life, everything had been given to Mortimer, whatever he wanted. As mentioned, video games, as well as other entertainment at his whim. He didn¡¯t even have to provide much of a return on his parent¡¯s investment- just a bit more effort in the things he did. Mortimer was naturally suited for learning in school, when he tried. Thus, his parents had been easy to please when he needed to. Royal Road, however, seems like it would come hard. Somehow, Mortimer was looking forward to it. Something he had chosen for himself, and would put the effort into. He was excited to start playing again as soon as he could. On the ride home, he was thinking about getting back into the game. That is, until just before he arrived. He had died. Specifically, just before he had gone to sleep in the wee hours of the morning. He couldn¡¯t actually play again until tomorrow. -------------------------- Mortimer arrived home and found a strange little man in the lobby. They stared at each other. Mortimer, in a rather quizzical fashion. Who is this guy? The man, who appeared to be of east asian descent, perhaps Filipino, observed him more like a cat eyeing a mouse. Maybe. He certainly felt intimidating, for all that he was shorter than Mortimer by a good few inches. Since this encounter was going nowhere fast, Mortimer took the initiative. ¡°Umm...¡± Fortunately, his initiative became unnecessary quickly, as his father walked into the room. ¡°Ah, Mortimer, I see you have met Master Valarao (pronounced like balaraw). He is to be your instructor.¡± Mortimer thought for a minute. Instructor in what?. He stood there like an idiot. He pondered. He thought about his life. Then, he remembered. The thing. Exercise. Sports. Or in this case, martial arts. In the case of this particular man, highly likely to be Filipino, Mortimer could assume he was a practitioner of Eskrima, or one of the other arts that fell under the same blanket category. Mortimer had asked for someone from something he thought was obscure enough for his parents to not find him any way to participate in. Mortimer had obviously underestimated the obscurity of this. He looked at the suitcase by the man¡¯s feet, with a luggage tag that showed he had been flown in from somewhere. Apparently, he had also underestimated his parents. Mortimer went back to thinking about Master Valarao, and Eskrima. He had chosen it because, if he had to learn it, he wouldn¡¯t mind. That is, it was knife fighting. Well, at least partly. It wasn¡¯t exclusively that, but such would be included, and Mortimer had taken up a liking to his dagger in Royal Road. Mortimer decided he should stop standing there like an idiot and finally introduce himself, although it was a bit past the proper time he should have. ¡°Greetings, Master Valarao. I am honored that you would consider taking me as a student.¡± Master Valarao¡¯s mouth twitched at the corner. Perhaps a smile, or a smirk, or a sneer. Maybe he just twitched. Maybe Mortimer was overthinking it. Then, Master Valarao said, ¡°I will be happy to work with you, young Mortimer, if you are willing to work with me. Even your parent¡¯s generosity won¡¯t keep me here if you don¡¯t put in the effort, and quite a bit of it.¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Somehow, Mortimer felt like those were the most words ever spoken by Master Valarao at once, although he had no idea why he felt that. At this, Mortimer¡¯s father left with a gentle wave of his hand, and Mortimer helped Master Valarao carry one of his suitcases to the room where he would be staying. He was prepared to help him unpack, but was quickly dissuaded from that with a look from Master Valarao. Specifically, he looked like he would stab Mortimer with the knives that were found within if he touched them. Of course, there were also training sticks and various other weapons, as well as clothes, but Mortimer really only noticed the knives. They were very nice, and quite varied. They also seemed like they would be pointless to training, but they were here anyway. Then, in a short time, Mortimer was training. He was given a short bamboo stick, with a grip on it. Presumably an imitation dagger that was much safer. Other than visual demonstrations of stances, Mortimer was given little instruction. ¡°Stand like this.¡± ¡°Attack me like this.¡± If his grip was wrong, Master Valarao shifted it for him until it was right. Then, ¡°Now we spar.¡± Sparring consisted of Mortimer attempting to attack Master Valarao, failing, and getting hit. Hard enough to show that he would be dead if there were anything real going on, but not hard enough to cause any kind of lasting injury to anything but pride. Then, he would be shown and told what he did wrong. Then, he would try again. And again. Mortimer was not in the best shape he could have been in, but he actually managed to last several hours before collapsing in a heap on the floor. He learned about muscles he didn¡¯t know about. Well, that¡¯s not quite true. He had been learning anatomy, after all. Instead, he learned what it felt like for muscles he had never felt at all before to hurt. He was also bruised, slightly. Interestingly enough, however, he felt good. He slightly knew what he was doing now, and the ache in his muscle was a good ache. Well, no, not really. It hurt. It was a bad ache. Only when he was holding completely still could he pretend it was good. Still, he felt good at his progress. ¡°Tomorrow, we continue.¡± With that, Master Valarao left. After dinner, Mortimer collapsed on his bed and fell asleep. -------------------------- In the morning, Mortimer half expected to be awakened at an unforgiving hour and forced to spar again. Instead, he awoke at an hour that felt unforgiving, but was just the normal time for him to get up and have breakfast before school. At school, Mortimer avoided moving as much as possible, and even forsook some of his usual activities to avoid movement. Then, at home again, he was somehow back to training. His muscles actually started to hurt slightly less after a bit of a warm up and some lighter work. Then, he was back to the real deal. He collapsed after less time, because his muscles were already tired from the day before. There was no comment from Master Valarao about this, just, ¡°Tomorrow, more.¡± Today, however, Mortimer didn¡¯t collapse straight into bed. Instead, he managed to collapse into the capsule. He was going to play Royal Road, and he was glad that he wouldn¡¯t feel the muscle aches. -------------------------- ¡°Well, took your sweet time, didn¡¯tcha?¡± said a familiar voice when Quietus woke up. End Chapter 9 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=288 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=359 Necromancer - Chapter 10 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 10 The first things Quietus heard was the sound of Jack¡¯s voice scolding him for being slow. In this case, he had been dead for approximately a week inside of the game, instead of the usual four days. ¡°I had things to do,¡± explained Quietus. ¡°Hah! Things to do, so you delayed coming back to life? Death is such a casual thing for you lot.¡± ¡°Well, it is only temporary. It¡¯s not that big of a deal.¡± ¡°I wish I could say the same for myself. Tell me though, do you really accept it that easily? You have no fear of death?¡± ¡°No, none at all. Why do you ask?¡± ¡°Well, there are rumors among my... friends... of a secret power that can only be obtained by those who do not fear death. Of course, it may be just a rumor... but if you are interested in investigating it, it could be worth your time.¡± *Ting*
Explore the ancient ruins Rumors exist of a secret power available only to those who do not fear death. Explore a nearby dungeon and unlock the secrets held within. Difficulty level: D Quest requirements Leaving the dungeon before the quest is fulfilled will result in failure.
¡°A secret power? That sounds excellent.¡± I didn¡¯t know this game had secrets, it¡¯s probably just a standard quest, thought Quietus, exposing his ignorance once more... but privately this time.
You accepted the quest.
¡°Very well then, the rumors say that the secret is located in Seeker¡¯s Den. I¡¯ll mark the location on a map for you.¡± Quietus had heard of Seeker¡¯s Den. While he had been in the marketplace stalking casually observing Marcus Phinx, he had overheard some other people talking about it. The summary was that it was a deathtrap, literally. Fortunately only low level monsters were there, but they had terrible loot and there were traps everywhere in the dungeon. It had been thoroughly explored for secret doors and treasure rooms, and it had been unilaterally determined that the dungeon was useless. He would be going there to search for a secret, with no skills that were any good for that. This was a rather unfortunate quest... however, if he succeeded, he was bound to get something good. Maybe all he had to do was go look around and determine there was no secret... ¡°Thanks for watching over me while I was out, Jack. I¡¯ll be back with a super special secret!¡± Quietus smiled at Jack, although he felt none of the confidence he displayed. ¡°Ha! Well, with that attitude, you may have a chance. Good luck.¡± Thus, Quietus went out on his first quest that did not involve the city. He hunted quite a few rabbits for practice on the way, and picked up a few levels. The dungeon was relatively easy to find, since it was near a road and not intentionally hidden. Quietus entered Seeker¡¯s Den, and was immediately struck by an arrow, from a trap. He resigned himself to death. Death was coming rather slowly this time it seemed. Fortunately for Quietus, however, this trap wasn¡¯t actually enough to kill him with the couple levels he had under his belt. He was relieved to find he could survive the traps. He spent some time resting to recover his health, then moved on to the next room. In the next chamber, he found his first enemy. A skeleton. Very low level, armed with nothing but its own bones, it could still be a threat to Quietus, who had no armor. The skeleton let out a strange scream, and attacked. Fortunately for Quietus, he now had at least some indication of how to avoid being attacked. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but he managed to avoid enough of the damage to survive until he could hit the skeleton at some weaker points of its skeletal structure. Eventually, it collapsed, leaving behind some rags. I can definitely do this, thought Quietus, feeling new confidence from his success. Thus, when he entered the next hallway, he was surprised. Specifically because the next trap hit a lot harder than the previous one. Ah, this is that sensation I was expecting. Quietus died. -------------------------- When he came out of his capsule, Mortimer was slightly worried. The quest had said he would fail if he left the dungeon. Did he fail it because he died? He probably had. There went his chance at the special power. Mortimer went to train with master Valarao, who seemed to make himself available whenever Mortimer was. Then again, Valarao didn¡¯t seem have anything else to do here, so perhaps he felt it was easiest to be flexible with his schedule. During the sparring, Mortimer tried to see where his master¡¯s bones were positioned. He figured if he hadn¡¯t failed the quest, he could at least learn how to fight skeletons. It was a very difficult process, since there was quite a bit of skin and flesh and muscle in the way. Mortimer did get a better feel for where master Valarao¡¯s limbs were placed, or at least so he felt. Mortimer wasn¡¯t quite so sore the next day, so he didn¡¯t skip out on his usual routine at school, observing stalking Solara. He was apparently tired enough to mix his words up, though. -------------------------- Upon waking in Royal Road, Quietus was surprised to find himself exactly where he had died. He should have been returned to the temple, or in his case, the morgue. He remembered some more conversation from the marketplace about the spawn being bugged. He had assumed it would have been fixed by now, especially with the penchant for quality from the makers of Royal Road. Well, at least in this case he was lucky, because he didn¡¯t fail the quest. Quietus was much more careful in exploring the dungeon after his incident with the more powerful trap. Since he had died near the trap trigger, he was able to find a reference for what other traps might look like. This helped him avoid, or at least lessen, quite a bit of pain from other traps. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Quietus made his way towards what he felt was the center of the dungeon, because he figured that would be the best place to start. With his slower pacing of the dungeon, his stealth skill was much more effective. Now he could sneak up on the skeletons and get in a critical hit before the combat started, which made it much easier. They weren¡¯t worth much experience though, and they kept dropping slips of cloth instead of anything resembling real loot. Then, Quietus found what was obviously the main room. It was larger than the others, and it sported a slightly larger skeleton, with glowing eyes. The skeleton also appeared to be wielding an ornate dagger. It had a very impractical wavy blade, but Quietus liked it. Enough, in fact, that he forgot to watch his feet. Fortunately, the arrow from the trap missed him. Unfortunately, the pressure plate made a click, along with the arrow against the wall. What really screwed up his stealthiness, however, was his surprised profanity as an arrow just missed his head. Suddenly, the large skelton¡¯s evil eyes were fixed on Quietus. Then, it spoke. ¡°You will be sacrificed on my altar, and I shall consume your life!¡± Then, it made some very obvious moves to attack Quietus. The only thing that saves Quietus from a quick death was the fact that it wielded a knife. Sure, it was ¡°real¡±, unlike the ones master Valarao used, but getting hit by the ¡°fake¡± ones still hurt. The skeleton was also a bit slower than the other ones. Even this would not have been enough to save Quietus as he frantically dodged around, dealing rather trivial damage since he was failing to hit the skeleton¡¯s weak points. It was not enough for it to be slow and wielding a dagger, but what gave him the slightest edge was that it was not actually very good with using the dagger. It was probably used to sacrificing people in it¡¯s former probably-an-evil-cultist life. Quietus ducked and spun and performed various slashes and stabs... some of which went through empty air where vital organs were supposed to be. Somehow, though, he got inside the skeleton¡¯s reach, and dealt a final blow to it¡¯s spine, just below it¡¯s skull. It fell apart, just like the others, and the light went out of it¡¯s eyes. *Ding*
You have gained a level!
Quietus was a solid level 5 now, and had only managed to hold his own against the skeletons because they were rather pathetic. Except for that dagger, anyway. Quietus quickly looked for it, since he wanted it. However, all he found were two copper coins. Two coppers from something like a boss. Very weak, to be sure, but there should be something more. He looked around the room, even searching around and behind the sacrificial altar, but there wasn¡¯t anything else to be found. Well, I guess I can¡¯t expect secrets to just pop out easily. He moved on to explore the rest of the dungeon. Unfortunately, he got careless after a long period with no traps, and thus wasn¡¯t ready for the next big one he stumbled across. He spent the next several days in and out of death and exploring the dungeon. He explored every nook and cranny of Seeker¡¯s Den. During this, he noticed that the traps didn¡¯t trigger when he was heading away from the central chamber. He occasionally returned to the central chamber, but he had no desire to fight the boss. It had only dropped two copper, and now it actually looked stronger than before. Instead of just glowing eyes, it appeared as if it¡¯s whole skull were on fire. He wasn¡¯t sure that the first time wasn¡¯t a fluke, anyway. At this point, he was ready to give up and leave, even if it meant failing the quest he was beginning to think was impossible. He was making rather good progress on stealth, although his deaths set him back some in that regard. Thus, when someone else, who obviously hadn¡¯t heard that the dungeon was horrible, made entered and even made it to the boss room, Quietus watched him die. He came back the next day to watch the poor warrior come back to life and realize he had to extricate himself from this horrible dungeon manually. Out was easier than in, however. Quietus followed the warrior to the entrance. Just a few more steps, and he would fail the quest. Still, he couldn¡¯t complete it, so what was the point. All he¡¯d gotten from that crazy skeleton cultist was two copper pieces, and he had been refused the shiny sacrificial dagger. The only other loot besides rags he¡¯d received was another pair of coppers, from another skeleton in a small side chamber. A real skeleton, not one of the animated ones. It had been lying on a much smaller altar than the one in the main chamber. Quietus had determined that the poor soul had died from a very sharp blade, right to the heart, piercing even the bone. It was strange that the bones had stayed there. Quietus looked at the outside, where he wouldn¡¯t be haunted by traps and skeletons, and turned around, back into the dungeon, with a new determination. He wouldn¡¯t give up this easily. There was one last thing to try. It was not too long before he had made his way back to the central chamber. He did not draw his dagger, and walked confidently up to the altar. Out of his pocket he pulled two copper pieces. He lay on his back on the altar, a cold stone slab, much like what he had seen in the morgue, but much more grim with it¡¯s promise of death being dealt instead of just the acknowledgement of previous death. The skeleton watched him with it¡¯s glowing eyes and burning skull. It approached him. ¡°You will be sacrificed on my altar, and I shall consume your life!¡± Quietus put the copper coins over his eyes, and he heard the the dagger raised through the air, then come down and pierce his chest. He braced himself for the familiar feel of death. End Chapter 10 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=320&p=1176#p1176 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=363 Necromancer - Chapter 11 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 11 Notes: Last week* when we left our protagonist, he died again**. This leaves us with many questions. Will he ever complete the quest***? Will he find true love****? What skills does he have? What is his favorite type of sandwich? All***** of these questions will be answered in the near future! (Now.)****** *Yesterday **That seems to be happening a lot ***Read the next exciting chapter, which happens to be this one, to find out success or failure for sure! ****Guess. *****Two. *******No seriously just get on with the chapter. ------------------------- The sensation of death overwhelmed him, as well as the feeling that a window had popped up... but he was soon jerked out of Royal Road, as expected. Why would there be a pop up window then? Hopefully it didn¡¯t have anything important, but based on the luck he¡¯d been having with that quest, it probably said he¡¯d failed. Unfortunately, he¡¯d have to wait till tomorrow to know for sure. Mortimer went to see master Valarao, and was shocked how easily he had fit into his life. Just a few days ago he wouldn¡¯t have really considered putting this much effort into physical activity, but here he was practically volunteering for muscle pain and bruises. It was fun, though. He liked the learning, and even the pain he was completely unaccustomed to with his protected lifestyle was an interesting change. He felt that he was good at it. He couldn¡¯t be sure, because he didn¡¯t have anyone to compare to, but he felt a remarkable improvement in his skills in Royal Road already. Specifically, from nothing to something. He enjoyed the sparring, but he enjoyed much more the stabbing of skeletons. It was nice to be able to properly use martial arts- they were for killing people after all. Granted, skeletons in a video game were hardly people, but then again, that way he didn¡¯t have to feel bad for liking it. Mortimer¡¯s mind was swamped with the moves he had seen master Valarao demonstrate. He¡¯d only had practice with a few of them, but the rest of them were hiding in the back of his mine, aching to get out. Given how he performed his first tries with a new technique, however, he wasn¡¯t going to try them until master Valarao said so. He suspected that way when he messed up he wouldn¡¯t be hit very hard. Again, Mortimer collapsed in his bed. At least his sleep for the past few days had been very deep, since he still stayed up late and exercised to boot. Still, he usually managed to eke out six hours of wonderful sleep a night. Then he had to get up and go to school, which was such a waste of time. Since he didn¡¯t have any other options, though, he did his homework on the ride there and back. It had to be done to make his parents happy, and he didn¡¯t want to do it when he could be playing Royal Road. And then, of course, he was playing again. Quietus woke up on a familiar stone slab. They must have fixed the respawn bug in that dungeon, he thought. I¡¯m back at the morgue. Then, he opened his eyes. It was a familiar roof above him. However, it was not in the morgue. He was also on a different stone slab, with a dagger sticking out of his chest. It was a nice dagger. He pulled it out of apparently healed wounds, and then finally noticed the screen in front of him.
You have learned a skill The Power to Accept Death Upon death, experience lost will be stored in a buffer, which will give you a 5% bonus on experience until the buffer is empty. In addition, the lockout time upon death is reduced by thirty minutes.
Quietus just stared at the message for a while. This skill... it was pretty amazing. He grinned. Now he had less reason to fear death, since it became less annoying. Just a minor setback really. Then, he thought about his other skills. They had been ravaged by his many deaths.
Alchemy Beginner level 1 You can mix various ingredients to create varied potions and poisons.
He¡¯d gotten it up to almost beginner level 2 with some practice, but that was long gone. All he had now was a tiny sliver of experience. Well, he¡¯d get it back eventually anyway. Especially with the help of
Herb Gathering Beginner level 1 The ability to gather herbs and distinguish their uses.
He hadn¡¯t actually used this one yet, but he¡¯d picked it up for future use with his alchemy skill. He could imagine the tasty poisons potions now. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Anatomy Beginner level 4 Your knowledge of anatomy allows you to strike opponents weaknesses more effectively. Increases critical hit damage when striking a vulnerable location by 20%
This one would have been much higher, since he used it as much as he could on those stupid skeletons. However, dying constantly made it much weaker than it should have been.
Stealth Beginner level 5 It is harder for people to notice you while this skill is active. All stamina consumption is increased while this skill is in use. Quick movement and combat will cancel the skill. *Stamina use reduced slightly based on level of the skill *Difficulty of detection increased with skill level.
This one was almost beginner level 6, actually. He used it constantly. Everywhere he went. It was just... convenient. No point in trying to sneak after an enemy had found you anyway, so he used it early and often. Besides, he move slowly enough that the stamina drain was negligible.
Dagger Mastery Beginner level 1 *Increases attack power with a dagger by 5% *Increases attack speed with a dagger by 5% *Increases critical hit chance with a dagger by 2%
When had he gotten this? Maybe it had been one of those windows he¡¯d had to close because he was watching for traps or something. Almost level 2. It seemed like it would be very useful. Quietus looked down at the dagger.
Sacrificial Dagger: Durability: ?? Damage: ?? This dagger is obviously made for wicked sacrifices. It¡¯s abilities are unknown.
Unknown abilities. Quietus didn¡¯t particularly care. He liked it. Thus, he would use it. It was also- ¡°Ouch!¡± definitely quite sharp. Quietus finally realized he had been sitting around in the boss room. That could be a problem. However, it appeared the boss was out. Quietus decided this was a good time to sneak out of Seeker¡¯s Den. He stopped for a second to check that the quest was finished. That had to be the secret, right?
Explore the ancient ruins Rumors exist of a secret power available only to those who do not fear death. Explore a nearby dungeon and unlock the secrets held within. Difficulty level: D Quest requirements Leaving the dungeon before the quest is fulfilled will result in failure. Quest status: Completed. Return to ¡°Jack¡± for a reward.
Well, that was a relief. Quietus couldn¡¯t think of any other possibilities for the secret in the dungeon. He had honestly been grasping at straws to have figured it out. Thus, he left the dungeon. He was surprised it was that easy. He found no skeletons on the way. Perhaps some strange people who didn¡¯t care about the quality of a dungeon had just come through and cleared it out. That was a reasonable solution, so he believed it until he stepped out of the dungeon, and it collapsed behind him. He turned around. That was very collapsed. Was it saying, ¡°I¡¯m done being a terrible dungeon with weak mobs and no loot?¡± Probably not, but it sure had looked more structurally sound than that. Quietus snuck casually walked back to town, and nothing happened on the way but--- Was that red hair? Indeed, it was. However, the person to whom it belonged was not the bard. How boring. As Quietus had been thinking, nothing happened on the way back to town. He could smell the sweet smell of quest rewards already. Although, personally, he was happy with his new dagger. End Chapter 11 ... Does anyone know how to make the strikeouts not make everything after it on another line? I happen to like strikeouts, but it''s annoying me. Seriously, if you know post in the questions and comments. (might just have to live with it) Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=359&p=1449#p1449 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=483 Necromancer - Chapter 12 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 12 Quietus returned to Jack. He would soon have his quest rewards. Plus, he had that skill, and it was really nice. ¡°You¡¯ve given up, I see. Such a shame. You really had potential.¡± ¡°What? No, I completed it.¡± ¡°...Really? That¡¯s... a surprise. You do, however, appear to be telling the truth. I doubt many people would have been able to do that.¡± ¡°I just had to die. It wasn¡¯t a big deal.¡± ¡°People fear death, you know. Even foreigners like you. Well, I guess ones that aren¡¯t like you. Well, learn anything good?¡± Quietus smiled. ¡°I learned something excellent.¡± *Ting*
You completed the quest.
You have gained a level! You have gained a level! You have gained a level! You have gained a level!
Four levels from one quest! Quietus hadn¡¯t known you could get so much experience at once. Of course, he had lost more levels than that doing the quest, so it wasn¡¯t really that impressive. Jack pulled out a bundle. ¡°For actually succeeding at that task, you deserve this reward.¡± In his hands was a ratty old cloak, filled with holes. It was faded from black to a dull grey, and looked like it could fall apart at any time. ¡°...Thanks.¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s much better than it looks. It¡¯s all about the functionality, so the style may be a bit... lacking.¡± Secretly, Quietus liked the cloak. He thought it looked kind of cool. In a completely unrelated note, he also had very poor taste in clothes.
Ratty Cloak: Durability: ?? Defense: ?? This cloak is old and full of holes. It¡¯s abilities are unknown.
Quietus put the cloak on. He was unaware that items could be identified- he just assumed they would remain mysterious until he figured it out on his own. He was about to leave, having concluded his business, when Jack spoke again. ¡°I see you are still fond of daggers. Have you chosen the path of a guild assassin, or perhaps a rogue?¡± Quietus pondered for a bit. ¡°Perhaps I should do so. I was hoping to be a wizard or some such, but as you know, there are no magic guilds in the city.¡± ¡°Yes, that is indeed unfortunate. I wish you luck on your path.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Quietus turned to leave, then remembered something. He turned back. ¡°I recall you had some interesting magic. You said you might be able to teach me.¡± ¡°So I did. However, it is but trivial magic. Would you not be better off focusing on the dagger that you already wield? If you learn magic as well as dagger fighting, you will not excel at either.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true, but your magic intrigued me. The ability to bind someone¡¯s spirit to a location seems very useful, and I can¡¯t help but think you have more mysterious things to teach me. Well, can your magic be used along side a dagger?¡± ¡°Well yes. In fact, it all requires but a single hand to use. Of course, it is but trifling magic, as I have said. Are you sure you wish to learn it?¡± ¡°I do.¡± ¡°Just to be clear, this magic requires some... commitment. You won¡¯t be able to change your mind later, if you regret it.¡± ¡°How could I regret something learned from you?¡± Plus, Quietus thought, it must be some good magic if he didn¡¯t want others to learn it, as it seemed he was implying with his reluctance. ¡°Very well then. I¡¯ll just need some of your time, your attention, and just the tiniest bit of... your blood. This is your last chance.¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Would you like to change your class to Warlock? This choice is permanent. (Y/N)
Quietus, of course, accepted the change. While most people would have been very freaked out, or at least nervous, from what followed, Quietus just watched in rapture. There was some chanting, along with some of his blood being drawn and evaporating into the darkness that was suddenly encroaching around him. Then, there was an explanation of how to use the basic spells he had learned.
Dark Hand: Sheathes your hand in dark energy. Just a touch from this spell inflicts great pain.
Well... something for him to do with the hand he didn¡¯t have on his dagger. It could be quite useful.
Soul Bind: Binds the soul of the target to the location. This prevents rebirth in a different location, as well any form of spirit traveling. Low success rate until proficiency is gained.
He¡¯d already experienced this one, although it was used in a way that benefited him. He could imagine various ways that it wouldn¡¯t be such a nice spell to have cast on you.
Dark Cloak: Covers your body in darkness. This reduces your visibility in similarly dark areas. Consumes mana while active.
Oooh, sneaky. He liked it. Although, he imagined that sometimes it would just make him look like an obvious blob of darkness.
Empowers your eyes with the ability to see with less light. Consumes mana while active-
Quietus had the feeling that he was going to need a lot more mana... since he hadn¡¯t used any at all up until now. He decided to distribute points to Intelligence and Wisdom, since he would definitely need those now.
You have learned a skill Dark Magic Mastery Increases the effectiveness and reduces the cost of all darkness related magic, depending on level.
Well, that would help eventually. He just had to work at it now. ¡°I¡¯m surprised at how quickly I could learn the spells.¡± ¡°Well, normal magic can take longer to learn, but our type... the knowledge is infused in us. Later, you will find others who can teach you more, but this is the limit of my knowledge. Don¡¯t worry about finding them. You will encounter them for sure, if your journey continues for long.¡± ¡°Thank you for teaching me. I¡¯m off to go find some more adventures to do.¡± ¡°Fare well.¡± By adventures, Quietus meant assassinations. He really wanted to stab someone again. Err, that is... he wanted to practice his dagger work on something with flesh. Without actually hurting anyone in the real world, of course. Because that would be bad. Yeah. End Chapter 12 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=363&p=1483#p1483 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=582 Necromancer - Chapter 13 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 13 Quietus went to the market to stock up on food. He¡¯d fortunately not needed it in the dungeon, since dying reset his satiety, and he¡¯d died very often. He wasn¡¯t planning to die nearly that often now, so he would definitely need something. He considered learning to cook, but even though he¡¯d been raised on good food, he didn¡¯t really care what he ate. Within reason, of course. He wouldn¡¯t eat grass or anything, but anything that could be legitimately labeled as food was fine with him. He bought some kind of bread, and some unknown dried meat. Good for traveling, once he had a place to go. Then, someone bumped into him. The marketplace was pretty crowded, so it was a common occurrence. This time, however, it seemed that someone had fallen into someone else... and then into him. As Quietus pull himself out from under the behind of a heavyset man in nice clothes, he saw the one who had presumably tripped and started the chain reaction. He was apologizing to the other man. Quietus didn¡¯t particularly care about, and was about to ignore it entirely, when the second man walked up to meet with, presumably, his companions. Normally, Quietus wouldn¡¯t have paid attention to yet another part of adventurers in this city, but something caught his eye. More specifically, his stalker senses were tingling. Red hair. Skimpy clothes. Then there was that feeling of something else that made Quietus interested in her, not just her looks, but Quietus didn¡¯t know what it was. Quietus briefly considered asking to adventure with the party, which appeared to have the bard, and a few others in very different kinds of equipment. Then he remembered that he didn¡¯t like people, and would rather not have to talk to so many people. While he didn¡¯t want to actually join the party, Quietus had nothing against stalking observing them for a while. He moved a bit closer and tried to blend in with the crowd. They were talking about an area nearby they were planning to hunt in. Not very interesting. Then they started moving, and Quietus got to enjoy a nice game of one-player hide and seek as he followed them down the street, towards the city gates. Then he got to play wait-until-the-party-is-far-enough-out-of-the-city-to-follow, which wasn¡¯t nearly as fun. At least he wasn¡¯t at risk of losing sight of them, since they weren¡¯t trying to be subtle. As he was following them through the forests...
Level up: Stealth[6]
Leveling up stealth was so easy! It seemed to just happen all the time. He wondered why it was easier than everything else. Of course, since he had been sneaking pretty much continuously since he learned it, aside from part of the journey to and from Seeker¡¯s Den, it wouldn¡¯t have come as a surprise to any other player. For most people, sneaking was done just before encountering monsters, instead of their normal state of being. Quietus hadn¡¯t really been very good when he first started, even though he¡¯d had plenty of practice in real life. The game had given him some very nice instructions on what to do- how to stand, how to use the shadows, and things like that. They sure thought of everything in this game. Since the party of adventurers was moving at a normal pace, it was hard to Quietus to keep up while sneaking. Since he used more stamina, even walking at normal speed could tire him out. Fortunately, whenever he was out of stamina he used the best sneaking techniques available. That is, just being far enough away that people wouldn¡¯t notice him. Eventually, the party arrived at the hunting area, which contained mostly foxes and wolves, as expected at their level. They weren¡¯t that much higher level than Quietus, despite the fact that they hadn¡¯t died nearly as much as him, although he thought the bard hadn¡¯t started playing much before him. Perhaps the others were newer- not that he cared about them. The group attempted to find one wolf at a time, then the warrior, or whatever he was, got hit, the bard danced (so they weren¡¯t just a bard after all?) and sang (as expected). The one from the marketplace appeared to be a rogue, as he wielded a knife and attacked the wolf from behind. They also appeared to have a cleric, or some other healer. Quietus didn¡¯t particularly care about the specifics, he was much more interested in the swaying of the redhead¡¯s hips watching for other monsters. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. He found quite a few foxes approaching the party and silenced them before they could bother the bard. Also, her party, technically. Then when the party was resting from battle, he would study the dead foxes, and sometimes pick some herbs. There were some nice poisonous plants around here. He was going to have to work with them to make something he could actually use later. He also used his Dark Hand spell once... with unexpected results. Apparently it counted as touching HIM as well. He didn¡¯t actually take any damage from it, but it sure hurt a lot. It did seem to inflict damage as well as the pain to the fox he tried it on. He supposed he would just have to get used to it. After a while, he got into a good routine. This fight, two wolves had shown up, but it looked like the bard would be safe... although that warrior might die. Still, they had everything under control, until the third wolf showed up. It was on the other side of the battle, and they didn¡¯t seem to be aware of it yet. The wolf seemed to be waiting for a good opportunity. He wasted no time. It wasn¡¯t dark enough to use his Dark Cloak spell- he would just stand out as a bunch of shadows. Instead he half-sprinted around the clearing the group was fighting in. He slowed down once he was close, to avoid unnecessary noise. Although Quietus did not know it, the wolf could smell him. Fortunately, he currently smelled mostly like poisonous plants. The wolf didn¡¯t have enough time to determine if there was a danger before he got off a good slash at its throat. He just hoped wolves were very similar to the foxed he had been killing. He got his slash to the jugular, and it was a lot more effective than he expected it to be. With his skills, the foxes had died pretty much instantly. He knew the wolf was much tougher, so he definitely expected it to put up a fight. Quietus¡¯ cut at its jugular proved to be very effective. In fact, it appeared to be bleeding much more than he would have expected to achieve. Not quite as much as he could have reasonably hoped for, however. Specifically, he hoped it wouldn¡¯t bite at him and try to claw him after that, but of course it did. He wasn¡¯t really used to the attacking movements of wolves- the foxes hadn¡¯t had much chance to attack him, and it was his first time against a wolf. After the first attacks, which took out almost half of his health, Quietus did a much better job of dodging. He also attempted to use his Dark Hand ability as he tumbled past the wolf. This worked much better than he expected, since it didn¡¯t completely throw off his movement. It did send stabbing pain up his left arm, however. It made the wolf howl in pain, which seemed to aggravate it¡¯s bleeding.
Critical Hit!
Luck rises by 1 point. (+1 LUK)
After a few more passes, Quietus got in a lucky cut on the other jugular vein, on the other side. He¡¯d noticed that he gained luck sometimes when he got critical hits, and agility when he spent time carefully lining up his strikes, such as his opening moves. Quietus congratulated himself, a little prematurely, as the wolf took the opening as a chance to bite him with the last of its strength.
You have gained a level!
Quietus had gotten quite a bit of experience, and that was his second level in this hunting session. Unfortunately, it looked like he was going to have to return to town. Specifically, that last hit had brought him to low enough health that he was going to bleed out. Still, he would be able to earn the lost experience back, so he still smiled as he lay on the ground bleeding.
You have died
End Chapter 13 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=483&p=1978#p1978 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=701 Necromancer - Chapter 14 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 14 Training that night seemed to get Mortimer nowhere. He couldn¡¯t seem to do anything right, at least not for long. He¡¯d perfectly dodge one move, only to have his motion take him right into the next. It hurt a lot, but he didn¡¯t really mind the pain. It did bother him that he couldn¡¯t figure out what he was supposed to do. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t run into any breakthroughs, so he got bruises instead. Not such a good trade. He went to bed that night feeling utterly defeated- even though he had made progress in Royal Road, there was none outside. At school, Mortimer was excited to... learn... that Solara had gotten into her top pick for college. He was glad to ¡°hear¡± it, and glad for her. Unfortunately, her diary didn¡¯t say which school that was. A strange oversight. Err... not that he read her diary, of course. Mortimer was stumped. He wasn¡¯t sure what to do about this situation. Sure, he could go to a different college, but everyone there would be boring. He really didn¡¯t want to be bored. Therefore, he had to find out... somehow. Mortimer wracked his impressive, but not well used memory for an answer. Of course! They¡¯d taken surveys on that subject a while back. He wasn¡¯t sure what exactly had been done with them, but he vaguely remembered something about the school counselor collecting them. Mortimer would have to find some way into the counselor¡¯s office when he wasn¡¯t there. During the day, as well, since he had no idea how to pick locks. The office would have to be left open and unattended for long enough. Mortimer thought of a plan that he hoped would do the trick. He just had to go talk to some of the less well behaved students. He checked his wallet. That should be plenty. At lunch time, Mortimer used his best new stealth techniques to hide outside the counselor¡¯s office. Specifically, to look like he belonged. Since this was a school he went to, it wasn¡¯t a terribly difficult feat, but he still had to have a reason to hang around in the hallway. He pretended to be having trouble with his locker, but he wasn¡¯t actually trying... and it wasn¡¯t actually his locker. A few frustrating minutes went by, and Mortimer was beginning to think his plan had failed- until a teacher entered the counselor¡¯s room, and very quickly left with him. He would just have to hope the diversion lasted long enough. He slipped into the room, just a small office with a desk, some chairs, and filing cabinets. Fortunately for Mortimer, the filing cabinets were well organized. He quickly pulled open the R-S drawer, and flipped through the folders of names. Smith... Sneed... Sobeck... Sullivan... Too far? He went through again, but couldn¡¯t find Solara anywhere. Then, he almost hit himself. Last names. He was looking in the wrong drawer. He quickly closed that one, and opened the U-Z drawer. He found the folder for Vail, Solara, but there were too many papers to look through right now- he¡¯s just have to take the whole folder. He was out of the room and around a corner when he walked past the counselor. He almost panicked, but a student with a folder under his arm wasn¡¯t an entirely unreasonable sight. It did, however, add some complexity to the situation- he would have to return the folder before the counselor looked for it, or he would be under heavy suspicion. If caught, he would face trouble with the school, and his parents... and possibly more. Not that he was doing anything wrong- he was just going to look at the papers, he didn¡¯t intend to keep them, but they probably wouldn¡¯t see it that way. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. On his way home, and before he could log back into Royal Road, he went through the papers. He just skimmed most of them- really. He was only looking for that one file. He couldn¡¯t find it, even on his second time through. Perhaps it had gotten lost... or something. Hopefully the file hadn¡¯t been taken out, because then the counselor would be looking for this folder very soon- probably earlier that day, if that was it. Mortimer prayed that wasn¡¯t the case. After a final look through the papers, he gave up and entered Royal Road. What he had been looking for wasn¡¯t there, but he would find it... eventually. Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t do anything else about that today. -------------------------- Quietus was in a grumpy mood. He¡¯d died, which means he would have to spend quite some time walking if he wanted to stalk the bard observe the adventuring party. He decided against that for now. Instead, he went to the assassin¡¯s guild. To his surprise, Frank was waiting for him. ¡°Oh, there you are! We were just about to send somebody to see if you were around. We¡¯ve got a job for someone about your skill... if you¡¯re still interested in the business. Of course, there¡¯s not much other reason for you to be here.¡± Quietus nodded and reached for the sketch Frank was waving at him. Quietus looked at the sketch, and instantly hated the target, although he could not say why. He stared at it a bit more. Something seemed familiar about this man¡¯s face. He could have sworn he saw it, maybe out of the corner of his eye... but where? Then it hit him. This was that stupid rogue adventuring with the redheaded bard. That¡¯s why he disliked him. Somehow that didn¡¯t make sense though, since this man was the bard¡¯s friend... why would Quietus dislike him? Well, it didn¡¯t matter. He was in a bad enough mood to kill pretty much anyone. Plus, he would be paid. ¡°This man stole some things from the wrong people. Along with killing him, you¡¯ll also have to search him for a ring with...¡± Frank pulled out a smaller paper, ¡°This symbol. So... do you accept?¡± *Ting*
Assassination Kill Lupin. Specifications: Return with the signet ring after killing him. Estimated Difficulty Level: E
Quietus nodded.
You accepted the quest.
Quietus didn¡¯t really think this mission would be harder than the earlier one- sure, Lupin, which was apparently his name, did know how to fight, but Quietus had gotten a lot better lately. Taking the ring back wouldn¡¯t be a problem either, since he was planning to take anything that wasn¡¯t nailed down... so to speak. Realistically, that meant anything the game would let him loot, which would presumably include the ring. Quietus just hoped they hadn¡¯t moved far from their hunting spot... End Chapter 14 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=582&p=2364#p2364 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=738 Necromancer - Chapter 15 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 15 Quietus was glad that there were few low level monsters near Morata. Although it would be a problem later, now it meant there weren¡¯t many places Lupin, and the others, could be leveling. He reached the location they had been hunting in before, but they weren¡¯t there. He climbed up a nearby tree, hoping to get a better view. He learned that it was hard to climb a tree stealthily- he¡¯d have to work on that. His clothes kept getting stuck on branches as well. He moved on to another possible location, and repeated his search. Just as he was about to give up searching the area, he spotted people from his perch on the tree. They were too far off for him to tell who they were, even squinting didn¡¯t help much. As he was descending from his lofty perch... *Ting*
You have learned a skill Climbing Reduces the stamina cost of climbing, makes climbing slightly easier, and slightly reduces the amount of falling damage you take.
Although he was glad to get another skill, he didn¡¯t think he would have much use for it. After all, a mage rarely needs to climb. He couldn¡¯t foresee any circumstance in which it would benefit him much, except for this one. Anyone else could have told him he would use it quite a lot in the future, based on his normal activities. He rushed as quickly as he could towards where he had seen the people, and this depleted his stamina quickly. After all, hurrying along and attempting to be stealthy at the same time can take a lot out of a man. Sure, he could have stopped sneaking. However, he didn¡¯t want to make anyone uncomfortable by seeing him. He wouldn¡¯t want them to think he was going to steal their mobs. Soon, he got close enough to see the people from the ground, and he quickly recognized them. Now he would have to plan his strategy for killing Lupin... Unfortunately, Lupin was never alone. Time passed, and they hunted monsters- and so did Quietus. During some downtime, Quietus pondered what to do as he boiled some rabbit in his pot. Perhaps he¡¯d have to risk it, and attack at a time when Lupin was just there with one or two of the others... preferably the wizard and the priest. The priest would die first, then the wizard, then Lupin. Hopefully he could do it silently. After eating the rabbit, Quietus felt a bit sick. Maybe he didn¡¯t cook it enough. It sure hadn¡¯t tasted very good. Perhaps now would be a bad time to attack. Plus, he didn¡¯t have a time limit he needed to kill Lupin in, and if he failed once they would be more alert. Since he wasn¡¯t feeling up for combat, he gathered some more herbs for his alchemy skill. He chewed on one of them he thought was supposed to reduce stomach pains, and felt a bit better. People seemed to be gathering around and talking to the bard now. No wait, it was probably just a party meeting. Still, Quietus strained to listen from where he was. He could almost... but not quite... tell what they were saying. Then...
You have learned a skill Listen Increases the distance at which you can hear, as well as your ability to pick out fine details.
This skill, Quietus had to admit, would be useful. Even he couldn¡¯t deny that he liked to listen to people sometimes. Plus, approaching closer might bother people. Now, he could hear what was being said. ¡°... they say it gives great buffs to stats, very helpful for hunting. We¡¯ll need to visit it if we want to move on to fight stronger monsters.¡± Murmurs of agreement came from the rest of the group. Thus, the party picked up and moved... to wherever they were going. A shadow followed them. In this case, as it was getting late in the evening, Quietus actually was like a shadow, as he used his dark cloak ability... as much as he was able. During the trip, he ran out of mana quite a few times. However, he did gain a level in dark magic mastery due to his continuous usage of the related magic. They stopped where there was a large gathering of people, looking at some kind of abstract art. Quietus moved closer, but hung away from the crowd some.
You have seen A night in Morata 15% increased health and mana regeneration during the day. 30% increased health. All stats increased by 10. All chef, dancer, and bard skills are one level higher. Other statue effects do not overlap.
Quietus honestly had no idea what to make of the art. Frankly, it looked like junk. Unfinished. Then again, that was often on purpose, or so he¡¯d observed. He quickly went back to looking at Lupin... who appeared to be wandering almost randomly about the crowd. However, after watching him for a while, Quietus noticed his hands were moving strangely. He was reaching for peoples belts, just a little bit below, as if he were... yeah, he definitely was, that sicko. He was pickpocketing them. Certainly couldn¡¯t be anything else. Quietus frowned at the thought of theft. It just wasn¡¯t right. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Then, fortuitously, Lupin moved off away from the crowd, into a dark area... presumably to count his ill gotten loot. The moon was just coming over the horizon, and Quietus activated his Darkvision spell. Just as that happened, lights sparkled all around in the central area. It really kind of hurt Quietus¡¯ eyes, and made him feel a bit sick, for some reason.
You have seen the Tower of Light! A great masterpiece made by a skill sculptor! Sometimes a sculptor leaves behind a work so great that it stuns the continent. The tower takes on a grander appearance at night and its full characteristics are displayed. - Health, mana, and stamina regeneration increased by 25% for the entire day. - All stats are increased by 15. - Maximum health and mana increased by 15%. - Movement speed has increased by 20%. - Luck increased by 100. - Increases the power of holy and elemental magic. Statue weakens the nearby forces of darkness, strong monsters will weaken. When the sun goes down, then a light show will occur. The Tower of Light sculpture increases defense to 1.5 times the original value.
Quietus¡¯ vision quickly recovered, and he hurried to take the opportunity that Lupin had left by going off by himself, and even turning his back on the crowd. ¡°Die, filthy pickpocket,¡± Quietus whispered. Now, talking to someone you¡¯re trying to kill, and thus ruining your element of surprise, is a sure recipe for disaster. Many a villain has been defeated by his arrogance. However, just a moment before that...
Critical Hit!
...Quietus had stabbed his knife into a weak point in Lupin¡¯s lower back. He¡¯d seen too many people ruin a perfectly good surprise attack to do otherwise. Lupin¡¯s health bar dropped to below half almost instantly. If he had not been higher level than Quietus, he probably would have died immediately. Although he was alive, Lupin was too surprised, and confused, to properly shout for help. He was not, however, too surprised to draw his weapon. Although Quietus had done nothing else, Lupin¡¯s health bar continued dropping. Lupin was not, however, out of the fight just yet. He stabbed at Quietus, but he wasn¡¯t really very good, and Quietus easily dodged. Quietus returned with a better performed attack, but Lupin had high enough agility to partly dodge the blow, and negate the critical hit it would have been. They exchanged a few more blows, Lupin failing to connect, but Quietus making little progress. Then, Lupin did a move that left himself open. Quietus immediately took advantage of the situation with an attack to a vital point, deftly dodging Lupin¡¯s attack. Well, that was what he intended. Instead, Lupin completely avoided his thrust, and Quietus found himself with a dagger in his gut, taking a critical hit. ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s what it feels like,¡± he thought. He had only been stabbed by a dagger once before... in the dungeon. Quietus immediately felt stupid, as he realized what had happened. He was going to show master Valarao what he had learned... Then he remembered he was still fighting Lupin. He activated Dark Hand, and grabbed Lupin¡¯s wrist, holding it still. Then, he slashed across Lupin¡¯s throat, finishing off the last of his dwindling health. The poison he¡¯d mixed together from random herbs he was pretty sure were poisonous sure had been effective. He felt like there was something else at play, as well, as he looked down at his blood stained hands. He just wasn¡¯t sure what. Well, enough of that. He¡¯d better get to the looting. First, he looked for the ring, and was glad he was able to take it. Then, he set about taking anything else the system would let him. First, he picked up the ill gotten goods Lupin had. Then, Lupin¡¯s own money pouch. His dagger. Boots. Armor. Wow, he was sure getting a lot here. Good thing Lupin had a bag to hold all this stuff in. Quietus walked away, leaving Lupin, dead, in just his underwear. Quietus felt he could have probably taken that, but he didn¡¯t really need it. He didn''t notice that he was being watched. End Chapter 15 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=701&p=3017#p3017 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=742 Necromancer - Chapter 16 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 16 Quietus was feeling much better. His stress levels were down significantly after doing his quest, and he¡¯d made progress in some other areas. Now all he had to do was turn his quest in. For most people, it would be a simple matter of visiting the person who gave them the quest, but in his case, it was a bit more complicated. The goal was the same, but the practical application had to be carried out differently. He remembered the last time he had done an assassination quest... and decided he¡¯d rather avoid any unnecessary deaths at the hands of city guards. He was confident in his ability to avoid suspicion on the streets, but if he happened upon a wary gate guard, he could be in trouble. Thus, he decided to put his new climbing skill to use, and go over the wall into the city. That was what he had decided. Now he stood at the bottom of the wall and admired its construction. Very nice even work. Very smooth. Also, very terrible for climbing. He didn¡¯t appreciate that part. He made some effort, but couldn¡¯t even get off the ground- there was just nothing he could hold on to. Well, at least he¡¯d be able to get over the consequences of death by guard quickly... Quietus approached the gate, disguised, of course. He did his best to appear like he belonged, as if he were an adventurer coming back from an outing. The guards were certainly used to that. It helped significantly that he was technically an adventurer doing just that. Perhaps not the most upright of outings, but details were unimportant. Having had experience being in trouble at various points, Quietus knew that looking guilty was the worst thing you could do. Next worst was looking like you were trying not to look guilty. So Quietus threw on his best innocent face. It helped that he didn¡¯t feel like he¡¯d done anything really wrong- it was just part of the game. Then the moment of truth came. Quietus walked past the guard who appeared to be almost asleep, standing up. It¡¯s a good thing they weren¡¯t expecting a lot of criminals or an attack on the city... but now he felt silly for being worried. He found his way back to the assassin¡¯s guild via a shortcut he liked to call ¡°the main streets¡±. Much less suspicious than darting around in alleyways. Quietus thought he heard someone pass by him, but when he looked, no one was there. It was probably his cloak blowing in the wind. He entered the door, and went to see Frank, as usual. Frank was behind his desk. Quietus wondered if he ever slept, since as an NPC he would have to sleep sometime... probably. Frank looked up from his papers, then smiled. ¡°How¡¯d the job go?¡± ¡°Better than the last one,¡± he said, as he handed over the ring. ¡°No tripping this time?¡± Frank grinned... or at least, it could be called something like that. Perhaps closer to a smirk. Quietus felt it was intended to be friendly. ¡°No. It went much better.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Frank picked up a small purse that had been sitting on his desk. ¡°Here¡¯s your reward.¡± *Ting*
You completed the quest.
You have gained a level! You have gained a level!
This time, he gained two levels. However, he hadn¡¯t gotten enough experience to level from killing Lupin, so it went about the same as his last job... minus the death. Quietus figured it was a good time for a break from murdering people questing so he decided he would do a bit of murdering animals hunting before logging off. He decided to experiment with his abilities on rabbits. He could consistently kill them in one hit, thanks to his ability to sneak up on them. He would get a critical hit by attacking a weak spot, and the damage of that was amplified by his anatomy skill. Of course, killing rabbits in one shot wasn¡¯t much of a feat, but he also wasn¡¯t particularly high level. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Then, he tried using Dark Hand exclusively to kill one. He¡¯d mostly gotten used to the pain this caused to him, and barely felt it. He was quick enough to be able to grab a rabbit while using it. He observes the drain it caused on the health of the rabbit, and it was over in about ten seconds... at the cost of about a quarter of his mana. Not terribly efficient. He tried several more times to be sure of the results. Then...
New stat: Sadism
Sadism Your love of pain energizes you. While causing pain and damage, and for a short time thereafter, stamina and mana regeneration increases. You are prohibited from distributing stat bonus points to this stat, and it rises spontaneously, depending on the avatar¡¯s action, especially if you cause ongoing damage to monsters, such as with poisons or bleeding attacks, as well as some critical hits.
Quietus pondered at this stat, but decided he wouldn¡¯t have to worry about it. He couldn¡¯t really influence it anyway, and he did get critical hits, and occasionally used poison. He went back to experimenting. He didn¡¯t notice a significant change in the amount of mana he had left when doing the same thing to more rabbits- about 5 or 10 points more regenerated in the time it took, out of about 300. He also got points in sadism for the first few, for some reason. Quietus then tested himself on foxes, and critical strikes were just as effective. He did take a decent amount of time to prepare himself for the kills, but they were over quickly. Then, he tried his Dark Hand on a fox. The fox bit and clawed at his arm, and he couldn¡¯t keep a grip on it, but he did manage to keep in contact with it, which was enough for the effect of Dark Hand. This was a terribly inefficient method, and he took about half his health in damage from the stupid fox, and used up about three quarters of his mana... which was pretty good, since it took about a minute, so the regeneration seemed to be significant. Then, it was late enough that Quietus felt he should log off. He took one final look at his status before doing so.
NameQuietusPrimary ClassWarlock
Reputation-200
Health216Mana326
Level15
Strength11Agility45
Wisdom36Intelligence36
Stamina30Vitality11
Luck45Sadism9
So far, his stats were progressing nicely. Then, he logged off. He would have a busy day tomorrow. End Chapter 16 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=738&p=3180#p3180 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1141 Necromancer - Chapter 17 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 17 Notes: Oh hey guys, it looks like I''m not dead. For some reason, I had trouble writing this chapter. Then, I got distracted by some things. Then other stuff. Then, it was October. I don''t know how often chapters will be coming out, but just know that I''m not planning to quit. ------------- Mortimer¡¯s morning couldn''t go by fast enough for him- it was just in the way of everything he wanted to do that day. One thing he had to do was return this useless folder he¡¯d stolen borrowed. If anyone found it was missing, they¡¯d look for people, and that way he might be caught... The other thing he had to do at school was more stalking research. He had to figure out where Solara was going. Although the folder had been a dead end, he was confident that he would find out something... somehow. Plus, he felt better now that he had let off some stress by playing Royal Road. He ate a wonderful breakfast prepared by the cook. He talked a bit with his parents, but he wasn¡¯t really listening, mostly just nodding and making listening noises. He didn¡¯t actually hurry through breakfast, because it wouldn¡¯t actually make the morning pass more quickly, since he would have to go to school, and that passed at a set rate. Mortimer spent the morning thinking about how to return the folder, but he couldn¡¯t think of any good ways. Well, he¡¯d come up with something by lunch time. Or so he thought, but at lunch time, he was no closer to a solution. He decided to wing it. Spontaneous action hardly ever backfired on him. Fortunately the hallway near the counselor¡¯s office had very little traffic, so there was no one to see him. He just had to somehow get the folder back in its proper place. The light was out under the counselor¡¯s door... but that didn¡¯t mean he wasn¡¯t in there, since his office had a window. If he wasn¡¯t there, and the door was locked... Mortimer couldn¡¯t actually do anything. He had no idea how to pick a lock. He thought that should be something he could pick up... it could be handy. Mortimer would have to try the door. It was unlocked. He couldn¡¯t enter the office with the folder and risk getting seen by the counselor... so he stuck his head in the door. If the counselor was inside, he would just say he planned to meet with him later to discuss college plans... or something. It turned out that his sneaky endeavors were for naught. No counselor. Mortimer was actually kind of disappointed. He quickly put the folder back where it belonged. Yes, that included it being alphabetical by last name. He wouldn¡¯t mess that kind of thing up twice. He felt like he was being watched... but there had been nobody in the hallway, and nobody was outside the window. Perhaps he was just paranoid. The hallway was still empty when he left. Now to check up on the next part of his plans, back in the classroom. It was, as usual, deserted for lunch. He began to rummage through a desk, looking for something he was very familiar with, but he couldn¡¯t find it. Specifically, he was looking for a journal... but it wasn¡¯t there. There weren¡¯t many places it could be, and the desk didn¡¯t have many other things in it- but it also didn¡¯t have that. Mortimer would have been frustrated, but really, there was always tomorrow. Mortimer spent the rest of the school day waiting to be able to go home, where he could actually do something. He¡¯d figured out how to make progress in his training... probably. At the very least, he knew what he was missing. Finally, Mortimer arrived at home. He walked into the entryway to see total disaster his cousin. Not that he disliked his favorite person cousin. He just had mixed feelings about her presence. Especially when he wasn¡¯t prepared to see her face. ¡°Err¡­ Hi, Angela. What are you doing here?¡± She gave him a look that vaguely exactly resembled someone implying the person at whom they were looking knew the answer to a stupid question they had just asked. She did so by tilting her head, and thus her blonde hair, at a weird angle, and raising an eyebrow. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Mortimer thought for a second. Birthday party? No, it wasn¡¯t anybody¡¯s birthday. Wedding? Not enough formal attire, and he was pretty sure he would know if either his cousin or he were getting married. There was something in the back of his mind¡­ it called to his thoughts the smell of bacon. Oh right, his parents had said she would be coming over at breakfast. Probably. He hadn¡¯t really been paying attention. ¡°Riiiight, I totally remember now. Totally. Mother and father told me you were coming over.¡± She smiled, as if that were an acceptable answer¡­ if not perfect. Then, she ran at him. He could do nothing to dodge, no, he didn¡¯t even have time to think about it, as she flew through the air and hugged him. ¡°It¡¯s been a long time Mortimer! How¡¯s my favorite cousin?¡± ¡°Well, I was doing quite well until recently, when I¡¯ve had trouble breathing.¡± She loosened her grip with a dramatic sigh. ¡°You¡¯ll have to tell me absolutely everything that¡¯s gone on in your life! I¡¯m dying to know.¡± This time, it was his turn to give her a look. ¡°Fine, but I¡¯ll get you to talk some. Made any friends?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Made any enemies?¡± ¡°...No?¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s good I guess. You will now inform me about something you¡¯ve been doing.¡± Mortimer thought about it for a second. He thought Angela wouldn¡¯t be interested in video games or anything, and school was boring as normal¡­ so he said, ¡°Follow me.¡± He took her, of course, to Master Valarao¡¯s room. He was going to introduce them, but then something more important came to mind. ¡°I figured it out.¡± ¡°Show me,¡± said Valarao. Thus, they went to the room they used for sparring. Angela looked slightly annoyed that she was apparently being ignored. Then, Mortimer and Valarao started sparring. They fought until master Valarao showed an opening, then Mortimer just pretended to attack it. This almost protected him from Valarao¡¯s real attack, hidden behind the feint. Still¡­ ¡°Good,¡± Valarao nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll work on that more later.¡± At this point, Angel looked like she was going to kill Mortimer. ¡°Umm¡­ Right, this is my cousin, Angela. Angela, this is Master Valarao, who has been teaching me how to fight.¡± Fortunately for both of them, Angela was trained to be polite, even when she didn¡¯t feel like it. ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you.¡± Valarao nodded in return. Angela then said, ¡°So¡­ you fight with¡­ short sticks? Want to try your hand against my rapier? I¡¯ve been learning fencing.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯d rather¡­¡± Mortimer started. ¡°He will,¡± said Master Valarao. ¡°Yeah, sure, I will.¡± After they agreed on some rules, with one touch being a hit, and a certain number of hits being a match, they started sparring. Angela¡¯s rapier was not nearly as fast as Master Valarao¡¯s dagger. However, she had reach to her advantage. This advantage was such that Mortimer never got close enough to touch her during the first match. He felt he could have slashed her wrist, but that wasn¡¯t a point, so he didn¡¯t. During the second and third match, he fared much the same. He was, to say the least, disappointed in his loss. He¡¯d have to figure out what to do when fighting someone with significantly greater reach. For a while he worked on homework, while half listening to Angela talk about what she¡¯d been up to. Then, they ate dinner. After that, he excused himself to his room. It was time to log back in. End Chapter 17 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=742&p=3305#p3305 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1165 Necromancer - Chapter 18 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 18 Quietus had a problem. Before him were quite a few bottles of liquid. He was aware of what they said they did, mostly. However, he didn¡¯t actually know what they did. What did this healing potion feel like? How much damage did this poison really do? How fast? He couldn¡¯t really know, in his heart, until he had tested them. Plus, since he had pretty much made them by mixing herbs without quite knowing what they did, there were also unknown effects, at least at his alchemy and herbalism skill levels. Thus, he did what any reasonable person would do. He drank them. Of course, this would only apply to reasonable people if you really meant something like crazy, or stupid. He did, however, have somewhat of a system. First, he made two doses of each kind. Second, he would only drink a poison directly before a healing potion, and he also prepared antidotes. He wasn¡¯t completely crazy. What were the second dose of each for? Testing, of course. Wolves were about the right level for him to experiment on. He applied a dose of the poison or healing potion to his dagger, and observed the effects. Sometimes, the healing potions healed different amounts than he expected, and sometimes, as he had observed in himself, the still secret, poisonous effects outweighed any benefits. He saved the very best mixtures for last. By best, of course, he used the ones with the most potent herbs in them. The poison had a very interesting effect on his health, as it rapidly drained. It was quite a bit better than he had thought it would be. At about a quarter of his life, he drank the healing potion. Then, he collapsed on the ground. His body just wouldn¡¯t hold him up anymore. He tried to reach for the antidote potion he had prepared, but he couldn¡¯t muster up the strength to lift it. He watched the last portion of his health trickle away. Finally, he received a familiar message he had not seen in a decent amount of time.
You have died. You are prohibited from logging in for twenty three hours.
Because his skill, power to accept death, was level two, it appeared that he shaved a very significant time off of his lockout. Of course, there was the drawback that it only leveled up when he died. He also still lost the experience from death, and possibly items. Then again, he could always regain the items, and the experience would even come back to him at an increased rate. Still, not playing for a time was rather disappointing. He was addicted to very fond of Royal Road. Mortimer decided to go to sleep right away, so he could stay up a bit later the next day. -------------------------- At breakfast, Mortimer chatted with Angela. Well, really, it was more he prompted her, and she chatted about things. He enjoyed that, as long as she was in the right mood, she would let him get away with not talking. Of course, if she had really wanted to know something, she could have easily pried it out of him. That was something he didn¡¯t like about her. She knew too much about him. Well, that had been true in the past anyway. Recently they hadn¡¯t seen much of each other, since they lived a bit too far apart to just go over to each other¡¯s houses to play. It was also more of a childish thing to do, anyway. It was nice to see her every once in a while, thought Mortimer. -------------------------- At school, Mortimer took it back. He really didn¡¯t want to see her this often. What was she even doing at his school? This was, of course, a rhetorical question. Mortimer wasn¡¯t so dense (at least where his cousin was involved) to not realize she was a student at his school now. The real question was: why? and also why is she in my class? is she in my other classes too? In this case, Mortimer could guess the answers: because she was Angela, because it was his class, and *sigh* probably. Mortimer was pleasantly relieved when she blatantly ignored him in front of other people. He knew she would probably make him sit with her at lunch, but he could live with that¡­ as long as she didn¡¯t bring other people. He didn¡¯t know whether or not that would happen. At least she seemed to know that he didn¡¯t like having attention given to him, while she obviously did. He also wasn¡¯t tied to her by family name, and at first glance no one would think they were cousins. For some reason, however, she was bothering Mortimer. It shouldn¡¯t have bothered him that she was being friendly with people, but it bothered him anyway. He thought it was odd, because he didn¡¯t care about anyone. He didn¡¯t really know what bothered her about chatting with some of the girls in the class, but there it was. Angela kept looking over at him for some reason, although rather subtly. He wouldn¡¯t have noticed if he wasn¡¯t watching her to try to figure out what was going on, and Mortimer doubted anyone else would notice. She was judging him on something, and that scared him. At lunchtime he snuck out of the room to go hide somewhere he felt safe. He¡¯d just arrived at a good location when he was grabbed from behind and dragged into a seat in the cafeteria. Fortunately for Mortimer, nobody else was present at this interrogation meeting. Angela asked him a bunch of questions about the girls in class, and he honestly shrugged that he didn¡¯t know most of the answers. After a string of questions, Angela seemed satisfied with his answers, and that also scared Mortimer. -------------------------- If Mortimer had been surprised to see Angela when he got home, his future would have been very hopeless. Upon seeing her at school, he had easily surmised that she would be staying in one of the many spare rooms in his house, unlike what he had previously assumed was a simple visit and overnight stay. He was exactly the same level of happy as he was terrified of what this could do to his life. He had settled into a pretty happy routine, and she was bound to throw that off. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. He just didn¡¯t expect it to happen so soon. Shortly after coming in through the front door, he had been tackled an pinned. He wasn¡¯t really aware that he was probably strong enough to get away, since the interrogation started instantly. ¡°What city did you start in in Royal Road?¡± Obviously he responded as appropriate to the situation. He put on his best confused look. It wasn¡¯t a deceptive look, it was really the only thing he could do. ¡°Did you forget how to speak English, Mortimer?¡± ¡°No¡­ but¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s very simple, I¡¯m going to be playing and I want to start in the same city as you did. Or whatever city you¡¯re in now.¡± ¡°Morata.¡± ¡°Really? I would have expected my cousin to pick a better starting place. I bet you didn¡¯t even put any research into it, did you?¡± ¡°Well, no. How did you know I play Royal Road?¡± ¡°Hey, I¡¯m the one asking questions here. Also, I snuck into your room. I knew you weren¡¯t asleep yet and you didn¡¯t answer my knock. Are you still in Morata?¡± ¡°Well, pretty much.¡± Then, she was gone. Obviously she had run off to her room to start playing Royal Road. Mortimer got up and brushed himself off, just in time to be tackled again. ¡°You look like you, right?¡± A nod. ¡°Okay, go get on now and meet me in the city square.¡± After this, he was dragged to his room and almost shoved into his capsule. ¡°... I can¡¯t log in yet, I died recently.¡± ¡°Whaaat? Well, when can you log in again?¡± ¡°A few hours. Besides, I always do homework and eat before playing.¡± ¡°Pfft, so responsible. Well, I guess I have homework too¡­ *sigh* Royal Road can wait a bit.¡± -------------------------- Mortimer worked on homework for his various classes. He still intended to log on exactly as soon as he could. He didn¡¯t intend to spend a lot of his time, if any, helping Angela, although she hadn¡¯t asked him to either. If she had some plans in mind that would take up a lot of his time, he planned to run and hide- and he was confident he could do that better in Royal Road than in real life. In terms of what he planned to do in the game, Mortimer really just wanted to level up some at this point. He also needed to train his alchemy, like he had been working on. There were any number of things he could do, but for now, he would try to avoid getting distracted, so that he could increase his abilities. They were certainly a bit low for how long he had been playing. -------------------------- Quietus logged into Royal Road, and headed for the town square, after saying goodbye to Jack again. He knew that Angela would already be waiting in the square, but when he got there he had a bit of trouble finding her. He looked around for blonde hair, and finally found what he was looking for. He walked up to his cousin and placed a hand on her shoulder to get her to turn around. However, he was surprised to find a man¡¯s face on the figure. For a moment, he was going to apologize, but then, ¡°Really? A man?¡± ¡°What? I¡¯d rather be the knight in shining armor than the damsel in distress. Besides, they don¡¯t even have a damsel class in this game.¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure there are other options besides knight and damsel for people to pursue.¡± ¡°That may be true for you, but my heart speaks to traditional fantasy. I¡¯m going to be an orc-battling, dragon slaying, princess wooing knight.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great, but right now you¡¯re basically a beggar.¡± ¡°And you aren¡¯t? At least my stuff isn¡¯t full of holes. Can¡¯t you afford to repair your cloak?¡± ¡°This is just how it is, I think.¡± ¡°...No, it¡¯s definitely broken. You should take it to someone to repair it. Also, have them patch up your clothes while they¡¯re at it, or at least get some armor to put over them.¡± Quietus thought for a while. Was the cloak really given to him broken? That¡­ made a certain amount of sense, actually. He also supposed he should really pick up some armor or something, as long as it was light and didn¡¯t slow him down. He did have some money to spend, after all. ¡°Oh yeah, Mortimer, be my friend!¡±
Angelo has sent you a friend request.
¡°Angelo? Also, in here I¡¯m Quietus.¡±
You have accepted a friend request.
¡°Hey, I wanted something I would remember to respond to. At least it¡¯s a real name.¡± Quietus had nothing to say to that. ¡°Well, I¡¯m gonna go do jobs and stuff Quietus. I¡¯ll message you later if I need to tell you anything. Or I¡¯ll just come yank you out of your pod.¡± With that, they went their separate ways. Angela Angelo to do¡­ whatever jobs she could find, and Quietus to murder small to medium sized animals train. End Chapter 18 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1141&p=6279#p6279 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1187 Necromancer - Chapter 19 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 19 The next few months in Royal Road for Quietus were spent increasing his abilities. He practiced his herb gathering skill, which he used to train his alchemy skill. Both of these were increased to beginner level 7. He hunted monsters, increasing his stealth, dagger mastery, and dark magic mastery.
Dagger Mastery Beginner level 8 *Increases attack power with a dagger by 40% *Increases attack speed with a dagger by 40% *Increases critical hit chance with a dagger by 16%
Dark magic mastery had leveled surprisingly quickly. Since he was almost constantly using either dark cloak or dark hand, and he always used darkvision at night, it had advanced all the way to intermediate level 1.
Dark Magic Mastery Intermediate level 1 -Increases the effectiveness and reduces the cost of all darkness related magic, depending on level. -Your affinity for the darkness has increased, granting you 20% resistance to dark, but 20% vulnerability to holy. -All abilities are increased by 15% in areas of total darkness and 5% in shadows.
Stealth was at beginner level 9, and had 90% experience. He practiced his listen skill while stalking observing the red-headed bard, who seemed to be spending most of her time in town. She seemed to no longer be working with the party he had seen her with a few times. However, because there was seldom anything to actually overhear, he was only beginner level 4 in his listen skill. He even used his climbing skill when taking a break to recharge his mana, he could sit in a tree and be safe from any accidental combats. Plus, it was useful for getting one herb nearby that grew near cliffs, although there were few enough cliffs around Morata. He wasn¡¯t terribly serious about this skill and only got it up to beginner level 3. One skill was troubling him. This was anatomy. After he had reached beginner level 5, it had stopped gaining experience. Then there were two skills he raised unintentionally.
Poison Resistance: Your exposure to poison has made you more resistant to its effects. You take less damage from poison. In addition, you are slightly tougher against all forms of attack. Beginner level 4 -Poison Damage taken reduced by 8% -Health increased by 200
Poison Resistance, which he had gained accidentally while testing his poisons. Similarly, when he made a mistake while testing his poisons or hunting, and once while attempting to climb the walls of Morata, he trained The Power to Accept Death. That is, he died. Even so, over those few months he died less times than his relatively short time in the dungeon where he had gained that skill.
The Power to Accept Death Beginner level 6 Upon death, experience lost will be stored in a buffer, which will give you a 30% bonus on experience until the buffer is empty. In addition, the lockout time upon death is reduced by three hours.
It now had a very significant effect, allowing him to return to playing three hours sooner. Of course, this meant that when he died, he was still locked out for twenty one hours, so it was still not an unimportant matter. He also got his level up to 40, which was not astoundingly fast growth- but he also had to go to school. Besides just leveling, he also did a few murders quests for the guild. He had an easier time returning to town, even with alert guards around, because of his cloak. Once he had gotten it repaired, and therefore working, he learned that it enhanced his stealth skills, and it would change color and patterns to help with his disguises. With some of the money from the jobs he purchased some light, flexible armor from the assassin¡¯s guild.
Guild Armor: Durability: 50/50 Defense: 10 Leather armor for use by members of the Assassin¡¯s Guild. Easy to move in, but does not provide as much defense because of the thinness of the material. Equip: +5 agility Limits: Assassin Special:Can also be worn by members of the assassin guild who are not members of the class. This prerequisite is only visible to members of the true guild.
The armor was brown, of course. It was the most nondescript color, didn¡¯t stand out in most places, and most importantly, didn¡¯t scream ¡°I¡¯m an assassin¡±. However, the guild had not had much work for him lately. Perhaps it was time to move on to another city. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. -------------------------- Mortimer spent the same few weeks following pretty much the same routine as before, with one big difference. Master Valarao wouldn¡¯t spar with him. Not that he wasn¡¯t getting practice, because he was told he had to defeat Angela before moving on with his training. Since he was steadily improving in both speed and technique, this shouldn¡¯t have been a big problem. However, he couldn¡¯t beat Angela because she kept improving as fast as him. Even more, he could not figure out how to overcome her reach without breaking the rules they followed in the sparring matches. Frankly, it was starting to annoy him. However, Mortimer had other things to think about. Things involving a certain girl at school. Now when he was stalking observing Solara, there was another person there. It was no mystery to Mortimer who this person was. He was just confused as to why Angela and Solara would become friends. It was troubling to him. Mostly, because Angela seemed better at telling where he was. There were a lot of awkward moments where she saw him, and he had to pretend to be walking by in the hallway. Even worse, he really had to leave when he was caught, because he worried she might say something. -------------------------- Quietus went to talk to Jack. ¡°I plan to leave this city soon, thanks for everything you have done for me.¡± ¡°I was glad to help, in fact, how could I not help my excellent assistant?¡± ¡°Still, I must thank you. In fact, I intend to impose upon you a bit more. I very much appreciate the magic you taught me, and I was hoping that you could direct me to someone who could teach me more.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯d be offended if you hadn¡¯t asked. You have much potential, and I would hate to see you not use it. It does occur to me that I know of a place not too far from here where you can advance your craft.¡±
You have received a quest! Dark Magic The time has come to learn more advanced magic. Seek out the instructor in Twinsburg Heights. Difficulty: Class Quest
¡°Twinsburg heights is to the northeast of here, a few days journey away, in the mountains. There you will learn much.¡± ¡°Thank you teacher, for all the things you have taught me.¡± ¡°Yes, well, go on and get out of here. We don¡¯t want to start getting all emotional.¡± Quietus took this advice to heart, and shortly went outside, after giving a smile to Jack. Then, he got a message. -¡±Psst, hey cousin. Come find me in the square.¡± He had no particular reason not to go, so he went. Once he was in the city square, he saw a blonde knight. Well, except this knight was missing a key feature. ¡°Leather armor, Angelo?¡± ¡°What? Do you really expect me to be able to afford a nice set of plate mail at my level? I was lucky to be able to afford this wooden shield and longsword. I¡¯m not really rolling in cash here.¡± In truth, Quietus couldn¡¯t even have afforded plate mail at his higher level. However, he could have purchased some decent metal armor if he had reason to. Murder Quests paid pretty well. ¡°Ok, but why a longsword?¡± ¡°You expect me to use a rapier? That doesn¡¯t really fit well with a knight. Besides, I¡¯ve been practicing with one of these, so I¡¯m just as used to it as my rapier.¡± Since his questions were done, he turned around to leave. Then, someone grabbed his shoulder and tugged. He spun around two and a half times, before finally ending up facing them. ¡°You think I called you here for no reason? I want more people in my party, and you¡¯re going to be one of them. We¡¯re heading on to the next town!¡± ¡°Denied. I don¡¯t like people. Good luck with that though.¡± This time, he made a quick dash through the crowd around a corner, into an alleyway. Then he half jumped, half climbed onto the roof and out of sight. He was not a moment too soon, because he heard feet running around the corner just as he slipped out of sight. ¡°Gone? But it¡¯s a dead end! Well, I guess I can¡¯t really make him group with me yet¡­ He is higher level after all.¡± Quietus heard the sound of rummaging around barrels, and then Angelo¡¯s footsteps retreated out of the alleyway. He followed. He may not be interested in partying, but he was curious who his cousin was hanging out with. He disguised himself with a change of his cloak to green, as well as some alchemy ingredients that temporarily changed his hair to a lighter color. A disguise was much better than hiding if he were to be paying attention to the square. Then, he waited. End Chapter 19 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1165&p=6484#p6484 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1201 Necromancer - Chapter 20 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 20 Quietus was waiting around to spy on judge appraise his cousin¡¯s party members, when he felt and saw a distraction approaching. However, he was on a mission, so he would not be distracted by the bard and her beautiful hair. Not even her pretty face and skimpy outfit would stop him from his goal. No, he had more willpower than that. He wasn¡¯t going to stare longingly as she strode by. He concentrated only on his goal... ¡­ but he only succeeded at that because she happened to walk over to Angelo, and thus made herself part of his previous goal of checking out the members of his cousin¡¯s party. That is to say, observing whether they fit well in the party. Obviously there was no other checking out involved. He listened in on their conversation. ¡°So did you get that rogue to join us?¡± asked the bard. ¡°Nah, like I said he¡¯s kind of antisocial. We¡¯ll just have to find one before we do any dungeon crawls. Now all we have to do is wait for Maratis before we can head on to Twinsburg Heights.¡± Quietus was surprised that they were planning to head to the same town he was, but if he had done any research, he wouldn¡¯t have been. It was the only area nearby that had even remotely survivable monsters for people who were ready to move beyond the wolves and other monsters near Morata. Even the low level monsters near Morata had only moved in recently, with the extermination of the higher level monsters in the immediate area. If he had started a few months earlier, there would have been nothing a low level character could survive near Morata. At this point, a priest walked up to the pair, obviously who they were waiting for. This priest was an effeminate man, with shoulder length hair. Actually, on second thought, Quietus was pretty sure it was a masculine woman. No it was definitely¡­ he shortly realized his current train of thought was going nowhere. The priest greeted the pair. ¡°There you are, Angelo. Ruby.¡± Maratis nodded to both. At this point, Quietus learned the bard¡¯s name. He likely had chances to learn it earlier, but he may have been distracted by staring at the bard watching for monsters or something equally important. ¡°Well, let¡¯s get going,¡± said Angelo. ¡°There¡¯s no point in just hanging around here.¡± Then Ruby said, ¡°Don¡¯t forget we have to stop by the river on the way. I haven¡¯t been strong enough to get over to there before.¡± There was a general murmuring of agreement, and the party started heading east out of Morata. Of course, this included Quietus following behind. They were going in the same direction as he was, so he saw no reason not to travel a large distance behind with them . Quietus remained in full disguise until they were a good distance out of the city. The reason for this was simple. If he was not in disguise, the pesky murderer¡¯s mark would show up. After they were outside the city, he changed into his ¡°normal¡± disguise, which barely fulfilled the requirements to not display the murderer¡¯s mark, and would likely be seen through by anyone with perception skills. The party was far enough ahead that Quietus had trouble hearing them, even though they were not being particularly quiet. His listen skill was barely high enough. Ruby was saying, ¡°When we get¡­ river¡­ then¡­ increases attractiveness¡­¡± Angelo replied with, ¡°Then¡­ watch for monsters and¡­¡± Quietus was then pretty sure that they nodded to each other. As they moved along, Quietus could hear a river in the distance. It was a nice, peaceful sound. Once they reached a certain point, Maratis stopped. ¡°You¡­ go on ahead¡­ I¡¯ll stay here, and watch for¡­¡± Angelo and Ruby went ahead. Maratis stayed and started looking around. Quietus climbed a nearby tree and also started looking around. He presumed the group was looking for monsters for a quest, or maybe there was a boss in this area. He could just barely see part of the river in the distance. Then¡­ *ding*
You have learned a skill Spot The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.Allows you to find hidden enemies by sight. Special:Combined with the Listen skill, if an enemy makes sound, detection is easier.
At the same time, not by coincidence, he saw some short figures sneaking through the trees towards the river. Quietus quickly climbed down- yes, it still counts if you fall the last five feet if you land upright¡­ or mostly upright. Then, he stealthily set off after the monsters he had seen. Fortunately, the one second from the back had poor hearing, so he didn¡¯t turn around after Quietus stabbed the first one¡­ several times, quickly. He was honestly surprised the kobold hadn¡¯t cried out. He knew they were kobolds because he was now close enough to see their names. There were only three more in this group, so Quietus figured he could take them down fairly easily. Unfortunately, he failed to get a critical hit on the second from the back, and he survived long enough to make quite a bit of noise, at least relatively. The other two kobolds turned around and attacked. However, it appeared that they took their stealth very seriously, because they didn¡¯t even make any major sounds of alarm at this point. With the other two kobolds, Quietus also had trouble getting the critical hits he expected. Maybe they had different weak points than a regular humanoid, although they looked close enough, if a bit small at under four feet. Frankly though, they stood no chance. Not because Quietus was particularly good, although he was decent, but mostly because kobolds were weak, and just didn¡¯t have enough levels. *ding*
You have reached intermediate level in the Stealth skill! New functions: -15% increased damage on opponents who are unaware of you before an attack takes place -10% of the stealth skill applies even when not actively using it.
His efforts to stalk not bother the party, combined with his sneaking up on the kobolds, had paid off. The intermediate level of stealth would certainly be very handy. After looting junk off of the bodies of the kobolds, he used his anatomy skill to examine them. He identified that they did indeed have different weak points than he was used to, although not entirely. Furthermore¡­ *Ding*
Level up: Anatomy Beginner level 6 Increases critical hit damage when striking a vulnerable location by 35%
The anatomy skill, which had been stubborn about leveling, finally increased. Quietus realized that he needed to fight a larger variety of creatures for it to level up more quickly. He hadn¡¯t seen any new monsters in his recent training. If Quietus¡¯ listen skill had been just one or two levels higher, he would have heard splashing in the river, just around a bend and behind a small hill. Likely, he would have gone to investigate, but alas, he had not enough skill. The mystery of why the group stopped at the river would remain such. After examining the kobold bodies, Quietus headed back out to where Maratis was, hoping to find the other members of the party there as well. They weren¡¯t, but after a few minutes of waiting, they arrived. ¡°I finished¡­ attractiveness stat increased by¡­¡± was all he could hear of what Ruby said. Then, the group moved on, this time more directly toward their final destination of Twinsburg Heights. Unfortunately, they had to log out before they got there, since it was getting very late in the actual day. They made arrangements for when to meet up the next day, and logged off. End Chapter 20 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1187&p=6713#p6713 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1211 Necromancer - Chapter 21 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 21 The party of adventurers, and also Quietus, arrived in Twinsburg Heights after a few short hours of travel. Only Quietus was surprised that it was actually two separate cities separated by a small valley. The party talked to each other about finding a magician for their party, and possibly a rogue. Then they were going to take on the dungeon known as the Moaning Mines. Quietus decided to explore the northern city first, while seeking out the instructor for his class quest. It had fairly typical establishments: a smithery, general stores, a bar, an assassin¡¯s guild, and a bakery. Quietus paused for a second to determine which of those didn¡¯t fit. He almost thought it was the bakery, but then he realized that the assassin¡¯s guild didn¡¯t have their typical sign out front, but just the symbol he had seen above back door of the guild in Morata. This was above the door on a nondescript building. He decided he would visit this guild, and perhaps see if they had any work for him. Before he could enter the guild, someone spoke to him. ¡°Hey, are you a rogue? Our group could use one for the Moaning Mines.¡± The neutral toned voice sounded somewhat familiar. Quietus turned and looked to see a girl with short hair. No wait, it was¡­ Well, it was Maratis actually. Quietus used his expert conversational skills to excuse himself. ¡°Err, sorry¡­ I¡¯m doing¡­ class quests? Yeah¡­ Then I have some other stuff to do. Really busy. Yep.¡± ¡°Oh, well I¡¯m Maratis. If you change your mind, send me a message.¡± Maratis walked away, and once there was some distance between them, muttered, ¡°Weirdo.¡± Quietus wouldn¡¯t have heard him without the listen skill. He took no offense though. Not everyone would prioritize class quests over groups. Quietus went back to what he was originally going to do, and stepped into the door. Upon entering the guild, he was going to introduce himself. However, the man in black by the door had other ideas. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s you. We heard you were coming. Frank will speak to you.¡± The man gestured towards a door further to the back. Quietus was slightly confused. He hadn¡¯t actually told the guild he was going to Twinsburg heights, and he hadn¡¯t really planned to visit the guild there he didn¡¯t know about. He didn¡¯t spend too long dwelling on it, and went to see Frank, who was somehow also in this city. Except this person wasn¡¯t Frank. He wasn¡¯t really not Frank, but he wasn¡¯t the same Frank from Morata. This man was a bit more heavyset, and had a slightly curly moustache that almost made up for his balding head. ¡°Greetings,¡± the man said with a slight smile, ¡°You can call me Frank. We don¡¯t have any jobs for you here, at the moment, but we do have something else you might be interested in.¡± These people were very to the point. However, since it was their job to be frank with him, he couldn¡¯t really imagine it being any other way. ¡°Okay, what¡¯s this other thing?¡± ¡°Well, since you aren¡¯t tainted by the training from one of those silly training centers, you are capable of learning the proper methods for our profession. Sure, brute force, and even speed, have their place, but for us they are not enough, and not in the right proportions. Thus, we have our own training halls, although they are quite different. Be aware that there is only one chance to complete this training. So, are you ready now?¡± Quietus couldn¡¯t think of any reason not to try right away. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Good, you¡¯ve passed the first part. As for the second part, my friend over there will show you to a door. There will be another door somewhere inside. Your goal is to go through that door without killing anyone or anything inside.¡± ¡°That¡¯s all?¡± ¡°Yes, although we don¡¯t plan for it to be easy. It is for training, after all.¡± Quietus saw no reason to not turn around and follow the other man in black. He wondered if the black color was more useful inside somehow, but he didn¡¯t really know. Maybe they were just impractical or stereotypical. He followed the man down some stairs to a door, which he stepped through into blackness. It was certainly surprising to him, but not really particularly troubling. He quickly activated his darkvision spell. He appeared to be in a fairly typical, boring hallway. The only real distinguishing features of the hallway were beams that held up the ceiling. (Imagine the beams are like /-, with the middle part being up around 10 feet and¡­ more to the top of the tilty beams) This didn¡¯t look particularly dangerous, especially with his bonus from intermediate Dark Magic Mastery. However, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to be cautious. He slowly started to walk forward. A few steps in, he had three darts in his right side. They did negligible damage, but the poison on them wasn¡¯t particularly pleasant. He stopped and drank an antidote. Fortunately, the traps seemed to be activated by movement, probably pressure plates. For his next steps, he prepared to dodge the darts. He managed to get hit by no darts at all. However, the spikes that came up from the floor hurt quite a bit, and required him to drink a potion to avoid dying. Quietus stopped moving. He was going to die if he took another step forward, of that he had no doubt. If he took a step back, he might or might not die. Sideways would probably be about the same. Instead, he crouched down, and looked at the floor more carefully. *ding*
You have learned a new skill! Search -Able to find traps, and how to avoid them or disarm them
Quietus wished he¡¯d managed to get the skill back in Seeker¡¯s Den, where he learned The Power to Accept Death. On the other hand, it might have led him to failure. Whether it would have helped before or not, he now had it, and he would use it. He started disarming all the traps nearby. Some of them he accidentally set off, but the damage was relatively minor. The whole hallways appeared to be glowing blue with traps, except the walls and what he had disarmed. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Then he ran out of mana. He was in no hurry to get himself killed, so he just sat down where he was, on places where he had already disarmed the traps, of course. He would be fine while his mana regenerated. Of the few things he was afraid of, the dark was not one of them. He was, however, afraid of whatever was making that nice creaking noise somewhere down the hallway. He only had enough mana for a few seconds of darkvision. He quickly activated it, and saw an armored figure walking out of a branch in the hallways. There was no way he could fight it without seeing it. Even worse, if he defeated it, he would still lose. He wasn¡¯t allowed to kill anything in here. Instead, he panicked. Since he couldn¡¯t run either way down the hallways, he just went to the side, into a support beam. Then, he realized he could go up the support beam. Finally, he was hanging on a horizontal beam, his arms and legs wrapped around it, completely in the dark. Somehow, his cloak had wrapped itself around his legs, and he was pretty sure it wasn¡¯t hanging down and giving him away too much. He heard the creaking of the armored figure walking closer, and closer, and closer. Somehow, it wasn¡¯t setting off the traps. That was rather unfair. Of course, it was still coming towards him. Now it was only a few feet away. Then, it stopped. Quietus used his stealth skill for all he was worth as he clung to the beam. It was amazing how much stamina it took. It was going to be very disappointing when he was stabbed. Then, the creaking started again, and the figure walked out of hearing range, back the other way. At this point, Quietus was going to climb down, but he appeared to be completely out of stamina. Then he was down on the floor. Convenient? At least he didn¡¯t land on his head this time. In fact, he barely even took any damage at all! *ding*
Because of a fall, your health has been reduced by 40%
Well, barely any damage at all related to dead.
Level up: Climb Beginner level 4 Reduces the stamina cost of climbing, makes climbing slightly easier, and slightly reduces the amount of falling damage you take.
Apparently, climb could also gain experience from failing and falling on your back. This was nice to know. Not so nice to feel, however. Quietus went back to what he was doing before. He found and disarmed all the traps, very very slowly. Then, when he was out of mana, he listened. It appeared that being quiet and listening on purpose made the skill more effective. Interestingly enough, the armored things always appeared when he couldn''t see. He doubted it was a coincidence. Then, he always climbed. Hanging down, he would hope they didn¡¯t see him, and his arms would tire. Somehow, his cloak always hung over the beam. Then, he repeated this process. At any crossroads, he would pick randomly which direction to go. -------------------------- Outside the training area, some NPCs were getting bored. ¡°He¡¯s dead now, right? We can just stop waiting.¡± ¡°You know he¡¯s not dead. We¡¯d both know.¡± ¡°Okay, then he should be out of that door. Nobody takes this long.¡± ¡°Obviously not.¡± -------------------------- Quietus looked at a nice big spike pit. It doubtless had traps on the other side. It was blocking his path, and this was the way he had decided to go. What would he do about it? He considered jumping across and hoping that the traps were mild on the edge. If he were the one who built the pit, they would not be. They would be the worst traps. Like the ones on this side of the pit. If triggered, they would actually tilt the floor toward the pit. The pit wasn¡¯t too far to jump over. In fact, he could probably jump far enough to be several sets of traps in when he fell on his face and triggered all of them. So he jumped. Not straight in, of course. That would be stupid. Instead, he jumped for one of the beams that tilted upwards, over on the side. He caught on to it. Fortunately, that still fell under the climb skill. After that, it was a simple matter to disarm the traps. In this case, simple meant imminent peril. He had to hang upside down, holding on with his legs, to reach the traps on the side. It appeared to use much more stamina than normal climbing. Being upside down didn¡¯t help his manual dexterity much, either, with the blood rushing to his head. Once or twice, he almost pressed down on the pressure plate, just by extending his arms too far. Then¡­ *Click* Ahh, the wonderful sound of a trap being disarmed. Quietus pulled himself back upright, then almost passed out from the sudden reversal of blood flow. He clung to the beam tightly. Then, he finally lowered himself onto the safe place he had made. Quietus was glad that, in the real world, it was a Friday. This was taking quite a bit of time. -------------------------- ¡°Maybe the detectors are broken. He¡¯s just been dead this whole time and we¡¯ve been waiting for nothing.¡± ¡°Are they broken? You check them.¡± ¡°*Sigh*, No, they¡¯re working fine. Wanna take shifts? I don¡¯t feel like waiting here this long.¡± ¡°Shifts it is. I¡¯ll see you in the morning.¡± ¡°...Great.¡± End Chapter 21 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1201&p=6832#p6832 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1218 Necromancer - Chapter 22 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 22 Quietus was currently doing something resembling a one handed pushup. This was because the traps were getting harder to disarm. This particular trap had to be disarmed before the ones just in front of his toes could be disarmed. The difficulty was compounded by the fact that Quietus had to disarm the trap with an injured left hand. Quietus regretted not putting any points in strength before this point. Now, it was too late. He had been disarming traps in awkward positions and holding on for his life to hide from the armored figures. Usually, this meant he was hanging from ceiling beams. He was pleasantly surprised to find that he could increase his strength and stamina by using the climbing skill. He did not like the fact that his muscles hurt. If only Royal Road could just be a bit less realistic. At the sound of a click, Quietus immediately rolled to the side¡­ triggering even more traps than the one he had just failed to disarm. Miraculously, he was unharmed, but the spikes all around him told him that it was just luck.
Luck rises by 1 point. (+1 LUK)
Well, the spikes and the messages. This appeared to be a very good place to train agility, luck, strength, and stamina. Of course, it was also terrifying, because dying wasn¡¯t an option. Quietus thought back to earlier in the training area. -------------------------- Ahead of him was a large pit, with spikes at the bottom. It was too far to jump and catch any of the ceiling beams. It was also the only way forward. Quietus had gone down all the other side passageways and disarmed all the traps. Truth be told, he had not covered all that large of an area so far. However, he was taking enough time that it was very tiring, and seemed much bigger. He would have to jump across the pit and land on the pressure plates near the edge. Everything was pressure plates, except for the trip wires. And the hidden pits. Plus, there were the walls that seemed to shoot out arrows just by him moving in front of them. Quietus would have to pick where to land, and hope the particular traps at that location weren¡¯t too deadly. After he landed, he just had to pick a few poisoned darts out of his neck. The spikes sticking out of the floor to his left were dodged, as he had planned. The darts came at a slightly different angle than he expected, and he didn¡¯t have a lot of room to dodge in. As he was drinking one of his last few antidotes, he heard approaching footsteps. The nearest place to climb up was still too far away. He wasn¡¯t going to risk crossing so many traps to get to it. He had to hide somewhere though. He looked back in the direction he came from. He couldn¡¯t get a running start to make the jump. He would definitely fall into the pit and die if he tried that. Nothing else in the area was of any use to him. There was just the pit. This is how he found himself hanging by his fingers into a pit with spikes on the bottom. He probably could have kept the skill up for quite a long time, if he didn¡¯t also have to activate stealth. This made his stamina consumption increase. His fingers were getting tired before the wandering guardian even got close. It felt like it was walking more slowly than they normally did. Quietus was pretty good at judging time. At this rate, his stamina would run out just after it got near the edge of the pit. However, the rest of the guardians¡­ he figured they might be golems, usually just stopped once their apparently short vision showed there were no enemies that could be hiding in front of their patrol route. This meant that the golem should stop about twenty to thirty feet short of where he was. The golem was about fifty feet away. Forty. Thirty. Twenty five. It felt like it was slowing down. Twenty. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t. Fifteen. Ten. Quietus was really regretting his decision at this point. Five feet. He didn¡¯t really look forward to having his fingers stepped on. Silence. Then, it turned around and started walking away. This was good for Quietus, except he didn¡¯t have enough stamina to climb up, especially not quietly. If he could manage to get up, he would make a large amount of noise. Just as he was about to run out of stamina, he let go with his left hand. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. *Squelch* was the sound it made. He winced at the sound. However, the sound of the golem continued away from him. This gave him time to scream in pain on the inside. He now dangled from his left hand, which currently had spikes all the way through it. It took no stamina for him to ¡°hang on¡± this way. Of course, his hit points were going down. Even that wouldn¡¯t be so bad, but it hurt enough to make him regret his decision to not just die. Death was painful, sure, but it was over quickly. Finally, the golem was far enough Quietus could climb up with his small amount of stamina recovered. As he pulled yet more darts out of himself, and chugged an antidote and some of his also small supply of health potions, he looked at his hand. He admired the craftsmanship of the spikes. They had very nice hooks on the end. Barbs like that were very effective in a trap. After somehow disarming the trap that kept greeting him with poison darts, he removed his hand from the spikes. He heard some sounds he usually associated with old cloth. He was amazed at how easily pain could make someone cry.
You have received a persistent injury. The effectiveness of your will be reduced by 50% until proper treatment is applied.
Quietus poured a healing potion onto his left hand. Apparently, that didn¡¯t count as proper treatment. -------------------------- And so, Quietus was lying amid a nice bunch of spears. He hoped there was some reward for this training besides the training itself. Quietus shifted his weight on around, and managed to disarm the trap with his right hand.
Level up: Search Beginner level 8
At least his new search skill was growing at scary rates, thanks to the seemingly limitless number of traps. He just hoped that he could stay awake long enough to find the door. He had been awake for more than 24 hours in real life, about 100 hours in Royal Road. He had mixed some mildly poisonous herbs together as stimulants to help him stay awake. Fortunately, Angela understood that he was on an important quest he couldn¡¯t log out from, so nobody forced him out of his capsule. He would just have to push on. He would get through this, and he was not going to give up. So what if everything was starting to hurt. He had to pass this training¡­ although he wasn¡¯t really sure why. Quietus was too tired to remember why. But he had to finish. -------------------------- ¡°Seriously, can¡¯t we just send someone in? It¡¯s been a week.¡± ¡°Nobody except participants allowed inside. That¡¯s the rule.¡± ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll see you in 12 hours.¡± The first guard went out for his time off. The second one sighed. He was also sure that Quietus was dead. Falling asleep in the training area would get him caught by a guardian for sure. Not that it was normally an issue, since the training area usually took about an hour to complete, or less to fail. Then, he heard the door creak open. Behind the door was a fearsome undead monster. White hair hung down in front of its eyes, which were streaked with lines of red. It wore just scraps of armor, and had a ragged cloak. Its left hand had holes with flesh hanging off. Of its right arm, there was no trace past the shoulder. It reached out its arm at the guard and groaned. The guard prepared to stab it, until he recognized words. ¡°I.. win...¡± Then, it collapsed to the floor. Just a corpse. End Chapter 22 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1211&p=6924#p6924 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1225 Questions and Comments I figured I might as well start a section for general questions and comments that don''t fit very well in any chapter. Feel free to ask whatever you want (within reason, you can''t have Mortimer''s credit card number). I''ll try to answer most things, unless they involve spoilers :P. Necromancer - Chapter 23 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 23 The first thing Mortimer did was get out of his capsule and fall into bed. He had been playing since Friday night and it was now early Sunday morning. He woke up just in time for dinner. After dinner, his first meal in a long time, he worked on homework for the weekend. It was important to keep up with finals only a few weeks away. Not that he was particularly worried about them, but since he couldn¡¯t log into Royal Road anyway, until around midnight, he might as well just wait until tomorrow after school. Which meant he needed to be caught up, or preferably ahead, on homework. Then he sparred with Angela again, and lost, as he always had. He tried to figure out why, but just couldn¡¯t come up with a way to win. Mortimer hadn¡¯t known that he didn¡¯t like losing, because he rarely lost at anything he cared about. If he didn¡¯t care, it didn¡¯t count as losing, and if he could win later, it also didn¡¯t count as losing. This, however, was something he cared about. While he was brooding over this, Angela asked him about his quest. ¡°My quest? Well, it was a training thing. It was basically a dungeon with traps everywhere and monsters I couldn¡¯t kill.¡± ¡°Oh yeah? Sounds like the dungeon we are in. Traps around every corner, and ghosts that don¡¯t take damage most of the time. Fortunately, the magician we recruited can still attack them. Our priest can too.¡± Mortimer didn¡¯t bother correcting her that a trap for every corner didn¡¯t count as everywhere. He also didn¡¯t bother saying that monsters that are hard to kill aren¡¯t the same as ones you aren¡¯t allowed to kill. ¡°Well, I got through my dungeon, but I died just after I got out. I don¡¯t know if that still counted as passing.¡± ¡°You died again? You sure die a lot playing solo. Maybe you should join our group.¡± ¡°Well, I still have things I have to do¡­ we may not be headed to the same places.¡± Mortimer deliberately avoided saying he didn¡¯t know where Angela¡¯s party was. She would always catch him in a direct lie, and point it out. He always felt very uncomfortable when that happened. ¡°You have to at least join my guild, Mortimer.¡± ¡°You have a guild?¡± ¡°Well¡­ I mean, once I make the guild. I still need to gather more people and the funds to register it. Once I do though, you have to join.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll consider it. It¡¯s not like I can join now anyway, since it doesn¡¯t exist.¡± Angela accepted that answer. There wasn¡¯t really another option. -------------------------- Quietus woke up in a strange place. There was light coming in through many colored windows. This must be the church in this city, where players would be resurrected. Quietus didn¡¯t feel very good for being resurrected, though. Not that he felt like he was still injured- his health was fine, and his left hand and right arm were back to normal. Instead, he just felt kind of queasy. Even if he was feeling sick, he still had to go get his rewards for the training. Assuming he counted as passing. If not, he would at least have the increases to his attributes, except for his actual level. After a little bit of walking, Quietus found himself feeling better. Perhaps he had just felt some previously unknown side effect of death, or resurrection. Inside the assassin¡¯s guild, he was greeted by a guard. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re back! Frank wants to see you.¡± Quietus nodded and went on ahead. Behind him, he could hear the guard commenting to another, ¡°I wonder if he takes a week to do everything. Must be a pretty relaxed life.¡± The other guard grunted in response. ¡°Ah, Quietus, come in. My guard at the door informed me that you made it through the door before dying, so you passed. Of course, if you weren¡¯t a foreigner, it would still count as failure since you wouldn¡¯t be able to collect your reward. However, a pass is a pass, even if you were¡­ somewhat slow. I have someone fetching your reward right now.¡± Quietus couldn¡¯t imagine how someone could have done it much faster than him. Others could have told him that it was probably unnecessary to disarm every single trap in the dungeon- creating enough for a path would have probably been fine. However, unless they were exceptionally fast at disarming traps, it still would have taken more than a day. Into the room came a guard carrying a book, a pair of gloves, and a pouch likely containing coins, by the sound. ¡°What¡¯s all that?¡± asked Frank. ¡°It¡¯s the standard reward for someone who passes the beginner training at tier nine. You said he passed, right?¡± ¡°Yes, but¡­ tier nine?¡± Frank looked surprised. ¡°Indeed sir. I was the one who received the message recommending that level of training. I had the dungeon set itself appropriately.¡± ¡°Well, that explains some things,¡± Frank said. ¡°What¡¯s tier nine?¡± asked Quietus. ¡°Oh yes, of course you wouldn¡¯t know. We have tiers that determine the difficulty of the tests, from one to ten. Tier one is pretty basic, a few traps to avoid, plenty of places to hide from the patrolling golems. Each tier has more traps to avoid and more places to hide. Tier eight, for example, has small nooks that people can squeeze into to hide, and only one path through the traps. Tier ten¡­ it¡¯s theoretically a big open room, with pits, traps, and the golems. I¡¯m pretty sure some of the traps would set off more traps when properly disarmed. So for tier nine¡­ Somebody was either very confident in your abilities, or wanted you to fail.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ Well I¡¯m either glad they felt so highly of me or very angry at them.¡± ¡°Hah! As well you should be. Well, go ahead and take your reward.¡± The guard handed Quietus the skill book, the gloves, and the pouch of money. Quietus quickly opened up the item windows, and was glad to see they were already identified.
Snake in the Darkness Style Skills- Snakebite: A quick attack to any part of an enemy. If used in conjunction with poison, the poison will produce a more powerful effect near the point of injury. Cost: 25 mana Backslide: Instantly move directly backwards three steps, using a confusing pattern of movement. Useful for avoiding attacks from enemies. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.Cost: 50 mana Backstab: Inflict increased damage with an attack to an enemies back. Damage is multiplied by three if the enemy is unaware. Cost: 200 mana Perforate Artery: Execute an attack at the jugular vein, or equivalent, of an enemy. Causes heavy bleeding damage, and enhances the effects of poisons. Inflicts critical damage if the enemy is unaware of you. Cost: 1000 mana Requirements: Assassin Class OR Member of the true assassin¡¯s guild
Quietus was happy to get some real combat related skills, although their mana costs were very heavy. If he weren¡¯t a warlock, but instead a standard assassin, he didn¡¯t think he would have enough mana to use backstab more than once. Then again, the mana cost would drop with proficiency, and if used right, it didn¡¯t need to be used more than once. Then there was perforate artery which was just¡­ completely unnecessary in its mana cost. He didn¡¯t know when he would be able to use that. Now it was time to look at his gloves.
Gloves of Finesse Durability: 20/20 Defense: 4 Awarded to those who complete the Beginner Assassin¡¯s training above a certain difficulty. These gloves allow the wearer to act with more finesse in all situations. Equip: +20 Agility +50% increase in effectiveness of lockpicking, pickpocket, and search. Requirements: Member of the Assassin¡¯s guild AND completed beginner''s assassin training. OR Advanced level in lockpicking, pickpocket, or search.
Quietus was pleased. They were very excellent gloves. Of course, they would have been more useful before he was thrown into a dungeon full to the brim with traps. Now he just had to go get everything repaired. After saying goodbye to the nice people in the assassin¡¯s guild, he went off to find someone who could repair his cloak and armor. He hadn¡¯t used his dagger, and it never seemed to need repairs anyway. He couldn¡¯t tell whether it was just very high durability or had some other property, since he had never actually gotten it identified. Perhaps he would get around to that one day. The blacksmith offering repairs didn¡¯t have the identify skill, so Quietus would find someone later. Quietus was at a loss for what to do next, until he remembered. The actual reason that he came to Twinsburg Heights was for a completely different reason. That was, of course, his ¡°Dark Magic¡± quest. He opened the quest window and realized it had no instructions on where to find the instructor. Quietus would have to go back to searching the city. He found nothing that seemed like it would be the place in the Northwest half of Twinsburg Heights. It was mostly composed of shops and a tavern and things like the church. He was certain the instructor wouldn¡¯t be in any of those places. Quietus then crossed the valley to the southeastern part of the city. There, he actually found the magician¡¯s guild. He had a feeling they wouldn¡¯t have the instructor on dark magic either, although he would come back if he couldn¡¯t find anywhere more promising. Then, he smelled something familiar. It wasn¡¯t exactly a pleasant smell. Wandering in the back alleys of a city, pleasant smells were generally rare. However, this smell reminded him of some pleasant memories anyway. Quietus followed it around a corner to an open door. He took a step inside. The scrawny man inside gave him a funny look. ¡°Didn¡¯t I just see you in here a few days ago? For that matter, nobody even comes here on purpose. Are you lost?¡± ¡°Well, actually, Jack from Morata sent me to look for someone. I think that someone might be you. I assume you know him?¡± ¡°Sure, I know him. I have to keep in contact with my peers. My name¡¯s Alva. Yours?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Quietus.¡± ¡°Ohh, so you¡¯re the one.¡± Alva instantly changed mannerisms. ¡°Jack told me you would be coming here soon. Well, it¡¯s important that you know I can¡¯t teach you anything.¡± ¡°Then, why am I here?¡± ¡°Well, that doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t know more than you. I can tell you how to learn things, but since we don¡¯t generally use spells like a proper magician or wizard, it¡¯s not something that can be taught directly.¡± Quietus thought back on his initiation as a warlock, and remembered that to be true. He hadn¡¯t really been taught, more like imbued with the knowledge. ¡°So, can you give me some knowledge?¡± ¡°Well, I could. That wouldn¡¯t be the best option for either of us. However, you¡¯re here because there is a better way. You know how to soul bind, correct?¡± Quietus nodded. He had almost forgotten about the skill, as he had never used it, but he could. ¡°Then it¡¯s simple. One of the best ways for you to learn new abilities is to steal them from others. It is not an easy process with those who have physical form, but to steal the abilities of ghosts is rather simpler. Simply use soul bind on them, and destroy their physical form. You should naturally absorb some of their power and knowledge, although not all ghosts and spirits will do. You would do best with the kind that appear in the Moaning Mines.¡±
Quest updated! Dark Magic The time has come to learn more advanced magic. Travel to the Moaning Mines and bind four of the named spirits to learn their spells. Then, return to Alva with what you have learned. Difficulty: Class Quest
Quietus felt like he had heard of that dungeon somewhere, but he couldn¡¯t remember why right away. After getting directions from Alva, he set out on his quest. End Chapter 23 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1218&p=6989#p6989 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1247 Necromancer - Chapter 24 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 24 Angelo was getting frustrated with the Moaning Mines. If there had been more people in Twinsburg Heights, they would have been able to pick and choose among the players there. Instead, they were in a dungeon with traps, without a rogue. If Maratis hadn¡¯t been in the group to heal them, it would have been much worse. Of course, not having a rogue wasn¡¯t the end of their problems. The monsters in the Moaning Mines, all ghosts, were hard to attack. Either you had to hit them exactly when they were manifesting themselves to attack, or use magic. Maratis could use holy magic to do good damage to them, but then very little mana was left over for healing. So they had picked up a Magician who specialized in fire. This would have been fine, but the magician named Abaddon wasn¡¯t very good. He frequently ran out of mana and had to rest. His spells often missed their mark, and some of them came very close to hitting party members. Worse yet, at least to Angelo, he was constantly flirting with Ruby. This made Angelo want to strangle Abaddon. If he weren¡¯t the only magician in town, then he would probably have suffered that fate. Instead, he was tolerated. Barely. Ghosts were enough trouble by themselves, even with a proper party. The liked to come out of walls, the ceiling, or the floor. Although they often made loud wailing noises, they were clever enough not to do so when sneaking up on people. This meant the party had to be constantly vigilant, and it also made Angelo¡¯s job as the only tank that much harder. Angelo had to be prepared to move to the front, middle, or back of the group at any time. After the party almost died, for the fifth time that hunting session, they were ready to call it a day. With barely any progress made, they would do just as well to leave the dungeon and come back another time. Perhaps the next day would go better. With that, they logged off. -------------------------- Angela sat with Solara at lunch, talking about college plans. Although they played Royal Road together, at school they talked about other things. Solara had been accepted to a prestigious university nearby, with a full scholarship, contingent on her keeping her perfect grades up. Angela hadn¡¯t been very serious about applying to many universities yet, but she would get around to it. -------------------------- At Mortimer¡¯s house, well, it was Angela¡¯s home too for now, she sparred with Mortimer. They only went for a few rounds before it was obvious they were both too frustrated to properly spar. ¡°What¡¯s up, Mortimer? You seem to be having a bad day.¡± ¡°Well, my day is fine. I¡¯m just annoyed that I can¡¯t win.¡± ¡°Ha! Well, don¡¯t expect me to let you win. You can¡¯t have everything easy.¡± ¡°I know that. So, did you have a bad day then?¡± ¡°It¡¯s probably kind of trivial, but this dungeon in Royal Road is annoying me. The ghosts and the traps are bad enough, but out magician is just terrible. Say, we could use a rogue¡­¡± ¡°Nope, still busy. Maybe in a couple days though¡­¡± ¡°In a couple days, I have to start studying for finals. You probably should too.¡± Mortimer nodded in acknowledgement of him probably needing to study. He would do that some, but he still planned to play Royal Road. -------------------------- Quietus entered the Moaning Mines dungeon. He knew his cousin would be logging on soon, and wanted to get a head start. He didn¡¯t feel like interacting with that party right now. While he was going ahead, he might as well clear out some of the ghosts¡­ and definitely the traps. While some of the ghosts would likely respawn before Angelo logged in, traps would probably take longer to reset. Of course, his plan was contingent on him being able to kill the ghosts. Mortimer found his first ghost by being slashed on his back. He quickly spun around and slashed at the enemy, but his dagger just went through it. He was able to dodge it¡¯s next few attacks, but any attacks he made of his own seemed to have no effect. Even his dark hand ability just went straight through. After he dodged a few more attacks, the ghost sunk into the floor. Quietus waited, senses alert as he looked around. He heard a slight whisper of the wind from the wall behind him. If he hadn¡¯t been concentrating on his listen skill, he could never have noticed. Quietus activated his Snakebite skill as he spun around. His dagger connected with the ghost at the same time it got hit him. Although he didn¡¯t get in a good strike, he did manage to hit it. He realized it had to do with the timing of the enemy¡¯s attack. Too bad it cost him 10% of his health to find it out. Quietus then activated his backslide skill to make a quick retreat to see if he could throw the ghost off. His quick and unpredictable movements were certainly enough to confuse the ghost slightly. However, he wasted the opportunity because he had to pick himself up off the floor. Quick movements backwards on a rough floor had sent him tumbling head over heels. Fortunately, he took no damage from this, possibly because it was treated as a very short fall, and thus reduced to nothing by his climbing skill. He eventually managed to start wearing down the ghost¡¯s health with the use of snakebite to counterattack while he was dodging out of the way of the ghosts attacks. He avoided using backslide because the terrain was uneven, and it used way too much mana for constant application. It was very fast, though. Quietus felt like the ghost¡¯s health was going down much slower than he was used to. He realized that normally everything he fought slowly drained lower in health after he had hit it a few times. Of course, this effect was much more noticable when he used poisons. Unfortunately, there appeared to be no such effect on the ghost. Eventually, Quietus was the victor. It was just one monster, so he shouldn¡¯t have even had that much trouble with it. Quietus felt like he could have done a lot better if it was always physically there. He wondered if there was a way to do that. As he was walking down the pathway and turning the corner, he stopped. He had a feeling there was something he should be doing. Then, he remembered, and checked for traps. Surprisingly to him, there was actually one there. Quietus had assumed that traps around every corner was figurative, but in this case it seemed to be literal. He had just disarmed the tripwire when another ghost appeared. The battle went much as before, although Quietus was a bit more prepared. This time, when the ghost sunk into the floor to hide, he thought of a plan. The floor was much smoother here, so it might even work. He walked to the middle of the tunnel and waited, listening carefully. When he heard the telltale whisper behind him, he activated backslide. Suddenly, he found himself somewhere different. Before he had not really been able to appreciate the speed that felt like he was not in the space between his starting and stopping point because he had tumbled backwards. This time, he was almost too shocked at his different location to slash at the ghost who was clawing at empty air. Almost. He still had the presence of mind to hit the ghost with a nice quick Snakebite. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Then, he had a brilliant idea. It would cost him pretty much all of his remaining mana. Once the ghost broke off the fight again, he set himself up similarly. He just hoped the ghost wouldn¡¯t learn from experience, at least not after one time. Fortunately for him, regular monsters were slow to develop new tactics. This time when he appeared behind the ghost, he used his Backstab skill, at the cost of most of the remaining 40% or so of his mana. His strike went perfectly where he aimed it.
Critical Hit! Backstab was successfully executed, but the enemy is immune to skills of this kind. The attack will be treated as a normal hit.
Quietus was very disappointed in his first use of the Backstab skill. Sure, he had gotten a critical hit. He would have had the same from just a regular attack. In fact, he basically did that, but at a large cost of mana. Still, it was better to learn that this skill would be useless in the dungeon now rather than at a critical point. Quietus eventually killed the ghost anyway, but it took longer without being able to used Snakebite very often. Quietus sighed. His mana regeneration was slower here than he was used to. This was, he presumed, because ghosts didn¡¯t feel pain. This meant that the bonus regeneration from his Sadism stat didn¡¯t apply. Quietus wasn¡¯t sure what else he could use to speed up his combat progress. Somehow, Quietus managed to sneak his way past any ghosts that might have, or might not have, been in the next few tunnels. Although there were a few traps, as long as he was watching for them he had no trouble finding and disarming them. He was about to have trouble with something else, however. In front of him floated a ghost. This wasn¡¯t really a surprise, but this one was larger than the other two. The fact that it had a name over its head- The Cursed Archer- told Quietus that it was part of his quest. Quietus wasn¡¯t really sure if he could defeat a stronger ghost, but he would try. He also had to remember to Soul Bind it. He would need to apply that at the beginning of the fight, just in case. Quietus tried to approach it quietly, but it quickly turned around to face him. Quietus prepared for it to charge him, ready to strike and dodge. He was so focused on that he wasn¡¯t prepared for a bolt of darkness to shoot out of the ghost¡¯s hands and hit him in the chest. It hurt. It hurt a lot. Quietus looked at his health to see how close he was to dying from that. It had taken about 16% of his health. It wasn¡¯t actually as bad as he thought it would be. It really hurt though. He realized it would have been worse without his levels of dark magic mastery, both the pain and the actual damage taken. Quietus advanced carefully, ready to dodge the bolts of darkness should they be used again. He was still prepared for melee attacks, in case it decided on that route. The ghost slowly backed away, firing more of the bolts of darkness. Arrows, really, Quietus observed as they went past him. Then, the ghost had backed into the wall of the circular room. Quietus sighed. He listened carefully, and was rewarded when he heard the faint sound of one of the arrows heading towards him. He dodged it, mostly, and turned to face the ghost. This time he rushed at it, trying to catch it off guard. Instead of counterattacking, it just faded into the wall again. Quietus moved back towards the middle of the room, prepared for an attack from every angle. For a few repetitions, he dodged the arrows of darkness, at least enough to reduce the damage he took. The Cursed Archer always kept out of his range, and was never close enough that he could have used backslide to get behind it. Quietus gritted his teeth. Mostly, this was because the wounds from the dark arrows hurt. The rest was frustration. He didn¡¯t even know if his Soul Bind would work. He hadn¡¯t even tried it. The next time the ghost appeared, Quietus dodged the first arrow fired, and pointed his hand at the annoying enemy. He activated his Soul Bind spell, hoping it would reach the ghost. He wasn¡¯t even sure if it had any kind of range. Out of his hand shot a beam of darkness, and when it hit The Cursed Archer, it split and wrapped around its body. Then, the ribbons of darkness coalesced into chains. Quietus was glad that at least his spell worked. If only he could damage the stupid ghost. He would try, probably for the last time, to get near the ghost. The Cursed Archer of course fired more arrows of darkness as Quietus approached. It backed up to stay away from him, but before it could slip into the wall, as normal, it stopped. Quietus took the chance to dash forward and take a swing. Normally, such a change in tactics would have been a trap. Even more so, Quietus wouldn¡¯t be able to hit an unmanifested ghost. He thought about this vaguely after he was already committed to his attack. He just hoped whatever counterattack he took wouldn¡¯t be too bad. Then, something surprising happened. Quietus¡¯ dagger hit the ghost, and dealt damage. The Cursed Archer took a swipe at Quietus as it shuffled to the side after his attack, but he dodged it. After that, Quietus moved around the room with it, dodging its claw attacks and the occasional dark arrow. All of his attacks managed to hit it. He wasn¡¯t even timing them to when he thought it would be manifested, but just attacking as much as he could. Even so, he whittled down its health. Of course, The Cursed Archer was still no pushover. Quietus had to drink one of his potions during the fight, which the ghost used to get some distance between them. Eventually, however, Quietus got in the last strike.
The Cursed Archer has been bound! You have learned: Dark Arrow Summon forth an arrow of darkness to strike a foe at range. Causes damage and pain. Mana cost: 20
Quietus almost laughed. Instead, he grimaced. It certainly did cause pain. He was very glad that he now had something he could use at range, although he would probably need to practice quite a bit to be accurate with it. More than that, however, he had learned something important from this battle. Using Soul Bind on ghosts made them stuck in their manifested form. No more not getting hit, no more moving through the walls and floor. Quietus smiled. These ghosts would regret the day they chose to sneak up on him and trouble him with annoying battles. End Chapter 24 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1225&p=7058#p7058 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1255 Necromancer - Chapter 25 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 25 Angelo grudgingly entered the Moaning Mines again. This was, unfortunately, the best place nearby for players in this level range to level. The party prepared for a slow, painful trek through the dungeon, as the previous days had been. After a time, the party began to notice a difference. It was slight at first. There were less traps than they had remembered, but that could have just been because their minds exaggerated the ¡°around every corner¡±. There may have been fewer ghosts, but with no indication of where they might spawn, it was hard to tell if it was just the path they took. The final indicator that something was different, however, was that the ghosts were behaving differently. It was very little, but there was a small hesitation in their movements. It was as if they were afraid of something. This was, of course, a ridiculous idea. Ghosts weren¡¯t afraid of anything. -------------------------- The first thing Quietus tested after his fight with The Cursed Archer was the Dark Arrow spell. It was relatively hard to aim, but Quietus knew he would get used to it eventually. It wouldn¡¯t be in this dungeon, however. This was simply because ghosts seemed to be immune to it. Whether they were in their normal incorporeal state or under the effect of Soul Bind, the arrows of darkness alternatively passed through them or broke apart upon contact, inflicting no damage. There was another reason he didn¡¯t practice it too thoroughly. Like his Dark Hand spell, there was a jolt of pain when he used it. Although it was short, he wasn¡¯t really fond of pain. The normal ghosts were no longer a challenge of any sort, once he stopped wasting mana on Dark Arrow. Instead, he used Soul Bind and Snakebite. The ghosts were not prepared to fight in a vulnerable state, and most of them quickly perished. Once he made the ghosts fight on his terms, the fight was trivial. Quietus continued to find and disarm what traps there were. He was getting pretty good at it. In fact¡­ *ding*
You have reached Intermediate level in the Search Skill! -You now have a small chance to find nearby traps based on the level of the trap and your Search skill. -5% less damage taken from traps.
As he explored the dungeon, Quietus started encountering ghosts in small groups. They always attempted to ambush him from two, or possibly three sides. He had to start straining himself to listen at all times. He could still defeat the ghosts, but it took longer than he would have liked. He couldn¡¯t kill any one of them as quickly when they were in a group, because he had to watch out for attacks from behind and because he had to use more mana at once to make them all Soul Bound. He may have been in trouble if the ghosts came in larger groups¡­ or had any sense of teamwork beyond attacking from different directions. They all attacked at different times, but still in fairly predictable patterns. Quietus didn¡¯t even die finding that out. Quietus also learned a very interesting thing about Soul Bind. After killing around twenty ghosts using Soul Bind, he would obtain an increase in a seemingly random statistic. At the same time, Sadism always was increased as well. He was curious to see how long this would keep happening, so he made sure to kill every ghost he saw. Of course, he was still looking for the named ghosts. If Quietus had a map, or even any hint at to where they were, he would have found them much sooner. Instead, he had to wait until he stumbled upon them, like the first. Since he did avoid traversing the same tunnels repeatedly, he eventually came across a ghost named The Tormented Murderer. He could only assume it would have some kind of unknown special ability. Quietus got as close as he could before it noticed him. Ghosts had very good senses, which bothered him. Quietus used Soul Bind just as it turned around. The first attempt failed. He only rarely failed to use it, even at his low proficiency, because it was also tied to Dark Magic Mastery. Of course it would fail at the most important time. Although he was still about fifteen feet away from the miniboss, it raised a claw as if to swing it at him. He prepared to dodge any projectile it might throw at him. The claw swept down, but Quietus saw nothing. He did, however, feel an attack from behind, which took out about a quarter of his health. He turned around to look, but there was nothing there. By the time he had turned back to The Tormented Murderer, it was right in front of him. Quietus retreated from its attack, he needed to take a potion since he had taken such damage early in the fight. This time, he was ready for the claw swiping down, and even though he sensed nothing, he dodged to the side. He was barely grazed on his shoulder. Quietus used Soul Bind again, and this time it succeeded. Quietus was quickly back in melee range, which unfortunately seemed to be the favored distance of The Tormented Murderer. Quietus relatively easily dodged the clawed hand that swiped at him, countering with a Snakebite of his own. He dodged to the side of the claw he knew was coming down from behind. This time, however, even though the hand that made the motion did a vertical slash, the attack came from the side. Quietus was lucky enough to have picked the direction away from the attack to dodge, but he still took a significant hit with the followthrough. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Quietus wasn¡¯t sure how he would dodge an attack that he didn¡¯t know which direction it would come from. He looked around to see if there were any obstacles. Thankfully, the floor here was reasonably smooth, at least compared to some of the tunnels. After moving in for the next attack, Quietus avoided the attack that he could watch, and got in some quick slashes. Then, he dodged the attack he knew was coming from somewhere by activating Backslide. This was when he first saw the floating hand. Then, it vanished. Not that he thought it was gone for long. Quietus knew that whenever an attack was made, the hand would appear just before. Quietus went in for a repeat of the same action. Named monsters learned tactics much more quickly than other monsters, and thus when Quietus used Backslide, he was still hit. Although the placing of the attack had been a little off, he knew the next time it would have the distance correct. One weakness of Backslide is he always went straight back, and always the same number of steps. So, Quietus improvised. This time, when he dodged he rapidly twisted his body first. This let him avoid the attack by changing the direction he went. Of course, with the rapid twist and quick backwards steps, he was sent rolling across the floor. He was prepared for that though. The next time, he had better control of his balance. The time after that, he was out of mana. He drank a mana potion he had made, but unfortunately the effects took some time to recover his mana enough. He managed to avoid the ghost¡¯s attacks by moving quick circles around it, as well as slashing at its sides. It was effective, but it consumed a lot of stamina. He barely kept it up long enough to recover a good portion of his mana. Now, The Tormented Murderer was at barely a sliver of health, and Quietus at around 15%. Quietus went with a final series of Snakebites. He avoided the first claw attack, and somehow dodged the one from behind. This would have been perfect, except it took him into the path of the actual attack, which the floating hand was just following. 10% of Quietus¡¯ health was gone. He slashed with Snakebite as quick as he could, using the last of his mana. Then, as a claw came towards his face, his final, regular attack hit.
You have leveled up!
Before Quietus distributed stat points, or read his next message window, he quickly pulled out some health potions. He barely drank them in time to stop himself from dying due to bleedout. He would need to make some more soon.
The Tormented Murderer has been bound! You have learned: Specral Hand Creates a spectral hand at a distance. The hand can do anything that yours could do, although there is a lack of tactile feedback. Mana cost: 10 per second.
Quietus tested the ability right away. What could he do with it? All his spells were cast with a single hand, so they should work. He created a spectral hand in front of him, and watched it move in response to his actions. The arrow was even less accurate than from his physical hand. He had created the spectral hand at a slight angle to his own, and it rotated accordingly. It was even worse when he tried with the hand facing towards himself. He meant to shoot a good five feet to his left, but managed to hit himself. It hurt. Still, Quietus was glad that the initial castings of it didn¡¯t hurt. This would be very useful, once he could handle it. Currently, the furthest he could make it appear was ten feet away, although it could move a bit further if he concentrated on it. Quietus went through several more rooms with regular ghosts.
Strength Rises by 1 point! (+1 STR)
Well, at least he didn¡¯t have to increase his strength with points from a level up. He still preferred those to go to other areas. As the inevitable passage of time would have it, Quietus finally found the third named spirit. This one was just called The Lonely Doctor. It looked a bit smaller and weaker than the other two. Quietus¡¯ Soul Bind was effective on the first use, and he rushed in to attack it. Surprisingly, he got in some hits, and the ghost didn¡¯t even retaliate, it just retreated back some. Then, Quietus heard rumbling. The ground was shaking. Then, something grabbed his ankle. Soon after that, his other ankle. Shortly after that, Quietus was surrounded by zombies. Then¡­
You have died!
End Chapter 25 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1247&p=7277#p7277 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1291 Necromancer - Chapter 26 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 26 Mortimer spent the day thinking about how he would kill the next ghost, and about Master Valarao¡¯s training. Of course, he should have been thinking about school and the finals he had in a little over a week, but he wasn¡¯t. All he had to do was not flub all his finals and he would be fine. He¡¯d even applied for a school now, the same one Angela was planning to go to. Obviously this had nothing to do with him spying on overhearing a conversation between Angela and Solara about going there. It was a good school. The first problem, that of the ghost, was dependent a lot on how strong the zombies actually were. He had been very surprised when the showed up, so he hadn¡¯t really put up much struggle. Mortimer assumed they would be individually weak since so many had shown up. He could probably deal with them if he handled it properly. In terms of Master Valarao¡¯s training, he just had to treat it like he now treated ghosts. Obviously, he would have to use magic to complete it. No, that wasn¡¯t actually the solution, but he would have to try something and hope it worked. Of course, it could also be a path to actual failure. He was pretty confident he was right though. -------------------------- Mortimer got home, and started to take care of the problems in the most reasonable order. First, he had to spar with Angela, one more time. He had to go all out this time. Not that he had been holding back before, but if he didn¡¯t give this time all of his effort, his plan could never work. Mortimer actually did fairly well. He was fast enough to get inside Angela¡¯s guard sometimes, but she still always managed to get a hit on him. His footwork couldn¡¯t make a difference in her reach. On the ninth match, however, Mortimer managed to get a point. He managed a roll under her guard, and got a strike on her midsection. Not terribly good, but enough for a point. When he tried it again, even with different timing, she easily caught him. It appeared he really couldn¡¯t win. After the sparring session, Mortimer went to talk to Master Valarao. ¡°I can¡¯t win with the current rules.¡± ¡°Oh? You can¡¯t win? Giving up?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t win with the current rules, so if I have to continue with them, I have no choice but to give up.¡± ¡°You know, I can¡¯t have a student who will just give up. Are you sure?¡± Master Valarao looked disappointed. ¡°Yes, I give up unless the rules will change.¡± ¡°Well then, you are no longer my student,¡± Master Valarao said. ¡°You think you could win with different rules?¡± ¡°Maybe not¡­ but without rules, I probably could.¡± Master Valarao smiled, ¡°Interesting¡­ I have an offer for you kid. There is something else I can teach you, but you can¡¯t back out if you agree. Also, if you accept, you can¡¯t spar with your cousin ever again.¡± ¡°Would I be able to win?¡± ¡°I guess that depends on how you define winning. You¡¯d never win in a tournament, except against people who weren¡¯t very good. However¡­ by the simplest definition of winning, it would actually be up to you. However, nothing would stop you from winning if you were good enough.¡± ¡°Then, I want to learn it.¡± ¡°Great. You¡¯re sure? It will hurt, especially if you do poorly.¡± ¡°Yes. I want to learn it.¡± ¡°Good. Then first, you can¡¯t spar with anyone. Ever. It won¡¯t go well. This doesn¡¯t mean I forbid you from fighting, just that you can¡¯t ever have a friendly match again. Also¡­ we can¡¯t train here. We¡¯ll have to do it in virtual reality¡­ for safety. I¡¯ll upload the data for the simulation to your console.¡± -------------------------- Inside the simulation was basically Royal Road. If Royal Road consisted of one room and just two people. Perhaps it was better to say, it was a very realistic sparring simulation. ¡°Now then Mortimer, in here we are in exactly the same physical shape, so the only difference between us will be our training. Now, prepare to defend yourself. I¡¯ll show you some things.¡± Each of them picked up a sharp dagger. There was no need for training daggers here, since they would not die. Although¡­ that was not entirely accurate. Mortimer quickly learned why Master Valarao said it would hurt. In the simulation, he could actually cut Mortimer. If it didn¡¯t kill him, it was a cut across his wrist to disable him, and then he was dead. Of course, that wasn¡¯t the only weapon he had at his disposal. His left hand was unoccupied, and was just as deadly as the hand with a dagger. First, they went over some ways to beat someone with superior reach. Catching the blade (not recommended). Slashing at their wrist, or catching it with your other hand was a good option. If they were a bit slower, you could move in and kick their ankle or knee, usually with enough force to break it. There were also some other methods. Of course, none of these would be allowed in a tournament. Permanent bodily injuries were very frowned upon, as well as the ¡°rules¡± of combat. Fortunately??? for Mortimer, the injuries weren¡¯t permanent here. Of course, that didn¡¯t stop them from feeling very real, as well as ¡°killing¡± him. He would wake up a few seconds later, since there was no need for a penalty in this space. Mortimer learned, or at least witnessed, a whole new style of fighting. What he had learned before was still applicable, but it was much more effective with the new techniques. Mortimer didn¡¯t do too badly, he even managed a cut on Master Valarao¡¯s shirt once. Of course, the shirt was loose, and thus it was really just a miss. Plus, there was the very real feeling counterattack that he felt for a brief moment before blacking out again. Mortimer spent a very long, exhausting time in training, and he had only learned a very small amount. However, the eight hours he had experienced were only two hours in the real world. It could have been more, but four times speed was the current safe limit for time acceleration in Virtual Reality. Just before exiting the simulation, Master Valarao told him, ¡°We¡¯re also going to have to work on some basic training outside of this simulation. Can¡¯t have you getting soft.¡± -------------------------- Quietus was glad that he couldn¡¯t feel the muscles on his real body. He almost wanted his real body to die so the pain would go away, but he knew that wasn¡¯t a reasonable escape. Instead, he did the next best thing. Royal Road would ignore that muscle pain while he was playing. Although it would alert players of any injuries their real body had, and monitor their health to some point, muscular problems were ignored unless it was caused by poor positioning in the capsule. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Inside Royal Road, Quietus woke up in the morgue. For some reason, he felt a lot more comfortable there than in the church. He didn¡¯t have any particular feelings against religion, so he wasn¡¯t sure why that was. Quietus waved goodbye to Alva, who just looked at him and shook his head. ¡°Crazy foreigners.¡± Before heading back into the dungeon, he went out and gathered herbs for health, stamina and mana potions. He also got some herbs for poisons, but they would likely be useless in the Moaning Mines. His herb gathering and Alchemy levels were nearing intermediate, but they would have to wait for more training. In the Moaning Mines, Quietus took care of any traps that had reset on his route. Then, he encountered either no ghosts at all, or groups of five. This gave him some practice for fighting the zombies¡­ at least theoretically. He assumed the zombies would have more vulnerable points and¡­ not float. At least he could make the ghosts solid. It didn¡¯t take many groups of enemies before he found the room containing The Lonely Doctor. Quietus started the battle off with a soul bind. However, this time when the rumbling happened, he prepared for what he thought the tactic would be. He picked what he thought was the right timing, and used his Backslide skill. Then, he was outside of a ring of zombies, some of them still crawling up out of the ground. The zombies then took a defensive formation around The Lonely Doctor. Quietus assumed that if he had any ranged capabilities that would harm them, they would have different tactics. Quietus tested out their formation with a series of quick attacks on one zombie.
Critical Hit!
As he had suspected, they had most of the same weak points as normal humans. They were also weak. He killed the zombie in that location, but the others were rushing at him so he had to quickly retreat again. The zombies went back to their places once he got about halfway across the room, and another zombie came out of the ground and took the place of the one who had been defeated. Quietus tried a new tactic. He might as well use what he had theoretically learned. He was pretty sure, based on his past experiences, that it would work. Quietus went in and slashed at the zombie¡¯s hands and feet. Since he was just testing, he quickly retreated again, although he took a hit because he wasn¡¯t focusing on his defense. The zombie didn¡¯t seem to be much worse off for having injured limbs. The next time, Quietus attacked the elbows. He just hoped that zombies were at least partly powered by their bodies, and not just magic. As he observed his handiwork, he thought he was right. The zombies arms hung limply from the elbow down. As he went in for the next zombie, they started approaching him earlier. He had to use his Backslide ability after a Snakebite for just one attack. He took some time to recover mana, but the group as a whole started to move towards him if he stayed outside of their range for long. Quietus drank a mana potion, and set to work. He slashed at anything he could to disable the zombies without killing them, using Snakebite to speed up his attacks. He took some hits because the zombies were congregating more together, but he had a few potions to help with that. Then, there were only a bunch of zombies who couldn¡¯t stand up or properly attack. They still moved better than most things could have in their situation, but The Lonely Doctor was open for attack. He looked rather confused at the state of his zombies, and apparently could not summon more. For the last part of the fight, Quietus just avoided zombies flapping their limbs at his legs, and occasionally biting, while fighting The Lonely Doctor, who wasn¡¯t really that strong of a ghost on his own. Then, he got the final blow, and The Lonely Doctor shrieked and died. The zombies all fell¡­ more limp.
The Lonely Doctor has been bound! You have learned: Animation Use this ability on a corpse to create a zombie. Its life is fleeting, but it will be restored to a better state for the duration of the spell. Can only be used on relatively weak monsters. Mana cost: 50 Duration: 300 seconds Maximum Number of Zombies: 3
As it died, a group of ten ghosts entered the room. Quietus quickly ran around and chugged most of his remaining potions, except some mana potions. These ghosts were starting to come in unmanageable groups. Quietus decided it was a good time to test his new spell, after he soul bound the ghosts. He didn¡¯t want slow, stupid, vulnerable zombies if they couldn¡¯t hit the enemy. Quietus reanimated some of the zombies who were on the ground. He hoped they would be useful. The three zombies were quickly swarmed by five ghosts, but in the time it took them to kill the zombies, who had regained the ability to walk and actually attack, he managed to kill one of the other group. He drank another mana potion, and repeated the process. Just as he ran out of bodies to use, since the zombies who were actually slain crumbled to dust and Quietus didn¡¯t know where to get more, there were only six ghosts left. Surely a challenge, but Quietus was up for it. Even a few minutes later, when he was standing alone with himself and his 10% hit points, he believed he was up for it. He¡¯d won. Of course, the ghosts were all lower level than him, and he was out of potions, but that didn¡¯t matter. Now he just had to find the last named ghost in this dungeon. End Chapter 26 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1255&p=7367#p7367 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1303 Necromancer - Chapter 27 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 27 Angelo and the rest of the adventuring party were still exploring the Moaning Mines. They had gained enough experience that they would probably be able to move on to an area with better monsters soon. They had decided to do one last run of the dungeon, hopefully to defeat the boss. The boss was apparently relatively weak, although he had many possible annoying abilities. Fortunately, according to the information they had found, he seemed to only use one of them chosen randomly. The group had gotten quite a bit better at fighting the ghosts, but Angelo would be happy once they were done in this dungeon. Their current expedition into the dungeon was turning out to be very troubling. Not that they were having difficulties with monsters or traps, but actually the opposite. Although they had noticed a slight reduction in traps and ghosts in the recent days, today they found none at all. All they saw were empty tunnels filled with old mining equipment. There were no signs to indicate why the dungeon had changed, and now appeared abandoned. Still, it was fine with the group as long as they could get to the boss without expending any of their mana or other abilities. It was possible a big raiding group had just come through, in which case the boss was probably already dead, but they wanted to check anyway. Without any combats to hinder their progress, it didn¡¯t take too long to find the boss, especially since they had already been near the chamber in their previous exploration. In the middle of the chamber floated The Forsaken Foreman. The group wondered which of the mini-bosses¡¯ abilities he would use this time. All of them were really hoping for the dark arrows, since those would be fairly easy to dodge. Everyone was disappointed when the ground shook and zombies came out. Angelo would have to deal with them while Maratis and Abaddon would attack the boss at range. Ruby had some skill in melee combat, but her time was better spent increasing the effectiveness the party¡­ or decreasing that of the enemy. Unfortunately, the second was only really effective when the enemy wasn¡¯t mindless zombies. The zombies weren¡¯t the worst option, however, as Maratis applied a holy blessing to Angelo¡¯s sword, which caused them to be easily destroyed. Angelo relished finally being able to hit something with substance again. Much easier to attack, dodge, and block. The battle seemed to be going well- even Abaddon¡¯s mana was holding up, until The Forsaken Foreman pointed his hand at him. Abaddon wasn¡¯t prepared to dodge the Dark Arrow. ¡°Two abilities? That¡¯s now how it¡¯s supposed to go!¡± Abaddon complained. Maratis quickly healed him up, but the party would have to be more cautious. Angelo was still doing a good job of battering down the zombies, and was killing them fast enough there were usually only two or three animated at a time. The addition of the Dark Arrows didn¡¯t set the party back too much. No, what really did it was when Maratis was suddenly slashed from behind. Maratis had been properly paying attention to the firing of Dark Arrows- none of them would touch the priest. All of the zombies were properly being taken care of by Angelo, so that wasn¡¯t it either. ¡°All three of the abilities? What¡¯s going on here?¡± The party was becoming very worried. Maratis was having to spend quite a bit more mana on healing and defensive spells. Still, the party had the boss under half health. Then The Forsaken Foreman glowed red. The effect of this wasn¡¯t immediately obvious, but when Abaddon¡¯s next spell hit the ghost, Abaddon flinched. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ dealing damage when I hit it? This is crazy!¡± Fortunately the red glow went away shortly, but the party was at a clear disadvantage. Then the strange things started happening. Out of nowhere, a bolt of blackness shot at The Forsaken Foreman. It was suddenly wrapped in black chains of unknown purpose. The party worried that this new ability might protect the boss, but it didn¡¯t seem to make any difference in how much damage it took. Then, instead of rejoining the battle when they were reanimated, some of the zombies started wandering off, out of the room. It wasn¡¯t too long before there were no more zombies to deal with. This allowed Angelo to move up to the boss, and surprisingly hit it. The accuracy of the Dark Arrow spells started varying wildly. The hand of the boss started to jerk wildly just before it attacked. The attacks from behind were still a problem, but the boss¡¯ health was quickly being whittled down. Occasionally the party had to stop because of the red glow, but this allowed them to focus on defense for a time. Eventually, though, the boss was defeated. Everyone in the party cheered, and they headed in to collect loot. After that, they planned to rest. The first bolt of fire struck Maratis, who was completely unprepared for any more attacks, and not very healthy to begin with. He died quickly. Ruby saw Abaddon cast the spell, and moved in to attack him. She managed to dodge one attack, but she was tired and low on health. The second and third firebolts took her down. Angelo saw what was going on and also charged Abaddon. Some of his attacks were even blocked, but Abaddon was pretty much uninjured after he had been healed and protected. He also, apparently, had much more mana than he had been letting on. Angelo aimed a stab right at the murderer¡¯s mark on his forehead. It was avoided, at least enough for him to survive. Angelo didn¡¯t have enough health left after fighting up front in the battle, and was soon killed as well. Abaddon smiled, and went to go collect his loot. Then, he felt a weird itch on his back, but for some reason he couldn¡¯t move his arms to scratch it. -------------------------- Quietus wandered around in the tunnels. After facing the group of ten ghosts, no more had shown up. Maybe the dungeon had run out of ghosts? He was pretty sure their respawn rate should have been high enough that he should be finding at least some. As he walked along, he disarmed the few remaining traps he found. Might as well get some experience on the way to find the fourth named ghost. Then, he heard the sounds of combat down a tunnel he had yet to explore. He went towards it, interested to see who else was in the Moaning Mines. He peeked around a corner as the sounds were very close by, and saw his cousin, as well as the other in the adventuring party. He wasn¡¯t particularly surprised at this. He knew she was adventuring in this dungeon too. Quietus spent time watching the group fight, especially the bard. He was hoping she would start dancing. It definitely wasn¡¯t because he wanted to watch her swaying in her skimpy stylish outfit. He just wanted to see what abilities she had. Obviously. Quietus then looked at the boss they were fighting. It appeared to be using all of the abilities that he had recently gained. Then, it used a new one. Quietus wondered what the red aura did. It looked like the party was in pretty dire straits. Quietus figured he could do something to help, and summoned a spectral hand. He then positioned it around behind The Forsaken Foreman. He managed to hit with his first use of Soul Bind. Quietus pumped his fist in silent victory. That would help the group, and since none of them were soul binding it anyway, he might as well get his quest complete out of the bargain. They looked like they needed some more help though. Quietus began animating the fallen zombies before the boss could. He then took them around the corner, out of sight, and canceled the spell. They collapsed, and Quietus discovered that he got back a small portion of the mana he had used. He kept the last three around though, just in case. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. The next thing Quietus did was summon a spectral hand again, but just for an instant, when The Forsaken Foreman was about to release the Dark Arrow spell. This threw the arrows off course. He tried to do the same for its own spectral hand attacks, but it put more force behind the movements in those, he didn¡¯t just have to bump it off course a little bit at the base like he did with the Dark Arrows. Quietus gave up on the second course of action. Eventually, the group managed to win the fight. A bunch of message windows popped up for Quietus, but for some reason he kept watching the other party. It definitely wasn¡¯t because he wanted to see Ruby bend over and pick up loot. Then, Quietus saw Abaddon fireball Maratis. He quickly pulled out a poison he had prepared. Not that he particularly cared about Maratis, but he somewhat knew what was coming next. When Ruby was killed, Quietus was tempted to just scream and rush at Abaddon, but he knew that probably wouldn¡¯t be a good idea. He did, however, continue his steady and stealthy movement forward. He was again tempted to charge when Angelo fell, but it was an even worse time to do so. Then, once he had gotten right behind Abaddon, he used snakebite. He had been planning to use backstab, but his choice of poison had given him a different idea. Instead of aiming for an instant kill, he instead stabbed the spine, just below the back of the head. Not even a real stab, but just a prick.
Critical Hit! Because of the precision of the strike and the use of snakebite, the effect of the critical hit has increased the potency of the poison. Abaddon has been paralyzed! Effect is more potent on the weakened opponent. Paralyzation will last for 3 minutes.
It seemed to work well, as the nerve paralysis poison took effect almost instantly. Quietus walked around in front of Abaddon. ¡°You know, it¡¯s wrong to kill my friends.¡± ¡°They weren¡¯t my friends,¡± said Abaddon. ¡°What¡¯s the problem with killing random people I met?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say it was wrong to kill your friends. Just mine. I was in a really good mood just earlier, and now you¡¯ve ruined it.¡± ¡°Are you just going to talking until I get unparalyzed? I wouldn¡¯t mind that.¡± ¡°No, I was just waiting for my other friends to arrive.¡± At this point, two of Quietus¡¯ zombies grabbed Abaddon¡¯s limp arms, and held them out to the side. The other one covered Abaddon¡¯s eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve never really used this spell on another player. I don¡¯t really want to hear you screaming though¡­ Zombie 3, cover his mouth.¡± Both players learned something in the following exchange. Quietus learned that he could use spectral hand and dark hand with either- or both hands. Abaddon learned that virtual pain was pretty much exactly the same as real pain. Just before Abaddon died, Quietus, for no particular reason, used Soul Bind on him.
You have slain Abaddon! Fame +50 for killing a murderer. Because Abaddon is Soul Bound, his body will not respawn as normal. Instead, he will come back to life wherever his body is. Minimum time until login: 24 hours (96 hours game time). Sadism Rises by 1 point! (+1 SAD)
Quietus stopped to think. This was the first time he had killed someone, so he had complicated emotions to deal with. Well, the first time he had killed someone that he didn¡¯t have a quest for. Except for that one other person. So¡­ the first time he had killed someone he didn¡¯t have a quest for and who had a murderer¡¯s mark. It had been kind of fun. It probably helped that Abaddon was currently Quietus¡¯ least favorite person. After this time of introspection, Quietus looked at his other message windows.
The Forsaken Foreman has been bound! You have learned: Pain Mirror Creates a barrier around the caster. The barrier reflects a small percentage of damage taken. Damage reflected increases with proficiency and mana used to activate. Duration increases with mana used to activate. Mana cost: Varies.
Quietus could see how this ability would be useful. It would still be better to not get hit though.
Quest Completed! Dark Magic Return to Alva for your reward.
Quietus would have been very disappointed if that didn¡¯t count towards his quest. Although, it was not like he actually did any damage to The Forsaken Foreman.
Quest Completed! Cleanse the Mines! The Moaning Mines have been a constant source of trouble to the people of Twinsburg Heights. Even the church couldn¡¯t exorcise the ghosts permanently, and whenever they were slain they would return even more quickly. Thanks to your efforts, however, the ghosts can never return again. The village will be very happy to hear that they can once again use their mines after a generation! Go to the town hall in Twinsburg Heights to collect a reward!
Ah yes, his other quest completed too. Actually¡­ Quietus didn¡¯t remember getting any quest like that. It had just shown up as completed right then. Well, he wouldn¡¯t turn down a reward. Quietus then made note of what the members of the party had dropped. Then, he picked up what they had dropped. The bodies were turning grey and fading away, soon they would transport to the church of Freya to be revived. Quietus then took everything he could from Abaddon, but he didn¡¯t get anything but a robe and some coins. Quietus figured he could sell the robe in town. The loot from the boss wasn¡¯t particularly interesting, at least not without being identified, but Quietus found a bracelet and a sword. Then he noticed something very strange. Floating in the air was a transparent ring. Quietus reached out for it, but his hand passed through it. That just wouldn¡¯t do. Quietus used soul bind on it. Although it didn¡¯t gain and chains, it looked more solid and dropped to the ground. Quietus picked it up. He¡¯d definitely get that identified in the city. For that matter, he should get his dagger identified too. Quietus was just about to leave, when he remembered one last thing. He didn¡¯t have a bag big enough, but since the dungeon appeared to be empty, he wouldn¡¯t have to worry about getting attacked. He tossed Abaddon over his shoulder. One death wasn¡¯t going to be good enough. End Chapter 27 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1291&p=7591#p7591 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1332 Necromancer - Chapter 28 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 28 Angela was in a bad mood the next day. Mortimer thought he understood, because although he had never been killed by party members, he knew dying to a player wasn¡¯t fun. Of course, one reason Mortimer had never been killed by party members is that he had never been in a party with someone who was a player killer. In fact, he just hadn¡¯t been in a party. Mortimer avoided Angela for the rest of the day. She seemed to be doing perfectly fine brooding on her own. In class, Mortimer just actually paid attention to the teacher, and at lunchtime he made himself scarce. Finally, when they were at home, Angela suddenly cried out, ¡°I¡¯ve got it!¡± Mortimer figured he was supposed to ask, so he did, ¡°Got what?¡± ¡°The premise for my guild! Now I just have to gather some more people¡­ and get the fee for creating a guild.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great,¡± said Mortimer. He figured she could use some encouragement. ¡°You¡¯ll join right?¡± ¡°...Sure.¡± ¡°Good, good. I have some planning to do. I¡¯ll see you later!¡± Mortimer was happy that she was out of her bad mood, but he wasn¡¯t exactly sure why. For some reason, he got a bad feeling. -------------------------- Mortimer spent more time training with Master Valarao. It was intense, painful, and technically deadly, but he felt that he learned some. He wasn¡¯t really sure if he really had, but he would try some things out in Royal Road, to see if he could really do them. Even though Master Valarao was apparently at the same physical level as him here, Mortimer couldn¡¯t keep up with his movements, and his attacks were full of power. Mortimer was glad to have someone strong to learn from, although he almost wished Master Valarao were a little bit weaker so he could feel he had a chance of even scratching him. -------------------------- Quietus logged on well before Angelo and the rest would be able to log back on. He had some things he needed to do beforehand. First, he went to get things identified. Of the things the boss dropped, there was only one thing immediately useful to him. Interestingly enough, he had trouble getting it identified. Not because it was hard to identify, but because he couldn¡¯t get it out of his bag. This was the floating translucent ring, and he couldn¡¯t touch it. He had to use soul bind on it again, since it appeared to have worn off. Once identified, it had some interesting properties.
Spirit ring Durability: N/A This ring has no physical form. It is full of the lingering memories of The Angry Foreman and his workers. He and his men were killed when the mine collapsed and trapped them inside. Now, they are trapped in this ring. Equip: +10% damage (and pain) to those who have injured the wearer of the ring, or their friends. Effect stacks for each member affected. +40 Sadism Special: Cannot be equipped, unless manifested into physical form Requirements: Must have the Sadism stat.
This ring seemed like it would be pretty useful¡­ although it seemed likely he would have to use Soul Bind to activate it. As he was about to leave, he remembered one more thing. His dagger. After it was finally identified, he looked at its stats.
Sacrificial Dagger of the Apprentice Durability: 20/100 Damage: 45-64 Rumors have it that this dagger was given to the apprentice of a powerful necromancer. However, the apprentice died before gaining enough power to be as strong as his master. This dagger contains some of his lingering magic. It allows the weapon to repair its own durability when soaked in blood. It can also increase in strength when bathed in the blood of strong enemies. Special: Causes bleeding damage with every hit, based on the damage dealt.
Quietus now understood why his dagger had still been useful even as he increased in level. More so, he understood why it had not needed repairs before. It did now, however, since he had mostly been fighting ghosts. A dagger that got stronger would always be useful¡­ as long as he used it. Plus, the bleeding damage worked well with his sadism stat. Next Quietus went to the town hall. He went up to a person who looked like a receptionist. ¡°Hello, I¡¯ve cleared the Moaning Mines. I¡¯m here to collect my reward.¡± ¡°Ha! That¡¯s a good one. What did you do, kill everything once? It¡¯ll never be clear. What are you actually here for?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve cleared it. The ghosts won¡¯t be coming back.¡± The receptionist looked at him. ¡°Seriously? That¡¯s¡­ but you don¡¯t seem to be lying. Let me send you to the mayor. He¡¯ll need to know.¡± In the mayor¡¯s office, Quietus was also met by some skepticism. ¡°Many people have claimed to clear the mine before, only to have the ghosts return the next day. Why should you be any different?¡± Quietus thought about this. He assumed he was obviously different because he¡¯d gotten a quest saying he cleared the mines. ¡°What would prove to you that the ghosts are gone for good?¡± ¡°The ghosts had some unsolved lingering anguish. They could not be set free until their hatred was quenched. Tell me, what held them to this world?¡± Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Quietus shifted a bit awkwardly. Technically, the ghosts still hadn¡¯t been set free. ¡°Well, they were afraid of being trapped in the mine collapse. They couldn¡¯t fight it, so they couldn¡¯t be at peace.¡± ¡°Oh? Nobody else had heard about the mine collapse. It just so happens that I do believe you, though, because the mine has been clear and stayed that way. We received reports that it appeared to be clear three days ago.¡± ¡°Yes, that about the time that I finished.¡± ¡°Hmm, good. We do actually have a reward prepared.¡± He pulled a sheet of paper out of his desk. ¡°It¡¯s not worth much now, but once we get the mines up and running again, with better safety precautions, it should be worth quite a bit.¡±
You have completed a quest! Level up! Fame +100 Public Service in Twinsburg Heights is now 1st
Quietus took the piece of paper.
Partial Stake in the Twinsburg Heights Mines 5% of the proceeds from the Twinsburg Heights Mines shall go to the owner of this stake. It is possible to set up a deposit of funds into an account so that the stakeholder need not collect the proceeds in person.
¡°Thank you very much.¡± ¡°No, thank you. Our best source of prosperity has been regained, so our city can now grow again. Perhaps we will even be able to fill up all the empty houses we have.¡± Quietus hadn¡¯t noticed a lack of people¡­ but he also hadn¡¯t noticed an abundance. The places he had visited, the Assassin¡¯s guild and the morgue, seemed prosperous enough, but they weren¡¯t really a good judge of the overall state of the city. -------------------------- Quietus was waiting. He could be pretty patient if he needed to. This time, he was waiting in a tree. Then, he heard someone talk. ¡°What? Where am I?¡± Quietus had been disappointed that he couldn¡¯t restrain Abaddon during his death. Still, Abaddon shouldn¡¯t be trouble for Quietus if he played his cards right. This time, he summoned two spectral hands on either side of Abaddon. They took turns firing at him, and it was disorienting enough after just logging in that he wasn¡¯t prepared for it. When he was just below half health, Quietus went in and fought him using his dagger and some of Master Valarao¡¯s techniques. Although he had to dodge some fireballs, Quietus still managed to break Abaddon¡¯s wrist with his left hand, and stab him with the right. Then he disabled Abaddon¡¯s limbs one by one, until he couldn¡¯t move around or cast spells properly. Quietus would have probably done some more, but Abaddon bled to death fairly quickly after that. Not before being Soul Bound again, of course. Quietus was okay with that, because he had something else he had to do. Of course, not before he looted Abaddon again. This time he got a ring with 5% mana regeneration increase. Not bad. He would use that. He sent a message. ¡°Hey, meet me in the town square. I found some stuff you can have.¡± -------------------------- Quietus dumped all of his loot into Angelo¡¯s arms. ¡°I found this stuff and I don¡¯t like talking to people and selling stuff. Some of it looked like you might be able to use it. So, take it. Also,¡± he pulled out the paper he had received earlier, ¡°I do kind of want this, but you should take it to help your guild.¡± ¡°You¡¯re joining the guild, too, you know.¡± Angelo looked at the paper. ¡°Err¡­¡± ¡°The mines are clear so they¡¯re going to start mining again.¡± ¡°Oh! Thanks, this is probably worth a lot. I¡¯m not going to ask if you¡¯re sure you want to give it to me, because then you might change your mind.¡± ¡°Good choice.¡± ¡°So¡­ where¡¯d you find all this other stuff? Some of it looks¡­ familiar.¡± ¡°I found all of that on the ground.¡± ¡°On something¡­ or someone¡­ you killed?¡± ¡°Nope, it was all just lying there.¡± Quietus could say that, because Abaddon hadn¡¯t managed to pick up any of the items Angelo and the others had dropped. Technically he hadn¡¯t killed The Forsaken Foreman either. Abaddon¡¯s stuff he had kept- just a robe he wasn¡¯t sure if he would ever use, and the ring he had just gotten. ¡°Interesting¡­ I didn¡¯t tell you what happened, but my party and I were killed by the magician who had been in our group. I think some of this stuff was ours.¡± ¡°Well, maybe he didn¡¯t want it. Some people are crazy.¡± ¡°... Right. I somehow doubt he didn¡¯t want it though.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯ve gotta go turn in a quest I have. I¡¯ll see you later, cousin.¡± ¡°Bye! Thanks for the pile of stuff!¡± Quietus then left the conversation that had been becoming more awkward behind. He still had his actual quest to turn in¡­ and he needed to buy a big bag. Maybe he should visit the guild again... End Chapter 28 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1303&p=7688#p7688 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1338 Necromancer - Chapter 29 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 29 Quietus finally went to turn in the quest he had come to Twinsburg Heights for. He went to the morgue to see Alva. ¡°I¡¯m done.¡± Alva turned to look at him. ¡°You certainly are. I¡¯ve already heard news of how all the ghosts are gone from the Moaning Mines. Well, I guess they¡¯re just ¡°the mines¡± now.¡±
You have completed a quest! Level up! Level up!
Two levels, not too bad for a quest where he also learned four new spells. ¡°Can you direct me to more people who can teach me?¡± ¡°Well, most things you can learn on your own now. There are some people around who can teach you some more things, but you¡¯ll have to find them on your own. They¡¯re very secretive, most of the time.¡± ¡°Well, thank you for teaching me.¡± Quietus turned to leave ¡°You¡¯re welcome. Say¡­ before you go, I noticed you¡¯re using that dagger still.¡± ¡°Of course, it¡¯s a good dagger.¡± ¡°No doubt¡­ do you know its origin?¡± Quietus thought about it for a minute. ¡°I heard it belonged to the apprentice of a powerful necromancer. Not much else.¡± ¡°What do you know about necromancers?¡± ¡°They make zombies?¡± Alva laughed at his response. ¡°Well, you¡¯re not entirely wrong. However, if that were true, even you would be a necromancer. Actually, Necromancers study magic dealing with death. This involves things like creating undead, the specialty of Blood Necromancers. Blood Necromancers also learn to use magic to increase the strength of their undead. Then, there are Spirit Necromancers, who specialize in ghosts. They often create undead to use as vessels for spirits they control, but are not as specialized in that as Blood Necromancers.. A Mind Necromancer specializes in dark magic and curses, although nothing prevents them from being proficient at the creation of undead. As a warlock, you are not too different from a necromancer, although they are more likely to employ a staff to bolster their magical power than a dagger. In fact, Necromancers can come from any type of magical background.¡± ¡°So, was the necromancer who had this dagger a warlock?¡± ¡°No, actually. The dagger was meant to be used for sacrifices. Although it generally grows stronger in terms of physical use, it can be attuned to increase magical power instead.¡± ¡°Interesting. Who would know how to do such a thing?¡± ¡°The necromancers who live on the Plains of Despair may know. Some of them have left the Plains of Despair, as well, but I do not know where they have gone.¡±
You have received a quest! Attune the Sacrificial Dagger. Seek out the necromancers who lived on the Plains of Despair to teach you how to attune the Sacrificial Dagger of the Apprentice. The Plains of Despair are full of dangerous monsters, and may contain undead remaining behind after the defeat of Bar-Khan. Difficulty: B
¡°I¡¯ll seek them out.¡± It would still be quite some levels before he could do a B ranked quest. However, it would give him something to work towards in the future.
Quest accepted.
¡°I wish you well, Quietus.¡± -------------------------- During the next few weeks, Mortimer was constantly busy. Besides training with Master Valrao and playing Royal Road, he also studied for, and took, his finals. He ended up in a very odd sleep schedule during this time. This was because of what was going on in Royal Road. -------------------------- In Royal Road, Quietus spent a lot of time working on his level and skills. He had no immediate quest to work towards. What really caused his sleep schedule to go off of what was normal was Abaddon. Quietus hadn¡¯t forgiven him for killing his cousin, and Ruby. Maratis too, technically, but that was somewhat of an afterthought in the not forgiving. Abaddon was no longer marked as a murderer after being killed. To Quietus, this meant that he had to go around in disguise more. Quietus killed Abaddon in various ways. He tried poison, but it was really hard to tell exactly how effective it was. All of his data was skewed by the bleeding damage. He sometimes killed him with Backstab, at least if he was in a hurry. After a few deaths, Abaddon started logging in at odd times, and less frequently. This is what caused Quietus to keep a strange sleep schedule. He would sleep whenever it was convenient between times when Abaddon could log on. Unfortunately for Abaddon, he was never able to log on while Quietus was in finals, not that he could have known they were happening. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. After about a week in the real world, Quietus started seeing a lot of people with red birds on their armor or clothes. At first, Quietus thought nothing of it. Of course, this lasted only a few minutes, as the warrior and archer he saw attacked him. He wasn¡¯t ready for something like that, and was killed. This happened shortly after he had killed Abaddon. This meant that he could still log on before him. He also learned something important. He could sense the location of Abaddon¡¯s body when it was Soul Bound. Visually, it was like a pale line connecting the two of them. This ability allowed Quietus to find where the two people with the red bird had taken Abaddon¡¯s body. With the element of surprise on Quietus¡¯ side, the archer died quickly. The warrior didn¡¯t notice before he too was inflicted with a heavy dose of pain, caused by a dagger in his back. He survived this, but Quietus discovered that armor doesn¡¯t do much to prevent dislocated shoulders, at least if performed properly. Quietus clashed quite a lot with these people who had red birds. He now spent all his time sneaking about. Sometimes, he got the drop on the enemy and took them out. Once or twice he fell into a trap, attacking someone who was seemingly alone but being attacked by others. Sometimes he misjudged the strength of his enemies. However, he still had a pretty good record of killing versus dying. He also had the advantage of coming back to life more quickly¡­ and not having a predictable respawn location. He was fortunate to drop no items he considered important. Well, one time he had lost some good boots he picked up, but he got those back the next day. Plus interest. After a while, though, Quietus was starting to get tired of these people. They had started traveling in larger and larger groups, so he mostly had to avoid them now. Quietus had learned something important, though, because he was now a much better judge of players levels. It basically ended up with shinier equipment equalled higher level. This wasn¡¯t the limit of his skills there, but that was the best summary. Then, about a week into summer, Angelo messaged Quietus. ¡°I finished putting together the guild! I found a lot of people who wanted to join. You need to join too.¡±
You have received a guild invitation.
You have joined The Children of Light!
Angelo continued talking about the guild. ¡°I got the idea for the guild after we were killed by that stupid wizard. We¡¯re an anti-pk guild. We only kill those who have murderer¡¯s marks. Well, unless they have histories of being a player killer. Speaking of which, we¡¯re at war with a guild called The Crimson Raven. So if you see anyone with a red bird on their uniform, leave a message in the guild chat. Maybe some people will be nearby to help take them out.¡± Quietus almost wanted to quit the guild immediately. Not that he had anything against killing players. He obviously had nothing against killing pkers either. It was just that he completely technically was a player killer. It had mostly been for quests though, so he didn¡¯t feel bad about killing people he didn¡¯t know for unknown reasons. Also, a couple people that annoyed him. He couldn¡¯t quit the guild though. Not without making his cousin upset. Instead, he decided he would just stay on the fringe. Also, although there wasn¡¯t anything technically wrong with being a warlock, he would just pretend he was a rogue. It seemed simpler. Besides, he could do most of the stuff they did anyway. Not that he planned to group with members of the guild very often. ¡°Oh, one more thing. We¡¯ve discovered they have a base. It¡¯s nothing too impressive, but we¡¯re planning to attack it next week. I¡¯d appreciate you coming to that, although you don¡¯t have to.¡± Quietus would definitely be there. Although, he planned to check it out first. Maybe he could help weaken their defenses before the real battles would start. End Chapter 29 [Shameless plug] Note: Hey, if you¡¯re interested in fantasy novels, I suggest checking out this one written by someone I know :) [/Shameless plug] Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1332&p=7845#p7845 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1356 Necromancer - Chapter 30 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 30 Quietus watched the fortress of the Crimson Raven from a nearby tree. He felt it was severely lacking in fortress features. It was more like a decently sized stone building. Not much bigger than his house, although a bit taller and less spread out. The thing that made it more like a building than a fort? Windows. Sure, they were on the second floor. Quietus did have to admit they weren¡¯t very big. He did, however, note that they were not in fact arrow slits. Just small windows. Around the fortress was a nice forest. The only place he¡¯d been able to find any traps was on the road. He did notice that they at least hadn¡¯t let the trees grow right up to the edge of their nice fort. No moat though. Sure, there were no convenient rivers, but they should have been able to get something like that somehow. He couldn¡¯t tell from here, but he bet they wouldn¡¯t have a real portcullis or anything. Quietus was now waiting. He didn¡¯t see anyone on the walls, but that didn¡¯t mean they weren¡¯t there. He just assumed it meant that he couldn¡¯t see them. So he was waiting. Preferably, people would start walking out into the forest by themselves. He wouldn¡¯t mind that. Realistically, he was waiting for night. He was confident that he could sneak in at night time. During the day, he would just stand out in the field if anyone half-competent was watching. Instead, he waited in his tree. Abaddon hadn¡¯t logged in recently. Quietus had been getting bored of him anyway. The level gap had been getting larger, and Abaddon had been mostly divested of his equipment. Quietus had left him in a tree deeper in the forest. He hoped that when he woke up, he would unbalance himself from his precarious position and fall to his death. It would be almost funny, and that was all of his usefulness that Quietus could think of now. He wasn¡¯t even any good as a zombie. Obviously the guy hadn¡¯t put even a single point in any physical stats. In fact, Quietus was pretty sure he had neglected them enough for his strength and agility to drop. He¡¯d sent his Abaddon-zombie against a rabbit, and it had been a close fight. The zombie lost though. It was only close because he had health that far exceeded his other physical stats. Basically, the minimum amount for a level 30 or so character. -------------------------- Jim had always liked guard duty. He wasn¡¯t a high ranking guild member, but that was okay with him. He enjoyed going out with some of his guildmates to kill other players, but there was always risk involved in that. Here on guard duty, he was paid to just walk around. Boring? Sure, but it also allowed for him to get decent equipment to use. He couldn¡¯t believe people would do something like hit a scarecrow for the same amount of time as a shift of guard duty to get just one stat point. Today¡¯s shift was especially uneventful. Lots of the guild members were out, so he didn¡¯t even have anyone to visit him. He just walked around the wall and stared at the moon and the forest. He didn¡¯t even really feel the knife as it stabbed into his back. He just got a message.
You have died.
-------------------------- Quietus was almost ashamed to be scouting this place out. He had crossed the field, using his dark cloak of course, but he didn¡¯t think anyone even glanced in his direction. He didn¡¯t see anyone at all, actually. He had considered going in the front doors¡­ but they were probably locked. He snuck around to look at them, and they really didn¡¯t have a portcullis. Disappointing. It was time to take a look at the walls. He looked at the walls. It was basically a standard castle. Layered stones. Some of them jutting out at random places. Basically, a castle made by idiots. Quietus started to climb. While it was relatively simple, he knew it couldn¡¯t be done by anyone without the climb skill, or those in heavy armor. Maybe the uneven walls weren¡¯t such a big deal. They did, however, allow a warlock to sneak up onto the walls. He peeked into a window, but he couldn¡¯t see inside well without sticking his head into plain view of anyone who might be inside. He decided to just finish his climb. It wasn¡¯t exactly easy, but it was significantly less stressful than hanging down from a beam while golems walked beneath you. He probably wouldn¡¯t even die if he fell from this height. Even if he did, he wasn¡¯t going to fail a one time quest. As he got near the roof, he heard someone walking along. Noisily. If he didn¡¯t know better, he would have assumed they were doing it on purpose. After the footsteps had gone past, he climbed up behind the clunky guard. Decently heavy armor. However, it was heavier in the front. Right where it didn¡¯t need to be. Quietus was glad he¡¯d been gaining proficiency in his style. Backstab was now much cheaper. Not cheap, still, but more reasonable. Perforate artery was still out of the question though. He really wanted to try it. The guard went down easily. One stab, and his health bar dropped to nothing. It didn¡¯t even pretend to not be instant death. No need for bleed damage or follow up attacks¡­ or the now wasted poison. Still, better wasted poison than no poison. Quietus now had a pair of gauntlets. He hadn¡¯t used Soul Bind, so the body of the guard would disappear. He considered using him as a scout, but decided against it. Although he could take over the fine movements of one zombie, that would, at best, make him about as stealthy as a normal person. Plus, it was harder to control someone else than his own body, especially since he had more agility than most he controlled. He descended the roof through the door. It was unlocked. Why would you lock your guard on the roof anyway? It was actually the logical choice. Wrong though. Inside, Quietus figured out why it didn¡¯t feel like a real castle. It was a guild hall. Of course it was, but this was the kind of guild hall that was for relaxation. Cushy chairs. Fancy rugs. Alchemists labs. Quietus took a moment to procure some supplies from there. It wasn¡¯t stealing, since they had tried to kill him. Had killed him. Plus, their guilds were at war. So he was just looting the spoils of war. Well, pre-looting. Unfortunately, they didn¡¯t keep any finished potions around the lab. Maybe they weren¡¯t entirely stupid. Quietus found a large number of unnecessary bedrooms. He even found someone taking a nap in one. Well, they had been taking a nap anyway. Fortunately, the hinges were well oiled, and the carpet was soft. Quietus got a ring, and more infamy. Quietus was disappointed. No traps. This place was ridiculous. Where were the other guards? Oh, there was one. Not any better than the one on the roof though. What was Quietus even going to do with a halberd? He pulled the body into a bedroom. Might as well be safe while it took its time to disappear. On the next floor down, he found a kitchen. He took the time to get a bite to eat. Then he decided to poison everything else. He had some spare herbs, after all. He soon found small groups of people. However, they were sitting around talking, and alert. Quietus decided to ignore them. He might come back later, but he was currently exploring. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. He made his way down two more floors, to the basement. One way led to a dungeon- empty, and it looked as if it was only there for the sake of feeling, rather than use. This guild probably just killed people. The other direction led to a dead end. Well, pretty much. There were two guards in front of a vault door. Quietus would definitely be back. He started up the stairs, and ran into someone. All he could see was a shiny golden breastplate with a red bird on it. He looked up and smiled casually. He tried to pretend he didn¡¯t have a murderer¡¯s mark and his name above his head. ¡°Quietus huh¡­ We don¡¯t have one of those.¡± Quietus was almost proud that the fight lasted a whole thirty seconds. His quick use of backslide to dodge the first attack helped with that. It also left him on the ground. Stairs weren¡¯t good for quick, backward movement. Quietus tried some attacks, but he didn¡¯t have enough range to use most of his magic¡­ and the armor on this guy was too thick. He couldn¡¯t pierce it enough. What¡¯s more, the man was strong enough that Quietus couldn¡¯t properly do any of his other techniques, such as breaking a wrist or dislocating a shoulder or two. After he was backed down the hallway, he fell to one good slash from this fancy warrior, as well as some attacks from behind.
You have died. You cannot log back in for 22:30 (90 hours in Royal Road time.)
Cool. He¡¯d increased his skill mastery for The Power to Accept death. -------------------------- When Quietus got back into the game, he was in a church in an unfamiliar city. He went outside, and somehow felt an easing of tension. The town wouldn¡¯t be too far from the fortress. Quietus checked his inventory for what he¡¯d lost. Nothing significant. All the loot he¡¯d picked up in the fortress, but that wasn¡¯t a big deal. One of Abaddon¡¯s other rings, with +5 int. He¡¯d get it back, and if not, it hardly mattered. He decided to head back to the fortress for some more scouting. -------------------------- The group of Crimson Raven enforcers followed a rogue out of the church. They confirmed it was the right one from the description they had received, even though he was much earlier than expected. Maybe they had gotten the time of death wrong. Either way, The Crimson Raven couldn¡¯t allow anyone to sneak into their guild hall and get away with it. To them, that meant getting away without losing even more gear. Preferably something he hadn¡¯t stolen from their guild members. They were hoping he would head out of town quickly, and they got their wish. He walked along the street, oblivious to them. After a little while, he turned down a side street, after looking at the blacksmith sign. Probably going to repair his gear. They wouldn¡¯t mind killing him in the city, as long as it was in a back alley like that. Interestingly enough, the rogue actually went past the blacksmith shop, deeper into the back alleys. They began to be suspicious. The warrior in the group went out ahead, with the cleric and wizard hanging back from the alley so that they wouldn¡¯t be the first hit. The cleric was slightly in front of the wizard, so that he was close enough to heal the warrior. If he¡¯d had keen senses, he may have noticed a slight grunt from the wizard. The cleric did, however, notice when a zombie started mauling him. Well, mauling may not have been the best word. Heavily leaning on might have been more appropriate, based on the terrible physical stats and lack of dangerous weapons the wizard possessed. He still screamed in surprise. The warrior turned turned to look, but the cleric was actually doing just fine at beating up the undead wizard. It wouldn¡¯t take long. He did hear the warrior become engaged in battle, however. He needed to finish the battle quickly. The cleric cast a nice holy spell, and the zombie was soon turned to dust. He turned back to face the warrior. He would need to heal him once the real fight started. Instead of a warrior, all he found was an armored zombie. This would be a bigger problem to take care of. The cleric was glad that the warriors stats had apparently been capped at a lower value. It must not be a very good necromancer. He did have trouble fighting the zombie, but his holy spells worked well enough. He was a little apprehensive about facing the rogue alone. Actually, he wasn¡¯t entirely sure where the zombies came from. So quickly too. Furthermore, how had the others died? Ah, this was how. Dagger in the back. Curse his luck. He¡¯d thought there was only the rogue, but obviously he¡¯d gotten at least one other rogue and some kind of necromancer on his side. With the element of surprise, and probably numbers on their side, it was no wonder he died. -------------------------- Quietus was surprised. These people were idiots. Not that they had bad party formation, but they weren¡¯t subtle. They also didn¡¯t seem to think that he could possibly be ¡°up¡±. All he¡¯d had to do was quickly scramble up onto the low roofs around, and he was invisible to their eyes. He¡¯d had a close call with the wizard, but fortunately he¡¯d caught him as he fell. Quietus was also glad that his spells didn¡¯t actually need to be said loudly. That allowed the group to be distracted back in the other direction, while he circled around to what was now behind the warrior. He didn¡¯t go down right away, but a good backstab, copious bleeding damage, and some decent poison severely hampered him. Quietus had to cross blades with him for a little bit, and took the worst part of that exchange. Well, the part after the backstab anyway. Even grazes from the warrior¡¯s sword took large chunks off of his health. Not large enough, however. The cleric was easy. Quietus didn¡¯t really need to wait until he killed the warrior¡¯s zombie, but he wanted a short break to digest a potion and recover some mana. Fortunately, the mana process was rather quick, because his Sadism skill was in full swing. Bleeding damage then poisons and killing people certainly helped. Apparently, making zombies also counted, although they barely even made up for their own cost, and not immediately. Still, the cleric was almost as squishy as the wizard. Well, about as squishy as Quietus would have been with a bit less armor. Now it was time to get back on the road. After loot, of course. There was still the matter of those traps on the main road¡­ When the real guild battle took place, he felt it would be convenient to not have them there. Plus, maybe he could find some other less than stellarly powerful members of The Crimson Raven out on a walk. End Chapter 30 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1338&p=7909#p7909 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1385 Necromancer - Chapter 31 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 31 The guild headquarters of The Crimson Raven was slowly becoming very busy. Guild members were slowly trickling in from the surrounding area. Although there had been some conflicts with The Children of Light, once the guild members had started traveling in larger groups, there were less problems. Of course, there was still the matter of the rogue that had broken into their guild hall. That, and their traps had started disappearing. It was unlikely that it was a coincidence. The leader of the guild was a warrior in golden armor, Gilgamesh. He was not a happy man. ¡°I had to kill him myself after he snuck in here. Then, you three failed to kill a single rogue?¡± ¡°Actually, he was probably an assassin,¡± spoke up the wizard. ¡°I don¡¯t care! How did the three of you lose to one person, who, might I remind you, was killed in one hit by me?¡± The angry warrior neglected the small contributions his vault guards had made. ¡°We¡¯re pretty sure he had back up. Probably another assassin, and a necromancer.¡± ¡°A necromancer? If they had anyone high enough level to be a necromancer, they would have just attacked already. Plus, that wouldn¡¯t have been a problem if you guys didn¡¯t let yourself get killed.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s not like any of our scouts have been able to find him.¡± ¡°Yes, I am aware of that. I feel like I have to do everything myself in this guild. Why do I even bother?¡± The trio felt this was an unwise question to answer, so they just stood there silently. ¡°Worthless! All of you! Just get out of here and try not to mess up anymore.¡± The small group was happy to take the chance to leave. The warrior stood and brooded. He could only hope that all of the guild members showed up in time. This new guild was starting to get on his nerves. How dare an upstart, self-righteous guild pick a fight with The Crimson Ravens? With his guild? He would teach them a lesson, even if he had to do all the fighting himself. Of course, that didn¡¯t mean he planned to charge into battle alone. Better to let some of these worthless players wear down the enemy some first. -------------------------- The sound of pickaxes rang throughout the mine. It was a good sound, that of men hard at work. The foreman smiled. Then, there was a rumbling sound. A cave in. This had happened before, but they would deal with it. They set about clearing away the rubble. Then, another, bigger collapse. Any time the miners made progress, the situation got worse. They were out of water and food. Not that they had brought much with them to begin with, since they walked from the town every day. The last light had gone out recently, and all of them were trapped in the dark. So they waited. For rescue. The sound of diggers. The smell of fresh air. A taste of water. The sight of a single beam of light. The touch of their families. They waited. Until there was nothing. -------------------------- Mortimer thought about his dream. It was weird. He pretty much understood it, but that didn¡¯t make it less weird. In fact, the weirdest part was when it had happened. He¡¯d tried to ignore it, the first time. Then, it came back. Every time after the Moaning Mines. Every time when he died in Royal Road, he saw the dream. The first time, he had been very confused, to wake up in his capsule after that. Normally, he would expect to be aware immediately after death, instead of entering a dream. Perhaps others would have been disturbed by this dream of death. In it, he was the foreman, and he felt the suffering of both body and mind as he died. Mortimer was not disturbed by it. He was annoyed, yes. Confused at why it was happening. He wasn¡¯t disturbed, though, because that would imply that he cared. After he came out of the dream, he didn¡¯t feel for the miners. He didn¡¯t really know them. The pain felt hadn¡¯t really been his. They had never even really been alive. So, he didn¡¯t care. He didn¡¯t care about the pain and suffering because it wasn¡¯t his or that of someone he knew. So he was annoyed. Annoyed that Royal Road was trying to make him feel something he didn¡¯t. Annoyed that it wasted his time. Annoyed that he didn¡¯t know what to do about it. Thus, he did nothing. -------------------------- The Children of Light were marching. Their ranks had grown quickly. Obviously quite a few players had experienced trouble with PKers. The large influx of players turned The Children of Light into a somewhat odd guild where a large number of the players were higher level than the guild leader. Level was of course an advantage for a guild leader. It allowed them to take part in more showy parts of combat and have a more critical role in the best dungeon raids. Level wasn¡¯t a requirement for a guild leader though, just leadership and sometimes organizational skills. This, at least, Angelo had along with a passion against Player Killers. The guild had been formed of a variety of jobs and classes. Nobody was refused entrance, as long as their reputation checked out. Everyone would be found a job. Not that Angelo particularly knew what good the sculptor and painter who had joined would do, but a place would be found for them. Just not in battle, unless they wanted to participate. They politely, and reasonably, declined to fight. The only real missing element were stealth classes. Although there were some rangers with vision skills, and even a few rogues, none specialized in stealth. They were still good enough to act as scouts though. Plus, Angelo preferred this to be a straightforward battle. It was more honorable. Still, it would be practical to have assassins to take out enemy wizards or some such. Killing them, even through stealth, was reasonable because they had chosen to walk their path. Not that it mattered, since they didn¡¯t have any. Except Quietus. Angelo wasn¡¯t sure where he was, but he said he was ¡°scouting¡±. Honestly, Quietus may not even have been good at stealth. Just having one incident where he managed to slip away didn¡¯t say much, and he didn¡¯t really talk about the specifics of what he did. Still, if he said he was scouting, he was. At first, Angelo had been doubtful that he would actually participate at all, but Quietus had been sending in information that had proved to be quite useful. Somehow he¡¯d even gotten a map of the keep. He hadn¡¯t been able to deliver it in game, but he drew it outside. He gave assurance that it was accurate, even if his drawing wasn¡¯t very pretty. Perhaps more interestingly, he had been reporting a decrease in the amount of traps on the road. The rest of the guild stayed away from the road for the most part, so they had no other information there. Still, he wouldn¡¯t knowingly report wrong information. Then, just as the guild was otherwise finishing up preparations to go on the attack, Quietus sent a final report. ¡°Traps are gone, except for a few along the road in sight of the keep.¡± ¡°Really? That¡¯s excellent. Are you going to join back up with the main group?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m going to try some stuff to distract them during the attack. I¡¯ll let you know how it goes once it happens.¡± ¡°Alright, good luck cousin. Don¡¯t die.¡± There was no response. The Children of Light were as ready as they were going to get to go on the offensive. Everyone was organized and ready for battle. Since there was no point in wasting any time, Angelo gave the command. ¡°We march!¡± Despite the assurances of minimal traps, scouts went out ahead of the group to check for them. All of the others remained in their groups, with melee classes and most of the healers in front, and the rest of the healers in the back with the ranged classes. Angelo was positioned somewhere in the middle. Not close enough to be the first to die, but close enough to give orders if they were necessary. Surprisingly, the scouts came back with the news that there really were no traps for most of the road. They hadn¡¯t been able to get close enough to check the very end, since The Crimson Raven appeared to be arrayed on the field between the edge of the forest and the keep. Although The Crimson Raven wasn¡¯t particularly known for their great tactics, they really should have been able to do better than that. Maybe it was some kind of ploy. Still, they were committed to the attack. It would happen, so they might as well get on with it. As expected, they did run into some traps at the very end of the road, but nothing deadly. The warriors who triggered them weren¡¯t in any great deal of risk, and were quickly healed. The enemy formation now faced them from nearby. If such a mess could really be called a formation. Some of their casters were in the front lines. Shortly, the ranged attackers on either side exchanged fire. An advantage of the enemy casters being in front soon was obvious- they had less range to cover. The disadvantage was soon apparent as well. They were some of the first to die under the barrage of arrows, fireballs, and lightning bolts from The Children of Light. It wasn¡¯t enough to kill all of them, but then the front lines charged, and the rangers and casters in the front of The Crimson Ravens messed up their movement. Soon, both sides were engaged in pitched battle. The battle seemed to be going in favor of The Children of Light, but Angela was watching for something important. The leader of The Crimson Ravens was supposed to be a large man in golden armor. He was apparently a very powerful warrior, much higher level than anyone else in the guild. He had good equipment as well. However, he was nowhere to be seen. The better organized force of The Children of Light eventually pushed their way to the front of the fort, the defenders outside either scattered or dead. The healthiest warriors opened the strangely unlocked front door, and went inside. -------------------------- Abaddon hadn¡¯t logged on in a while. He was actually rather terrified of getting killed by the assassin again. He¡¯d been having nightmares about it. He always ended up in a strange new place, and he grew weaker while the assassin grew stronger. The nightmare were like that, but worse. They repeated many times. However, Abaddon had logged on today to join in a guild battle. After he had his guildmates go looking for his killer, it was the only way he could try to pay them back- although they had failed to rescue him. He vowed never to log on again. When he¡¯d entered the game, he¡¯d immediately fallen out of a tree. Not enough to kill him, but it was frightening. Then, he¡¯d landed on some spikes. If they¡¯d killed him, he would have accepted that, and probably still quit. Instead, the spikes didn¡¯t kill him. They were really more like small needles. Now, he was lying on his back, half dead. Half dead, and slowly getting worse. He was poisoned, and apparently also paralyzed. He could only wait to die, painfully. He knew he was going to quit Royal Road well before the message of his death appeared for a final time. -------------------------- Inside the keep, Gilgamesh stood in his pretentious golden armor and watched the battle. It wasn¡¯t going well. He figured he would need to enter the battle soon. Too bad his guildmates were worthless. Then, one of them entered the room. ¡°Excuse me sir, I have a report.¡± He handed him a slip of paper. The warrior took it, then ignored it. ¡°What¡¯s that in the trees, sir?¡± the guild member asked. He pointed out the window. The warrior looked over to where the finger was pointing. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°I don¡¯t see anything.¡± ¡°Look closer. Just there.¡± The warrior took off his helmet- it was probably impeding his vision. ¡°I don¡¯t see-¡± but that was as far as he got before he felt a pain in his neck. He looked down and saw a dagger buried there. It didn¡¯t matter much, it was just about ten percent of his health. He looked down at the black haired guild member. No, the assassin. At this point, the assassin mouthed an obscenity. One swing from his sword went clear through the assassin. -------------------------- Quietus was really disappointed perforate artery hadn¡¯t worked better. The stupid warrior¡¯s health didn¡¯t look like it had gone down significantly at all, and most of his mana was gone. All of it would have been, or more, if he hadn¡¯t been using his Snake in the Darkness Style abilities for almost everything he did. Besides spying. He saw the warrior make a movement, and knew he was dead. Then, he was halfway across the room. Just enough mana left for one last backslide. What a lovely ability. Then he turned and ran. No way was he letting that guy hit him. He couldn¡¯t even fight back because his dagger was still in the guy¡¯s neck. Quietus ran down a now-familiar corridor and wondered what he could do. Then, he noticed that he had actually regained a decent amount of mana. Not enough to do anything amazing, but his mana was regenerating much faster than he was used to- even with the potion he had chugged hurriedly. He was moving much faster than the warrior in his heavy armor, so he was able to get to a room where he had stored something. -------------------------- This assassin was quick on his feet. His backward movement had looked like a teleport spell. He was quick at running, too, but would eventually be caught and killed. He¡¯d only managed to do about fifteen percent of the warrior¡¯s health, even with the bleeding and poison damage. Actually, he was wondering about that. It shouldn¡¯t have been this much. Still, Gilgamesh knew he could power through it. He didn¡¯t have any antidotes on hand, but a health potion should counteract the slow drain on his health. Excellent, the assassin had run into that room. Although he had closed the door, he was now trapped inside. The room had no windows to escape out of, so it was effectively a dead end. The golden warrior planned for the dead part to be literal. He kicked open the door, and saw the assassin¡¯s silhouette in the middle of the room. He slashed it with his sword, and felt it hit this time. There, that took care of him. -------------------------- Quietus dropped down behind the warrior. He felt the zombie die in one hit. That was about what he expected, but he was still disappointed. He wasn¡¯t sure how he could survive this battle. Nobody was alive on this floor but himself and the warrior, but that was a small comfort. Most of the bodies wouldn¡¯t be able to do much. Still, he had to try and stall until he could think of something. -------------------------- This little jerk was fast. He would have been a great addition to the guild, if he weren¡¯t on the wrong side. More importantly, that would only be allowed if he hadn¡¯t tried to kill Gilgamesh. Now all that was left for him was a swift death. Or maybe a slow death, to make up for this unending bleeding. It was really painful for some reason. Another zombie went down. The assassin manage to dodge around the warrior. Two more zombies, both at once. These zombies were beginning to look familiar. The other players who had been on the floor. How were they all dead? Sure, they weren¡¯t nearly so good as himself, but they should have at least managed to cry out for help or something before dying. Worthless. More zombies. He was tiring, but it looked like the assassin was tiring faster. He didn¡¯t seem to run out of mana though. Then, the assassin took a wrong turn. He went down a side corridor that led nowhere. It was even more of a dead end than the other rooms. What¡¯s more, it was well lit and narrow. He had nowhere to go, and it was definitely him at end of the room. The warrior charged. Just as his sword was slicing through the assassin¡¯s arm, through it and into his side, he saw a red glow. It probably didn¡¯t matter though. Somehow, the assassin survived. He only had about ten percent of his health left, so all it would take was another swing of the sword or a quick punch to the face. That was all it would take, but the golden warrior couldn¡¯t move. He couldn¡¯t lift his arm. He hadn¡¯t even been hit. Even the assassin was staring at him in shock. Then¡­
You have died!
-------------------------- Quietus had taken a wrong turn. He wasn¡¯t as familiar with this side of the building. As he stood at the end of the corridor, watching a warrior who had miraculously gotten down to one third health charge at him, he was prepared to die. He didn¡¯t want to, because he wanted to win, but he would die. None of his dagger abilities would do any good, even if he¡¯d had his dagger. His spells were likewise useless. He didn¡¯t need to see in the dark, or hide. He wouldn¡¯t have time to use Dark Hand, and it would surely be negligible damage. Likewise, a Dark Arrow or two might have helped, but not enough. There wasn¡¯t anything to make into a zombie. Soul Bind was even more than useless, he didn¡¯t want this guy to stick around. So he was left with¡­ one spell. He hadn¡¯t used it. There weren¡¯t any circumstances where it seemed like a good idea. Except, perhaps, when a warrior was charging down a hallway and you were going to die. Quietus prepared to use all his mana. It was full, somehow. His mana regeneration was currently mind boggling, but he knew most of it came from his Sadism stat. The warrior had been bleeding and poisoned and still had a dagger in his neck. That definitely helped. Quietus felt like there must be something more, besides just his average potions, but it didn¡¯t matter. He focused all his mana and used it on his last spell. Not to increase the duration, because he only had two, probably less, seconds to live. Instead, he put it all towards strength. ¡°Pain Mirror!¡± Well, he didn¡¯t actually shout that. barely even open his mouth because of how afraid he was of dying at this time. It still activated though. The spell cared not about the amount of force behind his voice. Then, a sword was going through his arm. Really though it, just above the elbow. It really hurt. Then, it went into his side, where it stopped. Pretty far in, too. Quietus just sort of stared at the warrior. He¡¯d survived the attack. He looked at the warrior, who was slowly turning grey. Apparently, 90% of Quietus¡¯ health multiplied by whatever his Pain Mirror was capable of doing with all of his mana¡­ was enough.
You have slain Gilgamesh. Because of the player¡¯s long history of murderous action, all of their items will be dropped. Fame +200 You have leveled up! You have leveled up! You have leveled up!
Quietus would have been happy about this, but he was busy fumbling with a health potion to bring his health back over ten percent so he wouldn¡¯t bleed out. Fortunately, since this Gilgamesh guy hadn¡¯t actually used a bleeding attack, that was enough. His arm was still kind of on the floor though. Quietus thought about it for a bit. He really would like his arm to work. He picked it up and put it onto his stump. Obviously, that didn¡¯t help. ¡°Animation!¡± Now Quietus could move his left hand. It was kind of clumsy though. It also still fell off when he let go with his right hand. He wiggled his fingers. Still worked though. Interesting. Quietus searched the fallen warrior for interesting loot. Just a bunch of heavy armor- useless. Coins and potions- not too bad. Giant sword- useless again. His own dagger- back into its sheath. Then, one last shiny, golden thing. Probably just gold-plated though. -------------------------- The warriors of The Children of Light opened the doors to find¡­ nothing. Well, that wasn¡¯t entirely true. There were furnishings, but nobody was on the first floor. Slowly, the rest of the guild moved inside after them. People were sent to search the upper and lower floors. Surprisingly, when Angelo stepped inside, a message came up.
Congratulations! The Children of Light have conquered a structure formally owned by The Crimson Ravens. Because it was taken in a proper siege, the ownership has now transferred to the victors.
It really seemed too easy. Not that plenty of players hadn¡¯t lost their lives, but they had not yet even defeated the guild master. Angelo cautioned the guild, ¡°Be careful when you look around. There may still be guild members around. Especially be on the lookout for the warrior in gold armor, and if you see him come find the rest of us immediately.¡± A short time later, the people exploring the basement came back. ¡°We found the guild vault¡­ on the floor in front of it was this key.¡± One of them held up a large, gold plated key. ¡°Great, we¡¯ll go check that. Most of you should stay here to watch for more enemies.¡± In the basement, the key easily opened the door to the vault. Inside was a nice variety of ill-gotten loot. Swords, spears, armor, and money were piled everywhere. Small piles, since The Crimson Ravens weren¡¯t exactly the largest guild of Player Killers, but still piles. There was a good variety of equipment and other loot in the vault. A keen observer might have noticed that there were no rings, amulets, cloaks, or leather armor. There were a few good daggers though. ¡°Sir!¡± one of the scouts that had gone to check the upper floors was reporting back. ¡°Nobody on the upper floors¡­ however there were small piles of loot, as if some players had died there. Plus, there was a pile of golden armor.¡± He held up the breastplate, emblazoned with a Crimson Raven. ¡°It looks like someone killed him before we got here.¡± Angelo nodded. ¡°Add it to the guild vault there. We¡¯ll distribute things as needed and useful, and of course everyone will get the promised bounties.¡± The system of Royal Road could keep track of what had been accomplished for the guild, such as killing players from enemies in a guild war. This allowed a relatively fair way to reward people for contribution to battle, although obviously kills contributed wasn¡¯t the only factor. Angelo checked the logs that were currently only available to the guildmaster. When looking at a particular profile, kills of enemy players stretched back over the last week, with a larger number during the battle. This included one kill marked Gilgamesh- guildmaster. Angelo smirked. Some distraction. End Chapter 31 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1356&p=7968#p7968 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1397 Necromancer - Chapter 32 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 32 One day, Quietus was walking along a road, minding his own business. No really, he didn¡¯t even have a murderer¡¯s mark. Anyway, he was minding his own business when he passed by someone on the road. He didn¡¯t really say anything to them. Then, he heard the sounds of a sword swinging through the air. He quickly turned to dodge and see who it was. His dodge was mostly ineffective, as he didn¡¯t correctly choose a direction, and was left with half of his health gone. Then he saw a large man with blonde hair. He felt he should recognize him, but nothing clicked in his mind. He drew his dagger and struck back a few times, but he was at a disadvantage. Eventually, he failed to dodge another powerful attack.
You have died!
-------------------------- The sound of pickaxes rang throughout the mine. It was the sound of hard work. One of the workers grunted. If it didn¡¯t pay so well, nobody would come here for this kind of hard labor. Then, there was a rumbling sound. A cave in. Fortunately, nobody was caught directly in any of the falling rubble. This had happened before, and they would have to deal with it. The workers set upon the rubble, attempting to clear a path back outside. Once they had almost finished with the pile of rubble, there was a larger quake and a bigger collapse. This repeated endlessly. For days upon days they labored. Their arms grew tired. The air grew thin. Their stomachs rumbled. The miners had not even tasted a drop of water in some time. Still they labored, but they did not die. They could not die. The last light burnt out. Now, they were trapped in darkness. The miners were too weak to talk, but somehow screams could be heard in the darkness. They sat in the mines, in the dark, cold, hungry, thirsty, and afraid. What was in the dark? There could be nothing there, but it screamed. They could not escape the mines, so they waited. -------------------------- Mortimer woke up with a start. He hit his head on the inside of the capsule. Great, it was that thing again. Sometimes it was hard to tell. Afterwards, however, he could tell it was all a dream¡­ or a vision? Well, since it was from a game, it must really be a cutscene. Lately, he¡¯d been noticing that the perspective of each time changed. First had been the foreman, then he¡¯d been seeing it through the senses of different miners. He felt their connections to each other and their sorrow at the deaths of their friends and companions. He still didn¡¯t care about any of them. Maybe they would go away. Then Mortimer thought about the warrior that had killed him. He seemed familiar somehow. Blonde hair and a big sword¡­ He felt like it should ring a bell, but he just couldn¡¯t think of who it was. Obviously someone higher level than him. The real problem hadn¡¯t been that however. He¡¯d gotten careless, and he was still weak. Somehow, he¡¯d gotten arrogant, and was out of his habit of sneaking moving cautiously everywhere he went. He was obviously not good enough at fighting yet as well. The warrior hadn¡¯t been much faster than him, and that had been owing to his high level. He hadn¡¯t seemed particularly skilled though, so Mortimer knew Master Valarao could have beaten him even with the disadvantage in speed. He supposed he needed to train harder. Well, since he was not playing Royal Road, he figured he might as well do some more exercises. He had a set of exercises and practice forms prescribed by Master Valarao. Since he couldn¡¯t practice the proper moves for real, they were designed to keep his body in the correct condition to perform the required actions. Mortimer looked at his body in the mirror while he was changing into exercise clothes. He was still as pale as he had been before. He didn¡¯t exactly go outside any more than he had used to. He was, however, noticing a significant increase in muscle definition. He was still very skinny though. He had been hoping that all the exercise he¡¯d been getting would make him a bit bulkier. Then he wondered why he cared at all about how he looked. -------------------------- Out in the hallway Angela ran into Mortimer. Not literally this time, since they were both paying attention. She was still rather annoyed that he wouldn¡¯t spar with her anymore, but grudgingly accepted it as the instructions were from Master Valarao. She didn¡¯t want to interfere with his training. She¡¯d heard from Mortimer¡¯s parents that he¡¯d actually chosen to learn from Master Valarao. Well, not him specifically, but his style. It was one of the few times he¡¯d actually chosen to do something significant, and he was actually sticking with it. He was still just as skinny as he¡¯d always been, but he somehow felt different. ¡°I thought you were playing Royal Road, Mortimer.¡± ¡°Yeah, I died though.¡± ¡°Seriously how many times have you died?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure¡­ a few, I guess.¡± ¡°I think you¡¯ve died at least ten times since I¡¯ve started playing. That¡¯s like a third of your time spent dead! Isn¡¯t it troublesome to make up the lost experience and skill proficiency? I don¡¯t even know how you stay higher level than me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that hard. It comes back pretty fast. Besides, if I die just before I would go to sleep, I can still play a few hours the next day.¡± ¡°Have you forgotten how to do math? 24 hours from when you died is just before you would go to sleep the next day.¡± ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. Well, I¡¯d better get to my exercises. I¡¯ll talk to you later.¡± It was rather obvious he was escaping from the conversation, but Angela let him go. He¡¯d always been weird about dying in Royal Road. Angela wasn¡¯t even sure he always mentioned when he died, as if he really didn¡¯t care. Then she remembered something. ¡°Wait. You¡¯re a rogue right? Are you still around the level 70 range?¡± Mortimer turned around. ¡°Close enough, anyway. Why?¡± ¡°Good, then you can come join my party in a dungeon. We could use a rogue for a dungeon we¡¯re going to be in. We¡¯ll start sometime tomorrow, depending on how long you take to get there.¡± ¡°But-¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, there won¡¯t be many people. Just a small group. You¡¯ll be there right?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t-¡± ¡°Good. Come to the Goblin Crags. You can look it up.¡± ¡°...¡± Mortimer turned and walked away, but he had stopped refusing, which meant he gave in. Angela felt it would be good for him to be in a party occasionally. Actually, she wasn¡¯t sure if he¡¯d ever been in a party at all. He didn¡¯t like large groups, but he would be able to handle a few other people. He¡¯d have to learn to be comfortable with people that weren¡¯t family eventually. Hopefully he¡¯d at least talk to the others, but Angela had her doubts. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. -------------------------- A small group of adventurers was waiting at the top of a small mountain. It was only a few hundred feet above the area around it, but it stuck out of the surrounding terrain like a pillar. The party was looking down at the path, waiting for the fifth party member to arrive. ¡°Where is he? You said he wasn¡¯t far, right.¡± This was said by a man who looked to be a wizard. This one was certifiably reliable. He was named Nilrem. Not entirely original with his naming, but quite proficient with lightning magic. Angelo responded, ¡°Right. He should really be here right now. He¡¯s online, but doesn¡¯t seem to be responding to my whispers. Maybe he got into combat?¡± Maratis answered that question with another, ¡°With what? There¡¯s nothing on the path up.¡± ¡°Well, we can wait. I hate traps.¡± Ruby shook her head at the thought of going into the dungeon without a full party. -------------------------- Quietus brought to mind the map he had looked up. Goblin Crags should be just a bit north of him. In fact, he thought he could see the entrance at the top. It was a fairly straightforward direction. Once Quietus got to the base, he looked around. There wasn¡¯t really a convenient way up. He looked at the mountain. He checked his mental map again just to make sure it was the right place. The entrance was definitely at the top. The cliffs didn¡¯t look too bad, and there were plenty of outcroppings for him to rest on. Quietus started to climb up. It didn¡¯t look that far. The climb was fairly easy, with plentiful handholds and footholds. There were some points where the cliffs crumbled, but if he fell to his death at least he¡¯d have a good excuse to get out of joining the party. Not that he intended to fall on purpose. He¡¯d get in big trouble for that, and he wouldn¡¯t be able to hide it. It did appear that his sense of perspective had gotten the better of him in this case. The climb was turning out to be far longer than he¡¯d thought. Quietus eventually made it to the first platform he¡¯d seen. It turned out to be about a foot wide. Not too bad. He sat on the edge and looked down while his stamina regenerated. Not even a hundred feet up. He might even be able to survive a fall from here. Then again, maybe not. He¡¯d never fallen from this high up. Perhaps he¡¯d test the limits of that later. Soon, Quietus found a situation where messing around with his avatar may have been beneficial. He was reaching for a handhold that was just a little bit too far away. If he¡¯d just made himself taller, he could have reached it. Of course, then he¡¯d have needed to get used to moving at a different height. A helpful tutorial popped up in his vision. He¡¯d almost forgotten these could happen. Mostly, he ignored them. This one was rather helpful though. It told him that it was possible to reach the other handhold if he let go with other hand. It could be dangerous, but he didn¡¯t want to climb back down any, he was almost to the next platform. He tried it. He actually need to do a small hop as well to get his hand on the right grip. This let his feet slip out from under him. Then, he was hanging down from just the fingers of his right hand. He was reminded of a similar incident in the assassin¡¯s guild, but it was slightly different here. First, a different hand was holding on, and it didn¡¯t have spikes through it. Second, he didn¡¯t have to hide because there wasn¡¯t a golem coming to kill him. Quietus dangled there for what seemed like an hour, but was probably a few seconds, before he found new footholds and purchase for his other hand. He was glad that he¡¯d invested a few of his precious attribute points in strength, but more glad for what he had gained from the training and using his climbing skill. If he hadn¡¯t had both though, he probably would have lost his grip and fallen to his death. Quietus was now about three quarters of the way up. His platform was a bit smaller, barely enough for him to stand with one foot sideways. It was good enough for him to regain a bit of stamina though. He looked down, and almost leaned too far. He barely maintained his balance. He would definitely die falling from this fight. Maybe if he had more levels he could survive, although he wasn¡¯t sure whether or not falling damage was based on a percentage of health or a flat number. It didn¡¯t matter in this case though. The climbing skill could only reduce falling damage so much, the rest he had to make up for with¡­ well, not falling as far. Speaking of his climbing skill, he soon received a new message.
You have reached intermediate level in the Climbing skill! As usual, each level reduces the stamina cost of climbing, makes climbing slightly easier, and slightly reduces the amount of falling damage you take. Your hands are stronger. Grip strength is increased. New functions: -10% increase in unarmed damage.
This was¡­ slightly useful. It might fit well with the new moves he was learning from Master Valarao. Now all he had to do was get to the top. It wasn¡¯t far. As he reached the top, he saw something odd. Why was there something skin colored there? Of course it was skin. What else is skin colored. It appeared to be a pair of legs. The rear side of them. They weren¡¯t particularly covered in cloth, although some other features of the rear of this person were slightly more covered. Only a few strips of cloth, really, but they probably supported the front of the outfit. On top of the torso was a head with red hair. Quietus almost forgot he was climbing. He was close to letting go and jumping backwards in surprise. Instead, he slipped a bit. At least he was staring at a rock wall again, it let his heartbeat calm down. He hadn¡¯t really thought about it, but Ruby had always been in the party with Angelo. He wasn¡¯t really prepared for it. He climbed a bit over to the side before climbing up, fortunately not into anyones backside. ¡°I¡¯m here.¡± Four people turned to face him in shock. What, did they think he wasn¡¯t coming? End Chapter 32 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1385&p=8197#p8197 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2232 Necromancer - Chapter 33 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 33 Quietus looked at the four guildmates in front of him and waited for them to say something. The mage, Nilrem, eloquently made his point first. ¡°W- Who are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Quietus.¡± Seriously, he thought they were waiting for him. How could they not know? Next, Maratis spoke up. ¡°Hey¡­ I saw you in Twinsburg Heights, right?¡± Quietus nodded. Next was Angelo¡¯s turn. ¡°You do realize there a path, right over there?¡± Angelo pointed behind them. ¡°Oh. I didn¡¯t see that. It seemed better to take the direct route. That sure does look easier though.¡± Ruby just looked at him. ¡°Hmm¡­ interesting.¡± It didn¡¯t sound like a very positive review. Then again, interesting was good, right? Angelo decided to get matters moving along. ¡°Well, since we¡¯re all here now, we can get started. I was thinking you could stand next to me at the front and watch for traps. Oh right, join the party.¡±
You have received an invitation to join a party.
¡°Right.¡±
Party invite accepted.
All Quietus saw in front of him was a series of cliffs beyond an archway. Currently, they appeared to be approaching an area where sheer cliffs dropped off to the left of the path, and another rose up to the right. They looked much harder to climb than the one he¡¯d gone up. Quietus wondered where the dungeon was. He vaguely recalled information he¡¯d glanced. Something about Goblin Crags being an ¡°outside dungeon¡±. It seemed like a contradiction, but they were in the right place. Plus, he did get the message about entering the dungeon after they passed through the archway. Being in a party felt weird. Specifically, he couldn¡¯t use stealth effectively. He had to keep pace with Angelo, and it just wasn¡¯t practical while using stealth. Plus, the rest of the party was making enough noise for him to get noticed anyway. Quietus felt much more vulnerable than he did when adventuring alone. ¡°Wait. Stop.¡± At least the traps were easy to find. This one would drop a large number of rocks, probably killing whoever was hit by them. It didn¡¯t appear that it could be disarmed without triggering it on purpose, but he was able to tell dangerous locations, and had the party stand out of the danger zone. They hadn¡¯t gone much further when they saw some goblins. Obviously not unexpected enemies in a dungeon called Goblin Crags. Some of the goblins started drawing their small bows. Angelo prepared to charge the group. ¡°Wait! Pit traps.¡± Quietus pointed them out. One of them was directly in the path of where Angelo was going to charge. Angelo had to skirt around the area, allowing the goblins to get off some shots, but they were easily avoided, or blocked. Then, Quietus experienced something weird. He heard Ruby starting to sing. This wasn¡¯t weird, he¡¯d spied on listened to her singing before. However, he suddenly felt lighter and faster.
You have heard Song of the Wind! Speed increased by 10% Agility increased
So, this is what getting buffs felt like. Interesting. It was rather convenient, once he got used to the speed. The first battle was rather awkward. Although Angelo kept control of the attention of the goblins well, Quietus wasn¡¯t used to fighting with allies around. He wasn¡¯t exactly sure what to attack. Eventually, he went around behind the goblin directly in front of Angelo, and used Backstab. It was rather disappointing, without the triple damage from it being a sneak attack. More than triple, with the effect of intermediate stealth. It still wasn¡¯t worth the mana cost. After that, he stuck to Snakebite. Another part of the awkwardness of the battle was that Quietus didn¡¯t use any magic. For some reason, he didn¡¯t want to explain why he had magic as a ¡°rogue¡±. Besides, he needed to get better at fighting properly. His dagger mastery skill had been stubbornly stuck near the end of beginner level 9. After the battle he studied the goblins for a little bit. He didn¡¯t have as much time to do that as he would have liked, but every bit helped for his anatomy skill. It still grew fairly quickly since goblins were a new enemy to him. He could probably get to intermediate level after fighting a few more different types of creatures and studying them. It did depend on how different they were though- similar but technically different creatures offered less skill proficiency. The dungeon was going fairly well, and the traps weren¡¯t too hard to deal with. Battles progressed faster once the group got more practice. It also helped that Quietus applied a new poison. It was weak, but it had the unique property of lasting for several attacks. This allowed Quietus to use Snakebite on several enemies, doing bleeding and poison damage to them while the rest of the group, and then himself, finished off one enemy at a time. There were certainly advantages to fighting in a group. For example, Nilrem was very good at taking down enemies quickly if he needed to. He had a very large damage output over a short time. Of course, he couldn¡¯t fight for too long because his spells were high in mana cost. He mostly reserved his spells for key moments and targets of opportunity. His aim was frighteningly good, and he sometimes shot lightning bolts that went past party member¡¯s faces. Once, Quietus was pretty sure a bolt arced over his head. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. In another fight, Quietus was badly injured. The goblins weren¡¯t even close to defeated, either. He prepared to die. As usual, this didn¡¯t meant he would stop fighting, but he just accepted it as inevitable. Then¡­ ¡°Healing hand!¡± A good quarter of his health was restored by Maratis. That was much faster than a potion could restore his health! Plus, it didn¡¯t have any limit in how many times it could be used, except for mana. Mana could be recovered, however. Potions had to be made again. Quietus actually thought of an idea he figured would be good for himself in the long run. He gave all of the party members a couple mana potions. They weren¡¯t very powerful, but they would help in an emergency. Besides, he didn¡¯t need to use potions as often with support from other players. He could also make more¡­ once he got some resources and time. This is not to say that being in a party was entirely better than hunting alone. First, there was the aforementioned problem of stealth. There also occurred times that party members triggered traps before he could detect them. Most importantly, it was awkward. Although the other members talked among themselves, nobody talked to Quietus. They weren¡¯t intentionally excluding him, but his responses were limited. The actual awkward part, from Quietus¡¯ perspective, is that they had initiated conversation at all. He didn¡¯t really have anything to say. Then there was the slight matter of party formation. Although it was effective, there were disadvantages. Specifically, Quietus couldn¡¯t ogle observe watch out for Ruby. And of course Maratis and Nilrem. The casters obviously needed protecting too. A little bit. Mostly though, he wanted to watch her dance. So he would know what debuffs she was giving to the enemy. Of course. There wasn¡¯t an ulterior motive to that. Eventually, the party came to a branch. The cliffs had actually grown up to both sides, and the group had a choice of two paths in their own little valleys. Angelo chose a path, and Quietus followed along. He didn¡¯t have any preference. Then came the ambush. Although the goblins had tried ambushes before, this one was different. Instead of coming out from behind rocks or out of holes they had dug, the attacks came from above. Although there were not many goblins, they were firing a pretty steady rain of arrows. Most of the party had to hide under what cover they could find, generally where there were slight ledged from above. Angelo covered for Nilrem, and Nilrem performed the job he was most needed for. After a longer time than normal, he shot a bolt of lighting at the goblins on one side. Unlike before, it chained from one goblin to another. All of the goblins on that side were heavily injured. Then Nilrem started firing smaller bolts to finish them off one by one. Quietus was still worried about the goblins on the other side. He decided he would tip the scales a bit. The Spectral Hand spell was subtle enough, especially if he summoned it behind the goblins. It wasn¡¯t too far for him to do so, just about twenty feet up. All it took was a slight push, and one goblin fell over the edge. The other goblins backed away from the edge a bit and got into more steady positions, but it still helped the battle. The next battle Quietus was waiting for, and he managed to hear the goblins ahead of time. This let the party be more prepared, and allowed them to avoid the first hail of arrows, which had previously been undodgeable. This time, two goblins managed to slip off the edge at the same time. It was really awkward to make the right movements out of sight of the group. Then the group came upon a much more dangerous trap. It was also a falling rock trap, but it covered a much wider area. This included all of the area around the trigger itself. It looked to be a bit less deadly, but it would still be dangerous for the party. Quietus had the group back up, and pretended to fiddle with the wall while using Spectral Hand to trigger the trap from a distance. ¡°Whoa,¡± said Ruby. ¡°I¡¯d heard they had big traps like that here. I heard that you just have to send whoever has the most health in to trigger them.¡± Angelo looked at Quietus. He understood that an explanation was required. ¡°Well, theres a trick¡­ it helps to have intermediate search.¡± Not a direct lie, because that helped him spot the trap more easily, but the trick was unrelated to the search skill. Angelo accepted the explanation. ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad we got the one rogue who can disarm those traps safely. That should help.¡± The party continued along and continued to earn reasonably good experience, and gained some levels. Nobody complained about goblins mysteriously losing their balance, although it was unheard of. The hunt continued over several days, with breaks to leave the dungeon to sell loot, get repairs, and of course time to log off and deal with real life things like food and sleep. After they had gained a few more levels, Angelo declared that they were ready to face the boss. The boss was down a path they had been avoiding on purpose. There was no need to face a boss when the party was unready. Mortimer was actually rather excited to face a boss. He¡¯d never taken on a real boss before, at least not directly. He had fought some sub-bosses, but a real boss was too dangerous for him to take on alone. Plus, he hadn¡¯t found any. End Chapter 33 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1397&p=8366#p8366 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1465 Necromancer - Chapter 34 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 34 The location with the goblin boss was very disadvantageous for players. There was a flat area for players to stand, with a drop on one side and cliffs going up the other. This made it so that players could be shot at by goblin archers who arrived as reinforcements, as well as be knocked off the edge by the boss or other goblins if they weren¡¯t careful. Still, the strategy of the boss was well known, so the fight was winnable. First the boss, a tall goblin known as the Goblin Lord, would come out with a spear and shield. He would attack players and try to knock them off the edge if the opportunity presented itself. After taking a certain amount of damage, he would escape either up or down, climbing on the sheer cliffs. If any players wandered over the edge to attack him when he was down on the cliffside, they got pulled over. He was momentarily open when climbing to higher ground, but it was hard to take advantage of because reinforcements arrived at this point, smaller spearmen and some archers. Eventually, the Goblin Lord would come back out with throwing daggers, and attack from the top of the cliff or near the edge of the area where players could stand. After a certain amount of time, he alternated to his spear-wielding form again, and also summoned more reinforcements. This continued until his defeat. It was important for players to conserve mana if they could. After hearing the explanation and preparing a strategy, Quietus and the party moved in. Angelo moved in first to draw the attention of the Goblin Lord, while Ruby and Maratis provided buffs. Nilrem conserved his enemy for when he would be needed. Quietus moved around behind the boss who was stabbing at Angelo. He quickly used Snakebite to apply his most potent poison. There was no better time to use it than on a boss. Angelo did a good job of keeping to boss focused, so it wasn¡¯t long before the boss moved on to the next stage. Nilrem fired lightning at the goblin archers who had just arrived. Angelo turned to fight the new goblin spearmen who swarmed in. They weren¡¯t very strong, but Angelo couldn¡¯t fight all of them at once. One of them moved towards Ruby, and Quietus was going to go help, but then she kicked it in the face. It appeared the bard could take care of herself¡­ at least against one goblin. Quietus moved towards the goblins attacking Angelo, and started whittling down their health. He found it significantly helped his mana regeneration if he got bleeding or poison effects on as many different monsters as he could. Then he helped finish the goblins off one at a time. About this time, the Goblin Lord showed up with throwing daggers. Angelo easily blocked, and Ruby and surprisingly Maratis managed to dodge. Unfortunately, Nilrem wasn¡¯t quite quick enough. Quietus also got hit, but it was just a scratch.
You have been poisoned! Health will slowly decrease
A poisonous scratch, apparently. It wasn¡¯t a strong one though. The effect was almost negligible after applying the effect of his Poison Resistance skill. Nilrem¡¯s health was decreasing steadily, so Maratis healed him and purified him of poison. Nilrem managed to get his bearings, and started firing some powerful bolts of lightning at the boss. After a few more volleys of daggers, it retreated. Soon it came back with a spear and shield again, and jumped down from above. The party all managed to avoid the attack by jumping away in various directions, but Quietus ended up at the edge of the precipice. The Goblin Lord saw this and charged towards him. However, Quietus didn¡¯t move to dodge. The party saw a spear stab towards him, through him¡­ but the Goblin Lord didn¡¯t stop. Instead, he continued over the edge. With their new perspective, the rest of the party could see that Quietus hadn¡¯t actually been stabbed. He¡¯d crouched down and allowed the spear to go overhead. They could see his arms outstretched, having just pulled on the Goblin Lord¡¯s spear to send him over the edge. ¡°Well, that wasn¡¯t so bad,¡± Quietus said. ¡°Say, did you know there are actually two Goblin Lords?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Watch up there.¡± Quietus pointed to the top of the cliff. Up at the top stood the Goblin Lord, armed with his throwing knives. The rest of the party was still shocked at what had happened, and wasn¡¯t ready for the next attacks, most of which were aimed at Maratis. The loss of the healer would be a huge blow to the party. However, Maratis didn¡¯t get hit. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°You should really pay attention,¡± Quietus said from in front of Maratis. ¡°That could kill you.¡± Quietus had no less than five throwing daggers sticking out of his front, and was glowing red. ¡°That goblin is really in an inconvenient position¡­ Spectral Hand!¡± Quietus used his Spectral Hand ability with both hands, and tugged at the ankles of the Goblin Lord. Apparently, it hadn¡¯t watched his previous battles. It tumbled down the cliff to within easy striking distance of Angelo and the rest of the party. ¡°Listen, guys. I¡¯m gonna have to ask you to save me some loot. Don¡¯t forget the stuff that fell down the cliff.¡± It turned out that the poison was much more significant with five fully applied doses, along with the damage from the daggers themselves.
You have died! You are forbidden to log in for 21 hours and 30 minutes (85 hours in Royal Road)
-------------------------- This time, the miner was more terrified than any of the others. He had more to lose than the others, with a wife and children outside the mine. They barely had enough money to survive, and without him they would be in trouble. Even while dreaming, Mortimer felt uneasy. He could understand fear of death, but he didn¡¯t really understand what this miner was feeling. He was the first one who had feared not for himself, but for others who weren¡¯t even in danger. It just didn¡¯t make sense. -------------------------- After he woke up, he thought about the dreams. He would really have to get around to doing something about them. Well, it could wait until he logged back in. Mortimer got out of the capsule and stretched. He would have to thank Master Valarao for teaching him that excellent throw. Of course, it was much more useful next to a giant cliff, but it would likely be useful in other situations too. It definitely helped him in combat to have some basic techniques down. Master Valarao wouldn¡¯t allow himself to get hit, but the training program also had dummies that could be programmed to follow specific movement patterns, allowing for proper practice of some abilities that couldn¡¯t be safely practiced outside of virtual reality. Mortimer decided it would be a good time for a snack. He¡¯d rushed through dinner to get on Royal Road sooner, and he was hungry. He¡¯d been eating a lot more lately, with all the exercise he¡¯d been getting. After he was almost finished, Angela came into the room where he was eating. ¡°Too bad you died, huh, Mortimer?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t really matter. I leveled up some skills, so it worked out. Get anything good?¡± ¡°I got a shield, and we found some boots for you. After we left the dungeon and walked to where the first Goblin Lord fell. How did you know there were two?¡± ¡°The dagger throwing one wasn¡¯t bleeding or poisoned. His health only went down when Nilrem was hitting him. Of course, I wasn¡¯t sure then. I only really knew when I saw him after throwing the other one over the edge.¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m surprised you didn¡¯t die from that.¡± ¡°Well, most people probably don¡¯t try it. They¡¯re worried about losing experience if they mess up.¡± ¡°Or maybe they¡¯re just not stupid.¡± ¡°Hah! Maybe.¡± ¡°What was that you pulled the other one down with?¡± ¡°Spectral Hand. I use it to disarm traps at range, if I need to.¡± ¡°Man, that¡¯s the weirdest rogue skill ever.¡± ¡°Well, I got it from a special quest.¡± ¡°Oh yeah? Get any other tricks?¡± ¡°Some, but they¡¯re all classified.¡± Mortimer smiled. ¡°Pfft, fine. Be secretive. Will you join us for dungeons again some other time?¡± ¡°Well, if it¡¯s convenient. It¡¯s really different from playing solo. I don¡¯t know if I like being around people that much.¡± ¡°You could use the socialization though. Maybe you¡¯ll make some friends once the semester starts up.¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± Mortimer didn¡¯t particularly care. He was fine without friends. It made it easier to do whatever you felt like when no one else was around to restrict you. End Chapter 34 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2232&p=14527#p14527 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1546 Necromancer - Chapter 35 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 35 Within the next week, Quietus saw the blond man with the sword again. Well, he may not have been blond anymore, since he had a helmet on now, but he was wearing the same armor as before. Quietus was prepared to fight him this time, but didn¡¯t manage to sneak up on the man. Still, since he was ready, he managed to mostly avoid the sword strikes heading towards him. Quietus felt like he had fought him before. Before being killed by him on the road, of course. He didn¡¯t have a bad enough memory to forget that¡­ probably. The warrior had a lot of health. While Quietus was doing better than he had before, he couldn¡¯t penetrate the man¡¯s armor, and there wasn¡¯t any part convenient for good critical strikes. Although it wasn¡¯t over quickly, Quietus was eventually worn down, until he died. -------------------------- He was in the mine. He wasn¡¯t one of the miners, but himself. None of them seemed to notice him. Once the collapses started, he watched them struggle for survival. They would make progress, then be set back even further. It was a pointless struggle. He watched them. Then, the lights went out. Since he was himself, he could use his darkvision skill. He watched the miners stumble around in the dark. After a time, they stopped talking to each other. They ran out of food and water. They sat against the walls, seeming to hope that another collapse would happen, and finish them off. He watched them die. -------------------------- Mortimer woke up. He felt around to find the button to open the capsule, but he couldn¡¯t find it. ¡°Capsule open.¡± He gave the voice command. Nothing happened. He opened his eyes. He wasn¡¯t in the capsule. He was in his bed. It didn¡¯t make sense. The dream only happened after he died, and then it played before he was logged out of Royal Road. That was the way it had worked. Now, he had experienced the dream in real life. Somehow, it felt wrong. Royal Road and life shouldn¡¯t mix. That was what Mortimer felt. One was his real life, and one wasn¡¯t. It wasn¡¯t as if he cared about miners who never really existed dying, anyway. Still, though, the dream had been a real dream this time. He would have to do something about it. Of course, he also needed to do something about that warrior. He wasn¡¯t sure what the grudge against him was, but he couldn¡¯t stand losing to the same enemy multiple times. Thus, he went to Master Valarao. It was the middle of the night, but Master Valarao didn¡¯t seem to sleep ever. At least, not that Mortimer had ever seen. Whenever Mortimer neared his room, Master Valarao would be alert and ready to talk. ¡°Teach me how to fight against swords better.¡± ¡°What kind?¡± Mortimer described the sword. A rather standard two-handed sword, very different from Angela¡¯s rapier or a dagger. Inside the VR training program, Master Valarao showed Quietus some specific moves. Small, quick movements to dodge were effective, but they had to be well timed. If possible, it was good to move inside the range, where the sword would have to be swung awkwardly. Then, Master Valarao had mortimer practice against some AI opponents. This was because he didn¡¯t use swords himself, and didn¡¯t move like they probably would. ¡°Can you make it¡­ a bit slower, but stronger? Also, bigger with more reach. And armor?¡± Fortunately, the training program was quite extensive. It was capable of providing a variety of equipment, even things that were not terribly practical or used in the modern day. Over the next week or so, Mortimer would practice against faster and stronger and more skilled enemies. Every time they got better, he would have to get used to their new strength or speed or technique. Often, he would experience the brief pain of a simulated death. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. -------------------------- Quietus was trying to figure out what to do about the dreams. He looked at his spirit ring, but it provided no insight. He tried talking out loud, just in case the spirits could hear him and answer him. He tried Soul Binding various things, and then he tried to release them from the Soul Bind. It turned out that he couldn¡¯t.
You have been Soul Bound! If you die before the effect wears off, you will not respawn in a safe location. Instead, you will respawn wherever your body is located at death or moved to after death.
He¡¯d never tried to soul bind himself before. He couldn¡¯t cancel the skill, but he knew it would wear off after a short time. He wasn¡¯t sure when using the skill like this would be useful, but he took note of it. He wasn¡¯t sure what to do. He wasn¡¯t even sure if the dreams were supposed to be a thing that happened, or if he was just crazy. He supposed the second option was possible. He figured he would go see a psychologist if the problem continued for too long. Before that, however, he would try all of the options he could. Quietus went to a safe, secluded place. He mixed up some herbs with the alchemy skill, then used Soul Bind on himself. He wanted to test how it really worked. Then, he drank the poison. It didn¡¯t kill him particularly quickly, but it was strong enough that it still worked even with his Poison Resistance skill.
You have died!
-------------------------- Quietus immediately found himself in the mine. He felt different this time though. He looked around. His actions felt a lot more like conscious decisions instead of dreams. The miners still walked around and couldn¡¯t see him. One of them moved towards him, and then through him. It appeared that he was insubstantial here. Or perhaps the miners were. Since he was touching the floor, it could be either. He tried to move a rock on the floor. It didn¡¯t move. So, it was him. He still seemed to be constrained by the end of the mines, though. He tried to leave, but was blocked by an invisible barrier. The collapses started. At first, there was the calm, collected removal of debris. Then there were more collapses, and panic. Then, finally, as the lights went out, resignation. Quietus could feel the despair radiating off of the miners.
You have received a Quest! The Suffering of the Miners Relieve the miners of their suffering. This is the only way they will be made to move on. Difficulty: unknown Rewards: Based on the method of completion. Quest cannot be refused.
So, it wasn¡¯t that he was crazy. There really was a quest associated with it. Quietus just hoped that at the end, the spirits would shut up and leave his dream alone. However, Quietus couldn¡¯t find any way to interact with the miners. They couldn¡¯t see or hear or touch him. In the end, he just watched as they died again, one by one. End Chapter 35 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1465&p=8839#p8839 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1557 Necromancer - Chapter 36 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 36 The warrior watched the road carefully. He was confident that the person he had to kill was in this area somewhere. He needed to kill this rogue again, for his own pride. He couldn¡¯t let him get away with just a few deaths. He was obviously much lower level, and thus even the single defeat at his hands was an unforgivable embarrassment. Someone walked along the road. Was it him? No, this one looked very different. Some kind of wizard, with spiky red hair. Well, that didn¡¯t mean the warrior couldn¡¯t kill him. It wasn¡¯t like he was restricted to killing just for revenge. He waited for the wizard to get within range. As was his custom, he would strike just after his target walked past him, catching them by surprise. The time to pull his sword was approaching¡­ Then, the time passed. The warrior had been ready to start the battle, but not for it to start for him. He felt an eerily familiar pain in his neck. Then, suddenly, he could see the name of the player above his head. It was him. In disguise, again. How careless. This time, though, he would have nowhere to run. The warrior swung his sword down at the false wizard, who quickly retreated. The warrior looked at his health. Down by twenty percent? Not having his good armor was really a big drawback. Although the rogue had used both hands to stab him with the dagger, it was still more effective than the first time. Still, the warrior was confident he could catch the little punk here. He charged towards the rogue. His first attack missed by mere inches. He had been a bit careless. He repositioned himself for another strike. His aim really could use some work, the rogue barely even dodged and he missed again. Now the rogue was slashing at him, and although he was barely penetrating the armor, the warrior¡¯s health was slowly whittled down. After a few more swings, the warrior managed a decent sized gash across the rogue¡¯s chest. Not enough to kill him, but one or two more would do the trick. Then, he got in another. One more. As the last slash went in, the rogue messed up his dodge and did a weird twist where he turned almost entirely around. The two-handed sword swung down, and then the rogue was gone. He hadn¡¯t dodge, he was just¡­gone. Then¡­
You have received fatal critical damage!
In the back? Was there someone else? The warrior turned around with the last of his strength. There, he saw the ever-troublesome rogue. Then, he saw a dagger heading for his eye. -------------------------- Quietus wiped his dagger on the body, although it was not strictly necessary. As loot, he got a helm. He looked down at the face of the man he¡¯d just killed. Blonde. Somehow¡­ familiar. Where had he seen such golden hair? Gold made him think of¡­the golden warrior. He¡¯d been in the Crimson Ravens. He appeared to have a grudge against Quietus, although he couldn¡¯t think of any reason why it would be. He¡¯d only destroyed his guild killed him once. Well, he¡¯d also made him lose all his items looted his money, but that was just part of the guild war. Well, it didn¡¯t matter to Quietus. He¡¯d just remember to kill this guy on sight and leave it at that. He had no grudge against him. Quietus thought about his new dodging technique. It could use some work. It was hard to use. It also wasn¡¯t entirely new. It was just a use of Backslide while twisting. This allowed him to confuse the enemy, and since Backslide was closer to a teleport than movement, people couldn¡¯t follow his actions unless they knew what to watch for. Of course, sometimes he just ran backwards into the enemy. Some of the tests had been¡­ awkward. It was useful for getting in position for a backstab though. Quietus decided to use it sparingly. He couldn¡¯t use it in real life, so it wouldn¡¯t help for his practice with Master Valarao. The training had helped quite a bit, and he¡¯d learned to dodge with smaller movements. It was quicker, less tiring, and could be disorienting for an enemy who didn¡¯t understand why they couldn¡¯t get a hit in. Obviously, Quietus still had some work to do on the dodging front, since he¡¯d still been quite injured. Quietus then set off to do some hunting. He needed to keep slaying monsters to be able to keep up with his¡­ recent activities. He had to kill himself, or at least die, to get into the ¡°mines¡±. He didn¡¯t want his level to lag too far behind, so he had to get some experience. At least he would quickly gain back lost experience as a bonus, thanks to The Power to Accept Death. Still, he lost some time for leveling in between. -------------------------- Quietus looked down from his perch near the top of a tree. It should be high enough for what he needed. He looked around for the best direction. Then, he jumped. He¡¯d discovered that if he died in the same way, he didn¡¯t end up in the ¡°mines¡±. He¡¯d wasted a day like that. Hopefully, he¡¯d figure out what he was supposed to be doing soon. -------------------------- Quietus had tried many things to try to help the miners. However, he couldn¡¯t find any way to interact with them. He couldn¡¯t touch them, and none of his spells affected them. He couldn¡¯t affect the world around them, either. So, he had to wait for their inevitable deaths to happen. Apparently, since there was very little going on in this place, time could be accelerated much more, so not too much time passed in the real world. Not that it made the waiting less boring. Once all of the miners died, Quietus was ejected from the mines into reality. He felt like giving up, but it didn¡¯t matter if he did. -------------------------- Mortimer had long since memorized how many miners there were, and experienced their deaths enough that he knew more than he cared to about their families and friends. Sometimes, he saw them in his real dreams as well. Whenever this happened, he felt like he hadn¡¯t slept. He looked at himself in the mirror, and thought he looked like a zombie. Fortunately, it was still summer, so he could afford to be a little tired. Or a lot, as it may be. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Angela obviously noticed his changed state. ¡°Mortimer, are you okay? You look like you haven¡¯t slept for a week.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not true¡­ I get¡­ some sleep.¡± ¡°Well, why are you not sleeping?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a quest.¡± ¡°A quest? If you need help, I¡¯ll come. I can bring others too, if you want.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s not something that more people would help with.¡± ¡°Well, is there a time limit? If not, you should just spend less time playing. It¡¯ll help.¡± ¡°I only play like¡­ four hours a day.¡± ¡°What? Then why aren¡¯t you sleeping? Look, if you don¡¯t get some sleep soon, we should get you some pills or something.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Mortimer said rather tiredly. ¡°I think¡­ I have an idea. We¡¯ll see tomorrow whether or not it works.¡± -------------------------- Quietus had spent the better part of two weeks dead. Well, almost two months in Royal Road. It had allowed him to spend a lot of time training with Master Valarao and exercising, but he wasn¡¯t having that much fun. He¡¯d died every day, and this most recent death had brought an interesting occurrence.
You have reached intermediate level in The Power to Accept Death skill! Upon death, experience lost will be stored in a buffer, which will give you a 55% bonus on experience until the buffer is empty. In addition, the lockout time upon death is reduced by five hours. New features: Undead will be more friendly and are less likely to attack unprovoked.
Quietus thought it was interesting, but not currently useful. It didn¡¯t seem to affect his ability to interact with the ghosts or memories of the miners. Still, he could try the one last thing he hadn¡¯t. Quietus had used his Soul Bind ability on each miner (it just passed through them) and himself. He¡¯d tried it on rocks, and picks, and anything else he could find. Still, there was one thing he hadn¡¯t tried it on that might work. Quietus grasped his dagger in his hand, and through the same hand used Soul Bind. Interestingly enough, the dagger took on a black¡­ glow. Obviously glow wasn¡¯t really what it did, but it had a black aura around it now, the same as the chains that formed on things when Soul Bind worked. Perhaps this would do. Quietus walked up to a miner, and slashed. As he expected, there was no resistance on his dagger. However, unlike what he expected, there was an effect. The miner cried out in pain and clutched at his neck. Then, he fell over on the ground dead. The other miners started panicking. Since he¡¯d found something that at least did something, Quietus set to work. He went around and killed all the miners, as quickly as he could. No point in making them suffer any more than they had to. He just hoped they stayed dead. He just wanted them to shut up and stop being in his dreams. The collapse of the mines had barely even started when the last echo of the last scream died out. Then¡­
You have completed a Quest! The Suffering of the Miners You have offered miners release from their torment through a swift death. Although it was not the most elegant solution, they can find some solace in a mercy killing. Level up! Level up! Affinity for spirits has increased. Sadism +10 Wisdom +10
A new skill has been learned. Soul Annihilation Beginner Level 1 +5% damage against ghosts and spirits Prevents respawn of ghosts and spirits for an increased duration 1% chance to delay respawn of other monsters Special: Increased growth of statistics when destroying enemies affected by Soul Bind
Quietus was glad the quest had finished. Now the ghosts should stay shut up. The skill wasn¡¯t bad either. -------------------------- Mortimer came to his senses in the capsule. He got out and staggered over to his bed, where he quickly fell asleep. In his sleep, he dreamed. He was in a mine. In the mine were miners who had friends and family, and they would not stop pestering Mortimer with talk about them. It was starting to drive him crazy. Then, from somewhere unknown, he pulled out a knife. From then on, he was running around in the mines, killing people and laughing maniacally. Somehow, the laughing felt appropriate. The mines seemed continue on forever, but he continued along, staining the walls in blood. -------------------------- In the morning, when Mortimer woke up, he felt he¡¯d had a dream, but he couldn¡¯t remember it. However, he did feel very refreshed. End Chapter 36 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1546&p=9383#p9383 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2236 Necromancer - Chapter 37 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 37 Mortimer sighed. He was thinking about the future that approached him. It was just so depressing to think that he would have to go to school and play less Royal Road. There would be many new people who Mortimer had never met, and he¡¯d have to go to classes and study. Well, it was worth it for his future. His parents would probably disown him and write him out of the will if he didn¡¯t go, and that wasn¡¯t something he wanted. Plus, Solara would be there, somewhere. So, he would go. He wasn¡¯t sure what he was going to study, but he was considering biology and chemistry, since he¡¯d learned a bit about those while playing Royal Road. He had time to decide, since he would be mostly taking general education courses for the first few semesters. -------------------------- Quietus thought over what he had accomplished recently. Still no progress on the B-rank quest related to his dagger, but that was to be expected. His level was still too low to go into the Plains of Despair. Still, he had made quite a bit of progress on his skills and level. All of his skills had advanced to intermediate level, with Dark Magic Mastery achieving advanced level. Herb gathering had been the most tedious to train, and Spot and Listen had been the hardest. He¡¯d had to seek out spawn locations of monsters that attempted to hide to train those, and that took a lot of time. Of course, he never thought of looking up locations of such monsters on the internet. With the increase he¡¯d gained in alchemy and herb gathering, it hadn¡¯t been too hard to level up in Poison Resistance. At the rate it was progressing, it looked like mastering the skill would give him 100% resistance to poison. However, he knew this was a slightly deceptive number. As he¡¯d reached intermediate alchemy and herb gathering, he¡¯d discovered poisons that ignored some amount of poison resistance, although it wasn¡¯t terribly significant yet. He had no doubts that that kind of effect would show up more at higher levels. Anatomy now allowed him to highlight weak points on enemies that were similar to ones he had seen before. Its effects on critical hits were much more significant as well. Quietus now sought out as many different types of enemies he could to improve that skill. Some new enemies had been too much for him to handle and cause his death, but since he earned back lost experience quickly, it wasn¡¯t much of an issue. Besides, he still learned something from each encounter. -------------------------- The first thing Mortimer noticed about the school was that the hallways were crowded. This was not his favorite state for hallways to be in. People kept bumping into him, and he had to avoid doing what Master Valarao had taught him. He figured it wouldn¡¯t be appropriate to throw and/or otherwise incapacitate students at school. He generally didn¡¯t regret his decision. However, there was one time when he did. Someone bumped into him from behind and knocked him down. Well, he easily caught himself, but he still lost his balance for a small time. He assumed it was an accident, until he turned and looked. He was now looking at a large chest. Not the good kind, since this one belonged to some kind of man. Maybe a football player? (Note: American Football) ¡°Watch where you¡¯re going, nerd,¡± said the large person. Mortimer didn¡¯t consider himself a nerd, so he figured this guy had gotten the wrong person. Still, he would have liked to throw him for bumping into him on purpose. However, he didn¡¯t think he could make it look like an accident now. So he just walked away. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Some equally musclebound fellows talked to the primary large dude. ¡°Did that guy just walk away? He doesn¡¯t seem to be all there in the head. I don¡¯t know if he even noticed we exist.¡± ¡°Hmph. I¡¯d get him for that, but too many people are around.¡± Mortimer wasn¡¯t nearly as oblivious as they thought. He decided to be more aware of his surroundings, so he could ¡°accidentally¡± throw one of them if the situation arose. He still wanted to avoid hurting random people though. His parents would probably complain about that, and so would the people. It wouldn¡¯t be a good use of his time. As he was entering his classroom, he ran headlong into someone, falling over on top of them. Well, over them. He caught himself in something like a pushup position. From there, he had the mobility to go any direction. Not that it mattered in this case. He looked at the face of the girl. They just sort of stared back with a shocked expression. Mortimer looked more closely. Maybe it was a guy? Not a very manly one obviously. Well, it didn¡¯t matter. Somehow, it felt familiar. Mortimer was back in an upright position with a strong push of his arms. He almost turned and walked away, then remembered his manners. It was important not to forget manners. Specifically because he felt if he forgot his manners, his parents might disown him. Or worse, forbid him from playing Royal Road. He reached his hand out to the person still lying on the ground. ¡°Sorry, let me help you up.¡± Mortimer put on his best polite smile. This was the one he used when people were over to visit his parents and he had to eat meals with them. The person eventually accepted his hand, and Mortimer helped pull them up. ¡°I¡¯m Mortimer.¡± Soft hands. Obviously didn¡¯t do much sports or martial arts. After a few seconds of staring awkwardly, the person replied. ¡°I¡¯m Alex. It¡¯s short for-¡± At that point the bell rang, so Mortimer couldn¡¯t hear clearly. ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you Alex.¡± Personally, he didn¡¯t really like meeting people, but at least this person was better than the football players. First impressions were important, and since this person seemed quiet, Mortimer didn¡¯t instantly dislike them. He still wasn¡¯t sure how he got along with Angela. In class, Mortimer sat in the front. This may seem like an odd move, but it reduced the probability of other students sitting near him. Once class started, there were only two other people in the front row, on the other side of the room. Mortimer was happy to see Angela and Solara. So far, his success for being in the same classes as them was 100%. Of course, that wasn¡¯t saying much. In the end, the rest of the day was spent with Mortimer stalking attending classes with Solara and Angela. They appeared to share all three of the classes Mortimer had that day. Of course, Mortimer could have found out Angela¡¯s schedule by asking, if he¡¯d wanted to. After all, she¡¯d asked him about his schedule. Mortimer was content that at least the classes seemed like they would offer new information. Maybe it would end up relevant to Royal Road. Still, he was happy to go home and actually play it again. End Chapter 37 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1557&p=9514#p9514 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1601 Necromancer - Chapter 38 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 38 Quietus entered the tailor¡¯s shop. He had some things he needed to buy. ¡°Needle and thread please.¡± The shopkeeper pulled out some needle and thread and set them on the counter. ¡°Need anything else? We just got a shipment of some good cloth in. Lots of choices of color.¡± ¡°No thanks, I don¡¯t need cloth.¡± ¡°You hunt your own? Too bad. That¡¯ll be ten silvers.¡± Quietus paid the man and received his goods. He didn¡¯t bother haggling over prices, it wasn¡¯t worth his time. He didn¡¯t even get a discount for his fame, because he was in disguise. Of course, if he hadn¡¯t been, besides trouble with the guards, most shopkeepers would treat him much worse because of his high infamy. Quietus didn¡¯t need the needle and thread for tailoring. He didn¡¯t plan to take up any more crafting professions. Might as well leave that to, well, the professionals. However, he did need them to help him with hunting. He¡¯d run into some problems earlier. -------------------------- Quietus stared into the face of a tiger. It was next on the list of prey in his widening list of enemies defeated. It was useful to know how to fight different things, but most importantly it helped his anatomy skill level up much faster¡­ which helped his critical hits, and thus any sneak attacks. The tiger stared back at Quietus. It had good enough senses that he couldn¡¯t sneak up on it. Eventually, the tiger decided to make the first move, and pounced. Quietus leaned to the side as he slashed. He hadn¡¯t quite finished setting up his Spectral Hand to fire Dark Arrows at the tiger, but he¡¯d still been ready for an attack. Master Valarao would have had his hide if he wasn¡¯t prepared at all times. In fact, he¡¯d been especially keen on that lately. The tiger had still managed to swipe at Quietus as it went by, but he hadn¡¯t taken the full force of the attack. Quietus¡¯ own attack had been somewhat more accurate, and the poison seemed to be doing well. Before it had time to attack him again, he started firing Dark Arrows at it. It howled in pain, with good reason. It got a few more swipes at Quietus, but he again avoided the full force of the attack. It was still quite damaging, but he managed to kill the tiger with more than a quarter of his life left. Perhaps not the best fight, but he¡¯d get used to it. Then, he noticed his health was still dropping. It wasn¡¯t poison. He looked at his status window.
You are bleeding! Health will continue to drop until proper care or magical healing is given.
Quietus knew there were herbs that could staunch bleeding, but he hadn¡¯t bothered to keep any of them. He was also willing to bet that potions wouldn¡¯t help, but he tried anyway. Nope, didn¡¯t work. Well, he¡¯d have to find some other way to deal with the problem in the future.
You have died! Unable to log in for 19 hours (76 hours in Royal Road)
-------------------------- At school, Mortimer slipped past some dumb jocks into class. People had been looking for him, but they¡¯d been so obvious about it he had no trouble getting past them with a wig and a jacket. Mortimer was avoiding conflict for now, but not because he was afraid of them. He was just waiting for the right time. It was possible they would give up on him, because he felt that ignoring them once wasn¡¯t a serious problem. Obviously they felt differently. Mortimer knew he would be fine in class, they wouldn¡¯t risk doing anything in front of teachers. Outside of class, they couldn¡¯t even find him if he didn¡¯t let them. Still, it was becoming an annoyance. He¡¯d have to do something soon. Well, for now, he¡¯d go to class. It wouldn¡¯t do to fall behind in classes. -------------------------- The second fight with a tiger went much like the first, although a bit better on Quietus¡¯ part. Still, he was bleeding and needed to treat it. He rubbed some herbs on the wounds. The bleeding had slowed, but not stopped, as he¡¯d expected. This was why he bought the needle and thread. One of the first things Quietus noticed was that needles could really hurt. It wasn¡¯t much worse than Dark Hand or Dark Arrow, but it was much more localized. He had to concentrate so that he didn¡¯t twitch and mess up his stitching. His health was still going down. Then¡­
You have learned a skill Stitching Allows you to sew up wounds. Stops bleeding and restores a small amount of health.
Quietus was hoping to get something like this. He managed to do a good enough job to stop all the bleeding, but he definitely wouldn¡¯t say he had been elegant. Fortunately, he wouldn¡¯t normally scar in Royal Road. Otherwise, everyone would look pretty messed up. After a while of hunting tigers, Quietus got a strange message.
New Guild quest! Damsel in Distress A member of your guild has been captured! They are being held in a fort on the edge of the Plains of Despair. Rescue her! If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Rewards: Fame, Experience, Guild Prestige based on contribution
Quietus didn¡¯t particularly care about a guild quest. He was prepared to ignore it, until he saw one more line.
Name of Captured Member: Ruby
Well, he had time. He could go participate in this quest out of the goodness of his heart. After all, someone needed saving! He started walking towards the location given, then stopped. It was really far away. Days, probably. He almost gave up, then remembered something. There was a method to get there faster¡­ probably. -------------------------- Well, his method definitely was faster than walking. It was also much, much less comfortable. Tigers weren¡¯t meant for riding. Some people would have wondered how he tamed a tiger, but that was the wrong thing to wonder. The proper thing to wonder was why someone would make a zombie tiger. Well, the answer to that was simple. Why wouldn¡¯t you make a zombie tiger? Unlimited stamina and high speed! Sure, there was the small problem of comfort. It was kind of hard to hold on, but fortunately Quietus¡¯ climb skill helped him keep his grip. When he got near the fort, fortunately not located inside of the Plains of Despair, it had only been a few hours. A few hours, but it felt like weeks. Tigers had hard backs, and Quietus¡¯ rear end felt that quite clearly. Outside the fort, or really a small castle, Quietus saw a group of people. He didn¡¯t recognize most of them specifically, but they were wearing the emblem of Children of the Light. They were on horses, but they must still have been nearby when the quest happened. Among the people, Quietus did recognize Angelo. Of course, a knight must always be there to rescue a damsel in distress. Even more so when you¡¯re friends with them. Quietus wondered how Ruby even got captured in the first place. Usually, she was with Angelo and the rest. That should ordinarily have been enough. Quietus surveyed the scene. A large stone building, but one tower stood out. It was much taller. A good place to keep a damsel. Of course, a dungeon would be better, but it seemed like a good way inside anyway. He¡¯d first have to deal with the archers on the walls. He didn¡¯t want to be spotted climbing with no way to fight back. Fortunately he made it to the edge of the lower wall without incident. This was partially due to his excellent Stealth skill, but mostly due to the knights out front being really loud. Plus, he left his zombie tiger behind to expire. Zombies were terrible at stealth. He would have liked to keep it, but he had to keep recasting Animation or it would end, and then the body would disappear. The climb wasn¡¯t too bad, but Quietus took it slowly just in case. He had to be as quiet as he could because he was in a vulnerable position. Still, Quietus made it up onto the wall, and soon found the first archer. Watching for threats from down below. At the same time as Quietus used backstab, he covered the archer¡¯s mouth. There wasn¡¯t an abundance of archers, and none of them had been placed in pairs. Sloppy. Quietus took them all out one by one. The last one actually managed to get a cry out, but it didn¡¯t matter, since there was no one to help him. Quietus now headed for the tower. From the sounds he could hear below, the knights were inside and about halfway through the fort. He could still make it to the tower first, if that was the right location. Quietus picked a good location to climb up, right below a window. He didn¡¯t particularly need to be quiet until he got near the window, so he made quick progress. As he peeked in the window, he saw a room. It sure looked like somewhere you¡¯d keep a damsel. It could have just been someone¡¯s room though. He didn¡¯t see anyone inside. After entering the room, he noticed some anomalies. First, the bed seemed to be missing some sheets. Then, the sheets seemed to be tied into a rope going out¡­ the window on the other side of the tower. At this point, the door was knocked down and Angelo burst into the room. ¡°I¡¯m here to rescue you¡­ Quietus?¡± Quietus pointed towards the window. ¡°We¡¯re late.¡± ¡°Then, what about the quest?¡±
Quest completed Damsel in Distress The damsel has managed to escape thanks to some distractions. You have leveled up!
Quietus would have been more happy if he¡¯d been more than 10% of a level away from leveling up, and if it had actually given him progress towards the next level. Well, obviously his contribution had only been as a distraction anyway. He shouldn¡¯t have expected much different. Angelo just nodded. ¡°That¡¯s what I get for logging in five minutes late.¡± End Chapter 38 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2236&p=14555#p14555 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2238 Necromancer - Chapter 39 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 39 After a couple of weeks, the dumbs jocks had entirely forgotten about Mortimer. They¡¯d moved on with their lives, and seemed quite happy to be bullying other freshmen. Mortimer saw this happen several times, but he didn¡¯t care. He was a bit curious that nobody really fought back and they never seemed to get in trouble. They seemed like the kind of people who would get in trouble, since they weren¡¯t very subtle. Eventually, everything went back to school as Mortimer was accustomed. Everyone ignored him, and he ignored everyone. Well, except Angela and Solara. At least, that was how it was supposed to happen. However, there had been an addition of another variable into his class schedule. That is, the skinny person who was maybe a girl. The one Mortimer had knocked over bumped into during the first day of school. Alex had started sitting next to Mortimer, because apparently they were now friends. So much for him being polite. Not that Alex was necessarily a bad friend. For one, Alex was mostly quiet. When Alex talked, it was mostly about Royal Road, which Mortimer didn¡¯t mind. Interestingly enough, Alex also seemed to be friends with Angela and Solara. At first, Alex had asked Mortimer to sit together with them, but had to give up when Mortimer refused to budge. One person was bad enough, being with three other people was asking a lot. Especially with one of them being Solara. Not that Mortimer didn¡¯t want to be closer to her, but it was¡­ awkward. In the end, Mortimer sometimes sat alone, and sometimes Alex was there. Either way was fine with Mortimer. -------------------------- About a month into the semester, Angela, Solara, and Alex were walking down a hallway to go eat lunch. It had been very easy for Angel and Solara to become friends with Alex, especially since they were technically already friends. It turned out that Alex was Maratis, the cleric with whom they adventured often. They¡¯d been surprised to find out that information, since the chances of meeting randomly in two worlds, Royal Road and the real one, were extremely low. Any random person was more likely to be from a different country than the same, and even less likely to be in the same area- or go to the same university. Still, coincidences like that could happen. The hallway was empty, except for them. Then, a group of boisterous people could be heard. Well, perhaps it would be better to call them loud or obnoxious. Either way, each of the group of five were all well muscled individuals. One of them pointed at the group and said, ¡°Look, a group of freshman chicks. Not too bad.¡± The rest of them started heckling the group, but were ignored. However, two of the group moved ahead and cut them off. ¡°Why don¡¯t you stay and talk a while? I¡¯m sure we can get to know each other better.¡± They stared lecherously at the group. They moved closer, and eventually backed the three against the wall. The apparent leader leaned against the wall with one arm, cutting off Angela¡¯s path back down the hallway. Those that appeared to be the number two and three lackeys moved towards Solara and Alex, respectively. Number three asked, ¡°This one¡¯s a chick, right?¡± The leader looked over, ¡°Sure. Could be.¡± He looked back at Angela. ¡°So, it looks like you¡¯re not interested in hanging out with us. Too bad.¡± Angela looked at him calmly, but inside she was planning how to get out of this situation, waiting for an opening. Sure, there were five strong jocks here, but she could fight at least well enough to escape. Probably. Then, the leader¡¯s other hand started to paw at her. That was enough, and she gave him a swift kick to the nuts. It seemed she¡¯d have to go for it. However, at the same time that her knee connected, there was a loud snapping sound. Angela looked at the elbow next to her head. Wasn¡¯t it supposed to bend the other way? Then, suddenly, the person was out of her view, although it wasn¡¯t hard to tell that he was heading rapidly for the floor. There was another loud crack. She looked down to see a leg on the back of his head, which was facing the floor. The leg, apparently, belonged to Mortimer. She just stared at him blankly. Mortimer, however, had other things to do. First, there was the surprised jock behind him. A swift kick to the jaw from below seemed to help that situation along some. Mortimer was surprised at how much more flexible he had become. Before, he would have been lucky to get to waist height. Mortimer didn¡¯t wait for the guy to go down before throwing another kick to his knee. At this point, the other three looked over towards the loud, unexpected sounds. The one in front of Solara instantly regretted turning his head to look, and fell over on the ground clutching between his legs. Mortimer walked over and kicked him on the side of the head to incapacitate him. This crack was quieter than the others, but still sounded painful. The other two immediately charged Mortimer. Although they played football, they weren¡¯t really used to actual fighting. The first one found his arms empty, and then he saw the ground head first, as there was a weird snapping sound in his shoulder at the same time. The last one pulled out a knife. Then, he lunged at Mortimer. There was the unpleasant sound of a knife going into flesh. Something like a squelch. At the same time, there was a cracking sound of the type that was rapidly becoming familiar. ¡°Mortimer!¡± Angela screamed. Mortimer turned to look at her. ¡°What?¡± he said, as he stepped out of the way of the person who was now falling to the floor. There was another of the unpleasant noises as it happened. Mortimer looked down at his hand. There was a tiny trail of blood on it. He hadn¡¯t performed the move to stab the guy with his own knife perfectly. He knew there would be more drills. Angela saw that he was okay, and breathed a sigh of relief. The same could be heard from the other two conscious people, except Mortimer. He just stood there looking unworried. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. After a few more seconds, an elderly professor came out of a nearby room. ¡°What are you fellows up to this ti- oh my.¡± He surveyed the scene. The bodies were neatly arrayed around Mortimer. ¡°You¡¯re going to be in quite a bit of trouble, young man, even if I have something to say about it.¡± Angela spoke up quickly. ¡°They started it.¡± She didn¡¯t mention that Mortimer had gone a bit further than they had¡­ at the time. ¡°It likely won¡¯t matter. These¡­¡± he looked at them, then noticed they were all unconscious, ¡°fools have powerful friends. By the way, has anyone called for an ambulance?¡± ¡°Why?¡± asked Mortimer. Angela quickly came up and put her hands over his mouth from behind. ¡°What he meant was¡­ why would we do that when there¡¯s a person of authority who can?¡± The professor sighed. ¡°Well, I guess I have to. I¡¯ll need to talk to you, so don¡¯t go anywhere.¡± After a minute or two he was done with the phone. ¡°Now then¡­ I guess I need to start with asking for your names. I know who those¡­ nice gentlemen on the floor are. I suppose I should introduce myself first though. Dr. Stevenson, Dean of the Sciences.¡± ¡°Alex Jennings.¡± ¡°Solara Vail.¡± The professor nodded in recognition of this name. ¡°Angela Parkins.¡± At this, he raised an eyebrow. ¡°Mortimer Perrywinkle.¡± At that name, he burst out laughing. Mortimer looked at him with a somewhat annoyed expression. The professor kept laughing for almost a minute, then cleared his face. ¡°Sorry, that was very rude. I¡¯m not laughing at your name, but because of it¡­ I¡¯ll explain after these chaps are picked up.¡± It didn¡¯t take long for ambulances to arrive and cart the fellows off. Everyone tactfully ignored the small pool of blood in one place on the floor, and a larger one in another. The professor started up the conversation again. First, he got an explanation of what had happened. From Angela, who was a bit more diplomatic than Mortimer would have been. ¡°Now, where were we. Ah yes. Do any of you know who those people were?¡± ¡°Jerks,¡± said Mortimer. ¡°While you are¡­ not wrong, they are also members of the football team. The one with the backwards elbow is Matt Thompson, the leader of that unpleasant bunch. Unfortunately, the head coach and some other people with much influence in the school liked his skills, and thus gave him a lot of leeway to do as he wished. They covered up quite a few scandals in his three years here.¡± Mortimer nodded. ¡°They sure seemed like they should have been in big trouble before now.¡± Angela spoke up too, ¡°Won¡¯t it just happen again?¡± ¡°I¡¯d think this time, it won¡¯t. Unless¡­¡± he looked at Mortimer. ¡°Young man, you are in good standing with your parents?¡± Mortimer nodded again. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯d not like to see these fellows again?¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather not.¡± ¡°Then it should be fine. As both of you should know,¡± he gestured at Mortimer and Angela, ¡°The Perrywinkle family has made¡­ large contributions to the school. Have you seen the east building?¡± ¡°The big fancy new one? They paid for some rooms there?¡± asked Alex. ¡°Well, yes and no. They paid for the entire east building. Honestly, does no one read the plaques?¡± Mortimer didn¡¯t pay much attention to where his parents spent or donated their money. He hadn¡¯t actually known. Angela looked slightly embarrassed to have forgotten about what her aunt and uncle had done. ¡°Anyway,¡± Dr. Stevenson continued, ¡°With those with such influential family, as well as an honor student,¡± he nodded to Solara, ¡°I should be shocked if you end up seeing any trouble at all. There will still be a bit of trouble for me in cleaning up this mess, but I have been building up some¡­ resources, in case a situation to expel, and preferably jail, these fellows came up. They have a long and unpleasant history.¡± Mortimer nodded, once again. ¡°Are we done here, then?¡± ¡°Do you have something urgent to do? No matter. I will likely be in contact with you later to get statements. Perhaps the police as well, but I will be certain to tell them it was in self defense. I have enough evidence to discredit anything they say to the contrary.¡± Mortimer left, and Angela watched him walk away. She felt like she didn¡¯t recognize her cousin. Besides the fact that he could do what he did, she was surprised at his brutality. Not that she was complaining about the help. Still, those people would be in the hospital for a long time, except the ones who might get out ¡°early¡± because they just had a concussion¡­ and probably a cracked skull. They deserved it, but to see Mortimer actually hit someone outside of the context of Royal Road was strange. Everyone who was there viewed him in a new light. -------------------------- Once Mortimer got home, he had a small talk with Master Valarao. After summing up what happened, Master Valarao asked, ¡°Are any of them dead?¡± ¡°They weren¡¯t when I left.¡± ¡°Hmph. I¡¯m disappointed in you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry for getting into a fight, but I had to protect my friends.¡± ¡°What? No no, I¡¯m just disappointed that you didn¡¯t perform the moves right.¡± ¡°Ah. Well, it was my first real fight¡­ and I felt like I¡¯d get in really big trouble if I killed someone.¡± Master Valarao raised an eyebrow. ¡°You weren¡¯t worried about possibly killing someone, then?¡± ¡°Why? They were jerks.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Interesting.¡± What exactly was interesting about that Mortimer never really found out. End Chapter 39 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1601&p=10089#p10089 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1673 Necromancer - Chapter 40 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 40 Mortimer was in his least favorite room in the whole house. He¡¯d only been in the room a few times, but the events that occurred within had firmly solidified its place as his least favorite room. Mortimer saw James discreetly slip out of the room. Discreetly, but quickly. James was his butler, and also his driver, and in this case, the messenger of a summons from his parents. Around the room, Mortimer saw things that made the rooms less intimidating. There were bookshelves all around, and nice big windows that provided light. There were also some comfortable chairs to sit in and read. This was the study that his parents used. He looked at his father, who was just closing a book he was reading. ¡°So, Mortimer, we¡¯ve heard there was an¡­ incident at school.¡± Mortimer nodded. He was too nervous to do anything more. His mother was the next to speak. ¡°Five people in the hospital. At least three of them won¡¯t be able to play sports again. Quite a mess to deal with. Explain yourself.¡± Mortimer steeled his resolve. It was hard to speak with confidence to his parents, but he knew he had to. ¡°They were messing with my friends.¡± Well, Angela was his cousin, but she could still count as his friend. He wouldn¡¯t really consider Solara a friend most of the time, but that didn¡¯t mean he wasn¡¯t partly beating them up for her sake. Alex was probably a friend, or something. Still, the statement was essentially true. ¡°And that gives you the right to seriously injure them?¡± his mother gave a disappointed frown. ¡°Well, they also had a bad history¡­¡± ¡°Which you didn¡¯t know at the time,¡± his father interjected. Mortimer¡¯s mother continued, ¡°There was also one stabbed with a knife. Care to explain that?¡± ¡°It was his own knife, and he attacked me with it.¡± His parents gave each other a look, then his father continued. ¡°Then, based on your actions, how do you believe you won¡¯t get in trouble for this?¡± At first, Mortimer was about to accept his punishment. Then he remembered a previous incident where he¡¯d gotten in trouble. His parents gave him plenty of time to come up with his answer. ¡°The first point is, those troublemakers had a history of problems. They also started the conflict. Besides the innocent witnesses, we have the testimony of one of the deans at the school. As for the knife¡­ I didn¡¯t even grab it. I have no fingerprints on it, and it clearly belongs to the person who attacked me¡­ and...¡± Mortimer¡¯s father smiled a little bit. ¡°And?¡± Mortimer smiled back. ¡°Well, I was hoping to have the support of some other prominent members of the community?¡± Mortimer¡¯s mother kept a somewhat stern look. ¡°That is sufficient for now. However, please do keep out of any more such public trouble. Especially any more incidents of fighting. It wouldn¡¯t do to have our name sullied.¡± ¡°Of course. Father, Mother.¡± Mortimer bowed his head as he left. When he got back into his room, he thought about the important lesson he¡¯d learned as a child who got in trouble. Always have a good excuse, and preferably be able to legitimately blame someone else for any incidents. Not that his parents had said it that way, but that was what he¡¯d learned. He¡¯d still been lucky to get off without any punishment though. He knew that Angela, at the very least, had probably talked to them about if. If he¡¯d gotten into trouble on his own, he¡¯d have probably been in bigger trouble. In fact, Angela had gotten him out of trouble a few times before, or at least into lesser trouble. It almost made up for her getting him to do stupid things in the first place. -------------------------- Quietus put the last stitch into his wrist. He flexed his fingers. It was still a little clumsy. Plus, the attachment process was painful. Sure, he could use some herbs to numb the pain, but they also reduced his motor ability in his other hand. At some point he¡¯d have to get someone to magically heal him or die. He looked at the stitched that went all the way around his wrist with heavy thread. They weren¡¯t pretty, but they would do. Of course, he still had to use his Animation spell. This was because his hand had gotten chopped off. He looked down at the body of the blond warrior. Quietus had gotten a bit careless, and he¡¯d had to block an attack with the only thing he had available¡­ his left hand. This warrior sure was persistent though. Still, he seemed to be falling behind. There had been little trouble in dealing with him most of the time, and he wasn¡¯t any better this time. Quietus had just been a bit cocky in fighting him. Quietus looked at his dagger.
Sacrificial Dagger of the Apprentice Durability: 100/100 Damage: 50-72 Rumors have it that this dagger was given to the apprentice of a powerful necromancer. However, the apprentice died before gaining enough power to be as strong as his master. This dagger contains some of his lingering magic. It allows the weapon to repair its own durability when soaked in blood. It can also increase in strength when bathed in the blood of strong enemies. Special: Causes bleeding damage with every hit, based on the damage dealt.
Although it was steadily growing stronger, it didn¡¯t have any abilities besides the bleeding effect. He had a quest to make his dagger stronger, but he was not high enough level to explore the plains of despair just yet. So, instead, Quietus was studying his Animation spell. The duration was significantly longer than it had been before, and he¡¯d been able to make zombies that had a higher cap on their statistics than before. He could also manually control a zombie, or anything he animated with the spell, such as his own severed hand. Of course, hands didn¡¯t function well on their own. Quietus had found no better place to studies zombies than at one of their sources. Thus, he was wandering arounds in the remains of an old battlefield. Only relatively weak, mindless zombies were there. They just wandered around and attacked people. Well, people who weren¡¯t Quietus. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. In general, they just ignored Quietus because of his intermediate level of The Power to Accept Death. He could even lean in close to study them. Of course, if he touched them or otherwise attacked them, all the nearby zombies would view him as a threat. Quietus even watched some lower level players fight and sometimes get killed by the zombies. He took mental notes on the weaknesses of the zombies. Many of them were inexpertly created, so they couldn¡¯t move to their full capacity. Basically, it made them slower and weaker than they should have been. Quietus had noticed that Animation had been getting stronger without him even needing to use it. Then Quietus saw something he¡¯d never seen while he¡¯d been in the hunting grounds. One of the zombies had an arm chopped off. That wasn¡¯t too abnormal, but the player who did it still lost the battle. This left the zombie with one arm. It looked down at its arm on the ground. It tried picking it up and pressing it against the stump. It fell to the ground. Even that wouldn¡¯t have been too bad, but it did it again. And again. Quietus felt sorry for it, so he came out of hiding to finish the zombie off. It saw him, and instead of trying to put the arm back on again, held it out to him. It didn¡¯t even have an expression, but it seemed like it was instinct.
You have been offered a quest! Repair Zombies Many zombies get damaged, and they are unable to fix themselves. They instinctively look for help from those who are connected with death. Zombies Repaired: 0/20 Rewards: Proficiency in related skills
¡°I accept,¡± said Quietus. He didn¡¯t receive the notification message, so he just reached out and took the arm.
You have accepted the Quest: Repair Zombies
Quietus looked at the arm. It was still moving around a little bit. It was a pretty good cut, though, so it wouldn¡¯t be too hard to reattach. It wouldn¡¯t be pretty, though. He sewed it back on to the best of his ability. It looked like the zombie would lose some mobility, but the quest updated that the zombie had been repaired. Quietus wasn¡¯t quite satisfied, but he went off to find more broken zombies. He would have said ¡°injured¡± but that usually denoted something that was alive. People recover from injuries, but things don¡¯t recover from being broken. Quietus went around fixing other things. Legs, torsos, more arms. An eyeball that fell out was the most awkward to repair, since it was hard to use the needle properly inside the eye socket. Quietus found several other damaged zombies that he was unsatisfied with the repairs for. One had its arm chopped off in the middle of the forearm, and just sewing it up made it hang there limply, and mostly useless. The fingers still wiggled around, but it was a shoddy job. He thought about the various kinds of damage he hand seen, and went to town to buy other supplies. He got some double ended needles of various sizes, more like spikes really, a hammer and some nails, and thick strips of leather. Then he went back to all the zombies whose repairs he had been unsatisfied with. Sometimes the spike were stuck inside the arm as a support. Nails and leather strips were also used, sometimes as improvised slings. Eventually, Quietus got all of them to the point where he was satisfied at their functionality. Most of them seemed to work as good as¡­ ¡°new¡±. There were even a couple with ¡°improvements¡± in the forms of spikes sticking out of their bodies that they could stab people with. They didn¡¯t seem to know how to use them though. Quietus noticed the number of repaired zombies sometimes went down, and it seemed it was because players were killing them. After he removed the intrusions, he went back to repairs, and eventually finished the quest.
You have completed a quest! Repair Zombies Anatomy is now Beginner level 9 The Power to Accept Death is now Intermediate level 2 Animation is more effective
You have learned a skill! Repair undead Beginner level 1 Allows you to repair undead. At this level, only zombies can be fully repaired, and materials are required.
Quietus was happy to receive a skill. He was even more happy to get a level in The Power to Accept Death, which was inconvenient to level since he had to die. He looked at the experience gained and noticed that it was only equivalent to a few deaths. Still, it was pretty good. He hoped to get more quests like that in the future. -------------------------- At school, Mortimer was standing in the hallway waiting for class when someone walked up to him. ¡°You¡¯re Mortimer Periwinkle, right?¡± Mortimer turned to look at him. Big. Very similar build to some football players he had seen recently. Mortimer nodded, and got into a fighting stance. ¡°I am.¡± End Chapter 40 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2238&p=14574#p14574 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1692 Necromancer - Chapter 41 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 41 Mortimer had taken down five guys almost this size, he was confident he could take down another even without the element of surprise. If he were the other guy, he wouldn¡¯t have asked who he was, he would just have attacked. Actually, that did seem a bit odd. It seemed the large fellow refused to make the first move. In fact he just stood there, with a lopsided smile. Then, he made a movement toward Mortimer¡¯s waist. Mortimer was about to perform a counter when he recognized the movement. It wasn¡¯t particularly fast, and he thought it might not be a threat. ¡°I¡¯m Robert,¡± said the big man as he held out his hand. ¡°I hear you¡¯re responsible for putting five of my teammates in the hospital.¡± Mortimer waited for this person to get to a point or make an aggressive gesture. He wasn¡¯t allowed to start the fight, much as he might have preferred that. After all, the first move was important. Robert stood there somewhat awkwardly with his hand still out, but still smiling. ¡°They were pretty good players too. We¡¯ll probably lose more games without them.¡± Mortimer took a small step back covered by moving to a more comfortable position. This guy was apparently going to take his time. ¡°Did you know that our head coach resigned due to an ¡®unrelated incident¡¯? If we don¡¯t find a good replacement, we might lose even more.¡± Mortimer figured it would probably be rude to yawn. ¡°In total, that means my team will be losing a lot more. I have to thank you.¡± Mortimer gave him skeptical eyes. ¡°You like losing?¡± Robert glared back at him and leaned closer. ¡°I hate losing. But I hated those guys more. Picking on the weak. Never showering. Disrespecting women. They made the rest of us look bad by association. I couldn¡¯t even get a girlfriend.¡± ¡°Okay?¡± said Mortimer. He wasn¡¯t sure why he needed to hear this. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m still glad they¡¯re gone, and I plan to win despite not having them. Maybe I¡¯ll get a girlfriend too. So, thanks.¡± His words seemed genuine, so Mortimer shook his hand. ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡± He had to at least act a little bit properly. ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll see you around.¡± Mortimer watched him walk away. He finally entirely relaxed his stance. ¡°That guy was big,¡± a voice next to him said. Mortimer did a small jump. He turned to see Alex standing right next to him. ¡°When did you get there?¡± ¡°I was here before him. We were heading to class.¡± Mortimer thought for a second. ¡°Oh yeah. We should do that.¡± -------------------------- When Mortimer got home, he headed straight for his capsule. However, before he could get there someone stepped in front of him. ¡°Hey Angela.¡± ¡°Hello. Are you still near the Plains of Despair?¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯ve moved a bit to the southwest.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t there just weak zombies over there? Anyway, there¡¯s a dungeon nearby and we need a rogue.¡± ¡°Um¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s just the four of us you know, and I know you¡¯re not on an important quest because you¡¯ve been sleeping normally.¡± ¡°...Ok, where?¡± -------------------------- Quietus entered the dungeon, Skeleton Hall, with the rest of the party. He didn¡¯t like fighting undead since they were immune to many of his abilities like poisons and bleeding. They were also highly resistant to dark magic. Still, he would take the opportunity to study the various kinds of skeletons. As for his role in the party, he was mostly there to deal with traps anyway. The various skeletons, soldiers and archers, were around level 80-100, depending on type. Near the beginning of the dungeon they would be closer to the low end. Angelo explained the reason to be there besides hunting. ¡°I heard that this dungeon hasn¡¯t been fully explored yet, but nobody can find what they are missing. Think you might be able to find it, Mortimer?¡± ¡°Maybe, but I don¡¯t really have any skills to detect secret doors. Just enemies and traps.¡± The combats against the skeleton soldiers went generally as planned. Angelo got the attention of the enemies and the rest of the group helped to kill them. Ruby gave buffs to the party and sometimes debuffed the enemy. Maratis either healed and buffed people or used holy magic to damage the skeletons, as necessary. Nilrem did the only thing he ever did, but he did it well. Many skeletons fell to his various lightning spells, Chain Lightning being among his favorites. Quietus just went around behind the gathering skeletons and did what damage he could. Critical hits were still quite effective. Nobody noticed that the skeletons never attacked Quietus first. Throughout the dungeon were various kinds of traps. Mostly, they consisted of spears, arrows, and poison darts. They seemed traps that would do little to hinder the skeleton inhabitants. Once there was a poison gas trap, but Quietus disarmed it without issue. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. As they wandered the dungeon, the members of the party chatted amongst themselves. Except for Quietus, obviously, because he didn¡¯t really chat with people much. He did notice that Maratis seemed to be talking to him, or perhaps at him, more than the previous time. As they progressed further into the dungeon, the enemies became a bit more varied than just the skeleton soldiers. First there were the archers. Quietus and Nilrem dealt with these while the rest of the group dealt with the soldiers. Since they didn¡¯t shoot at him until he was close, usually because he attacked one of the group, Quietus found himself quite capable of taking them out. They did more damage than the skeleton soldiers, but had much weaker defense. Once engaged in melee, they damage was less as well, since they had no weapons to use up close. Sometimes they were far enough apart that one or two of them could still shoot at Quietus while he was killing one, but he evaded enough of the arrows to do reasonably well. Of course, he was also healed by Maratis if things were getting dangerous. There were also skeleton mages. Their attacks were harder to dodge and more dangerous than the archers, but they also died even more easily. Sometimes they used dark magic spells such as Dark Arrow. Quietus was happy when they did, because he was quite resistant to those spells, and familiar with how to avoid them. Sure, they hurt when they hit, but the actual damage was not too much to deal with. The other party members grew to hate them, though, since both the damage and pain were high for them. During and after the battles, Quietus took some time to look over the skeletons. After observing the way they were held together (mostly magic) and fell apart, he learned something about their weak points. He also gained some proficiency in his repair undead skill, even though he didn¡¯t do any actual repairs. He did fiddle around with the bones some. As they were turning a corner, Quietus noticed a missing stone in the wall, near the ground. He tried to look into it, but it was too dark. The light from the torch was blocked by his head. Not that it stopped him for long. His darkvision skill took care of the problem easily. ¡°What do you see?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure, it¡¯s hard to tell. I think there¡¯s a room over there.¡± ¡°Hmm, on the map there hasn¡¯t been anything found there. Can you figure out how to get it open?¡± ¡°I¡¯d have to be able to see inside there, I think. Maybe¡­¡± Quietus thought for a moment. ¡°I think I have an idea but it involves some¡­ secret tricks. So you¡¯ll have to look away.¡± The group rolled their eyes, but turned around. They heard a weird squishing sound, then some muttering. Keen listeners might have heard ¡°Specral Hand¡± as well as the name of another spell. When they turned back around, Quietus had a hand over his left eye. ¡°It¡¯s a¡­ vision spell¡­ kind of.¡± Quietus sat down against the wall. ¡°I need to concentrate.¡± Quietus closed his other eye. Maratis noticed a small trail of blood below the eye with his left hand over it. ¡°Hey, you¡¯re bleeding! I¡¯ll heal you.¡± ¡°No! Wait! Umm¡­ that¡¯s part of the spell? It will mess it up if you don¡¯t wait until after I¡¯m done to heal me.¡± ¡°Oh, okay. Does it hurt?¡± ¡°Not really. I need to concentrate now.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± Quietus sat there for a minute or two before making some weird gestures with his right hand. ¡°I think I found a lever¡­¡± Then, there was a grinding sound, and the wall he was leaning against sunk into the floor. He managed to not quite fall over backwards. ¡°Ok, I need to go in first to¡­ search for traps.¡± Quietus did, indeed, search for traps, but he also went in to retrieve something. There was another squishing sound, and then Quietus came back to the group. ¡°I¡¯d appreciate being healed now.¡± ¡°Of course! ¡­ What a weird vision spell.¡± ¡°...Yeah.¡± Quietus took his hand out from in front of his left eye after being healed. It seemed to work just fine. ¡°Be careful guys, inside was a big skeleton. It looked like a boss. We should get ready.¡± The group nodded, wondering what kind of boss they had found. End Chapter 41 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1673&p=10730#p10730 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1756 Necromancer - Chapter 42 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 42 The party was getting prepared to fight the skeleton boss that Quietus had seen. ¡°It was huge, and it carried a giant sword. I don¡¯t know what other abilities it has though.¡± Since they didn¡¯t know what the boss could do, they prepared with what they could. Maratis buffed the party with various spells, including one that significantly increased Angelo¡¯s defense. Quietus made sure Maratis had some mana potions to use in emergencies. Once in combat, Ruby would choose which abilities to use. She could make the party¡¯s offense or defence stronger, or weaken that of the enemy. Some of her abilities wouldn¡¯t work on undead, but she still had some options. Since waiting around wasn¡¯t going to do them any good, the group headed around the corner and into the room. It was a largish, rectangular room. Except for some small piles of broken stone, the floor was level. In the middle of the room, just as Mortimer had described, was a giant skeleton. It stood about ten feet tall, with a sword almost as tall as itself. It didn¡¯t have any armor, but that didn¡¯t reassure the party as they looked into its glowing yellow eyes. Above its head stood the name ¡°Destroyer Skeleton¡±. It didn¡¯t seem much of a proper name, but the description seemed apt. The party nervously advanced, unsure of what level this boss was. It was entirely possible for it to be out of their league and wipe out the party. As they all got into the room, the boss moved, and focused his eyes towards the group. Then, with surprising speed, he dashed towards the party. Before anyone could do much to react, the skeleton reached the front of the group. It swung and Angelo, who barely managed to block. Even so, Angelo was knocked back almost ten feet, and took quite a bit of damage. Instantly the rest of the party moved into action. Maratis healed Angelo. Ruby decided that the most fitting things to do was sing a song that increased the speed of the party. Nilrem moved to the side and started casting his most accurate lightning spell, Seeker Bolt. Quietus moved around behind the giant skeleton, who so far was ignoring him. Angelo was quickly back up and in front of the group, and the real battle started. It soon became obvious what the broken stone on the ground could have been caused by. Whenever Angelo dodged the boss¡¯ downward swings, it took a huge chunk out of the floor or wall. This did give a small opportunity for the group to attack. Quietus did his best to stay behind the boss, while attacking its right elbow. He hoped to damage it enough there to reduce its swinging power. Nilrem¡¯s Seeker Bolt spell did a good job of hitting, even when the skeleton dashed towards different party members. Since their speed was increased, most of them were able to evade enough of the damage to survive the hit, before Angelo once again gained the attention of the boss. During one sequence, the Destroyer Skeleton suddenly spun around and swung its sword at Quietus. It was a powerful enough attack that it could kill him, but he was ready for an attack like that, based on how it had been standing. He silently thanked Master Valarao¡¯s training. Of course, he couldn¡¯t really prepare to dodge an attack that fast, but he¡¯d come up with a sort of plan. As soon as he saw the movement coming, he used Backslide. Normally, this would have been enough. However, the skeleton had enormous striking distance. Even striking down at an angle, it still would have probable taken off his legs. In this rare case, Quietus thought ahead, and had already been prepared to do even more. He actually used Backslide a second time in a row, right after the first. This put him about ten small steps backwards from where he had been. For a moment, Quietus was disoriented by the extra movement. He¡¯d gotten used to the sudden change caused by one use, but two was new. Fortunately, the skeleton hadn¡¯t been prepared either, and thus didn¡¯t take the opportunity to charge him. In fact, it created a small opening for Angelo and Nilrem to damage the boss further. The party managed to struggle through ninety percent of the boss¡¯ health, but were getting a bit low on stamina and mana. The boss started spinning around with its sword out, and was soon a whirlwind of death. It moved somewhat randomly, damaging and knocking back party members. Fortunately its accuracy was somewhat reduced so it didn¡¯t do any critical damage to the party members. However, all of the party members except Quietus were injured and knocked away, with only minimal damage dealt to the boss. Quietus himself was backed into a corner. The giant sword was moving too to properly dodge, and Quietus knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape to either side. Of course, the corner prevented his other escape routes. As it approached him, Quietus saw a single chance. As it was close enough to hit him, its sword struck the wall. This only slightly slowed the attack, but Quietus was already moving. He dived forward and rolled, directly toward the skeleton. Because of its long reach, this movement meant he ended up immediately next to it. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Before the skeleton could react by kicking him away, Quietus jumped up and grabbed onto the skeleton¡¯s ribcage¡­ from the inside. Then he began frantically hacking at its spine with his other hand. The skeleton moved violently, trying to shake him off, but he managed to hold on. It tried to reach him with its free hand, but it was a very awkward angle to try and grab him. At this point, the rest of the party was back up, if a bit bedraggled. Ruby used a dance to decrease the defense of the giant skeleton, and the rest attacked. Angelo charged the skeleton, while Maratis and Nilrem fired holy and lightning spells respectively. Because it couldn¡¯t balance properly, it was unable to continue its deadly whirlwind skill. Before it was given a chance to adjust, the party finished it off. As the skeleton¡¯s health dropped to zero, there was a bright flash and a clattering sound. Quietus fell to the floor, and landed on a small pile of loot.
Level up!
You have defeated the Destroyer Skeleton and finished the exploration of the dungeon! You have gained experience! Level up! You have gained fame! Fame +50
With the addition of two levels, the entire party was now slightly over level 100. Nilrem identified the loot, and they divided it up among the party. Quietus got a belt. He didn¡¯t really question where the loot came from on a skeleton.
Acrobat¡¯s Belt Agility + 20 Movement Speed + 5%
At this point it was late in the day, and everyone started saying their goodbyes and logging off. Quietus was the last one, and he was about to log off when he noticed that there were no bones. Normally, he might not have cared, but he had been interested in studying them for his Repair Undead skill. The sword was also gone. He found another missing stone with an area that was open in the back wall. He used his combination of Animation on his eye and Spectral Hand to open another secret door. He then learned that putting your eye back in without a healer was much more painful, but he somehow managed to use his stitching skill after quite a bit of fumbling around, and it seemed to be effective. He thought he might want to look into some anesthetics in case he ever did that again. Inside the secret-secret room, he found a sarcophagus. It was a rectangular shaped box of stone, mostly plain, but almost as tall as Quietus in its shortest dimension. However, instead of the proper covering on top, it was open. Quietus peeked over the edge, and saw the skeleton. Well, more like a wide variety of broken and cracked bones. They just piled in the sarcophagus, and it no longer resembled a giant skeleton at all. He felt kind of sad that it was all broken to pieces. He started picking out pieces and trying to fit them together. Then¡­
You have received a Quest! Repair the Destroyer Skeleton Destroyer Skeletons were created from the bodies of giants. Although there were many smaller forms, some of them were more than thirty feet tall. They focused on speed and unmatched destructive power, and were used as soldiers on the battlefield. However, the arts required to animate such beings have been lost to time, and the last Destroyer Skeleton now lies broken. Perhaps if it were repaired, there could be some insight gained into the art. Reward: Experience in Repair Undead Unknown Penalty for failure: none
Quietus was happy to get another quest related to Repair Undead so soon. He was even more eager to fit the pieces together, and spent several hours trying to organize the pieces. It was quite a large process, and he only managed to get a small part of the ribcage somewhat back how it was supposed to be. He was very tired, so after sealing the secret room, he logged off. He would continue to work on it later. End Chapter 42 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1692&p=10940#p10940 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1809 Necromancer - Chapter 43 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 43 Quietus sat and stared at a pile of bones. Technically, it was a skeleton. It was even sort of skeleton shaped, if you looked at it from the top. However, it lacked a very important thing that skeletons normally had. Or perhaps in a way it had something extra. Human skeletons, which were similar in structure to this giant one, have 206 bones. However, there were over 1000 pieces. Quietus would have been okay with trying to piece together a more complicated skeleton with more bones. Instead, he was stuck with a jumble of broken and shattered bones. He had fit quite a number of the bones together, but they did not naturally stay together. He couldn¡¯t use any of the repairing techniques he¡¯d learned on zombies, since that was repairing things around the structure of bones. Here, the structure was broken. He was also pretty sure some pieces were missing. He¡¯d spent most of a week in game, throughout several days in real life, just organizing the pieces. Now, he had to figure out how to actually repair the skeleton. -------------------------- Mortimer searched the internet for how the skeletons used in classroom settings were prepared, but only came up with general descriptions of the process, not the details he needed. The small library in his house mostly had history and philosophy books. His parent¡¯s collection was both unknown and off-limits. His own books consisted entirely of science fiction and fantasy books. -------------------------- At school, Mortimer was mostly distracted throughout the day. He¡¯d found various titles that might provide the information he needed, and after school he was going to a nearby bookstore that had them. He wasn¡¯t even paying much attention when he was called on by a teacher in anatomy class, and answered absentmindedly. Some question about the names of something. All he could think about was bones though. He answered with the first things that came into his head. After that, the teacher stopped bothering him. -------------------------- At lunch, he sat with Angela and the others. ¡°You know, Mortimer, you¡¯ve been spending a lot of time alone. At least when you were kids you spent a lot of time with me.¡± Mortimer recalled Angela dragging him around everywhere. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯ve decided that you need to spend more time with people. That¡¯s why you¡¯re coming on the school camping trip.¡± ¡°What camping trip?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you listen to the announcements?¡± ¡®There are-¡± Angela sighed. ¡°Yes, there are announcements. I know you¡¯ve been there for them. Plus there are posters¡­ anyway. You¡¯re not busy those days, so you can come. I¡¯ll have James remind you¡­ or more likely pack your stuff for you.¡± Mortimer held up his finger to protest, but before he could speak... ¡°Objection denied. Unless you get verifiably sick, you¡¯re going.¡± Mortimer put on a small frown, but gave up arguing. -------------------------- After classes were over, Mortimer was about to head towards the car, but he saw Dr. Stevenson, the dean of sciences who had dealt with the issues Mortimer had experienced with the football team. He was walking towards him, and it didn¡¯t look like a coincidental direction, so he waited politely. ¡°Greetings, Mr. Perrywinkle.¡± Mortimer grimaced slightly at this. ¡°Mortimer, please. Mr. Perrywinkle is my father. Just¡­ Mortimer.¡± The dean smiled. ¡°Of course. I heard from your anatomy teacher that you are doing quite well in their class.¡± Mortimer shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s easy. Everyone should be doing well.¡± ¡°Oh? I¡¯ve heard quite differently from many students. Perhaps you have a talent for it. I¡¯ve also heard that you¡¯ve written some¡­ interesting¡­ essays in your ethics class.¡± ¡°I mostly just write whatever comes to mind. It¡¯s not like there¡¯s a right answer anyway.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± The dean gave him an ambiguous smile. ¡°Don¡¯t forget to keep up with your studies.¡± After the dean walked away, Mortimer was again about to head to his car to have James drive him to the book store. He turned to bid goodbye to Alex, who commented, ¡°You know, I haven¡¯t ever had a dean come up to me and comment on my studies.¡± ¡°Well, you didn¡¯t almost get in a huge pile of trouble either. I¡¯m sure he¡¯s just checking if I¡¯ve started to get into trouble like them.¡± Then, he remembered what Angela had said. ¡°Say, are you busy now? I¡¯m planning to head to the bookstore.¡± Perhaps if he voluntarily had contact with people he was okay with, such as Alex, it would prevent Angela from wrangling him into future camping trips or similar things. Not that he thought he could get out of the immediately upcoming one. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Alex thought for a short while, then said, ¡°Sure, I¡¯m not busy. I¡¯ve been meaning to get some books anyway. Let me just let my parents know. Do you have a car?¡± ¡°James will drive us.¡± ¡°Your brother?¡± ¡°What? I don¡¯t have a brother. James is my driver. Well, and my butler too, when he¡¯s not driving me places¡­ which is most of the time, really.¡± Alex nodded sagely. ¡°Oh. Of course, your driver.¡± -------------------------- Once in the bookstore, Mortimer quickly gathered a small pile of books. It was everything he thought would be useful. Then he went to meet Alex in the fiction section. ¡°Studying for anatomy?¡± asked Alex. ¡°Why would you think that?¡± Mortimer asked. ¡°Because the books¡­ nevermind,¡± Alex said with an eye rolling motion. ¡°Of course you aren¡¯t studying for class.¡± The two spent some time looking through the science fiction and fantasy sections, and found quite a few books, some of which they recommended to each other. In the end, they had quite a pile of books between them. When they got up to the counter to pay, Mortimer grabbed the entire pile and put it on the desk. Then he pulled out a credit card. ¡°I can pay for my own books, you know,¡± said Alex. ¡°You could, but it¡¯s faster this way.¡± Alex could have argued that it wasn¡¯t much faster, or quite a number of other things, but decided to remain silent. It wasn¡¯t a necessary argument. -------------------------- After they left the bookstore, they went back to Mortimer¡¯s house to hang out for a while. If Mortimer¡¯s nose hadn¡¯t been buried in one of his new books, he might have noticed the wide eyes Alex had at seeing the house. James didn¡¯t miss it. ¡°Perhaps I should give your friend a tour of the house while you get settled in.¡± Mortimer nodded absently as he wandered towards the house, open book in hand as he walked. After a while, James brought Alex back to the library, which had comfortable reading chairs. ¡°You have a nice house, Mortimer.¡± Mortimer looked up from the book. ¡°Hm? Yeah, I guess it¡¯s pretty nice.¡± Since Mortimer didn¡¯t seem particularly impressed at his own house, Alex pulled out some homework and started working on it. That lasted a short time before the lure of new books was too strong. For the rest of the afternoon the two sat in the library reading, with Alex occasionally commenting on the book, eliciting a response from Mortimer. Since the conversation was about a book, Mortimer actually contributed more to the conversation than normal. Once it was evening, Mortimer invited Alex to stay for dinner, but was politely declined. Alex still had things that needed to be done at home, such as homework¡­ and then Royal Road. Of course, after dinner, Mortimer would be doing the same. More of the latter, though. -------------------------- Quietus made a run out of the dungeon to collect some supplies. Before he left, he sealed the secret-secret room, just in case. He gathered quite a lot of alchemy materials, as well as various wires and metal rods of various sizes. He just hoped he could synthesize something that was close enough to what he needed. Once back in the dungeon, Quietus ignored all the monsters, who were happy to do the same with him, as long as he didn¡¯t approach too close. In the secret room, he spent hours mixing various compounds or herbs and other materials. After many tries of different things, he finally had something that satisfied him. A paste that could be moulded, but would then harden into its shape. With the paste and various wires and rods he set about repairing the skeleton. By the time it was time for him to go to sleep, he had a rib almost done. Some small rods were used as a core for the paste in missing sections, REPLACEed into opposing pieces of bone. Quietus approximated the distances that were necessary. He hoped it would give it enough strength to hold up. It was a long process, gluing and wiring and basically stabbing bones into place, but he began to get the process down. Then he had to sleep. It would still be here to work on later. End Chapter 43 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1756&p=11396#p11396 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2243 Necromancer - Chapter 44 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 44 Quietus spent a long time repairing the skeleton. It was a rather long and painful process. Besides figuring out which pieces connected where, there was a lot of trial and error in the exact formula for the ¡°glue¡± he was using. There was also the problem of getting the spacing correct between bones or between fragments. He was pretty sure he¡¯d mixed various pieces up, and put them in the wrong place. As he was putting the ribcage together, he realized he¡¯d made quite a few mistakes. Most of the ribs wouldn¡¯t line up with each other or connect in the middle. He had to start over from the beginning, which meant he had to develop something to remove the filler/glue from the pieces of bone. The entire ribcage took about a week, in real time. There was quite a bit of fiddling around with pieces, measuring with new tools he¡¯d had to acquire, and waiting for material to dry. The other parts were mostly simpler, but Quietus had to figure out something to hold the skull¡¯s shape as the glue dried. Otherwise, it sagged. Finally Quietus had done all he could do. All the bones were no longer in pieces, and they were organized in the right way. The only problem was that there were no muscles or ligaments to connect various bones and joints, so they just lay on the ground. He could have held them with metal rods or pins, but it didn¡¯t seem right. He couldn¡¯t call it usable, but it was, apparently, good enough.
You have completed a quest! Repair the Destroyer Skeleton Although the repairs are not perfect, it can be seen that great care was taken to restore the original image. Unfortunately, the magic that had animated the skeleton has faded, and the method of animation has been lost to time. Since it is unconnected, a simple animation spell will fail. Level up! Level up! Level up! A skill has leveled up! Repair undead Beginner level 4 Allows you to repair undead. At this level, physical repairs can be made to most undead, with the proper materials. Magical and non-physical components are still unable to be repaired. Higher level undead will not be completely repaired.
Quietus frowned. A little more than two weeks spent, and only three levels and some experience in repair undead. It certainly wasn¡¯t a quick speed. Still, he was glad to have repaired the poor skeleton. He carefully put all the parts back into the sarcophagus, arranged as they were supposed to be. It was large enough that he had to climb in to properly reach. Just as he was about to get out, he noticed some writing.
Rise, my creation, warrior of renown, for an army to great to number knocks at our door. Rise, my creation, slayer of men, protect those whom you have wronged Awaken, my friend, to defeat those who I cannot Awaken, my friend, he who bears my soul -Aullet
You have received a quest! The Necromancer Aullet The Destroyer Skeleton was created at the cost of the life of its creator, known only by the name Aullet. Unfortunately, his methods of creation were not left behind. Find someone who knows of Aullet to learn more about his techniques. Rewards: Unknown Restrictions: none Special: Many people will frown at the mention of any powerful necromancers. Inquiring in the wrong places could result in a loss of reputation or enmity with a church or other faction.
This was what Quietus had been looking for! Information on the creator was key. Although the name wasn¡¯t much to go by, it was a start. He didn¡¯t yet know where to go looking, although he could think of a few places to start. He spent some time searching the room, inside and outside the coffin, the floor, and even looked at the ceiling. There were no more inscriptions to be found, not that he expected more. -------------------------- In anatomy class, Mortimer discovered there was a test. ¡°Hey, Alex, have I been doing the homework.¡± Alex gave Mortimer a weird look. ¡°How should I know? You put papers up at front with everyone else, so I¡¯m going to say probably.¡± ¡°Ah, okay, good. I should probably be fine for the test.¡± Alex groaned a little bit. ¡°Some people have to study. They¡¯d probably kill you if they heard that¡­ if they weren¡¯t your friend.¡± Despite his confidence, Mortimer was slightly worried as the tests were passed out. He didn¡¯t remember doing any anatomy homework. All of his memories of the past two and a half weeks were of bones. The books he¡¯d checked out, putting together bones in Royal Road, writing notes on bones¡­ the list went on. In contrast, he didn¡¯t even remember one homework assignment. He¡¯d probably done them, but he couldn¡¯t imagine what they were on. Maybe he¡¯d just written notes on them¡­ that could explain where some of his notes went. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. His past few weeks had been so filled with bones he was even hallucinating them on the test. He didn¡¯t see any questions, just a skeleton filling up the sheet. Then he noticed the instructions at the top. ¡®Fill in the names of the bones.¡¯ Simple. He knew more names of bones than he knew names of people. Well, names of people he paid any attention to anyway. He noticed that the teacher had left out quite a few lines pointing to bones, so he drew them in on his own. It took quite a lot of time for him to do the test, and while he wasn¡¯t the last to finish, he was pretty close. Just as he was about to turn his test in, he noticed there were questions on the back. Simple multiple choice, but he didn¡¯t have much time left. He rushed back to his seat and circled all the answers as quickly as he could. He finished just before the period was over. This time, he really was the last person to finish. -------------------------- Outside of class, he saw Alex. ¡°What took you so long? I thought you were confident.¡± ¡°Well, I spent a bit too long on the front because I didn¡¯t realize there were more questions on the back.¡± ¡°I totally understand. It took me a while to think of all ten of the correct names.¡± Mortimer was slightly confused. There were definitely a lot more bones than ten in the human body. Well, it didn¡¯t matter too much. Finally, Alex spoke up again. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll see you later okay Mortimer?¡± ¡°Of course. See you later.¡± -------------------------- ¡°Here we are, sir,¡± said James as they pulled in front of the house. ¡°I¡¯ve taken the liberty of packing your bag. We should be leaving in half an hour.¡± ¡°Right. My bag¡­ for umm¡­¡± ¡°The camping trip. Miss Angela informed me of the specifics.¡± ¡°Oh yeah. That.¡± Mortimer was done with his quest, so he figured he could be away from Royal Road for a bit. Plus, he couldn¡¯t think of an excuse to not go that wouldn¡¯t leave Angela pestering him for a month or two. Mortimer checked the bag. Clothes for three days, which meant the camping trip shouldn¡¯t be too long. He added a few books in case he got some time to read. He checked what he was carrying, and could only think of one more thing he might want. ¡°I¡¯m taking the first-aid kit from the trunk, James. People tend to get scraped up a bit on camping trips, and I can think of a few people that I might give bandages to.¡± ¡°Of course sir. That¡¯s an excellent idea.¡± James looked slightly ashamed to have not thought of that himself. Of course, he had been the one to put one in the car. -------------------------- Once at the campgrounds, the students were split up into groups of four, generally. At least one older student or teacher, and generally the groups were split into two boys and two girls. Mortimer¡¯s group ended up with an extra, since the number of people wasn¡¯t precisely divisible by four. Since the students also had input as to their groups, Mortimer was with Angela, Solara, and Alex. The older student in their group was Robert, the one football player Mortimer had met who hadn¡¯t been a total jerk. Well, he hadn¡¯t demonstrated any kind of jerkness at all. To be fair, Mortimer hadn¡¯t met many of the football players, and had only met Robert once. It was nominally Robert¡¯s job to be the leader and keep the group out of trouble, but Angela seemed to take over that role rather quickly. Since she seemed to know what she was doing, Robert made no objections. The first evening, all the groups did were set up their tents and eat food roasted in fire pits. Fortunately, Solara and to some extent Robert knew how to cook. Angela was a bit ambiguous on the topic, and Alex had only used a microwave. Mortimer had just never cooked, even with a microwave. He didn¡¯t bother mentioning that. Sleeping arrangements were simple, everyone got in their sleeping bags wherever they fit in the large tent they had available for their group. Nobody was worried about ¡°something¡± happening because there were others around- and other tents nearby as well. It took Mortimer a while to fall asleep since he wasn¡¯t used to sleeping at normal hours anymore. Plus, he¡¯d never slept in a sleeping bag before. It was weird, feeling the ground beneath him, even with a soft layer in between. End Chapter 44 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1809&p=11768#p11768 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1998 Necromancer - Chapter 45 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 45 Note: Hey guys, sorry it¡¯s been so long. I¡¯d like to give a good excuse like ¡°I was busy with stuff¡± but that wouldn¡¯t be true. Mostly I was lazy. -------------------------- Mortimer woke up in a strange place. He reached for his knife, but it wasn¡¯t in the right place. Then he realized he wasn¡¯t in his leather armor, either. After he really woke up, he wasn¡¯t in Royal Road. He was in, well, reality. He wasn¡¯t wearing his leather armor because he didn¡¯t have any. His knife wasn¡¯t there because he had been in pajamas. Finally, he didn¡¯t recognize the place he was in because he¡¯d never woken up in a tent before. Right. He was camping. He looked around the tent, quite visible in the morning light. There were three others in their sleeping bags. Robert was to one side of him, taking up probably more than his fair share of space against the side of the tent. Then again, he was about the size as any two of the others put together. Angela was on his other side. Beyond her was an empty sleeping bag. Then, at the feet of the other sleeping bags was Alex¡¯s sleeping bag. It looked occupied, but Mortimer couldn¡¯t see Alex¡¯s head. Mortimer heard the tent zip closed, carefully, and realized he probably woke up when Solara left the tent. He pulled some clothes to change into and crept out of the tent. Alex was almost entirely covered by the sleeping bag, but a bit of Alex¡¯s brown hair and eyebrows could be seen. It hadn¡¯t seemed that cold, though. After he finished changing, he saw Solara at the camp fire starting to cook what must be breakfast. Around the campground many of the other groups had members who were up as well, and many had gone to get the supplies from the teachers as well. Mortimer sat across the fire from Solara, since anything else would have been even more awkward. He wanted to say something. He wanted to ask what good books she¡¯d read lately. Perhaps how she was doing in classes, although he knew she was always doing well. He didn¡¯t know anything about her personal life. He was starting to miss the insights her journal had given him. Since she didn¡¯t start a conversation either, both of them just sat there quietly until the other members of the group were up. Robert, as expected, ate quite a bit of food for breakfast, although he didn¡¯t hog the food. Mortimer wasn¡¯t too far behind, since he now ate much more than he had before he started training with Master Valarao. Although Mortimer wasn¡¯t much bigger than he had been, he had a lot more muscle he needed to support. After breakfast, everyone who had come to the camping met in a large group. Mortimer didn¡¯t pay too much attention, but the gist of what was said was that they would be going on hikes in groups, and then everyone would come back together to do some kind of activities. In preparation for the hike, Mortimer packed a small bag he had with him. He might need some snacks. Of course, he had enough to share with the others as well. It was important to have good relationships with the members of your party. As the group walked along, Mortimer was reminded again of the party atmosphere he felt. It was probably the trees along the path. Plus, although they were not exactly walking in formation, it reminded him of the group in Royal Road, although Angela and Alex were part of that party. (Note: Since he still doesn¡¯t know Solara is Ruby) The thing that most evoked the feeling of Royal Road was very simple. It was just being outside for an extended period. Mortimer hadn¡¯t done that much outside before starting Royal Road, and afterwards his only real contact with it was going to and from a car. This was the first time he¡¯d been outside for long since he started playing. He silently thanked James for packing sunscreen. Around him, the group chatted casually about things. School, television, books and Royal Road all came up at some point. Robert talked about times he¡¯d been camping with his family before. Mortimer looked around at the rocks and trees again. He thought the scenery was pretty enough, but the hike had been pretty uneventful. The group was about an hour out, and nothing exciting had happened. In Royal Road, they would at least have run across a few groups of monsters. As soon as he finished thinking that, he saw something move quickly past his range of vision, and then heard Solara scream. He quickly looked in her direction, and saw something completely unexpected. A mountain lion. It wasn¡¯t very big, but it looked like it had gotten a nasty scratch on Solara. The first one to act was Robert. He was closest to Solara, and he actually tackled the mountain lion from behind. He was strong, and it was only about the size of an average dog, but it was fierce. It was trying to scratch at him, but couldn¡¯t get him from its position. By this point, Mortimer was over next to the mountain lion, with his knife out. He took a swing at the mountain lion¡¯s neck. Just one, with a very sharp knife. Blood sprayed on his hand. It was strange, and unexpectedly warm. Soon, it stopped struggling. Robert had a few scratches on his arms, but they were very shallow. Quietus, no- Mortimer turned to face Solara. She had been unexpectedly quiet. Although she had only been scratched once, she didn¡¯t look so good as Robert. It was a fairly deep scratch, which was obvious with the blood staining her shirt. She was standing there with her hand at her side, with a pained, and somewhat surprised face. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Mortimer quickly wiped his knife off and put it away. Then he reached for his bag. ¡°You¡¯re bleeding too much¡­ you¡¯ll need treatment. ¡° After sifting through the drinks and food, he pulled out the first aid kit. ¡°Can I look at it?¡± Solara nodded slowly. ¡°Okay.¡± It was somewhat awkward for them both, as the wound was on her lower ribs. He had to lift her shirt some to see it. ¡°This looks pretty bad. I think you¡¯ll need stitches.¡± Angela looked worried. ¡°We¡¯re an hour away from camp, and then we¡¯ll have to drive to the hospital.¡± Richard spoke up too. ¡°You don¡¯t look in any condition to be walking. I can carry you, if you need it.¡± Looking at him, he seemed like he might even make it all the way back to camp. Alex just stood there in a panic. ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± said Mortimer. ¡°I can do it.¡± Angela looked at him oddly. ¡°Really?¡± Mortimer nodded. ¡°I¡¯m just about intermediate level in stitching in Royal Road. I have the supplies for it here. It should be fine. May I?¡± He looked at Solara. ¡°S- sure.¡± Her voice sounded kind of weak. ¡°Sit down please.¡± He began to clean and sterilize the wound, but it was hard with her shirt getting in the way. Eventually, Angela held it up for him. It was still more modest than many outfits Mortimer had seen people wearing. Mortimer even had a mild anesthetic in the kit. After applying it, he prepared to stitch up the wound. ¡°This will only hurt a little bit. That last stuff should help numb you.¡± Mortimer had learned that it was important to lie to patients about how much pain there would be. Otherwise, it hurt more. As he started stitching her side, Solara stiffened. She definitely felt it, but she was trying to be tough. Fortunately, she held still. Mortimer was practiced enough, and good with his hands, so he had no trouble finishing up the stitches, although it did take some time. Solara was looking pale, and Mortimer had her drink one of the sports drinks from his bag. ¡°You¡¯ll need the fluids.¡± ¡°Wow,¡± Alex said. ¡°You¡¯re prepared for anything.¡± ¡°Hmm? Actually, I just thought we¡¯d want snacks. Maybe someone would get scratched by a branch¡­¡± At that, he turned to look at Robert¡¯s arms. He cleaned the scratches, but nothing needed stitches. Solara¡¯s shirt was ruined, and Robert gave her the jacket he had been wearing. Mortimer would miss looking at her stomach. It was quite nice, and reminded him of something. In fact, it looked exactly like¡­ ¡°Are you Ruby?¡± Mortimer asked. He was pretty sure she was. Although the face was slightly different, and the hair was completely different, her bare stomach was the same. He¡¯d never seen Solara in that state before, but Ruby was constantly going around with a bare belly. Solara looked at him, then laughed at bit. Then she grimaced. Finally, with a slight smile on her face she said, ¡°You mean you hadn¡¯t figured it out before now? With me talking to Angela and Alex about the game?¡± She shook her head. Mortimer realized it should have been obvious, but he just hadn¡¯t seen it. The group started walking back toward camp. Nobody there wanted to be far away, in case any more ¡°surprises¡± happened. As they walked away, Mortimer looked at the body. It was thin. Probably starving, and desperate. Otherwise, it would never have approached a group. On the way back, Angela spoke to Mortimer. ¡°Where did you get the knife?¡± ¡°Master Valarao gave it to me. He said it would probably be handy. Didn¡¯t I tell you about it?¡± Angela shook her head. ¡°I guess I just didn¡¯t notice.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s this master Valarao?¡± asked Robert. ¡°He¡¯s my teacher. He teaches me knife fighting.¡± Mortimer said. ¡°Well, it has a fancy name, but that¡¯s basically what it is.¡± ¡°Is that how you killed the mountain lion?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s also from playing Royal Road. Speaking of which¡­ since the rest of us are here, I don¡¯t suppose you happen to be Nilrem?¡± ¡°Who? In Royal Road? No, I¡¯m a barbarian named Gawain. I wanted to be a knight, but it didn¡¯t work out.¡± ¡°Well, that would have been too much of a coincidence anyway.¡± Mortimer nodded to himself. -------------------------- Back at the campsite, after explaining what happened to the teachers, they decided to have her sent home early. One of the teachers would take her to the hospital to be checked out. Mortimer knew she would be fine, but he didn¡¯t say anything. He knew he wouldn¡¯t want to stay around at a campout with an injured side. He¡¯d had plenty of painful wounds in Royal Road. Of course, he didn¡¯t want to stay at the campout with a perfectly healthy side, but he did. End Chapter 45 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2243&p=14643#p14643 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2013 Necromancer - Chapter 46 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 46 Mortimer was bored. Half his reason for being at the camp was gone. The first half, of course, being Solara. The second half was around somewhere, but Mortimer didn¡¯t currently see Angela. Not that he wanted to right now, since she¡¯d made him go outside for more than a whole day. He could be doing something. Specifically, playing Royal Road. Instead, he was sitting, pondering whether he should take a nap. Of course, he was technically participating in a camp ¡°activity¡±. Mortimer thought he might take a nap anyway. He leaned back against the tree, careful not to disturb his balance. He watched the others scurrying around on the ground, like ants. Well, more like meerkats or something. The tree wasn¡¯t that tall, and ants were entirely the wrong shape for humans. These people who were scurrying around were looking for someone. Anyone, really. Mortimer saw three of the targets from his perch. Amateurs. Mortimer wasn¡¯t really tired, though, so he couldn¡¯t take a nap. He probably wouldn¡¯t have, anyway. Plus, it hadn¡¯t really been that long. More importantly, Mortimer was slightly interested in this activity, because he could win. The three had been found. Now, everyone was standing around looking. Mortimer could hear what people were saying, and he figured he should climb down from his tree. Mortimer climbed down from his tree, and wandered through the people. He walked up behind one of the leaders. ¡°I win.¡± Mortimer liked winning. Although he had no choice but to participate, since it took little effort, he decided to win. The leader jumped. Several others around turned to look, as well. Many people spoke at once, but the general consensus was ¡°How did you get there?¡± Mortimer didn¡¯t answer that questions. Instead, he just had a slight smile on his face. It felt good to win sometimes, even if it was just hide-and-go-seek. Mortimer was also smiling because they would be heading back soon. He was ready for that. -------------------------- The tavern was busy for the time of day, but not full. It was a good tavern, with plenty of tables and many different kinds of alcohol on tap. However, today the service was a bit slower. There were no servers going between the tables, and only one person at the bar. The bartender appeared to be a new hire, and was a bit slow with the orders. In the corner sat a paladin named Tiberius, of around level 150. He came into the tavern every day at the same time, and ordered the same thing. Then he scanned for people with bounties in the crowd. Usually, there were none. If there were any, then he would give them a chance to turn themselves in. Otherwise, he would defeat them. Tiberius felt it was his duty to protect the city from those who would corrupt it. To lawful players, he was friendly, and none had issue with him. However, there were always those who would take issues with those on the righteous path. There were also less public, but no less official, bounties. The three shady characters across the room were obviously people who sought that. As they walked over toward him, Tiberius downed the last of his ale, and strode to meet them in the middle of the room. There was one strange thing about this particular tavern. Although there were tables around the edges, there were none in the middle of the room. This was, mainly, because the owners of the tavern didn¡¯t like having tables broken. The three men started to surround Tiberius, but he didn¡¯t wait for them to finish their formation. He charged at the closest member, catching him alone. The man¡¯s reaction was delayed, sluggish, and he went down quickly. The other two took the opportunity to flank Tiberius, and whittled his health down with a series of quick strikes from either side, neither staying within reach of Tiberius for long. However, Tiberius had fought such opponents before, and once he understood the timing, he performed a perfect counter. Once again, the opponent was too slow. The third one stood no chance in single combat, although he managed a few more blows on Tiberius. Tiberius felt weak after the battle, and took a knee. The room was strangely quiet. He looked around, and saw that the rest of the patrons were unconscious. It was a bit too early in the day for people to be passing out. Even if it were later, there should only be a few, and not all at once. Tiberius saw the bartender approaching him, and spoke. ¡°Barkeep, something strange has happened to the patrons. I worry for them.¡± Tiberius felt himself getting weaker, it seemed from a poison he had not noticed his opponents applying. He couldn¡¯t move to check on anyone. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. The barkeep looked around, and approached Tiberius. ¡°Worry not, they will be fine. They¡¯ve just had too much to drink.¡± The barkeep walked past Tiberius. ¡°Of course, they would have done better if the wine had not been drugged.¡± Tiberius only heard the last sentence after a wicked knife stabbed into the side of his neck. Then, the true form of the barkeep was revealed. A murderer. Quietus, by name. He wasn¡¯t famous, but Tiberius thought he had heard the name somewhere. He didn¡¯t have much time to ponder it as he slipped into oblivion. -------------------------- Quietus wiped his blade. The initial poison had worked well. It should have, it was the best he¡¯d ever made. A fine piece, it had been called. The effects were a very powerful, but delayed, damaging effect. There was also a slow onset of paralysis. It would likely have worked even better if it had not needed to be diluted in alcohol. The rest of the patrons had just had a sleeping effect in theirs. It had been very tricky to create, however, as it was designed to take effect after a certain duration from its creation, instead of based on consumption. Fortunately, most of the patrons had been low level players and npcs. The rest were those three assassins who had tried to steal Quietus¡¯ mission, or something. He didn¡¯t recognize them. While he had time, Quietus picked up what he could off of the four dead fellows, arranged a quick disguise, and left the tavern. Once he arrived at the local headquarters of the Assassin¡¯s Guild, or more specifically The Order of Silence, he went to see Frank. Well, the Frank in this city, the head of this section. ¡°Well done Quietus. I¡¯ve received word of your success.¡±
You have completed a quest! Order of Silence Advancement Test Kill Tiberius, the paladin, who has been causing some trouble for the order. You have leveled up!
You have achieved the rank of Journeyman in The Order of Silence. You will have greater responsibilities and rewards.
He¡¯d finally done enough to increase his rank. Not that he had been lacking in quests for the Order, just that he hadn¡¯t attempted any higher profile targets. Of course, Tiberius would be back, but this was just a test of his ability to get the job done. He¡¯d finally gotten around to it because he had discovered the reward was a somewhat exclusive spell. He received his reward, and used the book.
You have learned the spell Enhance Alchemy! Increases the potency of a potion or poison, such as healing, damage, effect, and duration. However, if the potion of poison is not used within a certain time, the dose will be lost. Cost: 100 mana
Quietus had found that poisons were either not as effective as he would like, expensive, or had time consuming ingredients. This would allow him to make them more effective. Of course, it would also work for his healing potions as well. Now it was time to gather up supplies. He was going on a journey, and he needed as much preparation as he could get. End Chapter 46 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1998&p=12844#p12844 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2246 Necromancer - Chapter 47 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 47 Long lasting food, a bit of cooking supplies, stitching supplies, herbs for potions, and various other useful items. These were the things Quietus prepared for his trip to the Plains of Despair. At a bit less than level 150, Quietus would find the plains of despair very challenging. In fact, it would have been impossible previously, according to his research. There had been a large battle which had introduced quite a few undead into the area. Although the ones that remained with the army that had fought there had died, a few thousands of undead, still just a few percent of the army, had escaped. The progress of the undead army had made much of the land unlivable, or at the very least even worse to survive in. The undead also fought the native beasts. The result was generally less monsters except for undead, who were individually weaker than the monsters of the plains of despair. Of course, the dark elves and orcs still lived around somewhere, but it was easier to hide from things that couldn¡¯t smell you. Quietus had a goal, and some idea of how to get there. It would take some time, since he had to go from the very edge to the center of the Plains of Despair, and he wasn¡¯t sure of the exact location. Thus, he prepared for a long journey. After Quietus climbed over the wall separating the Plains of Despair from the province of Mora, he cast the spell that would be most important to his success or failure. ¡°Soul Bind.¡± If he died, he would not have to start over at the nearest town. He could continue on. Before venturing too deep, he decided to hunt monsters near the edge of the Plains of Despair. There were large beasts, mostly giant boars. The boars fortunately didn¡¯t seem to travel together, so Quietus was able to defeat them. Although a charging boar was a frightening sight, with the right timing it could be dodged. Quietus noticed they had a lot of hit points, and it took a massive amount of poison to take them down, even with Enhance Alchemy affecting it. When he could, he would jump on a boar¡¯s back, allowing him a few seconds of safety while he attacked. Of course, then he would get flung off. Occasionally, he mistimed a dodge, and suffered a loss of level for it, but he was still steadily progressing. Since The Power to Accept death leveled up again, he just considered any mistakes training for that. Besides boars, Quietus hunted at least one of everything he saw, for the sake of his anatomy skill. The gap between his critical hits and regular attacks was becoming increasingly large. The power of a Backstab or Perforate artery, combined with his anatomy skill and a high luck, made his critical hits extremely impressive. Anything else, though, was only really useful if he applied a poison with the attack. Most of the time he did. There were plenty of useful herbs in these plains. Well, none good for healing, or recovering stamina, or restoring mana. Just lots of different kinds of poisonous herbs. Quietus spent about a week getting used to the Plains of Despair and increasing his level, and another moving a bit deeper. Further in, he found a giant lizard. It didn¡¯t seem like it should belong in a plains setting, but there it was. He saw it from a distance, and actually managed to properly sneak up on it. With a critical hit from backstab, and a good poison¡­ he soon realized it was much stronger than anything else he¡¯d fought. For a lizard almost as tall as him, and more than thirty feet long, it moved fast. Quietus couldn¡¯t avoid its claws, tail, and sharp teeth- not all at the same time. He couldn¡¯t run fast enough to escape either. So, before he died, he made sure his soul bind was active. Then, he tried every attack he had at least once. The verdict he reached was that he wouldn¡¯t be able to kill one of them alone. The most effective attack had been his first one, and his spells were practically useless. Sure, he could probably avoid them. So he would have to. When he came back to life, anyway. -------------------------- School was awkward for Mortimer. Although he got along fine with Alex and Angela, and somewhat well with Robert, he didn¡¯t interact with many people. Solara was even more awkward to interact with now that he knew she was Ruby. Plus, he¡¯d seen her bare stomach, both as her and Ruby. As Ruby, he¡¯d seen somewhat more. Still, that wasn¡¯t too awkward. It was more the fact that she knew he¡¯d seen her. He¡¯d even touched her (barely) to stitch up her side. That, really, was the biggest part. The doctors said she would have a scar. Quietus agreed to himself that it was likely. It wasn¡¯t because of his stitching- they¡¯d found no problems with that, but just the wound itself. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Mortimer didn¡¯t really know why, but he felt somewhat responsible for it. It was quite irrational, so he always tried to ignore the feeling that he should have protected her somehow. He couldn¡¯t have, since he didn¡¯t know or expect anything would happen. He¡¯d never really wanted to protect someone else before anyway. At least, not before playing Royal Road. Personally, he found it easier to take revenge, but that wouldn¡¯t always be feasible. Plus, it didn¡¯t stop people from getting hurt, which was the problem again. Mortimer hadn¡¯t really cared much about that before. Before playing Royal Road, Mortimer¡¯s parents had done all the protecting. Not that he minded that, but it was weird to think he wanted to do it himself. He¡¯d been fine. Either way, it was still awkward to be around Solara. Since she was also Ruby, it turned out she was the only one he¡¯d ever really been attracted to. Liked, perhaps. -------------------------- Quietus continued traveling the Plains of Despair. He¡¯d started seeing packs of undead. Ghouls, skeletons, zombies. It would be hard to take on a group of them by himself. Therefore, he avoided those and the giant lizards. ¡­But he couldn¡¯t keep doing that forever. Mostly because there were too many enemies to avoid. Party because he wasn¡¯t growing stronger this way. Then, there was the very small part of him that just wanted to kill new things. Thus it was that he found a situation that was to his advantage. A pack of ghouls was attacking one of the giant lizards. The ghouls were attacking the lizard with teeth, claws, and poison. The lizard counterattacked with its own, exchanging poison for tail. Both sides were getting quite injured, but the lizard was losing. Quietus just waited. Then, when there was an opening, he leaped in and killed the lizards. It gave quite a nice amount of experience. Of course, that left him surrounded by a bunch of half-dead ghouls. He hadn¡¯t thought about that. He was now surrounded by hungry, albeit half-dead, monsters. However, instead of attacking him, they started eating the lizard. All except one, who spoke to Quietus. ¡°D-Death, life, give it up. We will make you our¡­ f-friend.¡± Was this some kind of offer to be allies? There wasn¡¯t a message window, but that didn¡¯t necessarily mean anything. ¡°Umm¡­ okay?¡± said Quietus. He didn¡¯t really have a problem with joining up with them, even if they happened to be rotting flesh eating undead monsters. ¡°Yesss. You¡­ Will join ussss,¡± said the ghoul, apparently the leader. Then the ghoul lunged forward and bit him in the neck. It hurt. He noticed quickly that there was quite a powerful poison in the bite. Fascinating. He wondered for a moment if he was being stupid, and just died for nothing. Then he remembered, even dying itself was research. What had he learned? Don¡¯t accept random agreements. ¡°I¡¯ll be back in three days,¡± he said. Just in case they weren¡¯t just planning to murder him. Then, the last of his life drained out of him.
You have died.
End Chapter 47 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2013&p=12956#p12956 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2135 Necromancer - Chapter 48 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 48 When Quietus finally came back to life, he was immediately surrounded by ghouls. He hadn¡¯t been sure if they would wait around. ¡°S-slow.¡± ¡°It l-looks not like us.¡± ¡°P-perhaps it speaks?¡± Quietus wasn¡¯t sure what he should do. He didn¡¯t feel any different than he had before. ¡°I change slowly, but I am one of you now.¡± He figured he might as well pretend. ¡°It speaksss quickly. It was dead¡­¡± ¡°... and n-now it is not-dead. Like us.¡± ¡°Yeees. It joins us? We h-hunt.¡± Quietus had nothing against hunting with the ghouls. They would be very useful for helping him kill things he hadn¡¯t been able to. Of course, he planned to get the last hit on the monsters to get all of the experience. Very quickly he discovered some obvious differences that would soon make it obvious he was not a ghoul. The very first was appearance. That was easily fixed with a quick disguise, at least enough to make it not obvious. The small cosmetic differences were the easiest to overcome. The way they fought was something Quietus didn¡¯t know how to replicate. They fought with tooth and claw, and he had neither. Their teeth were covered in poison, and sometimes they spit poison at their enemies. However, the biggest difference was what happened after battle. The pack, or whatever it was properly called, has just taken down another giant lizard. ¡°We eat!¡± ¡°Eat!¡± Some of them looked at him expectantly. Quietus wouldn¡¯t have had any trouble eating it if it were cooked, even poorly. It wasn¡¯t, though, and he doubted cooking would be wise. He saw ghouls tearing chunks off of the lizard. He couldn¡¯t do that, but he did cut some off. He decided to slice it thinly. That way, he could pretend it was sashimi. He liked sashimi. This, however, was not sashimi. Even thinly sliced, it was very tough. It tasted disgusting. It was hard to describe, but it tasted very much like iron. Unfortunately, that was the only good part. The rest tasted like rotting meat smells, except this was fresh. There was also another slight problem.
You have been poisoned!
Although the giant lizards were probably not an inherently poisonous creature, uncooked it was effectively a poison to humans. Quietus considered throwing up. He¡¯d probably feel better. He looked around him at the ghouls. Why was he even trying to pretend to be a ghoul anyway? There was no reason, except¡­ very simply, he could never do it in real life. Not without risking actual death. For the sake of the entire experience, Quietus kept as much of a straight face as he could. The poison wasn¡¯t that bad either. He could survive. Although he got a lot of strange looks from the ghouls, his methods of eating were accepted. Barely. After a few more battles, after which the ghouls gorged themselves more and Quietus barely nibbled, he thought of some more ways to act like the ghouls. First, their poison. Although he didn¡¯t have sharp teeth, he could still spit poison. He didn¡¯t have very much range, but he tried. He also got more experience for his poison resistance skill, since he inevitable swallowed some of the poison he poured into his mouth. He tried to make that part not obvious. ¡°T-this one is different.¡± ¡°Strong.¡± ¡°Dark.¡± In many contexts, that would have been a bad thing, but he felt that dark was good coming from ghouls. The pack fought all kinds of giants beasts. They only had one tactic, a mad rush to pile on an enemy and take it down. Quietus planned to see if he could make them fight more intelligently. Whenever the ghouls were injured, they would just eat and then they would be recovered. This was mostly true, but sometimes they didn¡¯t recover properly. Quietus took it upon himself to set their bones properly, and sometimes he needed to stitch up parts of them that were falling apart. The ghouls were in awe of his ¡°magic¡± and grew in their approval of this strange new ghoul. -------------------------- Outside of Royal Road, Mortimer was glad for real food. He appreciated it a lot more than he had before. He was even glad for a small bit of conversation with people. Not that he minded solitude, but he found it odd to be with a group of people¡­ or whatever the ghouls counted as, and not have conversation. The ghouls just wanted to hunt and eat. Angela, Solara, and Alex all talked about many different things. Of course, there was still a limit on how much interaction Mortimer cared to have. Mortimer had spent a lot more time lately doing school work. This was mostly because the Plains of Despair were quite dangerous. That meant he spent more time dead. The ghouls seemed to take that aspect of him in stride- obviously he was just very slow to heal. Then, he received an interesting assignment in class. The assignment was to research the behavior and environment of a people group or animal group in Royal Road (those few who didn¡¯t play Royal Road either had a different assignment or had to do more second-hand research). Eating habits, habitats, sizes, and anything else that could be thought of. This very much interested Mortimer. Since he hunted the giant lizards the most, he decided to do his research on them. After all, he could work on his anatomy skill and get class credit at the same time. -------------------------- To get into the proper hunting mindset, Quietus changed his tactics. First, he put away his dagger. None of the ghouls used one, so he¡¯d have to get by without. Then, he set about learning how to fight things that weren¡¯t humanoid without weapons. Not that he attacked them with his bare hands. That would be quite worthless. Instead, he used his Dark Hand spell, and pretended his hands were claws. The damage was fairly significant, but had a high constant mana cost, slightly offset by the increased mana regeneration from sadism. Still, he grew to like that method of hunting. Then, he taught the ghouls about stealth. They would never be very good, but they did understand that it was better to pile onto a surprised enemy than one who knew you were coming. Their other combat tactics remained mostly the same. Then, Mortimer received a surprising message.
New Stat: Necrosympathy Makes undead react more favorably. They are more inclined to help you, and to follow your orders. However, this has the opposite effect for members of most faiths. Spontaneously rises based on the actions of the user. You cannot distribute points to this stat.
He supposed the stat would be useful. He wasn¡¯t sure how long he would hang around the ghouls, but he knew there would be other undead he would find throughout the game. He didn¡¯t imagine he would be giving many orders to them, but he wasn¡¯t disappointed that it would be more effective. However, it would be very useful for something Quietus had in mind. He¡¯d had enough of studying the giant lizards out in the field. They only traveled in groups of one or two. He had plenty of times to catalog what they ate, what their weak points were, and what kind of organs they had. However, he hadn¡¯t seen where they lived. Thus, he was going to raid one of the (hopefully) smaller dens. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
You have entered Large Lizard¡¯s Lair. You are first to discover the dungeon! Fame + 50 Double experience in the dungeon for one week.
Apparently nobody had come to this part of the Plains of Despair, or just hadn¡¯t bothered to come into the lair filled with lizards whose drops weren¡¯t very valuable. On that end, although their drops weren¡¯t good, they did drop various kinds of leather armor. Although he couldn¡¯t identify it, Quietus used some of it to replace pieces of his armor that were falling apart. He distributed the rest among the ghouls, who never considered putting on armor. Helmets and gauntlets would be detrimental to their fighting ability, but the rest was rather useful. Inside the lair, Quietus had the ghouls be as quiet as possible. This was still not particularly stealthy, but at least they didn¡¯t need to breathe. That helped a bit. Quietus scouted ahead down various paths to find the best places. He and the ghouls took out smaller groups first. There were enough enemies to kill that the ghouls increased in level along with Quietus. He couldn¡¯t always get the last hits, and it wasn¡¯t the best option for him to level up alone anyway. Although there were many twisting passageways, there weren¡¯t any traps. Not that Quietus expected lizards to build traps, but he still looked just in case there was unstable passageway or something of that nature. Near the end of the week, they had cleared all of the rooms but one. It was a large room, with many eggs. Although there were no enemies to be seen there, Quietus was cautious about going in. The ghouls were not as cautious. As they approached the room, they rushed in, eager to taste the giant eggs. Then, Quietus saw movement. ¡°Back!¡± Quietus shouted. Most of them reacted in time, based on their trust in him. The two who were out in front had started to turn around when a much bigger lizard fell on them, crushing them instantly. Each of the forelimbs of this one were the size of the other lizards. To Quietus, it looked more like a piece of moving terrain than a monster. Above its head, the name Lizard Matriarch floated. ¡°Charge!¡± Now that they were out of immediate danger of being crushed, they had to act quickly. ¡°Climb onto its back!¡± He and the ghouls scrambled on top of it, although some were unlucky enough to go near the swiping tail. Since the lizard could not reach them with any of its normal weapons, it was forced to resort to trying to fling them off. However, the ghouls had astonishing grips, and latched onto its scales. Quietus held on only because of his climb skill. All this time, the ghouls were clawing and biting, and Quietus used the full power of his dark hand, twice. Next, the lizard tried climbing upside down on the ceiling. That dropped a few of the weaker ghouls off, but they survived- although not after it returned to the ground to claw and bite them back. Now, there was a fairly injured lizard and several ghouls and Quietus. The lizard adopted a new tactic, attempting to scrape the ghouls off on the walls and various protrusions. This took out a few more of the rapidly dwindling ghouls. It was starting to look like the lizard wouldn¡¯t go down first. Quietus had been scratching and using dark hand as much as he could, but he was getting frustrated. He saw a ridge sticking up, and bit it. At that time, a message window Quietus had no time for popped up. He didn¡¯t care, and just kept clawing and biting at the lizard. He soon noticed bloody trails where before there had only been the marks of his dark hand skill. He hoped it wasn¡¯t his hands bleeding all over, but it seemed likely. His hands hurt, but that could have been just from using dark hand. Bleeding wouldn¡¯t have made much difference. Maybe he was missing some teeth too. However, nothing would stop him from trying his hardest. For some reason, he went up and bit the lizard in the neck. Perforate Artery! Surprisingly, it worked. After that, Quietus could barely remember what was going on. At the end, all he remembered was his mouth being full of something, and a message that he had leveled up, several times. He spit. There was a chunk of rapidly dissolving scales and flesh. He looked down at his hands. There were claws on the end. He looked around the room, and the only other ¡°living¡± thing was the ghoul who had been somewhat the leader, and was the strongest. He had a hungry look in his eyes as he charged towards Quietus. Quietus prepared to counter, but then the ghoul just kept running, past him. Quietus heard the sound of a cracking. Then, he saw the ghoul buried head first in an egg. He pulled his head out. ¡°G-good! Worth trouble.¡± Ghouls didn¡¯t have much care for their comrades, they just made the hunt easier. For the sake of completeness, Quietus tried the egg too. It was good. Out of curiosity, he also tried the flesh of the large lizard. It also tasted good. That was strange. Then, he looked at his clawed hands, and felt his sharp teeth. Finally, he looked at the status window he had missed.
You have gained a new skill! Undead Mimicry Through understanding and mimicking an undead, you can take on its traits. You take on both the strengths and weaknesses of the undead type. The effectiveness of the transformation is related to skill level, and some forms cannot be attempted until a higher level. Mana cost: Varies
Quietus looked at his stats. His physical attributes had increased significantly, but his mental attributes were much lower. Such was typical of ghouls. He canceled the skill, and went back to normal. After he studied the layout of the eggs, grabbed the loot from the boss, and made sure he had the information he needed, he left. ¡°See ya later. I¡¯ve got a quest to go do.¡± Quietus received a toothy grin in reply. There was blood and giant lizard egg leaking from between the teeth. There was still plenty of time to compile his research. It wasn¡¯t due until the end of the semester. The teacher would grade it well, but would be somewhat confused by the details included. Sure, the layout of the lair and habits were all well and good, but what did it matter what the raw meat tasted like? End Chapter 48 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2246&p=14671#p14671 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2198 Necromancer - Chapter 49 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 49 Quietus tested out his undead mimicry skill. So far, he only had one form, that of a ghoul. It didn¡¯t take that much mana, but the mana cost became irrelevant anyway. This was because it reduced his maximum mana significantly, along with all of his mental stats. There didn¡¯t seem to be any continuous mana costs associated with being a ghoul. However, the cost was more relevant when Quietus changed back to his normal form. Whether or not he¡¯d spent any mana, he ended up with just a fraction left upon the return of his proper intelligence and wisdom statistics. Of course, being a ghoul had its advantages. All of his physical statistics increased significantly. His mental stats were approximately cut in half, but his physical stats approximately doubled. As an undead, he had an unlimited amount of stamina, which was useful for long confrontations. Quietus had sharp claws and teeth. He even had the ability to spit poison. Although his spellcasting was very lacking in this form, he found it quite useful. At this time, Quietus was running. He was not running from anything, but to something. Since the Plains of Despair were still quite large, he had more distance to travel towards his destination. Something else quite useful, he could use the stealth skill while sprinting at his maximum speed. Although it was obviously less effective that way, since he had unlimited stamina there was no reason for him not to. As long as he spotted enemies at a distance and made an effort to go around them, he went unnoticed. Quietus¡¯ progress was slightly slowed by one aspect of the ghouls he couldn¡¯t do anything about. Quite simply, ghouls were hungry. Their satiety bar was used up quickly, and thus he had to stop frequently to hunt a monster or two. Of course, this hunger was not without its benefits as well. If a ghoul¡¯s satiety bar was full and it gorged itself on food, its health was restored by a good amount and its statistics were temporarily increased. The only thing that seemed to affect the satiety bar was time, so Quietus ran and hunted in alternation. One final, unexpected ability of the ghoul was a new skill. While he was a ghoul, he gained ¡°scent¡±. Like listen and spot, it was useful for detecting enemies, but obviously it was in a different way than normal humans used. He could find enemies by scent from far away, but it wasn¡¯t very accurate yet. Since it was low level, it wasn¡¯t as powerful as he¡¯d seen from the real ghouls, but he found it interesting. He also had better sight in the dark, enhanced even further if he activated his darkvision spell. Quietus¡¯ goal was a fortress in the Plains of Despair. The necromancers had been there, and it was them that he was seeking. As he approached closer he saw rare pockets of undead. Mummies, ghosts, dullahans, and once he thought he saw something like an undead witch. For now, he avoided them all. Finally, he came to a spot that was different. Although there was some new growth, it was obvious to Quietus that this area had once been burnt out. He was beginning to recognize some landmarks from the video he had seen. Soon he saw structures, mostly walls that had taken a great bit of damage from something. He had slowed down before he got near to those. He was glad about that, because he spotted some dark elves in various places. His snuck past them as carefully as he could. Finally, he spotted the main fortress he wanted to enter. In there should be some necromancers, hopefully. He looked around for anyone watching, but there was no one. He slowly climbed up a wall, and up to a window. He got to the edge, and peeked his head over to look inside. Then, a combat message window appeared.
You have been struck by an arrow! x 20
Quietus just hoped they wouldn¡¯t mess with his body too much as he fell to the ground.
You have died. Unable to log in for 68 hours (17 hours in real life)
-------------------------- Mortimer stared at the four envelopes in his hands. Then he looked over at Angela. ¡°Can¡¯t I just give one to you?¡± ¡°Nope, I don¡¯t count. I¡¯m sure you can find four people to give them to. Besides, do you really just want family there?¡± Mortimer grimaced at the thought. In his family, there were only boring old fogeys and Angela. Perhaps there were some more people his age, but they were distantly related enough that they never showed up at events. Normally, Mortimer would slip away, but his presence would be required for this event. First, Mortimer found Alex. That was the easiest choice. Alex was obviously a friend. One envelope went to Alex, and three were left. Next, Mortimer gave one to Robert. Although Mortimer didn¡¯t consider them friends, he didn¡¯t have anything against Robert. Plus, he figured killing a mountain lion together probably counted for something. Mortimer looked at the two envelopes he had left. He knew where one more was going, eventually. The other one, he had absolutely no idea. While he was standing in the hall being introspective, Dr. Stevenson, the Dean of Sciences, came up to him. ¡°Greetings Mortimer. I hear your classes have been going well.¡± Mortimer smiled slightly. Although he hadn¡¯t had and classes with Dr. Stevenson, he was his favorite professor. Perhaps that was because he had taken his side so readily in the incident, but they seemed to get along well. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve been learning a lot of useful stuff.¡± He felt that was true, as he¡¯d been much better at getting critical hits after some study. ¡°Good. I hear you have had some interesting answers on assignments and tests.¡± The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Mortimer thought for a moment. ¡°Everything has seemed pretty normal to me. Nothing everyone else couldn¡¯t do.¡± Dr. Stevenson gave an odd smile. ¡°Of course. Well, I will talk to you later. Looks like it is time for my class.¡± ¡°Goodbye. Actually¡­ here.¡± Quietus handed him one of the envelopes. ¡°For you.¡± Dr. Stevenson looked at the embossed envelope. ¡°Thank you. I will open it after class.¡± Before the day was over, Quietus worked up the courage to give an envelope to Solara. He¡¯d asked Alex to deliver it, but he got the reply, ¡°Do it yourself.¡± So he did. Mostly, he held it out, said, ¡°Here,¡± then scrambled away. Talking to her at all was still weird. -------------------------- Quietus woke up in the dark, but it wasn¡¯t nighttime. He slowly sat up. From his new position, he could see more light, one coming from a fireplace. ¡°You¡¯re back early.¡± Quietus turned toward the voice. He saw an old man sitting in one of the chairs next to the fireplace. Well, he didn¡¯t have grey hair or anything, but Quietus felt that anyone over thirty was old. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Twenty eight hours early, by my calculations. It normally takes foreigners a full four days to come back to life.¡± Quietus shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t care to explain? That¡¯s fine. So, what brings you to this place? Looking for me?¡± Quietus considered this. ¡°Maybe. Probably. Are you a necromancer?¡± The man nodded. ¡°I figured as much.¡± He pointed to Quietus¡¯ dagger, on a table next to him. ¡°If you carry that, it is reasonable that you would seek out a necromancer. Tell me, why did you just not bring it to someone in a large city?¡± Quietus got up. ¡°In a city?¡± ¡°Of course. Since we¡¯ve become more¡­ accepted, we have representatives in the big cities. Although, in this case, you would still have probably ended up here.¡± ¡°The person who told me about it made it sound like I wouldn¡¯t be able to find who I was looking for easily. Plus, they said you were here.¡± ¡°Interesting. That dagger was made by Bar Khan for one of his apprentices after he strayed from the path of sanity. It is unfinished.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m here. I¡¯ve been told there is a way to attune it. That it might be able to improve my magic.¡± The necromancer looked over him. ¡°It might. It will all depend on how it has been used, and by whom.¡± ¡°I¡¯m the only one who¡¯s used it.¡± ¡°Good, then you should be able to unlock the best potential. There is a ritual to perform, it is not too hard. It does, however, require 200 oz of your blood.¡± Quietus thought for a second. ¡°I don¡¯t think¡­ I have that much blood. How does that work?¡± The necromancer gave him an odd look. ¡°You don¡¯t know a spell for that?¡± He looked him over again. ¡°No, I suppose you wouldn¡¯t, necessarily. You¡¯re a warlock, correct?¡± Quietus nodded. ¡°Of course.¡± The necromancer shook his head. He pulled up a goblet, and chanted a spell. Then, he slit his wrist with Quietus¡¯ dagger. After filling a part of the goblet, he chanted another spell. ¡°Here, drink this.¡± Quietus wasn¡¯t sure what was going on, but he didn¡¯t really care. He drank the blood.
You have learned a spell! Blood fountain Protects someone against the detrimental effects of bleeding. Allows poisons to be purged if done correctly. Cost: 10 mana per second
You have learned a spell! Close wounds Ends all bleeding effects on a target. Cost: 150 mana
¡°Are you prepared to perform the ritual?¡± Quietus nodded. ¡°Well then, let us go outside. It wouldn¡¯t do to get blood on the floor. It takes forever to clean out.¡± As they walked outside, Quietus saw many dark elves giving him suspicious looks. However, once they saw the necromancer guiding him, they seemed to relax. The ritual involved making a large magic circle with his own blood. Quietus had it all explained to him, then was guided through it step by step. ¡°You could use someone else¡¯s blood, of course, but it would not be as effective for this purpose.¡± Eventually, he had the circle up to specification. Then, there was a lot of chanting. Quietus wasn¡¯t good at this. ¡°That¡¯s the problem with warlocks. They don¡¯t learn the basics of a good magic word or two. They prefer to skip over some steps just for the sake of brevity.¡± Quietus eventually got that part right as well, so there was only one more step. ¡°Good, now, lie down in the middle, and stab the dagger into your heart.¡± Quietus did so. He¡¯d been told about that part, and he had discovered that stabbing himself or letting himself be stabbed was more frequent than he thought it would have been. ¡°See you in¡­ 68 hours?¡±
You have died. Unable to log in for 68 hours (17 hours in real life)
End Chapter 49 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2135&p=13750#p13750 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2216 Necromancer - Chapter 50 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 50 Solara looked at the contents once more, reading it out loud for the benefit of Angela. ¡°You have been formally invited to the nineteenth birthday celebration of one Mortimer Perrywinkle. Formal clothing is required. Please RSVP.¡± She raised an eyebrow at Angela. ¡°What? With parents like his, he doesn¡¯t have much choice about the party. You should go. It might be your only chance for a while to go to a party as nice as it will be.¡± ¡°That may be true, but I don¡¯t have an overabundance of clothing fit to wear. Plus, I won¡¯t know anyone¡­¡± Angela shrugged. ¡°You¡¯ll know whoever Mortimer invites and myself, which is about the same for Mortimer. Minus a few members of family. It¡¯s a good opportunity to go to something like this, and we can definitely get you something. Leave it up to me.¡± ¡°...Well, I¡¯ll give it a chance.¡± -------------------------- Quietus woke up. He was still outside. He checked his possessions. Nothing was missing, although he did have to pick up some things he ¡°lost¡± upon death. Quietus looked at his dagger, and easily saw the new abilities.
Sacrificial Dagger of the Apprentice Durability: 100/100 Damage: 50-73 Rumors have it that this dagger was given to the apprentice of a powerful necromancer. However, the apprentice died before gaining enough power to be as strong as his master. This dagger contains some of his lingering magic. It allows the weapon to repair its own durability when soaked in blood. It can also increase in strength when bathed in the blood of strong enemies. Special: Causes bleeding damage with every hit, based on the damage dealt. For a time after dealing damage with the dagger, magical abilities will increase by building up charge.. The damage and power of spells and other effects will be more powerful, related to the damage dealt (up to 150% effectiveness). The mana cost of spells is likewise reduced (minimum 75% cost). Effectiveness of this ability is additionally increased by the sadism stat, and when enemies are slain while the charge persists. Any damage dealt by spells while the dagger is in hand instead increases the effectiveness of damage with the weapon, with a different measurements of charge. The extra damage from the charge does not apply to gaining more charge with either spells or the dagger.
In summary, Quietus thought, Dagger damage ?Adds to? spell damage. Useful, but possibly hard to use. Still, it would increase his versatility. He went to find the necromancer. ¡°Can you teach me to be a necromancer?¡± ¡°Not even a hello?¡± ¡°Hello again. Can you teach me to be a necromancer?¡± ¡°No. I can¡¯t.¡± ¡°Why won¡¯t you?¡± The necromancer shook his head. ¡°I can¡¯t. I¡¯m a blood necromancer, and your choices won¡¯t allow you to go down that path.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t be a necromancer?¡± Quietus was disappointed. ¡°Not my kind of necromancer. Still, there are other options. Go find someone else.¡± ¡°Can you tell me where to find another kind of necromancer, then?¡± ¡°Try a big city. Where else?¡± Quietus had forgotten about that. As he was going to leave, he remembered another question (and quest) he had. ¡°What do you know about Aullet?¡± The necromancer almost jumped out of his chair. Fortunately, the cushions were deep and soft, so he just did a weird convulsion. ¡°Where did you hear about him?¡± ¡°In a tomb. There was a destroyer skeleton.¡± ¡°A¡­ what? He actually made one?¡± The necromancer shook his head. ¡°Who else have you asked about this?¡± ¡°Nobody.¡± ¡°Good. People don¡¯t like to talk about him. He was¡­ a contemporary of Bar Khan. He was extremely interested in the creation of new kinds of undead. He liked to impart the souls of others into the creatures to make them stronger. It was the same process with that destroyer skeleton¡­ although none of the souls he could find were good enough. Eventually, his research was discovered by the church, and they sent an army of paladins after him. The army was defeated, but Aullet was never heard from again.¡± ¡°Hmm, the destroyer skeleton didn¡¯t seem strong enough to defeat an army.¡± ¡°Truly? It should have been. Maybe it was the lack of maintenance. Even undead need someone to keep them ¡®healthy¡¯. After what went into creating it, it should have been enough¡­ but I digress. I know little more of Aullet. Nor, as far as I know, does any living soul know more.¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°So who does, then?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Nobody living, but perhaps some undead?¡± The necromancer frowned. ¡°You are a strange one. You would do best to avoid the church, if you continue down your path. Although it likely won¡¯t help¡­ You may wish to seek knowledge left behind by King Suna. He knew something of Aullet in his time. For my own safety, that is all I will speak on this matter.¡±
A Quest has been updated The Necromancer Aullet Aullet studied ways to create new undead, and was a contemporary of Bar Khan. Little else is known of him but that King Suna possessed knowledge of his activities.
Quietus smiled, and thanked the necromancer for his time. Now he would have to decide whether he would try to become a necromancer first, or seek information on this King Suna. He also had to make sure he wasn¡¯t doing anything time sensitive around his birthday, because his parents wouldn¡¯t let him get away with missing his own party unless he was dead. He didn¡¯t want to be dead in real life. -------------------------- It wasn¡¯t too hard to find some pertinent information about King Suna on the internet. He was dead (no surprise there, really). Useful information about his history was low, so there was very little Mortimer could find except one single lead. King Suna¡¯s Tomb. A dungeon, basically. Inside were traps and ancient mummies, at least as far as had been excavated. It was massive, and people weren¡¯t willing to share any information about passageways they discovered, so progress was slow. Currently, there was a guild in control of the area that only let their members and people who paid a fee enter. Mortimer couldn¡¯t go there yet. While he could probably afford the fee, the harder part was his level. Ancient Mummies were level 250-300, with Mortimer being just short of level 200. He had, briefly, been level 200, but now he was level 198. He would earn 75% more experience until he gained the levels back, so it wasn¡¯t a terrible situation. However, there was still a long way to go. So, Mortimer would become a necromancer first. He hadn¡¯t thought much about class advancement, but he liked the idea of being a necromancer. Of course, it would be very hard for him to continue pretending to be a rogue, but he¡¯d find a way. -------------------------- ¡°Mortimer!¡± ¡°Gah! Angela!¡± He wasn¡¯t actually surprised, but he figured that was the appropriate reaction to someone yelling in your ear. ¡°I need some money.¡± ¡°For what?¡± Although he wasn¡¯t particularly planning to spend any, he still didn¡¯t want other people wasting his money. ¡°It¡¯s a secret.¡± ¡°No.¡± Angela put on her best begging face, which also involved leaning close enough to Mortimer to make him willing to say almost anything to get his personal space back. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you what it¡¯s for, but I promise you¡¯ll be happy at the results!¡± ¡°...Promise?¡± Mortimer knew she wouldn¡¯t break a promise¡­ although he wasn¡¯t sure her idea of results he would be happy with was necessarily the same as his. ¡°How much do you need?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ How much do you have in your wallet?¡± Mortimer opened it up to see five bills. ¡°Hmm¡­ that should be just about enough.¡± Mortimer raised an eyebrow. ¡°That much? Fine. Next time, though, ask somebody else.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t take away from your precious book money too often. Bye now!¡± Mortimer looked at his empty wallet. ¡°I¡¯ve been robbed.¡± Well, its not like he kept all of his money in his wallet. He¡¯d still probably want to keep spending low for a while. End Chapter 50 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2198&p=14124#p14124 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2221 Necromancer - Chapter 51 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 51 Note: According to a map I found, I was¡­ very wrong about the location of Morata relative to other things. So¡­ 1. Pretend it¡¯s been colder. 2. At some point, Quietus got on a boat to get to the plains of despair (and other things). I would say he paid a temple to teleport but¡­ that wouldn¡¯t work out well. Map is: http://puu.sh/6WvWj.png Other than some relative locations of things changing, doesn¡¯t matter too much. -------------------------- Quietus traveled back through the Plains of Despair, to the nearest large city he could get to, the Citadel of Serabourg in Rosenheim. In the Plains of Despair, he travelled as a ghoul, so that he could run swiftly and tirelessly. Even with occasional stops to hunt monsters to eat, it was a fast way to travel. Once he came to the borders of Rosenheim kingdom, he turned back to normal, although he maintained a disguise. Although he wasn¡¯t wanted in this kingdom, people might occasionally have heard of him¡­ and probably not in a good way. That was what came with having much higher infamy than fame. In Serabourg, it wasn¡¯t too hard to find the necromancers he was looking for. They were, after all, respectable now. They just made their home at the magicians guild, just like everyone else. Quietus arranged for a meeting with one of them. ¡°I¡¯m interested in becoming a necromancer.¡± The dark haired, middle aged man sighed. ¡°Of course you are. Everyone is, these days.¡± He looked over Quietus and sighed again. ¡°You do realize that only magician types can become a necromancer, right? Rogues and assassins won¡¯t cut it.¡± ¡°Hey, I know magic. I¡¯m a warlock.¡± ¡°Oh? Really?¡± The man sounded bored. ¡°Let¡¯s see if you have the aptitude, then.¡± This time, he looked more seriously at Mortimer, and asked to see his status window. Mortimer complied. The expression on the man changed. ¡°This¡­ are you sure you¡¯re not already a necromancer? Some of these skills¡­ they¡¯re almost exclusive to the necromancer class. A warlock, you said? Quite interesting.¡± ¡°Well?¡± ¡°Hmm? Oh, right. You¡¯ll still have to complete a quest, of course. There¡¯s a dungeon, a few days journey away. Just get the sword of a death knight.¡± *Ting*
You have received a quest! Becoming a Necromancer Get a sword from a death knight from the Mire Tombs beyond the river east of Serabourg. Rewards: Class change to necromancer Failure: Loss of reputation, unable to change to necromancer quest.
A death knight¡­ that would be tricky. They were over level 200, so they were stronger than Quietus was now. However, he would go to the dungeon to scout it out. At the very least, he could level up some once he was there. He wasn¡¯t sure what the drop rate on their swords was though. -------------------------- Once across the river, he was in very swampy terrain. Since no one else was around, he turned into a ghoul to make the trip less unpleasant. He didn¡¯t feel any unpleasantness from the heat or cold, and the wetness of the swamp didn¡¯t bother him. Of course, he also didn¡¯t mind the taste of the snakes he found either. They weren¡¯t very filling though. As he arrived at the location he knew was the right place (he¡¯d looked up a screenshot of the entrance) he saw a group enter inside ahead of him. He decided to follow behind them so that they would run into any trouble first. He still watched out for traps, just in case. The group made slightly less noise than an elephant. Not a sneaking elephant, but a regular one. That didn¡¯t seem to matter to them, though, since they were very strong. They killed everything that crossed their path, striking it down without mercy. There seemed to be a paladin, two priests, and a magician working together. They seemed like a very effective group, but whenever Quietus got near them, he felt sick. He stayed as far back as he could. In a matter of hours, they had cleared the whole dungeon. Although it was small, it was an impressive feat. They even destroyed the boss. They didn¡¯t even look like they were in trouble. The paladin was very good at absorbing the damage that the others would have taken, and one of the priests focused on healing, the other debuffing the undead and buffing allies. The magician, of course, just burned the enemies. He seemed familiar for a bit, but Quietus soon realized that he was just comparing him to Abaddon because he was a fire mage. The similarities were non existent beyond that. They left the dungeon behind, and Quietus was left with just him and a dungeon full of (slowly reviving) dullahans and death knights. Quietus went to the boss room. The structure of a death knight was not that different from a skeleton or zombie. There was nothing complicated about that. Well, Quietus couldn¡¯t do anything about its armor or helmet. After a while, he had patched up the death knight as well as he could. It just lay there. ¡®Maybe it needs some energy?¡¯ Quietus used dark hand, and placed it on the body. When he touched it, the eyes flared to life. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was a coincidence. The death knight quickly stood up. ¡°I am Sir Waltar. What are you doing here?¡± Since it was talking Quietus decided to talk as well. ¡°I came here hoping to get a sword from a death knight. I don¡¯t suppose I can have yours?¡± There was a cackling laughter from Sir Waltar. ¡°No death knight would ever willingly give up his sword. Besides, mine has been taken.¡± The eyes of the death knight flashed red. ¡°It wasn¡¯t even a proper duel.¡± ¡°Well, do you have a backup sword? I need to get a sword from a death knight.¡± The death knight¡¯s eyes turned a dark blue. ¡°I thought I told you a death knight would never willingly give up his sword? Although¡­ I do have a backup. I will give it to you if you retrieve my sword for me.¡± *Ting*
You have been offered a quest! Retrieve Sir Waltar¡¯s sword. Reward: Sir Waltar¡¯s backup sword
¡°Okay.¡± *You have accepted the quest* ¡°That posh Paladin and his flunkies took it, right?¡± ¡°Right! The paladin did not even have the courage to duel me alone. Be careful with them, they are not honorable.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯m not a knight.¡± Quietus walked out past all of the slowly reviving enemies. A few of them challenged him to a duel on the way out, but after looking more closely and seeing he was not a knight, they backed down. It didn¡¯t hurt that he was on a quest for Sir Waltar. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. -------------------------- Quietus planned to go back to Serabourg to try to find information on the group. Perhaps he would ask at the assassin¡¯s guild. Even if they didn¡¯t know, they wouldn¡¯t give him away either. He would have, but then he heard a stupid laugh. It was loud, and with his enhanced senses from being a ghoul, and his listen skill, he heard it from quite far away. It was the laugh of the paladin. He seemed to laugh for no reason. Maybe he was crazy. Quietus snuck up on the group. What he planned was probably a good way to get himself killed, but he wanted to try. Plus, he¡¯s seen them fight. Although they were powerful, they were too used to their formation working for them. Watching them fight, Quietus felt they hadn¡¯t been in many battles with players. Outside the dungeon, they were even more careless. Since there weren¡¯t any monsters that could challenge them, the magician was far away from the group, picking herbs. A simple but powerful backstab took him out. It didn¡¯t hurt that he¡¯d never taken any real damage before, and Quietus¡¯ dagger was poisoned (with his enhance alchemy skill activated, of course). Quietus took the chance to fire a dark arrow at one of the priests, before ducking behind a tree. Then, he moved to another one to climb it. The group was now aware of him. The damage from the dark arrow was quickly healed, and they proceeded to look for him. The group even passed right beneath him. This time, he jumped between the two priests and used snakebite twice, once on each. He didn¡¯t think it would kill them, but they would be distracted. He once again ran away, but this time only far enough to hide in a part of the swamp that was more liquid than the others. He watched the group while slowly crawling around under the surface. As a ghoul, he didn¡¯t have to breathe. That was very useful. Of course, if he got hit by any holy attacks, he would be in big trouble. He managed to get one of the priests alone- they weren¡¯t learning very fast. A quick perforate artery, and he was quickly heading to his death. Quietus used the last of his mana to use enhance alchemy on one of his mana potions. The ghoul¡¯s reduced mana was very unpleasant. Now, he just ran and climbed a tree. The last priest saw him, and prepared a very powerful holy spell he had seen before. Quietus had no time to evade. It struck him directly. On top of the tree, nothing remained. ¡°I got it!¡± That was the last thing the priest said before he was killed by the now-human Quietus. He had cancelled the undead mimicry skill just in time. He was still low on mana, but his was regenerating it quickly. He¡¯d taken some damage, but it was nothing compared to what would have happened if he had been undead at the time. Quietus heard the paladin roaring. He seemed very angry. Quietus fired a quick dark arrow at him. He wanted to try to make use of his dagger¡¯s new ability. The paladin had limited mobility in the swamp. Quietus did too, but he wasn¡¯t hindered by armor to the same degree. The paladin tried a charge, but was just met by a quick sidestep and a slash to his side. Quietus then ran past him, and climbed yet another tree. Before he could take down the paladin, he had to make sure of one thing. He looked at his messaged, and saw the confirmation of the deaths of three players. He was glad the first priest had died. It would have been messy otherwise. Now, he just shot dark arrows from his perch on the tree, carefully watching his level of mana. Fortunately, the sadism stat made using dark arrows more efficient, since his mana recovery increased from the damage and pain it caused. The paladin was very angry now. He was madly trying to climb up the tree. Finally, he threw aside his shield and climbed with his sword in one hand. He must have had a very impressive strength for it to work at all. Once he was within reach, he struck at Quietus. Quietus had just enough mana to use perforate artery, and had saved it on purpose. He tried to kick the paladin off of the tree, but he was too strong. Instead, Quietus went the other way. Well, that was almost part of his plan. After a few more minutes of frantic running around and whittling down the paladin¡¯s health, he was finally dead. Quietus set about looting the bodies, after stitching up his side. If the paladin had gotten in more than a swipe or two, with a good angle, Quietus wouldn¡¯t have been nearly so well off as he was. That is, he was alive, but he probably wouldn¡¯t have been.
You have found a death knight¡¯s sword! Return to the necromancer guild with the sword to receive your reward.
Quietus considered doing just that. However, he did have the other quest. Besides, he¡¯d been told to get the sword from a death knight. This was similar, but he got it from a paladin. He decided to see what would happen doing the quest his way. -------------------------- ¡°Oh, you have my sword!¡± Sir Waltar¡¯s eyes turned yellow in a way that Quietus could only describe as ¡°happy¡±. ¡°Here, as promised.¡±
You have completed a quest! Retrieve Sir Waltar¡¯s sword. Level up! The Power to Accept Death increased to Intermediate Level 6.
He¡¯d gotten some hard to get experience for the power to accept death! It was definitely worth the time. It seemed it had advanced almost a whole level. That was about as much as dying 7 or 8 times, which was quite significant.
You got a sword from a death knight! You can return with it to the necromancers for a reward.
Quietus looked forward to finally becoming a necromancer. He would go turn the sword in as soon as he could. However, that would have to be another day, because he needed to sleep, and his birthday party was the next day. End Chapter 51 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2216&p=14343#p14343 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2276 Necromancer - Chapter 52 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 52 Mortimer stood around nervously. His side hurt. He hoped Angela and Solara would show up soon. He could use somebody to talk to. Mortimer never had any casual talks with his parents, and his relatives even less so. Still, on his face was a smile. It was well practiced just for situations like this. Besides them, there was no one to talk to. Dr. Stevenson didn¡¯t count. Being triple Mortimer¡¯s age, there was only so much they could have in common. Mortimer only managed to spend a short time talking with him before breaking off to stand alone, performing casual nonsense chat with various people attending his party. Robert had already made plans, so he wasn¡¯t able to attend. Well, he¡¯d mostly been there to fill up the numbers anyway. Alex, on the other hand¡­ Alex could have been here. Then Mortimer wouldn¡¯t have had to stand so awkwardly alone in the middle of these people. Even when they talked to him, Mortimer was alone, although he might have prefered real aloneness even more so. However, Alex wasn¡¯t here. It was understandable, really, considering what had happened earlier. It hadn¡¯t really bothered Mortimer, but he understood. He could really have used someone to talk to instead of standing there holding his drink with a fake smile. He glanced at the door again. Mortimer dropped his glass. Somehow, he kept a straight face, and even better, he caught the glass with the fingertips of his other hand. Nobody else was even looking at the door, but Mortimer couldn¡¯t look away. There was Angela. She had on a very nice dress, not something Mortimer had seen before though. He supposed many people would find her quite attractive, but she was his cousin. Still, he hadn¡¯t dropped his glass because of her. No, it was Solara. He hadn¡¯t actually been sure if she would come. Mortimer wasn¡¯t an expert on fashion by any means, but that didn¡¯t mean he didn¡¯t appreciate seeing it sometimes. Solara, well, she looked great. Beautiful. Maybe only Mortimer would be so astounded. As Ruby, he¡¯d seen her in more revealing clothing. Here, though, it was really her. Mortimer concentrated very hard to not look too much like he was staring. That, at least, he had practice at. After a moment that felt like an hour but was hopefully just a few seconds, Mortimer realized he had a good excuse to go talk to them. Besides the fact that he invited them, he was somewhat responsible for greeting his guests. Plus, they were his friends. At the very least, they were his cousin and her friend. ¡°Solara. Angela. Welcome to my party.¡± With a flourish of his hand, he bowed to them formally. At the very least in this situation he could fake real interactions. After all, he had nineteen years of practice now. He straightened back up slowly, again conscious of his side hurting. He kept his fake smile on, but it was slightly more real. He wasn¡¯t really aware of their responses, but they both had smiles that were probably real. Well, they could leave at any time, and he couldn¡¯t leave, since this was his house. After some more greetings he offered them some refreshments from the table. Then, Mortimer had a thought. He looked at the clock. Normally, it would have been his cell phone, but that wasn¡¯t appropriate in this setting. There was a nice grandfather clock nearby, though. The time¡­ it was close enough. He made the excuse that he had to go talk to some people, which was true, and went off to the side of the room. Soon, music started. People rearranged themselves around the room. Some moved towards the edges, while some moved to or remained in the middle and started dancing. Mortimer reappeared next to Solara and Angela. ¡°May I have this dance?¡± Mortimer offered his hand to Solara. Rationally, he knew she wouldn¡¯t refuse. That didn¡¯t stop him from feeling nervous. Fortunately, Solara took his hand. That was something, but she could easily do so just out of politeness. He knew he would have, were the situations reversed. Well, if it were someone else. He would obviously be more than happy to dance with her not just out of politeness. Mortimer was still nervous about the dance. Part of it was dancing with Solara, but part of it wasn¡¯t for himself directly. What if she didn¡¯t know the dance? Well, he knew she could dance, but he didn¡¯t want to embarrass her if she had any trouble. He¡¯d picked a slow song to make any potential embarrassments less noticeable. Mortimer needn¡¯t have worried. She was a good dancer. Better than him, because he was out of practice. It did help some that he was in better shape than he¡¯d ever been in before. Mortimer felt the end of the song came too soon. He would have liked it to go on forever, but it was for the best that it didn¡¯t. Although he was in good shape, Mortimer felt like he had just sprinted a mile. He dropped Solara off near Angela and went over to the refreshments. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. He wasn¡¯t really hungry, but it was a good place to stand around. He watched the rest of the partygoers, and saw Angela and Solara talking, but he couldn¡¯t tell about what. Eventually, Angela made her way over to him. ¡°Feeling better?¡± she asked. ¡°What?¡± Angela grinned. ¡°Your smile is real now. It wasn¡¯t before.¡± Mortimer avoided commenting on that by asking her to dance. It was fun. It wasn¡¯t anything new to him, since he¡¯d grown up with Angela around and they¡¯d always attended the same parties- mostly for each other. It was fun, but it didn¡¯t feel like dancing with Solara. Although it was fun, Mortimer was starting to feel the press of people around him, so after the dance he retreated off to the side, into somewhere that didn¡¯t look like a corner but provided him with the same comfort. ¡°Having fun?¡± Mortimer almost jumped. He hadn¡¯t noticed anyone around. He turned to see Master Valarao. Well, he¡¯d recognized the voice, but the turning happened at the same time. ¡°How could I not have fun at my own party?¡± Master Valarao smiled. ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad that you are now.¡± He sniffed the air. ¡°How¡¯s your side?¡± ¡°You can tell? It¡¯s not that bad. If I don¡¯t strain it, it will be fine.¡± ¡°Good, I don¡¯t want my best disciple passing out in the middle of the room. It would make me look bad.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t I your only disciple?¡± ¡°Exactly. If I couldn¡¯t even keep one disciple in shape, I¡¯d be laughed out of my country.¡± ¡°...We¡¯re not in your country.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯d be dragged back then laughed right out again.¡± Mortimer¡¯s smile was still real. ¡°Thanks for earlier. I wasn¡¯t sure what to do.¡± ¡°No problem. I would appreciate it if the consultation on such matters was kept to a minimum, however. Not that I don¡¯t like to help, but¡­¡± ¡°I understand.¡± Mortimer was left alone. He looked around the room, then sighed internally. He wanted to dance with Solara again, but he saw his parents looking at him pointedly. Mortimer went over to Angela and Solara. ¡°How are you liking the party?¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ very nice.¡± Solara looked like she felt that was a huge understatement. ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re enjoying it. As one of the few guests that are not family, it has become my responsibility to introduce you to the owners of the house. My parents, of course.¡± Mortimer looked at Angela. ¡°You should come as well.¡± What Mortimer didn¡¯t say out loud was ¡®help me I need backup¡¯. Fortunately, she heard his silent plea, and came along with them. ¡°Mother, father,¡± Mortimer nodded to both, ¡°This is my friend from school, Solara Vail.¡± He didn¡¯t know if friend was even appropriate, but it would have been more awkward to say ¡°Angela¡¯s Friend¡±. Mortimer then introduced his parents, and was quickly out of his pre-formulated sentences for the formal situations. Fortunately, Angela was there to help him under the force of his parents¡¯ polite but inquisitive stares. ¡°She¡¯s very smart. She¡¯s always had top grades, and has a full scholarship.¡± Mortimer hadn¡¯t known that. In fact, he knew very little about her except what he¡¯d snooped noticed in her diary. There hadn¡¯t been that much information about her life except her interests, nothing about family and little about school. Fortunately for Mortimer and Solara, Mortimer¡¯s parents weren¡¯t intending a full interrogation at the current time. They seemed content with the introduction. For the rest of the evening, Mortimer danced with Solara every chance he got, within reason. His skills at reading people weren¡¯t very good, so he wasn¡¯t sure how much she enjoyed it. She was smiling, though, so at least she felt good enough to fake it. One point on the side of her not being unhappy was that she stayed most of the evening. She wasn¡¯t the last person to leave, but she certainly wasn¡¯t the first. At the end of the day, Mortimer collapsed on his bed. He didn¡¯t even want to think about playing Royal Road. He was physically and mentally exhausted. It was reasonable, with the party and what had happened before. What he needed now was just some nice, restful sleep. He did at least have the energy to change his clothes before he went to sleep. He sighed slightly when he looked at his knife lying on his nightstand. He wondered if he should name it. End Chapter 52 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2221&p=14404#p14404 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2298 Necromancer - Chapter 53 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 53 In the morning Mortimer woke up and stretched. His side still hurt. It reminded him of what had happened the day before¡­ -------------------------- The morning of his birthday, Mortimer had attended school like normal. At school, everything had happened normally. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the bookstore,¡± Mortimer said to Alex. He had some books he wanted, and even though his funds had been greatly reduced, he still had enough money to get a few books without cutting into his savings. ¡°If we go now, as long as we don¡¯t take too long, we¡¯ll still have a couple hours to get ready for the party. Well, I¡¯ll have a bit less since I have to be around early¡­¡± Since their schedule for the rest of the day was just waiting around for the party to start, along with an ample amount of time to get ready, there was no reason not to spend a bit of the time at the bookstore. Mortimer had James drive them there, and told him to park at a lot a few blocks away. It wouldn¡¯t do to keep the car running and James driving around. The visit to the bookstore was enjoyable as usual, although Mortimer was the only one who bought anything. ¡°Aren¡¯t those textbooks?¡± Alex asked, looking at the books with titles such as ¡°advanced muscular structure¡±. ¡°Hmm? I guess, basically. The other ones I had weren¡¯t good enough. Well, I¡¯m only looking for a few details in these, but I¡¯d rather have them for when I need to look up more.¡± After they were done shopping, they headed back towards the car. It was still good to get back with plenty of time to get ready. The quickest way to the parking lot was through a couple of alleys. Not that walking through alleys was a problem in the middle of the afternoon. As they entered the alley, Mortimer heard some talking behind him. ¡°I¡¯m telling you, that¡¯s the guy!¡± ¡°What a coincidence to see him here¡­¡± Mortimer just kept walking, until someone shouted ¡°Hey, you!¡± down the alley, obviously towards them. He turned to look, and saw three people he would have described as ¡°thugs¡±. The middle one stepped forward. ¡°Fancy seeing you here. You¡¯re¡­ Mortimer, right?¡± Mortimer didn¡¯t recognize them. ¡°I am.¡± ¡°Good, good. I have a message for you from my little brother. He was on the football team at your school.¡± Mortimer wasn¡¯t good at reading people. However, he¡¯d recently learned to read certain aspects of the atmosphere. Plus, this guy wasn¡¯t exactly subtle. ¡°Alex, I need you to do something.¡± ¡°Y-yeah?¡± ¡°Run. Now!¡± Alex wasn¡¯t used to Mortimer giving any kind of orders, but the tone of voice was serious. Alex started running. ¡°Just keep going!¡± Mortimer said. ¡°I¡¯ll catch up in a bit.¡± Pretty soon, Alex had gone around a corner. ¡°Hmm, you¡¯re not gonna run away too?¡± ¡°That¡¯s no good, I run faster,¡± said Mortimer. The three moved a bit further into the alleyway, and made their intentions abundantly clear as they pulled knives. ¡°Time for a bit of payback for my little brother. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll understand.¡± The leader charged forward at Mortimer, and stabbed at him inexpertly. He looked to have used a knife before, certainly, but he left himself open. Mortimer¡¯s knife, which hadn¡¯t been drawn, flashed up, while Mortimer just barely got out of the way of the thrust. Then his arm snapped back the other way, and the leader fell behind him. The other two weren¡¯t far behind, but they momentarily slowed. This allowed Mortimer the moment he needed. From the perspective of the thugs, he disappeared. From Mortimer¡¯s perspective, it was just two quick steps to their left side. His knife flashed once. One more step to the back, and his arm reached around the neck of the second thug, then was pulled back around with a swift motion and a spray of blood. The third thug was quicker, or better, or luckier. He was already slashing down at Mortimer. Mortimer was unable to dodge entirely, and his counterattack barely grazed the thug¡¯s cheek. Mortimer took a quick half step back and threw a kick to his opponent¡¯s most vulnerable location. They had very bad footwork. As they bent down, the last thing they saw was the tip of a knife. Mortimer looked around. It was very quiet. He looked at his side. There was a slash going down it, and it would definitely need stitches. Then, he carefully looked at the downed thugs while avoiding touching them. Satisfied, he pulled out his cell phone. He just hoped he was calling the right number. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°Hello?¡± ¡°Master Valarao? It¡¯s Mortimer.¡± ¡°Oh, you¡¯ve never called before. What is it?¡± ¡°I could use some advice, and I think you might possibly be the best person to ask.¡± ¡°Hmm, I¡¯m not great at relationships, if that¡¯s what you want to ask about.¡± ¡°No, nothing like that. I just want to ask a hypothetical question.¡± ¡°Okay, I will certainly attempt to answer.¡± ¡°So, if, hypothetically, you found a dead body in an alley, what would you do?¡± ¡°In this theoretical situation, do you know the deceased?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Have you touched them with your hands in this scenario?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Was anyone with you in this scenario when you found them?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°What kind of persons are the deceased in this story?¡± ¡°Well, something like thugs.¡± ¡°Well, it would probably be best to the person in that hypothetical situation to leave the area. The police can clean up after any gang wars.¡± ¡°Really? Okay, thanks. That really makes me feel better¡­ If I ever come across such a situation, I¡¯ll do just that. I have to go now¡­ I need to call a friend.¡± ¡°Of course. Good luck.¡± Mortimer started walking towards the car, and quickly called Alex. ¡°Hey, it¡¯s Mortimer.¡± Through the phone came an incomprehensible combination of words, but Mortimer though the idea was asking if he was alright. ¡°Are you back at the car yet?¡± ¡°N-not yet.¡± ¡°I could use the first aid kit from the trunk. Tell James I skinned my knee.¡± ¡°W-what? A-are you okay? What happened?¡± ¡°Just tell James what I said and bring it, okay? Don¡¯t worry, my knee is fine.¡± -------------------------- ¡°I-I thought you said you were fine! This isn¡¯t fine!¡± Alex exclaimed upon meeting Mortimer with the first aid kit. ¡°I said my knee was fine. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve dealt with worse than this before.¡± ¡°Really? When?¡± ¡°In Royal Road.¡± Mortimer started stitching himself up, although not without forgetting to numb the wound. ¡°H-ha. That¡¯s a game. This is real life!¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Mortimer was spending almost as much energy trying to keep Alex calm as he was stitching. ¡°Listen, can you not tell James about this? I don¡¯t want him to worry.¡± ¡°You should be going to the hospital! How can I not tell him?!¡± ¡°Relax. This isn¡¯t as bad as Solara being attacked by the mountain lion. You were there, right?¡± Alex nodded. ¡°See? No problem,¡± Mortimer said as he finished stitching and put an absorbent tissue over his injury. He looked at his shirt. Then, he took of his light jacket and put it on backwards around his waist. James might question his fashion sense, but that wasn¡¯t an entirely new experience. Alex just stared. ¡°S-so, what happened?¡± ¡°I ran away,¡± Mortimer said, and gave a thumbs up. ¡°I¡¯m in way better shape than you, so I can outrun dudes like that easily.¡± Mortimer was glad Angela wasn¡¯t around. She could always tell when he lied. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll be fine, so no need to worry anyone on my birthday, okay?¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Alex didn¡¯t look happy about that idea. When they stopped at Alex¡¯s house, Alex said, ¡°Sorry, Mortimer. I¡¯m not feeling good. I don¡¯t think I can make it to the party.¡± Alex was much paler than normal, which was saying something, and certainly didn¡¯t look well. ¡°I understand,¡± said Mortimer. He did, too. Not personally, of course, but he understood that some people felt physically sick when frightening events happened. ¡°It will be a pretty boring party anyway. I hope you feel better, okay?¡± Alex nodded, and almost smiled, but it was more of a grimace. Mortimer though Alex looked slightly green. -------------------------- Mortimer got dressed for the party. He didn¡¯t let anyone in the room to fuss with his hair or the exact arrangement of his tie or to get lint off of his jacket until his wound was thoroughly covered with his the bandage, his shirt, and the suit jacket. Then, he put on his best smile and hoped the painkillers lasted. End Chapter 53 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2276&p=14828#p14828 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2310 Necromancer - Chapter 54 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 54 Quietus went back to finally turn in his quest. It had been more than a day since he last played. After climbing the wall to get into town (no point in risking his disguise being seen through) he headed directly for the guild. Fortunately, the quest giver was available for him to meet with right away. He handed over the sword he¡¯d gotten from the death knight. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± was the response he got. ¡°It¡¯s a death knight¡¯s sword.¡± ¡°This sword? Death knights may not have all the same swords, but they all have a certain quality about them. There¡¯s no way this is a death knight¡¯s sword.¡± The necromancer looked ready to have him fail the quest. ¡°No, it really is! Sure, it might be his backup sword, but I got it straight from the hand of a death knight. You didn¡¯t say it had to be his primary sword.¡± Quietus was annoyed that they didn¡¯t say what they really wanted before. ¡°You stole a backup sword from a death knight? What happened to his real sword?¡± ¡°Well, it was stolen from him by a paladin. I brought it back to him in exchange for his backup sword.¡± The necromancer stared at him incredulously. ¡°A death knight gave you a sword? Even if it is their backup, that¡¯s almost unbelievable.¡± The necromancer thought for a minute. ¡°Then again, having seen the abilities you have acquired, it is not unreasonable for you to have talked to a death knight. It is certainly worth checking the authenticity.¡± The necromancer placed the sword down in front of him and started chanting with his hands over it. ¡°Visions of the past, come to me. Show me the thing I desire. What I wish¡­ the previous possessor of the sword.¡± There was a glow from the sword, and Quietus felt the air swirl around. Then¡­ ¡°It seems you were telling the truth. It was indeed from a death knight.¡± ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°A simple divination spell.¡± ¡°Do all divination spells require so many words like that?¡± ¡°All magic¡­ most magic does. If you are going to be a necromancer, you¡¯ll have to get used to using magic like this.¡± ¡°Oh, okay. What purpose does it serve?¡± ¡°The words help gather and concentrate magical energy, increasing the power of the spell. That is why longer spells are generally more powerful.¡± ¡°Ohhh. Interesting.¡± The necromancer almost sighed. ¡°Well, you have finished the test. Do you still wish to become a necromancer?¡±
You have been offered a class change to the advanced class Necromancer. Do you wish to change class?
¡°Yes.¡±
You have become a necromancer! Intelligence +100 (+100 INT) Wisdom + 100 (+100 WIS) Affinity with the undead increased. Able to learn and use necromancy spells and wear necromancer specific equipment. Able to reach mastery in dark magic and the effectiveness of dark magic is increased by 50%. The creation of undead is not forbidden, but is not seen well. Any research into new aspects of necromancy is strictly regulated.
Then, two skill books were brought out. ¡°In these are the basic spells for a necromancer. For the rest, you will have to find or purchase them.¡± Quietus immediately used the skill books. The spells he learned were:
Undead Rise: ¡°Ye who have returned to the land of living. This black and corrupt land is a dark place. The eternal dark law will never disappear, engrave this upon yourself. Undead Rise!¡± This spell creates undead from all of the corpses in the area. The type of undead varies with the quality of the corpse. Undead will eventually fade from existence. Cost: Varies with the number and level of corpses.
Dark Spear ¡°Gloomy darkness falls upon the spear. Spear born from the darkness, penetrate the enemy¡¯s heart. Appear, Dark Spear!¡± Summons a floating spear of darkness. Can be thrown or wielded as a melee weapon. Special: Because of the warlock class¡¯ affinity with dark magic, Dark Spear causes more pain than is normal for the damage. Cost: 400 sp
Quietus was happy to finally have a better undead creating spell. There was no limit on the level of the undead created and they could be many different types. They also lasted much longer than with Animate Dead! However, Quietus was slightly disappointed that it had a duration limit at all. Maybe he would get an even better spell later. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. As for Dark Spear, it was basically an upgraded version of Dark Arrow, except it could be used as a melee weapon. Quietus would have to be very desperate to do that, though, because he had no idea how to wield a spear. It cost more mana, but Quietus had just gained a large increase in mana from his class change. Plus, even his older spells would be more useful now. ¡°Although you are now a necromancer, you must still choose a path. The path of a Blood Necromancer is impossible for you to follow, but you can still choose between Spirit and Mind.¡± Quietus remembered something about hearing about those before. Spirit Necromancers used magic involving spirits, while the Mind Necromancers specialized in offensive dark magic and curses. ¡°Do I have to decide now?¡± ¡°No, that is not necessary. Whenever you are ready to decide, you can seek out a teacher. It is good to think well about the decision.¡±
You have received a quest! Choose a Path Your journey as a Necromancer has just begun. To continue, you must choose a path. You may follow either the path of Spirit or Mind. When you are ready, seek out a teacher. Special: This quest does not count toward the normal limit of quests.
Quietus thanked the guild member, and set out. First, though, he browsed the selection of spells available. He found few he was interested in, and some that were out of his price range. In the end, he only bought one spell.
You have learned a spell! Heal Undead. This spell will repair damage to an undead. However, the state of the undead remains the same. Missing and broken limbs will stay in their current form, unless reattached or properly set.
Quietus wanted the better version, which could fix broken limbs and grow new ones, but it was very expensive, and required him to be a higher level. It wasn¡¯t a big problem, though, since he could manually repair undead anyway. Now he was just capable of making his repairs more permanent. That is, if the undead themselves lasted. Now it was time for Quietus to head out on another quest. Since the location wasn¡¯t a secret, Quietus had looked up where King Suna¡¯s Tomb was. Therefore, he planned set off to the southwest, into the Desert of Tranquility. However, he could not travel alone. The desert was hard to navigate, and he would also need food and water. He could take care of the latter problems by becoming a ghoul and eating whatever he found, but then he would be significantly reduced in magic power. He didn¡¯t want that, since he wanted to test out his new abilities. Quietus didn¡¯t want to, but he signed up with a caravan. It was bringing supplies to the workers in King Suna¡¯s Tomb, and exchanging workers as well. The caravan would also bring back anything they had discovered and items people wished to sell from their hunting in the area. Quietus could have signed up as a guard, but he didn¡¯t want people to know about his profession. Sure, Necromancers were accepted, but nobody wanted to party with someone who took all the experience. Necromancers weren¡¯t good as guards since they needed a supply of corpses to fully use their powers. Of course, Quietus could have signed up as a rogue, but he wanted to be able to use some of his spells without people questioning. Instead, he just paid for passage. There were quite a few people in the caravan, but nobody he knew. There were a wide variety of players, but none that were below level 150, Quietus judged. The Desert of Tranquility wasn¡¯t exactly a perfect name for where they were going. Quietus chose a spot toward the rear of the group. That was useful for him, since nobody was watching him, and nobody saw him look like a fool. He sure didn¡¯t want to walk the whole way, but riding a camel was quite awkward. End Chapter 54 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2298&p=15047#p15047 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2433 Necromancer - Chapter 55 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 55 The desert was hot. That was Quietus¡¯ opinion of it. Hot, big, sandy, and boring. All day, the sun beat down on him. Sometimes, there was a wind, but it wasn¡¯t a cool refreshing wind. All it did was stir up sand into his face. Furthermore, one could only see so many rolling dunes before they got boring. Riding on camelback wasn¡¯t the most pleasant way to travel either. Perhaps worst, the caravan hadn¡¯t even run into a single monster so far. If Quietus had thought about it logically, he would have known that avoiding monsters was part of the point of the caravan. However, he wasn¡¯t thinking about it logically. All he could think about were various ways to use his new abilities. Still, he had to remain with the caravan so that he could reach King Suna¡¯s Tomb. The Desert of Tranquility was the size of a whole country, and Quietus had no navigation skills. So he sat on his camel and watched various people drift in and out of connectivity. Another reason for caravans was so that people could continue to travel while technically offline. Their bodies could continue to travel with the caravan so that distances of a week could be traveled as a group. Organizing a large group of people to travel somewhere would be almost impossible otherwise. Sometimes, teleportation allowed more efficient travel, but that was more expensive for large groups. Of course, people were vulnerable when they were not online. Thus, people tried to remain online as much as they could. Generally, the presence of so many players meant there were a decent number of players online at any one time. With proper people leading a caravan, it was a good way to travel. There was nothing wrong with the composition of the caravan Quietus was in. There were always guards online, as well as at least one ranger or explorer to lead the way. Their rations, although boring, were quite plentiful, and they had a good amount of water to use. There was even a bard on sometimes who played a song to speed the travel of the group. Still, Quietus wanted to kill something, and he was getting impatient. His chance came when the caravan stopped at an oasis to rest. Of course he wouldn¡¯t kill anyone from the caravan. He had nothing against them, and many reasons not to make any of them angry or suspicious. He wasn¡¯t crazy, he never killed anyone without a reason. No, instead the caravan was attacked by giant scorpions. One of the rangers on watch actually sighted them in time for the group to hurriedly prepare. Quietus had nothing he needed to do, since he was already off of his camel. Other preparations weren¡¯t necessary, or possible. Mostly, Quietus watched as the warriors in front got impaled by the scorpion¡¯s tails, or crushed by their claws. Perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration, since the scorpions weren¡¯t even that giant. Counting their tails, they weren¡¯t much taller than a person. Well, not so giant that the warriors couldn¡¯t handle it. That¡¯s why they were in that heavy, metal armor. Warriors probably had it much worse than him. It was bound to be hot. Regardless of how uncomfortable the armor was, it did its job just fine. The priests were ready to heal the warriors, and the battle continued just fine, although not perfectly. A scorpion broke through the front lines and charged straight at Quietus. He hadn¡¯t even done anything. Soon, he was experiencing firsthand the power of the scorpion¡¯s poison. Quietus looked at his health bar. ¡®It¡¯s probably around level 150,¡¯ he thought. The poison wouldn¡¯t be a threat. That didn¡¯t mean he was safe. Well, he wasn¡¯t safe until he climbed up on the scorpion¡¯s back. There, it¡¯s tail and claws were unable to reach him. Furthermore, its entire top seemed to count as its ¡®back¡¯ for Backstab. It wasn¡¯t too bad. He briefly wondered what giant scorpion tasted like. He decided he would have to try later, when he wasn¡¯t surrounded by a group of people that might not take kindly to seeing a ghoul. Eventually, the group had their rest and set off again. Quietus lagged behind a bit. Once nobody was watching, he cast his spell. ¡°Ye who have returned to the land of living. This black and corrupt land is a dark place. The eternal dark law will never disappear, engrave this upon yourself. Undead Rise!¡± Since all of the corpses were scorpions, they could only turn into the basic kind of undead, zombies. It was just a basic animation, with no bonuses to their stats. Still, they also had no penalties to their stats either, besides basic undead properties, which also benefited them some. Quietus quickly gave them instructions he hoped were simple enough for them to follow. ¡°Follow after the caravan, and kill anything nearby that¡¯s not part of the caravan. Stay out of sight.¡± As zombies, all instructions had to be simple. Quietus hoped they understood. Then, Quietus quickly went to catch up to the caravan. Quietus soon discovered that his instructions had worked at least partly.
Your Giant Scorpion Zombie has killed Giant Scorpion. Experience received.
Obviously, they¡¯d found some other Giant Scorpions. Quietus was slightly sad that they couldn¡¯t pick up loot for him, but he didn¡¯t dwell on it too much. However, after a few hours he started getting experience about his scorpions being killed. Well, there was only so much they could do without repairs. They seemed to have taken out more than two other scorpions each. Partly because they were in a group, but also because they were immune to the poison of the other scorpions, Quietus thought. The experiment was at least partly successful, although Quietus wished he could have been there to observe. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity but was really just the expected week of travel, the caravan arrived at King Suna¡¯s Tomb. During that time, Quietus had to log off for sleep and school, but he cast soul bind on himself before going away. He could handle losing experience (temporarily) or items, but it would be very annoying to lose his progress through the desert. Of course, if he died, he would have had to catch up to the group, probably on foot. It wasn¡¯t a problem, though, since they arrived just fine. There was a nice camp, about the size of a small town, where people had set up their spaces for those who were excavating the tomb, as well as those who came to visit. Quietus mostly ignored the camp, since he wasn¡¯t here to see anyone. Quietus went straight into exploring the tomb. He snuck past didn¡¯t bother the guards at the entrance, since they were probably just there to keep track of people going in and out. He didn¡¯t need people to be keeping track of him. He did, however, make sure soul bind was active at all times, so that he wouldn¡¯t have to return to a city if he died. There were quite a few people in the tombs, working, so Quietus went down a corridor that had less people. It would be better to not have people in the way. What he needed was information on King Suna. If he could just find something about Aullet here, he would be done. He was so focused on looking for writing or something that he almost forgot that the tomb was said to hold deadly traps. Well, perhaps it counts as actually forgetting if you¡¯re struck by poison darts. It wasn¡¯t a lousy poison either, but Quietus had antidotes prepared, and good resistance. From then on, he paid attention for traps. These corridors were dark and full of rubble, and Quietus hadn¡¯t seen anything but a trap for quite some time. Quietus used his darkvision spell constantly, but fortunately it cost little enough that it effectively just reduced his mana regeneration. He didn¡¯t even think about lighting a torch. Then, Quietus saw a mummy. That was not unexpected. Rather, not seeing one until now was rather odd, since apparently the dungeon was teeming with mummies. The mummy walked with its arms out and moaned as it staggered towards Quietus. It was rather comical, prompting Quietus to say, ¡°What, can¡¯t you talk?¡± The results of his quipp were rather unexpected. The mummy¡¯s demeanor instantly changed. Its arms crossed in front of its chest in a relaxed manner, and it stopped staggering. ¡°I can.¡± It spoke in a dry, dusty voice. ¡°Nobody ever wants to talk though,¡± it said at a measured pace. ¡°They just try to set me on fire. I hate fire.¡± ¡°Yeah, I hate being on fire too, that¡¯s probably one of the top ten worst ways to go.¡± Quietus nodded sagely. They actually stood there for a few minutes exchanging talk about ways they had died before Quietus realized something was odd. ¡°Wait, you come back to life? Err¡­ undeath?¡± ¡°Of course. Do you think the duty of a king¡¯s servant is that easy to shirk? What is a death or two against duty to the king?¡± ¡°Duty is nice and all, but what good is it to serve a dead king?¡± At this, the mummy got angry, and looked like he was about to attack. ¡°What did you say about my king?! How dare you insult his majesty! He is certainly still alive!¡± ¡°But, isn¡¯t this his tomb? That implies that he is dead.¡± ¡°Hmph.¡± The mummy settled down a bit. ¡°It may be his tomb, but the bond of a king and his people is not so light as to let something like that get in the way.¡± ¡°Really? King Suna is alive? That¡¯s convenient. I¡¯d like to meet him.¡± ¡°You, meet the king?¡± The mummy basically snorted. ¡°An unknown outsider would never be granted an audience with the king. Especially not with all those rude, uninvited guests roaming the halls.¡± ¡°Well, can I earn an audience?¡± Quietus asked. ¡°Maybe. I suppose I can introduce you to the guards, but don¡¯t get your hopes up. However, I need you to do something for me first.¡± Quietus wondered what kind of thing a mummy would want. ¡°Oh, what do you need?¡± ¡°Humph, well. I¡¯ve lost my slippers. They were my favorite pair, but some foolish adventurers took them. It¡¯s just not the same without them.¡±
You have been offered a quest! Slippers Find and retrieve the poor mummy¡¯s favorite slippers. Difficulty:D Reward: Introduction to the king¡¯s guards. Friendship with the Suna Mummies increased.
¡°Uhh¡­ okay.¡±
You have accepted a quest!
Quietus had been expecting the mummy to want a number of human hearts or a cursed sword or something, but he was okay with going to get his slippers too. If only he knew where to look. End Chapter 55 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2310&p=15171#p15171 Next Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2486 Necromancer - Chapter 56 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 56 Quietus spent the next several days looking for the mummy¡¯s slippers. The only clue he had was that they were taken by adventurers. First, he checked a shop where people would sell their loot. Unfortunately, they had nothing of the sort. Quietus next checked all of the shops and stalls in the area but still found nothing. At night, he hunted. The most obvious place with enemies was King Suna¡¯s tomb itself. However, there were always people in there, killing mummies and exploring. Quietus didn¡¯t like it. Plus, he figured it would be good to not make enemies of the mummies just yet. He needed information they theoretically had, and he didn¡¯t want to miss his chance. So, instead of in the tomb, there was only the desert. The desert at night was cold. Quietus didn¡¯t really like that either. Still, it wasn¡¯t too cold, so he tolerated it. Plus, it was easier to warm up, since he was moving around. Out in the desert he found mostly the giant versions of regular desert life. Giant scorpions, giant lizards, giant snakes, and so on. He killed them all, and turned them into undead. Since they were animals, they were still all zombies, but they were quite good. Much better than what he had made before he was a necromancer. Hunting at night was also more efficient, because although monsters grew stronger at night, this trait was shared when they were turned into undead. Thus, Quietus benefitted from an increase in experience with little increase in risk. After he had a good number of zombies, he actually had them fight while he was busy repairing injured ones. Repairs were different for non-humanoid monsters. It was hard at first, but he eventually learned to deal with it. Scales could be replaced from the bodies of other snakes and lizards. The leathery skin on parts of the lizards could be stitched up. Scorpion¡¯s chitinous armor could be at least partially repaired with an alchemical compound that stuck to a surface and hardened. Quietus brought in a pretty constant stream of experience, adding to his level and his Repair Undead skill. Quietus still stayed near the battles so that he could recall injured minions and occasionally throw a dark spear into the battle. They were quite powerful, but of course they took more time to use than a dark arrow. They were not good in an emergency, but Quietus was glad to have a powerful ranged attack. If all the undead were in good shape, he would also move into melee combat, since the zombies weren¡¯t good at striking the weak points of enemies. They were more useful for slowly grinding their health away. Since he was nearby, Quietus was also able to get the loot from the battles. Nothing he had was capable of picking up loot for him, so he had to do it himself. During the second day, when he was in town, all of Quietus¡¯ zombies were killed. Since they were out in the desert, people must have mistaken them for wild monsters. They hadn¡¯t even defended themselves, because Quietus had told them to ¡°stand there and do nothing¡±. From then on, Quietus had them bury themselves under the sand during the day. He didn¡¯t want to lose minions or suddenly get a murderer¡¯s mark. The sun wasn¡¯t good for them anyway. It slightly sped up their decay, which meant Quietus had to use more preservatives to keep them in top shape. After checking all of the shops for the slippers, Quietus went around watching and listening to players. Mostly, people were boring. Quietus still tried his best to pay attention whenever the work Mummy came up, but that was quite often useless and generally followed by how many they had killed. Eventually Quietus found a player who had the slippers. He was lucky to overhear them talking about taking them as a souvenir on their trip back to civilization. They would be leaving on the next caravan back. From then on, Quietus watched them like a stalker hawk. However, they never left the city area, and there were always people around. Quietus briefly considered just stealing the item from their bag, but he didn¡¯t have the skill for that, and stealing was wrong anyway. Fortunately, Quietus knew when the caravan was leaving, so when it did he was ready. He followed the caravan from a distance with his inflate horde of minions. He currently had almost one hundred minions, in various states of usefulness. Some things he couldn¡¯t repair, like a broken off claw. Due to his stealth skill and spot, he was able to keep distant enough from the caravan that he thought they wouldn¡¯t notice him following. It was a smaller caravan, with about twenty people in it. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Quietus waited until there were enough people with the telltale strangeness of posture that indicated they were offline. Then, he attacked. He wasn¡¯t really sure whether this would end up with him dead, but he hadn¡¯t gotten any experience for The Power to Accept Death anyway. Everyone appeared unprepared for such a large, sudden attack. After all, the rangers were properly avoiding any monsters. First went Quietus¡¯ minions. He couldn¡¯t give them much instruction at the start besides ¡°kill everything there¡±. He snuck in behind the minions to look for his target. After he found them, he made sure to cast soul bind on them. There was no guarantee they would drop the slippers the first time. Then he gave some specific orders to his minions. Fortunately, there didn¡¯t appear to be any users of holy magic online. Quietus targeted any magic users first, since they had the most potential to wipe out several of his minions at once, with their area of effect magic. He stayed back and threw dark spears from the darkness. Since the players were outnumbered even before having some members logged off, they quickly fell. So did half of Quietus¡¯ horde. The players who had been remaining weren¡¯t too shabby, but a surprise attack by an enemy who effectively outnumbers you ten to one is not in your favor. A couple of the players may have been able to take out ten of Quietus¡¯ minions alone, but they didn¡¯t have the opportunity. Quietus looted the slippers, which saved him the trouble of having to kill this person again, and while he was at it took whatever else people had dropped. Mostly, it was junk. The rest were a couple pieces of heavy armor he couldn¡¯t use. He would sell them later. Then, Quietus set back on his trek in what was hopefully the right direction, after repairing his remaining minions. He also applied a new disguise. Fortunately for Quietus, the desert was quite flat, and he had a good sense of direction. He took about a day to get back, compared to the half a day he had spent on the way out, but he made it back to King Suna¡¯s Tomb. He found his way back inside quite easily. He used his crude map to find the area where he¡¯d met the mummy who gave him the quest. Once there, he easily found a mummy. This mummy, however, was different. Not obviously, but Quietus remembered the bandages being wrapped a bit differently, and being a bit more worn. The obvious thing to do was ask him where the other one was. The mummy at first looked surprised. Then, it responded. ¡°Ohh, so you¡¯re the one. I didn¡¯t actually believe there was one of you adventurers that wasn¡¯t a complete savage, but I guess John was right. You even brought his slippers? Good, maybe he¡¯ll stop complaining about it now. Sometimes I wish I could cut off my ears with him around, but they¡¯re already gone.¡± The mummy gestured to the flat sides of its head. Then it showed him to the mummy who was, apparently, named John.
You have completed a quest! Slippers Experience received.
The quest gave negligible experience. Quietus had gotten a lot more for slaughtering innocent players the actual partaking in the quest. Still, he what he really wanted was the introduction to the king¡¯s guards. John was true to his word, and brought him to meet the guards, in front of what was theoretically a throne room, but just had closed doors. The path was long and confusing, and very dark. Not that darkness mattered to Quietus, when he used his darkvision spell. The guards were obviously the imposing figures that were almost seven feet tall and looked to be made entirely out of muscle. Almost literally, since their flesh was otherwise emaciated. Quietus gulped inside, and hoped that they would be friendly. End Chapter 56 Previous Chapter: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2433&p=15865#p15865 Next Chapter: ??? News! and consolation prize. *Halosty carefully sneaks onto the set* Hello. It''s... it''s been a while. If any of you still come here, it''s either because you like my writing, or want to kill me for disappearing (or both). Well, please don''t kill me. I happen to have very good guards and- *A cardboard cutout of a ninja falls over in the background* Err, well... at least I know Quietus isn''t for hire right now. You might wonder why I am here? Well, it is for a shameless plug of new stuff I''m writing! There isn''t much yet, but... *Holds out hands with a sheet of paper* Here! http://halostystales.wordpress.com I''ve started a wordpress thingy! Hopefully, if anybody sees this and goes there, they will enjoy what I write there. *Sees some real ninjas sneaking up* Well, time to go. *Throws down a side story of Necromancer as a distraction for his escape* Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Side Story: Halloween ¡°Mortimer! You interested in playing-¡± ¡°Not unless it¡¯s Royal Road or hide-and-go-seek.¡± Mortimer didn¡¯t dislike Robert, but he wasn¡¯t in the mood to talk today. Robert seemed to take the rejection well, though, since he was currently laughing uproariously. ¡°I¡¯ve seen, well, not really, but I know about your hide-and-go-seek skills. Actually, I was hoping you could help out with this haunted house we¡¯re running. It¡¯s still a ways off, but if we could use someone to give some people some scares.¡± ¡°Why do you think I¡¯d do that? You should be aware that I don¡¯t do anything involving, well, people.¡± Robert shrugged. ¡°Fine. I was thinking you might want to see Solara in a costume, but I guess I was wrong.¡± ¡°...If I¡¯m not busy.¡± Mortimer wouldn¡¯t be, if he could help it. He was extremely slightly interested in seeing Solara in some kind of costume. -------------------------- Mortimer was assigned the role of a ghost. It was the standard bedsheet with holes cut for eyes costume, so it wasn¡¯t particularly impressive. His job as a ghost would be to move around through the haunted house, scaring people. Well, Mortimer didn¡¯t find ghosts and terrible ghost costumes particularly scary, but he¡¯d try. As promised, Solara was there in costume, not that she knew about that promise. She was dressed up as a vampire, although it wasn¡¯t a particularly flattering costume. Still, Mortimer liked it. Solara didn¡¯t look very intimidating, but the lights would be dim, so that should help. The rest would be up to her acting skills. Angela was there as well, dressed as a witch. Again, the costume wasn¡¯t particularly revealing, but that just made it more practical for scaring people. Angela smiled in a way that certainly gave shivers to Mortimer, if nobody else. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Finally, Alex was there as another ghost. Obviously, the costume was lacking in production value just like Mortimer¡¯s. Well, maybe they could be scaring buddies, since the ghosts were meant to wander around, although they couldn¡¯t always stay together. After everyone got dressed, it was soon time for them to move to their respective positions. -------------------------- Although Mortimer wasn¡¯t afraid of ghosts or terrible ghost costumes, it seemed everyone else was. He didn¡¯t have much trouble making people run off screaming. He almost never even got to the point where he would yell ¡°boo!¡±, instead, he just got close to people and they ran screaming when they saw him. Well, theoretically screaming was a lot of the fun at a haunted house. Well, maybe everyone¡¯s reactions were exaggerated. After all, some of the monsters ran away from him too. Alex, Solara, and Angela just jumped when he said hi, but some of the others ran away screaming. Well, maybe they were trying to scare people that way as well. Mortimer had quite a bit of fun, and he also felt like he got some good practice for his stealth skill. It took some work hiding in a pure white sheet, since it rustled and stood out. Still, Mortimer managed it quite well. -------------------------- Eventually, the time was up, so Mortimer returned to the dressing room. Then, it happened. Mortimer, while he would admit to sometimes stalking spying a little bit on Solara, had never even once peeked on her changing, and not because there weren¡¯t chances. He just, quite simply, knew it was wrong, so he didn¡¯t do it. That is why he could say with full confidence that he didn¡¯t intend to view that scene. He also quickly left. Sure, not as quickly as he could have, but he didn¡¯t linger long. He¡¯d seen Solara in quite skimpy outfits in Royal Road, but something was different in reality. Maybe it was just that it was actual underwear. As far as Mortimer learned, nobody ever found out about that incident. Well, he could honestly say it was an accident if it was brought up. Not that he planned for it to be brought up. -------------------------- After that year, there was a story about the haunted house. It hadn¡¯t been very scary at first, just silly jump scares with a vampire, a witch, and a poorly dressed ghost, among other things. However, in that haunted house, it was said there was something different. Terrifying. A real ghost. It snuck through the shadows, and appeared, looking over your shoulder. Nobody knew whether it was a poor tormented soul looking for help, or the remains of a murderer, because nobody wanted to stay to find out. After all, the way it showed up, it was easy to assume the latter. End Side Story: Halloween Necromancer - Chapter 57a Okay, time for the question everyone is waiting for the answer to... and you can already guess the answer, because of the title of this thread. I will be posting more chapters of Necromancer. Currently, I am planning to release one chapter per week, on Thursdays. I know, it''s not a lot, but unfortunately I don''t have an infinite amount of time to write. I also do other things with my life, after all. In addition, I''m Gonna be a Wizard When I Grow up (http://halostystales.wordpress.com) will be coming out on Mondays. Thus, chapter 57a follows. Why a? Because I realized after writing later chapters that I wanted to split this one into two, and I didn''t want to renumber the later chapters. Yay laziness. Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 57a Quietus was quite nervous upon entering the throne room, but before he did anything stupid, he realized it was a formal setting. He could easily fake the proper interactions for such a setting, like he did in real life. Thus, he waited for King Suna to speak first. He waited, and then waited some more. Quietus wasn¡¯t actually sure that King Suna wasn¡¯t, in fact, dead. He wasn¡¯t moving, and he certainly didn¡¯t look healthy. On the other hand, he was a mummy. Quietus watched him carefully for any signs of movement. Breathing, no, that wouldn¡¯t happen. Slight shifting, a slight movement in his wrappings? None of that. Even with his spot skill, Quietus could detect nothing from his position. He turned his eyes to the guards flanking the king, and they, too, showed no signs of movement. This was actually encouraging, since it indicated that the mummies could stand perfectly still. Quietus attempted to stand still, but it was hard. He almost wanted to get out some bandages or something and wrap them around himself, so he could practice his undead mimicry skill. He figured that would be rather tactless, though. So, he waited. Finally, something happened. King Suna¡¯s head came up suddenly. ¡°Huh, what? Who¡¯s this?¡± One of the guards answered him. ¡°This is Quietus, my lord.¡± ¡°Who? Oh yes.¡± King Suna nodded. ¡°Welcome, young man.¡± Quietus succeeded in not getting angry that King Suna had been asleep, mostly because of the novelty of an undead sleeping at all. King Suna continued, ¡°I have heard about your adventures. I must say, you are an interesting fellow.¡± Quietus was surprised that King Suna had heard of him. After all, Quietus only had fame numbering a few hundreds. However, thinking about it for a bit, he realized that his much larger infamy would be more likely to be recognized by the undead anyway. ¡°Thank you, my lord.¡± Quietus sensed that King Suna was not done speaking yet. ¡°You are the first living soul I have seen in centuries. Tell me, what has brought you here?¡± Quietus figured that there was no reason to beat around the bush. ¡°I come because the knowledge I seek has been lost to the living. I have come seeking information about the necromancer Aullet, whom I heard you knew.¡± ¡°Yes, I did indeed know him. However, such knowledge is precious, and not to be given lightly. Now, we do not consider you an enemy, but neither are you our friends. Perhaps if that changes, I shall give you the knowledge you seek."
A quest has been updated! Aullet To receive information about Aullet, you must increase your reputation among the mummies.
¡°Thank you, oh wise king, I shall return later.¡± -------------------------- Basically, Quietus had to do quests for the mummies. So, he did everything, from finding more slippers (these were just lost) to repairing injured mummies. Although they would respawn upon death, some decay remained, and the mummies weren¡¯t as strong as they once were. Quietus purchased fresh bandages and herbs for embalming, among other things. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Quietus also spent time observing the mummies, even in combat with players. In fact, he intentionally sought those battle out. After enough observations, he gained the ability to mimic mummies as well. Mummies were slow but powerful. Unlike ghouls, their mental faculties were not weaker. They could disease people with a touch, which acted somewhat like poison, but the effects were more drawn out, and harder to fix. In a short combat, it was less useful, but Quietus saw how it could be of use in a longer battle, such as a siege. Especially if it could spread. Normally, it didn¡¯t, but Quietus decided to explore that option. As a side effect of the mimicry¡­ *ding*
You learned the skill Bandage. Enables you to stop bleeding. Increases life of the wounded when tended. Special:Slightly increases the health when using Undead Mimicry to take mummy form.
Although he already had stitching to stop bleedings effects, it didn¡¯t really help restore life. Plus, Quietus figured bandaging would be less painful than stitching, so he was glad to have another skill. Along with the more peaceful repairing of mummies and observation quests, Quietus got quests to slay the enemies of the mummies. That is, players. King Suna¡¯s tomb didn¡¯t have a temple nearby, and thus no respawn point. However, some high level players had resurrection spells that duplicated the effects of temples. The key factor there was that they needed the bodies. At first, Quietus hid them, but there were enough high level players that they were all tracked down eventually. So, Quietus started turning them into undead. After that, the bodies would be unable to be raised by spells. While they were undead, they significantly helped him. He actually managed to create some ghouls and low-tier death knights. Much better than zombies. While his undead army fluctuated in size, from players killing them off and just time, Quietus continued his sneak attacks on the other players around the area. Mummies were terrible at stealth, to say the least, so the players weren¡¯t really prepared for Quietus. Since they weren¡¯t prepared, they died, and so the word didn¡¯t get out, at least until people started contacting those they knew in person. Fortunately, the closest respawn point was far enough away that returning players couldn¡¯t arrive to help each other. Of course, one player could not beat so many, even with a level advantage and a small army of undead. Quietus considered what it would take to get a large army of undead. Unfortunately, by the time he would succeed with such a task, more players would likely have arrived, as well as respawned players, out for vengeance. His first thought was to recruit the local mummies, but there were too many players still around for that to be enough. Plus, all of the players were ready to combat mummies. Quietus wracked his brains for good ideas. Among them, the first one was to sell poisons disguised as disease curing potions. Sadly, information about items stats were available for everyone to see, and his stealth skill only worked to disguise himself. Therefore, he had to table that idea. His second thought was to flood the dungeon with a poison gas, but he didn¡¯t have enough materials for that. In the time he would take to get the materials, he could have raised a large army of undead, and thus it had the same problem. The option Quietus finally settled for involved his trap disarming skills. After testing, he determined he could reset traps with it as well. Although he couldn¡¯t build a trap from scratch, he repaired and modified traps found in the dungeon. He made them harder to find, harder to disable, and covered in more poison and disease. Although the disease couldn¡¯t spread beyond the primary target at his skill, it could still be applied to some traps to spread to whoever got hit by it. This, combined with the systematic removal of those who could cure diseases and resurrect players, was all he could do alone. Still, it was effective enough. End Chapter 57a Necromancer - Chapter 57b Hello! Welcome back. Not much to say this week except you can vote for which story I first release some of on Saturday on my wordpress site. The relevant post Also, I forgot to put this earlier, but chapter 2 is out! I''m Gonna be a Wizard When I Grow up Again! Chapter 2 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 57b Quietus still realized he could not drive out all the other players alone. However, there was still the matter of the tomb full of mummies, who just wanted the players to leave them alone. Quietus had a very positive reputation among the mummies, so it wasn¡¯t too hard to convince them to join him, especially since he asked them to do the thing they most wanted anyway. It also helped that he had the Necrosympathy stat, which combined charisma and leadership in one! Of course, it only applied to undead, and made others react to him more poorly, but that didn¡¯t bother Quietus. Numbers aside, his actual leadership skills were quite limited. Although he¡¯d previously taught some ghouls how to use stealth, he wasn¡¯t experience in tactics by any means. So, he went with what he knew. Mummies, although not naturally stealthy, were still undead, and thus they didn¡¯t have to breathe or even move. While moving, they were only slightly more stealthy than ghouls, with their legs dragging along the ground and bandages rubbing against each other. Still, they were good for stationary ambushes. In addition to that, Quietus applied the one tactic he knew worked quite well. Traps are more effective when people don¡¯t have the time or even the thought process to find and disarm them. Thus, Quietus gathered the mummies in groups. The groups players were in could easily pick off a few mummies, which were how they were normally organized. Now, they were gathered together, and although not all corridors were protected, larger groups at key points kept the dungeon secure. More importantly, large groups of mummies suddenly charging generally caused players to run down a corridor away from them- into traps they hadn¡¯t disarmed yet. It wasn¡¯t too long before all of the players had been driven out or killed, mostly the second option. Although the players were planning to organize a large group, nobody was willing to venture inside just yet, with the apparent changes to the dungeon. Then, Quietus was once more called before King Suna. -------------------------- ¡°Greetings once again, young man. In the recent weeks, you have been of great help to my loyal subjects. Thus, you have been of great help to me. However, we tire of this endless conflict. We plan to seal the tomb away, beneath the sands. Before we do so, here is the knowledge you seek.¡± King Suna told Quietus of the necromancer Aullet, and how he studied to create new kinds of undead. For this, he was reviled, but his thirst for knowledge let nothing stop him. Finally, he created his best work, the Destroyer Skeletons. As Quietus had already heard, one of them was enough to ensure mutual destruction with an entire army of paladins. After his story, he pulled out an old tome. ¡°Here are the only writings I have of Aullet¡¯s. I hope that you will do them justice. Now, not that we are ungrateful, but it is time for you to leave this place.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.Quietus thanked the king and left swiftly. In fact, he almost wished he¡¯d been a little bit faster, since as he neared the exit the whole tomb started shaking violently. Just after he got out, it slipped beneath the sand. Fortunately for Quietus, everyone was more focused on the entire dungeon disappearing than him, so nobody noticed his murderer¡¯s mark. Quietus put on a better disguise before he could get discovered, then went somewhere secluded to read the book.
I am disappointed with the eternally temporary nature of undead. Although many of them last for centuries, with care, I feel that this is not good enough. They should be self-sustaining, and I have come up with a method that might work. It is a method of transferring the soul of a living creature into an undead. This gives them almost indefinite longevity, and somewhat protects them from holy magic, although they are still weak to it. Now the only problem that remains is creating the perfect body to hold the best soul.
You have learned a skill! Transfer Soul With this, you can transfer a soul into an undead creature. This makes them stronger and their duration becomes unlimited. However, it only works if the soul used is of sufficient quality. The effectiveness is also limited by the fact that the bodies of most undead cannot handle the best quality of souls, either.
Quietus liked the idea of undead with unlimited durations, but he wasn¡¯t sure exactly where to get souls. He supposed maybe ghosts would work, but perhaps not, since they were also undead. He would have to look into it. -------------------------- Although Quietus didn¡¯t think much of it, the disappearance of King Suna¡¯s tomb was a big deal to players. Besides the fact that it was a pretty good hunting ground, the circumstances of its disappearance were bizarre to other players. After all, regular dungeons didn¡¯t disappear. Sure, some collapsed after defeating the boss for the first time, but they were always meant to be temporary dungeons, and people knew that. In this case, however, an established dungeon drove out all the players, and then just¡­ left. It didn¡¯t collapse, it just sank into the sands in a very purposeful manner. It wasn¡¯t a temporary event dungeon, and there had been no indication that it was going to disappear. Sometimes, there would be quests related to the destruction of a dungeon, but in that case many players would have seen it coming. In that, at least, they were equal with the perpetrator. Quietus hadn¡¯t known at all what his actions would cause, but then again¡­ he didn¡¯t particularly care, either. End Chapter 57b Necromancer - Chapter 58 Hello~ Welcome to chapter 58! Since the last chapter here, I have posted chapter 3 of I Wanna be a Wizard When I Grow up Again! and 3 (!) chapters of Many Worlds, because any less of it wasn''t a good intro. I''ll be exhibiting another story "Blood" on Saturday, so don''t forget to check it out. Or, you know, just read Necromancer, if you want. I''m not your boss. Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 58 ¡°Mortimer~ Mortimer~ Mortimer~¡± Angela called as she walked down the hall. Mortimer was pretty sure he could still hide. However, on the small chance that she found him, Mortimer knew he would regret it. Plus, there was the even smaller chance that whatever she wanted him for would be to his benefit. Mortimer was nothing if not optimistic*. *Blatant falsehood Instead of hiding, Mortimer went for the next best thing. He snuck around behind her. ¡°Hey, Angela.¡± Well, he didn¡¯t stay hidden, so it didn¡¯t really count. ¡°Gah!¡± Angela jumped back in an extreme, but not entirely exaggerated, fashion. ¡°Do you have to sneak around like that?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Strictly speaking, Mortimer didn¡¯t have to sneak around, but he was more comfortable doing so. ¡°Whatever. So, are you anywhere near Morata?¡± ¡°No. I¡¯m in the Desert of Tranquility.¡± Perfect, he was on the other side of the world, so he had a good excuse to not fulfill whatever the request was.. ¡°Great! That¡¯s exactly where we need you. One of our guild members is lost somewhere there.¡± Mortimer had thought he¡¯d grown better at detecting traps, but it seemed those skills didn¡¯t apply to verbal ones. He¡¯d forgotten that Angela basically kept track of his general location, when she could. Still, he had a good excuse or two left. ¡°Do I look like a ranger to you? Can¡¯t they just die and respawn somewhere?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­. nope, and nope. Well, they could, but they have an item the guild needs, and we don¡¯t want to risk losing it. They ended up in the desert from some kind of teleportation trap. Since you¡¯re the only one near there, we need you to find them.¡± ¡°Ok, well, even if I wanted to, which I don¡¯t, the Desert of Tranquility is the size of, like, Africa. That¡¯s big, in case you didn¡¯t know that.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, but we know an approximate location. The southern part, where it gets freezing, so it¡¯s only the size of a small country. Plus, you haven¡¯t outright said you can¡¯t do it, which means you think you might be able to. Since that¡¯s not going to be good enough¡­ We¡¯ll give you 10,000 gold.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I have enough gold. I need the time to find some info for other quests I have.¡± ¡°Well, the guild will owe you a favor, and I can get some of them to look for info for that quest.¡± Mortimer¡¯s resolve was weakening. ¡°Also, I won¡¯t guilt you into doing anything for six months.¡± Mortimer tried his best to not completely give in at that line. ¡°Finally, Alex is one the stuck in the desert.¡± Mortimer groaned. ¡°Maratis? Really? A cleric should be able to find a group¡­ but I assume there isn¡¯t anyone around, then. I¡¯ll try, but no guarantees¡­ Even if I fail, the six months thing has to stand.¡± Angela sighed. ¡°Fine, but you¡¯d better really work at it.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t I always? Don¡¯t answer that.¡± -------------------------- If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Mortimer.¡± This time it was Mortimer¡¯s turn to jump back in surprise. ¡°Wha- oh, Master Valarao. What is it?¡± ¡°I was thinking¡­ you¡¯re doing well in training, and it seems to be time to teach you some other techniques I know.¡± ¡°Very well, I will do my best.¡± Inside, Mortimer was excited and terrified, since each stage of training seemed to be more painful. Sure, he¡¯d gotten used to experiencing virtual death, but sometimes he didn¡¯t die right away, and the pain dragged on¡­ it wasn¡¯t very fun. Plus, muscle pain was even more lasting, but at least less painful, usually. Still, all of master Valarao¡¯s techniques had been both useful and fascinating. -------------------------- ¡°Mr. Perrywinkle.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Mortimer!¡± Mortimer turned around with a frown, which he quickly hid. ¡°Err, please call me Mortimer, Dr. Stevenson. You have something to say to me?¡± Mortimer had been having too many conversations today. ¡°While your academic results are excellent, it would be best if you decided what you wanted to major in before next semester. Otherwise, you will likely take unnecessary classes.¡± Mortimer hadn¡¯t even thought about school at all recently. Well, he¡¯d never really thought about it. Sure, he did his homework, but he never really paid that much attention to school in general. Still, he did need to think about his future. After all, he couldn¡¯t just live as Quietus, and he¡¯d never be able to get by on the hope of his inheritance. It had been made quite clear that if he didn¡¯t make something of himself, he wouldn¡¯t see a penny of it. He should become something prestigious, like a businessman or¡­ something. He¡¯d definitely have to think about it. -------------------------- ¡°Mortimer!¡± This time, the call was accompanied by a touch on his shoulder. Since it was unexpected, he almost threw the person to the floor and killed seriously injured incapacitated them. However, partly because he wasn¡¯t in Royal Road, but mostly because he recognized the voice, he kept control, and turned around slowly. ¡°Hey, Alex.¡± ¡°I hear you¡¯re gonna come find me?¡± Alex grinned. ¡°Well, yeah.¡± Mortimer shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ll need you to tell me everything you can about where you are.¡± ¡°Okay, I found a relatively safe place, in a cave, but it¡¯s really cold and there are all kinds of weird undead. The terrain is mountainous¡­¡± Alex went on to tell Mortimer as much detail as possible. Mortimer hoped it would be enough. Well, it¡¯s not like he would be searching alone, exactly, so he might have a chance. -------------------------- ¡°Mortimer.¡± Mortimer turned to look at his butler James. ¡°Feeling better?¡± ¡°...Was I not feeling good?¡± ¡°Yes, since your birthday.¡± ¡°Oh, that. Yes, I feel better now.¡± Mortimer hadn¡¯t thought James had noticed anything. It slightly worried him how observant he was. On the other hand, James saw him the most often out of anybody, so he knew almost as much about Mortimer as anybody. James was likely second only to Angela and Mortimer himself, although he never pried into anything. Fortunately, James also didn¡¯t seem to tell Mortimer¡¯s parents about things Mortimer would rather them not know. At least, not that Mortimer knew of. ¡°Thanks for keeping an eye out for me.¡± Mortimer checked his face and back in the mirror, in case he had a sign that said ¡°talk to me¡± or something. He even checked the internet to see if it was ¡°talk to Mortimer day¡±. Of course, there was no such thing. Well, Mortimer knew it was probably just a coincidence. He logged onto Royal Road. Time to get searching¡­ End Chapter 58 Necromancer - Chapter 59 Hello again! Sorry that it was late (but you probably didn''t know that I was planning to post it two hours ago, so you didn''t know it was late). This week, Chapter 4 of I''m Gonna be a Wizard When I Grow up Again! is out, along with chapters 1+2 of Blood. This Saturday, the release of the first bit of "Of Space and Bachelor''s Degrees" will come out. As always, my wordpress site is here. Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 59 Quietus looked at the map once more and regretted his decision. Over a day of travel and he was pretty sure he might have moved a few percent of the way there. If he wasn¡¯t wrong, at this pace he¡¯d take a month of travel to arrive. While this was only one week in real life, that would require him to play without sleep or going to school or any of the other things that he needed to do to survive. He¡¯d been traveling as a mummy. Although they were a bit slower, he was able to keep a brisk pace, and did not have to drink, nor to eat like if he were a ghoul. He could have gone faster, but he had been stopping to kill everything he saw on the way. After all, he needed to practice making undead. It wasn¡¯t nearly fast enough, though. However, zombies were even slower, and were inferior in every manner to ghouls. Quietus did some quick calculations. If he ran as sprinted as fast a human possibly could, he could arrive in four days, approximately. This assumed no stopping at all, no detours around geography, and of course, that he could run that fast. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t have to rest, since all undead had unlimited endurance. Quietus thought he could do it as a skeleton, but he didn¡¯t have the ability to mimic them yet. He studied one he had created. He knew the bone structure well enough, and could name each by memory. However, he didn¡¯t really understand what made a skeleton special, exactly. He knew they could move purely through dark magic, since they had no muscles or sinews to move their bones. He didn¡¯t really understand what it was like to be one, though. After all, he¡¯d always had all of his flesh, or at least most of it. This is why it was fortunate that he came across what he did on his path. A ghoul he had created ran ahead of him, and started to swim through the lake in an oasis. However, it started rapidly taking damage. Quietus watched as it climbed out the other shore. It was missing some of its skin. Looking around the oasis again, it wasn¡¯t like the others he¡¯d seen. While there was a large pool of water in the middle, there weren¡¯t any plants around. Quietus observed the pool of water again. After sticking his hand in for a second, it was obvious that it was highly acidic. Quietus bandaged his hand. Technically, he was using his repair undead ability, but his bandaging skill helped as well, since he was a mummy. Quietus knew how he¡¯d experience being a skeleton. However, he canceled his transformation into a mummy first. While he would have liked to not feel anything about what was coming up, he was pretty sure that would make it fail. Quietus almost jumped straight in, but then realized that was a bad idea. First, he gathered together all the undead who had managed to stay with him. Then, he gave them all his equipment, and ordered them to protect it. After that, he cast soul bind on himself, sprinted toward the lake of acid, and jumped in as far as he could. If Quietus had to describe the sensation as he experienced it, he would have probably said something incomprehensible and full of profanities. If he had the chance later, though, he would have said something like this: ¡°You know how lemons are acidic and sour? It¡¯s kind of like that, except stronger, and your entire body is a tongue. Except it¡¯s not a tongue, and you¡¯re covered in papercuts, and someone¡¯s poured lemon juice all over you. Also, you¡¯re on fire. Sometime after that, it really starts to hurt.¡± Quietus had almost missed the death message. In fact, he had rather wished it showed up a bit sooner. -------------------------- When Mortimer got out of the capsule, everything he touched hurt. It was painful getting to sleep, but he eventually managed to hold still and fall asleep. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. In the morning, the first person he saw was Angela. ¡°Mortimer! What happened to your face?! Your hands?!¡± Mortimer looked down at his hands. They were red, as if lightly burned. ¡°Don¡¯t know.¡± Mortimer said this, but then he had a thought. He recalled stories about people who had real burn symptoms from being hypnotized. He supposed that the realism of Royal Road¡¯s virtual reality had caused some symptoms from the intense feelings he had experienced. This is why the default settings were to reduce painful sensations. Mortimer didn¡¯t like it though, because it didn¡¯t feel real. Well, since the condition was probably mental, Mortimer presumed that it would be healed in the same way. He knew he wasn¡¯t injured, so he¡¯d get over it. It was slightly annoying though. Mortimer decided he should say something to appease Angela. ¡°Just a rash, I think. It should go away soon.¡± Angela gave him a pained look, as if calling it just a rash was like saying a missing arm was just a flesh wound. She didn¡¯t bug him about it any more, though. Mortimer knew that if it didn¡¯t get better soon, though, she would. -------------------------- Mortimer found Alex at school. Before he could say anything, ¡°What happened to your face?¡± Mortimer waved it off. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. It¡¯s getting better. Anyway, it should take me somewhere between two days and¡­ three weeks to get to your area.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a¡­ vague time period. Planning to go into cable installation?¡± ¡°Well, it depends on whether or not I can find this¡­ shortcut, I thought I saw.¡± ¡°...Alright, then. Just don¡¯t take too long. It¡¯s boring by myself. Although, I suppose that¡¯s preferable than being surrounded by undead or something.¡± Mortimer didn¡¯t particularly mind being surrounded by undead, but he assumed Alex meant the hostile undead around the southern tip of the continent. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I can probably get there soon. Then, I¡¯ll look for those landmarks you pointed out. Can¡¯t you just¡­ not log in?¡± Alex¡¯s head shook back and forth. ¡°Not exactly. There¡¯s a quest related to the item, and I need to log in for a certain amount each day or it¡¯ll fail, and the item will be lost.¡± ¡°Ugh, sounds like a pain. Well, I¡¯ll hurry.¡± -------------------------- By the time he got home, his skin was looking much better. It was barely even pinkish. Before he could head to his capsule, Master Valarao stopped him. ¡°Time to begin the new training.¡± After they were logged in to the training virtual reality program, Master Valarao explained more. ¡°Now, you know most of the combat techniques. However, a real battle starts even before the combatants meet, and sometimes ends with one still unaware of the other. Now, I don¡¯t foresee the techniques I will be teaching you being necessary to your daily life, but they are important to understand the entirety of the style. We¡¯ll start with the basics.¡± The basics, it turned out, were how to not be noticed, and how to avoid combat entirely. Master Valarao seemed to have realized Mortimer had some practice with such, so the difficulty ramped up quickly. Mortimer got a bit careless, and died twice. Fortunately, they were quick and mostly painless. Relatively, anyway. Especially when compared to jumping in a pool of acid. After this training, Mortimer was becoming more convinced that Master Valarao wasn¡¯t just a practitioner of martial arts. Of course, there had been plenty of signs before, like the large number of knives Master Valarao had. Still, Mortimer wasn¡¯t going to criticize whatever profession he had chosen. After all, he was an excellent teacher, and he seemed content to just teach Mortimer, and seemed uninterested in making Mortimer into a mercenary¡­ or more likely, assassin. Mortimer had no reason to bring his suspicions to light, so he didn¡¯t. End Chapter 59 Non-Necromancer comments (and poll!) Hello, if you are only interested in Necromancer and not any of my stuff at my wordpress then you don''t need to pay attention to this thread and can go on your merry way. See you on Thursdays! Otherwise, this thread is for people who want to comment on my wordpress stories but can''t/won''t make a wordpress account. Go ahead and post here, because I love comments! (Most of them anyway). Feel free to ask questions, but don''t expect an answer if it might involve spoilers. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Also, if you don''t check there regularly, I started another poll to determine which of the stories I''ve exhibited people want to see more of. Therefore, a link to the poll is below. Go ahead and vote for whichever you like! The Poll Necromancer - Chapter 60 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 60 Quietus immediately regretted his previous decisions upon logging into Royal Road. He had been a different person when he had made the decisions that brought him into this situation. Alas, he had to suffer the consequences that the person he used to be had wrought upon him. Specifically, the Quietus of yesterday, who didn¡¯t know how much being in a lake of acid hurt. ¡°Blargleblurg!¡± Quietus spewed the vilest of profanities he knew before quickly using his undead mimicry skill. This solved two of the most immediate problems he was facing. Specifically, that of not being able to breathe, and the pain. Now he no longer needed to breathe and didn¡¯t feel pain. However, he still had to rush to shore, since he was still taking significant amounts of damage. Once he reached the shore, he coughed and sputtered in a completely unnecessary and exaggerated manner. Why would the game designers let someone come back to life in the bottom of a lake of acid? That was ridiculous. Sure, it was admittedly entirely partly his fault, but that wasn¡¯t a good excuse for the developers to allow it. Well, he didn¡¯t exactly have to have the pain settings on full either, but they put the option in, so it was their fault it hurt so much, right? After bashing his head against some rocks to make himself feel better, which only worked because he didn¡¯t currently feel pain, he checked to see whether it had been worth it.
Undead Mimicry, Forms available: Ghoul: High physical stats, low mental stats. Mummy: Increased stats, reduced agility. Skeleton: Decreased strength; agility and dexterity increased.
If the skeleton hadn¡¯t been in that window, Quietus would probably have quit Royal Road right there. Well, not really, but he would have been extremely annoyed to not have gotten skeleton form after what he¡¯d put himself through been put through. Quietus realized that none of his undead minions could keep up with him. So, he gave them one final order. ¡°Wander around and kill everything.¡± There, now they would at least be useful during their limited lifespan. Although it would take a few days of sprinting at full speed, he wouldn¡¯t have to stop. It would be somewhat boring, but it was better to be fast in this case. He ran towards the southern end of the continent, and Maratis. He passed by all of the enemies he saw that didn¡¯t directly get in his way. There was decent variation in the monsters around him, and he would have liked to dissect them for the sake of his anatomy skill, but he kept on heading towards his goal. At least, until he ran into an enemy he couldn¡¯t ignore. He probably could have, if it weren¡¯t so literal. This enemy looked quite familiar, actually. It was a giant lizard, like those he¡¯d fought on the Plains of Despair. It fit in slightly better here in the desert. It was a slightly different type, but Quietus wasn¡¯t in the mood to waste time. Using all of his skills and his previous practice against giant lizards, he made short work of it. Then, he started his sprint again. After a minute, he stopped and ran back. He realized that he probably should have chosen a different method to learn to become a skeleton, at a later time. It would have saved him a lot of pain, and he didn¡¯t actually need the speed. Not that he didn¡¯t need to go fast, but there was another option that was more efficient. Quietus sighed, even though he currently had no lungs. Then he turned the lizard into a skeleton. It would have been the most profoundly uncomfortable ride imaginable, if he¡¯d been able to feel anything. Bones weren¡¯t meant for any kind of comfort, and there was no such thing as a saddle for giant lizards in the first place. However, that didn¡¯t stop him from riding it. Normally, he would have been so uncomfortable that he would have never tried it. Plus, he would have run out of stamina holding on desperately to its neck. Being a skeleton as well, though, meant he didn¡¯t have to deal with the comfort, and also had unlimited stamina. It wasn¡¯t a pretty sight, but it was a very quick way to travel. -------------------------- Several days had passed, out of game, and Maratis was nervous. Concerns about level in comparison to the nearby monsters abounded. However, they could be avoided in the cave in which Maratis was hiding. Worse, though, were the players who had managed to find their way here, looking for what Maratis had. They were intentionally looking for Maratis, and had the rangers and other trackers to do so. Although Maratis had some experience fighting against players, it had always been in a party. Maratis was designed for support, and supporting oneself was mostly a futile effort. Maratis smashed in the skull of a zombie with a mace covered in holy light. As a cleric, even one made for support, undead could still be defeated. The ones in the area weren¡¯t too powerful, either. However, the players were probably getting closer. Players from the Children of Light were coming, but unfortunately not nearby, since they hadn¡¯t been able to teleport anywhere close. The enemy players had been teleported by the same incident that had caused Maratis to end up here, hiding in a cave. However, the hiding had to come to an end. Not by choice, of course. However, with this many players, Maratis being found was inevitable. A ranger appeared at the entrance of the cave, and paused. Likely he was sending his location to the others. Then, he attacked. Maratis put up a struggle, but was no match in physical combat. Eventually, Maratis ran out of mana to heal, and was about to be hit by the final blow. Then, there was a sickening crunch. Maratis peered out between almost-closed fingers. The crunching continued. Where the ranger had been, there was a ghoul. The ranger was there, as well, but he wasn¡¯t in any condition to participate in combat anymore, with half of his head missing. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Although the ranger had been injured, the ghoul had managed to finish him in a single strike. Maratis reluctantly prepared to fight the ghoul, but without mana did not even hope to defeat an undead. Especially not one that was stronger than all of the others in the area. However, after it finished eating the ranger, something Maratis avoided watching even though it left a large opening, the ghoul did not attack. Instead, it just stood there for a moment, then moved to the entrance of the cave, as if waiting for something. Maratis just stared at it for a minute, before noticing something very strange. Below its name ¡°ghoul¡±, displayed in the red of a murderer, was a guild tag. . -------------------------- Quietus literally trampled the first enemy he saw. Some kind of monk, it seemed. Their equipment was cloth, but they didn¡¯t appear to be a caster. Therefore, probably a monk. Quietus wasted no time turning them into a ghoul. Skeletons were faster, and didn¡¯t need to eat to stay alive, but that wasn¡¯t an issue now. Quietus was close enough to his destination that he didn¡¯t need the extra speed, and there would be plenty for them to eat. Maratis had told him there were enemy players nearby, and thus Quietus had been looking. He didn¡¯t know exactly where Maratis was, but hopefully this ghoul, or the next, or the next, would succeed at tracking. They had an amazing sense of smell, after all. If they didn¡¯t find Maratis, they would find more players for Quietus to turn into undead. Quietus gave orders that he would repeat many times in the next few hours. ¡°Find all players, report their locations, and kill any not in my guild. If you find Maratis, stay there.¡± The ghoul nodded, and Quietus knew it would be able to follow the orders. He¡¯d studied the mechanics available to him somewhat, and his undead wouldn¡¯t attack any guildmates or party members, or himself, unless specifically ordered. It didn¡¯t hurt to be clear, though. -------------------------- Maratis sat in the back of the cave, even after mana recovery was finished. There didn¡¯t seem to be any point to getting up. The only things that could accomplish would be attracting the attention of this strange ghoul, or the players nearby. Neither was a good option. However, the inevitable conflict didn¡¯t wait too long to happen. This time, a pair of players showed up at the same time. The ghoul immediately attacked them. It didn¡¯t know anything about tactics, as was obvious by the way it rushed the warrior in front, and not the healer in the back. It was obvious the ghoul would lose. Maratis sat and pondered. Option one. Do nothing. The ghoul loses, the players kill Maratis, the quest is failed, and the Children of Light are disappointed. That was a pretty unacceptable option. Option two. Enter the fray. Possibly get killed by the ghoul, or the warrior, or even the other cleric. Same results. Option three. Support the ghoul. This wasn¡¯t really a sensible option. Healing the ghoul would just make it worse. However¡­ Maratis quickly scanned through a list of spells. ¡°Blessing of Baldr, Strength be given, Bull¡¯s Strength!¡± Normally, a cleric¡¯s buffs would just make undead worse. However, the Bull¡¯s Strength spell, unlike Healing Hand, didn¡¯t mention any holy energy. On the small chance that it wasn¡¯t a mistake, Maratis cast the spell. Sometimes, such gambles pay off. Bull¡¯s Strength gave an increase of about 30% to the strength statistic. To Maratis, this was an almost irrelevant number. To a ghoul, who had approximately double the strength of the base creature, it was massive. It was immediately obvious that it had worked properly. The ghoul, being fond of frontal attacks, landed a blow on the warrior¡¯s shield, not even trying to avoid hitting it. The warrior¡¯s block was successful¡­ to a point. There was the sound of creaking metal, and a snapping sound as well. His shield bent, his arm was broken, and he flew backwards, into the cleric. Normally, there was no way such a thing could have occurred. However, this particular ghoul had been not some random monster, but a monk, focused on strength. Their unarmed damage was already significant, but upon becoming a ghoul and gaining increased strength, it was at a level the warrior wasn¡¯t prepared to block. If he had been expecting strength of that level, it may have been deflected, but blocking it head on was useless. After the warrior went down, the cleric was soon to follow. After that, everything was chaos. More players arrived, and more undead as well. It was a chaotic mess, with Maratis buffing the undead, since that seemed like the least unfriendly side. Members of both sides kept dying, but the undead blocked the entrance to the cave, so Maratis was safe, mostly. As the last undead fell, the final enemy player, a barbarian, stepped through the doorway. It had been so close, but Maratis still appeared to be on the losing side. The barbarian thought the same, until just before his axe swung down to cleave Maratis in half. Then, there was a strange black shape sticking out of his chest. It looked like a spearhead, but it was formed of darkness. That was weird, shouldn¡¯t that end have been sticking in? The barbarian looked at Maratis¡¯s blood splattered face. Oh, that was it. It went all the way through, of course. The spear lost its form before the barbarian fell down, and Maratis saw a skeleton in a tree, off in the distance, through the hole in the barbarian¡¯s chest. The skeleton relaxed from its throwing position at the same time the barbarian¡¯s body thumped onto the floor. Maratis wasn¡¯t entirely sure what to do, but standing there staring seemed to be a good enough idea. Then, there was a voice outside the cave. ¡°Cancel skill!¡±. Quietus walked into the cave. ¡°Yo, Maratis. How ya doin?¡± Quietus¡¯ name was blood red, as no doubt Maratis¡¯ own was. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ a necromancer?¡± Quietus looked around guiltily. ¡°What gave you that idea? Of course nooooot¡­ Well, okay, yeah. Would you mind¡­ not telling anybody? That¡¯d be great.¡± Maratis¡¯ main response was to let blood drip from face to floor. End Chapter 60 Necromancer - Chapter 61 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 61 Quietus started looting the nearby bodies. Finders keepers, and all that. Plus, they were going to kill one of his guildmates. Maratis watched for a while, before saying, ¡°You know, you made a pretty convincing rogue.¡± Quietus turned around. ¡°Well, I¡¯ve got the skills for that too. Didn¡¯t you see that sweet backstab?¡± ¡°... With that black spear?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Quietus smiled. ¡°I usually don¡¯t hit anything from that far away.¡± Quietus started humming to himself as he went back to looting. ¡°So, what¡¯s the thing you¡¯ve got that they sent so many people for anyway?¡± He tossed Maratis an amulet. ¡°That¡¯s probably cleric stuff.¡± Maratis looked at the amulet and shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t have identify. So, you were a rogue, then became a necromancer? That¡¯s¡­ odd.¡± Quietus shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t have identify either, but we¡¯ll have a chance later. I¡¯ve got so many things that need it.¡± He stood up and brushed some dirt off his pants. ¡°No, I was a warlock first. Like, the whole time. I just did a bunch of roguey stuff.¡± He cleared his throat. ¡°Ye who have returned to the land of living. This black and corrupt land is a dark place. The eternal dark law will never disappear, engrave this upon yourself. Undead Rise!¡± Quietus rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he observed his new soldiers. ¡°It¡¯s still weird to say magic incantations.¡± ¡°I can buff them, you know. I¡¯m sure there are more enemies around.¡± Quietus tilted his head. ¡°Really? Because holy buffs shouldn¡¯t work. Also, umm¡­ they won¡¯t help me now, either. Don¡¯t use Healing Hand on me anymore, because now it¡¯ll just make me worse.¡± ¡°Blessing of Baldr, Strength be given, Bull¡¯s Strength!¡± Quietus glowed slightly. ¡°Ooh, it still works. That¡¯s great.¡± Maratis nodded. ¡°I guess it doesn¡¯t count as holy, since Baldr is more of a neutral god than the others. I don¡¯t have any unholy healing spells though, which is too bad.¡± Quietus shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve got lots of bandages and thread, so I¡¯ll be fine. Plus,¡± he pointed with his thumb at some of the undead surrounding them, ¡°these guys will be our sacrificial lambs. No need to risk ourselves.¡± -------------------------- Maratis and Quietus made a good team. Quietus made the party, and Maratis buffed it. Maratis couldn¡¯t keep full buffs up on all of them, but increased proficiency would help with that. The undead were strong enough on their own, since the players weren¡¯t bad base material. Every time they defeated a group of players, Quietus got new minions, but sadly he was losing more than he gained. The enemies had started to form larger groups, even allying with members of other guilds. The item Maratis had must have been quite important, not that Quietus cared. Quietus considered making some of the monsters into the area into undead minions as well, but then he remembered they were already undead. While he couldn¡¯t make them into his own minions, he still had a plan. -------------------------- Quietus completely ignored all the ¡°boring¡± unintelligent undead in the area. Since Quietus had such a high affinity with the undead due to his Necrosympathy stat and status as a necromancer, they ignored him. They also didn¡¯t attack Maratis, presumably because they were in the same party. It also helped that the monsters in the area were relatively lower level, though not weak. Most of the monsters were in the early 200¡¯s, but some were past the 250¡¯s. If there weren¡¯t any monsters that strong, Maratis would likely have been found sooner, and Quietus wouldn¡¯t have arrived in time to help. Eventually, Quietus found the area he was looking for. ¡°So, why are we heading towards the higher level death knights?¡± ¡°What a silly question. Obviously, we¡¯re going to recruit them.¡± ¡°Oh. Of course.¡± Maratis looked nervous to be moving among so many undead, for good reason. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Then, a death knight that was larger than the others came out. ¡°I challenge you to a duel?¡± Quietus pointed to himself. ¡°Me? Oh no, I¡¯d hardly be a challenge. Even with my friend here, we aren¡¯t much of a threat. However, I do know the location of some worthy opponents¡­¡± Although normal people wouldn¡¯t be able to tell, the eyes of the death knight grew eager. After all, who but a necromancer could tell what the eyes of an eyeless monsters said? The death knight grinned, although it looked just like his normal face. ¡°Strong opponents? Tell me of them.¡± ¡°Actually, there is an army forming nearby. They are not far off.¡± Quietus hadn¡¯t just been wandering around looking for strong, intelligent undead. He¡¯d sent some of his minions to a certain location, taunting others to find them. Although the death knight wished to duel Quietus because of his fame, or more specifically because of his infamy, he could tell that Quietus wasn¡¯t a knight or any kind of warrior. He was more interested in fighting warriors and armies. Thus, it didn¡¯t take too much longer to convince him, as well as the other death knights, to help. -------------------------- When the final battle arrived, Quietus and Maratis hardly had to do any work at all. Although there were many players, they weren¡¯t from the same guild and were unused to working together. Their levels also varied widely. The death knights, however, worked together as a team quite well. Since the enemy players had been expecting to find Quietus, Maratis, and a much smaller amount of undead minions, they were not prepared. Still, they put up enough of a challenge to satisfy the death knights, which wasn¡¯t particularly to their benefit. Quietus didn¡¯t mind if they thought the death knights were his, instead of just naturally occuring monsters. In fact, later news would spread of a necromancer who had a small army of death knights. -------------------------- In general, after the battle there were no problems. However, Maratis had to eat (burnt) meat, since neither Quietus nor Maratis could cook in the slightest. Burnt was better than raw. Except, of course, if you were a ghoul, which is how Quietus consumed his meals. He got some strange looks for that, but Maratis was quite accepting of his newly revealed oddities. Most of the way, Quietus carried Maratis piggyback. Riding a skeleton lizard was more than impractical for anyone who could feel anything. Maratis wanted to walk, but had to admit it was much faster the other way. Eventually, they ended up in civilization, and paid for teleportation at the temple. Along they way they had killed enough monsters to remove the murderer status, not that Quietus couldn¡¯t have gotten in with a disguise. Both of them met up with Angelo. ¡°That was¡­ actually really fast. I was expecting you to still be getting there.¡± Quietus shrugged. ¡°If I¡¯d been slower at all, I would have been too late. So, it¡¯s good that I found a shortcut.¡± Angelo nodded. ¡°It¡¯s good that you did. Here¡¯s your payment.¡± Angelo held out the bag, presumably containing ten thousand gold. Quietus waved his hand. ¡°Bleh, don¡¯t need it. Then I¡¯d have to look for things I want to buy, and talk to people or something. Just put it towards identifying this stuff I have.¡± Angelo sighed. ¡°You do know we have identifiers in the guild who will do it for free, right?¡± ¡°Umm, no. I¡¯ve never been to the guild hall, since we got it. I don¡¯t know most of the people in the guild.¡± ¡°Well, Nilrem is one of the identifiers, although he isn¡¯t the best.¡± ¡°Oooh, I like him. He¡¯s great with lightning.¡± Quietus got a strange smile. ¡°Anyway, I mostly did it for Maratis. Also, partly for you not bugging me for six months.¡± Quietus got a serious look on his face. ¡°Most importantly, I do need help looking for leads on this quest. I need to know anything you can find about someone named Aullet. He was some big, bad, necromancer dude a while ago. Umm, also, people might not like hearing questions about him, for some reason?¡± Angelo nodded. ¡°We said we¡¯d help, and we will. Why do you have a quest about a necromancer though? Nevermind, I¡¯d rather not know. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s something ridiculous you got up to.¡± ¡°Pfft, me? I¡¯d never do anything ridiculous. Have fun with your artifact thing.¡± Quietus wandered off, wondering where he¡¯d get souls. End Chapter 61 Necromancer - Chapter 62 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 62 Quietus sat in a dark corner in a cave, waiting. Everyone was late. He knew this for sure, because he had been late, and nobody had arrived before him. So, he sat in his corner and sulked. Well, not entirely. He was technically grinding some skills, although not a lot of effort was going into that. As he sat in the dark, he used his darkvision spell constantly. He had high enough mana regeneration that he could do that, now. He was also somewhat training stealth, although generally there weren¡¯t any monsters around, so it was mostly just sitting quietly. He occasionally went out, killed a group of the orcs that lived in this cave, and turned them into undead (after making sure that nobody was watching). Then he had them wander around fighting other orcs, coming back to him for repairs after every battle. Until they died, of course. Then he¡¯d make more. It wasn¡¯t the best way, since optimally he¡¯d turn about a third of the dungeon into undead minions to fight the rest, but he wanted them to be around for when the party showed up. Besides, he doubted he had that much time. So he sat, and waited. Eventually, some blonde hair, and a knight attached to it, came around the corner. ¡°You¡¯re late.¡± The knight looked around nervously, looking for the source of the voice. ¡°Do you always have to hide?¡± Angelo asked. Quietus stepped out into the hallway. ¡°I dunno, do you always have to wear armor? This is what my class does. Umm¡­ where¡¯s everyone else?¡± ¡°Oh¡­ One second.¡± Angelo paused for a second, appearing to check some messages. ¡°It looks like¡­ everyone else can¡¯t make it.¡± Quietus sighed. ¡°What, is everyone doing real life stuff? Lame.¡± ¡°Well, Maratis and Ruby are, but Nilrem is sick. I could get some other people but¡­ I doubt you¡¯d want me to, since you wouldn¡¯t know them.¡± Quietus nodded in assent. ¡°Since we can¡¯t do this dungeon with just us two, we should give up. Sorry for having you show up for nothing.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Quietus answered noncommittally. Normally, that would have been sufficient. However, Angelo knew him too well. ¡°What, you still think we can do it?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say that.¡± He didn¡¯t exactly mean it either. Angelo frowned. ¡°What level are you?¡± Quietus hesitated, before saying, ¡°240¡¯s.¡± Which was still true, even at level 249. Angelo¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°But¡­ you die so much, and only solo¡­ how are you outleveling me so much?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ secret ninja techniques?¡± He could have just said the ¡®secret¡¯ part, but that wasn¡¯t as fun. Angelo turned to face down the tunnel. ¡°Now I have to see you fight. C¡¯mon, let¡¯s go!¡± ¡°I assure you, it won¡¯t be as impressive as you think.¡± Quietus¡¯ words did nothing to curb Angelo¡¯s enthusiasm, however. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. In practice, Quietus was still impressive, although not anywhere as much as he could have been alone. He was best suited to fighting humanoid opponents, such as these orcs, and with Angelo holding their attention, he could backstab them with impunity. His technique was good, and his level certainly contributed to his effectiveness. He could even heal, although it was really just speeding up recovery out of combat, with bandages and stitches. (Given the option, Angelo always chose bandages, for some reason). The pair of them easily took on groups of up to four orcs, and could beat more with some risk. Angelo¡¯s technique was much more mobile than one would normally expect from a knight, and they rarely got a clean hit. Everything was always dodged, blocked, or deflected enough off course that it was less effective. Angelo¡¯s offense wasn¡¯t lacking either, with skilled, precise strikes landing criticals much more often than could just be attributed to luck. It didn¡¯t hurt to have a shiny new sword, as well as some other upgraded items, courtesy of Quietus. Quietus had gotten quite a haul after killing all the players while being involved with the mummies, and saving Maratis afterwards. He didn¡¯t bother to tell Angelo the sword came from someone who probably had never intentionally PKed anyone. It was best to just pretend everything came from the latter adventure. Angelo lopped off the head of the last orc in the particular group they were fighting. ¡°You¡¯ve gotten really good, cousin. We should spar again sometime.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t. Master Valarao forbid me from sparring, remember?¡± ¡°What? Still? When can we spar again? It was fun.¡± Quietus thought for a moment. ¡°Probably never. At least, not before I want to be expelled as a student.¡± ¡°Well, can we duel then? That should be alright¡­¡± Quietus shook his head. ¡°Nah, it still falls under the same category. Honestly, he¡¯d probably frown on letting people see me fight at all.¡± ¡°Ugh, your master is so weird. You¡¯ll never be famous like that.¡± ¡°I doubt his goal is to become famous, or raise a famous pupil.¡± Angelo shrugged. ¡°Probably not, but I¡¯d like to be famous, if I could.¡± ¡°You can. You¡¯ve always been able to do whatever you wanted.¡± ¡°So have you. Just because you didn¡¯t want to do as many things doesn¡¯t make that less true.¡± Quietus and Angelo continued to fight in the dungeon until shortly before logging off. Quietus could definitely have leveled up faster alone, but he wouldn¡¯t have gained as much practice with his dagger. Not that he was improving very quickly, but it was necessary to put in the time, even if it didn¡¯t instantly make you stronger. Just before they logged off, Angelo brought up the search for Aullet. ¡°You know, it¡¯s a good thing we really owed you. This Aullet guy is definitely a pain to find information on. If our members weren¡¯t held in such high esteem, I bet they¡¯d be arrested for even asking. He must have been pretty bad, to have people still hate him so much after all this time. Still, we¡¯ll find something. Then we¡¯ll be even.¡± Quietus nodded. He was looking forward to whatever information was found, even if it was just one more location to look. He remembered the beat up destroyer skeleton, and really wanted to make one, or something like it, that was at full power. He also wanted to find some way to get souls. He was still having trouble with that. End Chapter 62 Necromancer - Chapter 63 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 63 Mortimer was annoyed that he hadn¡¯t yet gotten to use his new skill in Royal Road, Transfer Soul. He thought about it even during his normal life, although thinking about Royal Road during the day wasn¡¯t exactly unique to Mortimer, since so many people played. However, most people didn¡¯t mutter about it under their breath. ¡°I hope you¡¯re talking about Royal Road,¡± Alex said, startling Mortimer. He was so comfortable with Alex hanging around that he forgot that he wasn¡¯t alone, sometimes. Not that Mortimer ignored Alex. This was different from ignoring the presence of others, which Mortimer did for people he didn¡¯t care about. Instead, Alex was just part of life, which was weird to Mortimer since he hadn¡¯t really had any friends before. Now Mortimer had somewhere between one and seven friends. He wasn¡¯t sure if Angela counted as a friend, since she was his cousin. Then there was Robert, who was something like a friend, probably. Solara was¡­ an unclear topic. Nilrem counted, theoretically, although Mortimer only knew him inside Royal Road. James, Mortimer¡¯s butler, certainly was close to Mortimer, but he was also an employee of sorts, so perhaps he didn¡¯t count. Then, of course, there was Dr. Stevenson, who was a teacher, and thus also had a questionable friendship status. Mortimer stopped standing in place thinking to himself, and answered Alex. ¡°Of course I¡¯m talking about Royal Road. There isn¡¯t even a scientific basis for souls out here, as far as I¡¯m aware. Besides, what would I do with them? In Royal Road though¡­¡± Alex nodded. ¡°Well, shouldn¡¯t like, everything have a soul? Except maybe undead. All sorts of monsters are around, so...¡± Mortimer thought about it for a second, then frowned. ¡°That¡­ should probably have been pretty obvious, I guess.¡± Mortimer was embarrassed that he¡¯d not even thought about that. ¡°So, need souls for some necromancery thing?¡± Alex asked. Mortimer put his finger to his lips. ¡°Shh.¡± He was quite aware there was nobody around to hear anything, and his facial expression gave away that he wasn¡¯t serious. ¡°But¡­ yes. It should make my minions last pretty much indefinitely.¡± ¡°That sounds¡­ pretty terrifying, actually. How many can you have?¡± Mortimer tilted his head quizzically. ¡°How many?¡± He thought about it for a second. ¡°I don¡¯t recall there being a limit on the Undead Rise. So¡­ as many as I want?¡± ¡°Then, you could have an entire, permanent army?¡± Mortimer shrugged. ¡°Until somebody killed them, which is pretty much what happens when people see undead standing around.¡± ¡°So¡­ do that thing where your minions pop out of the ground when you need them.¡± Mortimer thought about that. ¡°I don¡¯t think they know how to burrow?¡± Alex shrugged. ¡°Maybe you can teach them or something.¡± ¡°Can undead even learn things? I mean¡­¡± Mortimer paused briefly, ¡°Well, I did teach those ghouls how to hide, sorta.¡± ¡°You taught flesh eating monsters how to hide?¡± ¡°They only got the gist of it, though. Basically they didn¡¯t start roaring and charging until they got closer to things.¡± Alex shrugged. ¡°Well, if you can teach them things that are entirely different from instinct, why not something stereotypical?¡± Mortimer stroked his chin in thought. ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t make those ghouls, they were just feral. I haven¡¯t tried teaching anything I¡¯ve made.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Alex seemed to get a headache at that statement. ¡°You¡­ trained feral ghouls how to hide? Also, they didn¡¯t kill you?¡± Mortimer shook his head. ¡°Nah, I¡¯ve got this understanding with undead. Anyway, most of the ghouls died, so it¡¯s not a big deal.¡± ¡°Wait, most of them? So you¡¯re saying there could be some ninja ghouls out there somewhere still?¡± ¡°Oh, all but the leader died. So, as long as he didn¡¯t teach anybody else¡­ Err, actually, I¡¯d probably avoid the Plains of Despair unless you have a good reason to go there.¡± Alex sighed. ¡°Please don¡¯t tell me you taught any other undead anything that shouldn¡¯t have learned.¡± Mortimer shrugged. ¡°Nah, the mummies pretty much up and left everything. So really, I¡¯m responsible for there being a lot less mummies in the world.¡± ¡°...You were the one who made King Suna¡¯s Tomb disappear?¡± ¡°Not¡­ exactly. I mean, I was there when it happened, but the mummies did that on their own.¡± Mortimer looked at his phone to check the time. ¡°Oh, looks like we have to get to the next class. Thanks for the tips.¡± ¡°I hope I don¡¯t regret it when undead take over the world.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll tell them not to kill you. At least¡­ the ones I control.¡± -------------------------- Quietus stabbed an already dying orc in the back, finishing it off. Finally, he used Soul Transfer, giving its soul to the undead orc warrior he had already made. If he hadn¡¯t used Soul Bind, nothing happened, as he¡¯d earlier experienced. Quietus felt a bit stupid for not realizing he had another spell with Soul in the name. It seemed pretty obvious how this whole thing worked, in retrospect. Quietus¡¯ orc warrior got about 20% stronger than it was before. It also shouldn¡¯t decay. Quietus decided to experiment with his new skill. The results were as follows:
  1. Souls didn¡¯t need to be from the same kind of monster
  2. The increase in statistics depended on the kind of soul, with orc souls giving the large physical stats that orcs had, but the total increase was always about 20% effectiveness, if the levels were similar
  3. Level of base monster and soul was important. If a low level soul was put into a high level monster, almost no increase in stats happened, although the duration was still made unlimited. If there were two base monsters, killing one, turning it into an undead, and using the other for a soul had approximately the same effects, even if the levels were different. Thus, putting a high level soul in a lower level undead of the same type had the same end effect as putting a lower level soul in a higher level undead.
  4. Quietus had no idea how to teach undead to burrow.
The last point didn¡¯t actually have anything to do with Soul Transfer. Quietus was at first unsure whether he could teach undead he¡¯d made any skills, but he managed to teach them stealth. Therefore, he thought that he might need to know the skill. He¡¯d have to see if there was a way to learn the burrow skill. Then Quietus received a message from Angelo. Information on Aullet had been found. It seemed the only lead to be had was a dungeon in the Elven lands to the west. Quietus immediately set out. End Chapter 63 Necromancer - Chapter 64 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 64 Quietus had learned some interesting things in this dungeon and the area nearby. First, that there were plant monsters. Various kinds, such as the vine monsters, ones that were almost piles of dirt, walking trees, and more. Second, that they could still be made into undead. Third, that they counted as having souls, at least for the purpose of Soul Transfer, which was all that mattered. So, after having a dungeon full of undead plants, he took on the boss. He learned there for sure what he¡¯d already pretty much assumed: bosses couldn¡¯t be turned into undead. At least, not with any skills he had. He hadn¡¯t found any signs of Aullet anywhere in the dungeon. However, the dungeon wasn¡¯t exactly a high level area. Other players had already been through this area. However, Quietus trusted the information from his guild members. So, theoretically, there was a secret door or something around. It would be annoying if anything attacked him when he was searching the dungeon, so he made sure to turn them all into minions, or use Soul Bind and Soul Transfer on them. Anything he made into a minion or whose soul he used took much longer to respawn. Quietus looked around the dungeon and finally found a small tunnel, which opened a secret door like the first area, where he had found the destroyer skeleton. Quietus used the same method of floating an eye with his Spectral Hand skill. This time, however, he turned into a ghoul first, so he couldn¡¯t feel the pain. It was much better that way. In the room was a bookshelf. Most of the books were useless, but Quietus found one that might be useful. Before he had time to look at it, however, he was notified that his minions were taking damage. Dying, even. In the time it took him to notice, three had died. In the time it took him to think about reacting, another was gone. Quietus was surprised. The monsters in this dungeon hadn¡¯t been that high of level, but anyone that should be in this dungeon should have a harder time than that killing his minions. They kept dying, so he called them all to the boss chamber with him. There was plenty of room. It seemed they couldn¡¯t run towards him fast enough, because more kept dying. It was actually rather impressive, the rate of killing hadn¡¯t gone down and the undead were in full retreat. Finally, the survivors those that hadn¡¯t been killed staggered into the room, followed by a white blur. At first, Quietus had thought it was a spell, but it seemed to be some kind of creature. He ordered all of his minions to attack it, and watched its movements. Fortunately, it seemed to move mostly in straight lines, bouncing from monster to monster. Quietus waited for it to come towards him. Finally, it did, and Quietus used Perforate Artery on whatever it was. It was a critical hit, so he knew he aimed right. He¡¯d used enhance alchemy on one of his best poisons, so this thing should be dead. However, instead of even slowing down, it seemed to get faster. That¡¯s when Quietus noticed something weird. Although this thing seemed to be able to knock his minions into the wall, killing them instantly, seemingly at whim, it stopped killing them straightaway. Instead, Quietus started noticing bite marks on his minions. Quietus could vaguely see the health bar of the monster, and it seemed his perforate artery really had done the trick. It was at half health. Since it should be taking massive bleeding damage, it would likely die soon. Well, that is what Quietus thought. Instead, its health was slowly going up. Quietus was quickly running out of minions, and he couldn¡¯t really hit whatever this was. However, he couldn¡¯t turn his back on it. Finally, all of his minions were dead. The monster was almost full health again, and it charged straight for him. That¡¯s when Quietus finally got a good enough view of it to see what it was.
You have died! Cannot log in for 14 hours 30 minutes. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
-------------------------- Mortimer was usually pretty much okay with dying in Royal Road. How could he not be, with the Power to Accept Death at Advanced level, rank 1. It cut about a third off of his death time, and he gained lost experience back at almost double the rate. This time, though, he was troubled. He¡¯d lost all of his minions, and while that was an unfortunate setback, he could make them again. Better ones, too. No, what really bothered him was what had killed him. He¡¯d looked into its eyes, but he didn¡¯t really understand. He needed to talk to someone about it. However, Angela was still in the game, so he waited. Then, he told her. ¡°I died, just a bit ago, in Royal Road.¡± ¡°And? You die like¡­ every day. Why are you upset about it this time.¡± Mortimer didn¡¯t really know how to say what he wanted to say. However, he needed to talk to someone about what had happened, so he just said it in the simplest manner possible. ¡°I died¡­ to a rabbit.¡± There was no other way to put it. Angela just looked at him for a second, and then started laughing uproariously. At first, Mortimer was annoyed at being laughed at. Then, he was just wondering at when she was going to stop laughing. He thought about the situation a little bit longer, and then started laughing too. He¡¯d died to a rabbit. That wasn¡¯t something that somebody in the mid 200¡¯s could legitimately say often. It was, after all, pretty funny. ¡°No but seriously¡­ what killed you?¡± Mortimer shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ll be right back.¡± He came back after getting the last frame he¡¯d seen before death, recorded by the capsule. ¡°Rabbit.¡± The picture wasn¡¯t perfectly centered, but it showed the rabbit quite well. If you could call it a rabbit, anyway. Sure, the ears and tail were there. There wasn¡¯t really anything wrong with the structure of the animal, to call it a rabbit. However, rabbits generally weren¡¯t covered in blood from the neck down (although Mortimer was pretty sure that had been about half his and half from the rabbit itself). Generally, they also didn¡¯t have spiked collars. This one also appeared to have some bracelets of some sort¡­ or maybe rings, around its paws. Angela just stared at the picture. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a weird rabbit.¡± Mortimer agreed. -------------------------- After logging in at another time and finding the dungeon happily devoid of rabbits, Quietus checked his inventory. Instead of what he wanted, Quietus just found that it was an excerpt from a journal of Aullet.
The churches are condemning my research. I considered burning it, but that would give them what they want. Instead, I shall pull the wool over their eyes. Beneath the very field that our final conflict shall happen, I plan to bury everything. How unfortunate that I will not be able to see it. Still, to defeat an army of that magnitude, I will need the ultimate Destroyer Skeleton. Thus, I must use the best soul available. Once I see them coming, I will complete the ritual, at the cost of my own soul. Whether or not they destroy it, they will not have my research. They cannot be allowed to waste it.
Quietus was disappointed to not have the research in hand, but he realized that the dungeon hadn¡¯t been nearly an appropriate challenge for that anyway. He was pretty sure he knew where the battle had taken place, but he was unsure how to recover the research. Maybe he really would need to learn how to burrow. End Chapter 64 Necromancer - Chapter 65 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 65 After leaving the dungeon where he found the journal, Quietus was taking a nice, quiet stroll through the woods. There were lots of woods here, actually. These were elven lands after all, though Quietus hadn¡¯t seen many of them. Granted, he¡¯d headed directly for the dungeon, and then left directly away from it. At least, as directly as he could, without any sort of ranger skills. Although the walk was relatively quiet, since everywhere Quietus went he walked quietly, the forest itself was a bit noisy. Birds chirping. Wind blowing. A strange rumbling sound passing by underground occasionally. Still, it was very peaceful. Suddenly, something burst out of the ground, and dirt sprayed all over Quietus, including into his mouth. Quietus spit the dirt out. Yep. Peaceful. Quietus looked down at the tranquil little rabbit sitting in front of him. If Quietus thought that anything besides Ruby was cute, this rabbit would have been one of them. For some reason though, Quietus felt it was familiar. Where had he seen a rabbit¡­ no, this one was different. This one didn¡¯t have a spiked collar. It did, however, have those weird paw ring-bracelets. Plus similar patterns on its fur. On the other hand, it wasn¡¯t dripping with blood and ripping out his throat, but chewing on some kind of root. Therefore, Quietus figured it was on break from its murder spree, or something. The strange rabbit looked at him, sniffed the air a couple times, then suddenly burrowed into the ground, but at a speed that looked like it was just swimming. Quietus spit out another mouthful of dirt. As he was walking away, he remembered that he wanted to learn how to burrow. Specifically, so he could teach his undead minions. First, he tried it with his bare hands, but it was¡­ unpleasant. Although he could get through a few inches of the soft dirt on top, it quickly became much harder. Pretty soon his fingers were bleeding. Well, Quietus had a solution to that. Since his minions would be the things be the ones doing most of the burrowing, it wouldn¡¯t hurt if he practiced while undead as well. Mostly, while as a ghoul. They were strong and had claws suited to burrowing. Still, he couldn¡¯t move at anything close to the speed of that rabbit. If he wanted to ambush people with undead at this rate, they¡¯d have to be near the surface and the people would have to wait around for a few minutes to be ambushed. Well, it was very low level after all. Quietus made some undead minions from the various monsters around. From that, he learned that some animals were highly unsuited to burrowing¡­ like deer. Not that he¡¯d expected much else. All of his undead minions were worse at him that burrowing by a large margin, but Quietus noticed that they improved along with him, even if they did nothing. After some experiments, it seemed they could use certain skills at about half the level Quietus had, if they had souls in them. Otherwise, they were about a quarter of the level. Since skills only had 50 levels, 10 at each stage, even if he¡¯d been at the very top, a quarter of the skill level would only barely be in intermediate level. Occasionally that rabbit would move by, although Quietus usually only noticed because of the rumbling sound underground. Once or twice he caught a glimpse, and gained a little bit of insight into burrowing. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Quietus had started to make some progress on his technique, when it was becoming dark in Royal Road again. He decided he would log off for the day soon. He would just dig a nice U shape back to the surface, a few feet away. Then, there was a rumbling sound nearby. After that¡­ Quietus felt no pain, since he was a ghoul. However, it was obvious to him what had happened.
You have died! Cannot log in for 15 hours.
Oooh, looks like The Power to Accept Death leveled up to Intermediate Level 9, Quietus thought as the screen faded. -------------------------- Mortimer thought about his death. The rabbit had seemed perfectly friendly during the day. However, in the dungeon before that, and at night afterwards, it was terrifying and killed him. He shrugged. He¡¯d been about to log out anyway. It would probably be best to avoid the area though, since dying earlier in the day, in the real world, would mean he couldn¡¯t play until the next day, even with the significantly reduced death timer. -------------------------- Mortimer was in Dr. Stevenson¡¯s office. While he definitely hadn¡¯t been caught done anything, he still felt awkward being in a teacher¡¯s office. Still, there wasn¡¯t too much reason for him to be nervous. They got along quite well, and Mortimer knew the reason he was there today anyway. ¡°Since the new semester is coming up soon, you will need to decide where your future lies, so you can pick the right classes. Otherwise, you¡¯ll have a much tighter schedule later.¡± Mortimer sat back and thought. Personally, his most preferred future was to sit back and do nothing while spending his parent¡¯s money, but he knew that wouldn¡¯t stand. Plus, he could get bored of that pretty easily. Therefore, he thought hard about what he was good at and what he liked to do. Professional gamer¡­ was not something he was interested in. Since he was already going to this school¡­ based on the classes he¡¯d taken and was good at, and even the things he¡¯d learned in Royal Road, he could only think of one thing. ¡°Hmm, I guess I¡¯ll be a doctor.¡± After all, he¡¯d learned about Stitching, Bandaging, Anatomy, and even Alchemy, although that was a pretty bad representation of medicine. Still, it was prestigious enough that his parents couldn¡¯t complain, and there was no way he was going into business. So, besides doctor, Mortimer couldn¡¯t think of a single career path that would work for him. After he made that decision, Dr. Stevenson helped him pick out his classes for the next semester, and outline what he would need to do for at least the next few years. Then, Mortimer headed home. After all, before playing Royal Road he needed to get in some training with Master Valarao. End Chapter 65 Necromancer - Chapter 66 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 66 Mortimer had thought that he was pretty good at hiding, and pretty good at fighting. He¡¯d also thought that master Valarao¡¯s training had been hard. It turned out he was wrong, or at least, not entirely right. Everything he thought was true, to some extent. However, it was also incomplete. Mortimer learned this, because he gained a new perspective. Blood flowed out of his neck. Then, he felt a slight pain, then noticed a shadow. In that order. Unfortunately, that was the last thing he ever saw¡­ in that iteration of his life. Of course, he immediately respawned, in a new location. Mortimer immediately move to hide. This time, he died in a different manner, but again without seeing master Valarao, or even noticing that he¡¯d been seen. Maybe Mortimer was above average at hiding, but he couldn¡¯t say he was good in front of master Valarao. Next, he stood in a dojo, facing off against master Valarao. He started off with a feint¡­ and died. He wasn¡¯t exactly sure how. Next was a real stab, with the same results. He tried focusing on his foot movements, but it seemed to not help. Master Valarao was too fast. However, Mortimer couldn¡¯t really say that it was unfair. After all, he had the same specs as Mortimer right now, with muscle power and other bodily abilities set by the computer. Instead, Mortimer just couldn¡¯t react properly to master Valarao¡¯s moves, even when he knew they were coming. The problem was he didn¡¯t know which move was coming, and also didn¡¯t know the exact timing. Which was the point, of course. The exact timing was very important. Still, Mortimer felt like he had when he¡¯d first started learning, as if he hadn¡¯t improved any. A novice at fighting. There was no time to rest. He came back to life in different places, at different distances, somewhere that people could hide, or in an open dojo. In all cases, he died within moments. At first, Mortimer thought master Valarao was cheating, at least in the hiding sections. Maybe he always appeared where he could see Mortimer. However, Mortimer knew that wasn¡¯t true, but the thought briefly made him feel better. Mortimer eventually began to feel something odd. He hadn¡¯t felt the feeling much, and thus took some time to figure it out. Then, he knew it was fear. It wasn¡¯t fear of death. Besides the fact that he couldn¡¯t actually die here, he really wasn¡¯t scared of death. The pain¡­ very brief pain wasn¡¯t even the slightest issue. It was nothing like being mauled by a tiger, or swimming in a pool of acid, or drinking poison. Instead, what Mortimer was afraid of was not being in control. He was afraid of dying without knowing it was coming. He was afraid of not being able to react to moves that he should be able to react to. Mortimer tried to ignore his fear, but that didn¡¯t work. It just grew worse. So, Mortimer accepted it. He was afraid. However, he didn¡¯t have to stay that way. He would get better. Maybe not today, but in tomorrow''s training. Speaking of which, Mortimer wondered when the training would end. It had been at least several hours. Normally, it wasn¡¯t that long. Well, Mortimer also wasn¡¯t keeping track of time well here. Maybe it just felt longer because each encounter, and thus each life, was short. They were short, but Mortimer began keeping track of time. However, that only lasted for a few minutes. Then he counted deaths. After he got to 100, he started to lose track. Then he approximated every 10 deaths. However, he soon realized he was dying faster. He¡¯d lost concentration. He was tired. Still, he could do a little bit better, if he wasn¡¯t thinking about time and numbers. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.So, Mortimer concentrated. It didn¡¯t make much difference at first. He wasn¡¯t sure how long it took him to get back to his former level of survival, which wasn¡¯t even high. Then, he started to get better. Half a second longer before he was found. A slight glimpse of movement. He even noticed an attack and began a dodge. However, that was the highest point he reached. Then the tiredness caught back up with him, and his effectiveness degraded again. He started slowing down. Still, he kept going. Finally, he came across a perfect chance. He saw master Valarao¡¯s back immediately after they started! All he had to do was walk up behind him quickly, and maybe¡­ he could do something. However, his feet wouldn¡¯t walk. That was weird, his muscles shouldn¡¯t be tired. However, his legs refused to support him. He was¡­ falling? That was weird. Then, everything went black. -------------------------- Mortimer woke up the next morning in bed. He didn¡¯t remember going to bed. He didn¡¯t even remember leaving his capsule after playing Royal Road. Actually, he didn¡¯t remember entering Royal Road at all the previous night. Finally, he remembered. He¡¯d blacked out during training. That was probably not healthy. Well, he wasn¡¯t in the hospital so he should be fine. Mortimer was slightly confused that his alarm had gone off, because he had thought it was Sunday, but he realized he must have gotten the day wrong. He got up and got ready for school, even though he felt very tired. -------------------------- After school, Mortimer was met with more of master Valarao¡¯s new training. This time, it was physical training. Although it could have been described as less intense than the training the previous day, that was only for one reason, to avoid Mortimer becoming crippled. Mortimer had attained the best physical condition of his life, but the new exercises made him feel like he was starting over at the beginning, when he¡¯d been completely out of shape. The new exercises seemed to focus on specific body parts. Specific movements of hands and feet, the strength of each of his fingers and toes, and very specific movement steps and arm motions. Somehow, he found muscles that hadn¡¯t been used before, and were rarely used for anything, being strained. Fortunately, the exercises only lasted for half of an eternity two hours, before Mortimer couldn¡¯t move. He could still walk, but he couldn¡¯t do much else. He eventually collapsed into his capsule. Fortunately, there was no virtual reality training to be done today. -------------------------- Upon entering Royal Road, Quietus was pleased that it was daytime. He had no interest in dying to the rabbit for a third time, and he had better things to do than attempt to defeat it. Like¡­ continue his quest. Therefore, he headed back to where he first obtained information about Aullet. It would take some travel time, so he occasionally stopped to hunt monsters and train his dig skill. Since his undead as a whole got some amount of his dig skill, he found it to be more efficient to let them do the hunting. They brought him the corpses of the monsters they slew, and he created more undead. Then, eventually, he would move on to a new area. Quietus was getting better at the magic side of being a necromancer, but he kept up his close combat skills. Of course, master Valarao wouldn¡¯t have let that be any different, but it was still somewhat his choice. Before logging off for the night, he got contacted by Angelo about a dungeon that they would be exploring. Since it wasn¡¯t far out of his way, he decided he would go with the group the next day. After all, he couldn¡¯t spend all of his time playing Royal Road ¡°alone¡±. Well, he probably could have, but sometimes he wanted to see Ruby¡¯s outfits his cousin and friends. End Chapter 66 Necromancer - Chapter 67 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 67 When Quietus arrived at the dungeon, it was filled with undead. This wasn¡¯t his doing, it was just the natural state of the dungeon. Quietus sighed inwardly. It would be harder and harder for people not to realize that undead wouldn¡¯t attack him. On the other hand, it probably wouldn¡¯t actually matter if people found out he was a necromancer. After all, it was a legitimate class, apparently. Of course, that would also help tie him to many deaths of players, which was less legitimate, especially since he was supposed to be part of an anti-pk guild. Well, he killed pkers too, so¡­ it balanced out. Or something. Quietus looked at his infamy stat. Well¡­ it seemed it probably didn¡¯t. It was a good thing the assassin¡¯s guild wouldn¡¯t take out hits for their own members, because otherwise he would be worth quite a bit. Quietus sat down and waited, watching some zombies shuffle by. He wasn¡¯t entirely sure how zombies could be challenging enough level to be in this dungeon, but then he realized they had armor. They didn¡¯t seem to be intelligent enough to even swing weapons, but if they already had armor on, it could be used. Quietus had experienced that before, since players he raised kept their equipment until they respawned. During another test, he¡¯d determined that he could add souls to make undead versions of players stronger and ¡°permanent¡±, but they still returned to themselves when they next logged in, after the twenty-four hour death period. That was fair enough, since otherwise he¡¯d just be stealing someone¡¯s character to turn them into a minion, and there wasn¡¯t anybody he was annoyed enough with right now to do that to them. Quietus considered the benefits of getting equipment for his minions. The upside was that they would be much stronger. Armor, however, would slow them down somewhat, so it wasn¡¯t entirely a benefit. Likewise, ghouls and some other undead relied on their particular claws and teeth to have the best effect. After all, ghouls had poisonous bites, which would likely be more effective than any weapons he could obtain many of, since it grew with them in strength. However, things like rings, amulets, and other such equipment could be solely a benefit with no drawbacks. Of course, these were also rarer and more expensive¡­ not that Quietus was lacking in money, though he didn¡¯t often trade with other players. He had some extra rings and such he¡¯d looted off of player¡¯s bodies found, and he decided he would give those to any exceptional minions he found¡­ such as his destroyer skeleton, once he made one. Obviously, he¡¯d want a big sword for that one¡­ and armor wouldn¡¯t be out of place, since it would prevent people from climbing inside its ribcage, as he had done. Not that most people would think of that. As Quietus sat there thinking about all those things, he felt that the circumstances were vaguely familiar. Right, everyone was late. It was like a previous time, where only Angelo had shown up. Hopefully, though, the whole group would be there, since it was the most efficient system available¡­ with the possible exception of Quietus and his army of undead alone. Well, instead of alone, they could be buffed by Maratis, since he had already been revealed as a necromancer. Obviously, the most efficient would be the entire party in addition to Quietus¡¯ undead minions, but he still wanted to keep it a secret for a while. Quietus continued to think along those lines for a time, but everyone was getting increasingly late. Then, Quietus received a series of messages from Angelo, Maratis, and Nilrem, informing him that they wouldn¡¯t be able to make it. Quietus got up to prepare to leave, but then he heard a voice slightly closer to the entrance of the dungeon. ¡°Ehh? Now they tell me. I just got here too¡­¡± It was a voice Quietus could not fail to recognize. It was of course, Ruby, the final member of the party. For some reason, he panicked briefly, and thought about running or hiding. He wasn¡¯t sure why, since he wasn¡¯t afraid, and did like to see Ruby. Plus, they were guildmates and often time party members. Therefore, he wasn¡¯t sure why he thought about leaving. In addition, she would probably be going back out of the dungeon, since the party was basically gone. Thus, when Ruby walked into the room, Quietus was looking in that direction. He liked looking at her, so this wasn¡¯t really a problem. Then, he realized why he had panicked. They¡¯d never been alone together. Well, with the exception of when he was stalking watching observing her before. Outside of Royal Road, Angela and Alex had always been around. They¡¯d never had a private conversation, and he realized he didn¡¯t really know that much about her. Effectively, the limit of their friendship had been having the same friends. Though she came to his birthday party, he wasn¡¯t really sure how much that said. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. As Quietus stood there and basically stared, Ruby pointed behind him. ¡°Umm¡­ you should probably watch out behind you.¡± He turned around, but didn¡¯t see anything out of the ordinary. Stone walls, burnt out torches¡­ zombies. He¡¯d forgotten they were there, actually. They appeared to have randomly, or maybe not so randomly, shuffled closer to him, so there were about three of them within easy reach. All they were doing was standing there, and moving around slightly. Quietus instantly began to come up with excuses in his head. ¡°I have a special skill to hide from undead.¡± That one was rather stupid. He was standing out in the open, obviously not putting any effort into hiding. Passive skills... would definitely not be powerful enough to do that. ¡°It¡¯s a spell.¡± Besides the fact that he wasn¡¯t supposed to be a casting class, he obviously didn¡¯t have anything active. At the very least, there would be some kind of glow. Although, if it was any kind of spell Quietus could actually use, it would be more of a dark aura. ¡°These undead are naturally passive.¡± He would be found out the instant that anybody else approached them. Plus, he was pretty sure Ruby should have fought at least one by the entrance. Attacking one to provoke them¡­ wouldn¡¯t be very convincing. Especially since they¡¯d probably been standing directly behind him for ten seconds or more, without doing anything. It was also too late to look convincingly surprised, except in the ¡°I forgot they were there¡± way, which he was. He couldn¡¯t think of anything convincing, so he just turned back around to face Ruby, and shrugged. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s fine.¡± There wasn¡¯t much he could do about it now. ¡°... Are they yours?¡± Ruby asked. ¡°Nah, those are outside buried under the ground,¡± Quietus answered naturally, before he could catch himself. He¡¯d been around Alex too much lately, it seemed. He wasn¡¯t being careful with what he said. ¡°Hmm. Well, you were way too good at soloing for being a typical rogue anyway.¡± Quietus wasn¡¯t sure what reaction he¡¯d expected, but maybe because he¡¯d been too into Royal Road to treat it entirely as a game. After all, even though necromancers felt all dark and evil, and zombies and such were a bit gross, it was just a class in a game. Plus, theoretically, most of the players who were necromancers were upstanding citizens. Ruby continued, ¡°So, are we going to enter the dungeon, or¡­¡± Quietus¡¯ first thought was that they certainly could. After all, that was what the game was for. However, he was suddenly filled with conflicting thoughts. He could recognize that he was attracted to Ruby, and of course her real self Solara. Just recently, he¡¯d had to start thinking about his actual future. After going to college, he would become a doctor. Though that could change, that was a plan. However, a career wasn¡¯t everything. Relationships between people, family, friends, coworkers, spouses¡­ these were also things that were part of life. As Mortimer, he was attracted to Solara. He liked her, and vaguely thought of her as a friend. Did anything go beyond that? He wasn¡¯t sure. He also wasn¡¯t sure why he was thinking of this right now, in a game, where he had leather armor, a ragged cloak, and a strange sacrificial dagger, but he was. Plus, after master Valarao¡¯s most recent training, he didn¡¯t really want to move around and fight, at least for a bit. He was gradually becoming more aware of some of the people around him as people¡­ and he wanted to continue along that path. ¡°I think¡­ we should talk. Though, I¡¯m pretty bad at conversations and don¡¯t have any subject in mind.¡± She nodded. ¡°Okay. Why don¡¯t we start with this game¡­ and how you became a necromancer?¡± So, that was what they did. End Chapter 67 Notes: There wasn''t much action in this chapter, but Mortimer needs to have some growth as a human being... though, he''ll probably still be a sociopath or whatever he is. Don''t worry, it''s not like the zombies are going to go away and this will become entirely about interpersonal relationships or... romance. Necromancer - Chapter 68 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 68 Quietus told Ruby an abridged version the story of his advancement in Royal Road. First, the quest where he found his dagger. The fact that he died many times in the dungeon, and only finally figured out the ¡°solution¡± by sheer frustration. Then, he obtained the warlock class, and also learned some rogue skills. He left out the fact that he joined the assassin¡¯s guild, since he at least wanted to keep that part a secret. He also didn¡¯t particularly mention his skills in poisonmaking or his dissections of monsters. He also briefly touched on some of his other adventures, such as his fight against the leader of the Crimson Ravens. That was basically one of the few fights with players he could reasonably talk about and still pretend to be anti-pk, or at least not pro-pk. He did try to avoid bragging about things, but even truthfully conveying some of the circumstances ended up sounding like bragging. When he talked about his skills, Ruby made weird faces. Especially when he mentioned that some of his skills caused pain to himself as well. In addition, that he played with the pain settings on full. She obviously thought he was crazy, but seemed interested in listening still. Quietus wanted to point out that he wasn¡¯t a masochist, and that it made the game more real, but he decided that bringing that up wouldn¡¯t really help his case. Eventually, he got into the various circumstances in which he ended up gaining affinity with the undead and becoming a necromancer. Though undead were mostly on the ¡°somewhat gross¡± to the ¡°extremely gross¡± level, he didn¡¯t mind and since there were quests, he didn¡¯t have a problem. With proper preservation techniques, undead wouldn¡¯t even smell bad. As a summary, they were very useful minions with a good range of abilities. ¡°Plus, they can learn stuff from me, like burrowing! Though, they aren¡¯t very skilled at it, they make up for it through strength and not getting tired. So¡­ that¡¯s about the whole story.¡± Quietus had obviously left out things. Some things were boring, some things would just take a long time, and some things he still didn¡¯t want to say. Though Ruby had previously had some comments, mostly she had let him tell the story. ¡°That¡¯s probably the most complicated path anybody¡¯s taken to become a necromancer. Mostly, people become wizards and then go talk to the class trainers in the cities when they hit level 200.¡± ¡°Well, yeah, but it¡¯s not like I had a plan when I started playing this game. Just¡­¡± He didn¡¯t want to admit it was basically to stalk her. Even thinking that thought in his head was weird. ¡°Well, I did kind of want to be a wizard, and then stuff just happened as it did.¡± ¡°You know, I used to think you just were a lazy, spoiled rich kid.¡± ¡°Well¡­ it¡¯s not like I wasn¡¯t. To be fair, I¡¯m still a spoiled rich kid, but I don¡¯t get to be lazy anymore.¡± He thought of master Valarao outside of the game. ¡°I¡¯m still kind of lazy about a lot of things though.¡± Ruby laughed. ¡°Ha, I started this game because I could be a little bit more lazy. With the time ratio of four to one, I could still play quite a bit in less hours. After all, I still had to put in the work to keep my scholarships.¡± Mortimer was glad he didn¡¯t need to have scholarships to afford school. Though he was smart, and even got good grades in classes now, he would likely never had the consistent performance needed. Specifically, he still did the bare minimum of work in subjects that didn¡¯t interest him. Ruby continued, ¡°I also started playing to get out of my shell a little bit. I could be a bit more wild when I wasn¡¯t around people I knew. That was the thought anyway, but then I just ended up playing with people I knew. Still, I got some confidence.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.Quietus knew it was a serious topic, but he couldn¡¯t help thinking to himself that her wardrobe definitely showed a lot of ¡°confidence¡±. Still, he also thought of less superficial changes, especially outside of Royal Road. ¡°Enough to kick a football player in the nuts. Good job, by the way.¡± ¡°Thanks? I guess. I don¡¯t think it would have gone quite as well without you there.¡± ¡°Only because they outnumbered you. You probably could have done most of it, I was just faster.¡± ¡°Well, maybe one or two, but maybe not. I find it hard to seriously hurt people.¡± Quietus avoided mentioning that the person she kicked was probably in more pain than the people whose shoulder¡¯s he¡¯d dislocated. ¡°Well, not everybody¡¯s cut out for fighting.¡± ¡°You are, though. To a rather scary degree.¡± Quietus pondered that. ¡°Really? I never really thought about it.¡± Ruby nodded. ¡°That¡¯s why it¡¯s scary. You don¡¯t think about fighting, you just do it. All those jerks were on the floor in moments. Then, with the mountain lion¡­ You killed it right away, without any hesitation.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve killed tons of bigger cats in games. Like tigers. It¡¯s basically the same. Plus, Robert grabbed it first.¡± Ruby looked at him askance. ¡°It¡¯s not the same though. That¡¯s the point. Robert is also gigantic, where you¡¯re¡­ well, not.¡± Mortimer shrugged. ¡°By the way, how¡¯s your stomach? Not too much scarring?¡± For obvious reasons, he hadn¡¯t seen her real bare stomach since that time. He saw it in game, but the scars didn¡¯t transfer over. Ruby smiled. ¡°It¡¯s barely noticeable. I was surprised you were so good with your¡­ so good at stitching.¡± ¡°It¡¯s about the only practical skill I¡¯ve gotten from Royal Road. It would hardly even be that, but I¡¯m going to be a doctor, so¡­ it¡¯s useful.¡± ¡°Oh, you¡¯re going to be a doctor? This is the first time I¡¯ve heard that. Angela didn¡¯t seem to know.¡± ¡°Well, I haven¡¯t told many people yet, but it¡¯s basically the only job I think I could tolerate that wouldn¡¯t get me disowned.¡± ¡°Disowned?¡± Quietus nodded, then put on an exaggerated face and started wagging his finger. ¡°Mortimer, if you don¡¯t get a respectable job, don¡¯t think you¡¯ll see a penny in our will! You must become a proper gentleman!¡± Quietus smiled. ¡°So, instead of becoming a businessman or politician or something boring and terrible, doctor¡¯s a pretty good choice.¡± Ruby smiled. ¡°So, you can¡¯t just rest on your parent¡¯s riches, huh? Good for them.¡± Quietus shrugged. ¡°Well, not exactly. If you think about it from a different perspective, once I attain a certain level of accomplishment, I get to do exactly that. Well, it¡¯s not like I can retire after they die or anything, because they¡¯d probably haunt me.¡± ¡°You believe in ghosts?¡± Ruby asked jokingly. ¡°Ghosts? No. I do, however, believe that my parents could do it anyway. They¡¯re very stubborn.¡± The conversation managed to continue until they had to log off and sleep. Somehow, it was a real conversation, and felt quite natural. After Ruby logged off, Quietus had a very weird feeling. It felt very similar to his normal feelings about Ruby/Solara, but it was different somehow. He wasn¡¯t sure how, though. End Chapter 68 Necromancer - Chapter 69 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 69 Mortimer lay on his bed, staring at the capsule for Royal Road. Normally, he would be playing right now, but he wasn¡¯t. This wasn¡¯t because he didn¡¯t want to. However, after considering the various details, he¡¯d somewhat come to the conclusion that it wasn¡¯t worth it. Specifically, it would be too hard to get up, walk across the room, and get in the capsule. This wasn¡¯t because Mortimer was lazy. In fact, he¡¯d mostly gotten over his lazy habits. Rather than being lazy, moving had become too difficult. As he was laying there comprehending the slight unpleasantness misery that was his life now, Angela came into the room. ¡°Please knock next time, Angela.¡± ¡°Oh please. Your door was wide open.¡± ¡°Only because I no longer have the strength to spare. Soon, I won¡¯t even be able to talk. Thus, I will need you to be the scribe for my will.¡± ¡°Is it that bad?¡± Angela asked teasingly. ¡°Honestly I¡¯m not sure if I could sit up right now.¡± ¡°Are you training for a competition or something?¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t think so? Master Valarao hasn¡¯t mentioned anything like that.¡± ¡°Then¡­ why are you training to hard? You were even out all of Sunday.¡± ¡°Really? I thought¡­ that I lost track of the days.¡± Mortimer moved slightly, planning to scratch his head, but then just groaned slightly. ¡°Anyway, it seems he isn¡¯t satisfied with my current physical condition and training.¡± ¡°Is that so? I thought your¡­ physical condition¡­ was pretty good. What, is he trying to turn you into a soldier¡­ or a super spy?¡± ¡°Definitely a super spy. Didn¡¯t you notice my entire closet full of tuxedos?¡± In fact, Mortimer did have a closet with tuxedos in it. However, only one of them fit him. The rest were just there for the sake of nostalgia. Ones he¡¯d had when younger. Some of them, he¡¯d only worn once. Most of them he¡¯d worn more than he wanted to. As a child, he hadn¡¯t appreciated how he looked dressed up, and he definitely hadn¡¯t appreciated attending fancy parties. He¡¯d learned to fake it well enough, though. His parents and Angela obviously knew he didn¡¯t enjoy it, but everyone else believed his facade well enough. ¡°Well, take care of yourself cousin. We can¡¯t have any members of my guild dying.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take that into consideration.¡± Mortimer smiled. ¡°I¡¯m gonna sleep now. Can you close the door on the way out?¡± -------------------------- Over the next several weeks, Mortimer gradually became less exhausted after training. The training also didn¡¯t increase in difficulty anymore. Apparently, it seemed that the current routine would get him to the level that master Valarao wanted, whatever it was. The virtual reality training also never went as far as the first time. It still left Mortimer very mentally tired, but he felt that his senses and reactions were improving. He even noticed some changes in Royal Road. His listen skill started improving rapidly, likely because he was using it more efficiently. His other sensing skills improved similarly quickly. -------------------------- In Royal Road, Quietus had arrived at the location where Aullet¡¯s notes had been buried. The area was covered in undead, especially dullahan and other knight and warrior type monsters. It made sense, because it had been a large battlefield. The strange thing was, these undead were even aggressive towards Quietus and his undead. Thus, he had to proceed carefully. Quietus first formed a small group composed of nearby monsters that he had converted to undead. Then, he would go hunt down a small group of the enemy undead. He made sure to soul bind all of them. This made it so they took much longer to respawn. Since he could not convert them over to his own side, he had to made sure they stayed dead. After killing one group, he would leave the area. These undead were very powerful, being in the late 200¡¯s to the early 300¡¯s, so he always lost some of his own. In addition, other groups would quickly show up to support any group that was attacked fairly quickly. Thus, he had to use hit-and-run tactics. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.He would have liked to say that he immediately thought of this method. However, in reality, he had died several times before figuring out what he needed to do. Quietus could, though, confidently say that the deaths hadn¡¯t been pathetic. He thought he could hold his own almost indefinitely against a group of ten of them. That was definitely the result of master Valarao¡¯s training. He was able to tell approximately where they were and how they would attack, even when he wasn¡¯t looking at them. As an interesting result, his endurance and vitality were actually increasing somewhat, since he was actually surviving at low amounts of health¡­ at least for a time. Sadly, the dullahans and death knights weren¡¯t kind enough to restrict themselves to small groups all the time. This was the place where an army fought and died. Thus, Quietus quickly found himself up against groups of twenty or more. He could survive for some time, with liberal use of potions, against such numbers. However, after that, even more arrived and he couldn¡¯t keep his health and mana up. If they had been living, his mana wouldn¡¯t have been a problem, since thanks to the sadism stat and the bleeding effect of his knife, he would gain a significant amount of mana regeneration. Sadly, undead were immune to both bleeding and pain, and thus the effect didn¡¯t trigger. For short bursts, Quietus could normally deal quite a significant amount of damage, alternating between spells and his dagger. However, his spells were all dark element, which meant that they were less effective on undead. Because of the effect his dagger gave when alternating between spells and physical attacks, it was still more efficient than only using his dagger, but not by much, and it was extremely mana intensive. In the end, the only way for Quietus to survive a large group was to run before there were too many. Sadly, this was usually only possible immediately after respawning, when they weren¡¯t prepared. Thus, after several deaths, which were made significantly more convenient by the fact that he didn¡¯t have to return from town after each, he came up with his hit and run tactics. Slowly, he and his army, which was really more like a squad, whittled down the native undead population. Quietus was now stuck with the task of finding exactly where the information was buried. The area where the battle had happened was quite large, and unfortunately there wasn¡¯t a nice marker anywhere that indicated the exact boundaries, or told him where Aullet left his notes. Therefore, Quietus set his undead to put their burrowing skill to good use. He gradually went back and forth between the nearby area, creating more undead and setting them to digging. He kept some of them free to help him take out the enemy undead that eventually started respawning. That was a relatively easy task, though, since they were mostly alone. The only difficult part was that he had to soul bind them again, so that they would again take longer to respawn. As a side effect of using soul bind on so many knight type undead, he gained a new skill.
You have gained a new skill! Undead Mastery (Passive) Because of the knowledge you have gained about certain properties of the undead, some of them grow more powerful. Current bonuses to undead minions: +5% armor +5% weapon damage
Quietus was sure that if he studied enough of any type of undead, he would get additional bonuses. In addition, the skill would be able to grow somewhat more powerful on its own, as his undead gained its benefits. Killing undead and creating them probably both applied. Quietus planned to try to make monsters such as skeleton mages eventually, but most monsters were unsuitable, and he didn¡¯t actually have any way to create them specifically. Thus, Quietus kept himself busy for quite some time. He did have to somewhat start over every day, since the undead respawned after that time even after soul bind, but he got to keep his ever growing army that he was building up. When he was logged off, he would just have them rest underground, where they would be safe. Just in case, though, he made sure to tell them to still defend themselves if something managed to attack them while they were underground. He didn¡¯t think there were any burrowing creatures, like giant worms, giant badgers, or¡­ rabbits, but he didn¡¯t want to come back to a dead army. End Chapter 69 Necromancer - Chapter 70 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 70 Quietus pondered whether he should learn how to turn into a dullahan. After all, they were another type of undead. However, he gave up on the idea for several reasons. First, he didn¡¯t have any heavy armor or a sword. More importantly, either of those things would pretty much ruin his ability to fight. Thus, he would be very unlikely to use that form. Other knight and warrior type undead were essentially the same, so they were also probably not worth learning. Well, if he got a full set of armor that he could equip, he¡¯d try to get the form. It shouldn¡¯t be too hard, with his current understanding. However, well before he got a full set of heavy armor as drops from them, he had a reason to go elsewhere. Finally, one of his minions found something underground! It was some kind of structure, but they were unable to convey any details. It was buried, so they couldn¡¯t really tell what it looked like. Quietus briefly thought of unearthing it, however he quickly rejected the idea. It was about 100 feet underground, and that would take a lot of digging. More than an army of minions could do in the time he was prepared to wait. Besides, he doubted if the outside was interesting, since it was intentionally a buried structure. Thus, he turned into a ghoul and burrowed down to the entrance his minions had found. Aside from the fact that it was the only buried structure in the region, it was quite easy to determine that this was the right place. The entrance had a barrier that stopped dirt, and thus the inside was completely unburied. That, and the fact that the inside felt very¡­ necromancery. Quietus wasn¡¯t sure exactly what it was, since there weren¡¯t skulls and bones everywhere. He just got that kind of feeling. Everything on the inside was well preserved. Unlike some dungeons that had cracks on the walls or other signs of age, this place looked new. Quietus had learned that preservation was one of the most important parts of necromancy. After all, rotting undead weren¡¯t very useful. That was for amateurs. Even bones decayed eventually, becoming brittle. Thus, even skeletons had to be preserved somewhat, through magic or alchemy. This place was like that. A very well preserved¡­ tomb. Quietus wouldn¡¯t have called it a tomb if it weren¡¯t for the sarcophagus in what seemed to be the center of the area. It seemed to be at the intersection point of four corridors, from what he could see. Quietus sent minions to check if there were entrances from the outside at other points. He think other entrances were likely, though. Partly from intuition, but mostly because of the stone pillar with writing on it.
Welcome, necromancer!
Quietus stopped reading there for a moment to try to figure out how it was known he would be a necromancer. Theoretically, anyone could have found this place. He looked behind him, at the barrier. Ah, it probably killed anything that was not undead, or maybe it really could determine whether someone was a necromancer. Either way, it would weed out those who did not fit, whether they were technically the necromancer class or not. He continued reading.
If you wish to claim my legacy, you must pass a series of riddles. Wrong answers will lead to death. The correct solution of all three riddles will prove you capable, and unlock my legacy. Enter each of the other corridors to find their riddles.
You have gained a quest! Solve the three riddles of Aullet¡¯s tomb. Failure: Death, quest cannot be retried. Success: ??? (Aullet¡¯s legacy)
That seemed straightforward enough, so Quietus started to head towards the center, where the sarcophagus was. However, just as he was about to enter the corridor, he got a feeling. He stopped, and looked around. Indeed, the corridor was trapped. Normally, Quietus would have disarmed it or just avoided it. However, this trap filled the entire corridor. After studying it for a time, Quietus determined that it would teleport those who entered somewhere else. However, it would also kill them. The teleportation seemed completely irrelevant with the second effect on there. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.He tried to determine how to disarm it, but came up with the answer rather quickly. He couldn¡¯t. It wasn¡¯t that he wasn¡¯t skilled enough. Nobody could disarm this, no matter their skill. It might be possible to negate the magic with some kind of dispelling technique, but he didn¡¯t have one and it certainly wouldn¡¯t be powerful enough. Plus, the teleportation and death were tied together. If the teleportation was supposed to be used, then it couldn¡¯t be done without dying. Quietus also sensed that being undead wouldn¡¯t prevent the death part. Thus, he started searching the area for secret doors and similar. It wasn¡¯t actually a large area that he could access, so it didn¡¯t take him too long. He even checked the floor, and even the ceiling. He tried to climb up, but couldn¡¯t get close enough to some of the spots, away from the walls and the pillar. These were actually the most likely spots, so he just stood on some undead he¡¯d made. They appeared to be able to enter the area just fine. Quietus would have checked the entire outside of the tomb, but that would have taken a very long time, and he had the feeling he¡¯d gone in the only entrance. He also had the feeling that walking down the deadly and teleporty corridor was the correct way. He¡¯d briefly thought about learning to fly, but realized that the trap would kill anything that entered the area, it didn¡¯t require anything to be stepped on. Well, Quietus still had a very necromancery solution to the problem. He just didn¡¯t want to use it until he was sure it was correct. Thus, he cast soul bind on himself and stepped into the corridor.
You have died! Cannot log in for 12 hours 30 minutes.
-------------------------- The next day, when Quietus logged in, he was in a different place. As expected. It was quite easy to determine that he was down what he would have considered the ¡°left¡± corridor, from the perspective of the entrance. He found another pillar with writing, similar to in the first room. This had the riddle.
Though it seems that I do, I do not speak, hear, smell, or see, but without me you could do none of these things. What am I?
-------------------------- Quietus thought it was a fairly simple riddle. Looking behind him, he saw another sarcophagus. Presumably, he would take the thing that corresponded to the riddle. If the answer was correct, he would move on to the next riddle. If it wasn¡¯t, he would die. The sarcophagus seemed to have the bones for a complete skeleton, though it seemed that the skull, ribcage, and limbs were all for different creatures. Their sizes were all quite different. The riddle wasn¡¯t trying very hard, though. Either that, or it was very tricky and completely stumped Quietus, but he decided to go with the answer he was confident in. He took the skull from the sarcophagus. It was a very large skull. Similar in size to the destroyer skeleton he had fought, but that wasn¡¯t the reason he took it, though it helped confirm his choice. Since the first pillar had indicated that choosing wrongly would bring death, and more importantly, the failure of the quest, Quietus pondered for a few more minutes just to make sure nothing else fit the criteria. Then, he stepped into the corridor.
You have died! Cannot log in for 12 hours 30 minutes.
End Chapter 70 Necromancer - Chapter 71 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 71 Mortimer was annoyed. He was fairly certain that he¡¯d just wasted a lot of time only to fail a quest. Which was odd, because the answer to the riddle had seemed correct, but he¡¯d been killed anyway. It was also unfortunate that the quest could not be retried, but there was nothing he could do about it. He wondered if there had even been another solution to the riddle that would have worked. All he¡¯d seen were bones. Enough to make a complete skeleton, if they¡¯d all been for the same size and type of creature.. Maybe he¡¯d been supposed to think outside the box, and take out something that wasn¡¯t there. Theoretically, brain was also a correct solution to the riddle, but there hadn¡¯t been one in the box. It didn¡¯t look like it had been there and decayed, either. That would have been very sloppy necromancer work, if it was. If he¡¯d been supposed to remove his own brain¡­ well, now it was too late to try. Besides, that didn¡¯t feel right. Still confused, he re-entered the game once he could. -------------------------- Quietus looked around. Well, he hadn¡¯t been kicked out of the dungeon. That said¡­ something. Upon opening his quest window, it also didn¡¯t show failure. However, it also didn¡¯t show any progress. He looked around. He no longer had the skull, and was also in a different corridor. Maybe it was a best two out of three? That sounded¡­ stupid. He highly doubted that was true. Well, there was another riddle, and another series of sarcophagi full of mismatched bones. He might as well go with the thought that he¡¯d succeeded. If not, he¡¯d only die a couple more times before determining he wasn¡¯t going to beat the quest. It was worth the risk considering the work he¡¯d already put towards this quest.
I am a prison. However, instead of protecting the world from what I contain, I protect what I contain from the world.
The answer to this one didn¡¯t seem to have any solution but an obvious one, given the choices available. Since he¡¯d already failed or was on the right track, Quietus just decided to assume he was right. He took the only ribcage- similarly proportioned to the skull from earlier, and stepped into the corridor.
You have died! Cannot log in for 12 hours 30 minutes.
-------------------------- When he logged back in the next day, he was in the final corridor. He assumed he was doing the right thing, then, since there was a sense of progress, and no indication of him having failed the quest yet. Quietus frankly didn¡¯t care what the third riddle was. He gathered the remaining bones that matched the skeleton he seemed to be putting together. Arms and legs, including hands and feet. This was the most awkward to carry, since there were so many little pieces. Then, he stepped into the corridor towards the middle sarcophagus again.
You have died! Cannot log in for 12 hours 30 minutes.
-------------------------- Quietus was getting very annoyed. Not that he was lacking progress on his quest, but rather at the rate that the Power to Accept Death was leveling. Quite frankly, it had gotten very slow. He¡¯d died four times without it leveling, and it was only intermediate. There were more than thirty more levels to gain. He needed to find more necromancer related quests, and specifically ones that affected that skill. He¡¯d gained some experience from repairing undead, previously, but only for quests. Maybe this quest would contribute some as well. He looked around. Well, it sure seemed like the quest was going the right direction. He was now in the middle of the area, with the large sarcophagus. He walked up and looked inside, half expecting to see the remains of Aullet. What he saw, however, made more sense. Aullet should have been destroyed in a gigantic, climactic battle. There was no way his remains wouldn¡¯t have been purified and destroyed. Instead, the sarcophagus had the pieces of the skeleton he¡¯d been collecting. The first true sign of progress. Well, the floating image that appeared helped. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.On the other side of the sarcophagus, a floating, translucent image of someone rather necromancery, presumably Aullet, appeared. Given its looks, it could have been taken for a ghost, but Quietus knew it wasn¡¯t. He made a side note to figure out how to turn into a ghost. Then, he listened to what the image said. ¡°Congratulations! You made it this far, so you certainly have the potential to learn my technique. However, I require the answer to a proper question, and not a simple riddle. As you are aware, failure leads to death. Where, then, does success lead?¡± Quietus¡¯ first thought was ¡°life¡±. His next thought was silly, but going by his quest journal, the answer was sort of ??? (Aullet¡¯s legacy). That one he only considered as a joke. However, based on what he had experienced in this dungeon, life wasn¡¯t the answer. After all, he¡¯d correctly answered the ¡°riddles¡±. Failure lead to death, but he had still died. Thus, the only correct answer, at least for a necromancer was¡­ ¡°Failure leads to death. Success leads to¡­ death!¡± The image smiled. ¡°Correct. All necromancers must know that, inevitably, everything ends in death. It can be struggled against for a time, even centuries or more, but eventually, all ends in death. Remember that, and you will do well. Now then. My ultimate technique is actually rather simple. In fact, if you have followed my legacies path, then you should already have an idea of the technique.
Quest has been updated! Either: Perform Aullet¡¯s technique to create the destroyer skeleton: Bonus rewards will be granted. or Ask Aullet how to perform the technique: Rewarded with the method to make the destroyer-type undead.
Quietus pondered. He certainly would have remembered if he¡¯d seen the technique written down, indeed, he should have already gained it as a skill if that were the case. Yet, it was possible for him to have already learned how. Since there didn¡¯t seem to be a time limit on his choice, Quietus thought back over the quest. Nothing seemed to come up, until he got back to the very beginning. There had been an inscription¡­ it was¡­
Rise, my creation, warrior of renown, for an army too great to number knocks at our door. Rise, my creation, slayer of men, protect those whom you have wronged Awaken, my friend, to defeat those who I cannot Awaken, my friend, he who bears my soul
Now that he actually had spells that used chants, he actually felt that it felt somewhat like that was a chant. However, it was very situational, and felt incomplete. After all, he wasn¡¯t facing an army at this time. The last part, though¡­ definitely seemed right. Quietus was in the habit of having soul bind on himself constantly, especially in this dungeon. He checked to make sure it was on, just in case. It was, of course. Well, it couldn¡¯t hurt to try. Could it? ¡°Awaken, my friend, he who bears my soul! Soul Transfer!¡± Soul transfer, of course, required a soul to be taken from something. There were no monsters around, and the image of Aullet definitely didn¡¯t have a soul. However, Quietus had realized there was one more thing with a soul that he hadn¡¯t previously considered. He wasn¡¯t sure why.
You have died! Cannot log in for 12 hours 30 minutes.
End Chapter 71 Necromancer - Chapter 72 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 72 Outside of Royal Road, Mortimer¡¯s life hadn¡¯t changed much. His training with Master Valarao had leveled off. Not that it had decreased any, but Mortimer seemed to be getting closer to Master Valarao¡¯s standards, whatever those were. This left Mortimer less exhausted, which allowed him to do better on his schoolwork. He actually had a reason and motivation to do it, now, so he actually did it well, even those classes he didn¡¯t like. At school, he actually talked to Solara. Occasionally. If greetings counted. Otherwise, it was more correct to categorize it as rarely, which was still a step up from almost never. Of course, conversations would inevitably be about Royal Road, or classes, but it was still conversation. That said, some of the conversations were rather vague in front of Angela, who was the only one who didn¡¯t know Mortimer was a necromancer yet. -------------------------- When he logged back into Royal Road, Quietus found himself still in Aullet¡¯s Tomb. Though, it was still relevant to point out that it was a tomb that he owned rather than a tomb that he was buried in. In front of him was a destroyer skeleton. He knew immediately that it was his destroyer skelton. He thought it was pretty awesome, and it looked quite powerful. However, it was still missing something. Like, armor and a giant sword. Or axe, really. Anything big. However, before he could sort out its equipment, he¡¯d rather finish this quest. The image of Aullet recognized his return to life. ¡°Excellent job, necromancer! It is not easy for most to comprehend the essence of necromancy so easily. As a reward for your perseverence and understanding, I grant you this tome of my best spells!¡± A transparent, ghostly book appeared in front of Quietus. ¡°That said, the physical book has long since decayed, so it can only appear in this form. I wish I could preserve all my notes thusly, but alas, they will have decayed. Further understanding will require you to research it yourself!¡± With that, Aullet¡¯s image faded.
You have completed a quest! Level up! x 10 The Power to Accept Death has advanced to advanced level 9!
Obtaining 10 levels¡­ wasn¡¯t bad, but it also wasn¡¯t great. In fact, about half of those levels he had lost. Thanks to The Power to Accept Death¡¯s increase experience gain, he had actually received it all back. That skill would never give him more experience than he had lost to death, but it still allowed him to re-earn the experience, given enough time. Alternatively, completing a big quest like this was also a method. It had actually managed to bring Quietus to the very rare state of him not having any experience to regain from death. Though, he¡¯d still lost the time he¡¯d spent dead, it hadn¡¯t particularly affected him lately, unless he died early in his play sessions. Quietus checked his skill list, and he had indeed obtained the ability to create destroyer skeletons. Destroyer anything undead, actually. It was just the only examples he had seen had been large, powerful skeletons. Basically, by sacrificing his life, he could make any undead that hadn¡¯t already been the target of Soul Transfer last an unlimited amount of time, and be approximately twice as powerful. This of course meant that it was necessary to find good base creatures if he wanted it to be worth the loss of play time. Of course, he could just use it on regular undead if he was going to be logging out anyway. The only downside was that if any of his minions died, they wouldn¡¯t come back. He couldn¡¯t just use them carelessly as cannon fodder. The good ones, that is. He¡¯d still use most of them as cannon fodder, since he could mass produce them. Any that he made into destroyers would have to be taken care of well. He¡¯d also need to equip them. Well, he could start actually paying attention to equipment that wasn¡¯t rogue or caster type, now. He also had some drops from the dullahans on the surface. Although they were much smaller than this destroyer skeleton¡­ it didn¡¯t matter. This was a game. He had it equip some of the armor and a greatsword. Now it looked really cool, in Quietus¡¯ personal opinion. The armor was already dark and spiky, being from undead. Well, he was still missing gauntlets and greaves, so the skeleton looked somewhat lacking there. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.Quietus hadn¡¯t really saved up a lot of money, though. That meant it would be somewhat troublesome to buy a lot of good gear. For a while, he was worried about where he would get it. He supposed he could do dungeon raids, some of them even by himself, but he didn¡¯t really know any good places, and whether he would get the items he wanted. He knew what he wanted though. It was the kinds of things that other players had. However, he wasn¡¯t going to kill people just because they had items he wanted. Unless the item was for a quest. He¡¯d also kill players if they attacked him first, or were going to attack him first, or if he had a quest. There was still the problem, even if he killed them, of dropping what he wanted. They might not even drop anything. Then he remember that player killers dropped more items upon their death. It wasn¡¯t even a problem to go around killing them as he pleased, since his guild supported that. Of course, he could check if they really deserved the status first, or were provoked into it, but that didn¡¯t matter to him. He would just go with red name = fair target. Therefore, he contacted Angelo to get some information on places where similarly high level player killers lived. While he waited on the information, he looked at his new spell book. Of course, he couldn¡¯t touch it, since it was just spiritual. It wasn¡¯t anything that soul bind didn¡¯t fix, though. Obviously, whenever a prompt popped up asking him to learn a spell, he would learn it. A few of the spells really stood out. Dark Fog. It worked just like dark hand and dark cloak, except it spread out to fill an area, and wasn¡¯t centered on him. It also had a certain duration, instead of costing mana over time. With this, he could cause damage, as well as creating darkness and inflicting pain, in a large area. That would be useful for fights against large groups of enemies. Although it wouldn¡¯t kill them, it would hinder them somewhat, and it would aid the mana regeneration from his sadism stat. It did cost 2000 mana though, and that was after all the reductions he already had to the cost of dark magic. It seemed like a pretty fair price, though. Soul link. It allowed him to use personal spells on one destroyer undead at the same time as on himself. This meant he could use dark hand, dark cloak, or, the most relevant, pain mirror, on an undead, for an additional mana cost per duration. This meant he could make one minion much more dangerous, since with pain mirror they could reflect damage, and many of them were a lot tougher than Quietus himself. It was important to note that pain mirror didn¡¯t actually require the user to feel pain. It was actually just damage reflection. Otherwise, it would have been useless for undead. Demon Spear. This was just the upgraded version of dark spear. Higher level, more damage, more mana cost. Mass Life Drain. Another area effect ability. It consumed a large amount of mana relative to the damage dealt, but it returned some of the damage done to those in the area to the user as health. This worked even, or especially, if the user was undead. Quietus experimented, and learned he could also use it to heal the target of Soul Link. This was his fastest healing method, since otherwise he had to do repairs, and that took time and wasn¡¯t practical except out of battle. It didn¡¯t damage undead, but was indiscriminate among living targets except the user. Not that he planned to use it except when the only living things around were enemies. The last one he saw immediate use for was Enervating Field. His new spells would be very draining on his mana, but this would allow him to recover it. It would allow him to recover mana when enemies were slain. It also had a large mana cost to keep active, though, so it was only useful when there were many enemies, preferably with large mana pools, dying. Otherwise, it wouldn¡¯t be worth the cost. Well, he would still use it even when it wasn¡¯t worth it so that it became somewhat more efficient. At the very least, it would level dark magic mastery, even if the base cost didn¡¯t go down. In the end, it was a very, very worthwhile quest. Soon, Quietus¡¯ undead army would rule the lands! Well, the parts he cared about. Until he got bored. End Chapter 72 Necromancer - Chapter 73 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 73 Quietus hadn¡¯t actually considered what he would do with an undead army, once he made it. In addition, nobody talked about how difficult it was to move an undead army from place to place. Even though they didn¡¯t need rest or almost any supplies, it was still somewhat a pain to bring them places. Therefore, since his first destroyer skeleton seemed to be able to learn things, he decided to teach it about maps. Then Quietus realized he didn¡¯t really know much about maps, and that he also needed to name it. He was planning to make more destroyer skeletons, or other types, so just calling them ¡°#1¡± or such would work. However, he at least wanted the first one to have a name¡­ or all the very best ones. Eventually, Quietus went to the nearest large city, and purchased maps. Since #1 could understand complex orders, he was able to teach it what he wanted. He would send it to certain places while he was offline, and it would direct the rest of his minions on what to do along the way. Quietus wanted his undead to stay out of fights with players. Mostly Partly because some of his army would die, but also because he wanted to avoid gaining too much more infamy. The destination was near a guild that The Children of Light were having a war with. Quietus didn¡¯t plan to use them, at least not where anyone could see, but having them nearby would make him feel better. Quietus hadn¡¯t gotten involved in any of the guild affairs in a while. Angelo was still under the promise not to bug Quietus into doing anything, and in this case hadn¡¯t even asked him to join. However, since Quietus was in a killing helpful mood, he actually asked to join himself. Naturally, he was told what he asked, though Angelo didn¡¯t know if he would be too much help, with just one more person. Of course, this was only because Quietus still pretended to be a rogue. Quietus pondered. A single rogue really wouldn¡¯t contribute all that much to a battle. Even if he himself could find and remove a large number of traps, The Children of Light and the other guild, Gods of War, had many hundreds of members each. There were already quite a members who could disarm or set traps on either side. Other than that, Quietus couldn¡¯t publicly contribute much to the fight. Which isn¡¯t to say he couldn¡¯t actually help. Even in the previous incident of a guild war, Quietus hadn¡¯t participated in a way anyone could see directly. He planned for it to be much the same this time. Perhaps even more so, since he didn¡¯t want to expose the use of his undead unless he had to. However, he could think of several ways that would still work. He could even teach some of them to find and disable traps¡­ though only the weaker ones, since they would have very low skill levels. However, even if they failed, the traps could still be set off. As long as he used disposable undead for this, it would be fine. Alternatively, he could use better ones that would likely survive, and could thus gain more levels of skills. Quietus noted that the skills of any ¡°destroyer¡± type undead learned skills faster. Not faster than players, but faster than regular undead minions. It wasn¡¯t too far off from players, though, as far as he could tell. Every day, before he logged off, Quietus would pick one of his best undead, and turn them into a destroyer. This, of course, killed him, but that wasn¡¯t particularly an issue. All it did was make him weaker, very temporarily. With Power to Accept Death at advanced level 9, he was gaining back an additional 145% experience that he lost. This meant if he died, he regained the experience about two and a half times as fast. Single levels didn¡¯t particularly affect his strength, and making the destroyers even made his overall potential better, so it was definitely worth it. Most importantly, the experience wasn¡¯t really ¡°lost¡± with the skill, he just temporarily didn¡¯t have it. It was so useful, Quietus wanted to cackle maniacally. He figured that was appropriate for a necromancer, so he did. Not when anyone was watching of course. He didn¡¯t want to look silly. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Aside from the guild war, Quietus wondered if he should get back into working as an assassin. He hadn¡¯t done much of that recently. He felt like he shouldn¡¯t neglect his stealth and single combat skills, just because he had new skills for fighting multiple enemies, and an army of undead. Maybe he would work on that afterwards, if he had the time. In the meantime, Quietus practiced his new large area skills while journeying. He determined they were mostly only useful if there were more than ten enemies. It didn¡¯t cost any more mana if there were more around, so it was just more efficient that way. If there weren¡¯t many, it was better and faster to defeat them with his dagger or Demon Spear. However, if there were a large number of enemies near each other, Quietus could take them out quickly, at the cost of a large amount of mana. This was, however, offset significantly by enervation field. Though he could defeat a large amount of enemies quickly with his new abilities, it only worked on enemies significantly weaker than himself. Otherwise, he would run out of mana before killing them, and then he would be in trouble. If he ignored his undead minions, anyway. Even with them, he was more suited to fight larger amounts of weaker enemies, since stronger enemies would be more likely to kill some of his undead. That was a waste. Quietus could still fight stronger enemies by himself, but his new spells weren¡¯t much use for that, with the exception of dark fog. Because it continuously dealt damage in a large area, as well as reducing vision, it was worthwhile. He could quickly strike an enemy and then retreat, making battles difficult for those who relied entirely on vision. Even then, with his stealth skills, most monsters could not detect him if he was being careful. There was the slight issue of it being painful to Quietus himself if he wasn¡¯t undead, but since he had high dark magic resistance, even that wasn¡¯t usually an issue. It didn¡¯t cause any actual damage, so he could endure. As Quietus surveyed his undead army, he did notice a few missing elements. Specifically, magic other than his own, and ghosts. He knew there were various kinds of undead that could use magic, and they would definitely help support the entirely melee army he had now. Ghosts¡­ were ghosts. They were hard to attack, and sneaky. They would just generally be useful. Of course, if he could get other kinds of incorporeal undead, they would serve the same purpose. Unfortunately, techniques for making caster undead and ghosts weren¡¯t in Aullet¡¯s legacy. He could, however, turn them into ¡°destroyers¡± if he had them. Thus, he would first need to learn to make them, somehow. Well, he could certainly do that later, after testing out what he currently had. End Chapter 73 Necromancer - Chapter 74 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 74 Angelo surveyed the field. The Children of Light were again fighting an offensive battle to take over a keep. This one was much more secure than the one that the Crimson Ravens had. It had a moat, proper portcullises, and magical defenses of various sorts. Some of these were just reinforcements for the walls, since after level 200 casters could easily damage regular stone walls. There were also enchantments that prevented, or at least slowed, flight. Such things again became more important at higher levels. The moat was inhabited by tamed monsters, who would attack invading players. Lighter armored players would be killed quickly, while heavily armored players could not swim very well, if at all. In summary, the defenses were strong. They were not, however, invincible. The Children of Light had brought some magical siege equipment with them. Some of it was just enchanted to be harder to destroy, such as ladders and ropes, while the power of catapults and other offensive equipment was increased. Currently, not much progress was made. The enemy guild, Gods of War, had a strong defensive position. Thus, their casters could attack from relative safety. Though they couldn¡¯t bring more players to the field easily, they could resurrect the few who were defeated. Meanwhile, more of the players of Children of Light died, but they could be resurrected by clerics or respawn and then return to the battlefield. Neither side could gain much of an advantage, so they were still being cautious, and not risking a large battle just yet. The Children of Light were gearing up for another assault, when black clouds came out of the castle. The clouds obscured the entire castle, and the movements of the defenders could not be seen. Angelo had everyone draw back until they could figure out what effect the clouds had. Were the Gods of War gathering for an assault? Scouts were sent, and though they could see somewhat into the area with their abilities, they couldn¡¯t tell whether there were troop movements. In addition, the clouds did some damage to them when they entered the area. Not too much, but scout type characters weren¡¯t very durable in general, so it was best not to enter. So, they waited. Over the course of an hour, the clouds shrunk briefly, then expanded again. It was determined to be happening at a regular interval. Then, as quickly as the clouds had arrived, they dissipated. Nobody could be seen on the walls, but there were many places for players to get cover. Likely, they were just hiding. Since they had been preparing for something, Angelo was cautious, unsure what to do. However, a message from outside the capsule arrived. ¡°Now would be a good time to attack the fort.¡± Angelo wanted to ask Quietus (or Mortimer) how he knew that, but if it was a good time to attack, they couldn¡¯t really stand to wait. Plus, he wouldn¡¯t have said that if he wasn¡¯t confident. -------------------------- --Slightly more than one hour prior-- Quietus looked over the battlefield. He figured he should probably go say hello to his friends, but he didn¡¯t feel like it. So, he didn¡¯t. Most of the Children of Light were arranged on the side with the gate, but there were some on all sides. The defenders on the walls were similarly placed, from what Quietus could see. It was a bit far to know for sure, though. Unfortunately, it was daytime and it would be very easy to see anyone approaching. Thus, Quietus sent a single ghoul as a scout. It would be easier to miss, and though it wasn¡¯t as fast or nimble as a skeleton, it was the best choice. After all, ghouls were better at burrowing. There was no way anything wouldn¡¯t be spotted above ground. Even Quietus himself would be found quickly, and then burned to a crisp. Or, frozen and shocked and hit by rocks and arrows. Dead for sure, though. The ghoul burrowed under the ground, deep enough to avoid the moat. Then, Quietus had it dig up, where he thought the keep should be. The result was as expected. Sadly, they hadn¡¯t made any basements with dirt floors. Instead, they used the same stone as for the walls, and it was apparently also affected by the reinforcement spells. Expected, but disappointing. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. The ghoul dug out into the moat, where it was promptly attacked by monsters. It wasn¡¯t a very stealthy ghoul, after all. None of them were. Sadly, the ghoul scout died. Well, that was his job anyway. Quietus considered trying to drain the moat by sending many burrowers, but dismissed the idea quickly. They didn¡¯t remove the dirt, just displaced it, so the water wouldn¡¯t really be able to flow out. At best, it would cause a slight drop in water level before it was noticed. However, he could be much more stealthy than his ghoul minions. Therefore, he and several minions traveled along nearly the same path. Quietus then had the ghouls wait where they were, and he continued on to the other side. Obviously, he was transformed into a ghoul. He couldn¡¯t burrow quickly otherwise, and there was also the problem of being unable to breathe dirt. When he got to the other side, he had the sacrificial pawns on the other side burrow out into the moat again, and cause a ruckus. The were quickly attacked, but hopefully none of the players would really take note. Soon after, Quietus came out into the water on the other side, much more stealthily. He was still glad to be a ghoul, because he also couldn¡¯t breathe water. His plan seemed to have worked, since there was nothing in the water too close to where he was, they seemed to have been distracted. He quickly got to the surface, and the wall. Quietus was good at climbing. He¡¯d put a lot of practice into it, because it was convenient. Being a ghoul, he was stronger and had claws, which helped climb up things that definitely weren¡¯t meant for it, like the side of a keep. Even a keep couldn¡¯t be completely unclimbable though. It was still made of stone, and it wasn¡¯t solid. There would always be seams, and cracks, unless a very large amount of money, or magic, which also cost money. They could, however, make it undesirable to climb the wall. Such as by placing spells that damaged anything attempting to climb. Quietus noticed this. It was, after all, a trap. It seemed it would deal continuous damage to whoever tried to climb. Fire or electricity, likely, but he couldn¡¯t tell. Especially not after he disabled it. It was only temporary, though. It was designed as a permanent defense, Quietus could only stop it from affecting part of the wall for a short time. That was all he needed though. His claws grasped handholds, and his boots found footholds. He pulled himself up past the arrow slits that served as the only windows. This wasn¡¯t a luxury fort, but practical. However, it could still be entered from the top of the walls. Otherwise, how could anybody get onto them to defend the fort? As he peered over the edge, he saw several people. He couldn¡¯t sneak past them without raising the alarm. However, he didn¡¯t plan to. The wards on the castle would stop many spells cast from outside, but it wouldn¡¯t stop spells cast from the inside. Quietus was pretty sure that counted on top of the walls. He had to cast dark fog twice, at the cost of a very significant portion of his mana, to cover the entire fort. However, it definitely worked. Now, nobody would be able to see well, and everyone would be taking damage. Not a lot¡­ and everyone would be on alert. However, they wouldn¡¯t be sure what to be on alert to. If they¡¯d had to guess, they would have presumed an expert in dark magic, maybe even a necromancer. They wouldn¡¯t have even been wrong. However, they wouldn¡¯t have likely guessed that this same person was an assassin. Not by class, but by trade. Those who were most vulnerable were spellcasters, who wore light or cloth armor. However, their magic resistance was higher, so the dark fog couldn¡¯t damage them much. At best, it was an annoyance that caused them to use cheap potions. Thus, the spellcasters were not too worried. Even many of the non spellcasters had reasonable defense against magic, and high health. They would be fine as well, as long as the cause was found and dealt with. However, no matter how much magical defense one has, it does little to protect against a dagger in the back. Especially not one that does greatly increased damage, and critical damage. Such as Quietus¡¯ dagger, which improved his damage after using spells. The dagger also caused bleeding damage, but this was irrelevant if one was dead instantly. Such as one of the wizards on the wall who had not panicked and run inside. He had no need to be afraid of the dark fog. However, he should have been afraid of what hid in it. End Chapter 74 Necromancer - Chapter 75 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 75 Quietus pulled his dagger out of the first wizard on the wall. He looked around through the dark fog that covered the castle. He had no issues seeing through it because of his darkvision spell, though it cost some mana. However, it was not significantly draining at this point, so he could keep it on indefinitely. Especially since at the current time, his mana regeneration was very high, with the effect of his sadism stat and the dark fog causing damage to an entire castle full of people. The effect for each additional person wasn¡¯t as great as the first, but it was still significant, especially with a few hundred people affected. There appeared to be no others on the wall who could see clearly. Though the archers had various vision related skills that would help them somewhat, it seemed from their faces that they didn¡¯t have anything particularly suited to seeing through darkness, or especially magical darkness. Quietus didn¡¯t think that there would be no one among the entire guild who could see in darkness though. He would have to watch for them and take them out quickly. In absence of threats, though, Quietus would attack those he could kill in a single hit. Preferably, mages and clerics. These were also some of the most dangerous professions in large scale fights, so it was best to take them out if he could. The members of Gods of War were quite competent, so they quickly formed into small groups, calling out to each other to determine their relative locations. However, they weren¡¯t fast enough for Quietus not to take out two more of the wizards on the walls. He didn¡¯t have to worry about being seen, but he had to be cautious to not make noise. The only remaining wizard on the walls had formed up with a small group. The others were either dead, or had retreated inside at the first sign of the dark fog. However, Quietus didn¡¯t plan to let something like a hastily made group stop him. Certainly, he could be seen if he approached into range to strike with his dagger. The members of the group were all facing outward, so they would be prepared to strike him if he approached too closely. So, he didn¡¯t. Quietus wasn¡¯t sure of the level of the mage. Therefore, he decided not to hold back, in case he was high enough level to survive a single attack, his counterattack could be dangerous. Thus, Quietus first quietly chanted a spell. None of this warlock spells required chants, but they were also weaker. This spell was one he hadn¡¯t gotten much use out of, Demon Spear. Although it was just an upgraded version of Dark Spear, so he didn¡¯t worry he¡¯d have issues using it. It was his most powerful ranged attack. He wasn¡¯t sure if it met the requirements for what he wanted, but he could throw it from enough distance that he would be safe even if his plan failed. There was no reason not to try. He threw the spear, which made almost no noise, and couldn¡¯t be seen, since it was made out of the same darkness that surrounded his opponents. The spear approached toward the wizard¡¯s unknowing neck. However, just a demon spear would not be enough to kill him if he were near Quietus¡¯ level. His magical defense would be high enough to let him survive. Thus, Quietus attempted to activate Perforate Artery. The results were quite clear. Demon Spear met all the requirements for perforate artery. An attack at the neck, or more specifically the jugular veins. Though the Demon Spear was somewhat less precise than that, due to its size, it still fell well within the requirements. Thus, the wizard died instantly. Demon Spear was a powerful magic, but when it was a critical hit, it was even more devastating. Quietus had several abilities that improved critical hits, especially in the condition of a sneak attack where the enemy was unaware of his presence. Though they technically knew someone was out there somewhere, they couldn¡¯t detect him and predict when and from where an attack would come, which was the important part. The bleeding damage was irrelevant in this case. Quietus still wasn¡¯t sure of the level of the wizard he killed, but it didn¡¯t matter. The only people on the roof at this point would be harder to kill, since they were dressed in leather or heavier armor, and were from archer and warrior type classes, which had much better health than a typical mage type. If Quietus had been able to kill them in one hit, they would not be high enough level to bother with, so he moved on. He didn¡¯t want to waste the currently disorganized state of the keep. He found a door to the inside of the keep. When he opened it, dozens of spells and arrows flew out. It was definitely enough to kill a heavily armored warrior, not to mention a necromancer with only average health. Quietus didn¡¯t die, though. In fact, as far as the people inside were concerned, the door may have opened on its own. Which it had, in a way. At the very least, Quietus hadn¡¯t been next to the door when he opened it. Instead, he had used his spectral hand skill. Doors were the bane of the assassin¡¯s existence, so he¡¯d learned some ways to counter it. He still couldn¡¯t avoid opening the door, but he wouldn¡¯t be there to be seen or attacked. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.After a moment, no more spells or attacks came through the doorway, and Quietus took the chance to look inside. It appeared nobody in this group could see well either. Nobody was directly inside the door, but there were many people watching it. In addition, they had lit some torches, slightly fending off the darkness around them. Quietus wouldn¡¯t be able to get through easily, since there were enough pairs of eyes that they might luckily spot him. However, this wasn¡¯t the only entrance into the keep. At one of the other entrances, the door creaked open. This time, the fireballs and other attacks struck the figure who opened the door, lighting them up briefly. Then, the figure fell over, dead. ¡°Did we get him?¡± Someone moved forward to check the body. Nobody else was close enough to the doorway to notice a figure slip behind them. ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s dead.¡± If there hadn¡¯t been so many spells, they may have recognized the body as one of their members. However, now, the corpse was unrecognizable charred. ¡°Be careful, there might be more.¡± They were not wrong. Moments after the scout said that, two more figures stepped out of the darkness and attacked. Though, it may have been better to say that they swatted at him. There is only so much a zombie can do when it has a mage as the base, with the worst physical attributes available. ¡°It¡¯s a necromancer, everyone be careful!¡± Everyone was on the lookout for more magical attacks, but nobody considered the fact that they might not see who they were looking for, even without the cover of Dark Fog. Quietus, meanwhile, was nicely inside. Fortunately, nobody had managed to obtain light sources on this side, so he could sneak in. He subsequently set about sewing chaos. Anybody he could quickly kill he did, then he turned them into undead and had them move about randomly attacking players. This was so that they could not find his location and surround him. Unlike the previous guild he¡¯d fought against, the Crimson Ravens, this guild had a stronger average level of players, relative to himself. In the Crimson Ravens, the only real threat had been the guildmaster, but there were more competent players in this guild. He dashed between rooms, at the fastest speed he could quietly move. He could have turned into an undead to eliminate the need to conserve stamina, but he didn¡¯t have anything that would allow him to stay at the same level of mental attributes and move quickly. Ghouls were strong and fast, but had low mental attributes. Skeletons were only slightly reduced in mental attributes, but were still lower. Mummies were fine on mental attributes, but slow. Thus, he had to stay in his normal form and watch his stamina. Though, instead of being careful with it, all he really had to do was recognize when it was time to chug a potion. He might end up using a lot of them, but his stock was decently built up. Enough time had passed in the Dark Fog that people had to start drinking health potions and receiving healing from clerics. Though the damage was weak, it was continual. Some of those who weren¡¯t cautious about keeping their health up were killed by Quietus, since he could approximate the state of their hit points. At least, enough to get a general feeling of whether he could kill them. Inside, there wasn¡¯t enough distance to kill anyone with Demon Spear. However, he still managed to pick off a few of those gathered together. He could get close enough to do a single strike before they could react. Thus, he would use Perforate Artery on someone vulnerable, then immediately use Backslide to slip back into the shadows. Then he would have to quickly leave to avoid retaliatory attacks. Eventually, the remaining members of the guild gathered in a large hall. Quietus had only been able to pick off maybe thirty players, less than a tenth of their numbers. Not that it was insignificant in any way, but it wasn¡¯t quite satisfactory yet. After all, almost no warriors had been killed, and Quietus didn¡¯t think he¡¯d yet taken out any top players. Inside the large hall, there was a cleric who had created a large source of light. It seemed to be resisting the Dark Fog, and thus everyone in the central hall was able to begin regenerating the health they had previously lost without issue. Quietus imagined they had enough people there who would be able to see him to split into new groups and hunt him down quickly. He could just leave, but his tactics wouldn¡¯t work again. Besides, he wasn¡¯t done yet. Quietus grinned from his position up in the rafters. He was glad that they had a sufficiently big central hall that it needed rafters. In addition, the light didn¡¯t completely reach up here. Though he had no hope of defeating an entire guild, he certainly wasn¡¯t about to leave yet. After all, he hadn¡¯t even taken damage from them yet, though he certainly would soon. Once they knew where he was, there would be spells flying and sword attacks coming from everywhere. He would inevitably die if he confronted them. Quietus thought it sounded like fun, and dropped directly into the middle of the group, dagger stabbing into the cleric who was maintaining the light spell. End Chapter 75 Necromancer - Chapter 76 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 76 Though the cleric he dropped onto was in the center of the group, all the players surrounding reacted quickly. The cleric was higher level than those Quietus had killed previously, so he didn¡¯t die instantly either. The Gods of War had a decent number of players who were experienced in player versus player combat. However, they also had some who were rather new to the scene. Thus, among all of the attacks directed in Quietus¡¯ direction, only a small number of them were area attacks. Phrased in a different way, some of the people panicked and used their area attack skills inside a crowd of their own guild members. Though Quietus hadn¡¯t managed to kill the cleric in one attack, even with his stealth skills, he weakened him enough to die from the rest of those attacks. As for the individually targeted attacks, even a few of them hit fellow guild members, mostly stray arrows. Thus, the cleric in the center and a few others around died. The target of all the attacks, Quietus, could certainly not avoid all of those attacks, even if he could comprehend where all of them were going to come from and what they would be. He certainly couldn¡¯t survive all of them. He knew that before he had jumped down. Thus, he had immediately used backslide once he hit the ground. This sent him staggering into a group of players off to the side, but it kept him from taking all of the attacks. It didn¡¯t stop his hit points from dropping well below half from the few that did hit or graze him though. Quietus¡¯ next action was to cast Mass Life Drain, while slashing at any conveniently exposed necks nearby. Of course, he was also moving among the players as fast as he could. Sadly, at least from Quietus¡¯ perspective, the dark fog didn¡¯t manage to refill the room, so the players could still see. After killing a few more of the weaker guild members died, some of the leaders finally managed to get across that they shouldn¡¯t use area attacks or anything that could hit those on the other side. It was at that point, however, that the few remaining undead minions Quietus had in the castle attacked. They managed to drag down a few weaker players in light armor before being decimated, but a few more players was still something. However, after only a short time, the Gods of War were organized, and focused their attacks well enough that Quietus could not out heal them, even when a single casting of Mass Life Drain restored him to full health, and even though he was rather proficient at avoiding attacks. In the end, Quietus didn¡¯t kill a single warrior type, or any player in armor heavier than leather. However, he killed about a third of the mages and clerics, by his estimation. More importantly, they were all out of position now.
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Quietus¡¯ only reaction to that was ¡°Oooh! Looks like The Power to Accept Death has reached [Journeyman] rank! That quest really gave it a lot of experience¡­¡± //Note: I¡¯m not sure if it should be Journeyman/Master or Master/Grand Master. I don¡¯t remember what they had set up. However, I think having Master not be the best rank is kind of¡­ not great. -------------------------- After he got out of the virtual reality machine, Mortimer quickly ran to Angela¡¯s machine and sent her a message. There would be no point if his work were allowed to go to waste. Though, the death penalty was getting closer to a slap on the wrist. Granted, he had the equivalent of¡­ many deaths under his belt. He had figured out the formula, but wasn¡¯t sure how many he had total, plus some quests gave him experience towards it which helped significantly. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. After 1 death he had reached level 2. Level 3 and 4 had each needed 2 more deaths. 5 and 6 needed 3 more deaths each. It continued that way, though since beginner level 10 became intermediate level 1, it saved some time. He didn¡¯t get additional reduction in death timer for that, which was probably good. Otherwise, by his calculations, his death timer would be negative 1 hour at the end of mastery, effectively level 50. Instead, it would be 1 hour at the rate it was going, though that was still 4 hours in the game. Though, that would take a lot of deaths. Currently, since he just hit [Journeyman] level, he should have the equivalent of 209 deaths. However, some quests had contributed some, and the most recent one had given him an equivalent of about 50 deaths. Mortimer had also been playing Royal Road for more than a year, so his death count wasn¡¯t that bad. Though, if anyone else knew he thought that, they would have wanted to strangle him. A 24 hour lockout actually lost more than a full day of play. The level loss and the fact that they would have to return to their play location might actually mean they couldn¡¯t play again until the day after, depending on what time of their play schedule they had died. This of course only applied to the people who still did other things with their lives. Unfortunately, even though he was level 31, and thus more than halfway done in terms of level, he still had a long way to go. A total of 551 deaths would be necessary if the pace kept up with what it was. Granted, that means he would definitely master it in less than a year, even more if he intentionally died more than once a day towards the end. Since he had something productive to do with dying, creating Destroyer type undead, it wasn¡¯t a waste to die every day. Since he couldn¡¯t play anymore, Mortimer went to work on studying. If he wanted to be a doctor, he would have to keep his grades good. Since that was pretty much the only way he could think of to keep his parents happy, at least among careers that he was willing to live with, he had to succeed. After all, he wasn¡¯t willing to give up his cushy life. Even if he had to give up some game time now, for the ability to later have a more carefree life, he was willing to sacrifice a bit. -------------------------- Inside Royal Road, the Children of Light attacked the fort. The battle wasn¡¯t trivial by any means, but it was easier than expected. Angelo soon noticed a surprising lack of spells on the enemy side. In addition, the Gods of War hadn¡¯t been at their positions, which allowed the Children of Light to set up some siege ladders and other equipment relatively uncontested. There was no point in breaking the walls down if they could keep the keep intact. After all, they would own it afterwards, and there was no reason to increase the repair costs. Angelo looked at Maratis and Ruby who were nearby. ¡°Any idea what Mortimer¡­ Quietus could have done to cause this? Also¡­ where did that fog come from?¡± Ruby and Maratis looked at each other, then shrugged. This wasn¡¯t because they didn¡¯t have an idea of what was going on, but they didn¡¯t plan to say anything. ¡°He¡¯s definitely got a secret or two that I need to pry out of him¡­¡± Ruby spoke up at this point. ¡°Aren¡¯t you still under the no-bugging-him contract?¡± Angelo frowned. ¡°Ehh, that only applies to forcing him to join us¡­ probably.¡± Angelo didn¡¯t really want to make him too annoyed, though. Perhaps waiting would be best. ¡°I¡¯ll definitely find out eventually though.¡± After everything was said and done, the losses on the Children of Light¡¯s side were still fairly high, but quite tolerable. They would have to set up their defenses though, since a single level lost wouldn¡¯t ruin the fighting capabilities of the Gods of War. However, if they lost in their attempt to take back the fort, they would likely back down, at least for a time. It was hard to keep so many players online consistently, after all. //End Chapter 76 Notes: someone suggested adding spaces between the paragraphs. I have tabs at the beginning of each where I''m writing it, but it doesn''t actually do that here. Since I don''t read it here, I didn''t really notice. Hopefully, it''s easier to read now :P Necromancer - Chapter 77 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 77 The Children of Light had relatively little issue defending the keep from the counterattack of Gods of War. Their morale was higher, and with the defensive position they had the advantage. It didn¡¯t hurt one bit that some of the members of Gods of War found themselves getting attacked by undead as they tried to get to the battlefield. While they were on alert, they didn¡¯t expect zombies, ghouls, skeletons, and more to come out of the ground. After all, none of these were native to the area. Still, they made some noise while burrowing, so some people noticed and weren¡¯t surprised. Quietus lost quite a number of undead, but he didn¡¯t send any of his destroyer type since he didn¡¯t want to risk them. None of the undead attacks happened within sight of the keep, mostly because Quietus wanted to keep his being a necromancer mostly secret as long as he could. The reason mostly ended up being that he liked actually having a secret from his cousin. Even if she found out, he would obviously keep the fact that he was an assassin secret. Though, he hadn¡¯t done much in the way of work for the assassins lately. He¡¯d been busy with necromancer stuff. In fact, he had more things he needed to do as a necromancer. He had just passed level 300, which meant he had to choose his path. He couldn¡¯t choose to be a Blood Necromancer, because they got the skill ¡°The Power to Reject Death¡±, which he couldn¡¯t have in conjunction with ¡°The Power to Accept Death¡±. He could theoretically give up his skill, but he had put a lot of ¡°work¡± into it. More importantly, he was used to it now, and he thought it was more convenient for his activities. This left him the choice between ¡°Spirit¡± and ¡°Mind¡±. Mind necromancers dealt with illusions and curses. Quietus liked the thought of that. Those sorts of abilities would certainly be useful, especially if he kept up assassination. On the other hand, he really liked the idea of ghosts, and becoming incorporeal. He wasn¡¯t sure exactly what abilities a Spirit Necromancer would get, but he felt some affinity with ghosts. He looked down at one of the rings on his hands. He had gotten this incorporeal ring from the Moaning Mines.
Spirit ring Durability: N/A This ring has no physical form. It is full of the lingering memories of an angry ghost. Equip: Wearer deals +10% damage (and pain) to those who have injured the wearer of the ring, or their friends. Effect stacks for each individual affected, up to a limit of +50%. (Does not stack on bosses). +40 Sadism Special: Cannot be equipped, unless manifested into physical form Requirements: Must have the Sadism stat.
It was still useful at his level, because of the percent based increase. In addition, it increased the sadism stat, which nothing else he had found did. Sadism was very important to him for mana regeneration. Although he was somewhat of a hybrid of physical and magical abilities, he had a decently sized mana pool. It was not as high as a pure caster would have, but with enough regeneration he offset that issue. Quietus also remembered the nightmares dreams he had suffered experienced after dealing with the Moaning Mines. Though they were somewhat annoying, he had found them intriguing. He was certainly interested in learning more about ghosts and spirits, and if there was a difference. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Thus, he decided to take the path of the Spirit Necromancer. Though he was interested in curses, he could still get some of those anyway. Though the Mind Necromancers would get better ones, he could live without them. Especially if he got to turn into a ghost. They were exceptionally stealthy, and he was enjoying his stealthy playstyle. -------------------------- Quietus went to the nearest capital city to find a necromancer¡¯s guild. Though he felt that those who didn¡¯t come to the guild were probably more powerful, they were probably harder to find. Thus, he went to where he knew he could get guidance on the direction he should go. The guild was a lot less gloomy than he would have expected, and much more brightly lit. Well, since it was a public facing organization, it wouldn¡¯t do for them to look bad. In addition, as long as they stayed within certain guidelines, they were a respected casting class. Not that Quietus planned to follow any guidelines if they were inconvenient. Actually, having gained Aullet¡¯s legacy, he probably was already outside of the guidelines. Not that anyone should know that. After talking to several people, he finally got a meeting with someone who could direct him down the path of class advancement. Of course, he would have been happier if his quest had just told him where to go and what to do, but sometimes people had to be involved. The person he was directed to, a sub-guildmaster, whose name Quietus didn¡¯t bother to remember, started to speak. ¡°So, you wish to progress down the path of the Spirit Necromancer. I see that you have enough power now to specialize. In fact, there is something you could help us with that would both serve as a proper test and give you some insight into the path. In the Fields of Misery, there was a large battle in ancient times. Many died there, and went unburied. Even now, their souls linger behind. However, recently they have been more agitated than before, and are moving to nearby areas, and causing danger to the populous. Find out what is causing this and calm their spirits.¡±
You have received a quest! Calm the spirits The spirits of the Fields of Misery are restless. Prevent them from causing trouble for the local population. Rewards: Advancement to Spirit Necromancer, additional rewards based on methods of success.
Quietus was glad of his destination. He had heard that the Fields of Misery had quite a few herbs good for making potions. He had been wanting to work on his alchemy skills more. Plus, there were a lot more herbs that were good for poisons there. Of course, very few people went there to collect herbs because of the large number of ghosts, but Quietus would probably be fine. Besides, since he needed to be there anyway, it didn¡¯t matter if he stopped to collect some herbs. Preferably some he could mix into a good airborne poison. Although he could be affected by that, and it could be dangerous even with his poison resistance, he would still be fine as long as he didn¡¯t have to breathe. Undead mimicry had many convenient uses. Thus, he set off for the area. He would probably do best to start in the nearby towns to see if he could learn something about what was happening. If that didn¡¯t lead anywhere, he could probably just kill all the ghosts. It would still fulfill the actual quest requirements. End Chapter 77 Necromancer - Chapter 78 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 78 Quietus approached the Fields of Misery carefully. He wasn¡¯t sure when ghosts would start appearing, and he wanted to be ready. He started with one of the towns nearby. Upon entering the town, Quietus was at first not sure if the town was one that had trouble with the ghosts, but the lack of people soon told him what he wanted to know. He started looking through the houses. Besides the lack of people, there weren¡¯t any signs of problems in the town. The houses were in fine repair, it was just that everyone had left the town. It was only after searching a few houses that he found the first body. It still seemed that most of the people had gotten away though. This body looked like it had been killed by a large weapon, and not the clawlike attacks the previous ghosts had displayed. Quietus spent some time checking the body to make sure his initial assessment was right. After carefully inspecting, he found nothing else that could be the cause of death. Therefore, the ghosts either were much larger than the other ghosts, were killed by something else¡­ or could use weapons. Somehow. Quietus thought it was likely the third. After all, he was pretty sure the ghosts were still here. He¡¯d seen some glimpses, anyway. They hadn¡¯t particularly been trying to hide, since they didn¡¯t know he was here. Quietus, however, was always hiding, unless he needed to get somewhere quickly. This was probably why he had not been attacked by the ghosts yet. Alternatively, perhaps his necrosympathy stat was high enough that they just didn¡¯t attack him. However, he found that to be less likely, since these were thought to be especially violent, and thus would likely still be hostile. Therefore, Quietus put it to the test. First, he moved to an open area where ghosts would not have too many places to hide, besides the ground. That was one tactic he had learned fighting them before. Then, quite simply, he stopped trying to not be found. He kept looking around to see if any ghosts would appear. Normally, he could depend on his hearing to tell if an enemy was coming from behind him, but ghosts didn¡¯t make any sound when moving, unless they wished to. This was why he was surprised to hear the sound of hooves. As he turned around, he saw something very unexpected. A squad of ghostly cavalry was charging toward him. Though, they were obviously not concerned with hiding their presence. Fortunately, they could not all reach him with their lances, and he dodged most of them, getting a brief attack on one of the horse¡¯s legs. However, he only dodged most of the attacks. He was still injured, and the attack had taken about a quarter of his health. That was bad for Quietus, because the cavalry was forming up into a better state to fight a single person. Well, Quietus needed to get back into practice fighting ghosts anyway. Though, this time it would cost him some. This time, they encircled him and slashed at him from behind. Wherever he would face, another would attack him when he was unprepared. They were very organized. Quietus¡¯ health was whittled down quickly, and he was only able to take two of the squad of ten down with him, using soul bind to allow himself to hit them. Then, not unexpectedly, he died.
You have died! Cannot log in for 10 hours.
-------------------------- Quietus had thought of some new tactics for fighting against them while he was dead, but he didn¡¯t plan to put them into action yet. He still wasn¡¯t sure if fighting the ghosts was the right solution. Granted, it would probably work eventually, but it probably wasn¡¯t the best solution to be had, so he would put that off for later. Instead, he decided to scout the other towns. The situation was very similar, though he found that there were two distinct sets of equipment. Theoretically, the soldiers from the two armies who had fought and died so long before. They were split up into the towns on opposite sides of the Fields of Misery. This made Quietus think that their positions were not random. Instead it seemed like a tactical choice. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.However, that meant that there was a reason for them to have become more aggressive, and moved from their former locations. It was not just that they were angry, either. Probably. It was possible that ghosts got bored of waging an eternal battle eventually, and decided to do other things. Quietus assumed that it probably wasn¡¯t something as stupid as getting bored. Therefore, it should have been caused by something changing in the Fields of Misery. Quietus¡¯ first thought was that he should go to the center to directly see what it was. However, he didn¡¯t want to be done with this play session, and he was certain that something dangerous enough to scare off two ghost armies was something he couldn¡¯t handle alone. He wasn¡¯t even sure if his army of undead would be good enough, if he could get them past the ghosts. As he carefully moved closer to the normal location of the ghosts, Quietus noticed the patrols of soldiers seemed to be watching the center, which just confirmed his suspicions. Once out of the towns, it was much easier to spot the ghosts, even at a distance, because they still stood among the tall grass. Meanwhile, that grass allowed Quietus to stay hidden, though he was not very mobile. Turning into a ghoul allowed him to crawl faster by increasing his strength. It also gave him claws which helped. Plus, it wasn¡¯t as uncomfortable to crawl, since he couldn¡¯t feel discomfort. Finally, as he was nearing the time he would have to log off, Quietus headed to the middle to see what he could find. As he approached closer to the area, he saw something different than the fields in the distance. Upon getting nearer, he could see that they were weapons, standing in the ground in a stereotypical battlefield look. Though, Quietus thought they probably should have rusted away already. Unless, they were all magical weapons. He wasn¡¯t close enough to take one and find out. When he was about a hundred feet away from the nearest weapons, he noticed that the ground changed color, and no grass grew, near the center of the area. Instead of the normal brown of dirt, the ground was darker, almost black. He moved closer to see if he could inspect one of the weapons. The first thing he reached was a sword. He noticed that all of the weapons were buried in the darker soil. Quietus looked around carefully, but didn¡¯t see whatever the problem was. Then, he carefully pulled out the closest sword. He didn¡¯t have any identification abilities, but he could tell it definitely was magical. Not that he cared about swords, and he didn¡¯t see any daggers, likely because they weren¡¯t often used by soldiers. He hadn¡¯t had long to dwell on that disappointing fact when the ground started moving. Not the ground under his feet, but the darker ground in front of him. It was very quickly obvious that the darker ground was in fact not ground at all. Instead, the dark colored thing that rose up out of the ground and revealed itself to be¡­ a dragon. It was filled with swords and spears, but they weren¡¯t penetrated particularly far into its body. That didn¡¯t seem like a good sign to Quietus. Neither did the teeth in front of his face, which prevented him from seeing all of the dragon, though he knew its body was over a hundred feet long. Probably much more, based on what he had seen of it when he thought it was a patch of ground. Quietus stabbed the sword at the dragon in protest, as he prepared to be roasted. At least he knew what could scare off ghosts now. However, instead of breathing fire onto him, the dragon breathed inward. Quietus felt a tugging, and then felt like he was being torn apart, though his body didn¡¯t seem to be particularly injured. Before he could figure out how that could work, he died.
You have died! Cannot log in for 10 hours.
//End Chapter 78 Necromancer - Chapter 79 There might not be a chapter next week, because it will be Christmas time. It depends on how busy I get. Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 79 When he logged back into Royal Road, Quietus found that the quest had been updated.
Calm the spirits The spirits of the Fields of Misery are restless. Prevent them from causing trouble for the local population. Defeat the dragon that is causing the spirits to be unruly.
He had already suspected that as a possibility. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was necessarily the best solution, but it would let the ghosts leave the villages around the area. All he had to do was kill a dragon. Was it something he could do? Perhaps. He had an, admittedly small, army of undead. At least, in the scale of calling it a real army. Furthermore, there were very few minions he had that would be able to do anything against a dragon. Even ignoring the fact that it would probably fly, and he didn¡¯t particularly have many archers, and no mages. Undead that could fly¡­ were not in Quietus¡¯ army yet. Theoretically, most things with wings could still fly when turned into undead. There were also banshees and vampires. Vampires seemed to be in a category of their own, and not something he could get as undead minions. At least, not easily. Other than that, the best candidate was ghosts. Obviously, he couldn¡¯t make ghosts yet, otherwise there wouldn¡¯t be that much point to the quest. There was the possibility of inviting the Children of Light to help. People liked fighting dragons. There was a lot of glory, experience, and loot to be had. However, Quietus didn¡¯t want to ask. Partly because he didn¡¯t want to share. Partly because he didn¡¯t want to owe his cousin any favors. Mostly, however, because it was his quest, and he wanted to be the one to do it. Wasn¡¯t it cool to take on a dragon? That said, Quietus wasn¡¯t confident in beating it alone. Even if that alone included his entire army of undead. The most likely result was that he would lose part or all of his army, and he might not even win. Sadly, his minions wouldn¡¯t respawn. At the very least, regular ones wouldn¡¯t. He wasn¡¯t sure if he could revive Destroyer type minions, but he wasn¡¯t going to experiment with that yet. Quietus could of course make more minions, and a larger army. That would take time, and he would have to spend resources to get decent bows and arrows. He could spread rumors of the dragon to get other people to show up and fight it, but that would be worse than asking the guild for help, since people he didn¡¯t know might get the rewards, and they would likely disrupt the ghosts. Quietus hadn¡¯t figured out how he was going to deal with the ghosts yet. Theoretically, they could be left alone after killing the dragon, if they returned to where they formerly were. He wasn¡¯t sure if that was the best option. He did know, however, that even if he chose to eradicate the ghosts, he also needed to take out the dragon. After all, the dragon had a higher potential danger for the surrounding villages, and the main point of the quest was to help the villagers return to their homes safely. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. He decided to take some time to observe the situation further. Obviously, the ghosts were at odds with the dragon. The dragon therefore must have some amount of threat to ghosts, which was somewhat of an abnormality even for a dragon. Quietus did have some idea of why it was a threat, though he didn¡¯t have an immediate way to test it. When he had killed it, he had felt as if he were ripped apart, though his body was fine. His theory was that it could absorb, and perhaps eat, souls. Besides intuition, he didn¡¯t really have any proof. It would, however, explain why the dragon had shown up in that particular location. If that was the case though, why was it not hunting down either of the two armies? Quietus didn¡¯t know the answer to that, but if his initial assumptions were true, then perhaps it was just full. Which meant it would eventually start hunting more of the ghosts. If that were true, then the quest would take care of itself in time. Except, of course, that the ghosts were dwelling in and around the towns, and he didn¡¯t imagine that no damage would be done to the buildings if the dragon went hunting in and near them. Plus, he had no proof that anything would happen, and even if it worked it would be a disappointing ending. Therefore, Quietus went scouting some more. Now that he knew for sure there were ghosts around, he didn¡¯t have too much trouble avoiding being found, when he was careful. However, his efforts did nothing for him. There were no conversations to be overheard or information to glean. The ghosts seemed intelligent, at the very least they were organized, but they didn¡¯t seemed interested in talking. Indeed, they were certainly not at all interested in talking with him. He tried once in the locations of each army, when he found some people that looked like officers. Normally, there would at least have been a slight hesitation to attack him, with his affinity for undead, but there was none to be found here. He did, however, get the general feeling that they were angry and upset. After all, ghosts did not appear without reason, or some kind of lingering regret. Most battlefields wouldn¡¯t produce even a single ghost, no matter how unpleasant war was. Therefore, there should be some kind of special circumstances. However, Quietus had no knowledge of the history behind this place, and wasn¡¯t sure if there was much information to be found. All he knew was that it was the site of a large battle a long time before. Maybe he could get some more information through research, but he didn¡¯t know where he would look for that. Quietus could think of several directions he could start heading in, but his instincts told him that the best option would be to somehow calm the ghosts to get information from them. Given that he had very little interpersonal skills, and they were obviously not friendly, he wasn¡¯t sure how he would accomplish that. At least, he couldn¡¯t do it on his own. Thus, he would have to ask for help. He thought about the various people he knew. Who had the right skills for what he needed? After going through the abilities of the people he knew in Royal Road, Quietus could only come up with one candidate. He sighed, and went through the list again. It was going to be tough. He wasn¡¯t even sure if the person he wanted was busy, or would even agree to help. However, he would have to try. He would try. Just¡­ not right away. He needed some time to ready his mental state, and also to see if there was anything else he could do alone. Right. Therefore, he would ask for help¡­ tomorrow. Maybe the day after. That would certainly be fine. End Chapter 79 Still Alive No chapter today. Busy with holiday stuff. Still alive though. Expect chapters as normal from next week. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. This is a really short post but I don''t want people to worry I''m going to disappear again :P Necromancer - Chapter 80 It''s still Thursday. Here it is. Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 80 Mortimer stalked followed his target the person he wanted to talk to down the hallway. He just needed to catch them alone, and then he would strike. Or, well, talk to them. Mortimer honestly felt it would have been easier to attack someone. Though, not his target. After all, they were one of the few friends he had. Well, maybe they were on the list of acquaintances that might become friends? Mortimer thought about that for a while, then saw an opening. The guard escort friend they had been walking with left. However, there were still witnesses around. That was a problem. Maybe he could catch their attention somehow¡­ Mortimer intentionally made sound. Most people wouldn¡¯t think much of it, but hopefully his target would look over¡­ Yes! Mortimer waved them over. This was his chance. Then, he regretted his actions. Why had he wanted to be alone with them? That would make it harder. Mortimer almost ran away, but he did need their help. Solara walked over to Mortimer, who was standing awkwardly in an adjacent hallway. ¡°You need me for something?¡± ¡°No. Yes. Umm¡­ I need Ruby. You. To help me with a quest.¡± Mortimer at least managed to get out what he was trying to say, if not as eloquently as he would have liked. Solara leaned in and spoke in a conspiratorial tone. ¡°Is it a secret quest?¡± Mortimer swallowed. Solara was very close. Well, she was still a couple feet away, but that was still pretty close. Mortimer had a very large bubble of personal space, especially when the other person was his crush. Mortimer just stood there and stared, trying not to run. Solara waved her hand in front of his face. ¡°Hello? Anyone in there?¡± She straightened up slightly. ¡°Huh? What? Who? Yes. Umm¡­ it¡¯s a secret from Angela, at least.¡± Mortimer looked around slightly shiftily, though he knew nobody was nearby. He would have heard them walking up. He could even hear Master Valarao¡­ occasionally. Angela wasn¡¯t nearly so¡­ subtle. ¡°It might be dangerous though. Actually, it¡¯s definitely dangerous, and my plan might not even work¡­¡± Mortimer was beginning to doubt himself. ¡°Dangerous and secret? Sounds fun. I¡¯ll help.¡± ¡°R-really? Umm, I haven¡¯t even told you what it is yet¡­¡± Solara smiled. ¡°Well, that¡¯s true, but it¡¯s important to you, right?¡± ¡°How did you know that?¡± ¡°You asked me for help. That says enough.¡± In addition to what she knew about Mortimer¡¯s shyness, Angela had told her that Mortimer would never ask for help for anything. If his parents didn¡¯t provide help intentionally, he was generally expected to do something on his own. Alternatively, when he asked Angela for help, he owed her a favor, and he didn¡¯t like owing favors. Thus, it was a very rare thing for him to ask for help. ¡°Right. Well, I need your help to try to calm down a ghost army so that I can talk to them.¡± Solara laughed slightly. ¡°Oh, is that all? It sounds like a fun opportunity.¡± ¡°Yeah. Err, actually¡­ there are two ghost armies. Just so we¡¯re clear.¡± -------------------------- Quietus waited, nervously, for Ruby. He was nervous because he didn¡¯t actually know if she¡¯d be able to help calm the ghosts down, at least temporarily. Certainly, she had bardic abilities that could do that, but they weren¡¯t all powerful. Would they even work on ghosts? Even if it normally would, there might be something special about these ghosts. If it failed, he would have caused Ruby to die for nothing. He didn¡¯t mind dying himself, but that was because he didn¡¯t lose much. Plus, it would be worse to have caused death to someone else. He was also nervous because, well, it was Ruby. He could count the number of real conversations they¡¯d had on both hands. One hand, if he didn¡¯t count conversations about Royal Road. In fact, she was the entire reason he¡¯d started to play this game. He¡¯d almost forgotten about that, actually. Almost. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Eventually, Ruby arrived. She was riding on a horse. Obviously because it was faster, but as she got close, Quietus realized there was another reason. She had a harp with her. Not a little, handheld harp. A real harp. As tall as a person standing up. Frankly, it was barely practical to transport on a horse, at least without fantasy type strength. Quietus realized that he should come out from hiding. He stepped out as she approached nearby. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you could play the harp.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s not very¡­ practical, for adventuring¡­ or raiding¡­ or moving anywhere. However, this one is quite magical¡­ which should increase our chances here.¡± ¡°Right, well¡­ with that, it¡¯s probably best to set up outside this town. The sound of you playing should draw their attention, and, hopefully, calm them down enough to give me a chance to talk. I¡¯d actually prefer to have you talk, but it¡¯s my quest¡­ and undead like me.¡± ¡°That town? Alright.¡± Ruby moved to a position a few hundred yards away from the edge of town. Quietus thought that wasn¡¯t very close, but figured she knew what she was doing. Hopefully. Upon confirming that Quietus was ready, Ruby started playing a beautiful song on the harp. Then, after a few verses, she started singing. Quietus was supposed to be watching for signs of the ghosts approaching. He had planned to. However, he couldn¡¯t focus on anything but Ruby. The music was strong and carried far, but didn¡¯t feel loud. Quietus could almost see it flowing across the field, rustling the grass like the wind. He watched her hands move up and down the harp, and listened intently. By the time he realized, the song was over. It was only then that he spotted a ghost. His gut reaction was to soul bind it and kill it. He didn¡¯t, though. That wasn¡¯t his reason to be here. In addition, he shortly after noticed many more. Surrounding them. However, they weren¡¯t attacking¡­ right now. Quietus turned and looked for the leader he¡¯d seen before. The ghosts started to look restless, and threatening. Quietus finally spotted the leader, and Ruby began another song. Softer, but no less soothing. Quietus figured he¡¯d better start talking while he had the chance. ¡°Oh great soldier. I implore you to listen to my words. I understand that your souls are in anguish, and I wish to help.¡± Quietus stopped there, waiting for a response. Fortunately, one came in the form of words, and not an attack. ¡°Indeed, our souls are troubled. In fact, this is the first time I have had a clear head in¡­ a very long time. Since that dragon came¡­ or maybe before that.¡± ¡°Would defeating the dragon help you and your companions?¡± ¡°Help? Certainly. That dragon is a great source of fear for us. Even though it seems we are now ghosts¡­ it terrifies us. It fed on some of our numbers. However, the clouded mind comes from more than that, though¡­ I know not what.¡± ¡°I will do what I can to help, but first I must ask¡­ Was the battle with your enemies so terrible as to cause your army to be filled with lingering regrets? What quarrel do you have with the other army?¡± ¡°We were¡­ at war.¡± The commanding ghost held up a hand to his head and frowned. ¡°Our nations fought because¡­¡± He frowned more. ¡°I don¡¯t remember. The battle¡­ It was harsh. Deadly. However, such is war. Was it enough to cause me to rise as a ghost? I don¡¯t remember, but currently, I harbor no such feelings.¡± ¡°Very well. I will do everything in my power to help your souls be laid to rest. However, I may need to call on your assistance¡­ to help save yourselves.¡± ¡°If something can be done¡­ we are willing to try. However, there is no guarantee that we will be in our right minds. Now, we must away, before we return to madness. Do be careful.¡± Then, the ghosts rode off. Quietus looked at Ruby. She had been playing and singing continuously for some time, and looked almost like a ghost herself. She slowly finished her song, and stopped playing. ¡°Whew, that was tiring. You said there were two ghost armies?¡± ¡°Indeed I did. After you rest for a while, we should try to visit the other one. We might need two armies to fight a dragon.¡± ¡°A dragon?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t mention the dragon? Oh man, let me tell you about it. It was so awesome.¡± Then, he proceeded to do just that. Though, he somewhat extrapolated some details since he hadn¡¯t had much time to look at it carefully. End Chapter 80 Necromancer - Chapter 81 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 81 Quietus stopped to think before moving on to try talking to the second army. Even if he could, individually, convince the armies to fight against the dragon, it would be harder to make them work together. After all, they had fought and killed each other, then become ghosts. Ghosts don¡¯t just casually appear on a battlefield, instead their strong feelings before death would tie them to the place that they died. Except¡­ the leader of the first army didn¡¯t seem to have any such feelings. This meant there was the possibility of there being some other reason for their ghostly existence. What it was¡­ Quietus didn¡¯t know. However, if the second army did not harbor any strong feelings, it would confirm the existence of something abnormal. Besides a giant, soul-eating dragon, anyway. The Fields of Misery had been stable for centuries, which indicated the dragon was a recent arrival. If Quietus couldn¡¯t convince the armies to work together, he would have to convince them to help him fight the dragon¡­ separately, at the same time. At best, they would fight each other and the dragon, at worst, they would ignore the dragon, and Quietus would have no hope of victory. It would definitely be better if he could make them work together. Quietus discussed his plan with Ruby. After all, she would be risking her life with his, and knowing what was planned would enable her to assist him better. Quite frankly, her skills at diplomacy were better than his, though since they were undead, Quietus was likely the only one who could talk to them. In addition, she needed to concentrate on music to calm them. The two adventurers moved on, stopping near one of the villages on the other side of the Fields of Misery. There was a very similar scene to the first attempt, though this time Quietus managed to resist going into a daze at the music. It was not that there was a game effect targeted at him, it was just that the music itself really was very enticing. Before, he hadn¡¯t been prepared to experience it, and had let himself get lost in the music. Now, he focused on what he had to do. Which was, basically, talking. Specifically, convincing someone to work with some of their possibly worst enemies against an enemy that was definitely the worst. Fortunately, the second leader also appeared willing to talk to Quietus. ¡°Speak, young fellow. It has been long since I have had a clear mind.¡± ¡°I have come to investigate the recent troubles here. I spoke to some of the other spirits here, and they spoke of fear of the dragon. I presume it also troubles you?¡± ¡°Yes¡­ we feel afraid¡­ of¡­ death? All I know is that I can sense danger.¡± ¡°I do believe the source of your madness appeared before the dragon. Is that correct?¡± ¡°Yes. Though my memories are¡­ hazy¡­ the dragon appeared only recently, but we have been locked in pointless combat for¡­ a very long time.¡± Quietus had just wanted to confirm that the knowledge of events was basically the same for both armies. ¡°You say the combat is pointless. Is there no point in warring against your enemies?¡± ¡°Warring against our enemies? Certainly. However¡­ these soldiers¡­ I feel no hatred for them. I do not even remember the reason for our battles.¡± Quietus couldn¡¯t resist a comment there. ¡°If I¡¯ve learned anything about war, it was probably stupid nobles.¡± The ghostly commanded frowned for a moment, then nodded. ¡°It was¡­ likely something of that sort. Certainly, not all of my men were so¡­ patriotic¡­ that they would wish to continue the battle even in death. However, when we are unable to think¡­ our vague memories of them as the enemy make us fight.¡± This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. This would make Quietus¡¯ job somewhat simpler. He was glad. ¡°Then, let me summarize what I have learned¡­ the dragon is causing trouble, currently, but there has always been something causing your souls to be trapped as ghosts, unable to move on. I can investigate what that thing is, but it is likely near the dragon. At least, it is not safe to do a thorough investigation with a dragon around. Would you be willing to fight the dragon? Along with the other army?¡± ¡°Fight? Yes. Along with our enemies¡­¡± ¡°You have no memory of the reason for fighting, do you? Even they harbor no animosity toward you. Instead, all of you are trapped in an unpleasant state. Working together with them, you can have peace.¡± ¡°Peace? Yes¡­ that would be good.¡± ¡°Very well. We will be returning¡­ to try to help organize the battle. However, for now, we must speak with them.¡± Ruby looked a bit better this time, less exhausted. It wasn¡¯t that she had to put less work in. However, Quietus had supplied her with some stamina and mana recovery potions. Though she carried some of her own, she would rather save them for when absolutely necessary. However, Quietus was happy to provide as many as necessary for the sake of his quest. Though, he would also have been willing to provide her potions anyway. Fortunately, there were some decent herbs in the Fields of Misery. Quietus thought he¡¯d even seen some very rare ones deeper in. Obviously, it wasn¡¯t a good idea to go there at this time, so he made do with the more common ones he could get safely. He prepared as many as he could of all types of potions. He considered making some poisons¡­ but felt that it wouldn¡¯t do much against a dragon. Frankly, he wasn¡¯t sure if he could even manage to get the poison to the dragon. Maybe if he had archers, but the dragon wouldn¡¯t likely stay on the ground for him to stab, and his dark spear and similar spells weren¡¯t poisonable, due to their nature as¡­ darkness. Quietus spent some time preparing for the upcoming battle, including convincing the first army to, also reluctantly, work with the second. Quietus probably could have figured out what countries they were from, and what their units were called, but he didn¡¯t care. In addition to battle tactics, which would be mostly taken care of by the armies themselves, Quietus had to figure out how to make them work at all. Specifically, Ruby had to be using her musical talents just to keep them sane. Quietus was fortunate that he had picked her to help, and that she had agreed. He would have had a very difficult time without her. Though Ruby could, at least for a short while, perform loudly enough to attract both armies and get them into their right minds, sound sadly moved uniformly in all directions. Thus, it could attract other things, like big, angry dragons. Ruby also noted that it was very unlikely to affect it with any sort of calm, but would mostly just attract its attention. Since the armies needed time to arrive and coordinate, Quietus would have to provide a distraction. Not on his own, of course. He knew how long it would take for the dragon to kill just him. For the sake of this quest, Quietus was willing to sacrifice many of his undead minions. He just didn¡¯t want to do it pointlessly. Thus, he wouldn¡¯t bring any of the harder to replace minions, such as those he had turned into destroyers. He also went to nearby areas and made as many as he could. They would move in first, and hopefully hold the dragon¡¯s attention long enough for the ghosts to be ready. Sadly, they would only really be able to be food for it, unless it decided to fight on the ground. Quietus really wanted to get some archers¡­ or casters¡­ or, ghosts. Which was most of the point of this adventure. //End Chapter 81 Necromancer - Chapter 82 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 82 Quietus started arranging his undead army, composed mostly of skeletons and zombies, around the area where the dragon was. Although they weren¡¯t very intelligent, he could at least have them move in something like a formation. This one was meant to make it harder to kill too many of them with an area attack. It was spread out, but it still counted as a formation. Quietus could send in undead one after the other, if he wished, but it wouldn¡¯t serve as such a good distraction. Instead, he needed to do a bigger attack, even if he sacrificed more minions. He didn¡¯t have to sacrifice any good minions though. Hopefully, they would keep the dragon¡¯s attention well enough that it wouldn¡¯t go investigate Ruby¡¯s song. There were about two hundred minions Quietus could easily afford to sacrifice. They certainly couldn¡¯t be a real threat to the dragon, even if it refrained from flying, but that was not their point. Quietus just hoped they didn¡¯t die too quickly. Earlier, Quietus had scouted the location where the dragon had been before. It was still there, in the center of the fields. At least, it was near to its previous location. Seeing it close again, Quietus realized how big it was. It was a few hundred feet long, and bigger than all of his minions put together, even ignoring the fact that his skeletons didn¡¯t have much actual volume. Its mouth was big enough to swallow a horse and rider whole, if it wanted to. Perhaps it had. Quietus decided not to think about that too much. He took up his position near where his zombies would start their approach. He was in between Ruby and the Dragon, in case anything went wrong. If Ruby died, well, the two armies of ghosts wouldn¡¯t be able to help, and the battle was pointless. Thus, she was the most important part of the plan, though Quietus wanted to live too. Though he didn¡¯t care too much about experience, a dragon was much more experience than anything normal. Plus, he really should stay alive for the ending to his own quest¡­ this time. Quietus commanded the zombies and skeletons to move forward. When they were about a hundred feet away from the dragon, it rose up. The first thing it did was its soul-sucking ability, the same thing that had killed Quietus. Fortunately, it did seem to cover about the same area as he would think dragonbreath would. Now that he looked at it without dying, he could see the area become hazy and ghostly, as the souls were ripped out of about ten skeletons. As an experiment, Quietus had avoided powering up some of the minions with Transfer Soul. He thought some of those were in the group killed. As he suspected, the dragon could drain the necromantic energy controlling the undead, even if they didn¡¯t have a real soul. Shortly after this, Ruby began to play music and sing. At least at first glance, the dragon seemed distracted enough to ignore her. Undead charged at the dragon. As a squad approached close enough to attack, it took a swing with a claw, wiping out five of them. Quietus wasn¡¯t sure if he could have survived that, but his minions definitely couldn¡¯t. Although the ghosts should be arriving quickly, it seemed to take a very long time. Every few seconds, the dragon would swing his claws or swipe his tail, wiping out another group of undead, almost lazily. It didn¡¯t seem to feel the need to put much effort into killing these minions. That suited Quietus just fine. A zombie wielding a cheap greataxe chopped at one of the dragon¡¯s legs. It did precisely the amount of damage Quietus expected, none. Well, it was possible it chipped one of the scales slightly, but Quietus wasn¡¯t close enough to more than guess at that. After about a minute, the dragon caught some of the now more clumped up undead in its soul-stealing breath. This left slightly less than half the minions alive. Quietus thought he could just see the ghosts approaching in the distance, but he wasn¡¯t sure. Either way, he didn¡¯t think they would make it before the last of his minions were defeated. Quietus moved to the side, to be less directly in the path between the dragon¡¯s current position and Ruby. The ghosts would certainly be able to keep the dragon occupied once they arrived, but at this rate the dragon would finish with the minions and likely go investigate before then. Quietus had to act. Quietus cast a Demon Spear, throwing it at the dragon¡¯s neck. Fortunately, he had practiced, and the Demon Spear also wasn¡¯t affected by gravity in any significant way. Thus, it was able to reach. It was also fortunate that the dragon had a very large neck. Quietus had been watching its movements, and he chose a moment when its head would likely be paused. All of these together paid off, and he succeeded at his attack- Which had also been his Perforate Artery ability. This would cause the dragon to bleed. It would, of course, also draw its attention. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Just before his sneak attack, Quietus had ordered his minions to climb onto the dragon- or grab onto it anyway. Because of that, he now had a dragon charging at him, with zombies and skeletons being dragged along behind it. Some of them were thrown off by the violent motions, but they couldn¡¯t get tired, so those who had a good grip remained. It helped that Quietus had taught them to climb, which gave them at least a minimum of the ability to do this. They were all still beginner rank, of course, but something was better than nothing. Although he had annoyed it, the dragon didn¡¯t seem to be extremely injured. It certainly didn¡¯t feel the need to fly. Instead, it made the earth tremble as it ran toward Quietus. He didn¡¯t have much of a plan beyond his first attack, so all he managed to do was throw another dark spear before it got to him. This one deflected off of its hard scales, and then a claw was smashing down at Quietus, ready to crush him into the dirt. Though Quietus was good at dodging, the claw and forelimb it was attached to were very big. It was more of an area attack than a single target kind of thing. The claw slammed down at a speed that Quietus was unable to dodge. At least, not with his regular movement. Quietus used his backslide ability, to instantly move backward about five step. This was just enough to bring him to safety. Quietus looked at his health bar which had dropped by about five percent. This was from an attack that completely missed. He ended up between two claws, but it didn¡¯t even graze him. However, the rocks it scattered off the ground still managed to hurt him. He was now fairly sure that he wouldn¡¯t be able to survive a single hit. At least, not a real hit. Maybe a graze. He didn¡¯t have much time to think, so Quietus made a snap decision. He noticed some of the spears and swords that had been stuck into the dragon over time, and thought they would make decent handholds. He¡¯d already had his minions try to climb it¡­ so why not himself. He wouldn¡¯t particularly be of use if it took to the skies, which he thought it likely would once it recognized a real threat. As he climbed, Quietus transformed into a ghoul, and activated Dark Cloak. More strength would be a benefit here, and he might as well do as much damage as he could while climbing around. The dragon reacted violently, swinging its front claw to try to throw him off. However, Quietus had anticipated that, and had a firm grip. In addition, though the dragon had very powerful limbs, it wasn¡¯t really built for quick, jerky movements that were best for throwing someone off. Thus, it snapped its giant mouth at Quietus, but he flattened against its arm. Its bite wasn¡¯t precise enough to hit him there, since it also hadn¡¯t wanted to bite its own arm. Quietus quickly climbed up, onto its back. He was glad he got there before it realized it could scrape something along its limb, such as its neck, and get him off that way. On its back near the neck, it would have trouble reaching him, since it wasn¡¯t flexible enough to claw or bite him there.. Quietus started clawing and biting at it, but then he felt the world tilt. The dragon had started a roll, but fortunately it was very wide, and its mass didn¡¯t turn quickly. Quietus quickly climbed around. Fortunately for him, it was very uncomfortable on its back, and thus continued, instead of attempting to claw or bite him when he was running along its front side. Then, there was a period of time where Quietus was never really sure which was was up, grabbing onto swords and spears, sometimes even jumping to them or off of them, as the whole world tumbled around him, and occasionally claws came very close to ripping off his¡­ everything. He somehow managed to avoid positions where it could kill him by devouring his soul. Then the dragon suddenly stabilized itself upright, and started running and flapping its wings. At first he thought it was going to try to throw him off in the air, but then he saw. He had delayed long enough, somehow, and the armies were near. It had noticed them. Though they made no sound, the dragon had other senses, and an army, even an army of ghosts, was hard to hide. Though, personally, Quietus would have had them charge from underground, they seemed more used to living tactics. He couldn¡¯t blame them for that, much. And so it was that Quietus found himself on the back of a dragon, in the air, with two armies charging at him. Well, toward him, but it was no less intimidating. He was thinking maybe he should think his actions through more. Then he thought that it wouldn¡¯t be as fun. At least he wasn¡¯t afraid of heights. //End Chapter 82 Necromancer - Chapter 83 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 83 Quietus observed the situation from the dragon¡¯s back. Two armies of ghosts were charging at the dragon on their ghostly horses. It seemed to be somewhat thought out, since they were moving in a fashion that would force the dragon to get within reach of at least some of their army. In the air, there were more directions to avoid attacks from. However, the dragon Quietus was riding was big and bulky, and didn¡¯t seem to be able to make fast turns. Though, Quietus noticed it was somewhat more agile in the air than it had been on the ground. On top of the dragon with Quietus were a small number of zombies and skeletons. Of the approximately two hundred he had started with, about twenty or thirty were still ¡®alive¡¯ and holding onto the dragon. The rest had been knocked off, devoured, or crushed. However, their purpose as a distraction had already been achieved, so the fact that some were still around was basically a bonus. On the ground¡­ Ruby played the harp and sang. Quietus couldn¡¯t see her clearly, but he heard the beautiful song. He was glad he¡¯d managed to ask for her help. She was the most important part of the strategy, now. Besides that, Quietus liked having her around. After a few moments, the armies arrived. The dragon used its terrifying ability to eat souls, and breathed inwards, killing almost a squad of ghosts instantly. However, there were many more to take their place. Ghosts manifested into physical form just long enough for their weapons to pierce into the dragon, then they continued to charge past, and through, the dragon. A few of them even moved through Quietus, which was an odd feeling. Unfortunately, the dragon was very tough, and it wasn¡¯t going to go down so easily. Quietus thought it was down maybe ten percent of its health, and that included the entire charge as well as his demon spear attack. The dragon went into a roll, which flung off more of Quietus¡¯ undead minions that were trying to claw, bite, or otherwise attack the dragon. Some of them, as well as Quietus, were prepared and held a good grip, either on some of the weapons embedded in the hide, or by grabbing onto scales or spines. Unfortunately, many of the weapons had broken off when the dragon rolled on the ground, reducing the number of good handholds available. After its attempt to shake Quietus and the others off of it, the dragon moved onto matters it considered more important, the armies. It would hunt down smaller groups to eat them, though it could not continuously use its abilities to eat souls. It also prepared counterattacks when they charged, swiping claws or its tail when they manifested to attack. The armies adapted to counter this, rearranging their troops, and sometimes having them feint attacks where they did not manifest, drawing out swipes before those behind charged in for real damage. Quietus couldn¡¯t really spend much time to observe this, though. He was too busy biting and clawing the dragon, as well as trying to stay on its back. Its scales were extremely hard, so his attacks did little. His dark cloak ability seemed to slightly damage it, but it wasn¡¯t enough to satisfy Quietus. He took a few moments to grab around a scale and pry it up. Each scale was about the size of his hand. Even with the strength of a ghoul, it took all his effort to pry up a single scale. He clawed at the exposed hide underneath. Its hide¡­ was also very tough. Though he could visibly tell he scratched it, it wasn¡¯t much use. Though his dagger could likely have more effect, he needed both hands free at any moment, in case the dragon tried to throw him off again, or just turned quickly. If he had his dagger out, he was worried he might drop it, on accident or because he needed a spare hand. Quietus decided he would just try his best to get what he could out of the abilities he had now. Quietus used the spell Enhance Alchemy, though he did not draw out a vial of poison. Instead, he used it in the natural poison he had as a ghoul. He then spit some of the poison onto the small wound he had made. Then, he moved onto another section, more than ten feet away. He pried up another scale, and did much the same thing. The dragon was big enough that it would take a lot of poison to affect it, and it would also take a long time to spread. By applying it in different places, it could somewhat help the process. The dragon was down to about half its health now, but Quietus could tell the battle was still in its favor. The ghostly armies were visually dwindling in size, and Quietus only saw one or two undead still managing to cling desperately to the dragon with him, and beyond that they were having little effect. The dragon was too strong. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Not that Quietus was going to give up because it was strong. All that meant was he had to do something stupid. Though, he wasn¡¯t really sure what counted as a stupid idea in a game, especially when you could come back to life after dying. Maybe what he did next was the logical choice. Quietus climbed out onto the wing. Obviously, he wasn¡¯t standing on it, that would be suicidal. The dragon was big enough to support his weight on the wing, unfortunately, but it was much less stable than its body. If it turned or flipped, its wings moved the fastest with the greatest acceleration, which would make it easier to fling him off. However, the dragon wasn¡¯t concerned with him just yet. At least, not until he bit the wing. Though there were sturdy bones near the front of the wing, there was a nice, leathery membrane that was, relatively, soft. Even so, Quietus couldn¡¯t bite all the way through. Its wings were somewhat similar to bat wings, full of wonderful things like blood veins. These were good for causing bleeding damage, as well as quickly spreading poison through the area. Quietus could tell from the first bite that it was effective. This was clearly obvious, because the dragon roared, loudly. Then, Quietus felt his skills put to the test, as he tried to keep his grip on a dragon spinning and flapping its wings, trying to throw him off. It had casually thrown people off before, but now it specifically attempted to throw Quietus off. He didn¡¯t have many good places to get a grip, and held desperately to the top of the wing. Sometimes, there were short moments where he could adjust his grip, and he had to do it right to prepare for whatever moves the dragon would do next. However, this distracted the dragon enough to allow the armies to do some more significant damage. Quietus even found the occasional opportunity to bite the dragon again. He could now easily tell the effect he was having, as the veins in the wing were turning from red to black as the poison spread. The wing also flapped less strongly. Then, Quietus found a good opportunity to finally use his dagger. The dragon went into a climb, likely to prepare a dive or something else Quietus wouldn¡¯t like. He didn¡¯t want to try to handle it. However, the dragon was now injured enough he could try one last reckless thing. As he pulled out his dagger, he stabbed it into the wing, then let go of the edge of the wing with his other hand, instead placing it also on the dagger. Though this made his position unsteady, it did something more important. All his weight was on the dagger, which was placed so that the edge went toward the ground. With gravity. There was a loud ripping sound, as Quietus slid down the entire section of wing. Then, he fell. He wasn¡¯t really sure how high up he was. However, he didn¡¯t care. It was a lot better to fall of the dragon on purpose than to fall of when it wanted him to. He also wasn¡¯t afraid of dying. For several reasons, really. If he died from this, The Power to Accept Death made it not a big deal. However, there would be no point if he thought it would kill him. Quietus knew that people had survived falls from amazing heights, given the right circumstances. These were, however, normal people. Quietus was a high (ish) level character in a game, and currently was an undead. Would a fall kill him? Unlikely. The ground was even fairly soft. At least, it wasn¡¯t rock, but grass and dirt. Quietus tried to remember the best way to fall, and did his best to create as much drag as he could. He relaxed his muscles as much as he could. It wasn¡¯t too hard, since he wasn¡¯t really afraid. He¡¯d died from falls in game before, and he didn¡¯t think it was the worst way to go. Plus, he thought he wouldn¡¯t die. He wasn¡¯t wrong. Though, he did find himself impressed in the ground, and it was somewhat hard to get out. He was also down to the last fifth or so of his health. Fortunately, undead couldn¡¯t bleed out, so even if he was in the critical range he would be fine. At least, if the dragon didn¡¯t come for him. Fortunately, it was having plenty of trouble of its own. Though dragons were powerful fliers, they were also very heavy. The fact that they could get off the ground to begin with was somewhat astonishing. With a poisoned, bleeding wing, a dragon might still fly. However, it still needed to maintain its structure, which a large tear down most of the middle prevented. It still might have been able to fly if it had been otherwise healthy, but it was not. Quietus didn¡¯t see it hit the ground, but he knew the moment it did, and smiled.
You have leveled up! x3
//End Chapter 83 Necromancer - Chapter 84 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 84 Though the dragon was dead, Quietus suddenly realized that the ghosts would go back to being crazy as soon as Ruby stopped her song. He quickly sent her a message, and fortunately she hadn¡¯t stopped immediately upon the dragon¡¯s death. Quietus quickly looked around the area, trying to find the cause. The ghosts had been mad before the dragon¡¯s arrival, so there had to be something causing it. He immediately ordered his minions to search for anything strange. Then he realized, he didn¡¯t have any minions around. They had all died to the dragon. Well, those he¡¯d brought with him. The valuable ones were still off on their own. He looked around the area. The dragon seemed to have landed, coincidentally, in the same area he first saw it. The ground was not grassy under where the dragon had been, but barren and dead. He felt that area was the best to search. However, he could not find anything in the whole area. Quietus hoped he wouldn¡¯t have to search underground. That would take more time than Ruby could probably handle. Though she had potions, it was still mentally stressing to be active for a long time. Of course, there was also under the dragon. It was possible that, whatever he was looking for, it was under there. It was somewhat covering the middle of the area, so Quietus decided to look there first. Now, if only he could move the dragon¡­ As he thought about this, he heard a quiet scratching noise. It sounded like claws against scales, but also a sound of dirt moving. Like burrowing¡­ but much slower than he was used to. Quietus moved around the dragon, until he found a spot closest to the sound. As he got near, he saw a little pile of dirt fly out from under the dragon. More and more dirt move out, then a tiny hand stretched out. The hand dug into the ground, and pulled. It barely moved at all, since this tiny creature was apparently stuck under the dragon. However, it kept repeating its action. Quietus was getting impatient, so he grabbed the arm, and yanked. He almost expected to get just the arm, but he pulled out the entire creature. What he saw was a goblin zombie. No wonder it had been so tiny. Quietus vaguely remembered making some of these, though he certainly couldn¡¯t recall this particular one. As he pulled it out, its other hand held up a small orb. It looked at him¡­ Quietus thought it was expectantly. Though, zombies didn¡¯t really show any kind of emotion. Quietus took the orb from its grasp. Immediately, he realized this black orb was the cause of the problems. He wouldn¡¯t say he knew how it worked, but he did think he could drain the mana from it. That should deactivate it¡­ probably. Quietus tried that. However, soon he was full on mana, and could use no more. He quickly started casting dark fog, and others of his most expensive spells. Then he would drain more mana from the object. Soon, it was empty. The ghostly commanders rode up to Quietus. He could already tell they were¡­ less substantial, even though they had been ghosts to begin with. They seemed to speak, but made no sound. Then, they nodded in acknowledgement to him, and faded away. That¡­ actually somewhat surprised Quietus. This black orb seemed to have been the cause of both the ghosts and their madness. Well, that made it easier for him. He called Ruby over, and they set about looting the dragon. Sadly, many of the weapons in its hide were broken, even more so since it had rolled around on the ground, snapping some of the weaker ones. Quietus was mostly casually searching anyway, since there wouldn¡¯t be any daggers. Then, he noticed the zombie was following him. Zombies didn¡¯t have any feelings. That was what Quietus knew, but this one obviously wanted something from him. Maybe it was injured? He check its entire body. Surprisingly, it wasn¡¯t. No, Quietus was more than surprised. It had been crushed under the dragon, hadn¡¯t it? He went and looked where it had been. Once there, Quietus found a small depression under the dragon. It wasn¡¯t like the dragon had squashed the little goblin zombie into the ground. Instead, the depression appeared to have already been there, and the goblin had just happened to fit into it, instead of being crushed to death. There was also a little bit of room for the orb. This zombie¡­ had to be the luckiest thing ever. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Quietus thought about checking its luck stat, but then decided not to. Sure, it could affect luck, but real luck didn¡¯t come from a number. It came from, well, itself. Quietus looked at the little goblin, and patted it on the head. ¡°Good job.¡± Its expression didn¡¯t change in the slightest, but Quietus felt like it got exactly what he wanted. Then, Quietus decided to give the first name to a minion that wasn¡¯t a destroyer. This one¡­ would be called ¡°Lucky¡±. If his name was false, well, he¡¯d end up dead or something. Quietus was pretty sure that would happen. However, he found it kind of cute. He hoped Lucky would live a bit longer. Ruby found a few weapons that were worth something, but mostly the ones embedded in the dragon were useless. However, Quietus knew that dragons should have treasure hoards. Whether this kind did or not¡­ he wasn¡¯t sure, but he would look. There wasn¡¯t a cave or anything nearby, though. However, that didn¡¯t mean it couldn¡¯t be hidden¡­ underground. Quietus called in the rest of his minions, the ones he didn¡¯t want to sacrifice. Then, he had them burrow around searching. He wasn¡¯t sure if they would find anything, but he needed to try. Half unexpectedly, they did. Quietus¡¯ minions unearthed a cache of¡­ well, various things. Quietus let Ruby take most of it. Partly as thanks, but mostly because he didn¡¯t want it. However, he did manage to find a few items that he thought he could use. He couldn¡¯t be sure though, since they weren¡¯t identified. However, there were some leather pieces that could replace some of what Quietus was wearing, if they were any good. The rings and amulets, of which there were a few, would be identified before being split between Quietus and Ruby. Lucky¡­ managed to find a single, tiny boot. It was filled with holes. However, it mostly fit his left foot, and Quietus didn¡¯t bother stopping him from putting it on. He wasn¡¯t really sure how Lucky was acting somewhat on his own, but he was one of Quietus¡¯ minions. He had checked. There wasn¡¯t another boot to go with it, so Quietus was pretty sure even if it were magical, it wouldn¡¯t have any effect. Lucky seemed to like it though. Quietus went over to Ruby, to properly thank her. ¡°Thanks for the help, I definitely couldn¡¯t have done it without you.¡± Ruby looked tired, but she smiled. Her smile made him feel very happy for some reason. ¡°No problem, I was glad to help. Next time you need to tame an army or two of ghosts, you know who to call. Well, or any interesting quest, for that matter.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Quietus didn¡¯t really know what else to say. He just stood around awkwardly after that. He hadn¡¯t been ¡°party leader¡± before, so he wasn¡¯t really sure what to do now. Should he just say ¡°See you later?¡± Well, that didn¡¯t seem quite right. ¡°So, what are you going to do with the dragon corpse?¡± Ruby asked. ¡°Huh?¡± Quietus thought about that for a moment. The question surprised him. However, after thinking about it for a tiny moment, he realized. He had a dragon corpse. Sure, it was somewhat¡­ bedraggled, but it was a dragon corpse. Quietus knew he couldn¡¯t actually get a full powered dragon, however, unless he was already stronger than it by himself. Still, he could possibly make it close, or maybe even eventually get it back to being that strong. It would have to be a Destroyer, of course. There would be absolutely no reason to not put all his effort into making it better. What kind of undead would it be though? A zombie? That would be terrible. Skeletons were likewise out. Mummy¡­ would just be weird. Ghoul might be interesting, since they fought with teeth and claws¡­ Giant, poisoned dragon teeth might be good. Should he wait until he could make it a ghost? Naw, being a ghost would make most of its advantages, such as hard scales and brute strength, useless. It was already basically a walking tank. Could he¡­ make it a death knight? They were a type that were armored. Its claws were basically swords, too. He had to try. If he failed¡­ well, he was pretty sure it would do nothing, and he could just make it into a ghoul, which would be awesome too. Yeah, this would be good. Ruby watched Quietus as he stared at the dragon, almost drooling. It was pretty easy to tell what he was thinking. It was also pretty easy to tell he hadn¡¯t even thought about making the dragon into a minion before she suggested it. He was careless and funny like that. //End Chapter 84 Necromancer - Chapter 85 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 85 Quietus returned to the city to turn in his quest, and receive his rewards. Included among those rewards would be advancement to Spirit Necromancer. Hopefully, he would get an additional reward for solving the problem of the ghosts ¡°peacefully¡± instead of annihilating them. He could have done that, after all. Granted, it would have taken a long time, but it could have been done. This way he had saved most, or possibly all of the remaining ones, from a horrible fate. Depending on how long it takes to digest souls. Quietus was banking on ¡°more than a few minutes¡±, so any souls that were eaten by the dragon during the battle were probably fine¡­ relatively. Quietus was indeed praised for his success. ¡°You have done well, not only calming the spirits, but defeating a dragon who could cause more such incidents. We have prepared a robe and staff of the highest quality for you.¡± While Quietus could certainly use both the robe and staff, he had very little interest in the latter. Whether or not he would use the robe depended on whether it hindered his mobility. Of course, he wasn¡¯t going to say that.
You have completed a quest! Level up! x2
The two additional levels brought Quietus to around level 320. He couldn¡¯t possibly have advanced to Spirit Necromancer before level 300, and he didn¡¯t go to get the quest immediately. Thus, he had been somewhat higher than the minimum level. Then, he had gained some levels on the quest. He¡¯d also very briefly lost some, but he had gained all of that experience back, thanks to The Power To Accept Death. The robe and staff were brought out, along with a tome that presumably contained the method to create ghosts, and other necessary information for Spirit Necromancers.
Robe of the Spirit Necromancer A robe created by the necromancer¡¯s guild, intended for use by those pursuing the path of the Spirit Necromancer. Only awarded to those with good achievements. Requirements: Spirit Necromancer Class Defense: 300 Black Magic Resistance +25. Affinity with ghosts and spirits increased by a large amount. Affinity with other undead increased by a small amount. Improves defense of the wearer and undead servants against spiritual attacks and holy magic. Mana + 2000.
Quietus quite liked the robe. Though it wouldn¡¯t increase his physical statistics, he would do well enough without using his leather armor, at least in certain situations. Plus, it would greatly increase his mana pool, which he was somewhat lacking in.
Staff of the Spirit Necromancer A Staffcreated by the necromancer¡¯s guild, intended for use by those pursuing the path of the Spirit Necromancer. Only awarded to those with good achievements. Requirements: Spirit Necromancer Class Increased effect of Black Magic by 50%. Black magic has full effect on ghosts and spirits. More powerful ghost type undead can be created. Mana + 1000
He had changed his mind about the staff. Even if he didn¡¯t use it in combat, which he might, he definitely still wanted it. After all, he could always just use it when he wanted to make ghosts. Its increase to black magic was useful, but Quietus could get more effect out of his dagger, if he remembered to alternate magic and physical attacks. The staff could still be very useful at long range. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. As for the tome, as expected it contained the methods to create ghosts, and other similar undead such as banshees. Quietus also learned how to take the form of a ghost with his undead mimicry skill, though that was partly because he¡¯d experienced his soul being ripped out. The tome also contained the initial spells for Spirit Necromancers:
Soul Shock Ripples of power flow out and attack the souls of those in range. Ignores most defenses, and temporarily lowers the mental defenses of enemies. Cost: 2000 mana
Astral Projection Allows the user to move around in a pseudo-soul state, leaving their physical body behind. The astral projection is invisible and intangible, but cannot attack and is vulnerable to magical attacks. If destroyed, the user returns to their body instantly. Cost: 1000 mana/minute
Shield of the Soul Creates a shield around the user, providing minor resistance against magical attacks, and significant resistance against any soul attacks, or the attacks of spiritual creatures. Cost: 1750 mana
These were all of the spells that Quietus gained access to now, but there would likely be more later, though he might have to acquire them separately. All in all, Quietus had reaped quite a good harvest from this quest. -------------------------- Of course, he hadn¡¯t forgotten about the (physically) largest benefit that he had received. He currently had all of his minions guarding the body of the dragon. He hadn¡¯t been able to bring it with him, after all. However, he hadn¡¯t been prepared to turn it into an undead right on the spot. That might be good for monsters below his level, but he definitely wouldn¡¯t get an optimal effect if he just turned it into an undead immediately. He still couldn¡¯t make it as strong as it was when he fought it, at least not immediately, but he could increase its level just as anything else. Eventually, it could even be stronger. Some of that would depend on whether it could still use its special ¡°breath¡± attack, but Quietus had no way to know without trying it. It¡¯s not like there was an online guide about turning dragons into undead minions. (Quietus didn¡¯t actually check, but there wasn¡¯t. At least, nothing involving adult dragons.) -------------------------- Lucky was¡­ still alive. Which was something. Quietus wasn¡¯t sure if he had at all contributed to the fight, or just survived it. However, Quietus officially promoted him to head zombie, which meant absolutely nothing at all. He did plan to observe Lucky¡¯s actions, though, because he hadn¡¯t expected a zombie to develop anything resembling a personality. Maybe it could happen, though. Well, it¡¯s not like he would consider Lucky smart though. He still only had the one boot, which made his walking even more lopsided than it would otherwise be. It was funny when he tripped though. -------------------------- The last thing Quietus got, he almost hadn¡¯t thought about. However, upon remembering it, he went and got it identified. Sure, he often went off instinct and guesswork to figure out what his items were, but he wanted to confirm his intuition about this item.
Orb of Damned Souls This small black orb¡¯s origins are unknown, but it radiates a terrifying and evil aura. When given mana, it affects the sanity of any spirits or ghosts within a distance based on the mana supplied. In addition, any free souls, such as from a death nearby, are automatically turned into a ghost.
Quietus was glad that it did nothing when it had no mana in it. He didn¡¯t really want crazy ghosts springing up around him all the time. He did have to admit that it could be useful in the right circumstances, but it would probably have to be a pretty desperate situation. Mostly, if he just wanted everything dead, likely including himself. //End Chapter 85 Necromancer - Chapter 86 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 86 Mortimer was moving into his sophomore year of university. Though the classes got harder, he was still able to handle them just fine. Especially since he was actually working at it. He knew it was better to give up some leisure time now for benefits later. More importantly, this time he actually followed what he knew. While Mortimer hadn¡¯t made any more friends, he felt that he had grown closer to his friends, including Solara. At least, he could sometimes have normal conversations with her. That was something, anyway. -------------------------- Master Valarao hadn¡¯t taught Mortimer anything new in some time. He wasn¡¯t sure why, but he thought maybe he needed to get better at what he¡¯d already learned. Thus, he dedicated himself to honing the skills he had learned. It helped when he remembered to use them in Royal Road, since that gave him a lot more training time. Of course, inside Royal Road his body was completely different in terms of its capabilities, but the basic principles were still the same. Mortimer also kept up with the various exercises that Master Valarao had for him, and he was glad that he¡¯d finally gotten to the point where he was just maintaining his form, instead of improving it. That meant no muscular pain. He was in great shape, though it wasn¡¯t extremely obvious. He was still quite skinny, since none of the exercises were intended to bulk him up, and he also wasn¡¯t naturally large. Mortimer had wondered what it would be like to be larger and more muscles. Normally, that would just be idle curiosity, but in a world where virtual reality existed, it could be tested. The program that Master Valarao used for training Mortimer allowed the physical parameters of the body to be set. Upon trying it, Mortimer could definitely see that it wasn¡¯t the right kind of build for what he had learned. It just wasn¡¯t fast enough, and the extra power didn¡¯t help enough. Though, it was better if he wanted to punch through a wall. Of course, if he¡¯d learned a different fighting style, it would be better for more than that, but Mortimer wouldn¡¯t be suited for that anyway. -------------------------- Quietus had found something that money was useful for. Ritual components. Most of the things he needed could be purchased directly from the necromancer¡¯s guild. It wasn¡¯t like he needed orphan hearts or virgin sacrifices. It was much better to use good herbs, crystals for energy, and knowledge of necromancy. What did he need ritual components for? The dragon, obviously. Though he could simply raise it into an undead with a spell, it wouldn¡¯t be as good. That would have been a big waste, because it¡¯s not often that he would get his hands on a dragon corpse. In fact, the method he was going to use would still make the dragon weaker than it had been, but with the possibility to achieve its former strength or even greater eventually. Of course, the type of undead it became would greatly influence its growth. Before anything else, Quietus started patching it up. He began by ¡°stitching¡± up its wing, though obviously thread would be useless. Instead, he settled on steel rope. That would hold it together long enough for his magic to do the rest. He also went over the entire corpse, repairing any broken scales. Though his magic could repair it as a whole, he wasn¡¯t sure whether it was completely done, since it didn¡¯t inform him of whether the spell actually did any more repairing or not. Thus, he checked everything just to be safe. He felt that repairs were better when they were specific than when he just cast with the intention to ¡°repair that undead¡±. Satisfied with his work, Quietus started setting up a magic circle. Occasionally, he had some of his ghouls or other strong minions lift part of the dragon so that he could work underneath it. After he was finished, he cast the spell. There wasn¡¯t any need for anything creepy, though the spell would work better at night. Not that the dark bothered Quietus. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Quietus cast his undead raising spell, calling upon the power of the circle, with the intention of turning the dragon into a Death Knight. After all, it possessed its own armor and weapons that could not be taken away. There wasn¡¯t very much at all better equipped than a dragon, and thus it fit into the role very well. Quietus wasn¡¯t sure if it would still be able to devour souls, but he didn¡¯t have any forms of undead that would help with that either. Upon completion of the spell, energy flowed into the dragon¡¯s corpse, and it trembled. Then, slowly, it started to move. A wing shifted, then a leg, and then its eyes slowly opened. Rising to its feet, the gigantic head moved over toward Quietus. At this distance, he was reminded that it could swallow him whole, and its teeth were each almost as big as him. However, he wasn¡¯t afraid. At least, not that afraid. He wasn¡¯t afraid of being eaten, but he was still slightly afraid that it might accidentally crush him underneath, if it wasn¡¯t paying attention. The dragon spoke in a low rumble, and though it was not attempting to be loud, it still almost knocked Quietus off his feet. ¡°Greetings, milord. How may I serve you?¡± Well, at least Quietus was now sure it had worked. He looked at the dragon¡¯s level¡­ 250. Well, that was a pretty significant decrease in level, but of course a level 250 dragon was generally much stronger than anything else at that level. Quietus wanted to pat it on the nose, but he couldn¡¯t actually reach that high. It would also be somewhat disrespectful, but the reach was what stopped him. ¡°Your first task is to regain some of your former level of power. For that, you are to hunt monsters in the surrounding area.¡± Quietus also gave him some more specific instructions, such as avoiding players. He didn¡¯t want his dragon to die ¡°young¡± after all. ¡°Understand, Sir Draco?¡± Quietus wasn¡¯t good with names, but he could have come up with worse. Sir Draco, as he was now called, nodded. ¡°Good. I won¡¯t be around for a short while, since I will need some time to recover after I transfer some of my power to you.¡± That was Quietus¡¯ way of saying he was going to die. After all, it would be an extreme waste to not turn the dragon into a Destroyer. That would certainly help its future potential. After that, Quietus died, as he was now accustomed to doing at the end of every play session. With that, came Journeyman level of The Power To Accept Death.
You have died! Cannot log in for 10 hours. (I believe I said 10 hours earlier for Advanced level 9, but it should have been 10:30)
The Power To Accept Death has reached Journeyman level 1. Upon death, experience lost will be stored in a buffer, which will give you a 155% bonus on experience until the buffer is empty. In addition, the lockout time upon death is reduced by fourteen hours Affinity with undead is increased. Resistance to Dark Magic is increased. Allows actions to be performed for 1 second upon death.
//End Chapter 86 Necromancer - Chapter 87 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 87 Quietus had to admit that having a dragon was pretty cool. Though, having an underleveled dragon wasn¡¯t as cool. However, that wasn¡¯t too much of a problem for long. After all, it was quite good at killing things, especially in large numbers. The only problem was that it seemed to take more experience to level up. Which was fine, since it was strong enough to offset that problem. Sir Draco was waiting for Quietus¡¯ other minions to draw all the enemies in the nearby area to him. Though they were a bit weak and thus low on experience, their numbers made up for it. More than that, since the danger was low. Once some of the more expendable minions found and taunted enemies, they would gather them into groups that Sir Draco could kill easily. More or less, anyway. They weren¡¯t quite coordinated enough to be consistent about it, unless Quietus wanted to risk more intelligent and less expendable undead. Quietus also received some experience from this exercise, but it was almost negligible with his higher level. However, he was quite satisfied with Sir Draco¡¯s abilities. He wasn¡¯t perfect, of course. Forests were somewhat of a problem, as well as any area without much space to move. Though he could fly above forests just fine, attacking into them was somewhat of a problem. Fighting on the ground in a forest would probably be the worst thing he could do. Therefore, Quietus still had to train other minions as well. Most important of the places Sir Draco couldn¡¯t go was obviously dungeons. With no exceptions that Quietus was aware of, no dungeon could fit Sir Draco inside. Plus, even though he was very tough, he couldn¡¯t take care of everything himself. At least, Quietus didn¡¯t want to try that. Based on his experiences fighting Sir Draco, he was good at fighting groups, but weak against powerful (and smallish) individuals. Such as if he was climbed on. Quietus had a good solution to this, though. At first, he had wanted to station some undead on him, to fight off anyone trying to climb on. However, for this to work, they had to be able to stay on, which meant that others would be able to stay on too. Any handholds could be used by both friend or foe. Plus, they would weigh Sir Draco down. However, ghosts could fly, and were hard to defeat if they were not currently engaged in combat. They could even fly inside of Sir Draco if they needed to. There was only one slight problem with using ghosts. Sir Draco ate them. Though he didn¡¯t seem to be able to use his deadly soul-sucking breath, he could still consume ghosts. Of course, Quietus scolded him for this, and he didn¡¯t do it again, but he still stared at them hungrily. Quietus supposed he would have to provide ghosts for him to eat occasionally, to prevent him from eating any good ones. On the subject of ghosts, they were very good in dungeons. Since they could come out of any surface and sneak attack enemies, they were very useful. There were some things, such as magical barriers, that would stop them, but most dungeons didn¡¯t have them. At the very least, such barriers only covered a limited area. As for stealth, they were naturally quite good, but with a little bit of training they became even harder to notice. Their weakness would be that they weren¡¯t quite as strong or as fast as other undead, and if the enemy had a good way to combat them, they could be easily destroyed. If they did not, however, then ghosts were almost undefeatable. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Though it wasn¡¯t greatly important, repairing ghosts was also harder, for obvious reasons. Nothing but magic could be used, and it was rather hard to tell how well it was working. It wasn¡¯t needed as often though, and it was doable, so Quietus didn¡¯t have any real complaints. Quietus very much enjoyed being able to turn into a ghost as well. However, in addition to the normal strengths and weaknesses of ghosts, he had one more shortcoming. He had to spend mana to become intangible. It was just an additional cost he had to manage. It certainly wasn¡¯t unreasonable, however. It was a powerful ability, and he wasn¡¯t really a ghost. Plus, he could still use magic while he wasn¡¯t solid, though his mana didn¡¯t regenerate while intangible. After all, for just the cost of being intangible, it wouldn¡¯t have really been enough of a drawback to not try to do it all the time, or for the entirety of a combat. However, if he needed to save his life, he could theoretically turn intangible and run away. He could still guide his minions that way, but Quietus did like to participate personally in combat, so he didn¡¯t do this very often. Quietus also had another way to keep enemies off of Sir Draco, if he was able to actively participate. His Soul Link spell would allow him to cast some otherwise personal spells and allow them to affect Sir Draco. Among these were Dark Cloak, which would continuously damage everything around (and on) him, as well as Pain Mirror to mirror some or all of the damage dealt onto those attacking. Quietus could also use his Enervating Field, which drained mana upon killing enemies, and have it centered around Sir Draco. Since he was quite good at killing large numbers of enemies, Quietus could keep his mana up quite well, if there were enough enemies dying. Soul Link was still quite expensive, and he sadly couldn¡¯t recover mana even though potions or Enervating Field while insubstantial as a ghost. Not that it would have been very interesting to just sit there improving Sir Draco¡¯s abilities. -------------------------- Quietus would still occasionally join parties with Angelo and others, but he still kept his status as a necromancer secret from everyone but Maratis and Ruby. As a necromancer, he had killed enough players in what might be considered dishonorable ways that he didn¡¯t think he could stay in the guild if he was found out, and he was somewhat enjoying it. Even though his cousin was the guildmaster and he was partly responsible for the founding, he knew Angelo couldn¡¯t accept him staying in the guild if he went against their founding principles, and he wouldn¡¯t disagree. Therefore, he just avoided anyone finding out. After Ruby had helped him on his quest, every once in a while they would go on a quest or otherwise adventure together. Ruby found it quite convenient that Quietus alone could fill out any needed amount of numbers. Their abilities also synergized very well, since Ruby was good at increasing the abilities of larger numbers of allies. Maratis also sometimes came along for additional support, and with the three of them together, very few things of their level could stop them. Being in a party with Angelo, Nilrem, and sometimes others was still somewhat better for many things, but for a total of three actual players, they performed excellently. Of course, if Quietus was willing to risk some of his better minions, he could bring much more force to bear. He certainly didn¡¯t mind using good minions as sacrifices if it were to a purpose, but for casual questing it wasn¡¯t worth losing any of the better minions. //End Chapter 87 Necromancer - Chapter 88 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 88 Mortimer shot up from the capsule, breathing heavily. His eyes were wide with fear. He thought he¡¯d gotten used to all the ways to die, and was no longer afraid of them. However, he¡¯d just ¡°discovered¡± a new one. While it hadn¡¯t been the most painful way to die, it was the most terrifying, at least to him. He¡¯d been testing out his abilities as a ghost. Flying, sneaking around, and moving through walls and floors. The last one had been the issue. He had no problem with walls, but navigating underground was somewhat of an issue. Normally, he¡¯d have no senses at all, but ghosts had a somewhat limited sight that let them still navigate. The real problem had come when he¡¯d forgotten to watch his mana. Then, he ran out. Underground. He¡¯d experienced being buried alive. That was rather unpleasant, to be sure. However, it was not the same as suddenly becoming physical underground. He¡¯d somewhat coexisted with the ground. He wasn¡¯t sure exactly what happened, but he did know that it hurt. Worse than that, he couldn¡¯t move. He couldn¡¯t do anything, since there wasn¡¯t even a slight pocket of empty space for the things around him to move to. He also couldn¡¯t turn into a ghoul, since he was out of mana. Likewise, he couldn¡¯t drink a mana potion. Thus, he had just had to wait to die, helpless, and without a chance to struggle. He decided he would have to be very careful about that in the future. Though, first, he would test limbs being stuck¡­ that could be interesting, and he would still be able to do something. -------------------------- ¡°... anyway, the dungeon seems to just be impossible!¡± Ruby complained. Quietus wasn¡¯t sure when he became a valid candidate for complaining about the game to. Maybe it was because he had offered a few inventive solutions to previous problems. Not that he minded being complained to. After all, complaining about games to friends was an important part of many games. This particular case seemed worthy of complaining about. There was a particular quest she had to retrieve a magical instrument from a dungeon. Relatively straightforward, except there was a magical barrier blocking further progress. The kind of barrier that killed people. Furthermore, there was no apparent way to turn it off. In fact, there was no way at all, as far as the various people (Scouts, Rogues, and the like) Ruby had asked to assist her in finding something. ¡°Did you try-¡± Quietus started. ¡°Of course I tried breaking down the walls! That worked the other time, but this time it¡¯s no good. The floor and ceiling are no good either, and there isn¡¯t another direction. I definitely have to pass through the barrier, somehow.¡± ¡°Well, let¡¯s go look.¡± Quietus didn¡¯t have any other advice he could give without seeing the situation. Besides, it was much easier to try different things if he was actually there. Getting there, though it involved fighting their way through some monsters, was relatively easy. Ruby was obviously quite familiar with the area already. Probably more than she wanted, since she had been stuck for some time. There was only one thing they had to be cautious of. Since the dungeon was actually occupied by undead, they had to be careful¡­ not to attack Quietus¡¯ minions. Quietus could have gotten through by himself without issue, and Ruby could likewise have fought her way there, but it would have been slower than just killing everything on the way. Plus, it was decent experience. Eventually, they arrived at the barrier. It glowed, and shimmered, and otherwise did barrier like things. It was still possible to see the area beyond it somewhat, and there didn¡¯t appear to be any immediate enemies. Quietus started with some simple tests. Though it wouldn¡¯t do Ruby any good even if it succeeded, he tried to send a ghost he¡¯d brought with him through the walls, ceiling, and floors. The result was disappointing but informative. The area was similarly warded to Aullet¡¯s tomb, actually, though he didn¡¯t have any ghosts there, the walls were similarly impenetrable. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Next, Quietus threw a rock at the barrier. Through the barrier, it seemed, with no ill effects. The barrier itself completely ignored the rock. So, the barrier didn¡¯t seem to destroy objects. That was something. Quietus next sent a disposable minion through the barrier, fully expecting it to be destroyed. However, that didn¡¯t happen. Instead, it just walked through. ¡°So¡­ I expect that you tested that it kills people? Someone walked through?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Hmm, either it faded for some reason, or undead can pass through because¡­ maybe it only kills living things. Give me a bit.¡± Quietus went out of the dungeon for a while. When he came back, he had four ghouls dragging a bear who was in a rather pitiful state. The ghouls then tossed the bear through the barrier. This time, the barrier reacted, and turned the bear into a charred husk, and then shortly thereafter a pile of ash. ¡°Well, it¡¯s still killing things.¡± Quietus pondered for a few moments. ¡°I have a method that might work, but you probably won¡¯t enjoy it, it¡¯s not fast, and there are consequences even if it doesn¡¯t work.¡± ¡°...What kind of consequences? Because I really want to succeed at this quest.¡± Ruby looked very determined. Stubborn, maybe, but they were almost the same thing. ¡°Well, you lose a level. Because you¡¯ll have to die.¡± ¡°How will that help? I know you can get my body to the other side, but I need to be alive on the other side.¡± ¡°I can make it so that you respawn wherever your body is when you next log in. Though, it¡¯s not guaranteed that we¡¯ll be able to complete the dungeon or anything after this, since we don¡¯t know what¡¯s beyond it. Though, I guess I can check.¡± Quietus transformed into a ghoul. It was mostly out of habit, as it was one of his first forms of undead. Then, he walked through the barrier. ¡°Well, that¡¯s good. Still undead.¡± Upon entering the room, he determined that the barrier stopped. If it continued on into the room, then coming back to life in the room would have been a disaster. However, he could go no further, since the next problem was outside his area of expertise. First, he tested being alive, just to make sure. Still not dead. Good. After he came back through the barrier, he reported to Ruby. ¡°Well, you should have no problem coming to life in there, but after that it¡¯s somewhat your problem. There¡¯s some musicy stuff to do.¡± Quietus actually knew a bit about ¡°musicy stuff¡± since his parents had tried to get him to learn an instrument, mostly the piano. However, he had intentionally not learned it. Though, he¡¯d picked up a bit more than he let on. ¡°Right.¡± Ruby looked around somewhat nervously. ¡°So, you¡¯re sure the first part will work? I just have to¡­ die?¡± ¡°Yeah, no problem.¡± Quietus stood there awkwardly. ¡°So, umm. You want some help? I can make it quick and mostly painless. Completely painless if you have low pain settings.¡± ¡°Err¡­ sure. I¡¯ll take the¡­ help.¡± ¡°Okay, tell me when you¡¯re ready, and then don¡¯t move. Oh, first I have to do this. Soul Bind!¡± Ruby looked down at the weird black chains now surrounding her, but without any feeling or solidity to them. ¡°Well, I guess I¡¯m ready. See you tomorrow, I guess?¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Then, as promised, it was over, quickly and painlessly. At least, Ruby didn¡¯t feel any pain. Quietus¡­ well, he¡¯d killed a lot of people in this game, and never felt bad about it. This time, though, he felt bad. Even though it was to help. //End Chapter 88 Necromancer - Chapter 89 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 89 When Ruby logged back in the next day, Quietus thought about how inconvenient it was to have a full 24 hour death timer. He was glad he didn¡¯t have that problem. He was one of the few, or perhaps the only one, who didn¡¯t, though. He had no way to know how many people had The Power to Accept Death, but he imagined it was not many. He would have explored further before she got on, but there was the musical puzzle to solve. That meant he just had to wait. Not that he waited all that long, since he knew when she would be able to re-enter the game. He had better things to do¡­ like homework. It was getting harder to keep up with it as he got to higher level courses. Of course, other would probably have been mad at him for how little time he still spent on it. After Ruby logged in, she began to work on solving the puzzle. Quietus wasn¡¯t sure at the exact requirements, but it seemed to involve rearranging several verses until they were in the ¡°right¡± order. Theoretically, they flowed better when arranged in a certain pattern, though Quietus thought it was quite good in any arrangement, especially as performed by Ruby. Though, he may have been slightly biased. At the conclusion of several attempts, the door opened. ¡°Good,¡± Ruby said. ¡°Now I can finally get¡­ and there¡¯s another barrier. Great.¡± Quietus agreed with the sentiment. There didn¡¯t seem to be a need for so many barriers to protect something. Well, redundant features were useful, he supposed. This barrier looked similar to the first one, but Quietus wasn¡¯t going to count on it being the same. Thus, a rock and minion were the first to test it. The barrier was obviously different, since the rock was destroyed. The minion was as well. He was disposable, though, and valued just slightly higher than a rock. ¡°Well,¡± Quietus started, ¡°it does seem to be different. I guess the next thing to try is¡­¡± Quietus made sure he was in his normal form, then stuck his hand through the barrier. Now, he was quite certain that the first barrier would have either disintegrated his hand, or maybe his entire being for doing that. This one, however, did nothing. Even his glove was fine, which was good. He would have been upset if he couldn¡¯t bring his equipment. He tried not to think about the possible advantages if it were otherwise though. Quietus stepped all the way through, and was fine. It almost seemed too easy, until he realized that Ruby already had to die to get this far. That wasn¡¯t normally a requirement for quests anyway, so it was really just that the hard parts were already past, and not that this barrier was necessarily easy to bypass, since you had to have been not alive, and then alive again. ¡°Well, it seems this barrier keeps out non-living things, just like the first barrier kept out living things. So, this certainly requires some method similar to what we did. Though, I don¡¯t know what bard could be expected to be able to pass through here.¡± He waved Ruby through the barrier. On the other side¡­ was not another barrier. Instead, there was a harp. The white material that it was made out of briefly puzzled him, but then he realized what it was. Bone. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Ruby passed through the barrier and smiled. ¡°Bards who are friends with necromancers, I presume. I got the predecessor to this quest when I was helping the guild find information on Aullet, for you. I didn¡¯t particularly have any need for an instrument that was related to undead at the time, but the quest chain was interesting. Of course, now it¡¯s actually more likely to be useful.¡± Ruby reached out to take the harp. ¡°Wait wait wait!¡± Quietus stopped her. ¡°I haven¡¯t checked for traps yet!¡± It probably wasn¡¯t trapped, since this dungeon seemed more straightforward than that, but he always had to check. Upon looking carefully, he did find that it indeed rested on a pressure plate. When lifted¡­ it seemed it would probably turn off the barriers. Well, that would make it more convenient to leave. ¡°Mmm¡­ it¡¯s probably okay.¡± Quietus explained what he found. ¡°It should be fine then. Well, if it kills us for some reason at least I¡¯ll die with it in my hands!¡± She grinned, then finally picked it up. *Click* Nothing visible happened around them, but upon turning back, the barriers were indeed disabled. Well, that was convenient. Ruby concentrated for a few moments, reading her menus. ¡°Well, it seems the quest is complete¡­ and the experience made up for the level I lost, so that¡¯s good. This harp¡­¡± She strummed a few notes. Quietus felt something, a bit more than usual from her music. ¡°It should be more effective on undead¡­ and maybe anything with such affinities. Thanks for the help with the quest.¡± ¡°Of course, I¡¯m glad to help.¡± Quietus didn¡¯t have much else to say, at least not that he could clearly express in words. He certainly was glad to help though. He liked spending time with her. On the way out, Ruby played a calm song, and the undead monsters of the dungeon didn¡¯t even bother to attack her at all. Normally, the more mindless types of undead would be resistant against mind affecting things such as music, but it seemed the harp was quite effective. Of course, if they had already been agitated, they likely would have still attacked. //End Chapter 89 Author Notes: Bad? (It¡¯s probably bad) news guys. The series will be ending soon. Though, in this case ¡°soon¡± will probably be 10 or more chapters, depending on how long it takes. Why is the series ending? Simply, because it will be done. It will reach a (hopefully) satisfying conclusion, but this isn¡¯t the type of series that just goes on forever. I¡¯ve had in mind how it was going to end for a while, and will be continuing with that plan. Hopefully, people will like it. If not¡­ well, not everyone will be happy with everything. Hanging Plot Threads? What plot threads are there that you guys need/ want to see wrapped up? I will obviously do all those I remember during the remaining chapters, but since I know what happens in everything, I may not realize I forgot something. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. If it''s just a minor detail, I might answer it here, but if it''s a plot point yet to come obviously that will happen in the chapters. Necromancer - Chapter 90 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 90 A hand came down on Mortimer¡¯s shoulder. If he hadn¡¯t expected it, he probably would have had a violent reaction. That may have even been the case if he hadn¡¯t known exactly who it was. Not that he wanted to hurt everybody, but his trained instincts screamed at him to throw the person. He would never do that to Alex, though. Fortunately, Mortimer recognized the familiar walking pace. ¡°Hey, Mortimer.¡± Alex¡¯s androgynous face came into view. Alex grinned. ¡°I hear you¡¯ve been doing some questing.¡± Implied in that statement was that Alex knew who Mortimer had been questing with. Not that it was a secret. However, Alex had long since found out that Mortimer liked Solara. That was a secret, technically, just not a very well kept one. Alex likes to tease Mortimer about it, though not often enough to annoy him. ¡°So, you ever gonna ask her out?¡± ¡°Uh. Hmm. I¡­¡± Mortimer didn¡¯t know what to say to that. It wasn¡¯t that he hadn¡¯t thought about it. He definitely wanted to. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t know the right words. He just couldn¡¯t find the right time or place to say them. Well, really, he just couldn¡¯t say them when she was around. Which meant it was pretty much impossible at any time or place. ¡°Well, perhaps you should get on that, before someone else does.¡± Alex continued to smile, knowing some people already had. They had just been rejected. Of course, none of them had when Mortimer was around. Alex wasn¡¯t sure if Mortimer realized it, but he scared away people who didn¡¯t know him. Especially when they were going to talk to Solara. Not to the point where her friends couldn¡¯t talk to her, but any men approaching soon reconsidered. That could have been a problem, but Solara would have said something if it bothered her. It also hadn¡¯t been the case that Mortimer was always around or near to Solara, though such times had been growing more frequent. ¡°I¡¯ll see you later, then.¡± Mortimer watched Alex head off to where Angela seemed to be waiting, and they walked off. Mortimer thought about what was said. He probably should ask Solara out. It was pointless to keep liking her and not do so. If she didn¡¯t like him and rejected him¡­ well, he didn¡¯t want to think about it, but he could move on. Probably. There were, in fact, other women in the world. Just none that he liked. Currently liked. He could probably find someone else he liked¡­ right? Before he dug his thoughts deeper into the hole, Mortimer realized he would have to try before giving up. Though, nobody said he would have to give up after just once. However, he would have to ask at least once, or nothing would happen. That might be alright for a while, but Mortimer knew it wouldn¡¯t be good for him, even if it was easier. That said, he still wanted to find a good time. -------------------------- When he got home, Mortimer wanted to take his mind off of Solara. Homework didn¡¯t help at all, so he went to Master Valarao. He had something to ask about anyway. ¡°Since you¡¯ve trained me, I¡¯ve been kind of¡­ twitchy? That may be the wrong way to describe it, but I feel like I always have to do something if someone touches me. I¡¯d rather not injure anyone I don¡¯t mean to, though. Do you have any idea what I can do about that?¡± Master Valarao smiled. For some reason, that made Mortimer nervous. ¡°Do I? In fact, that is one of the things I have yet to teach you. It¡¯s really quite simple¡­ come.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Soon, Mortimer found himself inside the virtual reality training software with Master Valarao. However, instead of the more recent areas where hiding places had been abundant, this was a simple room, almost featureless. ¡°Now, Mortimer, I am either going to attack you¡­ or I am not. Thus, you must either counter¡­ or you must not. Of course, there will be consequences if you are wrong.¡± The consequences were soon obvious. If Master Valarao actually attacked and Mortimer didn¡¯t react, he would die. Obviously, that hurt, as motivation to not let it happen again.Though Mortimer had improved significantly, and thought he might be able to react upon realizing it was an attack after the fact, this wasn¡¯t going to work against Master Valarao. Mortimer just couldn¡¯t keep up. Before, Master Valarao had lowered his physical state to be similar to Mortimer¡¯s, but that was no longer true. It wasn¡¯t that his attributes were enhanced, either, but Master Valarao¡¯s body was well trained. Especially for being somewhat older, about the age of Mortimer¡¯s parents. Because of the consequences for not reacting to an attack, Mortimer had decided to always counterattack. When Master Valarao really was attacking, he would obediently allow Mortimer to throw him, though he always got away without injury. However, if he wasn¡¯t attacking, Mortimer would suffer basically the same consequences as being wrong the other way. Eventually, however, Mortimer started getting the feeling correct. He wasn¡¯t exactly sure how to describe it. It was some combination of the movement of the hand reaching out toward him, posture, and looks. However, Mortimer reached the point after several hundred attempts where he could consistently determine whether it was an attack or not, and then Master Valarao moved to stand behind him. There, his only clues were possibly breathing, the sounds of movement but not always the sound of walking. Then, a very brief sensation of a hand grabbing him, usually on the shoulder, before he had to react. That was much harder, but eventually Mortimer got the hang of it. Somehow, he could tell through the feeling of the hand. At that point, Master Valarao started making it unknown when it would happen, and Mortimer would be surprised. After a long time, however, he reached the point where he reacted appropriately, even when he wasn¡¯t ready. Unfortunately, for him to truly not be ready was hard, since he knew he was training and his senses would be on full alert. Thus, Master Valarao added puzzles and other things for Mortimer into the simulation. He seemed to know when Mortimer was fully concentrating on these, and not just expecting it. Finally, after many sessions in virtual reality, and more mistakes that Mortimer would care to count, Mortimer actually had it down. ¡°Very good. I think you should have no problems now. In fact, I have almost run out of things to teach you.¡± Mortimer was surprised at this. He¡¯d been learning for less than two years, and he knew he wasn¡¯t any sort of genius. Then he thought about it, and realized that with the virtual reality training, not only had he spent a great deal of time more than would be traditionally available, he had been able to use faster, but more dangerous, methods of learning. After all, real practice was the best way of learning. Master Valarao leaned closer to Mortimer. ¡°I have almost run out of things to teach you, but I still have some things up my sleeves.¡± Master Valarao grinned. This time, Mortimer was sure that it didn¡¯t mean good things for him. //End Chapter 90 Necromancer - Chapter 91 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 91 Quietus was waiting, patiently. Most of the time when he was waiting, it was for an assassination target to show up. Quietus hadn¡¯t done many assassination missions lately, though that was mostly because they were becoming scarce. There were, after all, increasingly fewer players as levels got higher. Though he hadn¡¯t thought about it much, Quietus did realize he was becoming more and more ¡°high leveled¡±. Though, he certainly wasn¡¯t the highest. There were still quite a few people ahead of him, but he didn¡¯t really care about that. He didn¡¯t care much to compare himself with others. That was not his goal in this game. His goal was quite simply to enjoy himself, and he could even do that while waiting for someone. Right now, his minions were testing their fighting capabilities. It wasn¡¯t always good enough to look at the numbers of their statistics, seeing them in action was what really let him know their capabilities. In addition, it let him expand his minion horde. He didn¡¯t really put much effort into that, but his numbers were growing to decent levels. Several hundreds of worthwhile minions, at least. He¡¯d also created about thirty destroyers in a little more than a month. Most of them were fairly ¡°standard¡± though of course they were more powerful than normal undead. Only Sir Draco and #1. #1 was of course the first destroyer skeleton he made, from special parts. Well, he¡¯d also made Lucky into a destroyer, mostly because it was silly. With the upgraded stats, Lucky was probably in the top 200 minions in terms of combat prowess. Certainly no lower than 300¡­ probably. Quietus wasn¡¯t particularly participating in the combat, just watching his minions distractedly. He¡¯d been distracted a lot lately. He¡¯d been spending too much time thinking about Ruby. Incidentally, she was who he was waiting for. They were going to get together to test how much her new magical instrument would help his undead. Really, though, Quietus couldn¡¯t care less about the reason. He also wasn¡¯t really patiently waiting. He couldn¡¯t wait to see her again. He was becoming more sure¡­ that he was going to ask her out. ¡°Hello~,¡± came her voice from behind him. Yes, he was going to ask her¡­ and he was going to do it right now. That was the resolve he had. Though it would be somewhat awkward to do in the game¡­ Quietus didn¡¯t really dwell on that for long. He didn¡¯t really have clear words, but he prepared to speak. He turned around. ¡°Hello. Umm¡­¡± Quietus thought about his words for a few moments. Just as he finally managed to arrange a coherent sentence, something interrupted him. Ruby swayed on her feet, as if she were fainting. Then, Ruby¡¯s avatar was logged out of the game. A message popped up where she had been standing. For a few minutes, Quietus just sat there and stared. Somehow, he was having trouble reading the message. It¡¯s not that there were any complicated words, but his brain just wasn¡¯t processing them. What did the message mean? Certainly, he felt that he should be able to make sense of it. However, he just stared blankly for a time. Oh, that was what it said.
This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.Due to a medical emergency, this player has been ejected from the game.
-------------------------- Angela found herself pulled out of virtual reality as someone pressed a button on her capsule. Oh, it was Mortimer. ¡°What¡¯s so important-¡± she stopped mid sentence when she saw him. Mortimer had a crazed look in his eyes. Then, he blurted out several sentences, but they were barely coherent. ¡°Ruby- No wait, Solara- Uh. Message- She¡­¡± He babbled random words for a few more moments, before forming a real coherent but rambling sentence. ¡°Solara collapsed in game then disappeared and there was a message about a medical emergency and I have no idea how to contact her family but you should know, right?¡± ¡°Wait, what? Medical emergency?¡± After a few moments she comprehended what was being said. -------------------------- Mortimer had wanted to meet Solara¡¯s parents¡­ eventually. He definitely didn¡¯t expect it to be like this, in a hospital. Mortimer looked over to the room Solara was in. He didn¡¯t actually have the courage to go look inside. The doctor was talking in a hushed voice to Solara¡¯s parents. ¡°...it¡¯s a rare condition, with no known cure. For now, all we can do is keep her stable.¡± Solara¡¯s father hugged her mother, and she cried. Mortimer thought he might cry too, if he felt anything at all. However, he really just felt blank. It was sort of a strange thing, really. Solara would remain comatose unless a cure was found, but in the hospital her condition could be kept stable almost indefinitely. It was shocking and sad, but Mortimer felt that objectively it was not the worst thing that could happen. Still, Solara¡¯s mother, and even her father were crying what Mortimer thought was an undue amount. This made Mortimer think about himself. Was he a heartless person? He couldn¡¯t even remember the last time he really cried. However, part of him knew he wasn¡¯t as sad as he could be, because he had hope. At least, he thought he did. ¡°...how can we afford that?¡± Mortimer overheard Solara¡¯s parents talking. This brought Mortimer out of his state of shock. This was something he could do. At least, it would take his mind off of what else was happening. He walked up to them. ¡°I¡¯ll pay for it. No matter how long it takes.¡± They looked somewhat shocked. Well, they would be. However, Mortimer convinced them he was serious- and that he could. At least his parents could. They would, too. They might balk at first, but Mortimer could convince them. He was certain of that, and there hadn¡¯t been anything else he was as determined to see through. After that¡­ well, medicine was always progressing. A cure could be found, and as long as Solara was alive, she could get it. //End Chapter 91 Author''s note: I know this is kind of sudden/abrupt, but that is the point. It has been planned out for some time. Still plenty of stuff to go though. Necromancer - Chapter 92 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 92 Quietus was waiting. Patiently¡­ would not be the right word. Lately, he hadn¡¯t had much patience for anything. Rather, he felt annoyed at everything. This was of course why he was here, waiting for someone he had never met and didn¡¯t want to meet. His profession, if not his class- assassination. Lately, he¡¯d been doing more and more of it, mostly because it took his mind off of other things. Plus, it was exciting to fight other players, if only briefly. They all had different ways of fighting. That is, if they had a chance to fight back at all. Generally, he tried not to give them that chance. It was just as interesting to see how different people reacted to dying. As for why he was after this particular mage, well, sometimes players committed crimes that weren¡¯t enough for the guards to go after them, but other players wanted revenge for. Many assassination missions were like this. In this particular case¡­ he¡¯d done nothing wrong. At least, nothing of which Quietus was aware. However, someone wanted him killed, so Quietus would do it. This particular target had been somewhat hard to track down. He didn¡¯t have any obvious habits of going to the same places over and over, and was never really alone. He had friends, after all. Since it was a game, this meant that they would be able to fight, and that made Quietus¡¯ job harder. However, Quietus had followed him long enough to find out some future plans. He was going to a particular store, and didn¡¯t plan to have anybody come with him. Not that he would necessarily alone, but it was different from when he normally went with a group. Quietus spotted the mage coming down the alleyway. Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t alone. He had an annoying habit of picking up friends along the way, but this time¡­ it seemed different. A knight was with him, and one in rather fancy armor. Quietus recognized the protective stance. A bodyguard, then. Perhaps he¡¯d somehow received wind of the price on his head. Quietus was pretty sure he hadn¡¯t been spotted, but there were other ways for word to get out. A bodyguard would make things somewhat difficult. However, there was just one additional opponent. This chance might not come again soon. The worst case scenario¡­ Quietus died and possibly couldn¡¯t complete the mission later. He decided to risk it. More precisely, he decided he didn¡¯t care what happened. As his target approached what he deemed to be the optimal distance, he leapt out with a perforate artery. *Clang* Quietus¡¯ weapon was slightly deflected by the knight¡¯s shield. Enough to make it not a critical hit, and enough to foil what would have likely been an instant kill. Quietus had been hoping the knight¡¯s skills were somewhat lower, but it was too late to regret it now. The knight quickly stepped between Quietus and the mage. ¡°Go, retreat!¡± Normally, it would have been useful to have two people to fight against one, but the area was not suited for a mage fighting. In addition, it was actually quite hard to protect someone in a battle. Even with the skills a knight had, they couldn¡¯t block all the attacks the target would receive. ¡°Well then, assassin¡­¡± Quietus thought the voice sounded familiar for some reason. ¡°Shall we- Huh? Mortimer?¡± Oh, that¡¯s what it was. He hadn¡¯t seen the new armor yet. What a blunder. Angelo¡¯s surprise lasted only a moment. ¡°Any excuses?¡± Quietus shook his head. ¡°You know¡­ I¡¯m going to have to kick you out of the guild.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Quietus shrugged and grinned. ¡°Not going to give me the benefit of the doubt?¡± ¡°You?¡± Angelo sighed. ¡°I¡¯m really not surprised by this, actually. Well then, are we going to fight?¡± ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t think there¡¯s any way you¡¯d let me go after I killed your protection target.¡± Quietus attacked, and at the same time the mage yelled out in the distance. Quietus rarely had to use his undead minions to help with assassinations, but there were a small few that were sneaky enough to help. At the very least, they could finish off an isolated mage. Angelo¡¯s face was completely covered by a helmet, but Quietus knew it wasn¡¯t happy. Shield deflected dagger, and the other hand swung out with a sword. After exchanging several blows, it became clear that Quietus was in a disadvantage for this type of fight. Though Angelo couldn¡¯t really land an attack, his attacks were not going through either. After a particularly dangerous thrust, Quietus had to use Backslide to open up some space. Well, it¡¯s not like the shield would be perfect against everything. Quietus no longer had any reason to hide anything. Dark Fog! The spell filled up the area. It wouldn¡¯t do any significant amount of damage, but could somewhat hinder vision. Unfortunately, it was daytime, so the Dark Fog couldn¡¯t completely obscure vision. However, it did allow Quietus enough room to shoot some Dark Arrows that couldn¡¯t be completely blocked. Angelo didn¡¯t looked particularly surprised at the use of magic. Certainly, not enough to slow down. Eyes scanned the area for signs of movement, ready to block any additional attacks, and counterattack if it became available. There wasn¡¯t enough room for Quietus to actually move far from Angelo, but that didn¡¯t bother him. He wanted this fight to be relatively straightforward. Most people, he wouldn¡¯t give that courtesy, but even though he had been in a bad mood lately, and still was, he didn¡¯t have any particular reason to be mean. Besides, the magic wasn¡¯t particularly effective either. Quietus moved back into melee. He would move around Angelo, striking at any vulnerable point. Angelo would often block or deflect his attacks, and some counterattacks cut him, but he was specialized in fights where he could conceal himself, even a little bit, from his opponent. This was, after all, what he had been taught by Master Valarao. Both of those engaged in the duel had dwindling health, but Quietus was adding bleed effects, which were giving him an advantage. He would have won some time ago, but Angelo actually had very excellent senses, and he couldn¡¯t get in any real critical hits. However, he finally found an opening. Angelo got a good thrust. In fact, it even pierced into his side somewhat. Quietus knew it wouldn¡¯t be enough to kill him though. At the same moment, he caught Angelo¡¯s shield with his free hand, and slashed toward the throat. He would have used the shield grabbing tactic earlier, but it would likely only work once. Angelo was much stronger, and thus could overcome his grip if ready. However, he only needed one good hit. Quietus¡¯ Perforate Artery was on point. It was just enough to finish off Angelo. Meanwhile, Quietus had to act quickly to bandage and stitch his wounds, as he¡¯d still fallen into the critical zone. Well, it seemed like he was going to be stuck playing solo. Not that he particularly minded it. Dinner was going to be awkward, though. //End Chapter 92 Necromancer - Chapter 93 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 93 At home, Mortimer was having some conflicts with his parents. His bad attitude was somewhat constant. The one thing that kept him from getting into too much trouble with them, however, was his academics. If he¡¯d just had perfect grades, it might not have been enough. However, he was even putting in enough outside study to skip classes. This barely kept him in his parents good graces. Or at least, their not-too-upset-graces. As for Solara¡¯s hospital bills¡­ they did fully support him on that. Especially since she seemed to be a motivating factor for his current progress. In fact, Mortimer was devoting so much of his time to his education¡­ that he started playing Royal Road less. Not none, but less. He wasn¡¯t leveling much, but he did have some things he could do in short amounts of time. He had more Destroyer undead now, and they were smarter than the others. Thus, they served as something like captains in his growing army. Though they couldn¡¯t make many tactical decisions, they could follow a plan he had and give orders to the less intelligent minions. He would log into the game and bring his minions to less traversed areas, and have his minions level up there. Then after they reached a certain level or had cleared enough of the area, they would leave the area, or burrow underground. They were under standing orders to flee from players. After all, they would otherwise be killed. Of course, many of them even died fighting monsters, or they had to be in zones with low experience. However, it did still help to raise the average level of his minion horde. Mortimer¡¯s determination to continue his studies was partly just to distract himself. He didn¡¯t have to think about life when he was immersed in his, admittedly difficult, studies. However, he also had the hope that he could help Solara if he became a doctor. Could he? Well, he didn¡¯t know that. However, the sooner he became a doctor, the better. Of course, Mortimer thought it would be best if someone else found a cure before he could even become a doctor. After all, he wasn¡¯t sure how long she could be kept stable. That was another thing that kept his mood bad most of the time. He was unpleasant enough that even Alex stopped hanging out with him. Mortimer knew it was entirely his own fault, though. However, he didn¡¯t want to be a pleasant person right now. Mortimer had basically always been alone before that, so the return to his former status wasn¡¯t particularly unpleasant at first. Over time, though, he found that he missed having friends more and more. Master Valarao didn¡¯t care if Mortimer was in a bad mood. He still trained him ruthlessly either way. Mortimer also found the training to be a useful distraction from reality. During the next year, Mortimer immersed himself in learning, training, and a little bit of Royal Road. Mortimer didn¡¯t really think about what he was doing, and just went through life. The passage of time wasn¡¯t particularly in his thoughts, but it still happened. That is why he was surprised when Master Valarao told him his training was done. ¡°Done?¡± ¡°Yes. At least for your purposes, I have nothing left to teach you. Though, if you ever take up an interest in my¡­ profession, I have more things you can learn.¡± Master Valarao knew Mortimer wasn¡¯t interested in becoming an assassin. Not that he thought he wouldn¡¯t be good at it, or didn¡¯t have the right temperament. Just that he didn¡¯t want to. Master Valarao didn¡¯t particularly care about that. At first, he had come here for a job. Easy money, get paid to teach a kid how to fight with a knife. Master Valarao had really expected him to give up, but he would have gotten paid a decent amount anyway. Then he found Mortimer was determined, and had the aptitude to learn what he could teach. Thus, he thought of Mortimer as something like an unofficial successor. The act of teaching him had been interesting enough, he didn¡¯t really care if Mortimer would go on to teach someone else. ¡°Though I say it¡¯s done, I still expect you to keep up practice. I¡¯ll be testing you in the training program occasionally. I¡¯ll be disappointed if you slack off.¡± A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll definitely keep it up.¡± Mortimer had learned that he actually liked being in good shape. He was able to make his body perform as he wanted, and that was a good feeling. It also wasn¡¯t as grueling to maintain his fitness as it was to get it in the first place. Mortimer was very glad of that. After Master Valarao left, Mortimer was reminded that time moves on. Certainly, his advancement through various classes had given him some idea of that, but it really became just a blur. Master Valarao was the last person Mortimer now spent time with regularly, so with him leaving, Mortimer was back to being almost completely solitary. Not counting his driver James, anyway. ¡°Hey, James, is that your real name?¡± Mortimer asked him one day. ¡°Yes, sir. Why do you ask?¡± ¡°I vaguely remember asking my parents for a driver named James, and I thought maybe that was why they hired you back then. Either that, or everyone just called you James because I asked for it.¡± James smiled. ¡°Actually, sir, I changed my name to James to get this job.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Mortimer stared at him. James had on a face that looked very serious, but Mortimer knew he was very good at doing straight faced jokes. ¡°I doubt it.¡± James laughed. ¡°Well, I must say at the very least, there were some applicants who would have been willing to change their name to get this position. That¡¯s the truth.¡± ¡°Why do you put up with me James?¡± ¡°Well, it is my job.¡± This time, Mortimer was certain he was joking. ¡°Nobody wants to be around me now. How do I fix that?¡± ¡°I think you have just made a very good start. I think you just didn¡¯t want anyone around you lately. If you start wanting to be around them again, and stop being intentionally unpleasant¡­ Well, it won¡¯t be quick, but your friends would certainly be willing to return to being with you, if you act more like the person they know. I¡¯d suggest you start with Angela, though, since the dinner table has been exceedingly awkward recently.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ You¡¯re right. I¡¯ll do that.¡± Mortimer made his determination to repair his relationships¡­ with those he actually cared about, anyway. He was still determined to keep progressing through his coursework, however. After all, it wouldn¡¯t do to have one friend missing for too long. Could he even do anything about Solara? Mortimer decided he didn¡¯t care whether it was possible. He would do it anyway. //End Chapter 93 Necromancer - Chapter 94 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 94 Angela wasn¡¯t having a great day. Finals were coming up, so she was busy with that. However, in Royal Road the guild was going through a dangerous conflict with another guild. Though the guild could get along alright without her, she was the leader as well as one of the highest level players. She was the kind of person who easily understood that real life was more important than a game, so she had to let that be the part that she didn¡¯t focus on. However, it didn¡¯t stop her from thinking about it and being bothered. Plus, there were the problems with Mortimer. He¡¯d been unpleasant ever since Solara ended up in the hospital. It didn¡¯t help that she still had to see him every day. Solara was her friend as well, so Angela could understand how he felt somewhat, but he certainly wasn¡¯t handling it well. It didn¡¯t help that he was a PK. She wouldn¡¯t have been particularly upset about it if she had found out at another time, but it had already been a low point. So, even though they were in the same house and playing the same game, they were never really together. That was what she missed most, being together with him like they used to. Ah, there he was now. Based on how he¡¯d been acting lately, he¡¯d probably just ignore her and walk past. That would be the best for both of them, since otherwise they¡¯d just have another unpleasant conflict. This time, though, he didn¡¯t. -------------------------- Mortimer was watching Angela. He didn¡¯t really want to go up to her right now, since she wasn¡¯t in a great mood. Which was fair, based on how he¡¯d been acting. Presumably, she also had her own issues that he didn¡¯t know about, because he¡¯d been avoiding any kind of contact. Maybe he would come back later. However, if he didn¡¯t act now, he knew he probably wouldn¡¯t later, either. It was just easier to avoid his problems. As for what he would say, well, he didn¡¯t really know. Still, he had to go. As he stepped out, Angela looked at him. Although he wasn¡¯t great at reading social body language, he could tell she didn¡¯t want to talk to him. That didn¡¯t matter though. He continue walking up to her. ¡°Hi¡­¡± ¡°...Hi.¡± The initial exchange was actually the best interaction they¡¯d had in over a month. Mortimer spoke awkwardly. ¡°I just wanted to say¡­ I¡¯m sorry, for being a jerk lately.¡± Angela just nodded. The only other option would be to say ¡°Yes, you were a jerk.¡± That wouldn¡¯t really be helpful to the situation. ¡°I just¡­ haven¡¯t been able to think straight. Everything in my head has been all messed up. I want you to know I want to try to be¡­ not unpleasant again.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯ve had some part in our conflicts too. I think we can definitely work on our¡­ friendship? It¡¯s not like we actually managed to stop being cousins.¡± Mortimer knew their relationship couldn¡¯t be repaired back to how it was immediately. Where she bothered him to hang out, and he pretended not to want to. That would take time. For now, he still had some more apologizing to do. ¡°I¡¯m also sorry¡­ for killing you in Royal Road. I should be better than that.¡± He paused for a few moments. ¡°Just to be clear, though, I¡¯m not going to ask to get back into the guild. I¡¯m not sorry that I killed the other guy.¡± Angela sighed, but it was half a sigh of relief. This was how Mortimer was. ¡°Good, because that definitely wasn¡¯t going to happen.¡± After that, they chatted somewhat, though still awkwardly. However, the first steps had been taken to bring them back to how they had once been. Though, it was still a long road to travel. -------------------------- Mortimer also apologized to his parents for his behavior. The whole affair was rather formal, however, that was how those interactions had always been. That was just the way things were. Looking back, Mortimer felt that they were actually confident that he would overcome his ¡°problems¡±. They expected great things of him, because they were his parents. However, they also knew him well enough to understand he would have to overcome his problems on his own. It wasn¡¯t the kind of thing they could fix with money. Certainly, they had considered a psychiatrist, but they understood he wasn¡¯t going to be willing to work with them. He had to make his own choice. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Thus, they had supported him silently, waiting for this time. Though, Mortimer didn¡¯t know this. Still, he felt better after his talk with them. All he had left were the people at school. Mostly, Alex. That would have to be done when they next met, though Mortimer intended the meeting to be intentional instead of just waiting for it. -------------------------- Quietus was no longer a member of The Children of Light. However, that didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t keep himself¡­ apprised of their activities. He supposed they were now enemies, with him being a Player Killer and them being opposed. Quietus used his knowledge of their activities to avoid them, since he still felt some companionship with them. Even when he was not thinking clearly for a long time, he didn¡¯t really want to increase his conflicts with his friends and family. For some time, his only interest in their activities had been just avoiding conflict. However, there was an upcoming battle involving them that he was actually interested in. Specifically, he wanted to be on their side, though it certainly couldn¡¯t be official. His reasons for this were pretty much the same as his actions outside Royal Road, he wanted to mend broken relationships. In this case, his cousin cared about some current conflicts, and he wanted her to feel better. Quietus couldn¡¯t claim selfless motives as his entire interest, though. He actually wanted to test out some things as well. His undead army had been gradually getting stronger, and he wanted to see how it performed. Plus, killing players was fun, and why not kill two birds with one stone and make his cousin slightly happier at the same time. All he had to do was wait for his opportunity, which he could tell was coming soon. The enemy guild- or possibly guilds? Quietus hadn¡¯t actually bothered to care- was planning to attack The Children of Light soon, taking over some of their territory and a keep. It was possible there were multiple guilds in an alliance, since Quietus spotted hundreds of people. He knew there were more, too. He sat, and waited. Quietus had never taken the chance to really go all out with his minions. However, this time he was going to. Perhaps he would lose most or all of them, and all the hard work that went into that, but he didn¡¯t particularly care. It would be worth it. The battle started, but Quietus didn¡¯t go in. There was a siege on the castle, and he could certainly do a lot of damage attacking the backlines of the enemy with a surprise army. However, he wasn¡¯t interested in spectacle and saving the defenders. Besides, it looked like they were perfectly fine. The Children of Light were holding their own quite admirably. No, Quietus was waiting for something else. Finally, he received word from one of his minions who was scouting. This was it. -------------------------- Reinhold Wither was the leader of the second assault force for the coalition of guilds that was battling the Children of Light. His character was a big man. That is to say, he was heavily modified to make up for his size in real life. Not that he would tell anyone that. Today his job was to lead the second assault force in a surprise attack on the rear of the castle. The terrain was much more difficult to navigate, compared to the open plains on the other side, but that was why this was an unexpected tactic. The enemy''s attention should be occupied by the other forces, so their arrival should be mostly unnoticed. All they had to do was traverse one more valley, and they would be in position. One of their scouts returned. ¡°Reporting, sir. It appears there is an enemy scout stationed at the bottom of the valley.¡± ¡°Just one?¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± ¡°Have some archers shoot him down, though make sure there are enough to finish him off if he runs.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± A single scout in the valley? That was terrible positioning. After all, he was at the low point of the terrain instead of the high point. He wouldn¡¯t have any chance to escape, though if they were unlucky he might notice them and give warning. Reinhold waited for the next report, and found he had been worried for nothing. A single arrow had taken the scout down. Obviously, he had been useless in combat, and stationed there to be out of the way. The second assault force began their descent down the steep slopes of the valley. All they had to do now was get up the other side, and then they could join the battle. He couldn¡¯t wait to see the looks on the faces of The Children of Light when they realized they had more opponents to deal with. Well, metaphorically anyway. They¡¯d be too far away to actually see their faces. //End Chapter 94 Necromancer - Chapter 95 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 95 Reinhold led the Second Assault Force down into the valley. The terrain certainly wasn¡¯t impassable, but it wasn¡¯t trivial, either. Mostly, they were slowed down by the mages and those with low physical abilities, since they were generally not much above the level of a normal person. It wasn¡¯t like even they were in danger here, it just turned their rate of movement from a march to a leisurely hike. The valley was rather wide, so to avoid separating anyone, they waited until everyone was at the bottom before continuing across. One of the scouts in front stopped to loot the body of the enemy scout. One of those with keen hearing in the main army spoke up about this point. ¡°What is that rumbling noise?¡± Of course, they would soon find out. As the scout placed his hand on the corpse, a skeletal hand grabbed his. At the same time, undead sprung out of the ground in various places around the valley. However, while these took a few moments to emerge, ghosts also rushed out of the ground and attacked. As for why they hadn¡¯t been able to detect the burrowing sooner, they likely would have never guess. After all, most necromancers couldn¡¯t pass on an intermediate level of stealth to their minions. In addition to that, the minions had been waiting below, instead of burrowing in, so the time that they had been moving was quite short. Although they were surprised, the Second Assault Force reacted rather admirably to undead appearing in their midst. At least, they avoided killing their own members with area spells. However, in the few moments it took for them to form a more organized reaction, dark fog started appearing. This made it so they could not see the full number of their enemies. They could only see what was near them. The casters took the worst of the initial attacks, since they were easily killed. At least a tenth of the mages died within the first minute. The entire assault force had to contend with the various zombies, skeletons, ghosts, and death knights attacking them, as well as starting to dispel the dark fog, and casting their buffs. It was at this time that arrows and spells started firing into the area. There were also occasional more powerful spells, in the shape of black, evil looking spears of magic. After a few more minutes had passed, the dark fog had been dispelled, revealing the full number of the undead. On each side of the valley were skeletal mages and various types of undead archers. However, they were actually relatively few in numbers compared to the melee combatants among the army. The magic of the skeletal mages was dangerous, but not as deadly as the dark spears, which seemed to take the life of whoever they struck. ¡°There, kill that one! It¡¯s the necromancer controlling them! If we take him out, his minions will be worthless!¡± That was not entirely incorrect, either. Without a leader giving them new commands, mindless undead could easily be counteracted. Alas, their newfound hope and energy didn¡¯t last long, for as soon as they started bombarding the necromancer with spells, his form turned into that of a ghost. Most of the attacks had no effect. As they prepared spells that would work, a terrifying roar came from above. Before anyone could react, a dragon flew along the valley, occasionally dipping down to grab a soldier, only to fly up into the air and fling them at a group of people. This was still manageable, however the dragon then made a strange move. All that people could see was an area as if life itself was being pulled into the dragon¡¯s mouth, and a group perished, with seemingly no damage done to them. If they were organized, no, even in this chaotic state, the army could likely defeat a dragon. However, as their attacks hit it, they realized something terrifying. The dragon was wearing armor. They had not noticed at first because it perfectly matched the scales on it, but it upon attacking it, they realized it was armored. Moreso, it was magical armor. Though, fortunately for them, the only magical enchantments it had was to reduce weight, allowing the dragon to still fly, as well as one to slowly repair the armor, though it wouldn¡¯t be relevant over the course of the battle. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Still, this was a very skilled group of players. They slew key undead to allow them to organize into formations again, and also targeted the necromancer with spells, ones that could hit ghosts. Even though there were many undead, there weren¡¯t as many powerful undead as there were players. Soon, all the weak undead were slain, freeing up the players to concentrate even more attacks on the necromancer. Finally, after much work, they saw him fall to the ground, slain. They predicted that the undead army would fall into chaos at this, but the unexpected happened. The undead retreated. It wasn¡¯t a rout, but an organized retreat. Some of them were killed as they left, but the Second Assault Force was in no shape to chase them down. Approximately half of them were dead. This wouldn¡¯t prevent them from doing their mission, but they would be late. It took some time for them to clean up the battlefield of dropped items of their allies, heal, and recover mana. They couldn¡¯t afford to use potions, since those were needed for when they were in combat. Of course, they kept eyes and ears open for any more undead, in case they somehow came back. By the time they got to the top of the other side of the valley, four hours had passed. It was obvious the necromancer wasn¡¯t going to risk his minions attacking in a way he couldn¡¯t control, so they would be safe from them for a real-world day, four days in game. That would be many times more than they needed to successfully siege the castle. They weren¡¯t watching the necromancer¡¯s corpse, because they were confident he was certainly dead. They checked for all kinds of feign death skills, and even stabbed the body a few times, thus they had been assured. Sadly for them, they couldn¡¯t have known that he would come back to life here at all. They didn¡¯t notice, though, that just as they reached the top of the valley, at the four hour mark, the eyes of the necromancer¡¯s corpse opened up. Quietus grinned to himself. He¡¯d died every day for the last year, either to make a destroyer undead, or because of other reasons. Sometimes, he¡¯d died more than once in a day. Now, his Power to Accept Death skill was at maximum level. What did that mean? Instead of the normal 24 hour/4 day (outside the game and in) death timers, he had only a single hour, four hours in game. That is, each level out of the 50 reduced the death timer by half an hour. Except, when a skill got to level 10 of one category and immediately upgraded to level 1 of the next, such as the transition from beginner to intermediate, that only counted as 1 level. Thus, there were really only 46 levels that counted toward that effect. 24 hours - (30 minutes * 46)= 24 hours - (23 hours) left him with a single hour of death timer. Not bad, to say the least. //End Chapter 95 Necromancer - Chapter 96 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 96 Quietus could easily have started the next attack immediately after he came back to life. It would certainly be a surprise to the enemy. However, they had already killed a decent amount of his undead horde. He was still confident in his ability to defeat them, but he would lose more units than necessary. Instead, he decided to wait. The second assault force, even at half strength would be able to cause quite a bit of trouble for the defenders in the keep. In fact, the battle was at a very critical moment. From their perspective, their arrival would signify the beginning of their victory over The Children of Light. Indeed, The Children of Light weren¡¯t prepared for a sudden assault from the rear. They had to split off some attention from the other front, which made both parts weaker. Quietus was no longer involved with The Children of Light. Thus, he had no particular reason to help them at this point. Still, as the second assault force was starting to gain some ground, his undead horde attacked. Mostly because he didn¡¯t have any reason not to help. He was here to kill people, and these people were still alive. Now, they were pinned between his undead army and the keep. The best part was, all of their vulnerable, ranged people were at the back. Not that his attack was a complete surprise to them. They had some inkling that his minions might return. However, they were not expecting him with them. Even if they had been, they were expecting a necromancer, and not an assassin. Thus, while his minions were still far enough away to have not been sensed, Quietus began his attack. This time, his tactics were taken from the ghosts he had first fought. Rise up out of the floor, materialize and strike, and then dematerialize back into the floor. Unlike the ghosts in the Moaning Mines, though, Quietus was capable of killing his enemies in one attack. At least, all of those who were vulnerable like the mages. All of the heavily armored and healthy enemies were up front, scaling the walls. Quietus only got in a few attacks, and therefore kills, before the remainder of his minion horde arrived, providing other things for them to focus on. Otherwise, they would have been able to concentrate on him and kill him yet again. Still, the situation wasn¡¯t looking much better for The Children of Light, since they still had to split their attention between two fronts. A welcome relief came in the form of a dragon attacking those in the main army. In addition to all of these things, Quietus had planned to have the players he killed enter his undead horde, although it would have been only temporary. However, those he defeated knew there was a necromancer, and thus prevented the corpses from being made into undead, just in case something strange happened. It was unfortunate, and bugged Quietus. Then, he realized, there were still plenty of bodies that likely weren¡¯t protected. Quietus slipped out into the front battle. It was quite safe, since he just had to travel underground where no one could see, hear, or attack him. The second assault force had been casting spells to prevent their fallen from being resurrected, since they knew it was a possibility mid-combat. However, upon his death, they had considered the matter dealt with. Meanwhile, the primary assault force had been locked in combat pretty much the whole time, and didn¡¯t have any reason to believe a necromancer would be coming. Thus, all of their recent fallen were still there, ripe for the plucking. Though some of the bodies would have disappeared already, there were many recent bodies as well. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Ye who have returned to the land of living. This black and corrupt land is a dark place. The eternal dark law will never disappear, engrave this upon yourself. Undead Rise!¡± Undead Rise was a mass undead creating spell. Although it wouldn¡¯t be as good as individually creating undead, these were players and wouldn¡¯t be permanent minions anyway. In addition, it was much more time efficient. It also covered a very large area. The enemy forces were surprised when their members started coming to life and attacking them, since there shouldn¡¯t have been any necromancers around. The Children of Light were somewhat surprised as well, both at that, and their own members coming to life. However, they were pleasantly surprised to find the undead not attacking them. Angelo was somewhat less surprised than the rest at the undead, since Quietus was known by Angelo to be a necromancer. However, the feeling of reinforcements was no less pleasant, and the help itself was still surprising. Sir Draco and the newly raised players threw the front lines into chaos, and the back lines were surrounded on all sides. The sudden arrival of a large force was something they weren¡¯t prepared to deal with, and the battle quickly shifted back in the favor of the Children of Light. The enemies turned to flee once they realized they were losing. After all, it wasn¡¯t worth losing levels for nothing. The Children of Light weren¡¯t in a good enough position to chase them. Quietus, however, was. He and his minions chased down every player fleeing the battlefield. Those who could fly were of course taken down by Sir Draco. It was possible a few slipped away in the chaos, but it became almost a total destruction of their forces. Then, Quietus and his minions started looting the bodies, though only of those they chased down and the second assault force. Previously, Quietus would have disdained loot that he couldn¡¯t personally use, but equipping a minion horde was very expensive. After his minion horde stripped the battlefield of everything he felt he had claim too, they left. It was not the level loss of the enemies that would keep them from trying again to take over the keep. Indeed, they might even try again. However, the victor of the battlefield would leave with a large amount of equipment, since they would be around to gather it, keeping their own items and gaining others. Quietus, since his minions were not able to be brought back to life, at least not at anything resembling their former strength, was somewhat worse off. Except, mostly only his weaker minions died. His stronger ones survived, and grew even stronger. Plus, he could always make more. Lucky also survived. Quietus wasn¡¯t sure if he actually participated in the battle, but he participated in the looting, claiming a second boot. Which he promptly placed on his head, instead of the foot that didn¡¯t have a boot. That¡­ was precisely what Quietus had come to expect of him. Quietus was feeling good. He¡¯d killed a lot of people, gained a lot of loot¡­ and his cousin would probably also be happier. Happier people near him was also good. //End Chapter 96 Necromancer - Chapter 97 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 97 Mortimer and Angela weren¡¯t as close as they had been before. That was a natural consequence of how Mortimer had been. However, they were talking to each other, which was good. Though, as usual, Mortimer really didn¡¯t do much talking. Even if he¡¯d had talking to do these days, all he could talk about would be classes and zombies (or other undead minions). They were not as disconnected of subjects as one might think, though. After all, being on a course toward becoming a doctor, Mortimer had to learn a lot about how the human body worked. Some of the information translated over to the undead. Mortimer found it interesting to find exactly what parts didn¡¯t work the same as living humans. Skeletons, for example, were basically unrelated to living things, even though they were the basis of most life. After all, they didn¡¯t have anything but dark magic to hold them together and let them move. The only things less based in life were ghosts, who didn¡¯t truly have physical bodies at all. Ghouls were actually pretty close to being classically alive, since they had to eat still. Zombies could eat, but didn¡¯t seem to need it. Vampires needed to drink blood, and were one of the few types of undead that could also bleed. Mortimer also worked on repairing his other relationships, including his friendship with Alex. They had been pretty close before Mortimer was all depressed. After reinstating their friendship, they certainly still got along well together. However, something was different. Mortimer couldn¡¯t quite figure out what it was. Well, the group used to consist of Mortimer, Alex, Angela, Solara, and sometimes Robert. However, Solara was no longer around. That was one change, but Mortimer was feeling something more. Something else had changed, and now things were different. Since he wasn¡¯t able to figure out what it was while in the company of others, Mortimer left to do some spying. Spying Investigating revealed some things rather quickly. Since Mortimer hadn¡¯t been around, Angela and Alex had been hanging out with just them more. Naturally, they grew closer. However, the real change was revealed when Mortimer saw them holding hands. This was a revelation! What was the revelation? Alex was male! Finally, he figured it out. Then, Mortimer thought about it for a moment. No, that wasn¡¯t necessarily true. Mortimer wasn¡¯t actually sure what Angela¡¯s preference was. As his cousin, it hadn¡¯t particularly mattered. Angela had quite easily slipped into her role as a male in Royal Road. It hadn¡¯t helped Mortimer¡¯s investigation into the mystery of Alex that Alex didn¡¯t seem to care about males versus females either. In conclusion, Mortimer had learned nothing. Oh, except that Alex and Angela were dating, he supposed. That was something. -------------------------- Mortimer sat in the hospital, next to a comatose Solara. He wouldn¡¯t actually come here very often, because it just made him sad. However, he still wanted to see her sometimes. He imagined her smiling face, her moving around, dancing, singing. It had been a long time since he¡¯d seen any of that. Solara¡­ looked a bit thinner. It was to be expected, since she was only being fed through a nutrient IV. Other than that, her condition was still stable. However, that didn¡¯t mean there wouldn¡¯t be negative consequences based on how long she was in this state. Specifically, since there wasn¡¯t any cure, only a miraculous recovery could be hoped for. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Or, someone could find a cure. Certainly, cures were sought for every negative condition humans experienced. However, this did not meant that everything was equally sought after. In Solara¡¯s case, it was very rare, so there wasn¡¯t much work being done. Mortimer renewed his determination to be the one who found a solution. Up until this point, even though he had been working toward his goal of becoming a doctor and curing her, he¡¯d still been hoping for some other solution. However, it was becoming increasingly more obvious that wasn¡¯t going to happen anytime soon without him. -------------------------- Mortimer was smart. Maybe a genius, maybe not. However, there isn¡¯t much need to make a distinction between a very determined intelligent person and a genius. Mortimer was smart, but he had been lazy for most of his life. His determination had ramped up after Solara¡¯s collapse, and that allowed him to get ahead. However, now Mortimer now cast aside the things he¡¯d formally devoted most of his time to. Books, games, and other entertainment. He recognized the need for a minimum amount of relaxation to not go crazy. It wasn¡¯t obvious whether he successfully achieved these amounts, though, because those watching him could tell he was obsessed. However, Mortimer managed to maintain a positive attitude. At least, on those occasions when he wasn¡¯t studying, or busy with his clinicals, and later during his residency, he still got along well with his family and friends. Of course, they were somewhat worried for him. Even his parents worried, though they were also quite happy at his successes. After only a few years, a bit more than half the time it would have normally taken, Mortimer was a doctor. Of course, he was still new. Normally, that would make him unable to participate in research, at least not on the subject of his choice. However, much of that was a problem of money. A problem Mortimer¡¯s parents were happy to help with. If Mortimer had been playing around and spending their money for entertainment, it would be an entirely different manner. Even then, they would likely have somewhat supported him. However, he wasn¡¯t playing around. In addition to money, such an endeavor would also take time. Mortimer knew that, but he was hoping he would somehow succeed quickly. Did he think he was better than everyone that came before him? Well, actually, Mortimer kind of did think that. However, he also knew that he could build off of the work others had done. More importantly, there hadn¡¯t been all that much research concentrated on this condition, to the point that it didn¡¯t even have a name. Thus, Mortimer finally started down the path to a cure, one that everything he¡¯d done in the past 6 years had been for. //End Chapter 97 Author¡¯s note: At this point, it¡¯s probably pretty obvious, but the story will probably be over next chapter¡­ or maybe in a few, if I feel there is more to say. It won¡¯t continue much beyond that, because quite frankly I don¡¯t think it would be interesting and I would just be typing words for the sake of words. Necromancer - Chapter 98 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 98 Searching for a cure required Mortimer to spend less time in a lab than he expected. Not that it wasn¡¯t a long process, but there wasn¡¯t as much standing around in a labcoat looking into a vial of something. However, there was also a lot more human testing than he was expecting. Not on an actual person, of course. That would have been a recipe for disaster. Instead, he found himself in a familiar sort of space, one in which he had spent a lot of time. Virtual reality. As Mortimer well knew, the human body was extremely complicated. Thus, it was hard to perfectly simulate how it worked. However, near-perfect simulations were relatively much easier. It was one of these that he was working with. In front of him was a simulation of someone with the same condition as Solara. Although Mortimer didn¡¯t particularly care about being able to cure the disease in general, he couldn¡¯t stand to experiment on a likeness of Solara. Even though the visuals could be changed, Mortimer would still know. In addition to that, it wasn¡¯t likely that a real cure would be significantly different from person to person. One version would be able to fix all of those who don¡¯t end up with special complications. Even if the cure was correct, of course, it would still take time to be useful. One of the perks of virtual reality was that time could be sped up. The human mind couldn¡¯t handle much more than four times normal speed, but it didn¡¯t have to. After all, the doctor didn¡¯t need to experience all of the time, just observe what happens after certain amounts of time. It was set up so that time would stop advancing upon any significant changes in the condition of the ¡°patient¡±. As a starting point, Mortimer had administered the drugs used to treat any even vaguely similar condition. As could be expected, there were few positive effects, and many negative reactions. Otherwise, the condition would likely have been cured already. Mortimer tried various combinations of these as well. He could theoretically experiment on multiple ¡°people¡± at once, but of course the processing power of the system would have to be split, so it wasn¡¯t useful for his purposes as it wasn¡¯t any faster. If he wanted to compare what happened side-by-side, there were always recordings of everything that happened, which were much easier to play back than calculate to begin with. Overall, it was a very boring process. There weren¡¯t any sudden bursts of inspiration, where he could just whip up something that would work. However, he got a few ideas that might eventually lead in the right direction. Mortimer thought back to his time in Royal Road, mixing poisons. It was much, much, easier to cause bad things to happen to people than to fix something. It wasn¡¯t even that hard to cause fairly specific problems, because with poisons you didn¡¯t care much about the side effects. After all, what was the harm if your deadly toxin also happened to cause loss of feeling in the lower body? After one year, Mortimer had made very little progress. However, very little was not none. One formulation he¡¯d come up with actually managed to briefly bring the patient to consciousness, for a few weeks. However, it couldn¡¯t be called a cure at all, since they were barely functional, and quickly degraded back to how they were, before further advancing toward death. Mortimer was completely in awe of those who had come up with medicines before virtual reality. Having to experiment on humans would basically be fruitless, except in the case of a plague. It would still take quite a large amount of time to experiment on mice, and of course the tests weren¡¯t going to be perfect. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The next year, Mortimer had various other times where the patients successfully regained consciousness, but they all had problems afterwards. With lesser doses, the side effects weren¡¯t as bad, but the positive effects were almost nonexistent. Still, Mortimer wasn¡¯t going to give up. He had a goal, and he was going to complete it. Plus, he had to admit that experimentation was sometimes a little bit fun. When it wasn¡¯t boring or stressful. After a few years, and what Mortimer experienced as about 10 more, he actually had something. It wasn¡¯t a cure, exactly. However, with continuous use, the patient could function mostly normally. At least, they would be able to be conscious, and get up and walk around. They were still not healthy, though. Still, it was good enough that Mortimer was finally willing to use it on a scan of Solara. The effects¡­ well, they were to be expected. No significant difference from the generic patient. Fortunately, that meant no unexpected side effects either. Was it good enough? The answer was both yes and no. It was good enough to use. Mortimer would be able to see Solara up and moving again. She could at least start living life again. However, it still wasn¡¯t good enough. It wasn¡¯t a cure. Thus, Mortimer wasn¡¯t going to stop where he was at. Still, he was proud of himself for finding a way to help Solara. Well, there were also those other people with the same condition, too, but that wasn¡¯t important to Mortimer. Upon thinking about it, Mortimer realized the yet unnamed disease might actually be names. According to tradition, it would be either names after the doctor who found a cure, or more likely, the most famous patient with it. Frankly, Mortimer didn¡¯t like the sound of ¡°Vail¡¯s disease¡± and of course ¡°Perrywinkle¡¯s disease¡± was just stupid. Well, hopefully someone would come up with a better name. Synthesizing the compound in the real world wasn¡¯t a trivial process, but neither was it too difficult. After going through the approval process, it was finally starting to be produced. Next, it was administered to those who needed it, though of course Mortimer wasn¡¯t specifically involved with any but Solara. First, small doses would be administered to make sure that there was no strange reaction in the real world that the simulation failed to reproduce. Then, after steady increases in dosages, Solara should awake. Mortimer wanted to wait by her hospital bed for that, but unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t. He still had other work to do. However, in his heart, he was sitting there, waiting for the moment she awoke. He still had things that he needed to say to her, after all. //End Chapter 98 Author¡¯s Note: I don¡¯t want to draw this series out too long, but I also don¡¯t want to abruptly cut it off. So, I¡¯m still left with my approximation of 1+ chapters to go. Necromancer - Chapter 99 Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 99 Waiting a few weeks for the medicine to take effect was a lot worse in real life than in the virtual reality. After all, virtual reality could shorten the process to a matter of minutes. Real life didn¡¯t have that luxury, so Mortimer would have to wait. He wouldn¡¯t have actually minded just waiting, spending time at Solara¡¯s side. He could be the first person she saw when she woke up. Unfortunately, he had other things he had to do. Like his job. Unfortunately, effectively taking a few weeks off for no reason wasn¡¯t a good way to maintain a career. Mortimer¡¯s job now heavily leaned towards research. He wasn¡¯t involved in inpatient care, which was probably the best result for everyone. Not that he wasn¡¯t qualified, but he wouldn¡¯t have been the most sympathetic doctor. In fact, having experienced death many times, his empathy for other¡¯s pain was lower, instead of becoming better for the understanding. However, eventually, the call came to Mortimer. Solara had awoken. As soon as he could, Mortimer rushed over to her room. Seeing her awake sparked an emotional reaction from Mortimer, but not one that was particularly visible. Their reunion¡­ couldn¡¯t be considered particularly emotionally touching. Solara smiled weakly, which was probably about all she was up to at this point. At first, Mortimer had wanted to ask the question he had intended to ask her before she collapsed. However, he soon realized that was a terrible idea. Solara was, quite reasonably, still somewhat confused about her circumstances. So, Mortimer explained her condition, as well as the time that had passed. He wanted to say ¡°I¡¯ve been searching for a cure¡­ for you!¡± However, it was an extremely corny thing to say, however true. More importantly, although he was capable of quite clearly speaking out the technical details of her condition as well as other things, anytime he tried to say anything other than that to her, his throat seized up, and he couldn¡¯t speak. ¡°I missed you¡± ¡°I want to hear you sing again¡± ¡°I want to see you laugh and smile¡±, none of those could be said. Besides Mortimer, others also came to see her again. Her parents, of course, as well as some other relatives that Mortimer only vaguely knew of. A few friends from school, including Angela and Alex, the pairing of which surprised her. Everyone talked about many things, and through them Solara learned many of the things Mortimer hadn¡¯t, wouldn¡¯t, and couldn¡¯t say. It was probably better that was, since if Mortimer had told his tale himself, he quite likely would have come off as arrogant. In truth, he was a bit arrogant, but he also wasn¡¯t the type who bragged much. -------------------------- Mortimer wasn¡¯t completely sure if he even wanted to ask the same question he had been intending to ask before. It wasn¡¯t something that had to be asked quickly, in any event. As Solara took her time to recover, he thought about it. Finally, she was ready to be up and about. She wasn¡¯t full of energy, but that was to be expected even if she was completely cured. It would take some time for her body to get used to moving again. Finally, on the day she was due to be released, Mortimer asked her a question. It wasn¡¯t the same question. After 10 years, people could change. He didn¡¯t want to ask ¡°will you go out with me?¡± right now. Instead, he thought of something he definitely wanted to ask. ¡°Solara¡­ do you want to play Royal Road with me?¡± Mortimer could feel himself become very nervous, moreso than when fighting a dragon. Over time, people could change. Mortimer was older, and even Solara looked older. Mortimer had actually become a doctor, which was something that couldn¡¯t have been expected even slightly before he started playing Royal Road. Certainly, Solara hadn¡¯t been conscious for most of the time, but traumatic events could change people. Thus, Mortimer was worried what she was going to say. His heart almost stopped when she said, ¡°okay,¡± and smiled at him. -------------------------- It was weird to go back into Royal Road after so many years of not playing. Quietus couldn¡¯t say he was anywhere near the top of the game anymore, but then again he¡¯d never really been ¡°at the top¡±, just ¡°higher than average¡±. Plus, he didn¡¯t really care about that. The game had changed quite a bit, after all decades had passed in the world since he first started. His undead army¡­ Quietus felt it was all dead. Only a handful of minions were left alive. Well, that was to be expected, since they were just sitting in the game the whole time. People hunted undead. Frankly, he was surprised that any were alive. They weren¡¯t just hiding in the ground, either. That meant something interesting must have happened¡­ unless they just ended up in obscure places that nobody went to. It could possibly have happened, in a world of this size. However, Quietus was pretty sure that was not the case, based on the levels he was seeing. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The first thing Quietus did was meet up with Ruby. Seeing her standing there, pretty and confident, was a very nice feeling. Out of the game, he still found Solara attractive, but she wasn¡¯t particularly healthy looking, which made him feel somewhat sad. Here, though, she was vibrant and active. Quietus realized she should probably stop watching her and actually go meet her. There was a rather large level disparity between the two of them now, since Quietus had at least somewhat played for a few more years, but that wasn¡¯t a big problem. Certainly, it reduced their effectiveness as a party, but that didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t fun. They didn¡¯t have a particular goal to head towards, since any quests they had had were long since worthless. However, Quietus did come up with an idea of where to go. He wanted to see what his remaining minions were up to. Obviously, they would have to be Destroyers, since those were more intelligent than the rest. He could just call them to him, but that wouldn¡¯t be as fun. His undead seemed to be set up in a remote, poisonous swamp. The poison obviously wasn¡¯t a problem for Quietus, and he could create various types of potions to protect Solara as well. Fighting monsters on the way let Quietus build up a nice little army, which was excellent for Solara to buff, though probably somewhat unnecessary. Along the way, they actually saw a surprisingly large number of people, since it was such a remote location. After some spying observation¡­ no, it was spying, Quietus found out something. The groups were looking for a raid boss rumored to appear in the area. It was said there was a giant, undead dragon that appeared. The players had also heard the rumors of a goblin riding on his back, but that was pretty ridiculous so nobody believed it. Obviously, though, the dragon was Sir Draco. As for how he had survived this long, Quietus wasn¡¯t exactly sure. However, Ruby came up with a perfectly good explanation. ¡°The stronger, high level players probably all know he¡¯s not actually a raid boss. After all, there isn¡¯t really a quest or dungeon involved with him. Some of them probably even know he¡¯s someone¡¯s undead minion, and thus not particularly worth killing. After all, he won¡¯t drop any loot, with the exception of armor sized for a dragon.¡± It was a good analysis, and turned out to be quite accurate to the actual truth. However, this didn¡¯t mean there weren¡¯t still players trying to kill Sir Draco. They just weren¡¯t very organized. Since he had survived this long, Quietus saw no point in killing the players in the area. After all, it wasn¡¯t like they would suddenly become a threat after 6 years. After not too much longer, Quietus and Ruby came to the site of a battle. There were probably about a hundred players, though they seemed to be several different groups instead of one unit. In addition to the players, there were even more bodies. Quietus heard the roar of a dragon, as Sir Draco swooped over the players. Quietus was quite glad he had enchanted the armor to repair itself. It was looking somewhat dull, but still quite functional. Probably about a dozen players fell to teeth and claws, as well as a few being swept over by wings hitting them. On Sir Draco¡¯s back¡­ was indeed a tiny goblin. Though, one wouldn¡¯t necessarily be able to tell, with everything covering him. Somehow, Lucky had managed to find a full set of gear. Though, set wasn¡¯t really the right term. Set would imply that it matched. Instead, every single piece varied in type, size, and color. Quietus wasn¡¯t even sure if any of it counted as being equipped, except maybe the hat. The second hat probably didn¡¯t count though. From atop Sir Draco¡¯s back, Lucky threw a rock. It hit a wizard right on the head. A critical hit! Well, probably. Quietus observed the wizard¡¯s reaction, which was to flinch for a second. Well, it wasn¡¯t a particularly big rock. It seemed Lucky¡¯s contribution to battle was approximately the same as it had always been. The battle was rather fun to watch. After reuniting with Sir Draco and Lucky, though, Quietus wasn¡¯t sure what to do next. He asked Solara who responded, ¡°Well, maybe for our next date, we can go see a movie. I wonder if they¡¯ve gotten any better.¡± She grinned at him. Quietus was briefly stunned. She said the word. Well, there wasn¡¯t much else to call an activity where you spent time exclusively with someone you liked. ¡°Yeah. Maybe we can go see Iron Man IX or something.¡± //End Chapter 99 Author Note: Well, the series is pretty much finished. Next will be an epilogue chapter, though I might just call it chapter 100. Necromancer - Chapter 100 (Epilogue) Before I start this, people have been asking if I''m going to write anything else. I already have been. Visit https://halostystales.wordpress.com/ to see it. I have a couple stories going there, and I hope you like them. Even if you don''t want to make a wordpress account to comment, just seeing numbers from people visiting makes me happy, though I do enjoy comments. Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 100 (Epilogue) Mortimer stared into a beaker and shook it. Entirely for fun, of course. This beaker wasn¡¯t relevant to actual work. As he looked over the data he had collected, he had to admire all of those who had come before virtual reality that had come up with cures of any kind. How did they do it? Sure, with effectively live human experimentation, Mortimer had made progress, and would continue to do so, but without the luxuries he had available¡­ he wasn¡¯t sure he could have gotten far. What did the people before him do? Human experimentation? Certainly, there was some of that. Clinical trials, and such. However, there was only so much you could try there. After all, you had to be reasonably certain that you wouldn¡¯t kill the patients. Often, medicine could be tested on mice and rats, but only to the point of testing whether they would die, except in the cases where there were shared conditions. In short, Mortimer thought those who came before him were quite impressive. He didn¡¯t think he could do what they had done. However¡­ with what he had now such as virtual reality, he was confident he could come up with a cure, or at least a better partial cure. He wanted to improve Solara¡¯s quality and quantity of life as much as possible. However, he wasn¡¯t going to throw himself into his research so far as to exclude everything else. After all, if he couldn¡¯t spend time with her, it would be ultimately a pointless effort. Solara herself went through physical therapy, because her muscles had atrophied somewhat from disuse. Even artificial stimulation of the muscles only worked so much. Natural exercise was better. After that, Solara returned to school. After all, she had not finished her university education, and she wanted to. Though Mortimer was entirely willing to provide for any expenses she would have, she continued her education more than just for the sake of a job. She wouldn¡¯t be able to sit around being useless, doing nothing, or almost nothing. She was the type of person who needed the ability to be independent. However, although she had the capability, that didn¡¯t mean she had to actually do everything on her own. Mortimer fully intended to marry Solara, but they weren¡¯t planning to rush into it. Mortimer¡¯s parents were very pleased with how he had matured. Starting from a lazy, spoiled rich kid, he became a hardworking, successful adult. He was still probably a bit spoiled, though. Angela and Alex continued to be together, which was convenient for Mortimer since that meant he could hang out with more people he cared about at the same time more easily. He was also happy that they seemed happy. Master Valarao occasionally got in touch with Mortimer, and he upheld his promise to make sure he kept up with training. Mortimer enjoyed being fit and healthy, and it unexpectedly came in handy on a couple occasions. Even if he didn¡¯t keep up the same intensity of training he had in the past, he found time to maintain his condition. Mortimer wasn¡¯t content to just have a life of just working and dating Solara. Although of course adults had jobs, it was pointless for that to be the main feature of adult life. Jobs were things to allow you to maintain your lifestyle, and possibly to better the world. This meant that you had to have a lifestyle outside of work, which Mortimer had. Though, it mainly consisted of playing Royal Road, as well as a few other games that had shown up, though Mortimer also still enjoyed reading various forms of fiction. Even though he had enough money that he could probably live comfortably without working any more, he still had to do the improving the world aspect of his job. Specifically, helping Solara. Mortimer didn¡¯t mind if he helped other people as a side effect of that. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. //End Chapter 100, Epilogue Final Notes: I wasn¡¯t expecting to actually write this much when I started this fan fiction. I mostly just wanted to create a character that contrasted with Weed from Royal Road. It just started as the idea that Weed (I don¡¯t even remember his real name >_<) was poor and hardworking, and Mortimer was rich and lazy, but they would both end up playing Royal Road in very different ways. Weed enjoyed it as a game, but also viewed it as a job. He strived to reach the top. Mortimer¡­ just played it as a game. He wasn¡¯t the type who cared about being on top. Not everyone is. One important question people have been having: Are you going to write anything else? Yes, absolutely. I¡¯ve been writing other stuff. I guess you missed my ¡°I¡¯m back post¡±, forgot about it, or didn¡¯t care. Also, you didn¡¯t read the top of this post. Go to halostystales.wordpress.com to see. I¡¯m only repeating it so much because I want everyone to know that it exists. I¡¯m not saying you have to like everything I write, but I don¡¯t want people to miss out on possibly liking it because they didn¡¯t know. As for any unanswered questions¡­ I think they are mostly not important. I¡¯m going to throw some out there and pretend to answer some of them anyway. Do Solara and Mortimer have kids? Who knows. Imagine the possibility that you like the most, it doesn¡¯t really matter. Is Alex a guy or a girl? *Shrugs* I¡¯m sure most of you already have an opinion in your head anyway. However, there was that darn neutral gender option in the character creation, and I just couldn¡¯t let it go unused. Does Solara die? Absolutely. So does Mortimer. In fact, everyone dies. That¡¯s what happens to humans. Immortality drugs don¡¯t come about for a while yet. What about those people Mortimer killed? They¡¯re dead, obviously. There are actually a surprisingly large amount of unsolved deaths that happen every year. Those specific people died as the point that Mortimer actually isn¡¯t a good person. He¡¯s not the worst person, but he¡¯s not a good one. Thanks everyone for reading! I really mean that. It¡¯s almost pointless to write without feedback (and especially positive feedback). Instead of goodbye, I think I¡¯m going to say ¡°See you later.¡± Hopefully, I will. (Did I mention I have a wordpress? Because I feel like you probably know that by now.)