《The Encroaching Rift [Dropped]》 Chapter 1: The Reckoning Chapter 1: The Reckoning Hwaah. Letting out a loud groan/sigh I stretched my aching muscles across my bed. I sighed in relief as the tenseness in my muscles slowly faded away. Man that felt good. Rubbing my eyes furiously, I glanced to my right to check the time. 9:30 AM. Huh, it wasn¡¯t that late. Now this might not seem that early to you but it was a weekend and I had only gone to bed a couple of hours ago. After all, who didn¡¯t want to sleep in on the weekend? Unfortunately I couldn¡¯t sleep in for longer since I had chores to do today. Hopefully I would get done earlier than usual and then I would be able to take a nap. But who knew what today had in store for me. Since today was a Saturday, I didn¡¯t really have anything important to do except for a couple of chores. However if I didn¡¯t get up now to do some of my chores, I never would. Then I would get in trouble for being lazy and probably get some measly punishment. I didn¡¯t really feel like going through all that hassle so I decided just to get up. Stepping off my bed I tripped on the floor as I walked towards my closet. Ugh, why did such a small injury cause so much pain? Holding my toe in anguish, I kicked the offending object that had assaulted me. One of my shoes flew across my room landing with a loud thud. Whoops, hopefully no one heard that. Turning on my light so I could see, I grabbed some clothes from my closet and headed towards the bathroom. Once I got in there I took a quick but thorough shower. I wasn¡¯t one of those people who took forever in the shower. Honestly, I was exactly the opposite. After I finished washing myself in the shower I would immediately get out. I had things to do after all and I didn¡¯t feel like wasting valuable time just so I could shower for a few more minutes. Once I was done I showering I dried myself off with a nearby towel. As I was drying myself off I glanced in the mirror to see how I looked. My build was about average although I had a little bit of muscle on me since I only quit baseball about three years ago. I had black hair and brown eyes that I ended up inheriting from my mom. In just a couple months I would be seventeen and I would only have to go to high school for one more year. But I¡¯ll still have to go to college after high school anyways but I¡¯ll worry about that when the time comes. After I took care of my basic necessities such as brushing my teeth and straightening my hair, I went inside my room to grab a jacket. I didn¡¯t know how it felt outside but it was pretty cold here in my house. After I put on my jacket I headed downstairs so I could make myself some breakfast. I didn¡¯t want to miss it since it was the most important meal of the day, or at least that was what my mom told me. I had gone without breakfast before and I hadn¡¯t felt a single difference. But who knew, it might¡¯ve been just me. The moment I walked into our kitchen, I grabbed myself some cereal and poured it into a bowl. As I ate, I realized that there was something next to my napkin. Curious, I picked up the object which took the form of a yellow sticky note. The gist of it was my mom telling me, Colm, to remember to take out the trash and that she and dad will be back in a couple of hours since they were out shopping. At least they didn¡¯t take me with them. Not only would it be too early, but I didn¡¯t enjoy shopping to begin with. After I finished reading the note, I got up and washed my dishes in the sink. Once my dishes were cleaned, I took out the trash and threw it in the garbage can. Glancing up at the sky I noticed that it was a beautiful shade of blue. The sun was already out, heating up the area around me. It wasn¡¯t that hot but I knew that in a few hours sweat would be pouring down my skin. It would have been a beautiful day if it wasn¡¯t for the heat. I personally preferred winter rather than summer since you can just put more clothes on until you¡¯re warm. But in the summer once you have taken off a certain amount of clothing there¡¯s nothing you can really do about the heat. After I finished day dreaming, I pulled out my phone and looked to see if I had any new emails or messages. While I did this, I began walking up my driveway in order to check the mail. Scanning through all of the non-important emails that I could read later as I walked, I soon reached the mailbox. But before I could reach my hand into the mailbox, a mysterious blue box appeared in front of me.
Welcome! Because you humans have decided to squander your lives, the powers above have decided that you shouldn''t control it! Therefore they are combining your world with another one in order to make things more interesting. How and why can they do this? Well¡­.You don¡¯t need to know! But don''t worry, if you live, you will be stronger because of it. So go out there and survive!
5:00 minutes remaining until the opening of rifts
What the fuck?! Confused I tried swiping the blue box away. My waving only made the box shimmer and reform a few seconds later. After a few seconds of struggling I managed to push the box towards my left so I could see what was in front of me. A blue box blocking my sight wouldn¡¯t help anyone. Was I hallucinating? Looking around I saw one of my neighbors with a surprised face in the distance staring off into space. Either he was just daydreaming or he was seeing the same things that I was seeing. And I highly doubt that he would stop jogging just to daydream. So I didn¡¯t think it was just me. What did all of this mean? I could hardly wrap my head around the fact that something as strange as this was happening. It just didn¡¯t make any sense. Stuff like this never happened. Ever. The only solution I could come up with was that this was the beginning of an apocalypse. No destruction had happened yet but I was pretty sure it was only a matter of time. When I was young I always fantasized about a zombie apocalypse of some sort happening but as I grew older that childhood fantasy faded away. An apocalypse would only bring forth death, something that I wanted no part of. I thought that an apocalypse would never happen. After all, it just wasn¡¯t scientifically possible for something like this to happen. But the clock currently ticking down was in the process of proving me wrong. My musings were cut short when I realized that something was wrong. A horrified look crossed my face once I realized just what I had done. I was wondering why my hand felt empty until I realized I must have dropped it due to the shock of a blue box appearing in front of me. But where was it? My phone was pretty important to me and I couldn¡¯t imagine living without it. Not only that but I didn¡¯t even know if my parents would buy me a new one. My heart began to race inside my chest as I glanced around for a small silver rectangular object. Turning around I was just in time to see it slip into the little outlet of the sewer near my house. Fuck What were the odds of something like that happening? My phone could¡¯ve just landed on the ground and stayed on the spot it landed on. But no, it just had to go down the outlet. I knew that something like that would happen someday. When I was young I was afraid that I would fall down that outlet on a rainy day. I would just get swept in, never to be seen again. This was part of the reason I usually kept my distance from it. I wasn¡¯t afraid of the sewer outlet, I was just wary. However my mailbox was right next to the outlet which was why I was close to it when my phone fell. Not only would I have to get my phone from the sewers, I would need to get it quickly. The reason for the urgency was because I wanted to have my phone in my hand before the timer ran out. I didn¡¯t know what would happen but I know it wouldn¡¯t be anything good. I glanced at the timer quickly to see how much time I had left.
3:45 minutes remaining until the opening of rifts
Tch, that¡¯s barely enough time to do anything. With adrenaline rushing throughout body I pulled the top of the sewer away as quickly as I could. Shit, how heavy was this thing? Although it took quite a bit of straining on my part, I managed to pull it to the side. Hopping onto the ladder I began to descend as quickly and safely as I could. As I climbed down there were a couple close calls where I almost slipped and tumbled down into the sewers. One minute later and I stood safely on the ground of the sewer. But before I could begin looking for my phone, I heard a peculiar sound. Ding!
Achievement: You are the first person to discover a dungeon! Choose Reward: Mana Affinity Skill or Weapon Affinity skill *Experience will be doubled for one week*
Hmmm, now this was a hard choice. Mana affinity skill would most likely help me with magic while the Weapon Affinity Skill would help me use a variety of weapons. Since I didn¡¯t have any sort of weapon on me at the current time and being a mage sounded interesting, I decided on the mana affinity skill. After all who didn¡¯t want to be able to cast fireballs from their hand? I didn¡¯t know if I could click mana affinity skill to make my choice so I just decided to say it instead. ¡°Mana Affinity Skill¡± I watched as the box I was looking at disappeared in blue dissolving particles. Before I could do anything else I heard another sound. Ding!
New title gained! The Peerless Descender Description: You are the first person to enter a dungeon in the entire world, be proud of your bravery and explore the unknown. Effects: Your mind is more resistant to psychological effects such as fear or insanity. Illusions are less effective against you.
What?! I could hardly believe that I had just walked into a dungeon. Not only that, I even gained a skill and a title. For some reason the moment I saw the blue boxes a clump of information was dumped into my head. I now understood that this world was now game-like and that I had to train skills in order to grow stronger and survive. Unlike my previous world there were now monsters that would kill me if they saw me. I made a mental note to be careful in the future. For a brief moment I wondered if other people had this information given to them or if I was just one of the luck few. Who knew? I would have to think about later when I wasn¡¯t pressed for time. Screw my phone, I needed to get the hell out of here. I could always come back for it later. But when I heard another ding, a horrified expression returned on my face once more.
Times up! I hope you all are all ready and prepared for this because I know I sure am. Let the apocalypse begin!
You have got to be kidding me. Climbing back up as quickly as I could, I soon realized that the top of the sewer was back on. I knew for a fact that I had left it open. Hopefully this dungeon wouldn¡¯t be stupid and be like I need to defeat the boss before I can leave. That would never happen¡­..right? After a few seconds of climbing I finally managed to reach the top. Sticking one hand underneath the cover, I pushed with all of my strength. Yet the cover of the sewer never moved an inch. Tch, was I not using enough strength? Sticking both of my legs through the ladder and closing them, I used both of my arms this time to try and move the cover. But the more I pushed, the more I was certain that it would be impossible. As I thought that I once again heard a familiar sound. Ding!
Leaving this dungeon is not allowed until the final boss of this dungeon is defeated.
Man, I never should have gone down here for my phone. But what¡¯s done is done and I needed to move on. According to the knowledge that was dropped inside my head, monsters and loot would spawn inside dungeons. There were also some special dungeons that wouldn¡¯t let you leave until you completed the specific requirements that it gave. It seemed that the special dungeon I was in required me to defeat the final boss before I good leave. Great. While I was thinking of this, I finally managed to safely climb down the ladder. I took a few minutes to catch my breath even though I didn¡¯t feel that panicked. Shouldn¡¯t I be panicking? Wasn¡¯t that the normal thing to do? Didn¡¯t I have a skill that dealt with something like that? Now was a good a time as any to clear all of these blue boxes that filled the left side of my vision. But first things first, I needed to know where I was. According to the knowledge inside my head all I needed to do was say a specific word and I would get information about it. ¡°Dungeon¡±
Dungeon - The Sinister Sewers Description: An old decrepit sewer that stretches on for miles. There is barely any light due to the fact of poor maintenance, so prepare to embrace the darkness. Tiles on the ground are uprooted by chunks of earth making pathways unstable. Oh, and it is also infested with monsters.
Huh, I didn¡¯t know that the sewer near my house was this long. I also didn¡¯t know how I felt being in a dungeon with little to no light. I was pretty sure that the monsters had night vision while I didn¡¯t. The only reason I could see now was because there was a dim lightbulb above me. But from what I could see it was the only one of its kind. Hopefully the monsters weren¡¯t that strong in this dungeon since I was all alone down here. I didn¡¯t know how I would fare in combat since I had never gotten in a fight in my life. Oh well, I would deal with it when the time came. By concentrating on the blue box and moving my eyes to the left quickly, I managed to clear the screen about the dungeon away. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. The next thing I wanted to see was my Mana Affinity Skill. From my general knowledge I could assume mana was basically magic or it had something to do with magic. Maybe this skill would enable me to use magic or at least help me use it. I would be lying if I said I wasn¡¯t a little bit excited to use magic. If I could use magic, nothing would be impossible. I could fly through the air, shoot lightning out of my hands, or even make meteorites come crashing down from the sky. But I was getting ahead of myself. I hadn¡¯t even looked at the skill yet. If it did help me use magic like I thought, I would need to learn how to use it in order to get out of this dungeon alive. Now how to look at my Magic Affinity Skill. Racking my brain I decided to just say the word skill like I did with dungeon. ¡°Skills¡±
Mana Affinity Skill
Skill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: Unique
Skill Level: 1Exp: 2%
Effects: Any skill using mana cost 1% less. You are more sensitive to the mana. This enables you to know when someone is about to cast a spell due to the amount of mana being gathered. Anything mana related comes easier to you.
According to the skill rank, this skill should only be unique to me. Nice, I¡¯m not greedy per se but there¡¯s nothing like having a skill that no one else has. The skill I had chosen gave me a variety of effects such as a reduced mana cost. Now the reduced mana cost might not seem like a lot, but you have to remember that the skill is only at level 1. If the skill goes up 1% per level then that mean at level 100 I won¡¯t need to pay any mana cost. Or so I think. I probably wouldn¡¯t even get it that far leveled up anyways. But who knew? The next thing my skill stated was that I was more sensitive to mana. My body was so sensitive that I would be able to tell if someone was casting a spell with mana. This was good because I would be able to dodge spells easier since I knew where they were coming from. The last thing my skill stated was that anything mana related comes easier to me. What did that even mean? I guess the only thing I can do is try to use magic. That way I would be able to understand the true meaning of my skill. But before I did that, I wanted to check on my title to refresh my memory. When it first popped up I only managed to look at it for a couple of seconds. ¡°Titles¡±
The Peerless Descender Description: You are the first person to enter a dungeon in the entire world, be proud of your bravery and explore the unknown. Effects: Your mind is more resistant to psychological effects such as fear or insanity
Huh, so that was why I wasn¡¯t panicking before. My title had helped calm me down when I first started panicking. I could already so how this skill was going to be useful in the future. As I was thinking about this, my mind began to wander and I was soon thinking about how life was on the surface. I could hardly imagine what was going on in the streets above. More than likely it was filled with hysteria and panic. If monsters came out of nowhere and started killing people I would be panicking too. But I needed to worry about my own situation now rather than worry about somebody else¡¯s. Now the last thing I needed to look as was my stats. ¡°Character¡± I waited for a response only to receive silence. Well that was awkward. Scratching my head I began to ponder on what else to say. The information I had mysteriously received only told me that I needed to say a word in order to look at my stats. However it conveniently left out the word that I needed to say which was why I was trying to figure out the magic word. ¡°Colm¡± Hmm, still nothing. What could it be? ¡°Status¡± This time when I said something a blue box filled my vision.
Status Window
NameColm Marythou
Age: 16Race: Human
Level: 1Gender: Male
TitlesThe Peerless Descender
Health: 100/100Mana: 100/100
Stamina: 100/100
~
Strength: 10Agility: 10
Vitality: 8Dexterity: 9
Intelligence:11Wisdom:12
Luck:0
~
Skills
Mana Affinity
Unallocated Points:0
According to my status I was only level 1. This meant that I was pathetically weak and I needed to change that as soon as possible. I was almost positive that the enemies I would be fighting wouldn¡¯t be level 1. Hopefully they wouldn¡¯t be too high above my left or I would never be leaving these sewers. But the only way to level up was to defeat monsters, even if they were a higher level than me. But before that I needed to find my phone to make sure my family is all right. I didn¡¯t know the situation on the surface so it could¡¯ve been better or worse than me. It didn¡¯t really matter which one it was, I just wanted to make sure that my family was alright. Now that I had finish checking all of the stuff I needed to, I took a moment to look at my surroundings. Drip¡­¡­..drop¡­¡­..Drip¡­¡­.drop Now that I wasn¡¯t focused on anything, the sound of water dripping could be heard clearly. I glanced towards the murky ceiling just in time to see another water droplet fall. I was surprised that the sewer even had some water left seeing as how it hadn¡¯t rained in a couple of weeks. As I looked around I began to notice a few things that wouldn¡¯t be in normal sewers. One thing I noticed about the sewer I was in was the ground. Normally the ground would be composed of tiles with some water separating them here and there. However if I looked below me I could see soil and earth. Several tiles had been uprooted somehow and left only the cold earth in its stead. Maybe it was because of the dungeon I was in. I had never been down here before so I didn¡¯t really know if that guess was true. It was still odd nonetheless. The walls around me were made up with bricks of various colors. Some of the bricks were crumbled while others were jutting out of the wall. In the distance to my right I could see a pool of water. Over there was where the water was dripping off of the ceiling. But as I looked closer I realized that I would never be able to drink that water. It was filled with mud and unmentionable things and it would take years for it to ever be clean again. Although I looked around a decent distance, my phone was nowhere in sight. The reason I didn¡¯t look farther was because I couldn¡¯t see without the lightbulb above me. Without warning a cold draft went straight through my clothes and chilled me to my bones. It was at that moment that I was glad I had worn a jacket today. Before I could start exploring and looking for my phone I needed something to defend myself with. I was virtually defenseless, there was no way I was venturing into the unknown without some kind of weapon. The monsters out there would tear me apart otherwise. I patted down my pockets and looked around. There was nothing in my immediate vicinity that I could use as a weapon. What else was there? And then I remembered something important. Magic! My Mana Affinity Skill stated that anything mana related should come easier to me. Therefore it should make creating a spell easier for me. But how was I supposed to create a spell? Racking my brain for a few minutes I decided to try to cast a fireball. If it worked I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about heating or an attack spell. Sticking my hand out in front of me, I uttered the chant. ¡°Fireball!¡± But nothing happened. Fuck. I didn¡¯t really expect it to work but it was still disappointing to see nothing happen. Since nothing happened I was obviously doing something wrong. But what was I doing wrong? Once again I took a few minutes to think. In an rpg I once played, my mage needed to gather mana before he could cast a spell. Maybe I would need to do the same thing or something similar to it. Sticking my hand out once again I closed my eyes and concentrated. I needed to find mana that was in the air. Five minutes went by but I still stood in the same spot without moving. After another five minutes I finally managed to clear my mind so I could focus more on gathering mana. I was about to give up when fifteen minutes passed but before I did I felt something. The object, which I assumed was mana, resembled the feeling of dust or dirt swirling around you. Right now I could only feel a few particles but I was sure that there was more. Breathing slowly I spent another ten minutes feeling the mana around me. It was hard, trust me. I was never patient to begin with so this was really a struggle. However I persevered since the end result would be worth all of the boredom. A few minutes later and I was able to feel most of the mana around me. I couldn¡¯t feel every particle of mana, but I still thought it was good enough for a spell. Now that I could sense the mana in the air I started the process of moving it toward my hand. Sweat began to drip from my face as I manipulated the mana towards my hand. This was especially challenging because not only did I had to gather mana by my hand, I also had to keep it there. Yet I still kept going. If I stopped now, I would just have to do it again later. I was close, I could feel it. Minutes passed me by like the cool breeze in the sewer. But after about twenty minutes of manipulating mana I finally had enough. This was where I ran into another problem. What did I do with all of the mana surrounding my hand? At first I was going to choose fire as my element to use but then I realized something. How was I supposed to make fire from my mana? I couldn¡¯t until I had a campfire or something similar. Therefore I decided on the next best element, air. Air was all around me so it wouldn¡¯t be a challenge to mold it with my mana. Earth was also viable but air seemed easier. I could always try earth later so air it was. As another breeze passed me I mentally tried to grab some of the air as it floated by. It took me a couple of tries to get that down since every time I tried grabbing the air it slipped through my mental hands. Once I grabbed some of the air, I pushed it into the mana I had already gathered. This turned out to be quite a hard process. The air and mana didn¡¯t want to combine so I had to force them together. The feeling was similar to pushing to magnets together. If you left them alone they would quickly push each other away. Concentrating on my hand I made the mana assimilate the air. One by one each of the particles slowly became half air half mana. More time passed by as I changed every mana particle that was on my hand. Sweat was now freely pouring down my face. I wasn¡¯t even moving and it already felt like I had ran a marathon. Ten minutes later and I finally finished. Once my mana was changed I made the mass of air take the form of a blade. Manipulated it was hard, but not as hard as before. It seemed the more I practiced manipulating mana the easier it would get. The moment I got my air to take the form of a blade a blue box appeared interrupting my concentration.
Wind Blade
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Common
Skill Level: 1Exp: 5%
Effect: Allows the user to create a sharp blade of wind that can be used in combat.
But before I could utter a sigh of relief, another blue box appeared in my vision.
Achievement: You are the first person to learn/create a spell! Reward: Meditation Skill
Once I read the blue box a smile spread across my face. Trying to create the wind blade had been hard but it had been worth it. Not only did I create an offensive spell I also received another skill as a bonus. Swiping the achievement box away, I took a moment to look at my wind blade spell. Tch, it was only ranked common even though I did all that work to create it. But what did I expect, another unique skill? The skill level was only 1 and I wanted to raise it a couple more levels before I went out and explored. I also wanted to practice with it so I was decent at using it. But before I practice I needed to look the new skill I received. ¡°Meditation Skill¡±
Meditation
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 1Exp: 0
Effects: By sitting down and gathering mana, mana regeneration is increased. The higher the level, the more mana that is regenerated.
Nice, now all I would need to do is sit down and meditate and my mana would regenerate faster. Now I won¡¯t have to wait long periods of time in order to regenerate my mana. Since the level was only one I wouldn¡¯t be able to regenerate that much mana. But as I increased the level, the amount of mana I regenerated would increase as well. This skill would help me train faster and more efficiently. Now onto the next order of business. I needed to train my wind blade spell to a reasonable level. I didn¡¯t want to leave it at level 1 because I didn¡¯t know how strong the enemies in this dungeon were. I would die if I went out unprepared and that was something that I didn¡¯t want to happen. Lifting my hand away from my side I began to concentrate mana toward it. It was time to train. AN: Thanks for reading. This is a remake of chapter 1 and the first part of my remake. More will be coming in a couple of days. Chapter 2: The Treacherous Sewers Chapter 2: The Treacherous Sewers ¡°Wind blade¡± To my surprise the moment I uttered the name wind blade, mana gathered quickly towards my hand. For some reason it was incomparably easier to cast than the first time I tried. Although it still took me a couple of minutes to cast the spell again it was still better than before. This was good because I doubt an enemy would let me wait an hour in order to cast a single spell. Once enough mana was gathered I started converting it. Once the conversion was done I gave the wind blade in my hand a couple of practice swings. The blade in my hand felt nearly weightless as I swung it fluidly through the air. Up, down, sideways, diagonal. I slashed all throughout the air around me watching my blade dance in the air. Yes, with this I could kill something. I stopped swinging after a few minutes in order to catch my breath. From the looks of it, my wind blade could be near invisible in the future. How did I know this? Well while I was training every time I swung my blade it seemed to disappear in the air. Even looking at it now my wind blade just looked like a distortion in the air. If I could level it up enough my enemies would have to fight against an invisible weapon. How can you fight against something you can¡¯t see. But before I could do that, I would need to be able to summon my wind blade faster. Right now it took a couple of minutes to summon one wind blade. That was way too long. Keeping my wind blade out constantly wasn¡¯t an option either since it drained more mana the longer it was out. The mana that I lost would have to be restored which would take a considerable amount of time. Therefore my only option was to shorten the time it took to summon it. The next hour passed by quickly with me summoning and desummoning my wind blade. When I summoned my wind blade I would practice swinging it for about five minutes then I would desummon it. This process was repeated until I ran out of most of my mana. The reason I practiced my attacks in between the summons was because I wanted to be decent at attacking before I fought something for real. It would not do to venture out unprepared. When I finally ran out of most of my mana I sat down on the ground to meditate. With my legs crossed, I closed my eyes and searched for the mana around me. This process took me a couple of minutes. The reason it didn¡¯t take longer was because I knew how mana felt since I had to gather some in order to create my wind blade. Once the mana was located I began to draw it towards me. About thirty minutes later my mana was almost filled to the top. I was surprised that I wasn¡¯t bored while I meditated. The reason for this was because when I drew mana from the air a calming sensation washed over me. It was quite pleasant and it also eased the painful headache that I had. Once I was done meditating I looked to see what my skill level was. I had gotten some notifications about its level but I ignored them since I was training. The notifications took the form of an arrow pointing upwards in the bottom left of my vision. If I wasn¡¯t paying close attention I could easily miss them. I was glad they were this small since they would be annoying if they popped up in the middle of battle and blocked my vision. Mumbling the word skills, I looked at the blue boxes that appeared in my vision.
Wind Blade
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Common
Skill Level: 3Exp: 0%
Effect: Allows the user to create a sharp blade of wind that can be used in combat.
Mana Affinity Skill
Skill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: Unique
Skill Level: 1Exp: 65%
Effects: Any skill using mana cost 1% less. You are more sensitive to the mana. This enables you to know when someone is about to cast a spell due to the amount of mana being gathered. Anything mana related comes easier to you.
Meditation
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 1Exp: 20%
Effects: By sitting down and gathering mana, mana regeneration is increased. The higher the level, the more mana that is regenerated.
Thanks to my hour of training, my wind blade was level three. Not only was my wind blade sharper, it could also become longer. At first the size of my wind blade was only as big as a dagger. But now its length could be between a dagger and a sword. The distortion it made in the air was smaller making it harder to see. By changing how much mana flowed through my blade I could make it smaller if I wanted. In order to make it any bigger I would have to level up my skill more. I decided to stop training here since I wanted to see what the enemies were like in this dungeon. My wind blade skill would probably level up faster too if I fought against real enemies instead of imaginary ones. My mana affinity skill hadn¡¯t leveled up but it was close to it. It seemed that its level rose whenever I trained something magical. My meditation skill wasn¡¯t even close to leveling up but that was understandable. Whenever I wanted to train it I could just sit down and meditate. Meditating for me was actually pretty pleasant so I wouldn¡¯t mind doing it when I had the time. Taking a moment to stretch my aching muscles I began to walk on the path that led to the left. Only by exploring would I know what lay in the darkness. But before I could take a step into the darkness, shadows began to move amok on the side of my vision. I knew that my mind was making it up, but it still made me weary. The moment I stepped into the darkness the shadows disappeared, making the sewers seem even more unnerving. I had wanted the shadows to disappear a few seconds ago but now I wanted them back. Anything was better than this pitch black darkness. I advanced slowly with my hand out in front of me. I couldn¡¯t see anything! Should I just turn back? No, I couldn¡¯t. Heading back wouldn¡¯t change anything. I needed to defeat the boss to get out of the sewers and waiting around wasn¡¯t going to help. The darkness wasn¡¯t just going to up and disappear if I waited. Steeling my resolve I continued my journey of exploring the unknown. Thankfully after walking for about a minute my eyes saw something glow on the side of the sewer walls. Taking a closer look at the glow I soon realized that it was coming from moss. Although the moss didn¡¯t give a lot of light, it still gave some. A little bit of light was better than none. Before I continued on I grabbed some of the moss and placed it on my arm. Because the moss was quite sticky, I didn¡¯t have to try that hard in order to make it stick. I was placing quite a bit of moss on me since who knew what manner of creature could sneak up on me in this perpetual darkness? Without the moss the only thing I could see was darkness. That was it. No moving things, no nothing. Just darkness. I couldn¡¯t even see my hand when I waved it in front of me. So there was no way I was continuing on without the moss. As I gathered pieces of moss I began to think about my family. I wondered if my mom and dad were safe out there on the surface. They should be, I think? My dad was a strong guy and he would protect mom if anything happened. However I didn¡¯t know how he would fare against monsters. Would anyone be able to fare well against monsters? Hopefully if he saw some they were weak ones that he could easily kill. My parents weren¡¯t the only people I was worried about either. My older brother Nate, who was 19, lived only a few minutes away from our house. Right now he was probably at work stocking the shelves or something. How would he fare against a monster? Shaking my head furiously, I slapped myself on both cheeks. I would worry about this later after I got myself out of this predicament. After I collected a good clump of moss that was along my path I began to take a closer look at it only for a blue box to appear.
Luminescent Moss Description: Pieces of this moss glow in the dark unlike most of its brethren. By clumping multiple pieces together, the brightness of the moss will increase. This moss is usually found in damp places devoid of light such as sewers or caves. Effect: Alchemy Ingredient
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. From what the description said, if I clumped up the moss together, its brightness would increase. Nice, now I would have more light which would enable me to see better. The effect also labeled it as an alchemy ingredient. Hmm, this meant that I would be able to use it in alchemy. From what the information in my head told me, alchemy could be used to create items such as potions. However, potions weren¡¯t the only thing that alchemy could help you create. Sadly the information that I received in my head conveniently left out what else alchemy could do. I guess the only way I could find out was by using alchemy. No doubt alchemy would be something interesting. I was getting excited just thinking about it. Thanks to the moss that was covering my body, I could faintly see my surrounding. Everything around me held a faint green glow which was better than seeing nothing. As I walked I kept a cautious eye out for anything that moved. The longer I walked the more my mind wandered. I reviewed what I learned in order to ignore the encroaching darkness at the edge of my vision. One of the things I noticed while I used mana was the more I used it, the more I would feel mental fatigue. Right now I could tell that my mana was around 98%. And for some reason I could roughly guess what it was after I used a spell. Even if it was a little odd, I was glad because of it. This meant that stamina was energy, mana was mental, and my hit points were my health. Right now I only had a measly 100 hit points. If my hit points went to zero, I would probably die. I needed to try my hardest to not let that happen. Hearing an odd sound in front of me, I stopped walking and crouched low near the wall next to me. A couple of feet in front of me I began to hear shuffling and squeaking. It sounded like a¡­.mouse? As I looked at a noticeably large shadow, I recoiled in shock when I realized what it was. This was no mere mouse! I wasn¡¯t even surprised when a blue box filled my vision.
Giant Rat - Lv.4 Hp: 25/25
The giant rat crouched in front of me was about as big as a puppy. It was an ungodly size that no rat should ever reach. Its sharp glistening fangs shined in the darkness whenever it opened its mouth. I didn¡¯t move a single muscle as its eyes roamed over me. The reason it must¡¯ve noticed me so quickly had to be because of the glowing moss that was on me. I was basically a glowing beacon to investigate¡­ or to attack. However if I got rid of the moss I wouldn¡¯t be able to see. Therefore the moss that was on me was a must. I tried inhaling through my nose and exhaling through my mouth in order to calm myself down. I couldn¡¯t remember if it was that way or vice-versa. Either way it was helping. Staring at the giant rat in front of me I prepared to attack. I needed to do this. No, I had to do this. I had almost three times as much hp as the rat and I was bigger than it. But the only weapon I had was my wind blade spell. If I ran out of mana in the fight, who knew what would happen to me. However from my training I knew that my wind blade was an extremely dangerous weapon. You would not want to get cut by one of those. I focused on my eyes in order to stop them from blinking as sweat began to drip from my face. This was my first life and death fight so it made sense for me to be nervous. Anyone in my position would be nervous also¡­.right? Keeping a close eye on the rat in front of me, I whispered wind blade quietly and stretched out my hand slowly. If I said the name of my spell too loud, it might feel threatened and try to attack me. I needed my wind blade out before it attacked or I would be in trouble. Because my concentration was focused solely on the spell, my wind blade appeared quicker than it normally would. I was quite thankful for this because I doubted that the giant rat in front of me would wait for me to prepare myself. I watched as the wind blade shimmered into existence and covered my hand. Although the moss on the walls of the sewers lit it up some, it was still quite hard to see. I was sure that the giant rat didn¡¯t have this problem so I needed to be extra careful. But before I could think any more thought, the giant rat struck! --- Time seemed to fly by in slow motion as the rat jumped towards me. I could see the muscles in its mouth moving as it opened its mouth in order to bite me. The sharp teeth that the giant rat possessed would shred my arm apart in a heartbeat. I couldn¡¯t be hit by that attack! Pushing myself off to the side I managed to dodge the oncoming blow. As the rat passed by me I watched it reposition its body in mid-air so it could land on its feet. What the hell? I was pretty sure normal rats couldn¡¯t do that. The moment it landed I twisted my body around in order to face it. The moment I was facing it I swung my wind blade towards its torso as quickly as I could. But in a single movement the giant rat ducked under my oncoming blow and nicked the side of my leg with its fangs.
-10
Fuck! That nip was painful as hell. Not only that but it managed to skin of a tenth of my health with that attack. Tch, I never knew that fighting a monster would be this challenging. It had already damaged me and I hadn¡¯t even hit it once. Ignoring the pain in my leg, I moved in tandem with the giant rat. By doing this I was able to make sure it didn¡¯t flank me when I wasn¡¯t looking. If I lost sight of it in this darkness, I wouldn¡¯t see it again until its next attack. I waited until the giant rat leapt at me again. But this time I was prepared. The moment the giant rat was in the air, I ducked below it and held my hand upwards. With a sickening sound my wind blade cut through the stomach of the giant rat. Swing my blade forward I felt the giant rat continue pass my blade and then crash into the ground.
-8
The giant rat glared at me angrily as blood gushed out of the cut on its stomach. The reason my attack worked so well was because the giant rat¡¯s jump forced him onto my blade. Since he jumped at me so quickly, he was unable to change his movement in the air. Because of this my wind blade easily sliced through his flesh. From what the damage notification box told me, my attack had done eight damage. To me this was quite a bit of damage since the giant rat only had twenty five hit points. Two more attacks like the last one and the giant rat would be dead. I could do this. With its hair standing up the giant rat looked toward me angrily. Squeaking obscenities no doubt, it charged toward me as quickly as it could. But it wasn¡¯t fast enough. For some reason it seemed to be attacking me in the same pattern as it did last time. Did it not have another way to attack, or was it a feint? I watched it cautiously as it jumped in the air toward me. Ridiculous, did it think I would fall for the same attack? Ducking under it, I brought my wind blade up and slashed through the same spot as last time.
-8
-2
I watched as the giant rat crumbled into a heap on the ground once again. The reason why it took an extra two damage was because it was bleeding out from its stomach. I had attacked it in the same spot twice after all. Before it could get up I rushed toward it and plunged my blade into its head with a sickening thud. I would not let this chance go to waste. I groaned in relief as I watched the life fade from the rat¡¯s eyes. Whew, this battle was pretty challenging. It became easier once I realized that the giant rat only had one attack pattern. Turning off my wind blade to save mana I looked at the carcass of the creature I had just killed. It could¡¯ve been me lying on the ground instead of the giant rat. Before I could think any further I was interrupted by a flash of blue. What new and intriguing information would these blue boxes hold for me? AN: Sorry for the delay, I didn''t like some parts of the chapter so I ended up changing them. Chapter 3 will be coming out in another couple of days. Chapter 3: Surviving Chapter 3: Surviving Ding!
Achievement: You are the second person to kill a monster in almost complete darkness. Reward: The Art of Necromancy or Magnetism *Rewards are greater due to the monster being more than twice your level*
Because I was the second person to kill a monster in almost complete darkness, I received an achievement. For a brief moment I wondered who the first person was. He would have to be pretty strong since I struggled, even with the use of magic. I hadn¡¯t been down here that long but I was sure that more than one person should have killed a monster, even if it was in almost complete darkness. I¡¯m pretty sure that its nighttime in other parts of the world. But maybe the monsters up top were just too strong. The level 4 giant rat that I fought was challenging in itself. I could hardly imagine something that was even twice its level. But enough about that, it was time to choose my reward. My choices included necromancy or magnetism. These were some decent rewards that I was getting. I wondered what choices the first person got. Magnetism would be good since I saw how well Magneto used his powers in the X-men. The only problem with picking it was that there was barely any metal around me. My other choice was necromancy. It would be a lie if I said I wasn¡¯t leaning towards that one already. Who didn¡¯t want to be an evil mage that summoned skeletons to do their dirty work? But on a serious note if someone close to me died, I might be able to bring them back to life. It might not work but it was a risk I was willing to take. After a few seconds of going over the pros and cons once more I made my choice. ¡°Necromancy¡± The moment I uttered that word a book came floating down towards me. What the hell? Where had this book come from? I looked around carefully in order to satiate my curiosity. Unfortunately no matter how hard I looked I couldn¡¯t see anything except for moss or darkness. Looking at the book in my hands, I glanced at the title to see what information it contained. On the front cover of the book stood the words The Art of Necromancy in bold black letters. The title made it pretty clear what this book was about. I flipped the book around to see if there was anything else on the back. Sadly the back was blank which meant I had to read the book in order to see the contents it held. But what did I expect, a necromancy skill to just conveniently appear? Holding the book tightly in my hands I headed back to the place where the ladder was. After walking for a few minutes I arrived at the ladder. Sitting down beneath the dim lightbulb, I began to read. Time went by quickly as I grew more and more interested in the art of necromancy. When twenty minutes had gone by I forced myself to look away from the book. I needed to review the things I learned before I continued. Although I said it was a book, it was more like a journal. The journey depicted how to raise dead creatures and use them to follow your bidding. The necromancer who wrote this made it clear that this was a very dangerous process and to follow every step that he made. One wrong step and you might accidently summon something that was never meant to see the light of day. I could only start changing some steps when I was adept at raising the dead. Even though I had been reading the journal for twenty minutes, I wasn¡¯t even close to done. But from the pages I read I learned how to reanimate the dead. Something that I was eager to try. I headed off into the darkness to grab the carcass of the rat that I had killed. I needed a subject and there were no other dead things around. Ten minutes later I stood in front of the carcass of the rat with the journal in my hand. It was time to bring the giant rat back to life. There were many different symbols and rituals for summoning different beasts. Right now I was choosing the most basic one since I had no idea what I was doing. Dipping some moss in the blood of the giant rat I began painting strange and exotic symbols around it. The symbol I was creating now was for giant rodents. I didn¡¯t know if the necromancer had giant rats in mind when he made this symbol but it would have to work. After a few minutes of painting and reading the book for details I was done with the first part of the ritual. Before moving on I made sure all of the lines and dashes I made were correct. I didn¡¯t want to screw up on my first reanimation. Once I was done checking I began to chant the words that were in the journal. None of the words were in English so I had no idea what they meant. Maybe when I was finished with the book would I know what they meant. Until then I would just have to read the chant word for word. Once I was done chanting I placed my hand on the carcass and pumped some of my mana into it. I did this by gathering the mana that was in my body and pushing it towards the rat. Once a sufficient portion of my mana was devoured I stood back to watch the results of my labor. Silence ran throughout the sewers as I waited for the rat to come back to life. After a minute passed I began to worry. Was I doing this right? I glanced back at the journal in order to make sure I accomplished every step I was meant to do. Corpse, check. Necromancy symbol, check. Chant, check. Put mana into the corpse, check. I hadn¡¯t missed anything so I didn¡¯t understand why the rat wasn¡¯t moving. But right before I was about to give up and try it one a different corpse, the carcass of the rat moved. I waited in silent anticipation as the giant rat struggled to stand. No way, I could hardly believe this was happening. The rat I had just killed was moving once more, all thanks to me. Before I could examine it any further my vision was blocked by a blue box.
Due to you reanimating a corpse, a special skill has been gained.
Ding!
Necromancy
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Rare
Skill Level: 1Exp: 10%
Effect: Allows the user to reanimate dead corpses. The stronger the skill, the longer the reanimated corpse can stay alive and the stronger it will be. Certain rituals will change the corpses characteristics.
Ding!
New Title Gained! Undead Prophet Description: You are the first person in the world to create an undead. Due to this most undead see you in a new light. You are no longer just some passerby to them, you are now a prophet. Effects: Undead won''t attack you on sight and see you as one of their own. You now have more positive feelings such as sympathy towards the undead. All undead language is now understandable. Evolution towards undead is now possible. Due to an undead aura surrounding you, users of light will become more hostile towards you while users of the dark will become friendlier.
Thanks to my reanimated corpse I gained the skill necromancy. From what I read it seemed that it would help me with my endeavor of creating undead. If I leveled the skill high enough I might not even need to do the rituals and chants. But in order to do this I would need to level up the skill and become stronger. So I was a long way away from reanimating corpses without rituals. Moving away the necromancy box by flicking my eyes, I looked at my new title. It seems that I was the first person to create an undead. It made sense because with my necromancy journal I would have been unable to reanimate the rat. But thanks to the journal I was now an undead prophet. I would be forever thankful to the necromancer who made this journal. Without him it would¡¯ve been much harder for me to get strong quickly. I would now be able to fight my enemies two on one with an undead by my side. This made my death less likely to happen. The only thing I needed to be wary of was users of light. It seemed that I had some type of undead aura that would set me apart from other people. Thankfully I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about anything like that until I got out of this dungeon. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. After I closed all of the blue boxes I looked at my undead rat to see how it was doing. However the only thing that met my eyes was a white pile of dust. Was that my rat? What had happened to it? I looked inside my journal to see what had happened. It turned out that my undead rat had died once more due to the lack of mana inside of it. Since I hadn¡¯t put a lot of mana into it, it had died relatively quickly. The only reason it had survived this long was because of the ritual I had used to summon it. Grabbing a bit of the white dust in my hand I examined it.
Bone Dust Description: Crumbled remains of different bones. Effect: Alchemy Ingredient
Hmm, this was interesting. Whenever I brought something back to life, it would become bone dust when it died again. Or at least it would if it has bones in its body. The only monster I had fought had been a giant rat and I was sure there were other monsters that didn¡¯t have bones. I was about to gather the bone dust to use later when I realized I had a problem. How was I supposed to store this? Looking off into the distance I began to think. Quite a few ideas ran throughout my head but none of them useful. If I left it here the wind would just blow it away. That would be a waste and I was sure that I would use it later. I could put it in my shoe however that would leave me with one shoe. I didn¡¯t want to put my bare foot on this filthy ground even with a sock on. The only idea that really stuck out to me was storing it on my jacket. However if I did this I would need to leave my jacket by the ladder. The reason for this was because most of it would fall out while I was walking. With a firm resolve I made my decision. Even though I would be cold it would be worth it in the long run until I found a better solution. Taking my jacket off slowly I began the process of moving the bone dust on the ground into my hood. Once this was done I closed my hood and folded my jacket on top of it. I then placed this folded bundle by the ladder. Once I figured out how to do alchemy I would be able to use my jacket again. Until then I would just have to deal with the cold wind that occasionally blew through the sewers. After I finished placing my jacket I moved under the lightbulb so I could begin meditating. I had lost quite a bit of mana reanimating the giant rat and I wanted my mana refilled before I ventured out again. Sitting on the cold ground I closed my eyes and gathered the mana around me. As I meditated on the cool ground, I began to think. I needed a place to sleep at night and the place I¡¯m currently at wouldn¡¯t work. The reason for this is because if I have my back facing the ladder, I can see three pathways. One to my left, another to the right, and finally the one in front of me. I already knew that the pathway on the left was filled with rats but I didn¡¯t know about the other ones. For all I knew they could have monsters with level incomparably high compared to mine. I didn¡¯t want to die foolishly just because I wanted some sleep. I thought of what to do until I was done meditating. Twenty minutes later and my mana bar was completely filled. The reason it took me less time than last time was because I still had a decent bit of mana left. I also noticed that my ankle had stopped bleeding from the nip the rat gave me. It didn¡¯t even throb when I moved it. Although it didn¡¯t hurt I hoped I didn¡¯t get some disease from the bite the rat gave me. That would suck since there were no doctors down here and I couldn¡¯t afford to get sick. Since I was quite comfortable where I sat, I decided to make myself a list of goals to accomplish. The first one was getting a solid weapon. My wind blade didn¡¯t count since I would lose it if I ran out of mana. I needed some type of weapon like an axe or a spear. Maybe if I killed more rats they would drop a weapon as loot? Who knew? I would need to kill some in order to test my hypothesis. My next goal was to train the skills I had that were low leveled. I wanted to train my necromancy so I could fight with the rats I reanimated. This would make the upcoming fights way easier. The third goal was doing some alchemy. I had no idea how to do it so I put that as one of the last things to do. My fourth goal was finding my phone. It was the reason I was down here after all. My other goals included things such as finishing my necromancy journal and creating new skills. My final goal was finding or creating a new base. I had no idea how I was going to do that but I still put it as one of my goals. The first goal that I decided to do was training my skills and creating them. As of right now I had a total of four skills. These skills were mana affinity, meditation, wind blade, and necromancy. I would train my meditation skill every time I ran out of mana so I could take that off the list. My mana affinity¡¯s level would rise when I trained my mana related skills so I didn¡¯t have to worry about that. This left me with wind blade and necromancy. I would be able to train both of these skills by fighting giant rats. Once I killed a rat with my wind blade, I could reanimate it using my necromancy skill. Two birds with one stone. Now that my training schedule was made, I decided to start creating another magic skill. Wind blade was good and all but I wanted a variety of attacks. Normally I would just make another wind spell but I wanted to try earth magic next. The reason for this was because I would be able to make a container that I could place items in such as my bone dust. Before I began training I looked for a patch of earth that I could use. Air was the easiest to do since it was all around me. If I touched the element I was trying to create the spell from, it made things a whole lot easier. Once I found a path of earth I made a wind blade surround my hand. Once my hand was covered in wind I shoved it into the ground. Canceling my spell I kept my hand still as dirt began to cover it. Closing my eyes I began to focus my mind on my hand that was in the earth. Sensing the mana around in the air, I began to gather it towards my hand. The mana was still hard to gather, but it was easier compared to when I was trying to create a wind blade. It seemed that the more I practiced, the better I got. Time passed by as I concentrated on gathering the mana towards my head. The challenge wasn¡¯t gathering the mana, it was how long it took. Everything would be fine as long as I persevered. Fifteen minutes later I had finally gathered a sufficient amount of mana. Now that the mana was gathered I had to figure out what I was going to do with it. I didn¡¯t want to form it in the shape of a sword since I already had my wind blade. I thought on it for a few minutes before I decided on an earth spike. I could surprise my enemies by an attack from below. Who would expect an attack like that? Feeling the earth around me, I began to combine it with the mana. Sweat began to drip down my face as I forced the mana and the earth to combine. Time passed by as more and more of the particles combined. It was a little bit easier than last time since I knew the basics of what to do. Ten minutes later and the earth surrounding my hand had successfully combined with the mana. Once I finished I pushed the combined particles away from my hand with all my might and imagined an earthen spike. Suddenly a few feet in front of me, a spike exploded from the ground. The moment it did a grin spread across my face. I finally had another attack to use. Before I could examine my spike, a blue box appeared in front of me. Chapter 4: Training Chapter 4: Training
Earthen Spike
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Common
Skill Level: 1Exp: 5%
Effect: Allows the user to create an earthen spike that erupts from the ground.
Just like my wind blade a blue box appeared in front of me when I created an earthen spike. Wiping the box away I examined my spike. The spike that I created looked like a bunch of earth that had been compacted together. The edges of it look noticeably sharp. So sharp in fact that I was positive anything struck by this attack would be torn apart. While I was examining the spike an idea sprung from my mind. Why not create some type of earthen container to hold the bone dust in? That way I could wear my jacket and I could have something to hold my bone dust. Nodding my head in agreement I stuck my hand in another patch of earth. I gathered mana similar to the way I gathered if for the earthen spike. However unlike before I didn¡¯t push the mana out with all my strength. Instead I began to mold the mana in the shape of a hollow cup. Minutes flew past as I concentrated on hollowing out the cup. This was quite harder than I imagined it would be. But after a few minutes I had successfully completed my goal.
Cracked Earthen Cup Description: A cracked cup that is made from earth. Effect: This cup can hold small solid items but cannot hold anything liquid due to the many cracks in it.
The cup wasn¡¯t that well-made, but it was good enough. It would be able to hold my bone dust since it wasn¡¯t a liquid. The cracks that were on it were too small for anything solid to fall out, but big enough for liquid to seep through. Walking over to my jacket I unfolded it and placed the bone dust in my cup. Once that was done I made an earthen lid and placed it on top of the cup. This way I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about losing any of it accidentally. Patting my hood so I could get the remainder of the bone dust off, I quickly put my jacket on. Whew, although I didn¡¯t have it on for a short while I could feel the difference. It was really too cold in here to be without a jacket. Placing my cup gently against the ladder, I began to move on to my next task. After thinking on it for a few seconds I decided that my next task would be to fight more giant rats. By doing this I could train my skills, level up, and maybe find a weapon. Heading off towards the left pathway, I ventured into the darkness. I walked in complete darkness for about two minutes until I was met with the sight of glowing moss. The moss that was on me was beginning to dull so I began the process of removing it. A minute later and I was completely moss free. Scratching my arms absentmindedly I continued on my way. Why did I remove the moss you ask? The reason for it was it gave away my position and I didn¡¯t need it right now thanks to the moss on the walls. However if I ran into a part of a sewer that was masked in complete darkness I would put the moss back on me. But until then I wanted to stay hidden. With the moss as my light, I advanced cautiously through the sewers. I wanted to sneak up on a rat and see how quickly I could kill it. Why waste my time fighting it in combat when there were easier and smarter ways to go about it? A sneak attack would get me just as much experience as a normal attack would. In order to survive I needed to play it smarter not stronger. After a few minutes of stealthily walking, I caught a glimpse of something ahead. Crouching near a section of a wall with no moss, I focused on the dark shadow to see what it was. It could¡¯ve been my eyes playing tricks on me but I wanted to be sure. Until I got night vision or something I would just have to trust my instincts. I moved a couple inches forward in order to see the shape of the shadow. Sure enough the shadow looked like a rat. If I tried listening hard enough I could hear tiny squeaks coming from it. That was all the evidence I needed to know it was a rat. Placing my hand on the ground, I concentrated on combining the earth and the mana. Thankfully the giant rat still hadn¡¯t noticed me so I had quite a bit of time to do this. Once the process was done I pushed my mana into the ground forcefully. The surprised rat never stood a chance.
*Sneak Attack* -14
My earthen spike savagely tore through one of the giant rat¡¯s legs. Blood gushed out of its stump like a faucet. My attack had done more damage thanks to it being a sneak attack. I made a mental note to do more sneak attacks in the future. As the rat slowly bled out I focused on creating another earthen spike. I wasn¡¯t going to use a wind blade since there was no need for me to get close to the rat. The rat couldn¡¯t get close to me either due to the absence of one of its legs. I began combining mana and earth in order to cast my spell. I didn¡¯t have to worry about the rat attacking me while I was concentrating since it could barely move. Once the mana was combined I pushed out with all my strength.
-7
The earthen spike I made pierced the giant rat through its chest making it bleed any further. Since it only had two health points left because of the bleeding effect I waited for it to die. Why waste mana when it would bleed out a few seconds later? Right before the giant rat died it let out a loud wail. Shit! Rushing towards it as quick as I could I finished it off with a kick to the face. I crouched down cautiously as I listened for more enemies. If I would¡¯ve known that the rat would scream for help I would¡¯ve finished it off quicker. After a few seconds of waiting I began to hear the pattering of feet coming towards me. I would need to prepare myself before its allies came to kill me. Sticking my hand out I began to quickly form a wind blade on my hand. I began to take a couple steps backwards until I reached a patch of moss that was glowing brightly. If I was going to have to fight again I would do it where there was a decent amount of light. After a few more seconds of waiting another giant rat appeared in front of me. This rat however seemed a little different from the one I had just killed. It seemed a little¡­.stronger? I took a closer look at it in order to see its status.
Giant Rat - Lv.6 Hp: 35/35
Tch, I would have to be careful. This rat was two levels higher than the one I had just fought. It was also five levels higher than me. I eyed it carefully as its hair bristled angrily. The moment its muscles tensed I dove to the side. Whoosh. I could hear the claws of the giant rat slashing through the air. Yah, I did not want to be hit by that. Turning around quickly I waited for that rat to attack me once more. In a fit of rage the rat charged towards me with a ferocious squeak. However when it leapt in the air this time, I was prepared. Sliding under it in one smooth motion I raised my arm up and watched as my wind blade tore through its flesh.
-8
Four more attacks and this rat would be finished. By dodging and striking when it was unprepared, I managed to low its hp to a mere eleven. However it was here that I got a cocky. This was a mistake that I wouldn¡¯t make again. Charging towards the giant rat I swung my wind blade towards its head. With a dangerous glint in its eyes the rat suddenly disappeared. What the hell? Where did it go? My question was answered when I felt unimaginable pain on my back. Screeching in pain I twisted my back in pain. Turning around I looked at the grinning rat. Fuck that hurt. Even though the attack only did fifteen points of damage it was still extremely painful. Seeing my injured state, the giant rat leapt towards me again. As it did anger ran throughout my body. I would not die in these wretched sewers by a mere rat. I just wouldn¡¯t allow myself too. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Placing my left hand in front of me, I forced the giant rat to crash into it. Gathering all of the energy I could in my left arm, I slammed the giant rat into the ground. I swung my blade across its neck as the rat looked at me with a dazed look. The rat¡¯s decapitated head flew across the sewers, painting the walls crimson.
*Critical Hit!* -16
Before I was awarded a moment of rest, another blue box appeared in front of me.
Level Up!
Status Window
NameColm Marythou
Age: 16Race: Human
Level: 2Gender: Male
TitlesThe Peerless Descender, Undead Prophet
Health: 90/110Mana: 80/110
Stamina: 90/110
~
Strength: 10Agility: 10
Vitality: 8Dexterity: 9
Intelligence:11Wisdom:12
Luck:0
~
Skills
Mana Affinity, Wind Blade, Earthen Spike, Necromancy, Meditation
Unallocated Points:5
Thanks to the death of two more rats I was now level 2. As I glanced over my status I soon realized that more was changed than just my level. My unallocated points had gone from zero to five. Beside all of my stats was a plus sign that I could click. This more than likely meant that I could put my points in one of the many stats that I possessed. But that was where I ran into a conundrum. Where should I put my stats? I decided not to put any points in strength for a couple of reasons. One reason was due to the fact that I didn¡¯t have a weapon. I might add points in it later when I had one but until then strength was a no go. The other reason I didn¡¯t want to put points into strength was because I had the skill to use magic. In order to increase my spells power I would need to place my points into intelligence or wisdom rather than strength. The next stat on my list was agility. Unlike strength this stat would be pretty useful. If I put some points into this I would be able to attack faster and dodge quicker. But before I put a point in agility I wanted to see the rest of my stats. Vitality was like defense and more defense was always better. However if I put points into agility, there would be no point in putting it into vitality. If I became faster I wouldn¡¯t get hit as often so the added defense wouldn¡¯t be necessary. From what I knew dexterity meant how accurate I was. This would help me if I used bows or throwing knives. I didn¡¯t so I wasn¡¯t going to worry about dexterity. My luck was zero and I didn¡¯t plan on putting any points into it. You could say I had been unlucky by being trapped in this sewer. But you could also say that I was lucky that I wasn¡¯t on the surface. Therefore I decided not to mess with my luck stat since I had no clue what it would do. I was now left with my two remaining stats intelligence and wisdom. From what I knew intelligence was power and wisdom was how to use that power. Putting a point into intelligence would make my spell stronger while putting a point into wisdom would help me make new spells. Or at least that was what I thought. After debating on it for a little bit, I decided to place two points in intelligence, one point in wisdom, and two points in agility. This raised my intelligence and wisdom to 13, and my agility to 12. The reason I placed some points into my wisdom and intelligence was to increase my magic capabilities. I also put some points in agility so I would be quicker in battle. Clearing the blue boxes away from my vision I decided to test out my new stats. I jumped side to side quickly to see if I could tell a difference in my speed. There was an increase in my speed, however, it was only a slight increase. But the more points I put into the stat, the more increase I would see. After I tested out my new stats, I glanced at the mutilated corpses. Pushing their bodies over, I looked for any type of loot. Sadly there was none. Maybe next time I would have better luck. After examining the giant rats I decided to try reanimating them here rather than at the ladder. The reason for this was because the corpses looked like they would fall apart if I moved them to much. I was about to begin the process of reanimated the giant rats when I ran into a problem. The problem that I ran into was their bodies. The level six rat that I had killed had been decapitated by me. Could I still reanimate him? I had no idea since my last reanimation had his body mostly intact. I would have to read more of my journal in order to find out. Walking over to a bright section of moss, I pulled out my journal from my pocket and began to read. Every few minutes I would glance up and make sure no enemies were approaching me. I had seen how effective sneak attacks were and I did not want them happening to me. After reading for about twenty minutes, I finally found a solution to my problem. There was a ritual in the journal that would combine two corpses into a stronger corpse. Once they were combined I could then reanimate them into a stronger creature than they once were. This was helpful since both of the giant rats had pieces of their body missing. However, if I combined them, all of the pieces would be there. Walking over to one of the giant rats, I began the process of moving them. This proved to be quite a challenge because I wanted to keep all of the blood inside of them until I needed it. My actions were careful and meticulous until the rats were finally near each other. I made the two rats face each other in between two sections of moss. The moss had nothing to do with the ritual but I needed it in order to see. Before I began the ritual I had to spend a minute finding the head of one of the rats and placing it near its body. For some reason I wasn¡¯t disgusted by my carnage like I thought I should be. Instead I was elated to try out a new necromancy spell. I could hardly imagine that I was one of the few people to bring creatures back to life. If I kept on practicing necromancy, I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about death for much longer. I brought other creatures back to life so why not myself. But that was another task for another time. Placing my hand on the ground I manipulated the earth in order to make an earthen brush. The quality of it was shit but it was still better than pieces of moss. One thing I noticed while I made it was that I gained experience in my earthen spike skill. I guess my earthen brush counted as a spike. Once my brush was finished I began the necromancy ritual. Dipping my earthen brush in the blood of one of the rats, I began to paint symbols surrounding the both of them. I recognized some of the symbols from my last reanimation but other than that most of the symbols were unrecognizable. The next few minutes went by with my painting and glancing at the journal. With an elaborate stroke of my brush I was finally done painting off all the symbols needed. From what I could tell, the symbols surrounding both of the rats looked as if they were pointing towards the middle. Thanks to this I knew I was on the right path of combining the corpses. I made sure I put in all of the symbols before moving on to the chant. Reading off from my journal I began to chant strange and exotic words. Similar to my symbols there were some words I recognized. I had no idea what they meant but I did know that I had seen them before. As I was chanting I placed one of my hands on a symbol and began to pump mana into it. The moment I put mana into it, pieces of the rats began to gather in the middle and combine. It was a very odd thing to see. I had no idea how it was possible for them to combine, but they were. It looked as though they were being melted and then put together. Once all of the flesh was combined, the blood began to move. I was forced to tear my eyes away from the spectacle in order to finish the first part of the chant. Once all of the pieces were done I moved on to the second part of my chant. I pumped more and more mana as I chanted the words for reanimation. A few minutes of chanting and pouring mana into the symbols and I was finally done. Closing my journal slowly, I looked at my new creation in glee. Chapter 5: Giant Zombie Rat Chapter 5: Giant Zombie Rat
Giant Zombie Rat - Lv.5 Hp: 30/30
Yes, now this was what I wanted. Rubbing my hands in excitement I circled around the rat slowly. Before I could look at it more, a blue box appeared, notifying me of my mana affinity skill leveling up. Swiping it away in a hurry, I examined the reanimated rat for more details. The reason that it was level 5 was because the corpses I used to create it were level 4 and level 6. I was a little bit bummed that it was a higher level than me but that didn¡¯t matter. It was on my side after all. Although the name of it was giant zombie rat, it looked like any other giant rat. There was no decayed flesh or bones showing on its body. The only way you could tell it was different was from its cold dead eyes. Other than that the only other difference from normal rats was how muscular it was. My ritual seemed to combine the muscles of the dead rats together, making the reanimated corpse stronger. Motioning with my hand, I beckoned the rat to come closer. With a surprised look I watched it nuzzle against my hand. Petting in absentmindedly I watched as an expression of happiness spread across its face. Huh, I didn¡¯t know the dead could feel. I just assumed that they were cold emotionless husks of their former selves. This would require more studying in the future. I petted the belly of my rat as it rolled over in pleasure. Hmm, this would be a problem. Now that I knew it had emotions it would be hard using it as bait. At first I was going to send it out to fight against other rats and watch from the sidelines. But now I felt like I needed to fight alongside it. I mean just look at the way it smiled¡­.so cute. Shaking my head furiously I stopped petting my rat and stood up quickly. I would not fall for its cuteness. It wouldn¡¯t even live that long anyways¡­.or so I thought. I honestly had no idea how long it would live. My journal said as long as its body wasn¡¯t destroyed it should last an extremely long time but that was if I used one of the extremely complicated spells that was in the journal. Right now I was only using the easy rituals so I didn¡¯t know if that applied. Looking into my rats eyes I began to speak. ¡°Can you understand me?¡± Looking at me curiously the rat nodded its head. It could understand me too? What could this rat not do? The next few minutes were spent with me conversing it. Although I wouldn¡¯t really called it a conversation per se. My undead prophet title enabled me to understand my giant rat, but it didn¡¯t work the way I thought it would. At first I thought I would understand my reanimation as though it was speaking English, but that was not the case. It was more like I could feel what it was saying. A short squeak meant yes while a long squeak meant no. It was stuff like that. I didn¡¯t really understand how it worked but I wasn¡¯t complaining. I would take what I could get. After dealing with my new ally, I took a brief glance at my mana affinity skill. I had noticed it leveled up while I was reanimating my corpse.
Mana Affinity Skill
Skill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: Unique
Skill Level: 2Exp: 2%
Effects: Any skill using mana cost 2% less. You are more sensitive to the mana. This enables you to know when someone is about to cast a spell due to the amount of mana being gathered. Anything mana related comes easier to you.
I guess necromancy was still considered magic since my mana affinity skill leveled up while I was using it. My mana cost discount was low at the moment but in the future it would be powerful. None of my other skills had leveled up so I would need to train them more later. I continued on my exploration with my new zombie rat by my side. The next forty minutes or so flew by quickly as I fought more giant rats. One thing I noticed while I was hunting down the Giant Rats was that the more I went to the left, the more frequently they appeared. After I killed the first one, it took me a whole ten minutes to reach the second one. But from the second one to the third one it only took me seven. And from the third to the fourth it only took me five. This meant that it would only take me about three minutes to meet the next one. All of the rats that I had fought were all alone so that was pretty nice. Before I continued on I decided to review what had happened. Together my rat and I were deadly, to say the least. Two on one was overkill kill to begin with but my zombie rat knew exactly when to strike in tandem with me. The only injuries that I had received were light scratches on my arm. They weren¡¯t even that bad since they would heal on their own in the next ten minutes. My battle strategy was that my zombie rat would distract them while I attacked them from behind. I gained quite a bit of experience in my magic spells but sadly neither of them leveled up. From what I could tell, my experience bar was filled almost to half. This meant that if I killed three more giant rats, I would level up. Another thing I noticed about my zombie rat was that it didn¡¯t feel pain. It had been struck many times in our battles but it still continued fighting like nothing had happened. It also had a habit of eating the corpses of the enemies it killed. I couldn¡¯t really use one of the giant rat corpses because there was barely anything left of it. I had no idea if gnawed off bones would be useful but I guess I would find out. I had no idea how something so small could eat something that was almost as big as it. Normally I would be irritated but some of the wounds my zombie had received had healed. I guess by eating flesh my zombie rat could heal its wounds. Hmm, that wasn¡¯t that bad. The only problem I had with it was that I needed corpses for my necromancy. After collecting my thoughts I glanced at the weapon in front of me. This had been the first dropped loot that I had received in this dungeon. I guess loot was rare because I had killed quite a few rats and received nothing. I had no idea how the whole loot concept worked but I wasn¡¯t complaining. I glanced at my weapon¡¯s information to review what it did before I continued on.
Rusted Iron Sword Description: An old iron sword that has seen many battles Effect: +1 Strength Damage: 6-12 Durability: 22/30
The rusted iron sword gave me one strength as one of its effects. I was pleased with the bonus since one strength was better than none. Thanks to this sword I no longer had to fight with my hands against the giant rats. I was already excited from this to fight more enemies. The damage it gave me ranged from six to twelve. I didn¡¯t really know how that would work out in combat but I guess I would find out pretty soon. With my iron sword in my hand and my zombie rat following me, I continued on. As we were walking I noticed that my zombie rat was beginning to walk sluggishly. Maybe it was sick or something? My thoughts were interrupted when I glanced up to see two shadows moving towards me. I got into a battle stance as two giant rats jumped out of the darkness. Dodging to the side quickly, I swung my sword as fast as I could.
-7
Although I managed to hit the giant rat on the side, I had almost missed. The only reason I hit the giant rat was because of luck¡­.. or my dexterity skill. Normally I would¡¯ve said it was luck but my luck was currently at zero so who knew how I hit that rat. Seeing as how I never wielded a sword in my life, I would need to practice with this sword after I leveled up. Utilizing this sword was harder than it looked and using it would do more harm than good until I was proficient at using it. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. My swing had only done seven damage leaving the giant rat with twenty-three health points. Both of the rats I was fighting had thirty health which wasn¡¯t too bad. Twisting my hand around I tried to get a feel for the sword as my opponent watched me carefully. While the rat watched me I wondered if there was a way to combine the spells I knew with the weapon in my hand. There had to be a way. There just had to be. As I began thinking I dodged several swipes from the rat in front of me. I only had to worry about this one since my zombie rat was fighting the other one. I had fought enough giant rats that I could tell what they were going to do by the way their muscles moved which was why I was dodging its attacks so easily. Once the giant rat left an opening in its defense, I took a step forward and lunged with my sword. The moment my sword plunged into the side of the rat an idea sprung into my mind. Why not try combining my wind blade and my sword? Taking a couple of deep breaths I began gathering mana toward my blade. It was the same principle as with my hand except I was using my sword this time. Twenty seconds later and my sword was covered with wind. I could do this, I just needed to focus. Grabbing the hilt of the sword with both of my hands, I swung it like a bat the moment the rat jumped at me. Tensing all my muscles in my arms I swung as fast as I could.
-14
My wind covered sword easily tore through the rat¡¯s body separating its top and lower half. I was forced close my eyes as blood splattered all over me. Spitting out some of the blood in my mouth, I took a look at my now crimson colored sword. Wind thrummed off of the blade powerfully as if it lusted for battle. I would definitely be using this attack more often in the future. The reason I was able to kill the giant rat in that one hit was because I had already lowered its health a decent bit before I attacked it with my enhanced sword. While I was looking at the pieces of the giant rat I realized something. How the hell was I supposed to use it in necromancy? Fuck. Although the corpse was still technically useable it was better if it was in one piece. Oh well, there was nothing I could do about it now. There¡¯s no point in worrying about something that I can¡¯t change. I glanced over to my zombie to see how it was doing. As I glanced over to my left I quickly recoiled in shock. My zombie rat was being torn apart by the other giant rat. Why was this happening? I honestly had no clue. I quickly rushed in before the other giant rat could kill my zombie. For some reason my zombie rat was slow, noticeably slow. Normally he would be able to dodge quite easily, but right now he couldn¡¯t. I would have to look to my journal for answers after this fight. I killed the giant rat quite easily seeing as how it was focused on my zombie rat. A few wind bladed attacked to the back and it was dead. As I was finishing it off my zombie rat died. Sniff. Oh well, I could just make another one. I watched in interest as my zombie rat slowly disintegrated into bone dust. I created a rectangular earthen container and stored the bone dust inside of it. The reason I changed the shape was because I didn¡¯t think a cup would fit in my pocket. I based the shape off of a container I once saw that held a ring. While I was creating it a lone giant rat tried to sneak up on me. It was soon defeated quite easily and I was awarded with a level up. After a few minutes of debating, my skill allocation was completed.
Status Window
NameColm Marythou
Age: 16Race: Human
Level: 3Gender: Male
TitlesThe Peerless Descender, Undead Prophet
Health: 115/120Mana: 50/120
Stamina: 70/120
~
Strength: 10[1]Agility: 13
Vitality: 8Dexterity: 9
Intelligence:15Wisdom:15
Luck:0
~
Skills
Mana Affinity, Wind Blade, Earthen Spike, Necromancy, Meditation
Unallocated Points: 0
With my five skill points I raised my intelligence and wisdom to fifteen and my agility to thirteen. I had a feeling that if I kept on increasing my intelligence or wisdom, my mana pool would increase. I would just have to keep experimenting to see which stat did which. I also noticed the one that was by my strength. The reason I had this as because of my sword. I could hardly wait for more equipment that would increase my stats. Once my points were allocated, I began looking for a suitable place to train my necromancy skill. Although the light bulb gave me more light than the moss, I did not want to make a trip back there every time I wanted to do something. I needed a new base around here since I would be fighting more rats more frequently and I might need to rest without traveling long distances. I took a couple minutes to look around until I came upon an extremely bright section of moss. These large quantities of moss were all clumped together making it almost as bright as the lightbulb by the ladder. Nodding my head I decided that I would make this my base. The next twenty minutes went by with me gathering all of the corpses together and getting the bone dust I had left at the ladder. Once everything was placed by the moss, I glanced at my corpses. Right now I had four corpses that could still be used and bits and pieces of another corpse. Looking back on it now, I probably should¡¯ve killed the giant rat another way rather than splitting it in half. However I was too caught up in the moment and ended up ruining a good corpse. I would probably still be able to use it. I would just have to read my journal and find out. But before I read my journal I decided to meditate and restore some of my mana. After my mana was restored I took out my necromancer journal. I was just about to open it when I felt another chill pass through my body. I glanced towards my left and right to make sure I was alone. I could never tell in this obscure darkness. After about a minute of staring I decided that I was truly alone. Stepping over the giant rat corpses I walked a couple of steps beyond my new base. Before I started reading my journal I decided to create an earthen wall in case any giant rats tried to sneak up on me. You could never be too careful and I did not want my journal to get accidently destroyed. I was positive that I would never get another one like it. Placing both of my hands on the ground I began gathering mana. Once mana was circulating around my hand I began directing it beneath my hands. This wasn¡¯t that challenging for me since I was essentially creating an earth spike, albeit quite a bigger one. Although my hand was touching the cold floor of the sewer, I could feel the warm earth beneath it. For some reason, the mana that was in the earth felt more robust than the mana in the tiles of the sewer. This made it easier for me to sense. Once enough mana was gathered I moved on to the next step. The walls in the sewer were separated from each other by a distance of around fifteen feet. It was different in other parts of the sewer but it was mostly fifteen feet. The ceiling was a decent height away from me. It was close enough for me to barely see it but far enough that I wouldn¡¯t be able to touch it using conventional means. Pushing my mana into the ground I watched as an earthen spike erupted from the ground. I pushed more mana into the spike making it bigger and denser. I did this until the spike itself was unable to get any larger. I moved a couple inches to the side and repeated the whole process again. Since my earth spike level was so low I would need to create multiple spikes in order to get the result that I wanted. The more I did this the more in tune I felt with the earth. Sweat dripped down from my face as I gathered more and more mana. Although I had the mana to create earth spikes, the more I made the more exhausted I was becoming. I was forced to toss my jacket to the side because wearing it was making me too hot. This was probably the only time was thankful for the cool breezes that flowed through this sewer. After I finished creating three giant earth spikes, I walked over to the middle of them. Placing my hands on the ground once more I focused on combining them. What kind of wall had gaps in it? After a few minute of manipulating the earth, my spikes were finally beginning to look like a wall. Once I finish manipulating the three spikes I had to meditate in order to regain my mana. I would make this little section of a sewer into a fortress. No matter how long it took. Chapter 6: Earthen Fortress Chapter 6: Earthen Fortress The next two hours passed with me creating earth spikes and molding them together. This was probably the hardest that I¡¯ve worked in my entire life. But every second I spent working was well spent. This wall would be useful if I found an enemy I couldn¡¯t fight and needed to flee. The wall I was making was considerably thick and it would take something incredibly strong to break it. As I was molding my earth spike for what seemed like the hundredth time, a blue box suddenly appeared in my vision.
For having great knowledge of using and molding the earth, you have gained the skill Earth Magic. Earthen spike has been assigned as a sub skill of earth magic.
Earth Magic
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 4Exp: 5%
Effect: Allows the user to mold the earth into a variety of constructs.
I wiped the sweat from my brow as I read the box in front of me. Because of the time I spent manipulating my earthen spike I gained the skill earth magic. This would make it easier to make constructs from earth that weren¡¯t in the shape of a spike. Nice, I could already see how this skill would be better than just a plain earthen spike. Hmm, maybe I would be able to do this with my wind blade also. I added this to my task list before moving one. Placing my hand on my shabby earth wall I began moving more earth onto it. It was noticeably easier than before thanks to my new earth magic. Once I made the wall sturdy enough to resist several attack I went to work on its height. The earthen wall was high but not too high. I wanted some fresh air circulating around in my home and I doubted that a giant rat could even jump that high. Even if it could, I molded the top part of my wall into several spikes. Whatever tried jumping in my base would receive a nasty surprise. Once my wall was done I meditated to regain my mana and moved on. Thanks to all of the meditation I was doing my skill had leveled up to level 2 a little while ago. This helped me regain my mana faster so I was thankful for the level up.
Meditation
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 2Exp: 25%
Effects: By sitting down and gathering mana, mana regeneration is increased. The higher the level, the more mana that is regenerated.
After I finished meditating I turned around with my back facing my new wall. All I had to do was create one more wall and the outside of my all would be finished. But before I did that I would need to decide on how big I wanted my house to be. I would rather have my new home be too big rather than too small so I had to keep that in mind when I created the wall. After a few minutes of debating I decided to make my new home twice as big as my room at home. Placing my hands on the ground once I was a good distance away, I once again began the process of creating an earthen wall. As I was creating it I left a space for a doorway this time. There was no point of this home if I couldn¡¯t even get out of it. Since my other wall was actually facing the giant rats I would open and close the door every time I journeyed out. Before I made a doorway I created a short tunnel in front of it. This way if monsters did come from this side I would have a few seconds to prepare myself. I also created tiny holes in my wall so I could peek out of it and get fresh air. Once the wall was done I went inside my new earthen home. I then created a tiny section in my home for the bathroom. I then took another hour to reinforce my walls since some had cracks in them. I might have to do this every day depending on how well my earth magic held out. Once this was done I sat down and looked at the skills that had leveled up.
Earth Magic
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 5Exp: 10%
Effect: Allows the user to mold the earth into a variety of constructs.
Mana Affinity Skill
Skill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: Unique
Skill Level: 3Exp: 7%
Effects: Any skill using mana cost 3% less. You are more sensitive to the mana. This enables you to know when someone is about to cast a spell due to the amount of mana being gathered. Anything mana related comes easier to you.
My earth magic was now my strongest skill by two levels. Thanks to my level, I felt more¡­in tune¡­ with the earth. The more I used earth magic the more I realized that it wasn¡¯t just a thing. It was something more. I would have to train my skill level up more to fully understand what I was feeling. My mana affinity skill leveled up reducing my mana cost by one more percent. I wasn¡¯t that irritated that it was taking so long to level up my skills. Slow and steady wins the race after all. Now that my home was complete and my mana was restored (thanks to me meditating), I decided to try out some more necromancy spells. Standing near a patch of moss I began flipping pages in my journal. In my honest opinion, this book was a godsend. The journal was separated into various categories ranging from notes, spells, and rituals. I was faintly surprised that all this information could fit in one book. But even with all this new information, I was still left in quite a predicament. The journal was nice and all, but I didn¡¯t have the time to read through the whole thing. Did I want to try to learn these new spells or should I finish trying to reanimate a strong corpse first? Should I ignore those two options and read the notes about the idea of necromancy instead? I had no idea what to do. Although I would like to sit down and read it, I needed to get out of this sewer as quickly as I could. Why? So I could see my family. However there were a couple of problems with that line of thought. One problem was even if I did manage to get out of the sewer quickly, what was stopping me from being killed the moment I escaped? I needed to become stronger before I even though about escaping. One of my fears was that I would meet my family only in time to see their death. The only way that wouldn¡¯t happen was if I was stronger. I wanted to be strong enough to protect my family and my loved ones. And the only way to do that was train and level up. With that in mind I decided to put my thought of escaping as soon as I could to the side. My main goal right now was to become stronger. The next question I had was how. Should I train my skills or should I just try to level up quickly? Training my skills would make my fighting abilities stronger and allow me to have more strategies in battle. However if I leveled up my health, mana, and stamina would increase. Not only that but I would also have stat points that I could allocate. The problem with leveling up though was that I needed to be strong enough to defeat my enemies so I could gain experience. Hmm. This was going to be a hard decision. I took the next few minutes thinking about what I should do. After debating on the pros and cons I decided that I would rotate. I would practice my skills and once I thought they were at a decent level I would go out and level up. It might not be the best decision but it was the one I made. Looking back at my journal once again I began to read. According to my journal I could actually control more than one corpse at a time. But in order to do that I needed to know the art of necromancy well. I obviously didn¡¯t if my level one necromancy skill as anything to go on. With the surplus of corpses I was receiving I could combine them all in order to make a better reanimated corpse. However I just didn¡¯t want a stronger corpse, I wanted one that would last a long time. With that in mind I began looking through my journal once again. A few minutes later a smile erupted from my face. I had finally found it! This ritual would not only make my reanimation stronger, but it would also last a good period of time. The ritual I was looking at essentially made every part of my reanimation into a weapon. I was ashamed to say but my face turned a little green when I happened to glance at the picture on the next page. The picture depicted a monster that looked like it belonged in the depths of hell. Organs with sharp teeth crawled out from its stomach, biting at its prey. Blood flowed from oozing wounds, infecting enemies with disease. Various appendages stuck out of its body creating a gruesome sight to see. Other people might have threw away the ritual after seeing the picture, but not I. A zombie this strong would only help me get stronger. It didn¡¯t matter how it looked, all that mattered was its strength. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Once I was finished looking at the picture, I read the necromancer¡¯s notes to the side. This ritual would be more challenging and complex than the ones I did before. According to the necromancer, this was one of the strongest rituals in the book. When I did the ritual I would have to be exceedingly careful that I followed all of the steps. One mistake and I would look like the rat in the journal. That was something I didn¡¯t want to happen. The ritual itself needed me to gather a couple of things before I could attempt it. First I needed several corpses of the creature that I wanted to reanimate. It didn¡¯t specify the number but it said the more corpses I used, the more likely the ritual will be a success. The next was that I needed another corpse to use as a host. This ¡°host¡± would be what the reanimation ended up looking like. It wouldn¡¯t look exactly like the host but its features would be based off of it. I also needed some of my blood in order to make the corpse loyal to me and me only. I was a little bit shocked at this since usually all the ritual needed was my mana. However this time it would need both. I guess the stronger the ritual the better material it needs. These few things were the only materials that I needed to gather. Just gathering these things was the easiest part too. I wasn¡¯t looking forward to the next instructions since one of the steps took up half a page. Oh well, I would deal with it when the time came. Tearing my eyes away from the book, I looked at the corpses that were placed to the side. I rubbed my chin slowly as I decided what to do with them. Should I just save them for my ritual or should I make another zombie rat? If I saved them for my ritual I would have more corpses. However if I used them to make another zombie rat, it would be easier for me to kill more enemies. This would enable me to have more corpses that I could use for my ritual. After thinking on it for a few minutes I made my decision. Walking over to the corpses, I grabbed one giant rat by the tail and dragged him off to the side. Since I technically didn¡¯t need all of the giant rats I had for the ritual, I could save this one for later. Moving back to my corpses I began the process of combining them. The reason I combined them instead of just reanimating one and saving the rest for later was because of several reasons. Not only would my reanimation be stronger, but the success rate of the ritual increased exponentially. Once I the symbols were drawn, I began chanting the words to the spell. As I chanted pieces of the rats in front of me began to combine. Even though I had already seen it before, it was still unnerving to watch how well the pieces melded together. A few minutes later and everything was done leaving a bigger bulkier giant rat. I then chanted the words for the reanimation spell making sure to enunciate every word carefully. I hadn¡¯t messed up before and I didn¡¯t want to now. I then finished the ritual by imbuing my mana into the symbols on the ground. I watched in anticipation as the giant rat began to twitch after I spoke the last word in the chant.
Giant Zombie Rat - Lv.6 Hp: 35/35
No matter how many times I reanimated a corpse it was always going to be exciting. As I looked at my new reanimation I soon realized that something was different from the description. For some reason it was level six instead of five. The only explanation I could come up with was that I used higher level corpses. I wasn¡¯t complaining since my new zombie rat now had increased health and strength. Similar to before my reanimated rat nuzzled against my hand the moment I was distracted. I gave it a small pat on the head as I stood up. It was time to gather some corpses. Walking over to my wall, I manipulated the earth into a doorway. Once my rat and I went through it, I closed it off. I did not want any enemies to go into my home while I was away. I also left my two containers of bone dust and my journal in my base. I wouldn¡¯t need them since I was just gathering corpses and I didn¡¯t want them to get damaged. Setting off into the darkness with my rat, I looked for enemies to fight. But only after a few minutes of walking, a blue box appeared in my vision.
For navigating in near darkness with little to no sight for a long period of time, you have gained the skill Enhanced Vision.
Enhanced Vision
Skill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 1Exp: 5%
Effects: This skill allows you to see farther and better. If level up high enough, night vision becomes possible.
Taking a few seconds to look around, I began to notice some changes in my vision. The dark spots that once obscured my vision were now slightly lighter. Not by much but enough for me to notice a difference. I was looking forward to night vision since walking around in almost complete darkness was taxing on my nerves. Since my skill was passive all I needed to do was use my eyes and my skill would level up. Once I finished examining my surroundings, I continued on my way. As I walked I was forced to periodically wipe my hands so I could grip my sword tighter. At first it was awkward holding my sword since I felt like I was cosplaying. But as time went by the more used to it I got. I was forced to stop walking when my zombie rat¡¯s fur started to bristle. Could it sense something that I couldn¡¯t? Coating my sword in wind I waited cautiously for my enemies to appear. Sure enough three giant rats came bolting out of the darkness a few seconds later.
Giant Rat - Lv.4 Hp: 25/25
Ferocious Giant Rat - Lv.7 Hp: 45/45
Giant Rat ¨C Lv.4 Hp: 25/25
My eyes widened in shock as I read the blue box above their heads. The level four giants rats I could kill easy but the level seven one might prove to be a problem. Not only was it four levels higher than me but it seemed to be stronger than the average giant rat. It even had ferocious in its name. While the other rats were a solid grey color, this rat had white streaks on its fur. It was also more muscular than its counterparts. It might have been my imagination but its claws seemed sharper too. The way it stood in front of the other two rats made it seem like a leader of some sorts. It made sense because it was considerably stronger than the other two giant rats. I could already tell that I would have to be strategic in this battle. I wasn¡¯t going to win by strength so I had to use my mind instead. The question I had was how to go about fighting these rats. I was outnumbered and although I wanted to pick off the weak ones first, I doubted that the ferocious rat would let me. If push came to show I could always flee. However, there were several things that could go wrong if I tried to run. One it followed me back to my base and told the other rats where I lived. I had no idea if the rats talked to each other but I didn¡¯t want to take that risk. Another reason was that it might attack me the moment I turned my back toward it. If I was going to be struck, I wanted to be facing my opponent. The last and most important reason I didn¡¯t want to flee was because this giant rat was special. Not only could I use its body to reanimate a corpse, but I would probably gain way more experience from it than I normally would. The rewards were too great for me to flee so I decided that I must fight. Taking a deep breath, I initiated the battle. Chapter 7: Deadly Challenges Chapter 7: Deadly Challenges Gripping my sword tightly in my hands, I charged towards the ferocious giant rat. My zombie rat should be able to handle the other two rats while I was busy. The reason I chose the strongest enemy instead of the weakest one was quite simple. I had a feeling that my zombie rat would be torn apart if it fought in my place. And that was unacceptable. I had spent too many resources reanimating this rat just to have it die because I was afraid to fight a stronger enemy. Swinging downwards as quickly as I could, I watched in satisfaction as my sword tore through the giant rat¡¯s flesh. Or at least that was what I thought had happened. I watched in horror as the giant rat vanished in front of me. Shit, where was it? My question was answered with a painful slash on my back. Gah! Cringing in pain I turned around to face my opponent. Fuck, why the hell was it so fast? Ignoring the increasing pain coming from my back, I began to formulate a strategy in my head. Right now my problem was that I was too slow. There was no way for me to increase my speed at the moment, so I had to reduce my opponent¡¯s speed instead. The question was how. There had to be a way, I just had to think of one. My thoughts were forced to come to a halt as I jumped out of the way of an oncoming attack. Rolling on the ground, I quickly stood up and ran towards one of the weaker rats. If I could just kill one of them, my zombie rat would be able finish the other one off easily. Then we would be able to double team this wretched rat. But right before I would¡¯ve reached one of the weaker rats, the ferocious rat came to a skidding halt in front of me. Tch, it did not want me killing off its allies. Despair was slowly starting to fill my body until I realized something. All hope wasn¡¯t lost, at least not yet. Since the ferocious rat wanted to keep me away from its weaker brethren, more strategies opened up for me to use. I might actually be able to use this to my advantage. Turning off my wind magic, I faced my opponent with my normal sword. Since I wasn¡¯t going to be hitting it anytime soon, I might as well save my mana. Looking at it carefully, I once again began to formulate a plan. The only thing that I had that would be useful in this fight was my earth magic. I needed to somehow use this to slow down or severely injure my opponent. I would have to be careful the first time I used it since that would be my only element of surprise. Now what attack should I use? I could use an earth spike but the problem with that was that it would only injure my opponent. I needed something that would slow it down so I could kill it with my sword. The first thought that came to mind was using mud. However I needed water to do that. So that was impossible¡­.or was it? My eyes widened a bit as I was hit with an epiphany. I couldn¡¯t use mud, but maybe I could use something similar, something like quicksand. The thing that quicksand and mud have in common was that they both made the ground soft. If I could manipulate the earth into a soft substance I could trip the ferocious rat up. Yes, that was a good plan. The only problem I had now was manipulating the earth while I was in the middle of combat. It would be challenging, but not impossible. I just needed to keep the ferocious rat away while I made the earth around me soft. If I manipulated the earth too soon, the rat would know something was up. If I did it too late, I would be formally introduced into a set of sharp claws. Hwaah. Letting out a large sigh I moved my plan into action. Concentrating my mana downwards, I began to manipulate the earth that was around me. Not only was it hard because I had never done something like this before, but I was unable to plant my hand on the ground to help me. I had a suspicious feeling that the moment I left an opening in my defense, my enemy would take that moment to attack. Sweat poured down my brow as I rushed mana into the ground. I was wasting more mana than I would¡¯ve liked but time was of the essence. As I manipulated the earth I slowly turned my body around as I followed the rat with my eyes. For some reason it wasn¡¯t attack me, it was just¡­observing. No doubt waiting for me to mess up. I wasn¡¯t complaining though. If it wanted to give me time to lay out my trap then so be it. I would show it the error of its ways. Twenty seconds later and the earth around me was extremely soft. I had managed to spread my mana around a decent bit but not far enough to affect the other two rats. My feet had actually dipped into the ground a little bit but it didn¡¯t seem as though my enemy had noticed. It was more focused on my sword rather than my feet. With an angry snarl the rat charged towards me as fast as it could. Coating my sword in wind I attacked the moment it sunk into the earth. The surprised look that crawled onto its face caused a malicious grin to appear on mine. I would make sure it would never underestimate me again. Swinging my sword like a bat I aimed at its tiny legs. I didn¡¯t particularly care how many I cut as long as it was at least one. I would like to see it try to attack me quickly with an injured leg. Although the rat tried its hardest to escape my sword, its back feet were firmly stuck in the earth. With a sickening slick one of the rat¡¯s legs flew through the air in a torrent of blood.
-10
Tch, I had been aiming at two but it had managed to twist its body at the last second. The moment the rat leaned on its uninjured foot in order to stay balanced I took off. Rushing towards the two weaker rats, I aimed my sword downwards and pierced one through the back.
-12
My attack had done more damage to it than the ferocious rat because it was weaker. My zombie rat had done a decent job of holding these two rats off as I fought. Although it had done quite a bit of damage to both of them, it had sustained some damage itself. With another slash of my sword I lowered down the number of enemies I had to fight to two. While my zombie rat fought the other one viciously I turned back to the ferocious rat. My attack had injured it but I knew it wouldn¡¯t stay down for long. With a grunt the ferocious rat leapt onto a solid patch of earth. I had no idea how but it was currently balancing on three feet. It didn¡¯t seem bothered by the blood that was dripping from its wound. This just meant that I would have to make more. Let¡¯s see how well it would fare with only two legs. I was about to run towards the rat when an idea sprang up inside my head. As far as I knew the rat was a close range fighter. This meant that in order to injure me it would have to come towards me. Not the other way around. Placing my left hand on the ground, I pumped mana into the ground. I had about a third of my mana left, enough for me to cast several earth spikes. I planned on casting the earth spikes until the rat got too close to me. Since I had long range attacks, I would be damned if I didn¡¯t use them. Launching two earth spikes towards the injured rat I watched as one pierced it through its tail. How the hell could this rat dodge my attacks so well? I repeated this attack once more before I charged at the rat with my sword. I had managed to reduce its health to a reasonable level so I was confident I could kill it. My zombie rat was almost done with its fight so I wouldn¡¯t have to wait long for a double team.
Ferocious Giant Rat - Lv.7 Hp: 18/45
In just two more attacks this battle would be finished. However I was still wary of attacking up close. A saying my dad used to say arose from the back of my mind as I circled the rat. I didn¡¯t remember it exactly but it went something like there is nothing more dangerous than a cornered animal. This giant rat fit that bill perfectly. With all of its allies killed, it was truly backed into a corner. But that was its own fault. It made a mistake the moment it attacked me. I was sure that it wouldn¡¯t have shown me any mercy so neither would I. I would make it regret ever trying to kill me. Slashing my sword towards its injured stump, I watched as it jumped backwards. Straight into my awaiting zombie rat. Heh, it was predictable. The reason I knew it was going to jump backwards was quite simple. While it only had one useable leg at the front, it had two good ones in the back. Therefore it was more likely to jump backwards than anything else since it would be quicker and easier. However that line of thought proved to be its downfall. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I was able to finish it off easily while my zombie rat distracted it. Before I could look for any loot, a level up box appeared in my vision. Looking at my status I pondered on what to spend my skill points on. Intelligence, wisdom, or agility. Intelligence would make my spells stronger while wisdom would make them easier to use. More agility would¡¯ve been useful in my previous fight so it was a hard decision. After about a minute of debating, I made my choice.
Status Window
NameColm Marythou
Age: 16Race: Human
Level: 4Gender: Male
TitlesThe Peerless Descender, Undead Prophet
Health: 90/130Mana: 30/140
Stamina: 60/130
~
Strength: 10[1]Agility: 13
Vitality: 8Dexterity: 9
Intelligence:20Wisdom:15
Luck:0
~
Skills
Mana Affinity, Wind Blade, Earth Magic, Necromancy, Meditation, Enhanced Vision
Unallocated Points: 0
The reason I placed all five of my points into intelligence was because I wanted to get it to twenty. I would do that with agility next and then wisdom. After that I would place it wherever I felt it was needed. One thing that was a pleasant surprise was that my mana increased by ten the moment my intelligence reached twenty. This was good because I now knew of a way to increase my mana capacity. From what it looked like, the more intelligence I had, the more mana I would have to use. My health or stamina would probably increase if I got my vitality to twenty also. None of my skills leveled up this time but they did gather quite a bit of experience. Another couple battles or so and I had a feeling that they would level up. Swiping away the blue box, I made my way to the corpses. The first ones I looked at were the two level four rats. In between the two bodies was a single red vial which I picked up cautiously. What was this?
Basic Health Potion Description: A vial of red liquid used to heal wounds. Effect: Recovers 40 hp.
Twisting the vial around in my hand, I watched the red liquid slosh around inside. I could hardly believe it. This was just like the potions that heal you in rpgs. To me this potion was a godsend because if I got injured, I could heal quickly with this. One gulp and my health would raise by forty points. I had no healing skills so it always took me a while to restore my health. But if I managed to gather more of these, then that wouldn¡¯t be a problem. Placing the potion in my jacket pocket, I moved on to the final corpse. Pushing it off to the side, I grabbed an object that resembled a necklace. How it didn¡¯t get crushed by the weight of the rat was a mysterious to me. Bringing it closer to my face, I inspected it for details.
Fanged Necklace of Ferocity Description: A necklace carved from the fangs of a ferocious giant rat. Effect: +5 Strength +3 Agility Durability: 20/20
The necklace that was in my hand seemed to be covered in fangs. From the name I could assume that it was a special drop that only came from a ferocious giant rat. The moment I read the effects I knew the ferocious rat was worth the trouble. This necklace raised my strength and agility to sixteen making me even more powerful. When I put it on, I could literally feel the muscles in my body tightening and growing stronger. Yes, with more equipment like this I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about the giant rats anymore. Adjusting the necklace on my neck, I walked over to my corpses. With these I would have four giant rat corpses in total. Grabbing the ferocious rat and one of the level four rats I made my way to the base. My zombie rat followed behind me slowly with the remaining corpse. As I was walking back I noticed that my rat had sustained quite a few wounds. Hmm, I would need to fix that. My rat needed to be at its strongest or else it would die when it was fighting with me. That was a hassle that I didn¡¯t want to deal with. Opening an entryway into my house tiredly I tossed the corpses to the side. Man, the battle I had fought took a lot out of me. With a loud sigh I leaned against a nearby wall to take a quick break. Closing my eyes I shifted my body until I was in a comfortable position. Before I knew it I was fast asleep. Waking up with a start I looked around. What happened? Looking into the curious eyes of my zombie rat, realization struck me. I had fallen asleep. It made sense because I had been extremely exhausted from the previous fight. How long had I been asleep? How long had I even been down here? For my sleep I reckoned that I got a couple hours. I was still a little bit drowsy but I was feeling way better than I had before. As for the time I had been down here¡­I would say around a day. That was what my mental clock told me and I had no idea if it was correct. But what could I do, until I found my phone I wouldn¡¯t know the time. Taking a few minutes to stretch all of the kinks out of my body I looked at my status. My eyes widened in shock as I looked at my health, mana, and stamina bar. It seemed that by going to sleep everything would refill. I was extremely glad for that since it would have taken a long time for me to get my mana and stamina back. Scratching my rat behind its ears I examined it closely. Although it seemed fine I could still see some serious wounds on its body. The wounds looked like it was bothering my zombie rat but not by much. I still didn¡¯t like it so I opened my journal for a solution. I flipped page after page looking for an answer. The more I flipped, the more the pit in my stomach grew. I was nearing the end of the book looking for an answer. It was probably childish of me but I thought that this necromancy journal would last me for years. However it seemed like I would finish reading it in a day or so. Books aren¡¯t endless, I knew that. However thinking it didn¡¯t stop feeling I was getting in my stomach. After I finished reading through all of the rituals, I moved on to the spells sections. There were only two of them there and neither of them helped my situation. I decided to look at them later and moved on to the final section. The necromancer¡¯s notes. Since there were several pages of notes, I skipped around looking for specific words. My finger stopped on a section that talked about wounds on your undead. Sure enough after reading the section I now knew what to do. Basically there were only two good ways to heal an undead. The easiest way was to use a spell. A spell which I didn¡¯t have. Sadly the spell wasn¡¯t in this journal so I would have to use the other method. The next method was to have your undead eat the flesh of a creature. For some reason the flesh of its victims would help in its regeneration. It didn¡¯t matter what kind as long as it was alive and breathing at one point. This meant that my zombie rat wouldn¡¯t heal if I gave it vegetables or something. As I read on I realized that not having the undead healing spell wasn¡¯t all that bad. Having my zombie rat eat a corpse would not only heal it, but it would strengthen it also. My rat would have a small chance of absorbing some of the corpse¡¯s abilities depending on how much of the corpse it ate. Sadly this was only possible if I used a certain ritual. I turned toward the ritual section of my book to see if I had it. I did. Good, I would try to use it for the next creature I reanimated. I continued reading quietly as my zombie rat watched me quietly. Chapter 8: Hunger Chapter 8: Hunger As I was reading, a low growl interrupted my thoughts. Was I under attack? Getting on my feet as quickly as I could, I took a battle stance. I looked around tensely only to see my zombie rat looking at me in confusion. What did this mean? Usually my zombie rat sensed enemies before me so I didn¡¯t think the growl was coming from something alive. Maybe it was just the wind in the tunnels. Taking a moment to look around I heard the low pitch growl once more. But this time I found the source of the noise¡­my stomach. Rubbing my head in embarrassment, I decided to put my journal away. From what I could tell it had been around a day so it made sense that I was hungry. I was also doing quite a lot of physical work including dodging and attacking so I had worked up quite an appetite. The only problem was what kind of food I was going to get in this dungeon. I didn¡¯t really want to eat the giant rats I fought because they probably had some type of disease and I needed the corpses. I let my eyes wander as I thought about my predicament. As my eyes looked at a bright section of moss, an idea suddenly ran through my head. Why not eat plants? I was pretty sure I couldn¡¯t eat the luminescence moss but maybe there were other types of plants in this dungeon. I could only hope. Grabbing my sword I left my home with my rat in tow. Since I had killed quite a few rats my first time coming through, I shouldn¡¯t see any of them for the next half hour. At first I was disappointed by this, but now I was happy. This meant that I would be able to look for food without being interrupted. Walking close to the walls, I looked for any plants that were in the cracks. It was a little bit challenging since in the darkest spots, the only color I could see was grey. The only spots that I could see clearly were the spots with patches of luminescent moss. Don¡¯t get me wrong though, I was happy for my enhanced vision skill. I just wished there was an easier way to level it up. Time passed slowly as I peered over every inch of the wall next to me. My investigation was soon interrupted by a squeak from my zombie rat. Glancing toward my side I watched as my zombie rat tugged the side of my jacket. Huh, I guess he wanted me to follow him. I followed behind my zombie rat for a couple of minutes until we ended up at a wall¡­.Yes you heard me right¡­. a wall. My zombie rat had led me to a brick wall. Placing my hand on my head I let out a sigh. What did I expect, after all my zombie rat is still a rat. I crouched down on my knees and gazed into my zombie rat¡¯s eyes. ¡°Look here buddy, I know you tried your best but I asked for a plant. Plants are supposed to be green and ¡­plant-like. This¡­.this is a wall.¡± I pointed to the wall at the end of my sentence. I didn¡¯t blame my rat for leading me to a brick wall, after all he probably didn¡¯t know better. Turning around with another sigh I prepared to go back to my investigation. But before I could leave, my jacket was tugged on again. Looking at my rat with exasperation I watched as he head-butted the wall. Did he just want attention? ?! My eyes widened in shock as some of the bricks came tumbling down. What the hell?! Was there something on the other side of this wall? Moving my rat out of the way I swung my sword at the wall. Clang! A loud metallic sound echoed through the dungeon. I wasn¡¯t really worried about the sound since there were no giant rats nearby. I repeated the process a few more times until I realized that my sword swings weren¡¯t working. Hmm, it seems that I needed something more blunt. I sat down for a couple of minutes until an idea sprung up inside my head. Why not just make my sword a blunt weapon? Shoving my sword into the ground, I began to call forth mana from the ground. Concentrating on the earth, I enticed it to start crawling up my blade. Whenever I used earth magic, there were two ways that I could cast the spell. One was that I could force the earth to do my bidding while the other one was coaxing it to do my bidding. From what I could tell forcing the earth made my spell faster but weaker. While coaxing it made the spell take longer but it was stronger because of it. Since this was the first time I was using this type of earth spell, I decided to coax the earth. About one minute later my sword was covered in hard, compacted earth. Facing the crumbling wall I swung with all my strength. With a resounding thud several bricks flew from the wall. Yes, this would work. A few minutes later, I had managed to open a big enough hole in the wall so I could fit through. Stepping through the hole, I came face to face with a giant maw of teeth. Fuck! Jumping back as quickly as I could, I watched as the area I was in a second ago disappear. All that remained of my previous position was a blob of green. What the hell is that? It was no giant rat, that was for sure. I inspected the blue box above the mysterious thing¡¯s head for further information.
Vinesta - Lv.4 Hp: 20/20
It seems that the creature in front of me was some type of plant. It also seemed pretty weak if its hp was anything to go by. I was still wary of approaching it however seeing as how I was almost eaten by a surprise attack. Gripping my sword tightly in my hand, I got a better look at the plant monster when it lifted its head from the ground. It wasn¡¯t that hard to describe the Vinesta that was in front of me. It was essentially a plant that was changed into a monster. If a plant was over six feet tall that is. The Vinesta was covered in all green. The only thing that wasn¡¯t colored green was the variety of fruit at the tip of its arms/leaves. It probably used the fruit to entice innocent victims and then struck while they were distracted. It could¡¯ve easily blended in a jungle or something. But since we were in the sewers, its green skin made it obvious to see. Where the head of the flower should be stood a giant mouth. It was that mouth that almost ate me. I couldn¡¯t see any eyes so it probably used some type of hearing to attack. On the bottom of the creature laid roots that were a variety of sizes. Could it move? The question I had was answered when it slithered through the hole that I made. Motioning my rat to stay back, I ran toward it with my earth covered sword. The reason I didn¡¯t want my zombie rat in the fight was because the Vinesta¡¯s mouth was big enough to devour it in one gulp. I needed my zombie rat for future battles so I couldn¡¯t let that happen. I swung my sword at a nearby vine only to see it do a miniscule amount of damage. Tch, I needed to get the earth off my sword and pronto. There was probably an enemy that my earthen sword would be good against but this wasn¡¯t one of them. As the Vinesta¡¯s head lunged toward me, I had an epiphany. Aimed my sword at the open mouth, I pushed my mana into my sword. Because of how forceful I pushed my mana, all of the compacted earth shot off towards the Vinesta. Right into its open mouth. The Vinesta recoiled in shock and tried coughing out the earth. Huh, that attack was pretty effective. I needed to remember to use it in future battles. Before I could use this to my advantage, the plant threw one of its fruits at me. Ducking down quickly, I watched as it exploded against the wall behind me. Normally juice or something should have spilled out of it, but that was not the case. It seemed that the fruit contained some type of spores and I did not want to find out what they did. Covering my sword in wind, I sliced through several vines that came toward me.
-4
-3
-4
Thanks to my continuous attacks, the plant monster only had seven hp left. The multitude of vines it had proved to be its downfall since it gave me an easy target to hit. All I had to do was swing and I would wind up hitting something. After ducking under another thrown fruit, I sliced through the Vinesta¡¯s torso, ending its life. I turned around in satisfaction only to see my rat looking above me. What the hell was it looking at? I turned around just in time to be hit by the Vinesta¡¯s dead body. A forest. That was what I was currently smelling. I let out a sigh and looked around. I couldn¡¯t see anything thanks to the Vinesta¡¯s dead body. Sticking my arms out, I pushed the dead corpse to the side. A frown appeared on my face when I noticed that my hand was covered in green fluid. Was this supposed to be blood? Wiping it on one of the corpse¡¯s leaves I glanced at my rat. Who was currently smiling. Tch, why the hell did it think this was funny? Aren¡¯t my reanimated corpses supposed to protect their master? Shaking my head in annoyance I glanced at the dead body. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The Vinesta was quite easy to kill. However if I was hit by one of those fruits, it would be another story. What did they do anyway? I moved aside vines and leaves before I found one that had a yellow tinge. Tearing it off a vine carefully I inspected it for information.
Paralytic Tupa Description: One of the many fruits made by a Vinesta. This specific fruit causes paralysis to anyone that comes into contact with the spores. Effect: Target is paralyzed for a short period of time
Damn, I was glad I dodged those fruits. The paralytic tupa that was in my hand was around the size of a grapefruit. After staring at it for a few seconds, I wondered if I would be able to use it in a fight. Technically I should since all the Vinesta did was throw it. I could throw it too, but who knew? I would have to try it on the next enemy I saw to find out. Sticking it in my pocket, I looked for other fruits. Turning toward my zombie rat, I gave him specific instructions for when he found a fruit. He wasn¡¯t allowed to touch it and when he found one he needed to notify me. I didn¡¯t trust my rat not to make it explode and paralyze the both of us. That was the last thing I needed. The reason why I was looking for more fruit was quite simple. I was hoping that one of the fruits on the Vinesta was edible. That way I would have something to eat for the time being. If there wasn¡¯t any I might have to try the Paralytic Tupa. That was something I wasn¡¯t looking forward to. Who in their right minds would eat something so harmful? However, if I got hungry enough, I would do anything for food. A few minutes later I had gathered a variety of fruits from the corpse. I was quite surprised how many fruits this Vinesta thing had on it. Placing all of the fruits I gathered on the ground neatly, I examined the ones I didn¡¯t know about.
Poisonous Tupa Description: One of the many fruits made by a Vinesta. This specific fruit causes poison to anyone that comes into contact with the spores. Effect: Target takes poison damage for a short period of time
Drowsy Tupa Description: One of the many fruits made by a Vinesta. This specific fruit causes extreme drowsiness to anyone that comes into contact with the spores. Effect: Target is extremely drowsy for a short period of time
Red Tupa Description: One of the few edible fruits made by a Vinesta. This fruit contains no spores and is quite delicious. Effect: Restore 20 health points
It seemed that a Vinesta could create a variety of fruits ranging from poisonous, paralytic, and even sleep-inducing. I was so glad I didn¡¯t get hit by any of these. There was even an edible one! Taking a bite out of a red tupa, I reveled in its taste. It tasted like a cross between an apple and a pear. It was delicious. A few seconds later and it was gone, never to be seen again. Before I ate anymore, I decided to count how many of each type of fruit I had. I had two paralytic tupas, one poisonous tupa, one drowsy tupa, and three red tupas. I actually had four red tupas but I had just ate one. Hearing my stomach growl again I decided to eat the rest of the red tupas. I didn¡¯t like how I was wasting the twenty health point restoration but there was nothing I could do about it. There was food in front of me and I was hungry. After a few moments of crunching and swallowing I was done eating. Wiping my hands on my jacket, I shoved the remaining tupas in my pockets. This left me with bulges in my pants and jacket, but what could I do. They would have to work for now. Before I examined the hole in the wall, I glanced at the Vinesta corpse. Could I even reanimate it? I had no clue since it was a plant. Maybe, since technically it used to be alive thanks to the mutations it had undergone. I wouldn¡¯t know for sure until I tried. Stepping over the corpse of the plant monster, I motioned for my zombie rat to follow me. I had him keep his distance since I had no idea if there were any other plant monsters. Stepping through the hole in the wall, I glanced around cautiously. The area that was around me wasn¡¯t big, at all. I could reach the end of the room in just a couple of steps. So basically it was a dead end. However, that was probably a good thing. I didn¡¯t really want to deal with another pathway so close to my home anyway. I took the next couple of minutes to look around. The little room that my zombie rat had found was a godsend. In the middle of the cave stood a small lake of clear water. It wasn¡¯t that deep since only half my arm got wet until I touched the bottom. Around the small lake was a variety of plants and moss. I inspected the moss, but sadly none of it was edible. Some of the plants however were. For some reason I had never seen any of the plants that were in this cave. Some of them looked like a mixture of normal vegetables such as a cross between a carrot and a cucumber. While others looked like nothing I knew. I didn¡¯t care how they looked as long as they were edible. Before I ate the plants, I made sure they were edible from their status. It wouldn¡¯t do if I got poisoned, no matter how hungry I was. Unlike the fruit from the Vinesta, these didn¡¯t restore any health points. The only thing their effect said was cooking ingredient. Since I didn¡¯t have a stove or a pan, I would be eating all of these plants raw. The next twenty minutes went by with me gathering the plants, making earthen dishes, and petting my zombie rat. Drinking some of the water from my earthen cup, I took a brief moment to relax. I hadn¡¯t realized how hungry I was until I actually started eating. The vegetables were delicious but I longed for some meat. But the only meat that was in this dungeon were rats so I would have to pass. I knew from school that most rats carried diseases. Rat even caused the black plague! Hwaah, I guess I would be going on a plant only diet for the time being. Judging from the amount of plants in this little room, I could assume that they would last me for a few days. The lake would last me a little longer so I didn¡¯t have to worry about water. The problem was what to do after all of the edible plants ran out. Eat rats? I only wanted to do that as a last resort but event then I would need to cook them. But in order to cook them I needed fire. If only I wasn¡¯t trapped in a sewer I could go to my house and grab a lighter. I could even try to learn fire magic. But I was stuck in a sewer so fire was out of the question. Or was it? Fire magic was out of the question but fire wasn¡¯t. The reason I wanted fire was for several reasons. Warmth, cooking, and keeping predators away were only a few. But how would I create fire without a lighter or a match? The only other way I knew how was by striking some type of stones together to make a spark¡­..A spark¡­.That was it! All I needed was a spark and I could light some of these plants on fire. Some of the plants in here had stems resembling wood so I was sure they would catch on fire easily. And I knew just the place to get some sparks. The dim lightbulb that was beside the ladder from where I first entered the dungeon. That was where I was going next. Chapter 9: Electricity Chapter 9: Electricity I whistled a tune as I walked down the dark corridors with my rat following closely behind. I could barely contain my excitement as I made my way to the ladder. If this worked I would be able to harness the power of electricity. Something that I only thought I would be able to do in my dreams. What would be next? Who knew? Anything was possible now, nothing was out of reach. All you had to do was try hard enough and you would succeed. And even if you failed, you could always try again. My thoughts ran rampart through my head as I thought about my new world. I could be greater than I normally would have been. No, I would be greater. I would be a different man with all this power, a stronger one. No one would be able to tell me what to do. I would live my own life. But getting stronger wasn¡¯t the only goal on my mind. I also wanted to go out and explore different types of magic, places, and even monsters. Even the plants I had just ate had never been seen before by man. Just the thought of doing all of this made my happy. However, I would only be able to do this once I was stronger. But at least I had a goal that I could strive to accomplish once I made sure my family was safe. Once I was in front of the rusty old ladder I stopped. Tilting my head upwards, I looked at the dim lightbulb that was shining light on the surrounding area. As I looked at it, a frown began to grow on my face. How was I supposed to reach it? The lightbulb that I wanted to touch was all the way on the sewer ceiling. It was unreachable by conventional means. The reason I had to touch it was so I see what electricity mana felt like. Without knowing what it felt like, I wouldn¡¯t be able to create something similar to it with my mana. And if I wasn¡¯t able to create something similar to it then I wouldn¡¯t be able to create a new skill. The next few minutes were spent with me walking around in front of the ladder and thinking. As I did this my zombie rat paced alongside me happily. I came up with several ideas but most of them ended up being thrown out. One idea was to climb the ladder and jump for the lightbulb. However, that wouldn¡¯t work for several reasons. One was because even if I did reach the light bulb with my jump, I would only be able to touch it for a few seconds. The next was that I was sure to injure myself when I landed. There was no way I was going to survive that fall without some type of damage. Shaking my head I began to think even harder. What did I need to reach the platform? It was quite simple, a ladder or a platform of some kind. But how was I going to get something like a ladder here in these sewers? There was just no way I was reaching that lightbulb without using one of my skills so I glanced at the magic I had to see if any of it would be of use. My wind blade wouldn¡¯t be useful but maybe I could do something with air. I could have wind propel me high enough to reach the lightbulb. However I wouldn¡¯t be able to touch it for a long period of time. With my knowledge of wind magic, there was no way I would be able to use it to fly. Therefore my only option was to use earth magic, the magic that I was most proficient in. By utilizing my earth magic, I could create some type of earthen ladder to reach the lightbulb. However, I was not going to use that idea. The reason for that was because I wanted something that was sturdier. I was trying to make a new skill and trying to balance on a ladder while I was concentrating would do more harm than good. After thinking on it for another few minutes I finally decided to make something resembling an earthen pillar. Pushing my zombie rat off to the side gently, I placed both of my hands on the ground. I would need to focus for this part since this pillar was pretty important. If it collapsed while I was on it, there was no doubt that I would get injured. If a rat saw me in that state I would be killed. I still had my zombie rat to protect me, but it could only do so much. Sticking my fingers deep into the patches of dirt, I poured my mana into the ground. I kept doing this until the earth around me was saturated with my mana. Once that was done, I began to manipulate the earth. With my mana inside the soil, I began the process of hardening the earth around me. Once the earth around me was hardened I began raising the ground up. After a few attempts the earth began to slowly move upwards. As the ground pushed itself up, I made sure to harden the fresh earth so it could sustain itself. The more I rose the more I hardened the fresh earth until I was finally reached the top of the sewers. Cutting off my mana from the ground, I sat down and began to meditate. I would most likely need the mana that I lost before I moved on. As I meditated I began to think about what I had just accomplished. The square platform that I made wasn¡¯t easy to create. If my earth magic was a level lower, I was positive that it would¡¯ve collapsed. But since I had a vague understanding of the earth, I somewhat knew where to put my mana. The whole process really wasn¡¯t that different from making an earthen spike. I just had to make sure that the pillar I made wouldn¡¯t collapse on its own and put way more mana into it than I normally would. I also noticed that the more I manipulated mana, the more I began to understand it. The few spells I knew were becoming easier to cast because I knew how to manipulate my mana better. My meditating probably helped with that to. With every piece of mana I absorbed, I gained a tiny bit of wisdom from the mana. If I kept on meditating, my skill with mana was sure to improve. Once I had restored my mana, I moved closer to the lightbulb. I couldn¡¯t actually stand since I had made my pillar rise up too close to the wall. I didn¡¯t really blame myself for this mistake since this was my first time doing something like this so there were bound to be errors. After I finished crawling towards the lightbulb, I reached out my hand. It was time to begin my training. The first thought that ran through my head when I touched the lightbulb was of its warmth. It was a pleasant sensation since the only temperature I had been feeling in this sewer was the cold. The warmth that was spreading throughout my hand led me to think about some things. Although the lightbulb I was touching wasn¡¯t that big, it held a considerable amount of power. Without this lightbulb this area would have been casted in darkness and I would have died. There was no way that I could¡¯ve climbed down the ladder safely without some sort of light. I needed to remember to appreciate the small things since without them I would be in a very different situation. The moment my mana touched the lightbulb, the hair on my body began to stand up. It rose up even higher the more mana I pushed into the bulb. I pushed my mana further into the bulb until it was past the glass. Touching the glass was good and all, but what I needed to feel the electricity. I was forced to move my mana slowly through the glass in fear that it would shatter. I only had one lightbulb in this sewer and I would need it to last. If it didn¡¯t I could say good bye to any sort of electric skill. Once my mana was pass the glass, I moving it toward the electricity that was flowing violently in the bulb. With a determined look I coerced my mana to come in contact with the electricity. The result? Well it wasn¡¯t quite what I had expected. Recoiling my hand in pain I watched in surprise as I lost control of my body¡¯s functions. The only thing I could do was stare at the bright lightbulb as my body twitched around. Shit¡­.this was the worse. I could feel my muscles tensing up in my body and it did not feel good at all. I was finally allowed sweet relief a few seconds later as the electricity was forced out of my system thanks to my mana. Taking a shuddering breath I ran my hand through my hair only to shock myself again. Fuck! Shaking my hand furiously I looked at the lightbulb. This might be the hardest magic skill that I ever tried to gain. As I stared off into the distance, I thought about my problematic situation. The little shock that I had just received wasn¡¯t all that bad. Along with the pain I managed to receive a little bit of wisdom about electricity mana. Electricity mana was essentially mana that was charged with energy. This mana had so much energy inside it that it gave off an electric shock if someone got too close to it. Or at least that was what I thought. I had to touch the lightbulb again in order to gain more of an understanding of the magic. There was just one problem with that, the shock. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! The moment I touched the electricity in the lightbulb I would receive a small shock. However the longer I touched it, the more wisdom I received about electricity magic. If I touched it long enough I would gain the skill. The problem with holding it was the longer I held it, the nastier the shock became. I could tell that such a shock might kill me if I held on too long since the weakest shock was still painful. But was I going to give up? No. If I let something as small as an electric shock scare me then I couldn¡¯t call myself a man. I had pride dammit. Grasping the lightbulb, I prepared my body for another onslaught of pain. The next twenty minutes passed by in a blur of pain and wisdom. I was forced to rest several times thanks to the severity of the shocks I as receiving. I would also periodically receive a shock that would make it so I was unable to control my body for a short period of time. The hair on my body was always staying up since I had been shocked so many times. It was even hard to form coherent thoughts with all of the electricity running throughout my body. I would need to get my skill quickly or else my body would receive some damage I might not be able to heal. Taking a couple of deep breaths, I began to pour my mana into the electricity. As I did this, I once against struggled against the shocks I was receiving. It was considerably hard to concentrate on understanding electricity magic when your head throbbed every couple of seconds. Gritting my teeth through the pain, I searched for what the electricity mana felt like. I went past the pain, past my mana, and past the all of the other stuff that was in the way until I finally reached it. I could make it through this, I know I can. Grabbing the electricity mana from the lightbulb with my mana, I began moving it towards my hand. Once it was there I wrapped it securely with my mana. I did not want to lose the electric mana or else I would have to go through this whole process again. Removing my hand from the lightbulb I turned my attention to the electricity that was currently running through my hand. I needed to combine my mana with it so that I would be able to use the electricity. Since my mana was wrapped around the electric mana to begin with, all I had to do was push it inwards. As I began to do this, my hand began to periodically twitch due to the small shocks I was receiving. The more particles I combined, the more the feeling in my hand went away. It was similar to when your hand fell asleep and no matter what you did you couldn¡¯t feel anything. After a few minutes of this, I was finally done. Sweat was dripping down my face and most of my mana was gone. But all of this would be worth it if I managed to get a new skill. With the combined electricity running through my hand, I gave the air in front of me a few jabs. The sound of the air crackling was like music in my ears. With this I could do some damage. Before I could experiment more, a blue box suddenly appeared in my vision.
Electric Shock
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 1Exp: 5%
Effect: Allows the user to give something or someone an electric shock. Due to the low level of the skill, the victim will only feel a slight shock or numbness.
Rubbing my face tiredly I took the next half hour to meditate. I always got exhausted whenever my mana got too low and it was not a pleasant feeling. Thankfully meditating would alieve me of that pain so I wouldn¡¯t have this feeling for long. As I meditated I began to think about my electric shock. Why was gaining my electricity skill so hard? It wasn¡¯t this hard when I first made an earthen spike. If I tried getting fire or water magic would it be just as challenging? Even if it was I was still going to try to get it. It would no doubt be useful in the future and I was sure that it would be worth all the hard work. Once I was finished meditating a blue box appeared, notifying me of a skill level up. I took a brief glance at it before swiping away. I also noticed that my mana affinity skill gained considerable amounts of experience. This was because I was manipulating the electricity¡¯s mana when I was trying to create my skill.
Meditation
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 3Exp: 1%
Effects: By sitting down and gathering mana, mana regeneration is increased. The higher the level, the more mana that is regenerated. Small amounts of stamina will now be restored.
My meditation skill was now level three and small amounts of my stamina would be restored. This was really good since I now had a way to restore my stamina quickly. Before I just had to wait for my stamina to refill but now my meditation would help with its recovery. I had a feeling that if I leveled up my meditation skill enough, restoring my health would be next. Placing my hands on the pillar, I forced it to go back into the ground. I did this by doing the complete opposite of what I did before. Instead of hardening the earth, I softened it instead. As I descended I allowed a small grin to appear on my face. There were a lot of things I wanted to accomplish today and I could barely wait to start. Once I reached ground level, I walked off the top of my pillar. Before I went back to my base I wanted to try out my electric shock skill more. From the description I didn¡¯t really know if it would be useful in battle unless I targeted something specific. Such as an eye. No matter how small the shock, if I struck somebody in the eye with my skill it would be painful. But that was only because the skill was low leveled. If it was higher I was pretty sure I would be able to use it in battle. Taking a combat stance, I began to concentrate on my hands. Remembering the feel of electricity I began charging my mana. After a few minutes of concentrating I began to feel a slight numbness in my hand. This let me know that my spell was currently active. I threw a couple of punches in the air to test out my skill. Here were the results. Since my skill was only level one, my attack power was weak. Not only that but I could not extend the electricity away from my skin. This meant that I was unable to create a small spark. I would be able to do this when my skill was a higher level, but until then I would have to touch my opponent to damage them. If I wanted to use my hands to fight that is. I had an iron sword in my possession so I might as well try to use it. The metal on my sword was bound to increase my shock¡¯s potency and that would prove helpful until I leveled it up more. Grabbing my sword from the ground, I began to pour my mana on the electric blade of the sword. Once I did this I gave my mana an electric quality. But since I couldn¡¯t see a difference I began pouring more electric mana into my sword. The result of this little endeavor was me getting shocked¡­.It was quite painful. I spent the next half hour experimenting with the allocation of electricity in my sword. Although getting shocked was painful, it was nothing compared to what I felt when I was creating my electricity skill. The reason I was trying so hard was because I could see potential in attacking an enemy with an electrified sword. Not only would they get cut but they would also get shocked. It was essentially two attacks in one. This skill would be extremely powerful, I just needed to train it in order to use it to the fullest potential. AN: Thanks for reading and expect a side chapter after chapter 10. Also props to KenshoSeeker for giving some pretty good ideas and tips. They''re actually really helpful, thanks. Chapter 10: Becoming Stronger Chapter 10: Becoming Stronger Letting out a long sigh, I examined my work. My experimenting had finally bore some fruit when I managed to figure out just how much electricity I needed to put in my sword. I had to find just the right allocation or else my skill wouldn¡¯t work. Too much and I would receive a nasty shock. Too little and nothing would happen. Once I figured out the right amount of electricity I needed, my training went smoothly from there. The next two hours were spent with me trying out new attacks and strategies. This was what all of my skills and my status looked like when I was done.
Wind Blade
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Common
Skill Level: 4Exp: 0%
Effect: Allows the user to create a sharp blade of wind that can be used in combat.
Earth Magic
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 6Exp: 40%
Effect: Allows the user to mold the earth into a variety of constructs.
Electric Shock
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 3Exp: 25%
Effect: Allows the user to give something or someone an electric shock. This attack has a small chance of paralyzing the place it hit.
Necromancy
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Rare
Skill Level: 2Exp: 50%
Effect: Allows the user to reanimate dead corpses. The stronger the skill, the longer the reanimated corpse can stay alive and the stronger it will be. Certain rituals will change the corpses characteristics.
Meditation
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 3Exp: 20%
Effects: By sitting down and gathering mana, mana regeneration is increased. The higher the level, the more mana that is regenerated. Small amounts of stamina will now be restored.
Enhanced Vision
Skill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 3Exp: 35%
Effects: This skill allows you to see farther and better. If level up high enough, night vision becomes possible.
Mana Affinity Skill
Skill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: Unique
Skill Level: 4Exp: 50%
Effects: Any skill using mana cost 4% less. You are more sensitive to the mana. This enables you to know when someone is about to cast a spell due to the amount of mana being gathered. Anything mana related comes easier to you.
Status Window
NameColm Marythou
Age: 16Race: Human
Level: 4Gender: Male
TitlesThe Peerless Descender, Undead Prophet
Health: 130/130Mana: 120/140
Stamina: 100/130
~
Strength: 10[6]Agility: 13[3]
Vitality: 8Dexterity: 9
Intelligence:20Wisdom:15
Luck:0
~
Skills
Mana Affinity, Wind Blade, Earth Magic, Necromancy, Meditation, Enhanced Vision, Electric Strike
Unallocated Points: 0
My wind blade was now longer and harder to see. The only way you could tell I was using it in battle was if you focused intensely on my blade. If you did that you would be able to see the slight shimmer in the air. It was still incredibly deadly whenever I combined it with my actual sword. I could extend the wind blade a couple of inches off my blade so I would be able to surprise my enemies whenever I fought. Even if they barely dodged my attack they would be injured since it wasn¡¯t the blade of my sword they should be afraid of, but my magic instead. My earth magic was coming along nicely and I had several attacks I could use. I learned that the more I used a certain attack, the easier it was for me to use in the future. So it was better to use the skills I was most proficient in rather than just some random attacks. The skills that I was proficient in were earthen spikes, earthen swamp, earthen wall, and my earthen blade. My earthen spike was an incredibly useful attack that I could cast from long range. I used the skill so much that I didn¡¯t have to slam my hands into the ground anymore. I could now launch earthen spikes using only my feet which gave me more strategies to use. My earthen swamp was good for close combat since I could make my enemies trip and sink into the ground. If they got too close to me, I would make them regret it. The only problem with this skill was that I had to make sure I didn¡¯t get caught in my own earthen swamp. My earthen wall was good for defense since I could block a variety of attacks with it. If I slammed my hands into the ground like I used to do with my earthen spike, I could make a wall appear quickly. If I didn¡¯t do that my wall would be too slow to use in combat. Once I leveled up my earth magic more then I would be able to just direct mana through my feet like I do for my earthen spikes. Although my wind blade was more powerful than my earthen blade, my earthen blade was good for a different reason. Whenever I wanted to get rid of the earth that was on my sword I could shoot it off quickly with my mana. If I did this in close combat my enemy would have to be extremely fast in order to dodge it. I was quite pleased with my earth magic skills. My electric shock was where I found the most improvement. I had managed to get it to level three and there was a big difference. Not only was the attack stronger, but it also had the chance to paralyze the section of the body that it hit. This was useful because if I hit an opponent¡¯s leg my skill had a chance to paralyze it. All it took was a moment of weakness in order to win a battle. I could also finally create a spark by concentrating. I had to train my skill more however in order to extend my electricity farther. If I did this I would soon be able to lob electrical bolts like it was nothing. It turned out that I actually didn¡¯t need to do necromancy rituals in order for my skill to level up. Just my zombie rat staying reanimated would give me experience. It wasn¡¯t as much as how much the ritual gave but it was enough. I also learned that reading my journal gave me experience. I guess the more knowledge I had about a skill the higher the level would be. My meditation skill hadn¡¯t leveled up since it had just did a while ago. However I did gain a decent amount of experience in it. I just had to keep meditating in order for the level to rise. There really wasn¡¯t a quicker way to level it up so I would just have to bear with it. My enhanced vision was gaining experience quite quickly since I had been using it 24/7. The only time I didn¡¯t use my vision was when I was sleeping. The darkness also helped since I had to strain my eyes more in order to see. A few more levels and I would be able to see in this wretched darkness. I could hardly wait. With all my magic skills leveling up my mana affinity had to also. All of my magic skills cost four percent less to cast. It wasn¡¯t a lot but once my level reached level ten or twenty then I would be able to notice the difference. Until then I would just have to make do with what I had. If I wanted to level it up quickly I needed to try to gain another magic. Whenever I created a magic skill my mana affinity skill would also gain a considerable amount of experience. According to my status my highest stat was intelligence. My strength and agility tied for second while my wisdom came in third. The only reason my strength was so high was because of my equipment. This showed my just how powerful equipment should be. So if I saw some as dropped loot I needed to make sure I picked it up. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I needed to fight some enemies quickly and level up since my level was pathetically low. Level four? That was as high as the plant monster I fought and that battle was extremely easy. However I now had a good amount of skills I could use in battle so I was glad I trained them. Even if someone was a higher level than me I could still beat them using my skills. Increased strength didn¡¯t mean anything if I killed you before you got close. After reviewing my skills I headed towards my base. Once I reached it I continued on until I reached the section where all of the plants were. I was pretty hungry but I wasn¡¯t in the mood for vegetables. But what could I do. At least some of the vegetable tasted like fruit so that was nice. Although it was odd for a carrot shaped vegetable to taste like a mango but I wasn¡¯t complaining. After eating and drinking my fill I sat on the ground to take a twenty minute break. While I did this I popped open my necromancy book. I might as well do something useful while I rested. Flipping towards the ritual section I spent the next few minutes glossing over the section. Once I was done I reviewed what I learned. The first ritual in there was beginners and I felt like I was past that. I was more of a ¡­.. advanced beginner. I placed a piece of moss on the ritual that would allow my reanimation to gain the characteristics of the corpses it ate. This ritual was incredibly useful because not only did it make my reanimation stronger but it could work in tandem with nearly every ritual. I planned on using it with the last ritual that was in the book. Right now I needed to gather more corpses but I already had an idea for what I wanted the host to be. It just had to be the ferocious giant rat. That was a special enemy and I doubted that another one like it would appear. As I was reading I realized that I was missing some of the materials and ingredients that I needed it. Hmmm, should I stop? Hell no! I would just have to wing it from now on. It was a shame that I couldn¡¯t get what the book depicted but I could get something similar. I went to the notes section in the journal to see if the author talked about any of this. After glancing at the notes I knew somewhat what I was going to do. It was going to be dangerous but what in this world was completely safe? The ritual that I was trying to attempt made it so that my reanimated corpse would take on the characteristics of whatever I put in there. It was kind of like the ritual that made my corpse gain whatever it ate its characteristics but it was more powerful. So if I put a bunch of rocks in the ritual then I would end up having some kind of stone rat. I had to be careful though since if I put in too much stuff the whole ritual would fail. And if the ritual failed then the whole area around me would burst into flames. Therefore I would need to be careful with what I used in the ritual. I didn¡¯t want to be barbecued after all. I took another sip of water as I read the tips this necromancer gave me. If I put some bone dust in the ritual then my reanimated rat would have stronger bones. If I had more bone dust then my rat would be able to shoot bones from its body to attack. Sadly I only had two containers of bone dust so that last option was out. A shame since that would¡¯ve been pretty cool. I could also place some of my magic mana into the ritual which would enable my rat to use that magic to a certain extent. Since my necromancy was so low my reanimation could only hold one of my magic. So I had to choose between wind, earth, and electricity. Since I didn¡¯t really know what I wanted I decided that I would decide when I was about to do the ritual. And with that last though I was done with the ritual section of the book. This meant that I was one third of the way done with the book. Before I got up I decided that I might as well read the spell section of the journal. It was better to know what they did now so if I needed to I could use them later. Flipping pages of the journal I finally arrived at the spell section. There were only two spells but I didn¡¯t mind. It was better than nothing. Glancing at the description of the first one I soon realized what it did. It would be useless in combat but it would be useful if I ever need to get information from someone. This spell allowed me to question my reanimated corpse. My reanimation would be unable to lie to me and would have to answer all of my questions to the best of its ability. This spell worked extremely well on human opponents since they were easier to understand. If I did want to use this spell the brain of my corpse needed to be intact or else the corpse wouldn¡¯t be able to remember anything. My second spell allowed me to absorb the life force of my opponent. I excitedly began to read until I stopped in disappointment. It seemed that my necromancy would needed to be a higher level before I could read more. Or at least that was what the blue box in front of me said. I tried looking past it but it didn¡¯t work. Closing my book with a sigh I stood on my feet. If I wanted to use the second spell in my book I would have to come back when I was stronger. Until then I would just have to ignore my curiosity as for how the spell worked. Sticking my journal in my jacket pocket I made my way out of the hidden base. Before I could leave I was forced to stop when I tripped over a mass of green. Fuck! Picking myself up I kicked the offending object that had injured me. Once I realized what had tripped me my eyes widened considerably. It was the ¡­..vine something. Vinela? No, it wasn¡¯t that. I was pretty sure I would¡¯ve remembered if the plant monster¡¯s name sounded like some type of ice cream. After a few minutes of thinking I finally remembered what the plant monster was called. Vinesta! Man, I had completely forgotten about it. I had thought I moved the body to my base but I guess I didn¡¯t. Or maybe I moved it back. Who knew? I stared at the corpse with a frown on my face. What should I do with it? It would be a waste to leave it there and I didn¡¯t really want to try reanimating it. It was a plant so I had no idea how I was going to go about reanimating it. Maybe if I had more than once corpse I would try it. But since I only had one I didn¡¯t want to waste it on a failed experiment. I looked toward my zombie rat as I thought about what to do. ¡°What do you think I should do?¡± Don¡¯t judge me for talking to a rat. Maybe he would tell me something intelligent. After all he did find the hidden wall. I was open for any suggestions since I had no clue what I wanted to do with the body. I watched as my zombie rat moved toward the Vinesta. What was it about to do? I watched in fascination as it took a big chunk out of the corpse. Was it going to eat it? That idea was thrown out of my head as I watched it moved to the garden. Once it was in the middle of a variety of plants it buried the piece in the dirt. My zombie rat did the process two more times until I realized what it was doing. Fertilization! By doing this I would be able to grow my plants faster. They wouldn¡¯t grow fast enough for me to eat then while I was still in the sewers but the growth rate would still be improved. Hmm, there had to be a way to increase the growth rate of the plants more. A look of shock appeared on my face as I realized what I could do. Mana! By placing mana in the plants maybe I could increase the growth. Before doing anything I patted my zombie rat on its head. I had no idea how or why it was so smart but I wasn¡¯t complaining. At least it was on my side. Once I was done petting my zombie rat I moved to the Vinesta corpse. I then began dragging it toward the wild garden. Once I got the body there I began manipulating the earth around the corpse. After about thirty seconds of concentrating the body vanished, filling the ground with nutrients. The reason why the body disappeared so quickly was because I just used my earth swamp skill. Once I used that, the body sunk right into the ground. After the body sunk into the ground, I began the process of moving my mana into the ground. With my mana in the ground I began grabbed pieces of the Vinesta¡¯s body and directing them to various plants. Once they were close enough to the plants I combined my mana with the Vinesta¡¯s body. Once they were combined I molded it with all of the plants nearby. After I did this I could immediately tell the difference. The plants were bigger and it looked as if they took on some of the Vinesta¡¯s characteristics. One plant that used to be just a stem now bore fruit. From the look of it if I waited a couple of hours more fruit would spawn. I repeated this process until all of the Vinesta¡¯s body was used. After this was done I sat down to meditate. Once I was done meditating I was going to hunt for some giant rats. I needed to increase my level and it needed to be soon. Tips for the story It seems that many people didn''t really like the side story chapter that I did. But what can I say, I''m learning as I go. I''ll probably delete it soon but I wanted people to look at it first and tell me ways to improve. My writing skills can''t get better unless I know what I did wrong. I made this chapter so you viewers can give me tips on whatever you feel is necessary. You can even give me ideas for powers or the plot. Whatever you feel like commenting on. I''ll take every comment I read into consideration. Since this is my first story I''m bound to make some mistakes. You guys will just have to struggle along with me until my writing skill is improved. On a side note should I attempt side chapters or just stick to the main story? The first time I tried you guys didn''t really see to like it. It''s whatever you viewers prefer since I''m fine either way. How do you guys feel about Colm, is he too powerful, too weak, or just right? How do you feel about his skills, too many or too few? What about the monsters? I want to know how you guys think so I can make this story a pleasure to read. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. So thank you for reading my story and thanks for the tips I receive every chapter. Edit: In a day or so I''m going to delete the old side chapter and put a new one in its place. I might bring this one back later after I edited it first. I plan on doing essentially the same thing as the side chapter except the side guy will be weaker and I will write more details about him. As always thanks for reading. Edit 2: Side chapter delete, new one up. Thanks for all of the tips and thanks for reading. Side Story 1: The Changed World Side Story 1: The Changed World Hello, my name is John Variel. I¡¯m just an average nineteen year old male who is trying to survive in this harsh world. I wouldn¡¯t consider my life blessed, but I wouldn¡¯t consider it cursed either. I¡¯m just trying to make do with what I have. Unlike some people I knew, I at least had a job, albeit a sucky one. Fast food jobs don¡¯t pay that much, but they pay enough. I need the money to pay rent which is probably the only reason I¡¯m still working at that shitty place. Right now I¡¯m relaxing on my couch waiting for the pizza I ordered to come. This had been my first day off that I¡¯d gotten in a while so I was making the most of it. As I was waiting on my couch, my phone began ringing. With a groan I pushed myself up and reached for the device. Who was calling me? Looking at the string of numbers on my phone I soon realized who it was. My fast food job. Shit, I did not want to answer it. It was my day off after all. Hmm, should I or shouldn¡¯t I? After a few seconds of debating I decided to answer my phone. If they found out that I ignored the call when I could¡¯ve just picked it up, they wouldn¡¯t be pleased. What was the worst that could happen? With an angry shout I tossed my phone at the wall. Fuck! Why couldn¡¯t they get someone else to come in today? This was my day off! Shaking my head in anger, I took a couple of deep breaths. Getting angry wouldn¡¯t help me. Once I was cooled down I walked across my room in order to reach my phone. Hopefully it didn¡¯t crack when I tossed it against the wall. If it did I would be screwed. I did not have enough money for another phone. After examining my phone closely, I allowed a small smile to creep on my face. I couldn¡¯t see any cracks on my phone so I was safe. Placing my phone on the counter I took a quick shower and put on my work clothes. As I was putting on my shirt I glanced in the mirror. What met my eyes was a white male with brown hair and grey eyes. I didn¡¯t think I looked too bad but neither did I think I looked too good either. But to be honest I wasn¡¯t really concerned with my looks. I had bigger things to worry about. Once I my clothes were on I took a seat on my couch and glanced at my clock. From the looks of it, I would have enough time to eat my pizza when it came, but not much else. Man, if only I could get a better job. A job where I could decide my own hours and got better pay. However life wasn¡¯t fair so I would probably be stuck with this sucky job for a couple more years. The next few minutes went by in silence. I wasn¡¯t really doing anything since I didn¡¯t want to miss the pizza delivery. After all, the pizza coming in would probably be the best aspect of my day. I was interrupted from my musings when I heard my doorbell ring. Opening my apartment door quickly, I began to pay the pizza guy. My stomach growled as I pulled out my wallet. Man, that pizza smelled delicious. But before I could hand over my money I was distracted by the sudden appearance of a blue box.
Welcome! Because you humans have decided to squander your lives, the powers above have decided that you shouldn''t control it! Therefore they are combining your world with another one in order to make things more interesting. How and why can they do this? Well¡­.You don¡¯t need to know! But don''t worry, if you live, you will be stronger because of it. So go out there and survive!
5:00 minutes remaining until the opening of rifts
With a look of confusion on my face I tried swiping the box away. Sadly it didn¡¯t work. My hand had actually gone through the box when I had tried to touch it. I turned toward the pizza guy only to notice him staring at something also. There was nothing in front of him however so I didn¡¯t know what to think. Maybe he was lost in thought. Or maybe he was he seeing the same thing I was? ¡°Hey, do you see a blue box in front of you or is it just me?¡± With a silent nod from the pizza guy my question was answered. Huh, I guess he was too shocked to speak. I mean I could hardly believe it myself. Combining worlds and such sounded like something I would read in a novel. And why the hell did it only give us five minutes? That wasn¡¯t enough time to do anything. I stared at the blue box as the timer counted down. What would happen once the timer reached zero, an apocalypse? That was ridiculous¡­right? Shrugging my shoulders I proceeded to pay the pizza guy his money. Apocalypse or not I was about to eat me some good cheese pizza. Once everything was paid for I pulled out a soda and began eating. I would worry about the blue box once my stomach was filled. The next few minutes were spent with me devouring my pizza. Man, it was as good as it smelled. The tasted was somewhat ruined however by the blue box in my vision. I couldn¡¯t seem to figure out how to move it so I just ignored it. Or I tried at least. As I was reaching for the last pizza slice I was distracted by a deafening boom. What the hell? Spitting out my soda in shock I looked for the source of the noise. I was forced to stop my investigation however when another blue box appeared in my vision.
Times up! I hope you all are all ready and prepared for this because I know I sure am. Let the apocalypse begin!
¡­¡­Fuck. I had jinxed myself. Why did I have to mention the word apocalypse? Vacating my position from the couch I took a glance outside. The moment I stuck my head out of the door I knew something was wrong. It was way darker than it should be. The sky was usually bright this early in the morning. Walking outside of my apartment I turned my head upwards. But when I looked up, my mouth was forced to open in shock. For some reason the sky now took a dark crimson hue instead of the normal blue it usually had. What was going on? As I was looking at the sky, I soon noticed that something was odd. Was that a hole in the sky? After taking a closer look I soon realized that I had guessed correctly. Not only that, there actually seemed to be stuff flying out of it. I couldn¡¯t really tell what the things were thanks to how far away it was. But for some reason the things that were falling seemed¡­.alive. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Before I could think on it anymore, I began to hear a whirling sound. With a look of confusion, I began glancing around for the source of the noise. It didn¡¯t take long for me to find it. A few feet away from me stood a swirling blue rift/portal. As I stared at it I soon noticed the pizza guy doing the same exact thing as me. Except he was way closer to the portal. Was he not afraid that it would suck him up or something? As a matter of fact why was he still here? Shouldn¡¯t he have driven away by now? A few seconds went by before I finally came up with an answer. It was actually quite simple. The blue box. There was no way he could¡¯ve driven with that thing in his way. As I thought about the pizza guy¡¯s situation I began to hear a low droning sound. What was it now? It turned out that the cause of the noise was the swirling rift. As it moved from left to right, it slowly began to change its shape. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, it spat out some type of unknown creature. As the creature stretched its muscles I soon noticed that there was a blue box above its head.
Laughing Hyena - Lv.6 Hp: 30/30
Huh? Why could I see the name of the creature and its level? For some reason I felt as though this situation resembled a game. Strange right? I watched in horror as the pizza guy tried to slowly walk away. My face scrunched up in pain as I watched the hyena eye the pizza guy. There was no way that he was surviving this. A cold chill ran throughout my body as the hyena began to laugh. The laugh was cold, filled with mirth, and for some reason sounded strangely human. A smile erupted from its face as it began to slowly trot toward the pizza guy. The pizza guy immediately began to ran, hoping to escape the deadly beast. Sadly he was too slow and from the look upon his face he knew it too. I was forced to put my hand over my mouth as the hyena tore into his flesh. What kind of shit was this? I would like to say I jumped down valiantly and fought the hyena, but that would be a lie. What was I supposed to fight it with? My fist? Ridiculous, only someone insane would do that. Backing away as quietly as I could, I entered my apartment. Close my door slowly, I made sure it was locked. I did not want that thing coming in here. Once I made sure I was safely inside, I thought about what I should do. Normally I would¡¯ve looked for help but the hyena out there stopped me from doing that. Hmm, I could try calling 911. However when I tried calling them all I heard was silence. Huh? Confused I tried calling them again but nothing happened. What was going on? I was going to try typing the numbers in once more when I heard a scream come from my next door neighbor. Shit. As the screaming grew louder and louder, I ran towards my light switches. Turning off all of my lights, I crouched low to the ground. I had to make sure that the hyena thought I was gone. I did not feel like getting devoured today. As I was crouching on the ground, I heard the laughter of the hyena once more. But this time it was getting closer. My heart started beating furiously against my chest as the laughing grew louder. What if it noticed me? My face grew pale as I heard the hyena pass my door. I was feeling faint just thinking about what would happen to me. The next few minutes went by in silence. It was almost as if my neighbors realized that the hyena was by their door. But it was too late. With a loud crash the screams resumed once again. But this time the screams were filled with pain rather than fear. I didn¡¯t know what was happening in there but all I could hear was crashes and screams. Man, how many people were in there? I was forced to jump when something large hit the side of my wall. The thing that hit it was going so fast that it made a dent in my wall. Would if it accidently broke through? Crawling silently towards my bedroom, I tried to calm my racing heart. It didn¡¯t work. Once I made it inside my bedroom, I was covered in crimson light. Looking towards my right I realized that the light was coming from my window¡­.That was it! I could use my window to escape. How had I forgotten that before? I was about to slide my window open when I realized something. I was virtually defenseless if I went out there now. Walking over to my desk quietly, I shuffled around the things in my desk until I found my pocket knife. It wasn¡¯t that big, but it was better than my bare hands. After I stuck my pocket knife in my pocket, I emptied out my book bag. I wouldn¡¯t need the stuff in there anymore. I then used the next few minutes to pack a spare set of clothes, food, and some other supplies. Hopefully this little situation would blow over in a few days, but you never knew. Once everything was packed I looked for the police station on my GPS. It was probably the safest place to be since they had guns. After finding the location on my phone, I grabbed my back pack and escape through my window. It was a good thing I lived on the second floor instead of the third or fourth. The fall was painful but manageable. Letting out a hiss of pain I surveyed my surroundings. The fall wasn¡¯t that loud, but it still made some noise. After waiting a few more seconds I let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that the hyena hadn¡¯t noticed me. But the moment I turned around, I was face to face with it. No¡­. This couldn¡¯t be happening. I watched in horror as a sickening grin appeared on the hyena¡¯s face. Before it could move I reached into my pocket to pull out my pocket knife. But the moment my hand touched the weapon the hyena attacked. I screamed out in pain as its teeth tore through my skin. Fuck! Shaking it off I turned toward my left to flee. All my hope was lost when I saw what happened next. Blocking my path was another laughing hyena. There was no where I could go! I tried the best I could to defend myself, but it was all for naught. After a particular painful bite to my throat, darkness filled my vision. Then¡­nothing. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AN: Sorry for the delay. For some reason I didn''t really like this chapter which is why it took so long to complete. You guys tell me what you think. The next chapter will be about our favorite main character, Colm. So be on the lookout for that. Thanks for reading! Chapter 11: Only The Strong Will Survive Chapter 11: Only The Strong Will Survive Pushing myself off the ground, I set out on my journey refreshed. Meditating before I left to go somewhere was always nice. If I had to explain it, I would have to say that it felt like a nap. It didn¡¯t give me that much energy, but it gave me enough. My giant zombie rat followed behind me quietly as I made my way through the dark sewers. As I walked, I whistled a quiet tune that matched with the tapping of my sword. Hey, I had to find a source of entertainment somehow. After walking for a few minutes I began to hear the sounds of combat. Hmm? Intrigued I picked up my pace until I arrive in a small clearing. Peeking out of my hiding spot, I was met with a strange site. It seemed that the giant rats were fighting some type of¡­.bat? I took a closer look at the mysterious creature so I could see its stats.
Sinister Adult Bat - Lv.8 Hp: 30/45
Woah. I was not expecting this. I had assumed there were only giant rats in this part of the sewers. According to the sight in front of me, that guess was wrong. From what I could see there were actually three of these bats at the least, which were flying around the giant rats below them. Although there seemed to be more giant rats, the sinister bats had a higher level. They also weren¡¯t limited to fighting on the ground. It was essentially quality versus quantity. But what the hell was I looking at? I must¡¯ve stumbled upon some type of war that was between giant rats and sinister bats. They were staring at each other in unconcealed hate so I was pretty sure they were planning on fighting to the death. As I watched quietly, I wondered what I should do. I didn¡¯t want to leave yet since there were quite a bit of corpses on the ground, bat and rat alike. I couldn¡¯t just jump out in the battle since I would be slaughtered easily. Those bats that were flying were twice my level after all. Hmm. Decisions, decisions. As I was thinking I took another glance at the ensuing battle. Only to meet the eyes of a sinister bat. What?! It could see me? That was question was answered as it dive bombed toward me. I managed to dodge the oncoming attack by rolling forward. Right into the giant rats. Fuck. Scanning my surroundings, I held my sword in a combat stance. Shit, I hadn¡¯t expected my location to be revealed so easily. What was I supposed to do now? Right now both sides had stopped combat and were staring at me. They were probably wondering which side I was on. My heart plummeted down through my chest as I realized just how many monsters were in this clearing. Dozens! I had to choose what I did next carefully or else I wouldn¡¯t be getting out of this situation alive. My eyes moved around the battlefield quickly, looking for something that could help my situation. I noticed that the sinister bats looked even more fearsome up close. They were like normal bats except of a larger size. They also had larger claws and a malicious grin. The ones that were of a higher level also had fur around their necks. Odd, I wondered why that was so. I would¡¯ve tried to examine the rats next however I didn¡¯t think I had enough time. I was already wasting enough time as is. After I examined most of the bats, I finally saw something that I could use. I might survive this battle yet.
Undead Carnivorous Bat - Lv.10 Hp: 50/60
This undead bat was the highest level creature on the battlefield. I was positive he could kill me quite easily. However he was my only chance for survival. I couldn¡¯t escape since I was cornered on all sides. Since he was an undead, I might be able to strike a deal with him. He should be able to understand me¡­.right? Well there was only one way I would be able to find out. ¡°Um, hello Mr. Undead Bat, I mean you no harm. I was only passing through.¡± I was trying to be as polite as I could since I didn¡¯t feel like dying quite yet. I was hoping this conversation could be done quickly because I doubted these giant rats would wait much longer. I could see one right now with his muscles twitching. The only reason they didn¡¯t move was because they thought I could change the tides of battle. Maybe I could, who knew? The undead prophet fixed me with a deadly gaze before responding. ¡°Ah, an undead prophet. I haven¡¯t seen one of your kind in years. So you say you were just passing through¡­heh. Why not help some of your kind and fight with us in this battle, hmm? If you do I promise you won¡¯t be harmed¡­.at least not by me.¡± ¡­..What the fuck. This bat was such a dick. For some reason I felt as if he knew I didn¡¯t have a choice. This was probably why he was acting so confident. Or he knew what my level was. Which I hoped he didn¡¯t. I was incomparably weak when compared to him and I didn¡¯t need him to act anymore cocky. As I thought of this another question sprung up from my mind. Could monsters see my level? If they could it would explain why I kept on being attacked on site. My enemies probably thought I was an easy meal thanks to my low level. Hmm, I would have to think on this later. From the way the undead bat said it, it seemed that undead prophets were quite rare. A few years was quite a long time. But if what he was saying was true then that mean there had been undead prophets before the world had changed. Did this mean that he was from the other world that earth was combined with? Tch, I had too many questions and not enough time to answer them. Looking towards the undead bat, I agreed with the proposal. I also mentioned that the undead rat next to me was on my side. He responded to me with a raised eyebrow. It seemed that killing other undead was frowned upon. How was I supposed to know? I thought about the proposal I accepted as I turned toward the giant rats. I didn¡¯t really want to call it a proposal since I really didn¡¯t have a choice. It was either help the bats or be attacked by them and the giant rats. I couldn¡¯t join the giant rats since they didn¡¯t have an undead on their side that I could speak with. I could¡¯ve tried to get my undead rat to speak with them but it was too late. I had already made my decision. Slamming my left hand on the ground quickly, I launched three earthen spikes toward a group of rats. The moment my spikes pierced through the giant rats flesh, the battle resumed. What happened after that could be summed in one word. Chaos. Coating my sword in electricity, I swung at whatever looked like a rat. I made sure to not hit any of the bats that were flying around. I was pretty sure that if I accidently hit one, I would be next on their list to kill. Time passed by quickly as I timed my attacks with my zombie rat. Together we were a forced to be reckoned with. Dodging an attack from a rat behind me, I launched another one in the air with an earthen spike. A sinister bat soon plucked it from the sky and finished it off. I had to admit that although the undead bat was cocky, he had a reason to be. He was like a tornado on the battle field when he decided to attack. He was so fast that I couldn¡¯t even see when he had moved. At least I was on his side. For now at least. After fighting for the next twenty minutes, the battle was finally finished. Both sides had suffered casualties but the bats ended up winning. The remaining rats were being chased off by the bats that were still in good health. Wiping the sweat off my face, I crouched down next to my zombie rat. Sadly it had not made it through the battle. I couldn¡¯t blame it since it was fighting creatures that were stronger than it. It would be a lie to say I wasn¡¯t a little bit affected by its death. I had grown rather close to it the more we fought together. As I closed its eyelids shut, it dissolved into bone dust. I spent the next few minutes in silence staring at the dust. I could already feel tears welling up in my eyes. Ridiculous right? It was just a zombie rat after all. However it was something I had made with my own hands. Something I could call mine. As I stared at the bone dust I made a decision. The next zombie I made would be powerful, powerful enough to survive. I was tired of looking at the corpses of my creation. That wasn¡¯t the type of necromancer I wanted to be. If I created something, I expected it to live, to fight by my side. Not to die for me. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I was interrupted from my thinking when I felt a leathery wing on my back. I removed my face from my hands to look behind me. Huh, it was the undead bat. What did he want? Now that he was close to me I could finally see just how big he was. He was bigger than me! I was too melancholy however to continue that train of thought, so I stared at the bone dust in silence instead. ¡°The death of a comrade is always hard. Don¡¯t worry too much, he died in battle. That is an honorable death.¡± I glanced upwards at the undead bat as I tried to contemplate what he had just said. What he trying to offer words of encouragement? That was¡­.strange. I had assumed he was a dick but I guess everyone had their moment. I was still confused as to why I was so affected by my zombie rat¡¯s death. It was odd¡­to say the least. ¡°It¡¯s all good. I¡¯m just surprised I was even affected by my zombie¡¯s death. I expected it eventually, but not like this. If I was just a bit faster my zombie wouldn¡¯t have had to take that attack from me. I mean I can just make another one but it won¡¯t be the same.¡± I could feel the undead bad shaking its head in agreement as I spoke. However on my last sentence I noticed his body tense with shock. However I was too depressed to care so I ignored it. If only I had been stronger. Would it that had been my brother? I could see him doing the same thing as my zombie. Dying for me. I needed to become stronger. Strong enough to protect the people I cared for. Before I could think about my situation more, I was turned around quickly. With my head bobbing up and down from the motion, I glanced at the undead bat in confusion. What did it want now? Was that awe on its face? ¡°Wait¡­you can create undead? Bring something back to life that was once dead?¡± The undead bat was looking at me with a fervent gaze. I was surprised he hadn¡¯t known. How else would I have gotten the zombie rat that followed me? I didn¡¯t see what the big deal was so I just decided to tell him the truth. ¡°Yah, that¡¯s how I got my zombie rat to begin with. I just reanimated the corpse.¡± The more I talked the more I was filled with determination. I could get revenge on those damnable rats thanks to all of the corpses that were littered around the battlefield. My zombie rat¡¯s death would not be in vain. Pushing down my sadness I took another glance at the undead bat. What the hell? Why was he looking at me like that? I also noticed that his voice began to take a reverent tone as he spoke to me. ¡°So all of my comrades that just died¡­you can bring them back to life?¡± Where was he going with this? ¡°If their corpses are still intact, then yes. Even if the corpses are in pieces, I could still reanimate them with a couple of rituals I know.¡± After these words came out of my mouth I was pushed toward one of the bat¡¯s corpse. At first I was going to ask for an incentive, but from the way the undead bat was looking at me, I didn¡¯t think things would end well if I did. As I pulled out my journal I noticed that quite a few bats were looking at me. Oh well, if they wanted to see something amazing, I would show them something amazing. I decided not to combine two corpses into one because it didn¡¯t seem as if that was what they wanted to see. I had a feeling that if I didn¡¯t please them with my results, I might not live that long. However if I could prove to them that I was invaluable, then I would be guaranteed protection. I could turn this situation into a favorable one as long as I put my mind to it. Scanning through the necromancer¡¯s notes, I looked for tips on how to strengthen a body. The corpse didn¡¯t have to be stronger, it just needed to be reanimated. I found what I was looking for a few minutes later. All I needed to do was add a few symbols and chant a few more words. I could do this. I was going to show these bats just what I was capable of. Clearing out everything around the dead bat, I began the ritual. First I made an earthen brush so I could paint the symbols. I spent a little bit of time making sure the earthen brush actually acted like a brush. I wanted this ritual to be perfect so there could be no mistakes. Dipping my brush in the bat¡¯s blood, I began to paint strange and exotic symbols. As I painted them, I infused my mana into the blood so the corpse¡¯s body would be stronger. A few minutes of intense concentrating and I was done with the first part. After double checking my work, I moved onto the next part. I was forced to take my eyes of the corpse as I began to chant the words from the journal. Although I had memorized some of the words already, I had to add some in order to get better results. Whenever a certain word rolled off my tongue I was filled with excitement. What the hell was I chanting? Shaking those thoughts out of my head, I touched one of the symbols with my hand. With my hand on one of the symbols, I began pouring mana into the blood. As I did this sweat poured down my face. I could feel every symbol activating the moment my mana touched them. I would have to experiment later to see what each of these symbols meant. Blood began to flow back towards the bat as my chant went on. One thing I noticed was that the symbols were gathering blood from a nearby rat. Did it not matter what kind of blood was gathered? More questions but no answers. Once enough blood was gathered, the flesh of the bat began to heal. It was a strange sight to see. It looked as if the muscles would stretch over the missing pieces and then return to their normal sizes. This meant that the torn out through would look stretched for a few seconds until it healed. I had no idea how this was possible but maybe in time I would. A few minutes later and I was crouched in front of a fully healed corpse. Now all I had to do was reanimate it. Chanting the last words of the ritual, I took a step back and reviewed my results. I was notified about my necromancy skill leveling up but I ignored if for now. I had bigger things to worry about.
Undead Sinister Adult Bat - Lv.8 Hp: 45/45
Looking around in confusion, the reanimated bat began to move. I noticed that for some reason I could feel its confusion. I could see it also, but I could instinctively tell that it was confused. Was it because it possessed some of my mana in its body? Hwaah. I had so many questions. I would definitely have to investigate further. I listened idly as the undead bat began to talk with my reanimation. I learned quite a few things from their conversation. It turned out that my reanimations kept their memories from their previous life. But even with their memories, they were more loyal to me than anything else, even their king. I wondered if this was because of the ritual or if they felt they were indebted to me for bring them back to life. Who knew? I also learned that the undead bat I was speaking to was the general of the bat army. I guessed I would start calling him general now so I wouldn¡¯t get confused. I felt a small smile appear on my face as my reanimation stood in front of me protectively. If things went south I knew who I could count on. Once my reanimation and the general were done talking, he looked toward me. His face was no longer cocky. Instead it was filled with awe. Yes, I could definitely use this to my advantage. AN: For some reason I really enjoyed writing this chapter. I don''t know why, I just did. Tell me what you guys think. Thanks for reading! Chapter 12: What It Means To Live Chapter 12: What It Means To Live Determination. That was what my body was currently filled with. The time for sadness was long gone. Even most of my anger had faded away. All that was left was a strong resolve. I would become stronger and I would protect the people I cared for. No matter the cost. Before I reanimated any more dead bodies, I questioned the one I had just reanimated. I had quite a few questions and not enough answers. My questions ranged from how he felt when I brought him back to life, to how he was currently feeling. For some reason my giant rat hadn¡¯t spoke to me at all during the time it was alive. I didn¡¯t know why but I had a couple of guesses. One was that my necromancy level was too low which only allowed me to feel his emotions. The other reason was that the giant zombie rat didn¡¯t know how to speak. I didn¡¯t really know, but what could I do? After talking to the reanimated bat for a few minutes, I thought about what I learned. My reanimation told me that when he died he woke up in complete darkness. He told me that the feeling was similar to when you just woke up. You¡¯re not quite asleep but you¡¯re not quite awake either. To him my mana was soothing and cool which was why he immediately latched onto it. This allowed for him to come back from the dead. Interesting. Did this mean that there wasn¡¯t anything after death? Just darkness? He had only been dead for a few minutes so I couldn¡¯t really make any accurate guesses. Hmm, this would be something I had to think about later. When I questioned him about how he felt, he told me he felt stronger than he was before. He also didn¡¯t need to breathe. The only reason he was breathing now was so he could talk. Huh, did this mean his heart wasn¡¯t beating? Then what the hell was keeping him alive, his brain? A look of confusion began to spread on my face as I thought. Okay, he doesn¡¯t need his heart. He doesn¡¯t need his lungs to live anymore. He does however need his brain to think so he had to make sure he didn¡¯t lose that. But other than his brain I don¡¯t think that my reanimated bat needed any other organs. This meant that all he had to do was protect his brain. If they didn¡¯t destroy his brain, then they couldn¡¯t kill him. Amazing. Necromancy was just so intriguing. After learning that particular fact, I began to look at my reanimated bat in a new light. Didn¡¯t that make him immortal? He didn¡¯t need to eat so he wouldn¡¯t starve to death, and he didn¡¯t need his heart. The only way he would die was if his brain was destroyed. Hmm. Could I do that to myself? Just the thought of being immortal made me feel and exhilarating rush. The things I would be able to accomplish! But before I attempted the ritual on myself, I needed to work out all the kinks of it. I didn¡¯t want to kill myself on accident just because I wasn¡¯t careful. When I questioned my reanimated bat about any weaknesses he thought he had, I was forced to wait for a response. Five minutes later and I finally got a response. It turned out that although he still had his emotions, some of them were tuned down while others were tuned up. One thing he noticed was whenever he thought about giant rats; an insatiable rage filled his body. I rubbed my chin as I thought about this predicament. My reanimated bat getting angry whenever he thought about giant rats was understandable. After all, he was killed by them. But the way he was describing his anger was odd. It was as if it was easier to get angry, easier to hate something, easier to kill. Was that because of the ritual? I honestly had no clue. His anger wasn¡¯t the only emotion that was affected. He also possessed a certain sense of apathy. He wasn¡¯t afraid of death, not anymore. He had already died once, how much worse could a second time be? Now this might be a problem. Due to his state of mind, he would end up taking more risks. He might be a zombie, but I was pretty sure I could only bring him back once. When he died, he would turn into bone dust, never to return. Or he might just randomly die. My ritual wasn¡¯t perfect so I wasn¡¯t sure how long he could last. I would have to read my necromancy journal to know more. After getting most of my questions answered, I decided to sum it all up in a few sentences. First was that my reanimated corpses only needed their brain to survive. The next was that they usually felt apathetic. But when they felt some sort of emotion, they would feel it in full swing. There was no such thing as being irritated. Instead you would be incensed with anger. Another thing was that my reanimated corpses would feel some sort of connection to me. I could feel some of their emotions while they could feel some of mine. The only reason I could think of for this was because my reanimations held my mana inside of them. If it wasn¡¯t because of that then I honestly had no idea. Nodding my head towards my reanimation, I ended our conversation. I took the next minutes to survey the battlefield. Mayhem and carnage. Dead bodies of both rats and bats were piled next to each other. There were also pieces of loot scattered about. As I surveyed the battlefield, I noticed a bat picking up some loot. Do bats get loot also? It turned out they did. If the weapon that the bat received was anything to go one. The weapon that the nearby bat was holding seemed to be some sort of bat claw. It essentially a gauntlet with gloves that they could put over their claws. It didn¡¯t seem as though humans could use it. As I looked at the bat claw loot, questions began to spring up from inside my mind. Does the loot we get tailor itself to us? I had gotten an iron sword as one of my loot and I doubted that the bats could use something like that. So would they get an equivalent that they could use instead of a sword like me? Hwaah. I had way too many questions. Shaking my head from side to side, I cleared those thoughts from my head. I would think about it later. I had more important things to do right now. As I looked at the corpses of the body, I was struck with a realization. I could finally do the ritual that I had wanted to do. The one where my reanimation could gain other corpses characteristics. If I could create it, then I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about it dying. For each monster it ate, the stronger it would become. The potential it possessed was limitless. Walking toward the undead general, I cleared my throat before I began to speak. ¡°Hey, I was wondering if I could go to my home base and gather a few ingredients for a ritual I wanted to perform. It would only take me around fifteen minutes if I rushed.¡± Hopefully he would let me do it. If he didn¡¯t, there really wasn¡¯t anything that I could do except wait. The only reason I was even asking was because he was a higher level than me. I didn¡¯t want to be killed for a mistake on my part. It was better to play it safe until I was stronger. It took the undead general a few seconds before he began to speak. ¡°Hmm, I guess that would be acceptable. You¡¯ve earned it after all. But not without two guards to make sure you make it back safely. You¡¯re too valuable to lose.¡± After he spoke he motioned towards my reanimation and another bat I didn¡¯t know. He then proceeded to tell them they needed to protect me and listen to all of my instructions. Within reason of course. This was good because not only would I have protection, but I could get the bats to carry some of my stuff that I needed. I might as well put them to use rather than let them do nothing. After getting permission, I headed towards my base with the two bats in tow. Right now they were currently walking behind me since it was too cramped to fly. Since it was essentially a straight path to my base and it would take a couple more minutes, I decided to look at my status.
Status Window
NameColm Marythou
Age: 16Race: Human
Level: 6Gender: Male
TitlesThe Peerless Descender, Undead Prophet
Health: 90/150Mana: 60/160
Stamina: 80/150
~
Strength: 10[5]Agility: 13[3]
Vitality: 8Dexterity: 9
Intelligence:20Wisdom:15
Luck:0
~
Skills
Mana Affinity, Wind Blade, Earth Magic, Necromancy, Meditation, Enhanced Vision, Electric Shock
Unallocated Points: 10
The battle that I had just fought had taken a lot out of me. The only reason my health was as high as it was is because I was forced to drink my health potion. Without it I would have surely been dead. I also ended up using all of my Tupa fruits except for the drowsy one. The paralytic and poisonous tupas had been very useful in the battle. I could really find a use for the drowsy tupa so I had decided to save it for later. Who knew when I might need it? My iron sword had also broken in battle. I wasn¡¯t that mad about it since I had managed to create a new spell when it broke. The new spell was a combination of a wind blade and my electrical shock. This formed a deadly fusion of wind and electricity. None of the rats could stand up to this deadly attack. The only downside was that it used a considerable amount of mana. This spell was the reason why my mana was so low. Thanks to the fight I had managed to gain two levels. I was now level six. I now had more health, mana, and stamina. My stats were still unallocated because I just hadn¡¯t had the chance to allocate them. I was simply too busy. I would probably allocate them in a few hours when I wasn¡¯t so busy. Before I could think about my level any more, I arrived at my meager home. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Opening a hole in my cracking wall, I stepped inside. Motioning towards the bat I didn¡¯t know, I made him pick up the three giant rat corpses. I made my reanimation carry the ferocious giant rat corpse with specific instructions to be careful. It had taken a lot of work to get that corpse and I did not want to see it damaged. Once the corpses were gathered, I made sure I had the two containers of bone dust. I planned on making this next reanimation my best one yet. Once everything was gathered, I made my way back to the battlefield. I could hardly believe that last few hours. I could¡¯ve been killed multiple times on that battlefield. But I survived and I was stronger because of it. I had utilized my skills to their fullest potential and managed to decimate anything that got in my way. Thanks to my constant use of these skills, quite a few had gained levels or experience. This is what they looked like now.
Wind Blade
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Common
Skill Level: 5Exp: 10%
Effect: Allows the user to create a sharp blade of wind that can be used in combat.
Earth Magic
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 7Exp: 50%
Effect: Allows the user to mold the earth into a variety of constructs.
Electric Shock
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 4Exp: 5%
Effect: Allows the user to give something or someone an electric shock. This attack has a small chance of paralyzing the place it hit.
Necromancy
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Rare
Skill Level: 3Exp: 55%
Effect: Allows the user to reanimate dead corpses. The stronger the skill, the longer the reanimated corpse can stay alive and the stronger it will be. Certain rituals will change the corpses characteristics.
Meditation
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 3Exp: 30%
Effects: By sitting down and gathering mana, mana regeneration is increased. The higher the level, the more mana that is regenerated. Small amounts of stamina will now be restored.
Enhanced Vision
Skill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 4Exp: 30%
Effects: This skill allows you to see farther and better. If level up high enough, night vision becomes possible.
Mana Affinity Skill
Skill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: Unique
Skill Level: 5Exp: 40%
Effects: Any skill using mana cost 5% less. You are more sensitive to the mana. This enables you to know when someone is about to cast a spell due to the amount of mana being gathered. Anything mana related comes easier to you.
My wind blade and electric shock had leveled up thanks to my new spell, electric wind blade. This attack also helped me gain a lot of experience in my mana affinity skill. My earth magic had leveled up also since I had used quite a few spikes. My earthen swamp had also saved me from life threatening attacks. My necromancy skill was level three thanks to the ritual I had just performed. I also had a sneaking suspicion that my level wasn¡¯t based on how many necromancy rituals I had done, but on how much necromancy knowledge I possessed. My meditation skill hadn¡¯t leveled up since I hadn¡¯t meditated yet. I would have to do it before I performed the ritual so I would gain experience then. My enhanced vision was level four and I could now see better in the dark. This and my mana affinity were the only two skills that I didn¡¯t have to train. They would level up with me just doing stuff that I would normally do. My mana affinity was also level five now. After I reviewed all of my skills, I walked for another minute before returning to the battlefield. Nodding towards the undead general, I motioned to the bats behind me where to put the bodies. Once they were in the correct spot I dismissed them. I wouldn¡¯t need their assistance anymore. Looking towards the battlefield, I began to grab giant rat corpses. I only grabbed the ones that were intact or looked strong. I wanted only the best after all. I was leaving quite a few since I couldn¡¯t use too many in my ritual. Plenty of corpses would make my reanimation stronger, but the risk of my ritual failing also increased. As I began to drag the bat corpses next, I was approached by the general. ¡°How many corpses do you plan on using in this ritual? You might not know but we rely on the giant rats for food so if you use too many of them we might have to intervene. Also what do you plan on doing with those bat corpses in your hands?¡± Huh, so the bats ate the giant rats. Their fighting now made a little more sense. The giant rats probably didn¡¯t like being eating so they fought back which eventually led to both sides hating each other. From the way the general was looking, it seemed he was quite hesitant with me messing with the bat corpses. He didn¡¯t care about the rat corpses but the corpses I was dragging used to be his soldiers. Hmm, this might be a problem. ¡°Not that many. I¡¯m actually done collecting the giant rat corpses so you don¡¯t have to worry about that anymore. As for these bat corpses¡­¡­I plan on using them for my ritual.¡± I needed these bat corpses because I wanted to try combining them and the rats to see what I would get. I was also hoping that my new reanimation would have wings. If it did, it would open countless new battle strategies. Therefore these bat corpses were a necessity. ¡°Can¡¯t you just resurrect them and use the giant rat corpses instead? I could spare a couple of the corpses but I would prefer if you could bring them back to life instead.¡± Wait¡­.did he really expect me to bring back all of the dead bats back to life? There were quite a few of them that were lying around on the battlefield. How good of a necromancer did he think I was? I didn¡¯t even think I could raise that many. ¡°The problem with your idea is quite simple. I can¡¯t reanimate that many. Although I can reanimate bodies, I am still relatively new at it. Therefore until I get stronger I can only reanimate a couple of corpses. So you might as well let me use these corpses to make a bigger and better bat rather than let their corpses go to waste.¡± I didn¡¯t really want to admit my weakness, but I had to let the general know. There was no way he was going to let me use his soldiers¡¯ corpses unless I came up with a good excuse. Reanimating that many corpses was impossible for me since every one of my reanimations had to have my mana in it. Without it the ritual just wouldn¡¯t work. The bat I had reanimated was already causing a strain on my mana, even if it was small. According to the notes in my journal, the more reanimations I made, the harder it would be for me. It was basically this. For every reanimation I made, I lost a part of the mana inside of me. It wasn¡¯t really mana, more like mental energy. I could still feel it, but it would be inside the reanimation. I would only be able to get it back once my reanimation perished. Therefore if I made another reanimation along with the one I already had, I would lose some more of my mental energy. And I could only lose so much mental energy until I started to feel some harmful effects. At my current level I could only reanimate two corpses. Or at least that was what I thought. I couldn¡¯t really measure my mental energy so I was just guessing. My necromancy skill helped reduce the strain, but not by much. Since my necromancy level was so low, the boost it gave me was quite small. I would have to level it up more to see a noticeable difference. Hopefully the general would say yes. If he didn¡¯t, he would have a problem. I needed the corpses and I wasn¡¯t about to just let them be buried. They were too valuable for that. AN: Thanks for reading! Chapter 13: The Undead Barat Chapter 13: The Undead Barat After a couple seconds of awkward silence, the undead general spoke. ¡°¡­I guess it would be fine since you¡¯re not strong enough to reanimate all of my soldiers. At least this way they can be of use after death.¡± Once the undead general finished speaking, he immediately turned around and walked off. As soon as he was out of my set I let out a long sigh. Thankfully he agreed, albeit reluctantly. I didn¡¯t know how I felt about the jab he made towards my skill but I would worry about it later. I had a creature to reanimate. I gathered enough bat corpses until they equaled the amount I had with the giant rats. I didn¡¯t want more of the other one since I hadn¡¯t attempted doing a ritual like this yet. I had no idea if one more bat corpse would do something didn¡¯t want it too. Therefore I was playing it safe until I knew what would happen. After I had gathered all of the corpses I needed, I began arranging them in a circle. I glanced periodically towards my journal to make sure I was doing the ritual right. Once the circle was made, I dumped my two containers of bone dust in the middle. Although they wouldn¡¯t do that much, they would still give my reanimation stronger bones. If I didn¡¯t use them now, when else would I use them? Rather than making the ferocious giant rat the host, I decided to just combine all of the corpses into one. The reason for this was because I didn¡¯t really want my reanimation to have a rat¡¯s body. I wanted it to have wings and I was pretty sure that if I did it this way, it would have a high chance of gaining wings. After making sure everything was correct, I sat down and began to meditate. To complete this ritual I would need to infuse quite a bit of mana into the blood. Mana which I currently didn¡¯t have. After meditating for twenty minutes, a decent chunk of my mana was recovered. Once my mana was recovered, I began to create an earthen brush to paint the necromancy symbols. The task proved to be challenging thanks to some of the blood being dried, but I managed to make it fresh once more using my mana. Infusing my mana into the blood, I began to paint. As I painted the strange symbols, I began to wonder about them. What did each of these symbols mean? Could I take one out or substitute it for another? Since I was seeing quite a few of them in my rituals, I felt as though I needed to know what each of them meant. If I knew what they meant, accidents would be less likely to happen. When I was done with this ritual, I would make sure to look into my journal. The only problem with that was I only had a couple pages left in my journal. If those pages didn¡¯t contain the information I needed then I might just ask the undead general. Maybe he knew? The next few minutes passed by in concentration and silence. This ritual had way more symbols than the last one so it was taken more time. I was also taking a painstakingly long time to make sure every symbol looked correct. It was tedious to do, but it would be worth it in the end. If I rushed through this, it might blow up in my face and I had no plans to die just yet. Once all of the symbols were drawn, I connected them to the corpses with a dash of blood here and there. Before I moved on to the chanting part, I would have to make a decision. I had read in the journal that I could give one of the magics I possessed to my reanimation. But since my level was so low, I could only do one. Therefore I needed to decide on which one I wanted my reanimation to have. Should I try air, earth, or electricity? First off let¡¯s list the pros and cons of each. Air would allow my reanimation to fire off near invisible attacks. This would be useful because enemies would be caught off guard by these attacks unless it was focusing solely on my reanimation. And even then the attacks would still be hard to see. If my reanimation had wings then the air magic would only complement it. The only con of wind was that earth magic was stronger and more durable while electricity was faster. Giving my reanimation earth magic would allow me to teach it all of the earthen skills I knew. Which was quite a lot. This would also make my reanimation more durable since earth magic worked best at defending. The cons of earth magic was that my reanimation needed to be on the ground to use it to its fullest potential. If my reanimation had wings which I hoped for, then its earth magic potential would be drastically reduced. Giving my reanimation electricity magic would be good since I knew so little about this magic. Air and earth were easy since they were part of the four basic elements. The only thing I knew about electricity was that it could paralyze my opponents and electrocute. Anything robotic or water would be devastated by this magic. The cons of electricity was that I knew so little about it. Would my reanimation be able to use it to its fullest extent? Would it complement my attack strategies? I had to think about all of these things before making my decision. After a few minutes of thinking, I had managed to narrow my options two. Earth magic was out because my reanimation would probably have wings. This meant that it would be in the sky most of the time. How did I know this? It was quite simple. Half of my corpses were bats and they all possessed some type of wing. My ritual was combining these so my reanimation had a high chance of getting wings. I might be wrong, but I doubted it. Now I had to decide on wind or electricity. Wind would be good since it would most likely be always in the air. However electricity would be nice because of paralysis. Hmm. Which one should I choose? In the end I decided on wind/air magic. The reason for this was because paralyzing my enemies was not guaranteed and air magic would help my bat since it would be in the air most of the time. It could help it fly faster and allow it to use near invisible attacks. And that was if it could use air magic. All the book said was that it would gain my air mana so I didn¡¯t really know if it could use it as a type of magic. Hopefully it could. If not, it wasn¡¯t that big of a deal since it could gain the characteristics of the corpses it ate. Nodding my head, I began to chant words from my journal. As I did this, I began to pour my air mana into the symbols. At first I thought this was going to be hard, but it was quite simple. It was like pouring normal mana but adding air into it also. I knew what air magic felt like thanks to my wind blade which ended up helping me a lot. From the corner of my eye, I could see the corpses moving toward the middle, piece by piece. I spent the next few minutes chanting as my mana slowly decreased. I also made sure to add the words needed for my reanimation to gain the characteristics of the creatures it ate. As I chanted the last few words of the spell, a considerable amount of my health and mana disappeared. The hell? As I panted on the ground exhausted, all of the corpses and my ingredients began to combine into a big ball of flesh. Why had my health disappeared along with my mana? That had never happened before. Was it because of the new ritual I had done? I watched in confusion as the ball of flesh began to form the shape of some sort of hybrid creature. Like the undead bat I reanimated, I could feel my mana inside of my new reanimation. However I could sense considerably more from my new reanimation than I could from my undead sinister bat. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Odd. Was this because of all of the health and mana my reanimation took from me? Did my connection to my reanimation depend on how much of my mana I gave it? It made sense when I thought about it. I could sense my reanimation¡¯s confusion as it began to form its body. It did possess quite a bit of my mana. It already had a lot of my air mana, but it also took a chunk of mana and health a few seconds ago which made it have a considerable amount of my mana inside its body. I would have to think on this later since my ritual had finished while I was thinking.
Undead Barat - Lv.7 Hp: 55/55
My reanimation looked more like a bat than a giant rat. If I had to guess I would say it looked like a different species of the sinister bat at first glance. I was thankful for this because if it ended up looked like a giant rat, things would not end well. The only exception to this was that my barat did not have the giant size that the nearby bats had. Instead it took a size similar to a house cat. To be honest, I didn¡¯t mind the size. I would be unnerved if my barat was bigger than me. Even my reanimated bat was a little bit shorter than me, and it was always awkward whenever I glanced its way. Shaking those thoughts about its size out of my head, I continued my examination. The body of my barat was similar to the bats although it seemed to contain more muscle than its counterparts. Like the sinister bats, the front arms of my barat was connected to its wings enabling it to fly. I allowed a small smile on my face once I realized that my previous hypothesis was correct. At the edge of its wings were sharp claws that could tear through flesh easily. Although I couldn¡¯t really see it, I assumed that it had stronger bones thanks to the bone dust I had used. Similar to other bats, my barat had a patch of fur around its neck. I had no idea what it stood for. Maybe it was some kind of fashion statement. Sharp white teeth filled the mouth of my new reanimation. Anything bit by it would be torn to threads in seconds unless they had considerably tough skin. Crimson eyes that shined like rubies adorned its face. Long ears were perched upon the top of its head, enabling it to hear across long distances. One thing that made it different from other bats was the long tail it possessed. At the end of its tail was a barbed end that could pierce through skin. As I would no doubt see in future battles. The color of my barat¡¯s body was a mixture of black and brown. This allowed it to have natural camouflage in the sewers we were in. I watched curiously as it sniffed its surroundings and looked around. The moments its eyes met mine it immediately opened its wings and flew up to my shoulders. After a few seconds of flapping, it took perch on my left shoulder. Once it was situated, it wrapped its tail around my neck and looked around. Before I could comment on this, I heard a voice in my head. ¡°Hello savior.¡± My head jolted in shock as I tried to comprehend what just happened. Did my reanimation just speak to me inside my head? How was that even possible? Was it because we both possessed the same type of mana in our bodies? No, it couldn¡¯t be. My reanimated bat couldn¡¯t do this. I also noticed that my newest reanimation wasn¡¯t an it. It was a female. Or at least that was what the soft spoken voice sounded like. ¡°Uh, hello. Do your remember anything? Do you know why you¡¯re here?¡± Unlike my other reanimation, my barat had been composed of multiple bodies. I assumed that all of the corpses¡¯ brains combined into one. But that left the question of what happened to their memories. Did my barat keep them all, or did they just vanish? I don¡¯t think anyone could remain sane if they had multiple minds inside one body. ¡°Hmm. It¡¯s a little hard to explain. I remember living several lives but none of them feel like mine. It¡¯s like I¡¯m watching someone else¡¯s memories yet they all seem familiar. As for why I¡¯m here, it¡¯s because of you. In every memory I have, I ended up dying. However I felt your mana and I got to live again. Therefore I am indebted to you for letting me live once more.¡± So it seemed my barat had all of the memories of the corpses that made her. However none of them seemed to be hers. It was like she was an entirely different existence. However one thing was still bugging me. ¡°How are you able to speak to me telepathically?¡± There had to be a reason my barat could do it and my reanimated bat couldn¡¯t. ¡°It¡¯s hard to explain. I¡¯m connected to you by our mana and all I have to do is direct my thoughts into the stream and you will get them. I also feel another creature with our mana but the connection is too weak so I can¡¯t speak with him/her.¡± Huh. So I am connected by my reanimations with mana. It seemed she could speak to me telepathically thanks to her having so much of my mana. The other creature she was feeling was probably the bat I had reanimated. He hadn¡¯t gained much of my mana in the ritual so he didn¡¯t have as much as my barat. I spent the next ten minutes conversing with my barat until the general came over to talk to me. In these ten minutes I had learned quite a bit of information. One of the things I learned was my barat¡¯s name. I had asked her what it was since I couldn¡¯t really refer to her as my reanimation seeing as how I now had two of them. She told me her name was Viola. It didn¡¯t really have a specific meaning since she had just made it up. Before I could think on my new reanimation anymore, the undead general arrived in front of me. ¡°I believe it is time for you to meet our leader.¡± With that one remark the undead general turned around and began to walk. Was I supposed to follow him? Shrugging my shoulders I quickened my pace until I was walking behind the general. What was the bat boss like? For better or worse, I would meet him soon. Chapter 14: Meeting the Boss Chapter 14: Meeting The Boss As I walked behind the undead general, I glanced at the skills that had leveled up thanks to my necromancy ritual.
Mana Affinity Skill
Skill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: Unique
Skill Level: 6Exp: 30%
Effects: Any skill using mana cost 6% less. You are more sensitive to the mana. This enables you to know when someone is about to cast a spell due to the amount of mana being gathered. Anything mana related comes easier to you.
Necromancy
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Rare
Skill Level: 4Exp: 65%
Effect: Allows the user to reanimate dead corpses. The stronger the skill, the stronger the corpse. Certain rituals will change the corpse¡¯s characteristics.
My mana affinity was now level six. The reason for the level up was because of all the mana I was using. Not only did I have to dump mana into this ritual, but I also had to convert it to air mana. So it was no surprise that this skill leveled up. The mana cost for my spells was also reduced by six percent. It wasn¡¯t that much, but it was getting there. Slowly but surely. The other skill to level up was necromancy. This skill had received quite a chunk of experience. And I deserved every bit of it. The ritual to create Viola had been extremely taxing on my mind. A single mistake and the ritual would fail. And if it failed I wouldn¡¯t just be able to try again. I would be dead. The higher rituals were always dangerous to attempt but they yielded better results. In an hour or so I would be able to see if it was all worth it. Closing my skill windows, I looked around to see where I was walking. Similar to the walls around my base, the walls around me had moss on them. Some patches shone brightly while others gave off a dull light. Without the moss I would have a hard time seeing so I was quite thankful for it. My enhanced vision was leveling up quite well however I still couldn¡¯t see completely well in the dark. I was making progress at least. While I was examining my surroundings, a question arose from my head. Where was the loot from the rats I had killed? My eyes narrowed unconsciously as I began to think. I had killed quite a bit of rats in that battle so there should¡¯ve been at least one piece of loot. Did the bats pick it up? I had seen one picking up some gauntlets so the idea wasn¡¯t that farfetched. But if they did, then I might have a problem. I needed that loot since I no longer had my iron sword. Unlike some people I preferred fighting with a weapon in my hand. I would fight bare handed if I had to however a weapon would be more preferable. Hmm. Would they give me my loot back? They should, shouldn¡¯t they? I was pretty sure I was on good terms with them so maybe all I had to do was ask. The problem was what to do if they said no. There were plenty of reasons why this could happen. They needed my loot to protect themselves, greed, and many other things. Either way I still needed to play it safe. At least until I was stronger. After thinking on this little conundrum for several minutes, I turned towards the undead general. But before I could utter a single word from my mouth, he began to speak. ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± Closing my mouth slowly, I walked a couple more steps until I arrived in a clearing. Taking a stand beside the undead general, I glanced around. Unlike the other clearings I had been in, this one was quite big. Even the battlefield I had fought in wasn¡¯t this big. Pieces of the earth jutted out from various places in the clearing. If I looked closely I could see dark silhouettes standing on them. I also noted that Viola was closer to me than usual. Huh, maybe she was nervous. Several feet away from me, two bats were sparring. The fight resembled a melody of death. In a blur of black, a bat would disappear. Only to reappear seconds later behind his opponent. But before he could strike, his opponent would jump back and dodge the blow. Man, I didn¡¯t even think I could fight that could. Even with all my skills. As I watched the fight I noticed something odd.
Shadow Bat - Lv.12 Hp: 55/70
Sinister Adult Bat - Lv.10 Hp: 40/55
Hold up. My face scrunched up in confusion as I tried to comprehend what I was seeing. Why the hell were these two bats so powerful? They were as strong as the general! Well at least the shadow bat was. The undead general and the shadow bat were both level twelve. That was double my level. I wasn¡¯t the only one who had gained levels in the battle against the rats. Man, I wish my level wasn¡¯t so low. Before I could go off on a tangent, Viola sent me a wave of encouragement through our mana connection. Taking a deep breath I calmed myself down. Worrying wouldn¡¯t help me so there was no point. Before I could watch the spar anymore, I was nudged away by the undead general. There was a smirk on his face so I guess he was amused that I was interested in the spar. Shrugging my shoulders I followed him once more. If you saw a battle with the opponents displaying considerable skill, you couldn¡¯t help but stop and watch. As I walked toward the end of the cave I couldn¡¯t help but notice some of the bats reactions toward me. All of the undead bats I saw looked at me with excitement or interest. Some of the normal bats however looked at me with contempt and disgust. I guess they didn¡¯t see humans that much. Some of the more bold bats insulted me under the breath and spat at my feet. I had no idea what they said since they were speaking too low, but from the way the undead general looked, it wasn¡¯t good. I also avoided the spit by stepping somewhere else. I hoped my presence here wouldn¡¯t be a problem. I didn¡¯t want to get into a fight with one of them, but if they kept on trying me, I would show them that a higher level didn¡¯t mean shit. After passing the particularly rude bats, I walked for a few more minutes until I reached an entryway. But before I could meet the boss, the undead general and I were stopped for questioning. As they talked back and forth, I realized something. I could understand the bat that the undead general was talking to. And it wasn¡¯t an undead. Why was this? The only reason I could think of was because I already understood the bat language thanks to the undead general. Since the undead bat spoke in bat language and I automatically understood it, then I would know the bat language even if an undead spoke it. For example let¡¯s say I had an undead fish. If I conversed with the undead fish I would understand fish language. Therefore if I spoke to another fish of its kind, I would be able to understand it. Or at least that was what I thought. Maybe there was a different reason. I doubted it, but it was possible. I was interrupted from my thoughts when I noticed the bat guards motioning for me to go inside. I guess the negotiations went well. Stepping through the entryway, I arrived at a room that could only be fit for a king. Weapons, armor, potions, and anything valuable was displayed in an extravagant manner. Although it looked nice I noticed that some of these weapons would be helpful in battle. If the boss was being smart, he would let his soldiers use some of this stuff. If he did, they would get better results in battle. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. After examining my surroundings I looked at the area in front of me. On an earthen seat stood a giant bat, far larger than any I had ever seen before. If I had to guess, I would say he was bigger than my Mustang that I owned. He was bigger than a car. I would hate having to fight him. I could only imagine what the rat boss looked like. Taking a closer look at him, I attempted to see his status.
Giant Berserker Bat[Boss] - Lv.?? Hp: ????
Tch. The only thing that I could see on his status was his name. His level and health points were all question marks for me. I could tell he was the boss thanks to the boss that was beside his name. If I had to say, I would say that the name fit him well. Not only was the boss giant, but I could see several scars that lay across his body. No doubt from the multitude of battles it had fought. I had to make sure I was respectful when I talked. If this creature decided to kill me, there wouldn¡¯t be anything that I could do. Before I or the undead general could say anything, the bat boss spoke in an ominous tone. ¡°Why have you brought this¡­.creature here?¡± The voice of the bat boss left me in shivers. Even its voice was filled with power. Just how high of a level was it? I also noticed that it didn¡¯t say my species. It said creature instead. Had it never seen a human before? I mean I had never seen these giant bats before, but I had seen their smaller versions. Before I could think anymore, the undead general spoke. ¡°I believe he can be useful. He is able to bring corpses back to life. Although he can only bring back a few, a few is better than none. I also witnessed his skill in battle when I first met him on the battlefield.¡± Once the general finished speaking, he motioned towards the entryway. After he did this, my reanimated bat walked towards where we were. The undead general then proceeded to explain how the bat had been killed in battle and how I had brought him to life. As he was saying this, I could see some interest on the face of the boss. Viola nuzzled closer towards me as the boss fixed me with a curious gaze. ¡°Is what he said true?¡± I nodded my head since my throat was too dry to speak. Man, I didn¡¯t think I was this nervous. This was my first time meeting someone so strong after all. The undead general didn¡¯t really count since if things went south, I was positive I could defeat him. Not without a couple wounds of course. But the battle would still be winnable. Until I got stronger however, I wouldn¡¯t even be able to touch the boss. The next words out of the boss¡¯s mouth chilled me to my bones. ¡°So you say he is useful even with his pathetically low level? Hmm. Normally my advisors would have you punished for letting this creature inside and have it killed, but I won¡¯t listen to them this time. He did bring one of my soldiers back after all. And for that he must be rewarded. Any good deed towards our kind must be rewarded. That is our way.¡± After he said this, the boss then turned towards me. ¡°I will allow you to pick one thing from my multitude of treasures. After you got what you wanted, I want you to leave. You will be able to return once you are a higher level. Just the sight of your low level sickens me. And as for you Vasinar, your level is also lacking. I am saying this now since your one of my favorite generals, raise your level along with the prophet. There have been some complaints about letting an undead be a general and your low level doesn¡¯t help.¡± Once he was done speaking, the undead boss turned to the side and began talking to what I assumed was his advisor. Although I was a little annoyed by the jab at my level, I kept silent. In a way he was correct. But what he didn¡¯t know was that I had been raising my skills instead of my level. I wasn¡¯t that angry though since I was being rewarded for helping them. Even though I didn¡¯t really have a choice. I also noticed that the undead weren¡¯t really liked here. Maybe that was why a lot of the bats didn¡¯t like me. Not only was I an unknown creature, I also possessed an undead aura. Turning around I surveyed the array of valuables. I wanted something that was powerful, it didn¡¯t matter if it looked nice. The question was if I wanted some armor or a weapon. Potions and other valuables weren¡¯t an option since I needed something that would last me a long time. Hmm. Turning towards my barat, I asked her what she thought. ¡°That¡¯s a hard choice to make. While armor would allow you to have more defense and take more hits, a better weapon would allow you to kill your enemy before he damages you. It¡¯s your preference but I would choose a weapon. You have been surviving without armor for a while now and I wouldn¡¯t recommend fighting a monster barehanded, even with your magic.¡± My barat had a point. There was no need for armor if I killed the opponent before it could touch me. I could always use magic to fight with but I felt more comfortable with a weapon in hand. This choice wasn¡¯t that bad since I could always make some earthen armor. I hadn¡¯t tried it before but for some reason I had a feeling the technique would be successful. Now that I had decided to choose a weapon, I needed to decide what type. Long range, short range, or medium range? I didn¡¯t really want a long range weapon such as a bow because it would be useless if my enemies got close. I could also use my magic to attack far away enemies so a bow would be unnecessary. Medium range was like long range, I could use my magic instead. This left me with only one option, short range. Short range weapons included swords, spears, axes, and a few other weapons. . The bat boss didn¡¯t have that many any other weapons of those types, so I didn¡¯t really have that much of a choice. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I wasn¡¯t complaining. I actually thought it was impressive that he had this much to begin with. Just the amount of stuff he had made me wonder where he got it. I highly doubted that he received all of this as loot. It was just impossible. I had been down here for two days and I only got loot like two times. At least I think that was the number, I couldn¡¯t really remember. Maybe this stuff was brought with the boss when he was dragged away from his planet. The reason I assumed he was from a different planet was quite simple. There were no giant bats on earth. I was quite certain of this. If there was, I would¡¯ve heard it on the internet by now. How was he even brought here to begin with? Did he just teleport here? It was a shame that I couldn¡¯t get my answers answered. Maybe when I raised my level I would be able to ask him the questions that I had. I might even be able to ask for help in finding my phone. However in order to do all of this, my level would have to be higher. Shaking my head, I focused on the task at hand. What weapon should I choose? A spear would give me reach but I was more used to a sword. Using an axe would be challenging but the massive amounts of damaged it delivered would be worth it. The other weapons had pros and cons also. This was going to be a hard choice. What weapon should I choose? AN: Post in the comments what you want Colm''s new weapon to be and why. I kind of know what I want it to be, but I''ll take suggestions into mind. If your explanation is good, I might just use that specific weapon. Thanks for reading! Chapter 15: A New Weapon Chapter 15: A New Weapon After a few minutes of debating, I finally decided on using a spear. This would allow me to keep my enemies a decent distance away from me in battle. I was more of an agility based mage so I didn¡¯t have a lot of defense. Therefore I needed to be careful when I fought. I could also extend my reach even further by adding a wind blade to the edge of my weapon. By doing this, it would become an even greater challenge for my enemies to get closer to me. Although I was used to using a sword, I had to plan for the long run. Using a sword would require me to get extremely close to my enemy. Something I didn¡¯t want. The only reason I had even used a sword was because that was the only weapon that I had at the time. Now that I had choices, I could choose what would be best for me. Now that I had chosen what type of weapon I wanted, I needed to pick a spear. There were a grand total of three of them. It wasn¡¯t that many, but I was glad there were so few. This way I didn¡¯t have to waste a lot of time choosing which one I wanted. I needed to make sure I chose carefully since I would probably be using the weapon I chose for quite a while. Even if I did get a weapon as a dropped loot, it probably wouldn¡¯t be as good as the weapon I¡¯m choosing now. This is what each of the three weapons looked like.
Polished Iron Spear Description: A newly forged iron spear. Effect: + 3 Agility Increased Durability Damage: 12-17 Durability: 50/50
Steel Spear Description: A spear with a wooden shaft and a steel head. Effect: +2 Strength Damage: 15-20 Durability: 35/35
Steel Spear of Darkness Description: A steel spear imbued with the element of darkness. Effect: + 3 Intelligence Requirement: 25 Wisdom and 25 Intelligence Damage: 15-20 Durability: 35/35
The polished iron spear looked like a generic spear, albeit a little shinier. It had a normal wooden shaft and a glistening iron tip. It looked as if it had just been made. I had no idea how it got this certain look, but whatever works. Not only did it have increased durability, but it also gave me three agility. This boost of speed would help me attack my enemies quicker. The only problem I had with my weapon was its damage. Although it was stronger than my rusted iron sword, the two remaining spears did more damage. After glancing over the polished iron spear one last time, I moved on to my next weapon. The next spear in the group of three was a steel one that gave me two strength. Although it had less durability than the polished spear, it did more damage. If I had to choose, I would rather have more damage than more durability. You wouldn¡¯t need an increased durability if you killed your enemies before your weapon¡¯s durability went down. Right now I was leaning towards the steel spear rather than the iron one just because of the damage output. But before I decided on anything, I needed to look at my last weapon. The last weapon in the group of spears was called the steel spear of darkness. It looked exactly like the other steel spear except for one thing, a strange symbol on the head of the spear. I didn¡¯t know what it meant, but I had an idea. I believed that it was this rune/symbol that gave this spear the element of darkness. After all, that was the only difference between it and a normal steel spear. What else could it be? While my other two spears gave me strength and agility, this one gave me intelligence. The reason for this was probably because of the element that was stored in the spear. The polished iron spear felt lighter than the other two which was why it gave me bonus agility. The normal steel spear had a sharper end than the other two spears which was why it gave increased strength. My weapons received different bonus stats based on each of their characteristics. The durability and the damage of the spear of darkness was the same as the steel spear. However the element of darkness my spear contained would probably let me deal extra damage. The only thing about this weapon was its requirement. Before I could use it, I needed twenty five wisdom and twenty five intelligence. That was quite a steep price. Taking a glance at my status, I looked to see what my wisdom and intelligence stat were at. Right now I had twenty intelligence and fifteen wisdom. Both of these stats needed to be twenty five however I still had ten unallocated skill points. After a few seconds of debating, I poured my remaining points into wisdom bringing it up to twenty five. Now all I needed to do was gain one more level and I would be able to use this spear. This might have been a spur of the moment decision, but I didn¡¯t care. After allocating my points, I looked at the spears. The next few minutes were spent going over the pros and cons of each of them. Although I already knew which one I wanted, I wanted to glance over all of them at least one more time. The spear I ended up choosing was the steel spear of darkness. Although I would have to wait to use it, there was a really good reason for why I was getting it. The reason was in the name of the weapon. Darkness. Once I gained a level, I would be utilizing the element of darkness to fight. If I studied it carefully, I might be able to create some sort of dark magic. This would be extremely good in the sewers since I was almost always in darkness. After I grabbed the spear of darkness, I was led out of the room with the undead general by my side. I didn¡¯t talk to the general as we walked since he seemed to be deep in thought. I wonder what he was thinking about. From the sound of things his position as general was in jeopardy because he was an undead. I guess the majority of the bats didn¡¯t like undead. It was probably the same for humans. Although it was unfair, what could you do? We walked in silence for a couple of minutes until I saw the doorway leading out. Sadly it didn¡¯t seem as though was would be able to just walked out. Standing in front of the door was an imposing group of bats. I took a quick glance around to see if they were waiting for us or someone else. Since I saw no one else, I could only assume they were waiting for us. And from the look of it, it didn¡¯t seem that they were there just to say goodbye to us. I glanced towards the general to see if he knew what was going on. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Shit.¡± Well that didn¡¯t sound good. We slowed our walk as I questioned the undead general. It turned out that the undead general knew the leader of the group of bats we were about to meet. The leader of this group was also a general for the bat army. Huh, so there was more than one general. I had my suspicions but I wanted to be sure. This general didn¡¯t like the undead at all. He believed that they were a scourge upon the bat folk. You were supposed to have one chance at life, not two. I didn¡¯t even need him to explain further to know what the problem was. The undead general had brought another undead to the bat base with the intent to have it join. To the other general it was like a blow to the face. Tch. I also had an undead aura surrounding me so the other general would know immediately who I was. Oh well, I would just have to deal with it. There was nothing I could do about my aura so I was going to be noticed. As we stopped in front of the group of bats, I tightened my grip on the spear. From the way it felt in my hands, I felt as if I could still wield it as a weapon. However until I met the requirements, it wouldn¡¯t have the dark element added on to its attack. I put a mask of indifference on as the general of the group spoke. ¡°Well what do we have here, two undead. I don¡¯t seen what the boss sees in you, but I can tell he¡¯s making a mistake. I just don¡¯t understand why he won¡¯t listen to me. But anyway, I have a suggestion to make. Now I know we have our differences but I think we both want to know one thing. Which one is stronger, an undead or a living creature? Since we can¡¯t fight each other because we¡¯re generals, I came up with another way. How about we pit the undead you brought with one of my soldiers? I mean why not? Unless you¡¯re afraid an undead will lose to a living creature.¡± As the bat general spoke, his subordinates jeered at us in the back. They were extremely annoying to say the least. From the sound of things the two generals weren¡¯t allowed to fight each other so they were getting their subordinates to do it for them. I found the timing slightly suspicious however. It sounded like they had hated each other for a while so why would he choose this little tournament now? Was it because of me? Did he believe that I was the chance to prove that the undead weren¡¯t needed? Humph, I guess I would have to prove him wrong. The undead general turned to me with a worrying look. Was he worried about me? It looked as if he wanted another one of his subordinates to fight instead of me. But thanks to the way the other general phrased what he said, their opponent had to be me. If it wasn¡¯t, then it would show that the undead general did the wrong thing in bringing me to their base. The undead general was also unable to refuse thanks to his pride. If he didn¡¯t agree to this deal, this little group of bats would never let him live it down. It would also be bad for his reputation. Therefore he was counting on me to accept. If I didn¡¯t, then he would suffer. Nodding my head towards the undead general I accepted the bet. Not only would I win, but I would also prove that the undead were just as strong as living creatures. Even though I was technically a living creature, I still wanted to help the undead general out. He was the reason I was still alive. If it wasn¡¯t for him, I would be dead on the battlefield. The next few minutes were spent with us traveling to a different location for the fight. It seemed that they had a little arena for fights that weren¡¯t just training. I had no idea what was going on, so I just followed the undead general. The only thing he told me was to try my best. I noticed that he didn¡¯t tell me to win, just to try. Well he didn¡¯t have to worry about that. I always gave it my all when I fought. Sadly Viola couldn¡¯t fight with me since the fight was supposed to be one on one. I made her sit by the undead general since I didn¡¯t trust any of the other bats not to do something while I was distracted. Since I was the one being challenged I was able to choose whether we could use weapons or not. I ended up choosing no weapons. Not because I wasn¡¯t used to the spear I had just received, but because my opponent held a fearsome halberd in his hand when he approached. From the way he held the weapon I could tell he spent many hours practicing with it. Therefore having no weapons would give me a slight advantage. Since nothing seemed to be happening, I sat on the ground and began to meditate. I might as well use all of this free time doing something useful. As I was meditating, I noticed that my mana was regenerating faster than before. The only reason I could think of for this was my increased wisdom. I guess wisdom helped my mana regeneration while intelligence helped my mana capacity. I was glad for this since I wouldn¡¯t have to wait as long for my mana to be restored.
Sinister Adult Bat - Lv.8 Hp: 45/45
This is the box I saw above my opponent¡¯s head when I looked at him while I was meditating. He looked like the first bat I saw when I was fighting against the giant rats. I also noticed that his level was higher than mine by two levels. Hmm. The reason I thought this was odd was because I could see some bats with the same level as me in the general¡¯s group. Tch. This general was playing quite deviously. It seemed that he didn¡¯t want to leave this battle up to chance. Did I really think I could win from the bottom of my heart? Yes¡­probably. Although he had a higher level I had more health than he did. I also assumed that he didn¡¯t have as many skills as I did. I had gone through many struggles to gain my skills and I doubted the bat did the same. The only thing I was worried about was if he started flying. I didn¡¯t really have any moves to combat flying opponents so I would just have to wing it. I would just have to fight smartly and I would be able to win. Losing wasn¡¯t an option since the undead general was counting on me, even if he didn¡¯t know it. The sound of whispering brought me out of my musings. Looking around I soon figured out the source of the noise. It seemed that while I was thinking a small crowd had gathered. The crowd was so small that the bat boss wasn¡¯t even there. I guess he had better things to do than watch a squabble between his minions. He did say he didn¡¯t want to see me until I had a higher level. To be honest, I was glad the bat boss wasn¡¯t there. If he was, it would be extremely nerve wracking for me. A shiver ran through my spine as I imagined him watching my battle with those cold eyes of his. Shaking those thoughts out of my head, I meditated for another few minutes until my mana was restored. Once I was done meditating, I stood by the undead general. A few minutes later and my battle was finally ready to begin. Chapter 16: A Test of Strength Chapter 16: A Test Of Strength The moment the battle started, my opponent reacted. With a burst of speed, the bat launched an overhead strike at me. Time seemed to slow down as his glistening claws approached my face. Ducking as quickly as I could, I gave him an electric jab directly in the chest. As my opponent¡¯s face morphed into shock, I got a considerable amount of distance from him. The reason for this was simple. I sincerely doubted that this bat had any long range attacks. Therefore if I kept on launching long range attacks, I would be virtually untouchable. The reason I was able to get a hit off in our little exchange was because the sinister bat had underestimated me. He probably didn¡¯t want to use his full strength against a weakling like me. Little did he know that I wasn¡¯t as weak as I seemed. He also left himself open when he tried to hit me. Maybe next time he would be more careful. Although it rarely happened, my electric shock had managed to paralyze the bat. I was thankful for this because without it, I would have been unable to create a distance between me and my opponent. As the paralysis of my attack wore off, I could see the bat¡¯s eyes take on a more sinister look. I guess he was no longer playing around. Good, because neither was I. If he wanted to fight, he needed to be prepared to give it his all. Before my opponent could move, I launched four earthen spikes. The reason I didn¡¯t launch more was because I wanted to see how the sinister bat would react. And If I kept on launching four of them, he would probably think that I could only launch four of them at one time. Two earthen spikes came at him from the bottom while the other two came from each side. How would he evade this attack? With a powerful leap, the sinister bat jumped into the air. With a flap of his wings, he came surging down toward me. Tch, that was what I was afraid of. I concentrated on where he was going to attack as I thought of how to retaliate. Slamming my hands into the ground, I created an earthen wall. Would it be powerful enough to hold out? My question was answered as a dent appeared on my earthen wall. Huh, I guess my opponent wasn¡¯t strong enough to break through my wall. I could definitely use this to my advantage. Hiding behind my wall, I began to formulate a plan. My wall looked as if it could hold off two more flying attacks. However, I wanted it to be used for more than defense. I concentrated on coming up with ideas as I waited for my wall to be attacked again. It was while I was thinking that I realized my mistake. My wall only blocked off one direction, not all of them. With a sickening dread, I turned around only to be met with the bat¡¯s claws. My head snapped backed painfully as the bat¡¯s clawed hand grasped my neck. Before I could conjure a wind blade, I was swept up into the air. Shit, I needed it to drop me quickly. Humans were not meant to be in the air. I was also receiving damage thanks to hit hand crushing my windpipe. As we flew I began forming a wind blade as fast as I could. Once it was formed, I slashed at my opponent¡¯s chest.
-8
Heh, that was what you got for getting this close to me. Did he really expect me not to retaliate? With a twist of his body, my opponent swung me around and threw me at the ground. Whoops, I think I made him mad. The moment my face turned towards the ground, I realized just how much I was screwed. How fucking high could this bat even fly? Right now I was a considerable distance away from the ground. If I didn¡¯t soften my landing, I would have broken bones. Shit, I might even die. Was this a fight to the death? Fuck, I didn¡¯t even know. Well since this attack looked like my opponent was trying to kill me, I was going to treat it like a death match. But first, I needed to deal with my current problem. How to survive this fall without being flattened like a pancake? As the wind rushed around me, I glanced at my opponent. Right now he was just watching me fall as he flew in the air. What an utter fool. If it was me, I would attack while my opponent was defenseless since there was no guarantee that the fall would kill me. Yeah, there was definitely no way I was losing to an opponent like this. The ground was coming closer and closer to me as I struggled to come up with a plan. Shit, I needed to come up with something quick. Creating a wind blade on either hand, I began to manipulate them. Instead of a sword, I formed them into the shape of a small tornado. Or at least tried. The first attempt failed while the second attempt was partially successful. As I did this, the ground came ever closer. Pushing a considerable amount of mana into my new technique, I forced a blast of wind to come from each of my hands. Although this little technique didn¡¯t stop my descent, it slowed me down considerably. The only problem with it was that a considerable amount of my mana had been drained in the process. I did not want to attempt this technique again until the end of the battle. If I did, my mana would run out before the fight finished. And that was something I did not want to happen.
Skill Gained!
It seems that my last second maneuvers had made me gained a skill. With a nod of my head, I moved the blue box away. I would have to look at the skill once the battle was completed. I couldn¡¯t afford to be distracted now. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Right before I would¡¯ve hit the ground, I attempted to change the ground below me into an earth swamp. The results¡­. I survived. My left arm was currently unusable. I assumed it was broken with the amount of pain I was feeling. I was also sporting a variety of bruises on the left side of my body. Fuck, I would need to end this battle quickly, or else I would lose. Thanks to the fall I received, my health had gone down to fifty points. Yes you heard that right. Fifty points was all I had left. That drop I suffered had dealt an insane amount of damage to me. I could feel it too. I needed to make sure I never took an attack like that again. Glancing up toward the sky in pain, I surveyed my opponent¡¯s status.
Sinister Adult Bat - Lv.8 Hp: 30/45
You have got to be kidding me. I had only managed to reduce his health by fifteen points. Tch. He was also staying airborne so it would be harder to attack him. I needed to think. Concentrate! Ignoring the pain on the left side of my body, I crouched on the ground. Grasping the earth with my right hand, I poured my mana into the ground. I would make him regret ever fighting me. Once my opponent saw that I wasn¡¯t moving, he initiated his attack. Similar to his last attack, he charged through the air with considerable speed. Although the attack was deadly when it hit, it had a couple of weaknesses. One of them was that he was going too fast to dodge any of the attacks I threw at him. The moment he was in my attack range, I launched seven earth spikes at him. Not only were these earthen spikes more durable, I also made several spikes jut out of each of him. He only had himself to blame for letting me prepare. The sinister bat¡¯s force allowed him to go through three of my earthen spikes. However I still had four left. Two earthen spikes pierced each of his wings, taking away his advantage in the fight. I watched as his body tumbled to the ground in a tumble of earth and blood. At least now he was feeling the pain I was feeling. I ignored the dark spots that were beginning to cover my vision. I needed to make sure he was down for the count. I wasn¡¯t about to make the same mistake he did. Dragging myself towards my opponent I hissed in pain. Fuck, I had never felt this much pain in my life! But I had to persevere! As I stumbled on a piece of jutted out earth, I noticed that my opponent was getting up himself, albeit slowly. My face crunched in despair as he got onto his knees. Shit, I barely had any mana left. My last attack had drained almost all of it. I only had enough for two electric shocks or one wind blade. Spitting out a glob of blood, I watched my opponent carefully. The next successful strike would decide the battle. The sinister bat I was fight crawled up to his feet with determination. I was expecting him to look at me with anger, but instead respect filled his eyes. I guess he finally acknowledged me as a worthy opponent. His wings were torn in several places and blood gushed out of his wounds like a broken faucet. How long would he be able to last before he finished? Silence filled the battlefield as my opponent and I stood face to face. I looked at him with surprise as he began to speak. ¡°What is your name?¡± ¡°Colm. Yours?¡± ¡°Vasik. Let us end this battle gloriously.¡± After we finished talking, I began to notice mana gathering towards Vasik¡¯s claws. Was he about to use some sort of skill? I was surprised since I hadn¡¯t seen any of the other bats using one on the battlefield. I just assumed that they didn¡¯t have any. But those were thoughts for later. It was time to finish this battle. As Vasik gather mana toward his claws, I cleared my mind. Closing my eyes, I began to concentrate mana towards my hand. Once I had gathered my mana, I converted it into wind. A few seconds later, a wind blade thrummed joyfully across my arm. Opening my eyes in determination, I glared at my opponent. A blue box appeared in my vision but I nudged it away. I couldn¡¯t afford any distractions in these final moments of the battle. Ignored the pain in my foot, I charged towards Vasik that same time he did. Time seemed to slow down as I watched his now crimson claws. Ducking beneath his left claw, I aimed my right hand towards his chest. As I did this, I added lightning to my wind blade attack. I had to time it perfectly or I would run out mana before my attack hit. As I reached out my hand, I was forced to twist my body as his right claw struck the side of my throat. Gugah! Blood flowed out of my throat as my electrified wind blade pierced my opponent¡¯s chest. After our little exchange I fell to the ground with my hand covering my throat. Fuck, I couldn¡¯t breathe. Black spots completely filled my vision, leaving me virtually blind. As I held my throat, I heard a loud thump behind me. Did I win? As my consciousness faded out, I allowed a small smile to appear on my face. Now the bats couldn¡¯t say anything about me or the undead. As I lay on the ground, I felt my barat appear by my side. After that¡­nothing. Chapter 17: Getting Back Into Shape Chapter 17: Getting Back Into Shape With all of my bones aching in my body, I opened my tired eyes slowly. Ugh, I felt like shit. Looking around in confusion, I wondered where I was. All I remembered was the fight and then¡­.nothing. I must¡¯ve fainted after the battle because of the severity of my wounds. Speaking of my wounds, why wasn¡¯t I in more pain? Turning my eyes downwards, I examined my wounded body. Most of the left side of my body was covered in some type of moss. This moss had a dark green hue with blue tints around the edges. I tried taking it off at first, but it was stuck to my skin like glue. If I really wanted to I could pull it off, but the whole process seemed painful so I decided against it. It also seemed to be healing me so taking it off would only damage me further. The moss on my body extended all the way to my neck and to the lower part of my eye. Thankfully it narrowly missed my mouth, so every time I wanted to talk I wouldn¡¯t have to taste moss. As I was examining myself, I noticed that I was on some sort of stone bed. Thankfully there was moss covering the stone bed so I wouldn¡¯t be laying on a hard rock while I rested. Before I could do any more examining, a voice appeared in my head. ¡°Are you okay?¡± The hell? Jumping in shock, I looked for the source of the voice. After a few seconds of searching, I noticed a small creature watching me from a few feet away. Oh, it was just Viola. How long had she been there? Focusing on our mana connection, I began to telepathically speak. ¡°Yah, my whole body just hurts but that¡¯s still better than being dead. Do you think you can tell me what happened while I was out?¡± Someone had to put this moss on me and I highly doubted that it was Viola. I also wanted to know just what happening when I fainted. Twisting my body on the stone bed, I waited for my reanimation to speak. ¡°After you finished fighting with that one bat, he soon fell unconscious. You ended up following shortly after. I was quite scared since you were bleeding from several different places on your body. I was afraid that you would die and leave me all alone.¡± After Viola said this she sniffed a couple of times before she resumed speaking. ¡°Once the both of you were unconscious everyone in the audience grew silent. A few seconds later someone started clapping. Then someone else did. And then a different someone else did. This process kept on repeating until I was deafened by the sound of all the clapping. I was by your side while all of this happened, but no matter what I tried you still wouldn¡¯t wake up. After I tried everything that I could, some sort of bat with necklaces and bracelets came out. She then ordered some other bats to carry you and your opponent to a different room. This is actually the place she carried you.¡± Viola waved her hand around to show me where exactly I was laid. ¡°After she brought you here she then pulled out a variety of mosses. She then combined various pieces together and applied them to your wounds. She did the same for the other bat. Once that was done she left and went about her business.¡± Huh, I guess I had this mysterious bat to thank. From the way Viola described her, I could guess that she was some type of healer. I wished she knew some healing magic, but I would take what I could get. Now that I thought about it, the moss on me was somewhat alleviating the pain. I was still hurting, but not as much as I should be. ¡°How long was I out?¡± From the way Viola was talking, it seemed that quite a bit of time had passed with me resting. I had suffered some serious wounds, so it made since that I would be out for some time. ¡°I would say around six hours or so. It¡¯s hard to tell time in this cave.¡± I nodded my head to show I understood. The next fifteen minutes were spent with me talking to Viola. It seemed that she was quite traumatized by the amount of injuries I had sustained. I tried comforting her as best as I could. And before I knew it, I was once again asleep. The next day passed by with me waking up periodically and then going back to sleep. The bat who I assumed was the healer fed me with some sort of herb when I first woke up. It helped ease my pain, but it also made me sleepy. I also noticed the she used some type of magic to help my wounds heal faster. It wasn¡¯t immediate, but it helped my bones heal faster than they normally would have. I made a mental note to ask her what she did the next time I woke up. On the morning of the next day, I pulled myself up from my bed. It was time to stop lazing around. I had things to do. Moving my body painfully, I got into a seated position. However before I got up, I took a look at my status. I was pretty sure that I had gained a skill while I was fighting, but I wasn¡¯t sure.
Status Window
NameColm Marythou
Age: 16Race: Human
Level: 6Gender: Male
TitlesThe Peerless Descender, Undead Prophet
Health: 130/150Mana: 160/160
Stamina: 150/150
~
Strength: 10[5]Agility: 13[3]
Vitality: 8Dexterity: 9
Intelligence:20Wisdom:25
Luck:0
~
Skills
Mana Affinity, Wind Blade, Earth Magic, Necromancy, Meditation, Enhanced Vision, Electric Shock, Wind Gale, Concentration
Unallocated Points: 0
My mana and stamina had made an excellent recovery while I was resting. My health however didn¡¯t. The reason for that was probably because I was still injured. Until all of my injuries healed, my health would stay maxed out at 130 health points. As my eyes roamed downwards, I noticed something odd. I had two new skills! This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
Wind Gale
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Common
Skill Level: 1Exp: 15%
Effect: Allows the user to emit a strong blast of wind.
The first one was called Wind Gale. Similar to the name this technique allowed me to cast a strong blast of wind. This technique had saved my life when my opponent tossed me towards the ground when I was in the air. Without it I would¡¯ve had way more injuries. The next skill I got was called concentration.
Concentration
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 1Exp: 40%
Effects: This skill allows you to perceive more information at a quicker pace when you are focusing on something.
It seemed that this skill would allow me to concentrate better. The reason I had gained this now instead of before was quite simple. The battle I had just fought was the hardest one I had ever fought. If I had lost my concentration for a single second, I would be dead. This would also help me when I was trying to create a new spell since it would allow me to perceive more information. Now that I had looked at my two new skills, I needed to think about the battle I had just fought. It had been too close for comfort. Even though he was a higher level than me, I had more skills than him. From now on I needed to fight smarter. I could hardly believe that I forgot the earthen wall only blocked one side in the middle of the battle. If I had just remembered that I could have won the battle flawlessly. This was a mistake I wouldn¡¯t make again. The next problem I needed to address was what I would do if I faced a flying enemy. I could literally do nothing but wait for him to attack. Since most of my attacks were earth based, my opponent needed to be on the ground in order for me to attack. This would not fly any longer. As I could clearly see now, that was a weakness I needed to address. I needed to create some sort of spell that would allow me to attack creatures that flew. I would come up with one once I was done thinking. Another problem I needed to address was my enemy¡¯s attacks. I either needed to be fast enough to dodge them or durable enough to withstand them. I had essentially been fucked up by one attack in the battle I had just fought. I was too weak. I needed to get stronger. Pushing myself off the stone bed, I gritted my teeth in pain. Whenever I moved the left side of my body, a shock of pain rushed throughout my body. Well too bad. I had things to do and I was determined to do them. As I made my way toward the door, Viola took a perch on my right shoulder. I nodded toward her and picked up my spear on the way out. I was thankful for whoever placed my new spear by my bed since I did not want to have to go looking for it. I didn¡¯t even want to walk. As I walked out of the room, I accidently barged into the bat that healed me. Apologizing, I managed to thank her before she left. Huh, it seemed she was busy. I couldn¡¯t really ask her about how she healed me since she left so quickly. Hmm. I would have to ask her later since I really did want to know what she did. Limping my way out of the hallway, I soon arrived at the big clearing. As I made my way toward the exit I noticed that some of the bats were staring at me. However instead of hatred or disgust, it was¡­.acceptance? It was hard to tell what they were thinking but I assumed it was acceptance. Before I could think on it anymore, I was greeted by the undead general. ¡°Prophet, how are you feeling?¡± Really? How did he think I was feeling? ¡°Like shit.¡± The man wanted to know how I felt so I gave him the truth. I had just fought the hardest battle in my life so I wasn¡¯t going to be feeling peachy. My irritation died down however when I noticed the look in his eyes. It seemed Viola hadn¡¯t been the only one worried about me. ¡°Hah, well that¡¯s to be expected. The battle you fought was a challenging one indeed. May I ask where you are going? You need way more rest in order to be fully healed.¡± ¡°I plan on going back to my base for a little while. I¡¯ll rest up there and raise my level more before coming back here. As of now I¡¯m too weak and I need to get stronger.¡± I wanted to be strong enough to at least see the bat boss¡¯s level. Right now his status only showed question marks and I didn¡¯t like that one bit. I also didn¡¯t like how most of these bats were stronger than me. I would need to change that. ¡°Oh, I understand. Would you like some guards to come with you?¡± ¡°No I¡¯m good.¡± After saying this I bid the undead general farewell. The reason I didn¡¯t want any guards was because I wouldn¡¯t get stronger with them watching me. I needed to face my enemies alone so I could create strategies accordingly. Only in life or death situations could I get stronger. Nodding my head toward the guards that were guarding the exit, I headed toward my base. I needed to check up on my earthen home that I had made. It had been a while since I been there so it was probably in bad shape. I also needed to check up on my garden. Since I had been bedridden for a whole day, I was extremely hungry. I couldn¡¯t wait to get some food in my stomach. With this in mind, I limped my way through the dark tunnels of the sewer. AN: Thanks for reading and expect the next chapter in a day or so! Chapter 18: Comprehension Chapter 18: Comprehension After twenty minutes of walking, I finally arrived at my secret garden. I didn¡¯t like how it had taken me longer to get here than before, but what could I do? I was still healing after all. Before I walked in through the doorway, I readied my spear. The last time I had been here, I used the corpse of a plant monster to fertilize some of the plants that were here. I was smart enough to realize that my efforts might¡¯ve created another one of those plant monsters. Therefore I was going to enter this hidden spot on guard rather than be caught by surprise. In one fluid movement I ducked through the entryway and dodged a quick strike from my left. Hah! Did you think I would fall for such a simple attack? The moment I said this, I was forced to spit out a mouthful of blood. Shit, hopefully I hadn¡¯t opened up any wounds. It seemed that I would be unable to move at my max speed until I was fully healed. Still I should be able to defeat a lowly Vinesta.
Vinesta - Lv.4 Hp: 20/20
Vinestari - Lv.6 Hp: 35/35
By taking a quick glance around, I was able to confirm the location of another Vinesta. Unlike the level four one, this one was level six. Not only that, but it even had a different name. From the look of it, it seemed like the evolution of the Vinesta. It was bigger and also held more fruit than its weaker counterpart. However is still wasn¡¯t strong enough to be able to defeat me. I refused to lose to a creature as weak as this. Directing my barat to fight the weaker Vinesta, I faced the level six Vinestari. Gritting my teeth, I slammed my hand into the ground and launched four earthen spikes. At the same time as me, Viola flew toward the level four Vinesta in a whirl of claw and teeth. Unable to dodge all of the earthen spikes, the Vinestari was forced to take dame from two of my spikes.
-6
-6
With just this one attack, I was able to reduce its health by around a third. My opponent didn¡¯t take this lying down however. Utilizing several of its vines, it tossed multiple fruits at me. The previous me would have been hit by these quick attacks, but I was different. This monster would not even touch me. Since my hand was still on the ground, it was quite easy for me to erect an earthen wall. The earth wall I created jutted up quickly from the ground, blocking the fruit that were thrown at me. Because my opponent wasn¡¯t as fast as the bat I had fought, I didn¡¯t have to worry about it attacking me from behind. The only avenue of attack it could take was against my earthen wall. Taking advantage of this moment, I dashed off towards the left side of my wall. And not a moment too soon. Several fruits were above the location I had been at previously. If I hadn¡¯t moved when I did, they would have splattered on top of me. They wouldn¡¯t do that much damage, but each of those fruits were endowed with special effects. Paralysis and poison were only a few. Now that I was away from my earthen wall, I could see the attacks that my opponent had tried against me when I was behind the wall. Several dents decorated my wall so I could only assume that the Vinestari had tried piercing through it. However it was too weak! Hah, as if it could pierce through a wall that withstood a sinister bat¡¯s attack. Utilizing my new concentration skill, I charged towards my opponent. I was getting a slight headache from the skill, but I ignored it. The pain in my body was greater so the pain didn¡¯t really concern me. With my spear in hand, I watched as several fruits were thrown at me. Raising my left hand up, I casted a wind gale and blew the fruits back towards the Vinestari. Have a taste of your own medicine. As the fruits splattered the body of the plant monster, I thought about my actions. I could¡¯ve killed it easily from a distance, but then I wouldn¡¯t have gained any battle experience. I would be forced in close combat with many monsters so I needed to get used to it as soon as I could. What better way to do this than to fight a weak monster? Wincing in pain, I formed a wind blade on the edge of my spear. It was time to show this monster who it was dealing with. With an intense glare, I jabbed my spear towards the Vinestari with all my strength. Thanks to the wind blade on my spear, it easily tore through the monster¡¯s flesh.
-17
Powerful! With this devastating attack, I had managed to reduce my opponent¡¯s health to a mere six points. Before I could attack anymore I was forced to dodge several vines as they came toward me. Thanks to my concentration skill, I was able to tell where most of the vines were going to attack. However there were just to many to dodge. I needed to come up with something quick or else I would suffer a hit. Although the vines wouldn¡¯t do that much damage, I still did not want to be hit. My pride was on the line. Shoving my left hand forward, I unleashed a wind gale which forced the multitude of vines back. However this only bought me a couple seconds at most. My wind gale was holding the vines back, but the longer I used it, the more mana that was being drained. I did not want to use up all my mana for an enemy like this. With a wind gale still coming from my left hand, I focused some mana toward my feet. It was extremely hard to do this, but it wasn¡¯t impossible. My concentration skill helped immensely. Once my mana was in my feet, I directed it toward the ground. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, an earthen wall jutted out from the ground directly in front of me. Objective completed. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Taking a step away from my wall, I canceled my wind gale in order to save my mana. Although my concentration skill had leveled up, I was having one hell of a headache. I guess this is what I got for trying to do two spells at once. Even my electrified wind blade couldn¡¯t be counted as two spells since I essentially combined them into one. But this was good. If I trained myself to be able to utilize multiple spells at once, I would be unstoppable. But those were thoughts for later, I still had a battle to finish. Placing my hands against the earthen wall, I began to infuse my mana inside of it. Once a sufficient amount of mana was inside, I began to push it away from my hands. The moment I did this, my earthen wall collapsed and flew toward my opponent. Due to the amount of pieces my earthen wall was in, the Vinestari was unable to dodge. With a sickening squelch, various pieces of earth plunged into its flesh. A few seconds later and the monster was no more. Wiping the sweat away from my brow, I glanced towards my reanimation. With movements like the wind, Viola was dodging several of the vines that were attacking her. Try as it might, the Vinesta was unable to harm my barat. However Viola was only able to do miniscule amounts of damage to it. Leaving them at a virtual standstill. I would have to rectify this once the battle was over. Rushing over to the Vinesta, I plunged my spear into its back. This process proved to be quite easy since it was distracted. As it recoiled in pain, Viola took the opportunity to slash it across its neck. Unable to withstand our combined attacks, the Vinesta slumped to the ground lifelessly. Flying on top of the corpse, Viola did some sort of victory pose as I shook my head. Letting out a sigh I glanced at my experience bar. Sadly I hadn¡¯t leveled up from the fight. It made sense since these enemies weren¡¯t that strong. I reviewed over the battle I had just fought as I searched for loot. When I had attacked the Vinestari with my wind enhanced spear, I had done a total of seventeen points of damage. Now normally this would be okay since my spear damage did fifteen to twenty damage. However I had enhanced my spear with the wind blade so it should¡¯ve done way more damage. Why was this so? The only reason I could think of was the defense of the Vinestari. Because of its defense, my spear would do less damage. But thanks to my wind blade, it did more damage than it was supposed to. This made sense I guess. Basically different enemies had different defense which made my spear do different damage. After reviewing my spear¡¯s damage output, I moved on to the next thing I was wondering about. I had beaten this Vinestari quite easily even though it had been the same level as me. But when I had fought the bat that was only two levels higher, I had almost lost. Was there that much difference in between levels? Or was it because the Vinestari species were weaker than the bats? I had no idea what to think. I would need more information before I could answer this question. Once I was done thinking, I glanced at the loot I received.
Leather Belt Description: A belt made of leather that contains several pouches. Effect: + 1 Vitality Durability: 30/30
The loot I had received had been a leather belt. In all honesty, I was quite pleased with this loot drop. Thanks to the size of the pouches on the belt, I would be able to store a variety of items. Items such as the fruits from Vinestas. I could no longer store things in my jacket since it had vanished. I had woken up without it so I could only assume that the bats had thrown it away. I wasn¡¯t really that made since it had probably been covered in blood anyway. Thankfully I still had my shirt even though it had some tears in it. Adjusting the belt so it fit, I looked at the fruit that the plant monsters had dropped. The drowsy tupa that I had before had vanished with my jacket so I didn¡¯t have any more of those fruits left. Although I had forgotten to use it in my battle with the bat, I was glad. With how quick the bat was, there was no doubt it could¡¯ve easily threw it back at me. And if I had gotten hit with it, that battle would have been my loss. As I gathered up the fruits the plant monsters had, I noticed something odd. There were other fruits that I hadn¡¯t seen before mixed in the bunch. Picking up a light red fruit, I compared it with a darker one.
Red Tupa Description: One of the few edible fruits made by a Vinesta. This fruit contains no spores and is quite delicious. Effect: Restore 20 health points
Greater Red Tupa Description: One of the few edible fruits made by a Vinestari. This fruit contains no spores and is quite delicious. Effect: Restore 60 health points
Unlike the fruits made by the Vinesta, the Vinestari¡¯s fruits had a greater effect. Just look at the red tupas. The effect of the fruit had tripled in effects. As I was looking at the red tupas, an idea sprang into my mind. What would happen if I ate one while I was still injured? Would my wounds miraculously heal, or would my wounds just healed at an increased rate? There was only one way to find out. So without further ado, I took a bite out of the red tupa. Chapter 19: Magic Training[1] Chapter 19: Magic Training[1] I allowed a smile to appear on my face as the delicious taste of the tupa flowed through my mouth. This was really something else. I didn¡¯t know if it was because I was hungry or not, but this fruit tasted better than before. As I devoured the fruit, I concentrated on my wounds. I needed to know what a healing item would do when I had a severe wound. The information I was about to receive would no doubt be helpful to me in the future. As the remnants of the fruit were being swallowing, the wounds on my body began to pulse. It wasn¡¯t painful, but it did feel uncomfortable. The feeling was similar to when your arm fell asleep and you couldn¡¯t wake it up no matter what you did. I sighed in relief as the pain in my left side began to fade. A few seconds later and I was feeling better than before. With a quick glance at my status, I confirmed that my health was at a maximum. I would still have to be careful since my left side was still a little sore however. Hmm. Why did my health heal when I used a healing item, but it didn¡¯t when I was resting? I gave up on answering my question after a few minutes of contemplation. The answer would come to me eventually, so there was no use worrying about it now. Once all of the fruit were gathered, I counted the total of each type. Thanks to these monsters, I now had four paralytic tupas, four poisonous tupas, two drowsy tupas, four red tupas, two greater red tupas, and two confusion tupas. The reason I had this many was thanks to the Vinestari. Whenever I had my next battle, I needed to make sure I used them. If I didn¡¯t, then they would just be going to waste. Before I put them in my belt pockets, I looked at the confusion tupa description since I had never seen one before.
Confusion Tupa Description: One of the many fruits made by a Vinestari. This specific fruit causes confusion to anyone that comes into contact with the spores. Effect: Confusion for a short period of time
Similar to the name, the spores of the confusion tupa confused the person that was hit by it. I could already tell that this was going to be useful. I was glad I didn¡¯t get hit by one of these in the battle because it would¡¯ve been hard for me to cast spells if I was confused. After examining the description, I moved on. Now that I had checked my loot, I needed to check on my skills. Some of them had leveled up in the battle I had just fought and I wanted to know which ones. The next few minutes were spent with me reviewing my skills.
Mana Affinity Skill
Skill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: Unique
Skill Level: 7Exp: 3%
Effects: Any skill using mana cost 7% less. You are more sensitive to the mana. This enables you to know when someone is about to cast a spell due to the amount of mana being gathered. Anything mana related comes easier to you.
Wind Blade
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Common
Skill Level: 5Exp: 23%
Effect: Allows the user to create a sharp blade of wind that can be used in combat.
Earth Magic
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 7Exp: 70%
Effect: Allows the user to mold the earth into a variety of constructs.
Electric Shock
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 4Exp: 25%
Effect: Allows the user to give something or someone an electric shock. This attack has a small chance of paralyzing the place it hit.
Necromancy
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Rare
Skill Level: 4Exp: 85%
Effect: Allows the user to reanimate dead corpses. The stronger the skill, the stronger the corpse. Certain rituals will change the corpse¡¯s characteristics.
Meditation
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 3Exp: 65%
Effects: By sitting down and gathering mana, mana regeneration is increased. The higher the level, the more mana that is regenerated. Small amounts of stamina will now be restored.
Enhanced Vision
Skill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 5Exp: 2%
Effects: This skill allows you to see farther and better. If leveled up high enough, night vision becomes possible.
Wind Gale
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Common
Skill Level: 1Exp: 32%
Effect: Allows the user to emit a strong blast of wind.
Concentration
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 2Exp: 20%
Effects: This skill allows you to perceive more information at a quicker pace when you are focusing on something.
Once I was done reviewing the skills, I spent the next twenty minutes eating various fruit and vegetables. I didn¡¯t eat any of the red tupas because I wanted to save them for later. A healing item would be lifesaving if I used it in a dangerous battle. Thanks to the Vinesta¡¯s corpse I had planted, many of the plants had already regrown their fruit so I had enough food to eat. If I hadn¡¯t planted the corpse, it would have taken several days for the plants to grow back, not just one. Now that my stomach was full, I needed to do a few things. But before I started them, I needed to decide what to do with the corpses of the monsters I had just killed. Should I use them for fertilizer, or should I use them for necromancy? If I used them for fertilizer, more plants would grow. But if I used them for necromancy, I would be able reanimate a new creature. And I did want to know if I could reanimate a plant monster. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. After a few minutes of debating, I came up with an idea. Why not do both? I did have two corpses. I could use for fertilizer and the other for necromancy. Yes, that was what I was going to do. Walking over to the Vinesta corpse, I began dragging it toward the garden. Once it was there, I sunk it into the ground and began decomposing it. A few minutes later and the garden was now fertilized. Wiping my hands off, I looked at the Vinestari. I couldn¡¯t resurrect it now because my necromancy skill wasn¡¯t high enough. Until it was leveled up my mind was only capable of having two reanimations at once. But that was where I ran into a problem. How could I raise my necromancy level if I didn¡¯t reanimate anything? From what I knew, my necromancy skill level was based on the knowledge I had on it. Reanimating a corpse would give me a huge chunk of experience while reading my necromancy journal would raise it slowly. The problem with reading my journal for experience was that I was almost finished with it. All I had left to read in the book was a few notes on the necromancer¡¯s experiments. What else could I do to raise my necromancy level? Many thoughts ran through my head, but none of them correct. After about a minute, an idea suddenly struck me. What about analyzing the symbols I used in the ritual? It would be dangerous, but if I understood what each one meant, my necromancy skill would advance in leaps and bounds. Yes, that was what I would do. The reason I was doing this was for more than necromancy too. I might be able to use these symbols for things other than necromancy. If one symbol meant death, maybe I could carve it into something to make it die. Who knew? But before I tried deciphering the symbols, I needed to make a spell that could affect flying enemies. That was more important than raising my necromancy skill. After I created a spell, I would then look for a couple enemies so I could level up. Once I leveled up, I would be able to use my spear¡¯s ability. And once I got the ability, I would also be able to get dark magic. Or at least I hoped. After figuring out for my plan for the day, I started to head toward my base. But before I could exit the garden, I caught sight of the Vinestari corpse. Had I ever decided what I wanted to do with it? I had decided to use it for necromancy, but I didn¡¯t decide for what part. Should I have Viola eat it to gain some of its characteristics or should I save it? Wouldn¡¯t I get another group of Vinesta later since I had done the same thing as last time? The problem with having Viola eating the corpse was that I might not get another one. Who knew if the same thing would occur again. Should I take the risk? In the end I decided to have Viola eat the corpse to gain its characteristics. I did this for several reasons. The first was because there was always that chance I would get another Vinesta in a day or so. There was a risk, but there was without risks there was no reward. The second reason was because of my necromancy level. It was too low right now so there was no point in letting the Vinesta corpse just sit around. A monster could eat it too if I didn¡¯t properly hide it. The last reason was because I wanted to see what kind of skills Viola would gain. Would it take multiple corpses for her to gain the Vinesta¡¯s ability or just one? I needed to know. It would also be neat if she gained the ability to make fruits. If she did I would never have to worry about food again. Nodding towards the leafy corpse, I motioned for Viola to eat it. She gave me a curious glance before devouring the Vinesta. I watched with a shocked expression as the body of the Vinesta began to grow smaller and smaller. How fast could she eat? I didn¡¯t even know her mouth could open that wide. Smunch¡­.. Glurp¡­. Letting out an unladylike burp, Viola looked at me with a satisfied expression. I guess the corpse was good. Maybe I should try it next time I was here if It was so good. I took a closer look at Viola as she sat on the ground. Was there any difference in her physical appearance? I got closer and closer until my face was nearly touching her body. Before I could do anything I was licked across the face. Recoiling in shock I looked at my reanimation who was looking at me playfully. Tch, I didn¡¯t have time for this. But whenever I tried to examine her, I was licked again and again. Hwaahh. Fine. I guess I would play with her for a little bit. After fifteen minutes of playing I finally got Viola to let me examine her. It looked as though her skin now had a greenish hue but I didn¡¯t know if my eyes were playing tricks on me. I asked Viola if she felt any different and she told me she didn¡¯t. I guess she needed to eat more than one corpse in order to gain their abilities. With Viola on my shoulder I walked towards my old base. It had been quite a while since I had been there last so I wasn¡¯t surprised when my earthen house had various cracks in it. It looked as if one push would make it come crashing down. Walking over to the front door, I placed my hand on the ground. It was time to refurbish my house. Thanks to my earth magic being level 7, my earthen walls were easy to erect. Just for fun I added my name and some symbols on the wall. I did this because I wasn¡¯t really feeling the bland look that my house had going on. The front part of my wall took on a dark brownish hue while the back part took on a light brownish hue. I guess the earth was different in different parts of my house. The earth that made it up looked firm and unyielding, way better than it looked before. Now this house looked like it would last a long time. Thanks to my house, my earth magic had leveled up to level 8. My earth magic was still the strongest magic that I used. My wind blade came in second, but it was still three levels lower than my earth magic. The reason I was looking at my magic was because I needed to come up with a spell that could attack enemies that could fly. I was debating on what element I wanted my attack to be. Earth, wind, or electricity. All of these elements had pros and cons so it was hard to choose between them. Making this attack based off of the earth element might not be a good idea. Although it was my strongest magic, earth spells would best when they were still touching the ground. Like my earth spikes. If I tried launching them from the earth, they would lose considerable amounts of power. But since my earth magic level was so high, it might make my spell stronger than a wind one. A wind spell would be good since it was traveling through the air. This might be better than basing it off of earth. Not only would it be hard for my enemies to see, but it would be incredibly quick. Maybe something like a wind bullet. If I used wind, it would help me get closer to getting air magic. But electricity was also tempting. An electricity based attack would just be deadly. Not only would it do damage, but it also had the chance of paralysis. I could already see one of the bats getting struck by my attack and just falling straight down. But if I used electricity, I would need to train it more. Right now my electric shock couldn¡¯t reach past my skin but with a little bit of training, it would be able to. Trying all three of these options just wouldn¡¯t be possible. I just didn¡¯t have enough time to do all of them. I still needed to raise my level and decipher the necromancy symbols. Maybe later I would be able to. But for right now I just needed to choose one. But which one should I choose? Chapter 20: Magic Training[2] Chapter 20: Magic Training[2] After debating on it for a little bit and asking Viola for tips, I decided to make this attack wind based. Not only would it be hard to see, but it would be extremely effective. After all, it was essentially traveling in its own element. Once I created this skill, I would also attempt to gain air magic. Viola had suggested that I try leveling up more of my magic skills so I could use different strategies in battle. And if I kept on leveling up air magic when I got it, I might even be able to fly. Walking out of my earthen house, I looked for a suitable area to train. The ground I was standing on had cracked tiles and various patches of earth sticking out. If I cut my foot while I was training, my concentration would be ruined, making it harder for me to create a spell. Luckily I had a solution for this. Placing my hands on the ground, I manipulated the earth until most of the area around me was flat. I kept on pouring my mana into the ground until I couldn¡¯t see a single bulge or blemish in the ground. Once that was done I sat down and began to meditate. After all of my mana was restored I began to think. What I wanted was a long ranged wind attack. The problem with doing this was that there were several ways I could go about it. For instance I could create a wind blade that I could launch, a wind bullet that would devastate my enemies, or even create a ball of air that could suffocate my enemies. There were just so many options to choose from. But which one should I choose? Right now I was leaning towards the launchable wind blade. The reason for this was because I had already created a wind blade. Therefore making the spell this way would be easier than the other ways. After concentrating on my arm for a few seconds, a wind blade appeared. Since I was so close to the wind blade, I could see how it distorted the air around it. Once my enemies saw this distortion, it would be far too late. Now that I had created a wind blade I needed to figure out how to launch it. If I was able to do this, my wind blade would become even more fearsome in battle. My opponent would be hard pressed to dodge my wind blade if they didn¡¯t know I could launch it. Just jumping back to dodge my strike would no longer be an option. If they did that, I could easily launch my wind blade and kill them. With an intense gaze I studied my wind blade. My mana was the only thing that was stopping my wind blade from dissipating. The moment that it left my hand, my wind blade would simply vanish. I needed to figure out a way for my wind blade to last without a continuous supply of mana. If I didn¡¯t I could kiss a launchable wind blade attack goodbye. Hmm, this would prove to be quite challenging. In order to make a launchable wind blade, I first needed to understand it. The way I made a wind blade was by combining my mana and the wind. Once they were together, I formed them into the shape of a blade. After I did this, I would constantly supply my mana into the blade so I could keep it together. Using it on a weapon was quite similar, but it wasn¡¯t the same. The spell still worked the same, but it was still two different methods. Maybe I could create the spell using the other method instead of the one I was using now. When I made a wind blade on my weapon, I put a small bit of my mana into the spell. I then gathered the mana and the air from the surroundings to fuel my blade. By doing this I was able to save more of my mana than I usually would. It wasn¡¯t that much, but it was better than nothing. Sticking my hand out in front of me, I gathered my mana into the shape of a ball. Once that was done I began drawing the air around me into the ball I had created. A couple minutes went by as I attempted to combine the two. Once my mana and the wind were combined I began drawing mana from the air. In order to do this I needed to use some of my mana to sense where the mana was. The moment I could feel the mana around me, I began pushing it towards the ball that was in my hand. My eyes narrowed unconsciously as I began the process of combining the three. Ten minutes later my mana, the air, and the mana around me was combined. I was forced to rely on my concentration skill in order to keep the ball together. My mana and the mana in the air didn¡¯t want to combine together. However I wasn¡¯t asking. They would stick together whether they liked it or not. Now that I essential had a wind ball in my hand, I needed to figure out how to launch it. I needed to be careful to because if I messed up, I would have to do all of this again. By manipulating my mana, I was able to mold my wind ball into a cylinder. I kept on doing this until it took the form of a wind blade. But the more I pushed, the more unsettled the ball became. If I wasn¡¯t careful it might¡­..But before I could finish my train of thought, the ball of wind exploded in my hands. I gritted my teeth in pain as my body flew back from the force of the blast. As my body rolled painfully against the ground I gulped several breaths of air. That blast had forced all of the air from my chest leaving me with none. The experience was painful to say the least. Picking myself off from the ground, I walked back to the stop I was at previously. Although the explosion hurt, it wasn¡¯t as bad as the time I got injured with the bat. My eyes were forced to widen as I glanced at where I was before. In the spot I sat stood a big dent in the ground with various gouges decorating the side of it. What? My face scrunched in confusion. Was creating a spell always this dangerous? You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. As I fixed the ground Viola decided to take a good amount of distance away from me. She had been on my shoulder previously when the blast went off. We both ended up flying in the air but unlike me she had wings. Therefore she ended up flying in the air safely while I tumbled across the ground. After I fixed the ground, I once again resumed my sitting position. This time however I was concentrating solely on my spell. I did not want to suffer another attack like that one again. Placing mana in my hand, I repeated the previous processes until I had my combined wind ball. Although the process still took me around twenty minutes, it was slightly easier than before since I knew what to do. Manipulating the ball slowly, I forced it to take the shape of a blade. Although I say blade, as I molded the ball, it began to look more like an arrow. Whenever I felt like the ball was going to bust, I would wait a couple of seconds before resuming. Blowing myself up again wouldn¡¯t accomplish anything. After a few minutes of concentrating, I had a shivering wind blade against my hand. Unlike my previous wind blade, this one wasn¡¯t connected to my arm. Raising my right arm slowly I aimed toward a distance wall. I didn¡¯t need to figure out how to launch it since I assumed it was the same process as my earthen spike. Pushing more mana into my spell, I ejected it away from my hand as quickly as I could. My spell went soaring through the air and hit the distant wall in just a few seconds. Before I could examine the wall it hit, a blue box appeared in my vision.
Skill Gained!
Wind Arrow
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Common
Skill Level: 1Exp: 5%
Effect: Allows the user to create an arrow of wind that can attack distant enemies.
Thanks to an hour of hard work, I had gained a long ranged skill. I probably should¡¯ve had a type of skill like this a long time ago but oh well. I had it now and that was all that mattered. Swiping the blue box away, I walked over to the wall I hit. I wanted to see just how powerful my attack was. After walking a couple of feet, I arrived in front of the wall I had damaged. A long hole now adorned the cracked sewer wall. Rather than creating a clean hole, my attack had created several cracks along the path it took. The only explanation I could come up with was because my attack was quite unstable when I launched it. If I was able to stabilize it, my attacks would be more accurate. But what would happen if I kept on making my wind arrow unstable. Would I be able to launch it before it exploded? If I could it would be one hell of an attack. Once I was done with examining the wall, I sat down and began to meditate. By absorbing the mana around me, my mana bar was soon completely filled. As I sat down with my legs crossed, I concentrated on the air around me. After a few minutes of doing this, I realized that this process was easier if I had my eyes closed. After I closed my eyes, I began the process of understand the element of air. Time flew by as I immersed myself in the element of air. What exactly was air? Without it we would die yet there were still plentiful amounts of it. Wind could be calm such as a cool summer breeze. Yet it could also be wild like a tornado. What made it all the more dangerous was that it was everywhere. The only other places it wouldn¡¯t be were in the other elements. It would be quite a challenge to look for air in the middle of the ocean. As I thought of this, a small patch of wind began to swirl around me. Whenever I needed it, it would be there. Although you couldn¡¯t see it, it was always there. It stood there poised, all powerful, just waiting for a moment to strike. When I used the air to attack, I wasn¡¯t using it to its fullest potential. This was because I didn¡¯t understand the element. But how could I? There was just so much of it and so many mysteries that I couldn¡¯t even begin to fathom. Yet I still had to try. Unlike the element of earth, the air was free. It could move to and fro with just a thought. The earth was plagued to stay in one place while the element of air valued freedom. It just wouldn¡¯t allow itself to be contained. The more I understood, the more the wind around me quickened. Taking a deep breath, I immersed myself in trying to understand air. Was the air always like this? Or did it change because of the change in the world. I felt as though the air was sentient. Sentient and ancient. I tried to understand more about what was around me, but my mind wasn¡¯t capable of fathoming it. Not yet. I would to train up my air magic in order to understand more. Opening my eyes, I watched as the air around me began to swirl in a mysterious pattern. Infusing my mana into the air, I felt myself combine with the air. It was only for a second, but it was enough. I now understood what I needed to know. Wind¡­.no air. Air could be harmless one second and then deadly the next. It could protect and it could harm. It could be a blessing on a hot summer day, or it could be a curse in the dead of winter. The choice was up to me. Whatever I needed it could become. The moment I thought this a blue box appeared in my vison. I had finally gained air magic. Chapter 21: Air Magic Chapter 21: Air Magic
Air Magic
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 5Exp: 0%
Effect: Allows the user to manipulate the air around them
After spending a considerable amount of time attempting to understand the element of air, I had finally gotten air magic. Thanks to this, it would now be easier to create other air type skills. Once I finished reading the box, I spent the next twenty minutes meditating. In order to get the air magic skill, I was forced to use up a large amount of my mana. But thanks to my meditation skill, I only had to wait a short period of time in order for it to be restored. Once my mana was restored, I glanced at my skills. Quite a few had gained experience but the only one that had leveled up was my meditation skill. My mana affinity and concentration skill were extremely close to leveling up, so in an hour or so they would be a higher level. After reviewing my meditation skill I moved on.
Meditation
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 4Exp: 10%
Effects: By sitting down and gathering mana, mana regeneration is increased. The higher the level, the more mana that is regenerated. Small amounts of stamina will now be restored.
Before I left to level up, I wanted to train my air magic a little more. I also wanted to experiment with the explosive arrow I had stumbled upon. Taking a deep breath I began gathering mana towards my hand. Once a ball of mana was created, I began the process of creating a wind arrow. But this time when I manipulated it, I attempted to make it as unstable as I could. Once the arrow was about to explode I shot it towards the wall. Boom! Thanks to my attack, a deafening sound filled the tunnel I was training in. The moment my ears stopped ringing I looked at the results of my explosive wind arrow. As I stared at the moderate sized hole in the wall, a look of approval appeared on my face. This would do. An enemy hit by this would take quite a bit of damage. After examining the wall, I spent the next hour working on my air magic. After training for an hour and a half, I headed back to where the battle between the bats and the giant rats took place. Since I had leveled up my skills by a good amount, it was finally time for me to start leveling up. Due to me only being level six, I felt weak compared to the bats. Even though I had skills, I still wanted to have a higher level than them. The bat boss also told me that I had to get a higher level before I could talk to him again. As I walked, I glanced at my skills that I had leveled up.
Air Magic
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 6Exp: 53%
Effect: Allows the user to manipulate the air around them
Mana Affinity Skill
Skill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: Unique
Skill Level: 7Exp: 80%
Effects: Any skill using mana cost 7% less. You are more sensitive to the mana. This enables you to know when someone is about to cast a spell due to the amount of mana being gathered. Anything mana related comes easier to you.
Swiping the boxes away, I continued on my walk and began to think. Right now I had a considerable amount of skills under my belt. I was way stronger than I was before when I had fought that bat. But until I tested myself, I would never really know how strong I was. Turning my head to the left, I took a glance at Viola. As I looked at her she turned her head and gave me a curious glance. Shaking my head, I thought about what had happened while I was training. As I worked on my air techniques, Viola watched me closely. Since I had put my wind mana into her in the ritual, I assumed that she was naturally drawn to it. After fifteen minutes of watching, she began trying to conjure her own wind gale. The first few tries, nothing happened. Still she persevered. I watched in silence as she gathered mana from the air and attempted to push it out. Shaking my head, I walked to where she was and guided her on what to do. A few minutes later, and Viola could now use a wind spell. Thoughts like these ran through my mind until I finally arrived at the battlefield. Dark bloodstains covered the sewer floor while pieces of gore covered the wall. It was quite a detestable sight to see. As I walked towards the path where the giant rats fled I soon noticed that there were two bats guarding the doorway. Before I could walk right on through, they barred the doorway. ¡°What is your reason for going down this tunnel? Don¡¯t you know that it¡¯s filled with giant rats?¡± I obviously knew that the tunnel was filled with rats since I had been there to see them flee. But I guess it was nice of the guard to try and look out for me. ¡°Yeah, I was there when the battle happened. The reason I want to go in the tunnel is so that I can kill some giant rats and level up.¡± There was no point in lying since I had nothing to hide. Therefore I decided to just tell him the truth. The bat guard nodded his head once I talked about leveling up. I guess he could see how low my level was and why I wanted to raise it. After telling me to stay safe, he bid me farewell. With Viola on my shoulder, I pressed onwards. The moment the guards were out of sight, I immediately got on guard. Although there were other bats here, they were spread out so the likelihood of me meeting one would be fairly slim. The chances of me meeting a giant rat however were way higher. I didn¡¯t want to suffer a sneak attack since the bats in this section were way stronger than the ones I had fought before. They would only get stronger the closer I got to their base. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. The next few minutes passed by slowly as I twitched at every noise I heard. The reason I did this was because I was paranoid of being attacked from behind. Could you blame me? The dark shadows in the sewer portrayed frightening images out of the corners of my eye. Calming down my nerves I took a deep breath. I was pretty sure I was stronger than the giant rats here so there was nothing to worry about. Or so I hoped. As I was slowing my heart rate, I noticed Viola¡¯s ears perk up. Before I could question her, she mentally told me that enemies were coming. Crouching low to the ground, I hid by a nearby wall. Getting off the first attack was always helpful so I would stay hidden until they were close enough. And then, before they saw me, I would strike. They wouldn¡¯t know what hit them. A few seconds later, the sounds of pattering feet began to fill the sewer pathway. As I listened to their footsteps, a look of confusion crossed my face. Why did one of these set of feet sound so much bigger than the others? Peering off into the distance, I glanced at the ominous shadows that were coming towards me.
Giant Rat - Lv.6 Hp: 35/35
Giant Berserker Rat - Lv.8 Hp: 50/50
Giant Rat - Lv.6 Hp: 35/35
A few feet away from me was a trio of giant rats. Two of them looked like a higher level of the ones I had fought by my base. The other one however I had met on the battlefield. Although there had only been two or three giant berserker rats on the battlefield, they were still a force to be reckoned with. They were essentially a powered up giant rat. They were bigger, stronger, and faster than their weak counterparts. Their size was so big that they were even bigger than me! I would need to be careful in this upcoming battle or I might sustain serious injuries. As the rats walked closer and closer, I noticed the muscles that were bulging beneath the skin of the berserker rat. Man, why was it so muscular? The only thing I could compare it with was a human bodybuilder. Since I still had a good amount of time before the giant rats would see me, I needed to decide my plan of attack. I planned on starting off the battle with one of the tupas, I just didn¡¯t know which one I wanted. Thanks to the Vinestari I had killed, there was a good bit to choose from. Did I want to poison the berserker rat, or did I want to paralyze it? Each effect was good, but I needed the best one. As I looked through the tupas, I decided to toss the poisonous tupa out of the selection. The reason for this was because I didn¡¯t know how much damage it would do. Would it just do five damage, or would it do one point of damage every second? I didn¡¯t know. And until I knew, I didn¡¯t want to take the risk. Maybe if there wasn¡¯t a berserker rat in the group then I would take the chance. But since there was, the poisonous tupa was out. The drowsy tupa was out for the same reason. How fast would it get drowsy? Would it even affect it that much? Who knew? The two remaining choices were the paralytic tupa and the confused tupa. In the end I decided on the paralytic tupa since the description of the confused tupa was kind of sketchy. The paralysis tupa would be extremely helpful since I could launch off several attacks the moment my enemy was paralyzed. The moment the rats were in range, I tossed a paralytic tupa at the berserker rat. As it silently flew through the air, Viola jumped off my shoulder and charged toward them with a loud screech. Since the berserker rat was caught off guard, it was easy for the paralysis tupa to splatter across its back. And the moment it did, I made my move. As the berserker rat¡¯s muscles began to lock up, I charged up two explosive wind arrows. After gathering mana for a few seconds, I launched the attack off. As the arrows flew through the air, Viola began to attack the nearest giant rat. Although the giant rat tried to scratch at her, Viola was able to easily dodge by flying in the air. She might have problems however if the second rat tried to join in. And I didn¡¯t plan on letting that happen. Because of the paralysis, my two explosive wind arrows easily slammed into the berserker rat. The body of the berserker soon disappeared from my sight as the arrows exploded in a burst of air. I shouldn¡¯t have to worry about the berserker for a while because I had seen just how powerful my explosive arrows were. Dodging to my left quickly, I managed to avoid an attack from the second deadly rat. As it landed on the ground, I thrusted my spear towards its body. But thanks to its quick movements, I only managed to graze it before it attacked me again. As it opened its mouth to bite me, I stuck the shaft of my spear between its teeth. As the giant rat tried to shake it out of my hand, I filled my spear with electricity. Did it think that I would just let it gnaw on my weapon? Sparks flew across the giant rat¡¯s body as electricity surged through it. As the giant rat was forced to loosen its grip, I swung my spear and tossed it towards the ground. While it was tumbling across the ground, I glanced at its status.
Giant Rat - Lv.6 Hp: 22/35
Man, these rats were way stronger than the other ones I had fought previously. As the giant rat shook off the remnants of the shock, I glanced at Viola to make sure she was doing alright. She was. Turning my head back around, I placed my hand on the ground so I could launch earthen spikes at the giant rat. But before I could launch them, I saw the berserker rat charging at me in the corner of my eye. Fuck. Chapter 22: Fighting to Survive Chapter 22: Fighting to Survive Glaring at both the giant rat and the berserker rat, I began to quickly formulate a plan. Since they were both running towards me, I needed to find a way to dodge both of their attacks. What did I have available to use? I had some tupas but I didn¡¯t know if I would be able to grab one quick enough. Tch, so that was out. This meant that I would have to use magic, and I would need to use it quick! Pumping mana into the earth, I quickly created a wall that jutted out from the ground. Since the wall was on my right, the berserker was now unable to see me. It either had to go around, or break through my wall. Either way, it would take several seconds for it to do either one. And I could do a lot in a few seconds. My thoughts were interrupted by a jolt of pain as the giant rat that I was fighting bit me. Grimacing in pain, I dropped my spear and grab the head of the giant rat with my hand. It was about to regret ever biting my arm. Digging my fingers into its skull, I began to pour electricity into its body. I continued pouring more and more into it even after it let go off my arm. Thanks to the paralysis effect of my attack, the giant rat couldn¡¯t resist. It never stood a chance. With one last shock of electricity I let go of its head. I still had one more enemy to deal with. As I reached for my spear, the berserker rat burst through my earthen wall and charged toward me. Shit, I wouldn¡¯t have enough time to grab my weapon. Leaving my spear on the ground, I immediately jumped to the side so I could dodge the berserkers attack. As it raced past me, I quickly reached into my belt and ate a red tupa. The giant rat¡¯s bite had taken a chunk of my health away and I wanted it restored before I fought the berserker. Swallowing the tupa with a big gulp, I glanced warily at the berserker. I did not want to be hit by that thing. If I did, I wouldn¡¯t be getting up any time soon. As it stared at me with unconcealed hate, I glanced at its status. I needed to see how close I was to defeating it.
Giant Berserker Rat - Lv.8 Hp: 20/50
Thanks to my explosive wind arrows, more than half of his health was gone. That goes to show just how powerful my wind attacks could be. If I conjured up two more of those, the berserker rat would be defeated. The only problem with doing this was that creating those arrows took time. And I highly doubted that the berserker was just going to stand there and let me gather mana. If I wanted to do this, I would need to make the berserker unable to attack me for a few seconds¡­..Somehow. Shaking the dirt off its fur, the berserker rat began to slowly circle me. Keeping him within my eyesight, I began to create an explosive wind arrow. If he wasn¡¯t going to attack me, then I might as well use the time wisely. But before I could finish the spell, the berserker attacked. In a burst of speed, the berserker rat arrived in front of me. Shit, it was too quick. With a powerful swing of its tail, I was thrown across the sewers. Crash! My eyes widen in agony as my back slammed against the wall. Gah, why was that attack so painful? Right now my back felt like it was on fire. Not only that, but a good chunk of my health was missing. As my body slid toward the ground, I stuck my hand in my belt and ate two red tupas. Thanks to this, some of my health was restored. However I couldn¡¯t keep on eating tupas in order to restore my health. I only had a limited amount after all. As I felt the pain in my back fade away, I sighed in relief. These tupas were something else. Stumbling onto my knees I kept a lookout for the berserker rat. I was not going to get hit by its tail again. Although it was coming towards me, I had a couple of moments to prepare myself. For someone reason it decided to walk towards me at a moderate pace. Not too fast, not too slow. I guess it didn¡¯t think I would be able to run after what it did to me. Well it would be in for quite a surprise. Step after step the berserker rat got closer and closer to me. Placing both of my hands on the ground, I began manipulating my mana into the earth. Sensing that something was off, the berserker rat began to quicken its pace. But it was far too late, my mana was already in the ground. The berserker rat yelped in pain as several earthen spikes erupted from under it. Thanks to its speed, it managed to only get pierced by two of them. And one of them only grazed it. Still with that attack it now had eight hp left. One more attack and it would be dead. Although the berserker tried charging towards me, I cut it off with my earth spikes. If it wanted to get closer to me, it would have to take some damage. And if it took some more damage, then it would likely die. I kept on creating earthen spikes until the battle was finally at a standstill. If this was a normal giant rat, it would already be dead. However this berserker rat was more intelligent than normal. After dodging my attacks for some time, it managed to figure out just how far I could shoot them. By keeping this distance away from me I would be unable to attack it. I would even take some time to be impressed if I wasn¡¯t in the middle of a battle. Time passed by slowly as I maintained eye contact with the berserker rat. I needed it to attack me soon since my mana was depleting at a fast pace. I wouldn¡¯t be able to keep this standstill lasting for much longer. Suddenly as if it was giving up, the berserker rat turned around and started running the opposite direction. Huh, I must¡¯ve scared it off. I guess it was only naturally with how good I was on the battlefield. But where was it running off to? There was nothing in that direction except¡­.Viola! Shit! Sprinting after it as fast as I could, I began to charge up some wind arrows. I wasn¡¯t making explosive ones this time since they would take too long and time was of the essence. This berserker rat had me struggling to fight it and I didn¡¯t think Viola would stand a chance. Plus she was still fighting that other rat. Sure it was almost dead but the berserker would be there before she killed it. I did not want her to be killed. She was too valuable to lose. Sending Viola a quick mental message, I warned her of the oncoming attack. As I did this, I launched three wind arrows toward the berserker. They soared towards the berserker quickly and reached it in less than a few seconds. But before they would¡¯ve struck the berserker, it turned around and swiped them out of the air with its tail. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Although it took some damage deflecting the attack, it still wasn¡¯t enough to kill it. Tch, I was running as fast as I could but I still wouldn¡¯t make it. Seeing my spear on the ground, I picked it up and threw it towards the berserker. Normally it wouldn¡¯t have reached the berserker, but I used a wind gale to strengthen the throw. Would my spear make it in time? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With a ferocious bite to the neck, the giant rat was dead. It had taken her quite a while to kill it, but in the end Viola had won. Thanks to the spell her master gave her, the battle went by far more smoothly than it would¡¯ve gone without it. Once she removed her mouth from the giant rat¡¯s neck, she turned around only to see the berserker rat bounding towards her. Her master had warned her off the berserker, but she thought she would¡¯ve had more time to prepare. It seemed that that misconception would be her downfall¡­¡­ or so it seemed. With a determined look on her face, Viola faced the berserker rat and began gather mana. Once her mana was almost completely empty, she launched the strongest wind gale that she had ever used. The berserker rat, which was currently in mid jump, never stood a chance. Her wind gale threw it directly into her master¡¯s spear with a sickening squelch. A look of triumph filled her face as the life faded from its eyes. That would teach it to mess with her. As her master ran toward her with a worried look in his eyes, Viola couldn¡¯t help but be filled with love. She truly adored her master. Even though he could¡¯ve treated her like trash, he didn¡¯t. Based on some of her memories, her master might be a one of a kind. But who knew? Maybe she just didn¡¯t meet enough people. The moment her master was close enough, she jumped into the air and landed on his shoulders. Yes, this was where she belonged. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Whew, it seemed that Viola was okay. I also noticed that she was able to handle her own. At least that was what her wind gale told me. To be honest, I didn¡¯t think that last attack Viola did could¡¯ve gone any better. Thanks to it, berserker rat had landed splendidly on my spear and lost all of its remaining hp. The moment it died, I was notified of a level up. Nice, this battle had been hard, but it had been worth it in the end. Now my spear would be even stronger. As I allocated my skill points to intelligence, Viola flew up on my shoulders. Nudging her with my head, I glanced over my status until I was satisfied.
Status Window
NameColm Marythou
Age: 16Race: Human
Level: 7Gender: Male
TitlesThe Peerless Descender, Undead Prophet
Health: 120/160Mana: 60/170
Stamina: 90/160
~
Strength: 10[5]Agility: 13[3]
Vitality: 8[1]Dexterity: 9
Intelligence:25Wisdom:25
Luck:0
~
Skills
Mana Affinity, Air Magic, Earth Magic, Necromancy, Meditation, Enhanced Vision, Electric Shock, Concentration
Unallocated Points: 0
My level was not the only thing that had risen in this fight. My mana affinity skill was now level eight while my necromancy skill was now level five. I guess Viola killing things gave the skill a decent amount of experience. If I raised my necromancy skill up a few more levels, I would be able to learn the life force spell. But getting it up that high would take a bit of time so I put that thought to the side of my mind. After examining everything I walked over to the berserker corpse and retrieved my spear. As I was wiping the blood of my spear, I noticed that wisps of darkness were beginning to surround the edge of my spear. It would be hard to notice if you were looking from a distance, but since I was so close to it I noticed it instantly. I guess the darkness rune must¡¯ve activated since I finally met the requirements to use it. Taking a quick look at my status, I noticed that my intelligence increased by three. Yes, now I could use my spear to its fullest potential. Turning my head away from my spear, I began to look around for loot. Maybe I would have a higher chance of getting some since I was fighting stronger enemies. After a few minutes of searching, I finally found one item of loot.
Gauntlets of Fury Description: Crimson steel gauntlets that imbue the user with strength Effect: +10 Strength [The user has a small chance to succumb to rage] Durability: 40/40
I thought the name of the gauntlets was fitting seeing as how I received the loot from the berserker rat. The steel gauntlets I had in my hands had crimson colored flames etched onto the steel. Once I read the effect, I realized that this was the best equipment I had seen so far in the sewers. It might even be better than my spear. The gauntlets gave me a whopping plus ten strength which raised mine to twenty five. That was as high as my intelligence and wisdom! The only problem with it was that I had small chance to succumb to rage. Although it was small chance, it was still possible for it to happen. Thanks to my Peerless Descender title, my mind was more resistant to psychological effects. And I was pretty sure rage was in that category. Therefore I shouldn¡¯t have to worry about the rage¡­.Or so I hoped. As I put them on, I shivered with the cold metal touched my hand. Man, these gauntlets were freezing. Hopefully they would warm up now that they had something inside of them. As I moved my fingers around I glanced at the corpses that were strewn around the ground. Hmm, what should I do with them? Chapter 23: Leveling up Chapter 23: Leveling Up Rubbing my chin methodically, I looked at the rat corpses. What should I do with them? I couldn¡¯t resurrect them since I was at max capacity for creatures I could reanimate. In a level or so I might be able to do one. But until them it would be impossible. Saving them wasn¡¯t really an option since I would be getting more soon and these corpses would go to waste. That was something I did not want to happen. After thinking for a few minutes, I finally decided to just let Viola eat them. This way not only would the corpses be out of my way, but Viola had a small chance of gaining some of their characteristics. The more I fed her, the higher the chance was. Turning towards my barat, I mentally told her what I decided. With a fluid leap, she jumped from my shoulder and landed beside the corpses. After a few minutes of munching and slurping, the corpses were gone and Viola was full. No matter how many times I saw it, I would still be surprised with how much stuff my barat could fit inside her. Taking a seat on the ground, I made Viola stand watch as I meditated. This fight had taken quite a bit of mana from me and I wanted it all back before I ventured on. If I didn¡¯t have all my mana, I would probably end up regretting it. Fifteen minutes later and my mana bar was completely filled. Pushing myself off the ground, I continued down the sewers with Viola at my side. Over the next three hours I ended up killing a good bit of enemies and going down various pathways. Every time the path I was on branched, I went left. This way when I needed to head back, I would just keep on going right. I learned this little trick from a documentary I had seen when I was young. During this time, Viola had learned two new wind spells. One was wind blade while the other was wind arrow. These were the only wind spells I knew so that was all I could help her with. When I was training some of my other skills, she would be able to experiment and find other wind spells to use. Although I killed a lot of enemies, the only ones that I had seen were giant rats and berserkers. I was positive that there were more types of rats than these. I guess I just hadn¡¯t seen them yet. I only met berserker rats periodically, and when I met them they were always leading a pack of giant rats. I don¡¯t why they did this, but it made it all the more harder to kill them. It did help me get used to my spear though. Viola and I were now both level nine thanks to the rats. Even though the berserkers were hard to fight, they gave me a ton of experience. Without them, it would have taken me way longer to level up. Thanks to the amount of time we fought together, Viola¡¯s and I¡¯s teamwork couldn¡¯t help but improve. While she distracted the small fries, I would deal with the stronger ones. Whoever finished up first would then be able to help the other one. By utilizing this strategy the battles went by a little easier. Patting Viola on the head, I moved on to my status.
Status Window
NameColm Marythou
Age: 16Race: Human
Level: 9Gender: Male
TitlesThe Peerless Descender, Undead Prophet
Health: 160/180Mana: 190/190
Stamina: 140/180
~
Strength: 10[15]Agility: 23[3]
Vitality: 8[1]Dexterity: 9
Intelligence:25[3]Wisdom:25
Luck:0
~
Skills
Mana Affinity, Air Magic, Earth Magic, Necromancy, Meditation, Enhanced Vision, Electric Shock, Concentration
Unallocated Points: 0
Since I had leveled up twice, I had gotten ten points to allocate. I ended up putting them in agility so I could dodge the giant rats¡¯ attacks easier. Normally I would¡¯ve put them in wisdom, but I was tired of getting bitten every time I fought. Thanks to this boost, I could now dodge attacks from giant rats quite easily. The berserkers however were totally different. To be able to dodge their attacks I would have to use my concentration skill until I had increased my agility by a lot more. Another thing that I had learned in this time period was utilizing my spear to its fullest potential. Whenever I pierced an enemy with my spear, darkness would flow from the tip and irritate the wound I had just made. This would then cause my opponent to receive ongoing damage until the wound was fixed. And since my opponent was usually stuck battling me, they would have no time to fix their wound causing them to take damage as they tried to avoid my attacks. I also learned a new strategy that I could employ in battle by accident. I had been trying to make a wind blade on my spear so my mana was surrounding the outside of it. After I dodged a particularly quick attack, my concentration on the spell slipped, causing my mana to seep into the spear. The moment my mana my mana did this, a bolt of darkness shot out from the tip. Once I finished up my battle, I poured mana inside of my spear to see if I could replicate what had happened in battle. I could. Thanks to this accident, I could now launch dark bolts from my spear. This was really useful in battle since I didn¡¯t have to convert the mana into the darkness element. All I had to do was pour my mana in the spear, and a dark bolt would come flying out. It was that simple. My tupa supply was also running low. Whenever I fought a berserker rat, I was forced to use at least one. The reason for this was because they were just so powerful. I had tried fighting one without injuring it with a tupa and I had almost died. I was not going to try that again until I was way stronger. Due to the amount of rats I was killing, the amount of corpses I had kept on piling up. Viola dutifully ate them all even when it forced her stomach to bulge. Although she felt a little sick at the time, it had been worth it in the end. Thanks to the corpses she had eaten, Viola was now more muscular than she had been before. If I had to be honest, I would say that she used to be on the skinny side. Not anymore. She wasn¡¯t buff per se, but she was definitely ripped. Whenever she flexed I could see her muscles try to burst through her skin. She was also now a lot stronger because of it. Her claws could tear through flesh as easily as I could tear through paper. Once she flew in the air, she was virtually untouchable. It was quite amazing to say the least. Muscle wasn¡¯t the only thing she gained however. She was now able to go into some sort of berserk mode. When she went into it, a crimson haze would begin to surround her body. Her body would then begin to grow larger and larger until she was around half my size. Once she was finished growing, she would attack and try to kill anything that stood in her way. The only reason she didn¡¯t attack me while she was in this form was because of our necromancy connection. Thanks to this, she always knew that I wasn¡¯t an enemy. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. The only problem with this transformation was that she became less cautious and more reckless. Although she dealt more damage, she would also receive more wounds. If she fought a more intelligent enemy while she was in this mode, they would be able to use her rage to their advantage. Because of this, I told her to only use this mode when she absolutely had to. Seeing her use this mode made several opinions spring into mind. Since she had gotten this skill from the rats she had killed, I could only assume the berserker rats had this skill also. Although I had never seen them use it, I would still need to be careful. The berserker rats were already big and powerful and if they used this skill while fighting me, I would not be coming out of that battle unharmed. Thanks to all of the battles I had been fighting, my skills had naturally been improving. Because of all the air spells I had been using, my air magic had grown to level 7. And because I needed to restore all of the mana I had used from these spells, my meditation skill was now level 5. The more I explored the sewers, the darker it had become. And since I had been dodging enemy attacks in this darkness, my enhanced vision skill had grown to level 7 and I could now see fully in the dark. Because of this, it was harder for my enemies to sneak up on me. Last but no least my concentration skill was now level 5. I had been forced to rely on this skill when I was fighting the berserker rats which helped it gain experience. One thing I noticed was that casting spells became easier if I utilized the concentration skill. However if I used it too much, I would get a splitting headache and I would be unable to use the skill for a few minutes. But other than that, this skill was pretty helpful. After I reviewed all of my skills, I looked at all of the loot I had received.
Basic Health Potion Description: A vial of red liquid used to heal wounds. Effect: Recovers 40 hp.
Basic Mana Potion Description: A vial of blue liquid used to restore mana. Effect: Recovers 40 mana
Steel Dagger Description: A sharp dagger made of steel. Effect: +1 Dexterity Damage: 10-15 Durability: 40/40
Fur Cloak Description: A cloak made from the fur of some unknown animal. Effect: +2 Vitality Durability: 40/40
I had managed to gather two health potions and one mana potion from the corpses of the rats. This was good since I had eaten most of my red tupas and needed some way to restore my health quickly. The mana potion was useful if I was ever in a pinch and I didn¡¯t have enough mana left to cast any spells. These vials were packed in my belt alongside my tupas. I had also gotten a steel dagger and a fur cloak. Since my steel spear was way better than the dagger I had just received, I probably wouldn¡¯t be using it. I did however stuff it in my belt in case I needed it. If my spear was ever out of my reach and I needed a weapon, I could just reached into my belt and grab my dagger. It would do less damage, but it was better than being weaponless. My most favorite loot I received was the fur cloak. Not because of the stats, but because of how comfortable it felt. Since I had lost my jacket, I was forced to embrace the cold as I traveled through the sewers. But now I could put on this cloak and be absolutely fine. If I had to guess, I would say that the fur was from some type of wolf. It extended all the way to the back of my knees and it had a hood on the top. So whenever a chilling breeze swept through the sewers, I could just toss on the hood and I would be fine. Thankfully the cloak was a dull brown so it blended in with my surroundings. I don¡¯t know what I would¡¯ve done if the cloak was white since my enemies would be able to notice me quite easily because of it. One thing I really liked about the cloak I had on was the fur that was on the inside. It was amazing. When I fought the rats I would need to make sure they didn¡¯t bite my cloak since I wanted it to last as long as it could. After examining over everything, I began to head back the way I came. I was a little bit exhausted and I wanted to rest before I ventured out again. I was able to walk five minutes without interruption when I suddenly felt a chill down my spine. Turning around slowly, my eyes widened in horror as I looked at what was in front of me. A berserker rat. Shit, I wouldn¡¯t have enough time to hit it with a tupa before I fought it. But it should be fine since there was only one¡­..However I spoke to soon. One after another began to appear from the darkness. One¡­..Two¡­¡­Three¡­. How many of these fuckers were there? As I tried to slowly back away, I heard Viola hiss at something behind me, forcing me to stop. Turning around quickly, my face quickly paled in horror. There were more!? Not only that, they were blocking my way out. Scanning my surroundings, I looked for a way to escape anxiously. Sadly, there was no escape route in sight. Just walls and rats. Fuck. How the hell was I supposed to get out of this predicament? AN: Thanks for reading! Chapter 24: Despair Chapter 24: Despair Fuck My mind was working as fast as it could to get me out of this predicament. But no matter how hard I concentrated, a solution to this problem never appeared. The only option I had was to escape. There was no way in hell that I was going to kill all of these berserkers. One was a challenge by itself. If there were just two of them, I might be able to manage them. But no, there were more than six of them. If I didn¡¯t think of something soon, then I would be dying a painful and brutal death. That was something I was not looking forward too. But if I was going to die down here in these wretched sewers, I was going to make sure I took all of these motherfuckers with me. Or at least most of them. With a solemn look on my face, I turned towards Viola. She would be of no help here. The only way she could help me was by going into her berserker mode. And even if she did that, she would only stay alive a few more seconds than she normally would. No, I had a better use for her. Tapping into our mental connection, I began to speak. ¡°Viola, I need you to escape. Once you have, I need you to fly towards the bat base and ask for help. My survival depends on you.¡± If she did this, I would be killing two birds with one stone. Not only would Viola be safe, but she would be able to get reinforcements. ¡°What! How can I just leave you to face all the foes? You struggle with just one! The moment I leave will be the moment of your death. If we are going to die, let us die together. I¡¯ve already died once. I don¡¯t care if I add one more death to that count.¡± Shaking my head slowly, I responded to my barat. ¡°No, you will not die here. In a way this is my fault. I should¡¯ve been more cautious. What was I thinking going so deep into the enemy territory? But it¡¯s too late to regret my decision. I need you to live. All you have to do is trust me, I¡¯m pretty sure I can last long enough for reinforcements to come.¡± If Viola died, I wouldn¡¯t be able to forgive myself. I had grown fond of her over time. She had been the light in my darkness. Without her, I would have slowly driven myself insane. Fighting rats in pitch black darkness with no one to talk to would turn any man insane. Not only that, but I considered her my greatest creation. All of my other reanimations couldn¡¯t really be counted as great. But Viola, she was different. She had unlimited potential! All she had to do was keep on eating enemies and she would grow stronger. If I died, only she would be able to continue on my legacy. Viola tried arguing with me until I finally just yelled for her to go. With a sad look on her face , she jumped off my shoulder and bolted towards a gap in the giant rats. But before she could past them, one of the giant rats prepared to attack her before she could escape. However I wouldn¡¯t let that happen. Utilizing my concentration skill to the maximum, I dropped my spear and shoved both of my hands into my pockets. With a scream of rage I began tossing all of my tupas at the berserkers. I mainly focused on the ones close to Viola, but I still managed to aim some at the other berserkers. Once the tupas were in the air, I activated a wind gale from my hands. This way the berserkers wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge the fruits. They were just too fast and too close. As each fruit took its toll, I placed my foot under my spear and kicked it up towards my hand. Grasping it firmly I charged towards the berserkers that were poisoned. Thanks to the effects of the tupas, only these two could move. The other berserkers would be paralyzed, confused, and drowsy for a short period of time. I need to gather the attention of these two while the others were inconvenienced so Viola could safely escape. By directing mana to my feet and spear, I launched several earthen spikes in tandem with a dark bolt. The berserker that was on the left had its feet pierced while the other one managed to dodge the spikes. Thankfully my dark bolt managed to nip both of them however the damage was negligent. I would need to come up with a better strategy if I wanted to kill them. However that wasn¡¯t my goal. My goal was to escape! Twisting my body fluidly, I turned around and bolted in the opposite direction of Viola. This way when they chased me, Viola would get farther and farther away. This plan did have its downsides though. All of the berserker rats would be chasing me and I doubted I could elude them forever. But I could still try. As I approached the berserkers behind me, I noticed that one of them was attacking the other. Was it because of the confused tupa? Shrugging my shoulders, I cleared any distractions from my mind and focused on surviving. I would not die here. As I ran towards a random tunnel, a berserker stood in my way with a vicious look on its face. Launching a dark bolt at it face, I jumped in the air. Placing my left hand behind me, I gathered a good chunk of mana and launched it from my hand. With a ferocious roar, my wind gale threw me a good distance away from the berserkers. But since I used wind gale with one hand, my balance was off and I was scraped against a wall as I flew. Gritting my teeth in pain, I kept the wind gale going until I was at another branch of pathways. Tumbling to the ground in an explosion of dust, I pushed myself up with my spear. I took a brief glance at my arm to see its condition. Red blistered skin that was turning a curious shade of blue met my eyes. I also noticed that I ripped some of my fur cloak. Oh well, I would do what I had to in order to survive. I took a few seconds to decide on which pathway to go. Although both of these pathways led deeper inside the rat territory, there was nothing I could do about it. The pathway behind me was filled with berserkers and I definitely was nothing going back. Before I could think anymore, my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of pattering feet. Shit, the berserker rats were catching up. Turning towards my left I bolted down the tunnel. I needed to turn around somehow so I could get back to the bats. But unless I found a tunnel that headed in the opposite direction, there was nothing I could do. As I ran, I set several traps behind me in so I could slow some of the berserkers that were chasing me. These traps ranged from earthen swamps to small earthen spikes that would tear the feet of anyone that stepped on it. The more time that passed, the more ragged my breath became. I was really glad that I had decided to put points into agility. If I didn¡¯t then these berserker rats would have caught up by now. Ignoring the pain in my legs, I risked a brief glance behind me. If I had to guess, I would say that these berserkers had been chasing me for around fifteen minutes. I had lost a good chunk of them, but I ended up gaining more whenever I ran into a group of enemies. I also noticed that they seemed to be even angrier than they were before. The only reason I could think of was because I had slammed my knee into a rat that was in the way, instantly killing him. If he didn¡¯t want his neck snapped, then he shouldn¡¯t have been in my way. What met my eyes when I turned around were two berserkers and a couple giant rats. This was better than what it was before, but not by much. The reason for this was because there were still more enemies that were behind them. If I wanted any hope of escaping, I would need to pick off the fastest runners. But if I tried doing this, there was always a chance of the other rats catching up. I would need to make a decision about what I was doing quickly since my legs wouldn¡¯t be able to last much longer. My decision was made for me when I noticed several tunnels off in the distance. I would be able to hide in there in none of the enemies saw which one I entered. Glancing back and forth between the enemies and the way in front of me, I launched off several attacks. Wind arrows and electric bolts surged towards my enemies like twin dragons. The reason I was able to launch electricity was because my electric shock had leveled up when I had been running. And it had been a lifesaver. Whenever a bolt paralyzed an enemy, I was filled with hope. All I had to do was keep running. Downing my mana potion, I tossed my spear in front of me and slammed my hands into the ground. As I faced the rats, I launched a variety of earthen spikes and began to create an earthen wall at the same time. This was easier to do thanks to all the level my concentration skill had gained. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. As the giant rats tried to dodge my spikes, I quickly erected a wall that blocked their line of sight. I was able to make my earthen wall quickly because I focused on size rather than defense. A giant rat would be able to destroy it quite easily now. But by the time it did that, I would be gone in one of the many branching pathways. And no matter which tunnel they chose to go down, the odds of all of the rats that were chasing me to find me were quite slim. With a burst of speed I began to run towards the pathways with all my strength. As sweat poured down my face I glanced at the many pathways before me. Where should I go? I needed to make my decision pronto since my plan would only work if I disappeared without them knowing where I went. A few precious seconds went by with my indecision until I finally just ran down one at random. I could not afford to waste any more time. The moment I passed through the entryway, I sacrificed speed for stealth. Although I wanted to escape as quickly as I could, I couldn¡¯t afford to make a sound. If I did, everything I had just done would be for nothing. As I walked, I inwardly cringed whenever I kicked a rock. There were just so many things to avoid, and I was walking pretty fast. Hearing a series of squeaking off in the distance, I began to unconsciously hold my breath. Would they find me? My heart felt like it was going to burst through my chest. There were so many rats following me. Too many to count. If they found me, I was sure to die. There was no question about it. Worry spread throughout my body as I walked. But what I heard next sent my heart tumbling down all the way to my stomach. Shit. I could hear some feet pattering in the distance. Although it was still far off, it was getting closer. From the sound of it there were less rats following me than before. Most likely the rats had split up and went in each of the tunnels. Normally I would¡¯ve tried to ambush this rat, but I currently had little to no mana left. And even if I did ambush the rat that was coming, I would need to kill it before it alerted the others. If I didn¡¯t, then it would bring a whole pack of rats on me. Scanning my surroundings frantically, I looked for some place to hide. A frown etched itself on my face as the footsteps got closer and closer. There! Sliding into a narrow crevice, I painfully squeezed my way through the gap until I emerged into a clearing that was on the other side. As I gasped for air, I used the rest of my mana to cover up the crevice with earth. Once this was completed I rested my head on the newly patched earth. With my ear against the wall, I listened out for the rats that were following me. A few seconds later, I began to faintly hear the sound of sniffing. Could it smell me? The moment I asked myself this question, I was filled with dread. Didn¡¯t rats have an excellent sense of smell? Fuck, I didn¡¯t even think about that. But wait, would it be able to tell where I was? I did block up the gap I went through. A whole minute of excruciating silence went by as I waited for the rat to find me. I almost had a heart attack the moment a blue box appeared notifying me of the skill I gained. Due to all of the hiding I had been doing, I had gained the skill stealth. I utilized this skill for the next several minutes until I was sure I was safe. Hwaah Letting out a deep sigh I closed my eyes and rested against the wall. Whew, that little chase had taken a lot out of me. What was I going to do now? I needed to get back to the bats without being seen. My new stealth skill would help me, but I didn¡¯t know by how much. Opening my eyes slowly I looked around to see where I was. Only to meet face to face with a new species of rat.
Formidable Giant Rat - Lv.14 Hp: 90/90
Fuck! Could I never have it easy? The enemy that was in front of me was a new species of rat that I had never seen before. Even though I had trouble fighting the berserkers, the enemy that was in front of me was even stronger. Similar to the berserker, the rat in front of me had an immense size. It was even bigger than the berserker! It was also a higher level than me too. Five levels higher to be exact. Before I could examine the formidable giant rat any further, a spray of scarlet blocked my vision. Huh? What the hell was blocking my line of sight? Confused I glanced down only to see a gaping cut appear in the middle of my chest. What? My head began to fill dizzy as I pawed at the wound. So much blood was coming out. If any more came out, my body would be virtually empty. Surprisingly I couldn¡¯t feel any pain. Huh, that was odd. I was pretty sure I should be feeling pain right now. I let my spear drop to the floor as I tried to stop the blood flowing from my wound. But the moment I dropped my spear, a large tail slammed into my face sending my crashing across the ground. Oh, there was the pain. FUUUUUCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!! More blood gushed out of my body as I slammed into a nearby wall. Fuck, I could feel pain right now. It hurt so much that I couldn¡¯t even see anymore. Only black dots filled my vision. As I collapsed to the ground, I heard the formidable rat come charging toward me. Shit, what could I do? I didn¡¯t have any mana left and my spear was on the other side of the cave. Trying to grab it wasn¡¯t an option because I couldn¡¯t even see. What should I do? My question was answered as my body was tossed into the air and slammed back down again. GAH! Several of my ribs had broken from the attack that I had just received. Shit, I couldn¡¯t do a single thing. I could hardly move any more. The pain was unbearable. Wheezing on the ground, I tried to force air through my lungs. But before I could get a breath of air, I was distracted by a large crack. No¡­.. I stared down in horror as my leg was broken by the formidable rat. My leg shouldn¡¯t be facing that direction¡­..The next few minutes passed by in a blur as I was tortured by this damnable rat. The only reason I was still alive was thanks to my Greater Red tupas and my health potion. But as I was battered around, I began to wonder if death was better than this hell I was living. Why the hell couldn¡¯t it just kill me? But the moment I felt I couldn¡¯t take anymore, the rat stopped. Could it sense that I was close to deaths door? I stared at the rat in unconcealed fury as my blood began to pool around me. I can¡¯t believe I was about to die here. Stretching my left arm, I dug my fingers in the ground and began to crawl towards the rat. Or at least that was what I would¡¯ve done if I still had my left hand¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­¡­..God Damnit¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­. I guess this was the end. I couldn¡¯t even feel the pain in my body anymore. All that was left was a sweet numbness. I turned my head to look at the rat that had done this to me. My brown eyes met his grey ones. I hoped it could tell that I hated it from the bottom of my heart. That wretched piece of shit. If I got out of this alive, I would kill every fucking rat I saw. Thoughts like these circulated my head as my vision began to fail. As I began to feel dizzier and dizzier, the rat began to move. ¡­Wait, was it drooling? Forcing myself to stay awake, I watched in fear as the rat approached me. Was I about to be eaten alive? Tears began pouring down my cheeks as I tried to escape. I was not going to be eaten alive. I couldn¡¯t be. I had too much of my life ahead of me. But alas I couldn¡¯t move. As a gaping maw began to envelope my vision, a fiery rage began to fill my heart. I would get revenge¡­no matter what. This life or the next. As the mouth began to close around my head I closed my eyes. Visions of my friends, my family, my barat, and other things began to flash before my eyes. Was this the whole see your life flash before your eyes thing? Oh well, none of it mattered. Hopefully my loved ones survived. It was a shame, I hoped to see them again. As the teeth of the rat touched my neck, I regretted my weakness. If only I had been stronger. I guess this was the end. Chapter 25: The Mysterious Man Chapter 25: The Mysterious Man I clenched my eyes shut as I waited for the inevitable end of my life. A few uncomfortable seconds passed before I opened my eyes once more. What the hell was taking so long? The rat that was about to eat me was currently shaking its head side to side frantically. The hell? After a few more seconds of frantic shaking, it finally stopped. As it turned toward me I noticed something odd about it. Were its eyes always red? That was the last thought on my mind before I blacked out. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Opening my eyes slowly, I looked around curiously. What was I just doing? As I looked around in a dazed manner, my parents stared at me in confusion. Oh, it seemed that I dozed while we were eating. Man, I must¡¯ve stayed up late last night for that to happen. After telling my parents I was fine I looked down and began to eat my spaghetti. For some reason it tasted really good today. I must¡¯ve been craving it or something. As I ate my spaghetti I engaged in small talk with my parents. I wasn¡¯t really interested in the conversation but if I didn¡¯t say anything I would probably get in trouble. The next few minutes passed by in a light hearted mood until dinner was finished. As I took the trash to my garbage can outside, I glanced at the beautiful blue sky. Hmmm. Something seemed off. I didn¡¯t know what, but I felt as if something was wrong. What was it? Tossing the trash bag in the garbage, I walked up towards my mailbox at the top of my driveway. I might as well look to see if we have mail as I pondered on what was wrong. Did mom tell me to do something and I forgot? No, I didn¡¯t think that was it. For some reason everything around me seemed¡­¡­fake. As if this wasn¡¯t reality. My face crunched in confusion as I reached my mailbox. But before I could think on it any further, my phone vibrated in my pocket, bringing me out of my musings. I pulled it out to answer it but it somehow slipped and fell in the nearby sewer. Wait, didn¡¯t this happen before? My phone seemed to fall down in slow motion as my memories began to come back. Yes, it did! I got trapped in a damn sewer. Once I realized this, the space around me began to distort. I stumbled in shock as the ground beneath gave way. What the hell? Without anything to stand on, I was forced to fall deeper and deeper into the dark abyss. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sitting up in shock, I looked around frantically. Where the hell was I? Sweat poured down my face as I examined my surroundings. Since I was in some sort of cave, I assumed that I was still in the sewers. But how was I still alive. Although my whole body was filled with pain, I was still alive. The only thing I could remember before I blacked out was the rat. It looked as though it was going to eat me but for someone reason it didn¡¯t. Maybe the change in eye color had something to do with it. I was about to think on the situation even more but I was interrupted by a voice. ¡°So you¡¯re finally awake.¡± The hell? My head turned backwards so fast that I almost snapped my neck. Gritting my teeth in pain, I glanced at the owner of the voice. The person who was speaking to me seemed to be a male that was in his thirties or forties. His well brushed hair was tainted with small lines of white that blended in quite well with his grey hair. As he rubbed his thick beard, I noticed freshly trimmed nails on his smooth skin. But don¡¯t let his smooth skin fool you. From what I could see of his skin, I could tell that his body possessed a lot of strength. Maybe it was because of his muscles, maybe it was because of the way he presented himself, maybe it was a little of both. Either way, I did not want to get on his bad side. Not if I wanted to live. After he finished looking at his nails, the mysterious man turned his crimson eyes toward me. The moment I made eye contact with him, I felt as though his eyes were peering directly into my soul. It was like he was the predator and I was the prey. And no matter what I tried to do, I would be unable to flee. The feeling was quite unnerving to say the least. I quickly move my eyes downwards to his pale face so I didn¡¯t have to look into his eyes anymore. If I had to guess, I would say his visage was a mixture between pale and healthy. Not pale enough to need help, but not healthy enough to be completely fine. Now that I thought about it, the reason for his paleness might be because of the sewers. Maybe he got trapped like me except he had to stay down here for way longer. Or maybe it was something completely different. Once I was done examining his face, I turned my eyes toward his chest. On his body he wore a suit of armor that seemed to be made of steel. Judging from the various dents and scratches, I could tell that this armor had seen many battles. In the middle of his armor was some type of symbol that I had never seen before. Maybe he was in a group or a faction that used to fight or something. There was also a ring on his hand that was made out of various precious jewels. If he sold even a piece of it, he would be set for life. That was how expensive the ring on his hand was. It was probably even more precious to him since he hadn¡¯t sold it. Once I was done looking at him, I responded to his question. I made sure my tone was polite because I was pretty sure this mysterious man had save my life. It was always good to be kind to your benefactor. And even if he didn¡¯t save me, he could probably kill me in my current condition if he felt like it. ¡°Yah, I guess I am. Where am I by the way?¡± I already knew I was in a cave, but I wanted to know where. I assumed that I was still in the sewers but I might actually be somewhere else. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°You¡¯re in a small cave that is located in a sewer infested with giant rats, bats, lizardmen, and many more strange creatures. You¡¯re lucky to be alive actually. When I found you, you were close to death.¡± Oh, I didn¡¯t know there were lizardmen in here too. And it also seemed like my guess was correct about still being in the sewers. After all, I couldn¡¯t leave until the final boss of the dungeon was defeated. Or at least that was what the blue boxes told me when I had tried to leave the first time. But maybe the final boss was already dead and I could¡¯ve just left when I wanted. The moment I thought this I shook my head. I was pretty sure I would¡¯ve received a notification or something if the final boss was killed. It also turned out that my benefactor who had save my life was the man standing in front of me. I wasn¡¯t that surprised because if he wasn¡¯t the one who saved me, then why would he be here? ¡°Oh, so you¡¯re the one who saved me. You have my thanks.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡± ¡°May I ask why?¡± There had to be a reason for him to save me. The odds of him doing it out of the goodness of his heart were slim to none. Hell, I might not even save someone if there wasn¡¯t something in it for me. I¡¯m not about to risk my life for someone I didn¡¯t even know. But it all depends on the situation. If someone really needed my help, I would help them if I could. It all depended on how I was currently feeling. Not only that, but I was pretty suspicious of him already. From the way he held himself and the dents and scratches in his armor, I could tell that he had been a soldier. But not one of this world. No one used steel armor in this day and age unless they were cosplaying. And I was pretty sure he wasn¡¯t doing the latter. I was also pretty wary of him since I didn¡¯t have any weapons of me. If he decided to attack me, I would probably lose. If I didn¡¯t have these wounds, then it would be a different story. I also needed to remember that he save me from being eaten alive. There was no point in saving me if he was just going to kill me later. That would just be a waste of energy. I also decided to hear him out since he did save my life. And I needed to show my appreciations somehow. ¡°What do you mean why? Can¡¯t I save a fellow man out of the goodness of my heart?¡± The moment he uttered those words, my face grew ugly. Did he take me for a fool? Don¡¯t get me wrong, I was thankful that he saved me. But there was a reason for he did, and I wanted to know why. ¡°Let¡¯s cut the bullshit. There¡¯s a reason that you saved me. You know it and I know it. The question is¡­.what you think I can do for you that someone else can¡¯t.¡± Since the conversation didn¡¯t look like it was going to go anywhere for the next few minutes, I just cut to the source of things. There had to be a reason he saved me, specifically me. I was pretty sure that he could find someone else if he tried. Although he was probably stuck in the sewers like me, so maybe I was his only choice. And maybe I was wrong and he just saved me out of the goodness of my heart. That could be it, but I doubted it. There was just no way. The moment I finished speaking, all of the fake happiness vanished from the man¡¯s face. I guess he realized that he wouldn¡¯t need his little pretense anymore. Instead his face took on a serious, more somber appearance. ¡°Huh, I guess you¡¯re smarter than you look.¡± A vein began to bulge from my forehead as the man continued speaking. ¡°You¡¯re right. I did save you for a reason.¡± Before he continued, he allowed a small space of silence to occur before he spoke again¡­¡­What the hell was the point of doing that? Was he trying for a dramatic effect or something? Shaking my head, I leaned in closer to see what he would say next. ¡°It¡¯s because you¡¯re human.¡± Wait, he saved me because I was human? Because I was his fellow man? No, that didn¡¯t seem to be the case. The way he said human made me thinking that he didn¡¯t consider himself one. Normally I would check his status to see what he was, but it was mysteriously absent. Therefore I just had to toss out random guesses until I figured out the answer. ¡°Oh. So you saved me because I was one of your fellow species?¡± Hopefully this was the case. I was hoping he wasn¡¯t some sort of monster that could mimic a human appearance. If he was¡­then I would have a problem. ¡°No, I saved you because you would be useful. I have need of someone who is still alive. After all, there are some places where my kind can just not enter. But you, you could. Yes, with you everything could be solved.¡± A sickening grin appeared on the man¡¯s face as he looked at me with longing. What had I got myself into? Chapter 26: An Enlightening Conversation Chapter 26: An Enlightening Conversation My face looked as if it was sculpted from stone as I stared at the man in front of me. It seemed that my guess was correct. This mysterious fellow was not entirely human. Or he might not have been human at all. I was a little bit annoyed that he only saved me because I would be useful to him. Although I had figured out the reason as to why I was still alive, I wasn¡¯t that pleased with the answer. I was expecting something more along the lines of I noticed your strength and thought it would be a waste to have you die here or something. But I guess not. He also said that he had need of someone who was still alive. The fact the he knew I was alive seemed odd to me. According to my title, I should have an undead aura around me, masking who I truly was. But the person in front of me had seen through it instantly. Was the aura not as effective as I thought it was, or was the person in front of me just that powerful? As I was thinking this, another question arose from my mind. What was the person in front of me? He could be an undead, a mimic, or even some type of monster. The possibilities were endless. I was hoping that he was some type of undead since he would more than likely show me a little more favoritism than he normally would. Or maybe he would kill me because I wasn¡¯t actually an undead. Either way, I still wanted to know what he was. ¡°Uh, so what is it that you want me to do? Also what exactly are you and your kind?¡± Although I was hearing him out, that didn¡¯t mean that I was just going to do what he said. He might have saved me, but that didn¡¯t mean that I would follow his every order. I didn¡¯t even know the man! ¡°I actually only need you for one thing. There is a specific item that I would like you to retrieve from a castle that is above the sewers. The only problem is that everyone in this dungeon is stuck here because of the final boss. As long as the final boss is alive, no one will be leaving this place.¡± Huh. So it seemed he needed me to retrieve an object of some sort. I didn¡¯t really know why he couldn¡¯t just do it himself since he seemed capable of doing much more than retrieving some measly item. I wouldn¡¯t even be able to do what he wanted me to do since he was trapped in the sewers same as me. One thing that intrigued me was that everyone inside the sewers was stuck also. I had assumed that I was the only one. I guess I was wrong. I was also left a little confused by this so I asked the man the question that was on my mind. ¡°If everyone in this sewer is stuck here, then why haven¡¯t they all joined together to kill the final boss to escape? I don¡¯t know how strong the final boss is, but I would¡¯ve assumed that would be the first thing everyone would try to do once they realized that they were trapped down here.¡± It was the only logical thing to do after all. ¡°If only it was that simple. For one thing, most of the creatures here don¡¯t speak the same language. Even if they did, they survive by feeding off of each other so an alliance would be highly unlikely. As for the final boss, no one even knows where it is or what it looks like. All we know is that it has to be powerful since it¡¯s the one that¡¯s trapping us here.¡± Oh, that made sense. You couldn¡¯t really work well with somebody if you couldn¡¯t understand them. I had assumed that they could just understand each other, but I was wrong. Hell, the only reason I could understand the bats was thanks to my necromancy and undead prophet skill. The tidbits about the final boss were disheartening to say the least. No one had even seen the final boss yet. How big was this sewer? At first I thought it was just a bigger than average sewer, but now I¡¯m starting to think that it might be a world of its own. A size that my mind couldn¡¯t even fathom. ¡°How come no one has found it yet? I mean I know it has only been a couple of days but still. No one has seen it? Not a single person?¡± It was hard to believe that not even a single person had seen it. If that was true, then I could kiss my dreams about escaping quickly goodbye. I might end up being down here for god knows how long. Even if I somehow miraculously found the boss, I would still need to be strong enough to defeat it. And doing all that would take time. Time that I would have to sacrifice. My parents just had to get by somehow as I struggled to get through this dungeon. ¡°The reason no one has found the final boss is because hardly anyone is looking for it. Instead everyone is too busy fighting each other and trying to establish dominance on all of the other creatures. It¡¯s ridiculous if you ask me.¡± As he talked the man threw up his hands in frustration. I guess he didn¡¯t want to be down here as much as me. Maybe even more. ¡°What about you? Have you tried looking for the final boss?¡± The moment I said this, the man looked at me as if I was idiot. Hey, I was just asking. ¡°Yes, it was the first thing I did once I realized I was trapped in here. Although my search never managed to get far because of these inferior creatures. Normally I would be able to kill them easily, but their bosses make things more difficult. I would be able to kill them all if I could just fight one species of monsters and their boss at a time. However the moment I defeat those set of monsters, another type of species will come to attack me. And then another. Soon I won¡¯t be able to do anything but be boggled down by their numbers. It¡¯s utterly ridiculous.¡± Man, this guy had it tough. Although he wanted to escape and find the final boss, the monsters around him wouldn¡¯t let him. One thing that shocked me was how nonchalantly he talked about killing the bosses. I couldn¡¯t even see the bat boss¡¯s level so I couldn¡¯t even imagine how strong the person in front of me was. As I thought about what the man told me, a look of confusion spread across my face. Something didn¡¯t seem right. When I had been exploring, I had been attacked by monsters, but they didn¡¯t intentionally seek me out. If anything I was the one who was seeking them out. But according to the man in front of me, every time he tried exploring he was attacked. Did these monsters have a grudge against him or something? ¡°How come the monsters attack you when you try to look for the final boss? I mean I have monsters chasing me, but not like you. Even the bosses themselves come looking for you.¡± I could hardly fathom the bat boss looking for me to fight. I would be killed immediately and instantly. I probably wouldn¡¯t even be able to damage it. ¡°You won¡¯t believe why. Its cause of some stupid agreement that all of the bosses had made. No creature who is a boss may hunt creatures that are several times weaker than it. This is so they don¡¯t lose most of their species toward one boss. The thing that irritates me is that even though I¡¯m a boss, I don¡¯t have any subordinates. Like what the hell. I mean my power helps me with it, but it still bugs me. And so what if I killed a few of the weaker monsters. It¡¯s not like they were worth something anyway.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Whew, that was a relief. It seemed that I didn¡¯t have to worry about monster bosses roaming the halls and looking for weak prey. Their agreement made sense because monsters didn¡¯t grow on trees. If they kept on losing a lot of them, there wouldn¡¯t be any to take their place. This was probably why the bat boss didn¡¯t participate in the battle between the giant rats and the bats. Everything was starting to make sense now. It also turned out that the man in front of me was a boss. The only problem was that he didn¡¯t have any subordinates. I made a mental note not to talk about his lack of subordinates since it seemed to be a touchy subject for him. He also mentioned that his power helps him somehow which made me quite curious. Thinking about this made me wonder what type of creature he was. I don¡¯t think he ever responded my question about it either. ¡°May I ask what kind of power you¡¯re talking about?¡± A few seconds went by as the man stared at me with piercing eyes. It seemed as if he was mentally debating on whether to explain to me or not. I met his stare with a blank one of my own. He was either going to tell me or he wasn¡¯t. Either way there was nothing I could do about it. After a few more seconds of silence, the man spoke. ¡°Hmph. I guess I can tell you since I saved you with this same power after all. In case you didn¡¯t know I¡¯m a vampire. And being a vampire gives me certain perks. One such perks is the ability to control animals such as rats, bats, or wolves. This is what allowed me to save you. By taking control of the rat that was attacking you I was able to stop it from eating you.¡± ¡­..Oh¡­¡­ So the man in front of me was a vampire! I knew he had to be something like that since he said he needed someone alive and not a lot of things fit the being not alive slot. I was a little bit irritated about how he casually said he was a vampire. If I wasn¡¯t an undead prophet, I would be shocked out of my mind. I had brought corpses back to life so learning about a vampire wasn¡¯t all that surprising. Thanks to the man¡¯s generosity, I learned some important information about the race of vampires. Similar to the stories I had heard, vampires could control animals such as rats, bats, or wolves. Two of the creatures on this list were in the sewers right now. I could already see how useful this skill would be down here. This skill was also the one that saved my life. If the vampire hadn¡¯t taken control of the rat, I would¡¯ve been eaten. That was not a pleasant sight to visualize. One thing that was bugging me was why didn¡¯t the vampire just control all of the rats and bats? Even if he couldn¡¯t control them for long, he could always make them attack each other and watch from the back. This way they would be too busy fighting to care about him and he would be able to look for the final boss. Or if he was feeling good, he could kill them all in one fell swoop. At least that¡¯s what I would¡¯ve done. ¡°If you can control bats and rats, then why aren¡¯t you controlling the ones in the sewer? If you do that, most of your problems will be solved.¡± There had to be a reason he hadn¡¯t done what I had just suggested. Vampires were able to live for centuries, and wisdom came with age. I highly doubted that something this obvious would just go right past his mind. ¡°If only it was that easy. Since I trained in my other vampire skills, my skill for controlling animals is quite low. Not only that, but the bosses of these animals make it harder to control their animals. If it were anywhere else, I would be able to easily control them. But since it is down here, the process is quite hard. But even though its challenging, it¡¯s still possible. If I concentrate I can control a good bit of them, but only for a limited period of time.¡± Based on what the vampire was telling me, controlling these types of animals wasn¡¯t even that hard. The only reason it was challenging this time around was because of the boss. If the vampire managed to defeat the boss, I would assume that the creatures under it would be forced to obey him. Hmm. That was something to keep note of in the future. I also learned that this was most likely the weakest skill the vampire had. Even though he said his skill level was low, it seemed pretty powerful to me. The most rats I had fought at once were around five, not counting the battle where I had been forced to run away. If I was able to control even half of them, the battle would be a piece of cake. I could force them to fight each other and then kill any that survived. Hwaah. If only I had that skill. ¡°So what¡¯s the plan? I know you want me to do something for you, but that won¡¯t be possible until the final boss is defeated. And that will be pretty hard to do until the whole situation about the bosses trying to kill you dies over. ¡± I planned on working with this vampire¡­.for the time being. The moment situations turned grim, I would leave. I was pretty sure he wouldn¡¯t be able to kill me if I just hid in the bat base since the bat boss was so near. I could just hang out with the undead general until the vampire finally gave up on me. And even then I would just have to get stronger until I was able to fight the vampire on equal terms. But none of this would happen as long as things went smoothly so I wouldn¡¯t need to worry about it until later. ¡°I have a couple of ideas. The first thing on the list is to make you stronger. The task that I want you to do requires you to be stronger and to have certain skills. I will help you with this since you are doing the task for me. The second thing is to deal with the bosses in the sewers. We have a couple of options. The first is to kill all of them, which will prove to be quite challenging. The second is to make an alliance with them, which might be just as hard as the previous. The third is to do a mixture of both. Kill the ones we hate and keep the ones we like. If we make them our allies, they will be able to help us when we fight the boss.¡± Nice. One of his ideas was quite beneficial to me so I couldn¡¯t really complain. Becoming stronger was exactly what I wanted to begin with so it was a win-win situation. And since he was a vampire who had lived for hundreds of years, or so I assumed, there were tons of things that I could learn from him. Maybe meeting this vampire was a stroke of luck. The next thing he suggested deal with the final boss. Before we could deal with it however, we had to deal with the various bosses that were in the sewers. We could either annihilate them or we could persuade them to fight with us. Either way had its own problems. If we annihilated them, we wouldn¡¯t have to worry about them attacking or backstabbing us. But if we killed all of them, we would be fighting the final boss by ourselves. If we persuaded them to fight with us, we would receive their help when we tried fighting the final boss. The only problem with this was that there was still a small chance of betrayal. Hmm. This would be a hard decision. If I chose the wrong one, then I might never escape this sewer. But what chose was right? Were these the only choices I had? Time passed by slowly as I racked my brain for answers. What was the right move to take? Chapter 27: Resting Chapter 27: Resting After thinking for a few minutes, I finally came up with a decision. I would try an alliance at first and if that didn¡¯t work, then I would kill them. I would at least give them a chance. But if they resisted, I wouldn¡¯t spare a single one. I wasn¡¯t that worried about killing them all since I could just bring them back with necromancy. And if I did that, my level would surely rise quickly. Not only would my zombies be loyal to me, but I would be able to use them against the boss. It was a win-win situation. The rats were a different case however. There was going to be no alliance with them. I was going to slaughter them all and I was going to enjoy it. Now I wasn¡¯t a bloodthirsty person, but I hated rats with a passion. I had almost died to one of them after all. I don¡¯t think I would ever forget the sense of helplessness I had then. I never wanted to feel that way again. So I needed to become stronger. I needed to become the strongest on this planet. After I told the vampire my decision we talked for the next ten minutes before I fell asleep. Although the vampire had healed my life threatening wounds, he told me that only time would heal my other ones. The next few days passed by in a blur of darkness, dreams, and nightmares. I would occasionally wake up in cold sweat thanks to the formidable rat invading my dreams. Whenever I closed my eyes I would see it. The glistening fangs, my blood seeping out of my body, the helplessness I felt. As I struggled to sleep, the vampire occasionally brought me food. The food ranged from some type of stew to a mysterious type of meat. I was hungry so I just ate without asking questions. As he fed me I couldn¡¯t help but grow closer to him. Even though he only did this because he needed me alive, I was still touched. Viola was also by my side too. I don¡¯t when she got here, but I was glad she was okay. I don¡¯t think my heart could¡¯ve taken it if she died. She was my greatest creation after all. As I wandered around in my mind, I briefly noted that it had probably been a week since I got here. This meant that it would be harder to level up since I would no longer have double experience from my enemies. I would need to try harder if I wanted to escape this dungeon. Finally, after several days of resting, I was feeling better. My body was still sore, but it was manageable. The places that were the hardest to move was the leg that got broken and the area around my left wrist. I had no idea how Simon, which was the vampire¡¯s name, had fixed these two injuries, but I was glad nonetheless. But even though he had healed the injuries, his healing wasn¡¯t perfect. I now possessed a scar on both my left wrist and in the middle of my chest. The reason I had a scar on my hand was because the rat had managed to bit it off. Thankfully he didn¡¯t eat it so Simon could reconnect it. But since the injury was so damaging, he could only heal it enough to leave a scar. The scar on my chest was just too big to heal all at once. To be honest I didn¡¯t know how I felt about these new scars. It wasn¡¯t even because of how they looked. Every time I saw one of them I was reminded of my weakness and what the rat had done to me. Anger surged throughout my body as I thought of how close I was to dying. How close I was to being eaten. Shaking my head I focused on my goal of becoming stronger. The first thing I was going to do after I achieved my goal was kill that formidable rat. He was not going to get away scot free after what he had done to me. If it wasn¡¯t for Simon I would be dead, inside some random rat¡¯s stomach. When I met this wretched rat, I wouldn¡¯t just kill him. No, he would suffer. Everything that I was forced to endure, he would receive. If I didn¡¯t do this, I wouldn¡¯t be able to live with myself. Once I was finished examining my scarred body, I looked at my skills. Several of them had leveled up when I had been running for my life. I had also gained new ones thanks to how strenuous the chase had been. This was what my magic skills looked like.
Air Magic
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 7Exp: 25%
Effect: Allows the user to manipulate the air around them.
Earth Magic
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 9Exp: 5%
Effect: Allows the user to mold the earth into a variety of constructs.
Electric Shock
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 5Exp: 35%
Effect: Allows the user to launch an electrical attack that has a chance of paralysis.
Mana Affinity Skill
Skill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: Unique
Skill Level: 8Exp: 83%
Effects: Any skill using mana cost 8% less. You are more sensitive to the mana. This enables you to know when someone is about to cast a spell due to the amount of mana being gathered. Anything mana related comes easier to you.
My air magic was now level seven thanks to all of the wind arrows I had launched. Since they were hard to see, it was quite helpful in stopping the rats from catching up to me. My earth magic was still my highest level magic skill at level nine. The reason it was so high was thanks to all of the earth magic traps I had set when I was running. Although my electric shock was only level five, it was high enough. Thanks to the new level I was able to launch electrical bolts through the air. No longer did I have to touch my enemies to electrocute them. One thing I noticed however was that my attack was more powerful if I touched the enemies directly. I guess launching the attack through the air made it lose some of its power. Thanks to my use of these magic skills, my mana affinity skill was almost level nine. Because of all the electrified wind arrows I made, my mana affinity experience bar couldn¡¯t do anything but go up. This is what my other skills looked like.
Necromancy
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Rare
Skill Level: 5Exp: 20%
Effect: Allows the user to reanimate dead corpses. The stronger the skill, the stronger the corpse. Certain rituals will change the corpse¡¯s characteristics.
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Meditation
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 5Exp: 50%
Effects: By sitting down and gathering mana, mana regeneration is increased. The higher the level, the more mana that is regenerated. Small amounts of stamina will now be restored.
Enhanced Vision
Skill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 7Exp: 70%
Effects: This skill allows you to see farther and better. You are now able to see well at night.
Concentration
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 6Exp: 40%
Effects: This skill allows you to perceive more information at a quicker pace when you are focusing on something.
My necromancy and my meditation skill were still level five. Since I never had the opportunity to use them, their level stayed the same. I would have the opportunity to use them in the future, so I wasn¡¯t that worried. My enhanced vision managed to get a good amount of experience thanks to how much I was using my eyes during the chase. My eyes were always scanning my surroundings, looking for a gap to squeeze in. If I hadn¡¯t been able to see well in the sewers, I probably would¡¯ve stumbled on something and got myself killed. But since I could, I managed to escape from most of the rats. The skill that leveled up the most however was concentration. Even though I got a throbbing headache, I was forced to utilize this skill to escape. Without this skill, I would have never been able to launch so many spells and flee at the same time. Diverting your concentration to two different things was extremely challenging. But thanks to my skill, it was manageable. I also notice that when I concentrated I understood more information at a quicker pace. If I got chased by the rats again, I was positive that I would find a way to lose them faster than I did before. Normally these would be the last of my skills, but I managed to gain some new ones when was fleeing. They were stealth and pain resistance.
Stealth
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Common
Skill Level: 1Exp: 80%
Effect: Allows the user to avoid detection.
Pain Resistance
Skill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: Rare
Skill Level: 5Exp: 57%
Effect: Allows the user to withstand more pain than they normally would.
I had gained stealth by hiding from the multitude of rats that were chasing me. I was only able to utilize this skill for a short amount of time before I was forced to deal with the formidable rat. The final skill I had was pain resistance. I had got this skill when I was forced to go through utter hell with the formidable rat. I went through so much pain that my level in pan resistance grew all the way to level five. Even though I hated the torture I had to go through, I was thankful for the skill. Once all of my skills were looked at, I glanced at my status.
Status Window
NameColm Marythou
Age: 16Race: Human
Level: 10Gender: Male
TitlesThe Peerless Descender, Undead Prophet
Health: 190/190Mana: 200/200
Stamina: 190/190
~
Strength: 10[15]Agility: 23[3]
Vitality: 8[1]Dexterity: 9
Intelligence:25Wisdom:25
Luck:0
~
Skills
Mana Affinity, Air Magic, Earth Magic, Necromancy, Meditation, Enhanced Vision, Electric Shock, Concentration, Stealth, Pain Resistance
Unallocated Points: 5
I was now level ten thanks to all of the rats I had killed with my spells and earthen traps. My vitality sadly went down to nine because of my fur cloaks destruction. It was a shame, I really liked that cloak. Now that I had gained a level, I had five points that I could allocate. The question was where. As I was resting, I had been thinking about a lot things. Where to put my points was one of the things I had thought about. Agility and intelligence would be my two main stats that I would put points in from now on. Although vitality would give me more health, putting points into agility would help me get hit less often. Dexterity would only be useful if I used a bow or a similar weapon. But since I used a spear, dexterity would not be used to its fullest capabilities. As for luck¡­.I was just not putting points into it. A higher chance of criticals and loot would be nice, but as of right now, it seemed like a waste of points. Wisdom raised my mana regeneration by a small amount and was really useful for magicians. But thanks to my meditation skill, it wasn¡¯t really necessary. Now if I put a huge chunk of points into wisdom, then it would be a different story. But since I didn¡¯t have that many points to spare, wisdom would have to be put on hold. Strength would allow me to kill my enemies quicker, but it was more useful for melee oriented people. Although I used a spear in battle, I was more proficient in using magic. These were the reasons I decided to choose Intelligence and Agility to focus in. Intelligence would raise my magic powers while agility would make me faster in battle. Most of my skills needed magic, so putting points into intelligence was a must. And the more points I put into intelligence, the bigger my mana pool would become. Agility was necessary for when my enemies got closer. I could cast spells while easily avoiding attacks from my enemies. This was the way I wanted to go. I placed my five points into intelligence which brought it up to thirty points. The moment I did this, my mana increased by ten points. Now I would be able to cast more spells. After I checked everything, I sat up and turned to Viola. It was time to see why the bats never came to my rescue. Chapter 28: Violas Story Chapter 28: Viola¡¯s Story This thought had been bugging me more than I would like to admit. Why hadn¡¯t the bats came to my rescue? I had been pretty deep in rat territory, but Viola still found me. And she was alone. This meant that either all the bats that were traveling with her died, or that no bats traveled with her to begin with. Either way, neither of the two options seemed pleasant. ¡°It¡¯s nice to see you again Viola.¡± The moment I said this, Viola leaped on top of me with a tearful smile. ¡°You too!¡± Gasping for a breath of air, I petted the top of Viola¡¯s head. We spent the next few minutes talking about what happened to me before I finally asked the question that had been on my mind. Where were the bats I told her to find? Before she even spoke, a look of anger crossed her face. I could already tell that what she was about to say wouldn¡¯t be good. ¡°The moment you told me to leave, I fled as fast as I could. Thanks to your intervention, none of the rats were chasing me. I did run into a couple on the way there but I managed to escape quite easily once I utilized wind gale. Some of the enemies I saw could¡¯ve been killed easily by me, but I ignored them since time was of the essence. I have no idea how much time passed, but I finally managed to reach the bats base after a strenuous flight.¡± Thanks to me, Viola was able to travel towards the bats safely. Well at least as safe as you can get in a dungeon infested with monsters. It was a good thing I taught her wind magic, since without it she might have been delayed or even killed. In order to escape the rats, I had used wind gale in order to increase my speed. Although it was painful, it did help me escape. Unlike me however, Viola had wings. So when she used wind gale on herself, it was bound to be twice as effective. ¡°The moment I reached the base, I tried to go inside. However some stupid bat guards wouldn¡¯t let me in. It was unbelievable. I was pretty sure they had seen me with you before so I had no idea why they wouldn¡¯t let me in. After a few minutes of wasted time, I was just about to barge in when the undead general came to my rescue. Thanks to him talking to the guards, I was let inside. But once I was inside, I ran into a bigger problem.¡± My eyes narrowed unconsciously as I thought about the guards that blocked Viola¡¯s passage. Did they do it because they didn¡¯t know who she was? Or was it something else? Hmm. I would have to hear more before I made any conclusion. I also made a mental note to thank the undead general for getting Viola inside. If you have to count on anyone, count on the undead. ¡°After I was inside, I immediately turned towards the undead general to ask him for help. After all, he was more likely to help me than anyone else here. The next five minutes passed by slowly as I urgently explained the situation. After hearing me out, the undead general told me to follow him. Some bats tried to stop us from meeting the boss even though the undead general told them that it was important. But once he bared his teeth and extended his claws, no one tried to stop him again. Yet even after all that, we still had to wait a few minutes before we were able to talk the bat boss.¡± Yet again the undead general tried his best to help me. I really needed to do something nice for him. I did not like leaving debts unpaid. It also annoyed me that Viola and the undead general kept on getting stopped in the base. It seemed that the general wasn¡¯t lying when he said the majority of the bats didn¡¯t like undead. ¡°Once we were standing face to face with the boss, all of the moisture in my throat evaporated. I could feel the sheer amount of power he had just from his gaze. Thankfully the undead general decided to speak so my silence went unnoticed. He explained the situation to the boss and asked for some soldiers so we could look for you. The boss seemed to think about it for a little bit before he turned to his advisors. After discussing it with each other, it seemed that we would be able to have reinforcements in order to look for you. But before the boss could speak, he was interrupted by the door bursting open.¡± It seemed that the bat boss had that powerful effect on all people. When I had met him for the first time, my throat had dried out too. ¡°In through the now open doors came some type of unknown bat. From the look on the undead general¡¯s face, I could tell that we did not want him here. As the intruder walked towards the boss, he gave us a cold glance as he passed by us. Yes, he definitely did not like us.¡± Tch. I could already see what the problem was before Viola even told me. More than likely this bat stopped the reinforcements I was supposed to get to look for me. ¡°Once he was close to the boss, he began to whisper in his ear, occasionally sneaking us cold glances. I couldn¡¯t tell what was being said, but I knew it wasn¡¯t good. A few minutes later, the bat boss told me that we would not be able to send reinforcements to help you. He told us that it was your fault for going so deep into the rat territory and that you should¡¯ve been more careful.¡± My eye began to twitch angrily as I listened to the story. Oh, so it was my fault for going so deep into the rat territory. Technically you could say it was true. However it was this motherfucker who told me to get stronger before I could talk to him again. I had Viola describe the bat who suggested the boss to do this so that if I saw him, I could give him a little thank you gift. It wasn¡¯t going to be pretty. ¡°The undead general and I tried pleading for you for a few minutes, but nothing we said had an effect. Maybe if that damnable bat wasn¡¯t by the boss¡¯s side then it might have worked. But since he was, we accomplished nothing. Finally, in a fit of rage, the undead general said that he would look for you himself. Letting an undead prophet just die went against his very being. But as he turned to go, the boss stopped him. If he tried to save you, then that meant he was going against the boss¡¯s orders. And if he went against his orders, then he would be killed.¡± Man, how many times had this undead general had my back? I would remember it too. Whenever he needed me, I would try my best to be there. The more Viola talked, the more I was starting to dislike the notion of an alliance with the bats. You could say that it wasn¡¯t the boss¡¯s fault, it was his advisors. But that wouldn¡¯t be true. If he wanted me alive, then he could¡¯ve told his advisors to shut up and try to save me. But he didn¡¯t. I didn¡¯t know the reason for it either. Maybe it was because I was human, maybe it was because I was an undead prophet. Either way, these bats would regret their decision. The next time I met them, they would meet the end of my spear. I almost die without their help. If the vampire hadn¡¯t saved me, I would be dead. All because these fucking bats didn¡¯t want to save me. They wouldn¡¯t even left the undead general go by himself to look for me. I let out a sigh of anger as Viola continued her tale. ¡°The undead general was forced to stop and looked at the advisors angrily. Even if he wanted to save you, he couldn¡¯t. There was no way he would be able to escape without being killed. I nodded my head and thanked him for everything he did. Just the fact that he wanted to look for you was enough for me. As I flew out of the room, I glared angrily at any of the bats that dared to look my in the eye. How despicable. I couldn¡¯t believe I was related to these cowards.¡± This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. It was a shame to be honest. Although I was killing all of the rats regardless, I at least wanted it to be different for the bats. But that wouldn¡¯t be possible. Hopefully I would be able to convince the undead general to join me when I waged war against the bats. But if he decided to go against me, I wouldn¡¯t hesitate to strike him down. I was getting out of this dungeon, and I would let nothing get in my way. ¡°I was almost to the door when I was stopped by my fellow reanimation. It seemed that the first complete bat you reanimated wanted to join me in search of you. When I asked why, he responded that he felt closer to you than he did with the bats. I decided to let him join me since the more the merrier. In a burst of wind, we flew away from the base and went towards the area I had last seen you. I didn¡¯t know if we would be enough to save you, but we had to try.¡± Man, the fact that I had reanimated another creature had blown my mind. I had been more focused on Viola so I had completely forgotten about my other reanimation. I glanced behind Viola to thank him for trying to look for me. But no matter where I looked, my reanimation wasn¡¯t in sight. Closing my eyes, I tried to sense our mana connection despite how weak it was. But no matter how I tried, the only person I could feel with the connection was Viola. I opened my eyes and gave Viola a questioning look. Where was my other reanimation? ¡°No matter how much we searched, we couldn¡¯t find you. Since I flew to the bats base as fast as I could, I wasn¡¯t really familiar with which way I had gone. I tried my best to remember, but the turns and curves of the sewer were just so unfamiliar. I was just about to scream in frustration when I remembered something you told me before. We had some sort of mana connection that connected the both of us. So after concentrating for a few minutes, I managed to find your general location thanks to our connection. But the journey only grew harder from there.¡± So if I concentrated on our mana connection, I would be able to find out where Viola was? Hmm, this would prove useful in the future. I stored that tidbit of information to the side of my brain for when I needed it later. ¡°In order to find you, we had to go deeper and deeper into rat territory. We were able to avoid most of the rats for the first few minutes, but soon our luck ran out. A group three giant rats and one berserker rat managed to surround us unknowingly. Since we wouldn¡¯t be able to escape, I decided to fight. I was pretty sure I could handle one berserker rat. I left the other three rats to the other reanimation since I didn¡¯t want them interfering with our fight. The only reason I did this was because I thought the reanimation was as strong as me. How wrong I was.¡± A group of three giant rats and one berserker. I didn¡¯t think Viola could handle a group like that by herself, but who knew? She also had my other reanimation to help her so it should¡¯ve been easier than normal. ¡°A vicious and deadly battle ensued between the berserker rat and me. One wrong move and my wings would be torn apart. The only thing I was focusing on was the battle, so when I finally noticed my partner¡¯s screech of pain, it was too late. Finishing the berserker with a wind blade, I turned around too help the reanimated bat. But sadly all that remained of him was a small clump of dust. By surveying the scene I was able to tell what had happened. The reanimated bat had managed to kill two of the giant rats, but the third one managed to kill him. I didn¡¯t know if it was a lucky shot or if the reanimated bat was just weak, but either way he was dead.¡± Wow, it seemed that Viola was finally strong enough to take on a berserk rat by herself. Impressive. On a more somber note, it seemed that the bat I had reanimated was dead. Although the bat was dead, I wasn¡¯t all that affected by it. For one thing, I had forgotten that I even made him. Maybe if he was close to me like Viola was I would be sad. But he wasn¡¯t. Therefore, although it was a shame, there was nothing I could do about it. I also wondered if my reanimated bat died because he was weak or because of a lucky hit. If I compared him to Viola, he was pretty weak. But Viola had berserker mode and wind magic while the reanimated bat only had his claws and teeth. Giant rats weren¡¯t that strong either so I didn¡¯t know what to think. Shrugging my shoulders, I decided to think more on it later. I was about to turn towards Viola again when I realized something. Since my other reanimation was dead, didn¡¯t that mean I could start training my necromancy again? I had been unable to train it before since my mind couldn¡¯t take any more stress from the reanimation. But now that the reanimated bat was dead and our connection was gone, I would be able to start reanimating corpses again. ¡°After he died, I dug him a small hole to put his dust in. Although I wasn¡¯t that close to him, I respected him for coming with me to look for you. After that, I flew more stealthily than I had before. That battle had taken a lot of time, and I knew that you needed my help sooner rather than later. But it was right at that moment when I felt immense pain coming from our connection. The pain was so powerful that I was able to feel it from my side of the connection and I was forced to take a few minutes to recuperate.¡± The immense pain Viola was taking about had to be when I was fighting the formidable rat. Since I was feeling quite a bit of pain at that time, Viola was forced to bear with it also. This made me wonder about a few things. If I reanimated something and it got burned to a crisp, would I feel the sensation of being burned alive? I hoped not because that would be quite unpleasant. The next few minutes passed by quickly as I pondered about the question I had asked. Maybe she felt my pain because of how close we were. I hadn¡¯t noticed my reanimated bat dying because our mana connection was barely even there. But my mana connection with Viola was quite strong since I even had to sacrifice some of my health to reanimate her. So the stronger our connection, the more likely it is for us to be able to feel each other¡¯s pain. Once I was done thinking, Viola continued her story. ¡°Once I was recuperated, I searched for you again. But this time I couldn¡¯t feel anything from our connection. At first I was afraid you died, but then I realized that you couldn¡¯t be. Our mana connection wasn¡¯t gone, it was blocked. There was something blocking me from knowing your location. But I still didn¡¯t give up. I spent the next few days searching for you and hiding. Whenever I needed food, I would stealthily kill a rat and eat it. Although I knew the general location of where you were, I still couldn¡¯t find you. I was about to scream in frustration when a man appeared in my vision.¡± Huh. What was blocking her from finding me? Although I tried thinking of reasons for our mana connection being blocked, I couldn¡¯t find any. Maybe Simon had something to do with it. ¡°A lot of things happened, but in the end he told me he knew where you were. Since I didn¡¯t have any other options, I followed him. And that was where I found you.¡± It seemed Viola had gone through a lot trying to find me. But it was alright now since we were finally together again. We talked about a few other things before I got up to look for Simon. He said he was going to train me, and I was ready. It was time to become stronger. AN: Sorry for the delay, I was a bit busy this week. Chapter 29: Rigorous Training[1] Chapter 29: Rigorous Training[1] As I arose from my stone bed, Viola leapt onto my shoulder. With her in tow, I began walking down a series of caves in order to look for Simon. The vampire had mentioned that he was going to train me and I planned on taking him up on it. As I walked, I began to notice that the area around me was unlike anything I had ever seen in the sewers. Instead of cracked brick walls and worn out lightbulbs, various crystals lit up the stone wall around me. It looked as if I was in some sort of cave. There was a patch of ore on the wall that resembled gold. If I knew how to mine, I would probably be able to pick the gold out and make myself some armor. But alas, I didn¡¯t know how to pick, and I didn¡¯t know how create armor. Oh well, you couldn¡¯t have everything. I was able to walk for a good five minutes before I arrived in a small clearing. Normally I would¡¯ve been annoyed by this little walk since I was still sore, but the cool breeze helped alleviate my pain. As the cool breeze ruffled my hair, I noted that I would need some clothes in the near future. The only thing that covered my chest was a series of bloody bandages. If a monster attacked me in that defenseless spot, it was bound to be painful. I still had my pants thankfully, but they were hanging on by a thread. It didn¡¯t look like they would last for much longer. Maybe I should try making my own clothes when I fought again. Thoughts like these ran around my mind as I looked around the clearing for the vampire. After scanning my surroundings for a few seconds, I found him looking at me a couple feet away. Walking up to him quickly, I notified him that I was ready to train. ¡°Good. But before we begin I need to know what skills you have so I know what to help you train.¡± As he said this, my face unconsciously turned into a grimace. Although it made sense, I still didn¡¯t like telling people my skills. It was like telling someone your most prized secret. But what choice did I have? In order for him to train me correctly, he needed to know my skills. Letting out a long sigh, I begrudgingly told him all the skills that I had. ¡°Do you need to know my level too?¡± Since I already told him my skills, it wouldn¡¯t even matter if I told him my level. ¡°No, I already know you¡¯re level ten.¡± Oh, he already knew. When I asked him how, he told me that it was because of a blue box above my head. Huh, that was just like what I saw when I was examining monsters. Did everyone have one of these blue status boxes? If so, then why didn¡¯t the person in front of me have one? When I asked Simon, this is what I received in response. ¡°Why do I not have a status box that you can see? Well that¡¯s a secret.¡± Hwaahh. That¡¯s really helpful. The next ten minutes passed by quickly as I explained to Simon how some of my skills worked. He could tell what some of the skills did by name, but for some of the others he wanted to make sure. ¡°Before we train your skills, I¡¯m going to teach you how to fight. Your skills won¡¯t help you if you get killed five seconds in the battle after all. ¡± My face scrunched in confusion as I thought about what he said. I thought I already knew how to fight. After all, if I didn¡¯t I would¡¯ve died a long time ago. Simon got into some sort of stance and motioned to me with his fingers. Wait, did he want me to attack him? Shrugging my shoulders, I examined his posture to see where most of his weight was. After spending a few seconds looking, I realized that I had no idea how to find his weak spots. Man, on the movies it seemed so easy. Letting out a long sigh, I charged toward the vampire. From the look on his face I could tell that he disapproved of my attack. Ignoring his look, I narrowed my eyes and activated my concentration skill. Once Simon was almost on top of me, I utilized my earth magic to make a thin earthen pillar erupt right beneath my foot. By balancing my body, I was able to make the pillar shoot me up in the air quickly. Since he didn¡¯t specify the rules, I was going to use my magic. I wouldn¡¯t attack him with it however since I didn¡¯t think that was the point of the lesson. Glancing down towards Simon, I raised both of my hands to the air and activated wind gale. I clenched my teeth as my body came soaring down towards my opponent. Since I had used both hands with this spell, I was naturally going faster than I had ever gone before. Even with all of this armor, Simon would be hard pressed to defend. I allowed a small smirk to appear on my face as my feet neared his breastplate. But right before they would¡¯ve hit it, he fluidly moved to the side. Fuck. With a sickening thud, my feet slammed into the ground. A squeal of pain was forced out of my mouth as I tried to ignore the painful sensation in my feet. Damn that hurt. Thanks to Simon dodging my attack, everything below my knee was stuck in the ground. Man, I probably should¡¯ve thought about what would happen if Simon dodged my attack. Before I could think about my situation any more, Simon spoke. ¡°This is what I¡¯m talking about. If you tried this little attack on an opponent that was stronger than you, you would be dead. Let me show you the error of your ways.¡± Sweat unconsciously began to pour down my face as Simon walked toward me. I didn¡¯t like how he said that last part. Suddenly, with a vicious grip, he grabbed my neck. Shit! Couldn¡¯t he grab it more gently? Wrapping my hands around his, I tried to force his hands off my neck. But before I could attempt it, I was ripped from the ground and thrown across the clearing. As I flew through the air, only one question was on my mind. How fucking powerful was this vampire? Normally I would be scared for my life, but I wasn¡¯t. I had been thrown into the air far too many times. It seemed that getting tossed into the air was becoming a daily occurrence. Twisting my body around in the air, I positioned both of hands to face the ground. Gathering wind beneath my palms, I let out a burst periodically to slow my descent. I was going to keep on doing this until I landed safely on the ground. But as I was slowly descending, I noticed Simon running towards me. Tch, I guess he finally decided to get serious. Several thoughts ran through my head as I thought of how to get out of this predicament. Staying in the air wasn¡¯t an option since I had a limited supply of mana. But if I tried landing on the ground, the damn vampire would be waiting. And I had a feeling that he wouldn¡¯t just let me land safely on the ground. Hmm. I needed to distract him somehow. As Simon got closer and closer to my position, my panic kept on growing. I did not want to get tossed again. My neck still had red marks from where he grabbed me. As I glanced around, I noticed Viola watching me from the side. That was it! Telling Viola my plan mentally, I stopped my wind gale so I would reach the ground faster. The moment I did this, Simon picked up his pace. If I didn¡¯t do anything, we would be face to face in just a few seconds. Luckily I had Viola to count on. Flying quietly behind Simon, Viola began to gather and compress air inside of a ball. Once I saw the spell she was casting, I raised my eyebrow in confusion. I had seen that spell before. I was forced to look away as a hardened fist came surging towards my face. The hell? Why couldn¡¯t he have gone for my stomach or something? Getting hit in the face was never pleasant. Ducking under his swing, I began to form a wind blade on my right arm. But before I could finish it, his other arm slammed into my stomach. God Damnit All of the oxygen left my body as I tumbled across the ground. Air! I need air! I gasped several breaths of air as I tried to refill my body with the precious resource. As I panted on the ground, I glanced up only to see Simon still coming towards me. Couldn¡¯t I have a few seconds to rest? Thankfully it seemed that Viola was done charging up her attack so I would finally be able to go on the offensive. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. With my hands on the ground, I launched three giant earthen spikes at Simon. Unlike my other spikes, these were stronger and more durable. The only drawback was that I was only able to launch a few of them. By twisting his body a few inches, Simon was able to dodge all three of my attacks. Not a single one hit him. Normally I would be discouraged, but my attack didn¡¯t even matter. The whole point of them was to distract him. It was time to see just how powerful Viola¡¯s wind spell was. Viola¡¯s ball of compressed air struck the vampire right on his back thanks to my distraction. But the force of the blow only made Simon lean forward a little bit. Tch, was the attack not effective? Then the ball exploded. My eyes widened in shock as Simon was thrown across the clearing just as I was. Damn, how powerful was that attack? From the look on Simon¡¯s face, it seemed he didn¡¯t think that the attack was going to be that strong either. I sent Viola a quick mental message concerning the attack she just did. This is what she told me. She had learned the skill wind bomb by experimenting with her attacks on a berserker rat. By compressing a ball of air, she was able to make it explode once it hit the enemy. The reason it was so effective was because it wouldn¡¯t explode until after it hit the enemy. They would never see it coming. The only downside of the attack was that it used up all of her mana. So until she regained some more, she wouldn¡¯t be able to launch anymore spells. I nodded my head and took off towards Simon. Although I was still out of breath, I wouldn¡¯t get another chance like this. This was a one-time opportunity! Conjuring three wind arrows above me, I sent them flying into the cloud of dust that had erupted from around Simon. As they soared through the air, I made both of my hands face each other. In between my hands, I began to form a ball of electricity. Ignoring the stray sparks that shocked me, I combined my ball of electricity with a ball of air. The attack Viola had done had given me quite a few ideas and I wanted to try it while Simon was down. Once I had a ball of electrified air, I placed it gently on the ground. An angry headache pulsed throughout my head, but I ignored it. The attack I was about to do would be worth all of the pain in the end. Manipulating the earth below me, I began to make it surround the ball of electrified air. This was the first time I had tried combining three elements. If I accomplished this fusion, my attack power would expand exponentially. Minutes flew by as I focused solely on the ball below me. I had no idea why Simon hadn¡¯t attacked yet, but I didn¡¯t care. My electrified ball of air was being slowly surrounded by earth. If I tried making it go faster, the ball would explode. So I had to be careful. The only problem with going slowly was that I was running out of mana. How much mana did I even have left? I glanced at my mana bar only to see it completely empty. Shit! Lobbing the half formed ball away from me as fast as I could, I crouched down and attempted to surround myself in an earthen dome. From the way the ball was fluctuating, I could tell it was about to explode. And I did not want to be near it when it did. Although I tried forming an earthen dome, it didn¡¯t work. The reason was quite simple. I didn¡¯t have any mana left. I watched in horror as the ball began to grow brighter and bigger. This was going to hurt. But right before the explosion would¡¯ve reached me, I was surrounded by a dome of darkness. Thanks to this dome, I was left uninjured. And from the sounds I could hear outside of the dome, I should be glad. Anything out there would be destroyed. A few minutes later, the dome of darkness fell apart around me. It was then that I was able to see the results of my failed spell. Jagged burns stained the ground as various craters decorated the wall and the ground around me. I could still see sparks of electricity lighting up places here and there. There was also a cool breeze flowing in the clearing that wasn¡¯t there before. Sensing someone behind me, I turned around to see Simon staring at me with a blank look on his face. Scratching my head bashfully, I began to speak. ¡°I guess I got a little carried away huh.¡± The moment I said this, Simon pinched his nose. I could tell that he was more than a little annoyed with me. Oh well. What had he expected to happen? There was no way I could¡¯ve won against him in my current state so I had to think of something. And if I managed to perfect the move I just butchered, good things were bound to happen. ¡°A little? You mean to tell me that you almost killed yourself with a failed spell and you claim that you just got a little carried away? You humans are something else. This spar was meant to show you the difference in strength between to two of us and how skills can make up for our difference in level. It was supposed to be simple.¡± What can I say, accidents happen. As we were talking, Viola flew towards me from her hiding spot. With a flourish spin, she landed on my shoulder. With a shake of his head, Simon continued speaking. ¡°You¡¯re lucky I was able to erect a dome of darkness before the explosion went off. If I hadn¡¯t¡­..let¡¯s say that the end results would not have been pretty.¡± Oh, so it was Simon that saved me. I gave him my thanks and then thought about the dome he had created around me. In order for the dome to protect me, Simon had to be able to surround me with darkness faster than the explosion that was going off. Was he able to do this because of his skill level or because of the darkness that was around us. I might as well ask since he is right in front of me. ¡°You know how you just made a dome of darkness protect me?¡± Simon nodded his head. ¡°Well I was just wondering something. Is the dome of darkness you just made more powerful here because we¡¯re essentially in complete darkness?¡± It was easy to forget that we were always in darkness thanks to my enhanced vision skill. I had some guesses about what made my elements stronger and now I would finally be able to get them answered. Hopefully. ¡°Yes. If you are near whatever element you are using for magic, your spell will become more powerful. My darkness for instance is almost twice as powerful than it normally would be thanks to how little light there is in this dungeon. For example, if you use water magic in the middle of the ocean, its power will strengthen exponentially. Wind and earth magic are quite powerful since it is almost always around us.¡± As he spoke I nodded my head. I had thought it was like this, but I wanted to make sure. Talking about his dome of darkness made me realize something. Where was my spear? Did Simon grab it? Hopefully he did since I probably wouldn¡¯t find another spear like it. At least until I got into the bat boss¡¯s lair again. It turned out that Simon did have it. Whew, that was a load off my mind. I also asked him if he would help me decipher the rune that was on my spear. After a few seconds of thinking, Simon agreed. But he would have to do it later. He had some other things planned for me to do. Once those were done, he would help me with the rune on my spear and my necromancy runes. I could hardly wait. Once I understood what my necromancy runes meant, my skill level was bound to increase. I was ready to start the next lesson, but Simon told me to restore all of the mana I had lost. I would need quite a bit of it for the next lesson he had in mind. As I gathered mana, a small smile crept up on my face. Slowly but surely I was getting stronger. Soon nothing would be able to stand in my way. AN: Thanks for reading and thanks for all the tips and thanks you give me. It means a lot to me. Chapter 30: Rigorous Training[2] Chapter 30: Rigorous Training[2] Once my mana was restored, I sat up from my seating position and turned towards Simon. It seemed that he had been waiting patiently for me to finish my meditation. Huh, I don¡¯t think I would¡¯ve been able to wait that long without doing something. To each his own I guess. After I collected my thoughts, Simon began to speak. ¡°The first thing we need to fix is your rashness. If you don¡¯t think about things logically and with a cool head, you will be killed in battle. The only reason you have gotten this far without dying is because you were fighting monsters that barely had any brain cells. If you end up fighting an opponent with a decent amount of intelligence, he will exploit this weakness of yours. Therefore in this next segment of training, you will be forced to use your mind rather than brute force.¡± My only response to the vampire¡¯s words was a grimace. I couldn¡¯t offer a rebuttal since everything he stated was true. I was pretty hot headed in my fights, but that was the only way I knew how to fight. I only had my first serious fight about a week ago, so it wasn¡¯t a surprise that I wasn¡¯t an expert at it. But after this training, I would hopefully be able to fight smarter and more efficiently. Before we began our training, Simon had us move to a different spot in the clearing. This was because the spot we were at now still had various holes in the ground thanks to my failed spell. After walking for about a minute, we stopped. I was told to stay in the spot I was currently standing at as Simon moved a good distance away from me. With attentive ears, I listened to my next instructions. ¡°For this training exercise, you are only allowed to use earth magic. The reason for this is because in the future, you will inevitably get into a situation where only certain spells will work on certain enemies. Therefore you need to know the ins and outs of each type of your magic. You don¡¯t want to become the jack of all trades and the master of none.¡± That made sense. The rats I had fought didn¡¯t seem to be resistant to any of my magic, but that didn¡¯t mean all of the enemies I would fight would be like that. I would need to be prepared for the day I met an enemy that was resistant to most of my spells. From what it sounded like, once I was done with this training, we would repeat it. Only the next time I would do it with a different magic. ¡°The next rule is that you are not allowed to use any weapons. Weapons made from your magic are an exception however.¡± Although I would¡¯ve preferred to use my spear in this fight, I could see where Simon was coming from. In the battle with the formidable rat, I hadn¡¯t been able to use my spear at all. I needed to know how to fight without a weapon. Once I knew how to do that, I would be able to use a weapon to help me fight. ¡°The final rule is that you do this training spar alone. That means your animal cannot interfere in the fight, no matter what happens.¡± Once Simon finished speaking I nodded my head. I had a feeling that I would be doing this spar alone so I wasn¡¯t really that surprised. Taking a deep breath, I calmed my mind. I needed to be prepared for whatever Simon threw at me. As I stood there waiting for some sort of attack, Simon looked at me. Wait, was I supposed to start the battle? Shrugging my shoulders, I examined my surroundings to see if I could use any of it against my opponent. The area around me was a wide cavern with an extremely tall ceiling. Unlike the sewers, there was earth beneath me, not bricks. This would be extremely helpful since I was forced to use earth magic in this fight. After thinking for another minute, I initiated the fight. Sticking my hand out in front of me, I began gathering mana towards the area in front of my hand. While I was thinking, I had thought of a new spell that would help me in the upcoming battles. After my mana was clumped together I began gathering earth from my nearby surroundings. As they gathered together in fragments, they began to take on the shape of an earthen spike. By attacking this way, I wouldn¡¯t have to launch my earthen spikes from the ground. If I fought any opponents, I wouldn¡¯t have to be worried anymore. The only downside of attacking this way was that it took longer than attacking directly from the ground. The time it took wasn¡¯t that long but you needed every second in battle. Thanks to this being a spar, I could spam attacks like this, and soon I would be able to launch this attack way faster than I ever had before. With my hand facing Simon, I created two more earthen spikes that levitated in the air. While I was creating these two spikes, I also directed my mana into the ground so I would be able to attack him from two different directions. Just throwing these levitating earthen spikes wouldn¡¯t hurt him. I needed to think smarted in order to defeat Simon. With a flick of my wrist, the earth spikes in the air went shooting off towards Simon. The moment they neared him several earthen spikes erupted from the ground below him. How would he dodge these attacks? I watched as Simon narrowed his eyes at the oncoming attacks. With a flourish sidestep, one of my levitating earthen spikes was avoided. He was forced to jump however when my earthen spikes erupted from beneath him. Right into my two flying earthen spikes. As the spikes came closer and closer to his chest, an intense look appeared on his face. It seemed that he was finally getting serious. Twisting his body in a movement that made me cringe, he dodged the earthen spike on his left and grabbed the other one on his right. Spinning around to face me, he launched the spike right back at me. Unlike my normal earthen spike however, this one was extremely fast. Jumping to the side, I watched as the earthen spike surged past me. Man, it was going so fast I could see the after images. Turning my head toward Simon, I noticed him launching some sort of earthen balls toward me. Although they looked quite intimidating with their size, I was confident that I would be able to dodge them. Or at least I would¡¯ve been if my earthen spike I had launched quite a bit ago didn¡¯t slam into my back. Letting out a cry of pain, my body was slammed right into the two earthen balls Simon had created. And of course the two earthen balls just couldn¡¯t be normal. The moment my body connected with the ball, it exploded into fragments of the earth. With me right next to it. As I flew through the air in a mixture of pain and dizziness, Simon began to speak. ¡°Here is your first mistake. Never assume that the attack your enemy makes is his only attack. If you had been more aware of your surroundings, you would have noticed the earthen spike that was approaching your back. Now you might be wondering how I used your own attack against you. Since you haven¡¯t fought someone who could use magic yet, I will enlighten you.¡± Even though I was in a considerable amount of pain, I listened to what Simon was saying. Although the pain I was feeling wanted me to curl up in a ball and cry, I persevered. This was the only way I would get stronger. Thanks to my pain resistance skill, my body was able to withstand a considerable amount of pain. It was a shame that it didn¡¯t reduce the amount of pain I felt though. ¡°Some people are able to eject your mana out of your spell and substitute it with their own. This allows them to launch your attacks right back at you. You can however stop them from doing this by putting more mana in your spell than you normally would. The only problem with doing this is that your mana will drain quickly by using this method. Even though I¡¯m telling you this, you don¡¯t really have to worry about this happening since you have to have a thorough understanding of the element in order to do it.¡± This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. That was relief. If a lot of my opponents could just redirect my spells at me, I would¡¯ve had to come up with a new battle strategy. But even though I learned something new, a frown was etched upon my face. I still had to get out of the situation I was in. Right now I was falling towards the ground. The fall wouldn¡¯t kill me, but it would be painful. How was I going to get out of this situation. Using a wind gale wasn¡¯t an option since I was limited to earth magic. Hmm. Maybe I should use a new spell to get me out of this situation. The earthen ball attack that I was forced to suffer through reminded me of my meager list of spells I could use. But what spell should I try to make. I would need to think quickly because my concentration skill only gave me so much time to think. What did I want? Preferably I would want someone to catch me so I didn¡¯t want to feel the pain of hitting to the ground. My eyes narrowed in concentration as I thought about the spell I was about to use. It would take a lot of mana to use, but sacrifices had to be made. Sticking my hands towards the ground, I began pushing my mana out of me and into the ground below. As my mana saturated the ground, I made the earth below me change into the shape of an open hand. While the bottom of the hand was rock hard, I made the inside of the hand as soft as I could. There was no point in creating the hand if it was still as hard as the ground below me. Normally my mana would¡¯ve run out by now, but the closer I got to the ground, the less mana I had to use. My hand also took the vague shape of a hand. Simon probably didn¡¯t know what the hell I had created. Oh well, I wasn¡¯t making this hand to put it on display after all. Unlike a normal hand, the one I made was the size of my body. It was thin, but not thin enough to break when I landed on it. Or at least that was what I assumed when I landed on it and it didn¡¯t break. As the air rushed out of my body, I trembled in all of the pain I was feeling. Damn, this little spar was painful as fuck. Taking a glance at my mana bar, I realized that I was only able to launch a few more earthen spells. Tch, I would have to make them count. Sliding off of my earthen hand, I allowed it to crumble into the ground. Simon looked at me with a raised eyebrow as I dusted myself off. What? There wasn¡¯t a lot of ways I could land safely. Making sure he didn¡¯t launch any more spells, I sunk my hands into the ground. They went in so smoothly you would think my hands were sliding into water, not earth. The reason for this was because I softened the earth by my hand so they could go in easily. They would need to for the next spell I was about to use. Watching my opponent carefully, I began making the earth around my gauntlets take the shape of sharp spikes. Once my gauntlets were covered in spikes, I ripped my hands from the ground and charged towards Simon. Since I was running out of mana, I could no longer afford to attack from a distance. In response to my charge, Simon placed his hand on the ground and began filling the earth with his mana. Thanks to my mana affinity skill, I could tell Simon was about to launch a spell that was way more powerful than any he had done before. I would need to prepare myself for it, or I would be in a world of pain. As I ran toward him, I kept in mind where his mana was in the ground. He hadn¡¯t done anything yet so I guess he was waiting for me to spring his trap. Did he know I could sense where his mana was? I highly doubted it since I didn¡¯t think I told him when I was explaining my mana affinity skill. Good, I could use this to my advantage. Right before I reached the spot where his mana was, I stopped and launched the earth from one of my gauntlets at him. Although there wasn¡¯t a lot of earth on my gauntlets, the speed at which I launched it made it extremely deadly. In a burst of speed, Simon ducked under my attack and rushed toward me. Mustering all of my strength, I swung my right arm directly at him. It was time to show him some of the pain I was currently feeling. But before my fist could reach his face, Simon ducked under my outstretched arm. A look of shock filled my face as he twisted his body so his back was facing me. Shit, was he about to do what I thought he was going to do? My question was answered as he grabbed my right arm and lifted my body like a ragdoll. Damn, this was going to be painful. With my arm in his grip, Simon easily lifted me up and slammed me into the ground in front of him. The ground that was filled with his mana. Even though I tried moving my body, there was nothing I could do. This damn vampire had the grip of a bull. The moment my body hit the ground, the earth below me began to surround me. I knew I was fucked when Simon jumped back as far as he could. What spell did he just use against me? In less than a few seconds, I was surrounded by a mass of earth. Man, I could hardly believe I fell in a trap that I knew was there. Once I figured out how Simon did this attack, I would make sure to use it in my future battles. But as for right now, I needed to figure out how to escape since I doubted Simon would help me out. Pushing myself off the ground, I was forced into a crouched position thanks to how small this earthen prison was. Tightening my fist, I slammed it into the wall that was next to me. Even though a clump of earth fell, it was soon replaced. Damn, I would have to use magic to get out of this situation. As I thought about what to do, I twisted my back so I would be more comfortable. It was when I did this that I realized that something was wrong. Was the space I had to move around in getting smaller? Narrowing my eyes, I placed my hand on the ground next to the wall. After waiting a few seconds, my hand was pushed slowly pushed backwards. Shit! Not only did I have to escape, I had to do it quickly. Before I crushed to death by earth. Placing my hands against the enclosing wall, I began to push the earth outwards. I let out a sigh of relief as a fresh air began to flood in. That sense of relief vanish when the hole was refilled and the earth around me began to collapse. Fuck, in a few more seconds I wouldn¡¯t be able to escape. Fearing for my life, I began to frantically punch the wall in front of me. I rotated between ejecting the earth and punching since I didn¡¯t have a lot of mana left. Whenever I made a gap, I shoved my body through it. There was no way I was letting the earth refill it before I could escape. Performing a worm like motion through the earth, I managed to push myself out of the prison before it collapsed. As I lay on the ground panting, Simon approached me from above. ¡°Your techniques need quite a bit of work¡­.but it will do. When you feel ready to continue, restore your mana and I will instruct you on what you did wrong and how to improve.¡± Staring up at the ceiling of the cave, I let the next few minutes pass by in relaxation. This training had been taxing on both my mind and my body. But even though I was exhausted, I was glad for this spar. If I did the same thing Simon did to me against a rat, it wouldn¡¯t stand a chance. In order to escape that trap, you would need considerable strength or a type of magic. The thing that made the trap Simon used against me deadly was that it slowly sunk me into the ground. You wouldn¡¯t notice at first since you would be more concerned about the enclosing walls. Thankfully Simon didn¡¯t do this to me, but if he did, I would be dead. I could already see myself emerging from the earthen prison only to realize I was stuck several feet under the earth. Moving my body into a meditating position, I began to restore my mana. The training Simon was giving me was far from done and the more I learned, the more I benefitted from it. Chapter 31: Rigorous Training[3] Chapter 31: Rigorous Training[3] The next hour passed with me doing the exact same training except with air magic. Believe or not, my earth magic training was actually pretty easy compared to the air magic training. The problem I had to deal with was dodging near invisible attacks. If I couldn¡¯t notice the slightest shift in the air in front of me, I would take a wind bullet to the chest. And then another one. And then another. Until I could finally see the difference in the air whenever someone launched an air based attack. I didn¡¯t notice the air attack all the time, but enough for Simon to be satisfied. Since I had to stare at the air for any noticeable differences, my enhanced vision skill leveled up quite a bit. I also learned how to do several new air spells. The most important air spell that I had learned was an air vortex. By launching an air vortex, I could have my enemies sucked towards it. Once they were close enough, my vortex would automatically explode, injuring anyone who was too close. The downside of this was that I would be affected to if I was too close to it. This meant that I would have to be careful when I used this attack if I didn¡¯t want to get hit by it. I also learned how to use the earthen cage that Simon had used against me in the previous spar. Right now I could only make an earthen cage that would trap my opponent. Once I gained proficiency in the skill, I would be able to make the cage sink slowly into the ground. With the enemy still inside it. When Simon taught these skills to me, he made sure to tell me not to just spam these attacks. I had to use them strategically in order to win. If I didn¡¯t, I would surely be killed in the future. He gave me several strategies to use such as laying an earth trap and then putting an air vortex right on top of it. This way when my enemies were sucked into the vortex, they would have to deal with my trap and the vortex explosion. I made sure to remember these strategies since they were bound to be useful in the future. Before I continued my magic training, Simon ordered me to take a bath and rest for a little bit. Did I smell or something? Taking a glance down, I noticed the state of my clothes. If you could even call them that anymore. My pants were little more than rags while my shoes had various holes in them. The only thing that remained on my chest was my fanged necklace. Over the course of my training, my bandages had become so dirty that I just took them off. I didn¡¯t really need them anymore, so it wasn¡¯t that much of a bother. As I followed Simon, I wondered what I was going to do about my clothes situation. I could try skinning some rats, but I didn¡¯t know if Simon would let me fight them yet. And even if he let me, I had no idea how to make clothes. The other option was to cover myself with a bunch of moss. I wasn¡¯t looking forward to doing that since I had tried it before. I only had one thing to say about it. Luminescent moss was extremely itchy on your skin. After a few minutes of walking, I finally decided to just ask Simon if he had some spare clothes. What was the worst that could happen? ¡°Hey Simon, I have a question.¡± The vampire let out a grunt to let me know he was listening. ¡°Do you have any spare clothes I can have? The ones I have on are the only ones I got.¡± Simon took a brief moment to glance at what I was wearing. After a few seconds of debating he nodded his head. Nice, problem solved. We walked for another few minutes before we arrived at a small cave. With Viola in tow, I followed Simon threw the entryway. I could hardly wait to take a bath. I couldn¡¯t even remember the last time I had taken one. Inside this small cave, was a small lake of steaming water. Huh, I had never seen a lake that was naturally this hot. This was nice since this meant I wouldn¡¯t have to take a cold bath. Heading towards the lake, I chose to put my stuff on a nearby rock. The items that were on the rock included my necklace, my belt, and my gauntlets. These were the only equipment I had left that wasn¡¯t in need of repair. After placing them on the rock, I glanced up to see where Simon was. I wasn¡¯t embarrassed about being seen naked, but I would prefer not to. Especially by another man. But as I looked around, I noticed he had vanished. The only thing he left was a bundle that I assumed were my clothes. I would have to look at them when I finished with my bath. Taking off my poor excuse for clothes, I slowly sank into the bath. Letting out a sigh of pure bliss, I sank deeper and deeper into the water. Although the water was a little bit too hot, I was fine with it. I would just have to wait a few minutes and my body would grow accustomed to the heat. I was about to close my eyes when my bath was interrupted by a loud splash. The hell? Extending my neck as far as I could, I looked for the source of the noise. I couldn¡¯t see anything on top of the water therefore the cause of the splash had to be underwater. As I looked around cautiously I began to notice ripples in the water. Wait. Were they heading towards me? Before I could move, a black mass exploded from the water and slammed into my chest. As the air rushed out of me, I was forced to go underwater due to the force of the blow. With panic setting in, I released a wind gale to shoot me out of the water. As I rose several feet above the lake, I took a deep breath of air. Now that I was out of the water, I needed to find out what had just hit me. As I slowed my descent into the water, I noticed a head of some creature looking at me from within the lake. Wait a minute. Taking a closer look at the head, I soon realized it was Viola. You have got to be kidding me. Stopping my wind gale, I allowed myself to fall into the water with a splash. I couldn¡¯t believe Viola had managed to scare me. I should¡¯ve known. She was on my shoulder when I was walking with Simon. I guess this is what he meant when he told me that I was normally oblivious of my surroundings. As I rose to the surface of the lake, I gave Viola a glare. Seeing as how she was currently laughing, I could tell that she thought this situation was funny. I guess I would have to prove her wrong. Moving my hands up from under the water, I splashed Viola with a handful of water. I allowed a grin to appear on my face as Viola spluttered in shock. From the look in her eye, I could tell she was not going to let this slide. The next ten minutes passed by with Viola and I splashing each other with water. The fight was forced to end however when Viola used wind magic to nearly drown me. Having a giant wave of water come crashing down on me was not fun. At all. Now we were both just sitting in the lake and relaxing. The warm water helped sooth my aching muscles and filled me with energy. I needed to make sure to appreciate this because once I was done bathing, it was back to training. As I relaxed in the water, my thoughts began to focus on Simon. Simon was quite nice for a vampire. Or a human for that matter. Sometimes I wondered if he was treating me this way just because he needed me. I mean I didn¡¯t even know him and he was helping me become stronger. Hell, we weren¡¯t even the same species. From the way he answered some of my questions, I knew he was at least hundreds of years old. Since he lived that long, he had to know secrets that no one else did. Just by witnessing him use magic I could tell he was special. His understanding of magic far surpassed my own. All I wanted was to learn a bit of what he knew. If I did, I was bound to become stronger. My thoughts continued further to my family. I hoped they were doing well. Hopefully they found a shelter or something to hide in. I didn¡¯t need to worry about my older brother since I was sure he could handle himself. My parents were a different story however. I couldn¡¯t even count how many times I almost died in this dungeon. And by low level enemies too! I could hardly imagine the power of a level fifty monster. It could probably kill me in one glance. But that was only at the current moment. Every day I was growing stronger and every day I was getting closer and closer to my goal. I just hoped that when I escaped this dungeon, my parents would still be alive. If they weren¡¯t, I don¡¯t know what I would do. Once I was finished soaking, I got out of the lake and walked over to my clothes. Rather than the shirt and jeans I had worn before, I was now forced to wear some sort of medieval armor. Separating the items into individual piles, I glanced at the status of all of them. I didn¡¯t really care if they gave me bonuses since I needed the clothes anyway. But if they did, I wasn¡¯t complaining.
Steel Breastplate of the Night Description: A sturdy steel breastplate that strengthens the user in the dark. Effect: User is harder to detect in dark areas. Dark magic is strengthened when wearing this armor. +10 Vitality Durability: 60/60 Requirement: Level 10
Steel Leggings Description: Sturdy leggings that can withstand a great deal of punishment. Effect: +5 Vitality Durability: 40/40 Requirement: Level 10
Steel Sabatons Description: Steel shoes that help protects the user''s feet. Effect: +3 Vitality Durability: 40/40 Requirement: Level 10
The underwear, t-shirt, and socks that were in the pile didn¡¯t give me any buffs unlike the steel armor set I received. As I put on my new clothes, I thought about my new armor. The steel breastplate I had just received was the best out of all the other armor I received. This piece of armor would not only help me hide, but it would also strengthen my dark magic. If I combined this with my steel spear, then I would be a force to be reckoned with when I used dark magic. I also received ten vitality which improved my paper defense. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. My other weapons gave me some more vitality strengthening my defense even further. Now if I got hit by a strong attack, my bones wouldn¡¯t immediately break. The only downside was that I would be slower with this armor. But as long as I trained my strength with Simon, I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about the weight. I also noticed that I just made the armor requirements. Did Simon give me this armor because of it, or was it just coincidence? Either way I was thankful. Once I finished putting on my armor, I walked over to the rock where all my other items were. A few minutes later and I had on everything I needed. As I headed for the door, Viola burst from the water and landed on my shoulder with a flourish flip. I moved my head to the side as water splashed on me from Viola¡¯s fur. Hwaah. Couldn¡¯t she dry herself before she flew on my shoulder? With a look of resolve on my face, I left the cave that I bathed in. It was time to train once more. The next few minutes were spent with me walking down various pathways looking for Simon. Where the hell was he? This fucking cave was like a maze. He really needed some directions or signs because I was positive I already walked down the pathway I was currently in. In the end I had Viola lead me to Simon. It turned out that she could find out where he was by his scent. I wish she would¡¯ve told me about that earlier since I would never get back the precious minutes that I wasted. With help from Viola, I found Simon quite easily. It turned out that he was waiting in the clearing I had trained in. Man, did he have nothing to do? I mean I wasn¡¯t complaining but I hadn¡¯t seen him do anything. He wasn¡¯t even training. Just waiting. Hmmm. Oh well, it was none of my business what he did with his time. As I was walking towards him, Simon glanced up. His eyes examined me up and down before he let out a grunt. I guess he approved of how I looked or something. I could never tell what his grunts meant. The moment I neared him, I let him know how thankful I was for the armor he gave me. He could¡¯ve given me rags to wear and that would¡¯ve been my clothes for who knows how long. However he didn¡¯t do that. Instead he gave me some decent armor that would help protect me in battle. And for that I was grateful. ¡°Your welcome. Now we have one more training spar to do before your magic lesson is over. Once we¡¯re finished with this lesson, we will move on to your necromancy chants and the rune on your spear. After that we will work on teaching you how to fight without magic. There are going to be times where you are going to have to fight without any mana left. And if you don¡¯t know how to fight properly, you will be killed.¡± Whew, one more lesson left until we decipher the necromancy chants. I was pretty excited for the deciphering part since I always wondered what my necromancy symbols meant. If I understood was I was writing, my necromancy ritual would improve greatly. The rules for this spar were the same as the past two times except I was using electricity this time. I tried telling Simon that I didn¡¯t have electricity magic yet, but he didn¡¯t care. He told me that I needed to gain it in this spar and we wouldn¡¯t stop fighting until I did. This meant that I would have to change how I got my electricity magic. Unlike air magic, I wouldn¡¯t be able to try to understand the element in order to get the magic. Instead I would have to spam different types of electrical attacks until I got the magic. The only reason this worked was because each time I created a new spell, I gained a little bit of knowledge about the element. This would be hard, but it would be worth it in the end. At least Simon was going to go easier on me than he normally did. The moment Viola flew off of my shoulders, the battle started. With a powerful kick, Simon pushed me across the battlefield. Fuck! I thought he said he was going to go easy on me. Taking several deep breaths, I thought about what type of electrical attack I would use. I needed something that would allow me to attack from far away. Hmm. Placing my hands near each other, I began to circulate electricity between them. The longer I did this, the more hairs that began to rise on my body. I pushed my hands closer and closer together as more and more electricity was gathered. A few seconds later and I had a unstable ball of electricity in my hands. What was I going to do with it? I had no idea. Lobbing it wasn¡¯t an option since it would explode before it reached Simon. Slamming it into Simon was an option, but I didn¡¯t want to get close to him quite yet. I needed this ball to reach him before it exploded. Utilizing my concentration skill, I watched Simon¡¯s every move to make sure he didn¡¯t attack me while I was thinking. Man, thinking of attacks to create was quite challenging. Finally, after a few moments of debating, I decided to just go with the flow. I pushed my hands closer and closer together until the electrical ball felt like it was about to explode. With my body face Simon, I made both of my hands completely smother the electric ball. I could feel it shift and fluctuate in my hand, but I didn¡¯t release it until it felt like it was about to explode. This was when I opened a tiny bit of space between my finger and slammed my hands together. The electricity in my hands rushed out of whatever spot they could. Directly at Simon. Due to the tiny space between my hands, the electricity that came out of my hands took the form of a long cylinder object. Thanks to my smothering of the electric, it shot towards Simon at extreme speeds. Even I would be hard pressed to dodge this attack if it came towards me. Would Simon block this attack, or dodge it? Time seemed to slow down as Simon fully concentrated on the battle we were having. He only had a look of concentration on his face when I released a strong attack at him. For some reason he didn¡¯t want to get hit by any of my spells. Maybe it was because of his pride or something. Crouching down as low as he could, Simon ducked below my attack. However that little move wouldn¡¯t save him from my attack. Since electricity was still shooting out from my hand, all I had to do was swing down and Simon would be hit. And that is exactly what I did. As my electricity neared Simon, he began to perform what maneuvers he could to dodge my attack. But no matter what he did, I followed him with my attack. There was a few close calls where my attack almost reached him, but he managed to barely dodge somehow. I was forced to stop my attack however since it was starting to use up to much of my mana. Letting out a long sigh, I glanced at Simon. Did the last few minutes even affect him at all? As I looked at him, I noticed that he was in quite a relaxed posture. I could tell that he wanted me to know he could¡¯ve continued all day. But thanks to my enhanced vision skill, I was able to notice beads of sweat dripping down his forehead. Hah, I guess he wasn¡¯t as all powerful as I thought he was. Maybe after several weeks of training I would be able to fight with him as an equal. Who knew? That was a long way off. The moment Simon crouched on the ground, I knew he was up to no good. As his mana began to fill the ground in front of him, I launched several electrical bolts toward him. I needed to stop him from doing whatever it was he was doing. Sadly my attacks were blocked by an earthen wall that blocked my vision of him. Tch, now I knew he was definitely up to something. Charging up electricity in between my hands, I forced it to take the shape of a long whip. Shooting it out as far as I could, I swung it towards Simon. Thanks to the way I swung it, my whip would bend pass the wall and electrocute him once it hit. The moment my whip struck something, a look of suspicious appeared on my face. Simon had not been hit by one of my electrical attacks once. Why would he start now? Releasing my lighting whip, I began to run around the battlefield. Not too close to Simon, but just enough to where I would be able see past his wall. But the moment I glanced past his wall, I regretted it. God Damnit. This man told me that he was going to go easy on me during this spar. But from what he had just created, I knew that was going to be impossible now. The creature that was now looking at me seemed to be made of earth and some type of crystal. Although it had an intimidating size, I should be faster than it. Being several feet taller than your opponent didn¡¯t mean anything. After all the bigger they are, the harder they fall. The only thing I was concerned about was would my electrical attacks damage it. It was made out of earth after all. As the earthen golem charged towards me, I risked a glance at Simon. I could tell from the way he looked at me that he wasn¡¯t going to interfere with the fight between me and his creation. Tch, I would have rather fought him than the creature in front of me. Thankfully he allowed me to have some help. ¡°Since this earth golem will be quite a challenge for you to fight at your current level, Viola can now join in the battle. You are still only allowed to use electrical attacks though.¡± Although I was thankful that he let me use Viola, I was still kind of ticked that I could only use electrical attacks. While I was fighting Simon, I had gained some electrical skills, but I still didn¡¯t have electric magic. I needed to gain it soon or this fight would never end. Mentally giving Viola some commands, I began to run in the opposite direction of the golem. There was no way in hell I was fighting that things in close quarters. If I received even one punch from it, my ass would be flying across the battlefield. And that had already happened too many times for my liking. No more flying around for me. Conjuring an electrical bolt in my hand, I made it as unstable as I could. This way when it exploded, the golem would have to deal with the force of the explosion even if it didn¡¯t receive any damage from it. I launched the at the same moment Viola launched a wind bullet. Due to Viola launching it from behind the golem¡¯s back, it only noticed my attack. With a swipe of its arm, my attack was deflected to the side in an explosion of earth and dust. As the golem stared at me in contempt, I just looked at it unimpressed. I wasn¡¯t alone in this fight after all and that wind bullet that was heading for his leg was going to be quite painful. The next thirty minutes passed with Viola and I tag teaming the golem. After a surge of inspiration for an electrical attack in the last few minutes of the fight, I had finally gained electric magic. Even though we didn¡¯t manage to defeat the golem, I was still happy. Now we could move on to my necromancy symbols. But before we could begin, I once again sat down and restored my mana. All I had to do was wait a little bit longer and I could finally study what I had been most interested in since coming down here. Necromancy. AN: Thanks for reading! Chapter 32: Necromancy Symbols Chapter 32: Necromancy Symbols While I was meditating, I took a brief glance at my new electricity magic. Thanks to all of the electric spells I had been using when I was fighting the golem, I had finally gained this skill.
Electricity Magic
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Rare
Skill Level: 5Exp: 56%
Effect: Allows the user to control electricity.
Although I was glad I had gained this skill, the only thing that I regretted was that I wasn¡¯t able to use it to its fullest potential. Since the golem I was fighting was made of earth, my electric attacks weren¡¯t very effective. Therefore I wasn¡¯t able to figure out how deadly my attack truly was. Oh well. I would be able to find out in a few days when I used these attacks against giant rats that I was bound to fight. Before my mind wandered off elsewhere, I took a look at my mana affinity skill.
Mana Affinity Skill
Skill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: Unique
Skill Level: 10Exp: 7%
Effects: Any skill using mana cost 10% less. Anything mana related comes easier to you.
The first thing I noticed about my mana affinity skill was the description. For some reason it was missing some information that it had previously. After thinking on it for a little bit, I finally concluded that the reason for this was because of a skill that I had just gained. From what I could tell, the only reason I had gained this new skill was because my mana affinity had reached level ten. It could¡¯ve been a coincidence, but I doubted it. I believe the boxes that popped up in front of me at the time looked like this.
Due to your understanding of mana, the skill Mana Sense has been gained.
Mana Sense
Skill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: Uncommon
Skill Level: 1Exp: 5%
Effects: Allows the user to better sense the mana in their surroundings.
It seemed that this new skill would help me sense the mana in my surroundings even better than I could before. I also noticed that I was able to regain my mana faster while I was meditating thanks to my new skill. Since I knew where most of the mana in the air was, all I had to do was reach out and pull it into my body. It was way easier with this new skill so I was quite pleased with how things had turned out. After examining my new skill, I thought more on why I had gained it. Since only one of my skills was level ten, I didn¡¯t know for sure if I would gain a skill each time one of my skills reached level ten. Since my earth magic was level nine, I wouldn¡¯t have to wait that long to see if my guess was correct. Hopefully it was since more skills were always welcomed. Once all of my mana was restored, I got up and walked over to where Simon was waiting. Now that my mana was restored, I would finally be able to learn about my necromancy symbols. I had been using them to do my rituals but I hadn¡¯t understood what any of them meant. The process was similar to reading a manual in a different language. Sure you would be able to build the thing you were trying to build, but there was bound to be something that you missed. Thanks to Simon, I would be able to find out just what I was missing. The moment I got close enough to talk to Simon, he began to speak. ¡°Now that your mana is restored and your mind has had a little bit of time to rest, we are ready to move on to the next lesson. The next lesson we do will involve your necromancy symbols and the rune on your spear. Although we are going to go over them both, I am sure there is one you would like to do first. The question is which one. Do you want to start off with understanding the symbols of necromancy or do you want to try to decipher the darkness rune on your spear?¡± To be perfectly honest, it wasn¡¯t a hard decision for me to make. I had wanted to decipher the necromancy symbols for quite a long time. Way longer than I had wanted to understand the rune on my spear. Sure understanding the rune on my spear would be cool, but I was more excited about the prospect of learning what each of the necromancy symbols meant. After a few seconds of thinking, I made my decision. ¡°The necromancy symbols.¡± Nodding his head in confirmation, Simon began to flip through the pages of a book that came out of nowhere. It looked like the book came from his ring, but I didn¡¯t really trust my eyes. After all, there was no way that book could¡¯ve been inside that ring unless it was connected to an alternate dimension or something, which was highly unlikely. As his eyes scanned the pages, I peered at the book that was in his hands. For some reason it seemed awfully familiar and I wanted to know why¡­..Wait. Was that my necromancy journal? How the hell had he managed to get that book? I couldn¡¯t even remember where I lost it yet he somehow had it. My face scrunched up in confusion as I stared at Simon. I had so many questions to ask that I didn¡¯t know where to start. ¡°Hmm. I guess you¡¯re wondering where I got this book huh.¡± Was it really that obvious? I gave him the most blandest look I could as I waited for him to answer my unspoken question. ¡°Well the answer should be obvious, I got it from you. I found it when I was saving you from that rat.¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I didn¡¯t think the answer was that obvious since I didn¡¯t know it. From what he told me, it seemed that the journal had been in my possession and I had just forgotten about it. Well at least I had it back now. Kind of. Simon was still reading the book so I would probably have to wait for him to finish before I could have it back. Normally I would be irritated that he was looking through my stuff without permission, but I let it go since he had healed me and he was currently training me. After waiting fifteen painstakingly long minutes, Simon was finally done reading. Closing the book with an elegant snap, Simon began to pour his mana into the ground. What was he trying to do? The answer became quite apparent as the ground beneath us began to smooth out into a flat unblemished floor. Once Simon was finished, he began to carve all of the necromancy symbols that were in my book into the ground. I also noticed that there were some other symbols etched into the ground that I had never seen before. Hopefully he would elaborate on what each of them meant since I was getting a headache from just looking at all the symbols. The moment he finished drawing the symbols, Simon began to explain what each of them meant. Some of the symbols were meant for stability while others helped the reanimating process. After showing me five or so symbols, he would occasionally give me a pop quiz to make sure I was remembering what he was teaching. If I missed one of his questions, he would make me take the quiz again until I finally got it. After several failed quizzes, I did manage to succeed. Although this success didn¡¯t help my throbbing head. I was thankful that Simon was here teaching me since he answered most of the questions I asked for him. I learned quite a few things. Some were interesting while others not so much. One thing I thought was interesting was that the design of the symbols weren¡¯t random. They were actually important. If I tried using a different symbol than the one I was supposed to, the ritual I was trying to do would fail. I also learned that these symbols were part of an ancient alphabet that few people knew about. I guess I lucked out with finding Simon in these sewers. I also wondered just how old Simon was. Seeing as how he knew an ancient alphabet, he must be older than I thought he was previously. Hmm. An interesting thought to think about, but I would have to do it later since I had other things to do. Time passed by quickly as I tried drawing the skills from memory. I couldn¡¯t just draw the vague shape of the symbols because it would cause my reanimation to become weaker than it should before. The little lines that I hardly even noticed needed to be there. And if I forgot to add a single tiny line, I was forced to draw the symbol all over again. I knew what Simon was trying to do, but it still irritated me. Who knew he was such a hard taskmaster? I was forced to take periodic breaks in between since my mind could only take so much. It was while I was doing this that I learned just what I had been eating while I was injured. Rats. It wasn¡¯t that surprising since there wasn¡¯t any other meat in these sewers, but it was still jolting. Were the rats even safe to eat? Shouldn¡¯t they carry some type of diseases or something? Although I didn¡¯t know if the rats carried any diseases, I would still be eating them. I didn¡¯t have a choice. Plants weren¡¯t enough to satisfy me with all of the work I was putting my body through. I needed something with a little more oomph and meat did just that. Once the symbols were memorized, Simon helped me understand how the whole necromancy ritual worked. Just putting the symbols on the ground wouldn¡¯t make the ritual work. The way they were positioned factored into the ritual also. The more Simon talked, the more I grimaced. Man, I had been doing the ritual wrong the whole time. I was luck it hadn¡¯t blown up in my face. Simon told me many things like not to make the symbols overlap each other. If I overlapped the wrong symbols I might accidently trap my soul into the corpse. I made sure to listen as he told me what not to do since I didn¡¯t fancy living in the body of the dead rat. After another hour passed by I finally felt confident enough to draw any necromancy symbol by memory. I also knew what they meant so I was beginning to understand just how the necromancy ritual worked. Once were done looking at the symbols, we moved on to the chants. Unlike the symbols, the chants were actually pretty easy to work with. Most of them were essentially the symbols in word form. Half of the chants I didn¡¯t even need! After a long conversation with Simon, I managed to shorten the chants I needed to say quite a bit. Although I was currently able to recite the chant from memory now, I would probably need to repeat it every day in order for it to stick. As I was doing all of this, Viola was doing her own thing to the side. It seemed that she was trying to invent new moves that would help her in battle. At first I assumed she would only be creating wind spells, but that assumption turned out to be incorrect. From the way it looked, she was doing something completely different. I needed to remember to ask her what she was doing when I finished my necromancy training. Once Simon was done teaching me about necromancy, I took a glance at my necromancy level. All of this knowledge that I had gained was bound to be helpful towards my skill level. I could barely wait to reanimate a corpse once I was done training.
Necromancy
Skill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: Rare
Skill Level: 9Exp: 6%
Effect: Allows the user to reanimate dead corpses. The stronger the skill, the stronger the corpse. Certain rituals will change the corpse¡¯s characteristics.
Once I reviewed my necromancy skill, I waited for Simon to speak. It was time to learn about the darkness rune on my spear. AN: Sorry for the delay. I just wasn''t feeling this chapter for some reason. Chapter 33: No Mercy Chapter 33: No Mercy Where is it? My vengeful eyes surveyed my surroundings as I ended the life of yet another foolish rat. This is utterly ridiculous. It must know I¡¯m here. I had been looking for it for days after all. With a shake of my head I ended the lives of all the enemies coming toward me with an electrified air vortex. A loud sigh erupted from my mouth as I rubbed my hair with my free hand. Hmm. I might be in a predicament. Once the battle was over, I had Viola gather the loot into a small pile while I made sure the area was secure. The rats had snuck up on me before while I was looking at some loot. Suffice to say, it was not a pleasant experience. As I listened with my enhanced hearing skill, I thought about my week and a half of training with Simon. The training that I was forced to undergo helped strengthen me quite a lot. The only problem I had with it was that it was considerably exhausting. I had thought fighting with one type of magic was hard, but Simon soon proved me wrong. Telling me to fight a golem without using magic was almost impossible to accomplish. Especially when my best skills had to do with magic. But that wasn¡¯t all! I barely had time to even rest. Simon wanted to get the most out of me in as little time as he could. I was only able to sleep for a few hours a day since the time I used sleeping could be used to train my skills. It wasn¡¯t as bad as it sounds though since my meditation helped with my exhaustion and sleepiness. Soon I wouldn¡¯t even need sleep anymore since my meditation skill basically did the same thing. Once I made sure the area was secure, I walked over to the pile of loot. It seemed that I had received two potions, a mace, and a wooden shield. Pocketing the two potions onto my belt, I grabbed the mace and placed it on the wooden shield. Once the mace was on the shield, I moved both of them to the side and surrounded them in an earthen pillar. After the earthen pillar was done, I moved toward the bodies of the rats. The reason I had left the weapons inside of an earthen pillar was quite simple. I did not possess enough room on my body to carry them. Plus it would weigh me down if I brought every piece of dropped loot with me. Once I was done with my search, I would come back and drag all of the loot towards Simon¡¯s base. The reason for the earthen pillar was to dissuade anyone else from taking my loot. It had happened before and I wasn¡¯t taking any more chances. Conjuring up a wind gale, I forced all of the bodies to move toward me. Although I could¡¯ve just dragged them myself, there was really no point. Why do all that work when my magic could just do it in an instant? Once the bodies were in front of me, I examined each one of them to see how well their bodies were still holding up. Since I hadn¡¯t been focusing on not damaging their bodies, many of the corpses were charred. What could I say? An electrified air vortex was quite a powerful attack against a group of enemies, even if it used up a good chunk of my mana. In the end I chose two berserker rats and one giant rat. Placing them off to the side, I glanced at the other corpses. Although I could still technically use the corpses that were in pieces, I didn¡¯t really want to. If I used mostly intact corpses, my necromancy ritual would go by way faster. Nodding my head to Viola, I turned back towards my corpses as she ate them in quite a gluttonous fashion. Placing the bodies in the shape of a triangle I began to start my necromancy ritual. After a few brushed symbols here and a few chants there, I made a new addition to my group. A reanimated berserker rat. The reason this ritual had gone by so quickly was thanks to both my necromancy training and my level. A high level in necromancy not only made my rituals go by faster, but it also made my corpses stronger and more durable. I could finally tell the difference now that my necromancy level was high enough. Giving my new berserker rat the order to follow me, I continued down the pathway I was on. As I walked I snuck a peak at my new reanimation. The first time I had made one, I assumed it would be useless in a fight. To my surprise, it helped the battles go by way easier. If I wanted, I could even have it fight two berserker rats while I dealt with the rest of the enemies. I had to be careful though because although it could fight two of them, the battle would virtually be a standstill. Now if my berserker reanimation was fighting one on one, that would be a different story. The normal giant rats weren¡¯t a challenge. At all. Even my reanimations could handle them easily. Once electrified wind arrow and they were dead. I didn¡¯t use that method often though since it wasted too much mana. They did make up for this weakness though by swarming me with large numbers. Maybe if I didn¡¯t possess any magic I would struggle. But since I did, it didn¡¯t even make me break a sweat. And even if they somehow managed to attack me, their teeth wouldn¡¯t even pierce through my armor. I could still remember the surprise on their face once they realized there attacks were useless. As I thought about the rats, I kept an ear out for any suspicious sounds. The reason for this was because I was currently searching for the formidable rat that had fucked me up last time. When I found it, I would make sure it knew how much of a mistake it made by attacking me. The only problem with doing this was that I couldn¡¯t find it. For some reason I had the sneaking suspicion that it was avoiding me. I had only been exploring for a couple of hours, but I had killed a good chunk of the rats. Sooner or later we would meet. I just had to be patient. The next hour passed uneventfully until I approached a small room that I almost missed. Hmm, this room seemed quite familiar. Slowing my breathing, I crouched down and approached the doorway as quietly as I could. Peeking my head through the doorway, I took a quick glance around the room. From what I could see there seemed to be ten or so giant rats, four berserker rats, and one formidable giant rat. That had to be the one I was looking for! A grin appeared upon my face as I began to formulate a plan. The past me would¡¯ve charged right in, but thanks to Simon, I had learned the error of my ways. Even if I charged in right now, I would probably still win. But at the cost of more work. Why make it harder for myself when I could just kill most of my enemies with a well-placed trap? Motioning my reanimations to get a good distance back, I came up with a plan. I took a few steps back the way I came and dug my fingers into the ground. Pouring my mana through my gauntlets, I began to manipulate the earth below me. After a few seconds of waiting, chunks of earth began to appear beside me. More and more appeared until I was finally done with part of my pitfall trap. I spent the next few minutes adding spikes and making the trap look like the rest of the earth. If the rats fell into this trap, a good bit of them would die. Even if they didn¡¯t, they would still be trapped. Once that trap was done, I surrounded myself with small earthen spikes. Although they wouldn¡¯t affect me due to my boots, the rats were a different story. Their small little feet would be devastated by these spikes. By the time they reached me, a few hits would be enough to kill them. After I finished making the spikes, I approached the doorway once again. Now I had to figure out how I was going to start off the ambush. Right now it seemed like that rats were taking a break from whatever it was they usually did. Some rats while sleeping while others were just wandering around. There were several ways I could go about attacking, but I wanted to find the best way. Shooting off a water bullet or a fireball wouldn¡¯t work since their skill levels were too low. Running in there wasn¡¯t even an option since that was the dumbest thing that I could possibly do. I would more than likely have to start the power with a powerful attack because I wouldn¡¯t get a chance like this a second time. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. After thinking for a few more minutes, I finally came up with a plan. Peering out from behind my wall, I began gathering mana for an electrified air vortex. This attack would kill most of the giant rats while severely injuring at least one of the berserker rats. The reason I was so fond of this attack was that anything that didn¡¯t weigh a considerable amount of weight would be sucked into my vortex. Once all of the enemies were inside of it, the vortex would burst in an explosion of electricity. If I got lucky it would paralyze some of the rats too. As I was gathering a ball of air, the sound of it began to fill the sewers. The more mana I gathered, the louder and louder it became. While I waited for my spell to finish, some of the rats began to look around curiously. I watched calmly as a couple of rats began to approach my position. They couldn¡¯t see me yet, but soon my position would be revealed. I didn¡¯t have to worry though since my spell would be finished before they saw me. The moment my ball was finished, I shot it off towards the largest group of rats I could see. The results? I didn¡¯t know since I didn¡¯t stay to find out. Turning around quickly, I made my way to my reanimations while I avoided all of the traps that I had placed down. As I ran toward them, I heard an explosion of energy go off behind me. Man, that had to kill a good chunk of the rats that were in there. The next few moments were spent with me waiting for the rats to come chasing after me. They did not disappoint. A multitude of rats swarmed form the doorway and onto the hallway that I was in. Charging up a dark spear, I waited for them to notice me. I didn¡¯t have to wait long. With an angry squeal a giant rat ran towards me. Only to have its feet pierced by my earthen spikes. Not liking the pain, it tried escaping, only to be pushed further onto its spikes by its brethren. Having more numbers than your opponent wasn¡¯t always a good thing. Although the giant rats were slowed down by my spikes, the berserkers were not. With a graceful leap, they flew over my spikes and into my pitfall trap. I watched in amusement as their faces turned from triumphant to shock. Did they really think they were going to get to me that easily? While my enemies were distracted, I launched my dark spear directly at them. Because there were so many of the rats, the tiny hallway we were in was completely filled. This meant that there was nowhere for them to run. The only thing I can say is that my dark spear had quite a fun time in robbing these rats of their lives. Soon there was only one berserker rat and one formidable rat left. Huh, this went a lot easier than I thought it would. I guess Simon was actually right in saying that I should always prepare for a fight when I could. I knew it would make the fight easier, but not this easy. My thoughts were interrupted by the two remaining rats jumping toward me with a synchronized leap. Gripping my spear firmly in my hands, I glared at the formidable rat. It was time for me to get my revenge.
Formidable Giant Rat - Lv.16 Hp: 100/100
It seemed that the formidable rat was a higher level than it was before. Or maybe it was a completely different rat. I couldn¡¯t even tell since they all looked the same. Oh well, either way it was going to get killed. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed both of my reanimations attacking the berserker rat. I didn¡¯t have to worry about them since Viola would have been enough on her own. But now that it was two on one, the berserker rat didn¡¯t stand a chance. Pouring my mana into the ground, I launched several earthen spikes at the formidable rat. With a powerful leap, the formidable rat jumped over my spikes and straight toward me. But that wouldn¡¯t be enough. Raising my left hand towards the rat, I used a wind gale to push it right back onto the spikes. If it didn¡¯t want me doing things like this, then maybe it should think about the way it attacked. My eyes widened in shock as the rat turned around in midair and began gathering mana. What the hell was it trying to do? My question was soon answered by it skin taking on crimson hue. As it fell towards the ground, the muscles in its body began to get bigger while its claws and fangs grew sharper. I also realized that its skin was more durable when my earthen spikes broke against its fur. From the look in its eyes, I could tell it was getting serious. Good. I wasn¡¯t playing around either. In a blur of crimson, the formidable rat vanished from my view. By utilizing my advanced concentration skill I was able to see where the rat was going in slow motion. Thanks to this skill I would be able to tell what my enemy was about to do even if they were faster than me. The only problem was that my body wasn¡¯t faster. Only my mind. As I turned my head to follow my opponent¡¯s position, I began gathering mana in order to launch some electrical bolts. Sensing my opponent behind me, I launched my electric bolts directly at it without even looking. Activating its special skill actually made the battle worse for the formidable rat since I could sense the mana that was surrounding it. Once the electric bolts were launched, I spun around to face my opponent that was still heading towards me. It seemed that my electric bolts hadn¡¯t been as effective as I thought it would be. The only damage that I could see on the rat was a small burn. I would need to do more than that if I wanted to defeat my opponent. The next minute was filled with me avoiding the rat¡¯s attack and knocking it off course with a wind gale. Although it seemed like the battle wasn¡¯t going anywhere, I was actually winning. Even though I only dealt a small amount of damage with each attack, it would begin to add up. Meanwhile the formidable rat had yet to touch me. The only thing I was worried about was that the more damage the rat received, the stronger it seemed to become. It must have something to do with the crimson haze that was surrounding it. Readying my spear, I watched the formidable rat closely. It was no longer trying to jump at me since every time it attempted it, it was met with pain. The reason why I was watching it instead of fighting was that it stopped attacking me. The evil glint that appeared in its eye only made my suspicion grow. The moment my opponent¡¯s leg muscles tense, I directed towards my spear. If it tried charging at me, a dark bolt would be there to welcome it. But to my confusion, it began to spin around like a dog chasing its tail. While I was watching it, I began to notice a long pink thing coming towards me. But even though I could see it coming, I was unable to dodge the attack. I gritted my teeth in pain as my face went through a whiplash like motion. The hell? Did I just get his by its fucking tail? Ignoring the urge to hold my aching cheek, I charged towards the formidable rat. It was time to go on the offensive. Chapter 34: Planning Chapter 34: Planning
Formidable Giant Rat - Lv.16 Hp: 60/100
Tch. Even after all my attacks the formidable rat still had more than half of its hp left. And thanks to its crimson haze it now took less damage than it normally did. Was I worried? Not at all. It would take a lot more than this single rat to make me worried. As I ran toward the rat, I thought about what Simon would do. Unlike me, he would have never charged toward the rat. Instead he would have kept his distance and kept on launching spells. But I wasn¡¯t Simon. I was far too hot headed to just attack from the distance and not engage my opponents in close combat. There was nothing I could do about it. That was just the type of person I was. But even though I was running toward my opponent, it was not like I didn¡¯t have a plan. No, before I left Simon made sure I never acted without a plan. Directing mana toward my feet, I began to quickly circle around my opponent as I laid my trap. To the rat, it looked like I was looking for an opening. But that was not the case. And it would soon found out once I got it in the right position. Baring its teeth at me, the formidable rat glared at me angrily. Since it wasn¡¯t moving, I was assuming it was waiting for me to make the first move. Shrugging my shoulders, I lunged toward the rat with my spear. I didn¡¯t want to disappoint it after all. As it leaped to the side, I tightened the muscles in my hand and swung my spear in the same direction it was avoiding. From the surprised look in its eyes, I could tell that it hadn¡¯t expected me to do that. The only reason I was able to do this slightly complex maneuver was thanks to the points I had put in dexterity. The reason I put some of my points into dexterity was all thanks to Simon. When I was training with my spear, Simon told me that using a spear wasn¡¯t just about swinging and slashing things. Instead it was about control. I needed to know when to lunge and when to block. If I accidently overstretched when I was attacking, my enemy would make sure to take advantage of my mistake. And if I allowed my enemy to take advantage of my mistake, I would be killed. Therefore I always needed to be focused whenever I was fighting with my spear. But even though I caught the rat off guard, I could already tell that it would be able to avoid my spear by twisting its body in an inhumane way. If I tried attempting the movement it was doing, my spine would break. Yet that still wouldn¡¯t be enough to save it from my attack. Concentrating on my spear, I began to pour mana inside of it in order to launch a dark bolt. I managed to time the release of the attack just right so that it would strike the rat directly on its heart. Or at least the place I thought its heart would be. I didn¡¯t really know the anatomy of a right so I was just guessing. With a pained squeal, the formidable rat crashed into the ground from the force of my spell. Directly into my trap. Pushing some mana into the ground, I activated my trap which caused several earthen walls to spring up around my opponent. A few seconds later, the rat was completed trapped inside of my earthen cube. Normally at this point I would sink the box into the ground to kill the rat, but I decided against it. This was the only formidable rat I had seen after hours of searching and I wasn¡¯t about to lose the corpse just because I wanted an easy kill. Crouching toward the ground and digging my left hand in the dirt, I forced several strong vines to spring up from the ground and reinforce my cage. Since I wasn¡¯t that proficient with using plant magic, I sometimes needed to touch the earth in order for my spell to be used to its fullest potential. Once I finished this task, I took a glance at my reanimations to see how they were doing. The moment I turned my head I witnessed the sight of a bloody berserker rat. Not my reanimated one, the one that was still alive. I took the next few seconds to watch the battle so I could see just how strong my reanimations were. There were several reasons why the berserker rat that my reanimations were fighting was getting decimated. First of all were the levels. The berserker rat and my reanimated berserker rat were both level ten. Viola was level fourteen however. This already tipped the scales in how the fight was going to in. Not only that, but when my reanimations fought together, the possessed remarkable teamwork. The only reason I could come up with for this was they were technically connected to each other by their connection with me. Therefore they could sometimes tell what their partner was about to do. Not being able to feel pain also helped too. Nodding my head towards Viola, I turned back to my battle. I could¡¯ve helped my reanimations if I wanted too, but there was no need. They had their situation handled. In a few more seconds, the berserker rat would be no more. Although it had only been a couple of seconds, my earthen cube had several dents in it. I guess it was a good thing I reinforced it with vines. Sensing its approaching doom, the formidable rat was probably going berserk inside of its cage. Trying to find some way to escape. I couldn¡¯t blame it either since there was no oxygen in my earthen cube and the longer it stayed in there, the weaker it became. Normally I would¡¯ve put it out of its misery by now, but I was still pretty irritated with it. These scars on my body wouldn¡¯t just vanish, so it was only right for me to make its death as long and as painful as possible. Right? The only thing I was concerned about was if this was actually the right rat. If it wasn¡¯t, I was just going to have to torture all of the formidable rats until there were none left. The anger in my heart wouldn¡¯t just fade after one death. No, it required much more than that. Around ten minutes later, the battle was finished. I was a little bit disappointed since I thought that getting my revenge would be quite gratifying. But if I was being honest, waiting those ten minutes for the rat to die was just boring. But oh well. I was still glad that it was dead and that was all that mattered. I took the next few seconds to survey my surroundings before I decided on what to do next. The berserker rat was dead, just like I thought he would be. Judging by his missing body I assumed that Viola ate its corpse also. I always tell her to wait to eat them so I could see if I needed the corpse, but she always forgot. I didn¡¯t really mind this time since I now had a good chunk of corpses thanks to the traps that I had laid. Another thing that was nice was that my berserker rat reanimation was still alive. I had already made a couple of them before, but they had been killed in my previous battles. I wasn¡¯t able to make as many reanimations as I would¡¯ve liked thanks to Viola¡¯s appetite. It seemed to me that the stronger she became, the more food she needed to nourish her body. Her appetite wasn¡¯t really a problem now though since these sewers were practically filled with food. All we had to do was find it. My reanimations and I spent the next few minutes gathering all of the loot and all of the corpses. We ended up placing them in two separate piles so I could have an easier time looking through them. As I looked at the weapons I made sure to keep an eye out in the general direction of the corpses. Viola had eaten a few without my permission before, and I fully expected her to try to do it again. The loot I received from the berserker rats and the giant rats were pretty mediocre. I received a few basic potions and some kind of barbed weapon. After taking a closer look at the weapon, I soon realized that it was a piece of armor that was supposed to go on your tail. Seeing as how I was missing that kind of appendage, this loot would go to one of my reanimations. It didn¡¯t even take me a second to decide who to give to. As Viola flicked her newly armored tail sporadically, I took a moment to get a good look at her. Thanks to all of the battles we had fought, I had gained quite a bit of loot. And not all of this loot was for humans. I had gotten some armor that seemed like it would fit rats, and some armor that seemed like it would fit bats. I gave Viola the bat armor I received since the rat armor didn¡¯t have a gap in it for her wings. By doing this, I made Viola way tougher than she already was. It would take a lot to take her down now. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. The only thing I was disappointed about was that her armor was made of bronze. Although I would¡¯ve wished for her to have some steel armor, I already knew how lucky I was to begin with. Just finding armor that fit her was a blessing. Now that I was thinking about luck, my mind automatically went to my luck stat. My luck stat still stood at a zero and I briefly wondered if I should increase it. I did just level up from this skirmish so maybe I should just put points into it. Opening up my status window, I put my points into luck. What was the worst that could happen?
Status Window
NameColm Marythou
Age: 16Race: Human
Level: 15Gender: Male
TitlesThe Peerless Descender, Undead Prophet
Health: 220/240Mana: 95/260
Stamina: 190/240
~
Strength: 10[15]Agility: 30[3]
Vitality: 10[19]Dexterity: 20
Intelligence:30Wisdom:25
Luck:5
~
Skills
Mana Affinity, Mana Sense, Air Magic, Earth Magic, Electricity Magic, Dark Magic, Water Bullet, Fireball, Necromancy, Life Drain, Advanced Meditation, Enhanced Vision, Enhanced Hearing, Advanced Concentration, Stealth, Pain Resistance
Unallocated Points: 0
Once that was done, I resumed my examination of Viola. The only piece of armor she had was a bronze breastplate which size could be adjusted by a series of traps. Although I had some other pieces of armor that would¡¯ve fit Viola, I didn¡¯t have her wear them. There were two reasons for this. One was that she would be slower because of the weight and the other was because of her berserker skill. I did not want her to transform only to realize that she couldn¡¯t thanks to how tight the armor was. After I examined Viola, I moved on to my berserker rat. Unlike Viola, this reanimation had some wounds on it. This was because Viola was fast enough to dodge most attacks and if push came to shove, she could just fly away. My berserker rat however was forced to take the hits like a champ. Which he did. The injuries on his body ranged from small cuts to a big open wound on the side of his leg. From what I could tell, it looked like my berserker got this wound from a berserker rat¡¯s vicious bite. Although my berserker couldn¡¯t feel any pain I would still need to fix the wound up. If I didn¡¯t, it would affect it in the middle of combat. If I was being honest though, I didn¡¯t really need to fix it. I could always make another reanimation to take its place. But I wasn¡¯t going to do that since Viola was going to receive some wounds like this sooner or later so I needed to know how to fix them. Not only would it give me practice, but I would also gain experience for my necromancy skill. It was a win-win situation and all I had to do was sacrifice a little of my time in order to do it. Telling my reanimated berserker rat to stay still, I began to think about how to fix the wound. I didn¡¯t have any thread so sewing it up wasn¡¯t an option. I would more than likely have to rely on my magic to fix up this wound. I just needed to figure out which one. Air magic, electricity magic, and dark magic were out of the question. I couldn¡¯t figure out any way for any of them to be useful. Water magic wouldn¡¯t work because my level was too low and I needed ice magic in order to close any of the wounds. This left me with earth and fire magic. If push came to shove, I could probably just cauterize the wound. I didn¡¯t know how helpful that would be since there was always the chance I might accidently set my reanimation on fire. I hadn¡¯t had time to train my fireball so it was still a little bit unstable when I created one. Therefore my only choices were earth magic or just ask Simon when I got back. In the end I chose to do something with earth magic because there would be a time when I wouldn¡¯t be able to rely on Simon. I needed to start being independent before it was too late. Placing my hand beside the cut on my reanimated rat, I began to slowly conjure some moss from the ground. Once the moss was big enough, I applied it to the wound, covering the sore. The reason the moss was able to stick was because I concentrated on making it have adhesive and healing qualities. Healing wasn¡¯t the only thing my moss could do. I could also poison it in order to damage my opponents. I hadn¡¯t had a chance to use it in battle yet since I never had the right opportunity. After working for a few minutes, my reanimated rat was now covered in various patches of green. When his wounds finally healed, my moss would drop off without me having to do anything. Once I was done working on my reanimation, I moved on to the corpses. A good bit of them were damaged thanks to the harmful nature of my traps but there was nothing I could do about it. The ritual to fuse the bodies would take more time, but my reanimation would benefit from it in the end. Walking closer to the pile, I removed the formidable rat, two berserker rats, and six giant rats. I let Viola devour the rest seeing as how I didn¡¯t need them. Starting with the giant rats first, I grabbed the two highest level ones by tails. I placed both of them in a clear spot a good distance away from each other. I didn¡¯t want to accidently include them both in the same ritual since that would be a waste. Once they were in position, I dragged two of the rats by the leftmost one. Once they were there, I put them in a triangle formation and began to perform my necromancy ritual. A few minutes later and I now had a reanimated giant rat. I did the same thing with the remaining giant rats leaving me with two reanimated giant rats. Once I finished creating them, I gave them the order to follow any reanimation that was a higher level than them. I also explained the hierarchy that they would need to follow, it went like this. They obeyed me first and foremost, then Viola, then whoever was the strongest. I did it this way so Viola or my other reanimations could guide my weaker reanimations in battle. Thanks to my necromancy skill improving, I could now have more reanimations that I could¡¯ve before. Sometimes I wouldn¡¯t be able to give them orders so I needed to have some kind of failsafe. My plan for these two giant rats was to have them fight in tandem with my berserker rat. They wouldn¡¯t have a hard time doing that since that was what they naturally did when they were still alive. This would also allow them to win fights by having more numbers rather than more strength. The berserker rats I had were put in the same ritual shape as the giant rats were. The only difference was that the formidable rat was in the middle. I didn¡¯t want Viola to eat the formidable rat because I thought it would be a waste. Although the formidable rat wouldn¡¯t be as strong as Viola, it could probably beat any other rat in the sewer that I had seen. Plus I would have more reanimations which was always nice. I headed back to Simon¡¯s base around fifteen minutes later. As I walked, I made sure to pick up all the loot that I had been storing away. Waste not want not was the go to phrase. Viola was perched on my shoulder while the formidable rat walked behind me, leading the other rats. I felt a small satisfaction as my reanimations turned to look at me. My army was slowly starting to come together. Soon nothing would be able to stop me. AN: Thanks for reading and special thanks to DLAngel and NuitBlanche for providing some good tips. Chapter 35: Searching Chapter 35: Searching Keeping my ear out for any suspicious sounds, I walked backed to Simon¡¯s base. Normally I would¡¯ve had to make several trips in order to get all of my loot, but thanks to my ingenuity I didn¡¯t have to. All it took was an earthen sled and some vines and I could force my reanimations to do all the heavy lifting. It wasn¡¯t really forcing though since none of them seemed to mind. Even if they did, I would still force them to do it. I had made them after all so it was the least they could do to repay. I didn¡¯t have Viola participate in case I needed her with me to fight an opponent. She would be hard pressed to do that if she was attacked to the sled like the rest of my reanimations. Although the trip was going to take a while anyway, it was taken considerably longer since I had to remember just where I stored some of the loot. It wasn¡¯t my fault though. All of the walls in the sewer looked nearly the same. Yet even though it was going slowly, I still persevered. There was no way I was going to leave some of the loot I had received get stolen by the monsters in the sewer. They didn¡¯t deserve it for one and since humans were naturally greedy I just wanted whatever I could have. I also highly doubted that a giant rat would know how to use a health potion. One thing that I was irritated about though was my reanimations. Although they were incredibly useful, they made my stealth virtually useless. Thanks to my high level in stealth, my steps did not make a single noise. However this didn¡¯t matter when the reanimated rats behind me blundered all over the place. I didn¡¯t blame them though since they couldn¡¯t help it. Some sacrifices had to be made I guess. After my reanimations and I walked for some time, I decided to train some of my magic while I was waiting. The reason I didn¡¯t do it before was because it was too dangerous. Since I was deep in the rats base, there were more enemies there than normal. If I happened to run out of mana, I would be left with only my spear to fight. Although I could still probably win, most of my reanimations would die and I wouldn¡¯t be able to reanimate more because I would still be out of mana. All in all, it just wasn¡¯t worth the hassle. The magic I chose to train in was water magic. Right now I only had water bullet and I wanted that to change. The reason I only had water bullet and a fire ball was because I was lacking a good supply of their elements. Making a small fire ball wasn¡¯t worth the mana cost since there wasn¡¯t a torch or something I could draw the fire from. Air and earth had been easy since they were all around. But now that I was in a place where certain elements seemed to be quite scarce, it was getting quite challenging to train. I could of course just wait until I escape the sewers but I refuted that idea the moment I thought it. Not only was it not my style, but a time might come where I need a certain spell that I could¡¯ve had but didn¡¯t. I did not want to take that chance. Conjuring up water from the air, I began to shape it into the form of a ball. Once that was done, I began manipulating it and changed it into a variety of shapes. Although it wouldn¡¯t help me gain water magic immediately, it would still help. If I kept on manipulating water every time I was bored, my skill was bound to evolve. While I was doing this, Viola turned her head toward me and watched what I was doing very closely. I guess she interested in other magic than the one she normally used. Although time didn¡¯t go by as quickly as I would have liked, it still went faster thanks to my water manipulating. I had managed to create a few new water spells, but they were pathetically weak thanks to their low level. Still if all I had to use was water magic, I was confident that I could at least kill a giant rat. A berserker? Not so much. After around another hour and a half of walking, I walked up to an inconspicuous looking wall. If I didn¡¯t know what to look for, I would¡¯ve completely missed it. But since I did, I was immediately able to spot it. Placing my hand on a section of luminescent moss, I allowed my mana to flow through it. A couple seconds later, the wall parted, revealing a passageway. I had no idea how the whole wall thing worked and I didn¡¯t really want to find out. From the looks of the wall, I could already tell that the explanation for it would only hurt my head. And I already had enough headaches thanks to my concentration skill. As I shuffled through the various pathways, I kept a lookout for a doorway that would lead to the armory. Even though I called it an armory, it was basically a collection of all the loot I had gathered, which had turned out to be quite a bit. If I could figure out how to smelt all the useless weapons I had received down and make an even better spear, I would be satisfied. But since Simon didn¡¯t have a forge and I didn¡¯t know how to smith, the likely hood of that idea becoming reality was slim. A few minutes later I managed to find my way to my armory. Leading all of my reanimations inside, I began dismantling my earthen sled. I also removed all of the vines on my reanimations while I was at it. With Viola at my side, it only took fifteen minutes for me to reorganize everything. Once everything was done, I took a step back to appreciate my work. On the left side of the clearing were my weapons. Earthen shelves helped display intriguing weapons while earthen chests held weapons that would probably never see the light of day. Although I said the earthen shelves displayed intriguing weapons, I didn¡¯t really have any at the moment. But once I got some that I wasn¡¯t going to use, I would put them on display. My earthen chest however was getting pretty full. You¡¯ll be surprised how many rats drop daggers at their loot. Maybe if I used daggers in my fighting style it would be helpful. But since I didn¡¯t, I just had it collecting dust. I did however always keep one dagger on me. This was so I would still have a weapon in case something happened to my spear. A small dagger was way better than fighting unarmed. Besides daggers, there were weapons such as axes, flails, a spiked whip, and some type of spiked stick. I didn¡¯t really know what the point of the spiked stick was since there were spikes all over it. And when I say all over it, I mean all over it. There was nowhere for me to grab it without getting pricked. The name of it didn¡¯t give me any ideas of what it was so I just decided to toss it in with the loot. The more loot I got, the odder they started to become. All the way on the right side was where I kept my pieces of armor I received. I only had a few pieces because armor drops seemed to be rarer than weapon drops. I didn¡¯t know if it was because my enemies were rats or if that was how it was supposed to be. Once I started fighting different monsters, my question would be answered. None of the armor I received even compared to the ones Simon gave me. I had even gotten a helmet that had only one durability. I was only able to wear it for a couple of minutes before it crumbled into dust. Unbelievable. I also got some armor that looked like it could fit rats or some type of four legged animal. I ended up putting the one half-finished set I had on my formidable rat so it would be able to sustain some more damage. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. In the middle of my weapons and armor was where I stored my miscellaneous items. Some of the items I had gotten included books, binoculars, a feather, and a sun dial watch. I was a little irritated with the last two loots because there was literally no point in having them. The one single feather that I had gotten could be used for absolutely nothing. Maybe I could make an arrow with it, but I only had one feather. What could was one arrow going to do me? As for the sun dial, I shouldn¡¯t even need to explain. I hadn¡¯t seen the sun in weeks and I probably wasn¡¯t going to for a couple more. So just like the feather, it was useless. Hopefully I would get better loot in the future. But from what I had already seen, it didn¡¯t seem that likely. After I finished looking over my armory, I headed toward the hot lake to bathe. It did wonders for my sore aching muscles and I couldn¡¯t wait to get in. If you didn¡¯t give your body the relaxation that it needed, it would eventually shut off. That was something I didn¡¯t want happening so I made sure to get a good soak in. Once I was done bathing, I walked over to the main small clearing where I had trained with Simon. Off to the left was a small patch of moss that was soft to touch. The reason this was there was because I wanted something soft to sit on while I meditated. Sitting on cold hard earth got old after a while and quite frankly I was tired of it. But now, thanks to the moss, I didn¡¯t have to worry about being uncomfortable. As my reanimations played around the clearing, I sat down and closed my eyes. Blocking out any distractions I pulled my consciousness deep into the depths of my mind. I felt myself sinking deeper and deeper until I finally opened my eyes to a glaring sun. Covering my eyes quickly, I looked around. It seemed that I was standing on the driveway near my house. Huh, interesting. The reason I could go inside my mind was thanks to my advanced meditation skill. I had gotten this skill by training my meditation skill up to level 10. The first time I had gone inside my mind, I had been quite shocked to say the least. I didn¡¯t really know what to expect from the skill, but this wasn¡¯t it. I had only been to my mind a few times since then, but I had learned a lot from each experience. One thing that I learned was that while I was in my mind, my body naturally restored my health, mana, and stamina without me having to do anything. That was a plus in my book. The second thing that I learned was that there were a couple restrictions set up inside my mind. For one I couldn¡¯t go wherever I pleased. The farthest I could go from my house was two houses down in any direction. If I tried to go any farther, I would lose all the strength in my body and I would be forced to stop. I could get my strength back however by going back from where I came. Another restriction was that I couldn¡¯t forcibly change my surroundings. I had assumed that since this was my mind, I could do anything. I soon found out that that was certainly not the case. All of these restriction left me confused. I had no idea why they were in place and it didn¡¯t seem that I would find out why anytime soon. I would just have to keeping on thinking until the answered just popped into my head. I was in my mind after all. Shaking my head, I began to walk toward my house. I had actually never been in here before so I wondered what it was like. Placing my hand on the knob of my front door, I pushed. But nothing happened. Feeling a vein beginning to pulse in my head, I pushed again only for the same results to happen. You¡¯ve got to be kidding me. The damn door was locked. Shoving my hands in my pocket, I headed toward the back door. This one had better be unlocked. Thankfully when I reached my back door, it was unlocked. Sticking my head through the door, I noticed the eerie silence that perpetuated through the house. Yah, that was pretty creepy. Walking as quietly as I could, I took a glance in my parent¡¯s room to see if there was anyone there. There wasn¡¯t. I spent the next few minutes checking all of the other rooms in the house and shouting my parents¡¯ names. No one answered. Now that I thought about it, I hadn¡¯t seen anyone since I came here. The reason for this was probably because it was my mind after all. So it made sense for there to be only me here. I just assumed it was more like a dream where people come to and fro. I guess not. Opening my cabinet in the kitchen, I grabbed a chocolate bar that was hidden behind all of the food cans. Tearing the wrapper open, I took a big bite. My eyes widened in excitement as the sweet flavor of the candy filled my mouth. I had no idea that I would be able to eat in my mind. I probably still needed to eat when I finished meditating, but doing this would probably help my hunger when I was starving. Once I finished devouring all of the snacks in my kitchen, I headed towards my room. Eating the snacks in the kitchen had given me an idea that I wanted to try. Walking past my open door, I walked over to my desktop and turned it on. Could I still go on the internet? I waited in anticipation as my computer took its sweet time turning on. Moving my mouse to the taskbar, I clicked the Wi-Fi symbol. Hopefully this would work. After fiddling with my computer for a few minutes, I turned my head away in disappointment. Man, I wish I could¡¯ve gone on the internet. It was a shame, but I wasn¡¯t all that disappointed. Even though I couldn¡¯t get on the internet, I could still play some games that were downloaded on my computer. And that it exactly what I did. Now I know I should¡¯ve been experimenting with my mind more, but an opportunity like this didn¡¯t come by often. I hadn¡¯t played a game in weeks. All I had been doing was training and killing. I needed to take a break from it all, and playing games did exactly that. Around three hours later I woke up from my meditative state. Although it didn¡¯t feel as good as a good night¡¯s sleep, it did the job. My headache from earlier was gone and my mind was at ease. Before I left, I grabbed me something to eat. Even though I wasn¡¯t that hungry, I still forced down some of the rat meat. I rather eat right now when I didn¡¯t have an appetite rather than not being able to eat when I did. Normally I would¡¯ve said goodbye to Simon before I left, but I had no idea where he was. Oh well, I would see him later. Turning my back towards the clearing, I headed back from where I came. Right now I was just looking for the rat boss. I would need some type of strategy to beat him, but none of that mattered if I couldn¡¯t even find him. So until then I would just have to keep looking. I would find him eventually. The sewer was endless after all. AN: Thanks for reading!