Frail opened the entity upgrade menu.
<table style="border-style: solid" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" width="100%">
Entity upgrade menu - The Forlorn Mining shaft | Entity tier: 1
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
- Internal upgrades -
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Entity core upgrade
Upgrades the tier of your entity core.
- Grants + 10 upgrade slots, +10 construct slots, +2 elite construct slots.
- Opens new upgrade paths and unlocks new construct schemas.
-Grants access to tier-2 constructs, if upgraded to level 10.
Costs 20,000 essences.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Corpse extractor
-Transform unused corpses into essences. Corpses will disappear once extracted.
Cost 1000 essences. 2 upgrade slots.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Construct fabricator - Undead
-Allows construct generation without the need for corpses.
-Grants the ability to dismantle constructs back into essences.
-Grants the ability to upgrade constructs and unlock new constructs.
Grants access to the construct research menu: Here, you can upgrade and unlock additional construct schema.
Recommended.
Costs 500 essences.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Domain lord fabricator
-Grants access to crucial domain lord upgrades.
Recommended.
Costs 5000 essences.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Construct slot upgrade
Increases your maximum construct slot limit.
- Grants +5 construct slots.
Costs 1000 essences. 1 Upgrade slot.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Expensive. Frail''s limited essences limited his options; he could only purchase two upgrades at most. Both research and slot upgrades were helpful, provided he had easy access to easy-to-find essences, and the Corpse extractor would alleviate the burden on his essence supply. The construct fabricator ranked second highest in his priority list… with the absence of his domain lord sitting at first—thankfully, the messages said it’d be free. The Domain lord fabricator, however, strayed too far from his price range.
Frail held on to his essence for now. He’d choose after he studied the layout of his domain.
Five stone and dirt chambers—mostly the latter—spread in a curvaceous line, separated by thin, suffocating passages. They were square, expanding in size according to their distance to the entrance, save for the final one—a spacious, circular room housing the pedestal and his entity core.
What even am I? He knew he wasn’t just a lumbering skeleton now. His once-human mind failed to explain his existence in words he understood. He was… the walls, the skeletons, every inch of the mining shaft, every molecule of dirt, every hanging lantern, every rusted steel beam, anything inorganic existing here… he saw through them all.
In the center of it all, drifting above the pedestal and acting as his heart, his entity core hummed.
He didn’t miss the improvements of his cognizance. Before he placed his core above the pedestal, he operated within a torpor of inhumanity; thoughts were fleeting, flickering between insanity and mild coherence. But he still wasn’t a human. Parts of what made a human, human, remained absent.
Did it matter? He did not care. He had other problems to solve.
Regardless of his goals, Frail must fix his domain lord issue before anything else.
[Domain lord not found!]
[Domain lord does not take up a construct slot.]
[Select one of the following:]
<table style="border-style: solid" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" colspan="3">
Skeleton Commander (Shielded) (Sword)| Domain lord
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" width="33.3333%">
Construct Level: 1
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top" width="33.3333%">
Integrity: 100%
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top" width="33.3333%">
Type: Undead
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" colspan="3">
Attributes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Strength: 30
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Dexterity: 6
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Resilience: 20
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Resistance: 12
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Magic: -
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" colspan="3">
Traits / Skills
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Skeletal Body
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Undead Veil
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Commander’s aura
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Deadly charge
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Warrior’s standard (D)
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top"> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
[Commander’s aura: Grants all undead constructs in the same room +3 strength, +3 dexterity, and +3 resilience.]
[Deadly Charge: Blitz forward in a straight line, dealing damage along the path.]
[Warrior’ standard - Domain skill: All weapon strikes of constructs within the domain, ranged or melee, receive a 20% damage buff. Spawns 5 (D)skeletal warriors that are leashed in the floor the domain lord is assigned to. They do not count toward the construct limit. They retain all your skeleton warrior upgrades. Constructs respawn in one day upon death when your domain is not under attack.]
[Domain skill only affects the floor the domain lord is assigned under.]
<table style="border-style: solid" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" colspan="3">
Construct - Skeleton Warrior (Shielded) | Combatant | Tier - 1
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" width="33.3333%">
Construct Level: 1
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top" width="33.3333%">
Integrity: 100%
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top" width="33.3333%">
Type: Undead
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" colspan="3">
Attributes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Strength: 10
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Dexterity: 3
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Resilience: 8
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Resistance: 6
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Magic: -
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" colspan="3">
Traits / Skills
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Skeletal BodyYou might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Undead Veil
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Bone’s bulwark
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
[Bone’s Bulwark: Passively provides +10% physical damage resistance. Reduces blunt damage penalty by +10%.]
A strong option from the get-go. Simple and effective.
Skeletal warriors were straight upgrades to the wanderers, bigger and better in every way. Its trait also relieved the skeleton’s biggest weakness: blunt damage—though, not by much. All in all, he saw no reason to skip this one.
<table style="border-style: solid" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" colspan="3">
Skeletal Necromage (Staff)| Domain lord | Tier 1
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" width="33.3333%">
Construct Level: 1
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top" width="33.3333%">
Integrity: 100%
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top" width="33.3333%">
Type: Undead
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" colspan="3">
Attributes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Strength: 2
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Dexterity: 3
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Resilience: 15
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Resistance: 18
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Magic: 30
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" colspan="3">
Traits / Skills
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Skeletal Body
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Undead Veil
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Death bolt
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Ghostly shield
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Necrotic presence (D)
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top"> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
[Death bolt: Launches a bolt of death, dealing pure necrotic damage.]
[Ghostly shield: A layer of ghostly aura protects the domain lord from all types of harm. Shatters after taking (1x magic) damage.]
[Necrotic presence - domain skill: A layer of necrotic shield protects all constructs, reducing damage from all elemental attacks by 30%. Spawns 5 (D)skeletal rogues that are leashed to the floor the domain lord is assigned to. They do not count toward the construct limit. They retain all skeletal rogue upgrades. Respawns one day upon death when your domain is not under attack.]
[Domain skill only affects the floor the domain lord is assigned under.]
<table style="border-style: solid" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" colspan="3">
Construct - Skeleton Rogue(Dagger) | Combatant | Tier - 1
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" width="33.3333%">
Construct Level: 1
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top" width="33.3333%">
Integrity: 100%
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top" width="33.3333%">
Type: Undead
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" colspan="3">
Attributes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Strength: 5
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Dexterity: 10
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Resilience: 6
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Resistance: 6
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Magic: -
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" colspan="3">
Traits / Skills
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Skeletal Body
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Undead Veil
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Concealed strikes
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
[Concealed strikes. Attacks on unwary targets deal an extra 50% damage and stun them. Rogues are invisible at a distance if they are clad with darkness. 20% Dexterity is added to the total damage while concealed.]
Magic and subterfuge. Frail paused and gave the second option thought. The idea of death magic evoked the depictions of green-tinted energy bolts. Riveting… but is it better?
The rogue’s attributes boasted blazing speed compared to its warrior counterparts. Concealed strikes paired well with the darkness present in the entire domain. However, if he chose to go with this, he would lack bodies to barricade his opposition from advancing. The rogues lost most of their strength once they initiated their assault, unlike the warriors, who served a better purpose of maintaining their formation and lasting longer in fights.
Both choices came with their own set of advantages. The commander would buff all his constructs with additional stats and damage; the Necromage provided defenses against elements and possessed unique magic.
But… Defenses against… what? Frail’s core craved safety. He didn’t know why, didn’t understand why, but he knew that he must. It wasn’t a feeling; wasn’t a sensation, his mind simply prioritized that above all else. He didn’t fear… so why the urgency?
No use rationalizing that. Right now, Frail was hapless. And that must be solved.
Frail purchased the construct fabricator upgrade. His crystal hummed with power.
[Construct fabricator, purchased. You spent 500 essences.]
[You have 1250 essences remaining.]
[Construct fabricator menu:]
[- Generate construct]
[- Upgrade construct]
[- Refund construct]
[- Unlock construct]
He went through the list of options, starting from the bottom.
<table style="border-style: solid" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" width="100%">
Construct unlocks | Tier - 1
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
- Skeleton rogues (Humanoid) | Tier 1 - common | Cost: 300 essence, 2 construct slots.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
- Skeleton warriors (Humanoid) | Tier 1 - common | Cost: 300 essences, 2 construct slots.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
- Skeleton archers (Humanoid) | Tier 1 - common | Cost: 300 essence, 2 construct slots.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Rogues… archers… Warriors. A basic subset of combatants.
[To unlock the higher tier versions of your constructs, you must upgrade your entity tier and level the construct by multiples of ten. Then purchase the associated fabricator upgrades.]
[Construct gains level upon certain upgrades.]
[You can only upgrade constructs once you unlock them.]
If he wished to go the rogue or warrior route, he must pay a lot more.
Next. Refund constructs. He had half a mind to refund the remainder of his goblin constructs.
[Select the constructs you wished to refund.]
[Skeletal wanderer: 50 essences.]
Fifty essences barely scratched the amount he wished he had. He kept that in mind and proceeded to the construct upgrade menu.
[Construct upgrade menu.]
[Skeletal wanderer cannot be upgraded.]
[You have no access to other constructs.]
As he expected. Wanderers had no access to upgrades.
Frail had never been outside, but he knew something would poke their heads in at some point. His past foray into the caves hinted at what encounters awaited.
The goblins. The humans. The lurchers. The beast. The last two types he had fought and had learned from. Frail shifted his gaze to the lifeless skeletons. Bows, blades, and spears. Would it be safe to assume that these would be the ones that threatened his livelihood?
Narrow corridors and small rooms funneled invaders into a single line, rendering large, long weapons a clumsy tool within that space. If he wished to utilize the full strength of the skeleton’s numbers, then it would be best to focus his defenses in a single room… at least, until he had sufficient numbers to spread them apart.
Then his gaze stopped at the clubs held tight within the goblin’s grasp—blunt damage.
In that case… he needed shields to shoulder those assaults. The skeleton commander had great odds of overcoming that disadvantage. Rogues fared the worst after their initial attacks—warriors would not. Magic could come later. As of now, he had to contend with the immediate threat brooding beyond the bright veil of the outside.
Shield and volley of arrows. His entity crystal brimmed with power as he finalized his decision. Simple.
[You spent 300 essences.]
[Skeleton archer - unlocked.]
[You have 950 essences remaining.]
Then… the domain lord.
###
A tall, stout skeletal knight scrabbled out of a blob of unknown, radiant material, its limbs and torso clad with stained iron, wielding a dark-iron tower shield and a hefty longsword. Stains of rust streaked its equipment.
The skeletal commander stood two heads taller than the human wanderers, tripling the height of the goblins. Twin horns jutted out of its stained, derelict helmet, curving upward. Hints of a ringmail peeked underneath its dense chest plate, layering over its ivory bones—a monster of its own right, a construct worthy of its lord title.
Five globs of liquid light materialized behind the commander and morphed into human-sized constructs. Five skeleton warriors, clad in armor not too dissimilar to their commanders, albeit thinner and less grand, with more holes where one could slip a dagger through. Their shields shadowed half the length of their torsos, their blades tapping on their edges, geared to strike at any moment’s notice. Tough, Frail said to himself, confident of their mettle.
Their numbers grew to thirteen in an instant. Pairing them side-by-side accentuated the differences between a wanderer and the warrior constructs. Frankly, it wouldn’t be fair to call them the same unit—one side looked like peasants, and the other, actual soldiers.
Archers and ranged attacks presented options that complemented his formation well. The arrows might not be fatal—but tenderizing his invaders would be sufficient. With the narrow passages funneling their invaders into lines, having bows on the other end guaranteed free damage.
The only downside? Price and slots. Archers and warriors take two slots instead of one. He needed north of 900 essences to fill the rest of his slots with archers.
Frail ordered his most wounded goblin skeleton and two non-spear-wielding skeletons to approach.
Refunding them would free up enough slots to fill his ranks with his desired formation.
Refund…
A globe of green ooze enraptured the silent party. Their bones corroded and hissed, holes poking through their white exterior as they sank into the floor as white foam.
[You received 150 essences.]
[You have 1100 essences remaining.]
[Generate construct menu.]
[Tier 1 - Skeleton Archer(human) | Costs: 300 essences, 2 construct slots.]
900 essences later, three skeleton archers took their place.
[You have 200 essences remaining.]
<table style="border-style: solid" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" colspan="3">
ENTITY STATUS - FRAIL | Class : Undead
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" width="33.3333%">
Core Integrity: 100%
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top" width="33.3333%">
Essence: 200
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top" width="33.3333%">
Upgrade slots: 3/5
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" colspan="3">
Construct slots | 0/10
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" colspan="3"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Masteries
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Traits
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Skills
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Bone construction - 1
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top"> </td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Raise construct - Undead
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top"> </td>
<td style="vertical-align: top"> </td>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
Essence Drain
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-style: solid" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" colspan="2">
CONSTRUCT MENU - Used slots: 10
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top" width="50%">
4x Skeletal wanderers (Varied)
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top" width="50%">
3x Skeleton archers
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top">
5x (D)Skeleton warriors - Domain locked
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top"> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>