### Damon ###
Damon grimaced. The pain of the green flames hurt like no other. They didn’t burn; no, they absorbed his life away.
Lucky the goblins themselves didn’t change. Always dumb, reckless, and careless. Their numbers and penchant for chaos made them a formidable adversary. Without those…
What am I doing? Focus.
Sarah’s lightning magic and Agil’s arrows helped alleviate the pressure they experienced. Arthur himself performed the best individually; each thrust reaping the lives of the unfortunate goblins, each swipe repelling them a few steps back. The buff Arthur shared wasn’t a joke.
[Valkyrie’s aura—Increases all physical attributes by 8.]
Green-tinted fireballs took him out of his thoughts. Necrotic fireball. Even if they blocked it-
“SPREAD OUT!” Arthur’s scream urged everyone to scatter.
Grouping up against an area-of-effect spell would be suicidal. Their buffed speed helped the maneuver, but his orders reverberated a millisecond too late. Some heard it and pulled their friends away. Most didn’t. Damon did what he could. The verdant, ghastly radiance swelled as their distance shrank.
Crap.
But the ones headed toward him erupted a second too soon. Something else blocked the necrotic fireballs. Dread painted his face when he thought someone else had taken those deathly magic with their bodies, but when he tugged his shield away…
The skeletons shouldered the fireballs head-on… unscathed.
Undeads… they aren’t alive. Damon couldn’t keep his smile.
Ally or not… Damon was glad the bones were on his side this battle.
### Entity ###
All constructs undamaged.
Frail expected this outcome. He urged his warriors to intercept the necrotic projectiles when he spotted the shaman’s movements. The goblins near him had thinned sufficiently to supplement this maneuver; the mages lay dead, their allies deceased.
The separate flanks converged. Together, Frail led the final charge toward the shamans. With their necrotic projectiles neutered, the alliance broke through the goblin’s final line of defense.
Shamans, like mages, crumbled against any competent melee combatant. The chorus of death and the wails of carnage sang before the ritual site. Both sides suffered casualties—the humans lost a few to the first—and subsequent—volley of necrotic fireballs, and Frail lost two of his rogues when a group of goblins cornered them. They did their jobs against the mages, but Frail made a mistake by sending them a few paces too far.
In the end… the ritual fizzled. Humans panted on the charred floor. All the best men survived, albeit not unharmed. It took Frail a minute before he spotted to the nasty side-effect of necrotic magic affecting the unfortunate humans.
They can’t heal.
“Gather the wounded.” Arthur said as he limped toward his men, “The… shop in the beacon must have antidotes for necrotic poison by now.”
Frail allowed them time to breathe and organize. He had his personal matters to attend to.
The corpses.
How do I transport these goblins back to my domain? It’d take hours to drag all these on his own. He’d dealt with the patrols, so he shouldn’t be interrupted during-
“Which one of you should I talk to?” Arthur’s voice encroached on one of his constructs.
Frail assigned a warrior to approach.
The young man pulled an orb from nowhere and placed it on his warrior’s palm. “Thanks for everything. Some of us would’ve died from the volley of necrotic magic.” He sighed, “We have much to learn. Didn’t expect that element to come so soon. Is there anything else we can help you with?”
His skeleton warrior shook its head. The temptation called out to him—Frail wanted their help hauling the corpses to his domain—yet he wanted to keep his whereabouts a secret…
For now.
They fought together once. Some form of trust had been established. Not complete trust, but enough for both sides to mind their own business.
“I… must warn you: In two days, the goblins will begin their invasion. This… ritual,” He gestured toward the carnage, “-is a means to delay the inevitability.”
Invasion.
“I…” Arthur ruffled his hair, his words clinging to his throat, “No… that will be too much to ask.” He closed his eyes, “Every morning, the goblins send a patrol to raid our home, the beacon. Their… severity compounds every passing day. I assume you’ve dealt with the ones sent this morning? They never reached Haven.”
Frail nodded. He didn’t do that out of the kindness of his heart; the army of goblins netted him an incredulous amount of essences.
“Good to know.” Arthur resumed his speech. “Be safe.” He gave the skeleton an awkward nod and retreated alongside his allies.
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With that, the skirmish concluded with their overwhelming victory.
###
The sky had ruddied when Frail completed transporting the corpses to his domain. The sunset lit the damp leaves and wet trees with the shade of amber.
[You consumed the Entity orb - Construct slots]
[You gained +5 maximum construct slots.]
Frail relished the ecstasy coalescing into his crystal core.
Next… the essences…
And him.
“Wise choice to get all buddy-buddy with them. They’ll rinse you if you antagonize them right away…”
This sweet, sweet stench. Harkon.
The enigmatic individual sat before his domain pedestal, “Arthur… He’s aligned with Valkyrie, the Goddess of Spears.” He said, grinning from ear to ear. “He can help against the invasion… and also, Hecratia’s chosen.”
“Fuck, that smells good.” He hopped to the mound of goblin corpses, then landed on his back, twirling his arms about. “Anyway… Bigger things are on the horizon. If you don’t help those poor, poor men, the invasion will swallow them whole.”
Frail’s skeletons stared at the walking corpse.
“What? Don’t look at me like that… It’s a nightmare invasion. No one lives through those without overpowering strength. In a way, it is kinda your fault.”
My fault?
“Yes. Why do you think the system set the difficulty to nightmare? It’s because you’re in the way.” Harkon flashed an unnatural grin, “You haven’t met their chieftain, have you? He’s strong, I’ll say that much. The scrubs you’ve been fighting? They’re nothing compared to the ones you’ll meet in the invasion.”
Frail never entertained death as a possibility after establishing his domain. The goblins’ threat had soared since their first encounter, but to perish under their hands… it seemed… improbable.
Harkon leaned forward, “I suggest you get tier 2 as soon as possible. That’ll net you the best odds of survival.” He unfurled his bulbous index and middle finger, “Two more days… and their invasion will begin. Remember that. I suggest you take care of their daily patrols in the meantime… and… shall the human ask you for help—which is likely—I’d consider accepting it.”
Harkon rose from his rotting seat, “Oookay. Time to go. Got things to do, places to be…” His eyes popped open. “Oh… I forgot to mention… About that group; expect a surprise visit soon. They’re good guys, trust.” Frail watched his shrinking back as he pranced outside, all smiles and giggles. “Be safe~” His voice trailed into the woods.
Unpredictable and insane… as always.
Frail discarded his words and focused on the present. He worked so hard to drag these corpses for a reason.
[Drain essence]
[You gained 150 essences.] x 58
[You gained 300 essences.] x 8
[You gained 500 essences.] x 6
[You gained 800 essences.] x 5
[You now have 18,570 essences.]
The crystal shivered. This… pleasure, he couldn’t get over.
And he wasn’t quite finished. Corpse extraction came next.
[Corpse extraction complete. You gained 6400 essences.]
[You now have 24 970 essences.]
[Extraction summary]
[58 goblin recruit. Total essence: 2850]
[6x goblin mage. Total essence: 1200]
[8x goblin nightblade. Total essence: 800.]
[5x goblin shaman. Total essence: 1500.]
Twenty-four—no, twenty five thousand. Enough for a core upgrade… and potentially sufficient for a tier-2 construct. He spared no time in opening his upgrade menu.
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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 schema.
-Grants access to tier-2 constructs, if upgraded to level 10.
-Grants ability to furnish and transform rooms.
Costs 20,000 essences.
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So… I’m here. For the longest time, this option felt like a far-fetched dream.
[You spent 20,000 essences.]
[You have 4970 essences remaining.]
[Core upgrade purchased.]
[No invaders found. Domain will be adjusted to suit your new tier.]
His domain pedestal shook—no, his whole domain quaked, its source originating from the domain pedestal. Cracks and fissures formed at the walls and floors, painting dark slashes everywhere his vision lay.
Then… his sight blackened. Waves of euphoria flooded into his being. All his skeletons stood by and watched his ascension without so much as a smile.
A message screen blasted the dark from his sight away.
[Searching for compatible domain types.]
[Compatible domain type found!]
[1. Undead crypt - undead - tier 2]
[Floors: 1 - Rooms: 9]
[Crypt for those who have perished. A forgotten place filled with the souls of those unavenged. Those who dare approach must brave the might of the dead.]
[Domain trait [1]: Buffs all undead construct’s attributes by 20%. Undead constructs regenerate 1% health every second.]
[Domain trait [2]: Locked chamber: All invaders must acquire the key to your domain pedestal from the domain lord before entering.]
A crypt. Regeneration… Eight rooms… The bonuses it provided would serve him well in the long run—a 20% attribute boost and good regeneration. Its second trait served as icing on the cake—another layer of protection would be appreciated.
After this choice, he’d say goodbye to his old stuffy mining shaft—a pity since he’d grown fond of it. Sure, it wasn’t the best place to linger in, but something about the comfort of earth allured him.
[Terraforming initiated.]
A lifting force dragged Frail upward. For a second, he thought he’d ascended to the heavens.
But it stopped abruptly. Frail felt slabs of hard rock jutted from beneath as he noticed space enclosing near where his heart lay. A massive steel object creaked and slammed shut. Frail could only guess what happened—his sight hadn’t returned. His constructs would be rendered to paste with such aggressive transformation, but no messages told him about damages. His constructs all remained in perfect health.
Then silence. Frail only heard the gusts of ghastly breeze, the tongues of lit flames, and the occasional cracks of the rock-slab walls.
[Terraform completed.]
A burst of gray invaded his view.
Long gone were the cavernous, narrow paths, the lanterns, and the cart tracks… Frail floated atop a curved pedestal housed within a giant crystalline skull with a tail behind its cranium.
His constructs stood beyond the door to his pedestal—a massive room with a creaking chandelier on its ceiling, gales pushing through the tiny gaps between the slabs. The door itself—a gigantic, ten-foot twin piece of thick metal, barred any sneaky surprise from relevant parties. It creaked even without any hints of a motion.
Nine rooms in total. One acted as the pedestal chamber. The next was where his domain lord stood sentry, to Frail’s north. From here, two paths led east and west, each a passage to another room at the end. Those led southward to two straight rooms, and those chambers led to the entrance, completing the cycle—a square domain layout with the entrance behind the domain pedestal room.
Except, the entrance wasn’t hidden underground. Frail now resided in a building—a large crypt.