《Wars, Massacres and Undeads》 Teaser - Chess White. White all around you, in every direction. It''s all you can see, there is nothing else. Except there is something else. At first, you didn''t notice them, as they were just a blur, but then your vision cleared and you were able to distinguish them. Two figures, sitting on the ground, facing each other with a chess board in the middle. They were... playing chess, obviously. They still had to notice you, so you observed them. The first was clearly human. You''ve seen a lot of average people, the type that was kinda hard to remember because of their lack of distinguishing features, but this one beat them all. He was the most normal person you had ever seen, normal face, normal clothes, normal build, normal everything. He was the definition of average. While the other... well, it was like looking at a blue blaze, moving and reshaping without ever stopping. It was strange to look at, disturbing even. Then, you had the impression that the flame turned towards you, and someone spoke.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. "Ah, there you are! Sorry, I didn''t notice you!" A look of confusion appeared on your face. After all, a blue flame just spoke to you. It wasn''t exactly normal. "You''re probably wondering why you''re here, eh? Well, I could tell you, but then it would become a mess to explain." The thing stopped talking, seemingly deep in thought. "Yeah, let''s do this: I will now tell you a story, and then I''ll make it clear, what is your role in the great scheme of things. How about it?" You nodded. Or at least, you tried. You didn''t actually have a head with which you could nod; or a body, for all that matters. The fact that you didn''t freak out surprised even you, but then again, it was probably because of all the fictions about reincarnation and such that you read on RoyalRoadL. The flame started speaking again "Right, how rude of me, I didn''t even introduce myself. I am the Author. Or, at least, a medium which the Author communicates trough. You can call me a god if you want. You wouldn''t be the first." And then, he started narrating, while also continuing his game of chess... Chapter 01: Idyllic... Our story is about the life of a young human girl, and her idyllic life in her village. Her name was Elena. She lived a fullfilling life, having fun with her friends, playing the games kids usually play, helping out her parents in the camps, listening to the stories her old granny told her. Stories about knights in shining armor that saved princesses from their kidnappers, fought against greater evils and saved the world. At the age of 12, she was pretty much ready to claim her own class from the village chief, and becoming an active member of the community. Some years later, she would have married, have kids and live an happy life until she died. Then, her kids would have reapeted this process, until the end of times, in the endless cycle of life. Or, that would have happened if her village was able to pay taxes and the king didn''t decide to raze her village to the ground as an example. Long story short, her parents were slaughtered, together with all the people from the village, and she was forced to run, so to escape the destiny of all the women that were taken alive. Rape. An idyllic life, as I was saying. She ran into a forest nearby, hiding from the searching parties the shining knights that had fun dismembering her grandma sent after her. POV CHANGE ¨C Elena She ran, stopping only to eat berries and edible roots, drinking water and taking a shit. She was lucky that gr- they teached her to distinguish between edible plants and poisonous plants. She would have probably been dead by now if she didn''t know. The first day was the worst. She never stopped running, tears streaming all over her face, making it harder and harder to see where she was even going. She could hear them, shouting all over the forest, searching hrr with their dogs, the same that tore apart the youngest children... The threat of being captured, and of what came after... it never really left her. Finally, she entered the thickest part of the forest, where they couldn''t follow her because of their larger bodies. There was always the danger of being killed by monsters, but it was still better than... that. A few days later, she knew she lost them. She couldn''t hear them at all anymore, so she slowed down and searched something to eat. She luckily found a torrent, together with enough plants to recover all that she lost because of the tears, sweat, shit and piss. ... and she also took some time to make a bath with the cold, freezing water of the stream. Then, she finally got some sleep. On a tree. She wasn''t so stupid as to get asleep on the ground in the middle of a forest filled with god knows what kind of monsters. It was a disturbed rest, the kind where you wake up every few minutes because you are going to fall from the tree you are sleeping on. The next day, she resumed her march. She couldn''t stop now. Even if the soldiers weren''t following her anymore, she had to get out of the forest, no one survived more than a week inside of that hell. She was already lucky enough that nothing had attacked her yet, she wasn''t ready to challenge her bad luck once again. So, I jumped down from the tree and started walking again. Three days later of walking barefoot (her shoes were lost long ago), eating berries and the impending danger of a monster attacking, she was finally out of the forest. More or less. She arrived at the feet of a small mountain, surrounded by the forest for as far as her eyes could see. She had no choice but to go around it, hoping to find a way out. No way in hell she was going to traverse a rocky mountain, filled with sharp and pointy rocks barefoot. So she walked. And walked. And walked some more. Until, in the wake of the next day, she found a cavern. Or more like an abandoned mine. There were a couple rusty picks outside, mostly broken and almost useless, and a small hatchet in the same conditions. She picked the axe up, it would obviously become useful for her self-defence if she didn''t die before having a chance to use it. Then, she entered the cave. It was a straight tunnel right into the heart of the mountain, that went on for approximately half a kilometer. Before reaching the end, she counted six holes that departed from the main road, but even after checking all of them she found out they were only small rooms, probably where the miners had found a vein of some minerals and had decided to dig some more. Along the tunnel, every fifty meters or so, there were thick wooden pillars, probably there to prevent a cave-in. The strange thing was that while the tools outside were rusty and ruined by time and weather, these normal looking wooden pillars were in top condition. But she wasn''t an expert, so she kept walking on.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. At the end, she entered a large room, the largest one yet. It was a strange room, definitely not something you expected to find in an old mine. On the right side, was a small library, just a couple of shelves really, but a real mine of knowledge for a village girl who had seen only a couple of books in her entire (short) life. On the left side, was something that looked far more normal for the little girl. A small table with a single chair, something resembling a kitchen with the appropriate utensils (in top notch conditions) and a small single bed. And, at the other side of the room, was something resembling a laboratory. Three table accosted with all sorts of things on top, test tubes and the likes you would find in a chemistry laboratory. She obviously didn''t have the slightest idea of what all that was, but she knew it was made of transparent glass, something worth its weight in gold. She neared the tables on the other end of the room, and on top of them found two books that made her eyes widen in surprise. They were skill books. Skill books. Something every kingdom sought after, depending on the kind of skill you could learn from them. Most contained normal and common skills like Swordsmanship or Farming, which everyone could learn with little training. But then, there were the ones that could teach you things like Earthquake, a powerful Earth type spell, and things changed. Kingdoms broke into war to obtain those, cities were razed to the ground to obtain them, chaos was ensured. And, she had found two. And, she didn''t hesitate a moment to use them. She didn''t forget. She wanted revenge. And for that, she needed the power. How could she not have come to that conclusion sooner? They have to die. All of them. A grin covered Elena''s face, and she activated the power of the books. [Rare Skill obtained! Analyze-Self] [Uncommon Class obtained! Necromancer] Her grin spread even wider. A rare skill and a Class Book. Eh, not bad. How many would have died in the war that would have ensured to take control over these treasures? She was a hero. Not. A mad laugh escaped her lips, and she lost herself to the euphoria. "Activate skill: Analyze-Self" her voice came out harsher, broken by her crazy giggles. But it didn''t matter, the skill worked anyway. [ --- Status Screen --- ] Name: Elena | Class: Necromancer ¨C Apprentice | Level : 1 Condition: Fine [ --- Stats --- ] Str: 5 | Cos: 5 | Dex: 8 Int: 7 | Wis: 6 | Per: 7 [ --- Skills --- ] Common: Basic Farming III | Reading II | Writing I Uncommon: Raise Lesser Undead I [Lesser Zombie] Rare: Analyze-Self [ --- End of Status Screen --- ] Chapter 02: Cockroaches! A couple seconds later, a new understanding of what were undead and of what a necromancer was supposed to do with its power filled her brain. She shook her head, trying to clear it of a light headache that came with the flood of knowledge. Now she knew that she had to do, in order to obtain power. She would need corpses. Mounds of them. After all, she couldn''t raise undead from the dust, or at least not zombies. So, she decided to get out of the cave, maybe try to hunt some of the weakest animals and raise the from the dead. She was about to turn around, towards the entrance of the room where she found the laboratory, when she heard something moving, a sound like a lot of tiny legs skittering on the ground. She spun around and saw the cause of the sound. A giant cockroach, as big as her torso, was nibbling on a book, seemingly not having noticed her yet. She took a fighting stance with her hatchet and started circling the cockroach, still intent on consuming the precious piece of paper. Then, suddenly, the roach turned and spat a ball of goo towards Elena, who dove out of the way. She didn''t know if the saliva of the monster would be dangerous, but she definitely didn''t want to find out at her own expense. As soon as the spit hit the ground, it started to sizzle revealing it''s hidden acidic trait. Then, the cockroach skittered towards Elena, and before she could move out of the way it jumped on her and forced her to the ground. It tried to take a bite out of Elena''s arm, but she managed to get her hatched in the way just in time, and after a couple of rolls on the hard ground of the cave together with the roach, she managed to push the beast away from her. It had tried to keep Elena in its grasp, and so its legs had dug a couple shallow gashes on her arms and sides, but she was otherwise uninjured. She approached the roach, who ended up falling on it''s back and was still trying to get back up and raised the arm which still grasped her weapon. Then, she brought it down on the head of the disgusting thing. But it still moved. So, she brought it down again, and again, and again, until its head was reduced to a squishy mush. All the while, it''s acidic juice splashed all over her, hurting her skin and melting her clothes, even if it''s effect was diminished because of all the green blood of the insect. Still, she didn''t stop, until it stopped moving after an unknown number of times she brought her hatched down. Then, she collapsed, covered in green blood and acid, her hatched a melted mess. She woke up some time later, her arms feeling like she spent hours hacking away at a tree. Still, she picked herself up and was forced to notice a couple disturbing details. First, she slept in the middle of a pool of blood. That couldn''t be good for her skin, considering that it was also mixed with acid. Then, there was the fact that she slept huddled to a dead, decapitated cockroach. That... she would die before she had to tell anyone about it. Last, she stank. A lot. Even more than the time she rolled herself in the mud with the other kids and then ended up in cow''s shit. Even more than the time she helped her granny cut those really stinky herbs. Even more than the time- that time... She had to stop and brush away the tears that were forming. There wasn''t time for that. She had more important things to do. First of all, she had to take a bath. Fast. She was about to get out of the cave when she remembered she was completely defenseless. So she went back towards the kitchen and took out the biggest knife she could find, which was about the size of a short sword from her point of view. Everything was looking forward to her to take a bath when suddenly, she heard a familiar sound. Things were skittering, just outside of her front door. And then, two cockroaches as big as the first one she killed appeared. They also didn''t seem to have noticed her, so they immediately jumped into the pool of juices she slept on. She considered her options before attacking them recklessly. She most probably couldn''t take on two of them at the same time... not alone. She grinned, looking over to the dead roach just a couple meters away from the new threats. Then, she started chanting.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. "Stir from your eternal sleep to serve your new master: Raise Lesser Undead!" [ Acidic Roach has become a Zombie. Because of the type of Undead, they will receive a malus in all Stats. Because this is the first Zombie you raised this month, it will receive a random appropriate Skill and will grow in size ] [ Acidic Roach Zombie obtained an Uncommon Skill: Acid Spring ] The newcomers turned towards Elena and tried to run towards her, but they were pushed to the side by the headless carcass of their comrade. The zombified monster then proceeded to vomit a fountain of acid from its neck, covering them and making them shriek in pain. Elena ran towards the nearest cockroach and thrust her knife in it''s weakened abdomen, killing it. Then, together with her new minion, they took out the last one. She then tried to turn the cockroaches they fell into zombies but had to stop after she reanimated the first one because the skill stopped working. Worried she may have broken her class, she brought up the Status Screen. [ --- Status Screen --- ] Name: Elena | Class: Necromancer ¨C Apprentice | Level: 1 Condition: Battered | Mana: 3/17 (7 Mana/h) [ --- Stats --- ] Str: 5 | Cos: 5 | Dex: 8 Int: 7 | Wis: 6 | Per: 7 [ --- Skills --- ] Common: Basic Farming III | Reading II | Writing I Uncommon: Raise Lesser Undead I [Lesser Zombie] Rare: Analyze-Self [ --- End of Status Screen --- ] No, everything was alright, she was just out of mana. She breathed a sigh of relief. Then, the first cockroach she defeated, the one without the head, turned around and went on the far side of the room, in a corner and started covering himself in some kind of filament it produced from its rear. She guessed it was... well, she didn''t really know, maybe it was something Zombie Roaches did? She couldn''t care less and left it at its shenanigans. She had a bath that waited for her and needed someone to guard the cave, so it was a win-win thing. But, she brought with her the other zombie roach and her knife (which didn''t melt this time around) and got out of the cave. The sun shined overhead and blinded her for a second, but after the blindness passed she was able to enjoy the fresh air, after being inside the damn cave all that time. Until a boar charged towards her. Chapter 03: Bath~ It painfully slammed into her, sending her flying back into the cave. Fortunately, she somehow managed not to get gutted by its tusks. She stood back up, her stomach protesting at the motion because of the hit and threatening to made her vomit what little remained of it. At that moment, her zombie roach engaged the boar from behind while it was about to start another charge. Unlike its older brother, it lost the ability to spit acid because of the transformation, but it could still deal some damage thanks to its pincers and sharp appendices, but it was still too weak to threaten the larger and stronger animal, so it turned around and pushed the roach back. Still, that was enough of a distraction for Elena to climb up the boar''s back and pierce it in the back with her sharp knife, spraying blood all over the place. The boar, on the other hand, started squealing in pain and run in circles, shaking its head trying to get rid of the human on top of it. After a couple shot''s though, she managed to sever the boar''s spine with a clear hit, and in turn, the animal crashed to the ground, dead. Elena slid down from the boar''s back and sprawled to the ground, exhausted. Then, she ordered the zombie roach to drag the body inside the cave, so as secure the meal from predators and not attract them near the cave. Though, with all the blood it was probably useless. Then she moved into the forest, decided to find a stream or a puddle to clean herself and what little remained of her one-piece dress. After a couple hours of walking through the forest, she managed to find a small stream running through the trees, so small she almost didn''t see it. Forming a cup with her hands, she drank some water, what with all the fighting she had done that day that made her really thirsty. Then, she took off her dress, slipping off the one shoulder strap that remained, and started washing it thoroughly, trying to make the green and red stains of blood disappear. She didn''t have much luck with that, so she gave up and lay it on a branch nearby. She proceeded to wash; the hairs were the worst part, encrusted as they were with blood and grime, so much she even considered to just cut them off. But then again, she always prided herself of her long, straight and raven-black hairs, so she decided that was another thing she would have to live with. She then had to wait for her dress to finish drying up, which was pretty annoying because of the cold. She couldn''t help but shiver in the cold air that passed through the trees. She was so focused on the cold, that she didn''t notice the roach approaching her, so when she did, she almost reached for her knife. But she stopped when she noticed it was just one of her zombies, that somehow managed to locate her. How did it do that? Did they always know where she was? That was... creepy, to say the least. After a few seconds of thinking, she ordered the roach to turn around, facing away from her. It wasn''t a pleasant though, knowing that a giant cockroach was peeping at your half-naked form. A few more minutes of awkward silence passed, with the minion staring at nothing in the forest and its master staring at its back. Then, having decided she had enough, she put on her now dry dress and went back to her cave. She had marked the trees with her knife on the way in, so it wasn''t too difficult to go back. Once she arrived at the mouth of her new lair, she took a deep breath, regretting her choice to live in the cave for the time being. The place was damp, dark and quite scary. Also, she was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic. Obviously, she didn''t have any other places to pick from, so she was stuck with this as a temporary solution until she could come out of her hiding hole with a big enough force to take revenge by killing those who ordered her parents and friends slaughter. It was only obvious in this world. The strong killed or governed the weak, and the latter could only despair. Or he could work himself to the bone, suffering every day, until he could become the strongest. Then, he would be able to kill and order around those weaker than him. She entered her new home, filled with thoughts of revenge and despair, and made her way up to half of the tunnel. Then she had to stop. Her way was blocked by two acidic roaches. "Again?" She muttered, her voice low so as not to alert her new neighbors. She was now more pissed than scared of the pests now, wondering where they were coming from. Then, something else appeared. It was a bigger version of the roaches, almost two times as big in fact. It towered over them, and she somehow recognized it. It was the first one she defeated, the one which had its head turned into mush, and that was now somehow back in one piece. She guessed the cocoon it had covered itself in before she left for her bath was to thank for its increased size and sudden regrowth. Her minion charged to the two new roaches, smashing the head of the first with a leg and slamming the other into the wall. Then her other minion joined in, and they were quickly disposed of. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Elena ordered her zombies to take the new catches to the main room and then followed them, happy she didn''t even dirty her washed dress. Once they arrived there, her minions put the dead roaches together with the other insect and the boar, and went still, waiting for new orders. She commanded the biggest one to go guard the entrance, while she made the other drag the boar over to the kitchen. It had a really nice setup, completed with a stove, a two meters long countertop and all of the utensils she could ever need to cook. There was also a fire striker in one of the cupboards, and a pile of neatly arranged logs near the stove. She then tried to lift the board over onto the countertop, but even with the help of her new helper, she wasn''t able to lift it up. In the end, the bigger one had to come over and lend a hand, after which they managed to accomplish the task rather easily. That being done, Elena proceeded to skin the boar and remove the guts, which she fed to her minions (who knew, even zombies could eat). She wasn''t much of a cook, but she knew something about skinning and cooking. She then cut the different parts, so to be able to fit them on the grill over the stove and started cooking them. Finally, she had something decent to eat for dinner, instead of the berries and roots she had been eating for the last week or so. While she was cooking up the boar, turning the meat over once in a while as to not let the bottom part burn, she reanimated two of the acidic roaches and was rewarded with new notifications. [ You Leveled up! ] [ Your Skill -Raise Lesser Undead- Leveled up! ] Grinning, she called up her status screen. It was nice to be rewarded for her efforts once in a while. [ --- Status Screen --- ] Name: Elena | Class: Necromancer ¨C Apprentice | Level: 2 Condition: Bruised | Mana: 20/20 (7 Mana/3h) [ --- Stats --- ] Str: 5 | Cos: 5 | Dex: 8 Int: 7 | Wis: 6 | Per: 7 [ --- Skills --- ] Common: Basic Farming III | Reading II | Writing I Uncommon: Raise Lesser Undead II [Lesser Zombie] Rare: Analyze-Self [ --- End of Status Screen --- ] As expected, there wasn''t much in terms of rewards for her first level up, only three more points of mana. But it was enough, it wouldn''t do any good being greedy at this point. Also, her mana refilled with the coming of a new level, so she could raise the last of the roaches to add to her growing army. It wasn''t really much in terms of power, a couple Bronze class adventurer could probably take her on without a problem, but it was enough for now. The first batch of meat was ready, so she took it off the grill and put on a plate. It was just a leg, but it was more than enough dinner for her young, small self. The remaining she would smoke, so as to delay the spoiling of the meat. She was about to dig in when she heard a low rumbling coming from the entrance, and an alarm coming off from her minions. So, she picked up her big knife and turned around, advancing towards her minions standing alert. At last, she saw them. A flood of roaches was flowing in the tunnel from one of the side caves, slowly but surely advancing towards her. Chapter 04: Swarm As soon as she saw them, she ordered her zombies in formation at the entrance, placing the biggest one in the center so as to create a choke point. She wasn''t a Tactician, but she was able to guess as much. Then, she took place behind the defense line, waiting for the attackers to crush into her force. She probably miscalculated something, because while they were able to prevent most of them from passing, some were still able to slip trough. So, Elena found herself surrounded by four of the roaches, far more than what she would be able to handle alone. She could call one of her other minions back from the blockade, but she knew that would defenitly spell their doom, they were already in difficulty and she felt that some of them were on the brink of death. It was only thanks to her monstrous zombie roach that they were able to keep up. Thanks to its doubled size it could spew acid twice as much as it did before, melting two or three of the living roaches at a time and effectively keeping them at bay. But going back to her current predicament, she decided the best solution would be to break towards where her minions were making their last stance, going back to back with them so as to prevent the roaches from attacking one of them from behind. So, she ran towards the lone roach blocking the way and jumped over it, leaving a shallow but long cut over its back using her knife. She landed where she meant to be and started the real fight. It was a long night, though you couldn''t really see the time passing inside of the cave. Elena fought for her life, fending off multiple opponents at a time and receiving multiple cuts from the sharp appendaces of her enemies and some burns from the acid that was continuosly spat towards her. She wasn''t sure how much time passed or how many roaches she fended off, but at a certain point everything went still and she had somehow learned another skill. [ Common Skill obtained! One-Handed Combat I ] The tunnel''s floor was covered in acid, green blood and dead roaches, both melted off completely or just a bit. After a quick count, she found there were seven bodies in good enough contitions to be able to do anything with them, and another fifteen that were just mush. Also, only her biggest zombie remained, even if he was also quite battle worn and... spent. She ordered it to eat up the melted roaches and she started dragging the other seven in her cave, so as to bring them back to unlife. She was able to resurrect three of them, before she was emptied of mana... [ You Leveled up! Because you reached Level 3, you have been awarded with a Mind Point ] ... or so she though. Thanks to the level up, all of her mana was restored and she also received a Mind Point, which could be used to raise either Intelligence, Wisdom or Perception. She promptly put it into intelligence, raising her total mana by five points. She then proceeded to resurrect another three roaches to add to her minions, leaving only one she would have to raise later, when she recovered enough mana. And, as if the new skill and level up wasn''t enough, another one of her skills reached a new level.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. [ Your Skill -Raise Lesser Undead- Leveled up! You may now raise the living in the form of Lesser Skeletons ] That made her really happy, almost enough to make her forget the battering she had been receiving just a couple minuter earlier. After all, she was leveling up both in skills and class levels at an astonishing level! It usually takes a week or two to raise the level of a skill from I to II, and even more time for the successive level and so on. But she was on a roll! Also, the third level of Raise Lesser Undead granted her the ability to raise a new type of undead, skeletons! This kind was as common as zombies to find, but were slightly sturdier and defenitely more agile than their rotting counterpart. Finally, they didn''t stink as much, which was always a gain. Thanks to the knowledge granted by the level up of the skill, she also knew she could order her zombies to strip themselves of their flesh, effectively becoming skeletons, but even if the cost in mana was minor than creating them from scratch, she still didn''t have enough. Also, she would leave her biggest zombie as it was, because it would probably lose it''s ability to spit acid if it transformed. After finally eating her cold dinner, she went over to the tunnel, her minions leading the way towards the side room from which the roach flood had emerged. Sure enough, once they arrived, she couldn''t help but notice the big hole on the opposite side of the entrance. It defenitely wasn''t there when she last checked these side rooms. She would have noticed something this big, ominous and completely covered in acid. Alas, she couldn''t do anything about it now. She either moved out of the cave or went in and discovered where these roaches where coming from. And so, she did the only logical thing. She checked her status screen, took a deep breath and together with her minion dived into the dark, dark hole. [ --- Status Screen --- ] Name: Elena | Class: Necromancer ¨C Apprentice | Level: 3 Condition: Battered | Mana: 5/25 (7 Mana/3h) [ --- Stats --- ] Str: 5 | Cos: 5 | Dex: 8 Int: 8 | Wis: 6 | Per: 7 [ --- Skills --- ] Common: Basic Farming III | Reading II | Writing I | One-Handed Combat I Uncommon: Raise Lesser Undead III [Lesser Zombie, Lesser Skeleton] Rare: Analyze-Self [ --- End of Status Screen --- ] Chapter 05: Hive Looking back at it, she should have guessed it wasn''t exactly a brilliant idea. Who in their right mind would go spelunking in a cave that just a few minutes before spewed a swarm of giant cockroaches that could spit acid? But maybe she wasn''t in her right mind... Still, she could at least have brought a torch. The thing was, over the walls of ''her'' cave grew a common breed of moss, which glowed in a faint blue light, but still enough to illuminate the darkness of the tunnels. Here, there was none of that. The walls were covered by another kind of green moss, which while it still glowed it wasn''t bright enough to let her see her surroundings. Also, the entire cave system was a labyrinth, though her minions somehow remembered the way back, so that wasn''t a problem. The other thing which bothered her was the amount of insects that crawled on the floor and their gigantic counterparts. She had been attacked by at least another handful of acid cockroaches, a couple of nasty paralyzing centipede (though their venom didn''t work on her zombies) and even an earthworm as big as Elena. Luckily the worm didn''t have any kind of natural weapons like the roaches and centipede, and it was also kinda slow, so they butchered it quite easily. She had been at it for what she assumed were a couple hours, and so after defeating two centipedes that had tried to ambush them from a side tunnel, she decided it was the right moment to take a break. She tried to raise the newly killed centipede as skeletons, but to no avail; maybe it was because they were insects? Or maybe they were too low leveled to qualify as materials? She didn''t know, so she simply made zombies out of them, and by checking her remaining mana trough the status screen, she discovered she still had two points remaining. The cost for raising zombies went down, which was good for her future plans. After the short break, she continued the exploration of the tunnels. A while later the place started to change, both in shape and inhabitants. The tunnel widened even further, bringing it at least three meters wide, and she didn''t cross paths cockroaches, centipede or earthworms. Instead, she was greeted by swarms of ants. They weren''t as big as the other insects, they barely reached the size of Elena''s head, but they were much greater in numbers and viciousness. Also, they slipped trough her minions more often, threatening to bite her flesh off with their small but voracious maws. Together with her minions Elena fend off dozens of the ants, before she reached the end of a tunnel, where she immediately noticed a door. A door! Not even her cave had one, and here she found a door in good conditions! As soon as she grabbed the doors brass handle, the ants stopped pursuing them and retreated back in the tunnels. Breathing a sigh of relief, she entered the room, leaving most of her minions to guard the outside and bringing with her only one of her centipede. She soon found out that was a good decision, as the room was pretty small and couldn''t possibly hope to house her and all of her minions. She looked around the room, surprised to find that only a writing desk, together with a chair and a small wooden chest were furnishing it. On top of the desk where a couple books, which she would gladly add to her collection... which she still didn''t have time to look trough. She made a note to do that when she got back. She went over to the chest and immediately opened it, eager to discover which treasures it contained. Looking back at it, that had been a really bad idea. As soon as she lifted the lid, a black liquid was sprayed all over her face, rendering her blind for a few seconds. She was able to remove the liquid from her eyes, though she was still shedding tears, both because it went directly in her eyes, and also because of the smell it emanated. After she was able to see again, she looked inside the chest, more warily now, and found that a single, small ring was resting on the bottom. She picked it up, and carefully put it on. She watched the ring sitting on her finger, wondering if it had any magical properties when a though that was not hers crossed her mind. Empty. And then, she realized what this small treasure she found was. A spatial ring. An object enchanted so as to be used as inventory. You could store great amounts of things inside the enchanted tool, and not feel the weight of it, at all. It was a great item, that only nobles and rich merchants could afford, and she had found one in the middle of anything.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. She immediately willed all the objects and furniture in the room to go into the ring, so to test how much it could store. Then, after some though, she had her minions help her unhinge the door and she took that with her too. She resumed the exploration of the cave, with the purpose of finding other treasures. Elena took the habit of gathering the corpse of every monster she found and killed, and kept going, slowly descending into the depths of the earth. In between all that, she had reached the second level of One-Handed Combat, and the fourth level of her class. This brought her total mana up to 28 and her mana regeneration to 8 points every three hours. In the end, she reached a wide room, the biggest one she had found yet. As she entered, she noticed it was filled with small white larvae, and there were a lot of ants moving them around. At the other side of the room was another ant, much larger than the rest. This one was twice as big as Elena''s centipede and was busy giving birth to larvae and being fed by the other worker ants. As soon as Elena and her minions were spotted, all of the workers in the room stopped whatever they were doing and moved towards them, rushing towards the invaders. Elena ordered her zombies in a semi-circular formation and waited for the approaching wave to reach them. Then, her biggest roach spat at them, killing ants in the tens, while the smaller ones killed off the ones that managed to evade the acid. One of the centipedes jumped in the fray, writhing its body in sinuous waves and killing a handful of ants at a time with its sharp legs. The other centipede Elena kept near her, to act as a sort of bodyguard. Then, the Queen acted, probably recognizing the intruders as a threat and started advancing towards the undead that threaded in her home, closely followed by twenty or so ants that were quite bigger than the others. By then, only Elena''s biggest roach and her two centipedes remained standing on her side, but at the same time only the Queen, her guards and a couple of the normal ants were still alive. While Elena finished off the last of the normal ants, her centipedes engaged the Queen guards, and the remaining colossus of a roach (which she promptly named Ro, because the Author was growing quite annoyed of calling it ''the biggest roach'' every time he needed to put it into action) smashed into the ants Queen, engaging her in melee. At the end, only Elena, Ro, the Queen and a mangled centipede remained on the battleground. Ro had suffered quite some injured, having most of its legs ripped off from its body, though it still managed to melt off half of the Queen''s face. Elena too had been injured in the battle, but she still managed to circle around the two insects, still battling in the middle of the battle site and climb on the Queen''s back. From there, it was like a walk in the park. A really dangerous walk, that could probably cost you your life if you just so slightly slipped, but... she was still able to pierce the monsters back a few times and make it drop dead. As soon as she touched the ground, Elena, a notification told her that her class got to level five, and she got a new Mind point to spend, which she promptly put wisdom, so to raise her mana regeneration. It didn''t go up by much, but even that single point every three hours could make a difference. Then she resurrected the Queen, and as many of her guards as possible. She ordered her injured minions to eat some of the corpses, which seemed to have a healing effect on her zombies before, and in the end, she had Ro, the centipede, the Queen, and five of her guards. [ --- Status Screen --- ] Name: Elena | Class: Necromancer ¨C Apprentice | Level: 5 Condition: Battered | Mana: 1/31 (9 Mana/3h) [ --- Stats --- ] Str: 5 | Cos: 5 | Dex: 8 Int: 8 | Wis: 7 | Per: 7 [ --- Skills --- ] Common: Basic Farming III | Reading II | Writing I | One-Handed Combat II Uncommon: Raise Lesser Undead III [Lesser Zombie, Lesser Skeleton] Rare: Analyze-Self [ --- End of Status Screen --- ] Chapter 06: Preparations She explored the caves and tunnels system some more and came to the conclusion that it was divided into at least three different zones. The first one started from the mine, and included the zones where the giant roaches, caterpillars, and earthworms appeared, the second area started where the first one ended, and went on to the room where she found the Queen. Lastly, she found a lone tunnel, where no ants could be found prowling around and which Elena supposed presumably led to a third area. She didn''t go on checking this last tunnel though, she decided it was time to go back to her own lair, to rest and eat something. At least six hours passed from her last meal, and counting two hours were necessary to go back, she would be pretty hungry by then. So, she took off towards her mine, guided by Ro and her other minions. As soon as she reached the exit, she went off to check on the butchered boar, to find that it had long since started to rot. This she had expected, as at least nine hours had passed since the animal had died, but it was still unfortunate, she would have to go hunting for something else, and if she wasn''t able to catch anything she would have to rely on her gathering skills. Not literal Skills, just... ah, who cares? She hastily put the pieces of carcass together, and then tried out the incantation the precedent level up of the Raise Lesser Undead had imprinted in her mind. "Get rid of your mortal flesh and raise once again from the eternal sleep, prepare yourself to serve your new master: Raise Lesser Undead!" [ Boar has become a Skeleton. Because of the type of Undead, they will receive a malus in Strenght, Intelligent, Wisdom and Perception. As this is the first Skeleton you raised this month, it will receive a random appropriate Skill and will grow in size ] [ Boar Skeleton obtained a Common Skill: Bipedal Affinity ] As soon as she finished chanting, the flesh melted, revealing yellow bones that then rattled and moved, coming together to form the complete skeleton of the boar that once tried to kill her. Then, the bones started to enlarge and some changed their very shape, creating a two-meter tall skeleton that stood on two legs, its back hunched forward. If an expert adventurer saw the thing, they would think that someone had raised the bones of a small minotaur without horns, as that was what it resemble now more than a boar. But Elena had never heard of, even less seen a Minotaur before, so she paid it no mind and decided it was just due to the skill it had gained and the growth bonus. Unfortunately, even though its shape resembled that of a human, it still had hoofs instead of human hands, so Elena couldn''t give it some kind of weapon to swing around, increasing the damage it would do to her foes, but it would probably be able to tackle them. So, after that was done, she set off to the forest, followed by only her new creation and leaving the others to guard the cave. After an hours or so of wandering in the forest, she managed to reach the stream where she last had a bath and flung face first in the flowing waters. She was thirsty, and rightly so. After drinking up as much as her stomach could handle, she tried to put some water in her storage ring. Surprisingly it worked, and when she checked it says she had ''4 liters of water'', but she didn''t understand what that meant. She was able to count up to quite big numbers, as everyone was required to learn basic math to understand how their skills and basic stats went, but she didn''t know what a liter was. In her village, they used buckets and canteens as the units to measure the quantity of a liquid. For now, though, that would remain a mystery, she just didn''t have time to figure it out as she was quickly becoming more and more ravenous. She waited for the numbers to reach the fifties and the departed to search for something to eat. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.During her time wandering through the woods, Elena managed to gather several plants, berries, and some roots, as well as catching a bird by throwing rocks at it. It had taken some time, trying, again and again, to struck the few birds that landed on the branches in her line of sight, the few that weren''t scared by her or by the skeleton''s presence, but in the end, she managed to get one. It was almost evening by the time she once again arrived at the mine, and as soon as she was ''home'', she went over to the kitchen and cooked up the bird, spicing it with some of the herbs and roots she had gathered. Then, finally, she ate. Before going to sleep, she gave instructions to her minions and took out from the spatial ring the books and the furniture she had found in the dungeon, minus the door. There weren''t hinges where it could be put, and it would be inconvenient to just lay it on the entrance. Then she went off to sleep, waking up to scream every so often and babbling incoherent phrases in her own nightmares. She woke up late in the morning, her back screaming in mild distress because of the bedding and her eyes red. Today she decided they would go once again in the underground tunnels, exploring what was further in after the ant''s nest. This time, however, she wisely thought it would be a good idea to go scavenging for some food to eat during her exploration before they dived in. So, the rest of the morning was dedicated to hunting and gathering food. She came back with enough berries and roots to last her a couple days, together with some small critters which she would have to cook before departing. Before getting to the cooking though, she decided it would be a good idea to resurrect some insects she had stored from the day before. After some thinking, she settled on raising six Stone Centipedes, as they seemed to be the strongest individuals she could get her hands on for now. Obviously, as she couldn''t seem to be able to make skeletons out of the insects, they all became zombies, though to her delight they were still able to push her to the fourth level of the skill. An hour and a half later, having done all of her cooking chores she stood in front of the entrance of what she had come to call a ''Dungeon'', though she wasn''t sure it was one. She shrugged, another thing she would figure out as time passed, and checked once again the list of things in her ring. Corpses: 152 Giant Ants 21 Acid Roaches 10 Stone Centipedes 4 Giant Earthworms Provisioning: 64 liters of water 1 cooked rabbits 3 cooked birds Herbs (i) Berries (i) Tools: 6 Cooking Knifes (i) 4 Pickaxes (i) She had made some discoverings regarding her ring. First, she could divide things up in categories, which made organizing her things so much easier. Then, some of the things she put in the ring were automatically grouped together, and by focusing on the (i) icon, it would show her more detailed information, like the condition of the object etcetera. But enough of that. She stepped forward, deeper into the Dungeon. Chapter 07: Spiders and Power Plays It took a couple hours, but at last, she arrived at the deepest point she had dived to the day before. Before arriving at the entrance of the tunnel, she had to go through where she had defeated the Queen and it seemed that the death of the ant''s leader helped more than what Elena had expected, in terms of getting rid of the pests. The territory the ant''s nest had occupied quickly became deserted, and soon the other insects became interested in claiming it as their own. Now, a long tunnel, a bit wider than the others she had walked in, stretched before her up till her eye could see. Which wasn''t all that much, considering there was very little light in the tunnel. They walked for a couple hundred meters, the longest tunnel to last that long without a single side tunnel interrupting the straight passage, and finally arrived in a large cave, even larger than the Queen''s nest. The walls of the room were completely covered by thousands of webs, some not even reaching the size of Elena''s hand, others so large that they could have contained the Queen and Ro together while leaving some space. Hundreds of tiny spiders were tending to the cobwebs, consuming some unlucky insects that got stuck in the sticky strings, unable to free themselves and at the complete mercy of the arachnids. Other, bigger spiders were patrolling the room, walking around on the ground or on the ceiling, making sure nothing threatened the smallest of their own, while some spiders of seemingly different species were fighting in what seemed to be a turf war. In fact, it appeared the cave itself was divided into four small territories, defined by the kind of webs that covered the ground and crawled around. The right side near the entrance where Elena and company came from, the ground was covered in thick, milky white webs, while the spiders themselves were at least three meters long, black in color and could shoot long strings of the sticky substance to the other spider species that threatened its territory. There were six such titans defending their own territory, though they didn''t seem to be interested in attacking the other territories and just kept to their own. She named these the Titan Spiders. The opposite side was covered in cobwebs glowing in a fluorescent green, and the spiders were much smaller, coming around a meter and a half and light green in color, almost transparent in the darkness of the cave. Still, they numbered in the tens and seemed much more aggressive than the previous specimens, always on the warpath. Also, their fangs and webs probably had some kind of venomous effect, as those who were touched by them seemed to experience intense pain and slowly died. These she decided was going to be called Poison Spiders. On the right side, after the first spiders described, hundreds of small, twenty centimeters long green arachnids were trying to push back their neighbors and conquer their territory, without much luck. The rocky floor they walked on was covered in nondescript webs, similar to the ones normal spiders made. These she named the Critter Spiders. The last corner was occupied by thin black spiders, around a meter long and numbering in the tens, who made blackish webs which seemed to merge with the darkness of the cave itself and released some kind of dark smoke. These, like the first ones, didn''t seem to be too interested in starting a campaign and kept to themselves as long as no one disturbed them. They would be called the Dark Spiders. At last, was the center of the cave, occupied by a small hill covered in grass, on top of which sat a ten meters long spider, completely white in color, which seemed to be completely detached from the fight going on all around it. It didn''t move, seemingly asleep. This she would call the King. Also, she didn''t notice it at first, but it seemed like for each territory, there was a tunnel in the wall right behind it, from which every so often spiders would come from, to join their brothers in the task of defending their precinct or fight to gain terrain. Elena thought for a while, trying to come up with a strategy to continue. It seemed that, as long as she didn''t cross the entrance, the spiders wouldn''t mind her presence, so entranced in their fight as they were. Willingly to sacrifice one of her own for the sake of science, she ordered one of the Queens guards to invade the territory of the Poison Spiders. It complied, and as soon as it passed trough the boundary, it was attacked by the much larger spiders and torn to pieces. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Before it died though, Elena had the opportunity to note that it wasn''t affected at all by the poison of the spiders, as expected of undead. Also, neither the other factions nor the King took notice of the event, and none tried to go trough the entrance to investigate where the ant came from. After some thinking, she had some form of strategy down. She decided she would start by conquering the Poison Spiders territory, as their poison didn''t pose much of a threat to her undead, and though they outnumbered them they were smaller than Ro, the Queen, the skeleton or even the Centipedes, so they were on par in terms of power. Also, she wouldn''t have to worry about attacks coming from the rear, as the Titan Spiders didn''t seem like they would try to take advantage of her attack and come in to take the territory from under her feet. The rest of her undead (namely, the Queens guard) would stay with her, cleaning up the glowing cobwebs as she couldn''t touch them and to defend her from stray spiders. She waited a couple minutes, looking for a moment of distraction in her foes relentless patrols. Finally, she spotted a breach in their border and ordered her undead to attack. As planned, all except for the Queen Guards assaulted the unsuspecting defenders, while the others started munching on the webs, quickly opening a safe path for her to traverse. A couple of times, some of the Poison Spiders managed to come near her, but fortunately, they were low in numbers and the Guards were enough to keep them at bay while Elena delivered the final blow. This happened enough times for her One-Handed Combat skill to go up to level III, earning her a point in Strenght. Some minutes in the fighting, they had managed to push back the Poison Spiders by little less than a half of their total territory (also freeing the space of webs) and killed around a third of the spiders. This didn''t come without losses, three of the centipedes had died and Ro had sustained many injuries, forcing Elena to order its retreat. As she didn''t want to lose her advantage, she decided it was time to add some of the spiders to her army. At first, she thought of creating zombies out of the corpses, but then something convinced her to at least try and raise them as skeletons. And, surprisingly, it worked. She only managed to raise one single skeleton and a zombie, but it seemed enough to continue the attack. The skeleton forced its own flesh out of its appendages, its entire exoskeleton lost color, gaining a bleached white color and it also grew a few centimeters, which was a nice surprise. Finally, they managed to push back the Poison Spiders in their tunnel, completely freeing the area of their presence. At the end of the battle, Ro had recovered enough to join her forces once again, and it seemed it added that small bit they needed to gain the advantage, breaking the stalemate. Looking around, a quarter of the enormous cave was now under her control, and almost completely free of the poisonous webs. She had decided to leave a strip of three meters large terrain covered in them, where her new territory met the other spiders, to act as a boundary of sorts. Fortunately, both her neighbors and the King seemed to be completely disinterested to her, so an invasion wasn''t a concern, but she still took precautions. Her next move would be to clear out the remaining Poison Spiders, and then move on to the next kind. [ --- Status Screen --- ] Name: Elena | Class: Necromancer ¨C Apprentice | Level: 5 Condition: Battered | Mana: 0/31 (9 Mana/3h) [ --- Stats --- ] Str: 6 | Cos: 5 | Dex: 8 Int: 8 | Wis: 7 | Per: 7 [ --- Skills --- ] Common: Basic Farming III | Reading II | Writing I | One-Handed Combat III Uncommon: Raise Lesser Undead IV [Lesser Zombie, Lesser Skeleton] Rare: Analyze-Self [ --- End of Status Screen --- ] Chapter 08: Elia It took her a whole day of continuous fighting to vanquish the Poison Spiders, and free that side of the tunnel system from the vicious beasts. The battle had continued uninterrupted since she set foot on the tunnel entrance, which apparently connected the spider''s hub to the Poison Spider''s nest. The thing which prevented her and her minion''s swift victory was the size of the tunnels. They were narrow and incredibly long, so only one of Elena''s could walk in at a time, and that brought her and the spiders at a stalemate in different occasions. Luckily, the spiders came at her in small groups, not taking full advantage of their numerical superiority. In the end, she only had to get trough three main rooms in a row, all connected by a single tunnel, so she didn''t have to worry about getting stabbed in the back. In her efforts to conquer the Poison Spiders nest, she, unfortunately, lost all of her four centipedes but managed to raise nine Poison Spiders undead, two skeletons, and seven zombies. She paused for a second to consider the power of her minions. While in the tunnels, the boar skeleton, ''Rao'' showed pretty good skills at fighting individuals or small groups of enemies, thanks to his strength and resistance, all the while punching the heck out of the spiders that stood in its way. ''Ro'' seemed to be more effective used on large numbers of enemies, thanks to its Acid Spring skill, big frame, and high vitality. The Queen was quite versatile but was weaker than the previous two because of her ''Jack of all trades'' style. The centipedes stood their ground to the Poison Spiders zombies on a one vs three matches, but were on par in power with the skeleton variant, while it took four of the Ant Guardians to stand a chance against the zombie variant of the Poison Zombies. Satisfied with her considerations, she considered the room she was in now. It was the farthest away from the King''s room, where she had killed the last of the Poison Spiders. There was nothing in other than cobwebs (which her ants had mostly removed), some stalagmites and stalactites common in every cave, and a single pedestal. On top of it was a silver colored bracelet, glowing in a light-green color. Elena had one of her minions go fetch it for her, not because she felt lazy, but in fear of there being some kind of trap ready to spring into action if she took the object. As soon as it came back to her, she took it and put it on, eager to see if it had any kind of effect. Which it did, in fact. As soon as she wore it excruciating pain passed trough her whole body, almost making her faint. Which would have been bad, seeing how the ground had started to tremble and the cave was undergoing a cave-in. In the midst of her own personal hell, she managed to scream to her minions, who were busy inspecting the ceiling up to that point, to carry her the fuck out. As soon as one of them took her up, she fainted. [Uncommon Skill obtained! Poison Resistance] -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Stolen story; please report. Elia ran, as fast as his legs could carry him. He ran, barely dodging the dense trees which made up the fucking forest. But why was he running? Well, let''s start from the beginning. Elia grew up in an orphanage, as many did in the Krul empire, thanks to the various war being fought all over the continent. As so many kids became orphans, there weren''t many resources for kids like Elia, who was the son of a common Soldier, and so her grew up in a rough world. To add insult to injury, Elia was born thinner than most boys, with lower strength and constitution than most, so he was often bullied by his peers. Until he turned twelve and he was given a class. As most kids do when they grow up in an orphanage, Elia decided to go for the Priest path and with some luck learn some Healing skills to help the ones who were injured in the war. Never would he have thought that the Cleric class would have appeared in his list of choices. Clerics were a rare variant of normal Priests, with heightened healing powers and able to cast powerful blessings and barriers. They were prized by the various religions, as only a Priest every five thousand could become a Cleric. The same was true for the religion order who managed Elia''s orphanage, the order of the goddess of Nature, Melia. So, when the High Priest of the order heard that Elia''s first class was that of a Cleric, it was decided he would be trained by some big shots Paladins, something unheard of. Elia was really excited at first by this new opportunity that was being presented to him. He saw it as a blessing of the goddess herself, something to be proud of. Or so he thought. After some months passed, with him being pulled around in various noble''s courts and such, he began to realize he was simply being used as a tool to increase the order fame. Though, the training was the real deal. In just a few months he managed to get to level seven, which while it wasn''t the fastest possible as he didn''t have real life-threatening injuries to deal with or monsters to fight, it was still average. All in all, if he ignored the plots to use him and the looks of envy he received every time he crossed eyes with another member of the order, life was good. So, why was he currently running like a mad man in the middle of nowhere? Going back a couple of days, the Paladins that were part of his escort decided it was time for him to confront with real monsters, so they brought him near the edge of the Forest of Remains. The forest was deemed as one of the most dangerous parts of the country, but that was only true if you got into its depths, the outskirts it were a well-known training zone. Unfortunately, that day there was nothing for them to catch on the edge of the forest, so one of the paladins insisted they tried to go just slightly deeper, as to not let the time they spent searching go wasted. In hindsight, that was a really bad choice. Soon after they entered the dark side of the canopy, they were surrounded by a trio of land wyverns, vicious agile monsters which were as big as a full grown bull. While the Paladins were indeed some of the strongest members of the Order of Melia, they couldn''t hope to be a match for Wyverns, so they quickly got slaughtered. As for Elia, he managed to snatch an enchanted dagger from them and then scrambled away, hoping the beasts were too busy devouring the Paladins to care for scrawny him. Fortunately for him, they didn''t try to catch him, so he managed to run away. And now he was lost. He ran for hours, in fear of there being something else other than the Wyverns trying to catch him, and finally, he managed to get out of the forest. Or so he thought at first before he realized it was only a clearing with a small mountain in the center. He tried to get around it, but he was too tired to continue walking and decided to crawl in the first hole he found. Chapter 09: Delving with Friends is more Fun! Elia stumbled trough the tunnel, one hand on a wall to keep him from falling. He was exhausted, after more than half a day of running without a break, so much that he might faint on the spot. Eventually, he reached the end of the tunnel, which opened in a big circular room. The place was furnished like a normal home, a kitchen in a corner and a living room on the other side. But, before he could enter, he froze. It wasn''t much the realization that the cave was filled with some kind of undead insects, but more the sight of the girl sleeping in their midst that made him stop in his tracks. She wasn''t a breathtaking beauty per se, though she wasn''t ugly at all, even if you didn''t ignore all the scars and badly bandaged injuries. She was rather... plain, but the aura of death and decay that she exuded made her quite daring, like a forbidden fruit. Dark, long hairs flowed down her body, like a shadow wrapping around her, covering what her white dress would not cover anymore. It seemed that she had ripped the hem of her skirt to make the bandages that covered her, but was starting to run out of cloth. Elia gulped, trying to break the trance he had somehow entered, and focusing on more important facts. After all, she seemed much younger than himself, so... The girl woke up and proceeded to lift herself from the ground, while Elia started to panic, though he himself wasn''t sure why. Then, she slowly turned around and looked straight into his eyes with her own. Deep, dark wells of blackness stared right at him, likely trying to rip his soul out of his chest. Then, after a couple of seconds, that felt like minutes but could have as well been hours, she spoke. "What the fuck are you looking at?" She woke up, pain still making way trough her body from the damned bracelet. By the looks of it, her minions somehow managed to get her out of the dungeon in one piece and brought her to her lair. When she turned around, she found a guy staring at her. So she started staring at him in kind. After some time, she gently asked him what he wanted, to which he replied with a stuttered "Ah... erm... do- do you need some help with your... um... wounds?" Elena looked at him, slightly confused at what he said. Fortunately, he seemed to understand her confusion and spoke again to clarify. "Ah, yes, you see, I''m a Cl- Cleric... yeah." "A Cleric? Like a Priest?" Elena asked, still not sure if she understood. "Yeah, something like that..." he answered. After some discussion on the difference between Priests and Clerics, he offered his name and started to treat her wounds, chanting some kind of prayer to a certain ''Melia''. Her bruises, gashes, and even scars disappeared, and her Status Screen seemed to agree that she was ''Okay''. Also, she took the damned bracelet off, because it was starting to itch like hell and it was really annoying. When he was finished, Elena took some steps back and introduced herself in kind.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. "My name is Elena, these are Ro, Rao and ''Queen''" she said, pointing to her minion, to which she added, "I''m a necromancer, by the way." Elia raised an eyebrow but didn''t seem otherwise surprised. Which wasn''t too surprising, Necromancers were still beared with by most nations, unless you didn''t go around killing innocent people or ravaging cemeteries. They sat on a chair each and started sharing their experiences. Though it still pained her to think about her parents and friends, she was done with grieving and her thoughts went only to revenge. When they were finished, Elia spoke first. "I- I''m not sure what to do now. I''m not strong enough to venture out into the forest alone, and I wouldn''t even know in which direction to go. I was already lucky enough to survive long enough and reach this place, I don''t want to defy Fate again so soon." Elena quietly debated as well over what he just said. Then, she had an idea. "You could help me in the Dungeon" she said. "Wha- in a dungeon? Me? I don''t want to die!" he answered, shocked she would even suggest something like that. Dungeons were incredibly dangerous, even to highly trained soldiers, and even though Elena assured him that she could ''manage the scariest'' no problem, he still wasn''t sure. "My undead will protect us," she said, trying to convince him. Healers were a must if you were going to explore a dungeon. "Uhm... alright then... but at the first signs of a problem, we scram, okay?" "Agreed" And so, the human duo, followed by a procession of undead, entered the dungeon together. Elena decided to start small to show him the ropes, only going as far as half the first zone, where the Acidic Roaches, Centipedes, and occasional Earth-Worm crawled and crept around. At first, he wasn''t all too keen on making contact with the monsters and stayed quite a distance back, but when he was ambushed from a stray Centipede he decided to stick with the rest of the group, actively joining the battle on some occasion with the enchanted knife he got from one of the Paladins. It wasn''t anything special, just a normal steel knife enchanted with a durability enchantment. She had to admit it though, he was pretty useful. Thanks to his healing, she could cast aside all caution and give all of herself to the fighting, sure that a round of Heal would come her way if she was injured. This trip was also useful to reinforce her ranks, in preparation for the next assault to the spider''s den. By the time they reached the end of the first zone, she had managed to add seven Centipedes to her forces, but she had emptied her mana pool while doing so. On the bright side, her class leveled up, together with One-Handed Combat, and her Mana filled up once again, allowing her to resume her recruitment of undead. She also noticed she got the Poison Resistance Skill somehow, and it was already at level II. She had a suspicion on what had caused her to get the skill, but she put it aside for the time being. In the end, they stopped before actually stepping in the Ants zone. Elia already seemed exhausted, and he also used up all of his mana with the healings, so Elena decided it was time to return. On the way back, they defeated eight more centipedes, which she promptly turned into zombies. [ --- Status Screen --- ] Name: Elena | Class: Necromancer ¨C Apprentice | Level: 6 Condition: Okay | Mana: 34/34 (16 Mana/3h) [ --- Stats --- ] Str: 6 | Cos: 5 | Dex: 8 Int: 8 | Wis: 7 | Per: 7 [ --- Skills --- ] Common: Basic Farming III | Reading II | Writing I | One-Handed Combat IV Uncommon: Raise Lesser Undead IV [Lesser Zombie, Lesser Skeleton] | Poison Resistance II Rare: Analyze-Self [ --- End of Status Screen --- ] Chapter 10: Introducing Affinities Both Elia and Elena were quite famished when they came back to the starting mine, and they didn''t have any kind of provisions with them, with the exception of the water Elena ha gathered the day before. So, they decided it was time to go hunting. Elia was quite uncertain about going back in the forest, but Elena assured him it was completely safe, as no monsters or dangerous animals had attacked her on the few occasions she had to venture into the woods. He decided to trust her, and so they set off. Elena was really surprised when Elia took the lead and was able to recognize tracks and trails in the underbrush, and when she asked about it Elia told her the Paladins had been tasked to teach him the basics of hunting and other survival skills, among the other things. They spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the part of the forest surrounding the mountain, placing traps and teaching Elena some of the survival skills Elia possessed. In the end, they came back with a haul bigger than what Elena ever managed in her hunt and gather excursions. They then took their time cooking all of it and preparing the provisions for later. That evening, they both stood before the Dungeon''s entrance. Elena decided it was time to go back to the spider''s nest, and Elia had come to the conclusion that if he wanted to leave the forest and go back he had to go with her and get some real combat experience. This time, they were able to get trough the first zone in just a couple hours, accustomed with the path they needed to take as they were and being able to deal with whatever came to them in no time. When they reached the second zone, Elena noticed it was completely devoid of Ants, though some of the other insects from the first zone were starting to set up home here ant there. She decided to ignore the changes and simply continued forward to the third zone. As soon as they arrived at the entrance to the spider''s den, Elena took out eight centipedes corpses and turned them into zombies, taking advantage of her completely restored mana. That brought her total number of zombie centipedes to 23, an impressive force all things considered. And, together with her other undead, she would probably be considered a Tier IV threat, if the Adventurer Guild considered her existence a problem. Looking in the cave, she noticed how the other spiders who were near the territory of the now extinct Poison Spiders, namely the Titan Spiders and the Dark Spiders, were slowly moving to said space and claiming it as theirs. Also, the tunnels which connected the main cave with the Poison Spiders nest was completely blocked off by a cave-in. She decided to push for the Shadow Spiders, as the Titan Spiders seemed to be the most dangerous in the cave, even with their low numbers. She was pretty sure Ro wouldn''t be able to defeat one in a one-on-one match. This time the webbing of the spiders wasn''t poisonous, so she and Elia followed in the middle of the main force, reducing the possibility of a surprise attack directed at them. The Shadow Spiders surprised her though. She surely didn''t expect them to blend in with the shadows and dark colored webs they produced, to then come back out and strike at their back or drop off the roof. Though they weren''t as numerous as the Poison Spiders, her minions still suffered a lot of casualties, she lost all of her remaining Ant Guards and a quarter of her Centipedes. In the end, they managed to push them back in their tunnels after a half an hour fight and then proceeded to kill them off. The tunnels were similar to the Poison Spider''s den, but there were only two rooms in this one, so it was faster to clean up. Also, because they were smaller than the Poison Spiders, Elena and Elisa managed to reach the end faster. As soon as they killed off the last spider, some notifications came up. [ You Leveled up! Because you reached Level 7, you have been awarded a Mind Point and a new Random Skill correlated to your class. ] [ Uncommon Skill obtained! Evolve Zombie. ] [ Your Skill Raise Lesser Undead Leveled up! ] [ Raise Lesser Undead has reached Mastered Level (M). You may now summon Ghouls. You have been awarded 1 Wisdom Point ] Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. As always, she was invested with a wave of knowledge about her new skills. Ghouls were an upgraded version of Zombies, who had some more Strenght and a lot higher Dexterity, but the same Vitality. Also, her new skill let her mutate a Zombie into either a Skeleton or a Ghoul without any costs, but she had to wait up to 6 hours for the transformation to be completed. Finally finished with revising the new information, she pondered where to put her new Mind Point and in the end decided to dump it into Intelligence. She then took her focus away from her status, directing it to the other side of the last cave in the Dark Spiders cave, and sure as eggs another pedestal holding another object was there. This time only a small blue pebble rested on the pillar, but this time she didn''t move a finger to reach for it, pondering whether it was safe to take the bet this time. Elia on the other hand, glanced at the pedestal Elena was eyeing, only then noticing what was on top of it. "An Affinity Stone!" he exclaimed. "... what?" "It''s a type of magic stone that let the person holding it see his Magical Affinities, it''s pretty rare." Even after the explanation, Elena continued to look at him in mild confusion. So he just shrugged and said, "It''s easier if you try it for yourself than if I explain it." Elena didn''t say anything, and just ordered one of her undead to go get it and while it completed its task, she moved in position to start running in case something happened. Surprisingly, nothing moved this time, as the undead simply grabbed the stone and came back to its master, who grabbed it. Suddenly, a new screen appeared, similar to her Status Screen. [ --- Affinities --- ] Air: 2/100 | Water: 3/100 Fire: 2/100 | Earth: 5/100 Dark/Death: 8/100 Space (Dark + Air ): 5 + 1/100 Nature (Earth + Water): 4/50 [ End ] [ You have discovered your Affinities. Because you possess the skill Analyze-Self, they will be added to the Status Screen. You may now see your own Affinities without the need for an Affinity Stone ] [ --- Status Screen --- ] Name: Elena | Class: Necromancer ¨C Apprentice | Level: 7 Condition: Okay | Mana: 39/39 (17 Mana/3h) [ --- Stats --- ] Str: 6 | Cos: 5 | Dex: 8 Int: 9 | Wis: 8 | Per: 7 [ --- Skills --- ] Common: Basic Farming III | Reading II | Writing I | One-Handed Combat III Uncommon: Raise Lesser Undead M [Lesser Zombie, Lesser Skeleton, Lesser Ghoul] Poison Resistance II | Evolve Zombie Rare: Analyze-Self [ --- Affinities --- ] Air: 2/100 | Water: 3/100 Fire: 2/100 | Earth: 5/100 Dark/Death: 8/100 Space (Dark + Air ): 5 + 1/100 Nature (Earth + Water): 4/50 [ --- End of Status Screen --- ] Chapter 11: Critters "So, what kind of affinities do you have?" asked Elia, after a few minutes of silence. Without hesitation, Elena briefly told him what kind of affinities she had and also took some time to explain how her Affinity tab had fused with her Status Screen. It wasn''t that she was a naive person, ready to tell everyone her secrets, but she really couldn''t see the innocent looking boy betraying her somehow, and if he didi, she wouldn''t really blame him. Even if Necromancers weren''t persecuted, people weren''t all too keen on living in the same city as them, because of their bad reputation of desecrating tombs and the likes. No one wants to know that your deceased father was fighting some monsters or even other humans in an undead army of some kind. While Elena told him what affinities she had, his expression grew more and more stupefied. When she finished, Elia was on the verge of exploding with excitement. "You have four affinities with values higher than the average person and two of those are on a genius level, that''s incredible!" Affinities were divided in Elemental affinities, so air, water, fire and earth, Balance affinities, like Death and Life, or Dark and Light and Combined Affinities, like Nature or Space. The last was usually a mix up of up to three other affinities, that either combined trough training or naturally. It was really rare to obtain a Combined affinity, as you would have to possess good values in all of the affinities used to create the combined one. Usually, normal people of all mortal races, like Dwarfs, Elves, Humans, Gnolls, Lizard-kin, Gnomes and so on, all had a value of two in all the Elemental affinities, other than the Element their race was attuned with, like Water for Humans or Fire for Lizard-kin. Then came people blessed by the gods, geniuses or people who lived life-changing experiences. Elia was of the first kind, he somehow got blessed by Melia and was awarded higher than the average affinity with Water, Earth, and Life, and he had gained the Nature affinity much like Elena. "Let''s move," said Elena, cutting off Elia''s explanation. She wasn''t all too interested in hearing it right now, in the middle of a Dungeon, so she simply gave the Affinity Stone to Elia and got back to the King''s Cave. After a short break to eat lunch, or dinner, or whatever, Elena concentrated on the current situation. One of the remaining group of spiders, the Critter Spiders, was starting to taste the ground and trying to start expanding to where the Shadow Spiders lived in before. If they got settled in, they would probably proliferate and their already huge numbers would increase even more, which would prove rather annoying. So Elena decided to go for them, as the Titan Spiders still had to try anything funny. As always, she got her undead in formation, creating a circle around her and Elia, and gave them the order to move towards their new targets. As soon as they reached the Critter Spiders, they crashed in hundreds of them. Even the most trained soldiers and ruthless monsters would at least feel uncomfortable with a number of spiders crawling around and on them, but the undead didn''t so much flinch and continued to move forward, all the while protecting her master who was busy killing off the few who got past them and collecting as many bodies as possible. After what seemed an eternity of the spiders and undead mass crashing against each other, the place was finally cleared of the small critters. She had lost some of her undead, but overall she felt satisfied with the results and spurred her minion forward toward the mouth of the Critter Spiders nest entrance. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. They managed to clear it in a matter of a few hours. The small spiders were not big enough to oppose resistance against the superior undead, even if they flooded the tunnels with their bodies. Only a single room remained in the nest, which had been quite a surprise in its size, being much bigger than the other she had cleared earlier. In the last room stood a single spider, busy on dumping out Critter Spiders at a sickening pace and surrounded by her kind. As soon as Elena ordered her undead to attack, all of the spiders in the room turned towards them and charged, like a massive tsunami. It was quite an easy battle, the Critters were not strong enough and were squished by the tens, and the ''Mother'' couldn''t give birth to the spiders the pace at which her children were being slaughtered. Soon enough, all of the little spiders and their ''Mother'' had been slaughtered, squished to a green mush which covered the floor and the walls. As with all the other nests, there was the usual pillar in the end, on which was a completely white robe, so white it almost looked transparent. Elena got one of her undead go take the robe for her, and when she assured it was safe she put it in her inventory, where it was identified as a ''Spider Silk Robe (+1 Wisdom, +1 Dexterity)''. Elena took it out of the storage and wore it, feeling the small change in her stats. Satisfied, she turned around, going straight for the last group of spiders, the Titan Spiders. Elena took out the last two corpses of Stone Centipedes from her Inventory and turned them into zombies, then she used the remaining mana to create four skeletons out of the Poison Spiders, which were the biggest and strongest monsters remaining in her inventory. With her ranks replenished, they assaulted the boundary of the Titans Spiders domain, taking on a few of the gigantic spiders at a time. As expected, they were much stronger than any of her individual undead, but this time Elena and Elia had numbers on their side, so even if they took many casualties, they were able to bring down the dozen of spiders patrolling the area around their nest entrance by using a simple hit and run tactic. After that, Elena had her undead create a perimeter on the nest entrance, gathered the corpses and took out a meal for herself and Elia. After they finished eating, the weariness of the battles they had fought started to take the toll on them, so they decided to sleep some to recover energies. If anything happened, Elena''s minions would warn them. Recap of Elena''s Forces and Inventory: LEGION: Zombies: 1 Big Acidic Roach - ''Ro'' (Acid Spring) 10 Centipedes 1 Ant Queen - ''Queen'' 4 Poison Spider Skeletons: 1 Big Bipedal Boar - ''Rao'' (Bipedal Affinity) 4 Poison Spider INVENTORY: Corpses: 152 Giant Ants 21 Acid Roaches 4 Giant Earthworms 25 Poison Spiders 59 Shadow Spiders 139 Critter Spiders 1 Critter Spiders Broodmother Provisioning: 47 liters of water 3 cooked rabbits 3 cooked birds Herbs (i) Berries (i) Tools: 5 Cooking Knifes (i) 4 Pickaxes (i) 1 Mithril Bracelet (Enchant: Spider''s Bite) Chapter 12: Nightmares of Death When he woke up, he was surprised to discover he was not in the cave with Elena anymore. Instead of the rocky walls and hard ground, he was sitting on soft earth, in the middle of a clearing surrounded by trees. His expression changed from that of surprise to shock when he noticed the two pair of eyes peering at him from the border of the clearing, and then again to terror as the shapes of the two Wyverns walking towards him became more defined. He scrambled to his feet and started to run the opposite way, but the sudden motion seemed to spur the Wyverns to act because they charged at him. He couldn''t even cross half the distance to the edge of the forest that he was thrown to the ground by the monsters. Biting and ripping, his flesh was torn apart and his limbs detached from his body, as the two Wyverns now covered in gore, feasted on his meat and blood. He woke up, covered in sweat. Immediately, he sat up and tried to spot the monsters that attacked him, only to discover that he was back in the cave. It was only a dream. But for how long? He stood up, wiping the sweat from his face using the hem of his shirt, and looked around, only to find that Elena was in the same predicament he had been in before. She was writhing on the ground, trashing and half-mumbling something incomprehensible. She was also drenched in sweat, which made her dress stuck on her skin, accentuating her forms... he had to shake his head to clear it from his thoughts, and then he looked the other way. Elena''s minion was still guarding the entrance to the Titans nest, though it seemed they had yet to retaliate. In the center of the cave where they were resting, the King sat unmoving, almost as if it was dead, though sometimes you could see it''s abdomen rise slowly and other parts of its body were twitching. He laid his gaze upon Elena once more, to find that she was still suffering from her own nightmares. Elia felt a pang of pity in his heart at the sight. She had told him what happened to her family, although the explanation was broken into pieces and put into different sentences. It wasn''t something she was very willing to speak about. Elia decided to lay one of his and on top of Elena''s forehead and cast a simple Cleansing Spell. Though it was usually used to cure poisoning, illnesses and curses, the soothing warmth of the blessing could sooth the heart and calm the spirit, bringing peace to the one it was used on. Sure enough, Elena stopped moving and her breath slowed down, as she entered a peaceful sleep. Elena woke up feeling lighter and more rested than usual. She felt unusually positive, which made her frown slightly. But then she put her worries aside and concentrated on more important matters: breakfast. After a light meal, Elena and Elia walked towards the last nest of spiders remaining, and she spurred her undead into motion, ordering them to enter the cave. As soon as they felt intruders coming further into their territory, a couple of patrolling Titan Spiders attacked them, but they were quickly put down by Elena''s new forces. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Indeed, she had added five new Titan Spiders Skeletons using the mana she had recovered during the night, and they were a force to be recognized. Each of them was slightly stronger than the normal living counterpart, and the five of them together packed quite a punch, making the procedure of clearing the caves ant tunnels faster and easier. That and the fact that this was a much shorter cave system than the previous made the assault last only an hour scarce in total. As usual, at the end of the nest a pillar made of stone was waiting for them, only this time a wooden staff leaned on the side of it. After recovering it and putting it in her inventory, discovering it was a Dukk Heartwood Staff (+2 Intelligence), she handed it over to Elia. When he just looked at her raising an eyebrow, she said: "We should split the gains". At that, Elia just nodded and took the Staff, also feeling the slight change in statistics, the increased intelligence making things easier to remember and enlarging his mana pool. As soon as they came out of the Titans nest, the ground started to tremble slightly. Worried, they started to look around, only to find the source of the rumbling was that the entity in the middle of the cave was moving. The King was awake. // BOSS ENTITY DETECTED. FIGHT! It didn''t take long for the massive spider to notice them, and as soon as it did it spat a giant web at them. Elena, Elia and most of the undead dodge to the side, scuttling and rolling and diving in every safe direction, but some got stuck into the webbing and were rendered unable to move. Then, the King charged at the spread out forces of undead and impaled one of the Stone Centipedes using one of its long appendages like a spear, killing it on the spot. Elena ordered most of her monster to group up together with Ro and Rao and distract the King, while she, Elia and another handful of hers circled around it looking for weak spots. While the King engaged the biggest group of her undead, Elena and the others managed to get near one of its back legs. Then, she jumped on top of the only Titan Spiders in the group and made it climp up the leg of the King, followed by the rest of the group. Seeing this, Elia decided to grab one of the Poison Spiders, which didn''t even flinch as it started to climb the gigantic leg. Sometimes, he was really grateful for being so light and scrawny. As soon as the Titan Spider reached the King''s back, Elena jumped on top of it and started to hack at the white exoskeleton using her knife. Unfortunately, the shell was too hard to succumb to her slashes and piercing attacks, so even with the help of the undead that came with her, she wasn''t able to penetrate it using only a knife. But then, she had an idea. She put the knife back into the inventory ring and from it, she took out one of the pickaxes in the best conditions, raise it high into the sky... and then brought it down. The King stopped its attack towards the larger group of undead on the ground and shrieked. Then, he started to shrug its body, trying to throw down whatever was on top of its back. Elena grabbed hard at the pickaxe and managed to stay on top of the King, but the other members of the assault party weren''t so lucky, and they fell to the ground one after the other, though they didn''t receive threatening injuries. Elia also fell, but his fall was cushioned by the spider he was riding, so he was just a little dizzy. Thinking it had gotten rid of all its attackers, the King stopped shrugging and got back on attacking the other threatening group. Unfortunately for it, it was wrong. Elena took out the pickaxe from where she struck before, making the King shriek once again, and ran for its head. Then, when she was almost there, she raised the pickaxe in the air while she was running, and dived into its head, piercing it. Alas, the King was still alive, it wasn''t enough to kill it, and this time when it started to struggle, it tore Elena down and threw her into the ground quite hard. Then, the King raised one of its legs, and brought it down on her abdomen, piercing it and tearing flesh and bones apart. For Elena, it was the end, and darkness flooded her being. Chapter 13: Melia There''s more than just a pact of obedience between the remaining soul of a resurrected being and a Necromancer. Excerpt from the Dairy of Null, Entry n.75 ¨C Seventh day of September, 355th Year from the fall of the Cindril Empire 142th Year from the foundation of the Tett Empire As she woke up, the blackness of nothingness filled her view. All around her, the void expanded indefinitely, as if there was nothing remaining in the world apart from her. Then, a blinding light broke the shadows apart, and the figure of a beautiful young woman appeared before Elena. The lady appeared to be around twenty-something years old, with long brown hair and beautiful and healthy tanned skin. Her eyes were golden in color and, if you looked at them directly you would feel lost in their depth. "W-who are you?!" asked Elena, shocked by the sudden appearance of the woman, who came into existence seemingly out of nothing. "My name is Melia. I take it you are Elena..." She was about to reply, but she was cut short: "Good then, I have a favor to ask of you. Obviously, I will also help you with your current... predicament." As Melia finished to speak, Elena was suddenly reminded of what happened during the battle against the King. She was probably somewhere between line and death, with a really thin line separating her from dying. Thus, she had to accept whatever deal the mysterious lady was going to propose her. "... I''m listening." "NOOOO!!" screamed Elia at the top of his lungs, after witnessing Elena being ruthlessly skewered by the enormous spider. His scream was soon followed by the screech of Elena''s undead, which turned berserker and started to throw themselves against the massive monster, pushing it away from their dying master. Elia dashed towards her body, now lying on the cold stone floor. Blood oozed out of her wound and fed the growing puddle of the crimson liquid below her. Tears filling his eyes, he conjured all the incantations he knew of and all of the skills he possessed, exhausting his mana pool at an astounding pace. Even though he had spent only a couple of days together with her, Elia developed quite strong feelings for Elena, and even if it wasn''t love, he still held her dear. He felt she didn''t deserve all of what had happened to her, and wanted to help her at best as he could. Seconds passed and became minutes, and as time went by, Elia had exhausted all of his mana, and the undead were falling one after the other. Queen had died early on after the frenzy had started, her body severed in two. Rao was tackling the King, which was at least five times in size as the undead, and most of its bones were already broken. Roa was injured and so he was forced to stay out of the battle and limited to occasionally spray the spider with his skill. The light coming from Elia''s continuous healings started to fade, as he had exhausted his mana pool to the bottom, but he continued to cast, hoping a miracle would come to their aid. And surprisingly, something happened. "So, what do you say?" asked Melia, after explaining her propose. Surely, it was quite inviting. Even too advantageous for Elena, to the point it was suspicious, but she couldn''t hesitate. It was her only chance, and she had to take it. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "I accept" was her reply. The goddess simply smiled, and then she disappeared, together with the light and the darkness. Elena''s body started to float and was flooded with golden light. Then, after a couple seconds, the light disappeared, and she landed on her feet. Elia watched aghast, as Elena opened her eyes. When he met Elena for the first time and she had woken up, he had been intrigued and afraid of her eyes, a pit of darkness emanating a faint aura of decay. Now, he had the urge to tremble in fear at the sight of them. He was staring at the abyss. [ Error. Acces to the System has been compromised. Error, System Override. ERR- Shut the fuck up, will ya? She doesn''t need you anymore, you useless thing. ] Elena had never felt better. She was filled with energy, and she was almost drunk on her own power. Almost. She crushed in annoyance the feeling in the back of her head, trying to control her, and her gaze fell on her minions trying to fight back the King. Then, she smirked. She felt the ring on her finger and called out as many corpses as she could fit around them. Then, she started to chant her spells and resuscitated all of them, either as zombies, and when she could, in skeletons. Then, she directed them against the King. The wave of undead crashed against the monster face first, without caring for a strategy or teamwork. The spider valiantly fought them, killing and mauling the raging undead, but in the end, it succumbed at their numbers. Finally, she calmed down, as her opponent was defeated. Her undead were the only thing moving in the cave, apart from her and the still shocked Elia. The nagging feeling at the back of her head was still there, but it was more suppressed than before, so she let it be and turned her attention to the corpse of the King. Finally, she could create her first Ghoul. She had been waiting for this from the first time she had received the notification and had planned on how to make use of the bonus her first creatin of a Ghoul would have given her if she used it on the King. Now, it was time. She said the last chant given to her by the System, before her access was blocked by Melia, and raised the King as a Ghoul. This time, it luckily didn''t grow, as it probably wouldn''t have fitted in the cave anymore, but it became leaner and sturdier at the same time. Even without the aid of the System, she could feel the abilities of her new minion, like she could sense the things that were in her Spatial Ring and the bonuses her equipment gave her. It gained a Rare ability, and could now move much faster than before, squeeze trough holes much smaller than himself and was able to evade obstacles even while running at an incredible velocity. The perfect mount, she thought while smiling. A couple hours later, after Elia had regained his senses and Elena had reassured him everything was alright, they were finally out of the cave. Even after gaining the ability to go trough opening smaller than himself, King was still not able to go trough some of the tunnels in the cave system, so Elena had to deposit him in her ring, together with her other undead. They were simply too many to comfortably walk back to the entrance, so she only had a few of her stronger minions out for support. Breathing in a whiff of clean and fresh air, Elena was satisfied with herself. Finally, she felt ready to leave the cave and go back civilization- and then, she would take her revenge. Depositing the remaining undead in her ring, she took out the King, and together with Elia they mounted on top of it. Then, they departed. Chapter 14: The Town of Krentan While her new minion ran trough the woods, sometimes bringing down a couple of trees when they were too thick to simply evade, Elena thought about her future. While she would have liked to exact her revenge as soon as possible, she knew she wouldn''t be able to stand head to head against an entire kingdom, even if it was Meriad, one of the least powerful and by far the smallest one on the entire continent of Thedus. A wonder why it had yet to be conquered by its neighbors. Even after gaining her new powers and raising so many undead, she barely poses a threat to a large settlement, not to mention one of the two cities or the capital, she wouldn''t stand a chance. Elena shook her head. No, she had to train and become more powerful, especially now that Melia switched off the System for her. It had its advantages, in the long run, being able to use her magic more freely and letting her create new spells, but now she had to study her powers by herself. For that purpose, they were currently headed to the town of Krentan, located in one of Meriad''s adjacent kingdoms, and where Elia was born. There she could finally get down to read the books she had found in her cave and in the dungeon, most of which were incidentally about necromancy. Also, they would register as adventurers, both to gain money, gain experience and gather corpses for her to turn into undead. A sharp cry interrupted her thoughts. Looking around, Elena rapidly found the source of the noise. While running, her minion somehow ran over a wandering Wyvern and had cut it in half. A shame, Elena thought. It would have made such a good minion, but she was not able to raise back to life corpses if they were mauled to such an extent. Ignoring Elia''s shaking, a reaction she knew very well was related to his past traumas, she ordered the King to continue forward, towards the direction Elia had indicated before departing. The dense trees began to thin, as they finally reached the outskirts of the forest, and she made her minion stop. Then, they dismounted the monster and Elena put him back into her ring. She didn''t want to announce her powers to the whole world just yet. After a couple more minutes of walking out of the woods, they reached a dirt road, where they diverted towards north, as Elia told her. On the way, they didn''t meet many people, but the few they encountered were obviously either adventurer going into the forest to complete some kind of quest, merchants or pilgrims. They were quite polite, greeting them as soon as they were in sight, though Elena couldn''t help but notice how their friendly expressions changed to slightly scared after meeting her eyes. What''s wrong with them? Soon enough, they reached the town. The guards at the gates were obviously slacking off, either playing card games, chatting or drinking, completely disinterested on checking the people passing trough. Only a couple of them seemed to take their job seriously, though they were also being easily distracted by their fellow guards. Elena and Elia passed by without incidents, though she was quite sure one of the guards had been looking at her weirdly. The town inside the walls was bustling with activity, though it was quickly dying down as the sun started to set, and they started to look for a decent inn to spend the night in. They didn''t have much money, only a couple coins Elia had somehow managed not to lose in the days past, so they weren''t searching for a luxurious place. Not that they would have anyway, it would have just been a waste of time. Finally, after an hour of searching, they found a decent looking inn that seemed to be affordable for them. Opening the door, they were greeted by the kind of atmosphere you would have found in any other inn early in the evening. Four waitresses were serving around forty people seated around various round table, drinking and joking, laughing and drowning their problems in alcohol.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. A nice looking rotund lady stood behind the counter, talking to a few people before taking some coins from them and giving in return a key. Elena, followed by Elia shortly after, walked towards the counter. A couple guests who noticed them stopped talking, laughing or doing whatever they were doing before, and stared at their backs, though most turned around after a couple of second and resumed their activities. As soon as she reached the counter, Elena addressed the barkeeper. "A room for the night. How much?" she said. The bartender turned around, and as soon as she saw Elena, she gasped. "No, that''s wrong!" she half-shouted, drawing some stares from the nearby costumers. "That''s not how a lady speaks, you have to be more polite, and stop looking at me like that, that''s so unladylike! Also, what do you think you''re doing, walking around dressed like that, you..." and she started a really long monolog, pointing out this or that about Elena''s manners. Halfway trough the conversation, she had grabbed Elena by force and brought her in a room behind the counter, after throwing a key to Elia. "You must be her boyfriend, right? Ask for something to eat, and then go take some sleep. I will take care of her for tonight." and they both disappeared. The day after, Elia was sitting at a table consuming his breakfast, when the barkeeper, which he had discovered was called Nervira, burst out of the same door she had disappeared the day before, with Elena in tow. "She completely refused to wear a dress, but at least I managed to convince her to wear something better under her robes and put on some decent makeup! And also take a crash course on manners from me, obviously." said Nervira, a slight tinge of pride leaking from her voice. And sure enough, Elena was... different from the day before. Though the new clothes and makeup weren''t all too flashy, they were enough to make the other costumers in the tavern, and Elia, stare at her quite hard. A glare from Elena made most of them turn around, but some still stole a couple glances a few times. After the... incident, Elena dragged Elia to the adventurer guild they had passed by the day before, where they would be able to register as adventurers and take on requests posted by the citizens or the town guards to gain money. They entered the building, and they immediately noticed most of it was very similar to the tavern they had just come out from, though there were a few differences. First of all, everyone here was armed from head to toe. Second, there was a long line to a counter with various attendants behind it, and a crowd gathered around a large board filled with sheets of paper. After waiting their turn in line, they finally got to talk to one of the attendants and registered as Tier I adventurers, the lowest tier as they were new. Then, they got to the board and took one random requests at their level. "... this went on for many days, weeks, months and finally years. Request after request, monster slain after monster slain, they built up their knowledge, developed new skills, trained the ones they already knew and gathered strength. But this is another story, you don''t really care, right?" the strange blue haze asked you, after finally finishing to narrate the story. It felt as if months had passed since he had started. Meanwhile, it was still playing chess with the ''average guy''. You lost count of how many games they had played, but you know the average guy had never won one. But he was coming slightly closer every time, and the fact unnerved you. Why? You don''t know, and you don''t think it really matters. For the first time, the blue haze stops playing and starts floating towards you, before engulfing you whole. "Now, it is time for your story to begin. But first, you need some... reshaping. I wonder what will become of you? Obviously, it all depends on you, ah ah." it said, looking towards YOU. End of ''Book I ¨C Undeads'' The first chapter of ''Book II ¨C Wars'' will come out on the 17th of July, see ya then! Interlude - Andul | Tales from Thedus A woman stands in front of a stone table, in turn, positioned in the center of a completely white room. Her right-hand rests on top of it and her eyes are closed. Melia opens her eyes and releases a sigh, taking her hand from the rough, hard and cold surface. Then, she turns around and frowns as she notices another God''s form standing in front of her. "Oh, hi Andul. What brings you here? It''s rare for you to visit without warning." she asks, though she can guess what it is here for. "You know why." it answers. "Oh, come on Andul. You should tell me when a mortal''s Fate crosses with one of you guys... experiments," she says innocently. "You already knew, I personally told you." "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, Andul, don''t you know it''s rude to visit one of your elders with a duplicate body? Really, the nerves you have." she says, feigning to be slightly annoyed. "Melia. You know it is not possible for me to leave it alone." "Look, if He didn''t do anything about it, then I don''t think you should really worry about it. What would it do even if he got beyond, anyway?" "I have been appointed as His avatar by He Himself just for this occasions when He can''t interfere. Also, if it got beyond me, then... I don''t even want to imagine." Andul answered, starting to feel annoyed. "Look, alright, I''ll let it slide this time, but you''d better come to Mary''s party with your real body if you want to come at all." Melia said, ending the conversation. She walked past Andul and into the corridors of the Celestial Palace, disappearing from view. When she was out of view, Andul''s duplicate body started to shimmer and then disappeared. Mana, like love, is in the air. Unknown poet, The Mystic Ballad Mana sat on one of the highest branches of the World Tree of the Thedus continent, her legs dangling in the air with the wind playing between them. She was bored. Incredibly so. Apart from the animals she sometimes played with on the ground, there was no one around that could entertain her, no human, elf, orc or any of the other sentient races would ever dare enter the forest surrounding the World Tree, and so she was always alone. She was also tired of playing with magic, after hundred of years she had a pretty good idea of what she could use the skills and spells her class provided her, and she didn''t have anything that could entertain her. Why would anyone want to change the flow of mana, create new wells or delete existing ones? She wasn''t really much into her role of arranging the mana disposition on the whole continent, she would have preferred something more fun, like a fireball. It was only because of her class, Nurturer of the World Tree, that she was relegated to this forest and couldn''t do anything to entertain herself. She had gotten the class as a right of birth, as she was born half Dryad and half... she wasn''t really sure what the other half was, but apparently, it was that one which gave her class and boring powers. At least her Dryad half gave her some powers on the surrounding plants, but there was a limit on how much she could enjoy watching grass grow at a slightly faster pace. And so, to try and disperse some of the boredom, she sat on her favorite branch, gazing at the horizon and waiting for the sunset. There was something magical in the atmosphere the oranges and reds and yellows created, which made the entire forest still for a few minutes and turned the world into something else. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. But that day, it was different. A couple seconds before she could even start to enjoy the orange rays of the falling sun, a wave of something, a presence invested her, making her buckle and almost fall from the branch. She recovered her balance, but even though the most of it had passed, that oppressing feeling was still there. Then, she felt a change in the flow of mana. A massive amount was being sucked from the World Tree, the main spring of the continent, and redirected to another place. Panic assaulted her, as she tried to cut the link between the tree and whatever was trying to suck it dry, but fortunately, it stopped by itself, before Mana even had a chance to do anything. But still, she could not feel reassured. She knew something was wrong and she had to make sure whatever that was it wouldn''t hurt the World Tree. So, she decided it was time to set off and investigate. In retrospect, she should have guessed it wasn''t the best idea she had had recently. While leisurely strolled trough the forest under the World Tree, she hadn''t encountered any difficulties, and some of the inhabitants had even shown her the way and treated her to some fruits. The bad things started to happen after she left the forest, her safe haven. Either because of bad luck or because they had been following her for some time, a group of five men attacked her. If they had been bandits, as she had guessed at first, even she wouldn''t have had any problems dealing with them. But alas, they were worse. A party of people who specialized in hunting down exotic and magical creatures, like fairies, unicorns, and Entities, like Mana. She had tried to resist them, using the few offensive abilities she possessed, but they were much stronger than she was, even individually. In the end, she was forced to try and retreat, run away and hide, which she managed to pull off by sheer luck. They hunt her down for hours, and in the end caught her. As a last ditch for survival, before the hunters could dismember her to gather whatever part they wanted to get, she used another spell. This time, for the first time, she used a spell from her Dryad half of her, a spell which for her was the same as a death sentence. And then everything was darkness. The Thaum forest is situated somewhere in the middle of the largest forest of the Thedus continent. It¡¯s located inside of an inactive volcano, making the terrain incredibly fertile. There are four entrances to the Thaum forest and for each entrance, there is a guardian preventing things from going out or coming in. We will speak of these guardians in future chapters. Thanks to the fertile soil and the indirect protection of the four guardians, few predators wander this forest, creating the perfect environment for weak and rare creatures, which would be in other places, to develop. In this book, we talk about the fauna, flora, and legends thriving in the Thaum forest. Written during the 4th Year of the Lead, By Archmagus Tevelin