The legion of Avoisan Templars marched towards Dryholm, walking the narrow path in perfect formation. Their dark green armor glistened as the lightning struck in the distance and rain hailed from the storm clouds above. It’d been 8 months between Vicar John’s arrival and his return, evidently he’d traveled somewhat further than his church on the edge of Burtcons and Dracons.
Utarou, Henrek, Barney, May, Hope and Rhiney were all looking at the oncoming army from the watch tower they’d constructed, several of Nihola’s more militarily inclined men were at the base, holding weapons anxiously. The elderly, women and children were all holed up on the other side of the cliff, hiding in the Wyvern nest that Utarou had cleared out and Barney had fortified, being guarded by the rest of the men.
“So, you said you had a plan?” Henrek asked as he paced around the watch tower in a panic.
“Naturally.” Utarou smirked as he petted Rhiney, who had grown to be the size of a sheep, though covered in scales and muscle instead of fluff.
“You think a baby Wyvern is strong enough to take down… 300 Templars?!” Henrek asked incredulously, quickly counting the 10 by 30 rows of men.
“Ya I ain’t lettin’ the lil’ bastard get killed either.” May scoffed, pulling the dragon back.
“No one’s gonna die… except them… and me but that’s a given at this point.” Utarou elaborated in his usual vagueness.
“Better not be, if a single one of those bastards touch Junior then it’s your head.” Barney growled as he poked Utarou’s chest. Junior was hiding with the rest of the town, being taken care of by a friend of Barney and May.
“Relax! May, how many skills can Rhiney invest?” Utarou asked, snapping his fingers. May sighed.
“Little bastard ain’t been happy but looky. 18 points free to use just like ya wanted.” May exclaimed, turning the baby Wyverns skill tree to Utarou.
It was somewhat different than the animal and human skill trees he’d seen, with Rhiney’s species, currently Baby Wyvern, and name, Rhinoplasty, being listed at the top of the menu and just a collection of random and unconnected skills available, aside from a cluster of skills like pink scales, tail, wings, slit eyes and more all being connected and clustered together.
It was time for Utarou to test his theory out.
“These skills here, I think they define Rhinoplasty’s nature as a baby wyvern.” Utarou explained.
“Now’s not the time for a lecture on whatever theory you have about monster skills! We need to do something fast!” Henrek shouted, pointing towards the approaching men.
“But look! Don’t you wonder what something like ‘Spiritual Sensitivity’ means? They don’t have any descriptions until you unlock them so who knows what it could unlock!” Utarou laughed.
“WE ARE ACTIVELY UNDER ATTACK!” Henrek screamed, pointing to the glowing light of the Avoisian Army.
“Calm down, I have a plan. The graveyard’s still got a couple of ghosts in it, right?” Utarou asked, pointing at Henrek.
“Yes. At least 6.” Henrek growled, his mother was a part of that number, in a shallow grave dug by Utarou in between ghost attacks.
“Alright May, Rhinoplasty come with me. Barney, Henrek, Hope, you’re all on watch out.” Utarou said, jumping off the watch tower and letting his broken bones heal as he approached the graveyard. May quickly followed.
“Are ya sure this is a good idea hun? The two of us could still-” Barney began, before being silenced by his wife's deathly glare.
“Do you really want to keep on runnin’? Utarou may be insane but at least he’s tryna build somethin’ for the future.” May hissed as she quickly clambered down the ladder, Rhiney gliding down to follow.
“He’s saying something…” Hope muttered as she squinted, using every ounce of her night vision and cat-like senses to try and gleam any information she could.
“Charge… hour… Wait… rain to clear… I think he’s saying they’ll wait an hour to charge…” Hope groaned, trying to read someone's lips from a kilometer away on a dark stormy night wasn’t easy for her.
Though for Henrek and Barney it was impossible.
“Sounds ‘bout right, but I don’t think ol’ Utarou is gonna be waitin’ that long.” Barney declared, looking at him and May enter Dryholm’s graveyard.
“So what’s the plan captain crazy?” May asked as she and Rhiney stood well clear of the graveyard's boundary while Utarou plunged into it.
“Open the ghost’s monster menu up!” Utarou shouted as he stuck his hands out, waiting for the inevitable as pale blue hands burst from the ground, attempting to tear him apart.
“Th-they ain’t monsters! They’re ghosts!” May stammered, quickly putting her hand out regardless as Utarou was grabbed by the ghost hands.
She tried to open up a menu, and was surprised when a monster menu skill tree appeared.
“Avoisian Ghost Core.” was its name, the menu opening up at the oldest grave in the village.
“Haha! Now look at the skills!” Utarou’s decapitated head shouted before being grabbed and thrown back into the center of the graveyard.
“R-right!” May shouted over the roaring thunder.
The collection of skills that made up the Avoisian Ghost Core painted a certain picture.
“Human-Spirit Collection”
“Violently Attack Non-Allies”
“Intense Physical Strength”
“Swarm of Human Hands Appearance.”
“Loyalty to Creator’s Group.”
May felt her stomach drop.
“H-How did you… The Avoisian Church they… They did this?! They make ghosts?!” May screamed, her father had died trying to protect her from the Avoisian Church, the reason they had to ditch their dead in the wild was because their graveyard had been cursed by the Avoisian Church.
It was too much to handle, luckily Utarou wasn’t interested in handling it right now.
“Look at… Human-Spirit… Collection’s… Tree!” Utarou shouted as his jaw was repeatedly ripped off and growing back as his eyes were gouged out.
“R-right…” May muttered as she quickly traced the set of skills that led to Human-Spirit Collection.
“Spiritual Sensitivity… 4 skills down… Oh I get it.” May said as she looked at Rhiney and towards the ghosts, opening up his menu. She looked through the clusters of skills that were just floating aimlessly in the void of his menu, locating the Spiritual Sensitivity.
As she unlocked skills for him, the various base level skills she hadn’t picked disappeared.
Rhiney shifted and morphed with each skill unlock.
The first skill, Spiritual Sensitivity, gave him streaks of white throughout his body.
The second skill, Spirit Shining, gave his eyes an azure glow.
The third skill, Spiritual Manipulation, gave his claws a dark green shine.
The final skill, Human-Spirit Collection, gave his wings a haze of ethereal blue energy surrounding them
“Muwarh?” Rhiney squeeked, his name having changed from Rhinoplasty the Baby Wyvern, to Rhinoplasty the Spirit Median Dragon.
“Alright Rhiney, destroy that damn thing there.” May growled, pointing to the moss covered stone that was the Avoisian Ghost Core.
Rhiney nodded and glided in, as soon as he crossed the barrier of the graveyard the ghosts went to attack him.
Instinctively, with his new skills, he flapped his wings, pushing the ghost's hands back before flying to the actual monster, the Avoisan Ghost Core.
“BREAK IT!” May shouted, Utarou’s body struggling to find itself as it healed back together as the ghost hands pushed back against Rhiney’s new spiritual control abilities.
Rhiney flew over and knocked over the grave, it crumbled easily to reveal a small clam-like creature inside of it. Rhiney picked it up with his mouth as the ghost hands rushed towards him, and crushed it in one bite, the ghosts evaporating in an instant into puffs of blue energy which pooled around his wings.
Utarou sprung up, petting Rhiney on the head.
“Alright! How many points do we have left?” Utarou asked.
“Uh, 0. Why?” May asked, suddenly worried.
“What?” Utarou asked, stomach dropping.
“Those were expensive skills!” May shouted.
“Oh… oh it’ll be fine… I’m sure this will be just fine…” Utarou gasped, looking at Rhiney, who was now a tiny dragon who could control ghosts somewhat. His plan of saving skills to the last moment had somewhat backfired it seemed.