Life, the grand question, the moment where for some odd reason, random pieces of existence come together, to form something greater, and so many of us become lost in this mystery.
A fascinating tale of wonder, how, why do we exist?
Yet, there’s a more important question, something inherently tied to our very lives, that is all, but ignored by most.
We exist, we are here or how some scholars put it, we think therefore we are, but the thing is, every living thing in existence “thinks” has the potential to become something greater, can live for years, can experience pain, and can have a family or even one’s they love.
When so many living things share these traits, at what point does life hold value, or rather when exactly should we care if something lives or dies?
Our worlds are filled with death, but who mourns the loss of a single blade of grass?
Well, other than countless druids, dryads, and even the occasional gardeners who’ve spent years of their lives maintaining every strand… In fact, some of them care so deeply that their grounds are filled with the bodies of those who dared to damage their domains.
Madness right?
Killing someone over grass, but would it be as insane if it was over something bigger?
Maybe let’s say, a tenth century tree that’s even capable of speaking the common tongue?
How could cutting down that tree be anything other than murder?
“But plants can’t speak” maybe not in a way you can understand, but much like the countless animals which are regularly slaughtered.
Their screams, their pain, can become all that those who understand them hear, and also, it’s not as if the ability to speak inherently gives life value, unless of course you believe demon or human lives matter…
Are the lives of those who can have a conversation with you, before slowly stabbing you to death, important?
At what point should we value life, particularly when with enough time, everything, even the light of the stars themselves, can become just as capable, if not more than the very people who you love?
Maybe, the answer is that it doesn’t really matter, that life is inherently something selfish, violent, and that we are all just monsters pretending we’re something better or more worthy of life, after all, what is morality other than something the privileged have time to ponder?
Theodore Wayne The First (The thoughts of someone who’s better than you)
____________________________________________
Bones, bones as far as the eye can see, coming to a graveyard in theory was a great idea, after all what could be better than a source of easily hundreds, if not thousands of bones.
There’s just a slight problem?
Minor detail?
With all of these bones that are just waiting to be put to use, they’re all tier zero, otherwise known as completely mana less.
A detail, which isn’t the biggest of deal, given my talent allows me to raise tier one undead with them, unfortunately though, that’s about all they’re good for.
Mundane bones at best, just being able to be condensed into dense bone rather than anything higher, at least after blowing around a hundred mana, and far too many bones.
A surprise, which in hindsight, isn’t exactly surprising, like one can’t really expect to get grape juice out of a bunch of raisins, but rather crushed my dream of condensing all of the bones to create a SUPER undead or at least one quite a few tiers higher.
Alas, sometimes dreams must remain dreams, and if grave robbing didn’t turn out to be so damn rewarding, it might have even been a mistake to come here.
The bottom of the tomb is completely covered in jewelry, rings, necklaces, ear rings, pocket watches, and even the occasional golden tooth.
A sea of glimmering treasure of questionable quality, but at least some of it is turning out to be real.
“Now, if only for some God forsaken reason this stupid ass appraisal spell didn’t keep marking gold, and gems as only being worth a single credit!”
Tier 0 gold pendant with tier 0 embedded mini rubies – Solid craftsmanship, with surprisingly little wear, and tear, for something that is made of mundane materials.
Could make a nice gift for a child or even used to teach a careless enchanter a lesson.
Offer 1 credit
Which sure is like a grand for a single piece of jewelry out of the entire pile, an amount that could do so many things for me if things were normal, but they’re not normal.
More importantly, if real rubies are only worth a single credit, how will I ever afford anything fun, and how much is the bounty on my head really worth?
Tier 3 Space Ship – Your planet is on fire, creatures beyond your wildest nightmares are prowling your streets, and consuming all they find, but with this nifty, fully furnished piece of art, you will not only be able to soar among the clouds, you will be safely nestled in space!
Where almost no biologically based organisms can reach you.
So what are you waiting for, safety is just 30,000 credits away!
Tier 1 Bag of Holding – Chaos, madness, this is your reality, at any moment, a monster or worse sentients could come to take away everything that you own, or worse, and what shall you do when they come for you, when the monsters are too strong or when the masses rise against you?
Run or hide away while they steal or destroy everything you have worked YOUR ENTIRE LIFE FOR?!?!
Well, with this patented tier 1 bag of holding you won’t have to, with everything you hold dear potentially being securely held in subspace, and best of all your items will weigh, but a fraction of their weight.
So buy NOW! for the low cost of 50,000 credits (limited quantity, and prices will increase as stock is reduced!)
Bloodline of The Dragon – You were made for something greater, yet for some odd reason fate didn’t seem to bless you with the inherent power that you know that you deserve, perhaps it’s just fate testing you, forcing you to prove your drive, to prove that you are truly worthy of absolute power, but now your journey has come to an end, and at the low price of 90,000 credits you can finally unlock the dragon that you know has always been hiding within.
Tier 1 Sandwiches – A set of carefully crafted, some might even say gourmet sandwiches crafted entirely from tier one materials, by someone who at minimum has a chef class.
The exact nature of the sandwiches will depend on what’s in stock, but one thing is certain… it will be beyond anything you have ever had the pleasure of eating.
5 credits
‘Buzz’
‘Buzz’
‘Buzz’
‘Sigh’
“Jewelry not even worth a sandwich, what is the world coming to?” The screens disappear with a thought, as I walk outside of my mausoleum, where the sun has set, and all that’s really visible under the cloudy pitch black night are the eyes of the dozen or so minions who are mindlessly digging away.
Their glowing eyes, like a sea of blue little fireflies drifting through an endless black sea.
I flash my phone light at the pile, mound?
Death mound, that is well on its way to becoming an entire hill of bones, well ignoring the flesh, and mush that’s hanging off some of the bones.
“Please don’t be a bloody ones, please don’t raise any bloody ones.”
(Raise The Dead Tier One Skeleton)
(Raise The Dead Tier One Skeleton)
(Raise The Dead Tier One Skeleton)
My mana sinks into the pile, bringing life to three unknown minions “Help the skeletons who have shovels, by bringing the bodies they dig up, to this pile, and put any jewelry inside the bucket outside of this mausoleum.” For a moment I wait for my undead, as the mound begins to shift, bodies, and bones tumble to the ground as the undead claw their way out.
When at long last, three sets of eerie blue burning eyes appear in the pile, before with a shake of my head I mutter “It’s starting to get cold.” Then wander back inside where I quickly slide back into my sleeping bag.
My phone alarm is quickly reset to go off once my mana is about half full, which is currently taking about four hours, and I’m lost to the endless blur of mindlessly window shopping, until my phone does something which is becoming all too common.
Emergency Alert!!!
A portal to another world has been discovered, and congress has decided to take bold steps in an attempt to end the terror disrupting the lives of millions!
“Bold Steps? I wonder what they’re planning now.” I glance up at my own personal portal, peacefully glowing away, and click on the thumbnail.
The link leads to a video of a news anchor who is waving their hand at a silvery gate sitting in the middle of a forest clearing, and is surrounded by people covered from head to toe in hazmat suits.
“This is one of the portals responsible for destroying millions of lives across the world, experts even believe that these aliens could be responsible for the pandemics, which have ravaged so many lives, and the president has decided to take bold action! To strike back against these terrorists who have killed millions of Americans’ lives by inflicting their sickness onto all of us, and are responsible for destroying the lives of hundreds of millions with the chaos these gates have unleashed across the world.”
My eyes practically roll to the back of my head “Righhhht” I am sure, all of those deaths had totally nothing to do with policy failures, and while the system certainly has destroyed the world as we knew it, how many people were even truly living?
“And… how many people really could have died?”
The screen switches to a video of the president with all of congress, but something about them is different, strangely enough they all look more aware, and alive than they have in decades, maybe the infusion of mana breathed new life into them.
The anchor appears back on the screen “The president has decided to send a nuke through the portal in an attempt to blow up the portal, cutting off the flow of mana responsible for the mutations, and monstrosities which are ravaging our country.”
Or maybe those dinosaurs truly only come to life when they have the opportunity to bomb something.
Heaven forbid we try anything other than destruction… A car sized missile is slowly sent through the portal with a countdown ticking across the screen
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
The portal blooms outward, before snapping back into place.
“The detonation appears to have been a success, but the portal remains undamaged, at least on our end. The same might not be true for the other side though, and look, a drone is now headed through the portal. We have just been notified that NASA is live streaming the camera feed, and we are switching to it now.”
This time a smaller flying drone with just a camera attached to it shoots into the portal with plop.
Where on the other side, fire awaits, everything is covered in glowing red, and the dirt turned into little more than magma.
Ash is raining from the sky, through a massive hole the size of a building, and the sky is filled with large sharp looking branches completely devoid of any leaves.
The camera pans around the dirt chamber, some hole dug in the ground a couple of hundred feet, before stopping on the unblemished silver portal.
“It seems the portal remains undamaged, more so it seems like the nuclear device didn’t even wipeout all of the local vegetation an-”
The camera shakes, everything, even the portal shudders, as the remaining ceiling is ripped off like the top of a sand castle.
The camera pans up, and there is a tree?
Made of glowing green crystal that would make the largest great sequoia look like little more than a houseplant.
For a moment nothing happens, but then faster than one can blink, the screen goes black.
The host looks visibly disturbed “It seems we lost contact with the drone, for some reason, perhaps just technical issues or even an impact of the radiation.” The feed then switches back to the earth side portal, which is now filled with people running around in radiation gear, and holding sensors.
“According to our sources so far no radiation is being picked up, and only low level electromagnetic waves are being read, even directly next to the portal, which means that these portals are not only strong enough to withstand a nuclear blast. More force than a thousand pounds of tnt, without any noticeable decrease in function, they’re also capable of completely blocking countless other forms of energy. It’s hard to imagine any force would be capable of bre-”
A crystal vine shoots out of the portal, one person starts running, but everyone else stands mesmerized as the portal starts to grow.
The silvery metal stretches, shooting into the sky, before shuddering, and snapping in place once it disappears hundreds of feet into the clouds.
A wave of crystal vines start shooting through the portal impaling people, the clearing quickly filling with the sound of screams, as pools of blood start to form below the hovering corpses, and just as the first massive green crystal limb passes through the portal, the camera goes black.
I glance up at my portal “Well that’s concerning, one way portals my ass!”
The video then switches back to the news anchor, who has visible sweat dripping down their face.
“We have lost contact with the portal team in fact.” There is a pause, as he holds onto his ear piece, and utter disbelief fills his face.
“All contact with our sister station in Colorado has been lost!” An uncomfortable silence fills the studio, the anchor seeming lost, and not quite sure what to say.
When the screen shifts, and his voice comes back almost seeming like he’s on auto pilot.
“Coming now from Colorado, crystals have wiped out entire cities, and formed a crystalline forest miles in diameter around the location of the portal. W-”
‘Buzz’
‘Buzz’
‘Buzz’
“That’s enough of that!” I turn my alarm off, crawl out of my sleeping bag, shimmy back into my shoes, and head back outside where it’s raining.
The rain has a faint blue shimmer, making the entire graveyard glow, almost as if it’s a full moon shining on a cloudless night.
Tier One Rain – Mana has begun to join the natural systems of your world, and has begun the slow process of infusing everything that it touches.
“Glowing rain, that’s cool, I wonder what the snow is going to look like.”
(Raise The Dead Tier One Skeleton)
(Raise The Dead Tier One Skeleton)
(Raise The Dead Tier One Skeleton)
This time though RNG isn’t with me, a fleshy is risen, the mana sinking beneath their skin, before it erupts outward, but luckily their body is mostly in the pile.
It’s still though another memory, which will forever haunt my nightmares, but at least this time I’m not in the splash zone as the flesh, and the fluids blast onto the surrounding bodies.
“You three help the skeletons who have shovels by moving the bodies they dig up into the pile of bones you were raised from, and put any jewelry in the bucket by this door.” I kick the bucket which lets out a jingle.
“And now I sleep, for I’m exhausted.”
My shoes are kicked back off, before I slide into my sleeping bag, shut my eyes, and try to embrace the deep warm void of sleep, but… of course there is a golden little tab glowing in the corner of my eye.
‘Sigh’
Notifications
Experience Earned
Class: The horde grows 0_0 Along with your abilities, one of your core abilities, even reaching a milestone, as an entire graveyard bends under your will, slowly becoming an extension of yourself, and who knows what you will be able to accomplish in time.
Level up
Health Restored
Mana Restored
Stamina Restored
2 Assignable Attribute
Attributes Increased
Intelligence +1
Wisdom +1
Spell Gained
Nelka Appraisal
Skill Gained
Commander
Spells Leveled Up
Raise The Dead +3
Skills Leveled Up
Commander +3
Milestone Reached
Raise The Dead – Minion
New Spell Purchased
Nelka Appraisal – Allows you to appraise items for sale on the exclusive Nelka marketplace
New Skill Unlocked
Commander – There is a pretty large divide between giving instructions, and the recipient knowing what the hell you want them to do, particularly… when you’re giving orders to beings which can only be described as brainless.
This helps bridge the gap, and conveys your intentions in a way that your lackluster words could never manage.
Milestone Reached!
Raise The Dead has unlocked the level ten pathway choice of minion specialization (Warning! Pathways impact all branches of their related skills, this minion pathway will impact every construct you create, regardless of magical branch, and impacts every ability, which falls under their domain, after all, pathways are a lifestyle, and not an arbitrary choice!)
Minimalist – Do more with less, a single gram of material can be the difference between you raising a tier 100 creature that can put the fear of God into well a god or needing millions of mana more to create your creature, and being a minimalist saves you far more than just a gram, it gives a full 2% reduction in material costs when raising a construct!
(Class Exclusive)
Obey – More minions, skills, and knowledge are all great things, but they come at a cost, your minions are not as tightly bound to you as they otherwise should be.
This pathway fixes that, now your minions will always have the undying loyalty they should have had in the first place, after all, you brought them into this world, and how dare they even have the capability to question you.
(Class Exclusive)
Pierce The Veil – Finding the perfect soul to fit one’s minions can be quite the challenge, particularly finding one’s with a tier or class, which you desire.
This pathway makes it so that you will always be able to pluck out a soul that holds an affinity for the class you desire, even if the depths of their abilities are still left to chance, but with time, perhaps that too is something you will be able to control.
Only one choice can be made, what shall it be?
(Note the only way you can currently change this decision is by resetting or changing your class)
Milestones, the true love of any gamer, after all, numbers getting bigger is always nice, but the moment they’ve grown into something new is when the progress can truly be felt.
At least some of the time, like here I have three options, more resources, control, or specialization?
Options, which leave me with more questions than anything else, like my spells pretty much already cover the ability to find, and even create materials.
Making the first option a bit lackluster, at least given it’s unlikely for me to be short on materials anytime soon, and definitely won’t even be able to find anything higher than tier one bones.
“At least on earth.” I glance at the portal “And there’s no way in hell that I’m going through that!” making this pathway meh, like it would save me thirty?
Mana if I raised a hundred tier one undead, not exactly make or break.
So, a solid pass there, leaving obey, which gives a rather dark insinuation that my minion’s loyalty isn’t something that’s guaranteed, and is definitely worrying, but nothing has tried to kill me, yet..
Pierce the veil on the other hand.
Is the ability to instill classes into my undead, or rather the ability to find compatible souls with classes, which I apparently already had the ability to grant?
And with the system advising people on what their ideal class is, potentially every undead could be capable of reaching the peak of whatever their soul is capable of?
Instead of me just grabbing the soul of let’s say an artist, and saying hey you’re a swordsman now, figure it out.
“Power or control, like control, is definitely the smart choice.” but all of minions are tier one, and it seems like my spells are naturally progressing from my minions doing things, otherwise why would raising the dead be increasing so fast?
So like, what are the odds really, of any of my undead out leveling me, and long term higher quality troops are almost always better.
You know… assuming those higher quality troops don’t end up trying to stab me in the back, or a pair of crows don’t suddenly have the urge to peck my eyes out.
“Ughhhh.”
(Pierce the veil)
A wave of energy passes through me as goosebumps race across my body, and my heart starts to pound in my chest, but then it stops.
With the only evidence of anything happening at all, being the small little bumps still highlighting the hair on my arms.
Who could have guessed that the end of the world would be filled with so many weird feelings?
Regardless!
Onto important things, like deciding what class of undead to make.
Potential classes pop through my mind, everything from a basic mage, to even making a necromancer being considered, and then it hits me.
What do I need, or rather what exactly are my minions currently doing?
Suddenly, I know exactly what I’m going to make, and make my way outside, where the world has once again returned to complete darkness.
Well, excluding some faint blue puddles pooling on any stone surface.
“Raise The Dead, Tier One Grave Robber” The graveyard suddenly fills with light as my typically black mana becomes filled with glowing silver streaks.
A dark silvery mist slowly circles the massive pile of dead, before in an instant dives into the pile, and returns the world back to darkness.
Glowing blue eyes appear in the pile, and without a word, an undead starts to make its way towards me, but something is different about this undead.
It has a fluidity to its motion, allowing it to slide out of the dead bodies untangling itself, without really even making a sound, and then it’s in front of me.
Two glowing blue eyes, with small silver streaks standing in front of me in almost complete darkness.
Tier One Undead Grave Robber – Artist, is probably not the first word that comes to mind when you imagine people digging up the dead or robbing some long lost tomb, but how do you think they do it?
It, of course being manage to get a body out of the ground, without triggering traps, alerting guards, and actually managing to find something of value?
A beautiful blend of skill, talent, and maybe most importantly of all, a sense that tells them exactly who is worth digging up.
Who else, but an artist is capable of achieving what some can’t even imagine?
“So, what exactly are your skills or what exactly does your class do?” The undead of course says nothing, but I do notice that even the way that it stands is different from the rest of the undead.
It seems ready to burst into motion, and is constantly shifting “System? Hello, tell me exactly what my minions are capable of!”
‘Silence’
Bah, looks like I will have to buy a catalog of classes, and even then, who knows exactly what my minions will end up with.
“Huh, I wonder what classes my basic undead even have? Regardless!”
Raise The Dead, Grave Robber tier zero CC: N/A
Raise The Dead, Grave Robber CC: Tier One 95, Tier Two 215, Tier Three 425 etc
Raise The Dead, C2 Grave Robber CC: Requirements Not Met
Hmm, I can’t even make classed undead at tier zero, which kind of indicates that one of my minions doesn’t even have one.
Overall though they’re quite a bit more expensive to make, and I don’t even have the option of making them higher tier, at least when it comes to class.
Odd, but probably a result of classes being assigned at tier one, and probably has something to do with how it would be kind of weird if I could raise necromancers to a higher class than myself.
Still though, that leaves the question of what classes do my other undead have, and why exactly can’t I see them?
(Raise The Dead, Tier One Grave Robber)
(Raise The Dead Tier One Skeleton)
The pile is once more illuminated as my minions assemble, and after a few moments of just staring at the normal tier one skeleton, with no grand class being revealed, I move on.
“Grave Robbers start robbing, feel free to use the other undead to dig up any bodies, and put any valuables in the bucket.” The undead quickly wander off into the dark, the two robbers splitting apart, and quickly assemble all of the other undead into two separate groups.
Two waves of glowing blue eyes wandering around the dark is somehow, so much more disturbing.
I then throw my two attribute points into constitution, which could be a mistake, but my important attributes are still rising from use, and raising con naturally doesn’t seem like it would be a whole lot of fun.
“Now! I sleep!”
____________________________________________
‘Bang’
A dark red mist surrounds me in darkness, each drip a shining drop that dances around my body, and slowly begins to engulf me.
I’m drowning in blood, it’s running down my body like I’m under a waterfall, and each drop that falls to the floor forms a glowing red puddle.
Little red mirrors holding the faces of strangers, who are each staring up at me, with judgment filled eyes.
‘Thump’
The world shakes, the mist begins to part
‘Thump’
Something is coming towards me from the dark, solid hazel eyes begin to glow in the void, two orbs, getting closer with every step, until their leather boots burst into the mist, and are quickly followed by grey overalls.
I run, the world begins to swirl into a dark gray blur, absent of any color, but the piercing hazel eyes chase after me.
Each step
‘Thump’
‘Thump’
‘Thump’
A force that makes the world shake, and rumble, until
‘SNAP’
I fall, my body weightlessly drifting through the air, before crashing down a dark gray hill.
My body painlessly tumbling, until I’m facing a black starless sky, while everything is still, silent, and empty.
My body is frozen, a weight settles onto my chest, and holds me in place as it gets closer…
‘Thump’
‘Thump’
‘Thump’
A dark mist begins to crawl up my legs, slowly consuming my body, and I jerk awake.
My legs practically shooting into the air, where something is hanging onto the bottom of my sleeping bag.
I look down, staring into the glowing yellow eyes of a rotting skull, the mushy flesh is peeling off of its bone, and a scream erupts from my mouth, before I’m kicking down with all of my might.
It flings back, leaving the zombie flopping on the ground, and revealing its rotten mangled half body, with a single arm that it’s using to drag itself towards me.
Its unblinking yellow eyes locked onto me, as its rotting teeth clatter together in anticipation of ripping my flesh apart.
‘Thump’
The broken door swings back, and forth, each swing showing the massive pile of rotting bodies being surrounded by a yellow mist radiating from their bodies, before the light suddenly goes dark.
‘Thump’
A sea of glowing yellow eyes turn to me, their empty hollow eyes staring into my very soul, before disappearing as the door swings, and I freeze.
‘Thump’
‘Thump’
‘Thump’
The door swings back, and their eyes are still locked onto me, but this time, it’s almost as if something clicks, as the pile of undead erupts to life.
I can practically feel their hunger, their desire for my death as they try to rip their way through the other undead they’re tangled with.
“Nope!” I’m on my feet in an instant, pure adrenaline running through my veins as I dive through the portal, and escape what could only be certain death.
My entire body is instantly covered in a thick cold slush, freezing me in place, and then there’s a pull.
I’m flung out of the portal, a notification covering my eyes, and land right onto a pile of rubble “Ow”
New Talent
World Traveler – Your world is falling apart, hanging by a thread, and innocents are being massacred by the millions!
You, like the four people before you, have determined all of that isn’t really your problem, and have instead decided to embark on adventure, to glory, to magical loot beyond your wildest dreams!!
To well, death.
I mean, let’s be real here, you didn’t even show up here with a backpack or even shoes.
So like yeah, but hey rules are rules, and the first ten “adventures” which leave their home world get a magical bag of holding.
I’m sure that whatever kills you will love it 🙂 oh, and the training wheels are now completely off, so expect little (realistically zero) interactions with any actual administrators from here on out, and don’t forget that this world is filled with monsters that are not only beyond what you’re even capable of imagining, but are also more powerful than what your home world can currently even dream of supporting for decades.
Good luck
The notification fades, as I push away a jagged piece of marble that’s digging into my stomach, and roll over onto my back, where a bunch of small pieces also press into me, but I can’t even find it in me to care.
I’m cold, and completely drained yet, something strange still manages to draw my attention, well stranger than being in a dark cave illuminated by the portal, and a number of crystals growing from the ceiling.
The cave is slowly getting brighter, almost as if someone is slowly turning a knob, inch by inch, more of solid grey stone, and green moss is revealed, until it stops.
The light then starts to pulse, inspiring me to have enough energy to care to look for what is causing it.
A whirlpool of golden mana is gathering in front of me, with each pulse it condenses, until a floating box covered in golden ribbons forms in front me, and I drag myself to my feet, before touching it.
The box explodes in a spray of red light, and a black bag plops into my hands.
Bag of Holding (soul bound unlinked) level X (space increased by 10% for every 300 mana) A relic that grows as you do, space determined by level, and by the amount of mana you produce.
This of course means that mages naturally have larger bags, but worry not brave warriors, that’s countered by their scrawny arms or rather how at one point you will be able to hold your own against the jaws of a dragon!
While this scrawny necromancer for example, will instead be crushed like the little twig that they are.
‘Pop’
I turn around, and see a skeleton come flying out of the portal
Alert!
You have been robbed of a soul bound item!
(Note, this would have been basically impossible if you had linked it, but hey you know what they say, you snooze you lose. Oh, and why you seemed to believe that the undead wouldn’t be able to follow you through the portal is something that I will never be able to understand GLHF)
“What!” I turn back, where a small gray creature about half my size is quickly running away from me, and I start chasing after it.
‘Pop’
‘Pop’
‘Pop’
‘Pop’
‘Pop’
‘Pop’
‘Pop’
‘Pop’
‘Pop’
‘Pop’
More undead come flying out of the portal, before joining the chase, but much like how the distance between me, and them is quickly growing, the same can be said for the creature.
“And where do you think you’re going? Mana bolt!”
Mana blasts into the back of the gray creature, and it doesn’t even stumble, in fact the mana harmlessly splashes against the creature’s back, before just disappearing, but hey it does achieve something.
The creature stops running, it turns revealing its oily wart covered skin, dark grime covered leather clothes, beady red eyes that shimmer in the darkness, and a dark grin filled with pointed razor sharp teeth.
The goblins body becomes covered in a silver glowing light, before smashing into me, sending my body flying, and launching me into a dark crevasse where my body hits a number of ledges, until everything goes black.
____________________________________________
Fuzzy, hazy, numb, and wet?
The world slowly starts to come into focus, and I lift my hand up to my face.
It’s covered in blood, I stare frozen, as ruby red drops drip off of my fingers, splashing into the shallow red pool of blood that rests under me.
Then a numb tingling starts to spread throughout my body as my eyes take in all of the blood covering my destroyed torn clothing, before locking onto the crystal that has burst through my leg, and then a new feeling joins the mix.
Pain, so much pain, and then the screaming starts, primal sounds I wasn’t even aware my body could produce, endlessly spill from me.
The sounds barely even sound human, but slowly they begin to shift into begging, pleading for anything to just make the pain stop, until after what could only be described as an eternity of nothing, but agony, it suddenly becomes more bearable.
My mind is freed, and while the pain certainly still feels like a fire trying to burn me alive, it no longer consumes me.
(I guess this is it then, bleeding to death, in some dark dingy cave, but I guess it’s not the worst way to go.) My eyes drift to the blue crystal around the size of my hand that’s logged through my leg.
Tier One Mana Crystal – A naturally formed concentration of mana, which produces more mana than it consumes making it equal to any tier one mana core, and is one of the last signs that a planet has successfully incorporated mana into its cycle.
‘Thump’
A skeleton comes crashing down next to me, its body bursting into pieces upon impact, and I watch as the yellow light slowly fades from its eyes.
“Huh, at least I won’t be dying alone, a necromancer dying surrounded by the undead isn’t that ironic.”
My eyes drift back to the scattered bones of the undead, when I notice a faint white glow beginning to rise from one of the skeleton’s bodies.
The light calls to me, my body hungers for it, and I reach out, drawing it into me.
The light fills my body, I even start to feel better, but the feeling quickly fades away as everything starts fading back to black as the light fades away.
My eyes drift to the glowing crystal embedded in my leg, along with a steady stream of blood, and with every blink the world fades a bit more, until all I can see is the faint blurry blue glow of the crystal shining in the dark.
(Wait…)
“Raise The Dead!” The crystal bursts into a shower of sparkling lights, before sinking into the scattered bones, and once again I see the glow, but this time it’s so much brighter.
My hand reaches for it, black mana slowly dripping from my fingers and demands that it all comes to me.
Warmth rushes throughout my body in a pulsing wave, my body filled with energy, and the darkness is blasted away.
I lay there on the ground afraid to even twitch, as a minute passes, yet the pain doesn’t come back, and nothing other than waves of exhaustion drift through my body.
Slowly, I take a deep breath, yet still no pain, and then do the ultimate test, lift my leg.
All I see is smooth skin, and my torn clothes drenched in blood.
My hand starts to explore some of the tears on the rest of my clothes, while most of them are still dripping blood, all that’s underneath is smooth skin.
I relax, letting out a sigh, before making my way out of the pool of my own blood, collapse against the stone wall, and close my eyes, where a golden tab greets me.
Notifications
Notable events
ROBBED!!!
🙁
Experience Earned
Class: Congratulations, you have finally taken the first step of what makes your class what it truly is… getting chased by the undead on the other hand?
Not really necromancer, disappointing, but hey, you live, and you learn, at least well, until you don’t.
Combat: A higher tier snatched something of yours, but you didn’t take it lying down, and left your mark on them!
Granted, they ended up punting you like one does when they’re being attacked by a small animal, but hey at least you tried.
Attributes Increased
Dexterity +1
Constitution +1
Talent Gained
World Traveler
Spell Gained
Soul Drain
Skill Gained
Pain Resistance
Spells Leveled Up
Mana Bolt +1
Soul Drain +1
Skills Leveled Up
Commander +1
Sense Mana +1
Pain Resistance +5
New Skill
Pain Resistance – Some might wonder if you even deserve this skill, given how you reacted to waking up in a pool of your own blood, but to them, I say, why don’t you give it a go, and see how well you do (stare) everyone starts their journey of being able to master real pain, somewhere, but you… just so happened to start it on the brink of death, surrounded by monsters, and without any worldly possessions.
Good luck 🙂
New Spell
Soul Drain – Some people use mana to heal their wounds, but not you or at least not in the sense that you convert mana into healing energy, instead your mana directly rips life from the very souls of creatures.
A slightly darker method of healing, turning the very life force of creatures into something which heals your wounds, but a pretty handy spell for someone who is supposed to have a legion of minions, and is not typically on the best of terms with the average user of light mana.
And everything was going so well, I had a safe place, an easy source of minions, and was even finding things that had value!
“But that GOD DAMN RAIN!” My shout echoes down the tunnel, and I freeze, almost expecting something to come running down the tunnel to murder me, but luckily nothing does… yet.
I’m at the bottom of a five foot wide stone tunnel, the walls reach at least fifty feet before cresting, and are covered in jagged crystals, some of which are covered in my blood.
Those ones give off a faint glowing reddish hue, but the crystals come in a variety of colors, blues, greens, shimmering purples, and almost every color in between.
The only other notable thing about the tunnels is that for some reason, there isn’t a single crystal in the first ten feet, instead the walls are covered with moss, and deep gashes.
Claw marks deeply sunk into the stone… The ground is covered in the skeletal remains of about half a dozen undead, small rocks, and in the middle of it all, a pool of my blood at least a couple of inches thick.
Thankfully, nothing comes rushing down the tunnel, if anything was around it probably would have already made its way here with all of the blood, and I relax against the wall.
“Let’s see what we have.” pats pockets “Hey I have my wallet that’s totally useful.” It’s quickly tossed onto the ground.
So, I have some broken skeletons, but no shoes, no food, no water, and am trapped in a tunnel that most likely has some kind of giant clawed monster.
Oh, and some mana crystals that are too high for me to reach, things are looking up…
I lean my head back against the wall, staring up at all of the crystals above me.
‘Sigh’
“I’m totally going to die down here, but until then.” I should probably make some minions, and do something to take care of all of this blood, before it attracts something.
Maybe, just turn it into a ball, and toss it, then again, couldn’t it become another minion?
A liquid minion made of my own blood would certainly be something.
“Ehh, let’s see what I have first.”
(Harvest)
A wave of mana erupts from my body, quickly sinking into everything organic, before with a snap, glowing flakes of red, and white, swirl into the air.
The blood sheds off of my body, as the bones visibly start to break apart, and a twister of red flakes starts to whirl over the pool of blood, until there is nothing, but three floating orbs, not a speck of blood on my clothes or a single piece of bone remaining in the tunnel.
Tier One Blood Orb – A handy little blood orb made up of about three liters of human blood or around half of the total amount of blood in a human body, a practically fatal amount of blood to lose, without outside interference, and yet here you stand, aren’t you a special little snowflake.
Tier One Bone Orb – A solid 140 pounds of floating bone, which you can totally pretend didn’t come from a bunch of human bodies that you desecrated.
Well, had dug up, accidentally infused with mana, were almost eaten by, and then completely smashed their bodies together as if their remains meant absolutely nothing… I wonder why people don’t like necromancers 0_o
Tier One Arcane Orb – The trapped essence of the very source of magic, of the very source of life of your enemies, their shattered cores reduced to pure crystal, and ready to be put to use.
Perhaps, they will find a new purpose as a power source or become the core of something new, life truly is a fickle thing, and always just a moment away from being transformed into something new.
“I could raise a bunch of skeletons but,” my eyes are drawn back to the giant gashes in the stone “Maybe, I should go with something a little bigger, raise tier two bone golem.” The Arcane, and bone orbs burst into clouds of dust, as mana pours from my body in a streaming wave of black light.
The three swirl together, bones slowly snapping into place, until a solid eight foot tall behemoth stands before me.
They’re human in shape, well minus the long sharp blades it has for arms, the standard glowing, blue eyes, and its body is about three feet wide, supported by thick solid white bone legs.
Tier Two Bone Golem – Some people try to say that size doesn’t matter, that it’s all the motion of the ocean or some other nonsense like that, but let’s be real, size matters.
There is a world of difference between being chased by the typical bag of bones, and a golem.
Golems are the kind of constructs that tear apart city walls, and they’re the things that stand completely still in banks looking like little more than statues.
Covered in dust collected for decades, all without even moving a single inch, until someone has the bright idea to try, and take something that isn’t there’s, then?
Suddenly these guys reduce those would be thieves into nothing, but mush, let’s see the typical skeleton do something like that!
A wave of dizziness washes over me, and I glance at my mana.
Mana: 20/330
“Not looking so great.” The blood orb then begins to spin in the air, before being launched out of the tunnel, and hopefully landing in some far off place that totally won’t lead some predator to me, totally.
I quickly glance around the tunnel floor again, but it’s still barren of anything, suspiciously barren of anything.
My eyes squint down the tunnels, but still nothing magically appears, and then shift across from the bone golem.
“What a shitty day, kill anything that approaches.” I probably should have had a guard in the first place, and then pass out in the cool dark tunnels, in some unknown world.
Due to formating issues this story doesn’t quite look the way it’s supposed to 0_o and you can read an updated version on Kobo, or other platforms. https://litrpgandpolitics.wordpress.com The story is also at around chapter 60 with around 400,000 words, and will posted once per day, until it’s caught up.
Then it will either be weekly, or twice a week, with that being said, I still welcome any feedback, after all I’m still editing everything 0_0 and different perspectives can so often help one see the things we take for granted.
Thanks for reading, and I hope that you have a great day!