Bone splinters covered the cave entrance like white gravel, and the concussive force of six [Corpse Explosions] had ripped the troll into pieces. Interestingly, the moss-covered belt and the metal armour had survived little worse for the wear and lay in a steaming pile of viscera. The pulpy mess was so bad that Ghost couldn’t even pick the brains out, much to our collective dismay.

Staying hidden underground was more important than ever, now that my master plan to fight off the [Enforcer] was a lot less viable. However, my angel removal plan wasn't entirely dead; not quite all the bombers had self-destructed. Bob hadn’t sacrificed herself, and she had even saved a single bomber. The lone survivor was scrawny looking, probably created from the corpse of a vagrant or the like, and had no arms, but beggars can’t be choosers.

It was a less than ideal outcome, but I focused on the positive. Ghost, Pecs and Abs were all alive and at full health, so our self-imposed mission to save our lost [Scout] had been a success. We had even successfully claimed the [Silica Deposit] for ourselves, and a quick check with Hans confirmed we could indeed begin research on [Mining I].

Notification: You have claimed this [Silica Deposit], you may now build a [Mine] here. As the first point of interest claimed you get a bonus: it will now produce twice as much silica.

All of that was nice, but the real prize was plain to see on my character sheet: I had gained levels! I wasn’t particularly good with numbers, but seeing them get bigger gave me great joy. I had jumped from level two, all the way to level six. That was a lot less than the fight against the paladin had jumped me, and I didn’t understand the system well enough to figure out why there was such a big difference.

Four levels were still good progress, and vast improvement over the trickle of experience from Ghost killing [Horned Rabbits], [Storm Crows] and other miscellaneous critters had got us. It was enough to get me two attribute points to spend, and I could finally repick my level five skill again. I checked my minimap to make sure that no more trolls were going to jump out at us and left my party to secure the cave while I looked through my options.

There were a few skills that were obviously awful, and I could see why Volous for skipped over them. Then there was the ever familiar [Supernatural Senses], the skill that my former master ended up giving almost all his minions. If skills like [Unnatural], or [Meat Shield] were anything to go by, I didn’t blame my former master for taking the boring choice; they didn’t even come with attribute bonuses.

Meat Shield (Prerequisite: zombie race):

Draws attention and has a chance to redirect harmful abilities towards you.

Unnatural (Prerequisite: undead race type):

Adds 1 fear every 10 seconds to living creatures that can see you.

Supernatural Senses (Prerequisite: magical creature)

+1 Wisdom and amplifies your senses by x2.

After filtering out the skills that were clearly garbage, and discounting [Supernatural Senses] for being too common and a bit boring, that left with six skills remaining. I saw my old [Pack Leader] skill had made it onto the list, but there were several new and exciting options for me to digest as well.

Faceless (Prerequisite: Overseer; Incompatible: [Meat Shield]):

+1 Charisma and makes you look like an unremarkable level one [Zombie].

Hordesight (Prerequisite: Overseer, 5 Wisdom):

+1 Wisdom and you can share vision with any visible non-hostile zombie.

Death March (Prerequisite: Overseer, have travelled 10km with other zombies):

+1 Dexterity and all zombies in range share your dexterity (10-meter range).

One for All (Prerequisite: Overseer):

+1 Vitality and all zombies in range share one combined health pool with you (10-meter range)

Pack Leader (Prerequisites: leadership title):

+1 Charisma and unlocks a party limited to creatures of the same race. Party members gain +1 Wisdom whilst within sight of another party member.

Black Flag (Prerequisites: blessed by Tiyanon):

+1 Dexterity and unlocks looting, with an inventory that can store 130 kg.

My eyes were immediately drawn to [Faceless], which was ironic given the nature of the skill. When I questioned the blue boxes, I established that it would only fool identity checks that relied on sight. However, with [Scent Chameleon] I would be able to fool the two senses most scouting skills relied on. The skill might let me walk around without fear of sudden angel attacks, unless I sneezed and gave away my identity to a hearing-based ability. Touch and taste would also reveal the ruse, but I would be doomed regardless if an enemy was close enough to lick me.

The next choice that caught my interest was [Hordesight], because it was a skill that boosted wisdom and it sounded more interesting than [Supernatural Senses]. I had already decided that I wanted to focus on reaching the mortal threshold in either wisdom or intelligence, instead of focusing on reaching the next charisma threshold at twenty. If I took this skill and put both attribute points into wisdom, then I would be only two points away from ten wisdom.

[Hordesight] would also allow me to peek through the eyes of any zombie I could see. At first, this sounded kind of bad, as I spent a lot of my life being awkwardly carried and staring at the ground. I tended to keep track of the horde using my minimap, rather than my actual eyes. That made me wonder if the skill counted zombies on my minimap as zombies that I ‘could see’. The blue boxes I quizzed on the matter suggested using it in that way would be possible, but refused to confirm it.

‘Can use [Hordesight] on minimap?’ I asked the blue bloxes.

The party map is a circular overhead depiction of the area around you. Party members and you are shown as blue stars, other allies are shown in green, neutral entities are white, and hostile creatures are shown in red.

‘Zombies on minimap visible?’ I asked.

Something that is visible is something that can be seen. Contrast with [Invisible], [Hidden] or [Disguised].

After a few minutes of fighting blue boxes, I was relatively sure my party minimap would work together with [Hordesight]. Of course, for that to work I needed to be in a party to begin with, which was where [Pack Leader] came in. Without that skill, I would be a severed head making strange clicking noises on the floor somewhere. However, did I need to take the skill again if a glitch had left me with my original party? After another headache inducing conversation with the blue boxes I suspected that the skill was unnecessary. The boxes more or less confirmed that a party was only destroyed if all the members left, or if the leader disbanded it.

Next, I considered [Death March] and [One for All]. They both focused on enhancing the horde instead of my personal capabilities, so I was a little biased. [Death March] would make everyone share my dexterity, so we would never have to leave a slow zombie behind again. However, it would also screw over Ghost any time she came near me.

[One For All] on the other hand was a little hard for me to understand. I gathered that it would combine each zombie in the horde’s health buffer into a single health pool, but I failed to see the advantage in doing so. It would still take just as much damage to kill us, so what was the point?

Once I gave up trying to figure out why anyone would waste a skill slot on [One for All], I turned my attention to the [Black Flag] skill. This skill was interesting in that it had been unlocked by our new religion. It would have been incredibly useful when we were ransacking Voulos’ tower; I could have taken my blood bath with us. However, carrying stuff was probably best suited to those who had legs. Tiyanon’s blessings weren’t cheap, but sooner or later one of my kin would be able to unlocked the skill.

I had narrowed down my choices to [Hordesight], and [Faceless]. Voulos would have probably chosen [Faceless] in a heartbeat just because of the charisma boost. That thought made me immediately want to choose [Hordesight] instead, but I fought the impulse. Unless the system screwed me over and reset my level again, this choice would be final, so I had to be smart about it. I could always choose the option I didn’t pick now as my elite level ten skill, but then I would miss out on whatever cool [Overseer] elite skills there were.

The big question with [Faceless] was if it would fool divination magic. I suspected that if the [Enforcer] tracked me down, it wouldn’t stop just because I looked like a different zombie. I remembered the fate that had befallen the lost zombie in Voulos’ tower. It had died so fast that I hadn’t even felt its health depleting.

With that in mind, and definitely not just to spite Voulos, I selected [Hordesight]. It gave me a point in wisdom, and would help me keep an eye on my surroundings. Being able to see what was going on with the minimap was good, but if it worked like I hoped, then it would be even more useful. I should probably have waited to speak to Cordelia, but I couldn’t relay every little decision each time she had a sulk in her bottle.

My vision didn’t seem to be any different at first, but then I realised that I wasn’t actually looking at anything other than the silvery walls of the silica cave. Abs and Pecs were guarding the entrance, Bob was pretending to inspect the deposit to appraise its value, and Ghost had run off. Our [Scout] seemed to prefer being alone; it’s what she was used to. If her charisma had been a bit higher, I might have suspected that her pride was injured.

I decided to waste no time in testing my minimap vision theory and with it open, focused on the star that represented Abs. I had never been more happy to see Pecs’ ugly face before when I saw it through Abs’ eyes. Given that I was staring right at him, I wondered if the skill would allow me to see through Pecs’ eyes, and was not disappointed when I switched my point of view once more. This time I was looking down the mountainside, where I could just barely see a thin humanoid shape jumping up a tree on the edge of the haunted woods.

Was that… I switched perspectives again and found myself staring at a branch up high above me, before I leapt up, grabbed it and surveyed the surrounding land. It was Ghost! She had stayed closer to the [Silica Deposit] than I thought she had. This skill was going to be so much fun.

For a scary moment, I couldn’t figure out how to return to my personal point of view, but all I had to do was focus on myself and I snapped back. The feeling was reminiscent of closing one eye, and opening the other, except I now had lots of eyes to choose from. Trying to look through multiple eyes gave me a headache, but perhaps with practice I would adjust. My experience with [Flesh Scent] was that new senses could be overwhelming at first.

While practicing jumping from one perspective to another, opening and closing my new eyes, I decided to jump into the armless zombie. I was confused to find my vision taken up by a blue box, which must have been what the dumb guy was staring at.

Notification: Congratulations! You have broken the bronze barrier and may now increase your level up to twenty. This message will be archived in 3 minutes 21 seconds.

Oh really? Perhaps the armless bomber wasn’t so harmless after all. He and I needed to have a chat, and instead of pulling out my ventriloquist act, I decided to add him to the party. This involved an awkward reshuffling of the party where I kicked Pecs out to make room. The big zombie was a bit put out, so I distracted him by suggesting he look through cave troll viscera for brains. Predictably, he wasn’t the only one that ran for the red pulp at my suggestion; both Abs and the survivor ran over as well.

I had to get Abs to physically lift the bomber and move him away. Luckily, my [Warchief] was at least somewhat obedient, ordering around zombies all day to make [Warriors] must have been rubbing off on her. “Join party.” My big bellied bodyguard ordered.

“Braiins!” The zombie groaned indignantly

“Join party!” Abs shouted, and her booming voice shocked the zombie into compliance. I felt him join the party with a tingle that felt like pins and needles.

“Brains?” He asked, with eyes wide like a puppy.

‘No brains until open sheet.’ I told the bomber, and I used [Hordesight] to slip into his perspective. It was strange to see myself through his eyes, but it was good to confirm that I looked as handsome as ever, despite my missing fangs.

‘Brains?’ It asked.

‘After. Open sheet now.’ I said, and after a brief pause, the familiar sight of a blue box replaced my face. It wasn’t his party sheet but was the same notification as before, telling him he had broken into bronze tier. I told him to dismiss it, and a second notification popped up in its place.

Notification: Congratulations, you have evolved into a [Rot Zombie]. As an unintelligent creature with automatic levelling enabled, this evolution was determined to be most suitable for you. This message will be archived in 59 minutes and 20 seconds.

Verdammt. So much for me getting to choose what the bomber evolved into. I remembered the system telling me I couldn’t choose what to upgrade my [Flesh Scent] into because it was master controlled. Automatic levelling seemed like a similar thing, except instead of an domineering master choosing the evolution it was the all-controlling system instead. The armless survivor dismissed the notification with little argument, and I finally got eyes on his character sheet.

Trap Four D

05:55, 28th of Iosi, 1465 3A

Total Level: 11 Bronze)

Levels: Zombie 10, Rot Zombie 1

Experience: 600/233,00

Type: Rot Zombie (C)

Attributes:

Resources:

Dexterity: 5

Stamina: N/A

Strength: 11

Power: N/A

Vitality: 19

Health: 199/199

Wisdom: 5

Willpower: 58/58

Intelligence: 2

Mana: 23/23

Charisma: 2

Soul: 23/23

Decay: 7% (Stage 0)

Affinities: Nether (100%), Poison (50%), Fire (-25%), Holy (-100%)

Traits:

Made to Serve: +1 Intelligence, +1 Charisma. Understands system common, and the primary language of its creator (Orcish). Can follow simple commands based on the creator's intelligence divided by 10 (3 words long). Gives access to a portion of the knowledge contained within the host brain, better preserved brains retain more information.

Flesh Construct: Sustained by nether magic, does not need to eat, drink, sleep or breath. Does not regenerate Health. Does not use Stamina or Might, but instead uses Decay.

Rotter: +2 Vitality

Skills:

Supernatural Senses: +1 Wisdom and amplifies the user’s senses by x2.

Undead Resilience (Elite): 50% reduction to all non-holy damage taken.

Abilities:

Unarmed Strike - Copper - Level 3: (Unavailable)

0% Decay

1 Second Cooldown

Strikes at the target with an unarmed limb for 22 bludgeoning damage.

Rush Attack – Copper - Level 2:

0% Decay

10 Second Cooldown

Lunges at a target within 2 meters for 22 bludgeoning damage with a chance to push back or knock over the target.

Poisoned Bite - Bronze - Level 1:

0% Decay

5 Second Cooldown

+1 Vitality, Bites the target for 21 piercing damage and a further 27 poison damage over the next 30 seconds.

Flesh Scent – Copper – Level 2

No Cost

30 Second Cooldown

Amplifies the smell of living and non-living flesh by x6 for 14 seconds.

Caustic Spit – Copper – Level 1

5 Health

10 Second Cooldown

+1 Vitality, Spits a glob of caustic stomach acid at a target within 5 meters that deals 17 acid damage.

Corpse Explosion (Elite) - Copper:

100% Health

No Cooldown

Converts all remaining health into an explosion of nether energy and bone that deals damage equal to double the health consumed in a 7-meter radius. This kills the user.

Nether Vector – Bronze

1% Decay / Second

No Cooldown

Enhances [Bite] with infectious nether essence. An infected target takes 1 nether damage per minute for 24 hours. Any healing or celestial damage will cure the infection. If target creature dies while infected, they become a zombie.

Tumerous Healing – Bronze – Level 1

1% Decay / 10 Health

No Cooldown

Heals you at the cost of accelerating your decay.

The [Rot Zombie] evolution was both exciting and awful at the same time. Here was the solution to my population problem! Except… it would fall apart from decay before it could create any respectably sized horde. It was like its abilities had been designed with the idea of using decay as a resource, but with no way of reducing decay like my master’s [Flesh Grafting].

Regardless of how useful this new evolution would be in practise; this zombie was now one of my elite evolved kin. I felt the temptation to name it warring with the knowledge that it clearly had a rather short life ahead of it. In the end, I decided that if I was going to sacrifice it then I at least owed it a proper name to die with.

I considered going for the obvious, and calling the zombie ‘Armless’, but then considered one of Cordelia’s warnings, that I shouldn’t do to others what I didn’t want done to myself. As far as I was aware, I hadn’t been targeted by a reflective ability like [Payback] so didn’t personally see the harm in a funny name. However, I didn’t want to annoy her when she came back, so I considered her words. When I thought about it I realised that I wouldn’t really appreciate someone giving me a nickname like ‘No-body’ or ‘Zedhead’. With that in mind, I focused on something more positive.

‘Leggy’ showed no outward reaction to his new name, though he quickly learnt to respond when called. After we were done looking at his sheet, Abs moved out of the way, and he went back to the troll remains to look for brains amongst the viscera. Pecs had given up carefully sifting through the splattered flesh and had instead opted to just shovel it inside his mouth.

The problem with Pecs’ strategy to just eat everything was that zombie digestion is only adapted to consume brain-matter. After stuffing his stomach fit to bursting, Pecs turned a shade greener than normal and ended up vomiting gore all over the cave floor.

I wanted to eat some brains as much as the next zombie, but did not join in with the scavenging. When I was experimenting with [Hordesight], I had seen Ghost surreptitiously chowing down on a sizable chunk of brain up a tree. There might have been a few scraps left, but I suspected my companions were just wasting their time. I wasn’t in a position where I could afford to be wasting time. The weight of command was heavy, and I had important things to do.

Zed's end of chapter sheet:

King Zed ‘The Red’

06:34, 28th of Iosi, 1465 3A

Total Level: 6 (Copper)

Levels: Overseer 2

Experience: 1258 / 3400

Type: Overseer Zombie (C)

Attributes:

Resources:

Dexterity: 6

Stamina: N/A

Strength: 13

Power: N/A

Vitality: 15

Health: 180/180

Wisdom: 8

Willpower: 96/96

Intelligence: 5

Mana: 60/60

Charisma: 10

Soul: 120/120

Decay: 24% (Stage 0)

Affinities: Nether (100%), Poison (50%), Fire (-25%), Holy (-100%)

Titles:

King of the Braindead: Access to Kingdom subsystem.

Red-Handed: +1 Intelligence, sets alignment as evil, hands are permanently dyed red.

Traits:

Made to Serve: +1 Intelligence, +1 Charisma, -1 Wisdom. Gives understanding of system common, and the primary language of its creator (Orcish). Is able to follow simple commands based on the creator's intelligence divided by ten (3 words long). Gives access to a portion of the knowledge contained within the host brain, better preserved brains retain more information.

Flesh Construct: Sustained by nether magic, does not need to eat, drink, sleep or breath. Does not regenerate Health. Does not use Stamina or Might, but instead uses Decay.

Overseer: +2 Charisma.

Not Braindead: +1 Wisdom, +1 Intelligence and +2 Charisma.

Skills:

Hordesight: +1 Wisdom and you can share vision with any visible non-hostile zombie.

Abilities:

Unarmed Strike - Copper - Level 1 (Unavailable):

0% Decay

1 Second Cooldown

Strikes at the target with an unarmed limb for 10 bludgeoning damage.

Dash Attack - Bronze- Level 1 (Restricted):

0% Decay

5 Second Cooldown

Dashes to a target within 3 meters for 18 bludgeoning damage with a chance to push back or knock over the target.

Poisoned Bite - Bronze - Level 2 (Restricted):

0% Decay

5 Second Cooldown

+1 Vitality and Bites the target for 18 piercing damage and a further 16 poison damage over the next 30 seconds.

Enrage Zombie - Bronze - Level 4 (Restricted):

500 Soul

No Cooldown

The user lets out a rage-filled shout at a target zombie to increase its Strength, Dexterity, and Vitality by +5 for 50 seconds.

Overseer’s Aura - Bronze - Level 3 (Restricted):

10 Soul / Second

No Cooldown

+1 Strength to all zombies within 13 meters.

Corpse Explosion - Steel - Level 2 (Restricted):

200 Mana

20 Second Cooldown

Explodes the targeted corpse to deal damage equal to the health it had when alive in a 2m radius. Any corpses in the range of the explosion have a 25% chance to explode as if targeted by this ability.

Attunements (3/1):

Ring of the Jester (Cursed): +2 Charisma but curses the wearer with [Jester’s Curse].

Princess Tiara: +3 Charisma and makes the wearer more attractive to Princes.

Intellect Ring: +1 Intelligence.

Status Effects:

Jester’s Curse: The target is cursed by the jester. The curse can only be lifted by a Sphinx’s laugh.

Team-Killer (352 days remaining): -2 Charisma

Blessing of Roguish Charm (22 hours remaining): +1 Charisma, the higher your infamy the more attractive you are.