“Who are you?” The voice was surprisingly deep and pleasant, but also revealing a jaw full of sharp teeth.

“A friend, here to help you kill some Undead.” Eli responded with as much charisma as he could muster.

The Kobold looked him up and down, raising its brow at his appearance. “You’re mighty odd for an Insignificant.” He paused as he looked into Eli’s eyes again.

Realizing the potential misunderstanding, Eli tapped his skull helm with his bone club before clarifying. “Trophies from my kills.”

The Kobold scrunched his brows in slight disgust before he shook his head slightly. “I’ve never seen someone able to cast Regeneration on someone else before…” His tone trailed off slightly obviously fishing for clarification.

Eli paused before he thought how much information he should reveal, and the consequences of it. “It’s a class ability.”

The Kobold looked at him with a raised brow and an expression that he was looking at an idiot, before a look of realization hit. “You’re one of the Fallen aren’t you? First time in a Nest?” An amiable smile spread across his lips, but due to his sharp teeth it looked more like a threat.

Eli started to feel the situation turn in a direction he wasn’t going to like. He thought about denying the accusation, but any follow up questions would make it obvious. He felt the best approach to this situation is to remain as ostensibly honest and amiable as possible. He gave a small nod. “Perhaps we can help each other out? I’ll help you survive the undead and you help me survive everything else?”

The Kobold’s eyes danced in mirth as he giggled. He looked back towards his group before shouting, “We got a fresh one who wants to join!”. Eli could hear mutterings from the group while a few were engaged in combat with a couple skeletons.

*ding*

You Have Been Invited into a Group! Accept Decline

Eli hit Accept before a new window appeared in front of him.

Name Level Class HP MP Tainted Kobold (Leader) 2 Soldier 17/17 N/A Tainted Kobold 2 Soldier 6/16 N/A Tainted Kobold 1 Soldier 8/13 N/A Tainted Kobold 1 Soldier 11/12 N/A Tainted Kobold 1 Soldier 12/12 N/A Tainted Kobold 1 Soldier 9/11 N/A Tainted Kobold 1 Soldier 11/11 N/A Tainted Kobold 1 Soldier 7/10 N/A Tainted Kobold 1 Soldier 10/10 N/A Tainted Kobold 1 Soldier 10/10 N/A Tainted Kobold 1 Soldier 10/10 N/A Insignificant 1 Revenant 55/55 10/10

Eli could hear an immediate gasp as he saw the Kobold stare at him with wide eyes. The entire group looked over with the exceptions of the ones in combat. He tried to process the information he was seeing. It became fairly obvious that he was wrong in his calculations, the attributes gained at level 0 weren’t additive, they were multiplicative.

The Kobold got over his momentary shock before his face broke into a wide grin. “The Chief is going to love this!” he stated to laugh as he could hear a few in the group join in.

Eli immediately decided he was going to need to escape this group after he got out of the cave.

The Kobold patted him on his forearm, too short to reach anywhere else. “You must have found some powerful item! And on the first day, too!” His voice became a whisper as his eyes squinted. “Any more where that came from?”

Eli paused for a second, taking in the misunderstanding. That must mean there are elixirs or consumables that increase stats. Before he could respond one of the kobolds walked up to the two. “Boss, look at his Class!”

The Kobold paused before a frown appeared on his face and a look of pity appeared in his eyes as he glanced back up towards Eli’s eyes. He let out a deep sigh as he shook his head, “I take it we’re not the first you’ve met?” The answer obviously rhetorical as the kobold continued. “It looks like we won’t be able to uphold our end of the bargain, but we’ll try and give you as much time as we can.”

The atmosphere turned into awkward as Eli was pushed towards the rest of the party as they regrouped to attack the enemy Skeletons. Eli could see the others sneak glances at him as they did.

On the bright side it appeared his initial concerns with their intentions were gone, but it appeared his Curse was likely a significantly bigger problem than he thought. However, Eli quickly realized that while he only effectively had 10% of the Lifespan of a normal person, his Vitality multiplier made it only 50%. So, while others gained 1 year, he only gained half a year. The main thing that concerned him was that Vitality might not be the only, nor the main, source of Lifespan in this world.

He frowned as he was pushed into the front of the skirmish. The Kobold who he was talking to, or Boss as he was called, stood beside him. “With how much HP you have, you’ll act as our tank. Grab their attention as we take them down.”

Before Eli could move however, the ground started to shake slightly. A loud screech came from one of the tunnels as the Undead that were slowly flowing into the cavern came to a halt. The Undeads' empty eye sockets suddenly flared with small blue flames as at least 40 new Undead marched in from the tunnel, A slightly larger Skeleton was leading them. It had small horns and broken armor that looked to be made of blue flames, It wielded a stone longsword that it pointed towards the group.

*ding*

Skeleton Commander – Lv. ?

Eli could feel the tension in the air as the Boss muttered, “How could he have Raised something so strong so soon?”

Boss looked over at him with the corner of his eye. “Insignificant, how long can you keep up the Aura?” His expression grim.

“It’s permanent, but I can’t control it. It heals anything in its range, even enemies.” Eli quickly replied.

Boss raised his eyebrow as he shouted to the group, “You hear that? Don’t maim, make sure you get a deathblow! Any injured fall back until you recover, everyone else cover the wounded!” The Kobold’s expression turned into one of bloodlust as he raised his sword and yelled, “Let’s show these bastards True Death!” the other Kobolds joined in with a warcry of their own.

Eli stood there more awkwardly as the Undead charged their group, no longer a shambling walk, but a full sprint. The Commander stood still as he watched his horde clash into the group.

Eli swung his club directly at the skull of an oncoming undead.

*ding*

You have Slain Minor Skeleton Minion!

However, two more had slashed him after his swing.

*ding*

You have taken 2 damage!

You have taken 2 damage!

Eli was surprised at the low damage. This might be an easier fight than he thought. He kept wildly swinging at the Undead with his clubs as he noticed Boss now in front of him slightly struggling with three Skeletons bombarding him. The Kobold was clearly more skilled than the skeletons, but the problem lay with the fact that he was attacking them with a sword, and it wasn’t very effective against bones. Not to mention the Kobold were too short to reach the enemy’s skulls.

Eli then pushed the skeletons around him to the side as he moved to intercept him. “Boss, switch!” He held out his bone club to the Kobold who instantly realized his intention with a grin. He jumped back and grabbed the club and placed the sword, blade first, into his hand. The Kobold then jumped back into the fray and Eli watched on as bones were smashed into smithereens with each swing. The Kobold was apparently far stronger than himself.

Eli turned around and looked at the melee. The skeletons were overwhelming the Kobolds, but none had suffered any serious wounds, most were healed within seconds. They would be fine as long as they didn’t take any serious blows. Eli ran towards the largest group of skeletons near him and started to swing wildly at their skulls.

He immediately regret his decision as more than 7 skeletons started to stab him.

*ding*

You have taken 2 damage!

You have taken 2 damage!

You have taken 1 damage!

…

The alerts rang in his ears as a skeleton tried to slice into his skull.

*ding*

You have taken 0 damage!

He swung with wild abandon trying to push the skeletons away and killing a few in the process before Boss came up to him and made quick work of the rest of them. The Kobold laughed as he yelled. “You can’t fight worth shit! But at least you can take some hits!” He then charged into the rest of the group.

Eli looked back and noticed most of the skeletons were down at this point, and he couldn’t see any dead Kobolds.

*ding*

You have taken 13 damage!

Eli could feel it before he heard it. A sword protruded out the front of his chest as his body froze from the explosion of pain.