Chapter 10: Becoming Stronger

Letting out a long sigh, I examined my work. My experimenting had finally bore some fruit when I managed to figure out just how much electricity I needed to put in my sword. I had to find just the right allocation or else my skill wouldn’t work. Too much and I would receive a nasty shock. Too little and nothing would happen. Once I figured out the right amount of electricity I needed, my training went smoothly from there. The next two hours were spent with me trying out new attacks and strategies. This was what all of my skills and my status looked like when I was done.

Wind BladeSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: CommonSkill Level: 4Exp: 0%Effect: Allows the user to create a sharp blade of wind that can be used in combat.

Earth MagicSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 6Exp: 40%Effect: Allows the user to mold the earth into a variety of constructs.

Electric ShockSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 3Exp: 25%Effect: Allows the user to give something or someone an electric shock. This attack has a small chance of paralyzing the place it hit.

NecromancySkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: RareSkill Level: 2Exp: 50%Effect: Allows the user to reanimate dead corpses. The stronger the skill, the longer the reanimated corpse can stay alive and the stronger it will be. Certain rituals will change the corpses characteristics.

MeditationSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 3Exp: 20%Effects: By sitting down and gathering mana, mana regeneration is increased. The higher the level, the more mana that is regenerated. Small amounts of stamina will now be restored.

Enhanced VisionSkill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 3Exp: 35%Effects: This skill allows you to see farther and better. If level up high enough, night vision becomes possible.

Mana Affinity SkillSkill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: UniqueSkill Level: 4Exp: 50%Effects: Any skill using mana cost 4% less. You are more sensitive to the mana. This enables you to know when someone is about to cast a spell due to the amount of mana being gathered. Anything mana related comes easier to you.

Status WindowNameColm MarythouAge: 16Race: HumanLevel: 4Gender: MaleTitlesThe Peerless Descender, Undead ProphetHealth: 130/130Mana: 120/140Stamina: 100/130~Strength: 10[6]Agility: 13[3]Vitality: 8Dexterity: 9Intelligence:20Wisdom:15Luck:0~SkillsMana Affinity, Wind Blade, Earth Magic, Necromancy, Meditation, Enhanced Vision, Electric StrikeUnallocated Points: 0

My wind blade was now longer and harder to see. The only way you could tell I was using it in battle was if you focused intensely on my blade. If you did that you would be able to see the slight shimmer in the air. It was still incredibly deadly whenever I combined it with my actual sword. I could extend the wind blade a couple of inches off my blade so I would be able to surprise my enemies whenever I fought. Even if they barely dodged my attack they would be injured since it wasn’t the blade of my sword they should be afraid of, but my magic instead.

My earth magic was coming along nicely and I had several attacks I could use. I learned that the more I used a certain attack, the easier it was for me to use in the future. So it was better to use the skills I was most proficient in rather than just some random attacks. The skills that I was proficient in were earthen spikes, earthen swamp, earthen wall, and my earthen blade.

My earthen spike was an incredibly useful attack that I could cast from long range. I used the skill so much that I didn’t have to slam my hands into the ground anymore. I could now launch earthen spikes using only my feet which gave me more strategies to use. My earthen swamp was good for close combat since I could make my enemies trip and sink into the ground. If they got too close to me, I would make them regret it. The only problem with this skill was that I had to make sure I didn’t get caught in my own earthen swamp.

My earthen wall was good for defense since I could block a variety of attacks with it. If I slammed my hands into the ground like I used to do with my earthen spike, I could make a wall appear quickly. If I didn’t do that my wall would be too slow to use in combat. Once I leveled up my earth magic more then I would be able to just direct mana through my feet like I do for my earthen spikes.

Although my wind blade was more powerful than my earthen blade, my earthen blade was good for a different reason. Whenever I wanted to get rid of the earth that was on my sword I could shoot it off quickly with my mana. If I did this in close combat my enemy would have to be extremely fast in order to dodge it. I was quite pleased with my earth magic skills.

My electric shock was where I found the most improvement. I had managed to get it to level three and there was a big difference. Not only was the attack stronger, but it also had the chance to paralyze the section of the body that it hit. This was useful because if I hit an opponent’s leg my skill had a chance to paralyze it. All it took was a moment of weakness in order to win a battle. I could also finally create a spark by concentrating. I had to train my skill more however in order to extend my electricity farther. If I did this I would soon be able to lob electrical bolts like it was nothing.

It turned out that I actually didn’t need to do necromancy rituals in order for my skill to level up. Just my zombie rat staying reanimated would give me experience. It wasn’t as much as how much the ritual gave but it was enough. I also learned that reading my journal gave me experience. I guess the more knowledge I had about a skill the higher the level would be.

My meditation skill hadn’t leveled up since it had just did a while ago. However I did gain a decent amount of experience in it. I just had to keep meditating in order for the level to rise. There really wasn’t a quicker way to level it up so I would just have to bear with it.

My enhanced vision was gaining experience quite quickly since I had been using it 24/7. The only time I didn’t use my vision was when I was sleeping. The darkness also helped since I had to strain my eyes more in order to see. A few more levels and I would be able to see in this wretched darkness. I could hardly wait.

With all my magic skills leveling up my mana affinity had to also. All of my magic skills cost four percent less to cast. It wasn’t a lot but once my level reached level ten or twenty then I would be able to notice the difference. Until then I would just have to make do with what I had. If I wanted to level it up quickly I needed to try to gain another magic. Whenever I created a magic skill my mana affinity skill would also gain a considerable amount of experience.

According to my status my highest stat was intelligence. My strength and agility tied for second while my wisdom came in third. The only reason my strength was so high was because of my equipment. This showed my just how powerful equipment should be. So if I saw some as dropped loot I needed to make sure I picked it up.

I needed to fight some enemies quickly and level up since my level was pathetically low. Level four? That was as high as the plant monster I fought and that battle was extremely easy. However I now had a good amount of skills I could use in battle so I was glad I trained them. Even if someone was a higher level than me I could still beat them using my skills. Increased strength didn’t mean anything if I killed you before you got close.

After reviewing my skills I headed towards my base. Once I reached it I continued on until I reached the section where all of the plants were. I was pretty hungry but I wasn’t in the mood for vegetables. But what could I do. At least some of the vegetable tasted like fruit so that was nice. Although it was odd for a carrot shaped vegetable to taste like a mango but I wasn’t complaining. After eating and drinking my fill I sat on the ground to take a twenty minute break. While I did this I popped open my necromancy book. I might as well do something useful while I rested.

Flipping towards the ritual section I spent the next few minutes glossing over the section. Once I was done I reviewed what I learned. The first ritual in there was beginners and I felt like I was past that. I was more of a ….. advanced beginner. I placed a piece of moss on the ritual that would allow my reanimation to gain the characteristics of the corpses it ate. This ritual was incredibly useful because not only did it make my reanimation stronger but it could work in tandem with nearly every ritual. I planned on using it with the last ritual that was in the book.

Right now I needed to gather more corpses but I already had an idea for what I wanted the host to be. It just had to be the ferocious giant rat. That was a special enemy and I doubted that another one like it would appear. As I was reading I realized that I was missing some of the materials and ingredients that I needed it. Hmmm, should I stop? Hell no! I would just have to wing it from now on. It was a shame that I couldn’t get what the book depicted but I could get something similar. I went to the notes section in the journal to see if the author talked about any of this.

After glancing at the notes I knew somewhat what I was going to do. It was going to be dangerous but what in this world was completely safe? The ritual that I was trying to attempt made it so that my reanimated corpse would take on the characteristics of whatever I put in there. It was kind of like the ritual that made my corpse gain whatever it ate its characteristics but it was more powerful. So if I put a bunch of rocks in the ritual then I would end up having some kind of stone rat. I had to be careful though since if I put in too much stuff the whole ritual would fail. And if the ritual failed then the whole area around me would burst into flames. Therefore I would need to be careful with what I used in the ritual. I didn’t want to be barbecued after all.

I took another sip of water as I read the tips this necromancer gave me. If I put some bone dust in the ritual then my reanimated rat would have stronger bones. If I had more bone dust then my rat would be able to shoot bones from its body to attack. Sadly I only had two containers of bone dust so that last option was out. A shame since that would’ve been pretty cool. I could also place some of my magic mana into the ritual which would enable my rat to use that magic to a certain extent. Since my necromancy was so low my reanimation could only hold one of my magic. So I had to choose between wind, earth, and electricity.

Since I didn’t really know what I wanted I decided that I would decide when I was about to do the ritual. And with that last though I was done with the ritual section of the book. This meant that I was one third of the way done with the book. Before I got up I decided that I might as well read the spell section of the journal. It was better to know what they did now so if I needed to I could use them later. Flipping pages of the journal I finally arrived at the spell section. There were only two spells but I didn’t mind. It was better than nothing.

Glancing at the description of the first one I soon realized what it did. It would be useless in combat but it would be useful if I ever need to get information from someone. This spell allowed me to question my reanimated corpse. My reanimation would be unable to lie to me and would have to answer all of my questions to the best of its ability. This spell worked extremely well on human opponents since they were easier to understand. If I did want to use this spell the brain of my corpse needed to be intact or else the corpse wouldn’t be able to remember anything.

My second spell allowed me to absorb the life force of my opponent. I excitedly began to read until I stopped in disappointment. It seemed that my necromancy would needed to be a higher level before I could read more. Or at least that was what the blue box in front of me said. I tried looking past it but it didn’t work. Closing my book with a sigh I stood on my feet. If I wanted to use the second spell in my book I would have to come back when I was stronger. Until then I would just have to ignore my curiosity as for how the spell worked.

Sticking my journal in my jacket pocket I made my way out of the hidden base. Before I could leave I was forced to stop when I tripped over a mass of green. Fuck! Picking myself up I kicked the offending object that had injured me. Once I realized what had tripped me my eyes widened considerably. It was the …..vine something. Vinela? No, it wasn’t that. I was pretty sure I would’ve remembered if the plant monster’s name sounded like some type of ice cream. After a few minutes of thinking I finally remembered what the plant monster was called.

Vinesta!

Man, I had completely forgotten about it. I had thought I moved the body to my base but I guess I didn’t. Or maybe I moved it back. Who knew? I stared at the corpse with a frown on my face. What should I do with it? It would be a waste to leave it there and I didn’t really want to try reanimating it. It was a plant so I had no idea how I was going to go about reanimating it. Maybe if I had more than once corpse I would try it. But since I only had one I didn’t want to waste it on a failed experiment. I looked toward my zombie rat as I thought about what to do.

“What do you think I should do?”

Don’t judge me for talking to a rat. Maybe he would tell me something intelligent. After all he did find the hidden wall. I was open for any suggestions since I had no clue what I wanted to do with the body. I watched as my zombie rat moved toward the Vinesta. What was it about to do? I watched in fascination as it took a big chunk out of the corpse. Was it going to eat it? That idea was thrown out of my head as I watched it moved to the garden. Once it was in the middle of a variety of plants it buried the piece in the dirt. My zombie rat did the process two more times until I realized what it was doing.

Fertilization!

By doing this I would be able to grow my plants faster. They wouldn’t grow fast enough for me to eat then while I was still in the sewers but the growth rate would still be improved. Hmm, there had to be a way to increase the growth rate of the plants more. A look of shock appeared on my face as I realized what I could do. Mana! By placing mana in the plants maybe I could increase the growth. Before doing anything I patted my zombie rat on its head. I had no idea how or why it was so smart but I wasn’t complaining. At least it was on my side.

Once I was done petting my zombie rat I moved to the Vinesta corpse. I then began dragging it toward the wild garden. Once I got the body there I began manipulating the earth around the corpse. After about thirty seconds of concentrating the body vanished, filling the ground with nutrients. The reason why the body disappeared so quickly was because I just used my earth swamp skill. Once I used that, the body sunk right into the ground.

After the body sunk into the ground, I began the process of moving my mana into the ground. With my mana in the ground I began grabbed pieces of the Vinesta’s body and directing them to various plants. Once they were close enough to the plants I combined my mana with the Vinesta’s body. Once they were combined I molded it with all of the plants nearby.

After I did this I could immediately tell the difference. The plants were bigger and it looked as if they took on some of the Vinesta’s characteristics. One plant that used to be just a stem now bore fruit. From the look of it if I waited a couple of hours more fruit would spawn. I repeated this process until all of the Vinesta’s body was used. After this was done I sat down to meditate. Once I was done meditating I was going to hunt for some giant rats. I needed to increase my level and it needed to be soon.