Necromancer

A Royal Road Fan Fiction

By: Halosty

Chapter 11

Notes: Last week* when we left our protagonist, he died again**. This leaves us with many questions. Will he ever complete the quest***? Will he find true love****? What skills does he have? What is his favorite type of sandwich? All***** of these questions will be answered in the near future! (Now.)******

*Yesterday

**That seems to be happening a lot

***Read the next exciting chapter, which happens to be this one, to find out success or failure for sure!

****Guess.

*****Two.

*******No seriously just get on with the chapter.

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The sensation of death overwhelmed him, as well as the feeling that a window had popped up... but he was soon jerked out of Royal Road, as expected. Why would there be a pop up window then? Hopefully it didn’t have anything important, but based on the luck he’d been having with that quest, it probably said he’d failed. Unfortunately, he’d have to wait till tomorrow to know for sure.

Mortimer went to see master Valarao, and was shocked how easily he had fit into his life. Just a few days ago he wouldn’t have really considered putting this much effort into physical activity, but here he was practically volunteering for muscle pain and bruises. It was fun, though. He liked the learning, and even the pain he was completely unaccustomed to with his protected lifestyle was an interesting change.

He felt that he was good at it. He couldn’t be sure, because he didn’t have anyone to compare to, but he felt a remarkable improvement in his skills in Royal Road already. Specifically, from nothing to something. He enjoyed the sparring, but he enjoyed much more the stabbing of skeletons. It was nice to be able to properly use martial arts- they were for killing people after all. Granted, skeletons in a video game were hardly people, but then again, that way he didn’t have to feel bad for liking it.

Mortimer’s mind was swamped with the moves he had seen master Valarao demonstrate. He’d only had practice with a few of them, but the rest of them were hiding in the back of his mine, aching to get out. Given how he performed his first tries with a new technique, however, he wasn’t going to try them until master Valarao said so. He suspected that way when he messed up he wouldn’t be hit very hard.

Again, Mortimer collapsed in his bed. At least his sleep for the past few days had been very deep, since he still stayed up late and exercised to boot. Still, he usually managed to eke out six hours of wonderful sleep a night. Then he had to get up and go to school, which was such a waste of time. Since he didn’t have any other options, though, he did his homework on the ride there and back. It had to be done to make his parents happy, and he didn’t want to do it when he could be playing Royal Road.

And then, of course, he was playing again.

Quietus woke up on a familiar stone slab. They must have fixed the respawn bug in that dungeon, he thought. I’m back at the morgue. Then, he opened his eyes. It was a familiar roof above him. However, it was not in the morgue. He was also on a different stone slab, with a dagger sticking out of his chest. It was a nice dagger. He pulled it out of apparently healed wounds, and then finally noticed the screen in front of him.

You have learned a skill

The Power to Accept Death

Upon death, experience lost will be stored in a buffer, which will give you a 5% bonus on experience until the buffer is empty. In addition, the lockout time upon death is reduced by thirty minutes.

Quietus just stared at the message for a while. This skill... it was pretty amazing. He grinned. Now he had less reason to fear death, since it became less annoying. Just a minor setback really.

Then, he thought about his other skills. They had been ravaged by his many deaths.

Alchemy

Beginner level 1

You can mix various ingredients to create varied potions and poisons.

He’d gotten it up to almost beginner level 2 with some practice, but that was long gone. All he had now was a tiny sliver of experience. Well, he’d get it back eventually anyway. Especially with the help of

Herb Gathering

Beginner level 1

The ability to gather herbs and distinguish their uses.

He hadn’t actually used this one yet, but he’d picked it up for future use with his alchemy skill. He could imagine the tasty poisons potions now.

Anatomy

Beginner level 4

Your knowledge of anatomy allows you to strike opponents weaknesses more effectively. Increases critical hit damage when striking a vulnerable location by 20%

This one would have been much higher, since he used it as much as he could on those stupid skeletons. However, dying constantly made it much weaker than it should have been.

Stealth

Beginner level 5

It is harder for people to notice you while this skill is active. All stamina consumption is increased while this skill is in use. Quick movement and combat will cancel the skill.

*Stamina use reduced slightly based on level of the skill

*Difficulty of detection increased with skill level.

This one was almost beginner level 6, actually. He used it constantly. Everywhere he went. It was just... convenient. No point in trying to sneak after an enemy had found you anyway, so he used it early and often. Besides, he move slowly enough that the stamina drain was negligible.

Dagger Mastery

Beginner level 1

*Increases attack power with a dagger by 5%

*Increases attack speed with a dagger by 5%

*Increases critical hit chance with a dagger by 2%

When had he gotten this? Maybe it had been one of those windows he’d had to close because he was watching for traps or something. Almost level 2. It seemed like it would be very useful.

Quietus looked down at the dagger.

Sacrificial Dagger: Durability: ?? Damage: ??

This dagger is obviously made for wicked sacrifices. It’s abilities are unknown.

Unknown abilities. Quietus didn’t particularly care. He liked it. Thus, he would use it. It was also- “Ouch!” definitely quite sharp.

Quietus finally realized he had been sitting around in the boss room. That could be a problem. However, it appeared the boss was out. Quietus decided this was a good time to sneak out of Seeker’s Den. He stopped for a second to check that the quest was finished. That had to be the secret, right?

Explore the ancient ruins

Rumors exist of a secret power available only to those who do not fear death. Explore a nearby dungeon and unlock the secrets held within.

Difficulty level: D

Quest requirements

Leaving the dungeon before the quest is fulfilled will result in failure.

Quest status: Completed. Return to “Jack” for a reward.

Well, that was a relief. Quietus couldn’t think of any other possibilities for the secret in the dungeon. He had honestly been grasping at straws to have figured it out.

Thus, he left the dungeon. He was surprised it was that easy. He found no skeletons on the way. Perhaps some strange people who didn’t care about the quality of a dungeon had just come through and cleared it out.

That was a reasonable solution, so he believed it until he stepped out of the dungeon, and it collapsed behind him. He turned around. That was very collapsed. Was it saying, “I’m done being a terrible dungeon with weak mobs and no loot?”

Probably not, but it sure had looked more structurally sound than that.

Quietus snuck casually walked back to town, and nothing happened on the way but--- Was that red hair? Indeed, it was. However, the person to whom it belonged was not the bard. How boring.

As Quietus had been thinking, nothing happened on the way back to town. He could smell the sweet smell of quest rewards already. Although, personally, he was happy with his new dagger.

End Chapter 11

... Does anyone know how to make the strikeouts not make everything after it on another line? I happen to like strikeouts, but it's annoying me. Seriously, if you know post in the questions and comments. (might just have to live with it)

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