Necromancer

A Royal Road Fan Fiction

By: Halosty

Chapter 37

Mortimer sighed. He was thinking about the future that approached him. It was just so depressing to think that he would have to go to school and play less Royal Road. There would be many new people who Mortimer had never met, and he’d have to go to classes and study. Well, it was worth it for his future. His parents would probably disown him and write him out of the will if he didn’t go, and that wasn’t something he wanted. Plus, Solara would be there, somewhere.

So, he would go. He wasn’t sure what he was going to study, but he was considering biology and chemistry, since he’d learned a bit about those while playing Royal Road. He had time to decide, since he would be mostly taking general education courses for the first few semesters.

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Quietus thought over what he had accomplished recently. Still no progress on the B-rank quest related to his dagger, but that was to be expected. His level was still too low to go into the Plains of Despair. Still, he had made quite a bit of progress on his skills and level.

All of his skills had advanced to intermediate level, with Dark Magic Mastery achieving advanced level. Herb gathering had been the most tedious to train, and Spot and Listen had been the hardest. He’d had to seek out spawn locations of monsters that attempted to hide to train those, and that took a lot of time. Of course, he never thought of looking up locations of such monsters on the internet.

With the increase he’d gained in alchemy and herb gathering, it hadn’t been too hard to level up in Poison Resistance. At the rate it was progressing, it looked like mastering the skill would give him 100% resistance to poison. However, he knew this was a slightly deceptive number. As he’d reached intermediate alchemy and herb gathering, he’d discovered poisons that ignored some amount of poison resistance, although it wasn’t terribly significant yet. He had no doubts that that kind of effect would show up more at higher levels.

Anatomy now allowed him to highlight weak points on enemies that were similar to ones he had seen before. Its effects on critical hits were much more significant as well. Quietus now sought out as many different types of enemies he could to improve that skill. Some new enemies had been too much for him to handle and cause his death, but since he earned back lost experience quickly, it wasn’t much of an issue. Besides, he still learned something from each encounter.

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The first thing Mortimer noticed about the school was that the hallways were crowded. This was not his favorite state for hallways to be in. People kept bumping into him, and he had to avoid doing what Master Valarao had taught him. He figured it wouldn’t be appropriate to throw and/or otherwise incapacitate students at school. He generally didn’t regret his decision.

However, there was one time when he did. Someone bumped into him from behind and knocked him down. Well, he easily caught himself, but he still lost his balance for a small time. He assumed it was an accident, until he turned and looked.

He was now looking at a large chest. Not the good kind, since this one belonged to some kind of man. Maybe a football player? (Note: American Football)

“Watch where you’re going, nerd,” said the large person. Mortimer didn’t consider himself a nerd, so he figured this guy had gotten the wrong person. Still, he would have liked to throw him for bumping into him on purpose. However, he didn’t think he could make it look like an accident now. So he just walked away.

Some equally musclebound fellows talked to the primary large dude. “Did that guy just walk away? He doesn’t seem to be all there in the head. I don’t know if he even noticed we exist.”

“Hmph. I’d get him for that, but too many people are around.”

Mortimer wasn’t nearly as oblivious as they thought. He decided to be more aware of his surroundings, so he could “accidentally” throw one of them if the situation arose. He still wanted to avoid hurting random people though. His parents would probably complain about that, and so would the people. It wouldn’t be a good use of his time.

As he was entering his classroom, he ran headlong into someone, falling over on top of them. Well, over them. He caught himself in something like a pushup position. From there, he had the mobility to go any direction. Not that it mattered in this case. He looked at the face of the girl. They just sort of stared back with a shocked expression. Mortimer looked more closely. Maybe it was a guy? Not a very manly one obviously. Well, it didn’t matter. Somehow, it felt familiar.

Mortimer was back in an upright position with a strong push of his arms. He almost turned and walked away, then remembered his manners. It was important not to forget manners. Specifically because he felt if he forgot his manners, his parents might disown him. Or worse, forbid him from playing Royal Road. He reached his hand out to the person still lying on the ground. “Sorry, let me help you up.” Mortimer put on his best polite smile. This was the one he used when people were over to visit his parents and he had to eat meals with them.

The person eventually accepted his hand, and Mortimer helped pull them up. “I’m Mortimer.” Soft hands. Obviously didn’t do much sports or martial arts.

After a few seconds of staring awkwardly, the person replied. “I’m Alex. It’s short for-”

At that point the bell rang, so Mortimer couldn’t hear clearly. “It’s nice to meet you Alex.” Personally, he didn’t really like meeting people, but at least this person was better than the football players. First impressions were important, and since this person seemed quiet, Mortimer didn’t instantly dislike them. He still wasn’t sure how he got along with Angela.

In class, Mortimer sat in the front. This may seem like an odd move, but it reduced the probability of other students sitting near him. Once class started, there were only two other people in the front row, on the other side of the room. Mortimer was happy to see Angela and Solara. So far, his success for being in the same classes as them was 100%. Of course, that wasn’t saying much.

In the end, the rest of the day was spent with Mortimer stalking attending classes with Solara and Angela. They appeared to share all three of the classes Mortimer had that day. Of course, Mortimer could have found out Angela’s schedule by asking, if he’d wanted to. After all, she’d asked him about his schedule.

Mortimer was content that at least the classes seemed like they would offer new information. Maybe it would end up relevant to Royal Road. Still, he was happy to go home and actually play it again.

End Chapter 37

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