Necromancer

A Royal Road Fan Fiction

By: Halosty

Chapter 68

Quietus told Ruby an abridged version the story of his advancement in Royal Road. First, the quest where he found his dagger. The fact that he died many times in the dungeon, and only finally figured out the “solution” by sheer frustration. Then, he obtained the warlock class, and also learned some rogue skills. He left out the fact that he joined the assassin’s guild, since he at least wanted to keep that part a secret. He also didn’t particularly mention his skills in poisonmaking or his dissections of monsters.

He also briefly touched on some of his other adventures, such as his fight against the leader of the Crimson Ravens. That was basically one of the few fights with players he could reasonably talk about and still pretend to be anti-pk, or at least not pro-pk. He did try to avoid bragging about things, but even truthfully conveying some of the circumstances ended up sounding like bragging.

When he talked about his skills, Ruby made weird faces. Especially when he mentioned that some of his skills caused pain to himself as well. In addition, that he played with the pain settings on full. She obviously thought he was crazy, but seemed interested in listening still. Quietus wanted to point out that he wasn’t a masochist, and that it made the game more real, but he decided that bringing that up wouldn’t really help his case.

Eventually, he got into the various circumstances in which he ended up gaining affinity with the undead and becoming a necromancer. Though undead were mostly on the “somewhat gross” to the “extremely gross” level, he didn’t mind and since there were quests, he didn’t have a problem. With proper preservation techniques, undead wouldn’t even smell bad. As a summary, they were very useful minions with a good range of abilities.

“Plus, they can learn stuff from me, like burrowing! Though, they aren’t very skilled at it, they make up for it through strength and not getting tired. So… that’s about the whole story.” Quietus had obviously left out things. Some things were boring, some things would just take a long time, and some things he still didn’t want to say.

Though Ruby had previously had some comments, mostly she had let him tell the story. “That’s probably the most complicated path anybody’s taken to become a necromancer. Mostly, people become wizards and then go talk to the class trainers in the cities when they hit level 200.”

“Well, yeah, but it’s not like I had a plan when I started playing this game. Just…” He didn’t want to admit it was basically to stalk her. Even thinking that thought in his head was weird. “Well, I did kind of want to be a wizard, and then stuff just happened as it did.”

“You know, I used to think you just were a lazy, spoiled rich kid.”

“Well… it’s not like I wasn’t. To be fair, I’m still a spoiled rich kid, but I don’t get to be lazy anymore.” He thought of master Valarao outside of the game. “I’m still kind of lazy about a lot of things though.”

Ruby laughed. “Ha, I started this game because I could be a little bit more lazy. With the time ratio of four to one, I could still play quite a bit in less hours. After all, I still had to put in the work to keep my scholarships.”

Mortimer was glad he didn’t need to have scholarships to afford school. Though he was smart, and even got good grades in classes now, he would likely never had the consistent performance needed. Specifically, he still did the bare minimum of work in subjects that didn’t interest him.

Ruby continued, “I also started playing to get out of my shell a little bit. I could be a bit more wild when I wasn’t around people I knew. That was the thought anyway, but then I just ended up playing with people I knew. Still, I got some confidence.”

Quietus knew it was a serious topic, but he couldn’t help thinking to himself that her wardrobe definitely showed a lot of “confidence”. Still, he also thought of less superficial changes, especially outside of Royal Road. “Enough to kick a football player in the nuts. Good job, by the way.”

“Thanks? I guess. I don’t think it would have gone quite as well without you there.”

“Only because they outnumbered you. You probably could have done most of it, I was just faster.”

“Well, maybe one or two, but maybe not. I find it hard to seriously hurt people.”

Quietus avoided mentioning that the person she kicked was probably in more pain than the people whose shoulder’s he’d dislocated. “Well, not everybody’s cut out for fighting.”

“You are, though. To a rather scary degree.”

Quietus pondered that. “Really? I never really thought about it.”

Ruby nodded. “That’s why it’s scary. You don’t think about fighting, you just do it. All those jerks were on the floor in moments. Then, with the mountain lion… You killed it right away, without any hesitation.”

“I’ve killed tons of bigger cats in games. Like tigers. It’s basically the same. Plus, Robert grabbed it first.”

Ruby looked at him askance. “It’s not the same though. That’s the point. Robert is also gigantic, where you’re… well, not.”

Mortimer shrugged. “By the way, how’s your stomach? Not too much scarring?” For obvious reasons, he hadn’t seen her real bare stomach since that time. He saw it in game, but the scars didn’t transfer over.

Ruby smiled. “It’s barely noticeable. I was surprised you were so good with your… so good at stitching.”

“It’s about the only practical skill I’ve gotten from Royal Road. It would hardly even be that, but I’m going to be a doctor, so… it’s useful.”

“Oh, you’re going to be a doctor? This is the first time I’ve heard that. Angela didn’t seem to know.”

“Well, I haven’t told many people yet, but it’s basically the only job I think I could tolerate that wouldn’t get me disowned.”

“Disowned?”

Quietus nodded, then put on an exaggerated face and started wagging his finger. “Mortimer, if you don’t get a respectable job, don’t think you’ll see a penny in our will! You must become a proper gentleman!” Quietus smiled. “So, instead of becoming a businessman or politician or something boring and terrible, doctor’s a pretty good choice.”

Ruby smiled. “So, you can’t just rest on your parent’s riches, huh? Good for them.”

Quietus shrugged. “Well, not exactly. If you think about it from a different perspective, once I attain a certain level of accomplishment, I get to do exactly that. Well, it’s not like I can retire after they die or anything, because they’d probably haunt me.”

“You believe in ghosts?” Ruby asked jokingly.

“Ghosts? No. I do, however, believe that my parents could do it anyway. They’re very stubborn.”

The conversation managed to continue until they had to log off and sleep. Somehow, it was a real conversation, and felt quite natural. After Ruby logged off, Quietus had a very weird feeling. It felt very similar to his normal feelings about Ruby/Solara, but it was different somehow. He wasn’t sure how, though.

End Chapter 68