Summon Shambler, as the Mana was consumed by the spell I felt tired mentally, but in exchange Bob's body started rising up and to my delight without making a sound unlike the moaning zombies we often see. His skin was now a dark green, blank eyes and his movement seemed clunky but he was definitely moving and awaiting my order. His neck was also almost at a 90 degrees angle, guess I know how he died now. The merchant was too busy praying to whatever he thinks would save him to notice but the girl did and her eyes widened; making her doe like eyes bigger.

Shambler summoned:

Bob Level 5 - 100/100 HP, 10 Atk, 5 Def, 3 Spd.

*Ding

From summoning your first magical being you have unlocked a new skill:

Lesser Summoning Mastery - You are beginning to master the art of summoning reducing Mana costs and strengthening your summoned being, higher levels of the skill increase Mana costs reduced and further increases the power of your summoned being.

Novice 1 - 10%, Reduce Mana costs by 1% and increase power of summoned being by 5%

A new skill too, that is a great start ignoring previous incidents.

"Bob, let's give your friend a surprise now shall we?" I said sarcastically as I went up to Stubs (Calling him that for whatever remains of his life) and tapped his shoulder. He jumped at the touch and spun around swinging the sword, which would have taken some fingers if I didn't retract my hand in time, damn shouldn't have acted cocky. His eyes widened as he saw me who was obviously dead with a giant hole in my chest which was no longer there.

"Eek, how did you.. you were dead!!" a shrill voice screeched out. Then he saw Bob and he let out a scream that was even higher pitched than before. At that sound everyone turned around and their jaws dropped, my lips smiled in amusement subconsciously. Stubs over there having jumped back quite a bit away from me was right next to the other bandit, and my smile widened.

"It was quite rude to pull a sword out of someone's chest don't you think? Also I believe you have something that belongs to Bob here." Summon Shambler, again I felt my mind getting heavier this time a lot more so but the once still body beside Stubs started moving again made it all worth it. So was Stubs scream as a hand grabbed his ankle which was once again an even higher pitch, so much so that it was barely audible.

Shambler Summoned:

Bandit Level 3 - 53 HP, 8 Atk, 3 Def, 3 Spd

Do not forget about his soul.

Floating above the shambler that was currently eating Stubs ankle was the owners soul looking at the spectacle in both shock and... glee? Guess he really hated Stubs, well unfortunately I couldn't let him watch the entire soul as I started consuming his soul. Once again power filled me and I felt healthier with my mind sharper than it was before.

Soul Consumed, 125 Health Restored, 110 Mana restored, 110 Stamina restored, 150 Exp gained, +1 Strength.

Oh this time I gained more even though he was lower level, I wonder if it's because I consumed a soul without being dead. During the time I was processing that information stubs who has all but lost his left leg from the thigh down had managed to cut off the shambler's hand and hop away and is now swinging his sword at Bob. The guard is breathing heavily as propping himself up using wagon and the other living bandit laid dead at his feet, probably killed by the guard while staring in surprise at the who scene. The merchant was now crying and pushed himself as far back into the wagon as he could banging at the back wall while the girl was staring straight at me... in fascination?

Ignoring the screaming, begging and crying from Stubs I left the zombies to finish their job as I concentrated on trying out another one of my skills. Create Soul Stone, focusing on the number 50 I saw my Mana converge upon my open palm. A small multicoloured stone the size of a quail egg materialized into existence.

Small Cloudy Soul Stone created: Can store up to 1 weak soul indefinitely

Unlike when I consumed souls which was almost instantaneous, the soul of the bandit as he was getting sucked into the stone was a slow but steady process and he was screaming the entire time, it almost made me feel bad.

Sorry to bring you out of your internal monologue, but the fight seems to be over

Looking up from the glowing soul stone indeed the fight is over, Bob was missing three fingers of his right hand and had the sword stuck in his upper chest, shambler1 was still missing his hand but did not incur additional injuries, Stubs on the other hand had his face eaten off and most his body torn to shreds; gruesome to say the least. Swallowing some bile I walked up to the wagon, devouring Stub's soul along the way (it really wasn't eventful).

Soul Consumed, 120 Health restored, 100 Mana restored, 100 stamina restored, + 100 Exp, +1 Agility.

The guard seemed to be in his forties with gray hair and hard blue eyes, though they were clouded from pain. He held the sword high even as he has trouble keeping himself upright even with the help of the wagon.

"I mean you no harm." Both arms raised to show my sincerity.

Unconvinced he kept the sword levelled with my neck, the merchant was in the back slumped over, did he faint? Just then the girl leaned down from the wagon and kiss the man's neck, his soul departing from his body however told me that what she did was not a kiss. Stories, movies and games though not real have told me enough for me to recognize what she did. "Vampire," I breathed out.

"My, that's not very nice." She looked up with her light brown eyes, there was a red glint to them which gave them a mysterious beauty. So were her deep red lips soaked with blood, long brown hair and shapely but conservative body; in fact everything about her seemed perfect. "You yourself are a monster are you not? People not even necromancers can simply revive from the dead like that." She paused to look at me, "or were you even alive to begin with?"

"I am certainly alive, it's just a special... ability I have."

"Oh, is that so?" She drew closer to me, our faces almost touching, her breathe was warm smelling slightly of blood. "I wonder what ability is it? Maybe you could.... teach me?" Is it just me or is her eyes glowing? There seems to be a violet tinge to it now.

"I... uh.. don't think I can, it's something only I can do." I regret only having minimal interactions with the opposite gender during my life now.

"Hmm... I would love to hear more about you and your curious ability, but I think we should change locations. There is a camping spot not far, and there is some supplies we can take from this wagon." She pulled back and started digging around the wagon.

"What about the merchant?" although I have a suspicion about what happened.

"Him? He was being loud so I put him to sleep, his blood was terribly disgusting. Now," She turned back around and dumped a backpack in front of me. "Shall we get moving? Although not a lot of people use it there is still a fair amount of travellers and explaining this would be bothersome. Oh right would you mind getting rid of that merchant? Your... zombies would do."

As I commanded the shamblers to eat the merchant a window popped up.

She is dangerous, I think you should kill her.

I looked at the girl, then whispered "We need some information about this world."

There will be others that are less dangerous.

Why was Karen so against this? I mean sure she is dangerous but I do not believe I would lose to her especially since I can revive.

"What are you waiting for? You can't be thinking that I should be the one to carry the stuff are you? I'm just a weak little girl." She had walked further down the road and is now looking at me with a hand on her hip.

"Sorry was just thinking about something." Quickly picking up the backpack and consuming the guard's soul (who was looking quite distraught at the girl) I hurried after her. I didn't even bother looking at the window that popped up, it was probably a repeat of the same messages.

"By the way," the girl suddenly looking over her shoulder at me with a big smile, "My name is Mary, what is yours?"

... Why am I always stuck with the idiots.

*Note: I know I suck at doing action scenes X.X going to work on it so there will actually be some action since this time it was all done by the zombies. But he will be actually involved, next chapter later today.