Race advancement available

Undead Skeleton > Undead Revenant

Would like to advance a Race: Undead Skeleton > Undead Revenant

Yes/No

"Revenant?"

Undead Revenant - a revenant is a form of an undead creature that inhabits a vengeful soul that has died a gruesome death and has possessed a body of a dead. Now, in a form of an undead, it seeks to haunt, terrorise and strike fear in the living or a subject of its vengeance. The Revenant has increased physical attributes and is relentless in pursuit of his target.

+10 to all attributes

Warning: the user will undergo a physical transformation

Bones was looking at the screen in front of him absentmindedly. He read the Revenant description again and sighed. He didn't know what to make of this.

The advancement was beyond what he expected as he expected perhaps a simple upgrade from an undead skeleton to an adept.

Strange that I have only one upgrade available. There are a number of reasons why that would be, but only one comes to mind. I have met certain hidden criteria and Revenant is the only option forward?

Regardless, a vengeful spirit? Against whom? I don't have hatred toward anyone in particular. Myself and the rest of the world maybe… the gruesome death part seems to be on point. As for terrorizing and striking fear…

"Ah! Right, I do have the misanthrope skill."

A boost to the attributes is immense and welcomed, but the transformation part is worrying. I've no idea what a Revenant is supposed to look like…

Bones paused his thoughts, then chuckled. "Can't be worse than a skeleton right?"

He thought for a moment what he should do but it was obvious he was going to proceed with an advancement. He just wasn't sure where he would want for the transformation to take place.

The workshop is not good. If I collapse or enter Eternal Rest, I'll be out of it for who knows how long and I don't want to disturb Hem or for them to find me on the floor. Outside the smithy is out of the question for obvious reasons!

"Guess I'll just head to my room then."

Bones left a small note at his work table, saying "advancing in my room" and left.

Back in his room, Bones summoned Skully and said to keep him company while he took off his robe, sat cross-legged as usual, and accepted the prompt to advance.

You have chosen to advance a Race Undead Skeleton > Undead Revenant

Advancement initiating…

At first, the mana within his body steadily increased, much like it did in his empowered state until he felt it reach his maximum. Then it went beyond and a steady increase turned into turmoil. The excess of mana scourged the mana pathways through his body and unnatural changes started taking place.

Bones, in the meantime, was incapacitated and once the transformation started, he entered Eternal Rest.

*knock knock*

"No answer?"

"Naw, I think he still at it!" Hemdus replied. This was the second time the dwarves came knocking. Hem found the note Bones left behind when preparing for work in the morning. He didn't think much of it as the dwarves knew it was only a matter of time until Bones had his advancement.

At noon, before taking a lunch break, Hem decided to go check up on Bones again, but left hearing no reply. It was evening now, when Darsumi visited the smithy and asked if Bones was still in his room.

"Nothing to it then. Let's go grab ourselves a drink and something to bite." Darsumi said. Hemdus nodded and followed Dar to the kitchen.

There are different types of Revenants and they all share a physical image of a recently deceased corpse. While not a rule, most revenants fall under the category of zombies. Bones was not a Zombie. Through sheer system frolics, he was an undead skeleton and now the transformation was taking place.

The excess mana that was rampaging through and around his very bones was dense and felt thick and almost tangible. Tendrils of mana attached themselves to the defensive layer Bones had from Bone Aura skill and like a metal at high temperature, it began to melt the layer.

Unconsciously, Bone Shaping activated and the melted layer started to twist and bend around his bones. The new layer had no form yet and after hours of erratic shaping, its form solidified into that of muscle tissue.

The engravings Bones did on his arms were no longer visible straight lines. The incisions twisted and curved in the process of transformation along with the defensive layer and became a part of it. Pulses of blue hue gently glowed in the incisions between the muscle-like tissue on his arms with a tinge of luminous green.

Bones' overall mass increased with the increase in bone volume. He looked lean and not as scrawny as before. He came to his senses by nighttime to the sounds of merry dwarves coming from the kitchen on the ground floor. Bones groggily stood up, clutching Skully for support. His head was a puzzle of thousands of pieces scattered around. He reached for the door, groping for the doorknob.

"Skully…door."

Skully didn't respond. Bones' mind was such a mess from advancement, he couldn't make out coherent thoughts. He opened the door after great effort and tumbled down the hallway until he reached the staircase. He took a step forward and rolled down the stairs after missing a step.

*crash*

Silence permeated the kitchen as Bones stood back up and slowly, with heavy footsteps, proceeded toward the kitchen. The dwarves watched as Bones' head peeked out the entrance to the kitchen and glanced their way. Both dwarves tensed up and their eyes widened. Bones held his hand on the door frame, supporting himself, then stumbled his way into the kitchen and staggered toward the available chair.

Hem stuttered incoherently while Dar summoned a dagger and placed it on the table in front of him. Both watched Bones clumsily pull a chair and take a seat.

"Boney, ye alr-", Hem wanted to ask but Bones held up his finger, motioning him to wait while taking out a mana potion. He placed the vial on the table and then his head abruptly slumped down, hitting the table with his forehead, breaking the vial and spilling the liquid within.

Dar was speechless, but the scene had him relaxed. He stored the dagger away and watched Hem laugh his ass off. They left Bones as is, wiped the table clean and continued with what they were doing. Around midnight, Dar said his goodbye and left. Hem was ready to go to his room, but squandered whether to leave Bones be or not.

He shook Bones by the shoulders, hoping to "wake" him up and heard a groan, followed by a raspy voice.

"Hem, wha…where am I?"

"In da kitchen Boney! Ye doin ok now?"

Bones slumped back in the chair, his head falling backwards. "I feel like I haven't slept for months, you know?" Bones said and turned to look at Hem. His eyebrows raised, even though he actually didn’t have any and a sinister glow flickered in his eye sockets.

"Hells Boney…I dun think ye shoulda let anyone cya like dis."

"What? Why?"

"Ye mighta look bit harmless befor when ye were only a skeleton, but naow ye look proper menacing! Ye should cya self in da mirror! Am off to bed! We'll talk in da morning eh? Good night!"

"Alright. Good night Hem." Bones said his good night and turned focus to blaring notifications awaiting him. Before doing anything, he popped open a mana potion and drank it in one gulp. Then another one and the third one on his way back to his room.

When he entered the room, he greeted Skully and thanked him for standing idly by and not helping with the doors. The mana potion alleviated some of the murkiness he felt and Bones headed straight to the bathroom.

He stood stupefied in front of the mirror. Before the transformation, he looked like someone wrapped his skeleton tightly in a thin layer of silk. Now he looked like someone skinned him only instead of flesh and meat on him, he had thick and solid bones shaped like lean muscles.

Bones touched his face, feeling the solidified bones coating his skull and the lack of indentation. It actually looked better now. Then he noticed the glow in the mirror. He looked down and inspected the glow coming off both his arms. Probably incisions from engraving since I don't see the lines anymore. Bones thought.

He clenched his fists and the glow intensified slightly. Bones could feel the qualitative jump in power. It was expected as he did gain a boost to strength, but it seemed more than simply that. He sensed both the layer and the engravings were part of him. Like they had always been a part of him and not layers he did and added himself.

He unclenched his fist, then clenched it again, observing how the bone in his forearm twitched and strained, imitating functions of a muscle.

"Fascinating!" He exclaimed in wonder. He couldn't do that before. At least not as naturally. He watched and observed the changes on his body but the glow on his arms wouldn't escape his notice, neither did a faint tinge of green mixing with blue.

Curious about the changes, he brought up his notifications. There were many of them to go through, starting from successfully advancing from Undead Skeleton to Undead Revenant. He gained a boost to his attributes he was still getting accustomed to, and was surprised to read he gained two levels in Bone Shaping.

Bone Aura is still here. I thought it would change or even disappear after the defensive layer fused with my skeleton. Is that the right word? Fuse? Moving on…

Bones continued and paused at the next notification, leaving him puzzled.

Affinity [Chaos, low] acquired

Many questions went through his head. How? When? Why?

He could've gained an affinity during the advancement. That's what he first thought, but a nagging feeling had made him think back to everything that happened so far and a realization hit him. Was it back then? The necromancer...and the blasts? Are you kidding me?

Bones wasn't happy about gaining chaos affinity. Being an undead already raised awareness in people sensitive to mana like Morem and perhaps Gareth, the ranger from the dungeon. Having chaos affinity on top of that and he wouldn't escape notice of others, less sensitive as well.

Luckily, it's low affinity so it shouldn't be as discernible yet. Long term, it might play right in my hands! There's not many defenses against the unstable and disorderly chaos magic from what I can tell. How would it affect my spells though? What about my golem?

No point in overthinking it right now, but I should find more information on chaos mana. I'll ask Darsumi about it when I see him tomorrow…or is it later today? It'll dawn in a few hours.

Bones stretched in front of the mirror for a while longer, watching as his solidified new body bent and stretched with flexibility, when it shouldn't have been possible to.

Satisfied with the result of the transformation, he left the bathroom and laid down on the bed with his legs crossed and hands behind his head. There was one notification he skimmed through and planned to go back to.

Skill: In pursuit of Vengeance [active] - Allows a Revenant to use a fragment of his soul to inflict a mark on the target of his vengeance and never lose them in pursuit! The Revenant will be able to sense the marked target wherever they are and when confronted with his target, he will gain a boost to his attributes all the while the confrontation lasts. Only one target may be marked at a time.

The level 25 skill he gained truly fit his racial upgrade. Bones was both intrigued by it and concerned about the cost of this new skill. What does it mean to use a fragment of my soul? Does it use a piece of my soul? Can I restore it back? Many questions clouded his mind.

The skill seems like it would be best used situationally and definitely with caution. I won't know how it works until I try it out though.

Bones pushed himself up in a sitting position. He had brooded enough over a skill he had no target to test on right now. While many great changes took place in the last twenty four hours, Bones still had a golem to engrave and he wanted it done before the heist. I think there’s less than a week before the festival? Yes, and I lost a day on advancing my Race so there should be five days left now. Thaddeus should’ve reached the capital and delivered the message by now.