《Book Of The Dead》B3C14 - The Dead
Advertisement
“Hey there, lover.”
Filetta grinned at him as she sauntered through the sewer, her crew following behind, canvas-wrapped corpses over their shoulders.
Tyron sighed.
“Is it really necessary to let your men know that we slept together?” he asked.
“I share everything with my crew,” she boasted, “thieves need to be a tight-knit bunch to operate.”
Judging by the appraising, and somewhat respectful looks he saw on a few of the men’s faces, she’d embellished the story quite a bit.
He brought a hand up and massaged his right temple.
“What did you tell them?” he asked, almost despite himself.
The thief, dressed in her work clothes, form fitting black cloth and leather boots, smiled suggestively.
“I praised your stamina, high constitution and pain tolerance.” She licked her lips. “These pansies were ready to lose their lunch before I was half way through describing the night.”
His pain tolerance? What did that have to do with any–
The Necromancer grimaced.
“You lied to me, didn’t you?”
A look of hurt innocence flashed over Filetta’s face.
“Elten, what a thing to say. Whatever could you mean?”
“You told me that stuff was normal!”
One of the men froze, putting down a corpse, glanced up at Tyron and shook his head slightly.
“It’s not uncommon for some couples to strike each other,” she deflected.
“And the knives?” he ground out.
The goon stumbled and almost fell flat on his face, looking up at Tyron with a look of disbelief and admiration. Filetta stepped forward and sank her boot directly into the ruffian’s side.
“I admit… I got a little carried away,” she said after regaining her balance. “In my defence, you seemed to enjoy yourself.”
He had.
The evening had begun normally enough. They’d eaten, had drinks and conversed before Filetta had led him into a back room. At first, she’d been stunned by his utter lack of experience, but had leapt into educating him with… unseemly relish.
She’d taught him how to kiss first, as good a starting place as any, and things had progressed rapidly from there. In hindsight, he’d clearly let his guard down too much and let himself be led by the nose. It was deep into the night before she had gotten especially… inventive.
“It was… nice,” he managed.
Filetta pouted at him.
“Only nice?”
“Fine. More than nice,” he rolled his eyes.
“Well then, if that’s the case, you’ll hardly want to refuse when I invite you to another intimate get together? Let’s say, tomorrow night?”
A frown crossed his face.
“Why?”
Some of the men let out strangled chuckles before Filetta silenced them with a deadly glare. She turned back to Tyron, an icy glint in her eyes.
“Why. Not?” she said, each word chopped as if by a guillotine.
Advertisement
“I’ve already reached human level twenty,” he pointed out, “it worked just as you suggested it might. Though I’m a little nervous that was all it took to form an emotional connection with you. Ultimately speaking, I got what I wanted out of the arrangement. As for you…” he trailed off for a second, before he shrugged and decided to be blunt. “If all you’re looking for is someone to fuck, then I’m certain you have far better irons in the fire than me.”
He had no illusions that Filetta was looking for some sort of exclusive relationship, it was likely she was sleeping with a range of people, and he didn’t care, it was none of his business. What had transpired between them had been transactional.
Filetta stared at him for a moment before she let out a harsh laugh and shook her head.
“Holy shit, Elten. I thought I managed to unwind you a little, but you’re still strung so fucking tight. I’ll spell this out a little more clearly for you.”
As she spoke she strode forward until she stood right in front of him, glared up with her brown eyes and jabbed him in the chest with one finger.
“First of all, I don’t have that many ‘irons in the fire’,” she sniffed, “finding people you trust enough to get naked around is difficult in my line of work.”
“You trust me?” he said incredulously.
He was the shady as shit bastard who purchased human corpses off her every month. She had to think he was some sort of mad-alchemist, healer engaged in black practices or just straight up suspected him of Necromancy!
“Of course not!” she hissed. “But you have nothing to gain from my death, whereas every other thief I run with does.”
That was a good point.
“Second of all, I’m interested in you. That means I want to spend time with you. You’re easy enough to look at, your conversation is educated, well-mannered and humorous, and you don’t look down on me for my lifestyle.”
Who am I to go around critiquing other people's lives? He thought ruefully to himself.
“There! I can tell the thought had never even occurred to you. Third, the sex was surprisingly good! You learned quickly and were respectful in bed, that’s surprisingly hard to find.”
She prodded him again.
“Now, did you enjoy spending time in my company or not?”
He blinked.
I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?
“I did,” he sighed.
“Good,” she grinned, before she reached up, seized him by the hair and pulled his mouth down to hers.
They separated after several long seconds, and judging by the triumphant gleam in her eye, she knew his heart was pounding in his chest.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she breathed before she blew him a kiss and turned, sauntering off into the darkness, softly cursing out her men as they went.
Advertisement
“No knives!” he called to her retreating back, but she pretended not to hear him.
~~~
Real progress, at last.
Tyron stared greedily at the scarlet letters on the page before him, exaltation burning in his chest.
Corpse Appraisal (Level 17)
Corpse Preparation (Level 16)
He was getting closer. The techniques he was developing to assess the remains he worked on had been deemed worthy of recognition by the Unseen. A welcome indication he was on the right track.
The main focus of his experiments had been Death Magick, how it formed and spread between the dead and undead. To unravel that mystery, his tests with the silver strips and the invention of his lens had taken him far.
A lesser focus, though no less important, had been his attempts to uncover methods to ascertain the quality of a given skeleton before he worked on it. Bone density, flexibility, damage and wear, all needed to be assessed if he was to choose the right skeleton for the right job. Tougher, hardier bones were more suitable for frontline duty, carrying shields and blades, whereas more fragile or flexible material was appropriate for archers.
Tyron was a little disappointed his efforts at moulding bones into shields and blades hadn’t been recognised yet, but he hadn’t been able to put in the time required to master the art. Completing the commission for the young Greyling lord had taken longer than he would have liked, but Annita had insisted on double and triple checking all of his work.
His senior apprentice wasn’t used to collaborating, and it showed. Still, her ability to weave enchantments together was nothing short of monstrous, and her command of every element in the process doubly so. He eclipsed her in one aspect alone, and even that was close.
Once she’d been satisfied and the armour delivered to Ammos, who’d been full of praise, Tyron had needed to spend a good deal of time catching up on his work in the store, then he’d doubled down to make sure he was ahead of demand once more. His apprentice had looked on the verge of death by the time they were done, to the point he’d been tempted to point the Death Lens at him to see if there was a response, but the work had been completed before the next delivery of remains from Filetta.
Advanced Death Magick (Level 16)
Another jewel in his crown. Despite feeling like he was no closer to truly understanding how this particular form of arcane energy functioned, at least he was able to identify and study certain behaviours it displayed.
“One more push. Maybe two,” he muttered to himself.
When these three Skills reached their current allowed maximums, he could truly resume his necromantic work. Creating functioning Undead, studying them, working on the other, vital aspects of his craft.
Despite his progress, there was still so much to do. His work on the Raise Dead spell had been rewarded with progress, but his focus so far had only been on the conduit aspect of the ritual. Creating the undead ‘intelligence’ and improving the binding of the minion itself were more difficult for him. Hopefully, the vampires or the Dust People could help him there.
Satisfied with what he saw, he carefully destroyed the status page, leaving not even ashes behind.
His butcher work complete, he disposed of the remains in the sewer, confident the rats would do their work, and packed his work away.
With all he’d done to improve his craft, another level in Undead Weaver couldn’t be far away. He’d have to be careful, but as long as he regularly performed the status ritual, he could be sure not to trigger his next Advancement before he was ready.
After a wash and a change of clothes, he decided to get some sleep. It was only midday, but he had no pressing work to do and thought he may as well rest to prepare for a solid week of experimentation.
His eyelids were just starting to close when he heard a timid knock at his door. At first he thought he was mistaken, his staff almost never bothered him in his chambers, but when the knock came again, louder this time, he sighed, rolled out of bed and threw on a robe.
Cerry greeted him at the door, looking hesitant, but also curious.
“Good afternoon, Cerry,” he said, “is there a problem?”
“Ah… Master Almsfield. There’s a pretty la–I mean, there’s a lady here to see you. She’s downstairs. In the shop.”
Tyron blinked.
Yor? Filetta? Neither were people he wanted to see here. In the case of the latter, he definitely didn’t want her to connect his two false identities.
Feeling a little stressed, he closed the door, dressed himself in a hurry, and rushed downstairs. When he arrived, Cerry was busy trying to look as if she wasn’t paying attention and even Flynn was conspicuously working close to an open door, setting cores.
Blood and bone. Save me from these busybodies.
Irritated with his staff, he swept his gaze across the shop floor and almost staggered when he saw the sun-haired young woman perusing the glass cases. She turned and spotted him, a polite smile appearing on her face as she began to approach, but she froze minutely halfway across the room, her eyes widening. Her stride resumed almost immediately, but he’d seen that pause.
Elsbeth recognised him somehow.
Advertisement
Single Mother Cultivator: Determination to deny her naïve son a terrible destiny
Lucia Martinez had to fight for every little victory in her life, especially when she was responsible for raising a teenage son by herself. But when the teen gets summoned to another world by a dysfunctional martial sect as their would-be savior, she’ll have to fight harder than ever just to get him back. Brought along to a world of Eastern fantasy, Lucia finds herself face to face with obscure magical creatures, various rich cultures, and a familiar yet unique chi-based magic system that every faction has their own way of looking at. Single Mother Cultivator is as the title suggests, a Cultivation novel. Unlike other Cultivation stories, this one focuses on multiple Asian mythologies rather than just Chinese myth, and isn’t just a generic power fantasy. It explores the very nature of strength itself, and how it could and should be used. The foundational power system is the same for both major factions, with differences in their philosophies on how to pursue it. New chapters on Mon-Wed-Fri
8 204just another dungeon
[dropped] a 25 year old game developer who is overworked and underpaid get's hit by a truck and dies. however, a benevolent god decides to reincarnate him into a world of fantasy as a dungeon. whether the god did this out of kindness or just for entertainment, no one knows. this new dungeon puts his game design expertise to work and begins to design a dungeon that will challenge all those who enter his dungeon, he dubs them as players, all so he can make the worlds hardest game. p.s this is my first fiction on this site and I appreciate any feedback, enjoy
8 75Riches of the Heavenly Kingdom (A Grant Foreman Adventure)
During the Taiping Rebellion in the 1800s, the rebels conquered a third of China and its wealth. When the Qing Dynasty recaptured the Taiping capitol of Tianjing, the remaining rebel forces fled with the Heavenly Kingdom's treasury. Grant Foreman believes these to be the fantasies of history enthusiasts until a rare gold Taiping coin is found in another part of Asia. Grand events are set in motion as Grant's wish for a peaceful college life is interrupted by unnecessarily hazardous adventures, incredibly gorgeous women, handsome dangerous men, and unexplained phenomenons. The thrills of life just don't stop for the university's unlikely adventurer.
8 112Battleforged: Book 1 - THE BILLION CREDIT HEIST - An Earth Apocalypse LitRPG Adventure
To do list for the post apocalypse: 1. Survive the orcs rampaging through your city. 2. Survive the pod trying to steal your mind. 3. Pull off the greatest heist of all time. It still amazed Eric how much the world’s end mirrored the movie his obsessed mother had put into production… set to release just three days after the Apocalypse. Only problem was, in the real world there were no chosen ones destined to fight the beast hordes now slaughtering countless millions in every major city on Earth. But humanity wasn’t completely helpless. You really could level up in this brave new world, and embrace magic, peril, and limitless power! So long as you didn’t mind a 90% mortality rate in alien vegetative pods as happy to turn you into topsoil as give you any shot at mastering a System designed to benefit elite invaders. Not fragile humans just trying to survive. But Eric was all about beating the odds… Even if it killed him. Author's Note - I plan in releasing 1 chapter a day for the first thirty days. I will then be posting at least 3 times a week. This story is for anyone who enjoys slow-rise-to-power story arcs! Our hero will start out humbled and desperate, struggling just to survive. And slowly, with time, diligence, and training his butt off, he'll evolve into a powerhouse that will force even his enemies to treat him with respect. And nothing beats the post-apocalyptic blues like stealing an absolute fortune in gold, right out from under the noses of everyone trying to kill you! Enough gold to live like a king… or start a city of your own!
8 1355Master of Dungeons
-This is my first attempt at uploading a story I created. It is not a fanfic, but uses several systems from other stories I've read. I hope you enjoy, and feel free to leave comments or criticisms as appropriate. Thank you.-Edwin Cast was your (mostly) regular guy living and working in Kentucky. He had a knack for working, and was always bouncing from job to job as fancy took him. Insatiably curious, he was always on the look out for new or interesting information or things to do. You could say he was a 'hard-work fanatic'.But with an ailing mother and the inability to realize that he was being shunned by those considered his 'betters', he met his mortal end at the hands of those people who he replaced. Beaten to death on the same day his mother died, he's soon pulled from the void into a world beyond his own imagination. Reborn into a fantasy world as the last 'Demon Lord', Edwin is expected to rule over a vast number of races, each of which are considered 'monsters' and demon-kin by the zealous human kingdoms of the world. And if that wasn't enough, the only way to progress and make ends meat is to build and control 'Dungeons' for the righteous humans to invade!Edwin will have to give it his all in a world he never expected even existed, and will have to learn to survive with his wits and growing power in order to establish something resembling peace in the war-torn lands of Eternia.-NOTE: I'm still in the process of working on the storyline, characters, and abilities that will be presented. A large number of themes are planned, and mature/adult content is planned. The story may also be a bit slow in some cases, so please bare with me. Thanks again!-NOTE: People have been mentioning the rough grammar and spelling errors that come with my posts; and while I've said so in the forum comments, I'm going to post it here as well. This is all basically a rough draft. I post the chapters as I write them, with only a spell-check for accuracy. None of the chapters are proofread. Once people point out blatant errors, I try to correct them; but otherwise I'm more interested in writing. If anyone wishes to proofread my work, shoot me a PM on the forums! Thanks again.
8 150Oblivion || Darlentina Oneshots
A Darlentina Oneshot (Taglish)Comment or DM me if you have requests
8 164