"You're already at a disadvantage," Sif said.
Vincent knew she was right but didn't have much choice. It would be easier if he were a vampire, dhampir, or ghoul. Life and humanity did not make a necromancer. His vitality attribute alone played against him. At the same time, it could be advantageous. Life was never stronger than when it was threatened.
His hand hovered over the select class screen. His attributes were against him mostly. Those he worked hard for were better for a magic knight than a pure magician. STR, VIT, CON, END, MAG, and WIS were all requirements for a dark paladin. Such a class would make him truly powerful, but that wasn't in the cards. So he bit the bullet and selected necromancer.
A pale light swept through his body, and he felt sick to his stomach as the SOL attribute entered his body. His human species and the SOL attribute were not complimentary. Most forsook their humanity at the first opportunity to eliminate a weakness.
"Do you know the requirements for the necromancer skill tree?" Sif asked.
She leafed through the thick tome he stole from a hopeful for the Black Skull lodge a decade ago. It helped him go from a tier 2 thief to a tier 3. The book had tracking spells on it that nearly saw him caught. He might have gotten caught if he didn't lead the trackers on a chase.
The tome had become his, and he had studied the necromancer class enough to know it wasn't for him. Attributes that would benefit the SOL attribute were difficult to earn and required a fortune to start. The DIV of divination attribute required decks of tarot cards and a fortune-telling scam to get going. Both are lobbied to hell with black knights hired to visit and condemn unlicensed practices. It's one of the reasons why strong necromancers are few and far between. Necromancy requires a fortune to prepare for. A powerful lich ancestor normally fits the bill for families aligned with the practice.
"Are you trying to get at the VIT problem?" Life and death were not complimentary. It wasn't an attribute anyone planning to become a vampire or lich would choose. The attribute was considered a poison for the undead. Entropy, abbreviated simply as ∆S in the system, was considered the greatest attribute an undead or vampire could possess. It powered their negative energy to obscene levels and acted as a counter to vitality. "I don't think you should become a vampire."
"Don't worry, it isn't a problem," Vincent said.
He opened his status.
Vincent lvl3
Species: Human lvl2 +1ABL/lvl
Necromancer lvl1 +3SOL/lvl, +2MAG/lvl, +1 attribute/lvl
Perks
Unshackled: The attribute cap has been lifted.
Living Death I: Negative energy invades the body 5% of HP is added to MP.
HP 124.735
MP 138.125
Attributes
VIT 10
STR 10
CON 10
AGL 10
DEX 10
END 10
INT 10
WIS 10
MAG 12
ABL 2
SOL 3
Skills
Thief tier 4
Necromancy Tier 0
It wasn't as bad as Vincent thought, but that wasn't saying much. The living death perk would turn him into a glass canon, which is not a problem for a necromancer most of the time. Looking entirely into the financial side of things, his goal should be to create useful undead and sell them. The days of martial necromancers who sought to lead legions of the damned to war had ended long ago. Even the lich lords focused more on gathering wealth than conquest. The Necromancer's Union and its legions of lobbyists, bought judges, and lawyers spoke for themselves. Vincent needed to join the union and become invaluable if he wanted to make it.
Vincent needed oceans of mana for practice. Fortunately, there were innumerable ways to get the first few tiers in necromancy through the hidden skill tree.
It was well documented that the necromancy skill focused on three skills. Raising, enhancement, and entropy control were branches of the skill tree he needed to master to improve the necromancy skill. There was more than one way to scratch an itch.
"Vampires are selfish, horrible abominations who only destroy," Sif said.
"My sister was a good person who never hurt anyone. She was blameless." Vincent said.
He leafed through the book to various entropy control techniques. Using negative energy would damage his body no matter how well he controlled it. Recovery had as much to do with dexterity as vitality. 100 points in each attribute were worth 1 point in regeneration.
He pulled a few copper pennies from his pocket and set them on the table. They were minted with a snarling werewolf on the back and a big symbol for 1 on the front.
"What is a copper penny worth?" Vincent asked.
"Are you referring to the alchemist's attribute point exchange? If so, it would be incredibly valuable to someone with less than a hundred attribute points. Enough to charge silver per copper used in the conversion." Sif said.
Vincent tapped under the table until he heard metal. He used a knife to pry a near-seamless lid from under the table.
"Emily always hated this spot, but I insisted we put the table here." Vincent pulled a box out of the floor and flipped it open. Over a hundred copper pennies and some silvers were inside. "She always moved the table, and I moved it back with a few copper or silver pennies saved. Old Jim always said alchemists are liars and cheats. Anything they tell you freely is absolutely a lie. It would be just like those cheats claiming exclusive access to a spell." Vincent said.
"If that's true, then we could undercut them. If a beginner necromancer can use it, we could flood the market, tear into their market share, and make it affordable to gain 100 attribute points. If there is any truth to it." Sif said.
Vincent pulled a file out of his bookshelf and leafed through it. Nearly everything on his bookshelf was stolen. He leafed through it until he came upon a particular page. Entropy was an important part of alchemy. The spell to turn coins into attribute points was one of the training spells alchemists used to learn control over entropy energy.
"Sell it to me, and we will be rich," Sif said.
It would also make a new enemy with no guarantee of protection from the Saxon clan. We always meant me, and he wouldn't be around to complain. He had a better idea.
"How about you pay me a gold skull for it, and all the profits belong to your clan alone?" Vincent asked.
Sif gave him a smile full of sharp teeth. "Good play. I would have been worried if you accepted." He quickly copied the spell and handed the original over. "Don't think about performing the service for anyone. I can't protect you if you become competition." Sif said.
Vincent picked a copper coin from his case and slowly pulled at his mana. Wisps of black miasma covered his body like a storm cloud. He watched his HP start to tick away along with his mana. Slowly he shaped the cloud pushing the energy into the coin while whispering the spell's words. More miasma flowed out of him than necessary, causing nothing but damage. The coin in his hand turned from shiny orange to a dingy green before breaking into motes of light. He directed the energy, searching for a place for it until he let it flow into the vibrant green string of his VIT.
"Good job. I can't believe you managed to increase your VIT with that coin instead of jogging," Sif said.
After two more coins, he hit his limit of 100 attribute points. The avenue he thought would be helpful stopped being useful too soon. Maxing out his attributes to their cap of 10 had wasted his chance to easily raise an attribute beyond 50 and hopefully gain a perk. VIT was notoriously difficult to raise without a recovery attribute or healing spell. His negative energy limited him to heal the undead. Vincent heard of some black knights using negative energy to speed up natural healing. However, many died prematurely with strange growths.
HP 118/125.1055
MP 100/138.125
Coin Entropy was a tier 1 spell allowing him to use it with some difficulty. To increase his necromancy skill, it would take more than a few minutes playing with the coin skill; he needed to learn multiple tier 1 spells and raise 3 corpses under his control. 99 minutes more experience was needed to increase the entropy energy skill tree to the next tier. 5 spells needed to be learned, and there was the raising. Of course, the first tier was easy to cheese.
He took a silver penny out of his case.
"Spending silver to gain attributes isn't the wisest move. How do you plan to purchase your license?" He sat down at the table while Sif sat on his sink countertop. "Silver coins can bring total attributes up to 250. But my pa always said it's the pussy way of doing things. Are you afraid of hard work?"
"My eyes have yet to open to the possibilities." Old Jim never said it, but it sounded like something he would say. Emily's corpse was still in her bed, and he needed to put her on ice. Vincent placed the silver penny he was about to use on the counter. Easy power wouldn't get him what he wanted. Vincent needed to do the work if he wanted to be strong. He wasn't capped any longer. "Alright, can I use your gym," Vincent asked.
"Instead of the gold skull, why don't you trade the spell for it? Otherwise, it will cost you a gold skull," Sif said.
Vincent pooled the miasma around his body before pushing it into Emily's corpse. She still appeared innocent and beautiful. He whispered the long chant of the preservation spell, resighting each long syllable of the chant. As a necromancer, he had rights as gravedigger jobber didn't. He could purchase a license to keep Emily in cold storage. The spell was completed, and ice spread out from where the shadow of his miasma touched. Soon her whole body was sealed in ice.
He stood up too fast and felt dizzy. Then, after a moment of concentration, he turned his attention to the werewolf in the room. "Was it really Resnick Camazotz?"
Sif gave him a look he hadn't seen before. For a moment, he didn't know what she would say. "His scent is here, and so is your sister's. The dhampir was seen leaving without his cane. Find it, and we have our proof." It didn't take long to find. It was hidden under Emily's straw bed, broken in two.
He held the silver cane and thought about melting it down for its worth or reforging it into a stake to pierce the man's heart. Instead, he left with Sif after locking the door. The rats continued to chitter in the house while the preservation spell on Emily cooled the room.
"We're going to run, so try to keep up. This is the best way to increase attributes you'll see for yourself." They ran for a few hours then Sif hunted down a hill bear. For the first time in nearly his entire life, Vincent feasted on an animal many times more powerful than himself. After eating it, he felt a boost.
Perk Unlocked
As a necromancer, consume the flesh of a being 5 times more powerful than yourself.
SOL Predator: Gain temporary buffs from the anima within the meat of fresh kills.
Hill Bear Spirit Absorbed
Buffs Gained
Physical attribute Gains +500%
Stamina Regeneration x5
Time remaining 5hr 59min
The humid mold-ridden air was hard on his lungs, so the buffs were welcome. Sif ran him into the ground. Since he didn't have the regeneration attribute, he wouldn't see any gains until he rested and healed. Perks were random, from what most people understood, but the SOL Predator perk was good. It would help him grow stronger.