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The Netherborne: Harbinger of Destruction [An OP Isekai LitRPG]

XKARNATION

28. Servant of the Void

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A NOTE FROM XKARNATION

Thank you Pengustar and Monoria for the reviews!

Getting to feel superior to a dragon wasn't an everyday occurrence. So as Alice dumped her remaining eight unspent points into her CON stat, bringing it up to an impressive eighty-six, she felt better than ever. She had debated focusing on a few other stats with her unspent points. But, right now, she needed a solid body to deal with the current circumstances.

Strength? She was riding a freaking dragon. Dexterity? She didn't use a bow or practise calligraphy. Intelligence defined the size of her mana pool and a few other factors. But she was currently in a Grand Dungeon. The amount of mana circulating in the air was almost intoxicating, so she could replenish her mana pool quickly. Even with her slinging spells left and right on the first floor, she hadn't run into any issues due to her high INT and WIS stats. 'I gain two points in them with every level up anyway, but maybe I should stop investing in CON for now. Especially since infusing more mana into my spells makes them stronger, having a higher mana pool is important for a mage.'

Alice wasn't controlling the dragon she was currently seated on, so she had plenty of time to think and plan. Keeping her legs around its neck, she laid back and stared up. The dragon's scales were cold against her bare skin and incredibly hard; letting out a forced breath, she squinted but even with [Mana Sight], she couldn't see the top of the tower. Just an endless spiral of crystal blue stairs around a central void. 'I should find this sight amazing, but perhaps I have become numb over the last few days? My life has become truly ridiculous, huh?' A smile emerged as she thought about the crazy stuff she had done. 'I threw a fucking fireball at a dragon's eye, and it hit!' The memory still made her giddy.

"We have reached the next floor." The Lord's ancient voice caught her attention. The gravity behind his words sent goosebumps down her spine. It was like a god had descended and was speaking into her brain. "The floor's contents, monsters, treasures, do not matter. We have one objective. Reach the next tower as fast as possible. As we travel, I will raise those I kill and have them relay anything valuable, including food, to us as we dive deeper. If you need to sleep or anything else, let me know."

Alice felt warm knowing the Lord was thinking about her. Although the words sounded a little cold, his heart was in the right place... assuming he even had one.

They picked up the pace.

The black zombie dragon soared straight through an open door at the tower's base and out into a dark wasteland. The wind whipped through her hair as they flew overhead. Down below was a graveyard filled with skeletons that wandered aimlessly. Some held chipped swords in their skeletal hands, and others wore tin hats on their smooth skulls.

Alice straightened up. She wasn't sure why but she felt more powerful than before.

"Dark attribute mana," Genus remarked from the side with a scowl. "Rancid stuff to cultivate with."

"So it seems..." Alice used [Mana Sight], and sure enough, the place was drowning in the stuff. "I can see why dragons hate coming down here."

Alice opened up her palm and summoned a [Fireball]. She also coated her hand in a [Mana Shield]. Both appeared normal, but when Alice upped the power... the [Mana Shield] solidified, and the [Fireball] became a meter in width. If Alice hadn't jerked her head back and thrown up a [Mana Shield] around her entire body, she would have suffered from nasty burns. Alice freaked out and threw it away as if the [Fireball] was a massive spider that had materialized on her palm.

The orb of hellish purple flames descended like a doomsday bomb. Hundreds of skeletons looked up and dumbly raised their swords as judgment fell upon them. Alice blinked in confusion as the [Fireball] acted strangely. Not only did it produce no light, but it splashed out when it hit the floor, spreading like a virus among the skeletons. Despite its size, the initial impact only affected a handful of them. But, within minutes, a mile radius was ablaze with purple hellfire as skeletons melted into puddles of liquid bone.

Genus gave her a side look. "Quite the spell you have there. It seems to lack the initial punch of a [Fireball], but that spreading effect is rather impressive. Perfect for burning these low-level cretins to the afterlife."

"Yea, true-"

[Level up!]

[New Class Options Available]

The sudden notification startled Alice. She ignored Genus and the destruction below and summoned her status page.

[Name: Alice]

[Race: Human]

[Level: 50] (level up!)

[STR: 68, DEX: 80, CON: 87, INT: 148, WIS: 140]

[Unspent points: 1]

(Slave)

[Blessing: Darkness]

[Class: PENDING]

[Sub Class: Apprentice Merchant]

[Divine Mission: None]

[Skills]

[...]

[Class Skills]

[Stealth II]

[Fireball VII] (level up! x4)

[Ice Bolt V] (level up! x5)

[Mana Shield V] (level up! x5)

[Float III] (level up! x3)

[Mana Sight II] (level up! x1)

[Telekinesis I] (New!)

[Lightning Strike I] (New!)

[Sub Class Skills]

[Fast Counting I]

[Identify I]

"I finally hit level fifty. Why is my class pending?" Alice poked the screen, and although her finger went right through the floating blue screen, a new one appeared.

[Congratulations! Please pick your next class...]

[Generating Options...]

[Archmage(Common)]

[Princess of Purple Flames(Rare)]

[Apostle of Darkness(Rare)]

[Servant of the Void(Legendary)]

Alice browsed the options in awe. Of course, she had heard of Archmages before. They were unthinkably powerful and had the wealth to match; they often frequented her father's auctions and were always good customers. Only now, with the option in front of her, did the ridiculousness of today set in. 'Those Archmages were all old and established names. Some even had bards singing their legends in the taverns. Yet I became one in a single day?' It was a hard truth to swallow, but Alice knew she couldn't get complacent. A Lord so mighty he could slay two senior dragons in mere minutes was running away. The threat she faced was so grand that fifty levels wouldn't cut it.

"Heh. Archmages are considered (Common)." Alice chuckled to herself. It was like being told kings were commoners or dragons were frogs. Archmages had been on par with the more powerful Delvers in her mind, but now they had fallen a peg or two.

"Next floor, here we go," Genus said, and Alice swiped the screen to the side. Sure enough, a tower of pristine white bone shrouded in a dense black mana shield dominated her view. 'That was fast... unless I was so distracted I didn't notice the time fly by.' The group didn't even take a moment to pause as they flew through the entrance. Suddenly, a mighty force pressed down and compelled her dragon mount to walk on its legs. 'Dungeons sure are weird...'

"We will keep going for at least another ten or so hours. Let's try and reach the fifth floor by then." The Lord's voice boomed through the staircase, and the shadowy avatar standing effortlessly on Genus's back turned to her. "Will that be fine?"

Alice nodded and replied, "I dumped a lot into my CON stat. I should be good for another day or two without sleep."

"Good. Let me know if you need anything else."

"Will do." The conversation died out, so Alice returned to her blue screens. She poked the screen, but nothing happened. 'Cheap system won't give me more details unless I pick the class?' Alice grumbled to herself as she mulled over the options. Archmage was obviously out of the runnings as it was a common ranked class, and Alice wanted to rule the world. How could she do that with a common class? She needed something to put her ahead of the competition. 'I have a unique opportunity here, thanks to the Lord. Not everyone gets to slay dragons as their first ever kill and leisurely conquer a Grand Dungeon atop a pet dragon. I need to stay useful to him...'

With Archmage crossed off, she had three choices remaining.

[Princess of Purple Flames(Rare)]

[Apostle of Darkness(Rare)]

[Servant of the Void(Legendary)]

"Princess... I like the sound of that." Alice stroked her chin. "With how the class is phrased, it should focus on fire magic. My purple flames were impressively effective, but specializing in fire magic is risky, especially with dragons being my immediate threat. Although my unique trait [True Damage] does make the class sound terrifying..." Alice thought back on the description of Black Mages, and she could imagine razing cities with an Archmage level [Fireball] that ignored magical defences.

"Genus," Alice asked the golden dragon that plodded down the stairs beside her.

"Hm?" The dragon turned its titanic head to look at Alice. She felt tiny with those rainbow eyes that shifted with different colours staring at her.

"Without your mana shield, could you survive an empowered version of the [Fireball] I used earlier?"

Genus grinned, showing off his razor-sharp teeth the size of her and snorted. "We are practically born from fire. Even without my mana shield, my scales would protect me. That pathetic fire could only harm me if you threw it in my eye."

"What about down your throat?"

"Silly question, I breathe fire..."

Alice felt stupid, so she returned to her screens and ignored the chuckling dragon. 'Princess of Purple Flames is a no go then. Sad. The name was so enticing.'

That left her with two options. [Apostle of Darkness(Rare)]

and [Servant of the Void(Legendary)]

'Apostle of Darkness rubs me all the wrong ways.' Although Alice enjoyed the powers her blessing had provided her, the class definitely wasn't worth being sold off as a slave and leaving behind her life in Eshnar. 'The Spirit of Darkness has done nothing for me all this time, no matter how much I prayed.' And she had fucking prayed her heart out. Every single day she sat in that shaking wooden carriage, praying to the goddess that had driven her to that state for anything... even just a loaf of bread to sate her hunger. But she had been ignored, cast away like some sick joke while she knew of heroes that received divine weapons or god-given skills from their patron spirits.

That left her with one final option. Servant of the Void, a legendary class. One she had never heard of, just like all legendary classes. They were unique and specialized for a destined person. 'The question is why? What relationship do I have with the void of all things, and why would I become its servant?'

"But if there's one thing I know... it's that classes evolve as you level them. Today's servant is tomorrow's master..." Alice raised her finger and hesitated before making her choice.

She pressed her option, and everything changed.

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XKARNATION

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22.09.2022, 02:36

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29. [Race ???]

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A NOTE FROM XKARNATION

Thank you DeathlyGod for the review!

You are the first system user to make contact with a creature from the void and survive more than twenty-four hours.

You are the first system user to converse with a creature from the void.

A creature from the void has taken an interest in you.

You have been granted a Legendary class.

[Servant of the Void]

Evolution commenced.

***

Alice felt cold.

Not the coldness she felt on those frosty winter mornings back in Eshnar, where the chill phased through her skin and dug deep into her bones. Gnawing away at her joints until they ached in dull pain. No. This was a new type of cold, the empty kind that comes from within.

She felt hollow. An endless void eating away from the inside. And that was odd. What had changed? She had been filled with excitement only moments ago! Heck, she had just unlocked a legendary class, for god sake. Although the threats were mighty, she felt on the road to success.

She opened her eyes, and it was dark, but not. She could pierce the night just fine. "Ow ow ow." A severe headache forced her to lay back on the hard, cold surface. Everything felt wrong, but her parched mouth and grumbling stomach forced her to soldier on. She shuddered as she forced herself to somewhat sit up.

"Oh, you're awake?"

Alice clutched her head with one hand while propping herself up with the other. Then, with great effort, she turned to the voice and saw a familiar shadowy man with a top hat. But the voice sounded different. It was less ancient and more pleasant sounding. She could also tell which direction the Lord's voice originated from, instead of it coming from everywhere.

She looked up. A new skill, [Void Eye], subconsciously activated, and she could see him. It was a mere outline, like a shadow behind an apple tree on a summer day, but she could see him. He was huge, looming over her like a guardian angel- 'actually more like a devil... so is that the Lord's true form or a mere imitation of it?'

"I am awake... where are we?" Alice shook her head and decided to pretend she couldn't see the Lord's shadow and posed her question to the avatar.

"Twenty-third floor of the Grand Dungeon. You were asleep for a few days." The avatar awkwardly took off its top hat and held it in its shadowy hands. Alice tried her best to focus on the avatar and ignore the looming thing above her. "So what happened?" It asked in a weird tone as its featureless face looked her up and down.

"Water first." Alice croaked out. Her throat felt dryer than a desert, and her stomach was trying to eat her alive. Perhaps that was the reason for the hollow feeling?

"Right, right... stupid mortal flesh." The avatar said, even though the voice came from above her and sent shivers down her spine. Alice felt a mana pulse, but it was twisted... and wrong. If not for her raging headache, she might have been able to discern the cause with her [Mana Sight] but sitting up was the best she could do for now.

The air rapidly cooled as magical ice coated a nearby boulder. Only now did Alice take in her surroundings. The twenty-third floor appeared a bit more hospitable but still not great. Grey sand encircled them with enormous obsidian boulders jutting out from dunes. Streams of bubbling lava slowly meandered between these dunes, originating from the many active volcanos dominating the land.

With her [Void Eye], Alice saw the shadow move across the sky and for a brief second, the Lord materialized. Then, with a swish of his claw, the boulder's tip was shaved off, and he vanished again. His avatar moved and collected the shaved-off piece in its shadowy hands, then returned to her and placed it on the black dragon's scale beside her. 'Oh, I am lying on the black dragon still. No wonder my back aches so much.' Alice's lungs burned with every breath she took due to the heat, yet the cone of ice stayed pristine and didn't melt.

"Melt it for water with your fireball spell." The avatar commanded as it wandered off, "I will go find you something to eat... but it won't be pretty, that's for sure."

Alice obliged and summoned a [Fireball] and [Mana Shield]. "Holy shit." Her jaw dropped open, and her eyes couldn't believe what they saw. Before, her empowered [Fireball] had been black with a purplish hue, but it was still fire, just a different colour, but now it was just a ball of... nothing. Pure blackness that absorbed all light. It had a glossy finish as if it were a glass ball and was perfectly spherical. The [Mana Shield] followed a similar theme. It was so dense she couldn't see a hint of her pale skin below; it was as if the void had wrapped around her and formed solid armour.

"I see... I had no idea mortals could wield the void." The Lord remarked, and Alice stiffened. 'He's going to kill me, isn't he?' Alice braced to meet a fate similar to that boulder and all those dragons. But her death never came. To Alice's surprise, he didn't do anything and continued on his way in search of food for her.

She let out a deep breath and dispelled the spells. Then, despite her headache worsening, she squinted her eyes and summoned her status screen. 'I need to know what the hell happened to me.'

[Evolution Complete]

[Void Affinity Aquired]

[Name: Alice]

[Race: ???]

[Level: 51] (level up!)

[STR: 69, DEX: 81, CON: 88, INT: 150, WIS: 142]

[Unspent points: 2]

(Slave) (Dulled Emotions)

[Blessing: Darkness / Void]

[Class: Servant of the Void]

[Sub Class: Apprentice Merchant]

[Divine Mission: None]

"Okay, that is odd." Alice prodded the screen, her race showed question marks but the system, as usual, refused to elaborate. Her brows furrowed in annoyance. What did her race mean if it was three question marks? Was she no longer human? Looking down at her body, everything seemed somewhat normal. Her skin had become paler, almost anaemic, and her nails had turned black and were sharp like claws. She reached up to her head and confirmed there weren't any horns, nor were there any wings sprouting from her back. 'So I haven't become a demon, but I have changed a bit. How weird. Also, since when did I have the blessing from the void? Did that come with my new class? Does the void even have spirits or a goddess? How can I be blessed by it?'

Alice concentrated on her status page once more. Her level had increased by one to fifty-one, 'Ah. Party exp over the last few days must have levelled me up.' Alice nodded to herself as if everything made sense. She was sitting upon a zombie dragon, having a void creature fetch her food, and now the system couldn't even confirm if she was human or not. 'Okay, so my class has changed to [Servant of the Void]. I wasn't sure before, but now I'm confident the Lord is a creature from the void. So am I his servant? I wanted to aid him, so I suppose that's fine for now. Did I gain any new skills with my new class?' Alice opened up her skill list.

[Skills]

[...]

[Class Skills]

[Stealth II]

[Fireball VII]

[Ice Bolt V]

[Mana Shield V]

[Float III]

[Mana Sight II]

[Telekinesis I]

[Void Eye I] (New!)

[Sub Class Skills]

[Fast Counting I]

[Identify I]

"[Void Eye]?" Alice cautiously activated the skill. Her pretty pink eyes were replaced with a swirling abyss. She looked around, but nothing looked different. 'I think this skill let me see the Lord before, but he isn't around anymore. I'll try it out again when he returns...'

"But for now... I need a drink."

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XKARNATION

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24.09.2022, 03:14

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30. Sleeping Dragon

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A NOTE FROM XKARNATION

Thank you The_Mutated_Nut and Estanforth for the reviews!

'So she can use the void, huh?' Victor watched her impressive display of magic with interest. 'Didn't expect humans to be able to wield the void, always assumed it was out of the system's jurisdiction, but I guess I was wrong.' Victor shook his head and went to find the poor girl's food. If not for her high CON stat, she would have starved to death or returned to her pathetic state from before. She had lost a bit of muscle and fat, but overall she looked alright. Nothing a little food couldn't fix... but that was the major problem.

"Genus," Victor said through his avatar as he crested the rim of a volcano, some ten minutes away from where he had left Alice. "Hey! Wake up."

The noble golden dragon opened a tired eyelid and stared at the avatar. "What." He snarled, but his tone sounded colder than usual.

'Dragons hate being woken up... noted.' This was the first time in days that Genus had been allowed to sleep, unlike Alice, who had slept the entire journey soundly. The two had travelled in silence, trying to preserve their energy at any cost. "You have been sleeping for eight hours... don't be so grouchy."

Genus snorted, but it lacked the motivation behind it. Even to Victor's untrained eye, it was clear the dragon had lost some weight and was exhausted.

"Eight hours is nothing... I can sleep for weeks, sometimes even months." Genus slowly closed his eye again. "Are they following us?"

"Not for now," Victor replied. He had left many undead minions throughout the Grand Dungeon and used them to monitor the dragon's progress. To his surprise, it seemed they had mostly given up. "It seemed your idea to take the last few dragon eggs and run off in different directions was a good idea..." When they reached the second floor, Genus had suggested that Victor command his undead dragons to loop back to the tower and take the remaining dragon eggs hostage. They would then fly in different directions to force the dragons that came due to the disturbance to split their manpower.

"Ha. Honestly, it would be a miracle if they followed us. We left no evidence behind except destruction and zombie dragons. A few may have seen us from afar, but to organise a search party willing to chase us down will take weeks, if not months."

"Really? Why?" Victor's avatar asked as it wandered around.

Genus reopened his eye and followed the avatar's movements with his rainbow eyes. "Dragons are complicated and selfish." Genus snorted, and smoke plumed from his nostrils. "Before the Grand Dungeon takeover, we used to live in separate groups spread across the continent, and we still do. Each family only sent a few members, some more, some less. But the point is, even if every dragon here died, their clans would live on. So... politics. It would take one of the elder dragons to take us down, and they would all refuse to move over some killed eggs."

Genus uncoiled his neck from his sleeping position, spread out his paws, and yawned. "I feel awful. I heard stories about this place, but it's much worse than I thought."

Victor had to agree with his oversized lizard companion on that. "Yea, it's a lot more ridiculous than I thought. Ten floors of straight undead graveyards, followed by floors of endless oceans... and nothing else. No wonder your kin aren't interested in this hardship, especially the ocean floors; you couldn't rest for two days."

Genus grumbled. "And I can't rest now either because you keep bothering me. So why are you here?"

"Ah! Do you have any food left over? There were some slugs you found. Did you eat them all?" Victor's avatar put a palm over where its eyes should be and scanned the dragon's lair.

"They tasted rancid, just like the mana on those graveyard floors. But at least the mana is much better here. The fire element was always one of my favourites to sleep in, nice and comfortable." Genus rolled over, sending grey sand flying as he shifted his enormous body. "Those scrumptious slugs are in a pile over there..." His wing pivoted its tip toward the far corner.

There was indeed a grey clump of some kind of meat covered in grey sand.

"Alright, thank you, Genus. We will stay on this floor for a while, so sleep well. We have a long journey ahead since the distance between each tower is increasing exponentially."

The dragon grunted in agreement and went back to sleep. Victor used his avatar to grab some meat and headed back to Alice. 'Since she can use the void, are there other humans that can wield void magic? Maybe I can find one powerful enough to fix my falling stats... like using them as a portable battery.' The idea was a bit sinister, but if he treated them well, it should be fine?

Returning to Alice, he dumped the meat. She looked at it as if it was cursed and wouldn't touch it with a ten-meter pole, but alas, she had no choice. Slugs were the only food they had found so far. 'I still count my lucky stars that I picked Netherborne as my race and don't have to eat or sleep. Looking at that pile of grey meat oozing with white puss makes me want to gag.' Victor noticed a small pile of shit and urine behind the dragon, 'Yep, don't miss those bodily functions one bit. Also, ever since entering this dungeon, the idea of stat points has become a joke to me...'

[Name: Victor]

[Race: Netherborne]

[Level: 387] (level up! x80)

[STR: 60004800, DEX: 6007840, CON: 6007840, INT: 6007840, WIS: 6007840]

(Life Force Unstable - 16668 hours) (Mana Sickness)

[Skills:]

[Consume X]

[Raise Undead X]

[Shadow Magic X]

[Annihilating Aura X]

[Freezing Cone IX] (level up! x2)

[Stealth X]

[Doom Ray X]

[Spirit Movement VIII] (level up! x2)

Although his status had ballooned, so had the mana sickness. Apart from feeling suffocated, it didn't affect him too much. 'But if it gets worse the further we go down, I may start burning a lot more life force to exist each second. Luckily, apart from the uncomfortable feeling, this dungeon is so filled with mobs for me to slaughter that I could lose ten points a second and still be fine.'

While doing some quick maths, Victor found he had over two years' worth of status points at his current loss rate to play with. Although they still fell, he felt better knowing he had such a massive buffer. 'Which means it's time for that cross universe phone call...' A part of him had been dreading trying to contact Terry. Did he really want to know what was happening on Earth? How his parents treated his death? Was Terry even on his Earth or some alternate one?

Victor moved far away from the group. Only Wiggles diligently followed along a mile or so beneath his feet. He could tell he was there without even using his undead connection. The sand shifted even this far up as the titanic earthworm made its way below.

Finding an excellent isolated location. Victor flashed an [Annihalating Aura] with maximum power to extinguish anything below level 100 in a ten-mile radius. He entered the black ocean in his mind with nothing to bother him. It was packed with millions, if not hundreds of millions, of undead on the various floors. Victor now had complete control over the undead residing over the first ten floors and had leviathans, sharks and other aquatic monsters on the ocean floors. But those didn't interest him. No, the single fleck of light in the distant void did.

"Terry. We need to talk." He shoved an impressive 10% of his total stat points into this transmission. And then he waited.

***

A few hours passed. Victor waited patiently while debating the many topics to discuss. 'Do I care what happened to me? What if I'm still alive?' That idea haunted him. If he was still alive back on Earth, then who was he? Where did he come from?'

"Boss! How are you?" Munching sounds accompanied Terry's casual voice.

"Are you eating?" Another few hundred stat points vanished with those words, but Victor didn't mind. He would speak as much as he wanted. There was a slight delay between messages as if they had terrible phone reception.

"Aye. At the movies with my mates. This popcorn thing is wicked."

Victor didn't know what to say. Should he be happy Terry fitted in so well? Or concern for the human race that they still hadn't worked out Terry was a zombie. Was he really that good at acting? Was Terry secretly a genius at avoiding the government?

"What's the name of the planet you are on?" Victor asked.

"Errr... Yo John! Where are we, mate? No, I know we are at the cinema, you moron, listen to me. What the hell is a New York? Hahaha, what happened to the original York? You are such a riot. Give that here." More rustling sounds of popcorn and slurping noises, "Ooo vanilla flavour, yea? Good stuff, this."

Victor ignored the idiot. 'New York, that has to be Earth... wow, going back to Earth is possible? How did Terry even get there?'

"Terry, how did you arrive on Earth?"

"Earth? What the hell is that? No, YOU shut up, John. This movie fucking sucks anyway. Why did you bring me here? Ohhh, to escape Jessica? Yea, she's a real bitch." Terry loudly ate another mouthful of popcorn. "Anyway, sorry, boss, what did you say?"

Victor had never wanted to hang up a phone call more in his life. "Terry, how did you arrive where you are now?"

"The bus." He answered with resolute certainty. "Sometimes we take the subway, but they were closed today."

"...Terry, you died. What happened next?"

What followed was an hour-long incoherent ramble from Terry about how he and John became best pals while working on Zombie Land season two. And how they are now working on another show together. "And that is how I ended up here." He finished and took a deep slurp from his milkshake.

Victor had undoubtedly confirmed that Terry was on Earth and was in the period he had been in when he died. Terry had purchased the latest iPhone, one version higher than the one that had been out when Victor was alive. So some time had passed but not much. Maybe a year at most.

"Terry, can you search on your phone for a person called Victor Harrison? Did he die?"

"I'll take a look. One second..."

Victor held his breath.

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A NOTE FROM XKARNATION

My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror

Shoutout to a friends novel that just released on Amazon Kindle (And KU) today!

Mc basically becomes friends with an Eldritch horror that helps him through his life in a magic academy. Download / Rate it today to help his launch! My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror!

"My phone is out of battery."

All the anticipation shifted to anger. "Ask your friend then." Victor hissed with unconcealed rage.

"Yo John, can you search if a man called Victor Harrison died? No, I am not a mob boss... no, I didn't kill him. Just search for it, you idiot. Ah, give it here." Sound of rustling and a few grunts. "Errr, Boss, was this Victor Harrison guy a famous singer?"

"No."

"Politician?"

"No."

"Scientist?"

"No, he was a nobody living in London."

"Whats a London?"

"A city in the United Kingdom, a country. Use that in the search."

"Okay..." Time stretched on for a while before he answered. "Yup, nothing."

Victor had no idea how to take the information. Did that mean he was still alive or dead? He wasn't famous when he was alive, so it made sense if his death didn't appear on the front page of google. "Can you search a death registry?"

"Boss, ill be honest... I only learned what google was yesterday. I ain't got a bloody clue how to use this thing."

Victor had honestly had enough of this subordinate. Although he had a lot of points to spend, wasting any more on this pointless conversation irked him. "Alright, never mind then. Stay safe. I may come to visit you sometime." Victor didn't wait for the moron's response and hung up. 'Even if that idiot gets captured by the US government, it should be fine. If he can survive being reduced to atoms, then what can earth scientists do to him?'

Then, with a sigh, he skimmed the endless grey dunes. If Victor woke up here, he would have thought he had travelled back in time before the dinosaurs, when the whole planet was covered in volcanos and seas of lava. But he knew where he was, underground in a magical dome that made no fucking sense with dragons above and unknown biomes and creatures below. 'Well, that phone call was useless.' But, in a way, the fact it was inconclusive gave him some piece of mind. Dead or not, he was here now, and he might as well make the most of it until Terry works out how his darn phone works.

Victor winced when he saw that he had spent over a million stat points on that conversation. "It's fine. I have another sixty million in the bank and plenty more monsters to slaughter." But that was for another time; he needed to let the silly fleshy beings take a well-deserved rest right now. "Or I could go ahead. There is really no need to wait for them..." Victor looked below his feet that hovered a meter above the grey sand. A depression in the sand showed the presence of his favourite pet. There was something special about Wiggles. Perhaps it was because Victor reconstructed him from the ground up, giving Wiggles a much stronger connection to him than all his other undead. It also helped that Wiggles didn't have great intelligence, and it actually obeyed all his commands to the best of its ability. Unlike his human undead, who all seem to mess up his orders on purpose or through sheer incompetence.

"Wiggles. Go venture to the next floor and keep going. Keep me posted through the mental link on anything interesting." Wiggles was on par with a senior dragon in strength. Apart from the harsh environments, the monsters were numerous but relatively weak individually. 'Except that leviathan we encountered a few floors ago. The funny thing is Wiggles is far larger, so when he swam through the ocean floors, the leviathans avoided him as if he was the ocean's apex predator.' When Wiggles was underground or only showed the tip of his head, it was hard to appreciate how titanic and menacing he was. But with the ocean allowing for a full view, his neon green flesh and enormous circular mouth lined with rows of human-sized teeth made him look like some kind of eldritch horror awoken from the darkest depths.

The ground rumbled, and Victor watched as grey dunes crumbled and boulders scattered as the earthworm made its way to the tower in the distance. 'Although we set ourselves up halfway across this floor, it will take Wiggles a full day at maximum speed to reach the next tower...' Due to the insane distance between each floor's tower and the fact it was only increasing. Victor was starting to doubt if the stories of Delvers making it to the last floor were true. 'For a normal human to get as far as we have, it would have taken at least a year...' And that wasn't even the main issue.

'Genus mentioned that human-made products only lasted so long in the mana-rich environment before degrading. So how would a Delving party get past the first twenty floors without a food supply? The graveyard floors had swamps but absolutely nothing with any meat or fruits. The ocean floors had edible sea monsters but only seawater to drink.'

Victor thought about Alice. He suspects she is currently at a decent level for a human to reach, and she survived a few days without food and water and seemed fine upon waking up. 'Back on Earth, a human would die after three days without drinking water, but she was only a little parched. Is that the effect of mana or stat points? Perhaps she invested a lot of points in her CON stat? But even with the help of skills, I don't see how it's possible... unless there's a class specializing in assisting a Delving party during long trips?' Victor chuckled at the thought of a person whose sole job was to conjure food and water out of mana. 'Hahaha, a food mage! They must exist!' Victor added the quest to confirm if food mages were real to his ever-growing list of why he plans to interact with humans or visit a human city.

"Well, once I conquer this dungeon. I'm going to head back to the surface, shove a [Doom Ray] up any dragon's arse that opposes me and put that Genus fellow on the throne, and if he doesn't do as I say, he can have a [Doom Ray] up his arse too." Victor almost shook in excitement. If the first twenty floors gave him sixty million stat points. What would his stat sheet say after the hundredth floor? "Maybe I could destroy the planet with a maximum power [Doom Ray] with all my points shoved into it... that's a scary thought."

Honestly, at this point, his falling stats problem was almost laughable. Assuming he encountered no more issues, he should have centuries of life force by the end of this dungeon. Then he would have time to explore the world and find a permanent solution, if one exists.

"Maybe this new life ain't so bad after all." Victor chuckled as he went to find his minions. 'Wait, my minions.' A cold feeling rippled in his chest. The phrase it's lonely at the top played through his mind. "Okay, add making some companions to my growing list." But, to be fair, he had only been in this world a few months and had killed almost everything he had come across so far. "Just another reason to interact with civilization soon. Should I put more effort into my avatar and use it to adventure with Alice? Or perhaps I could use an undead as my emissary?"

Alas, these were questions for the future... a future that looked a lot brighter with every passing day. "Who would have thought having overwhelming power could be this fun?"

A NOTE FROM XKARNATION

Thank you Kyen Syr for the very kind review!

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A NOTE FROM XKARNATION

Wow! Thank you, SpinRift, kambingHitam and Kwayzy for the amazing reviews. Keep em coming!

Also shoutout to: Advent of Eternity

Really cool book that I have been reading over the last few days and it has taken rising stars by storm earning it the 2nd spot for now! Go give it a read :D

ALSO Lucifers name was changed to Zedd for those that missed that announcement.

The frost-covered ground crunched underfoot as the party probed deeper into the cursed forest. After the incident with the corrupted, half a month had passed, and after much convincing from the higher-ups, the party was back together with a new mission provided by the head of the Delvers guild.

Investigate the necromancer in the cursed forest

Reward: 50 gold per party member

"Remember, Sam." Eve turned to the timid hacker, "If we encounter that corrupted horseman or any other corrupted, we are to engage in conversation first." Eve flicked Sam's ear, and he yelped. "I know you hackers hate diplomacy, but sometimes it's needed, alright? Not everything should be killed on sight."

"Yes, yes. Sorry." Sam muttered as he dragged his feet. Rock, the gem golem from god knows where loomed protectively over Sam while Zedd scouted on ahead. The rogue businessman was a mere blur of shadow and smoke as he manouvered between the naked trees. The group had been travelling for a few days but had encountered nothing. And that was weird.

"Zedd, are there really no monsters for miles around? Where did they all go?" A rush of wind made Eve shiver slightly as Zedd appeared next to her. Her bikini armour was great, legendary even, but it sucked during the cold weather, and she couldn't even wear a coat over it! Otherwise, its special defensive effects fail to activate. It really was a bizarre piece of armour in that regard.

"Nothing. Tracks are all weeks or even months old. I found a few rotting corpses but couldn't discern what killed most of them. Even the insects are all dead. It's as if a wave of death passed through the area." Zedd ran a white-gloved hand through his hair and frowned. "But... I am detecting a large gathering of mana south of here. About another few hours of travel."

"South?" Eve also frowned. Apart from Delving into the Empire's dungeon, they had gone on multiple missions in this cursed forest, but nothing of note was ever in the south as it was the furthest point from the Grand Dungeon controlled by the dragons in the north. "Is the necromancer there? Perhaps he's terrified of encroaching on the dragon's territory, so they stay far away?"

"Plausible. But strange." Zedd shook his head and dusted off his hands. "Nothing makes any sense. Some monster corpses look like they suffered heart attacks and just fell over where they stood, eyes still open in shock. In contrast, a few S-rank monsters have deep gashes from claws that could have belonged to a castle-sized werewolf."

"S rank monster corpses?" Eve's eyes practically had money bags in them. "Where? Can we sell them?"

Zedd chuckled. "Absolutely not. They are all destroyed beyond recognition. It would be far too much effort. But, funnily enough, the S-rank monster corpses are in better condition than others I found. I don't even know what rank these corpses are, but they were reduced to burned lumps of unrecognizable flesh. They were so burned and destroyed that I don't know how they died. My only guess would be some kind of lightning magic or stupidly high-tier fire magic."

Eve deflated and let out a sigh. "I will never pay off this darn debt. Stupid Empire tax laws."

"Now, now. All is not lost." Zedd turned to the south. "I think we will find something very interesting soon enough."

***

Nothing could have prepared the group for what they found.

"Goddess, am I dreaming?" Eve muttered over and over again. She bent down and scrutinized the wooden sign.

Four Leaf Golden Bear.

She looked between the sign and the ice sculpture... well, 'sculpture' was the wrong term. "It's the real bloody thing! A perfectly preserved Four Leaf Golden Bear!" Its beautiful golden fur, four muscular arms, and ivory teeth were all there. Eve's eyes darted around the hundreds of ice sculptures that surrounded her. Each one could pay back her debt, and there were hundreds. She felt like a kid in a candy store.

"There's an S rank Silver Bear over here-" Zedd paused, and two black blades materialized in his gloved hands. "We aren't alone."

Sam gripped his staff tighter and looked around as Rock manoeuvred to stand over him. The gem golem's presence gave the hacker some confidence, but Sam stayed diligent. Although he commanded great power, he was weak and lacked defensive capabilities. One stray arrow to the face cared little if Sam could manipulate the system. However, he did wear many expensive defensive artefacts for this very reason. His power was preventive rather than reactive.

A tiny skeleton wandered between the sculptures carrying a basket filled with fruits. It gave them one look, and they all stiffened. A few seconds passed with nothing happening. The tension was so high the air was practically shuddering from it.

"Nut?" The skeleton asked and held one out. It was called a Winter Pine, a bad-tasting nut surrounded by a hard shell that peasant villagers harvested during the winters to survive.

Nobody moved.

"No nut? Okay." The skeleton put the Winter Pine back in the basket and wandered off.

The Adamantite Delve party looked between each other as if they had all seen a ghost. Finally, Eve reached over with her muscular arm and slowly forced Sam's arm down since he had raised his wooden staff and was shaking.

"A corrupted..." Sam whispered under his breath. "It just... walked away?" He followed the undead's path to the left of an ice sculpture. "That has never happened before." As a hacker employed by the Empire, he had seen his fair share of corrupted beings that should not exist and must be purged. 'The undead always attacked without question. So why was this one different? Was master wrong?'. His face then went pale as he realized another weird point. "It talked."

"That it did." Zedd slowly walked in front of the group with his daggers resting by his sides. Their long curved blades gleamed in the midday sun as he twirled them around, something he did when nervous. "Do we follow?"

Eve hesitated. The mission provided by the guild was to investigate the forest, but so long as they all agreed to keep this incident secret, they could have Rock carry a few of these ice statues back to the Empire, and they would be set for years. Just selling the Silver Bear alone would clear Eve's debts, and she could purchase a house in the capital. It was tempting. But a part of her wanted to know. Why. Why was this happening?

"Let's follow. Keep teleportation artefacts at the ready." Eve said, and everyone nodded. She wasn't the team leader, but they all listened to the front liner. If she didn't want to go, then nobody could.

Zedd vanished in a puff of smoke, and Eve kept close to Sam and Rock. They advanced slowly through the ice sculptures, eyes peeled for a potential ambush. "I think that skeleton was a goblin," Sam mentioned quietly. "We saw many empty goblin camps on the way here. Perhaps the necromancer took them all here?"

"But what for?" Eve whispered as they shuffled along, careful not to damage any ice sculptures. 'The forest has been completely cleared out. Some monsters were preserved here in ice sculptures, and now there are signs of intelligent goblins. Is the necromancer planning for an invasion? Are the goblins working in mines near here to make weapons?' This was becoming more serious. The undead horseman had accused them of trespassing on his owner's land, but that was many miles to the north. 'We could be about to uncover an undead army. Is that the mana Zedd said he had located?'

As the group left the grouping of ice sculptures, they came across a clearing. In the centre was a group of very worn down merchant carriages. Lounging outside the carriages around a stone slab with playing cards spread on its surface were two men wearing very torn up and dirty merchant clothes. They both turned to the approaching group.

"Hey Toby, you know them?" One of the merchants said to the other. Toby lifted his hat from over his eyes and scanned the group. "Hmm, they seem familiar, Andrew... but I can't put my finger on it." Toby shrugged and returned to the stone slab they used as an improvised table. "It's your turn, Andrew."

Zedd appeared in a puff of smoke next to Eve and whispered. "They are strong."

"Give a reference point." Eve hissed back. Everything was strong in this forest.

"Hmm, weaker than that undead horseman we faced before, but about as strong as an A-grade monster? My threat detecting skills are being partly blocked by something." Zedd hid his blades behind his back and walked a bit forward. "Greetings, gentlemen. We are an Adamantite Delving team here on orders from the guild master. We would appreciate it if you could explain all of this-" He gestured around at the many ice sculptures, "-and why there are talking undead goblins?" A few goblins littered the clearing, some carrying things while the others were lying on the ground and watching the clouds pass by.

"Why should we?" Toby grumbled under his hat as he set a few cards on the stone to counter Andrew's recent move. "You invade our land and demand things of us? This is the cursed forest, not your shitty Empire." Toby spat some green gunk to the side and huffed.

Eve stepped forward and politely pushed the rapidly angering businessman to the side before he assassinated the merchant. "We don't mean to be rude or cause harm. We previously ran into an undead horseman, and due to a misunderstanding, there was a fight."

"Oh?" Andrew answered this time. Clearly interested. "You met Henry then? Is that bastard still alive?"

"Errr... yes."

"Classic." Andrew frowned as he threw a set of three cards onto the table. "And we are just left here. Forgotten."

"Shut it," Toby murmured. "We will get in trouble."

"Trouble with who?" Sam asked from the back. His voice was small, but in the brief silence, it carried weight. For the zombie merchants, it was unmentionable; for the Delvers, it was their most important question.

As the silence became too much, Toby turned to the carriage and hollered. "Bob, come out here for a second." A minute of tense silence followed. Toby stood up, and everyone shifted nervously. He snorted and went into the carriage and reemerged with a small skeleton. However, this one was more human looking than the goblin but still very short.

"Hello..." The skeleton said with a surprisingly deep voice, but its posture and tone gave everyone the impression of depression. His voice lacked effort, and his head was hung low.

"That's your leader?" Zedd's danger-detecting skills were screaming at him.

"Huh?" Toby looked between the group and then Bob and chuckled. "No, he is our chef. You must have travelled far. Care to stay for a meal?"

The group looked among themselves. They were all on the edge and nervous, but they needed information. What better way than over a meal?

"COOK?" Rock thundered from behind after being silent for the entire conversation. "WE. CAN. COOK. TOGETHER!"

"Sure..." Bob murmured as he turned to head back into the carriage. "We can cook outside..."

"GOOD!" The ground trembled as the titanic gem golem wandered over and plopped himself beside the carriage.

Eve licked her lips. "That sounds good, but I must ask... are those ice sculptures for sale?"

"Perhaps." Toby smiled. "To the right person, they might be..."

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Thank you Orangewave Supreme and Shades98, for the reviews!

"So you wanted to talk?" Toby said as he propped his head up with one arm on the stone table and browsed the cards he fanned out in his other out of Andrew's sight. His eyes darted between his hidden hand of cards and the cards Andrew had just thrown onto the table.

"Yes," Eve said politely and straightened her back. "We have many questions."

"Well, fire away." Toby casually tossed two cards onto the table, and Andrew frowned. Toby was the type of man you wouldn't want to cross at night and starkly contrasted to Andrew, who was more belly than man.

Andrew shifted his various cards between his sausage fingers. "Ugh, I give up." He tossed his hand of cards onto the table, and Toby just grinned. He was guaranteed victory. "That's my twentieth win in a row, Andrew. It's getting boring now."

Andrew shrugged and turned to the recently arrived guests. Compared to a shitty card game that Toby had invented and kept changing the rules of, talking to an Adamantite Delving team was far more exciting.

Eve took that as an opportunity. "We were tasked to find a necromancer in the cursed forest. Know anything about that?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm. Although Andrew and Toby tried to hide it well with extra clothes and hats, the undead stench was unavoidable. "Can't answer?"

Toby laughed. "To call that thing a mere necromancer feels like calling a dragon a fire lizard or a noble a money grubber. It's technically true, but it doesn't paint the whole picture. But sure, there was a necromancer here recently."

"Hold on." Zedd tightened his grip on his dagger under the table. "Why would you tell us this? It doesn't make sense. Actually, none of this makes sense."

"Tell me about it." Toby gestured between the two of them. "We have no idea what's going on, either. One day we were on a jolly old trip to the Empire, and the next thing we know, we are in eternal servitude to some eldritch creature and abandoned here." Andrew interjected, "Got any alcohol, by the way? We ran out long ago."

Zedd relaxed a little, hesitantly brought out a silver flask, and passed it to the zombie merchant. Andrew took the flask with his grubby fingers, sniffed it, and then downed it all in one go. "Good stuff that, thanks."

"You're welcome..." Zedd took back the flask and brushed off the filth with a handkerchief. "So you encountered this necromancer, and he is an eldritch creature? Not a human?"

"Not a human." They both said. Toby added, "Spoke like one, though, although I'm not sure what a creature like that is supposed to sound like since I have never met one before. Maybe it ate a human and copied its brain or something."

"Ooh, that might be true!" Andrew said, "Anyway, that thing is not around anymore."

"So why don't you escape?" Eve pointed out but then felt stupid as the two zombies stared at her with rotting skin. "Never mind...this is likely the best place to stay."

"It's bloody boring, though." Andrew sighed and scratched his arse. "Being a zombie fucking sucks as well. Can't sleep, the constant hunger for flesh..." He quickly raised his hands, "It's manageable! The main issue is how our bodies degrade over time. I wonder if we will eventually be like Bob."

"What's up with him? Was he a midget or something?" Sam asked as he eyed the skeleton and Rock cooking up some kind of abomination over a fire. "Also, how do you guys still speak? Forgive me if I am being rude, but zombies usually aren't the brightest bunch."

"None taken. We understand we are rather unique." Toby pulled his hat down further over his eyes, "Bob over there was a mighty fine dwarf and the best darn chef I ever had the pleasure of travelling with. But that monster took something away from him, something I don't think he will ever get back." Toby looked into the distance as if having a whimsical moment. Nobody dared to interrupt him; as a giant man with muscles that rivalled Eves, it was best to leave him alone.

"Sooo..." Eve said after a while. "About the ice sculptures. You said they were for sale? Really?"

The two zombie merchants exchanged a look and a slight nod. "Sure," Andrew replied, flashing a grin on his fat face. "The thing told us to rest up before leaving. It's been weeks, and our master is yet to return." The merchant rubbed his hands together, "I am sure he won't mind us selling some of the collection. In fact, I will give you guys a great deal. Buy one, get one free!"

Andrew pushed himself off the floor, which took far more effort than necessary and waddled toward the sculptures. "Come! While we wait for food, let's discuss some business."

***

Two days had passed, and Victor decided it was time to move on. Wiggles had confirmed that the next two floors consisted of a similar desert biome, so there was little reason to remain stationary. Apart from letting Genus get some beauty sleep.

"Master." A voice sounded in the back of his head, and Victor instantly concentrated. It wasn't a voice he was familiar with like Henry's or Terry's, so who could it be?

Entering the black ocean within his mind, Victor looked across to the black waters to the south and saw a group of three blinding lights surrounded by hundreds of smaller flecks of lights. 'Ah yes, the group of merchants and goblins I left at the old camp. I totally forgot about them.' Victor didn't really care for them all that much, so he was surprised they reached out to him. 'I expected them to run away or something.'

"Yes?" He responded. It took a second due to the distance, as he didn't invest many stat points into the message. From the call with Terry, he had discovered that there was a flat life force fee for every message he sent, similar to how old phone contracts worked. However, he could shove additional stat points into the message to have it arrive faster, which he did when talking to Terry. Otherwise, he would have had to wait days between messages. But for these insignificant subordinates? He didn't wish to waste more points than he needed. 'Sure, sixty million points is a lot, but it's better to hold onto them than needlessly waste them.'

"Master, it's Andrew. One of the zombie merchants. Sorry to bother your excellency, but an Adamantite Delving party has arrived. We are currently buying time while playing cards but they are demanding answers about a necromancer and also want to purchase the sculptures. What should we do? If we all combine our strengths, we could maybe drive them off, but what if they come again with more people?" The zombie rambled on and only stopped once Victor interjected. "Delving team? Did they mention anything about encountering a horseman?"

"O-oh yes, they did. It seems the Delving party came in peace this time. They did mention something about Henry."

"Okay. Keep details about me vague, but overall you can say as much as you want until they are satisfied. For the ice sculptures, I don't care about them all that much, so you can keep 10% of any money you make from them and save the rest for me. I may need some currency to work with at a later date."

"Okay, master. Will do. Also... may I request that we can pick which monster to be merged with?"

"Explain."

"Well, you have all these preserved corpses, so couldn't we be combined with one of them like you did with Henry? I want to be strong but not turn into... well, you know... Bob."

Victor paused. Why hadn't he thought of that earlier? Sure, the Delving team appearing in the north was a rather pressing matter. Still, he could have gained two more useful subordinates like Henry instead of abandoning them back at that camp. In fact, he needed them and the goblins to join him in this dungeon somehow... or did he? He was currently stuck down here, so having representatives on the surface would be perfect.

"Alright, here's the plan. While I make my way down the Grand Dungeon's floors and take over the dragons, you and Toby's job is to conquer the surface. All of the southern section of the cursed forest is for your use. Sell the monster corpses, pick the two you want to be merged with and then put the goblins to work however you wish. Build mines, a town, roads, and infrastructure. Anything to make you money. You two can keep a third of all the money you make. Then, if you have done a satisfactory job, I will promote you both by merging you with a monster as I did with Henry. Understand?"

Victor could practically hear the excitement in Andrews's voice. "Y-yes, my lord! We will not disappoint you." The connection fizzled out, and Victor smiled to himself. Meeting those merchants had been a significant turn in his fortune. He now had two savvy businessmen working for him on the surface while he conquered the depths. Eventually, he would combine the two empires and rule over the entire cursed forest.

"But first, we need to get moving." Victor floated over to where Genus was resting. In typical dragon fashion, he had chosen to slumber in a dormant volcano. Victor peered down over the edge of the volcano and could practically see the mana swirling around the dragon. Genus was at the epicentre like a castle-sized funnel with scales as if he was a mana black hole. Genus looked healthier, and some of the weight he had lost over the past few days had been regained. Victor noticed a pile of grey slugs in the sand by his mouth, so Genus had clearly been eating recently. 'Perhaps I will leave him for one more day as the dragons are still a few floors behind, and I will need him in top shape to continue...' Victor had changed his mind about the Grand Dungeon. It was no longer a race to the bottom but rather a marathon. He had forgotten how vulnerable fleshy bodies were. Although he could race ahead and reach the bottom a few days or weeks earlier, so what? So long as the dragons weren't hot on his trail and there were monsters to kill, he had all the time in the world.

But he was now a little bored with Genus sleeping and nothing but grey sand in all directions. 'I wonder what Alice is up to?'

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Victor floated to where he had left Alice, but she was missing. It was not a massive deal as she couldn't have gone far, and he could track her location via the undead dragon she was using as a mount, but it raised a valid point of concern. A part loathed his lack of control, but another part made a decision. 'I want friends, not slaves. We aren't in a relationship together, so there's no need for me to be so controlling. If she wants to leave, she is her own person. No reason for me to do anything.' Unlike Genus, with whom he had business and had somewhat submitted to his control, Alice was free-spirited and simply his pet project. He did have uses for her, but they mainly required her to stay alive.

Consulting his undead network, Victor located the dragon mount and headed an hour's flight to the west. As she came into view on the horizon, Victor was amazed.

Around two meters above a grey dune, a being of pure darkness similar to himself floated around in the air. From the beings figure and long black hair, Victor could tell the thing was Alice. A sheen of void coated her skin like a latex suit as she hurled balls of void magic at a group of sandworms below. They were hideous things, similar to Wiggles, but a dull grey in colour and far smaller. They also had a more slug-like appearance rather than armoured scales. When the void balls struck the creatures, it was like they were deleted from existence. Whatever the ball touched simply ceased to exist until it dissipated a few meters later, caving a deep tunnel into the sand that was quickly refilled, and the dune dropped in height by a little.

As Victor got closer, Alice whipped her head around and stared at him with a spear of void in one hand and a ball of nothingness in the other. She then seemed flustered and diverted her eyes, pretending something was behind him.

"You can see me?" Victor questioned. His voice was softer than usual but held a questioning tone that made Alice shiver.

Alice seized up and choked out, "Y-yes." Her hands were on her chest, and she tried to make herself look smaller by curling her legs.

"Since when?"

"Since I woke up..." Alice dispelled her magic and slowly floated to the ground; her feet lightly landed on the top of the zombie dragon, and she nervously played with her fingers and twiddled her thumbs while staring at the ground. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as if a question was on the tip of her tongue, but she failed to say it each time.

"Spit it out. I won't be mad..." Victor tried to console her, but it came out harsher than he expected. He hadn't tried to sound empathetic in months and wasn't the most social person back on earth. He could hold conversations without issue, but actually caring about the other person was a different step, and the dulled emotions that came with his new body didn't help.

"S-so... I got a new class." Alice shifted on her feet and slowly looked up. Her pink eyes gazed curiously at where Victor floated. "It's called [Servant of the Void], a legendary class. You... err... may not know, but legendary classes are only given out due to special circumstances, such as hero classes when humanity is facing a great threat that the goddess needs champions to deal with..." Alice took a deep breath and blurted out. "You are a creature from the void, aren't you? Otherwise, there's no way I would receive such a class..."

Victor cancelled out his stealth skill. To Alice, the large shadow suddenly materialized and was far more menacing than she expected. He was huge, towering over her and blocking out the fake sky. Unfortunately, she likely only reached up to his knees, so she had to strain her neck to take in his complete form. Many blue eyes shifted around within a swirling mass of darkness and looked at her from every angle. Alice gulped as her eyes traced one of Victor's arms and saw the curved claws that were meter-long blades of black metal.

Victor tilted his featureless face and peered through the rising smoke that was his body's life force battling the dense mana in the dungeon. "I never planned to hide it from you. I just felt the time to reveal myself hadn't come." Victor leaned closer, and to Alice's credit, she didn't shy away and held his gaze. "So, servant of the void, did I meet your expectations?"

"Very much so!" Alice furiously nodded. Mana crept through her veins and channelled into her eyes. Victor watched in amazement as her pupils dilated and became swirling abysses. He felt her gaze pass over him and shivered slightly as if he was naked. "What is that?" He couldn't help but ask. Nothing had ever made him feel so exposed.

"A new skill I got called [Void Eye]," Alice answered with a sweet smile. "Not sure what it does, as the system is being unhelpful as usual, but it has the word void in the name, so I thought testing it out on you would wield some results..."

"And does it?"

"Kinda. I can see you more clearly, it gets rid of the smoke that shrouds you, but that's about it." Alice shrugged, turned the skill off, and rubbed her eyes, "Makes my eyes darn itchy, though." Alice plopped on her butt and looked up, using her hands to prop herself up. "So..."

"So indeed," Victor replied with amusement.

"Do you feel hollow inside?" Alice said and watched his featureless face for any reaction. "Like a gnawing hole eating away at you?"

"Always."

Victor had attributed that feeling to his race, but perhaps it came with being one with the void. But that raised many questions. Why would being a void creature cause a hollow feeling... a lack of emotions... a desire to kill? What does void even mean? Victor was no philosopher, but perhaps having a deeper understanding of the element that governs his life could lead to extraordinary discoveries. But as these thoughts clouded his mind... something took over and moved them aside. Victor was only half aware of what had happened but knew it had happened again. 'Something is messing with my mind. Whenever I try to think deeply about my reincarnation or identity, something diverts my thinking.'

Alice seemed to notice it and activated her [Void Eye] skill again. She traced his body and frowned. "Something just invaded and then left. It was like a wave of power washed over you and vanished as quickly as it came..."

"From which direction?" Victor asked as he looked around. His many eyes scoured the dunes in all directions.

Alice pointed upwards. "From above, for sure."

"Okay, whenever that happens, let me know and keep a tally. This is the..." Victor tried to count on his fingers, but no matter how perfect his new body's memory was, he just couldn't remember. "Alright, this is bad. I can't even remember how bad the problem is." Victor hovered closer to Alice. "Please keep track and let me know when it happens again."

Alice bobbed her head. "Will do." She put up her thumb and gave him a reassuring smile. "Master."

Victor shook his head as he loomed over the subservient girl. Although the proclamation was correct, she was far inferior to him; even her class [Servant of the Void] reflected that fact. But he didn't want any more slaves or servants. He could have hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions bow their heads and listen to his every word with fierce loyalty.

But the idea honestly scared him. He felt that feeling wash over him again, and Alice nodded to him to confirm she had noticed it. If whatever was controlling him didn't want him to make friends and instead mindlessly slaughter, he would do the exact opposite. It was time to make allies.

"No. Your class may call you a servant, but you are a potential friend to me. An ally I can depend on." In any other situation, Victor may have cringed at such words flowing out of his mouth. But the power dynamic here was far to the extreme to go about it the usual way. Even if Alice was insane enough and thought of asking to be friends with a void creature that could slay dragons with ease, she would never ask. Her class insisted she was a servant, so she would obey her destined role. Residents of this world treat the system as an all-knowledgeable entity, including Alice. She sees it as her destiny if it proclaims her as a servant.

Alice seemed stupified by his offer of friendship, but something broke her out of her stunned state. She read a screen in the air that Victor couldn't see, and a massive smile emerged on her face. She looked up at him and said words that would change her life.

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XKARNATION

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07.10.2022, 02:44

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Tree Demon

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Bio: I like reincarnation stories a little too much

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35. A Unique Friendship

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A NOTE FROM XKARNATION

Shoutout to Fate Points! A very well written LitRPG where the MC is a regressor (so was op but gets his stats reset) and the author has a huge backlog so he is pumping out decent sized chapters almost every day. Go check it out!

Fate Points

A creature from the void has recognized you as valuable.

Do you wish to accept an upgrade to your class and become a [Tool of the Void]?

"No," Alice said as she moved the blue screens to the side. Then, before Victor could reply, she put her hands on her hips and proclaimed, "You still think of me as a tool, don't you?" She smiled, "And that is understandable. We haven't talked all that much after all. It's like back in Eshnar when I worked for my dad's auction house. He made friends with many Archmages because he would provide them better seats at auctions." Alice raised her finger at Victor, "But what would happen to their friendship if my dad lost his job or fell ill? Would the Archmages that called my father a friend come and visit him at the hospital or help support his family like a true friend? No. They are friends due to business, and that's not real friendship."

Victor was left stunned. Whatever the screen had told her was right.

Although Victor wanted to become friends with Alice, it was done with a business mindset. He wouldn't have considered a potential friendship if Alice had ceased being useful to him. 'I don't know anything about Alice, nor much about her personality likes or dislikes. Yet I declared during our first full conversation that I wanted to be friends with her? How shallow of me.'

Alice paused and watched Victor's reaction. Then, seeing he was silently floating there, she continued. "I don't know why but the system seems eager to hand out class upgrades so long as I hang out with you. But why do I need a class to tell me I am your ally? Instead, we should foster that relationship organically."

To say Victor's opinion of Alice had skyrocketed would be an understatement. He knew nothing of her life before she stumbled into the forest as nothing but a skin and bone slave. A part of him looked down on the locals of this world; although Victor had never seen this world's civilization, he had assumed it was beneath Earth, and therefore everyone here was inferior. 'I didn't realize it, but I had been looking down on Alice all this time, but why? Because she has fewer levels? Less life experience? She's from a lower developed world? So I let my ego cloud my judgment, and while justifying friendship in my mind, I was just trying to rope her in to be a glorified pet.'

"So?" Alice shouted as she combed back her hair, "What do you think, mister void? Friends?" She struck out her hand and let it hang there.

Victor never expected the power that came with an offer from the other party. When he asked to be her friend, it came from a higher power position. It almost felt like giving sympathy, but as Alice stood atop a zombie dragon and demanded an ancient creature from the void to become her friend, Victor felt her determination. He didn't know her aspirations or dreams, but now he wanted to know.

Victor used some stat points to condense his body into a smaller size, he never saw a need to before, but this seemed like a good occasion. With the power dynamic between them reversed, he felt silly looming over her like some deity and wanted to speak to her more personally. However, as he made his body denser, the rate of mana loss increased exponentially to over ten a second. He became a ball of black smoke that rose to the sky.

Alice watched the transformation through her [Void Eye] skill which removed the smoke from her vision. Even with his condensed form, Victor stood at around three meters, but it was far more reasonable than his previous height, allowing him to tower over trees.

He reached out a claw, making sure the blade was pointed at the floor, "Friends?"

"Friends." Alice clasped her hand around the offered limb and carefully shook the claw.

A creature from the void has recognized you as an equal.

Do you wish to accept an upgrade to your class and become a [Friend of the Void]?

Alice tapped the screen with a grin. This was a far more desirable outcome. Although she didn't need the system to acknowledge her relationship, the fact she had been upgraded from a tool to a friend in the system's eye was good enough for her. 'And if I take the class, maybe I will get some cool new skills to foster our friendship?' Alice thought as she summoned the party screen... she wanted to know if her friends name was still listed as UNKNOWN.

[Name: Alice]

[Race: ???]

[Level: 52] (level up!)

[STR: 70, DEX: 82, CON: 89, INT: 152, WIS: 146]

(Slave) (Dulled Emotions)

[Name: Victor]

[Race: Netherborne]

[Level: 307]

[STR: 59 million, DEX: 59 million, CON: 59 million, INT: 59 million, WIS: 59 million]

(Life Force Unstable - 16388 hours) (Mana Sickness)

[Name: Terry]

[ERROR: CONNECTION LOST]

"Netherborne..." Alice looked up at Victor. He had reverted back to his original form and towered over her. "I have heard of your kind before."

"Oh?" Victor replied with interest. The Goddess told him Netherborne were 'The most powerful undead in existence' when he picked the race. However, he knew nothing of its history or reputation. "What do you know about the Netherborne?"

"Well, Victor," Alice answered cheerfully after discovering his name. "Tales of the Netherborne are told to us as bedtime stories and proclaimed at church services." Alice stroked her chin while looking at Victor, "Netherborne are portrayed as the ultimate evil and the epitome of destruction. But they are exactly that, a simple idea, a concept. Nobody has witnessed one and lived to tell the tale." Alice used her [Float] skill to fly up and somewhat match Victor's head level. "So I must be the first person in history to see your kind. And I must say, although you look the part of a continent annihilating monster, you don't quite match the stories, but they are stories, after all, can't believe everything we are told... right?" She flew around him in circles while evaluating him.

"Continent annihilating?" Victor tilted his head to follow her. How could that happen? With the presence of Dragons like Hyveth Arcspace and that Hacker, surely his kind could never go so far as annihilating an entire continent?

"How was the Netherborne stopped in the stories?" Perhaps if he could know how his ancestors perished, he could avoid a similar fate.

Alice chuckled, "They weren't. Every few hundred years or so, a cult would succeed in summoning a Netherborne to the mortal plane. They often did it in a location filled with monsters to allow the Netherbone to feast to avoid the chance of it being dealt with early on."

'So that's why I appeared in the middle of the cursed forest surrounded by a summoning circle and death cultists. But the location seemed long abandoned... so why did I appear there?'

"It happened again." Alice narrowed her eyes as they became swirling abysses and tracked the wave of energy from above. "What were you thinking about?"

"The bizarre nature of my arrival here," Victor said with a sigh, and his many blue eyes shifted around. "Anyway, how did they die if they weren't killed?"

Alice rubbed her stomach, "They starved. Since everyone fled to the oceans and waited for months on large boats. Although some nobles and kings had thought ahead and their families had control over a few islands."

"And the Netherborne didn't follow them across the ocean?" The idea baffled Victor. He could easily float over water... Was that something he could do that other Netherborne couldn't?

"Well, I don't know if you are unique or different, but Netherborne, like many other corrupted creatures from the void, have an endless hunger for slaughter but also has the intelligence to match. So long as we escaped far into the ocean, the Netherbrone never thought or knew how to follow. They would wander the lands, kill everything and eventually die from starvation, or at least that's what the church taught us."

"What about the Hackers or Dragons? Couldn't they stop a Netherborne if they worked together?"

"Yep, they can." Alice nodded her head, "The reason even I know so much about Netherbornes is that they basically went extinct and are now a legend. Nobody has worried about them for over a thousand years. Ever since the arrival of the first Hackers a millennium ago, the church formed an order called the Hackers guild, and they have dealt with corrupted entities every since with ruthless efficiency. So my void friend, don't go pissing them off, okay?"

Victor chuckled, "Call me Victor..."

"As you wish." Alice activated her skills, and void magic coated her form. She flashed him a grin, "So, friend, wanna see the new spells I got from my new class?"

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09.10.2022, 00:42

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