....
{List of available evolutions}
===========================
1) [Magical Skeleton Warrior]
2) [Magical Skeleton Archer]
3) [Semi-lich]
4) [Semi-lich Warrior]
5) [Skeleton Hunter]
===========================
....
Marcus was looking at the list of evolutions for quite a while before he could make a decision.
Option 5 was instantly discarded as it seemed the weakest. Options 1 and 2 seemed to go more along the lines of close combat but didn't seem to focus much on magic.
After his battle with Bairus, Marcus had realized that if he wanted to survive in this world, he had to focus more on magic.
But mages were restricted based on the amount of mana they had, so he also ruled out the third option.
'I choose option 4 [Semi-lich warrior]!'
Immediately, Marcus was surrounded by a dense layer of dark mist, which enveloped him completely.
The mist began to repair and modify Marcus' body as the system flooded him with messages.
....
{Selection confirmed}
....
{Initiating Evolution}
....
{Resetting user status}
....
{The user obtained the skill [Mental Immunity]}
....
{The skills [Poison Immunity], [Necrotic Immunity], [Disease Immunity] [Cold Immunity] and [Mental Immunity] have been merged}
....
{The user obtained the skill [Corpse body]}
....
{[Necrotic Manipulation]» [Necromancy lv:1]}
....
{The skill [Energy magic] leveled up}
....
{[Throwing lv:4]»[Marksmanship lv:1]}
....
{[Night Vision lv: Max]»[Dark Vision lv: 3]}
....
{The user obtained the skill[Darkness Magic lv:1]}
....
{The user obtained the skill [Automatic MP recovery lv:1]}
....
{The user obtained the skill [Fear Aura lv:1]}
....
{User status completed}
================================
Name: Marcus Edevane
Titles: [Undead killer]; [Adversity Overcomer].
Race: Undead
Species: Semi-lich Warrior.
Rank: 3
Level: 25 (7/75,850 exp)
================================
HP: 625/625
MP: 2130/2130
Strength: 75 Stamina: max
Defense: 57 Intelligence: 213
Vitality: 62 Wisdom: 34
Agility: 74
Stats points: 0
================================
Skills:
{[Corpse body][Fear Aura lv:1]
[Dark resistance lv:3][Evil resistance lv:4]
[Energy Sense lv:2][Melee Combat lv:3]
[Marksmanship lv:1][Sword Technique lv:3]
[Mace Technique lv:2][Acrobatics lv:1]
[Energy Magic lv:2][Necromancy lv:1]
[Darkness Magic lv:1][Analysis lv:2]
[Inventory lv:4] [Dark Vision lv:3]
[Automatic MP recovery lv:1]}
Weaknesses:
{[Blunt damage lv:6][Solar/Light damage lv:9]
[Spiritual damage lv:9][Fire damage lv:7]
[Sacred damage lv: Max]}
================================
After a few minutes, the mist disappeared and only Marcus' body was left lying on the ground, as he writhed in pain.
'Uuuugh...My head hurts. If I could, I would want to vomit... I hope I don't have to evolve for a long time.'
Marcus had received too many messages from the system in a short amount of time which, along with the changes that had occurred to his body as he evolved, caused him to suffer an enormous amount of pain comparable to being stung by a thousand wasps.
But when he checked his status, he thought that at least the pain had been worth it.
Many of his skills had leveled up, others were transformed into superior skills, he managed to gain new ones, and he had finally lost another of his weaknesses. But the most drastic change was his body.
First, his spine had thickened and the bones in his back became harder and more robust.
The bones of his legs and arms were strengthened and changed their structure. They now appeared to be made of ossified muscle tissue, as if all the muscle in his limbs had turned to bone. But what caught Marcus' attention most was his chest.
Both the bones of his rib cage and his ribs became a little more robust, and on the right side of his body was a small sphere radiating a sky-blue light, which beat rhythmically as if it were a human heart.
'Is this my heart?... It's very similar to the one Bairus had...But, it feels very natural,'
Marcus was not surprised by the sudden appearance of his new "heart" and, on the contrary, felt very comfortable with it, as if it had been there.
DING!
....
{The [Monarch of the eternal garden] smiles at the sight of your accomplishments}.
....
{The restrictions have been partially removed}.
....
'Huh?!... What?!!'
Marcus was petrified, he didn't understand what had just happened. Who was this monarch? Had he been watching him since he reincarnated? Was he the one responsible for locking him in that subterranean cave? What restrictions and why had he removed them just now?
Marcus did not like this. From the moment he arrived in this world he had only gotten more unanswered questions and every time he seemed to be making progress, he only found more mysteries.
After a few minutes of standing around thinking and getting nowhere, Marcus decided to think no more about it and put it aside.
He wanted to know more about this [Monarch of the Eternal Garden], but first, he had to find a way to get to the surface. Once he was out of the subterranean installations, he would try to research more about the monarch and why he had brought him to this world.
Once Marcus got his thoughts in order, he pulled a new suit of armor from his inventory, a shield, and a sword, equipped himself, and headed for the room he had flown out of a few moments before. He walked a few steps and finally reached the room.
After Bairus exploded, the room had been completely ruined. The pillars were destroyed, the cultivation tanks had turned to dust, and both the walls and ceiling had cracks all over them.
Honestly, it was a miracle that the room hadn't collapsed after the explosion.
Marcus walked around the room to see if he could find anything of use but gave up soon after seeing that everything had been destroyed.
'OH! Is this thing still good?'
Marcus had walked over to where the semi-lich had been when it died and, although he hadn't expected to find anything, it turned out that both the top end of Bairus' staff and the gem embedded in it had survived the explosion.
Marcus decided to use analysis to see if he could get some information about the object.
================================
Name: Dark Potentiator Staff.
Artifact: Magic item
Tier: Medium
================================
Durability: 1/900
Attack Power: -/-
Description:
A staff crafted from black Jaracan wood and a Rehi crystal from a [Night Shadow Wolf].
Abilities:
Casting time reduction 10%.
Darkness element boost 9%
Mana cost reduction(only darkness spells)20%
================================
Marcus finished reading the information on the staff and had been quite impressed with the item. However, he was more surprised by the fact that he managed to defeat Bairus even when he had this item with him.
But at least now he could understand how the semi-lich was able to cast so many spells without running out of mana.
'Looks like I'm seriously going to need magic items if I want to survive.'
Marcus was aware that in this world an individual's power was not just about brute strength, but also about the items, resources, and artifacts one had.
In fact, if the speed ring he had obtained a few weeks ago had not been destroyed, Marcus could have defeated the semi-lich much more easily.
But there was no use lamenting about that. All Marcus could do now was to get out of the cave and try to be a little more careful with his things.
Marcus was about to leave the room when he noticed a hole in the right wall of the room. As he got closer, he realized that the hole was an entrance that connected to stairs that spiraled down.
It seemed that the entrance had originally been constructed so that only certain people would know how to open it. But after the explosion, the wall of the room had been destroyed and the entrance was exposed.
Marcus used his [Energy Sense], and once he was sure that there were no more undead left in the place, he descended the staircase.
****
....
[Wisdom increased 5 points]
....
When Marcus finished the book, he got up, put it down on the desk where he had found it, picked up another book, and again sat down on the bed to read.
The book he grabbed was green and, although it was a bit worn, he could see the title that read "Introduction to Alchemy vol.3". But, after turning a few pages of the book, Marcus had noticed that this book was not about alchemy.
'A book about necromancy, disguised as an alchemy book... But why?' Marcus was very curious about all this.
The stairs he went down led to a room. This one was very similar to the single rooms he had found all over the facility, only this one was a bit larger.
But rather than a room to sleep in, it looked more like a hermit's research office. There were papers strewn all over the floor and the place was cluttered with books, many of which were so worn that it was practically impossible to read them.
But, after tidying the room, Marcus had been able to find a small number of books that he could read. And since he had all the time in the world, he decided to go through them.
So after almost 8 hours of entering the room, Marcus had read about four books and as a consequence, his wisdom had doubled. But the most important thing was that he was finally able to get information about this world.
On the desk in the room was a map which showed a total of six continents. Two of them were located at the north and south poles of the planet, two more to the west, one in the center, and the last one to the east.
The continent that most caught Marcus' attention was the eastern continent, as it not only appeared to be larger than the other five continents combined but also had a peculiar shape.
At least to Marcus, the eastern continent appeared to have been the result of Africa colliding with India, thus merging with the Eurasian continent.
Unfortunately, the map only showed a few reliefs and was very worn, making everything written on it illegible.
In fact, much of the information Marcus got was unreliable because he had no idea how outdated the content of the books was. But it hadn't all been a waste of time.
Thanks to the books in the room, Marcus was able to glean bits of very important information. Like that the days of this world had 26 hours instead of 24, that humans were not the only intelligent race in this world or the fact that this universe was controlled by multiple deities.
But most importantly, Marcus had been able to find some papers on how to use spells related to darkness magic and the book of necromancy.
This suited him like a glove since, while he could use such magic items, he did not know any spells he could use, making these skills almost useless. But now that he had these documents, the problem was solved.
A few hours later, Marcus finally finished reading all but one of the books he had found in the room.
Marcus walked over to the desk and picked up a small diary. This vintage-style notebook was lined in tan leather and was closed by a leather strap around it.
Marcus had found this small notebook inside one of the desk drawers along with the necromancy book but had decided to save it for last as some of the yellowed pages of the diary were stained with some strange fluids.
Marcus unwrapped the leather strip around the diary, opened it, and began to read the first few words of the diary.
{To whom it may concern:
If you're reading this, I am probably already dead.
Whoever you are, if you happen to get to the end of this diary, I ask that you do not destroy it so that at least there is a record of what happened.
My name is Bairus Derteniam, third son of Dorian and Clarias Derteniam, and these are my last words}