Skullius was impressed by the attack landed by his Apostle. It was swift. Way too swift. Red Rage was a natural at murder...somehow.
As he thought about the stab while watching the body of the goblin drop to the ground, he couldn't help but be glad that he had chosen the Vehement Bone Nullmancer as a class.
His reasoning for choosing it was basic and non-revolutionary but with this class, he could exploit certain traits from his Apostle that he himself didn't have.
The body of the stabbed goblin dropped to the ground, blood oozing from its body.
Strangely, Skillius didn't receive a notification for its death!
"Uhm.. what's going on?" he questioned as he looked at the body of the goblin that was still under the effect of Static Limbo. Its skin was still a very light shade of green and its eyes had still not returned to their original colour.
"Is it because of this skill?"
Skullius analysed.
Red Rage stood with the dagger in its hands that dripped of fresh blood. He then turned to Skullius and gave him a thumbs up.
[Red Rage approves of your actions. +1 Favourability]
Skullius wanted to be happy about supplementing the favourability that he lost due to the hideous covers he made which gave his figure a dull torchlight beneath but he couldn't help but gaze at Red Rage with suspicion.
"Which action do you approve of exactly?" he asked, his flames dancing in wavering amusement.
Red Rage jabbed twice with his dagger and gave another thumbs up.
"Killing huh?" said Skullius as he shook his head. Before he could continue the conversation, a torrent of notifications blasted his vision.
[Static Limbo effect has timed out]
[Apostle 'Red Rage' has killed LV10 Foul Goblin. 350 Exp awarded]
[Apostle 'Red Rage' has levelled up]
[Apostle 'Red Rage' has learned the skill 'Swift Stab']
[Your prey emits the Essence of Null Life. Would you like to extract it? Remaining time 58 seconds]
"Wait..wait...wait what?!" Skullius was shocked by the information he had just gotten from the guidance field.
His flames fell on the last notification since it had the timer and he gave it his full attention first.
'Extract.. Essence of Null Life. Oh! So this is how I mine it... I mean, get it! There's only a limited time? Ah, let's not think too much. Extract!" he said as he extended his hand.
[Null Life Extraction has been activated]
From the body of the goblin which had started to gain its dark green colour, a light blue energy like wisps of smoke rose. It was beautiful to look at, its wispy form slowly streaking through the air and flowing into Skullius' body.
~~~
[ Null Life Essence: 20/3000 ]
~~~
"Ohhhh! That's great!" Skullius said as he saw the value for Null Life Essence go from 0 to 20!
Now he understood what he had to do to get Null Life Essence. It seemed as though he would always get a timer for extraction, which he didn't quite understand, but it was all good anyway.
With that done, Skullius checked the other notifications.
"I see..." Skullius' mind worked up what the first notification implied. "This guy only died after Static Limbo ended. That's crazy. I underestimated the effects of this skill."
The fact that the goblin was really suspended between Life and Death was scary to think about for Skullius.
He didn't ponder on it for too long as he knew that he had to get things moving. He had a myriad of thoughts about the possibilities but he cast them aside for now.
"You've already levelled up, huh?" said Skullius. "It seems you need triple the amount of experience just like me."
This put the Vehement Bone Nullmancer in a difficult position.
He immediately acknowledged that he was wrong about dismissing the path of prioritising his own levelling up in order to get Red Rage up to speed but...
Could he be blamed?
He hadn't thought that Red Rage also needed triple the amount of Exp.
With the information he had received from VOW, he learned about the stat difference also being a determinant of the experience that one would gain after a kill.
He had assumed that he wouldn't get much experience due to the fact that he was stronger in terms of some stats and skills but...
"This also speaks volumes about the value of a Dead end apocalypse boar. Even a Level 1 has more experience than a Level 10 goblin."
Skullius scratched his head before looking at Red Rage again.
He then looked at the fourth notification.
"I was right after all. Your stab was abnormal."
Skullius knew that repeated actions had the possibilities of spawning skills. However, how Red Rage had done it was ridiculous. With one swift action, he had awakened a skill!
~~~
[Swift Stab | Lv. 1]
An incredibly quick and precise stab that's hard to dodge. Agility and Strength are increased by 20% during cast.
Mana Requirements: 10 Mana Points
Duration: --
Cooldown: None
~~~
"I'm super jealous right now," Skullius said. "Perhaps it was a fluke? Regardless of what it is, don't you dare get ahead of yourself, my bro."
Skullius loomed over his Apostle with his socket flames flashing with a dull light.
He took the crooked bone knife on the dead goblin's waist and stripped the creature of its clothing (animal skins).
"Yukuja. Why did you leave your post? Hey!"
A voice jolted Skullius from his looting spree. Perhaps he had been too preoccupied with the notifications that he had relaxed his guard a bit.
Unbeknownst to him, the goblin that was approaching had been using stealth to try and sneak up on its fellow goblin by the name Yukuja for fun. Their job was boring after all.
It had only stopped when it saw the Yukuja wasn't at his post.
The goblin turned vigilant. It had two daggers at its waist and held a spear in its hands.
"I'm such a socket hole. I almost forgot where I am," Skullius said as he relaxed his mind. He grabbed the bone knife from the goblin Red Rage had just killed and peaked to see that the new goblin was 3 meters from where he was.
[Static Limbo] was on cooldown so he couldn't rely on it this time.
He motioned to Red Rage who would usually understand his basic orders without him having to speak.
The Bone Boar nodded and slowly manoeuvred to the right before sprinting from the cluster of trees that had been their hiding spot.
The suspicious goblin heard the sound and turned to see the short Bone Boar covered with a thick brown fur hood rushing in the opposite direction!
It was startled!
Was that... an undead?!
With the distraction in place, Skullius instantly made his move.
He rushed from his cover, appearing behind the goblin with the bone knife in his hand which he used to stab at his enemy!
The knife had almost reached the goblin's neck when it suddenly swung its spear backwards with a strong force right at Skullius' head!
'By Somanda's robes...! What kind of reaction is this?!' Skullius thought before he ducked as fast as he could.
"Arrgh!" the goblin which had just instinctively swung his spear after hearing the sound behind it was frightened as it saw the image of a tall Boneman with eerie blue flames burning in its sockets as it gazed down!
...!
What the hell man?!
The goblin was so terrified that it couldn't react to the punch that Skullius threw - a cruel uppercut - to shut it up before it attracted more goblins!
The Boneman didn't hold back, his bony fist blasting the goblin from its chin with full force!
To his surprise, the goblin's jaw blew off, teeth, blood and bone flying as the punch hammered up the creature's face!
The goblin gurgled as blood splashed from what remained of its mouth.
Skullius was stunned, but only for a second before he pierced his opponent with his bone knife in the throat!
The body of the goblin fell to the ground. Dead.
[You have killed LV11 Foul Goblin. You have gained 300 Exp]
[Your prey emits the Essence of Null Life. Would you like to extract it? Remaining time 59 seconds]
Skullius immediately held his hand out, the energy from the dead body of the goblin flowing into him. The feeling it gave him was vague yet fulfilling.
He had gained another 20 units of essence..
Skullius would have smiled if he could. This was, going great.
Right?
Red Rage rushed back after having performed his duty as a decoy very well.
Skillius patted the Bone Boar's head.
"Good job, bro. Keep it up," he complimented the Apostle.
Red Rage's sockets emitted a bright light and it suddenly gave a short bow.
[Red Rage approves of your actions. +5 Favourability]
"Oh. You like being praised, huh? I will do that some more. If only Somanda had actually caressed my head. Maybe I would have had more favourability towards him..." said Skullius with a distance gaze as he pulled up the favourability section of his status.
~~~
[Favourability (Red Rage) : 9]
~~~
"Nice," said Skullius with a bubbling excitement. The disgusting sight before him didn't bother him in the slightest.
He took the spear and daggers from the goblin and removed its clothes. He replaced the bark and grass on himself and Red Rage with these and the two looked.... a little bit better.
Shashashasha!
Skullius turned to see multiple figures closing in on them. It was the other goblins rushing in their direction after they had heard the noise!
"Come on Red bro. There's still more 'work' to do," the Boneman said as he held the spear, Red Rage wielding two daggers in its hands as it prepared for the upcoming fight.