With the group of previously weak people watching each other demonstrate their new abilities the atmosphere in the gym got lighter. There was even people able to laugh, with the feeling of the corpses skulls cracking under their attacks still fresh their confidence grew.
When they attacked the first one they had used all their strength to smash it but it was way to much! This usually caused the weapon to slam into the floor as the head split open squirting blood.
Even though these undead were leveling up and evolving, the base form was still at the level of a normal human. It's strength was just double it's stats when it turned, the durability of the body didn't really change besides the fact it can't die unless it's head is destroyed.
"Haha! Look at this! I can cause things to levitate and throw them around with only my mind!"
"That's nothing! Did you not see miss blink over there? Apparently she got lucky to get some kind of power to teleport short distances!"
"What!? Really that's so cool! What's your ability?"
People would be gossiping like this as they boast about there own powers. This is the first time since the start of the apocalypse that the group wasn't shaking with fear. Instead they were finally looking forward to the future, if their powers were strong at level 1 then what could they do at higher levels!
Now with the back office rooms available Baladan and the rest of the group who wasn't watching over the group pulled some of the beds away before preparing for bed.
Bal: "Rosa, if you are going to be so close then can you at least watch over me as I transfer my Mana into Aura?"
Rosa: "Of course! I do have a question though, I remember you spending almost every night since the system came to take in Mana or make Aura. Have you not hit your maximum yet? It feels kinda weird is all"
Bal: "Don't worry about that, I guess you could say, I'm special… I'm close though"
Rosa: "That's good, I'll be watching out then!"
As he was closing his eyes a shadow began to move in the darkness. When he looked into the shadows what stared back was a skeleton face with a black hooded robe.
Necrosis was staring at him, no expression appeared on its face. Though Baladan knew this meant he wanted to talk.
Bal: 'I will see what he wants in a bit'
He sat up in bed, his eyes fully closing as he focuses on increasing his Aura.
———
2 hours had passed
Rosa had been watching the whole time however, she wasn't really looking at the area around them instead she was just sitting there staring at her prince.
Her eyes were filled with love, if she could just hold him still and stare at him like this forever she would.
Pure Aura: 100 —> 176 (79)
When he opened his eyes the familiar scene of his hideout could be seen with a skeleton sitting across from him.
Bal: "You know, it's kinda getting a little annoying how you just show up without warning and force me to sit down"
Necro: "I would say sorry but I honestly don't care about your mortal feelings, my goal is to help you learn new spells and get ahold of your powers. You can complain all you want or resist even, however nothing you do will help you escape this"
Baladan immediately began to frown after hearing that. He was only speaking a little about his discomfort with being dragged into doing whatever Necrosis wants. Now he feels like this creature wasn't actually part of the system like the tutorial.
Bal: "Fine then, but I do have a question. Why are you here? Is this because of the powers I have over death?"
Necro: "My master wants you to reach your full potential, I will say nothing more on this subject. However this has everything to do about your powers as a Death Child. You don't know how special you actually are.
Now is not the time to be talking about this however. Instead I'll be teaching you about 3 different spells, [Enhance], [Sharpen], and [Lightweight]. These spells can be used for many things, such as strengthening a weapon or tool as well as sharpening them or just making things lighter. I'm sure you can come up with some uses for the spells"
Bal: "Of course, many things can be made easy just by a little magic huh… it's going to be interesting to see how much the weapon/tool is upgraded by these spells"
Necro: "I won't only be going over these spells however, first we will start with a small explanation of what is going on with your planet.
It's simple really, the entity known as the system creates Mana. It filters the astral energy in the universe to create Mana which it then goes to developed planets, whether they have life or not and then releases all that stored Mana onto it.
Those who can't resist the Mana turn into a Shadow Corpse. Some turn into something more however, this depends on how much of their life force the being had left before turning.
You have faced a Shadow Blob and a Shadow Behemoth before. These beings usually aren't seen until the First Circle in normal circumstances. However these beings have been popping up all across the city due to their life force being so high.
Eventually more and more of these beings will be created once the planet reached its First Circle and creates a ring like the one around your heart"
Bal: "Huh? Wait a minute… the planet will create a ring?"
Necro: "Yes. What was the planet name again…? Oh! Saturn, that planet used to not have rings. Once the system visited the planet life began to be created due to the large amount of Mana before it finally created its own rings"
Bal: "…Then… what will happen if the planet creates a ring?"
Necro: "The gravity and density of Mana will greatly increase. I say it's going to be 5 times stronger then the current planet. This means all humans and beings with stats less then 50 will either die or become Shadow Corpses"
Bal: "Why is it that you always tell me something important like this at such random times! You give no warning at all and just drop bombs the size of nukes on my shoulders! For someone who knows so much the way you teach others about their situation is idiotic sometimes!
Do you understand that us "mortals" as you called me before need to prepare for these types of things!? If you just randomly drop important information like that then who knows when something this big will pop up randomly and make me have to deal with it right then and there instead of preparing ahead of time!"
Necro: "I don't care about the mortals on this inferior planet! The only one I need to live here is you, so I will tell you information that you need to survive. That's all that matters to me, every other being on this planet can die and be taken to the cycle of rebirth for all I care"
Baladan was quiet for a couple seconds, his expression was that of anger as he looked at the expressionless skeleton in front of him.
Bal: "Some of those mortals you don't care about is my friends and family. If you don't want to be my enemy in the future then I suggest you stop this attitude! Or eventually all this power you are helping me gather will be used to utterly destroy you!"
He stood up yelling at the top of his lunges at the creature. The soulless eyes stared back at him not saying a word for a bit.
Necro: "Fine, I'll try and contain myself in the future. For now sit down and listen to my words, these spells will help you greatly in the future"
———
He spent hours in his sea of consciousness listening to Necrosis. Though he yelled at him at the start he still listened carefully, this creature was a way to gain power with little effort so he was going to abuse that source of power even if he didn't particularly like the creature giving him the power.
In the outside world it had only been 1 hour since he closed his eyes and transferred his Pure Mana into Pure Aura.
When he opened his eyes all he saw was a certain red head getting real close. Her face was inches from his, it seems like she was tempted to go in for a kiss only to be caught at the last moment with her eyes closed.
He chuckled a little, rolling his eyes only to look down at her lips. The temptation to just lean in and let it happen crossed his mind.
Bal: '…I mean it couldn't hurt to at least find out what it feels like right…? Honestly what kind of man would I be if I actually pulled back and didn't let it happen?'
So instead of pulling away or even letting it happen he leaned in and pushed her into the kiss. If he was going to do it, he might as well initiate it right?
Rosa's eyes widened with shock when she realized he had woken up and even decided to give her a kiss!
Rosa: 'Oh my god! My prince has kissed me! Woah… I didn't know a kiss could feel so good, but also make me so nervous!'
She didn't want to pull away but after a couple seconds of Baladan pulling her towards him while leaning in he slowly broke the kiss before looking into her eyes.
Bal: "That… was surprisingly really good, but this is only a one time thing, for now at least. Think of this as a reward for watching over me like you have been"
Rosa couldn't say a word as she looked at Baladan with a grin on her face as she just nodded her head at his words.