I had made it back to the guild hall just before they began serving breakfast, and I sighed in relief knowing I wouldn't be missing out on such a great meal. As I ate my breakfast, I felt a slight shiver run up my spine, and I felt as if someone were watching me. My eyebrows furrowed as I glared at my food; this feeling had been persisting for nearly a half a month now, and I still had no clue who or why someone was watching me.
After breakfast, I went through my class. After a month, we had finally finished going over all of the basic medical plants that could be found and used in basic medical remedies all around the kingdom. We were now beginning to learn which herbs could be used to make herbal tea, medicinal soup, and even what most adventurers referred to as a stamina potion.
I was shocked to learn that one could make a potion without needing an alchemy class or any alchemy experience and knowledge, but after Otto covered the potion's generic description, I immediately realized that it was not an actual potion.
[10.5]
[6]
[4] x 2
By the end of class, I noticed several notifications indicating that I had received experience points from the creatures that White Death had begun hunting. I was curious to see what it was that he had begun to kill, but I wouldn't be able to see until later tonight after dinner.
[4] x 7
[8]
[2] x 2
Throughout the day I continued getting notifications, and I could only smile to myself as I looked at them all. I had basically done nothing and yet I was rapidly gaining xp and would be able to level up in the near future.
After I finished having my dinner, I quickly made my exit from the guild hall, and then from the village. After entering the forest and leaving the sight of the guards, I quickly took off in a sprint as I made my way towards the gorge.
After a light run, I finally reached the entrance, and realized that I had no way of knowing where the two had made the cave. Looking at my notifications again, I smiled upon noticing that a few more had appeared, implying that White Death was still out hunting; which in turn implied that he would be coming back this way at some point.
[8]
[6]
I sat down to wait for White Death to appear in front of me. After several minutes I finally heard the creaking of bones in the woods, and upon standing up, I found White Death carrying a Hashoret Mouse corpse that had been brutalized.
I grimaced upon realizing that the damage done was existential and that if that were the case for all the animals he had hunted, I wouldn't make much of a profit since butchers prefer to purchase nearly undamaged carcasses.
White Death paused before me as he realized I had returned. Nodding my head at him with a smile, "Go on, show me the way."
Following him into the ravine, my curiosity spiked inside me as I realized he was only carrying one carcass. 'Odd, I thought he had killed two creatures. Where did the other notification come from if he didn't kill anything else?'
Eventually, after many twists and turns in the gorge, I finally saw an opening in the cliff face that was slightly taller and wider than a man. As we neared, I could smell the festering of the corpses as I realized that I had entirely forgotten that animals need to be cleaned and properly taken care of almost immediately after killing.
This meant that everything that had been hunted so far was of almost no use, the meat couldn't be sold, and any furs, feathers, or even scales would also be no good for harvest. I grimaced at my stupidity once more, and began trying to think of what I could do to prevent this from occurring.
Other than purchasing a large quantity of ice, of which would both be expensive and too large and noticeable for me, I couldn't come up with any other way to deal with the issue. With a sigh, I figured I would deal with it later and instead just have them continue killing the animals and bringing their corpses here so I could continue gaining experience.
"Okay WD, where's Poky?" I looked around, not seeing my feeble corpse creature anywhere. White Death set the dead Hashoret down before pointing off to the side of the cave, and as I turned in that direction, I noticed another notification pop up.
[8]
'Oh, so Poky is the one who has been getting me the eight experience notifications. I wonder what he's killing.'
Walking in the direction White Death had pointed, I quickly found Poky, along with three lizards. Seeing me, Poky seemed to dance as it slowly made its way towards me, its undead eyes looking in two entirely different directions as they rolled around due to the jostling.
Shaking my head, I realized I may never get that unnerving sight out of my mind ever again, before I looked away from Poky and towards the three lizards. I quickly noticed that two lizards were moving stiffly just like Poky while the third layed there surrounded in blood before it began to twitch. I immediately thought back to the Necrosis and realized that all three of these lizards would be Lesser Undead that Poky had created.
I could only assume that they had come in an attempt to find food and had been turned by Poky while they had fought. I quickly analyzed Poky to see how his health points were doing.
Poky
<[ Feeble Corpse Creature - Level 1 ]>
2/20 HP
[Damage]
-1 (Scratch) (Necrosis)
-2 (Punch) (Crushing)
-3 (Bite) (Necrosis)
<[ Skills ]>
[Undeath] (Passive)
-Immune to cold, poison, hunger, stress, fear, pain, exhaustion
[Necrosis] (Passive)
-Necrotic Energy courses through their bodies, festering and corrupting within their flesh and fluids. Converts living creatures into new, lesser undead should parts of the infected get either ingested or injected. (Deals -1 damage/sec until death or purification)
[Scent of the Living] (Passive)
-The undead can smell those that are alive, the scent of their beating blood and charged minds draws them in their horde.
[Shock Padding] (Passive)
- The rotten tissue acts as an insulator/cushion (30% reduction to crushing damage)
[Latch 1 - Level 1] (Activation)
-Your jaw locks onto your target, never letting go (Lasts for ten seconds, cooldown thirty seconds)
[Undead Devouring - Level 1] (Passive)
-Eating flesh heals you by 4 points
[Horde Maker] (Passive)
-Command the horde of undead spawned by you directly (Horde count: 3)
<[ Description ]>
[A monstrosity that defies the will of the gods, and spits on the laws of both the world, and of life. Death favors those who strike it down. Execute with extreme prejudice.]
I quickly noticed the three entirely new skills that had appeared, and I smiled as I realized how powerful my level 1 Feeble Corpse Creature could become. I then quickly refocused myself upon realizing that Poky was nearly at the point of permanent death. Other than his new skill of eating flesh, I held no clue as to how I could heal him, and looking back at White Death and his trophy, I figured I wouldn't be missing out on anything.
Of course, I first wanted to see what had all been killed so as to better prepare myself in the future, along with possibly coming up with an easy way of storing them. So after looking at Poky, and then looking at the three lizards which I intended to analyze after making sure Poky wouldn't end up dying; I quickly made my way into the shallow cave that had been carved out by my undead.
The cave was shallow enough that light from the moon was still able to get in, allowing me to easily see all the different corpses that remained. I scrunched my face as I smelt the lingering scent of death in the stale air and the urge to puke slowly rose within me. Attempting to keep a strong clasp on my inner body, I began breathing through my mouth instead of my nose in an attempt to bypass the smell.
Bending over I began to count the different corpses and by the end of it I was quite shocked. White Death had hunted 3 Hashoret Mice and 9 Blue Wings. As for the two notifications about gaining two experience points, I couldn't see any other corpses and I became slightly confused as to what could've been those creatures that White Death had killed. I looked at the mangled bodies and nodded my head in affirmation, I would have Poky eat his fill until he had healed, and as for the rest, well he could either turn them or keep them there in case he got injured again.
As I was about to call out to let Poky know that he could begin eating them, I paused as I remembered that I still had an undead to summon. Thinking of the Feeble Spirit, I raised my hand over the pile of corpses, not really caring which corpse it came from, and began my summoning. "Rise whisperer of death, rise and serve your new master."
[The soul has already passed on, unable to ensnare for servitude]
I looked expectantly at the pile of corpses before I realized a notification had appeared in my vision. Glancing at it, disappointment filled my heart as I began thinking of how long it would take for the soul to pass on. With a sigh, I turned around and exited the cave. "Poky, you can go on and eat your fill, make sure to only eat enough to regain your health. Don't eat anything extra."
As quickly as he could for a stiff corpse, Poky made his way into the cave and towards the pile of carcasses so that he could eat and heal. Turning to White Death, I noticed that he was still carrying the Hashoret Mouse corpse in his arms. "You can put that in the pile so Poky can eat it as well."
White Death continued staring at me for a few more seconds before it entered the cave and deposited the corpse. I turned and glanced at the three undead lizards that Poky had created and figured it was time for me to inspect them.
<[ Hazorack Lizard Zombie - Lesser Undead - Level 1 ]>
HP: 20/20
[Damage]
-3 Scratch (Bleed -1/sec for 3 secs)(can be stacked)(Necrosis)
-4 Bite (Necrosis)
<[Skills]>
[Undeath] (Passive)
-Immune to cold, poison, bleed, hunger, stress, fear, pain, exhaustion
[Necrosis] (Passive)
-Necrotic Energy courses through their bodies, festering and corrupting within their flesh and fluids. Converts living creatures into new, lesser undead should parts of the infected get either ingested or injected. (Deals -1 damage/sec until death or purification)
[Scent of the Living] (Passive)
-The undead can smell those that are alive, the scent of their beating blood and charged minds draws them in their horde.
[Shock Padding] (Passive)
- The rotten tissue acts as an insulator/cushion (30% reduction to crushing damage)
[Undead Devouring - Level 1] (Passive)
-Eating flesh heals you by 1 point
[Latch 1 - Level 1] (Activation)
-Your jaw locks onto your target, never letting go (Lasts for ten seconds, cool down 30 seconds)
[Latch 2 - Level 1] (Activation)
-You cling to your enemies using your sharp talons to dig into their flesh and wrap around their bones (Lasts for ten seconds)(Causes Bleed for five seconds -1/sec) (cool down 30 seconds)
<[Description]>
[A monstrosity that defies the will of the gods, and spits on the laws of both the world, and of life. Death favors those who strike it down. Execute with extreme prejudice. A Lesser Undead that requires miasma to survive, if forced to live in the lands of the living it will turn to devouring the living to gain miasma.]
[Lifespan: 1 month]
[Time remaining: 29 days, 12 hours]
Awe bubbled up from within my heart upon realizing that these Lesser Undead also held the necrosis trait, allowing them to spread their corruption to anything that was living. If I wanted too, I could probably convert most of the people in Hothal Aldu almost rapidly, I thought to myself sinisterly. Shaking my head, I removed that thought, having no intention of killing innocent people, after all, many of them were just trying to make a living. However, should someone come after me in an attempt to take my life, well… I smirked as a cold glint sparked in my eyes while looking at these Lesser Undeads. I then noticed its description and began wondering to myself as to what miasma was and how eating the living produced this.