We were back to the city by morning. I'd summoned and linked both the knight and the Dullahan to me. And then sent them all away. The job was complete and I had a new pet!
All in all, I was in a great mood.
Col handed over the captives to the guild and the guild handed them over to the governor who promised me loads of rewards and even a public ceremony. I wanted to decline but couldn't hurt to showcase my lovely Dullahan right?
Eventually, we got to the Inn, and without eating or anything else, Vivia bade me farewell for the day. She was going to sleep.
When she left, I took the opportunity to order some specific dishes I wasn't keen on trying before. Stuff like raw fish. I always hated the concept but, but I couldn't help but be a little curious.
The sea was quite far from here, but they had ponds and lakes. So, they were in no shortage of fish.
A familiar face showed up. Dan. The beast girl.
"Heard you captured the holy knights," she said.
"They're just knights. There's nothing holy about them," I shrugged.
My plate of fresh thinly sliced raw fish came. I could have sworn I saw Dan welch in disgust. I too was like that once. But I liked raw stuff these days. Yet, I didn't order this in front of Vivia in case I accidentally didn't like it, and had to throw it out and stuff. I guess I did care about my dignity somewhat.
Anyway, I bit into a fish. Fishy.
I mean it wasn't bad. But… nothing special either. I kind of didn't want to eat it but, since I'd ordered it, I slowly nibbled at it. 'Soy?' I noticed a rather dark liquid they'd given me. Upon dipping the fish in it, I realized. It wasn't soy sauce. Rather… just heavily fermented wine. Almost vinegar-ish.
"I'm amazed you can eat that," she said.
"Me too. Not bad… this stuff," I said. Specially with the vinegar.
She rolled her eyes. "Heard you were quite powerful and defeated the leader of the knights with ease."
"Don't believe everything you hear," I said.
"Yeah I know but, I guess you're really strong and my warning was just uncalled for?"
"Maybe. But it's nice to know someone actually worries for you."
"Yeah. Maybe get a girlfriend then? She'll worry, right?"
If I had a dick, maybe I'd have tried to get closer to women. But I didn't. Heck, I just had a hole down there. Doesn't that make me a girl? Yeah, probably not. All skeletons had holes down there anyway.
Hmm… out of curiosity, I tried to make the electricity go a little faster and force the soundwaves to sharpen up just a bit more. More Hertz!
"I don't think that'll work," I said. My voice sounded quite like a woman's. And old lady's, sure. But hey, it was kind of better than an old squeaking geezer's.
Nah.
"You can change your voice?"
"Talking through thunder," I said. "Don't worry about it." I tried to get it back to normal but ended up with something in between the two-geezer type. Rather ambiguous. Very, very unnatural.
"Uh huh, well-" She picked up a fish slice. Dipped it in the sauce. "Here's another warning. An emissary is slated to come over next month. I'd get out of here if I were you."
"Might I ask why?"
"She's coming here from the holy church of Sondar. That's literally the headquarters."
"I'll keep that in mind," I said.
She nodded once, took a bite and immediately spat it out. "Vile," and panted no less.
Heh.
She welched some more and left.
Meanwhile one of the staff were freaking out over what just happened. I guess you could say, she thought Dan was being rude to me or something? I gave the staff a sign that it was all good and they heaved a sigh of relief.
These people really think of me like that….
But was I noble? Was I even close to the standard they held me on?
The short answer? No.
The long answer: Absolutely not.
***
I was back to my bed. I got out of the armor, and just lied down for a while. Something was bugging me. Namely the flashy screen of evolution. It was transparent, so it didn't bother me too much. But considering, it wasn't going away, that just made me annoyed.
There was a particular reason why I hadn't made the decision to evolve. Namely, the three choices.
Void Skeleton Mage Dark Skeleton Mage Time Skeleton Mage
They had no explanation. No, that wasn't quite right. Although they didn't have any explanation, I did feel that choosing one over the other had certain benefits and drawbacks.
For example, choosing Void Skeleton Mage meant I could control void magic easily and would have access to teleport skill which was kind of broken; but it was only going to start with increased space for Spacia and teleportation came later. Time Skeleton Mage on the other hand would just allow me to stop time for a second. Right now, it was only going to allow me to stop time for the world and let me think. However, with enough practice and experience, it was possible to move in that stopped time as well. Basically, one of the most broken abilities.
However, in contrast, Dark Skeleton Mage didn't seem that broken. It was only going to increase my affinity with Dark Magic and strengthen my Necromancy skills. However, if my gamer senses were to be trusted, this one held quite the potential.
Argh, I rolled on the bed. This indecision was giving me a headache. So, I sighed and considered one last thing. Fun.
It was going to be fun to be able to teleport, it was going to be fun to be able to stop time and make fun of people.
However, what about controlling dead corpses? And having a literal army of them? Wouldn't that be more fun?
Wouldn't that…
I imagined myself as the Dark Skeleton Mage.
'Commencing Evolution!' Familiar words floated before my eyes.
My senses disappeared. Vision, touch, smell, sound, everything just disappeared. And in that nothingness my body changed.
No, it evolved.
'Evolution Complete!'
'HP Increased By 250.'
'MP Increased By 50'
A little different from before.
And wait, I got no new skills?
What the fuck? Did I choose a dud?
Argh… with a dejected heart, I took a look at my card.
Sean Jackson
Type: Undead (Dark Skeleton Mage)
Evo: 02
Class: URC
Level: 1
HP: 1058/1337
MP: 512/559
Strength: B
Stamina: B+
Defense: C
Speed: B
Mana: B
Affinity: Darkness, Void, Thunder, Water, Wind.
Skill: Necromancy (B), Summon (C+), Slave Master (F), Double shot (Incomplete), Empower (E+)
Weakness: Fire, Holy, Absolute Zero