Eamon awoke to the sight of Roxy leaning over him, her large brown eyes filled with concern. "Roxy?" he croaked.
Roxy chirped happily at the sound of his voice.
Eamon couldn't believe his eyes. Roxy's neck had elongated and widened, her paws were longer and more muscular, and her chest had broadened. Her jaws were large and powerful.
She extended her tongue and licked Eamon's face affectionately with her rough tongue.
Eamon sat up, and the force of his movement sent him flying upward.
"What happened to my body?" he thought. "I feel so strong."
He turned to the rest of his group and gasped at their transformation. They looked more imposing and powerful, their attributes enhanced by the transmission of power. They were like changed creatures.
Eamon decided to look at the changes in himself. He could feel that his body was even stronger, his muscles harder, his flesh firmer, and his skin more resilient.
He recalled that his status as a lord and necromancer had evolved, and he observed the changes directly on his attribute panel.
[Necromancy]
[Rank: Journeyman]
[Promotion possible by increasing the necromancer's intelligence attribute and the power of controlled creatures.]
[Summoning: Create a weak to low-level undead from a recently dead and relatively intact body, have a small chance to retain some of the original creature's abilities. The undead is obedient to its summoner and devoid of memories from its former life. The summoner has access to the creature's attribute panel.]
[Absorption: Absorb a portion of a recently dead creature's abilities to transfer them to the necromancer.]
[Transmission: The power, born from the essence of absorption, grants the caster the ability to siphon the attributes from a corpse and infuse it into another.]
[Evolution Control: Allow the summoner to control and dictate the specific evolutionary paths and enhancements of his summoned creatures.]
He was very pleased with his new Evolution Control talent, which would allow him to guide the evolution of his summons and make them as effective as possible. He also noticed that the qualifier "tiny" had disappeared from the description of the amount of attribute absorbed with the absorption power.
He turned his attention to the evolution of his lordship status.
[Lordship]
[Rank: Squire]
[Promotion possible by increasing the Lord's domination over his territory.]
[Enslavement:
If any living being is located on the Lord's territory, there is a possibility of transforming them into a subject if they have an affinity score higher than 60% and they give their consent freely and knowingly. A subject can be bound to the Lord by oaths of honor, breaking which leads to the death of the subject. Upon a Lord's death, their subjects become the subjects of the new owner of the token.
Enslavement is not applicable to other Lords or followers and subjects of other Lords.]
[Ethereal Guardian Summoning:
The power to summon an ethereal guardian creature to watch over their territory. The summoning is done through the lord's will via his token.
The guardian's action perimeter is limited to the lord's territory.]
Eamon wasn't surprised to see the new power; Klac had already mentioned it to him. He was impatient for Klac to wake up so he could proceed with summoning the guardian. He noted that he could now transform living beings into subjects with a lower affinity score, only 60%.
He then decided to check his new stats:
[Eamon's – Lord (Knight)
- Strength: 26
- Stamina: 22
- Agility: 16
- Intelligence: 17
- Charisma: 15]
"Yes!" Eamon exclaimed. All his attributes were far beyond human limitations. He vowed to absorb more creatures in the future.
Eamon decided to observe the evolution of his troops next.
Eamon's gaze shifted to his closest companion, Roxy. He delved into her status panel, eager to assess her enhancements.
[Roxy - Matriarch Rat Ghoul (Middle Level Undead)]
[The Matriarch Rat Ghoul is a giant, imposing rat, mother of the ghouls. These creatures obey her instinctively and in limitless numbers, bound to her by blood. Her authority is absolute.]
[Attributes:
- **Strength**: 39
- **Stamina**: 43
- **Agility**: 25
- **Intelligence**: 13
- **Charisma**: 6
- **Special Power**: Necrotic Transmission, Vital Drainage.]
Eamon smiled as he observed the drastic increase in Roxy's attributes, then he saw her special powers.
"Necrotic Transmission?" thought Eamon, "her power of Necrotic Bite and Scratch has evolved." He summoned the power's description, his eyes widening in comprehension.
[Necrotic Transmission : A Matriarch Rat Ghoul's bite or scratch carries a necromantic curse that transforms weaker creatures into Ghouls under the Matriarch Rat Ghoul's control.
Unless the Matriarch Rat Ghoul chooses to spare them, any creature weaker than it that is bitten or scratched will become a Ghoul. These new Ghouls obey the Matriarch Rat Ghoul's commands and can spread the curse to others, creating more Ghouls, primarily Lesser Ghouls, and more rarely other ghouls.]
Eamon was joyously impressed; he was glad that Roxy had evolved and become a Matriarch Ghoul Rat. He had witnessed the effectiveness of Roxy's contagion power. As her contagion potential had evolved, it had become systematic, and now she would no longer create lesser ghouls but ghouls who themselves could create lesser ghouls or other ghouls. Furthermore, the number of ghouls was no longer limited by her intelligence attribute. He had no doubt about the usefulness of this power in the future.
He swept his gaze over his troops before him, and his gaze stopped on the goblin ghoul that Roxy had chosen. She had retained the flattened nose, pointed ears and teeth, and green skin of goblins but now physically resembled a medium-sized woman with a very muscular body. The muscles of her arms and thighs were highly developed, and her abdominals were prominent.
Eamon was curious about her capabilities; he observed her attributes.
[Lesser Tormentress (Medium-Low Level Undead)]
[The Lesser Tormentress dominates through suffering and physical punishment. With exceptional strength and a vicious nature, she subdues both the living and the undead. Her main tool is pain, which she ruthlessly uses to control her slaves, imposing her will without mercy.]
[Attributes:
- **Strength**: 19
- **Stamina**: 14
- **Agility**: 11
- **Intelligence**: 5 (Average)
- **Charisma**: 9
- **Special Power**: Pain Domination.]
Domination by Pain? Tormentress? The terms inevitably evoked sadistic and masochistic practices. "What is this thing?" exclaimed Eamon, realizing immediately that he had spoken aloud. Turning to the Tormentress before him, he added, "Don't take it the wrong way!"
The Lesser Tormentress humbly lowered her head. "Any comment from the Grand Master is a blessing," she replied in a soft and docile voice.
Roxy gave her Ghoul an approving look.
Eamon felt uncomfortable. "I literally called her a 'thing' and they take that as a blessing?" he thought.
Then, his gaze fell on Roxy's fanatical expression. "No need to dwell on it," he told himself.
He decided to observe the pain domination power of the Tormentress.
[Pain Domination: The Tormentress breaks her victims' wills with prolonged torture, rendering them utterly obedient. She asserts control over both undead and living beings through sheer force and punishment. However, her power is limited to creatures weaker than her physically, and it may be hindered against those resistant to pain.]
Eamon smiled; he would need her power to pacify the conquered territories in the future.
As this thought crossed his mind, Eamon froze, "Am I becoming a monster?"
Then his gaze swept over his robust and loyal troops and settled on Roxy, who affectionately rubbed her huge snout against him.
He smiled and dismissed the thought as quickly as it had come.