[You really want 'Shapeless One' huh?] The system asked me, snarkily. I sighed but only because I detected a tingle of opportunistic gloating in the system's inhuman voice.
I was walking through the space between Comillas and the forest. This was a vast grassland that I was becoming increasingly familiar with. As I stepped deeper and deeper into this largely unclaimed territory I looked around at my surroundings and studied the farms around me.
The farms that surrounded me were populated by a solid number of laborers; almost as many laborers were here as there were people living in Comillas. They were hard at work, and I watched as they deftly managed their tools, plowing into the dirt at their feet, watering crops, and spreading seeds at once mechanically and also with the precision of having done this work for years.
"I do want access to my power." I confessed in the confines of my mind. I put an emphasis on the word "my", so as to stress that it was a power of mine that I had access to by birthright and not something that ought to be denied to me. I heard a gentle chuckle from the system at my remark.
[You really do. We can tell. You're the sort to be annoying about that. So... We're deciding on how to best make a trade. How to have you perform a task for us, one that you may otherwise not be willing to do, and in exchange for the completion of such a task, we will see fit to unlock your power.] The system announced, proudly displaying its hand since it felt it had a superior position.
I grimaced at this, annoyed at the arrogance the system displayed at this moment. But I also bit my tongue and quelled the part of me that wanted to speak out and tell the system to lose the attitude.
I knew I could handle whatever it was going to ask me to do, and a part of me wanted to try and corrupt whatever objective I next received. I thought about it, as I strode in the direction of the forest.
The forest began to creep into view in the distance. I could see the outermost trees way off at the edge of my vision. The sun was still high in the sky, though it was now inching past its peak and beginning what would become a long, and painfully slow descent culminating below the horizon.
I must have been walking for over half an hour, somewhat idly and not directly towards the forest. Some time had passed, and I was beginning to feel the full might of the sun's rays on my skin. It wasn't uncomfortable, but I definitely felt it.
It was at that moment that I felt the system creep back into my mind. For the first time ever I actually had an almost premonition like understanding that the system was about to whisper to me. Curiously, I readied myself to listen to it.
[So we've come up with an idea that we positively love. Which means that you will probably not like it. But hey, one day you'll be in a position to do what you want with your powers, so just... just humor us, this one time, okay?] My strange companion said into my mind. I sighed and waited for it to expand on what it wanted. I didn't have to wait long.
[So here's our idea. We want you to grow more familiar with using necromancy. Necromantic magic is seriously powerful, and we believe that it could a potent tool in your arsenal with regards to gaining worshipers. If you want to gain access to your power,] The system was trying to sass me back and put an emphasis on the word "your".
[You need to do something simple for us. The necromancy subdomain is even being kind and providing you with early access to one of the powers you'd otherwise gain when you earned the lowest tier of influence over it. You need to animate three corpses. Once you do, we'll unlock your 'Shapeless One' power. Not a minute sooner. We've even gifted you with the potent necromantic spell that animates corpses just to speed this process along.] The system said, speaking sternly.
At that moment I received a surprising and helpful notification. It sprang to life in my mind, like it was waiting for just the right moment.
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Alert: You have just been granted access to a tremorsense upgrade. This upgrade comes in the form of the passive power belonging to the subdomain of 'necromancy'. The power is entitled 'Cadaver Collector'. Cadaver Collector allows you to detect corpses on your tremorsense mini-map. The symbol to detect corpses is a cross. For now, you either need to cast your magic through someone else, or be within sight of a corpse to raise it, but one day you might be able to just select crosses on your mini-map and raise them using powerful necromantic energy. You have also been granted access to the 'Create Undead' spell. This is the second most basic necromantic spell that raises the undead and is guaranteed to work, unlike 'Reanimating Spark'. It allows for the creation of three types of undead beings. What follows this part of the alert is basic information about the sorts of creatures you can create. Zombie: Zombies are the lowliest of the corporeal undead. They are walking corpses that exist either to create more zombies or to follow and obey the commands of their creators. Zombies that come about as a result of unguided phenomena exist to create more zombies. Zombies that follow the orders of their creators are the results of magic or specific divine power. Skeletons: Skeletons are the animated bones of corpses. These strange creatures are considerably more intelligent than zombies and possess a small amount of strange, innate, wisdom. When they are created if there was any flesh left on the bones that form their body such flesh immediately falls off their bones. Skeletons seek out weapons and armor and equip any such items they can find. Ghouls: Ghouls are above and beyond the strongest kind of undead the 'Create Undead' spell can create. Ghouls are corpses that weren't just animated but given a tiny spark of free-will and cruelty. These strange creatures not only intelligently seek out the flesh of the living, but they also possess the ability to infect living creatures with a feared disease that can kill and reanimate their victims as ghouls. Ghouls are known and feared for their immense hunger, but they are intelligent enough to form their own civilizations and distinct religions, though they are on the lower end with regards to undead sapience. Special notes: Undead created by you are not like other undead beings. Whether you create them with a spell or with direct application of unlife energy, the energy that animates undead beings, undead creatures you create are not only maximally ferocious, they are also highly intelligent and capable of growth. Undead you create you are capable of destroying. You can choose to cease animating them, which causes them to cease being undead, reverting them back into corpses. Undead they create, whether it is by conscious acts of destruction as it would be if they were victims of a ghoul attack or by unintelligent means such as perishing a day or so after surviving a zombie attack, are considered to be your creations as well and come into being under your control. At the moment any undead entity you create that is more advanced than a zombie, including skeletons, automatically worships you and possesses greater intelligence. This is true to the extent that somethings you animate may become more intelligent in undead than they were in life. Once you become a skilled enough necromancer even zombies will come into being automatically worshipping you. |
The final part of that notification was quite exciting to me. And I read it several times before the notification winked out of view as they usually did. After I read it, I began to scheme about how best to corrupt this mission and twist it away from what the system was intending.
I reached the edge of the forest, while my mind was racing. I was envisioning ways to twist this request on its head while still securing access to my power.
"How can I corrupt this objective most effectively?" I wondered. I took my first steps into the forest and closed my eyes.
It took my not-so-mini-map a few moments to spring into being in my mind. When it did I immediately noticed a few additions: numerous crosses littered the mini-map, and I studied them as I considered what to do.
"I was never told that I had to kill things myself. Just that I had to raise three corpses from the dead." I muttered, beginning to formulate a way to fulfill the objective given to me in a way that I enjoy and that didn't require me to go and inflict harm on something.
"I could just... use these spells to transport bodies from one place to another. Or even to take meat from one place to another." I quietly uttered, a plan beginning to crystalize and come into being in my mind.
It was at that moment, while I was studying crosses and beginning to birth a plot to advance my powers without violence, that I detected the first suitable corpse for my plan. As I mentally ordered an assessment of it, I began to smile as I read the information my power was providing me with.
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Cadaver Collector has enabled the detection of this corpse. Assessing the corpse... Corpse assessment complete. Creating a profile of the corpse. Species of the corpse: Red Stag Time since death: Forty-five minutes. Cause of death: Snake venom. Corpse condition: Adequate enough to become a corporeal undead. The corpse could be purified of the effects of the venom that killed the deer, or it could be left unhealed and any corporeal undead that its body creates would possess a potent and debilitating poisonous bite attack. Corpse Stats: Strength: 15 Speed: 25 Special abilities: Gore (Physical ability in which the creature attacks using its horns to impale enemies), Unstoppable charge (Physical ability in which the creature charges at an enemy, either missing completely or attacking with both its hooves and its horns). |
Examining this notification brought a smile to my face. And the corpse wasn't located far from me either. I began to move towards it, a grin on my face as I considered what I'd do when I eventually found the body.
A few minutes later I was walking boldly through the forest. I wasn't particularly paying attention to the forest itself on a physical level, and instead, I was walking guided by my mini-map. My mind was on my magic.
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You have a new spell. Displaying it now. Create Undead: This spell allows for the creation of undead beings. This is the second least of the spells that allow for the creation of undead creatures, but your undead beings will always be the greatest examples of their kinds. This allows you to create zombies, skeletons, and ghouls. Note: So long as the corpse hasn't been dead for longer than a day, you can channel healing energy directly into it to cause the skin and flesh on it to regrow and thus increase its suitability to becoming more fleshy forms of undead. |
My grimoire was repeating what I already knew, aside from the tidbit about causing skin and flesh to regrow. But I didn't mind it, as it was helpful for me to see the information once more.
I found myself deep in the forest. Trees loomed around me, their leaves and branches obstructing much of the daylight that should have shone on the forest floor and illuminated it. I could smell an unpleasant scent on the breeze and assumed that it was caused by the body which I was on my way to transform.
I wasn't far from the corpse. And as I honed in on it, I began to fancifully imagine what it'd be like when it was resurrected. That said, I didn't intend to grant the thing intelligence. I knew what I wanted to do with it. I mulled over my scheme and my goals with the corpse, while I moved towards the corpse
In the time it had taken me to dive deep into the forest, a scheme had come together in my mind. At first, it was only fragmented bits and pieces of a greater plot that I had to take time to weave into one subversive scheme. But now, thanks to the passage of time and an opportunity to focus my thoughts, it had come together. And quite beautifully at that.
This scheme of mine came in two parts. The first part was the acquisition and unholy animation of three corpses that possessed an adequate amount of flesh and flesh in suitable conditions to be reanimated as zombies. I wanted large creatures, not small ones, to become part of a gift I was envisioning. A rather macabre gift, but one that was also delicious.
The second part of my scheme required that I finish creating the gift I had envisioned. In doing so I would acquire my "Shapeless One" powers in full and be able to create a stunning deception.
I planned to enter the goblin community bearing my gift: the shambling corpses of a trio of large creatures, animated by me. I would enter the place in the form of "Cosecha", my persona, and inform the goblins that I was a spirit who was offering them this gift of meat freely and then move to demonstrate my other powers to the hopefully awed goblins.
There were a few wild cards that were likely to affect how well this scheme of mine may go. Chief among these wild cards would be the corpses I'd find. I hoped to find large corpses, ones with several kilos of flesh to be eaten.
Another wild card would be whether or not the fact that I reanimated the corpses would cause them to be considered something I "created" and thus give me some influence over the goblins who eat their flesh. I hoped it would because the awe-inspiring nature of the scheme I had in mind made it a surefire way to gain significant influence over a considerable number of goblins and even their orc chief at once.
Perhaps the final wild-card in play would be whether or not I had an opportunity to fully use my other powers to their fullest extent. If I had the chance to heal the goblins and then showcase that I could give them the power to heal themselves that might be enough for the little creatures to begin to worship me then and there.
While I was scheming and thinking opportunistically, a small part of me was whispering to the other part of me. Its whispers were sinister and intriguing.
"I'm focused on acquiring living servants and worshipers, but I quite clearly heard the system say that undead that I create which are greater than zombies worship me." I mused, darkly.
"I should at least be open-minded to the possibility of creating a cult of undead creatures who worship and revere me. The subdomain of necromancy seems like a potent one, and gaining influence over it would no doubt make me a stronger entity." I told myself, doing my best to keep my mind open to the possibility and the potent increase to my powers that would come with such an action.
[It's worth noting that such an action would no doubt serve to open up other domains and subdomains to you as well. If you did create a cult of undead beings you'd begin to slowly gain influence over things like death, souls, and evil.] The system added, chiming in while I was listening to a small voice in my head that was open to any means to gaining power. And it wasn't done talking either.
[Interestingly enough, if you wish to use Cosecha's followers to create a cult dedicated to some version of goodness, you could gain influence over the domain of "Good" all while steadily acquiring influence over the domain of "Evil" with an undead cult. If you insist on clinging to this principle of not hurting unwitting living creatures, you could even just scavenge the already dead to transform into the undead needed for such a cult.] My companion admitted, begrudgingly. I chuckled at that.
"Do my worshipers need to be humanoid, or in the case of undead beings come from humanoids to count towards my overall cult-building goal?" I asked the system, referring back to the deal it and I had struck earlier.
[No they don't. If you want to create undead from animal-corpses or even plantlife such an act is possible though you can't turn trees and such into undead beings quite yet. In your case, you'll need to become a necromancer before you can do such a thing. Which you'll do when you reanimate your first living creature.] The system boldly announced. And then it added something to that announcement.
[The term 'Necromancer' is the name of a class. When you reanimate your first corpse you'll gain your first level in that class. Classes advance when you go activities related to them, so as you reanimate corpses you'll gain levels in the necromancer class. When you tend to nature you'll gain levels in the druid class. And so-on and so-forth.] My companion revealed, causing me to smile.
A small part of me wanted to learn more about tending to nature, so that I could improve my skills as a druid, but I was also deeply excited to gain another class. I was excited to expand my skill set and that overwhelmed my curiosity about powers I already possessed.
Knowing that I was close to gaining access to a whole new set of skills made me move faster. It quickened my step and I sped towards the location of the corpse.
As soon as I was within sight of the corpse I began to study it. The thing was long. It was perhaps two meters long from tail to snout. It possessed lovely auburn colored fur, fur that was matted and dirtied now but I could tell was once clean and well-groomed. It also had long and fierce-looking horns, ones which seemed to absorb what little sunlight made its way through the top layer of the forest.
The smell I had detected earlier was indeed coming from here. It hadn't attracted predators just yet, but I could definitely smell it from a distance.
It was the nasty smell of pooling blood and excrement mixing together. A nauseating looking mass of bile and partially digested food was situated not far from the deer, hinting that the thing had begun to move before collapsing and expiring where I found it. Blood was visibly pouring out of two thin bite-wounds barely visible on the thing's neck.
I kept approaching the creature, both cautious and excited as I inched closer and closer to it. It was dead, no doubt about it, but I still kept my approach slow and calm, or at least as calm as I could.
When I was a few meters away from it, I stretched out my hand in its direction. I took a deep breath, and then I cast my "Create Undead" spell, focused on and aimed at the deer. A visible line of darkness shot out of my hand and flew until it collided with and then sunk into the corpse of the deer. When it did, I received a notification that was politely asking me a question.
| Alert: You have successfully cast the 'Create Undead' spell on an applicable target for the first time. You may reanimate the targeted corpse as a skeleton, a ghoul, or a zombie. Which would you like to resurrect it as? |
I thought for a second as to which would be the best choice here. I genuinely considered how to approach this particular situation. But the choice was simple. I didn't want to create something intelligent. Not just yet anyway. And I needed its flesh anyway. I informed the system that I was going to transform the corpse into a zombie.
As soon as I did the deer's body began to convulse. I watched as the thing began to stagger to unlife, but the first part of that was watching on in uncomfortable silence as the deer appeared to undergo a violent seizure.
As it began to shake off the violent throes of the seizure it was in, I received a new notification. One that brought a delighted smile to my face.
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Multipart alert: You have successfully reanimated one out of the three corpses needed for you to have upheld your end of the bargain with the system. You have also gained the interest of the subdomain of necromancy. To that end, the subdomain is offering you the quest it wishes for you to complete to prove you are deserving of being granted the lowest tier of influence over it. The quest's objectives are simple: reanimate ten different kinds of creatures. Upon doing so, you will gain the first tier of influence over the subdomain of necromancy. A special note about the quests to gain the first tiers of influence over domains and subdomains before we continue: These quests are meant to be simple. Domains and subdomains want you to become an all-powerful being who has mastered all of your powers. These quests exist to teach you about your powers, not to stand in the way of your progress. That said, quests beyond the first tier of influence over a domain or subdomain are not so basic. Keep that in mind moving forward. You are now a level 1 necromancer. As a level 1 necromancer, you can reanimate more sorts of dead things, in your case, you can now reanimate plants that have died. This expands the sorts of undead beings you can create, as plantlife doesn't reanimate into zombies, skeletons, or ghouls. As a level 1 necromancer, you can also directly channel the sinister energy that reanimates corpses. Such energy is toxic to living creatures and if they are hit by it they suffer for it. You can also absorb the lifeforce of others, weakening them and sapping their strength. More details about this class will be revealed to you when you next open up your grimoire. |
The notification vanished when I finished reading it. As I finished reading it I felt a strange and sudden surge of power flow into me. I knew via context that this was most likely my body immediately acquiring the power I was informed I was just given. It was an exciting sensation and caused me to close my eyes and sigh with a smile on my face.
When I opened my eyes I laid them on my reanimated deer companion. While I was reading the lengthy notification the thing had the time to fully complete its reanimation and it now stood, both awe-inspiringly and terrifyingly in front of me.
I studied it with an admiring gaze, examining the thing now that it stood before me.
I like that healing doesn’t have a negative effect on undead in this I always found that irritating, after all if something’s undead why would fixing and improving its body be bad?
Normally it’s because healing works on the basis of good and light hence why healers are commonly seen in priestly clothing and light magic going into the dead would just damage the dead tissue after being contaminated by dark energy
Note: So long as the corpse hasn't been dead for longer than a day, you can channel healing energy directly into it to cause the skin and flesh on it to regrow and thus increase its suitability to becoming more fleshy forms of undead.
I could see this becoming useful if the MC does classic adventuring, as he could kill monsters in the most gruesome way and still regenerate their corpses to sell their byproducts in near perfect condition
This MC is just another boring goody goody. It seems like everyone writes this type of over the top good guy MC.
The system needs to get their ass beat