Tybalt and the others quickly identified, commandeered, and then withdrew to the Mayor’s house as the remainder of his forces moved throughout the town, taking control and seizing anything of value.

The necromancer took a seat, pulled up his status, and considered how much to say.

Tybalt

Defiant Necromancer Lv. 31 (120/320 EXP); Pestilence Mage Lv. 33 (20/340 EXP)

Health: 281/281

Mana: 355/355

Stamina: 636/636

Strength: 101

Agility: 95

Constitution: 163

Fortitude: 196 (236)

Will: 197 (237)

Skills: Bonebreaker, Breath of Decay, Chthonic Consecration, Corruption, Fleshcraft, Generate Ailment, Generate Undead, Life Sense, Minor Pestilence Resistance, Ratcatcher, Scrimshaw, Targeted Attribute, Undead Repair, Undead Storage, Undying Attribute

Titles: Progenitor of the Infectious Undead (+20% Will; +20% Fortitude)

Should I mention the specific levels? Yeah, why not, they’d figure it out. Dero is too experienced not to grasp that much, and I don’t want to hide things from Mariella anymore.

“So, I passed level thirty in both classes,” Tybalt said, trying not to sound like his head had swollen too much at the achievement.

Mariella pumped her fist, while Dero nodded appreciatively. Both of them looked at each other, exchanging a knowing look, while Victoria and Vidalia shared a smile with a tinge of confusion - they were both so much lower level that they didn’t grasp the significance - and Kistana had little reaction at all.

“You had two classes, then,” Dero said. “That explains some questions that I had before I found out you were High Priest of Mudo and stopped trying to make you make sense.”

Oh, right. I guess I had never gotten around to telling her about my specific classes. I don’t know hers either. Just that it has something to do with spatial manipulation.

“I assumed you were somewhere around the thirties,” Kistana said. “Congratulations, my lord!”

From her tone, Tybalt guessed she was already somewhere around level thirty herself. Maybe higher. Because of course she was. That was far beyond the peak of what most normal people reached in their lifetimes, but naturally, it was probably just an acceptable level of performance to Kistana.

Hey, didn’t I tell her to just call me Tybalt at some point? After she saved my life? When did that revert back? He resolved to bring it up with her later, when they were alone.

“I’m guessing you’re hitting the wall now?” Mariella asked.

That was the true significance of the thirties.

The necromancer nodded. “Experience and levels are starting to hit more slowly. I rushed through the last of the twenties with everything that’s been happening, but both classes are hitting resistance now.”

“Welcome to the rest of your life,” Dero said with a little smirk. “Overcoming resistance. But we can talk about that later, I imagine. You wanted some advice about skills?”

“That’s right.”

Tybalt tried not to focus on what reactions he’d wanted to elicit. It was fine that none of them were all that impressed… even if, perhaps, that was what he had expected. It just meant that they understood what he was capable of.

He opened his list of prospective skills and began to describe what he had.

Skills available: Bone Puppetry Hallucinogenic Attribute Imbue Intelligence Injection Touch Magic Sense Moderate Regeneration Mystic Blast Nekya Divination Osteomancy Parasite Cultivation Parasitic Relationship Pathogenic Persecution Pathology Purge Perfect Possession* Pestilence Cultivation Pestilence Immunity Rot Touch Soul Bind Undead Summoning Undeath Drain Undeath Ritual Undying Transformation Zoonosis Attribute

Bone Puppetry: Infuse your mana into bone, within or without your body or those of other creatures. Use your power to manipulate and move those bones for purposes of your choosing. Does not require physical touch. Consumes mana.

Hallucinogenic Attribute: Without consuming any additional resources, you may augment any pestilence or parasite you craft or acquire with the attribute of causing hallucinations in the infected.

Imbue Intelligence: Endow your creations with basic intelligence or increased intelligence. Results may vary. The quantity and quality of intelligence may increase with repeated applications to the same subject. Intelligence endowed may not significantly exceed the user’s. Consumes mana.

Injection Touch: Directly infect a target with a pestilence you have crafted using a touch. Requires physical contact between your flesh and the target’s flesh. Consumes mana.

Magic Sense: Enhance your capacity to sense and analyze mana and magical properties using all of your senses, plus some senses you may not yet have access to.

Moderate Regeneration: Boost your natural healing capacity a bit beyond the limits of the natural, permitting regeneration of whole limbs, recovery from severe ailments, and allowing for you to survive some wounds that would normally be fatal. Consumes mana and stamina when you are wounded or ill.

Mystic Blast: Create balls of your condensed aura to damage targets. Properties of the attack depend on the nature of the caster’s aura and intent. Consumes mana.

Nekya Divination: Call up spirits, either nature spirits or those of the departed, to consult them. Permits direct verbal communication with those entities willing to commune with you. Users gain the permanent ability to sense spirits as if they were ordinary living beings. Consumes mana.

Osteomancy: Divine information about past, present, or future through bones infused with your aura. The bones channel the spirits of the departed to obtain their hidden knowledge. Clarity and accuracy of information divined depends on how you select and prepare the bones used and the quality of spirits present. Consumes mana.

Parasite Cultivation: Gather parasitic life forms to yourself, storing them in or around your body and sustaining them on a diet of your mana until you are ready to use them. With focused effort, you can imbue the parasites with customized traits of your choosing or concentrate their potency. Consumes mana.

Parasitic Relationship: Create a deep aura bond with a parasite, permitting it to feed you mana, stamina, and health from a host. Forming the bond consumes mana and stamina. Maintaining the bond does not. Receiving energies from a host requires physical proximity.

Pathogenic Persecution: Selectively worsen or broaden the symptoms of an infection within a targeted host or hosts. Continuously consumes mana in proportion to the desired effects.

Pathology Purge: Remotely manipulate your bacterial or viral particles within an infected host’s body to provoke a powerful immune response. Causes a dramatic spike in fever and other disease symptoms while likely purging your pathogen from the host’s body. Does not require physical proximity. Consumes mana.

Perfect Possession: Draw upon your relationship with Death God Mudo, calling down a fragment of your patron to temporarily take possession of your body, using the Death God’s powers to achieve his ends directly. While possessed by the God of Death, it is virtually impossible for external enemies to kill you. Duration depends on your body and mind’s capacity to endure the Death God’s energies. Consumes mana and stamina in proportion to effects achieved. May consume health, depending on your body’s capacity to endure possession. You cannot gain experience or acquire new skills while possessed by Death God Mudo. Consumes one class level per usage.

As with Unholy - now Chthonic - Consecration before it, Perfect Possession had an asterisk by it, which led to a message.

*This skill is unique to you and cannot be taught to anyone.

Pestilence Cultivation: Create or acquire pestilences, storing them in or around your body and sustaining them on a diet of your mana until you are ready to use them. With focused effort, you can imbue the pestilences with customized traits of your choosing or concentrate their potency. Consumes mana.

Pestilence Immunity: Complete immunity to all forms of disease-causing pathogens.

Rot Touch: Apply concentrated undeath mana as an offensive weapon, forcefully injecting it into the body and destroying flesh in proximity to your aura. Consumes mana.

Soul Bind: Infuse your mana into the soul of a target, seizing control of it and manipulating it for either creative or destructive purposes, including attaching a soul to an item or simply removing it from the body. Does not require physical touch. Consumes mana.

Undead Summoning: Use your unique connection to the undead to draw them to your location, summoning them through space to your location or to a location marked with a mystic rune. Consumes mana in proportion to distance traversed and the power of the undead summoned.

Undeath Drain: Use your unique connection to the undead to drain their energies, taking back what the spark of reanimation that you gave them plus anything they possessed in addition to that. Restores health, mana, and stamina by the amount lost by the undead. Requires physical proximity. Fully draining an undead of its energy permanently destroys it.

Undeath Ritual: Perform a ritual that permits you to create superior undead to your normal results at a higher rate of efficacy than usual. Consumes mana and requires more time than Generate Undead. May require additional inputs.

Undying Transformation: Transform temporarily into an undead of your choice, shortcutting normal requirements for the selected creature type. Return to full health and fully intact pre-transformation condition following the transformation. Consumes mana and stamina dependent on the type of undead selected. Consumes one class level per usage.

Zoonosis Attribute: Without consuming any additional resources, you may augment any pestilence or parasite you craft or acquire with the attribute of being transmissible between humans and animals, back and forth.

“How many skill selections do you still have?” Dero asked immediately as soon as Tybalt was done explaining. He could hear a surprising amount of genuine excitement in her voice.

“Four,” he said.

“Fuck, yes!” She smiled, shook her head, and took a couple of deep breaths. “All right, I just - it’s been a while since I had the opportunity to adjust my own skills through any method other than sheer bullheaded training. You… You have some good options there. I have opinions. First, though, tell us where your head’s at.”

“Well, the most valuable prospective skills I’m choosing between are Undying Transformation and Perfect Possession,” Tybalt said. “Those will change my capabilities in a fundamental way, so I won’t be restricted to back line support if we’re in real trouble. I can see good arguments for either one. But I think that they’re both last resort moves, and having both might be redundant.”

“Perfect Possession feels right to me,” Victoria said. She reached out and took Tybalt’s hand in both of hers. “I mean, you were chosen by our god to wield phenomenal powers. You’ve already felt what it’s like when Lord Mudo’s presence flows through you with your consecration skill. The fact that he picked you wasn’t an accident. You… There’s no one but you who can bring his wrath down upon our enemies.” She squeezed and caressed his hand as she spoke, but didn’t make eye contact. Her cheeks were slightly pink, as though what little she’d said was embarrassing for her.

Dero looked like she wanted to make fun of Victoria, but she seemed to hold it in somehow and focused on Tybalt instead.

“I appreciate that the Death God finally has a champion worthy of the title,” the dark elf said slowly, laying her lavender hand on the necromancer’s shoulder and looking him squarely in the eyes. “But I don’t think he chose you so that you could lean on him. He’s giving you that choice, yes. That’s not the same as saying it’s a wise choice. As much as I trust and respect Lord Mudo, you’re already a necromancer. Relying on others is most of what you have to do as a mage. Wouldn’t you rather have an option that lets you fight for yourself? At least, that’s the way I see it. I’d pick Undying Transformation.”

Tybalt nodded. “I think I agree with Dero. Maybe I’ll feel more comfortable with giving over my body to something outside myself in the future, but I like being in control. A lot. Plus, I lose a level using either one of these skills, but I can still gain experience if I’m using Undying Transformation, so maybe I can win the level back.” He looked to see Victoria’s reaction, but she just shrugged, her expression content.

“You two know more than me, so if you agree, it’s probably the right decision.”

“The system only gives you skills you’re ready for, which means you can at least handle either one,” Mariella said. “I think the power of a god is better than turning into a musty undead, honestly. But I know the loss of control is a big deal.”

For you, went unspoken.

“As for the next skill?” Vidalia asked quietly.

“Maybe Moderate Regeneration or Magic Sense?” Tybalt said. “I saw a bunch of skills that I’m pretty sure I could use, but those are strong utility options. I’d be able to heal more quickly from injuries, maybe including continuing to fight with serious wounds, or alternatively, I’d be better for magical duels.

“Magic Sense is the first step toward gaining a strong skill I’ve heard of that might be called Skill Analysis or Magical Analysis,” said Dero approvingly. “I tried to get it myself for a while, but I’ve let my magic studies slip a bit the last half-century or so.”

“I think you should take both,” said Mariella. “You have a tendency to get hurt, and you’re far too brave for your own good.”

The dark elf rolled her eyes at that but didn’t disagree.

“You won’t need regeneration, because I won’t allow you to be injured, my lord,” Kistana said pridefully.

She looked at Tybalt, and he heard, almost like telepathy, the unspoken, I’ve never allowed you to come to any harm while I was by your side. A memory sprang to mind: Kistana standing over him, protecting him from falling rocks until one caved in her side.

He forced himself to resist the urge to reach over and pet her on the head. She had shown she was willing to risk her life for him, but she was an employee, not one of his women. That was a line he couldn’t just casually cross.

“What about Soul Bind or Bone Puppetry or Rot Touch or Mystic Blast?” Victoria asked. “You don’t seem like you have a lot of offensive options besides the Undying Transformation that you specifically only wanted as a last resort.”

“Definitely don’t choose Mystic Blast,” the dark elf said with a note of contempt in her voice. “You’ll figure that out. As soon as you get into a proper mage fight, you’ll figure it out. Kind of embarrassing that one of my students hasn’t, actually. It’s just a concentrated burst of mana.”

“Well, I’ve been a bit busy - wait a minute!” Tybalt let out a short chuckle. “Student? You haven’t taught me a damn thing!”

“Well, if you choose Magic Sense, it might actually be worth my time! You’d definitely be able to learn skills like Teleport from me if you had that.”

“I think that’s pretty decisive,” Mariella said quietly.

The necromancer nodded. “Teleport is an amazing skill that would make Magic Sense absolutely worth it. If you’re serious.”

“Yeah. Whenever you have a few days to practice instead of creating more undead.”

“All right, so that’s two skills accounted for,” Vidalia said quietly. “Maybe you should pick Undeath Drain for the third one instead of Moderate Regeneration. You have lots of undead around to drain, and unlike Moderate Regeneration, you said Undeath Drain restores mana and stamina. If you’re in the middle of a fight where you personally have to worry about your physical condition, a lot of those zombies will probably look a lot like dead weight.”

“You’re right,” Tybalt said. “But I can basically already do that. I figured out how to pull on the, um, thread that holds the undead together a while back, from fixing Baldwin.”

“Is this like how you’re able to learn Mystic Blast anytime you want, you just haven’t bothered?” Victoria asked. “It might be worth making the effort to practice these if you’re planning to rely on them and not take the skill, right?”

Dero snorted, and though Victoria’s expression was serious, Mariella and Vidalia looked like they wanted to laugh.

The necromancer sent a quick telepathic message.

“Zombie number forty-three, come in here. I need an example.”