Beginning- 'Lord of The Castle'
Arin was lost in processing all the information he had collected so far. The screams and cries for mercy were not distracting; rather, they actually helped him focus, as he was used to such sounds in his past life. Human life did not mean much to him anyway.
He made a mental note of every unique or noteworthy thing he had discovered about this new world so far:
1. He was in a world where magic existed.
2. Gods were present and seemed to be highly active.
3. This world appeared to have a game-like system and progression. The detailed functionality and rules were yet to be understood by him.
4. He could access his system window with mental commands, but spell casting required vocal commands. It was not just a simple utterance but a more complex process.
5. Every enemy kill awarded him +10 Exp, and a bonus +5 Exp if the enemy was of a higher level.
However, he couldn't understand how he could so easily kill an enemy of a higher level than himself. The only plausible explanation he could come up with was that his stats were higher than his enemy's. However, this did not make complete sense unless his special permanent status as 'Champion' or his profession as 'Champion of Nerthazir' was giving him a significant stat boost over others. He realized he needed to find out more about these two statuses. He tried to access information about them with mental commands, but each attempt resulted in failure, as if something was preventing him from accessing the data.
He also did not know whether there were other humanoid fantasy creatures besides humans. The revenants, in their rage and great hatred, had mutilated the five necromancers beyond recognition. Arin was unsure whether this viciousness was natural for revenants, was channeled into them from him—the one who had raised them from death to undeath—or was the result of their deeply buried hatred retained at the moment of their death.
Arin's chain of thought got broken with appearance of new status windows-
[You have killed five enemies. You have been awarded +50 exp]
[You have killed five enemies of level higher than you. You have been awarded bonus +25exp]
[You have killed four Humans. Kill forty-six more to unlock title ??????????]
[You have killed two Half-Elves. Kill forty-eight more to unlock title ??????????]
[You have killed six Necromancers. Kill forty-four more to unlock title ??????????]
[You have killed five enemies with your minions. Kill forty-five more to unlock title ??????????]
"What? There were two half-elves among them? So, there are non-human intelligent species as well?" Arin exclaimed in surprise. "And what are these Titles? Why are they not visible? Maybe I'll only be able to see them after achieving these milestones," he pondered aloud. He also realized his 'Champion' status or 'Champion of Nerthazir' profession was not being displayed for similar reasons. He must have to unlock some secret traits to learn about them, which excited him.
He stood up and saw the revenants standing still, looking at him as if awaiting further commands. He noticed that the gore splattered on their naked bodies was being absorbed into their skin.
"Can you speak?" Arin asked them.
"Gwah... gwa... gg..." one of them tried to reply. Arin couldn't decide whether they were actually trying to speak but couldn't, or if they were not intelligent enough to form articulate replies. They all looked relatively alike, with just slight differences in height. Arin had seen many corpses in his past life, but these walking corpses were a bit unsettling for him. Then he remembered his own status—he himself was undead, one among them. It would be hypocritical to judge them by their looks. There seemed to be two males and two females. Arin wasn't sure whether they were related or not, as there was no way to determine that right now.
"Enough loitering," Arin told himself, deciding to move out of the mausoleum. Before leaving, he considered raising the six necromancers he had killed. But the corpses appeared so mutilated that he dropped the idea, afraid of raising something too grotesque or mangled to keep around. However, he felt there was something strange about those bodies. Something was with them that he couldn't observe, yet he couldn't shake the feeling either.
Suddenly, a notification window appeared:
[Congratulations on unlocking new skill 'Scrying'. Level 'Novice'.] ['Scrying' skill progression 3/50]
"What type of skill is this?" Arin wondered. To his amazement, he could now see faint bluish glowing balls of light hovering over the six dead bodies. He tried to look more carefully, but no more notification windows popped up this time. Arin realized whatever those were, his 'Scrying' skill was not advanced enough to recognize them. Out of curiosity, he tried touching a ball of light, but nothing happened.
Unconsciously, he said, "Rise," and to his surprise, he saw the spheres suddenly bend in shape, flicker, and then return to their original spherical form. Arin concocted a theory—that these balls had reacted to his command, but the command wasn't effective enough. He recalled his past intentional and unintentional attempts to cast spells. After a bit of pondering, he felt he had made a breakthrough. Following up on it, he issued the command "RISE" to the hovering bluish spheres, but this time he put more emotion and a commanding attitude behind it. To his surprise, he witnessed the six balls of light taking the shapes of six incorporeal skeletal figures.
[ You have successfully raised six Specters ]
['Raise Dead' skill progression 18/150]
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| Specter |
| Race: Undead |
|Tier-III |
| Level: 1 |
| Owner: Arin Drez |
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| Strength: 12 |
|Agility: 30 |
|Magicka: 48 |
|Wisdom: 30 |
|HP: 132 |
|MP: 108 |
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| Resistance: |
| Blade 99% | Blunt 99% | Piercing 99% |
| Fire 0% | Water 50% | Earth 90% |
| Light -95% | Dark 90% | Mental 85% |
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| Status: |
| Undead (Permanent) |
| Incorporeal (Permanent) |
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| Ability: |
| Life Drain – physical attack drains a portion of vitality from the target |
| Incorporeal – provides invisibility, ability to pass through physical objects |
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Arin was elated with joy and excitement. However, beneath this exhilaration lurked a grave concern. The God of Death had dispatched him to a mystical land teeming with mystery, magic, and unknown dangers. Although he had been blessed with exceptional powers, he knew little about them. The 'trial and error' way of learning was proving to be a slow process, and this slow pace would eventually put him at a significant disadvantage, especially when encountering enemies who were true experts. Yet, he had no other choice but to keep trying his skills, honing them, learning more about them, and seizing every opportunity to grow.
He turned his attention to the specters. He did not sense any hostility from them, despite the fact that he had killed them just a while ago.
"Follow me," he commanded his minions, deciding to explore the entire building before venturing outside. With his entourage of four revenants and six specters, he began his exploration. At first, Arin had assumed that the building was a mausoleum. However, he soon discovered that it was much more. The room where he was resurrected was spacious, making him believe it was the central area of the building. However, stepping outside revealed that it was rather small. They walked through an alley with various rooms on both sides. Some rooms were closed, others had no doors, and some had floors that had caved in. Arin wanted to search each room, but first, he needed to find a way out of the building.
After exploring for a while, they came across a grand hall. To his surprise and excitement, Arin discovered that its architecture resembled a royal court. He concluded that he was now standing in the ruins of an old castle or palace. Arin felt like he had hit the jackpot. He had found a base of operations from which he could start his activities. But first, he needed to survey the entire castle to understand its structure. Additionally, since humans had infiltrated the castle's inner chamber and performed a ritual with five corpses, it meant that this castle was not completely cut off from civilization.
Arin decided on his immediate objectives: survey the entire castle before claiming it for himself, discover any clues or objects that could empower him, gain a better understanding of his powers, and understand the world he was now part of. His primary focus had to be finding books, tomes, or better yet, an entire library. He commanded the specters, "Search the castle and find a library. As soon as you find one, come to me and guide me there." With this command, he began surveying the castle himself, accompanied by the four revenants.