Samael stared down at the gore filled floor of the forest beneath him. Bits of his old dog were scattered everywhere in variously sized chunks, and the fallen body of the pack leader lay slightly to the side, vicious red scores marking its once glossy coat. His new reanimation padded back to stand in the center of it all, still as a statue.

Thankfully, although the surroundings looked horrendous, it hadn’t started to smell bad yet. Looking at his messages, Samael was reluctant to wait and immediately thought ‘Yes’ to the notification asking him if he would like to rank up his {Reanimate Dead} Skill.

Congratulations!

Your {Reanimate Dead} Skill is now Rank 2

Choose one of the below skill enhancements:

· Reanimation mana cost reduced by half

· Reanimate an additional corpse

· Increase all attributes of reanimations by 1

‘Well that is interesting.’ Samael thought, ‘Reducing the mana cost would lower my potential downtime where I have to break the connection to recharge. If those wolves came at me at the wrong time I would have been done for.

‘Having more bodies to throw at potential enemies would be nice, however If I have mana problems now it would be crippling maintaining two connections with no discount. The last one improves all attributes of reanimations? Plural? That could be incredible, but only if I have more corpses to apply it to first.’

Coming to the conclusion that having a reduced cost was his best option for now, Samael chose it and instantly felt a change to the connection between him and his current reanimation. It was still there, just as thick and strong as when connected to the dog, however the mana cost had significantly diminished.

After spending essence to rank up his skill, Samael was pleased to find that he apparently still had enough essence to level his class. In addition, another notification had popped up letting him know that he could also rank up his skill again.

Congratulations!

You have gained enough essence to level up your class [Necromancer Lvl 2]

Level Class? Yes/No

Congratulations!

You have gained enough essence to rank up your skill {Reanimate Dead} Rank 2

Rank Skill? Yes/No

As the benefit of leveling his class seemed to be only one extra stat point, Samael barely hesitated before deciding to rank his {Reanimate Dead} skill up once more.

Skill rank cannot exceed class level. Increase class level to unlock rank up.

‘Well that’s a kick in the teeth’ Samael complained to himself. ‘Why give me the option in the first place?’

With a skill rank up denied to him and no cause to hoard his essence, Samael chose to spend what he had on his class. At the minimum it would allow him to further rank up his skill when he gathered enough essence, and there was the chance that he might be able to learn a new class skill.

Congratulations!

You are now a [Necromancer Lvl 3]

You have been awarded a free stat point.

‘Nope to a new skill’ Samael thought disappointingly, ‘just the additional stat point, same as before.’ He had still not spent the other two from his previous levels. Hanging onto them and not allocating them was starting to feel wasteful. He had planned on waiting until he could better decide on where to spend them, being almost torn apart caused him to re-evaluate, as a bad decision might be better than no decision at this point.

Wanting to double down on improving his mana, Samael put one of the stat points into intelligence to increase his overall capacity. The other two were assigned to his wisdom stat, to improve his mana regeneration. After the changes, Samael felt a shiver run down his spine, but that was it. He could still feel the mana getting drawn out of him through the connection, the drain had not changed at all and it was hard to tell if his mana pool was diminishing any slower. Samael chose to hope it was.

“Status!”

Status Name: Samael Race: Human Class: Necromancer Level: 3 Title - Stats: Strength 6 Intelligence 16 Agility 9 Wisdom 17 Endurance 8 Willpower 12 Constitution 6 Perception 9 Free Points 1 Karma -110 Skills {Instinctual Interface} Rank: #N/A {Common Tongue} Rank: #N/A {Karmic Meter} Rank: #N/A {Reanimate Dead} Rank: 2

‘At least I’ve made a bit of progress’ Samael thought, though he felt it was difficult to feel too pleased with himself. He was after all still hiding up a tree.

After not seeing, or hearing any dangers, Samael climbed down and stood next to his new reanimation. It had a couple of scratches down its flank and what was left of its neck was rather unpleasant to look at, however apart from these injuries it was rather undamaged. Walking over to the alpha wolf, Samael knelt next to it and looked it over. There were more scratches and marks over its body, it had been fighting the dog from before its pack showed up, however the neck wound was a bit smaller and the neck itself was much less missing. It was also much bigger than his current reanimation.

Standing up and facing the pack leader, Samael’s arms started moving to touch the green ethereal runes, as he activated {Reanimate Dead} once more. When the green bolt of light hit the alpha wolf, the corpse behind him slumped down as a new connection was forged. It felt stronger, more powerful, than the previous one. Not drastically so, but a certain step up in mana cost at least. Not enough to offset the massive gains his skill rank up gave him however.

Commanding the wolf to stand, he put it through several movements to test there was no excessive damage to the body. Finding none, Samael instructed it to patrol the area and protect him whilst he turned his attention to the body of the other wolf and the mess of the dog on the floor.

If this was a game there would be a sparkling halo around both remains, and when he interacted with it, he would be able to pick up some loot. The corpses on the ground were most definitely not sparkly, but Samael still wanted to get something for his troubles. The dog was a lost cause. It was spread out all over the place in the dirt, there was also a slight smell now that Samael was closer. Enough to let him know of something very un-fresh nearby.

The wolf on the other hand, despite the scratches and blood stains, still had a rather warm looking pelt. There was also potentially meat to be found underneath it all. ‘How to get it…’ Samael asked himself. He had no skinning knife to cut it off, and so his eyes looked around for inspiration. They fell on the pointy end of a bone, one of the dog’s which had been snapped off above the creatures paw.

Wanting the fur more than the distaste for what he was about to do, Samael reached down and picked up the detached paw. “Focus, don’t think about it.” Samael said to himself as he knelt down next to the body of the wolf.

“It’s dead, it can’t feel anything. Focus” Samael mumbled to himself out loud, as he grabbed the head with one hand. With the bone he began to stab at the fur in measured amounts around the remnants of the neck, piercing the fur and flinching with every thrust. Moving on to the creatures front, he kept stabbing, slashing and hacking away, trying to improvise in a task he had no real clue how to do properly.

With hands getting progressively bloodier and a tool getting more and more blunt, Samael finally ripped and tore off the coat from the mass of muscle and bone beneath. Despite his higher than average base willpower, there was more than one moment where Samael had to stop to gag at what he was doing. “So much easier seeing someone else do it.” He said to himself.

It was late in the afternoon by the time Samael had finished his butchery and there was still enough sunlight for him to hold up and examine his pelt. It was uneven and rough at the edges, a tear in the middle left a sizeable hole and although the furry bit was nice and soft, the other side was wet and unpleasant to touch.

‘I should probably hang this up to dry’ Samael thought. Deciding that any meat from the wolf would have to be eaten once cooked, and lacking the ability to make fire at this time, Samael left the rest of the corpse for nature to take care of, and began to head back towards the river. As he walked, his new and much larger re-animation padded around him, keeping an eye out for any threats to its new master.

*

Samael spent the next few days wandering slowly up the river. He had fallen into a routine of catching fish in the morning for breakfast, exploring up the river until he found a good spot to rest, then catching some more fish for his evening meal. The alpha wolf that he had reanimated guarded him at night as he slept, then spent an hour or two in the morning fully dead so that Samael could regain his mana.

The rank up to his skill had drastically reduced the downtime where he had to wait without a guardian. Never the less, that hour or two were still rather nerve racking for Samael and he decided that when he next ranked up his {Reanimate Dead} skill, he would reduce the mana cost again if he could. The other two options were so useful, but if he was attacked in that small window where he was vulnerable he was screwed.

The pelt he had recovered from the other wolf had dried fairly well and Samael was comfortably using it as a blanket for when he rested. When he was trekking about it became a make shift poncho, only requiring the hole in the middle to be widened slightly. There was a slight funky smell that came off the pelt, leading Samael to think he might have missed a few steps when he made it, though overall he was quite happy.

Samael stroked the outside of his poncho as he stepped along a small path he had found, when wandering around in the woods near the river. He was on the lookout for any kind of permanent shelter when he had stumbled across the small woodland path, most likely used by animals wanting a drink from the river. Until he found some way to make fire, Samael had decided against killing any of the larger animals for food. If he couldn’t cook it, he couldn’t eat it and eating the raw fish he was currently doing was enough cause for worry.

Samael brushed aside a branch and had to stop suddenly. In front of him was an object quite out of place among the greenery and foliage around him. A tent. It was made of dirty white canvas and had a triangular flap facing Samael that was currently closed. In front of the tent were the blackened remains of a campfire surrounded by a mess of objects strewn about the site ranging from snapped tools and torn fabric to many pieces of broken bone

The tattered remains of another tent lay beside the first, flattened and trampled into the dirt it had been pitched upon. Samael crouched down after a moment of taking in the scene. With a mental nudge, the wolf which had been padding along beside him darted around the camp, commanded to attack any beast or creature it found. The wolf circled the camp several times and Samael could tell there was nothing to be found, based on its lack of a reaction.

Eyeing the tent, Samael commanded the wolf to stand in front of its entrance. Once he had the mass of muscle and teeth between him and any potential danger, Samael walked into the camp, stepping over the detritus until he stood behind the wolf.

“Hello?” Samael called out. “Is anyone there?”

Silence.

“I’m coming in.” Samael said loudly, and by ‘him’ he meant his protector, sending the wolf forwards to nudge the entrance. Poking through the tent flaps with its muzzle, Samael saw the wolf look inside. ‘If anyone is in there… erm howl’ Samael commanded.

From the tent, a strange noise emerged as the wind from the wolf’s lungs rushed straight through the wound in its neck.

‘Holy shit!’ Samael thought, his eyes going wide. ‘Someone is in there!’

“Come out with your hands up!” Samael called out.

There was no movement or sound from the tent, except the whistle of air escaping through his guardian’s neck. ‘Stop making a noise’ Samael commanded. The sounds from the tent ceased and Samael stepped closer until he was right behind the wolf. Reaching out he grabbed one of the flaps, then lifted it up quickly while partly ducking behind his guardian. No one jumped out at him, Samael couldn’t even see anyone.

Rising up, Samael glanced around the tent and his eyes were drawn to a figure lying on its side on the bare uncovered ground beneath the canvas. The figure was covered in brown leather, which might have been armor at one point, however it now appeared as a tattered mess. The figure was covered in wounds and it was hard to tell in some places where the flesh ended and the leather began.

‘Inspect!’

Jason Brevenworth

Prospector Lvl 14

‘Is he alive?’ Samael wondered. “Hello?” he said loudly to no reaction. The man’s feet was near the entrance of the tent. With one of his own feet, Samael kicked the man hard in the shin.

A feeble groan emerged for the far side. The man’s body shifted slightly, but he uttered no words and stopped moving after a moment. ‘Definitely alive’ Samael stated to himself. Stepping into the tent Samael crouched down next to the figure and started shaking his shoulder. “Come on man, wake up.”

From inside the tent, Samael could see the wounds much more clearly, not only that he could smell them, as the stench of rot permeated the trapped air. At the man’s front, Samael could see a hand pressed firmly against the stomach region, held despite the seeming lack of consciousness. In the man’s other hand, it gripped a very stained and soiled object that looked very much like a sword.

‘Better not still have a hold of that when you wake up’ Samael thought and began to prise it from the man’s grasp. The fingers began to give, before they suddenly tightened. The sword swept upwards from where it lay on the ground and traced a path towards Samael’s head. Quickly ducking down, Samael gripped the man’s sword hand, stopping it pivoting towards him. Despite his lack of strength, the man was so weak Samael found it quite easy to do so.

Looking upwards Samael saw a pair of wild and frightened eyes staring at him. Below those eyes, the man was breathing raggedly through a pair of clenched teeth.

“Who… are you…” The man managed to utter between breaths.

“My name is Samael, I just stumbled across your camp… or what’s left of it.” Samael added “What happened here?”

“Goblins.” The man uttered, before Samael felt the pressure against his hand stop, causing the sword to fall back to the ground.

‘Did he just say goblins?’

“Did you just say goblins?” Samael repeated his thoughts.

“Attacked… Me and my team… mountains. Do you have a healing potion?” The man asked, looking with hope at Samael.

“Sorry, no.” Samael said apologetically, looking at the man with concern. “Can you walk? I can try and get you to the city?”

The man seemed to smile. “I don’t think I can.” He said, wincing as he looked down at his stomach, loosening his hand slightly and causing the smell of rot to intensify. Through the gaps between the fingers, Samael saw that a large slice had cut through the leather armor and into the man’s stomach. The hand was needed to stop his insides from becoming his outsides. The sight and smell caused Samael to dry heave.

Jason seemed to take this in good stride and chuckled morbidly, though doing so seemed to cause him quite a bit of pain. “I’m so sorry.” Samael exclaimed once he recovered. “I don’t know what to do to help.”

“Not a healer are you?” The man asked, before staring intently at Samael. His eyes widened before uttering a single word with fear “Necromancer…”

“Yea, not very popular in these parts.” Samael said awkwardly, not knowing how to apologize for his class.

“You want to help? You don’t turn me into one of your puppets!” Jason said loudly. With hidden strength, the man released the hold on his sword and grabbed the pelt around Samael’s neck, pulling him down. “You swear right now that you won’t!”

“I swear, I swear!” Samael said, not in fear of the man, but in fear the man might hurt himself if he didn’t calm down. Releasing the pelt, Jason’s hand dropped down to his side, his breathing increased as though he had just finished a race. Samael said nothing for a few minutes, waiting for the man’s breath to stabilize.

“What happened to the goblins?” Samael asked when he judged it was safe to do so.

“Ran off back to their camp probably… we stumbled into them, Fletcher and Calvin went down before we knew what was happening. Three of us got back here, but they followed…

“Fought them and escaped into the woods, killed those that followed me and hid. When I made it back here they were all gone, as well as the bodies… The potions we brought with us smashed or stolen. No healing…”

Jason stopped talking and they both remained silent for several moments. Samael was unsure what to say, there was nothing to be done.

“I’m a dead man aren’t I?”

Samael chose not to answer, with the stench of rot surrounding them they both knew the answer. Any attempt to deny the truth and offer false comfort would sound hollow the moment it left Samael’s lips.

“I want you to do it.” Jason said suddenly.

“What?” Samael exclaimed, already knowing what the man meant. “I can’t do that!”

“Yes you fucking can.” The man growled through his clenched teeth. “I’ve been waiting in this tent to die for over a day. You’re here. There is even essence in it for you. Just give me proper funeral rites and burn my body. That’s all I ask.”

“I can’t kill someone!” Samael said feebly.

“What kind of necromancer are you?!” Jason exclaimed, hissing at the pain.

“I… I can’t make fire.” Samael said looking for an excuse.

“Sparkwand, in my pack.” The man said, gesturing with his head at a backpack nestled in the side of the tent.

“I don’t even know what that is…” Samael said limply.

“Gods above.” Jason exclaimed. “It’s a stick. You put mana in it. It makes sparks.

“We both know I’m dead. You can either come up with more cowardly excuses to let me die in agony over the next day or two, or you can grow a pair of balls to go along with that class of yours and do what needs to be done. What’s it going to be?”

Samael was unsure what to do. Euthanasia sounded like a good option to end needless suffering, but that was when thought of as an intellectual exercise. When he had to do the deed, it seemed different. The man stared intently into Samael’s eyes, conveying his need and begging for his torment to end. Samael nodded, and felt like he made the right decision upon seeing the relief appearing on Jason’s face.

With a mental command, Samael ordered his wolf to step inside the tent. Jason’s eyes snapped over to the beast which suddenly appeared.

“What the fuck is that?” He yelled, squirming and shouting out in pain.

“It’s my reanimation. Stay still, this won’t take long.”

“Use the fucking sword you idiot!” The man shouted. “I don’t want to get fucking mauled to death!”

*

Samael stood outside the tent, a sword was held in his hand with blood dripping from its tip. His wolf prowled around the campsite, keeping an eye out for dangers as Samael eyed the messages in front of him.

Congratulations!

You have killed [Prospector Lvl 14]

Essence Absorbed

Congratulations!

You have gained enough essence to level up your class [Necromancer Lvl 3]

Level Class? Yes/No

Congratulations!

You have gained enough essence to rank up your skill {Reanimate Dead} Rank 2

Rank Skill? Yes/No