Holy Blood 18

Hey Everyone! Merry late Christmas. I hope everyone spent a good time with family or friends, and if you don't celebrate the holiday, at least had a good Wednesday. 

Chapter 18

I was not rested in the slightest when I exited the tent in the morning. Lulu was awake but she was pacing for some reason. Frankly, I didn’t feel like dealing with her. It was already going to be awkward after last night. I walked over to fire and pulled some meat out of my inventory to start making breakfast. 

“Abaddon… I’m… I’m sorry about last night. I think I’m feeling a little lonelier than I expected I would be in this game. I keep resorting to the easiest method to getting over it,” Lulu said as she walked over to me. 

“A method you’re used to?” I asked a bit more harshly than I meant.

She winced. “I had a steady boyfriend before my… case. He left me the moment he found out I was embezzling money. Said he didn’t want to risk jail time as an accomplice,” she said looking at the ground. “Then the woman that the prison barely ever gave me a chance to rest. The guards turned the other way, probably since they knew this was going to happen. I guess… I guess even in this new body, it still remembers. I would be lying if I said it didn’t feel good at times.”

I sighed. Every time this woman talks about her past it seems to get a little darker. I decided I would let this one drop for now. “At least wait until we’re in a safer place. That’s all I ask for now,” I said trying to smooth the matter over. She brightened up immediately and sat next to me as I cooked the meat. I seriously needed to talk to the goddess before I end up with a curse.

The rest of the day passed quickly. Not wanting to risk traveling deeper with our current levels we worked on grinding the monsters near the chasm. It was boring after a while but each fight still took a great deal of effort from all of us to win. I didn’t like it being so close. I could only assume the monsters deeper or at the ruins themselves were even stronger. 

We ended up camping at a clearing next to a cliff side we managed to find during our hunt. When we reached level forty the experience required to level also went up to a new tier. It took us nearly an hour to level now even though the monsters were still giving out good exp. 

“Its our equipment,” Lulu said as we discussed it around the campfire. 

“That’s what I figured. Not something we can really work on out here in the middle fo nowhere,” I said with my chin my hand. 

“Yeah. Normally, you would bring a full party that has an assortment of skills and Jobs. That way you can maintain what equipment you do have, while upgrading or crafting new stuff from the loot,” she explained poking the fire with a stick. 

“Yeah. Maybe it was a bit foolhardy to head out without any perpetration,” I said. Though, hopefully, a few of those problems would be solved with my dark elf quest.

“Do you want to turn back?” Lulu asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No. It might be taking a bit longer than it should to kill monsters, but we are still handling it. Once we reach something we can’t defeat, we’ll retreat if we can,” I said after giving it some thought. We were dealing damage to the monsters. They were dispersed enough we could fight them one on one. For now, we were working well. “It would be nice if you could upgrade your undead. I find it weird you’re level forty-one, but still can’t summon more than one undead.”

“I have been trying to figure it out as well.” She pulled a book from her inventory. It was black with a few red sections. Looking closer, I was sure they were blood stains. A writing I couldn’t grasp was written over the cover and spine. “When I try to learn more skills, it says I’m lacking a requirement. The problem is that its grayed out so I don’t know what it is that I need to do,” she said flipping through the pages.

“Have you tried to actually read the background? Maybe its hidden in the text?” I asked.

“Yeah. Of course. I’ve read this thing nearly cover to cover. The sections that I can anyways.” 

“Strange. Let me guess. Blood, death, and sacrifice?” I asked with a grin.

She gave me a smile but shook her head. “You would think but no. The necromancers of this world are actually more like the caretakers of the dead. We commune and offer rest to those that seek it and it return they offer us aid in battle or our times of need,” Lulu explained.

“That’s actually kind of cool. So, you need to ask a spirit or something to help you?” I asked.

Lulu stared at me with a piece of meat mid-bite. That changed quickly as she chewed it and swallowed. “Of course! I kept thinking in the terms of the necromancers I was familiar with and didn’t actually pay attention to the text of the class I was playing. But how do I do that?” she mumbled to herself as she started flipping through the pages of her book rapidly.

The next hour was a quiet one as Lulu went through her book with occasional mumbles. It was almost like she was possessed as she reread the book. It was well into the night when I heard her shout. “I got it!” There was a crash nearby as something rushed towards us. One of the shadow deer burst through the underbrush and it took us almost five minutes to kill the thing. It got some type of buff from the night.

“Now that, that is over. What do you have?” I asked looking at her with an annoyance.

“I finally got the new skill! Well, part of the skill. I have to talk to the undead and ask them to serve me for a while, then I bind them to a new body, the skeleton, which changes what they are. I can have up to five of these bound servants. Though each one is like a contract, if I break it then they are free to go or in some cases actually retilate against me.”

“I have a feeling there are a few people that are going to be disappointed by the necromancer class,” I said.

“No doubt. Still! Five minions that can retain most of the skills they had while alive. I bet the spirits will be ranked like items. So if I get an Epic or better they will be quite the force to reckon,” she said barely containing her excitement.

“So we need to get you a boss’s spirit?” I asked thinking it through.

“Yeah! If I could convince the boss to serve me and to use its own body during the time, I could essentially tame a boss.”

“Now the question what do you offer them?” I knew the gods existed in this world, but I didn’t know if all the npcs defeated went to realms. So far, I only know that the ones I offered Otris after every battle actually went somewhere.

“According to the book, it varies. Many of the lower tier undead will be happy with astral energy and time back on the living world. You get to the higher class ones that’s when things get interesting. According to one record, one spirit wanted to remain king of his kingdom for another ten years.”

“It would be hard for many people to grant such a request,” I said shaking my head.

“Quite hard. Thankfully, just because the spirit is of a lower rank doesn’t mean its weaker or will remain weaker. There are ways to boost the class of a spirit, though they’re only mentioned in this book.”

“Nice. I like the depth your class has. Better than kill, revive. Kill, revive,” I said with a smirk.

“Yeah. Wasn’t quite what I was expecting when trying to get on this path but I don’t regret either.” 

I looked up to the night sky. She’d burned a good chunk of the night away with her studying but I would rather her get her class right then suffer because she didn’t take the time to learn about it when she was still lower level. “You should turn in. There is not much left of the night,” I said gesturing to the tent. 

As if hit by a truck, she started to yawn and have trouble holding her eyes open. She walked over to the tent and I heard her collapse onto the mat. I grinned and turned back to the fire. Mohr and Kano stood watch over the site and I actually felt safe. 

“Is she your mate?” 

“Gah!” I jerked in surprise as Nolliha sat across from me on the fire. I narrowed my eyes as I glanced around quickly. I didn’t even sense anything this time. I didn’t let my guard down much, even if I was feeling safe. 

“Sorry. The other night we let ourselves be sensed. So, is she your mate?” 

“No. Just a traveling companion. What brings you here tonight?” I asked calming down a bit. It should have been obvious that a race renowned for its stealth would be caught by low-level me. 

“The elders have already made a decision. They would like to welcome you with open arms,” she replied with a excited smile. “There was very little resistance to the idea. Many of our people are tired of being prosecuted and would like to take this chance for redemption. Even if you only get us to the doorstep, that will the closest we’ll have been in four to five hundred years.” 

“I don’t want to cause any unnecessary bloodshed. I truly would like for all your people to be in agreement,” I said and saw her face fall. “But even I know how impossible that request is. As long as you can guarantee the safety of my companion and myself, then we will go with you.”

“You have mine and the elders’ word that no harm will befall you,” Nolliha said standing up. She pulled a knife from her person and cut a line across her palm. “If you would like, we can take a blood oath. That way it will be bound by the magic of the land.” She held the knife out to me. 

I stood and took the knife. “This isn’t one of the poisoned ones right?” I asked to break the tension. 

“Those are on my left side,” she replied with a straight face.

“Lovely.” I pulled the knife across my palm then held it out to her. 

She took it then intoned a spell of some kind. The language was lost to me. I was wondering if I was supposed to do anything when my status appeared on its own. 

Blood Pact: Nolliha and the Elder of the Dark Elf Tribe, Alivonda, have sworn to protect you from harm while in the presence of their clan. Note: the pact is void if you should attack first. Blood Pact (1/3)

“It is done,” Nolliha said breaking away.

“So it would seem,” I replied wiping away the blood from my hand with a cloth. The cut was already gone. Most likely part of the magic. 

“We will leave in the morning. You two are far too loud for the night forest,” she said walking to the tree line. She vanished before I could think of a comeback.