RSK 9

Hey Guys! How's the weekend going? I got to sleep in lol

Oberon POV~~~~~~~

We made our way towards the mine killing anything that crossed our path. I added a dozen new skeletons to my entourage in the process. They all started at level one, and one mutated when it formed as it in the form it was when it died, a man sized scorpion like the one I killed the other day. 

Once I made the new skeletons, the next monster we killed I made Alessa take a crack at it. It took a while before she was able to shape the mana into the correct runes needed. It might have taken longer if she needed to manually draw them but she could just study it and use it from memory, of which she was actually quite strong in. The undead she summoned wasn’t powerful, but I felt it was close to what a necromancer from one of the races might create. 

It was a goblin sized skeleton that only carried a bone dagger. I would have to wait and see how it grew if it managed to survive. I did find out, however, that my skeletons were bullies as they appeared to enjoy pushing the little thing around when they thought I wasn’t looking. I would have to keep an eye on that in the future. 

We made it to the cave entrance after roughly an hour of walking through the desert. I knew I should remember this area, as it was my home before I died but everything was just so different as well as my memories faded from the time I was… well dead. A small mountain or outcropping of rock rose from the sand as if in defiance. There were bones and carcesses littered around the entrance. 

“Gobluke, explain that,” I ordered as I pointed at the mess.

“Nasty ones hunt at night, but they slow, sometimes not get prey back to cave in time,” Gobluke explained quickly. 

I turned to the group of skeletons behind me, “Go in and bring a few out.” 

“Yes, Master,” Sam said for the group. They made their way inside and were quickly gone from sight, swallowed by the darkness. 

I wasn’t sure if we would have to wait long so I started to play a game of Missile Crush with Alessa. It was a game that mages invented to practice their magic missile skills. I reached down and grabbed a piece of stone from the ground and reinforced it with my mana. 

“Alright, so the goal is to see who can hit the stone most during the time its falling. There are a few more rules, but I’m not worried about them,” I explained to Alessa who looked both excited and worried at the same time. 

I threw the stone into the air, my undead strength allowing me to lob it quite high. Alessa channeled her mana and sent a missile flying at it almost immediately. I did the same, holding back of course. I tried to match the stats of her missile so that it would be mainly skill based. The two missiles collided with the stone at almost the same time and sent it flying in a completely new direction. We directed our missiles to follow it, with mine having the advantage as the stone was knocked on its side. 

Alessa’s missile chased mine as it sought the stone and managed to check up. She was pumping quite a bit of mana in to the spell. We continued the chase for several minutes with each of us getting a few fights in. The mana I infused into the stone was about to run out so the next hit would be the winner. Alessa appeared to be aware of that fact as well, as her face was a mask of concentration. 

The two missile were about equal distance from the stone as the soared towards it. Alessa’s magic missile was wavering a bit, the light dimming from the multiple hits, but I had to admit that I was impressed she lasted as long as she did. Just as the two missiles were about to hit I could see that mine was going to the victor, when Alessa’s missile exploded into a sphere of mana. The blast managed to take out the stone and I let my missile fade with a pop. 

“Impressive!” I said turning towards Alessa. I had to look down as she had collapsed to the ground on her hands and knees and was breathing heavily. 

“That… was… horrible…” She said through gritted teeth. 

“What? That was fun,” I said with a laugh. 

“Evil… man,” Alessa retorted. 

I was about to say something in reply when the undead emerged from the cave with a few new skeletons and zombies with them. One of the zombies growled and stopped moving when it reached the light, but one of my skeletons smacked it over the back of the head and it started to move again if a little sluggish. 

Once all the new undead were lined up in front of me, Sam said, “All the undead from the first floor, Master.” I wondered why they weren’t hostile against my undead or me, but I would have to find that out the hard way as I didn’t think any of them were able to talk. The zombies were in pretty rough shape, with only a few of them retaining all their limbs. They all appeared to be dressed as miners, leading me to believe this was a mine at some point. I wondered how much of the ore had been removed, and if I could ‘reopen’ it with some undead in the future. 

“Good job Sam. Now,” I said looking at the other undead. I spent last night picking apart the magic I used to summon and control the undead that the ‘system’ granted me. I still found it weird that something controlled everything so fully, but I would work it to my advantage. 

I formed the runes that dealt with control out of mana in front of me. I played with them for a minute as I arranged them into several sentences working to cover all my bases. Wouldn’t want them to be able to eat my prisoners or allies if I get some in the future. I aligned the sentences then choose one of the zombies at random. 

A magic circle that looked more like a hexagram formed over the undead. It looked up at it idly but made no move to respond. Chains formed out of black and green energy that wrapped around the zombie then slowly sank into it. After a few moments, the zombie roared as a red light filled it eye, and empty eye socket. It immediately jumped at one of my weaker skeletons next to it as started to rip bones off of it. The Knight responded quickly by swinging its bone sword and sliced its head clean off. 

The body kept moving independently of the head, even while the head still made gwaning motions. I created a fireball and sent it directly into the severed head’s mouth. It quickly turned to ash, then the body came to a halt as it slowly fell backwards. 

“Well, that was a failure,” I said looking over the magic runes floating in the air. I walked over to one of the undead and placed my hand on its head. 

Name: N/A

Race: Zombie (Decayed)

Level: 60

Class: Berserker

[Flesh Armor: Minor] [Flesh Regeneration: Minor] [Frenzy: Advanced] [Sense Life: Moderate]

Weakness: [Sunlight] [Holy] [Fire]

Shit, I forgot to take into account the level difference that this world loves so damn much. I quickly checked the others and saw they were all between the fifties and seventies. This would be a problem for my hope to boost my forces quickly. I thought about the problem for a few minutes and decided to take a different route. 

I reformed the magic, so that the undead would have a choice in becoming my servants. I wasn’t sure what caused the first one to go berserk but I could only guess it was registered as an attack against the undead when I used the skill. If that was the case then no matter what I do might result in them go crazy. 

“Alright, I don’t know if any of you undead can understand me, but listen up. I’m going to cast a spell that will link us, with me as the Master. If you resist your existence will be removed so some of you might welcome that. If not then don’t reject the spell, but embrace it,” I said for all the feral undead to hear. A few of them looked over to me, but that was the biggest reaction I got out of them. It was most likely due to the sunlight weakness they were being forced to endure. 

Choosing another zombie at random, this one was level fifty-nine. It looked relatively fresh compared to some of them in the group. The zombie lifted its head when the magic hexagram formed over its head. The chains formed again only this time less black and more green. As the chains sank into him, he didn’t react and just stood there. Finally, when the spell effects were over and he didn’t have an adverse reaction, I tentatively labeled it a success. 

“Zombie, who is your Master?” I inquired. 

He moved its arm and pointed at me then bowed its head. I grinned then moved forward to check its status. I wanted to see if there were any chances that needed to be watched for in the next couple. 

Name: N/A

Race: Zombie (Decayed)

Master: Oberon DarkPhoenix

Level: 59

Class: Warrior

[Flesh Armor: Minor] [Flesh Regeneration: Minor] [Frenzy: Advanced] [Sense Life: Moderate]

Weakness: [Sunlight] [Holy] [Fire]

After I examined its status for any hidden traps, I turned to Alessa, “Alessa, why don’t you name him,” I said. 

Alessa POV~~~~~~

A name for a zombie. It sounded simple enough, but if the zombie survived for long enough it might come back to haunt you, especially if it gained enough fear in the kingdoms. I didn’t want to be responsible for thousands of people running in fear of Bob the Beheader. Actually that sounded pretty good, I would just have to make sure the zombie started beheading everything when it was in a battle. 

“Bob! I think that would be a simple enough name,” I said finally. 

“Bob!” Oberon said then started laughing, “Bob the Beheader! OH, I can’t wait to hear the screams in the future.” I laughed along while I worried if he was able to read my mind. 

Bob just looked on at us as we talked about it. Oberon used the spell on the nearly two dozen undead there and only one revolted against the spell. The rest all gave in rather easily, making me wonder if they weren't agreeing just to get out of the sun. That said, Oberon did have quite the presence so maybe in their undeath they saw him as the natural alpha. When there was only one left, the weakest of the bunch, Oberon turned to me. 

“Your turn,” he said as if matter-of-factly. 

“I don’t think I can do that,” I said as I waved my hands in front of me. 

“Sure you can. I’m going to project the spell you just memorize it like the last one. Super easy,” Oberon said as he used mana to draw out the spell in the air for me. The only rune that I actually recognized was the one for mana, the rest were a complete mystery. Oberon said he was going to make me a tome that contained an alphabet of sorts, but he needed a certain type of parchment or it would combust, explode, go to another dimension, and basically something not welcomed while trying to read it. 

It took me nearly two hours before I felt comfortable using the spell. At least this time Oberon was patient with me. I guess he understood that his spell was on another level compared to the one he showed me last time. I stood up my body sore from sitting in one spot as I studied the rune script. 

When I nodded to Oberon that I was as ready as I was going to be, he surrounded the lone zombie with his elite skeletons just in case it went berserk. I took a deep breath then channeled the mana required for the spell. It was probably the most I had ever tried to channel at once. At least growing up, I have been fairly confident in my mana pool size. I learned while in school your mana pool was determined at birth then the amount you have access to is based on your level. 

The spell took shape over the zombie, looking much like Oberon’s only a bit rougher around the edges. Everything went as it was supposed to, as the chains descended and wrapped around the undead. The biggest difference was the chains were pink instead of black like Oberon’s but the same amount of green was present so maybe my mana was just dyeing it. 

Finally, the chains sank into the zombie’s body and it shuddered for a few moments as if it was trying to decide what to do. One of Regan’s elites moved its sword to the zombie’s neck in preparation, but the moment never came as the shuddering stopped and the zombie looked at me, before bowing its head. I threw a fist in the air in victory. 

“Well done, you really do have promise. As I would expect from one of my descendants,” Oberon said as he patted me on the head, “Lets check its status before I moved the minions away.”I walked over to the zombie carefully and placed my hand on its head. 

Name: N/A

Race: Zombie (Decayed)

Master: Alessa Darkfeather

Level: 50

Class: Warrior

[Flesh Armor: Minor] [Flesh Regeneration: Minor] [Frenzy: Moderate] [Sense Life: Moderate]

Weakness: [Sunlight] [Holy] [Fire]

I told Oberon what I saw. He nodded, pleased at the outcome. He ordered his skeletons back into the cave with most of the new additions, to work on bringing the rest out of the cave. I had a feeling the deeper we went the stronger the undead would become, maybe we would find one capable of speech. 

At least the undead didn’t appear as scary as before. If this was before I met Oberon, I would probably be running for the hills, screaming at the sight in front of me. I was just glad they hadn’t attacked me on sight, as most undead would have been prone to do. I had a feeling a big part of that was Oberon himself offsetting my aura, but we wouldn’t know unless we find an undead able to speak.