Jay was almost going to sit on the throne, but realised this could also be another trap. There were just too many hidden twists in this pyramid, and the innocuous throne looked eerily dangerous.
Even what seemed like a straight-forward fight to get to the archer statue turned into a dangerous battle.
Thankfully, he remembered he brought some items from his home.
He pulled out a chair and a stool to put his legs on as he relaxed for a moment.
“Ah, this is nice.” he smiled as he waited under the warm light coming from above. A chair was a simple thing, but at this moment, simply sitting down and relaxing made him feel incredibly content.
Before sitting down, Jay pocketed the soul stone from the archer statue since it was the close by.
[Large Soulstone] (empty)
“Oh, a large one? I thought one would be here.”
Jay sat in his chair and gazed at it. It was spindle-shaped and about the size of a short sword. It was now big enough to see that the centre was translucent, it even seemed hollow inside.
“Hmm, I wonder if that's where the soul goes?” he thought, gazing at the less-opaque part of the crystal. A part of him wanted to smash it and see what was inside but he resisted the urge.
It was not an easy thing to get, and Jay finally felt like he was making progress on his quest.
Sure, he was well into the process of gathering the hundreds of normal soul stones, but those were easy to get compared to the few large and greater ones he needed.
The skeletons were periodically coming back, one slowly made a pile of soul stones, another bones, and the other brought back pieces of Jay’s shield.
Jay decided to open up his level up notification as he relaxed with a warm smile in his chair; he could pick up that other stuff later.
[Level 10 - Skill Acquired]
[Level 10 - Choose your path]
[5 Free attribute points]
“Hmm, new skill first?”
<[Summon ???? Helminth]>
[Choose your path before acquiring this skill]
“I have to choose my path? Sure.”
Jay opened his next notification with a sense of anticipation building up in him - though he was still quite exhausted from the battle.
<[Choose your path]>
[Bone]
[Blood]
[Spirit]
[Warning: This cannot be undone.]
“Blood, bone and spirit? Would that mean I become blood necromancer.. or a bloodmancer? ...or a spirit necromancer?”
“What would happen to my minions…” Jay looked at his undead loyal servants.
This took Jay by surprise, and it was the last thing he expected: a specialisation choice.
Nevertheless, he entertained the ideas.
Jay could only imagine since he had only ever heard of the normal bone-type necromancers, which were simply called necromancers.
With the blood choice, he pictured grotesque hulking masses of flesh, squirting blood and puss everywhere, large flesh golems that pierced their enemies with protruding bones and ate them to grow the flesh bigger. Large and slow, vulnerable to fire.
He even imagined multiple faces of people that had been absorbed into the back of the flesh golems, speaking to him as one voice; a shiver went up his spine.
“Eugh, no.. not blood…” he quickly shot down the first option, rubbing his neck.
Next he tried to picture a spirit necromancer; imagining wisps, spirits, wraiths and wailing ethereal ghosts that could drain the life of anything they touched; cursing and terrorising the lands, leaving only mummified corpses and shrivelled plants in their wake; unstoppable when faced with physical weapons.
“Hmm… but what if I come across magic immune enemies? Or if I need protecting? They would probably be weak to magic too…”
While Jay pondered these things, he could only guess at what would happen. After all, the world has never seen either a blood or a spirit necromancer. There was spirit-type magic, but practitioners were usually executed as it was quite similar to soul-type magic, which was a threat.
“Perhaps I would be the first of either type of necromancer… maybe monsters aren’t given the option to choose?” he pursed his lips. These choices didn't appeal to him, but being the first had its own sort of appeal.
“Hmm. Bone seems to be somewhere in between flesh and spirit… it’s either the best of both worlds, or the weakest of both... I suppose though that it is its own thing.”
Jay looked at his skeletons, working frantically to bring him his things.
“Spirits probably wouldn’t be able to do that… and bloody flesh creatures probably wouldn't be that fast... these guys are strong enough at the moment anyway; compared to other adventurers I'm leaps and bounds ahead of them.”
Jay felt like the decision was obvious, but it was a huge choice.
He sat silently thinking over everything for the next thirty minutes, and his skeletons had finished gathering by now.
Deep down, he knew what the right choice was - he was just stalling.
Soon, he shook his head at his own indecision, as he knew what he wanted.
Jay knew that if he picked either blood or spirit, he would have a yearning regret in his heart, and as he was about to lock in his choice, he felt a wave of excitement rise in his heart, and he knew this choice was right.
“Bone. I will choose bone. It’s obvious.” he smiled.
Jay opened his notifications and selected [Bone]
[Choice Accepted]
[Class Evolved - Pure Necromancer]
[Class Item Acquired]
[Class Quest Acquired]
[Class Passive Acquired]
“Pure? I like the sound of that.” Jay smiled with a nod.
“Ok, so… that skill.” he checked it quickly.
<[Summon Bone Helminth]>
Imbue bones with necrotic energy, raising a cunning creature to fight for you.
[Requires at least two spines and one skull]
[Bone Helminth Level 1]
[0/1 Summoned]
[20 mana(+1 per level of creature)]
“Hmm… the summon skill doesn't have a level. I guess I can’t level it up?”
Jay then analysed the [Bone Helminth Level 1] part of the skill for extra details.
<[Bone Helminth Level 1]>
[HP 10/10]
[MP 10/10]
<[Skills]>
-[Sentinel Form]-
- The helminth coils around its master, becoming an un-targetable piece of their armour.
- Periodically lashes out at attackers and fires spectral bolts at foes.
- When its master is attacked, the helminth loses health instead (down to 1 HP).
-[Natural Form]-
- Allows HP and MP regeneration.
- +200% HP and MP regeneration.
- The helminth detaches from its master and acts as an individual construct.
[Spectral Bolt]
- Its jaw unhinges and slowly winds open before quickly snapping shut, a bolt of necrotic energy firing out through its closing jaws.
- 5 magic damage (necrotic)
- Can only hold 5 bolts; new bolt produced every 300 seconds.
- 1 mana
[Symbiotic] (Passive)
- Starts at level 1. Levels up with its creator.
(Eg. If creator is level 30, the helminth will be level 21.)
[Grave Visitor] (Passive)
- Can travel freely and silently through the soil and ground
- Can covertly collect a nest of bones underground
- Max of (2) bones carried at current level.
[Ensnare]
- Can ensnare enemies and root them to the ground, making them unable to move.
- 3 second snare.
- 1 minute cooldown.
- 5 mana
“Awesome. I suppose it would have either been spirit or blood helminth if I went with the others which is why it made me pick a path” Jay wanted to jump up from his chair and summon it, but he decided to check out the item he got, and the passive he got from picking the pure necromancer class - not to mention the class quest.
“Ok, so, passive skill first…” he tried to remain calm but his eyes betrayed him, he felt like he found a treasure chest specifically designed for him here in the dungeon.
He opened the notification, and suddenly, his ring tightened around his finger.
“Ah shit” he tried to take it off but he couldn’t. It felt like a wasp was stinging him over and over again.
“Come on… what the hell...” he was getting frustrated as he waited, trying to pull his necrotic ring off.
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