Everlast Online

Liz looked at the kneeling butler in front of her.

He was the perfect image of a butler. A pristine black suit, white gloves, a monocle and pristinely groomed silver hair - both atop his head and on his face in a wonderful moustache.

However, he was clearly still an undead; his grey skin and fully black eyes made Liz certain of that: Yet he could speak.

"How are you able to speak?" Liz asked, unsure if what she was seeing was normal. She herself, as well as Gloria and Eren were able to speak despite being undead - but she felt those were exceptions and had not anticipated an undead with a mind. It was Gloria who explained:

"There are many intelligent undead races." Gloria explained, looking down at the butler, "The corpse butler race seems to be one of them."

"The knight is correct, My Lady." The butler explained, "All undead created by a necromancer are bound to servitude, but corpse butler's are designed to allow their lords to flourish - gaining intelligence perfectly suited to guiding those we serve to higher places."

"And though I would not dare be arrogant before my Lady, it is simply a fact that I am of a superior making than most corpse butlers."

Liz was intrigued by that. She was no longer shocked, in reality she had been expecting intelligent undead; she had just not expected them to be under her service so soon.

"What do you mean by that?" Liz asked, taking closer interest in the butler.

"It comes down to the materials used to create me, My Lady." The corpse butler explained, still on one knee, "The management ability section of the ingredients was made using superior knowledge. The object used has made me less proficient in house work, but more so in larger scale management."

"Fused with the correct materials I am sure I would be able to evolve into a higher race, such as a corpse steward."

Gloria and Eren looked quite shocked at that, causing Liz to look at them confused; the butler took the opportunity to explain.

"The act of evolving an artificial undead, such as myself, is not an easy feat and often never accomplished - mostly because there is little point when creating a new one is easier. This is why they are confused, My Lady."

"Ah. Understood, thank you." Liz responded, the butler saying there was no need for thanks. Another question came up in Liz's mind that she quickly asked, "Why is it that you know so much."

"There are two reasons, My Lady. The first is as I said before, the materials make me smarter. The second is that my knowledge is the purpose of a corpse butler." He explained, causing further intrigue from Liz, "It is our duty to ensure our master's every need is met and they are guided into becoming a superior being."

"So you know all about necromancy!? Can you help me use [Create Undead] better!?" Liz asked excitedly.

"Unfortunately not, My Lady." The butler said, disappointing Liz greatly as she thought she had just gotten the equivalent of a cheat code, "Though I would like to, granting you unlimited knowledge at all times would only hinder your growth; it is important that you gain knowledge yourself and grow in both power and knowledge. I merely act as a guide for your ascent."

"In terms of the kind of knowledge I offer... Take [Create Undead], the ingredients are not as strict as most believe." The butler hinted, "So long as the essence of the undead is present, it will appear."

Liz was still slightly disappointed, but more than happy at what she had.

"Hmmm. That's fine." Liz nodded as Gloria, Eren and Nina looked on, "Actually, I have a task for you already."

"I am at your service, My Lady." He responded. Liz began to speak, but chose not to - figuring there was something more important:

"Okay, but first something more important." Liz said, causing the butler to look up strangely, "From now on, your name is Luthor."

As she spoke something fantastical happened. From within her, Liz's soul began to move, emanating from her body in the form of a green shroud. Her soul then extended in a similar way to [Soul String], touching Luthor for a moment and bathing him in the green shroud of soul, just like Liz. After a moment it bursts out and disappears, shining like stars; creating 2 system windows that greatly shocked Liz, and a third that shocked everyone:

Liz looked around uncomfortably, Beelzebub was bad enough, but now there were even more. Worse still was that she didn't know how many, or their intentions; with such a troubling message Liz could hardly focus on her new skill. She was eventually drawn back to it as Eren and Gloria looked beyond shocked at what was currently floating in front of Luthor.

=======

Name: [Luthor]

Race: [Corpse Butler] [lvl: 1]

Stats: [Body: 5] [Mind: 28]

=======

The status page was small, much smaller than a normal one - but Luthor shouldn't have had one at all. He was created through [Create Undead] and so was not a real living being; however, this new system page available to him suggested there might be the possibility of becoming one.

It was Gloria's mind facing the most turmoil as she began to wonder about what this could possibly mean for the bone slayer race. Her race.

The system was far from complete; no class or titles or even skills were available - but an incomplete being had a system pattern. Although not confirmed, the system was said to have been created by the God of Order, attempting to establish structure across reality; but this meant there were rules. Strict rules that seemed to have been broken.

This was not the case obviously, Liz not being anywhere close to being the first being to acquire the [Naming] skill. Regardless, just as soul was a rare stat, [Naming] was a rare skill.

Gloria's eventual decision was that she would not request her master to summon and name a large number of bone slayers, knowing the cost it seemed to take. It would bring about her death, Gloria only hoped that in the future when Liz was stronger that she may bring about Gloria's dream.

Luthor looked around strangely, as though the world was entirely new for him; mostly because it was. He had taken a step closer to having a complete soul, he was still not there, but it was now feasibly possible to get there. 

It was a strange feeling, but Luthor quickly adapted to it; thankful that his loyalty to his Lady had remained unaffected.

"Hmmm. Maybe I should name all my undead..." Liz muttered, mostly to herself; looking at her SOU stat that had been reduced to 99 again. But the target of her first name seemed against it.

"I apologise, but that may not be a good idea, My Lady." Luthor spoke up, cutting through the silence, "While naming your summons may be good to increase their power; it would be counterintuitive to their purpose to be recognisably individual."

"Undead are to serve as the shields and swords of their necromancer. Their individuality may prevent them from sacrificing their lives when necessary. Furthermore, I doubt the cost is so low that you can just do it at will."

Luthor's advice was sound, if a bit morbid, Liz knew that her undead, with the exception of soul-bound undead, were disposable pawns for her to throw away at a moments notice; naming would prevent that - and though Liz did not know what happened when one ran out of soul, Liz did not want to find out.

"You're right. There's no point in getting attached to undead that will act as fodder." Liz nodded, Gloria and Eren seeming to agree; even if Eren looked sad to hear such a sentiment.

"Thank you greatly, My Lady. Now, I shall get to work as you have instructed." Luthor stood up, moving his hands to clap, but stopping before his hands met, "Actually, My lady, may I ask a favour of you?"

"Of course." Liz said, nodding her head.

"Although I don't mean to presume, I believe you will be heading to claim a number of corpses that will then be added to your army. Is that correct." Luthor began, Liz nodding at his assumption; Liz's undead were her greatest weapon and she had begun to feel uncomfortable without them, "Then may I ask you to bring a number of skeletons that I may use for manual labour. While the maids I can summon are excellent at their jobs - they are nothing more than maids."

"Skeletons? Wouldn't zombies be better?" Liz asked, confused as she was under the conception that flesh-type undead had a higher average strength.

"Zombies tend to... Fall apart, under higher stress." Luthor said, straightening his tie, "While skeleton's are a bit weaker, they are more reliable."

"Hmmm. That's fine, I can go do it now." Liz smiled, internally laughing at the thought of a zombie moving a heavy box, only for its arms to fall off, still gripping the box.

"It is much appreciated." Luthor said with a perfectly executed bow, before righting himself and clapping his hands together as he had before. Upon doing so, 20 black magic circles appeared behind him - and from them came 20 beautiful zombie maids. Their skin and eyes were the same as Luthor, lacking the rotting parts Liz had expected from zombies, but they were not as intelligent as Luthor was; even compared to when he was first created. Their eyes were vacantly staring ahead, it was only at Luthor's command that they begun working.

Liz, Eren, Gloria and Nina began to head back upstairs with Liz opening the page in her book about zombie maids.

[Zombie Maid]

[Abilities: {Service}, {Cleaning}]

[General rank estimation: E]

[Weaker than even normal zombies, but combat isn't their purpose. These beings are not strong or smart, but they do not need to be as they are more than equipped to serve their master. Summon when needed, but do not count on them for defence]

[Ingredients: {1 Corpse}, {Cleaning Supplies}, {Maid Clothes}]

[User has not yet summoned a {Zombie Maid}] [Summon a {Zombie Maid} to discover the reduced ingredients]

Once they had reached the surface, Liz prepared to reclaim her army, but Nina had something to say.

"I think we should disband the party." Nina said, looking away slightly.

"Why?" Liz was confused, but not angry. If Nina had wanted to completely cut ties she would not have joined Liz's guild.

"I just think I need to play solo for a while. I don't want to keep mooching rewards from your quests." Nina said, she knew she was powerful and played a pivotal role in beating Ouroboros, but she didn't want to be just a side-kick for Liz, "Besides, I wanna check out my own territory."

"I understand, let me know if you want to hang out again or need help with something." Liz said with a smile, that while physically creepy due to her race, was still exceptionally sweet for Nina who rushed in and gave her friend a hug before leaving.

Liz felt slightly melancholic, she had not known Nina for long - only around a month - but she still considered her a close friend. Nina was more than capable and Liz was glad she herself had realised this, taking a central role in the final fight. Liz was sad she was going, but didn't want to force her to stick around.

"Haah." Liz sighed sadly.

"It's okay." Eren smiled, rubbing Liz on the back, "I'm sure we'll see her again."

Liz nodded and smiled, regaining her composure.

"Okay, let's head to a hunting grounds and find monsters I can turn into undead." Liz said, heading outside with Gloria and the newly initiated Eren in tow.

---

Liz was new to the area, but still knew it fairly well. The king had given Liz a map of the territories she, Nina and Gloria controlled; the main reason Liz had chosen such a distant land was because it was far out, but also because it had an abundance of monsters. Since it bordered free-territory there were many monsters that wandered freely, having spewed from untamed dungeons within the dungeon since they could not be regulated as other dungeons in other places regularly were.

The Vradora kingdom had a map of most of the unclaimed land, but not all. With that map integrated into her [World Map] skill, Liz was able to arrive at the desired dungeon quickly:

[Savage Cavern (Uncleared)] [Recommended lvl: 150]

[D-Rank Dungeon]

While the dungeon had a high recommended level, the monsters inside were only around D-rank; being a race of monsters known as berks. 

From Liz's research they vaguely resembled pictures of pre-evolved humans on Earth; the neanderthals, only much larger and with more predatory aspects such as claws and sharp teeth.

Being inside, it did not take long for a group of berks to appear, 3 of them, all as large or larger than Gloria. This made them easily 8.5 feet tall. However, their combat ability in no way matched up to Gloria's; they mindlessly charged at the trio of women lustfully staring at Eren and waving around their clubs.

Liz wanted to make use of her new skill [Lonely Toy], seeing how good it was, so she intended to use it with backup from Eren; finally allowing Gloria to take the final kill. However, by using her puppets to multicast [Lonely Toy] on all 3 berks, she basically ended the fight.

As soon as the curse took effect, all 3 fell over and began weeping like children; screaming in fear.

Is it that powerful? Liz thought as she looked on in shock at the sight of an 8 foot tall monster cowering in fear. Gloria, who had also been shocked at the display, finally stepped forward, stabbing all 3 through the heart.

Liz had not expected her skill to have such potency, so she hardly registered the end of the fight. As it turned out, the berks were the best possible targets for [Lonely Toy], their stunted evolution leaving them with an incredibly strong innate fear of the dark - so having their vision cut off and descended into darkness, the berks had no way to fight back.

With 3 corpses in front of her, Liz was still not able to summon a skeleton soldier. Each soldier needed at least 5 corpses with the reduced ingredients, meanwhile an archer needed 10, a mage needed 15 and a beast needed 20 - though it could be further shortened using 10 beast corpses. On the other hand warriors only needed 3 while skeleton hounds also needed 5.

Even with the option of using warriors, Liz still thought soldiers were simply better. And as Liz put the 3 corpses into her inventory, that had recently been emptied into storage inside the manor before leaving, the trio turned the corner and saw exactly why they had chosen the [Savage Cavern] dungeon.

Inside was a large opening that seemed to be the remains of a mining compound, filled to the brim with berks. Layered into the wall with many platforms and thousands of berks to kill. Even if they were savage they seemed capable enough to build structures like their crude walls meant to prevent intruders heading further down and the huts they seemed to live in.

This dungeon was one of the main reasons the previous lord couldn't progress into the unclaimed land. The [Savage Cavern] dungeon was one of the closest to the territory and would need to be cleared before any expansion took place; but the berks simply reproduced - both normally and with abundant mana - too fast for anyone to control the dangerous dungeon. With their levels, the former viscount struggled enough to stop the berks from escaping the dungeon and raiding his land.

But this was not a problem for Liz: Not a problem for a necromancer.

Liz headed down and slaughtered the berks; her army only growing as she did. Soldiers, mages, archers, hounds and beasts all ripping berks to pieces as their primitive minds were completely shattered by the terrifying slaughterer who had entered their home.

Liz and her summons had made it down 2 platforms before deciding to take a break - even if it was simple, there were still a lot of berks on each level.

Liz had reached level 99 and was close to 100, while Gloria had increased to 89 and Eren had jumped massively in levels all the way to 48.

(A/N: The first few levels are the weakest berks with only levels 90-100)

Liz had been upset that she had only gained a single level, but Gloria had informed her that this was normal. The 10 levels before a hundred mark were notoriously hard to increase, more so than the levels after. It was a strange phenomenon that no one could explain as it was confirmed that the XP needed for each level was lower than what came after a hundredth level - for some reason there just seemed to be a barrier. It was a great mystery that no one on Galdrash had ever solved.

On the bright side, Liz's undead army had grown exponentially.

She already had hundreds of each undead, the berks having been a mighty feast for her [Create Undead] skill, their reproduction so fast, Gloria had seen one manifest right in front of her. The berks made for excellent soldiers, the undead excelling in physical ability seeming massive levels of improvement compared to when she summoned them; on the other hand, archers seemed to be around the same while mages were only barely the same.

It seems that the type of corpse used affects the undead. Liz thought, not noticing as a berk approached from behind - missed.

Liz began to sense it as it charged towards her, but she only smirked as a beast jumped from around the corner, devouring the berk's face with its size massively improving. This seemed to be enough for the final bit of XP, Liz getting the typical message appear before her, only this time with a bit more colour:

Liz looked on, shocked at her new skill, a shock that quickly transformed into joy at the message.

I can finally increase my SOU!