NOVEL NEXT Chapter 5: Chapter 5
The familiar chime of the system rang out, and Zareth's heartbeat quickened.
His whole body tensed with anticipation, this reward could be exactly what he needed to fix his current predicament.
[You have gained a summoning cooldown reset scroll]
Reading the message, he could already guess its function.
There was a flicker of disappointment, it wasn't anything rare, but the usefulness outweighed that feeling.
'This is exactly what I need right now. Those two broken zombies won't cut it anymore.'
A slightly weathered scroll materialized in his hand.
[Summoning Override Scroll (4) (Rare)]
[Effect – Allows an immediate summoning of 4 subjects, ignoring daily reset. Scroll consumed upon use]
[Rip to use]
Zareth studied the description with satisfaction.
Without wasting a second, he stepped toward the altar and tore the scroll in half.
The image of his battered zombies crossed his mind, one dragging a stump where its arm should be, the other spilling ichor with every step.
They were as good as done.
Nothing seemed to happen immediately, but he knew what came next.
He used his nails and sliced a deep line across his palm.
Warm, rose-colored blood dripped down his fingers, pooling into the altar's cup.
His jaw tightened at the familiar sting, but the pain barely registered, he'd heal it soon enough.
'This time, I'm ready.'
Zareth let out a quiet, self-deprecating chuckle as he braced himself, eyes locked on the ground, waiting for the first crack to appear.
His anticipation building for each second it took for it to appear, and within a couple of seconds the ground cracked.
Slowly expanding he heard the same scraping sound as last time, and within a few seconds, two zombies had crawled out.
'Even if it's just more zombies, it'll still be a relief… but I need more.'
He ordered them to step to the side for the next two subjects to appear.
Soon another hand grabbed the ledge, even though it was the same decayed hand, there was something special.
'A pickaxe?'
Zareth exclaimed as the zombie dragged its body above ground, not having time to study it, another hand appeared, this one also special.
It gripped a broken and splintered wooden club in its decaying hand.
As all four zombies stood lined up, he checked their information.
[Zombie]
[Race: Lesser Undead]
[Power: Ordinary]
[Potential: Ordinary]
[Profession: None]
[Loyalty: 100 (Dead Loyal)]
[Notes] [?]
[Zombie]
[Race: Lesser Undead]
[Power: Ordinary]
[Potential: Ordinary]
[Profession: None]
[Loyalty: 100 (Dead Loyal)]
[Notes] [?]
'The exact same as before, huh.'
They were a carbon copy of the now half crippled zombies in his territory, though the next two surprised him a bit.
He first checked the zombie clutching a pickaxe.
[Zombie Laborer]
[Race: Lesser Undead]
[Power: Ordinary]
[Potential: Ordinary]
[Profession: Miner]
[Loyalty: 100 (Dead Loyal)]
[Notes] [?]
Still ordinary with the same potential, but it's got a profession.
'My first subject with a profession, and it's one of the most important ones right now.'
Checking the notes for it, he found some interesting traits.
[Dull Precision - Excels at repetitive tasks like mining and excavation, slightly increasing resource yield from stone and ores]
[Blunt Endurance - Slightly increased resistance to blunt force but more vulnerable to slashing attacks]
'Nothing special but it's better than nothing.'
Checking the grunt, what seemed to be his first combat-oriented zombie.
[Zombie Grunt]
[Race: Lesser Undead]
[Power: Ordinary]
[Potential: Stone ★]
[Profession: Grunt]
[Loyalty: 100 (Dead Loyal)]
[Notes] [?]
'Stone Potential… Again!'
Zareth smiled slightly at the potential and profession of the zombie before checking its traits.
[Sturdy Frame - Tougher than standard zombies, with slightly increased durability and resistance to physical damage]
[Battle-Driven - Exhibits increased aggression in combat, making it less likely to falter under pressure]
Again, nothing special but enough to put a big smile on the face of the vampire.
With this, he felt like throwing away half his safety time might help him in the long run.
Though it will still need extreme caution from his part, he has something to work with now.
Giving the axe back to one of the new whole zombies without a profession he ordered them all to start gathering resources.
The one with the axe focused on cutting down trees, and the two half crippled carried the tree chunks back to the shelter.
The miner and the other two went to start gathering stones.
As his new subjects shuffled to their tasks, Zareth let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
For the first time in days, he felt a sliver of control, yet he knew better than to relax.
The forest watched, and time was still his enemy.
'I need to try my other traits.'
Just as he was about to check his traits again, he spotted the corpse of the Blightfang Hound.
Walking up to it to inspect the gory mess it had become he was stunned by yet another notification from the system.
[Do you wish to extract the loot]
[Yes/No]
Not even thinking a second about it he commanded.
"Extract!"
Tiny lights flickered as the corpse crumbled, eerie and almost beautiful.
And in its place the lights morphed into a few different things.
Looking at all the things he opened its information.
[Putrid Meat x5 (Basic)]
[Zombies can slowly recover by eating]
[Stone Core]
[Tattered Dark Hide (Uncommon)]
Looking at the loot sprawled across the ground, something caught his eye.
A small round ball blazing weakly with a grey light.
Looking at the system, he asked it directly this time.
[Cores exist from all power ranks]
[Condensed essence of a being's power before death]
[Uses - Currency, Building Upgrades, Crafting Material]
He tightened his grip on it and could feel the faintest thrum of energy flowing through it.
'So, these things are the foundation of progress…'
'Do I have one?'
Puzzled by the information he received he questioned the system.
[Yes]
Sighing, he checked his trait.
[Swarmform]
[Can turn into a swarm of bats. Usage cost blood]
'It should be the same as the regeneration.'
Imagening himself morphing into a bat, he felt his blood turning inside him.
Not the way he expected though, in a split second his body burst into a cloud of blood.
From the dens blood cloud appeared five small bats.
Coal-like black body with deep blood red eyes and sharp claws.
Zareth felt his vision change and he appeared above ground.
Moving around slightly to get used to it, he soon found out he can control the other bats as well.
Spending some time to adapt to it, he morphed back into his vampire form.
'This can be a lifesaving card!'
His excitement faded fast, fatigue slammed into him like a hammer.
His knees buckling as he clutched his heart, his expression grimaced with pain.
After spending a couple of minutes recuperating, he could finally stand up again.
To which he sighed.
'Had I known it would take that much blood, I would have waited!'
Staring at the other trait about blood magic.
'I'm not even going to try before ranking up.'
A disheartened expression sunk on his face as he thought about the possible outcome.
Looking over at the stack of resources, it had visibly increased, so much that Zareth felt he might be able to upgrade his shelter.
'If I upgrade my shelter, I can summon subjects who are at the Stone★!'
Remembering the overwhelming difference between his zombies and the hound they killed, he really wanted a higher ranked subordinate.
[Crimson Keep]
[Rank: Ordinary]
[Size: Tiny Camp]
[Resources]
[Wood:22, Stone:35, Cores:1]
[Stone Core:1]
[Population: 2]
[Buildings: 2]
[Lords Shelter, Blood Altar]
'If I remember correctly, I needed 10 of each to upgrade.'
[Do you wish to upgrade Lord's Shelter]
"Upgrade it!"
Swiftly backing away from it, he saw the same spooky fog decent upon the shelter.
Zareth then saw a portion of the resources gathered disappear.
His heart ached at the loss of resources, but this was progress, needed costly progress.
Seeing the timer of 1 hour, he checked the blood altar but found out he needed to gather one more Stone Core.
A seemingly imperceptible smile appeared on his face at the thought he needed to fight again.
Looking at the zombies waddling about delivering resources, and staring at his territory, he realized something.
The barrier's resources would last maybe twenty more units, then he'd be forced out.
And he had to kill another Stone ranked monster before dusk next day.
So, he might have a chance of directly summoning a strong unit.
'Can zombies fight with weapons?'
A thought just struck him.
'Nah, they just bite and claw. Not worth buying them weapons they won't use. And I need all the resources I can get.'
Staring at the timer he felt he needed to do something to waste time, and dawn had just arrived, the sun peeking in above the horizon.
Strength drained from his limbs, and irritation twisted his pale, handsome features.
'Well, time to help these bastards gather the rest of the resources.'