Sylver Seeker

While Sophia and her lot prepared for prayer, Sylver sat on top of a nearby tree and looked over his skills.

[Skill: Undead Mastery (VII) [S]]

Skill level can be increased by raising undead. (Repeat raising of the same undead will not increase skill level)

I – Turn a corpse into an undead.

II – All undead under your control have +35% to all stats.

III – Upon death all undead will return 40% of mana through [Dying Breath].

IV – Duplicated shades will have 45% of the original’s stats.

V – Cost of raising humanoid undead decreased by 50%.

VI – At the cost of reducing HP to 0, the creature that delivered the most recent attack will receive a defeat notification.

VII – Increase the range of [Greater Undead Channeling], and [Greater Undead Empowering] by 100%.

*Quality dependent on the corpse.

*Quality dependent on the soul.

The reason Sylver picked this specific effect, was simple.

He wanted distance.

Between him, and whatever he was fighting, there wasn’t a whole lot of point in having an army of undead, if the opponent was close enough to ignore them, and go straight for Sylver.

An increase in range also meant Sylver was able to use more undead simultaneously. The archers would have more room and Sylver could empower a greater number of them, which meant that the volley of arrows he shot at his enemies would not only be denser, but stronger overall.

And it made running away easier, in the event a priest or something tried to kill him.

[Skill: Mutating Override (IV) [F]]

Skill level can be raised by overriding primal energy field.

I – Mutate biological matter by overriding its primal energy field.

II – Decrease the MP cost by 5%.

III – Increase range by 10%.

IV – Decrease the MP cost by 25% when overriding personal primal energy field.

*Quantity of MP required dependent on rate, volume, and complexity of primal energy field being overridden.

This effect would have been significantly more helpful before

Sylver merged his Ciege body with his old lich body, but he wasn’t about to complain. Given that his only method of “healing” himself from silver and holy magic was by manipulating his body’s primal energy field, this would speed things up by a lot.

And of course, since Sylver’s “personal primal energy field” could encompass whatever he so wished, such as a corpse pumped full of his blood, or even a plant growing inside of him, it meant that he would have to spend less mana experimenting on things.

[Skill: Mirage (V) [A]]

Skill level can be raised by using illusion magic.

I – Create visual and auditory illusions.

II – Create translucent illusions.

III – Cost of illusion magic decreased by 10%

IV – Deceive C rank or lower sensory skills/perks/traits by increasing the amount of MP per illusion to 1,000%.

V – Create solid illusions.

*Quality of illusions dependent on caster’s ability and understanding.

Functionally, solid illusions weren’t all that different from what Sylver did to his shadow via [Deadly Darkness].

Solidified light didn’t weigh anything, it had the durability of brittle clay, and while a talented illusionist may be capable of creating solid illusions that moved, Sylver wasn’t so gifted.

But the purpose of Sylver’s illusions was never to truly make his opponent believe what he was seeing is real, his illusions were a distraction, and that was all they needed to be. A moment of hesitation, a millisecond of doubt, just enough wiggle room in a person’s perception for one of the shades to wiggle a dagger into their neck.

Technically, the same result could be achieved by creating the right solid shape out of mushrooms, or dirt, and then overlaying an illusion on top of the object. But that took time and a lot more than a half-second of thought.

The biggest advantage of this particular effect was that Sylver could make solid illusions form at a distance from him. Such as a tree someone might attempt to use for cover, a door that leads to nowhere, an explosive, or a suspicious puddle of glowing red liquid.

[Skill: Necrotic Mutilation (V) [F]]

Skill level can be increased through use.

I – Manipulate biological matter.

II – Empower a creature or item using manipulated biological matter.

III – Increase the range of [Dead Dominion] by 50% for [Necrotic Mutilation].

IV – Increase maximum density by 25%.

V – Increase durability by 50%.

*Quality dependent on biological material being used.

*Quantity of [Flesh] increases power.

*Quantity of [Bones] increases durability.

*Quantity of [Blood] increases duration.

This choice didn’t need much consideration.

One of the biggest weaknesses of [Necrotic Mutilation] was that its defensive properties weren’t up to par. Sylver had a layer of it acting as armor underneath his robe, but the amount he could wear without seriously impeding his speed meant it barely protected him.

Forming it into a floating shield was pointless for a similar reason, it was more efficient to dodge out of the way than to waste mana moving it into the path of an incoming attack.

On top of that, all the alternative effects were oddly small, to the point Sylver was initially suspicious of the giant 50% increase. But if there was a catch to having one of his main methods of attack receive a 50% boost, he has yet to see it.

[Skill: Vigorous Conditioning (VI) [A]]

Skill level can be increased by receiving damage.

I – Increase resistance against [Positive Energy] by 25%.

II – Increase resistance against [Physical Damage] by 40%.

III – Increase Stamina Regeneration by 50%.

IV – Reduce body weight by 20%.

V – Increase resistance against [Physical Damage] by 25%.

VI – Increase resistance against [Positive Energy] by 10%.

For a while, Sylver just stared at the skill and fantasized about being completely immune to positive energy. He doubted the system would ever allow him, or anyone for that matter, to get to 100%, but it was nice to think about.

It wouldn’t make him invincible, but it would cut down the number of viable methods of attack by half. At the height of his power, he could brush off most types of magic, with the obvious exception of holy and light magic. But he couldn’t be cursed to death, couldn’t be torn apart, you couldn’t even really vaporize him. Your magic had to be very powerful to so much as leave a mark, let alone damage him.

Having said that, a very high percentage of Sylver’s opponents were more than capable of leaving a mark. Then again, his perception was biased since most mages Sylver faced dropped dead before they even saw him.

As a rule of thumb, your magic has to be really fancy to block an Arch-Necromancer’s instant death magic.

Sylver could see Sophia and her lot preparing for dawn from his tree branch.

She was standing barefoot on a large circular piece of cloth and sprinkled dark ash onto it. Each of Sophia’s steps caused the ash to shift, as the fabric moved around.

Curiously, not all of the ash moved. In fact, about half appeared as if it was glued to the fabric, instead of sitting loosely on it.

The fact that merely looking at the cloth caused Sylver’s eyes to water meant it wasn’t just the moisture in the air creating a random pattern. He would later learn that there were shards of broken glass sprinkled amidst the ashes, and Sophia’s blood was the reason for some of the ash sticking to the fabric.

Bit by bit the darkness of the night faded.

The clouds above rumbled with a warning for the storm that was about to come.

As the first light of dawn found its way around the horizon, Sylver felt something grab him by the spine.

It wasn’t a gentle hold over his backbone and it wasn’t quite the feeling he got when someone crushed his vertebrae with a pair of pliers, but it was closer to painful than not. As Sylver managed to push away the uncomfortable contact, his silver-touched scars began to itch.

But the worst was yet to come.

As he approached the praying priests and paladins and was joined by Edmund and Faust, Sylver felt his insides shiver.

Not because he was afraid, but because the waystone inside his shoulder was vibrating with such intensity that it was causing Sylver to stumble.

Just as the vibration became intense enough that Sylver worried it would splinter his bones, the sky crackled with thunder, and an impossibly bright pillar of sunlight descended onto Sophia. Sylver’s legs gave out from the sudden attack, but Edmund caught him before he fell.

The blast of light had lasted for less than a second, and as Sylver’s blurry vision slowly cleared, he saw a framework had been burned into the ground.

To Sylver’s eyes, the framework was as impressive as a pile of shit. It didn’t have the right shape, or feel, and almost appeared to be the sort of thing a drunk apprentice may create.

And yet, nonsense excrement or not, the thing was undoubtedly functional.

“What’s the plan again?” Faust asked.

“Kill everyone, and don’t die,” Edmund answered with a wry grin.

“Alright, just wanted to make sure,” Faust said with a nod.

Sylver made a noise as he took a step forward.

“That reminds me, I know I said it at least 10 times by now, but please don’t touch the pillar. Even if it starts ominously flashing, or you see darkness emanating out of it, leave it alone. You won’t do anyone any good. If you for some reason get to the pillar before everyone else, wait for one of us,” Sylver said with a gesture towards himself and Edmund.

It wasn’t that Sylver didn’t trust that Sophia’s people were well trained, but 3 of the women had a “heroic” glint in their eye. Thankfully, all 3 of those women, a priest, and 2 paladins, got the subtle message Sylver had repeated for the 11th time tonight.

The fact that he made direct eye contact with all 3 of them, 1 at a time, helped.

Sophia didn’t bother to ask if everyone was ready, because even if they weren’t, the spell on the ground was adhering to its own schedule.

The waystone in Sylver’s shoulder hummed uncomfortably, as it resonated with the framework on the ground, but the discomfort barely lasted a second.