The First Lich Lord

Chapter 4

Despite being a city of the dead, the streets had a fair amount of traffic. Mostly skeletons and zombies whod regained their self-awareness. In many ways, Dother functioned much like a regular city. Markets, taverns, and homes were prevalent, and it even had a guard force of sorts. Difference was, monsters existed here. Instead of oxen or horses pulling carts, undead monstrosities pulled them.

Every creature was far stronger than me. I had no ability to see levels, just a sense of how powerful the souls were around me. While the lowest level zombie was only a mere level 10, that was still infinitely more powerful than me. So, I kept my head down and made my way for the main gates leading to the north.

Wandering the streets, I saw people I recognized as players. They were picking up quests, bartering for armor and other necessities. Whenever they passed, I tried to make myself disappear, worried they would recognize mehowever unlikely that may be. The last anyone knew of me I had flesh and was powerful. Now I was some weak level 0 skeleton.

There was even that one NPC who seemed to be in every city with a quest to clear out rats from her basement. The difference here being she was a skeleton with weird glowing hair, and the rats were undead rats.

Knowing I needed the levels, I approached the lady. It was a risk, but not as great a risk as remaining level 0. It was only a matter of time before someone sensed my level, and many of those would see me as an easy snack. Especially in this city.

At first, the NPC ignored me. After all, I was no longer a player.

Excuse me, I drew her attention. I understand you have a problem with undead rats, may I help with them?

It took the NPC several long moments to say anything. Yes, yes of course you can help. As long as you can handle a few of these pesky creatures, I will reward you.

I hefted my weapon. I think I can handle them.

Oh, thank you, adventurer! She gestured for me to enter the house behind her. The stairs are over on the right. Please be careful.

I tried not to roll my eyes at the corny lines. As well developed as this game was, I didnt understand why they had this NPC. There are several other quests at this level with much more interesting characters. I guess at this point, quests like this were a trope and almost had to be included.

I headed for the stairs, gripping my blade-staff in both skeletal hands, lowering the tip. It was dark down there, but my undead eyes pierced the darkness. The first room at the bottom of the stairs had several crates and empty sacks. I stashed my backpack behind several of them, making sure it was out of sight, before turning to the next door. The last thing I wanted was to die and come back in the middle of a rat-infested room.

Using my blade-staff, I pushed the door open, ready for a fight. Entering, my weapon held in a low guard stance, blade near the ground, I honed in on the first zombie rat. Before it saw me, I lunged in a diving strike that drove my blade into the back of the cat-sized rat. The sharp blade sunk through it, and I held it pinned to the ground. As it squirmed, I yanked the blade back and whipped it to the side, mostly cutting the rat in half.

The undead creature had incredible resilience, but my attack had been critical, and it died. Scuttling sounds came from the shadows. I snapped my staff around just in time to intercept a leaping rat, cutting through the rotten flesh impaling itself on the blade, stopping at the small cross guard. The rat squirmed, teeth gnashing and claws slashing in a vain attempt to reach me. Whipping my staff to the side, cutting deep into its side, I sent the rat flying. The rat hit a wall and crumpled to the ground, unmoving.

A third rat, drawn by the commotion, stuck his head out from around a crate. It let out a squeal of rage and rushed me. I had just enough time to set my feet and lower my weapon. These were mindless creatures, and with a quick thrust, I dispatched the third one.

But not before its battle cry drew more.

Several rats streamed out from behind the crates, converging on me. I was thankful for the practice I had with this type of weapon. Though it was less powerful than it once was, Mercy had been my weapon for a long time. A series of thrusts and slashes kept the rats at bay as I slowly whittled them down. One by one, they all fell, and soon I was surrounded by six dead rats.

Opening my character sheet, I was pleased to see Id received not one but two levels. I put the ten stat points into my vitality and resilience, five in each. I also noticed my death core gained two more points. I was impressed by how much stronger I felt. Thanks to my high level from before, I hadnt noticed how much each point was worth.

Knowing how these quests typically worked, I began to explore the room. Yes, Id cleared the initial quest, but I was certain there was a hidden one. They were almost always available in this type of quest. After several minutes of looking, I was rewarded. A hole in the wall led down into a dark tunnel. A little more confident with my increased strength, I knelt, and with my spear leading the way, crept forward.

The tunnel widened into a space just large enough for me to stand up in. Keeping my weapon in front, I continued on and found what Id been expecting. A faint haze obscured my way. I press forward.

Undead Rat Warren

Dungeon Level: 1 7

You have found the source of the old ladys rat infestation.

Smiling, I entered the dungeon. This might be a strange situation, and I was no doubt in grave danger, but theres just something about dungeoneering thats always fun.

On the other side of the haze, I was once again thankful for my ability to see through the darkness. Before me lay a series of tunnels wide enough for me to still use my blade-staff if I was careful. While Mercy was quite effective in keeping them back, if they flanked me, I could be in trouble.

Proceeding into the maze, I came across several of the large rats, a group of three. The dim creatures hadnt noticed my approach, and I was able to dispatch one before the others even reacted. With a well-timed slash, I decapitated the second and blocked the attack of the third with the shaft of my weapon. Throwing the third rat against the wall, I followed through with a powerful blow, crushing its skull with the butt of my staff.

The fight had been quick and brutal, but it was over. Moving on, I came across several more groups, dispatching them with ease. A larger group of five rats proved to be the most trouble. I managed to bring two down with no issue, but the others flanked me. It was then I found out just how ineffective slashing attacks were against skeletons. Their teeth and claws shredded my robes, sure, but did almost no damage to my bones or my health.

With the revelation that I was able to absorb blows, I slayed the remaining three rats without much fuss. When it came to the next group of five rats, I decided to try something. I stretched out my hand and reached for the magic of my weakest spell: dark bolt.

The spell activated and dark magic gathered in my palm. Then a bolt of pure black energy launched forward. It slammed into the rat, blowing its head clean off. I glanced at my manathat spell used 15 of the 62 mana I had. That made me wince. Couldnt do that very often, much less more powerful spells.

It was interesting I still knew these spells. I guess its likely things I knew before making the transition. It had a strange way of implanting knowledge straight into my head. Id been lucky enough to already have access to quite a bit of necromantic and dark magic. That knowledge gave me a lot of insight into how necromancy worked. Now I was just glad I still had my spells. Though I did wonder if using them made me a bad person. After all, they were death magic.

Deciding to worry about these quandaries later, I pressed on. For now, I just needed to survive. And survival requires utilizing every skill at my disposal, including magic which may or may not be evil.

The tunnel continued to widen, and the next enemies I came across were different. They stood on two, larger hind legs, and were chest high on me, with rotting flesh and large teeth.

I chuckled a little. Rat-men, of course.

My careless mutterings drew their attention, and one turned to face me. The first snarled something incoherent and, drawing a sword, advanced. The second rat-man was a little slower to react and turned a few moments later, brandishing a shield on one arm and an ax in the other hand.

Focusing on the second rat-man I stretched out my hand. Dark magic swirled around my skeletal fingers. Tendrils of dark energy shot from the floor and entangled the second rat-mans feet. The spell used up almost half my mana, but it was worth it to allow me to engage one at a time.

The superior length of my blade-staff and its powerful slashing attacks gave me a huge advantage. The rat-mans poor training somehow prevented my first blow from being lethal, deflecting it into its arm. The sharp blade cut through the rotting flesh to the bone with ease, and the creature snarled in pain. As my enemy staggered, I used the opening to land another attack, a downward strike cutting into its knee. The joint failed, and the rat-man collapsed, snarling in pain.

By the time the second enemy had broken through my ensnaring spell, Id driven my blade deep into the first ones chest, killing it. The dim brain of my next enemy comprehended how quickly I dispatched its friend and became more cautious in its approach, shield leading the way. It used the shield to keep my spear away while it tried to hit me with its ax. At first I was driven back, unable to get around his shield. Then I remembered Vitos instructions on the use of blade-staff weapons. Feinting a high blow, I redirected my attack, cutting low.

My blade passed under his shield and bit into one of his legs, the sharp steel of my weapon cutting through shinbone, and the rat-man collapsed to his knees. It wasnt an honorable attack, but I didnt care. In a fight, there were only two people: the one who lived and the one who died. Now crippled, the rat-man stood no chance against me, and after several quick blows, I dispatched my opponent.

Checking my character sheet, I tried to smile but had forgotten I was a skeleton. Instead, I ended up opening my mouth in a boney, toothy grin. Id gained another level. After putting the five new stat points into vitality, I proceeded to rummage through the belongings of my defeated foes. I didnt find much of value. Their weapons were of crude quality. Each only had a few copper coins, but nonetheless, I pocketed the money and examined the shield. Several deep gashes marred it from where hed blocked my attacks, but due to the size difference, the shield was more of a buckler for me.

Removing the shield from the rat-mans arm, the rotting flesh broke away. I struggled with the shield, adjusting the straps until I was able to slip my arm through. I secured the shield in place on my forearm, leaving my hand free. It wasnt a great defense, but it was bound to be helpful.

And I was right. My buckler proved useful almost right away. The next pair of rat-men were made up of a shield wielder and one with a bow. Repeating my efforts with the first one of the shields, I crippled it and managed to block an incoming arrow with my buckler. Reacting before he could loose another arrow, I returned fire with a bolt of dark magic, shattering the creatures bow but not killing it.

Now with his primary weapon broken, the bow-wielding rat-man drew a dagger and rushed in. Ignoring the crippled rat for now, I focused on the incoming enemy. As unprotected as he was, a heavy downward blow was enough to cut his torso almost clean in half. Ripping my blade free, I used the momentum to whip around and drive my blade through the shield rat-man.

I was breathing hard, which was awfully strange. I wasnt supposed to breathe anymoreI was undead. So why did I feel winded? Must be my own psyche remembering what having a living body was like. Gathering myself, I headed deeper and came across a few more pairs of rats and gained another level. This time the stat points went into my resilience.

Coming into a larger chamber revealed a new type of enemya hulking rat-man almost taller than I was. The beast used its massive forearms to support itself as much as it could on its small legs.

Never skip leg day, I chuckled.

Blazing eyes turned to me. The muscles bunched, and I barely managed to dive aside as the monster lunged. From experience, I knew this was something called a rat-ogre. Very strong enemies, but not very smart. They would mostly use the same attack over and over again until they managed to land a blow. And when they landed those blows, they were truly punishing.

As the rat-ogre stood there, a little confused that I disappeared, I slashed down with the blade-staff, cutting deep into one of its arms.

Roaring, the beast whirled, and I dove aside before it could bull me over. I lashed back, scoring a long gash along its putrid flesh. Coming to my feet, I saw the wound weeping black blood and smiled. If I could just keep this up, Ill eventually wear the creature down.

The fight continued the same patterns as before: me diving out of the way, landing a blow while the rat-ogre tried over and over again to smash me into the ground. I did find that the rat-ogre could adapt, much to my surprise. In one of my dives, the ogre lashed out with his back leg, kicking me in the chest, and sending me tumbling across the room.

The bludgeoning blow cracked a few of my ribs, and I was sure Id cough up blood if I still had any. Instead, I learned just how effective bludgeoning attacks worked on skeletons. The blow removed almost a quarter of my health, and it took me a moment to get up. The rat-ogre proved relentless, already charging me. My back against the wall, I couldnt dodge, not in time anyway.

Bracing the butt of my spear into a crevasse in the floor, I met the rat-ogres charge. As it hit, I tried to dive out of the way, and was partially successful. Something tugged on my leg.

The lifeless rat-ogre was impaled on my blade-staff when I looked back. The gore-covered staff was sticking out of its back. That tug on my leg had been it reaching out after me with a grasping claw. I shudder to think what wouldve happened if Id not killed it just then.

It took some effort to extract my weapon, but I found something interesting in the process. It was an orb of black magic. I felt a sense of familiarity to it, and a moment later, a prompt appeared.

Lich created Death Core

Level: 1

Usable in crafting or enchanting, these cores provide a pure source of death energy.

Since you are a creature with a compatible core, you can absorb this. Do you wish to absorb it?

Y/N

Wonder where this came from

Ive only ever seen really powerful creatures drop stuff like this. Normally, magical cores and creatures were found at higher levels. Pondering this, I selected yes. I focused and a new text box appeared.

Lich created Death Core

Lichs, like many other powerful elemental creatures, can create cores of their respective magics when defeating enemies. The power of these cores is based on the compatibility of the slain enemy and its overall strength. The Lich is unique in that they can turn all living creatures into death cores, assuming they are strong enough enemies.

The death core dissolved in my hand and infused my body. A new prompt appeared.

You have absorbed a death core. Your death core has grown in strength.

+1 Death Core level

Note: Increasing the level of your death core becomes harder as time passes.

My body grew stronger. Quite the rewarding feeling. The death energy strengthened more than when I just gained levels of death core by leveling up. Checking over my stats, it looked like Lichs could become very strong warriors, along with powerful casters. No wonder they were so feared.

Casting a spell Id only ever cast on my minions, I repaired my body with more death magic. Once restored, I waited for my mana to recover before pressing on. It didnt take long for the next fight. Entering a long room, another rat-ogre loomed, along with a pair of rat-man archers. They blocked a large door, and no doubt, behind that door the boss waited.

The chamber was long enough that the archers didnt immediately engage when the rat-ogre started to lumber forward. Using the opportunity, this gave me a chance to blast one of the archers with a bolt of dark energy. I targeted his bow, shattering the weapon. This provoked the fight, and the rat-ogre started to close in faster. The now disarmed rat-man archer drew a dagger and followed while the other archer took cover.

The last thing I needed was two melee opponents trying to pin me down.

I managed to get off another dark energy bolt, bringing down the disarmed rat-man. The bolt of magic caved in its chest, dropping it. My death cores ability to enhance my death and dark spells was showing its worth. With that in mind, I cast another spell, using up the rest of my mana. A dark haze surrounded the head of the rat-ogreit was magical darkness, so even the undeads eyes couldnt see through.

Using the time this gave me, I ran past the rat-ogre, heading for the other archer. I blocked the archers arrow with my shield and was upon it before it could draw another. Using my blade-staff like a scythe, I lopped the creatures head off and turned back to the rat-ogre. The big, dumb creature had heard me rush past and was turning toward me even as the magic faded.

Now it was just a one-on-one fight, and Id learned my lesson from last time. I cracked my neck and lowered my spear, ready for the fight to come.

The beast charged. I dodged to the side. This time, I focused on crippling one of his arms first. If I could even slightly hinder its mobility, I would have a huge advantage. After a series of cuts, I landed a deep blow, slicing almost clean through the elbow of his right arm. As the rat-ogre lunged, placing weight on that arm to propel himself forward, it buckled and snapped, causing the monster to careen sideways.

Now severely wounded, the rat-ogre fell into a defensive posture. Both my greater reach and magic meant it stood no chance. As I hacked away, the rat-ogre became desperate. It grabbed the body of one of the other rat-men with its good arm and tried to throw it at me. I was able to knock the body aside with the shaft of my weapon, and proceed to finish crippling the beasts other arm. Not wanting the creature to suffer any more than it had to, my next blow cleaved through its neck.

With the final monster slain, I took the time to search for another death core. I found one, but when I absorbed it, there wasnt an increase of my own death core. This was likely a percentage-based thing. Percentage as I absorbed more cores, and each subsequent level would require increasing amounts of death cores. Heading for the large door, I pushed it open and stepped into the chamber beyond, ready for a fight.

The boss appeared to be some kind of brood mother. She was the size of at least two rat-ogres, and her body was covered in tiny hairless, squirming rats. They appeared to be suckling onI hesitate to call them nipples, but thats likely what they were. Slaying this creature would be a service to all sides. Regardless if youre a good or bad person.

Interestingly enough, it appeared as if the brood mother wasnt undead like the rest of the rat creatures Id come across. She hadnt seen me as of yet, too focused on her offspring.

I took the time to line up a shot and blasted it square in the snout with a bolt of dark energy. Reeling back, the boss let out a warbling war cry. As if in a flood, her disgusting offspring detached from her and swarmed toward me.

Being caught by this disgusting flood would spell my death, so I began to kite around them, staying at the edge of the room. I used the bladed end of my staff to cut down many small creatures, but there were hundreds of them. I glanced back at the bossshe was covered in many sores that seeped a strange, necrotic fluid. As I retreated, I fired another blast, the dark magic eating away at her flesh.

The sores covering the boss swelled and burst, and another wave of the vile offspring poured out. If I still had a stomach, there was no doubt in my mind Id be feeling quite queasy, and I was glad I didnt have a nose.

Cutting through the pursuing wave of disgusting creatures, I occasionally fired a blast of magic at the brood mother. When I ran into another group of the offspring coming from the other direction, I started running out of options.

Time to change tactics.

Rushing the mother, I cast a spell of darkness on the floor behind me. Grasping tentacles reached up and ensnared dozens of her horrific offspring.

She was mostly immobile, her large bulk keeping her in place, because her tiny legs werent up to the efforts of moving her.

Letting out a wordless battle cry, I lunged and drove my razor-sharp blade deep into her body, sinking it at least a full meter. Bracing my legs against her bulk, I pushed off before she could reach me with her weak arms. Pulling my weapon free, I twisted and slashed, widening the wound.

Keeping an eye on the swarming offspring, I circled the brood mother, the now gaping wound leaking dark red blood. There was a buildup of death magic in her mouth. At first, I thought to dodge, but then it occurred to meIm a Lich. Death magic cant hurt me.

Smiling, I waited for the magic to build, and right as she released her blast, I stabbed forward, driving my blade deep into her mouth. The sudden attack caused a backlash of magic, and even as the death energy washed over me, it poured back down her throat and into her body.

While the brood mother might be able to work death magic and likely had some resistances to it, she was no undead. Death magic was just as dangerous to her as any other living creature. She spasmed once, twice, and finally a third time before falling back, a putrid stream of black fluid running from her mouth. I involuntarily shuddered, again thankful I lacked a nose.

Whirling to face the swarm of offspring, I was surprised to find them no longer moving in synchronicity. They wandered aimlessly, without any kind of urgency or coordination. Individually these pathetic creatures were far weaker than even the weakest rats Id faced. Setting to work, I dispatched them quickly.

With my grizzly task done, I turned back to the corpse of the boss. In days past, I wouldve turned this creature into some kind of undead monstrosity and released it on some unsuspecting NPCs. Not only did I currently lack the power to do that, I also lacked the will.

Instead, I reached into the boss and fished around until I found not one, but two death cores. Examining them showed they were both level 1. This confused me a little because I expected to get at least a level 2 core. Since this had been a much stronger creature afterall. I shrugged. Getting two is probably better than just getting one. I absorbed the cores and received the gratifying feeling of gaining more points into my death core. Opening my character sheet, I saw the fight had also gained me another level.

Rummaging through the room, I wasnt really expecting much, though was pleasantly surprised. In a stone chest against the wall was a handful of copper coins, a knowledge book for raising the dead, and a simple black buckler. Tossing my battered shield aside, I clicked the new buckler in place and headed back out of the dungeon.

That weak create undead spell seemed rather interesting. I technically knew the low-level spell, and after focusing on it I could even feel the magic. But I was curious if using this book would give me a burst of knowledge. It was well-known that NPCs functioned differently than regular players. What exactly did that mean for skill books like this one? For players pre-level 20, these books could convey huge amounts of knowledge. However, players lost that ability after level 20 if they chose to make the transition.

Transition was an option all players received at level twenty. It would allow them to integrate with the game more deeply, making the disconnect that was normally felt less. In exchange some of the more game-like aspects faded away.

As I made my way out of the dungeon, I began to read the book. It was a simple spell, relatively speaking. The undead it raised would barely last a few minutes and were nothing more than mindless creations.

Then it hit me. I wasnt having the memories pushed into my mind like beforeI was actually reading the book. Except it was more than just reading, because I was understanding the words at a level Id never experienced before. Sort of someplace between the player base skill system and reading a textbook. The book was short, and I finished it before returning to the basement.

As I was crossing the basement, I noticed the rats Id slain before. On a hunch, I cut open one of them and began looking through its guts. It was gross. After a few moments, I found what I was expecting: another death core. Pulling it free, I inspected it.

Death Core

Level: 0

This is a fragment of a death core, not even a full death core. The energy can still be absorbed, but it will take many of these to gain the effect of even a simple level one death core.

I shrugged and absorbed the core. As expected, it did nothing, but was still worth it. Gathering the other death cores from the rats, I absorbed them as I went. There was no sense bothering to go back down to the dungeon looking for any others I may have missed.

Leaving the basement, I found my backpack where I stashed it. Swinging it onto my back, I headed back up to tell the skeletal lady I was done.

For completing the quest and the hidden quest, I received five silvers. As far as rewards went, it wasnt very big, but quests like these are more about the experience. Having a few more levels can make all the difference in the world in staying alive.

Thanking the odd skeleton, I continued down the street, feeling more confident. Being a Lich was a powerful race. Even for a mere level 5 character, my stats were quite impressive.