The system gave him a clue, the whisper of hope, and Shinra took it. His desire for more power, more reach even, in this tense situation was palpable. Maybe because he didn’t have time to think, or maybe because he was holding his short sword in one hand and his shadow blade in the other, but his need crystallised into one idea.‘Shadow Katana,’ he thought, and his shadow wakizashi unformed and slid over the dragon short sword. The shadow was so dark, it was almost bright as it covered the sharp blade. First it moulded tightly around the blade, then the short sword burst into an exceptionally long black katana in his hand.There was no time to think, as he gripped the new blade with two hands and swung down at the huge fireball upon him. The outer flames whipped around it, unaffected. When it reached the bright orange sphere within, it parted it like a wisp of silk. The blade touched an inner space that was a pale yellow, and it cut through with the light resistance of an apple.
"I won. Holy shit I did it!"Shinra fell to the ground in the courtyard, surrounded by bodies and blood but untroubled, finally.He knew that this quest was going to be tough, as Tim wouldn't have made a penalty for non-completion. Wondered how bad that penalty would have been? After all if the system could make him stronger, it could also make it weaker right? He couldn't imagine losing any of the power and advantages he had gained. Or what if the system made him go blind as a punishment? Shinra shuddered.His adrenaline had been high, but he was starting to feel his injuries now. He had been hit hard by that stone shard spell, and he was glad he didn't have a mirror to see how burnt up the rest of his body was. If it was anything like his hands, then he was going to need to spend a lot of money with a healer.Money he didn't have. Couldn't go to the staff healer the sheriff's either, because they would note it and that there would be some uncomfortable questions about what he got up
Shinra was surprised. ‘Shadow Heal isn’t one of the skills in the list. Does this mean they are all low level skills? Or are there a tonne of skills that the System just doesn’t show me?’Either way, this wasn’t what he was expecting. ‘Healing is high level magic… what does Shadow Healing mean? Am I a mage now?...’ He knew he wasn’t though. He looked around and did not see the primal flow of mana in the world. He was a zombie. One with interesting skills, but a zombie all the same.“Unless a Ninja is a different class of being?” The head Assassin said Ninja enough that it did make Shinra wonder. Not that he had time for that mystery right now. [Skills Status:][Skill Points: 20][Tier 1][ Active: Fade | Sprint ][ Passive: Silence | Knife Mastery | Assassin Kata | Archery | Wall Climbing][Tier 2][Passive: Deadly Aim][Hidden Path][Passive Skills: Critical Strike | Daemon Prediction ][Shadow Path][Active: Shadow Strike* | Shadow Meld* | Shadow Heal* ][Passive: Vampire
Raisd was having a weird night. Actually, everyday had been weird since his betrothal. He couldn't get over the fact that suddenly people knew he was an active part of the imperial family. Well, maybe vampires didn't count as people, but they knew. If that was all that had changed, he could deal. After all he had been in military intelligence, and had infiltrated many places as part of his work, including the deputies office. Unfortunately he was quickly apprised of how different human and vampire customs were. Which was why he was lying in bed with General Mimi right now. Uncomfortably. Wrapped up in his own blanket and wearing a full set of clothes. He wasn't 100% certain, but he was pretty sure that she was naked under the thin sheet she had draped over herself. He made sure all the lights were off though and just laid there staring up at the ceiling in the dark. It had been like this for a few days now, ever since the rest of the vampire delegation went back to their capital
“Filthy blood slut," was all the lesser Earl of Clodven had said. It wasn't a nice thing to say about anyone, and Raisd had heard much worse. This time though, it was directed at his betrothed.To his credit, Raisd showed enormous restraint by only breaking the man's nose. The young lesser Earl and his friends didn't agree, and so now Raisd was in an honour bout.“The first to ten wins the bout,” one of the hangers-on was intoning, "and may request an honour payment." “I think I'll ask for one of Its fangs," the arrogant noble said.Raisd paid him no mind. ‘Foppish, useless nobles think life is a silly game. This bout is probably the highlight of his week’. He knew the type well. The lesser Earl’s father, or grandfather, had been useful to the Empire once upon a time, but then they produced entitled, talentless wastes of flesh like this. The patriarch of the family has probably all but disowned him.‘If I'd punched Shinra, he probably would have punched back and we'd be having a
"Take that, you little shit." The speaker had a loud and high pitched voice, the kind that set your nerves on edge just hearing it. The man was on the short side, with fat cheeks, and a round belly pushing the front of his rich green robe forward. He waved his hand and the teenager in front of him was knocked back into the alley wall. A groan escaped his lips as a puff of dust billowed away from the brick surface. His long dirty hair fell across his face, but he still looked up at the mage who was hurting him. "I don't know why all of you zombies haven't been sent to the mana stone pits. What is the point of living without magic?" the chubby man said. He snapped his fingers and the air shimmered around the boy, as if from a great heat, then the boy's clothes lit on fire. "Arrrgh," he yelled, not looking defiant any longer. He rolled on the dirty cobblestones of the street, through puddles of questionable origin, but the flames didn't extinguish. He started tearing off his c
“He certainly bled enough,” Sheriff Wintersbane said, looking down at the pudgy corpse. He pushed his dark curls from his eyes as he looked around the alleyway. Even in mid-morning, it was still dark here. ‘Perfect spot for an attack,’ he thought. “We’ve identified him, Sheriff sir. This is Bannon Brightbough...” a young constable in navy robes said. He nervously adjusted the badge of office pinned to his breast, a gold heart with scales in the foreground. “Brightbough. Dammit. I don’t suppose, miraculously, he isn’t related to Advisor Brightbough?” “His Nephew, Sir.” “Shit.” Wintersbane looked at the scene more closely. “This murder just became a lot more important Constable. Lock this scene down, and then get the head analyst down here as soon as possible,” he said, then turned away. “Where are you going? Sir?” “I need to go tell the Emperor’s Advisor about his nephew. Wish me luck.” He waved as he kept walking to his carriage. The same symbol was emblazoned across
The sun was rising higher as Shinra walked away from the gate, having had no trouble leaving. ‘Guards are always happy to see Zombies leave.’ This close to the gates, he wasn’t worried about his safety yet, but he had a few kilometres to travel before reaching the Zombie tent village he lived in with his sister. A small group of younger men and women walked with him along the way. Shinra tried not to look at them too closely, but he could see the bruises and damage typical of Zombies that worked ‘night shifts’ with the cruel mages. ‘Everyone needs to find a way to help feed their families, but I will never let my sister lay with a damn Mage.’ It was just part of their life, Zombies weren’t even second class citizens. As Shinra saw last night, a mage wasn’t worried at all about killing him. ‘The rules aren’t enforced equally. I guess it is better to get paid for what a mage could do by force,’ the thought made him sick. Then he remembered that the Mage last night paid with hi