[Rebooting][3…][2…][1…]Shinra sat up straight and braced for excruciating pain. His hands were already pressed against his temples to try and hold off the headache when he realised that, not only did his head not hurt, but he could move both arms.‘What the hell…’ he thought, and then pulled aside his makeshift bandage. Only smooth skin was visible beneath. Not even a scar. He looked around, and he was still in the blood soaked room he’d battled the Assassin in. ‘I guess a cleared base is as safe as anywhere to pass out,’ he thought. Was there less blood than he remembered? ‘That huge puddle must have leaked between the floorboards,’ he thought.“I’m alive… I’m alive! System? Am I ok?” He didn’t feel terrible before the upgrade, but he knew that was probably due to blood loss. Now he felt… better than ever? He jumped up from the floor, and he almost hit the ceiling before he landed silently on his feet. ‘Holy $hit!’ Even before, as his strength and speed stats had ste
“The secret to magical combat is…” the fat young man said, his mouth splitting wide in a grin. He looked like a roasted ham, glistening with fat and oils. His audience was a group of 3 well dressed ladies, and, somehow, they seemed very interested in what he had to say. “Being more powerful than everyone else!” He threw his head back in a laugh, then downed his drink. He made a rude motion to a passing waiter for another.The girls all tittered behind their gloved hands, looking both elegant and childish in the same instant.‘I guess he is someone important?’ Raisd hated the politics and intrigue of the palace, and couldn’t stand all the people constantly flouting their importance. He knew it was because he himself was so important, and he didn’t want to be. ‘The Emperor has let me hide in the background these last few years, but that is about to change. The second in line is going to get a burst of attention.’ He almost laughed at the thought. The Emperor’s successor changed
Shinra had always been a curious boy. Ever since he could remember, he was always asking questions of his parents, the village elders, anyone who came by, even the village priest. That is until his Father told him why the priest wasn’t looking out for him. His Father didn’t believe in a religion that said Zombies were outside of the circle of God’s love, and that is why they were bereft of magic. “That is just the bull$hit they are selling so even Zombies will listen to the priests.”“But why, Father? If we already don’t have magic, how much more can God punish us?” Shinra had asked.“You see Son, you’re talking as if the priest is right, and we are being punished. That is how they want us to think. So when they tell us to do something for the church, we will. And if we listen well, maybe we will have magic in the next life. That is all garbage.” His Father told him this while working in the back garden, planting the vegetables they would later store for the winter.“So it is
Shinra felt more powerful than ever. Creating Shadow Meld seemed to free something in his mind. Or his soul, he wasn’t sure which. ‘I wonder if this is how mages feel when they wield magic. Do they feel it on their skin? Alive with possibility?’ He could sense shadows in a way he couldn’t before. He was a part of them now, and it was closer to magic than any Zombie should be able to do. ‘Am I really a zombie if I have the system? I’ve changed so much…’Honestly, he had barely been a teenager when he acquired the System, but his sister might not recognize him now. His body was covered in muscles, well defined and lean like a boxer. He had grown taller too, and his face had the angular look of someone much older. His eyes had a depth to them that was new. He’d already understood loss and pain, but facing death and danger had forced him to mature in unexpected ways, and his eyes betrayed a hard fought wisdom.In the last 2 hours, he had gone from a young man who had dealt out
“Being a noble is really going to interfere with my work! How can I do Military Intelligence when every noble within a day’s travel was here tonight?” Raisd was doing his best not to shout at the Emperor, but he was feeling stressed.His anonymity was very important for the Military, and for the Sheriff’s too. At least he wore a helmet in the Arena, so Dsiar could probably still compete…“Think of it this way. You have been promoted into greater responsibility, Raisd,” the Emperor said. His eyes twinkled as he looked at his great great grandson over the rim of his wine glass. The Emperor had been in a great mood all day, and Raisd assumed it was because he liked seeing him so uncomfortable.“Emperor. I don’t want to be embroiled in politics, I want to be contributing to the Empire. In the Military I found threats to our stability and peace. With the Sheriffs, I protected the people of the Capital. As a Noble, I’ll just be attending parties and arguing about legislation in the
‘7 more left, probably.’ The Manor house was really big, and easy to infiltrate. The guild felt safe here, clearly, and didn’t have locks or sentries on the doors. It was too easy to slip in through the window of the receiving room and fade into the background, waiting for a target.He had acquired all new weapons, armour and gear from the 8 corpses in the town houses. He was surprised to find that almost all of them had blades that were clearly designed for throwing. Several had leather belts of knives that made it easy to pull a knife from under a jacket, or from the hip. ‘I guess killing from far away is part of the trade,’ he had thought.He’d found a tight fitting vest that looked like cloth but was cut proof, a pair of boots that felt like something a noble would wear, and a light jacket with a clever setup to hide a short sword. Everything seemed spelled for defence, and now he knew that, someday, he’d be able to understand the weaves, maybe.He picked up two high qualit
The room was so bright, it was hard to believe it was in an underground house. Maybe that is why they lit it so extravagantly with magic bulbs and sconces, in defiance of the surrounding darkness. Great brightness created deep shadows, but Shinra didn’t have time to play with shadows, because even greater brightness was heading his way.He didn’t need to be a mage to see the magic bolts, fireball, stone shrapnel, and intense blue power blast heading his way, or that the mages were still chanting and casting. ‘They were fast,’ flashed through Shinra’s mind, but his vision was filled with data.This is when Daemon prediction showed its true worth. He could see the trajectory of each attack, and he knew that if he didn’t move, the stones would miss him, but everything else would hit. More than seeing where and when the attacks would land, the data revealed the safest path forward to avoid the attacks. Except it wasn’t forward. Shinra felt like he had all the time in the world to m
The money had started coming every week. Naori was very confused at first, after all, a mage on a horse wearing some sort of uniform just arrived at her small little hut and handed her the sack with coins in it."You must have made a mistake," she had said. The man didn't have much to tell her other than that there was no mistake, Naori was the addressee. Every week the same man came to deliver her a small sack of coins, and every week she tried to get more information from him. All she learned was that the money was coming from a mage named Wintersbane, and that he sent it from the Sheriff's headquarters.Naori was young, but she knew that this wasn't normal. After 4 weeks, she had more money than she'd ever seen before, and she cried. A lot. She wished her parents and Shinra were here too.After 6 weeks, she estimated there was enough money for them to move to a better home and not work for over a year. Without Shinra though, she didn't need a better home, so she might not have
In the middle of a fight is when Shinra felt most certain. He wasn’t thinking so much as assessing and deciding in real time. It was happening faster than thought, and it was addictive.He looked at the wand, death in a slim package, bearing down on him.‘I just need to be somewhere else,’ he decided. His vision highlighted vectors for diving, rolling, and jumping to avoid an attack originating at the sword tip and covering an area of 2 metres around it. He couldn’t just avoid the attack though, he had to finish this one off before the other 4 combatants got their shit together.He jumped, hard, into a forward twisting flip, easily clearing the guard. Even in Daemon time, he could see the surprise on the man’s face as a powerful green blast made a crater in the f
Shinra’s vision filled with the measurements, vectors, grids and critical strike paths that he basically associated with life, but now knew was his combat vision.[Ready?][Status: Shinra][Health 3000][Shinra: Death Stalker - Assassin: Tier 2, LvL 5 ][Shinra: Night Squire - — : Tier 0 ][Experience Points: 77,500 | Skill Points: 0][Stats][ Tier 2: Strength | Speed | Dexterity ][ Tier 0: Intelligence | Wisdom | Charisma | Magic ][Skills Status:][Tier 1][ Active: Fade | Sprint ][ Passive: Silence | Knife Mastery | Assassin Kata | Archery | Wall Climbing][Tier 2][Passive: Deadly Aim | Deception | Visual Reflexes][Hidden Path][Passive Skills: Critical Strike | Daemon Prediction ][Shadow Path][Active: Shadow Strike* | Shadow Meld* | Shadow Heal* ][Passive: Vampire Vision ]“Who the hell are you?” Loren was saying, even as her wand came up. Shinra knew she might be able to handle this all on her own, she was exceptional.The chains hit her face and torso, knocking the wa
Shinra was leary of all magic, so he almost bolted from his place as soon as he saw the glowing sphere hanging in the air. Well, he did bolt, but luckily he heard Loren’s message from the hall. He was still trying to wrap his head around what she said, even as he stood in front of her door. ‘Naori was here?’Shinra loved his sister, he never had any doubts about his feelings towards her. She was the kindest, most capable, and brilliant person he had ever known. And, though he spent every moment since his parents died trying to take care of her, he knew she had taken care of him even more. Being in the city without her had been difficult, but, if he was honest, he worried about her less after sending her his wages. ‘My life has been pretty complicated this last little while,’ he thought. He knew he was making excuses. He did believe her life would actually be better without him. She was more resourceful than he ever was, and the other villagers liked her much more than him.‘So why
The room was Pitch Black, so Raisd wasn't sure if his eyes were open or not at first, so he blinked a few times. ‘Definitely open.’ The fact that he was lying in a bed instead of bleeding in a gutter was a good sign, but he wasn't sure of anything else. He slowly moved his hands down his chest and body, feeling for any bandages or gaping wounds.‘Huh, not only am I naked, I seem to be in one piece.’ Which was amazing in and of itself, because the seven finger Gremlin counter attack is enough to kill most mages. Clearly he was both lucky and, maybe, tougher than he thought.He tried to stand, but that is when he noticed the weight across his legs. Not able to see, he reached down and realized the weight was a pair of legs draped across him. His fingers traced their way up those legs until he found their intersection. It was warm there, and his fingers were tickled by the fine hairs they brushed up against. ‘God I hope this is Mimi,’ was all he thought before the
“I promise, it is usually cleaner here,” Loren said as she rushed around trying to stuff books and scrolls back onto the shelves while gathering up a precarious pile of dishes. She definitely didn’t care what the place looked like when Naori’s brother broke in. Funny how something so random could lead to Loren trying to clean her place. She looked over her shoulder to see Naori just standing still, eyes widened by the mess, no doubt. ‘I need to distract her maybe? Where am I going to put all of this stuff!’ Loren was not used to caring what anyone thought about her, her space, or anything she did, really. “Wow. Just…. Wow,” was all Naori said, eyes still wide.‘Oh god, she thinks it is worse than living on the streets, she’s never seen anyone live like this… dammit!’, but what Loren said out loud was, “I just need a few more minutes. Why don’t you sit down over … “ except she hadn’t cleared any of the seating surfaces yet.“This is the most amazing home I’ve ever seen! It is
The office was surprisingly orderly for an assassin, Shinra thought. Tastefully arranged sofas, end tables with a high polish, and a full bookcase. He went straight to the desk though, to see if he could find what the assassin guild leader was talking about.‘Would it just be on top? Is that too easy?’ Shinra looked, but the few pieces of parchment on top of the desk were innocuous bills and tally of equipment. He opened the top drawer and only saw quills and inkstones. The larger drawer underneath was locked.“Why don’t I have lockpicking skills? I can do everything else…” He flexed his newly healed hand, still amazed at how whole and pain free they were, after the devastating burns he’d suffered. “Well, I’m strong enough to just rip it open,” he said, then gripped it tightly and pulled with all his strength.He felt the small release of power, ‘shit,’ he thought and then flung the drawer behind him as hard as he could. It was the right move, as the entire desk exploded in a sho
“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
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
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