Aldrich felt a strange feeling looking down at Ghost like this. The whole concept of looking down: this was entirely new to him.But he could not deny that it felt right. No, it was right.It was just.Yes, this was justice.Justice with consequences that this world lacked. Justice backed by actions, not idealism. Justice that Aldrich would make real.Justice he would rain down on all those deserving with vengeance.This was the first drop of that rain. That storm of vengeance and righteous purpose that Aldrich could now make real with his powers.As he looked down at Ghost, a screen flashed in front of him.A quest.[New quest: VENGEANCE obtained]The tab of his interface flashed with an indicator, and he mentally tabbed over to it. He raised a brow slightly, noting that the way the quest looked was…different. The words detailing it were colored in bright, bloody red, and their font looked like disheveled scratches. Distinctively sinister in appearance.VENGEANCE [ACTIVE]Difficul
Aldrich closed his eyes and sighed as he looked up to the pale moon above. Glowing waves of green energy flowed around him as he leveled up, wrapping him in an aura of power born from Ghost’s suffering.He heard the sounds of ravenous chewing, flesh tearing, and bones crunching as Adam and Elaine finally had their fill of Ghost. Their fill of vengeance. He let them eat up Ghost’s corpse to nothingness as a well deserved reward for their suffering, and also because Ghost had dropped a Soul.Aldrich would use the Soul and craft something out of it. If it retained Ghost’s powers, then an item, perhaps a cloak that could activate Phase, was going to be far, far more useful than a dumb zombie that could not reliably use the reflex and thinking intensive Phase power.In the meanwhile, Aldrich stabilized his newfound power by distributing his stat points. He started to invest more heavily into Attunement now as he had obtained the [Tome of Dark Arts Rank 2].The [Tome of the Dark Arts] were
After what felt like an eternity, Valera finally put Aldrich down. She took off her bucket-like black great helm, finally exposing her face, and knelt into the grass before Aldrich. Her face was deathly pale just like Aldrich’s, showcasing that she was an Undead just like him.More specifically, a hybrid between Dullahan and Vampire. Her features reflected this. Her sharp, ferocious eyes possessed black sclera and the pupils centered within them were a bloody, glowing crimson red.Her hair was dark black and styled in a rough, messy bob cut that went down ever so slightly to her neck. Her bangs concentrated on one side of her face, forming a sort of veil of hair that obscured her left eye.Her lips were notably black, as would her claws be if Aldrich remembered her correctly.“You look as good as ever,” said Aldrich. In proper fantasy game manner, Valera was modeled to be stunningly beautiful, and real life did even more justice to her looks than what rendered graphics, no matter how
"We have to leave this place soon,” said Aldrich. He gave a lingering look at the Sign he had inscribed. He could not stay here even if it meant abandoning the Sign and the safety of the Nexus.There would be investigations about Ghost’s death soon enough, and this part of the Variant forest was shallow enough that search parties would roam here.For the next several days at least, Aldrich needed to vacate this place.That meant no easy access to the Nexus.No quick refills on his [Restoration Flask] and access to crafting.Not until he got another Sign which he would get upon completing the first Trial Quest.“You three,” Aldrich clapped his hands and commanded the Strikers. “Scatter some of Ghost’s remains here and there. Litter this place with your tracks and claw marks.”Like this, Aldrich could ensure that anybody that found this place and Ghost’s remains would just think he had died to Variants. There would be no additional line of investigation past that.Beyond that, Aldrich h
Aldrich stepped onto the Sign and the white teleporting light enveloped him and everyone else. In the next instant, they were transported to the gloomy innards of the Nexus temple with its dull grey stone and towering, gothic style pillars.The only thing remotely colorful inside of it was the Wellspring of Life which, made of shining white alabaster and marble, positively sparkled with the blue and gold light projected from the glowing crystals hanging from the domed ceiling above.“The Nexus. To think I would return here once more with you, my master,” said Valera. She seemed happy at first, but then she narrowed her eyes. “But this place does not seem right.”“What do you mean?” said Aldrich.“The Nexus is a safe space forged by the twin gods Amara, goddess of light and life, and Sindri, god of flame and forge. There is a warmth to the Nexus that is reflected in their powers. The warmth of positive energy that is uncomfortable to Undead like us, but I sense no such thing now,” said
Aldrich and his ever-growing entourage of undead traveled through the Variant forest. He knew generally how to get to Haven, but since he had no Eye-Phone, he had no access to a reliable map.To compensate for this, he had the Evil Eye float in the air, above the tree line, to track their way through.Every so often, Valera would detect danger with her [Defender’s Vigil] passive, and whenever this happened, Aldrich would stand behind her shield and let the Evileye scout ahead with its permanent invisibility.It did not phase through solid objects, but it could squeeze through most tight gaps, and it’s omni-directional vision meant that it scoped out any threat quite easily.For the most part, Aldrich just found more Strikers for they were the most common Variant in the forest. These were easily dispatched – Aldrich himself could handily beat one with just his physical stats alone.In total, Aldrich had netted himself 5 kills and 50 EXP.[EXP Bar: 25/250 > 75/250]Eventually, after abo
You did well. Very well,” said Aldrich to Valera. He paused and gave her a nod, hoping that this was enough to make her happy. He was unused to giving out praise because of how alone he had been.The only praise he had received was from his parents, and that praise had come from a place of warmth in their hearts.It had been many years since that same warmth had been snuffed out in Aldrich’s own heart.“Thank you, master!” said Valera with a proper bow. “Mhm. Mhm.” She nodded to herself, smiling and taking in Aldrich’s praise no matter how awkward or little it was.As Valera took in Aldrich’s praise, Aldrich was occupied by the experience flowing into him.[Alpha Striker slain!][+70 EXP][Striker x10 slain!][+100 EXP][EXP Bar: 75/250 > 245/250]Aldrich sighed. Just five points off from level 7. He hated the feeling of going through a fight and being just short of leveling up. But he could not let his mind dwell on that.“Now to raise this Alpha,” said Aldrich. He stepped over to th
The Evil Eye stared down at a Variant heading right towards Aldrich, likely drawn by the scent of blood and death.It was a three-meter-tall humanoid figure with smooth, plain white skin. Its body was highly muscular, and it shambled forwards with a heavily hunched back, dragging its knuckles across the dirt. It was nearly completely featureless, its skin having no blemishes and its fingers and toes holding no nails.Overall, it almost looked like an eerie, overly muscled mannequin.Something out of a horror movie.Its spherical head lacked any real facial features as well. Just a massive, large-lipped mouth curled up into a constant half-open smile, showcasing a set of oversized human teeth that chattered constantly.This was a Geist.Among Variants, Aldrich recalled from what limited research he was able to do in Blackwater, there were three classifications.Natural Variants – these were Variants that had seemingly adapted to nature. They became parts of ecosystems and adopted the
Aldrich and Valera made their way to the Odinsons shop. It was a good walk away from the main ‘streets’ of the Settlement, taking up its own isolated territory. As he walked, he had the Evileye scout everything it could.Their shop was a large, mobile trailer home that looked somewhat like a subway car or railcar. It was long and rectangular in shape, though sizable enough that it could reliably fit in twenty people to live rather comfortably.Among mobile homes in the Settlements, this was one of the larger ones for sure, indicating that the Odinsons ranked quite highly among nomads in terms of wealth and power.The home was decked out with modifications to survive traveling through the harsh environment of the Wastelands where sand storms, torrential storms, magnetic storms, and basically any storm one could think of blasted the land.There were blinking green generators at the top of the home that likely projected force fields while auto-turrets rotated around, pointing directly at
Aldrich took in a breath as a green aura swirled around him, the experience from the Geist boosting his power by two entire levels.[+10 stat points available to distribute]“Mmmm, yes!” Valera positively moaned in ecstasy as power flowed into her, but where Aldrich’s aura was green, hers was a deep, bloody red.As a Chosen Undead, Valera leveled at the exact same rate as Aldrich, so she too had gained two levels, raising her from level 10 to level 12.“How do you want me to spend my power?” said Valera, talking about how to distribute her own 10 new stat points.“In strength, vitality, and agility where your affinities are. A three-five-two spread in those stats should work well,” said Aldrich. He wanted Valera to be as physically powerful as possible to make up for his lack of melee combat prowess.“Understood, master.” Valera closed her eyes and clenched her fists, taking in a deep breath as she used her stats.Aldrich saw her stats go up. Her class was as a Death Knight, and that
The Geist made its way into the clearing, walking Dynamite Girl in front of it to minimize risk to itself.Dynamite Girl stumbled forwards, her head still limp and down, moving with stilted, awkward movements like she was a puppet being jerked along by strings.The Geist cocked its head as it sat by the flowing stream where the Strikers had slept. In front of it, it stared down at a Striker corpse. It picked up the corpse in its large hand, raising the decently heavy wolf creature with ease to its face.With a gurgle, the Geist tossed the Striker away once it identified that it was not a human.“Gehgeh,” said the Geist in a strange, garbled, almost alien voice, though the pitch was high and curious, almost questioning.It looked ahead at a trail of Striker corpses leading into the forest.The Geist stared at the line of corpses for a second and then made Dynamite Girl walk ahead to investigate, obviously realizing something was suspicious. It sat there and stretched out its thick, mus
The Evil Eye stared down at a Variant heading right towards Aldrich, likely drawn by the scent of blood and death.It was a three-meter-tall humanoid figure with smooth, plain white skin. Its body was highly muscular, and it shambled forwards with a heavily hunched back, dragging its knuckles across the dirt. It was nearly completely featureless, its skin having no blemishes and its fingers and toes holding no nails.Overall, it almost looked like an eerie, overly muscled mannequin.Something out of a horror movie.Its spherical head lacked any real facial features as well. Just a massive, large-lipped mouth curled up into a constant half-open smile, showcasing a set of oversized human teeth that chattered constantly.This was a Geist.Among Variants, Aldrich recalled from what limited research he was able to do in Blackwater, there were three classifications.Natural Variants – these were Variants that had seemingly adapted to nature. They became parts of ecosystems and adopted the
You did well. Very well,” said Aldrich to Valera. He paused and gave her a nod, hoping that this was enough to make her happy. He was unused to giving out praise because of how alone he had been.The only praise he had received was from his parents, and that praise had come from a place of warmth in their hearts.It had been many years since that same warmth had been snuffed out in Aldrich’s own heart.“Thank you, master!” said Valera with a proper bow. “Mhm. Mhm.” She nodded to herself, smiling and taking in Aldrich’s praise no matter how awkward or little it was.As Valera took in Aldrich’s praise, Aldrich was occupied by the experience flowing into him.[Alpha Striker slain!][+70 EXP][Striker x10 slain!][+100 EXP][EXP Bar: 75/250 > 245/250]Aldrich sighed. Just five points off from level 7. He hated the feeling of going through a fight and being just short of leveling up. But he could not let his mind dwell on that.“Now to raise this Alpha,” said Aldrich. He stepped over to th
Aldrich and his ever-growing entourage of undead traveled through the Variant forest. He knew generally how to get to Haven, but since he had no Eye-Phone, he had no access to a reliable map.To compensate for this, he had the Evil Eye float in the air, above the tree line, to track their way through.Every so often, Valera would detect danger with her [Defender’s Vigil] passive, and whenever this happened, Aldrich would stand behind her shield and let the Evileye scout ahead with its permanent invisibility.It did not phase through solid objects, but it could squeeze through most tight gaps, and it’s omni-directional vision meant that it scoped out any threat quite easily.For the most part, Aldrich just found more Strikers for they were the most common Variant in the forest. These were easily dispatched – Aldrich himself could handily beat one with just his physical stats alone.In total, Aldrich had netted himself 5 kills and 50 EXP.[EXP Bar: 25/250 > 75/250]Eventually, after abo
Aldrich stepped onto the Sign and the white teleporting light enveloped him and everyone else. In the next instant, they were transported to the gloomy innards of the Nexus temple with its dull grey stone and towering, gothic style pillars.The only thing remotely colorful inside of it was the Wellspring of Life which, made of shining white alabaster and marble, positively sparkled with the blue and gold light projected from the glowing crystals hanging from the domed ceiling above.“The Nexus. To think I would return here once more with you, my master,” said Valera. She seemed happy at first, but then she narrowed her eyes. “But this place does not seem right.”“What do you mean?” said Aldrich.“The Nexus is a safe space forged by the twin gods Amara, goddess of light and life, and Sindri, god of flame and forge. There is a warmth to the Nexus that is reflected in their powers. The warmth of positive energy that is uncomfortable to Undead like us, but I sense no such thing now,” said
"We have to leave this place soon,” said Aldrich. He gave a lingering look at the Sign he had inscribed. He could not stay here even if it meant abandoning the Sign and the safety of the Nexus.There would be investigations about Ghost’s death soon enough, and this part of the Variant forest was shallow enough that search parties would roam here.For the next several days at least, Aldrich needed to vacate this place.That meant no easy access to the Nexus.No quick refills on his [Restoration Flask] and access to crafting.Not until he got another Sign which he would get upon completing the first Trial Quest.“You three,” Aldrich clapped his hands and commanded the Strikers. “Scatter some of Ghost’s remains here and there. Litter this place with your tracks and claw marks.”Like this, Aldrich could ensure that anybody that found this place and Ghost’s remains would just think he had died to Variants. There would be no additional line of investigation past that.Beyond that, Aldrich h
After what felt like an eternity, Valera finally put Aldrich down. She took off her bucket-like black great helm, finally exposing her face, and knelt into the grass before Aldrich. Her face was deathly pale just like Aldrich’s, showcasing that she was an Undead just like him.More specifically, a hybrid between Dullahan and Vampire. Her features reflected this. Her sharp, ferocious eyes possessed black sclera and the pupils centered within them were a bloody, glowing crimson red.Her hair was dark black and styled in a rough, messy bob cut that went down ever so slightly to her neck. Her bangs concentrated on one side of her face, forming a sort of veil of hair that obscured her left eye.Her lips were notably black, as would her claws be if Aldrich remembered her correctly.“You look as good as ever,” said Aldrich. In proper fantasy game manner, Valera was modeled to be stunningly beautiful, and real life did even more justice to her looks than what rendered graphics, no matter how