O, Your Holiness!

Chapter 3: Before the Adventures Begin

"Hey, Narrator," O called out to the voice in his head as Narrator. Narrator was actually not the correct term, but he didn't care. "Where am I?" 

""You are in Magna City, Master,"" the manly and macho voice seemed not to mind being called by the Narrator. ""You are now in the catacombs under the City of Magna."" 

"Hoo, graves, huh," O stroked his non-existing beard, "So I was reborn as an undead in the city's catacombs." 

O didn't protest. He had fully accepted his fate. Instead, he showed interest now.

In his previous life, O often heard about the catacombs in other countries which became tourist destinations. So far he had only been able to experience it via the internet, dreaming of visiting the catacombs as a tourist. Too bad that his salary as a teacher didn't even allow him to have a nice vacation in his own country. However, take a look now, he was in a real catacomb, not a virtual tour let alone just seeing pictures. 

O couldn't wait to explore the catacombs where it comes to life. However, before that, he had to prepare everything first. Success in RPG games was always determined by its preparation. Moreover, O felt that there would be no third life if he died out there. 

"Narrator, show me my status!" 

"Yes, Sir." A few seconds later, a screen appeared in O's vision. 

Name : O 

Assimilation rate : 0.1% 

Race : creature of darkness

Species : Lich (imperfect) 

Status : Lich (beginner) 

~Affinity: 

Neutral ??? 

Fire ??? 

Water ??? 

Air ??? 

Land ??? 

Darkness??? 

Light ??? 

~Scriptum: ???

~Skills: 

Locked 

(See skill list) 

"Eeeh! Why am I already a Lich?" O, again, protested over his fate. "I want to be a Death Knight! A Death Knight!" 

In the games and stories he had experienced, the Lich was a type of undead monster that mastered various kinds of magic, while the Death Knight was an undead monster that had combat skills with superior physical strength. O prefered fighter characters. To him, swinging a sword and shooting arrows was way cooler than casting long spells that sounded ridiculous and produced visual effects that hurt his eyes. 

""The Lich has greater strengths, Master,"" The Narrator's tone sounded like it was refuting O's thoughts. ""The Lich will not die even if its body is destroyed. As long as the core crystal is intact, the Lich will live forever." 

O's attention was drawn to his chest cavity. Behind the sternum and ribs, a clear crystal with an irregular shape floated in the middle. It's very small--only the size of a thumb. The size did not match what O had seen in movies or games so far. Perhaps that's what makes his species have the description 'imperfect'. 

"Live forever? Hoo, not bad..." Despite saying that, O was actually still feeling disappointed. He wanted to be a Death Knight, especially one that swings a large sword while riding a horse that was also a skeleton. 

"Oh, there's no HP (health point) or MP (magic point) system. There's no stat points to determine my power level either. That means my death is determined by the physical damage level of the core crystal, while my power level is determined qualitatively." 

O got to grips with the system quickly. Of course, his profession as a teacher did not prevent his passion for playing video games. He still played regularly, though not often as he was young. Many people in his previous life thought that playing video games was a waste of time, but playing video games could actually train one’s critical thinking, strategy and decision-making skills. 

"Show me the skill list!" 

""Yes, Master.""

A new screen appeared. In that screen, the list of abilities in grayish hue dropped all the way down. 

~Magic Skills List~ 

Offensive Magic 

Defensive Magic 

Support Magic 

Summoning Magic 

(See the magic list) 

As one might expect, a Lich possesses many types of magic. However, O was not interested. Instead, his attention was drawn to the list of abilities on the next page. 

~Art of War List~ 

Arts of Armament 

(View list of Arts of Armaments) 

Fighting Techniques 

(View List of Techniques) 

“View List of Weapon Arts! 

~Arts of Armament List~ 

Staff (locked) 

Mace (locked) 

Shield (locked) 

“….” O lost for words. He hoped to find a sword technique in the list. He imagined himself like a knight class in RPG games who could create an aerial slash from a swing of his sword.

“Aw, lousy. Only three types. All of them are blunt weapons too." 

Deep down, O still dreamed of becoming a Death Knight. Maybe other moves could be obtained later, O thought, trying to cheer himself up. O's fleshless palms clenched, making aching cracking sounds. 

“”Magic has many advantages, Master. The Arts of Armament requires Aura, a special energy that only certain people can posess. While magic can be used anywhere as long as there is Mana, energy that exists everywhere on Valandria.” The narrator assured O as if he knew what O was thinking. 

“Meh.” O ignored the Narrator's words. He then cast his gaze once more around the room. Even though there was information that he had yet to uncover, O was no longer interested in the list of abilities that he expected would continue to disappoint him. The next thing he did was look for items that could support him. A weapon for example, of course, would be of great help to him. 

"Empty," said O after he finished looking around. "Surely this corpse used to be penniless and poor when alive, ha ha ha!" 

“”Um…”” 

“You said something?” 

“No, Sir.”” 

“Very well.” Finding nothing but the flickering candles in the corner of the room, O's attention returned to the coffin. No matter how poor, there must have been quite a bit of property taken by the dead, right? Even if it was only a funeral clothes. 

"Oho! Look what we found!” O found a wooden bat. It was shaped like a baseball bat but longer than his height. "What is this? A long club?" 

""You can check with identification magic."" 

O ignored the Narrator again. He didn't care about magic. O then swung the staff in the air a few times, then at the coffin lid. 

BUMM! BUMM! BUMM!!! 

"Hiyaa! Dog-Beating-Stick Style!” O screamed while imagining his favorite cultivation warrior movies. 

“”…”” 

“Okay. Looks like this club is decent enough.” O stepped towards the closed wooden door. It was unlocked, but a knob mechanism prevented the door from opening by itself. 

CLICK! 

O turned the knob and opened the door to the next room. He imagined a staircase leading to the surface of the grave; into the dimly lit atmosphere, a wider area, and of course an exciting adventure and exploration of places with amazing scenery. But when the door was wide open, an equally dim hall greeted him. At the end of the hall passage, a black silhouette was moving … The silhouette suddenly stood straight, and immediately ran towards O! 

~To be continued~