Chapter 364: Prides mansion (2) [Not so humble beginning]
Name: Zombie
Race: Undead (zombie)
Level: 1
HP: 15
MP: 12
ATK: 11
DEF: 4
MAT: 4
MDF: 3
HIT: 8
EVA: 4
AGI: 8
LUC: 15
Skills:
Superbia (level 3)
Pain nullification (level 7)
Sleep resistance (level 9)
Acrobatics (level 10[max])
Sword mastery (level 3)
Stab (level 10[max])
Leadership (level 4)
Counter (level 5)
Rooted (level 7)
Concentration (level 7)
Emergency dodge (level 3)
HP regeneration (level 4)
Cleave (level 11)
Strong kick (level 19)
Blade storm (level 7)
Sword whip (level 6)
Throw (level 8)
Whirlwind kick (level 13)
Overpower (level 1)
Overlevel (level 1)
Undead body (level 1)
Life signature detection (level 1)
Bite (level 1)
Corpse venom (level 1)
Unlocked Affinities:
Leg power (level 12[max])
Beast master (level 3)
Titles:
Heir of Pride
Liar
Hardworker
Bane of goblins
Sigil hunter
Orcs' calamity
Troll Slayer
Undeads' calamity
Hunter
Slayer of the unique
Kingslayer
Calamity
Undead familiar
"...ha..."
Even the seven-year-old Cranberry had to sit down after reading through a note with the appraisal results such as those.
Like... what was she even supposed to say now?
It turned out that her undead familiar was a whole another kind of monster than anyone could expect.
"Whoa... my stats suck..."
Zombie peeked over the girl's shoulder to check on his results and scoffed.
|I think that they are higher than what I had as a level 1 eternal servant though.|
He added in his mind, not wanting to freak out the little girl beside him.
|Eternal servant starts off weak but has by far the greatest potential out of all undead monsters in this game - which you surely realized after you started killing the abominations like titan-class monsters as if they were cannon fodder.|
Patience responded without fail, but she didn't really have anything uplifting to say.
|Now, you better prepare to a major slow down in your training - while the stats might not be such a big problem to boost, the skills will slow down to a crawl - an undead such as Zombie isn't supposed to have any of those in the wild and the experience bonus for most of them is in the negative making it a penalty for leveling up - you will really have to do something big to level them up. Oh, and gaining levels will also slow down. But that's not something for you to worry about as since you and Cranberry still share the experience gained by you, you cannot go out hunting to make things easier for at least three years until the first-kill party.|
Patience's unskippable tutorial treat had triggered in full and she went on with the explanation.
|...yeah... that will be harsh...|
Zombie nodded in agreement to her statement and couldn't help letting out a dispirited sigh.
Then he looked up at the terribly shaken appraiser who had actually started frothing from his mouth and passed out once he initially appraised the blue undead.
Now the man was writing down the results of his skill used on Kopia in her letter-opener form, and his expression finally was becoming more healthy.
"This is nothing special, nothing more than an ordinary paperweight."
The appraiser breathed out and looked up at the Lord Blackberry standing over him with an expectant expression.
The four of them - five, including the made who guided Zombie to Cranberry's room cleaning up the table - were currently occupying the mansion's dining room, fresh after finishing a healthy breakfast.
"That's what I thought... Zombie, could you activate it?"
The bespectacled man nodded his head and called the blue boy over, beckoning him with his hand.
"Yes."
Zombie nodded, smiled reassuringly to Cranberry, and walked over, picking the letter opener up.
"A-activate it...?"
The appraiser's face became slightly green as he muttered, watching the toy in the undead familiar's hand flashing with white light and turning into a full-sized one-handed shortsword.
"Oh, but sir, you need to know that since I turned into an undead some of Kopia's form had been sealed."
Zombie spoke up, quickly coming up with an excuse to not have to sit through the appraiser checking up every single form that Kopia had,
"Oh...?"
Lord Blackberry raised his brow curiously.
"Yes. I tried it out yesterday after I put Cranberry to bed. The only ones available are this one..."
The blue boy raised and wiggled the one-handed sword around a bit.
"...and the one big one with the curly blade I used to pull in the robber."
He explained without even batting an eye, but, well, he did not have the title such as 'Liar' because he was innocent, right?
"Still good enough if you ask me. Now. Mister appraiser. Appraise it again."
Lord Blackberry shrugged his shoulders, it wasn't like he completely believed the blue boy - after all, he had seen the inconvenient title listed on the appraisal note after all - but as the undead familiar had so little health that it would be harder to not kill him if he wanted...
...even with the absolutely absurd skills and titles that he possessed.
"A-alright..."
The appraiser nodded and his eyes shone white as his hand started moving, adding to the note he had written down previously.
"Done."
The man spoke and looked up at Lord Blackberry again.
"Now the other form too."
And Lord Blackberry nodded at Zombie - who didn't have to do or say anything because Kopia herself was already waiting to change into the menacing double-handed sword with a curvy blade.
thunk
The blade had hit the floor with a dull sound as Zombie let it fell, showing that he is too weak to wield it properly to make his story about locked forms more believable.
"..."
The appraiser fidgetted uncomfortably but his eyes shone white once more and he added to his note once again - he then put the pen away and offered the note to the bespectacled man
"Interesting."
Lord Blackberry nodded with amusement and passed the note straight to Zombie - who was sheathing Kopia already in her shortsword form back into the expensive scabbard.
Kopia
'Letter sword'
Attack: 1
Durability: 20
Special ability: None
'shortsword'
Attack: 15
Durability: 250
Special ability: None
'morbid blade'
Attack: 350
Durability: 5000
Special ability: Gut wrencher
"Huh?! She has a special ability like that?!"
Zombie gasped in shock, genuinely surprised.
"You never used it before?"
Lord Blackberry asked curiously.
"Gut wrencher, as the name suggests, adds the damage to any attack on the torso, and if it activates it pulls the target's intestines out... as if the shape of the blade wasn't enough..."
He explained, unknowingly taking Patience's job.
|He's not wrong.|
Patience herself sounded as if she was frowning and scoffed.
"And I used this form on the bicorn's head?! It would have been so much better than the ultra great sword that I cleaved it with!"
Zombie complained out loud, mourning the ineffectiveness of his final fight as a living.
"Alright. For now, you two can go play. I need to talk with the mister appraiser for a bit longer, and then I'll have to report everything to my wife. Expect to be called over."
"!!!!"
At her father's words, Cranberry couldn't help but flinch, and her expression showed actual fear.
"..."
That was more than enough to enrage Zombie, but sadly, his hands were bound...
"You, take them to the backyard and watch over them."
"...me...? I-I mean, yes, my lord!"
Lord Blackberry added, motioning at the maid - who almost made a blunder again but recover quickly enough and hurriedly put down the empty dishes that she picked up beforehand.
|Lady Raspberry has to die during the Night of the hungry wolves event or else the Eternal will be unleashed onto the world.|
Patience reminded him after briefly peaking at his thoughts and seeing more than a few schemes to kill the current avatar of pride.
|I know, you don't have to repeat that again... I'll try influencing the relationship that those two have, but... I'm not too certain that it will work. If the worse comes to worst I might actually try the emergency plan... But it sure will throw everything for a loop if we go along with it...|
Zombie nodded and approached the red-haired girl.
"My princess. Why don't we go train a little? Even if your specialty is magic and the spells will unlock as you level up or under the instructions from a tutor, it doesn't mean that you can't try practicing with a weapon to use at short range."
He offered her his hand with a reassuring smile to put her mind off of the inevitable meeting with her mother, which simply couldn't end well.
"That's a good idea. Let's go."
Cranberry first looked at his hand, then at his face, to finally smile softly and nod.
"Please, follow me."
The maid spoke and opened the door for them.
|You know that lady Raspberry could be extremely problematic - even more so than she was in the first playthrough.|
Patience pointed out as the two children were walking through the hallways of the mansion, lead by the timid maid.
|She will most definitely freak out once she sees that an heir to the throne of pride has been already selected. She will undoubtedly see this as a system preparing for her death and will freak out horribly - and it's more than likely that she will unload all the fear and frustration on her daughter.|
She continued in a serious voice.
|Is that why you made me be nice to the maid? To make sure that there will be someone willing to sneak us out of the mansion when the shit hits the fan?|
Zombie thought in realization.
|Maybe yes, maybe not. Better be careful and never leave this little lady alone or it might turn bad.|
Patience still refused to answer so Zombie couldn't be sure that he was right about his guess or not.
|I just need a few more days. There's just one thing I want to try out, and then all hell can break loose - I'll be ready.|
The blue boy smirked internally and then squeezed Cranberry's hand reassuringly at which she smiled a little bit brighter.
|I knew I shouldn't have told you that that little guy isn't mandatory for any route... You are far too soft on the monsters, that's why you haven't killed any frenzy rabbits or frenzy wolves either, only the humanoids.|
The sealed overseer sight and sounded like she shook her head in disbelief.
|Cut me some slack, will you? They are too cute to be killed!|
Zombie scoffed defensively.