Chapter 12

****Author's Note****

Hey Everyone! You know what's coming this chapter right? Are you as pumped to read it as I am to write it? Also, the first 5 chapters have been rewritten into the correct tense now, so if you want to check out the changes, feel free to go give them a perusal.

Some of ya'll might have noticed as well, but the fiction has new cover art, and It. Looks. Sick. My patrons over on Patreon got to see it first, along with some exclusive concept art. Since I'm finally finished rewriting the first 5 chapters, patrons should expect to see an uptick in early access content as my full focus will be on getting content out this week. Lastly, a bit of an update on the fiction itself. We're at #841 out of 39,000+ with 492 followers, 88 favorites, and 70 ratings! This is Huge news for us, I never expected the heartwarming support and love I've received here, so thank you all very much. Ya'll are the best readers that an author could ever ask for.

If you haven't had a chance to Follow, Favorite, Rate/Review yet, that's totally okay also! Thank you for being here.

****End Author's Note****

Chapter 12

As long as the souls of the pack were left to whatever peace may await them, Drew held no reservations about using his raise dead spell. Although the thought of the spell itself seemed somewhat morbid, would it not be almost considered a sin not to use every bit of what the animals left behind? That was the mantra most hunters held within their hearts. Well, the hunters that weren't pricks anyways. Some hunters were complete dicks though, the ones that would pay for extravagant guided hunts in third world countries just so they could kill some exotic animal, stuff it, and then brag to their friends about it.

That wasn't Drew however. He believed that if you killed something, you should make use of everything that had practical value. Right now, that practical value meant having summoned pets for additional security for his home and family. Morbid or not, if they were useful, then he saw no reason not to give it a shot, especially when he began to think about the idea of a herd of wild boars mutating and turning into hyper-aggressive beasts.

Drew chose the leader, his first victim of that awful spell to raise first. He focused on the pile of remaining bones that had collapsed into a heap and concentrated on activating the spell.

*THUMP*

A beat full of base reverberated out from the core in Drew's body. It wasn't a pain, nor did it feel like any spell he'd used prior. It felt...

*THUMP*

The second beat almost forced him to his knees, but the spell involuntarily forced his back and knees to straighten until he was as rigid as a board. Those beats... it was as if the bass of a concert or club song had pushed through his core. It wasn't like he wanted to almost fall over.

*THUMP*

"Ooof" Drew's lungs forcefully expelled the air they'd previously held.

He quickly gasped for air as he felt an absolute flood of mana begin to drain from his core and into his feet, like a water faucet left on the highest setting, it just kept pooling into his... the mana began leaving his body completely. He shifted his vision to his feet where he saw a flat, one inch line of translucent purple flow like water toward the pile of bones. In seconds the pink-purple line reached the heap, from which a circle flowed around the outskirts of the mound.

When the circle was nearing completion, Drew felt the faucet that was determining the flow of his mana loosen even further, strange eldritch squiggles formed outwards from the circle, and each squiggle seemed very different than the other next to it, as he tried to focus on one he felt a sharp pain immediately pierce his mind almost causing him to black out from the agony. But Drew couldn't scream any longer, no, his mouth was moving of it's own accord, and the sounds that were coming out from it sounded harsh and guttural, without any meaning to his ears.

Another circle of the ethereal lilac light formed past the scrawls of illegible writing, then something clicked into place as eight streaming columns of illumination shot upwards, each an equal distance as their peers on the outermost circle. Slowly the pressure built as Drew watched each column split into two at the top ends of each pillar. As split ends arched towards the center, right above the mass of calcium the coyote had left behind, the column's split ends converged, each formed a point on a cube, or rather... a cube within a cube? Each corner junction of the outer cube fed a line to an outer corner of the inner cube.

Another click was felt in Drew's mind. All he could do was stare as the cubes began to...envelop each other? The inside becoming the outside and the outside becoming the inside. He had to turn his eyes away as watching the cubes felt like they were about to bring on another piercing pain in his head, yet somehow, when he thought about the shape he could picture it in a two dimensional layout within his mind. The outer shape was an octagon, and within it was an eight-pointed star, and within that star yet another eight pointed star lay. Finally at the innermost section of the two dimensional diagram lay another octagon. Fundamentally he understood this extremely complex symbol, yet when he looked at the cubes it represented, pressure began to build behind his eyes and temples.

How long had he been here? How long had this spell taken? He no longer felt weak from those previous beats, but his mana was still draining quickly... what happened if he ran out? Drew did not want to find out the hard way, he'd rather ask Spock.

*CLICK*

A final click, this one audible, like the gears of some metaphysical engine that he held no concept of, they snapped into their correct positions. Shapes and details began to warp on the outer edges of his vision, almost bleeding together as time seemed to slow ever so slightly. Smells... he could smell things. What were those scents? He focused his mind on the feeling of the scents as he tried to pull each one apart to determine their origin within his nostrils. Fresh dew, a morning shower of rain in the spring, fruits...berries...vibrancy...life. Then the second grouping came, cold, foreboding, limitless, depth... but without a smell he could truly recognize. The third wave flowed into his nasal orifice...semi-sweet, sick, almost sulfur, Drew knew this one from earlier tonight. It was rot. It was death.

Life, Death, and something that was cold and full of limitless depth... darkness? No. Shadow. That was what the skill description had said were the affinities of the spell. The cube within a cube of ethereal lilac light faltered in their endless cycle of devouring each other, and then snapped flat... into the diagram of the two-dimensional representation Drew had seen within his mind. From it's center a pale light gathered, pulling the translucent illumination from all other sources as they dimmed. Drew finally felt his mana shut off from his core.

Once all the luminosity gathered into that singular point, a pillar of purple radiance shot downwards and towards the sky simultaneously. The light hit the pile of bones, enveloping both the grouping, and each individual piece at the same time. He could see a thin film grab ahold and coat everything remaining. One by one each bone began to lift into the air, and as if some grand design was being followed, they slid into their proper places while guided by the strange film of purple. Seconds passed until, like a star being lifted to top a Christmas tree, the skill was gradually lowered onto the vertebrae of the the coyote's neck.

From it's floating position several inches off the ground, the column of light cut off from the skeleton it had constructed and shot off into the pitch black of the night sky. Drew's future pet dropped to the ground with a light thud and then... Nothing? Several seconds passed as Drew focused on the collection of animated bones to see if his spell had been completed successfully. Right when his eyes dragged themselves to the empty sockets of the creature, there was a spark. Like flint and tinder being smashed together with great force, a baleful green blaze erupted from the eye socket facing him, until it died down to a simmering emerald flame.

Drew collapsed to the ground, all his muscles simply giving out and finding a hole to crawl into. They hadn't decided whether or not to die yet, the night was still full of possibilities. He lay there in the meadow of dead and brown grass, unable to move even a finger. Was this what happened when he used too much mana? It didn't feel good at all. If he had to rate it for others, he'd put it below a swift kick to the balls, but slightly above a date night at Applebee's.

At the same time, he could tell the spell had been completed successfully. Why? Well, he was keenly aware of an inactive and unmoving presence at the edge of his mind. When he focused on it, his vision changed and he could see the body of a man just laying completely comatose five feet from his perspective. His perspective? No, that wasn't right. It was his new pet's! He was seeing his own crumpled form from his pet's eyes! How cool.

Time to experiment a bit then! Drew tugged at the thread of connection in his mind that connected to his pet, forcing his will into it. Slowly his pet begin to gracefully walk forward and begin to encircle his body. He pulled slightly and retracted his senses from the skeleton and found himself seamlessly back within his own body. He watched with his own eyes as the bones of the coyote walked around him. His body was still not responding, so he had to strain his visual organs to follow the creature when it came to awkward angles. Hmmmm... could he perhaps...could he maybe use the senses of both his form and that of his pet at the same time? Ohhhhhhh. He could!

However he began to feel a strain in his mind after a short time and pulled back, so to only focus on his own sense. He could feel when the strain started to stretch him thin, it seemed that the dual senses were limited for the time being. Maybe when he received more stats it would be easier. Still, he had a summoned pet now, and it rocked! He sent a mental command to it telling it to guard him while he recovered. He felt a shift within the boney critter and a type of simple affirmation come through the link. Was it intelligent, or was it's mind a simple construct? Something to explore.

Drew exhaled. He had successfully summoned his first pet, or was it a minion? He had a successful hunt, even if it went awry with that wicked spell. Now he just had to wait to regain function of his body. He wondered how long that would take as he stared off into the distance. A bright flashing in the corner of his vision interrupted his thoughts. Oh yeah, he had snoozed his notifications! Guess it was time for them to kick back on. Well he had nothing else to do at the moment, might as well check them out.

*DING!*

You have slain [Wild Coyote (Grade - F) - lvl 0] x7
Experience earned

Class: [Caster] has reached level 1

Class: [Caster] has reached level 2

Race: [Dhampir (Grade - F) ] has reached level 1

Attribute points allocated - You have 4 Free points available

*DING!*

Title Earned [Forebearer of The Descent]

Title Earned [The First Necromancer]

Title Earned [Curiosity of the Divine]

No wonder the notification icon had been blinking rapidly enough to be a strobe light. He had far more notifications than he thought he'd end up having, and now that he was looking at them it was a lot to process. He understood why he had gained experience, and why his class had gained levels... but why did his race gain a level? He hadn't exactly done anything Dhampir-y? Yeah, definitely not. No blood sucking, no shredding shit apart with his sharpened and pointed nails, so what caused it? Add that to the list of things he needed to ask Spock about, the same list he was one hundred percent certain he'd forget because he hadn't written anything down.

Those titles were another thing entirely. The last time he'd received a title, it wasn't a minor boost. He'd gotten +2 in every stat, which was insanely powerful considering his current stats. But what had he done to earn the current ones? He needed to check his status, but those titles were too exciting to pass up, so he focused on them to expand their information.

[Forebearer of The Decent]
Earn experience and gain a level prior to the Descent of The System on a pre-integrated world. Grants +2 to all stats.

Holy crap! Another +2 to all stats just for leveling up? He wasn't going to complain, but that seemed like a huge reward for such a tiny bit of work. Why was he getting such a powerful reward for something that, although it was cool, was honestly rather mundane? What was it that Spock had said when he first met him in the tutorial about being a progenitor? The goal was to boost survival rates in small groupings of individuals... but why?

Why not give everyone a one-time boost instead of just the progenitors who level up before The System arrived? Did The System think that strong individuals would gather larger groups of people together to survive since normal folks wouldn't be given the full tutorial? Eh, too much to think about, and no answers were coming. Time to check out the other titles.

[The First Necromancer]
The first being on a world to perform a necromatic action, spell, or ritual. Such a deed will surely impact the Records of the individual and open more paths in the future. Grants the following advantages: All necromatic actions, spells, or rituals are 25% more effective, for 10% less material and mana cost. Risen minions will be slightly more intelligent and capable of processing complex commands. Grants the Skill: Death Toll (Grade - Common).

Uhhhhh...what? Alright, he needed to piece this together one thing at a time. The description mentioned something about records... was he being recorded somehow? It would be pretty shitty that The System takes away all electronics, but he's still getting put on candid camera. No, that didn't sound right, nor logical. Ask Spock! Damn it, he really needed to start carrying a pencil and paper to take notes. Anyways! Spells and stuff would work better and cost less if they were part of the necromatic school.

That part was pretty awesome, because just summoning the one minion had knocked him on his ass. But now his boney buddies would be slightly smarter? Drew really, really hoped that didn't mean any undead uprisings were in his future. He signed up for these critters so they could help protect himself and his family, he didn't want to wake up and have a horde of skeletons outside his house with pitchforks and torches. But at least he got a new spell! Oh... it was common? That had to be better than inferior right? He'd take a look at it in a minute. Onto the last title.

[Curiosity of the Divine]
Congratulations! You have drawn the attention of one or more Divine beings. Many throughout the history of the multiverse have attempted to be noticed by Divine beings in one form or another, yet here you are. You've done something that many people spend their entire lives trying to accomplish. Such a deed will surely impact your Records and open more paths in the future. Grants: You have been Marked by Raynalyr, The Baleful Lady. Her gaze is upon you.

"Oh fuck."

That didn't sound good at all. No, no it did not. An actual god? Or rather, goddess? Because, of course gods would exist. Souls were apparently a real thing, so why not make divine beings real too? Stupid fucking System. Isn't doomsday bad enough, now he had some big and powerful being that was watching him, and knowing his luck, he'd end up being struck by lightning or something. Why the hell was some all-powerful thing watching him?

This was too much to process right now. He needed to get back to Spock ASAP. Drew forced everything from his mind as he rubbed his temples with his hands. This shit was giving him a headache. Wait... he could move his hands? Damnit! How long had it been since he could move again? Drew forced himself up and off the ground from the collapsed heap he'd been in, every joint in his back, leg, and neck popping as he did so.

"Well, that was highly uncomfortable."

It was time to head home. Drew walked to the piles of bones that still littered the ground as his minion followed behind him. He threw all the bones into his spatial inventory, and began the trek back to his house. Fun fact about spatial inventories, it basically opened a small portal into a pocket dimension where he'd previously thrown his two guns before heading out to hunt. All he had to do was consciously think about placing or retrieving items in that space and the portal would pop into existence. He'd place his hand into the portal and automatically know how to retrieve anything within.

He glanced behind him as he started to make his way back through the small wooded area heading to the hill he'd first spotted the coyotes from. The coyote minion was still following him, that was good news. He'd need to get some practice in using it at some point. But for now, he needed to consolidate his gains and check his status.

Status

Name: Drew Wright

Race: Dhampir (Grade - F) - lvl 1

Class: [Caster] – lvl 2

Profession: None

Health Points (HP): 120/120

Mana Points (MP): 21/160

Stamina: 120/120

Stats (Attributes)

Strength: 11

Vitality: 12

Endurance: 12

Toughness: 13

Agility: 9

Perception: 15

Intelligence: 16

Wisdom: 20

Willpower: 13

Free Points: 4

A surge of energy tore through Drew's body as he stumbled. He braced himself by placing his hand on his knees as he hunched over. Everything felt as though a coursing river of whiskey or fireball was rampaging it's way through every part of him. It wasn't exactly painful, but it... itched? Yeah, that was the best way he could describe it. An awful, terrible itching sensation that made falling into a fire ant mound seem like a pleasant vacation to the beach. The worst part? He could barely move, he had to focus just to keep standing, yet his body twitched in response to the horrid itching nonetheless. As quickly as it came, the itching blissfully faded.

Was it due to his stat gains? Probably, it was the only thing he could think of. He'd gained...forty attribute points all at once?! Wait... how did he do that math so quickly? Sure it wasn't difficult, just basic addition, but he'd processed it in less than a second! Holy hell! Was that due to his intelligence jumping up four points by itself, or was wisdom in play also? Plus he still had four free points to spend...but what should he spend them on?

Well the main thing he needed to concentrate on right now was survival. He'd already doubled his vitality and endurance, and almost doubled his strength and toughness. His mental stats were extremely high... so what did he need? More health would be good, toughness should help reduce damage, but... what about agility? It had been his weakest stat when he'd gotten The System, only at four points, but now it was at nine, which was good, but it was still lagging behind... maybe agility then. He'd take less damage if he could get out of the way and dodge, or even run faster. Fight or flight. If he had to choose to flee, he damn well wanted to make sure he was fast enough to do so. Agility was the choice then.

The itching came again, but it was far more subdued. Drew barely noticed it as it quickly vanished. Alright, well that answered that question. It must have itched so badly from gaining those forty points all at once. Well, his agility was now at thirteen, more than three times what he'd started with. He wondered how fast he could get back to the house with that much of an increase. He sent the mental command to the minion to keep up with him, as he started to flat out run.

How fast could Drew make it back to the house? Fast. Real fucking fast. With his increased perception he could easily spot any obstacles in his path while running at full speed, which allowed him to easily avoid areas that he'd normally trip over or have to pass carefully. He sped through the trees at an incredible pace, he felt like an athlete or someone who ran all out every day of the week. Even his minion was struggling to keep up with him, as he blazed through the wooded area like an obstacle course. This was freaking awesome!

He wished he'd remembered to set the timer on his smart phone as he looked out of the forested area and saw his house. He'd never been fast, and he'd always hated running, but now he didn't even feel out of breath. It had to have taken at least ten or fifteen minutes to get back home, which was incredible in itself as previously it'd taken him about an hour and a half of stalking through the woods to find the coyotes. But the fact that he wasn't out of breath was even more amazing. Sure he'd worked up a sweat, but he could probably handle more running if needed.

Drew glanced back as the calcium coyote finally trotted next to him. He guessed he must have left it in the dust a bit back there. Oops. Spock and everyone else was probably sleeping already, so it was time to take a shower and call it a night. He needed to get some more sleep for all the crap tomorrow. He gave his minion the command to stay put near the house in the wooded area, so it didn't run off and frighten any of the nearby cows or folks living in the general area.

It had been a productive day.

****Author's Note****

Soooo... what did ya'll think?? This chapter was a lot of fun to write, but it was also highly challenging as well. Designing that raise dead spell from the ground up, each phase it would go through, and how it would appear to Drew was crazy technical. I actually spent a fair bit of time on this chapter, both in designing and describing the spell, and also looking up different words and phrases. I feel like my writing has improved since I first started by a fair amount, and my vocabulary has grown a bit also.

There may, or may not be a chapter this Sunday, as I need to work on getting content out for both Royal Road and Patreon, and I want to make sure the quality is there, especially if I need to make a chapter a bit longer like this one was to set the scene correctly. So just a heads up!

****End Author's Note****