After I finished up my tasks in town, I headed straight back toward the forest and met back up with my minions. It was time to abuse Necromancer's greatest strength, the strength of numbers. Unlike a full party, all the experience and loot would be mine, or at least that is what I knew from video games. I could only hope that it held true in this world as well. ๐๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐๐ฅ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ฏ๐ฆ? ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฅ ๐จ๐ถ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ?
"Yosh! Time to power level! Fan out, stay within 200 meters, kill any monsters you find. Return to me in 1 hour."
After my earlier experiments, I now knew that the minions were able to use my understanding of measurements. How they were able to measure that and know how far something was or how much time had gone by.... no idea. I guess that is one I'll chalk up to magic.
"Status."
<Name: Deminas
Job: Necromancer Level: 3, Nomad Level: 3
Active Skill(s): Reanimate Level: 2, Drain Life Level: 1, Blood Needles Level: 1
Passive Skill(s): Undead Commander Level: 1, Increased Endurance Level: 1
OP Skill(s): 2nd Job (5), Small Str Increase (2), Small Vit Increase (2), x2 XP (1)
OP Points: 0>
"Now I guess I just stand here and play the waiting game."
I had considered keeping one of them with me, just in case I was attacked, but time was of the essence. I needed as many levels as possible or else I'd die later anyways. Luckily nothing had turned up to attack me.
To stave off boredom I used my time to practice my skills, [๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง ๐๐ข๐๐] and [๐๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ]. I used a tree and pretended it was Snarf. I dodged and rolled while trying to cast the spells as fast and as accurately as I could. ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๏ฟฝ๏ฟฝ๏ฟฝ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ฐ๐ต ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ.
Time went by fast, before I knew it I saw one of the rabbits returning to me, covered in blood. After that another rabbit and Tarman returned. I kept waiting, but the final rabbit never returned.
"Did it run into trouble?"
I reached out and tried to sense the final rabbit. I could sense the three minions in front me, but the last one.... was quite far away still. Furthermore, my connection to it seemed to be getting weaker.
"Cmon, follow me."
I ran toward the direction of my missing rabbit.
**********
As I got closer I heard a roar. I squinted into the growing darkness and saw it, a Forest Tiger. It looked similar to the Bengal Tiger of my world, except that it had sharp pointed ears and was jet black. It had two large fangs popping out of its mouth, similar to a sabertooth tiger, and a spiked barb on the end of its tail. ๐ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต?!? ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ง๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ช ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด? I could only hopeI would never meet a Dragon Rat.
Watching the scene in front me, the Demonic Rabbit was trying its best, climbing on the Forest Tiger and tearing into it, but it kept getting bucked off and then swatted. On the last swat, the rabbit was blown into a tree, and crumbled. It hit the tree with such force that its insides exploded out of its orifices, and inky black blood and innards splattered onto the tree.
"You mother fucker! Let's see how you do against all of us! Kill that asshole!"
It was..... a surprisingly easy fight. I had thought it would of been a tough fight like Snarf, but it felt incredibly weak to me. Against my three minions with me firing spells off in the background it went down in no time. ๐๐ข๐ด ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ณ๐ง ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ? ๐๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐๐ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ?
My minions leapt on it like ravenous animals as I casted [๐๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ]. Eventually it collapsed and I finished it off by spamming [๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง ๐๐ข๐๐]. It was surprisingly cut and dry, I didn't even enter my heightened awareness state.
"Hehehe, well since you killed my rabbit, how about you take its place? Better than waiting and getting raped by a Dragon Rat right? Arise and serve me."
With that I now had a Forest Tiger zombie. While my zombies were much dumber than their living counterparts, they were always seemed much stronger, I couldn't wait to see how fast this thing cleared out the mobs in the forest.
"Well let's get to it shall we?"
**********
I looked up at the sky, the moon was nearly gone, and it seemed like my meeting time with Taleena was drawing near. I had farmed straight through the night. It seems either my jobs or passives buffed my body. I wasn't really tired, physically or mentally, I just felt a little uncomfortable. ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต? ๐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต....๐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ฌ.
Early on in the night I had started to feel sleepy and physically drained, but I pushed through and it eventually went away after a few hours of farming mobs. This was most likely due to my level ups. The Forest Tiger zombie was indeed much more powerful, and with it I was able to more efficiently kill more Forest Tigers. This further augmented my group of minions.
With my level ups I found out that I could also now summon more minions. Right now I had twelve minions around me. 3 Forest Tigers, 1 Tarman, 6 Demonic Rabbits, and 2 boar.... things. I'd have to ask Brianna later what they were, but they looked like a mix between a porcupine and a boar with fangs. It had spike all across its back.
"Status."
<Name: Deminas
Job: Necromancer Level: 6, Nomad Level: 9
Active Skill(s): Reanimate Level: 4, Drain Life Level: 3, Blood Needles Level: 3, Reaping Scythe Level: 3
Passive Skill(s): Undead Commander Level: 2, Wanton Slaughter Level: 1, Increased Endurance Level: 2, Survivalist Level: 1
OP Skill(s): 2nd Job (5), Small Str Increase (2), Small Vit Increase (2), x2 XP (1)
OP Points: 2>
"Well.... let's hope this is enough."