First Minion

"Just what is burdening my soul?"

Nox couldn't be sure what exactly the cause was, but he was convinced it had something to do with his strange circumstances.

"I live on Earth with a weird, supernatural power. Then, I die and manage to reincarnate here where I miraculously end up as a Necromancer despite it defying all the common sense I've learned about this world. Things are definitely suspicious."

For a moment, a short conversation Nox had with Leonard flashed in his mind,

- - - - -

"Who was the God that died?"

Those words made Leonard grimace uncomfortably. After what seemed to be an internal struggle of some sort, he finally managed to squeeze out a few words,

"That would be....the God of Death"

- - - - -

When Nox first heard about the enigmatic God of Death, he felt that he was likely linked to his condition. Now, he was doubly sure that the God was somehow involved.

"I have all of these Death powers that I shouldn't have. If the God isn't related to this, I'll eat Bull-Horse crap."

The only question was, how was a dead God involved in all of this? Nox was beginning to think that maybe the story people knew wasn't so straightforward.

Regardless, there was little he could do about things now. For now, he had to set out some goals for the near future.

"There's a few things that need doing urgently. First up, I need to understand my new powers. Then, I should make my way to the nearest city. We're quite a way away from the Capital, but there should be a different city nearby."

Unfortunately, with the desperate escape over the night, Nox was rather lost. He could only hope to find a road nearby.

"It's a pain, but if I can get access to a temple then I might just have a shot at understanding what's going on."

The optimistic thought had little practical use, however. Just thinking about the logistics of returning to human civilisation gave him a headache.

"This forest is practically crawling with rogue monsters from the dungeon breaks. If I come across even a single Rank 2 beast I'm screwed. Hell, even a High-Level Rank 1 would give me a run for my money."

With his escort of guards, he had nothing to worry about, but alone, every corner might hide a deadly threat.

At the thought of his guards, and his Uncle Aaron, Nox debated over heading back to the campsite. There would likely be lots of supplies and even a map to guide him on his journey.

With grit teeth, however, he decided against it. While he couldn't be sure, if any of the guards were still alive, they would surely want to accompany him. He would either end up in the midst of the Capital or far worse: back home.

Nox couldn't risk being exposed right now which meant his best chance of staying hidden lay in keeping to himself. He thought a silent prayer for his companions before moving on.

"Looks like getting stronger is priority number one."

With this thought, he approached the two corpses a short distance away.

Looking at Rana's mangled corpse, he let out a glum sigh,

"I'm sorry, friend. Let's see if we can bring you back."

Nox stretched his hand out towards Rana's corpse and mentally commanded.

[Raise Undead]

A swirl of sinister energy escaped from Nox's palm and surrounded the body.

[Attempted To Raise Rank 2 Level 4 Spider-Wolf: Failed]

[At Rank 1, Level 1, Requires 1952 Willpower]

The energy dispersed ineffectually.

"How much? I have ten! How am I supposed to get that much Willpower? And Rana is only a Rank 2 beast for Heaven's sake!"

After his brain threatened to explode, Nox re-read the system's answer.

"At Rank 1, Level 1? So the Willpower needed is affected by my current level? How much would I need if we were the same Rank and Level?"

The system promptly responded to the mental question,

[To Raise a Rank 2 Undead of equal Rank and Level, 10 Willpower is required]

"So, the requirement isn't fixed but proportional to my own Rank and Level. Interesting. Looks like I'm going to need to level up a little first if I want to bring Rana back."

Given that, Nox decided to shift his focus over to the other body present. His poor Bull-Horse had truly been mangled. Its legs were crushed, and it was missing a horn. It made for a sorry sight.

The Bull-Horse was only a weak Rank 1 beast, so Nox was more optimistic.

[Raise Undead]

The sinister energy was released again, but this time, it began to seep into the creature's skin. The body began to writhe around on the ground as its deformed limbs snapped back into place.

[Attempted To Raise Rank 1 Level 2 Bull-Horse: Succeeded]

[8 Points Of Willpower Occupied]

[Willpower: 2/10]

Nox's mind immediately felt strained. He felt a little disoriented at first but managed to get a hold of himself.

"Maybe I should leave a little more excess in the future. I need to maintain my clarity where possible if I want to survive."

He excited looked towards the corpse that began to raise itself from the ground. The horse's eyelids bolted open and revealed two dark abysses, like Nox's own eyes. The beast looked towards the sky and neighed harshly.

Its voice had gained a guttural aspect that made it a lot more threatening. Its body was much the same with its dead hue and missing horn.

A window appeared in Nox's mind once his first minion was raised.

***

Corpse Steed - Unnamed

Rank: [1] Level [2]

Race: [Undead] Master: [Nox Clark]

HP: [7/7]

SP: [3/3]

MP: [2/2]

Strength: [16 (12)]

Dexterity: [12 (9)]

Resistance: [10 (8)]

Vitality: [8 (6)]

Intelligence: [2 (2)]

Willpower: [4 (3)]

Active Skills: [Power Stomp]

Passive Skills: [Mount]

Unique Skills: [None]

Racial Skills: [Dead Body]

***

Nox approached his new companion and rubbed his hand along its coarse skin. He could feel how cold it was immediately. There wasn't even a hint of lively warmth, nor could he feel any heartbeat.

In response, the beast nuzzled its head into Nox's arms which gave him a short laugh.

"Looks like the status for minions is pretty different" Nox thought.

The steed had no experience bar like he did, meaning it had no ability to level-up.

"Makes sense. I'm the one with the Gift, not it. It's a shame though."

The next thing Nox noticed was that all of the creature's stats were lowered for some reason. He could only assume that a skill was responsible.

***[Power Stomp]: Using 1 SP, Minion delivers vicious stomp attack dealing between 40%-60% of Strength Stat in damage. Has chance of stunning opponent.***

"That's some pretty good damage. One or two of those could easily cripple someone."

Nox cringed a little at the thought of the beast's hooves crashing through someone's ribcage.

***[Mount]: When ridden by Master, Minion's stats are boosted by 10% ***

"Now that will definitely come in handy. Even the extra travel speed will be a huge help in getting to the next city."

At the thought of that, however, Nox realised that there was no way he could keep his Minion with him in the City. Perhaps he could leave it outside of the city while he went in alone? He'd be taking a pretty big risk by leaving without one of his best defences, but it was a risk he'd have to take.

"Next is Racial Skills, huh? I don't have any of those. I guess it's true that humans are the least gifted of the races."

From what he knew, the Elves and Dwarves both had Racial Skills, but not humans. The thought that he was on the backfoot from the get go was a little depressing, but then he remembered his Unique Skills.

"I've got nothing to complain about" he chuckled to himself.

*** [Dead Body]: Minion is a member of the Undead Race. Minion is immune to pain, poison and mental suggestion. Stats are capped at 75% of total. ***

"That explains the stat differences. It's a shame that it's weaker but the immunities are bound to come in handy. Pain immunity specifically means that it will carry on fighting no matter what. I think that's worth a few stat points."

"I guess you're going to need a name, then. I can't just call you horse all the time."

Nox stared at his companion, specifically its bull horns. Well, the one that was left that was.

"Aurus. That's your name from now on."

Aurus stared blankly at Nox's face in confusion, its tongue dangling out of its mouth and digging into its own nostrils eagerly.

"2 intelligence, huh? Makes sense." Nox shook his head in embarrassment at his 'threatening' steed's dumb appearance.

[Minion Name (Aurus) Registered]

With the Gift's conformation, Nox decided to set off into the woods. Hopefully, he'd come across a few weak beasts without much trouble.

Heaving himself atop his steed, Aurus abruptly turned serious. The Bull-Horse's eyes began to glow in a sinister azure light.

[Mount Skill Activated]

"Time to get out of here" Nox thought, sparing a glance back at Rana's lifeless body.

"I'll be back. Wait for me."

The duo of rider and steed headed into the vast, sprawling wilderness.

Unbeknownst to them, a small blue bird was following them from a distance.

- - - - -

Meanwhile, back at the Clark Castle.

Winston Clark sat in a quaint, mellow room on the top floor of the castle. The lighting was dim and warm whilst the furnishings were dark and tasteful.

The room was mainly filled by large bookshelves along the two lateral walls. Straight across from the door was a floor-to-ceiling window that looked out upon the sprawling golden fields. In front of it, a simple dark wooden desk lay.

Winston sat in front of the desk rifling through the several books spread across it. As much as he pursued the route of a Warrior, he couldn't avoid the need for administrative work. There were several problems in his small fief that couldn't just be solved with the swing of a blade, much to his dismay.

After a few moments more, he finally closed the books and leant back in his leather chair. He shut his eyes and massaged his temples in exhaustion.

Winston could charge headfirst into an army of Deathkin full of energy, but put him in front of a desk, and he'd last no more than a few hours.

Eventually, he stood up to stand by the window. Looking outwards towards the beautiful full moon, he adopted a dispirited expression. He stood in silence, his thoughts a mystery.

After a while, however, he heard the slow trickle of water. Without looking back, he asked sternly,

"Leonard. What are you doing back already?"

Haggardly, the old man replied,

"I am sorry Winston, there was an...accident."

With those words, Winston appeared to disappear from the spot. Before Leonard could even react, the man was in front of him, examining his wounded figure.

"What. Happened." He enunciated each word slowly, a domineering presence growing in the room. The wooden furniture began to creek worryingly. Winston's eyes began to glow a radiant red.

Feeling stifled, the old man quickly explained,

"There was a Deathkin attack. At first, I thought it was just a Mid-Rank Necromancer, High Rank 5 at most. I managed to take care of his Minions well at first, but then he brought out a... Corpse Giant."

Winston quickly interjected,

"Impossible. A Corpse Giant would be Rank 6 at least. How could a Rank 5 Necromancer control such a thing on top of his other Minions?"

With a dark grimace, Leonard answered,

"That was my thought exactly. Regardless, I eventually managed to take it out and the Necromancer with it at the cost of my current state. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse after that."

The old man began to cough and splutter. He had to take a few moments to catch his breath before he continued.

"I caught up to Nox, but it was too late. He was already gone."

Those words caused the domineering pressure to double in intensity. The wooden desk crashed to the floor as its legs gave in with a loud bang. Winston's eyes began to turn from red to a menacing blue.

Leonard could barely breathe under the pressure. He barely managed to squeeze out a few words.

"WIn..ston...I am..not...done...yet..."

Leonard seemed to lose control of his powers in that moment, some of his blood successfully spilling onto the floor.

Winston seemed to regain himself a little as the pressure lessened enough for Leonard to catch his breath haggardly.

A few seconds later, he rapidly explained,

"When I went to take Nox's body away, I was blasted away by a Lich's Death Bolt. I suspect the Lich was the Corpse Giant's true master."

The word 'Lich' made Winston's face scrunch up tightly in disgust.

"I could barely move. All I could do was watch as the Lich tried to do something to Nox. I couldn't see what exactly, but I doubt it was anything good. That's when things really got weird, though."

Winston's eyebrows raised.

"After a few moments, the Lich was completely gone, not a trace of it left. Then, Nox began to stand up as if nothing happened. I know it sounds crazy, but I swear on the Gods it it true. Afterwards, he started doing all of this strange Death magic. It was like he was a completely different person."

Death Magic.

Winston's fears all came to fruition with those words.

"Are you sure that it was Nox you saw? And he was definitely performing Death Magic?" he inquired hastily.

Leonard could only shake his head.

"That's the thing. It was all so strange. It definitely looked like Nox, but I couldn't be sure. I thought it could have been the Lich in disguise or something. In the end, I decided to use a tracking spell and come back here as quickly as possible."

Winston didn't say anything else and simply turned around, stepping over the remains of his desk. He proceeded to stare into space through the window.

"You should go and get patched up, Leonard. I'll take care of it."

Leonard simply nodded and crumbled into a puddle of water that sunk through the floorboards.

Winston was left to the solitude of his thoughts.

"Please, Gods, watch over him." he prayed silently, seeming to come to some sort of realisation.

As Winston continued to stare out of the window, he suddenly saw a small, strange light in the distance. It appeared to flicker between being dark and light. It was hard to differentiate in the shadows of the night, but his superior vision made it possible.

In that moment, Winston's eyes widened like saucers. He abruptly vanished.

A split second later, a projectile surrounded by a sinister and sacred energy came hurtling through the windowpane. The entire study room exploded in a rumbling cacophony.