Equipment, and the Mire

I took my 10 gold coins with me as I went hunting for a better set of equipment, but I noticed some people following me as I left the guild, so I decided to catch them first. To do so, I took a shortcut through an alleyway, and stopped once they'd followed me in.

"Evening, gentlemen. Could I trouble you to lead me to your mothers? I expect at least one of them would catch my eye, considering the fact that I like ugly old- well, that's not nice. Time for me to fight back." (Hope)

I dodged the punch of the first man, noticing the fact that the others had drawn their respective weapons, and smiled.

"Free EXP, free money, at the cost of cleaning out some scum of the earth. Shadow Light" (Hope)

I gained enough EXP from the first three followers to level me up to 12/40 and 12/35, and then realized that the undead under my command probably were in need of EXP too.

"What... what is this? M... monster!" (Follower)

"Oh, I'm not the monster. This is the monster. Come out, Dullahan" (Hope)

Dullahan, a knight made of sinister black and red armor, his helmet tucked under one arm, appeared next to me, similarly sinister sword in his other hand, while backed up by half a dozen skeletal knights, who were basically skeletons wearing dark blue heavy armor, each wielding a sword and a shield.

"Go feast on those four, if you wish" (Hope)

"Happily, my lord!" (Dullahan)

Dullahan took on one of them, the other three each engaging with two of the skeletal knights. Whenever one knight was destroyed, I pulled out another to replace it, as I gathered its armor into a pile. 7 skeletal knights later, all of the would-be robbers were dead, and the bones from the fallen knights were used to make skeletal armor with Create Bone Equipment, which was then hidden away by Hidden Bone Armory. The skeletal knights took the extra armor from their fallen comrades with them when put away, for use later. I also revived the seven as zombies who put on some of the armor before getting put away. Those four gave me and my class another 10 levels, so that was nice. They must have been strong, maybe C- rank? Uuuhhh... If that's the case, my Shadow Light is too strong, being able to kill three at once. Now, onto finding armor... I wish... I got nothing. No armor better than my bone chainmail. No staff better than my current one... The only useful thing I could find was a better pair of boots for 6 silvers, or slightly over half of a gold.

"Well, I guess I can look for some more undead-related requests. I would like to get my level a bit higher today, but that's probably not happening" (Hope)

"If it's undead you want to kill, I know the place to go... for a price" (Old man)

"What would you like? Money? Information? Food?" (Hope)

"Money is fine. 1 gold coin, and you'll have a limitless supply of undead to kill, if they don't kill you" (Old man)

"I'll give you 5 silvers now, and if I like what I hear, I'll give you 6 more. Deal?" (Hope)

"6 up front, 6 after" (Old man)

"6 and 5" (Hope)

"Fine. 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6! Go to the Katze Mire, half a day's walk southeast. There's enough undead there to make a human reach his level cap!" (Old man)

I handed him the rest, figuring that either it would pay off or I'd lose a gold coin. That'd hurt, but the possibility of a great farming ground was too tempting to pass up. Immediately after, I left for the Mire to find... it spawns undead, but mostly just goblin shamblers, which give almost no EXP, and it takes them three hours to respawn once killed. Therefore, I camped out in the Mire for three days, at night, waking up once every three hours to spend half an hour clearing the area, then sleeping for another two and a half. During the day, I wiped out a larger area, and so, at the end of the three days, I'd risen... a mere 20 levels. I reached my level cap, rose to Lesser Elder Light Lich, and picked up the Bishop class because I'd forgotten to do so before.

[Hope has leveled up to level 40]

[Hope's Priest of the Dead class has leveled up to level 35]

[Hope has evolved into a Lesser Elder Light Lich]

[Hope's Priest of the Dead class has reached max level]

'Class Change to Bishop' (Hope)

[Class changed to Bishop]

[Unlocked new skills: Purge; Bless. Upgraded skills: Dark Mending; Shadow Light; Heal; Cure; Dispel; Purify; Holy Light; Banish Undead; Recover]

[Unlocked new class options: Saint (Bishop), Shadow Bishop (Bishop+{Shadow Priest})]

[Race changed to Lesser Elder Light Lich]

[Rank increased to B-]

[Unlocked new skills: Touch of Undeath; HPR Boost (L); MPR Boost (M). Upgraded skills: Dark Mending; Shadow Light; Banish Undead; Tame Undead; Control Undead; Create Undead; Undead Fervor; Convert Undead; Drain Touch]

[Rank increase has leveled up Dungeon Management to level 2]

I then tried to stay there for longer, but got frustrated with the pace at which I leveled. Another four days, and I rose to level 20 in both, needing level 50 for both of them. However, just as I was getting discouraged, Dullahan pulled on my sleeve to grab my attention.

"My lord, the negative aura of this area has reached a critical point. I estimate that an undead of A- rank, or maybe B+ rank, will soon spawn. We should leave the area and report this to the guild" (Dullahan)

"Not at all. We should tame the newborn undead, to increase our forces. Now that you mentioned it, I can tell the same thing, and more. My gut is saying it'll appear a bit north of where we are, and in about ten minutes too. Let's hurry!" (Hope)

"Very well, my lord. I still don't like this course of action, but I have faith in your judgement" (Dullahan)

"By the way... it's annoying to have to say Dullahan all the time. Could I call you Han?" (Hope)

"If my lord wishes to call me Han, my lord can call me Han" (Dullahan)

"Very well. From now on, I shall call you Han" (Hope)

Several minutes later, we arrived in the clearing that I thought would spawn the high-rank undead, and not a moment too early or too late, as we barely had time to stop moving before a dark mist gathered and coalesced into the form of an A+ ranked soul eater, a massive, deep blue horse with black and white flames around the hooves, tail, and mane, as well as streaks of the same colors moving around in its translucent body. It was followed by three knight mares and a terror stallion, in other words, three beings similar in appearance to the soul eater, save for being much smaller and covered nose to tail in black and silver armor instead of being fringed with monochromatic flames, and one similar in appearance to a soul eater but fringed with light blue flames and having an oddly mismatched exoskeleton, ice forming underneath its hooves with every step it took. Knight mares are B ranked, terror stallions are B+ ranks.

"Tame Undead" (Hope)

[Tame Undead has failed. Soul eater is now alert]

"Tame Undead. Tame Undead. Tame Undead. Tame Undead" (Hope)

[Tame Undead has failed]

[Tame Undead has failed]

[Tame Undead has succeeded, Knight Mare has become a follower. EXP gained]

[Tame Undead has succeeded, Terror Stallion has become a follower. EXP gained]

"Convert Undead. Convert Undead. Convert Undead..." (Hope)

[Convert Undead has failed]

[Convert Undead has failed]

[Convert Undead has failed]

[Convert Undead has failed]

[Convert Undead has succeeded, Knight Mare has become a follower. EXP gained]

[Convert Undead has failed]

[Convert Undead has failed]

[Convert Undead has succeeded, Knight Mare has become a follower. EXP gained]

[Convert Undead has failed]

[Convert Undead has failed]

[...]

[Convert Undead has failed]

[Convert Undead has failed]

I kept trying to convert the soul eater, until it attacked, at which point I changed tactics. I defended with the skeletal knights, and healed them up constantly with Shadow Light while killing off the remaining knight mares and terror stallions it summoned. I have a hunch that the lower an undead's HP is, the higher the chance to tame or convert it. As such, after several tens of minutes, I tried a bunch of casts of Convert Undead, to no effect, so I went back to farming his summons. It was slow, as it took a dozen or more casts of Shadow Light to kill a knight mare, and twice as many for a terror stallion. It also slowly burned through my supplies of undead, so I switched to blocking with knight mares. An hour later, I was getting tired, even with my undead body that doesn't actually need rest, though I like to sleep. However, my fatigue was eliminated by my advancement to an Elder Light Lich, at the same time that my Bishop class maxed out. That provided just the boost I needed.

[Hope has leveled up to level 50]

[Hope's Bishop class has leveled up to level 50]

[Hope has evolved into a Elder Light Lich]

[Hope's Bishop class has reached max level]

'Class Change to Bishop of the Dead' (Hope)

[Class changed to Bishop of the Dead]

[Unlocked new skills: Bless Undead; Corpse Explosion; Bone Explosion. Upgraded skills: Dark Mending; Shadow Light; Tame Undead; Undead Fervor; Convert Undead; Control Undead]

[Unlocked new class options: Saint of the Dead (Bishop of the Dead+{Saint})]

[Race changed to Elder Light Lich]

[Rank increased to B]

[Unlocked new skills: MPR Boost (L); MPE Boost (M); MP Drain (S). Upgraded skills: Dark Mending; Shadow Light; Banish Undead; Touch of Undeath; Tame Undead; Control Undead; Create Undead; Undead Fervor; Convert Undead; Drain Touch]

[Rank increase has leveled up Dungeon Management to level 3]

Well, I thought it would provide the boost I needed. Sadly, it didn't. While Convert Undead rising two levels is good, it just isn't good enough to catch that soul eater. Similarly, Corpse Explosion can't do anything because there are no corpses to explode, just empty suits of horse armor... and some exoskeletons, which I could make blow up, but... those bones were too scarce to do much damage, and shrapnel going my way would be bad, to say the least. Wait, I'm undead... no, I'd still take damage. That's removed as an option. Another half an hour passed, and someone came close enough to hear my fight, or perhaps they saw the light through the trees. Either way, they came closer to talk.

"Hey! That's a big ghost horse! Someone's alone while fighting it! Let's help him!" (Man A)

"It's the right thing to do. I'm in!" (Man B)

"I'll provide support, I guess" (Woman A)

"Tch. I'm against it, but I'll help out, since it's otherwise unanimous. Seriously, who's the leader here?" (Man C)

"Stay back! This thing's a soul eater, an A+ rank on its own! - Shadow Light! - I can hold it off as long as it takes - Shadow Light! - for me to whittle its health down, but it - Shadow Light! - feeds on the souls of those it kills! Just run! - Shadow Light!" (Hope)

"We can help! We're A ranks!" (Man A)

"Stop. The guy wants us to not help. What's your name and rank, kiddo?" (Man C)

"Adventurer rank C, intrinsic rank B. I started out this hunt at C+, but all of this EXP... It's glorious!" (Hope)

"Eh?" (Man B)

"Sorry... - Shadow Light - I lost my head a bit. Name's Hope. See, - Shadow Light - gaining EXP this fast is addictive, or at least, it gives you a high like no other - Shadow Light - but... I really can handle this" (Hope)

"Mind if I take a few potshots at the mooks with Banish Undead?" (Woman A)

"I do. Those things are my sustain. I lose those, and - Shadow Light - I can't continue leveling fast enough to regain my MP, at which point I'd die. - Shadow Light - So, please stay out of it!" (Hope)

They left, vanishing into the night, and I realized I'd forgotten to ask them not to tell the guild about me or the soul eater. A full day and a half passed, and I'd gotten to level 59/60, and there was a veritable mountain of armor parts and fragmented exoskeletons around our dueling grounds.

"This is the spot, right?" (Man D)

"This is where that C ranker was fighting, yes" (Man A)

"Be careful, there's an A+ rank monster around these parts, unless it's fled after killing him. Be on g-" (Man D)

"DAMN YOU! - SHADOW LIGHT - STAY AWAY! NOOOO!" (Hope)

"Sounds like he's barely holding out! Hold on, my friend! Help is on the way!" (Man D)

"HELP YOUR ASS! This thing is headed your way! I almost had it!" (Hope)

"Oh shit..." (Man A)

"All or nothing!" (Hope)

As the soul eater burst through the wall/pile of metal and bone between it and the large group of people, I cast a spell.

"Convert Undead" (Hope)

"GHHYYAAA! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" (People)

[Convert Undead has succeeded, Soul Eater has become a follower. EXP gained]

[Hope has leveled up to level 60]

[Hope's Bishop of the Dead class has leveled up to level 60]

[Hope has evolved into a Greater Elder Light Lich]

[Hope's Bishop of the Dead class has reached max level]

'Class Change to Saint' (Hope)

[Class changed to Saint]

[Unlocked new skills: Miracle; Divine Cure; Light of Judgement; Mass Healing. Upgraded skills: Dark Mending; Shadow Light; Heal; Purge; Bless; Cure; Dispel; Purify; Holy Light; Banish Undead; Recover]

[Unlocked new class options: Shadow Saint ({Shadow Bishop}+Saint)]

[Race changed to Greater Elder Light Lich]

[Rank increased to B+]

[Unlocked new skills: HPR Boost (L); MPE Boost (L); MP Drain (M); Necrotic Storage. Upgraded skills: Dark Mending; Shadow Light; Banish Undead; Touch of Undeath; Tame Undead; Control Undead; Create Undead; Undead Fervor; Convert Undead; Drain Touch; Bless Undead; Corpse Explosion; Bone Explosion]

[Rank increase has leveled up Dungeon Management to level 4]

I instantly put the soul eater, as well as all of the other undead horses, into my subspace, and sagged to the ground.

"You okay? What happened to the soul eater?" (Man D)

"I... tamed it... I couldn't kill it before it killed you all and restored itself to better than its optimal condition, so I went with an all or nothing attempt at taming it. I'm a necromancer... kinda... I'm not hurt, I'm just tired from spending about two days fighting that thing, changing classes three times in about the same span of time. Meet a Saint who dabbles in Necromancy. Kinda. I'm going to be a Saint of the Dead soon, then I'll be working towards Shadow Saint once I max out Saint of the Dead" (Hope)

"I've never heard of either of those classes. Come on, let's go back to the guild, and I'll hear the whole story there. Oh, right. I'm the guildmaster, a former S rank by the name of Mirus. Nice to meet you" (Man D -> Mirus)

"The full story is basically what you heard here... ah, first things first. We can't let these materials go to waste, right? Lemme grab them, just a moment" (Hope)

I used Necrotic Storage to store the corpses, to the surprise of several onlookers. The only thing Necrotic Storage can do is store plants and dead animals, or parts of either, but it has a large storage space that prevents decay to compensate for it, large enough to store the remnants of all of the knight mares and terror stallions that had made a small mountain near my fight with the soul eater. Three minutes of running around to have all of the parts within range of my usage later, we left to head back, the group of 20+ adventurers going with us. Once we got back, I went with Mirus to his office to give a full report.

"So, first off, you informed us you'd gotten the Death attribute, but... Necromancer needs Dark as well as Death and Healing. How'd you get that?" (Mirus)

"I... spent a long time surrounded by skeletal knights, using their bodies as shields, so I was wrapped in their aura for a while, I guess. I got the Dark Taint there, I think. I didn't really pay attention to my attributes for a while recently, not since I got the Death Taint when my party was wiped out. Regardless, I am a Saint, so I'm immune to the emotion-changing effects of Taints. That's part of the reason I was out so long so much recently, my wanting to grind out levels to reach Saint, as well as avoiding people until I'd gotten the Taints under control. Once I got Bishop, I decided to go for Bishop of the Dead, an advanced version of Priest of the Dead, which is an advanced version of Necromancer. Now that I have Saint, I'll go for Saint of the Dead, followed by Shadow Priest, Shadow Bishop, and Shadow Saint... but, first things first, I have some sleep to catch up on... I haven't slept in three days or more. Anything else you want me to do or say before I do so?" (Hope)

"Sell the parts of the things you killed, register your summons with me, and... that's about it, I think" (Mirus)

"Very well. I have a Soul Eater, who I'll name Blue Death. It has the Control Undead (3) skill, so it has 10 Knight Mares and 5 Terror Stallions of its own. I have 18 Knight Mares of my own, 6 Terror Stallions, 11 Skeletal Knights, a Dullahan with 10 Skeletal Knights under it, and 3 Mini Skeletons" (Hope)

"1... 19... 25... 36... 37... 40? You have Control Undead up to level 8? HOW? WHAT THE HELL?" (Mirus)

The thick and heavy wooden door flew open, and two people in the guild's uniform burst into the room.

"Eh? What's the matter? Why'd you raise your voice?" (Guild staff A)

"Because I found out this guy has a skill at level 8. LEVEL EIGHT. That, in and of itself, means he's eligible to become an A rank... speaking of ranks, what's yours now? You had been an intrinsic D rank, right? Surely it's gone up with all that you've done recently. I've never heard of a Saint below B-, after all" (Mirus)

"I'm at B+, but I think I'll reach A- pretty soon, once I return to grinding out levels in the Mire. Also... I have Banish Undead at level 10, so level 8 isn't my highest" (Hope)

"Le-lev-le-level 10? Even an S rank wouldn't be guaranteed to have one at 10..." (Guild staff A)

Oh... I guess I should hide that... and the fact that Shadow Light is at 10 too, in addition to my being an undead.

"I've changed my class several times recently, and when my party was wiped, something happened to make it be such that I have a chance at doubling my skill level gains upon class change" (Hope)

"Ah... that's an island of good luck in an ocean of ill fortune if I've ever seen one. [Demonic Spear] Iroh has a similar skill, but it only works on new skills he learns, making them start at level 2 or a stage higher than normal. However, his always works... even so, that's the closest I know of, and I think yours is better. It's almost like having a race that can evolve. What's your level now? 80?" (Mirus)

"88, 7 EXP away from 89" (Hope)

"Well, I think I'll promote you to A rank. Seeing as how you are good at dealing with undead, I have a request for you that I think you'll like" (Mirus)

"Sir, you can't mean..." (Guild staff B)

"The Death Knights under a Lesser Ancient Lich, yes, I do mean that one. It's an S- ranked request, but I think you can handle it if you're careful" (Mirus)

"Probably... but... first, sleep" (Hope)

"Oh, right. Go rest. Come back tomorrow or the day after, and your card will be ready" (Mirus)

I left, went to an inn, rented a room, and slept for a few hours. After that, I warped to my dungeon, with perfect timing, as two people were approaching it. I hid around a corner, peeking at them when they entered the cave.