Know yourself, know your enemy(PD inc. 4)
"Let's start with Ice Magic, if I were to choose it, based on the video games I played when I was a kid, the magic would be more focused on crowd control and slowing down enemies".
"Examples of skills I could come up with right now would be: Ice Spear or Ice Bolt, but things like Spear, Bolt, or Blast are expected in all three schools of magic," Samuel began with a long thought.
"Maybe I will also get the famous Ice Block or Blizzard which could be on the list of available skills, also some Ice Spikes, Ice Wind, and maybe Ice Traps."
"Pros, good crowd control, good against living people due to frostbite, lots of defensive options, the longer the fight lasts the better for me."
"Minuses, many possible counters to this magic like fire and earth magic, but I can guess that will be the case with all schools of magic, none of them are without flaws. Probably not many spells that inflict immediate damage, and when I don't know how tough my opponents will be it can be deadly for me. Fights will likely last a very long time and my opponents may call for some reinforcements."
"..."
"Next is Bone Magic, if I were to choose it, as the magic itself suggests I would be using bones to fight, and this can help me a lot when my body is only made up of bones."
"Probably like in Ice Magic, I can expect Bone Bolts, Bone Spike, Bone Lance, and many similar ones, not forgetting the renowned Bone Armor".
"As I am a necromancer, I guess I will also have some buffs for my skeletons and myself, increasing the density of the bones or their size or strength, and maybe there will even be some skill synergy and I will be able to create variants or stronger versions of bone undead. Sounds promising."
"The strongest spell I can think of is probably bones shaping while they are still in the body of a living opponent. I won't say it doesn't excite me."
"Pros, I strengthen my future minions and myself, maybe I could create different undead than the System allowed me to, and also there is a chance to manipulate a living object."
"The cons remain the same as with Ice Magic, low instant damage because I don't think the bones can pierce plate armor in case of a direct threat. As with the others, I don't know how true my guesses will be and I may end up only being able to throw a piece of my own bone at an opponent before I grow stronger, and even then, without any undead beside me, I will be much weaker than I should be"
"..."
"I left the best for last, Poison Magic, the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear poison in medieval times is the well".
"Well + Poison = Fun," Samuel thought as he began to smile strangely and then dream of what might happen.
"Ehh... " The necromancer coughed a few times and then returned to the subject.
"Acid can also be included under Poison Magic, and I know more about acid than most, after all, my doctorate in chemistry did not write itself"
"Skills could be many such as Poison Cloud, Splash Poison, different types of acid, and maybe even if I put my mind to it, I could create useful medicines for pretending to be a wandering doctor, if such exist."
"But to do that I would have to start wearing a mask, because no one, would trust a talking skeleton if someone didn't attack me straight away it already would be a miracle."
"All in all it seems very difficult if not impossible and the risk outweighs the gain. Not to mention the fact that I have to get to the well undetected and poison it so that no one will guess that something is wrong."
"Never mind the pros, it seems to me that this is the strongest magic to start with of the three to choose from. I could kill the fastest and most humans, with it, if speed was of any importance to the company then this one is the first to choose"
"But looking at the lack of a time limit..."
"Maybe some kind of end-of-year bonus?" giggled the skeleton without using his vocal cords.
"..."
"Coming back to the topic, unfortunately, no matter how much I would like to start playing with poisoning underground waters to watch other people suffer afterward, Poison Magic seems to have the most potential drawbacks, it is the least reliable. The gap between the potentially strongest and weakest skill in this magic is huge, I don't even know if I'll be able to use acid which I would really need." Samuel thought as he tried to make a very difficult decision for himself.
...
"So...I regret to say that unfortunately, Poison Magic is out of the competition because I have to choose the safest option. Ehhh..."
"..."
"Practically most of what I know so far is just guesswork or conjecture, and if I make a rash decision I will regret it, I need more information."
"Until I walk through that door I don't have to make such an important decision yet. The necromancer stated calmly "But once I do, every moment of hesitation can decide my 'life' and 'death'."
"Just in case..., if I am in danger I can choose the magic appropriate to the situation"
"Maybe I'll do that, humans and other living I choose Ice Magic, Undead it's Bone Magic and for Golems and other constructs it's Poison Magic but then, I can only hope I get the ability to bind with acid otherwise I'm screwed."
"And in order to know more and make the best decision for me I need to get out of here somehow."
Fuck, what an uninteresting dilemma...now just which door do I go out? "
Before Samuel could decide which door he wanted to get out of here, he had the 'brilliant' idea of continuing to invoke magic words and talking to the system"
"System where am I?" Asked the undead once again forgetting that the system is not a rational being.
...
"Nothing, this can't be The Place?"
...
"Further nothing how about Location?"
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Location
Second Dungeon Floor
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"Am I in a dungeon? So maybe I'm some kind of Boss or something? Whoever created me probably didn't shine with creativity."
"Or is there something more to it?"
"..."
"No... Never mind..., but thanks anyway for everything System" And when Samuel had said that, he began to prepare to set off further into the unknown recesses of the dungeon.
...
Without hesitating any longer, Samuel decided to choose the same door behind him again, because not only was it closer, but the torches, still glowing blue, could not be lit a second time. Therefore, not needing another reason to decide, the undead quickly tugged on the handle.
"Ehh... "sighed the necromancer "Closed, now I have no choice".
The Half Lich, approached the second wooden door "And this one is open, I wonder what mechanism it works on?" He said when opened it, the open door revealed a passage further on.
The way to the surface was open to him or perhaps the way down into the dungeon, this the undead did not know yet, it all depended on his luck.
"Which way now?" Samuel wondered, looking at the forking paths left and right, each ending in a door similar to the one he had just emerged from.
"Logic dictates going to the right because if it was a maze, going to the right would get me out"
Being a big fan of logic, Samuel listened to it this time too, and walked along a selected dark corridor that was lit by torches hanging on the walls at the side. The torches this time were normal, emitting an orange glow instead of the strange blue of the earlier circle. And so he walked until he stopped in front of a familiar slightly decayed door.
He opened it slowly, as quietly as he could, trying not to inform the creatures inside of his presence or anyone else that might pose a direct threat to him. When a small crack appeared in the doorway Samuel put his one 'eye' to it and what he noticed made him wonder. "Is that me? "he said when he noticed a figure confusingly similar to his present body.
"Well, maybe not exactly me," He thought when he saw a skeleton holding a rusty sword in his right hand and a rotten wooden shield in his left. Who stood motionless a few meters from the front door with his back turned to Samuel.
Not wanting to make a hasty decision in his choice of magic just yet, Samuel closed the small crack in the door and took a few steps back so the undead wouldn't hear what he was about to do.
"Create a Minor Undead," He thought, using one of his skills for the first time.
The necromancer felt a strange feeling as if something was slowly flowing from within him, but when he tried to focus on this sensation, his new summoned skeleton appeared in front of him, identical to the one he had seen before, also armed with a sword and shield.
The skeleton stood upright with its armament down and won't even budge. Samul looked straight into the 'eyes' of the new servant but they were cold and empty and, unlike him, did not burn with any green fire.
"Move to the left," He said when he saw that his servant was doing nothing.
At his command, the summoned servant moved a step to the left.
"Now move to the right," The necromancer thought as he began to test the limits of his command.
And this time too, the servant moved as his master commanded.
"Good, at least I won't have to shout orders during combat".
".."
"Then how about now...dance?"
The summoned skeleton, unfortunately for the necromancer, did not obey the command this time.
"Dance" Samuel thought as he gave the order once more , only this time he imagined in his mind the image of a dancing skeleton.
The skeleton obeyed its master's command, making twisted movements that tried to imitate the imagined dance.
"So he can't do complex commands, good to know"
"Stop... ,System show me my mana" Thought Samuel pausing to play with his new servant.
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Mana : 850/1000
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"So one undead cost 50 mana, it seems little, too little, there must be a catch," the necromancer said in surprise.
"My mana isn't going down, it's just slowly growing so I don't think it's that"
"..."
"Never mind, I'll start thinking about it when I'm on the surface. Now it's time to face the enemies in the room."
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