The Thirst for Power

Scion grins in impish delight at Nathan's newfound thirst for power.

"One word, kill," Scion says to Nathan with pure delight in her eyes.

"The more you kill, be it the Legion, denizens of the Planes, or even magical beasts. The faster your strength will grow."

Nathan turns away from Scion and starts to walk down the hallway away from the dead bodies.

"Then it's a good thing the Legion decided to attack tonight," Nathan says while walking toward the stairs.

Upon arriving on the main floor Nathan looks around the room. The candles are all extinguished and the only light comes from the flames shining through the windows. Nathan heads behind the bar and rummages through and takes anything he deems worthy.

'In for a penny, in for a pound' Nathan thinks to himself as he loads up his inventory with money he found and some bottles of drinks.

Before leaving the bar, he assigns his stat points. 'Looks like I get five stat points every time I level up.'

Nathan applies all five of his stat points into strength bringing his base strength to 35. His current strength is 38 with his armor set. Nathan sighs in contentment as he feels the power flooding through his body.

"I don't think I'll ever get bored of this amazing feeling," Nathan says to Scion as he lifts a table with one hand and then places it back down.

"You haven't even scratched the tip of the iceberg yet. Check your skill tree." Scion bounces up and down on Nathan's shoulder in excitement.

Nathan looks at the massive skill tree and sees that he has one point available to add. He looks at his sword mastery branches and sees he can get an elemental offensive attribute added to his attacks at the cost of mana.

Looking over the elemental attacks he has available to him, he decides that given the situation of being in the middle of a massive battle, his survivability is more important than increasing his offensive skills.

'I can always get an offensive move on my next level up. I wonder what healing skills I can get.'

As Nathan thinks about getting a healing skill, the tree rotates in his vision and brings him to another section of the tree. Looking over the different available abilities he can get in the healing branches he summarizes them as either being active use or passive skills.

"Scion, do you think I should get a passive regeneration bonus skill or an on-use healing spell? The passive regeneration would slow my mana regen while increasing my life regen. The on-use spell heals for a significant amount, and I can use it on other people too." Nathan places his hand under his chin while he ponders his choices.

Scion scratches the top of her head as she thinks about what to recommend. "I would go with an on-use spell. You can always get a passive healing skill later if you need it. The benefits of getting an on-use spell outweigh the passive healing."

As Scion continues to explain her thoughts, Nathan reads over the different types of healing spells available to him.

"The benefits include allowing you to get used to manipulating mana found in the world which will help you be able to manipulate more powerful moves later. You will also be able to act as a healer wherever we go and would make for a great cover story for us." Scion nods up and down at her logical reasoning.

Nathan's eyes light up in inspiration after hearing Scion's words. "I didn't even think about the healer cover. I agree an on-demand heal will be better when shit hits the fan rather than passive regen."

Nathan puts a point into [Flash Heal]. It is an instant cast spell that heals for 9 – 12 health points. It costs 7 mana to use. Out of the different healing spells, Nathan felt that having an instant cast outweighed having to cast a spell with a cast time. The difference between the two spells was mana consumption and the amount healed per cast.

With the instant cast spell, it healed for a lesser amount at a higher mana consumption.

'The difference balances out. I don't know if there will be situations where I won't be able to verbalize a spell. I'd rather be able to instant heal rather than run the risk of being interrupted.' Nathan thinks while pleased with his reasoning.

Glancing around the Inn one final time, he sighs to himself, and his face hardens with his resolve. He equips all his gear and makes his way out into the war-torn streets.

"We need to get out of this city as quickly as possible," Scion murmurs to Nathan as she looks around at the destruction and chaos that is happening on the streets. People are running around terrified. The roar of the beast and explosions that follow continue to be heard as the ground shakes periodically.

Nathan glances at his mini-map and decides to head to the opposite side of the city in hopes that they have another exit so he can get out onto open grounds.

While traveling around the streets he passes people who are carrying bags with their belongings and are running away.

At the next crossroads, Nathan hears screaming and sees people sprinting away with terror on their faces. Their clothes are covered in soot and grime. Some are bleeding from cuts on their bodies.

"Run! The Legion is making its way over here!"

Nathan looks down the street and sees a group of Skeletons with chipped swords and disfigured corpses shambling forward chasing after the fleeing people.

"Looks like a group of Undead," Nathan mutters while glancing around and assessing the situation. He does a visual count of the group of Undead and sees eight skeletons and around twelve zombies.

"If there are Undead, there is most likely a Necromancer nearby controlling them. You focus on clearing the skeletons and zombies, I'll keep an eye out for the Necromancer. Once you start to kill his Undead it will alert them." Scion has a grim look on her face as flies off Nathan's shoulder and phases out.

Nathan unsheathes his Banesblade and walks out onto the street. One of the zombies spots him and starts to limp its way over to him.

Nathan observes its movements while keeping an eye out for the other Undead.

"At least the zombies are slow this shouldn't be too difficult. Scion, if the zombies manage to bite or scratch me, do I risk getting infected and turning into a zombie?" Nathan hesitates to attack while waiting for Scion's answer with trepidation.

Scion's disdainful laughter can be heard as she answers Nathan, "I never understood you humans and the whole zombie outbreak gig via bite and scratch. The only way to become a zombie is to be resurrected by a Necromancer or if you killed a lot of zombies, collected their blood, and decided to drink it. Even then, you would have to go through the process of changing your bloodline after ingesting loads of zombie blood. Don't worry Mr. Emblem, go wild and kill to your heart's content."

Nathan cracks his neck and rolls his shoulders to loosen them. Raising his blade, he stares at the incoming zombie with anticipation.

"That's all I needed to know," Nathan says confidently.

Once the zombie is in range it lunges at Nathan. He easily sidesteps the attack and kicks its kneecap as hard as he can in response. A loud crack is heard, as the zombie's kneecap is shattered, and the zombie falls to the ground. Showing no pain, it lifts its head from the ground staring at Nathan with lifeless eyes as it starts to drag itself towards him chomping its jaw at him.

A look of disgust flits across Nathan's face as he walks over to the zombie and impales its head with the tip of his blade.

<Collect loot> appears over the zombie's unmoving body. Nathan collects the loot, and he only receives 1 piece of gold.

"Well that was anticlimactic," Nathan says under his breath.

After hearing the crack of the zombie's shattered kneecap two of the skeletons and two zombies turn to Nathan and make their way over to him. The skeletons running over sound like someone wearing tap shoes as the bones click against the ground. The eye sockets of the skeleton burn with a pale ghostly flame.

The two skeletons have their swords raised and slash at Nathan as they get into range. Nathan parries both slashes with his sword and pivots on his foot, half-turning as he swings his blade horizontally as hard as he can. The rib cages of the two skeletons explode upon impact and the remaining bones clatter to the ground as the flames in their sockets extinguish.

Shocked at how easily he defeated the skeletons, Nathan starts to laugh uproariously as he feels the adrenaline and blood flowing. He feels his heart racing and revels in the feeling.

Turning to look at the two zombies that are shambling over he sprints to them as fast as he can. He slashes diagonally at the first zombie cutting it in half. Blood fountains from the two halves and the stench of iron fill Nathan's nostrils.

Without pause, he follows up with a return swing removing the head from the remaining zombie. After destroying the four effortlessly the remaining Undead freeze in place and all turn to Nathan simultaneously.

"Careful, the Necromancer has realized you are a threat and is focusing his attacks on you. They may have additional Undead groups in other locations and bring them here to surround and overwhelm you. I'll try to locate them as quickly as I can." Scion's voice can be heard in Nathan's ear as she warns him of the possible threat.

After killing the last zombie Nathan heard a "ding!" <Level up>.

Nathan whips the blood off his Banesblade and stands casually with a half-grin on his face. "Good, let them bring hordes. I'll gladly take the experience."