Skeleton priest

It was noon when Mortis arrived in Bamberg. He went in search of a restaurant, as he had had enough of the same old meat and cheese.

This time he didn't want to be stingy and treated himself to a slightly better place, where he ordered a hunter's schnitzel for 1 gold coin.

Eating meat from magical animals gave him a buff that increased his stamina by 20%. Mortis thought to himself that it is amazing what special foods there are in this world.

He then visited a blacksmith and placed about 100 weapons on the table in front of him. The blacksmith and his apprentice sorted the weapons according to their quality and what they could do with them.

Then the blacksmith offered him 25 gold coins for everything. He noted that Mortis was an adventurer, but still lacked wrist guards, a necklace, rings, and shoulder armor. Since Mortis was wearing leather armor, the blacksmith recommended that he go to the tanner for shoulder and wrist protection. Next to him was his wife, a goldsmith, from whom Mortis could get the other items with attribute values.

Mortis took the 25 gold coins and went to the next door where a petite woman was standing at the counter. He told her he was looking for two rings with strength and a necklace with agility.

The woman looked at Mortis' hand and asked for a specific ring. Mortis explained that it was a space ring. She nodded her understanding and presented him with two rings of white gold and a necklace, also of white gold. She explained that these items were the best she had, and that they all increased attributes by +10.

Mortis became nervous and asked the price. The blacksmith replied that all three pieces would cost 30 gold coins. The system confirmed the woman's information.

Mortis put the gold on the table and put the items on right away. He asked the system if the values were not too high.

The system replied that the values were reasonable for the area. However, if he wanted better jewelry than gold, he would have to be in an area with monsters and creatures that exceeded level 50 to 60. The current items were strong, he said, but would lose effectiveness as the character became stronger.

Mortis said his goodbyes and headed to the bakery to buy rolls and bread to take with him on his journey east to the nearest graveyard.

After five hours of walking, running a little in between, he reached his destination. He wondered if he should go straight to the center and attract the other spirits as well, or if he would have to find everything to free them.

Not wanting to be overconfident, he went to the graveyard again and cleaned it in a spiral. Thanks to his high agility, he could run fast, so he decided to run far to attract many ghosts.

So he ran through the eerie graveyard, and after a short while 5, then 10 and finally 20 ghosts followed him. He weakened most of them with the "Ghost Weapon" and then finished them off with a "Scythe Whirl", when 12 of them dissipated he ran on.

He had reached the first half of the graveyard when 25 ghosts followed him again. He repeated the game twice more until there were only 2 ghosts left, which he took with him as he tried to finish his circuit.

He freed 20 more spirits until the tour was complete. He went up a level and spent all of his 6 skill points in life force.

There were many more ghosts at the edge of the graveyard, and he hoped not to face a small army in the middle again. Nevertheless, he set out for another round. Again, there were many ghosts, but since they all fell for the same trick, he was able to free 80 ghosts in an hour.

He went up a level again and this time distributed his 6 skill points all in mana.

Now he took some time to rest. Although the stats said he was fit, it took concentration and his own attribute to process the quick change in position.

After stretching and feeling better, he headed to the crypt and mentally prepared himself for the battlefield. He was not disappointed. There was a small horde here as well, but consisting of 50 skeletons with no ghosts.

He ran around the arms of the skeletons and threw spirit scythes at the horde to inflict damage. In doing so, he used the "scythe whirl." However, when he noticed that not only the third or fourth scythe broke, but also the first one that had already received a hit, he used the "scythe whirl" constantly and jumped through the horde.

After the seventh use, he felt sick and dizzy, but there were hardly any enemies left. He just staggered back until he felt comfortable again.

The skeletons came closer, and he used the "scythe whirl" twice more to defeat them. Then he got down on his knees and threw up.

The place was cleared, but Mortis first leaned against a tombstone and tried to calm himself. He drank something to get rid of the disgusting taste. How he would have liked a Coke to drink right now.

He asked the system how he could prevent himself from getting so sick when he used the "scythe vortex."

The system replied that he should increase his intelligence because his brain would then be able to better process what was happening during the rapid change of position. Increased intelligence also increased his mana regeneration in combat and allowed for faster recovery in quiet moments.

Mortis then asked if that meant his brain was unable to process what was happening because of his low intelligence, and that's why he was experiencing nausea.

The system replied that it was not calling him stupid, but that his intelligence levels were low.

Mortis accepted this answer and said that now it was time to break the next seal.

He went to the spirit realm, where everything looked the same as in the first crypt, but this time there was no Imp in the magic circle in the basement, but a large skeleton with a white robe.

The skeleton turned around when Mortis entered the large room, and said that he would not leave this place alive, because their god was collecting the dead to eradicate humans from this planet.

Mortis played along and explained to the skeleton that he was here to gather his soul because he had left the path of virtue and was following a false god. His own god was just and would take care of him.

Mortis received a buff that increased all of his stats by 30%, and he did Death proud.

The priest became enraged and summoned vengeful spirits, but nothing happened except that the priest became overconfident and received three Sense blows against his ribs. Full of fear and disbelief, he now tried to hurl shadow balls at Mortis with his staff and point.

Mortis cared little for the shadow balls and pranced around the priest while doing damage to the giant skeleton with the scythe blade.

Two shadows hit Mortis in the face, staggering him, and as he tried to move backward, the priest lashed out with his staff, intending to split Mortis' head. But Mortis did a roll to the side, narrowly dodged, and then stood normally again. He struck the priest's leg with his scythe to bring him down.

As the priest fell, Mortis stood up and struck the skeleton from top to bottom until the light in its eyes went out and the soul disappeared into Mortis' sea of souls.

Mortis got annoyed with himself and called himself an idiot that every hit near his head easily confused him and almost shut everything down.

He went up a level and spent his 6 skill points all in intelligence.

The buff dissipated, and Mortis returned to the normal world.

He had been through a big battle and felt exhausted. He considered going to an inn in the next town to rest and recuperate.

Mortis Level 20

Strength 26 (+23), Agility 36 (+27), Int 10, Vitality 20, Stamina 20, Mana 36, Charisma 40