Chapter Six: Risk of Power

Victor stood on the mast of his sloop, the clatter of bones and boots on the deck behind him sounding out as he spied the skies, studying the detailed star maps he'd bought in town.

'I was going to just say fuck it and not learn Navigation, but the skill is honestly too important. I want to at least be able to know what sea I'm in if I ever get lost or something.' The young man rubbed his face in thought and sighed as he held the lantern closer to the maps, only for the tough winds of the night sea to keep interupting his concentration. The boy frowned, but kept at it. 'I need to learn this. Just as I need to learn basically everything.'

....

"Fire! Fire! Kill the fuckers! Kill them!" Screamed a pirate as he blasted out a blunderbuss, the massive gun kicking up a cloud of some. A cloud the was broken as a skeleton peppered and cracked with the pellets of the crude shotgun rose out of the smoke, kicking the pirate in the chest with a cruel cackle.

"Rise, rise! Do my bidding!" A three meter tall skeleton in robes shouted as he stood on his sloop that had been boarded by pirates. Previously thought an easy target, they were quickly proven wrong as a horde of undead stormed out of the hold and a monster rose with them.

"Ragh! Bastard, how dare you do this to my Boar Pirates!" A massive ugly pig-like man roared. "I'll gut you like a fish!" The man yelled as he pulled out a massive meat hook.

"Ah, a flesh puppet. One that will become a worthy test bed for my next experiment!" The lich smiled widely at the pirate, causing the man's face to purple with rage as he then started growing hair and fur.

"Fourty-Two Million Berries! My friend, you shouldn't spoil me such, Boas Opal!"

The pig man roared in rage and charged across the deck, jumping and swinging the massive meat hook down on the Lich's head.

The lich dashed out of the way, sending a knuckle into the over-extended boar-man's side. The Zoan squeeled in pain as ghostly pain invaded his body, yet vitality and rage pushed through the pain of rot infecting his side and he slashed at the man.

The lich rose his left arm to catch the blade before it came at him full strength and swing. The mitigation chipped his forearm and allowed the man to send a powerful punch into the boar-man's gut, a wave of black Miasma infusing his gut and causing a vomit of black blood to splatter on the lich's grinning face.

The boar snarled at the skeleton, roaring in his face and getting ready to send a headbutt with nasty tusks as a surprise, only for an elbow to snap him in the jaw and twin fingers to claw at his left eye. The fingers came back with a nasty piece of gore and bundle of nerves, elicting a startled and savage cry from the boar man; now blind in one eye.

"Now you've done it! Furious Squeel!" The boar man squeeled, literally, and the harsh piercing sound caused only those of his own crew to fall stunned.

The lich titled his head, completely uneffected by the sonic attack. "That was just dumb." The lich launched a knuckle punch to the man's throat, freezing the scream and noise. Choking and wounded, the lich grasped the Zoan and arrested him to the floor of the boat, black miasma cacooning around the poor fool, before his flesh melted away and what was left was a bone-boar-man. White flame ignited inside the Devil-Fruit User's eyes, and the boar-man stood.

Then he trembled, and a black light shot out of the chest of the boar-man's 'heart'. The skeleton started to crumble, soon turning to ash.

"...Game? Will I be-able to one day?" A distant and fleeting bit of ironic hope sounded out in the lich's voice.

{Yes.}

"...When?"

{....Grandmaster....}

"...fuck..." The lich sounded like a petulant child who was refused a nice toy.

{On a lighter note, you've reached the Apprentice Rank in your Devil Fruit abilities!}

"Oh. Wonderful!" The lich waved at his undead, prompting the frozen pirates to suddenly continue to get slaughtered. The Lich walked down into his sloops depths, before uttering 'Status'.

Name: Victor 'Vic' Vici

Title: The Necromancer

Age: Fourteen

Race: Lich

Level: 15

Status: Healthy

Attributes:

Body: 10.6

Mind: 5.8

Spirit: 10.1

Skills:

-Martial Path-

Scythe Mastery: -/100 (Novice of the Scythe)

The Path of the Scythe, one of warriors, farmers, and edgelords.

-Sythe Mastery Techniques-

N/A

The Cursed Stance: 14/100 (Cursed Stance Novice)

The path of Martial Arts, one of warriors and fighters; brutish and wise both.

-Cursed Stance Techniques-

Miasma (Adept)

Life-Return: -/30

The ability to command one's body, to force it to obey to the will of it's master.

Six Powers: -/70

The powers and skills developed by the World Government and Marines alike.

-Technological Path-

Weaponsmithing: -/100

Shipwrighting: 29/100, Shipbuilder (Apprentice of Shipbuilding)

Marksmanship: -/100

Navigation: 7/100 Directionally Challanged (Novice of Navigation)

-Spiritual Path-

Conqueror's Haki: -/100

Armament Haki: -/100

Observation Haki: 17/100, Blinded Eyes (Novice of Observation)

Voice of The World: -/100

Devil Fruit: 27/100, The Necromancer (Apprentice of Death)

Devil's Curse Resistance: 1/100 (Novice Curse Breaker)

{Congratulations! You are now The Necromancer! This acheivement grants you the new title, 'The Necromancer' and unlocks a new expression of your Fruit. Sadly, this ability is locked under Armament and Conqueror's Haki! Both of which need to be at Apprentice Level to use the ability! Sucks to Suck!}

"...You fucking suck, you know that?"

{I know! However, this is a good learning point. The Lich-Lich fruit is a powerful fruit, yet one that only the most talented and powerful can truely see to its fullest potential. To use this fruit, one experiences and unlocks Observation Haki quickly due to its effects. This is a hint towards learning advanced forms of Haki, and a notice that the more powerful your Devil Fruit is, the more powerful You need to be to use it correctly.}

'This is just you telling me to get back to brass tacks and stop using my minions in fights and get them sweet, sweet status points and martial skills points.' Victor retorted.

{Indeed. Because without a strong foundation.}

"The tower falls." Victor finished. The young man of fourteen sighed and stood up, his flesh came back and his robes were divested. Soon he arrived back to his sloop and frowned at the damage and scuffle the pirates had delivered to his boat. 'That sucks. I'll be needing repairs to my boat. I wonder if I can find the Ghost-Ghost fruit and feed it to my ship. A ghost ship sounds rad as fuck. I wonder if that's what Pluton is?'

Victor sighed, really getting his mind into focus.

'Okay. I'll start kicking back my devil fruit usage. For now, I need a few things. Mastery of The Cursed Stance, and quick. To do so, I'm thinking of training in The Six Powers.'

Victor frowned as he thought about the feat. 'Technically, I could do it. Shave, Storm Leg, Iron Body, Moon Step, and Finger Pistol all have good and simple training methods. Kick ten times, kick the air, get hit while tensing every muscle, kick really fucking fast, poke things really hard and fast. I'll have to trust the Game to guide me into not bastardizing the techniques.' Victor thought.

{This is a good path to tread. The Six Powers will give you a base and foundation of physicality, while Moon Step is a critical power to learn as a Devil Fruit user. May I also bring attention to a select group of Martial Skills.}

{Devil's Curse Resistance: -/75}

"Oh? What does this do. I thought that once I touch Sea Stone or I hit the drink, its game over?"

{Sea Stone limits and restrains Devil Fruit Powers. While a Bane, they are not an instant 'game-over' if you will. Through coming into contact with Sea-Stone and bathing in tidal-pools, you can raise the resistance up to Expert, which will effectively render Sea-Stone Weapons next to useless. Just being the only mundane weapons that will cause you a distant note of pain if hit by them; something you'd already feel via Haki. However, this will be a 'mere' resistance, and devil fruit powers will still be removed if in contact with Sea-Stone or in water for a long period of time.}

'Could I move and physically fight if these were high enough?'

{You could, although the Sea's Curse will still hold if you fall in, sinking to the bottom abyss for all eternity.}

"...All eternity?" Victor caught.

{...You have a fruit that removes your need for air, water, food. You are immortal. If you fall into the ocean, you will stay there...forever.}

"..." Fuck.

"...I'm gonna go train Moon Step."

{That would be best.}