A Rattling Monster - Chapter 92：A New Chosen

Waho, what happened?

(If I have to guess, your first mana rebound. Normally, that’s the natural process for a sorcerer or a magician. They learn their spells, they try to cast it, and the first time they don’t manage to bound the mana to their will, that incident happen. Whatever the name used to describe it, basically, you failed your spell. Since all your spells are provided by the System, you don’t have to worry at all about that. And for [Nightfall] and [Veil of Darkness], they both don’t cost enough mana to hurt you. At worst, it will just cancel your spell if you don’t concentrate enough. But for [raise Undead], you have to be more careful. Your two arms were blasted, destroyed beyond repair. But your healing ability managed to fix this, and shortly after, I saw your clothes grow back.)

Wow, a lot happened, so I guess I was out for a long time too. How much?

(Nearly three hours. That’s why it’s a good thing you planned to experiment here, away from civilization. The closest intelligent beings were the followers of Krieg, so the next would be the treants. And since the forest has grown back, they will slowly conquer this part of the former desert. But for now, I don’t see any movements from them, so it’s safe. Just be careful with your spell, that was potentially deadly.)

Yes, it was. I know that the System told me how much life I had lost, but I have no memory past the explosion. I just know that I wanted to create a ghoul and, left, right, no, nothing at all. So it was only an explosion and nothing was created. And I have only 236MP/497, so that means my failed experiment used all of my mana. And unlike the skeleton magician were it was close enough to create just a failed magician, this time, it exploded. I mean, that’s my guess, could be the lack of clear visualization by me. Zombie, skeleton, and a spirit, that I can easily imagine it. Vampires and ghouls will be a lot more difficult since there is a lot of different vampires in my mind and not enough ghouls.

Yes, for the former number two, it was the standard human turned into a zombie, nothing too creative. And for the skeletons, well, it is a human skeleton, can’t be more complicated than that. I just never expected such a thing to happen to me. Now I am glad that when I created spirit number one, the spirit didn’t explode at my face. As for him, his form is a simple ball, no face, no eyes, nothing at all, just a ball of energy. Now that I think about it, how can he see?

(Well, you thought that it will see his surroundings?)

Yes.

(So it can see, I think you don’t have to do anything else besides that. Just think of it as a special ability that you granted him.)

That both makes and doesn’t make any sense. But the System in the first place is a weird thing, so, I guess I will have to accept such truth. And forget my plan to create a vampire or a ghoul. Because if the latter is impossible to create, then the first, that have life steal, can turn into a bat, and live for eternity, will be a lot harder. No, just the spirit and my new skeleton warrior.

In fact, just the skeleton warrior. The spirit is good enough like that, and it costed the same as the skeleton magician, so I won’t be able to improve it anyway. And the only real use that I am able to think about is a ghost army. So for that, I need to create a human shape body, something ethereal that can’t be harmed by usual weapons, but still can hurt the living. Just thinking of the difficulty, let’s postpone everything. The next evolution will really need to be a big upgrade. Because otherwise, I will have to wait for a very long time.

Where should I begin? First, let’s think about the size of my skeletons. For example, the Chosen were all giants among men, so my warriors should be of the same size, to not be bothered by the armor. So I have to think about that. Next part, would be the strength of them. As for that, I have no idea how to do it, for example, for a zombie, I would think of bigger muscles. But for a skeleton, what should I do, give him big bones? Probably. And still give him the capacity to touch mana and use it, for utility spell. For example, a haste or a stuff like that, granting them a better speed or a superior agility.

I try to think about all of this, while really specifying he is not a real magician. If in my mind I begin to add everything, I will not have a chance to complete the invocation. But this time, no explosion and watching my mana, 19/497. Well, that was close, really too close. But as I watch my skeleton, I think that it was worth.

Saying that he is big and impressive is just too little. He is a mountain of bones, sturdy and strong bones. The previous barely damaged tree, the one that I asked my magician to cut, I just task my new warrior to hit it. His very fist pierces the bark all the way to the other side, just one punch. Even the zombie needed a few seconds to slash his way through. But not my new warrior. After that I ask him to wear the armor left by the Chosen, to see the creation of a troop that will be feared. The result is glorious, a giant inside an impermeable fortress.

Just to be sure of one last thing before shouting victory, I once again compare the speed of number one and number two, the newly created warrior. After a few seconds, I can see that number one is slightly quicker than number two, mainly because of the armor. But I remember the speed of the Chosen, and what I thought during the invocation. This time, I ask number two to use any means to run faster.

A strange glow appears on his armor, and the previous slow giant begins to catch up with my magician and overtake him. That’s what I was talking about, I really create a true warrior. At this point, I am even considering to destroy number one and reborn it into my personal guard. Even if some of those heavy warriors will be facing my enemy, I need at least two to protect me at all time. Just to prevent unforeseen consequences, I am not able to know everything that will happen to me.

But now, it is time to return to the human city, with something a lot stronger than I left. And on the way, there are two cities in my way, it would be a shame to leave them still standing. That way, I will be able to properly arm the rest of my skeletons, with a lot of armor and weapons. And maybe I can even loot some of the stuff carried by the magicians. You know, staff, wand, orb?

Since I have the time and no enemy in sight, I will take a small holiday, and just create my army. During that time, I create my nine armored Chosen, yes I will call them like that. They wear the armors of the former Chosen and they are the strongest warriors that I possess. So it’s fine. I create twenty-three skeleton magicians, to have a strong firepower. I also invoke two additional spirits, to improve the scouting potential of Oslo.

After all those preparations, I think that I am good. Do you have anything that I missed Oslo?

(No, just before reaching the holy kingdom, I have a small suggestion. I am certain that you will gladly accept since it is just a small request. Can we stop by in a few fairy towns, you know those towns that are filled with life energy? Like I said, I am a little weaker recently and the bad thing that I hadn’t told you was after the death of the Prophet. Normally I should have been able to retrieve most of his divine energy, but something blocked me. Is it the fact that Aria is still your god or your System that have captured everything and left nothing? I have no idea, but since it is on the way, you can just grab some life crystals and compensate for my loss.)

Well, I have no idea of what caused what you just said. But if I have to guess, I will say it is my System. And since it is my System and my army is still based on your observations, I will oblige your request. And you are right, it is just a small delay that will not prevent me to do anything at all.

So, Fairy Town, here I come.

…

Where is the Fairy Town already?