Church of Isekai -2

I was met by a very busy crowd. Lots of newcomers were getting their first steps into the Wonderful World of making Artifacts. I have ordered everyone with Healing abilities to get training in the new Medical Center, everybody with any aptitude for Artifact Making or Alchemy was brought over for an Introductory class. GREAT!

I made it to the Chief who looked very busy and really emanated eagerness to have things done. I think he was actually happy to try himself in his new role of a caring leader working for the common good. I hope it will last for a while. He noticed me and tried to get up and I told him to please continue sitting. I asked if he has a sturdy container that would fit this Brownie. It has to be able to get sealed and be hard to break. The Lab Chief asks if I need something like a bird cage for the air to come in and the Brownie to jump and fly around a bit? I smiled and said that he’s still not fully appreciating being a zombie – that Brownie doesn’t need to breathe so there doesn’t need to be any air. He asked if he can be allowed to wonder why do I treat a dead Brownie with such care? Do I know that these Brownies aren’t rare at all? His Gatherers bring one every 10-20 days. I kept silent for a second and then said that I’ll tell him. Can he send a messenger to the Chief Alchemist so I don’t have to explain it twice? She can bring her assistants if she so desires. He reached to an artifact on his desk and pressed it a few times. The lady from the other lab almost ran into the office less than a minute later and stopped staring at me. I could feel her overwhelming fear and worry. I decided not to dig deeper into her emotions and put the dead Brownie on the desk. Now the two Lab Chiefs are looking at me, at the dead Flier and at each other.

I apologized for rushing her over and explained that I need a sturdy container for this dead thing, ideally one that can be sealed permanently and would be hard to break. The Chief Alchemist was about to ask something but the Artifact Maker said that he already explained to me that these aren’t rare, albeit they usually dissolve in the morning but the creature has no real use for making Artifacts or Potions. So now the two professionals are looking at me with a question in their eyes. I’ve re-animated the Brownie and made it walk around making angry hand gestures, gazing and even trying to scream at them. The Chief Artifactor froze and the Potion-Making Lady screamed and dashed to that Brownie with so much passionate anger in her eyes that I had to resort to stopping her through my Zombie-control means as her fist had already began to crush the little dead body. Then I forced her to release my “toy” and step away, cast a “Necro-Repair Level-3” (I got a new Level – Hurrah!) picked up the now-motionless Brownie and released the poor woman. While she was still trying gather her thoughts and get her emotions under control, the man asked, how is it possible that the “Duke” got turned into a dead Brownie. I answered that he didn’t. I’ve captured his soul when I’ve killed him with their help – you remember that, don’t you? They nodded and I told them that I’ve tried to experiment with that soul and the experiment almost blew up in my face. You see, even Necromancers have Lab Safety issues. It happened that I already had a specially-processed dead Brownie from a previous experiment that I’ve used to fly around and even into the Shimmering Veil. At this point they almost jumped looking at me but I said I’ll talk about that Veil tomorrow. Honest. Really. They were clearly disappointed. So closer to the matter at hand – I got their attention again – my experiment went horribly wrong and Dr. Nectar actually saved me. Let them be impressed with their new colleague. So, as you can see, I could not just keep the soul around and I still need to get all of its secrets out, so I had to engage an external storage capacity. Yes, now their eyes are shining – science talk, they get it. Storage requirements – they get it. So I need it stored where I can reach it while even if the Librarian procures some knowledge to do any damage to me or my Team (let them feel connected and special) he’d have no ways to communicate it to anyone or implement any of it. To my knowledge, Brownies have no telepathic abilities and shouldn’t be able to break out of a container. It doesn’t have to be large – the size of an eyeglasses case would do the trick. Light and air are not needed – the Brownie is DEAD and is sustained through Necro-means.

They both looked around the office then walked into the area where the beginners were taught to make elementary parts, pulled some of these parts from the trainees shocked into silence and within several seconds the hands of the Master made two boxes with tops. The trainees whispered with excitement and I got my choice of sizes. I took the smaller one, walked a bit aside from anyone who can get too emotional and controlled the Brownie making it fit itself into the box. More whispering from the trainees. Then the Alchemist Lady asked the Artifactor if the boxes can fit one into the other? Yes they can, with a little room between them. She told us to follow her, took us to her lab asked me to put a small one into the large and poured something from a small bottle into the space between the nested containers. Then the top was closed and she assured me that the glue that she poured in is the toughest there is. They can put some water-resisting wax on the outside or maybe paint it. I got the wax and thanked them sincerely. While I’m here, maybe they need anything? I have no other room to offer for the classes but maybe they want to take over a Barrack during the daytime? Working outdoors it fine too.

I walked away as the Chiefs discussed setting up 15 desks outdoors and rotating the students. Or maybe read Introductions to Potion-Making to Artifactors? Show basic Artifacts to the Alchemists? Maybe we need to locate someone with Crafting skills? Let’s do that – let’s look for a Crafter to get them build us more tables. You were going to develop a material for tents – when that’s ready we can maybe make a fancy outdoors classroom. We’ll use it to test the pole design and the cloth strength. Self-unfolding with a stretching canvas? No, let’s say 20 days – 10 is way too optimistic.

As I was walking back to the Boss Mansion where I’ve decided to take over the Office and keep it for myself. Everybody needs a place to call his own – and the office of the Old Boss probably suits me well. Besides I suspect there are other secrets hidden in there and I need to get them out. A small flock of Level-1 Demi-Humans was strolling by. I suspect the Captain of the Guards had let them go for the day. I totally lost track of time – the daylight time is almost over. I have a big plan for tonight but that’s later. For now let me talk to these Fluffies.

I walked over and asked how are they feeling. Is the training keeping them occupied? Are they getting into it? What would they like to be trained in? Maybe they have some skills that I’m missing and they would like to have developed? They were scared at first but slowly their answers got longer than 2 words. Yes the training is fine. The Demi-Wolf is scary. No, no he doesn’t hit them or bite them or even yell at them. Still scary. I told them that’s his job to be scary – he’ll scare our enemies when they come and you can grow up to be strong like him. They are nodding. No they are not too tired. Crawled in the grass, played “catch”, chased the silly dancing Fairies. No they didn’t hurt the Fairies, just chased them. They didn’t mind – they like being chased. Learned plants. Trained with Assassins. Those are really scary. Nice … they didn’t yell too and said they like the Fluffies.

All of the time I was looking into each of these kids seeking their Talents. None. They have no Talent other than basically being Puppies and Kitties. What is the reason the World had created you… How do I use you? And then it hit me – I need to see them all at once. Once I did, I got an option to define them as a “PACK” or a “LITTER” and when I did so, I made that group open for new members. There is a characteristic of “cohesiveness” that seems to be tied to how much time they are active together and will affect their future leveling. I told them to make sure to be at the training tomorrow and to make friends with other Demi-Humans that they train with and that aren’t here right now. Once they all become acquainted their lessons will be feel simpler and probably their extra talents will awaken. As they were walking away, I heard one saying, “Did you just feel something? Me too. He did some magic to us. I want to do magic too.”

Camp Bonfire Part 4

As the Sun was setting down, I’ve instructed the Dragon to bring a few dried up logs from the Forest and by the time all the away-teams have gotten back to the Camp, I was ready. The Gallows were still standing in the middle of the Camp but now with all of the Necro-Energy thoroughly drained. There were several logs arranged around that structure and on it was hanging one body. The body of the Old Camp-Boss. I ordered everyone to gather in the Main Square and they stood there in utter silence. The dreaded figure that signified everything that is wrong with this World was put up on display. Even though it could no longer "Loose the hounds” onto anyone, the former “Hounds” are still here, still standing next to the people they’ve terrified. Now, the people need new ideals, new passions, new goals so big and so bright, that they would out-shine all the old wrongs. The people need to be able to say “it was a bad period of our lives and we will do anything not to re-live that pain and the shame.” In the real world it wouldn’t be possible – a snake stays the same having changed its skin – but in the World of Magic and Necromancy I actually have a chance.

I spoke, re-transmitting my voice through my Zombie connections. Everybody was listening, even the Assassins who were totally “not there” yet when I’ve started speaking, I saw the thin threads going to the rooftops and even to the top of the Gallows, and then disappearing in the thin air. They are still not very visible through their Stealth to me. I have addressed the crowd and the Campers listened. I said that we weren’t born into this World. Were were brought here without our consent. The first newcomers started a society and it was one of Evil. I came to this world a few days ago and I was lucky not to be captured and enslaved by the Campers. I was lucky to have survived the ordeal with my good friends – Dr. Nectar and Terry the Pixie. We were lucky to have encountered a friendly Sprite who have already had experience in this World and who helped us find shelter. We were lucky to defeat a Monster whom we encountered within a few hours – now that Monster is our dear friend Phil. Shortly after we were lucky to engage in battle and bring to our side our wonderful Dragon-friend Victoria. (I will not mention the Dark Drow Assassin Team – such is the fate of those who live and fight in the Shadows.) We were lucky that the Camp-Boss decided to make his move first and did it so clumsily. Given, killing the entire camp to let the Assassin Team bring up their levels and then having them fight to get one Super Assassin isn’t what regular people would call “lucky” but I’m a Necromancer, remember? Our definition or “luck” is different and besides, we are all together now, and he isn’t – I say that’s a Huge Stroke of Luck! We are here and we are free! We have been given a chance and I see each and every one of you grabbing that chance. I want to thank each and every one of you for not letting that chance go by. Thank you, Dr. Nectar for teaching the Healing spells. To her students – thank you for learning them. Thank you, Captain of the Guards for taking over the leveling-up of the Guards and for caring for the smallest of our members. Yes we can just utilize them as Gatherers but even in that, they need to be the best they can be. I’ll try to stop-by tomorrow, I think I found something to improve their results. Thank you, Fluffies for being such good students. Thank you, Stealthy Teams for your work and help with training. Talking about the Stealthies – YOU, right there on the top of the Gallows. Yes, you, show yourself, come down and stand next to me for a second. Everybody, meet a Dark Drow named Shade-3. Wave to everybody. Oh I didn’t know you can actually smile in a friendly fashion. So your Terrifying Drow Smile that you all show me was a special treat from the Team? No, I’m not upset – I don’t easily get scared, remember the whole Necromancer thing? And just like that, she melts away. Yes, it’s a girl – quick and deadly when she needs to be. But the Drows aren’t our only shields – thank you Guards for working hard on leveling-up. Believe me, when the time comes, your Levels will be the key to the survival of the entire Camp. Thank you, Lab Chiefs and the entire Lab Staff. I’ve seen them work today and I am impressed. Thank you Paladin Level-10 for taking your part at being a trainer and thanks to your students. I don’t know much about your skills but maybe for a few classes you can join with the Guards? I don’t mean to interfere with your lesson plan but if it’s feasible – please feel free as we’ll all benefit from cross-training. If you are a part of the Gatherers thank you for being a Gatherer. We need the ingredients and we’ll try rotate to get you trained in something else. If you can develop Crafting or Tailoring skills, please see the Labs. We will build better housing, we will learn to fight off the Monsters without the loss of life on our side, we will become one family, one big Team of Friends and we will not allow the PAST to ruin our FUTURE! To the FUTURE! May the PAST burn!

I wanted a clapping response but I didn’t get it so I’ve sent a happy burst through my Zombie-ties and the crowd exploded in Cheers. I’ve telepathically ordered our Dragon to burn the Gallows and she set them aflame. Utter silence fell over the crowd and I’ve reached out to someone with a Bard specialty and told her to sing. And she sang in utter silence. And the rest of the crowd cried – every single individual.

They grabbed me from my home and land

And brought me to this place

Where I have faced an evil band

They dragged me their base

They didn’t let us mourn our friends

And say our last Good-Bye

To those who’ve met their early ends

A trip that I’ve survived

I suffered pain, I suffered shame

A lowly crying slave

And in my cries forgot my name

A plaything for the Knave

I silently have dropped my tear

As in my bunk I’d lie

I begged of anyone who’d hear

That by sunrise I’d die

And all of us have survived in fear

Just rolling down the slope

We died by hands of our peer

In Death we found NEW HOPE

I have been crying without trying to hide it as I walked to the singer and hugged her. I thanked her most sincerely and she carefully hugged me back, probably trying to see if she can trust her emotions again. I went back to the center and said that this is the most emotional I’ve been in a long, long time. Thank you very much. NOW. I want us to be silent for a minute and remember. And then I want anybody who can sing – SING! I want anybody who can dance – DANCE! I want anybody who can play any musical instrument and perchance can get one – PLAY! Today we mark the end of the PAST and the beginning of the FUTURE! Will there be hardships? YES. The World Masters will throw every Monster they have at us, just for their Entertainment and we WILL PREVAIL! We will raise our Levels, we will use our ingenuity to develop untold wonders and to even penetrate the Shimmering Veil and get even more wonders from there! I have already gone there and I’ll tell you more about it but when there’s more to tell. And now please, enjoy the night! TO THE FUTURE!

It took a while but the dancing did start and the singing was there and someone brought out all of the Camp food stores and Victoria brought a few more logs to keep it lighted and festive.

With all the emotions, my Mana Inner store were filled to the brim and by sipping some more I’ve initialized the most uneventful quick upgrade to Level-11. Then indeed I got an offer to go to 13, 17 or 19 and went all-in. As usually happens with my reckless moves, I went through by an entire hairbreadth… Maybe a half of it… Yes the entire dancing crowd felt really tired but they’ve blamed it on their excitement and just went to the Barracks or houses for a quick laying down. I’ve emptied two of my Level-20 Energy Stores and by end end Dr Kate, with two Holy Maidens walked over to me pumping all of their Mana into me. All of the time they were very vocal about some utterly irresponsible Group Leaders who don’t account for all possibilities and overestimate their capacity. What would they do without me? Have I thought about it? No, no I haven’t. Why? Because I’m a self-absorbed little kid who’s still playing with his toys accept now those toys a people’s lives including my own and… I hugged Kate and kissed her on the forehead. All of her steam went out and she just stood there. A beautiful slender young woman in the hands of a young man. It was so sudden yet here we are. Just kids a few days ago, full grown-ups today. I don’t think I love her and I don’t know what she feels toward me. However we are bound to live side-by-side and care for each other. We don’t have to call it love but we both know we’d give our lives for each other. Thank you Kate. Thank you Doctor Nectar. Thank you, my sister-in-arms. Thank you Dear Maidens. I’d like to congratulate you – your leader just gained Level-19. CLICK!

Then I heard a voice in my head I’ve expected to hear anytime now. The Old Boss spoke out from his dead Brownie body that I carry on me now next to all of the Energy Crystals. Why? Because being an independent Necro-Creature he has his own Energy Capacity and I can drain him at will. A self-charging Energy Store. An angry sneaky plotting Energy Store who had already tried to overtake my body. Let me install some new restrictions on him before I forget, now that I’m almost his Level. There. Why? Because “Don’t. Anger. Your. Necromancer.” that’s why. He told me, “You’ve suffered from this human filth no less than I did. Why do you care about them? Or is it that you only care about playing your game with these dolls and soldiers?” I replied, “You have gathered so much Knowledge but you forgot that that’s not Science. Science expects you to doubt your outcomes and you never doubted yourself. ‘I read this, therefore it’s True’. We know plenty of bloody tyrants who wrote tomes upon tomes, tractates upon tractates and usually committed atrocities wiping out those who didn’t fit their printed vision of the World. You failed to understand that you are limited, and the World isn’t, therefore you must adjust to the World instead of adjusting your dataset. We call it ‘Confirmation Bias’ or ‘Model Overfitting’. This is why you didn’t just fail – you’d adjusted if you just failed. This is why people are dancing at the sight of your corpse being incinerated. And don’t tell me about my mind control – you had your potions that did basically the same. You thought yourself an Infallible God and this is why you failed. Maybe one day I’ll let you join me and try to partially atone by advising me OR maybe you can be my self-charging energy store. Now, instead of being angry at your schoolmates, you’ll be angry at me until a day comes when I disperse your soul. You are too dangerous to keep around. Now, Good Night,” and I’ve drained him again.

Back in the Cave Part 5

The first thing I need to do while the Old Boss is de-energized is to finish reading his soul, looking for his secret stashes and learning from his experiences. I had to make frequent breaks to make sure he stays perfectly empty and by the end, I really wanted to burn him as fast as possible as well as several items in his office after I saw the way he used them. Just as we have suspected, he didn’t have any special ways to communicate with the World Masters who actually run this place. He learned about them fast enough but then basically set into an “evil psychopath” routine. Somehow he even learned that the Masters are happy with him – I suspect there were enough viewers interested in this perverted “show”. If my understanding is correct, the bigger the viewership, the bigger they make the World. Ours is rather small – Fizz the Sprite told us, when we’ve just arrived, that he can fly across our “corral” in less than a half an hour. In fact now, that the Old Boss’ soul spoke to me, I got his map added to mine and indeed we’re a rather small place. They told him about our sneaking away and hiding on the Day 1 by announcing a “Special Mission” to eliminate our hideout at a specific location. That’s when the Drow Team visited us and eventually became a “Necro-Drow Team”. I suspect the World Masters view us as a Video Game and they upped the bets by telling him to hurry up with the System Challenge and even giving him a hint – another Special Mission to train his Backup Assassin Team. To rush the things along, they stopped sending the Random Surprise Big Black Boxes to him and sent one to me – trapped with a deadly explosive. I suspect the World Admins are required to use in-World means to steer the development.

This made me wonder, how did a Necromancer get into their Scripts. Either The Mighty Lord Random arranged the incoming characters or some hacker got really tired of this Perverted Spectacle and decided to take over the Project. So far the New Guy is winning – we knocked out the Librarian and I have been working hard on generating likable content. That campfire show with clapping and cheering and dancing had to have gotten some attention. I don’t know for sure if I’m going in the right direction – on one side, I haven’t gotten any “System Challenges”, on the other, they did give me a Reward when we finished the Camp Takeover. Maybe they don’t really feel like steering us anywhere. Maybe they are thinking that in a few days I got to Level-19, took over the Camp and tamed a Dragon – they simply don’t have any script-writers that wild. Who’d message a total newbie that whole list and add that if completed in 3 days, there’ll be a bonus of a new pair of shoes or a Necromancer shirt – please choose one.

Even if I keep the soul, I’ll erase most of its memories. It’s human nature to find justification for one’s actions and to persist in the Old Ways because to admit the error is to admit self-imperfection and only a few have strong enough self-esteem. Maybe I’ll remove everything from his memory from about a day into his “transfer” to this World to the moment where people are cheering his body being publicly burned. Other than that I’m done with it – it took me less than an hour to get all the hidden Crystals and Artifacts, three hidden at different World-edge locations, almost impossible to get to on foot, a matter of one Shadow-Jump for someone who’ve learned the exact place and gotten that skill albeit through questionable means. The Energy Crystals are loaded to the brim and might have a “personal attachment” to the Old Boss. I’ll see if I can remove it or I’ll ask our wonderful Chief of the Artifactor Lab if he can.

I jumped to the Cave to see what’s going on there and because the Map told me that’s where our Friendly Sprite is. He was indeed sleeping in the Cave all alone. I guess I’ve triggered his Air Feelers because he woke up and stared at me. I apologized for waking him up and asked what’s keeping him here all by himself. He told me he’s not a big fan of loud parties, besides someone needs to keep watch over the Shimmering Veil portals we’ve discovered and he’s basically doing what I’ve told him to on our Day 1. I asked him if he’d like to relocate to the Camp assuming we can station some Guards here and set up some motion-detecting Artifacts. He said that the Guards, will be the end of his peace and quiet and in that case he might as well join with us at the Camp. I apologized for not contacting him earlier – I was moving around all day after taking over the Camp. I was looking for him at the bonfire but couldn’t find him. He assured me he’s not upset and he heard me mentioning him in my speech. Then he asked me what brings me here, before the sunrise. I said I’m not even sure – I just had a strange feeling I had to be here. Fizz shrugged and suggested I call up the Shades – if I’m right and something nasty will happen, it’s better to have them here. I stepped into the clearing before the Cave and called out, “SHADES!” They have appeared from the thin air within a minute.