11 The First Bro
Skullius looked at the dead body of the boar and his socket flames blazed. This was an option. The only one around.
He really wanted to find out what [Apostle Summon] could do. He had high hopes for it, as the image of being surrounded by loyal bone soldiers made him excited.
But...
"Why this guy, though?" he said as he scratched his skull.
He still held a grudge against the boar and while that might sound childish, Skullius didn't care.
Unfortunately, for him, he couldn't imagine being able to kill anything else in the forest to resurrect promptly as an Apostle.
"Doesn't seem like I have better options though," he said with exasperation. "Ah. First, let's check my status. I really want to see what it looks like now!"
~~~
[ Name : Skullius ]
[ Tier : 0 ]
[ Class : Vehement Bone Nullmancer ]
[ Level : 3 ]
[ Experience : 0/900 ]
[ Race : Null Lifeform (Boneman) ]
[ Inv. Status : Doomed (Adverse) ×2 ]
-------
[ Stats ]
[ Strength : 45 ]
[ Agility : 20 ]
[ Intelligence : 65 ]
[ Endurance : Infinite ]
[ Luck : Atrocious ]
-----
[ Health : 50/50 ]
-----
[ Mana : 250/250 ]
-----
[ Null Life Essence : 0/3000 ]
----
[ Skills- ]
[ Mana Sense | Lv.10 (Permission to evolve) ]
[ Flesh It Like You Mean It | Lv.1 ]
[ Static Limbo ]
[ Null Extraction ]
[ Unbound | Lv.1 ]
[ Null Life Aura | Lv.1]
[ Greater Communication | Lv.1 ]
<Class >
[ Apostle Summon | Lv.1 ]
[ Apostle Armament | Lv.1 ]
[ Depths of the Core | Lv.1 ]
[ @$%# ]
....
~~~~
"Woo... my status looks much better organised now," said Skullius while looking at the additions of Class, Experience and other things added. It made him realise just how pathetic he had been when he stated.
Which was roughly forty minutes ago!
A detail to note was how the additional +5 to his strength from using [Unbound] was gone, as its existence was built on stipulations of the skill that Skullius would learn soon.
"Wait! Why do I have such a huge amount of Mana now?! Wasn't it supposed to be just below 200?" Skullius asked but without a shred of worry at all. "My luck is STILL atrocious?!"
He sulked at his luck which didn't change even after everything else was boosted.
VOW even refused to explain why his luck remained atrocious.
It was upsetting, but he didn't dwell on it for long. He had things to be happy about at least.
He was both happy about the increase in his Mana as well as the fact that he could calculate numbers much clearer now.
Counting all those mana gems he used to suck mana from to ensure that he wouldn't get himself screwed had been a hassle when he was in Deadmanland. Now, he was able to do it with barely any effort. At least when it came to the hundreds.
[With each increase in level, there is an additional five stats points to all stats including Mana and excluding luck. Since you levelled up twice, you racked up ten stat points. Also, the intelligence you attained from your Class translates to mana on a 1:1 basis].
"Oh... I kind of understand I guess. So intelligence really is important! I made the right choice after all!" Skillius said as his socket flames flared with excitement.
[However, I should warn you. While other lifeforms require double the amount of experience from the previous level to level up, all Null Lifeform related races with all their special traits require triple the amount for a level up. The only exclusion is the first level's required experience, which is always 100].
"W-wait what?!" Skullius checked the Experience bar and his mind gears spun. "Wait, VOW Bro!"
Skullius began straining himself to calculate what he had just heard. His added intelligence plus the basic numeric skills he had cultivated from the many years he had been in Deadmanland assisted him in coming up with the relevant figures.
After a few minutes, he finally spoke, his voice trembling.
"Doesn't that mean that boar gave me 400 experience points?!" he screamed questioningly at VOW.
[I thought you would have figured it out by now. Your atrocious luck keeps pitting you against dangerous creatures. The boar wasn't a simple Tier 1 beast. It was a special race that would grow to be similarly powered to beasts like Azila given the right conditions and help. The experience it gave out was according to its quality.
You should also take note that a lot of factors contribute to cumulative mana such as external magic consumables and mutations. Lower levelled creatures may be able to give similar cumulative mana experience than higher ones in some cases. That said, you only managed to beat the boar after tiring it out for 30 minutes and with the use of 'Unbound'. Don't get cocky].
Skullius' teeth clacked as he thought about this.
That was fair and fine but...
900?!
That was how much experience he needed to get to the next level!
Skullius glanced at his mana stat again and his spirits were uplifted. If he had this much mana, he could somehow scrape by, right?
"I have enough mana to use a lot of my skills now. Shouldn't be a problem. I've spent many years doing the same thing over and over again. I can definitely be patient, racking up experience, as little as it is," Skullius said regaining his spirits.
He looked at the boar.
If it was a special race, then that served his best interests. He cast away his grudge, deciding that Summoning an Apostle from this powerful would-have-been beast would definitely be good for him.
Apostle Summon required 100 mana points and he had enough.
'Good. Let's do it,' Skullius thought as he got closer to the boar's body which was laying on the dusty ground, blood oozing from the depression on its head.
He extended his bony hand and felt for the mana in his core which had grown quite a bit, radiating a soft light from his chest.
Now that it was even more outstanding, he was thinking to find something to cover himself with. How would he not attract attention if he walked with a bright light illuminating everything around him, especially at night?
"Apostle Summon," Skullius said.
His core churned out mana as the Class Skill activated.
His vision travelled with the mana that burst from his core, flowing into the boar's corpse.
Its skeletal structure became clear to him and he felt a unique energy that was powerful yet serene wash over the bones.
In the next moment, something entered the body of the boar, giving it what Skullius could only describe as a spark of flame.
It nested inside the boar's head, looking like a small flicker of blue light.
Skullius' vision returned to his body and he watched the boar's flesh dissolve as if acid had been poured onto it!
Only the clean bones and fur remained, the boar standing on its two hind legs!
Its fur receded from the rest of its body, forming a brown, hairy hood that covered the top of its head to its slightly broad shoulders.
The boar's legs experienced a change.
The small bones at the ends of all four legs which could now be seen after the boar shed its hooves in this process of revival into a full skeletal Apostle, began to twist and resemble those of a human, the short creature standing straight with its hind legs supporting its bony body firmly.
Its knees and elbows were adjusted accordingly as well, giving the boar a straight stance.
(A/N: Do not neglect to read the three paragraphs before this note. This boar is now humanoid).
Skullius was in awe as he saw the figure that stood before him. He didn't expect it to suddenly stand like a genuine bro from Deadmanland and the reason why it had taken this form was unknown to him.
Unlike him, it didn't have blazing flames in its sockets. Only bright lights like torches could be seen deep within as it looked at Skullius.
Tktktktktktktktkt!
Skullius laughed maniacally as he saw this image.
The boar knelt before him, hanging its head.
"This is too good," Skullius thought as he walked around the boar, which, even when standing would only reach half his height as he had gotten a sizable boost from his original body structure.
[Ugh...].
VOW voiced, clearly displeased with Skullius' excessive enthusiasm.
[Check its status].
"Oh," Skullius gaped before he requested to see the boar's status.
~~~
[ Name : None ]
[ Tier : 0 ]
[ Class : None ]
[ Level : 1 ]
[ Race : Null Lifeform (Bone Boar) ]
[ Inv. Status : Expressing 'loyalty' ]
-------
[ Stats ]
[ Strength : 10 ]
[Agility : 10 ]
[ Intelligence : 1 ]
[ Endurance : Infinite ]
[ Luck : 5 ]
-----
[ Health : 10/10 ]
------
[ Mana : 20/20 ]
-----
[ Null Life Essence : 0/0 ]
-----
[ Skills ]
[ Null Life Aura ]
[ Storming Charge ]
[ Dead End ]
~~~
"UUUUOOOOOOOOHHHHH!! This is insane!" Skullius screamed. "Bro! How on earth do you have better luck than me?!"
[Pfft!]
"Shut up!"
Skullius looked at the creature's stats which were quite low, but better than his when he was an undead.
He could barely believe that this creature was this weak in its life. Did it get weaker?
Well, yes. It was a Tier 0 like him now.
Nevertheless, Skullius was happy. He knew that growth took time and he was willing to invest a lot in his new bro.
[Congratulations, you have summoned your first Apostle. Its value will be unlike any others to follow. Would you like to give it a name?]
"Hmm. It has value, huh? Well, you definitely need a name," Skullius said as he gazed at the boar.
Brainstorming for a name wasn't too hard for him as his mind was full of all sorts of bad ideas for names.
Broadbone? No.
Boner? Yes! Wait! No, no, no!
Furbone? No.
What could he name it?
Skullius cranked his head for a while, simulating the word bone with everything else he knew.
He then gave up on anything related to bones and started thinking about what the boar itself had before it became his Apostle.
After a while, he finally found a name. A decent one. At least he thought so.
"Your name shall be, Red Rage," he said.
