1 Ep. 1 - Decaying Hope

"Try not to trip, kid! And don't step out of my footprints! You have to follow them!" A voice shouted from within the blizzard. Visibility was low, barely even able to see the snow below. A boy, no older than 17, trudged through the snow, carefully stepping in every footprint he saw. His black hair was nearly completely hidden by a veil of snowflakes, his once thin, fire crystal heated jacket was thick with ice and snow. The boy's eyes were hidden behind goggles to allow him to see in the blizzard, or at least protect his eyes. Only the latter was true.

"If you're not careful, you might trigger a corpse trap! Stay in my footprints!" The voice paused for a moment, "Are you listening, Druid!?" The voice yelled behind him, towards the boy. He sighed, continuing to walk, "Yes! And I have a name, ya know!" He shouted back, a hint of annoyance lacing his voice. No matter how hard he tried to focus, the man was not in view for the boy, the blizzard was too thick. "Well, you never told me! All I know is you're a Druid!"

"My name is Camran! Camran Finni!" The boy yelled back. He kept on stepping in each footprint. "Well, keep it up, Camran!" Another pause, "By the way, I'm-" his voice cut off instantly, as if they completely disappeared. "Hey, are you ok?! Hello?!" Camran shouted into the blizzard. He kept walking, but eventually the footprints ended. There was no sign of his companion except for bloody snow, which was quickly being covered with a new layer. Camran looked behind himself, but the footprints were gone. Then he swiveled around, but suddenly every direction seemed to be the same.

'I can't just stay here', Camran thought. Eventually, the fire mana crystal will run out of energy and he'll freeze. His body already began to shiver. So he took a step of faith. The ground was hard, but unstable. Camran crouched down and moved the snow with his gloved hands, curious as to what was beneath him. He screamed, it was his companion, or at least the head. Their eyes were dark and dead, their skull in some areas exposed. The body was not attached, or anywhere to be seen.

Camran took a step backwards and tripped on the snow, a low growl emerging from the blanket. Beneath him, a beast emerged. It somewhat resembled a wolf, but certain parts of it was decaying or rotting. 'Dammit, a corpse trap!' Camran stumbled to get up, but his fear took over and froze his legs, 'I'm going to die here!'

The creature looked at Camran and began walking towards him, continuing to growl lowly. With each step it took, the snow did not cushion, and no paw prints were left behind. The wolf's dull brown eyes looked almost sad.

Camran reached into his boot and pulled out a dull knife, holding it with both hands and pointing it at the wolf. 'No one has ever been able to survive a corpse trap. The beast it revives is always too powerful...'

'Is this...' the wolf jumped, "Where it ends?" Camran closed his eyes. But something was off. "I feel the same... I can still feel the snow pounding against my body... I feel... Alive?" Camran slowly opened his eyes. The blizzard began to calm down, the sun was shining past the clouds, and the wolf stood still, the knife in its throat.

'What happened?!' Camran jumped up, looking down at the wolf. It didn't move. It didn't even look at him. It laid in the snow, it starting to melt and move from the body. It was truly dead. Camran gulped and sat down, pulling out a book from his pocket, just barely larger than his palm. He opened the book, and inside was his name. To the left of his name was a picture of Camran, but with the goggles and snow-covered hair. To the right, a number. His level.

In this world, everyone is given a book at birth... or more likely us summoned when no one is looking when the child becomes truly sentient. The books are called "Tomes", and they describe the skills of the person. Each time it is opened, it updates to accommodate their current appearance and skills. The book's size and design varies, but that has no effect or meaning on/of the owner. A person with the dullest, smallest book could be stronger than the person with an extravagant, large, ornate book.

Camran looked at his level, it used to be level 4, now it is 17. Leveling can be earned through two methods: experience points and activity points. EXP is earned through slaying monsters, animals, and people. Activity points is gained through labor (mentally and physically) and by waking up every morning. Simple. However, AP takes forever to let the earner level up.

He flipped two pages, the text on the page distorting and coming back together, finally reading "Points Log". He read the top log entry, "Monster Slain: Undead Wolf, +276 EXP +x70 First Kill Bonus. Total gain: 19320 EXP."

"Holy shit!" Camran shouted into the seemingly desolate world. Normally a first kill would be 10 EXP points because the earner was hunting their first low level monsters, so the x75 bonus didn't give them much.

He looked at the next log entry: "First monster encounter: undead monster. Survival skill provided: necroslayer"

Camran flipped to the next page and waited for the text to update, the heading read "Skill Page". Camran only had two skills before, "Power Napper", which let him get the effects of a normal amount of sleep in just a few hours of sleeping, and "Tough Skin", which prevented the user from being affected by the sight of a dead human or creature unless they were close.

He read the first skill: "Necroslayer: the user can kill undead monsters permanently without having to slay the monster(s)'s necromancer. Unlocked through a specific method"

Camran laughed, "I already know what that method is." He looked at the next skill, his eyes widened. "Soul Alchemist: Camran Finni's Unique Skill. Dead people and monsters can be revived and follow commands. Two compatible revived souls can then be combined to create a new revived soul. The higher the level of the creature compared to Camran, the lower the success of revival. To revive target, Camran must activate their soul."

He looked at the wolf. Necromancy, while very uncommon, wasn't unheard of to be used by a human or other sentient race, like elves or dwarves. 'I remember reading that you don't have to physically touch the soul to activate it. As long as I can send a wire of mana..." he held out his hand, a near-invisible blue line shot out from his fingers, attaching itself to the wolf before breaking.

The wolf slowly got up and walked towards Camran before laying down at his feet. It worked. He looked at his companion and shot out the same wire of mana. They slowly got up and walked towards him, kneeling down in front of Camran. He noticed the man's blue eyes, which contrasted his ever feature and apparel color.

He held out his hands and connect a wire of mana between the two revived beings. They began fusing between the string. The sight was gory and graphic, bones were broken and put back together. Blood went everywhere. The companion's steel armor was shredded and refitted. When it was over, Camran was presented with an abomination. They looked like a man, but their proportions were long and muscular. Their body was covered in white fur. Their hands and feet ended in claws. A white tail emerged from their behind. And their head was that of the wolf's, but with a slightly longer snout and sharper, longer teeth.

He opened his profile book and flipped to a page after his skills. The formerly blank page obtained text reading "Summons, Slaves, and Souls". In smaller text, it read "Werewolf (corpse wolf and human "Shin Faret"): Level 16."

"Shin Faret was his name, huh? Well… then I guess my werewolf's name is Shin!" He laughed and looked up at the beast's face. It looked up and howled loudly at the sky. Shin's eyes were a beautiful green, different from both Shin Faret and the undead wolf's eyes.