3 Chapter 03: Training Wheels on and off

The moon shines bright in the sky as the night continues for John. It's been several minutes now, and all is quiet except for the crickets chirping and the owls hooting. In the far off distance, although John had no ears, he could still hear he shuffle off leaves and snaps of twigs of other animals either running for their lives or just being nosy.

John had stared at the tantalizing at the moon as if its different somehow, yet it's the same as when he died except now the scenery is decorated with the corpses of wild and feral dogs on John's {Black Spears}.

Before John could soak up the scenery anymore, Dixie interrupted and said, "Ok... So look, I know you think all this is the most majestic thing you've seen throughout your 80 years of life, but I have somethings to explain and show you before we get started on the end of the world plan we haven't started on yet. So go ahead... open your menu so we can get the class started."

If John had eyes, he would've rolled them by now, but he just complied with Dixie's command. He opened his menu to see that he was now level 9, and there was no status changes to his stats other than he now had 90 stat points.

Dixie continued by saying, "In this world, as you know, every creature except you doesn't have access to menus as those capable of using magic is little to none. Even those that are capable of using magic don't even know of its existence as most of the world believes it to be myths and fairytales. So there's the major advantage for later remember it."

John looks and points at the {Black Spears} and says in his mind, "Ok, and how exactly do I exploit this advantage."

Dixie sighs and says, "That's next, but first, let's finish on the topic of your menu as it's unique. You see, it comes with an extra stat called Stat Points, which allows you to put points that you earned while leveling to stats that you desire instead of automatically distributing them like most creatures. Distribute those points later, but for right now on to the skills and abilities tab."

John switched over to the skill and abilities tabs to saw the skills from earlier that were obviously from gods next to another section labeled abilities. John wondered for a moment for a reason for the separation of his skills an abilities before looking back at Dixie.

Being within John's head allowed Dixie to know when John was confused or wanted to know something, and in this case, she knew immediately and always.

"They separated as their both different John. Skills are things you would usually have to learn and practice with; on the other hand, abilities are either something you're randomly born with or is something your species naturally have. As your an undead, specifically a skeleton, with high Mana, you'll naturally have access to Necromancy and abilities similar to it." Dixie says while sounding like a kindergarten teacher talking to her student.

Having a better grasp on both skills and abilities, John wanted to look through them to have a better understanding of what he could do, but was wary of his surroundings since the attack of the feral dogs caught him off guard. "Where can I sit and read through them, without Dixie I would've been food for a bunch of mutts," thought John as he looks around again at the area around him and an idea finally struck.

Hearing about him having some kind of {Necromancy} ability, he released the {Black Spears} that held the dogs up and laid them on the ground. Using the Mana from his soul, he willed it to his boney hands once more and focused on the thought of {Necromancy} and using it to raise the dogs into an undead like him.

With his hands, he could feel the connection to the deathly auras emanating from their corpses. He felt the feral dogs desire to live again, shit who wouldn't want to live again considering how both John and the dogs had died, but John knew what they were about to become was going to be very different from what they wanted.

Although John could feel the connection to their souls, it was weak, far too weak until Dixie spoke again and said, "Remember how you used your {Darkness Manipulation}. It's the same, but this time, please channel your Mana throughout your skeletal body. Channeling your Mana into one part of your body lessens the power of your skills and abilities down to a quarter of their potential output. Also, using Mana based skills and abilities is simple as imagining them and willing them to the desired effect. Take your {Necromancy} ability into account, channel your Mana throughout your body while dispersing it into your surroundings among the dead dogs, and figure the rest out."

John followed her instructions down to every word, and soon he felt his Mana flowing throughout his body and around him, entering the bodies of the dogs. Using his Mana like feelers, he reached into the black abyss that once housed their souls. He then willed his dark red Mana into potato-sized clumps of Mana and thought one thing while raising his hands, "Rise and bend to my will." Within their soul cavities around the Mana clumps, John had just made, smaller sinister red clusters of lights began to appear. Soon following was bright red lines of Mana that began connecting these red clusters of lights together along with the clumps of Mana John had made. The clumps of Mana started to harden and turn into crystals while still being tethered to the red cluster of lights around them, creating an almost crystalline nexus of dark red lights.

Feeling that he'd done what was instructed, John pulled his Mana and out of the dogs and watched as they began twitching and jerking around as if having an intense seizure. After a half a minute, they rose in a synchronized manner and bowed toward the skeleton in front of them.

John didn't know what to expect as this was still new to him. A day ago, he was living a sad and miserable life alone as an outcast, and now he was surrounded by zombie dogs bowing to him. It was like nothing he'd ever seen as all the undead creature he'd ever seen on t.v. were either slow and lumbering or wild and feral like. Looking at the 20 zombie dogs, he wondered about their capabilities and what all he could have them do, but for now, he had to inspect his skills and abilities.

Before looking back at his menu, he waved his hands and willed them to secure his surroundings as he didn't want any more unexpected surprises. Following his will, they all sprinted into different directions falling out of John sight. Wanting to know where they went to, John searched for their connection and was astounded at what he saw. Through his connection with them, he could see what they saw in his consciousness. It was like seeing 20 different monitors that had their views set close to the ground.

Looking at how far they went, John could see that they formed a perimeter around him with the distance from him being 45 meters. Seeing this, John felt relieved that his surroundings were secure for the time being. He opened his menu back up and looked at skills the gods had given him.

---Magic Manipulation: A skill that allows the user to use magic

---Dark Manipulation: A skill that allows the user to conjure and use the eternal darkness however he/she sees fit.

---Stat Absorption: A skill that allows the user to absorb the stat points of those he/she kills at the cost of the corpse turning to ash.

---Evolution Manipulation: A skill that allows the user to control what they evolve into, along with managing what their minions become as well.

---Inventory: A skill that allows the user to store inanimate objects and corpses into a pocket dimension.

---Age Acceleration: A skill that allows the user to increase the age of whatever's in a radius of 30 meters around the user.

John looked at his skill with so much astonishment his jaw dropped and almost fell off his skull. Looking at these skills, he could clearly see the possible uses for them as he knew his plan to kill billions of humans would definitely be difficult beyond all comparisons. Without hesitation, he looked at his abilities to only see {Necromancy}, which had other abilities under it in a sub-tab, and {Undead Creation}.

---Necromancy: An ability that allows the user to Necromancy.

---------Conjuration: A ability that allows the user to summon undead or souls.

---------Death sense: the ability to sense when someone is going to die or if someone has died in an area.

---------Immortality: An ability that allows the user to be live forever as long as their body is not fatally wounded.

---------Lifeforce Absorption: An ability that allows the user to regain health by absorbing it from anything living.

---------Motor-skill Manipulation: An ability that allows the user to control the movements of his/her minions.

---------Reanimation: The ability to bring the dead back and under your control.

---------Self-Resurrection: An ability to bring yourself or another back to life with a penalty to stats for 96 hours.

---------Spirit Magic: An ability to conjure or control spirits.

---------Undead Manipulation: An ability that allows the user to assume control most of any undead.

---------Curse Manipulation: An ability that allows the user to create and control curses to his/her liking.

John looked at this long list of sub-abilities that belonged to his {Necromancy} and was dumbfounded. Most of his skills and abilities looked as if the gods themselves were giving him added insurance to what they wanted him to be.

"Dixie, whats with some of these skills and abilities, aren't some of these a little too much for a skeleton like me?" John asked hesitantly as he looked around him as if Dixie was gonna show herself outside his head.

"First of John, I can show my self outside your conscious, but I'll look like a random lamp in the woods which might grab the attention of campers..." Dixie said as if correcting John.

"And second, This is mainly due to you being an undead with intelligence at 150, Wisdom at 200, and your fucking Mana being at a stupidly high number like 9000. Because of these stats and your mana stat being increased by the Goddess of Creation upon being reborn as a skeleton soon as you started falling from the sky like purple and red fireball. So yea, you'll naturally be born with {Necromancy} as an ability with its sub-abilities." Dixie said as if what she just said was basic knowledge that John should have known about.

John was concerned for Dixie's sarcastic words and her foul language as much as he was given an enormous boon. One so big that he thought the gods had made his job easy. With such skills and abilities, John had an idea that could make things better for him.

"Thank you, Dixie, for your insight over the matter, but it's time to find a base. And if I know any better, a cities intricate sewer system with its twist and turns makes an excellent place to start." John says while walking back toward the direction of the graveyard on the outskirt of the Hornbrew City.

As he walked with utter confidence, he instructed the dogs to come back to his as he now had a plan. Operation: Shadow Snatch begins now.