6 The upgrade
Ding!
....
{The user has defeated a [Skeleton Mage] for the first time, 375 additional experience points will be awarded}
....
{You gained 3,750 xp}
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{You leveled up}
{You leveled up}
{You leveled up}
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{You gained 36 stat points}
....
Marcus didn't even bother to read the system messages. He knew he would gain a great deal of experience just for slaying the Skeleton Mage, but leveling up and stat points would do him no good.
He had almost no HP left and no way to get it back. Besides, his left arm, his battle mace, and the magic ring (which didn't even last twenty minutes) were destroyed by the Skeleton Mage's last attack.
Ding!
...
{The user has reached level 10}
...
{The conditions have been meet}
...
{List of available evolutions}
===========================
1) [Skeleton Soldier]
2) [Skeleton Mage]
3) [Large Skeleton]
4) [Skeleton Stalker]
5) [Magic Skeleton Soldier]
===========================
...
'Eeeh?!... Evolution List?!... I forgot about it!'
Normally in the fantasy novels that Marcus read on Earth, monsters could evolve as long as they met the requirements. And the undead could do so as well.
Marcus had forgotten about this due to his inability to increase his stats and all the events of the last month. But now that he could see the list he was much more relaxed, maybe he still had a chance to survive.
Marcus spent almost 20 minutes looking at the options before finally making a decision. He had to choose wisely as once the decision was made there would be no turning back.
'I chose option 5 [Magic Skeleton Soldier]!'
Marcus had ruled out options 1 and 3 as they seemed to be the weakest and option 4 had many disadvantages. As for option 2, it was incredibly powerful, but it was useless if he ran out of MP.
For these reasons, he chose option 5 as he could attack from a distance and was proficient in close combat.
....
{Selection confirmed}
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{Starting Evolution}
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{Resetting user status}
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{User obtained the skill [Sword Technique]}
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{The user obtained the skill [Energy Magic]}
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{The user obtained the skill [Necrotic Manipulation]}
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{The skill [Melee Combat] leveled up]}
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{The skill [Primary Sense] leveled up}
{The skill [Primary Sense] leveled up}
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{User status completed}
================================
Name: Marcus Edevane.
Titles: [Undead killer]; [Light-footed Coward].
Race: Undead
Species: Magic Skeleton Soldier
Rank: 2
Level: 10 (40/2520 exp)
================================
HP: 250/250
MP: 491/491
Strength: 20 Stamina: max
Defense: 17(+47) Intelligence: 49
Vitality: 25 Wisdom: 27
Agility: 19 (-4)
Stats points: 0
================================
Skills:
{[Poison Immunity][Necrotic Immunity]
[Disease immunity][Cold immunity]
[Dark Resistance lv:2][Evil Resistance lv:2]
[Primary Sense lv:10][Inventory lv:3]
[Melee combat lv:2][Throwing lv:2]
[Sword Technique lv:1][Energy Magic lv:1]
[Necrotic Manipulation]}
Weaknesses:
{[Blunt damage nv:7][Solar/light damage lv:9]
[Aura Damage lv:3][Spiritual Damage lv:9]
[Fire Damage lv:8][Sacred Damage lv: Max]}
================================
It took Marcus a good amount of time to process all the information. When he was done, he was more than impressed by the results. He then removed his armor to appreciate the changes his body underwent as he evolved.
As a skeleton, Marcus was 1.65 m(5.4ft) tall, but he had suddenly grown to 1.85 m(6ft). His bones became a little more robust and his left arm was regenerated.
But the most noticeable physical change was his bony hands. Now his hands were made up of small bony plates that formed a palm and his fingers were a bit more robust and pointed at the ends. But his physique was not the only thing that changed.
When Marcus evolved, all his unused stat points were automatically distributed. He also gained many abilities, others leveled up and except for [Sacred Damage] all his weaknesses dropped a couple of levels. And [Magic Damage] was gone!
But before checking his new abilities, Marcus opted to check what the Skeleton Mage brought in the bag. When he opened it, he found a small ancient book and a necklace with what appeared to be a huge gem.
Since Marcus was blind he couldn't read the book, so he decided to put it aside and started checking the necklace. But the moment he picked it up, he received a notification from the system.
....
{The artifact [Eye of Arragas] is compatible with the system}
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{System upgrade is possible}
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{Do you want to upgrade the system?}
{Yes/No}
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'Edward!!.... So you didn't lie after all. I'm sorry I doubted you!'
Marcus had lost all hope in "Edward's Gift" because he never knew how to use it, to the point that he thought that the upgrade didn't exist and that Edward only said it to motivate him. But now he was sure that this was the upgrade he was talking about.
Without hesitation, Marcus chose to upgrade the system.
Immediately, the necklace began to glow and turn into particles of light that vanished into thin air.
....
{Update in progress}
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{[Primary Sense nv:10] » [Energy Sense lv:1]}
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[The user obtained the skill [Analysis lv:1]}
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{The user acquired the senses: Sight, Hearing, and Touch.}
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{The user obtained the skill [Night Vision lv: Max]}
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{Intelligence is increased by 11 points}
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{Upgrade completed}
....
When the upgrade ended, the [Primary Sense] shut down and Marcus' entire perspective changed completely. He could now hear every sound in the environment, he could feel the hard, cold concrete floor with his bony feet, and he could see as clear as day even though the room was completely dark.
****
Marcus stood in the corner of the room reading the book that the Skeleton Mage brought in his bag.
After the upgrade, Marcus had decided to test his new skills and physical abilities now that he had evolved to Magic Skeleton Soldier.
Thanks to the fact that Marcus' palms now had no gaps it was much easier to grab objects and swing his sword.
He had also become much faster and stronger than before. When he was a common skeleton, he was comparable to a slightly weaker than average human, but now he was on the level of an Olympic athlete.
Although he was still weak by the standards of this world, Marcus felt that the growth of his strength was explosive. And now he could use magic!
As for his other Skills...
[Energy Sense] allows the user to detect any being possessing some kind of energy within a certain range. But unlike [Primary Sense], [Energy Sense] required MP to function.
And [Analysis] allowed Marcus to get information about creatures, objects, people, and all sorts of things. But this ability was limited not only by it's own level, but also by the user's level.
Thanks to all the knowledge Marcus gained from the fantasy stories he read on Earth, he was more than familiar with [Analysis]. So when he learned he had this skill he felt like he had won the lottery.
Finally, Marcus turned the last page of the book and closed it.
'Humm... As I suspected. I can't read this book'
Marcus had tried to read the book to see if he could find some information about where he was or anything else about this unknown world. But it turned out that the book was in another language and he couldn't read it.
'Wait a minute... How about... Analyze the language!'
...
{Command confirmed}
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{Starting language analysis}
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{Guerrmanic writing detected}
...
{Would you like to learn the language?}
{Yes/No}
...
'The book was in German!?... Wait, yes, yes I want to learn the language!'
At that instant, a large amount of information about an unknown language (which was not German) suddenly entered Marcus' head. When he finally finished processing all the information, Marcus went back to reading the cover of the book.
[Introduction to Magic. Vol.1
( Pocket edition)]
'A magic book? Isn't this too convenient?!'
****
....
{Wisdom increased by 8 points}
....
'Did my wisdom go up just from reading this book?... In that case, I'll have to be more attentive and try to find more books like this one.'
After almost five hours, Marcus finally finished reading the book and now had a greater understanding of how magic worked.
According to the book, in this world magic is the art of creating or manipulating the elements that are present in nature and using them to suit the needs of the thaumaturge.
In this world, there was energy called "Rehi", which was present everywhere.
To use magic, one first had to condense the "Rehi" in the heart and brain by creating ring-shaped layers around it, using different meditation techniques. The "Rehi" accumulated within these rings was known as "Mana".
The user would then have to use the "Mana" in his body to form a connection with the element present in nature that he wanted to manipulate. These elements could be divided into two groups: primary and secondary.
The primary elements were fire, water, earth, air, and energy. On the other hand, the secondary elements were derived from the other five.
Some examples of derived elements were light, darkness, ice, lightning, arboreal, metal, illusion, sound, etc...
The book also said that there were other types of magic besides elemental magic, such as sacred magic, blood sorcery, elemental sorcery, and a group of forbidden magics called evil arts.
Unfortunately, it seemed that the book only covered the basics of using magic and a little bit of elemental magic. If Marcus wanted to know more about the evil arts and the other types of magic, he would have to find the other volumes.
Marcus closed the book and put it away in his inventory, then stood up and began to equip himself again. This time he was only carrying a sword in his right hand and left his left arm free to cast spells.
In addition to reading the book, Marcus had spent the last five hours learning how to use spells and what his MP's capabilities were.
Thanks to the book, he learned three element-related spells he could use including the [Energy Missile] he had already seen. So, after almost two hours of practice, Marcus was able to cast the spell correctly.
'A single energy missile costs 10 MP. My current mana is 600, so I only have 60 missiles.'
Once the preparations were finished, Marcus walked towards the door that was on the left side of the room.
Earlier when Marcus had tried [Energy Sense], he discovered much undead behind the doors that were connected to the room. There were five on the left door and fourteen on the right door.
Unfortunately, Marcus didn't know what kind of undead they were, so he opted to open the door with fewer enemies.
Finally, he stopped three meters from the door, unsheathed his sword with his right hand, raised his left arm, mentally sighed, and...
'Energy missile!'
The energy sphere came out of Marcus' bony palm and impacted against the hinges of the door.
*BANG!... THUD!*
The energy sphere destroyed the hinges and the metal door fell with a thud. In the darkness of the hallway, a figure slowly approached Marcus.
It was a skeleton, but it was wearing a helmet, chain mail, leather gloves and boots, worn pants, a sword, and a round wooden shield. Marcus immediately used his analysis...
================================
Race: Undead
Species: Skeleton soldier.
Rank: 1
Level: 10
================================
'Eeh... So a skeleton soldier? Seems to be stronger than regular skeletons or zombies. But it's weaker than the mage. Energy missile!'
Certainly, this skeleton soldier was weaker than the skeleton mage that Marcus had previously faced. But that was no reason for him to let his guard down, so he attacked before his opponent could get close.
*Bang!*
The skeleton soldier managed to block the attack. But the projectile was too powerful and his shield ended up becoming a pile of splintered wood.
The skeleton soldier staggered from the power of the attack, but he stood up and tried to run towards Marcus so he could attack. Marcus wasn't going to give him that chance and fired another energy missile.
*Bang!*
The attack hit the skeleton in the chest, destroying his chainmail and ribs in the process. The skeleton recoiled from the impact.
*Bang!*
Just as the skeleton was about to try to attack again, an energy missile hit it in the face destroying it on the spot. The Skeleton Soldier's body (which now had no head) collapsed to the ground.
....
{The user has defeated a [Skeleton Soldier] for the first time, 62 additional experience points will be awarded}
....
{You gained 625 xp}
....
Although Marcus was impressed with how easily he defeated the skeleton soldier, he didn't let his guard down.
Soon more footsteps were heard coming from the corridor and a few moments later there were four more armored skeletons similar to the previous one in the room.
