The Ruined Death Knight

Staring at the cold corpses of the prisoners that Danzel was responsible for, he felt an extreme disgust towards the higher-ups of the so-called Dynasty and relief.

Though he benefitted immensely from their decision of abandoning their soldiers and he felt no shred of remorse towards the prisoners, he still felt the decision the human behind such decision quite disturbing.

He didn´t know how much Velkir asked for them, but for them to throw away their lives as if they were tools.

Although he sort of expected their decision to end up like this from Velkir's explanation, he thought that Velkir was just exaggerating things.

`But it seems like he spoke the truth.´ Danzel thought internally.

One could call him a hypocrite since he treated his undead as a tool, but Danzel only recently started to think that his undead was more than his creation.

They were his creation that was loyal and almost mindless so he judged that it was alright for him to use them, but the people of Dynasty held the fate of others and decided upon their own interests or goal, even if it meant sacrificing them for their goal.

That action couldn´t help but make him remember that one kid named Kayn that risked the lives of the others without their consent.

He hated not being in control of his own life.

That´s why he hated seeing such a thing happend in front of him.

If one were to ask his impression of the so-called Dynasty by using points, he would already give them negative points.

Just like Velkir said, they weren´t to be trusted.

"It isn´t my business anyway. Considering that they needed to call mercenaries for their war, their situation might be bad."

`And considering the strength that 4th-tier beings have, they must be quite expensive.´ Danzel thought internally.

Putting such for later, Danzel focused on his given options.

`I even gather quite a lot to increase some of my skills. Although I am curious about what the [Great Rune] is all about, I already got my hands full with the [Rune of Harvest]. Learning another rune while I still haven´t learned this one would be stupid of me.´ Danzel thought as he gazed at his status.

Ignoring the skills that he could buy, Danzel had a total of 24 skills including his newest being [Rune Erasure]. His current goal was to increase his most important skills into the fourth tier, or at the very least to the third tier.

He could go and further increase the level of his [Class] and [Sub-Class] to increase his attributes, but he ultimately decided against them after witnessing some of the abilities that the Deathfull Skull group had.

The undead standing beside him was living proof that skills couldn't be neglected.

Maybe if he increased [Greater Raise Undead], he could create 3rd-tier undead.

Alas, his XP was limited, which forced him to put priority on what to upgrade first.

So after thinking of what was of most importance Danzel was stuck on which of those 5 skills to decide.

Them being:

[Death Guarding Swordsmanship]

[Swift Movements]

[Gale Mana Blade]

[Greater Sense Danger]

[Mortal Reminder]

...

Each of those skills was Danzel's main weapon and life-saving skill.

They were other important skills such as all his curses, but those made Danzel truly dangerous.

If possible he wanted to increase all of them, alas him being poor as usual, he forced himself to press the upgrade button.

And out of those 5 skills he carefully thought of upgrading, he went ahead and instead upgrade a skill he hasn't touched for years.

[Undeath Corruption turned from Lv.1 to 10]

[Skill Undeath Corruption reached the modification stage!]

[Choose 2 of the given options for the skill to focus on!]

[Skill Reduction]

[Grow]

[Soul Affinity]

[Dead Mana Affinity]

[Overall Improvement]

[Corruption]

'Vague as always, huh?' Danzel thought to himself.

He could sort of guess what each option would result in except the usual affinity.

The first 2 that he decided to write off were the [Corruption] and [Overall Improvement] choices.

Although he didn´t have it happend yet, the corruption part was more of a downside. Sure, if the location where he was filled with dead mana, it would be much more comfortable for him, but other than that, it brought no further advantages.

Improving the skill overall did sound good, but Danzel this skill to be more focused on a certain thing.

The question was which point he should focus on.

The [Skill Reduction] would be the most practical as it would save him a large amount of XP, while the [Grow] option would give him more attributes in certain years. At least that´s what he guessed of it.

And the big question marks of it all were the two affinities.

He could sort of guess that [Soul Affinity] would make the skill discount to be shared with such skill that uses that affinity, but he couldn´t say for sure about [Dead Mana Affinity].

Wasn´t this skill of that affinity in the first place?

What will the skill turn into by choosing an option that the skill already had?

And out of curiosity, Danzel decided to go for both [Soul Affinity] and [Dead Mana Affinity].

Till now, his sole skill [Mortal Reminder] was one of his best trump cards, and considering the newest soul rune, [Rune of Harvest], Danzel decided to go more in-depth in the path of soul type abilities.

And choosing the [Dead Mana Affinity] was just out of curiosity, but also out of caution. By now he had tons of death spells and skills that benefitted from the skill reduction. If there was a chance that by choosing [Soul Affinity] and replacing the effect range only from death-focused skills to only soul abilities, Danzel would be in trouble.

His picking [Dead Mana Affinity] was just a precision for that.

`If only the changes would be more detail...´ Danzel thought as he shook his head.

With such thought in his mind, Danzel chose the two affinities and watched the new description of his skill together with an otherworld feeling spreading around his body.

[The modification for the Undeath Corruption has been chosen]

[Undeath Corruption Lv. 10 becomes Soul of Death Essense Lv.1]

[Soul of Death Essense]: A very rare case of undead making his soul more accustomed to dead mana itself. Resulting effectiveness skills and talents that hold the attribute of either Death or Soul to increase by 10%. Alas, such a soul would never again be able to be hosted in a body that hasn´t been created or born by dead mana.

All attributes Increase by 25.

Lowers the cost of Dark, Curse, Death, and Soul-based skills by 25%

Every 4 years, 10 attribute points is being granted.

...

After finishing reading the description, Danzel looked around his in curiosity. Ignoring the fact that he became stronger from the stat increase, he suddenly felt more comfortable.

It was similar to gaining a second sense but also not at the same time.

He still lacked the basic sense of undead, but something else was added that Danzel was too sure as of how to explain.

If he had to describe it, it would be like someone removing a tight suit and replacing them with comfortable clothing.

He felt that he had more freedom.

In a way... he felt more complete than before.

`It seems that it was the right choice after all. The 10% increase in all Death and Soul skills is always welcome. Although I would like to gain another title from it...for now that´s good enough. Now all I got to worry about is finishing the kill count to evolve.´

He was also glad that the corruption part was removed, or rather, replaced with something else. Though he didn´t know the disadvantages of his soul-changing in nature, for now, he didn´t see anything to be worried about.

`Hmm, I still have some XP left to use. I wonder where I should put the rest in.´

While Danzel was currently contemplating what to upgrade, the 12 undead who were standing around him moved simultaneously and bowed down with one knee to the ground.

Surprised by the sudden change of movement, Danzel became wary of his surroundings to the point where he felt a faint presence behind him.

His ethereal dark green eyes flared up to the extreme.

With a swift movement, he turned around and swung with all his strength towards the certain figure behind him.

He didn´t even wait to identify the one who was behind him.

A moment of hesitation could be the deciding factor of dying or not if the presence was an enemy.

*Thuad!

His sword seemed to clash with something that was as though as his sword.

"I am glad that your reaction isn´t half bad, but to raise your sword against your master..." Velkir who appeared out of nowhere said with an ice-cold tone.

Seeing who it was, Danzel immediately withdraw his sword and sheathed it back into the scabbard.

"My apologies, Master Velkir...I thought that it was an enemy, so without thinking I-"

"It´s alright, I understood where you coming from. I am also partly responsible for hiding my presence from you." Velkir dismissed Danzel's worries.

Looking towards the 12 remaining of his undead and the Draugr´s that Danzel made, Velkir turned back to Danzel.

"Well done, that´s it for today."

Raising his staff, the skull on the big dark crystal lightens up.

The next second, the ground beneath the 12 undead was filled with darkness which slowly shallowed those 12 to somewhere unknown to Danzel.

"Hmm, what are you planning on doing with that undead?" Velkir asked while looking at the Draugr.

Danzel in response only shrugged his shoulder.

"Honestly I ain´t too sure, I thought of either destroying them or letting them loose around the forest. I doubt those of Dynasty would let them stay at our camp anyway."

"You are right, the kingdoms of the living can´t accept our existence. Though it´s a pity, there is no other choice. Call all of your undead here."

Doing as commanded, Danzel sent a command through all the Draugr who was on scout duty to return back.

Once they came back, Velkir´s raised his staff a cast a spell which made all of his [Draugr]´s fall like dolls who had their strings cut.

Danzel felt an overwhelming force trying to cut his connection with that undead and he could try and resist it, alas he let Velkir's spell take his course and dispose of the undead that he created.

Like how Velkir said, it was indeed a pity, but there was nothing to be done about it.

Since the forest was a battlefield where the Dynasty was taking part, it would be quite annoying if his very own undead attacked the Dynasty.

With that done, Velkir turned his back and walked towards the distance.

"Come, we are going back."

Nodding his head, Danzel walked behind Velkir.

`I guess I would use the remaining XP when I have some free time.´

While both those two undead had something different in mind, they left the crime scene behind.