Deus Necros

Chapter 563: City in Sands

The sound of trotting echoed soundlessly in the desert. One large paw after another, leaving the trails of wide opened palms that belonged to a creature of the mud and shallow waters in a place that had not seen neither in more than eons. The prints darkened the pale crust of sun-baked sand, each impression filling a moment with the memory of vanished rivers before the heat erased even that. The Undead salamander’s weight pressed a rhythm into the dunes that swelled and sank like breath, a slow inhale, a slower exhale, the roll of the beast steady in a world where everything else shimmered and lied. The air itself wavered. The horizon bent into the shape of water and broke into dust again.

Alongside the trail were the footsteps of a single person who walked with ease under the desert’s heat. Ludwig’s pace did not hurry and did not lag. He planted each heel as if testing the ground for patience, then pushed off with a calm that suggested the sun mattered little and the sand even less. Heat built around him like a wall that could not force him to turn. It made a halo on his shoulders and yet clung to him like something embarrassed to be noticed. His shadow stretched thin and then snapped short whenever a dune tilted the world.

“T-thank you sir knight for the help…”

“No need to thank me,” Ludwig replied to the person who asked.

Looking up, it was the princess of the moon, a holy figure in the Kingdom of the Sand, and from some of the rare few words that she would occasionally tell Ludwig as answers to his even rarer questions, he understood many things. Her voice carried that cool temple hush even when the wind threw grit at her lips. She sat astride the broad back of the salamander and kept one hand on the sick knight to steady him when the creature’s spine flexed. The sun had painted the rims of her eyes with tired silver, but her posture did not slouch. Her gaze, when it moved, belonged to someone who had learned to see sanctity in barren places.

As for the knowledge that Ludwig obtained, one of them was pretty damn interesting.

The Kingdom of the Sands do not have a ban on Black Magic. And that was the first thing Ludwig learned and why he immediately summoned the giant salamander which is now being used to transport the sick knight and the princess.

The knight muttered fever words and clutched at his own ribs whenever the salamander’s gait dipped. The princess pressed a damp cloth to his brow that dried in three breaths and needed wetting again. Ludwig decided on not overcrowding the creature by also riding atop its back not that there was any space left. And so, he walked. The salamander seemed to be annoyed since its master was not riding, but did not dare utter any complaints. Its eyes rolled once toward Ludwig, slow and accusing, then steadied forward like a soldier reminded of discipline.

“So are you sure that the Kingdom of the Sands is in that direction?”

“We are already in the kingdom of the sands,” the princess said, “We should be able to see the first city soon.”

Her words sat on the air like a promise that refused to rush. The dunes gathered in low waves that blocked sight and then opened like curtains, revealing only more curtains. The sky wore a pale white glaze where the sun burned highest, and the far line of the world boiled with mirage. There was an itch in the wind that had never met rain.

“For a kingdom in war I am quite surprised that we have not met any of your soldiers…”

“That is because they did not want to reveal themselves,” she said.

“Ah, I see,” Ludwig remembered how the people of the desert would hide under the sand for ambush from back in his own world. For here, they may do the same, or even something similar. The notion slid into place with the ease of a knife put back in its sheath. It fitted the way the dunes held their quiet, the way a ridge sometimes sank a finger’s width as if breathing. Eyes could be under there. Blades could be under there. Prayers could be under there too.

So before he would end up in an unfavorable situation, Ludwig finally decided that he needed to power up. He slowed down his pace so the salamander would go ahead of him. The beast took the lead with a low chuff as if pleased by the trust and put more space between them. The heat rushed to fill that space. It pressed against his front and pushed at his back till his cloak lifted and fell like a flag trying to dance.

That was something everyone noticed even the weakened knight. But no one tried to ask why. The knight’s eyes fluttered with the dull shine of fever and glazed faith, and the princess watched Ludwig with the patience of someone used to reading omens in the drift of incense smoke. The salamander’s wide tail dragged a lazy groove, then lifted when it decided the sand had insulted it enough.

In front of Ludwig the notification of having obtained the remaining unused souls of the Faceless Blade was bright and clear. The letters came as if etched in cold metal and set into the air.

More than a hundred and sixty thousand souls just from the lantern of the former apostle with about an added close to thirty thousand of his own, making a total of close to 190,000 souls. That is more than enough to reach level 200 with many levels to spare. The weight of it settled in his bones like a second skeleton made of numbers and oaths. It felt like standing beside a reservoir with the sluice gate loosened and hearing the water think about rushing.

So for now, Ludwig began dumping some of his points into it. He moved through the screens with the economy of someone who had learned long ago how to ignore the flare of temptation in the corner. Each selection pricked him with the thought of immediate greatness. Each confirmation stitched him tighter to caution. The desert around him gave no sign it cared.

Right now, his current Level is 139. The issue was. That he wanted to use the Living Armor that he obtained. Hitting 500 in Agility Charisma and Dexterity would allow him to immediately wear it, but that would leave the rest of his mage stat in the dust. Not to mention, the weapon and armor of Morde’Xander are far too destructive and would need a lot of fine tuning and attacks to use if need be to fight in close quarters. He pictured the armor clamping down over his shoulders like a verdict, the mace humming with a hunger that did not know friend from dune. He pictured the sand collapsing into a glass throat if he swung too hard.

“Do not rush,” the Knight King said. His voice arrived as if from the shade of a tree that had not existed here for a thousand years, cool and inclined to instruction. “I can already understand what you are trying to do.”

“It is either I guarantee the ability to wear the armor and weapon, or go for balanced stats…”

“It is always balance,” the Knight King said. “Even if you can wear the armor, that does not mean it is perfect in every situation, you are carving a path of sword and magic, stick to it. The armor is going nowhere, and you will eventually wear it. No need to rush for something that is inevitable.”

Ludwig nodded, the Knight King was right. Nods did not travel far in the desert, but this one felt like it found its mark. The salamander glanced back again, curious and unconcerned, then snorted a grain from its nostril with deep offense.

Ludwig muttered under his breath. “How much will it take to level my 250 agility to 400 in terms of souls?”

[150 points of agility converts to 22,020 souls. Do you wish to proceed?]

“How about every other stat into 400.”

[Calculating…]

[You will need a total of 162,898 souls to have 400 stats in each of your stats. You will be left with exactly 26,830 souls.]

“Good enough for a few revivals….” Ludwig said. The number of lives measured that bluntly sat strangely in the chest. It was an abacus of deaths. It clicked once as the wind dropped and heat rapped its knuckles on his teeth.

[Warning, you will bypass the threshold of your existence if you continue with the upgrade. You will need to complete an Eternal Quest first to benefit from the values above level 200.]

Ludwig remembered how he needed to finish the dungeon where he found the corpse of the fallen angel the last time to bypass the first limitation on his body. And now that he will reach level 200 he will need to do another one. The memory came with the taste of cold stone and the echo of wings that never moved again. It brought with it the same old quiet that followed a vow.

“Alright add them up!”

Immediately, the souls were siphoned from the lantern and began infusing themselves into Ludwig. It was subtle at first, a fine thread reeling through him, a sensation like standing in a chapel while the organist tested one soft note. Then soon it became like an overpowering torrent of raw power fueling itself and charging up Ludwig using the very souls. The thread thickened to a rope. The rope thickened to a river. The river forgot itself and tried to be a sea. He clenched his jaw and let it pass as if he were a gate and not a man.

The drag and draw of energy was obvious enough that even the princess felt it, but could not locate the source, it was as if something divine was happening right next to her but she could not figure out the source. She turned her head as if some hymn had begun and then been swallowed. The knight stirred and breathed a protest at nothing. The salamander flattened its body a little as if a storm were about to sit on its spine.

Once she turned to see Ludwig, everything had already changed. He did not glow. He did not flare. He simply occupied more of the space he stood in, as if the air had decided that he weighed too much to overlook now. The movement of his fingertips carried a precision it had not carried a moment ago. His steps bit the sand and left cleaner edges.

Several notification popped in front of him.

Your Charisma stat is now 400. You are far more appealing to the opposite sex and you are more easy on the eye. It will be rare to encounter conflict with strangers upon first meeting. The words held no vanity. They read like a weather report that promised fair skies at first contact and storms later if deserved. A quiet warmth settled along his features that did not belong to smiles.

You can now summon stronger and more powerful undead and control them.

+3 pages of the Codex Necros have been unlocked. The Codex stirred in his side like a book that remembered it had a spine. There were margins in there that had never seen ink and now waited for it.

Your Agility Stat has reached 400. You are nimbler, faster, and prone to avoiding deadly attacks. Your passive evasion is now 4% Your critical rate of physical attacks has reached 40% The numbers lined up in tidy columns. His muscles read them faster than his eyes. Balance slid into his ankles. Breath learned a shorter path to power. The world’s edges felt closer.

Your Dexterity improved greatly, handling heavier, or lighter weapon becomes easier. Your use of hands is far nimbler, you can cast magic faster. 10% cast speed and attack speed. Fingers that had long been competent now felt like they had shed gloves he had not known he wore.

Your Strength has reached 400 in stats. You can feel the power of a stampeding dragon in your veins. You can now use [Limit Breaker] 4 times with the duration of each limit break increasing by 10 minutes. The drawback of Limit Breaker has slightly been reduced.

The phrase stamped into the center of him like a seal. Power did not arrive as a shout. It arrived as the certainty that if he pushed a wall that did not want to move, it would reconsider.

Your Vigor has reached 400. Your regeneration has reached a new peak. You can now regenerate 4% of your maximum health every 10 seconds. The desert’s dryness decided he was not part of its jurisdiction.

[All your stats have exceeded the threshold allowed to your body]

All effects of your added stats will be downscaled to level 200 with the exception of Vigor. The system’s caution cooled the tongue of pride that wanted to speak. He nodded once to no one and let the scaling do its work. Pride handled late then packed away.

[Status Screen]

Name: Ludwig Heart

Class: Battle Mage

Soul Level: 228 Capped 200.

Race: Undead

Type: Skeleton

Health :42800

Mana: 4,000

agility 400

charisma 400

dexterity 400

luck 25

stamina Infinite

strength 400

vigor 400

wisdom 400

Current Title: Apostle of Death

He read it as if reading his own epitaph carved ahead of schedule. The desert wind pawed at the letters and found nothing to steal.

“Hmm, this should be good enough for what is to come then…” Ludwig looked up among the hot sand and blowing desert, and in the distance of the mix of mirages and fake waters, a few spires rose up high in the skies of the Kingdom of the Sand. They speared the wavering line like needles that refused to bend, pale against the pale, the suggestion of stone holding firm where everything else wished to blur. Banners might be there. Wells might be there. Arguments might be there. That was the first city they had seen since they began traveling. The salamander lifted its head and snuffed the air with theatrical satisfaction. The princess’s shoulders eased. The knight’s breath lost one ragged edge and found another. Ludwig rolled his neck once and let the mirage pretend to be a promise until it was forced to be one.