In the darkness, the skeleton became still, watching Azrael silently as if awaiting his command. It had no eyes, no mind, and yet appeared to understand its role perfectly.
The pain in his stomach faded, swallowed by the void.
Then, green text flickered before him, flames flickering at the edges of a dark screen.
—
[Choose a starting skill]
1. Necrotic Touch - A corrosive touch that deals high damage and prevents healing for 3s.
2. Vampiric Touch - Drains life on contact, healing the caster by a portion of the damage dealt.
3. Psychic Scream - A psychic blast that causes fear in nearby enemies for 1s.
—
Azrael stared at the glowing window.
A skill window?
He wasn't stupid; any gamer would recognise this trope instantly. But seeing it after he'd just bled out on the floor? The thought that he might be hallucinating crossed his mind.
Maybe the memory of being stabbed lingered as Azrael's fingertip hovered in the air. His fingertip hovered over the first choice. Necrotic Touch has the highest damage… Psychic Scream could crowd-control in a pinch…
His hand trembled, slipping down to the second.
But I always preferred shadow priests or vampire classes.
He tapped the choice.
[Gained Skill: Vampiric Touch]
The world rushed back into action, sound, colour and the hum of the rusty fridges and broken glass.
What—? I'm alive?
Something yanked at his hand. Azrael looked down. He was clutching a goblin's ankle, its knife still dripping blood. It thrashed, snarling and crawling towards Manager Yan.
"No!" he dragged it back.
His left hand pressed to its throat, and heat surged through his palm. The goblin's eyes bulged as its skin turned ashen, strength pouring out of it and into him.
Crack!
Then... its neck snapped, and the goblin died.
[+1 Exp]
[+1 Soul Essence]
Two neon-blue boxes floated above the corpse before bursting into light particles. A white and green orb floated into his chest. Azrael shivered as the warmth overflowed within him, dulling the ache in his fingers.
The warmth from the drifting orbs faded into his chest, leaving his body steadier than before. Azrael exhaled, then noticed the skeleton still kneeling at his side, silent as stone.
It still waited.
"Stand."
The bones creaked as it rose, empty sockets looking forward, patient as a guard dog.
Azrael glanced at the floor and spotted the metal mop handle Brandon had swung before he fell. He hesitated a breath, then stooped, picked it up, and held it out.
"Here. Better than nothing."
The skeleton reached for the pole with both hands, pausing for a moment, fire billowing in his eye sockets, before taking it.
Its fingers closed tightly around it, as it would never let go again.
Two goblins staggered out from behind an overturned shelf, one holding Hong Yan's manager's jacket while sneering.
"Attack."
The skeleton lunged with an awkward posture, using the mop handle like a crude spear. The first goblin's teeth cracked as the metal rod smashed across its jaw.
When the second avoided the blow, Azrael was already waiting; he slammed his palm against its chest, and once again the warmth of life flowed into his body.
The bodies hit the floor with another crack.
Orbs floated into both the skeleton and Azrael
[+1 Exp]
[+1 Soul Essence]
[+1 Exp]
[+1 Soul Essence]
"Hm?"
A hoarse snarl stole his attention, and he gazed towards the coolers.
Two goblins were on top of Hong Yan. One pinned her down, the other tearing at her clothes, rage and frustration on their faces now that her body became pale and cold. Azrael touched his chest and felt nothing. He thought it might break him to see this sight... cause him to go berserk, but the anger in his chest felt cold as it froze over.
"Crush them." His voice lacked the same tone as before, revealing his anger.
The skeleton answered, as if to follow that tone, with a brutal and aggressive response. The mop handle jabbed like a spear and punched through the goblin's face with a wet pop. With the flick of its wrist, it spun and smashed the second across the temple.
Azrael walked towards the body of Hong Yan, his fists clenched until his nails tore flesh. He hit the nearer goblin from behind, arms wrapping its neck, and hammered his fist into its skull. Once. Twice. A third time... over and over, he crushed the goblin's face until it became paste.
The orbs rose even as he kept punching.
[+3 Exp]
[+3 Soul Essence]
He didn't stop until his knuckles became raw and bloody, then tossed them aside and flung his head back, hair covering his face.
The manager was a woman who helped him when he failed his first exam and desperately needed money.
She gave him his first job two years ago.
A harsh, slovenly and foul-mouthed woman.
But she was a beauty.
That's when a black and red box appeared, big enough to cover his entire vision. His eyes widened upon reading the text. His breathing hastened as he felt his heart beating for the first time since he died to the goblin's blade.
——Undying Skill Activated——
[Compatible Thrall Detected]
[Requirements: Fresh Corpse, High Affection or Trust value + 5 Soul Essence]
[Thralls preserve their will, but are bound to the Lich Lord eternally]
[Bind? Y/N]
He swallowed the sorrow that rose and hit YES with his forehead.
The moment he did, the method of forming a contract appeared in his mind... strange words and runes flashed in the corner of his vision, which turned blood red.
He dragged a box cutter across his palm, quietly noticing the lack of pain, and pressed his bleeding hand to her sternum. Black lines spidered out from his touch, racing under her skin, then down to the wounds below her navel and up to her heart and face. They coiled and inked a sigil in its place, a crowned skull with spread wings and a downward sword on her lower pelvis.
The lines set with a matte-black finish… then flickered gold.
Hong Yan's body convulsed as her back arched, the cold and dead heart beating once again.
She gasped like someone who'd drowned in deep water, eyes blazing gold before settling. The artificial red in her hair burned away into a natural blood-red. She clutched at the Soul Crest, breathing hard.
That's when Azrael noticed the changes in her body.
"Nice."
"What...?" She tilted her head, speaking with a hoarse voice. "Oi! The hell did you do to me, Cross?"
Hong Yan covered her chest, her hands barely able to conceal the assets newly grown to a much greater size, before she barely fit into a B-cup... and now, they were a comfortable D-cup with a nice, heavy shape like two melons.
"I saved your life, here, wear this. Stop being loud, those bastards are still outside."
Her face looked stunned after Azrael removed his shirt; several scars covered his muscular abdomen, and yet he didn't have the same "Shy" or "introverted" atmosphere she normally teased him for.
"S-Strange..." He turned away and motioned for the skeleton to follow him. "Why does he seem more pleasing to look at?"
Neither noticed that in the exchanges with goblins, his long hair was cut shorter, now barely down to his neck and brushed back with sweat and blood.
As Chloe said, he looked great.
Meanwhile, as they stacked heavy freezers against the glass, Azrael couldn't care about the changes in Hong Yan because her status screen was in the corner of his vision.
[Name: Hong Yan]
[Race: Half-Wraith (Thrall)]
[Rank: Bronze]
[Level: 1]
Strength: 12
Agility: 11
Vitality: 12
Intelligence: 9
Spirit: 10
Soul: 11
Exp: 0 / 10
Soul Essence Capacity: 0 / 50
Skill:
• Ember Fist (Lv 1)
Bond: Soul Crest (abdomen)
Aura: Restores Health + Soul Force to Master and Thrall within 10m
Trait: Half-Undead — Reduced Appetite (can subsist on Soul Essence