"I think you have potential in academia." I suggested, dodging the arrow he flung at me.

  "I wouldn't debase myself again!" The Lich spat with all the venom of a downsized employee.

  I could totally relate. I mean, if I had stayed at my job, I would have surely been let go. Even with that thought; there was a twinge of doubt. Maybe the home office had given my manager wrong information, and everything was alright.

  "You were a teacher before?" I inquired; trying to keep him talking.

  He blocked another arrow; casually swiping it out of the air. I was genuinely curious but also buying time to regenerate my resources. I had to divert some extra stored experience points into my system bar.

  "They didn't accept my genius; a bunch of pathetic fools. What are a few dead peasants compared to the future of magic? You experiment on one orphan, and suddenly everyone takes issue." He exclaimed in a huff.

  Suddenly, the world stopped; time came to a halt as his words repeated in my head like a tune I couldn't remove. One word was more prominent than anything he had said. A word that held so much meaning and subtext that I found it hard to remain calm.

  "Orphan?" I barely got the word out.

  "Exactly, they would have died in the streets. Best they die for a purpose, they should be honoured; they are advancing the study of magic." He said without a trace of remorse, as if what he was implying was a mere afterthought.

  My mouth went dry, my heart was like a drum, and the musician was transitioning to heavy metal. I gripped my weapon so tight I could have broken it. Palms sweaty, my mind unable to reclaim the calm I once had. Something was digging into my chest and setting it ablaze.

  I had never had a family before. I knew what they were from movies and TV shows. But someone created me, and I was not born to parents and raised from birth. I couldn't empathise, not truly. And yet there was something I could feel more than anything. Something I could sympathise with, identify with.

  Being an orphan was as close as I could get to a genuine connection. Being parentless, not knowing the feeling of being someone's world and cherished so. It was the one thing that allowed me to truly connect with anyone outside of the eternal office block.

  "I am going to kill you, you orphan-murdering bastard." I declared with absolute finality that his death was a done deal.

  He looked taken aback, like, "How dare this whelp threaten me?" I didn't care, since I had already decided I would crush his bones beneath my feet.

  "Just like those fools from the academy, unable to think past such minuscule matters." He said, shaking his head as if done with me. The feeling was mutual.

  Instead of another fireball, he reached out with his bony hand and gripped thin air, muttering something about terror. Then it hit me — a fear beyond anything I had felt. The world faded away, going dark, isolating and distant. I was alone; no one was coming to save me. Feeling like a shivering child grasping for a hand that would never come, I could barely keep upright.

  And just when the fear reached down my throat to grip my heart, a sound so soothing gently caressed my cheek. A familiar musical tune containing subtle beauty. And then it slammed against my brain, telling me what a little bitch I was.

  I awoke from that state with a rational mind; but with a throbbing headache. Realisation dawned on me as I determined Marius had just hit me with a mocking spell. It helped, but it also made me feel like I had just got schooled and should be ashamed of my inadequacy.

  Most definitely some form of psychic damage. I totally need to come up with psychic resistance, maybe a new attribute. But that was for later; it was Lich-killing time.

  "So it's going to be a debuff fight! Bring it on, brainless." I taunted accurately. I mean, he has no brains.

  The lich just looked at me like I was crazy. You know the look: the head tilted to the side, and if he had eyes, they would narrow to slits. I didn't care; this lifeless corpse was going to feel the wrath of a pissed-off Systemologist.

  First, I hit him with a Max Decibel. Instead of a song, I chose Skeletor doing his signature sound over and over, all at max volume. Then, I slammed his eye sockets with a massive notification with a single image of a giant middle finger.

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  He was stunned and probably confused, so not about to let this go to waste. I closed the distance with a few quick steps and tried to decapitate him. A transparent barrier shimmered to life, and my weapon harmlessly bounced off as if I had just tried to wack a trampoline with a plastic bat.

  "Corruption!" the Lich chanted, and a sickly green energy emerged from his hand.

  Not wanting any of that stuff on me, I jumped back narrowly dodging his attempt to meet my face with his bony hand. This was getting tricky. I could debuff him, but I doubted my system bar would outlast his mana bar.

  Even worse, that barrier spell wasn't even his magic. Which was obvious as the pendant around his neck glowed every time the shield came up. Also, the item just oozed system-generated. System energy covered the thing, so there was no way someone crafted it.

  Recalling my skill, I had a brilliant idea come to mind. This brilliant idea had to wait as brainless had finished his screaming and calls for my death and soul ripping.

  "I will consume your soul! Wait, what's this?" The Lich switched from wrathful indignation to confused curiosity.

  His eye sockets locked onto me; it seems he found the dismiss function. My skill hid that function automatically. But nothing stops them from bringing it back up at will. It seems he must have thought of dismissing whatever this was and got the prompt.

  "You can see me, dude?" I grinned before hitting him with another middle-finger prompt.

  "I will not succumb to your tricks!" he screamed, discarding his calm demeanour.

  Thinking over my plan, I enacted it without a second thought. Crafting a message and sending a prompt to Marius, I just hoped his system had its translation function running.

  Activating the skill, Eyes of the system; I inspected the pendant. The bloody thing was incredibly complex, fueled by mana since I couldn't see its power source. But the very familiar circuitry and the ambient mana absorbers were a telltale sign.

  I didn't have time to analyse more; the bastard lich raised a finger and sent a lightning bolt. The kinetic barrier could not block that, so sacrificing some stamina for a dodge was the only option.

  Then, the despicable lightning bolt turned mid-flight. Homing in on me, I quickly leapt off the podium and left the lich to stand next to his throne. He was still holding his head but had enough sense to guide a lightning bolt.

  Going full parkour around the throne room, or at least a sloppy version of it, I kept ahead of it. Of course, that wouldn't last, and eventually it would reach me. So I kept up the parkour, leaping, jumping and doing cool tricks wherever possible. I mean, if I am to die, might as well look cool doing it.

  An idea formed: what if I have a ghoul tank the hit? It was a decent plan and so I tried it out. Weaving between undead, I found a truly dumb-looking ghoul and made a break for it. Arriving right in front of him, I flicked him on the nose and leapt over in a wicked gymnast-style leap.

  This reflex attribute was the best. No doubt my form would make any Olympic gymnast weep. Not in a good way, my sloppy technique left much to be desired. At least I think it's sloppy, since Jenny didn't download gymnastics into my brain. But I am superclerkan, superior then a normal clerk!

  With my outstanding leap over the ghoul, timed perfectly, the bolt struck true. Slammed into the ghoul with the thunder of the gods. Instead of blasting the undead to bits and ending there. The bolt sliced its way through and continued on its journey. A neat little hole through the ghoul's chest and the lightning didn't even break a sweat. If it could sweat, of course.

  "Why isn't it running out of juice?!"

  Despite running all over the place and wildly jumping over dumb ghouls that tried to eat my brains or whatever. The lightning bolt kept tracking me, relentless and with no sign of slowing down.

  "This sucks!" was all I could say before making a few additions to the plan.

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