Alexi was not having a good morning, he had woken up feeling truly awful. It was one of those mornings that were so terrible, the day was ruined before it even started. At this very moment, Alexi doubted he even had the energy to properly open his eyes, much less get out of … of whatever he had fallen asleep on. But as he was contemplating the materials in which his sleeping surface had been constructed out of ( He swore if felt like there was straw in it) a shape popped up in his vision. It stood out quite thoroughly as it was the only thing in his vision he still hadn't opened his eyes yet.
//
Congratulations on acquiring a class.
Necromancer
“Through dark curiosity, morbid desire, or greed of power, You have found the path of those who deny the permanence of death”
This class was awarded because of the successful animation of a deceased life form or amalgam.
//
The panel was bright and more than a little annoying. Alexi Briefly thought of the panel disappearing from view, Which the panel did promptly. But before Alexi had the time to bask in the success of returning to peace, IE going back to sleep, another annoyingly bright panel made its presence known to his closed eyes.
//
Congratulations on acquiring class.
Host
“Man has always formed bonds with those around them, external, internal, symbiotic, parasitic. Only time can tell where this one will go.”
This class was awarded because of the successful infestation of another entity in USER: ALEXI MORGAN.
//
“Well that's rather ominous” Alexi thought to himself, he genuinely doubted he had the energy to actually open his mouth and say the thought out loud. What he was seeing should be completely impossible, he knew his eyes were closed, yet there was clearly some sort of display in his view. While he had dismissed the first one out of hand and mostly by accident, only when the second one popped up did he take the time to read through it. It likely wasn’t a hallucination; it was too crisp, too clean, and contained too many details for it to be something his brain was coming up with to fill in the blanks of what he was seeing. He was able to count how many words made up the first line and three checks resulted in the same number of words for all three iterations, so he had to have some degree of lucidity. So he had to truly be looking at a panel and said panel actually must actually be telling him he had gotten a class, whatever that meant. The entire thing seemed like something out of a novel or internet short, “In stories like that shouldn't there be some sort of status screen or user interface or something?” Alexi had been an avid reader of stories like that when he was younger, but it was rather challenging to find the time to pick up anything interesting since college. As he was contemplating the last time he read something that didn't have to do with his chosen profession, a new window popped up in front of the old one.
//
STATUS
NAME: Alexi Morgan
AGE: 23
STATS:
Strength 7 (-7)
Dexterity 6 (-6)
Perception 6 (-6)
Constitution 8 (-7)
Intelligence 14 (-5)
Charisma 7
CLASS: Necromancer Lv.1, Host Lv.1
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
ABILITY: Mana Manipulation, Mana Stores, Mana Reserve.
SKILLS:N/A
SPELLS:N/A
TITLES:N/A
STATE: Enfeebled (48:40), Slowed (48:40), Anemic (48:40), Exhausted IV: paralysis (0:24)
//
Alexi was rather surprised by the new window; he hadn't really expected one to show up. His surprise upgraded itself to shock upon further investigation of his “stats”. “Mana manipulation, mana stores, does this mean wherever I am at, there is magic? Does that mean I can use magic?”. That might need investigating at a later date, the real issue were the items in his state section. “Enfeebled, slowed and anemic, judging by their timers they seemed to have come from the same effect. The exhaustion seems to be the main issue, I wonder what would happen at higher levels?”. By DnD rules, higher levels of exhaustion would result in death, he hoped that wasn't the case here. Alexi Proceeded to dismiss all of his windows attempting to try and get some sleep during the wait.
“The Exhaustion should have recovered from the paralysis stage. Why isn't he getting up yet?” came a gruff male voice, It wasn't any language Alexi had ever heard before yet he could understand the meaning behind each word. “He is most likely still just sleeping, even if he had recovered from Exhaustion IV, he would still have exhaustion III. He will be drowsy and dozing in and out of consciousness for the next few days.” The second voice was clearly feminine, again in the same unknown language as the first. “We need to ask him questions, we don't even know his name. For all we know, he might be some sort of bandit.” The third voice was a bit strange, Alexi had a hard time assigning it a gender. “His name is Alexi Morgan, he is quite intelligent but outside of that he is rather average. I doubt any bandit would focus on becoming so knowledgeable.”
//
Loading saved logs…
…
…
Exhaustion IV has expired, You are no longer paralyzed and your intelligence has returned to its normal level.
Skill Erudite has been returned to Alexi Morgan, “You have intelligence, and others can recognize that”. Your erudition means you will be aware of when spells are applied on or near you.
…
…
Spell Diagnostic has been used on you, you are unconscious and did not set up defenses. Auto Fail resistance.
…
…
…
Minor Divination: Inspect has been cast on you. You are unconscious and did not set up defenses. Your class Necromancer disguises itself as elementalist. Your class Host resists spells.
Minor divination Partially resisted.
…
…
…
Up to date
//
Stirring from the sudden wall of text, Alexi slowly opened his eyes. It was bright, the room looked like some one had spliced an infirmary from a civil war period drama with a cathedral. The walls were lined with massive stained glass windows and his “bed” was boxed in with cloth curtains on the sides; the back of the bed was set to a gray stone wall. The entire sight was so grandiose that it took him a second to realize there were people standing at the foot of the bed. Three of them to be specific, one in armor, one in some sort of suit, and one in some sort of ceremonial or religious robe. Of the two in armor, one was clearly male with light leather armor while the other seemed rather androgynous and was dressed in some sort of military uniform. The clergyman, or women in this case, was standing next to the armored pair staring at what looked like a stone slate with a handful of leather flaps on it. She seemed to select one and a soft glow seemed to emit from it.
//
Log
Spell Diagnostic is being cast on you. You are enfeebled and cannot resist. Auto-fail resistance.
//
“Well, he still is suffering from the blood loss and dehydration while still being enfeebled. However he is in much better shape than he had any right to be. Now excuse me, I have other patients to see. It's the day after first fall and I have unimaginable amounts of work to do.” Promptly turning on her heel and pushed her way out of the flaps in the curtains near the foot side of the bed. Alexi attempted to open his mouth to try and ask what was going on, only to successfully cough and sputter a string of nothing. His mouth was unbelievably dry, it felt like he could light a match on it. “There is water to your right” came the gender ambiguous voice from the androgenous soldier. And as Alexi Desperately drank from what looked to be a stone pitcher, the one in leather asked “We have a few questions to ask you if that's ok with you?” Alexi nodded still not sure if he was up to speaking.
The strangeness of the situation was so great that even the Guard Captain had joined Rudolph in Questioning the injured man. Being stranded in the winter was not common but being stranded during First Fall was Rare, This had been the first time in at least four years and warranted investigation. The questions themselves were pretty simple but the answers were strange, the injured man seemed to have come from very far away as Rudolph had never even seen a place called Cleaveland on a map. But according to His Superior, the man wasn't lying about his answers. They decided that they got what they needed out of the man and told him to find the guards barracks once he was healthy enough to make the trip, they still needed to ensure the safety of the city now that first fall had come to pass.
