Chapter 229: Changing Names Like Clothes

William Oh has only been sick once in his life.

It came to pass after a terrible battle in which he sustained multiple life-threatening injuries and had spent the night sleeping in the wilderness, his wounds exposed to the dirt and grime of the forest floor.

When he awoke the next morning, William Oh groggily blinked his eyes at the morning sun and lamented the illness that had developed overnight.

‘Im so sick of winning all the time.’ He groaned, his wounds already healed.

True Story.

• Jason Salazar.

 

Will was lying on his side, waiting for the nausea to pass when he heard crunching footsteps approaching.

“How’d the wedding go?” Loth asked, squatting down beside him.

“Danced with the Rotwitch.” Will coughed.

“That bad, huh?”

“Not bad at all really. Kinda tingly. We just had to cut the reception short because an abomination showed up, stole a matching Climber and set, and it’s all hands on deck now.”

“How long ago?” Loth asked.

“Only an hour or so,” Will muttered, pushing himself to his feet as the nausea passed.

“What’s the plan?” Loth asked.

“Any Lord potentially in his path is going to lock him down and request backup, then we’ll kick the crap out of him.”

“Who gets the set once it’s dead?” Loth asked.

Will glanced up at Loth with a raised brow.

“Ah shit, it’s gonna be a bloodbath,” Will muttered.

As soon as the threat of city-ending infestations was past, the remaining Lords would immediately fight over the unclaimed set.

Fabron sure as Abyss wasn’t going to claim it.

Is that why they sent representatives from both factions ? Will assumed it was just to ‘watch’ each other, but there was an extra layer to it.

They left Will to his own devices because…either they thought he was neutral or they didn’t think he would win, merely buy time.

Will thought back to the fae he’d managed to destabilize, glancing back down at his truncated arm.

I need to be able to disrupt Miasmatic Structures without shoving my hand in a furnace to do it. And I think I have an idea for how I can make that happen.

“I’m going to go my tower to practice something.” Will said. “I should see him coming from twelve miles away if he attacks, but he’s also got minions that I might not see coming. Put everyone on high alert.”

“Alright.” Loth said, nodding, gesturing for Brianna to follow her.

I know a good way to determine if Void is on this Floor, Will thought, opening his Lord menu and selecting ‘Issue Bounty’

If he’s on this Floor, I should be able to issue a Lockdown Bounty. If it goes through he’s here. Or at least his body is.

Issue Lockdown Bounty (11,000) Influence?

Yes

Enter target name, alias and/or description.

________

Oh right, what was Void’s name again?

***Vincent Duncan***

Vincent Duncan

Vile Word Level 62

62 + 22 Strength

124 + 72 Resistance

62+ 27 Kinesthetics

124 + 82 Acuity

248 + 135 Focus

Charges: 359/383

Free Points: 0

Primary Abilities (Maxed): Seize Undead***, Grave Commander***, Necrotic Balm***

Secondary Abilities: Unliving One**, Necrotic Conduit**

Tertiary Abilities: Cannibalize, Withering Word.

 

Void opened the next Ability, studying it’s effect on his Build.

 

Necrotic Conduit**

Damage dealt to you is redistributed among Undead you control.

Buffs you receive are copied to undead you control.

Healing you receive is copied to undead you control.

Potency Scales with Focus

…

Unliving One**

The need to breath, sleep and eat are greatly diminished. Bleeding and poison damage greatly reduced. You are considered Undead to Abilities. You may extend this property to objects at will.

Scales with Focus

Void frowned, cocking his head.

Why would I want to make objects count as undead? There had to have been a reason he had done that, but there was no one to ask.

It always took several months before his proficiency with a Build reached the same as its original owner, if ever.

Unless that original owner was particularly stupid, which had happened before, but it didn’t seem like Void was one of those types.

The hosts had their whole careers to figure out all the best tricks baked into their Build and master them, gradually adjusting as each new ingredient was added to the pot that was their Build, coming up with their own unique techniques, exploits, and cantrips.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Jumping into this body at full strength without first studying it in depth was a surefire way to lose some of their carefully crafted techniques forever.

Shame.

Pure support build. He doesn’t even have any capacity to make his own undead, Void thought, inspecting the scythe he’d been wielding.

Howling Scythe

+5 Strength

+4 resistance

+ 8 Acuity

+14 Focus

Grave Howl: 15 Charge.

Unleash a necrotic AOE centered on the wielder, scaling with Acuity. Any enemy killed by this attack becomes an Undead under their control. Each undead created in this way imposes a 10-point penalty to Focus until it is destroyed or dismissed.

These undead are simple zombies. They have strength and speed similar to what they had in life, but do not retain any Abilities, skills or knowledge.

Hmm…

Void glanced at the secondary band on his left hand. It wasn’t quite as ostentatious as the Signet of the Burning Court on his right hand, but it was pretty, with a simple band of fire opal set in the center of the ring.

Ring of the Flaming Scourge

+4 Strength

+4 Kinesthetics

+12 Resistance

+15 Focus

+12 Acuity

35% potency of Necromancer Archetype Abilities.

Reduces Focus cost to maintain Undead minions by 30% each, rounded down. Cannot lower the Focus cost below 1.

Undead under your control gain a flame aura while in combat. Scales with Focus.

Modified ring of the Undead Horde. Percentage instead of flat reduction. Would defray the cost of the scythe by 3 points per undead. The benefit would increase the more powerful the undead I was planning on controlling.

Ohhh…

There’s a cost-benefit issue at the heart of necromancy isn’t there?

Many Necromancer Abilities scaled with Focus. If he were to gain control of a massive horde, he would have to accept a large penalty to his Focus, which would in turn drastically reduce the strength of his passives, which would reduce the strength of his individual undead.

A balancing act.