AlterWorld

I opened the Magic Talents panel and stopped, thinking. I needed to summarize today's experience. I was quite pleased with the Necro. The pet was great, Life Absorption did the trick and the DoTs were awesome. Still, I'd have loved the spell to deal more damage and heal me better accordingly. So I had to invest an extra point into it.

Congratulations! You've learned the spell: Life Absorption II.

Cast time: 1.7 sec

Mana expenditure: 22

The spell deals 15 points of magic damage to an enemy target simultaneously giving you 15 XP points. See Wiki for more details.

At the moment, I was still unable to improve the summoning spell. Once I was level 10 and had chosen specialization, the summoned creature would be losing one level per player's every five. At the same time, once a Necro reached level 10, he had a new skill tree branch open, dedicated to pet leveling. It could give the pet a considerable boost. A Death Knight, however, could only have that branch open after level 30 which meant that for Death Knights, pets became superfluous. So most Death Knights would level into some sort of armored high-DpS tanks while more group-oriented ones became the same with a higher potential of casting curses and mass debuffs.

I kept switching between branches and reading descriptions until finally I opted for two Death Skill spells. That gave me a damage-absorbing buff and control magic in the shape of a freezing spell.

Congratulations! You've learned the spell: Bone Shield.

Cast time: 2.9 sec

Mana expenditure: 23

This personal buff creates a magic shield that absorbs 40 points Damage. Duration: 20 minutes.

Congratulations! You've learned the spell: Deadman's Hand.

Cast time: 1.5 sec

Mana expenditure: 19

Freezes target for 2 sec

I moved my new skills to the quick access panel. There were still plenty of slots left, enough for ten spells. In the future, however, I might need to think carefully to decide which spells to stash away and which to have at hand at all times.

I tested them straight away. First I activated the shield. A mesh sphere snapped open around me and, spi

In search for a target to test my control magic, I headed for the Gnoll Hill. I still had to pick up my stuff. After a couple dozen paces, I met another bu

I selected it as target and glanced at the spell icon to activate it.

The ground bulged. A decaying hand reached out and grabbed the bu

The rabbit finally pulled itself free. It covered the distance between us in three long leaps and clawed me with a vengeance. A familiar knock was followed by a combat chat report telling me that the Bone Shield had absorbed 6 points Damage. It worked.

The shield lasted five more hits. Not much, but this was only the first step. Later, when I invested more points in it, I could expect more impressive results. Most importantly, the shield absorbed all damage allowing you to concentrate on casting the spell despite the hits received.

I finished the bu

The scenery had now changed. The forest parted, letting me through toward the hills. Wary of entering the aggro zone bustling with mobs, I gave a nearby gnoll gatherer a wide berth and crouched by my grave. I knew of course that back in the real world I was probably heading toward the same end: a small wonky tombstone with my name on it. Surreal, wasn't it, me sitting here admiring my own sepulcher. I reached out to shake off the dust and dirt. The stone vibrated under my touch.

Laith, Level 5. The grave will be teleported to the City of Light North Graveyard in 2 hrs. 12 min. Would you like to collect your possessions?

Yes/No

Yes. The tomb crumbled leaving behind a bag with my stuff. I kicked the gray handful of dust. I'd live.

The moment I crouched over my bag, a female player ran up the hill pulling a train of four gnolls. She rolled down the slope and turned to face the mobs. Despite her level 11, she seemed to have bitten off more than she could chew: a level 7 overseer and three level 5 workers.

The Elfa didn't seem to know what she was doing. Such low-level mobs wouldn't give her much loot or experience.

A growl came from behind her back. A messenger gnoll rushed to his buddies' aid and joined in the scuffle. The Elfa noticed the new threat and shook her head in dismay. Our eyes met. She sized up my embarrassing level-five frame, bit her lip and hurled herself back into what now looked like a hopeless fight.

I dug deep into my bag and produced the dagger and a couple Soul Stones. Too little time to rummage through the rest of it. My mana was at 75%. Not much but I couldn't allow a lady to be wasted in front of me. I'd done enough eye-averting in real life pretending I had no business in other couples' fights.

I raised the pet—only a level 3 zombie, dammit. Had neither time nor mana to raise another one. Rover, attack! Try to pull a gnoll or two, pup, even if for a moment.

The gnoll who until then hadn't received a single hit and hadn't gained any aggro, switched to the zombie with ease. I chose the weakest messenger and cast the DoT. Then, clutching the dagger and the spare Soul Stone, I lunged into close combat.

The Elfa didn't appreciate my efforts. She swung her bangs out of her eyes and snapped, "Run, you idiot!"

"Relax, babe. We'll do 'em," I shouted back. She shrugged and continued fighting.

Now it went quicker. A gnoll collapsed, slain by the girl. The zombie groaned and gave up the ghost. My opponent followed. We were two against four.

Throughout the brief fight I kept casting Life Absorption, aiming to kill my gnoll as fast I could. Which was why I came out of it with full life but only 25% mana. The gnoll worker—who'd kicked the shit out of my pet without losing more than 20% hits—now turned his attention to me. I received a couple of hearty blows before I could cast Deadman's Hand, draw out and raise a new pet. Success. Level 4.

Rover, attack! His mana dropped to zero. I waited a few seconds for the pet to gain some aggro, sneaked up behind the gnoll and put my Grym-awarded hole puncher to good use.

When we had done away with all of the Elfa's enemies but one, her life bar was already blinking in the red zone. The girl was finished. Still, she was full of surprises. She raised her sword and shield and activated some spectacular skill, completely restoring her life. Apparently, she wasn't a warrior but rather some hybrid class. With her heavy steel armor, the sword and the shield, could she be a paladin? The amazing skill had to be Holy Hands which allowed you to heal completely once every twenty-four hours. I remembered reading about it at some forum or other. She could have probably done without me. Then again, maybe not.

The wet blades kept slashing flesh. Another minute's worth of growling and two agonizing sobs later, we'd run out of enemies. We, however, were still very much around.

Taali—that was her name—began looting the corpses. The Elven auto translate offered a prompt: Ta meant a fox, while Ali stood for a shadow. A Shadow Fox.