Whispers of a Dead Empire

Chapter 14

"Alright, so each mob needs each other to equal out their strengths and weakness?" I asked as I skimmed through the list to make sure what I was saying was right.

"Correct. Especially until you manage to unlock high tiers of the undead." So I would need to cluster them together for maximum benefit. I nodded my head and set my pen down. Alrighty then, well, let's get these bosses made while I think this over.

I created two more chairs and made a motion for both of them to take a seat. It would have felt rude of me to make them just stand there. I like to think that I am not entirely heartless. Once everyone was settled in, I opened my menu. For the next boss, I will start off with a zombie, or whatever it will evolve into after I finish. I massed summoned ten of them and grimaced as I watched my sweet essence trickle down. It hurt watching it drain. It truly did. It was like watching your paycheck get spent just a few moments after getting it.

Once the summoning finished, I looked them all over. I was thankful that they were not carbon copies of each other; they were all unique. Some were towering giants, while others looked like they were in their early teens. It really increased the fear factor and added a bit of humanity to them. I stared at them, and I was hesitant to issue my order. I knew that I had to, it was for the greater good, yet that thought didn't make it any easier for me.

It was as if the room was holding its breath for what was to come. I gulped down some air and gave my command. "Fight to the death." In an instant, the room exploded into a flurry of activity. The zombies tore into each other, uncaring that they were allies. The harrowing moans filled the air as limbs were torn from torsos. Black ichor splattered the concrete ground on gruesome patterns, and low animalistic cries did little to cover up the sound of bodies being torn apart.

The sounds grated my nerves, and I did the best to block it out. I thought I was ready for the carnage that would ensure, but I wasn't. I was by no means squeamish about blood or gore, but this was something entirely different. It was almost primal the way the zombies tore into each other. I shifted my gaze sideways so I didn't have to see the gruesome scene unfolding and did my best to block out the sounds of flesh getting torn apart.

I kept an eye on the clock as the sounds of fighting died down. It took them close to an hour to finish one another off. I glanced back at the tiny battleground and almost threw up from the sight. Body parts lay strewn across the ground, and black ichor ran freely in small streams. Most of the bodies had been ripped to shreds beyond any recognition. However, there was one zombie left that looked utterly unscathed. Its flesh was pale grey and pulled tautly across its body, revealing black veins that crisscrossed its flesh. It had small fangs that hung just over its pale grey lips, and long strands of stringy black hair hung down its head, covering its grey eyes. Blackened blood coated its face and dripped off onto the solid concrete below, giving it a monstrous visage.

I shuddered as I read over the new template. This undead was disgusting. But reading its description still raised a lot of questions for me. "Kharon, how do I unlock the ghoul?" As much as I wanted to stay away from this kind of creature, I needed to make sure that my domain had variety and could defend itself.

"I'm not quite sure. I am only granted knowledge as needed by the system. I am afraid that I cannot help you at this time regarding any form of future evolutions.: Kharon lowered his head, and I felt a scowl across my face. That made my job a little more complicated. Everything was going a little too easy anyway, so thankfully, something threw a wrench into my plans. It was nice to know that not everything will go my way, I guess. I let out a sigh and activated the consume function and quickly tried to expunge the smell of decaying flesh and the pool of blood. I refuse to let this mess stain my office.

Once I finished, I looked at the ghast once more and teleported it out. I couldn't bear to have it in my office anymore. I'll experiment a bit more and see if I can create something a little more pleasant for a boss. I glanced over at my essence and saw that I made a small portion back from all of the deaths. Thankfully spawning in the lower tier mobs and letting them fight was far cheaper than pumping straight essence into them. I feel like I got lucky once with Alessia, and I don't want to test my luck once more.

"Is there any other way to help them evolve?" I asked as I finished the last bit of needed cleaning.

"Well, yes, undead mobs do get access to a class system. Just give them some weapons and see what happens, especially if you want to avoid another ghast situation." I nodded my head and cast a glance over to the storage containers I had in the back. I could part with a few of the swords. I'll just have to clean them meticulously if I wanted them to be usable afterward. I left my chair and walked over to the storage crates, and pulled out a sword. I activated my consume function on it out of curiosity.

Oh, so I can save templates like this. So I can use these a little less sparingly. I grabbed a few of the swords and walked them over to where the observational area was. I set the blades down around us and gave one to Kharon and one to Alessia. They were the most essential to me, after all.

Kharon took the blade and looked it over, and placed it across his lap. "Thank you, mistress." His words were as emotionless as ever, making a part of me wish that I could read him better. Alessia, on the other hand, just took the sword and sat there, staring forward. I wish she would hurry up and become sentient. It was driving me a bit nuts. With a dejected sigh, I began summoning another host of zombies; I started to move a bunch of the blades over to the combat area. Once the process finished, I sat down and motioned towards the weapons that sat on the concrete floor.

"Take your weapons." I crossed my legs and then my arms while staring at them. They slowly shuffled towards us, their milky white eyes trained on the weapons that sat on the floor. As they reached down to grab the swords, I glanced over to Kharon. "So, how do I unlock my class?"

"You have to classify yourself as either a mob or a boss in the domain menu. As a domain god, you get access to every boss classification, so just read through the list and see what you like or exit the domain for a time and find a class that suits you." His teeth clanked together with each word he said, adding a strange click to his words. I nodded my head and shifted my attention straight ahead. The zombies managed to gather their weapons and were milling about aimlessly as they awaited their orders. The blades hung limply in their arms as they shuffled around.

I didn't want to exit the domain because, as it stood, I was fragile, and without my powers, I wasn't worth anything. I cast a sideways glance towards the zombies and ordered them to fight while I dived into my menu in the search for what I could do. However, it was mostly to cover up that the zombies were brutalizing each other just a few meters away from us. I delved into my domain menu and looked through everything until I found my domain status page. I went through everything and quickly skimmed through the menus.

I clicked on the confirmation key, and a slew of new screens appeared before me.

Do I want to change my last name? I sat there and thought about it for a moment. I was obviously used to my current last name after using it for close to two and a half decades or so. But if I wanted to make sure that I had a proper last name for this theme for my domain, I needed something that sounded royal. I tore my gaze from the screen and watched the zombies fight while I mulled it over. At least this time, it wasn't as gruesome as before. Just a bunch of zombies swinging a sword around like a child with a stick. Albeit, it was a very deadly stick. Arms were being lopped off, along with legs, as they attacked each other. Thin grey filaments came from the corpses of zombies that perished and rushed into their slayer. The ones that absorbed the filaments seemed to grow slightly stronger and move a little easier. However, a portion of that rushed towards me, and I saw that my essence tick up somewhat in return.

Ah, so that's how that worked. I see. I shifted my attention back to the screen as I tried to think of a decent last name to use. I hated naming things since I was never really any good at it, but this was something I needed to do. Maybe I should narrow it down and try and build it around the theme of my domain. Maybe I should do something in Latin or another language. What was the name of the empire? Did I decide that yet? I found myself biting my fingernails as I worked through the various years of knowledge that I built up over my rabbit hole dives of Wikipedia.

I think I will name the kingdom Asteria for starters. It would fit with what I had in mind. Asteria was a Titaness of falling stars or something of the sort, and overall it was a pretty enough name. Now that just left me. Should I keep to the naming and give myself the last name of the empire? It would make the most sense, right? Or maybe I should stick with something else.