Chapter 36: Chapter 36 – Necromancer
Matthew woke up with Faralynn scrolling on her phone by his side. He was out for a bit more than one hour. His mouth was dry and his head was killing him. But he was no longer in pain or with a fever.
"Faralynn?" Matthew asked as soon as he opened his eye. "What happened?"
Faralynn hid a smile behind her hand pretending to think. She didn’t want to show him she was happy for him waking up.
"You fainted after Professor Claude tried to purify your demonic mana." She said after returning to her stoic face.
"It hurt a lot." Matthew said pressing his heart. "And now? I’m clean?" He asked hopeful.
Faralynn didn’t hide the sadness in her face and just looked at him not knowing how to answer that.
"What’s wrong with me?" He asked looking her in her eyes.
"We don’t know. Neither father nor Professor Claude ever seen this before."
Matthew felt that like a slap on his face. He didn’t even know how to process that.
"Father is calling a friend of his to investigate. But it will take time." Faralynn explained. "Meanwhile you should keep the demonic mana under control with your purification. But do not purify yourself to the point it hurts." She recounted Professor Claude’s instructions.
Matthew looked down feeling lost. Would he never be able to get rid of it?
Faralynn reached out and held his hand.
"Father’s friend is very wise. He’ll find out what is going on with you and he will find a way to heal you."
Matthew tried to smile. "Thank you, Faralynn." But he couldn’t help, but worry.
"And even if you can’t get rid of it. You can always keep the mana in control with your Purification skill." She added feeling he was still not feeling well.
Matthew just looked at her smiling for real this time. He was thankful to have made a friend like her. A friend who cared. Thinking back, he was very blessed with the people he met while adventuring. It wasn’t uncommon for people to be back-stabbed and robbed inside gates and dungeons where security was scarce.
"Are you feeling well?" Faralynn asked letting go of his hand. "I mean, physically."
"I’m thirsty. And my head is killing me."
Faralynn quickly got up and fetched him a cup of water and some aspirin from the medicine cabinet.
"Rest here until you feel better. You can also go home if you want. Firynn already knows about your situation."
"Thank you. I’ll rest a bit and go home then." Matthew said laying down closing his eye.
"I’ll go back to training. See you tomorrow?" Faralynn asked hiding her face. But Matthew could still see how red her ears where with that question.
"Sure. I’ll be here."
He could swear he saw Faralynn skipping a little when going out the room which draw a smile to his face.
It took a score of minutes before Matthew felt his head clear. He then got up, thanked the doctor, and left for home. On the way, he searched extensively on the internet about his condition. However no results gave him an answer.
He knew he would probably not find the answer so easily, if even Farzan and Professor Claude had no idea about it. But part of him was still hopeful.
He thought back on the pain he felt. It seemed like a knife driving through his chest, on the very bottom of his heart. He never felt a pain that strong before. Or... Did he?
He remembered the pain he felt right after evolving Lumi to an Ice Phoenix. He barely remembered anything that happened after that, but the pain was there. It was very similar, if not the same pain. A pain from soul damage. A pain on his very soul.
"You’re home early!" Sarah said from behind of him just as he was arriving home.
He looked back and saw her in her school uniform. Dark blue pants and white polo shirt. She went to a different high school than he did, the school their mother taught in. Even in simple clothes like that she still looked like she was fresh out of a magazine cover.
"I wasn’t feeling well." He said. He thought he shouldn’t tell her the details about the demonic mana.
"You can’t do that, bro." Sarah took a joking tone. "Skipping classes on your second day."
Matthew laugh and patted her head with a bit more force than necessary messing her perfect hair.
"You jerk!" Sarah slapped his hand away and took a few steps away from him fixing her hair that miraculously went back being perfectly brushed.
When Matthew unlocked their house door, Sarah asked a bit concerned:
"You feeling ok?"
"Yeah. Just a headache. I took an aspirin and am already feeling better."
Sarah smiled and ran past him shoving him to the side:
"I’m first in the shower!"
The morning the next day was uneventful. Save from Faralynn smiling when seeing Matthew coming in class and pretending not to, classes passed fast. However, in the afternoon, his class was supposed to visit a dungeon.
They got into gear, but were required to wear their gym uniforms beneath any protective wear they had. Faralynn was wearing her breastplate, Erin was wearing her black robe and Matthew was wearing his protective vest.
The dungeon they went to was the same dungeon they all met, the goblin dungeon Matthew first started adventuring.
After going to hell and being locked inside a gate while being under siege by a wolf army, killing those goblins felt banal.
Matthew was not even wasting bullets. He was only using his machete trying to apply the movements he learned from Firynn is real combat. However, those goblins didn’t pose a threat to him anymore. Therefore he didn’t know if he could consider fighting them real combat experience.
"Oh. I leveled up." Faralynn said after stabbing a goblin’s neck.
"Which level are you now?" Matthew asked getting close to her.
"Six." She said looking at the air. Matthew couldn’t see, but it was obvious she was looking at her screen. "I’m focusing on the Warrior class for now." She said without being prompted.
"I leveled up too!" Erin almost screamed. "I’ll get another mage level, then."
"You should put some points into Vitality and HP." Faralynn said getting close to Erin. "You can’t still be on single digits on those."
Matthew envied them a little bit. That was all he wanted when he started his whole ordeal. To level up peacefully going through his build. He touched his eye patch. It was all gone now. It seemed so long ago, but it was literally a bit over two months ago.
Matthew nonchalantly killed another goblin that got close to the girls while they were distracted talking about their builds. He did not expect that message to appear for him.
"You leveled up!
Rolling Gacha for class
Congratulations!
You draw a tier 3 class!
Necromancer"
He could not believe his luck. He started to laugh to himself. Necromancer was a powerful class. But it was also a class that dealt with unholy mana. Like he needed another form of cursed mana within him.
How in the hells was he supposed to make do with that class? The Magic and MP boost were really good, but the Charisma penalty and the Skills were just like another curse.
Necromancers had the Unholy Mana skill. A skill that transformed the user’s mana into unholy. A very powerful form of mana, more powerful than demonic, but poisonous to living beings.
They also had the Create Undead skill. A skill that used a soul to create undead creatures. Even if used using monsters’ souls, it was a skill frowned upon by most people and even illegal in some countries.
He sat down laughing at his fate. Another class he could not use nor had any synergy with his other classes.
"What’s so funny, Matt?" Erin asked crouching near him.
"I told you two about my unique skill, didn’t I?" Matthew asked and both girls nodded. "I just leveled up."
"That’s great!" Erin said with a smile on her face. "What class did you get?!" She asked eagerly as if he was drawing a gacha toy from a machine.
"Necromancer." He said laughing at his misfortune.
Both girls were speechless. What could they say? It was a taboo class that very few people ever picked and those who did mostly didn’t have good intentions.
"I have the worst fucking luck in this world!" Matthew lamented. "Why did this fucking system gave me such a fucked up unique skill? Honestly? I would’ve been better without a unique skill at all!"
"Matt..." Erin tried to think of something to cheer him up, but couldn’t.
"Matthew." Faralynn said in her place putting her hand on his shoulder. "Necromancer is still a powerful class even if you don’t use its skills."
She was right. The class gave him 2 extra points in HP and Mind and 5 in MP and Magic. The -2 in Charisma wasn’t even a big concern, since it was not a very useful stat for combat.
Matthew looked at his stats after distributing his points:
"Matthew Lordstone – Level 8
Doctor – Level 1
Warrior – Level 1
Gunner – Level 1
Plague Doctor – Level 1
Ranger – Level 1
Summoner – Level 1
Priest – Level 1
Necromancer – Level 1
Stats
HP = 20/ VIT = 12
MP = 21/ MAG = 16
STR = 12/ AGI = 12
MIN = 16/ CHA = 8
Skills (2): Anesthesia (E), Imbue Mana (E), Boost Gunpowder (E), Resist Disease (E), Animal Companion (E), Purification (E)"
He was actually pretty strong. Comparing his stats with other level 8 adventurers, he was much better than them.
"You’re right, Faralynn." He said getting up and slapping the dirt out of his pants. "I can’t dwell in self pity."
"That’s right!" Erin screamed with a small jump. "No feeling sorry for yourself!"
"I just wished I had some better luck." Matthew laughed at himself again.