Deus Necros

The wreck of the villa stayed behind Ludwig like a bad smell that refused to leave clothes. Even with his back turned, he could still hear it, not the building itself, but what replaced it.

The scrape of feet over broken stone, the excited mutter of hungry voices, the first crash of someone forcing open a door that used to be forbidden, and then the sound that followed every fallen house in every fallen city: people taking what they could before someone stronger arrived to take it from them.

“Is it safe to leave him there?” the Knight King’s voice echoed inside Ludwig’s head.

“Yes, it’s fine, they’ll be too busy looting, stealing, and probably throw rocks and rotten shit at him to care about dark magic. Once the Empire comes to investigate, they’ll find traces of dark magic, and that creature. I don’t have to worry about this. Anyway, it’s time to get some power ups. Been a while since I last upgraded.”

Ludwig kept walking as he answered, letting his pace stay calm and deliberate instead of rushed.

He didn’t want to look like a man fleeing a scene, and he didn’t want to look like a savior either. The mob would make the duke disappear under noise and spite, and that was enough.

By the time any disciplined force arrived, the story would already have an obvious villain to point at, and Ludwig preferred obvious villains when he needed heat to go somewhere else.

“It is quite a defiance to all those who work hard to earn their strength that you get to grow simply by pressing floating numbers and letters.” The Knight King said.

“I know you’re jealous,” Ludwig snickered, the sound thin and dry. “But, getting those numbers and letters as you called it cost me many lives. Would you trade places with me if given the chance?” Ludwig asked.

The snicker wasn’t joy. It was the closest thing to humor he had left after too many deaths and too many returns. Gale’s complaint had a point, in the way old warriors always did. Steel earned strength through repetition, pain, and years. Ludwig earned it through souls, deaths, and systems that treated his existence like a ledger. Neither path was clean, but only one of them required dying as a routine.

“No… I don’t know how you do it. But returning from death, every time, always. And without a single word of complaint… I don’t see myself capable of doing that.” The Gale replied and turned quiet.

Ludwig understood immediately that what Gale meant wasn’t a compliment nor was it an insult. It was a statement of fact delivered with the kind of respect that carried weight, because it wasn’t dressed up as praise. For someone to die, and come back to die the same way again, and again, and again until they find a way out. That’s insanity with extra steps, and the worst part was that the extra steps never made it easier, they just made it familiar.

Ludwig looked at his fingers, the joints steady, the skin already repaired from claws and teeth. “I might have already gone insane…” he sighed as he closed and opened his eyes with intent to check his current status.

The air in front of him responded immediately, the familiar translucent window snapping into place as if it had been waiting. Level 228. All stats at exactly 400 mark as he left it. The numbers looked neat, almost polite, which was always the lie. Nothing about the path that created those numbers had been neat, and nothing about what waited ahead would be either.

For Ludwig there was no reason to specialize. He used both magic and sword. And needed to have perfect balance in all stats. Many would think he’s wasting his stats by not focusing on one or two stats at times, and he could already imagine the speeches.

People who look and think they could do better if they channel all their ’talents’ into one path.

“It’s only a waste for mortals.” He muttered.

And he was right, for someone with a quest as big as his. And a life that cannot end unless Necros decides to. He has all the time in the world to grow, so, slow, spread and steady, instead of focused.

Because a jack of all, eventually becomes a master of all, given time. Mortals specialized because they had deadlines shaped like age and illness and luck. Ludwig’s deadline was a god’s mood, and that made the strategy different.

“Okay, let’s do some quick math…” Ludwig took a glance at his status screen and began adding points manually without saving to see how his final window would look like.

He didn’t do it to admire numbers. He did it because planning saved lives, and he didn’t have spare lives to waste on avoidable surprises.

His mind moved through the totals, through the cost, through what thresholds demanded. He shifted points up and down, checking where the system would deny him, where it would allow him, and where it would try to trick him with almost enough.

After a bit of moving the points up and down, “I can immediately hit 300.” Ludwig said with a surprise on his face.

He wasn’t expecting to have enough points, not after everything spent and everything lost, but the lantern’s haul had been obscene. Not only would he be able to hit level 300, he’d also be able to have the required stats to wield [Noctivex]. That detail mattered more than the round number. Level was ego for most. Thresholds were survival for him.

Ludwig held the black steel cube, which was frankly, quite a surprising match in terms of size to the Dimensional Cube he just obtained from the Duke.

The two looked similar in terms of size, but definitely different in term of function. One was a warped tool that folded rooms and distance like paper. The other was an artifact with a name heavy enough to carry history, and Ludwig could feel it even without activating it, the latent refusal of something that remembered a different master.

“Inspect.” Ludwig muttered.

[The Living Armor of Morde’Xander]

Condition of use unmet.

Strength Value over 500

Stamina Value over 500

Charisma Value Over 500

Mana Value Over 5,000

Passive [Lord of All That is Metal]

“I can achieve that.” Ludwig said as he spoke to the system. The requirements weren’t a wall. They were an invoice, and he had just robbed a scryer who hoarded souls like treasure. “Upgrade all my stats by 120 points.”

[You are about to add a total of 120×6 Stat points.]

[Calculating value.]

[Do you wish to use 190,080 Souls to upgrade your status?]

“Yes.”

Immediately after accepting, Ludwig felt it. Not in the way mortals described training, no burn in lungs or soreness in muscle. It was structural, like the system reached into him and tightened bolts. Muscles hardened into a denser readiness. Sight sharpened as if the world’s edges became more honest. His grip changed, not stronger by effort but stronger by definition, and his awareness of mana snapped into a cleaner clarity, the way a dull blade suddenly became honed.

He moved a step forward without thinking, and the step landed differently. The ground felt easier to dominate. The air felt easier to measure. The sensation was not pleasure. It was adjustment, the body aligning with the numbers it was now obligated to obey.

[You have Reached Level 300. [You cannot grow further before finishing [Existence III]

You do not own a Shard of Darkness.

[Existence III] has been put on hold.

Ludwig stared at that block for a moment, then let it sit. He wasn’t too bothered with needing to complete [Existence] Quests. They were good, had great rewards and allowed him to go beyond every centennial level, but they were also chains disguised as opportunities. He would deal with it when it became unavoidable.

Yet, it wasn’t priority, [Eternal Quests] were always the problem. And now he was almost done with his preparation to begin the hunt for Pride. That was the true threat, the kind of threat that didn’t care what level he was if he walked in unprepared.

[Your Soul letting Lantern is shaking.]

“Oh, completely forgot about you, you did upgrade didn’t you,” Ludwig held the lantern to inspect the changes.

He turned it in his hand, feeling the faint tremor through the metal and the glass. The lantern had always been more than a tool. It was a contract made physical, the kind that never stopped reminding him who held the leash. If it had changed, then the change was never random. The system didn’t give gifts without expecting them to be used.

[Soul Letting Lantern]

Type: Divine Apparatus

Rarity: Unmeasurable.

Abilities:

Allows upgrade of status via the lantern.

Allows return by death to the last saved Death Point of the lantern. Reverting cause, effect, information and memories of all beings at the cost of a portion of the Souls being held inside the lantern before death.

Allows use of wasted souls in other lanterns of the same class.

Allows the read of memories and knowledge of the souls within the lantern.

New*

Allows the creation of a death point and the return to it whenever the user wants to.

“Oh… shit. That’s not fucking good.” Ludwig said as he realized that though the last line was new, and an upgrade, and a really good one at that, the timing of it was the warning. Necros disallowed him to go and fight pride was probably because he needed this option badly. The system wasn’t encouraging him. It was preparing him, and preparation like this only came before a level of disaster that even death loops could not cheaply solve.

“I’m gonna be dying a lot, aren’t I?” he sighed as he understood the implications.

Wrath was mad, Envy was simply unprepared and foolish. Lust, he never beat, and could already guess that she was far too much for him even now. And now Pride. That one, that one’s going to be a hassle no matter what. The new ability wasn’t convenience. It was a tactical tool for controlled failure, and the fact it was being handed to him now meant controlled failure was about to become routine again.

“You seem worried,” the Knight King said.

“Not worry, just annoyed, but it’s fine. I have an idea on how to use that special Death Point save.” Ludwig thought as he pulled his status screen, he needed to see his current progress and where he stands in terms of power. Annoyance was easier to carry than fear, and planning was the only thing that kept annoyance from turning into mistakes.

Name: Ludwig Heart

Race: Undead /Living Vessel.

Class: Battle Mage

Soul level: 300

Health: 82,000

Mana: 5,200/5200

Agility: 520 Charisma: 520

Dexterity: 520

Luck: 25

Stamina: Infinite

Strength: 520

Vigor: 520

Wisdom: 520

Title: Apostle of Death.