Chapter 29: Chapter 24- Zubov

Orc courtesy is an odd thing. I mean, not every orc will have the same attitude to the concept, but I am just using Green Oasis as the basis. While it is the only orc-dominant settlement in the known world, it was also founded by pirates, so there are far from few factors affecting the culture of the place.

Anyway, orc courtesy relies on, simply, being brutally honest and funny. I’m serious. If you are trying to be subtle, trying to have double meanings in your words, or trying to hold back your opinion for any reason, then, more likely than not, you will be considered rude. Remember to be honest with your thoughts.

The other aspect of courtesy, being funny, is much more lenient than being honest. They know that some are just not born to tell jokes and they won’t hold that against you. You may, however, find an orc who adheres to more conventional standards of courtesy, and that’s fine. Guards, military types, and the odd citizen or two all pick up the habit to ensure smooth communication with others hailing from outside the city.

-Excerpt from Gelnak’s class on culture

 

*=====*

 

Mori and Fara stared at the orc for a moment, “Fancy introduction,” Mori commented, “Did you practice it?”

Zubov narrowed his eyes while Fara broke out in laughter, “No. I did not. I simply got the Trait [Being Polite].”

Fara’s laughter intensified as Mori tilted her head, “Is that a real Trait?” Mori asked. Zubov slapped himself on the forehead as Fara keeled over laughing, “I’m guessing not, then.”

“No,” he agreed, “No it is not. Did you really think I was serious?”

She shrugged, waving her metal hand lazily, “Eh, it’s a whole thing. I don’t really want to get into it. Actually, now that I think of it, what are you going to be doing exactly?” she asked the orc. 

He grinned, “Nothing, really. That’s the best part of the job —I usually don’t have to do anything.”

Fara, still carrying an amused smile, leaned on the railing next to Mori, “Why’s that? You seem pretty strong with the way you act, so you got to get some of the more dangerous jobs, right?” 

Zubov nodded, “Well, I do. Hypothetically anyway. I get assigned to the people who seem the most powerful. Like you two. Right now, it’s pretty peaceful because, with the exception of you lot, everyone powerful enough to need my attention are trusted merchants, hunters, or trappers that have traveled through this city enough for them to gain the trust of most.”

“Huh,” Mori remarked, “What sort of person needs your attention?”

“A lich,” he said, taking a flask from his waist and drinking a big swig of it, returning it to his belt quickly. Mori and Fara gave him judgemental looks and he put his hands up, “Hey, I don’t drink when I’m on the job. There’s this really nice tea shop near the Green Blood Hall and I like their tea. They use magic when brewing it, adding some sort of effect to it. This one I have makes you able to stay awake all night and let me tell you, having that edge without giving up sleep with a Trait is amazing.”

“I see…” Fara muttered.

“We’ll have to go there, Fara,” Mori said, “We should spend some of the money on some luxury, anyway.”

Zubov raised an eyebrow, “You can eat? You seem a bit…” he looked into her exposed ribcage as her cloak fluttered back, “Ill-equipped to process food,” he said, pointing at her empty ribcage.

Mori clicked her non-existent tongue, “Hey, it’s convenient. I used to put a miniature power cell in there to give me more mana. Now though I just eat from the air,” she said as she drew a big gulp of mana from the space around her, draining it for a moment before the empty space was filled in with other mana. Mori stared at her crystalized soul longingly when finished, “Though, I kind of wonder what it would be like to eat again. I should look for a Trait like that…” she mused.

Zubov shrugged, “Hey, not my business. Though, you must have gotten some experience from that fight, right?”

Mori nodded, pulling up her stream of notifications she had been ignoring up until then.

[You have defeated Ducali Mict, a level 12 Desertborn Orc. Experience has been awarded.]

[You have created a basic undead with a spell made from your natural death mana. Some experience has been awarded.]

[Your undead minion has defeated an enemy. Some experience has been diverted to you.]

[Your undead minion has defeated an enemy. Some experience has been diverted to.]

[Your undead minion has defeated an enemy. Some experience has been diverted to you.]

[...]

[You have created a basic undead with a spell made from your natural death mana. Some experience has been awarded.]

[You have created a basic undead with a spell made from your natural death mana. Some experience has been awarded.]

[You have created a basic undead with a spell made from your natural death mana. Some experience has been awarded.]

[...]

[You and your allies have defeated Ceclia Violta, a level 38 Half-Scale Lizardman non-lethally. A great amount of experience has been awarded.]

[You have reached level 14]

[A Deformed Lizardman Zombie has reached level 1]

[A Deformed Lizardman Zombie has reached level 2]

[A Deformed Lizardman Zombie has reached level 1]

[A Deformed Lizardman Zombie has reached level 3]

[A Deformed Lizardman Zombie has reached level 2]

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[A Deformed Lizardman Zombie has reached level 2]

[A Deformed Lizardman Zombie has reached level 1]

[An Orc Zombie has reached level 1]

[An Orc Zombie has reached level 1]

[A Human Zombie has reached level 1]

Beyond a certain point, the number of level-ups became pointless to count, so she took a glance at her Minion Page to count the totals.

[Current Minions:

Level 11: Unio (Blood Slime)

Level 5: Aerolat (Cursed Blood Mist)

Level 3: Deformed Lizardman Zombie, Orc Zombie

Level 2: Deformed Lizardman Zombie (x3), Orc Zombie (x2)

Level 1: Deformed Lizardman Zombie (x3), Orc Zombie (x5), Lizardman Zombie (x6), Human Zombie (x2)

Level 0: Orc Zombie, Human Zombie, Lizardman Zombie, Hilja Bug Shell (X2)

Current Minions: 28]

She was over the moon in her mind about the large increase in power, but made every effort to not show it in her eye-flames; even so, she was sure that something slipped past her guard. She was also satisfied with the new level up, even if it was only by one, “I did level up once,” she said, “I’ll look through it in a bit, but we have something to do first.”

Fara raised an eyebrow, “And what’s that?” she asked.

“You have to pick your Traits,” Mori said resolutely, “Since we took out the mesa dog, you have been sitting on them, so you should come up with what to do sooner rather than later. Do you want my help with it?”

“I… Wait, how did you know I didn’t choose a new one?” she asked, baffled.

Mori laughed, “I just knew you wouldn’t. I just know you that well.”

Fara stared into Mori’s eye-flames, watching as they flickered with amusement, and groaned, “Alright, fine! I’ll do it….” she said, “But, what should I choose?” she asked.

Mori’s eyes flickered in amusement once more, “I have an idea… but, well... “ she trailed off, turning to Zubov.

He raised his hands defensively, “Fine, fine, I get it. This isn’t something you want a stranger to hear about. I’ll wait in the cabin, then,” he agreed, walking away. 

Mori turned back to Fara as she began to look through the lists of Traits she had available, “I think you should start gearing up to be able to work on the fortress,” Mori suggested.

Fara raised her brow as she looked through her options, “Oh? Do you think I should?” she asked.

Mori nodded, “Yeah, I think you should. Besides, you can choose something more general right now and then specialize when you level up a few times. Either that, or you can save them for your next level,” Mori guessed.

Fara barked a laugh, “I thought you were the one who was pushing me to choose my Traits?” 

“Eh,” Mori said half-heartedly, “I basically just used it as an excuse to plan out our picks.”

“You know,” Fara began, “He can probably hear us. Someone in his position would be stupid to not pick up a few investigative Traits. Well, whatever. You were right, though; I do need to choose my new Traits sooner rather than later to make the most out of them. The only question left is what I am going to use them for…”

Mori tapped her on the shoulder, “I have an idea…” Fara nodded, gesturing to her to continue, “Alright, so I got a Trait called [Simulation] for Unio that lets him simulate certain scenarios. We were using it to come up with the designs for the undead and it worked well. I was wondering if you could do something similar, being able to simulate mechanical devices before you build them to get it perfect the first time…”

Fara’s face slowly lifted upward in a smile, “That… is a perfect idea…” she said, “And then I can just split the physical Trait slots between [Dense Musculature] and [Reduced Gravity]! Alright I’m going to do it!” Just as soon as she finished speaking she convulsed and collapsed, Mori rushing forward to hold her up. 

Mori’s eyes flickered as she stroked Fara’s hair, the woman unconscious, “Aerolat,” Mori said as the Blood Mist appeared, “Get the Deformed Zombies out here. I want to try something on them.” The mist disappeared instantly, leaving Mori free to bring Fara to her room after answering a few of Zubov’s questions. On her way back to the deck, she grabbed Many Mana Types Vol. 1 and flipped it open to the ‘Boosters and Enhancers’ section. As she walked out, she saw each of the undead lined up, ready to enact any of her orders. They were almost identical in movement, but little things stood out to her. One stood as if subtly sticking his snout up at the others. One crouched down ever so slightly as if a stalking animal. One stood as if she were posing for a photo. One was subtly eyeing the dead bodies the guards had yet to clean. The one next to the fourth was staring at the weapons the thugs had left behind on the ground. One was staring at her crystalized soul. And the final one looked as if she were ready to fall asleep, despite the fact that it was entirely unneeded as an undead. As Mori took their personalities in, she suddenly realized something, “Wait a minute… why the hell are you all like the seven deadly sins?” she asked them. They all snapped their attention back to her, but tilted their heads as she spoke, “It’s true! You think you’re better than the rest of them. You want to kill something. You want to show off. You want to eat those corpses. You want to take all of the weapons. You want my soul —no I’m not giving it to you. And you want to fall asleep. You’re just the deadly sins!” she remarked, “Screw it, some more interesting minions are well worth the eccentricities.”

With a sigh and a good natured chuckle, she began to cast a spell she had been planning ever since gaining [Psychic Affinity III]. She used her death mana as the base and the target of the spell. She then stuffed a bit of her soul’s aura using [Psychic Affinity III] into it, noticing how it did not work exactly like mana did, despite her being able to control it. After that, she surrounded the rest of it with a painfully generic ‘Enhance’ mana, that strengthened the effects. She also added a few other generic effects like ‘Strengthen’ and ‘Fortify’ to make the spell as strong as possible. By the end she was struggling to keep it all together, but she had one last thing to add: ’Thought’. It was, for some reason, in the book, but Mori knew that the orange mana would be useful. With a final grunt of effort, the mana almost slipping from her control, she lined every element of the spell up and cast it.

Almost immediately, the wave of multi-colored mana types washed over the seven deformed zombies, knocking them all on their backs, and over the rest of the deck. While it looked like a failed spell on the outside, her [Psychic Affinity III] told her otherwise. At the same time, the system agreed with her Trait’s conclusion.

[You have cast a complex spell beyond your normal ability using over seven mana types. You have also used sentient energy for the first time, integrating it into your spell. You have successfully uplifted eleven undead. A great amount of experience has been awarded.]

The block of text was accompanied by a sudden headache that Mori almost considered painful, but settled on distracting. She turned to the newly-sentient and sapient undead and nodded to them, “Alright, you guys are to choose Traits that you believe will help you the most and will fit with your personality the most. Since you guys look like it, I’ll just call your Variant the pyrausta  for now. I need to lie down… You’re free to go; just don’t leave the Kharon,” she said, stepping back into the cabin as the undead looked around with curious glances.

Zubov, still sipping from his flask, turned to her, “I felt that from here, you know. What did you do?” he asked.

Mori sat down next to him, pulling Unio, who was sliding towards her, under her head as she rested, “Something something I can’t tell you,” she said, “Personal business, but I think I gave sapience to a bunch of my undead.”

Zubov nodded seriously, “Ah, I see. A normal Tuesday then.”

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