DING?
Darion is startled by the notification, and before he could process it...
[Late Awakening Detected.]
[Residual energy from Imperial Awakening Artifact has stabilized.]
[Primary Class Confirmed.]
[You have awakened: NECROMANCER.]
[Class Description – A ruler of the fallen. A sovereign of the battlefield's aftermath.
Where others see death as an ending, you perceive it as inventory.
Necromancers command the remnants of war and bind loyalty beyond the grave. They do not beg for soldiers. They create them.
Power grows in lands saturated by loss.
Territories marked by massacre, abandonment, and forgotten graves resonate with your authority.]
[Core Authority Unlocked]
• Bind Fallen Warriors
• Command Undead Units
• Store Bound Units in Undead Inventory
• Strengthen Undead Through Upgrades
[Initial Limitation Applied]
Current Rank: Novice Necromancer
Command Capacity: 5 Undead Units
Undead Inventory Slots: 5
Territorial Amplification: Low
You may bind only those who have died within your domain or beneath your authority.
Has a possiblity of changing in the future.
[Binding Requirements]
Corpse must possess intact skeletal structure.
Subject must have been a trained combatant.
Direct physical contact required.
Vocal Command Word required for activation.
Failure to meet requirements will result in rejection.
[Undead Unit Properties]
• Require no food.
• Feel no pain.
• Do not disobey.
• Cannot betray.
• Regenerate minor structural damage over time.
• Permanently destroyed if core bone structure is shattered.
[Undead retain fragments of combat instinct, but no personal will.]
[Territorial Synergy Detected]
Percvale – Border Grave Domain
[High historical casualty rate. Unresolved deaths recorded. Your class will grow more rapidly here than within imperial lands.]
[Passive Ability Unlocked – Death Perception]
You may sense concentrations of unburied remains and dormant corpses within moderate range.
[Growth Path]
Increase Command Capacity by:
• Expanding Territory
• Winning Battles
• Binding Elite Fallen
• Establishing Undead Formations
[Important Notice]
[You were not classless. Your awakening was only delayed. The Imperial Artifact rejects death-aligned classes within the palace walls.
Your power required distance from sanctified authority. Activation occurred upon territorial exile.]
Darion stared at the words, caught somewhere between joy and confusion.
He was glad he had not entered this godforsaken place alone, but the mention of a Late Awakening made him curious. Was that even a thing?
'It clearly is,' he corrected himself. 'That's why I just awakened a class.'
His mind drifted back to the moment he had touched the orb in the awakening hall. It had glowed darkly for a brief moment, and he had thought ( hoped actually) that something was stirring, only for the light to fade back to nothing.
Now it made sense. The Imperial Artifact rejected death-aligned classes within the palace walls. His power had required distance from sanctified authority. The exile hadn't just stripped him of his name, it had set the conditions for his awakening.
Darion sat up straight on the filthy bed, momentarily forgetting its state entirely.
He knew what Necromancers were. He had read about them in his previous life, they were dark, brooding figures who commanded the dead. Cool in their own right, but almost always overshadowed by flashier classes.
Given the choice, most people would take a summoner of mythical beasts over a raiser of bones without a second thought.
The ability to call forth some great creature and unleash it on the battlefield simply sounded more powerful and impressive. Also Necromancers carried a certain reputation: gloomy, sinister. The kind of class that made people take a quiet step away from you at gatherings.
If Darion were being honest with himself, he would have chosen a mythical beast summoning class, or a mythical weapon summoning class, over this, something flashy and worth boasting about.
But that was before Percvale.
Here, none of that mattered. While other lords had been handed functional territories, fed knights, adequate resources and land that wasn't drowning in staggering debt, he had been given the opposite.
From what Garren had described, and from what Darion had seen with his own eyes, his knights were starving, thousands had been lost over the years, and the kingdom's debts had compounded to a figure so absurd it almost sounded fictional. The only realistic way to pay it off would be to sell the land itself and everything on it, including the people.
A weapon summoning class wouldn't fix that. A mythical beast summoning class wouldn't either. What good was a single powerful creature in a war fought at scale? What good was summoning a new and cool weapon for each battle.
But an ability that let him raise dead soldiers, in a kingdom filled with dead soldiers?
That was something else entirely.
He had one hundred and twenty-one knights. Against a world where neighboring territories commanded tens of thousands, that number was almost insulting.
But with his ability, every battle became different. He could lose men and reclaim them. He could walk the graves of the thousands who had once served under this banner and call them back to serve again. And when an undead knight fell, he simply made another.
The more he thought about it, the more something close to excitement stirred in his chest.
[Congratulations on grasping what others would take years to see.]
[Necromancer Lord System Activated.]
Name: Darion Wentworth
Title: Baron of Percvale
Class: Necromancer
Rank: Novice
Territory: Percvale (Border Domain)
Territorial Resonance: Low (Death-aligned)
[ATTRIBUTES]
Strength: 9
Agility: 8
Endurance: 10
Vitality: 11
Perception: 12
Intelligence: 14
Willpower: 16
[Undead Inventory: 0/5]
[Skills:
Death Perception]
Darion studied his stats carefully, turning each number over in his mind. Then, almost without thinking, he spoke aloud.
"Since I've been disowned by the Emperor and told to sever all ties with him, I shall not carry the name Wentworth any longer."
The system updated immediately:
Name: Darion
Title: Baron of Percvale
Class: Necromancer
Rank: Novice
Territory: Percvale (Border Domain)
Territorial Resonance: Low (Death-aligned)
[ATTRIBUTES]
Strength: 9
Agility: 8
Endurance: 10
Vitality: 11
Perception: 12
Intelligence: 14
Willpower: 16
[Undead Inventory: 0/5]
[Skills:
Death Perception]
Now, the despair was gone. The hopelessness, the urge tojust give up, all of it had quietly receded, replaced by something steadier.
"I think I can rule this dying kingdom after all."
Darion rose, caught his reflection in the mirror across the room, and let a slow grin spread across his face.
He crossed to the chamber door, pulled it open, and strode out with the kind of purpose that a lord was supposed to carry.
"Sir Garren! Attend me!"