Chapter 33: Encounter

Derrick grabbed everything he needed before going deep inside the forest to seclude himself. He had to make sure nobody and nothing would disrupt him during this crucial period.

It was finally time to eat the Leshi's meat!

He had tried to conserve it the best he could, but after sitting idly for more than a week, it had started reeking. The worst part about that was... that he couldn't cook it.

The meat's nature would be altered otherwise, and there wouldn't be any chance for Derrick to gain a skill with his Devour ability.

However, he was still very excited. This should propel his strength to new highs.

He had preserved about 3 kilos, and he intended on consuming every single bit of it.

"Let's start..."

Taking out his small knife, he began cutting portions that were smaller than what he had previously calculated. He remembered the episode with Drako's meat where he almost fell unconscious, and he wasn't keen on repeating it.

Following that step, he removed the traces of... mold?

Derrick wasn't even sure himself, but he tried cleaning the pieces as best he could so that he wouldn't have a terrible aftertaste in his mouth.

The process took a few minutes and when it was done, he sat down and immediately ingested a slice.

[Energy surge detected! The Host will be incapacitated for the next 5 minutes]

"This is new... It must have been an unannounced part of the upgrade"

He had been right to adjust the portions, as he felt more comfortable with his body not greatly straining itself.

[The Hosts' body is refining energy! Stats are being recalculated...]

[Energy has been refined! Would you like to see your stats?]

"Not now, I'll do it at the end"

The pile contained 30 portions, which should take him around three hours.

However, the more he consumed, the more he realized he had been too optimistic. He was also frustrated that he hadn't gotten a skill yet.

When he was about to vent his frustration, another prompt materialized in his mind.

[Warning! The energy accumulated is crossing the Host's current capacity. Warning! The Host's body may become crippled if the process isn't stopped. If the Host's body perseveres, however, it is possible to acquire ???]

What?

It had already been 5 hours since Derrick started, only going through 50% of the pile.

When the message appeared, he had immediately stopped, angry. The system was trying to make him gamble his future! What was he supposed to do now?

He started thinking, and the more he did, the more sweat trickled down his forehead.

On one hand, crippling himself would limit his future immensely, but on the other, something that the system couldn't identify was surely a major boon.

He began analyzing his body and tried to determine if he could realistically hold on. His gut feeling was that he could, and so he began.

One piece after another, he slowly consumed them and fought to stay clear-headed.

However, he had once again overestimated his capabilities, with his consciousness finally slipping into the void...

***

"Where... Where am I?"

After what seemed to be a short nap, Derrick begrudgingly woke up.

After a few half-awoken glances, what he saw suddenly made him jump in fright.

All around him was void, void that appeared to extend infinitely. He wanted to say that it felt like when he had died, but something felt... different.

"System?"

No answer.

He started somewhat panicking. The system was linked to his consciousness, so where the hell had he gone to if he couldn't access it?!

No matter how many times he spun around, there was nothing.

Was this what it meant by being crippled? This was way more than just that, for fuck's sake!!!

Suddenly, an enormous pressure, filled with eeriness and hatred, swept him.

It was as if all the world's grievances had decided to pile onto him, and it was so intense that even death was starting to sound appeasing.

"Oh? What do we have here? It has been thousands of years since I've met a soul..."

Out of nowhere, a booming, grave voice blasted Derrick from every angle, suppressing him even further. It was so domineering that he thought he was dreaming, as he was sure that no existence could be that powerful.

And as if reading his mind, the voice cackled before speaking again.

"You don't need to know who I am. Just know that this gift will surely be useful in the future..."

The harsh voice then stopped and everything ceased.

***

Derrick opened his eyes and straightened up immediately, panting and full of sweat

What was that?! Was it a dream?!

After getting back his bearings, he inspected his body and felt... strong. Incredibly strong. It was like his entire body had crossed into another realm.

After a lengthy inspection, he didn't find anything out of the ordinary.

He concluded that his brain had short-circuited, imagining the whole episode.

"System, did I get it?"

[Affirmative]

"What's it called? Give me its description!"

[Trait : ??? Description : ???]

"..."

"System, please"

[The system cannot identify the new trait. To have more details, the system suggests the Host get stronger to trigger another upgrade]

Derrick currently felt one, and only one, emotion. Rage.

Pure, and unfiltered, rage.

He had thought that once acquiring it, its secrets would have been unveiled. He had risked his future for... something that couldn't be quantified?!

Derrick stood up and started tearing apart the forest, wrecking havoc on the poor nearby vegetation.

After a solid five minutes of trashing, he finally came back to his senses.

What really irked him was the fact that he didn't know the upgrade's conditions, and that when he asked about them, there was no answer. The only thing he could do was getting stronger.

He sat down cross-legged again and finished the remaining slices of meat. The sun had already begun to peek through, meaning it was the final construction day of the forge.

He would have to go there afterward and set up the equipment he had previously bought.

"Show me my stats"

[Derrick Tarlin, 16 years old (Body) & 37 years old (Mind) — Human]

[Class : Necromancer]

[Strength : 12]

[Agility : 11]

[Endurance : 13]

[Vitality : 10]

[Magic Power : 19]

[Spells : Banshee's Cry, Reaper's Blade, Veil of Darkness]

[Enslaved Subordinates : Eloise Tornomi (General - Human), William Enceworth (Scholar - Human), Fomamli Trollfall (Blacksmith - Dwarf)]

[Traits : ???, Enhanced Body, Enhanced Vision, Death's Valet, Gluttony, Aphrodite's Blessing, Language Guru (Language Database)]

[Skills : Superior Appraisal, Potentus, Contract (3/3), Summoning (2/3), Master Craftsman, Submission, Death Warrior (42/100), Empire Professionals (3/10) *Concerns the Scholars (1/2), Blacksmiths (1/2), Researchers (0/2), Generals (1/2) and Ministers (0/2)*]

(NEW) [The Skill Summoning has evolved! You can now summon 3 contracted souls]

When he saw the insane jump in his numbers and one of his skill's evolution, Derrick became overjoyed.

Even if it had been a fruitless endeavor in terms of skills gained, such additions more than made up for it. The previous indignation instantly went to the back of his mind, completely forgotten. He felt unstoppable and even a little arrogant.

The necromancer then pulled out the regional map before inspecting it.

He was looking for a juicy target that'd allow him to subdue more subjects and, more importantly, gain more Death Warriors. He had not seen them in action yet, and he was getting antsy.

He looked and looked until... Bingo! There was a big village of approximately 800 people, eight kilometers north of Akata.

Realistically, they would have at least 80 soldiers, which would fill up his skill's capacity. It would also help him develop a few tactics, to which he was currently beyond oblivious. He would go about it the way he usually did : on the fly!

Now that his plan was set, there was one last thing...

It was time to summon the Leshi. If there was a God out there, he prayed to it to obtain a reasonable companion.

With a voice filled with doubt, he proceeded.

"Summon"

The same birth phenomenon occurred.

However, before the gigantic half-bear, half-deer finished forming, its voice brutally resounded in Derrick's mind. His wish had apparently fallen on deaf ears.

"YOU FILTHY PEASANT! HOW DARE YOU LOCK ME AWAY AND ALLOW THAT LIZARD TO ROAM AROUND!? EXPLAIN YOURS..."

With a wave of his hand, Derrick instantly muted the beast, a trick he had learned after Drako had taken too many liberties for himself.

"Listen to me, you little shit. You're my possession now, whether you like it or not. You will obey me and respect me. Now, tell me your name. If you say anything other than what I asked, I'll cut off your tongue without allowing you to scream"

Derrick could tell it was absolutely furious. Being threatened in such a blatant manner was massively bruising its ego, but it couldn't do anything other than nodding in compliance.

After all, it had to listen to Derrick, no matter how outrageous his demands were.

He waved his hand again and its voice returned.

"My name's Cernunnos"

"Good! Come hide in my shadow, we have to go back to the town and I don't want to terrorize everyone"