Michael didn’t know how to react at first, but just as he was starting to wrap his head around the situation, a sudden thought entered his mind.
He immediately turned to look at the four human undead not far from him. Experience more tales on My Virtual Library Empire
These four had been the ones who committed terrible acts against a couple before hiding in their house to avoid being caught by the association—only to end up in Michael’s hands.
“They were humans just like this one. The only difference is that they’re much weaker, so…”
Michael looked thoughtfully at the four human undead. After a quick consideration, he sent them the same mental message as before.
“Who am I?”
A second passed.
Then another.
Soon, several reactions appeared.
Michael felt waves of confusion through their connection before each undead finally responded.
“M-Master.”
“M-My L-Lord.”
“Mas-Master.”
“D-Daddy.”
Michael’s smile grew wider with each response—until the last one.
His face darkened.
“Who’s your daddy?!” Michael barked at the certain undead.
What he hadn’t expected, however, was an actual response.
“You, Daddy.”
Michael’s expression darkened even further. He wanted to say more, but he forced himself to calm down.
Once he did, he reflected on what had just happened.
“They all seem to have independent thought, but their knowledge is shattered,” he noted.
From the way they spoke—haltingly at first, then more fluidly later—it was clear that their memories were fragmented.
The fact that they each addressed him differently further supported this.
Still, under the influence of their shared connection, they all recognized him as their master—regardless of the title they chose.
“Unfortunately, I can’t evolve any of you,” Michael muttered regretfully.
He checked again, but none of the five human undead had any evolution options available. At least, not right now.
Michael studied the five carefully.
He usually didn’t name his undead unless they could enter the Netherworld, but looking at how normal these human undead appeared, several ideas surfaced in his mind.
If they had something to cover their eyes—like glasses—they could walk in public during broad daylight.
Their human size also made them easy to transport between realms.
“If a purpose arises, these five could be useful both in the Land of Origin and in real life,” Michael thought.
Compared to his other undead—who either had odd appearances or were still developing their intelligence—these ones seemed more adaptable and picked up information quickly.
As these thoughts raced through his mind, Michael set the human undead aside and turned toward his next objective.
A Griffin.
After so long—though ironically, he hadn’t even been a supernatural for a full week—it was finally time to have a flying undead.
With what he had in hand, Michael hoped he’d be lucky with {Undead Revival} this time.
But first.
After quite some time, it was finally time to check his progress.
‘Status.’
[Name: Michael Norman]
[Class: Adept Necromancer]
[Level: 20]
[EXP: 76,718/134,551]
[Strength: 31.92]
[Agility: 43.66]
[Constitution: 33.22]
[Intelligence: 115.0]
[Attribute Points: 60]
[Skills: Undead Summoning, Undead Revival, Detect, Basic Shot, Share Senses, Spearmanship, Acid Shot, Bone Spear, Slow Curse, Bone Armour, Corpse Explosion]
[Talent: Infinite Evolution]
[Class Skill: Contract Slot {47/50}]
[Gift: Mark of Origin]
Michael’s stats hadn’t improved by much.
As he grew stronger and his stats increased, the boosts from his class and race felt smaller in comparison.
Of course, even a single point now could be equivalent to ten points when he had first Awakened, so they weren’t useless.
If anything, his growth was now more steady rather than explosive.
This was why, at a certain point, when leveling up became harder, attribute points became one of the most precious resources for an Awakener.
Even most of the most balanced stat-build enthusiasts eventually had to abandon that path if they wanted true strength.
In the end, stats became a serious issue for all Awakeners.
This was also why dying in the Land of Origin was painful—even though it wasn’t a real death.
Even someone like Michael, who was still among the weaker Awakeners with lesser stats than the strongest, dying and losing 10% of his stats permanently would be a devastating blow.
Since the body in the Land of Origin synced with the real-world body, dying meant losing strength in both.
However, all of this was only beginning to be relevant to Michael.
For now, when he looked at his stats, he was simply satisfied.
At Level 20, Michael had 50 contract slots, and after contracting all the human corpses—an impulsive decision that ironically turned out well—he had only three slots left.
Now, Michael wanted to use one of those slots to contract a Black Griffin.
But considering it was a Rank 2 creature—likely far stronger than him in raw stats—this wouldn’t be easy.
The mana required to attempt even a single contract was a major concern.
This was why he called up his status panel.
It was finally time to use his attribute points.
Michael glanced at his most important stat as a mage.
[Intelligence: 115.0]
[Attribute Points: 60]
“I only need five points to reach 120 Intelligence, which gives me a chance to gain a skill…”
For every 20-point increase in a major stat, depending on the class, there was a chance to gain a new skill. However, even though the probability was as high as 50%, it didn’t guarantee a skill every 40-point increase.
Take Michael, for example.
Most of his skills came as rewards from his Advancement Quests or were ones he actively learned. The number of skills he had gained purely from increasing Intelligence was surprisingly low.
Unfortunately, he was even more unlucky when it came to the rare chance of gaining a skill from other stats that weren’t a major focus for his class.
Since Intelligence would get the largest share of his points anyway, spending five right away didn’t seem like a bad idea.
Without hesitation, he made the adjustment.
[Intelligence: 120.0]
[Attribute Points: 55]
As always, Michael waited for a while to see if a new notification would appear.
He wasn’t very optimistic, but the next moment, when another panel appeared in his view, a happy smile formed on his face.
