The Black Necromancer

Chapter 8 Catalyst

[Level 6 Ghost Millipede Soldier killed.]

[Level 7 Ghost Centipede Soldier killed.]

[You have leveled up!]

…

“Finally!” Leon cheered as he checked his status back within the safe hall of the cathedral. He had found and killed two more soldier variant creatures and his level had finally reached 100. He was glad that this had only taken him a bit over a week to do, and that he had been able to do it not long after getting here. His adaptation to the circumstances surprised even himself.

[Status]

Name: Leon Cromwell

Race: Obsidian Skeleton Soldier

Level: 100

Health Points: 1870

Mana: 600

<Strength: 50>

<Agility: 47>

<Durability: 55>

<Intelligence: 50>

<Dexterity: 45>

Skills:

Titles: None.

[Race Advancement process is impending. Catalyst is required to initiate first advancement.]

—

Leon had focused a bit more on his lagging stats while hunting down the millipedes needed for his level increase. His stats were higher than before, and lingered around the fifty point mark. Only his Durability had crossed the fifty point mark, and it had made the strength of his bones shoot up high. Earlier on, he had tried seeing if he could damage the exoskeleton of one of the weaker millipede variants with his fist, and while he believe he could, he had not expected the outcome of his punch. His fist had utterly obliterated the poor creature.

“Hmm… A new bar appeared at the bottom of my status page.” Leon muttered to himself as he studied the translucent window. “A catalyst… What is that supposed to be?”

Leon thought over the requirement for his race advancement for some more time. He understood what a catalyst was. His body probably required something to push it over that limit that was present at the 100th level.

“Could there be a catalyst present in a place like this?” He thought to himself, “Maybe a special item or plant, or something like that.” As he thought more about it, the more likely he felt that there might be something that could help him advance at the nest of one of the two creatures that dominated this town.

“Perhaps that is what they are fighting over!” A thought flashed through Leon’s mind and he recalled the various clashes between the two sides that happened multiple times over the week. “I have to get my hands on that!” Without wasting another moment, Leon leapt to his feet and picked up his sword. He made his way over to the tough stone slab that he had chanced upon and sat down before it, before starting to drag one side of his sword over it in slow and deliberate motions.

He had found the stone slab some days back, and the idea of using it to sharpen his sword had been born in his mind. It had been really helpful since then, as it was now much easier to cleave through things.

An hour passed before Leon got up to leave the cathedral. He had taken his time to sharpen both sides of the blade, and he was ready to move out again. This time, his goal was to find the entrance to the nest of the millipedes, or whatever it is that they called home.

Leon spent the better half of the day carefully exploring the town. Now that he could kill the soldier variants of the critters, he had much more confidence in himself. He wandered through the broken rubble, and lifted up the scattered debris to search beneath the rubble for any hidden opening that might lead to the millipede’s nest.

“I can’t find it…” By the time the sun started to set in the cloudy sky, Leon finally reached his last straw. He had not been able to find even the slightest trace of the blasted critters. “Maybe I should follow one of them around until it leads me to where they gather.” He finally decided.

He quickly found one of the soldier variants after a bit of searching. The critter seemed to be in a hurry, so it was moving fairly quickly. That said, Leon was still able to keep up with it, thanks to his increased agility stat.

After some time, about half an hour, of moving, Leon and the millipede soldier variant finally reached the outskirts of the town. This was actually the first time that Leon had ventured this far from the cathedral, which was located at the center of the town.

Also, he noticed that the concentration of millipedes in this area was far higher than in the center. He had needed to evade some groups of soldier variants, and a larger number of lesser variants.

But finally, by the time night had come upon the town, Leon finally found the entrance to the millipede nest.

The soldier variant that he had been following joined up with a line of others, before they all made their way into a large hole that was directly outside the borders of the town. Leon remained there to watch them for some time before nodding his head and turning around to leave.

He had several reasons for not launching his attack at this point in time.

First of all, the number of Ghost Millipedes that were making their way into the nest was quite large, both soldier, and lesser variant.

Secondly, it was night time. He would prefer to launch his attack in the day, even though the darkness barely impeded his vision.

Thirdly, he was hoping that the millipedes would be less during the day, so that he could have an easier time overrunning their defenses.

With these thoughts in mind, Leon returned to the cathedral to have a night of rest. Storming the millipede’s nest could come at another point in time, when he was much more prepared.

Before he laid down to rest, Leon returned to the slab of stone that he had been using to sharpen his blade. He spent a couple of hours over it to make sure that it would be extra sharp come morning. He knew that he was going to need it.