The overflowing mana contained in my core twisted throughout my body like a thorny vine. Instead of pain, coldness swept in from where the thorn-like protrusions connected with my muscle and bones, radiating death mana in waves. I could feel a distinct hardening of my physical body with every gesticulation.

After a few minutes, I expected the metaphysical protrusions to rescind to my core, like before, but it didn’t happen. Instead, the new network melded with the old mana channels, connecting every part of my body directly to the monster core. A connectedness existed where there was none before, and Oran’s body felt like my own for the very first time. I was no longer just inhabiting the corpse of someone else’s body.

It was incredible! I tested moving around a few steps forward and backward, then side to side. My motor function was better than ever. There was still a slowness that crept into my movements, making me more like an elderly person than a disabled person. But, with a full range of motion, I didn’t care! No more using Spring Forward just to reach down and wipe blood off my boots.

Further, the new toughness trait Necrotic Fortitude left my skin and bones feeling more like the leather armor I wore.

Which makes moving so much slower make a certain amount of sense, I guess.

My vision also got an upgrade. The small bubble I could see well inside of shot out to about twenty feet, doubling the effective size.

Checking my other senses resulted in an inconclusive result. Hearing, which had already been great, didn't seem to change too much. I couldn’t detect smell strength on account of all the damn ghouls stinking up the damn tunnels. Horrid creatures!

Still, the overall verdict about my new condition was eminently good.

Based on how I felt, I bet a real zombie in the wild would be devastating to a normal person. It would take an enormous weapon with a lot of penetration to take me out. Certainly more force than what I’d used on the ghouls I’d killed.

And speaking of force, I swung my mace into the stone wall with a resounding crack. A chip of stone fell away to clatter on the ground.

Okay, that was a lot stronger than what I could do before. One hit at full power would have caved a ghoul’s head in. Zombies are freaking scary.

After I finished experimenting with my over excellent choice for evolution, I moved back to the codex to pick my new tier power.

Please choose a trait for your tier. Zombie - (I)

Decoagulating nails - your nails inflict wounds that bleed profusely.

Disease Spreader - your bite has a chance of infecting a living creature with zombification.

Infectious Blood - your blood carries a deadly pathogen, contact can infect a creature with zombification.

Crushing Bite - your bite can crush bone, bend metal, and rend flesh. Your teeth are reinforced.

Spore Colony - you have a fungal growth that causes intense sneezing and itching to living creatures near you. May be lethal to those with breathing issues.

What was this bullshit? After choosing the awesome-sauce that is Necrotic Fortitude, I’d hoped my tier development would push me away from crass advancements, and into the super good stuff. Guess I was wrong.

I didn’t want any of those. There was no way I’d take Spore Colony, which was probably the worst choice I’d seen yet, Disease Spreader, or Infectious Blood. The idea of turning others into mindless walking corpses still had as much appeal as it did before; that is to say, absolutely none. Giving people allergies while all kinds of fuzzy foolishness grew out my ears was a slight against my very person. If I could punch the codex in the face, I’d have done it for offering—

Would you like to forego a trait and advance to tier (II)? Skipping these traits will permanently remove: Decoagulating Nails and Disease Spreader from the previous levels. Please note, you can only make this choice once.

What!?

Was this interface listening to my thoughts the whole time?

Hello? Can you hear me? Push Zero. Speak to the Operator. Line 2.

I received nothing for my projecting thoughts. Which only made me much more uncomfortable. There was clearly a lot more nuance and decision making to be done than Oran and I realized. It would have been helpful to know this information in advance, but I’m not sure where I could have acquired it. I doubt many monsters have written books on monster core progression.

Although other types of sentient undead may have. Did those even have a monster core or just a mana core with necromantic energy? Oran seemed to believe that joining a death cult was, in fact, a class choice. So I guessed the latter.

Focusing back on the choice before me, I considered what to do. Losing two options I’d never pick really wasn’t a loss. The bigger issue was that I could only use this immediate jump one time. Waiting to tier three and using it to skip straight to the next evolution sounded like a much smarter idea. Assuming that I could even do that.

Ugh!

For all I know, you can only do this at tier I or a marquee level, or some other even more esoteric condition. And the more I thought about the unknowable conditions crafted by the Naram-Sin, the less uncertain I became.

Having been a person who lived in dread of the future for an entire lifetime, making the moves that felt right, right now, was a luxury that I’d be a fool to ignore.

I selected yes, and immediately jumped to tier II.

The expected rush of mana to my body didn’t come. It roiled in my core, forming into a dense but separated cloud.

Please choose a level 3 spell. Refusal to pick a spell will eliminate the possibility of selecting new spells from the Tome of the Mad Prophet Derzalha at later levels.

Aura of Dread - you emit an aura that causes living creatures to become afraid.

Degenerating Touch - you disrupt the mana flows of a creature, weakening its physical strength for a short time.

Famine - you cause food and plants to spoil in an area.

Another limitation I didn’t know about! I’ve discovered so many interesting things at this level. Yet, I didn’t fixate on the details. I doubted I’d have done anything up to this point differently.

The separated mana cloud continued to roil in my core while it awaited my decision. I knew intrinsically that if I turned down a spell, that mana would flood my body, strengthening me. Which conclusively answered my earlier question about the cost of magic use.

I was too ambitious to give up magical power. As much as I wanted to have an undead body that made the ghoul girls swoon, the versatility and promise of doing cool shit with my mind was just too tempting.

Looking at each of the spells, I knew it would be a tough choice.

Aura of Dread would keep me from potentially having to kill humans and fellow sapients. I might scare them off or even trick them into avoiding an area altogether. Since I would have control over when the spell was active, there was no real downside.

Next, Degenerating Touch had the potential to increase my monster killing greatly. It was the first spell that specifically targeted a “creature”, which meant that I could weaken almost anything I came across. As long as it had mana. Which, I guess, meant regular humans were out, but I didn’t need to debilitate them, anyway.

My initial impulse was to rule out Famine like I did other abilities I considered disturbing. Causing widespread starvation was a terrible superpower. However, after reading it over a few times to make sure I wasn’t dead-braining my options, I changed my opinion. I had encountered no plant monsters yet, but I knew they existed. A spell that directly targeted them for destruction would be powerful in an area where they thrived. Setting up in such a place would guarantee me easy growth!

In the end, my choice came down to practicality. There were few living people and animals down in the catacombs which severely limited the use of Aura of Dread. Likewise, Famine wouldn’t help me either. So I took the only ability that would help me push forward right now: Degenerating Touch.

Choices finally made, I took a gander at my status.

Name: Oran Farrow

Race: Undead

Level: 3

Tier: Zombie - II

Level Advantages:

Rigor Mortis - you can selectively use your stiffening limbs to achieve a death grip or relax it to increase motor function.

Spring Forward - you can make a quick one second run or jump forward. Usable once a minute.

Necrotic Fortitude - your body becomes much more difficult to injure.

Tier Traits:

Halted Decay - significantly reduces your rate of decay.

Verminbane - you emit an aura that repels non-magical vermin.

Poisonous Gas - your stomach builds up a toxic gas that you can expel once a day.

Skulking Lurcher - your feet make no noise when you move.

Spells:

Level 1: Sense Undead - extend your sense to locate undead near you.

Level 2: Reanimate Hand - reanimate the hand of a corpse to assist you.

Level 3: Degenerating Touch - you disrupt the mana flows of a creature, weakening its physical strength for a short time.

Upon awakening, I climbed up to my feet faster than I’d ever done before, then set out to find a dance partner. And by dance partner, I mean a ghoul whose head I was going to turn into hamburger meat.

It didn’t take me long to find a big old ill-mannered abomination. Two large gorilla arms kept this unladylike monstrosity upright while it feasted on a yellowed bone.

I mean seriously, are they actually just where bad dogs go when they die?

Strutting up to the creature in complete silence, didn’t stop the ghoul from noticing me. I still couldn’t figure out how they did that.

It didn’t care. Clearly, a zombie dressed in last season’s fashion posed no threat to it.

The large ghoul let me walk right up next to it and cast Degenerating Touch on its big ape arm. A confused grunt, followed by a sagging upper body, was its initial reaction.

Capitalizing on my good fortune, I slammed my dagger all the way to the hilt in its thick skull. Its corpse fell over with a splat.

Well, okay then.