With a boost of 105% to Strength and Endurance, Gunner would have more than 40 points in both stats, while his already tight defense would be doubled and so would his damage!
While active, it was possible for the large lad to even defend against some Journeyman level attacks, Darius hoped. He had yet to fight a Journeyman in any category, so he could not gauge their power using his own.
"Gunner, can you do something about this blight with your bloodline energy?" Darius inquired with suspicion.
Gunner frowned and thought for a bit. "I feel like I can. Ever since it appeared, I feel a great disgust and itch to cleanse it from this earth in my body. Let me try something."
Gunner stepped forward and placed his hand near the edge of the blight and closed his eyes. A greenish light emerged around his body that radiated powerful strength and fortitude.
Gunner infused this energy into the blighted earth, turning it slowly from its ruined state to a healthy brown like before. Darius's eyes flashed as he saw this, realizing that this ability might be crucial to his foray into the Plains of Death.
Of course, he had two other things he planned to rely on, but they would be handled after he was done with this dungeon. For now, Darius turned his attention to Gunner's mana consumption and saw that clearing this small patch of earth had drained more than 20% of his MP.
Darius frowned as the efficiency was too low, but understood that it was a matter of time. Since Gunner did this on his own using his bloodline energy and not a skill of the Supreme System, he could improve its efficiency on his own with practice.
Darius focused on his two Undead who had just about completed their transformation. The blackish miasma surrounding them reduced greatly as their bony forms were revealed to Darius and Gunner.
Both of them were similar but different. They were tall undead at around 7.4 ft and were floating above the ground with a blueish energy separating them from the earth. They wore long and distinctive robes that separated into 6 petal-like tails near their feet.
Their hands were delicate but glowed with a cyan light, and so too their formerly greenish eye sockets. Not only was the glow of their color-changed Soul Fires much stronger than before, but their skulls had also changed in shape.
From ugly, they had become streamlined and smaller, with two sharp canines on each side. They also wore hoods over their heads that added to their elegance as undead.
Two Liches had been born!
Darius and Gunner gazed at them with slight awe and apprehension, because they felt the difference between the former duo and their current forms were vastly different.
However, one thing that hadn't changed was their personalities.
"Aye, Mikey. We done became Liches innit? Does that mean we can eat now?"
"No you idiot, Undead is Undead. We ain't gonna eat anything unless we can come back to life!"
"Awww, I wish we could. I miss the taste of stale bread and green beans!"
"Joneson, we only ate those because we were dirt poor, that doesn't mean it was good food!"
"Whatchu talking bout? I loved that stale bread! It so crunchy… rough and made me thirsty!"
"Peh, only you would, after all. Me, If I could, I would eat only the finest dishes that them nobles could have!"
"Mikey! How can you say that?! If the nobles hear ya, they'll beat you then hang you!"
"Joneson, you idiot, we're dead! DEAD! The last thing we near to fear is pain or hanging!"
"Oh…."
Darius and Gunner shared an uncertain look before the former interrupted the duo of Undead. "Enough of that. What happens if I cancel the spell right now?"
Mikey answered this. "We, plus any Undead we create, are sent into a special plane for summoned Undead created by your system to facilitate our existence."
Darius nodded. At least, despite everything, the Supreme System was still able to make many concessions for him as well as many conveniences that no other Faustian could enjoy.
Of course, the price for that was quite steep.
Shaking off his gloomy thoughts, Darius then checked the character sheets for his two new undead to see if there were any changes.
[Name: Joneson
Race: Undead
Class: Lich
Sub-class: Growth
HP: 400/400
MP: 1300/1300
Level: 18
Strength: ?
Agility: ?
Endurance: ?
Intellect: ?
Charisma: ?
Luck: ?
Abilities: Absorb, Raise Dead, Heal Undead, Sacrifice, Promote.
Weapons: Cloth Armor.]
[Name: Mikey
Race: Undead
Class: Lich
Sub-class: Growth
HP: 400/400
MP: 1300/1300
Level: 18
Strength: ?
Agility: ?
Endurance: ?
Intellect: ?
Charisma: ?
Luck: ?
Abilities: Absorb, Raise Dead, Heal Undead, Sacrifice, Promote.
Weapons: Cloth Armor.]
Darius was curious as to their exact stats. They definitely had to be higher than his and Gunner's in many aspects for them to have so much mana and HP at level 18.
Since he still could not a get a read on it, he commanded them: "Raise the corpses of the monsters Gunner and I killed here as well as the ones we'll kill going forward."
Joneson and Mikey nodded, raising the Ents, Killer Mushrooms, and Life Stealing Vines. Though,. Once they came to life… err, undeath, they were far different from their 'alive' selves.
The duo raised 3 Ents, 5 Killer Mushrooms, and 10 Life-Stealing Vines each, which was quite impressive. Darius continued towards the next cavern with Gunner and the two Liches quickly, his mind preoccupied with his other issues.
In the next cavern, they encountered monsters between levels 15-17 just as Darius expected. For him and Gunner who were higher-leveled compared to before, this was not a problem.
Gunner activated his newly upgraded skill and even activated Engage as well, focusing all enemy attention on his person. With a wicked smile, Gunner traded blows with all those coming at him, allowing the extras to hit him in futility as his 200% defense made him practically impervious to all attacks within the Amateur Rank.
Darius wasn't idle, flashing around with his Blink to drop fire on their enemies, causing them to screech and holler in agony. Darius' firepower might not have increased, but his increased Luck worked strangely.
