Jay suddenly started laughing, thinking about Asra.
“Oh yeah, she thinks my name is Bob, that I’m level four and under her mind-control spell,” he chuckled, “I can’t wait to see her face when she finds out I’m faking it. But first, I’ll need information from her.”
“While she thinks I’m under her control, she will have no reason to lie to me, so this is a golden opportunity to get some answers from her.” He nodded.
Finally he had some time to himself to think within a time-warping dungeon.
“But what are my goals here? First, I want any information relating to necromancy. Second, I want to fully escape the mage hunters who are still fucking chasing us…” Jay shook his head, wondering why they bothered to chase him with such conviction.
A part of him hoped that entering her secretive vampire school would accomplish both goals, but knew it wouldn’t be that simple or safe.
“Thirdly, power…?” he thought, scratching his chin.
Power was currently a necessity for his safety. Jay didn’t care about glory or praise, but he was starting to wonder - if he had all power and ruled over everything, what would he do?
If he changed laws, built grand cities and vineyards, and ushered the world into a golden age of prosperity, that would be good and everything - but what would be the point, ultimately?
Whether he destroyed the world or saved it, he could see no point in either, as it would all return to dust eventually… unless he took on the mantle of immortality.
“Yet If I ruled over all things, and set everything in place, what would I do?” he pondered, “I suppose first I should set my own life in place and put things in order before even attempting it in the lives of others. If I can’t even do that, what gives me the right to rule another?”
“Even so, what would I do?”
“…could my true desire be as simple as to live comfortably and peacefully…?” he frowned.
Jay almost wanted to mock himself at that thought.
Something felt so scandalous about having a motive as mundane and basic as that. He searched his mind and could only come up with revenge as another motive, but something about that seemed pathetic and small, and he didn’t really hate anyone enough to remember their name anyway.
“Plus, if I did kill someone out of revenge - then what? How long should I hold a grudge against a corpse? How long should an immortal hold a grudge - for one thousand years or a day?”
“As for living a peaceful life, power is merely a necessity for my continued comfort because of all the bastards that want me dead.”
Jay thought back to his life as a butcher, “Didn’t I have that peaceful life? Well… I suppose there were some struggles and boredom as a butcher.”
“Hmm… this adventurous life is not what I thought it was. It’s not something I can easily escape.”
“As for power, I don’t really see the point in gaining power for the sake of having it… though bending the world under my feet does sound compelling, I can’t see the point from an eternal perspective anymore…”
Jay thought about his immortality book, wondering what profound impact it may be having on his thoughts.
“But I doubt I could become the most powerful in this world. The best thing I can do is grow powerful while being unknown and hidden; if no one knows about me, no one will come looking to kill me, and there’s no guarantee my skeletons will be able to protect me in every situation.” He nodded.
“Yes… that’s the safest thing to do - even if I do end up having enough power to conquer the civilized world, it would be better to remain anonymous, or at most, rule from the shadows while using my skeletons as puppets.” He glanced at Lamp.
“I wonder if that’s what the royals do. Perhaps they are nothing but puppets themselves? Maybe they aren’t even real?”
A part of him was looking forward to seeing the looks on peoples faces if they got close enough to realize Lamp was a skeleton wearing a human skin suit, but if he thought of ruling from the shadows, who’s to say it wasn’t already happening?
“As for my first goal, Asra probably won’t just enter the vampire school and bring necromancy books to me, so I will probably have to go in if I want them - but then I’ll need to worry about my safety.”
“Her mind-control spell messed up, but what about a higher-level vampire? Maybe they will have stronger powers, which might actually work against me?”
“Yet even if they think I am under her control, would she even keep me safe - would she even be able to? Probably not.”
*Hiss!~*
Suddenly the thick root the skeletons were chopping burst open, detaching and spraying green fluid everywhere - yet it was not filled with parasites, only the green fluid.
Jay finished his thoughts before assessing the damage.
“I’ll have to question her some more, but I’ll need to do it in such a way that she doesn’t get tired of my questions…
If she commands me to ‘stop asking questions’, there will be no point in continuing the lie, and then, no more reliable information.” Jay nodded, and moved closer to inspect the root.
“No parasites… interesting.” He thought, crouching down and rubbing some green fluid between his fingers before wiping it on the ground. It wasn’t as sticky as it looked, and nothing at all like blood.
Thinking of blood, Jay had an idea.
“Hmm… why haven’t I tried this before?”
Pulling out the needle of the starved, he prodded the dripping remains of the root.
“Red. Tainted. So even the plant-monsters are tainted huh?” he stashed the needle away again.
“I ought to try it on one of those knights - while they’re still alive that is. Maybe a parasite egg too.”
His eyes noticed something moving in the pit.
Jay glanced back down into the dark cavity, and the flower-like flaps had seemed to lose their strength and began to open up.
While Jay had become used to the boneless, skinless horrors that he and his skeletons left behind, seeing the semi-digested remains turned his face sour.
Jay looked at the root the skeletons just cut, trailing deeper into the knight’s territory.
It was no longer moving and didn’t seem alive anymore.
“Alright. We’ll follow this root. Blue, you’re in charge…”
“also…” Jay glanced at Blue with a warm smile, “well done back there.”
“I think I’m starting to feel… hmm. Actually, it would sound weird to say, but nice work.” he smiled.
Blue looked at Jay, not really understanding what this meant, how it related to battle tactics or slaying his enemies, but it clapped its jaws in affirmation and continued on with its duties, as diligent as ever.
Blue sorted the skeletons into the same formation as before: Lamp scouting further in front, with Red and Blue at each side of Jay.
As for Handy, Blue had it march directly behind Jay - while Sweeper was much further back, comparatively.
Jay’s group walked along, following the thick root. It had since stopped all its squeezing motions, no longer pumping the green fluid through itself which Jay accurately guessed was nutrients from the corpses.
But if someone were to cut off the supply of nutrients to wherever this root was going, then what would the response be?
