The Ruined Death Knight

Danzel and Shiro, together with the two living armors have been walking over a whole day, with no chance of scenery except the night crossing over and making the frozen lands much colder than they were before.

Though the cold didn't affect him, it sure did to Shiro.

The clothing that he made proved to be extremely useful for her and the fact that Shiro was of the 3rd-tier, also made her body much tougher than you everybody Joe.

Alas, the fact that she was a magic caster who was known for their weak body and that she was essentially a child or one that is about to hit puberty. Didn't make her body strong enough to resist the night's cold or all the walk.

So they decided to take refuge by shaping an artificial tunnel with Shiro magic big enough to fit feat the 4 of them.

"There is nothing but ice and snow outside..." Shiro said somewhat depressed.

Danzel crashed another of the small trees that he found and put it in front of Shiro to light up.

"We will probably see such scenery for a long time, I suggest that you get used to it." Danzel said while bringing out pieces of meat and skewering them in his spike.

Shiro looked at the skewer for a moment before she digested the words of Danzel.

"H-How long will it take us to go back? My grandpa must be searching for me! M-Maybe he is in danger."

Hearing that, Danzel couldn't help but chuckle dryly.

"Heh, I would be more worried about Agares dying from old age like how you mortals do, than him being in danger. Him being in danger...seems impossible to me." Danzel said while remembering how they ganked up at the armored core of the tower.

Shiro seemed to calm down a bit after Danzel threw the reality of the situation at her. And as she relaxed, her stomach groaned, turning her focus towards the meat.

"Rue...Isn't the meat burned?" Shiro said after seeking the meat starting to turn black.

"Is it?" Danzel asked somewhat confused, before taking the meat away from the fire and placing it on top of a bone that was shaped like a plate.

Making Shiro stare awkwardly at the plate.

"Eat and get to sleep. Tomorrow we will try to cross more land." Danzel said in his cold voice.

He then made took a piece of paper from his storage ring and tried to half-assed make a map.

By the time he finished, Shiro was resting on the side of the stone wall with her eyes half closed.

"Hey, you-" Danzel tried to say to the second living armor before he was interrupted by Shiro.

"Niyuki."

"Right...go and give that to her." Danzel said as he gave the remaining leather of the haired buffalo to the second living armor, named by Shiro exclusively, Niyuki.

As for the first, it was Koji.

He found those two names quite exotic and...well, weird. But he still went with it as she stopped calling him bad fish.

"Thanks, Rue~" Shiro said as she wrapped herself in the leather. Though not as soft as being in a bed, it sure was better than sleeping to some cold hard stone.

He waited before Shiro went to sleep before he opened his status.

[Status]

Name: Rue Danzel

Level: 100

Race: Death Knight

Class: [Black Guard Lv. 79]

Sub-Class: [Runesmith of Undeath Lv.80]

Health: 96 750/ 96 750

Mana: 17374/ 19 305

Attribute points: 0

Attributes: Strength: 1339 Agility: 1459 Intelligence: 1287 Endurance: 1289

Great Rune: [Great Rune of Undeath Existence]

Talents: [Mythic Undead] [Sin of Wrath] [Reinforced Soul] [Superior Unique Consciousness ] [Rune Vision] [Dead Rune Knowledge] [Undead Carver] [Dead Mana Affinity] [Dead Mana Resilience] [Undying][Lower Class Death Magic] [Mastery of Himself] [Affinity Carving Mastery] [Bringer of the End][O Fearful Death] [Soul Nemesis] [Carving Fate with Death] [Deathless Will] [Cursed Hands] [Leech Touch] [Drain Vitality Touch] [Armor of Death Knight] [Wielder of Death]

Skills: [Death Warden Swordsmanship Lv.1] [Stone Wall Lv.9] [Death Descent Lv.1] [Mist Presence Lv.1] [Unceasing Soul of Death Essence] Lv.1] [Soul Reaping Wind] [Phantom Phase Lv.1] [Shield Tremple Lv.1] [Soul Ender Lv.1] [Existential Sense Danger Lv.1] [Curse of Chaining Fatigue Lv.5] [Grasp of the Undying Lv.3] [Undying Guard Lv.4] [Armor of Undying Protection Lv.1] [Siphoning Soul Blade Lv.9] [Soul of Death Lv.5] [Undying Preservation Lv.1] [Curse of Primordial Decay Lv.5] [Greater Raise Undead Lv.7] [Undead Reconstruction Lv.1] [Eyes of the Damned Lv.6] [Curse of Five Bindings Lv.2] [Necromatic Restoraction Lv.2] [Death Rune Removal Lv.9] [Innate Blood Absorbtion Lv.1] [Blood Puppets Lv.1], [Bleed Verocity Lv.1], [Blood Sense Lv.1], [Vampiric Gaze Lv.1] [Curse of Nature Lv.1] [Wall of Bones Lv.1] [Heavy Strike Lv.1] [Bone Shaping Lv.1]

...

[XP: 14 500 300]

...

Danzel was glad to see that the remark didn't update in insulting him by any given chance and the amount of XP that he has.

'Killing that magic caster sure did give me quite a lot.' Danzel thought to himself.

But the mass massacre was the main source of his now rich wallet.

But when he considered that this amount of XP was only 14 [Epic] runes, well...

He was certainly much less excited.

He could certainly upgrade some of his skills and even class with this amount,

But first, he tried the new option that came with becoming a death knight.

And that was the [Talents].

He always found it weird that [Skills] had several stuff to get and [Talents] didn't. Weird because he could interact with the latter on the status screen.

He concluded that either he wasn't talented or that talents couldn't be gained from status.

But then again, he saw countless talents of others that have been achieved through doing some kind of action or experiencing something.

Like how he has seen in those arcana mutants bearing the [Tortured Ones] talent.

He started to believe that compared to other beings, he couldn't earn himself talents, but it turned out that this status locked his earned talents till he reached the 4th-tier.

So when he opened it, he was quite surprised by the amount.

[Talents]:

[Soul that Walks Between Death]: 1 000 000 XP

[Magical Talent]: 1 000 000 XP

[User of Dark Arts]: 1 000 000 XP

[Horder]: 1 000 000 XP

[Torturer]: 1 000 000 XP

[Contractor]: 1 000 000 XP

[Arisen from Death]: 1 000 000 XP

[Soul Torturer]: 1 000 000 XP

[Devil Slayer]: 1 000 000 XP

[Tower Master]: 1 000 000 XP

[Minor Fire Resistance]: 1 000 000 XP

[Warmonger]: 1 000 000 XP

[Apprentice of Death King]: 1 000 000 XP

[Cursed Banner]: 1 000 000 XP

[King Slayer]: 1 000 000 XP

[Royal Assassin]: 1 000 000 XP

[Death between Plainsight]: 1 000 000 XP

[Feared Existence]: 1 000 000 XP

[Knight that Deals with Death]: 1 000 000 XP

[Ancient Taboo of Death]: 1 000 000 XP

A total of 20 talents in a total of 5 years.

If he were to compare himself to someone else, he would either be considered a genius or a monster.

And he would bet more on the latter as his talents were rather...

Ominous.

First of all, he was greatly saddened that each of those talents cost 1 000 000 XP to get.

Alas, such was how the status was, XP hungry.

'Let's see what we have here...' Danzel thought internally.

He slowly went through all the talents one by one, readying each of them carefully.

In a way, all those Talents represented his whole history and what he had done though out time.

The first of them was [Soul that Walks Between Death] which he guessed he got from entering the Realm of the Dead and coming out in one piece. The Realm of the Dead] was titled [???] just like other of his skills.

As for its effect, it simply stated that it would reinforce his mind and soul by 5%

Which he didn't find all impressive.

'Maybe there might be an interaction with the [Great Rune of Ruined Vessel], but for now, I pass on this one.'

Sure, it could help him suppress [Sin of Wrath], but 5% was a meager amount for the asked cost.

The [Magical Talent] talent was one that really surprised him and made him feel quite happy. The talent itself stated that the one who has the talent is actually talent for magic. It essentially made it easier to learn magic and have 5% more overall mana. And as [Phantom Phase] used quite a lot of mana, he went ahead and got this one.

[User of Dark Arts] was a better version of [Magical Talent], but it focused on, well, dark arts. Necromancy, Curse Magic, Blood Magic and all other kinds of stuff. The best part of it though was the fact that his runes also counted among the "Dark Arts". At least his soul and death runes. It granted him no mana, but the 15% learning bonus and 5% strengthing of Dark Arts were enough to make him buy the talent. The next two were the less exciting ones.

Next were the [Torturer] and [Contractor]...

Which he completely ignored.

The former will amplify the fear of those who he would torture whereas the latter would make it so that when he does a contract, his voice becomes more...agreeable.

Going to the next one, a final strong talent appeared.

[Arisen from Death] clearly came with his [Undying] and [Deathless Will] talent.

What it did was that when he dies and gets "Revived", all his attributes will be increased by a total of 10% for 3 hours. And this effect is stacked.

Although he was of the opinion that planning a fight in the mind of his death was...wrong. The talent suggested otherwise. Making it the third talent he got.

Next, though the list was another ominous one.

[Soul Torturer]

Which further proved the fact that the being in the Realm of the Dead, were souls.

As those talents seemed to be listed based on an order, [Soul Torture] must come from the one time he cast a curse on one of those souls in the Realm of the Dead.

Maybe his trapping souls into weapons also made this talent appear, but he wanted to think that his first guess was the correct one.

Otherwise, that would mean that being imprisoned inside weapons brought such pain that could be considered as torturing the soul.

And he didn't want to think that Skull Claw and the Magic caster were currently being tortured.

He didn't give a crap for the latter, but for the former, he did somewhat care.

'I will just think of them being imprisoned and not being tortured.'

As what the talent did was the same as the [Torture] talent, but one that works on souls.

Which he wasn't much interested in.

Well.

For now, that is...