Whispers of A Dead Empire

Chapter 12

I opened my eyes and stared at the cealing. The blinking of my screen bore its way into my restless dreams. I have only been here for a few days, and yet I still haven't gotten used to seeing it all the time. I mentally selected the notifications so the incessant blinking would come to a stop.

T1 Templates unlocked:

Undead Deer

Undead Pigeon

Undead Wolf

Undead Linal

Congratulations! You have been gifted one thousand essence points for unlocking multiple templates!

I read through the list and nodded my head. Not a bad haul; I brought in two thousand essence points as a reward plus another couple hundred total from the squirrel doing its job. I went ahead and added experimenting with the new templates to the future to-do list. It wouldn't hurt to have variety, after all. I dismissed the notifications and laid there for a bit, trying to shake the exhaustion. So, my first course of action today would be getting with Kharon and seeing how I can condense all my tools into an easy-to-use folder or something. After that, I want to investigate that locked room and then figure out what that strange room is upstairs. With a groan, I sat up, and a giant yawn escaped my lips. My eyes traveled across my room, and I saw that Alessia settled into my chair.

She swung her head towards me, and she quickly looked me over. For a moment, I felt the excitement bubble in my chest until I realized that she wouldn't become sentient overnight. I stood up and stretched before I walked over to my sports bag. I fished out some deodorant and my hairbrush. A girl has to stay pretty after all, right? I lifted my arm, and the harsh smell of body odor immediately bombarded me. I felt my lips shift into a grimace, and a groan escaped from my mouth. I wanted nothing more than to take a hot shower. But sadly, that was out of the question. The closest substitute a the moment was the lake up top, so I could probably take a dip pretty soon. As for the clothes, I would need to wash them. I could probably create some once I had an idea of my budget.

Once I finished brushing my hair, I slide all the items back into my sports bag and grabbed my notebook and a pen. I would need this later, so it would be best to keep them on me at all times. I did a quick once-over on the room to make sure that I didn't forget anything. "Alessia, come along. We are going to explore today," I called out to her. She stood up from the chair and gracefully walked over towards me. I placed my hand on her shoulder to teleport, and much to my surprise, she was partially tangible. What a strange spirit you are. With a mental confirmation, we teleported back to the steps in front of the outpost.

The sun sat near the sky's halfway point and cast dark rays of light onto the ground. Clouds slowly crawled across the sky and absorbed some of the light, trying to make its way down. It felt like there was a storm coming, yet there were no storm clouds in sight, just white clouds that stretched into the distance. Though it was creepy, the lighting felt off, and it was gnawing away at my mind like something was about to happen. Perfect, all I needed now was just some fog, and the theme would be completed. I shifted my attention to the courtyard and saw that some of the undead were milling about mindlessly while others were busy moving some logs. They have been working relentlessly and managed to clear out a large portion of the forest. That was good; it would give me room to work with to expand the size a bit. I summoned my menu real quick and selected the massive pile of lumber, and stored it. With that finished, let's take a gander inside, and while I am exploring, I'll send Kharon a message.

The ghost managed to collect a lot of the loose rubble and get it into one spot. So I went ahead and collected all of it with my storage tool. Afterward, I inspected the area to see how well they did. Overall the outpost looked a little cleaner than before. But there wasn't much that could be done here without a full overhaul. But that was coming sooner rather than later. Once I was finished inspecting the surrounding area, I walked over to the first floor's locked door. The sound of my feet echoing in the lobby filled my ears as I walked at a brisk pace.