Lucky Prodigy

10: Dead King

^^ Necromancer ^^

— James —

Zoken stepped forward, again, as the creature prepared itself; he had an unfortunate complex of having to fight to protect his comrades, like some idiot from a legend, -which, sadly, made sense: the Hero Seed was likely a reflection of that attitude...- He had started as weaker than them, but because he hogged the Lion's Share of the XP, he was catching up to them quickly, and would overtake them, at this rate.

I snuck a peek at the Death Knight, just to see its stats, and nothing else. The distance was too great for me to get much more than that without revealing my presence.

<Individual: Hellion
Race: Death Knight
Ur: 5th
-
Strength: 60%
Speed: 30%
Stamina: 100%
Defense: 40%
Intelligence: 0%
Weapon's Skill: 20%
Unarmed Skill: 5%. >

'Huh... pretty high level, there... and how about you, Zoken? How've you improved?'

<Individual: Zoken Katachi
Race: High-Oni (near evolution)
Ur: 6th Form
-
Strength: 40%
Speed: 75%
Stamina: 20%
Defense: 75%
Intelligence: 75%
Weapon's Skill: 40%
Unarmed Skill: 30%.>

'Good, he's improved quite a bit... and that armor helps his defense a bit, hmm?'

<Incorrect: Defense is reflective of physical resistance to damage, and overall Health Points, concurrent with Stamina, which reflects endurance of physical attack and fatigue, and Intelligence, which reflects resistance to mind-altering magic and remaining Mana Points as well.>

'Oh... Huh. So how do I know how good the armor protects him?' I asked.

<Item: Sage's Disciple Robe
Type: Armor, Magical Item.
Effect: Shapeshifting
Effect: Defense x2
Effect: Stamina x2
Effect: XP x2
Mana Depository: Store unused Mana
Beguiling Smile: Charisma Bonus.
Mage Armor: Defense against Magic x2>
<Item: Sage's Staff
Type: Weapon, Magical Item
Effect: Shapeshifting
Effect: Attack Success chance x2
Effect: Speed x2
Mage Killer: Attack against Mages x5
Demon Slayer: Attack against Demons x5
Duelist: Attack Success Chance w/out shield x5
Authority: Opponents Falter before your Gaze.>

<Item: Rusty Plate Armor.
Type: Armor
Effect: Defense plus 5%.>
<Item: Rusty Skeleton's Sword
Type: Weapon, Magical Item
Effect: Necrotic Damage to wounds
Curse Wounds: Healing Effectiveness x-5.>

'Huh... I may have given them some very powerful items...' I mused.

<Correct.>

The Knight made a move, darting forward and swinging his sword in an overhanded chop at Zoken, who nimbly dodged with the least possible movement, and raised his sword; filling it with his Ur and striking down in one masterful attack, which I was quite proud of.

The sword struck a magical barrier of ice that formed over the Knight, and shattered it, but the impact had harmed his swing's trajectory; even correcting it, he only managed to stab the knee of the Knight, and set Fire to his right leg.

The creature didn't even look at the wound, lurching forward and swinging at Zoken with a ferocious intensity, each attack sending forward a small wave of ice. His skill was decent, but robotic; he didn't react well to his opponents dodging his attacks.

Zoken seemed to have a plan: He was luring his opponent into wasting his Ur, or Mana, I wasn't sure which was powering that attack.

<Answer: Mana from a separate Source. Skeletons don't have Mana.>