The tale of Silas

From the cave walls and floor, skeletal hands burst from the ground and started to pull themselves out. As they rose from the depths, I noticed that these weren't ordinary skeletons. Their bones were charred black except for their eye sockets and the end of their extremities from the tips of their finger to their elbows, and their feet to their knees had a green glow to them, some carried swords while others were empty-handed but all stared at me as me and Yvraine stood there.

“What just happened? I thought I was only a novice. Isn't something like this supposed to be more advanced?” I asked, pulling up the window to look at my skill level with confusion.

“Y-yes.” She shuttered. “But there are several more factors than just the level of skill, especially magic-based skills, knowledge, affinity, and how much mana you possess can affect what you can do even if you have a low skill level or rank. And your affinity for unholy magic seems quite high.” she explained.

“What does that mean?” I asked as I looked at the skeletons, which stood still as if they were statues.

“Well, many things can decide one's affinity for a specific magic or skills, their job, their mentality, and just being born lucky, I believe this could be a mix of your job and luck,” Yvraine explained as she walked up and looked over one of the new skeletons. “These aren't half bad, they are a fair bit stronger than the skeletons the dungeon creates, perhaps to the point they could wear armor without being weighed down too much, as you grow in both power and raise your skills rank the skeletons you create will become stronger in turn as well as the variety of undead you can create.” She told me.

“I see. With this, we can bolster our numbers and.” I said but Yvraine was quick to stop me.

“I’ll stop you right there, I can guess what you're thinking, and while you do possess the mana to make a sizable force, numbers alone can not take down the timber king. You will need quality and quantity to take down the beast that rules over this forest.” She told me as she turned her head to look back at me.

“Y-your right, i was hasty there, but why can unholy magic not need corpses then?” I asked.

“Well, I wouldn't say it doesn't require corpses at all, for example for skeletons like these it’s not necessary but for higher-ranked undead, you will need the necessary corpses which will be harder than you think, can't make a lich out of the corpse of a warrior now can you, well actually you could but such a body would be more suitable as a death knight.” She said.

“So to make more powerful undead I would need to corpses of powerful individuals?” I asked to clarify.

“Precisely, though there are a few shortcuts such as evolving weaker into their stronger variants, the process itself is quite tedious but that is for another time.” She told me as she turned to face me. “Let your training continue.” She said with a grin on her face which made me nervous.

(Several days later)

It has been a few days since I started training to control my magic and I have made great strides. Like she said, my affinity for unholy magic was quite extraordinary from how she put it, and I've even tried learning Washu’s storm magic but it's been quite difficult. When she tried teaching it a few sparks were all I could manage well at least till yesterday, when I managed to make a single bolt of lighting but I haven't been able to repeat it. Since Storm magic hasn't been working out Washu, and Yvraine have been teaching me how to use my other vampiric abilities such as shapeshifting.

At first, it was a little difficult but after a few transformations it became much easier to use but my control was fairly limited. I could not transform into a mighty beast or creatures, I could only make myself into a wolf and various smaller creatures, but I could also do one more thing which was take a human form. It was easily the same as my vampire form excluding the pointy ears and glowing eyes but it had its drawbacks, while in a human form, my body felt heavy and slow.

“Its feels so unnatural to look human.” I muttered looking in a mirror before Pixel chimed in.

“A vampire's form is like liquid and can change at a moment's notice, many skilled vampires use this to their advantage, but each form you take has its strengths and weaknesses so keep that in mind.” Explained Pixel.

“Yes I understand, but with my power suppressed like this it will make it difficult to fight if I get into trouble,” I said.

“Hopefully you won't have to, a vampire’s human form is used mostly for infiltration and deception so if you must fight, you must be careful,” Pixel told me. “But now that you do possess a human form, what is your plan.”

“I plan to visit Ponyville. If I'm going to live in this world I may as well learn more about it and meet its people.’ I said. “Plus while I’m there I might be able to learn more about the Timber King and maybe find a weakness I can exploit,” I told Pixel.

“And what about your dungeon?” Asked Pixel.

“Washu and Yvraine will stockpile the Blood essence and Mana prisms and upon my return, I will use them to upgrade the dungeon, and increase our forces,” I told her. “The dungeon is well hidden for the moment and it won't do me any good to worry so much, right now my top priority is to gather information.”

“Understood.” Said Pixel before she went quiet. “Now, I should pick out some different clothing.” I said before I headed to the tailor to pick out something but when I arrived I found Washu and Yvraine waiting or me with sorrowful expressions.

“Are you really leaving?” Asked Yvraine.”

“Yes, we need information.” I told her.

“Can't we come with you?” asked Washu but I shook my head.

“You two are the strongest subordinates I have, you have to stay here to protect the dungeon.” I told Washu, and while it seemed she understood she still had a sorrowful look on her face. “I’ll be back.” I reassured them as I went to select some clothes. I decided on a simple black trench coat along with a plain grey shirt, some black pants and finally some gloves. I went around and looked into a mirror to see how I looked, but it was missing something, and I smiled as I looked around before finding my green-tinted glasses before I put them on. “Now then it’s time for me to go.”

“But what about blood, what are you going to do about that?” asked Yvraine.

“What do you mean, I shouldn't really need blood for awhile.” I said

“Yes, but just because you drink doesn't mean the thirst goes away, it only builds and builds.” Yvraine told me.

“She is right some vampires have gone insane and gone on a killing spree because they did not have the strength to resist their thirst, because you've had access to blood essence you've been able to feed freely without needing to hide it, but once you get into town.” Pixel said stopping at the last part.

“I guess you need a mind of steel in order to go centuries without blood then. I’ll have to think of something after I get there, but I have to go.” I said and Pixel did not try to convince me otherwise and before I left the cave I gave Washu and Yvraine a big hug before I grabbed my poleaxe and left. I reverted back to my vampire form using the strength that Washu and Yvraine had taught me to control to jump from tree to tree to avoid the timberwolves and whatever else inhabited this forest.

I pulled up the world map to make sure I was going the right way before closing it and increasing my pace as I jumped from tree to tree occasionally looking back to make sure I wasn't followed. After a few hours of traversing through the forest I could finally see a town through the canopy of the forest.

“Finally civilization,” I said as I got closer and closer and finally I was out of the forest. I quickly assumed my human form as soon as I was clear of the trees and started to approach the town, but stayed in the shadows just in case. I hid behind a building and looked around the corner to look into the town to see what it was like. When I looked around the corner I saw not only human, but also humans with animal-like features like ears and tails, and straight up anthropomorphic animals but from what I was seeing it was mostly humans and my clothing didn't make me stand out too much so I round the corner and walk into the town like I belonged.

Once I entered I did get some glances but I didn't really draw some attention for all they knew I was just passing through. I wandered around getting a good layout of the town before deciding to take a break, being in a human form was not only limiting but taxing as well.

“Hey, are you an adventurer?” I heard from behind me. I turned around to see a young boy who could not be any older than 11 or 12.

“An adventurer, um no I’m not.” I told the young boy. ‘So there are adventures in this world, I suppose they are mainly the only ones that deal with dungeons and monsters. I thought for a few seconds before I looked back at the boy.”But I am looking to learn more about them, do you know where I can find them?” I asked kneeling down to look at him.

“Just down the street at city hall.” The little boy told me as he looked at me with a curious gaze and with a smile I patted his head before I stood up.

“Thank you, now run along back to your parents.” I told the boy as I started walking down the road using my poleaxe as a walking stick to keep myself balanced as I walked. I walked down the street but as I did in the corner of my eye I saw what looked like a tree with windows, and a door. I looked further down the street to see what I believed was the town hall and saw people walking in and out of the building before looking back to the tree.

‘Well the city hall isn't going anywhere.’ I thought as I approached my interest peaked, and I noticed there was an open sign attached to the door. ‘So is this supposed to be some kind of shop?’ I asked myself as I opened the door and let myself in. Inside was a circular room lined with bookshelves, along with a staircase, a few chairs, and a door frame that seemed to lead to some kind of kitchen. “So a library inside a tree, rather odd.” I said aloud as I looked around.

“Yeah, it is.” Said a voice next to me startling me. I looked to see a young boy at my side but atop his head were draconic horns. He stood at about 5 foot 7 with green hair and matching green eyes. “Sorry for startling you.” said the young boy.

“No, it’s not your fault.” I said, that's twice I’ve been caught off guard like that, I guess in my human form my enhanced senses skill doesn't work as well as it supposed to. I gathered myself before I looked once more at the book. “May I?” I asked.

“Yes, by all means take a look around, anyways my name is Spike I haven't seen you around before, you new around here?” The young boy asked as I took a look at a ew of the books.

“Silas, and I just arrived actually thought I would take a look inside before heading to the town hall.” I told Spike as I pulled a history book off the shelf before opening it and skimming through the first few pages. “Do you loan books out?” I asked.

“Of course, but you’ll have to wait till Twilight gets back so she can issue you a library card,” Spike informed me. “That's fine, I’ll just read here while I wait,” I told him as I looked around grabbed a few other books, and picked a chair to sit in before I opened the history book in my lap.

I continued to read a few pages as I thought to myself. ‘Nothing of use of particular note so far, except for the unification of the human tribes which were eventually ruled by princess Celestia’ However after looking more closely there were some mentions of her having a sister who ruled alongside her but there was hardly any mention of her, mostly just Celestia.

‘Were they the two at the castle when I was a skeleton?’ I thought to myself and when I really look back at it, everything after I was hit by Nightmare is a bit fuzzy. ‘Well all I can hope for is that I don't run into them again.’

I read through a few more of the pages before I heard the door open, and I looked up to see a familiar face. ‘Wait, isn't she one of the girls from the castle?’ I thought before I heard Spike speak.

“Twilight your back, there is someone here who wants to check out some books.” Spike told her as I stood up and picked up the books I wanted.

“Good day.” I said with a small bow of my head as I looked at her. “I would like to check these out.” I said, showing her the books. Twilight looked at the books with a smile.

“You've got quite a selection, world history, the monster encyclopedias 2 and 4, and magic theory.” Twilight said with delight.

“Yes but are books 1 and 3 currently checked out?” I asked which made her frown.

“Unfortunately we simply don't have the first and third book, I’ve tried ordering them but they said they don't have any in stock. We do however have books on specific kinds of monsters which have some more in depth information on them.” Twilight informed me.

“Thank you, I might be back for those later, but I would like to check these out now if you don't mind.” I said holding out the books her smile soon returned as she walked over to a wall and pulled out a few card.

“Your name?” She asked.

“Silas Bishop.” I told her as she wrote it down, she then pulled out a book writing down my name and the titles of the books.

“Here you go.” She told me handing me the card as she closed the book.

“Thank you.” I told her as I took the card and left the library, and then I went to explore more of the town.