Defias Brotherhood

Li Shaolin felt a void in his mind, as though something had been lost. When he focused, he found that the water in a blue orb in his mind had dropped slightly, with a value displayed beside it: 54/64. Could this be my mana? At that moment, a deep voice sounded from the depths of his consciousness. "Class activated. Please retrieve your class item." As the voice vanished, a flash of light appeared, and he found something in his hand. Looking down, he saw a thick black book. A red skull on its cover grinned viciously. "That creepy?" He opened it and found his basic information recorded on the first page. On the second page, an icon of a snow-white skeleton had lit up, accompanied by a short description: Raise Skeleton. Use a monster corpse to revive a Skeleton Warrior to fight for you. Current skeleton limit: 1. Mana cost: 10. "What does that mean? A skill icon?" He unconsciously tapped the icon. At once, a white flash appeared outside, and the Skeleton Warrior vanished. The number had changed to 1/1. "So that's how it is!" Li Shaolin suddenly understood. This book was probably derived from the teleportation tome from Diablo, except now it had become a space for storing and retrieving skeletons. He tapped the skeleton icon again, and sure enough, another white flash appeared as the Skeleton Warrior reappeared before him. He tried putting it away, and with a thought, the book vanished. "How amazing," he murmured.

Just then, a wolf howl rang out. Turning around, he saw a Forest Wolf approaching. It stared fiercely at the skinned wolf corpse on the ground, its eyes gleaming with savagery. It had probably been drawn here by the smell of blood from the carcass, Li Shaolin thought. He had no idea how strong the skeleton was, and he did not dare provoke the wolf rashly. He gave the Forest Wolf a sheepish grin and said, "Please enjoy yourself. I won't disturb you. Well then, goodbye." As he spoke, he slowly backed away. But the wolf showed no appreciation. It howled and leaped through the air at him!

"Mother of—!" Li Shaolin cried out and hurriedly rolled aside. At that moment, the Skeleton Warrior moved. It swung its Bone Axe, and a sharp whistle tore through the air as the axe chopped toward the wolf's head! With a wet slash, the Forest Wolf failed to dodge in time. It could only twist its head aside, allowing the Bone Axe to slice horizontally across its belly! But the wolf was a vicious beast. It used the momentum to turn its head, opened its jaws wide, and bit down on the skeleton's neck. With a crunch, the bony neck snapped cleanly in two. The skull rolled down and landed right by Li Shaolin's feet. The soul-fire in its eye sockets flickered twice, then went out.

Seeing the Skeleton Warrior fall bravely in battle, Li Shaolin scrambled away in panic. Yet the Forest Wolf did not pursue him. Looking back, he saw that the skeleton's axe had ripped open the wolf's belly. Blood covered the ground, and its intestines were vaguely visible. It no longer had the strength to chase him. Seeing this, Li Shaolin hurriedly found a massive Elwynn Ancient Tree nearby. But the tree was tall and thick, and even after several attempts, he could not climb it. The Forest Wolf lowered its head and panted, looking as though it might pounce at any moment. In his panic, Li Shaolin jumped and finally managed to climb onto the tree. He settled onto a branch and finally breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, he kept muttering, "Amitabha, Amitabha, Bodhisattva bless me. Please let this wolf be unable to climb trees." Perhaps Guanyin Bodhisattva or Buddha had truly answered his prayers from Earth, because the wolf never managed to rise again. It only lay there, panting heavily. Seeing this, Li Shaolin finally relaxed. The wolf seemed exhausted. It slowly opened its mouth and bit into the remaining flesh left behind after Li Shaolin had summoned the skeleton, swallowing it bit by bit. It looked like it intended to recover its strength.

"Are you planning not to leave?" Li Shaolin muttered gloomily. Then his eyes shifted, and he spotted another wolf corpse nearby. It turned out that the two Defias Bandits had hunted four Forest Wolves, but could only carry away two. They had skinned the other two and taken the hides with them. One corpse had been used by Li Shaolin to summon a skeleton and now consisted of nothing but flesh, which the pursuing wolf was devouring. The other lay quietly nearby, with mosquitoes occasionally buzzing past it. An idea struck him. He tried summoning a Skeleton Warrior from that corpse. Perhaps because the weather was cold, or because Li Shaolin was high up in the tree with a Forest Wolf below glaring at him with green eyes, this first-level summoning spell failed several times in a row. The more anxious he became, the less he could cast it. Then the black book in his sea of consciousness began to glow faintly. With a thought, the black book appeared in his hand. He summoned again, and with a pop, flesh and blood burst from the wolf corpse. A Bone Skeleton slowly rose from a crouching position, a Bone Axe in its right hand. The Forest Wolf eating beside it jumped in fright and hurriedly shifted back a few steps, only to tug at its wound and whimper in pain.

Li Shaolin was overjoyed. With a thought, he gave the Forest Wolf an attack command. The Skeleton Warrior immediately assumed an attacking stance and strode toward it. Seeing the Skeleton Warrior approach, the wolf arched its back, bared its sharp teeth, and let out low growls as it faced off against the skeleton. But the Skeleton Warrior was an Undead creature. It knew neither fear nor terror, much less the meaning of the wolf's threat. It took several quick steps forward, swung the Bone Axe over its head, and brought it down with the wind!

The Forest Wolf's belly was injured, making it difficult for it to move. It bared its teeth and was about to pounce, but the movement tugged at its wound and slowed it down. In an instant, the Skeleton Warrior's Bone Axe came crashing down on its head. With a bang, blood sprayed everywhere. The wolf let out a mournful cry. Its body, which had just leaped into the air, crashed to the ground. It twitched twice, then stopped moving. At that moment, Li Shaolin vaguely sensed a cold aura flowing from the wolf's body toward him. He shuddered, and suddenly, white light rose from beneath his feet and instantly enveloped him! An indescribable joy welled up from the depths of his heart, and his entire body felt incomparably comfortable. A sensation came from the depths of his soul. He had leveled up! It turned out that his Diablo character had been close to leveling up before he had transmigrated, and now it had finally broken through. The black book in his hand also shone brightly. He hurriedly opened it and saw that the information on the first page had changed:

Name: Li Shaolin

Race: Human (Eastern Warlock)

Gender: Male

Class: Necromancer

Health: 74/74

Mana: 74/74

Level: 3

Skill: Raise Skeleton Level 1

Equipment: Book of the Dead

Remaining Skill Points: 1

Well, his health and mana had both increased by 10 points, and he had even gained a skill point. When he looked at the second page, the skeleton icon glowed faintly red. He reached out and touched it, and that deep voice sounded again. "Are you sure you want to add one skill point to Raise Skeleton?" "Damn, that's amazing," Li Shaolin cursed under his breath, but he nodded unconsciously. Skeletons were great. One of them could already fight a Forest Wolf alone. If he added another point, then according to Diablo II's calculations, he could have two skeletons. After he confirmed it, the red glow on the icon suddenly vanished and turned white again. Its description changed: Raise Skeleton. Use a monster corpse to revive a Skeleton Warrior to fight for you. Current skeleton limit: 2. Mana cost: 10. Yet it did not mention damage or health. Could it be that only I have health? Li Shaolin could not help wondering. But thinking about it, that made sense. This World of Warcraft was no longer a game. The bandits were living, breathing bandits, and wolves had flesh and bones. If everything followed game mechanics, would that not be chaos? Would he not be able to drink health and mana potions freely and become invincible?

Putting aside his wild thoughts, he raised a hand and summoned again. Another Skeleton Warrior rose from the wolf corpse with its belly split open and guts spilling out. Good. This was much safer. Li Shaolin returned the Book of the Dead to his sea of consciousness and slowly climbed down from the Elwynn Ancient Tree. The sky was beginning to darken, and night would likely fall soon. Thinking of this dangerous forest, Li Shaolin felt a wave of panic. He quickly led the two Skeleton Warriors along the lakeside.

After walking for about two hours, he finally reached the end of the lake. A broad river carried the water of Mirror Lake outward. "This map is way too huge. At this rate, how long will it take to reach somewhere with people?" Li Shaolin complained. Then his stomach began growling again. He hurriedly took out the bread he had robbed from the Defias Bandits, but as his hand touched his pocket, two clear clinks sounded from inside his clothes. "Huh? There's something here?" He had stolen this cloth robe from the bandits' house and put it on in a rush, without checking what was inside. When he opened the pocket, two gold coins gleamed within, while a small tag lay at the bottom. "I'm rich. Hehehe." He immediately began grinning foolishly. Even in World of Warcraft, a newly created player probably would not have two gold coins until level twenty. Though this world differed from the game, the value of currency should be roughly similar. It seemed he had broken into some big shot's room. He took out the tag and saw the words written on it: Cunning Mogani. What was this supposed to be, a nickname? He had played World of Warcraft for so long, yet he had never heard of such a person. Just then, a burst of shouting came from ahead.

Li Shaolin quickly put away the two Skeleton Warriors, straightened his clothes, and ran toward the voices. When he got closer, he found a fishing boat docked there. A young man and a middle-aged uncle were packing up their things. Hearing footsteps, the two looked up and saw Li Shaolin. The uncle greeted him, "Young man, where are you headed? Are you with the Defias Brotherhood?" "Huh? People here aren't afraid of the Defias Brotherhood?" Li Shaolin hesitated. Since the uncle had asked, he could only answer, "No, Uncle. I'm going to Goldshire." After thinking it over, Goldshire should not be too far away. The uncle chuckled. "Goldshire is still a long way off. You'll have to cross this forest first, and it's getting late. Why not come downstream with us? Once you reach the main road, you can just find a carriage and get there." Li Shaolin gave a sheepish laugh and agreed.

"Uncle, you two are father and son, right?" Li Shaolin asked.

"Yeah. My son is no good. Mr. Mogani occasionally taught him some Rogue skills, but he couldn't learn them. So he can only be an old fisherman with me," the uncle replied.

Li Shaolin fell silent for a while. It seemed the Defias had a decent reputation. Curious, he asked, "Uncle, what exactly is the Defias Brotherhood? I just got here, so I don't know much."

The uncle sighed. "Sigh, they used to be members of Stormwind City's Stone Masons Union. Because the Stormwind City authorities seriously withheld their wages, they led the laborers in an armed uprising. They've grown quite large now. I don't know the details, but they've occupied many mines and caves. Ordinary civilians like us can't live in town, so we can only work for them. I lease a fish pond here in Mirror Lake for farming. Little brother, you're an outsider, so I shouldn't say too much. We should get moving. Come, get on the boat."

Li Shaolin was stunned. From the sound of it, the Defias Brotherhood should have been robbing people everywhere and making life miserable for the common folk. This uncle had merely submitted to them out of necessity. There was clearly much more to the story.

Under the setting sun, the fishing boat slowly sailed downstream.