Awakening

[Reshaping body...]

[Reshaping complete...]

In a dim tomb, a sizable number of corpses lay piled atop one another.

The corpses had all been worked on. Limbs severed at the time of death had been reattached and stitched back into place. Unidentifiable pus flowed across the ground, and the air was thick with a foul, rotting stench.

Anyone who had studied Necromancy would have realized that Walking Corpses were being created here.

Amid all these rotting corpses, one intact body seemed especially out of place. Anyone who came close enough to inspect it would have seen its chest rise and fall with each breath.

Suddenly, the body twitched. Then it slowly sat up, bracing a hand against its forehead as a look of intense pain crossed its face.

"Where... am I...?"

As his thoughts gradually cleared, memories flooded into his mind.

Family, friends, a carefree life, and... savage Skeleton Soldiers, Walking Corpses in motion, wailing villagers, and a spellcaster shrouded in a black robe...

"My name is Rhode. I'm the eldest son of a hunter in Saou Village, and I have a younger sister. I used to live a carefree life in the village, but then it was attacked by a Necromancer. The entire village was destroyed, and everyone was killed. Before I died, my final memory seems to be of that Necromancer grabbing my sister and saying something about her being a natural-born hero... She must have survived, right...?"

"No... That's not right... My name is Rhode. I'm a professional gamer from the twenty-second century on Earth, and I'm currently working my way through the most popular virtual reality game of the moment, the third-world MMORPG Heroes of Might and Magic III."

"Am I... still in the game? And what's with these memories?"

As if to test his theory, Rhode reached out and touched the ground he was sitting on, then quickly pulled his hand away. He stared at his palm with an exasperated expression. It was smeared with some kind of pus.

Rhode stood up and looked around.

The shadowy tomb, the corpses laid out around him, the low growls coming from deeper within... These were all things rarely seen in the real world, and they left Rhode in no doubt.

"I really am still in the game... Now, the status screen."

As the thought crossed his mind, a transparent panel appeared before him.

[Name: Rhode

Hero Specialty: Unawakened

Class: Level 1 Militiaman, Tier 1 (0/10)

Attributes: Strength 7, Speed 6, Constitution 8, Knowledge 2, Spirit 2

Health: 40/40

Mana: 0/0

Experience: 0

Skills: None

Special Skills: None

Spells: None]

Staring at his status screen, Rhode fell into thought.

An adult man's base attributes of Strength, Speed, and Constitution should all be 10. According to his predecessor's memories, this body was still in its adolescent years, and its attributes had yet to reach the average. The fact that Knowledge and Spirit were both only 2 meant that his predecessor had no talent for becoming a mage. Overall, his starting attributes were on the low side, but he was still young, so his potential for growth was excellent.

"According to my predecessor's memories, his village was destroyed by a powerful Necromancer. But from what I saw in those memories, the so-called undead army was made up of only two low-tier undead units: Walking Corpses and Skeleton Soldiers. The Necromancer only used the lowest-level spells, Magic Arrow and Great Slowing Spell."

"The Necromancer took advantage of the cover of night to launch a surprise attack. On top of that, the ignorant villagers were afraid of the undead, which was why he managed to take the village. If he'd attacked it head-on in broad daylight, the outcome would've been far less certain."

"That Necromancer was really just a Necromancer Apprentice..."

Having figured out who had attacked the village, Rhode's thoughts suddenly grew much clearer.

"A Necromancer Apprentice would only have a few reasons to attack a village, and they all come down to wealth. Whether it's the money in the village or the value of turning the villagers into an undead army after killing them, both are useful to a Necromancer Apprentice."

"Everyone in the village was killed... Wait, according to my predecessor's memories, his sister survived. A natural-born hero... A hero?"

Rhode's pupils contracted as if he had thought of something.

Heroes were the key to the world of Heroes of Might and Magic. Even an ordinary person could awaken and become a hero when faced with a desperate situation and struck by a powerful surge of will.

But not everyone could become a hero. Most people, when faced with desperation, would be at a loss and could only wait for death to come. Anyone who became a hero had to possess a quality that ordinary people lacked, whether it was fearlessness or unwavering resolve.

Compared to ordinary creatures of the same tier, heroes gained massive bonuses to their attributes and growth potential, as well as a specialty unique to them.

"A natural-born hero?... It's a shame she was born in such a remote little village. If she'd been born in the Kingdom of Erathia, she might have achieved great things..."

Suddenly, Rhode's mind went hazy, and a blood-red panel appeared before his eyes.

[Soul Quest: Blood Ties]

[Quest Description: Ever since the village where you lived was destroyed, your younger sister, your only living blood relative, has been missing. Not even death can take away your longing for your only kin. You have sworn to find your sister.]

[Quest Objective: Safely find your younger sister Rowan within twelve months.]

[Failure Conditions: Exceed the time limit or lose the target hero.]

[Failure Penalty: Soul fragmentation; dominant personality erased.]

"Well, I guess there's a price for coming to this world and inheriting this body. But according to the system's usual rule that difficulty and rewards are equivalent, there's no mention of the reward for completing the quest. Still, it should be Rowan's allegiance as a hero, along with the elimination of the risk involved in inheriting this body."

"If the Necromancer Apprentice who attacked the village discovered that Rowan was a natural-born hero, then as long as he wasn't an idiot, he wouldn't simply turn her into an undead creature, even if he could get a Lich out of it."

"He'll either offer Rowan to a great lord in exchange for a reward, or send her to a large auction house for a huge payout."

Rhode considered things briefly. He still had twelve months, and he had confirmed that Rowan wouldn't be in immediate danger, so he set the Soul Quest aside and focused on figuring out his current situation.

After killing everyone in the village, the Necromancer Apprentice would have a series of follow-up tasks to handle, from the simple matter of looting the village to processing the corpses and turning them into undead creatures.

Necromancers had always sought ways to process corpses to create higher-quality undead creatures. The simplest method was to stitch up a corpse's wounds to reduce the damage to a Walking Corpse. After that, they could use various materials to strengthen the corpse. But no matter how much they improved it, they couldn't turn an ordinary person's corpse into a Lich or a Death Knight. Truly powerful undead creatures had been powerful even in life.

Judging from what Rhode could see, the Necromancer had done a decent job in that regard. The signs of processing on the surrounding corpses were obvious.

Since a Necromancer Apprentice couldn't easily turn corpses into undead creatures on their own, they had to take the prepared corpses to a place rich in Death Energy, where they could transform naturally into undead creatures before being brought under control. Natural transformation could take anywhere from a few days to several weeks, depending on the concentration of Death Energy.

"These corpses around me are already showing obvious signs of reanimation. All they need is for the Necromancer Apprentice to come back and ignite their Soul Fire, and they'll become Walking Corpses. That means whether I want to escape before the Necromancer returns or explore the tomb, I don't have much time." After observing the corpses around him, Rhode reached this conclusion.