You were right, its a pentagonal pyramid. Each side on the ground is half a mile long, and I couldnt tell how high the tip is, but its higher than 2 miles. Do you know what this is? Ria asked, as Sylver felt around the ground with his mana, and started walking alongside the invisible barrier.
Its a witch coven. Were you able to see what was inside? Any people? Sylver asked as Ria made a faint clicking noise before responding.
I managed to stitch so of the moving image fragnts together, I think I saw people, but they were all blurry. I counted 10 buildings, I think, its very hard to tell, Ria explained, as Sylver continued walking alongside the invisible barrier, held together by the pebbles embedded into the ground.
That would be due to spatial magic. The word witch has two anings, the first is a female wizard, just a person who uses a wand. This is the second type, the one that is a sorcerer, they make deals with demons, fae, or so sort of spirit, and in exchange get to use very fancy magic us re mages are incapable of, Sylver tapped out, as he ever so gently reached out with his hand towards the barrier but was careful not to actually touch it.
So now what? Ria asked with a significantly more relaxed tone of voice.
She thankfully understood that if Sylver wasnt panicking, then there was no reason to panic. And Sylver wasnt panicking, because his gut had decided there was no real reason to panic.
Im going to try talking to them, and well go from there, Sylver answered, and continued silently walking alongside the line of pebbles in the ground.
He walked until he found a spot where the mana felt extra dense, and since Ria couldnt clearly see inside, he could do little but hope that he was standing at the entrance.
Hello! I am Sylver Sezari! I am a [Necromancer]! I would like to apologize if I was hunting near a hallowed ground or sothing along those lines! I am not from around here! Sylver shouted at the completely lifeless forest in front of him.
He could feel the barrier, but as with most witch magic, it was ssing with every sense that he possessed, so he couldnt even say for certain he wasnt shouting at the back of a storehouse.
I an you no harm! I just want to talk! Sylver shouted and waited for a minute to see if soone would respond.
I possess several extrely rare herbs and spell components from a very distant land, and I am more than willing to trade! Sylver shouted.
He knew they were in there; he knew he wasnt a lunatic that was shouting at nothing in the middle of the night, and yet thats what it felt like he was doing.
Sylvers experience with witches wasnt great.
After he got it into his head that he had so sort of bloodline magic that was based on witchcraft, he went out of his way to reach out to several ancient and powerful covens.
Although 11 out of 14 of them tried to kill him, and 8 succeeded at least once, the 3 that were interested in talking to him taught him quite a lot.
Admittedly they taught him the sa thing the ones that killed him taught him, and that was to keep his distance from those that used magic they didnt understand. Witches werent stupid, that would have been one thing, they were extrely clever and crafty, and after a couple of purges, the ones that survived were very dangerous.
But they didnt know what they were doing, they put their trust into whatever creature offered them magic, and worked their way up from there. Sotis it ended in a plague, sotis in several towns disappearing without a clue, sotis they had an orgy and infected one another with poisonous fluids, and sotis they lived happily ever after.
A coven big enough to erect such a barrier was at the very least 20 generations old, very likely more. As with most magic users, witches benefited from a form of immortality.
In the majority of cases that Sylver had studied, their ancestors remained as spirits, to aid and guide their daughters, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, up until the coven was discovered and their sacred burial grounds were destroyed.
They werent quite liches in that regard, but Sylver would be lying if his final lich ritual didnt have elents of witchcraft.
Im going to leave now! And Ill steer clear from this area from now on! If I accidentally stumble into your territory again, talk to , let know! Sylver shouted and tried to figure out if his next words were a smart thing to say to a group of witches when he had no idea what kind of witches they were.
If they were the unreasonable type, they would likely co after him for knowing where they live. If they were the reasonable type, they would understand that Sylver was simply saying this in the event they werent reasonable.
If you leave alone, I will leave you alone! If you dont, I will tell everyone who will listen where you are, and I will personally provide them with enough lead-lined shields and swords to kill you 10 tis over! Sylver shouted, and even though his face remained relaxed and neutral, he prepared himself for an onslaught of hexes and curses.
He stayed completely still for another minute, as he waited for soone to co out to talk to him, attack him, or possibly ask him who he thinks he is.
When nothing happened, he turned his back towards the barrier and started to walk away.
Thats it? Youre just going to threaten them and leave? Ria asked, and Sylver was mildly amused by the fact that she couldnt seem to decide if she was surprised, frightened, confused, or worried.
I didnt threaten them, I simply inford them of my intentions Alright, I did threaten them, but when dealing with a group of an unknown level of strength, youre better off puffing out your chest and making yourself bigger than you actually are, Sylver explained, as he continued walking, but his [Lesser Perception] was laser-focused on the barrier, and coven, behind him.
What if they perceive you to be a big enough threat that they have no choice but to attack you? Ria asked as Sylver pulled the shade archers he had scattered around the treetops back into his shadow.
Then they will attack . Its a gamble Ria, most things are. But if you co up to them and ekly ask please dont hurt , best case scenario they take pity on you, and leave you alone, Sylver said.
Alright.
You have to think of it like this Most people, and by extension groups, do things that help them and avoid things that harm them. If theres more harm fighting than help, then they wont fight . If they think Im weak, theres no harm in fighting , they might decide Im worth the experience, or the blood, or what have you, Sylver explained, as Ria took note.
So you have to make yourself look big enough that theres more harm fighting you, than whatever help your death, or imprisonnt, might provide them. But what was the point of apologizing? I dont believe that made you appear strong in their eyes, Ria asked.
In my personal experience, its mostly the weak people pretending to be strong that are rude. Aside from the insane ones, most high-level mages, cultivators, witches, and what have you, are very polite and reasonable Or theyre idiots, but idiots very very rarely live long enough to be considered strong, Sylver said, as he was now far enough away from the barrier that he felt comfortable using [Fog Form].
But that Head Of Comrce person from the Green Rabbit sect was rude to you? He was strong, so how does that work? Ria asked, and Sylver was once again reminded she wasnt native to this realm.
These people live in a literal protective bubble Do you rember when we spoke about governnts having a monopoly on violence? And how, because of magic, Ki, and various other thods of attaining strength, its impossible for any one person, or organization, to have a monopoly on violence in Eira? Sylver asked as Ria made a clicking noise for a second or two.
Yes. Youve ntioned it a couple of tis, Ria answered.
This is going to sound a little odd, but because of the strength disparity between different people, everyone can be considered their own organization. So Im not just so guy telling them to leave alone, I am a potentially equally powerful organization, telling them to leave alone
Countries, think of countries, interacting with one another. They have to be polite beyond asure because any kind of war is unthinkably detrintal to them, Sylver explained and could feel that he only further confused Ria.
But youre rude to people all the ti? Ria asked, and Spring prepared himself to back her up, in the event Sylver tried to deny it.
Im not I dont Im not perfect Ria. There have been plenty of tis where I should have shut my mouth and acted ek and submissive, but you have to keep a couple of things in mind. The first is that I am too old to deal with most peoples nonsense. The second is that I am admittedly not always as calm and reasonable as I advise other people to be, Sylver said.
Do as I say, not as I do, Ria quoted.
Exactly! But most importantly, even if Im weak Im still strong enough to put the vast majority of people that I et into the ground. Im only rude when people are wasting my ti, arent being respectful, or they were rude to first, Sylver explained.
So, in conclusion, be polite and respectful, until the other person isnt polite or respectful? Ria summarized.
Yes. You can always be rude later, but its difficult to be polite after youve told them to go fuck themselves Look, I know what Im doing. They attacked first, if anything I should have been ruder towards them, Sylver said, as the two shade wolves carrying the soul armored corpses appeared out of the surrounding trees and ran behind Sylver.
Sylver started with the rat and decided its skull would be big enough for the spell frawork.
Are you certain they wont co after you? You gave them your na, Ria asked, as Sylver carefully decapitated the rat, and used [Dead Dominion] to separate the skull from the brain and fleshy parts.
Its a gamble. But more importantly, and if you learn only one thing from , it should be this. Dont take shit from anyone. Admittedly, sotis youll have to take shit from people to get what you want, but once youre strong enough, it becos a choice, and not a requirent, Sylver explained, as the small skull in his hand started to smoke from the frawork being burned into it.
***
Sylver felt a sharp pain in his armpit, as he finished working on the snakes skull. He had initially tried carving the frawork onto its skin, but Sylver fucked it up, and had to try his luck with the skull.
By the ti he was done, he had a rats skull, a snakes skull, a bats skull, a dogs tooth, and a bears claw. Sylver was almost excited to have so many pre-stretched souls to experint on but carrying 3 skulls around sowhat dulled his excitent.
There was a reason Sylver didnt use a spine as a belt, didnt have skull shoulder pads, avoided anything that looked bone-like, aside from the one ring, and went out of his way to keep his minions as alive and presentable as possible.
One of Sylvers zombie guards had been so lifelike, that Sylver had several n approach him asking to marry her. Admittedly, Sylver couldnt bla them, he wasnt fond of zombies, but that didnt an he wasnt going to do everything he could to make the best zombie imaginable when he needed one.
Nyx never cared that much, the only good thing about Humpty and Dumpty was their absurd strength and the fact that they didnt sll.
Sylvers small group of guards on the other hand always wore the most fashionable clothes Sylvers shades could procure, had all of their teeth, were indistinguishable from the living at first glance, and Sylver went out of his way to hide the stitches and spell frawork.
Because for every single proper necromancer, the kind Sylver respected, and enjoyed spending ti with, there were over 100 crazed corpse fuckers, humping the dead back to unlife, and walking around slling of shit and decay.
Vampires had a similar issue. People very rarely rembered the polite pale doctor who visited the town and provided them with a cure for a disease. They instead tended to write century-spanning stories about the feral gore-loving neck sucker that killed 2 sheep and tried to rape a farrs daughter, before the aforentioned farr killed him with a rusty pitchfork.
So carrying around 3 skulls, along with a tooth and a claw, didnt sit right with Sylver. The claw was almost alright, but the tooth was as bad as the skulls.
No one would see them, they would be well hidden within his body, but Sylver knew they were there.
[??? (???) Defeated!][Due to defeating an enemy 10 levels above you, additional experience will be awarded!]
[Swamp Lord] has reached level 50! 5AP
[1 perk available for [Swamp Lord]]
Theyre so weak! Spring complained, or rather, continued complaining, since he hadnt really stopped.
After Sylver had scouted out the river and found nothing of significance, he drew a ntal circle around the witch coven, and then expanded it by several kiloters, just in case. The spot he ended up hunting at had significantly fewer, and weaker, monsters than those near the witch coven.
Still better than dealing with witches, Sylver repeated, as he looked through his choice of perks.
Just as Spring was about to begin complaining again, they both turned their heads towards the incoming shade.
Sylvers hearts stopped beating as he waited to see which one it was, the one that ant soone had finally asked for him, or the one that ant that Faust was in deep shit and needed Sylvers urgent help.
Thankfully, it was the one that ant that the Bucklers have likely decided he could be trusted, and Sylver was only a few short steps away from finding the shield ancestor girl.
With a small mountain of floating boxes, overfilled with body parts, Sylver crawled out of his thorn-covered hiding hole, and with a bright smile on his face, made his way ho.
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