Sanctuary: Safe Haven

The massive red whirling portal once again showed itself.

"You need ingredients first; lucky for you, I have slain multitudes of beings that would qualify to teach you. Since you have the passive enhanced learning skill, a proper instructor would do wonders for you."

Canna held the vial in his hands and sat down on the ground. He looked at the contents of the red portal and was awestruck. Mountains of gold, armor, equipment, and gems were scattered all around inside the portal. Minutes passed, and Tonitrum's face suddenly lit up. Canna didn't know if this massive dragon was smiling, but he felt it was, so he interpreted it as such.

Something strange began to happen at the portal; corpses started floating and were placed right in front of Canna. He knew they were dead since their eyes were completely lifeless, some of them burned to a charred state, and some bore grotesque claw marks.

A total of seven corpses landed slowly in front of Canna.

"Among those that I have slain, these pitiful fools are best suited to teach you: two grand mages, one archmage, two empire war strategists, one grand necromancer, and one elf sorcerer; that should be enough to do the trick."

The portal closed, and Tonitrum's attention was now solely on Canna.

"Do I have to do this? Can't you teach me at least the basics, and I'll handle the rest?" Canna tried to plead, but it was brushed aside. Tonitrum only stared at him; its stare was like piercing a hole in his head.

Canna sighed; this conversation wasn't going anywhere, so he decided to see it through. He opened the vial, and its stench assaulted his nose—it smelled of something rotten. He pinched his nose and gulped it all down in one go.

Soon enough, his whole body started to glow; he felt light and as if he could do anything he wanted. Canna had never used drugs on Earth, but he was sure it felt something like this—an addictive, weird feeling. Luckily, a voice pulled him out of his trance before he lost his head.

"Say the spell."

He remembered what he was supposed to do and raised his right hand.

"Create Elder Undead," his voice reverberated in the surroundings.

"Use the corpses in front of me as my offering."

Shadows from every corner of the area began to come alive, the whole place started shaking, and the corpses began to float. Blue essence was being sucked out of Canna and went straight to each of the corpses. The bodies started to rotate slowly, gaining momentum. The bodies began to merge into one, and a sonic boom occurred.

"AHHHHHH." Unfortunately for Canna, he couldn't see his first creation since the potion's effect wore off. His tiny, childlike body wasn't supposed to harbor such vast amounts of energy, so he was suffering greatly from mana backlash.

Canna thrashed around on the ground like a worm sprinkled with salt.

"FCK, FCK, SH*T, MY WHOLE BODY IS BURNING AHHHHH!" The pain he felt was twice as bad as when he used the mid-transcendent scroll. Unfortunately for him, the pain was only beginning.

In the middle of the area where the corpses had been, a two-meter-tall, dark, shadowy humanoid creature looked around with interest. It then heard the blood-chilling, pain-stricken screams of a small child and approached Canna.

Just one glance told it that the child was suffering from mana backlash. It could also tell that the child would die soon if left untreated. The figure looked back and saw the dragon up ahead. The dragon nodded, and the figure quickly went to work.

Its bony hands rattled, and an aura of death spread around it. With a raspy voice, it incanted a spell to heal its master.

"Great Heal," "Light of the Undead," "Pain Synergy."

Tonitrum was impressed with Canna's first summon, but that only lasted a few seconds; he recognized the last spell the tall shadowy figure used.

Pain Synergy is a spell that transfers someone's pain to the user; it's a skill for tanks to diminish the pain their group suffers.

He looked at the shadowy figure one last time before closing his eyes; he had already seen enough and would let time pass to see what happened next.

Unknown time passed when Canna's body stirred awake. He was panting madly, but overall, he was much better than before. He even felt a bit refreshed. He helped himself up with the outstretched bony hand in front of him. Wait, a bony hand? In front of him?

Canna looked up and saw a figure that would put demons to shame. Surprisingly, he wasn't scared of it at all. He even felt safe with this figure before him.

"Master, this humble servant asks for a name," it said, its voice hoarse as if it was having difficulty speaking.

Canna looked around. He saw that Tonitrum was asleep; the only ones there were him and this figure. His mind quickly concluded that the figure before him was the result of the Create Elder Undead spell. He carefully examined the figure again.

It was two meters tall with crimson horns, long pointy ears, and three empty eye holes. It wore a worn-out robe, with ghastly bones exposed in some parts of its body.

The robe almost covered the whole figure's body, leaving little to describe besides its face and exposed parts like its hands and feet. Canna could also feel a bit of a malicious aura from the figure; it emanated a presence that screamed 'mess around and find out.'

Canna rattled his brain, and after a few minutes, he came up with a proper name for this tall, dark, and ghastly figure.

"Your name will be Mortem; back in my world, it's the Latin word for death." After naming the figure, he sensed a strong connection with it. He hastily checked its stats.

[Name: Mortem]

Level: 1

Race: Undead

Rank: Low Calamity

Class: Corrupted Wiseman

HP: 428/800

MP: 450/800

Strength: 20

Speed: 10

Defense: 10

Intelligence: 700

Agility: 25

Stamina: N/A

Vitality: N/A

Attribute Points: 0

Title: Canna's Firstborn

Title Effect: An additional 50% experience gained when fighting on the same field as Canna.

Title: One-of-a-kind

Title Effect: A first of its kind, a progenitor of its race. 100% increase in experience, 50% health and mana regeneration, 80% chance to inflict fear on an enemy of lower rank.

Skills:

Summon Undead 1st: Allows the user to summon zombie-type creatures.

Telepathy: Allows one to communicate with a targeted person mentally.

Flight: Grants the caster the ability to fly with sufficient mana.

Slow: A spell that slows down an enemy's movement

Summon Undead 2nd: Allows the user to summon skeletal-type undead like Skeleton Warriors under their control.

Corpse Explosion: Fills a corpse with energy, causing it to explode violently.

Army of the Undead: Raises a massive undead army to march for you, eradicating everything in your path.

Summon Stone Golem: Raises a Stone Golem to do your bidding.

Bone Armor: Rips bones from nearby enemies to create armor that reduces damage taken by 3%.

Bone Spear: Launches a Bone Spear; damage depends on how much mana is poured.

Lich Aura: Automatically drains a target's HP and MP by standing near an enemy.