Chapter 329: Escort

A new ability?

It was as if Darion had expected it.

He let out a slow breath, the blue light of the system screen reflecting in his eyes. He couldn’t help but think back to his life on Earth, back when he was just an ordinary guy reading web novels to pass the time. In those stories, the protagonist would always get an incredibly overpowered, flashy skill right at the start. They’d get the ability to summon a meteor storm, or copy any skill they saw, or instantly become a Sword Saint.

But Darion? His experience had been... different.

He had been a rather boring Necromancer ability-wise. For the longest time, all he had was Death Perception and Distant Command. He had to grind for every single scrap of power. There were no cheat codes, no sudden massive power boosts. He had to unearth graves, endure the smell, and build his army corpse by corpse. Every battle, every skill, had been earned through blood, sweat, and pure stubbornness.

And now... another ability.

He tried to guess what it would be before reading it. Would it be a massive destructive spell? A way to turn his skin into iron? A passive aura that instantly killed enemies? He waited, but nothing specific came to mind.

So, he read it.

[Escort.]

Darion blinked. "Escort?"

He stared at the notification, deadpan. His mind immediately went to the wrong places. ’Escort? Like... a bodyguard? A carriage driver? Is the system telling me to become a glorified taxi service?’

To be honest, he was expecting something a lot cooler. Something with more edge to it. He stared at the final notification, baffled. Then, he opened the ability description.

[Escort: Allows the user to designate a specific location for an undead unit to travel to. The undead unit will operate autonomously, avoiding threats, and will report back visually through the user’s Borrowed Sight upon arrival.]

Darion’s eyes widened.

He read it twice. Then a third time. A slow, dangerous smile spread across his face.

Well... to be honest, it wasn’t flamboyant or anything too flashy. That was the thing about his abilities. They were never loud or dramatic. But they were incredibly useful.

He didn’t need to leave Vrethka. He didn’t need to send Seren back to Percvale to get Garren. He didn’t need to abandon his newly conquered territory to go hunting for the Kulidii.

He could send an undead creature. An autonomous scout that could travel to the eastern mountains, locate the Kulidii, and show him exactly what was there without him ever stepping foot outside this keep.

What made the ability even cooler to him was that he could use his Borrowed Sight in tandem with it. He could see what was happening far away, visually, without even stepping his foot out of the room! It was like having a high-tech drone, but powered by death magic.

Cool ability for real.

And he was at Master rank now. He was no longer an Adept. He had climbed the ranks. He decided to summon the overall Necromancer rank names in his mind, just to remind himself of how far he had come.

[NECROMANCER RANK HIERARCHY]

1. Novice — Beginner. Can bind basic undead. Low authority. No specialization. Undead retain fragmented instinct from their past life, but cannot think independently.

2. Acolyte — Authority increases significantly. Can create improved undead (Blackguard tier). Unlocks minor battlefield aura.

3. Adept — Undead begin retaining partial combat memory. Can issue complex tactical commands. Authority increases again.

4. Master — Can create elite undead commanders. Undead can operate semi-independently. Territorial death resonance becomes amplified.

5. High Necromancer — Can bind elite fallen (former captains, heroes). Can maintain undead army outside domain. Unlocks large-scale battlefield resurrection.

6. Dread Sovereign — Authority becomes oppressive. Living enemies feel fear aura. Can temporarily convert fresh battlefield casualties.

7. Death Lord — Controls thousands. Can shape battlefield terrain with necrotic energy. Undead evolve faster. Empire-level threat.

8. Grave King — Creates undead generals capable of commanding legions. Can establish permanent death domains. Near-myth level.

9. Eternal Monarch — No natural limit to authority within controlled territory. Can raise entire battlefields at once.

Darion remembered reading this like it was just yesterday. When he had just gotten his Necromancer class and was tasked with leading Percvale, a dying barony that was supposed to kill him. He remembered sitting in that dusty room, looking at the lowest ranks, like a little boy hoping to climb to the top.

Now, he was at number four. Master. He had elite undead commanders, his undead could operate semi-independently, and his territorial death resonance was amplified. He was halfway to the top.

Darion stared at the word, letting the weight of it settle in his mind.

Master.

As a Novice, his undead were nothing more than mindless puppets. They retained fragmented instincts, but they couldn’t think. He had to micromanage every single step they took, every swing of their swords. He was a puppeteer pulling strings, and if he lost focus, his army fell apart.

Then came Acolyte, and finally Adept. He could issue complex tactical commands and his undead began retaining partial combat memory. It made fighting easier, but he still had to be the brain for the entire hive.

But Master? Master was a different beast entirely.

The system specified that he could now create elite undead commanders, and that his undead could operate semi-independently. He wasn’t just raising bodies anymore; he was building a hierarchy. He could give Ghet Ulg and Edric Vorne a command, and they could actually execute it without him holding their hands, not just execute them, they could even improvise and do it so well.

It meant he could finally step back from micromanaging every single battlefield detail. He was no longer just a Necromancer raising corpses. He was a true general commanding an army that could think for itself.

He smiled. ’How many more till Eternal Monarch?’

Well... he would have to find out himself. But also... he needed to make sure he didn’t die before then.

Now, he thought back to his new ability. Escort. The thing was, the system always gave him these abilities at the exact right time. Like... when he had no hope, or when he was trapped, boom! The system would drop an ability that fit into the situation perfectly. It was almost like it was watching him.

But then... before getting too excited about his new rank and his new skill... he had to think practically.

He looked at the map, then at the skill description.

’How do I actually use this to get Garren and secure the territory?’