The Chapel of Thaleena used to be isolated from the rest of the world.
Well, what remained of it still was isolated from the rest of the world, and with that said, Clayton, and whoever followed him, were at least seven days away from the closest village, not to mention city.
There was very little to do in a village, he was aware of that, he just wanted to be close to civilization, even if ended up in a small village of one-hundred people.
For one thing, he missed being around people other than bald men and women that he commonly saw within the sanctuary of the chapel. He wanted to feel normal again, even if for a second, as he craved to have a taste of what his life was like before his family got slaughtered off. Granted, he did live in a city, the fact was that being close to a village would still grant him some inner-peace, at least for a moment.
Counter-productively, he wouldn't feel normal for long, as he had fifty undead slaves following him. The villagers would either flee, or attack him directly, and he wasn't yet set on what he was supposed to do about the matter.
'I could sneak in there myself, and feel out for… recruits?' He plotted, 'I have plenty of points to spare, if I'm not mistaken.'
Within the depth of the night, as they traveled across the green part of the rocky mountainside, the system made sure to communicate with him when he talked about points.
[You're very irresponsible with your points.]
[You lost 300 Life Essence Points getting yourself beheaded by that monstrosity of an unliving, living, but unliving Princess. Now you're down to 4,650 Life Essence Points.]
'I have plenty to spare,' He doubled down, 'I wish you could make slaves cheaper for me, but no matter, we're past that already.'
Clayton could tell that the system was getting irritated, he could tell it by her voice, but he didn't quite understand why. In his perspective, they were just talking, so she had no real grounds to get angry, but nevertheless, she was fuming in his head.
[Maybe you should pay more attention?]
[Well, I've taken a peek at your brain, and I know that you're not the best at paying attention, but now that you'll be doing nothing other than walking around for a week like homeless painters, how about you open the book I provided you with, and look at the other purchase options?]
[I'm good at cloning the undead, great, even, but that's not all I offer.]
'Either you don't have eyes, or you forgot that I can't read in the dark, in which case, I just might be smarter than you.' He bickered, 'Just tell me what else you offer.'
[Fine…]
[You complained about the fact that either your undead slaves, or clones, don't 'live' long enough, right? There is a special branch of upgrades, revolving your slaves in general, that should come in very handy. They're expensive, but good thing you racked up a bunch of Soul Points, right?]
[Moving on, I offer an array of Secondary Upgrades, small changes that should make your life easier.]
[Last but not least, I also offer purchase options that have nothing to do with cloning all together. They have nothing to do with Fleshmancy either, as purchases of that nature are locked away from you on account that you're already a Fleshmancer, but let's assume you'd like to shoot a fireball, for example. You can't do that by yourself, but if you paid 20,000 Soul Points, I'd be able to give you the ability, along with a fun little branch of upgrades where you can continue improving the temperature, and overall intensity of that particular fireball.]
Clayton couldn't get a word in sideways while the system spammed all of this new information in his head. He was stunned, for one thing, and the latter matter she talked about got him greatly confused, so when he finally did get the chance to speak, he didn't have a lot to say.
'By the Gods…' He held his head, frustrated, 'That's quite expensive, system, why would I pay that much for a fireball?'
[You don't have to, but you never know when you'll need it.]
'I won't need it,' He insisted, rather stubbornly, 'I'll make sure I never need it, just so I won't pay 20,000 Soul Points for a damn fireball. That's insane!'
[You fail to recognize the value of the upgrades I offer. I've been around long enough to know that no one, not even the greatest Mages, or Heroes could do anything to adapt a new branch of magic, other than the one they were born with. My purchase options are expensive, yes, but they're designed to power an already overpowered Mage. If you can't kill a few thousand people to carve an advantage for yourself, that's your problem.]
'You're throwing a lot at me, system,' He sighed, 'Cloning was confusing enough already. I barely understand what the word itself means… perhaps I do need to read that book of yours as soon as I get the chance?'
[You can read it ten times over, but I don't think you'll get far, not with your current cognitive abilities, at least.]
'Excuse me?' He pulled his head back as if a pigeon shat on his forehead, 'Are you calling me… unwise?'
[No, just frozen in time, I suppose. The only difference between you, the people around you, and the cavemen of ancient times, is that unlike the cavemen, you learned how to build houses. That's where the differences end.]
The system wasn't educated enough to talk about cavemen, so her statement was hypocritical, but that barely mattered right now.
He asked, 'What in the Heavens is a caveman? People don't live in caves.'
[Not anymore.]
[Doesn't matter. How about you take a peek at the array of Secondary Options I offer, and see if there's anything you'd like to buy. Don't worry about reading it in the dark, I can make sure you see what's written on it.]
'Alright then,' He sighed, yielding to the brisk, off-hand argument he had with the system in his head. 'Show me your Devil's Book, woman.'