Vindication's Path: A LitRPG Adventure (Lich Lord Book 2), page 1
VINDICATION'S PATH
©2024 LEVI WERNER
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ALSO IN SERIES
Redemption’s Cost
Vindication’s Path
Check out the entire series here! (Tap or Scan)
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Thank you for reading Vindication’s Path
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LitRPG
1
Marissa stirred, opening her eyes. Bright light poured through one of the windows within the room she’d been given in Ezekiel’s castle. She did not know how long she had been meditating but guessed it hadn’t been long. She wasn’t very skilled at meditation. It wasn’t something that came easily to her. Her mind was always busy, and she’d had a lot to pour over in her thoughts.
Still, Marissa tried. By the direction of the light, at least a few hours had passed since Raven led her here. The room was furnished with simple but high-quality furniture, and a soft, dark blue rug with swirling black patterns covered the floor.
Standing, Marissa stretched, though she had little need to. The golden ring she wore with an ebony sphere nestled on the top of the band caught her attention. While she hadn’t intentionally become a Lich, this ring had been the one item she acquired as a safety net, just in case. She had stashed it away with her phylactery. When she died on Earth unexpectedly and found herself in a de-leveled body of a Lich, the ring had no doubt preserved her life.
It was a powerful magical item that a friend of hers had created. The ring enabled an immensely powerful illusion, far more powerful than anything Ezekiel had access to those first few years. She appeared human when wearing it, her body given mass, and she could even feel sensations fed into her mind by the ring. It wasn’t the same as being able to feel, an ability she had yet to regain, but it allowed her to react to stimulus that affected her illusionary body.
Marissa moved to a mirror and hesitantly slid the ring off. Her dark brown skin faded and a few moments later her cloak shifted as the mass underneath vanished. She held in a shudder at the image that stared back at her. Where her arms were exposed was now thick black bones, and underneath her clothes was nothing but bones and a few spidery strands of pitch-black sinew. Her head was a black skull, with a few strands of black sinew stretching across the top.
From what Marissa understood from seeing Ezekiel and hearing how he described himself in the past, that sinew would eventually form muscles and even skin, making her appear human once again. That would take time in levels though. The orbs of light in her eye sockets were a different color than Ezekiel’s. For the most part, his eyes were purple with streaks of gray, and eldritch energy could be seen coursing through them. Her eyes burned a frosty blue, and the same eldritch magic could be seen streaking through them occasionally.
Marissa stared at her visage, repeating a mantra in her mind over and over again. The same mantra she’d been chanting since being reborn in this world. “I am not a monster, might look like one, but I am not one.” She hoped one day she could believe that as fundamentally as Ezekiel seemed to.
She slipped the ring back on and the illusion rebuilt around her. Her arms became clothed in flesh and her robe filled out as her body regained its fleshy bits.
Leaving her room, Marissa retraced her steps back to the courtyard where she had first met Raven. The lullabies that Ezekiel had shown her had closed their flowers in the bright sun. The courtyard was cast in a very different setting now that the sun shone down on it.
She was surprised to see a bush with green leaves. As she approached the plant, having expected plants from a death biome to all be black and evil-looking, she spotted a lynx curled up in a beam of sunshine on a patch of black-leafed clover. The lynx had a black stripe running down the length of its back.
Marissa thought she’d been moving quietly but when the lynx’s head lifted and its bright purple eyes fixed on her, she realized she might not have been as quiet as she thought. The lynx yawned and stretched, pawing at the ground. Its body morphed in an instant, and Raven was standing before her.
Raven smiled. “I didn’t think you would last very long. Meditation is a hard skill that takes a lot of practice.”
“You’ve been waiting for me?”
“Of course.” Raven nodded at the green bush. “This place is full of very dangerous things, and Zeke would not be thrilled if you got yourself killed. By, say, something as innocent-looking as a bush.”
Marissa eyed the bush. “I was just surprised it was green.”
“Zeke says it has something to do with the sunlight.” Raven flicked her hand in annoyance. “Evidently green allows the plant to use the sun, or something like that. He said there’s no reason that death-based plants can’t use sunlight, they just need the right stuff.”
Marissa nodded, understanding the point. “What makes the plant so deadly?”
“It’s not dangerous for me.” Raven gave her an appraising look. “You are just too weak. When the leaves are disturbed, it releases an intoxicating cloud of dust that has just enough life magic to enthrall. Then the colony of death wasps that have formed a symbiotic bond with the bush swarm and kill whatever has been caught. Then both the bush and the wasps feed on the magic and flesh of their victim.”
“That’s quite gruesome.” Marissa stepped away from the plant.
“Oh, it is. But that’s a death biome for you, not nearly as forgiving as others. Zeke has put enchantments around it to contain the wasps, but if you get too close it won’t be able to protect you.”
Marissa shook her head. “If these are the plants, I shudder to think what the creatures are like.”
“We have a few of those around.” Raven smiled. “They are quite fun. Don’t get me wrong, there are some horrific ones, but the only ones Zeke brings back for me are the fun ones. You want to see them?”
Marissa glanced the direction Ezekiel had disappeared.
“He’s going to be busy for quite a while,” Raven said. “I think it’s okay if you go see what he’s doing, but you can’t interrupt.”
Marissa nodded. She sh
Raven’s smile widened, showing off her sharp canines. “You’ll love them.”
The grounds of the castle were quite extensive. Raven spent the day showing Marissa around. What Raven considered pets were a series of creatures Ezekiel and her had collected in their travels. Some were strange, some were even cute, but all of them were dangerous.
Raven led Marissa to where Ezekiel was working with Vito on a large spell diagram carved into a perfectly black, smooth stone surface. Two other people were assisting them as they worked.
Ezekiel looked up when Marissa and Raven entered the area. It was an outdoor space situated on the edge of a cliff. In the distance below, Marissa could see dark forests spreading out in a narrow valley.
“Marissa, Raven,” Ezekiel smiled. “I was wondering if you two would show up.”
“Raven’s been showing me around the castle,” Marissa said.
“I figured you should be getting close to done at this point,” Raven said.
Ezekiel returned his focus to the diagram. It was twenty meters in diameter, and the intricate lines carved into the stone had been carved so precisely, Marissa wondered how it hadn’t been done by machine.
“I’m almost done with my part.” Ezekiel glanced over at Vito. “Do you mind finishing up?”
Vito stretched his back—there was an audible crack as his spine popped. “Yeah, no problem. You did what I needed you for already. I can work with the others to finish the carving and the minute details.”
“I appreciate it.” Ezekiel nodded at Vito in thanks and walked toward the two ladies with a smile. “How was meditating?”
“Difficult,” Marissa admitted. “Got a lot on my mind.”
Raven, seeing her job was done, headed off in a different direction shifting back into her cat form.
“Would you prefer I continue where I left off?” Ezekiel asked, walking at a leisurely pace, no particular direction in mind.
“That would be perfect,” Marissa said, falling into stride beside him. She pulled out her magical pen and paper, ready to take notes.
2
It was pitch-black in the narrow valley. The moon was covered by thick clouds and the sheer cliffs of the valley isolated us. A pool spread out before me, the inky black water reflecting the glow of my purple eyes. I was making no effort to hide myself, relying on the hidden valley to keep me from my pursuers.
“What are we doing?” Maxwell asked, staring at the still water.
“Damien suggested I integrate my phylactery,” I explained. “I wasn’t strong enough to do it when I first crossed through Valdor, but now I am.”
“Would integrating that make it part of you?” Maxwell asked. “If this body dies, you truly died?”
“That is the risk.” I pulled my phylactery out from my bag. Examining the black jar, I brought up its description.
Ezekiel the Lich’s Phylactery
Current status: Charged. It will take time for the phylactery to rebuild the energy it takes to resurrect the Lich. If the Lich is killed again before the phylactery has rebuilt its charge, their soul will be stored inside the phylactery until the charge has been rebuilt. This process will be slowed by the presence of the soul within, requiring energy to maintain itself.
Current time for complete recharge: Fully charged.
Time for resurrection if Lich is slain again: One day.
Enough time had passed since my last death that the phylactery would’ve let me resurrect quickly if I were slain. However, I had no place to hide it, not with me being hunted by the followers of Olattee. They would no doubt be scanning the area as they went for items that gave off death magic. My phylactery would be found and destroyed, resulting in my death.
“What’s the difference, though?” I asked Maxwell. “If this body is slain, I’m dead anyways. I might as well integrate it. Damien promised it provides a few powerful buffs.”
Maxwell grunted. “I guess I see your point.”
My eyes penetrated the darkness with little effort, the worry in his bright green eyes was clear. Maxwell was a player, death meant very little to him, but he understood that for me, it carried a great risk.
“How can we help?” a slender young girl asked, patting me on the arm. Raven’s hair was gray and brown, similar to the lynx, with a black stripe running down the middle of her head, and large ears that curved slightly with tufts of black hair sticking up. She wore an oversized shirt that Maxwell had provided—it was all the extra clothing we had at the time. Her thick black tail poked out under the shirt.
“I should be able to do it on my own.” I shrugged out of my robe, the dark fabric falling to the ground in a pile. In the still surface of the water, I studied my reflection. No longer was I simply a black skeleton. My bones still showed in most places, but now my body was crisscrossed with stringy black tendrils of ligaments and muscles. In places, they’d even began to form solid flaps.
I didn’t need to hear Maxwell’s gasp to know how horrific I looked. Being a black skeleton was far better. Part of my head was covered by black muscles; one side of my jaw even had a thin cheek. As I grew in power, my body became covered in black flesh. Damien, the necromancer in my Mindscape, had told me that he’d never seen a Lich as low level as I was. A consequence of my soul being pulled across from Earth into the World of Magic, costing me all of my levels, hence why I originally looked like nothing more than an inky skeleton.
Damien told me that as I grew in level and strength, my flesh would rebuild around my skeleton, comprised of pitch-black muscles and tendons. I would even regrow a kind of skin which I could control the look of—a built-in disguise mechanism for Liches. Part of Damien was fascinated by the process and was enjoying watching how a Lich grew in power.
I looked forward to the day when I would regain a human appearance, but the process meant I was going to be quite the horrific figure until then. I did have an illusion spell I could cast over myself that was quite powerful if needed. But I was holding off for the time being.
I sat next to the lake and produced a simple dagger. Setting my teeth, I used the dagger to open a gash underneath my rib cage. The few thin muscles parted before the sharp blade. There was very little pain, which I was thankful for. Following Damien’s instructions, I pressed the phylactery into the gash. The jar was far too big to fit, but a moment later, I received a prompt.
Would you like to integrate your phylactery?
Doing so will grant you a greatly increased health pool, strength, and death energy. This comes at the cost of increasing the amount of death energy you give off, further limiting your spells, making it increasingly difficult to cast anything other than death magic, including dark magic. It will also hinder your ability to work soul magic, since your tether is no longer outside of your own body.
Warning! This step means that if you are slain, you will die permanently since your phylactery will be destroyed.
Do you wish to continue?
Y/N
I selected Yes and my phylactery started pushing inside of my body before it disappeared. Power surged through me, and even as I watched, strands of dark flesh grew. My increased health must have been what increased the amount of flesh covering my body. As I stood, I opened my character sheet to see what had changed.
Character Soul Level: 51
Name: Ezekiel Verniac
Race: Human Lich
Unspent Stat Points: 0
Spent Stat Point: 255
5 Stat Points per level
Health: 1139(1708.5)
Health Regeneration: 31.225(46.837)/sec
Death Energy: 1161(1741.5)
Death Energy Regeneration: 22.425(33.637)/sec
Mana: 329
Mana Regeneration: 12.252/sec
Carrying lbs.: 1140.75(1711.125)
Stats:
Intelligence: 45 [multiplier: .311]
Spirit: 31 [multiplier: .23]
Vitality: 98 [multiplier: .15]
Resilience: 52 [multiplier: .15]
Death Core: 111
Agility: 66 [multiplier: .1]
Dexterity: 42 [multiplier: .21]
Experience: 332110.9 of 36421.3
I let out a low whistle. That was a lot of health and death energy, though I still didn’t really know how to properly utilize it. All I understood about death energy was that it replaced my stamina, and it could be used in a variety of ways to enhance both myself and creatures I created. I was still learning. The regenerations were quite impressive as well. I’d gotten a fifty percent bump to my health, health regeneration, death energy, and death energy regeneration rate.
