“So, which race will you select for your avatar?” Lilith asked me.
“Tainted Elf,” I said without hesitation.
“Then you shall now be granted access to your race’s classes.”
Tainted Elf Classes
Lord
Ruler of all
Increased chance of enthralling a target
Granted the Vampiric Expertise perk
Hemomancer
Adept in the use of blood magic
Increased life leech
Early access to hemomancy seals
Granted the Blood Drainer perk
Magus
Master of subterfuge magic
Increased duration of illusion seals
Granted the Double Vision perk
Infernal Champion
Battle general of infernal creatures
All Infernal Soul Forges have 10% decreased resource costs
Granted the Greater Void perk
All the classes were different flavours for a dungeon avatar, and I struggled to settle on one. The various classes brought me to the conclusion the Tainted Elf race was some kind of vampire. The Hemomancer sounded the most vampiric, but also a bit generic. The Magus appeared to be an illusionist, but I wanted to better balance slaying enemies in the thick of battle with the art of subterfuge. A Magus was unlikely to allow me to do both with equal effectiveness. The Infernal Champion was a summoner-based class specializing in minions, but I much preferred an avatar who could fight alongside minions.
I stared at the Lord row for a few seconds and considered what ‘Vampiric Expertise’ might mean. The perk might be a blood-drinking type skill, but then it would be indistinguishable from the Hemomancer’s Blood Drainer perk.
“What does the Vampiric Expertise perk do?” I asked the goddess.
“It allows you to gain access to minions of other realms.”
“Interesting.” It sounded like an overpowered ability entirely dependent upon how many dungeon cores existed and how easy it was to activate the perk. “Do I have to drink their blood or something?”
“No. You must conquer dungeon core avatars.”
“Conquer?” It was hard to miss her stress in the word.
Lilith’s lips tweaked upward. “You must either shatter their jeweled hearts or seduce their avatars. Either option will grant you access to their special abilities.”
Killing other dungeon cores sounded positively evil—the whole point of an Infernal Dungeon. I always jumped head-first into roleplaying, and this was no different. Despite Lilith’s jab at my ‘ravenous’ sexual appetites earlier, I’d never taken to the whole ‘sleep with avatars’ feature in the games I’d played. Then my mind flickered back to Lilith, poised on her throne, gazing at me with naked lust.
Fuck it. When in Rome, right?
The concept of being a ‘Lord’ also tied into the way I wanted to act in this world. If I could enthrall adventurers and turn them on each other, it would lead to absolute mayhem in their ranks.
Impale, eviscerate, decapitate, Lilith had said. I could give her that and so much more.
And all at the same time, if I felt like it.
“I’ll be a Lord,” I said after no more thought.
“A promising choice,” the goddess purred.
“Choice? Can I multi-class?”
“No, but there are Esteemed Classes. Hundreds, as a matter of fact, but they only become open to you after your feats grow sufficiently notorious. You need not consider them now. They will become known to you in time.”
“You really like the whole you’ll learn in time aspect of your job, don’t you?”
"I am enjoying myself, yes.”
“If this was a game, then I’d think you were keeping a level of mystery to stop people from theorycrafting during the beta so they don’t get a head-start on release.”
“Unfortunately, my powers have been . . . restricted,” Lilith said, her tone almost sounding disappointed. “Part of this limitation means I cannot immediately translate everything into a manner you will understand. A simple mental command should be sufficient to summon your avatar.”
I concentrated on my center, and the warmth of my jewel surrounded me. A scalding heat lashed against my being, and I focused on it. I could feel something else inside of me, a ball of existence that I pushed outward.
Then a silhouette presented itself, a lean figure of about six feet set against the backdrop of the cavern’s slick walls.
I couldn’t see a much of the Tainted Elf in the darkness, but then Lilith held out her palm and a ball of light appeared.
My demonic elf stood almost motionless, feet shoulder-length apart. His chest slowly rose and fell, and I felt I was gazing at a character creation screen. Beneath thick eyebrows, a vacant stare showed black where the whites of his eyes should have been, and tiny black pupils sat in the center of silver irises. Black hair grew to his broad shoulders, and pointed ears peaked out from either side of his head.
Pale skin pulled against high cheekbones, and his lips were a blood red. The sphere’s light touched my avatar’s elongated fangs, and the bleached white teeth became more pronounced when the elf produced a confident and charming smile. A simple black tunic covered his lithe torso, and matching pants wrapped his slender legs. The clothing fitted well and showed the muscular physique beneath; he was lean and athletic but not a powerhouse of muscle. The avatar was actually somewhat similar to my appearance on Earth, and I wondered whether that was purposeful.
“Firstly, what shall you name your demonic servant?” Lilith asked.
“Hmmm . . . how about Von Dominus?”
“Mmmm . . . “ The goddess moaned a little, repeating my chosen name with a sexy drawl.
“You like it?”
“I love it. A fitting name for my Viceroy’s avatar. You will have to use him sparingly. He can only be summoned for a total of sixty minutes per day,” Lilith said.
“Does your world have twenty-four hours per day?”
“Yes.”
“And I can summon my avatar as many times I like within that period?” I asked.
“As long as he is not active for longer than sixty minutes in total.”
“That’s quite the shortcoming.”
“You can extend this time as you grow stronger,” Lilith answered.
“Is there a stat screen for my avatar? I need to look at it.”
Suddenly, a text box appeared in front of me.
Von Dominus
Core: Infernal
Race: Tainted
