Chapter 22: Gathering Orphans
"Please, take us with you," Karna requested, his voice tinged with a hint of desperation.
Shiva regarded Karna for a moment, a small smirk playing on his lips. "And what makes you think I would do that?"
Karna steeled himself, understanding that he was treading on uncertain ground.
"I... I need your help. My sister and I, we...are in danger, and I'm not strong enough to protect her on my own. Please, if you have any compassion, take us with you."
Shiva's expression remained inscrutable as he considered Karna's plea. Then, after a pregnant pause, he spoke, "Compassion, you say? Hmm, an interesting notion."
He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Very well, I suppose I could use someone with your particular skills. But don't think for a moment that I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart."
Karna felt a sliver of relief, but it was tempered by the unease Shiva's words instilled in him. "I understand. I'm grateful, regardless of your reasons."
"Good," Shiva said, his smile not quite reaching his eyes.
He then turned to address the gathered people. "Here is your first task - anyone below the age of 20, boy or girl, black or white, I don't care. Orphans preferably or those who had lost their families, Whoever wishes to follow me, gather them and make sure, ONLY THOSE shall come with us."
He emphasized the last sentence, his gaze sweeping over the crowd and lingering on the older men and weaker women present. It was a cruel calculation, but Karna understood Shiva's rationale - bringing the less able-bodied would only slow them down and a burden to their weight.
As for the children, Shiva had some plan in his mind for those who would follow him.
Karna couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity for those who would be left behind, but he knew his priority had to be ensuring his own and his sister's safety.
As the people scrambled to sort themselves, Karna steeled himself, pushing down the doubts that gnawed at him.
'Forgive me, God.'
***
Shadow Lord, Karna.
The third apostle of the demonic emperor and the shadow who covered the Tower. Such were the names he was known by in his past life.
Looking at Karna, who was yet to even awaken his power, Shiva felt a bit of regret.
'He would be so useful once he awakens.'
Karna's current class was that of a shadow assassin, but that was nothing more than a facade. The true nature of his class would awaken when he upgraded it into a unique class.
He would gain so many useful abilities that could be shared with people, and that was the reason why Shiva was gathering young boys and girls.
Looking at about 25-30 young ones sorted towards one side of the group made Shiva smile, "These will become my eyes in the tower."
What he was planning was to create an assassin agency with Karna at its center. Of course, for that to happen, he needed to make sure that Karna would awaken, but that wasn't a problem since he knew how to do that.
Information is very important in the tower, and having a secret force to gather information would be very beneficial for him. Shiva had also created an information guild in his past life, but that took much time and could only perform their tasks when he had reached about the 50th floor. This time, it was going to be different.
Although Shiva was aware of all the major incidents that would happen in the future, there were many pieces of information that he wasn't aware of, and gathering such information will be the job of these kids whom he is going to train. Well, not himself, but he knew someone who could train them to be perfect assassins.
Now that he had done everything he had planned, he turned to the corpse of the middle-aged man.
"<Rise the Dead>"
He used his skill on him, and following that, mana surged out of him and surrounded the corpse. A minute passed while the corpse was covered in a brilliant light, and then, in front of Shiva stood the skeleton of the middle-aged man, all of its flesh gone. There was a blue glint in the skeleton's eyes, and a glowing orb was present inside its rib cage.
Shiva looked at the skeleton with satisfied eyes and opened its status:
____________
<Skeleton Mage>
Race: Skeleton
Rank: Wicked
Level: 7
<Stats>
Strength - [5]
Constitution - [5]
Dexterity - [10]
Intelligence - [30]
Perception - [5]
Skills: -
<Passive>
Magic Mastery: An undead capable of harnessing the power of mana and use magic.
<Active>
Fireball: Conjure a ball of blazing fire and attack enemies.
Chains of Blaze: Summon chains of fire to immobilize opponents.
____________
"That's neat!"
It was as good as Shiva had expected. Although he had to destroy one of his orc skeletons to summon the skeleton mage, it was all worth it since he now had a ranged dealer among his summons.
Then he turned to the white giant who was standing in the distance, scratching its back against a huge boulder. He hadn't seen its status since summoning it, and he felt kind of curious, so Shiva opened its status.
___________
<The Giant of Corruption>
True Name: Aghora
Race: Draugr
Rank: Vile
Level: 12
<Stats>
Strength - [38]
Constitution - [38]
Dexterity - [32]
Intelligence - [10]
Perception - [22]
Skills: -
<Passive>
Corrupting Aura / Titanic Strength /
<Active>
Soul Devouring: Able to consume the souls of its victims, the Giant of Corruption gains power and sustenance from the essence of those it destroys, growing stronger with each soul it claims. When the number of souls it consumes reaches a threshold, the Corruption giant will evolve further.
Soul count: 65 / 1000
____________
Each level up had given it 5 stat points, which would be distributed automatically in the ratio of 1.5:1.5:1:0:1, bringing up its stats by 60 for 12 level-ups.
The giant was far stronger than what Shiva had hoped for, not to mention the soul count of its active skill was slowly going up. It wouldn't be very soon, but eventually, the giant is going to evolve when its soul count reaches 1,000.
Satisfied with the growth of the giant, Shiva closed its status window and then opened his own.
"I wonder how much I have grown."
---***---
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone