'I need the princess to be alive, so I suppose we can keep an eye on her, keep her from killing Rufus and Lara.' He thought, 'But tell me, witch, is the other slave that Rufus… improved, capable of rebelling? I want to keep my slaves walking for as long as possible, but if all of them rebelled as soon as Rufus touched them, then there's no point in improving their longevity.'
Clayton was learning that there was a lot more to owning undead slaves than what met the eye. In fact, everything that the system offered seemed to come with a twist, for one thing, but he didn't like the fact that he could get bitten back, or kicked in the face anytime he tried something new, something to put his abilities into better use. It seemed counter-productive, and infinitely unfair.
'As if I haven't been dealt a bad hand already,' He held his head, 'Now I have to worry about my damn skeletons rebelling?'
[You have to worry about it, yes.]
[I repeat, Fleshmancy and Necromancy should not mix, it's not a good combination, however, since the prior slave that Rufus tampered with hasn't rebelled yet, we can make a safe assumption.]
[Your slaves cannot rebel, not unless their brains develop properly. If they become conscious thanks to the 'help' of your friend, then your slaves have a high likelihood of rebelling. Also, don't call me a witch.]
'Conscious?' He repeated, unsure of what she meant, but he wanted to keep quiet, he wanted to keep the conversation to himself, so no one, not even the undead Princess could hear him essentially 'talking' to himself. 'What's that supposed to be? A brain fart?'
[I've analyzed your brain, Clayton. You're supposed to be smart, smarter than the common fools around you, at least, but it's beyond me how you associated consciousness with a brain fart. Please refrain from saying stupid things.]
'Alright?' He nodded, 'I still don't know what it is, though.'
[Consciousness defines you, or any human being, really, from animals. Most animals aren't conscious, they hunt, hide, and breed because that's what they were born to do. You are conscious, and you do most of what animals do, really, though, from the looks of it you haven't had the chance to breed with anyone yet, my point still stands. Unlike animals, you have the chance to stop, think, and proceed according to your new understandings, or perspectives.]
[That's what consciousness is. It's the ability to think in a complex matter, and Rufus, your friend, improved the Princess so much, that she is now conscious. She remembers her former motives, and naturally, she wants to kill you now. She is not your friend.]
'System, I will refrain from saying stupid things, but you should also refrain from disrespecting me.' He followed along, 'Thanks for teaching me something new, and I hope your claim that I'm intelligent is true, because this matter is snowballing to become very confusing.'
Afterwards, he squatted, blanked out in front of the many withering skeletons, and continued, 'I'm going to have to figure out what to use the Princess for, which I'm still clueless about… not to mention, I need to make sure the Princess doesn't attack my friends. I can keep her under my control, but there are times where she just… slips away. I hope it's worth it to keep her.'
[It might be worth it.]
[Basing it solely on what the Princess said, her death, after just recently being given the title of a legitimate spawn of the King, inflicts an extra layer of heartbreak towards anyone who cares about her. You can use her death, or lie about the concept of fully reviving her, in order to get under the King's skin. I've seen it happen a few hundred years ago, it's rather effective.]
'Well damn, system,' He stood up, 'You just might be more messed up than we are. Rufus is a Necromancer, for goodness' sake, and I doubt he'd ever be able to think of a plan like that.'
[It's no plan, it's an idea. Odds are, you'll never get to the King to begin with.]
'We'll see,' He smirked.
Clayton was constantly discovering that his path towards revenge, or better named, The Path of Doom, was a lot more complicated than he initially hoped for it to be.
Before the system was introduced to him, the plan he toyed around with was a lot more simple. He planned to grow his hair out, wait a few months, and slowly sneak in closer to the castle where the King resided in, absorb the Life Essence of hundreds of men, and use that to wipe them out.
The benefits of Fleshmancy felt like they were enough, but with the cloning system introduced, he was tempted, and in fact did follow the notion of delivering a much stronger, much more horrifying attack against the King, Kingdom, and perhaps the entirety of the Empire! His ego was boosted, and for the sake of his dead family, he wanted to make sure the entire Empire knew that they stepped on the wrong person's backyard.
With that said, he now toyed with the idea of mixing his former plan with his new plans. He wanted to sneak within the city where the King resided, yes, but he also wanted to play mind games, and or inflict apocalypse-like horrors, such as attacking the Kingdom with swarms of the undead. He was getting petty, and he indulged in it.
To put his erratic plans together, he needed some more time, for one thing, but he also needed information. For that matter, he walked back towards the Princess, and looked at her, waiting for her to attack at random, just so she could get it out of her system.
The Princess, Esmeralda, did not attack, she just stared at Clayton, her expression stern. He could easily make an estimation of how pissed off she was, but then again, he knew that he was going to push the limit of how angry she can get with the questions he was about to ask her.
"Princess Esmeralda," He got a bit closer to her, "Aren't you the least bit curious about how you're alive again? You must remember my slaves killing you."